With these questions in mind, the Essence Knight continued reading.
As stated in both testimonies, the Soul Returner are beings that resemble humans but are not human.
They can be understood as a kind of "undead," but that's not entirely accurate, because they retain their memories, abilities, and sanity from their previous lives after being resurrected by an unknown force.
The " Soul Returner " race's loyalty to the leader of the Second Holy See, the one who calls himself the Son of God, is not absolute.
Because they also have their own "leader," and it's not the Son of God from the Second Holy See.
According to the two, the leader of the Second Holy See is called Ed the Son of God. If you don't believe it, you can ask around in Valhalla, and everyone will give you the same answer.
The leader of the Soul Returner is a mysterious and powerful figure named Adrian. He used some kind of secret technique to resurrect the dead, allowing their souls to return to their bodies and become the so-called " Soul Returner ".
Aside from having died once, the Soul Returner are almost indistinguishable from normal humans. They can still feel pain and are still affected by various Demonic Tide Aberration effects.
However, one thing is certain: after becoming Soul Returner, they become more emotionally agitated and more proactive, so they may occasionally do something outrageous.
And often, occasionally.
The Soul Returner possess the ability to resurrect repeatedly, but this requires the permission of the mysterious leader.
If a Soul Returner, then they are not entitled to be resurrected after death.
Therefore, those Soul Returner do not know if their current life is their last, so while they are going crazy, they also cherish their lives.
They wouldn't easily sacrifice their lives unless their leader perceived their exceptional value in exchange for their lives. This is why the two of them ultimately chose to confess rather than commit suicide.
In that case, they would forever lose the right to be resurrected.
Having read this far, the Essence Knight was already deeply shocked, but he still suppressed his restless Psionic Energy and continued reading the confession written in the common Imperial language:
As for the leader of the Soul Returner, the mysterious and powerful Adrian whom the two mentioned, who was "only seen from afar," these two low-level Soul Returner never even saw his true face.
However, this does not mean that the powerful figure did not exist, because both of their testimonies mentioned a powerful elite force—[ Adrian Imperial Guard ].
According to them, this elite force is currently stationed in Valhalla, the capital of the Second Holy See, and is responsible for protecting Adrian. When they have nothing to do, they often conduct group drills and have already accumulated a great reputation in the capital of the Second Holy See, known to everyone in the capital.
This army was composed of individuals carefully selected by Adrian from tens of thousands of Soul Returner; they were loyal, strong, and reliable, and were always ready to give their lives for him.
Upon seeing this, the Essence Knight was utterly shocked.
If their confessions are true, if the powerful Adrian truly exists, if the number of Soul Returner is indeed in the tens of thousands, and if the destruction of the Tree Worship Church Theocracy is imminent, then...
How urgent must this military situation be?
How much impact will this have on the decisions of the senior members of parliament?
Why was the entire Skeleton Alliance completely unaware of such a major event?
Could it be that the Theocracy is truly doing everything in its power to conceal intelligence in order to prevent being betrayed and attacked by the Skeleton Alliance?
The Essence Knight felt a dryness in his non-existent throat, as if some of the sensations from his previous life still lingered.
It steadied itself and continued looking down, Drain more information about the " Soul Returner " from the testimonies:
The loyalty of the " Soul Returner " to the Second Holy See is neither absolute nor permanent, but rather temporary and requires a price to maintain.
In other words, if you want the loyalty of those Soul Returner, fine, then send money, and not just one payment, but one payment after another.
As for their true allegiance, it was to the hidden master behind the scenes, the Soul Returner who gave them a second life— Adrian.
According to their testimonies, before each group of Soul Returner went on a mission, they would be informed of the difficulty of the mission and the reward, and they would receive corresponding compensation even if they did not return.
If they discover midway through the mission that it is more difficult than the intelligence reports suggest, they even have the right to temporarily strike and terminate the operation, or demand that the leader of the Second Holy See immediately increase their pay; otherwise, they can disperse on the spot and go home.
All of this was done with the tacit approval of " Adrian," and it could even be said that this " Shadow cardinal" was the true controller of the Second Holy See, while the Son of God Ed was more like a fat lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Compared to a regular army, the Soul Returner are like a pack of falcons or hounds, maintaining their trust and loyalty to the Second Holy See through the meat they are provided by their employers.
In the previous six months alone, by conquering many towns, these Soul Returner had dealt a severe blow to that Son of God's wallet.
But they didn't care about this at all, and the Son of God seemed to possess a treasure trove from before the Demonic Tide, which could still afford to hire them, so the two sides could still trust each other.
However, the trust between the Soul Returner and the Second Holy See is gradually disappearing, and the reason is quite simple—
The war is almost over; the Second Holy See is about to win.
Although it was another world, even the Essence Knight knew the principle of "discarding the bow after the birds are gone, cooking the dog after the rabbit is dead."
Moreover, fighting and governing are two different things. Many military actions that are permissible during wartime can be easily investigated and punished after the war.
Now that Son of God has carved out his own territory with the help of the Soul Returner, it is conceivable that with the appeal of the Tree God's son, he can naturally summon a large wave of cannon fodder soldiers.
With the combined forces of the Soul Returner and the fanatics, this Son of God might actually be able to turn the tide and become the true orthodox, ascending to the throne of cardinal or even pope.
So what will happen to these Soul Returner when that time comes?
Stay? Remain in the Second Holy See?
Maintaining a garrison of tens of thousands of non-productive elite troops requires astronomical daily food consumption alone, not to mention that the garrison, military pay, and equipment are all projects that require additional consideration and continuous financial investment.
But there was no war at that time, and a huge amount of money was swallowed up without any results. This could not be accepted by the public!
Moreover, judging from this small example, the Soul Returner are definitely not easy to deal with. There is no way they will obey. Wherever they are, the surrounding order will definitely become worse!
So...
Let them go?
That's even worse!
The Son of God secured his throne only through the Soul Returner. Now that his membership has been terminated, what will happen if the Soul Returner go directly to the remnants of the Theocracy?
When war breaks out again, with the return of the Soul Returner joining the fray, who knows, it might just be another case of "the flags changing hands on the city walls"...
It's important to know that in World of Disorder, there are no non-compete agreements!