A wise and benevolent ruler, Hajinuo; a foolish and incompetent pope, Adam.
With the start of the war between the Blood-Boya Allied Forces and the Papal State army, it immediately entered a white-hot stage.
Unfortunately, if the Great War was a war of attrition instigated by the Papal State to deplete the strength of other countries, then the Holy War is now a life-or-death struggle between the two sides.
On one side is the Vampire Empire and Imperium of Man controlled by Norton, and on the other side is the Papal State, which wants to completely exterminate Vampire. The two sides have absolute contradictions in their positions and are both centralized countries. Therefore, once the war starts, it will be a large-scale battle of the highest degree.
However, both sides do indeed have serious problems.
The Papal State has long treated its people inhumanely, and its high-ranking officials are all mentally unstable individuals cultivated through perverse methods. This has resulted in a severe deficiency in its domestic logistics compared to the Boya Empire and the Blood Court, forcing it to resort to cannibalism as military rations to ensure supplies for the front lines.
Furthermore, their commanders and knights are all fanatics whose minds are filled with religious dogma. In the war against heretics like Vampire, they often lose their temper and have no superior tactics on the battlefield. In fact, once they lose their temper, their troops are unable to form ranks and only know how to charge madly.
In almost every war, the Papal State' army would line up, only to find Vampire on the other side, and a group of soldiers would immediately go berserk.
Shouting the name of 'heretics,' they charged forward madly, dragging various weapons along, like wildebeest migrating across the African savanna—a completely mismatched formation!
The Blood-Boya Allied Forces also had significant problems. Norton's ascension to the throne was illegitimate. Although he placed Yalian III on the front lines in an attempt to motivate the soldiers and stabilize the Boya Empire's internal affairs, under Yalian III's deliberate control, their tactics were extremely cowardly, and the soldiers' morale was low. They mainly focused on defending themselves against Yalian III to prevent their emperor from dying on the battlefield.
The Blood Court Vampire also faced significant problems on the battlefield. Having been oppressed by Lord Norton for years, they were now sent to the front lines again, causing their fighting spirit to almost completely wane. Furthermore, desertions were rampant, forcing the Blood Court to send Abraham to oversee the army and execute all deserters in order to prevent the Blood Court forces from collapsing.
Even so, the lack of fighting spirit could not be compensated for.
But this group of taciturn soldiers knew how to obey orders and could form a battle formation, so they were able to hold their own against the Papal State ' group of lunatics, constantly fighting each other.
The battle raged for three months, with the death toll on both sides steadily rising.
The Papal State harbor strong hostility towards Vampire and the heretics who aid Vampire. Their army, brainwashed by the doctrine, is determined to fight to the death; once war breaks out, they will either annihilate the enemy or perish themselves.
Their frenzied fighting style forced the Blood-Boya Allied Forces to engage in a fierce battle with them in order to protect themselves.
This resulted in terrifying casualties on both sides, with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands killed or wounded in each battle. The two armies often fought to the point of extinction, and only when one side was wiped out could the fighting finally stop.
Such a terrifying level of death is unprecedented in the Southern Continent, unparalleled in history!
Although the Blood-Boya Allied Forces lacked fighting spirit, it had advantages in formation, logistics, and most importantly, Norton showed no mercy, frequently conscripting hundreds of thousands of people to the front lines. This caused the Papal State' logistics to gradually become insufficient, and it began to show signs of decline.
But at this very moment, the Pope's previous benevolent policies began to show their effects.
After the cities in the Duchy of Kate that had been occupied by the Papal State were captured by the Blood-Boya Allied Forces, the cities did not quickly accept their fate and submit to the new king and pay taxes as they had in previous wars.
Some of the people, who had been brainwashed by Church doctrine for a long time, genuinely believed in the Church, while others longed to return to the happy days of land distribution during the previous Papal State period. This caused the Blood-Boya Allied Forces to suffer numerous setbacks when it tried to reclaim the territory of the Duchy of Kate.
Some protested fiercely, refusing to accept Vampire rule. Others secretly fled at night to enlist in the Papal State' army, while still others secretly opened the city gates or guided the Papal State army when they were at the gates...
In short, the war between the two sides seemed to have fallen into a terrifying quagmire, with each side pulling the other back and forth, and fighting over the same city again and again...
Faith is truly a terrifying thing.
With these circumstances in place, Norton in his ninety-fourth year.
After four years of campaigning without making any progress, His Majesty Norton is finally starting to get anxious.
Such a tactic is truly unpredictable, and it's not just the people of the Duchy of Kate who are being brainwashed; the stories relayed by those who fled the Duchy of Kate during the war have also begun to give rise to some thoughts about the Papal State.
Norton knew better than anyone the terrifying consequences that would result if the Papal State ' methods were prolonged.
To prevent the Papal State from turning the tables and to divide the faith, Norton sought to completely sever the foundation of God and bury the only existence capable of harming him, God Norton, solely through his image, into history.
In early 95 of Norton's reign, the Blood Court selected a group of people who had been brainwashed by Norton and, under Norton orders, began to conceal their origins and establish a new Church in the Duchy of Kate, also known as the ' Holy Lord Church '.
Norton 95 BC, the new Holy Lord Church founded, and it changed the name of the Pope to Pope to prove its legitimacy above the Pope.
With the ascension of the first Pope, Saint Peter, it immediately began to contend with the Papal State for the orthodoxy of the Church.
It claims that the current Holy Lord Church are ' New Faith ' and the Holy Lord Church of the Papal State are ' Old Faith '. It claims that because the Old Faith has ruled for many years with incompetence and tyranny, bringing disaster to the country and the people, it has deeply displeased God, so God sent it to establish New Faith, spread the faith, convey the hope of love and peace, bring the world back on track, and allow the people to regain happiness.
This doctrine sounds so much better than the Old Faith of the so-called Papal State.
After the New Faith was founded, although it drew protests and boycotts from countless Catholic citizens of the Duchy of Kate Old Faith, its reputation was instantly reversed after it began distributing food for free. From being a pirate sect, it gained a large number of followers in just a few days.
Unlike the Old Faith that controlled and ruled, frequently conscripting labor and forcibly collecting grain from the people, the New Faith, from their inception, prided themselves on love and peace. They did not exploit their followers, did not participate in governance, and simply distributed food to spread their so-called light of love and kindness.
The new pope was like an Angel descended to earth, dressed in a pure white robe, with blond hair and blue eyes, and a kind face. He mingled with the poor and needy every day, personally distributing food to them, without being disgusted by their stench and filth, or whether they were infected with diseases or plagues. He would embrace them, like a bodhisattva giving alms in his own flesh. His kind face was truly like the light emanating from God!
The other missionaries did the same, mingling among the poor in their white robes, disregarding the filth and dirt. The foul stains on their white robes, however, revealed what true holiness was.