Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The world was dark and chaotic. Two thousand years had passed since the emergence of the Abyss World. The quiet and dull abyss was now much more active.
Among the space bubbles in the dark Abyss World, innumerable abyss demons moved from one to the other. Some were powerful enough to communicate their thoughts and manipulate an entire space bubble, while others were only capable of creating chaos, only knowing how to swallow each other up.
Some of these demons fought against each other, swallowed each other up, and connected space bubbles to form an abyss mainland. If they wanted to break through level four and become demon lords, they had to first change the essential structures of their soul fires, which was not something that could easily be done. In fact, this could only be accomplished by devouring other demons.
Some demons that had built connections with Maria’s World found that human awarenesses and souls were the keys to their reaching level four or higher. Thus, they greedily watched Maria’s World day and night.
Every powerful demon coveted Maria’s World. In fact, Stikua, the King of the devil, had a large number of devil kin and followers in Maria’s World already.
Maria’s World
There was a dark castle that was surrounded by weeds and dead trees. It was an abandoned castle. Near this castle, where there once were villages, there only existed desolate and uninhabited land.
At the moment, Inside the abandoned castle, dozens of people in dark red cloaks were sitting in a circle. They were watching the a huge eye-shape tactical deployment circle of witchcraft that lay before them on the ground.
Ten people cut their arms, causing blood to drop into the tactical deployment circle. A special force in the blood was activated, which caused the tactical deployment circle to start to spin. At the same time, dark lights glowed from the ground, illuminating the whole castle hall.
This was an evil sacrificial ceremony. As the blood dropped from their veins, all of the people present were transformed into monsters. A few of the people in the center even transformed into horrible evil kin!
“Heckfoss! I need more sacrifices. If you want more power, and if you want to live forever, you must sacrifice more! With more sacrifices, comes more power!” an evil voice emerged from the circle.
Heckfoss stood in front of the others. He had a slightly pale face.
Due to the recent suppression by the alchemists of Tuten, as well as by the heavenly palace, the Church of the True God didn’t have many believers left. As such, Heckfoss wanted to go and look for sacrifices in the Western world and the central province. However, when they had just arrived, utter chaos had broken out.
“The Great Devil King, Stikua, I will build your empire on this land!” Heckfoss said.
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“In the name of god, let the light shine again on the land that belongs to god!” The third-generation Pope of the Church of Light, Armenia, declared the will of god in the Temple of Light.
The army of the Church of Light was immediately mobilized, and most of principalities and kingdoms who had been ready for this very day responded immediately. A large number of priests, nobles, and even kings led the army across the border, then poured into the central province.
They mainly focused on the three principalities of Rose, Keville, and Gragou, which bordered the central province. This was because they had perennial conflicts with the Sumerian Kingdom of the central province, which had resulted from past territorial and religious disputes.
After more than a hundred years of peace, war had broken out again. A large number of nobles and knights took up their swords and lances and went to the battlefield.
War not only was a chance for justice for the people, but it also represented opportunity. In times of war, the peasants could became aristocrats that owned land, while aristocrats could become kings!
In order to cope with the invasion from the south, a large number of soldiers and mercenaries were hired. Mercenary corps soon joined the regular soldiers on the battlefield. Today, they fought for a kingdom. Tomorrow, they would guard the territory of a noble. As for the day after tomorrow, they would perhaps attack a duke.
Many cities had already been annexed during this war. After the arrival of the knights of the Church of Light, many kingdoms had surrendered rapidly. Only a very few had attempted to resist.
In this war, apart from the priests and knights, there were also alchemists who used alchemy cannons and guns on the battlefield. The head of a mercenary crop named Lynn Ahnaton had won a lot of battles. He had overthrown the Kingdom of Urabell and established his own kingdom of mercenaries, which made him the first mercenary to ascend the throne and become a king!
His kingdom soon rose up and flourished in the central province. Lynn took out the Sword of the King and claimed himself as the chosen one.
Numerous mercenaries came to him, hoping to be in his service, while all of the Temple Knights admired him. In this manner, he quickly established a grand kingdom.
However, a few years later, his kingdom lost the war with the expeditionary forces of the southern Church of Light. Most of the kingdoms in the central province of China who gradually surrendered to the Church of Light were forced to accept the Church’s garrisons and belief system. As such, the territory of the Church of Light rapidly expanded.
After this initial setback, Lynn’s mercenary regiment kept losing. Even the newly infused support of several orc kingdoms in the north could not stop Lynn’s kingdom’s decline. The flag of the Church of Light now flew everywhere in the central province.
Kingdoms that had originally believed in the Faith of the Sun now embraced the Church of Light. As a result, a large number of knights and priests of the Faith of the Sun were killed or driven away.
At this time, the Kingdom of Sumeria, which was in danger of being conquered, braced itself for one last battle. It was able to defeat the coalition forces of Rose, Keville, and Gragou at the Sumerian Plain, thus changing its situation instantly!
The allied forces were beaten and immediately abandoned their armor. Sumerians expelled the priests and Holy Knights of the Faith of the Sun and the Church of Light on their home turf, then immediately banned anyone who believed in these two churches, forcing them over the borderlines.
As a result, the Church of Light and Ahenaten’s kingdom ceased fighting and withdrew. The central province suddenly had achieved a strange and calm sensen of stability.
The mercenary kingdom of Ahenaten, the Sumerian Kingdom, and the Church of Light, which had expanded to the central province, then found themselves in a difficult situation. It was a tripartite confrontation!