New Plans

“I have a plan.”

Kairos couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Kinisis’s statement. The four deities sat in what remained of the Void Lord’s old throne room, sitting around a large, hastily made table that covered a large hole in the floor. Several bowls of various snacks had been placed on the table, one of which was being held hostage by Yisini, who was greedily eating the salted crisps inside it. The rest of the room was completely empty, the doors had been sealed and an anti-snooping dome having been placed around them.

“The plan is simple. We have an infinite supply of antiphthoric hemostasin. This stuff is basically gold for Life Goddesses.”

“Why is it gold for Life Goddesses?” Epani interrupted. The Panelix was clearly quite upset. After all, her simple plans for her new universe were being upended.”

“Antiphthoric hemostasin is stupidly hard to make. Most deities can’t actually make it themselves, it takes too much out of them. But it’s so insanely useful. Not only is it the main ingredient in making a Decay-based deity, but you can also use it to completely eradicate corruption.”

“So how is Kenon’s corpse creating so much of it?” Epani was full of questions. “I am pretty sure that Kenon is not a Decay-based deity and Arkadin never… produced any of it.”

Kinisis crossed her arms. “Epani, if you’d let me continue… I was about to explain how all of this is happening.”

Epani grunted, then fell silent, grabbing a bowl of snacks for herself.

“Anyway, as I was saying, the way Arkadin… took out Kenon was rather special. Antiphthoric hemostasin doesn’t just harm Corruption, but it also interferes in the godly systems used to resurrect Voidborn beings. In Kenon’s case, Arkadin speared him with, well, his very long spear, which was coated in antiphthoric hemostasin, but he did so with such a timing that it interrupted him between two of the resurrection stages. Voidborns regenerate themselves in a specific way: they create the resources needed to resurrect and then rebuild themselves. But Arkadin’s attack meant that the “create resources” stage never actually finished, and started replicating additional resources. Including the resources in Arkadin’s spear.”

“So we have an infinite loot fountain?” Yisini asked. “And I guess your plan is to sell the stuff that… the loot fountain is making?”

Kinisis nodded. “Exactly. Life Goddesses will do anything for a large quantity of most types of hemostasin, not just the antiphthoric type. However, we can’t just go around saying we’ve got a dead Voidborn here, we have to dress everything up and be somewhat covert about this. At the same time, being covert ain’t gonna get us any sales. So what we need to do is convert this place into a tourist attraction, while also disguising the fact that our little death god murdered a Voidborn and turned him into a loot fountain.”

“What else do we need to do?” Epani grunted. “Because I do not want Life Goddesses coming in here as they please!”

“That’s where we have to put the effort in. We’ll need to rebuild the entrances to the universe, allow a direct passage from the outside to our tourist destination and have plenty of guards all over the place. And we’ll also have to set up an ID-checking station at the entrance. Best way to do this would be museum style, with things to look at and the gift shop at the end. Keeps people busy and occupied, and minimizes trouble. Also keeps everything contained. And out of all of this, we get basically whatever resources we need. Epani can go back to expanding and making planets, Yisini can work on making mortals less mortal and we can sit back, relax and let the fame and periuniversal money roll in. All thanks to one corpse.”

“No offence…” Kairos frowned. “The last time Arkadin ATTEMPTED to kill Kenon, we ended up with an army of golden assholes attacking. How do we avoid that happening again?”

Kinisis clapped her hands together, almost glad that someone had asked. “Thankfully, Arkadin has already dealt with that problem for us by blowing up the local Voidborn nest site, with assistance from the local Decay Lord population. But you do have a good point, and the easiest way to do so is to add some of our own blood to the mix… Well, a lot of our own blood. Which I am happy to do.”

“So we… disguise this whole operation with Life Goddess blood?” Kairos snapped. “That is almost as bad as using Voidborn blood! We should… use my blood. Time Drake blood is far less likely to attract the wrong type of attention. Your plan is insane enough as it is, dumping the blood of a Life Goddess on it all is bound to make things even more complicated.”

“He’s got a point…” Yisini admitted. “Plus, Kairos’s blood is silver, it’ll blend in better anyway.”

“That’s fine!” Kinisis beamed. “As long as you are all happy with the plan. Any questions?”

The other Deities all glanced at each other, then shrugged.

“Just the one…” Yisini muttered.

“What’s that, dear?”

“What are you going to do with all those demigods you made?”

Kinisis paused, then laughed. “Oh, don’t fret, I have a plan for them as well…”