The Fourth Volume: Withering in the Human World - West Saint Continent

The Supreme God created the world from chaos.

On the first day, God separated light from darkness.

The next day, God separated the clear from the impure.

On the third day, God constructed time and space.

On the fourth day, God lit up the sky with stars.

On the fifth day, the gods created mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas.

On the sixth day, God created all living things.

On the seventh day, the exhausted god fell asleep, leaving only a hazy consciousness.

God is too tired to directly manage the world He created.

So he sent three messengers to the mortal world, who transformed into three Goddess.

They possess divinely bestowed power and govern the human world in place of the gods.

The first Goddess was named Prayer, who was the spokesperson for the gods and conveyed divine pronouncements to the world.

The second Goddess is named Tianlu, the sword of God, who sweeps away sins that are intolerable to doctrine.

The third Goddess was named Ji Ling, a servant of the gods, who comforted the spirits of the deceased in heaven.

Goddess are not eternal, but Goddess power is eternal. When an old Goddess passes away, a new Goddess will inherit her power and forever protect the human world.

Below the Goddess is the Saintess.

The Saintess is an angel sent by the supreme god to earth to assist the Goddess in managing human affairs.

There are twelve Saintess in total, named: Ares, Torres, Jeminai, Kasser, Leo, Vilgo, Libra, Stigpio, Satteres, Capcoon, Aquiles, and Pais.

---- The Divine Law Cult's Canon, <The Book of Creation>

West Saint Continent.

It is one of the four continents and one sea inhabited by humans on the Spirit Star. Compared with the East Emperor Continent, which is full of powerful nations, the wild and remote North Realm Continent, and the beautiful Southern Forest Continent, it has many unusual features.

First, its area is relatively small, less than half the size of the largest North Realm Continent (though that is still quite vast). Second, there is no distinction between countries here; all the regions are divided into dioceses, and several dioceses form a province. The entire West Saint Continent is divided into 12 provinces, and above the provinces is the Holy City Gloria, where the highest leadership of the Divine Law Cult resides in the Cathedral of the True God.

Long ago, the West Saint Continent, like the East Emperor Continent, consisted of many large and small countries. However, about 2,200 years ago, a boy was born in a small fishing village in a coastal country. That boy later grew into a man who rewrote the history of the entire Spirit Star, and later generations called him the Saint Emperor.

The Saint Emperor was a true, ultimate powerhouse at the pinnacle of power; legend has it that no one could survive three moves against him. Records indicate that he used the Holy Crown and the Holy Book —treasures found in ancient ruins—to build his first army, wielding the divine Divine Artifact, the Emperor Slaying Sword, as his personal sword. Starting with this, he first seized power in his homeland, then launched a massive war that swept across the entire West Saint Continent. The war lasted for decades, producing countless heroes and unparalleled powerhouses, but ultimately all fell to his might and wisdom.

In the year the Saint Emperor turned one hundred, he finally completed his conquest of the continent. From then on, the West Saint Continent no longer had any national borders. Instead, it was dominated by an unprecedented superpower— the West Saint Dynasty. He also became the first man in history to unify a continent.

Alas, nothing in this world lasts forever, and this unprecedented dynasty was pitifully short-lived. Lacking any precedent for governing such a superpower, the Saint Emperor and his founding ministers could only learn by trial and error, exploring through repeated failures. This resulted in the people living in dire poverty in the early years of the dynasty, almost to the point of despair. But this was secondary; the most fatal flaw was a flawed imperial edict issued by the Saint Emperor, an edict that directly impacted the fate of this continent for the next two thousand years—he declared that the people of the West Saint Dynasty had freedom of religion.

In other words, he granted people the right to freely practice their religion.

The decision itself had good intentions, aiming to protect civil rights and appease the people, but it led to the worst possible outcome. The remnants of the conquered states seized the opportunity to establish religions, recruit followers under the banner of religion, expand their power, and accumulate strength. When the time was right, they launched a counterattack, causing great turmoil in the newly established dynasty.

The Saint Emperor, already aged, was forced to lead his army to quell the rebellion, but the constraints of age, old wounds, and long-standing ailments limited his strength. Ultimately, he fell ill during a small-scale battle, and even the best healers were helpless. Thus, the emperor died. At the same time as his death, the loyal Emperor Slaying Sword that had always accompanied him broke on its own. In the struggle for the fragments of the Divine Artifact, another Blood Rain erupted within the royal family. The remnants of the old kingdom, who used religion as a cover, seized the opportunity to launch a joint attack. The Western Holy Royal Family collapsed, and the fragments of the Emperor Slaying Sword, as well as the Saint Emperor's relic— the Holy Crown that could control the "first army"—disappeared without a trace.

However, the turmoil in the West Saint Continent did not end there. After the collapse of the royal family, what remained were all sorts of religions, large and small. Everyone wanted to become the next Saint Emperor, and everyone wanted to establish the next superpower. Thus, the West Saint Continent fell into a religious war that lasted for five hundred years.

Over the long years, as the founders of the sects—the remnants of the old kingdom—passed away one after another, their original intention of "overthrowing the Saint Emperor and restoring the old kingdom" was completely forgotten. Later followers and even popes believed from the bottom of their hearts that they were God's messengers and believers. As long as life goes on, the holy war never ends. In the end, the two strongest religions emerged: the Divine Law Cult and the Rakshasa Divine Sect. The former had the Truth Incantation, and the latter had the Rakshasa True Word.

The religious conflict ultimately evolved into a showdown between these two major forces, their greatest trump cards being these two Divine Item. The first Pope of the Divine Law Cult, the unparalleled genius MacArthur, devoted his entire life to fully comprehending the structure of the Truth Incantation, allowing the Divine Law Cult to unleash its power completely, even beyond its limits. In contrast, the Rakshasa True Word Truth Incantation was far too violent, to the point that none of the successive Grand Sect Master of the Rakshasa Divine Sect could fully control it. Furthermore, its power form was too singular, serving no purpose other than enhancing pure violence.

Finally, 1,500 years ago, the Rakshasa Divine Sect was defeated and completely expelled from the West Saint Continent by the Divine Law Cult. It had no choice but to relocate to the South Spirit Continent to rebuild, and its scale was much smaller than before.

The Divine Law Cult emerged victorious, controlling the entire West Saint Continent, and all its people became its followers. The Pope and Cardinal Archbishop. Learning from the fall of the Western Sacred Dynasty, they granted the people a degree of freedom while firmly controlling their thoughts with "divine doctrine," thus governing the continent with impregnable stability. The Papacy held power, maintaining strict discipline; the people lived in peace and prosperity, their faith unwavering. That was the most prosperous period for the West Saint Continent.

But that prosperity is long gone. Nothing in this world is eternal, much less perfect. As time passed, the Papacy became increasingly corrupt, its control over the people grew more and more obsessive, and clergy everywhere oppressed the people under the guise of God. More than two hundred years ago, all kinds of darkness finally overflowed, the Papacy became increasingly corrupt, and the West Saint Continent finally descended into darkness once again.

When the girl opened her eyes, she found that her hands and feet were tightly bound.

Looking around, she found herself in a small but luxurious room. Ebony furniture, solid gold candlesticks, silk carpets, and a soft, large bed beneath her.

This was the first time in her life she had ever lain on such a comfortable bed, a world of difference from the hard wooden bed at home, but this bed did not make her feel at ease.

Where am I?

This is the first time I've ever seen such a beautiful room. The town only has old stone houses and roughly made furniture; the only building that could be considered luxurious is...

"Are you awake, little Alice?"

Suddenly a sound came from the doorway, and an obese man squeezed in. He had a face full of fat and eyes as black as beans. He wore an ornate priest's robe and a small diamond-encrusted cross around his neck.

She recognized him.

"Father Westminster ..."

"Yes, yes~ you still remember me, my cute little lamb."

How could she not remember? Father Westminster was the owner of the town's central church, the only one so magnificent in a town full of rough stone houses. Every weekend, the whole town would come to pray there, and often aunties and older sisters would be kept there by him for some unknown reason. Alice's best friend was one of them. That morning, they went to church to pray together, but her friend didn't return home until evening. She was covered in bruises, her legs stained with blood, and she lay in bed for three days before she could walk again...

Alice remembered. She'd come to church to find out what had happened to her friend. Only eleven years old, she wasn't very wary, and the doctrine always said clergy were kind people, so she accepted the water the priest poured for her, drank it, and then... and then...

"Why... why are you tying me up?"

"Yes, why?"

With a strange smile, the priest ripped off his magnificent priestly robes, revealing his flabby body.

"Father?"

"It's all your fault..."

The priest grinned wickedly and ripped Alice's coarse cloth dress, revealing the girl's snow-white body.

"You eat the same kind of food as pigs, yet you've developed so well. Every day you tempt me with your lewd little body. Do you know that this is also a kind of original sin?"

Alice tried to scream, but the priest pulled down her panties and stuffed them into her mouth, then pressed her down with his obese body.

" In the In the Name of God... in the In the Name of God... hehe... you disobedient little lamb must be punished..."

His sticky voice trembled with excitement, his heavy breath spraying onto the girl's face. Alice wanted to cry, wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Even she understood what he was going to do; she simply couldn't believe it. Didn't the doctrine say that clergy were all kind? Didn't they love every believer? She prayed every night before bed, always listened to her parents, never slacked off at work, and never complained even though they lived in a small, dilapidated house. Why, why, why would the Most High God allow this to happen? Had she really sinned? Committed adultery? She clearly, clearly, clearly—

"Hehehe... Little Alice... God's baptism is about to begin--"

The priest quickly pulled down his pants, revealing his ugly genitals. Alice closed her eyes in pain, vaguely hearing noises coming from outside—

Boom!!!

Suddenly, the soundproof wall on one side of the room burst open, scattering dust and stones everywhere. At the same time, deafening roars and sounds of hacking and slashing came from outside.

A tall figure emerged from the dust.

"W-who are you!? Do you even know where this is?!"

The priest, terrified, scrambled to his feet and grabbed at the crucifix, a symbol of his high-ranking priesthood.

"Of course I know where this is—"

A long, slender hand, calloused from years of hard work, gripped his neck.

In an instant, the person was in front of him.

"--It's a cesspool that breeds maggots like you!"

--Click!

He easily snapped the cervical vertebra and then threw it away—simple and brutal.

Alice then got a clear look at him.

He has flowing gray-white hair, a handsome face that is young yet full of determination, striking heterochromatic eyes, a simple yet beautiful dark red trench coat, a blood-stained Greatsword on his back, and a blood-dripping sword tattooed on his chest.

She recognized the logo.

This is the symbol of a massive violent group that the Vatican has always described as a monstrous flood, blasphemous, harmful to the people, and disruptive to all order.

Blood Blade Knights.

But she wasn't afraid.

The handsome young man before me, not yet twenty, was completely different from the monstrous villain the Vatican had described. He had even eliminated the evil priest who had tried to harm him, making him seem like a prince from a fairy tale.

"Hey, are you alright, little sister...?"

The underwear stuffed in her mouth was pulled out, and the ropes binding her hands and feet were loosened, but she was still in shock.

"I originally intended to chop off his head, but it wouldn't be good to let such a small child get covered in blood, so I used a method that wouldn't draw blood... If you're not injured, hurry home. No one will bully you again. All the money that scumbag has been extorting from you will be distributed in full, so don't worry."

His voice was very gentle, like a warm current, with a reassuring Magic Power. Alice blushed without realizing it, quickly thanked him, and ran away.

"It ran away... Was I too scary?"

"I think she was just smitten by how handsome you are, Nid."

"Ah, Sister Xue, you're here. Has everything been resolved?"

"Needless to say? The troops stationed here are nothing but a rabble."

Approaching was a beautiful woman in her early twenties who bore a striking resemblance to "Nid," exuding an extremely gentle and intellectual aura. She wore the same dark red military uniform as Nid, creating a stark contrast with her gentle demeanor, but this contrast only enhanced her charm.

Where are the townspeople?

"We are currently trying to calm people down. Most people are still very scared, but quite a few are also happy about the death of these scumbags."

"I've startled them..." Nid stroked his hair, feeling a little guilty.

"Let's put that aside for now. In short, we need to establish a base here as soon as possible and lay in ambush with our main force. The paladins' army will never expect that you and I— the Blood Blade Knights— will appear in this inconspicuous town."

"For the battle a month from now...?"

"This battle is crucial. If we win, we can control the strategically vital Torres Ecclesiastical Province!"

"By the way, Sister Xue, news came from Sasin's side."

"Um?"

"They say he's the vice-captain... so it's pretty much certain that the champion of the Northern Realm Rally is the Blood Emperor's successor."

"--Ehhhhhhh!?"

This happened two months ago in an inconspicuous small town.

A month later, the battle, later known as the Battle of Torres, began with the Paladin Heavy Armor Brigade being ambushed by the main force of the Revolutionary Army.

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Volume 4, Chapter 1! Finally, it's Volume 4! But I need to revise the outline again quickly... Right now, the plot of Volume 4 seems a bit messy.