Not everyone was convinced of Asher's divinity, but they were undeterred.
A beautiful woman wearing a nun clothing stepped forward, her presence radiating an aura of innocence and serenity.
Her long, golden hair cascaded down her back like a river of sunset hues, and her bright blue made her look like a saint.
She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, her slender fingers intertwining like the petals of a flower.
Her na was Camilla. She seed kind, but beneath that facade was sothing else entirely.
Closing her eyes, she began to pray, her lips moving in soft whispers.
"Oh, Lord Asher, our savior. We thank you for your rcy, for your kindness, and for your selflessness. You have saved us from the brink of destruction, and we are forever in your debt."
As she spoke, her eyes remained closed, and her face tilted upwards, as if basking in the warmth of an invisible heaven.
"Lord Asher, Lord Asher, Lord Asher!" the others chanted.
"Stop this!" a gruff old man nad Marcus shouted, his face red with anger. "You're going to start a riot!"
But she just smiled, her eyes glinting with a fanatical light.
"We are the chosen ones," she said, her voice dripping with conviction. "We are the ones who will spread the word of Lord Asher's greatness."
As the commotion grew, Haven watched with growing unease. She knew he didn't want to be worshiped as a god base on his earlier statents.
However, she and her followers were beyond reason.
"Asher's not a god," she said, trying to intervene. "He's just a person with extraordinary abilities."
She just laughed, her eyes flashing with contempt.
"You don't understand! You're just a skeptic, blinded by your own pride. But we see the truth. Asher is the savior of humanity."
"Stop this nonsense, we already have enough problems!" Marcus repeated.
"Creating this group is not good at all, you're trying to create a division here! We need to focus on survival."
The crowd began to stir, so people nodding in agreent with Marcus, while others looked at him with a mixture of anger and resentnt.
Elara's face turned red with indignation, and she took a step forward, her eyes flashing with defiance.
"How dare you, old man!" she spat, her voice venomous. "You don't appreciate what he has done for us. He has saved us from certain death! He's our hope!"
Marcus snorted in disgust. "Hope? You call this hope? This is blind fanaticism!"
The crowd began to argue, their voices rising in disagreent.
S-rank Awakeners, who were watching the scene unfold, stepped forward, their faces stern and concerned.
They had been the strongest and most respected individuals in the community, and they always worked to maintain order and stability.
"Hey, let's calm down here," Baik raised his hand." We don't need to resort to na-calling or aggression."
But the Ashborn were not interested in listening.
They were radicalized, and they saw the S-rank Awakeners as a bad people who wanted to take all the credits.
"Useless S Ranks," one of the Ashborn sneered, a young woman with a scar above her left eyebrow.
"You think you're so strong, but you're nothing compared to Lord Asher. You should be helping us make everyone submit to him, so he'll continue saving our pathetic lives."
The S-rank Awakeners were taken aback by the Ashborn's negative words. They had never been spoken to like that before, and they didn't know how to react.
"We're trying to help," Haven chid in "We need to work together, as equals, if we want to survive."
The Ashborn laughed, their faces twisted with contempt.
"Equals?" one of them repeated, a burly man with a cruel grin.
"You think you're equal to Lord Asher? Ha! You're nothing but weaklings, clinging to your outdated notions of power and authority. Lord Asher is the only one who truly matters, and you should be grateful for his rcy."
The S-rank Awakeners exchanged uneasy glances.
The situation was spiraling out of control, and they feared for the future of their community.
"We need to talk to Asher," Haven suggested. "He needs to know what's going on, and he needs to put a stop to this before it's too late."
But as they turned to leave, they were confronted by Camilla, her eyes blazing with anger.
"You'll do no such thing. Stay out of this and let us worship who we want! You're overstepping your bounds!"
Her words cut deep, and so of the S-rank Awakeners did not like her tone.
Stron clenched his fist. "How dare you? We're just trying to maintain order..."
The Asborns instinctively backed away, thinking he might resort to violence.
Camilla was not afraid of him.
"You're just trying to maintain your own power and influence."
"You're afraid that if Lord Asher leads us, no one will follow you anymore. You're afraid of being replaced."
"We're not going to stop. We'll make sure Lord Asher leads us, no matter what."
Before Stron could reply, she turned away and left with her group.
They might have retreated, but they still achieved their goal—planting the seed of doubt.
Now, humans feared that if they didn't worship Asher, they would be abandoned.
"Wait! I'm coming with you! I also want to worship our savior!" a man shouted as he broke away from the crowd.
His actions sparked a chain reaction. One by one, more people stepped forward, choosing to join the Ashborns.
The S-Rank Awakeners could only watch because it would look bad if they stepped in to stop them directly.
While this was happening, Asher reached one of the largest settlents—almost the size of the main city but this one focused more industrial and manufacturing field.
It was nearly destroyed by monsters, but he managed to save a few—mostly high-ranking Awakeners and people trapped in shelters.
After wiping out the monster horde, everyone saw him in a better light.
He then told them to step onto the gate, which would take them back to the main city.
"How many more settlents?"
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