The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 292

"This is the worst..."

The Sword of Heaven muttered in a voice mixed with a deep sigh as he looked over the documents handed to him by his subordinate.

The documents held in the Sword of Heaven's hand detailed the damage they had suffered so far.

Three weeks. Only three weeks had passed since the Sword of the Earth and the Sword of the Sea had gone missing, but in that short time, most of the local noble forces that ruled the 500s and 400s territories had completely collapsed.

As if that weren't enough, now even the 300s territories were slowly collapsing due to raids occurring in various places.

The principle of their actions was simple enough for a fool to understand.

Starting from the territories far from the church, they would systematically and intensively attack and bring them down.

"Tsk, how annoying."

The Sword of Heaven clicked his tongue quietly.

Normally, the Sword of Heaven would not have cared about a damage scale of this level.

The death of local nobles and the collapse of territories?

What was the big deal about that?

Even if local nobles and the knights who protected them continued to die, the actual damage to the church was at a level that could be said to be non-existent.

'In normal times, I would have considered such movements by the resistance guys as a boon.'

Because in the process of selecting new nobles to replace the foolishly dead local nobles, he could have received hefty donations to solidify the church's position and at the same time, attract more wealth.

But the current situation was not simple enough to be passed over so conveniently.

Because the resistance guys, not content with just dealing with the local nobles, had even started to win the favor of the territory's residents by carrying out monster exterminations around the territory.

Crumple-

"This is not good."

The Sword of Heaven muttered, unconsciously clenching his hand and crumpling the document he was holding.

Thanks to the resistance guys exterminating the monsters, the people near the territory would be free from monster attacks for the time being.

Thanks to that, the survival rate of the territory's residents had increased exponentially, but for the church, it would have been more convenient if the territory's residents had continued to die from monster attacks.

Because if such a situation had unfolded, the desperate people would have longed for the past, cursed the resistance, and clung to the god in the sky and the church, his hands and feet.

But in a situation like this, that possibility was slim.

Since there was no danger, the people of the territory would live their usual daily lives without needing to cling to anyone.

Even though the lord of the territory had been assassinated and died in the middle of the night.

And as they spent their usual daily lives like that, people would eventually come to have a fundamental question about the reason for the existence of the nobles who had ruled the territory and acted arrogantly.

And the question that had grown so would soon become a suspicion and, in the end, be directed at the church.

"They are encouraging the corruption of the people."

The Sword of Heaven defined the current actions of the resistance so.

An act of instilling false illusions in people to sow suspicion about the church and increase their own influence.

And the foolish territory residents would be deceived by that petty scheme and begin to doubt the existence of the great church. If this wasn't called corruption, what else could be called corruption?

It was an act of abandoning the god who always looked after them with warm eyes from above the sky.

But there was nothing to be sad about.

No, rather, it was a joyous occasion.

Because thanks to the unbelievers called the resistance running wild and testing the people, he was able to cleanly discard the lingering regrets that had remained in their hearts.

'And if I use this well, I can easily persuade even those who opposed the current plan.'

Having thus organized his thoughts, the Sword of Heaven pressed a button on the table.

At that, not long after, a holy knight wearing armor of a sky-like blue color entered his room.

"How are the Saintesses?"

"They are continuously offering prayers in the chapel with the priests."

The holy knight answered the Sword of Heaven's question, bowing his head.

"What happened to the territories within the 100s?"

"Following the Sword of Heaven's words, they are calmly preparing for the day of judgment. Thanks to the active movement of the three great noble families, all work is proceeding smoothly."

"Good."

The Sword of Heaven nodded with a calm expression at his subordinate's report.

The world was in chaos, but within the church, which was at its core, everything was proceeding smoothly.

That fact made a small smile appear on the Sword of Heaven's lips.

The Sword of Heaven thought as he looked at the world unfolding outside through the window in his room.

'It's gotten too big.'

Until now, they had devoured countless worlds according to God's will and thus expanded their own world.

In that process, the loss of life was extremely small.

Because what they were doing was not war.

Therefore, they were able to absorb the knowledge of other worlds relatively intact, but at the same time, because of that, the world had become overflowing with too many useless people.

To put it bluntly, the purity of the people, the purity of the world, had dropped too much.

Therefore, there was a need to erase the current world and filter out the people within it, and that was the reason why the Sword of Heaven welcomed the current change.

The judgment brought about by the corruption of humanity, and the faithful, pure white new humanity that survived within it.

A great achievement, enough to write a new line in the holy scripture for God.

Because he was about to achieve that with his own hands from now on.

'It was a necessary task someday. If we are to continue to absorb countless worlds in the future, selection is essential.'

The Sword of Heaven's brow furrowed slightly as he had such thoughts.

'Then there is one thing that bothers me now.'

"The reason why the resistance guys, who had been continuously trying to avoid a full-scale war with us, are suddenly moving so aggressively."

If the church's side didn't have the trump card of the day of judgment, the move the resistance had prepared now could have been an exquisite move that dug into the church's blind spot.

But for that, one prerequisite had to be prioritized.

Otherwise, their move would be an act of eating their own flesh, no, a lesser tactic.

Because no matter how much they attacked the territories in the provinces, the damage the church received was only at a minimal level.

Now, the situation had changed a little due to the sudden deaths of the Sword of the Sea and the Sword of the Earth, but normally, they would not have moved until the number of territory residents had dropped by half for the sake of a greater faith.

'Since the resistance guys are not fools, it's impossible that they didn't predict this part, so for them to move like this... it must mean they've achieved the prerequisite.'

Having reached that thought, the Sword of Heaven let out a small laugh in disbelief.

"To dare to think they can win against us. And in the short time that the territory residents' thoughts have yet to doubt the existence of the church."

The Sword of Heaven touched the hilt of the sword at his waist.

It was not difficult to find the reason why the resistance was suddenly full of confidence.

Because the answer was already out.

'The Sword of the Earth and the Sword of the Sea. The ones who killed them have sided with the resistance.'

The Sword of Heaven thought calmly.

'That aside, to think they would move so suddenly as soon as they gained power. It seems they were quite anxious while being beaten by us all this time.'

The Sword of Heaven smiled as he organized the current situation in his head.

"Struggle as much as you want. Even so, a great light will not shine upon you."

Unless a great anomaly, enough to turn the sky upside down, occurred.

As the Sword of Heaven swallowed his last words inwardly and returned to his plan.

–

"Huh?"

Cheon Yuhwa, the culprit who had taken over the organization called the resistance as the main instigator of the Sword of the Earth's death and created the current situation, felt the choker on her neck vibrate slightly and her eyes widened slightly, then she let out a small laugh.

"It took a little longer than I thought. No, is it insanely fast if you think about it normally?"

Cheon Yuhwa muttered so and touched the choker on her neck.

"So, did you successfully break the wall that was blocking your path?"

At Cheon Yuhwa's slightly playful words.

-Well, I guess so. Thanks to that, I'm overflowing with so much power that it's troublesome.

Lee Shin answered in a slightly tired but deeply joyful and refreshing voice.

-So, I want to use some of this power. Is there a suitable place?

"A suitable place?"

-Why, the thing I asked you about before.

At Lee Shin's words, Cheon Yuhwa said with a short gasp.

"Ah, the thing you asked me to investigate about the guys who were experimenting on the dragonoid twins you brought with you?"

-Yeah, that.

"I did look into it, but... it probably won't be of much use even if you interfere now."

-Oh, why? Did someone already eat the place I was planning to eat?

"Correct."

Cheon Yuhwa answered Lee Shin's words so and laughed quietly.

"The twins are already having a blast tearing through it. If it were other kids, I might have pretended to stop them, but since they're the ones who suffered the damage, it was a bit ambiguous to say anything."

"So I just let them do as they please. It was also a bit annoying that they kept coming to me and insisting that they would catch them."

-Haa, so those two are moving on their own?

"That's right. Their stubbornness is so strong that they said they wanted to do it on their own without anyone else's help."

-Haa, well, if it's them, they would have.

Lee Shin said so and grumbled quietly as if it were a shame.

If it were other guys, he might not have cared, but since it was the two involved who had stepped up, it was difficult for Lee Shin to say anything.

In the first place, those guys were not Lee Shin's prey, but the two's prey.

As Lee Shin was feeling down about not having a place to release his power, Cheon Yuhwa said.

"Well, don't worry too much."

Grin-

"While you were in there, I've expanded the board quite a bit. Thanks to that, there are plenty of places to test your power."

-Really?

Even though she could only hear his voice, Cheon Yuhwa could guess what expression Lee Shin was making from his single word.

It would surely be a face full of confidence and a grinning smile.

(End of Chapter)