Chapter 27: Troublemakers and Riots
The old Holy King's resurrection from the dead spread through the imperial capital at an astonishing speed, and with deliberate manipulation by interested parties, the news had two versions.
The first was that the old Holy King had received the Goddess's favor, allowing him to return from the dead.
The second was that the old Holy King coveted immortality, blasphemed against the gods, and used evil methods to drag the Goddess into the present world.
Of the two messages, most commoners believed the former. After all, they had witnessed with their own eyes where the Goddess's phantom descended—above the Moon God Monastery.
However, the Goddess did not bestow a miracle at the monastery. Instead, she crossed nearly half the capital to arrive above the Lurenfei Palace.
Faith was shaken. The Moon Goddess's favor was directed at the Holy King, not at her representative in the mortal world, the Moon Goddess.
The direct consequence of this was that among the several thousand believers who regularly came to the monastery to pray, less than two-thirds showed up the next morning.
More critically, the main doors of the Grand Cathedral were tightly shut, forbidding any believers from entering, with nearly a hundred Moon Apostles blocking the entrance.
This further destabilized the believers. The Moon God Monastery's decision to close the main hall was almost a self-destructive move.
In truth, the Moon Goddess had no choice. The Immortal Crystal Goddess Statue had been stolen again. Despite setting up numerous mechanisms and having dozens of Moon Apostles watching the statue all night, it was still stolen.
The Moon Apostles present at the time all gave the same account: the statue had simply vanished, disappearing into thin air.
When the Moon Goddess arrived, she said nothing, turned, and left. For now, she was more focused on completing another task. As long as that old bastard was back in his coffin, everything would end. She had many ways to handle the rumors, and the statue could simply be remade.
However, things would not develop as the Moon Goddess imagined. What she needed now was time, but her enemies gave her no breathing room.
"Move aside. Closing the Grand Cathedral without reason—have you lost your minds?"
A loud shout came from outside the monastery's main gate. The believers who had been arguing with the Moon Apostles in the courtyard fell silent. Soon, a few among them began to stir up trouble.
"The Goddess... may no longer be watching over this place."
A voice suddenly rang out from among the crowd of believers.
"Who said that? Step forward!"
A Moon Apostle glared angrily at the Goddess's believers present.
"It couldn't be... like this, could it?"
"How is that possible? The monastery has always been a place of faith. Do not waver."
"That's right."
The low murmurs among the believers relieved the hundred or so Moon Apostles.
"The Goddess no longer favors this place. The Holy King is the Goddess's true earthly envoy. The Moon Goddess is just an old maid who can't find a husband."
Another loud shout came from the same troublemaking believer. Strangely, his voice was very loud, yet the hundred Moon Apostles couldn't pinpoint his location.
"Who said that? Step forward!!"
Tree Wolf was furious. He scanned the crowd of believers, trying to find the troublemaker.
"Ah!"
A scream drew everyone's attention.
A gaunt man fell to the ground, clutching his throat with both hands. Blood spurted from between his fingers, splattering the faces and bodies of nearby believers.
A Moon Apostle holding a square shield covered in blood stood there in shock. The sharp edge of the shield had bits of flesh hanging from it.
"It wasn't me. He... he ran into it himself."
Blood dripped from the shield, making the diamond-shaped emblem at its center especially glaring. The flustered Moon Apostle stepped back several times, met by hundreds of furious gazes.
"The monastery is killing innocent people!!"
The troublemaking believer shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Fall back! Everyone, fall back!"
Tree Wolf knew the situation was turning bad. He wasn't telling the believers to retreat; he was ordering the Moon Apostles to do so.
"Get down! Everyone, get on the ground and raise your hands!"
One Moon Apostle didn't retreat but instead stepped forward and roared.
"You, get the hell back!"
Tree Wolf's eyes bulged as he rushed toward that Moon Apostle. Unfortunately, the surrounding believers were too numerous, and he couldn't use force.
The roaring Moon Apostle glanced at Tree Wolf. One of his eyes was dull and lifeless, clearly a fake eye.
Before all the believers understood what was happening, the one-eyed Moon Apostle pulled something from his lower back.
Seeing what the one-eyed Moon Apostle held, a chill surged from Tree Wolf's heart.
Clang~
A blade extended from Tree Wolf's sleeve. He flicked his arm, and the half-meter-long blade shot out.
Pfft.
The blade embedded itself in the one-eyed Moon Apostle's neck, piercing straight through. The bloodstained blade lodged into a distant wall.
With a clink, a metal locking ring flew from the one-eyed Moon Apostle's hand as he collapsed limply to the ground.
"No!"
Tree Wolf lunged forward with all his might.
Boom!
Steam expanded. Diamond-shaped metal shrapnel flew out with a whining sound, instantly riddling the believers within a dozen meters with holes.
Tree Wolf was sent flying backward by the steam's force. He rolled twice on the ground before standing up. The tragic scene before him made his eyes widen.
Broken limbs and bones were scattered everywhere. The steam bomb had clearly been modified, reducing the shrapnel's power, leaving many severely wounded believers wailing on the ground.
"Help! Help them!"
Tree Wolf tried to salvage the situation, but his peripheral vision caught three Moon Apostles pulling out steam bombs and throwing them into the crowd.
Boom, boom, boom...
Four consecutive explosions echoed across half the imperial capital. The city's military swarmed toward the Moon God Monastery.
The Moon God Monastery had failed in its duty to guard the 'Immortal Crystal Goddess Statue.' To cover up the scandal, it used steam bombs to massacre civilians.
As soon as this news broke, the empire's residents were in an uproar. Moreover, reliable information indicated that over 2,000 Goddess believers were still trapped inside the Moon God Monastery.
When the Empire's Flower, Sonia, arrived with her people in a hurry, seeing the carnage in the inner courtyard chilled her heart.
"Tree Wolf, look at what you've done."
Sonia's lips trembled.
"It wasn't—"
"Nonsense! How did those people get in? Couldn't you recognize unfamiliar faces?"
Sonia knew exactly what was happening. She was pressing Tree Wolf on how enemy agents had infiltrated the Moon Apostles.
"They... weren't unfamiliar faces. The one who struck first, Alva, I've known him for at least ten years."
Hearing Tree Wolf's words, Sonia was visibly stunned for a moment.
"What does the Goddess intend?"
Tree Wolf's only pillar of support now was the Moon Goddess.
"The Goddess wants us to survive tonight. After tonight, we win. Everything will pass."
"Understood."
A fighting spirit returned to Tree Wolf's eyes. What he feared most was a complete lack of hope.
"Be careful of Kukulin. He will definitely come."
"Leave it to me. This time... I won't lose."
Tree Wolf raised his hand to his severed arm. Last time, he hadn't gone all out and had lost an arm.
That afternoon, the Moon God Monastery was surrounded by 40,000 soldiers.
Almost simultaneously, the officials who had originally supported the Moon Goddess began defecting to the old Holy King. This was the trend of the times. The old Holy King's feigned death had pushed the Moon Goddess to the edge of a cliff.
The Moon God Monastery had a total of 4,250 Moon Apostles, preventing the military from entering, but the conflict escalated.
At 7 PM that evening, on the rooftop of a building half a kilometer from the Moon God Monastery, Su Xiao ended his brief communication with Amu. Amu was still swimming in the sea, in a miserable state.
The situation was now clear. After the old Holy King seized divine authority, the fence-sitting officials had defected. The next step was to level the Moon God Monastery. This had been impossible before, but now, with the monastery's scandals exposed, it had lost the people's support.
The Moon Goddess still hadn't released the 2,000-plus believers and had managed to calm them. This was a very smart move. Without these hostages, the Moon God Monastery would be bombarded relentlessly. After all, this was the imperial capital. Even the old Holy King couldn't go too far. Losing the people's support would be a loss.
"Sir, it's time."
A shadow appeared beside Su Xiao.
"Leave no one alive in the Moon God Monastery."
Su Xiao leaped from the rooftop and walked toward the Moon God Monastery. The moon was very round tonight, faintly tinged with red, giving an ominous feeling.