As soon as the last system window appeared, a massive pulse of blood-red power spread out from me.
This power was strange as it seemed similar to Qi in some ways, but it was far more concentrated, and there was another power I could not place that was intertwined with it.
When the pulse of this power appeared, it seemed to shock Kaya, and she even started to assume a fighting stance when the pulse reached her.
As soon as the pulse was about to touch her, a dark black mist appeared and seemed to shield her as another concentration of black mist in the shape of some dark and twisted creature appeared next to Kaya.
That seemed to shock Kaya even more as she went to move away from the creature, but chains made of the dark mist appeared, wrapping around her limbs and holding her in place.
The dark creature next to her then tried to move closer to her but was stopped as the pulse of blood-red energy returned and gathered together next to me in the form of a nine-tailed kitsune I was familiar with.
It was Haruka, but this time, instead of a sword at her waist, she was holding a large javelin that seemed to be dripping with blood.
She then raised it like she was getting ready to throw it and shouted, "I thought I told you to stop invading this world!"
When she finished talking, she threw the javelin in her hand and it seemed to blink across the distance between her and the creature as it blasted apart whatever barrier was between them and struck the thing.
The javelin itself blasted straight through the creature as it tore off parts of it that looked like blood and bones before the mist itself seemed to shatter, and it all dispersed.
I then had a new system window made of golden light with blood-red highlights appear in my vision.
{Congratulations on purging the curse of consumption and stopping the forced possession and incarnation of a demonic deity}
{As you were not the one to deal with the demonic deity yourself, the rewards have been reduced, and you will not receive any new levels}
{For this feat, you have been awarded with 50 religion points and are now able to perform rights of purification using your champion deity's power}
This entire sequence of events was still a little hard for me to follow even after the system windows appeared.
I honestly never expected to encounter something like this, and I still did not know how to respond even after Kaya calmed down and walked up to me. She then grabbed me by the shoulders and asked a little louder than she needed to, "What did you just do?!"
This shocked me enough to make me realize what just happened a little quicker, but it still took a few seconds before I was able to respond, all the while, I felt her grip on my shoulders tightening.
I eventually said, "When you mentioned that name of that demonic deity pantheon, my system went haywire for a moment as one of my blessings activated."
That seemed to shock her as she started to mumble under her breath, "But they said they were one of the righteous deities, and they were even able to heal me from near death."
I could not help but narrow my eyes at this and wonder if they were really an elder of the sect as I retorted to her statement that she did not direct to me, "Don't demonic cultivators say that their righteous cultivators and even help people to build up their trust so no one will suspect them.
"Not to mention, would a righteous deity put a curse of consumption on you while trying to forcefully possess you and make you into their incarnation?"
That seemed to snap her out of it as she started squeezing my shoulders even harder and asked, "Then what about that blood-red energy from your blessing?"
The stare she gave me after asking that was filled with even more hostility than earlier, clearly waiting for a reason to do something dangerous, but I did not have much to hide, so I answered, "That was the power from the Grand Kitsune goddess of Blood, War, and Honor Haruka. Which just so happened to purge the curse you were under while interrupting and stopping the possession of your body by a demonic deity."
When she heard Haruka's name, Kaya released my shoulders and backed off but still maintained some of the hostility in her eyes as she retorted, "Don't be cheeky with me, you little brat.
"Now I know the name of Haruka as she is one of the most widely worshiped Kitsune deities, by not only the kitsune shockingly, however, I never heard of her being a goddess of blood, only war and honor."
I titled my head at that, as I remember Haruka telling me that she was a deity of all three. I even told Kaya as much as I said, "But when I met her along with Stephanie, she told me that those were her three domains."
My words clearly caused her to be shocked, as she quickly asked me in return, "Wait! Did you just say that you met them? Like physically?"
I knew that it would be a little rare to meet one of the deities, but with how much I have been interacting with them and how much Mom has been talking with one, I would have thought that it would be a little more common.
So her question confused me a little as I asked, "Yeah. I mean, Elinaria did adopt me, and there was a small incident a few days ago that resulted in me being pulled into Stephanie's divine domain so they could try to help me.
However, they did not know how to handle it entirely, so they asked Haruka for some help, which was how I met her, and then after all of that, she gave me her blessing."
This left both Kaya and the Sect Master shocked for some reason until Kaya found something else to latch onto and asked, "Wait, when you say Stephanie, do you mean the goddess of Fertility, Life, and Reincarnation?"
Hearing that question, my eyes lit up, and I asked, "Oh, do you know her too? Although she said her domains are in the reverse order, I am almost certain they are the same."
This only caused the both of them to become more shocked before the Sect Master sighed and started rubbing his temples while Kaya muttered under her breath, "The Novae kingdom is going to throw a fit over you."
That only caused me to get more confused before the Sect Master turned to me and asked, "Did you want to start making the Shrine now?"
With that reminder, I nearly jumped from my spot and started nodding my head rapidly, saying, "Yes," very loudly.
Kaya only sighed at this with a small smile on her face as the two of them moved to clear everyone from the square.
This took a while, so I had the time to think of what I wanted the shrine to be. I knew that I wanted there to be a statue for both Stephanie and Haruka in the shrine as well, so that was an easy thing as the only difficult part about that is how I want them to be placed and where.
I also did not want this place to be easily overlooked, so I had to think of a design for that. Sadly, I did not have all the materials in the world to make this, so I had to be practical, but now that I was thinking about that, I let my imagination run wild for a moment to consider what I would do if I did.
I got so lost in my imagination that I was only pulled out when both the Sect Master and Kaya came back to tell me that they were ready.
I still did not have anything in mind for the shrine, so I tried to stall for time by asking for something I knew I would need anyway. "Do either of you have some flowers and trees I could use for the shrine?"
Kaya seemed to be quick on the uptake as she replied with an awkward smile, "Would plants and trees made of ice do?"
I was about to respond to her when a new system window made of golden light appeared in my vision. This time however, instead of the blood-red highlights, they were made of green and pink.
{The grandmother/goddess Stephanie says that she will sponsor all the materials the system does not strictly state for the shrine's construction and upgrade}
Well, with that, I turned back to the Sect Master and Kaya and said with a smile, "Never mind. Stephanie said that she will sponsor it."
Now it was time to build the shrine I was just daydreaming about.
Thank you, no material cost.