Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

The various orthodox churches use different titles for their Tripartite Crowned figures: Pope, Patriarch, Great Sage, and Apostolic. Compared to other orthodox churches, the Church of the Night uses a simpler title for its Tripartite Crowned figure: Pope.

The current and only pope of the Church of the Night is Saint Irina, an angel who followed the Goddess of Night as early as the Third Age or even earlier!

Yes, within the Church of the Night, they are more accustomed to referring to this pope as "Saintess".

In the Fifth Age, when deities could not freely roam the mortal realm, most decisions of the Church of the Night were issued and implemented by this pope. Furthermore, the promotion and replacement of key personnel within the Church of the Night were all handled by her personally.

It's no exaggeration to say that Saint Irina's control over the Church of the Night surpasses even that of the Goddess of Night. If one day she were to try to deceive the Goddess of Night and do something detrimental to Her Majesty, she could easily command a large following.

However, the Church of the Night is, after all, a church that worships the Goddess of Night. Even if the Pope has strong control, he cannot withstand a divine decree from the Goddess of Night. On the other hand, given the relationship between the Holy Maiden and the Goddess of Night, this situation can only exist in hypothesis and will never actually happen.

Just like the document that is now in front of Ember.

Although the document was written by Saint Irina herself, its contents must have been approved by the Goddess of Night, or even endorsed by a divine oracle.

For example, the order to relinquish the title of "Crimson Lord" will inevitably cause some turmoil within the Church of the Night. However, the essence of this matter is an under-the-table exchange between the Goddess of Night and the Mother Goddess of Earth, a necessary price to pay.

After all, the current Earth Mother is actually Lilith, the "Progenitor of the Vampires," and she was once Sequence 0 of the "Moon" pathway, the original and true "Crimson Lord."

If the goddess of night continues to retain this name, it will inevitably lead to conflict with the earth goddess.

Therefore, the Goddess of Night would surely send down a divine oracle in advance to explain this matter to the higher-ups of the Church of Night. For example, Archbishop St. Anthony, and Ariana, the Abbess of the Monastery of Night.

Ember doesn't intend to interfere too much with the deal made privately between the Goddess of Night and the Mother of Earth; they will resolve it themselves.

Irina's considerations regarding the handling of the Fussac Empire were also very thorough.

Since the outbreak of war, the anchor of the Goddess of Night has been shaken on a large scale. The fundamental reason for this is that a large number of believers have chosen to switch their faith to the Steam Church, or even the Church of the God of War.

Because if Rune is defeated and the Goddess of Night falls, those who follow her will surely meet a bad end. Only by switching allegiance as soon as possible can they avoid being purged after the war.

This is understandable, after all, these ordinary people just want to live.

But just because ordinary people only want to live, the same principle applies to any true god.

Once the Church of the True God shows signs of decline, believers will inevitably switch allegiance.

If the Church of the True God is at risk of destruction, this situation will escalate, eventually leading to a situation where only a few loyal church members maintain their faith, while others, even if they do not convert to other denominations, will silently hide their beliefs.

The Church of the Night before the war ended was like this, and so was the Church of the God of War after the war ended.

Most people would feel confused and resist the rule of the Kingdom of Rune. Therefore, the Church of the Night would not allow the Kingdom of Rune to completely occupy the Fusak Empire, in order to reduce the Fusak people's rejection of the Kingdom of Rune.

Similarly, the Church of the Night will not force them to change their faith, nor will it support their belief in the "God of War." Because even the most devout believers, faced with the fact that the "God of War" has fallen, find only despair in their fervent faith.

Even if the Church of the Night does not interfere, more than 90% of the people of Fussac will abandon their faith in a short period of time. Once they abandon their faith, it is only a matter of time before they switch sides.

It's not just ordinary people; even the priests and bishops of the Church of War may not be particularly devout. According to the Church of the Night's estimates, at least 30% of the priests and bishops will likely surrender to them.

If the Church of the Night shows kindness and tolerance towards these surrendered priests and bishops, those priests who are still observing will also choose to surrender one after another. Eventually, this proportion may even gradually increase to more than 80%.

In other words, they only really need to deal with about 20% of the devout followers of the Church of the God of War.

Even these die-hards might not actually consume too much of the Church of the Night's energy. This is because the priests, bishops, and extraordinary individuals who surrendered, in order to prove their worth, would be even more proactive in hunting down and executing these die-hards than the Church of the Night itself.

Faced with this sufficiently detailed document, Yu Jin couldn't offer any further suggestions. He simply read it carefully twice, then, meeting Archbishop St. Anthony's gaze, slowly began to speak:

"There's not much that needs changing in general, but there's one problem: this document doesn't seem to mention how to deal with the Steam Church?"

"Yes."

Archbishop St. Anthony nodded slightly, somewhat regretfully saying:

"To be frank, we have had a very pleasant working relationship with the Steam Church over the past thousand years. But this time, they must pay the price for their mistakes. However, the Steam Church was once one of the three major orthodox churches in the Kingdom of Rune, so the Holy Maiden personally went to the Steam Church to discuss the matter in detail with the Great Sage Kaul of the Steam Church."

"The final result is that the Steam Church must withdraw most of the extraordinary beings, including all demigods, from Rune within half a month. At the same time, it cannot transfer all the level 2 or higher sealed artifacts it holds in Rune; it must hand over half of them to the Church of the Night and the Church of the Storm for supervision."

"Considering that there are too many followers of the 'God of Steam and Machinery' within the Kingdom of Rune, and many of them hold important positions in the government, the Steam Church is also allowed to retain a small number of churches and personnel..."

"In addition, as a condition of the deal, the Church of the Night and the Church of the Storm will not actively expel the Church of the Steam, nor will they mention this event in any official documents. In exchange, the Church of the Steam will be responsible for most of the reconstruction work of the Kingdom of Rune free of charge..."

The embers clearly show that, in the end, it was all just a facade project.

As one of the seven major orthodox churches, the Steam Church, though it must pay the price for choosing the wrong side, does not want to be humiliated and driven out of the Kingdom of Rune.

In comparison, the statement that "the Steam Church withdrew from the Kingdom of Rune to make amends for its mistakes" is undoubtedly much more palatable.

As for abandoning most of the churches and believers within Rune, the loss to the Steam Church was not actually that great.

After all, the Eternal Sun has fallen, and His followers will inevitably fall into confusion, and the Church of the Eternal Sun is destined to fall apart as a result.

In this way, the Steam Church will become the only orthodox church in Intis, and its status in Intis will be elevated by leaps and bounds!

Ember thought for a moment and asked:

"What does the Church of the Night intend to do with these steampunk believers?"

St. Anthony answered fluently, clearly having a strategy in place:

"The war has just ended, and the matter of Fursak is a higher priority. We also need to spend a lot of time and energy dealing with those War God believers. Therefore, it is difficult for both us and the Storm Church to spare manpower in a short period of time to change these people's faith in the Steam Church."

"It is with this in mind that we allowed the Steam Church to retain a small number of churches and church personnel to appease these believers and prevent them from taking any extreme actions. However, the Steam Church's missionary rights have been restricted, so there is no need to worry that they will further expand their faith..."

Ember thought for a moment and asked:

"Then let the Church of Fools deal with these believers, what do you think?"

Archbishop St. Anthony smiled and said:

"Of course, Her Majesty the Holy Maiden said that whatever decision Your Excellency makes, we will fully cooperate."

After a pause, Saint Anthony continued:

"However, since we are going to cooperate with the Church of the Fools, it would be best to establish direct and effective communication with the higher-ups of the Church of the Fools."

The Church of Fools has only been established for a few months and has been quietly developing its followers on overseas colony islands. It doesn't even have much interaction with the Church of Storms. Even when the two sides have to communicate, it is always done through Cardinal Alger.

Therefore, it's easy to imagine that communication channels between the Church of the Fool and the Church of the Night are even more scarce. Consequently, the existence of the Church of the Fool was almost entirely ignored in previous documents and decisions. However, if the Church of the Fool seeks cooperation, the Church of the Night has no reason to refuse.

"Regarding this..."

After thinking for a moment, Yu Jin reached out and grabbed into the void.

As he retracted his right hand, a figure quickly appeared. It was a tall, simple-looking young man with brownish-yellow hair.

"Mr. Ember?"

Derrick Berg stared blankly at the two people in front of him, not quite understanding what had just happened.

"This is Archbishop Derrick of the Church of Fools. You can discuss the specific details of the cooperation."

After a brief introduction, Ember turned to Derrick, who was still looking bewildered, and said:

"This is Archbishop St. Anthony of the Church of the Night."

As the two explained, Derrick quickly understood why they had summoned him.

The followers of the Steam Church comprise one-third of the total population of the Kingdom of Rune, and with their withdrawal, they become an unstable factor. Unfortunately, neither the Church of the Night nor the Church of the Storm has had time to deal with them, which is why they summoned him, the Archbishop of the Church of the Fool.

Derrick's heart tightened instantly. He was no longer the naive boy who knew nothing. Now he was the Archbishop of the Church of the Fools, and he also had the personal guidance of Cardinal Alger of the Church of the Storm. Therefore, he knew very well what this meeting meant.

This is to make the Church of Fools replace the Church of Steam and become one of the three major churches in the Kingdom of Rune!

But it was precisely because he realized the importance of this meeting that Derrick became even more nervous, fearing that he would mess it up.

Generally speaking, wouldn't Archbishop Lovia be more suitable to handle this situation? Why would Mr. "Lover" ask him to come?

Archbishop St. Anthony, noticing Derrick's unease, smiled and said:

"Don't be nervous. I'm familiar with your missionary methods, and they're very effective during this special time."

While exchanging food for faith may seem like taking advantage of someone in distress, its immediate effect cannot be denied.

The war has dragged on for so long, half of Loen has been destroyed, and a large number of people are on the verge of hunger and poverty. This is true for all, whether they are followers of the night, the storm, or the steam; everyone is the same.

In this situation, the Church of the Fools, which could provide them with food and clothing, undoubtedly held an unparalleled allure.

This is undoubtedly a win-win collaboration.

Archbishop St. Anthony was clearly looking forward to this collaboration, and under his guidance, Derrick quickly got into the swing of things and began discussing the details of the collaboration with Archbishop St. Anthony.

Derrick's lack of experience does not mean he is stupid.

As the two seemed to be getting into the swing of things, Yu Jin quietly left without anyone noticing.

For him, whether it was the faith in the night, the faith in the fool, the faith in the Mother Earth, the faith in the storm, the faith in the true creation, or the faith in the Lord of Steam, none of it mattered.

He is not on the same path as these true gods, and does not need to fight against the initial defilement through faith.

The only thing that truly matters is the "First Flame".

If these orthodox churches could replace the "Creator" in their religious texts with the First Flame, then even if the object is Adam or even Amun, it would be perfectly acceptable to the Ember.

-

Inside a fairly well-preserved house in Backlund.

Wearing a pristine white robe, the ethereal and beautiful "ageless witch" Katarina put down the mirror in her hand, turned her head to the tall young man beside her, who was wearing full black armor and rocking in an armchair, and said:

"The war is over, and they have finally decided to recall me to headquarters."

"I've waited far too long for this day," the young man in the armchair clicked his tongue.

Katarina placed her hands on the table, sat down, and said with a slight smile:

"Aren't you worried that if you go to our headquarters, the Primal One will discover you? I think He won't let go of this opportunity to devour you."

Soren Einhorn Medici looked at her with a hint of mockery and asked in return:

"So, do you think the reason I took the initiative to contact you was because of this?"

Katarina's smile faded; she truly didn't know the purpose of the person before her. As the former King of Angels of the Red Priest Path and now a Sequence 1 Angel of the Red Priest Path, Medici's strength was beyond question.

Compared to the 'Primordial Witch' of Sequence 0, the angels of Sequence 1 are simply not good enough.

Medici's appearance before the Primordial Witch now is nothing short of being delivered to her doom.

Unless He is truly courting death, with the sole purpose of being discovered by the Primal Witch!

But what is His motive?

Medici suddenly chuckled softly, idly playing with the flame in his palm.

Such behavior is perfectly normal for a hunter.