Under the huge sculpture of Pluto, the two sat opposite each other.
"As long as you give the order."
Kirkland said, "At least three hundred and seven forge worlds immediately welcomed you as their chief honor representative."
The corners of Hades' mouth twitched under his mask, but his gaze remained unchanged.
"How is this different from my current position in the Mechanicus?"
"There is no real difference, but you can legitimately command these forge worlds."
Kirkland spoke calmly, but Hades always felt that beneath the sage's words, there seemed to be roiling magma flowing.
"You know, although we all belong to the glory of the great God of All Machines, the relations between the various forge worlds are not friendly - each forge world has its own faction."
"Under the mediation of the Death Guard, Faos, Graeae, and Minint formed a confederation and reached an alliance with the remaining 17 Forge Worlds."
Hades blinked, and the huge sculpture cast a shadow over him and Kirkland.
"Let me guess - your twenty Forge Worlds have also fought wars with each other?"
This question came from Hades' intuition.
Because he had just witnessed a group of sages fighting each other because they wanted to grab the opportunity to talk to him.
Kirkland remained calm, "Yes, but please rest assured that the academic dispute between us is correct, legal, and welcomed by all parties. It will never slow down the progress of scientific research."
Hades really wanted to say, is that true? He didn’t believe it.
Although the scientific research achievements of the sages are very touching and worthy of praise and awards, these mechanical sages are also far ahead in terms of inhumanity.
It is worth guarding against.
For example, just now, the brave sage rushed over and tried to grab a piece of Hades' armor - and in front of Hades and Kirkland with a sullen face, his answer was that Pluto's things had the special effect of enhancing luck.
Therefore, he hoped to take a piece of the fragment back to enshrine in the array of meditators.
This is a scientific superstition based on theological tradition.
Faced with the sage who suddenly appeared, Hades finally gave him a small metal sculpture personally.
Then Hades realized something was wrong.
Because the next second after he sent out the metal sculpture, he heard the roar of countless engines.
A sea of scarlet silk rushed towards him.
Don't come over here!
“Wait a minute!!!”
As a last resort, Hades had to activate the Black Domain Quiet Field.
It was such a thrilling viewing experience that Hades was sweating inwardly.
But in the end, under Kirklan's death gaze, Hades still completed the reception and gift-giving of the sages one by one. He had never thought that the ability of the Void Dragon would be so useful in pinching gifts in the void.
Hades blinked and looked at Kirkland who was talking nonsense seriously in front of him.
"Then why do you still want an academic war when the Death Guard is brokering it?"
"To prove whether you are a god or a man."
Kirkland followed suit, staring at Hades.
“Great academic ideas always need to be exchanged with each other in order to be perfectly presented to the world.”
Hades remembered what he had been told earlier, and it sounded like Kirkland and King had fought, and King had won, allowing him to defend his shaky human status.
The statue of Pluto that loomed over them stood silently. It was the last stubbornness of Faos and Kirklan. It was not the Pluto statue of Jin's faction. It squatted on the ground and stretched out its hand to the believers.
Instead, the sculpture stands with its hand outstretched, holding a sickle, pointing high up at the vast nebula on the stargazing ceiling.
As He raised His arms, layers of black robes fell down. The fallen hems of the sculpture's robes were like thick curtains, cleverly blocking the strange starlight from the starry sky.
And now, Hades and Kirkland are sitting in this shadow.
At first, Hades felt a little uncomfortable, but after seeing the numerous decorations and sculptures about him on Ship No. 21, Hades became numb.
Scythe, black robe, black light, three-headed dog, various mottos, and running Black Stone equipment...
He felt as if he was walking on a huge ship decorated with all kinds of Pluto peripherals.
Hades certainly wanted to tear them down, but when he thought about the labor and money that would be required, and that Kirkland would probably find another way to commemorate him, he had no choice but to swallow his criticism.
What's more, this is an additional product of the Pluto Cult. As long as the Pluto Cult exists, these creations will continue to appear.
Hades has complicated feelings towards the Cult of Pluto. On the one hand, he does not want to be praised and deified by people, but on the other hand, this is indeed the fastest and most convenient way to connect to his Black Domain.
For those who need the Black Domain to eliminate the pollution of the subspace, Hades naturally cannot force them not to pray to him just because of his own likes and dislikes.
“… I am human.”
Hades said helplessly, "Perhaps my behavior may be slightly different from your normal understanding of humans - but I am sure the difference is not very big."
Kirkland stared at Hades wearing a metal mask.
"I know, sir."
"but… "
Kirkland said smoothly, "Kim is stubborn because he has never seen you perform miracles. I have witnessed every one of your feats, so I forgive Kim's ignorance."
If Jin saw a dark giant holding an eternal flame in one hand and broken metal silk in the other, his three views would be shocked.
If Jin had been pulled back from death by the gods twice, he would also understand what a god is.
Hades sighed.
"Can I convince you?"
Kirkland shook his head.
"I'm sorry, sir, but this is the only issue I can't back down from - I've been holding out for ten thousand years."
Hades looked at Kirkland meaningfully. Kirkland had made his bottom line clear. For the god in his heart, the believers had held on for thousands of years, and the first thing the "god" did when he returned was to try to shatter the believers' faith.
Hades was silent for a moment. He looked up at his sculpture. The black stone sculpture was depressing and solemn. Even he himself, sitting under the statue of Pluto, looked so small.
"What is the difference between man and God, Kirkland?"
Hades asked,
"God can do things that humans cannot."
"… "
Hades sighed again.
"If I were God, could I change the human standard of judgment and place myself in the human realm?"
"Of course you can do that."
Hades was forced into silence. He realized that it was extremely absurd to argue with an oil man who had been debating for ten thousand years. This could only make him unhappy.
Next, he should bring Jin over, provide substantial evidence when Jin debates, and cheer him up.
"Then I change the scope of mankind,"
Hades said, "I am human, the Emperor is human... Mortarion is human too!"
Kirkland paused.
"I accept your first two points, my lord, but I expect you to give your arguments after meeting Lord Mortarion."
“… Otherwise, there would be too many beings that need to be called human beings.”
Hadiston felt bad. After he woke up, he had never seen a sculpture or portrait of Mortarion. He still hoped that Mortarion would at least maintain his appearance with two eyes, a nose and a mouth.
In the original work, the Primarchs who ascended to magic or awakened their own warp essence all looked relatively abstract.
"Do you have a portrait of Mortarion?"
Hades suddenly asked, and Kirkland shook his head.
"This is top secret within the Death Guard, Hades," Kirkland scratched his hair, "I have seen the Pale Lord a few times, but his face was shrouded in mist."
“But my intuition tells me that the true face of the Pale Lord is not something that humans can appreciate.”
Hades felt even worse.
But he remembered the Ascended Mortarion in the original novel—he thought the Ascended Mortarion chess piece was still very handsome.
No matter how ugly it is, it can't be that after awakening its true nature, it will be more unacceptable than after it becomes a demon.
Besides, as long as Mortarion himself felt comfortable, appearance was merely a vulgar matter to the Primarch.
"We'll know when the time comes,"
Hades said,
Is the news from Karas true? Is he really not needed to help
But since Karas said so, Hades put aside his thoughts on this aspect for the time being.
Although he still didn't trust Karas Typhon very much, Karas had led the Death Guard to prosperity for ten thousand years, so Hades could probably entrust this trust.
Hades planned to go directly to Barbarus next to ask the Death Guards what was going on.
Facing Hades' answer, Kirkland paused for a moment, and Hades saw Kirkland's eyes twitching.
Kirkland sighed.
"I hope the Pale Lord won't scare you."
"But you can rest assured," Kirkland continued, "Fauos has been working with the Death Guard for a long time. After you left, the Death Guard has generally not been neglected. You can trust them and accept their loyalty."
Hades nodded, as if Kirkland's words had brought back memories, but then -
"Don't bring up the subject of whether I am a man or a god, Kirkland."
Hades said solemnly,
"I do not wish to see the Forge Worlds fighting each other over so-called codified doctrines in front of me."
Kirkland agreed devoutly,
"We know, my lord, that as long as the enemy is not defeated, we will not vent our anger on our disloyal people."
Hades knocked on the table. "If you are talking about Jin and others who have different beliefs from you, you can't describe it as disloyalty."
"I understand, my Lord."
Kirkland spoke, and it was obvious that he was not very convinced.
… This is the problem with religion. Because of differences in thought, people will attack each other even if they have the same origin.
Especially the various Forge Worlds. Although they all believe in the Mechanicus and their political framework is built based on religious guidance, in reality they all play their own games and it is almost impossible for them to unite.
Being able to command them and unite the different forging worlds, there is only one way left except for the benefit...
… Belief.
It looks like Hades is going to play the same trick again that the emperor played back then.
Hades pondered, although he still resisted being described as a god, but after contacting Buz and having Mingzi pass on a doctrine to him, Hades found that the doctrine written by Buz and Jin Yihang... he could still accept it.
In short, apart from some necessary rituals to expel the contamination from the warp;
The Pluto Cult advocates keeping everything simple, and there is no such thing as redemption money (it also advocates donations, but without the bond of sin and loyalty, but rather a form of cooperation with the local Mechanicus in the form of purchasing knowledge/or simply donating money);
The kneeling ceremony is not encouraged and is replaced by the Sky Eagle Salute.
What made Hades even more dumbfounded was that the Pluto Cult even advocated a belief system, and even allowed believers to believe in the religion for their own benefit (to expel the subspace pollution for their family; to worry about being polluted; or simply to get close to the local oil man or the Death Guard.)
To sum it up simply, it is very secular.
But if you go deeper and want to become an insider of the Pluto Cult, the screening conditions become very strict.
First, believers who wish to go deeper need to join the church to study (these believers are usually those who have truly faced the warp pollution and defeated it with their own wisdom and the blessing of Hades.)
Before participating in the study, their character will be examined - for the Pluto Church, believers must have a moral bottom line and be extremely sober.
The sobriety here refers to a train-like problem, where believers must choose the one that saves the most people.
In addition, they will also face the option of when to give up themselves. Believers must consider their own value and should exchange their own value for more value at the moment when the benefits are maximized - rather than sacrificing rashly just to save others.
At the same time, after the assessment, those who feel too guilty will be eliminated.
The Pluto Cult needs an existence as unkind and uncaring as Pluto.
Next, believers who pass the preliminary assessment will be asked to memorize the "Hymn to the Underworld".
This book is divided into seven parts: Kindness, Rise of the Origin, Hidden Dragon, Stealing Fire, Saving the World, Black Descent and Return.
Hades quickly scanned the book. Most of the stories in the book were short and consisted of a few sentences. Each story could be connected to the next one.
Although the content of the book is well written, it would be better if the protagonist was not him.
Hades' scalp tingled when he saw this.
Kindness talks about some of the views of Hades. From the perspective of "Hades himself", it tells us that humans need to save themselves and help each other in order to defeat evils such as the Warp - at the same time, it emphasizes why "Hades" is said to be merciful, because as long as the rituals are done correctly, He will bless both saints and sinners.
Hades couldn't refute this. The Black Domain was really like this. Whoever put his soul into the Black Domain would be "blessed".
But this is not Hades' subjective mercy, but the believers imposing their own subjectivity on objective facts.
The Rise is the story of Hades on Barbarus, when he was described as an "ordinary man" who made friends with the Primarchs through his intelligence and character and fought against evil alone.
Fulong, Hades' story on Mars. The metaphor in this part of the story made Hades feel something was wrong. Dragon... Void Dragon...
But the book compares knowledge to a dragon and only mentions it briefly.
This part... maybe it's for those who can understand.
Stealing Fire combines the story of Hades establishing Phaos and killing a false god named "Obstruction of Truth".
Salvation, from the Perfect City to the Maelstrom, from Nicaea to Cadia, tells the story of how Hades rescued the Primarch and the years of being a slave under the Emperor.
Black Drop, some short stories recording Hades' opening of the black domain. Hades could see that Kirkland must have provided a lot of material for this article.
The last part is the second coming, which tells why Pluto will come back and what believers should do to make Pluto come back.
Hades flipped through it and found some old sayings that encouraged people to strive for progress, be kind, and restrain themselves.
After those believers have memorized the "Hymn of Hades", they will learn about the warp under the guidance of the Hades Church.
This kind of study will screen out many people, and some may even die during the study. Generally, large Pluto churches will have a team of soulless people to ensure the survival rate of believers.
Then we will learn how to better expel the Warp. Not only will we be taught how to use some Black Stone weapons, but we will also be taught how to use the Divine Emperor's teachings in the state religion to expel demons.
Finally, there are the miscellaneous items for improving personal abilities, coordination with the Soulless Squad, coordination with the Mechanical Sage Troops, coordination with the Death Guard, pacifying the masses, pacifying the Contaminated, how to deceive the demons (?)…
But the strangest thing is that the examination of these believers does not include their piety to Hades, but relies solely on their own understanding after being taught "Hymn of Hades".
…
Hades quite liked this, but it didn't stop him from being shocked after watching it.
If he were a citizen of this time period, he might also believe in Pluto, purely to save his life.
Moreover, this is in line with Hades's view of using it whenever possible, and spreading the method of how to block subspace pollution to the greatest extent possible.
Hades murmured in his heart that in this regard, he might have to thank those who spread the Pluto cult.
Hades stared at Kirkland thoughtfully.
The situation on the Mechanicus' side is slightly different from the Cult of the Underworld spread by the Empire. Almost all sages who join the cult have to go through strict screening conditions (same as above, but the part about expelling the warp has become how to make knowledge purer), which means that every sage is an insider of the Cult of the Underworld.
But for the sages, the screening conditions for joining the religion are not difficult. To be a sage is naturally different from ordinary people in the empire. Things that are difficult for others may not be difficult for them.
Relying on the fact that the triggering conditions are low and there is no penalty for failed triggering,
If sages have nothing to do but believe in Pluto and pray to him, it can really reduce the interference of the subspace on the experiment.
This is almost a win-win situation.
It was this tiny benefit that helped Hades accumulate hundreds of millions of Mechanical Sage believers in the Forge World where the Pluto Cult was not actively preaching.
This is also the fundamental logic why the Dark Religion can develop so rapidly.
But this is also the reason why the Dark Cult is loose and there is no direct leadership among them.
Before Hades returns, the only one who can ask the Cult of the Underworld to unite and help is the Captain of the Death Guard - and he must be a highly respected Captain of the Death Guard who has made outstanding contributions, in order to command so many Cult of the Underworld believers.
And now…
Starlight streamed down from the ceiling, but it was not stained by Pluto's robe.
"Anyone who believes in... Pluto... or the Emperor, and who still has a conscience... can unite."
Hades whispered,
Surrounded by alien races and with the warp eyeing us covetously, just as Kirkland said, now is indeed not the time to be divided because of different beliefs.
According to my personal preference, Hades would have shouted, "I am not a god, don't believe in any religion."
But faced with reality and logic, Hades follows pragmatism and uses it once first!
After all, this is an objective fact, and he has no way to directly change other people's subjective views and overthrow a religion that has developed for thousands of years by himself.
What's more... since the believers are willing to believe in him (although the image has been beautified seven hundred times), Hades has to try to save the world!
Running away from one's responsibilities and not using one's strength is cowardice!
Hades has already made up his mind. He will fight this wave first and develop the empire. Once humans can be self-reliant, if people still insist on the existence of gods, he will put the hat on the emperor's head and run away!
Of course... Hades will also help the Lord of Humanity share the burden of faith.
Hades added silently in his mind.
(End of this chapter)