The Church enjoyed the overwhelming support of the public, and despite knowing this, a thousand people still decided to side with the Voidwalkers and Da Xue. This act should have been seen as the peak of courage, but many laughed at this, instead.

After ten years of initiating kids under the guise of word-class education, only a thousand students decided to fight for the academy with their lives. It seemed the Voidwalkers had failed in their pitiful attempt to brainwash their students; it was pathetic and laughable! This news made the Church, who had amassed an army of five million in only one few days, already confident that it would win the war!

The Church’s military mostly consisted of noble families’ private militia, hired mercenaries, and others dispatched by factions that had recently sided with the Church. These factions had their own agendas, though. They were opportunists eyeing Da Xue’s intellectual properties and profitable inventions. Some even had their eyes on Da Xue’s beautiful females, especially the fairies, who they had only heard in folktales.

These were ‘trophies’ that tempted nobles enough to spend all their wealth hiring mercenaries for the Church. To these nobles, the Church had already won, and they could already imagine lying on top Principal Hope’s most beautiful female students, watching them groan.

Real veterans, however, knew better than to succumb to this unfounded optimism. The cardinals all wore solemn expressions during the next meeting. Even the Pope was not as confident of victory as he pretended to be on the outside. The intoxication he felt from receiving a divine revelation had subsided, and reality had begun to set in.

The Church’s only real advantage was the angels, and the Pope knew that Voidwalker possessed dangerous powers, more than enough to make up for their disadvantage in numbers. Furthermore, angels could only stay in mortal realms for three days, and because a war on such a magnitude will definitely go on for more than three days, the Church would have to attack before the angels arrive. Making the first move would give them the advantage, and if they could maintain this, when the angels descend, they would quickly wipe out the Voidwalkers.

This meant that the Church also stood a large chance of losing, as it could be defeated before the descent of the angels. This possibility left the cardinals of the Church in low spirits.

“So, Duke Wright and Duke Link have defied us, haven’t they?” The Chief Judge snarled and balled his hand into a fist, crumpling the paper within it. “Am I to take this as the Imperial Household’s official stance?”

When the Church declared war, the dukes of the south and north were silent. However, they quickly began to expand their military — an act that spoke volumes, especially to the Church. Although the dukes’ army did not increase as quickly as the Church’s, the growth was still an alarming one.

The Church sent envoys to both dukes. The Southern Duke was affable to the envoy, but he refused to disclose his thoughts. After being pressed repeatedly on the matter, the Southern Duke claimed that he was only arming up for self-defense, worried that the war would reach his territory.

The Northern Duke reacted quite differently. The Church’s envoy was denied entry at the duke’s gate.

Such a treatment was all anyone needed to understand where the Northern Duke’s allegiance lay. Furthermore, he had directed the Empire’s troops at the northern border to aid Da Xue. This showed his allegiance to Da Xue and the extent of his desperation.

“Fine. I admit I understand the Northern Duke’s reasoning. His daughter is the youngest Vice Principal of Da Xue; it’s almost impossible to force a father to turn his back on his own. But, what is that Link planning? That opportunist knows better than to be vague with his intentions. He has always cozies up to every faction, including those are war. He only chooses the side that is about to win so that he’ll get the most benefits!” A cardinal said in a low voice. “Even if he had some sort of business ties with those demons, I still didn’t expect him to lick their butt because of a few pennies!”

The Paladin Grand Cross looked at the cardinal and chuckled. “It’s because he doesn’t think we stand a chance at all.”

The Pope was silent. After listening to the others converse for some time, he turned to the Chief Judge and asked, “Has the Imperial Household chosen any sides?”

The Chief Judge seemed to be the leader of the Church’s spies. “Not official. They are understandably displeased that their territory would become a battlefield for two huge factions beyond their control. So far, the Emperor has not acted on his resentment. His official statement could impact the public’s support. Fortunately, there is news from his retainers that the Emperor secretly permits our crusade against the Voidwalkers.”

“What about the evacuation process in Arfin?”

“It’s taking place smoothly. Local organizations — who know better than to fight a battle they cannot win — the cadet branches of the Imperial Household, and others are evacuating the city without any impediment. By now, Arfin should be a ghost town.”

“Hmph. At least these demons know to leave the innocent alone, rather than using them as hostages,” the Pope said, praising the Voidwalkers for what seemed to be the first time. “What about other organizations in the continent? Have they all chosen to abandon the light?”

“Once again, they are frustratingly tight-lipped about their allegiance, and not one of them has shown support for our cause. We’ll need more time to see if they have been secretly supporting those demons. But, as of late, only Grant — one of the contenders for the Sorcerers’ Association presidency — had paid those snakes a visit. I have reasons to believe that he may have forged some sort of agreement with them.”

“Pfft. There are more sorcerers loyal to us than those demons. Grant wouldn’t dare make any stupid decisions unless he has given up on his ambition to be the leader of the Sorcerers’ Association, one of the most prestigious factions on the continent,” the Archbishop of Canningham said with a sneer. He seemed confident in the Sorcerers’ Association, as its members had met with the Church secretly a few times.

“It seems everything is still in our favor, except for that annoying hound, Wright. The men he put together for the Voidwalkersare stronger than the average soldiers delegated to us by the nobles. Hence, it’s safe to say that they might give us some trouble when we clash. Should we defang the dog by making concessions? Like a promise to not harm his daughter?” The Church’s new High Priest asked.

Sometime after the previous High Priest disappeared, a younger man was selected to replace him. The new High Priest has fanatical and aggressive. The previous High Priest would not have spoken in meetings like these.

“I heard that those Northern infidels want to throw a wrench into our fight.” The Pope said, ignoring the new High Priest.

The Northern Continent greatly resisted the Church’s missions, so their reach in the North was too little, leaving them unable to obtain intel effectively. Thus, the Church had almost no information on the northern nations’ intentions. All they knew so far was that some southern merchants had visited the north for business.

“Why worry about those apes that have more brawns than brains? All we need to do is to maintain our hold over the sorcerers, to make sure that no transporter portals in the northern continent are in operation. Without those portals, the only way they could come into the South is through an impenetrable fortress that is fiercely guarded by the Northern Duke…”

The High Priest stopping, having just realized that he had misspoken. The Northern Duke already showed how determined he was to protect his daughter; who was to say that this won’t encourage him to work with the Northerners?

“Well, surely he’s above treason…” the High Priest awkwardly said.

“Never underestimate the lengths a father can go for his own flesh and blood,” said Sir Aaron. “I’ll keep an eye on them, but without these transporter portals, the Northerners will have to cross the Wasteland. This should take them over three months, and that does not include the time it’ll take for their reinforcements to cross. By the time they reach the South, the war should already be over, so I think the Northerners will probably only send a few of their experts. It does not matter, though; I’ll personally teach them that the power of one means nothing against the collective skill of many experts.”

“That’s reassuring, but two more questions remain. First, don’t you think we have too many unskilled mercenaries? Their numbers even exceeded our own people… I worry that they might be detrimental to our soldiers’ mettle,” an archbishop said.

“Even a ragtag band has its value. Where else can we get our cannon fodders, after all? Surely the nobles know that if they wanted eggs, they would need to break them first,” Sir Aaron snickered. “As for your second concern… you need not speak. You’re not the only one who would like to know.”

As if on cue, the table of cardinals stared at the Pope and the new High Priest for their last question: When would the angels finally arrive?

“Be patient with thy Lord just as He is patient with thee,” the Pope answered. “We’ll receive another revelation during the war. I’m sure it’s soon.”

The Church was not the only one preparing for war. Since the Church’s declaration of war a week ago, the Voidwalkers had been busy with their preparation.

On the Archmage’s hand was a summary of the army’s strength from both sides of the war. It was filled with even more details than the intel the Church could obtain because it was provided by Umbra. The renowned assassin guild had promised to act as their spies but declined to accept assassination requests to protect their future as a commercial-based guild.

Owing to Umbra’s professionalism and efficiency, the information in the Archmage’s hand was impressively laden with particularities where the First Voidalker could discuss at length with the Thane, who was a master tactician well versed in war strategies. After a thorough dissection of their enemies’ powers, the Archmage and the Thane Walker both came to the same conclusion: The Church’s non-Angel manpower was mostly unskilled and utterly undeserving of any attention.

“If the Angels aren’t with them, we can easily squash them even with Hope’s absence. Especially after taking the Blacksmith Walker’s and the Engineer Walker’s creations into account,” the Thane Walker said.

The Archmage, however, was relatively cautious. “Best not to underestimate them, especially not with those numbers. Even a stampede of expendables could blunt the edge of your sword and bury you. Besides, it’s not like the toys those two made are consistently reliable and not known to malfunction.”

“Well, if this is a war of numbers, we’re not doing too bad ourselves,” the Thane Walker pointed out. “Vidomina’s father is really going all out this time, huh?”

“Of course. A father always goes out for his daughter. Besides him, we have some elite fighters Link had sent to us in secret, too. By the standards of mercenaries, they are pretty good. As for other hired sellswords… I already have Undine in-charged of screening them,” The Archmage replied.