Chapter 1 The Central Sanctuary

Element Calendar, year 307, July 7th, Central Sanctuary.

The second day after the battle between the Lord of Judgment and the Lord of Fire, the first day after the 'Second Judgment'.

Since the beginning of July, major events have been happening one after another on the Holy Fire Continent.

First, there are the increasingly severe natural disasters affecting the entire continent.

The continuous abnormal climate has led to so many natural phenomena that even with the mobilization of all the priests in various places for disaster relief, some remote villages and towns inevitably cannot wait for aid from afar.

But what is surprising is that whether these villages prayed to the gods in the end or not, at the most critical moment, a gust of wind would always suddenly blow, and then heavy rain would fall directly amidst flashes of lightning, as if a miracle had occurred.

Secondly, there is the advance of the criminal队伍 (dui wu - teams) gathered in the name of the Lord of Judgment.

Those who claim that the judgment was wrong and declare themselves innocent, the 'apostates,' gathered together. They firmly believe that they have not deviated from the way of God and demand a truly just judgment in the presence of God—they are advancing towards the Central Sanctuary under the leadership of a chosen priest named Eamon.

It must be said that their journey has been divinely blessed. Not only have they encountered no obstacles along the way, but even all those who wanted to stop them have joined their ranks.

And the most watched event was the battle of the gods that took place the day before.

The Lord of Judgment and the Lord of Fire fought in the sky, and the brilliant light of divine power illuminated the night sky. Not to mention ordinary people, even ordinary transcendents probably could not see the outcome, only the vast divine power piercing through the sky—only existences at the level of the divinely blessed could vaguely see the gap between the gods, and were shocked by it.

As for the last major event, namely the just-concluded Second Judgment, it is full of profound meaning.

The Lord of Judgment and the Lord of Fire jointly organized the largest judgment in history. They organized all the clergy of the entire Central Sanctuary to conduct hundreds of hearings, statements, and closing arguments simultaneously. Divine power guaranteed the honesty of everyone and could see through anyone's selfishness.

A total of thirteen thousand criminals, and more who continued to gather, were determined to be innocent in this second sentencing.

And in the other small part, some were indeed guilty, but the punishment was too heavy, a mistake by the sentencer. Of course, there were also some who felt they were innocent, but were actually guilty and were sentenced too lightly; they will receive a heavier punishment.

And on this day, the principles of innovation and morality, as well as the new doctrines of the Lord of Judgment, were all publicly explained by the gods in their true forms. When the shadow of the Dragon of Judgment floated above the sanctuary, all the priests of the Lord of Judgment's lineage were so excited that they could not be any more so, and shouted the name of God.

And now, the judgment continues. Except for the first day, the gods do not often intervene personally to make judgments, but leave everything to the priests and ordinary people, but everything has been on the right track.

"Praise the Lord of Judgment! Praise the Lord of Fire!"

On the streets of the Central Sanctuary today, one can often see many tearful offenders who have now been cleared of their grievances and finally restored to their innocence. These people have suffered unjust accusations for more than ten years, scorned by their hometowns and ignored by their relatives and friends, and now, after obtaining an acknowledgment of misjudgment from the Central Sanctuary, and the piety endorsed by the two gods, they can finally return to their hometowns, regain their reputation, and receive apologies.

Now, everything has been redressed... but how should these past ten years be compensated?

But at least, these crimes should not occur in the future.

[This new and just way will be passed down and executed by you—precisely you, who were once guilty but have now been cleared of your grievances. To prevent the pain you suffered from being repeated in the world in the future, I will grant you power and authority.]

The God said at the time, and the Lord of Judgment passed down his Thunderous Method and Gale Method. This is the inheritance given to all wandering adjudicators, all those in the lineage of the Lord of Judgment. They will hold divine arts that can see through resentment and evil thoughts, and perceive honesty. This power, called the Eye of Judgment, is the authority of God, but now it is entrusted to mortals.

Moreover, from now on, judgment is no longer final. Generally speaking, it requires two reviews.

Ordinary crimes will be presided over by a small team composed of three priests, and according to the covenants and precepts that will be revised later, they will be judged from the three aspects of individual, collective, and moral considerations to determine guilt or innocence. This step does not involve the Lord of Judgment.

Next, more than twenty local people's representatives will express their respective opinions, also discussing from the three aspects of individual, collective, and moral considerations, but only determining the severity of the circumstances. This also does not involve the Lord of Judgment.

But if the penalty is too controversial and there is disagreement, then whether it is the judging party or the judged party, they can directly make a request to the temple and go to a higher-level temple for a second trial.

And this time, it may involve the Lord of Judgment—if neither the priests nor the people's representatives can determine the outcome from the three aspects of individual, collective, and moral considerations, then they can only ask the Lord of Judgment to adjudicate—and this time, only the minority can yield to the majority, and then this point will be recorded in the new covenant law as an example.

Of course, this is basically impossible... because if the dispute is really that great, the Lord of Fire would probably go and see the situation himself.

And the first to try this new judgment system were not others, but those pirates in Su Zhou's personal space.

Among them, most of the pirates on the Wild Boar were treated as minor crimes. According to the new law, they will serve as laborers in the priestly entourage, traveling around the world to fight fires and provide disaster relief, atoning for the sins they once committed—and after the atonement is completed, another review will be conducted to determine whether to restore normal human rights, or to be observed.

However, most of the crew members of the Deep Diver are guilty, and guilty of serious crimes.

Even needing to be sentenced to death.

And the real key point among them is undoubtedly the Sea King, Albert.

"...In order to ensure that those who join our pirate团 (tuan - group/gang) completely sever unnecessary hopes, we will issue them a task for joining the团 (tuan - group/gang), which is a human life."

"As long as you get on the ship, you must kill someone. After all, who knows if these people who were not trained from childhood, but joined halfway, are spies from the temple? Only by killing someone will he inevitably be judged by the Lord of Judgment after returning to shore, and unable to return."

"So it's not just the Deep Diver, this is the rule of most high-level pirate groups. It's just that some are not so direct, but the final result is the same—all crew members are guilty of serious crimes and can only stay on the ship and coexist with the pirate团 (tuan - group/gang)."

On the viewing platform, the captain of a low-level pirate团 (tuan - group/gang) who had never killed anyone, Captain Nide, who had his feet cut off in accordance with the law, cursed and drove his wheelchair out of the courtroom—although his crime did not warrant death, he had to have his legs amputated and undergo labor reform.

Nide has the blood of the Wind Folk and the blood of Judgment. In four or five years, at most seven or eight years, his legs will probably regenerate completely, and before that, he will have to do some manual labor to atone for his crimes.

But at least, Nide doesn't have to die, and if he performs well and his atonement is recognized by everyone, then the sanctuary can also accelerate the restoration of his crippled legs.

The Holy Fire Continent does not have the concept of long-term imprisonment. The punishment for criminals is to directly cut off their hands and feet, completely eliminating their ability to do evil—because of the blood of Judgment and the blood of the Wind Folk, this is not considered permanent, at most a few decades of punishment, which is barely a characteristic of their world, and even if the gods want to interfere, it will take a long time.

And Albert, kneeling on the stage, doesn't care about this at all. He knows very well that he will inevitably be sentenced to death.

So, on the judgment台 (tai - platform/stage) in the center of the Central Sanctuary's Great Plaza, receiving a trial watched by tens of thousands of people, he calmly narrates his crimes: "In addition, in order to maintain deterrence, every once in a while, we will go to coastal cities or villages of the Sea Folk to attack, kill some people and fishermen, and rob some things."

"Over the years, I alone have killed hundreds of people, not to mention how much wealth I have plundered."

When saying these words, Albert's tone and emotions do not fluctuate at all, obviously having become accustomed to killing and having no emotion towards human life.

"...Is there anything else to confess?"

Beside him, the Great Priest, Gail, the divinely blessed of the Lord of Judgment, who is presiding over his trial, has a somewhat complex tone—he has never seen such a frank, pure evil person with no psychological burden on human life and evil deeds.

And Albert shook his head: "If wanting to become a god is also considered a blasphemy, then there is probably that."

"Other than that, there is nothing else."

The confession session is over, then comes the successive priest convictions, voting decisions, and the final degree of punishment determined by the people's representatives.

Without a doubt.

Albert's final verdict is death—beheading, to be carried out immediately.

And Albert doesn't care about any of this.

The execution of the death sentence is swift. The clergy brought in the beheading台 (tai - platform/stage), and the red-haired, red-bearded great pirate came to the beheading台 (tai - platform/stage) in this way.

A peak Chosen, a great pirate who, if in the sea, could even be comparable to the divinely blessed, will not die from such a minor injury as a beheading, but Su Zhou personally suppressed Albert's power and vitality. He is now a mortal.

No one can see Su Zhou. He is standing next to the beheading台 (tai - platform/stage), witnessing the final destination of this Sea King-level great pirate.

At this moment, only Albert knows that the Lord of Judgment is by his side.

But so what?

When his neck was pressed into the groove of the beheading台 (tai - platform/stage), Albert couldn't help but squint his eyes and look at the sky above the Central Sanctuary. Today, the sun is shining, the sky is clear, and the air is refreshing, carrying the scent of summer.

He couldn't help but recall the same midsummer many years ago, when he was a少年 (shao nian - young man/youth) standing on the deck of a ship, looking up and seeing the endless ocean and the distant horizon, a grand wish suddenly rose in his heart.

——The sea is so big... so why can't I explore its end, see the scenery beyond the sea level, see the scenery beyond the distant天地 (tian di - heaven and earth)?

At that time, the 少年 (shao nian - young man/youth) had already stained his hands with blood. As a pawn in his father's hands, a pirate who hunted pirates, Albert was born in the sea, but had always been wandering near the Sparrow Sea. He never had the love of a mother, nor the company of a father. Although support had never been lacking, the feeling of loneliness was always with him.

Albert doesn't care about loneliness. He is just unwilling, unwilling to stay here, always staying in the same place. He wants to witness new scenery.

So, from that day on, he began to prepare for the plan to rebel against his father, Gero, and become a truly independent and free pirate.

And now, decades later.

The crowd is surging in the square of the Central Sanctuary, with colorful hair and opinions like the tide. In this same midsummer, it is simply like another special kind of ocean.

But in the heart of the 少年 (shao nian - young man/youth) of the past, the heart born of the sea and yearning for freedom and the distant has long been worn away. He is already a ruthless pirate with no sense of guilt or repentance in his heart.

However, in the end, as the blade of the beheading台 (tai - platform/stage) is slowly raised, Albert still opens his mouth in his heart and prays to the God who is standing by his side but cannot be seen by anyone.

"God."

The red-haired great pirate murmured to himself: "I know that what I have done is evil and sinful, but I still did it. I knew I would be killed when I killed people, that is my choice."

"My life is like this, such an ending is taken for granted. Evil is not a label that I cannot accept."

"Just."

Speaking of this, Albert closed his eyes and muttered wearily, sincerely asking: "Why are there pirates?"

[Because of the mistakes of the old era.]

And standing by Albert's side, Su Zhou answered him. The other party is the first Sea King to be judged and convicted, and also the beginning of the pirate war that the Central Sanctuary is about to start. Su Zhou naturally has to come to the scene in person.

Regarding the great pirate's doubts, the God said calmly: [It was the cause established by me and the Lord of Fire that led to your birth—on this point, it is indeed a mistake we made. You originated from our mistakes. On this point, we should apologize to everyone.]

[However, in the new era, we will not make the same mistakes. Although humans can never learn from their lessons, we are gods after all, so perhaps we can be different—and admitting and correcting mistakes is also possible. This is precisely the original intention of innovation.]

Albert was silent about this.

In the clicking and clacking mechanical operation of the beheading knife being raised by gears, he sighed again and prayed: "God, are you saying that in the new era's order, there will be no one like me?"

"I always feel that since I was born, I have had no freedom at all. I can only be a pirate. I started killing people at the age of seven. I was born to be taught to plunder merchant ships. From the moment I was born, I had no right to be a good person—even if I wanted to explore, the Sea Folk would not be willing to serve me, and my subordinates would not be willing to go to distant places."

"And after I have the right to choose to explore distant places, the enthusiasm in my heart has faded... emptiness is spreading, so I want to become a god and try to take freedom."

To this, Su Zhou can only shake his head slightly.

[Perhaps, Albert, the conflicts of human interests and the conflicts of human thought are eternal. There have been people like you in the past, there are people like you now, and there should be people like you in the future.]

[However, the number will decrease. At that time, not only will there be very few people like you, but there will also be a high probability that you will not have the opportunity to commit any capital crimes—because with the progress of the times, you may still not have the right to choose, but at least there will no longer be the opportunity and reason to be such an evil pirate.]

[And this is the law of development, progress, and innovation.]

"Is that so... This is, innovation?"

The beheading knife has reached the top, and Albert looks at the execution ground in front of him. Everyone is shouting to sentence him to death—in the previous confession, everyone in the Central Sanctuary has learned of his origin, his crimes, and his actions. Even the matter of the high priest Gero was made public. His priestly father will be detained. Although he didn't say it until the end, how could God not know?

——This is very shameful... It is too much to have almost all of one's life made public!

However, Albert can see that in the audience, some people are not just simply cheering and cheering for a Sea King to be judged—they are thinking, they are confused, confused as to why pirates with a life experience like Albert would appear, and discussing how to deal with this type of problem so that new Alberts will not appear.

Looking at this scene, Albert is somewhat stunned.

If, his death can be for the future innovation...

Thinking of this, the man who is about to usher in the end smiles.

This smile aroused great indignation. Albert's smile was considered a mockery and disdain for the trial. If the death penalty was not already the highest penalty, the local people would probably immediately change the vote and increase Albert's crime.

But this Sea King doesn't care at all—what can affect the heart of someone who is about to die? The words of others are so weak and powerless.

In the last moment, he closes his eyes again, his expression calm.

"Lord, I have always been praying."

"From the moment I knew that I was just a tool used by my father to control the pirate团 (tuan - group/gang), I have been praying."

"I pray that I can leave that place—it's not to say that I think I'm a good person. If I leave the pirate团 (tuan - group/gang), I might also do evil. No, it's better to say that I can't imagine myself not being willful—maybe I'm just a natural villain? Perhaps this is some kind of destiny?"

He laughs freely, Albert has no fear of the beheading knife that is about to fall, he is just offering a final prayer to the God beside him, his tone peaceful: "I just want to say that if one day, I do evil, it is out of my own freedom, I will not be as unwilling as I am now if I am punished."

"God, I once yearned for free exploration, and I was also entangled in the fate of宿命 (su ming - destiny/fate). I drifted and wandered in the ocean, repeating the cycle that caused pain to others and pain to myself. Until the end, I pinned my hopes on becoming a god, so that I could drive away this emptiness in my heart."

"And now, I have just discovered that what I want is perhaps not that complicated—I just want to change, to change my powerless life."

"So, I have always been praying. I pray that I can have a different life from before, a better choice than before..."

"Thinking about it now, God, perhaps I have always been expecting."

"Expecting the arrival of innovation (you)."

These are the last words.

Ka-cha, the sharp beheading knife falls, like a shooting star.

Along with the spurting light blue blood, Albert's head rolls to the ground, and the power of the Source Water Soul Shard overflows, turning into water elements that scatter across the sky, supporting a small patch of dark clouds.

Death has arrived, swift and irreversible, and everything about the Sea King returns to the final darkness.

However, the last thought of the soul has not stopped.

"Lord..."

"Can you... hear me?"

[...Your unwillingness, your prayers, your wishes, I have heard them all.]

After a moment of silence, Su Zhou raises his head.

He looks at everyone in front of him, everyone who witnessed Albert's death.

The crowd is surging, there are clergy, there are ordinary people, there are people who have never committed crimes, and there are people who have committed crimes.

On this land of the Tartadis world, humans are always repeating the cycle, humans are always unwilling, and humans are always yearning for change.

So he came—and then listened.

Listening to the mighty tide—which is the call for a new era, new justice, new judgments, and principles.

So, in the end, the youth closes his eyes, opens his arms, and feels the wishes that are wrapped around him, layer upon layer, like chains.

[I have heard it.]

He whispers to himself: [Everyone's unwillingness, everyone's prayers, everyone's wishes.]

[I have heard them all.]

[And now, it is time to eliminate the mistakes.]

Element Calendar, year 307, July 7th.

Central Sanctuary, after the final trial of the Sea King Albert is over, the plaza is still crowded.

A large number of clergy officials come with their equipment and stand neatly in the plaza.

One hundred and thirty-seven years after the rebellion that gave birth to the pirates.

A brand new team is gathering, aligning, and preparing to embark on the road to the sea once again.

Two gods will travel with them, and be with them.

And this time, what they have to do is to end the 'mistake' they committed in the past.

And bring the new 'innovation' to the whole world!

"Set off!"

There is such a voice.

"Set off!"

There are thousands upon thousands of other voices, echoing.

And then, just like that.

People set off.

Towards the distant horizon and the future ahead.