Throne of the North.

Chapter 605 The Battle to the Heavens (Part 4)

In the darkness, mad, delirious believers were everywhere, wielding weapons and hacking at everyone around them. The darkness provided perfect cover, so those who were killed had no idea who had killed them; they only wondered how the army of the Empire of Fear had suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Offer your soul for our Lord!"

The believers roared, and in the darkness of the battlefield, everyone fought their own battles. When the empire's extraordinary cavalry charged in, the burning earth took away all life.

"Too weak, offered no resistance whatsoever."

Earl Clayton frowned as he looked around, then looked up at the dragon. The Flame Dragon Christman had received the order, and in the next instant, a beam of fire swept across the battlefield, turning enemies thousands of meters away into charred corpses under the flames.

"Rush over!"

"Seize their archbishop!"

At a command, tens of thousands of extraordinary knights thundered forward, flames burning beneath their feet, forming a brilliant path that deterred countless people in the darkness from approaching this sole source of light in the night.

……

As the horizon turned white, the smoke of the battlefield subsided, but among the countless corpses, Earl Clayton did not find the Archbishop of the Dawn Church.

By the latter half of the night, the war had completely degenerated into a massacre. The legendary dragons unleashed their magic without restraint, while the Dawn Church never displayed any power to oppose the legends—they certainly did.

Looking at the corpses around him, Earl Clayton frowned. Soon after, a knight arrived to report.

“My lord, we searched the battlefield and found that many believers were killed by their own weapons.”

"Civil unrest?"

Lord Clayton asked, puzzled, and then inquired:
"Where is Archbishop Maddie? Where did they all go?"

"During the pursuit, our troops discovered that an army of about 60,000 religious men was retreating south, and we did not pursue them."

The knight responded with a straight posture, and behind him a procession slowly approached, escorting dozens of clergy from the Papacy.

"Heretical! Archbishop Maddie has become a heretic; he worships a different god!"

"Damn it, let me go! I'm going to tell the Holy Mountain about this! That Archbishop Maddie, who deserves to go to hell to atone for his sins, betrayed my Lord's faith!"

A priest roared angrily, and the Flame Dragon Knight behind him immediately fell silent after kicking him, but the anger and killing intent in his eyes were still intense.

"These are prisoners of war, who were originally to be sent to the Electors' camp, but they seem to know something."

The knight explained, and Earl Clayton, looking at the clergy who had come before him, asked:
"You're saying that Archbishop Maddie has become a heretic? That he worships a different god?"

The priest, seeing the count, relaxed considerably and, suppressing his anger, said:
“That’s right, his faith no longer belongs to my Lord. He has become a slave to the demons of the abyss. He is an enemy of the entire human world!”

“Lord Clayton, I beg you to release us. As priests of the Holy Mountain, we are entitled to see the Cardinal. Cardinal Maddie and the Cardinals behind him must pay the price!”

"Heretics must be burned at the stake."

Everyone around was astonished that the archbishop of the Dawn Church would be a follower of an evil god. It seemed utterly absurd, to the point that they doubted whether the priest in front of them was telling the truth.

But considering the strange events on the battlefield last night, no one could refute the priest's words. In other words, the archbishop had indeed become a follower of the evil god, and in order to show his loyalty to his master, he framed the hundreds of thousands of believers in the Snowy Valley and caused their deaths.

The demons of the abyss do indeed relish such betrayal, depravity, and despair in the face of death.

Lord Clayton looked at the indignant clergy who wished they could rush back and kill Archbishop Maddie, and after a moment's thought, gave an order to the knights around him.

"Kill them all, leave no one alive. Do not send any prisoners from this battlefield to the Electors' camp."

At the Earl's command, the clergy opened their eyes wide in shock, looking at Earl Clayton in horror, followed by extreme panic and struggle.

"Heretics! You are all heretics!"

"The sacred fire will burn your souls, reduce your hearts to ashes! You damned heretics, you are all..."

Before he could finish speaking, the knight's longsword fell, severing their heads. The bodies of these clergymen also needed to be burned, otherwise a plague would greatly affect the empire's army.

"Heretical! It's unbelievable that a papal archbishop would become a follower of an evil god."

Even Earl Clayton couldn't help but lament whether the Dawn Church had changed its ways or whether the power of the Lord of Dawn had dimmed.

He didn't want to expose this matter. Archbishop Maddie's existence was a huge help to the Empire, and for Earl Clayton, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

Perhaps there really is a chance to kill the Pope?

Earl Clayton narrowed his eyes, his deep gaze seemingly covering the entire southern land. To be honest, he really wanted to become the fifth Grand Duke by killing the Pope, although this seemed to be more difficult than the transformation of the Extraordinary Legion into a divine kingdom.

Grand Duke Freming knew his son-in-law well, after all, he had personally promoted him over the years.

“Evil God… If many clergy on the Holy Mountain serve the alien gods of the Abyss, then perhaps the war of the Holy Mountain’s southward migration can truly be replicated.”

Before the arrival of the North, the Holy Mountain of the Dawn Church was not in the south, but in the central plains, the heart of the world.

The relocation of the holy mountain to the south was bound to cause conflicts and wars, and more than one or two popes died in the process.

That was also the only time a pope died due to intervention from forces outside the Papacy.

Earl Clayton pondered the feasibility of replicating this, while the Kingdom of Nantes behind the Snowy Canyon, along with dozens of noble territories, were as anxious as ants on a hot plate.

The Papacy's army in the Snow Valley was defeated, and the Imperial army advanced unimpeded. None of them had a strong enough defense to resist the Imperial army.

Throughout human civilization, all border fortresses and war lines were built in the north to defend against foreign tribes. The most fortified places in the south were the castles where nobles lived.

They were no match for the Empire on the battlefield, so how could they possibly win on their own doorstep? This was a world of extraordinary beings; those extraordinary legions wouldn't diminish their fighting strength just because they were unfamiliar with the terrain. Facing enemies who didn't belong to the Empire, the extraordinary knights would only become more brutal. It was said that in the noble territories occupied by the Empire, not a single noble lord had survived, and not only that, but all their bloodlines, their heirs who could inherit the titles, had disappeared.

No noble in the Empire admitted to killing a noble, so those nobles who disappeared could only be described as missing.

Fear of death is a basic human instinct, and the fear of death among nobles is even greater than that among slaves and commoners.

For a time, all the nobles were in a state of panic. Most of them even began packing their belongings, preparing to flee to a more distant place and return after the war was over.

These nobles acted swiftly, but Earl Clayton still did not want to give them the chance. The military camp in Snowy Canyon was transformed into an imperial camp. After only one day of rest, the Flame Dragon Knights were to continue their southward offensive, striving to annihilate those noble territories as quickly as possible and turn them into Earl Clayton's land.

However, just as the extraordinary legion was about to set off, the Chosen Ones' military orders arrived from behind.

"The Elector Freud ordered us to stop, saying that our actions had left the army isolated and deep in enemy territory, and that the armies of the great nobles in other directions had not yet advanced to the same level as us."

Earl Clayton was helpless. He knew why: the nobles of the empire didn't want him to eat alone, and he couldn't ignore the empire's orders.

It's an old tradition among nobles that if someone has food, everyone wants a piece of the pie. Earl Clayton profited immensely from this kind of nobility, so now he is inevitably bound by this rule.

"Set up camp and wait for the imperial army."

……

The elector camp.

Command of all the Empire's armies is here. In just a few months, Elector Freud has become a qualified war commander. Although he cannot oversee every aspect of the millions of people plundering and killing on this land, the Elector's vision has never been wrong in the overall direction. Under his command, the Empire's army is indeed advancing in full force, and more than a hundred noble territories have been occupied.

“Your Highness, you should accept the surrender and allegiance of a group of nobles, which will increase your prestige among the nobles.”

Brutus Rodrigo offered his suggestion, to which Freud responded with a cold laugh.

“I want to too, but look at these lords of the empire, not one of them spared the noble lords on the land. They secretly killed them all, and even killed all the sons who would inherit the land, leaving only the women.”

"Are you asking me to accept the allegiance of those noblewomen?"

"As expected, those women will soon become pregnant on the battlefield, and the children born will inherit the titles of the men's lands."

“They will not be loyal to me, but only to their father.”

"I also want the loyalty of the nobles, but only if they survive."

Freud sneered. He was utterly disgusted by the nobles' methods of eliminating their heirs, and what angered him even more was that he had been firmly pinned down in this war and had gained nothing from it.

The empire's most powerful army was all around him, while on the opposite side, the six extraordinary legions of the Dawn Church had also assembled, forming an army of over 800,000 believers that firmly blocked his advance into the land of the Kingdom of Lausanne.

The only thing that put his mind at ease was the existence of the Sun Corona Legion. Even the six extraordinary legions of the Dawn Church could not suppress that legion that could eclipse the sun and moon upon its appearance. Under the Sun Corona, the flowers of paradise of the empire bloomed.

"Tell me, should we also send an army to the south? Earl Clayton has already broken through the Papacy's defenses and is facing the Kingdom of Nantes, which is the center of the southern lands. Once we occupy the Kingdom of Nantes, the Empire's army can reach all directions from the kingdom's lands, and even go straight to the Holy Mountain, which is only three days' journey from the Kingdom of Lausanne and the Holy Mountain."

Freud's eyes sparkled with excitement. He was a fanatical believer in war, believing that war could resolve one hundred percent of the world's conflicts. If the Empire's army could besiege the Holy Mountain, then this war between the Empire and the Papacy would be a victory for him, Freud.

The throne of the empire can only belong to him; Volvo simply cannot compete with him.

Thinking of this, Freud seemed to remember something and said:

"Have Volvo send men to take the prisoners and warn him that these prisoners must never appear on the battlefield again, or I will kick him out of that damned palace when I return to the capital."

This matter was being handled by Brutus, the heir to the throne. Freud wanted someone else to take care of it, but Brutus refused. As the grand ducal family that supported Freud, they were determined to ensure that nothing went wrong on Freud's path to increasing his prestige and power.

Elector Volvo is a prince skilled in power struggles, while Freud is impulsive and belligerent, so the Grand Duke Rodrigo's family must be on high alert against another elector.

The electors are in competition with each other, but they also have a cooperative relationship. Recently, His Highness Volvo has been using the so-called Northern Warriors Guild to increase his influence over the war-torn southern lands, and even to win over many nobles who have been exterminated and slaughtered.

Floyd could only think that Volvo wanted to make money off the guild, but Rodrigo saw much more.

The establishment of the Mage's Guild made Prince Volvo feel threatened. The Northern Warriors Guild was no longer just a tool for making money; he wanted to use it to fight against Grand Duke Rodrigo and Prince Freud behind the Mage's Guild.

This has already involved a political struggle. To be honest, Brutus did not want to cooperate with His Highness Volvo in this way, after all, the other party also had the help of Grand Duke Meyers. The Northern Heroes Guild had almost become the only lifeline for those displaced people in the southern war-torn lands.

His Highness Freud's influence was expanding rapidly during the war, but so was His Highness Volvo's prestige.

"Perhaps it's time to create some trouble for that prince."

Brutus thought of the Northern Heroes Guild, and naturally thought of the Northern Baron. He had heard that there was an unknown conflict between Meyers and the Northern Baron.
The Baron is too far away, but his father is on the battlefield in the south. Earl Clayton aspires to become the fifth Grand Duke, and in order to elevate his extraordinary legion during the war, there is one thing he will inevitably need.

Sacrifice.

“Your Highness, let’s move the battlefield to the Kingdom of Nantes. It is the heart of the southern lands. If we conquer the Kingdom of Nantes, we will not only gain the support of half of the noble families of the original thirteen knights, but we can also divide the faith of the Dawn Church in the east and west, cutting off the Dawn’s rule over the southern lands with the Kingdom of Nantes as the center.”

Freud nodded; he thought so too. The ultimate goal of this war was to overthrow the Kingdom of Nantes, at which point the power between the Papacy and the Empire would be completely equal.

But how can we do that?
"I also want to see the Sun Corona Legion continue its attacks, and I will personally go to the battlefield."

Freud often led from the front, which was one of the reasons why the nobles admired this elector.

"No, Your Highness, your participation in the war cannot change anything. The Sun Corona Legion is entangled with the Holy See. Only the Elemental Legion can break the deadlock."

Brutus said confidently that although the Sunfire Legion was powerful, they also faced the most terrifying enemy.

"This world is formed by countless elements, and the power of the elemental legions is to release the world's origin—the truth."

(End of this chapter)