The inner hall of the Eternal Paradise Faith.
The night was deep, but far from peaceful.
The air felt frozen; massive ice lotuses stood around the room, releasing white, chilly mist.
An ordinary person would suffer frostbite in their lungs after just a few moments in this sub-zero cold.
Kotoha was bundled in a thick fox-fur coat—even though she didn't feel the chill, that Upper Rank Two had insisted on wrapping her in it anyway.
"You look good in it.
I won't let you freeze."
Doma said firmly.
He toyed with his pair of Adamantine War Fans, but his gaze drifted to the pedestal beside him.
There, Inosuke lay sprawled on the hard, icy surface.
He slept soundly, a trail of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.
Thanks to his Ice Spirit Constitution, this deadly-cold Paradise Faith felt as comfortable to him as a cooling mat on a scorching summer day.
"How unfair."
Doma turned his head, glancing back and forth between Kotoha and the peacefully sleeping Inosuke.
A playful smile curled at the corners of his mouth.
He extended a pale finger, condensing a tiny Ice Butterfly at its tip. It fluttered gently and landed on the tip of Inosuke's nose.
The cold didn't wake him, but the tickle of the butterfly's wings made him frown.
Inosuke swatted it away impatiently with a small hand, crushing the butterfly, and opened his eyes blearily.
The first thing he saw was Doma's eerie face in the moonlight, and a wave of morning grumpiness surged through him.
"Awake? Perfect. The moonlight is beautiful tonight—Papa will teach you something new."
Doma sat up straight and cleared his throat.
In an instant, his aura shifted.
The usual frivolous smile vanished. He lowered his voice, chest vibrating subtly.
He produced an extremely peculiar sound—one that seemed to pierce the eardrums and reach straight into the soul.
"E—ter—nal—Par—a—dise."
These four simple words carried a mesmerizing, soul-captivating magic.
Listening to it made Inosuke feel an urgent need to pee.
It was the unique resonant tone—the charlatan's voice—that Doma had used for two hundred years to deceive countless believers into willingly offering their flesh and blood.
In the corner, Kotoha's eyes instantly glazed over, as if she'd fallen into an illusion.
**[Ding! God-Level Villain Cultivation System activated!]**
**[Current Situation: Doma's personal teaching.]**
**[Please make a choice, Host:]**
**[Option A: Follow the original plot and become a mute beauty. Reward: Wild Boar Head Mask]**
**[Option B: Acknowledge the villain as your father. Learn whatever the old man teaches. Reward: Lung Capacity Enhancement]**
*B, definitely B! I didn't have a choice before, but having a good voice is way better!*
The moment he heard that voice, the System panel flickered in his mind. His Absolute Pitch skill— inherited from his mother and enhanced—activated automatically.
To Inosuke's ears, Doma's voice was no longer a mysterious, pee-inducing oracle.
It broke down into clear waveforms only he could understand.
He could even distinguish exactly how Doma's Adam's apple contracted and how the airflow moved through his vocal cords.
*So that's the trick this guy uses for brainwashing.*
"Come, Inosuke—let me hear you try."
Doma looked at him expectantly, a strange gleam in his eyes.
"Once you master this voice, those foolish believers will obey you without question and offer everything they have.
Maybe even Papa will listen to you someday~"
Inosuke rolled over and sat cross-legged on the ice pedestal.
He had zero interest in becoming a con artist, but in this man-eating world, mastering the skill was clearly useful for survival.
He took a deep breath, chest puffing out, and tried to control his tiny vocal cords to replicate it.
Doma watched with keen interest, expecting the usual babbling of an infant learning to speak.
But in the next second, the sound that emerged from Inosuke's mouth made Doma's pupils contract sharply.
"HUNGRY!!!!!!"
Though the word was different,
the texture, the ethereal sacred rhythm, and the soul-striking vibration frequency were identical to Doma's!
The tender child's voice echoed through the hall.
*Clang!*
In the corner, the hand warmer slipped from Kotoha's grasp and hit the floor.
She stared at her son in shock—for a moment, she'd truly seen an illusion.
Inosuke wasn't a baby; he was a miniature deity.
"Perfect!
Perfect!
Kotoha-chan, you're incredible!
What kind of genius did you give birth to?
Is this child really not my own flesh and blood?"
Doma murmured, forgetting to fan himself.
Excitement overflowed in his eyes as he admired a rare treasure.
"It's not just imitation—this pitch, this breath control—it's practically me!
It took me ten years to perfect, and you learned it after hearing it once?"
Doma suddenly hoisted Inosuke overhead, his smile twisted and fanatical:
"A genius! No—a monster born to rule humanity!
Inosuke, you truly are my child!"
Inosuke stared expressionlessly at the frenzied Doma, his heart calm—even tempted to roll his eyes.
*What's so hard about it? With cheats, this was easy.*
*Since you know I'm hungry, why aren't you feeding me yet?*
Just then, a trembling voice came from outside the hall doors.
"C-Cult Leader, that believer who stole the offerings is still kneeling outside. He begs for your forgiveness. Would you like to see him...?"
Doma's good mood faltered, a flash of cold displeasure in his eyes.
"Ah, that ungrateful little mouse."
He casually pulled Inosuke into his arms, tone returning to false gentleness.
"How disappointing.
Let him in. He can serve as a teaching aid for my Inosuke."
Moments later, the heavy doors opened. Two guards dragged in a scrawny middle-aged man.
He trembled in rags. The instant he saw Doma on the high platform, he kowtowed frantically, forehead slamming against the cold floor.
"Cult Leader, spare me! Spare my life! I was just so hungry—my children at home are waiting to eat.
You have a child too...
You must understand!"
Doma looked down at the man like an ant.
"I'd love to forgive you."
Doma sighed, face full of mock compassion.
"But what you stole were offerings to the god. If the god is displeased, it makes things difficult for me."
The man's cries grew shriller, despair filling the hall.
Doma leaned down to Inosuke's ear, whispering like a devil's temptation:
"Inosuke, look—he's crying. Since you've learned the voice of a god, you should decide what to do with him."
"Should we let him die? Or...
have him leave that thieving hand as atonement?"
It was a trap question.
Doma was testing, trying to stain Inosuke's blank slate with his first taste of blood.
Inosuke looked at the weeping man below.
He'd acknowledged the villain as father to survive, but he still had principles.
*What kind of skill is it to bully someone who can't even eat enough?*
*Since you're letting me decide, don't blame me for breaking the rules.*
Inosuke took a deep breath, gathering all the power in his small chest.
He activated the Absolute Pitch simulation again and roared in a tender yet deafening voice at the desperate man:
"BEGONE!!!!!!!!!"
One simple, crude word.
Yet it produced a terrifying echo in the hall.
The man froze as if struck by lightning, mind blank.
To him, this wasn't an infant's cry.
It was divine pardon! An oracle! The god said "begone"—meaning he wouldn't die!
"Th-Thank you, Lord Divine Child! Thank you, Lord Cult Leader! Thank you, Lady Saintess!
Long live the Divine Child!
Long live the Cult Leader!
Long live the Saintess!"
Overjoyed, the man scrambled out, terrified that a second's delay might change the Divine Child's mind.
Deathly silence returned to the hall.
Doma arched an eyebrow, looking playfully at the infant in his arms.
"Begone?"
He chuckled, poking Inosuke's cheek.
"I thought you'd make him leave the hand behind—after all, stealing needs punishment."
Inosuke yawned, buried his head in Doma's arms, and rubbed against the cold body for cooling.
He sneered inwardly.
*Leave the hand? My ass. Stupid old man—that guy's all skin and bones; he wouldn't even taste good, and it'd just dirty the floor.*
*Let him go, and he'll spread word that the Paradise Faith has a merciful Divine Child. More believers, more offerings. Long game.*
Doma gazed at the seemingly innocent but deeply calculating infant and suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, I get it. You don't bother punishing an ant like that?
Or maybe you're winning hearts?"
"What a greedy, clever little guy.
I'm liking you more and more~"
As Doma spoke, Inosuke felt a warm surge in his chest.
The System's reward for successfully using his vocal skill to achieve his goal.
Lung Capacity Enhancement.
His breathing grew deeper and stronger—a key foundation for future Breathing Techniques.
*Excellent.*
*With better lung capacity, whether I'm yelling at people or slashing with blades later, it'll pack more power.*
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