Chapter 41: The Divine Gaze upon Everyone

Amidst utter shock, chaos erupted.

The Truth Church didn't care why the Black Spear Knights appeared there, it wasn't a bad thing anyway. The Bishop reacted immediately and ordered the Eye of Truth and Raven Knights to launch a fierce assault.

Caught between attacks from both sides, Queen Layah also became harried, and her army fell into disarray.

Fortunately, due to their numerical advantage and the solid quality of the Imperial soldiers, they barely avoided an immediate collapse.

But it was just barely—there might be a gap in the defenses the next second.

Layah had no choice but to lead her army in a breakout retreat.

The dense mass of the Empire's army retreated, and Kaimer did not dare to stop them, symbolically intercepting them for a while before letting Queen Layah and her troops go.

Instead, the Eye of Truth and Raven Knights chased after them for a distance.

To everyone's surprise, the Truth Church unexpectedly won this battle, and with significant gains.

The Southern Empire's large army, which had come with overwhelming force, returned home in disgrace.

This greatly infuriated Queen Layah. When she returned to the capital, she knew it would be difficult to deal with the Truth Church again. The losses from this battle were considerable, and due to their victory, the Truth Church would undoubtedly accumulate great prestige. Many dissidents unhappy with Imperial rule would likely join their ranks.

It was truly a headache.

What made Queen Layah even more angry was that her dear brother failed to stop Duke Andrew.

Duke Andrew had simply used a minor ploy, pretending his command had made an error, which excited Prince Char to recklessly charge forward and be caught off guard by Duke Andrew's pounding.

In other words, the southern part of the Empire was now facing Duke Andrew's massive army pressure while the eastern part faced the escalating revolt of the Truth Church.

Internal and external worries, combined.

Queen Layah returned to the palace, took out a wine cup, poured herself a glass of red wine, and took a light drink, forcing herself to calm down.

At this time, she showed the calmness a leader should have.

Things that can't be solved on the battlefield can be solved by means outside the battlefield.

"Contact the Pope of the Holy See for me." Queen Layah's voice was very penetrating, and her voice passed through the heavy doors. The attendant standing outside the door immediately ran to convey the queen's order.

No one knew what agreement Queen Layah finally reached with the Pope of the Holy See, only that on that day, all seven knights in various countries of the Holy See rushed to the southern empire.

Yes, Queen Layah planned to introduce the power of the Holy See to deal with religion with religion.

"You fight yourself. Whoever wins is the orthodox religion, and whoever loses is the heresy."

She herself reorganized her troops, assembling roughly 800 soldiers, and directly marched towards the western confrontation with Duke Andrew.

The Truth Church was still unaware that their nemesis had already set out to confront them. They were still celebrating their victory in battle.

However, no one cheered for Captain Kaimer of the Black Spear Knights. Everyone consciously ignored his presence, leaving him alone in a corner drinking alone.

In fact, he knew the reason why he wasn't being praised. It was because he had abandoned his post, leaving his position without receiving any orders.

But at that time, there was no time to wait for orders. He relied on his outstanding military talent to anticipate the Empire's attack, and a forced march was his only choice.

Otherwise, everyone in the entire banquet hall would now be facing the guillotine.

But that didn't matter anymore. Kaimer was clearly accustomed to this kind of isolation; he was used to it.

From a young age, he was different from others. His body was weaker compared to children of the same age, but he was very intelligent. While other children were playing with mud, he proposed building a wall with mud to resist cavalry attacks, with archers installed on the wall to effectively strike the enemy. It was best to arrange infantry at intervals to protect the archers and clear enemies climbing the wall.

So, he didn't have many friends from a young age; he had always been treated as a weirdo.

Despite his loneliness, he gradually adapted to this feeling and displayed military talent. He stood out step by step from the troops, becoming a distinguished commander, and with the blessing of his noble bloodline, he became the leader of a knight order.

However, his long-standing inability to interact with people caused him to offend many nobles, especially his blunt and arrogant personality, which made people hate him even more.

So, he was constantly marginalized within the Empire, even openly humiliated.

Facing various slanders and insults, Kaimer chose to leave silently. He joined the Truth Church with his knight order, not because he fully agreed with the doctrines of the Truth Church, but because he felt that this force, which was also marginalized, might resonate with him to some extent.

However, he was wrong; it seemed that he was not welcome anywhere.

...The seven knightly orders of the Bright Church, aside from the Radiant Cross, which has always been stationed in the Southern Empire, gradually entered the empire, awaiting the next directive from the Pope.

Among them, the slowest was the Judgment Knights. The reason for their delay was their commander. For instance, as soon as they entered the Southern Empire, their commander halted the entire order, standing quietly at the forefront with his snow-white warhorse obediently beside him. He then gazed up at the sun in the sky for three to four consecutive hours.

His subordinates hesitated to disturb him in his devout demeanor, but time was pressing, and the Pope had already urged them several times.

"Commander, should we go...?" 

"Shh, haven't you heard the teachings of the Light God?" The commander of the Judgment Knights continued to bask in the sunlight, his face still enjoying the warmth.

Why could his eyes stare directly at the sun? A close observation would reveal that his eyes had no pupils, only a pure white. Yes, he was blind. However, the respect shown by his subordinates indicated that the commander of the Judgment Knights was no ordinary blind man.

He had a nickname, the Oracle Listener.

It was said that he had been able to hear the teachings of the Light God since birth. Therefore, he lost his sight, the price of becoming chosen by the god. If Alexander were here, he would surely disdainfully remark, "Have you gone mad? We sympathize with the disabled, but relying on that to spout religious nonsense is just tedious." However, the commander of the Judgment Knights, Phobos, would certainly insist that he truly heard those grandiose, divine, wise, and prescient voices.

What he heard, no one knew, but his subordinates listened as he softly recited a small passage.

"The God watches over all, as pervasive wickedness roars madly. Yet, the God still desires purification. The sun here is blood-red, the eye of the God. Even the earth is strewn with corpses. Judgment Day has not arrived, yet it has already begun..."