American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

Chapter 355 You're a fake God, but this is the real Sun and Lucifer.

Lucifer said, “Look, my dear sun god. Look at these clumsy imitations, these cheap miracles.”

He used the most advanced technology to create the most artificial twilight, and used the coldest steel to forge the ugliest icons.

"He made his people pray day and night, draining them of every last drop of spiritual energy, yet he wouldn't even give them a shred of divine favor in return. He even wanted to turn their souls into biofuel after they died. Oh, what blasphemy, what utter tastelessness!"

Lucifer shook his head.

"Faith is a romantic journey between God and believers. It can be deception, a transaction, or even pure exploitation. But it must be sincere."

"And this guy named Kang, everything he did was an insult to the word God, and an insult to faith itself. He turned what should have been a passionate and dedicated opera into a shoddy production that even third-rate actors wouldn't bother with."

He seemed to be searching for the right word.

"This makes me feel—disgusted!!!"

Xiu En sensed an almost obsessive-compulsive emotion emanating from this King of Hell.

He thought Kang's actions were too low-class and tasteless? Well, Shum echoed Lucifer's sentiments.

"I think I understand."

"9

Shuen nodded and continued asking questions. Shuen found that these kinds of questions about faith seemed to motivate Lucifer.

"So, what are you planning to do? Go down there and issue a denunciation, declaring it a counterfeit or substandard product?"

"That's too rude. Before completely smashing a fake, we should at least figure out exactly where the flaws lie, shouldn't we?"

His gaze fell on a group of Saint Duma knights who were changing shifts on the street below.

"you mean?"

"That's right. Go grab one and ask him."

Shuen and Lucifer exchanged a glance, both seeing the same meaning in each other's eyes.

To cause trouble.

And we're going to do something big.

He was a man of action, never one to procrastinate.

He moved swiftly, flashing past the top of the spire. The next second, he was back in the same spot, as if he had never left.

But in his hands now lay a Saint Duma knight in white power armor, struggling desperately. Before the knight could even react, he found himself lifted off the ground, his energy halberd melting into molten iron that dripped onto the earth.

"Release me! Heretic! You will suffer the Pope's harshest divine punishment!"

The knight's roar ceased.

Because Lucifer's hand was already directly covering his helmet.

Lucifer began to read his memories, which had been brainwashed and formatted countless times.

"let me see."

Lucifer closed his eyes.

The training of the Knights of St. Dumas? Videos of Pope Kahn's miracles? Daily prayers to be memorized? A strict hierarchical system?

What is the definition of heresy? What is the procedure for a purification ritual?

And most importantly, the defense map of the Trinity Hub, the core of this divine kingdom.

The whole process took less than five seconds.

When Lucifer removed his hand, the Knight of St. Dumas had already fainted, his eyes rolled back and he was foaming at the mouth.

"alright."

Lucifer casually tossed the unconscious knight aside, and a force from Shuen lifted him to the ground. The product manual was now in hand.

"Oh? Not bad efficiency."

"Did you make any interesting discoveries?" Xiu asked.

"We've discovered a lot. The Kang of this world claims to be the Triune God, splitting himself into three wills: Father Kang, Son Kang, and Holy Spirit Kang. The Father is responsible for promulgating doctrines and performing miracles, the Son is responsible for leading the Knights in war and judging heretics, and the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, responsible for monitoring everyone's thoughts. And the holographic projection we see hanging in the sky is Father Kang. It's ridiculously cliché, the Trinity, tsk."

"Moreover, I discovered something very interesting. In the most filthy and chaotic lower city of this divine kingdom, which they call the Redemption District for sinners, there is actually a group of people who do not believe in Pope Kang."

"Oh?"

"Yes, they are the last heretics in this world. They were stripped of everything and could only live in dark underground tunnels. But strangely, Pope Kang did not completely eliminate them, but kept them like caged rats, seemingly to periodically show his followers the misery of heretics in order to consolidate their faith."

"Tell me, what do you think would happen if we went to that district of atonement for sinners and descended as saviors?"

"A gathering place for heretics deliberately preserved by the rulers?"

Lucifer revealed a devilish smile, a smile filled with schadenfreude.

"Oh, I'm starting to love this place. It's the perfect stage for a miracle!"

"Let's go, my dear sun god."

He extended an invitation to Xiu En.

"Let's go see these poor, domesticated rats. I bet they're longing to taste some different cheese."

The two figures vanished from the top of the spire in an instant.

When they reappeared, they had arrived at the darkest corner of this divine kingdom, the so-called redemption zone for sinners.

This is an underground sewage pipe network. Cold pipes overhead constantly drip dirty liquid.

Countless emaciated people huddled in the corner of the pipes, their eyes numb, like a group of soulless walking corpses.

The only thing they had in common was that they all wore a suppressor collar that flashed red light around their necks.

When the two glamorous figures of Shuen and Lucifer, so out of place here, appeared, almost everyone subconsciously shrank into a darker corner.

In their minds, any clean person means one thing.

A new round of purification from the world above has begun.

"It seems we're not very popular."

Lucifer looked around and said with interest, but found that Xiu En was no longer echoing him as before.

Xiu En looked at a mother hiding in a corner, protecting an even smaller child in her arms. He could see that the child's lips were cracked and bleeding from long-term malnutrition, and the child was on the verge of death.

Xiu En extended his hand.

Golden light gathered in his palm, and the next second, several cookies appeared in his hand. But there weren't enough cookies, so Xiu En pulled out some bread. Then came a second, a third—in the blink of an eye, hundreds of loaves of bread and water appeared in the filthy pipes.

He offered the cookies to the mother and child.

All the heretics in this world were stunned.

Having lived most of their lives, this was the first time they had witnessed such a simple and unadorned miracle.

No one dared to step forward.

They just stared at the food, swallowing their saliva frantically. Long-standing oppression and suspicion made them unable to believe what they were seeing.

In the end, it was the child, driven to the limit by hunger, who was the first to break free from his mother's embrace, stumble over, grab a biscuit, and stuff it into his mouth without a second thought.

The child's sallow face regained a healthy rosy glow from the sudden influx of energy and nutrients.

Well, because Xiu En couldn't bear to see people go hungry, he added a little bit of the power of light to the food to aid digestion, and it seems to be very effective.

"tasty!"

That sound ignited the will to survive in everyone's hearts. They pounced on the food and devoured it, choking on their food as they ate too fast and desperately gulping down water.

Cries, chewing sounds, and words of gratitude rose and fell.

Lucifer watched this scene quietly. He seemed to see the figure of another person in Shuen. He did not step forward until everyone had eaten their fill.

He stood in the center of the crowd, and everyone looked at him with awe.

Tell me, is the bread good?

Everyone nodded instinctively.

"So, do you want to spend your whole life in this filthy, stinking sewer, waiting for the occasional moldy breadcrumb thrown in by someone above?"

The crowd fell silent.

"Do you want your children to live like you, never seeing real sunlight from birth to death, forced to live in darkness like rats?"

"He sits on the golden throne, enjoying your prayers and using the power of your faith as fuel for his conquest of the world."

Lucifer stretched out his hand and pointed to the collars around their necks.

"And you, on the other hand, are forced to wear shackles, eat scraps, and be kept here like livestock!"

"Is this fair?!"

Under the influence of Lucifer's inherent persuasive abilities, someone soon shouted out.

"That's not fair!"

"Why should I?!"

"We must resist!"

The flames of hatred were ignited! Everyone stood up!

Lucifer watched all this with satisfaction, then pointed to Shum beside him, his voice rising abruptly, filled with a divine, rousing tone.

"Now, the true God has descended!"

"He brought a true miracle! He brought food, water, and hope!"

Lucifer shouted.

"He will lead you out of this darkness! To reclaim everything that is rightfully yours: the sunlight! Dignity and freedom!"

All the heretics looked at the radiant Shuen with incredibly fanatical eyes.

"god!"

"God!"

They all knelt down in large numbers, and the power of faith surged toward Xiuen like a tsunami.

Xiu En didn't like using ordinary people, but this time the power of faith was indeed useful. Xiu En sighed.

He turned to Lucifer: "Alright, the atmosphere's built up enough. It's our turn to go on stage."

"Extremely happy to."

Lucifer smiled and gave him a slight bow.

Shuen reached out and gently touched Lucifer's head. Drawing upon the newly acquired power of faith, the King of Hell's form began to change. His magnificent black armor transformed into the silver-white of the Knights of Saint Duma, and his wings folded back, resembling a majestic cloak. His face also took the form of Saint Son Kang, the Grand Inquisitor of the Saint Duma Council.

Immediately afterwards, Xiu En's figure began to become translucent, and the Golden Crow Divine Armor on his body transformed into flowing golden mist that merged into the air. He became an omnipresent yet intangible Holy Spirit.

"Not bad, this look is at least much better than your peacock-feather outfit."

Xiu En, posing as the Holy Spirit, used telepathy to quip.

"Shut up, do you even know what taste is?"

Lucifer, disguised as the Holy Son, retorted without any politeness.

Xiu En glanced at everyone around him. After disguising himself as the Holy Spirit, he also realized that the sunlight's spying on this world came from the Holy Spirit Kang of this world. He could make the sunlight ignore him and Lucifer because he and Lucifer did not belong to this world and would not attract attention.

Sending this group of people to the Ximu Realm under the true gaze of the Holy Spirit in this world will inevitably attract the attention of the Holy Spirit Kang, resulting in unnecessary sacrifices.

So Xiu En created a clone to guard them, preparing to come and pick them up after dealing with the three Kangs in this world.

Then, while arguing with Lucifer, Shuen swaggered off towards the Supreme Temple where Pope Kang of the Divine Kingdom was located, under the watchful eyes of all the heretics.

After traversing hundreds of steps carved with intricate gears and prayers, two figures clad in the high-ranking silver armor of St. Dumas stepped into the supreme temple, a symbol of supreme divine authority, under the fervent and awe-inspiring gazes of the guards on either side.

The dome is extremely high.

Before each pillar knelt high priests, their bodies covered in IV tubes, chanting incantations.

Lucifer walked ahead, facing the devout believers on both sides who wished they could smash their heads on the stone slabs. He then made a gesture in the air that resembled a blessing, acting very theatrically.

In his perception, those pitifully weak forces of faith were futilely trying to establish a connection with his disguised shell.

He walked away calmly and without making a sound.

Shuen transformed into a semi-transparent optical image, floating diagonally above Lucifer. In this so-called Holy Spirit Kang state, he was not only visually invisible but could also penetrate the low-level energy detection networks present. They thus cooperated seamlessly and brazenly passed through the most heavily guarded corridor.

"Too easy."

Lucifer even had the leisure to mock through a mental link.

"I thought this loser who imitates the Trinity would set up some decent traps. It seems this fake shepherd is just all barking his teeth at the sheep."

The end of the road.

On the throne of time, high on the platform, sat a tall figure. His face was covered with crisscrossing dark red scars, and his gray eyes held no human emotion.

This is the supreme ruler of this world.

The core of the Trinity is the Holy Father, Kang.

When Shuen and Lucifer approached within ten meters of the platform, dozens of giant defensive mechs hidden in the shadows flashed their red eyes and slightly lowered their energy cannons. However, after the system determined that the approaching beings were the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit, the alarm was immediately lifted.

"My flesh and blood."

The Holy Father, seated on his throne, looked down at Lucifer.

"Has the rebellion in the lower city been suppressed?"

Lucifer knelt on one knee, placed one hand on his chest, and lowered his head to report in the electronic voice of the Holy Son Kang that he had temporarily created.

"Those lost sheep rejected the final grace. According to doctrine, we will carry out a thorough physical cleansing tonight. Their flesh and blood will fill the Sector 5 reactor, leaving no trace."

All the dialogue was based on the information obtained from the soul search. According to the original plan, Lucifer needed to hand over the so-called suppression report after approaching the throne, and then launch an attack simultaneously with Shuen above him to complete the removal.

However, their peripheral vision and senses touched upon something that crossed their bottom line in the most central and hidden area of ​​this hall.

Behind the throne was not a backdrop, but a huge, bottomless glass cylinder.

Hundreds of thousands of teenagers are suspended in some kind of green nutrient solution, like specimens displayed on a shelf.

Thick black needles were inserted into the tops of their heads, and a huge central computer was connected to the back of their heads.

Meanwhile, the holographic broadcasting spheres located on both sides of the main hall were solemnly and continuously reading aloud the core doctrines of the highest stage, which were engraved on the physical titanium alloy codex behind them.

God said: All love, compassion, and memory that are meaningless are but dregs that hinder the workings of the universe.

[Drain the skull of mortals and dedicate the thinking power of their brain marrow to the unique Matrix of Order.]

This is the purest form of piety.

[Living beings who don't need independent thought are only accepted by God's kingdom, which accepts biological cogs that precisely produce energy. Abandon resistance, accept the extraction of thought—this is the ticket to the one true paradise.]

Looking at those jars of young lives whose personalities had been completely erased, leaving only the physiological function of providing energy.

Listening to this absurd dogma that masquerades as a blessing of faith by exposing undignified torture and mass exploitation.

They realized that this was a purely exploitative production line that used people's spirit to refine engine oil.

Lucifer, who was about to begin his battle of gods and demons within the mental link, fell silent for a few seconds.

Then, a cold laugh entered Xiu En's mind.

"Heh, did you see that, Shuen? This is the game he's playing."

Even in the deepest, most unfathomable seventh circle of Hell, Lucifer never used the name of faith to exploit innocent souls. He established rules to punish the wicked, which was a fair judgment of the consequences of evil.

Lucifer favored the classical aesthetics of hell, where karmic retribution was paid through suffering. But now, the high and mighty mortal before him was brazenly extracting the marrow from a human infant and burning it like a dry cell battery, while his mouth was smeared with disgusting powder, a prayer for salvation!

Xiu En: "I saw it."

Lucifer: "It is an absolute insult to the methods of exploitation."

"More importantly, it's too unglamorous and it lowers the overall quality of this outfit."

Xiu En nodded: "I don't want to act anymore. This Kang's fake skills are even worse than all of you real devils. He doesn't even deserve to be my appetizer!"

Once the mask of those who are still reciting false lines cracks, the gods' extreme contempt for usurpers can no longer be contained.

The Holy Father Kang, seated on the throne, frowned at this moment.

His left arm emitted a red alarm, and the time flow monitor began to spin wildly. He sensed that the body of the Holy Son beneath him was emitting an energy belonging to heresy.

"The patch was initiated but an abnormal logic deviation was detected. Execution command is required!"

Before Father Kang could finish issuing his instructions, an unexpected event occurred.

The silver-white armor that was kneeling below exploded, turning into countless fragments burning with black smoke.

Lucifer Morning Star Satan's Pride armor was revealed! The enormous, dark, fallen wings on his back simply unfolded, and those invisible feathers swept through the space, turning the metal defenses within a thirty-meter radius into charred remains.

The crimson and black flames of hell spread like a spiderweb along the marble floor where he stood. It was the absolute destructive power of the true abyss, burning away the so-called sacred laws of this temple.

At the same time, a blindingly bright, white-gold light burst forth above the temple.

The light was so bright that the eyeballs of the hundred or so priests standing closest below exploded into a bloody mist, causing them to fall to the ground and roll around.

Xiu En tore through the disguise of the Holy Spirit Kang. The Golden Crow Divine Armor was completely reassembled on his body, and the dark golden patterns, accompanied by the might of the Sun God, pressed down on the entire arena! Golden divine fire, the conceptual flame capable of incinerating dimensional impurities, gathered around him to form a radiant wheel of the sun.

The two people who had just been acting together, after witnessing this script that pushed the boundaries of acceptable acting, simply tore off all pretense on set.

Under the intense heat that could melt even a false cross, the ruler of hell stood with the golden sun god and proclaimed to the false king on the high platform.

"I hereby formally declare in the name of the sun."

Lucifer then added the second half of the sentence: "I solemnly declare in the name of Hell."

The two spoke in unison.

"Kang, you've been dismissed!"