The Three Elements of Persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, Logos
The three elements of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is the persuader's character and integrity. Pathos is the audience's emotions. Logos is the logic of the argument. If asked which is most important, the answer is obviously ethos—the persuader's character and integrity.
Imagine a madman passing by shouting, "If you keep building the tower, God will grow angry and send down heavenly punishment." The workers and overseers wouldn't bat an eye; they'd just keep slaving away at the construction. But what if God Himself appeared with a miracle and said the same thing? The workers and overseers would tremble in terror, forced to halt the work out of fear of divine retribution.
The same words, but the speaker makes all the difference in their persuasive power.
[Using the trumpet wasn't a bad move either.]
Legba said. I nodded.
Simply showing a miracle wouldn't have enough impact. That's why I first used the trumpet to blind them, sowing chaos. Then, I appeared before them as a god, ripping through the confusion. The ethos I forged by impersonating a god—one stronger than any other—naturally fulfilled pathos and logos as well. Because it was a god speaking, the natives had no choice but to listen intently and be convinced by my logic.
"───! ───!"
"──! ────!"
The natives below the tower were still on their knees, heads bowed, shouting their cheers. Even I, who hadn't fully mastered their language, could easily guess what they were saying. They were crying out in submission and awe, praising me—the god impersonator.
"This feels like blasphemy, doesn't it?"
Gazing down at the prostrate natives from atop the tower, I muttered to myself pointlessly. Even if it was unavoidable for passing the test, blasphemy was blasphemy. I'd impersonated a god, after all. Hoping the examiners would show some leniency, I leaned back against the tower's midsection and slid down to sit.
To impersonate a god, I'd used the powers of Sobo and Marinette. This was the first time I'd wielded two Loa powers at once, and the strain on my body was immense.
Rustle.
Then, an ominous sound echoed from behind me. I whipped my head around in surprise, but all I saw was pitch-black darkness. Probably just the wind or a bird. It felt a bit suspicious, but I shook off the doubt and stood.
I brushed the dirt off my clothes and glanced down at the base of the tower.
"......Whoa."
An abyss of darkness stretched out below the cliff. I couldn't even guess the height. I could only vaguely sense that I was very high up.
Bosu.
I whispered the name so softly no one could hear. As Bosu's power surged through me, my body—chilled by the desert cold—heated up in an instant. My heart pounded wildly, and I felt my blood boiling. With it came a surge of aggression that drove out my fear.
Thud!
Seizing the moment fear vanished, I hurled myself off the tower. Air thick with desert darkness and chill rushed past my body. Soon, the shadows parted, and a vast expanse of white sand greeted me. I twisted midair, landing on my feet instead of my head.
Crunch!
"Argh, ugh."
I'd expected it, but my legs felt broken. Just phantom pain from the illusion, but it was vividly real. Clutching my shattered left leg, I stifled my groans and slowly distanced myself from the construction site.
At any rate, the work had stopped. I'd fulfilled the note's condition. But oddly, no announcement came about passing the test or clearing the gate. It wasn't a glitch. The trial simply wasn't over yet.
"......"
To end the trial, I had to meet one more condition beyond halting construction. And I already knew what it was.
"Ugh, my leg."
Grunting, I collapsed in the middle of the desert. I grabbed a dry branch and splinted my leg with it. It wasn't great, but better than nothing. At the same time, I scooped up handfuls of desert sand with both hands.
'Watch your back.'
Baron Samedi's prophecy and warning to me. Recalling it, I whipped my head around.
Whoosh!
I immediately flung the sand into the air. The grains scattered on the wind, only to halt against something transparent. And there it was—the shape of the thing that had been stalking me from the shadows throughout the trial.
"......I was wondering how long you'd keep pretending not to notice."
He said nonchalantly as he shed his robe. The holy relic, the Cloak of Shem's Brothers, which scattered others' vision to render the wearer effectively invisible. I couldn't compare performance, but purely by price, it rivaled the fourth angel's trumpet and horn.
"How'd you know? I tailed you pretty carefully."
Gu Jun-hyeok roughly brushed the dust off the cloak and asked. A faint smile floated up from the darkness.
"Desert. Footprints show on the sand."
"Nah, I only moved when the wind blew to avoid leaving prints. You saw that?"
"Yeah...... pretty much."
"Impressive, impressive. For real."
Gu Jun-hyeok clapped briefly in admiration.
He'd only moved with the wind, leaving no footprints. I'd figured it out and focused on the fleeting prints that appeared and vanished in the gusts. That was when my suspicion of being tailed turned to certainty.
"That lightning and pillar of fire thing. How'd you pull that off?"
Having shaken all the sand from the cloak, Gu Jun-hyeok stuffed it into the bag on his back and asked.
"Holy relic. What else."
I gave a vague excuse.
"Yeah? How much was it? Looked insanely expensive performance-wise."
"Stupid expensive. Can't even put a price on it."
"......Huh? Can't price it in money? Then how'd you buy it?"
Gu Jun-hyeok feigned surprise as he continued.
"Anyway. So you knew I was tailing you from the start. Why pretend not to notice till now? That's what I don't get."
"Didn't know your goal. But now I do."
"......What're you on about?"
Gu Jun-hyeok tilted his head.
Right after the second gate began, the note that fell from the sky. It started with, "Overcome numerous interferences and halt construction of the Tower of Babel!" The key was stopping the tower's construction, but it was also about overcoming "numerous interferences."
Gu Jun-hyeok tailing me for no reason. And the note saying "overcome numerous interferences." Combining those clues led to one conclusion.
"You're not trying to stop the tower. Your goal is to interfere with me, right?"
From the start, Gu Jun-hyeok and I had different objectives. Mine: stop the tower. His: block me from doing so.
If I stopped it in time, I win. If not, he wins.
"O...... whoa. Sharp as hell."
Gu Jun-hyeok pursed his lips in mild surprise and nodded slightly. His reaction confirmed my reasoning was on point.
And a brief silence fell.
Snap!
"Alright, here's the question!"
Gu Jun-hyeok snapped his fingers. The cheery sound shattered the heavy silence blanketing the desert.
"......Sudden quiz─?"
"If my goal was interfering with you, why didn't I do it sooner? Why just tail you till now?"
In the thick, sticky darkness, Gu Jun-hyeok grinned innocently. A pure, childlike smile.
I couldn't answer his question right away. Clutching my throbbing broken left leg, I pondered deeply.
If my reasoning held, his goal was to interfere with me—to stop me from halting construction. So he should've acted before I succeeded. But even as I persuaded the natives and stopped the work, he'd just tailed me without any real interference.
If I was right, his actions were definitely odd.
"......"
No—rather than his actions being odd, it was more logical to assume my reasoning was wrong.
"Kinda weird, right?"
Gu Jun-hyeok said. I stared at his pale face floating in the dark, neither nodding nor shaking my head. The silence thickened, blending with the shadows.
Gulp. My swallow sounded exaggeratedly loud.
"By your logic, the moment construction stops, I lose. So why'd I just sit back while you did it?"
Gu Jun-hyeok said, mockery lacing his tone. He rummaged in his bag for something. Instinct screamed to run.
But my broken left leg wouldn't obey. Standing, let alone fleeing, was impossible.
"Answer: even if you stop construction...... Ah, found it."
Gu Jun-hyeok pulled something from his bag. A holy relic. Unknown name, but it looked like a miniaturized cannon—menacing.
He channeled divine power into it.
Sizzle......
A fuse-like hiss emanated from it, growing more threatening by the second. Soon, the relic trembled like a cannon ready to fire.
"Anyway, back to it. My real goal wasn't 'stop you from halting construction'...... but 'eliminate you'~"
Sizzle─!
The fuse burned louder. The cannon's barrel pointed right at me.
"Bottom line: whether you stop the tower or not is none of my business. I just gotta kill you. Easy, huh?"
The fuse sound stopped.
Click.
A dry sound, like cocking a pistol. To me, it was utterly chilling and terrifying.
──Bosu.
No response.
Too late.
"Anyway. See you outside!"
Bang─!
The gunshot rang out. With it, a cannonball from the relic pierced straight through my forehead.
(To be continued in the next chapter)