Only God

Wine God Sibos admired the great fire.

How many people through the ages had ever witnessed such a spectacle?

"Fine wine is always the best companion to poetry."

Sibos raised his goblet, toasting the gathered Divine.

The Divine immediately raised their goblets, collectively celebrating this just victory.

These days, they had learned of the other Gods' movements. Those leading mortals to accept the Path of Divine Creation had apparently met with human rebellion. Some mortals, upon gaining power, had become exactly as proud and self-satisfied as they'd anticipated, even claiming to be divine incarnate and attempting to use the Path of Divine Creation to divide humans—one faction of Gods had met with even greater obstacles than the former. Their actions had faced significant backlash; mortals could not yet accept such forcefully imposed changes.

Only their faction of the Divine was on the brink of victory now.

"Those Divine are too foolish; there are so many paths in this world, the broadest and simplest is before us, yet they chose the most difficult.

Come, let us indulge in this moment."

Sibos was naturally the life of the party, and under his lead, the celebrating Divine cheered, eager to see more great fires ignited in the Kingdom of Kaelonde.

At that moment, one of the Divine, with a worried face, said uneasily,

"We have, after all, burned down a city..."

The other Divine turned to look at him, and the latter quickly covered his mouth, afraid that he'd said something wrong.

Sibos, with a smile brimming across his face, approached and addressed the surrounding Divine,

"Smile, why so tense?

Isn't this a joyous celebration?

Even mortals know that to indulge in revelry at a banquet is the greatest courtesy. Why are you so tense?"

After easing the atmosphere, Sibos clapped his hands, and had a Maid pour a full cup of fine wine for the Divine before him.

Then, the Wine God spoke,

"What are you worried about? It wasn't us who burned down the city. We didn't do anything; it's all the mortals' own doing."

Hearing this, the gathered Gods laughed, clapping their hands,

"Yes, it's all the mortals' own doing."

"It wasn't us who set the fire."

"No one knows who lit it, so who would blame us?"

Thus, the tense atmosphere relaxed, and Sibos watched the banquet scene with satisfaction.

Sibos's gaze returned to the recently worried Divine and continued,

"Relax, there have been many cities scorched by great fires in the world, one more or one less, it's all the same.

Moreover, let me tell you, Kaelonde's destruction is nothing to mourn, not unjust at all.

There are some mortal doctrines on earth that claim to create the Great Plain or a Mortal Heaven, advocating that all sinners should be killed. Many regard these as evil cults, but I think those mortals have a point.

There's so much evil in the world; if we don't use force to purge it, how can we wash away the blood of sin?

Even if a few innocents are wrongly killed in the process, it's a necessary sacrifice.

Kaelonde was rampant with greed anyway; its burning cleansed the world a bit. Therefore, its destruction is justified."

Sibos shamelessly defended the action with a straight face, but due to disagreements in viewpoint, many of the Divine found the Wine God's words quite sensible.

The concerned Divine was still uneasy and asked,

"What if, to kill one villain, a hundred innocents must die?"

Sibos shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly,

"This is what they often say in poetry: the price of justice."

The Gods immediately clapped and agreed enthusiastically.

Seeing this, Sibos cleared his throat and continued,

"As for why it's not a pity,

It's for something nobler—poetry.

The burning of Kaelonde, such a poetically tragic affair, will inspire countless Poets in the future,

Those poems will not only be treasures for mortals but also for the Gods.

Had this city not burned, would there be those poems in the future?

Just like on the battlefield, if no Hero falls in battle, even the God of Poetry couldn't write a decent epic.

For the sake of future masterpieces like 'The Battlefields of Kaelonde' or 'My King, My Land,' Kaelonde's burning is not to be lamented.

Perhaps future generations will even be grateful, 'Thank goodness Kaelonde was burned, otherwise, we wouldn't have such magnificent works.'

Anyway, even if Kaelonde is burned, it will be rebuilt and reborn anew!"

Sibos's speech sounded grand and seemingly logical, and the Divine were completely convinced. They no longer perceived the screams amidst the flames as grating, but rather as exquisite lines of poetry.

"How reasonable this sounds!"

"Human sages could never articulate such profound truth."

"The Dwarves should feel blessed, for they will be written into poetry, like beautiful notes woven into melody."

...

With these voices, the uneasy Divine was somewhat swayed and slowly drank from the wine in his cup.

Sibos burst into cheers,

"Celebrate! For wine! For poetry!"

The Divine erupted into celebration, drinking deeply and admiring the sight of the city being consumed by flames.

After a brief moment of revelry...

God of Victory Laiendos furrowed his brow.

Noticing this, Sibos asked: