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The Future Hope Church.
It’s the name of a pseudo-religion built by twisting a primitive religion that originally existed.
And that pseudo-religion is now burning with enthusiasm.
Because until now, they had never directly witnessed a proper miracle before their eyes.
Of course, the church members know the legend that it appears to the most desperate and fulfills their final revenge.
And there are indeed survivors who have witnessed that dark purple flame scattered here and there. However, it was the first time they had seen it in an easily understandable form since coming to this church.
No matter how much of a pseudo-religion it is. No matter how thoroughly they brainwash. Even if they forcibly create personality damage and drive people mad with a technique called gaslighting.
Not everyone completely loses their reason and turns into a fanatical monster.
Therefore, when they said they would hold an event to offer sacrifices and receive blessings, some people were extremely averse to it.
Do we really need to sacrifice someone no matter what?
There couldn’t be no one with such thoughts. Even if they had fallen to become members of a pseudo-religion, not everyone enjoys disgusting murder.
And when the event started, that disgust reached its peak.
First, because the girl their leader Hieronymus brought as an apostle looked ordinary.
If there was anything strange, it was just her purple hair, which is rarely seen in this region, or her large breasts that didn’t match her height.
And when those Hieronymus called to receive blessings approached the apostle’s side, that disgust reached its limit.
They sacrifice their own babies. And newborn babies at that.
It was something that couldn’t happen in a sane mind.
Even from the perspective of a pseudo-religious believer, the act of smilingly offering one’s own child as a sacrifice was an action right in the middle of the realm of madness.
There couldn’t be any human who would call that action right.
If there was such a human, that person would be no more than a beast, not a human.
At least that’s how it had been until now.
But that changed after that girl stood up.
The babies offered as sacrifices turned into disgusting monsters.
And the couple who received the blessing had their appearance greatly improved, became stronger, and even gained abilities compared to before.
Above all, that dark purple mist.
Those who know, know.
What form the miracle their god causes takes.
They can’t not know what color it is.
Because it was a legend that had been floating around this world since a very long time ago, to the extent that no one knows when it started.
There is a power in this world that moves for the lowest.
Therefore, when it appeared directly before their eyes, even though there was no feeling of greatness or fear, they unconsciously mistook everything they had believed in until now to be true.
Those with special knowledge like magic doubted that action with their shallow knowledge, but eventually reached the conclusion that it’s difficult with magic alone.
If there was such powerful magic that could twist the body at once like that, there’s no way they wouldn’t have felt that magic while being in that place.
Common sense rather guarantees the apostle’s power.
Just one baby.
With that alone, a person can change. Powerful strength and beautiful appearance. They can even gain special abilities.
It’s a miracle.
They can blow away all the irrationalities that have piled up until now and start anew. That realization gradually became heat passing between people, and eventually became enthusiasm.
No matter how much they pretended to have reason-
They have already fallen as much as they can fall and wear the necklace of a victim around their neck. There are many people who can do anything if they can remove their necklace.
The reason and minimal morality they had until now completely lost their value at this moment.
Who would cling to such trivial points when they can become better?
Moreover, the fact that there are people like me around drove them further into madness. It’s like not being afraid when crossing a red light together.
As the number of people to share responsibility increases, responsibility disappears.
The sentence at the end of this is this.
As long as it’s not me.
This selfish logic breaks the weapon called society that humanity has boarded and regresses to less than the primitive era. It’s falling to a beast below primates.
And as primitive religions did, they discovered a target to transfer their sacrifice to, and learned what they could gain from that sacrifice.
The ritual of living sacrifice.
This is actually not such a special act. Rather, it’s strange if it doesn’t exist among people. Anyone with intelligence can create it.
It’s something that always happens in schools. There are people with power, mediocre people, and victims. This is naturally created without learning from anyone.
This ritual of living sacrifice continues until the life of the sacrifice ends, and when the sacrifice dies, they find the next sacrifice.
Morality doesn’t work here.
For the strong, law and morality are weapons to protect themselves. Because the law prevents the weak from joining forces to kill the strong. Morality blocks the path to reaching such thoughts. It’s only a rule for the strong to exploit others.
Morality is unnecessary for mediocre people. Because if they close their eyes, harm doesn’t come to them. They’re not doing something very bad. Just one turning of a blind eye and they gain the enormous benefit of life.
And for victims, law and morality are worthless. Because they’re tools to maintain the society built by the strong, they lead to creating victims in the first place.
There are always people in society who should be avoided.
Shamans, witches, butchers, executioners, etc., those who end life are like that. They are kept far away from the community, despised, and used to strengthen the rules of the community.
Despite doing essential work for the community to function.
So.
It wasn’t that difficult for the members of this pseudo-religion to throw away minimal morality.
If you sacrifice someone, you can receive a blessing.
The gates of hell opened.
The path to enter the pit of despair without exception began to be walked.
Of course, laws and morality should be created to prevent such behavior and create a better world.
Originally, the law should work to hold back such strong people and take care of the weak.
Also, morality should force stopping terrible actions and help find a better life.
But ideals and reality are different. Above all, it’s fatal that the ones using it are humans, not gods.
Corruption is easy, fun, and happy.
No, this pseudo-religion already crossed an irreversible river at the point of sacrificing a perfectly living girl.
Since they already fell long ago, rather than calling it corruption now, it’s more appropriate to call it decay.
Enthusiasm swallowed the Future Hope Church.
At first, two people.
Two days later, three people.
And then three people received blessings each day.
People are decreasing. But the Future Hope Church has almost no horizontal connections. That’s why even if people decrease, it can’t be felt.
All that can be seen are those who received blessings smiling happily.
They have cool or beautiful appearances, can use tremendous power, and sometimes can even use superpowers.
And if you sacrifice someone, you can become like that.
The brake broke long, long ago.
The members of the Future Hope Church now live days looking forward to receiving blessings while finding or creating victims.
Hieronymus had no thoughts while watching the pseudo-religion fall into promiscuous corruption. It’s a group to use according to his purpose from the beginning.
If it helps, it’s rather good.
And Hieronymus decided to make the enthusiasm inside the Future Hope Church even stronger now.
So he showed one miracle.
He brought a member who had accomplished a special task but lost arms and legs, and had Rebecca bless them without a sacrifice.
Of course, since Hieronymus thought sacrifices were necessary for blessings, he offered sacrifices in advance at another place.
Thus, the church member with an irreversible disability received a blessing and grew arms and legs, just as Joanna once did. Of course, unlike the church members whose skin turned white, their skin turned blue.
Hieronymus advertised this as those who dedicate themselves to the church receive more blessings.
And he led people to dedicate themselves to the church.
If they succeed and return alive, they can be revived no matter what injuries they sustain.
He created an environment where anyone can happily receive orders and act.
Missions that could cost lives, missions heading to places with severe persecution.
This pseudo-religion was a place created by gathering people who had given up and despaired. So it was difficult to move actively as Hieronymus wished.
But now they filled the lacking motivation.
Then things that were difficult to move started to go smoothly.
If you do what Hieronymus wants and come back, you can receive a blessing.
Of course, this was deceiving the believers by saying it’s what God wants, but essentially it was Hieronymus’s order.
And it was an action to take the revenge Yasle wanted.
The church that gained new power began to expand rapidly.
Until now, they had grown bit by bit, but the church, that was just a small religion, put those who received blessings at the forefront and expanded their influence.
The new power was that amazing.
Even an ordinary person becomes a strong one who can face a hundred people if they receive a blessing.
And sometimes, irregularly, a jackpot occurs.
Superhumans who can face a thousand, and ten thousand people appear.
One of the first to receive a blessing, a man highly renowned within the church. Wide was one of them.
The purple flame burned everything, both physical force and magic.
And the swollen ego wanted to give special meaning to the name. So Wide created and attached the title “self-flame” to himself.
Wide of the Self-Flame.
Hieronymus inwardly sneered and allowed it. Specialness was one of the strongest motivations to move people.
And as he thought, Wide began to organize his own group. Among them, the most special one trained hard and followed orders well to become human.
Hieronymus confirmed that the long-standing plan was progressing slowly.
And Yasle sharpened the blade made of hatred even more.
The Future Hope Church began to change after bringing down the outer god into Rebecca Rolfe’s body.
The outer god is pure and controllable.
The Future Hope Church moves according to his thoughts.
In Yasle’s eyes, everything seemed fine.