"So painful, so painful—.—Save me, save me—..—"
"Please, God."
"Save me."
"I'm not a monster, I'm human."
Golden threads of faith reached Xia Wei's divinity, as if the cries of an infant drowned out all other threads of faith. These cries transcended despair, transcending all pain that humans could reach.
It was as if she bore all the sins of humanity.
"It's them—the threads of faith have all turned golden. How desperate they are for salvation!"
It was the first time Xia Wei had seen golden threads of faith. This was a spiritual level that had reached the 'Saint' tier.
Previously, all three worlds had white threads of faith. In this world, currently, besides Songqi, who was a good-natured old man, this was the second instance.
Just as he thought this, eight more golden threads of faith emerged from the void.
They were also cries from the soul, their craving for God's salvation having surpassed all limits.
These were "threads of faith" emanating from a Gastrea of Level Five.
However, the source of the "threads of faith" was not the Gastrea itself, but the souls imprisoned within it.
Following the "threads of faith," he saw that the Retainers were currently battling the Scorpio, but their current strength made it difficult to even break through the Scorpio's skin.
The Scorpio itself possessed an extremely powerful bio-field, capable of generating super-strong repulsive force. This repulsive force could only be broken by the strongest electromagnetic weapons in that world.
Just one four-hundred-meter tentacle falling caused large areas of land to Fracture.
The Scorpio had no intention of attacking the Retainers, even though they were attacking it; it didn't even have any thought of resisting.
But the bio-field on its body was not something it could control.
The origin of the threads of faith was at the very core of the Scorpio's massive head.
It was a tiny soul, the soul of a little girl, curled up, surrounded by endless torment, as if pain itself formed her cage.
"God, save me—I'm not a monster—"
All Level Five Gastrea were not naturally occurring; they were the initial experimental subjects. Humans, desiring immortality through genetic modification, cruelly used little girls for human experimentation. To maximize data collection, humans gathered all biological genes on Earth and injected them into these girls.
Humans succeeded; they created life forms capable of molecular-level regeneration.
But just as humans cheered, these animal genes merged into the 'gastrea virus,' erupting instantly from the little girls who had already become monsters due to the experiments.
In just over ten days, the 'gastrea virus' spread worldwide through atmospheric circulation.
The world's ecology changed instantly, and in those short ten-plus days, countless animals became Gastrea, and 90% of the 8 billion humans died.
To survive, humanity abandoned all cities with populations under tens of millions, huddling together in dense areas.
Humans, believing they could fight against the mutated nature, initiated the First Gastrea War.
As a result, humanity suffered a crushing defeat, and the population further decreased.
The reason for the crushing defeat was the hatred of the twelve experimental little girls towards those people.
However, during the First and Second Gastrea Wars, three of the twelve little girls were also killed.
Xia Wei could only say that the small group of humans who controlled most of the resources believed they were separated from ordinary people, that they were superior beings, and thus, wanting to become Gods, they created such things.
After failing, they made ordinary people pay the price, and 90% of ordinary people died in a single payment.
Yet they continued to live well, even gaining more power than before.
Therefore, such people can no longer be called humans, but monsters in human skin.
It would be best if they all died clean, so as not to pollute the eyes.
"Come, I will save you."
Xia Wei migrated their souls along the "threads of faith."
The threads of faith pulled out the nine souls trapped within the Gastrea.
"God, thank you."
"Thank you, Great God."
"Thank you for your salvation."
Nine souls were pulled by the 'threads of faith' and entered the Heavenly Realm.
Xia Wei raised his hand, and nine faintly glowing souls appeared in his palm.
"Are their memories almost gone after decades of erosion? To have persevered until now, it was all thanks to their longing for salvation and their hatred for them."
"They all wish to become human again."
Xia Wei was not surprised; after all, they were forced to become Gastrea and had been tormented. It was understandable that they would want to become human again.
To forget everything, to start anew—this was true salvation for them.
"Very well, if you can gain Divine Blessing through good deeds in the future, I will still make you angels."
"Thank you, God."
"Go." Xia Wei threw their souls towards the 'Place of Reincarnation' in the Demon Slayer World.
Currently, among the Gods, only the Demon Slayer World has 'reincarnation.'
In other worlds, souls gradually dissipate after a person dies.
This means that the 'Demon Slayer World' now bears the reincarnation of the other three worlds.
This is the subtlety of the 'Gods' Order,' connecting various functions between worlds to complement each other.
His promise of 'World Ascension' to the world will was not just empty talk.
"This way alone, it won't be possible to defeat the nine Level Five Gastrea.
2
Xia Wei looked at the Retainers who were desperately attacking the Scorpio.
Although their souls had been taken by him, the actions of Gastrea were mostly driven by instinct.
Without the control of a soul, a Level Five Gastrea would react very violently when faced with an attack.
"It's starting to move! Was it truly hurt?"
"Sanemi, quickly accelerate and dodge!"
Xia Wei withdrew his gaze, and his figure appeared on a floating island relatively far from the World Tree.
This floating island had no green plants; its overall color was crimson, and at its center was a scorching magma lake.
Around the magma lake were houses built of black stone, while the outer perimeter consisted of Japanese-style wooden houses.
The clang of hammering metal echoed incessantly here.
This was the workplace of the swordsmiths from the Swordsmith Village in the Demon Slayer World.
Three swordsmiths from the Swordsmith Village had been granted Blessing by him: Kotetsu Haganezuk, Kanamori Haganezuka, and the village chief, Tecchin Haganezuka.
The remaining swordsmiths also possessed Divine Blessing.
Although the three swordsmiths did not have as many rare skills as the Hashira, each of them had at least one, and all were capable of forging items with effects similar to Noble Phantasms from the Type-Moon World.
"Damn it! Failed again! Why does it always fail when I add the seventh enchantment! This is definitely not a material problem! I must be missing something crucial!"
Kotetsu Haganezuk, wearing a Hyottoko mask, angrily punched the crimson anvil.
"Ah! Hey, Kotetsu Haganezuk, there's no need to be so anxious. Haste makes waste, and there's no such thing as absolute perfection in the world, and swords are no different."