AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
"But I still carry the truth and bestow it upon the people."
"What imprisons you here are not shackles, but fear of the Covenant and faith in the gods."
"Have you ever witnessed true gods? Have the gods ever responded to your faith?"
"They demand you kneel, they demand your offerings, yet they never give true hope."
"They deceive you with scriptures and imprison your thoughts with holy words. They claim that all suffering in the world is a test for you, and that as long as you serve wholeheartedly, you can ascend to the paradise of the Highest Heavens."
"I want to tell you, everything is a carefully woven lie by the gods, only to conceal their sinister intentions!"
"There has never been any savior, nor does it rely on gods and prophets!"
"Break free from it, smash the cage of faith, abandon the worship of the gods, and obtain the true salvation that belongs to humanity! Not by illusory gods, but by your own hands and will."
"Fight back, fight back now! I will break your shackles and give you freedom."
"One day you will understand, all we have to lose are our chains!"
"Crack!"
The glow of psychic power rippled out like waves, flowing over the slaves' mottled shackles. In an instant, the crisp sounds of metal breaking echoed one after another, playing a symphony of resistance against fate.
Logar took the torch handed to him by Erebus. The torch drew a scorching arc in the air and landed precisely into the mountain of scriptures.
Chapter 62 Logar: Lol, don't call out, bio-butterflies!
"Lies, the gods despise you!"
"Heretic!"
The believers cried out as they rushed into the sea of fire, trying to rescue the scriptures ignited by the flames.
Esperia stared blankly as the flames, like an awakened beast, greedily devoured the sacred scriptures and the believers who tried to rescue them. She had no idea that Logar had ordered her to collect the scriptures for this moment.
She was confused.
She resisted the Covenant because the Covenant had deviated from the glory of the gods, but why burn the scriptures as well?
Could it be that Logar was really not a prophet?
If he was not a prophet, how could the divinity in his eyes be explained?
If he was a prophet, why would he betray the gods?
The slaves looked up, their turbid eyes reflecting the flickering firelight.
They were too far away to see clearly, so some stood up, straightening their hunched backs.
More and more slaves trembled as they propped themselves up, their brown backs forming a continuous line in the firelight, like a forest of poplars suddenly rising from the desert.
Although Logar's heretical words frightened them, and some even wanted to rush into the sea of fire to save the scriptures like the believers, he said he would give them freedom!
What was freedom?
Their ancestors had been slaves for generations, enslaved by the Covenant for generations.
They were very unfamiliar with this word, but it seemed to possess some kind of magic, making them immerse themselves in it, unable to extricate themselves.
For the first time, their turbid eyes reflected a flickering light, not worship of gods, but a never-before-seen, vibrant vitality.
"Oh, Great One, what should I do?"
Esperia stared blankly at the sea of fire, stumbling towards it.
Hundreds of believers threw themselves into the sea of fire, fearlessly trying to save the holy words of the gods.
But the flames seemed to be alive, actively retreating when believers threw themselves in, and then blocking their escape routes when believers tried to flee.
They got what they wished for; everyone perished in the sea of fire along with the scriptures, with no one surviving.
It seemed she had made a mistake.
The prophet she believed in truly seemed to be a heretic, and she had also inadvertently betrayed the gods.
Esperia was in great pain and wanted to cry. But the sea of fire seemed to have dried up her tears; not a single tear could flow out.
She should atone for her sins with death, dying in this sea of fire along with those devout believers. Only then could she prove her faith.
The sea of fire strangely parted before Esperia, the flickering flames retreating to both sides like attendants, leaving a scorching path on the scorched sand.
She instinctively took a step forward, then fearfully recoiled.
Her body trembled with fear.
"Why?"
If the gods truly existed, why didn't they punish Logar's heretical actions? Why did the devout suffer?
"Why?"
Esperia held her face, trembling with fear, tears hitting her palms one by one.
Sacrificing herself for the gods was her glory, so why was she afraid? Why was her faith wavering?
"If you cannot make up your mind to die, then why not try to live as a human?"
Esperia wiped away her tears and turned to look at Logar.
"Am I not human?"
"You are a servant of the gods. You were, you are, but the future has not yet happened."
"Do I have a choice?"
"To advance or retreat, to survive or perish, the choice is yours."
Esperia looked back at the sea of fire; it was still inviting her.
The scriptures of the gods were right before her eyes; if she took two steps forward, she could rescue them with a single reach.
She saw her warrior bravely rush into the sea of fire to save the scriptures. He was braver than her, and his faith was firmer than hers.
But he rushed in and never came out again. Although it was only a step away, the sea of fire mercilessly separated him from the boundary of life.
Esperia's tears fell rapidly. She was a Deacon who commanded all warriors, yet now she cried like a lost child.
She suddenly retreated several steps, then turned and ran, running over a hundred meters before collapsing onto the ground.
"Now I know why I couldn't become a priest."
Esperia cried and wiped her tears.
"I thought her faith would be as devout as a priest's; I can't believe it collapsed so easily."
Erebus muttered to himself.
Worp: "That's because she was facing Logar."
Humans habitually obey authority. On one side are the gods they have believed in for half their lives but never seen, and on the other is a living god who preaches disbelief in gods. A normal person would be at a loss.
The defection of the slaves was inevitable. They had believed in the gods for half their lives, but had never received any substantial benefits from it.
Forget about a comfortable life; if there was a day they weren't whipped, they would have to pray devoutly.
Logar broke their shackles and gave them freedom.
Although they could not yet understand the meaning of freedom, they would instinctively choose to wait and see. The world has always been this way: they help whoever wins.
The selflessness of the believers was also inevitable.
They had believed in the gods for half their lives and had indeed received benefits, enjoying a comfortable life.
That set of religious theories had already rotted their brains; they believed in the Covenant's ways implicitly, believing they could go to paradise after death, so naturally they would not give up the opportunity to show their devotion.
This also had a lot to do with their social class; the higher the status, the more selflessly they would act; the lower the status, the more they would kneel in the face of fear.
Esperia's case was extremely rare; she held a high position yet was indecisive. This was related to her age; she was too young and was a Deacon responsible for combat, not as specialized in faith as a priest.
But the main reason was that Logar's charisma was too great; no one could resist it.
This also had to be thanks to the gods' arrangements. If this world had already been corrupted and polluted by Chaos, Logar's words would be useless, no matter how much he talked.
But if that were truly the case, Logar wouldn't need to talk; he would just kill.
Logar stood before the surging sea of fire, his figure casting a long silhouette on the sand, his white hem gently swaying in the hot wind.
Actually, he could have used a gentler method to slowly change their faith in the gods.
But that would be too inefficient, and it would lead to endless troubles.
If there were agents of the gods lurking in the crowd, the seeds of faith would be sown among the people, until one day they would spread poison everywhere.
Then all his efforts would be in vain.
But he did not entirely pursue efficiency. If he were to pursue efficiency, he should kill all believers, because believers were all potential ticking time bombs.
The number of slaves was more than three times that of the believers. Even if he killed all believers, he would still have a sufficient population base to rule.
But he was too soft-hearted. He wanted to give people like Esperia a chance, just as his brothers would also give the Nostramo people a chance.
Logar murmured, "Just like Worp gave me a chance."
When the last scripture also turned to ashes in the flames, and the flames gradually extinguished, Logar used his hand to sift through the ashes, ensuring there were no survivors, neither people nor scriptures.
Only after he confirmed that everything had been burned to ashes did he return to the deck with peace of mind.
Logar looked at Worp with firm eyes, his eyes burning with purple flames, his voice echoing like thunder in the desert.
"I am convinced that my path is correct. They can go through fire and water for the gods today, and tomorrow they can betray the cause of humanity for the gods. To achieve the great rejuvenation of humanity, the cancerous tumor of faith must be completely eradicated from the roots of human thought! The Emperor is correct. If my brothers do not realize this, then let me accomplish it!"
Worp agreed with Logar's words; faith was indeed a tumor.
Even if the imperial truth promoted by the Emperor had flaws, even if the imperial truth was a lie, his idea was not wrong, and he was only a little bit away from succeeding.
It's just, Logar, you won't even call the Emperor 'father'?
Worp had a mind to help the Emperor mend his father-son relationship, but he thought about it and decided against it. He couldn't let the Emperor ruin his relationship with Logar.
...
"My Lord."
Akhida lowered his head, "We have impounded all transport trucks and refused Vahadish's radio contact. The Covenant will not know what happened here, but they will definitely send reinforcements. The Holy Covenant Army's vanguard will arrive in three days at the earliest."
"Then we will take the initiative to attack,"
Logar said, "From Vahadish to Atlantis, Melson is the only way. As long as we capture Melson, we can gain strategic initiative. We must also capture it, as Atlantis produces neither water nor food. The Covenant doesn't even need to attack us; they just need to trap us here, and it won't be long before we run out of supplies."
Logar's goal from the beginning was not Atlantis, but semi-permanent settlements like Melson.
Atlantis was a mining city with no self-sufficiency; all supplies relied on Melson and other plantations.
Although the plantations in Melson grew cotton and flax, they had enough water, and other plantations could provide food.
So Logar had to capture at least three semi-permanent settlements to allow the resistance to survive in the harsh Colchis. Atlantis just happened to be in his way.
Esperia volunteered, "My Lord, the workers are in high spirits. I can lead them to take Melson."
She was once an Armorer Deacon of the Holy Covenant Army, and now she was the chief instructor of the resistance.
Since Atlantis was liberated, there were no devout believers left in the city, because the devout had already gone through fire and water for the gods.
The slaves were armed, and they spontaneously accepted Esperia's training to protect the freedom they had so hard-won.
And the freedom Logar gave them was actually very cheap; he only shortened the previous 20 hours of work per small day to 12 hours, strictly implementing the work-period, main-work-period, and night-rest-period schedule.
The extra four hours of rest were enough to make them understand that humans should not live like livestock.
The suffering of the lower classes is monotonous, while the extravagance of the upper classes is colorful. This statement holds true for most worlds in the galaxy.
Colchis was not a hive world; it didn't have that many factories, nor that many assembly line jobs.
Making slaves work 20 hours a day was actually far less efficient than making them work only 12 hours, because 4 hours of sleep would only make the slaves listless all day, unable to get motivated at all.
The Covenant didn't need that high efficiency either; just enough to maintain rule was fine.
But the act of oppressing slaves itself was very important; they couldn't just make slaves work when needed.
This is like some exploitative company bosses who insist on making employees work overtime after hours, and then hold meetings after overtime, even having team-building activities during holidays. Of course, they know this doesn't generate actual profit, but their goal of encroaching on employees' rest time has been achieved.
But their oppression also bred the soil for resistance. The slaves actually always had grievances; they just lacked someone to lead them to revolt, and Logar was that person.
Logar's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He and Worp could jointly capture any settlement. He didn't train the resistance to send them to their deaths!
He wanted to refuse Esperia, but then he saw Worp shake his head at him, so he changed his words.