Waking up for the first time in her life was a strange experience for Sacred. The dizziness and confusion that came with it were also very new for her, and while not a particularly enjoyable feeling... Sacred felt refreshed.

Her eyes blinked lazily for a while as she remembered everything that happened and her sudden nap during her breakthrough. When she remembered that little detail, she forcefully shot up to her feet and quickly examined herself.

Clenching her fists a couple of times, she threw random punches at the air, achieving nothing except make herself look quite stupid. Nonetheless, she smiled in satisfaction and then delved into her soul.

The many domain lights that once rested within her mind were now all gone, including her three main domains. In their place now rested a gigantic rune seemingly built of light. Light blue whisps seemed to sometimes float in and out of the rune, and just by looking at it, Sacred instantly understood everything about it. After all, it was a representation of her newfound godhood.

"Perfect..." She whispered with a giant smile as she looked at the divine realm around her. She now felt much more connected to the realm, and could even feel a slight conscience separate from her own beginning to develop within it.

This consciousness was intricately connected to her own, and she instinctively knew that it was akin to a second heart. Absolutely loyal, absolutely useful, and that without it... She didn't want to think about it.

Licking her somehow dry lips, she focused on the Laws around her. Immediately, she could feel everything be so much easier to see and understand, and her thought process and speed had increased immensely as well.

Immediately, Sacred could feel her goal of omniscience coming closer. She knew that she may never truly know everything... Sacred had grown up during her time in this life. She knew better than to rush things.

Looking away from the laws despite her immense itch to just go to her throne and grasp all the domains she could, Sacred spent the following hour testing out her new and past powers, trying to understand how, where and how much becoming a true god had strengthened her.

Turns out, quite a bit. While she couldn't be sure, she knew as a fact that now, a single slap from her would be able to shatter the God-Tree's body and extinguish its soul. All of this without counting her Divine Realm.

"I'll have to upgrade my follower's cultivation technique as well when I have the time..." Sacred mused to herself, thinking about the various ways she could now improve their technique. Although, she wasn't all that worried since their power wasn't very important in the overall scheme of things.

Only her own power mattered. If she was strong enough, she would even prefer her followers to never have to fight again, but she was willing to give them the option anyways. Furthermore, their faith, while now useless to her in person, was still a very valuable resource as a building material for her realm.

Having taken everything into account, Sacred chose to finally take a look at how things were going down in the mortal realm. She was pleasantly surprised to see the situation more or less the same as for when she left, with Helen having taken in the reigns as overlord of the Golden Republic during her absence.

Pleased with her right-hand woman's ability and actions, Sacred finally decided to reactivate the teleportation runes etched within her divine realm, effectively announcing her awakening.

And indeed, she didn't have to wait for long before she felt several teleportation runes activating. She was easily able to feel out who came, and she wasn't surprised.

More or less every important figure within the Golden Republic soon arrived at her Realm: Helen, the Grand Council, various generals, important bishops, the more powerful Holy Warriors, and the other two champions: Mark and Hagrid.

There were far more people than those, but Sacred was too lazy to try and remember who they were. Instead, she seated herself upon her throne, her large wings easily turning immaterial to allow for her to not have to lean forward.

The first person to arrive was, naturally, Helen. Seeing her Lord alive and healthy brought immense relief to Helen, despite the knowledge that it was impossible for her to have died, or the Divine Realm would have collapsed.

"My Lord!" Helen immediately kneeled, now feeling a bit nervous over her uncommanded actions during the Lord's absence.

Nonetheless, Sacred easily waved off any concerns with a wide smile. She beckoned her closer with her finger and Helen obeyed.

"You have done well, my child. Now that you've had a taste of responsibility for the first time, you should have learned much, correct?" She asked her faithful follower, who mutely nodded.

"Well... I would get used to it, then." Sacred joked lightly. Helen blinked in confusion a couple of times before what her Lord had said set in. Before she could utter any protest, the other followers arrived in the main hall.

As everyone enthusiastically greeted their Lord and took their seats, all of them being smart enough to understand that this would be a moment that would forever be remembered through the world. Hence, the excitement was high.

Seeing this, Helen reluctantly seated herself as well, idly noting that her seat was now situated the closest to that of Sacred Light, and it was almost at the same height.

Once Sacred determined everyone to be ready, she spoke. Her followers had long since gotten used to her mystical voice, but even the weakest was able to determine that her voice itself had somehow become even more mystical now.

"I am glad for all of you to have come here on this day, my children. Today... I am announcing my official advancement to a true god." Sacred's first words were enough to shock everyone, but not enough to cause a ruckus. Those high enough in the government were long since aware of Sacred's demigod status, and her desire to hold off on advancement until she took care of the God-Tree. Of course, only Helen and the other champions had been told of this directly, but they'd been allowed to tell others, allowing the information to spread.

"My second announcement shall be my plans for the future. While I could have done this a long time ago, with the last thorn in my side having been eliminated... I am planning on uniting this continent underneath the Golden Republic's rule."

Once more, there was little surprise there. Nonetheless, even the ever-expressionless Helen found herself grinning at the announcement, not to mention the other people in the room. A buzz went through the room before it automatically spoke when Sacred opened her mouth once more.

"To unite the continent... I am unsure of what to do. This is also why I have gathered you all here, to hear your opinions. I have given the idea of straight-up conquest some thought but determined that it would not be the most efficient. Nonetheless, I will not rule the option out." Sacred said.

When it looked as though Sacred was finished talking, several people began whispering to each other. Sacred allowed this, and when she noticed a general standing up from his seat, she nodded once to him to give him permission to speak.

"My Lord, while I may not be the most qualified person to speak about civil management... I believe that forcing opposing races to submit through force would both be extremely costly in terms of manpower and resources, but also create a lot of resentment to your holy rule. Thus, I believe that the best options would be to either have our enemies be forced to join us but granting them limited independence... or to thoroughly exterminate them." The general's eyes glinted at the end, showing his favorite option out of the two.

Sacred nodded to the general looking around for anyone with anything to add. And, indeed, an old bishop chose that moment to stand up, and after receiving a nod from Sacred, he spoke.

"While General Markus' idea holds merit, both options would still be difficult to achieve. I believe that, instead of forcing the other races to submit, we could instead give them a deal. Submit themselves to the glory of the Lord, or be exterminated. While the upper nobility of the inhumans would need to be exterminated... The common people could be assimilated."

Loud, unsatisfied murmurs arose from various parts of the room. A councilwoman with horrifying scars on her face stood up and faced the bishop with an air of borderline hostility.

"Bishop Franz, the inhumans hardly deserve to be 'assimilated' into our glorious republic. They would only contaminate it." She spoke, and while she wasn't particularly venomous, the bite in her words was impossible to miss.

As more and more opinions on this rose forth, it was pretty clear there were really only three choices. Kill them all, force them into the republic as little more than slaves... or have them willingly join with the same status of humanity.

While the generals favored the first option, the councilmen favored the second, and the bishops favored the third. This was mostly due to their personal experience, with the generals often holding the greatest hatred towards inhumans, the councilmen having little mercy due to all the atrocities they suffered and had to deal with by the inhumans, and the bishops had all been promoted due to their personal strength, traits and personality, and one such trait needed to be a high-ranking member of the church was compassion and kindness. Thus, they favored the third option, despite even them having little love for the inhumans.

Sacred listened to her followers discuss and debate the various pros and cons, which mostly revolved around cost, moral reasons, and simple vengeance. The idea that the inhumans could resist whatever fate the humans chose to deal out wasn't even thought of, as it was clear as day that with Sacred now openly in the field... Resistance was useless.

Finally, Helen stood up. Immediately, everyone quieted down, with those who had been speaking previously wisely shutting up and seating themselves.

"I hold absolutely no love for the filthy inhumans." Was the first thing Helen said, her tone cold and hard. "However... my own personal views are pointless. It is not my, nor your, job to tell the Lord your opinion. Our job is to discuss what the best solution to Her problems are."

Most people present had the decency to look a bit ashamed at Helen's reprisal. Nonetheless, she carried on.

"With humanity having sufficiently beaten back the other races and the show of force of our Lord, they are all in dire straights as of now. Even the races who were originally neutral in our war have sent me a letter after letter begging for mercy. Thus... Giving them the option to directly submit is an option, but it would be a nightmare to actually have them submit."

Sacred listened with quite a bit of interest as Helen spoke. She could tell where she was going and was quite happy with it. It had been her original idea too.

"Thus... I propose to call forth a continental congress to decide the fate of the races, inviting all leaders and major figures of every intelligent race and nation in the continent to have them propose to us their own plans and problems!"

There was silence for a while before everyone turned to Sacred, seeking an answer. The proposal was good on paper, and it could likely be done, but would the Lord approve it?

"... Very well. Send messengers to all the races with any intelligence, humanoid or not. The congress will be held within Jade City." As Sacred's words were registered, her followers clapped their hands approvingly. Helen herself, while outwardly remaining stoic, sagged in relief on the inside.

"The Grand Council will be responsible for organizing the event, while the bishops will be responsible for the management and the various tasks concerning non-governmental followers (commoners). Sacred Generals and Holy Warriors, I want you to put the might of the Golden Republic to full display for the duration of the entire event. Do not be shy about expenses." Sacred ordered, and just like that, the meeting ended.

As everyone left except the champions, who stayed behind to discuss details and plans with their Lord, Sacred turned to Helen with a slightly crooked smile.

"So... I heard little Helen got herself a cute little boyfriend..." She teased harmlessly once everyone was out of hearing reach.

Helen went bright red, torn between her absolute respect for her Lord and wanting to retort angrily. In the end, she merely nodded shily.

"Good for you. I've checked myself, and he's a good man. Make sure he won't be bringing your focus away from your other, however." Sacred warned, returning to her more serious persona. Helen nodded again, her embarrassment melting away at the realization that her Lord had actually taken the time to investigate her boyfriend just for her.

"Well... Mark." She spoke, looking at the half-elven boy, who had by now turned into a dashing young man.

"My Lord." He answered curtly. Sacred nodded slightly at him before continuing. "I want you and Hagrid to act from the shadows and make sure everything goes smoothly. Should you see any of the other races not abiding by my rules... Choose at your own discretion whether to inform me or act yourself. Hagrid." She turned to the last champion, nicknamed the Shadow of the Lord.

He bowed his head in silence as he awaited further commands. Instead, his head whipped up when he heard Sacred's following words.

"When I first gained you... I made two promises. One was that the Demon King would be at your mercy when the time was to come, and the second was that the Elven Empress was to become yours. I merely wanted to inform you that, once the continental congress is finished... I will uphold those promises."

Bowing deeply to hide the tears in his eyes, Hagrid could only mutely nod. He dismissed himself after his bow, too emotional to face his lord for longer.

"Cute boy-toy." Sacred shook her head. She waved Mark away, sending him off to carry out his duties however he saw fit. Then, she turned to Helen once more.

"My Lord." Recognizing the moment of privacy for what it was, Helen prepared herself.

"Helen dearest. You of all my followers have impressed me the most. Your loyalty, courage, and determination have no less than stunned me. Originally, I thought mere mortals would never match up to the glory of us deities... but you've proven me wrong time and time again." Sacred said, only praise resting within her eyes.

"Now, it is time I officially form what I have been planning since I first had you undergo the Baptism. As the First Angel, I will personally guide you until you become a demigod, at which point, I want you to join what I will call the Pantheon, which will be the administrative body of those who break the shackles of mortality and become angels or deities."

Helen was stunned by her Lord's declaration, but before she could complain, Sacred continued. "It is still very theoretical and nothing is set in stone, but ideally, I want both you and Mark to eventually ascend to become demigods, and if your talent and luck allow it... even true deities. I know you can do this, Helen." Sacred spoke, getting much gentler at her last words.

Helen stood there in silence for a while as she digested her Lord's words. Finally, swallowing down her saliva forcefully, she nodded determinedly, fire and determination to prove herself to her Lord rising within her.

Sacred smiled. She sent Helen off, informing her that various lessons would begin the day after. Once everything was done and dealt with for the immediate time being... Sacred whipped out the Life-Giving Necklace.

"Well... Time to study you, I guess." She murmured to the inanimate object, which she was 90% sure had some sort of consciousness of its own somewhere inside it. With a scan of her senses, she easily determined that everything was going smoothly for now, and thus, got to work on eating up everything the necklace had to offer.

As information of the Continental Congress spread... It was obvious to everyone that the war was over, and a new, absolute ruler had emerged within the continent.

You could say... A new order was about to be formed.