Chapter 3 Gilgamos Commissioned a chapter

"My lord it's time to awaken." A voice gently spoke as soft hands shook my shoulder ever so slightly bringing me to consciousness swiftly.

"Alpha don't wake me up at the crack of dawn dammit..." I groaned looking up to her above me with bleary eyes and I froze as reality hit me. I had been isekaied and this was now my life.

"Jake are you alright?" Alpha asked me with concern, and I closed my eyes as I just buried my face under my pillow as I prayed to Morpheus or any god with domains to do with sleep or dreams to knock me out again... But saying nothing of how no such gods were within me at this time, but such gods would likely just ignore me or laugh at my mortal issues.

"Sorry Alpha just life catching up I guess." I grumbled as I sat up on the edge of the bed and saw that Alpha was already dressed in her cloak that outputted a bunch of mist and obscured her figure that designated her as a devotee of Hecate.

But freaking out was going to accomplish nothing. My old life had ended and just shutting down when this new life had so many possibilities was the height of being a maidenless bitch.

"Alright Alpha I heard the door to your room opening last night for you to look around, did you find out anything?" I asked as I changed out of the sleeping clothes, I had on to put on my 'divine' outfit.

Alpha grimaced as she fingered her silk like cloak before she spoke. "Yes, I apologize if I awoke you last night as I didn't account for the sounds of the things I interact with as this cloak otherwise masks the sounds of my own movements and even my smell from passing through the mist that wafts off it." At my look for her to go on she smiled as handed me over a fresh pair of socks.

"As for your prior question I did find a good deal of interesting news to do with our host. You were right Jake. She is perfect to mold towards our ends as her husband is all but divorced as the man has been living within the capital for the last seven years as he hasn't returned from one of his increasing in length and occurrence 'business trips' after Okun gave birth to that stillborn child." Alpha finished.

I grunted in affirmation as I realized the lack of Cid to fix Claire made that scum of the earth man just give up on Okun as a wife in general. Hell in canon when Claire was kidnapped, he literally said 'whelp that sucks, there's nothing I can do.' And for that reason and several others. No one in the family in canon actually loved the cowardly man.

"Hmm... How old do you think I should say I am?" I asked wryly as I realized with my blessing of Herakles I did look like a buff as hell late teenager but before that I was clearly de-aged to a state that matched Alpha's stage of just getting into pubescence.

"Just say you are an adult... I wish I could at times, but my current form does allow the advantage of pretending to be gullible and ignorant to subtly extract information from people." Alpha calmly answered and I shrugged as that was fine enough.

After I finished getting dressed, I stretched before patting Alpha on her head. "Alright Alpha you go on ahead and see if you can find some retired knights or something that can give pointers on how to activate the magic within yourself. I am going to use my miracles to build a nice size church for us and our flock." I ordered and she bowed her head in agreement.

-

"Okun, a wonderful morning to you." I greeted the matriarch of the Kageno family, and she smiled softly as she stood in the middle of the front hall and standing behind her was Claire who was looking up at me. "Were you awaiting to greet me?" I asked and Claire nodded.

"Yup! I asked mom soooo many times last night to take me to see you create the church, that she finally said yes!" She said excitedly with a hint of smug energy with her that made a honest smile cross my face at how adorable she was.

"Very well. I would welcome the whole town to see, if it wouldn't interfere with their duties Haha." I joked with Okun's sending me a silent thank you with her eyes.

Okun then clapped her hands with maids coming out of the shadows of the room. "Very well please follow me, Jake Barriss. I spent a long while last night designating an area for the location of your building." She explained as she gracefully wrapped her arm through my own, so her breasts pushed up against them as she escorted me outside the noble mansion.

As the maids behind us tittered I was faintly able to hear what they were saying as they spoke of how we actually looked like a family or something as Okun held my arm against her chest and Claire so happily held her hand while the three of us walked into the carriage that was going to take us to wherever Okun decided to have our church.

"So, the church will be in the town or something?" I asked and she shook her head with a wry smile.

"No Lord Apostle... I have decided to use my title as baroness over these lands to give you a certain old settlement in the hopes that you can have the area fixed up and should you make a road with your divine miracles then all the citizens in the area can travel to your church. Also, the land would be permanently yours with you only needing to pay taxes to the Royal Family once you hit your majority." She said smiling proudly and I applauded her tactics.

Sure, getting people into the church would be a bit of a pain at first. But once the miracles start rolling out, then people will travel from all over will travel for said miracles.

"Oh, by the way would you have any way to get me admitted with legitimacy into the Midgar Academy in a couple years?" I asked and she frowned before shaking her head.

"No, as a baroness, my ranking would only allow children born of my own loins to enter and at that they would receive the least amount of attention and support within the school due to being the lowest ranking nobility." She explained frankly making me hum in thought.

So, either I had to do some weird shit to get entered into the school as a student... Or I could go whole hog and play the divine card when I am inevitably recognized for what I am and take a somewhat advisory role or something within the school.

"Uhm why do you want to go to school?" Claire asked me and in response I reached out of the closed carriage we were travelling in to grab a hand full of leaves.

As my hands closed around the wad of leaves in my hand, I closed my eyes as I activated my transfusion ability and begin magically controlling the crystallizing leaves to become a beautiful rose head made out of ruby and sapphires to add shading to it. "Because Claire, even with god's graces filling my mind with the truth of the heavens." I then opened my hand making Claire gasp at the beautiful light gem pin that I gently put into her long hair. "Even mortal knowledge has its own value." Then I looked into her eyes as I smiled. "I am also the same age as you, so going to school with you would be nice." I said winking and she flushed as Okun gaped at me.

"Wait you are only thirteen!" She gasped and I couldn't help giggling as she looked utterly devasted for some reason. "Yup my older looking form is part of receiving the blessing the God Herakles the God of strength." I said proudly and she just closed her eyes obviously in her thoughts though I wasn't too worried about them.

But as we got closer to our designation I deadpanned as I eyed the lady in front of me. "Okun... I know where we are and unfortunately there is issues if we go into there. I had to clean up some bandits that were in the abandoned township." I explained.

At that she grimaced as she looked to Claire before a firm look entered her eyes. "I understand... If Claire desires to continue her lessons into swordsmanship anyway then she should see what her skills result in." She said firmly before she looked down at her daughter. "Claire, I support you in your desire to become strong. But I need to see if you can hold that willpower in the face of the results of your swordsmanship." She said and Claire nodded trying to put on a strong face, but I shook my head.

"My lady, the horses are acting anxious and wont continue." The old man handling the horses called out from his perch atop the carriage and I wondered if these horses could smell blood as I could already.

"I never got a chance to properly bury or clean up the sight... It won't be pretty." I warned her as I hopped out of the carriage, and I took a breath ignoring the foul smell of decomposing bodies left behind as I took in the wrecked remains of the previous small town.

As I walked into the town I could hear Claire who was running up behind me gag as the smell hit her nose, but I continued as I walked into the town center and laid hold of a pack of wolves gnawing at the remains of what I left the previous night.

Wordlessly I leaned down placing my hands on the ground as I transmuted the ground into a large, spiked Kanabo made out of solid tungsten that weighed a solid ton. "Woah!" Claire whispered in awe as she saw me heft the large club out of the ground as the wolves heard me get the club out of the ground along with Claire's reaction.

"Come spawn of Fenrir! Taste the might of Herakles!" I taunted jokingly playing it up for Claire as I saw that she was looking positively green at the sight of the wolves tearing into the flesh of the people I never buried or anything.

These wolves had no fear for me as a human that hunted their kind and I wondered if that had to do with the magical monsters that seldomly left the depths of the forest to the more inhabitable parts of Midgar and thus the wolves just thought of me as more food or competition for said food.

But as one of the wolves lunged for me... I wound up the massive Kanabo like a baseball bat and as my hips spun with the motion of swinging the bat, I got to see the wolf all but explode as its flesh could not at all withstand the impact of a truck's weight of force ramming it at high speed.

When my swing ended, I didn't launch a wolf's corpse backwards. No, I launched a splatter of gore through the air that collided with the last charging wolf that howled in pain at being pelted with the bone splinters and other remains of the last wolf.

Wordlessly I dashed forward and then I hefted the club over my head with a loud wet thudding noise that spooked the horses that brought us into the town. My Kanabo splattered the wolf into the ground.

"Man, this club is not my style." I grimaced as I dearly thanked having lived in the boonies in my past life as seeing the splattered remains of an animal wasn't anything new to me... It wasn't uncommon for people with thick steel bumpers on their trucks to 'accidentally' ram into a deer while going like seventy miles an hour, so they didn't need to buy meat for dinner for a couple weeks for their family.

"Alright Clair..." I said as I turned to her and stabbed the club into the ground so it could stand up on the flat surface on its end. "Those people were for the most part bandits. Literally terrible people that don't deserve to live." I said frankly and she swallowed at the sight and subtly grabbed the edge of my robe for support, but I didn't say anything.

"People can and will die in battle so if you wish to become a master of that. You need to become the one to kill your enemy before they can do that to you." I warned her as I gently patted her on her head as I moved to use my transmutation abilities to transform the corpses into air so I wouldn't need to bury them.

Once the bodies were all dealt with I just kneeled in the soil as Claire went to go stand beside her mother.

"Jake where do you plan to place this church you mentioned?" Okun asked me and I smiled as silver lightning sparked from around me as my hand buried itself in the soil.

"The church is everything around us." I grinned as the world seemed to break down around into cosmic dust as the once abandoned buildings, the nearby trees and even the soil we stood upon broke down as the ground we stood upon became a smooth marble and massive pillars of granite and marble sprouted from the ground as I raised a monolithic cathedral modeled after the Notre Dame as that was the most notable church that style building, I knew.

With the church lit by the large windows at the top of the cathedral everyone including the servants stood in awed silence as I raised a beautiful heritage site within moments with my 'divine' grace.

"Welcome to the Notre Dame Secundus. Home of the Gaia Pantheon of Gods." I said regally placing my hand at my stomach and bowing lightly in their direction as though greeting them and in response the servants just fell to their knees, and I felt my Herakles and Hecate within me stir slightly at the feeling of faith fill them. I left many large stands in the church blank but prominently were two statutes, one with Hecate's statue of what I felt like she looked like, and the second one being a statue of Herakles.

As I rose back up fully, I saw Okun was looking at with some unknown emotions but either way I paid more attention to Claire who was investigating the statues of I placed. "Uhm who are these gods?" She asked and both the servants and her mother focused heavily on me as I spoke.

"Ah the man is Herakles, the god of strength and heroes, he led a life of great adventure, suffering, much loss and accomplishing so very much before he ascended to godhood on his own merits." I explained and I felt the power of Herakles swell within me as Claire identified with the god though she didn't seem to pray or latch out towards him like Alpha's soul seemed to at mention of Hecate.

"Next to him, is the goddess Hecate, a born goddess whose domains magic, witchcraft, the moon, mist, and finally known as the keeper of the Crossroads of fate." I explained before I got into a bit more into Herakles myths and some of his accomplishments though I avoided bringing up the whole Greek Pantheon as that would complicate things with how I only had access and proof of the two gods.

"So, Lady Alpha has a connection to Hecate I presume due to her robes that have mist radiating from it?" Okun asked respectfully and I nodded.

"Thats correct, she is a disciple and follower of Hecates more magical domains but hmm?" I spoke before cutting off as my eye twitched as I picked up voices coming from the entrance of the church.

"Oi is this some church filled with treasures Haha!" A loud voice roared, and I watched as a crowd of a fucking dozen bandits walked into the church armed with ragged weapons of all sorts.

Maybe Cid had something going on in his head when he thought those Diabolos Cult idiots always popping up everywhere were just bandits... You would think after I slaughtered that party last night, I would have thinned out the local scum population but here they are.

"This is a house of god... Be aware that gods and goddess's eyes lay upon you here and now!" I warned them as I felt divine might fill my form and the light thickened coming through the church's many windows and seemingly angling towards me the light fell upon me reflecting off my golden hair, golden threads in my robe and the blood red gems adorned upon it.

"Peh! Beatrix is a cunt and her nuns squeal the best Haha!" The lead bandit snarled and in response to the man's words I felt a new source of divinity a new god form within me.

From within my very soul, I heard a velvety smooth masculine voice speak within me as time seemed to stop. "In the purity of Light, I Baldur grant you, my blessings. Show the world the beauty of purity and kindness, and you will become a beacon to the universe." Baldur spoke to me, and my form shifted ever so slightly to fit the most perfect god among the Aesir, and within my hand a solid lance of pure almost blinding golden light formed.

"You refuse to repent from true evil... I wish you the best in your next reincarnation." I said coldly as I thumped the bottom of my light spear on the ground and in response several dozen spears of light shot from the ground where they were entering into the church and pierced through their forms except for the leader who dashed forward at a great pace to avoid them as he drew his sword as he charged at me.

"Your magic tricks won't work on me a real spellknight!" He roared and in response I created a blinding flashbang of light aimed directly at his face like I held a magnifying glass up in front of the sun and aimed that beam of light into his eyes.

As the man rolled across the ground at suddenly losing his sight as his vision was likely reduced to spot, he wasn't able to dodge the next forest of spears of light that sprouted from the ground and impaled the man into the air.

"How...." The man gurgled but I just walked over while the man was still sort of alive and then after poking him as he stared up at me in hate, I transmuted the man into just air.

'My transmutation, works on living people as well but it requires me to lay my whole hand on them and take like a solid three seconds... Not optimal honestly.' I thought as I realized the power wasn't that great for the higher speed combat this world specialized with its swordsmen. To say nothing of how I couldn't actually grab people swinging their swords at me unless I disables them first.

"Lady Kageno?" I asked loudly and my return to her noble name made it clear I wasn't joking around. "Are the bandit problems truly so terrible around here?" I asked as I went around poofing the bodies out of existence and the sight definitely unsettled the servants who looked terrified of my actions that were beyond any magic they knew of.

Okun swallowed before bowing her head. "Apostle, I am ashamed to confirm those words as we are a food producing land with little else of value so with the large, forested land bandits lie in wait to purloin any foodstuffs they desire as well as the coins from the farmers who return from selling their crops at the Capital's local train station exit." She explained and I facepalmed at her words.

"Why don't you levy some people to drive them off or even kill them?" I asked and in response she snorted as she pointed at the sword of the bandit leader I killed.

"That bandit leader could kill hundreds of peasants charging at him with his awakened magical power... And no Spellknights will bother reside on my land after my husband has ruined the Kageno name with his gambling and whoring habits in the Captial." She stated dryly.

No wonder the Cult of Diabolos decided to make a side base here... This place was undefended as hell!

"Alright... Let's go see what these bandits have outside or if I can track their base down while you guys' head back home to your manor Okun." I said more in a more friendly manner and she visibly relaxed as I walked past her with that spear of light changed in my hand to two smaller battle axes as I tried to find what felt comfortable in my hands.

Walking out of the church I found the bandits actually had some stout horses that they obviously used to ride through the thin forest surrounding the town... Maybe such a fuck off huge church with a several spires that reached high above the surrounding forestry was a bad idea, as its leading to be a beacon for the surroundings.

"These horses were stolen from one of the larger farms on the edge of my territory... Jake how about I gift these two beautiful horses that are in well shape to your church so you and Lady Alpha can get around?" Okun asked and I shrugged.

"I appreciate it in that case." I said as I wondered if I could transmute food for them or something and after a bit of thought I cancelled that thought and just asked Okun if I could borrow one of the carts she had off to the side of her property to go to the town and get supplies to make living at the church easier.

"Oh, that's no problem at all. Just you killing that bandit who was a bottom of the barrel spell knight is worth several gold coins if he had a bounty for his crimes." She said waving off my request so I just took in the area surrounding the church and realized I needed to get rid of the surrounding forest so I could put up a wall to keep out undesirables.

"Well in that case I suggest we get heading back home." I said as I turned to walk over to the carriage that thankfully the bandits didn't mess with other than checking it for any valuable's which there thankfully weren't any.

The servants seeing so much nonsense I pulled, walked around eggshells around me as even Okun was no longer able to look at me as someone around Claire's age while we loaded back up into the carriage. Granted a part of me would normally feel sad about them putting a bit of distance between us but I could feel the faith coming from them and knew that I had hooks upon them and whatever thoughts of dismay were shut down as I felt my the faith coming from them.

But Claire on the other hand did not fear me or anything, as instead of sitting next to her mother. She instead insisted on sitting beside me in the carriage as her wide eyes asked me about the light manipulation I used.

-

Like thirty minutes later of the carriage heading back to town I was greeted by Alpha as soon as I got back into the mansion while I was discussing with Okun the carts I was going to borrow and have those horses she gave to me used to cart around supplies.

But as I took in Alpha, I noticed she had a split lip, and she was favoring one of her sides. So, I respectfully bid Okun and had to not so gracefully yeet Claire off my cart as she snuck under a blanket while I was talking to her mother like she was trying to hitch a ride in a car.

"Have a nice day ladies!" I called out as I waved at them while subtly helping Alpha into the horse drawn cart.

But once the cart was pulled away from the ladies and the Kageno household I spoke softly. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Alpha nodded as she pulled aside her robe and lifted her shirt to show a dark red bruise on her stomach before I hurriedly pulled down her shirt as we were about to pull into town. "Ok I get it. You could have just said you had a bruise I was worried you got stabbed or something." I said exasperated but she only chuckled at my awkwardness.

"I will be fine... But I need your help, Jake." She said biting her lip in thought and in response I raised an eyebrow as she chewed on her thoughts. "I found one of my friends in the forest that was being tracked by some Diabolos Cult members. I need your help to cure them of the demon possession that is making it hard for them do anything." She asked and I wanted to face palm again.

How fucking lucky does she have to get to actually meet the woman that would become Beta just out in the damned woods surrounding the land... Actually, does that mean Delta, Zeta and the others would come into our area as well?' I pondered wryly as I couldn't help my eyes twitching as I wondered if other crap was going to follow the usual nonsense.

"Sure of course." I answered swiftly. "How did you handle the Cult members?" I asked and Alpha's cold smile was honestly. scary.

"I was a silent wraith who slit their throats before they could call out. They never got a hint of my actions as they were so enraptured with chasing and taunting my friend... But either way let me control the horses so we can head there." Alpha said and in response I handed the reigns to her and mentally swore never to piss her off as I recalled how Shadow Garden didn't give a shit about killing 'evil' as they called it.

"So, you want to share anything about your friend?" I asked and her face tightened before it smoothed back into her polite smile.

"Ah... She is a cow." Alpha said with no shame making me blink in complete confusion.

-

No matter how I asked, Alpha just avoided my questions about her old friend and even her old life back in the elfish lands. Although I didn't know too much about her old life, I did however now she was the niece of the war goddess Beatrix who was already combing the world for her.

"That old life is dead to me... Please stop asking Jake." Alpha finally broke the awkward silence after she diverted another question about where she actually grew up and at that I remembered how literally every of the named seven shadows being Alpha Beta, Gamma, Delta, Zeta, Epsilon, and Eta were orphans who had their family killed or were violently abandoned and exiled from their homes.

Another few minutes later as we rode towards her friends last location, I could already smell the corruption of the curse in the air. "She is close, I can smell the Demon Possession curse." I said hopping off the cart and then transmuted a pole to tie the horses to before racing off to catching up to Alpha who was silently running across the forest floor making no sounds at all while I honestly sounded like a bull charging as my superhuman speed was the result of my superhuman strength propelling me forward.

"Here." Alpha whispered and then she lifted up a wooden pallet that was overgrown with moss and covered in leaves to hide a hole in the ground that was being powered by the local magical lamps people used. "She is down here. I cleared out the Diabolos Cult and even their leader... He was the one who managed to kick me away even after I slit his throat and put the dagger you gave me through his heart." Alpha explained before looking contritely. "It still hurts so don't let her know because she is a bit of a baby."

"Alright I won't say anything." I said wryly as I followed Alpha through the bunker before I hummed in thought. "This bunker could also act as a good base for any forces you make as well." I said looking around the rooms and tried not to pay any attention to the couple dozen bodies littering the floor.

"I will need to collapse the known entrances and make new ones... But after that yes it will make a good bunker." Alpha agreed before she pointed into a room. "She is in there and is actually cognizant of the world around her." She warned me.

Walking into the room I saw the mutated form of the woman that would become Beta and I blinked in slight surprise as it wasn't a true horrid abomination like the other two, I had worked with in Alpha and Clair.