Powerful warriors converged from all sides; however Leonel didn't lift a single finger; It was Drake who suddenly flipped over his palms; causing two silver pistols to appear; Without waiting for any signal; he began to fire; With every pull of his trigger; another clergyman was shot out of the skies; Although he didn't immediately kill any of them; they found themselves crippled at best; some of them even being shoved toward death's door;
The group crossed the barrier of the temple, entering the highest floor directly; There should have been Force Art protections, but Leonel and the other seemed to slip right through them as though they didn't exist in the slightest;
One after another. they landed on the marbled floors. kicking up their surfboards and following behind Leonel as he walked forward; Despite having never been here before. it felt as though Leonel knew it like the back of his hand. gliding forward toward the grand hall without a single pause in his steps;
BANG!
A sparkling black pillar appeared in Raj's hand which he used to ram against the enormous double doors. slamming against it so hard that they flew off of their hinges. slamming into the sides of the hall with a bang so loud that it echoed through the entire temple.
Raj hoisted his large pillar over his shoulder and led the charge into the grand hall;
At that moment. there were tens of thousands of clergymen kneeling on prayer mats. bowing in worship to the stature of a several kilometers tall of a person Leonel could only conclude had to be Zoltene;
Zoltene's glass orbs looked a lot more like a radiant halo that instead of being parallel to the ground. was actually perpendicular with it. hovering behind his head; He had hands but on a single pair of arms. the other two pairs hovering in the air in mock prayer along with his only seemingly real pair of hands;
At his forehead. there was a glass orb embedded that seemed to reflect the world of his Ethereal Glabella; Within it. a world of rainbow glass could be seen. exuding an air of peace and majesty; Despite his usual thoughts on such matters. Leonel had to admit that this Zoltene at least looked like a God. but those extra hands…
Leonel had read about such a race, they also had glass orbs in their forehead and extra hands that seemed completely separate from their bodies; They were known as a Nomad Race;
Leonel's gaze narrowed; Even the Void Palace didn't have in depth information on faiths and their Gods. but these Gods had to come from somewhere. so there were a number of working hypotheses;
Some assumed that these were heroes of the past. much like echoes through history making their mark on today; Some assumed that it was the direct opposite. and they were instead powerhouses of the past influencing the past and leaving their mark; And for some others. they assumed that they were present heroes spreading word of their prowess;
These faiths were likely related to the God Path in some way or another. or at the very least. some divergent path of it; The reason the God Path was denoted as such was precisely because of the influence it could have on its environment when taken to an extreme. and these seemed to be related to what these religions could accomplish;
At that moment, a clergyman stood from beneath the statue of Zoltene, and then another, and then another; They all had robes rippling with rainbow colors and glass orbs hovering above and behind their heads that were a size larger than everyone else;
Their gazes locked onto Leonel and the others, their expressions flooded with fury;
Leonel walked forward slowly, his gaze locked onto clergymen;
"Who are you?!"
The clergyman who spoke was the current head of the Zoltene Faith within Earth's territory, a tall man who went by Impreza; This didn't seem to be a name, but more so a title, likely one unique to their faith;
"Do you not recognize the prince of the territory you're terrorizing?" Leonel asked coolly; "I'll give you two choices, Impreza; Take your faith, your clergymen, and what offerings you've managed to scrounge up, and scram out of my territory; Or, we can start a massacre; Which will it be?"
The Impreza's expression turned malevolent. However, when it settled in that Leonel was a prince of the Ascension Empire, he didn't seem to want to lash out immediately, as though he was still looking for a method out of this.
"Is this appropriate? You still haven't stated what we've done wrong? Does the Prince of the Empire not welcome religions? Aren't you afraid that the hearts of the people will grow cold?"
"So you're aware that this is an Empire too, right? Not a democracy. Do I need to explain to you why I do the things I do?"
The recently calmed expression of the Impreza turned ugly. It was clear that Leonel had no intention of negotiating with them. They hadn't expected to run into someone like this.
While it was true that an Empire wasn't a democracy, they still had to keep the people and their thoughts in mind. An Empire that did and acted as they pleased wouldn't last very long. If you didn't care for the thoughts of the people, you would be overthrown.
This should have been an opportunity to expand recklessly. With Earth surrounded by problems from all sides, there was no way they should be able to react like this without worrying about the consequences.
The Imperza suddenly calmed, staring toward Leonel deeply.
"Fine, we will retreat. The Glorious Zoltene cannot withstand the loss of even one son or daughter. You will face retribution for your actions today," the Imperza pressed his hands together.
Leonel smiled, however deep within, he knew what the true intentions of the Imperza was. They would retreat for now and wait for an opportunity to come back when the Ascension Empire would have no choice but to accept them.
Indeed, this Imperza was quite intelligent.
But so was Leonel.
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