Badge in Azure

Saleen chucked the Eternal Control Shard into the figure’s head and Baudelaire’s soul entered it. No one truly wanted to die, especially someone like Baudelaire. He had an intense hatred for the Holy See and, given how Saleen had given him a chance, he had to continue living.

After all, he had only sold his soul to the God of Purgatory to exact his revenge on them.

It was all the same to him regardless of who he swore his allegiance to, so long as the one he served was against the Holy See. Baudelaire’s soul had already been twisted and he had no other desires. His only meaning in life was to go against the Lord of Glory.

In actuality, much of what the great head inquisitor had done had nothing to do with the Lord of Glory. In fact, the Lord of Glory would not have liked the Divine Tablet Spell at all. The problem, however, was that Baudelaire would not have cared for any of that. The great head inquisitor was a believer in the Lord of Glory. As a god, it was his responsibility to keep the believers in check.

“Alright, now we have a clone of the goddess, a pope, a knights corps, and a Nature City. Shall we begin a war between religions then?” Saleen said to himself as he looked at Theisio.

Baudelaire felt a powerful life force as soon as his soul entered the Eternal Control Shard. Feeding into his soul was a life force converted from divine power. As such, it was incredibly pure.

His soul had entered a place without a chance of escape. Baudelaire gained the power bestowed by the God of Purgatory, enabling him to observe things with his soul.

He would not have been able to traverse narrow spaces freely otherwise. If he had only been able to see his way around with his eyes, he would have been sucked into the spatial turbulence and died.

The place that his soul was in seemed to be cage filled with wormholes, each containing energy that nourished the soul. But at the same time, there were mystical magic patterns all around him which he found unfathomable.

The energies on the magic patterns seemed to be something capable of causing extreme damage to the soul. Baudelaire did not know about lightning magic patterns, but that did not prevent him from fearing them nonetheless.

However, those magic patterns were something that protected the soul at the same time. Any external powers intending to enter that space to cause harm to the soul would have been shut down by the magic patterns’ powers.

So there was some benefit he gained. While he was unable to betray Saleen, he would be spared from the God of Purgatory’s punishment as well. Baudelaire felt rather lost for a moment, not knowing what his life had been for so far.

Saleen cast constellation power into the Eternal Control Shard. The space within the shard seemed to expand by millions of times. Saleen’s voice was heard as well.

“Your life has been to serve me!”

The thundering sound reverberated throughout the space. Baudelaire felt himself shedding tears, but figures had no tears to shed. Two streaks of constellation power flowed from the eyes of the figure, which were sucked back in through the nostrils.

The Ring of Cosmos on Saleen’s hand was spinning. He was rather shocked himself. However, the sudden comprehension had something to do with the Ring of Cosmos. The ring seemed to have enhanced his mental powers.

No, not mental powers, but the powers of the soul.

Baudelaire had actually been subjugated by him. He knelt willingly before him.

“Master, I, Baudelaire, willingly serve you.” He did not use any respectful honorifics in his words. In ancient Myers language, such a casual manner of speech would have required the permission of the other party.

“Alright, Baudelaire, get to the Nature City at northern Qin. Take the badge I give you and become a pope. I’ll have Don play along with you. Spread the faith there and deal with the enemy by whatever means necessary. Just bear in mind not to harm the native people of Qin.”

“Understood, master.” Baudelaire took the badge that Saleen gave him.

Saleen then added, “You have no equipment. I now bestow you with the Scepter of Nature. As a pope, you shall have a Crown of Nature and the Ring of Gifts as well. Keep these three items well.”

Saleen no longer had any need for the Ring of Gifts. The power of the Goddess of Nature had been almost drained. It was not an easy feat to use Water Flame Alchemy to create an amplifier.

Saleen’s necklace had consumed too much power, including divine power from the Ring of Gifts and the Constellation Power from the level-19 Star Gathering Needle.

Saleen turned to address the people around him after Baudelaire left. “Well, I’m supposed to return to Metatrin and see what is happening there, but I have confidence in my teacher. Even if there is actually an oracle at Metatrin City’s doors, he won’t be able to harm him. We’ll stay here and plug the exit. Whatever Theisio wants from this place, I’ll have him spit it out.”

Saleen was most wary of Theisio. That old man just seems unkillable.

Everyone had their own thoughts on Saleen’s words. They were likewise incapable of doing much against Theisio. The defense around Theisio’s territory was just too powerful. Level-9 professionals were utterly incapable of attacking him at all.

Theisio was wearing a sour look. He’d confirmed that Saleen had taken care of Baudelaire.

None of the 49 red-robed bishops said anything. They had hundreds of knights, yet they were unable to track Baudelaire at all.

Baudelaire made for the exit of the cemetery as the Armageddon Codex pounced on him from above. He was startled and wanted to cast movement skills, but found that his ability to tear space was gone.

The power bestowed by his god had disappeared due to his betrayal.

The great inquisitor’s specter appeared from the codex, laughing maniacally as he enveloped Baudelaire’s body.

“Baudelaire, I’ll…”

“Die already!” 360 beams of constellation power burst from the figure’s body, shrouding the great head inquisitor with the Armageddon Codex.

Baudelaire’s Scepter of Nature slammed hard against the Armageddon Codex. It was purely a physical attack. However, Baudelaire was a knight instead of a holy master, so he used to much power with that strike. Information from Saleen had been left within the figure’s body so he could take on the great head inquisitor.

Although the great head inquisitor ran away, Saleen knew that there was no way he would be able to escape the cemetery. The cemetery’s exit was blocked by the Magical Element Tower.

Theisio would have probably been able to escape using the three godly items, yet the great head inquisitor would not have had such luck, given how he had become a weapon spirit whose control of the codex was limited.

As such, Saleen had let Baudelaire leave on his own, specifically for the purpose of baiting the great head inquisitor into making a move. Only by having control of a body would he be able to use all of the Armageddon Codex’s power.

Having some knowledge regarding souls, Saleen could not be fooled. The great head inquisitor’s tricks were just as laughable as child’s play.

Saleen had gone through a painstaking process of getting someone to serve as pope. Furthermore, it was someone who would not be able to betray him. There was no way he would let Baudelaire die so easily.

The area shrouded by the constellation power became a constellation territory.

While level-10 astrologers were not powerful enough to accomplish it, there were some people capable of having territorial powers. In ancient times, astrologers of such levels were common. However, the territorial powers that Saleen had left within the figure were more than enough to take on the great head inquisitor.

The great head inquisitor had lost his body. While his level remained intact, he was unable to use any skills as he was pinned down by the constellation territory. Baudelaire attacked the Armageddon Codex with all his might using the Scepter of Nature.

The Scepter of Nature was actually one of the Three Kings’ scepters that Saleen had selected. The scepter was inlaid with chlorite filled with the goddess’ divine powers. That thing proved adequate for Baudelaire’s use for the time being.

The scepter’s properties might not have been suitable equipment for a pope of the Nature Faith, but the scepter’s material was extremely resilient, making it a bludgeoning weapon of grades that Saleen speculated to be on par with Sika’s staff.

Furthermore, every single attack that Baudelaire executed caused nature power to seep into the Armageddon Codex.

The codex was a piece of equipment created by the Lord of Glory. It absolutely rejected anything that did not originate from him. The divine powers fought each other within and brought devastating, explosive powers to bear. The great head inquisitor was having a bad time in there as weapon spirit.

“Do you fear me now?” Baudelaire kept slugging the Armageddon Codex. All seven signs were knocked out of the book bit by bit, floating within the constellation territory.

The ruling power imbued within the seven signs had originally surpassed that of Saleen’s constellation territory. However, the codex did not have a user at the moment, and the great head inquisitor had been overpowered by the two divine powers clashing with each other inside.

He was unable to do anything but look at the seven golden signs leaving the codex.

The seven signs were absorbed into the Ring of Gifts by Baudelaire. The ring was something that could be used without needing any special abilities.

“Baudelaire! You have betrayed two gods!” the great head inquisitor shouted in rage.

“I have. If you want to, I can introduce you to my master. You could become a head inquisitor for the Nature Faith.” Baudelaire acted according to Saleen’s instructions and attacked the great head inquisitor with his words.

“Who cares!?”

“Well, die then.” Baudelaire continued to beat on the codex. The seven pages of the codex were being tempered bit by bit. The golden colors faded and the book began to shine with green glimmer.

All of the holy prose markings on the Armageddon Codex had been erased by the Goddess of Nature’s divine power. Baudelaire did not spare any divine power within the Scepter of Nature as he knocked on the Armageddon Codex.

The goddess’s writings began to appear on the Armageddon Codex.

24 multicolored holy prose began manifest within the Armageddon Codex. The codex of the goddess began to take shape.

Baudelaire held a piece of Eternal Control Shard, waiting for the great head inquisitor’s escaping soul, ready to subjugate it. However, he had been waiting for some time. All 24 holy prose had completely taken form, yet the great head inquisitor’s soul had yet to leave.

Baudelaire calmed down and found that he had actually shattered the great head inquisitor’s soul.

Everything that had to do with the great head inquisitor’s memory had been beaten to pieces by the Scepter of Nature. His soul had been rendered blank as it was infused into the codex.

It was not power bestowed by Saleen, but by the rules of the scepter itself.

The constellation territory disappeared all of a sudden. The remaining constellation power returned to the figure’s body. Baudelaire bent over and picked up the Nature Codex, flipped it about to take a look inside, then quickly left.

Saleen no longer paid any attention to Baudelaire. He had his eyes on Theisio’s party and wanted to harass them.