Chapter 530 |
The danger of faith did not lie in the destructive power it could unleash, but in the extraordinary seductive influence inherent to the power itself.
Part of Garfield’s persuasive ability came from a devil’s innate talent, and part came from the devil’s “technical” method—probing minds, reading desires, and shaping temptation accordingly. But the seductive power brought by the Path of Faith was a different category altogether—an overwhelming, crushing force that could fundamentally rewrite a person’s worldview.
As Wendy spoke, Nicholas V slowly spread his arms and rose into the air. Milky-white gaseous energy surged from his body in circular waves, while purer, nearly materialized energy condensed behind him as twelve pairs of angelic wings. A crown and halo formed above his head, and a scepter appeared in his hand.
A holy chant echoed across the battlefield. Within the magic circle, radiant energy gathered into the phantoms of saintly sons, saintly daughters, angels, and celestial deities, all circling around Nicholas V. He thrust the scepter into the magic circle, and the immense influx of power rapidly elevated its grade.
“That world’s god is indeed powerful. Worlds that practice the Path of Faith rarely produce beings this strong. In our plane, he could probably unleash Tier-9 power.” Wendy pointed below. “This guy’s clearly been enthralled—hmm?”
Before she even finished speaking, Nicholas V abruptly turned and destroyed the summoning magic circle. They all heard an enraged roar in an unknown language coming from the deity on the other side. Immediately afterward, Nicholas V raised the scepter and absorbed every trace of foreign energy into it.
“Nicholas V… interesting. Not completely stupid.” Wendy remarked.
At least he understood that this was the Mage World—a world where mages would never allow the existence of a faith-based system, let alone allow him to become a god ruling over mortals. So he borrowed the power only long enough to elevate himself into a true transcendental being, while condensing the borrowed power into an artifact—leaving himself a way out.
Nicholas V also knew that what he had done was a direct challenge to the mages. Thus, after ascending, he halted his army’s advance and simply stood in place. Only when he realized that no mage had come to execute him did he finally relax.
To ordinary mortals, this was undoubtedly a convenient and exceptionally powerful system. With this, the war would no longer produce any unpredictable developments.
But Wendy and Avril clearly disliked this system, frowning as they spoke:
“It’s better to kill him. The faith system—the Divine Path—is endlessly disastrous.”
“There are no super-dimensional beings among the Anti-Mages. Their strongest are only at Tier-4 Ancient Magic. In theory, they shouldn’t be able to resist the Divine Path, right?”
Both nodded.
“Then we let Nicholas V be—for now. He’ll end this war quickly, and he might even wipe out the Anti-Mages for us. When he’s finished, we kill them all at once. Much easier.”
“What if he really starts spreading his religion? Once mortals accept and believe in the Divine Path, their minds become nearly impossible to reverse.”
“We just issue a new Forbidden Edict.”
The continent-wide mortal war engulfed the entire Academy Continent, but that didn’t mean mortals who wished to avoid battle had no refuge. All land belonging to mage academies and academy-owned industries were designated war-free zones—safe harbors where non-combatants could hide. No faction, under any circumstance, was allowed to attack these zones. Doing so would be considered a challenge to the mages.
The new edict was announced in these zones:
– The academies would offer protection to anyone,
– But the moment one stepped outside, or had already participated in the war, they were no longer under protection.
The lower-class populace remained oblivious as always, but the upper echelons of the three factions felt a deep sense of dread—they knew the mages had abandoned them.
Yet no one could retreat. Under irresistible pressure—both political and existential—they launched even more desperate offensives. Their logic was simple:
Only by winning, and gaining influence among the continent’s mortals, could they hope to survive.
They no longer dared expect equal negotiations with the mages. They merely hoped that mages would find choosing a proxy ruler bothersome—because even a sliver of inconvenience meant they might be allowed to live.
The Anti-Mages’ Doomsday had arrived.
The summoning circle’s ritual media had all been provided by the Anti-Mages—representing the final foundation of their collective heritage. But none of them had anticipated that Nicholas V also possessed a suitable medium, and had replaced theirs at the most crucial moment, drawing down a completely different power.
At first, they didn’t care. Having never participated in planar wars, they assumed that although their Ancient Magic could not compare to modern magic, they would still hold an absolute advantage over “ignorant natives” of other planes.
But feelings and assumptions were the perfect recipe for self-deception. And soon, they paid dearly for their negligence.
Nicholas V didn’t even wait for the Flesh-Grinding Mill to finish. He summoned all Anti-Mages under his faction, and without giving them a chance to speak or resist, he used the scepter’s power to force them into submission—commanding them to worship the scepter itself. His new identity:
The Divine Envoy of the Scepter-God.
Borrowing the Divine Path, he spent two years unifying his entire faction at terrifying speed. All dissent was crushed, erased, purified. He established an earthly divine kingdom, proclaiming himself Emperor and Pontiff.
Once he fused all his power and influence into one seamless whole, the other two factions could no longer compete.
His subjects “willingly” offered all their wealth to fund his war machine. His warriors “voluntarily” charged into battle without fear of death, shouting the name of Emperor Nicholas as they dragged enemies into mutual destruction.
The ordinary graduates and mage apprentices panicked. Desperate, they pleaded with the mages for help—but by Adam’s orders, every mage faction on the continent remained absolutely still.
Even more desperate were the Anti-Mages. Some, forced or willing, joined Nicholas V, hoping for a slice of legitimacy in the rising Scepter-God Kingdom. Others, at the end of their rope, could only crawl back toward the protectors they once betrayed.