Saint Monica, Death Is Near

After a sufficiently long period of rest, his weary consciousness seemed to have finally recovered somewhat, but Qin Chu did not attempt to destroy the other statues.

It's impossible.

Just one statue had almost exhausted him; if he were to do it again, his consciousness might be trapped in Athena's Soul World, never to escape again.

Inside the bedroom, Qin Chu's eyelashes trembled slightly.

A few seconds later, Qin Chu finally opened his eyes.

Before he could even assess his current physical condition or clearly see the scene in the bedroom, Qin Chu's brows furrowed tightly.

He could smell a strong, metallic scent of blood in his nasal cavity.

Something happened.

Her previously somewhat vacant eyes instantly regained their sparkle, and the first thing she saw was Antia stood by the bed like a statue, holding a long spear.

Athena has not yet woken up.

Angelica and Antasia stood by the window and doorway, where several corpses lay on the ground, along with large patches of blood.

The sounds of fighting can still be heard outside.

Qin Chu finally separated from Athena and quickly pulled the clothes off the bed to put them on.

"Master, you're awake?" Angelica noticed the movement behind her and realized that Qin Chu had woken up. Her eyes widened for a moment, as if her master had become somewhat different.

Does it seem more attractive now?

However, Angelica didn't think too much about it, and a look of joy appeared on her face.

Qin Chu nodded, walked to Angelica's side, and looked out the window. Blood flowed like a river, corpses lay everywhere, and severed limbs were scattered all over the place.

"These people suddenly appeared for no reason, like a bunch of madmen," Angelica explained softly. Up close, she could feel the charm emanating from her master even more, and her cheeks inexplicably flushed slightly.

"These people are somewhat similar to the thugs who attacked the palace that time." Antasia also came up behind her and said quietly. She also sensed the change in Qin Chu. After waking up, Qin Chu seemed to have a strange attraction that drew her closer.

Qin Chu nodded. He also recalled the night he eliminated Mavis, when a group of madmen like this were causing chaos in the city.

However, the group of people in front of them were more terrifying and twisted than the previous ones.

These people are probably also followers of the Lord of Pleasure.

The number of followers of the Lord of Pleasure is truly astonishing. After suffering heavy losses from repeated attacks, it's unexpected that they could still muster such a formidable force.

Could this be the Lord of Pleasure's revenge on me?

Please, you're a god, for goodness' sake! How can you be so petty?

All they did was throw one of your idols into a latrine, crush the dog's head of one of your idols, and kill hundreds or thousands of believers.

This isn't really anything too outrageous, is it?

To actually incite believers to seek revenge is a disgrace to God; this Lord of Pleasure is far too petty.

A magnanimous person like Qin Chu has always looked down on such petty and vindictive scum.

Stretching, Qin Chu prepared to move his body a little, but at that moment Qin Chu suddenly noticed that above the palace... no, to be precise, outside the palace, above the heads of the large number of followers of the Lord of Pleasure who were besieging this place, there were wisps of light purple mist-like marks.

These strange traces lead to the boundless starry sky, holding a mysterious attraction for Qin Chu.

Qin Chu could even sense the thoughts swirling in the purple light of the thugs below, their minds filled with frenzy, madness, and a thirst for Desire.

After their victory, they will indulge in endless, extreme indulgence.

Qin Chu frowned slightly and stopped in his tracks, preparing to rush out.

After a brief hesitation, a flash of inspiration struck, and he opened the panel.

Previously, when Qin Chu was in Athena's soul space, he used the Devourer to extract the energy contained within the statue. However, he couldn't open the panel inside, and Qin Chu didn't know what he had obtained.

After a quick glance, Qin Chu was shocked by his gains: his Magic Power had increased by two thousand points, which was an absolutely staggering number.

Physical strength, defense, and power all increased to some extent, although not as dramatically as Magic Power, but definitely not by much.

Her charm stat even increased by two points; no wonder Angelica had that strange reaction.

None of that mattered. What truly shocked Qin Chu was that, below all the attribute values and powers, there was yet another column.

Authority!

When Qin Chu saw those two words, his heart skipped a beat.

Authority—only the gods can wield authority.

Although Witch inherited the authority of those fallen gods, almost none of Witch had a good ending. They were all tormented by the Divine Authority, either going mad or coming close to madness.

Qin Chu pondered to himself, could it be that the statues on the strange altar in Athena's Soul World had been endowed with some Divinity by the Lord of Pleasure?

When he used the Devourer to absorb the power within the statue, he also stole the Divinity contained within it.

In other words, one now possesses some of the Divinity of the Lord of Pleasure within oneself, and the pale purple haze in the sky is actually the faith of the followers of Sin of Desire towards the Lord of Pleasure?

False. The Sin of Desire Divine Authority -- You possess the ability to manipulate Desire. The stronger the Desire, the stronger the ability. Whether it is your own or that of others, all beings loyal to Desire are your most devout followers. Guide them on the path of pleasure!

Chapter Four is here, and there will be a fifth update.

Chapter 325 Saint Monica, Death is Imminent (5)

There is one more word before "the Sin of Desire Divine Authority": false.

Just like Pseudo-Absolute Defense, Qin Chu could easily understand what this meant.

Although he had gained some Divinity by absorbing the power from the idol, this Divinity was quite weak, and the true Sin of Desire Divine Authority still remained in the hands of the Lord of Pleasure.

The existence of authority is unique to each individual.

As long as the Lord of Pleasure lives, the Sin of Desire Divine Authority that he wields is a counterfeit, a mere copy.

However, even if it is just a fake, this Sin of Desire Divine Authority already has some of the functions of a real authority. It's just a pity that the description of the False Sin of Desire Divine Authority is too ambiguous and doesn't provide much specific explanation.

Qin Chu could only make a rough judgment: besides manipulating the Desire of others and himself, and becoming stronger by absorbing the power of Desire, he could even establish his own Church, recruit believers, and absorb the faith emanating from believers, just like a true god.

All in all, this should be a good thing, right?

Although the Divine Authority would drive the Witch mad, she possessed the power of Holy Light and had the Sapling and the Goddess's Hair, so she could exert the power of the Divine Authority being corrupted by it.

Qin Chu immersed his consciousness in his body, and after a careful examination, he finally discovered a faint purple trace floating right next to the roots of the Sapling.

This trace must be the Divinity I absorbed from the idol.

The Sapling was swaying gently. It had sprouted a dark purple leaf after devouring the offspring of the Evil God. Within that leaf was stored the energy of the offspring of the Lord of Pleasure.

During this time, the Sapling stayed obediently inside the body, purifying this power.

However, the power of the Evil God's offspring and the power of the believers are on completely different levels. Even with the Sapling's abilities, it would take a long time to completely purify them.

Now that Qin Chu has grasped this trace of Divinity, the Sapling is transferring the power from its leaves into the Divinity.

Although extremely faint, the Divinity seemed to be growing and strengthening.

After glancing once more at the faith that was continuously spreading towards the starry sky, Qin Chu seemed to have a sudden realization.

Faith is one of the sources of divine power.

A powerful deity cannot rely solely on faith, but faith can indeed make a deity stronger. This formless and intangible being seems to possess some kind of mysterious and powerful energy.

The reason why the seven deities in the Void have been trying to erode this world may lie here: they can suppress the Goddess of Holy Light, but they cannot destroy her.

As long as the Goddess of Holy Light is not destroyed, they will remain trapped in the Void.

If one can spread their faith throughout the Skyvault Continent, it will weaken the power of the Goddess of Holy Light on one hand, and strengthen their own power on the other. With this balance of power, it will only be a matter of time before the Goddess of Holy Light is completely destroyed.

Perhaps this time will be very long, taking thousands or even tens of thousands of years, but for those beings with endless lifespans and near immortality, thousands or tens of thousands of years is just a subtle number.

After a long while, Qin Chu finally raised his head.

Looking at the faith drifting towards the stars ahead, a smile suddenly appeared on my lips.

Throwing the idol of the Lord of Pleasure into a cesspool, crushing the dog's head of one of His idols, and stealing a wisp of His Divinity caused the Lord of Pleasure to directly mobilize all His followers to try to kill Him.

If even His faith is now taken away, wouldn't that guy be furious?

With a slightly strange expression, Qin Chu felt it was extremely unethical to exploit someone like this.

But it was really fun.

With his right hand outstretched towards the Void in front of him, his fingers slightly bent as if grasping something, Qin Chu's expression gradually turned solemn. A few seconds later, he roared, "Come here!"

Buzz...

Unbeknownst to anyone, in the night sky, patches of purple mist seemed to be drawn by a great force, instantly transforming into a vortex in mid-air and rapidly surging towards Qin Chu's direction.

Qin Chu's body was like a giant vortex, Greed devouring the power of faith.

Perhaps because the Divinity within Qin Chu was too weak, it visibly increased in size after absorbing this wave of faith.

The faith that was supposed to be absorbed by the Lord of Pleasure was intercepted by him halfway through. That androgynous creature in the Void must be furious now, right?

I am truly happy.

Angelica and Antasia were both looking at Qin Chu with strange eyes, not understanding why Qin Chu was suddenly laughing to himself, and with such a cunning smile.

Shaking his head, Qin Chu abandoned his plan to laugh at the Lord of Pleasure and turned his gaze forward again.

Even though he could only see one direction, Qin Chu could sense the presence of all the believers around the entire palace in his mind, each believer being a tiny point of light.

Almost all the points of light were dim and lacked luster.

These believers' lives have come to an end.

They burned their souls and lives in exchange for immense power; when this energy dissipated, that would be the moment of their death.

However, some distance from the palace, he saw a bright, fluorescent purple light. Compared to the dim points of light, that light appeared even brighter and more dazzling, like the moon surrounded by stars.

Qin Chu looked in that direction, but it was too far away to see clearly. However, right before Qin Chu's eyes, the darkness, like a fog, was gradually dispelled, and the scene on the mountaintop was revealed to Qin Chu.

When the last layer of mist was lifted, Qin Chu finally saw the figure standing thousands of meters away.

Saint Monica!

It really was her.

The brightest star among all believers, whose brilliance cannot be matched by all the Saint Monica combined.

At this point, Qin Chu had no more doubts. Saint Monica might not be the president of the Bliss Witch Coven, but she was definitely the leader among all the followers of the Lord of Pleasure.

This woman really knows how to hide her true nature.

If Qin Chu hadn't accidentally learned some information from Athena's memories and pieced together all the clues, he wouldn't have even suspected this woman.

The only thing that puzzled Qin Chu was that Saint Monica's purple eyes seemed to flicker with some hesitation; she did not join the siege of the palace like the other fanatical believers.

Her sense of self seems to still exist and has not been completely eroded.

Qin Chu, his fingers gripping his chin, was considering whether to take advantage of the night to win over Saint Monica as well. Phil had been swirling in his mind for a long time.

However... let's deal with these lunatics first.

Qin Chu opened his arms, feeling a connection between himself and the madmen below, lost in their Desire.

He could even use this invisible connection to directly Sin of Desire... well, could it be called Divine Oracle?

The smile on his face grew increasingly malicious.

Below, the battle continues.

Suddenly, Violet, Ekaterina, Sylph, and everyone else's expressions turned strange. They didn't understand what had happened. These crazy guys who had been attacking relentlessly suddenly stopped what they were doing and stood motionless like puppets.

The purple light in their eyes grew increasingly intense, their faces wore almost distorted smiles, and their gazes were fixed on the sky above them, listening to the voice descending from the Void.

The eerie scene even sent chills down Violet's spine.

This situation didn't last long; soon their raised heads drooped, and just as Ekaterina gripped her sword hilt again, thinking the battle would continue, she was surprised to see the Knight before her suddenly roar:

"Heresy!"

The next second, the spear in his hand pierced through the chest of a nobleman next to him with a soft thud.

"Heretics, die..." On the other side, a mercenary also raised his butcher's knife high and slashed at the nun behind him.

The nobleman's private soldiers also threw their weapons at their comrades.

In an instant, chaos erupted before my eyes.

Violet, Sylph, and the others exchanged bewildered glances, none of them understanding what had happened. Why had the madmen who had been gathered together to besiege the palace suddenly turned on each other?