Badge in Azure

Don began to lay out the altar according to the runes and schematics handed to him by Saleen. Saleen had seen very high level altars before. The altar he was laying out was done according to the schematics, drawn by mimicking the altar at that undersea temple where the divine baby was held.

However, the materials Saleen used were incredibly common and the altar was little more than camouflage. Nailisi’s help was required to truly recreate a divine nature spell and, furthermore, one capable of judging the adherents of Lord of Glory.

Nailisi’s double absorbed the power of the true form of the divine baby in the altar within the purgatory of the fallen, and had grown to be able to control the Shackles of the Fallen, fighting within the purgatory of the fallen.

The altar was simply to disguise the entrance to the purgatory of the fallen, a way to trick the great head inquisitor into entering.

Saleen had little certainty of being able to do anything against the level ten holy master if he was not thrown into the purgatory of the fallen. The lesson learned in the fight with Van Gogh left a lasting impression on him.

A level nine holy master who had been capable of defending an attack from his family badge using only the power of an equipment.

The old holy master looked far more powerful than Van Gogh had been. The gold-armored knights were on par with grand swordmasters in terms of combat capacity. Saleen was able to sense mystical energies coursing throughout the knights’ equipment.

If Saleen’s judgment had been sound, he would have deduced that the knights’ combined skills would enhance the power of their attacks by many times over.

Don told Saleen that such equipment and methods of combat were common among the Heaven Knights. While the Heaven Knights were no longer around, the Holy See would still be able to gather a force consisting of similar units.

The 12 young holy masters were, in Saleen’s perspective, on par with Nicholas before he had fallen. Their combat capacity might have been somewhat weaker, but such weaknesses were easily compensated under the old holy master’s command.

The demons and the elemental creatures toiled until midnight before the huge altar was completed. Every corner of the altar had runes of the goddess of nature written by Don.

The runes differed from holy prose and were devoid of any faith, yet were able to serve for their intended purpose. They could be activated when infused with the power of faith.

Divine spells of every god had things to act as replacements, as it was a long process to have a life form completely believe in a god. False adherents would also emerge during the propagation process.

The false adherents would also require power of the gods. Most gods would tolerate them, judging them only when they became fully exposed.

In the gods’ perspectives, propagation of their faith was of utmost importance, even if the process ended up being used by someone else. So long as the faith spread, most gods cared little about the purity of their adherents.

There were also kind holy masters in the Holy See, and even they would tolerate bad things going on.

All sixteen of the captured holy masters were thrown onto the altar surrounded by mountains. They were tied with ropes and any abilities were suppressed.

A long table was placed on the finished altar. Saleen and his people sat behind it while the demons stood guard around the altar. All 200 demons were given elvish alchemy crossbows. The two supreme demons were given Hogina’s guns.

The equipment that Saleen cooked up in a hurry was still more powerful than alchemy crossbows. The limit that the supreme demons were able to achieve was comparable to the peak of level seven magic among human mages.

In actuality, level four magic would suffice. What Saleen needed was the incredibly long range of attack of the Hogina’s gun. When enemies turned tail and ran, the guns were incredibly effective.

The two supreme demons had powerful mental powers, capable of targeting enemies who were the same level as they were. A level one icicle would be able to pierce rocks. A level seven spell would enable them to pierce any equipment without magical defense attributes.

Nailisi currently was in her usual form instead of her devil form. Her current form looked identical to the Goddess of Myers. Don saw it but dared not ask anything. The demon was something he was reluctant to mess with.

Nailisi came before the 16 holy masters and counted on her fingers one by one. She smiled. “There are only 12 pillars for judgment, so four heads have to drop.”

Eight demons who rushed up to the altar and dragged four of the holy masters off the altar. The four holy masters struggled but were unable to make any sound. The demons dug four holes on the ground briskly with their halberds, before dumping the holy masters into the holes and burying them.

Nailisi stood at the edge of the altar, looking at the four holy masters with only their heads sticking out of the ground. She smiled. “We’ll have their heads later. The altar will still need their blood.”

Don finished laying out the runes of the altar and found the power of faith inside the chlorite almost entirely depleted. He was rather impressed with Saleen’s calculations.

Such abilities were acquired instead innate. Honing such abilities required repetitive training that was incredibly boring. There were mathematics of similar nature among the holy masters, but the number of people in the entire Holy See capable of achieving what Saleen did was less than ten.

Nailisi came to stand at Saleen’s side. “Master, can we begin?”

Saleen’s Elemental Eye searched his targets. With the mountains in the way, he was incapable of pinpointing the exact location of his pursuers.

However, it would still be an easy task to attract their attention. He nodded. “Let Don get on with it. Get him a hundred demons to serve as members of his knights corps.”

Nailisi nodded reluctantly and walked down the altar. She had 100 demons return to the purgatory of the devils, before assigning 100 who had not been trained for long to Don.

All demons housed by the purgatory of devils were elites, yet they were hardly useful when faced with level ten professionals. However, if they were to deal with level nine ones, their massive numbers might have been the key to turning the tide of the battle.

Nailisi was reluctant to use them in such ways, so the demons she assigned to Don were all lower levels.

Don was indifferent. He was considered a leader with a hundred demons by his side. There was nothing difficult about forming a knights corps, but it was something else altogether propagating the faith of the knights. Demons had no need for faith and Don had no need for his followers to believe in anything.

His mission was simply to kill all enemies of Nature Faith.

Troops of the demon plane did not ride on warhorses. The huge demons were able to move faster than horses, and were not held back by terrain. Be it ice or lands covered in fire, demons were able to charge through it.

The eight demons were still waiting for Nailisi’s orders. Nailisi waved and four halberds were brought down. The heads of the four holy masters rolled. Their blood sprayed more than 10 meters high.

Nailisi turned around and said to Don, “well then, let the judgment begin.”

The four holy masters’ soul shot into the air alongside their spraying blood. However, the souls of adherents of the Lord of Glory were unable to enter heaven even when they died if they were around the altar of the nature goddess. They lingered around the altar, wailing.

The entire altar exuded green light. The souls of the dead holy masters rammed at the light, but were unable to escape the cage formed by the divine light of nature.

The faith of the Lord of Glory had too much exclusivity. Even when bathed with the nurturing energies of the divine light of nature, the four adherents still felt excruciating pain.

Pain inflicted directly on the soul was unbearable. The wails of the four holy master spread far and wide. At the camp more than a dozen miles away, the great head inquisitor, who was asleep, sat up.

Anger was finally seen on his face.

Saleen had used the most direct way to provoke him. The mage was asking him for a fight!

Defiling the souls of holy masters and barring them from entering heaven was beyond the limit of tolerance of the great head inquisitor. The 12 adjudicators were alerted as well. The level nine holy masters gathered around the great head inquisitor, awaiting his orders.

“I believe you are all able to smell the heretic god, no?” The great head inquisitor’s voice remained calm, yet the 12 were able to feel that the body of the great head inquisitor had become as hard as metals underneath his long, black robe. It was the sign that the great head inquisitor was about to move.

“Although our goal was to unite the entire plane, which requires patience and planning, I will not tolerate this insult. Get the knights up and prepare for battle.”

“Sir, should we distribute the meds?” the first adjudicator asked.

The great head inquisitor nodded. “Do it. Tell the knights that they will go to heaven.”

The 12 distributed the pharmaceuticals. The great head inquisitor walked out of his tent and took flight, peering faraway. Green light shot through the sky more than a dozen miles away in the mountains. Wailing of souls were heard from within that light, all of which belonged to the devout holy masters.

The great head inquisitor felt a sense of respect for the four being tortured. The pain would dissipate if they chose to fall and betray their god.

Saleen looked at the pained souls in the sky and knew that himself. What he felt was not respect, but coldness. Humans are actually able to withstand pain at such extent just for their faith.

They were souls that had given themselves entirely to their god without even a tinge of ego left in them. Even if their souls were thrown into purgatory and be tortured for tens of millions of years, the holy masters would never betray their faith. Would there be many like them in the Holy See?

A mere level 15 god is able to turn people into such beings. If the nature goddess truly resurrects, would I be able to keep things under control?

Nailisi returned to Saleen’s side and knew what Saleen felt at the moment. She whispered one word at Saleen’s ear: purification.

Saleen nodded. However, purified souls would lose a part of themselves. It had to do with the study of souls, which Saleen had yet to be involved with.

He did not know which part would be lost and if the lost parts be incapable of restoration for good. If the damage was permanent, he would be incapable of saving anyone.

Perhaps the only way to prevent such happenings is to kill all the gods? But something like the Dark Sky Devil is born in nature, and hasn’t that been hidden in the hearts and minds of humans all this while?

Does it mean that all humans need to die then?

Saleen never felt so lost since the day he became a mage.

“Saleen, get ready for battle,” Sika, who was by his side, reminded him. Saleen was only alerted then.

Now is not the time to think about things like this. The holy masters will definitely be unable to sit still and will come asking for a fight. I’ll just have to save the problems with the gods for later. If it still bothers me, I’ll just go ask Gaine. The astrologers are in control of fate, and perhaps they have answers.