Badge in Azure

The teleportation portal that Saleen laid out was not only capable of transporting small items, but it could also be used to transmit sound. The elemental environment of the Skywell was stable. The space had become unusually stable after the space tunnel disappeared.

Saleen only found out after contacting Metatrin City that the Magical Element Tower was not finished. His teacher was adding a greater number of magic power furnaces to it, allowing to have greater offensive capacity.

The Magical Element Tower was only able to defend and fly. It was unable to attack in flight. However, it was hardly trouble for Jason to fix. He designed magic arrays that enabled the tower to cast spells like Water Mirror Reflection in flight.

It was not an active offensive spell, but it was capable of reflecting most energy and physical attacks.

What was more important was that the occupants within the tower would become able to determine how powerful an enemy was by reading the amount of power reflected by the spell, enabling development of countermeasures based on the way the enemy fought and their strength level.

Saleen no longer had much use for the function. However, the modifications held significant meaning, as the Magical Element Tower would serve as his main and most important piece of equipment in the future.

Saleen spoke directly with Jason. Six level nine magic nuclei were thoroughly exhausted with them talking for several minutes before the magic array.

It hardly bothered Saleen. The things he had acquired every time he entered a temple were hardly able to be calculated by value of magic nuclei. He laid out another teleportation portal, and it came with automatic self-destruct function. They would tell the precise coordinates to the Holy See otherwise.

Nicholas finished his brainwashing process when the other magic array was completed. The three holy masters chose to fall and followed Nicholas.

It was hardly surprising, as the holy masters had just advanced to level seven and were only able to do so due to the rise of power across the mainland. Their mental state, combat prowess, AND knowledge were still at level six.

Nicholas, on the other hand, was already a pure level ten holy master. It was an easy feat for him to trick several mid-level holy masters.

Don finished laying out the divine rune charm array. Saleen and the others watched from afar. Don stood in the middle of the array, surrounded by 100 demons. All of the demons wore masks, but blooming flowers were drawn on their masks, and the armor they wore was well-decorated. They looked like walking greenery and seemed to be wearing golden threads.

Don’s body hovered in midair, surrounded by over 2000 people who chanted prayers alongside him. While the Goddess of Myers was no longer around, her divine crystal shards that Don possessed and the power of faith stored within the chlorite proved sufficient to support the divine rune charm array.

Power of faith emanated from the piece of chlorite on Don’s Heaven Knight armor. In the eyes of the fallen believers, Don’s body was covered in holy light. A loud, faraway holy song was vaguely heard, as if countless beautiful angels soared through the sky. The 100 demons also looked rather sacred and pure.

The power of faith showered downwards like flowing water, absorbed by over 2000 believers beneath.

Don’s expression was cold. He led the believers to chant prayers that sung praises to the Goddess of Myers. However, his face did not look like a believer at all.

“The goddess is fair and impartial!” Don chanted according to the book and the believers repeated after him, “the goddess is fair and impartial.”

“The goddess shall grant you power!”

“The goddess shall grant us power!”

“Your souls would live on forever in the kingdom of the goddess!”

“Our souls would live on forever in the kingdom of the goddess!”

“Your sins would be absolved!”

“Our sins would be absolved!”

“You shall fight for the goddess!”

“We shall fight for the goddess!”

“Give her your all…”

“Give her our all…”

Eleanor gave Saleen a peculiar look. “So this Don guy just keeps saying absurd bulls**t like that?”

“It will be more than enough. Just watch.” Saleen shared his senses with Eleanor. She became able to see Don’s power of faith being fed into the bodies of the 2000 believers, and he was almost completely drained.

However, as the believers chanted their prayers, power of faith began to well in most of their bodies, which was fed back to Don. The depleted power of faith within Don’s chlorite was gradually replenished and grew even further.

“That is the relationship between a god and their believers. The believers think that everything they are and own was given to them by the gods. In actuality, they’re keeping their god alive. It’s a very stupid trade!” Saleen said, in deep thought.

Nailisi shrugged. “Humans herd sheep for their wool and meat, but if the sheep were not herded by humans, they would end up in the bellies of magic beasts.

“Sheep will return to nature someday,but once the believers enter the kingdom of their gods, they stay sheep for the rest of their lives.”

Nailisi’s mouth twitched.

“Big sis, I’m just saying that it’s better to strive to be powerful instead of a sheep.”

“Indeed. Sheep have no right to choose.” Saleen patted Nailisi’s head, approving of her way of thought.

“Master. Do you think these people are pitiful or pathetic?” Nailisi asked. Demons never liked the gods. Devils did not need power of faith and would never recruit believers.

Demons talked with their fists. If someone was proven powerful enough, they would be sought out and followed by weaker ones. Demons were born with long lives. As all demons were capable of seeing through weakness in souls, they would never buy the lies perpetrated by the gods.

“It is a pity that humans were born with great potential for growth. If they did not believe in the gods and there are enough resources to spare, simple guidance is all that is needed for them to become mages, warriors, or priests capable of connecting with nature. It is unfortunate that powers across the entire Myers Mainland were too weak. These people have no future.”

“Are we throwing them from the frying pan into the fire then?” Nailisi’s words sounded rather irksome.

“You can say that again. But where else could they go?” Saleen was devoid of remorse for his actions. The people had believed in the Lord of Glory and intended to shine the light of their god on every corner of the mainland. That was a heavy sin.

If you want salvation, you all shall lose your faith and fight the believers of the Lord of Glory then.

“Master, you’re a bad person indeed.” Nailisi smirked. However, she did not finish her sentence. What she actually meant was her master was a bad person, and she was a bad person, and she liked that very much.

Nailisi dared not say things like that in front of Sika, who still held her staff. Nailisi would not be able to withstand a blow from her, even though the demon was level ten.

Saleen grinned. “Nailisi, humans are complex creatures. You can’t just describe them as good or bad.”

Believers who were purified lost all will to resist. After Don brainwashed them in the divine rune charm array, they soon became dazed.

It was easy for them to believe in gods.

As the setup was done hastily, the divine rune charm array slowly lost its light. The first prayers of the believers of the Goddess of Myers were completed quickly.

Saleen had no intention of staying around any further. He summoned Don. “I’m heading back to Metatrin City. Send your knights to fight at the north of Qin. While the Qin people disliked believers, but so long as you’re fighting against the Holy See, you’d have your place among them.”

“Your highness…”

“Relax, I’ll have Nicholas tag alongside you. You’ll be able to reach me anytime.”

“My liege?” Nicholas was rather reluctant. He had intended to follow Saleen and search each temple. He did not want to fight in Qin, as it was very boring for him. Nicholas hated the idea of the establishment of the Nature Faith in the first place.

Saleen stopped Nicholas with a look in his eye, and the old holy master swallowed his words. Saleen was reluctant to give Don full autonomy. Nicholas knew that his main role beside Don was not to help Don fight, but to keep a close eye on him in Saleen’s stead.

He was to observe how Don constructed a powerful Nature Knights Corps to fight the people of the Holy See.

There was no way Saleen could let Nailisi do something like that. The later the Holy See discovered her purgatory of purification, the better. They were able to keep things under wraps because they were no survivors out to leak the information.

Furthermore, the purgatory was used when the battle was over, so the enemy was unable to find out much anyway.

Don naturally followed everything Saleen said. What he was worried about was being cut off from Saleen’s support. He was satisfied to have Nicholas around him, enabling him to contact Saleen anytime.

There was no way he could bring over 2000 believers back to Metatrin City using the teleportation portal. There would not be enough magic nuclei left with Saleen for anything else, and materials usable for constructing magic arrays were in short supply.

If he transported all the people back, he would need to use magic nuclei above level ten. Without Saleen’s Magical Element Tower around, the cost of using such portals was high.

Nailisi’s help was required in the task. Don let the Nature Knights enter Nailisi’s purgatory of the devils, which enabled them to survive within, despite the environmental conditions being so bad that even the air was toxic.

The believers only needed to stay for several minutes, which was far from killing them. As Don said, it was a test for them from the goddess, so the believers were actually eager.

Saleen watched as Nailisi entered the teleportation portal with the believers in her 12 Notes of First Purgatory and shook his head exasperatedly. He wondered if the minds of the believers were pure or crippled. There was no way they would believe such lies otherwise.

In order to conserve magic nuclei, the teleportation portals only allowed one person to be transported at a time, and even then, level ten magic nuclei were used.

He was the last one to enter the portal and before he left, he activated the self-destruct spell. He prepared a huge ball of water on the portal, which would burn immediately after its surface vaporized.

Even if the self-destruct function of the portal was inadequate to get the job done cleanly, the level ten Fireball would burn every last bit of data with the coordinates of the temple in Metatrin City with it.

After Saleen disappeared into the portal, a huge bird swooped down from the sky several thousands of miles away, intending to prevent the magic array from continuing to operate. However, the fireball expanded and the huge bird cried as its feathers burned, thrown to one side.

Fireballs the size of fists split from the large fireball, and chased after the bird. As Saleen’s body was transported into the temple, the portal at the Skywell exploded.

Saleen’s face was vaguely seen in the huge fireball, slamming at the ground. The area within several hundred meters turned into an inferno. The temperature of the flames vaporized the materials used to draw the magic array right away.

Even the steel rocks used to lay out the array would be melted down.