Debuff Master

If one wanted to come up with a plan similar to the plan Siegfried had come up with against Count Arial, who had proclaimed himself to be God, one needed a deep understanding of the Nürburg Continent’s culture.

There were quite a few gods throughout the Nürburg Continent, and everyone was free to choose which god they'd worship. People usually chose their god depending on which god was most compatible with them.

In other words, this world had numerous gods, and there was also freedom of religion.

To manage all of this, different churches were established to serve those gods. If one were to count all of them, then there were around twenty of them throughout the continent.

They were quite active in preaching to the populace.

Thus, the concept of One True God on the Nürburg Continent was basically nonexistent here. Well, there was one church in the past that believed in the Almighty God, who was said to have created everything from nothing, but they faced ruin for some unknown reason and disappeared from the face of the continent.

What was going to happen if a mere mortal claimed to be God and started bringing the dead back to life? This was no different from taunting the numerous churches serving different gods on the continent.

Why?

It was all because bringing the dead back to life was an amazing miracle that could both threaten the existing gods and serve as a direct challenge to them.

There was no way the numerous churches would just sit back and watch as Count Arial performed miracle after miracle, taking away their rice bowls. On top of that, the count had made another grave mistake by displaying his abilities so quickly.

‘You made a huge mistake, buddy. You shouldn’t have claimed to be omnipotent,’ Siegfried thought. He smirked icily while thinking of the cult leader—no, the god of a cult cooped up in the Capucines Territory.

Some would wonder why that would be a problem, but by saying that he was omnipotent, Count Arial was basically claiming to be the One True God.

Why?

It was all because none of the existing gods on the continent were omnipotent.

In other words, Count Arial was so drunk on the powers that he had obtained from the Soul Fragment of Apocalius that he committed blasphemy against the numerous gods on the continent.

‘A person should be humble at all times,’ Siegfried thought with a smirk as he was reminded of Count Arial’s biggest mistake. Then, he addressed his subjects, “From this moment onward, the Proatine Kingdom will brand the leader of the rebels, Arial de Gray, a black magician using deception to deceive the people.

"Therefore, we will send out requests to each and every denomination on the continent to cooperate in this holy war that will subjugate the heretic black magician claiming to be an omnipotent god.”

A holy war was usually waged in the name of religion, and Siegfried used this to subjugate Count Arial.

“We are deeply moved by Your Majesty’s wisdom!”

The officials cried out in awe simultaneously and bowed their heads.

Siegfried looked at Michele and said, “Ah, one more thing. Comb through the entire continent and find every single one of Count Arial’s relatives. It does not matter whether they are his kinsmen or distant relatives.”

“Pardon me, sire?”

“I have a plan.”

“As Your Majesty commands.”

Then, Siegfried added, “If you cannot find anyone outside, then you must abduct those in the Capucines Territory. The closer the target is to him, the better.”

“We will try our best,” Michele said with a bow.

Siegfried shook his head and replied, “I don’t want your best. I want you to make it possible no matter what.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Michele replied with a bow. He knew how rare it was for Siegfried to act this way, so he understood the gravity of the situation and resolved to accomplish his task.

“Also, Count Arial possesses a powerful warp ability, so make sure to heighten the security around our capital—no, forget about that,” Siegfried stopped mid-sentence. He smirked and continued, “Just let him be. It’s actually a good thing if he comes to the capital. If he has a death wish, then he can come.”

“Haha… Hahaha…” Michele laughed in disbelief upon hearing Siegfried's words.

Why was he laughing?

It was all because there was a being in the royal castle who was far closer to being a god compared to a wannabe god like Count Arial. Would that individual simply stand and watch as a human proclaimed himself to be God and omnipotent while piggybacking on the powers of a soul fragment?

Siegfried shook his head as he imagined what could happen to Count Arial if he bravely invaded the Proatine Kingdom’s royal castle.

“I will adjourn our emergency meeting now. I hope that each and every one of you will faithfully carry out your duties.”

“Your grace is immeasurable, Your Majesty!”

The emergency meeting came to an end.

‘Oh my god…! I didn’t think that young man would be someone like this…!’

The newly appointed Minister of Finance, Schmidt, was both shocked and in awe after seeing what Siegfried was capable of, and he could not help but think that he was serving a king who was not only able but wise as well.

Of course, he was only thinking this way, as he had yet to see him doze off in their morning meetings.

***

While the Proating Kingdom was having its own meeting, a meeting was also taking place in the Capucines Territory. Well, it was a bit awkward to even call this a meeting, as it was more like Count Arial was delivering a speech to the tens of thousands of people he had brought along with him.

Unsurprisingly, his speech was very effective.

“Heed my words, my soldiers. The tyrant will soon come to persecute me. He will bring his armies to kill me.”

Then, somebody from the crowd cried out to him, “Why would you be afraid of a mere tyrant when you are omnipotent?! Can’t you drive away the tyrant’s armies if you are God and omnipotent?!”

“It seems your faith in me is still lacking,” Count Arial replied.

“T-That is…!” the man gasped before his face flushed red, and he bowed his head out of embarrassment.

“It is alright,” Count Arial said with a gentle smile. Then, he continued, “Humans are foolish creatures that they'd doubt God even after witnessing His signs and miracles.

"It is also only normal for a human to be doubtful, as that is the natural instinct that protects you from others. Therefore, how could I fault you for being loyal to your natural instincts?”

“My god…!”

“You have raised a valid question, doubtful one.”

“A-A valid question…?”

“Yes.”

“Why is it a valid question?”

“I am God, but I descended upon this world in the body of a human.”

“...!”

“I was unable to use my godly powers for you, my people, while I was in the celestial realms. However, I have now descended unto this world in the flesh to display all of my glory and splendor to you without reserve.”

“Ahhh! Please punish this unfaithful servant of yours!”

“Have I not told you already? Doubt is a natural human instinct, so it will protect you, too.”

“My god…!”

“I have borrowed a human’s body to descend upon this world, so this body I borrowed has to be preserved for me to display my omnipotence.”

“Please tell us what to do!”

“You will have to become my soldiers and protect me from the tyrant.”

“But how can we become your soldiers when we are ordinary men? How can we protect you, omnipotent one, from the tyrant’s armies?”

“I will grant you weapons,” Count Arial said, waving his hand.

Whoosh!

The tens of thousands of people gathered were instantly armed with weapons and armor.

“I will grant you courage,” Count Arial said and waved his hand again.

Whoosh!

Their hearts were instantly filled with courage that wouldn't falter even in the face of death.

“Also, I will resurrect you no matter how many times you die, so what are you afraid of?” Count Arial asked. Then, he waved his hand at the soldier who was killed by the Proatine Soldier, who was actually the count's spy.

Swoosh!

The soldier’s head floated and reattached itself to the neck, and life returned to his pale blue face.

“W-Where am I? What happened?”

The soldier looked around in confusion upon being resurrected for the second time.

“God is with us!”

“Ah! The Omnipotent One is with us!”

“Oh!”

“God is on our side!”

The multitude was in a frenzy after witnessing the miracle displayed by Count Arial, and they worshiped him at the top of their lungs.

“Heed my words, my soldiers! Prepare for a holy war! Become my army and protect me from those infidels trying to defy God!” Count Arial raised his voice. He declared the upcoming battle to be a holy war and started making preparations for it.

***

After the emergency meeting, Siegfried left the Cabochon Territory and went back to the Proatine Kingdom’s royal castle to see Brunhilde, Verdandi, and Deus.

“Oh? You’re here?” Deus asked while sitting in front of a pond, enjoying his time fishing.

‘Is there even a point to fishing…?’ Siegfried wondered. He was a bit perplexed as to why a true omnipotent being like Deus would waste his time fishing, but he decided to erase those thoughts from his mind.

How could he ever understand the depth of a Level 999 Hidden NPC’s thoughts?

There was no need to mention that not trying to understand Deus would be the best for his mental health.

“I greet my master.”

“Welcome back.”

“Master.”

“What are you curious about this time?”

Deus did not even look at Siegfried and focused only on whether the fishing rod was moving or not.

“Yes, Master. I came because I was curious about Great Sage Sieghart.”

This was the reason Siegfried had come to see Deus. There was a saying that if one knew one's enemy and oneself, then one need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

The saying was incredibly important in Siegfried's eyes.

Why?

It was all because the unknown was bound to bite him later on.

Just like how knowing the pattern of a dungeon would make it easier to clear, knowing one's opponent would make it easier for one to defeat them as well. Siegfried believed that information was power, and wielding this power would give him a huge advantage.

Thus, he decided to seek information from the one person who probably knew best.

“It seems you’ve met the descendant of Sieghart’s kid.”

“Yes, I did, Master.”

“It’s probably normal for you to be curious.”

“Pardon me?”

“You’re here because you want to know how Sieghart’s descendant can continuously cast magic without casting, right?”

“N-No, Master…”

“Huh? Then why are you here?”

“That is…” Siegfried proceeded to explain everything that happened so far.

“Hmm… That sounds quite troublesome,” Deus muttered after hearing the whole story.

“Pardon me, Master?”

“It’s bound to be troublesome, as that guy, Arial, knows how to maximize that speech demon’s powers.”

“Speech demon…?”

“A human’s tongue is a mysterious thing. It has mysterious powers to do amazing things, just like how you use your glib tongue from time to time.”

“Hahaha…”

Deus closed his eyes and reminisced about the past for a while. Then, he said, “Sieghart was someone who deeply studied the magic used by dragons.”

“The magic used by dragons? Do dragons use a different type of magic? As far as I know… they use the same magic, just that it is of higher quality compared to—”

“I’m talking about Dragon Speech!”

“...?”

“Haven’t you heard of Dragon Speech? Don’t you know how dragons use magic?”

“Ah!” Siegfried exclaimed. He finally understood what Deus was talking about.

The Dragon Speech his master was talking about was the speech magic used by dragons. It was a type of magic that allowed them to cast spells by just uttering a few words. It didn't require any channeling, which meant they could cast spell after spell consecutively.

“Sieghart was someone who deeply studied how dragons used their Dragon Speech, and he eventually managed to use it.”

“Then that means…”

“He can use Dragon Speech despite being a mere human,” Deus said, flashing a grin that seemed hostile for some reason.

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