Throne of the North.

Chapter 617 Power and Desire

The sheer size and bloated nature of the Dawn Church meant that even the Pope himself had difficulty knowing exactly how many clergy members there were on the Holy Mountain.

What are these clergy members responsible for?

However, all power is inseparable from the Pope and the ten cardinals.

Normally, the Pope's orders would inevitably involve these ten cardinals, who are all supporters of the Pope. The Pope also controls all the faith of the entire Dawn Church, and his authority is naturally unique.

However, a problem has arisen: three of the ten cardinals of the Vatican have died.

Cardinal Arnold, who recently served as a divine vessel on the battlefield of the Kingdom of Nantes, and Cardinal Ta Walter, who died in a conspiracy during an earlier war.

And Cardinal Zechariah, who died at the Trial on the Holy Mountain.

The deaths of the three cardinals were not natural, which meant that new cardinals could not be selected immediately after their deaths. And the number of cardinals who died was not just three out of ten.

They represent three-tenths of the power of the Dawn Church, and below the three cardinal archbishops are countless archbishops, bishops, priests, believers, and clergy.
Even the Pope couldn't count them all or tell them apart.

Moreover, the Vatican is now overwhelmed by various troubles, including the defeat in the war, the betrayal of faith within the Papacy, and the conflicts arising from the death of the cardinal.

For so many years, they had never experienced such a blow and disaster. No one knew what to do in such a situation, and His Holiness the Pope on the Holy Mountain had not given the Vatican a strong reassurance.

This led many clergy members to embark on fanatical acts of religious revenge in order to go further and to demonstrate their loyalty to the Lord of Dawn.

It must be said that there are many devout believers within the Dawn Church. In fact, it could be said that every one of the clergy members was, in the beginning, a fanatical believer willing to dedicate their souls to the Lord of Dawn.

These fanatics will eventually remember their original aspirations. Regardless of the reason, whether it is the humiliation of the master or the pursuit of self-interest, these clergy members have their own ideas after failing to receive orders from His Holiness the Pope.

"It is impossible for the Sunbird to be defeated by a demigod. Not to mention the demigods of the Empire, even if all the demigods in the world were put together, they would definitely not be a match for the Sunbird. How powerful it is."

"There is only one reason for the failure, and that is Arnold. He became a shameless traitor, a heretic, betraying the glory of the Lord just like that damned servant of the abyss, Archbishop Maddie!"

"He was the vessel of the Lord, yet he betrayed the great sunbird, which led to His being sealed in the Kingdom of Nantes."

"It was because of him that the war was lost. When has the Dawn Church ever suffered such a humiliating war? Arnold, Zechariah is the culprit!"

Some clergy pointed the finger at these two, because one was a divine vessel, and the other died in the Pope's judgment and many of his clergy became servants of the Abyss Demon Lord.

As for the other deceased, Ta Walter, he was a hero of the Dawn Church. This title of hero was not only given to him, but also to his father, Tom Walter, who died in the imperial capital and was 'killed' by the emperor.

This is a point that many people cannot shake.

As for His Holiness the Pope, His Holiness the Pope is the representative of the Lord of Dawn walking among mortals, he cannot be wrong, and the Lord of Dawn always favors the Pope.

"They have betrayed the glory of the Lord and become heretics of the Papacy!"

"And we will atone for the sins they have committed."

What are the clergy of the Vatican best at? Winning people over, of course. They won't keep pursuing the mistakes of the cardinals, but rather they will define the nature of the matter and then use that to exert their own prestige.

"We will take our revenge. The Sunbird will be unsealed by us, and the nobles of the Northern Empire will surely suffer the vengeance of the dawn."

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

On the holy mountain, there were bound to be a lot of noise and some people hesitated.

"The war is over, the Treaty of Nantes has been signed, and there is still the threat of the Abyss. Those demon lords are trying to break my lord's blockade and let the evil power of the Abyss descend upon the world."

"What the Abyss cannot do, we have an army of over a million fanatical believers stationed in the Abyss year-round."

"Moreover, under the current Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes, no one can start a military war. The Holy See's extraordinary legions will return to the abyss, and those monsters will not be able to reach our land."

"Don't you want the Sunbird to regain its freedom?"

As a religious body, the faith in the Lord must be absolute, especially now that many clergy within the Vatican are embracing the abyss. If someone is labeled as potentially becoming a servant of the abyss, then everything is over.

Therefore, naturally, no one can deny their determination to help Dawn Sunbird Ifrit break the seal.

What sealed Him was the empire.

The contradictions, naturally, once again fell upon the empire.

Black Swans would never suffer such humiliation. As the incarnation of the great Lord, Black Swans will spare no expense to help Him.

"The flames of the black swan will burn in the depths of eternal night."

For the Dawn Church, the Black Swan assassins, a force that cannot be brought to the forefront, are not to be found within the glorious and majestic Holy Mountain Church. Therefore, the Black Swan is quite complicated. None of the ten cardinals wanted such defilement to taint their robes, so none of the cardinals truly had control over the Black Swan. However, each cardinal possessed some degree of influence and power over the Black Swan assassins.

The intricate complexities involved are beyond the comprehension of even the Pope, the cardinals, and the elders.

This means that when an elder sends a black swan to the Empire, the actual number might be ten.

The Holy Mountain was not awakened until news came from along the way that many nobles had died in the massacre by the Black Swan assassins.

"When did the Dawn Church get so many black swans?!"

This wasn't just a question from the Pope; the remaining seven cardinals were also misled. They didn't know; they had always believed that the number of black swans was controlled.

"Perhaps, maybe, I mean probably... the reason lies in those other world dimensions."

One of the cardinals spoke up, "Alvis, he is younger because he is the successor of the deceased Cardinal Raymond."

The cardinal died in the war in the Kingdom of Andara, but that was a long time ago.

He was young, so only he could speak up. "For a hundred years, our Lord has been asleep. We have not been able to easily borrow the divine power of our Lord's spread to perform miracles. In those other worlds, we have not been able to easily gain the faith of the people of those other worlds."

"The process became difficult, so priests and missionaries used other methods to get people in other dimensions to believe in our Lord."

"Black swans... are most likely one of the methods used for proselytizing."

After speaking, Alvis shut his mouth. He thought that only his faction had increased the number of black swans. It seemed that the other cardinal factions were the same, and even those factions without cardinals could be counted. Those guys would probably be even more unscrupulous in their actions.

The higher up you are, the more you have to consider the impact; conversely, the less power someone has, the more unrestrained they are in doing things.

The Lord of Dawn has been asleep for over a hundred years. The corruption within the Holy See has been going on for so many years without any problems, but it has suddenly become a problem in this last hundred years. Isn't it because the Lord's slumber has allowed the desires of mortals to grow wildly?

The clergy of the Vatican are also human beings.

"Call them back!"

"The Treaty of Nantes has been in effect for less than a month, and the whole world knows what we are doing. Do you still want to tarnish the glory of my Lord with filth and darkness?"

The Pope's face was grim; he had miscalculated too many things in the past month.

He did originally intend to use the Empire to destroy the Kingdom of Nantes, at least to turn the capital into ruins and kill the queen. He knew some things about himself.

He also ordered the Imperial Guard not to go all out, but he never thought the war would be lost. Cardinal Arnold, as the divine incarnation of a great being, actually lost to the Empire. This just doesn't make sense.

The defeat in the war, leading to the rebellion of the Iron Eagle Kingdom, was not something he wanted to see either.

The most crucial point is that the killing of King Hakan of the Iron Eagle Kingdom directly led to the peak of anti-Dawn Church sentiment within the Iron Eagle Kingdom, to the point that even members of the Dawn Church were unable to enter the kingdom.

The most infuriating thing is that, even now, the Pope doesn't know who gave the order to kill King Haakon!
He only ordered the assassination of the royal family of the Kingdom of Nantes, but who carried out the assassination of the Iron Eagle Kingdom?

Thinking of this, the Pope's gaze toward the cardinals around him turned hostile. It must be one of these guys, or if it wasn't them, it must be related to them.

Was Zechariah's death a warning to them, a reminder of the Iron Eagle King's fate?

It's frustrating. When the Papacy was at its most glorious and powerful, the Holy Mountain was peaceful and harmonious. Now, after its defeat in the struggle against the Empire, the internal conflicts within the Papacy have suddenly begun to erupt.

"I will order the black swans to retreat."

"I'm scared too," said Alvis. The other cardinals also said they would give orders. They... all thought that only their orders could really make a retreat?
But what is the truth?
After the brief meeting ended and the cardinal left, he issued an order. The Pope, however, would not issue such an order. As the leader of the Dawn Church, the Pope would never acknowledge the existence of a force like the Black Swan Assassin beneath the glory of Dawn.

Strictly speaking, neither would a cardinal, nor any of the archbishops, bishops, or even priests on this broad road.

They would only convey the message to the elders, essentially saying that the waterfall above the pyramids was flowing down and soaking all the clergy involved in the matter below.

The order was effective; many black swans were no longer targeting nobles for assassination, but its effectiveness was limited.

“In the past, when all ten cardinals were present, it was one thing, but now that three cardinals are missing, and there are more than a hundred vacant positions for archbishops and bishops, they still won’t let us get closer to our Lord. This is a doubt on our devout faith.”

“We must take revenge. Ifrit, the Sunbird, will be our supporter. He will not see the Lord’s followers being so perfunctory, and the Lord’s followers will never stop their devout faith just because of the elders’ orders.”

“We serve the great Lord, not those who might become servants of the abyss.”

“The Vatican is corrupt, and we will be the flames that burn away the decay. Archbishop Adriana received an oracle that fire is the only power to cleanse the darkness.”

Thus, within the Vatican, an organization called the Dawn Flame was born.

Hidden in the shadows, the Black Swan assassins, not recognized by the Church itself, are the only power that members of the Dawnflame can wield.

Why? Because everything the Dawn Church possesses, except for the Black Swan, is traceable. If they really did something, they could not hide it from either the higher-ups or the lower-ups. Since the Black Swan cannot admit it, they will naturally shift the blame to everyone in the dark.

Of course, they want to... hold onto this one and only power tightly.

In addition, they also need the blessing of the gods, otherwise they would never be able to defeat those bishops and archbishops, after all, those who stand in the open and under the holy light of dawn are the true orthodox ones.

"The first thing we need to do is force those damned imperial nobles to break the seal and reignite the flames of the Sunbird."

And so, the Black Swan assassins went out of control. Without an absolute person in charge, no one could control this unacknowledged force. Ironically, in the conquest of other worlds over the past century, the number of Black Swans was quite considerable.

"All nobles will be put to trial in this war!"

By the time the empire realized what was happening, many nobles had already been targeted by assassinations of varying degrees. Black swans are not that sharp, but the nobles are not an impenetrable fortress either.

The most significant commotion in this out-of-control assassination attempt occurred within Count Pascal's returning party.

The day was sunny and bright, but as the Black Swan assassin moved through the Earl's army under the cover of night, the moonlight turned ominous.

The shadows were reflected in the surrounding fields. They had just entered the Volga province and were still some distance from returning to the Danube province, but blood had already stained the center of this large army.

The gargoyles roared deafeningly. The extraordinary beings born from these anti-magic stones could sense even the slightest magic, but divine power was not their specialty. Only when they smelled blood did these hideous gargoyle monsters wake up. They didn't need to sleep, but that still allowed the black swan to take advantage of them.

Even... a black swan appeared before Count Pascal.

Count Pascal was suddenly thrown from the carriage and flew into the sky. He was emanating strange spatial fluctuations. The Black Swan assassins possessed terrifying power and actually threatened him, but in the end, they failed to harm him.

But the carriage carried not only Count Pascal, but also the Countess he had brought to the capital. Countess Pascal had been chatting happily with the noble ladies in the capital, helping him to increase his influence in that political center.

But now all that remains in Pascal's ears is a scream.

A terrifying energy tide descended from the sky, and holy light enveloped the three Saints and a legendary Black Swan assassin below, fueling Count Pascal's boundless rage.

The lord of the Gargoyle Legion, the Earl of the Anti-Magic Stone, is actually a powerful and rare light-attribute mage.

(End of this chapter)