## Chapter 1414 – The Approaching Darkness

The fury exploding within me was directed at imperialism!!!

“Krrrr…!”

Witch hunts!

The barbaric act of capturing and slaughtering innocent people and seizing their property! Civilians branded as witches were butchered like the Congolese under Leopold II!

Even in a world without mana, they fabricated lies and accused people of witchcraft! How could anyone practice magic in a world without magic, you goddamn bastards!!!

It was an utterly absurd massacre, yet it was shockingly carried out in the name of a religion…!

Christians of that era regarded witch hunts as a kind of money-making scheme.

Farming or producing something to sell for money was incredibly cumbersome, bothersome, and difficult. So, Christians thought, let’s just capture and kill innocent people and steal their money.

That was the belief of the people of that time – that it was a much easier way to make money…!

Of course, it would be easier!

Because the infrastructure for such killings was already systematically in place!

All you had to do was claim that someone was a witch, and professional serial killers and torturers affiliated with the church would gleefully rush in, seize the accused, and torture them mercilessly on the spot! Such a systematic infrastructure was already in place!

Just make up a plausible story, and a person would die, and you and the church could divide all their possessions – a dreamlike Garden of Eden of hope!!!

Christianity was practically a euphemism for a murder factory! The state at that time was essentially a slaughterhouse cultivated by the owner of the slaughterhouse named Christianity!

If that wasn’t a cult, then what was!!!

“…”

I swallowed that anger and looked at Kadia’s face.

No matter how I looked at it, it was a story that Kadia would find utterly repulsive. Thinking about it, I couldn’t think of anything other than the need to kill them all.

“Kadia, of course, you have faith there. But there is no God. There has never been an observation, nor has its existence ever been revealed.”
“No God, but faith… I see. Well, I don’t think it’s unusual. Such forms of faith exist.”

Kadia nodded.

In this world, gods exist.

So people believe in gods. Of course, I don’t know what kind of beings these gods are, but anyway, we believe that something exists above us. Whether it’s outer gods or soul eaters, it’s all just a matter of good packaging.

Thus, the existence of gods is common sense.

“But it’s just superstition. Believing in something that doesn’t exist is neither rational nor logical. If there is no God, then it’s not faith, but a kind of ideology. Faith without God doesn’t make sense.”

That’s why Kadia, who was born and raised in this world, thinks this way.

If there’s no alcohol, there’s no drunk driving.
Similarly, if there’s no sword, there’s no swordsman.

If there is no God…

There is no faith.

“If you believe in something that doesn’t exist, you can create that non-existent thing as you please. In other words, it’s like worshipping a fictional character from a novel.”
“Hmm.”
“Of course, I don’t think it’s negative. People living in rural villages tend to follow many customary superstitions anyway. It’s perfectly understandable. I can understand it as such a world.”
“But Kadia, the population of that faith… it’s over three billion.”
“…What?”

Kadia froze for a moment.

“It’s also a monotheistic faith. Over three billion people around the world worship such a single god.”

Monotheism!!!

In this world, what is generally referred to as absolute evil is that very monotheism!

Those who absolutely do not acknowledge differences, never consider others, and unconditionally oppress those who believe in beings other than their god – the heretics of the evil god!

“W-What!!!!!!”

—Poof!

At the sound of the number of those heretics exceeding three billion, Kadia jumped about five meters in surprise. A sergeant jump reminiscent of Commander Barkerel.

—Hwaaaak!

At the same time, Kadia’s golden hair, which had landed, puffed up like cat fur, becoming a prickly hedgehog!

How surprised were you, Kadia!

“Kyaa, kyaaaaaaaak! W-What on earth did this holy maiden just hear!!! Heretics who worship a single god number three billion!!!!!!”

Shock.

“It’s like the number of grains of wheat in a wheat field!! Three billion heretics!!! Does that mean that planet is a planet of heretics!!!”

Kadia grabbed her head and screamed as if in a panic. Surely, the idea of three billion heretics would be very shocking to Kadia.

You know, there was also a popular novel in the United States during the Cold War.

The one where the first American astronaut, Alan Shepard, was caught in a dimensional distortion the moment he entered outer space and ended up in another world. It was a bestseller, and it was also made into a movie, so everyone knows it.

Anyway, the other world that Alan Shepard drifted into was truly a world dyed red. In a world where communism had triumphed, the Earth’s three billion people were all communists.

At the time, Americans were very shocked by the novel and tore at their hair.

`Unknown Horror!`
`Another World Filled with Fear!`
`The Red Planet, Earth, of a Communistized Alternate Dimension!`
`Beyond the Dimension Lies Only Red! Only Red!`
`Do You Know That World Redder Than Mars! That Planet Was Made of Blood!`

It was almost like that kind of evaluation.

It was an era when Sputnik shock was rampant.
It was a masterpiece that rode the times well.

Reading it, I was able to understand the fear that Americans had at the time. They were so afraid of communism that a new type of mental illness even arose, called Blue Smurf Syndrome, where people painted their rooms entirely blue and prayed.

Kadia must be feeling something similar.

“N-No way…! I’ve never heard of such a thing!”

Of course, Kadia wasn’t the only one surprised.
Liztina was also shocked.

“A world of h-heretics!!! How terrible!!! Katt-nim, that’s too terrible!!!”

Hilde also grabbed her head.

“It can’t…! It can’t be true! No matter what, there’s no way that three billion people would believe in such a monotheistic god!!!”

But the one who received the biggest shock was definitely Kadia.

Kadia and Hilde were both tearing at their hair, showing their agitation. Her hair was still sticking up like a hedgehog. Not just a hedgehog, but a torch-hog. It was as if the spines had been burned with a torch, with flames even rising.

“A detailed explanation! A detailed explanation is needed!”
“A detailed explanation…!”

Three billion is roughly the combined number of Christians and Muslims. The planet’s population is a little over six billion, so about half of the total population believes in a single god.

“There’s no way that’s true…! How could three billion people fall for such a heretical religion!!!”

Kadia was in a semi-panic state.
I have to give a proper explanation!!

“Yes! It is a heretical religion, Kadia!!!”

—Hwareureureuk!

The thoughts swirling in my head judge the religions of Earth!

The witch hunts and the Jericho massacre!!!

The war and blood god, Jesus Christ!!!

That heretical god is by no means a merciful and good god!!!

Joshua, the champion of the Hebrews at the time, was a mad serial killer notorious as the slaughterer of Jericho!

Joshua, who blew the battle horn, no, the murder horn, according to God’s will and brought down the walls of Jericho, marched into the city with his army and massacred everyone, regardless of age or gender!

The army intoxicated with faith was truly an army of blood…!

Not a single Canaanite survived. Joshua stood at the forefront, personally slaughtering even infants who couldn’t speak and laughing maniacally. Even the babbling of newborns couldn’t stop his murderous impulses! He slaughtered children as Herod had done!

Since ancient times, fanatics have raved that it was a sacred act whenever they killed children, the elderly, and weak women. Because if it wasn’t a sacred act, they would simply be infanticidal maniacs, which is just an evil act of turning a blind eye to the truth!

Truly a mindset worthy of the successor to the great swordsman Moses! Joshua was the champion of the blood god Jesus Christ and the senior butcher of the Hebrews!

Surprisingly, Leopold II, who led the Congo massacre, was also a Catholic!!!! Recalling that fact, I explained the witch hunts to Kadia.

“They were…! The first humans to introduce a new concept of civilian massacre system called witch hunts!”
“A civilian massacre system, you say!!”

Kadia’s eyes widened at that clear term!

“Those evil groups who worship that single god, just to steal the property of civilians! They framed them as evil witches, sent them to torture factories, forced them to make false confessions, then burned them to death and divided their property!!!”

The witch hunt, a new concept of civilian massacre system created by Christians.

The process is as follows.

Pick an innocent person, send them to a torture factory owned by the church, torture them in every way imaginable, and burn them to death. Then, all the property of the deceased becomes the property of the church. Christians, addicted to this simple procedure, soon became bloodthirsty maniacs and easily increased their wealth.

Just hearing about it, there was no more serious matter than this!!!

“Kyaaaaaaaaak!!!”

At that shocking statement, Kadia screamed again and fell into a panic!

“There’s no need to even look! They are heretics! To commit such acts! An unforgivable atrocity! Although it happened in another world, there’s no reason to stand by and watch…!”

Anyway, everyone was showing a shocking reaction.

Frankly, it was a very shocking thing to me too. When I was in that world, I lived without thinking much about it, but now, having become a Heavenly Demon in this world, I could see that they were heretics.

“That was an event that happened hundreds of years ago. Of course, they, being those who believe in a single god, have been waging religious wars for over a thousand years. But these days, they have become a symbol of peace.”

These days, it’s rare for people who believe in a single god to kill others indiscriminately. Of course, in the Middle East, blood is still spilled because of doctrine.

But well, it is true that Jesus himself was crucified for humanity. The problem is that there is only one such heartwarming story, but those who believe in him have been doing things that are no different from heretics for over a thousand years.

“…Hoo!”

Kadia hurriedly smoked a cigarette and exhaled the smoke.

She’ll need time to accept it.

“Katt…? You, you came from such a world?”
“Yeah. I came from such a world.”
“Katt-nim! That was really dangerous! If you hadn’t come to this world, Katt-nim would be!!!”
“It’s okay. They don’t do that these days.”

Still, religious conflicts happen anytime, anywhere.

“Hoo… As this holy maiden always says, you must never associate with those who worship a single god. They deny the reason, common sense, logic, and morality that humans should possess. They are a race that thinks they can do anything if they just borrow the name of God…”
“You seem to have come to your senses since you’re talking so long. Kadia. Are you okay now?”
“It’s a very shocking thing, but I’ve accepted it… No. This must be taken as a lesson. Never again. There will be no affirmation of a single god.”

Yeah.

I acknowledge all other religions too.
Except for those who worship a single god.

“W-Wait a minute. But I have a question… Katt-ssi?”
“Huh? Why? What are you curious about?”

Liztina called me with a serious face.

“You said witch hunts, right? Anyway, that monotheistic religion created such a new concept of civilian massacre system… and systematically committed criminal massacres, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right. You understood it accurately.”
“And they operated torture factories and human incineration factories owned by the church?”
“Accurate.”

Serial killers and torturers affiliated with Christianity would form a line around the Earth.

“Is that a hidden fact? Is it something that only special people like Katt-ssi know, and the other three billion people don’t know?”
“Well, the population that believes in a single god is three billion, but what you just said is the story of a religion that about one billion people believe in.”
“Damn it, whether it’s three billion or one billion, it’s all the same!!! Anyway! Is that fact hidden?”

No.

Everyone knows about it.

“No. Everyone knows. Everyone knows.”
“Yes?”

Who doesn’t know about witch hunts?

There are people who don’t know that Leopold II, the Congo massacre and slaughter-addicted maniac, was a Christian, and there are people who don’t know about the Jericho massacre, but there’s no way you can’t know about witch hunts. There’s even the reckless indulgence commotion. Similarly, there were countless people who died innocently in the Crusades.

“No. So everyone knows???”
“Yeah. Everyone knows.”
“Then why… why do they believe it? One billion people know that such things happened, but they sincerely believe it? That sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it?”

I guess.

I didn’t think much about it when I was there.

“No. At least in this world, if something is wrong, they don’t believe it, right? Kadia. Isn’t that impossible here?”
“That’s right. Unless they are abnormal heretics, who would believe in such a religion knowing that? It’s impossible!!! There’s no way that one billion people would do that!!!”

—Kwaang!

The ground caved in as Kadia stomped her foot.

“We must be careful! If they believe knowing all those facts, then that is clearly the mindset of heretics! It’s truly a planet dominated by heretics!!!”

Kadia shouted as if spitting fire and looked at us. It’s a sermon time unique to priests. We quietly listened to Kadia’s words.

“Just because there is no mana and no different races, the society in which people live has changed so much…! This holy maiden cannot possibly acknowledge that they are the same people as us!!!”

Her fists are even trembling!

“If we ever go to that world, we have no choice but to destroy all those who have such wrong beliefs! Isn’t that right! My Heavenly Demon!!!”

At those words, I shouted loudly!

“Dejaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!”