The team comes together-ish

Five more woman walked into the room, making John start to feel like the star of an ever growing orgy. Just so far with no sex.

Also there was the thing that one of these girls was Ashthyn. Sure, John was certain that due to him being surrounded by only woman, he was walking dickless right now, but still.

"I assume you got to know each other enough now? Great!" Wait a minute, John had heard this way of talking before. The woman in the front, the only one he didn't know to be around here, was a celebrity. John couldn't say who, but based on the other's reactions, it was apparent that this was the Hero Maker in a flawless disguise.

Behind him were Layklé, Ashthyn, Paw and Victoria, the last two with their eyes glued to the floor. John sighed. No matter what he had just told them, two seconds with Layklé would most certainly doom his reputation forever.

"Joooooooohn!" The succubus screamed as she saw him. His eyes went wide as she ran towards him, scandalously dressed as usual. His instincts were telling him to run away, but, just like the first time he faced off with her, he noticed how little of a fighter he was since his legs were frozen in place. "I missed you so much, after we got separated it was so hard for me, I was attacked by wild beasts and almost died, it was horrible! You must never let me go again, yes?"

What the flying fuck. John was not surprised to see that the Hero Maker had been capable of getting the people he mentioned together, but whatever he had done to Layklé deserved some praise. She seemed to have been subject to some major mental modifications, given her behaviour! He usually would have been opposed to that, but given how she acted before, he quickly decided to make an exception for once. John quickly reassured himself by taking a step back and releasing himself from the bear hug she had given him while crying at his shoulder.

She looked horrible. No, not unattractive, John doubted she ever could do that. Just wounded. Cuts all over her body, bruised and even dried blood at some places. Her already more than revealing outfit was pushed aside even further, though John wouldn't have put it behind her to do that herself if in the right company, which basically was any willing human.

He used observe on her, just to see how healthy she still was and how serious the wounds were.

Before the sheet even loaded fully, which as usual happened in under one second, Layklé stepped right through it and complained loudly, while simultaniously touching and closing the window again. John had no idea that she could do this, let alone how she did it.

"John! I am telling you about the horrible fate I have suffered and you look at your screens and ignore me. How can you be so rude?" But he had already seen enough. Fair enough, it was only the first line but her level was telling him more than her words already.

Level 13. That meant at least a few more corpses... Or way more exhausted people. Now that he wrapped his mind around this, her bruises looked entirely different to him. Sure, he wouldn't put it behind her to let herself be fucked by those wild beasts she mentioned, but that was unlikely to be true. The bruises were focused around her private areas, the cuts only on her tits. The blood did not seem to even be hers... John sighed but decided to go along with it. If he called her out on it now, it would only make the heroes even more unlikely to trust him. And their trust was what he needed to gain their intel.

"What a heartfelt reunion," the Hero Maker spoke up. Or was she the Heroine Maker now? "But we have to get down to business. I am a bit in a rush so I will have to make this quick." The heroes sighed audibly. Apparently this was something they painfully had gotten used to.

"John, has Henrietta explained to you how the power structure in the abyss works?" John nodded, only to be confronted by the most stupid pop quiz ever. The Hero Maker gestured at him to sum it up.

"Five parts of the world, each vote a leading guild, they are the top and rule the world," John cut it as short as he could.

"I thought so. Technically that is correct but it is missing a good bit of important info. This isn't your fault. I only asked because I know how our dear Henrietta has the habit of only mentioning the power she respects the most, while ignoring the rest completely." Henrietta folded her arms and looked away in a mixture of shame and spite.

"The five stars, as the leaders are called, are forming only one of the three pillars the abyss rests on. The second pillar is decided by something way less democratic or noble. The ten strongest guilds become the ten seats. Those seats shifted a lot in history but the abyss has gotten relatively calm in the recent past." John scratched his head.

"Then why don't the seats take over the stars? If the stars are holding a fifth of one pillars power each and a seat is only a tenth... and they are stronger, why don't they just take them over?" John asked.

"Because Gaia likes democracy. Or rather she dislikes genocide. When a single guild kills too many members of the abyss, Gaia takes away their powers. A good example of that is Jesus." Now John's eyes went wide. "What? You think he was a normal guy? Please... He was a fanatic abyss member who went public. He managed to convince people of some crazy religious stuff though, so Gaia let him pass with the publicity. I think she regrets it, since she became way stricter since."

John looked around. Apparently even some of the heroes here hadn't heard this story, based on their reactions. They didn't really want to hear it either, based on their faces.

"Well besides his wonders as a healer, he was a mass murderer in the abyss. Don't get me wrong he was totally a good guy. Just... too Good. He killed every murderer, slaver, ****, or to state it in abyss terms: he killed everyone. He became famous for stating that he would be the light in the abyss, shining brighter than the darkness could handle. I would have loved to see the Roman go up against him, but that never happened. Gaia took him out before and she made one of her few appearances where she spoke to everyone present."

His shape changed, or rather only his throat and neck did. He spoke with a dark and deep voice now. "You may fight, you may kill and you may love each other. But know that you all are my children and I will not lose you." He changed back to what he was before.

"She took away all powers except his self healing. You should hear him talk about Gaia one day. Or rather you will have to. After almost 2000 years he still won't shut up about it. But I am going off topic. Gaia punished guilds that kill too many others. And that is why everyone who votes for one star to become that has to sign an abyssal contract. In the case of a war that is declared to them, not by them, mind you, the voters have to stand by them. So you can't take out a star or Gaia takes you out first cause of their numbers."

John nodded eagerly. If history lessons would be half as interesting he would never have missed one of them.

"Now, however, the pillar I need you for is the third and last one. Can you guess which one that may be?" What? Damn his thoughts. Now this was becoming more like the lessons he did miss quite some off. The kind where he was asked stuff before knowing it.

"Ehm..." He stuttered and started to think. The stars were the collective. A democratic power. The seats represent raw **** and literal power. So what was missing?

"Something supervising? The mass votes with the stars and the seats execute? So the third pillar controls them?" The Hero Maker shook his head.

"No. But it's interesting to see how you think. No, the third pillar has nothing to do with the other two directly. They are commonly called the 'outside' pillar. Every non-profit organisation can technically join them, but to be non profit in the abyss usually means you die in a few days so we are stuck with the three big ones for a while now. The Fateweavers, The Apothecary and the Auction. Before you ask: no, none of them are really non profit. But as long as they don't use the money to strengthen themself directly, but only through deals, they may keep those titles."

"Okay. And you say you need me to deal with them? How? And why?" The Hero Maker smiled brightly.

"Take a seat. I was just getting to that."