After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

"...Statement: Good news."

Elena nodded, knowing that Yang Hao's plan was already halfway to success.

...........

In the capital of the Roman Empire, the demon servants were pale-faced, forced to use the magical remnants originally intended for the Demon Realm for the protection of the palace area.

"Damn it, damn it! Isn't he supposed to be a calm person?! How could he launch an attack on both the parish and the capital simultaneously in a moment of impulsiveness?! This is abnormal, this is abnormal!"

As the barrier was deployed, the demon servants cursed and shouted.

He originally thought Yang Hao was a calm man, a strong person who could distinguish between gains and losses, but now it seems that this is not the case.

A normal human monarch would probably swallow his anger after being tricked by himself and deal with the powerful enemy in front of him first, right?

Not to mention that's the God of Light, the God of Light—a genuine deity! Instead of concentrating your forces on a life-or-death struggle with the god, you've chosen to launch a two-pronged attack simultaneously. Isn't that a cardinal sin of military strategy from the Bayer Zans Military Manual?!

You really are the man I once admired?! No... it doesn't matter what your schemes are.

Importantly, the broadcasts accompanying the operation of the magical machinery had spread throughout the Roman Empire! Not only had they spread within Roman, but their allies had also suddenly learned of the news.

This was truly a delightful surprise—Khutto Khan was already worried about the stalled offensive, and now that his ally was actually going to join the war, how could he not be overjoyed?

The nomads decided to personally clear the passage to the military district to demonstrate their strength and value as allies. The Issugard people, naturally, were not to be outdone.

Their original plan was to capture towns along the way and conquer the Roman capital, a cultural center, as quickly as possible, but now it seems that they don't need to do so at all.

The idea was to quickly surround the capital and then wait for allies to arrive so they could share the spoils—driven by this thought, the Ysgard colonial army embarked on a dangerous leap forward, something the demon servants hadn't anticipated.

Yang Hao's declaration of war disrupted all of the demon servants' plans and also disrupted the relatively orderly war on the Roman Empire's battlefield.

This forced the demon servants to erect barriers to ensure that the garrison in the city would not leave, and also forced the Alessands who were already in the capital to continue to be trapped and die in the city that was creating the absurdity. Even the strongholds that Knight Robert built outside were much better than the capital.

At least they wouldn't be completely trapped in the capital like the Aresians. At least they still have a chance to continue migrating...

The news that the Regent was about to conquer the Roman capital with lightning speed reached its peak after a Golem was teleported into the central district of the Roman Empire.

Meanwhile, in the "Heaven" in St. Petersburg, Yang Hao and his companions, completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world, were obtaining abundant magical resources with the help of the Edenians.

They now had the confidence to search for the body of the God of Light.

In this transformed heaven, they also saw Lalumia's account of the world.

Chapter Sixteen: 3/5 The Death of the God of Light - 8K

After being conquered by the God of Light, Lalumia's Heavenly Kingdom has been completely transformed. Eden's magical puppets are attempting to establish the most basic magic network and artificial magic reactor here to provide magical support, but as they build, they are met with a counterattack from Heaven.

Those were souls tormented by the defilement of the God of Light. They had long since lost their minds, and Lalumia felt a pang of pity, yet knew that killing them was the best way out.

After using his ever-growing divine power to stop the attack of the maddened souls and silently praying for them, Lalumia gently defeated these souls, turning them into divine power floating in heaven, and then making them his own.

“Poor children…” Lalumia sighed, “But at least the God of Light didn’t further corrupt their souls—they could be destroyed by divine power, magic, or even pure brute force. In other words, our plan to find the God of Light’s body won’t be greatly affected…”

"Can we begin moving forward now?"

"Of course. But I'm not entirely sure where the God of Light might be hiding his body... Fortunately, I didn't build Heaven too big back then. We can explore the entire Heaven in an hour at most... Let's go."

Under Lalumia's protection, Yang Hao and the others began to cautiously advance into the territory of the Heavenly Kingdom.

Eden's magical puppets continuously expand the coverage area of ​​the magic network, while Lalumia uses divine power to protect the relatively fragile human lives. The tormented souls in Heaven cannot attack the densely magical areas created by the artificial magic reactor, but they can attack those protected by Lalumia.

Under the watchful eye of the black dragon, who occasionally crouched on the ground to carefully gather resources, the undead attacked neither the Edenites, nor the black dragon itself, nor Lalumia.

They seem to be launching an attack targeting Yang Hao... but it doesn't look like an attack either. What's going on?

Miss Black Dragon dusted off her skirt, letting the precious dust containing divine power fall into a small bottle. Then she caught up with Yang Hao and the others, just in time to hear Lalumia's helpless sigh.

"The God of Light not only doesn't care about his followers, he doesn't even care about the heaven he stole... He doesn't even have the settled mentality that most Romans have. I finally understand why he only has the ability to [ascend] now."

"Oh?"

"After all, the construction of the Kingdom of Heaven is also related to the power of the gods themselves... As for me, it's because it's unnecessary. I don't need to be promoted, nor do I need to do too much, so my only requirement for the Kingdom of Heaven is that the deceased believers can enjoy their last moments of peace, so I don't plan to build anything."

But the God of Light is different... He wants to go higher, to become a god above all humans, but he has a clear goal: he neither cultivates his own followers nor builds his own kingdom...

This is like a commoner who wants to be a warrior but doesn't practice his martial arts, or a commoner who wants to be a king but doesn't study governance... Words are meaningless and only demonstrate one's ignorance... But I never imagined that after thousands of years, the God of Light would still show no sign of enlightenment.

Lalumia sighed as she blocked the approaching souls outside the barrier formed by divine power. Watching the tormented souls trying to squeeze in, the gentle goddess shook her head. After calming them down, she continued to lead Yang Hao around.

Yang Hao, meanwhile, gazed thoughtfully at the glittering buildings passing by. As he passed a massive monument, he glanced at the inscription and noticed a name that caught his attention...

"Gaia?"

"Ok?"

"I mean, the name 'Gaia' is on that monument?" Yang Hao pointed to the monument behind him. "Is the name 'Gaia' very common?"

For Yang Hao, besides killing the God of Light and resolving the Ice Calamity and the demons of the Roman Empire, he had another important task to figure out...

That was the identity of Gaia. Where exactly is Gaia, the World Consciousness, now? Yang Hao was very curious about this question.

Faced with Yang Hao's curiosity, Lalumia, after once again defusing the soul attack, simply shook her head.

"There are countless beings in the world who claim to be Gaia, and naturally, there are countless deities who claim to be Gaia. Moreover... World Consciousness? My child, I even refer to myself as the Consciousness of Light. Doesn't the God of Light have this other name now? So in a sense, finding the deity who summoned you here is a very difficult thing."

"...I understand. Let's continue our search for the location of the God of Light's body. I'm a little worried about the situation up there."

The group continued their march in a daze.

The Kingdom of Light presented countless scenes of ruin, but the closer one got to the massive central building, the better things seemed to get—but this was only an outward appearance of brightness.

After entering the inner city of Heaven, Yang Hao and his group were quickly attacked by corpses that possessed physical form. Looking at them, the corpses resembled the undead soldiers used during the parish invasion. However, they appeared more fragile and less intelligent.

If Bishop Stephen's undead soldiers can still use weapons, then the undead soldiers of the Kingdom of Light can only launch attacks with their own bodies.

"These must be failed creations from when the God of Light crafted the [Angels]." Yang Hao watched as the magical puppets easily dealt with the zombie soldiers on the road using magical weapons. "But this city... was it also built by you, Lalumia?"

“Because I wanted the believers to have one last period of peace before they completely departed, so… sigh.” Lalumia shook her head. “But now it seems that this has become the difficulty we face.”

The well-being that Lalumia once sought for the dead believers has now become a problem for Yang Hao and his group to advance.

The once vibrant houses and squares were littered with corpses discarded after the failed experiments of the God of Light. These stiff, lifeless bodies transformed what was once heaven into hell. They, along with frenzied souls, attacked Yang Hao's group; among them were even several [angels].

Those initial versions of angels appeared to be products of humans grafting numerous bird wings onto them. They were deformed, with pale skin covered in pustules and burns from divine magic. They were far more troublesome than the undead soldiers, but in a sense, the closer they were to "angels," the more it meant that Yang Hao and his companions were on the right track.

After all, the God of Light would certainly dispose of the failed creations he made nearby. The more advanced the failed creation, the closer it was to his daily life... And in fact, Yang Hao and the others did see the prototype of the [Skeleton Demon] they had seen on the screen.

Unlike the demons composed of the skeletons of the Bayrzans, these "flesh balls" formed from piles of corpses were clearly more disgusting and deformed than simple skeletal demons. They were robust in size and moved quite quickly, causing Yang Hao considerable trouble during their first encounter.

But after being spewed a breath of dragon's breath by the black dragon lady, the huge aggregate of living corpses was burned to charcoal. Behind this aggregate of living corpses, at the end of a huge staircase leading upwards, was the end of the Kingdom of Heaven—the palace where Lalumia once lived.

The staircase, built by countless tormented souls, was not Lalumia's original work. She was greatly surprised to say that this place used to be just a green meadow and a gentle slope. But upon closer reflection, she realized that the God of Light was a human god who possessed some human desires, so all of this seemed perfectly normal.

On the stairs, Yang Hao and his companions saw a large number of corpses. The bodies slid down the slides on either side of the stairs under the influence of gravity; these were likely corpses offered up by the Church of Light over the past decade or so—at least Yang Hao saw many members of the Church of Light present. Among them were also quite a few renowned warriors and celebrities.

"..."

Looking at this garbage dump-like environment, Yang Hao really didn't know what to say. He had thought that the God of Light didn't care about his believers, his hometown, or even the position he was currently in—but after witnessing the God of Light dispose of the corpses in such an "efficient" way, even Yang Hao, who thought he was mentally prepared, couldn't help but speak out.

On Earth, even the Anssa people, who coined the concept of concentration camps, were more benevolent than the God of Light; even the Jews during World War II were treated better than the followers of the God of Light today...

At least when people die on Earth, their souls can roam freely. Although they cannot take their physical possessions with them, at least they don't have to worry about their souls being remembered after death.

But now?

Yang Hao glanced at the corpses sliding down the slide. On those corpses that had been processed into body bricks or simply turned into a large basket of minced meat after failed experiments, the tormented souls were still praising the trials and greatness given by the God of Light.

...

His face turned pale. But he also realized a problem.

"Who is creating more corpses up there now?"

With these questions in mind, Yang Hao and the others cautiously made their way towards the palace area.

Upon arriving at the platform where the palace area was located, they saw the culprit behind it all—an obese giant with skeletal wings on its back and countless corpses clutched in its greasy hands.

Behind this giant, a male Roman sitting on a throne appeared so small in comparison. That was Yang Hao and his companions' target: the physical body of the God of Light, Constantine.

"...This is a creature formed from the personification of believers of the Church of Light."

Lalumia looked at the ignorant giant with pity, watching as the giant, after noticing their arrival, pulled out a blood-stained yet magnificent kitchen knife from behind his back.

"A foolish giant...a predatory nature, and a vile heart that toyes with the weak without any remorse."

Originally, all of this could have been changed... but the God of Light did not give them that opportunity, nor could he give them any possibility of escape. Nurtured by the God of Light, they became fanatical believers who believed whatever the God of Light said. Their ignorance blinded them to any path, and ultimately, naturally, they never considered bullying the weak to be wrong...

...This giant is the embodiment of the followers of the Church of Light. To crush this giant means to crush the spiritual anchor of the current followers of the Church of Light.

Lalumia realized what the foolish giant represented.

Blindly worshipping the commands of the God of Light signifies ignorance.

The obese body covered in grease and the gold and silver jewelry on the kitchen knife symbolize the two extremes of poverty and exploitation within the Church of Light.

That rusty kitchen knife symbolizes the Romanians' uncorrected [violence].

Their unmasked bodies further signify their shamelessness stemming from a lack of education.

...A pathetic existence. Pathetic Romans. Pathetic followers of the Church of Light.

Lalumia sighed.

She gently grasped Yang Hao's palm, and then, under everyone's gaze, said, "Let me give them a chance to be free."

Because they were controlled and committed heinous crimes, Lalumia understands their lack of awareness, but that doesn't mean she will forgive all the mistakes they made.

"...I hope that next time you will be born in an even better place."

I hope that in the future you will be able to receive an education, have enough to eat and wear, and most importantly... never believe in any religion again.

"We gods can't even protect ourselves. Why would we think we have the ability to make you better?"

The gentle deity used his divine power to summon a sickle-like weapon.

In God's eyes, the sickle signifies both harvest and death.

This is definitely the perfect occasion.

...She walked silently toward the howling, ignorant giant. The scythe in her hand gleamed with a silvery light.

In reality...

The war between Protestants and Catholics has reached a stalemate.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, the God of Light was completely unaware of what was happening in Heaven. He anxiously urged his followers to expand their gains, only to find that no matter what they did, they could not break through the Protestant defenses.