Chapter 1315: Fervor
Vahn knew it would be a logistical nightmare to observe and police every region without having forces of his own to occupy select areas. He had already been making preparations for this but, in his original timeline, it would have been several years before he started implementing assigned territory. Now, however, he realized that, without a representative force to keep order, there were quite a few people who would exploit the power vacuum to try and secure power and authority for themselves.
This wasn't something new to Vahn but he hadn't expected them to do something foolish like trying to seize, regulate, or even outright destroy the food production facilities. Common sense dictated that you shouldn't antagonize a powerful and unknown force but, as if this was a foreign concept to them, several groups around the world did just that. They didn't seem to consider the consequences at all, perhaps believing their actions went unnoticed.
Even these groups weren't the most troublesome, however. No, that title belonged to the various small religious organizations that immediately seized power within their social circles.
It turned out that, with a complete breakdown in communications technologies, people tended to flock towards authority figures to make decisions on their behalf. Since a considerable number of people around the world believed in one religion or another, people of similar beliefs began to band together. Vahn had even received reports of small towns and villages imprisoning those that had tried following the instructions provided by the Empire. They used their religious doctrine to make Magic out to be some dark craft and, in some of the fundamentalist communities, Vahn had even been labeled as the Devil.
The ironic part of this statement is that, while lambasting others as evil, these so-called righteous individuals would capture, imprison, or outright torture people who had just wanted to make their lives easier. What annoyed him more so was the fact that some people had determined that the phenomenon of people disappearing around the world was some kind of delayed Rapture event as it generally protected children and those known to be good people. This had caused a wave of religious zealotry to spread and, without the means to distribute information and properly police a frightened population, some truly terrifying acts had been carried out in the name of various gods.
Even more troublesome, though it was within his expectations, some people actually started to proactively commit suicide. This alone wouldn't have been a problem but, with rumors of the end of the world causing widespread panic, some troubled mothers and fathers resorted to drowning their children or jumping off buildings as a family. These events were witnessed by many people so, in the days immediately following the address, millions had resorted to committing suicide while some of the budding religious cults used the fact that someone didn't vanish into motes of light as an excuse to commit heinous acts.
Vahn had always known that dealing with the religious community would be the most difficult part of the transition as, no matter how much logic was presented before them, a surprising number of people would committedly ignore it. Anything that didn't coincide with their belief systems was, in their minds, just some kind of clever scheme designed to corrupt their soul. They would band together with like-minded individuals and fight tooth and nail against anyone who didn't believe in the same things as them, a sad truth that had plagued humanity for thousands of years.
Now, Vahn had committed one of the ultimate taboos in the minds of the religious inclined as, rather than affirm their beliefs, he broadly revealed the existence of multiple gods. This action alone had turned a large portion of the population against him as, no matter how much proof he provided, they had already determined he was lying based on the fact he didn't support their belief system. These people proactively interfered with the lives of other people and, more often than not, resorted to extreme violence on the premise that the other party was some pawn in a grand scheme to undermine their beliefs.
Because of these developments, Vahn felt a lot of pressure to deal with the Holy Church sooner, rather than later. They had actually sent a delegation to the waters around Avalon but, rather than sue for peace, the specialist group had been carrying holy artifacts that, in essence, served the purpose of weapons of mass destruction. They had been intending to gain access to Avalon and, once inside, use the artifacts in a final act of martyrdom.
Needless to say, the Holy Church hadn't taken kindly to the fact that Vahn essentially ousted their God as a being wholly different than what they purported it to be. Rather than some omniscient and omnipotent entity that had the ability to do anything, yet chose not to, it was just one half of the Counter Force. All of their Prophets and Saints were just people that had been chosen to act as an extension of Alaya's will while possessing some unique Innates that drew her attention to them in the first place.
Even if Vahn gathered together every mortal Prophet, Demigod, or Saint-turned-Counter-Guardian, it wouldn't matter when it came to convincing those that believed wholeheartedly in a specific system of beliefs. They had people willing to die in order to perpetuate their beliefs and, even if he exposed the many flaws and scandals within each religious organization, their believers would just chalk it up to hearsay or fabricated data. The only 'real' solution was to either wage war against them, which never turned out favorably, or focus wholly on a secondary system of beliefs that people were more drawn to.
Vahn didn't particularly care about communities that intended to separate themselves from the society he intended to build. So long as they did not instigate conflict, damage the planet, or repeat the same mistakes of the past, he would allow them to live as they please. He didn't even mind if someone wanted to become some kind of Hermit living out in the vast woodlands that would inevitably cover the planet as, in the end, the main purpose behind his system was to allow people to live as they please, so long as it was in a non-destructive manner.
With this in mind, Vahn needed to deal with the Holy Church and, if they were not willing to see reason, he would have to systematically cripple them. He was not going to wait around as they performed Grand Rituals and tirelessly attempted to assassinate members of the Empire so, after the initial delegation had been sent, Vahn teleported directly above the Vatican's airspace. This was where the headquarter of the public face of the Holy Church, the Roman Catholic Church, was located.
Vahn wasn't surprised to find nearly six-million people gathered together in the relatively small city as, being the center of one of the world's largest religions, they had a very large following in the surrounding city of Rome, Italy. Now, fearing the beginning of the end times, people had migrated from the surrounding regions to seek guidance from their Pope, the religious figure that supposedly served as the representative of God...
Seeing the 75-year-old Italian man attempt to pacify and calm his believers, Vahn actually felt a small amount of pity for the aged individual. From what he could tell, the man had a very pure aura and, though his Magic Circuits were almost entirely inert, his affinity with the Light element was extremely high. This was a rather curious development but, considering he had the beliefs of billions of people supporting him, it wasn't too far-fetched to imagine that his aura was actually purified as a result.
A stark contrast the religious fervor that seemed to be tearing apart other regions, the Pope's message to his people was patience, fortitude, and belief. He disavowed violence and, using the phenomenon of people vanishing into light as an example, encouraged people to live good lives so that they would ultimately be selected by God. His message was one of peace and tolerance, even though there were literally millions of people crying out for the destruction of the Empire...
Deciding to make time to meet with the Pope directly in the near-future, Vahn turned his attention away from the elderly man. His eyes passed over the various Cardinals and Bishops, many with far less pure auras than the Pope himself, before landing on a group of strangely dressed priests, the leader of which was glaring at him with hate-filled eyes. They were clearly members of the Holy Church and, unlike the people gathered below, they were extremely perceptive to the presence of a foreign entity within the Vatican City.
No longer concealing his presence, Vahn slowly began to descend from the sky as divine light began to radiate out from his body. This drew a lot of attention to him and, for a brief moment, silence seemed to dominate the massive crowd until a few people realized exactly who he was. Then, as if the words of their Pope had been for naught, a hysteria seemed to overtake the people nearest to Vahn as they attempted to surge toward him like a tidal wave of flesh and hatred, some shouting things like, "Kill the Devil...!" in borderline feral voices.
As if a chemical reaction had been set off within the crowd, a massive riot was on the verge of breaking out. This was one of the dangers of religions and mob mentality in general as, if you had just a few crazy people in the fray, they could instigate violence among the entire group. People always seemed to be on the verge of letting out their inner demons and, knowing there would be little to no consequences, they were quick to riot if they believed they could get away with it.
Unfortunately, no amount of normal humans had any hope of surmounting Vahn as, even in a state sealed by [Enkidu], he could still move upwards of two-million kilos. If they wanted to have any hopes of moving him, they would have to crush each other like a mindless swarm, something made impossible by the fact that those closest to him quickly cowed in the face of his aura. This was before he had even released it fully as, at least for the time being, he would attempt to settle things peacefully.
Despite setting in motion events that would ultimately claim billions, Vahnd didn't want the lives of millions of people on his hands. Thus, with the ease of a man taking a stroll through a park, Vahn slowly walked towards the landing of St. Peter's Basilica as an area of 10m in his immediate surroundings was virtually impossible to penetrate. This was in spite of the massive outcry his presence had caused by, whenever someone more zealous passed the group given pause, they too would quickly lose any willpower to trespass further as something deep inside of them made even a single step impossible.
Eventually, people began to realize something was amiss so they began to split and, by the time he had reached the landing, much of the fervor had died down. This was aided by the fact that, as soon as Vahn appeared, the Pope tried to keep people calm without turning tail. Rather, his hazy brown eyes actually reflected a subtle blue glow as a resolute yet kind smile adorned his wrinkled visage. This was a phenomenon that was only present in Tier 4 entities and those who were able to use Divine Power but, due to the Laws of the Nasuverse, even normal people could potentially rival gods if they had enough belief placed in them.
Fortunately, the Pope didn't seem to show any hostility whatsoever so, even without Vahn having to take action, the crowd was slowly brought under control by the aged man's aura. They began to look toward him as if he was a living god, some going so far as to kneel down, praying fervently in the presence of this unseen force. As for Vahn, he casually ascended the steps, passing massive stone columns and several nervous members of the Clergy that fundamentally lacked the courage to bar his passage...
(A/N: Existence is pain. I write because I feel the need to do so. I don't want to just post 'update' chapters anymore. Also, for anyone that might get upset about the presentation of some religions in the next few chapters, remember that this is a work of fiction. There are literal gods present in this world so don't treat it as a direct translation of reality. I'm not badmouthing any religions, its prophets, or its followers. Be good to each other.)
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