(Illustration: Sister Griselda)
Griselda's gaze toward Sai Akuto was filled with resolve.
She truly yearned for Akuto's guidance.
Her faith was extremely devout, and she simply could not accept that Akuto had granted the Church warriors a trial, yet had not given one to them.
Although it was true that she and the nuns and saintesses she led had been the first to side with Akuto, and that having some privileges was only natural, Griselda still couldn't accept it.
Because in her eyes, she still had many shortcomings.
Otherwise, Holy Son-sama wouldn't have gone so far as to reincarnate so many nuns and saintesses, while leaving her as the lone exception.
…
That's right—Akuto had casually reincarnated many nuns and saintesses.
In theory, as their leader, even if Griselda wasn't the very first to reincarnate, she ought to at least have been on the list for the second batch.
And yet, Griselda simply hadn't obtained the qualification to be in the first wave of reincarnations.
Holy Son-sama had clearly already taken out the angel card, but after coming into contact with her, he'd withdrawn the card again.
In such a situation, Griselda would never assume that the problem lay with Akuto.
Since Akuto had no problem, then the only one who could have a problem… was her.
It had to be that her resolve and depth of faith were still lacking, so Holy Son-sama hadn't placed her into the second-batch reincarnation list.
In that case, even if it were only to gain Holy Son-sama's acknowledgment, Griselda had to participate in this trial!
…
Griselda's request drew the attention of a whole crowd of saintesses and nuns.
Clearly, those saintesses and nuns whose names had not appeared in the first batch of angels had also realized that their own resolve and faith were lacking.
"Holy Son-sama! What Sister Griselda says is right. Please grant us trials and guidance as well!"
"Holy Son-sama, in order to better carry out your and God-sama's teachings, please guide us~"
"Ah~ Holy Son-sama, please grant your merciful guidance to your lost lambs…"
Watching the saintesses and nuns practically begging for coaching, Akuto first nodded, then shook his head in exasperation.
Those who knew the situation would say he was in the DxD world. Those who didn't know might think he'd wandered into some kind of "hypnosis-and-guidance" world.
Then again, thinking about it carefully, what he was doing now was kind of similar to what the protagonist of that world did, wasn't it?
Both of them used tools to change and control other people's thoughts. The only difference was that his "tool" was called religion and faith—things that made people submit and believe from the bottom of their heart—far more advanced than a simple hypnosis ability.
Of course, the premise was that there first had to be an organization helping to spread that faith.
The power of an organization was tremendous. Anyone who found themselves placed within an extremely "pure" organization would inevitably be assimilated by it over time.
They truly believed that the reason Akuto had not given them pieces was because they weren't devout enough.
Little did they know that aside from the storyline characters he personally knew—whom he gave pieces to as a matter of course—he'd given pieces to the saintesses and nuns more or less by "eye feel" alone.
However, Akuto couldn't exactly tell them that their efforts were being made in the "wrong direction."
If they became more devout, they would receive more feedback from the faith system, their own temperament would become even more transcendent and holy.
If they became more beautiful and more eye-catching in Akuto's eyes, then yes—their chances of being reincarnated as angels would indeed increase.
The same logic applied to taking the trial.
If they successfully completed the trial and defeated a copy of themselves with identical strength, there was a very good chance that their power would rise, and they might even break through to the next stage.
If their strength advanced to the next stage and their life essence changed, they would naturally become more attractive, and their chances of being chosen by Akuto for angelic reincarnation would increase as well.
Looking purely at cause and effect, the idea these saintesses and nuns had—that "becoming more devout" and "completing the Holy Son's trial" would raise their odds of becoming angels—was honestly not wrong at all.
…
"Very well. Since this is your wish…"
Akuto lightly waved his hand, and in front of him appeared a crowd of phantoms shaped like saintesses and nuns.
Such a perfect chance to do some intense "pua" was not something Akuto would let slip by.
Very soon, all the participating saintesses and nuns were locked in battle with their own copies.
Akuto, meanwhile, continued walking through the Vatican, living out his earlier resolve by personally guiding any believers who began to fall behind.
A few hours passed.
Outside, the sun was already dipping toward the horizon, but over the Vatican the sun still shone brilliantly.
Before Akuto had come to the Vatican, it had been a little after six in the evening in Fusang.
The time difference between the Vatican and Fusang was six to seven hours, meaning that when Akuto arrived in the Vatican, it had been high noon there.
But now, even after several hours had passed, the time within the Vatican still hadn't changed at all!
Because this world had already been completely claimed as Akuto's domain!
By relying on his strength at the very peak of the Main God tier, Akuto had shattered the Vatican's old world rules and stepped into his own new rules.
In other words, within the Vatican now, Akuto was the absolute existence, possessing the same almighty power as the God of the Bible described in the scriptures.
As long as it was something he could originally do, then within this area, all Akuto had to do was form the thought and he could turn it into reality.
In theory, Akuto could even create a whole new world within this region.
…
Of course, there were still three upper limits to consider.
If we say the power Akuto used when activating Juggernaut Drive was a "10," then the upper limit of what he could make happen just by speaking was somewhere around 2.5 to 3.
Even though this wasn't true "speaking law into reality," when facing some weaker targets, Akuto could still present himself as a god truly capable of "doing anything."
Considering that Akuto was now standing at the very peak of the Main God level, that meant as long as someone was covered by Genesis Burst and their strength hadn't reached mid-tier Main God, they could only be at his mercy.
Obviously, none of the Church's members possessed that kind of power.
So all they could do was go all out and pass the "trial" Akuto had given them.
…
A few hours later, everyone had completed their trials.
Many Church warriors had failed, but many had also succeeded.
However, regardless of whether they passed or failed, their faith in Akuto had already reached its highest point.
Just as Akuto declared the end of the first phase of the trials, he heard the system's notification sound.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for completing the story quest — Church Subjugation.]
[Quest Requirement: Shift the faith of most high-ranking Church members from God to yourself.]
[Quest Rank: Gold.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reward: Myriad Worlds Reincarnation Pool — Advanced Version (Gold).]
[Myriad Worlds Reincarnation Pool — Advanced Version: The advanced version of the Myriad Worlds Reincarnation Pool (Purple). In addition to absorbing flesh-and-soul to resurrect the dead, it has awakened a "reincarnation" function.
Reincarnation Function: Can reincarnate the target into the race most suited to them. Although its strengthening and "breaking the potential ceiling" effects are far inferior to the irregular chess pieces, it still provides a significant power boost for humans. Most importantly, it bypasses the numerical limit of irregular chess pieces, allowing for unlimited reincarnation.]
"Hm? No limit on how many I can use?"
"Not bad. That means I'll be much freer when reincarnating believers."
Even though Akuto had a lot of pieces, he had even more believers.
Considering that Akuto still needed to reserve pieces for the heroines in the DxD world and his future instance worlds, he really didn't have that many left to give to ordinary believers.
Now, with the evolved Myriad Worlds Reincarnation Pool, the problem of "relatively insufficient" piece numbers had been completely solved.
…
After subjugating the Church's upper echelon and a large number of its elite warriors, Akuto was preparing to temporarily leave the Vatican.
Before leaving, he relayed his instructions to the Vatican's high command.
"Over the next period of time, have the subordinate churches around the world send people to the Vatican on pilgrimage in batches."
"After their pilgrimage, everyone must fight their own phantoms and complete the 'Holy Son's Trial,' striving for their own breakthroughs."
"Of course, beyond that, everyone here in the Vatican can periodically undertake more trials to help themselves grow stronger as quickly as possible."
As he finished saying this, Akuto plunged the Spear That Pierces the World into the Vatican grounds, turning this region into a semi-separate, semi-permanent territory—a small divine kingdom in its own right.
Because Akuto had released his Juggernaut Drive form, the Spear That Pierces the World's own "omnipotence" ceiling had dropped back down to its built-in "Super Maou-class" level.
While it could no longer handle Main God-class enemies, it was more than sufficient for everyday issues.
If something truly problematic did arise, with the Spear That Pierces the World stationed here, Akuto would know about it immediately.
You could say this act of Akuto's proclaimed the end of an era.
From today onward, Heaven would end its long-standing strategy of contraction and once again begin expanding!
"Next is what I told you before—sending the Church to preach in other worlds."
"The reconciliation of the Three Factions is already a decided fact and cannot be changed. That is my will—and the will of the late God of the Bible."
"However, the Church has always instructed its warriors to hunt evil and safeguard peace. So, in order not to let them lose the meaning of their lives, I've found them a new job. They… can go preach in other worlds."
Akuto hadn't mentioned this point from the very beginning, only bringing it up after everything had been concluded.
The reason was simple—divine will could not be defied, and the Holy Son's will was just as inviolable.
If he had brought this condition up before completely conquering the Church, it might have made people think the Holy Son had gotten cold feet and had chosen this method simply to avoid conflict.
…
Once they learned that Holy Son-sama had gone to other worlds, and had even saved their people, the gaze of the Church's high command toward Akuto began to change.
Because this was a miracle even the God of the Bible had not accomplished!
The moment they thought about how many people still needed the mercy of God-sama and Holy Son-sama, the passion of every high-ranking Church member and every Church warrior was instantly ignited!
After the meeting, everyone was in high spirits.
All except one person, whose expression showed only desolation.
Her name was Griselda—the Church's sacred nun, Sister Griselda.
The reason for her dejection was very simple.
After the trial ended, Holy Son Sai Akuto had once again chosen some of the Church's members and reincarnated them as angels.
But in the list for this first post-trial batch of reincarnations… she still wasn't there!!
(End of Chapter)
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