The falcon's blood had already turned into terrifying flames. This might have been arranged long ago specifically to target her, but Rilielsa did not care. When you were hungry enough, even if you knew something was poison, you would swallow it as food without hesitation.
Teams were gathering beneath the Gate of Reincarnation, forming one independent square formation after another. Some had more people, over a thousand; others had fewer, only a few dozen.
Their banners differed, as did their clan crests. These were not the Reincarnation Church's internal forces, but the Families under its authority.
During the war between Reincarnation and Order, the Families had suffered almost no repercussions. The reason Reincarnation had surrendered to Order so quickly was also that it had run out of capacity to wage war.
At the time, the Families led by Simorson had been unwilling to commit their reserves to continuing the war against Order's knight orders.
Anyone with eyes could see that unless other orthodox churches chose to join the war and help, Reincarnation could not win. They would inevitably lose this war. But prolonging it would increase Order's expenditure, securing better terms for the subsequent negotiations and reducing their losses.
Yet the Families had refused to accept such expenditure.
From their standpoint, they would rather the war ended sooner, then rise again under the banner of defeat and reclaim their positions.
The Simorson name's return to the position of Gatekeeper after the war was the most direct symbol of the Families' return.
Otherwise, under even slightly normal circumstances, given the Reincarnation Church's overall strength at the time, it could not possibly have surrendered after just one day of fighting.
For this reason, the Order God Church had actively learned its "lessons from victory":
A reform targeting the Families within the church