Chapter 160: Holy War for Creatures – 4

Chapter 160: Holy War for Creatures – 4

The conversation with Elena wasn’t long or extensive.

To be precise… I told her everything I knew, but Elena barely opened her mouth, so it felt like the conversation wasn’t going anywhere at all.

Perhaps she was utterly confused, or perhaps it was a truth she didn’t want to believe, but Elena showed no particular reaction other than signals that she was listening.

At most, she only showed interest in the part about meeting the former Prophet and her story.

“…Alright, that’s all I have to say. Now, what are you going to do?”

“……The god is omniscient. And omnipotent…”

“So?”

“So… I believed. Despite the limitations, I believed in the god’s omnipotence and undeniable omniscience.”

In a way, it was natural. In the case of a Prophet, I understood that the god directly showed them the future in their mind whenever they wished, so who would think it was a lie?

A happy future, and the actions to take to achieve that future.

It was like everything was clearly laid out, so how could she deny it?

But… unfortunately, the problem was that all of it was fake.

“The god is omniscient and omnipotent. This… I still firmly believe.”

“Why do you keep repeating the same words?”

“Because…… I can’t shake off the anxiety that I might have been deceived. I believed because it was omniscient, and I followed because it was omnipotent, but with that level of power, it could perfectly deceive someone like me, couldn’t it?”

That was the core.

The god was not an incompetent or exaggerated being. Literally, limited to this world, it knew everything, and although there seemed to be restrictions, it had the power to do anything.

Therefore, it could show Elena the future, and it could skillfully deceive her about that future.

Omniscient and omnipotent. Elena was pinpointing that exact point.

“But what can I do? Against such a colossal being… what can someone like me do?

I have seen, and I have heard. The god’s voice and its appearance, the majesty and power of that truly divine being……”

“So, since it’s a losing battle and one where nothing can be done, you’re suggesting we give up?”

“…If the result of doubting is destruction anyway…… wouldn’t it be wiser to at least follow that being and beg for mercy and hope…?”

However… unlike me, who chose to fight rather than submit to the god, Elena still had the option of believing in the god and hoping for mercy, as she just said.

She was still the god’s Prophet, a being actively used by the god to extract faith in this world.

In other words, unlike me, who was useless and only held things back, she was a sufficiently valuable tool to the god.

Therefore, for Elena, continuing to follow the god might not be such a bad choice.

However…… the god had already, in the past, imprisoned a Prophet who had done nothing in a sanctuary and embalmed her so she couldn’t even die, just because it felt uneasy. So it didn’t seem like a very good choice.

“Do you know what happened to the former Prophet?”

“……I do.”

“And yet, you still talk about following the god. Are you still foolishly believing? That the god will bring you the future you want, the future you want to create?”

“……”

“Knowing it’s impossible, yet unable to change… is that your weakness, or is it anxiety and fear?”

“It’s a physiological fear that you can only have because you’ve seen that being up close! You guys… wouldn’t know!”

“Well, I have fought the god directly, borrowing the Demon King’s body, and it was quite manageable, you know.”

She talks about knowing its strength because she saw the god up close, and so on, but… the essential thing is that she’s just scared.

Even if I’m an exception because I’m not a creature of this world, would Christie, the Saintess, or even that useless Hero participate in this Holy War without fear of the god?

Even if they are afraid, there are things they must do, things they must move forward with. So, if they succumb to fear of the god, they will lose their respective futures and existences, which is why they speak out.

Their existence could be erased, or they could literally suffer for eternity… yet, as humans, to prevent their lives and their connections from disappearing with a mere flick of a being’s hand.

As creatures, they challenge, defy, and resist their creator with all their might.

Because before we are creatures, we are individuals with personalities, will, and intellect.

“……How can you do that? Despite being scared, despite feeling fear… how can you challenge a reality that’s no different from a predetermined fate, and resist the god?”

“…I’ve already changed a lot, you know. While I’m at it…… shouldn’t I change it all the way?”

At those words, Elena fell silent.

With other protagonists, a process of persuasion and making them believe my words would have been necessary, but not with Elena.

She… already knew most of what I knew.

Looking at her now, perhaps she was just scared and kept trembling in fear, thinking she couldn’t do anything anyway, which is why she kept acting like that.

Now that she knew everything, she was still hesitating until the very end.

“Well, as you’ve been consistently observing the future from before, you know that… fate and I are quite far apart.”

“……That’s right. Whenever you interfered, the future always deviated from its framework.”

“It will be the same this time. Either way, outside the future the god envisioned.”

“……Yes. That’s right. The future I tried to create, where there was sacrifice but everyone else was happy, was just a lie shown by the god,

But you…… might actually be able to create such a future.”

And, a system notification window popped up before my eyes.

It was a notification that the branch point for Elena had been completed, following the completion of the common branch points for the Hero and the Demon King.

The rewards were ‘Indomitable Potion,’ ‘Reign Potion,’ and ‘Prophecy Potion,’ respectively.

Before I could read the effects…… Elena’s mouth opened first.

“…Soon, the god will descend, using the Cardinals and the Pope as sacrifices.”

“……Descend?”

“Before, the Pope held a faith-related event on Creation Day, right? At that time, the god branded all the attending Cardinals and the Pope as sacrifices.

Probably when your Holy War begins…… the god will descend personally to stop it. In other words, it’ll be an all-out war.”

“It seems to be feeling quite a sense of crisis.”

“Your Holy War… is ultimately a matter directly connected to faith, and now that the faith of most of the monsters who became the Demon King’s Army and the Demon King himself has disappeared, if the faith of humans also disappears, the god might never have another chance.”

Saying that, Elena said she would help with the events on the day of the Holy War using herself and her subordinates.

Elena herself might be a person of no consequence now that the god wouldn’t show her prophecies anymore, but the organization she had built could never be ignored.

At the very least, if the god really did descend as Elena said… it would be a great help in evacuating civilians, excluding those who would fight.

“On the day the Holy War begins, the god will surely move the Pope and Cardinals to descend directly. Naturally, people will also learn the god’s true nature, but…”

“So it can just suppress them with fear anyway?”

“That too, and it’s also impatient, so… Anyway, it would be good to prepare properly. There’s a high possibility that this divine art you’re talking about can only provide protection and not direct attacks.”

Elena, who had given a little more information, finally asked for the location of the sanctuary where the former Prophet was embalmed.

Since they were now in a similar situation, I readily told her, wondering if she was seeking some advice.

I wondered if she could even enter a place that was completely ruined, but, well, she’d figure it out somehow.

For now, I needed to figure out how to deal with this god that was suddenly descending.

***

Time passed quickly.

Reflecting the Saintess’s opinion, the plan, named ‘Holy War for Creatures’ and shortened to ‘Holy War’ among ourselves, proceeded steadily.

I recruited everyone I could reach, including the people Christie brought who said they would join the plan.

The Saintess and Hero succeeded in recruiting most of the Holy Kingdom.

All that remained were probably the Pope and Cardinals who would become the god’s sacrifices on the day of the Holy War, and a few fanatical or corrupt priests.

Oh, by the way, I did tell Lily, but I didn’t let her participate in the Holy War. What would I ask a child to do?

*……Hmm, it’s certainly a bit difficult, isn’t it?*

“…A bit? Does this look like ‘a bit’ to you?!”

After that, while the Saintess and Hero completed the Holy War plan, I… was brewing potions.

Potions for the Holy War? I had already made all of those.

Then the potions given as branch point rewards? I had made all of those too.

Then another fraudulent potion thrown in by the system? There was no such thing.

What I was brewing now was…… something that combined all the branch point reward potions into one.

The system said it was necessary to fight the god, so I couldn’t give up, and it was killing me.

“…Should I just call all the protagonists and try to make it while watching them?”

*Is there a point?*

“At least they wouldn’t interfere, would they…?”

One day before the Holy War began.

It was a situation where I was wrestling with potions, as always.

……It took a lot of effort to deliberately think of it as just that much.

Because a light atmosphere would be better than a seriously somber one.