The Church

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	The Church
Alias(es)	Holy Light Church; Holy Church
Occupation/Role	Religious institution centered on Holy Light doctrine; political and military power that governs the Hori Kingdom and seeks influence abroad 14 478
Status	Active; its control of the Hori Kingdom's Royal Capital is severely disrupted when the Wood Army captures the city and St. Peter's Cathedral burns 928
First Appearance	Chapter 14

Background / History

The Church attributes its founding to the first Pope, a praying boy who manifested Holy Light after Cain and Abel's conflict. Its first oracle, “The Holy Light shrouds the world,” was supposedly received from a blade fragment later enshrined beneath St. Peter's Cathedral. 14 25

Over more than a thousand years, it grew from a charitable institution for the poor into a continent-dominating power. Three hundred years before Benjamin's story, the Hori Kingdom—built around the Holy See—was the continent's strongest state; its royal family functioned as the Church's puppets. 14

The Church's own mythology presents divine arts as humanity's answer to Cain's demonic legacy. Mage accounts instead describe Abel's followers as organizing the Church, winning noble and popular support, and ultimately suppressing Cain's scattered followers through mass persecution of mages. 25 30

A later account claims that the modern Holy Light Church is only a remnant of an older continent-wide institution created to contain elemental catastrophes. According to this version, the Church erased its earlier history after fanatics transformed it into a religion centered on divine worship. 829

Leadership crises

The sixth Pope was killed by the Old Madam; his body vanished, while a clone in the cathedral basement perished alongside a shattered cross. 133

A bishop concealed the Pope's death, summoned the kingdom's hundred bishops to choose a successor, and murdered a priest who knew the secret. 137

Grant later assassinated that bishop amid an internal power struggle, then became Pope after securing the bishops' obedience through slaughter, threats, and promises of profit. 637 663

Organization and Control

Rank / branch	Known function
Pope	Supreme religious leader; inherits exceptional Holy Light power and commands Church policy and military operations. 717 757
Bishops	Regional leaders who direct priests, Paladins, investigations, purges, and political expansion. 14 404
Priests / clerics	Conduct worship, train apprentices, administer local churches, wield divine arts, and often operate as the Church's political agents. 373 433
Paladins	Armed Church personnel; their memories are read upon becoming Paladins, and each is assigned a cross that shatters upon their death. 61 62
Purifiers	Elite force commanded by the Bishop of St. Peter's Cathedral for pursuing and purging alleged heretics. 14

The Church regulates daily life in the Hori Kingdom through baptism, marriage vows, funeral rites, and compulsory religious authority. Doubting God or defying the Church is treated as unacceptable. 14

Its control extends to surveillance and intelligence. The Church reads Paladins' memories during induction, uses death-linked crosses to track losses, maintains spies abroad, and has employed memory-reading tools against nobles. 61 62 82 693

Its internal discipline is imperfect: Paladins are not routinely memory-checked after induction, and priests have repeatedly disagreed over investigations, succession, and crisis management. 61 98 634

Doctrine and Practices

The Church calls mages fallen souls, demonic servants, or sinners. It publicly declares that purifying every mage on the continent will lift Cain's curse and allow God to reveal Himself again. 14 82

It presents divine arts as gifts of Holy Light, maintaining strict secrecy around their incantations and training. Benjamin later publicly demonstrates that divine arts are a form of magic and establishes light-magic instruction at the Magic Academy. 571

The Church uses faith as both a social and political instrument:

• It recruits people with talent for Holy Light, including vulnerable youths such as the orphan Chris, by offering redemption and purpose. 433
• It trains local priest apprentices in secret underground churches while expanding into new territories. 428 432
• It suppresses magical literature through decrees, searches, denunciation rewards, and fear of arrest. 455
• It brands opponents as heretics or mage-controlled traitors, including the Hori King after his escape from Havenlight. 845

Abilities & Resources

Divine Arts

Church spellcasters channel Holy Light for offense, defense, restraint, preservation, and empowerment.

• Holy Light Barrier — shields Church forces against physical attacks, magic, and Mind Arts; sustained assaults can eventually weaken it. 791 795
• Holy Light Chains — an advanced binding spell that strikes with apparent certainty; a bishop can cast it instantly through a special silver cross. 506
• Blessings — improve soldiers' resistance to magic and fighting spirit. 404
• Golden halos — a devastating Holy Light technique that incapacitates large groups; at least one priest serves as a vessel for spiritual power connected to glyphs. 573 575

Crosses and relics

• Paladin crosses — divine-art vessels linked to individual Paladins; they shatter upon the owner's death. 62
• Life-saving crosses — layered defensive artifacts used by priests and bishops. 373 428
• God's Eyes — silver-bead communication tools used by Church forces; their transmissions can be obstructed. 57 131
• Holy relic blade fragment — the Church's foundational relic, kept in the deepest part of St. Peter's Cathedral according to its origin story. 25
• Ginkgo-leaf key — a core inheritance tied to a door in the Elemental Plane and the immense power granted to successive Popes. 717 718 723

Military weapons

• Holy Light Cannon — a priest-operated war machine that absorbs ambient light elements and can produce a Holy Light Bomb every ten minutes, with power comparable to advanced magic. 693
• Silent Cross — a large-scale barrier artifact whose blueprints are among the Church's guarded designs. 693
• Cross Formations — seven-cross combat formations used by bishops for defense and attack. 506

Political Expansion

Hori Kingdom

The Church's center is St. Peter's Cathedral in Havenlight, the Hori Kingdom's Royal Capital. It commands the kingdom's religious hierarchy, maintains armed forces, and progressively merges church and state under Pope Grant. 14 912

By this period, nonbelievers near the Royal Capital are compelled to attend daily services or risk being branded heretics, while priests, officials, and generals answer together to Grant in the royal palace. 912

Frieden

The Church secretly controlled the Mages' Fellowship in Frieden, using infiltrators to acquire magical books and blueprints and imprison mages skilled in crafting magical items. 352 353

It later attempted to take over the country through Bishop Victor, influence over the royal court, control of troops, anti-mage decrees, and propaganda. Its efforts met organized resistance fueled by The Manifesto of Free Magic and anti-Church newspapers. 367 387 392

Caritas

In Caritas, the Church quietly assassinated mages, removed them from public offices, shut down Mages' Fellowship branches, spread anti-mage rumors, and pushed mages into hiding. 426

It built secret churches, trained local priests, elevated believers into political positions, and ultimately adopted a new public shell as Caritas's state religion. 428 478

Its influence over the Caritas king included pressure to ban books such as The Manifesto of Free Magic. 432 455

Relationships

• Pope Grant — Supreme leader after assassinating a bishop and securing the papacy; his rule is marked by harsh internal punishment and escalating conflict with Benjamin. 637 663 845
• Benjamin — Principal mage opponent; he exposes the connection between divine arts and magic, organizes resistance, steals the Church's key, and repeatedly undermines its authority. 571 723 850
• Hori royal family — Historically subordinated to Church authority; the king is effectively held under Church control until Benjamin helps remove him from Havenlight. 14 841
• Caritas king — Initially invited the Church into Caritas, then secretly allied with Benjamin after realizing he was becoming its puppet. 426 428
• Overseas Sect — Rival religious power; the Church's expedition destroys its island settlement after overcoming its defenses and sacred relics. 795 801
• Mages — Long-term targets of suppression, imprisonment, execution, and ideological persecution. 30 82 472

Story Role / Major Arcs

• The Church first appears as the dominant institution of the Hori Kingdom, with Benjamin approaching St. Peter's Cathedral for information on Michelle. The Bishop refuses to lift Benjamin's curse and intends to use him as bait. 14
• Its pursuit of mages intensifies through raids, Purifier deployments, public executions, false notices, and efforts to conceal operational failures. 62 69 108
• After the sixth Pope's death, Church leadership conceals the loss, turns against itself, and eventually elevates Grant as the new Pope. 133 137 637 663
• The Church expands beyond Hori through covert infiltration, political capture, anti-mage propaganda, secret churches, and the establishment of a state religion in Caritas. 352 426 428 478
• It escalates into open warfare against mage organizations, deploying large priest-and-soldier forces, divine artifacts, Holy Light Cannons, and Pope Grant himself. 472 755 777
• Benjamin's campaigns expose Church doctrine, seize its strategic key, inspire rebellion in Hori, and reveal its indulgence-printing workshops. 571 723 844 853
• Widespread strikes and rebellion weaken the Church's domestic control. The Wood Army eventually captures the Royal Capital, leaving St. Peter's Cathedral burning and Church priests fleeing or imprisoned. 853 928

Notable Quotes

“The Holy Light shrouds the world.” 14

“May God bless our cause and purge this world of every sinner.” 472

“His Majesty the King has been controlled by mages using wicked arts and has lost the ability to judge rationally.” 845

Trivia

• Priests and clerics are considered materially wealthy compared with Paladins and Purifiers, and their magical items can often be useful to mages. 96
• The fourth Pope's Prayer Space and Seal of Holy Light method reportedly allowed rapid divine casting, stored Holy Light, and avoided ordinary spiritual-power bottlenecks. 31
• The Church has developed more than twenty varieties of portable crosses with different effects. 693