"Shadow, tell me—what did you discover during your visit to the Temple of War today?"

Seeing that all the non-God of War convert high-level officials of the empire had gathered, the Gray Fort Emperor spoke calmly.

The space beside him suddenly rippled, and a shadow emerged from who knows where. Even standing right in front of everyone, they still couldn't make out the face hidden in that shadow. It was like he didn't exist at all.

But everyone knew of his existence and knew how terrifying he was. You could say he was the Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all Gray Fort Empire officials. His responsibilities were simple: monitor all intelligence—domestic officials, domestic affairs big and small, foreign spies, all of it. He seemed to be born from shadows themselves. Besides the Gray Fort Emperor, no one knew his background, no one knew who he really was, no one had even seen his face... But somehow, he could appear by your side at any moment, could suddenly show up whenever you were doing anything. All officials were in awe of him because of this.

Today, while the Pope came to meet with His Majesty the Emperor, Shadow went to the Temple of War to conduct various investigations.

Lately, the atmosphere in the city had been weird, especially around the Temple of War.

No one knew what exactly was happening, but the root of it all seemed to be that Church of the God of War causing chaos in other kingdoms across the continent.

Honestly, anyone with half a brain could tell something was up from the people gathered here.

"Inside the Temple of War, the Church of the God of War seems to be conducting some kind of ritual. Right now, at least ten archbishops and over a hundred bishops have gathered. All the archbishops have legendary-level strength or above, and the bishops are no weaker than high-level supernatural beings. Also, the Disciplinary Monks who should normally live in the temple long-term have disappeared without a trace. I controlled several clergy members but couldn't find any related information."

Shadow didn't seem to notice everyone's stares, or maybe he just didn't care. He directly reported everything he'd discovered. "Also, the Temple of War's interior... looks no different from before, but after I entered, I could clearly feel a shift in atmosphere... According to the historical records, it's similar to the situation at the Church of the God of Wine's headquarters back in the day."

Hisss—

The people who were already pretty tense completely lost it.

More than ten legendary-level powerhouses, a hundred high-level supernatural being-level powerhouses—if they decided to attack, it would be certain death. Even an assault on the imperial palace, if unprepared, could potentially succeed. Such forces suddenly gathering in the capital was already terrifying enough, but then those last words took that terror to a whole new level.

No surface changes, but a massive shift in atmosphere. Large numbers of clergy conducting rituals. Atmosphere similar to the Church of the God of Wine... Didn't that mean the Church of War, the Temple of War, might have fallen and become a dark church?

Originally, the relationship between empire and church could be described as complementary, mutually beneficial. Even with them gathering so many high-level clergy, it could be understood as preparation for the upcoming celebration. But now? Did they still dare to interpret it that way?!

A sense of urgency arose spontaneously.

Meanwhile.

At the Temple of War.

A special wavelength that humans couldn't perceive was reverberating wildly. The War Pope had returned to the temple.

The moment he entered, a voice spoke: "After you entered the palace, a life force entered the temple. We saw it only wandering the surface layers, so we didn't expel it."

"It's just a shadow, no need to worry." A blood-red gleam flashed in the War Pope's eyes before returning to calm. "We should continue discussing the 'celebration.' This year's 'celebration' is crucial to our god..."

Before he finished speaking, the next moment he'd already appeared in the room where the archbishops and bishops were gathered. Maybe it wasn't just an illusion—the instant he entered the room, his entire demeanor underwent a dramatic change.

"Your Holiness, you've been busy with so many things today. Do you need to..."

"No, I don't need to. My condition has never been better! After confirming the Gray Fort Emperor's thoughts, I'm even more determined about the 'celebration' plan." The War Pope cut them off directly. "We should continue. This 'celebration' will go down in history!"

As he spoke, the War Pope activated the power within his body. The endless power granted to him by the God of War began to surge. Power that mortals couldn't perceive made the entire Temple of War start to fill with a certain indescribable... atmosphere.

The War Pope's body began to age rapidly. Originally in his forties, in just a few breaths, his skin surface had grown wrinkled, age spots appeared, and some kind of rotting liquid was even dripping from his body. But with such an appearance, no one around him showed any emotional reaction, because this wasn't the first time.

Gradually, his body seemed to melt away, completely disappearing from where he stood. In its place was something like a soul, looking somewhat blurry but still visible.

All the clerics could even feel a force of faith glowing on that soul-like body, like the legendary Holy Spirit.

Truly worthy of being the person closest to god in the Church of the God of War. Many archbishops sighed inwardly.

As leaders of the God of War's clergy system, they knew some secrets. This transformation was the Pope forcibly entering the gap between the mortal realm and the divine realm, needing to transform himself into a semi-Holy Spirit state to achieve certain special effects... The eerie atmosphere grew thick again.

Somewhere in the Gray Fort capital, suddenly, a piercing scream rang out. But no one knew what had happened.

In the Kingdom of Dawn, Roster territory, machinery roared.

Following the sound, you'd see a line of metal boxes with huge treads driving down the only road. If Count Grano saw this, he'd definitely say, "Get Grano twenty more of these! No, fifty!"

Obviously, these were the farming miracles that Count Grano had bought in bulk and that had become the dream of aristocratic farmers on the royal capital's plains—magic-powered tractors.

But these magic-powered tractors were a bit different from usual... All of them had six-barreled, extremely square and imposing-looking magic power railguns mounted on them. These magic power railguns and the tractors seemed almost fused together, apparently using Roster territory's special "welding magic" to ensure they were firmly attached. Behind these tractors, they pulled large cargo beds loaded with magic power shells engraved with different spell models.

Compared to traditional magic bombs, magic power shells had many differences but could deliver longer range and greater destructive power.

Without a doubt, these attack-capable magic-powered tractors were being deployed to the southern battlefield!

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