Simulate the universe, starting with speedrunning Greek.

The thought that I'm actually living on this thing in real life, moving around under its nose until now, and still alive, makes me feel like I've been given a second chance at life.

This is a situation that would make even ordinary gods break out in a cold sweat.

At least Dionysus, the god of wine who was once killed by the Night Explosion, would probably have turned around and fled to other mythological worlds as far away as possible if he saw the scene before him.

'Zeus, what the hell have you come up with now?!' Almost instinctively, Ye thought of Zeus's old bastard's conspiracy.

After all, there was the example of the Carthaginian dragon, who relied on the land of Carthage to construct the underworld, to give birth to and grow Rome, to manually create enemies and food, and even to sacrifice his own daughter.

In this era, one should emulate Jupiter, the supreme god of Roman mythology, who, right before his eyes, revealed such astonishing darkness buried beneath the earth of Rome.

It was as if the evil god Gatanothor was asleep.

That is a tremendous evil that, once awakened, will threaten the safety of the world.

It would be absurd to say that Zeus didn't know.

Who knows, this thing might have been created by Zeus.

No, that's not right...

Night frowned.

When he first arrived in this world, he couldn't be sure, but after witnessing the power of the gods firsthand, and even personally using divine power, and deeply experiencing its essence...

Night could still sense whether the gods still frequently descended to the mortal realm in this era.

Rome--

It has been a long time since any deity has descended.

Even though he had sensed Apollo's divine power at the statue of the twelve Olympian gods before, that residual divine power now seemed extremely weak.

Its owner hasn't looked down for a long time.

There was no sign of divine intervention on the land of Rome; something must have happened to the twelve Olympian gods, making it impossible for them to descend upon the earth now.

With Zeus's narrow-mindedness, he would never allow any powerful force capable of threatening him to run rampant under his nose.

The immense evil beneath the earth is clearly out of control.

This might not be Zeus's doing, or perhaps he's too preoccupied with his own problems to care about this place.

Rather than being Zeus's doing, it was most likely the work of his enemies.

Thinking about Zeus's enemies—no, to put it more broadly, anything capable of creating something that could force Zeus, who had maintained his impregnable rule for thousands of years and sat firmly on the throne of the gods, and even the twelve Olympian gods, to the point where they could no longer manifest on Earth—in the simple Greek worldview, if such a troublemaking being existed, it would have already taken action long ago.

If it's not a product of the Greek worldview, then it's most likely an enemy that will threaten the Greek and Roman mythological system in the future.

Night suddenly thought of something...

Especially at this moment, he also sensed a familiar aura emanating from the enormous evil beneath his feet.

Just like Dionysus, the god of wine who was nominally a Greek god, but whose behavior and style had a more Christ-like aesthetic and who liked to play the role of a mysterious figure in front of people.

It was this familiarity that made the fog before Ye's eyes seem to dissipate, and he suddenly could perceive its more essential nature.

He 'saw' something new again.

That strong sense of déjà vu can be perfectly summarized by a familiar passage of text.

"Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten crowns, and on its seven heads were blasphemous names."

'The beast I saw was like a leopard, with feet like a bear's and a mouth like a lion's. The dragon gave it his power, his throne, and great authority.'

"I saw that one of the beast's seven heads appeared to be deadly, but the deadly wound was healed. All the earth marveled and followed the beast, and worshiped the dragon, because it had given its authority to the beast, and they worshiped it, saying, 'Who is like this beast, and who can wage war against it?'"

"And gave it a mouth to speak boastful and blasphemous things, and gave it authority to do whatever it wants for forty-two months."

The beast opened its mouth and blasphemed against God, blaspheming his name and his tabernacle and those who dwell in the heavens.

And it was given power over the saints to wage war and to prevail. It was also given authority over every people, nation, language and country.

All who dwell on the earth whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the slain Lamb since the creation of the world shall worship it.

Everyone who has ears should listen.

Those who take captives will be taken captive themselves; those who kill with the sword will be killed with the sword. This is the patience and faith of the saints.

This passage was originally a veiled allegory from a story in the Bible.

Ordinary people would find it difficult to understand its meaning, let alone the beasts and dragons. In reality, it refers to a prosperous and powerful but extremely corrupt empire.

That's right—it's Rome.

When you apply it to Rome, you suddenly find it easy to understand.

It was almost a veiled insult and denunciation of Guro.

In a world where mysticism truly exists, this beast might actually exist.

The ancient serpent, Lucifer, Satan, and the seven-headed ten-horned beast are all basically its symbols and represent the same entity.

At the same time, in many mythological contexts, they are also the incarnations of so-and-so.

Without exception, they were all deities of extremely high status in their respective mythologies.

night:……!

This time, Satan really does live on Roman soil.

...not the Roman emperors of the future who, because of their brutality, would be regarded by the world as Satan, but the beings who are truly "enemies" of God in the biblical system, and are called the kings of demons and the lords of hell.

Chapter Three: Existence Has Meaning, The 'Enemies,' the Degraded Supreme Gods

In the Tanakh, there is a beast that first appears as an ancient serpent. Before the Roman Catholic Church wrote the New Testament, it was not a demon at that time; it was Satan.

Ye suddenly thought of a mythological invasion that was about to sweep across Western Europe and affect multiple pantheons.

In the future, he single-handedly defeated numerous pantheons from Greece, Norse mythology, and Egypt, completing his mythological invasion and achieving a terrifying pantheon that unified the Western mythological world.

Following Julius Caesar's expansion, with the conquest of all of Gaul, the crossing of the Rhine River, the journey from Germania to Britain, across the English Channel, and even the expansion of Roman legions to the point of expeditions to Spain, Syria, and Egypt, the initial realization of Rome's grand ambition of a 'world empire' was achieved.

His successor, Augustus, ended a century-long civil war, leading the Roman Empire toward peace and prosperity.

With numerous countries conquered, Augustus was magnanimous in his approach to culture and religion, readily allowing various peoples within the Roman Empire to practice their own ancient religions, without forcibly demanding a unified faith in the twelve Olympian gods.

—An era of multiple pantheons and the coexistence of gods has arrived.

In contrast to Caesar, a brilliant and passionate conqueror, he was filled with idealism.

Augustus was a patient, calm, and pragmatic individual who assessed situations carefully.

As long as he can maintain his rule, preserve peace, and keep the people stable, he doesn't mind the coexistence of multiple religious sects.

It was this tolerance and magnanimity that laid a crucial foundation for the future emergence of Jesus, a Jewish boy from the small town of Nazareth.

The regions where Jesus Christ was active were mainly Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Syria, all of which had been conquered and turned into provinces by the ancient Roman Empire at that time.

Its active period coincided with the time immediately following Augustus's death.

Caesar led his troops with his sword, and Augustus worked diligently to govern—but their eras would eventually pass, and Jesus would then establish Christianity, which would last for more than two thousand years.

In the normal historical world, this might just be a struggle between mortals for religious authority.

In an era when Caesar was still a little kid, the period in which Jesus was active was still far off.

However, if viewed from the perspective of a mythological world where gods truly exist, the era of that pinnacle of monotheism is about to arrive, and a grand event has only just begun.

If Rome initially unified the land and culture of the West, then the biblical pantheon unified Western mythology and legends.

It integrates all the chaotic and numerous mythological systems from various regions, with the absolute supremacy of the Triune God as the core, and belittles and weaves the main gods of other pantheons into a completely new mythology.

This is a common tactic used by various pantheons, and perhaps only this one can achieve such a comprehensive and widespread mythological invasion.

If a massive orthodox struggle between pantheons is imminent, then the present day, just a few decades after the emergence of Christianity...

Clearly, the emerging hegemon of this land could not have been left unprepared.

Could this thing underneath be his doing...?

At this moment, Ye felt a chill run down her spine.

Indeed, he suspected that although this thing was not created by Zeus, it might have been created by that other being.

Although in philosophy, humanity is fundamental, and the so-called gods and demons symbolize more the good and evil aspects of humanity, which is more similar to the dualism of Zoroastrianism, now is the time for theology.

In reality, the original Satan was not God's enemy, nor was he depicted as a demon.

In the Book of Job in the Old Testament, he made a bet with God to test Job's faith in God. At the same time, he also took on the mission of watching over the sins of mankind and exposing their sins at the final judgment on the end of the world. Therefore, he is also known as the 'tempter' or 'whistleblower'.

Such as tempting humanity, leading Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, tempting Job, and also as the king of demons tempting humanity to sin.

Compared to the various identities of Satan that became popular in later generations, such as the opponent of God and the demon who rebelled against God, everything he did was clearly more like a test of human faith with God's tacit approval, and more like God's henchman on earth.

The birth of the Demon King was a trap.

A careful consideration of the period when Satan was thoroughly demonized and began to be active as the Lord of Hell, opposed to God, coincides with the rise of Christianity.

This was precisely the period when other pantheons had just been overthrown and incorporated, and their respective myths and legends had been absorbed into the biblical system.

What follows is the usual tactic.

They incorporated the legends of opposing gods into their own mythology, then attached infamy to them and denigrated them.

From the perspective of Christian tradition, most of the gods (God is from Judaism), angels (some are derived from Judaism), and demons (which vilify other religions) recorded in the religion are inherited from other religions.

The image of Satan as the king of demons was once believed to be based on Set, the evil god of Egypt.

At the same time, regarding the relationship between Satan and Lucifer, Satan is the ancient serpent, while Lucifer is the star; the two are not directly related.

Lucifer is also a demonized name for a god—even more so than Satan. His original image may have been that of Metatron, the seraphim in Judaism.

Seraphim Metatron has 36 wings on his back and possesses a series of prestigious titles, including Creator Angel, King of the Heavenly Army, Lesser Jehovah, Angel of the Covenant, and Creator of All Things.

However, due to his extremely high status, it would directly affect the status of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity.

Therefore, there is no record of his identity in the Christian Bible. Instead, the story of Lucifer's fall, which is similar in appearance and status, is used to represent Metatron's fall.

Because later Christian scholars lacked research on Judaism, erroneous concepts arose such as 'Satan' being merely a title, or that Satan was Lucifer. This was also a result of their excessive and unreasonable denigration of other religious deities.

The doctrines thereafter were full of contradictions. The four versions of the Gospel in the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—contradict each other in countless ways, and even after revisions by the Roman Catholic Church, they were still difficult to unify.

In the end, Satan became synonymous with the enemy of God, an empty shell with more symbolic than practical significance.

I have no enemies, so I create one for myself.

This is very much in line with the biblical system.