You're Practically the God of Economic Affairs!

Hidan's arrogant laughter echoed throughout the council hall; he was practically a combination of butcher and cultist.

On the other side, Kakuzu swept directly towards the archives.

Four Earth Grudge Fear Masks flew out from behind him simultaneously, unleashing the four elements of Chakra: wind, fire, lightning, and water, giving the enemy no time to react.

Clear the file.

Leave them alive.

His tone remained icy, but his actions were colder than blood.

Lightning struck the rooftop, and fire engulfed the archives. All documents in the archives related to the "Progenitor Remnant Crystal Experiment" and "Heterogeneous Cooperation Documents" were burned to ashes within half a minute.

"You can hide it once, but don't expect to hide it a second time."

He didn't question, didn't explain, and didn't care about justifications—because in his eyes:

A lie is an unequal exchange.

Unequal exchanges are acts of hostility.

Dealing with hostile acts never requires negotiation.

Hidan seemed to have entered a blood-red grand ceremony.

He wasn't fighting; he was "presiding over a ceremony."

Marley's armed guards launched repeated counterattacks, only to find that no matter if his chest was pierced or his bones were blown apart, Hidan was still laughing and chanting.

"This is the fourteenth beheading ceremony!"

"The fifteenth spinal bone stripping technique!"

"Madam, we'll use heart-ripping techniques—you deserve it!"

"Thank you for the blood donation. May you be reborn from the ashes!"

Kakuzu turning back, saying, "Don't play for too long."

Hidan grinned. "It'll be over soon!"

With another slash, the head of a noble outcast was tossed high into the air by the scythe, blood splattering onto the top of the pillar.

Hidan spread his arms wide, immersed in Bloody Mist and fear.

"That's more like it!"

"This is the offering God desires!"

In less than an hour, the Marley Council building was engulfed in flames.

Kakuzu took away the scroll fragments and the core research brain, Hidan arranged the senator's corpse into a temporary blood sacrifice array and planted a long sacrificial pillar with interwoven red and black lines in the center of the council.

The words were carved in blood on the pillar:

"Those who deceive the gods will be punished threefold."

--The Blood Sacrifice Church

Three days later, the Church of Marley completely blocked all news from within its ranks.

However, the story of the "trial by blood pillar" continues to circulate widely among the public.

"A god descended upon the world and slaughtered all the false nobles."

"The senator shouted the holy name, yet died a gruesome death."

They said it was 'punishment from the Old Gods'.

Beneath the old royal city, the sealed temple is expanding rapidly.

Hidan sat high on the Bloodstone Throne, the prayers and murmurs of countless heretics echoing in his ears.

"The blood of the gods will henceforth flow not only on the altar."

"I want them—one by one—to learn the posture of sacrifice."

"Until the whole world... kneels down."

Kakuzu stood on the high platform, watching all of this, without saying a word.

But on the scroll he held open, there was another note:

[Marley is now defunct; southern resources will fall to Akatsuki within three months.]

[The Blood Cult is attracting more heretics than expected]

He closed the scroll, turned, and left.

Hidan looked up at the sky and grinned:

"The Path of Divine Descent..."

"This is just the beginning."

Old Capital - Late Night

The thick Bloody Mist had not yet dissipated, and embers burned whisperingly in the streets and alleys, like some unwilling ghosts.

The Marley Council building has been cleared into an open space, with a high platform made of bloodstone standing in it, and the remaining cursed flames on the sacrificial pillars still flickering.

Hidan climbed the broken bricks step by step, his scythe slithering like a snake, leaving a long trail of blood. He spread his arms and looked up at the night sky:

"Behold! God's judgment has descended upon this defiled body, and even the moon is ashamed to show its face!"

"Marley... is just First Blood."

He whirled around, scanning the kneeling heretics and new believers in the square, a fanatical smile spreading across his lips:

"You—will offer your souls for the second drop of blood."

"From this day forward, the Blood Sacrifice Church, and the old capital will be its throne!"

Whispers arose all around, and countless people prostrated themselves on the ground, reciting newly added verses from the tattered scriptures:

"The gods show no mercy; they only devour."

"If you do not wish to be swallowed, then please offer yourself as a sacrifice."

Underground altar area.

Kakuzu was poring over a large amount of research data and economic lists salvaged from the ruins of the Diet, while the Earth Grudge Fear Line stretched out from behind him, picking through spoils, sealing them, and assessing their value from all directions.

"Eleven giant mines in the southeast region are unregistered; three corpse transport routes are still repairable..."

"The data from the alien experiment is partially incomplete, and the consciousness-driven anchor has been destroyed, but the split-soul proliferation technique—it's useful."

Kakuzu raised his hand and sealed the record into a scroll.

He then walked to a "soul-sacrifice anchor point" made of blood crystals and cursed stones. This was the energy core that Hidan obtained by sacrificing forty-three believers—an object where primal divine magic and technology converged.

Kakuzu glanced at him, his tone devoid of emotion:

"Poor stability, unsuitable for mass production."

"... However, if this is used as the central hub to establish a faith amplification circuit, it could accelerate the control of the heretics' minds."

He immediately ordered his men to activate the "indoctrination mode": based on the "Sacrificial Remnant Scripture," the scripture was implanted into the consciousness of lower-level believers, brainwashing was aided by Genjutsu, and prayers were offered every three days and offerings were made every five days, gradually replacing the old church's doctrinal system.

He did not believe in God, but he knew that a stable regime required a "unified belief."

Hidan is the most suitable "god's representative".

Two days later

In the southern interior of Old Marley, trade routes have reopened, and envoys dispatched by Kakuzu have been arriving at various resource outposts.

The seventh corpse storage site was returned to dawn;

The thirteenth underground scroll museum is operating semi-automatically.

The West Bank Crystal Mine has been re-registered under the name of "Temple Property";

The newly emerging "magical gold standard" monetary system was forced into use, and heretics, exiles, and those who had defected from their religions flocked to the old capital.

Kakuzu subtly incorporated these people into the faith's organization, establishing believer registration cards, blood sacrifice levels, blood donation quotas, and a ratio for exchanging cursed power for gold...

They even established a system of debt incurred by divine grace:

Those who fail to offer sacrifices today must repay double the amount tomorrow.

"Donate your heart once, and you'll receive three levels of divine grace."

"Those who flee are considered defaulters, and the gods will pursue them for their debts through 'high-interest sacrifices'."

Hidan was shocked when he first saw these systems:

"Kakuzu! Your damned economics is even more sinister than my Blood Sutra!"

"You're practically a god in charge of the economy!"

Kakuzu replied calmly, "You just need to be responsible for making offerings to the gods, and I'll be responsible for ensuring these people make those offerings even if it kills them."

One month later.

The entire old royal palace has been completely renovated.

Hidan ascended to the new altar, donned a bone crown crafted from fifty-three pieces of heretical bone, proclaimed himself "Chief Priest of the Blood God," and officially issued the first Daoist decree of the Blood Cult:

"Those who believe will donate blood, those who don't will donate their lives."

"Every drop of blood shed in despair is an act of atonement for the world."

On the day of the ceremony, 14,000 people donated blood, and more than 5,000 people volunteered to become "faith bone banks"—freezing some of their organs and injecting their souls into the sacrificial pool in exchange for divine favor.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu silently erected a "Blood Coin Exchange Monument" behind the temple, the inscription of which read:

[The exchange rate for spell power refreshes every ten days; sacrifices can be used to pay off debts; divine grace accrues interest; those who delay will be penalized with three levels of sacrifice.]

[Currency Source: Collected on Behalf of the Gods]

Old Marley, completely changed his surname.

But the echoes of war have not completely subsided.

Three days later.

A secret message arrived from the northern front.

A mixed legion composed of remnants of the old church, out-of-control sorcery experimenters, and "remnant god believers" has captured the third exile zone on the border of Eldia, claiming to "cleanse the Blood Cult" and "restore the true god."

Kakuzu reading the secret letter, Kakuzu only uttered two words:

"Leveraging existing trends."

Hidan, and blood-red markings appeared faintly:

"God is testing me!"

He licked his lips and murmured:

"Cleanse me?"

"Then I'll... make them my blood-written chapters too."

The night before departure.

Hidan Kakuzu:

"This time, don't block my way."

"I will use their hearts... to finish the ninth volume of the 'Fragmentary Sutra'."

Kakuzu responded coldly:

"Suit yourself, but all the corpses are mine after the war."

Hidan grinned:

"Make a deal!"