Chapter 593: Surprise

At the top of 'Destiny's Domain', Li Mochen summoned back his lifebound divine weapon 'Destiny', which he had forged less than two years ago, into his hand, then placed it before him and gently stroked it, feeling the excitement and battle intent transmitted by the sword—which actually originated more from himself. Two years ago, Li Mochen exhausted nine kinds of mythical metals in the world and obtained from Anthony a formula for a powerful alloy codenamed 'Origin'. Using the 'Nine-Nine Return Furnace' of Eastern Kunlun, he spent nearly a month to finally forge this sword 'Destiny'.

At the moment the sword was completed, Li Mochen split part of his soul and integrated it into the sword, achieving a true level of human-sword fusion between Li Mochen and this lifebound sword.

'Destiny' did not have the complicated and flashy abilities of other swords of the same rank. It possessed only seven conceptual laws, less than half of those of a sword of the same rank, but all were extremely powerful—medium 'Fate', medium 'Sharpness', ultimate 'Piercing', high 'Inevitable Severance', high 'Inevitable Hit', high 'Inevitable Kill', and equally high 'Destruction'!

Using the coordination ability obtained from the East and the strong carrying capacity of the 'Origin' alloy, Li Mochen had forged this sword to a level nearly comparable to the 'Kongtong Seal' and the complete 'Holy Lance of Longinus'. It not only combined the strengths of both but also had the potential for further advancement.

Li Mochen's sword-forging method originated from the 'Primordial Embryo Nurturing Sword' technique of the Primordial Vault Realm. He regarded the sword as a primordial embryo, implanted it in his body to nurture it, and constantly tempered and polished it with his spirit.

Over time, the sword would naturally enhance its quality and further contact and communicate with the 'Gate of the Mysterious Female', also known as 'Chaos' and 'Root of Heaven and Earth', gradually transforming from a post-natal artifact into a pre-natal artifact.

This sword would generate various strange patterns—essentially Dao marks produced by contact with 'Chaos' and 'Root of Heaven and Earth', which were the foundation for achieving a pre-natal artifact.

However, without external help, this process would take thousands or even tens of thousands of years, so Li Mochen temporarily did not count on it.

With just the current abilities of 'Destiny Sword', it was enough to bring Li Mochen's swordsmanship to three hundred percent of its potential.

Especially the 'Piercing' divine authority, Li Mochen could even directly elevate it to the level of 'Pseudo-Truth'!

Thus, compared to the 'Holy Lance of Longinus', this 'Destiny Sword' was currently the most powerful mythical armament in Li Mochen's hands!

"Lord Tyr, do you also want to test whether I am worthy of the title of War God?"

Li Mochen pressed his hand on 'Destiny', directing his 'sword intent', fused with the latter, straight at the god of war, justice, and courage 'Tyr' on the other side of the magic tower.

The latter's gaze condensed slightly, then he dispersed his divine light and directly left this world, leaving only his lingering voice echoing here.

"I will be watching you! New god, Andrew Lee Wieldenstein!"

Li Mochen was not surprised. The war god Tyr had few interests in America; rather, his opponent, the war god Ares, was more renowned in this bright world.

In America, the followers of the war god Ares far outnumbered those of Tyr.

What the latter projected here was essentially just an avatar of a lesser god. Without Li Mochen's power of the same level to restrain him, if this one insisted, it would only take one sword strike.

At this moment, Li Mochen's sword intent also pointed at the goddess of fairness, justice, and order, 'Themis'.

"Gabriel! Since you have abandoned the authority of fairness and equality and converted to the seat of the Lord of Radiance, why do you still contend with me for divine office? Do you think I cannot see your true face?"

The divine envoy and police chief Gabriel was the highest-ranking angel king before the Lord of Radiance. 'Michael' was the king of holy war, the strongest angel, and the commander-in-chief of the angelic army; Gabriel was the maintainer of the order of heaven and the order of the mortal world, responsible for destroying all filthy things in the world, upholding divine 'justice', and the final 'judgment'!

Li Mochen knew clearly that this one manifested the divine body of the goddess of justice 'Themis' only to delay his condensation of divine office and gathering of authority.

The power of the 'Lord of Radiance' was awakening, descending, and approaching. But before this one truly descended onto the battlefield, no angel king could withstand the destined strike of the 'Holy Lance of Longinus' with their borrowed mortal bodies and about seventy percent of their power.

This was the reason for the current stalemate!

The moment the four angel kings made their move, the 'Holy Lance of Longinus' would be fired; the moment the gates of heaven opened and the angelic army poured out, the churches of the Radiant Church in the mortal world would be destroyed.

The foundations of the Wieldenstein and Sunrise Group were naturally inferior to those of the Radiant Church. However, the existence of biological armor and magical power armor allowed their overall strength to surpass their opponents!

Li Mochen's war divine office ultimately settled at divine rank 13. The main reason was not that Li Mochen's understanding of war was insufficient, but that the opposing holy war king and strongest angel 'Michael' forcibly absorbed nearly half of the war primal force within thirty thousand kilometers. Li Mochen's current followers were not many who liked war; they were more enthusiasts of martial arts and combat techniques.

If not for the accumulation of the Scarlet Dragon Armor over the past few years, Li Mochen would never have been able to push 'War' into the realm of a greater god this time.

However, the branch divine offices under war were very easy: 'Combat', 'Wind of Battle', 'Swordsmanship', 'Fitness', and 'Martial Arts'—five types, centered around the spiritual imprint named 'War' in the source.

The 'Yin-Yang' divine office mixed and fused various powers into one. Meanwhile, the existence of war and the five divine offices, with 'War' as the core, were interconnected yet truly independent.

They could all boost the power of 'War', making it stronger. But only 'Wind of Battle' reached the level of a high divine office. The divine ranks of the others were only between five and six.

Li Mochen's insight surpassed that of most people, but he was not an omniscient god. The merit energy of the 'Divine Purple-Golden Tower of Spiritual Fortune' was also limited. Under the circumstance that he had to allocate a certain amount to help Angela and Hairo improve their strength, Li Mochen could only focus on core divine authorities such as Fate, Time Sequence, Yin-Yang, and War.

At the moment Li Mochen completed all branch divine offices under War, the divine domain named 'War' began to cover the battlefield.

According to the rules of this world, every ten levels of divine rank could elevate the power of divine authority by one level.

Li Mochen's 'War' divine authority had undoubtedly entered the realm of 'Ultimate', and the combined force of him and the Scarlet Dragon Armor was even enough to push 'War' to the edge of 'Pseudo-Truth'.

Under the coverage of this power, all of Li Mochen's warriors, all his followers, all demigods and gods were strengthening their physiques and increasing their power at an astonishing rate!

At the same time, two other divine authorities similar in nature to war began to cover the battlefield. They belonged to his subordinate god 'God of Strategy' Garcia Ferren, whose divine authorities were called 'Military Strategy' and 'Tactics'. With this aid, the power of the war domain became even stronger, even covering the 'Destiny's Domain' magic tower with a layer of war red.

After war came equality and fairness.

These were also key divine authorities and offices. Unfortunately, although Li Mochen had some talent in the conceptual divine authority of 'Fairness', regarding the concept of 'Equality', Li Mochen's proud insight was as dull as wood. It was no wonder—it was really hard for someone like him, who held great power and was high above in both the Primordial Vault World and the Bright World, to understand what equality was.

When his mind was illuminated, wasn't he also revealing his innermost thoughts?

Thus, although Li Mochen had the 'Scarlet Dragon Armor' as a reference, he had made little progress in these seven years. He only relied on the 'Divine Purple-Golden Tower of Spiritual Fortune' to barely reach the point of condensing divine offices, and he only grasped the elementary 'Equality' and 'Fairness' divine authorities.

His original intention in condensing these two divine offices was to further enhance the ability of the 'Scarlet Dragon Armor' and share part of its consumption.

However, at the moment Li Mochen completed the 'Equality' divine office, he felt an endless tide of primal force and faith from heaven and earth surging toward him. All related to 'Equality', they forcibly pushed him deeper into the source.

In less than ten seconds, Li Mochen had pushed the 'Equality' divine office to divine rank 14. Still constrained by the main divine office of 'Fate', he could not advance further.

A look of surprise appeared in Li Mochen's eyes. He had long suspected that the potential of the conceptual divine authority 'Equality' was great, because the consumption when he used this divine authority was generally only one-third of that of other divine authorities.

Of course, this was not because the divine authority itself consumed less divine power than other divine authorities, but because it was shared by other external forces.

Li Mochen believed that these 'external forces' were the faith and primal force related to equality.

However, the virtual divine office of the 'Scarlet Dragon Armor' was 'War', not 'Equality', so although Li Mochen had guesses, he could not make an accurate judgment.

Only today did Li Mochen confirm his guess. He, who only possessed the elementary 'Equality' divine authority, was forcibly pushed to divine rank 14! This showed how immense and magnificent the primal force and faith related to this concept were in this world!

At this moment, Li Mochen, amidst great surprise and excitement, also felt extremely fortunate! So much so that his fingers trembled with spiritual excitement!

He thought that this was the significance of the Bright World for the gods. New divine authorities, new divine offices, subversive changes—

And 'Equality' was undoubtedly a concept with exceptionally strong potential! Yet the former 'Goddess of Justice' Gabriel had given up continuing on this path, giving up the chance to become a god king.

The 'Fairness' she once held was originally the easiest to transition into 'Equality'.

The most hopeful 'Goddess of Freedom' also failed to grasp it. For one whose original divine office was 'Strife', understanding and mastering equality was a hundred times more difficult than for Li Mochen.

In the hundreds of years since the French Revolution, although many heroic figures fought and died for the ideals of equality and fairness, there was absolutely no one with the spiritual will and talent power as strong as 'Spartacus', who could contend with the gods during their most powerful period. The reason he could raise a rebellion in Rome and confront the gods was precisely his persistence in the concept of 'Equality'.

—That was a power of equality far stronger than the high 'Equality' divine authority within the Blood Crown! Born in the darkest age, it was also the most radiant.

In eight hundred years, no one had achieved the accomplishment of 'Spartacus', not even close, so no one had successfully claimed the authority named 'Equality'.

Li Mochen's only regret was that even with a divine rank of 14 as a foundation, he could currently only independently exert a medium 'Equality' divine authority. Paired with the 'Scarlet Dragon Armor', he could barely raise this divine authority to the ultimate level, and like the 'Fate' and 'Time Sequence' he now held, he could not yet derive a 'Divine Domain' like 'War'!

But at this moment, even if the true forms of the god king Zeus, the Lord of Radiance, and the Goddess of Freedom Eris stood before him, Li Mochen had some confidence in pulling them down to a position close to his own divine rank. Roughly in the range of divine rank 18 to divine rank 19.

This ultimate 'Equality' might not yet be able to contend with these strong ones who had entered the 'Pseudo-Truth' or even 'Truth' level, but it could still weaken the power of these god kings to a certain extent.

Due to his overly excited mood, although Li Mochen completed the 'Equality' divine office at divine rank 14 in only ten seconds, he then spent a full ten minutes calming his mind and sorting out the vast faith and primal force surging from all directions.

It was enough to create a faith 'God King'. The quantity was so enormous that it caused great interference and hindrance to Li Mochen's other divine offices.

The will of the living beings in this world was calling out; they too needed and longed for a lord of 'Equality'. Mortals were afraid of the numerous magical professionals and also feared the return of the era when the gods controlled the world. They needed someone to safeguard their rights and maintain their status.

This powerful will, gathered from the world and all beings, could even interfere with Li Mochen's cognition of his main divine office, causing him to be coerced by the will of all beings.

Li Mochen had to spend some time sorting them out and guiding them appropriately to avoid being overwhelmed by the primal force and faith.

During this period, Li Mochen also glanced at the opposite side, a puzzled look in his eyes.

Were the weapons, arms, and followers of the Lord of Radiance still not planning to act at this time?

This greatly exceeded his expectations. In Li Mochen's prediction, the time for full-scale war between the two sides should have been the moment he condensed the 'War' divine office.

After that, as time passed and Li Mochen grasped more and more divine offices and authorities, he would have more and more chances of victory!

The 'Holy Lance of Longinus' indeed had full deterrent power, and the camp of divine domain strongmen under his command was indeed strong. However, his enemy was not only the Radiant Church but also the Black Demon Empire, hidden in the shadows and always lying low.

Even though he had made arrangements against the latter beforehand, the Black Demon Empire could still easily produce three to five princes in this battle—each a combat power at the level of a medium god!

The combined force of the two far surpassed him!

At this time, it would only take one 'Angel King' to sacrifice under his 'Holy Lance of Longinus'—

Li Mochen was puzzled, but then he gathered his stray thoughts and began the condensation of the next 'Fairness' divine office.

However, to Li Mochen's disappointment, although the beings of this world also longed for 'Fairness' and 'Justice', compared to the desire for 'Equality', it was a level lower.

Only his other expectation for 'Fairness' was realized. The superposition of 'Fairness' and 'Equality' was effective.

It was ineffective for targets that had already achieved 'Equality', but for existences like Zeus, Odin, and the Lord of Radiance, where Li Mochen could not achieve absolute 'Equality', it could still provide some help.

However, to Li Mochen's great regret, the elementary 'Fairness' divine authority he possessed only allowed him to use faith to complete the eighth-level imprint in the 'Source', with a divine rank of eight.

This did not even allow him to strengthen the 'Fairness' divine authority to the medium level, making this divine office's effect negligible.

...

Meanwhile, in the small chapel of 'Noah's Ark', the atmosphere was becoming increasingly strange and cold.

Almost all the cardinals showed puzzled expressions. They were all wondering why they were still sitting idly, watching the enemy who had blasphemed the Lord gain more and more power.

At the top, including 'Miracle Angel' Weimar Medici, 'Shelter Angel' Isolde Alank, the 'Chief Executive' of the Inquisition, Kader Kitely, and the four angel kings, all frowned deeply. They all cast glances, with some questions, intentionally or unintentionally, at Pope John Honorius on the holy seat.

—This was undoubtedly disrespectful!

The will and power of the Lord of Radiance had descended here, and as the 'Son' walking in the mortal world as a substitute, each generation of pope was the best vessel for the Lord of Radiance to descend.

But somehow, ever since the Andrew Lee Wieldenstein on the opposite side began to extend his hand toward the authority of 'War', their Lord and His Holiness the Pope had made no further moves.

Isolde Alank instinctively felt something was wrong and foresaw that something major was about to happen. However, the increasingly powerful god on the opposite side also made him feel anxious.

He thought, was this guy's 'divine' power inexhaustible? How many divine offices was this? Twelve, or thirteen?

Although some parts were unified under a certain great deity, reducing losses, this was completely an impossible miracle for a newborn god!

"Is there still no movement from the Black Magic Empire?"

As he spoke, Isolde Alank had already calmed his impatience.

"I want to know who is restraining their emperor?"

He could roughly understand the Black Magic Empire's thinking—the vassals of this feudal lord state were unwilling to make sacrifices.

Even the Radiant Church, the greatest power in this world, dared not confront that 'Lucky Andre' head-on; why should the princes of the Black Magic Empire bear the brunt?

Yet Isolde Alank also believed that the master of the Black Magic Empire was a far-sighted sage. With such wisdom, he would never sit idly by while a 'God of War' belonging to America was born. There must be some other reason why he had not appeared on the battlefield.

"It's the allied fallen angels from Hell! Twenty minutes ago, Lucifer's army temporarily opened four 'Purgatory' gates near the Black Magic Empire."

Kermit Sassen, the Prime Minister in charge of the Church's 'Central Statistics Office,' said with a grim expression: "Clearly, our enemies have reached an agreement. Andre Lee Wiltonstein paid some price to persuade those traitors."

The seven kings of Hell today were all angels who fell with Lucifer back then.

For instance, Samael, one of the original six creator angels, second only to Lucifer in Heaven; Beelzebub, once the most powerful angel, deputy commander of the angelic legion, whose combat strength in his prime surpassed even Michael; Azazel, originally the leader of the Watchers, in charge of Heaven's prison; Abaddon, known as the 'King of Plague, Dark Angel of Death'; Belial, the first angel created by the Lord of Light, possessing the world's greatest talent but unwilling to strive, thus sloth became his original sin; and Mastema, also Michael's deputy, one of the leaders of the angelic legion.

They followed Lucifer in rebellion, and after their defeat, they fell into the abyss, dividing the nine layers of the abyss as their dwelling place, forging a demon world that obeyed the power of 'order.'

"What about Pittsburgh, then?"

Isolde Alank asked again, fixing Weimar Medici with a questioning gaze, the coldness in his eyes enough to freeze a person solid.

"I'm sorry."

Weimar Medici replied calmly, as if speaking of a trivial matter: "My plan has failed. Our enemies have an excellent layout and formidable strength. Alduin and its Twilight Dragon City may become the cornerstone of the American underworld."

"The American underworld? Do you know what that means, Weimar Medici?"

"Damn it! We have watched the Lord's authority be usurped by heretics once again—"

"I want to know, what role did the Medici family play in this?"

"Why didn't you stop them, Weimar? Your Medici family has the power!"

"Is this how you repay the Lord? You have betrayed God's favor!"

The fury of the Guardian Angel Isolde Alank and the 'Prime Chancellor' of the Inquisition, Kader Kitly, caused their divine power to overflow, burning as golden flames. The latter's voice was cold: "Do you have anything to say, Weimar?"

"Indeed, I am ashamed before the Lord!"

Weimar Medici still responded with a calm demeanor: "Yet all actions of the Medici family follow the Lord's teachings."

At that moment, three pairs of purple-gold wings spread behind him, along with a golden armor and a golden crown.

Isolde Alank's gaze narrowed slightly. He knew that Weimar was declaring to everyone present that all his actions had never violated the faith.

However—

But at that moment, he also sensed an anomaly in the aura from the Holy See.

And when this 'Guardian Angel' looked over, Pope John Honorius had already opened his eyes. His face still bore shock and anger, and his eyes contained fury and murderous intent.

"The Lord's oracle: a high-ranking angel attempted to erode the Lord's divinity and usurp the Lord's radiance while the Lord slumbered!"

At that moment, everyone in the small chapel was astounded, shaken by the Pope's words. The four Angel Kings standing on either side of the Holy See could not help but tremble slightly, their divine radiance wavering.