Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Chapter 866: Chapter 104: Chaos Crisis—Oliver’s Three Strategies, Parts One, Two, and Three_3

He governs magic, transformation, evolution, fate, lies, and trickery. He is the embodiment of Ten Thousand Transformations, a true representation of the terrifying energy and power of Chaos — an Evil God.

To the mortal world, he is always called Treachery, a name derived from the pronunciation of his true name from the dark tongue — Master of All Transformations. Known as the Great Mage of Chaos and God of Change, he embodies the endless, chaotic transformations, which are the real essence of Chaos and the source of its terrifying power — worshipped weakly by mortals as "magic."

Which mortal would dare say they’re not eager to explore the mysteries of destiny or yearn for the miraculous power of magic? Only Treachery holds the true key to this terrifying knowledge, at a costly price. His worshipers are but pawns in his grand game, either hindering his brothers in secret or tools to destroy civilization. The God of Ravens rewards his followers with madness and insanity, and when their flesh withers, their souls are taken to his hall to serve him eternally. The God of Crows plans no purpose, creating chaos solely for the sake of chaos.

Ironically, in all the worlds of the mortal realm, Treachery is often regarded as the God of Hope. This is the paradoxical nature of the Chaos Gods, embodying human extremes and personalities. For instance, Khorne represents brutality and bloodshed, but also courage and sacrifice. Sado represents tyranny and indulgence but is also a symbol of art, beauty, and love.

However, Treachery is particularly unique, constantly stirring trouble for pure joy, without an ultimate goal and lacking purpose. Treachery is a true god of chaos, never advancing a feasible, rule-defined, step-by-step plan.

In his world, there are no victories, no defeats, no endings. In the wild and cruel game between gods and humans — fate and soul — only the sound of dice endlessly clashing is heard. In this sense, Treachery is indeed a God of Hope, for if he could, he wouldn’t allow chaos to destroy the world — at least not unless it leads to another round of transformation. While most fight for victory, Treachery fights for enjoyment.

Followers of Treachery are often intellectuals, mages, warlocks, bookworms, psychics, magic creatures, unstable mutants, and those with social barriers. Unlike Nagash’s unconditional love, Treachery merely notices those who stand out from idiots, encouraging them to further challenge limits by finding new methods and directions.

This leads to followers of the Sun Goddess Church being the most likely among all to become Treachery’s believers.

According to Empire statistics, the probability of the Sun Goddess Knights falling to Treachery is at least 2-3 times higher than other Churches. Yet, even in the shameful claim, some underground rumors say this is a beautified embellishment by the Sun Goddess Church. In the Church’s confidential Judicial Court records, those secretly executed as fallen Goddess followers are at a scale ten times higher.

Of course, the Sun Goddess Church vigorously opposes such slander, their opposition is so wise that few other churches criticize them on this point.

For when Violet’s Divine Chosen Knights debate with other churches, they question, "Do you believe this rumor? If our Church Knights falling to Treachery is 20-30 times higher than yours, is that our stain or yours? Doesn’t this prove your general stupidity and inferiority to our Sun Goddess Church?"

Though the Empire’s upper echelons generally believe stupidity is a virtue (at least for the lower class and civilians), they actively implement the fooling policy.

Yet, this doesn’t mean they’re willing to admit they are more foolish than the Sun Goddess Knights and Monastery Priests, at least not too much.

Thus, the higher the social class, the less they attack the Sun Goddess Church on this point. However, the lower-class believers are more likely to accuse the Sun Goddess Church of cultivating many fallen Treachery followers during debates.

Within the Sun Goddess Church, followers also regard Treachery as their greatest enemy, as Knights fallen to Treachery are at least 2-3 times as many as those fallen to the other three Evil Gods. If 100 Sun Goddess believers fall, at least 70 become Treachery’s minions, while Khorne, Nagash, and Sado together only lure 30.

If Orlando falls to Treachery’s follower, it would be a reasonable and common event for the Sun Goddess Church.

Yet, Hilude’s heroic face is filled with determination, she clenches her right fist heavily on the table: "But no matter how complex Orlando’s situation is, we must save him. We cannot allow him to publicly corrode into a minion of Treachery at such a crucial Sun Goddess Church celebration.

"During this important festival celebration, the Sun Goddess might be looking over our territory. If her knight competes to the championship successfully, yet succumbs to Treachery in front of all eyes, it would surely anger the Goddess and become a mockery in the eyes of territory spectators."

"Any other churches might experience corruption and fall, such as Yurik Church and Mannan Church. Knights brim with rage and are fickle, the probability of falling to Khorne’s minions is several times higher than other churches. Yet everyone sees this as normal, not laughing at them because the Radiant Competition Festival is not their celebration."