The Overbearing Might of Order

The temple elders of the orthodox churches were universally aloof and detached, and those of the Temple of Order were acknowledged to be the strictest adherents of regulations. Aside from military campaigns and resolving taboo incidents, their figures were rarely seen anywhere else. Yet here, there was an exception. Ukonga had once forcefully demanded that the barrier of the Disciplinary Department be opened, allowing his magnificent dharma body to descend openly and giving Karen... no, giving the entire Wien Region, a little taste of shock from a temple elder. He was just such a person—free-spirited, rash, and perhaps even a little rebellious. Of course, ordinary transactions of interest could never move a temple elder. If Karen had relied solely on their cheap, nominal master-disciple relationship to ask his teacher to make an appearance, Ukonga certainly wouldn't have cared. Yet Karen's single address of "roommate" was something he genuinely could not refuse. Within the term "roommate" lay not only Karen, but Philias, Budalas, Dicarost, and that golden period of youth belonging to Ukonga himself. Furthermore, because he would soon personally lead a team to Mink Street to resolve that major taboo incident—with a distinct probability he might never return—he didn't mind stretching his limbs a bit right now. In short, his arrival not only stripped all suspense from the battle before it even began, but also turned this entire plot against Karen into an utter joke. One of the reasons Karen had declined Grandmother's good intentions without hesitation was simply this: with a figure like him around, Grandmother could truly rest easy at home. Though the three Silencers found this hard to comprehend, they all made the same tacit choice in that instant. The priest of Eternity began to chant, the dharma body behind him coalescing a spell in tandem. Soon, a vast, profound flight of stairs manifested. These were the Steps of Eternity; legend held that the God of Eternity had once ascended these very steps, leading the pantheon of gods to Mount Anlaminde to light the torch. Upon its appearance, even vast distances collapsed into a mere instant—and conversely, the shortest span could stretch into infinity. "Tower of Light!" The priest of Light summoned the Tower of Light. Towering spires rose at both sides of the steps, creating an impenetrable defense and a formidable barrier. "Evernight's Blessing!" The priest of Night raised his hand, tearing down a black canopy from the sky that enveloped himself and his two companions together. Their teamwork was consummate, and whether in experience or realm of cultivation, they were beyond reproach. Had they truly cornered Karen alone here today, his situation would have been exceedingly perilous. In a one-on-one duel, Karen feared none of them. But facing all three at once, even the Karen of today would have had no way to overcome them; the best outcome he could hope for would be to do everything in his power to break the encirclement and flee. Yet in the face of absolute power, everything else appeared pale and feeble. Ukonga climbed the steps with casual ease. Each step he took exerted terrifying pressure upon the Steps of Eternity. Boom! Boom! Boom! Under the ceaseless thunderous booms, web after web of fractures cracked across the steps. From the flanks, the Towers of Light unleashed blazing holy fire upon Ukonga. Ukonga didn't even bother to defend himself, allowing the flames to scorch his form without batting an eyelash. His body and soul had long since fused into one with a divine artifact; damage of this caliber was less than an itch. The veil of night prepared to flee, but it had barely shifted a short distance when Ukonga reached out and made a grasping motion. In an instant, thunderbolts of Order flared across the heavens above the sea. Their near-indiscriminate fury turned the entire area into a domain of death. With a stomp of his foot, the Steps of Eternity collapsed. With a throw of his fist, the Towers of Light snuffed out. With a light shout that sounded almost like someone clearing their throat, the night veil was torn asunder. Three figures tumbled from within, pure horror etched into each of their faces. These were men of the world, and they clearly recognized that such effortless, terrifying dominance meant the man before them was extraordinary even among temple elders. The priest of Eternity pleaded, "My lord, this is a misunderstanding!" "Indeed. What I am doing now is simply another form of misunderstanding." Ukonga spread his hands. Water dragons rose from the ocean, roaring as they swept forth. The priest of Light cried, "My lord, we harbor no ill intent!" "What I am releasing right now is also goodwill." The water dragons crisscrossed and struck, cleaving cracks across space itself. The priest of Night cried, "My lord, for the sake of the Church of Night, please spare me this once! The Church of Night respects the Code of Order!" "It's been too long; I can't even recite the Code of Order anymore." Countless water dragons rampaged and collided, wreaking suffocating spatial distortions and tears. At first, the three Silencer priests managed to maneuver and dodge using their special secret techniques and sacred artifacts, but this desperate struggle could not last long. The first to give out was the priest of Night. His physical form shattered, and in his dying breath he attempted to wrap his remnant soul in darkness and launch it away, but a water dragon rammed straight into him, swallowing everything left of him whole. Next was the priest of Light. His barrier of light shattered. Before drawing his final breath, he tried to cast out a beam of light, but that beam was instantly confiscated by Ukonga's mere gaze. Finally came the priest of Eternity. A water dragon dispersed his physical form, and just as he tried to reassemble it, the space around him shattered like a dropped mirror, dealing him a final end. Here, even the power of Eternity was no longer eternal. In truth, had two of them mounted a suicidal rear-guard stand from the very beginning, the third might have stood a sliver of a chance at escape. However, the Silencers were not a church united by a single faith, after all; they were incapable of the sort of willing sacrifice displayed by Order priests on the battlefield. They opted for what seemed a prudent collective retreat—which proved to be the most despairing end of all. "Whew..." Ukonga exhaled a long breath, resting his hands on his hips. Up in the sky, after all that rolling thunder and the swirling of so many water dragons, torrential rain finally poured down. Outside the island, armed forces belonging to the Church of Pamires began drawing near, but they kept a cautious distance. Rather than intervening, they looked more like onlookers. When that thick Order lightning had erupted, everyone from the commanders down to the lowest-ranking soldier-priests understood that what was happening before them was far beyond anything they could touch. "I've gone mad," Ukonga muttered to himself. He felt his actions today were thoroughly absurd, yet he didn't regret coming. Nor was he in any rush to leave. Since he had already helped out, he would wait around for his roommate to come over and call him "Daddy." *** The carriage rolled through muddy pools of blood, leaving deep red ruts in its wake. The battle—no, the massacre—had drawn to a close, and everyone was now clearing the field to ensure no loose ends remained. Karen reached out and opened the carriage's small icebox, retrieving a bottle of red wine. The previous "prop" kept here had been drunk by Bern. However, Alfred, who possessed a knack for both frugality and the finer things in life, had taken the trouble the previous night to swap out the "body double" for the "star lead." This was a wine that could fetch eighty thousand Order coupons on the black market, though it hadn't been bought with coupons. It had been gifted—a rare product from an expansion space, a portion of which was set aside every year as gifts for bigwigs within the department, serving as a sort of departmental perk. Karen took a sip and found it surprisingly good. He took another sip, confirming it wasn't just because of its price tag. Little Kanna stared out the carriage window at the sprawling field of corpses. "Mm, so many people died." Turning to Karen, she asked, "At home, so many people are arrested every day, and here so many were killed. Doesn't that make you feel disappointed?" "Not at all. It's precisely because these people are being rooted out that I feel more hopeful." "Why?" "Because people get sick, and churches are no different. There is no such thing as an entirely clean place. So all we can do is stay diligent in sweeping and cleaning. Don't fall into the habit of shouting that the whole world is filthy just because you see one rotten spot. Viewing the world that way is far too shallow." "Oh." Little Kanna nodded, only half-understanding. "Are the Silencers strong, then?" With her beloved new backpack on her shoulders, Little Kanna was itching for a fight. "An organization made up of so-called elites—no matter how strong they seem, it amounts to little more than that." "But in books, they're always super formidable." Little Kanna read books, though her tastes differed from Purr's. Perhaps she was still too young to care about romance, but she was fascinated by traditional Wien-style fiction. Both local and foreign writers loved using Wien as a backdrop to create mysterious secret societies—such as the Skull Society or the Holy Light Order—claiming that the true masters of the Wien Empire were not the public government, but these shadowy groups. Karen replied, "Whether an organization is strong does not depend on whether every individual member is outstanding. It depends on which group's interests the organization represents—whether that group forms the vast majority, and whether those interests are fundamental." "Then what about the Church of Order? Whose fundamental interests does it represent?" Karen could have answered this question in many ways, delivering a detailed and well-substantiated treatise. Instead of launching into a lengthy lecture, he simply said: "Kanna, that is something you will have to observe and see for yourself." *** The carriage teleported to the sacred land of Xiloska, a renowned distribution hub for spatial apparatuses. Here stood large church workshops dominated by the Church of Pamires, alongside countless small smithies. On ordinary days, beyond the unending stream of merchants from across the lands, the clang of forging never ceased. Now, however, the place was eerily quiet. All the locals involved had lined the streets, standing in silence on both sides, watching the carriage make its way down the main boulevard. Behind the carriage followed Order knights whose armor was spattered with fresh blood, looking as though they had just rolled through a pool of gore. Any festive atmosphere of a "warm welcome" was impossible to conjure. Even the priests assigned to organize the reception were too rattled to remember their duties. Under the impact of such thick, murderous intent, everyone felt that silence was the only appropriate tone. At last, the carriage came to a halt before the Pamires Temple. At the entrance, a delegation of Pamires priests led by Derius had long been waiting to receive them. The carriage door opened, and Karen stepped down holding Little Kanna's hand. "Greetings, my lord." "Greetings, my lord." The senior priests of the Church of Pamires bowed in salute to Karen. Karen merely gave a nod. Little Kanna, on the other hand, though held by one hand, placed her other hand over her chest and bowed in return: "Praise Order." Having returned the salute, Little Kanna looked up at Karen with curious eyes, silently asking: *How could you be so impolite?* Derius stepped forward and said respectfully, "My lord, the most comfortable accommodations have been prepared for you. Please, take your rest." "Let's go pay respects to the Hierarch." "Yes, my lord." Derius did not refuse. He personally guided Karen into the temple, with the rest of the entourage following behind. Within the temple was a teleportation array leading to the Messenger Space, which served the Church of Pamires as the equivalent of the Temple of Order. The Messenger Space was somewhat desolate. It had surely not been this way at the beginning, but over an entire epoch, the strength of the Church of Pamires had dwindled to the point where it could no longer sustain the normal upkeep of the space; less critical areas had to be sealed off. Karen arrived at the cemetery, where a newly erected tombstone stood over the recently deceased former Hierarch of the Church of Pamires. This Hierarch was peculiar. The faithful of the Church of Pamires firmly believed he had successfully condensed a godhead fragment, yet the outside world remained largely skeptical, as the Hierarch had not received any prolongation of his lifespan. The prevailing compromise was that the Hierarch had succeeded in the condensation, but an issue had arisen midway. Karen, however, held a deeper understanding. For a spy planted by Order within the Church of Pamires, rising to such heights was already an extraordinary feat, and attempting to condense a godhead fragment was downright inconceivable. Running into trouble during the attempt was only natural. Standpoint dictated attitude. Karen harbored immense respect for this senior predecessor of Order, much like his sentiment toward Bern. Everyone wished to live an untainted life. Yet for a cherished ideal, for a cause, for a conviction, and so that the vast majority of Order's faithful could live under the sun, some people had no choice but to place themselves in the shadows. Resorting to less-than-honorable means, enduring agonizing inner torment day and night, yet never choosing to give up—the Church of Order's present-day might was inseparable from the sacrifices of such individuals across generations. Karen bowed solemnly toward the tombstone. Once the ceremony concluded, Karen turned and glanced at Derius, whose expression was conflicted. Derius belonged to that category of people who had lost their sense of identity. On an emotional level, Karen could fully understand him; yet from the standpoint of church interest and religious faith, his current straying was practically unforgivable. For the sake of the bigger picture, the Church of Order would still install and support him. Yet precisely because his naivety was so readily apparent, his presence was actually hastening the pace at which the Church of Order infiltrated and absorbed the Church of Pamires. "My lord, shall we now..." "The election assembly." "My lord, the election assembly is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning." "Begin it now. I have plenty of matters to attend to; I won't wait." Hearing Karen's words, the senior priests of the Church of Pamires who had followed them into the Messenger Space lowered their heads one after another. Resentment surely stirred within their hearts, but none dared show it. Still attempting to preserve some semblance of propriety, Derius said, "My lord, the date was fixed well in advance, and some delegates might not have arrived yet..." Karen patted Little Kanna on the head and said, "Then shall we go home and do homework?" "Yay, let's do homework!" Though Little Kanna was deeply unwilling inside, she played along with Karen, flashing a sweet smile as though she could hardly wait to leave and joyfully do homework. Derius drew a deep breath and quickly said, "My lord, please wait a moment. The election assembly will commence immediately." Karen nodded, left the Messenger Space, and entered the grand assembly hall of the Church of Pamires. On the dais, two chairs sat side by side. One was for Karen, the other for Derius. Karen walked up to his chair and sat down. Just as Derius prepared to take the seat beside him, he found that Little Kanna had already clambered onto his chair. Settling in, she even swung her calves back and forth. Derius looked at Karen, only to see that Karen had no intention of stopping her. Andrew led the guard unit into the hall, replacing the original security detail. A priest rushed in to report to Derius that a stone giant leading Order knights had cleared and cordoned off the perimeter of the temple. Without direct orders from the high leadership, priests of the Church of Pamires would never dare lay a hand on Order priests. Even with direct orders, hardly anyone would dare act—more likely, whichever higher-up issued such a command would be summarily replaced. "Greetings, Elder!" "Greetings, Elder!" Echoes of salutes drifted in continuously from outside. Soon, Ukonga strode in, clad in gold-trimmed clerical robes. The Order priests in the hall immediately bowed in salute. Many of the Pamires priests who had just entered for the election assembly went weak in the knees, collapsing onto the floor with pale lips. With such an overwhelming presence, anyone claiming Karen had arrived on behalf of Order to exterminate the Church of Pamires would have been completely believed. After all, with the passing of the former Hierarch, the Church of Pamires currently possessed no figure at the elder tier. Ukonga walked up to Karen and said grumpily, "I took an entire afternoon nap over there, and you really weren't planning on dropping by to see me at all, were you?" Karen offered no bow, nor did he even stand. He simply tapped Little Kanna on the shoulder: "Down you go, give up the seat. Look at you—no manners at all." Little Kanna hopped down from the chair and trotted over to Karen's side with a giggle, clinging to his leg. Ukonga gave Karen a cold stare and asked, "What, are you looking to sit on equal footing with me?" "The election assembly is about to start. You can't expect me to sit below and run as a candidate, can you?" "Heheheh." Ukonga sat down, glanced at Little Kanna's backpack, and said, "Outsiders would find it truly hard to fathom that someone could actually raise a pet like a child." "Ahem..." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Hm?" "What did you mean by that cough? What were you going to say?" Karen replied, "You already know what I was going to say." "Were you about to say that outsiders would also find it hard to fathom that someone could actually fall in love with an artifact spirit?" "I never said that." Ukonga gave a snort and glared at Derius standing off to the side: "Go down and attend to your business. Stop wasting time." "Yes, my lord." Derius turned and walked down, unconsciously wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. Following that, more and more high-ranking officials of the Church of Pamires arrived after receiving notice. Ever since the former Hierarch had fallen ill and retired to recuperate in the Messenger Space, it had been a long time since high-level meetings of the Church of Pamires had been conducted with such orderly discipline. Furthermore, after initial flashes of resentment, anger, and humiliation passed, a strange sense of security inexplicably welled up in many of their hearts. Since resistance was neither possible nor dared, people inevitably settled into a more comfortable posture—such as feeling that having the father-like Church of Order protect them this way wasn't so bad after all. Karen turned his head slightly and asked, "Is it appropriate for you to be so ostentatious?" "Who invited me here? No, who begged me to come?" "I thought you would leave once the job was done, without leaving a trace." "Hah, keep dreaming. Where in the world does such a bargain exist? When a farmhand works for an estate owner, he's at least entitled to dinner." "A meal is easy enough to arrange." "My situation is unique right now, so it doesn't matter anyway. The Temple will just hold its nose and put up with my antics. As for you—I remember back in Budalas's era, we never treated affiliated churches like this. At the very least, proprieties were observed." "Times have changed." "Indeed. It's no longer that critical era of confronting the Church of Light." "If it truly were that era, things would be much better. Compared to our present situation, even if the Church of Light were revived and rebuilt, it would be nothing. Haven't you read the High Priest's speech?" "I have. I acknowledge him as the inheritor of Tyrannus." "And so? What is your take on it?" "What take could I have? He is the High Priest. As an Order priest, I must obey the High Priest's will." Karen nodded, then glanced around and said, "Is there some danger here?" "Hm?" "You came to protect me." "Heheh." Ukonga licked his lips. "That fellow doesn't seem to be dead." "Him?" "Yeah. When I made my move, he was forced into a reaction, and I picked up on it. Unless a new elder has recently emerged in the Church of Pamires, it can only mean he faked his death." "Thank you. But whether he is dead or alive makes no difference to my safety." If he remained a steadfast believer of Order, he certainly posed no threat; if he, like Derius, had lost his faith, he still wouldn't dare threaten Karen for the sake of the Church of Pamires. Yet evidently, his death had deceived even his son Bern, who had clearly told Karen that he had died. This meant that the changes in the former Hierarch had exceeded Bern's expectations. "So I poked my nose in for nothing? Should I leave, then?" "Since you're already here, stay a while. Once the election here is finished, accompany me to see him." "I am your teacher. Aren't you taking things a bit too far as a student? Addicted to ordering your teacher around?" "Your purpose in being my teacher is to help me become the High Priest later on. As an Order priest, you ought to obey the High Priest's will." "Heh." Ukonga let out two dry chuckles, yet he remained seated. He merely closed his eyes, as though dozing off. Below, all personnel involved in the election ceremony had gathered. Derius and his two rivals stood in their designated spots as candidates. Originally, there should have been eight candidates. But seeing this setup, five had withdrawn on the spot, leaving only two stubbornly stiffening their necks and standing firm, determined to contend against Derius to the end. Derius turned to Karen and asked, "My lord, everything is prepared. Please instruct whether we may begin." Karen raised a hand and pointed at the two candidates: "Him, and him. In violation of Chapter One, Article One of the Code of Order. Take them away." Andrew led his men forward and seized Pengluofu and the other candidate, slapping manacles onto them directly to seal the fluctuations of spiritual power within their bodies. The two candidates had never imagined such a move was possible. Yet while they had possessed the courage to stand their ground and rival Derius, they did not dare truly drop all pretense. Not only was the place crawling with Order priests inside and out, but the temple elder seated at the very top was capable of wiping the entire place off the face of the earth with a wave of his hand! Of the three candidates, two had been arrested and hauled away. Only Derius remained as the sole candidate on the floor. Karen gave a nod and said: "Very well. You may begin the election."