Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Solna River flowed quietly, nurturing one-third of the creatures living on the Erdo Peninsula. Many river valleys formed alongside. In the valley named after the river, Solna Valley, there were a few city-states. Thanks to the plentiful water resource and rich land, Solna Valley became a very prosperous place second only to Politown.
In front of the newly-built temple for the Lord of War in the city of Husum, there was a spacious square, on which a stage had been built up. People wearing flax robes crowded around it voluntarily, supporting the different god they worshipped. The soldiers of the Angonorma Empire stood by lazily in their bronze armors, showing no care to the small conflicts between the followers, as if they wished that those heretics could just kill each other, which would save much trouble.
On the stage sat the eight chief priests, who were representatives of the remaining eight gods of Barril — the God of Moon, the God of Thunder and Lightning, the God of Storm, the Mother God of Earth, the Lord of Underworld, the God of Sun and Justice, the God of Wisdom, and the Goddess of Love and Breed. They waited for the start of the debate on the silver chairs. Should they fail to win victory in this debate and turn their god into one of the three deities, their god would be driven out of the valley by the Lord of War. Over time, the expelled gods would gradually lose their followers and eventually die or become an avatar of the Angonormanian pantheon due to assimilation.
Although they all knew it well that selecting the three deities was just the Lord of War’s strategy for dividing and better ruling them and that, in the end, all of them would be assimilated into Angonormanian pantheon, no one dared to speak against of it as this was the consequence of their own choice. Also, to them, there was still hope if they become one of the three deities — Once they survived, they could gather a great number of new followers in Solna Valley. Maybe, in the future, they would have a chance to in turn replace their counterpart in the Angonormanian pantheon.
Sitting on the golden chair highest above, the chief priest representing the Lord of War was a brown-haired beautiful lady. The slit of her white Angonorma-style dress reached all the way up to her waist, revealing her curves and long, graceful legs.
She was high priestess Nena, the second chief priest in the Temple of War in Politown.
“Salute to the great Lord of War, the master of all conflicts and destruction.” The sixteen leading priests of the eight gods bowed together, in the same way as they once bowed to the Lord Avando.
After performing the war dance herself to please the Lord of War, Nena was about to start the debate.
At this time, two black-haired men in white robes came in front of the stage and said to the guards aloud, “let us in! The God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption sent us here for the debate.”
“I never heard of this title. It must belong to a false god. Guards, expel them!” Nob, the priest of the God of Moon scolded.
The power of the God of Moon, Asin, was ranked in the middle among the eight remaining Gods. Thus, facing the competitors coming out of nowhere, the old priest was definitely not happy.
As the follower, Francis hurriedly eyed Lucien to deliver the prepared speech.
Fearlessly, Lucien looked right into Nob’s eyes and said, “this isn’t your decision to make. Only the almighty Lord of War can decide if we could join or not. How dare you speak before the chief priest of the Lord of War?”
Francis was a bit surprised. What Lucien just said was not the version they previously agreed on. However, it worked better. It seemed that this guy named Leviathan was quite good at improvisation.
Overwhelmed by surprise and fear, the chief priest of the God of Moon suddenly became speechless.
Lucien turned to Nena and said sincerely, “dear Lady Nena, the Lord of War told us that all gods preaching in the valley are qualified for attending the debate. Did I understand it wrong?”
“No,” Nena answered coldly and briefly.
Lucien smiled. “Our Lord, the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption also has followers in this valley. Please allow us to join in.”
“You must prove it.” Nena did not refuse, as adding one more god to the debate would not hinder the Lord of Wars arrangement, but could instead intensify the conflict and provide an advantage for the future assimilation.
Lucien raised his right hand. Anheuse, who was hiding in the corner, started applauding. Hearing that, all of the secret previous followers of the Lord of Fire and Destruction began clapping their hands and loudly praising Ell, the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption.
Nob and the other chief priests exchanged a look. They didn’t expect the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption, whose name and titles they had never heard of, had already gained such influence.
It never occurred to them that the so-called God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption was in fact Avando, the previous Lord of Fire and Destruction. It had never happened before that a god would change his godhood, for godhood reflected a god’s power and the possible spell collections possessed. Therefore, even though the name of the god was changed, their godhood would remain the same. Also, the change of the name mostly happened when a god had assimilated another god and wanted to create another incarnation in order to absorb the pre-existing faith.
However, Revival, Fertility, and Redemption seemed to drastically differ from Fire and Destruction. Thus, it was hard to realize that Ell was actually Avando’s new identity.
Under the hostile gaze of the other priests, Lucien walked on the stage with Francis and sat down on the added silver chair.
Nena said to them, “today’s debate is to tell the true gods from the fake. Only the true gods deserve people’s faith. The Lord of War said that the universe came from the number three. Therefore, there will be three final winners.”
That being said, no matter how the debate went, the Lord of War was always the dominator, since even the winner was decided under the Lord of War’s oracle.
“My Lord is the sun. His radiance nurtures everything on the land and drives away the darkness, like the fire. He is the light, the power of punishment. The power of light brings us brightness and justice. Therefore, my Lord is the one who made the rules that restrain gods and human beings. Undoubtedly, my Lord’s power thus exceeds that of the other seven gods.” The chief priest of the God of Sun and Justice spoke before everyone else, describing his god’s power to attract followers.
The uneducated followers nodded. They did not know much, but they could see the sun hanging up in the sky almost every day. It brought them warm, which contrasts greatly with the darkness, so it should be very important. Thus, it seemed that the God of Sun and Justice should be very powerful as well, and it would do them much good if they worship him.
Seeing that, the priest of the Lord of Underworld took a step forward and said, “when there is life, there’s death. No intelligent creature can escape from death. Life is short, but death is eternal. The almighty Lord of Underworld is the one you’ll go to after death, the ultimate god that you’ll belong to in the end. It is true for everyone. He is unquestionably more important than all the other gods.”
Everyone was afraid of death. Imagining the darkness, coldness, and pain that one would suffer after death, many of the listeners were persuaded — maybe worshiping the Lord of Underworld is a better choice than worshiping the God of Sun and Justice. He appeared to be very powerful and important from the descriptions.
“The earth carries everything, including the underworld. Earth carries life, as well as death. Anyone who offends the Mother shall suffer from starvation, earthquake, and landslide.” The priest of the Mother God of Earth threatened the crowd.
Now the afterworld sounded too illusionary and far from the listeners. Compared to the long sleep after death, they knew much better how it felt having an empty stomach, not to mention the horrible power of an earthquake. They no longer dared to deviate from the Mother God of Earth.
“My Lord controls lightning — Lightning powerful enough to punish gods, not to mention the mundane. Anyone who disobeys shall be struck by lightning and thunder.” The priest of the God of Thunder and Lightning followed.
The priest of the God of Storm would not miss the chance either. “If any of you betray the God of Storm, He would send forty-nine days of storm. Ocean will gush into the cities and towns. Land will be overwhelmed with flood. No creature will survive.”
Gradually, most of the priests started to threaten the listeners, controlling them with fear as they always did. However, the priest of the God of Wisdom and the priest of the God of Love and Breed could not use the same strategy. They quitted the debate rather helplessly.
They never had much hope to begin with. Their words about love and wisdom were too pale.
Facing such a chaotic debate where the braggest one was the strongest, Francis felt quite uncomfortable. He sent a secret message to Lucien by controlling the wind in the air. “When it’s your turn, try your very best to exaggerate the power of great Ell. You know, using the cycle theory — create, control, destroy, and resurrect.”
“The silver moon witnessed the birth of this world. The moon is immortal, and has the power to drive away darkness but also absorb the power from darkness. It brings peacefulness to our mind,” said Nob with fine sweat beads on his forehead. Compared to the other gods, Asin the God of Moon had no advantage when it came to threatening others. The god who was best at this was the God of Fire and Destruction.
Finally, after one round, it was Lucien’s turn. All the priests turned to look at him, waiting to listen to his words speaking for the so-called God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption.
Sitting straight on the silver chair, Lucien said slowly, “seasons come and go; the sun rises and sets. In this world, when there’s birth, there’s death. But there’s also resurrection after death. And my Lord is the God of Resurrection.”
The priest of the God of Sun froze. He knew the meaning of the words — The representative of the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption was saying that the sun was solely a phenomenon, while resurrection was the underlying essence.
“Death isn’t the final end; different souls belong to different ends. According to what a person did when he was alive, a fair judgment is given. Those who are kind will jump out of the cycle of life and death and enter the paradise of my Lord, and thus enjoy eternal happiness. Those who are neutral will come to this world again as infants and keep going through the joy and pain of life. While, the vicious and the contemptible will be punished in the underworld, enduring endless suffering…
“However, the followers of my Lord, anyone who’s willing to make a heartfelt confession, will be saved by the Lord, and become the one’s enjoying the forever happiness as I just mentioned.”
The listeners had never heard of anything like this before. They’d rather believe in this young priest’s words than the horrible images described by the rest of the priests, because they could now see hope in their tough life, the hope for starting all over again and being saved!
Francis was very impressed by Leviathan’s talent, for Leviathan was able to construct a rather comprehensive theoretical theology system based on his simple cycle theory. He didn’t expect to find someone this talented in such a primitive otherworld.
The face of the priest representing the Lord of Underworld darkened. Such a theory had instantly degraded his Lord.
Seeing this, Nob made his decision. If he lost this debate, he’d lose everything anyway, so why not use the heretic myth to turn the tide.
“Your gods are all in charge of some specific functions in operating this world, but my Lord is the one who created this world as well as all of the creatures. My lord is the God of Brightness and Creation. In the primordial darkness, my lord brought brightness to the forever silence; he shaped the earth and the lives!” Nob cited one version of the creation myth, completely ignoring Nena’s expression.
The rest of the priests were all taken back — Now that the God of Moon claimed to be the god who created the world, how could their god overpower Him? They thought hard, trying to find similar myths of their god to use.
At this time, the priest of the God of Thunder and Lightning burst out laughing. “Alright, the God of Moon created this world and the lives, but my Lord is capable of ruining all of these. When everything sinks back into darkness, only my lord’s followers will be saved.”
He partially borrowed the theory of redemption from Lucien.
The priest of the God of Sun and Justice was unwilling to fall behind. “My lord is the god maintaining the functioning of the world and delaying the day of destruction…”
“My lord is the pristine darkness and peacefulness.” Sneered the priest of the Lord of Underworld.
“This isn’t a theology debate… They’re simply bragging.” Francis rubbed his forehead and complained to Lucien in a low voice. “I’m not good at this at all. It’s up to you now.”
Seeing that the other priests were gaining support, Lucien did not feel any pressure at all. “Our world is just a small world. The creation, development, and destruction of such a small world are of nothing special. Three thousand of small worlds like this are needed to form a middle world, and three thousand of middle worlds are needed to form a big world. However, there are countless big worlds as many as the grains of sand at the bottom of the Solna river.
“However, the boundless world that contains the countless big worlds is created by my Lord.
“My Lord said, ‘Let there be the boundless world’, and there was the boundless world.
“My Lord said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.
“When my Lord said, ‘Let all be destroyed’, and then everything annihilates.”
When it came to bragging, Lucien feared nobody.
