This World Has No Gods

The ocean cities scattered across the world.

The city administrators gathered together, staring at the colossal skeletal creature that shot straight into the heavens. Its terrifying form was like a gigantic mountain the likes of which had never existed before, pressing heavily upon everyone's heart.

"We can begin."

"His Majesty has become a god. We must spread his divine name across the earth and celebrate the birth of a new god!"

"We have kept out of the Church of Light's way and allowed it to develop among the people for long enough. It is time to strike back at the church!"

"Everything for His Majesty's glory!"

"Fight for His Majesty!"

One voice after another rang out.

As they gazed at the giant god in the sky, they suddenly remembered their audience with His Majesty in the Tower of Babel some time ago, and the countermeasures against the Church of Light.

Some time ago.

In the imperial palace, the Imperial Hero Herodotus said furiously:

"Your Majesty, that Church of Light is sinister to the core. It has deceived the people of every major city. Now, talk of tyranny is spreading, and more and more believers are being misled into raising the Rebel Army to overthrow us."

The wise men of their empire had also tried to explain things, but it had been completely useless.

"What a bunch of ignorant fools!"

One of the imperial sages could not help but scold them. "The Evil God's methods are too brilliant! He wants to strangle the spirit of our empire and turn us into his slaves!"

Upon the Emperor's Seat, Great Emperor of Atabia wore a calm expression, as though nothing could disturb the supreme sage of this civilization.

"Don't demand too much of them. After all, we recruited all the wise men with the Tower of Babel Plan. The remaining people are merely ordinary mortals of average intelligence. They will be weak-willed, and they will make mistakes..."

Human nature was always like this.

They did not remember the good he had done for them. They forgot the life-saving favors he had granted them time and again. Not only did they fail to understand gratitude, they even began to believe the honeyed words of that Outer God who constantly brought about the end of the world.

So forgetful—they did not remember who had brought death to them.

Great Emperor of Atabia suddenly laughed.

"The Outer God wants me to wipe out seventy percent of them and personally create the third mass extinction of life? This is a curse the gods have brought down upon me."

He seemed like a strange philosopher immersed in dialectical thought. His gaze was profound, and his smile gentle.

"But how do I avoid killing them and change these believers of the gods? How do I change the fate of a tyrant, set down for me by the gods in the heavens, that will stink for ten thousand years?"

"We must never try to reason with the ignorant. The only way to conquer them is to make them believe in another kind of ignorance."

He turned around and looked at the wise men behind him, his tone carrying a hint of disdain. "Gentlemen, I will don the divine crown and become a god. I will use a church to defeat a church, ignorance to defeat ignorance, and a god to defeat a god."

"A god?" The ministers immediately grasped the brilliance of this wild, soaring plan. "You intend to fashion yourself into a god and stand against him?"

The Imperial Hero Herodotus said, "Then we will establish a church for you at once, fabricate a doctrine, and erect a majestic statue to establish your awe-inspiring authority."

"No. The god's image should not be majestic." Great Emperor of Atabia revealed a trace of mockery.

"Since their Church of Light is so enraged that it wants to nail me, this tyrant, to a cross and hang me, offering me to the god in the heavens, then my church shall be called the Church of the Suffering. The god's image shall be that of a suffering victim, bound to a cross."

Great Emperor of Atabia's next words left them feeling that the plan was infinitely profound.

"Announce to the outside world that Atabia is the giant god Mebius from the heavens. Dissatisfied with the gods' ideals, he reincarnated into this world to bring the spark of civilization to All Living Beings."

In the language of the Atabians, Mebius meant a person suffering to the extreme.

"But when the gods saw him bring joy and civilization, hope and happiness, to the mortals on earth, making them no longer dependent on the gods, they were both shocked and enraged. They sent a giant god to attack this world and bewitched the Atabians on earth, wanting to have this reincarnation of a god hanged."

What?

Everyone's will shook violently.

This plan was brilliant!

It was using ignorant public opinion to defeat public opinion!

His Majesty was a god reincarnated, possessing divinity. His status had instantly risen to that of the Outer God!

That way, the people would no longer feel that he was a level beneath the other god. They were all gods of the heavens.

This was a war between gods, not a war between mortals and a god.

The meaning was completely different now.

At the same time, the God of Suffering Mebius could use an image of agony to arouse sympathy and, in turn, smear the Church of Light.

"Your Majesty, shall we establish the church now?"

The Imperial Hero Herodotus spoke.

Great Emperor of Atabia shook his head. "No. Establishing the church now would have little effect. Our church has no miracles, and our enemies would instead attack us, claiming that we are a False God. Our sins would be deemed even greater, and we would bear even more curses!"

"We must begin spreading the doctrine only when we have a miracle."

Back to the present.

The moment when the miracle would be born had arrived.

"Begin!"

At that moment, the ministers who had endured humiliation in the various undersea cities immediately began to act.

One new temple after another, prepared long ago, began to reveal itself before the people.

"Great Emperor of Atabia! The suffering one among mortals! The heavenly god Mebius! He will ascend to godhood once more upon this land and ignite his divinity!"

Shouts rang across the earth.

A faint, ethereal song began to drift through the air, as though all the tender-voiced children across the earth were singing together, praying for their emperor.

"The torrential rain will collapse into a flood~~"

"Purple clouds will cover the earth and form an abyss~"

"From the ruins, a tower will rise~"

"Flesh will cover the bones."

"And I will return to the heavenly gods."

"Then meet you."

"Kill you."

The sacred hymn of the new church reverberated through the air. Some believers of the Church of the Suffering wore devout, gentle smiles as they loudly recited the sacred verses of Mebius's Suffering Hymn.

In the imperial city, countless attacking holy knights suddenly halted their blades. They stood there blankly, listening to the voice. "A new... god?"

At the same time, the entire world began to learn through the doctrine of the origins of this new god. He had come from the heavens to oppose the gods for the sake of mortals. The Church of Light was merely part of some supposed conspiracy.

This was a great reversal!

A perfect counterattack!

The pope—the spy among Li Qing's guard unit—was instantly shocked and enraged. No wonder they had not uttered a word before. So this was what they had been plotting!

"Great Emperor of Atabia, a god reincarnated from the heavens, Mebius the Suffering One."

Every Atabian in the world raised their heads, silently sensing that new god who pierced heaven and earth. The crystalline giant body of white bone seemed to carry wisps of pure, holy whiteness that pierced the clouds.

"The king was the cleverest person in the history of Atabia's peak population of seventeen trillion. He saw through every hardship, contemplated every problem in the world, and drove the evolution of civilization. He... had long since decided everything."

"He could have given up, too."

The Imperial Hero Herodotus led elite soldiers out from the underground chamber of the imperial city, a trace of a smile appearing on his face.

"But he was an arrogant man. When the gods demanded that he do something, he insisted on refusing."

"To impersonate a god in a mortal body, to use a church to defeat a church, and ignorance to defeat ignorance! To use public opinion to defeat public opinion and pull them back into our camp!"

"This was his choice!"

"There are no gods in this world. Gods are merely powerful people."

"If we Atabians must believe in some so-called god and have some so-called spiritual support, then why should we believe in an Outer God?"

"This holy emperor who guides the age is the one true god whom we Atabians on earth ought to worship above all!"

He suddenly laughed. With the knights behind him dressed as the Knights of the Church of the Suffering, their fighting spirit blazing, he roared.

"Come! Follow us in striking back, reclaim the imperial city, defeat these heretics, and fight for the Church of the Suffering!"