Roxevius's words were addressed to the 100,000 believers in Temple Square.
Every believer present secretly kept in mind the words of the true god Loxevius, and many of them took Protos as their goal, hoping that one day the Dalos would catch up with them.
Of course, it's also because most of them are ordinary people or research scholars who don't have frequent access to first-hand secret information, so they don't know the true difference in strength between the Dalos and Protos. That's why they immediately came up with such a simple idea because of a word of encouragement from the gods.
Leaving aside the believers and priests on the altar, the 100,000 former false believers below the altar were the first to enter a state of fanaticism.
The brainwashing and faith-spreading by priests and government officials that had been going on for some time suddenly came to light. The words that they had previously dismissed or even pretended to believe in in exchange for a temporary comfortable life now seemed to be true.
Zillia was originally a fearsome thug, responsible for the deaths of more than a dozen civilians in Dalos, and had even killed the Dalos sheriff.
The first time he killed someone, he was terrified because of the mockery and insults he received; the second time, his heart raced simply because of a dispute over the spoils; the third time, he killed someone while on the run, and the victim was a sheriff; the fourth time, the fifth time...
Until a few months ago, on the ninth occasion, simply because of a minor collision between civilian flying cars, the other party made some rude remarks. Already suffering from sleep deprivation and a volatile temper, Zhiliya directly took out his kinetic energy gun and fired at the other party's flying car.
When the rear hatch of the other vehicle came off, he saw two dead Dalos girls wrapped together in the back seat. They were no more than two or three years old, the age when Dalos people could crawl.
For some reason, Zhiliya broke down. At that moment, he suddenly felt that his hands were covered in blood, emitting a deep, fishy stench. He chose to turn himself in.
Even by the standards of the relatively lenient laws of the Dalos Empire, which were considered civilized, Zhiliya could be considered utterly heinous, yet he made no attempt to exonerate himself and even refused the right to defend himself.
All he wanted was to end his life quickly.
Until a priest appeared and said that Zillia could still be redeemed, this restored the hope in his heart.
But after witnessing what so-called redemption truly meant, all that remained in Zilia's heart was sarcasm.
Absurd, foolish... He couldn't think of any other adjectives besides these; he just drifted along, taking each day as it came.
But at this moment, looking at those bright eyes in the sky, those eyes seemed to be watching him, watching his heart, watching his memories, watching everything he had experienced and the sins he had committed.
Scenes from his childhood to the present flashed by, every wrongdoing he had made, big or small, surfaced in detail, some bringing him a knowing smile, others eliciting deep fear.
But during this process, a warm feeling rose from the bottom of my heart, just like a scene from my childhood, when I accidentally broke my mother's favorite decoration and waited anxiously for my parents to come home from get off work.
That evening, when her parents came home from get off work, their initial anger turned into warm comfort upon seeing Zilia's frightened expression.
That warmth, that's the kind of warmth!
'All the sins I have committed will be forgiven by the gods. There is still goodness in my heart, and the gods will respond to souls that can still be saved. The gods still love me!'
Among the 100,000 original false believers, there are not many, but not few, villains as serious as Zillia. Such thoughts account for the majority. These words were originally used by priests to brainwash people. Perhaps these priests themselves sometimes do not believe that these villains can be saved.
But at this moment, some villains who were originally utterly wicked and committed all sorts of evil saw the clear and bright eyes in the sky, and everyone began to feel "warmth".
"What kind of feeling is this? It's so strange, yet so reassuring..."
A believer standing below the altar couldn't help but voice his doubts, as he happened to be standing next to Zillia.
Tears were already welling up in the latter's eyes as he glanced at the young "fellow believer" beside him.
"Do you still remember what those priests said back then?"
"This is salvation!"
An unseen light, or rather, a light that only one's own heart can perceive, arises in the hearts of every believer who has made grave mistakes but still has a heart of repentance.
This is the purification of the soul performed by Roxavius. As long as you have a shred of conscience, as long as you have had even the slightest remorse in your heart, it can be transformed into a warm, purifying light.
As intelligent beings are emotional beings, truly utterly wicked people do not exist, strictly speaking.
Such spiritual purification can be achieved in various ways in the Earth Sphere due to psychic powers and various fantasy races, but doing so is illegal in the Earth Sphere because it is essentially a form of brainwashing, and a very thorough one at that. Experts and scholars believe that this would obliterate freedom of thought and individual independence, even if the person is a villain.
Furthermore, criminologists believe that a crime is a crime. Even if you repent and sincerely want to start anew, sorry, this opportunity is not something you can simply have. First, you must endure the punishment that is due to you.
But on other planets, there is no such concern.
The atmosphere beneath the altar in the temple square changed completely in a matter of moments.
The soldiers guarding the perimeter felt this situation most acutely.
Even though the original 100,000 people were empty-handed and dressed in white robes, there were still many who made people want to raise their guns and shoot them just by looking at them.
But things were different now. Zhenlin's arrogant expression had vanished, and the soldiers saw a peaceful expression on those who were originally vicious.
'Viciousness is just a camouflage.' This thought rose in Bibilut's mind at the control center, and he had never understood its meaning as he did now.
Loxevis, who appeared to be in the sky but was actually in another dimension, was suddenly startled as the psionic elves gave him a strange message.
They captured something that also existed between reality and illusion, supported by belief. It didn't seem like energy, but rather like some complex and ever-changing silken symbols, yet it emitted a faint but clear light.
This quickly caught Wu You's attention. Considering the events that had occurred before and after, it was hard not to wonder if this thing was related to faith, or even the so-called "power of faith."
Unfortunately, Roxavius could not absorb these things. Or rather, that's not quite right, because these threads and symbols of light surrounded Roxavius like iron filings attracted by a magnet.
It should be said that they simply don't know how to utilize these things, which we'll tentatively call "the power of faith."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com