Chapter 1059: Double Life Jade
The Holy Light Empire just destroyed the headquarters building of the Lance Continent Wizard Union branch. It was devastating. Well, except for Emperor Harvey. He was satisfied with the mayhem he was causing.
He announced, after confirming that the three teleportation circles were destroyed, “From today onward, Lance Continent will return to my lord’s arms.!”
Not everyone agreed with this operation. Some knights believed that trying to seize total control only brought disaster, but what happened was already set in place. Moreover, most of the knights were just too frantic that the Holy Light Empire was achieving this sort of overwhelming victory. They were happy to find themselves to be the true masters of the continent. They got louder and louder, and just a few really understood that what happened was only the beginning.
Emperor Harvey looked towards the palace, ” all this time, after becoming head knight’s commander, there have been no way forward for knights. This is what separates us from the wizards, and how is that fair, I ask all of you! The wizards can live for as long as an oak tree, whereas most of our comrades can reach about two hundred, if they are gifted and diligent enough in their efforts!”
The Holy Light Empire was a state with a strong knight presence. It was built by empowering the knights so that they could overthrow the ruling n.o.blemen. Ever since coming into power, the knights became a group based on their wors.h.i.+p of the demon from beyond.
Looking back from the history of the Nation of G.o.d, the first sacred knights all came from the knight cla.s.s. They were all talented individuals who found themselves unable to go further. At a certain point, they erased all their traces of existence from the central continent. The Nation of G.o.d was like a trap that lured them to leave their homes, no matter how hard the Wizard Union tried to stop them from going there. Eventually, the Wizard Union had to ban all their practices.
Emperor Harvey added, “We are powerful knights! We’ll sweep this continent and get what we deserve! I’m 318 years old now! I’m already well beyond my supposed lifespan because of my devoted faith to my lord. Not only am I more powerful, I’ve also gained a longer life. No, it’s not with whatever potion Wizard Alpert was speaking of!”
The knights started to look fanatic. They were influenced by his wealth, longevity, and fighting capabilities.
Emperor Harvey continued, “I’ll build 100 temples on the central continent! There’s only One G.o.d, and that is my lord!”
The divine golden armor on him shone in a golden light. His voice was eerie and on loop.
All the knights knelt and murmured, “We’ll become our lord’s followers! My lord, my only G.o.d!”
Emperor Harvey looked at the knights. He felt the golden armor and the pathway the knights generated. He knew that these knights were becoming followers. These knights swore their oaths towards the armor, and the mark left on their spirits was permanent. As long as that was true, there would be no stopping. This was why Emperor Harvey didn’t mind spending a huge proportion of his divine powers stored for the procedure.
“Knights! there’s nothing better!” Emperor Harvey thought to himself.
Knights were beings that existed between ordinary men. They were more powerful than warriors but inferior to cla.s.s holders. While the temptations of the demons from beyond could not influence cla.s.s holders, they could extend to ordinary people. Knights were regular people with better attributes, and they made up for better options as followers.
Emperor Harvey prayed as hard as he could, “for 300 years! I have felt your presence my lord, when I was devoted to you back on the central continent!”
He knew that once the faith was spreading on the Lance Continent, there would be a true connection between the Lance Continent and the Nation of G.o.d. He would be able to pray directly to the spirits by that point. He could even use the super-sized teleportation circle to return to the Nation of G.o.d, which was why he never actually destroyed the main structures when he ordered the attacks. To be more precise, his orders were to take over them and replenish them with the divine powers the followers gathered up.
“My lord, you are an all-powerful G.o.d;
My lord, you lead your enemies to repent;
My lord, may you soften all resistance to truth, and plant the seeds of the words into his mind;
My lord, may you break the will of our enemies and let them fall into despair, may you push themselves to their own demise;
My lord, may you break the authorities within the lives of the enemies. May you end their voices and silence them;
My lord, may you use your powers on your enemies. Motivate them and make them repent. I will bind the chaos and unfaithfulness in their minds!”
Under the songs of the hymn, 100 divine wors.h.i.+ppers walked on the side. They were walking into the palace and standing quietly inside.
Emperor Harvey announced proudly, “You’ll be the seeds for my lord to spread! I’ll need to build 100 temples on the fertile lands of this empire. You’ll help my lord on every inch of this land in the shortest time possible!”
This would be the very first bunch of divine wors.h.i.+ppers he cultivated. Since he was afraid that the Wizard Union would know, they’ve been doing everything they could to keep this underground. Divine wors.h.i.+ppers weren’t so easy to find, as they must first receive an acknowledgment from the golden armor. The training would take at least fifty years, no exception. The numbers grew thinner since the wizards still had a solid presence.
The divine wors.h.i.+ppers came. They said nothing and lowered their bodies. They were not submitting themselves to Emperor Harvey. They were bowing to the golden armor. In this world, only the divine spirits could make them lower themselves. Emperor Harvey was only a representative, and they made that distinction very clear.
Speaking of which, the demon from beyond was definitely the most effective spreader of faith compared to any other ent.i.ties. Everyone inside the Nation of G.o.d was his followers, and there were many hidden followers inside the central continent. The Nation of G.o.d had a complete system that was cultivated over the generations, so that’s where Emperor Harvey would begin his production plan for divine powers. It would take a few years, according to his estimation.
By the way, the Lance Continent changed. The 5000 sacred knights troop, under the leaders.h.i.+p of several tens of advanced sacred knights, began sweeping everything in their way. Large ma.s.ses of dwarves became slaves. They were forced to build temples for the pagan G.o.d of their sworn enemies, and only a few elites managed to flee before it was too late for them.
For the elves, it was arguably much worse. Shanfu Forest was no longer the same. They had to abandon their old homes to go into the deeper parts. Although they suffered the least amount of losses, once the super-sized teleportation circle was destroyed, Archduke Bridget brought her followers to sack Weka City. They didn’t have the time to care about the other elven cities. The teleportation network was in ruins. The elves could establish a new one, but the lack of ingredients made it too costly for them to start. Instead, Archduke Bridget did what she thought was right and brought everything she thought she could.
No, she didn’t bother persuading the elves that didn’t want to leave. She knew that this was a battle of faith. Unless the elves were to lose wors.h.i.+p to the Moon G.o.ddess and turn to that demon from beyond, it would be all over for them. With that, she did what she could and retained 50 thousand elves. It seemed many, but it was nothing but a speck compared to the whole population on the Lance Continent.
To leave some signal for reinforcements from the central continent, Archduke Bridget broke a double life jade before she left Weka City. The distance made it very difficult to send messages, but this piece of jade could keep messages that were simple enough. The double life jade had two parts, and the way it worked was that when they were split, no matter how far they were apart, shattering one would make the other one break as well.
The central continent was not going to know for a while that the super-sized teleportation circle went down. That was unless someone was trying to use it to come over here. The likelihood for that was just too low, however. Archduke Bridget had no idea whether the elves were staying unless final reinforcement was coming. After the double life jade was broken, she knew that the temple would receive a message, which was her best chance to save the elves.
No one but her understood how ruthless the Wizard Union would be if everyone on the Lance Continent became wors.h.i.+ppers of the demons from beyond. Every living thing would be killed. The Holy Light Empire didn’t understand this. They thought that they could seize total control as long as they took over. If the central continent Moon G.o.ddess knew what was happening, destruction for these knights would be the only outcome.
By now, they were at the deepest part of the forest. This was where countless spiritual beasts resided, and even the elves had to be careful not to lose their lives here. No, They didn’t build cities, as they were naturally attuned to the environments. This would be their way of living for as long as possible.
Meanwhile, inside Weka City, the elves that didn’t leave stayed. They didn’t defend the city. When the army of knights rushed in, hundreds and thousands of them were brought to an empty ground.
The divine wors.h.i.+ppers spoke in a white robe, “Offer your wors.h.i.+p! Survive, or die? Choose!”
Facing these meek elves, especially those who were too afraid even to escape, the divine wors.h.i.+ppers had a vibrant experience of extracting wors.h.i.+p from them. His experience made it clear that most of them would become subservient after the baptism of blood.
One elven old man screamed, “You cannot change my faith!”
Then his head flew up, pouring rain of blood. A few more quickly went to resist, but they were immediately killed as well. It became much quieter after that. The silence was what the divine workers needed. The faith of these elves was shaking.
Without any more resistance, the temple of the Moon G.o.ddess was overthrown. The ten thousand elves were to reconstruct a new temple, one that was meant for the demon from beyond. These same elves were sent to wors.h.i.+p in the same temple, and the divine workers knew that they would generate more divine powers than those with no previous faith. It was why he was here. The forced wors.h.i.+p would make the collection procedure unstable initially, but eventually, it would stabilize enough to provide a stable source of influx.
The flags of the Holy Light Empire started rose all over the Lance Continent. Even the orcs living inside the desert did not escape. Temples were built all over the place, and more divine workers were in demand. The golden armor had to increase the maximum capacity of sacred knights it would name. With enough time, this would become a new Nation of G.o.d, forging an era dedicated to the sacred knights.