Chapter 1 The Judgment

After the priest gave a brief pronouncement, the once-silent square instantly erupted like a volcano of molten lava!

"She doesn't believe in the Lord?"

"She actually doesn't abide by the teachings?!"

"A pirate's child—that's not surprising, she's a descendant of sinners!"

For a time, public sentiment was inflamed. The momentum was so great that even the trial venue, which should have been quiet, was filled with shouts that seemed to pierce the sky.

"Judgment! Judgment! Judgment!"

Even ordinary people who hadn't come to the square and were still working, tourists walking on the streets, children playing in the streets, and even fishermen just returning to port, after hearing the sound of the trial from the city center, seemed to understand each other tacitly and put down their work and play, and without exception began to shout along.

"Judgment! Judgment! Judgment!"

In just an instant, a frenzy swept through Twilight City, the mighty roar even shaking the atmosphere, causing houses and glass windows to tremble slightly.

And Aemon was one of them.

—Did not believe in the Lord.

That is, she did not abide by the teachings, did not love exploration, and did not revere judgment.

What a heavy sin, what a terrible evil! Why hadn't this kind of sin been recorded in the teachings yet?

Presumably, even the Gods had not expected that such sinners who violated their great love would appear among the people they protected.

Just then, Aemon, who was shouting along with the people around him, heard the Lord's rather puzzled voice.

"I keep hearing you talk about pirates… children of pirates, descendants of sinners. What's going on?"

This question instantly stopped Aemon's shouting. He looked at Su Zhou in shock, his eyes revealing extreme doubt.

"Lord, Lord, how could you not know about pirates?"

"Those sinners who rebelled from the sanctuary a hundred years ago, and the ugly gang composed of countless renegades, how could you not know?"

"I really don't know."

Su Zhou didn't intend to hide anything. He didn't mind Aemon's suspicion of him. The young man said directly, "Tell me everything."

“…Yes.”

Aemon nodded with difficulty. He frowned and slowly explained to Su Zhou, "The origin of the pirates is a group of unbelievers who actively abandoned their oaths and discarded the code."

—More than a hundred years ago, because of a certain event, some priests turned away from the Lord's love and chose to fight against the teachings and reject the judgment.

They launched the largest rebellion in the Elemental Era, left the continent in successive divine punishments, entered the sea, and became abandoned people drifting on the sea, that is, the predecessors of the pirates who now cut off the Holy Fire Continent and the New World.

After these people went to the depths of the sea, the divine punishment, which should have lasted until death, suddenly stopped. Since then, the ocean has become the territory of those abandoned people, who claim that the sea is an area that the Gods cannot touch.

"They are all a bunch of damned 'free men'."

When he said the word 'free', Aemon clenched his fists. His tone was full of intense disgust, and even his expression was filled with heartfelt hatred.

"But what's wrong with freedom?"

But Su Zhou's question left the priest at a loss—how could he understand that his Lord would actually ask about this? They were beings who didn't believe in Him and abandoned His righteous path. What was the hidden maintenance in these words?

—Perhaps this is a test?

Forcibly covering up the confusion in his heart with this reason, Aemon stroked the teachings around his waist, and then said solemnly, "Too much, my Lord."

"So-called freedom is not following any precepts—they don't eat on time, they eat when they are hungry. They don't rest on time, they lie down and sleep when they are tired."

"They don't work when they are poor, they rob when they want something. They talk and discuss with people, and they fight when they are impatient."

"Freedom is casualness, doing whatever you want, being unable to restrain yourself, and becoming unpredictable. They will kill because of dissatisfaction in their hearts, and they will get angry because others don't act according to their wishes—free people don't abide by the code and oaths in the teachings. They can choose not to love others, choose to harm others, choose to oppress, enslave, threaten, and intimidate others."

"Others apologize, and they can choose not to accept it. Others want to trade, and they can choose not to pay and rob."

"This kind of person… is a heretic!"

"Unable to communicate, absolute evil, absolute thug! They are the enemies of all Fire Folk and Wind Folk!"

As he said this, Su Zhou could see that Aemon's hands were trembling—not because of fear, but because of uncontrollable anger. He knew that at this moment, a raging fire was burning in the priest's heart: "We are people who abide by the teachings, we can't actively attack these 'free' people—but they can actively attack us!"

"We are good people who abide by the code, and they are evil people who don't obey. They can use the articles on the teachings to humiliate us, but we can't retaliate against them except through judgment!"

—A gentleman can be deceived by righteousness. What's more, these people in the Cycleworld are not gentlemen, they simply abide by the teachings, one hundred percent.

Su Zhou listened to Aemon's narration in silence, and in his cyan-purple dragon eyes, there was a faint gleam, proving the unrest in his heart.

He didn't even ask 'Why don't you resist'—because Su Zhou could guess how Aemon would answer him.

—Because you are here, Lord of Judgment. You are the punishment for evil, and we have no right to retaliate against them.

"This place… these people, there's definitely something wrong."

Thinking so, his heart surged, Su Zhou let out a long breath, complex thoughts churning in his heart: "No, that's not right."

"The problem isn't them, it's… me."

Then, he looked at the judgment stage, his cyan-purple dragon eyes staring at the Wind Folk girl who had already fainted, and was bound to the rack to be judged just because she was the child of a pirate.

"Just because she's a pirate's child, why are you so sure she doesn't believe in the Lord?" the young man muttered to himself.

Aemon answered easily, "If she really believed in the Lord, then the Lord would definitely not choose to punish her in the subsequent judgment."

Speaking of this, the priest suddenly understood why the Lord had asked those questions before—could it be that this pirate's child really believed in God? So that's it, if that's the case, then everything makes sense.

If that was the case, then they had really mistreated their compatriots and harmed an innocent good person. No wonder the Lord was so confused just now.

Aemon felt that he understood, but the other ordinary people around him didn't know.

After the priest on the stage made a brief announcement, everyone had already put their hands together, closed their eyes, and prayed for the coming of judgment.

Before Su Zhou could even think, he sensed another huge wave of spiritual power, far greater than the power when he judged the old man who spread the plague before, was surging toward him like a tsunami, wanting to borrow his power to inflict thunder and judgment.

It was this act that finally made Su Zhou understand.

"This judgment… there's no standard at all to determine whether this person is guilty or not!"

In the soul space, Su Zhou's soul felt the chains of spiritual power pouring in from all directions, each golden line was equivalent to the convergence of hundreds or thousands of people's beliefs.

They rose from the square of Twilight City and surged toward the place where the 'God' was located, echoed by the people, that is, the place where Su Zhou was… and then, asked him for strength.

Is it evil? There is no such procedure. Determine if there is a crime? There is no such regulation. How serious is the crime? There is no such standard.

The greater the spiritual power, the more power that can be borrowed, and the heavier the result of the judgment.

Condemned by thousands of people, they die without illness—when tens of thousands of people say a person is evil, then even if that person has not done anything evil, the spiritual power will echo the power of God and turn them into ashes.

—Misunderstanding?

We humans will misunderstand, how can God misunderstand? God is always righteous! If this person is guilty, then God will punish him, if this person is innocent, then God will naturally let him go!

In the soul space, Su Zhou silently restrained all the chains of spiritual power condensed from spiritual power, but a great fear rose in his heart.

"No, God is not righteous… in fact, there is no God at all… I have only just arrived in the Cycleworld for three days, before that, I was not in this world at all."

"The God of Judgment that you have worshiped for hundreds of years, does he even exist? Even if he exists, how exactly does he respond to your wishes?"

"Is there a standard, or is it like now… merely borrowing power based on the amount of spiritual power and administering judgment?!"

Restraining the spiritual power in his hand, Su Zhou did not lend his power to them. He originally planned to just forcibly drag it out for five minutes and let the priest declare the girl above innocent—no matter what, a world where not believing in the Lord is equivalent to a crime and one must be judged is simply too unreasonable.

There are a thousand 'better' ways to deal with this problem, so why use this most extreme punishment?

But he thought so, but that didn't mean that the spiritual power thought so.

Seemingly realizing that they could not borrow power from this side, all the spiritual power extending towards Su Zhou all dissipated.

In the invisible spirit world, on the square of Twilight City, golden spots of spiritual power floated above everyone's heads. They no longer gathered towards Su Zhou, but swarmed towards the high sky, the firmament, and even the top of the world, the inside of the world!

In an instant, it was like countless stars shooting into the clouds. A beam of spiritual power that pierced through the sky in Su Zhou's eyes pierced through the spirit world and went straight to the distant end of the sky!

Then… something huge awakened from its slumber.

[Wish… I am listening.]

That was the rumbling thunder in the spirit world, humans could not hear it, even the priests could not hear it. It was a 'voice' made of endless spiritual power, only responding to vibrations with spiritual power.

In the beam of spiritual power roaring towards that voice, only one wish was clearly audible.

[Our Lord, Lord of Judgment—punish this unfaithful villain!]

Then, that voice accepted some spiritual power. He gladly agreed.

[Wish… fulfilled.]

The real world.

Suddenly, there was a shrill wind from the top of the sky.

—Rumble!

Thunder rumbled.

In the depths of the deep and dark clouds, a golden light suddenly lit up—this light was born out of thin air, and in a short moment, it condensed into an extremely dazzling thunder light. It ran across the dark clouds, blooming with lightning snakes, releasing an extremely dangerous aura.

Then, in the next moment, this thunder light struck straight down towards the Wind Folk girl who had long fainted on the judgment stage!

On the square, everyone couldn't help but want to cheer—look, the Lord of Judgment is once again descending punishment! He will judge the unbelievers! Judge these renegades!

"Huh?"

In addition to his joy, Aemon also felt a sense of confusion.

He had just thought that the Lord would pardon this 'faithful' Wind Folk woman, but who knew that judgment would still come?

Did he misunderstand, or what was going on?

But no matter what, the thunder punishment had already struck, and the unbeliever would be reduced to ashes——

No.

No way.

Suddenly, under the joyful and pious gaze of everyone in Twilight City, the golden thunder suddenly stopped in mid-air when it was halfway down.

Not only that.

Everyone discovered that not only the thunder light, but also themselves, the fallen leaves, the dust, the clouds, and even the entire world, were all frozen in place by a gentle but incomparably powerful force, unable to move at all.

The wind stopped, the water solidified, the clouds no longer flowed, the dust no longer fell, everything was still, only the eyes could see forward.

Aemon was also frozen in place. He didn't understand what was going on at first, but he saw that his Lord was moving.

The young man stepped silently, he walked towards the center of the square. The crowd parted as if they were being separated, making way for a path. He stepped onto the judgment stage, and under the gaze of everyone's shocking, doubtful, and puzzled gazes, came to the side of that Wind Folk child.

Aemon saw that the Lord raised his hand and pointed to the golden thunder light that was falling.

"You are wrong."

A voice of pronouncement rang out.

Thus, this golden thunder of spiritual power dissipated like a bubble and turned into nothingness—even above this thunder light, the dark clouds in the sky, and the scattered drizzle, all disappeared into nothingness. A huge circular cloud hole dozens of kilometers in diameter appeared above Twilight City, allowing the golden afternoon sunlight to shine on the city, turning it into a clear day.

Then, time began to flow.

Tens of thousands of people raised their heads, staring at the vast cloud hole in the sky, which was large enough to cover most of the city. Then they lowered their heads and looked up at the figure on the stage with shocking and bewildered gazes.

It was a young man with long black hair, whose image was unclear, whose face was unclear, but who was incomparably sacred, incomparably perfect, and almost like an incarnation of a god.

No… not an incarnation of a god.

He is the god!

Behind that figure, a huge white dragon phantom was faintly emerging. The cyan-purple eyes of judgment were rotating above the phantom head of the giant dragon, releasing thunder light that seemed real, just like in the myths and legends, the immortal white dragon that controlled thunder and imposed eternal judgment on all things!

Rumble! Although there were no dark clouds, thunder exploded out of thin air, causing the earth to tremble.

When the thunder exploded on Twilight City Square, after a brief silence, everyone began to exclaim uncontrollably.

"Ah, this, this is?!"

"Lord!"

"It's the Lord!"

"The Lord of Judgment! It's the Lord of Judgment!"

In an instant, no one was standing on the entire square.

Everyone prostrated themselves on the ground, bowed to the figure on the judgment stage, with incomparable piety, without any second words.

—Unbelievers? It doesn't matter.

—The thunder light clearly fell but was scattered? It doesn't matter.

—Whether that unbeliever is guilty or not? It doesn't matter.

Everything doesn't matter.

Whether it was a priest or an ordinary person, a priest or a knight, even Gero, the chief priest who had already left the square and returned to the Twilight City temple, knelt on the ground at the first moment after sensing the aura on the square, put his hands together, and worshiped piously.

He could see that a huge illusory white dragon phantom was standing in the center of the city, standing in the center of the cloud hole dozens of kilometers in diameter, bathing in the golden sunlight, like the embodiment of all solemnity in the hearts of all things.

"Lord, could it be, could it be that you really descended during the divine descent a few days ago?!"

But the Lord did not respond to any prayers, cheers, or worship.

Su Zhou stood on the judgment stage and lifted the veil on his spiritual power and his presence.

He silently looked around at the crowd who were worshiping and praying to him, looked around at this city that was cheering because of the 'true God's descent'.

"Lord of Judgment… no, there is no such thing."

The young man murmured to himself: "God is you."

The will of God is the will of man…

As long as you pray, then God will respond—at least for that 'Lord of Judgment', that's how it is.

Justice? Righteousness? Judgment? What a joke.

This is just the tyranny of the majority.

As long as the majority of people think a person is wrong, then no matter whether he is innocent or not, he is wrong.

Just because they don't believe in God, don't follow the correct teachings, and are hated by the vast majority of people, they must die. What does such a world and such a judgment have to do with justice?

In other words…

If someone thinks another person is wrong, then no matter whether the other person is innocent or not, then the other person is also wrong to someone.

What a familiar argument… it's almost exactly the same, even the majority party has more people, but someone's thoughts are just their own self-entertainment.

How ridiculous, such beliefs, judgments, and deities.

And the order of this world.

So, the next moment.

The joyful and excited crowd heard the voice from their 'Lord'.

Under the white dragon phantom that pierced through the clouds, the sacred incarnation that could not be looked at directly and whose face could not be seen spoke.

"This kind of judgment."

The young man who was the Devourer of Evil Lords said word by word with a difficult tone, as if denying himself.

"Is wrong."