“Sacred Judgment!”
Faint golden light wings appeared behind Sophie. She flew into the air, raised her hand, and condensed a spear of light in her palm before hurling it toward the ground.
The light spear crashed into the earth and transformed into a terrifying impact. Within the explosion of radiance, every hill within a hundred meters was completely leveled.
“Is this… the power of an angel?”
Moen witnessed the scene and could not help but widen his eyes, deeply shaken.
This greatness that did not belong to humanity was truly terrifying. With a mere wave of the hand, mountains could be moved and seas filled.
Even though he already stood at the peak of the human world’s powerhouses, even if he trained painstakingly for an entire lifetime, he could never reach this level.
What made him feel even more terrified was that this was not yet the angel’s limit.
“This is not the authority of an angel, Moen.” Altes smiled. “However, even power of this degree is enough to shake an entire nation.”
“That is indeed true. If Sophie, who carries the power of the angel, is put into operation as a weapon of war, it would probably take less than a year to completely unify the human world.” Moen thought about the situation of throwing Sophie into war.
Although the Saint Luo Empire was the most powerful empire in the human world, there were still other human nations near the empire.
Those relatively weaker nations feared the Saint Luo Empire and thus formed an alliance, banding together to prevent being conquered by the Saint Luo Empire.
If the Saint Luo Empire wished to conquer the other human nations, it would need to invest considerable resources and military strength, with enormous consumption. If a war were truly launched, it would very likely give opportunities to the surrounding other races. Therefore the Saint Luo Empire maintained a delicate balance with the other human nations.
Yet if Sophie, who possessed the power of an angel, were to march out, the situation might become completely different.
Without investing large numbers of troops and resources, it would be entirely sufficient to sweep across the entire human world.
“Aside from the Saint Luo Empire, the influence of our Holy Land is still rather limited. If we wish to further expand the influence of our Holy Land, we need the Saint Luo Empire to conquer the other human nations and unify the entire human world.” Altes said. “Sophie is extremely suitable to shoulder this heavy responsibility.”
“If that is truly the case, would it not be equivalent to giving Soren a free advantage? Letting this fellow who seized the throne through usurpation complete such a great undertaking as the unification of the world?” Moen raised his own question.
“There is no free lunch under the heavens. We can let him stand at the peak of power over the human world, and we can naturally also make him lose everything.” Altes’s eyes were filled with ruthlessness.
“However, our Holy Land cannot nominally march directly against other nations. If we wish to unify the human world, we currently do indeed need to borrow the name of the Saint Luo Empire. Once the great undertaking of unification is complete… I hope Soren will know what is good for him and choose a suitable ending for himself, rather than forcing us to choose for him.”
“So that is how it is, Your Holiness. I was shortsighted.”
Moen lowered his head, realizing that he truly had not thought as far ahead as the Pope.
While he was still focusing his gaze on the present, the Pope had already arranged the future of the human world clearly.
“If we wish the power of the angel to grow even further, unifying the faith of the entire human world is necessary. If it is limited only to the Saint Luo Empire, it is impossible to exert one hundred percent of the power. First is our human world, and only after that is the entire Theia Continent.”
Altes turned his gaze toward Sophie.
Sophie flapped her wings, descended from the sky, and stopped in front of Altes.
“Sophie, how do you feel right now?” Altes asked.
“The power is still not stable enough.” Sophie looked at her own hands. “If the holy power is converted into divine power, the degree of control drops considerably, and I cannot maintain stable control.”
“Is that so.” Altes fell into thought.
“Your Holiness, has some problem appeared?” Moen sounded a little worried.
“Although Sophie’s fusion with the angel’s will succeeded, looking at it now, it was still a little too early after all.” Altes sounded somewhat regretful. “If it could have been done gradually, slowly influencing her without her noticing, then the progress of mastering the power would have become much steadier. Even though she is an extremely perfect vessel, the process was still too hasty.”
“However, there was no other way, was there? After all, Sophie discovered the secret of the angel.”
“Yes.” Altes nodded. “If we wish Sophie to adapt to the power of the angel, some time is still needed. I hope that in the next few years the situation in the human world can remain somewhat stable and give us some time to develop.”
After taking Sophie out for testing, Altes returned to the Holy Mountain.
The moment he returned to the Holy Land, he learned of an extremely important piece of intelligence.
“Your Holiness, the Saint Luo Empire is requesting aid from us!”
Belon reported to Altes.
“The demonkin have gathered an army at the Yamar Border, already captured the outpost, and seem to intend to launch a war and attack the human world!”
“The demonkin are going to launch a war again?”
Altes was somewhat surprised.
He had not expected that the demonkin could make a comeback so quickly.
“His Majesty the Emperor has stated that with the current military strength of the Saint Luo Empire, they are unable to resist the invasion of the demonkin. He hopes to obtain the aid of our Holy Land and have the Holy Knight Order dispatched to the border to resist the demonkin army!” Belon relayed Soren’s request.
Altes remained silent and fell into thought.
“Your Holiness, according to Sophie’s previous report, Via has already returned to the human world, and her strength has advanced by leaps and bounds. Clearly something has occurred in the Desolate Fallen Continent, and the internal situation of the demonkin has undergone a tremendous change.” Moen reminded him.
“If that is the case, then there is only one possibility.” Altes inferred. “It is highly likely that a new Demon King of the demonkin has taken the throne. It seems the war between the humans and the demonkin is about to erupt once more.”
However, he hoped the outbreak of war could be delayed. Now was not the time. He had not yet fully prepared and advanced the plan to the stage of completely awakening the angel and allowing the angel to descend.
“Since the imperial family has already requested aid, we naturally need to respond. Moen, you will lead the Holy Knight Order and head to the Yamar Border.”
“Yes.” Moen indicated he understood.
“As for the specific numbers, I will arrange them myself.”
What Altes wanted Moen to do was to delay, not to take the entire main force to confront the great army of the demonkin. He would still leave a portion of the Holy Knight Order within the Holy Land as a precaution against variables. Time was the most important thing at present.