Chapter 137: Ch 136: The Last Stop

"Don’t joke around with us. God Steller is dead? What’s next? Are you going to tell us that you are swallowing our church as well?"

One of the priests raged as he immediately noticed the mood of gloom that descended on the place. But he refused to believe that it was true.

He, along with the others here, had spent their lives serving a single god and, in return, gotten a lot of benefits like getting high positions and also being allowed to do whatever they wanted. This freedom was hard to give up after all this time.

Not to mention the fact that they had also committed more than their fair share of atrocities.

The people they had wronged, the families they had torn apart in God Steller’s name, they would all be waiting to hurt them as revenge.

The priests could not take it. If they were going to die, then they might as well die trying to avenge God Steller.

"You are a fool. God Steller is not gone, and we will prove it—"

Aiden looked at the foolish platoon of priests that rushed toward him. They did not even have any power to go against him, and yet they tried to hurt him. It just made him scoff.

"Well, this is rather useless. Goddess Apophis, would you mind staying here? I will teach these brats a lesson in your name."

Aiden put his goddess down on God Steller’s throne before he walked down the steps.

Goddess Apophis did not look worried for him and only waved at him with her tail.

"Make sure you don’t overdo it and hurt yourself. If you want to get your anger out, just destroy the enemy’s bones...or this temple. We can heal both of them later."

Well, that was the plan here anyway.

"Don’t worry. I won’t need much time or effort to take care of some trash."

Aiden assured his goddess, and it only served to make his enemies angrier.

"How dare you—! I am going to kill you—"

The man empowered his sword with everything he had. He intended to end Aiden in a single strike...however...

"What a pathetic excuse for a sword. Are you sure you want to hurt me?"

The attack bounced off Aiden’s shield, and the sword broke. The same happened for the second and third attackers as well, which left them shocked.

"W-What—"

The Church of Prey could not believe what they were seeing with their own eyes. How could a follower of such a weak god parry their swords like this?

Aiden only chuckled as he stepped into the middle of their formation, and his smile widened a little more as soon as he noticed the uneasy looks he was getting from all around.

"You know, you people are much more blind than I expected. You don’t even know what is going on in this world. Goddess Apophis was already a Regional-level deity before we came here, and now she has swallowed another Regional God. How powerful do you think she has become?"

Aiden asked, but he did not get any answer. Instead, he got some hesitant steps backward, which made him let out another amused laugh.

"Well, it is time to put an end to this. Goodbye."

Aiden waved his staff, and a jolt of energy sent everyone flying back. Their backs hit the wall, causing massive internal injuries.

He had purposely used just enough force to not kill anyone, and he was happy to see that it worked.

"Tsk, you should kill them all. I don’t know why you insist on keeping these former priests alive even after their god is dead. It’s not like they are of any use to us."

Goddess Apophis pointed out, and Aiden did agree with her about this. These people were, indeed, not of any use to them.

However, that did not mean they were entirely useless as well.

"Well, the local people would appreciate it more if we kept the priests alive to show that we are merciful. Of course, it will only be temporary. After all, these kids must have made a lot of enemies while working in the Church of Prey. Who knows when an accident might happen."

Aiden’s smile was pleasant, but the priests who saw this suddenly wished they were dead instead.

There was no way going to the enemy was making them feel relieved. If anything, it added to their stress.

But no matter how much they struggled or tried to get away, they were caught and bound.

And that was how the territory of the Church of Prey fell under Aiden’s hands.

...

It did not take long for news to reach all the corners of the world that the Church of Prey had been taken down by Goddess Apophis and her priest. And that made people start stepping forward in praise of them.

But at the same time, more than enough people approached Aiden for another thing as well.

"So, you want me to release these priests into your custody? And why should I do that?"

Aiden asked while looking at the representative of the other goddess in front of him. He already knew what had happened to them before they even opened their mouths.

The Church of Prey had targeted all kinds of smaller gods and goddesses to suppress them, and most of these factions had been forced to close down and almost go extinct. But those who had survived had vowed to take revenge, and now was the perfect time to do that.

However, what Aiden did not like was the fact that they wanted to borrow his goddess’s name and power to do that.

Especially not after he had spent so much time getting things under control. He was not going to give this opportunity up without getting anything in return.

"Sir, please! You know that we lack power. This is our only chance to get revenge against those who caused our gods trouble. You love your goddess, so you must understand this feeling as well, right?"