Chapter 625: Strength

The situation in the Middle East deteriorated faster than Li Mochen had imagined. Just three days later, the war had already spread across the entire region, and the local governments were on the verge of collapse.

At the same time, a deadly plague broke out on a large scale in the Persian Republic. Samael and Beelzebub, two of the Seven Princes of Hell, were wantonly spreading the toxins and plagues they controlled.

This caused more harm to the mortal world than the war and the legions from Hell. According to what Li Mochen had learned, over seven million people had already fallen ill, overwhelming hospitals there.

"This virus is tricky—a variant of the smallpox virus. Vaccination doesn't seem to work well, and it can't be widely deployed in the Middle East in the short term. Vaccine development will take at least half a year."

Since Gu Hong's research team was focused on developing and perfecting biological implants, Li Mochen specifically invited Carlson, the 'God of Microorganisms, Viruses, Bacteria, and Vaccines,' and Patrick, the 'God of Surgery, Medicine, Modern Medicine, and Healing.' But both were very pessimistic about the situation in the Middle East.

"But the real problem isn't that. It's the lack of doctors, medicines—especially antibiotics—and medical equipment. The medical resources in Middle Eastern countries are extremely scarce. Their healthcare systems have collapsed. I estimate that within ten to twelve days, mass deaths will occur, and the virus will mutate and spread further."

"I won't call my followers to the Middle East. They have the compassion of healers and are willing to sacrifice themselves. But the war there, the swarms of demons, and the lack of medical supplies could cost them their lives. That would be like throwing them into hell, and I must be responsible for their lives."

"Donating supplies is possible, but at this time, America and the Old World countries have to fend for themselves. Their governments won't allow medical supplies to leave the country. Don't think America's and the Old World's healthcare systems are strong; they're only slightly better. This smallpox variant will eventually spread to America. You should know that nearly one-tenth of this country's population has no health insurance, and even those with insurance will pay a huge price after infection. The cruelty of capitalism allows government bureaucrats and capitalists to coldly watch their people and employees die."

"Once this virus breaks out in America, our economy will suffer a severe blow, and the healthcare system and government will face devastating impacts. I think we should focus on stockpiling and producing medical equipment and developing vaccines."

In short, they were too preoccupied to care much about the followers of the 'Lord of Truth.'

Li Mochen could only hastily organize a batch of supplies to donate and then issue a divine decree to his churches, urging the faithful of the Mandate Church to pay attention to personal hygiene and protection.

Of course, he also invested an additional huge sum of over ten billion gold shields into Light Demon Industries and Xuri Biopharmaceuticals, instructing the two companies to divert part of their production capacity from normal military production to the production and stockpiling of various medical equipment, antibiotics, and smallpox-related drugs.

There was also food stockpiling. Bismarck predicted that due to war, natural disasters, and the smallpox virus, famine would occur worldwide, even in America. If the gods did not want to see massive deaths among their followers, increasing food production was imperative.

In this regard, Rainbird Onassis, the 'God of Modern Agriculture, Mechanized Farming, Fertilizers, Hybridization, Genetic Modification, and Harvest,' and the Moon Rabbit, who had mastered high-level 'Earth' divine authority and ultimate 'Earth Travel' divine authority, could help.

On the fifth day after the Hell invasion, Li Mochen officially appointed the Moon Rabbit as the 'Earth Angel,' in charge of six divine offices: Earth, Sword Combat, Terrain, Fertility, Building Stability and Reinforcement, and Grain. Her rank was on par with the 'Battle Angel' Robert and the 'Disaster Dragon Angel' Hazel, and statues of the Moon Rabbit were erected in all churches.

Thanks to prior preparations and Li Mochen's diversion of divine power, the Moon Rabbit raised her divine rank to 13, entering the rank of 'Greater God.' This allowed her divine power to cover the southern part of America and most of Australia.

Afterward, Li Mochen specifically took a negotiation team to the Eastern Ancient Kingdom. Bismarck believed that in the coming war, the Eastern Ancient Kingdom and Sindhu would stay out of it and could preserve their strength relatively intact. However, considering the political systems of the two countries, the former undoubtedly had stronger disaster resistance.

Li Mochen successfully obtained commitments from them and signed a contract worth billions. Over the next few years, the Xuri Group could import surplus grain, various daily necessities, and precious magical energy materials from the Eastern Ancient Kingdom at a price 20% above production costs. He even secured some covert aid.

This was a return—a repayment for Li Mochen's intentional or unintentional leaking of biochemical implant technology—and also support. The other side also did not want to see the collapse of the entire world order. Their leaders were extremely wise, knowing that once America fell into chaos, the war of the gods would eventually spread to the Eastern Ancient Kingdom.

Li Mochen guessed their thoughts, so he was unceremonious in the negotiations.

If this world was bound to produce a 'God of Gods' in the Western world—what the East called a 'Sage'—then Li Mochen, who had Eastern blood, was undoubtedly the best choice for the Eastern Ancient Kingdom.

He was also confident that he could repay the Eastern Ancient Kingdom's help in the future.

For Li Mochen's pantheon, this was undoubtedly a shot in the arm and a reliable backing to rely on.

After that, Li Mochen completely set aside these worries and focused on military construction.

At this time, ordinary, mortal armies were still indispensable and extremely useful to him. But for now, he didn't need to worry about that part.

Both the Xuri Group and the Wiltonshtain Group had mature systems and sufficient talent to help him expand and train the army.

What Li Mochen needed to handle personally now were only the forces that could help him fight alongside the gods.

First was the 'Allied Army' of the pantheon's gods. Bismarck fulfilled his promise to Li Mochen, organizing a 'Divine Army' equivalent to two angel legions in nearly four months. Since Li Mochen named his pantheon 'God's Will' (Mandate; Providence; Divine Will), this divine army was also called the 'Providence Legion' or 'Mandate Divine Army.' Its members were commonly referred to as 'Providence Warriors' or 'Mandate Warriors.'

The First Providence Legion was led by Garcia Feren, the God of Strategy. It included 8,000 legendary-level 'Mandate Warriors,' 600 demigods, and 1.65 million below legendary. Additionally, a total of forty gods would accompany the First Legion in battle.

This legion was basically funded by American gods, who were quite confident in Garcia Feren, who had recently been promoted to Greater God.

The Second Providence Legion was led by Ludendorff, the God of War Organization and Defense. The legion had 7,000 legendary-level 'Mandate Warriors,' 570 demigods, and 1.2 million below legendary.

Since more than half of the legion's members came from the Teutonic gods, Ludendorff's appointment was also widely expected.

As a famous general from World War I and one of the founders of the Teutonic army in World War II, Ludendorff was highly respected among the Teutonic war-related gods and was the most recognized candidate.

Although the Second Providence Legion had fewer personnel, because most came from the Teutonic gods, it was actually stronger in combat effectiveness.

There was also the Third Providence Legion, still being formed. But the gods under the Mandate Pantheon currently had no more strength to spare; it was just a skeleton as a reserve force.

Next was Li Mochen's own strength. Since he had become a god less than a year ago, the number of 'petitioners' in his divine kingdom had not yet exceeded one million. Relying on them to build a complete 'Einherjar' legion or 'Angel' legion was obviously impossible.

So Li Mochen only gathered some petitioners who worshipped him as the 'God of War' to form a small unit as a guard force for the divine kingdom. This guard legion was extremely small, less than 20,000, far from sufficient even for guarding the divine kingdom.

Thus, the main military force he relied on was still the 'Xuri-Light Demon' alliance army and the 'Storm Troops.'

It is worth mentioning that the latter had been renamed the 'Divine Wing Knights.' As the name suggested, this was his direct combat force and his wings.

Three and a half months after the Coral Sea battle, the number of Divine Wing Knights under Li Mochen had surged again.

Now, the number of 'Sky Knights' with legendary-level combat power had reached 21,600; 'Heavenly Knights' with demigod-level combat power had reached 2,300; and 'Chosen Knights' with god-level combat power had increased to 170.

Moreover, above them, 'Divine Knights' with combat power close to intermediate gods numbered 42.

They were organized into 170 knight companies, 57 squadrons, 19 battalions, and 3 regiments, commanded by Robert, Hazel, and the Moon Rabbit respectively.

In theory, each of these three 'Divine Wing Knight' regiments could directly contend with the angel legions of the Lord of Radiance, as the numbers of legendary and demigod-level fighters were similar. Their leaders also possessed combat power equivalent to Greater Gods in the material plane, rivaling the Archangels.

However, as a force relying on magical power armor and biological implants to fight, the 'Divine Wing Knights' had an irreparable flaw.

They could not enter the Astral Plane on a large scale. These warriors, who gained legendary and demigod combat power through external means, could not withstand the pollution from the stars.

If they stayed in the Astral Plane for one to two hours, their souls and bodies would twist and mutate. Unlike the Einherjar and Chosen warriors, whose souls were strong enough and had been state-fixed after death, unaffected by the stars.

Here, mention must be made of Anthony Braden's 'Light Demon V.' This magical power armor had once helped Li Mochen, then only at level 11, stay in the Astral Plane for a day and night. But this technology was not suitable for large-scale popularization due to its exorbitant cost.

Anthony was working on solving this problem, but until he succeeded, the 'Divine Wing Knights' could not be used for operations in the outer Astral Plane.

Additionally, the 'Divine Wing Knights' lacked sufficient auxiliary forces. For example, the angel legions had countless archangels and angel warriors below the legendary 'Sanctuary Angels.'

Odin's Einherjar legions also had two levels below the legendary 'Holy War Einherjar.' Their numbers also exceeded 50 million, blotting out the sky in the star sea.

By now, Li Mochen could mobilize a massive military force of 5.7 million in southern America and Australia. Their combat power was enough to match 20 million angels or 20 million Einherjar within the Light World.

But they also could not enter the Astral Plane. The technology like 'Light Demon V' that helped people resist stellar pollution was even harder to popularize to warriors of this level.

Anthony's idea was to build a warship capable of sailing in the Astral Plane, using the power of constant domains to resist the stars, allowing their warriors to fight around the starship.

But considering the time needed for research and development of an astral warship and its construction, this was even more distant.

Although the battleship 'Odro' served as a template, there were too many problems to solve and technologies to reverse-engineer, so many that even the God of Machinery found it troublesome and headache-inducing.

Moreover, the expansion speed of the 'Divine Wing Knights' had slowed significantly in the past month. Their resources were still abundant—the mines and farms in the Dark World continuously supplied various minerals and magical energy materials. Most of the 1,000 demigod-level armors obtained from the Moshra people remained unused.

The production line for the 'Odro' battleship was also running at high capacity, producing another 117 demigod-level armors. Combined with Light Demon Industry's capacity, they could produce about 450 per year—far exceeding their own needs!

The problem was that Li Mochen no longer had enough manpower to operate them. The foundation he had built over seven years before becoming a god was now nearly exhausted.

Due to the divine war in Australia and the inevitable world-scale war to come, magic professionals above level 11 were in extremely high demand. All factions offered unimaginably high prices in peacetime, striving to strengthen their armed forces before the war.

The number of new hires in the security companies under the Xuri-Light Demon alliance had hit new lows for two consecutive months.

Not all magic professionals were drawn to Li Mochen's authority over life, death, and vitality. Many valued money more than life and needed wealth to improve their social status and family situation.

Moreover, the war that the Xuri Group was destined to face deterred many.

Only two figures gave Li Mochen some comfort. In schools in southern America, more and more students were choosing 'magic professional' as their future career. And the number of Outlaws produced in America this year reached 2.9 million, a 170% increase from last year.

It was estimated that in three years, this manpower shortage would improve. But whether America's peace could last until then was still unknown.

Then there was the Mandate Church's protective armed forces. With the increase in followers, especially devout ones, Li Mochen's College of Cardinals had grown to 56. As Li Mochen's chosen, they all had demigod-level combat power. Equipped with demigod-level implants 'Chosen Knight' and demigod-level magical power armor, they could achieve combat power close to weak gods—about 70-80% of the latter, comparable to the 'Chosen Knights' of the 'Divine Wing Knights.'

Following them were 350 'Purple Bishops.' Most served as 'resident bishops' in major churches. Only 160 Purple Bishops under the Mandate Curia remained mobile for contingencies.

Under the four departments—'Church Guard Department,' 'Supernatural Affairs Department,' 'Religious Security Department,' and 'Discipline Inspection Department'—there were a total of 620,000 paladins and 790,000 battle priests.

Their overall strength was roughly equivalent to half of the 'Divine Wing Knights.' However, thanks to Li Mochen's divine gifts, the proportion of high-level combat power exceeded that of the 'Divine Wing Knights.'

But for now, the Mandate Church's own strength was barely enough for self-defense, and even that was insufficient. Frequent supernatural incidents and the war in the underworld had exhausted the church. They had to go all out to ensure the safety of the majority of the Fate Lord's followers.

Moreover, since most were recently recruited, and a large portion were poached from the Radiant Church, their reliability was hard to guarantee. The Mandate Church had to maintain a strong supervisory force to prevent their god from following the Lord of Radiance's fate.

However, Li Mochen's War God faith had become wildly popular in the militaries of various countries. Especially in the American Federation, Australia, and the Teutonic Republic, nearly 19 million soldiers worshipped him as their primary war god.

Although Li Mochen, during his mortal days, had never commanded any noteworthy battles or had any legendary war-related exploits, his successive defeats of Ares and Tyr, and even his forcing back of Odin and the Lord of Radiance, were enough to earn him the admiration of many soldiers.

Especially now, under Li Mochen's command, there were many war-related subordinate gods, covering every aspect of modern warfare, far more alluring than the ancient Ares and Odin.

This also directly enhanced Li Mochen's control over Australia and America. The Statue of Liberty still held strong influence over the upper echelons of the American government, but if she were to do anything unfavorable to him, Li Mochen could overturn the table at any moment. He was confident that nearly half of the American military would side with him, leading to another civil war against the government高层 controlled by the Statue of Liberty. However, the outcome this time would be very uncertain.

Then, in terms of mythical armaments, Li Mochen also made repeated gains.

The enhancement and upgrading of the 'Fate Sword' and 'Six Lines Immortal Sword' had been completed around the time of the Coral Sea naval battle. The reforging of the 'Divine Order Sword' was also finished a month and a half ago.

Next was the 'Zhou Tian Star Dou Divine Sword'; the many demigod-level grand alchemists under Anthony had already smelted the forty 'Thunderfire Spear' blanks into sword forms.

The subsequent forging was proceeding methodically. Whenever he could spare time, he would return to the alchemy chamber for a while to complete the casting of one or two 'main swords'.

For a long time to come, this set of swords would be Li Mochen's primary killing tools, their overall power surpassing all his other mythical armaments except the 'Divine Sky Luck Purple Gold Tower'.

Anthony's progress was also very gratifying. First, using Typhon's eyes, his hundred snake eyes, and a large amount of top-tier mythical materials, he forged the sniper rifle 'Divine Will' for Li Mochen.

This item was forged into a blank by Anthony and his two subordinate gods, with the subsequent refining work done by Li Mochen himself.

He had to personally arrange and inscribe the magical energy array, then infuse it with the divine power of fate.

This would be a weapon whose power was not inferior to the incomplete 'Longinus Holy Spear', but when used in conjunction with the 'Divine Sky Luck Purple Gold Tower', its practicality would surpass the former.

Any bullet fired by 'Divine Will' could threaten quasi-god-kings and god-kings. And if paired with powerful divine power and forbidden spells, even Zeus and Odin would find it hard to defend against.

The power of the 'Divine Sky Luck Purple Gold Tower' could further enhance the strength of 'Divine Will'.

It was estimated that this weapon would be completed in four months. Once obtained, combined with the full set of 'Zhou Tian Star Dou Divine Swords', Li Mochen would truly possess the power to counterbalance those quasi-god-kings and god-kings. In the future, even if he returned to the divine kingdom, he would not fear fighting against those ancient pantheons.

Secondly, the mythical armament 'Typhon's Shield', made from Typhon's body and internal organs, was also nearing completion. This was the key artifact for helping the Moon Rabbit Goddess counter the massive earthquakes during the realm fusion.

So Li Mochen frequently went to Anthony's alchemy laboratory to 'supervise' and check on the progress of its forging. 'World Three' was drawing closer, and the impact that would shake the entire world was imminent, so Li Mochen could not help but pay close attention.

But on this day at the end of May, when Li Mochen, having initially consolidated his armed forces, came again to Anthony's 'Mechanical Kingdom' magic tower, he found the three deities there slacking off. They were watching a projection image with grave expressions.

Li Mochen also glanced over and saw it was a video of a battle between Thor, the thunder god of the Norse Aesir, and Ares, the 'War God' of Olympus, along with Cottus, one of the three Hecatoncheires.

The former, wielding a war hammer and a great axe, charged alone into the Olympian army. His hammer was indestructible, his axe invincible; each swing brought forth a sea of lightning covering hundreds of kilometers, majestic and overwhelming.

All Olympian chosen warriors within this range were annihilated, with only a very few surviving.

The 'War God' Ares and the Hecatoncheires Cottus retreated step by step under his attack. The two main gods, both close to divine rank 19, joined forces with a force equivalent to an entire angelic legion, yet they could barely hold their ground.

Li Mochen knew at a glance that this was footage of a small-scale skirmish between the Olympian and Aesir pantheons two days ago.

They were contending for dominance over faith in Nubia (northern Sudan), and the situation there remained deadlocked.

In ancient times, Africa was dominated by the 'Truth Church', but during the heyday of the Age of Exploration a few hundred years ago, it became a faith territory of the British gods. They first spread their faith at the southern tip of Africa, then expanded northward, gradually pushing the 'Truth Church' to the northernmost part of Africa.

But after the demon army unleashed plagues and disasters in the Middle East, the Olympian and Aesir pantheons finally broke through the Lord of Radiance's defenses and began to channel their forces from the outer realms into the inner world on a small scale.

Even the Zoroastrian pantheon, which had been lying low, now showed its fangs, aggressively reaching into the material world.

However, these three pantheons did not choose the New or Old Continents, which had stronger self-defense capabilities. Instead, they all turned their attention to Africa.

But although the land there was vast and the population numerous, it was clearly insufficient for the three powerful pantheons, so conflicts and frictions among them were inevitable.

This had little to do with Li Mochen. Africa had always been the domain of the British pantheon and the Truth Church. The British gods currently had no intention of serving him; they had formed an almost complete pantheon around the deified Queen Victoria and the existing monarchy and the Twelve Knights of the Round Table.

Currently, a third of Australia's population were followers of the British gods.

Although this pantheon had only seven main gods, their power was not to be underestimated. When the Aesir entered the Republic of South Africa, they encountered stubborn resistance from the British gods.

Personally, Li Mochen was unwilling to accept the allegiance of the British gods, as it would greatly impact the structure of his own pantheon and pose a far greater threat and隐患 than the Teutonic gods.

It was also worth noting that the source of this footage was not the 'First Source' Paracelsus, but Reinhard Heydrich, the god of 'espionage, spying, intelligence, purges, and spies'.

This leader of the 'Reich Main Security Office (Gestapo)' of the Teutonic Third Reich during World War II had used his powerful intelligence capabilities to help the Teutonic Führer conquer most of the Old Continent, striking fear into his enemies. He had many titles such as 'the Blond Beast', 'the Executioner of Desire', 'the Follower of Death', 'the Demon of Desire', and 'the Black Prince of the Third Reich'.

This was proven by the fact that after his assassination, the Teutonic Third Reich became riddled with leaks, its intelligence system full of holes, leading to repeated defeats.

In the more than a hundred years since his death, Heydrich, relying on his powerful talent, had elevated his many divine powers to a high level.

His加入 also gave Li Mochen a broad perspective, allowing him to understand all wars in the outer realms without omission, and extend his sight and reach into the vicinity of many gods.

He was also the most valued deity among the Teutonic gods, second only to Bismarck.

Although he was only an intermediate god, if Heydrich could prove his loyalty, Li Mochen would not hesitate to elevate him to the ranks of his angels, as a future 'Angel King', on par with Robert.

No one in this world understood the importance of intelligence and information better than he did.

…

"Are you still in the mood to watch these videos? What about my Typhon's Shield?"

Upon entering this alchemy workshop, which Anthony had named 'Creator', Li Mochen's first glance went to the alchemy furnace in the center. Then his expression relaxed slightly, knowing that this mythical armament had entered a 'self-derivation' state.

Anthony Braden and his two subordinate gods were undoubtedly among the top forging masters in the world, with only a very few surpassing them.

But their understanding of 'Earth' could never match that of Typhon or those gods holding the 'Earth' authority. So the arrays they designed could never perfectly fit this artifact focused on the 'Earth' authority, nor could they design them.

Thus, the trio's method of forging 'Typhon's Shield' was more akin to Li Mochen's method of forging the 'Sin-Cleaving Blade'. They integrated Typhon's bones, flesh, and internal organs into the mythical armament, allowing the artifact itself to spontaneously generate magical energy patterns and form arrays. However, the process was much more refined, and the material and power would far surpass the 'Sin-Cleaving Blade'.

Currently, 'Typhon's Shield' had entered the 'self-derivation' of magical patterns, expected to last ten to twenty days. The forgers only needed to monitor it constantly and guide it appropriately.

For deities like Anthony, multitasking was the norm; they did not need to focus entirely on this process.

"As you can see, it's in the derivation period, so we took the time to watch these divine battles. We'll have to face them sooner or later, won't we?"

Anthony sighed: "But I'm already regretting it. The more I watch, the more discouraged I feel. Can we really win in this divine war? That Thor, if his true form descends, I think he alone could sweep us away."

He was a law god, and before reshaping his ancient god body, he could not leave this world. This meant that if they lost, they would only face annihilation, or use their talents to gain the enemy's forgiveness and become 'slave laborers'.

This was something Anthony could never accept; he would never give up the path to the source.

Moreover, even in artifact forging, having freedom versus not having it were two completely different states and feelings.

'God of Processing and Modification' Mallet also smiled bitterly: "Thor at divine rank 19 is already this powerful; one can imagine the strength of Zeus and Odin at divine rank 20."

Another god, 'God of Precision Industry and Metallurgy' Schroeder, nodded slightly: "That War God's power seems stronger than three months ago. The increasingly large-scale wars in this world are enhancing his strength."

Speaking of this, Anthony Braden glanced sideways at Li Mochen: "Speaking of which, you, as a War God, seem a bit unqualified."

At this moment, the war source power of the light world was surging endlessly, but only a small part of it was absorbed by Li Mochen.

This was because the vast majority of wars and conflicts had nothing to do with Li Mochen.

Now, whether it was the demonic disaster in the Middle East or the war in Africa, several war gods had their shadows behind them.

Anthony Braden could even smell the nauseating odor of Eris, the goddess of discord and strife, but only Li Mochen remained inactive.

"Don't you know my doctrine? I favor wars of self-defense, wars that promote peace through force, and wars that help humanity expand. Also, if you think no one can counter the power of these god-kings, think again. I believe I am not far behind them now. The power of the Fate Pantheon is enough to make them think twice."

As Li Mochen spoke, his expression shifted slightly, and he made a gesture of listening intently. Then he chuckled: "See? The moment to verify my words has come."

Again, it was news from Reinhard Heydrich. Someone had set their sights on one of his subordinate gods, this time the Zoroastrian pantheon. That Zoroastrian god of light, after watching from the sidelines for half a year, had finally reached out to the light world.