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Chapter 179: 096. Judgement of the Heretic -2 (Part One)

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The pulsing drumbeats resounded out. Banshees were singing the sacred hymns. Their gorgeous Spirit Speech caused the souls of the clerics in the surroundings to resonate and fall into a state of trance.

The aura of divinity that even managed to change the hearts of the priests belonging to the Church of Caiolium was now spreading and echoing within the cathedral now.

However, there was one crucial difference this time.

What’s being sung was no beautiful, calming melody filled with love and mercy. Only clear ‘hostility’ emitted by the divine legion permeated the song.

The clerics of Caiolium could clearly sense that. And that was why they were swallowing back their dry saliva.

The divinity inside their bodies were trembling. Their emotions were taking a hold of them to such an extent that they became lost in their fear and began stumbling backwards.

From the top of the palisades, they could see.

They could see the mad warrior, the berserker, Kasim Derian.

He was gradually getting closer to them.

Once upon a time, he was referred to as the knight of radiant light. And he was persecuted for being a madman whose piety had crossed the line.

“Fire! Fire your arrows, now!”

“Magic! We need to cast magic...!”

A loud commotion broke out on the top of the palisades. However, none of them dared to even think about attacking first.

They were too afraid right now. Afraid that if they started attacking first, it’d be them getting killed off instead.

Unfortunately for them, only idiots would hesitate in the middle of a battlefield.

Kasim Derian, who was leading the holy undead knights, opened his mouth.

-Ah, aaah...

He exhaled breaths made out of divinity. A content smile floated up on his lips.

A wonderfully peaceful feeling was washing over the berserker. He never had experienced such a warm, inviting rest before in his life.

This was salvation. This was the reward for his steadfast belief. This state was his wish, born from his bottomless piety, being answered.

By dying, he had been reborn. Reborn as a soul of divinity materialised through piety itself.

His ardent wish had finally come true. No, wait – not all of his wishes had come true just yet.

Kasim’s eyes shifted. His gaze landed on the so-called believers of the Church of Caiolium.

They disgusted him so much. What a bunch of rotten and corrupt beings they were.

Kasim opened his mouth and addressed them.

-Oh, hear ye, you false believers who went against faith.

His cracked voice reached his targets.

-Oh, you corrupted lambs.

His eyes narrowed to slits.

-We shall...

His sword slowly rose up.

-...Now pass judgement on you!

In an instant, everything slowed to a crawl.

He pulled his sword back before slamming it down.

BOOM-!

The air expanded. It compressed for a moment and suddenly exploded forward. The blades of wind violently flew out and mercilessly collided against the palisades.

The clerics’ eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets. They hurriedly took a look below at the palisades they were standing on, only for huge explosions to go off at the same time.

The palisades, which were about ten metres tall, exploded and crumbled like a sand castle. Sharp wooden shards impaled the heads and bodies of their unfortunate victims.

“Uwaaaahk!”

“H-healer! Save me!”

The Priests urgently tried to rush towards the scene, wanting to save their colleagues, but then...

Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!

The powerful beating of war drums entered their hearing and shook their hearts. The clerics all hurriedly turned their heads.

The legion of holy undead in the distance had begun moving again.

While their eyes glowed eerily in the night, they began marching forward to kill all of their enemies.

“We, we need to run...”

“You must stop them!”

The clerics looked up at that voice. Their gazes landed on Cardinal Mikael, who was currently on the cathedral’s balcony upstairs.

“You are all devout believers blessed by the goddess! Do not cower from the likes of mere undead creatures!”

Every cleric present opened their eyes wider. They stared at Mikael, waiting for his next words.

“Your beliefs will soon become your true power. We have the word of the goddess on our side! The goddess’s will is with us! Gaia is with us!”

Mikael rolled up his sleeve. Rune letters could be seen engraved on his skin. The golden-coloured runes began emitting brilliant light.

“The goddess’s grace shall be bestowed upon you all!”

Mikael’s loud roar spread out to the surroundings. As his Spirit Speech containing divinity echoed out the area, the goddess’s rune – the Aztal rune – began responding to his call.

The entirety of the cathedral was dyed in a brilliant golden hue. The light came from ‘Aztal’ runes that had been engraved into various parts of the building.

And this light served as the declaration of the holy war.

A flood of divinity permeated the surrounding terrain. Meanwhile, divinity sleeping within the clergy of the church of Caiolium began resonating with the divine energy on the outside.

Their fear began to recede little by little, as their eyes trembled.

However, Mikael, who was observing their reactions, could only groan under his breath. As he thought, a miracle brought to life without proper preparations was not impactful enough.

He raised his crosier and loudly declared, “Rescue your colleagues and prepare to defeat the incoming undead! We shall perform the ceremony to unleash the Aztal rune within the cathedral!”

The priests were looking back at him. He was the top holy man in the Church of Caiolium, and someone they believed was destined to become the pope of the new religious doctrine he’d establish soon.

Such a man was loudly declaring for all of them to hear, “We are the ones blessed with the goddess’s will. And thus, we shall protect the holy ground where the worship of Goddess Gaia first began!”

The two cardinals listened and looked at Mikael from his side, only for their eyes to nearly pop out of their sockets just then.

That’s because they got to see it.

...The sight of Cardinal Mikael ever so faintly trembling.

Even if it was a mere replica, the imitation of the Aztal rune was in his possession. A weapon written with the language of the gods.

Yet a man in possession of such power was secretly fearful of the legion of undead marching forward right before their eyes.

“All of you... defend this holy land!”

The clerics of the Caiolium all gritted their teeth.

Even the youngest cardinal joined in and began shouting out, “Yes, we have the Aztal rune! We cannot let ourselves cower before some undead abominations!”

If they were forced to leave here, then they wouldn’t be able to survive anymore. They would be relentlessly hunted down by the Theocratic Empire, labelled as heretics, and get ostracised by the public.

In that case, they needed to struggle hard and survive.

Indeed, they simply had no choice but to struggle and survive this crisis, so that they could establish a new religious sect. If it was Cardinal Mikael, the holder of the Aztal rune... He would be able to perform the role of the new pope perfectly as long as he became one later.

The roars of the cardinals, and the divinity flowing out from the cathedral itself...

All these things began ruling over the emotions of the clerics present. The light in their eyes, previously dyed in fear, had now been transformed.

The Paladins bravely stepped forward, while the Priests lifted up their injured colleagues.

“Head to the cathedral...!”

“Yes, we must return to the sanctuary! It’s safe over there!”

“We must stop them! Stop the advance of the Necromancer and his army!”

The Paladins stood in front of their fleeing colleagues in a defensive line before raising their shields.

Through the Aztal rune, Cardinal Mikael’s emotions were currently being shared with them. They could sense his trust in them.

If it was Cardinal Mikael, no, Pope Mikael, then he’d surely be able to protect them!

The commander of the undead legion riding on a skeleton horse, his appearance hidden beneath the mountain goat’s skull and bone armour – the Seventh Imperial Prince – shifted his gaze and scanned the clergymen.

He could see through their characteristics. They possessed all of the attributes any self-respecting corrupt clerics must have, such as lust, greed, hedonistic tendencies, and various other selfish natures. At this rate, it’d be more fitting to call them a bunch of religious quacks, instead.

But then, their attributes were gradually and rapidly changing. Their characteristics were now given the trait of ‘faithful’ after they began resonating with Mikael’s voice.

Their emotions heightened and their fear gradually faded away.

Even their divinity reserves were getting bigger.

The Seventh Imperial Prince turned his head and took a look at the cathedral.

From the magnificent cathedral that first started worshipping Gaia according to history books, an incredible amount of divinity was flooding out nonstop.

‘That’s one unique power, alright.’

Was that a power that gushed out from the cathedral itself?

No, hang on. That wasn’t the whole story, was it?

His gaze shifted over to Mikael afterwards.

Cardinal Mikael was utilising the divinity of the entire cathedral for himself.

[Name: Mikael Kastia.

Age: 105

Attributes: Unshakeable belief. Expansive divinity, the holder of Aztal rune. Honest. Pure, clean faith.

+ Humans must be true to their emotions. Even pleasure and greed are states of emotions that the gods have blessed us with. Only by being honest with one’s emotions can you claim to be a true, unyielding believer!]

‘Unshakeable belief, is it?’

That man was totally different from all the other clerics here; never mind not being corrupt or unfaithful in his heart, his piety was pure and not stained by a single speck of uncleanliness.

Such a thing came across as quite surprising to the boy prince. How could the leader of such an organisation mired so deeply in corruption, misconduct, and political greed be this clean?

That man... he genuinely believed his ‘justice’ was the correct one.

He wished to establish a new religious view that he believed to be the truth, and lead this flock of corrupt clerics there. That man had not a shred of evil intent in him.

If one judged solely on the attributes alone, then Mikael’s piety and his devotion towards the goddess exceeded those of even Archbishop Raphael.

Wasn’t this truly ironic?

To think that such a man was now the enemy of the Theocratic Empire.

However, the fact remained that he had crossed a line. He had provoked an existence that he should never have provoked in the first place.

“Kill them.”

The Seventh Imperial Prince pointed with his finger. When he did, the legion of undead screeched out and dashed forward.

The opposing Paladins roared out loudly.

“Shiiiields-!”

Countless shields were raised up to form a barrier.

“Piiiikes-!”

Next up, lengthy spears were pointed forward.

The living Paladins breathed heavily from under their helms and from in between the shields.

They were coming. The knights shining in light – the holy undead knights and the one leading them, Kasim Derian – were coming...!