Chapter 536: The Four Pillar Deities Favor

"Great Four Pillar Deities, please heed my command!"

The moment Ashe shouted those words, even Mercury Trojan Horse's expressionless face, which looked as though it had been carved from concrete, went blank for a moment.

Harvey remained calm, completely unaware that anything was amiss. As a seasoned buffet terrorist, he used the same set of social pleasantries when dealing with all sorts of partners, whether sexual partners, corpses, or ordinary people. Phrases like "You've gotten so stiff," "I'll be gentle with you," and "You're reacting so strongly" were second nature to him. Consequently, Ashe's words sounded entirely normal to his ears. If sorcerers could command corpses, then of course they could command the Four Pillar Deities.

Tahmas turned around and gave Ashe a thumbs-up.

That left only Iger, whose feelings on the matter were decidedly mixed.

Though he frequently called Ashe an idiot, Iger was confident that he couldn't possibly have been this dull. So how could he still manage to make such a blunder? It wasn't even his first time dealing with the Four Pillar Deities. It was like dropping food all over a demon while delivering a meal to it, and doing so three times in a row. There was no other explanation other than that Ashe had done it deliberately.

But why would he do that?

At the utterly boring question, the little boy hiding in the deepest, darkest room of the fraudster's heart, the one who had to curl up inside a cluttered cabinet before he could sleep, gave a cold laugh and supplied the answer:

"He wants to trick you.

"If he deliberately speaks disrespectfully during the prayer, he'll earn the Four Pillar Deities' displeasure and naturally lose his qualification to become Sense. He's different from you and Harvey. He's a flawless Sacred Realm sorcerer, with a chance of becoming a Legendary, or even a Pseudo-God Angel in the future. Becoming Sense would be a burden, a liability, a curse to him.

"Do you really think he doesn't know he's the first choice? Mercury Trojan Horse had her eyes on him from the moment she arrived. There's no way he could refuse. All those lofty speeches about selfless sacrifice were nothing more than an attempt to win your goodwill and gratitude. And now he's deliberately sabotaging himself. Once he does that, aren't you the only candidate left?

"For her own interests, Mercury Trojan Horse will do everything she can to help you become Sense. And without sacrificing anything himself, he can escape all the calamities and make you pay the price instead.

"He'll definitely play dumb afterward and come up with the perfect excuse, claiming that he simply made an accidental mistake.

"He speaks of selflessness while thinking only of himself. He sends others to their deaths while keeping the benefits for himself. He takes advantage of circumstances and shifts the calamities onto others.

"Isn't that the very mask we've been wearing all along?"

A deep undercurrent silently stirred within Iger's heart, and that familiar atmosphere returned once more. Perhaps he had never truly escaped the Blood Moon. A person like him would carry the Blood Moon wherever he went.

Iger looked at Ashe. Ashe turned toward them as well, his face full of confusion. The cult leader said blankly. "I didn't mean to say it like that. While I do admit that I really am dissatisfied with the Four Pillar Deities... Could it be that I've become so upright that even my mouth can no longer tell a lie?"

What a pathetic excuse. Only an idiot would believe that.

Iger rubbed his forehead, sighed helplessly, and shook his head. "Idiot."

Ashe himself was bewildered. He really hadn't meant to say that. Did I seriously just mess that up?

Mercury Trojan Horse suddenly said, "...I see. That Sense had already been guarding against you stealing her favor."

"Huh?"

"The Everlasting Doom you encountered before left a little surprise in the mark she gave you," Mercury Trojan Horse said. "The moment you attempt to pray to the Four Pillar Deities, your luck will drop to its absolute minimum. In other words, you are incapable of completing a sincere prayer. You'll lose focus, feel nauseous, start thinking about random things, and become sleepy. Under one mishap after another, every word of praise you utter will end up turning into an insult.

"She may not see the truth as I can, but she knows your value. So she came up with this method to prevent you from earning their favor.

"It's a very childish method, almost laughably so, like something a child would come up with. But I have to admit, it's very effective."

Ashe was stunned. "The Four Pillar Deities will ignore me just because I put on a slightly superior attitude? Aren't the Four Pillar Deities supposed to be broad-minded and above such trivialities, great beings who wouldn't care about a mortal's disrespect and could laugh off any insult?"

A thought occurred to both Iger and Harvey. That's more than just a slightly superior attitude. And didn't you just call the Four Pillar Deities four persistent cult-peddling thugs back in the prison?

Mercury Trojan Horse responded, "Indeed, the Four Pillar Deities don't care about a mortal's disrespect. But there's the twist. You're not competing for a mortal's position. Could you tolerate your own eyeball speaking disrespectfully to you? Keep in mind, you're not the only eyeball.

"Besides, the Lord of Infinite Light, Lord of Wind, Rain, and Snow, and the Soul of Dreams and Freedom among the Four Pillar Deities all detest that kind of condescending tone. The Heart of Eternal Flame doesn't care, but that doesn't mean it would respond to you. If they responded to you, wouldn't they be lowering their dignity just to indulge you?"

"Are the Four Pillar Deities really that petty?"

"The Four Pillar Deities are indeed petty," Mercury Trojan Horse said. "Their doctrines have never included such altruistic virtues as kindness, mercy, or forgiveness. Instead, they value self-serving virtues such as courage, wisdom, and pleasure. In the Four Pillars Cult, being petty is considered a virtue. One of their doctrines even encourages us never to sacrifice our own feelings just to make others happy."

"Then what do I do?" Ashe asked anxiously. "Is there any way to earn more of the Four Pillar Deities' favor? I mean, their attention? Do I need to put on some kind of performance?"

Mercury Trojan Horse shook her head. "There's nothing you can do. After speaking to them so disrespectfully, the Four Pillar Deities will never respond to you. Unless—"

Whoosh!

The flames of the campfire suddenly surged upward, as though the light had broken free of its reins and was advancing without restraint. The Night retreated step by step, revealing the street lamps, fire basins, and every other source of illumination it had swallowed.

In an instant, the camp was bright once more, and the statues of the Four Pillar Deities at the very edge of the camp began to glow faintly.

"...They really do adore you."

Ashe could no longer hear Mercury Trojan Horse's comment. Sound, light, color, airflow. Everything he perceived seemed to break apart and rearrange itself. It was as though everything he had encountered before had merely been a superficial facade, and he had finally wiped the dust from a pane of glass and glimpsed the truth hidden behind it.

Plop.

With the sound of something falling into water, a sound he couldn't actually hear, Ashe felt himself plunge into the deep sea. Cold seawater assaulted his skin, forced its way into his nostrils, spread a stinging sensation through his eyes, and seemed to melt his eardrums.

Bubbles. He felt as though he had become a bubble.

In a daze, he saw eight figures.

They were arguing, fighting, and entangled with one another. Then, the first one died, its corpse lying in a pool of blood. The second followed, its corpse falling on top of the first. It did not bleed, but a tiny white soul crawled out from the wound beneath its corpse. The white soul pushed the second corpse upright.

Pop.

With the inaudible sound of a bubble bursting, Ashe suddenly sat upright from the ground. He looked at the people gathered around him.

"What happened?"

"Don't ask the question we're about to ask first," Iger said. "You suddenly collapsed and then woke up again. You were probably unconscious for around ten seconds. What happened?"

"I think I dreamed that I became a bubble," Ashe said uncertainly. "And I saw some really strange things."

"When you become Sense, the Four Pillar Deities aren't the only ones who can use you to interact with the world. You can in turn also come in contact with the Four Pillar Deities," Mercury Trojan Horse explained. "But to us mortals, the Four Pillar Deities are like dragons in a dark room. No matter how much we grope around, we can only touch an insignificant fragment of them. That's why you receive information that you can't possibly understand."

"Right, Sense!" Ashe looked at his hands. "Am I Sense now? What kind of ability do I have? Is there some kind of beginner's gu—"

Bang!

In the blink of an eye, Tahmas slammed Mercury Trojan Horse to the ground! The savage black crow straddled the female gunslinger, pinning her remaining intact hand to the ground with a dagger. His hand axe was buried beside her neck; all it would take was one downward swing for a fountain of blood to erupt!

Ashe and the others were about to say something, but the moment they saw the expression on Mercury Trojan Horse's face, they quickly became serious.

Mercury Trojan Horse was smiling. It was the first genuinely sincere smile she had shown since appearing. It was innocent and pure, yet somehow made one's hair stand on end.

"Tell me," Tahmas said, his distorted voice filled with hatred. "What tragedy are you plotting this time?"

"Tahmas, you're really doing me an injustice this time," she said cheerfully. "How could the Four Pillar Deities possibly be pawns I can manipulate? I simply didn't expect the ideal outcome to actually occur. Praise be the Four Pillar Deities."

She paused, then looked at Ashe. "The Four Pillar Deities really do adore you. Even after you showed them such disrespect, they were still willing to forgive you. But for now, you've only become half-Sense."