Chapter 413 - Church of Splendor

The picnic on Caldesann came to an anticlimactic end due to Kargath's appearance. Everyone was disappointed, but they knew that they couldn't continue the picnic. The party members promised to do something like this again next time and packed their things.

Oh Kang-Woo placed several restrictions on Kargath so that he couldn't try anything funny and returned to the imperial palace. Kang-Woo would normally have killed him to eliminate any risk factors, but he couldn't bring himself to kill Echidna's father in front of her.

"Kang-Woo." Echidna entered Kang-Woo's room while he was unpacking.

She came up and hugged him without a word. She was acting reserved, similar to when Kang-Woo first met her.

Kang-Woo gently patted her head.

After hugging him for a while, Echidna muttered cautiously, "I don't wanna be alone anymore."

Kang-Woo smirked. "I'll make it so that you can't leave my side no matter how much you don't want me to."

"Hihi." Echidna giggled and buried her face in Kang-Woo's embrace. "I'm sorry. The picnic was ruined because of me."

"It's fine. We can always go again when we have a chance."

Going to a picnic was no big deal; although it would be hard now since they were so busy, they could go on all the picnics they wanted until they were sick of it once they finished what they needed to do.

"Okay!" Echidna shouted brightly and nodded cutely. She then grabbed his clothes and asked carefully, "Kang-Woo, can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Mmm... Just a second."

Kang-Woo needed to ask Han Seol-Ah if it was okay since they usually slept together every night. Just as he was about to call her...

"I think it's fine," Seol-Ah said as she entered the room as if she had heard their conversation from outside. "It's been a while since I slept with Echidna."

She lightly hugged Echidna and placed her head on Echidna's chin.

Echidna turned around and asked in anticipation, "Are you gonna sleep with us too, Seol-Ah?"

"Yeah, sure." Seol-Ah smiled and patted Echidna's head.

"Hm! Hm! Okay! Let's all sleep together!"

Echidna jumped on the bed and snorted in excitement. Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah softly laughed and stared at each other.

"Hm! I'm gonna stay up late tonight!" Echidna shouted with shining eyes, lying between Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah.

However, she fell asleep after not even ten minutes of excitement. Kang-Woo smirked and closed his eyes after lying down. It was a short trip, but he had a feeling it would be a long-lasting memory.

***

"Here is my report on what I have investigated about the Church of Splendor," Lilith said as she entered Kang-Woo's room with a few pages of documents in hand.

A few days passed since the trip. Kang-Woo took the documents that Lilith handed him and nodded.

"First, this is the current size of the Church of Splendor."

Lilith pointed at a specific portion of the document. There was a map that seemed to be one of Aernor and the Church of Splendor was marked with a yellow highlighter.

"Its forces are spreading at an extraordinary rate with the Arnan Empire as the epicenter."

"You say that, but it doesn't look like it has spread much beyond Arnan, has it?" Kang-Woo remarked.

"It hasn't even been a month since it was formed, after all."

"Oh, right." Kang-Woo nodded as if he had forgotten.

The Church of Splendor was indeed growing at an extraordinary rate; it was only natural with Kang-Woo's miraculous feat during the war and Kim Si-Hun's fame. Even so, it was difficult for the Church of Splendor to take over the other religious organizations of Aernor, a polytheistic world.

'It's the same as Christianity failing to spread largely throughout Japan.'

Faith was complex; people usually did not welcome change, especially in the case of religion. It would take a long time for someone who already believed in one religion to switch to another.

"Considering that, it's pretty fast," Kang-Woo said.

The Church of Splendor was growing so quickly that it could even be considered a contagious disease.

"..."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. After listening to Lilith, he noticed something strange after taking a look through the documents again.

"Isn't it spreading a little too quickly?"

It was the complete opposite question from the one that he had asked before. He could not help but think that the church was growing a little too quickly once he took a look at the map again after taking into account Aernor's religious circumstances.

"Yes, you're right," Lilith agreed. "It's because the Church of Splendor took over some existing religious organizations."

"They joined my religion?"

"Yes. The remnants of the Godly Pantheon made declarations along the line that they had received revelations to follow the God of Splendor, causing a massive influx into the Church of Splendor."

"..."

Kang-Woo fell into thought as he stroked his chin.

'The gods gave revelations to follow me?'

He shook his head after some thought.

"That's hard to believe."

The gods had likely received significant penalties because of the mass deaths of the incarnations. There were likely even some gods whose Deific Essence was annihilated.

'But they're transferring their forces to a different god in that situation?'

It was far too optimistic to think that they had made a necessary sacrifice for the sake of Aernor's future. For gods born with Deific Essence like Gaia and Tirion, Deific Essence was the only way for them to influence the physical world. In other words, Deific Essence was no different from their limbs.

'Cutting off their limbs and giving them to another god?'

It was bullshit. Kang-Woo snickered. He had a feeling about what was going on.

"After all the shit they went about the glory of the Godly Pantheon and all, they've pretty much given up on it."

The gods took the brunt of the penalty after their incarnations were killed at the hands of Tai Wuji. Those who worshiped gods with low Deific Essence had likely lost most of the blessings and power that they had received from that god. Not only had the power of the churches weakened after Si-Hun's appearance, but the people who had acted as the leaders of the churches had ended up dying during the war. The remnants had no choice but to find another way to live.

'And so they chose the Church of Splendor as their lifeline.'

It was far too wise of a decision for Kang-Woo to insult them as a bunch of leeches since he would have made the same choice if he had been in their shoes.

"Yes. Because of that, there have been some issues occurring in the Church of Splendor," Lilith stated.

"Well, I would assume so."

Kang-Woo nodded as the puzzle pieces matched inside his head. The remnants of the Godly Pantheon were absorbed into the Church of Splendor. No,

absorbed

was not the right word to use.

"They're probably working to devour the Church of Splendor as we speak."

"Hoho, exactly."

Kang-Woo crossed his arms and shook his leg. The Church of Splendor was easily being devoured by the remnants of the Godly Pantheon no doubt because of the Church of Splendor itself.

"Maybe I should've made some apostles or an incarnation," Kang-Woo muttered.

The God of Splendor, the one whom the devotees of the Church of Splendor worshiped, did not have any apostles or an incarnation. There were not even devotees to whom Kang-Woo had indirectly granted power; it was only natural since the religion was made spontaneously by the people of the continent who praised Kang-Woo and Si-Hun.

In other words, the Church of Splendor had no one in administrative positions whom Kang-Woo had appointed. To the Godly Pantheon, there was no better religious organization for them to devour.

"They sure used their heads," Kang-Woo smirked.

Members of the Godly Pantheon had administrative experience in their respective churches, so it was likely a piece of cake for them to use the people of the continent, who had gathered purely for the sake of worship, for their benefit.

'I mean, it would've been no business of mine what they did with the Church of Splendor before, but...'

The situation had changed. After all, the pure faith of the Church of Splendor's devotees could be converted into power for him. Kang-Woo now had a reason to grow the Church of Splendor. The Church of Splendor would grow even if he just left it to be, and the remnants of the Godly Pantheon would benefit from its growth as well.

'But...'

There was a huge problem.

'They don't have an ounce of faith in me as a god.'

The remnants of the Godly Pantheon had simply stuck to the Church of Splendor like a pack of hyenas to regain the power that they had lost after the influence of the churches had severely weakened; they did not have any form of faith in Kang-Woo. It was truly ironic that the leaders of the Church of Splendor did not believe in the God of Splendor.

"Shall I kick them out?" Lilith asked casually.

Kang-Woo shook his head. "No, it's better to have experienced people in administrative positions than some randos."

"But why? They don't believe in you, Master Kang-Woo." Lilith tilted her head in wonder.

Kang-Woo stood up while smiling. The solution was simple.

"In that case, I'll make them believe."

It was time for him to give a sermon.

***

A boy with blank eyes was walking along a desolate land under a red sky.

"Welcome back," an unpleasant voice like nails on a chalkboard sounded out.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Darkness clumped together in midair and walked out a hunchback demon with a staff.

"Yeah." The boy with blank eyes nodded. He turned to the hunchback demon and asked, "How is the progress on the world tree?"

"It is proceeding according to plan. We will see results in a little longer," replied the hunchback demon as he hit the ground with the end of his staff.

The boy nodded. "Oh, right. Something pretty interesting was formed. Have you heard?"

"Are you referring to the Church of Splendor?"

"Yeah." The boy nodded with a faint smile.

"What will you do?" the hunchback demon asked.

"I wonder what I should do?" The boy looked up at the red sky and fell into thought. He then answered uninterestedly, "Mmm. I'm too lazy to think about it."

"I understand. In that case, I will take measures myself." The hunchback demon bowed deeply. He cackled and then asked, "How did you feel about seeing the Demon King after all this time?"

The boy remained silent. Then, the corners of his mouth slowly rose; they went past his cheekbones, all the way to his earlobes. "Kihi!"

Madness filled the boy's blank eyes. Enormous demonic energy poured out from him.

Crack, crack!

Goat horns sprouted from the boy's forehead and bat wings pierced out of his back.

"Haaah," the boy exhaled in ecstasy as he recalled the Demon King's radiant Flames of Voracity. He muttered, "He looked very... very delicious."

"Kekeke." The hunchback demon nodded. "I am glad to hear that, Lord Bael."