Seitenshi, Tendō Kisara, Shiroyasha, Rin Tohsaka... everyone was extremely curious about what Su Mo's attitude actually was. They had all seen his previous actions and had their own guesses, but they couldn't be certain.
In response to their questions, Su Mo spoke directly. "Either is fine."
"Huh?" The Seitenshi froze, not quite processing his words.
Shiroyasha: "What do you mean, 'either is fine'?" she asked, also confused.
The atmosphere of this world and the souls of its people were so loathsome that, frankly, it didn't matter whether it was saved or destroyed.
They trusted that Su Mo would give humanity the ending it deserved. They just didn't know what his decision was.
The covenant he had made with humanity seemed to be nurturing a savior, yet it also seemed to subtly lay a trap. What were his true intentions?
"I mean that both salvation and destruction are acceptable outcomes," Su Mo said, not beating around the bush, his tone perfectly calm and direct. "As I said before, I am merely giving humanity a chance. The future they walk towards depends entirely on their own performance."
"So, the most important thing is the covenant with you?" After confirming this point, the Seitenshi let out a small sigh of relief. "Thank you, Lord Su Mo. I understand!"
She had great confidence in humanity's current military strength. If their opponents were only two or three Zodiacs, while victory wasn't guaranteed, the odds were very high if all the various powers could work together.
Especially, as Tendō Kisara had said, with the manifestation of a miracle, the internal strife among humans would surely lessen, and the possibility of overcoming the apocalypse would increase significantly.
This time, it's a sure thing!
While the Seitenshi was setting her mind at ease, the members of the chat group still had their doubts.
Rin Tohsaka: "Wait! There's still one problem."
Rin Tohsaka: "Didn't Lord Su Mo say he wanted to experiment with a cosmology in this world?"
Rin Tohsaka: "If he's going to give them a chance and let them act freely, what about your own business?"
Madoka Kaname: "That's right!"
For the people in the chat group, Su Mo's interests were more important than the salvation or destruction of this world.
After all, the pathology this world had displayed was the kind that wouldn't be a pity even if it were destroyed. Besides, since the native Tendō Kisara didn't seem to care, they certainly wouldn't be overly concerned.
They were just worried that Su Mo might abandon his own plans out of "excessive kindness."
March 7th: "Right! I mean, it's great that you're giving them another chance, but won't it interfere with your own plans, Lord Su Mo?"
As a Trailblazer, March 7th was kind, but not to the point of being altruistic at any cost. In her past travels, the most she could do was help the natives to the best of her ability before moving on.
Ultimately, people had to solve their own problems. Even if Su Mo was a Tier 7 existence, he was under no obligation to save other worlds.
Shiroyasha: "I agree!" On this point, Shiroyasha's stance was also very clear.
Shiroyasha: "And don't try to fool me by saying the outcome itself doesn't matter! To experiment with a cosmology, the outcome and method of overcoming the apocalypse are equally important. Whether the ending is destruction or salvation offers completely different contributions to the refinement of that cosmology."
Shiroyasha: "No matter what kind of cosmology you want to test, if the final result doesn't align with the one you're trying to unfold, then your experiment will be a complete failure."
As the holder of Geocentrism and the one who understood the nature of cosmologies best, Shiroyasha couldn't fully comprehend Su Mo's operation, but she understood the principles behind it.
Just as the Norse mythological cosmology is one of total annihilation in Ragnarök, and the Buddhist cosmology is one of self-enlightenment and the Six Paths of reincarnation, when experimenting with a cosmology and unfolding it in reality, certain key concepts absolutely cannot be vague.
Especially when it comes to the apocalyptic ending.
Whatever Su Mo was planning, if he truly gave them complete freedom, he would have to bear the risk of a failed experiment.
Tendō Kisara: "I see, so there's that to consider. Lord Su Mo..." Hearing this, Kisara was also slightly alarmed.
Before she could join in persuading him, Su Mo had already spoken.
Su Mo: "Don't worry. You're overthinking it."
Su Mo: "Since I chose to give them a chance, I naturally considered the corresponding situation."
Su Mo: "In fact, no matter what ending this world heads towards, my experiment will inevitably succeed. It's just a matter of what type of success."
Shiroyasha: "Eh? What do you mean?" she asked, a thought dawning on her.
She believed the principles she stated were correct, but if Su Mo said this, did it mean he had found a way around that limitation?
Su Mo: "It's simple. I've simultaneously deployed two cosmologies. Either ending can be accommodated."
Su Mo: "If humanity fulfills the covenant and saves the world, it will trigger an ending where good triumphs over evil. The cosmology of Good-Evil Dualism will fully unfold, and my understanding of it will increase significantly."
Su Mo: "If humanity fails to fulfill the covenant and cannot save the world, it will trigger an ending of Last Judgment. The cosmology of the Fallen and Original Sin will unfold. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will sweep across the world, finally leading to divine intervention."
By projecting the outcome of a worldview into reality, one could in turn enhance their understanding of that cosmology.
And with the many cosmologies Su Mo had mastered, he had corresponding results to gain regardless of the outcome. Therefore, their worries were not a problem for him at all.
As long as you run enough experiments simultaneously, there's no such thing as failure.
Rin Tohsaka: "Huh?"
March 7th: "Huh?"
Shiroyasha: "Huh?"
Shiroyasha: "Deploying two cosmologies at once... how is that possible? Aren't cosmologies mutually exclusive?"
Rin and March's "huh" meant they didn't understand. Shiroyasha's "huh" meant she understood but couldn't comprehend.
A cosmology is a blueprint for creation; their fundamental frameworks should be in absolute conflict.
How could two be deployed at the same time? It was like the natural contradiction between geocentrism and heliocentrism. On a fundamental level, it should be impossible!
To this question, Su Mo gave a simple explanation.
Su Mo: "The interference between cosmologies is indeed mutually exclusive, but their underlying frameworks have aspects in common."
Su Mo: "In this case, I've only deployed the concepts of a distant savior, a primordial heaven, and primordial good and evil. And it just so happens that under these frameworks, the cosmologies of Christianity and Zoroastrianism overlap."
In fact, this wasn't really a coincidence.
The concepts of heaven, angels, and the opposition of good and evil, light and dark, God and demons, actually originated with Zoroastrianism.
Although the core frameworks of dualism and monotheism in the two religions were vastly different, their source material was much the same.
Zoroastrianism advocates for a dualistic opposition of good and evil.
Christianity believes that evil is the absence of good, and they are essentially the same thing.
But regardless of the interpretation, the elements are the same.
What Su Mo had deployed were the common elements of both cosmologies. You could say that the cosmology he'd unfolded was in a quantum superposition of Good-Evil Dualism and Fallen/Original Sin.
If the outcome was a successful salvation, the cosmology would collapse into the former. If not, the latter.
It was flexible, adaptable, and could never fail.
Rin Tohsaka: "So that's how you solved it?"
Rin Tohsaka: "Even though I don't get it, Lord Su Mo is so amazing!"
Erica Blandelli: "+1!"
March 7th: "+1!"
Even a problem of fundamental principles could be solved with an even more fundamental technical solution. Despite having seen such things several times, they were still amazed by Su Mo's wisdom.
After confirming that Su Mo wouldn't suffer any losses, their interest quickly shifted back to the fate of this world. Could humanity fulfill its covenant with God, and could Satomi Rentarō save the world?
Just when they thought they might have to wait a long time to see the outcome, they noticed Su Mo making a new move.
---||---
A screen suddenly lit up before him, displaying the scene outside.
In the scene, Su Mo arranged for the Seitenshi to return and, in her capacity as the leader of the Tokyo Area, send the previous recordings to all the world's powers.
He then had Satomi Rentarō succeed Tendō Kikunojō as the new Aide.
After completing these tasks and handing over power to this savior-in-training, the Seitenshi returned to heaven.
Then, time accelerated.
With Su Mo's current power, whether it was slowing down time within heaven or speeding it up in the universe outside, it was a piece of cake.
And the world situation, the tide of history, under his manipulation, was clearly displayed in key nodes.
After taking office, the first crisis Satomi Rentarō faced was a public relations one. As the savior acknowledged by God, his status should have been unquestionable, but the public didn't think so.
They had seen with their own eyes the Cursed Children being led away by God. If God thought these children were innocent angels, then what did that make them, who had bullied those children?
No one would admit they were villains. Even with a miracle before their eyes, they would think God was unfair. Besides, if a god truly existed, where was he during the apocalypse ten years ago? Shouldn't he be held responsible for it?
Unwilling to admit their mistakes, in the face of the miracle, many people began to criticize God. It was one thing when they didn't know a god existed, but now that they did, shouldn't he take the blame for the disaster?
Except for a few who were afraid, the blind masses saw nothing wrong with their criticism. On the contrary, they were righteously indignant. What kind of god can't even take that much responsibility? If he punishes me for just a few words, is he even worthy of being a god?
People with such thoughts clearly didn't understand that a god's qualification is never judged by an individual, and divine authority has always been established through reward and punishment.
Of course, Su Mo didn't care about this phenomenon. He wasn't surprised, nor did he have any intention of doling out rewards or punishments.
It was Satomi Rentarō who was about to go grey from the stress. He couldn't understand the public's feelings, but he really couldn't understand how these people could be so bold in the face of a real god.
Forget about whether he's magnanimous or not. Even if he really were an evil god, what could you do about it? Even a benevolent god can have a wrathful side. These guys really aren't afraid of death!
He wracked his brain and finally came up with a solution.
He pushed all the blame onto Tendō Kikunojō, widely reporting that the sinner Kikunojō had deliberately manipulated public opinion, causing the "kind-hearted" citizens to discriminate against the "blessed children." All the sins were Kikunojō's; the people were just good people who had been misled.
Under intense propaganda, the public finally, reluctantly, accepted this narrative.
Even the "Deprived Generation," who had harbored malice towards the Cursed Children long before Kikunojō came to power, began to accept it.
It's not that I was malicious towards the children blessed by God; it was because an evil man deceived me!
After cleanly shifting the blame, the public finally calmed down. They felt they were just victims and were also qualified to be saved by God. At this point, the status of the god, and of Satomi Rentarō, was finally stabilized.
After solving the internal problems, Rentarō planned to join forces with the outside world to eliminate the remaining two Zodiacs.
But then he received news that the leader of the Osaka Area, in order to curry favor with God, had chosen to go it alone and provoke a Zodiac.
Seeing this, Rentarō was surprised, but immediately dispatched reinforcements. He truly didn't care who saved the world, as long as it was successful.
With humanity's resources, their existing weapons were not absolutely incapable of killing Stage V Gastrea; it was just difficult to hit them.
If the Osaka Area took this attack seriously, with elite troops, professional command, and a resolve to win at any cost, it was indeed possible to defeat Scorpio.
The optimistic Rentarō, after personally leading the reinforcements to the target location, witnessed the complete annihilation of the Osaka Area Self-Defense Force.
Elite troops? Professional command? A resolve to win at any cost?
Sorry, they had none of those things.
In the end, not only was their entire army wiped out, but even the Osaka Area's only weapon capable of damaging a Stage V Gastrea was destroyed.
After this battle, people finally realized that even with the Zodiacs reduced from nine to two, it was still an immense challenge for humanity. War was not a simple game where you could win just by having a deadly weapon.