Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Nira Nightshade had decided to share a few things with Eren for reasons known only to her.

"The land of Anfang is restricted in many ways. However, with restrictions comes security. These restrictions protect the establishments' interests and make it easy for them to govern even the most powerful rankers of their respective generations.

The existence of demons is a closed-door discussion restricted to only high-ranking entities, thus preventing the spread of the demonic pull. You need to know that even knowing the demons' true names empowers them.

The Anfang Alliance would never allow demons to become powerful under its watch.

So it introduced various chokeholds over the relay of information through several means. Even the Sages of Anfang are not exempt from these chokeholds. Only someone like me can openly talk about this subject without suffering any lasting consequences."

Nira Nightshade didn't forget to highlight the fact that what she was providing Eren was precious knowledge he couldn't acquire from his connections. It also seemed that Nira was struggling a bit to keep the isolation zone active.

Eren thanked Nira nonverbally by bowing to her. He asked her his next question after thinking about something.

"What about the worlds that don't have such control over their masses?"

Nira replied promptly as if expecting something like that from Eren.

"You'll find that worlds that have absolute freedom will have to pay the price for it as well. These worlds contain the most powerful demons in any form, and they all have their cults.

Cults like these influence the common populace through various temptations, before sacrificing their souls to their respective demons.

Of course, there exist some forces that oppose demonic practices. However, they end up forming their own versions of cults, exploiting people in their own ways.

The battles between these two opposing sides end up hurting the common populace. Most members of such societies are forced to choose between the two sides because bystanders suffer even more."

Nira's voice turned serious as she started speaking about the core of the story.

"The restrictions you, as the denizen of the Anfang, live under were not always there.

The world of Anfang was free just like these worlds back then. Therefore, it was also plagued by such demonic practices long ago. The demonic practitioners and the forces opposing them both had their own cults. And the establishments suffered at the hands of rankers from both sides."

Eren was listening keenly. He suddenly had a eureka moment when he connected the past with the present.

"That's where the term "cultist" comes from!"

Nira Nightshade nodded at Eren before continuing.

"That's right.

In the past, the term "cultists" was used to refer to all the rankers who belonged to either side. The lost paths of magic that are sought by the cultists of today are all related to demonic or divine magic practiced by these cults of the past.

The cultists of today can only be regarded as a nuisance compared to the real cultists back then. They are a dry husk of their former selves thanks to the restrictions placed by the establishments of today.

Nevertheless, the fact that cultists are trying to use lost paths of magic is a concern for establishments. Every once in a while, a select group of these cultists manages to achieve a breakthrough in their search, causing a widespread disturbance.

This is the reason the Anfang Alliance doesn't tolerate the existence of cultists. Especially those who achieve some form of success by walking on the lost paths of magic. It doesn't want to revert to its previous state of absolute chaos by allowing the lost paths to proliferate after all."

Nira Nightshade took a brief pause to gather her thoughts. She summoned her bow subconsciously while she was thinking about something. She played with the weapon's bowstring and turned her back on Eren before speaking further.

"The rulers of that time were unable to control these cultists. They too were forced to choose a side. And they chose the side of the gods that looked least harmful.

They started offering their prayers to the gods."

Nira Nightshade suddenly turned around before continuing with an even grimmer tone.

"These gods had unbelievable powers.

However, just like the demons, they too were bound by certain rules of the cosmos from interfering directly. Therefore, they would empower their followers in exchange for their absolute devotion.

If demons could send their soul fragments into various worlds, the gods could send their blessings to counter them. These blessings could be used by the denizens of their respective worlds to fight demonic practitioners.

There was one god who became particularly active in the land of Anfang ever since various establishments began praying for him officially. He started gaining popularity when he started blessing various top rankers at that time and they obtained exceptional results.

He was a god named Vulcan."

Eren raised his eyebrows at the mention of the name Vulcan. He scratched the back of his head before speaking.

"I think I have heard that name before."

He said, still sounding doubtful. It took him another second to figure out where he had heard the god's name. The butcher had heard it from one of his victims when he was robbing the rankers who had participated in House Remus' auction.

Nira Nightshade nodded at Eren before speaking up.

"I'm sure you have.

History finds its way to cast a shadow over the present in any era.

Anyway, the god Vulcan came up with the idea of a continent-encompassing array to stop the proliferation of demonic influence. His followers preached his message and influenced the establishments in every way to follow the path their god had shown for all the denizens of the Anfang.

Eren, you have to know that the gods that exist for real are nothing like their supposed definitions might imply. They are not benevolent beings who care about their followers. And they don't do anything for free.

The God Vulcan's followers started demanding sacrifices. At first, sacrifices were limited to mana beasts. Then unlawful rankers serving prison sentences became the next target for such sacrifices.

The God Vulcan had various temples on the land of Anfang at that time. And these temples started pushing for more from their respective establishments. It wasn't long before normal people started getting sacrificed.

AN: The name "Vulcan" was first mentioned in chapter 577.