Badge in Azure

Chapter 1427: Saint (Part 2)

The little girl did not bother saying anything more. It was not her intention to be at odds with Saleen. It was simply her habit of arguing against what she did not like. She was puzzled as to why Saleen kept her alive, wondering if Saleen was actually doing it just to keep his word.

If he kept his word, then he was not an abomination.

Perhaps it was a test from God. The little girl felt better at that thought. Her god would have never cast her away. She would have been killed by that abomination long ago otherwise.

The Floating City continued to circle around Cologne City and hunt. The enchanters kept count meticulously and reported to Saleen every hour.

Such hunts were not profitable from an economic perspective. Even if the Floating City had a pseudogod as its weapon spirit, it would have to spend some energy in flight. Spending that much only to kill targets of level four and lower was akin to burning money.

Saleen stopped after a bit. The targets found in Cologne City were unsatisfactory.

Huge number of Bug Angel Warriors and demons were sent to the ground to kill any believers defending their religion.

The principle of the warriors was to hunt the people of insufficient levels. If any especially powerful holy masters showed up, the soldiers would simply let them pass instead of tangling with them.

They would have died in Cologne City anyway, so there was no need to have soldiers die killing them.

Most Bug Angel Warriors were level 7 or above, which was a result of the armor. A squadron of 40 Bug Angel Warriors had no problems taking out professionals below level 8, so anyone able to pass through the blockade and enter Cologne City were either lucky or above level 8.

Saleen was crafting a spear for Rafel when he heard reports from the enchanters keeping watch on the Floating City saying, "there is an army coming from the west. Over 20,000-strong and well-equipped."

It was impossible for 20,000 people to resist the Floating City in the wilderness. The images were sent back, and Saleen was surprised to find thousands in the army that were hardly capable of fighting.

The knights who escorted the people were all so well-equipped that they were on par with Saleen's elites. All of the knights rode level four warhorses, animals found only in the Holy See.

There were hundreds of holy masters among the 10,000 elite knights, protecting the believers who had little fighting capacity. They were all heading towards Cologne City.

Saleen wanted to take the Floating City to hit them, but Nicholas said, "My liege, the Holy See seems to be about to perform a Holy Sacrifice."

"Holy Sacrifice?" Saleen looked at Nicholas, asking for more elaboration. The Holy See had a myriad of sacrificial rituals, and an outsider like him was not able to tell much from the looks of the believers.

"A Holy Sacrifice requires over 3,000 people. It would definitely summon the god's double." Nicholas added, "It is some kind of insurance pulled by the Holy See, hoping that there are saints among the ones about to be sacrificed."

"Saints! Hahaha, you're telling me that there are still pure people left in the Holy See?" Saleen laughed. Of everyone that he met in the past, not even Theisio could have been considered pure. The purest among them had been Fycro, who chose to become a god instead of continuing to serve the Lord of Glory.

"Look closely, my liege. Most of them are children." Nicholas pointed at the magic image copied by a flying scout.

Saleen was startled. Children? If they were children, there might actually be some who were potentially saints.

There were different levels of saints. Children would definitely not be high level saints, but one saint would suffice during the Holy Sacrifice.

Am I really going to kill all the children?

Seeing Saleen feeling troubled, Nicholas added, "My liege, there is no way the children will be able to survive such a ritual."

It had been quite a while since Saleen had gotten angry over anything. However, when he opened his mouth, he was unable to find words.

To holy masters, giving up one's life was hardly considered cruel.

The little girl who followed Saleen was surprised to see that many children, but she quickly smiled an incredibly pure smile and said to Saleen, "if you really are an abomination, you should kill them. If you're not, then there is no way you would be able to act against so many children, correct?"

Saleen did not say anything, but Rafel did. "Are you hoping that Saleen is not an abomination? That would be a betrayal of your faith."

The little girl was at a loss for words. Rafel was an angel, which meant that she knew the gods better than she did.

She currently looked like a typical angel, her wings spread as she stood behind Saleen, making Saleen look like a god.

"Let them pass, but kill all of the knights." Saleen gave an order that everyone found puzzling. He added, "we will now head to Cologne City and destroy everything there is to destroy!"

Saleen was giving the order to massacre the entire city. He then ordered to Nailisi to purify all the dead bodies.

His reason was simple. If the Holy See intended to summon a double of their god, then he would let them do it. The double was only at the pinnacle of level 12. Regardless of how many rules the double was able to master, it would not be able to win against his barrages of attacks.

While the Violet Angel was not around, the three weapon spirits and Rafel all had their powers sealed at the pinnacle of level 12. He, Nailisi, and the Winged Skull were at the pinnacle of level 11.

All of that, coupled with the powerful equipment of the Floating City—the 360 large scale Thunder Dragon Blasters—would make it very difficult for the god's double to get near him, even if he were to not have any certainty of killing the double.

If the plane's power were raised by another rank, however, he would not dare to take such risks.

If they were able to capture the double of the Lord of Glory alive, it would do Nicholas and the Winged Skull a lot of good.

"The Holy See actually thinks that the crisis will be averted simply by summoning a god's double? Please, this is not my first time killing a god," Saleen thought to himself.

Saleen was in a very good mood after realizing all of that. He would not touch any of the young believers. None of them would survive the Holy Sacrifice anyway.

The power of a god's double would usually be one or two levels lower than the god themself. For instance, the Lord of Glory's double could only be at most level 14, but since it was summoned on Myers Mainland, the double's power would be suppressed at level 12.

A double of a lesser god would still command formidable power of rules. Saleen did not dared to face it alone, but with so many powerful beings by his side, he decided to take the risk and see if he could really kill a god.

Pseudogods were not considered true gods, as they lacked divine personas and there was a huge gap between their combat capacity and demigods'.

Saleen had Rafel take the Bug Angel Warriors and the demons down to the ground before he took the Floating City to the formidable knights and bombarded them from above.

The Thunder Dragon Blasters and magic cannons took turns firing, making the battle a one-sided slaughter.

Saleen was rich enough to have huge amounts of elemental creatures at his disposal. Chucking them into magic power furnaces yielded hundreds to a thousand times more power than using magic nuclei. One low level elemental creature alone allowed all magic cannons on the Floating City to fire once.

The power of the magic cannons were hardly formidable. They were full of shortcomings compared to level 9 magic. The Heaven Knights were capable of resisting the attacks using only the power of their armor.

However, while it was possible for them to take a hit from one cannon, two would blow a Heaven Knight to bits.

Saleen had installed 3,000 magic cannons on the Floating City, with 1500 on stand-by. By the time all of the magic cannons were broken, Metatrin City would have produced enough to replace them.

Materials for crafting magic cannons were difficult to find, but Saleen did not need equipment that lasted a long time. He treated the cannons as little more than consumables. The metalized steel rock that he acquired from the temples became the key replacement materials for crafting the magic cannons.

The magic cannons were capable of firing rapidly, but were out of commission after only being used for two to three hours.

Even if he took his time with his attacks, the cannons would not last for long.

Saleen was practically bringing the power of all the mages in Metatrin City to bear on the Heaven Knights. The knights had initially been occupied with protecting the saints, so they were only able to hold the line on the ground. They discovered that the attacks were not aimed at the believers, only at the troops.

The Heaven Knights invoked the divine rune charm arrays on their armors and took flight, intending to attack the Floating City.

The Floating City accelerated and flew away. The Heaven Knights were unable to pursue the city, as the Bug Angel Warriors quickly tangled with them.

Saleen took the Floating City and headed straight for Cologne City. He wanted to reduce the city to ruins before the believers made it there. Even if the Lord of Glory was able to protect the city, Saleen wanted him to not even have a single subordinate to command when he advent.

As such, it was imperative to kill every single Heaven Knight there was, as every single knight's powers would have been forcefully enhanced to the peak by their god, when the Lord of Glory advent.

They might become level 12 beings.

There was no way Saleen would have been able to take on 10,000 level 12 Heaven Knights.

The plan to destroy the bodies made sure the Lord of Glory would not have anyone that he could use. His act of purifying the souls made sure that when the Lord of Glory advented, he would be a commander of no one.

He was most concerned that there was not even a single saint among the 3,000 believers.

Saleen was looking forward to fighting a saint. The feeling eroded at his usually calm state of mind, making him feel excited.

The Floating City arrived above Cologne City a little more than half an hour later. No one within Cologne City expected the Floating City to show up. Initially, a lot of people ran away, but many people were ready to die in battle. However, they quickly found that the city just hovered. Many decided that Saleen was terrified and did not dare to get closer.

As such, some returned.

Saleen hovered the Floating City at about 3,000 meters high and began to tear Cologne City apart. They were simple, usual tasks. At least, that was how the enchanters saw it.

"How many do you think will turn out to be saints?" Saleen asked the little girl, who was unable to answer.

The way she saw at it, Saleen was being stupid. She wondered if Saleen would be able to stand his ground when her god advented.