Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 814 Suffering
There has never been a precedent in the world for a superior to accept human nature, at least not since the rise of the Old Gods.

Humanity was considered a depraved thing, a deadly poison to all those in power, including gods.

Those in positions of power only receive the power of faith from believers, which is their reliance on immortality and the source of energy to maintain their divinity, while the humanity that comes with faith is dispelled.

All those entities enshrined in temples and churches never listen to the clergy's complaints. Their tragedies, pains, and hopes are left to the clergy to handle, or rather, to deceive them.

Therefore, the prayers, confessions, or repentance that believers seek from the gods often end up in the ears or dreams of some awakened psychic nearby.

This is the origin of the first stage of the visionary – the nightmare.

...

It seems that both humans and gods have forgotten the consequences of those in power accepting human things, only knowing that it was one of the reasons why the gods of the past declined.

...

Imnal made a terrible mistake.

But he was unaware of it.

In its view, it had successfully found the divine body Aegon and kept her alive, which was enough to give Milo an explanation, and the crisis of the fearful curse was temporarily lifted.

Three months is enough time for a lot to happen.

The collapse of the Vovados reincarnation system, the emergence of the Nirvana One from Muta, the appearance of the City of Gloom, and the shattering of the God of Sorrow—all of this was intercepted on the other side of the South Wind Sea, and the West knew nothing of it.

As for Imnal, it did not intend to obediently wait for the three-month deadline to expire and for Milo to have a change of heart and lift the curse on its own initiative.

So how do we break the curse of fear?

If nothing unexpected happens, then the only solution will inevitably lie in the purest and most powerful force in the world: faith.

...

Therefore, Imnar decided to make a killing among the faith pastoral groups under the jurisdiction of the Temple of Hook, since she was now an ancient priestess serving Hook, and could do so legitimately.

In fact, the priestess helped Aegon during his trial of faith, making her the first Child of God to be qualified to receive the will of the gods.

Therefore, the priestess, also known as Imnar, enjoyed a high degree of recognition and authority within the Temple of the Hook, and those ancient people who truly worshipped the god of the Hook held her in the highest esteem.

...

Some strange changes are quietly taking place deep within Imnar's soul, but he remains unaware of them.

The chaotic humanity that it absorbed only caused pain to the soul for a short period of time initially, and then it seemed to heal.

So Imnar went to one of the many pastoral kingdoms in the west of the Temple of the Hook, a kingdom called "Kem".

This is a forgotten kingdom, for it lies deep in the southern shore of the western continent, separated from the fertile lands of the Six Kingdoms and Utha by a gravelly desert that buries death.

To the south of Kem lies the treacherous Southern Wind Sea, and to the north, a vast desert. Resources are scarce here, not because the land is barren—coastal countries usually don't starve—but because the truly scarce resources are the essential things that psychics and even those in positions of power value, such as temple stones or some more ancient artifacts.

Kem doesn't have such a thing, so people born here are destined to live the most mediocre lives.

Not long ago, something terrible happened on the once-quiet South Wind Sea.

The seawater flooded the land, breached the dikes and city walls, and dealt a devastating blow to the Kingdom of Kem.

The Kem believed they had angered the gods.

They prayed to the Glissful Tip and His disciples, begging for salvation.

However, several dozen days passed, and the seawater receded, sweeping away the decaying bodies of all the deceased and all the food, leaving behind an empty city soaked to the ground, and the God of Hooking Finger never appeared.

...

……

Imnar didn't know why he had chosen this place.

It genuinely doesn't know.

Perhaps it was when the catastrophe was about to strike that the Kem offered their most faithful faith to Hook.

When it arrived in Kem, it happened to encounter a small boat rocking on the waves.

Imnal stood by and watched for a long time.

The Kem people on the small boat were three brothers of the same kind, the eldest of whom was only thirteen or fourteen years old; they were still just children.

The three brothers lost their parents and their youngest sister in the recent horrific tsunami; the merciless seawater swept away their bodies.

In the doctrine of the Hooked Finger, everything that believers possess, including their bodies and souls, is a gift from the gods. In their lives, whether long or short, all their joys and sorrows are tests from the gods. When they meet the end of their divine lives, they must return everything they have left to the merciful Hooked Finger. Even their decaying bodies can receive the Hooked Finger's gentle embrace and find true peace after being returned.

Therefore, the idea of ​​a body being swept away by the sea was considered ominous by the Kem people, a judgment against their gods.

Whether out of longing for their loved ones or guilt towards the gods, the three brothers appeared on the South Wind Sea, dragging their fragile little boat, hoping to find the bodies of their parents and sister.

Now, they're in trouble.

Because the winds and waves of the South China Sea don't care about the grief of losing loved ones or the fear of turning away from the gods, nor do they care about the three young and vibrant lives on the ship that is about to capsize.

...

Amidst the wind and waves, the boys prayed to the pinky.

This time, they truly received a response from the gods. A priest came down from the sea and helped them steady their small boat.

...

While the three shaken boys stood there in disbelief, the storm at sea had subsided, replaced by a warm, gentle glow...

From then on, the story of the gods walking on water spread throughout the ruins of Kem.

……

...

And then.

Imnal arrived at the shrine in Kem where the hook was enshrined.

The Kem people faced an even more dire situation than the sea – famine.

The tsunami seemed to possess some kind of terrifying magic; the seas that the Kem people could reach with their seafaring abilities were turned into dead seas, and what should have been inexhaustible marine food resources vanished overnight.

Even so, the people in the settlement where the temple is located still offered their last five cakes and two fish at the base of the hook-shaped sculpture.

At this very moment, outside the mausoleum, children are starving to death…

...

Imnar lingered for a long time beneath the sculpture with the beckoning finger.

No one knew what it was thinking, and no one dared to approach and disturb it.

It is the ancient past that dared to deceive even the gods, the offspring of the Outer Gods, the eternal fraudster; it does whatever it wants, without needing a reason or any scruples...

These were the words Imnar said to himself.

...

Imnal took the five loaves and two fish that the people had given to Hook.

More than five thousand surviving Kem people gathered in the nearby settlement, and Imnar distributed bread and fish to them.

This little thing is worthless in Hook's eyes, but in Kem, it can save many people; in Imnar's hands, it can save the entire kingdom.

This is the first time Imnar has used fractal rules without "replacing" the original being being imitated.

The five loaves and two fish became five thousand loaves and two thousand fish, or even more.

...

On this day, Kem welcomed its god and its salvation.

They initially regarded Imnar as a priest and a disciple of God, but eventually recognized him as a god.

God helped them restore their lost farmland, cured the sick of their diseases, taught them to find fish in the lifeless oceans that had fallen into darkness due to their activities on the continent of Mu, and helped them rebuild their walls to be even stronger.

...

Why did He do these things?
Imnar himself couldn't explain it.

He only knew that during his preaching, he no longer feared the curse. He received a purer and more powerful faith than the Hook, but what truly calmed his heart was not power, but the elusive and intangible humanity known as poison.

Imnal never escaped fear, but in return, He gained courage. Besides these, there were many other things He had never faced or encountered before—perhaps sorrow, perhaps joy. For the creatures at the bottom, this was the melody that filled their lives, but for Imnal, who was in a superior position, it was a book more profound than ancient scriptures.

He is learning, learning slowly.

Even after doing so much, He still didn't understand one thing, which even a mere mortal like Princess Rose knew: humanity is actually the love given by believers.

...

……

Three months passed quickly.

Imnar even forgot about the curse.

Ultimately, driven by fear, He hummed the melody that summoned Pagon.

...

The will of Pagon descends.

The old god who had defeated and banished Engel Korath has come to the Kingdom of Kem.

But He did not banish him to the abyss as ruthlessly as He had when He first met Imnal.

Pagon stayed in Kem for a while before quietly leaving.

When Imnar asked Him why He hadn't chosen to take action, Pagon's answer was:

"The heaviest punishment I can inflict on you is exile, but compared to the suffering you are about to face, exile is nothing."

"Haven't you noticed that your divinity is slipping away from you?"

“Imnal”.

(End of this chapter)