Although the dead man did not understand the meaning behind the leader's words, he believed they were correct.
So the dead men were gathered and trained.
A hundred of them, drawn from all walks of life.
They knelt before Ikogen Hall, and each was given a meditation technique—Ikogen Hall had just finished practicing it.
"The things in your hands will burn once you read them. This is the magic of the gods. After learning it, you will have power like mine…"
Before them all, Ikugentang's feet lifted off the ground.
He pressed his palm against the heavy metal wall suspended in the air.
*Boom.*
The ground shook violently.
Countless cracks spread across the wall.
The wall, capable of withstanding the weight of five thousand tons, cracked in an instant—it was nearly shattered.
Can humans create this kind of power?
"This is the power of the gods. Of course, I have stronger powers still, but I can't experiment with those. Let's practice first… and then prepare for the sacrifices needed in the next phase.
I need sacrifices. I need greater strength.
And God needs believers!!"
"Yes, my Lord!!"
"No… you must call me Lord Master!"
"Yes, Master Master!!!"
The madman's proclamation filled Ikugentang with satisfaction.
This was Believer Number107 of God.
You will be lifted from the first machine soon, my wife… wait.
That night, those believers returned to their posts.
And some began promoting the Eternal Religion openly and directly within the church.
This emerging sect was quite unusual.
People were not required to do anything at all—just be happy.
A middle-aged man had been coming to pray often since falling seriously ill, but today the pastor gave him something different.
"What is this?"
"The doctrine of the true God. Study it and see…"
The content was very simple: it merely expounded free thought and the birth of God.
Some of it resembled the creation myth of God.
It was just that the greatness of the Eternal God was countless times greater than that God.
But these nihilistic concepts did not exist at all.
"John, I know you are a devout believer. It is unrealistic to want to restore your health through faith alone, but if you believe in the Religion of God, I can guarantee you will be healthy before you leave!"
"Really?"
"If you don't believe me, try it!"
An hour later, John was back to normal.
And the physique was terrifying.
He felt he could punch through rock with a single blow.
"My God, I saw the true **** through meditation…"
"Yes, the true God will respond to every believer—but the hypocritical God will not!"
The priest said matter-of-factly.
John knelt on the ground and said in tears, "I will be a believer in God from now on, my pastor. I will pray every day…"
Just a few days of effort.
Tens of thousands of believers had already gathered in the city, but because they caused no trouble, no heroes stepped in to oppose them.
The Federation would not interfere.
But Ikugentang wore a cunning expression—how could he not understand this was his own grand design?
Next was the altar.
It would take at least a month to build.
And Lilith… should not be a problem either.
His own world was very barren; aside from the apostle, he truly did not know what to sacrifice.
Fortunately, Lilith was controllable.
It would be fine to sacrifice her when the time came—and the Asuka girl on that quota.
They were all fine sacrifices.
At NERV headquarters.
Many officials were discussing the Human Complement Plan.
And Ikugendo's recent activities.
"This guy is getting more and more out of hand. He's actually using materials provided by various countries to build something special. We asked him about it and he didn't answer.
It's an outright secret at this point!"
"Well, arguments are useless. He's also a hard worker, and he's widely considered the brains of NERV—otherwise he wouldn't be the next Commander-in-Chief."
"Still, I really doubt the apostles will come again!"
"Yes, the atmosphere in the city has changed recently. Many people have joined the Eternal Cult. It's not good to have troublemakers at this time. Do we need to crack down on them?"
"Why bother cracking down? It's a waste of manpower. Let's spend more time studying the apostles…"
Along with publicly available specimen information.
All nations were frantically developing genetic warriors.
They were the main bodies of EVA.
Whoever overcame this difficulty would become the strongest nation in the next era.
However, they debated for a long time and reached no new conclusions.
Because the apostle had not arrived, it was unrealistic to use the Zero Machine for combat in the short term.
The Zero Machine had many problems.
Now they could only run aground experiments.
NERV was also very conflicted about Ikugendo, but who else was as intelligent? Headquarters truly lacked a commander of his caliber.
With a large number of workers constructing it.
The altar quickly began to take shape, and a reckless idea took hold within Ikugentang.
If he could become stronger.
Could he defeat the apostle with his own strength?
The thought swelled in his heart.
What could be more satisfying than mastering power oneself?
Footsteps approached, and Ayanami came up behind him.
"Sir, I'm here…"
"Well, what do you think about the arrangement for you this time?"
Ikugentang's voice was as indifferent as ever.
———
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