Chapter 300: Friend (5)

Translator: Dreamscribe

Farming!

Joyful farming!

Now was the time for farming!

Once he started thinking of disposing of Evil People as farming, Jinwoo's mood improved quite a bit. Like a clogged pipe finally clearing, he could solve his experience problem all in one go, so farming actually had some flavor to it.

On top of that, since he swapped in Bio-Golems while he farmed Evil People, the world was getting a whole lot brighter!

It could be seen as a wicked act, but Jinwoo had no qualms about it. He had been an Evil God from the very beginning.

"Hm."

Jinwoo thought it was fortunate that he had become an Evil God. Simply handling Evil People however he liked raised his Authority and Sacred Power.

Jinwoo pulled up his Information Window and looked over the souls he had farmed. Businessmen and politicians in America, of course, and also all the ones tangled up in the regions where Arsilan Saga wasn't in service, filled his Subspace to the brim.

'They really were preparing for war.'

They hadn't just given the terrorists extraordinary levels of support; they'd been planning an actual war. At the rate things were going they were obviously going to fall behind and collapse, so they had tried to take what Jinwoo had built by force.

Even if a war did break out, though, it would fail the instant it began.

Now they wouldn't even be able to entertain such thoughts. They had been neatly stored away in the Subspace, and Bio-Golems had taken their places.

Earth's peace had gone up one whole level!

'Maybe I should have done this a long time ago?'

It seemed he could finally launch the service in the handful of countries where Arsilan Saga wasn't available. The core figures running those nations had all been replaced with Bio-Golems. The Bio-Golems would work for the happiness of Earth's people for the rest of their lives.

For Earth and for Arsilan, it was a good result all around.

He had shoved every last terrorist in America into the Subspace as well, so now it was time to hit their headquarters.

It was the religion that had become the biggest problem lately.

Preaching the end of the world, they demanded unconditional devotion and carried out countless acts of terror. They were a menace that oppressed every other religion in the Middle East.

Sadly, the doctrine they believed in was wrong, and there was no heaven.

On Earth, no god existed other than Jinwoo. If they had truly wanted to draw near to a god, they should have played Arsilan Saga. Like the Heroes did.

"Heina, good work. You can head back now."

"Um..."

"Hm? What is it?"

Heina glanced at Jinwoo's expression, then carefully spoke up.

"Is there a role left over? It's been such a long time since I appeared in a Main Episode..."

Ever since the story moved into the Dimensional Plane Episode, none of those staying in Arsilan had been making appearances.

"Hm, all right. I'll think about it."

"Yes! Then I'll see you in Arsilan."

Heina, who had enjoyed the farming alongside him, returned to Arsilan. All that remained was to wrap things up, so there was no need for her to come along.

Jinwoo teleported to the place known as the most dangerous in the world. Special forces had secretly carried out infiltration operations there, but every one of them had failed.

A village that had established itself well enough came into view.

Buildings made of dirt and rough brick sat on the parched ground, finished off with what looked like shoddy panels tacked onto them.

Structures like that huddled together in clusters, and here and there stood large buildings made of concrete. Terrorists with their faces covered stood armed around those, keeping watch on the surroundings.

Having received massive support from the countries where Arsilan Saga wasn't in service, the terrorists were exceptionally well armed.

Self-propelled artillery and large missiles were visible, and there were even several tanks and armored vehicles. Dozens of drones drifted above the village, roaming the area.

It seemed drones had drastically changed the shape of modern warfare these days. Not that any of it had anything to do with Jinwoo.

"Living up to its reputation as the most dangerous neighborhood in the world."

This was the terrorist stronghold known as the most dangerous place on Earth. American intelligence agencies sometimes called this village 'Hell on Earth'.

Word had it that a few missionaries went in, were squeezed for every penny they had, and came back out with their heads cut off. The footage could be watched, completely unedited, on the site these people ran.

[Call upon the god you believe in! If your god exists, he will save you as you burn!]

They had tied people to wooden stakes and piled firewood underneath. And when the man who appeared to be the cult leader said that, the terrorists lit the fire.

[AAAAAAGH!]

[GYAAAAH!]

The flames never touched them directly. More viciously than that, they were made to cook slowly. Once they had lost their lives that way, the cult leader recited a prayer with a sorrowful expression, then looked into the camera.

[These were heretics who fell to the devil's temptation. The end is coming soon, so sever the devil's temptation and be saved!]

They even had something like a bible of their own.

Videos like this spread far and wide without any restraint, and there were quite a few people who came here on their own to become terrorists.

Jinwoo shook his head, moved into the sky above the center of the village, and looked down.

At the center of the village stood a temple that was grand enough. It seemed to have been built in some sort of old style, but the construction skills apparently weren't great, because it looked crude. Statues had been erected, and carvings were fixed to the walls.

Inside the temple, a service was beginning.

Many of the people living in this village took part. Not one of them was innocent. All of them were deeply brainwashed and followed the cult leader's words absolutely.

Jinwoo dropped down onto the temple roof and looked inside through a window. The cult leader, dressed in white with a beard grown down to his waist, was spreading both arms wide and crying out about the end of the world.

"When the Father descends, this world shall be steeped in fire, and with His own hands He shall carry us to the heaven where eternal, undying life goes on!"

At the cult leader's shout, the terrorists bowed their heads.

Jinwoo let out a dry laugh.

He hadn't expected to see a sight like this on Earth. The man was such a fully realized character that Jinwoo felt he could use him as a villain in Arsilan Saga.

"I have received a revelation from the Father in heaven to wipe out every devil that tempts you! Those who have fallen to the devil's temptation shall be purified by fire and saved..."

The cult leader claimed to be the son of god while spouting that nonsense. To these people, burning innocent people alive was salvation. It was the one and only way to save those who had fallen to the devil.

It was an extremely aggressive cult.

Which was exactly why it had been chosen to attack FS Games.

"I could just scoop them all up as is, but..."

That would be no fun.

If he didn't stage something, it would keep nagging at him. Jinwoo mulled it over for a moment, and then a good idea came to him.

They were desperately waiting for the world to end and for a god to descend and lead them to heaven. In that case, he would give them exactly what they wanted!

It would take a form very, very different from the heaven they were hoping for. Call it a heaven full of agony.

Jinwoo examined the interior of the temple.

He studied the paintings and statues that depicted the form of their god, then built a body to match. He moved one of the bibles laid out in the chapel over with a wave of his hand and read through it quickly.

He paid close attention to the final section, the part that prophesied the end of the world. Whoever wrote it seemed to have studied quite a lot, because it wasn't bad.

SNAP!

The moment he closed the open bible, it burst into flame and vanished.

As Jinwoo stretched out his hand, a Barrier formed starting from the sky above the village and wrapped the whole village like a dome.

It was completely cut off from the space outside.

Now no one here could get out. Anyone who crossed past the boundary would come back in through the opposite side. And from the outside, it would look as though nothing were wrong at all. Not even the countless surveillance satellites floating in distant orbit could possibly detect the anomaly.

Jinwoo formed a body.

This time it wasn't a Bio-Golem. He made a body of energy composed of elements, like a spirit, and then customized it into the form of the Fire God they worshipped. He made the parts that looked a little plain far more spectacular, and faithfully reproduced everything described in their bible. Jinwoo settled into the Fire God's body and then flew up into the air.

"Well then, shall we begin?"

The instant Jinwoo raised his hand toward the sky, the apocalypse written in their bible began!

* * *

Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism were commonly called the four great religions.

But here, all such religions were heresy, and only the Church of Fire was truth. With this place as its center, the Church of Fire had been spreading out into regions all over the world, and had gained a fair number of believers of its own.

The Church of Fire had begun from the indigenous religion of the region.

The position of leader had been passed down through three generations, and under the current leader it had reached its golden age. In particular, after receiving support from several countries, its scale had ballooned at a startling rate. Even the head of the country groveled before him.

"It shall come! It shall come! The end shall come!"

For some reason, Jafar al-Qasim, leader of the Church of Fire, found his concentration unusually sharp today and was able to put real emotion into his cries. Hearing his voice, the faithful lowered their heads and poured out tears.

'Easy. Far too easy.'

Life was far too easy.

A short distance from this village, the place the Church of Fire called its holy land, stood his lavish penthouse. Beautiful models were waiting there. All Jafar could think about was finishing the service quickly and rolling around in bed.

It was just as today's suitably solemn service was being wrapped up a little hastily.

DONG!

An enormous bell toll rang out, resounding through the entire temple. It was beautiful, as if it were a bell from the heavens. It felt like it shook the soul itself.

"Huh?"

"A bell?"

"What was that?"

Jafar was flustered, and so was every believer in the temple.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

The bell rang out three more times, slowly.

"The end!"

"The end is coming!"

"Ohhhhhh!"

The believers dropped to their knees and wept, overcome with emotion.

Jafar flinched and glanced around him. Omar, who served as his right-hand man, came over.

"Was this planned?"

"N-no, what the hell is going on?"

"We're not sure either..."

They tried radioing outside, but all that came back were dazed voices saying, 'The end has begun.'

"L-let's get outside for now."

"Yes, sir."

Guards came over and surrounded Jafar. Just as he was about to head out of the temple under their protection.

CRRRACK!

The temple's ceiling was torn straight upward, like a lid being pried off.

Jafar stared blankly up at the sky.

"T-t-the sky..."

The sky was burning.

The clouds churned red as though they held magma inside them, and enormous fissures had opened across the entire sky, spewing flames. And a giant eye was looking down, gazing at every one of them.

"Ah, aah!"

"The eye of fire...!"

"He looks down upon us!"

The believers cried out and thrust both hands high into the air. Jafar shook his head, denying this insane reality.

It was fake.

It had to be fake.

His father had regarded this cult as nothing more than a tool for holding on to power, and Jafar felt exactly the same way.

The end of the world?

How could the end come to a world this overflowing with pleasure!

There was no such thing as a god.

Death was the end.

Like a TV being switched off, it simply ended right there. So one might as well live however one pleased and then go.

Holding that belief, Jafar had spent his life committing every kind of cruelty.

'It's real? This idiotic religion was actually real?'

The apocalypse Jafar had proclaimed countless times was unfolding right in front of his eyes.

The sound of horns came from above.

In that instant, shafts of light burst out of the split sky and lit up everything around. Countless angels with wings made of fire poured down from the sky, playing their instruments.

THUMP!

Jafar dropped to his knees on the ground and stared up at the sky in a daze. The bodyguard at his side did the same. He let the weapon in his hands fall to the ground and wept tears of awe.

The largest of all the angels drew near above the temple.

A being with eyes made of fire and thousands of wings of blue flame.

It was the Archangel of Purification.

Its role was to burn every heretic on Earth and cast them into hell before the god descended.

FWOOOOOOOOSH!

A colossal blaze rose up like a tidal wave and melted the temple and every building to nothing.

"AAAAGH!"

"GAAH!"

The believers, and Jafar too, screamed and shook. Jafar swallowed hard and looked around him.

"Hurk!"

It had all burned.

Everything on Earth had burned away!

Everything was gone, as if they were standing on the surface of the sun. The Archangel of Purification had purified the world!

[Fear not.]

A voice that rang in the soul reached every one of them.

The believers wept and wailed. Even Jafar found tears coming on their own.

[You who have survived the purifying flame shall go to the place where you belong.]

Heaven!

They were going to heaven!

Faith that Jafar had never possessed came surging up in him.

"Oh, ohhhh! We're going to heaven! We're going to heaven!"

Jafar clenched both fists tight.

He had committed every cruelty imaginable whenever he got bored, but that too had been work done for god. Deceiving even himself that way, Jafar shed tears of emotion.

The Archangel of Purification looked over them all.

Everyone in the village gathered before the Archangel.

Just then, the countless angels around them lifted their instruments once more and began to play.

A majestic horn blast that shook heaven and earth rang out.

The Archangel settled to the ground and folded its wings in a gesture of reverence.

Jafar knew this part.

'When the Archangel folds all its wings and bows its head in worship, the Gate of Heaven shall open and the god shall descend! Ye who believe in fire! Worship Him alongside the countless angels!'

The countless angels who had been playing their instruments settled to the ground and bowed their heads low.

FWOOOOOOOOSH! WHUUUUMP!

An enormous gate came falling down from the sky.

The gate was so beautiful that simply looking at it was rapture. It seemed to have been made entirely out of the most beautiful jewels in the world.

When the gate opened, light poured out of it.

[Chosen ones, raise your heads.]

At the Archangel of Purification's words, all of Jafar's followers lifted their heads. Flames surged from the Gate of Heaven, and an immense pressure bore down on every one of them.

Jafar's eyes went wide and tears welled up again.

It was the same for the believers.

Opening the Gate of Heaven, the Fire God descended upon the world!

*****

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