In the Name of Empress

In order to quickly recover strength, they had to lower their standards and accept some devout human followers as honorary members of the grassroots.

These human followers undertake the complicated work and hard labor on Divine Punishment Island.

With the workload these followers bear, paying them wages would amount to an astronomical figure.

But the Divine Punishment Legion never planned to pay them.

This is serving the Great Goddess, and you still want to get paid? Your faith is seriously questionable.

Under various PUA techniques and military intimidation, even if the servant followers sense something amiss, they don't dare to resist.

Divine Punishment Island is a floating island; once you come in, you can't leave, and they have nowhere to escape, only able to live a tragic life like slaves.

As of now, Divine Punishment Island has more than a thousand elements and over 500,000 human slaves.

After many generations, the descendants of these slaves have been oppressed since childhood, having no fondness for the Divine Punishment Legion which holds power over life and death and doesn't regard them as human, nor any faith in the goddess.

Divine Punishment Island thus became the weakest link in the global average faith strength.

This outcome was unforeseen even by the high-ups of the Divine Punishment Legion, but they didn't care.

They have whips and butcher knives aplenty; do these lowlifes still want to resist?

The first half of the Sixth Era ended 1800 years ago until now, leaving them little time, thus making them the weakest existing Divine Punishment Legion.

Yet they still didn't think the internally conflicted humans would dare to provoke them.

They were more worried about the arrival of the Dark Race.

Just a few weeks ago, an Enchanting Demon who snuck into Divine Punishment Island disguised as a follower slave was discovered.

These Enchanting Demons were rather strong-willed, ending their own lives knowing they were doomed, giving no chance for interrogation.

But they didn't know that even corpses can speak.

After extracting memories from the corpses, the names of the Dark Race and Demon Emperor surfaced.

After a meeting and research by the high echelon of the Sixth Legion, they unanimously believed that the Dark Race would use Divine Punishment Island as a coordinate to launch a descent offensive.

Since the Dark Race could win the revival match, they surely need a foothold in the material plane.

The Divine Punishment Legion set up fortifications at various key points on Divine Punishment Island to prevent the Dark Race's descent, but they never dreamed that the threat would come from the sea.

When hundreds of warships fired simultaneously, Divine Punishment Island was stupefied.

Their defense setup was all for internal air defense, but it turned out to be a beach landing, so how could they defend?

Due to a shortage of manpower, Divine Punishment Island's coastal defenses could only be set up in key areas, but the enemies this time did not follow the rules at all, landing directly on the beach, rendering their defense arrangements completely useless.

Legion Commander Savis furiously crawled out of bed, his entire body cloaked in Holy Flame, roaring loudly and sounding the war drums to call his clansmen to battle.

Even if he didn't call, others were awakened by the sound of bombardment.

The Divine Punishment Legion's elemental lives formed supervisor teams, compelling the follower slaves to act as cannon fodder and die.

Let them eat the shells!

Let them fill the lines!

It's the duty of the supervisor team.

Just as they herded the slaves to charge ahead to their deaths, the battlefield's bombardment came to an abrupt halt, and the night was eerily quiet as if nothing had happened.

This strange and fearful silence made the supervisor team's hair stand on end.

Their ominous premonition quickly came true.

The ambush arrived unexpectedly.

Meteorites rained down relentlessly, smashing the water elements and wind elements mercilessly.

Water counters fire, but when the fire is plentiful enough, it also counters water.

Lisa cast spells with all her might, and these newly created elemental people, having never seen such a scene, were directly stunned.

Some water elements couldn't even turn into waves to escape before being evaporated into water vapor.

Elemental people don't need to follow the rules of fleshy life, but they are suppressed by the rules of the universe.

As long as the temperature is high enough, water can't remain liquid, and the combat effectiveness of water elements is greatly reduced.

With the annihilation of the supervisor team, Roland began his psychological warfare.

Under his suggestion, Sif and Munina sang the Siren's Song together, starting to control and brainwash these poor follower slaves.

They are members of humanity, pitiably enslaved by these damned elemental people, yet they possess a combat will beyond ordinary humans, and bear the trait Roland admires the most.

They have lost everything; everything they had was destroyed by the damned elemental people.

They have nothing else to lose except their shackles.

They fear nothing, their will is strong, and with just a bit of training, they could become an invincible iron army.

The Divine Punishment Legion must be completely annihilated, while preserving as many follower slaves as possible.

This was Roland's battle strategy.

He only needed to make the orders, and Fleet Commander Catherine would execute them.

After gaining recognition of the Sea Emperor's Three Divine Artifacts, almost all intelligent life in the Undersea World acknowledged her as both the imperial consort and heiress of the Sea Emperor.

Since the imperial consort is the successor to the Sea Emperor, whoever she names as traitors are traitors.

After a one-sided battle, the conservative forces of the Sea Emperor Hall were dismantled in just one day.

Catherine did not expand the scope of her strike, only executing a few main culprits, while those below the middle-level cadres of the Sea Emperor Hall were characterized by her as misled victims.

The special amnesty she signed provided the Sea Emperor Hall with peace of mind.

The Sea Emperor Hall's killings were controlled within limits, but her grandfather's betrayal was unbearable for Catherine.

She hadn't returned to her tribe, nor met Plaiden.

She feared that upon seeing Plaiden, she wouldn't be able to resist delivering a swift slash.

Regarding that old man who betrayed his granddaughter for benefits, her attitude was cold and direct.

"Abdicate or die."

After a slight contemplation, the old marshal finally bowed to reality and voluntarily chose retirement.

Joking, even the Sea Emperor Hall couldn't stop his good granddaughter; what could he do?

By conceding now, his family branch would just temporarily step away from the power's main stage, with opportunities in the future.

If he really resisted, wouldn't that ungrateful granddaughter unhesitatingly perform the duty of justice by eliminating him?

The old marshal helplessly accepted the conditions, and the Celestial Eye Clan smoothly realized a power transfer process without firing a single gun or drawing a single sword.

The reason Catherine could reconcile with the Sea Emperor Hall and her grandfather was mainly because they were outstanding members of the Ocean Race, and executing them all would be a significant loss.

But the Divine Punishment Legion was different.

These guys were truly die-hard elements that must be eliminated.

Amidst the raging flames and ethereal siren song, Legion Commander Savis was surprisingly delighted to discover a flaw in the invaders.

To ensure the effect of the Siren's Song, the invading fleet did not use artillery during the song.

This was the best opportunity!

Just as Savis was about to issue orders, he suddenly felt a familiar and powerful aura approaching.

He turned his head and saw that it was Saintess Aileen of the Divine Punishment Legion.

Many religions like to have saints as figureheads, and Aileen's position was such.

Her power wasn't exceptional, but it was something.

Her intelligence wasn't keen, but it sufficed.

At least, being a decoration was simple.

However, Aileen's appearance this time felt somewhat unfamiliar to Savis.

She seemed no longer just a decoration? This judgment made Savis uneasy.

Aileen pressed down with one hand, signaling everyone to listen to her.

As the elemental people awaited the outcome expectantly, Aileen spoke words that thrilled them all.

"I have heard the call of the goddess and received her benevolent gift. The Great Goddess even prophesied the battle tonight."

To enhance the credibility of her words, Aileen raised her arm, displaying the goddess's blessing.

Her right arm bore a mark in the shape of an angel.

This mark multiplied her strength, forcing her to adapt to her new identity earnestly.

The appearance of the Angel Mark turned the elemental people from a loose collection into the most unified team.

Their morale surged as they picked up weapons, assembling into groups and engaging the invaders even without Aileen's exhortation.

Watching the appearance of these elemental people, Savis's expression was rather complex.

Everything was out of control, completely out of control.

The goddess's place in the hearts of these elemental people was almost omniscient and omnipotent.

With Aileen representing the goddess, could he still remain the legion leader?

Judging from everyone's behavior just now, his position had been magnificently ignored.

Savis, feeling gain and loss, ran out with the crowd, but he was unaccustomed to mingling with the young soldiers, trailing alone at the back.

It's over; how could he solidify power now? The future is so long, he couldn't wait any longer!

Indeed, he didn't have to wait.

While he was lost in thought, a Holy Light Warhammer descended from the sky, smashing open his head.

The white, red, and yellow matter gushed out; the pitiful Savis only realized until his death why he, whose strength wasn't very strong, was chosen as the leader.

Just cannon fodder.