Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 948: The Greater Divine Power (Part 1)

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Keep hunting them down! Don't stop!"

"Even if you're so tired that you can't catch your breath, don't you ever dare stop! Even if you're so exhausted that you feel like dying, you also have to die of exhaustion along the way!"

"Use our blades and swords to bring a lifetime of peace for our posterity!"

The human soldiers roared and encouraged each other as they dragged their exhausted bodies to pursue the equally exhausted Orcs, who were in front of them.

They were already very tired, but the Orcs in front of them were even more tired—the humans still had clergymen who were following the army about, after all. They could now and then use magic spells to relieve them of fatigue and allow them to restore their strength. The Orcs might also have their clergymen, but they were almost left with no gods who could bestow divinity to them.

This was a war of pursuit, with an outcome that was fated to be.

The Orc soldiers, at last, were too exhausted and could run no further. They did not even have the strength to turn back for a fight. They simply sprawled on the ground, allowing the exhausted human soldiers to chase up with them and kill them one by one, either with their spears or their swords. When the icy-cold, sharp blades pierced through their bodies, there were no cries of misery, only the sighs of despair that were evoked as life after life was lost.

In fact, most of the Orcs had already died from exhaustion by the time they fell to the ground. The so-called "quelling blade" of the humans did nothing more than create some meaningless wounds on the dead bodies.

This situation was happening all over the place. The entire Orc army had totally collapsed and seemed just like a heap of loose sand. There could no longer muster any decent power of resistance. The most courageous troops of the empire, as well as the tough men who could fight to their deaths in the most dire circumstances, had followed their old emperor onto the battlefield where their blood now stained the ground. The ones who had fled were the only remaining ones of the defeated army, and they had lost all sense of courage.

Perhaps they all had their own reasons, like they did not want to die, they could not die, or that they were unwilling to die. But the battlefield itself was a gamble with lives as stakes. One who wanted to take a gamble had to be willing to concede defeat.

There were also deserters who had attempted to escape into the Orc villages and hide amongst the civilians. But the moment they got close to these villages, there would be a stream of green light would fall from the sky and keep them out mercilessly.

This was Sui Xiong making a move.

He would not allow these deserters to escape into the civilian population. This would cause great chaos.

As early as the period right after the humans won, he had gone to look for the God of Light and reminded the other party to restrain the army. There should not be any slaughtering of civilians. To this, the God of Light's reply was that, so long as those civilians did not offer protection to the Orc army, he would not issue any order for massacres.

Sui Xiong was not very pleased with his answer, but he did not continue to ask. But every time a human army wanted to charge into the Orc villages, it would be stopped by a stream of green light.

This was Sui Xiong expressing his stance.

If they needed supplies, they would have to pay out of their own pockets. Going by means of "expropriation" was strictly prohibited. The Orcs had practically drained their resources to fight this war, if they were to be further robbed in the name of "expropriation," most of them would simply starve to death this winter.

If that were the case, then what difference would that make from a major massacre?

Sui Xiong would not allow massacres targeting civilians to happen, regardless of who had come to kill and who they had intended to kill. None of this was allowed. The brotherly Sui Xiong would never give recognition to things like the "power of the conquering" and so on.

No matter how good the human gods were at fighting, on the Main Plane, he, Brother Xiong, had the final say!

To this, the human gods naturally had many opinions. Javier had specifically come looking for Sui Xiong to advise him against being so stubborn.

"The Orcs are done for. Why do you want to offend His Majesty, the God of Light, for the Orcs?" Javier persuaded painstakingly. "It's not worth it!"

Sui Xiong merely smiled and made no reply.

Whether it was worth it or not was not up to anyone else to dictate. His opinion was what mattered.

It did not matter if the others felt that it was not worth it. He thought that it was worth it, so that was enough.

With respect to Sui Xiong's decision, the God of Justice, Yorgaardman, was quite appreciative. Even though he was human and had a bad relationship with the Orc Gods, he was still the God of Justice after all. First and foremost, he had to think from the perspective of justice.

It was certainly an unjustified act for the victors to launch a massive massacre on the civilians of the defeated party.

So he was quick to follow suit by declaring his strong support for Sui Xiong in protecting the Orc civilians and preventing the human army from massacring and plundering the Orc civilians.

Soon after, many other good gods expressed the same opinion.

On the one hand, they were acting out of their own good will. On the other hand, some were also quite worried—the God of Light was powerful, and this was worrying for them all. Under such a situation, being able to cooperate with the Void Mask and the God of Justice to weaken the influence of the God of Light, even if there would not be much practical effect, would at least give them some peace of mind.

For this matter, Morani, who had withdrawn from that battle because he was wounded, had privately sought Sui Xiong out. He sincerely beseeched Sui Xiong not to stand up for anyone by doing anything.

"Something doesn't sit right about the God of Light," Morani said. Because his battle clone where all his Divine Power was concentrated into, had been blown up, up till now, this man of steel was still very weak. Even though it was just the two of them speaking one-on-one in private, Morani still kept his volume low as he said, "His power doesn't seem normal anymore."

"Abnormal? Amongst the great Divine Powers, it's normal to have gaps in the first place," Sui Xiong replied, feeling somewhat confused.

"The gap should not be this great," Morani said as he shook his head. "The degree to how powerful he is now, it's not like any great Divine Power, it's more like—he's becoming a greater Divine Power."

Sui Xiong frowned and recalled these few times where he had met for discussion with the God of Light.

He had, indeed, felt that the God of Light was exuding the aura of a greater Divine Power. But the extent of clarity was not even comparable to that of the Dragon of Chaos. So technically, the God of Light should still be quite far from a true breakthrough to becoming a greater Divine Power.

But… the combat power that the God of Light had displayed thus far had far surpassed that of the Dragon of Chaos.

He had left a clone of himself in the nest of the Dragon of Chaos. Earlier on, when he witnessed a scene of the God of Light in mighty action, he had approached the Dragon of Chaos to inquire about the matter. At that time, the Dragon of Chaos had kept silent for a long time. Then finally, with a long sigh, he said, "Even now, if we were to fight one-on-one, I still couldn't beat him."

What did this mean? After becoming a greater Divine Power, the God of Light would become much stronger than the Master of Chaos?

Or… the God of Light had, in fact, already progressed far down the road of becoming a greater Divine Power. It was just that he had not been able to observe it.

Sui Xiong was not sure.

In this final battle, Morani and a few courageous Orc Gods had once charged up to the front of the God of Light. It was a pity they did not manage to force him to show his hand in the end. But at that time, the God of Light was once again tempted to strike.

At that time, Morani could clearly feel that power pressure that felt as deep as the sea. That was a power that even the Master God of the Orcs, Lefon, had yet to encounter. It was also a power that the God of Justice, Yorgaardman, had yet to display—it was not a difference of the strong and weak. It was a difference in essential attributes.

So he specifically came looking for Sui Xiong to advise him not to make an enemy of the God of Light.

"I'm not sure if he has really become a greater Divine Power or not. But even if he hasn't become a greater Divine Power, he's already getting near to it," Morani said with great worry. "Once he steps into the realm of the greater Divine Powers, I'm most afraid that he will want to carry out a massive cleanup. If you provoke him now, you are bound to be a thorn in his flesh, and when the time comes, you are going to be the first target he will attack!"

However, Sui Xiong did not heed his advice after all.

Before traversing worlds, Sui Xiong had always held this line in high regard, and it went like this, "To be a man, there are things that one should not do, and things that one has to do." At that time, he did not have enough power to hold his head and chest high to claim that he was a man. But now, he did.

Since he had the power, why not do something he really wanted to do? Why should he put up with the things that he did not like?

So that green light fell from the sky, over and over again, stopping the human army from stepping into the Orc towns and villages, and also preventing the Orc deserters from fleeing into the civilian population.

"Since they want to fight, let them fight it out. Since they have stepped into the battlefield where they gamble with their lives, then they should only leave after the loser has emerged!" Sui Xiong thought as such.

In fact, the outcome was not so tragic. After a few major pursuits, the human army finally stopped in their tracks to begin their arrangements for follow-up work.

And at this time, the God of Light issued orders.

The races who had joined this battle to challenge the humans and lost as a result would no longer be able to retain their country and churches on the Main Plain. Also, they would not be able to establish military or commercial organizations, nor would they be able to possess any territory or maintain any titles.

If they still wished to remain on Earth, they could only be farmers, craftsmen, petty merchants or even mercenaries. Just like how the Half-Orcs used to be, they would be scattered all over the place, and they had to accept their fate of being under the rule of their lords.

If they were unwilling to accept these terms, then they could just leave the Main Plane.

Just like what those races who were defeated in war did in the past.

In addition, all the races, like the pygmies, who already left because they were defeated, but later returned to stir up so much trouble, had to leave this time. Not a single one was allowed to stay!

In short, this requirement was not exceptionally harsh. As compared to what most people had expected, it was considerably lax—it should be known that among the human gods, there were many who strongly requested to launch merciless revenge against all the other races.

This was what it meant by "a person had to bow to the circumstance he was faced with." No matter how reluctant they were, the dwarves, Orcs, as well as the Marsh natives, eventually had to begin preparing to retreat before the final deadline given by the God of Light.

The only race that made no move was the elves.

It was not to say that they did not make any move at all. The elves' choice was to summon as many of their kind back into the Ancient Forest as far as possible. Then they would set up a massive enchantment within the Ancient Forest.

It was clear that they intended to fight this to the end.

No one was optimistic about their ability to win, including Sui Xiong—back when the various races had combined efforts, they were still not a match for the humans. Now, with only the elves left, could they possibly win?

But the Grand Council of the Elves had displayed exceptional determination this time. The elderly elves and Demigod Masters had all stepped forth and emphasized that they were able to safeguard the homeland of the elves.

Where on earth did they find such confidence? Sui Xiong was very curious.

The gods were all very curious.

But now was not the time for curiosity.

There was another major thing that had to be done at the moment.

The humans did not rush into dealing with the elves who refused to concede defeat. Instead, they sent out invitations to the gods, welcoming them to visit the newly-established Human God Kingdom, the "Court of Victory."

To view the promotion of the Master God of the humans, the God of Light, into a greater Divine Power.

Yes. Just as what many had speculated, the God of Light was going to make use of the advantageous stance of this war where the humans had defeated all the other races to gain absolute hegemony on the Main Plane. He was going to break through the limit of a great Divine Power and step into the realm of a greater Divine Power! And this was a realm where no other gods could enter except for the four great Master Gods!