Novel Lived
Chapter 92 An Su is also the Number One in the Painful Esoteric Sect!
The Avad Empire had completely fallen under the control of the Seven Great Mystical Sects.
But its capital was not in ruins.
On the contrary, it had reached another level of 'extreme prosperity'.
The steel city soared high into the clouds, casting vast shadows; Magic Trains snaked through the streets, emitting foggy plumes of smoke,
enshrouding the entire city in a haze, the great metropolis functioning like a ceaselessly operating machine, with life as the fuel for its workings.
The power source of the Magic Train differed from Phalos's Magic Power batteries,
where none required a first-level Magician to charge the batteries,
in the last carriage lay rows upon rows of incubators, where humans were soaked, as the Alchemic Magic Circle extracted their flesh and blood for fuel.
This was indeed an invention of the Alchemic Esoteric Sect.
The Seven Great Mystical Sects had a complete grip on the kingdom, deciding on the nation's operations through a form of council as well.
In the heart of the City-State, the third church of the Painful Esoteric Sect stood tall, its corridors made of white bones and fresh blood, with the Astral Terminal at the end of the hallway emitting a faint glow.
Their Astral Terminal, unlike that of the Church, was entirely connected by flesh and blood.
The Serpent of Pain, Assyria.Xius, stepped out from the Astral Terminal.
He didn't look too well.
Mainly because the evaluation given by the Celestial Messenger was quite baffling...
[A Serpent that Devours Crap A: Death is not the end, but the beginning. Numerous Believers murmur your revered name in low voices—in bathrooms, in wilderness, in deserted corners, trembling. Your death brings fear, and fear is the breeding ground for pain]
[Pain Score thirty, weighted score sixty]
The scoring of the Painful Esoteric Sect differed from that of the Radiant Holy See; it was all about the suffering caused to those around.
Snakes behind latrines caused many Cultists to lose sleep in terror, hence Assyria's score went up as well.
What the hell is this supposed to be!Assyria.Xius couldn't accept this.
What on earth did he accomplish in Seden Town!
What the hell did he devour!
He had lost his memory, but when he vaguely recalled, he was shrouded with a sense of inexplicable embarrassment.
With such an embarrassing achievement, he considered whether to commit suicide again...
Although his score wasn't bad, he was not number one this time.
He ranked fourth; the third was called [Suffering Hound], the second [Suffering Falcon],
Assyria narrowed his eyes, gazing at the name on the screen, that legendary first place:
[Pain Confidant]
[Pain Score one hundred, weighted score one hundred, overall evaluation A]
Because he failed in the contest for the world, the overall evaluation was only A.
Because An Su wasn't registered amongst the Believers, his real name wouldn't show up, but a code name was used instead, and correspondingly, the achievements he attained in the Esoteric Religion were disclosed to the public.
These are invisible within the Celestial Church.
There was another set of criteria for judgment—based on the value of the pain caused.
[The Bane of the Church's Heart S: One hundred and twenty Orthodox Church members sacrificed under his influence. All saints in Seden Town were wiped out.]
[Land without History A: Under his influence, the hygiene standard of Sorrowful Cult's school reached an all-time high, the pain value of the Cultists reached an all-time high.]Nôv(el)B\\jnn
[Art of Sacrifice S: After sacrificing everyone, he sacrificed himself as well, successfully maximizing the pain value for all humanity]
Where did this freak come from?
All priests were pondering over one question.
Perhaps he sneaked in from the Mother Goddess Sect?
The Mother Goddess Sect is the most scattered and self-serving among the seven great sects, lacking even a formal Church structure. Although the Parliament reserved seats for them, it was merely a facade.
They are all disorganized drifters, so it's not surprising they pulled off this stunt.
Most importantly, the Mother Goddess's gaze had passed over earlier, as if to bestow a blessing.
But finding no one, she left.
This was quite preferential treatment.
If this remarkable man known as the Heart of Pain could be brought into one's own fold, he certainly could be developed into a significant social misfit.
"The Heart of Pain, huh..."
What the priests didn't know was that the matter of Seden Town was being discussed by the lower house at this very moment.
A second-tier world that could actually stir the lower house.
This is the highest echelon of the city-state, with walls adorned by eerie and exquisite frescoes, painted throughout with blood as the pigment.
A long table made of bone material occupied the entire chamber, surrounded by seven chairs.
"The Sorrowful Cult has failed."
A mocking and seductive voice rang out, her face indiscernible, the high-backed chair's patterns twisted lines and Scales of Order, the very emblem of Chaos and the Ladder Sect, "Franz, representative of the lower house~"
"We've just received word," the man named Franz replied calmly to the laughter, the pattern on his chair bone white, the sign of a Cultist of Pain, "Seden Town has been completely fixed."
"Seden Town is not important."
Another figure spoke slowly, his voice ethereal and prolonged, with a deathly cold as if a living corpse were speaking, "What's important is the 'information'—the telegrams sent to the Legion of Pain across different spacetimes."
"It points us to the place we seek, that lost border world, the kingdom forgotten by history—the Kingdom of Chaos."
Border worlds, a type of the Nether World.
Belonging neither to the Church nor to the Esoteric Religion, they are undiscovered fragments of the world.
"We have never obtained this piece of the puzzle, and we never will."
The lower house fell silent.
"An Su Moningsta, a lovely name~" the woman of the Chaos Sect uttered this name, "to become the Nether Bishop of Seden Town."
Her crimson eyes gazed at the photograph of the beautiful young man on the document, taken at the time of An Su's inaugural speech.
Watching his earnest and sacred pupils,
"I really want to see him fall. I really want to witness his bewildered look," her eyes excited and full of desire, she breathed heavily, "Chaos, chaos is the ladder to the world!"
"Chaos is the universe's most primal state, chaos! What a marvelous pleasure!"
"Anyway, we must lay claim to Seden Town."
The Cultist of Pain drew a conclusion, "An Su Moningsta, no matter how devout a saint he is, we shall make him fall. This is something your Chaos Sect excels at."
"The era of chaos is about to begin."
—
Today is An Su Moningsta's first day as an official saint
As per the ritual, he must first bathe in Holy Water in the sanctuary—essentially just a bathhouse.
After quickly washing up, he casually issued a decree.
[Exposure of the body here is forbidden]
Several saints, unable to control themselves, ran naked from the bathhouse, pulling on their pants as they went.
Heh, quite amusing.