Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 799 God Advent
Om-! !

On the branded interface, as the emotionless mechanical voice of 'Unit-01' faded away, four lines of concise data appeared before Xin Lailai's eyes.

Moreover, within the soul space, a rational and indifferent light began to rise in the pupils of the soul that had become dull due to lack of operation. Tens of thousands of golden threads emerged from its eyes, and the soul core, possessing powerful information processing capabilities, began to operate at high speed, rapidly responding to the prayer messages transmitted along the power of faith under the instructions of the 'Unit-01' located within the imprint.

As the core of the divine soul operated and strands of faith burned, numerous new sounds began to resound within the sea of ​​consciousness, carried by the golden threads:
"This is…!" "A miracle! It's a miracle!" "Hand! Yuna, look at your hand…!"

'It's true! What they said is true! His Majesty the Black Sword is truly protecting us…'

Shock, astonishment, ecstasy, excitement... all sorts of emotions began to flow along the 'threads' of faith that had received a response.

Scenes flashed through their minds: devout believers staring in disbelief at their regained consciousness; young prayer seekers excited by a revelation of their destiny; and newly initiated sorcerers who suddenly experienced a breakthrough in their spiritual realm thanks to the blessing of faith.

Facing these believers who had received their due "divine gifts" under the arrangement of "Unit-01," Xin Lailai's eyes showed no joy. Instead, she silently sensed the small group of faith power that "Unit-01" had singled out, her eyes slightly lowered as she "watched" the images transmitted through those thin, fragile threads, like kites about to break.

Whoever it is, God, please save this child…

'Heh, so this is what it feels like when life comes to an end? I wonder if they managed to escape...?'

'Daddy, sob...Daddy, please wake up...'

Unlike the previous images, the images that flashed through their minds this time did not show any believers overjoyed by a miracle, but rather a series of scenes that left them speechless.

The scene depicts a mother desperately pleading with the gods at her hospital bedside, a child barely breathing, a soldier lying in a pool of blood, his vision blurring, a father sacrificing himself to protect his child from an unexpected disaster, and a doctor who, with good intentions, is betrayed and abandoned in the wilderness as bait after being used as bait to save others…

Images flashed through his mind, some of which abruptly ended before they even reached their end. With each image that faded, the number on the imprinted interface following the fourth type of faith power affairs would decrease by one.

This is the fourth type of matter concerning the power of faith.

The world is never short of surprises.

Natural disasters, man-made calamities, and all sorts of other unpredictable accidents and calamities are not uncommon in our otherwise stable world, let alone in the extraordinary world where so many possibilities exist.

For every person experiencing the joy of gaining a new family member, there is someone experiencing the grief of losing a loved one; for every respectable person who receives their due reward, there is someone who has done good deeds all their life but has lost everything... This is reality.

For ordinary people, this reality may be frustrating, but it doesn't really concern them. However, for the gods who have the power to stop all of this, these images transmitted through the power of faith mean something completely different.

Given the immense power of the gods and the strength of faith, theoretically, they could rewrite or reverse most of the situations depicted in those scenes if they so desired. However, the key lies in—

Too much.

Yes, there are far too many.

It should be noted that their current total number of believers is only over eight million, yet they have already encountered more than two thousand matters that require their descent to handle. Furthermore, the divine energy required to handle all of these matters is as high as nineteen thousand points. Given their current rate of accumulating faith power, it is simply impossible for them to handle all matters related to the fourth category of faith power.

Most importantly, they must make choices among the more than two thousand emergencies before them, and decide in time who to use their limited divine and religious power to help, and who to turn a blind eye to in this decision.
"At times like this, I suddenly wish I weren't so conscience-driven..."

Inside the base, Xin Lailai sensed the information transmitted from her divine soul, sighed softly, and gazed at the slowly fluctuating numbers on the branding interface. A resolute glint flashed in her eyes, and she spoke in her mind:

"Initial Unit, re-plan the calculation scheme. According to the priority order, re-screen the fourth category of faith power matters. It is required that the consumption of faith power and divine energy be controlled within 1.0 ounce and 1000 points respectively. Filter out matters that consume more than 0.1 ounces of faith power, more than 100 points of divine energy, and have a fault tolerance time of less than 10 minutes."

[Ding! Command confirmed, recalculating...]

A commanding voice, carrying a hint of coldness, descended upon Xin Lailai's mind. She stared expressionlessly at the program that had restarted on the branded interface, her eyes slightly lowered, and she quickly made a decision in her mind.

Hesitation will only lead to harm.

He admitted that when he saw the images transmitted through the power of faith, he did feel a strong urge to intervene: children who died in war, righteous people who were betrayed, innocent people who were dying on the verge of death... For them, who were unwilling to give up their humanity, there were too many painful things in this world that could be described as 'unbearable'.

However, precisely because of this, they need to intervene in these matters according to a precise and rigorous standard.

Blindly trying to perform justice beyond one's capabilities is merely making excuses to evade responsibility.

'If you truly want to change all of this, you should confront the tragedies that you cannot undo due to your own limitations, and transform them into motivation to strengthen your beliefs, rather than becoming a silent escapist who only buries their head in despair.'

These words were spoken by the God of Justice of the Church of Justice at a gathering of friendly deities. As the universally recognized flawless god in the astral plane, he is actually the most steadfast 'balancer' when it comes to matters of the fourth type of faith power.

'The point of weighing things is so that one day you won't have to weigh them anymore. If you don't even have that much courage, you'd better get off this path as soon as possible.'

"You are free to vehemently condemn this hypocrisy and denounce my falsehood, but afterwards, I hope you still have the courage to carry this guilt and move forward, because this is the best proof that you are still upholding your humanity."

In the past, Xin Lailai merely flipped through these quotes written in the canon of the Church of Justice and various teaching materials related to gods with a sense of agreement, without having any other feelings. But now, as they have also officially embarked on the path of the gods, he suddenly realized what kind of courage and vision it took for the supreme god, who was crowned with the name of 'justice,' to speak so frankly to the entire star realm.

Unlike those 'perfect gods' who only exist in false delusions, in fact, judging from actual behavior, many of the God of Justice's statements have nothing to do with 'perfection'. In fact, when faced with moral blackmail, he is the one who unusually advocates using violence to make the other party regret being born into this world.

But precisely because of this, after personally embarking on the path of divinity, Xin Lailai became even more certain that if they were to find a reference point to emulate unconditionally on their path to divinity, then the God of Justice of the Church of Justice would be the most suitable one.

"Remember this guilt, and carry it with you on your journey..." Before the branding interface, Xin Lailai gazed at the constantly changing data, listened to the mournful cries that echoed around her, and a resolute look appeared in her eyes.

[Calculation complete. Based on the current filtering criteria, a total of 109 items have been selected. Processing all of them is estimated to consume 9.992 ounces of Faith and 1000 points of Divine Energy!]

A cold notification sound rang out, and as the new command was issued, more than 95% of the original two thousand or so golden threads in the sea of ​​consciousness were filtered out by the soul core, leaving only the last one hundred or so golden threads still attached.

'Very good, Lingyuzi, let's get ready to go!' 'Okay!'

Xin Lailai, sensing this scene, nodded slightly, a deep glint in her dark pupils. Without any hesitation, with a thought, her consciousness instantly sank into her soul along with Ling Yuzi. The next second—

Om-! !

A dazzling ring of pale golden light emanated from their soul space. The divine souls atop the golden altar formed by the power of faith suddenly opened their eyes, and the divine energy within them surged forth. Guided by the power of faith, they rapidly converged towards the source of that power of faith along the connections on the information layer.

[Hint: The deity's exclusive skill "Divine Art: Descent" has been activated]

Preparations are complete. Now... it's time for their newly appointed deity to bring true 'miracles' to his followers!

……

……

Dark Glow Star, a new continent.

"Cough cough...cough cough!" "Evan! You...why are you up again? The doctor said you need to rest now..."

"Cough... I know, it's just... I suddenly wanted to sit up and see what was going on outside."

A violent coughing fit rang out from the ward. On the snow-white hospital bed, Evan struggled to sit up. Ignoring his partner's advice, he smiled weakly and looked out the window at the huge statue whose top could be seen from this direction. A look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes.

Thinking about it carefully, when he was spared from pyroxene disease, the first thing he saw when he woke up seemed to be this.

"Evan, you..."

"I'm sorry, Tori, although... cough cough, although I'm a little helpless, I might... cough cough, not make it through tonight."

"No... Evan, no, you... we'll definitely make it through. Look, we even survived the pyroxene disease, so we definitely will..."

"Don't be so sad, Tori. Didn't I tell you? I was supposed to die, but I was given two extra months out of nowhere. That's already... cough cough, it's incredibly lucky."

"At least... cough cough, being able to spend some more time with you before leaving this world, and witnessing the new future of this world, is already enough for me."

On the hospital bed, Evan smiled weakly, gently wiping his weeping lover's face with his pale, thin hands, which had become pale due to illness, before turning his gaze back to the window.

Yes, he is already very content.

Although he eventually returned to his hospital bed due to other serious illnesses contracted during his pyroxene infection, the two months he spent awake had already filled him with immense satisfaction.

Warm sunlight streamed in through the window, while a cacophony of sounds drifted into the hospital bed from afar. Evan gazed at the scene before him, at the enormous statue that he could just glimpse from the window, and a variety of images began to surface in his mind.

The scenes depict him as a child, toiling away as a laborer in the lower boroughs for food; as a teenager, discovered by a teacher and taken to the middle borough for formal education, where he encountered that incredible world; as a young man, witnessing his teacher's exile and contracting pyroxene himself, yet never giving up hope and continuing to fulfill his educational responsibilities; and in middle age, working to support pyroxene patients, helping one patient after another rediscover hope and even finding love in the process…

Gradually, Evan felt his consciousness becoming hazy, and when this hazy feeling was about to reach a certain limit, a strong stabbing pain came from his chest, which suddenly woke him up, but he could not make any sound. He could only watch helplessly as his vision rapidly blurred and he fell to the ground.

Ah, is it time already?
Well, at least... I've seen what the world looks like now that it's free from the torment of pyroxene disease.

I just don't know... whether that so-called divine kingdom really exists?
Amidst the excruciating pain, Evan seemed to realize something. Gazing at the increasingly dim scene before him, in the last long moment of his life, he glanced with his last remaining light at the corner of the statue at the edge of his vision, a look of peace appearing in his eyes.

The next moment, a long darkness descended, engulfing Evan's consciousness, and then—

Om-! !

An incredibly dazzling light suddenly burst forth before his eyes, accompanied by a warm current flowing through his entire body, abruptly pulling Evan's consciousness back into the light, much to his astonishment.

What he found most unbelievable was the divine voice that echoed in his mind, and the figure that slowly emerged from the holy pillar of light that shot into the sky outside the window:
“My believers, I am aware of your faith. To be just, I will descend upon this place and give you a gift of equal value, and reveal to you the name of my God.”

"I am—"

"'God of Doom' Adolf Black Sword".

……

(End of this chapter)