Badge in Azure

Chapter 1540: Splintering of the Faith (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The goddess's emissary was a woman who wore a floral dress. The woman behaved in a haughty manner and was very cold towards Saleen. She only nodded at what Saleen said.

Saleen paid no heed to the woman's attitude and simply said, "I'm about to quell things in the seas, and she is to help me. She needs me to deal with the heroic spirits, and I'll need help her out. As for the matter of the divine kingdom, we'll settle our differences through our own powers instead of going to war. I presume that is her intention?"

The woman was rather startled at what Saleen just said, and her thoughts about him immediately improved. She then said, "That is her intention indeed. The goddess knows what dangers lie in the seas. With her aiding you, you'll be able to have your fleets controlled over a 30,000 kilometer radius. The ones in the Cemetery of Heroes are difficult to kill, so she'll need your lightning powers to aid her. As for the divine kingdom, it belongs to no one at this point. While you were the one who conquered it, you wouldn't have been able to kill the Lord of Glory so easily without the goddess' help. As such, the goddess shall have a showdown with you, and you're to decide how this is going to go down."

"Very well. We'll meet in three months in Lianyun City. I need to conquer the nations in the East Sea first."

"Fine. I shall wait for you in Holy Rock City." The emissary of the goddess had no intention of going back to Purgatory Dessert just yet. Saleen knew very well that the goddess had watched every move he just pulled.

He vaguely sensed that the goddess had gained complete control over the entire Myers Mainland, and it was getting increasingly difficult for him to manipulate powers in nature.

The emissary never looked at Lex even once throughout the exchange. She found the gates of the magic tower locked when she was about to leave.

"What is the meaning of this, Lex?" The emissary turned around and asked coldly.

"Nothing much. I'm still the empress of the Fifth Dynasty, as I have yet to abdicate. I don't care whose emissary you are, but you're not leaving without first kow-towing to me," Lex smiled and answered.

"What if I refuse?"

"Then I shall issue an order branding the Nature Faith as a perverted cult, and the Fifth Dynasty shall see to its destruction." Lex's answer was overbearing and haughty.

"You dare!"

"Why would I not? If it wasn't for the fact that my man is someone capable of taking Myers on, the mainland would fall to her sooner or later, and that would mean the mainland is done for. If my man is not capable of killing the goddess, do you think I'd care about a worm like you? And by the way, I hate rude people. Don't think for a second you can throw your weight around the place just because you're the goddess's emissary. Keep in mind that I own this place."

Lex behaved in a very forceful manner against the emissary.

Saleen smirked and did not do anything to stop her. He had no need to get himself worked up about the emissary, but Lex wanted to test the goddess' limits, and that was necessary.

"Saleen!" That emissary did not want to make a move immediately and simply glared at him. She was able to comprehend that the empress had her temper, but Saleen was known to be a mage who valued balance, and she deemed that he would not let his wife kick up a fuss like that.

"Please address me as 'Your Highness'." Saleen remained unfazed. He knew that the goddess might have very well been watching him through the plane map. However, it did not matter. The goddess' power was unable to penetrate the magic tower.

The emissary's expression changed drastically. The way that Saleen put it meant that he was completely on Lex's side.

The emissary intended to contact the goddess, but quickly found the magic tower sealed the entire space off, and she speculated that the goddess would have only been able to see the spectral illusion outside the magic tower, instead of letting her powers seep directly into the tower. She was completely at wit's end.

If she were to turn on Saleen immediately, he would be able to kill her right away, if nothing else.

She was rendered stiff where she stood, dripping cold sweat all over all of a sudden. She suddenly found that she had made one grave mistake. The goddess had wanted her to be polite to both Saleen and Lex, but she never had caught what the goddess meant.

From her perspective, she was being polite enough, but she had forgotten who she was dealing with. He was a man that even the goddess was reluctant to clash head on with after all. Saleen was a level 17 mage—one level higher than she was. She was unable to figure out anything about Lex, but seeing how the tower had 18 floors, that meant that the empress was confident in getting to level 18.

Beings of such formidable powers would have reigned supreme over a region even in ancient times. The goddess, even when she was in her prime, would not have behaved in such a haughty manner and looked down on others. She had to gain support from all sides after all.

However, if she were to kneel right there and then, it would have been tantamount to dragging the goddess face through mud.

Fifth Dynasty, huh? So what? She did not believe for a second that Saleen and the others with him would simply forsake such a grand undertaking. Furthermore, she still had the backing of the goddess, and would have definitely been able to be resurrected in the temple. Saleen could have been even more powerful, and it still would have been pointless.

Seeing how the emissary's expression shifted constantly, Saleen sighed deep down and said, "if you're so eager to die, I'm happy to oblige. Seems to me you're a god creature now. For a person who has yet to even return to her status as a human, I'm surprised to find that you'd be willing to have the goddess avenge your death."

"The goddess would not sit this one out."

Saleen cut her off before she finished, "You could shut up right. From here on out, you would cease to exist. You're probably thinking of being resurrected, but bear in mind, if even the likes of you could be resurrected, how would I even begin to fight the goddess in the first place?"

Saleen cast Comet Flash, Signet of Silence, and Crystal Finger, all at the same time.

He came before the emissary and used the Crystal Finger on the emissary's left eye, which was where the weakness of the emissary lay. Saleen did not even need to use his third eye to find that out.

The difference was so blatant that even he himself was surprised.

He had his weaknesses, too. He wondered absently if the goddess would be able to see them.

Blood stained the emissary's floral dress at once. Saleen had broken her Source with one finger. He sent a lightning raven into her body right after he cast Crystal Finger, destroying her foundations of life. The formidable electrical discharge wore off her Source's image altogether, making it near impossible for her to be resurrected.

The emissary was unable to understand why Saleen dared to kill her, wondering if he was not concerned of invoking the goddess' wrath.

Saleen smirked and dropped the emissary's body to the ground, before opening the gates of the magic tower and calling to someone outside, telling them to take care of the body and send it back to the Nature Faith.

The goddess frowned from where she was in the Nature Temple. While she was unable to see how Saleen managed to kill the emissary, she saw blurred images of the process of the conflict.

The one she sent was one of her oracles instead of a follower. That oracle was prideful, and she had sent her out to test Saleen. She knew well that the oracle would behave rudely to Saleen. If Saleen were to bear with it, then it was clear that there was still wiggle room in the conflict between both of them, as that would have meant that Saleen still had reservations about the goddess, thus giving her a good number of measures to take him on.

However, Saleen killed the oracle right away and had even wiped her Source clean, making it so that she was unable to even resurrect that oracle.

Things became difficult. She took a look at the 12 of her followers and asked, "Saleen killed an oracle. What do you all make of that?"

"We can't risk having someone like that running around. Best get rid of him. He will only become a greater threat if left alone."

"What I meant was how would you have him killed?"

All 12 followers were dumbfounded. The goddess had been restored to level 18 powers. Despite not having reached pinnacle state, she had retained her superiority against a level 17 professional. Furthermore, the goddess was capable of manipulating elements and the enemy was coincidentally a mage. The way the followers saw it, there was no way the goddess would lose when taking on Saleen.

The goddess then slowly cast the illusions again—the one depicting Saleen killing the emissary. Only she had been able to barely see what happened before, after all.

All 12 of them were rendered speechless at how cleanly he had dealt with the oracle. Mages of such formidable caliber were extremely rare even in ancient times.

Only three of the followers were capable of killing a level 16 oracle with a single move. However, wiping out the power of the Source of the oracle, preventing her from being resurrected right after she was killed, was something immensely difficult.

Seeing how everyone was silent, the goddess then said, "lightning is capable of creating life, yet at the same time, it is also capable of obliterating one's Source. Saleen is most versed in lightning magic. Stoke his fires of anger and he could render all of our believers more dead than dead. That is his backing, and that is why I can only take him on one-on-one."

"Rest assured, he is a very careful mage. So long as I tread carefully, he will let me keep the faith around. None of you need to be scared. Even if my powers are not at the peak, level 18 rules are not things that a young mage like him could fathom."

The goddess knew that a mage like Saleen was someone that only she would be able to take on. None of her followers would have been able to do much against his lightning magic, and there was nothing she could do about it. Their powers suffered quite a drastic drop after all.

Everyone remained speechless. They all knew what the goddess meant. None of them were able to help her, and they would have ironically gotten in her way instead. If it had not been for the fact that the goddess had resurrected them, her powers would have been restored to the pinnacle of level 18, and she would not have needed to concern herself with the feelings of anyone.

If it had not been for her concerns of them being assassinated by Saleen, the goddess could have simply threatened him and demanded him to hand over the divine kingdom.

The world was one where "might makes right" applied. Reasoning was reserved for situations where one lacked powers. It was ridiculous to assume a wolf would reason with sheep before eating the sheep. Regardless of how reasonable one would be, it would cause the other party to resist if one were to invade the other party's interests.

"But we can't just let this slide. I think it is time for Nature Faith to have another pope," the goddess said and summoned another oracle from outside the temple. "Go to Nature City and have Baudelaire hand over the position of pope. You are to take his place."

The goddess took out another Ring of Gifts and a Scepter of Nature, handing them to the oracle. The oracle was overjoyed. Despite the fact thta being at the goddess' side would have meant that the oracle was of higher status, it would have prevented the oracle from gaining much experience of any kind. Despite the position of pope being a tough one, it would earn the oracle massive relations, as well as a place by their god's side in the future.

Lex was rather baffled at how Saleen dealt with the oracle. She had only intended to imprison the oracle, but Saleen killed her outright instead. She wondered when her man became such a person.

"Lex, tell me, how will Myers react to this?"

Lex was startled for a brief moment but quickly regained her composure. While her calculative abilities might have paled in comparison to Saleen's, judgment of matters of such levels only needed a lot of experience. She pondered for a bit and said, "I was angry because of the trespasses of the oracle, which was within reason and Myers wouldn't have been able to say anything about it, unless we were small fries. She would have retaliated in a manner that was within reason, which would have also meant that she did not care about your powers.

Saleen nodded and added, "that will do something to the Nature Faith then. I've held the reins of the Nature Faith for far too long, and she probably wanted to do something of that sort quite a while ago."