Chapter 868: Volume 27: Sudden Whirlwind, - 8: The Fisherman
The battle at Marco City spread across the entire Blue Continent in just a few days. Even the remote colonies on the vast Continent were talking about this earth-shattering battle between darkness and light, a fight that ended in a complete victory for the Dark Lineage. The deep implications of the event were lost on everyone. It was unprecedented for the Dark Lineage to challenge the Religious Court, who deemed themselves enforcers of religious law, right in the Church of Light’s Holy City of Marco. Not only did they cause three Heavenly Knights of the Church of Light to retreat in failure, but they also audaciously rescued a prisoner right before their eyes from the prison tower.
Perhaps the outcome itself was not important, but the meaning it conveyed was epoch-making. This was the first successful challenge by the Dark Lineage in the northern part of the Blue Continent, especially in the core area of the Church of Light. The impact on the Church of Light was extremely severe. Especially at a time when people were already doubting the Church’s inability to act during the Beastmen’s invasion of the Kingdom of Nicosia. This severe blow further exposed the inherent weakness of the Church of Light, causing many to begin doubting their faith in the Church from the depths of their hearts. This undoubtedly intensified the division within the Church of Light, and the Salvation Society took this opportunity to start challenging the orthodoxy of the Church.
Komer’s initial concern that the Knight regiment of the Church of Light would pursue them did not materialize. The Heavenly Peng Knights of the Vazinsky Clan missed their chance to pursue because of Trajan’s severe injuries, while the Thunderhorse Knights of the Frenster Clan were unprepared having not communicated with the Religious Court in advance. Moreover, the Salvation Society’s disturbances in Marco City greatly restricted the movements of the various factions, coupled with the fact that the Religious Court’s main forces had already ventured far to join the campaign in Caucasus, the battle ended with this bizarre outcome.
Taking advantage of the gap created by the collision between the Light Array and the Star Space Formation, Trajan finally escaped the strike of Star Magic. However, despite escaping, his severe injuries made him announce an indefinite seclusion for cultivation upon his return to the Heavenly Peng Knights. Without one and a half years of harsh cultivation, his injuries could not heal and might even cause lifelong problems.
The fates of the other two Heavenly Knights were not so fortunate. The initial attack of the Star Space Formation destroyed their defense, and the subsequent immense air pressure became the main reason for their deaths. The two Heavenly Knights died from their severe injuries—a shocking piece of news that stunned all the nations of the Blue Continent.
Michelangelo’s situation was also quite dire. Although he activated the Light Array to save Trajan’s life, he realized only after escaping that his soul had been cracked by a sudden Dark Erosion launched by the enemy. For a Light Mage, especially one proficient in Psychic Magic, this was absolutely fatal. Such a crack, more challenging to repair than physical injuries, meant his foundation of faith in the God of Light had been eroded by evil forces. Once this phenomenon occurred, he had to spend a hundred times more energy to restore the purity of his inner faith to ensure his lifelong cultivation did not deviate into madness, a price paid for the purity of Magic Power higher than that of ordinary Mages.
Shiller’s defense of the Religious Court’s honor ended in utter failure. He was completely frozen by Konti during the battle. Konti’s profound Undead Control Technique allowed the Dark Flame Demon and Black Warrior, both Undead, to continuously grow stronger in combat. Although Shiller managed to completely destroy the Dark Flame Demon after much effort, the Black Warrior still kept Shiller sealed out of the main battlefield until the very last moment when he finally destroyed it. By then, it was too late. Once Komer had broken the Light seal on the prison tower, Shiller knew it was over and sensibly led the remaining Religious Court staff in retreat.
When Komer and his companions sneaked back into the land of Homer, the furious Noyola and Lorenzo were leading a group from Cyprus rushing back to Marco. The news of the battle in Marco City was transmitted to them by Magic Transmission the next day. Although they were unaware of the details, the fact that the remnants of the Dark Lineage had challenged the Religious Court, breached the light seals on the prison tower, and rescued the prisoners was enough to devastate Noyola and Lorenzo internally.
Intending to completely eradicate the enemy, they had not expected to be countered instead. The intense feeling of defeat made Noyola and Lorenzo unsure how to face this brutal reality. They knew the dire consequences of this event were more severe than the incident itself. The fact that Rebry was rescued did not matter much; but in broad daylight, in the Holy City of Marco, under the joint effort of the Religious Court and the Vazinsky Clan’s forces, to end up like this undoubtedly declared that the Religious Court no longer had the capacity to fulfill the duties assigned by the Church of Light—a situation Noyola and Lorenzo could not tolerate.
"Interesting, truly interesting. Vazinsky and Noyola must be going out of their minds with anger, right?" The white robes swept the floor, looking impeccably clean in the dimly lit Archbishop’s private chapel. Only the sunlight streaming through the colorful stained-glass window on the dome added a mysterious and unpredictable aura to the room.
"Noyola and Vazinsky have already returned to Marco. So far, there’s no noticeable aberration in their reactions," said a man standing respectfully by the door, his glossy black hair cascading over his shoulders. If it weren’t for his stern face and slightly deep voice, you would never believe such beautiful black hair could belong to a man.