Chapter 325: Belief

The Flying Warship traveled through space for hours. The locations most vulnerable to an enemy attack were the high-level planets under the sect’s protection — places without teleportation inscriptions and, for the most part, located in distant galaxies.

The Mages who took the tests for all the branches of the Outer Sect mostly came from these places. Therefore, protecting them was essential. This battle was something very personal to all the disciples.

The orders given by the Central Elder instructed everyone to remain stationed at a specific central location, as close as possible to the most important planets.

Therefore, all they could do was hope that the enemy wouldn’t attack another world that was excessively far away.

...

Twenty-four hours later, they arrived at a pulsating solar system illuminated by three suns.

In space, twelve vessels similar to the 11th Branch’s were already waiting. They displayed stripes of different colors across their hulls. Only Priam’s vessel was entirely silver, since it served as the overall command ship.

The flying ships took up a circular formation, with the flagship positioned right in the center.

All thirteen vessels connected simultaneously, and a projection screen appeared in the command room.

Priam looked at the twelve screens, observing the representative chosen by each branch to coordinate its respective flying ship.

"At your command!" they all roared in unison.

Priam calmly nodded. Now, all they could do was wait.

...

...

...

One day later.

*BUZZ!*

"The attack has begun!" Dandara exclaimed as she received the updated information through the inscription.

Without wasting a single second, she configured the coordinates. All the flying ships shot forward at maximum speed in formation.

Shortly after they departed, Dandara turned toward Priam with a visibly tense expression.

"The Sorcerers suddenly invaded Violet Ocean Planet... From where we are, it’ll take us eleven hours to get there..."

Priam nodded, immediately relaying the message to all the soldiers.

An hour passed before new messages began arriving, detailing the critical situation at the location.

"The Sorcerers are incredibly bloodthirsty... they’re massacring innocent civilians as if this were some kind of trial..." Dandara reported, a cold, bloodthirsty glint shining in her eyes.

Priam nodded gravely. "Take command of the troops. As soon as we arrive, we won’t have any time to adapt. Every moment we delay, countless ordinary people will die."

She nodded firmly.

The enemies had taken the initiative, but it was impossible to know whether it was mere coincidence or if they knew exactly where the fleet was stationed. After all, the location they had chosen to attack was precisely the point farthest away from them.

"Those bastard Sorcerers, what the hell are they thinking?! Why are they so heartless?! Don’t they care about other people’s lives at all?!"

Roars of indignation echoed among the soldiers preparing throughout all the branches. Many couldn’t contain their hatred and voiced similar outrage.

It was something incomprehensible to them. After all, even the Sorcerers needed a father and a mother to raise them. How could they become creatures so completely devoid of any moral limits?

Priam, who was watching all the commotion, turned toward Dandara, who nodded in response.

The Communication Inscription remained active across all the ships, so Priam’s words echoed through the ears of everyone aboard the flying warships.

"You simply won’t understand what goes through their heads. After all, the Sorcerers have their own beliefs and convictions. And their belief is very simple: natural selection."

He spoke slowly, remembering his time on Earth. Even in that place devoid of magic, where only ordinary humans ruled, there had been similar atrocities.

Alienated people without any scruples seemed to be a recurring pattern among all forms of intelligent life, regardless of the world or race.

"They believe that a person must be strong, and that the weak exist only as stepping stones for the strong to climb higher. To them, the weak are nothing more than accessories, ornaments created exclusively to highlight the greatness of the powerful," Priam continued.

"Because of that, the thing they believe in most is strength. Strength is everything to them. As long as they possess strength, they feel free to indulge every one of their desires without restrictions, regardless of morality."

"How can people be so evil?" one of the Holy Mages exclaimed.

It was true that they had fought and killed one another during the previous mission, but that was completely different from what was happening now. This time, the Sorcerers had deliberately attacked an entire planet, inhabited by countless forms of life, and were brutally massacring everyone for no reason.

"That’s because you don’t understand how formidable and dangerous it is to have absolute conviction in a belief. Having conviction in a belief means that your entire mind and spirit are completely devoted to it... That’s extremely dangerous, because a person in that state will do absolutely anything that belief dictates, no matter how absurd or cruel it may seem. In short, they truly believe, from the bottom of their hearts, that their actions are the most correct ones possible," Priam sighed.

"As for the actions of the Mages and the sect — protecting and supporting one another —, to them, that’s something that goes completely against the natural laws they believe in. On top of that, they don’t feel the slightest bit of guilt. Killing people is something sacred to them, because it’s the means they use to grow stronger. They’re willing to commit any kind of atrocity to obtain more power. That’s why they don’t fear death; if they die in the process, they believe it happened simply because they were weak, making room for someone stronger to rise."

Priam’s words sent a shiver down the spines of all the disciples from every branch.

Everyone there had already heard that the Sorcerers were savage and cruel creatures, but now they finally understood the real reason behind it.

Belief.

They simply didn’t believe in themselves, nor in what they were capable of seeing and feeling.

They had brains to reason, eyes to see, and a soul to feel. But... they preferred to blindly believe in the sick dogma that had been implanted in their minds.

Conveniently, they believed that possessing brute strength outweighed everything else in the universe. Anything went in the name of power...

That wasn’t all that different from certain kinds of insanity on Earth. The Wube family that James was a part of was a good example. Because he knew about this, Priam spoke with absolute authority and confidence.

"They really are a bunch of lunatics," one of the disciples from the second faction of the 11th Branch muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

Priam sighed, issuing a solemn and stern warning to those who would fight alongside him:

"And that’s exactly why you cannot, under any circumstances, show the slightest bit of mercy toward them once the battle begins. Don’t try to talk to them, don’t expect common sense, and don’t argue about anything whatsoever. Just cut off their heads." Priam’s tone was cold and categorical.

"Wasting time is foolishness that will cost you dearly. Not only will you end up getting yourselves killed, but you’ll also drag the comrades right behind you into the same grave."

In particular, Priam’s gaze lingered on the leader of that second faction. Her name was Ficles — a tall woman with a robust build and a long reddish ponytail. She carried an excessively proud aura.

That leader wasn’t impressive in terms of raw power. The other members of her faction were equally mediocre and, to make matters worse, their teamwork was simply pathetic.

If they hesitated or held back for even a single second in the heat of battle, they would truly be doomed. And once the main disciples fell, the morale of those in the rear would plummet straight into the abyss.

That would place a disproportionate and dangerous burden on the shoulders of Priam’s own faction.

"Don’t worry, I definitely won’t show any mercy," Ficles declared, taking a deep breath and nodding firmly.

Priam continued, raising his voice so that all the soldiers aboard the ships could hear him even more clearly:

"This time, we’ll be facing a true bloody massacre. The sole purpose of every one of your attacks must be to kill the opponent. This is completely different from any training session or normal duel. If you don’t immediately change your fighting habits, the next corpses will be you."

Priam said this because more than half of the soldiers from all the branches had either never gone on that mission or weren’t considered truly strong people. All the disciples had been sent into battle, becoming Priam’s soldiers. He had to deal with all kinds of people, and he preferred to keep them alive.

"To ensure that as many disciples as possible make it out of this war alive, blindly trust the orders you receive and give it your absolute best. Use all your strength to eliminate your opponents as quickly and perfectly as possible. Was I clear?"

"Understood! We’ll do it at all costs!" the soldiers from all the branches responded readily in a unified roar.

Priam nodded gravely. "On the battlefield, every disciple must carry at least three signal flares. Furthermore, you’re forbidden from keeping them inside your spatial rings — otherwise, you won’t have time to take them out at the critical moment."

"And when activating a flare, remember to always launch it at an inclined angle. If you see any flare rising straight up vertically, immediately assume that the Sorcerers have stolen the equipment and set up an ambush..."

Priam continued detailing a series of essential battlefield tactics and strategies, the result of previous conversations between him and Dandara.

Most of the disciples there were extremely inexperienced in battles of this kind. They lived in the southern region of the Divine Plane and had fought countless times just to survive, whether against Corrupted Beasts or Sorcerers.

But a large-scale war like this was an entirely new world. Orders had to be followed to the letter, and nobody could improvise.

It was crucial to prepare them. If even one of those pieces of advice was enough to save the life of a single disciple, then that entire long speech would already have been worth it.

...

...

...

Eleven hours passed.

Finally, a planet immersed in a violet ocean appeared before the fleet.

The ships advanced like meteors cutting through the atmosphere, heading directly toward the largest continent located at the center of the globe.

Within minutes, they reached a colossal metropolis engulfed in uncontrolled flames.

As they flew over the region, everyone aboard let out a cold gasp. Faced with the spectacle of horrors unfolding below, with corpse after corpse scattered across the streets, everyone’s blood boiled, and an overwhelming thirst for slaughter emerged.

"Those damn bastards!"

Insults were growled through clenched teeth. A city that had once housed millions of inhabitants had now been turned into an open-air cemetery, populated solely by lifeless bodies. There were white-haired elders and babies only a few months old. None of them had been spared.

"Advance!"