The Paladin in the Abyss-Chapter 729 - 750 Soul and Divine Power

"What’s so special about death?" Lancelot immediately inquired, "I thought the core of Divine Power was faith?"

"It’s true, faith is correct," Starlight Strike responded with a profound tone, "but do you understand how exactly faith is transformed into Divine Power? Here’s a hint for you, only the faith of mortals is useful to deities, creatures from other planes may serve the gods, but their faith doesn’t really mean much to the gods."

"Because... souls?" Lancelot’s brow furrowed, "Tijana just introduced to me earlier that only mortals possess the duality of soul and body..."

"Exactly, it’s the soul. Ah, this ale is simply wonderful, could you fill me up again?"

"...Are you sure? This is already your sixth cup tonight."

"No problem, I am just a sword after all, I can’t get drunk..."

"Alright... let’s continue our earlier discussion. Faith is indeed a matter of the soul, unrelated to the body, but is it just because one conceptually agrees with a certain god that this god’s power becomes stronger?"

"Of course not. You should all know that gods take the souls of their devout followers to their Divine Kingdom after they die, right?"

"Of course," Lancelot nodded, "It’s said those followers become supplicants, enjoying bliss in the Divine Kingdom... but only the most devout are afforded this honor."

"Depends on how you see it, because only when one is devout enough to a particular god, genuinely believing in the ideals they stand for, will that mortal’s soul find the Divine Kingdom to be a pleasing place." Alamir interjected, "For example, the Goddess of Torture, Lovieta, believes that pain is the most comprehensive trial, that it can strengthen mental resilience, and those who endure torment receive true joy. Her Divine Kingdom resembles a dark dungeon, filled with torture devices equipped with iron hooks, thorns, spikes, branding irons, and a plethora of other varieties, most of which are self-service. If someone harbors even a sliver of doubt about Lovieta’s teachings, in other words, if their mind isn’t broken, they would obviously find the place dreadful, but for followers of the Goddess of Torture, that’s their heaven, they can’t wait to shout Lovieta’s name every moment and whip themselves..."

"Do followers actually exist for such a goddess?" Lancelot’s expression was as if he had just learned that someone enjoyed eating cockroaches.

"Of course," the Elf Priest chuckled and shook his head, "never underestimate the... free will of mortals." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"Exactly, which is why there are so many deities," the former sword of King Consort Aira continued, "And as for the supplicants in the Divine Kingdom, I’m sure you know, they will eventually become one with their god, which is indeed the origin of the name ’supplicant’..."

"So what you’re saying is, the true source of Divine Power is actually through the fusion of souls?" Lancelot’s expression changed abruptly, "That sounds... somewhat..."

"Unsettling? Horrifying?" Starlight Strike flickered several times, lowering the water level in the cup by a noticeable amount, "You’ve got it backwards, actually. It was the fusion of souls with common tendencies that gave birth to the earliest gods of faith. As for those natural gods, like the Goddess of Magic Mistui, Goddess of Night Shael, Goddess of the Moon Suren, and the Lord of All Things’ End, Yago, their birth had nothing to do with the faith of mortals..."

"But they also have worshippers, don’t they?" Kalalin asked curiously, "And Serenne, also known as Suren, has seen a gradual decline in strength over the past few centuries due to the dwindling number of faithful followers. Now she isn’t even considered a strong Divine Power anymore..."

"Are you sure?" Starlight Strike asked skeptically, "How do mortals know the power level of a god?"

"Through the... power they demonstrate in the Mortal Realm?"

"By that standard, the Father God of the Giants, Anum, must be on the verge of extinction, right? Mortals’ estimates of a deity’s power are mostly inaccurate; there’s no doubt about that. Unless you’re also a being of Divine Power, don’t make random assumptions that one god is weaker than another. It’s neither logical nor necessary. However, your first question does have an answer: Although the natural gods did not originate from faith, they have no fundamental difference from the gods of faith: they too can enhance their power through the fusion of souls. Honestly, that method is extremely effective. Hence, the natural gods also began to work miracles among mortals, calling upon individuals pleasing to them to become their priests and thereby spread their faith. This has led to some interesting phenomena, such as the natural gods becoming increasingly ’humane.’ Remember Olul? As the God of Winter, he even had a daughter with the brute Solheim. I was truly shocked when I first heard the news... but that’s just one of the impacts of fusing with the souls of mortal believers."

"Now that you explain it that way, I think I understand," Lancelot nodded, "Gods only accept the most devoted believers into their Divine Kingdoms because only fusing with those ’pure’ souls that are right for them won’t significantly impact their characters?"

"Exactly, forcefully fusing with souls that are too different from oneself could lead to severe consequences. There have been gods in history who have tried it—the result was that they had to split themselves in two just to barely preserve their sense of self. Back to the original topic: death, what exactly is its role in this system?"

"I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink," the Sword of Zariel said uneasily, "All this stuff you’re talking about tonight is verging on blasphemy..."

"First, I’m stating facts. Which god did I blaspheme? The god of lies? Hmm, it’s empty again... Ah, thank you, Sir. Second, I don’t see any evil in it. Most gods don’t intentionally ’harvest’ souls—that’s what Fiends do. They’re simply trying to influence a soul’s actions and beliefs during their mortal life. Indeed, some are good and some are bad, but don’t mortals have the freedom to choose?"

"But do they truly understand the consequences of making the wrong choice?"

"Ah... here we go again." Starlight Strike sounded somewhat cynical, and indeed he seemed a bit drunk, "I’ve heard such debates so often in my day that my ears could grow calluses. Gods of the order camp think they should directly eliminate the wrong options for mortals, while the gods of the chaos camp believe in teaching mortals how to make the right choices; both sides can come up with arguments to refute the other. One points to the sinners screaming in Hell, the other insists that free will is the most precious thing in a soul. From what I’ve understood so far, hundreds of centuries have passed, and this debate has yet to be resolved. And I’d bet that hundreds of centuries from now, when mortals are about to go extinct, there still won’t be any conclusion."

(Note, the majority of the content in this chapter is the author’s own creation and differs from the official setup. It does not apply outside of this book.)