Several gods gathered together into the same room. It was a meeting between pantheons with various gods around. As was usual with these large meetings, Aurous was not present, but a number of important gods were here. Dewari settled into her spot on the table and looked around. Noting Furea entering the room in her usual garb and closely followed by the obviously pregnant Cynari goddess of sterility. It was still weird to see a sterility goddess pregnant. Just wasn’t their nature and it was a visible reminder of what Aurous had done to the poor goddess. Sadly he still had friends, so there wasn’t anything that could be done about it. Not yet anyway, but Dewari knew that upstart was his own worst enemy. Sooner or later he would do something and then he would be gone. Something told her that the end was likely sooner rather than later.

He wasn’t the subject of today’s meeting though. Rather, it was an interesting one that was bringing gods from all over the region. Settling in a chair near her was one of the younger gods that she didn’t often see, and she was pregnant as usual. The god in question was Xenia, and she was a rather unusual fertility goddess whose domains played more into pregnancy than fertility itself. Also unlike most fertility gods she wasn’t part of the dark but the light.

Tina naturally wasn’t here either, but she was a bit busy with her current dungeon incarceration. Last Dewari had looked in, the girl was still pouting about that. For how much longer she wasn’t sure, but she figured Tina would get over it eventually. Once that happened she would have a chance to repent for her actions. Mischief was one thing, but Tina was regularly going way too far. Speaking of Tina, they were here to discuss something similar to her case, but instead of a god they were talking about a hero. One that failed to awaken, but a holder of hero’s blood nonetheless.

As the last seat was filled by Mamari, goddess of Boobs, Lactation, Fertility and the Harvest, the meeting began. She offered the other goddess a greeting, just as the designated leader for today’s meeting started.

Kuwi smiled at the head of the table, as she greeted them all before launching into the topic of the meeting, “As I am sure you are all no doubt aware. We are here to discuss the fate of the mortal currently known as Augustus Flamewind, who has once again failed to awaken his blood.”

“AGAIN!!? Does that boy ever learn? How many times does that make it?”

“This would be the third failure in a row,” commented Systeria, goddess of the system, before continuing, “Which is why we are here. A failed hero must be judged, especially since he has used all his chances.”

Timura sighed, “A shame really, he made a decent champion in his first life as a hero. Yet not once has he managed to live up to his potential since.”

“Agreed, it’s a shame indeed,” responded Furea.

Yiran said, “I never should have picked him for a hero.”

“Don’t blame yourself for that. Sure he was young, but he was promising.”

Dewari inquired, “So what are we going to do with him?”

“A standard reincarnation is obviously out,” commented Kuwi.

“Nor would it be proper. A hero is given three chances and then they are judged. Now how are we going to salvage his soul? I do not believe it is time to give up on him completely,” said Systeria.

Rumina, goddess of the elves interjected, “I’ve been reviewing his past lives. His first one came into the power of his blood later in life. I think that might have been part of why he did so well in that first life, but in his later ones, the innate talents and abilities merely having a hero’s blood gave him went to his head. It made him prone to distasteful actions that reflect poorly on us, since we are supposed to vet heroes.”

Dewari replied, “I concur. I propose we reincarnate him again, but this time as a female. His past lives have shown a tendency to mistreat women, perhaps a life as a girl would help him?”

Rumina nodded, “I was thinking along the same lines, but what he truly needs is guidance.”

Kuwi blinked, “Sounds fun,” then she sighed, “But sadly my newest champion still needs a fair amount of personal attention. No problems with her heart, but has a tendency to leap into trouble without thinking.”

Dewari sighed, “I know, and I am too busy to devote the needed time to this failed hero myself either.”

Rumina smiled, “I have more than enough time right now and an idea on who to make guardian of this failure. Perhaps she can get them into proper shape. Besides, he already wronged them so she will be quite motivated.”

Cynari leaned forward, “Oh? Who do you have in mind?”

Rumina gave a mischievous smile, “Well he wronged the Vampire Reia by forcing her into a slave contract. I figured Reia’s mother would want to right that wrong.”

The table erupted into laughter before someone announced, “Perfect! Nothing like a Vampire Matriarch to whip an idiot into shape. I believe she joined your church too?”

“She did, currently she is a high priestess.”

“In that case, since you have a plan and the time. Why don’t we allow you to take charge of his soul? Hopefully you can redeem him.”

Xeria then spoke up, “I would love to share notes with you on that. I’m working on a redemption project of my own.”

“Oh? Sounds interesting.

The young man looked around. Everywhere he looked he saw nothing but endless black. Last thing he remembered was fighting that small fry slime. It had proven just a tad tougher than the usual ilk. A foe actually worthy of his axe, if barely. Things were going well, its tentacles bouncing off his golden armor. Then it tried strangling him. He was about to break out of its grasp and bisect it when a tentacle went down his throat. After that was darkness, and now here. He wasn’t sure what was going on.

Suddenly a voice addressed him, “It’s kinda cute how you are trying to convince yourself that battle was going your way. Especially considering that you were about to be eaten.”

He turned to see a woman standing behind him. She was beautiful, with a body forged by the gods. Lovely blue-green hair with highlights of light blue and dark green in various shades cascaded loosely down her shoulders and framed a lovely face with piercing glowing purple eyes. Her hair gave an otherworldly effect with every movement.

Her skin was a lovely shade of tan, her breasts were about average in size but they looked to be quite perky with cute nipples that would have shown through clothing if she was wearing any. The elf before him was entirely naked, leaving everything on display. Her skin was wrapped in what looked like thorny vines, which occasionally bloomed with flowers. She even had a lovely flower in her hair to complete the look. Yet he found his gaze most drawn to her pussy. It was a cute one, with slim lips that gaped ever so slightly. Giving a glimpse of the pink flesh within.

She was still speaking, but he didn’t think it was that important. Instead he stood there drinking in her looks. The woman was incredible. He had to have her, she would be the crown jewel of any harem. The one he had so far was coming along nicely but it could always be...

Suddenly a vine lashed him across the face and the girl glared at him. “It’s rude to stare at a girl’s pussy like that, and you should pay attention to people when they are talking to you.”

He felt a flash of anger, “HOW DARE YOU! Do you not know who I am!? You should be honored just to be in my presence.”

“Wow, that is quite the attitude for a dead failure of a hero.”

He glared at her and scoffed, “Dead? DO I look dead to you?”

“Of course you are dead, how else would you be here? This is where souls come to be judged by the gods. Real shame that you couldn’t awaken your blood.”

His stomach roiled with flame, “I’m Flamewind the Great! I’ll be the greatest hero who ever walked.”

“Really? You are nothing, your father and his father before him were far better heroes than you will ever be.”

He scoffed, “As if, my father got killed by a lowly lizard. What kind of hero dies to a mere lizard?”

The woman gave him a look, “Your Father died defending a village against the Primal Nature Dragon Zemoria, not some mere Lizard. You, on the other hand, could never hope to last more than a second against her.”

Arrogantly he boasted, “Surely not! I’ll have that lizard wailing at my feet in thirty seconds at the most.”

“Quite the ego you have. Seems I have my work cut out for me with you.”

He gave her a look, “What are you on about? For that matter, why aren’t you on your knees worshiping my greatness?”

She lifted her arm and a vine lashed him across the face. “A very arrogant ego indeed.’

Then she gave him a creepy smile. Suddenly feeling like he was endangered he tried to call upon his flames. Only to grasp at nothing. “What kind of witchery are you working?”

“It’s time to open your eyes,” she said, her smile turning evil. Then he felt something just as several vines struck him from the black ground. Fire rippled through him and he screamed. Then she spoke and every word rang true, right in his soul, “I, Rumina, Dark Goddess of the Elves, Patron of Nature and Nudity do hereby judge the soul of the Failed Hero Augustus Flamewind and find you unworthy of your hero’s blood. For crimes against the very essence of what it means to be a hero I sentence you to life as a Lesser Dark Elf girl under the tutelage of High Priestess Reina Valmeri. She will teach you, and you will repent your past crimes before me. If we meet in this realm again and you have not repented your crimes, I shall destroy your soul for you will be unworthy of the title and responsibility of a hero. Do you understand?”

He couldn’t deny her words, for he felt them to be true. His very soul trembled before her as he felt uncertain about his fate. Whatever path lay before him he didn’t know, but he realized he would know soon enough. His limbs heavy, he answered, “I... I... Understand.”

With those words the pain he felt vanished as the world distorted. The last thing he heard in this realm was, “Enjoy your new life as a girl!”

He wanted to scream when he heard that, but he could form no words. The darkness took him. When he returned to consciousness he was elsewhere. His vision filled with blue.