Chapter 777 44: Retreat

A golden pillar of light shot up into the sky.

Nearby Ying Zheng, the advanced Empowerers who had come because of the commotion on the High Seas had not yet finished processing the immense impact brought by the giant sword.

Immediately after.

They saw the golden pillar of light suddenly rising from beneath Ying Zheng's feet.

At this moment.

They all lifted their heads, the scene reflected in their pupils unforgettable... they were completely dumbfounded.

They stared at the golden pillar of light.

Panic, bewilderment, fear.

All of it finally turned into a question.

What is this...?

What has happened?

Where exactly are we?

It's no wonder they had these thoughts.

Primarily because, in these few minutes, too many unexpected events had occurred.

They had already mentally prepared for the impending war between the Roman Catholic Church and the Celestial Strategy Mansion upon discovering the anomalies in Goryeo and the High Seas.

But even so.

They did not expect the situation to evolve into this extreme, to become this... exaggerated.

That unknown giant sword, like the Holy Light of the highest god of the Roman Catholic Church, the inexplicably eerie golden light points, and now this golden pillar reaching into the sky before them.

All these things were beyond their imagination.

And this was not the end.

For as the golden pillar of light ascended, its imposing presence became increasingly overwhelming, carrying with it a terrifying force capable of shattering everything, sweeping across the sky, and finally landing on a certain existence.

Heavy, leaden gray clouds churned and rolled.

As if an iron curtain had shattered, countless cracks appeared across the gray sky.

Cracks like a spider's web, layer upon layer, expanding outward, like mischievous children carving deep marks several kilometers long into a mirror with a knife, the space on either side of the marks torn apart, emanating a deep, piercing blackness.

This was proof of space on the brink of collapse.

And at the end of the deep marks.

The firmament trembled abruptly like a drum.

Furious, frantic screams echoed across the entire land!

...As if an immense shadow even larger than the vast, thick dark clouds revealed itself, blotting out the sky and covering the sun.

Following this.

A beam of light suddenly pierced through the heavy cloud layers.

A grand and magnificent energy, like a shockwave, abruptly descended.

More exaggerated than the Holy Light just before!

No, this was beyond the scope of Holy Light.

It was the true power of a god.

At that moment, all the onlookers shivered profoundly, followed by a feeling of intense dread.

Because this scene represented a fact.

It wasn't just as if.

It was that the god of the Roman Catholic Church had truly entered into play.

Upon realizing this fact.

Everyone present was left in disbelief.

Although the divine systems around the world vary greatly.

Not to mention the world over, even between East Asia and Southeast Asia, the differences are vast.

After all, these are the mental products of each region's primitive tribal society, 'fantasy beings' created through centuries of memory, emotions, and culture linked to every piece of land.

However.

No matter how big the gap is.

The entire East Asian Pantheon has one thing in common, which is... basically all divine systems remain in a 'dead' state if they have achieved even slightly higher tiers of existence, like the Queen Mother of the West.

This relates to several periods of spiritual power depletion in the long river of history.

Hence, in most regions, although the related legends of the divine systems seem wondrous.

They are essentially impossible to undergo Activation.

Even the increasingly renowned Greek Pantheon today shows no signs of any high-tier gods undergoing Activation.

Throughout the world, it can be said that there are only a handful of active high-tier gods.

Among them, the most famous and well-known one.

Without a doubt.

Is that of the Roman Catholic Church.

Relying on the uniqueness of religion and the 'forced offering' of the original Roman Pantheon, that one has remained active throughout the long river of time.

Though there was a time when it was extremely weakened, almost being driven off the pedestal.

But it endured and, with time, its power grew stronger.

This is actually one of the reasons the Roman Catholic Church has been able to operate so dominantly.

The backing behind them is simply too powerful.

As long as their god remains in a state of resurrection, even if they really lose their mind and go to war with Empowerers across the entire world and ultimately lose, they can still ensure their Church remains unharmed.

As long as their Holy City stands.

As long as their god exists.

And this is why most organizations of Empowerers do not dare provoke the Roman Catholic Church.

Because nobody knows if the Roman Catholic Church would flip the table.

To know that an activated god, one that can communicate, isn't merely about having the ultimate combat strength, but it also means the Roman Catholic Church possesses an inexhaustible resource of Empowerers.

For ordinary Empowerer organizations, what can be called a priceless 'Holy Relic.'

They can manufacture them anytime.

Their Holy Words, to some extent, are Holy Relics.

Moreover, unlike several ancient countries, like domestically.

Every Ancient Object is one less when used, while they can recreate them infinitely.

Faced with such an organization.

Who wouldn't be intimidated?

This was also the reason why, during the previous public prosecution event, most people were not optimistic about the Celestial Strategy Mansion.

In this battle, most of the people present were already expecting the worst outcomes.

They had even thought of the possibility of the Iron-blooded Pope, who had never set foot in Asia before, arriving personally.

Yet.

Even the boldest people could not have imagined the possibility they now faced.