Chapter 598: Chapter 597 Promotion Ceremony_1
Inside the office of Rose Iron Prison, Aiden sat in his own office chair, holding the Wordless Code in one hand and gently brushing the cover with the other.
Several concepts appeared in his mind, not in the form of voice or text, but as pure concepts, as if he had always fully known these things and had just suddenly remembered them:
The "Law" ritual — creating a single rule to be observed by at least a thousand people at the same time;
The "Punishment" ritual — imposing punishment on a presence greater than a saint, save for oneself, executing them or keeping them in prolonged imprisonment;
The "Return" ritual — forcing a being greater than a saint to revert to a divine-less mortal, or assisting an extraordinary existence that became mortal to return to its original position of authority.
Not long ago, Aiden had gathered all the pieces of the "Order" authority and successfully ascended as a saint of "Order."
After ascending to sainthood, all his "Order" powers greatly increased in magnitude.
The realm of his abilities expanded, "Return" could affect the spirit and memories, and it could record the state of something at a certain moment, defining it as a "regulated" state, then revert to this state multiple times during the duration of his power, like saving and loading a game, while the "Punishment" power added the capability of directly stripping life from its subject, a death sentence. The "Law" power theoretically could resist the effects of powers from saints of the same level without invoking any privilege.
The moment he ascended to sainthood and touched the sole authority, he understood the rituals needed for further ascension to ruler.
And in that instant, he realized that he had already fulfilled two rituals on the spot — "Law" and "Punishment."
"Law" required that the ascendant create a rule to be observed by a thousand people simultaneously. Rose Iron Prison could accommodate a maximum of four thousand inmates, with a normal resident population of around three thousand. As the warden when he took office, Aiden had issued some new internal management regulations, enforcing inmate compliance, naturally fulfilling the ritual’s requirement.
It could be said that this ritual could be very easily completed by any leader of a large group or a powerful politician.
As for the "Punishment" ritual, it became quite dramatic — he was able to complete this ritual simply because he was Melifilia’s jailer, enforcing the punishment of imprisonment on a ruler, naturally meeting the conditions of the ritual. Such a coincidence was like a gift presented on a silver platter.
Now he fully understood why the goddess of conspiracy and the fantasist said "Order" was the most suitable authority for him.
The goddess of conspiracy ascribed his first contact with "Order" to his luck, while the fantasist claimed it was actually fate decreed by the authority of "Order," calling him step by step through some cause and effect.
The latter sounded somewhat like the preaching of a mystic, but now, Aiden was more inclined to believe in the "preordained destiny" spoken of by the fantasist.
However, both rituals had an "ongoing" requirement (apart from completing the "Punishment" ritual by execution), the key being that these requirements had to be met at the moment of ascension; having met the conditions at some past moment or period was meaningless.
The problem rested with the "Return" ritual.
This ritual had to be completed with the help of another saint or ruler. Either divest a saint of their divinity, turning them back to a mortal — and this process had to be involuntary — or conversely, assist a deified saint to return to their original status. Of course, the subject could also be a ruler.
The closest he had come to this ritual was during the Harvest Mother Cult incident when he defeated Sister Neve. But at that time, he had actually killed Sister Neve before extracting her divinity, not fulfilling the requirement of reverting the subject to a mortal. Moreover, the one who had killed Sister Neve with his own hands was Father Bales.
Looking ahead, Aiden saw two most feasible methods.
The first was to defeat Mr. Blood Coat, forcing him to surrender all his divinity and revert to a mortal.
The second was to kill Mr. Blood Coat outright, take back the divinity and sole authority of "Hatred," and then help the goddess of vengeance regain control of the authority.
The situation suddenly became clear — in the confrontation with Mr. Blood Coat, the victor could ascend to ruler. It’s just that Mr. Blood Coat needed to seize the Hand of Annihilation first, while Aiden had to first decipher the hints from the fantasist.
Yes, even if he assumed he met all the conditions to ascend to ruler right now, Aiden wouldn’t immediately raise himself to that position.
He always believed the goddess of conspiracy had set some sort of trap on the chess piece she persuaded him to take, and this trap might be found in that section of memory blocked in his mind.
Of course, one couldn’t rule out that this was actually the goddess of conspiracy doing the opposite, deliberately leading him to suspect by feigning mystery.
But he didn’t want to risk it lightly, and in some ways, the hints from the fantasist also confirmed this point.
Only a ruler could contend with the power of a ruler; this was easy to understand. Becoming a ruler was the ultimate goal to break free from the control of the goddess of conspiracy. From saint to ruler, there was a qualitative enhancement in power. Saints like Abigail and Qiqimora might provide some assistance in dealing with Mr. Blood Coat, but against Melissa... relying on numbers to win doesn’t seem fitting.
For now, becoming ruler was indeed the most reliable and direct path for him, and the experience the goddess of conspiracy once failed at, mentioned by the fantasist, could be the key to avoiding traps.
The goddess of conspiracy was only one "Hatred" away from the throne of the spirit, so the place where she was defeated should be in the realm of the "Hatred" authority.
Mr. Blood Coat’s "betrayal" was completely within the expectations of the goddess of conspiracy, and Mr. Blood Coat running away with the "Hatred" authority couldn’t be considered part of the supposed failure.
It must have been earlier than that...
Thinking this, Aiden stood up, left the office, and headed straight for the core area of the cells.
At this time, the majority of the inmates would have already started their work, while minors were forced to attend classes, but there were always some special inmates who were always kept in their cells.
"Inmate 3020." Standing in front of cell number three, he attempted to wake the inmate curled up on the bed, taking a nap.
Inmate 3020, the madman Halo, otherwise known as the goddess of vengeance, opened her eyes and lazily turned around.
"Kid, you finally gave me a name, shouldn’t you affectionately call me by it more often? Calling out the number, how impersonal," the goddess of vengeance observed Aiden with a teasing tone, "Hmm? I always feel like there is something... different about you."
"Come out, I have some questions to ask you," said Aiden as he opened the cell door.
"Get me a drink," yawned the goddess of vengeance grandly.
