Pirate Kingship

The core diocese of the Church, and also the hub of the Silver Code throughout the continent — The Holy Silver Empire.

Over the past year, this most powerful empire among the Theocratic Countries has been ravaged by war, long since bereft of its former prosperity.

Switching to the perspective of flying beasts, looking down from the high skies, one can only see a land of devastation, decayed livelihoods, and, indeed, fresh seas of corpses and blood.

City-states like Peridot, with their formidable strength and capacity to make both sides of the religious war wary, are becoming increasingly rare.

Other smaller and larger states, autonomous cities, were not as fortunate.

Particularly unfortunate were the first states sucked into the religious war.

After nearly a year of great battles, along with the initial chaotic involvement of Margaret, the Evernight Queen.

To date, approximately 25%-40% of the population has been annihilated.

At the core, Wittenberg saw three-quarters of its population fall, Pomerania lost sixty-five percent of its population, Silesia one-quarter...

These figures only reflect the main war zones, leaving some isolated small towns entirely dead, turned into ghost cities.

You must know, the Empire’s total population is only thirty million.

The irreconcilable conflicts of the religious war, for so many deaths, remain unresolved, indeed only a beginning. Without intervention from creator-level forces, another twenty or thirty years is quite normal.

Adding to it, the Kingdom of Castilia’s two Queens have decided their battle, the throne settled; this staunch supporter of the Orthodox Church is likely to join in soon.

Other Protestant countries certainly won’t stand by as Protestant princes in the Empire face defeat.

At that time, figures equivalent to two crowns, crushing ordinary kingly titles, the Saints, will surely bring the Spear of Longinus, the Crown of Thorns, the Holy Grail, the True Cross, the Ark of the Covenant, and other zero-level Sacred Relics to enter the fray personally.

The eventual transformation into the Silver Continent’s "First World War" is foreseeable.

Only a clear separation of the major and minor Kings and the new "Captain" of the world will end it.

Meanwhile, the entire continent, from east to west, is mired in chaotic battles and disputes, tearing apart human society in various senses, with religious ideologies and nationalism rising prominently.

If not for Byron, the "Messiah" emerging, the Five Bay States, which would likely have been overrun by colonizers, probably would have suffered even worse.

Standing from the observer’s perspective, with foreign enemies on the side, it should be a priority to set aside prejudices and form a unified front to face the enemy.

But if humans were so rational, the world would have been peaceful long ago, and there would be no such situation as "pacifying the internal chaos before resisting foreign invasion," which only gives the enemy the chance to grow.

For a civilization that has extended long enough, history never has anything new.

However, since the Empire’s Emperor and the Saints from both the Orthodox and Protestant Churches implemented this strategy, they must bear the consequences it brings.

Especially as the Orthodox Church reverts to the Dark Millennium Era’s old ways, engaging in bloody suppression for this "rebellion" war.

And as every human is a node of the Law, after many city-states are massacred into barren lands, the Law Network begins to flicker and wane.

The Silver Code has weakened to its lowest since the Silver Era, full of signal-less holes everywhere.

The effect of suppressing Evil Spirits and the bizarre entities is almost null.

Once night falls, Evil Spirits and bizarre entities that had vanished for hundreds of years emerge incessantly.

Adding to the woes, even the plague has started spreading again.

People walking in groups along the road see companions suddenly collapse, never to rise again.

Relatives die, and there is no daring to weep, for around them, in the night, are green ghost lights and shadows, with occasional cawing of crows and barking of dogs, rendering the place like a Ghost Domain.

As time goes on, one can hardly discern between humans and Evil Spirits, with an aura of death and despair pervading one city after another.

Where the footsteps of believers reach is the Divine Domain of the Gods. Since there is a systematic deficiency, only by mobilizing the clergy to fill it manually can it be remedied.

The firefighters carrying various Sacred Relics and Miracle Objects traverse the Empire, to the maximum extent possible, compensating for the losses.

"The Sacred Heart is full of the creator’s infinite mercy, loving all, pardoning human sins, healing human ailments. Pray for the Lord’s mercy, heal and comfort the sick and their families..."

In a certain frontline city where both sides confront each other, a team of Night Watch composed of clergy and Graveyard Sequence Extraordinary move slowly through the dreary mist, ringing bells.

In the middle of the team, four Judgment Knights carry a coffin, inside of which lies a human skeleton aglow with radiant treasures.

This is not a metaphor; the jade-like skeleton is entirely covered with various gold, silver, and jewels.

Glittering and dazzling rubies, sapphires, emeralds, pearls, and gold are almost embedded in every part of the skeleton, radiating a grand luxurious aura.

With the clergy’s prayers being chanted, ripples of Holy Light spread from that skeleton like the rising sun, quickly dispelling the sinister aura where they pass.

The fledgling Evil Spirits, not worth mentioning, dissolve silently into the Holy Light, dying away like neglected weeds.

Among the many treasures brought out by Orthodox and Protestant Church cathedrals, and the Religious Orders’ clergy, about half are similar jeweled remains.

They were not ordinary people; rather, they are the remains left behind by the Saints and Saints for over a millennium, considered a kind of "True Holy Relic" alternative.