TBR CH69

Chapter 69: The Trial Begins

Even a god cannot see through the human heart.

This was the only flaw of an omnipotent god, but it was harmless to the god. He who he acknowledged as loyal would leave a beautiful name in history for a thousand years; he who he斥 as a traitor would bear the name of a sinner without question. Even if something went wrong, the god would not know, nor would he deign to know.

In the early morning when no one was awake, the sound of hesitant footsteps would always be heard outside the sanctuary. A stooped figure stopped in front of the door, his turbid eyes always trying their best to widen, attempting to see clearly the statue of the God of Light illuminated by the holy candles that were lit all night. He was practically a ghost. The young knight on night watch waved his arms exaggeratedly. After being scared once, his desire to express himself was particularly strong: “Who would believe he was once that ‘hard-boned Old Bart’!”

After being deprived of the right to faith by God, Father Bart should have been expelled from the Holy See. But he was too old, had no wife or children, and had almost no contact with his relatives. This year’s winter was the hardest in these years, so the Holy See still made an exception and allowed him to stay, to show the grace of the God of Light.

But he was not allowed to set foot in the church again.

In the past, he had always been the first to attend prayers. At the entrance of the sanctuary, the old man slowly blinked his eyes. The brilliance of the holy candles stung his vision. He could hardly see anything and could only lower his head, but he couldn’t sigh. God had taken away his voice. He subconsciously fumbled at his chest with trembling fingers, but touched nothing. There was originally a string of rose rosary beads there. Now he was a sinner who was not allowed to approach God, so naturally, he could not wear any ornaments blessed by a deity.

He was like an ominous ghost wandering in the Holy See. People would turn and hide when they saw him.

An old man of this age would have aged quickly anyway. Recently, he had declined with astonishing speed.

Father Bart had always had a stern style towards everyone, a notoriously hard bone. But at this time, his spine was suddenly bent like a snowdrift collapsing in the middle. At the beginning of the year, he had still seemed energetic. Now his whole head was ashen, and his face was also coated with an ominous shadow. Life force was continuously draining from him.

Originally, people guessed he could live for another ten years. Now it seemed he wouldn’t survive this winter.

He could basically be summarized as a desolate and pathetic old man, who could no longer pose any threat.

…Except for that pair of hawk-like eyes, which still shone brightly at certain times.

Noah bypassed the small garden below his residence and walked along the marble-paved road towards the sanctuary of the Holy See. Outside his residence, flowers were in full bloom everywhere. The people he met along the way all smiled and greeted him. The clothes he wore were the best batch of silk in the kingdom, and the dark patterns woven on them were drawn by dozens of court painters.

As the Holy Son most favored by God, all this was commonplace for him.

He walked to the front of the sanctuary and was about to enter when he suddenly felt a gaze that could not be ignored. This kind of gaze was very familiar to him. In his original world, the people he had swindled out of all their money would also always glare at him with such resentful eyes. Noah turned his head and, in the shadows of the bushes and rose bushes, saw Father Bart, who had been stripped of everything by him.

The other was completely stooped, so much so that he was only discovered by the Holy Knights at this moment. The knight wearing shining silver armor hurriedly stepped forward to drive away this unlikable old man. The Holy Son had once announced God’s judgment, and God’s actions had also confirmed the Holy Son’s words were correct. Then, this despicable and dark apostate should absolutely not come to disturb His Highness the Holy Son.

And Bart took a step back to show he had no intention of entangling. He just looked deeply at Noah, as if to brand the gaze burning with flames and hatred onto his retinas. Then his lips moved silently a few times, and he took the initiative to turn and leave. His steps were one deep and one shallow. The old man’s right leg had caught a cold and had not been well since.

Perhaps the others present could not read Father Bart’s words, but Noah gently pursed his lips. He could read lips, so he clearly traced out this message: “You will eventually get your retribution.”

How unlucky, Noah thought angrily, what a boring curse.

Bart had lost to him completely and no longer posed any threat. Caring about the ravings of an old man with half his body in the grave was the most meaningless thing. He turned and once again instructed the knight behind him to absolutely not let this blasphemous sinner appear before his eyes again, otherwise the God of Light would be angry. His expression was a bit too ferocious, even the knight who was familiar with the Holy Son was startled.

But this small episode was ultimately resolved. Noah calmed his breathing and still walked towards the church.

He had not yet realized that the source of his emotional agitation came from the fear of being in the unknown these past two days. What had happened to the Dark God, Tarksius, was still unknown, and the God of Light had also said some ambiguous words that made him deeply wary. After waiting bitterly for a few days, nothing had happened. Noah had to build himself up psychologically to continue to remain calm and complete the capture mission.

This led to him being somewhat jumpy.

Until he stood before the statue of the God of Light, gazing at the sculpture’s lackluster eyes, his mind still couldn’t help but flash with the old man’s expression from just now. He reached out to cover his heart, feeling its abnormal expansion and beating.

Actually, there was nothing to be afraid of. The Holy Son walked into the separate room in the sanctuary. This was where Noah prayed alone, a magnificent and exquisite room with a golden statue of the god. Sometimes the God of Light would meet him here. The god had been increasingly fond of him recently. Once, he had even mentioned wanting Noah to accompany Him forever.

Forever. This meant accepting him as an eternal partner.

He blinked his eyes. Strange, why did he feel his body getting heavier and heavier as he knelt on the soft and wide gold-threaded cushion, as if he were irresistibly falling into a sleepy, strange dream. His eyelids felt like they were weighted with lead. The blackness in his vision flapped its wings, gradually covering everything before him.

In a daze, Noah subconsciously called out to the system in his mind.

He heard no response.

Not right. Noah was startled. He forcefully pinched himself with his hand. In an instant, all the sleepiness suddenly dissipated like smoke. Things gradually became clear before his eyes. He subconsciously stood up, but suddenly found that what he was wearing was not that magnificent robe, but a rough and sturdy piece of clothing. He would absolutely not forget the pattern on it.

How—how could this be possible?

Noah abruptly raised his eyes. Before him, a bright light stung his eyes. It was not the holy light of the Holy See. Before this light, talking about the so-called Holy See seemed too ethereal. He reached out with a trembling hand to touch the object lying before him. They were vertical iron bars, forming something called a cell.

He was wearing a prisoner’s uniform, standing before the iron window of a prison, illuminated by a glaring incandescent lamp. He tried to convince himself that all this was an illusion, but no matter how he looked at it, this was a naked reality, without a trace of falsehood. On the contrary, the so-called system and capture seemed more like a crazy beautiful dream he had before facing death.

He once again heard the verdict he had long memorized: “Death penalty.”

“Feeling a little surprised?” Tarksius sat on the throne of the temple, inlaid with rubies and cat’s-eye gems. He tilted his head slightly, his raven-black hair brushing past his blood-toned eyes. He was clearly smiling, yet it gave people a chilling sense of malice. Opposite him, the God of Light’s expression was quite uncertain. He frowned and looked down at the platform below. That was the gods’ trial ground, which was now clearly divided into two parts.

Solving problems in the way of gods. Gods cannot see through the human heart, so they find tools to test their believers in every possible way. Burning them with fire, drowning them with water, inflicting the most venomous diseases on them, letting all their relatives die, and finally seeing their attitude towards the god who bestowed all their suffering upon them.

This was, after all, not very glorious. So after that, when the struggles between gods sometimes violated the laws of the world, a trial ground would come to solve their problems. The God of Light had experienced that era. At that time, there were still many gods, big and small. When they had disputes but were wary of the consequences of using their divine power to solve problems, they would use this ancient building.

Reducing the struggle between gods to a struggle between their followers was a clever approach.

Replacing real deprivation with illusions also seemed much more merciful.

Of course, the illusion that was currently troubling Noah was not within the scope of the final bet, but purely the result of Tarksius fanning the flames. In fact, it was easy for gods to find loyal believers. These believers could cope with the most severe illusionary tests, so illusions had instead become a non-mainstream means of competition. The problem was, which of the two devout believers believed more deeply. This was originally an unmeasurable unit, but the gods’ bet could clearly obtain a result through some means.

The condition for opening the trial ground was a bet jointly established by two deities, which was extremely difficult.

The God of Light had originally wanted to directly start the final stage, but the Dark God interrupted him: “It wasn’t easy to separate your little lover’s soul and body,” the Dark God twirled a ruby on his finger, which refracted a bright light. “So, do you really not want to try?”

A test. This was a strange word for the God of Light. Since his birth, he had had a large number of believers willing to die for him, and had never particularly cared about such sacrifices. To him, it was perfectly normal for believers to love him crazily, so he had never doubted Noah at all, especially since Noah was so sincere and devout.

It was just that…

The God of Light had to admit he had wavered for a moment. He lowered his gaze to look at the peerlessly beautiful youth with his eyes tightly closed on the trial ground. This was the only believer since his birth whom he had considered raising his status to his side, the only believer he valued to such an extent, even using him as his most devout believer to confront the Dark God.

He had to admit that if he could witness the other’s unwavering belief with his own eyes, he would be more satisfied.

And the Dark God was on the opposite side at this time, indifferently looking at the youth he regarded as a treasure. This made the God of Light inexplicably feel a desire to win. A god’s desire to win is terrifying. At this moment, he decided to declare war on Tarksius, to let him see how much better his eye for choosing humans was, as a deity with countless believers.

The first illusion could let one see the thing they feared most happening.

The God of Light gladly accepted this challenge. Tarksius twirled the ruby on his finger, but resolutely refused this attempt. This would of course be seen as a sign of weakness by the other party. The God of Light was already showing an arrogant smile. He guessed the Dark God did not trust his believer enough, so he dared not accept the challenge. This would be his first success.

Tarksius didn’t care.

The ruby on the ring shone with a crystal clear brilliance. The brilliance shone into the god’s pupils, making his eye color gradually become soft and translucent, no longer the blood color with deep malice. He slightly lowered his head to look at the other soul on the trial ground, Edwin’s soul, which was closing its eyes at this time, as if falling into a dreamless sleep.

The god would absolutely not let the Bishop recall things he was unwilling to recall, nor would he let him fear or suffer the pain of loss in the bet. Protecting him, this was far above the priority of the bet.

Therefore, in the first round, only half of the trial ground lit up with an illusion.

“Surprised?” Tarksius looked down at Noah fumbling around in the illusion in disbelief, hitting walls everywhere, and finally showing a look of fear and panic. Before the destined-to-be-pronounced crime, even if he tried his best to calm down, it was of no avail. The various things in the illusion were all strange to this world. The God of Light watched the scene his most beloved believer feared most, and a look of confusion and embarrassment fleetingly crossed the god’s face.

And the Dark God smiled nonchalantly and commented, “I thought it would be a scene of him being abandoned by you. It turns out your believer fears other things more than he fears losing the love of a god.”

Just a few minutes ago, the God of Light had been so sure. But at this moment, the illusion before him was irrefutable. This was not even an illusion that a god could tamper with. The trial ground was born specifically to compete for the loyalty of believers, directly constructed using the laws of the world. What it exposed was a reality that even a god could not know or shake.

The God of Light waved his hand lightly, but his palm was tense, exposing his dissatisfaction at this moment.

Fortunately, this could not be considered his loss to Tarksius in the end. The Dark God had decisively chosen to abstain in this round, and as for the illusion Noah had seen, even a god could not fully understand it. Perhaps there was some special trick in the middle. The god’s inner annoyance eased a little when he lowered his head and saw the Holy Son’s face.

—As long as his performance next did not disappoint Him.

The second illusion was the complete opposite of the first. It would let a human see the thing they desired most.

The standard answer was long set. The only thing a qualified believer desired was the grace of a god. The God of Light considered himself full of confidence. Noah had sworn to him countless times that what the Holy Son wanted most was the god’s love for him. The youth’s words had a magic that made one trust unconditionally. The deity attributed it to his piety and firmness.

But, at this moment, before the illusion appeared, the God of Light rarely felt a little hesitation.

It was this hesitation that made him first cast his gaze towards the believer chosen by Tarksius. To say it was the human chosen by the Dark God, in fact, the Dark God had only this one follower until now. The God of Light had extinguished his candle, but his candle burned even brighter. This human stood on his preaching platform, and the words he spoke would even confuse him.

This was a lying venomous snake, a hopeless person who chased power. The God of Light didn’t know what Tarksius saw in him. He cast his gaze towards the field, and as he expected:

Power. The Bishop with dark curly hair sat on the throne. Anyone could see at a glance that he enjoyed the supreme status, including both royal and religious authority, or even more power. Wealth. His side was piled with jewels and gold and silver. All this lay heavily and obediently at the side of his throne. Fame. People looked at him with awe and praise, while his face was calm, his eyes filled with determination.

Was it just this? The God of Light almost felt pity for Tarksius’s choice. This human not only had no piety towards him, but also seemed to have deceived another deity.

However, Tarksius was unmoved. Not only that, he even laughed with great interest. Following his gaze, the God of Light realized it was Noah’s illusion. It couldn’t be worse than Edwin’s. No matter what Noah wanted most, as long as it had a little to do with him, he would win—the deity finally looked at the believer he had chosen.

He saw himself at a glance.

This was a god’s arrogance. Among all people, the first he saw was always himself. The God of Light almost smiled, then he realized that there were an abnormally large number of people in that scene. The god suddenly leaned forward. He saw a scene he could not have imagined, so much so that he had to look more carefully, and this meticulousness undoubtedly caused him greater harm.

Noah was sitting next to him, which was not wrong. And his expression was doting as he placed the golden crown in his hand on the youth’s head and printed a kiss. If it were only this, it would have been fine. But the problem was, he was not the only one’s illusion in the scene. A pale hand pulled open the youth’s collar, revealing the kiss mark branded on his chest. If the god had not mistaken it, that was the ruler of the vampires—but that was not all. Before he could consider how Noah knew him, another young man in black clothes and with black hair came forward. Noah reached out with a dissatisfied hand, letting him kiss the back of his hand. It was definitely not a pure kiss, but in the illusion, Noah was squinting slightly, looking very much like he was enjoying it.

Then, the silver-haired dark elf behind the youth also lowered his proud head and began to kiss his rose-like lips, while the God of Light in the illusion had no objection to this, as if it were natural to dote on him together.

“This…” The God of Light suddenly stood up from his throne. He could almost be described as wretched and flying into a rage. He reached out to turn off the illusion, but trembled with anger, even pointing in the wrong direction, blasting a terrifying thunderbolt into the void. “This is absolutely impossible!”

However, the illusion still continued. Even if the God of Light listed all the possible people who could push open the door and come in, he would absolutely not have guessed the next person to walk into the room. That was undoubtedly the deity sitting on the ruby throne opposite him, the Dark God, Tarksius.

Noah in the illusion showed a satisfied smile. He jumped down from the chair and walked towards Tarksius. “You’re finally here, my dear…”

This time, the God of Light’s power was aimed at the illusion. He couldn’t bear to hear another word, especially in front of the other god on the field. Tarksius laughed lazily and added, “I think I should declare that I have no relationship whatsoever with your little lover.”

The illusion flickered twice and finally disappeared completely. Only the youth who had been left behind with his eyes tightly closed now showed a look of disappointment, as if still reminiscing about the “most desired scene” he had seen. The God of Light stood straight on his throne, not even meaning to sit down. Thunder gathered in his hand, and a thunderbolt with a scorching, blinding light was about to fall on the spiritual body on the field, although this was just a useless act of venting.

But had he lost or won? If Tarksius’s believer only had power in his eyes, and Noah’s illusion at least had him in it, perhaps this round he was not a complete failure. With this mood, the God of Light moved his gaze to the other end of the trial ground.

However, Edwin’s illusion had already changed its scene at this time.

The palace and the throne suddenly flickered and disappeared. The person with immense power walked in a certain direction. Along the way, more treasures were scattered around, as if surrounding something. All roads led to a palace surrounded by magnificent buildings. The Dark God’s believer, wearing the crown symbolizing supreme authority, walked into the palace.

Compared to this, the palace just now could almost be called simple.

Amidst the glittering brilliance of jewels, sat a… demon. He had soft black hair that grew to his shoulders, and his eyes were as beautiful as rubies. When Edwin saw him, he curled his lips. His smile was much more sincere than when he was crowned in the palace just now. His steps were light until he reached the demon’s side.

They seemed to have a great understanding. The demon opened his arms and tilted his head, while the human who possessed all glory took a light breath and hugged him as if he were the most precious treasure in the world. Edwin had brought him treasures of inestimable value, and also, consolidated with supreme power, the piety towards a god that was above it. The Bishop knelt on one knee, his expression focused, and put a ruby ring as ardent as a heart on the demon’s finger.

The demon looked familiar. But the God of Light couldn’t remember where he had seen him. As for the scene before him, he didn’t understand why the Dark God was still so calm. This was clearly the same predicament as his. They had both been deceived by their believers. This made him begin to feel a bit of sympathy, but not for long…

Because he saw the statue of a god.

There were only two deities on the continent, and the statue of the god in the illusion had the appearance of a demon.

The God of Light looked at Tarksius on the throne opposite him as if waking from a dream, and the other twirled the ruby on his ring.

“So?” He showed a grim smile. “This round counts as my win.”

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