The Sorrow of Faith Gods

By now, Selina grasped the gravity of her situation—she was fully entangled in a divine chess game.

Good news: She had two gods backing her.

Bad news: One was so weak she could barely help, and the other was a scheming deity who might betray her at any moment.

Selina rubbed her forehead, feeling her predicament was exceptionally dire.

“So, are gods on Seraris so easily restrained? I thought gods were omnipotent, invincible beings.”

Selina sighed, spreading her hands in a half-joking complaint.

This was the reality she saw.

Bound by Seraris’s rules, gods couldn’t directly meddle in mortal affairs.

Yet, their symbiotic bond with believers made them vulnerable to calculated ambushes.

Take the Firelight Goddess: cursed by a rival demon god, she couldn’t even protect her followers. Didn’t that make gods seem… underwhelming?

“Everything has a cause. Hestia’s plight stems partly from her own choices and partly from a flaw shared by all gods on Seraris.”

Themis extended her hand, her five fingers spreading as boundless light radiated from her palm, forming a miniature world of creatures, lands, mountains, and rivers.

“As you see, on this continent, humans, animals, and plants were crafted by the Creator God. Other intelligent races were created by later gods. The Vampire Progenitor birthed vampires through blood embrace, the Dragon God propagated his race with flesh and scales, and I nurtured the elves through the sacred fruit of the holy tree…”

“What pattern do you notice?”

Themis prompted.

“Gods create their own races…”

Selina’s expression hardened, recognizing the pattern.

“Exactly. Nearly every god creates a race tied to them. These descendants naturally worship their powerful creator, forming an unbreakable bond of faith. Betrayal is nearly impossible because god and race are one. If a god falls or dies, their race faces extinction…”

“But Hestia is different. She didn’t create a race. Her Cycle Church embraced all—regardless of race, gender, or age. This inclusivity made the Cycle Church the largest sect on the continent…”

“For a time, Hestia’s influence enveloped Seraris, her Cycle Church nearly the mightiest. But all things that peak must decline. The church’s inclusivity relied on Hestia’s strength. When she was powerful enough to deter other gods, races flocked to her. Yet, this was also her weakness…”

“The church’s core was Hestia herself. When she was strong, all races united under her faith. But when she weakened, this faith-based coalition, held together by her power, crumbled swiftly. This is a key reason for Hestia’s decline and inability to recover.”

The reasoning was clear. Other gods’ followers were kin; if a god suffered, their race faced annihilation alongside them, bound by blood. Even in defeat, their followers stood united.

Hestia was different. Without a created race, her diverse followers scattered when she weakened. Lacking the blood-bound loyalty other gods enjoyed, her believers—driven by human self-interest—fled or betrayed her in danger. The demon god’s curse was the final blow, killing her loyal followers, including Selina’s mentor, the last of them.

“Yet this is only one reason. As for gods being limited by faith, not as omnipotent as you imagined—I don’t deny it. But this isn’t Hestia’s unique flaw; it’s the sorrow of all faith-based gods on Seraris…”

For once, Selina detected a rare trace of mortal-like helplessness in Themis’s voice.

“When the Creator God sacrificed his flesh and life to form this continent and its beings, in the millennia that followed, gods like me arose but could never create vessels suited for divine souls…”

“Gods lack true physical bodies. No mortal form on this world can bear divine power. Even when we create with our power, no vessel can sustain it long-term. Thus, gods exist only as energy and soul forms…”

“The soul governs consciousness, the body existence and action. Souls are easily swayed by external forces, while a body acts as a vessel, shielding the soul. Without a true divine body, no god is complete. Until such a body is attained, all gods remain bound by faith as their source of power and existence.”

“The solution lies in the Creator God’s legacy—the Genesis Crystal at the top of Babel Tower.”

“Only with the Creator’s inherited power can a true divine body, capable of housing a god’s power and soul, be created. Only then can Seraris birth its first god free from faith’s constraints.”