The Deteriorating Situation

Throughout the southern continent, whispers began to spread in the shadows, whispers that told of the return of the descendent of Death and informed of his great existence.

And they infected the heart of the southern continent, igniting the fading hopes and ebbing dreams. It let them burn brilliantly like never before.

Along with them came a yearning, a yearning that was deeply ingrained in everyone, a yearning that could create wonders and bring civilizations to their knees:

A yearning for liberty.

But, as the saying goes, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and whispers were no exception, as they not only re-ignited the fading fire of the Southern Continent but also drew the attention of the world to it.

With that, the trend of the times began to surge significantly, straying from the intended course and plunging the fate of the world into chaos and disorder.

The cause of it all sat alone in a big hall within a massive and majestic structure that appeared to be a bizarre combination of a mausoleum and a castle, perched atop a mountain range between East and West Balam—this was the headquarters of the Numinous Episcopate.

And the cause was none other than Lucien, the Great Reaper, the Embodiment of Death, the Ultimate End of All Things, the Dark Messiah, the Sultan of the Dead, the Monarch of Sleeping Marches, and so on and so forth.

Lucien had made quite a name for himself in just two weeks since securing the loyalty of Sia and Haiter and seizing total control of the Numinous Episcopate.

The people of Balam even bestowed upon him numerous new titles, including Dark Messiah, which raised his brows due to its ominous undertone. They do not desire a peaceful revolution after centuries of persecution under the Northerners. As he heard more and more of their prayers, this became clear to him.

Prayers, indeed. The Numinous Episcopate had successfully replaced the honorific name of Underworld Emperor in religious teachings with his own. It was not difficult for them to accomplish because they essentially oversaw the Religion of Death from the shadows and were responsible for its survival up to this point. So, he'd been inundated with prayers from all over the southern continent since then, and he was still doing his best to respond to the majority of them.

The change in honorific names also resulted in a less desirable development: the forces of the outer gods, led by the Rose School of Thought, had come at the Numinous Episcopate with their guns blazing. To be honest, Lucien had no idea why the Outer Gods hated him so much that "They" didn't hesitate to direct "Their" forces against him and his organisation.

Nonetheless, the Numinous Episcopate was forced to confront the Rose School of Thought. The conflict between two extraordinary organisations went about as well as you might expect—to cut a long story short, it was brutal, with fights between low and mid-sequence beyonders already taking place in many locations across West Balam. And he had a feeling it wouldn't be long before high-sequence beyonders joined in.

Their clash was obviously noticed by Intis and Loen, who were also continuously battling on the borders of East and West Balam, but the Northern Countries chose a wait-and-see strategy, not wishing to escalate the situation. There was also the fact that they were unsure about Lucien's existence; he was surrounded by mysteries and unknowns, which pushed them even further to take that approach. Even when their governments attempted to consult with the orthodox churches, they were met with a strange silence.

But he knew it wouldn't be long before they were drawn into their conflict, as the freedom movement gained traction as a result of his presence and the Numinous episcopate's propaganda. If his predictions come true, insurgencies would erupt across the southern continent by the beginning of the next year.

By the way, how did Lucien know about everything that was going on in the Northern continent? He successfully established the information-gathering network that he had planned using his spirits at the start of the previous week. And Adam, from time to time, also granted him clear reports on the situation of the northern continent through the Twilight Hermit Order.

Returning to their conflict, if Loen and Intis, and possibly Feysac, joined them, the entire southern continent would be thrown into chaos.

He hoped to avoid this. He understood that war was unavoidable, but it should have meaning and purpose, which this conflict lacks—all this would result in pointless destruction and bloodshed.

'I need to overthrow the hold Loen and Intis have on the southern continent before the situation devolves into this,' Lucien brooded, gazing at the map of the world that was spread before him on a silver table. 'Easier said than done,' he chuckled wryly in his head before grabbing a cup of coffee from the side of the table and sipping it to calm his chaotic heart.

In the last two weeks, a lot had happened, not only for the world but also for him. Where does he even start with them?…..Ah, that would do:

First and foremost, with the support of Sia and Haiter, he became the leader of the Numinous Episcopate. And they became his angels, and in the aftermath of this event, both of the factions they led within the Numinous Episcopate were united with little to no resistance or conflict, as both of them had absolute control over their factions, albeit through different methods.

Then his angels presented him with all of the information on Numinous Episcopate, from the number of beyonders in the organisation to the number of branches around the world, from the details of sealed artefacts they held to divisions and hierarchies within the organisation to the detailed history of the organisation to knowledge they had on other organisations and entities.

They gave him everything he needed to review and become acquainted with the new leadership position he had just assumed.

And let him tell you from many sleepless nights and tired days that leading a secret organisation was no joke; he basically moved in here, but he was still extremely pleased with what he got. How could he not?

After all, the might and power of the Numinous Episcopate surpassed those of the ordinary Orthodox Church in this era. Unlike the Orthodox Churches, which had reduced their forces to a bare minimum since the beginning of the Fifth Epoch, Sia and Haiter focused on expanding and strengthening their organisation in order to achieve the glory that the Eggers Family had in the Fourth Epoch. And they would have succeeded if it hadn't been for the constant turmoil of the southern continent, but their organisation was still a beast in comparison to an orthodox church. This advantage would be critical in the coming war.

The thing that completely piqued his interest, however, was a Grade-0 sealed artefact. It was a blood-red sword, which was also a sequence-1 characteristic of the Red Priest pathway.

When Lucien read that, he raised his brow in surprise because he hadn't expected the Numinous Episcopate to have a conqueror characteristic, but as he read the report, his surprise faded completely—the conqueror characteristic was acquired from the fall of the Underworld Emperor—and was replaced by thoughtfulness.

He knew the birth of the Red Priest was inevitable in the future, so he began to consider how he could take advantage of the situation. His organisation may be strong, but it would fall short if all orthodox churches came at Numinous Episcopate in full force. Thus, in the upcoming world war, if he wanted to win, he needed allies, which this conqueror characteristic might just grant, but he hadn't decided on this yet, brooding on it still from time to time.

Which brings us to the second item on his recent activities: Lucien began preparing for the Pale Emperor ritual. Leaving aside the requirement of constructing an empire, he had focused on another: conquering 100,000 spirits for his future empire. This proved simple because he had soul authority, which gave him complete control over the spirits; however, given his circumstances, conquering that many spirits would still take some time, but not to the point where it would interfere with his overall plans.

The religion of Death was the third item on the list. Lucien has almost decided on the changes that have to be made to the religion. It wasn't anything drastic that went against the norms and traditions of the southern continent, but it just aimed to change the image of Death in people's hearts from the Underworld Emperor to Lucien. The first step he planned to take was to change the sacred emblem from the inverted mausoleum to a white rose blooming in darkness and then proceed from there.

Finally, Lucien oversaw the conflict between the Numinous Episcopate and the Rose School of Thought. He didn't technically lead the war effort; Sia and Haiter did. He was honest with them about his lack of expertise in the art of warfare, so they immediately volunteered to teach him using this opportunity, as it was a must-have skill for any leader.

And that was a short and succinct summary of what he had done in the previous weeks; there were still minor events he hadn't mentioned, such as the time he gave a marvellous and passionate speech to all high-sequence beyonders of the Numinous Episcopate.

Anyway, returning to the subject at hand, Lucien set aside the empty cup and picked up the report submitted by William Bell, a saint of the Numinous Episcopate, which detailed the outcome of the task he assigned to him and other saints. As he read it again, his brows furrowed heavily.

He had instructed them to keep an eye out for any movements of Orthodox churches, but they detected none.

The Churches of the Seven Gods remained silent on the changing situation on the Southern Continent, but why? ….

What were the Seven Gods planning?

Lucien pondered that question, tapping the armrest rhythmically. His mind raced with hypotheses and assumptions, but he was soon interrupted by Sia and Haiter, who had arrived for their daily meetings to discuss the developments of the battles in the West Balam, and through this, they taught him the art of Warfare.

"My Lord." They greeted him in unison.

Lucien hummed in recognition. He then motioned for them to take their places at the silver table in front of him.

"Before we begin," the Reaper thrummed his armrest, his gaze fixed on his angels. "There are some issues that need to be addressed."

Lucien knew it was time to address the issues he had been putting off as he finally settled into his new role as leader of the Numinous Episcopate.

"What are they, my lord?" Haiter inquired, intrigued.

"First and foremost, the last pale emperor characteristic." Lucien spoke forthrightly. "It's with Bernadette Gustav." As he expected, there wasn't much surprise in either of their faces.

Sia inquired, meeting his silver gaze with trepidation. "So you don't really belong to our pathway?" She phrased it more as a statement than a question.