Chapter 187: 35th Floor: How Dare You Attempt to Fathom the Will of a God!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 187: 35th Floor: How Dare You Attempt to Fathom the Will of a God!
Yula, who descended two thousand years ago.
"He... is me, and yet he is not...!"
My clear words echoed out to the countless people.
"?????"
"Huh???"
Everyone was baffled by the cryptic statement.
The descent of Yula is one of the major points of debate in this world, even beyond its purely religious significance.
But to be oneself and yet not oneself... What is this, some kind of talk about light being both a wave and a particle?
But it's true.
Just as light is both a wave and a particle, Yula is both Yula and not Yula.
This isn't just some claim I'm making up.
"The Gospel of Reshina, Chapter 5, Verse 2. Yula said, 'Do not try to debate or question that I am Yula. For even if you hear my words, you will not be able to listen.'"
But not everyone could grasp this idea.
"...So, are you Yula or not?"
'They don't understand.'
These people see no middle ground. It seems they can only think in terms of 'our side' or 'heretic.' But I suppose this is how ordinary humans think.
To a divine being like myself... no, to the god Lee Do-hee, they simply look like foolish creatures. Of course, I am still a god who loves these creatures.
"Behold."
I take a nearby person's waterskin and pour water into my palm.
"What is this?"
"It is... water, my lady."
I use my Divine Power.
My wrist and hand felt like they were burning, but without so much as a flinch, I applied my Divine Power to evaporate the water.
Fwoosh...!
Pink Divine Power gathered in my hand, and the water turned to steam and vanished.
"I ask again. What is this?"
"Water... no, is it steam?"
"Do you not understand?"
"......?"
The religious leader of the Muion Cult continued to stare at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"I will show you once more."
This time, I held the water in my palm and froze it.
What had been water just a moment ago was now a cube of ice.
"What is this?"
"Is it not... ice?"
When I squeezed it in my palm, the ice began to melt back into water.
"Is this not water? Why do you call it ice?"
"Huh...? No... well, because it's water now...?"
"Then is it water?"
"Uh... it is water."
"Correct. Water can become ice, and it can also become steam. Yet people call them by different names, and they'd call you a fool for calling ice water. But their essence is all the same. Can you truly say they are different just because their state and appearance have changed?"
A murmur went through the crowd...
The people began to talk amongst themselves.
"Aren't they different? Their forms are different."
"Idiot, it becomes the same when the temperature returns to normal."
"If the essence is the same, aren't they the same thing?"
"But... they look different."
Some focused on the essence, others on the appearance.
The answer... was not clear.
Some went along with the words of those they were close to or those who were powerful, while others stubbornly insisted on their own opinions, raising their voices.
It was a clearly visible and familiar phenomenon, yet people's opinions were divided depending on their standards, social standing, and personality.
In the modern world, they would conclude that it's all the same because it's H2O, but the level of technology here hadn't reached that point.
They couldn't reach a conclusion because they lacked the knowledge. And it wasn't my place to explain it to them piece by piece.
It was simply knowledge that the humans here were not yet ready to accept. Just like the knowledge that Yula is Yula and yet not Yula.
"But... why are we even debating this?"
"Wait... the discussion about whether Yula is a god... huh?"
They were fools, but they weren't idiots.
Is Yula Ella?
Is ice water?
The essence is the same... are you going to say they are different just because their appearance is different?
"O, foolish mortals, you finally realize. That being is me, and yet he is not me. No, you cannot distinguish it by your human standards. How dare you try to define a god by the measures of a human!"
"Gasp..."
"How can you humans, who cannot even agree on whether water is water—the very substance that makes up 70% of your bodies—possibly hope to define Yula!"
In the first place, both worshiping the Yula who descended as a human as if he were a god, and looking at Yula and saying he is not Yula, are both wrong.
Why?
"Because you cannot distinguish with human eyes, for you have not yet attained the proper standing. Because even if I told you plainly, you would not be able to accept it."
Everyone's faces went blank again.
They probably understood the meaning with their heads, but their hearts... their human instincts could not accept it.
"We w-will accept it. No, we will try to accept it. Could you not speak more clearly, more definitively!"
A bold one was demanding a definite answer from me.
Perhaps it's only natural for a human.
Yes or No. Zero or one.
It's a mathematical truth, and a very foolish way of thinking held by humans who believe themselves to be rational.
The universe is not made of zeros and ones.
The electron distribution of atoms, the fundamental matter of the universe, is probabilistic, and the physical laws believed to be absolute are negated by mana and Divine Power.
The universe is not just zeros and ones; it is a place where decimals, irrational numbers, imaginary numbers, and even numbers incomprehensible to humans exist in between.
In such a reality, debating right and wrong is meaningless. Countless answers that humans cannot perceive exist in the spaces between.
"It is an answer that cannot be given in human language. A god cannot lie, and any answer I give you in human words would become a falsehood."
But even as I said this...
"We... desire the truth. Even if we cannot accept it, please, tell us!!!"
There are always those who will ask if it's zero or one until the very end.
In that case, there is only one solution.
"Very well. I shall grant you a glimpse of the world as a god sees it!!!"
Have you ever seen a god? I have.
I may joke about being the God of Breeding now, but the god I truly saw in my past life was a being one could never laugh or joke about.
If an ordinary person were to see the true form of a god, they would go mad or die nine times out of ten. Whether a benevolent god or a malevolent one, the human eye and mind cannot contain or even imagine the form of a god.
And I will make these people feel what I felt back then.
"So, endure it if you can. This is the world as seen by the gods!!!"
Wuuuuuuuung!!!
A pink light shone from Lee Do-hee's eyes as an explosive energy gathered.
And then, piiiiiiiiiing—
Everyone's bodies collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
*
Murakan, the religious leader of the Muion Cult.
"Gasp...!!"
'What? I was definitely there...'
My memory cut off right after Lady Ella said she would show us the world where gods live.
When I came to, I was in what looked like an infirmary, and many others were lying down besides me. Some had woken up, but many had not.
"Lord Murakan! You're awake!"
A familiar face. It was one of the holy warriors who served me closely.
"Wh-what happened?"
"Everyone fainted after Lady Ella said she would show us a god's world. I suppose mortals could not withstand such a sight. There were even a few deaths."
'Ah... so this is a god.'
I could no longer deny that she was a god.
A pink light had erupted from the pink-haired woman's eyes, and then my vision blurred and I lost consciousness.
'If this isn't a god, then what is...'
I replayed her... no, Lady Ella's final words in my mind.
'Aah... so that's what it was.'
I think I understand a little now.
To be Yula and yet not Yula... It literally means that by human standards, expressed in human language, he is Yula and not Yula.
Then what about by a god's standards?
It's not a matter of right or wrong; a new method of expression, a different way, must exist. She couldn't speak of it because a mere human mind could never follow or comprehend it.
No, it meant that the moment a mere human tried to understand it, they wouldn't be able to bear it and would faint or die, just like we did.
'Humans... are such powerless and foolish beings...'
Before a god, all power and status are meaningless.
We are on different planes of existence.
That's not a metaphor; we are literally on different planes.
I felt a fear of the unknown, and at the same time, a sense of awe.
'A god... was truly a god.'
It was not a being that a mere human could witness and describe.
Those ambiguous passages in the scriptures? That was because the one who wrote them down was only human.
All worldly values, like the operation to retake the holy city, now seemed like nothing.
I had dedicated my entire life to spreading Lord Yula's word and eradicating heretics, but it was all meaningless.
Before a god, it must have all seemed like child's play. But when that play became too violent, she came in person to pass judgment.
'Judgment... How did I survive?'
When I thought about it, wasn't I the cause of this whole disaster? I had killed or violated my fellow believers of the god Ella simply because they had a different interpretation.
"Huu... Where is Lady Ella?"
"Ah, Lady Ella is currently in the holy grounds, writing a new gospel. She has been working for four days straight without sleep."
"She hasn't been sleeping...?"
"She says that since she came in a human body, she doesn't have much time."
"......"
It made sense.
Unlike the Yula from two thousand years ago, whose existence was debatable, it seemed she had descended in her true form this time.
A human vessel could not possibly contain a god.
"I will go to have an audience with Lady Ella. And relay my words. From now on, we will end our hostilities with the Saion Cult and begin a new era."
"Ah, the hostilities have already ceased. There are still some non-believers, but they will be purified soon."
"...Well done."
As I walked to the holy grounds, I saw Lady Ella surrounded by numerous theologians, deep in conversation. It seemed she was taking a short walk outside.
'How beautiful...'
It might be a blasphemous thought, but she was incredibly beautiful. And desirable. She was so holy that blood rushed to my lower body.
'Huu... What am I thinking.'
As if possessed, I went before her, knelt, and bowed my head.
"Murakan, servant of Lady Ella, offers his greetings. I am unworthy, but I serve as the supreme leader of the Muion Cult."
"Ah, it's you. Good, I had something I needed you to do."
"Yes?"
"The leader of the Saion Cult's head exploded and he died that day. From now on, you will be the leader of our church. We will also change the name to the Ella Church and make a completely new start."
"M-may I take on such a role? I am a sinner..."
I lowered my head.
"A sinner, you say... Do you know all of Yula's 99 Commandments?"
"Of course!"
"Then how many of them have you broken?"
Yula's 99 Commandments.
The commandments that the followers of the Muion Cult desperately tried to uphold.
They ranged from major crimes like 'Do not steal' and 'Do not kill' to minor rules like 'Do not hurt others' and 'Be kind to your neighbors.'
"......I break them sometimes, but I live a life of repentance."
"Is that so... Recite the Book of the Azure Sky, Chapter 12, Verse 1."
"He who breaks even one law is a sinner... and shall fall into the eternal flames of hell... Ah... am I going to hell now?"
"No. The 99 Commandments were never meant for humans to follow. They were given so that humans would realize their own weakness and imperfection."
'Aah... I see. The commandments were given so we would realize for ourselves how lacking and pathetic we are...'
"In that case... am I not a sinner?"
I asked nervously, but a very clear answer came back.
"That's right."
"Th-then there is something I wish to ask."
Murakan. He had lost his parents to Saion Cult terrorists as a child. He was a man who had climbed to the position of religious leader fueled by a desire for revenge against the Saion Cult.
And there was a question he had harbored since childhood.
"Why does God not punish the wicked? How can you simply stand by and watch as murderers and evil men live well and prosper!"