Chapter 21: The Peace of Evil |
He had arranged for the Watchman to monitor Opper.
At the same time, Nemus used the Oath Rope to initiate silence control on the Watchman, allowing his movements to remain completely quiet.
Logically speaking, given the vigilance the Watchman had displayed previously, it was highly unlikely that Opper would discover him.
Then why had the Watchman experienced such a massive fluctuation, one strong enough for the Oath Rope to sense it?
What truly surprised Nemus was that the Watchman had actually manifested Faith.
The Watchman had clearly been forced into serving him through a Demonic Contract and the threat to his daughter''s life.
The Watchman''s attitude toward him was one of unambiguous hatred. Nemus was certain that if given the chance, the Watchman would absolutely kill him.
Yet despite this relationship, the Watchman had generated Faith in him.
"No, that is incorrect. It is not Faith in me, but Faith in the Demon," Nemus murmured. Relying on his Divinity, he touched that current of Faith, comprehending its true essence.
"This structure of Faith is truly fascinating."
In a narrow sense, Faith referred to trust in and reverence for a god.
In reality, however, Faith was a deep conviction in a certain abstract Concept.
For example, a merchant''s principle of Profit First meant that the merchant was a believer in profit.
A farmer toiling in the fields held trust in the land and their crops, which was also a form of Faith.
Even a simple fondness for the wind could be considered a type of Faith.
Thoughts of admiration, submission, trust, or fear toward objects and abstract Concepts could all exist as Faith.
Among the Orthodox Gods, for instance, there was the savage, berserk Pantheon.
Led by the Lord of Storms, this furious Pantheon primarily gathered Faith through the terror of the storm.
Although Nemus had known this in the past, it had been like listening to a story; his understanding was limited to mere knowledge.
Now, witnessing firsthand how the Watchman formed Faith out of his fear of Demons—and even the more abstract concept of evil—Nemus finally connected the dots, achieving true comprehension.
"Then the next step is action, ultimately unifying knowledge and practice," Nemus declared softly. After understanding the complexity of Faith, he now had a method to deal with those Impure Thoughts.
However, Nemus was in no rush. Sharpening the axe would not delay the cutting of firewood. He sensed that the Watchman was sprinting rapidly back toward the village.
Sure enough, a knock soon echoed on the door of Nemus''s residence. It was the Watchman.
"Opper... he tricked the miners into entering the Mine Shaft, and then blew it up!" As the Watchman spoke, he could not help but swallow hard.
Although he had killed people before, compared to Opper, his actions were child''s play.
He possessed none of Opper''s decisive ruthlessness.
Opper had laughed and chatted with over a dozen miners, only to unhesitatingly toss out several Scrolls the moment they went inside, destroying the Mine Shaft.
Among the victims were even Opper''s own trusted aides, including the servant who had brought tea and snacks to Nemus earlier that day.
He, too, had been murdered by Opper.
That display of pure evil for the sake of profit reminded the Watchman of Nemus. Both were similar entities; both were true Demons.
The only difference was that one might literally belong to the Demon species, while the other was a Demon in his very soul.
It was this terrified Cognition that formed Faith, which Nemus was then able to sense through the Oath Rope.
"It seems Opper did quite well." Facing the Watchman''s lingering fear, Nemus merely smiled as he made the remark.
This reaction sent a genuine chill down the Watchman''s spine.
He only killed for his daughter''s sake, and afterward, he tried his best to avoid taking lives, resorting instead to digging up corpses.
Deep down, he still held respect for life. But Opper and Nemus were different. Their sole criterion for judging life was its value; they were entirely indifferent to the sanctity of existence. At that moment, the hatred the Watchman harbored toward Nemus was mostly shattered by overwhelming fear.
The minor schemes the Watchman had been secretly plotting faded away into nothingness.
''Forget it. As long as I can guarantee my daughter''s safety, I shouldn''t fight against people like them anymore. I can never win,'' he thought in despair.
This was not a matter of strength. If it were merely about physical power, the Watchman would not have been afraid, even after being completely overpowered by Nemus earlier.
It was an absolute crushing of his mindset.
"Why should you be afraid?" Nemus suddenly asked, looking directly at the Watchman.
"Aren''t we all just devouring others for our own benefit?"
"It is simply that our methods of feasting differ."
"Just focus on doing your own job. Do not let this unsettle you." Nemus''s words inexplicably brought a sense of comfort to the Watchman, making him feel that his own sins were completely forgiven and accepted here.
Nemus could see a seed being planted—a seed of Faith in evil taking root within the Watchman''s heart.
The next day, at dawn when the whales sang, Nemus once again performed the Whale Transformation surgery on Purr, who had arrived quietly.
Only this time, Nemus instructed Purr to actively trigger his Essence of Suffering. Simultaneously, the Oath Rope within Purr''s body began to shift under Nemus''s control.
The power of sealing could screen away something that tangibly existed, eliminating its influence entirely.
"It truly has to be a Demon," Nemus sighed in admiration. The added ability of sealing came from his Demonic Contract with the Lesser Demon, Krog.
Demons were a naturally Supernatural race; even a Lesser Demon was far beyond what an ordinary human could compare to.
"And this can also serve as a reference point—namely, the state of demonic possession." Nemus''s Spiritual Insight continuously surged.
The Watchman had endured repeated infections and recoveries, forcing the Deep Well Water in his body to adapt to the mutation of Whale Transformation Sickness, leaving behind the seeds of Whale-ification.
However, Nemus did not need to go through such a tedious process.
Manipulating the Oath Rope, Nemus began to cast a seal with Whale Transformation Sickness as the main subject.
''I sealed Krog within Downs. Downs''s body allows the Demon to remain in this world long-term, but it also prevents him from further corrupting Downs.''
''This line of thinking can be applied to Whale Transformation Sickness as well.''
''By utilizing the seal, I can mitigate the conflict between Whale Transformation Sickness and the Deep Well Water, keeping the sickness constantly present. Then, through continuous manipulation of the seal, I can force the sickness and the Deep Well Water to clash and fuse in small, repeated increments.''
''As long as my control over the seal is precise enough, and with Purr''s own essence acting as a binding agent, there is a high probability that the experiment will succeed!''
Nemus''s train of thought became incredibly clear and unimpeded.
While the soul of Nels acted as the surface layer to continue operating the experiment, his deeply hidden True Spirit activated the Divinity, observing the newly emerging Faith from Purr.
Everything proceeded exceptionally smoothly.
Nemus''s theory proved to be correct.
The presence of the seal suppressed the intensity of the conflict between the Deep Well Water and the Whale Transformation Sickness, keeping them in a delicate balance where they could clash, yet a full-blown eruption was highly unlikely.
Finally, there was Purr''s own power—the Essence of Suffering.
This power, triggered by the Precept of Forgiveness and awakened by the Oath Rope and Faith, possessed the ability to control his own pain sensitivity and convert that pain into internal strength.
The power of suffering acted as the perfect bridge, swiftly constructing a platform that merged the two conflicting forces.
Outwardly, this manifested as numerous black spots suddenly appearing on Purr''s resting body.
Those black spots quickly spread outward. For the very first time, the power of Whale Transformation Sickness fully bloomed within Purr.