Queen Maria's declaration of war against the Pale God was like a meteorite falling from the sky, crashing into the Garden of Eden and stirring up towering waves in the Southern Continent.
The Pale God has absolute control over his subjects, so after the Holy Empire truly declared war, the entire Pale Holy See began to operate like a precise machine.
Countless people captured from the front lines were transformed into Vampire in the Vampire industry chain, and then thrown into dark and dreary factories to work day and night without a moment's respite.
Werewolf packs were captured en masse, and the Holy See sent Vampire to build fences to house Werewolf, dogs, wolves, and male and female ship slaves, keeping them there day and night to reproduce and create more Werewolf.
Groups of fire-breathing witches were imprisoned in factories, steel mills, and power plants, breathing flames day and night to reduce fuel consumption, drive the industrialization process of the Pale Holy See, and make up for all its losses!
The so-called Super Mighty King—a savage strongman with immense strength after mutation—could only get a job mining minerals.
However, despite this, the Pale God Norton still possessed some humanity.
For example, they can chat freely while working hard to pass the time when it's boring.
For example, they have two days off each month, which allows them to date and reproduce.
For example, they can all be given their own small wooden house, where their families can live. Although the work is heavy, they have no worries about food and clothing.
Isn't this kind of life a million times better than their past lives sleeping on rope beds where they had to pay 3 kowtows just to get a modicum of rest?
Therefore, even though Norton had used what he considered to be extremely harsh exploitative methods—methods that he himself would find unbearable—the Pale God's territory not only did not spread his Norton, but was instead praised to the skies, and even had pure white statues spontaneously erected in his honor!
Norton's exploitative limits were actually lower than the oppression by the powerful and wealthy of the Southern Continent, which was a great humiliation to his reputation Pale God Vampire!
This also caused Norton a deep sense of frustration.
He even started to look gloomy and spent his days drinking to drown his sorrows.
It was broad daylight, but the top of the sky was still a hazy yellow, and the sun was not visible.
As the Southern Continent entered the process of industrialization, in just a few decades, the entire environment of the Southern Continent was severely polluted. Now, the sun and moon are nowhere to be seen, and the continent is shrouded in a dim, yellowish hue year-round.
Such severe smog and hazy weather make the Southern Continent seem like an unreal place.
In such a dimly lit environment, a pale, slender monster sat dejectedly behind a pristine white round table, holding a wine glass on the table, trying to drown his sorrows, drinking alone in the sunlight.
"Alas... I, Norton, have survived for over 1,700 years, and in the past, I was known as a tyrant, committing inhuman acts of cruel oppression. Even today, I still cannot rival the inhuman thoughts of the Southern Continent. It is truly pathetic and lamentable..."
I Existence Level status and boundless power; such a great being should rightfully oppress all living beings. Yet now I am being praised by all. Could it be that something has gone wrong somewhere? Or are all the people of the Southern Continent masochists?
"It's a pity that I, Norton have won from beginning to end for a thousand years, have now lost on this inhuman thought. It truly leaves me heartbroken..."
Norton, looking melancholy, reclined in his chair. Although his posture was unseemly, it was still pleasing to the eye, given his perfect and holy figure and face.
Norton remained seated atop the tower, still enjoying a panoramic view of the city.
With the start of the war, Abraham, who was often by his side, went to the front lines to command and coordinate, and even Elizabeth was sent by Norton to manage logistics.
Now, in this vast Pale Holy See, only he remains, heartbroken once again—a truly pitiful and lamentable situation.
While Abraham was still alive, Abraham found it less boring to outwit and outmaneuver Norton.
Or perhaps it was the process of getting to know Elizabeth that gave him some things to do.
Now that Abraham and Elizabeth have both left, Norton is all alone in this vast Holy See, and he finds Norton feeling a little lonely.
Despite both Prince Coal Ball and Plum Blossom having grown up to this day, their intelligence remains low, which is what Norton is most at ease with, as they are the two things he is closest to.
But the novelty of teasing dogs doesn't last long either. Over the millennia, Norton has long since stopped paying attention to them and hasn't even allowed them to visit for a long time, to the point that he's annoyed by the sight of them.
After all, who could play with dogs all day long, for hundreds of years, without getting bored?
What, you say I've forgotten my roots?
Isn't this what Norton is supposed to do?
That's only human nature!
Such solitude was also the first time Norton had ever lived a long and lonely life.
"This... this is immortality..." Norton sighed softly, and almost had the thought of sealing himself away.
Thinking of this, Norton suddenly unfurled his shimmering white bone wings, smashing the stone chair behind him to pieces.
Then the sticky, leathery wings rose into the wind, and the pale monster's body, flapping its wings, soared and roared away into the distance.
"I shall control all the armies of the realm!"
In the winter of Norton's fifty-third year, the Pale God descended upon the frontline command post, taking full control of the Cataclysm War in the Southern Continent. To that Pale God, the entire Southern Continent seemed to have become a mere game...
Abraham was relegated to a secondary role, his daily tasks consisting of transporting grain and, under the emperor's watchful eye, selling the emperor's hooks to secretly smuggle disobedient slaves to the Northern Continent for the manufacture of War Machine.
The cold, inanimate human beings have been transformed into warm, steam engines, but this also means that the Cataclysm War is about to escalate.
In the fifty-fourth year of Norton's reign, the Pale Crusade, which occupied the entire former site of the Aodelan Empire, began its valiant march under the intense pressure of the Pale God Norton!
Autumn of Norton 54.
Today, the Industrial Revolution is halfway through its course.
The military tactics of the Southern Continent have not improved in the slightest. When the two sides fight, they still follow the trench warfare tactics of the past Papal State, where each side deploys a million troops and then fights to the death.
The Pale God Norton gathered a million-strong army, which joined the five million troops mobilized by the Holy Empire at the border between the two countries.
There was absolutely no formation or tactics on either side; the troops simply dug trenches and then fired artillery shells.
Now that we are halfway through the industrial age, firearms have been further upgraded. Not only have new weapons such as revolvers and repeating rifles been developed, but even artillery has made rapid progress, with the development of long-range artillery with a range of tens of kilometers.
Furthermore, thanks to the terrifying number of scientific researchers left behind by Norton in the Holy Empire, the Holy Empire's military weaponry technology has been developing at a frenzied pace under the current pressure. According to information sensed by Norton 'Pressure, they are even developing heavy armored vehicles similar to tanks, referencing the War Machine of the Northern Continent.
Regardless, the Cataclysm War has begun in earnest, and the entire Southern Continent, under the passive or perhaps dominant influence of that Pale God, has once again fallen into dire straits!
That Norton is a real bastard; every time he appears, he causes a catastrophe!