In the cold courtroom, on the huge stand where the gavel and documents were usually placed, hot dishes were laid out in their place.
Just like my other companions, I made use of my limited time to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh with Elisa.
Alright, don't understand innuendos? I just meant eating. Can you sympathize with these pitiful old bones who had been deprived of his sense of taste for more than a hundred years?
There weren't many dishes. Fried intestine, fruit salad, vegetable soup and butter bread. The taste couldn't compare to the food by the Imperial Kitchen that I remembered, it was obviously the rushed work of some restaurant. But, for a hungry ghost who had not eaten for a hundred years, even a rock-hard barley bread would be treated as the finest culinary dish to him.
"Cough cough!" Too anxious to eat, I accidentally choked. I quickly grab my neck and knocked on the table violently, signaling Elisa to come to my rescue.
"Acting like a child despite being so old? Heh. You're exactly like a small kid now. Isn't there anything that you want to say?" Elisa poured some tea for me while patting my back.
"Cough… I almost got done in by the cucumber slices. If I really died because of that, everyone would probably die along with me, from laughing."
"The dead still can die once more?"
"Of course, if I don't die and resurrect a few times, how can I be considered a final boss? Other people might not know, but there isn't much difficulty for me to die a few dozen more times."
"Hmph, die faster so that you can get reincarnated earlier. Quickly pass on if you are done eating."
"Hey hey, even those on the death penalty have a final feast prepared for them. Isn't it too early to be keeping the tableware now?"
"Is there such a rule?"
"Oh, looks like there really isn't one. I forgot to add it in. Remember to pass the message to Lilith so that she can bring it up during the next legislative meeting. Even if the law is heartless, enforcers must still retain their humanity. Give those on the death row some privileges, we should at least give them this much."
"Tell her yourself."
"That, I'm afraid it will be difficult. There isn't enough time…"
"Leave a note then."
Looking at this young lady with a frustrated face, I knew that, given her personality, she wouldn't agree to my request. Helpless, I could only take out my pen to write a note and leave it on the Judge Stand.
"Alright, I'm done. Thanks for the hospitality." Satisfied with the alcohol and food, I nodded my head.
"It was just some cheap good from the bar. We didn't have sufficient time." Elisa shook her head, regret and hesitation showing in her eyes.
"Yeah, if only you could have made it for me personally."
"You know that I can't cook. If I really make food, you'll have to finish it all."
Indeed, Elisa, who was capable in all other aspects of housework, was lacking slightly in this aspect. Perhaps it was because of her Demon Bloodline, but her sense of taste was bizarre. The food she produced had an extremely heavy taste, spiciness within sweetness, poison within spiciness. Alright, maybe not poison but going by how my tongue had swollen up like a sausage, it was much worse than poison.
At this moment, I heaved a sigh of relief. Lisa had been a true master of housework, the culinary she made had surpassed that of normal great chefs. In the end, worried, I couldn't resist asking her
"Is it… Elisa?"
"Un, Elisa, not Lisa. I only used that to scare the others."
After giving a complete sigh of relief, I smiled.
"I think that Adam will get over it."
"So what? Didn't you say that a one-sided crush will only last for 36 days, a crush that lasted for more than a century was just escapism. Even if he were to face reality, accept his own feeling and finally think it through, he would only play dumb. Aren't men only good at playing dumb?"
As Elisa spoke, she stared fixedly at me, even emphasizing the 'aren't men only good at playing dumb', an obvious attempt at pointing finger towards me.
"Haha, Adam isn't playing dumb but he's really dumb." Fine, some innocent man just got narrowed and was currently trying his best to play dumb.
A certain woman continued glaring furiously…
"Fine… I'm sorry." In the end, unable to stand the glare filled with reproach, a certain man apologized helplessly.
"What I need now isn't an apology!"
"… I can only offer you an apology."
Maybe, the one escaping from reality wasn't just Adam. I didn't have the confidence to get past what I was about to face. Even if I knew what Elisa wanted was just a promise, I couldn't offer her one.
"Hmph, fortunately I didn't expect that a rock would be able to be enlightened, so I made preparations." I couldn't hear her muttering behind her gritted teeth.
"Alright, now that I'm full, it's time to move on."
"Treating the utmost glory of Ascending to a God as a cruel punishment, aren't you afraid of blasphemy?"
"Cruel punishment? To me, becoming a God is much worse than a cruel punishment."
Becoming a God?
It sounds fine, but it actually isn't much.
Since I am talking about becoming a God, then I have to elaborate a little about what a God is. In reality, there are many type of Gods and they are vastly different from each other. At the very least, the Order Gods and Malevolent Gods of Chaos are two completely different concepts.
Most of the Order Gods obey some kind of Rule or Concept. Often, this Concept would be their Jurisdiction and their God Realm. The core of their existence was the materialization of the Concept of their Jurisdiction. Most of them had a certain job such as the Guardian God of a land and accepted faith from the people to grow stronger.
However, this also limited their actions. They had to work under the restrictions of the Rule they made to spread their Concept. One of the most famous example of this were the Mother of Earth, God of Holy Light and the Goddess of Magic. These 3 Gods are unbelievably powerful but they had lost their sense of self, becoming a complete Conceptual existence.
The Malevolent Gods could also accept faith to grow stronger but they had much more freedom in this aspect. For one, despite Lorci messing around in the underground world, no one has leaped out to give her a slap.
This was the secret of the Gods which no church would leak out. To me, this was just an image to deceive the people.
The biggest difference between the two was that the Order Gods followed the Goddess of Order, Astrya, who was sleeping on the Origin of Order while the Malevolent Gods of Chaos had to offer their loyalty to the Goddess of Chaos, Cynthia, who was sleeping in the Chaos Abyss.
Alright, I seem to have accidentally leaked some important news. Since I've already said this much, I might as well finish my piece.
Astrya is deeply asleep on the Origin of Order, guiding the souls who believe in the Order Gods to ascend to the top of the Heavenly Pillar. When the souls are unable to provide any more faith, they are sent back into the cycle of reincarnation. The fragment of souls from the faith in Order will become nutrients for Astrya so as to hasten her awakening.
Cynthia is much the same. The only difference is that the one guiding the souls isn't the Heavenly Pillar but the River Styx. Also, the place that she sleeps in isn't the Origin of Order but the Chaos Abyss.
This is also why the 'Sacred War' is never-ending. Even if the 2 Goddesses are forced into a deep sleep, but they both instinctively hope to awaken. As long as the cycle of reincarnation continues for a sufficient amount of time, they will eventually awaken. Furthermore, the greater the faith towards Order or the more a soul is sided towards Chaos, the more nutritious it is. Also, the roar of despair of by the souls of the warriors who died in battle will serve as an even more nutritious tonic.
So, if both Goddesses instinctively hope to revive, the source of all life, the Origin of Order and the Chaos Abyss, won't wish for the war to stop. For them to awaken, the Sacred War will happen again and again. If the war continues on, there will be a day when after obtaining sufficient tributes, Astrya and Cynthia will awaken from their sleep and the War of Gods will happen in the end. The world will be reduced to its primitive form.
In the 'history', the darned catastrophe happened. After the tributes from 6 Trials, the 2 Goddesses of Creation finally awoke and led the Gods and mortals under them to battle. The conclusion was just like after the 1st Sacred War… there was no victor. The 2 Goddesses went back to eternal sleep, the different mortal races went extinct, many Gods fell and the Eich continent was destroyed like this. Maybe, when a new civilization finally reappeared, the cycle would continue.
This was the ultimate secret that even the Gods of the new generation did not know of. But to me, it was just the final piece of information written on the game walk through.
"What the heck? I know that the Goddesses of Creation are great, being able to create so many races. But, can you sisters limit the fight to you two and not drag others down ìnto the mud!" This was my reaction when reading it for the first time. If it wasn't that I had been a Transcender, I would have long been burnt on a stake.
That's why from the very start, I kept wavering between the Chaos Faction and Order Faction (I didn't think that either sides was good). Still I followed the mainstream line of thinking that Chaos is evil and Order is kind. Yet, despite belonging to the Order Faction, I made use of the very core of the world, the Origin of Order, without any respect.
Fine, now that I've said as much, the question was here. Since Chaos will not come to an end as long as the River Styx continues its flow, then everyone will be done for if this war goes on. So, how can it be stopped?
It might seem totally impossible but exploiting loopholes was my expertise. After spending many years, I finally thought of an idea but the first step involved the ascension as a God to strengthen the power of the Law.
The Power of Law is considered a lower power of the Origin of Order. Although I've talked about replacing the Power of Holy Light with the Power of Law, the Power of Law was still too weak. It is impossible to learn and practice the Power of Law in a place without the God Equipment of Law. However, the Scattered Pages are limited in number, so if we were to want to spread the Power of Law through it, it would take too much time.
So, just like the Holy Light had the God of Holy Light, the Law had to have one as well, even if it's just a God Power Regulation System. This way, no matter where and when, people are able to derive actual power from believing in Law. Only this way will there be a possibility for the Power of Law to replace the Holy Light.
But, before all this could happen, the very first core step that had to be fulfilled for my plans…
Since we have already clarified what a God is and established the need for a God of Law, then, how can one ascend to become a God?
In reality, becoming an Order God wasn't difficult. Other than those fortunate ones who managed to stumble on to old God Power or God Jurisdiction, as long as one created a new important Concept and Jurisdiction and he reached the realm of the SemiGod before (This is so that he one can manipulate the God Power so as to not implode from the God Power), he can make a declaration, ascend to Godhood, spread his faith and recruit devotees. At least, this is how the God of Holy Light came about. He should have been the very first Priest of Holy Light.
The birth of every new Order God will strengthen the Order Faction significantly. All of those who created new Concepts to Ascend to Godhood will be acknowledged and rewarded by the Origin of Order, allowing them to grow strong quickly.
This is also why Kajah and the others viewed me as a future God. This 'future' prefix should be only there because they thought that I had never reached SemiGod but I, Wumianzhe Roland, the previous SemiGod Undead Emperor, have already long fulfilled the conditions for an Ascension.
But, a true God's ability to interfere with the mortal world was limited. If I were to Ascend to Godhood and become a true God controlled by the Origin of Order, then I wouldn't be able to stay out of the fight of the 2 Factions. My plan would go down the drain. But, I found a loophole in the God system and now, with all of my betting chip placed on it, it was time to start this crazy plan.
"I, Wumianzhe, the founder and user of the Power of Law, in Sulfur Mountain City, the land of origin of the Power of Law, declare to the world that I will Ascend to Godhood and take on the Jurisdiction of Law as a true God of Law."
The Origin of Order, which had been waiting for a long time, sent down a gigantic pillar of light and the thickness of the Power of Order made it hard to breath. As the declaration to Ascend to Godhood spread across the world, all life stopped in their footsteps and looked respectfully towards the sky.
Adam, who just climbed down from the operation stand, just like the others, stared at the pillar of Light of Order dumbfounded, only muttering a few words.
"Roland, you are really playing it big this time. You intend to fool the Gods
-----------
Background info; The Gods who have been infused with too much faith become Conceptual existence which means they don't have a sense of self (unable to think), but this doesn't mean they cannot do anything. Think of Terminator, they will react when their Concepts are being threatened etc. More like a smart machine I guess.