Chapter 873

【 THE GREAT HOLY WAR 】

February 1, 1073, of the Eternal Era, exactly one month after John, the Saint of the Church of Life, had been martyred.

Pope Benedict II, the reigning Pope of the Eternal Church, convened a religious council in Maniya’s City Square. There, he delivered a passionate and impassioned speech, condemning the Church of Life’s infiltration and subversion of the human nations, as well as its aggressive campaigns against Maple Leaf Territory and the Empire’s Southern Territory.

On that very day, Benedict II solemnly announced that he was issuing a call to the nobles, priests, knights, and mercenaries throughout the entire human dominion in Seigües. He urged all devout believers of the Eternal Lord to take up arms in defense of their faith and launch a holy war against the Church of Life, reclaiming lands tainted by its blasphemous influence and driving out the ambitious heretics who sought to undermine the established order.

The Eternal Church promised that anyone who fought against the Church of Life solely out of devotion, rather than vanity or personal gain, and sought to reclaim the churches and holy grounds of the Eternal Lord, would find that the very endeavor itself was sufficient enough to serve as penance for all their sins, granting them absolution in the afterlife.

The Eternal Church further promised that the lands and wealth seized from the heretics during the holy war would be distributed among the faithful who distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions. Whether nobles, knights, or mercenaries, all would have the opportunity to obtain hereditary lands of their own, along with noble titles bestowed directly by the Church. For countless individuals whose ambitions had long been constrained by their circumstances, this was an opportunity that could change their lives forever.

One astonishing announcement after another poured forth from the Holy See, spreading throughout the world and demonstrating the Eternal Church’s unwavering determination to wage this holy war.

For a time, the attention of the entire world was drawn to what might well become the greatest holy war ever witnessed in the history of Seigües.

As the Eternal Church issued one promise after another, the nobles and ambitious individuals throughout the Holy Maniya Empire, the Kingdom of Aries, and the numerous principalities and counties surrounding these two great powers were driven into a frenzy.

Land! Wealth!

In a supernatural world wherein deities existed, once the world’s order had been stabilized, reshuffling the established hierarchy became exceedingly difficult. Yet now, with the Eternal Church’s promises, many people saw a glimmer of hope.

For a time, nobles eagerly rushed to join the war, raising armies of their own. Knights and mercenaries of all ranks, along with common freemen, sold their possessions, gathered supplies, and prepared to participate.

The entire human faction began to operate like an enormous war machine, slowly grinding into motion.

As the force that had called for this holy war, the Eternal Church went even further, assembling an unprecedented Inquisitorial Knight Legion whose numbers reached an astonishing one million.

An army of one million, every soldier possessing at least the strength of an Upper Silver-rank expert. More than one-third of its Inquisitorial Knights had even reached the Gold-rank!

This formidable army that the Eternal Church had quietly prepared over the past several years was finally baring its fangs.

Beyond this, the response from the other human nations was also quite overwhelming. The number of participating nobles and hereditary knights alone exceeded fifty thousand. If the private armies raised by the nobles were included, the total size of the human coalition might well have approached five million…

Everyone had gone mad.

Absolutely everyone.

The generous promises made by the Eternal Church had awakened the ambitions of countless opportunists, each eager to seize the opportunity to rise above their station and claim a share of the spoils.

Five million soldiers!

It was an utterly terrifying number.

However, in the world of Seigües, with its population of hundreds of millions and the existence of supernatural powers, an army of this size still fell short of the human faction’s maximum military potential.

The resurgence of mana had brought about the development of productive forces, which in turn had further increased the world’s capacity for war. As magical energy became more abundant, agricultural production, industrial output, and the overall strength of human society continued to advance, thus providing an increasingly solid foundation for large-scale military mobilization.

At this point, no one could say exactly how many troops the entire human faction could mobilize. The limits of its military potential had become increasingly difficult to estimate.

However, the greater the number of people mobilized, the heavier the burden on society would become. The demands of such a massive army would inevitably place enormous pressure on local economies, agricultural production, and the lives of ordinary people.

Naturally, this also meant that the war would be more brutal than anything witnessed before.

Yet these were hardly matters that concerned the fanatical participants.

Ambitious individuals had never been concerned with the fate of the world as a whole. To them, the coming war was not a catastrophe, but an opportunity to acquire wealth, territory, and power.

Since the Eternal Church’s emblem was a platinum-gold sun, all soldiers participating in the war painted this symbol on their shields or armor. Consequently, the Eternal Church’s army in this holy war came to be known as the Radiant Sun Army.

Beyond the human faction, as the Eternal Church assembled the Radiant Sun Army, miracles also began appearing throughout its various dioceses. One Angel of Judgment after another descended from the heavenly realm.

Although no Mythical-rank powerhouse had descended, the number of experts at the Demigod, Legendary, and Gold ranks had reached a truly terrifying level. The sheer concentration of supernatural combat power was enough to make the other factions watching from the shadows feel a profound sense of unease.

And this was merely the Eternal Church’s strength within the world of Seigües.

If the world of Seigües had not remained sealed, no one would have dared imagine what kind of army the Eternal Church could mobilize by bringing in its forces from other realms. The forces it had assembled within Seigües alone were already formidable enough to shake the foundations of the world. If its forces from other worlds were added to the equation, the resulting military might would be almost unimaginable.

For a time, quite a few Mythical beings unexpectedly found themselves feeling a trace of sympathy for the Church of Life and the ancient deity who had only recently awakened behind it.

Even though the legendary World Tree had already developed her faction into the second-largest power in the world of Seigües, the disparity between the two sides was still difficult to ignore.

Alas, the world of Seigües was, after all, merely one of the many realms within the universe.

However, as the central party caught in the vortex of this war of faith, the Church of Life was not intimidated by the terrifying strength displayed by the Eternal Church at all.

On the seventh day after Benedict II declared the holy war, Sophia, the Chief Governor of Maple Moon Free Territory, and Frank, the White Knight and leader of the Pathfinders Alliance in the Southern Territory, issued announcements one after another, calling upon all believers of the Church of Life within their territories to resist the invasion of the Eternal Church.

Large numbers of believers of the Church of Life eagerly joined the war. Escaped slaves, farmers, freemen, mercenaries, merchants… Whether ordinary believers or experts possessing supernatural powers, they all joined the armies being assembled by the two territories that worshiped the Goddess of Life.

Before long, the number of participants from the two territories had also exceeded one million.

This was an astonishing figure.

After all, the combined population of Maple Moon Free Territory and the Southern Territory, which had yet to recover from its losses, did not exceed ten million.

A participation rate of nearly one-tenth of the population was an extraordinary figure, even in a supernatural world. Such a massive mobilization was not merely a testament to the Church of Life’s influence, but also a clear indication of the determination with which its followers were prepared to defend their faith.

Moreover, the majority of those joining the war came from the lower classes. Many had even fled from various human nations, such as the Holy Maniya Empire and the Kingdom of Aries.

In particular, after the Eternal Church announced its promises regarding the holy war, the number of people fleeing from the Empire continued to increase.

On the one hand, this was naturally due to the widespread circulation of Old John’s trial over the past month. With Demacia and a large number of players secretly spreading it, his martyrdom had stirred up the common people’s yearning for the Church of Life and their hatred of the Eternal Church.

On the other hand, the nobles’ military mobilization had once again placed a heavy burden on the people under their rule.

The mobilization of armies, especially on such a massive scale, inevitably placed enormous pressure on local communities.

This was particularly true given the promises made by the Eternal Church, which had driven many nobles into a frenzy.

The wealth of the Elven Forest and Maple Moon Free Territory was known throughout the world. So the prospect of owning a piece of land there held an irresistible appeal for many nobles, especially those whose existing territories were not particularly prosperous.

Numerous minor nobles had staked their entire fortunes on this war.

Naturally, the cost of their ambitions was passed down to the people at the bottom of society.

As the Great Holy War began, the divisions within human society grew even more pronounced, becoming so blatant that they were laid bare for all to see…

The day after Maple Moon Free Territory and the Pathfinders Alliance announced their resistance against the Eternal Church’s invasion, the Elven Forest finally also issued its own formal declaration.

Taylor Rocksand, the Chief High Priest of the Church of Life, announced that the Church of Life and all members of the Elven race would defend the Elven Forest to the death, protect every believer of the Goddess, and safeguard every temple belonging to the Church of Life.

The Chosen Legion, composed of Elven Chosen Ones who were said to resemble legendary einherjars, and the Elven Army, composed of native elves and half-elves, successively announced their participation in the war.

Together, their forces numbered approximately two million.

Only then did the various factions suddenly realize that although the Elvenkind’s population remained small compared to that of humanity, it had already become capable of mobilizing an army of such staggering proportions.

Not to mention that a considerable portion of these forces consisted of the supposedly immortal Elven Chosen Ones, a formidable army that had once crushed the invading demons that threatened the world of Seigües…

For a time, as the Church of Life gradually revealed its strength, the Eternal Church’s seemingly overwhelming advantage began to look far less certain.

The future of this Great Holy War, which might well be the largest conflict the world of Seigües had witnessed in a thousand years, became increasingly unpredictable. What had initially appeared to be a one-sided confrontation was gradually developing into a conflict whose outcome no one could confidently predict.

Every faction was speculating about the eventual outcome.

Would the Eternal Church emerge victorious, annihilate the Church of Life, and defeat the World Tree once more?

Or would the Church of Life prevail, allowing the World Tree to reclaim control over the world of Seigües and drive the Eternal Church out of this realm?

However, just as more and more eyes turned toward the world of Seigües and this Great Holy War, another unexpected development occurred.

In mid-February, half a month after the Eternal Church had declared war against the Church of Life, another piece of news that shook the entire world emerged from Pasha City in the Far North…

The Chief High Priest of the Church of War issued a holy decree, announcing an alliance with the Eternal Church and declaring that it would also launch a holy war against the Church of Life.

Afterwards, all believers of the God of War were called upon to march toward the Elven Forest.

The Orc Alliance, the Lizardman Kingdom, the Troll Tribes, and the Half-Dragon Nation, which had broken away from Dragon Island, along with other factions that worshiped the God of War, seemed to have coordinated their actions as one after another, they announced their participation in the war, all within a remarkably short period.

Witnessing this series of developments, the ancient gods were filled with astonishment, their expressions becoming increasingly complicated.

For a moment, it was as though they were witnessing the great war that had swept across the entire world of Seigües a thousand years ago.

This time, nearly every faction that had participated in that ancient conflict had once again entered the battlefield.

And their objectives seemed to be no different from those of a thousand years ago.

However, not long after the Church of War announced its participation in the holy war, an even more shocking piece of news emerged from the underground region beneath the continent.

Fenrir, the Divine Envoy of Hela, the Lord of Death, declared in the City of Itkazar that the Church of Death had formed an alliance with the Church of Life and would stand alongside it through the coming conflict.

The Church of Death, which had always remained aloof from worldly affairs and had almost never participated in the wars of faith between the Heavenly Gods and the Ancient Gods, had finally entered the fray.

With the Lord of Darkness and Shadows having fallen, the entire underground had practically become the backyard of Hela, the now undisputed True Lord of Death. Now, the Church of Death openly declared its alliance with the Church of Life and officially joined the Great Holy War.

From this moment onward, with the exception of the dragons on Dragon Island, who remained far removed from the continent, and the Ancient Gods who had withdrawn from the outside world, nearly every major faction in Seigües had been drawn into the confrontation between the Church of Life and the Eternal Church.

Even the Dwarven Kingdom, which had always avoided worldly affairs, did not remain entirely uninvolved. Although it did not formally declare war on the Eternal Church, the dwarves of the Southern Mountains strengthened their relations with the Elven Forest and began secretly supplying it with various resources…

Meanwhile, deep within Dragon Island, isolated across the sea to the northwest of the continent…

The Ancestral Dragon Urinos who recently awoke from her slumber stared in astonishment at Reinhardt, the Platinum Dragon King, who had come to report the latest developments in the mainland continent.

“What? That rascal Etriōu has officially declared war on Evé?”

“Yes, Ancestral Mother. Not only the Divine Human Coalition, but the God of War has also declared war on Her Majesty Evé.”

Reinhardt replied.

Urinos’s expression grew increasingly grim upon hearing this.

“Those bastards! A thousand years have passed, yet they are still exactly the same!”

She said indignantly.

“Ancestral Mother…”

Reinhardt hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“This war can no longer be stopped. The elves are our friends, and they have helped us greatly. Do you think we should also…?”

Urinos fell silent.

After a moment, she let out a soft sigh.

“Keep a close eye on the developments on the mainland. If the situation becomes critical, you and I will make the journey together. We will rescue Her Majesty Evé and as many elves as we can, should the worst come to pass…”

“Then are we… not going to participate in this war?”

Reinhardt could not help asking.

Urinos gave a bitter smile.

“Participate? What would be the point of us joining at this stage? We dragons are already few enough as it is…”

After speaking, she glanced at Reinhardt, who seemed to have something more to say. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly chuckled.

“Come to think of it, I remember that fellow Tistan. I’ve always hated those half-dragon kins of his who defected to the God of War… Hmm, under these circumstances, us Dragons seeking revenge against those traitors would be entirely understandable, right?”

“Oh… but remember, we are not formally participating in this holy war. Rather, we merely happen to want to take revenge on Tistan and that so-called Half-Dragon Nation of his at this war, understand?”

Urinos said meaningfully.

Reinhardt was momentarily stunned, then his eyes lit up.

In a certain sense, the Dragonkin Nation was once a subordinate faction of the dragons.

Ah… As expected of the Ancestral Mother.

Just as the elves often said, the older the ginger, the spicier it was.

Although Reinhardt had no idea what ginger was…

“Furthermore, if any dragon has elven friends and wishes to participate in the war in their individual capacity, then let them do so. However, Dragon Island will not officially endorse such actions.”

Urinos pondered for a moment before adding.

Reinhardt’s eyes shone even brighter.

However, along with the brightness in his eyes, his expression also became somewhat peculiar.

He coughed lightly before asking:

“Ahem. Are you truly certain, Mother? Any dragon that wishes to help the elves may truly participate?”

“Of course. That is their own affair, not the formal will of Dragon Island. Besides, I bet there will not be that many dragons who want to be involved. It is their own decision, so even if that rascal Etriōu is displeased, he will have little grounds to complain.”

Urinos shrugged.

However, after hearing her words, Reinhardt’s expression became even more subtle.

The Platinum Dragon King did not say anything further. Instead, he nodded lightly.

“If you say so, then I shall obey your decree, Mother.”

With that, he departed with noticeably lighter steps.

Only after Reinhardt had left did Urinos cast a puzzled glance in the direction he had gone and mutter to herself:

“Hm? Could there really be so many dragons who wish to participate in this war?”

After pondering for a moment, she rose and walked toward the exit of her cavern.

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