After Dulio stepped forward, a system notification sounded in Sai Akuto's mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for triggering the story quest — Church Subjugation.]
[Quest Rank: Gold.]
[Quest Description: Although Heaven has issued doctrine to the Church, officially acknowledging the host's identity as "Holy Son,"
the warriors, saintesses, and nuns of the Church have been deeply brainwashed by their faith, so those extreme thoughts are difficult to correct in a short time.
Although some of the saintesses and nuns have already acknowledged the host first and come to the host's side, in reality there is still a considerable number of saintesses and nuns remaining within the Church.
If you use brainwashing on these Church members, you can indeed complete the subjugation. However, it would seal off their "hearts" and "faith," erase their creativity and driving force, and cause them to lose the firm belief they once had, turning them into mere puppets.
When all you need are tools, this method is of course acceptable. But when you face Church members who need strong inner power to drive themselves forward, brainwashing them is equivalent to erasing both their faith and their future potential.]
[Quest Requirement: Shift the faith of most high-ranking Church members from God to yourself.]
"Subjugate the Church, huh~"
Akuto raised an eyebrow. Wasn't that precisely what he'd been about to do anyway?
"Not simple brainwashing, but transferring their faith onto me, huh?"
"True, brainwashing is convenient, but crude, physical-level brainwashing is far inferior to faith-level brainwashing of the heart."
"For villains, brainwashing is a decent choice. Villains rely on all sorts of evil-path methods to increase their strength anyway, so there's no such thing as 'future' and 'faith' to talk about."
"But for those who grow stronger through proper training, relying on their own 'heart' and 'conviction,' brainwashing them is the same as erasing their future and their belief."
"They should shift that faith onto me, then go shine and burn in places where that faith has more value."
Akuto thought of his two instance worlds.
Those two worlds he had only "subjugated," but hadn't yet fully put to use.
Aside from the intrinsic value of the instance worlds themselves, the lives living within them also had value.
If he could convert all of them into his believers, he ought to be able to obtain an ocean of faith power.
…
As his strength increased, Akuto had also discovered a few marvelous uses for faith power.
The human heart was something to be revered—and also something worth driving and making use of.
Most gods in the various pantheons of the DxD world used faith power to amplify themselves, which was why they attached so much importance to spreading their own mythos.
Akuto, of course, would never do something as foolish as binding his very existence to his believers. But he would actively collect faith, using it to grant himself convenience and transcendence.
…
Having made up his mind to expand the scope of his Church's faith, Akuto turned to look at the other three.
"How about the three of you come at me together? I've got quite a lot to deal with every day, so my habit has always been to settle everything in one go."
"Hm?"
Teodoro, Vasco, and Ivard hadn't expected Akuto to invite them to join as well.
"Hahaha~ Very good! Holy Son-sama truly lives up to the title! This old man is willing to seek your guidance!"
Vasco was once again the first to take the lead.
He had already seen through Akuto's intentions, and he'd also seen through Dulio's thoughts. He intended to lend the two of them a hand.
His thinking was similar to Akuto's and Dulio's: the Church's warrior group, whose hearts had grown scattered, indeed needed to be reorganized.
"In that case, please guide us, Holy Son-sama."
Teodoro and Ivard had also realized what Akuto was planning.
But since Dulio had already stepped forward and taken a stance, it meant the situation was essentially decided. They had no reason to resist anymore.
…
And so, several elemental halos flew out around Dulio's body, Vasco drew Durandal II, Teodoro spread his angel wings, and Ivard drew the King's Sword II. All of them had gathered their strength, ready to fight.
Looking at their various expressions, Akuto chuckled and shook his head.
"I think you've all misunderstood something."
"Your true opponent this time… is not me."
"It is… yourselves."
Snap.
Akuto lightly snapped his fingers.
Crack, crack—
The laws of heaven and earth shifted in response to Akuto's will.
Several indescribable auras began to spread through the air.
A few seconds later, several figures appeared before them—each one an identical copy of themselves!
…
Defeat the Church's warriors? What a joke. Akuto was the Holy Son of the Church and Heaven, not the enemy of the Church. Why would he do something so stupid?
If he, as the Holy Son, went into direct battle against the Church's warriors, wouldn't that be beneath his status?
If he'd really wanted to suppress them with brute force, he wouldn't have used "Genesis Burst" in the first place.
"This is…!" Dulio's brow furrowed for a moment, then gradually relaxed.
"Such a thing is nothing less than a miracle!" Teodoro said, his expression shaken.
"I can feel it. The phantoms on the other side aren't illusions. Their strength is completely equal to our own!" Ivard muttered in amazement.
"It seems Holy Son-sama intends to grant us a trial," Vasco concluded at last.
Vasco's words directly framed this "battle" between Akuto and them as a trial.
On the one hand, calling it a trial further reinforced Akuto's posture as the one in the higher position.
On the other, this labeling greatly dissolved the conflict.
No matter what, even if it was for the sake of unifying hearts, a straightforward fight would look ugly. But if they called it a trial, it would maximize unity instead.
Vasco was stunned to realize that from the very beginning, the entire situation had been in the palm of the Holy Son's hand!
He understood: Holy Son Sai Akuto didn't want them to see him as someone who merely "inherited Heaven."
He wanted them to see him as the "next god."
He had to admit, after seeing Akuto display such miracles, his own heart had been shaken as well!
What kind of joke was this? Holy Son Sai Akuto could casually knead together puppets whose power was completely equal to theirs?!
Someone capable of such miracles—if that wasn't a god, then what was it supposed to be?!
Vasco suddenly felt that calling him only "Holy Son-sama" seemed a little lacking in respect.
…
"Holy Son-sama truly lives up to the title. Such a miracle… I doubt anyone but you could display it."
Dulio looked at his own duplicate—and actually saw the same Longinus in his copy's hands as in his own.
Judging from what Akuto had said, there was no doubt that his copy should be able to unleash the same power as the original!
The thought that the God of the Bible now had a successor stirred even Dulio's usually calm heart.
"Boom!"
Dulio was the first to act. Beating the ten elemental wings behind him, formed from the five elements of "wind," "thunder," "fire," "water," and "light," he charged straight at his duplicate!
Since Dulio had not yet reincarnated as an angel at this point, he didn't have angel wings. He could only condense wings from elemental power.
"Boom!"
Opposite him, his clone made precisely the same movement, unfolding ten elemental wings of its own!
With howling wind and roaring lightning, starting from Dulio, all of the Church warriors embarked on their own trials!
…
Akuto quietly observed these warriors of the Church.
Judging from the way they fought, they all seemed to truly enjoy battle.
"Well, that makes sense. The Church raised them as combat machines from the very beginning."
"In the future, the only way is to let them keep fighting first, then slowly change their thinking through battle itself."
You want to fight? You want to confront evil?
Akuto had no shortage of places where they could go to fight evil.
Whether it was going to the Apocalypse world to fight the zombies that appeared from time to time, or going to the Akame ga Kill world to hunt down danger beasts that threatened the people—or heading over there to preach to those still-unprepared civilians.
Far from fearing that these Church warriors had too much energy, Akuto actually worried that they wouldn't have enough.
After all, while the Apocalypse world and the Akame ga Kill world weren't as large as the DxD world, they were both still fertile lands yet to be cultivated. If he could secure the faith of those two worlds, that alone would be enough to more than double Heaven's faith reserves.
The purity and applications of faith power far surpassed things like "dragon qi" or "national fortune."
Considering that Akuto would one day inherit a divine seat, it was necessary for him to build a "divine kingdom" of his own in addition to inheriting the God of the Bible's legacy.
And to build a divine kingdom, he needed a missionary organization of his own.
While Akuto's management ability as a leader was decent, in terms of proselytizing, he still couldn't compare to the DxD world's Church, which had cultivated this path for many years.
All in all, the divine kingdom belonging solely to Sai Akuto would begin with the complete subjugation of the DxD world's Church.
…
And so, as the warriors underwent their so-called "trial," Akuto walked leisurely around the Sanctuary.
As he walked, he offered guidance to the high-ranking warriors taking part in the trial.
The Church had a lot of warriors, and only a small number had been able to rush back to the Vatican in such a short time. Right now, there were still a vast number of low-level Church staff scattered all over the world.
However, once he took control of the headquarters and then ordered churches worldwide to come to the Vatican in groups on pilgrimage, his control could extend to every corner of the globe.
"This won't do. Your weakness is a lack of speed. You have plenty of holy power, but you must surpass your former self if you want to pass this trial."
"You there, try slowing down a bit. Don't only think about how to hit the enemy. In battle, you also need to think about protecting yourself. Fighting yourself is very different from your past battles against monsters."
"..."
Like a spring breeze, Akuto brushed past each person's heart, leaving behind an indelible impression in all of them.
…
Watching Akuto as he gave guidance, Griselda finally couldn't hold back and took the initiative to ask:
"Holy Son-sama, if it is permissible, please arrange the same kind of trial for me as well."
"Please… grant me your guidance too."
(End of Chapter)
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