Chapter 371: A Flaw in the Order (4)

The forces of the Black God suddenly changed their tactics. Until yesterday, they had been dragging out time by waiting for the imperial army's invasion before launching counterattacks. But today, they shifted their focus to actively crushing their enemies.

The undead forces were far greater in number, and the bombardments from the archmages were more powerful than usual. Because of this, the imperial army had no choice but to give up securing strongholds and withdraw quickly.

Even so, Karnak looked rather pleased. "Have they finally realized it?"

Serati, unable to understand, asked, "What did you do?"

Though he claimed it was nothing, his expression was annoyingly triumphant, clearly pleased that his plan was working out perfectly.

"Oh, nothing much. Having received the emperor's permission, I had all the priests of the seven orders within the empire evacuated."

The reason the forces of the Black God were holed up in the capital was simple. If they could just buy enough time, Tesranach's faith would reach the necessary threshold to summon the God of Death to descend.

To achieve this, they had intentionally sent strike teams across the empire to slaughter the priests of the church, raising the faith required for the summoning.

"In other words, if we just evacuate the priests of the church, we can put out the immediate fire, can't we?"

The problem was that the priests of the church would never easily accept such an order.

—Flee and abandon your faithful to save your own lives.

As if they would obediently run away after hearing that. They were priests, after all. Even the cowards among them, who might have desperately wanted to flee, would have found themselves unable to move under such a command.

But Karnak knew well that how something was said made all the difference. So, he issued the order through the popes of each sect in this manner.

—In order to uproot the cult, the power of the seven orders must be unified. Do not cling to the mission before your eyes and forsake the true holy duty.

"And then I told them the designated gathering points and ordered them to head there."

Instead of telling them to turn back and run, he had effectively told them to advance in the opposite direction. This way, it would not go against their doctrine, nor would it leave them ashamed of themselves.

Varos let out a small laugh. "Do you truly intend to unite the power of the priests?"

"Who knows? It'll all be over before that even matters."

If they really did gather their power, they could use it to help rebuild the shattered empire afterward.

"But in the end, isn't it still the same as abandoning the faithful?" Leven said, wearing an expression of disbelief."I doubt all the priests would have obeyed that order."

"Of course, this alone wouldn't have been enough. So, I moved on to the next step."

That was the harsh reality. Many priests were tormented by the thought. How could they possibly abandon the people to save themselves? That was where the Twilight Order came in.

What Karnak had secured through Archbishop Jotun of the Katera Order, the representative sect of the church, was permission to collaborate with the Twilight Order within the empire. And the relationship wasn't limited to merely within the capital, but within the empire itself.

—In the name of Serakal of the Twilight!

—We will protect the faithful until the brothers of the church return!

A cult promising to protect the people from another cult was absolutely ridiculous. Not long ago, such a claim would have been met with nothing but scoffs of disbelief. But it worked.

"They've been fighting side by side for a while now, after all."

Humans prove themselves through their actions. The Twilight Order had already been fighting alongside the seven orders against the forces of the Black God. At this point, they had saved each other's lives too many times to still be dismissed simply as cultists.

"The Twilight Order is saying they'll hold out as long as possible. 'Please gather you strength and come back to save us!' Don't you think it would actually work?"

What one could not accomplish alone became possible when two stood together, creating a synergy. Once they had secured a just cause, most of the priests of the church scattered across the empire, fleeing from the forces of the Black God and hiding in the most secluded places, leaving behind their central temples.

The Twilight Order played a significant role in this process. After all, they were people who had always lived in hiding. Snakes knew best the hidden paths, and the members of the Twilight Order were masters at moving unseen. Thanks to them, smuggling the priests away and deceiving the forces of the Black God became much more effective.

It was something only the Twilight Order, a secretive organization with exceptional administrative capabilities, could have accomplished.

"As expected of Maloka. It was worth saving her three times," Karnak chuckled.

Maloka had even thought of flaws that Karnak had missed.

—Lord Karnak's plan is excellent, but there is one slight flaw.

—What is it?

—If the abandoned people of the empire lose their faith in the Goddess, then in the end, it will still raise faith in Tesranach.

It was not exactly welcome, in the current situation, for the citizens of the empire to abandon their existing faith and turn to the Twilight Order. While they were busy splitting faith among themselves, the Cult of the Black God would swoop in and reap the benefits.

So Maloka subtly added another justification for their move. She claimed that Serakal of Twilight was, in fact, the eighth goddess. She placed the Twilight Order under the umbrella of the existing church.

This way, from the perspective of the empire's citizens, it wouldn't feel as though the seven orders had abandoned them and the Twilight Order had come to save them. Instead, it would feel as if the eighth order was protecting them.

It wasn't a matter of someone who believed in Allium switching over to Serakal, but rather of believing that Alium was a good goddess, as was Serakal. There was no longer any need to forsake Allium.

"Above all, they made one big mistake." Karnak smiled broadly as he looked toward the capital. "They didn't oppress the people."

Serati looked momentarily flustered. "Are you saying the Cult of the Black God should have treated the people harshly? Didn't you say they needed to win the people's support?"

"I meant they should have either won the people's hearts completely or raised their faith through other means. They needed to do one of the two decisively."

If the Cult of Tesranach had treated the people cruelly, the people's resentment toward the priests of the church who had abandoned them would have grown in equal measure. In that case, the people would have lost faith in both sides, but since they had never believed in Tesranach to begin with, it wouldn't have been a loss.

"In the process, the faith in the church would have taken a massive hit."

However, in their attempt to win favor, the Cult of the Black God had left the people of the occupied lands alone for the most part. And how would the people feel under such circumstances?

—Well, I don't really get it, but as long as we behave, nothing terrible happens, right?

Their resistance toward both sides would gradually weaken. But the Cult of the Black God was a faction that embraced necromancy and the undead. It would feel like living out the rest of one's life in a dark, grim wasteland as a corpse to place their faith in them.

And the church? It felt like living well, under bright sunlight and upon green earth. Regardless of the reality, that was the image it presented.

"So even if they outwardly bow to the Black God, inwardly, their hearts will naturally turn toward the church, won't they?"

Faith, conviction, loyalty, patriotism—these aspects of the human heart were like a river flowing across the land. If one wanted to change the flow of that river, how should it be done? Should you scoop up the water and carry it to another river or lake?

That would be foolish. It would require an enormous amount of time and effort, and during the process, a vast quantity of water would be lost. In the end, the transfer would be impossible to complete. The correct way was to dig another channel and divert the river.

"You can't change the course of a river by touching the water."

If you truly wanted to redirect a river, you had to touch the earth, not the water. The Cult of the Black God failed to do that. They tried to handle human faith directly, in a half-hearted manner. And this was the result.

"With this, faith in Tesranach won't change significantly for some time."

And dragging out time this way wouldn't be a disadvantage for them either. Since neither side would suffer significant damage, there was no real loss in delaying. However, it was still true that the situation remained dangerous, as no one knew when circumstances might shift again and cause faith to fluctuate.

"That's why I told you before. There's a difference between something being dangerous and something being disadvantageous."

***

Emil scowled as he grasped the situation. "This... We've been struck at our weak point."

It was inefficient to attempt to directly control human faith. It wasn't as if the Cult of the Black God didn't know this. Even Giyen Ren and Diogres Kolon possessed that level of wisdom. However, despite knowing about it, they simply didn't have any other choice.

Originally, Elezar and Dreltein were supposed to have taken on a role to solve that problem, but both of them were dead.

Giyen Ren commented, "In this case, dragging this out doesn't particularly work in our favor."

Diogres clicked his tongue. "But at the same time, dragging this out doesn't exactly work against us either, does it?"

The empire was vast, but in the end, it was still limited land. If the forces of the Black God persisted in tracking down and killing the hidden priests of the church, they might eventually achieve their goal.

The problem was that, before that could happen, they themselves could be defeated. The longer time stretched on, the more opportunities arose. If they continued engaging in these meaningless skirmishes, could they truly be certain that the devious Karnak wouldn't use some outrageous method to unleash the Shadow of Doom?

Emil rested his chin on his hand. "This is troublesome."

A situation that had once been clear was now muddled with confusion. From here on, it would be a matter of choice. How should they move?

***

Karnak's plan, in the end, was this. Soon, Giyen Ren, Diogres Kolon, and Emil Strauss would begin to grow restless, and when they moved in haste, he would watch for an opening and strike.

Varos wore a look that showed he wasn't entirely convinced. "There's no guarantee they'll act that way, young master."

From his perspective, even if they dragged out time like this, it wasn't as if the Cult of the Black God was at any disadvantage.

"Wouldn't it be more likely that they'll focus even harder on tracking down and executing the church's priests? If it were me, that's what I'd do."

Karnak didn't disagree with the assessment itself. But there was one area in which he felt confident. "That's possible. But remember, they're the avatar of Tesranach, and his subordinates, aren't they?"

"That's true."

"Which also means they're the avatar and subordinates of that realm's Monarch of Death."

"And?"

"Well, if I'm the one who created the avatars and sent the subordinates, how do you think they'd act?"

Varos understood immediately. "They'll move impatiently."

From what they had experienced so far, Tesranach and the Karnak of the past shared an almost uncanny number of similarities. Even the mark of contract they carved into their subordinates were practically identical. Because of that, it wasn't hard to guess what orders they would have received.

"They were likely commanded to bring about his descent as quickly as possible, using any means necessary."

At first glance, it didn't sound like a strange order. Anyone would give such a command under those circumstances. However, having handled subordinates in a similar fashion firsthand, Karnak knew the flaw in such an order.

"It sounds like they have the freedom to do anything they want, but in truth, it means they have no freedom to do nothing."

They had to do something. That was the restriction inherent in the command they had received. "So, in this situation, if those kinds of people want to further reduce faith in the church, what do you think they'll do?"

They would have to slaughter the imperial army standing before them to make up for the faith that was lacking in their offerings of death. And so, they would move exactly as he expected.

"This is what it means to control minds. If you forcefully suppress someone to gain their loyalty, it inevitably comes with a cost. This isn't some grand strategy or clever tactic." Karnak allowed a cold smile to play at the corners of his mouth. "It's just me swindling my old subordinates."