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No sooner had Mephisto finished speaking than a priest stood up.

“Since you admit that gods bestow material blessings upon humans, you shouldn’t deny faith. It’s outrageous to rely on deities for your current life and yet not want to believe in them. Where is such a good thing?”

The onlooking crowd nodded in agreement, reasoning that where there is gain, there should be giving, which seemed fair. Yet faced with the opposition’s accusation, Mephisto appeared calm and unruffled.

“Your Excellency, I believe you may have misunderstood my words.”

“Besides humans, animals can reproduce; they are born because of their parents and exist during their youth due to their parents, hence they respect them, but this is not faith; deities also have descendants, born of their parents, whom they respect, but this, too, is unrelated to faith.”

“I acknowledge sacrifices but not faith because these two are separate and should not be confused. Gratitude towards helpers, awe of power, and recognition of their spirit and actions are entirely different things, don’t you think?”

When Mephisto had finished speaking, the high platform fell silent for a brief moment.

The spectators, who had expected the unbeliever to utter some laughable remarks only to be easily refuted by them, began to feel, after listening seriously to his explanation, that somehow it made some sense.

Indeed, deities are of great help to humans; without gods, humans might, like ordinary beasts, be running about to avoid monsters with extraordinary powers and have no fixed abode. But gratitude and faith should not be treated as the same, for if one person saves another, the saved does not become the savior’s disciple.

“Mephisto, you are just twisting the Deity’s intentions,” said a voice after a while.

On the platform stood a tall young man, breaking the calm. He was a priest of the Sea God Poseidon, and it was a pity that because of the Divine King’s edict, humans could no longer approach the sea, and thus The Temple of the Sea God had always lacked presence.

“You think humans can repay the gods’ blessings with sacrifices without having to believe in them. But what use are mortal sacrifices to the gods? They only care about the sincerity of the one who offers the sacrifices.”

“Gods measure the level of devotion by the number of sacrifices offered by mortals, and it’s the devotion that gods cherish. If everyone doesn’t believe in gods, then what’s the point of offering sacrifices to them?”

“So, you do admit what I said earlier, that there is a mutual value between humans and gods, only that the ‘value’ provided by humans is not in the material gifts but in the devoted faith?”

“However, if that’s the case, I’m afraid this method of judgment isn’t quite reasonable.”

With a smile, Mephisto pointed to himself.

“My existence is clear proof. From the very beginning, I believed in no gods, yet I still presented enough sacrifices, so my dwelling isn’t harmed by wind or rain, and my hearth fire burns constantly. Thus, I suggest the gods adopt a new method of judgment; otherwise, unbelievers like me can also enjoy the blessings of the gods, which somewhat undermines their justice.”

The Priest of the Sea God was left speechless; he wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

It was a trap; whether gods needed faith or sacrifices, it proved that gods had demands of humans. If they asked for something, then in certain aspects, gods and humans were placed on the same level.

While he could’ve said, ‘then we should believe in gods more to exchange for blessings’, the Priest of the Sea God knew that saying so would be an outright defeat.

If gods truly had needs of humans, then the blessings bestowed by the gods should be seen as a ‘trade’ rather than a ‘blessing’. If everyone sought to ‘exchange faith for rewards’, then such so-called faith could hardly be described as devout.

Faith that arises from profit will naturally end when the benefit ceases. Now, the Priest of the Sea God felt that today’s trial should not have existed.

Faith should never be a subject of discussion.

“What about the Creator, Mephisto, do you believe in the Creator?”

Suddenly, someone from below spoke out. Perhaps realizing that once faith became a ‘commodity for trade’, it would lose its sanctity, that person decisively chose to avoid the topic, instead bringing up Prometheus’s existence.

The Creator made the Bronze Humanity, taught humans knowledge, and opened up the wilderness for them, all without seeking anything in return. If Mephisto dared to slander the Creator, no one would tolerate his actions.

However, clearly, this was all within Mephisto’s expectations.

“The Creator—of course, I don’t believe in Him either,” Mephisto nodded affirmatively.

Before the audience could express their anger, he turned the question back on the inquirer.

“I believe if you have faith in a god, you should let His thought guide your own. If you truly recognize the Creator’s thoughts, then you shouldn’t believe in Him at all.”

“He built no temples, raised no shrines, nor did he demand sacrifices. It must be said, the creator indeed deserves human worship, but he just doesn’t want us to believe in him. Can I then conclude that those who require human faith are not worthy of it, while those who do not ask for faith are the gods that humans should truly worship?”

“If that’s the case, then we should not offer our worship to any deity, and that itself is the standard set by the creator through his own actions, isn’t it?”

The questioner was at a loss for words, and the faces of the bystanders softened, many of them falling into deep thought. Hearing this nonbeliever’s praises of the creator did please them to some extent, but what the other party said seemed to make actual sense.

If one had to rank the gods, then in the hearts of Bronze Humanity, Prometheus was undoubtedly the highest, not even the Divine King could match him. But just like Mephisto said, the creator built temples for the gods but not for himself; could this be proof that a truly great deity indeed does not need the faith of mortals?

At this moment, the atmosphere in the area had become quite solemn. The earlier lightheartedness had disappeared, and the humans below the dais pondered upon Mephisto’s speech, while atop the dais, an odd atmosphere spread among the priests.

To speak of disbelief in the gods, these priests were the true nonbelievers, but they were well aware that they might not believe, but if all of Bronze Humanity ceased to believe, that would be an immense problem.

The creator warned them that the gods might not notice the piety of an individual when not present in person, but they could sense the overall swing in human faith. Therefore, Prometheus had repeatedly admonished them, to never let the matter of sacrifices become known to the common people.

Now, if Mephisto’s speech was to be accepted by the people, the gods would definitely discover the arising issues among humans.

What would happen then was only known to the heavens. After all, theory is theory, and reality is reality. Just because you speak logically, doesn’t mean that deities will truly tolerate humans continuing as usual after abandoning faith. As priests closest to the gods, they did not think of the deities as kind and benevolent like ordinary humans did.

But he couldn’t outright say these words, so Devos decisively stood up, he couldn’t tolerate the other party continuing like this.

“What about the Divine King? Mephisto, even the creator was following the orders of the Divine King when he created humans, do you also refuse to show faith to one of your own creators?”

Devos didn’t think this question would stump the other party, he only hoped that Mephisto would recall the might of the gods.

They could create you, and they could destroy you. But clearly, his thoughts had once again come to naught.

Across from him, Mephisto shook his head slightly. He no longer looked towards the priests on the dais but instead swept his gaze around, making eye contact with every human in the crowd.

“The Divine King… You’re right, indeed he was the one who instructed the creator to create humans. But if this is the reason to offer faith, it hardly seems compelling.”

“As I mentioned earlier, it is well known that deities can reproduce, but a god does not worship another god, so the offspring of gods might respect their parents, but it certainly has nothing to do with faith.”

“That was also my initial point—we can offer sacrifices to deities to show our tremendous respect for them, but faith is entirely unnecessary. The powers of the gods inspire my awe, but they are far from subjugating my spirit.”

“Moreover—”

“Enough!”

This time, before he finished, Devos’s ice-cold tone cut Mephisto off. His expression was incredibly grave, to the extent that everyone could see.

He had realized that the person in front of him was likely too difficult to persuade with words. But if possible, he really didn’t want to take other measures.

Force can’t change thought, and faith, after all, is about thought.

“Mephisto, your mind is indeed sharp, and your speech is quite provocative, but that is no reason for your arrogance.”

“Admit your faults now, as long as you retract your previous words, we can forgive your prior behavior.”

Staring intently at the young man, Devos tried to make him understand his determination. And he was certain the other had seen his intention.

To his disappointment, the other simply responded with a faint smile.

“I stand by my opinion, honorable Priest.”

Watching Devos, Mephisto spread his hands and calmly said.

“Seize him.”

With a cold demeanor, as Devos uttered these words, everyone around was taken aback for a moment. But the next moment, under the intense gaze of his eyes, the two assistants following him approached Mephisto.

As a priest serving the Divine King, Devos knew that from this day forward, no matter what became of Mephisto, he had already lost.

Now, he could only choose to lose by a lesser margin.