Chapter 1269: with translation of chapter title

"Are you ready, Fengjin?"

Fengjin firmly nodded: "Hmm. The Fire Pursuit Journey has already reached its end; no matter how cruel the so-called historical truth may be, nothing will shake my determination to fulfill my mission."

Baie said beside him: "But the dust-covered historical truth must also see the light of day, for mortals' fate should not be drowned by beautified legends."

"Our thoughts are completely in agreement, Lord Baie."

"Go touch the Hunxiang instrument, Yaxintes. Those pasts forgotten by the world will reappear before your eyes one by one. Firmly grasp your unshakable belief; you will need its support."

As Fengjin touched the Hunxiang instrument, the memories of the past reappeared before everyone.

"..."

"Heh… Look who we've caught, an outdated and pedantic follower of the old god!"

Two new believers intercepted a trembling woman, maliciously mocking: "Your feeble titan has long been conquered by the mighty Valkyrie; its current form is no different from the slag that has accumulated in the forge over the years."

"Convert to us, you poor souls clinging to old traditions! We will help you repair your ignorant cognition, so you may share the glory of Senenes with your compatriots……"

The woman kept retreating: "Your so-called 'repair' is nothing but double torment of spirit and flesh!" As she spoke, she shook her head violently: "No… I would rather die here than submit to you lot, who falsely claim faith and act wickedly, you vile dogs and rats……"

The woman seemed like a joke, making the two burst into laughter: "Ha…hahaha! Look, you all see this—this pedantic fellow, she's such a laughable hypocrite!"

"Tell me, when you oppress your kinfolk in the name of faith, plunging all beings into endless scorching suffering—have you ever considered that the scorching sun might also fall?"

The woman shook her head desperately: "I… I once thought……"

Spare the useless excuses, you wreck of the old world. "I would rather die here than submit to you lot, who falsely claim faith and act wickedly, you vile dogs and rats"— The man ludicrously mimicked her tone just now, pointing arrogantly at her neck: "—You have just sentenced yourself to death; what we are about to do is merely go with the flow."

Get on with it, neatly. Give her neck a clean, handsome cut.

Seeing the opponent approach with a short knife, the woman staggered back desperately: "No, no no… no!!"

Accompanied by a shrill wail, this memory also came to an end.

——

Spirit Cage.

"……They're really a bunch of lunatics."

Even though Mark had seen much cruelty on the lighthouse and the brutality of the extremal beasts on the ground, this scene of kinfolk slaughter born from fanatical faith still made him feel a wave of physical discomfort.

"Ah, to be honest, if I were Senenes, I truly wouldn't know how to deal with these believers who follow their own faith." Xia Dou sat slumped on the ground, helplessly saying, "Obviously, Senenes originally wanted to help these compatriots' spirits 'stand up' by killing gods, to break blind faith in deities; but instead, they merely swapped in a more powerful god to believe in, then used that as an excuse to slaughter dissenters……"

"So, the so-called 'faith' is merely an excuse for them to exclude outsiders and harm their own kin; even if there were no god in heaven, they would find another excuse to kill." Shan Da gave a cold snort: "In my view, Senenes should execute all these people, leaving none…… they're just a bunch of bad seeds."

It's meaningless. Bai Yuegui's voice sounded faintly from not far away.

Boss Bai, what do you mean?

Bai Yuegui said lightly: "Even if we eradicate darkness, only a new darkness will split from within the white. For an illusory 'absolute correctness,' people will only swing their blades at the weaker. Those who once wielded blades were the Radiant Folk; now they have become new believers. Should Senenes one day die or be attacked by others, the identity of the 'blade-wielder' would shift to someone else."

Suixing frowned: "Is there really no other way to change all of this?"

Bai Yuegui's gaze swept past the crowd, toward the distant wilderness shrouded in wind and sand.

If you hope humanity will never exclude outsiders, that's probably difficult, but it can be done by law to restrain some extreme actions. Even when Xuanfengcheng had just entered Aohema, there were similar frictions, but under Aglaea's governance, this situation was greatly alleviated.

Bai Yuegui turned to look at Suixing, then at the silent Mark, and continued: "If you want to disenchant people from divinity and return them to reason, that can also be done, but it takes time. As long as humanity still fears the unknown and tries to entrust its fate to some lofty being, humanity will always need gods."

"Well… how long would that take?" Xia Dou hugged her knees, muttering softly.

Bai Yuegui shook his head regretfully: "I don't know either, but a situation like the Children of the Sky could take a generation, or several generations, or even… longer. In short, this fervor for divinity cannot be stopped right now."

——

OVERLORD.

They could actually kill their fellow beings without mercy……

Watching the mutual slaughter of humanity in the sky, Demiurgos found it very interesting. Humanity's mutual conquest and war were already commonplace to him following Lord Ainz, but to slaughter kin with such a casual, even delighted attitude…… that was rare.

For Demiurgos, slaughter is naturally something he enjoys immensely. But for other guardians, it's not necessarily so; when they kill, they don't share his excitement and pleasure, instead carrying out the act devoid of emotion. This "cruelty" is his inherent trait, yet today he saw in the sky a group of humans who share that same trait with him——this is truly…… fascinating.

Demiurgos, I recall that Lord Ainz once dispatched you and Sebas to pose as 'Abundance Envoys' in the Holy Kingdom, right? Yaeberudo suddenly asked.

"That's right." Demiurgos said, somewhat curious: "Why suddenly ask about this?"

I've been wondering, could we cultivate the power of 'Abundance' to become a faith like Senenes in the Holy Kingdom? Let those who believe in the new god of Abundance go slaughter the believers of the four great gods?