The Holy Empire

– Eastern Region, Senadate Theocracy, Zeticon City, Zannizir Island, House of the Supreme Council, 2 Days After the Battle –

The Senadate Theocracy 

It was a large Religious Country, a Holy Empire located in the Eastern Region, with the population over 527 million of humans, it was one of the continent's superpowers that sported a very large continental military. With more than ten major cities, fifty more cities and thousands of towns and villages under its territory, it occupies 73% of the entire Eastern Region which makes it the most largest country in the continent. The Eastern Region was equivalent to the size nearly as North and South America combined.

Before the second great war, the Senadate Theocracy was just like other small Theocracies, but after the war that destroys countless countries, the Senadate Theocracy was the only holy nation survived and then rebuild its nation including occupying the other dead countries making more lands for them during the early days in the Era of Rebuilding.

For the past 1000 years, the Senadate Theocracy has now a massive nation military numbers and powers than the two other superpowers, possessing over 5,000 Rank 10 warriors and mages and more than 1000 Warships that each even the weakest of them could wiped out armies, making the Theocracy at the top first most powerful nation on Fordalt.

In the city of Zeticon, one of the largest cities on Fordalt with the population over 13 million. Inside a large castle that towering the rest of the buildings is where the Supreme Council of the Senadate Theocracy takes place.

Navigating through the brightly lit hallways, a woman in a priestess uniform whose entire body other than her face was covered by a silver veil and silver robes alongside her uniform. Her beauty is otherworldly, like an angel came down from the heavens, but despite her age being more than a hundred, she looked younger than her 30s.

It is Aurora

[IMAGES]

Right now, she was walking down the glistering halls of the House of the Council. The woman named Aurora was late for a meeting, an important meeting that would dictate the role of the Council for the days to come.

Four people in white robes that cover their entire body followed closely behind her, their steps perfectly synchronized with each other. 

As Aurora soon found herself standing before a set of steel and wooden doors filled with magical runes engraved in it.

At the moment, the large doors automatically opened and she entered, being immediately greeted by reverential bows from her subjects.

She bid the four robed figures that were with her farewell as she closed the large doors behind her before she scanned the room and its occupants.

The room was very large in size and grand in stature. Seven silhouette figures unknown were already sitting in the round table, including her long old friend the Pope, or the Pontifex Maximus himself, who was the highest-ranked member of the Theocracy.

[IMAGES]

"Sorry I have been late once again, Pope." She bowed apologetically.

"No worries, old friend. Get in here, the meeting was about to start." The hundreds of years old demigod motioned his hand to move her forward and she did.

She sat down on the chair, in front of her were the other figures.

They were the Supreme Council, they were the highest appointment holders of the seven sects that were devoted to the Seven Dead Gods. Incidentally, each of them was the potential candidate to be the next Pope.

In addition, there were also the Heads of the Judicial Branch, the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch of the Theocracy's government. There was the Head of the research institute which handled magical research. In addition, there was the Grand Marshal, the highest appointment-holder in the military.

There 12 people comprised the highest executive authority of the Senadate Theocracy.

The room has been quite clean before Aurora entered it. Now, it seemed to glow.

"Today, we give thanks to the great gods who sacrifice themselves to let human beings like us continue to live."

After the Pope said those words, everyone said the same thank you messages.

"Thus do we offer our thanks."

After offering their thanks, they raised their deeply bowed heads and took their seats at the round table.

This included Pope Blu of the Senadate Theocracy.

At this table, everyone was equal. There were no superiors or interiors here. Everyone was a collaborator and a comrade. Indeed, all this was for the glory of mankind.

"Then, let us begin the meeting."

The organizer of this meeting was the 1st seat of the Council, Blu Deploy Maximo.

"Our first topic is the situation at the Southern Fortress city, City of Kalren, at the Holy Kingdom of Goldrose, 2 days ago."

There was nothing that could possibly be any more important than the sudden advent of this mysterious monster wave anomaly.

For starters, they knew that the monsters that attacked the city were over two million in numbers, 200 A-Rank monsters among the monster wave, and controlled by the very same organization that gave chaos to Fordalt for the past hundreds of years, and so on.

The Pope, who commanded the entire Seven Scriptures, reported these details in his capacity as the meeting's organizer.

Just then, someone spoke out.

"I knew these bastards would be involved in this, we should've intervened and taken prisoners to this Criminal Sect, in order to gain more information!" One of the Councilmen named Azazel Von Snow shouted with a scowl.

"What are you saying? Open battle against two million monsters and magical beasts alongside 200 A-ranks is extremely dangerous that even a Demigod doesn't want to risk that." One of the Councilwoman stated.

The whole group nodded one after the other.

After a small time of silence, Pope Blu is the first one to break it.

"One of the spies was observing the battle between the defenders and the beasts. However, there's been a slight problem, so the report was delayed. I begged for your forgiveness."

They stopped after the last piece of paper. They went to the same party over and over again. They had the same stiff expressions and their faces slowly grew pale.

Pope Blu smiled to see the changes in their expressions. He had been through the same thing that was happening to them now, and he was glad because misery loves company.

And then, as though to represent everyone else, a Councilman named Valak shouted. His mouth opened so wide that his glasses fell off, but he did not seem to care about that.

"Impossible! This is some kind of joke, is it?"

"I told you earlier, didn't I? This is just a description of what they claimed to have observe."

Councilman Valak shut up in the face of Pope's cold response.

He was panting like he had just been sprinting. As Councilman Valak struggled to get his breathing back under control, a Councilwoman named Niña Jasna Delacroix decided to ask another question, to see if some shared her opinions.

"Can you say that again? Is this actually real?"

"If everyone here still believes the word of the Theocracy's most expert spies of mine, then it is."

With a pained look on their faces, they all looked back to the papers they were holding.

They had all stopped at the same place, which is only just two words they only focus on. 

'The Blight. Is there any creature that seems similar to the Blight? If it is then it won't matter if it's all of the Kingdoms, the Empire, the Republic, or the bloody Coalition, we will all be destroyed!"

"As would we. If these things reproduce and swarm us all, we will repeat like what our ancestors did in the Era of Rebuilding, or it's not gonna happen once the entire race of Fordalt will all be eradicated from the face of the world." Aurora said as she drank a cup of water.

Councilman Azazel Von Snow sighed in frustration, "I swear those bastards, they have caused chaos throughout the continent for hundreds of years, now they are weaponizing the creatures we desperately try to kill. What's next? Open some sort of wormhole letting some army of humanoid demons with metal skin kill most of the residents of the world?"

Hearing his complaint, Aurora just choked.

"Is there something wrong, Aurora?" Pope Blue asked her.

"Cough! Cough! Nothing, Pope. The water just choked me."

"Ah, I see. Been there before. But still, weaponizing the Blight is only a madman will ever do this."

The Blight, a chaos race that had ravaged countless worlds throughout their existence and even feared the Great Elder Gods in the Higher World.

They are also known as the Chaos Race, terrifying manaless beings that devoured everything in their path. In fact, they are the main reason why they had caused the Second Great War in the first place a thousand years ago.

In just one day, they ate a city. In one week, multiple countries were already devastated, and in one month, an entire continent had been destroyed.

They devoured mana and swallowed souls, far greater than could even shame the infamous Soul Eaters. Magic was almost useless against them, not even powerful S-rank Items and Super Tier Magic is enough to kill them and do shit but only do nothing but empower them significantly.

Even a Blight the size of an Ant, if it was on the loose, is still on a level that could destroy a large city or a small country single-handedly.

In the war, Humans, Beastmens, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Fairies, Dark Elves, Dragonlords, Demihumans, and many other races went on a coalition, sending their most strongest combatants filled with their most powerful Magic items and Artifacts and their most powerful armies to face the monsters. 

The number of deaths could be counted in billions, and the countries destroyed surpassed a hundred.

Even though they sent out that amount, two-thirds of the world powerhouses still perished in battle. They sacrificed their lives to stop the Blight from advancing.

No choice, the 15 Rulers or the Gods of Fordalt, alongside with the Nine Monarchs, mortals that ascended to the Apotheosis level, with tremendous strength and power rivaling or surpassing the Gods formed a bond and even worked together to bring an end to the cursed plague.

But at the end, Ten Gods and almost all of the Monarchs fell on the day that years later would be known as Godsfall.

But before they had fallen into the Eternal Void, each one of them used a very powerful magic spell in the continents affected by the Blight, burning their molecules in the process and finally erasing every trace of the Blight completely.

But the powerful magic used destroyed the land completely. The mana in 80% of the world turned chaotic, making the climate harsh and killing the creatures unable to adapt.

Fearing the Blight's resurgence, the remaining gods, some of them were Genesis, the Sun God, and Alesia, the Blue Goddess themselves, created an invisible magical barrier around the continents to block access to that part of the world.

The Forgotten Lands.

A place forgotten both by the gods and everyone, where only cursed creatures lived.

With the year war ended aside, for the damages from the war, it is incredibly high. Thousands of knowledge and efforts made by the famous scholars and mages created over the past tens of thousands of years were erased, forgotten. Even they forgot the very name of their world.

After the war, it was called the Forgotten Era but it was short for the remaining leaders and they decided to rebuild their once powerful nation back where it was.

Well, the rest is history, but the public, even almost everyone in Fordalt has no knowledge about the details of the war except for the Churches and a few Demigods.

But now, for a thousand years has passed, some fools like the unknown organization, the ones that pissed every single government in Fordalt, tries to utilize them as weapons.

How unacceptable!

"Okay, are they mistaken? Maybe these criminal sects notice their surveillance and use illusions to confuse us." Councilman Von Snow put that possibility forward as he stretched out his arms.

"Hmmm....." The surrounding people placed their fingers underneath their chin and were thinking it might be a possibility, but Aurora shattered that possibility.

"People, there is no way any of them could mistake it, do you all realize that they also have Magic Items to make them completely immune to advanced and high-level illusion magic. In addition, there have been verified sightings of a black tentacle creature running around during the battle of Kalren City.

That was answered by several defeated sighs.

All they could do was acknowledge the point in voices full of fatigue, and then they continued discussing the matter.

"What should we do? What is the best course of action for ourselves, as the protectors of mankind? What can we do about a large Criminal Organization that could rival a Superpower is weaponizing these monsters, one of which can destroy a country, even a world on its own. We don't really know how many they have contained."

"This is getting insane. Pope Blu, is there any chance to contact the Goddess?" Councilman Valak asked the Proximus Maximus himself.

Pope Blu shook his head, "The Goddess never contacted me for 30 years, so unfortunately no."

"Damn it! If we don't make a move now, they will probably send out an army of them and we will be over!"

"Councilman Valak, there is no time for mourning! What matters right now is what we can do about it."

It was a valid opinion, and the direction of the meeting began to turn. 

"Then... Can our best Scriptures deal with it? Like sending them into a secret mission to hunt down these organizations."

1000 years ago. Most Kings, Queens, and Demigods had left their treasures behind in this world during the Second Great War, most of their ancestors found most of those treasures except for the most powerful individuals like the Summoning Hero and one of the Nine Monarchs, Monty Oum which none of them found. 

The point is, each member of the higher scriptures possessed multiple artifacts and powerful magical gears, like the Sword of Gahinna, which was now owned by the Leader of the Papal Scripture, Gord.

However, there is a possibility that they will fail and that this Organization, who had ruled the entire Underworld that rivals the Three Superpowers combined might get the hands of the best Magic Items of the Theocracy, which the Councils will not be happy about.

All eyes went to the Pope.

He chuckled. Some people smiled in response to his laughter, but those smiles froze on their faces as they heard what he said next.

"Even though we are the 1st ranking as the most powerful nation in the Continent, it is still impossible to find any of their bases which is the main problem, not even our advanced magic could do it. From my experience for the past hundreds of years of my life, this organization has so far, has the most advanced magic compared to us and has the most advanced technology as the Meccans to hide themselves greatly, not even the most powerful Saint Demigods in Fordalt able to find them that easily. However....."

The smile suddenly changed it to a frown.

"Unless the Theocracy needs to find them with the help of a similar organization like them, like the Midnight Order."

Silence...

"Well, I guess that's okay."

"Sign, fine, we don't have a choice anyway."

"Yeah. Even though they have many members full of Demihumans I heard, I'm racist but I guess I have no choice but to agree."

"I agree as well."

"Fine, it might be the best. I even heard their organization has vass resources than even ours."

"I guess we have a choice."

Amidst this jubilation, only Aurora didn't look happy. Sensing the weight of fatigue around her, everyone quietened down.

"You're not telling us everything, are you?" Aurora spoke in a serious tone.

"What are you getting at, Councilwoman Aurora?" 

"Isn't it obvious? You all knew about my passive ability to see through secrets, lies are useless against me, nobody can hide their secrets, not even using a spell or skill. The law does not prohibit false testimony and obscuring the truth in this place, but we are colleagues serving under the same flag and lying is a grave offense. If you agree with this, let me ask you one more time. Pope Blu."

She leaned forward, facing the old man who she considered as a friend she knew for centuries.

"What are you hiding?"

"Hm, She's right. According to the reports, there are more than two million monsters and beasts and 200 A-ranks. There are only 20,000 defenders, five Legendary Realm experts and one Demigod. In the end there were only 300,000 casualties which doesn't make sense. In my math, the casualties and the collateral damages will be even far more while Samara is still occupied facing the enemy demigod. This report isn't complete, is it?"

Everyone then looked at the Pope once again, with questionable looks.

"What are you trying to achieve by hiding that point? We all trust you. I know you're not the sort of man who would use the Scriptures for his own gain. But why are you not revealing this?"

Silence for a moment, the Pope looked back at Aurora and began to round of applause.

"Well done. As expected of you, Aurora. I simply wanted to explore the possibilities... then, I say it. Agonizing over this problem alone would simply give me an ulcer, so I'd be glad to share it with all of you here." 

Pope Blu looked at his seated audience.

"How much do you guys know about the lost treasures of the Monarch of the Sword Absolute, the Warrior of the East?"

The person who answered his question is Councilwoman Niña.

"According to the old text, the Monarch of the Sword Absolute, who goes by the name of a SSS-rank Demigod known as Monty Oum, has treasures over 500 of magical Items, scrolls, and manuals. 30 law and reality manipulation S-rank Items. And finally 2000 skills, spells, and abilities, which the Great Demigod Monty Oum, one of the Nine Monarchs left there after the Second Great War."

"Your point, Pope?"

"Someone possessed a few of them."

"....."

"""WHAT?!?!!"""

"You're joking!"

"I rarely joke."

"He's not lying, my ability confirms it." Aurora said.

"Correct, according to the reports they gave me, they also spotted someone who wore the [Armor of Zeldarein], the first armor of the Monarch of the True Dragons, Zeldarein Targaryen himself. Including the power of the Shadow Monarch."

"So that means he or she found the Great Oum's tomb, after our ancestors found it hard to find it for decades?"

"Yup..... ok, in any case, moving on to the next topic."

"There's more?"

"That's right, there was more to their report about a peculiar group in the battle."

"I don't understand, how is this important to this matter?"

"Patience my friend. I've read the report and if what they were saying about them is true, then we may just be able to obtain potential allies.....

...So this brings us to what I wanted to propose. I suggest we bring this group over to the Senadate Theocracy, for all we know, they may be even capable of entering one of our Seven Scriptures."

"Hmmmm, and who are these groups exactly?"

"We tried to look into it, but none of them seems to have any record of them whatsoever, it's like they just appeared in our world from out of nowhere. Fortunately, one of our scouts found a very strange place not far from Kalren, a place with very strange structures on a small island surrounded by a huge lake. I have a theory that it might connect to these people. Also for your question, Councilman Benedict, from the information I receive from my Spy Network, there are these rumors about a certain group beside Samara had the highest kills more than anyone in the city even they are just a mere Rank 4, which means they are very capable, even killing more than 50 A-rank magical beasts, from what they heard about the rumors, they call themselves as the Minority Squad, or.....

The Banana Bus Squad.

Volume 1 Ended

———————————————————————

Author: Hoooooie! It took me more than five months to make this whole Volume. I hope you all enjoy this. The next arc will probably be more exciting and more gag and shit for our retarded heroes! Now for the credits in the next chapter!