Chapter 602: Return the Blade to Its Owner

On the third day of Kelthas’s visit to Ithkuil, Queen Selina, the current ruler of Ithkuil, held a coronation ceremony and issued a declaration to the public. She declared that Sendel’s rule over the Kiev region was illegal and constituted an act of invading another country’s sovereignty. According to the Gods’ Pact and the Continental Convention, the Ithkuil Kingdom’s ownership of its own territories was sacred and inviolable. As the queen of Ithkuil, she called upon all nobles in the kingdom to mobilize all their forces to liberate the suffering people of Kiev under Sendel’s rule!

Lord Kelthas, now a new noble of the Ithkuil Kingdom, would be appointed as the commander of the Liberation Army to lead the people of Ithkuil in overthrowing Sendel’s dictatorial rule over Kiev.

The fame of the Immortal Flame Kelthas had long spread across the entire main continent through the performances of the Dalaran mercenaries in the New World and through the Adventurers’ Guild. Almost everyone knew that this legendary elven archmage was a powerful figure under Dalaran’s rule under the leadership of Thalor. Now, he had accepted the coronation from the Ithkuil Kingdom. Did this mean that Dalaran, along with the Kingdom of Thalor and its three true gods, was about to go to war against Sendel and the Dawn Lord behind him?

Although the Dawn Kingdom was furious, its leaders understood that due to their past actions, there was little room for compromise, and war was inevitable.

The Ithkuil Kingdom’s Liberation Army arrived faster than the Sendelians had expected. Just three days after they failed to devise a proper plan, the Ithkuil forces had already reached the borders of Kiev.

Faced with the formidable presence of the Ithkuil army, the priests of the Dawn Church guarding the Kiev region and Sendel’s generals were not afraid. They were servants of the great Dawn Lord and were accustomed to being proud and self-important. In their eyes, those pagans from the other religions were nothing but insignificant mobs. They believed that once Sendel made a decision and sent reinforcements, they could easily resolve this crisis.

However, the former Ithkuil nobles were uneasy. After all, they had originally been lords loyal to the royal family, and they had submitted to Sendel’s rule mostly for self-preservation. Given the situation at the time, they did not want to recklessly sacrifice their families or the people of their lands in a fight against the mighty Dawn Church!

Donald did not pay special attention to the war to reclaim Kiev. With generals like Kelthas and powerful forces from Dalaran such as the Holy Shield Regiment, it was unlikely that the Land of Dawn could win unless they brought in some of their church’s ultimate forces.
The only thing to watch out for were any demi-god-level strongholds on the side of the Dawn Church, lest they exploit a weakness. Donald spared no effort, descending to the main world in his divine form. He sent Uther and Amps, two demi-god subordinates, as well as Nozdormu, a divine dragon whose power rivaled that of a demi-god, and Carlisle, a quasi-demi-god, under Kelthas’s command.
As Donald had predicted, once the Dawn Church learned that Ivan’s army had surrounded Kiev, they immediately received support from the Land of the Dawn’s supreme god, with two emissaries of demi-god power arriving. While their own church’s strong warriors headed to the battlefield to provide support, the two demi-gods went to Kiev alone, intending to subdue them by force. However, when they reached a forest a hundred miles from Kiev, they were suddenly surrounded by a lush green domain.
“Nature Guardian—”
The two Dawn Church emissaries, caught in an ambush, immediately guessed the identity of its master based on the natural attributes of the domain.
“Good!”
Donald’s form as the Nature Guardian appeared within the domain.
One of the Dawn Church emissaries cried out timidly, “Nature Guardian, do you really intend to turn against my lord, the great Prince Ivan?”
Although the opponent was merely a demi-god incarnation, they knew that such an incarnation of a lower god was far stronger than ordinary demi-gods, possessing the extraordinary divine power and artifacts of its true form. They were no match for someone like Donald, who had obtained demi-god power through a true god’s blessing. If they combined their forces and the opponent was careless, they might still have a chance to escape—just by breaking free from the domain and contacting the great Lord of Dawn, they would be saved!
Donald laughed at this and said, “How can I fail to reward you for your good deeds? How can I repay Prince Ivan for his meticulous plans?”
“What are you talking about?”
The two Dawn Church emissaries naturally denied Donald’s words, knowing he couldn’t produce any evidence.
“Heh! What I say isn’t important. What matters is that you no longer have any chance!”
As he spoke, a charred wooden page-like artifact appeared before Donald, its invisible radiance enveloping the two demi-gods.
“What is this?”

Both of the Dawn’s Prophets couldn’t help but scream in shock, as they found that all their strength had been stripped away, leaving them helpless and completely under the control of their opponent, just like ordinary people. Once the Destiny Book regained the spiritual power it had projected back, the original power of this high-tier divine artifact was greatly restored. It also recognized Donald as its master and could now unleash 50% of its full strength. For such a powerful being, it was effortless for the two demi-god prophets, who didn’t even possess divine flames, to be dealt with—without even using their basic abilities, Donald simply used divine light to suppress their forces, which were several levels lower, and easily defeated them. Since Donald had no intention of letting these two demi-god prophets go, he had no qualms using the high-tier divine artifact and simply resolved them outright. If he had to rely on his own demi-god avatar, it would have taken much more effort. With a wave of his hand, Donald sent the two temporarily powerless Dawn’s Prophets into the Realm of Truth. His natural guardian avatar then headed toward Kyiv to see the outcome of this battle. In the Realm of Truth, the Avatar of Divine Punishment, who had been waiting there, immediately restrained the two Dawn’s Prophets and moved them to a plain within the divine realm. There, there was a small village in the divine realm, inhabited by the twelve strongest members of the Banishment faction, who had rebelled against the Dawn Church and been taken in by the divine realm. They were originally the twelve most powerful members of the Banishment faction, the bloodthirstiest and darkest organization within the Dawn Church, known as the Twelve Judges. However, one of them, Bloody Hawk, had recently been defeated by Donald, leaving only eleven members plus the most mysterious leader of the Banishment faction, the Warden, making up another twelve in total. “My lord, is there any task you would like us to carry out?” Upon seeing Donald’s avatar arrive, all twelve of them came out to greet him with great respect and devotion. Donald realized that he couldn’t truly subdue these twelve Banishment warriors from the bottom of his heart. After all, their past misdeeds as members of the Banishment faction were likely comparable to those of demons like Amps. While demons killing each other was considered normal, it was impossible for humans, let alone those in Dalaran, to accept such chaotic and evil companions. After all, most of them belonged to the neutral or good factions and found it hard to accept chaotic and evil peers. Didn’t even Amps, the Abyssal Demon Forger, end up joining the order faction?

Donald knew he might be able to coerce these twelve into signing a contract with him, and if they could be made to submit, they would indeed be very useful allies. But since he wasn’t in urgent need of more people and those around him were all trustworthy, it would be better to keep them in the Land of Truth for a few years until they were assimilated by the rules of the Divine Kingdom before releasing them! That way, all potential threats against him could be eliminated! After all these years, these twelve had essentially fully pledged loyalty to him both physically and mentally, so Donald decided to put them to use now. What could be more infuriating—and satisfying in avenging himself—than sending his own former allies to fight against them? “There are indeed tasks for you! But some preparation is still needed!” Saying this, Donald waved his hand to grab two powerless demi-god messengers and said, “Leave these two to you. By absorbing their strength, your power should increase significantly!” “It’s you…” As executioners once under the Dawn Church, the members of the Prison Realm naturally recognized the two messengers of the Dawn Lords. However, they had no friendship between them—after all, one was forced into slavery while the other willingly embraced their faith, so their relationship couldn’t possibly be good. The reason Donald handed these two Dawn messengers to the warden and his group was because, according to the tradition of the Prison Realm, only the warden could master a forbidden technique that allowed him to absorb others’ strength and turn it into his own. The closer the attributes, the more strength could be absorbed, with fewer risks. It was through this technique that the warden became a powerful demi-god. Although they had different professions before joining the Prison Realm, after being forced to convert to the Dawn Lords, they all relied on variations of the Light Force. Thus, absorbing the strength of these two Dawn messengers with the same source of power was the most suitable choice—essentially making the best use of waste! Donald had no intention of letting these two demi-gods live. Not only did they know so many of his secrets, but their previous attacks on his children were unforgivable acts. For that reason, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them until their blood flowed like rivers! Let alone dealing with just two demi-god messengers! Although Donald wasn’t a true god of the evil faction, he followed a neutral stance of “if they don’t attack me, I won’t attack them.” But once enemies were involved, he wasn’t afraid to use extreme measures!

The twelve prison-bound powerhouses rewarded by Donald were overjoyed. Freed from the enslavement of the Lord of Dawn, they felt greatly satisfied to be able to deal with these two once-proud lackeys of the Lord of Dawn.