Returned from Beyond, Volume Five: Choice (Part One)
Compared to the rest of the cathedral, this place can only be described as shabby.
Hidden behind the last layer of the barrier is a dimly lit little space containing only an old, worn-out table and chairs, and a dilapidated filing cabinet.
The spirit swallowed hard, his trembling hand reaching for the only small stack of documents in the filing cabinet.
The small layer protecting the document had a diamond-like sheen, Super Divine Spell left over from generations ago.
But even the Super Divine Spell is as thin as a sheet of paper in front of the Goddess.
The divine magic that guarded the most confidential information could not prevent the Goddess from being captured. This seemed like a ridiculous loophole, but for the past 1,500 years, no one—including the great first Pope MacArthur —had ever imagined that the Goddess would betray the Papacy.
But now we have it.
The spirit medium took out a spirit stone lamp and lit it. By its soft, glowing light, she looked at the document that trembled along with her hands.
The stack of papers had turned a dark yellow, and the writing was somewhat blurred. If it hadn't been protected by a divine magical barrier, it would have been completely destroyed long ago.
"Are the top few sheets... letters?"
Although extremely old, it is still easy to see that the top few sheets are letters, written to someone.
The signature is--
"MacArthur? The First Pope!?"
The founder of the religion, the man closest to God, a warrior of unparalleled wisdom and courage, an all-knowing guide—it should be noted that in the Divine Law Cult, the first Pope MacArthur was a semi-deified figure! To actually obtain his handwritten letter, the priest's breathing became even more rapid.
"Calm down... calm down... look at this, what does it say—'My dear Grandor, forgive me for writing to you when you are at your busiest'... Grandor? First Cardinal Archbishop Grandor!?"
He was MacArthur's right-hand man, also worshipped by all people as a messenger of God.
This was written by MacArthur to Grandor, who was then at the front...
My dear Grandor,
Please forgive me for writing to you when you're at your busiest, but I'm so excited! After countless failures, my idea is finally starting to take shape!
After hundreds of experiments, 70% of the test subjects have died, but the basic framework of order has already taken shape! It turns out that using three young women as human sacrifices is the most stable approach!
Your friend, MacArthur
"...?"
What is this?
Experiment? Experimental subject?
The structure of order?
And, human pillars?
The spirit of the ritual felt a sudden chill.
Reason warned her not to read any further, but her trembling hands wouldn't obey, and she picked up the next letter—
Grandor,
The experiment has achieved another breakthrough.
The rudimentary order structure built using the three human pillars has already acquired basic functionality. This time, I hypnotized two test subjects with common superpowers, synchronizing their minds with the three human pillars—guess what happened? Their superpowers were originally completely different, but now they can use the same ability! Although the system I structured using the Truth Incantation is only in its rudimentary form, it has indeed been able to initially unify different superpowers into the same form!
Unfortunately, this was just the beginning. Less than an hour later, the two were killed by the overflowing power, and the three human pillars had their brains burned out. But it doesn't matter, I've finally found the direction to strive for!
Your dear MacArthur
"--Ugh!?"
The spirit had to tightly cover its mouth to prevent itself from crying out.
If she still doesn't understand what all the terms in this letter refer to, then she's incredibly foolish.
Three human pillars.
--Three Goddess.
A person with superpowers who has been "hypnotized" or "synchronized".
-- Paladins and Divine Spellcaster.
Different superpowers are unified into the same form.
--Divine magic.
Then, the next letter.
It was written to someone named Tegrian, a name the spirit had absolutely no recollection of.
Tegrian,
The situation has changed; return immediately.
The idea of using three human pillars was indeed correct, but for this experiment, I added a fourth human pillar to be on the safe side, which resulted in some trouble.
That backup did not become a "pillar" of order, but it did acquire the seed of power. Although it was also contained within order, it was incompatible with the first three human pillars and could not use divine magic. Instead, it underwent an extreme mutation of its physical body, which was extremely dangerous.
MacArthur
A fourth person?
Should a fourth person be deployed as a backup?
A bolt of lightning flashed through the spirit's mind.
The grey-haired girl I met in the Sadington underground shelter, who also possessed the aura of Goddess.
Could it be her?
"Ah!"
He didn't hold on tight enough, and the papers fell to the ground. The spirit quickly bent down to pick them up.
"... Huh? This is... a notebook?"
These items weren't just letters; there was also an equally old notebook with "Experiment Log No. 67" written on the cover in strange handwriting.
"..."
The spirit slowly sat down on the ground, and in the dim light, opened this "experimental record"—
October 5th, sunny.
Throw in the human pillar today
Gender: All female
Age (in years): ①12, ②16, ③24
The second person struggled violently before the experiment, and was sedated with medication.
Start the Truth Incantation at 8:00
8:24 The Sanctuary Appears
Today's intensity is increased to test the tolerance of the human stem cell.
At 11:30, Number One started crying and struggling, with blood flowing from the corners of its eyes and mouth. Continue to observe while maintaining its current condition.
At 13:40, the head of No. 1 exploded, confirming death. No. 2 and No. 3 were severely traumatized and were injected with drugs to calm them down.
At 14:10, half an hour after Number One's death, the Sanctuary showed signs of collapse and a new test subject (also a 12-year-old female) was used to replace Number One.
14:15 The collapse of the Sanctuary stopped.
December 20th, cloudy
Throw in the human pillar today
Gender: All female
Age (in years): ①9, ②18, ③27
All participants were injected with stimulants to force them to remain mentally alert, and their limbs were confirmed to be securely immobilized.
Start the Truth Incantation at 8:00
8:12 The Sanctuary Appears
Keep it as it is and wait.
At 17:30, after confirming that everyone's emotions were basically stable, a second injection of stimulants was administered to keep them conscious, and the intensity of the Sanctuary was recorded.
At 17:40, the third limb was amputated and bleeding was stopped immediately. The wound was kept in a state of pain. The intensity of the Sanctuary was recorded.
The strength of the Sanctuary remained unchanged at 18:00.
At 18:15, a non-lethal snake venom mixture was injected into Number One's body. Number One began to struggle and scream violently. The strength of the Sanctuary at this time was recorded.
The strength of the Sanctuary remained unchanged at 19:00.
It can be preliminarily determined that the physical and mental damage within a certain range will not affect the stability of the order.
December 21st, Sunny
To establish the initial framework of order.
Keep the sanctuary open and use drugs to put the three human pillars into a deep sleep in preparation for subsequent experiments.
February 21st, cloudy
Today's participants
Gender: ① Male, ② Female
Age (in years): ①37, ②31
Superpowers: ① Basic fire control, ② Basic telekinesis, both are common superpowers.
The subjects were placed in a sanctuary that had been stable for two months.
Inject medication; synchronization begins.
Based on previous experimental results, convincing them of the existence of the same thing is the most effective way to achieve harmony.
Begin hypnosis.
This led both of them to believe in the existence of "the same thing," and later they used the concept of "god" from folklore to refer to this "same thing."
Synchronization successful.
The integration of superpowers begins.
Snap
The laptop fell to the ground.
The spirit did not pick it up.
She didn't know when it started, but her hands stopped trembling.
"..."
My mind is a complete mess.
My heart feels empty.
It felt like a piece of my heart had been ripped out.
This small notebook of experimental records is enough to explain a great deal.
So much that the brain simply cannot process it.
She mechanically picked up the bottom document from the stack of files.
That was also a letter.
But it's much longer.
It contains the most information.
My dearest friend, Grandor, Tegrian
It was a success.
This is the ultimate success.
I wish I could fly to your side and share my joy with you right now.
Countless experiments, countless failures, and the consumption of thousands of test subjects have finally paid off.
I have finally constructed the most complete order using the Truth Incantation. Although it is small in scale, it can expand rapidly once a large number of believers are included. You must be wondering what I mean by "believers." Let me explain, and this will also be our guiding principle for the future.
The core of the order is the operator and the three pillars, among whom the three girls who serve as pillars are of paramount importance; they support the entire system. Let's call them "Goddess." For easy identification, I've named them "Prayer," "Heavenly Law," and "Sacrificial Spirit."
Among them, the Prayer is the core of the core, an existence that can be directly connected to the Truth Incantation; the Heavenly Law is the Guardian, capable of using power that even surpasses that of Divine Item; while the Sacrificial Spirit is merely a component, a complement to the former two, and can be filled by any talented young woman.
Thus, a basic order was formed.
After repeated experiments, I discovered that the simplest way to bring others into this order is for "those included to all firmly believe in the same thing!" That's right, it's what we call -- faith!
Listen, my dear friends, the best path for us to develop is religion! We can create an omnipotent God—let's call him "Supreme God"—and gather a large following, making all those idiots believe in this fictitious being. In this way, all believers will be brought into order!
All believers incorporated into the order, and the supernatural abilities of those with special abilities, will have their powers unified into a single form by the Prayer of Truth Incantation. The power of each believer will be shared under the influence of the order, meaning we can have a highly coordinated and powerful army without doing anything! This is different from another Divine Item called the Gleaming Gold South-Pointing Compass. The order here is something we constructed using the Truth Incantation; it is our own! In other words, we can completely control this order, turning every fanatical idiot into our power!
As the one most familiar with this system, I will serve as the Pope in charge of order, while the handling of various matters will be entrusted to you, Grandor —the future Cardinal Archbishop! And Tegrian, do you remember the spare body with the mutated form I mentioned before? That's the fourth rank. Strictly speaking, although it doesn't participate in forming the core of order, it is fundamentally Goddess —the fourth Goddess besides the Prayer Goddess! Don't think she's useless; on the contrary, that monster is perfectly suited as an executioner operating in the shadows. You will manage her! We need to establish a tribunal. After all, we will be a religious organization promoting truth, goodness, and beauty from now on. Actions that contradict those piles of nonsense doctrines will inevitably cause chaos and damage our prestige. Therefore, we also need a force capable of resolving problems offstage, and Tegrian, familiar with secret operations, is the perfect candidate!
Rejoice! Jump for joy! We no longer need to shy away from those barbarians of the Rakshasa Divine Sect; the future—
"--'The future West Saint Continent will be our world, and all the ignorant people will become the servants of that so-called supreme god—our servants,' how about that? Is that how the last sentence is written?"
"--who!?"
The moment the sacrificial spirit turned its head in terror—
The tattooed, bald man with a sinister grin gripped her neck tightly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll write another 4000 words after my exams tomorrow!