Just like that, beings at the Half-Divine grade were given the right to harvest faith as well. However, the majority of the faith they harvested would end up being absorbed by those above them, leaving them with nothing more than scraps.
For example, the faith accrued from those of the Fallen Angel clan would end up automatically in the pocket of Lucifer. The same was true for those of the Church of Light; over half of the faith generated would eventually end up being absorbed by the Goddess of Light.
In short, it was a divine tax. As for the method of collecting said tax…the first thing that came to my mind was the Gem of Authority, and also that feather from Lucifer…
Putting aside that topic for now, the next revelation that surprised me was that the gods had actually warred against each other at one point. According to Ferti’nier, the world would have been destroyed if it continued. While the Goddess of Light might have wanted to protect the world, what about Lucifer…didn’t he just try to force me to destroy the world…
In other words, wouldn’t it have been better if the world was destroyed in that initial war of the gods? Why did he negotiate a peace accord then?
“My dear little brother, that’s where you’re wrong this time.” Still able to eavesdrop on my thoughts, she haughtily said so. “Do you know what divinity represents?”
[What it represents? Doesn’t it just represent overwhelming divine strength, unfathomable, omnipotent life? What else is there?]
“That’s right, establishing one’s divinity does in fact confer you unfathomable strength and life. Those four methods mentioned by this one not too long ago all have to do with creating a Divine Core in order to establish one’s divinity. However, not every divinity is created as such. There are those who were born divine…those who were here since the time of Genesis…they all possess an innate divinity…”
She then proceeded to explain this in detail. Long story short, while the Origin Angels might have been created purely to serve the Creator as tools, a better tool would naturally make running the world a lot easier. Thus, the Creator spent a lot of effort into designing these tools as well.
Using one of my famous analogies to illustrate this point, tools had distinctions between each of them; some were bad and some were good. For example, back on Earth, computers could be found everywhere but clearly a 400 dollar off the shelf computer couldn’t compare to a 3000 dollar custom built computer. Whether it was gaming or just daily tasks, the more expensive computer would definitely outperform the other –less blue screens, freezes, lack of space, etc.
That was precisely the reason why the Origin Angels were created with an innate divinity, so as to allow them to govern a certain section of the world’s law.
By doing so, they had essentially become a part of the world itself and were able to aid the Creator in running the world. As for those angels who were created later…they were merely meant to be workers, kind of like how every company had a horde of indispensable but ordinary salarymen underneath that one old, decrepit CEO.
Because these divinities were created in a way that bound them to the world, there were certain consequences should one of them fall. The best case scenario was that the death of one such divinity would lead to another usurping his throne. At that point, the divine essence of that divinity would return to the world. The worst case scenario however, was horrid…for example, if that divinity’s core was to shatter…then the world would lose a certain part of itself…
For example, should the Goddess of Light fall, and her core shatter, then the world would lose all light…without this law to hold up the world, it would start to crumble because of the resulting imbalance.
By being a part of the world’s fabric, inborn divinities were overwhelmingly more powerful than ordinary divinities. At the same time, they were also bound to the world’s fate. Should the world ever get destroyed, they were doomed. Unlike ordinary divinities, who could simply pass through a dimensional rift and escape, inborn divinities couldn’t exist without the world they were born in… Looking at it from another way, should Lucifer ever decide to fight to the death with the Goddess of Light. The end result would be that both of them would die, win or lose. Thus, it was important that they ensured that the other party wouldn’t simply self-destruct in the heat of battle…
A war between gods was essentially a giant suicide spectacle. That was why a peace accord ended up being signed, lest everyone ended up dying because of one guy…
It had to be said however, that the term ‘world’ wasn’t just referring to the Western Human Realms or the Three Hells. Rather, it referred to all of them, including the divine realm!
Lucifer’s Apocalypse was merely about wiping out all life in the Western Human Realms, and not strictly to destroy the world.
Should he ever succeed in doing so, those of the Goddess’s camp would lose their faith sources. On the flip side, as long as the Devils still existed, those of Lucifer’s camp would enjoy an unending stream of faith.
In conclusion, while Lucifer’s Apocalypse might seem like a matter of life and death to us, it was all nothing but a game of resources to him.
[So you’re saying that Lucifer himself won’t participate directly in the conflict?]
While most of what she had said was a little too abstract for me to handle, the implied meaning of her words were clear: Lucifer wouldn’t directly intervene in the conflict. In other words, even if I didn’t listen to his command, he wouldn’t descend to smite me either.
“That fellow definitely wouldn’t do that, aren’t you thinking a little too highly of yourself there, my dear little brother?”
[It’s not that…I just don’t want to murder innocents…]
Hearing that, Ferti’nier couldn’t help but chuckle: “But then, my dear little brother, have you ever thought about the fact that while he might not be able to intervene directly, he can still send down his clones.”
‘Clones…well, there’s no need to even think about how strong those things are…should one ever try to kill me, I wouldn’t even get the chance to blink.’
The ability to wipe out a kingdom in one night…was it even possible for a tiny speck like me to resist?
Resist? What did I possess that could even stand up to such a force? My identity as Yi Yi’s fiance? Or perhaps my Fallen Angel bloodline?
