Jack and the others were still confused about what was happening. They gave the remaining Gods confused expressions. However, the two Goddesses' attention was not on them. The Goddesses were distraught by what had happened to Hope.
Seeing the situation, Greed came forward and explained what was going on to Grace.
The others were wondering why Greed was specifically talking to Grace instead of addressing all of them together, but they didn't dare to protest. They just crowded around Grace and listened.
They were very surprised after listening to the story. They never expected Master's machination to extend even to the demise of a God.
They knew that Master was also the reason for the absence of the other good Gods, Courage and Joy, but that was done due to program tampering before the world was turned. The feat of killing a God in-world, calling it a miracle was an understatement.
Even if it was not Master who did it directly, killing one indirectly was also an act not less inconceivable.
One thing they could be glad of was the fact that Fear had been wounded and the other two Gods colluding with him had been threatened into hiding. This would limit their interference for some time. They just had to defeat Master before those Gods realized Hope was gone.
When Jack thought of using this chance to ask Serenity to help them defeat Master's army, he noticed Serenity was staring at him with a weird look.
"Lady Serenity…"
Serenity stopped Jack before he asked anything. She asked instead, "Tell me, Storm Wind. Fear and Pride told us how this world is a fake one, that this world was created by the outworlders for entertainment purposes. Are you aware of this?"
"He does," It was Greed who answered.
Jack turned to Greed with an irritated expression. Why did this nosy God have to answer for him? This just made it look as if he was concealing information from her. But after thinking about it, that was indeed what he had done.
"Lady Serenity, I…"
Serenity stopped him again. She then said with a hard stare, "Just tell me everything you know. Do not try to hide anything!"
Jack saw the seriousness on Serenity's face. At the moment, she was not the gentle Goddess Jack was familiar with. Jack nodded at her and complied. He narrated everything he knew. All the truth that Wilted had revealed to him as well as how most of them came to be in this world.
He tried to add an explanation at the end of his tale, about why he withheld such information from her. It was very sensitive information, and she was a very powerful being. He told her that he feared how she would react upon finding out.
When Jack went silent after his tale, Peniel nudged him with a message via their minds. Jack quickly bowed and apologized to Serenity.
Serenity continued being silent. Her gaze was slightly blank. Jack wasn't even sure if she heard everything he had said.
When Jack opened his mouth again to say something, Serenity just went and vanished.
Confused, Jack turned to the remaining good God who was there, Love. Love didn't look any better.
When Love noticed all the outworlders were staring at her, she said, "I need to think about all this… We both do."
She then vanished as well.
"Well, I can't blame them. It's a shocker news, after all. Still, I must say they are doing better compared to me when I first learned this truth," Greed said, referring to the time he tried to blast Master to oblivion when Master revealed the truth to him, Fear, and Wrath.
Jack sighed. Here he thought he could use the opportunity to ask Serenity to give them more direct aid against Master.
"Now that all those are out of the way, let us discuss an important thing," Greed came before Jack and stared at him with narrow eyes.
"What… What do you want?" Jack stammered. He remembered again that this God was still here. Would Greed drag him back to his sanctum? Or would Greed punish him here?
"God Greed. You promised…," Grace said.
Greed glanced at Grace before looking back at Jack. "You are lucky she is looking out for you," he said.
Greed turned to Grace and said, "Remember to come back once in a while."
"Thank you, God Greed."
Greed turned back to Jack again. "You! You take good care of her! If you let her get harmed, or worse, if you harm her or even if you simply make her feel sad, I will come for you! Do you get me, punk?!"
Jack nodded vehemently.
"Hm… All right. Take care!" Greed vanished. He was looking at Grace when he said the last two words.
Once the Gods were all gone, John made a sound, "They just left us here after dragging us here without permission. What a dick move!"
"John, they might still hear us!" Jeanny warned.
"They aren't real Gods. They are not omniscient," John countered. "Let me prove it. Hey, all you fake Gods! You are nothing but dicks!"
Everyone moved away from John, expecting a lightning bolt to strike him, and didn't want to get caught in the blast.
A few seconds passed without anything happening. "See? You, people, are too superstitious. Come on, let's go back. The army is already in chaos because their king and royal advisor just vanished into thin air. I've sent a message to Tip to calm them down."
"Wait! Wait!" Jack called. "Before that, let's show each other what we have just received."
"Receive what?" Paytowin asked.
"Hope's sanctifications, of course!" Jack exclaimed. "I will go first. This sanctification, Strength of Hope, gives me an inherent skill that has a passive effect and an active ability. Its passive effect gave me a 30% boost to HP and strength stat. As for its active ability, I gain a buff similar to the one given by Divine Might Potion for half an hour."
