Knocking her down to level one and making her start over obviously wouldn't work. Taking an unconventional approach—listening to another Diana tell her story to clarify her inner beliefs—seemed like a good alternative.
After hearing Thea's detailed explanation, the long-legged goddess wordlessly donned her armor, opened the window, and flew toward Themyscira for seclusion. She was going to attempt that final step.
Abandoned, Thea hugged her pillow pitifully and slept alone for the night. At dawn, she returned to New Genesis.
Processing the numerous souls was the most urgent matter. Referencing the Underworld's design, she first sought out the Highfather to propose establishing a small soul-reincarnation dimension.
"Thea, we New Gods are different from the Old Gods. Not just us—Darkseid's side doesn't have such a dimension either. All New Gods are like my children. I don't want to see their lives end either, but the rules simply don't allow for a good solution."
Thea had noticed this already. The souls she'd recovered were only from New Gods; Earth humans' souls had dissipated in that world, and Apokoliptian demons had no souls at all.
If she wanted to establish something like the Underworld, she'd need key Divine Positions for Death, Fate, Records, and Time working in concert. Soul was essential too, of course.
The New God birthrate was comparable to giant pandas. Every death pained the Highfather. Before, there'd been no solution. Now that Thea held the Soul Divine Position, he paid close attention.
Summoning Metron, the god of knowledge, the three of them researched for half a day before finally producing a knockoff, budget version of the Underworld.
Thea learned extensively from Metron about how different pantheons handled their dead. The Highfather also opened his treasury, and together with her divine power, they created a top-tier divine artifact.
It was a divine artifact functionally similar to the Eight Treasures Merit Pool. Any New God soul that passed through it could reincarnate on New Genesis in their next life.
Previously, ordinary citizens of New Genesis and Apokolips were randomly reborn on either planet after death. A New Genesis warrior in this life might become an Apokolips civilian in the next.
Though Apokolips's ordinary people lived in misery, their civilian population was substantial. Granny Goodness and the defector Mahd'Aron had both ascended from civilian to god.
By locking their own side's souls in—only entering, never leaving—future random rebirths would all come from the enemy's pool. New Genesis's population would grow while Apokolips's shrank. Over time, the odds would shift dramatically in their favor.
Afterward, Thea installed this golden artifact—named the Reincarnation Pool—in a side hall off the central plaza. She deposited over a hundred thousand souls inside. Given local birthrates, after waiting in line for a century or two, most would eventually have a chance to reincarnate.
Referencing the trap Wotan had fallen into, she also gave the souls a choice: lower their aptitude but retain memories and stay happily with family, or reincarnate directly as a completely new person. Their call.
With the clan's major affairs settled, she finally had time to consider her own legion's issues. She was definitely on Darkseid's blacklist now. Next battle, the Magic Legion would be a priority target.
Establishing close-combat roles was urgent. Searching her memory and combining it with her abilities, she found a troop type suitable for her legion: Spellbreakers.
Clad in heavy armor, wielding longswords and kite shields, these warriors would serve as the legion's first line of defense.
The Arts Divine Position from the Highfather also sparked new ideas. Many legion soldiers were limited by aptitude—they might train their whole lives without reaching high-ranking mage status. Rather than waste time, better to change careers.
Combining magical knowledge with the Arts Divine Position, she developed a new profession for the legion: Bards—performers who sang, played instruments, and praised great deeds.
Could they fight in close combat? Yes, but not expertly. Could they cast spells? Yes, but only low-level ones.
Wearing light armor and carrying sharp blades, this new profession was a jack-of-all-trades—capable of everything but master of nothing. Perfect for average people with balanced attributes.
Thanks to her high reputation from confronting Darkseid, recruitment went smoothly.
She recruited a hundred thousand Spellbreakers directly. With their consent, she artificially destroyed their magical cores. The cost was severe—they could never cast spells again—but the benefit was that the dispersed magic flowed through their bodies, dramatically enhancing physical attributes and granting considerable magic resistance.
Bard recruitment didn't go as well. New Genesis citizens would rather destroy their magic cores to become Spellbreakers than learn to sing and play instruments.
Thea talked herself hoarse, using every trick and persuasion to barely gather ten thousand. This also reflected the Arts Divine Position's weak status.
The next day, the Council of Nine convened again. The Highfather first acknowledged everyone's contributions, then mentioned something that caught Thea's attention.
"Darkseid's true body is wounded. Until it heals, he won't personally enter the field. If he does appear, it will definitely be an avatar."
The Justice League was coming! She didn't know why the original timeline's Darkseid had targeted Earth, but now it was definitely because of her. Thea had that much confidence.
She'd drawn his attention. To strike at her, there was a seventy percent chance his next target would be Earth. The good news was that only an avatar would come. Could she defeat his avatar? Thea drew a mental question mark. The sword strike carrying half of Earth-2's soul power had been shattered. Her confidence was genuinely low. If she couldn't manage alone, she'd have to gather thirty-nine allies to fight together.
"One more thing, Goddess Thea. Ugha and others are now using your Soul Divine Position sigils to collect souls across various battlefields. Many previously deceased souls have been recovered. This is joyous news worth celebrating—they're all our brothers and sisters. But reincarnation opportunities... are too few. They're all piling up at the Reincarnation Pool. It's becoming quite inconvenient." The Highfather chose his words carefully.
Thea had been busy recruiting and genuinely hadn't known about this. She looked toward the plaza outside. The once-bustling square now felt somewhat eerie. This was awkward—those who knew would say it was the Highfather's base of justice; those who didn't might think it was an undead cemetery.
Too many souls, too few rebirth slots—that was the current situation. New God birthrates had always been low, meaning reincarnation opportunities were scarce each year.
The old man was too dignified. He couldn't exactly tell ordinary people, "If you've got nothing better to do, hurry home and make babies! We've got souls lined up waiting to reincarnate!"
He couldn't save face. He was the god of justice and fairness, not some fertility deity.
The problem wasn't critical but couldn't be ignored either. Thea lowered her head to think.
Damn! Even the best cook can't make a meal without ingredients. Without those Divine Positions, she couldn't do much. The Underworld's river-crossing games, first trial, second trial, third trial, all those entertaining activities like climbing knife mountains and diving into oil cauldrons—she couldn't set any of that up. She had only a lone Soul Divine Position. What could she do?
Connecting this to her recruitment efforts, she suddenly thought of a good solution.