Bohr looked at Leves, feeling the pa.s.sion bubble up within himself. He slowly calmed down, then said, "I am very moved by what you have said, but have you considered the number of people that would die, if we follow your plan?"
Leves did not care about this at all. "In order to carry out reforms, there will always be sacrifices. But they will be worthwhile. We will bring knowledge and truth to the world, as well as save humanity from its short-sighted ignorance. We will bring them hope by showing them the true world."
Bohr reb.u.t.ted Leves" argument. "You are right, but we don"t have to use such drastic measures. We can change the whole world slowly, bit by bit. We have more than enough time. Both of us have the potential to become level four wizards, so we can extend our life to a thousand years."
"As such, we don"t have to bring war to the world. We can subtly influence the world through our knowledge and strength. People in the Church of Light are also human beings. We are the same, not enemies. Truth and knowledge will come, sooner or later. They will not change because of any single person. History has always proven to be this way."
Leves looked at Bohr with disappointment. "Bohr, you disappointment me. I didn"t expect you to be this naive. The Church wouldn"t ever think of us as being like them. They"re like Hudson. They regard us as being messengers of the devil. To them, we wield demonic powers and are the ultimate evil existences. We are the natural enemies of the Church of Light. They do not tolerate our existence, and will never tolerate our continued existence in the future."
The two debated this topic fiercely in Bohr"s home. Neither could convince the other to concede. In the end, they parted in bad humor, but Leves still did not give up his ambitions.
By the end of the eleventh year of the San Calendar, Leves had gathered a group of like-minded wizards and formed an organization called the Wizarding Alliance within a remote inland duchy named the Duchy of Creer. He did this with support from the Gathering of n.o.bles.
Backed by the financial support of the Gathering, they quickly established an underground city within the northern wasteland of the Duchy of Creer. By making the most of their special underground terrain, they built a strong base and began their human experiments, aimed at creating a powerful augmented army.
However, even with the research of other wizards, the research progress ran into many obstacles without Bohr. The pressure from the Gathering was incessant, as the persecution from the Church increased. They needed the Wizarding Alliance to divert the Church"s attention and raise a flag of opposition, as well as the skill of the wizards to strengthen their army.
Under great pressure, Leves chose to combine the Bohr"s Wisdom Reinforcement and Kelermo Body Transformation techniques with his own Plague witchcraft. The result of these experiments was the regiment of the Owl Knights, which was the first witchcraft augmented regiment in Maria"s World.
These Owl Knights were each augmented according to a specific template. They possessed a series of bloodline talents, including echolocation, super strength, agility, and heightened endurance. They also possessed the ability to move silently in complete darkness.
Leves had modified their brains with Wisdom Reinforcement, so that they could quickly memorize combat swordsmans.h.i.+p and other various military arts and become the most powerful cavalry, infantry, and archers on the continent. He did this all within a relatively short amount of time.
But, at the same time, Leves erased their emotional system, making them knights with no fear of death. As such, they would fight for Leves as his most loyal fighters. No matter how many casualties there were, they would never cower. These emotionless soldiers would execute orders till their very last moment.
The Plague technique was witchcraft developed by Leves that was based on the the Poison Gas technique. It was a byproduct of Bohr"s research on the Plague, which Leves had taken note of and modified to suit his own needs. The Poison Gas technique was a little trick that used spellcasting materials to create a poison gas, then utilized mind power to control it.
The Plague was on a completely different power level. Leves used part of Bohr"s research and his Poison Gas technique to create it. Whenever the Owl Knights were on the verge of death or awakening, they could self-destruct and activate the Plague.
The plague that was hidden inside their bodies would then spread rapidly through the air. All infected beings would die within the hour. The plague virus would continue to spread, until it reached the limit of its divisional capabilities or the end of its lifespan.
The virus would then die off within twenty-four hours. But, within this timespan, its range and speed of transmission were terrible beyond imagination.
Aside from the Owl Knights, all lifeforms would perish before the onslaught. No one, not even Leves, knew how to treat this virus. He could only prevent its infection.
These soldiers were each powerful individuals with comprehensive skill sets. Each of them was capable of night raids and endurance battles, even without rest. As skilled warriors trained in military strategy, they were already formidable enough, not to mention the amount of damage each of them could do. The Owl Knights seemed like demons that had come straight from an abyss in h.e.l.l! They would bring horrible disaster upon all of humanity!
In the autumn of the 14th year of the San Calendar, the Duchy of Creer suddenly sent a large army towards their border with the Kingdom of the Church of Light. With the hefty support of the Gathering of n.o.bles, the Duchy of Creer raised the flag of rebellion against the Church on a chilly autumn night.
They did this completely out of the blue, without any warning. The ruler of the Duchy of Creer had invited the local Bishop from the Church, who was stationed within the region, to a banquet. At the banquet feast, he had poisoned him, then immediately purged all of the Church forces within the Duchy.
On that night, eight wizards, led by Leves, raided the border of the Kingdom of the Church. Three thousand Owl Knights were quietly deployed from the northern hinterlands and moved west.
They took over the Church"s border fortress, Lekburg, within a single night. The entire defending army of Lekburg, numbering tens of thousands of people, were all killed in one night. Not one escaped to tell the tale.
The Owl Knights proved their peerless combat capability to the world with their unstoppable speed. Leves led the Owl Knights, tearing a path of blood relentlessly forward. Within a few days, six cities had fallen. Not a blade of single gra.s.s was left in the ashes of their path. Their black capes and armor spread death over the entire land.
A province directly subordinate to the Kingdom of the Church fell. The Duchy of Creer seemed to have antic.i.p.ated this event. The army immediately entered the region, contained the situation, and suppressed all resistance with iron and blood. It seemed as if they had already prepared for the takeover in advance, and were ready to swiftly erode the influence of the Church, destroying it completely.
Blood marred the earth and corpses littered the landscape. The Church finally began to panic. At the same time, forces within several countries began to stir restlessly, as if they were all coordinated. Although several emergency recall edicts issued by the Pope were sent to the clergy that were stationed within several countries, no reinforcement armies returned.
Pope Hodap was forcefully limited to the church corps that were stationed by the border of the Crete Empire. Archbishop Martin Nord led 50,000 troops to meet Leves" Owl Knights at the city of Attica.
Attica was not a fortress, but it was the last big city before St. Sarl. After taking Attica, it was an open road directly to St. Sarl. If the invading army reached St. Sarl, the reputation of the Church would be completely destroyed.
As the army approached, the 50,000 troops of the Church met the 3,000 strong Owl Knights led by Leves, along with 20,000 men from Duchy of Creer at Attica. The Church of Light was in an unprecedentedly precarious situation.
All of the human kingdoms were observing the situation keenly, as the fate of their race had become unpredictable. All of them could sense an imminent all-out war, especially as the orc nations of the north began to stir as well.