Eighth Circle is the razor’s edge between mortal ambition and godhood’s final veto.
This is the tier that makes pantheons call ceasefires, that forces enemies to stand shoulder-to-shoulder because one reckless caster could erase centuries of divine politics in a single breath.

Eighth Circle (The God-Slayers)

System Mapping (5e-style)

• Equivalent: Beyond mortal epic magic — only Merlin and a bare handful have ever cast one.

• Damage Output: Not “damage” in the sense of hit points — this is existence erasure. Gods don’t bleed from these; they cease.

• Veil Risk: Almost guaranteed total collapse in the affected region.

• Mortal Survivability: 1 in 10 lives past the first casting. Of those who survive, most are… changed.

• Divine Attention: Immediate, unignorable, and potentially hostile from every pantheon at once.

Nature of the Eighth Circle

• Function: These spells do not wound gods. They overwrite or delete their divine spark — erasing their portfolio, mythic identity, and cosmic presence. In the right hands, it’s a scalpel; in the wrong, it’s a black hole.

• Limitations: Cannot permanently kill an All Father, All Son, or All Daughter — the named heirs to the original creator-gods of their pantheon. Those lineages are tied too deeply into the foundation of the universe. They can be erased from the mortal plane, but their essence will reform eventually.

• Historical Use: Most “gods disappearing” in myth were actually victims of Eighth Circle erasures disguised as divine withdrawal.

Casting Requirements

• Preparation:

  • An unbroken focus made of a material older than the pantheon of the target.

  • A resonance key — an object, word, or soul linked to the god’s original myth.

  • A location where the god’s influence is weakest (or absent).

• Sacrifice: All known successful castings involved the permanent loss of:

  • The caster’s own magic

  • A memory so integral that their identity fractured

  • Or a life-altering metaphysical tether (Merlin gave up his ability to dream)

Known Eighth Circle Spells

Null Crown Invocation

• Nature: Universal banishment

• Effect: Severs the target god’s claim to their domain, ejecting their essence beyond the Veil’s outermost edge. Mortal followers lose connection instantly.

• Limitations: Can be reversed if another god willingly cedes their own claim to the domain.

• Historical Note: Merlin used this to erase a war god from the Baltic pantheon whose campaigns threatened the Watcher accords.

Ash of Unwriting

• Nature: Existential erasure

• Effect: Burns the god’s “true name” from the Loom of Fate, causing all records, myths, and memories of them to dissolve. Mortals and immortals alike will no longer remember they existed — unless bound to them by another Seventh or Eighth Circle rite.

• Drawback: Every casting frays a different section of the Veil at random, sometimes on the opposite side of the world.

• Historical Note: Believed to be responsible for the “Missing Saint” era in Catholic myth, where one saint’s name and deeds vanished from all records.

Shatter the Pillar

• Nature: Domain implosion

• Effect: Collapses the god’s portfolio — for example, destroying the concept of “war” as it exists under one specific god’s influence, forcing it to migrate to another deity or vanish.

• Drawback: Mortals often experience unpredictable social and metaphysical upheaval in the vacuum.

• Historical Note: Used once to remove a fertility goddess during a famine — leading to years of barren harvests until her role was replaced.

Why This Circle Terrifies the Gods

• Permanent Stakes: While most divine combat is reversible — banishment, imprisonment, dormancy — Eighth Circle is final.

• Pantheon Collateral: Erasing one god can unravel myths tied to multiple others, collapsing minor deities who depend on them.

• Unstable Ripples: Mortals feel the void as sudden changes in culture, nature, or physics. Some “Dark Ages” in history were actually recovery periods after Eighth Circle events.

Notable Mortal Casters

• Merlin — Erased three gods, each time in service of the Veil’s stability. Considered the master architect of mortal-cast Eighth Circle theory.

• Zhenji of the Nine Doors — Used Ash of Unwriting to erase an underworld deity who had begun predating on mortal children.

• An Unknown Monk (India) — Legend claims he used Shatter the Pillar to end a rain god’s monopoly over monsoons. His name has been lost, possibly intentionally.

Modern Handling

• Watchers’ Law: Any attempt to perform an Eighth Circle is punishable by immediate termination of the caster and their allies.

• ATO Protocol: Secure all resonance keys and destroy mortal records of Eighth Circle mechanics.

• Pantheon Response: Treat the caster as a mutual enemy regardless of previous alliances.