Judine had walked throughout the court, just like any other day. She had moved on from all the problems in this nation she had slowly begun fixing. For example the nobles who thought they ruled the world with their small donations.

  Their small donations when there were people starving in their domains. It was cruel to possess funds created from cruelty. And the court rulings followed that. She had repossessed hundreds of thousands of Gold, maybe even tonnes of silver.

  She always asked the King to send them to the proper places, and they seemed to. At least in the capital it did. She had no way to prove the poverty rates deeper within the kingdom, around the militarized border shared with Keriny.

  Judine’s asking of the King had led with her own pay being cut; but that she could live with. She still made enough to live the same as the nobles and since she didn’t, she was perfectly fine.

  Judine walked through the castle despite her lack of living space within. She wanted to talk to the court mage Sornid about the funds she’d most recently repossessed. At least then it could go to someone who’d use it not on a lavish lifestyle but on the betterment of the nation.

  50 - Demigod

  [Class Evolution; Judge of Ruthlessness -> Demigod of Fate]

  She could see hundreds of futures all at once, and that battle wasn’t the last time they’d see that opponent. The beam of light was fated to vanish in 10 more seconds, and the pink haired elf was killed when they were pushed into that beam.

  She felt the fates all coalesce. The death was odd. She couldn’t read her friend’s fates nearly as well, not even half as. Judine looked into her friends eyes, and saw at least 50 other futures, all of which felt thin.

  They’re futures were uncertain. As they were probably also demigods.

  “What are your dominions?” She asked out, as she felt all their fates come together. They were all greatly tied together, they were not a group that could split up in any reasonable manner.

  Bariton was first to speak, “Music!” As he said it, there was a singular tie of fate between him and Shammus for a moment. It was odd to see, but it was also one sided. Shammus was second to speak, as the pair returned to normal. “Void.”

  Clara and Pallad both nearly spoke at the same time, but Judine was able to hear them just fine as the fates clashed, “Battle!”; “Life.” Clara’s soft voice was almost silenced, almost removed, but she was definitely the one that said Life.

  And Judine was beginning to feel drained. She hadn’t controlled fate much there, but it still almost left her out of mana. And her clothes returned to regular, and she no longer saw everyone’s fates.

  She still saw her own though. It got blurry around floor 75 though. “Fate’s my own.” She sighed out as everyone returned to normal. Shammus seemed about to collapse, leaning upon a random great sword he’d collected.

  There was now a deep pit in the ground where the god had self-destructed, the sky almost visible from the hole leading up. It pierced through the cavern, and they could feel the next floor through it.

  “Splendid that we all know each other’s dominions…” Judine manages to get out as she collapses down. It’s exhausting to see her own fate, and it seems the rest of the party are similarly exhausted. “But, let us rest first.”

  She felt her chest lift up and down from her own breathing. It felt heavier, and she finally closed her eyes. She felt the entire world slip away as she fell into a dream. It felt like a pool of mana, sleeping did.

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  It was deep, and it was new as well. She felt fate itself embedded into the pool of mana she fell into. She couldn’t open her eyes under this sea. The pressure sealed her eyelids shut and she was certain she was sinking.

  The pool was of unknowable depth, but she could see fate so clearly even with her eyes closed. It coalesced somewhere beneath, spiralling around her. She didn’t want to pass out, but now that she did; it was relaxing.

  To be asleep was freeing. She felt the shackles of her mortal coil finally release and sink deeper into the pooling fate. She heard her name being called but it was too muffled. Judine couldn’t care less about it.

  It was closer to a doorway in shape. It was wide open and then she felt worry begin to drag her back down to grab her body. She wouldn’t let herself fall into wherever fate was being absorbed into. There were many fates being sent in there, potentially the underworld?

  It felt wrong inside the doorway. Judine could tell she would probably die if her body had fell in. She could see the fate itself, but she could move freely without her body. It wouldn’t be a good thing though; to join Sornid without saying goodbye.

  She grabbed one of the many fates being dragged into the gateway, and she saw in it the worst of the worst. Her friends all dying, only one still standing to fight being Shammus. He was yelling something towards the god they were fighting just earlier.

  Bariton was downed with heavy injury in his side, the music fading. Clara was laying against a mountain wall, her halo cracked and fading. Pallad was hung from a tree, his armor shattered alongside his limbs.

  And she was nowhere around. She wasn’t even there, either she’d been so thoroughly killed that she no longer had a body in this fate or… she ran. Judine did the worst thing and abandoned her friends in a time of need.

  Shammus was quickly and swiftly killed as Heavenly laughed. And Heavenly turned towards her in the film. His speech was wordless, but the message still went through.

  “Go ahead and give up. This is all that awaits you.”

  Judine refused that message and tossed that film to the side as she awoke with a start. Clara was shaking her, and Pallad was lightly slapping her cheek. Clara wasn’t even looking at her and was yelling something at Bariton about how he needed to quit playing that damned lullaby.

  Bariton looked at her innocently as the music faded into her view, it was a nice lullaby. Judine could go back to sleep. And then she snapped awake as the energy of the song actually seeped into her.

  Clara was still shaking her, and it was giving Judine vertigo. It was odd, to feel light headed so shortly after waking up. But when she tapped Clara on the shoulder, she apologized profusely.

  Her healing was a lot more effective ever since she became a demigod. As did Judine’s Analysis skill. It said she could view entire system menus, which she kind of denied. But she tested it on Bariton.

  And she specified the view to be the achievements alone. She saw hundreds of achievements, very few reached the Legendary quality. “What ya lookin at Judine?” Bariton looked over Judine’s shoulder to the system screen.

  “Interesting things that don’t really concern you.” Judine waved away the system screen as Bariton pushed out his lower lip in a pout. Judine stood up and stared into the deep pit. It had a similar energy to the one of her dreamlike trance.

  But it also felt more inevitable. She felt more drawn to it. “How long was I asleep, Clara?” Judine questions, looking into Clara’s pink eyes. She thought for a moment before answering. “About half an hour.”

  Judine felt her lips tug down into a frown as her thoughts kept up. “We don’t need to sleep nearly as long anymore.” She looked at her own window, and how her mana was practically completely drained.

  Sure, their need to sleep was lessened greatly, but her level of exhaustion was zero and her mana pool was full. She even had the [Well Rested] temporary trait that only lasts half an hour after a full 8 hour sleep.

  Judine enjoyed this partially, but it also seemed to tell her that times would be getting tough. As would the less joyful times. She steps towards the large void that leads to the next floor.

  “Well, let’s get moving again.” She jumped down into the pit, and the rest of the party joined her. She couldn’t view their fates when she was in her normal form, but something told her she’d be in that form a lot more often after Floor 75.

  Or she’d be a god. Both seemed plausible in this area.