Chapter 747: That Is Not My Name

“Was that perhaps an unnecessary greeting?”

The man stroked his chin as if troubled.

The appearance of that man had, until not long ago, been that of a dried-out young Asian man.

But now, he had completely transformed.

'Th, that is.......'

'The form of the one we served.'

The golden aura that naturally leaked out from his body soon wrapped the surrounding area in radiance.

That brilliant light wrapped the man’s body splendidly.

His withered body was filled with vitality, and the dirt and dust stuck to his clothes fell away on their own, as if apologetic that they were even there.

What remained was a beautiful existence, truly like a statue depicting a being from mythology.

'B, but.......'

'An unnecessary greeting......?'

And.

The countless followers around him broke out in cold sweat at the man’s words and thought.

A greeting? Did he greet us, and I simply failed to hear it?

'No. He did not greet us....... Wh, what is he talking about?'

'Do, do we need to answer something......?'

What had appeared before them was a very...... very, very great existence.

An existence before whom even breathing might be considered rude.

Every single action they took before him was nothing but a burden to them.

As they did not know what they should do and merely remained silently with their heads pressed down.

“......Well, if there is a problem, I can apologize later. It should not matter greatly.”

The man turned his head, looked at them, and said.

“You. Only those who could be called representatives, raise your heads and come forward.”

“......!”

At those words.

There were those who hurriedly raised themselves.

Five Asians.

Two Westerners.

Seven humans in total.

“I, I am called Andrey.”

“Liu, Liu Mingyang greets the Honorable One......!”

“I am Lee Sangho. It, it is an honor.”

Russia, China, Korea.

Even among them, various humans from different regions.

The leaders of the followers gathered from various places revealed their names with voices full of joy.

And.

“Ah, aaaah...... You truly, truly came down for us.”

Among them, the largest man.

Andrey, a giant man with a vicious impression, spoke while shedding tears.

“O Ashanat.......”

However.

At that very moment.

“What do you mean, Ashanat!”

A sharp voice rang out from beside him.

The man who had been a member of a famous Chinese criminal organization, Liu Mingyang, shouted.

“那位大人的名字是诺论!” (“That person’s name is Noron!”)

—That person’s name is Noron!

“......Я уж подумал, что он скажет что-то дельное, но опять это странное имя слышу.” (“......I wondered what he was going to say, but again I hear that strange name.”)

—I wondered what he was saying, and yet I hear that strange name again.

They shouted using different languages.

Because of that, they could not understand the other words.

But they frowned after hearing a certain word from each other’s voices.

No, it was not only those two.

“I hear names that offend my ears...... To distort Lord Shadra’s noble name like that.”

“How can you call a mistaken name even with Lord Berenas’s noble body before your eyes......!”

Those who had begun worshiping in different lands.

Not long ago, they had heard the same command and gathered in this land.

But even so.

Those who had gathered in this land had not merged into one force, and remained divided into seven different forces, each with a different leader.

The reason was simple.

“The name given to us, the strongest force, was Asharat, so that is the correct name!”

“What......! O Hyogos. We have absolutely not distorted your name.”

“No, Lord Mardan. We are the ones who......!”

A difference greater than differences of language or ethnicity, incomparable to them.

Because differences in doctrine existed among them.

***

Even though they had gathered in this land after receiving the same command.

The “name” of “that person” they had heard from the existence they served was different for all of them.

No, it was not only the name.

The knowledge passed down from that person.

The characteristics or direction of faith that person had taught them...... everything was different.

Some learned how to strengthen their own power and mastered the laws of struggle.

Some learned how to beguile other beings and deceit.

Some learned how to handle sinister power and wicked deeds.

Some...... learned how to accumulate power through formations, summon beings of another world, and handle various techniques.

That was why.

Gathered in one place, far from uniting with each other.

They were in a situation where they insisted the knowledge they had learned was the true orthodoxy, forming different sects and waging a war of nerves.

And now.

'That person has finally descended.'

Only now.

The only existence capable of declaring which among them was orthodox.

A great existence had descended before them.

“......Aha, I see.”

And.

The man, who had been watching that sight with a smile, gave a faint smile and said.

“I heard only six names. You there, what name did you hear?”

“Y, yes......! Th, the name you taught me was Agarim.......”

“Is that so?”

Like that.

After hearing seven names, the man nodded and said.

“Do not quarrel over that matter any longer. The names you heard. Ashanat, Noron, Berenas, Hyogos...... Hm, next was...... Mardan, Akram.”

“I, it was Agarim.......”

“Ah, yes. Agarim.”

The golden light of his body shone even more strongly.

The man opened his mouth, wrapped in a divine radiance beyond compare.

“Whatever those names you heard may be, the being you longed for is none other than me.”

At those words from him.

The seven leaders were overwhelmed by that radiance.

And though they were puzzled, unable to properly understand what his words meant.......

“Ah, aaaah......!”

One of them opened his eyes wide.

And shouted as if he had gained enlightenment.

“W, we had been mistaken.”

“......?”

“Different names, different teachings...... Because of that, we believed each other to be wrong...... but all those names were your names, and all the teachings were your teachings!”

At those words.

The others also opened their eyes wide and muttered.

“Ah, aaaah...... So that was it.”

“Indeed. Thinking that the name of a great being would be only one, like us, was arrogance from the start.”

“And those many teachings...... Since he is one who possesses endless wisdom, he divided and bestowed those teachings for us pitiful beings who could not accept all of that wisdom!”

Only then, as if they understood, they nodded.

They were people who, only moments earlier, had looked at each other as if hostile.

But when the realization spread that their faith had been one, a friendly light also flowed into the gazes with which they looked at each other.

And.

“Yes, you may think of it that way.”

Looking at those people.

The golden man thought.

'It was Agarim, not Akram.'

A certain form surfaced in his mind.

A world absurdly small and feeble.

A universe filled with all kinds of filth, where every life screamed in pain.

'A name I forgot because I thought it was not worth remembering.'

Crouched inside that universe.

The form of an ugly worm that looked at its surroundings with only envy and jealousy.

'Even such an ugly thing was eyeing this land. Without even knowing how to restrain that foul-smelling desire.'

Just recalling that hideous form made him feel nauseated.

Still.

He knew all six of the others.

When the protection of this land had not yet disappeared, and this land had not yet drawn the interest of others.

Beings who had gloomily discovered this place first.

Then, afraid that the treasure they had discovered might be stolen by others, hid it tightly away and covertly stretched out their claws, coveting this land.

And.......

'Beings who did not know their place and harbored desires beyond their station.'

After that protection was lifted by one stage and even other beings came to know of this world’s existence.

They were the ones who, trembling in fear, withdrew that excessive greed.

'To pull their feet back while abandoning those who served them. How pathetic.'

When greater gazes turned toward this land.

They withdrew their own gazes, afraid that those gazes might perhaps fall upon them.

It had long since become so that even the longing of those who remained in this land and cried out their names no longer reached their ears.

'Poor things, abandoned even by their own masters.'

That was why.

The man had descended here with a merciful heart.

“You need not be lonely any longer.”

The man looked at the followers.

Bodies feeble beyond measure, souls in which not even the slightest spiritual power could be felt.

At least, there was an empty space where something seemed to have dwelled before, but even that power had long since left them.

Useless beings who would have no room to complain even if they were abandoned.

But.

“I shall take you in and allow you to enjoy glory in my land.”

The man had the intention of taking in even people like them.

At those words from him.

“Ah, aaaah......!”

The followers shed tears and trembled.

There were even some whose muscles throughout their bodies went slack because their spiritual joy was too great.

And.

“O great Agarim......!”

Someone among them.

Cried out while shedding tears of joy.

“Yes, yes. Is there something you wish to say to me?”

“Yes......! Since you have finally descended to this land. I wish to report what you commanded.”

“What I commanded? Very well. Speak.”

The man smiled benevolently.

The followers who saw that said with joyful expressions.

“Your adversary, the one who harmed our brothers!”

“Mm-hmm, yes, yes.”

“The Legion that hides its body behind that cold, foul-smelling steel...... the leader of those hideous things!”

But.

“We have discovered its weakness!”

The moment he heard the words that came out of that mouth.

“......Is that so?”

A slight change appeared in the man’s smile.......

The follower did not notice it.

***

“Please rejoice, O Agarim. That hideous thing possesses a strong spirit and will not greatly suffer from its own pain...... but it is not that there was no way to give pain to that one!”

They joyfully recited what they had discovered.

“The beings who gave birth to that hideous thing in this land! That one’s parents are still alive!”

What was held in that hand was a photograph.

A young man who seemed to have just enlisted in the army.

And a middle-aged man and woman standing on either side, smiling with a little worry mixed in.

“Seize them, and make them answer for the crime of daring to give birth to the hideous thing that opposed you!”

“.......”

“That hideous thing may be able to endure its own pain, but it will not be able to endure the pain of others as well. Make it suffer by seeing the sight of its parents suffering for the crime of having given birth to it. Make it realize that the very fact that it was born is a sin. By doing so, finally make it pay for the sin of daring to oppose you......!”

At those words.

The golden man smiled and said.

“Yes....... So that was what you were commanded.”

“That is so!”

“Then.......”

The smiling man’s gaze turned toward the other followers.

“Are there any others among you who received a command like this?”

At those words.

The followers of the other six forces began to read each other’s eyes.

A task commanded by a great existence.

Those who seemed to have accomplished that task.

If so, there was a high possibility that the great one’s favor from now on would be concentrated on those who had accomplished it.

But.

“N, no.......”

“We received nothing.......”

Even so.

They could not say such a lie as that they had received the same command and accomplished it.

“Then that means the ones who received and carried out that command were only you followers of Agarim.”

“Yes, that is correct. O great one!”

At those words.

The great existence lightly nodded and said.

“Excellent. Is there anything you want as a reward?”

The followers.

Those who had come from Incheon, Korea, said with smiles covering their faces.

“Nothing...... There is nothing. If only you are pleased, then that alone is enough for us......!”

“No, you have done such a thing. I cannot simply let it pass without any reward. So.”

When the man smiled.

A beautiful golden light settled over the followers’ bodies.

“As a reward.”

Brilliant golden light.

Seeing that light, the followers of the other six forces sent envious gazes, thinking those people from Korea were receiving the favor of the great one.

Saaaak......

And soon.

Their heads shone so brilliantly that they could not even be properly looked at.

“I shall make it so that in your future lives, you will never have to feel any pain.”

“Ahh, thank you......!”

SPLAAAAAASH!!!

Soon.

They burst apart into chunks of meat.

“......Huh?”

Hundreds of humans.

Their heads suddenly disappeared.

Thud, thud......

The bodies that remained with only their torsos scattered onto the ground.

Most of them had been people who had their heads pressed to the ground from the start.

The blood flowing from their bodies soaked the earth.

The other six groups of followers stared blankly at that sight with their mouths open.

What on earth had just happened.

Their heads could not properly understand it.

“......I shall correct just one thing from what you said earlier.”

What they could understand.

Was only one thing.

“Agarim is not my name.”

The religious dispute between the seven sects that had occurred after arriving in this land.

In that dispute where they had fought, each arguing who was orthodox.

Even if there had been no single correct answer...... no orthodoxy.

“Those who serve that name are sinners who harbor a mistaken faith. Know this.”

There had been one single wrong answer.

Only one sect.

Had definitely been heresy.

“Yes, O great one......!”

The followers bowed their heads.

The blood flowing from the headless corpses beside them wet their foreheads.

BOOOOOM......

The golden aura that had spread far into the distance.

Countless zombies approaching while caught in that aura.

The corpses began to fill the sky above the city.