Right. Humans demand order. I don't deny that.
A wall to lean against. A roof that won't collapse. A sturdy pillar. They hope unchanging common sense will protect them.
But you know what.
"Humans don't need order."
I murmured so only the Saint could hear, then stretched my body. Time to step up.
"I'll stop the fight. Lankart, you stop the mercenaries. Lady Shei, please break up the mages' fight. Senior Avant-garde too."
"And you?"
"I'll take the paladins."
There's no time for conversation. I immediately rushed toward the paladins.
Paladins possess combat premonition. To roughly explain combat premonition, it's a brief conditional foresight received through divine power.
In those perilous moments where every move targets one's life. In extremely tense situations where you trade moves, you feel the illusion of time slowing down. In that fleeting moment, the "Celestial God" connects with their believer and delivers a brief premonition. A momentary premonition of crossing intentions is as precise as it is brief.
The reason paladins boast iron-wall defense when forming a group, despite their qi cultivation level not being that high. It's because they have combat premonition.
I decided to use combat premonition in reverse.
I took out the skewer. What I need is a slight opening and bold movement. And certain killing intent. I glared at the paladin before me, aimed the skewer at his back, and genuinely resolved to kill him.
"Die."
It's different from before. Having regained some of my strength, I have the ability to kill at least one defenseless human. Toward the paladin's back, I thrust the skewer with all my might!
'Combat premonition! From behind? Oh Celestial God...!'
Sensing death approaching from behind, the paladin who had foreseen it reflexively turned his body. Because it's a premonition of death, he has no choice but to react unconditionally.
Reacted at this point? Okay, that's far enough.
I immediately withdrew my killing intent and feigned ignorance. Like when you make eye contact while trying to pickpocket, I naturally turned my gaze away, hummed a tune, and passed by the paladin.
The moment the paladin foresaw death, I canceled the future the premonition had drawn.
'The premonition disappeared!'
Just as he received the premonition and tried to react, the paladin floundered at the suddenly vanished killing intent.
'The, the premonition changed...?! What's happening? Combat premonition is never wrong!'
That's the flaw of premonition. A premonition that foretells things that haven't happened yet is inevitably uncertain. The moment it came, I withdrew my killing intent and deceived the premonition.
The Celestial God's premonition is fast, but the correction is slow. Probably because it can't admit it was wrong.
I continued the premonition bluff. Every time I subtly thrust my body forward, the paladins recoiled and staggered.
"Gasp!"
"Heok!"
"An ambush...!"
There were paladins who reflexively counterattacked, but paladins are those who cover even qi deficiency with divine power. Honestly, it wasn't hard to dodge. The cross-sword with its wide blade could be blocked bare-handed if you used your hands well.
Just from a few bluffs, their formation crumbles.
"Now, now. The fighting ends here. Has the stress been relieved? Please rest now."
"Ugh...! Why us!"
"To stop the fight, this is the only way. Don't feel wronged. I'll restrain the other side too. I'm a fair person."
As I spoke standing before the paladin, a butterfly fluttered to my ear. Huh, a butterfly? There aren't even flowers in the grass, where'd a butterfly come from suddenly?
"It's a butterflyyyy."
"Woah!"
I was a bit late in noticing. Dokjinye's blade split the space like some skewer. Even though I dodged in advance after seeing the butterfly from Dokjinye's hallucination, I felt my ear get sliced.
Dokjinye, who has taken drugs, has no clear killing intent or will. She simply swings her blade as the hallucination leads her. It's fortunate I could discern her hallucination with mind-reading, because with a clumsy reaction, my throat would have been slit like the dead paladin.
The problem is that since she's high on drugs, persuasion won't work. I need to stop the fight immediately, but what do I do.
"Butterflyyyyy."
Ah. Right.
Before the fluttering butterfly could fly in, I hastily sandwiched two cards together and threw them. Within the fluttering butterfly, the butterfly made of cards flew at high speed.
The butterfly spinning and flying by itself caught Dokjinye's attention. Swish. Despite there being 10m of distance between the butterfly and her, Dokjinye's blade, extended like lightning, precisely sliced the card in half.
An incomprehensible principle. Better not to associate with her. Fortunately, I bought some time by briefly drawing her attention.
"To dodge an attack that wasn't even visible with combat premonition...!"
"What exactly are you?"
Lankart had subdued Kuram and Archbishop Elton, and Shei suppressed the lower-realm mages with Heavenly Restraint. Avant-garde was breaking up the floating-city mages. It hadn't completely calmed down, but it was a temporary lull.
Now.
It's time to establish my order.
"My, my. This is why barbarians won't do. While solving a problem for a moment, you're brawling with each other? This is the Tower, not the Colosseum."
I imitate the most arrogant and insolent mage I can. The motif can be taken from Lankart, so it's easy.
I grabbed the back of my neck and glared at everyone with a face mixed with contempt and annoyance.
"Did you enjoy killing each other? This is why they call you barbarians. I don't understand why you're so devoted to repeating actions that bring no benefit."
Lankart and Shei belong to the most powerful ranks in this group. Excluding the hidden Blue Tower Lord and Hilde, the two of them alone could take on all 70 people.
Compared to those two, I'm as weak as a bug, but they don't know that fact. They think I'm their comrade, a mage who practically solved Babel's problem alone.
That's why I'm still their leader.
"I've kept saying it. Following Seinne's will, I would share all knowledge obtained from the Tower with everyone. So let's not fight and cooperate to climb up together. But you couldn't endure even that short moment and revealed your innate nature. Hah. This won't do. Let me declare clearly here."
If this happened because there's no order, I'll establish order. An order everyone can acknowledge.
"I will only bring innocent humans up the Tower. Sinners cannot be with us. Either fight each other in the Tower and die miserably, or be cast down to the lower realm and never return."
A solemn declaration as if I had become God's apostle.
The innocent shall be rewarded. Words that could come from the Bible. The paladin order cheered at my words.
How could I bring those who practiced demonic arts, used poison, didn't believe in God, and killed people? You should disappear from this world. The holy relic cannot be handed over to villains like them.
As if my declaration was something that should have happened, just a little delayed. As if they had entrusted something to me, they aggressively shot back at Dokjinye and Kuram's mercenary group.
However, I aimed my skewer with a cold face. The paladins' faces, feeling my hostility, sank as if covered by a transparent lid.
"The same goes for you. The Northern Church's paladin order."
And the silence that followed.
Was it an unexpected answer? Funny. Why the betrayed expressions? You made strange expectations of me on your own and now you're flustered?
Order doesn't favor only you.
"How can those who wielded violence against others be innocent? Moreover, from the very first meeting, you framed Kuram and Dokjinye and urged others to kill them, and you harbored killing intent toward Kuram and Dokjinye first."
"What nonsense is that?"
Archbishop Elton shouted. He was particularly indignant because he realized I was denouncing the paladins in the name of faith.
"Those two practiced demonic arts, use poison, and violated taboos! Furthermore, they've committed countless killings while climbing this Tower!"
"I haven't seen that sin."
"Even if your eyes are covered, it's self-evident that light is there! Don't pretend not to know. You must know too! If they didn't commit murder, what is that smell of blood, and where did the mages they met while climbing the Tower go!"
"Shall I say more? I don't particularly care. Are there only one or two people who've committed crimes in the lower realm?"
I have no intention of making grand statements like "all humans are sinners." I shrugged and answered.
"How would I know? Whether you're a petty thief, a good-for-nothing who makes a living off fraud and gambling, or a murderer who has killed people. I'm superior to all of you combined, but I don't know your backgrounds or what crimes you've committed. Therefore, there's no reason for me to change my judgment based on what you did before meeting me."
I've done all of that too, so would others not have? Since I'm an ordinary human, others must have committed wrongs at least as much as I have.
So let's fairly turn a blind eye to what happened outside. Let's only judge the sins of the present.
"Even if light and justice are clear, the humans who accept them are imperfect. No matter how much you cry out light and justice, what I see is a coward who led a large group yet tried to ambush the opponent."
"How dare you spout such nonsense...!"
Still, you have nothing to say, right? Because it's true. You may have kept your beliefs, but you're the one who destroyed our group's order.
Perhaps finding the sight of Archbishop Elton being thoroughly countered amusing, Kuram spoke with a calm smile.
"My. I thought you'd only spout boring words."
"The same goes for you, Kuram. When they hadn't even acted yet, you fed drugs right in front of them, made Dokjinye kill people, and Dokjinye even committed murder. It's a sin that wouldn't be enough even if you fell straight to hell."
"I'll acknowledge your words. As someone who's been to hell once, falling to hell isn't that scary."
Kuram is a self-acknowledged and publicly recognized villain. He uses poison and drugs, modified his body with taboo, and Kuram and Dokjinye who just killed three paladins would fall to hell even without conspiring. They didn't even try to persuade me.
Kuram and Dokjinye, eliminated. Turning my head coldly, I now looked at the mages fighting divided into two groups.
"And the mages. You are even worse than those two groups. Despite boasting about having learned something, you had the full intention of killing the other side, and used the magic bestowed by Seinne to harm others."
This time it's your turn. Did you think your turn wouldn't come?
The mages flinched as if hit by an unexpected surprise attack, then rebutted.
"They attacked first! Even if they're the chosen of the floating city!"
"You tried to cut in line first with gravity magic!"
"Not all of us did that, and even that failed and we lost our lives! And you can't even mourn!"
"Why should we mourn? We're happy! Those cowardly bastards died falling for their own schemes!"
The mages started fighting with words instead of magic. As if I would take their side if they won the argument. Naturally, I had no intention of taking anyone's side.
"Hah? Hypocrites blinded by greed. You participated in the Gate of Ascension despite being floating city mages, and you think you're innocent? If you have a sin, it's greed."
"Seinne's relic is an esoteric secret everyone covets. It's not for the lower realm! We have a chance too!"
"This opportunity was created by the Celsius family of the lower realm. If you wanted it, you should have created that opportunity yourselves. You lived well eating well in the floating city, and when an event happened in the lower realm, you came down to just snatch the fruit? Aren't you ashamed?"
At my scathing criticism, the floating city mages' faces turned red. As much, the lower realm mages felt vindicated and snickered.
I don't know why. You're the same.
"Still, you from the floating city are a bit better. Greed is also a virtue of mages. Better than fools full of greed who don't know their place and only blame others."
The snickering stopped as if caught on something. Lower realm mages are mages too. They quickly figured out who I was referring to.
"I don't understand why you boast about being too stupid to even enter the floating city and talk about qualifications. Why you confidently say you can't use gravity magic because you lack learning. Despite that, you ambush with magic. You raise your voices to denounce others. Trash drenched in inferiority complex who don't know their place."
I poured scathing criticism on the lower realm mages.
Even if they hadn't yet risen to the floating city, the lower realm mages also grew up being called geniuses in their own academic districts. At the harsh words they'd rarely heard, the lower realm mages hesitated.
One who came to his senses pointed a finger at me and demanded.
"You, are you saying that to us right now? To us who were robbed of the rightful opportunity to climb the Gate of Ascension?"
"Yes. I'm saying it to you. Is remaining in the lower realm due to insufficient learning something to be proud of? You should think about somehow learning and becoming a mage qualified to rise to the floating city. Why get so heated about competition?"
"The Gate of Ascension is an opportunity for lower realm mages! We're victims!"
"You're also beneficiaries. The reason you could make it this far with your lives intact is simply thanks to me. Otherwise, you would have failed to solve the problems and dropped out or died early."
Excluding the fact that they walk on their own two feet spiritedly, the lower realm mages are just dead weight. Babel's problem is related to spatial anomalies. Lower realm mages who haven't learned spatial magic couldn't understand my solution and just followed along, providing no help at all. Honestly, I didn't even know they existed until they ambushed with magic. That might be why they tried even harder to show their presence.
This is trash. That is trash. There's not a single thing I like. My order doesn't need them.
But, even so, my order is just. It simply doesn't need humans. I declared before everyone.
"I declare. You are all sinners."