After Becoming The Tyrant CH 177 God And Man
Entering through the inner castle wall of the Holy City that the demon wolf had smashed open, Hermóðr finally saw clearly what the flames and the cross were.
It was a blazing church, standing at the end of the avenue, its body scarlet in the flames. The moment he saw the church, Hermóðr realized that it was the most mysterious place in the Holy Court mentioned by Segni in the intelligence, where countless secrets and unknown powers were buried. Even a traitor with a high status like Segni spoke of it with unconcealable fear.
The iron church of the Holy Court.
Hermóðr reined in his horse, and at the same time stopped Hamond and the knights who were following him. As they approached the burning church, the temperature of the air increased at a terrifying speed to an unbearable level. They were wearing genuine metal armor, and now the armor was gradually becoming boiling.
It was unbearable even at such a long distance. So what kind of flame was it that could be so terrifying?
In the flames as red as blood, the majestic church was melting, and the solid granite walls fell down in large chunks, hitting the ground heavily. Ordinary black iron melted into gurgling molten iron and flowed downwards along the skeleton of the church——just like a plaster statue being roasted by fire, the plaster peeling off layer by layer, and finally exposing the supporting iron frame hidden inside the statue.
The supporting frame of this iron church was displayed in front of the world in the fire.
That was a cross standing on the ground.
The entire iron church was a cross erected in the heart of the Holy City.
Hermóðr understood that they no longer needed to attack the inner castle of the Holy City, because under such a temperature and this bizarre cross, it was impossible for ordinary people to survive. Hermóðr led his soldiers back slowly. The demon wolf stared closely at the cross, growled deeply from its throat, and approached step by step.
"It seems that the legend is true."
On the other side of the Holy City, the assassins who had carried out this operation had already withdrawn. They were standing on the hill behind the Holy City, watching the situation of the city. The snow-white demonic wolf was not afraid of the extreme heat of the flames, and slowly circled around the iron cross, showing strong hostility but being extremely vigilant.
"The reason why the demon wolf fell into deep sleep was because it was killed by a god once."
That was a legend also recorded in the holy book. The demon wolf that lived on war brought disaster to the earth, so the god shot a flaming arrow and killed it on the Gulundi Plain. Many legends recorded in the holy book have long lost their original appearance after being revised and polished many times by theologians and jurists over the past thousand years, to instead be passed down to the world as stories praising God for saving the world. But if one stripped away the golden brilliance on the surface, the skeleton of the story itself might not be without the truth.
"The plan went well."
The assassin leader wrote a simple message on a piece of papyrus. When he raised his hand, a white eagle landed on his shoulder. After the secret message was tied, the white eagle flapped its wings and flew towards the other side of the Abyss Strait.
Looking at the demon wolf that finally launched an attack on the cross after circling around it, the assassin leader smiled slightly.
Who would have thought?
The noble, holy, "father" of all believers, Pope Theolde actually raised an army of assassins.
However, before Theolde became the pope, he was born into a noble family of the Hopeless Inner Sea Alliance. Because of its active commerce and numerous city-states, the Hopeless Inner Sea was actually the most active place for assassins in the world. When the commercial conflicts in the Hopeless Inner Sea were at their most intense, the struggle between cities was particularly fierce. However, due to the existence of the Holy Court, no city dared to truly start a war. Therefore, assassination became the most important and best method to attack economic and political enemies.
Without the suppression of the behemoth Holy Court, the assassins in the Hopeless Inner Sea would not have developed to this extent.
"How dazzling."
The assassin leader said as he took off the white rose pinned to his chest and threw it to the city that was burning in flames.
The fire had flooded this center of faith for all the believers in the world.
The demon wolf had already launched an attack on the iron cross. It jumped up and crashed into the flaming iron cross amidst the howls of the wolf pack. When the demon wolf hit the iron cross, fire broke out and the sea of fire flooded this sacred city. In the flames, the knights of the Nujin Empire who were too late to withdraw were burned to ashes. The wolves gathered from all over the world howled horribly as their fur was burned. The wolves turned into an army at this time. They did not retreat, but charged forward one after another, and then disappeared into the fire.
The iron cross was vibrating endlessly under the impact of the demonic wolf, and the air was filled with a buzzing sound like the sound of a tuning fork. Even if one fled outside the city, one would still feel dizzy in the buzzing sound, making it difficult to distinguish the surroundings.
Seven rays of light flew up from the flames, hovering around the iron cross.
Everyone in the iron church had been reduced to ashes, and all that remained was the contract between God and man. The seven elders had already unlocked the seal above. The book of oath rotated around the cross, resisting the attack of the demon wolf, and as the contract book appeared, the image of a figure nailed to the cross vaguely emerged.
When this figure appeared, the assassins and the knights of the Nujin Empire who had already retreated outside the Holy City felt a pressure as heavy as the sea crashing down from up high. One by one, they fell off their horses and to the ground, unable to stand up again.
The pack of wolves all died in an instant, leaving only the demon wolf whose fur was burnt, flesh and blood melting off to remain a skeleton.
Under its pale skull, countless bones crawled out of its green eyes, as if all the corpses that had once been its food were being separated from its body. With a long and shrill howl, the demon wolf jumped up and bit into the center of the iron cross and the throat of the phantom.
The earth shook, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ground of the Holy City, and the sky collapsed.
Blood-like fire spurted out from the cracks, and the six-pointed star formation with the iron church as the core connected these seemingly irregular cracks. Relying on the oath signed with mortals, the Holy Lord's will, which had recovered from the distorted history, had just descended on the earth only to begin to collapse.
The iron cross collapsed suddenly, and together with the skeleton of the demon wolf that had completely died on it, they piled up into a strange mountain of iron and bones at the core of the hexagram formation.
The fire gradually became smaller and began to flow along the veins of the formation. Finally, it flowed back to the center of the formation, condensed into a beam of light, and plunged into the ground like a sharp blade.
From now on, the Holy City, which had long been the center of faith for believers, would no longer exist.
……………………
"One center of faith is enough in this world."
In his iron carriage, Theolde, who was wearing the papal tiara, gently unfolded a golden scroll written in the language of the legendary era.
If the seven elders saw the golden scroll in Theolde's hand, they would be shocked to find that all the words on it were very similar to the original oath between God and man that they had guarded for so long. It was simply another brand new oath but with the protagonists replaced. .And if the World Serpent was not dead, it would recognize that what Theolde was holding was the other half of the incomplete parts of the Law.
This incomplete part of the Law had always been in the hands of the pope of the Holy See, as the foundation for performing miracles when necessary.
Over the years, as the Holy See gradually developed into a spiritual empire, the power of the pope increased day by day, and the Law went through many research and studies in the hands of different popes. It was not like there hadn't been popes who tried to turn it completely into their own power before, but they all failed.
However, Theolde managed it.
The Holy Empire was established by him. When he ascended the throne that originally belonged to God, he had already succeeded most of the way.
God had taught His followers how to steal power from Him——God sought resurrection by tampering with history and placing His trust in the present and future. While the people changed the church doctrine and put the power belonging to God on their heads in the form of a “papal tiara."
But before today, although the Holy Empire was established, the existence of the Holy Court was like the existence of the second capital and heart in this empire at the same time, and the power was still essentially divided into two halves. But when the Holy Court was submerged in the sea of destructive fire and turned into ashes, the last center of faith directed towards God was wiped out from the world.
——The divine power was stolen by him.
On Theolde's right hand was an inkwell made of polished crystal. It was one of the thirteen highest-level sacred objects of the Holy See. It was said that the original saints used it to hold blood and write down the prophecies of doomsday.
The crystal bottle was originally empty, but at a certain moment, dark red blood suddenly filled the bottle.
Theolde took up his pen, dipped it in the dark red blood that was born out of thin air in the crystal bottle, and slowly wrote a new Law at the end of the document.
The moment he put pen to paper, on the other side of the Abyss Strait, the iron cross collapsed.
The flames flowed back to the center of the formation, and then penetrated into the core of the earth.
……………………
Fire fell from the sky.
When the host of angels descended, the dark red sky of hell was illuminated by the angels' own brilliance. Half of the sky was pure white and the other half was like blood. However, today, the sky once again turned completely red——fire continued to seep out from the gaps connecting hell and the human world, slowly falling, dripping onto the black stone ground of hell.
The dark red flames that seeped down through the cracks contain destructive power for hell creatures. Every time a ball of fire fell on the earth, it was instantly corroded, leaving nothing behind.
Seeing that the war situation was about to turn against hell due to this change, the Devil jumped from the top of the tower and walked into the hall of the castle.
The throne of bones stood quietly at the end of the red carpet.
The Devil walked up the steps, and then inserted the dragon bone sword on the throne. The last time he went to the human world, he returned the bone scepter to the King. Now the only way to stop the fire falling from the sky from causing heavy damage to hell was to wake up the royal city.
Because it was not an ordinary fire.
That was the blood soaked in the curse of the gods.
If everything had followed normal development and history was tampered with to condense the authority of the king of kings, God could have relied on the iron cross He left behind a thousand years ago and used the sacrifices of believers to shape a new divine body. However, the iron cross was decorated with a hexagram and turned into a blasphemous altar. All the pious beliefs that were supposed to be sacrificed to God were transformed into heresy and filth through the hexagram.
God's consciousness, which had been re-condensed after thousands of years, broke free from the dusty Kingdom of Gods and came to the iron cross, where it was injected into His new body. Only to find that the new divine body was condensed from the deepest and most vicious filth——for God, this was tantamount to suicide.
Before the betrayed god was destroyed, malice and curses were condensed in its polluted blood. If that blood spread in the human world, the earth would be reduced to ashes in an instant, and there would be no living creatures for hundreds of years. Thus Pope Theolde directed this blood into hell and transferred this hatred of the gods to hell.
The moment the dragon bone sword was inserted into the throne, every bone that made up the throne seemed to wake up from a long slumber. The flying buttresses of the royal city unfolded, and the brimstone sea of fire in the castle dock began to boil. In an instant, every door and window of the castle was opened, and every relief engraved on the castle came to life.
The strong wind howled on the ground, like hell breathing out.
This royal city was the supreme throne of hell and the criterion for regulating hell.
After possessing a monarch, the hell symbolized by chaos had its own rules, and now what the Devil had to do was to use the power of hell itself to resist the curse of the dead god.
An invisible barrier unfolded in mid-air, which was the law belonging to hell. The fire raindrops falling from the sky disappeared little by little on the barrier.
This should have been a great opportunity for the host of angels to attack.
However, no angel attacked at this time.
——Because they were all dying quickly.
"How sad."
In the form of half man and half bird, Mela stood on the sickle-like ridge of the Thousand Knives Peak, looking up at everything happening in the sky.
The angels with snow-white wings died one after another, but it was not the army of hell that killed them. The angels were dissipating, turning into countless golden specks of light and drops of dark red blood. Angels have no flesh and bones. They were existences shaped by God with His own blood and dusts of light. When God decided to take back His power, they would disintegrate into their original appearance, leaving nothing behind.
Not even comparable to a mortal.
The dying voices of the angels echoed between heaven and earth, as gentle and sad as the cry of a white swan about to die on the ice.
Mela quietly watched his old enemy die in front of his eyes. He did not feel happy, but only felt ridicule and sorrow.
The angels of God were like the skeletons and undead of hell. Hell was an endless battle between the weak and the strong, and the dead creatures at the bottom were all chess pieces that could be sacrificed at will. Trust and respect were a luxury in hell. But how were angels who symbolize holiness better than the creatures of hell?
They were shaped by divine will, and were born to admire the god who gave them life like a father. But in the eyes of those superior gods... they were just chess pieces that could be sacrificed at any time. The only difference was that these chess pieces look better.
In fact, they were more pathetic.
As a symbol of chaos and desire, hell creatures also instinctively long for the goodwill that they could not have. But angels who were endowed with divinity have no desires and wills of their own.
Simply a pretty puppet.
Mela thought as he spread his wings and flew up from the ridge.
"The gaps are being closed."
Mela flew to Blackstone Royal City. The Devil had already walked out of the great hall. He looked up at everything happening in the sky.
In the sky, the golden specks of light decomposed when the angels dissipated, burning and turning into balls of flames, quickly sealing all the cracks that could connect hell and the human world. And drop by drop of the re-condensed divine blood floated upward and disappeared through the golden flames.
"A new Law.”
The Devil looked at the cracks in the sky that were sealed one by one and whispered.
There was no trace of surprise on his face, as if the scene happening now was expected. A crow that came from the human world a few days ago landed on his shoulder.
A new Law.
Mela instantly understood why the Devil did not try to prevent the cracks from being blocked.
That was the power of the Law, the rules of heaven, earth and the world. Once a Law was written, it could not be changed.
Unless someone completely controlled all the power in this world.
……………………………………
The east coast of the Abyss Strait.
Miss Viola, who walked to the church and recited "heretical poems" on the Sabbath, was successfully rescued by Ferri III. With the legendary spiritual banner of Viola as his call to action, Ferri III quickly gathered a group of old Bressian aristocrats and civilians who could not bear the burden of the Holy Army movement.
They announced the restoration of Bressi at a city near the sea.
On the day of Bressi's restoration, King Ferri III announced that the Kingdom of Bressi would not participate in the Holy Army movement, and that all citizens of the Kingdom of Bressi did not need to provide food or taxes for the Holy Army movement. In addition, Ferri III's army quickly advanced along the coastline, cutting off the supply line of the Holy Army from the source.
More and more people crossed the Kobia River and fled to the re-established Kingdom of Bessi. In the territory controlled by the Holy Empire, riots also broke out one after another. The remaining troops were exhausted in controlling the remaining territory and were unable to reopen the supply line for the Holy Army.
For Ferri III, the current situation was very good.
However, in this situation, Ferri III himself was not in the re-established Bressi Kingdom.
He secretly passed through the blockade of the Holy Empire and emerged in the Pennine Mountains in the northern part of the empire.
"This is the entrance to the Tomb of Gods."
There was heavy snow on the Pennine Mountains. Ferri III stood under a black pine tree and looked at the valley below. In a daze, he felt that his teacher Karl and his friend Mann were still standing behind him, smiling at him. He turned around and wanted to tell them, look, I did it.
But though straight black pine trees covered with thick snow stood there as ever, no one was standing behind him.
"The ancient path to the Tomb of Gods."
Led by Ferri III, a group of witches wearing black cloaks came here quietly. The leader was none other than Eli, the witch clan leader who had once met the King.
The head of the witches held an ancient parchment scroll in her hand. Ink marks appeared on the parchment scroll, and then quickly faded away. Finally, a mountain map that completely matched the surrounding terrain appeared. On the map, an ancient snake slowly emerged, proving that what Ferri III said was true. This was the entrance to the Tomb of Gods.
King Ferri III observed the group of witches who had fled from Bressi to Legrand and now came here on the orders of King Legrand.
He had come into contact with witches before, and even met the witch leader. In his impression, witches were gloomy, haggard and cold, and out of tune with ordinary people. If he hadn't realized Theolde's ambition and was unable to resist the behemoth Holy Court, Ferri III would never have dealt with the witches at that time.
However, the witches standing in front of him at this time were completely different from what he remembered.
Wearing neat black cloaks, they did not look haggard at all and stood upright. The cold depression that enveloped them disappeared without a trace, and the melancholy witch leader became more decisive than before.
"After the war, if you want to return to your hometown, you will always be welcomed by Bressi."
Ferri III said calmly, half as a test and half as a sincere invitation. After experiencing so much, the ingrained arrogance of the superior class that he possessed in the past had been completely worn away.
"Bressi can also give you the same treatment you receive in Legrand."
The witches smiled and said nothing.
A silent but firm refusal.
Ferri III couldn't help but sigh: "I'm really curious to know what Pureland gave you."
That could make a group of witches who could not blend in with ordinary people return to the crisis-ridden Holy Empire for Legrand, and even enter the extremely dangerous Tomb of the Gods.
"Because we want the Legrand we know to still be the same Legrand."
The witch leader put away the parchment and replied.
She turned her head and glanced in Legrand's direction.
They were witches. They had been ostracized since the first century AD, wandering the earth, lingering between life and death. But in the lunatic hospital with the sign "Legrand's First Pathological Research Department", for the first time, so many people applauded, looked at them with smiles, and welcomed them to join them.
From the first century AD to the present fifteenth century, the homeless, wandering witches found their first home.
They want the Legrand they know to still be the Legrand who had many crazy and mad companions, the Legrand who could smile at the little witch.
Legrand, the land of freedom.
Ferri III watched silently as the witches flew down from the mountain peaks on broomsticks and passed through the canyon.
He exhaled a breath of hot air, feeling vaguely envious.
He envied the king across the Abyss Strait, and he also envied these witches.
"What a world."
Ferri III raised his head and muttered to himself.
Snowflakes were falling from the sky, and the arctic ice field was freezing cold.
After crossing the ice field, the burial place of the gods appeared in front of the witches. At this time, there was only a vast sea left here. If it weren't for the witches being able to fly on broomsticks, there would be no way forward.
The witch leader carefully took out an ice ball with a shadow of a snake figure sealed inside it.
That was the other half of the incomplete parts of Law. The witches were ordered by the King to bring it to the Tomb of the Gods to do something that was related to the entire war situation.