Throne of the North.

Chapter 769 will take a huge detour back to the Empire's army.
The Empire ultimately failed to fulfill its desire to kill the Pope. After Freud killed Cardinal William, His Holiness the Pope continued to call upon clergy, knights, priests, bishops, and others to step forward and fight against the noble army from the Empire, in accordance with their status.

The existence of the Treaty of Nantes was also part of this war. Neither side launched a large-scale military offensive, so Chrysus could only send knights of suitable status and equal skill levels to fight.

This left Chrysus feeling incredibly frustrated, but it was also the best possible outcome. If a military war had truly broken out at the foot of the Holy Mountain, these thousands of people, including several legends, would probably not have survived for more than half an hour.

However, this time, the noble knights no longer had their fathers paving the way for them through various political struggles among the nobility. The direct confrontations and one-on-one battles with the clergy still resulted in the deaths of a large number of noble knights.

The knights were not afraid of death; the glory of the empire and the honor of their families boiled in their blood, but…

Chrysus couldn't take it.

Not only him, but also Freud, Aatrox and others present were unable to bear the consequences of the large-scale deaths of these noble knights.

They could almost foresee the barrage of criticism they would face from the nobles upon their return to the empire.

However, they could not back down voluntarily. If anyone representing the empire dared to suggest retreating, they would face the most terrifying double punishment of political and military courts upon their return.

But no one present was a fool, or rather, the wisdom of the nobles far inside the empire had long ago provided Freud with a solution.

then……

"The Holy Son of Dawn? The last Holy Son of the previous generation of the Dawn Church. After I killed him, I sacrificed his soul to the Abyss. I wonder if you can do that?"

Aatrox licked his lips as he stepped out, looking at the Dawn Child in the Supreme Cathedral with unbridled killing intent in his eyes.

Solarion remained silent for the first time, not uttering a name, and looked at Aatrox with a barely perceptible hint of regret.

The Pope looked at the Holy Son, and it seemed he was about to speak, ordering the Dawn Holy Son to go out and fight Aatrox.

However, before His Holiness the Pope could speak, a riot broke out throughout the Holy Mountain. Thousands upon thousands of clergy, their eyes filled with unparalleled rage and their mouths calling upon the glory of the dawn, charged down the Holy Mountain, wielding scepters that served only as symbols of authority as weapons.

At the same time, around the Holy Mountain, the monks and nuns who had been watching the whole process could no longer suppress their emotions of the past few hours. They roared and shouted the eternal glory of the dawn and charged towards the imperial army.

All of this was a spontaneous act by believers who could no longer tolerate the empire's arrogance, and had nothing to do with the Pope.

Solarion fell silent, remaining seated in his chair with an air of holiness. The hundreds of meters of papal robe trailing behind him remained motionless, as calm as a king watching his 'soldiers' riot.

The imperial army was driven out from the foot of the holy mountain, or rather, fought its way out.

The Dawn Church concluded its investigation by judging the Empire's baseless accusations.

The Empire, on the other hand, angrily denounced the Dawn Church for disregarding the rules and for reporting their victory as a triumph.

In short, both sides gained some satisfaction.

What remained, of course, were those corpses lying in pools of blood.

Thousands of believers came out and collected the bodies of the dead believers on the ground, sending them to another 'mortuary' specifically for the Dawn Believers to go to the Eternal Kingdom. Naturally, this included the cardinals.

Once the ground is clean again, this matter... will be considered over.

Inside the High Cathedral, Solarion looked at the somewhat uneasy Prince Charles.

"You really want to fight him?"

The Holy Land lowered its head and said:
“Your Majesty, I simply believe that this would tarnish the glory of the dawn.”

"This is impossible, Charlie. You must understand that you represent the Dawn. If you and that Aatrox appear on the battlefield, then the evil beings of the Abyss will find their way. They will descend with great joy, and they will use his body as an anchor point to appear in the world of Norris. That will be a disaster for all mankind."

"You saved the world, Charlie."

"The Lord's followers made that choice because they were guided by the Lord's will. Their appearance did not tarnish the Lord's glory, but rather prevented a battle from the invasion of an evil being from the abyss."

"All of this is the will of my Lord."

“Charlie, you shouldn’t focus on these things; you have a much bigger test ahead of you.”

"What is it, Your Majesty?"

“William the Cardinal is dead, Nils and Creed the Cardinal are dead, and the original Frank is dead. In a short period of time, the Dawn Church has suffered heavy losses, which is unacceptable. Their fall means that the glory of our Lord has been slightly dimmed.”

"As the Holy Son, you should pay more attention to the new candidates for the Cardinals, select them, and let them inherit the divine grace of the Cardinals to maintain the glory of our Lord. This is what we, as servants of our Lord, should do most."

“Go and seek, go and choose. Your prestige will naturally gain the support of my Lord’s believers in this process, so that they can see the legitimacy of your existence.”

"I will keep an eye on it, Your Majesty."

The Holy Son left, leaving the Pope alone in the same spot.

He relaxed considerably, his usual solemnity gone, replaced by a cold and smug look in his eyes.

They're all dead. All the cardinals with enough power and prestige are dead.

Thinking about this, Solarion really wanted to laugh; the Flor Empire had truly done him a huge favor.

It was all worth it, having cooperated with the Empire's vengeful fury over the past few months. Through subtle maneuvers, he caused heavy casualties among the clergy surrounding the cardinals, forcing the cardinals to personally intervene to stabilize their faction's morale, ultimately leading to their deaths at the Empire's hands.

The Pope only slightly pushed forward this matter and did not directly reach an agreement with the Empire, but the final result made Solarion extremely satisfied.

From now on, there will be no more voices opposing him within the Dawn Church. After all, the Cardinal is equivalent to the Grand Duke of the Empire, and in terms of power, he has shared the Pope's power, which restricts many of his actions.

All Solarion needs in this empire's furious revenge is for those Red Silks who are qualified to stand in his way to die.

As for the future balance between the Empire and the Papacy?

Ironically, under the leadership of Pope Solarion, through his purge of internal ailments, and with his sole will centered on him, the Papacy will ultimately reclaim everything that belongs to Dawn.

The Empire? The Empire will soon be kneeling before the Dawn Church he leads.

As for the death of the cardinal, will a new cardinal come to power?
This is the simplest thing.

It's like an empire.

The new emperor of the empire did not possess the absolute authority of the old emperor, and the nobles who inherited their titles were unable to acquire all that their fathers had accumulated in a short period of time.

The same applies to the Dawn Church. How could those new cardinals possibly possess the same prestige and power as the old cardinals to oppose His Holiness the Pope?

Just like when the cardinals banded together to send Tom Walter to the Flor Empire to die by the Emperor's side, what Solarion was doing was simply eliminating dissidents. Cardinal William finally realized this, but unfortunately, he no longer had the chance.

This fierce battle resulted in the deaths of most of the key members of his faction by the Empire. All the hatred should be directed at the Empire.

Moreover, the Pope had already selected some suitable candidates, those who had made the greatest contributions in the previous war with the Empire, and some of them would replace the factions to which the previous cardinals belonged.

After all, over the years, the Dawn Church has formed many factions, large and small. The ten cardinals are naturally the largest, but that doesn't mean there aren't other interest groups below them.

Solarion will select a few to give rise to a new generation of red-robed figures, and naturally, they will need to rely more on the power of His Majesty.

After this incident, the Dawn Church was completely under his control.

“If you hadn’t killed Hilde in secret, four of you wouldn’t have died at once.”

Solarion became smug. It was truly a case of perfect timing, favorable circumstances, and popular support all working in his favor. If Hilde hadn't died, the Empire might have considered killing one or two red-robed figures as a way to end things. As for actually killing him, the Pope, to avenge Columbus III?

That was a long-standing political correctness within the Flor Empire, not something that could be achieved overnight. Moreover, there was no evidence that he killed Columbus III. If the Empire had killed him, that would have truly set the world on fire.

"Kill me?"

"ridiculous."

Solarian never believed that he would die at the hands of the Empire. That was a task the Empire could never accomplish. He believed that when he led the Papacy back to its peak, the emperor of the Empire would grovel at his feet.

"I am Norris's only right."

Theocracy? Royal power?
Columbus III wanted to achieve this, but he only managed to do it for a day before he himself showed him what true divine and royal unity was.

Solarion believed that Columbus III died because his reign was not absolute enough, and that the power of the Flor Empire's emperor was divided among the nobles, with ninety percent of it going to them.

……

……

With each victory brought back, this time, the vengeful knights on their expedition have finally returned in true triumph.

Aatrox and Chrysus both noticed something.

That is, under Freud's will, their army did not pass through the province of Carlos.

The province of Carlos was the territory of the Governor-General of Carlos, the Marquis of Carlos, and also the territory of Freud Columbus.

According to the information obtained by Chrysus, His Majesty the Emperor of the capital city has sent an envoy to the province of Carlos, and once Freud arrives, he will be allowed to stay at the Marquis of Carlos’s residence in the name of the Emperor.

His Majesty the Emperor seemed to have found the extraordinary power to be of great use in the North, and hastened the completion of Marquis Carlos's mansion with his extraordinary abilities, as if to tell Freud that his house was finished and he could move in.

Now something unexpected has happened.

In the words of His Excellency Marquis Freud Columbus, the Empire had achieved an unprecedented victory against the Dawn Church, and they could not simply return to the Empire so easily; they wanted all the nobles and lords of the Norris continent to witness the glory of their victory.

They want to be like those fishermen who never come back empty-handed by the pond, showing off their catch to the world.

Freud brought to the continent of Norris all the noble lords a glimpse of the empire's glory.

"The Empire is the only beacon of light in this world!"

When Freud started speaking, he went around in circles—a very large circle.

Of course, all of this could not have been Freud's idea or ability alone.

Everything stemmed from the political struggles in the imperial capital.

Led by Grand Duke Rodrigo and Grand Duke Fremin, and supported by the Senate, a group of nobles were advising "His Highness" Freud from the rear of the empire.

This is not about wanting Freud to replace the emperor.

Their focus was not on the titles of His Highness or Marquis; what they were more concerned with was the power struggle between themselves, the nobles, and Columbus IV and His Majesty Volvo.

Floyd is currently the excuse and pretext for this series of events.

To put it bluntly, it's the same reason: they can tolerate Grand Duke Meyers becoming the head of the dukes, but they don't want to hand over the benefits they've gained over decades.

Especially Archduke Fleming, who has enjoyed so much over the past few decades, is now going to give it all up?
They don't want to.

In this war, under the emperor's will, the noble army reached the Holy Mountain, enabling His Majesty Columbus IV to achieve a feat that no previous emperor of the Flor Empire had accomplished. This was his glory, but also a compromise for the nobles.

However, during this process, the nobles advised Freud to kill some of the noble knights, because this would allow Chrysus to be questioned upon returning to the empire, which would essentially be a blow to the political faction of Grand Duke Meyers.

However, a balance needs to be struck: only Chrysus Meyers should be held accountable, while everyone else should remain unaffected.

Then, at the opportune moment, Aatrox appeared, attempting to kill the Son of Dawn.

In this way, regardless of success or failure, there would be a reasonable excuse to retreat, allowing Chrysus to bear the responsibility for the victory alone.

The nobles have compromised to some extent with the emperor; now it will be the emperor's turn to compromise with the nobles.

So Freud began to go in circles, his reasoning being to let the whole world see the power and glory of the empire, and to let nobles around the world see that the lighthouse's brilliance shone upon them.

Like a military parade, it was a way to show the nobles what the empire looked like, to avenge the previous blockade of the empire by the Dawn Church, and to let everyone know that the Dawn Church could no longer hold them back.

The province of Carlos, or the former Carlos Empire, was the only pass through which the empire could extend south.

But now, the nobles of the empire think otherwise.

"You absolutely must not go through the Iron Eagle Kingdom, then the Nantes Kingdom, from the Vansu Kingdom to the million square kilometers of noble territory in the west, then into the Coran Kingdom, across the plains into the Andara Kingdom, and finally back to the Empire from the north."

In the Frozen Territory, Ryan suddenly jumped out of bed and saw a letter from the Empire.

Freud really had to take the longest possible detour, bypassing the only southern entrance—the province of Carlos—and instead circling the very edge of human civilization.

"North Wind Avenue?"

(End of this chapter)