The Rise Of Calamity

Chapter 113 - Church

"Didn't you guys say you are going to to visit the church?" Jack asked with a raised brow, quite amused by the scene of my drunk father being pulled by the collar of his shirt back to the carriage.

"Oh, that? No need. I don't really care about seeing it and was only going cuz' my dad wanted to. Now that he barely has consciousness, to the point he is speaking lewdly of my mother publicly, I think it is okay if we simply did not go and he wouldn't say anything about it." I replied with a nonchalant shrug while glancing back at him.

"Hmm. Do you not like the church?" Jack's eyes showed a glint of curiosity even though he had his poker face on.

'The eyes never lie huh' I thought to myself before answering "It is not that I don't like the church, I don't care for the church. They had not done me any harm nor have they done me any good, so why would I care? It is not like it would affect my life if I was to believe if I like them or not"

"So do you believe in god?" he inquired once again, making even Olivia look up to find out how I would answer this question since I did tell her that I had divine mana in my body.

"Depends what your definition of a God is," I replied with another shrug

"Of course, an omnipotent, omniscient being that has control over all the forces of the world. He had created us for the one purpose of fulfilling the goal of taking over the Demon continent and gave us the powers of magic to fight back against those horrendous beings. People like you, with the power of li- *COUGH* I mean with tremendous talent are sent by that same god to serve the continent, empire, the humanoid races all around the world to remove the incarnations of the fallen angel." He replied, almost outraged by what I had asked

'So a bit like Christianity?' I inwardly questioned

"Then the answer is no. I don't believe in such a thing" I answered while throwing my father into the carriage after I had located it and the driver.

"Then what do you believe in? What do think the purpose of life is if you do not believe in the one true God?" Asked Jack with a small nerve protruding on his forehead. This was the most agitated I had ever seen him since the time I had met him, However, I could see that I was probably coming from the years of brainwashing the army had done to him to worship the church.

What I could tell was that the church and the empire were interlinked, one not being able to live without the other. While most would follow the religion they are with, religion cannot live without the empire's influence. They basically brainwash everyone from merchants to the princes that the church is the one true way, while the people of the church put up some discreet propaganda against the demons to get the people of the empire to side with the empire and maybe even join the forces to fight for a cause they think will take them to 'heaven'.

This is all a hypothesis, but if what I had said was correct, it would explain why the country was still standing even with so much corruption present in the country.

Countries are able to become successful countries, like Germany, Italy, France, and even England is because, before the times of social media, where the only influence is the newspapers and maybe the televisions if it was after the first world war, and radios even before that. The media would subtly control the minds of the people, while politicians would ingrain themselves into the religion, or the religion will ingrain themself in the government. However, even with all these corrupted practices, there is one thing that keeps a country running, and it is unity.

Unity in a country is like the foundation of success. Whether that unit is good or bad does not matter, but the country will not succeed without it. There are many different types of unity, in Germany, there was a unity of hatred towards the foreign entities, making every state that was once dived work together against a single cause.

In France, there was a division in class between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie, causing the proletariats to unite together and overthrow the nobles and royals while preaching for freedom and liberty and simultaneously invading most of Europe at the same time.

That is the power of unity, and that is exactly what the empire is taking advantage of. The unity of hatred and the unity of a common enemy makes the church and the empire seem like saints instead of a*sholes who had brainwashed the entire continent to seem like the good guys. And it would explain why Jack is currently so agitated by the mention of me not believing in god.

"You might not understand it now, but you will understand later. The church and empire aren't what you think they are, and you shouldn't take every word they give you to heart, but rather as a grain of sand." I finally voiced before a strong grip held onto my arm and pulled me with it.

"You are currently a child barely 6 years old so I am willing to overlook this and call it arrogance. But let me show you what the church truly does, and why you should believe in god." Jack agitatedly muttered while loosening the grip a little.

'is he a child?' I couldn't help but think just to see a flash of blue and orange flames going towards the arm of the Major General.

*Ting*

Olivia had felt her body move on its own, and the next thing she knew, she was attacking the Major General with all her might, wanting to cut off the arm that was holding onto mine. However, all that happen was the blade shattering into shards of what it previously was.

"What is the meaning of this?" He asked with a raised brow

"Let go of her arm" A stoic emotionless tone came out of her cords while her eyes flickered gold every now and then.

"Oh? Sorry about that" He let go of my arm while profusely apologizing about it. He said he didn't know what had come over him, making me narrow my eyes.

'Analysis'

[Analysis Complete]

[Name: Jack Galibiur

Gender: Male

Age: 56

Power level: (restricted)

Title: -Dominator of the Battle Field- -Demon Slaughterer- -Major General-

Affinity: Water ----> Ice

Status: Embarrassed

Attractiveness:

Humans- 6.5

Atlas- 0]

'Hmm, nothing?' I thought while looking at the status tab before turning my attention back towards Jack and narrowing my eyes at him.

"Let's go then" I finally voiced while thinking Olivia through our mind link.

10 minutes later I found myself looking at a ginormous building, that looked more like a prince's castle than a church.

'I don't even think the largest church on earth is this big, and there is supposed to be one of these in every District?' I thought while my jaw couldn't help but drop in awe of the size of the church.

"What? Do you finally feel the holy aura emanating from the building? Do you finally understand why the church and god are above all?" He asked while puffing his chest out.

"Why is it so big?" I finally asked, ignoring his question.

"Well, it is the house of god, why would it not be big?" He replied with his own question as if the answer was obvious and he was speaking to a complete idiot.

"But God doesn't actually live here, and I doubt he would need a place this big to stay here even if he were to descend in his physical form. Why the hell have these extravagant a*s building for someone who has hundreds of homes over the entire continent?" I barked, causing Jack to freeze up for a second before stammering "Uh, well, every house of God had to be extravagant. Anyway, we should go in now" and gabbing my arms while swiftly walking forwards.

'Ugh... Why is everyone so stupid in this world?' I facepalmed

"Hello Sir"

"Hello Major General"

"Welcome Sir Galibiur"

People started to greet jack left right and center. The interior of the church was nothing but extravagant, and in my opinion, the biggest waste of money. The whole place was made out of the whitest most furnished marble I had ever seen, making it almost glow with a holy light even within the shadows created from the sun entering the window at a certain angle.

There were two spiraling staircases going upstairs, made out of extremely polished glass, making you feel as if you are walking in thin air. The rails were made out of a diamond-like crystal sending prisms of light everywhere when the light of the sun hit it. On the ground floor stood 4 large white pillars surrounding the dozens of stools, enough to hold at least a few hundred people.

The chairs were made out of birch-colored wood, but to my eye, I could see that there was a presence of magic in it.

While I thought we would stop and sit down at one of the stools, we kept going until we reached the stairs, eventually ascending it and getting to the top floor. The top floor looked the same, minus the 4 pillars and stools, however, in the middle back of the top floor stood a single statue with light shining on it from the windows on the ceiling, making it seem like heaven itself was shining on it.

[Hypnosis spell detected]

[Hypnosis has been partially neutralized due to the strength of the spell]

[Time until Neutralization: 00hrs 01min 30sec]

'Why does everything want to hypnotize me these days?' I remarked through the mind link, making Olivia tense up.

"JACK! MY BOY! Have you come to visit this old man once again?" A wrinkled bald man walked stood up from the floor, where he was seen praying before the statue before. When he saw Jack, he looked jubilous, before growing a little and lifting an eyebrow in curiosity while asking "And who are these two ladies with you? Oh? One is Deros' daughter, but there other is unknown?"

'Yo... I don't think this guy has friends' I snickered suspiciously through the mind link

'And why do you think so?' Olivia questioned while keeping the same expression as before

'He speaks to others the same way one would speak to themselves within their own mind. He is probably a loner who spends quite a lot of time alone. Quite tragic if you ask me' Despite my words, I was trying to hold in a chuckle while I thought of numerous jokes that would fit the situation.

'You speak to yourself like that? And you still have the urge to call him a loner? The tragic one is you...' Olivia snickered back to my surprise.

'Oi.... F*ck you'