But things didn’t go as planned. Five auras of Gods of War were approaching me from the direction of Garakh.

  “Ah, for the love of—what kind of day is this?! Stay here!”

  I halted the boat and leapt into the sky toward the guests. That they were coming for me—I had no doubt. The stench of the Church reached for dozens of kilometers.

  Should I strike first? Or maybe greet them—they might not even want a fight?

  I stopped midair and drew the Nine-Spear Formation, activating magic of the sixth circle without delay.

  As soon as the vivid red seals formed around me, five figures in white robes appeared nearby. Where the hell do these bastards keep coming from? There were only three White Cardinals in the entire Northern Empire—and I’d already killed them all.

  I cast Inferno, a fifth-circle fire spell, as a warning—to keep them back, to make them speak from half a kilometer away.

  “Gentlemen Cardinals, you’re here for me, I presume?”

  “Are you Aney?”

  One of them, probably the squad leader, stepped forward. I wrinkled my nose. What insolence—calling a God of War by name.

  “For you, mutt, it’s Honorable Aney. Call me by name again, and I’ll teach you some manners myself!”

  “What arrogance!” another one drew his bow, but the elder stopped him.

  “Do you truly believe my robe does not give me the right to address you by name?” he asked.

  “Your robe? A bunch of frauds fattened on power stolen from the common folk dare lecture me about rights? What are you worth without your altar?” I pointed my spear at them. “I alone am enough to rip you five to shreds!”

  “You overestimate yourself!” shouted another.

  “I turned your little godling to dust. And who are you, runt? Say what you came for and get the hell out of my way!”

  I saw some of them twitching with rage. But they still didn’t attack—meaning only one thing. The Church wanted peace. Fools—they made me an enemy, and now they’re trying to buy peace?

  “Honorable Aney… we are representatives of the Synod of the White Twins Church of the Central Empire. Our purpose today is to offer you the chance to join—”

  “Just get to the part where I refuse your generous offer. I’m already feeling nauseous.”

  “The second part… you won’t like it.”

  An arrow shot toward me from one of the Gods of War. I shouted:

  “Kill them!”

  Nine grey bolts of lightning tore past me—but that wasn’t enough. I hurled nine flasks of divine mana in their direction.

  Damn it! The arrow was stronger than I thought. It pierced under my right collarbone and stuck.

  Shit! I yanked it out, but the tip stayed lodged in my body. I dashed toward the explosions from the mana flasks, determined to finish off the most injured Gods of War before they could down recovery pills.

  My blood splashed from the wound, igniting behind me. I clenched the gash with aura. Damn it… with the tip still inside me, my right arm was barely functional…

  I tore into the flames and saw the first enemy—clutching a severed arm stump and searching for the limb amid the growing inferno.

  No hesitation—five black-and-white stars wreathed in grey lightning appeared at my left fingertips.

  Since I’d broken through to God of War level, manipulating aura for these strikes had become easier than breathing.

  I plunged my splayed hand under his ribs, tearing upward through his body like a grinder. I shook the remains of his skull from my wrist when a spear blade pierced my back just above the waist.

  Gods, that hurts!

  I looked down at the bulge rising from my belly and slammed my spear backward. My right arm was sluggish, but I focused my aura into the tip—and shredded the God of War behind me.

  I ripped the enemy spear free—it was in the way—and divine mana poured from the wound like a fountain, instantly turning the battlefield into hellfire.

  Damn it!

  I sealed the back wound with aura and reached for a recovery pill—but another arrow punched through my right elbow.

  That bastard! Where was that damned archer?!

  I spun, and through the fire, I saw him—pinned midair by two formation spears, drawing again.

  Sixth-circle time magic—Stilled Time!

  The spell wasn’t strong enough to stop the arrow, but it slowed it several times over—just enough for me to dodge.

  Oh, you little mutt—I’m taking that bow of yours.

  I dashed at him faster than he could react. His eyes were wide with disbelief as I ripped off his stupid head and hurled it into the flames.

  The moment he died, the formation spears shot from his body and flew toward the next target.

  I sheathed my own spear—my right arm was too injured to wield it now—and yanked the arrow from my elbow.

  After swallowing a few recovery pills, I began hunting the remaining two Gods of War.

  The bastards, though torn up by flames and explosions, were still maneuvering well—dodging the formation spears.

  This couldn’t go on. I couldn’t match them blow for blow, but I had one last trick that might tip the balance.

  I got in close and struck them with Bloodlust, stopping them for just a heartbeat—

  But it was enough. Spears struck them at multiple angles, skewering their bodies.

  “I told you, bastards—I’d take all five of you down myself!”

  “Wait! Mercy!”

  One of them screamed as I closed in behind him.

  “Burn in hell, scum!”

  I placed my hand on his head and crushed it like a rotten egg. His body twitched a few more times, then went limp.

  The last Cardinal was still trying to flee, his eyes wide with horror.

  “If you dare kill me, the Church won’t let it stand! Not just you, but your family—your friends—everyone you’ve ever known will burn!”

  Damn thing’s barely alive and still making threats. What an idiot.

  “The last Cardinal who ordered the attack on my companion… writhed in agony for hours. Did you know that?”

  I stopped a few meters away. My words seemed to terrify him even more—he fell silent, blood streaming from nose and mouth.

  “You have a choice. Tell me what I want to know and die quickly… or take your time and suffer through the questions. What will it be?”

  “You bastard! You damned bastard! I’ll tell you—ask!”

  I didn’t have many questions, but there were things I needed to know.

  “How many Cardinals does the Church of the Central Empire have?”

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  “Ninety-nine. Thirty-three white, thirty-three grey, and thirty-three black.”

  I whistled. That was a lot of power. But… he confessed that far too easily.

  “Let me get this straight. There’s no point in killing you while the altars still exist? You die, and the gods just make another Cardinal to replace you?”

  The bastard lowered his head.

  “Yes…”

  “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! And you dared to speak of revenge? You’re just expendable trash, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! One more question. Why are you here? Why didn’t an Incarnation come instead?”

  The Cardinal raised his head and gave me a suspicious look.

  “You really don’t know? The further an Incarnation is from the central temples of the empires, the weaker it becomes. At this distance, it wouldn’t be any stronger than a Battle Ancestor.”

  Nonsense! In the capital, I had completely destroyed a temple along with its altar, yet the Incarnation there had been stronger than anything I had seen in this world. Unless… unless something was hidden beneath the temple itself. Something that empowered the Incarnation!

  Without a word, I crushed the Cardinal’s head and gathered the formation spears into my storage. The divine mana fire had already faded. I deactivated the magical seals, collected the rings from the dead Gods of War, and slowly made my way to the boat.

  Hopefully, the day’s adventures were over and I’d finally have time to patch myself up. At least to pull out that damned arrowhead. As I put on a fresh cloak over my bare body, I thought I really needed to get myself some high-quality enchanted clothing—something that wouldn’t burn off immediately. After nearly every battle, I ended up naked. This problem needed solving. Not the clothes—damn the clothes—but the Church. Three attacks in the past couple of weeks? That was too much.

  If the Cardinal spoke the truth, then the gods—and the Church as a whole—cared nothing for losses. They could always make more Cardinals. Maybe it wasn’t instant, maybe it was costly in resources, but they could do it.

  And that was my biggest problem. With this intensity, they’d get to me sooner or later. I needed powerful allies—desperately. But the only one I could think of was the Raven. Sure, the best option would be to raise my own strength, but my magic was at a standstill. And reaching the rank of a mid-tier God of War… That was still far off.

  “Lord Aney! What happened? Were you attacked? Who was it? The sky was ablaze with fire! Are you all right?”

  “Quiet. You’re chattering too much.”

  I sat down on the cockpit and shaped a thin blade, materializing it from my aura. Taking a deep breath, I made a deep cut beneath my right collarbone.

  “Oh gods, what are you doing?! Lord Aney, you’re naked!”

  And this hysterical woman had claimed to have intellect and political insight. Clearly, I’d misjudged something—but what?

  “It’s all right. It’s going to be all right.”

  I pushed my fingers into the wound and pulled out that cursed arrowhead, storing it away to avoid scrubbing off the god’s mana from it later.

  “And you asked me why I want to destroy the Church… Here’s your answer—if I don’t, they’ll kill me. That was their third attempt in the past two weeks. Any ideas?”

  Myrta sat beside me, deliberately avoiding my gaze.

  “If it’s that bad… then the only option is to flee.”

  “To where?”

  “To where there is no Church. The Empty Lands, or to the beastfolk tribes. No one in this world can stand against the Church and its gods.”

  “Pfffffft. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! You think if I were afraid of them, I wouldn’t have submitted already? You’ll see—I’ll be the first to succeed.”

  Bragging was easy, of course. But truth be told, the situation wasn’t great. I put on a clean set of clothes and steered the boat toward Garakh. Even a provincial temple of the White Twins was still a temple—and needed to be destroyed.

  We saw the city within a few hours. I landed the boat and we approached on foot. I had hoped to sneak in again, but they were already aware of me—the gates were shut. Damn it, was I supposed to storm the place? I scratched my head.

  “Lord Aney?”

  Myrta, it seemed, was also curious what I’d do next.

  “Hey! Hey, you up there!” I called out to the guards atop the gate. “Open up… I need to pray.”

  “Dear Lord Aney! Sorry, but the city’s closed today… We’re under, um… quarantine! That’s right!”

  That was new…

  “You sneezing?”

  “And coughing!”

  “I’m a God of War, you fools! Diseases don’t scare me.”

  The guards whispered among themselves. I picked up Myrta in my arms and jumped over the wall. The soldiers pretended they’d seen nothing—as if I had just vanished before their eyes. Who knows what these Gods of War are capable of…

  “You’ve got two hours for shopping. Meet me here.”

  She nodded, and I headed for the temple.

  The temple was abandoned. The churchfolk must’ve known they couldn’t defend it and had simply fled. Good riddance. I activated fourth-circle magic and cast a fire-element spell—Flame Tornado. A towering column of fire engulfed the building, whirling around it, melting the stone walls. The stained-glass windows exploded into thousands of glimmering shards, turning into colored droplets and merging with the molten lava that spread around the crumbling temple walls.

  Townsfolk gathered quickly around the blaze. Fear, despair, anger… They made no effort to hide their emotions as they stared at the sacred building slowly being consumed by my spell.

  “That bastard again!”

  “Son of a bitch…”

  More and more fingers in the crowd pointed at me. More and more eyes glared with hate.

  “Get out of our city, freak!”

  “Why’d you even come here?!”

  A stone thrown from the crowd struck my back and dropped to the ground beside me. Silence fell. Even the crowd was stunned by such audacity. Hundreds of eyes, like a wary beast, waited for my reaction. I turned to the source of the stone and saw the cowards, averting their gazes the moment mine settled on any of them. Should I try to explain? Or turn this square into a bloody slaughter? For a while, those two urges fought within me.

  I took a deep breath and turned away, refusing to look at them. Empty. Just emotions. The Church had molded them this way over generations. And now, I was tearing apart the world they had known for centuries. People always fear the new and unknown—it’s in their nature. Only time can overcome that fear. Words are powerless here.

  But as it often goes, impunity breeds insolence. Another stone flew, accompanied by curses. Then another… I could hear and feel them tearing up the pavement. Insects. I struck with a wave of aura. Like rag dolls, the people were flung in all directions, losing their paper-thin limbs and crying out in pain and terror. I looked down at the scattered stones, now splattered with fresh blood. A thin white beam rose from the ruins of the temple and shot into the sky. That was it. It was done. I rose above the wounded, groaning crowd.

  “Today I will spare your lives, regardless of your actions. But if the temple is rebuilt—I will destroy the entire city. I hope you remember my words.”

  I deactivated the magic and walked away toward the gates. Two hours had long passed, so Myrta should be waiting. I wasn’t wrong. She stood by the gate, anxiously shifting her weight from foot to foot, glancing around nervously. Clearly, she wasn’t used to being in the city alone without her entourage or guards.

  “Did you get everything?”

  “Well…”

  “It doesn’t matter. We have to go.”

  I picked her up again and leapt over the wall, since the gates were still shut.

  “So… where to now?”

  “To the dungeon.”

  “Have you already managed to stir up trouble?”

  She’s got intuition.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Fire and roaring crowds. You could see and hear it from the gates… I was afraid the soldiers would kill me before you even got back, Lord Aney.”

  Maybe she was right. People often did stupid things without reason. The guards really could’ve taken her hostage—or even killed her to provoke me.

  “You’re right. I won’t do that again.”

  I summoned the boat, and we set off toward the dungeon, just a few hours’ flight away.