Gods Have No Right or Wrong, Humans Have Good and Evil

At that moment, Aikawa Kaze finally understood what that oppressive force that had shaken him actually was.

It was the instinctual "awe" deeply rooted in the human body.

In ancient times, inexplicable phenomena, the "violence" of nature, and the utter incomprehension of it all birthed the "gods" of people's imaginations, whom they worshipped and feared.

Aikawa Kaze had felt the oppression of Special Grade Cursed Spirits before, but that kind of pressure only sparked his fighting spirit, making him rebound from rock bottom and want to counterattack.

However, the aura just now, which felt as if he were facing the majesty of nature itself, made his mind go completely blank for a split second.

--Perhaps this was what Suguru Geto wanted him to see the most.

Aikawa Kaze raised his head, looking at the red light flashing in the eyes of the black-haired, red-eyed girl, as well as the radiance emanating from the Mountain God Temple. They seemed opposed, yet there also appeared to be a bizarre harmony between them.

He suddenly came to an enlightenment.

The "god" here was born from the faith of the people in this place, and Ai, having been designated by everyone as the "sacrifice," had long since become entangled in countless ways with the god here.

Actually, as early as when Ai was able to see White, Aikawa Kaze and Megumi Fushiguro should have concluded that the other party was a Jujutsu Sorcerer, but the reason they still held a trace of hesitation was because the aura on her was subtly different.

After careful perception, Aikawa Kaze himself even judged that even if the girl Ai had Jujutsu talent, it didn't seem very strong.

However, this conclusion clearly ran counter to the girl radiating powerful energy before him.

Scenes of him fighting Maki using his Vision flashed through his mind. At that time, his ability to withstand high-grade Cursed Tools with low-grade Cursed Tools relied on weakening the opponent with positive energy and strengthening himself with negative energy.

Right now, he seemed to be seeing a similar example once again.

"What on earth... is going on here?"

Megumi Fushiguro looked blankly at everything before him, for a moment not even knowing what to do.

He had already sensed the difference in the aura here, yet he was restricted by his cognition and unable to judge.

"Could it be that 'God' has manifested?"

Even Aikawa Kaze himself had completely not expected to crash directly into the butterfly effect he had generated so quickly.

In the past, it was impossible for this world to produce the "Mountain God" as perceived by the villagers, but now, due to the completion of the world's rules, a so-called "god" had truly appeared.

If this thing were discovered by Jujutsu Society, it would definitely cause a massive uproar, right?

"God? Isn't it a Cursed Spirit?"

"What do you think?"

"..."

Megumi Fushiguro was clearly stunned, frowning slightly. In his eyes, the radiant figure that also appeared in the Mountain God Temple bore not the slightest resemblance to a Cursed Spirit.

By contrast, that girl full of lingering resentment was much more like a Cursed Spirit instead.

However, he immediately associated this with all the various rumors he had heard in the village earlier, and cast an unfriendly gaze toward that blurry, burly "Mountain God."

"Could it be that he's the one who made people sacrifice children in exchange for a bountiful harvest?! What kind of god is this?!"

"...No, Megumi, I think you've got cause and effect backward."

A flash of understanding crossed Aikawa Kaze's eyes as he sighed.

"It's not that the Mountain God made people offer sacrifices, but rather that because people believed the Mountain God required sacrifices, therefore He did."

"!!!"

"Gods have no right or wrong; humans have good and evil."

At least, that was how it was in this world.

Megumi Fushiguro fell silent. He did not know what to say, only looking blankly at everything before him.

It seemed as if he understood something, yet it also seemed as though he remained confused.

He saw the girl named Ai smiling in a seductive and eerie manner.

"It's... your fault! All this time... clearly I kept explaining... that the butterfly had only fallen asleep and just happened to fly away from my hand..."

Ai murmured softly, her eyes filled with boundless hatred.

"I was never a monster... Yet since you treat me thus... what harm is there in me becoming one?"

The girl let out a shrill laugh, her entire body brimming with murderous intent. Pitch-black flames of resentment burned in her hands, spreading toward the villagers and causing them to wail and shriek.

Yet, although they wailed in agony, they did not die as the girl had imagined.

Here, the only one who could interfere with her was...

Ai raised her head, staring coldly at the blurry human shape faintly emerging within the Mountain God Temple, and asked aloud.

"Are you going to get in my way?"

"Lord Mountain God! Save us!"

"Lord Mountain God! W-We are your loyal believers! Please get rid of this monster!"

"Lord Mountain God! Lord Mountain God!"

The ignorant villagers knelt toward the Mountain God Temple one after another, pleading for protection.

Until now, they still firmly believed that Ai herself was the monster, and that their act of sacrificing the girl to the Mountain God was without error.

However, the Mountain God upon whom they pinned their high hopes did not respond to their plea, instead speaking to them.

"Thou mayest sacrifice youths in exchange for seven years of bountiful harvest."

"M-Mountain God Lord?"

"Thou mayest sacrifice youths in exchange for seven years of bountiful harvest."

"If you want sacrifices... w-we'll prepare them later! For now, please get rid of this monster first!"

"Thou mayest sacrifice youths in exchange for seven years of bountiful harvest."

"..."

No matter how the villagers pleaded, that "Mountain God" only had this single sentence in response.

The villagers despaired. They believed it was because they had failed to present sacrifices to please the god that the god refused to respond to their plea.

The Mountain God protected them from dying, but Enma Ai's flames of resentment were burning fiercely upon them, making them feel that life was worse than death.

They could only roll around on the ground, tears and snot streaming down as they begged the god over and over again, yet it was all in vain.

However, where on earth were they supposed to find another sacrifice to satisfy Lord Mountain God?!

"This god doesn't look very smart?" Megumi Fushiguro looked hesitatingly at the Mountain God and wavered, "How come I feel like he doesn't not want to respond to these people, but rather that he only knows this one phrase?"

"I think your judgment is correct, his IQ is worrying... After all, he's a 'newborn,' you can't expect too much."

With a strange expression, Aikawa Kaze secretly used his Heroic Spirit Summoning ability.

Unfathomably, he had a faint premonition.

--If he could obtain this "Mountain God's" keepsake, he should truly be able to summon and boss around a Heroic Spirit named "Mountain God" in this world.

Because of differing systems, Heroic Spirits from other worlds could only perform Heroic Spirit Summoning by possessing him as a "converter," but if it were a god native to this world, he could genuinely summon a "Heroic Spirit."

"I'm afraid they've all hit a bug in the sacrificial procedure."

"A bug?"

"Earlier, those villagers wanted to sacrifice the girl named Ai, and the Mountain God was prepared to accept the sacrifice, so the procedure had already begun."

Aikawa Kaze pointed inside the shrine, where Enma Ai was trying hard to burn the villagers to death with her flames, yet under the "Mountain God's" power, the villagers were suffering bitterly without dying.

However, the Mountain God didn't seem to have any intention of rescuing his believers from the sea of fire, nor did he show any intent to stop Ai.

After all, this "Mountain God Lord" had just been born and was very pure.

Right now, driven by the villagers' faith, his mind was entirely filled with the notion of "offer sacrifice → grant harvest."

"In other words, because during the sacrificial procedure, the sacrifice suddenly had a power-up and counter-killed, those villagers were unable to offer the sacrifice, and the procedure didn't finish..."

"I more or less understand... So Ai can't kill them right now and can only torture them, yet she herself, as the sacrifice, cannot leave the shrine."

Under Aikawa Kaze's explanation, Megumi Fushiguro also figured it out, wearing a strange expression.

"Conversely, because those villagers couldn't make an offering, they couldn't leave the ritual either, and likewise couldn't do anything to Ai, having to just endure Ai's resentment like this."

Thus, the scene somehow ended up in a complete stalemate.

If there were no external interference, wouldn't they just be stuck in this dead loop until they died of old age?

To be honest, far from finding it terrifying, Aikawa Kaze actually wanted to laugh a little—what should he do about that?