GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

At first, only true believers of the gods heeded the warnings and left early. But the orc host convinced more of them to listen.

It was too late for those who lived close to the orcs to escape by the time the war broke out. But some still managed to get away.

The 9 Crowns didn't continue chasing after the fleeing gods. They got their land and 3 domains through Golden Light. These three are not part of the 9 domains they can fuse with, so they added them to the pile of domains that they intend to exchange with others.

If they can't use a domain, they can exchange it with other gods for domains that they can fuse with. Unfortunately, the gods are working against them. No one wants them to grow stronger, so they don't want to exchange domains with them.

The way this war ended has further proven that they aren't doing enough. They realized that they needed to do more to hamstring 9 Crowns and his allies.

The gods had schemed and plotted against 9 Crowns. They robbed him of the help of his Pantheon, and they managed to pull him away from the battle. But the best they could achieve was to save half of their believers and escape with them in defeat.

This is despite many domain gods working against the 9 Crowns and his allies. Yet, they had to fall back to their contingency plan. It made them wonder if they should have just focused on only the contingency plan in the first place.

Some felt that they were wasting their time trying to hamper 9 Crowns, but the alternative was to let him have free rein. They just couldn't allow that to happen.

Not only do they hate him, but their world gods hate him too. There is also the fact that he would only become more insufferable if he becomes stronger. So they weren't willing to give up just yet.

Not only did they prevent the trade of domains, they discouraged the trading of divinity, divine crystals, and other materials with them too. They shunned the orc bandits at every opportunity.

Legion didn't care about the trade embargo placed on them and their pantheon. It is because some gods were still willing to trade with them.

Even without trade, they would continue to make progress. They have the strength to do that and more.

The orcs settled in the Thames kingdom and began rebuilding it in honor of their god King. The first thing they built was walls and fortresses to secure their border. These were giant structures that no mortal, be they man or orc, could build.

Every god had to descend to the mortal realm and use miracles to create mountains and then turn those mountains into square blocks. Then Legion used world power to lift these blocks and use them to build the defensive structures.

It was quite a sight. Gods were working like laborers because 9 Crowns was adamant about marking his territory clearly and in the most secure manner.

The gods of the northern domain were surprised by his dedication. Even the mortals who couldn't see clearly and could only see golden figures working day and night to secure their lands were moved. They bowed and worshipped for days.

When the border was finally secured, a large ceremony was then held. The day was to become a holiday. The mortals celebrated while 9 Crowns sharpened his blades for revenge.

"If they think they can scheme against us and get away with it, then they have another thing coming."

Things have gone generally well for them in this war. They only lost about 50,000 orcs before the gods retreated.

In exchange, they gained a large piece of land and also gained three domains. There are also the 13 million souls from all the humans they killed and about 50 million more as slaves. But those are not enough for them.

Especially not after the gods have decided to make things difficult for them in the divine realm. If no one will trade domains with them, then they will have to get it themselves or settle for the souls of the believers of their enemies.

Of course this is nothing personal. They understand that the gods are in the right about this. The orc bandits are too strong and have been a menace in the divine realm. They attack everyone they see, and at least one of the orc bandits is always hunting.

So they can even agree that what the gods are doing to them is right and that they would do the same thing if they were in their shoes. But that's not going to stop them from taking things further.

Their enemies are weak. The best thing to do is to take advantage of them for all they've got and make sure that they don't manage to rise up against them again. So they are not going to rest on their laurels at all.

First they informed their Oracles to prepare raid parties that will raid the neighboring kingdoms of resources once every month. Next they had their heroes strike out alone against the humans until they broke down their kingdoms.

The last thing they did was to send spies to determine the location of churches, priests, and oracles of other gods in the neighboring kingdoms. Then they struck these targets once discovered.

The other gods didn't take this lying down. They tried to do the same thing to the 9 Crowns priests and oracles too. But he made sure that they stayed around an altar of his so that he could descend to protect them when they needed it.

So while the war for land had ended, the war for faith and power was never-ending. The gods traded blows secretly and openly. This would have continued for a long while if not for a certain loser meddling in the affairs of a being far greater than him.