Chapter 613
Illeion Volten stood at the warp point, ready for teleportation.
The popes were already aware that the Demon King’s followers were growing in number. Though Illeion didn’t know all the details, he could feel the shift in the air.
He was torn between aligning himself with the Demon King or the Empire, but that wasn’t his main concern.
What he hadn’t anticipated was the possibility that the followers of the Church might have already organized themselves and turned against their leaders.
Within the capital, factions within the Five Great Orders had already fallen under the influence of the Demon King’s followers. While it wasn’t clear if Rowen was their leader, she was undeniably a key player.
Thankfully, only the factions within the capital had reached that point.
The rest of the holy knights and members of the clergy serving with the Allied Forces might have begun to lean toward supporting the Demon King, but they were beyond Rowen’s control. The bonds forged by wading through countless life-threatening situations on innumerable battlefields was not easily broken.
The forces of the Five Great Orders within the capital were only a fraction compared to the holy knights and members of the clergy serving with the Allied Forces.
While the Commander of the Order of the Holy Knights might hold a lower official rank than the popes, his authority and power were immense. Rowen’s own power, while significant, was not absolute.
The Commander could, if he chose to, move in and conduct what might be considered a coup. If he returned to the Allied encampment and led a large unit of holy knights back to the capital, he had the strength to crush the subversive elements of the Church within the capital.
Illeion Volten was the one who had dared to attempt the audacious act of eliminating the enemy leader in the heart of enemy territory. The elite holy knights who had carried out that order were loyal to Illeion Volten, yet even they had fallen to Rowen.
He had underestimated Inquisitor Rowen’s combat prowess. It was clear that she had not only been underestimated, but had also concealed her true strength.