The Last Judgment is a crucial node in the Christian core cosmology of the Fallen and Original Sin, representing the judgment and reckoning of human sins.
Sin, when it accumulates, shows no signs. It only gains meaning on the day of judgment.
The failure of Satomi Rentarō and humanity's salvation efforts sealed the world's fate, choosing the Christian ending over the Zoroastrian one.
Good failed to overcome evil, so only the power of God could render a final verdict and uphold justice.
On the day of the Last Judgment, all souls would stand before God to have their weight measured. The good would enter heaven, the wicked cast into hell.
The ritual of the Seven Deadly Sins unfolded, like a Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone's heads, measuring their transgressions.
Naturally, the vast majority of souls that had just died in this world were cast directly into the magma of purgatory without even a single round of judgment.
Only a very small number, such as those who had selflessly helped the Cursed Children or had never actively harmed anyone, were qualified to be led into heaven.
"I'm sorry, Lord Su Mo! I have failed your expectations and could not save the world."
In a world where myth had descended, upon the heavenly kingdom in the clouds, Satomi Rentarō knelt on the ground, confessing to the god.
He never imagined that he himself would be the last Zodiac Gastrea, nor that he would be the one to destroy the world.
Facing his plea, Su Mo shook his head, unconcerned. "Failure is the norm. It has nothing to do with you."
Evidently, he had long foreseen this outcome.
Hearing this, Rentarō was a little confused, but he didn't ask. It was already his turn at the soul-weighing station.
Even a hero who had made a covenant with a god had to follow the procedure and personally undergo the Last Judgment.
Watching him leave, the Seitenshi, who had observed the entire outcome as the righteous witness from beneath God's throne, hesitated for a moment before asking, "Lord Su Mo, from the very beginning, was it impossible for our world to be truly saved?"
Su Mo shook his head.
Before he could speak, Tendō Kisara, who had learned much from the chat group, explained in his stead. "Since Lord Su Mo said he would give a chance, he naturally gave the world a chance to be truly saved. They just failed to pass his trial."
After explaining, she looked at Su Mo curiously. "But, you said before that failure is the norm. Is this trial really that difficult?"
In her view, Rentarō's biggest mistake was not prioritizing the Five Wings Association. If he had, he might not have failed so easily. But from Su Mo's tone, it seemed he was lacking more than just that.
"Of course," Su Mo nodded. "Haven't I said it before? If he had succeeded in saving the world and achieved an ending where good triumphs over evil, this world would have been managed under the cosmology of Good-Evil Dualism. And in fact, the biggest pain point of the Zoroastrian cosmology, and its most difficult problem to overcome, lies right there."
"Compared to the idealistic ending of 'good must triumph over evil,' the state of being unable to protect good and unable to defeat evil is the worldly norm."
Dividing the world into good and evil is convenient, but if you cannot guarantee the basic principle of good always triumphing over evil, the entire dualistic system collapses.
A side with a bottom line will always have difficulty defeating a side without one. And when it abandons its bottom line to defeat the enemy, the battle often devolves into a pure struggle between two bottomless factions, at which point good and evil cease to exist.
From this, it can be seen that the foundation of Good-Evil Dualism is the inevitable victory of the good side. The failure of the salvation effort itself determined that this world was not suitable for it.
Hearing Su Mo's explanation, some in the chat group couldn't help but sigh.
March 7th: "Sigh, it's hard to be a good person!"
Rin Tohsaka: "Indeed. Good people are more easily bullied, and they tend to hold back when fighting back."
Clearly, they had all witnessed their fair share of tragedies. The good suffering misfortune while the wicked go free was a common sight everywhere.
After sighing, Rin became curious again.
Rin Tohsaka: "Speaking of which, if the Zoroastrian cosmology doesn't apply, does the Christian one? I don't know much about Christianity, but don't they also have a saying like 'good must triumph over evil'?"
The righteous are invincible. Shouldn't that be a concept in most universal religions?
Hearing this, Tendō Kisara also spoke up.
Tendō Kisara: "I'm also curious about what my world will be like from now on."
Shiroyasha: "Leave this simple question to Professor Shiroyasha!"
Seeing everyone's interest, Shiroyasha, who knew more about mythological cosmologies, immediately spoke up.
Shiroyasha: "Of course, Christianity also reveres good, which is to say, the righteous. But they emphasize that the souls of the good can go to heaven, not that they will achieve worldly victory."
Shiroyasha: "In contrast, Zoroastrian dualism believes that humans have free will and can choose between good and evil. As long as humans choose the side of good, they will inevitably defeat evil."
Rin Tohsaka: "I don't quite get it. Can you explain in more detail?"
Tendō Kisara: "+1."
It wasn't that they didn't understand her meaning, but they couldn't intuitively grasp the difference between the two.
Shiroyasha: "Hmm, let me think how to put it..." The less-eloquent Shiroyasha began to think.
Just then, Su Mo suddenly spoke, summarizing it for the group.
Su Mo: "Simply put, Zoroastrianism believes that the good can gain an absolute advantage in this world and defeat evil, teaching people that as long as they adhere to the path of good, they will surely win."
Su Mo: "Christianity, however, does not believe that the good will necessarily win in reality. To encourage goodness, they entrust the justice they hope for to the unseen other side, believing that regardless of victory or defeat, God will ultimately preside over the judgment."
The advancement of Christianity over Zoroastrianism can be seen here.
It acknowledges that the good can also fail, avoiding the argument that the victor is always just, while at the same time encouraging people to hold onto the path of good.
As long as one adheres to the righteous path, even if it costs them their lives, they will be rewarded by God on the Day of Judgment.
This is a guarantee, making people believe that all their perseverance and suffering will not be in vain.
Rin Tohsaka: "...So, Christianity doesn't demand that the struggle must end in victory? No wonder this world ended up with a Christian outcome."
The twin-tailed loli finally understood why Su Mo had chosen this cosmology. It didn't matter if they failed, as long as God's judgment was there to correct the twisted values.
Shiroyasha: "That's right."
Shiroyasha: "Compared to the strict requirements of Zoroastrianism, the Christian cosmology is much more lenient."
Shiroyasha: "After all, if all things have original sin, then regardless of the outcome of the struggle, it's a victory of sinners and a defeat of sinners. The concept of good and evil is directly separated from worldly interests."
Shiroyasha: "I suddenly understand what Su Mo meant when he said the Christian cosmology was an improvement on the Zoroastrian one."
Shiroyasha: "Could it be that this 'original sin' thing was a patch created after witnessing the phenomenon of being unable to protect good and unable to punish evil?"
As she spoke, Shiroyasha suddenly had an epiphany.
If the problem with Zoroastrianism was that good people couldn't win against bad people, then the Christian solution was to simply declare everyone a bad person.
If everyone is a sinner, then there is no evil triumphing over good, only evil triumphing over evil.
As for salvation, that could be left to God.
It was a tightly knit, logical system.
No wonder it could develop into a top-tier god group even after being sanctioned by the Little Garden's central hub. The Christian cosmology really had something Cooking to it.
Tendō Kisara couldn't understand some of what Shiroyasha was saying, but she got the gist. Combining it with what she had learned from the chat group, she suddenly had a question.
Tendō Kisara: "Wait, does that mean everyone in my world now has original sin?"
Now that they were under the management of the Christian cosmology, this was inevitable. And that was where her confusion lay.
Tendō Kisara: "I have no argument with my own case; I know my sins are deep, and I couldn't even stand in heaven without Lord Su Mo's grace... but by this logic, are the Cursed Children also considered sinful?"