War Has Begun

Hobart waved a hand, and stars emerged across the lake before them. "These are the prayers of the Creator's believers."

Most of these prayers came from the west bank of Full Moon Lake. A large number of people there had suffered mental devastation from Demons or members of the Aurora Society, leaving them severely unstable.

Hobart had fought poison with poison, using the Creator's mental impact to dilute the effects they had previously suffered.

Around the time the South Colson Battle ended, Hobart had revealed the Creator's Honorific Name to them. As a result, a great many people on the west bank now believed in the Creator.

The people on the east bank, meanwhile, mostly believed in the Earth Mother.

After this period of Hobart's deliberate influence on these believers' minds, most of their mental states had largely returned to normal.

As for the stars representing the Creator's Blessed, those who had been marked, and Extraordinary believers, they remained in the pool before the Iron Throne. Hobart had not moved them here.

In other words, the stars in this great lake were all prayers Hobart had no time to read.

Hobart reached toward one of the stars, and it floated to the lake's surface. A slovenly middle-aged man appeared above the water, kneeling on the ground in fervent prayer.

He prayed for a new pair of shoes. One of his coworkers had gotten new shoes and flaunted them before him, making him furious. He wanted a pair too, so he could show them off in front of his coworkers.

Hobart explained with a smile, "Many of the prayers appearing in the lake come from people whom the Creator rescued from evil organizations. Their mental states are somewhat abnormal.

"For prayers with concrete requests like this, move them over there. If