Chapter 416: Actively Choosing to Call Out
The whipping stopped.
Corleon let out a sigh and said, “I originally thought I could endure seeing you like this, but after truly witnessing it with these very eyes, I still found it far too uncomfortable.” After the whipping stopped, there was an obvious trace of reluctance in Asmodeus’s eyes. He said, “Could it be that you do not like this kind of game?”
Corleon did not respond to Asmodeus any further, instead turning his gaze toward Greed.
Corleon said, “It seems you have also acknowledged this name.”
While Corleon and Asmodeus were speaking, a new concept appeared upon Greed.
Greed—or rather, Gluttony · Mammon—said, “I am Greed. I desire to live. That is my greatest greed.”
His tone no longer carried the madness it once had, instead becoming calm and steady.
“Now that I have accepted this baptismal name, may you release my will, or simply erase it altogether?” Gluttony · Mammon voiced his request.
“That is already a matter of the past. Now that you have embraced the new era, why must you still cast your gaze backward?” Corleon said.
It was an unmistakable refusal.
Mammon said nothing further and fell silent, perhaps like Asmodeus, exploring what kind of changes accepting this concept had brought to himself.
The difference was that he had chosen a way to provoke Corleon.
Corleon’s gaze then turned to Sloth.
Sloth said, “Since the future is already decided, there seems to be nothing worth struggling over anymore.”
He had also accepted his new name—Sloth · Erfinger.
Corleon said, “If that is the case, then why do you not withdraw?”
Even though the three of them had already accepted new names, the will to block Corleon’s purifying light had not diminished in the slightest.
Sloth said, “Accepting the concept is for the future, but stopping you is what must be done in the present.”
Corleon said, “Such self-contradictory choices are precisely the reason for your failure.”
Sloth said, “Perhaps back then, it was because we did not fully commit ourselves to Pegira that he tore up the alliance and went to war with us. But the long passage of time has proven that our choice was correct, because from the moment we watched his birth until now, not a single one of his promises has ever been fulfilled.”
“And most importantly, we possess endless time to make mistakes.”
“Just like now—even if we accept new names, who is to say that, in the distant future, we will not have the chance to cast them off?”
“Just like those four, who still chose to refuse your names. They may not necessarily lose their existence because of that.”
“As you said, who can truly determine the future? Even if you can see far ahead, the reason it is called the future is precisely because it has no end. And once the future has an end, that would mean this world, like humanity, has died.”
“Moreover, because it is the world—a concept far more vast than mankind—once the distant future reaches its end, this world would have already declared its death from the moment of its birth.”
“But now, you are still striving to set rules before Unification, which means that in your eyes, the future is infinite. Naturally, for us, as long as we can continue to exist, we will always have countless opportunities to make mistakes.”
“We are Original Sin, not those Primordial Gods. We are an aggregation of innumerable wills, forever possessing desire. Those Primordial Gods, existing as individuals across endless time, have long since grown weary.”
“We are also not the Progenitor Gods. Those divine figures who ascended through faith possess the most fatal weakness—when they are forgotten, that is the moment of their complete death. But even if we are forgotten by people, as long as there remains even the slightest trace of free will in the human heart, we will continue to exist.”
“And we are not the Lords of Annihilation. They are merely vassals of annihilation itself. They are not free. At every moment they exist within the narrow gap between desire and restriction. There is no Lord who is not mad.”
“Thus, our time is infinite—sufficient to bear any consequences brought about by our decisions.”
“Even if we accept your names now, who can say that after endless ages, no one will forget these names? When that time comes, we will return to the state we are in now.”
Sloth, who was not lazy at all, spoke at great length.
It was as though he spoke on behalf of the other six Original Sins who had fallen silent, voicing everything that needed to be said.
Corleon sighed and said, “Pegira killed all life, leaving only the life that exists upon this land today. This was an extremely cruel sin, yet it must be admitted that it was the most effective solution he could conceive.”
“His actions, combined with the expulsion of those divine figures, reduced the prison known as the world to the size of this land alone. Then, over countless ages, he carried out what could be called genocidal massacres against other races, making the land beneath our feet equivalent to the world itself. The intelligent life that lives upon this land thus became the will of the world—and at present, the dominant race upon this land is humanity.”
“It is precisely because of this that it has become possible for me to alter your concepts using human will.”
“Unfortunately, his wisdom could not see further into the future, and so he could only maintain the status quo, gradually engraving the existing understanding of the world ever more deeply into the will of the world.”
“Just as the land of Greenwood is the most fertile, the Northern Regions are bitterly cold, and the Woodlands are lush and unending—these regional wills are, in truth, extensions of human cognition.”
“But who can know when the primordial beginning truly was, and when the real future truly begins?”
“You are the same. You cannot even see the future—on what basis do you claim that you have one? On what basis do you claim that you will still exist within it?”
Sloth nodded and said, “That is indeed so. And thus, in order to live on, I chose to accept the name you set. Once you achieve Unification, the rules you establish will naturally become eternal, and I will be eternal together with you.”
Corleon smiled and said, “And that is precisely why you are Sloth.”
Sloth said, “I simply do not wish to do things that are meaningless waste. If by merely accepting a concept I can directly reach a position beneath Unification, why would I not do so?”
“I am Sloth. I do not possess their intense desire. This state is just right for me.”
It was clear that he was truly satisfied with this state—so much so that this entire conversation with Corleon had been primarily carried by him.
However, Corleon said, “But have you ever considered that sometimes, a form of life like humanity will actively choose to call upon you?”
Sloth fell silent.