This time, they arrested 5 heretics and 12 believers. The 12 believers have already been handed over to the Silver Frost Town chapel, so they only brought the heretics, boarding the patrol vehicle heading for Huijin City, where the Holy Court and Divine Magic Academy are located.
On the way, Rose was very interested in this world that had transformed from virtual to real. Hilia acted as a guide, introducing him to all sorts of things, while Rose also reciprocated with some 'secret history' about things as they used to be.
Until the surrounding wilderness villages were gradually replaced by bustling towns, Hilia happily introduced Rose: "We've arrived at Huijin City. This city is the heart of the Holy Court. It's said that the city was built on the ashes of the Evil God's corpse..."
Hilia's explanation suddenly paused.
Oh no, I accidentally said too much.
She quickly watched Rose's expression.
Rose asked, "Which Evil God?"
"...you."
"I'm not dead yet, so where would the ashes come from? Even if I died, it wouldn't have been on Starfall Continent. I remember I specifically went to the Divine Domain to go one-on-one against the Twelve Main Gods. If there really are ashes of an Evil God, it must be another Evil God." Rose looked rather baffled.
Srsly, guys, you old geezers—do you even have to rewrite this stuff?
"The only one called the Evil God is you, Sir Rose. Everyone else is just Evil God's Followers or demons."
Hilia saw Rose was somewhat confused about supposedly "dying" in Huijin City, and was a bit dumbfounded herself.
Could it be that everything written in the history books is wrong?
"Those old-timers didn't create a few extra Evil Gods just to water down the Evil God reputation?" Rose tutted in wonder, not noticing the shift in Hilia's mood.
The style of Huijin City matched fantasy settings—mostly with spired architecture. The adhesive between the building materials wasn't cement, but some mixture containing magic materials, serving the same purpose, able to support high-rise construction. Yet the tallest building in Huijin City was only twenty to thirty meters tall, not a skyscraper.
"Give me the full breakdown of Huijin City's backstory. I want to see how ridiculous it gets."
Hilia looked out the window at the lively streets, and recited softly: "A thousand years ago, the Gods and the Evil God..."
Hilia looked at Rose.
"Go ahead, the Evil God in the story isn't me. Keep going."
"The Gods and the Evil God battled through three springs, summers, and autumns. Mountains flattened, rivers dried up, the earth cracked, storms rampaged..."
"Yeah, definitely fought for a long time... Wait, you're saying my battle with the Twelve Main Gods was a thousand years ago?"
Hilia nodded.
Rose furrowed his brow, lost in thought. After a while, seeing Hilia didn't continue, he gestured for her to go on.
"...In the end, the Gods burned the Evil God's body into ashes with thunder, scattered them across the battlefield, and sealed the soul in the Endless Abyss. This divine battlefield became known as the Wasteland, a place saturated with hard-to-purify filth, spreading across the world.
"Only after the disaster was handled did the Gods notice this extra filth. To deal with it and prevent the Evil God's resurrection, they built a city here as the new headquarters of the Holy Court, naming it Huijin City."
After finishing, Hilia watched Rose carefully and found that he didn't show any bad feelings—instead, he seemed to just listen to the story while observing this massive city.
It's almost like... the 'Evil God' in the story really has nothing to do with the Evil God in front of her.
This story must be way too absurd for him, so he just keeps looking at the scenery outside.
Wait!
Is he studying Huijin City's defense? If he attacks the city one day to reclaim his body, then I... I'd become a criminal, wouldn't I?!
Hilia's mind tightened.
"I'm not that bored. My body's perfectly fine. I'm just surprised by the time span. Why's a Tier One Mage like you worrying about city defense? You should focus on your own cultivation." Rose shook his head. "The city's backstory is way too fake—just like those other mistakes I pointed out before, this city's lore has been BBC'd. I really don't get what these gods are trying to do; do they really not want human civilization to develop?"
History was rewritten, but the timeline shouldn't be... so he's been sealed by the gods for a thousand years?
After being sealed, Rose couldn't sense time passing, only became more familiar with his powers until they reached the limit, then continued to grow slowly.
For him, the span from being sealed to being summoned was both endless and fleeting—like centuries passed before the faint call reached him, yet also like he crossed over to become the Evil God, and the next moment was summoned by Hilia.
Those thousand years just skipped by, only when he descended into Hilia's mind did time finally start moving again.
Let's just say it's as if I was summoned right after becoming the Evil God.
Seeing Hilia still half-convinced, Rose thought he'd probably need her to lift the seal, so he asked, "Do you know why I'm called the Evil God, and why the gods only give this title to me?"
Hilia shook her head.
"I stripped them of their followers on Starfall Continent—made countless people lose their faith and weakened their power. To them, I'm the most evil existence."
Most Star Fall players go through this route: rewriting myths or spreading atheism to reduce the gods' believers, giving the gods a permanent nerf, then fighting the boss. Except for some high-difficulty challengers, most players do the faith-weakening mission before the final fight to make the boss easier.
In the game, it's just a flat all stats -20%, but for Hilia, it's the actual faith war of the gods.
"Did you turn all the gods' believers into heretics?"
"Nah, I don't need the Power of Faith. I just let everyone stop believing in the gods altogether. That's exactly why, after I ascended, they started calling me the Evil God."
"Oh..."
Clearly, this sounded almost like fantasy to Hilia, and she was a bit confused listening.
She didn't understand the faith conflicts between gods—only that Rose seemed to have done something to enrage every single god, which is why he got labelled the Evil God.
There's just one thing she could conclude: the Evil God named Rose wasn't nearly as chaotic or evil as the books claimed. Instead... he was just a god who lost the struggle.
Much like those ancient gods who faded away in lost eras.
But only Rose was called the Evil God.
Alright, even if he was super evil and everything he said was poisonous rhetoric, it's not like a Tier One Mage like me could handle any of it anyway.
Hilia's mental burden was slowly lifted, and she thought of another question—
Before going back to school, they needed to hand the heretics over to the Law Enforcement Court within the Holy Court.
As the Evil God, could Rose even enter the Holy Court?
That's the gods' Divine Hall, after all!