Throne of the North.

Chapter 609 The Battle to the Heavens (Part 8)

“Every nobleman in the southern lands harbors some ancient secrets.”

"Even nobles cannot withstand the test of natural disasters in the North. However, many times, nobles will not reveal their buried secrets until their death."

"This is why necromancers are so despised, not only because they desecrate corpses, but also because they can uncover the sordid secrets held by the dead."

On the march, Brutus Rodrigo thought of the words his grandfather father had said.

The Grand Duke Rodrigo's family, besides possessing the most numerous magicians among the imperial nobles, also controls the most formidable intelligence agency.

The Necromancers.

A mage corps that had never been exposed to the sunlight, raised by his grand duke father in another world.

"The Kingdom of Nantes amassed a great deal of wealth due to the discovery of the other-world plane. Although most of this wealth fell into the hands of the Papacy, the share held by the King was still immeasurable."

"However, no one knows where that wealth went. A group of people loyal to the king buried it in a place they themselves did not know."

"The only one who knows where the wealth is is the king himself."

"He died, but thankfully, he can come back to life."

The necromancer made the dead speak, and Brutus Rodrigo knew where the fortune was, but he wasn't interested in it.

In terms of wealth, how could these kings under papal rule compare to the grand dukes of the empire?
The wealth he acquired was only a small part of an alternate dimension, while the Grand Duke of the Empire monopolized many alternate dimensions.

"However, he revealed quite a few secrets. I wonder if the news of the Queen's reconciliation with the Pope will cause the army of believers to lose their faith?"

Brutus pondered the possibility that if the Grand Duke Rodrigo's family were to help Freud win the war against the Kingdom of Nantes, the Kingdom of Iron Eagle would also declare its betrayal.

The prestige of Elector Freud will reach its peak, making him the sole Elector.

The House of Grand Duke Rodrigo will thus become the first Grand Duke of the next era.

"It should be feasible, but we can't expose the existence of the necromancer, so we need to find another 'channel'."

As Brutus was thinking this, a knight suddenly ran up to the chariot and shouted:
"Your Highness, the army of the Kingdom of Nantes has been spotted ahead, led by Prince Duke of Nantes."

Brutus opened his eyes and said to Freud:

"Your Highness, let my army launch an attack."

Freud nodded, paying no attention to the army of the Kingdom of Nantes; he no longer considered them a threat.

……

Prince Duke had only been at the front lines for a day when the Imperial army launched its attack, which terrified the prince. Despite his imposing presence in front of the nobles, he trembled all over on the battlefield.

"Defend! Defend! You damned bastards, for the sake of the Kingdom of Nantes, swear to resist the Empire's attack to the death!"

The prince used his loudest voice to mask his fear, and then, together with all the soldiers, he saw the sky turn into a kaleidoscope of colors. Then, those vibrant colors became clearer and clearer in his eyes, transforming into terrifying knights charging toward him.

A blank stare was the only expression on Prince Duke's face. He imagined war as a charge where both sides would be arrayed in battle formation. Even if the kingdom's army couldn't match the empire's army in the end, it would give him enough time to retreat and naturally hand the war over to the Dawn Church.

But he never imagined that war would be so expressive. What were those knights who fell from the sky?
While Prince Duke was bewildered, the elemental legions began their massacre. In less than half an hour, Prince Duke was left without the protection of his army, and all the surviving kingdom soldiers fled in terror.

Prince Duke was brought before Brutus, who soon reported the matter to the Elector Freud.

"The Pope? And the Queen?"

The elector looked shocked, as if he had never heard of such a thing, and then burst into laughter.

"However, we can't bring down that Pope. Our extraordinary legions are invincible. I will crush the Papacy's army head-on. They have already lost two extraordinary legions and can never be our match."

Freud was too lazy to resort to such methods; he only needed to push his army through to reach the pinnacle of his prestige.

"The Dawn Church is already at its last gasp. We need to occupy the Kingdom of Nantes as quickly as possible and force the Iron Eagle Kingdom to fulfill its agreement."

Behind the Elector Freud were not many ordinary soldiers, but rather the extraordinary legions of nobles. This allowed them to march very quickly, and the troops behind them only needed to bring up the logistical supplies in an orderly manner.

After announcing the attack on the first day, the army arrived in front of the capital of the Kingdom of Nantes at noon on the second day.

Blocking their path were the remaining noble armies of the kingdom and the army of the Dawn Church. The two armies stretched out on the boundless plain, their formations seemingly endless. Above the royal city, Cardinal Arnold, his face grim, watched the imperial army.

He didn't know how to win; the Empire's armies had already defeated the Papacy's superhuman legions once.

"Damn it, am I really going to have to offer my soul here? What are those guys on the holy mountain doing? Why haven't they made a move yet?"

Cardinal Arnold summoned several extraordinary legion commanders and archbishops who commanded the armies, instructing them to stop the imperial army at all costs.

"In three days, our reinforcements will arrive from all directions. In ten days, an army of over a million believers will be able to surround these damned imperialists. In fifteen days, just fifteen days, we will achieve victory and cut off the head of that elector!"

"Glory to my Lord, victory will surely belong to the dawn."

"What if I can't?"

The one who spoke was a woman, a very beautiful woman. Her golden hair and snow-white eyes could not conceal the sacred and forbidden aura she possessed, and the knight's longsword in her hand, with wings encircling its hilt, also indicated her identity.

The angelic attendants of the Dawn Church are angels in reserve, but monsters are destined never to become true angels.

Arnold looked at the woman, Matilda Álvarez, a former noblewoman who had murdered her entire family in a heretical sacrifice.

Her family was performing a ritual to an evil god right under the noses of the Dawn, attempting to gain some kind of power. However, when they were about to succeed, this woman went on a killing spree, even imprisoning the impending Abyss God and sacrificing it to the great Lord of the Dawn.

The Lord himself crowned her, and so when the Holy Knights of the Dawn Church saw this woman, she was floating naked amidst a pool of blood and corpses, bathed in the holy light of dawn.

She became the legion commander of the angelic servants, forcefully ousting the angelic servants who should have been under Zechariah's control.

Many people feared her, just as many people feared that Kialdil. Thinking of this, Arnold Red looked at another legion commander, whose legion commander had less than three thousand Templar Knights left. He was more powerful than that woman, and he was still able to protect his three thousand Templar Knights in front of the Sunfire Legion.

However, in Arnold's view, the Templars were inferior to the Knights Templar, lowly and of inferior quality.

Looking into the legion commander's eyes, Arnold felt a little uneasy, but still said firmly:

“If not, then I will give my life and win the war as a god incarnate. We have no way out. If the Kingdom of Nantes is conquered by the Empire, then the Empire’s next target will be the Holy Mountain. Do we want to let the Empire’s army surround the Holy Mountain?”

Arnold looked at everyone, and those around him looked at him in surprise. At least this statement of his determination to die earned Arnold the recognition of these clergy members for his authority as commander-in-chief.

Although no one knew that he was also forced into this position by the Pope. "I am here, and whether I offer up the dawn is entirely up to you all."

Arnold spoke sincerely, then personally prayed for several extraordinary legions. It must be said that the divine magic inheritance of the cardinal was terrifying. Even a fearsome legend like the Legion Commander of Kialtil felt that his strength had been enhanced once again.

"I have already requested the arrival of the Judgment Guard from the Pope. They will help you fight against the Empire's Sunbeam Legion, but the rest of the Empire's Extraordinary Legion will be left to you."

Arnold was also uneasy; whether these legion commanders could resist the Empire would determine whether he would die.

He couldn't show his fear; instead, he had to be open and honest, revealing his expectations, so that these people would do their utmost. Otherwise, the despised cardinals... had died quite a few times over the past hundred years.

The Dawn Church has ten extraordinary legions. Among them, the Holy Kingdom Knights are the moral standard of the Church and the face of Dawn; the Feathered Dragon Legion is still recuperating because of the heavy losses it suffered in the Northern Territory a few years ago; the Court of Final Judgment is used to suppress the redeemers, and now even the Judgment Guard has been dispatched, which shows that the Dawn Church will definitely have to exert a lot of effort in the war in the Kingdom of Nantes.

After all, the Holy See's six extraordinary legions already occupy this vast battlefield.

The Templar Legion was decimated; the Oath of Faith was wiped out and even turned into heresy; the Angelic Hands suffered heavy losses, having previously been surrounded by several of the Empire's supernatural legions, but the Church had no sympathy for these monsters.

Of the remaining three extraordinary legions, the 'Divine Revelation Warlock Legion' is still relatively intact; the 'Grey Blood Legion' has plenty of short goblin prisoners in the other world, and the Holy See can replenish them at any time by raising them to fight and devour each other to evolve; the 'Dawn Guardians' are originally composed of Holy Knights, and the number depends on the factional grudges within the Holy Mountain. They can be said to be the weakest of the ten extraordinary legions, but they could also be one of the top three strongest.

Almost all of the ten extraordinary legions were mobilized, and Cardinal Arnold still felt it was a dreamlike experience.

These ten extraordinary legions are a symbol of the power of the Dawn Church, but who could have imagined that the Church would be forced to this point one day?
Just how powerful is the empire? It's ironic that even Cardinal Arnold doesn't know.

Cardinal Arnold had a clear understanding of himself; he was a reassuring figure, but he could completely delegate authority regarding the methods of warfare.

As a cardinal, he had lost interest in this power struggle, because no matter how much he fought for it, the authority of the cardinal would always be second only to the pope.

The nature of religion allowed him to remain in a position of power, and how the war was fought was up to these legion commanders to decide, as they were very familiar with the empire's enemies.

"We no longer need to worry about that Corona Legion."

The one who spoke was an archbishop, whose status normally allowed him to command an army of 100,000 believers, but now everyone here was on equal footing with him, and their power even surpassed his.

Therefore, he was exceptionally humble, and as a smooth talker, he was able to get along well with everyone. He did not want to go to the battlefield, and it would be best if he could solidify his status as a strategist through his words.

"Besides the Sunfire Legion, we will also face the Elemental Legion of Grand Duke Rodrigo of the Empire. This legion recently annihilated the Oath of Faith army, and even the Legion Commander Villard died in the process."

"In addition, there is the Bauhinia Legion of Duke Russell. This legion is a pure knightly legion. Not long ago, on the battlefield in the north of the Kingdom of Grund, this legion killed 1,400 of our Holy Knights and more than 300 missionaries. They were in the army of the Imperial Electors."

"The Flame Dragon Knight Legion of Earl Clayton of the Empire is the largest of the Empire's extraordinary legions, with 30,000 Flame Dragon Knights. The priests of the Holy Mountain suspect that this dragon knight may have worshipped more than one god, among whom... there may be a great being that even my lord must respect."

Commander Kialdil showed surprise. He had fought Count Clayton many times, and the other was very powerful. There was probably only one person whom even the Lord respected.

Lady Moon.

"The Earl of Sterling's Arcane Legion, a legion cleansed by extraordinary energy, is arguably the most powerful infantry on land."

"Count Pascal's gargoyle legion, that damned traitor!"

"Countess Garona Freming, it is said that she inherited one-third of the results of Grand Duke Freming's blasphemy. Her army has been fighting against demons and their minions in the abyss, so much so that we have no further information about her. But this army should not be able to appear in front of humans all the time."

The commander of the Greyblood Legion, Beto, was a short, grey man whose pointed ears, instead of making him an elf, turned him into a goblin. He wielded a huge mechanical hammer, a dwarf-made weapon stolen from the Southern Forgeland.

“I’ve dealt with them before, a group of centaur kin who are neither human nor ghost.”

"Centaur?"

Even the archbishop was astonished. The countess's extraordinary legion was centaurs? Centaurs whose blood flowed with mithril? This seemed to contradict the information from the Holy See.

"Count Robert of the Empire, his extraordinary legion..."

"Needless to say, only the four Grand Dukes and the royal family's super legions can rival the Holy See's super legions, and at most, we should add that Earl Clayton. However, if the Templar Legion were at its peak, he would also be defeated."

Kialtil interrupted the archbishop. Indeed, the empire's six most powerful extraordinary legions were the ones that could be called the ten extraordinary legions that could rival the Papacy. The remaining noble extraordinary legions were still somewhat lacking.

"We don't need to distinguish between our opponents. They are to our north, and their numbers will not exceed 150,000, while our army exceeds 300,000."

"Those believers of the Holy Judgment, in three days we will win the war. Aren't those otherworldly believers under your command just expendable resources?"

Kialdil looked at the archbishops, who were somewhat embarrassed, but they had to agree because the pressure came not only from the legion commander but also from the cardinals.

They knew better than these legion commanders how terrifying the cardinals were. When he knew his life was about to end, Cardinal Arnold wouldn't care about the power these cardinals held or the number of believers they controlled.

Everyone has to fight for him.

Did they really think the powerful divine blessing that just fell on these legion commanders was just an ordinary blessing? It was something that would force them to fight to the death.

"attack!!!"

The voice of the Chosen One Freud resounded loudly, the sunlight overhead dimmed, and the Corona Legion emerged from the void of the divine realm.

What kind of army was it? They were all three meters tall, wearing full armor with obsidian replacing even their eyes, and riding extraordinary magical beasts that were a cut above the highland warhorses. As the sun in the sky was gradually obscured by shadows, the Corona Legion, with its pitch-black and scorching heat, was a natural disaster roaming the earth.

Wherever they passed, the land and rocks were annihilated on a large scale. The black annihilation matter floating in the air burned like flames. They were silent, preventing the whole world from making a sound. When they passed through the center of the army, both elemental knights and mages had to make way for them.

The Sun Legion arrived in front of the Imperial army, the black annihilation matter around them gradually revealing a hint of blazing white, while the sun overhead was completely obscured by dark clouds.

Above the capital of the Kingdom of Nantes, the sky had cleared, but all the nobles and clergy were speechless as they looked at the dark clouds covering the north sky. They felt an oppressive aura, as if emanating from the Sun Corona Legion.

"Where are the Imperial Guards?"

An archbishop said in a low voice, and then the next moment, a huge beam of snow-white holy light suddenly shone down from the bright sky above them. Within the beam of light, knights clad in white holy armor materialized from the void.

The long-range projection, a unique divine technique of the Dawn Church, ensures that the Pope is never alone when he travels the mortal realm. His Judgment Guard will appear at any time and place to protect their Pope.

These royal guards, bathed in holy light, were also tall and robust. Outside the capital of the Kingdom of Nantes, on the battlefield, the sky was divided into two distinct black and white sections simply because of these two extraordinary legions.

"For the glory of restoring the nation!"

The elector sheds his blood across the sky, signaling an attack.

On the other side, pastors and missionaries also began to pray rapidly.

"The glory of the Lord must not be profaned."

As the army charged forward, two skies of different colors collided in that instant.

(End of this chapter)