Proselytizing

Today, the Kingdom of the Sun God seemed especially lively.

Sasrir, the Right Hand of God, had summoned all the angels, including Dream.

"What's going on?" Truman, the Angel of Dreams, arrived at an enormous Sacrificial Square that could hold tens of thousands of believers. A statue of the Creator stood in the center.

It looked just like the Ancient Sun God, except that alongside the blazing sun and the shadow of the veil, the statue also embodied the powers of Storm, the mind, and knowledge.

This was the statue of the true Creator, pointing to the Omniscient and Omnipotent God Almighty. And now, the Ancient Sun God who occupied the Chaos Sea had fully assumed this Honorific Name.

Moreover, in the final battle of the divine war, the Ancient Sun God had appeared in this very form. Beneath the radiance of that sun, many people across the world had become believers in the Creator.

"The Kingdom of God will descend upon the world," Sasrir solemnly proclaimed the Oracle to all the believers.

"The Lord cannot bear to see all living beings suffer. He will merge Heaven with the world and save them all!"

As soon as Sasrir finished speaking, the true starry sky suddenly appeared above Heaven. The entirety of Heaven also manifested within the boundless Astral World.

Stars dotted the sky, and sunlight drove away all darkness. The Kingdom of God began to manifest in the world.

To everyone in the real world, this was a miracle of the Creator.

A Kingdom of God cradled by a vast, shimmering figure that filled the Astral World descended upon the world. In an instant, it crossed an immeasurable distance and appeared above a continent, barely a hundred meters above the ground.

Like the City of Miracles, it hovered in midair.

Sunlight streamed down, forming the Path of Light that connected the Kingdom of God to the continent.

"Go, and spread the Lord's radiance to every corner of the world!" Sasrir looked at the believers gathered in the Sacrificial Square.

They were all missionaries, and quite a few were Bards—the perfect people to spread the faith!

"Go with the believers and protect them on their journey," Sasrir said to the Five Great Angels.

"Yes!" Medici and the others nodded solemnly. In this era, proselytizing was no mere matter of smooth talking.

As angels serving beneath the Lord, they had to display "miracles," just as Truman had done before.

"I'll take this direction." Truman looked toward a long line of missionaries. They were all headed for human settlements.

He had a faint feeling about this direction. There should be something worth discovering.

He went to the missionaries and personally led them onward.

He displayed a miracle—Angel Wings. Twelve phantom wings seemed to form behind him, beating gently as they scattered radiance over the group of missionaries. The light drove away every monster and purified countless hearts.

Before long, Truman had led the missionaries to their destination.

"So it really is you, Hermes." Truman smiled and nodded.

"This is the Angel of Dreams! He is the true Soothsayer of humanity—the source of all knowledge!" Hermes sensed an exceptionally holy presence drawing near and had even been preparing to retreat from the city-state.

Now that he saw Truman, he was overjoyed.

"So this is what you've accomplished during this time?" Truman looked behind Hermes and saw a group of young men and women. To his perception, every one of them was a Beyonder!

In this world, Beyonder Characteristics were extremely concentrated. One only had to visit the areas around the Ancient Gods' divine kingdoms to encounter many Beyonder Creatures.

And with Hermes, a Saint, there to help, it was easy for these people to obtain Characteristics.

This was probably the first group in human history to advance through Potions on their own, without relying on anyone's gifts. They were humanity's true hope!

Hermes's expression turned solemn. "No. This is your achievement!"

"Without you, I never could have obtained this knowledge."

Truman shook his head slightly, but Hermes still regarded himself as Truman's follower.

Truman looked at the young men and women. There were twenty-two of them, and they seemed to follow various Pathways.

They were pioneers on humanity's Beyonder path.

He turned to the missionaries behind him. "Go on in first."

Hermes's expression changed, but in the end, he did not try to stop them.

"Humanity, especially the people of this era, needs faith." Truman understood what Hermes was thinking and shook his head slightly.

Hermes had lived through an age of cruel and violent Ancient Gods. He had witnessed countless Catastrophes caused by their brutality. The thought of truly believing in a god was something he simply couldn't stomach.

But faith wasn't a bad thing for humanity—especially when even Angels and Gods needed humans as "anchors" to stabilize themselves.

In such circumstances, believing in a God could bring real protection.

That was important for humanity, so weak as it was now.

"Friend, would you be interested in learning about the savior of the world, the Creator who made and rules over all things?"

"He created the world and saved it. He awoke from chaos and once more took us, His creations, under His protection."

"He has six Archangels beneath Him, and..."

The missionaries entered the great city-state and told everyone they met about the miracles wrought by the Creator. The battle with the Ancient Gods had not happened long ago, and the helpless terror it had inspired was still deeply etched in the hearts of everyone alive at the time.

The Sun God's protection of the entire world and all living beings was a major point in His favor.

Even those who had once followed other faiths could hardly feel ill will toward such an existence.

Thus, the mission was unlikely to encounter any problems.

"Is it that being?" Hermes's expression softened when he heard they were spreading faith in the Creator.

Truman turned his gaze away. He didn't need to concern himself with the proselytizing. All he had to do was maintain an angel's mystery and power here.

He turned his attention back to the humans who had already become Sequence 9 Beyonders.

"Would you like to believe in Dream? It's free, after all. You might as well believe a little." Suddenly, Truman took out the ordinary-looking Book of Dreams.

"You can choose to believe in someone else later. I won't blame you."

"And anyone who believes in me will be able to go farther along the Path of Sequence."

Truman caused his Honorific Name, annotated with Jotun pronunciation, to resound in the minds of the young Beyonders.

The young people all looked toward Hermes, waiting for him to decide.

"Can I believe in you, too?" Hermes asked, leaving Truman astonished.

"...Of course." Truman nodded gently.

"Then let's do it!" Hermes led the twenty-odd young people in loudly reciting the Angel of Dreams' Honorific Name.

"Spirit of Truth..."

The next moment, Truman felt a strange connection form between him and the people before him. Hermes's faith stood out in particular.

"My believers shall be free from the torment of madness and return at last to Dream."

It wasn't Truman who spoke, but the statue of him in the Kingdom of the Creator. He had built in many functions, such as automatic responses, allowing it to draw upon the power of the Book of Dreams to answer believers in everyday matters.