The Little Witch’s Daily Struggle – Chapter 196

Chapter 196: Sacred Beasts and Angels

According to Old Golden Tooth, when people scatter fish feed, they don’t care about the specific identity or faction of the fish in front of them. They just find their leaping and snatching of the feed pleasing.
This is why the Christian Church has split into so many factions, why believers of any faction can receive Divine Favor, and why there’s a phenomenon where heretics are considered more detestable than infidels.
But what they are competing for is merely whether my swimming posture to please people is correct, such a meaningless thing, because none of them can truly understand the will of God. Their squabbling is no different from that of fish.
I was thinking, if this statement is true, does it mean that not only Christianity, but all churches have such tendencies?
It’s just that Jehovah is the one who feeds the fish most diligently, so he has a particularly large number of fish in front of him. Others feed less, so they don’t have many fish and don’t fight?
No, I remember reading in that “Introduction to Demon Gods” I bought here last time that Beelzebub is an actively malicious god who explicitly responds to human prayers, is not picky, and has many legends and numerous identities, with even his image having multiple recorded descriptions.
Could this indicate that Beelzebub is also a god who frequently bestows blessings? Is it because he doesn’t discriminate in bestowing Divine Favor upon various people that there are so many different interpretations of his legends and images?
It seems I’ll have to test the Pope next time.
“Miss, do you have any other questions?” Old Golden Tooth asked, seeing me lost in thought.
“Ah, you know about the Angelic Calamity?” I asked.
“Of course I know. It was a tragic disaster that many people are aware of,” Old Golden Tooth replied.
So many people know about it? Perhaps if I chat with some passersby, I might even learn about it.
“Tell me, what was the Angelic Calamity?” I still asked Old Golden Tooth, as I needed to inquire about many detailed matters.
“There are many versions of the rumors, so it’s difficult to ascertain the specific situation. However, in summary, the event likely occurred during the Third Crusade, when Jerusalem was under siege. Because both sides excessively used miracles, the Divine Power erosion became too high, causing all the city’s inhabitants to mutate into Sacred Beasts, ultimately leading to the destruction of the ancient holy city in a vicious incident.”
“Wait a moment, what is Divine Power erosion? And what does it mean to mutate into a Sacred Beast?” I urgently asked, as these were concepts I didn’t understand.
I seemed to have also seen in historical records that to prevent excessive erosion, various countries established centralized monarchies and used multiple religions to maintain a balance of power.
“Sacred Beasts, they are these,” Old Golden Tooth turned and took a book from the bookshelf, flipping it open. Inside was a lifelike painting of a monstrous beast.
It looked like a deer standing upright, with twisted, forked antlers, yet also a bit like a sheep with long white fur. Its face resembled a wolf’s head, possessing an indescribable sacred feeling, yet also striking a sense of dread.
“This is a Sacred Beast. They were once humans. Sacred Beasts have many forms; this is just the most typical kind, known as the White Beast,” Old Golden Tooth explained.
“This, this is a human transformation?” I grabbed the painting and looked at it intently. It no longer resembled a human at all; it was completely like a monster.
“Of course. The fragile human body cannot bear the Great Strength of the gods. When Divine Power flows through the body, it drives the physical form to evolve, getting closer and closer to the form of a god. However, the human brain cannot withstand such a powerful physique and will eventually go mad.”
“How, how could this happen? Why did they have Divine Power flowing through their bodies? Were these Sacred Beasts formerly Clerics?” I asked, confused.
“No, didn’t I say that before? It’s Divine Power erosion. When a region builds too many Temples or when too many people use miracles simultaneously, the concentration of Divine Power in an area becomes excessive. At that time, people will inevitably inhale some Divine Power.”
“This situation is called erosion, or corrosion. Any form of energy can cause corrosion. Ordinary people affected by corrosion will mutate and even lose their sanity,” Old Golden Tooth stated.
“How, how could such a terrible thing happen? Didn’t the Church have defenses against this before?” I asked. This surely wasn’t the first time.
“The Church certainly knew, but they concealed it because Holy Erosion benefited them greatly. The mutated Sacred Beasts could be controlled by Clerics, forming an obedient Army.”
“It wasn’t just the Christian Church doing this; other churches and some Otherworldly beings were also doing it, spreading their erosion to cause people or Otherworldly beings in a region to mutate into their powerful enforcers and Slaves, until the Angelic Calamity erupted, causing a huge uproar.”
I felt a chill run down my spine. It was unbelievable that these churches, during the dark ages of humanity when unity and governance were too lax, and ignorance and superstition still held sway over the majority, were orchestrating such a conspiracy.
I could almost see countless unaware poor people, unknowingly having their ancestral lands corrupted by these Clerics, then mutating into mindless monsters, only to be commanded.
“They concealed this behavior for so long?” I asked in disbelief.
“Of course. They dared not openly engage in such activities on a large scale, as mutated monsters would also be purged by the gods. They only dared to do it quietly, hiding it in some Temples, and only releasing them during wars, claiming they were Sacred Beasts summoned from the Celestial Realm. The term ‘Sacred Beast’ was coined by the Church itself.”
“During the Angelic Calamity, because both sides engaged in frequent exchanges of forbidden-class miracles, even their Clerics couldn’t withstand the excessively dense Divine Power. They mutated one after another, resulting in the entire city’s population and soldiers going out of control and mutating. Tens of thousands of mutated Sacred Beasts completely destroyed the holy city.”
“How was such a massive disaster resolved?” I asked, feeling my scalp tingle at the thought of hundreds of thousands of monsters.
“Such a large number of Otherworldly beings naturally drew the Judgment of the Gods. It is said that at that time, dozens of gods of unknown identity acted simultaneously, eliminating the vast majority of Sacred Beasts. Only a small number of powerful Angels escaped, and they were later hunted down by the Demon Hunter organizations and Heretic Judgment Squads.”
“Stop, wait. What are Angels?” I had received too much information today, with one new concept after another. My brain was struggling to keep up.
“Angels are also Sacred Beasts. They are Sacred Beasts that Clerics mutated into when they couldn’t withstand Divine Power. Because they were once powerful Clerics, their strength was much greater than Sacred Beasts formed from ordinary people. The Church also utilized them, calling them Angels externally.”
Old Golden Tooth spoke, then flipped a few more pages, showing me a monster that could only exist in nightmares. It had four heads, with only the middle one retaining a human form.
The other three heads were those of a calf, a falcon, and a lion. Each head was surrounded by a dense mass of white wings, and was covered in eyes.
Most importantly, I felt that the middle head seemed familiar. Wasn’t that Pope Ludwig V, whom I had seen in historical records a few days ago?