The boy summoned up all his strength to jump up, slammed the toy car in his hand against the light curtain conjured by the archbishop, and shouted in a clear childish voice: "Devil, die! I will destroy you on behalf of the light!"
"
At this moment, Howard was surprised to find that he was involuntarily waving and shouting along with the others.
The emotion of hatred was like a wave, completely overwhelming everyone present.
They no longer pursue the truth, no longer possess rationality, and become blindly obedient, paranoid and fanatical, completely succumbing to this simple and extreme emotion. (1)
No one can stay out of it.
Even Howard spent a lot of effort to break free from the wave of emotions and barely managed to stay rational.
The picture on the light screen is indeed bloody and terrifying.
Whether it is the ugly God of Darkness or his group of crazy believers, they all perfectly interpret the word "evil".
It's just that Howard can't figure out why the God of Darkness wants to destroy the world so much. This seems to be a thankless task for him.
When the anger reached its peak, the picture on the light screen quietly changed.
The vast and vast Arctic ice sheet appeared on the light curtain.
A black building stands on the snowy ice field, like a black ink stain on a white paper, which makes people want to wipe it off.
At this time, several loud shouts resounded across the vast ice field, covering up the angry roars of the crowd in the church.
"For the goddess!"
"For the goddess!"
"..."
That is the charge slogan of the Knights of the Church of Light. Only the bravest soldiers who are protected by the goddess can shout such a loud slogan.
In the roar of the wind, in the rhythm of the drums, in the sound of the horn, everyone present became passionate.
The hot blood flowed all over their bodies, surging and boiling.
They waved their hands, stamped their feet, followed the rhythm of the drums in the light curtain, and began to shout "For the goddess".
Even Howard was swept up in this emotional tide.
Because at this moment, everyone has the same hatred. Anyone who doesn't shout "for the goddess" is a heretic, a follower of the evil god, and an accomplice of the heretic.
For example, a young man near Howard hesitated for a moment, and was slapped hard by an old man next to him, who cursed: "Are you still a believer in the goddess?"
They watched with excitement as the cavalry of the Church of Light rushed into the Dark Temple, lit a fire inside, and burned the hideous and evil-looking black building.
Since then, the abrupt black in the picture has disappeared, leaving only pure white.
Everyone present had tears in their eyes.
Archbishop Nerga waved his hand, and the light curtain disappeared.
At this moment, Archbishop Nerga, wearing a divine robe and a crown, seemed to be the savior in everyone's mind, and every move he made exuded a divine and great temperament.
Even his gray temples and wrinkles on his forehead have become symbols of wisdom.
Look, it was under his leadership that the Knights of the Church of Light penetrated deep into the enemy's base camp and destroyed the altars used by the cultists to worship the evil gods.
He saved the Braden Kingdom and this plane.
At this time, I don’t know who took the lead in chanting: "Praise the goddess! Praise the archbishop!"
The sound is low, slow, but rhythmic, just like the drum beats of primitive people, making people want to follow and participate involuntarily.
Sure enough, as expected, everyone in the church, including Howard, started chanting "Praise to the Goddess! Praise to the Archbishop!"
This has almost become an instinctive reaction.
The sounds came and went and lasted for about five minutes before Archbishop Nerga slowly raised his hand to calm everyone down.
It can be seen that the archbishop enjoys this feeling of being worshiped by everyone.
Howard also regained a little bit of his sanity.
The scene in front of them seemed sacred and solemn. The believers were united, loving each other like brothers and sisters, and singing together to praise the mercy of the goddess, the bravery of the knights and the wisdom of the archbishop.
But out of some intuition, Howard always felt that the scene in front of him was inexplicably similar to the scene where cultists burned babies to sacrifice to evil gods.
What is burned is the body.
What burns is thought.
Different ideas were burned.
From then on, everything was peaceful.
There was only one voice left in Hagia Sophia.
The voice of Archbishop Nerga.
Howard couldn't hear clearly what the Archbishop was saying.
But every time he said something, everyone present would repeat it, wiping tears at the same time, with pious and excited eyes.
Howard suddenly felt that he could no longer stay in such an environment, otherwise he would forever lose the ability to think independently.
"This is really a place where people eat people..." he sighed with lingering fear.
So, taking advantage of a moment when no one noticed him, he quietly leaned aside, then quietly left the crowd and returned to his room.
As the crowd's shouts grew farther and farther away, reason returned to his body bit by bit.
He sat next to the desk, threw all the newspapers on the desk into the stove next to him, took down a copy of the "Lighting Book" from the bookshelf, and began to read page after page carefully.
What happened in the hall made Howard feel uneasy.
He was taught by his mother since childhood, was baptized in the church of Alexandria, and devoutly believed in the goddess of light.
But since returning to his hometown last time, his faith has once again been shaken deep in his soul.
He needs to find answers in the "Light Canon" and resolve the doubts in his heart in order to regain his faith in the goddess and the church.
“…At the beginning of the birth of the world, everything was shrouded in darkness and despair.
"God said, let there be light.
"Thus, the sun and moon were born, and the stars shined.
"..."
He frowned and flipped through page after page.
When he turned to the third page of "The Book of Light", he finally understood where the feeling of something wrong deep in his heart came from.
I saw this page saying:
“…Darkness existed before light…
“…Man is born in sin. From his mother’s womb, he is stained with darkness…
“…No one who is unclean will enter the Kingdom of Heaven…
"...Those who believe in God must be pious, diligent, patient, restrained, wash away stains, and atone for sins, so that their names can be recorded in the register, and glory and honor can be attributed to the Kingdom of Heaven...
"..."
Looking at the number on this page, he remembered the "three" sign that Allenby showed him.
At the same time, Allen's words echoed in his ears again: "Real light is never when there is no darkness, it is just never covered by darkness."
He suddenly understood the true meaning of Allen's words.
"No one is born pure and innocent." He told himself softly.
Then he stood up and walked towards the hall again.
…………
(1) From "The Crowd" by Gustave Le Bon.
ps: This chapter is an additional update thanks to the 10,000 reward from the leader Qian Houxue. Please vote for me and recommend it!