This heretic cannot be burned, he must be hung up and whipped!

"Good fellow, with this blow, even the inner demons would be shaken."

Laojun walked over slowly, took out a bundle of strong hemp rope from somewhere, and handed it to Neos. "Tie him up, so he won't run away or make a fuss when he wakes up."

Neos took the hemp rope and looked at the rope and the dead body of Jesus with a complicated expression. Then he tied Jesus tightly under the nearest coconut tree.

The Haki Leopard Beishen finally stopped playing with the crab, walked over, scratched Jesus' feet with his claws, and then raised his head:

"What are you doing? Are you fighting among yourselves?"

"No, we're discussing how to separate the dark side of Jesus' faith."

Laojun stroked his beard, his eyes wise: "It is not appropriate to forcibly separate the dark part of him." He looked at Neos.

"That is a mark left behind after his ordeal. Forcibly removing it will only make him more damaged and may even lead to more dire consequences. My suggestion is that he should figure it out on his own, or we can help him and let his rational and holy side take over."

"Think it through? Is he listening now?" Odin seemed a little impatient. He preferred a simple and rough approach. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind. "How about trying to exorcise the evil spirit?"

The Tathagata Buddha nodded thoughtfully. "The concept of exorcism is a good one. Although we are all gods, human concepts still work for us.

"Exorcism is a universal concept in human society, representing the desire to eliminate negativity and return to a positive path. We can use the most representative rituals from various regions to exorcise evil and purify the soul, perhaps to help him reshape his own concept."

Neos agrees: "We can't eliminate a concept, but we can change it with a better one!"

....Fifteen minutes later...

Jesus, who was tied under a coconut tree, was about to wake up when he vaguely heard all kinds of strange sounds around him: Buddhist chanting, thunder and lightning, Taoist spells, and the roar of the North God?

"Which mygo bastard attacked me?!" He wanted to rub his eyes, but found himself tied up -

"I'm here to quit the band, what are you guys doing?!"

"Jesus, listen to me!" Laojun began to read a report.

"You have been controlled by your inner demons. If you continue like this, you will cause immeasurable harm to the Federation and the people! Our Renaissance Four-member Discussion Group has decided to sentence you to undergo an exorcism ritual!"

After Neos finished speaking, Odin, sitting on the reef, raised his hammer and announced:

"Defendant Jesus, you now have the right to state your case and defend yourself. Please share your final words—ah, I just said that, is there anything else you would like to say?"

Jesus' eyes closed and opened, and when he opened them again, his pupils and irises had completely turned into a red ball. Mixed beliefs and thoughts began to flow in his mind, and his face showed them like acting, sometimes with contempt, sometimes with a sneer, sometimes with anger, and sometimes with his head tilted to make an arrogant look.

"Then please convict me based on your evidence. I await your judgment. If you have the guts, bring me to the Roman Forum for public trial and have me shot! Send me to the cross!"

Lao Jun explained, “We are not going to shoot you, nor are we going to stab you to death on the cross again.

In light of the circumstances following the establishment of the Human Federation, we have discussed and decided to terminate your activities as God. We made this decision out of principled considerations."

Jesus: "Stop your pretense! Without me as a prop, your play can't go on! Who's going to attack me? Huh? Where's Neos?"

If you have the guts, bring out Neos, the mastermind behind this. I want to confront him face to face!"

Tathagata knocked the wooden fish: "Don't insult the Lord of Humanity!"

Despite Odin's rebuke, Jesus, with a dark face, continued to act as he pleased. He raised his head and said to Laojun:

"I'm not afraid of you! That fake God fought me for over eight hundred years and I wasn't afraid of him. How could I be afraid of you?"

Brother Jesus laughed heartily and said, "I am lawless! At worst, you can kill me and send me to the Catherine Wheel. More than a thousand years ago, Saint Catherine was also tortured on the wheel by the emperor in the Roman Forum (for details, see Chapter 2 of the Miscellaneous Volume), and she didn't die! Two thousand years ago, I was also stabbed to death by Roman soldiers in that forum, and I was resurrected a few days later!"

I am God! I am the Hydra of Eden! Cut off as many heads as you can of me, and I will grow more heads!"

Odin struck the stone with his hammer. "Execute immediately! This lunatic has gone mad!"

Neos couldn't stand it any longer, so he stepped out from behind the reef and warned, "Don't force me to clean up the mess. I'm just exorcising the evil spirits and letting your sanity return to its peak!"

"Hehe - I want to quit - ha~ha~"

Jesus, possessed by his inner demons, seemed to sense that his time was up. He simply dropped to the ground and crawled on all fours, arching his body slightly and beginning to breathe heavily. When he saw Neos approaching, Jesus' eyes cleared for a moment:

"Nyos... I'm afraid my... 'Jesus (Doesn't Eat Cilantro)' form won't last much longer... Neos, run! I'm about to transform into 'Jesus (Doesn't Eat Beef)' form, and then... it'll be too late. That thing is taking away control of my body! Neos, run...

That guy 'Jesus (doesn't eat beef)' is going to hurt everyone!"

Seeing Brother Ye who was constantly breathing heavily and hunching over, the four-member Renaissance team didn't dare to step forward and join him in making steamed tofu.

"No, we can't fight, we can't fight. We want to fight with words, not with fists!"

Neos's face was stern, and he brought everyone, including the North God, to his front.

"Look at me releasing the Haki Panther! It's you, Old Panther! Activate your Octogenarian form and use the Phantom Breath on Jesus!"

“Phantom Breath Technique?!” The remaining few people were a little confused.

Neos had put on a bamboo hat at some point, and two white beards had grown around his mouth. The clear sound of a flute came from the subspace, and he slowly said:

"...long, long ago, the first Master of Phantom Breath created Phantom Breath using four artifacts. But after his death, a malevolent Warp entity sought to claim them for itself. It was—"

"Stop! Jesus is trying to break free, hurry up, Haki Leopard!" "Ha--!"

Before Neos could finish his words, the three men and the leopard ignored him and began to perform an exorcism ritual.

"Ha~" Brother Su continued to breathe out. Has "Yeh〒er (九+<) (〥七)六九亿伞吧VI Su (Don't Eat Beef)" already reached its complete form? Beishen knew that he had to use magic to defeat magic. Of the four legendary artifacts, the data cable, foam rubber, compound bow, and half a sausage, only the compound bow still existed in Neos's hands. The other three had long been lost in the subspace, and followed the long river of time to the future and the past.

Beishen got into position and also entered the Spinosaurus state:

(Growl)(Breathe)(Arch his back)(Hair blows)(Breathe)(Stretch out his claws)(Breathe)(Growl)(Charge)(Breathe)(Stretch out his claws)(Fall down)(Breathe)(Struggle to retreat)(Growl)(Arch his back)(Hair blows)(Breathe)(Airplane ears)(Breathe)(Jump onto the reef)(Knock over Odin's hammer)(Stressed by the hammer he knocked over)(Jump up and knock over the bonfire)(Breathe on the fallen hammer and bonfire)(Growl provocatively at Jesus)(Scratch Laojun's ox, leaving blood marks)(Slap the ground with both claws to intimidate)(Arch his back)(Hair blows)(Breathe threateningly)(Pounce forward)(Fall down)(Struggle and dance)(Breathe on the ground)(Tumble over)(Bite the ropes that bind Jesus)(Growl viciously)(Scratch Jesus' face)(Breathe)(Crawl cautiously)(Twist)(Breathe)

The two powerful breath-breathing warriors fought to the edge of the beach, and even the avenue of the subspace was wiped out. Under the influence of the two auras, the four people present all clenched their fists, wanting to stomp these two things to death with one foot.

After all, Jesus was young and frivolous, lacking experience, and was at a disadvantage in the breath. The evil spirit on his body was gradually blown away. Jesus rolled his eyes, foamed at the mouth, and half leaned against the coconut tree.

"Damn..."

The fluctuations in the Warp here became stronger and stronger. Neos tried his best to maintain the barrier of reality to stop the Warp demons who wanted to come and watch the battle between these powerful people - or to stop the demons who wanted to step on these two things to death.

The demons gathered in this space, just like students who were still answering questions after the bell rang for their final exams, trying desperately to break through the barriers of reality.

"Oh no - come on, big one!" Neos suddenly felt that his old rival seemed to have come to the subspace - Satan was coming!

“Boom——!!!” “Puff! Chi! Bang!” “Chi——”

The barrier of reality was broken, and like a huge pile of shit that could not be held back, Satan and a group of monsters and demons from the subspace all rolled out. Satan rolled over and just rolled in front of Jesus who was leaning against the corner of the coconut tree, and handed him a sausage.

"Jesus, please tell me how you feel?"

PS: The next chapter of Against the Gods will be updated this weekend ()

Crimson Tide: 1921: Chapter 70: Close Your Eyes and Blast into Heaven ~ Slaying the Dragon with St. George

Luce soon reached the same fork in the road that Pope Benedict had encountered.

Turn left and it leads to the Lord's Kingdom of God, turn right and it leads to the Warp. Since Rome has been pulled into the Warp, this passage has only one exit - the Kingdom of God blocked by demons.

"Gudu - Gudu -"

A chaotic sound, like the stirring of Nurgle's thick soup, echoed before Luce's eyes, a tangled sea of ​​countless lights, shimmering memories, and surging emotions. It was the collective echo of the souls of every human who had ever held faith over the past eight hundred years. From that twisted divine realm, countless translucent, blood-veined straws emerged, piercing the chaos, greedily draining power while also injecting a foul, corrupted Warp energy, tainting it.

“He cannot swallow it all at once.”

God's voice resounded deep within Luce's soul. This place was only a wall away from where He was trapped, and He could also bestow more power.

"All of humanity's eight hundred years of sin and sacrifice are mixed here. If He forcibly pulls all of this into the Kingdom of God, He might be assimilated—much like the dilemma the Lord of Mankind currently faces. If He cannot maintain His own identity, He will be consumed by humanity's own contradictions and madness. Therefore, He can only absorb it bit by bit, contaminate it bit by bit, and slowly transform this chaos into nourishment that He can control."

"Lord—how can I enter the Kingdom of God and rescue you?" Luce clenched his cane.

"Not in a short time," God said. "He has completely sealed off the Kingdom of God, the core of His power. If you learn my knowledge and apply it skillfully, then with the immense power of faith you possess, you can break this blockade."

Luce thought rapidly. Forcing a breakthrough was a dead end. The demons were at their peak power. But since the demons were still drawing power from the outside world—specifically, draining the life force from believers in the real world to infuse the kingdom of God...

A bold and crazy idea formed in her mind.

"What if... I disguise myself as His follower? It's like the story of the Trojan Horse!" Luce asked. "Those straws, those barriers, are meant to prevent the entry of foreign forces, but what if it's His own 'nutrients'? It's like the blood vessels of a living being, which only accept blood and reject lymph."

PS: Is there anyone who studies biology who can tell Bei Zhai whether blood vessels will reject lymph fluid? Bei Zhai vaguely remembers that the two seem to be from different systems?

God was silent for a moment, making complex calculations and weighing the pros and cons. Finally, He said with approval:

"This is the only possibility besides giving up directly. You are very smart, Luce. But to deceive Him, you must completely change the nature and fluctuations of your warp to align it with the frequency of the demon's power - disguised as a human believer's soul that is being absorbed and assimilated."

"Can I do this?" Luce asked.

"You have such talents....my Saint, but you don't have time to learn them. Fortunately, I can take your place."

The God passed the knowledge of possession to her, and Luce closed her eyes, completely separating her consciousness from the Warp Essence. She, Luce, would retain her conscious mind, observing and guiding, while her Warp Essence, the power represented by the Pilgrim's Staff, would be completely exposed to the God's control.

"Please everyone—contribute your hope!"

The reliefs on the surrounding tunnel walls, the relics in the niches, those objects left behind by past popes and unknown heroes, emitting faint psychic light, began to tremble at this moment, transforming into countless tiny points of light, merging into the essence of Luce's warp. This was the accumulation of all the struggles, all the sacrifices, all the true faith of the past eight hundred years, awakened at this moment for the final sprint!

Luce's Warp essence began to transform as the light influxed. The staff rapidly expanded and twisted, ultimately transforming into a cross radiating holy light. This was the symbol of Jesus's crucifixion, and also His essence.

When she opened her eyes, her pupils were no longer the pale golden light that followed Neos, but were covered with a layer of brown.

Jesus, wake up!

--------

At the same time, on the battlefield in the distance.

The demon continued to devour the life energy of the believers of reality, and its twisted body had transformed into a giant dragon circling in the void in the warp.

"Why stop, Saint?" The demon's voice was filled with obvious mockery. He could feel that Neos's power was weakening. The blue and white shield around him wailed as it was overwhelmed and sank inward.

Neos was forced to retreat, pushing the battlefield deeper into the twisted ruins of Rome. He couldn't let the demon realize that Luce had quietly left, couldn't let him realize that he was alone.

"Are you afraid?" the demon's oppressive tone grew stronger. "Your glory is fading! Is it because you realize that the people you're protecting are just a bunch of foolish, sinful mortals? Or is it because you feel sickened by their begging voices?"

"I'm going to your mother!"

Neos suddenly raised his hand, and a blue-white flame swung out like a sharp blade, severing the demon's outstretched dragon claw. However, the dragon claw immediately regenerated and even became stronger.

"Your power is so pure, yet so... powerless," the demon taunted. "It can only incinerate the impurities of the Warp, but it cannot defeat the creations of humanity itself! Their sins, their hatred, their despair—these are the very foundation of my being! You cannot destroy the monsters of your own creation!"

Neos gritted his teeth and didn't answer. His psychic shield was shrinking, focusing all his energy on defense. He had to buy time. No matter what Luce did, he had to hold on until the last moment of her success!

He believed that his comrades could perform miracles.

"What's your name, you parasite?" Neos said through gritted teeth. "Since when have human garbage disposals been allowed to eat at the table?"

The demon's attack intensified, angered by Neos' words. The powerful distorted energy was like a physical weight, nearly crushing Neos's shield!

Suddenly, the unfamiliar voice of Luce suddenly sounded in his mind.

"Be prepared, Lord of Mankind."

"The devil didn't completely absorb the life force of the believers," the voice continued, "He concentrated these forces at the entrance to his own kingdom of God. That is the last bastion to prevent him from being devoured by the power of chaos. I have arrived there, and next I will break the entrance and let him receive the impact of the collective will of mankind." The voice paused.

"You take advantage of this opportunity to kill it!"

Neos asked warily, "You're not Luce! Who are you?!"

From the other end of the connection came an ancient, laughing voice: "You are not the Saint I appointed... Lord of Mankind. Who are you?"

"Brother Jesus?!"

"Ok?"

"How sure are you! I can't risk you all getting killed. Breaking the entrance to the Kingdom of God... letting that chaos rush in—wouldn't the consequences be even worse? That's eight hundred years of humanity's sins and suffering. It's a deadly poison! What if we come up with something even more powerful, more domineering, and even more wicked?"

God's voice sounded like a sigh. "As you said, this is poison. But He has concentrated it so He can enjoy it slowly. What we need to do now is to break the entire poison bottle and force it down His throat. His body is the container. When the amount of poison exceeds the container's carrying capacity, the poison itself will destroy the container."

God added, "This is the best option besides running away."

Neos was silent for a few seconds and looked at the rampaging demon.

"Okay," he replied briefly. He trusted Luce and believed in the real Jesus.

LiuI device suspected VIII 罒俕VIII————

At the end of the deep tunnel beneath the ruins of St. Peter's Basilica, Luce remained lucid, feeling her own Warp essence being controlled by a supreme consciousness. She "saw" her essence, a giant cross, surrounded by countless points of light representing faith and sacrifice, shining with pure light.

But what God has to do now is disguise.

Under the divine guidance of the Lord, Luce's Warp nature began to undergo a terrifying transformation. Complex Warp runes emerged around the cross, etched with signs of distortion and corruption. Low, chaotic whispers of the Warp echoed in her ears, enough to twist any mortal soul.

Under the protection of God's powerful will, Luce's conscious mind was wrapped up and fell into hibernation, leaving only the most superficial perception.

Her warp form had long since lost its human form. This heroic woman was completely covered by this twisted and blasphemous appearance, transformed into a disgusting, hideous monster covered with eyes and tentacles, with pus flowing on its surface.

At the center of the monster, the giant cross was swallowed into its body and was no longer visible.

Disguise complete!

Wearing this disgusting shell, Luce, controlled by the divine consciousness, passed unimpeded through the demonic kingdom's firewall of twisted faith like an ordinary believer's soul being devoured and assimilated. Without alarm or resistance, she merged effortlessly into a river of countless filth, like a drop of sewage.