Chapter 76: The Church’s “Mercy”

“How outrageous!”

There was an uproar within the church, and everyone’s faces were filled with anger.

A wave of intense fury gathered in the room, lingering for a long time.

“These border nobles are truly audacious, daring to openly target the candidate saintess. Who gave them the courage!”

“The empire is becoming more and more degenerate.”

“Have we been too merciful? Do they think our candidate saintess is unimportant, that they can harm the church’s reputation and still think they can survive? We must severely punish these lawless nobles!”

Everyone was extremely angry; it had been a long time since they had encountered such a situation. Did they really think the church was just a group of priests who could only assist?

At the necessary moment, they would show the world the might of the holy knights!

“This is a disgrace; it must be washed away with war and blood!”

“Immediately summon the holy knight order to rescue Michelle.”

Everyone issued orders, and the various knight leaders of the church hurriedly left.

“Wait a moment!”

A thin, old man in the center spoke up. As soon as he said this, everyone fell silent and looked at him with respect.

“Deploy the Radiant Holy Knights!”

His aged face was filled with vitality, exuding a sharp aura.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was very surprised.

The Radiant Holy Knights are the elite force of the church, blessed by the divine. Each one is carefully selected, with A-class strength as the threshold, and there are even super-class strong individuals among them.

The Radiant Holy Knights are one of the church’s ultimate armed forces and are generally not deployed unless the church’s survival is at stake.

Now, just for a missing candidate saintess, to mobilize this force against the border nobles shows that this lord is truly enraged.

“Yes!”

Everyone immediately accepted the order and began to act.

The church was bustling with activity, and the branch churches throughout the imperial capital quickly mobilized, gathering large-scale combat power.

Some civilians near the church saw the golden flags flying high within.

That was a flag symbolizing the sun.

It is said that wherever the sun flag flies, sunlight shines upon the land, and evil cannot exist.

Whenever the church’s Radiant Holy Knights are deployed, they will pave a bright road with countless white bones.

There have been rumors that just a small team of Radiant Holy Knights could annihilate a nation.

Although it was just a rumor, the terror of the Radiant Holy Knights was deeply ingrained in people’s hearts.

At this rate, are they really going to go to war?

The surrounding civilians hurried back home, closing their doors.

……

The noble armies were increasing, gradually closing the distance, pressing towards Leo and Michelle.

In addition to the middle-aged noble from the beginning, two other nobles also appeared.

One was a thin noble with a tuft of beard, and the other was a female noble.

They were the lords of nearby towns, joining forces with the middle-aged noble to deal with Michelle.

Seeing Michelle cornered, they temporarily relaxed.

The army was pressing in, and a chilling atmosphere swept over.

Leo glanced at the beautiful woman beside him, hesitated for a moment, and a small sword carved from wood appeared in his hand. The sword was only as wide as a palm, a mini wooden sword.

But it was this small wooden sword that Leo saw as a giant sword standing like a mountain, piercing the clouds, releasing endless sharp sword intent. Just a slight glance made his eyes feel painful.

This sword was carved by the lazy old man who did not concern himself with worldly affairs, living in the mountains, only thinking of passing on the Heart of Flowing Swordsmanship to his disciple. After nurturing it with sword intent for a year, it possessed terrifying attack power.

Leo had no idea how strong the old man’s true strength was; it was a world far beyond his current self, one he could not glimpse.

He had once seen the old man release sword intent, and from him, it seemed he could see mountains of corpses and seas of blood, countless bones floating.

Now, holding the wooden sword nurtured by the old man, he felt a sense of confidence.

This wooden sword was his trump card, its power unimaginable. Unless absolutely necessary, he could not use it; this was a stern warning from the usually lazy old man.

Now, he decided to use this wooden sword. Although it wasn’t a desperate situation yet, waiting until then might be too late.

With this sword strike, could it possibly annihilate the entire empire?

Leo smiled; his thought was somewhat exaggerated, but it was enough to change their current situation.

At that moment, he heard Michelle’s voice.

“Leo, great! We have been saved.”

Michelle’s face showed a relaxed smile; the church personnel had already contacted her and were on their way.

She had already involved the villagers and did not want to implicate Leo any further. Now that she could be saved, she could finally relax. As her tense heart eased, a wave of exhaustion washed over her body.

Leo felt a bit regretful; he wanted to witness the old man’s strength, which might help him break through a class in his sword intent.

He put away the wooden sword; there would be other opportunities in the future.

Seeing that the situation was settled, the middle-aged noble revealed a smile.

“Saintess, you didn’t expect this situation, did you? If you swear to the divine not to inform the church about what happened here and not to target us, we can let you go.”

“The saintess’s oath may not be effective; it’s better to kill her. After all, we can frame it as a plot by heretical cultists, leaving no evidence.”

“Why kill her? Such a beautiful girl is perfect for slavery.”

The other two nobles had their own thoughts.

Michelle’s face was covered in frost as she coldly said, “The nobles’ crimes are already unforgivable, but the knight order is still military personnel who only follow orders. As long as you lay down your weapons and surrender, I can forgive your crimes to a certain extent, so that your families won’t be implicated. Otherwise, there will only be a dead end!”

Hearing Michelle’s words, aside from the knights who swore loyalty, some soldiers felt a flicker of hesitation in their hearts.

Many of them were unaware that they were actually targeting the church’s candidate saintess. If discovered, this would be a serious crime comparable to betraying the empire.

But now it was too late to regret; they could only follow the nobles down this dark path.

“You still dare to be stubborn now? Everyone, charge in and kill them!”

The middle-aged noble was extremely arrogant. With a single command, the army began to advance.

Suddenly, a super-large magic circle appeared on the ground.

At the same time, small magic circles appeared in the sky, and the surrounding world was almost entirely occupied by various magic circles.

“What’s going on?”

The charging knight order immediately stopped, staring at this bizarre scene.

The sun flag was flying, and on the ground appeared rows of neatly arranged golden-armored warriors. Those tall and radiant figures were like an insurmountable barrier, as unbreakable as a copper wall or iron bastion.

In the sky, holy figures appeared one after another, silver-white knights riding heavenly steeds galloping through the air, and priests with angelic wings appeared in various places in the sky, looking down at the noble army.

“T-This… the Radiant Holy Knights!”

The middle-aged noble’s eyes reflected the golden sun flag, his lips trembled, his whole body shook, and he fell into endless despair.

Among the noble knight order, there were many shrewd individuals who immediately led the nobles to retreat upon seeing this.

However, they were soon struck by magic coming from the sky, and the nobles fell to the ground, rolling in a panic, finally kneeling, tears streaming down their faces, terrified, with a pool of liquid forming beneath them.

“Spare us! Spare us!”

Their lips trembled, and apart from begging for mercy, they could say nothing else.

Holy light rain fell from the sky, bursting with brilliant radiance, bringing the threat of death, and countless members of the noble coalition perished below.

The merciful church showed them the greatest mercy, which was to give them a quick end.

They could never have imagined that the church, known for its forgiveness, would launch such a terrifying offensive, leaving the noble coalition with no power to resist, nearly annihilated.

———-
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