Chapter 926 — A Thought Current Without Inclination
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Gao Yang had never expected that the root cause of the War God's faith system failing first would ultimately trace back to the "economic war" between Cecil and Typhon—and on that foundation, many things had gone beyond his predictions.
He had not expected different gods to possess different "inclinations," still less how one might predict a god's inclination from the direction of "thought currents"; he had not expected certain changes in human society to exert such a direct influence on the corresponding gods, nor that certain gods with "weak tolerance" would react so violently...
In that instant, he even began to wonder whether his development plans had been too far ahead of their time, or had trespassed into territory they should never have touched.
Yet another voice within him kept a sober judgment: mortals' desire to pursue a better life was in itself no original sin. That gods would gradually descend into madness as mortal civilization advanced—this he had known long ago; it was only that this influence had finally begun to manifest before his eyes.
Looking back and carefully retracing everything Cecil had gone through on its rise, he realized those development plans had in truth left him no choice at all—without them, Cecil would have been annihilated before it ever rose. The Southern Region would have suffered grievous casualties at the first breach of the Grand Wall, the feeble Kingdom of Anzu could never have repaired the rift at the edge of the Gondor Wastes, civil war and the subsequent Calamity of the Gods would have utterly destroyed Anzu, and hard on their heels would have come Typhon's war of annexation...
By then, the efficiency of human slaughter might well have surpassed a Calamity of the Gods.
Still, he shook his head and could not help sighing, "To think that our unconscious actions would drive the War God to madness..."
The next second, Amorn's voice sounded in his mind, carrying a gentle, soft laugh: "Ah... though all this is indeed connected to you, you may also be overestimating the influence of what you have done in these few short years upon a god."
"The War God's rapid deterioration must indeed be a recent matter, but He was not driven mad merely by the kind of 'war' you just mentioned—at most, you gave a slight push at the edge of the cliff, an acceleration that, viewed as a whole, is trivial. From what I understand... or rather, surmise, the War God's madness overcoming His reason must have begun long, long ago."
Gao Yang's expression shifted at once; he could tell that this former god before him seemed to hold some inside knowledge, and pressed at once: "Why do you say that?"
"I told you, the War God's inclination makes Him one of the gods most prone to madness, and you mortals... you mortals are simply too skilled at change, especially at shifting your own bottom lines in the face of war. Ever since you began throwing stones at one another, the 'oaths' you asked the War God to witness have outnumbered those witnessed by any other god—and yet, through every manner of excuse and scheming, even without bothering to find an excuse at all, the agreements you have torn up are beyond counting..."
Amorn spoke unhurriedly, like a cold-eyed bystander passing judgment on the scripts played out on the stage of the mortal world; there was no disgust in his tone, yet neither was there the slightest defense or exculpation.
"Merchants, before profit, must at least keep up a semblance of good faith; kings and lords, however, may exhaust every means to break their word—yes, they had the War God witness those contracts, but long before they prayed, they had already devised the proper way to break them, making everything appear fair and reasonable, enough even to fool and move themselves..."
"So mortals are practically 'split in spirit' where war is concerned—and so, too, is the War God split in spirit; even if He was not at first, He would swiftly slide toward this abyss."