Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Radiant Church (光明教廷) |
| Affiliation | Ruling institution of the Holy Union 7 |
| Occupation/Role | Religious organization devoted to the Lord of Light 31 176 |
| Headquarters | Initially the Radiant Temple in Fenlai City’s West City; later Radiant Holy Island 7 31 140 |
| Status | Its headquarters and leadership were destroyed; members remained scattered across Yulan 177 179 |
| First Appearance | Chapter 7 |
Organization and Influence
- Political authority: The Church controlled the Holy Union’s six kingdoms and fifteen duchies. Its Pope could depose a kingdom’s ruler, while Cardinals ranked above kings in status 7 50.
- Leadership and forces: Pope Heidens led the Church. Its ranks included Cardinals, priests, Temple Knights, Ascetics, Religious Inquisition deacons, angels, and other Saint Realm experts 31 175.
- Religious practice: The Pope presided over Fenlai City’s Yulan Festival mass, which included confession, prayer, thanksgiving, and singing. The ceremony drew a vast crowd of believers 31.
- Expansion: The Church maintained churches across the Chaos Territory and had sought to expand there for thousands of years, in competition with the Dark Church. Heidens linked gaining believers to receiving more of the Lord’s grace 140 146.
- Souls and faith: Sessler described the Church as offering pure souls to the Sovereign of Light and seeking more believers for their faith. Lin Feng later stated that the Church killed his mother, Lina, and offered her soul to the Sovereign 141 404.
History
Fenlai City and Lin Feng
The Church first appears as the dominant power in Fenlai City’s West City, where it held magic aptitude tests at its cathedral. Its Radiant Temple served as the city’s religious center 7 31.
After Lin Feng became known as a seventeen-year-old seventh-rank mage, Cardinal Gilmer sought to recruit him. The Church gave him advanced earth- and wind-element spell books, assigned guards to him, and offered him the chance to study under an Ascetic. Lin Feng remained outwardly courteous but did not intend to join: he held the Church responsible for his mother’s death 50 51 55 56 57 176.
During the magical-beast invasion of Fenlai City, the Radiant Temple’s defensive array initially held against attacks but eventually failed. Dilin demanded that the Church abandon its Holy Capital and retreat north 66 67.
Conflict in the Chaos Territory
Lin Feng later killed Church personnel while rescuing the necromancer Sessler and the five Barker brothers. The Church placed him on its blacklist. As his strength grew, Heidens judged an attack on him too costly and ordered the Church to stop targeting him 94 98 112 140.
Lin Feng instead began undermining the Church’s long-established position in the Chaos Territory. He eventually unified the region and drove out both the Radiant and Dark Churches 141 162.
Destruction of Holy Island
Lin Feng agreed to destroy the Radiant Church as part of a plan to reshape Yulan’s political order. On Holy Island, Heidens committed thirty-six Saint Realm experts to Luo Ye’s Great Hexagram Battle Formation against him 174 175.
Lin Feng, by then a Midgod, destroyed the Radiant Temple and killed all thirty-six defenders. Heidens’s attempt to summon further help also failed. Lin Feng then shattered Holy Island with wind blades, sinking the Church’s headquarters 176 177.
The loss of its leadership left the Holy Union vulnerable to invasion. Church personnel remained elsewhere in Yulan, however, and some fanatical followers refused to give up 179.
Relationships
- Lin Feng Baruch — initially courted as a promising mage; later the Church’s enemy and the person who destroyed its Holy Island 55 112 177.
- Dark Church — rival for influence in the Chaos Territory 140.
- Dilin — led the magical beasts that destroyed the Church’s Fenlai temple and forced it to seek another Holy Capital 66 67.
- Sessler — a necromancer targeted and captured by the Church before Lin Feng rescued him 94 95.