Sword of Dawn

Page 204

"Of course it's powerful. In fact, it can even make you behave like a devout saint when you are affected by 'judgment spells' like 'Great Divine Word' - well, it's not that exaggerated, but it He can definitely scare that Fran Berenger," Amber said with a look of disdain, "Although that guy is known as a bishop, he was temporarily elected after the death of Lemont and a large number of high-level extraordinary people. It’s just half-baked, I doubt that guy can fully support a big divine word.”

After finishing speaking, a sly smile suddenly appeared on the half-elf's face: "And...these resonance nodes have some small functions, which will definitely surprise those magic sticks."

Seeing the curious and expectant eyes of her subordinates, Amber's trembling mentality was greatly satisfied: now she can finally understand a little bit what it feels like to receive a circle of amazed eyes after Gao Wen usually comes up with a very powerful idea. up.

However, she didn't indulge in this feeling for too long, and she didn't continue to play tricks with the team members—operators must know what the specific functions of the props they equip are, which is the key to ensuring the success of the mission, so she was a little embarrassed After that, she began to seriously explain the effects of those holy light resonance nodes...

At the same time, on a high ground outside the city of Luan, Philip, who was in charge of monitoring the situation in the city of Luan and carrying out the blockade mission, came to the Knights of Byron who delivered the support materials.

"The gang of gods in Luan City should probably go away," Byron, who had a rather soldierly air, said to Philip carelessly upon meeting him, "I brought weapons specially designed to attack them."

"Weapons?" Philip, who was on the blockade mission, looked curiously at the supply carriages brought by his old partner, "Didn't you say that you won't directly attack Luan City?"

"Of course we won't attack." Byron grinned, as if he wanted to show a mysterious smile, but in fact he smiled like an orangutan who successfully stole a banana. Philip knew when he saw his partner's smile It was a task arranged by the lord that hit it off with the bad water in the stomach of this old fritter.

He didn't ask, because he knew that the old fritter in front of him would definitely not be able to bear it.

"We brought [-] leaflets." Sure enough, Byron barely persisted for a few seconds before he said, "stuffed in shells."

Chapter 0487 Heresy Trial

The big search in Luan City started.

The destruction of the outer city by MI operations teams has finally brought the chaos and division of the city to its peak, and the priests of the cathedral have adopted their usual effective countermeasures in the face of the spiraling out of control ——

The Discipline monks and the Knights finally stopped holding back. They began to break into every house, interrogate every citizen, took away all things suspected of being infected with heresy, and took away all people who were shaken by doubts and beliefs. From "Iron Cross Street" to "White Pine Street" in the south of the city, the clergymen in black robes and knights in armor swept the entire outer city like a wave of fear.

When the tide rolled in, the unarmed civilians were all panicked and fearful. For a while, the knights' scolding, whipping, and people's cries filled every street. After the tide rolled over, there was only a piece of land between the streets. Dead silence and low cries hidden in corners, on the surface, it seems that this wave has flattened everything, but if a person with a little wisdom wanders around the city of Luan at this moment, he will find a fascinating Disturbing facts:

In the streets and alleys, among the trembling citizens of Luan, among the most devout people who believed in the God of Light in the entire southern region, there was no longer a single prayer heard.

However, it is a pity that at this moment, the Holy Light Cathedral can no longer hear or see the real situation in the outer city. The person in charge of the church has only one goal in mind at this moment: to conduct the heresy trial as soon as possible, even though the chaos that has gone out of control ...

At the same time, outside Luan City, on the streets of the city in the central area of ​​the southern border, a large holographic image is being projected over the public magic net terminal set up in the square. The witch jeep who has gradually become a "famous person" recently Li was sitting in the video, and behind her was another dynamic picture: that was the chaotic streets of Luan City.

"...The city of Luan is in great chaos, and the priests of the cathedral are arresting innocent citizens all over the city... All those who disobey the orders of the cathedral will be branded as heretics, and the priests and knights will attack the unarmed civilians. strike...

"Our lord is still trying to find a way to communicate with the priests of Luan City, but the open letter sent into the city was confiscated by the cathedral and burned in public...

"The Church of the Holy Light in the city seems to have completely rejected our peace wishes. The army led by the two generals Philip and Byron voluntarily withdrew to a place several kilometers away from the city wall under the condition that they could destroy the Luan Cathedral at any time. The soldiers After waiting for 86 days in the wilderness outside the city, we only got unilateral resistance and hostility from the Luan Cathedral... We can’t help but wonder, what do the priests in the cathedral want? One soldier at a time, why did you start killing your own innocent people instead?"

Accompanied by Jibril's heartbroken words, the images in the holographic projection flashed continuously, showing a large number of leaflets and booklets that were publicly burned, showing cruel torture, and showing church soldiers searching houses and intimidating people. The scene, and the last picture is the scene of an angry and ferocious church soldier trampling a civilian under his feet. The roar of the church soldier came from the picture: "...you dare to hide the Cecil's... ...Who gave you the guts to disobey the Bishop?!"

All the pictures were clearly shot under very tense and secret circumstances, and many pictures were accompanied by serious disturbing noises and color spots. The voice of Miss Witch continued to sound: "...This is the information sent by the couriers trapped in the city of Luan with desperate spells. I hope these brave couriers can survive this disaster safely..."

"Now, we have invited the editor-in-chief of Cecil Weekly, a respectable scholar, Mr. Godwin Orlando, and several representatives of citizens from Cecil City and Kant City, and we will discuss the current chaos in Luan City on the spot. Why did it come here? It will also discuss a question that a large number of viewers have been paying attention to recently: whether we should continue to wait for the rational response from the priests in the Luan Cathedral, and whether we should continue to look forward to the current Church of the Holy Light ——If we can’t wait for a rational and peaceful answer, is it necessary for us to establish a new order of the Holy Light with our own hands, so as to prevent someone from continuing to defile the Holy Light…”

The people gathered in the square looked emotionally at the pictures on the holographic projection, and looked at the status quo of Luan City that had started to play back in the background behind Jibri. In fact, everyone is not unfamiliar with the behavior of the church. Everyone will deal with the pastors of the church more or less in their daily life, and they will also see the scene of pastors or church soldiers whipping civilians who make mistakes. However, at this moment, the information and Their previous experience was not the same thing at all, so many atrocities appeared together, stirring the nerves of everyone present.

And as for the matter that Miss Witch mentioned: the issue of whether a new Holy Light order is to be established that a large number of viewers are concerned about, people have almost no doubts.

Although the vast majority of people have never thought about this level at all, but Miss Witch has said so, so it should be the case.

Although I didn't pay attention to this matter, maybe others did.

People in this city didn't pay attention to this matter, maybe other cities did.

Some representatives of the citizens have already gone to the "show" to discuss this issue with the most famous scholars in the southern border. It seems that this issue has really become a hot topic and has become something that everyone is discussing.

"What are you waiting for! Those priests are already crazy!"

I don't know who was the first to shout out in the square, and soon someone began to respond.

"The priests in Luan City won't open the door obediently, they are dogs of the Northern Church!" "The civilians in Luan City are also Cecilians, we can't let them suffer!" "Those priests are insulting the Holy Light." !Let our 'White Knights' take over Luan City!"

Before the order-maintaining security team came to control the situation and reminded everyone to calm down and watch the show, similar calls rang out in almost every city and town covered by magic network terminals...

However, the cries outside Luan could not reach the cathedral. In this "City of Churches", the preparations for the heresy trial had come to an end.

The terrified people were once again driven to the square, gathered together under the coercion of divine arts and swords—in this world of extraordinary force, the endurance of the common people at the bottom showed a pathetic strength at this moment, Even in the current situation, they showed no signs of rebelling against the knights or priests. They gathered around the square like silent sheep, looking submissive and fearful.

However, Amber, who was in the crowd, could feel that there was an uneasy atmosphere in this silent flock, which was invisible and substanceless, but filled with the coldness and oppression of the approaching storm.

This is an unusual silence—under normal circumstances, civilians gather together quietly, no matter how obedient and respectful they are, they will uncontrollably produce commotion and buzzing discussions, but at this moment...

It was too quiet, too silent, so quiet and silent that it seemed to be dead.

The wooden platform in the center of the square has been set up, and the ashes from the last fire have been cleared away, but there still seems to be a lingering burning smell in the square - since the establishment of Luan City, this place has been burned to death How many people have passed?How many people were burned here for disobeying the church, talking about the bishop, or hiding scriptures?

Those who were burned to death, the pungent smell produced by their gradually charred corpses seems to have infiltrated the cracks of every stone brick, but today, these smells seem to seep out bit by bit...

The side door of the church area was opened, and the first to come out was a group of fully armed church soldiers, and behind the church soldiers, came out a group of gray linen robes, bare feet, and no crowns on their heads. priest.

This is the mark of "disciplined".

These people who are being punished are the clergy who have secretly hidden the leaflets or talked about the bishop in private. They walked behind the church soldiers, and there were discipline monks in black robes on both sides to maintain the team. They walked into the square with their heads down. Yuan stopped at the closest position to the civilians.

Some civilians quickly glanced at the priests who seemed to be being punished, and the latter also glanced curiously at the civilians in the square.

They all showed curiosity and surprise.

Afterwards, the gate of the church area was also opened, and the bishop of Luan Cathedral, Fran Bereng, appeared on the square with his group of priests.

Their bodies were filled with brilliant holy light, their white robes were still clean and bright, their steps were steady and full of energy—even at the moment when food rations were being cut repeatedly and the rations of civilians in the outer city had been reduced to a state of half-starvation, they were still The complexion is rosy, the skin is plump and healthy.

Surrounded by the priests, Fran Bereng came to the high platform, and then frowned slightly.

The atmosphere here made him very uncomfortable.

The square that was too dead... was full of numb and stupid pariahs, but those who used to bow their heads and tremble, now all looked at themselves with strange eyes.

Those eyes were neither awed nor offensive. Fran Bereng couldn't tell what they were. He only felt that those eyes seemed to be the eyes of a group of dead people, but they seemed to be looking at the eyes of dead people.

Probably because of hunger...

Fran Bereng suppressed the unhappiness in his heart, and forgave the offense in those people's eyes with great tolerance. He knew that today's heresy trial was a very crucial ceremony, and he had to endure it before it was completed.

A sound of armor rubbing came from the side of the square, and another group of church soldiers escorted a dozen ragged people to the wooden platform, and tied them to the pillars that had been prepared.

Frank Berenger calmed down, and then faced the square. He encouraged the Holy Light so that his voice could spread here: "People of the God of Holy Light—I know the suffering you have suffered these days, In fact, I'm heartbroken about it too...

"...it was the devil who seduced and corrupted your relatives and friends, and planted doubt and division in people's minds..."

There was no sound in the square, there was neither applause nor objection, not even a little commotion.

Fran Berenger had never encountered such an indifferent and deadly reaction. He seemed a little embarrassed for a while, and then a little annoyed.

Yet his preaching had begun, and he had to go on.

So he forcibly suppressed the unhappiness in his heart, and encouraged the holy light even more, allowing the magnificent holy light around him to create a huge momentum, and these created momentum finally caused some commotion in the square—these The commotion finally allowed him to continue his preaching: "...Today, I am here to expose the tricks of the devil and expose their shadows lurking in people's hearts!

"Those who have been bewitched by the devil will undoubtedly be exposed and then purified, and those who have not been bewitched will naturally be justly identified and released-I will promise everyone that this trial is just, It is vaild!

"I swear to the God of Holy Light, the Lord's glory and justice will be done!"

Fran Bereng raised the scepter in his hand high. Normally, he would have to wait for a while after shouting the exciting slogan, waiting for the people around him to cheer like a tsunami. However, at this moment, he has realized that Such cheers are difficult to appear, so he simply and neatly omitted unnecessary details in the ceremony, and directly stimulated the magic power in his whole body. While communicating with the voice of the God of Holy Light in his heart, he released a wide range of divine arts.

Accompanied by a faint sound of a holy voice, a hazy halo of whiteness spread around Fran Berenger.

Seeing such extraordinary power, the civilians in the square finally became a little commotion again, while on the wooden platform in front of the crowd, those who were tied to the pillars widened their eyes, watching with fear and tension. As the aura swept across them with seemingly unstoppable momentum——

Where the halo swept across, a faint light curtain appeared on the bodies of those who were tied up, and then the light curtain shook violently, distorting countless shadow-like cracks, and those hazy cracks floated beside them And the top of the head, it looks very eye-catching.

Flambérand looked at this scene with satisfaction: as he expected, it was impossible for those who were in fear and self-doubt to pass the heresy trial.

The halo continued to spread out of the platform, and gradually appeared to dissipate.

Seeing the approach of the halo, the crowd at the inner edge of the square all showed nervous expressions. Some of them quietly took half a step back, but they didn't dare to make too obvious movements for fear of being spotted by the priests on the stage. Standing too far forward - they fell into the circle of the halo.

Fran Bereng was surprised to see that in the halo of the Great Divine Word Art that was about to dissipate, several bright and constant rays of light lit up.

There are still such a degree of piety among the common people?

Originally, he just wanted to use the aftermath of the magic spell to frighten those civilians, but he didn't expect to see the response of the Holy Light.

The temporary bishop was extremely surprised to see the directions where the lights appeared, but in the next second, he couldn't care less about what "those pious believers" looked like.

He found that the great divine words that should have diffused to the limit and dissipated naturally seemed to be strengthened out of thin air, and the halo that was already extremely dim in front of the crowd suddenly became extremely bright! !

It is reasonable to say that the magic that would be confined around the "judgment table" seemed to resonate with some sacred magic weapon. It was reinfused with energy, and then began to spread towards the entire square with an extremely rapid momentum.

Fran Bereng watched all this in astonishment, and suddenly realized in his heart—oh, it's over.

Chapter 0488 Disintegration

The heresy trial ceremony was on the verge of getting out of control.

Fran Bereng once imagined all the possible variables in the heresy trial ceremony, and the biggest crisis he imagined was the failure of his own divine spell—after all, using the great divine word to identify heresy would be affected by many uncontrollable factors, and he His own strength is not high enough to control this magic technique [-]%.

But he didn't expect that the unexpected situation would come from the opposite direction: his magic was strengthened.

Seeing the milky white halo spreading towards the entire square, Fran Bereng realized that the situation would get out of hand.

Because he knew from the very beginning that few of the civilians in the outer city of Luan could pass the test of the great divine word technique.

The long-term blockade has seriously weakened the will of the believers, and the leaflets circulating in the city have shaken everyone's belief in the God of Holy Light. Fran Bereng may not care about the lives of the people at the bottom, but as a A senior priest, he at least understands the human heart, at least, he understands how weak the minds of ordinary people are under such circumstances—and in contrast, the "Great Divine Word Technique" is an extremely severe test— ——In fact, at the beginning of its creation, this divine art was not used to judge ordinary people for heresy at all. The real function of this magical art was to test the spiritual strength of the priests!

The purpose of using this magic technique to test the supernatural on ordinary people and calling it "the trial of heresy" is very simple: it is just to ensure that everyone who stands on the opposite side of the church can be quickly condemned. .

Therefore, there was no fairness in this trial from the very beginning, because in fact, no matter who the soldiers grabbed from the square, there was a [-]% chance that that person would be identified as a heretic!

The temporary bishop of Luan City immediately cut off his maintenance of divine spells, but the situation has not changed at all: the aftermath of the great divine word spell has been strengthened by some unknown force, it is still spreading, and it has shrouded the square On the heads of those people!

The civilians were commotion, but they had no time to avoid the range of the magic spell. The pure white halo swept over everyone's heads. What happened next made every priest at a loss: one after another, turbulent and fragmented lights emerged from the civilians. In the next scene, civilians one after another were identified as heretics by divine magic!

The halo spread all the way, and the turbulent and broken light curtains continued to form pieces all the way, and among the "heresy" marks one after another, less than [-]% of people could still maintain the constant holy light, and even if it was that [-]%, the rest The light is also dim and dim, and may go out at any time, so it cannot be regarded as having truly passed the test.

In this church city, the whole city is "heresy".

Fran Bereng only felt dizzy for a while, and the continuous pieces of shattered light curtains rushed towards him like an endless black tide, and in this dizzy and shaking vision, he saw an even more terrifying scene:

The halo not only spread to the heads of the civilians, but also spread to the heads of the priests who stood on the edge of the platform and were punished.

A turbulent and shattered light curtain also appeared on those priests!

Then came the Holy See knights and church soldiers—they watched in amazement and nervously that they were shrouded in the halo of divine magic. The next moment, the light curtains on their bodies also shattered, and black cracks like ink stains spread all over them.

"Oh God……"

There was an exclamation from the group of priests behind Fran Berenger, and the temporary bishop's heart tightened immediately. He tried hard to control his heart, trying not to make it beat so fast, but when he turned his head, That terrifying scene still made his breathing stop for an instant:

In the group of priests on the high platform, among those priests from Luan Cathedral, two highly respected assistant bishops were looking at themselves in despair. Beside them, a dim layer of holy light was gradually shattering, and The pitch-black cracks are growing more and more.

The Great Divine Word Technique, which was supposed to spread only towards the square, unexpectedly affected the group of priests after it was suddenly strengthened!

"Persist in the faith!" Fran Bereng finally couldn't help exclaiming, "Don't doubt your belief! Don't doubt what you are doing!"

After exclaiming, the temporary bishop suddenly flashed the picture he just saw——

On the square, among the civilians closest to the high platform of the trial, a few groups of extraordinarily bright and constant lights suddenly appeared just now...

He once thought that it was a commoner with exceptionally firm beliefs and a natural affinity for the Holy Light—although this situation is very rare, it is not unimaginable, but now he finally realized the abnormality of this matter belatedly.In other words, he should have realized it at the beginning, but the state of astonishment at that time made him lose his judgment in the most critical few seconds.

Those brilliance are not the radiance emitted after passing the test of the "Great Divine Word Technique", but the holy light!It's something like magic!

"The Cecilians are in the square!" Fran Bereng raised the scepter in his hand high, and shouted to the knights and soldiers who were still in panic and tension around the platform, "Go and catch those ..."

His shouting stopped abruptly, because when his eyes swept across the square, all those suspicious people had already disappeared.

Those people had been evacuated when the situation first started to spiral out of control.

He only saw a few weird metal plates falling to the ground, bright holy light floating on the surface of those metal plates, and bursts of powerful divine arts waves came from those metal plates.

For a moment of stupefaction by Fran Berenger, those metal plates seemed to finally be unable to bear some kind of pressure, sparks and a little smoke came out while crackling, and the holy brilliance floating on the surface of the metal plates immediately dissipated.

And as those weird "magic props" stopped working, the great divine words spreading around the square finally stopped.

But everything is irreparable, and the whole square is falling into a deathly silence.

Fran Bereng stood on a high wooden platform, maintaining a terrifying face like a statue. He looked at the same sluggish and stiff civilians and silent priests, and his mind was running crazily one question:

When a heresy trial ceremony directly identified almost the entire city's believers and priests as heretics, as one of the only people who were not heretics, what should I do? !

Shouting the name of the Lord to purify the city of heresy?Or just pretend that nothing happened, that the power of the master occasionally failed?

For the first time in his life, Fran Bereng hoped that the God of Holy Light would immediately send divine punishment and burn himself to death neatly, which was better than facing the most difficult decision in his life here.

However, at this moment, a strange whistling sound suddenly came from the sky, interrupting the temporary bishop's life choices.

He was stunned for a moment when he heard the whistling sound, as if he didn't realize what it was, but soon he noticed the fearful expressions on the faces of the exiled knights who had taken refuge at the edge of the square, so he realized instantly. to what those sounds represent.

It's Cecil, it's Cecil's "Sky Fire" coming in!Those Cecilians finally got their hands on it!

Fran Bereng couldn't restrain his ecstasy at this moment. It seemed that all his problems would be solved with the fall of Cecil's sky fire. He turned around suddenly and looked at the group of priests behind him. He also saw similar joy on the face of the past priest.