[That is not the dead who sleep here for eternity]

[In the "eternity" beyond human intelligence, even death itself will die] (1)

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What is magic?

No one really knows about this issue.

Don't say it's it, even those other things that we have become accustomed to cannot be said to have been understood thoroughly.

Blacksmiths knew that iron would be transformed into better steel by carburizing iron ingots, and that millennium ago, in classical times, humans had mastered the use of a mixture of tin and copper, soft metals, to make stronger bronze weapons and armor, water to extinguish fires, and firewood and straw to burn to release heat to cook food and warm the body.

Human beings have become accustomed to these things, have taken them as "common sense", and all aspects of life are inseparable from them.

But this.

It's just an "applied" level of understanding.

It's like a cook, knowing that you can make great flavors with spices, salt and sugar in a certain ratio.

But I don't know why sugar is sweet and salt is salty.

What is the nature of all things?

Why do they fit together to react like this?

No one knows about this question.

Human magicians believe that magic has the concept of "equivalent exchange", that is, "to pay magic to achieve some kind of miracle", and those so-called cultists, who go crazy, say that they are crazy, but in fact they just extend this concept upwards, and the "giving" thing becomes something that is difficult to accept within the scope of human common sense.

For example, sacrificing a living person, or sacrificing one's own soul.

But they are still not out of the level of "application", they are still very far from the essence of contact, and even the dark magic that cultists are proud of is still unable to do a lot of things.

So what exactly is the nature of magic -

Answer:

The "principle" of the existence of all things.

"He is the one who sees all things. ”

"Everything in the world is in his hands. ”

"Because of the shallowness of your own reason and great ignorance, it is difficult for you to tell the truth of what you see. Thus they were afraid and trembled. Thou shalt kneel, ignorant man, for this is a great being far beyond human comprehension. ”

"Thou hast denounced them out of fear, calling them 'the law of the devil', calling them 'witches' and bringing about the destruction of order. ”

"Yes. ”

"The essence of it is the unity of the consciousness of heaven and earth, and the embodiment of the 'reason' of all things in nature. ”

"Kneel now, you foolish and ignorant one. ”

"This is not a false god who is vain and untouchable. ”

"But he who walks in this world in earnest. ”

"We are waiting for the true God. ”

Life and death were crossed.

Human beings take birth, old age, sickness and death for granted, in the final analysis, it is a manifestation of their own powerlessness.

And those originally painful and tangled emotions and the huge psychological pressure that tried everything to recover were completely dissipated at this moment.

It's a state that's hard to explain.

It's as if the horizon has been raised to a higher level. Originally, when I was in it, I only felt that I was overhead, and in the power desire of the aristocracy itself and the hatred of the various East Coast peoples, I could not find a way to the ideal future.

even ended up with his own death.

But none of that seems to matter anymore.

They couldn't make any waves in their hearts, because she was already above these creatures.

Just as a human looks down on two ants fighting in an anthill, she no longer cares about the love and hatred of those ants, nor does she think about what kind of happy future they should have.

It's just high up on the ground, ignoring all living beings.

It's hard to put into words a change.

Because he is almost omniscient and omnipotent, he is no longer interested in anything.

Everything has become as simple as breathing, because the essence of all things, the "reason" of the existence of all things, has been analyzed.

There is hardly anything that cannot be done. "Then let's give it a try, try what I've been trying to do before. ”

She said:

"Let there be light. ”

So in an instant, the brilliance bloomed and enveloped the entire southern part of the Padrosi Empire.

The world stood still.

With a smile on his face, he lifted the straw covering him and reached for the young padrosi girl hiding in the southern Ramani mob that stalled.

Another Ramanid thug stabbed an elderly citizen of Padrosi through the body with his sword, and the blood that had been spilled in mid-air stopped.

The middle-aged male citizen of Padrossi, who roared in resistance, and the Ramanian mob who spat on the ground and were about to release the blood-soaked hounds in their hands, all stopped moving.

The winged bird came to an eerie halt in mid-air.

The windswept leaves are still at odd angles.

This is a phenomenon beyond the reach of the human imagination.

"Ho-ho-ho-ho-" On the edge of the radiance, a Ramanid mob who had not been touched gasped for breath, his eyes widened and his throat protruded, his face covered in cold sweat.

He clenched the bloodstained machete in his hand, and a young Padrossi boy he had just hacked to death was still lying at his feet, but he no longer felt the superiority and confidence that he had just mastered the life and death of others.

Then he saw it.

A woman dressed in black, with black hair and red eyes, walking barefoot out of the still world.

What a strange scene, she was the only living creature in the whole dead world, and yet it felt like it.

That beautiful woman is the embodiment of death.

"Damn the demon!" he clenched his yellow teeth, waving his rusty and bloodstained knife.

"Haa

The machete snapped in two as it struck the cuticle on that surface.

The moment blood splattered from his mouth, his cloudy eyes lost their lustre.

"Alright. She spoke, and the strange creature, which did not look like a human being, retreated in obedience, its movements light and without making a sound.

"Huh—" The dark-haired woman leaned over and reached out and touched the forehead of the dead Ramani mob.

Followed by.

"He" got up.

"Let's go. She spoke, then glanced back at the still crowd behind her with red eyes.

"Heading north. ”

Like.

Every word is God's command.

All the people moved, regardless of age or gender, and their movements were extremely standardized, as neat as machines.

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On the east coast in 1343, life was devastated, and rivers of blood flowed from the earth.

With the highlanders in the east and the Lamanite mob in the south, the nobles of the Patrosi Empire failed to form a united front, but began a civil war because the emperor died and there was no vacancy in the supreme power of the right age heir.

Since the events of "Aurora's Nightmare" began, the entire empire has been plunged into turmoil, from the most prosperous and peaceful era to an era when it is difficult to survive.

The lords fought against each other, killing many young and middle-aged laborers, leaving the fields uncultivated.

When there is a shortage of materials, the world becomes sinister. The hungry people eventually chose to plunder others for a living, and even the most simple of the Christians yielded their inner morality to the instinct to survive.

"It's ironic that moral decay can go from prosperity to ruin so easily. The down-and-out Lamanites left these words, but when they spoke of them, they seemed to forget the fact that they had used the pen as a sword to fuel the war of Emperor Higsumond.

And without exception, every Lamanite who has lost his privileged life will attribute all this turmoil to Suomir.

Summing up to Hamilin's body.

The reason for the fall of the peaceful time was him, the abominable traitor who raised the flag of rebellion and eventually led to all this.

They wrote hard, leaving behind countless words that cursed him and smeared him.

Although this did not improve the way of the world today, these literati deeply believed that they were "recording the truth that should be remembered."

Morality is declining, and the world is declining. The period of turmoil on the entire East Coast was the perfect time for the Yatina religious to expand their power. People prayed to the gods for the emergence of the Church, but while the Pope was hesitating to leave the peaceful Suomir, some people seized the opportunity.

A religious organization called itself "Ilimimol" began to spread rapidly from south to north in May 1343.

By the time Halloween Festival of the same year arrived, it had already gained considerable influence among the people.

Elimimore claimed to be one of the branches of the White Church, and the name translates to "my ideal land", so people began to call it "the ideal sect" along with the Jetinas. It grew like the White Church more than 1,000 years ago, and many of those who had gone with the idea of finding out more and more often came back claiming to have been "baptized by the gods."

In the eyes of their family and friends, they began to become very weird.

No eating, no drinking, not even sleeping.

"Comity" has become the basic, and they seem to have abandoned all desires and given away all their possessions and possessions to others.

And when there are family members who oppose such things, they are often forcibly taken to the preaching point of the Ideal Sect by their changed family members, and then when they return, they also become such a good person who has no desires, does not get angry, and always smiles.

As if "the meaning of existence is to make the world a better place", many people who can't accept all this have their entire families falling apart, and those who still think they are normal people desperately flee from all this, but in the eyes of those who don't know, the Ideal Sect is an incomparably great and wonderful sect.

The good name spread quickly.

"Here you can find peace, where there will be no strife, where people have renounced greed, where worldly desires have been renounced, and here you will have eternal life. ”

Compared with the white church's traditional "there will be liberation in the afterlife" propaganda method, the ideal sect practice has immediate results.

As long as you join them, you will never feel anything again, and you can escape from all this pain.

There is no need to eat, drink, or sleep, and there is only endless peace in the heart.

If this is not enough, some people even claim to have seen their deceased relatives among the followers of the Ideal Sect, and those who should have died in the war are alive and well in the Ideal Sect church.

Naturally, those who uttered such words later became members of this nascent sect.

After its influence took root among the people, it began to spread to the aristocracy, followed by the conversion of many of the original Yatina religious members.

This finally made the Pope, who had been in Suomir, feel threatened.

"What a strange hypocritical sect this is, acting in the name of my White Church!" the Pope first issued several proclamations condemning.

Then, in September 1343, Pope Urunonen VII, who had not left Suomir since his break with Sigsumond I, personally went south to communicate with the converted Archbishop of the Empire's north. 、

Many devout Yatinians breathed a sigh of relief, and they began to cheer. The theory of "peace in this world" preached by this strange organization of the Ideal Sect is unacceptable to believers who believe in the theory of "suffering in this life, being rewarded in the next life, ascending to the kingdom of God, and attaining peace", believing that it is contrary to the original intention of the gods to create human beings. And the way they brought people into the church in a weird moment also made them feel threatened and feared.

Therefore, when the Pope came to abolish this hateful and strange fake religious organization, the Padrosi believers in the chaos seemed to have found the backbone.

But everything turned out to be beyond everyone's expectations.

"Are you serious, Your Highness?" said Leon, the Archbishop of the Aurora region from Padrosi, to Urunonen VII almost as if he were a descendant, while the old Pope just smiled at him.

"Yes, Your Highness Leon, I also hope that you can appreciate the beauty of the Ideal Sect. ”

He said this—they were located in the central square of Pamilion, the second largest city in the northern part of the empire and the second largest city in the entire empire after the imperial capital.

The whole square was filled with people, and the pope and the Jetinas were about to walk from the tents in the background to the podium.

"I can't agree, Your Highness the Pope, I can't agree, in the name of Archbishop Suomir, I beg you to think deeply!" said Leon, while the other bishops who had not been with the Pope nodded in agreement.

"Your Highness Leon, there is no need to argue with this matter, the Ideal Sect is a far more outstanding sect than my Jetina Sect, and it can be said that the blue is better than the blue. ”

"In the near future, you'll understand all of this, too. The Pope said, and walked up to the podium.

There was a roar of cheers from the crowd, and the crowd of more than 20,000 believers gathered in the huge square was crowded, and all kinds of people gathered below to wait for the lecture, whether nobles, merchants, mercenaries, soldiers, commoners, or beggars.

The elated people even leaned out in the historic multi-storey apartment next door, waving the flag of the white church.

It's really easy to change people's emotions. The citizens of Padrosi, who had previously been arrogant and believed that "the emperor of the greatest nation on earth should also be the pope of the church", now that the empire was in internal and external troubles, and the emperor had also died, and the throne was vacant, they began to turn their hopes for order to the pope.

However, it was clear that they were going to be disappointed.

Leon and the other bishops remained at the exit of the tent and watched Ulunonen VII wave to the faithful, their expressions mixed, and many even began to pray.

"Dear people of God. ”

"Not long ago, I learned of the existence of the Ideal Sect. ”

"And I thought it was just a hypocritical sect peddling Ecstasy with other agendas, doing something unsightly in the name of my White Church. ”

"I thought it was just an abominable organization that deceived the believers and took advantage of the decay of morality and the people's hearts to stop profiting from false hopes. ”

"I was wrong. ”

"I have gained peace of mind, gentlemen. The Pope said above, and some people below began to realize that something was wrong, and some began to talk to each other. Many people looked at each other, a little dazed and frightened.

"What's going on, he wouldn't be thinking-"

"This is a sect of great peace, and its existence has nothing to do with any interests, just join it, and in that moment you will have peace of mind like me. ”

"All that troubles us will disappear and we will have eternal life. ”

"Because. The Pope bowed his head and began to look for something in his clothes. The crowd below began to stir, and many people were planning to leave and not want to listen to it anymore. Because of the mixed crowd, no one noticed the fact that some of the cloaked people began to advance instead of retreating—

"Because—" The Pope repeated again, and Leon and the other bishops next to him noticed that his movements were clumsy—a characteristic of idealists, who were as numb and sluggish as the walking dead.

"Because God has said, let there be light—" "Ahhh——!h

But that.

Not because of his movements.

Only for a moment as soon as his words fell.

A brown woollen cloak was lifted and dropped.

"Qiang ——!!!" Someone under there threw off a big sword.

"Hah-" He took a breath and strode onto the podium.

"Whew-" And before anyone could react, he-

Swing the greatsword.

"W-lah!" the arm holding something was cut off by the roots, and then he turned around and spun his greatsword to slash the Pope through the left collarbone with a slash from the left collarbone.

"Poof——!!" Blood splattered the entire podium, and the moment the cloak landed, everyone could clearly see the figure of the person holding the big sword.

"Oh my God, it's Aurora's nightmare!!"

The people who were about to disperse screamed and turned and ran away, and some of the nobles tried to rush up with their troops but were stopped by a group of people wearing the same cloaks.

"Thunder and lightning!" and one of the people in the cloak of "Bang !!" cleared, and then the purple-blue electric light hit the square, leaving a small pit the size of a footprint.

"Damn it, magician, withdraw!" the nobles also ran away, and in a short time the huge square was left with only the old and sick who had been trampled down, still struggling to get away from this bloody place.

Everyone in the next house closed the doors and windows, hugged their heads, and chose to turn a blind eye, there would be no security here now that the empire was in a civil war.

Atrocities are everywhere and no one can stop them.

Even if someone wanted to make a move, they could only tremble in the face of the terrible Marshal Suomir, who was bloodthirsty in the propaganda of the empire.

That shining two-handed sword has devoured many people's lives.

The only people who remained calm and stuck in place were the bishops of the lakeside church in Lyon.

"Why, why—" Archbishop Lyon, who had forcibly swallowed the fear in his heart, approached and spoke, and the others cowered behind him, and the moment Haymirning looked at it with calm, as if he had no emotion, he wanted to retreat and flee.

After running away silently for so long, without even a sword, the first thing he did when he returned.

It was to kill the Pope, who was theoretically in the same camp.

But it may not be that simple.

"Look at our beloved Pope, have you ever seen a human being who is still alive in this form?" Hamirnin reminded them in a cold, hoarse voice, and everyone followed his words to find that the Pope, who had been cut off half of his body by the great sword, was still alive.

With the exception of the arm that fell to the ground holding something, all the severed body parts healed in an instant. Except for the blood that splattered from the initial slash, the huge incision from his collarbone to his navel didn't spill a single bit of blood.

"Disgusting ————," a bishop couldn't help but run to the side and vomited.

A pope whose lungs had been severed could not make a sound, and he looked back at Hermenin in a daze, blinking like a marionette without a manipulator. The sliced flesh on either side of the Pope's body stretched out countless small tentacles that tried to glue him back, but they couldn't do so with the force of the greatsword in Hymirin's hand.

"There is only one God. The Archbishop of Lyon made a gesture of prayer and turned pale: "What's going on!"

"Stalp, trample—" One of the thirteen cloaked men in the audience stepped up and stabbed the Pope's severed hand with a Mithril spear.

The thing that "——!!!" held in it shattered instantly, and the hand that had been cut off in Mithril's brilliance actually began to rot and turn into some kind of foul-smelling black liquid. They quickly eroded the podium, and in a moment they disappeared completely.

"Plop—" The two bishops sat down on the ground in fear.

"Bang—" Hamirning drew his broadsword and slashed off the Pope's head with precision, then stabbed him in the head with a backhand.

"Zi ————!" a certain brilliance emanated, and then the wriggling tentacles retracted into the body, the wound began to bleed, and the old Pope's skull eyes began to lose their lustre.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my, oh my," said a bishop who seemed to have lost his mind, praying incessantly, and the expressions of the others were not much better.

"Is it a demon? The only calm Archbishop of Lyon spoke, his face pale but still insisting that he did not fall, but searched desperately for the knowledge in his mind, but in the end he could only blame it for the answer.

"You can say that, but maybe it's more dangerous than that. That being has the power to change everything, and there are countless people who have been converted like His Highness the Pope. Hymiring shook off the blood from Kramer and retracted it behind his back.

"The Eternal, we call it. The tallest of the thirteen, about two and a half meters, said in a bass voice that was as thick as the roar of cannon fire, and then stepped forward and lifted his cloak.

"Oh my God, orcs—" The massive part of the face that was revealed in the light was indistinguishable from that of a human, but it had two ears on the top of its head.

"Ho, that's ironic. Leon, pale-faced, prostrated himself on the podium: "What the church cannot do, bring peace and tranquility and even eternal life, but the devil has achieved it?" ”

"The Pope has become like this when he returned from meeting with them—ah!" Archbishop Leon seemed to suddenly remember something: "There were several other people who went with him, and they were too—" "We've dealt with it" The orc twisted his neck, then turned and walked to the side.

“....... It seems that we, the clergy, are really too out of touch with this era. Leon hung his head and shook himself self-deprecatingly, "If the gods really exist, they should also appear at this time." ”

He opened his mouth, and it seemed a little inappropriate for him to say such words that seemed to question the existence of the gods, but in the face of such a strange situation, no other bishop would attack him on this ground.

"The only people we can rely on are ourselves. Hamirnin uttered the words in a calm tone.

"What the hell is this, I think it may be incomprehensible to my wisdom, so please tell me one thing, Lord Hymirinen. ”

"They. ”

"It's the enemy, isn't it?" Leon looked at Hymirin, who hesitated for a moment and nodded.

"Then eradicate them. ”

"The world may not understand our actions, and we will have to bear a lot of stigma after that, and even within the church there will be people who do not understand. ”

"But I'd rather have this twisted peace and harmony that seems to drain souls into puppets, and the strange eternal life that comes from begging from demons. ”

"Face the bleak reality with your own will. ”

"Eternal life or something, when I die, go up to the kingdom of God and enjoy it again. ”

"Let's have a massacre, Aurora's nightmare. Leon held out his hand, and Hamirinen held it.

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Notes: A quote from my idol H.P. Lovecraft.