Geyera, local bishop of the Church of the God of War's Dawn Southern Diocese, formerly the invincible Lava General, walked through Blackstone City's streets. His whole person began to become somewhat dazed.

He was the child of this city lord's former first guardian knight. He'd lived in this city since childhood. If not for some special circumstances later, he probably would have also become this city's, this territory's first guardian knight.

The frequent volcanic eruptions brought to this small city not just fear but also prosperity different from most places in this world. Here, people rarely starved to death. Everyone lived relatively well.

In a daze, he recalled how as a child, every time he got pocket money, he liked to go to a shop nearby to buy spinach pie, then go to a nearby small shop to listen to wandering bards tell stories of distant lands... But now, on this street block, you could hardly see ordinary people anymore. Everywhere Holy Army people were running around. They seemed to be searching for something, or maybe aimlessly scraping together stuff...

Suddenly, commotion came from not far away.

A shop not far away had its door kicked open by Holy Army people. They walked in, grabbed a man by the hair, and directly dragged him out from the shop. A woman ran out from the house, her face full of misery, crying, shouting, begging the unmoved Holy Army members... Just then, a middle-aged man wearing Church of War cleric robes walked out.

Geyera could be certain this was just a mere low-ranking cleric who barely mastered any divine arts. At most he could energize people or stimulate the battle aura in people's hearts. That was all.

"Sir! We... we're willing to convert to the God of War. We're willing. From now on, we'll have nothing to do with the God of the Hearth. Please, spare us, spare my husband. We're willing to donate half—no, two-thirds of our fortune to the church... We..."

Geyera heard these pleading voices and furrowed his brows, quickly stepping forward. "What crime did this man commit? What happened!"

Though Geyera had been forced on leave by the archbishops who came from the War Temple, he was still a bishop. The clothes he wore could prove all this.

"Sir! Sir! We really didn't believe in evil gods. We... we're just a small shop that makes a living selling food... We did believe in the God of the Hearth before... but... but now we're willing to give up that faith. We'll believe in the Church of War from now on... We really didn't believe in evil gods! We..."

Noticing another War cleric appeared on the scene with seemingly more luxurious clothes, the woman immediately cried out, recounting everything that happened to her.

However, before she could finish, a wave of divine arts came, and then the woman could no longer make any sound.

That low-ranking cleric actually directly used divine arts to seal her ability to speak. "Sir, I wasn't thorough enough in handling..."

However, before this cleric could finish speaking, Geyera directly grabbed his neck and lifted him up. "Who allowed you to do this? The God of the Hearth is also a righteous god. They're just ordinary people. Who allowed you to proselytize like this?"

As a general, Geyera had killed countless people, but after these years of tempering, he'd ultimately lost his former temper. He just gave this low-ranking cleric a warning, then threw him down.

"Cough cough... cough... Sir, you... don't you know the latest orders issued by the War Temple? We need to, in a short time, transform the entire southern territory... cough... transform it into the God of War's domain. Everyone... everyone must believe in the God of War. All heretics need to... need to be purified."

The low-ranking cleric coughed while looking around. After confirming that the only outsiders now were the two collapsed on the ground, he said, "Plus... the Holy Army's expansion needs their property."

With his words, despair clearly filled the woman's eyes.

Only at this moment did she realize that whether or not they believed in evil gods, their fate was the same. From the beginning, it was already decided.

Not even pretending anymore?

Geyera's face became ice cold.

Recently, those missionaries from the War Temple would still find all kinds of reasons. Now they didn't even bother thinking of reasons... Was this still the God of War he believed in?

The God of War's core doctrine—wasn't it protection?

Why?!

What exactly happened?!

Why, why in such a short time had the church become so strange that it made him feel somewhat afraid!

In the past, there were indeed some bad apples in the Church of the God of War. In the past, there were indeed some radicals in the Church of the God of War. But the Church of the God of War had never been like this. He couldn't imagine what happened to make the Church of War become like this.

That low-ranking cleric seemed to notice his expression change but thought in the wrong direction, assuming he just hadn't received the latest orders. He immediately became confident. "Don't worry, we'll handle it cleanly. We've already prepared evil cult books. At that time, one will be found from their home. They're heretics who believed in evil gods and should undergo the baptism of war flames! Archbishop Pierre has already given instructions. You can rest assured..."

While speaking, he even glanced at the Holy Army person beside him. The other person understood immediately, went forward and stepped on the man, knocking him unconscious. The woman, because of the divine arts, could only sob helplessly but couldn't speak.

Another Holy Army person also quickly stepped forward, wanting to drag the woman away too...

Finally, Geyera reacted. His anger had reached its peak. His years of perseverance suddenly seemed to have lost all meaning.

"The God of War already gave them one chance. They didn't cherish it. A while ago if they'd obediently handed over half their fortune..."

Bang—

Before the low-ranking cleric could finish, Geyera directly punched out, sending the person flying.

Then in a flash, he appeared before those Holy Army members again, instantly sending them all flying. "The doctrine of war is protection. The purpose of war is protection, not invasion. You've already fallen into darkness. You all should be purified by war flames..."

The low-ranking cleric and those Holy Army members were all stunned.

They didn't expect that a high-ranking cleric of their own church, a bishop-level figure of their church, would suddenly attack them. They still didn't understand even now what exactly they did wrong, why this bishop before them would suddenly attack them... Though their conduct was slightly vile, this was god's will! God needed this war!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.