However, Abraham and Duoxia's predicament is about to be temporarily replaced.
"Damn it, you are deceiving the emperor! This is sacred Church grounds; how dare you act so recklessly!"
" Church knights, seize these damned heretics immediately!"
The noise from downstairs came through the walls, accompanied by shouts from the crowd, and the sounds of powerful laser weapons and power armor rang out below.
"Boom!"
Amidst a series of deafening roars, it sounded as if a fierce battle was raging inside the Holy See Palace.
The sounds of various things collapsing echoed downstairs. The huge explosion and the shockwave from crashing through the walls even caused Norton's position on the top of the palace to tremble slightly, with a noticeable tremor felt.
"Put down your weapons immediately and surrender or you will be spared! Abraham, the Vampire True Ancestor; Duoxia; Lady Elizabeth, you've all come out now, shouldn't you?"
A piercing scream rang out downstairs, while a buzzing vibration swept overhead.
As troops moved in downstairs, the airspace above the Holy See Palace was completely invaded by a dense swarm of aircraft, and various modern, powerful weapons were aimed at all sides of the palace.
Three thousand years ago, laser cannons were already capable of nearly blowing Abraham's head off with a single shot. Now, after three thousand years of development through mass mutations, powerful weapons specifically designed to target individual superhumans have become extremely potent. Even Vampire True Ancestor like Abraham and Duoxia, who are hundreds of meters tall, would find it difficult to contend with them.
Before physical immunity was available, technology always held a dominant position; otherwise, Fifth Stage powerhouses wouldn't be wearing power armor.
"Do you want to rebel?" A piercing roar rang out from downstairs. The riots never stopped, and the main hall shook so much that the walls cracked, and the entire foundation was riddled with deep craters.
Debris fell from the roof and flew everywhere, accompanied by one explosion after another. Half of the palace even slowly tilted before collapsing with a roar.
"Whoosh..."
The sounds of piercing screams, fighting, and the collapse of the main hall filled the air, creating a chaotic scene. Even small flying vehicles and intelligent weapons such as mechanical spiders flew into the rooms from the windows on the roof and began climbing and flying throughout the main hall, searching for traces of Abraham and his companions.
Only the hall where Norton was located was no longer shaking at this moment, with no loose stones or even cracks.
Hearing the commotion below, Abraham's face turned extremely pale.
This wasn't anger, but fear of His Majesty's wrath, which might lead to the massacre of the entire Garden of Eden.
"Your Majesty, this..." Abraham looked at Norton, who sat on the pure silver throne, with difficulty.
"It's alright!" Norton calmly raised his right hand, stopping Abraham from speaking.
There was even a slight smile on his lips, as if he was not angry at all, but rather quite pleased.
"The invasion of the soul into reality and the result of humanity being dragged into war require finding a suitable outlet for public anger."
This window cannot be the Pale Church, for it would tarnish the holiness of my God's name and destroy the reputation of my Pale Church! If my Pale Church were to drag humanity into war, then even if I, Norton, were to sacrifice myself, under the pressure of war and death, there would still be endless complaints and even slander.
My Pale Church should go with the flow, feigning persecution and weakness before the war breaks out, causing Norton to suffer the pain of betrayal, and making the Human Federation Government and these rebels bear the guilt of dragging humanity into war. In this way, when the war begins and the Human Federation Government and the rebels are vilified by the people, my Pale Church will rise up again to save humanity!
In this way, I am the embodiment of righteousness and purity, but not of public opinion.
Therefore, the endless sacrifices of the Eternal War will only make the people hate the Human Federation Government and these faithless people more, but will make them extremely loyal to our Pale Church, which saves the people from suffering, and to my Pale God Norton!
Therefore, you may surrender helplessly, and when the time is right, I will arrange for you to overthrow the regime and assume great responsibilities!
Norton has never been so blunt as he is today.
But the more bluntly these words were spoken, the more alarmed Abraham and Duoxia became.
Duoxia's lips trembled slightly as he completely believed his previous assumptions.
Elizabeth didn't care at all; she didn't care about Norton's so-called arrangements or conspiracies. She only knew how to obey.
As for Abraham...
Abraham glanced at Duoxia, then at Norton, saying nothing and his expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn't grasped the underlying meaning of those words at all.
That's a pretty sly one too.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The crowd fell silent, waiting quietly for the battle to begin below.
The number of resident Church knights of the Holy See is small; most have been sent abroad.
The so-called three thousand saintesses under Norton's command, three thousand Fifth Stage power armor saintesses, were not in the Holy See at this time; they had all been sent out to participate in the grand ceremony commemorating Norton.
After all, it has only been a week since Norton's grand sacrifice, and the entire Church charter to commemorate Norton has not yet been completed. A grand Mass is still being held at a specific location.
This is why these people chose this time to launch their attack.
In just a short while, footsteps began to rush up.
"Bang!" The mechanical spider blasted open the door, and almost simultaneously, several targeting lasers were aimed at the faces of Abraham, Duoxia, and Elizabeth inside the room.
At the same time, the wall of the main hall was smashed open, creating a gap. Immediately afterward, dozens of Fifth Stage mutants wearing power armor rushed in and then ran around, blocking all the routes in the vicinity.
"Boom!" The interior layout had just been completed when, with a loud crash as a wall collapsed, the entire outer side wall of the palace was pulled down from the outside by machinery, revealing the entire scene inside. Then, countless flying weapons floated in the surrounding sky, with a dense array of gun barrels and lasers aimed at the three people inside.
Strangely, the Pale God Norton sat calmly on his pure silver throne, observing everything before him. The people and machines around him seemed completely oblivious to the presence of anything there, subconsciously ignoring it all.
Otherwise, the first person to break through the wall would probably have been scared to death.
Abraham and the others looked grim, their gazes fixed on the doorway.
With all the arrangements complete, the leader finally walked in from the back.
His face was unfamiliar; he was a middle-aged man wearing power armor, likely just a team leader. The real controller behind it was unlikely to be here.
"Who are you? Do you know where you are? What you are doing is treason! His Majesty died for the people, his body is not yet cold, and you are now committing treason by attacking the Holy See and demolishing palaces. What do you think you are doing?" Abraham roared, his face ashen, his expression crazed, as if he were about to launch an attack even amidst a hail of bullets.
"No need to attack, just put on a show," Norton advised, sitting on the pure silver throne less than five meters away.
His voice, strangely enough, went unnoticed by anyone.
However, since His Majesty demanded a performance to change power, he naturally couldn't make the performance real. So, although he seemed eager to rush out, he never took a single step.
However, to the people who gathered around, this appeared to be a case of being hesitant to act rashly, showing fear of the surrounding firearms and weapons.
"Tsk!" The leader's helmet popped off, revealing a face full of arrogance.
"What are we doing? What True Ancestor you think we're doing? Abraham, Duoxia True Ancestor, Elizabeth, I advise you not to resist. Three thousand years ago, you might have been someone important, but now, the three True Ancestor you are really no match for us here."
My master said that the Pale Church has held power for three thousand years, and it's time for a change of power. You people have lived too long, stuck in the old ways, and have made the entire human race lifeless.
Why not take this opportunity to step down and hand over the reins to a more capable person?
"You've taken what didn't belong to you for three thousand years; today it's time to return it!"
"Insolence! You are defaming His Majesty's holiness, you are provoking the dignity of my Holy Church! If it weren't for the fact that all the Church knights have gone to offer sacrifices to His Majesty today, you would still be nothing more than rats in a sewer."
"Now you dare to launch a sneak attack while the Holy Church is off guard? Aren't you afraid of the retaliation of the followers of the Holy Church?" Abraham was furious. One of his hands transformed into the bat claws of Vampire army, and with one swipe, he overturned the pure jade table in front of him and smashed it down on the middle-aged leader.
"Boom!" The middle-aged man, wearing power armor, raised his arm and smashed the entire jade table to pieces with a single punch. His face was arrogant and ferocious as he sneered, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty again! All you believers can say is ' Pale God'!"
The Pale God is dead! It's no longer his time to live!
No matter how many of you believers there are, what can you do against modern weapons? Huh? I'm asking you, what can you do?"
"You deserve to die! Your Majesty..." Elizabeth roared in fury, but before she could finish speaking, she was shot in the abdomen.
"Don't heal for now; show your weakness," Norton said again.
He was afraid that the group was going too far with their performance.
The extreme heat from the hot melt gun instantly melted Elizabeth's flesh, creating a large hole in her chest cavity. The continued high temperature and the highly radioactive material it contained further burned the flesh around her wound, making even healing extremely difficult.
This is a weapon specifically designed to target Vampire; it is extremely powerful.
"His Majesty is dead! He's dead! Hahahaha... Useless trash, still calling yourself His Majesty!"
"That worthless Pale God is dead!" The middle-aged man with the gun grinned maliciously, then raised his gun and stepped in front of Abraham, smashing the butt of the gun down on his head.
"Bang!" Abraham didn't move an inch, and a red mark appeared on his head and then disappeared.
"You damned thing, you will pay for your blasphemy!" Abraham stared at him as if he were a dead man.
The middle-aged man seemed to feel he had lost face, his expression hardened, and he slammed the rifle butt down again.
"Bang!" Abraham's head swayed slightly, but he still did not bow his head.
"Ugh, fuck!"
"Bang, bang, bang!" One rifle butt after another slammed down, each blow harder and harder than the last.
Both being Fifth Stage violent beings, Abraham's human form actually possesses roughly the same strength as this guy.
With each blow of the rifle butt, Abraham's head, which had been held high, finally drooped amidst the blood and gore.
The middle-aged man smiled with satisfaction.
"Very well, it seems you devils can bow your heads after all."
Take it all! It's time for this power to change hands!
The crowd stepped forward, restrained Abraham and his two companions, put restraint collars on them, and then carried them away under pressure.
Norton remained seated on his silver throne, and with a slight wave of his hand, the figures of Abraham, Duoxia, and Elizabeth reappeared in their previous positions.
"Your Majesty, please have some tea!" Abraham hurriedly stepped forward to pour tea for His Majesty, fearing that his earlier reminder might have made His Majesty thirsty.
As for what these people took away, perhaps only Norton himself knows.