A Core Ship From The Start Chapter 1057

Chapter 1057: Chapter 728 The Faithless One Chapter 1057: Chapter 728 The Faithless One For Lord of Death, Duanmu Huai showed no reverence; in fact, upon meeting Kelanwo, he uttered just one sentence.

“Hand over the Wall of Unbelievers to me, and we'll consider the matter closed.”

“………”
Kelanwo, wearing a white mask, stood before Duanmu Huai in silence, but Duanmu Huai was well aware that this sentence alone was sufficient.

Even though that unlucky fellow's fate was manipulated by Myrkul, the former Shinigami, Kelanwo was the current Shinigami. When Myrkul stole the Soul Raccoon Cat from the Wall of Unbelievers in exchange for the Crown Prince, Kelanwo, you just pretended to be dead and saw nothing? Isn't that dereliction of duty?

Of course, you could say that the former act was careless, but when that unfortunate soul came later to tear down the Wall of Unbelievers, instead of plastering him to the wall, you merely asked him not to overdo it?

Now that a mess has been made, who but you should carry the blame?

It's just like firing a cannon: as long as no accident occurs, anything goes, but once the prize is struck, you have to take responsibility.

Kelanwo probably never imagined that the other party would be so bold as to attempt godhood on the prime plane, but regardless, with the situation having escalated to this point, Kelanwo must take responsibility. Don't even think about getting past Duanmu Huai with a simple bow and a “hush-hush, secret mash,” not even in your dreams.

Do you really think the Tribunal is so easy to bully?

“……What do you want it for?”

“Burn it. It's distressing to even look at.”

Duanmu Huai didn't hesitate to answer, as he felt the Wall of Unbelievers was truly useless. The curse was boring, merely a waste of time and life, all ending in nothingness–wouldn't it be better to simply add it to the Tribunal's furnace as fuel?

Strictly speaking, Kelanwo's God Kingdom serves as a sort of waystation. In essence, Kelanwo's job is akin to that of King Yama, where the souls of the dead come to be judged: those who believed in God are sent to the God Kingdom, and unbelievers get plastered on the wall, while for those who believe in devils… there's no need to bother Kelanwo, as the devils will take care of it personally.

And from Duanmu Huai's perspective, it truly was a shame to burn many of the unbelievers from the Wall.

Here, we must mention the criteria for being plastered on the Wall of Unbelievers.

The Faelun World might be said to be the complete opposite of the Imperial truth: in the Faelun Continent, one can directly perceive the deities, not through chaotic illusions in dreams like those with the Chaos Evil God, nor through some fanatical forebodings. When you see devils rampage across the earth, angels flit through the skies, and witness epic battles between heaven and hell complete with miracles… recognizing the deities becomes inevitable.

Therefore, on the Faelun Continent, the universal belief is that “the gods do indeed exist” and “the gods influence the entire world.”

However, when it comes to actual faith in the deities, the judgment is rather vague.

Though the bar for the most devout believers might be set by Sacred Knights, Priests, and other clergy, this doesn't mean that those who pray and praise the deities in church daily are not considered faithful. In fact, participating in festivals or ceremonies related to the gods also constitutes a form of worship.

Naturally, there are individuals who might not have faith in deities, but whose actions coincidentally align with the divine domain of a certain deity, thus enhancing the power of that deity, who might then regard such conduct as worship.

For example, a General who doesn't believe in gods but loves waging wars, plunging everything into flames, perfectly fits the temperament of the God of War. The God of War would take such warmongering as worship.

Or perhaps an individual unknown to Obsessive Sin, but who endlessly drools over Rose–that clearly is worship of Obsessive Sin.

In situations like these, the gods generally take a kinder view and often dispatch their Divine Envoys to try coaxing such individuals to become their open believers.

Similarly, even mere mortals who donate or pray in temples are recognized by the gods as worshiping them.

So according to these standards, the number of people truly eligible to be plastered on the Wall of Unbelievers is quite small. Not venerating certain deities doesn't qualify one as an unbeliever; one becomes an unbeliever only by refusing to worship any god, and by steadfastly proclaiming that none of the gods are worthy of worship or by denying their divinity. Only then is one declared an unbeliever and plastered to the wall.

In the Faelun World, there are exceedingly few who meet these criteria, and most of them, should they exist, are Mages.

After all… it's worth noting the rise of Divine Arts of Carl of Celsus.

He was the first–and so far the only–Mage to have successfully usurped divine power.

Although in the end, due to his limited strength, the magic network collapsed, leading to the destruction of Nasirael, at least he truly managed to seize divinity with magic.

Of course, whether he only sat on that throne for a few seconds is another matter.

For the gods of Faelun, the existence of unbelievers isn't actually of much significance, because most people are driven by self-interest, pursuing benefits and avoiding harm. Believing in deities brings advantages, so why not believe when there's nothing to lose?

For instance, if two merchants were competing and one believed in Wokin while the other didn't, and the former received Wokin's blessing and earned a fortune, while the latter, without any divine blessing, only managed to scrape by, what do you think he would do? Would he accuse the former of cheating or would he start believing in Wokin himself?

Not to mention the pressure of competition alone should drive him to belief. If everyone else believes and you don't, aren't you at a severe disadvantage?

Therefore, in such a world, those who are able to persist in their disbelieve in any deity, seeing them merely as some form of powerful existence, are indeed individuals of strong willpower.

And this is precisely what the Tribunal needs.

In combating the Evil Gods, unbelievers are actually more useful than believers. The reason is simple: believers worship deities, and if a deity falls, so do its followers. In this respect, if the Chaos Evil God were to annihilate the gods worshipped by believers right in front of them, their morale would surely plummet, and they might even collapse entirely.

Just like when Duanmu Huai tore Rose apart in the Dark Region; even the Dark Elf, such an evil and resilient species, completely fell apart at the sight of Rose's downfall. This shows that believers are indeed unreliable. With their faith, they are as firm and odious as stones in a latrine, but without it, they become weaker than tissue paper.

On the other hand, unbelievers are different. Honestly, maintaining disbelief in gods in a world like Faelun, filled with all sorts of demons and divine beings, also means they wouldn't worship the Chaos Evil God. These souls, provided their value systems aren't terribly skewed, are like a natural first line of defense against the Chaos Evil God.

So to Duanmu Huai, using these unbelievers to plaster walls is a sheer waste. It would be better to give them to the Tribunal, keep the good ones to be reborn as Night Guards, and throw the unusable ones into the furnace to burn.

How wonderful, isn't it?

Facing Duanmu Huai's blatant grab, Kelanwo didn't want to give in. After all, he was the Lord of Death, and this was his domain, not a place where just anyone could run wild.

However, gazing at the murderous Duanmu Huai before him and the thousands of fully armed Night Guards standing behind him…

“Alright.”

Kelanwo definitely didn't want his home torn apart, as the daily workload here was enormous. If Duanmu Huai were to dismantle his city, that would truly be trouble.

As he spoke, Kelanwo stretched out a finger and lightly traced it in the air. Then they saw the Wall of Unbelievers that stood outside the city suddenly shrink and transform into a model-sized object, which was put into a small crystal ball, resembling a miniature landscape.

“Very good.”

Duanmu Huai took the crystal ball from Kelanwo and nodded with satisfaction.

“I will assign personnel to guard and transport here. From now on, send any unbelievers to the Tribunal. No problem with that, right?”

Kelanwo silently nodded. This had essentially been his job all along–sending souls to their respective gods according to their faith. Now with one more, Duanmu Huai, it wasn't much different–although the Tribunal indeed seemed peculiar. Other dominions required believers, yet they actually wanted unbelievers?

While believers could increase faith, what could unbelievers possibly add?

Of course, Kelanwo couldn't fathom that Duanmu Huai's Tribunal wasn't reliant on faith to consolidate divine power.

Just like that, Duanmu Huai effortlessly stole the Wall of Unbelievers from Kelanwo, then left it to his vampire servants in the Obliteration Domain to sort out. Those who could be used were pulled out, and those who couldn't were thrown into the furnace as firewood.

Having handled this trouble, Duanmu Huai returned to Arkham City and began another round of expansion and reorganization.

Meanwhile, on the Faelun Continent, some forces began to quietly shift their attention to this newly emerging land.

Chapter end

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