AD 17.
Thunder rumbled in the chaotic sky, and countless bolts of lightning fell from the sky, shattering the sky and splitting the earth, as if they were going to shatter the world in one fell swoop.
A young man with a somewhat gloomy face watched all this indifferently on the hill. In this vision, people screamed and ran away in fear. But in the young man's eyes, these are just tens of thousands of dust and ants.
He caused brimstone and fire to fall from the sky above the castle, destroying the entire castle, all its defenders, all the hills and plains surrounding the castle, and everything that grew on the ground. A few people were lucky enough to escape from this disaster, but they couldn't help but look back. With just one glance, they were turned into pillars of salt.
Another boy ran up the mountain in a panic. He looked much brighter and livelier than the previous boy. He ran to the gloomy young man, saw the scene down the mountain, and froze there. After a while, he stammered and said to the somewhat gloomy young man: "Emmanuel, I said I would bring the governor of Aflica Province to counter the rebellion. Why are you so anxious?"
The young man called Emmanuel dismissed the complaint: "Longinus, you came too late. Let the governor of Ephilica go back and forth wherever he goes. The rebels' sleeve tower Kefalinas has turned into a pillar of salt.”
"Brother, you did such an exaggerated thing again! If someone asks me who did it, what should I say?"
Immanuel responded casually: "Just say God is angry."
"Which god?"
"It doesn't matter which god. If it happens to be the god that the governor believes in, he will be happier."
After saying this, his face sank again and he stared at everything below the mountain - the melted stone walls, the burned red hills, and the burned dry and cracked plains. A human-shaped salt pillar stood on the ground, gradually deforming in the wind.
This was a rebellion within the Empire of the Seven Hills, which broke out in the Numidia region that had been conquered by the Empire of the Seven Hills. Its leader, Takfalinas, once served as the commander of the Seven Hills Empire Auxiliary Legion, but later turned into a bandit and led the local people to launch a rebellion.
"Longinus, since we were six years old, there have been several rebellions in the Seven Hills Empire. Do you still remember them clearly?"
Longinus suddenly looked embarrassed. He scratched his head and counted several times with his fingers, but he couldn't come up with a specific number.
Emmanuel sighed. Illyricum, Teutoburg Forest, Panoria, Germany, Thrace, Gaul, Numidia... all these areas have experienced rebellions of various sizes. No wonder Longinus couldn't figure it out.
The Qiqiu Empire relied on its powerful force to conquer many foreign races and established an unprecedentedly large empire on the mainland, but it was consuming its power in rebellions one after another. If this continues, I am afraid that the Qiqiu Empire will eventually usher in its demise from victory after victory.
There is also a temple on the plain, which the rebels renovated based on the original Seven Hills Imperial Temple.
Immanuel did not know which god was worshiped there.
The Empire of the Seven Hills contains many ethnic groups, each of which has its own different beliefs: in Rabbah, Argob, Bashan, and to the banks of the Arnon River, people believe in Molech; from Aroai to Nebo, As far as the shores of the Dead Sea, people worshiped Chemosh; the god between the Syrian border rivers was named Baal; on the border of Azor and Palestine, there stood the temple of Dagon; and Osiris, who was influenced by the Egyptians of worship...
Even in the Qiqiu Empire's own belief system, there are many gods fighting overtly and covertly.
In this way, how can rebellion not break out and fights not occur?
"Longinus, do you know? Whenever I think of this kind of thing, I always admire our prophet Moses."
"What?" Longinus failed to follow Emmanuel's train of thought for a moment.
Emmanuel raised a finger to the sky: "One God, above all."
"Ah, is it called Yahweh? The god you Semites worship. Unfortunately, in mythology, he only makes a covenant with you."
Emmanuel's eyes look toward the distant future.
"That God is supreme, perfect, eternal, infinite, omnipotent, omniscient. His extension extends from eternity to eternity, and his manifestations extend from infinity to infinity; he is not eternal and infinite, but But it is eternal and infinite. He is not extension or space, but he continues and exists. He exists forever and is omnipresent, thus constituting extension and space."
"However, Moses left behind a way for people to approach eternity and infinity... How can this be done? There are only a few people who can reach that level from ancient times to the present. And those low-level clumsy people Magicians are just adding to the disputes in the world. If you ask me, just use the methods of those stupid polytheistic believers to make people believe that magic comes from the blessing of gods."
"This new god has eyes, ears, brains, arms, and the ability to feel, understand, and act, but in a completely non-material way, in a way that people absolutely He acts in an unknowable way. He is infinite, and one knows nothing about how the infinite perceives and understands things.”
"If he cannot be understood, no one can get protection from him. Fearing his infinity, people will eventually realize their own limitations. Therefore, his believers will inevitably lose the power of magic!"
"On top of this, tell everyone that although people cannot learn magic by understanding the nature of the only true God, the only true God will actively give gifts to a small number of people... In this way, Yahweh's power will only Gather to this small group of people. They will gain powerful power that no other believer of God can match! Isn’t this much faster and more powerful than the method left by Moses?”
"On top of this, I will go one step further and base the power of a small number of people on a few eternal truths. The only God should not only master fire, water, war, victory and other things, it must master Truth. Let the one chosen by God master the power of truth, which will make him more feared by believers, and his power will become stronger as a result."
"Like honey powder surrounding the queen bee, the people who have lost their power will unite around the only power with unprecedented cohesion - Longinus, listen, how wonderful this would be! The vast majority cannot master magic. Humans, a very small number of people who maintain order with extremely powerful magic. And the only god... As long as such an order is established, the world will be peaceful!"
“So, from this day forward, Yahweh will be the universal God!”
Longinus was stunned as he listened. After Immanuel finished speaking, he stammered and asked: "Emmanuel... you want to create a new god yourself?"
"Isn't this what stupid people often do? Make up a clay doll and kneel down to worship it. Use your imagination to give the clay doll divine power, and then pray to the clay doll to give you power... I'm just Just do the same thing."
The sunlight disappeared from Longinus' face.
"Emmanuel... You and I clearly know the true source of magical power, but you want to use this power to create a new god to deceive the world?"
"Longinus, have you heard the story of the Tower of Babel?"
"I've heard that people tried to build a tower leading to the throne of God, but they fell apart under God's punishment and could no longer be united."
"Oh, the story says that it was God who caused this ending - but Longinus, you and I both know what kind of thing God is! It can't be God that caused this ending, but man himself - —If everyone realizes their own potential to reach the gods, they will inevitably fall apart within themselves!”
"Emmanuel, what do you want to say?"
"Let people prostrate themselves forever under the gods they created... Longinus, if you still want to maintain peace and order in this world, never reveal the true secret of magic to the world!"
"Emmanuel! Have you ever thought that the Seven Hills Empire... no, this world may not necessarily accept this new god you created?"
"If this world does not accept it... then destroy this world first, and then rebuild it! If this is true, I will be called by future generations: King of Kings, Ruler of Kings!"
