Chapter 434

Chapter 434: Forced Demolition

The Plateau of Abandoned Gods, where even the sky was dyed in an ash-gray color.

Two massive factions were facing each other tensely across the vast canyon.

On the other side of the canyon, standing with his back to the pure white fortress, the Apostle of Radiance stared at the opposite side with dry eyes.

'What a truly terrible sight.'

The Apostle of Radiance.

No, the Higher Angel Seferin belonging to the System Administration Department.

He was an angel possessing a status distant enough to place even an ordinary low-to-mid-tier god under his feet.

There was only one reason he had descended onto this stage of trials wearing the shell of a lowly challenger.

'Park Hyunsung.'

The man who was wildly gathering believers while dressed as a farmer.

'Is that truly merely the authority of a single apostle?'

The heavy voice the Archangel had delivered before his sortie revived in his ears.

＊ ＊ ＊

Just a short while ago.

The control room of the golden altar.

Seferin, wearing a pure white robe, was kneeling below the platform with his two hands clasped together.

A Higher Angel directly under the Administration Department and an existence managing practical affairs right beneath the Archangel.

The Archangel placed a hand on Seferin's shoulder and opened his mouth with a crushingly heavy voice.

"……Seferin. Purify the heretic."

The image of a man dressed as a farmer was reflected on the hologram monitor.

It was the one called Park Hyunsung.

"Is that person…… the heretic I must purify?"

"He might not be an ordinary heretic."

Thick tension seeped into the Archangel's voice.

"The God of Death, Kim Minwoo. It might even be the person himself."

"If it's Kim Minwoo, are you talking about the one who recently became a Higher God?"

"Yes. That is correct."

"However, why would a Higher God directly…… to the Ascension Ritual. Wouldn't he merely be an apostle?"

The Archangel slowly shook his head side to side.

"Even the leaders of the True Blood clan knelt before him."

"……."

"And they submitted. They bowed their heads as if they were his subordinates. Not to Park Hyunsung himself, but to the humans positioned around him."

"……."

"And…… they were bound. Inside Park Hyunsung's inventory."

Seferin's face stiffened rigidly.

The True Blood clan was an arrogant race that raised their heads stiffly even to Intermediate Gods.

Such people submitted?

'……It is impossible unless he is a Higher God.'

He immediately understood why the Archangel suspected Park Hyunsung to be the god himself rather than an apostle.

The Archangel clenched his fists tightly.

"Above all, the biggest problem is something else. That person is currently swallowing the entire stage of the ritual with his own religion."

"……That is dangerous."

"Yes. If left alone like this, the stage of the ritual will degenerate into a massive holy land praising the God of Death. He is saving all the challengers who should be filtered out through trials and working them as believers to his liking. The very essence of the system as a harsh test is collapsing."

The Archangel handed the golden staff into Seferin's hand.

"I must ask a difficult favor of you. That person…… Park Hyunsung. No, the one who might be a Higher God. Please handle him."

"It is not difficult at all, Archangel."

Seferin smiled coldly.

"I do not know how he pierced through the security network and entered. We will have to acknowledge that point. However, the system cannot be that easy."

His blue pupils shone coolly.

"The authority of his true body must certainly be restricted. If not, what would have happened. The highest-ranking divine statuses would have directly stepped into the stage of the ritual one after another and wreaked havoc."

"……."

"But there has never been such a precedent even once. That means……."

Seferin slowly accepted the golden staff and pulled up the corners of his mouth.

"Even if the Higher God himself entered, it means his power does not even reach a shadow of the original."

The tip of the staff lightly tapped the floor.

A clear resonance spread calmly through the control room.

"A weakened God of Death or whatever, I can sufficiently purify him with my own hands."

"……I am keeping the worst-case scenario in mind as well."

The Archangel's voice was low and calm.

"Even the possibility of your defeat."

Seferin's shoulders flinched minutely.

But that was all.

Soon, he smiled faintly as if it was nothing.

"Even so, it does not matter."

Strength calmly entered the hand holding the golden staff.

"If even I collapse…… the system will not stay still."

"……."

"The system will eventually try to fix the error. My defeat will merely be nothing more than a flare announcing that beginning."

The Archangel slowly nodded his head.

"……Right. Your mission is twofold. First, appease his believers or eliminate them as much as possible. Second, clash with him directly and confirm that person's true identity."

Seferin nodded quietly.

The reason for sending him down became clear.

If a Higher Angel like himself was defeated, it would become a perfect justification for the system to intervene directly.

"There is no other way. We are bound by the administrator's rules and cannot intervene directly on the stage. Someone must go down wearing the shell of a mortal and tear this test paper apart directly."

"……."

"I am truly sorry for burdening you with a heavy load."

At the Archangel's bitter apology, Seferin slowly stood up.

His pure white soul resonated, and a blinding golden halo filled the control room.

Seferin readjusted his grip on the golden staff and smiled faintly.

"There is no need to apologize. Whether I win or lose, it is ultimately an act of protecting the system. However,"

Seferin's eyes flashed fiercely.

"I will move under the assumption that I will win. Park Hyunsung. If that person is merely a lucky apostle, I will perfectly purify the heretics and return. Isn't that the cleanest result?"

"Yes…… I desperately hope so."

The Archangel manipulated the console with a stiff expression.

[The Higher Angel directly under the Administration Department descends onto the stage of the ritual.]

[3rd Trial Rule Change: Mutual Destruction of Light and Darkness — Proof of Faith.]

[The stage for the purification of faith through the consumption of believers from both factions is activated.]

[A massive amount of ritual resources is consumed.]

Seferin's physical body was engulfed in a massive golden pillar.

Right before disappearing, he let his final words flow into the empty air.

"……Park Hyunsung. I desperately hope you are a lucky apostle. For my sake, and for yours."

Paaaaat―!

Seferin's figure completely disappeared from the control room.

The Archangel glared at the empty space for a long time, then looked beyond the tightly closed golden door.

A suffocating silence was pressing heavily on the space.

"……You must not fail. The moment this situation reaches the ears of the higher-ups and they intervene directly, this stage of the ritual is finished."

The Archangel bit his lip nervously.

As he said, the entire farce currently happening on the stage of the ritual was a massive test paper.

The Apostle of Radiance, Kim Minwoo, and even the stage of the ritual itself were merely intricate cogs waiting to derive a result.

Even the Archangel, the general manager of the system, could not dare to predict what result would pop out after the cogs meshed and turned.

The army of District 7 led by Seferin was qualitatively different from Kim Minwoo's District 1.

If District 1 was the group that met an overwhelming financier named Kim Minwoo and hit the jackpot filling their bellies, District 7 was a gathering place of those whose souls had been ground to the very bottom by the cruelty of the trials.

Seferin dug into their most fragile gaps.

The authority of a Higher Angel shone brilliantly even inside the shell of a mortal.

Every time a trial ended, Seferin invariably descended before the challengers who were despairing covered in blood.

The warm temperature of healing bestowed by Seferin was a benevolent miracle that stroked their wounded hearts.

― Pain is a flame that purifies you. This trial is a training ground bestowed upon you because God loves you.

Seferin packaged the hellish trials as the love of god. In the despair where their limbs were torn off and their intestines spilled out, the District 7 survivors were perfectly captivated by Seferin's flashy authority and leadership.

― Abundance is a poisoned apple that gnaws at the soul. Only those who endure pain and head toward the true light can reach true ascension.

The sweet and fatal brainwashing transformed the 5,000 District 7 survivors into fanatics in a single breath.

They now considered even hunger as an ascetic practice toward the light. The ultimate suicide squad refined by the system, willing to lay down their lives for a single hypocritical halo from Seferin, was thus completed.

'Right. My defeat is exactly your ruin. You illegal participant.'

The Plateau of Abandoned Gods.

Seferin, who escaped from his past thoughts, faced Kim Minwoo directly with coldly shining eyes.

If he won, it was a glorious path to purify the heretics, and if he lost, it was a flare calling for the system's legal punishment.

Either way, it was the system's victory.

The angel armed with a resolute sense of duty raised his golden staff high and spewed out a holy voice.

"Brothers! At last, the holy war to purify those heretics has arrived! Endure the pain of the flesh and be martyred for the true light!"

Kugugugu―!

As soon as the shout fell, 5,000 fanatics whose eyes were flipped with hunger poured down along the canyon, kicking up dust clouds.

They had appearances so skin-and-bones they looked like they would break at any moment, but the fanatical murderous intent they spewed tore even the dry wind of the plateau to shreds.

Their momentum to lay down their lives to eradicate evil looked sublime beyond madness.

If this many fanatics rushed in, even if they were defeated, there would be massive damage to the opposing faction.

It was the prelude to a resolute and beautiful ruin designed by the Higher Angel Seferin.

However, what was heard from below the canyon was the sizzling sound of grease and an extremely vulgar solicitation.

"Hey, hey! Control the grill well! The customers are coming in droves!"

"I will obey your command!"

Chiiiiiik―!

Thick meats were sliced wildly and screamed on the large grills. A violently juicy smell of meat wafted up through the canyon.

That flavor wafted right to the tips of the noses of the fanatics who were charging grandly holding their weapons.

This absurd movement of laying down large grills, flipping meat, and preparing to run a food business right in front of the fanatic legion rushing in laying down their lives. Watching this, Seferin's brow contorted bizarrely.

"……Th-these vulgar bastards, right now."

Seferin's lips trembled pareureu.

It was the moment the high pride of a Higher Angel, who had descended harboring a resolute mission, was shattered completely by the sound of grilling meat even before the battle began.