"Of course Rose's budding divinity is far more potent than Ivy's now! But we can still use Ivy as a grindstone to further hone Rose though!" said a casual sounding voice, lacking any sense of formality as it tried to reason with the two others.
A mortal might see it as a charismatic and outgoing existence.
"But, but what if Ivy kills her in the next cycle? Wouldn't that be a waste?!" A panicked voice said, filled with a sense of urgency.
"Then that would mean we were wrong about her. Nothing more, nothing less, just like every time before," a calm and stoic voice said.
"But what if we're found out!? All of our efforts would go to waste!" the panicked voice yelled, hoping the other two would see its point of view.
"Sure sure, because of course they'd peer into the fabric of chaos. You know how long it took us just to prepare our presence here! There's no way they'd bother looking here!"
"Indeed, no sane Supreme would prepare for an extended stay here just to look for a measly three Deviants."
"Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and salvage what's left of Ivy's soul. Shouldn't be too terribly damaged yet, it's only been three zeptoseconds."
The Outgoing Watcher reached into the sparkling orb that floated between the three of them, pulling out a small bubble containing Ivy's soul; Ivy's budding divinity. It then left the bubble to float around them aimlessly, joining the other bubbles that had already proven worthy to go into the next cycle.
It then turned its attention back on Valerio and Amon.
Valerio joined his spell's assault, launching waves upon waves of attacks. Amon had to get serious again, but he was able to chase down Valerio in that incessant wave of spells. Their crimson auras intensified whenever Amon managed to exchange blows with Valerio.
Each exchange brought them closer to divinity.
The fluctuations of power reached Rose first and Matt second, though the time difference was immeasurable in that short distance. While Matt continued to heal himself, Rose had turned to look at the spectacle.
The smooth white sphere she had escaped from had started to grow unstable. Different elemental attacks flew out of it from time to time as she continued watching, and she was awestruck by the odd sense of beauty the chaotic scene managed to evoke.
Then, the white glow of the light element slowly turned crimson. The fear that sudden change evoked made Rose turn around and continue her flight to somewhere safe.
Their sphere of influence was affecting the stability of the divine spell, as they rapidly approached its level of power. Their exchanges sent shockwaves through the fabric of reality, tearing holes into it, which led to the fabric of chaos the Watchers resided in.
"Woah, that hasn't happened in a while. Look at the size of that rip!"
"Quick, fix it! The universe might become unstable and fall apart before the other Divinities are ready!"
"You're right. . . We should move on to the next phase of our plan, and create an infinite universe once the next batch of divinities are ready to ascend." the Calm Watcher said as it touched the rip, mending it as if it were an afterthought.
A few more opened up seconds later, which it again fixed mindlessly.
And then, just when Valerio and Amon began to rival the spell's raw power, its structural stability was completely compromised.
The spell violently exploded, engulfing Amon, Valerio, and Rose all at once. Their death was instantaneous, and their souls would be next if not for the Anxious Watcher's quick reflexes. Even still, the two divinities had been left in shambles, resembling puzzle pieces that had to be put back together.
And Rose's soul had nearly become an empty slate, missing many important memories.
"Phew, that was way too close," the Anxious Watcher said, relieved for the first time in billions of years. Afterwards, she put the three souls in thicker bubbles than most, before letting them join the rest.
Meanwhile, the Calm Watcher patted the orb, mending the hole the explosion had caused.
"Well then, that'll be that for Magna this cycle. A pity, that mortal plain's spirit had produced some excellent divinities, after all," the Calm Watcher said as it extracted Magna's soul from the universe.
"What about that other one, Matt?" The Anxious Watcher said.
"He'll continue on another mortal plain. Duh?"
Silence returned amongst the three Watchers, as they waited. It was a brief silence though.
A few months later, Matt had solidified his Divinity.
"I have an idea!"
"Oh no, please no. The last time you had an idea, we had to build the universe from scratch because of all of the anomalies that had appeared."
"That's exactly why I have an idea! We're in the middle of transitioning into the next phase of our plan, so now is the perfect time to experiment!"
"Excellent point. If we need to start from scratch anyway, stress testing the universe's framework with anomalies is the perfect way to ensure the following universe will last for quite some time. This current design clearly isn't versatile or durable enough for our purposes if it's getting ripped open by mere divine entities."
"Damn, when you put it that way, it is a good point. . . But still!"
The two Deviant Watchers ignored the Anxious Watcher.
The Calm Watcher gestured for the Outgoing Watcher to do what he had in mind.
"I'm going to make a slight alteration to the usual ascension process, from here on out. Rather than strip the soul of its Divinity, I'll allow the two to remain as one. Furthermore, I'm going to suspend the scrub process the other budding divinities are going through."
"What?! The amount of anomalies that'd create would be unreal! How long do you plan to have the three of us work on the next framework!?"
"What does it matter how long we take? Even if it takes a really long while, a few quintillion years at the worst, I'd rather avoid having to spend even one zeptosecond rebuilding a universe based on an old blueprint. It's so mind-numbingly boring!"
The Anxious Watcher became silent at that point, allowing the Outgoing Watcher to do what it wanted unimpeded.
The first change happened instantaneously. The Divinities and Budding Divinities were separated in an orderly fashion. Those that had already been fully scrubbed of their souls were put into one pile, configured in the form of a sphere equal in size to the universe.
Those that were in the middle of the process were halted, and then configured in the form of a square that was larger than the universe.
Finally, the ascended souls who were in the middle of building the planet they would be governing were given their divinities back, giving them the ability to make far more complex structures than before.
Many set their eyes on making their own universe, creating vast worlds of empty space, dotting that space with planets and stars that formed galaxies. Some simply just created gargantuan planets. And others even became flat planes or doughnuts!
And, they all had free reign over the laws within their world. Though, the binding laws the Deviant Watchers would create made it an impossibility for any one world to be incompatible with another world. To be more precise, it was impossible to go against their grand plan.
Those that had yet to start out of spite were put into a stasis, and given their divinities back as well, before starting a new pile. Their prowess would be locked away, and their keys were dependent on the individual. However, they'd all retain their memories and instincts.
And, those that were completely disagreeable were simply annihilated.
The newly ascended Matt was a God belonging to the former group, who was put into the new, pyramid configured pile.
"Now then. . ."
The Outgoing Watcher turned its attention to the three bubbles containing puzzles. One was a shattered double edge sword. Another was a once beautiful flower, its stem wilted beyond mortal recognition, and its sharp petals scattered within the bubble. And the last puzzle was a shattered Katana.
"The damage on these two fellows is almost irreparable. However. . ."
The flower quickly regained its vitality, and the many sharp petals went back to their proper place.
"This lady's Budding Divinity was relatively easy to fix. Though, the soul received quite a bit of damage in that explosion. It's a mass of obscure memories and instincts rather than an actual soul now. Brute forcing the repair would likely destroy what's left of this soul, so it'll take quite some time to heal."
"And what about the other two?! They stand to create the most intense anomalies we've ever seen in their current state! We can't just allow them to remain like that!"
"Actually, we could. That's the whole point of doing the stress test," the Calm Watcher said as it watched an assortment of different worlds being built in the orb floating between it and the Outgoing Watcher.
"Definitely, but I think they have a good point. I'll try to repair these two a bit to prevent anything too nasty from happening."
Putting its focus back onto the two shattered swords, the Outgoing Watcher focused on putting them back together properly. It took moments for them to come back together, but there was a slight problem.
"These types of complex Divinities are always the most troublesome. . . Their soul is the binding glue of their Divinity's foundation."
It looked at the cracked swords in frustration. Their souls had become strong enough to survive the blast, but they still suffered monumental damage. Seeing the frustration that the Outgoing Watcher experienced, the Calm Watcher made a suggestion.
"Why not try that old idea of yours?"
"Old idea?"
". . ."
". . . Oh yeah! I'm so excited to see what happens when I do this!"