Originally, in the clerics' forceful words, they'd described each person as someone bewitched by the devil, saying they wanted to take them to hell where they'd never receive the light of the gods. Quite a few people seemed to have been convinced.

Some had even been ready to shout to burn these people alive!

But after voices rang out from the crowd, things clearly changed. The high-pressure environment and tons of flyers had already made some people start questioning the church in their hearts—they just didn't dare show it on the surface.

But hearing that those being burned were mostly people around them—the owner of the soup shop, the beggar at the door, the department store employee—some couldn't even read, some were even blind, yet they could still be selected to be burned to death. So would they be next?

Chaos immediately spread through the crowd.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

"What? That guy's been blind for years?"

"Can't even read?! Isn't this just randomly grabbing people?"

"I think those papers mentioned before that some churches would deliberately grab random people to burn to death to warn others. I think it was called... making an example?"

"Damn it! We're all believers of the God of War. We left our homes to come here—was it to gamble with our lives?"

The commotion in the crowd grew louder and louder. The cleric standing on the high platform seemed to notice something unusual about the crowd.

In the past, when things like this happened, people would either cheer about how good the killing was, or they'd keep their heads down. When had something like this ever happened?

Unease welled up in his heart.

He decisively abandoned ordinary fire and secretly activated the magic power in his body, converting it into flames through magic runes.

Instantly, the so-called 'Flames of War' became intense.

Since the celebration day ended, he hadn't been able to communicate with war divine arts like other clerics, but years of spellcasting habits had made their grasp of magic much faster.

Now comparable to a mid-level magician, he went all out. Those propaganda flyers and the 'lambs' they'd grabbed were quickly ignited. Screams echoed throughout the square.

Fat splattered everywhere in the flames, making people around instinctively step back.

But the fear and terror he'd imagined didn't appear. The cleric on the platform could clearly see that more people's faces showed expressions of empathy for the victims.

Bizarre!

This was getting more and more bizarre!

The cleric didn't wait for the flames to burn out. He just confirmed that these people were dead—dead with no way to prove their innocence—then left the scene to the Templars. He covered his nose as if he didn't want to smell the disgusting odor around him anymore...

But he'd forgotten that without his suppression, how could these residents still keep themselves so repressed?

Even blind people could be labeled as those bewitched by evil gods. Weren't the flyers talking about the Church of the God of War they revered? They just wanted to randomly grab someone to intimidate them!

Residents who hadn't made the connection before, after seeing this incident, finally seemed unable to keep lying to themselves...

The fire burned not just the flyers, not just a few residents, but also the faith in many people's hearts.

For the first time, they doubted their own faith, doubted war.

Perhaps this was what Lava General wanted.

When these last war remnants were dealt with, the old God of War would be completely terminated with no possibility of revival. There would only be one God of War in this world—the God of Technology and War!

"These war remnants really have no bottom line!" Lava General's face was grim. "Have them print out the photos they took today too. Increase propaganda efforts. Let everyone know their danger."

"Yes!"

To destroy a church, the most important thing was to break their hearts. Either make all the last diehards die, or make their hearts completely die. Otherwise, you'd just force them into becoming a dark church.

Lava General had already told many people his philosophy. Those close enough to him naturally knew it too and acted without hesitation.

In Krig City, gossip grew more and more.

Water supplies might not be enough.

Food might not be enough.

Large amounts of grain were being transported to the cathedral in the core area.

High-ranking clerics still lived decadently every day, while some low-ranking clerics were now no different from civilians.

Some bishops and archbishops hadn't shown their faces in a long time—they might be trying to escape.

Actually, the God of War had fallen long ago. These bishops and archbishops gathered them together just to take one last opportunity to earn enough money for their families to never run out for generations...

Even later, these flyers started describing a more beautiful world. As long as they were willing to rise up in resistance, willing to drive out the people of the Church of the God of War, they'd all have true religious freedom. Anyone could learn about any sect, worship the gods they believed in, have better jobs, have richer lives...

The bishops and archbishops in the cathedral probably never imagined that the flyers they thought were completely fake and that no one would believe would become the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.

Under the saturation bombing of these flyers, even some marginalized clerics on the periphery, those supernatural beings, started thinking that the Church of the God of War really had gone down the wrong path. They weren't war maniacs, but they'd been swept along by high-level church officials who started wars for profit, turning them into war maniacs.

Outside the city, surrounding them, were people who used to be part of the Church of the God of War too. They believed in protection. What they did was also protection. They got massive public support. They got everything they wanted.

Finally.

In the cathedral.

Archbishop Clec the Mad Lion noticed this.

He urgently called a clerical meeting, gathering almost all high-ranking clerics and fanatics together, his expression serious. "The enemy has already infiltrated. They're dismantling our forces in a way we've never experienced before... Lava General is no longer the Lava General we knew!"

"Archbishop, I think your worries are unnecessary. Even if those people were influenced by demons from outside, so what? We still have tons of magicians, knights, and ascetics. They all have powerful strength. We still..."

"It's useless. That thing is more terrifying than we imagined. If I'm not mistaken, there are traitors among us, right? Maybe when I called this meeting, you'd already started taking action."

Clec the Mad Lion didn't get to his current position by being an idiot. It was just that long-standing arrogance and Krig City's special circumstances made him overlook these details. By the time he noticed, it was already too late.

The instant his words fell, outside, booming sounds erupted everywhere.

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