The meeting began after the snickers came to an end, and everything put away their mobile gaming devices. Sax got right to the heart of the matter. Rather, he drove toward the heart of what mattered to him.

“As this meeting has been called to order. I offer up the first topic of discussion. The synergy system is broken and needs to be removed. There is nothing immersive about it,” said Sax.

Several of the godlings sitting closest to him immediately jumped to agreement, but the majority of the other department heads were openly against the idea. Synergy was not just for the NPCs living in their soon to be apocalyptic world. It was also a useful tool for the administration as well. Without it, they would have to craft things by hand.

“If anything,” said a deity with the horns of a stag, “We need to roll back the issues that you caused by trying to nerf that skill in the first place. This entire project is supposed to be about helping those people, not your stupid ideas on immersion.”

Sax snorted at the horned man-god. “Please. Those poor mortals, they need to be able to live in that world after we are forced to leave it. What sort of system of economy could they grow if anyone could just slap two pieces of material together to make a jet engine or what have you?”

Shara was the one who responded to that allegation. “You have some nerve, acting as though you care about the people living there.”

Sax glanced toward her then sighed languidly. “Oh. Good. The biggest cheater in the system has something to say.”

Well over half the gathered deities laughed openly at what amounted to a humorless joke. Shara was having none of it, however. She reached into her pocket then pulled out a file far too large to have fit there. “Given the fact that my family believes you illegally soul-tapped a resident of that world as petty revenge on us? Yes. I do have something to say.”

The mirthful atmosphere in the room died out instantly. All eyes turned toward her.

Sax schooled his expression, though his eyes became sharp and focused. “Watch what you say. It is known that I am a tolerant and merciful—”

“You’re a petty whining child who was nearly imprisoned for harassment of my family, and an illegal assault on another mortal in another world who was tied to my family,” said Shara. “The only reason you aren’t being torn apart by the tribunal right now is that stupid non-disclosure agreement.”

Shara began passing around the files, but Sax coldly rebuked her. “You do not have the floor.”

“I don’t care,” said Shara. “Legally, I can’t do anything about the situation. However, I can make absolute certain that the other department heads receive these files. I have already sent them additional copies, which they will receive shortly.”

“You are out of order! How dare you make these spurious allegations against me,” said Sax calmly, those his eyes blazed with malevolence. “You play favorites with that mortal, and yet want to impugn my good name.”

“You have no good name, and I have every legal right to choose a champion. Especially one I am certain that you abused in the first place,” replied Shara.

Sax looked to be about to speak, but the orc god spoke up first. “This… Is this true?”

“I don’t know what lies this red hair cosplay thot has chosen to tell you, but I assure you that none of it is true,” said Sax.

The orc looked at him for a moment then back down at the paperwork. “There’s strong correlation, though… and your faction has been at the forefront of calling for the very changes set to harm this mortal most.”

Everyone not directly involved within Sax’s clique looked toward their chairman. Someone else, a dwarf god, called out, “If this is true, we could all be held liable!”

“What proof! What do you have that will prove my involvement in your so-called soul tapping,” said Sax.

This brought everyone up short and they looked to her once more. There were many things stated in the report, and it was passionately written, but outside of the allegations there was little in the way of hard evidence.

“I am unable to corroborate the information through an expert due to the non-disclosure agreement,” said Shara. “I call to have the agreement annulled until such time that I can contact a system master to delve into the afflicted individual’s soul space.”

Sax snorted at her in a condescending manner. “I will not eve dignify that with a vote.”

The board room was instantly filled with protests. Many demanded an immediate vote.

Sax laughed uproariously at them all, his mask falling away. “Shout all you want. You voted me in as chairman. Unless, you can produce solid undeniable evidence that I was directly involved in that then I do not need to allow a vote.”

The stag horned god glared at sax for a moment then looked to Shara. “Does the victim know? If so, will he request charges be pressed via inquiry.”

“The victim learned of his soul tap when he died for the first time. The legal issues kept me from being able to speak of such things, but thankfully my brother can do what he wants,” said Shara.

“Silence, of course he put you up to this…” said Sax. “A ridiculous slut like you wouldn’t even begin to have the intelligence necessary to try something so stupid.”

“That language is uncalled for…” said the stag horned god. “If anything, I’m inclined to believe her solely due to how you are acting.”

Sax threw his hands outside ways then grinned wolfishly. “So what? Those contracts you signed prevent you from doing anything.”

He laughed darkly even as his grin became a sneer. “I’m entirely innocent in this matter, and that is my official statement. Without any actual proof, you’ll all just have to accept the situation as it stands.”

“I call for a contract renegotiation vote,” said the orc.

“Certainly! Let’s put it to a vote right now.” Sax raised his hand and loudly proclaimed. “Raise your hand if you wish to call for a contract renegotiation?”

Well over half of the room raised their hands. However, after the number of votes were counted Sax’s sneer grew three sizes. “Sixty-two percent. Oh, that’s just too bad.”

“As you know, you must have at least seventy percent of the vote from the department heads to either remove me from office or to allow for a renegotiation of the contracts that we all willingly signed.” Sax snickered derisively at them all then threw his feet up onto the boardroom table. “Seems to me, you all are stuck with the status quo.”

“Given your attitude, and how it no doubt speaks to your guilt in the heinous actions mentioned, I call for a revote of recent votes taken,” countered Shara.

“My attitude has nothing—” began Sax, only for several others to quickly jump in with Shara to second the motion.

“There will be no revote!” snarled Sax. “You made your decisions. Now you deal with the repercussions.”

“You will never win another vote,” said the orc. “Not after we found out about all of this.”

Sax shrugged. “I don’t need to win another vote. I already have everything set up the way that I wanted. Anything else would just be a bonus, really.”

He laughed merrily as they hurled insults at him. They could do nothing and knew it. Worse, because of the contractual obligation, if he went down for soul tapping the rest of the project department heads were also possible targets for judicial punishment. They shared responsibility, after all.