The Day of Judgment is generally considered a Christian concept.
It is said that on that day, angels will sound their trumpets, and the souls of all people will be weighed anew.
The righteous will enter heaven, and the wicked will fall into hell.
But in reality, Zoroastrianism also has this concept, and it even predates Christianity. The extent to which Christian mythology borrowed from or was influenced by Zoroastrian mythology, Platonic theory, and Pythagoreanism is so great that it needs no specific explanation.
But mythology itself is part of cultural fusion, and plagiarism is the norm. There are indeed many myths with similar concepts of a day of judgment.
"Why bring this up now?" Su Mo asked curiously.
"So you're saying it hasn't arrived yet." Seeing Su Mo's reaction, Verethragna's face showed a hint of disappointment. "What a pity. It seems it's not time for the final battle yet…" Then, under Su Mo's prompting gaze, he finally explained.
"Lord Pontiff, have you paid attention to the specific situation in the Divine Realm?"
"Mm."
"Then have you noticed any problems?"
"There are many problems. Which one are you referring to?"
Hearing this answer, Verethragna froze for a moment before continuing, "…About the behavior of the gods, have you noticed any problems?"
"You mean the reenactment of myth? That point is indeed strange." Su Mo immediately understood what he was trying to say. "As the Divine Realm where the gods reside, myth has not developed further here, but continues to reenact what has already occurred in myth."
"The Greek Divine Realm is in the prelude to the Trojan War, the Norse Divine Realm is preparing for Ragnarok, the angels and demons of the Biblical Divine Realm are still fighting each other, the Hindu Divine Realm's Indra is still getting beaten… The future is already determined, yet the gods remain trapped in their mythical history."
To advance along a fixed future—this practice was truly puzzling.
Hearing Su Mo mention these things, Verethragna blinked, smiled faintly, and said teasingly, "Do you know why the Divine Realm is like this? Why, even though the gods all know the outcome, each divine realm is repeating the scenes from their myths?"
Hearing this, Su Mo's heart stirred.
From the situations of Zeus and Athena, he knew that although the same drama was reenacted every day in the Divine Realm, the gods themselves were not affected by it.
They knew very well what their myths were like, and they all had their own thoughts. Ambitious gods had all thought of transcending their existing myths and ascending to a stronger existence.
If that was the case, why were they forced to reenact their myths?
"What drives life is either greed or fear." Su Mo said.
As a representative of greed, Zeus clearly wanted to further develop his myth and enter the realm of the One God. In that case, the choice to conservatively repeat myth could only be for another reason.
"Are you saying that the gods are afraid of something, which is why they constantly repeat their myths?" Su Mo immediately made a judgment. "And according to what you said before, the gods are afraid of the Day of Judgment? No, not all myths have this concept, but almost all pantheons have a related one…"
"Are you saying that the reason the gods reenact their myths is as a form of resistance against eschatology?"
Hearing this series of analyses, Verethragna, who had been trying to be a little mysterious, was dumbfounded.
You've said everything. What's left for me to say?
He never thought that from just these few clues, Su Mo could directly determine the direction of the entire Divine Realm. And he was right.
"Lord Pontiff, are you sure you didn't come for the Final Judgment?" he confirmed again.
"Of course not." Su Mo shook his head.
Eschatology, or the study of end times, was a paradigm found in many myths.
Its core was generally the arrival of the end of the world, followed by the descent of a savior to save it. This concept was most famously and widely used by Christianity.
However, other faiths were not lacking in similar myths. Not to mention Zoroastrianism's Day of Judgment, the Abrahamic religions were a given.
The Ragnarok of Norse mythology was clearly another form of eschatology. In addition, there was Maitreya's descent in Buddhism, the Ziwei Sage in Taoism… Famous myths generally had eschatological elements.
Su Mo had suspected this before, and now it seemed that the existence of the Divine Realm might indeed have a special purpose.
Seeing him deny it again, Verethragna didn't press further.
"Rather than fear, quite a few people are actually looking forward to it. For example, me, or the guardian gods of other divine realms."
Hearing this, Su Mo immediately thought of Michael. That archangel had also seemed extremely excited about his own existence.
"According to our doctrine, our side, the camp of good, is guaranteed to win. There is no need to worry too much."
"Of course, without Lord Ahura, many people lack confidence."
"Therefore, most of the gods are not yet ready to face the end. The gods drill day after day, just waiting for the day the end arrives, to completely defeat all evil and darkness under the leadership of the Lord Pontiff and obtain final peace."
Verethragna's patient explanation quickly allowed Su Mo to verify his guess. The repetition of myth in the Divine Realm was not endless.
They were all waiting for a destined end.
Just as most eschatological theories say, the day of the end will be a great war, and only the victor will be allowed to obtain peace and happiness. The universe will embark on a new path on that day of finality.
In that case, the birth of the Divine Realm was not accidental… Its purpose is to deal with the crisis of eschatology, and complete destruction.
Thinking this, Su Mo glanced around and was slightly taken aback. It seemed his arrival had indeed brought destruction.
At least, for the Divine Realm. No wonder Verethragna kept suspecting he had come for the Final Judgment.
Thinking about it in reverse, Zeus's attempt to become the One God, although indeed out of an ambition for power, might also have had an element of accumulating strength to fight against the end.
"Do you have any clues as to when the Day of Judgment will arrive?" After understanding the situation, Su Mo immediately asked.
As the Master of Myths, although eschatology couldn't affect him for now, it was a topic worthy of in-depth study. In any world, at any level, death was an eternal subject.
"None." Verethragna answered decisively. "The only thing that can be confirmed is that the Day of Judgment is definitely not a sudden destruction without any signs, but an end that affects all worlds. It is a destined end, irreversible and unstoppable. As long as one upholds the path of good and is upright by nature, one will surely overcome this disaster and reach the supreme heaven!"
As a god of Zoroastrianism, he naturally agreed wholeheartedly with his own cosmology. However, Su Mo remained skeptical of this statement.
The condition for Zoroastrians to pass the end times was to uphold pure good. The condition for Christians was to believe in God. Norse mythology gave humanity no choice at all, destined for destruction. Other pantheons had different standards.
If the end really did come one day, these methods would most likely be useless.
"I understand." Nodding slightly, Su Mo committed this matter to memory. Then, he raised the Blade of Salvation.
"Then, farewell."
"Farewell, Lord Pontiff." Verethragna closed his eyes, offering no resistance.
The long blade pierced his chest, slaying the last god remaining in the Divine Realm.
With the help of the Ex-machina, Verethragna's Primordial Divinity was quickly analyzed and floated into Su Mo's hand.
The Avesta, the Zoroastrian book of myth before Su Mo, suddenly shone with a bright light, now completely whole.
At this point, Su Mo had finally achieved the feat of sweeping through the Divine Realm, becoming its true and proper master.
After reintegrating all the myths, Su Mo opened his eyes and looked at the ruins before him.
He said, "Let there be gods."
And so, when Verethragna opened his eyes again, the entire Divine Realm had completely returned to its former state.
The gods returned to their positions, and the Divine Realm became prosperous again. Even the residents of the Age of Gods had returned to their original places.
The sun god Mithra, whom he had personally witnessed being pierced by Jibril's God's Strike, had now reappeared on the earth.
"To be able to resurrect even gods, as expected of the Lord Pontiff!" Verethragna sighed. After looking at the golden sword in his hand, he suddenly felt a little regretful.
"If I had known, I would have requested to challenge the Lord Pontiff. The Lord Pontiff now is probably even stronger than when I saw him before, isn't he?"
He didn't know to what extent.