Chapter 010: The Battle of the End Times

Du Fan took a closer look and said, “It’s clear that this victory was crucial for humanity, wasn’t it?”
Anthony nodded and replied, “The first victory brought a glimmer of hope to humanity in the darkness. After this victory, humanity united like never before. Through relentless efforts, they finally drove these alien races out of the Roland Continent. This painting depicts exactly that scene!”
As he spoke, Anthony pointed to the fourth mural.
The background of this mural showed a vast expanse of white ice and snow. On one side of the snowfield, human armies had raised their flags, while on the snow, the alien races fled in panic, some even dying of freezing in the snow.
Du Fan sighed and asked, “Is this what victory in war looks like?”
“Yes, and it also marks the end of the Dark Ages,” Anthony replied calmly. “The demons were driven to the northern ice fields and even further north. It is said that beyond the perpetual ice and snow, nothing else exists there. At that time, humanity believed the demons could never return, so after driving all demons and alien races out of the continent, they finally felt completely at peace.”
Du Fan detected a hint of sarcasm in Anthony’s words, but he said nothing more and turned to the next painting.
This mural showed a prosperous scene everywhere—humanity had built an unprecedentedly powerful civilization with cities everywhere. In each city stood a central building: a cathedral!
In the city at the center of the painting, a crowd gathered in the square in front of the cathedral, all looking up at the pope with reverence.
This pope could truly be called a pope—he wore a bright red robe and a silver mask, the Pope Mask, symbolizing that from this moment onward, he had abandoned his human identity to become the sole representative of the God of Light in the world!
Yet the pope’s gaze was fixed on an execution pillar in the middle of the square. On top of the pillar, several people were tied up, their bodies covered in wounds, blue blood representing the demons flowing from them!
After taking a few looks, Du Fan asked in confusion, “What is this…”

Anthony said indifferently, “This painting represents the official establishment of the Holy See’s Prison of Divine Power and the Inquisition for Heretics. The Holy See ruled the entire continent, with the Prison of Divine Power and the Inquisition searching everywhere for remnants of the demons. Once found, they would be sent to the holy capital for trial… The tradition of burning people alive also originated from that time… But these aren’t the key points. Du Fan, do you want to guess what the focus of this painting is?”
Du Fan gave a bitter smile and said, “I’m afraid I can’t guess it.”
Anthony sighed and said, “Perhaps you really can’t, because the most important thing in this painting is just one sentence spoken by those demons before they died.”
“What did they say?”
A strange smile appeared on Anthony’s face. After a moment, he spoke in a low voice, “Before dying, each of those demons would swear solemnly, ‘We will definitely return!’”
Du Fan sighed and said, “Damn it. Why would the pope at that time allow such a statement to be passed down?”
Anthony replied indifferently, “Naturally, only the core members of the Holy See knew this sentence. Of course, after the Roland Academy split, some might have known it too, but they didn’t obtain these secrets. So, the chances that many people knew it are slim!”
Du Fan nodded, agreeing with this.
The subsequent murals depicted the era when humans ruled the Roland continent. From the murals, it could be seen that as the human population grew, so did conflicts over various interests. Although the Holy See remained unaffected in its transcendent position, human empires kept changing one after another. The victors became the privileged class, while those in kingdoms became the lowest-class slaves. After seeing this, Du Fan could only sneer inwardly. Aside from the fact that the rulers were humans, he really saw no difference between these humans and those from before the Age of Light and Darkness.
Finally, these dull murals seemed to come to an end, but the next painting brought about a huge change.
These murals were originally meant to describe the history of the Holy See, with all the events related to it. The depictions of the rise and fall of nations mainly illustrated the Holy See’s transcendent status in those wars. But…
The next painting carried a sense of desolation!
If what came before described the prosperity of the Holy See, then this next one seemed to depict its division!?

In the scene, the once-prosperous Holy Land had somehow turned into a battlefield. Various clergy members stood on opposite sides, and on the ground, a blood-stained cross separated the two sides, quite far apart… Behind those clergy members, although the believers wore expressions of piety, their eyes were filled with confusion, as if they had no idea how all this had happened. Seeing this, Du Fan finally sighed, “Is this the division of the Holy Church?”
“Yes, the division of the Holy Church,” Anthony also sighed. “At the same time, it marks the beginning of its decline!”
“How so?”
“Previously, the Holy Church held dominion over the continent. Although there were countless nations on the continent at that time, none dared to claim imperial status… Those nations were merely vassals of the Holy Church, and the entire Holy Church was known as the Holy Alliance! But the division of the Holy Church caused it to lose its supreme status. People realized that even saints had desires and ambitions… Saints, like every human, craved power… It can be said that at that time, the Holy Church lost the hearts of the people… Yet the two factions within the Holy Church continued to fight each other, unaware of this. By the time they realized it, the situation in the Roland Continent had completely gotten out of control!”
Du Fan thought for a moment and suddenly asked, “Lord Anthony, what exactly caused this war of division?”

Anthony shook his head and said, “I don’t know. We still don’t know. All I know is that it was a sudden war. There were already two factions within the Holy See… But for thousands of years, for the sake of the continent’s stability, although the two factions fought openly and secretly, they never went too far. No matter which faction’s person became the pope, they might suppress the other faction slightly, but only by targeting the leaders. After all, both factions knew that if one side lost, the other’s doom was near… But at that time, the two sides suddenly turned on each other, each leading their own Templar orders into battle. This war lasted nearly ten years and is known as the War of Doom… By the end of the war, both sides had lost their foundation of faith, and millions of Templars were almost wiped out… It was then that the Bauhinia Dynasty seized the opportunity to establish an empire that ruled the entire continent. Only then did the leaders of the two factions seem to realize that if they continued fighting, they would all perish! In the end, it’s unclear what concessions Roland Academy made, but they announced their withdrawal from the Holy See, established their own academy, and vowed not to get involved in the continent’s conflicts. Everything else was taken over by our current Holy See…”
“But…”
“But what?” Du Fan asked directly.
“But the Holy See today, in terms of strength and influence, is nowhere near what it used to be. Fortunately, the faction that remained was the one that advocated for the Holy See to be independent of the secular world. Although the Bauhinia Dynasty wanted to destroy the Holy See at the time, after a series of deals, they still recognized its status. The Holy See also acknowledged the Bauhinia Dynasty’s rule over the continent… and declared itself independent of the secular world… Of course, these claims seem a bit laughable today, but if they hadn’t made that choice back then, how could a battered Holy See have been a match for the Bauhinia Dynasty?”
“So, that’s why the Holy See helped the Gavin Empire and the Lanny Empire against the Bauhinia Dynasty in later wars?” Du Fan frowned.

Anthony was firm: “Yes… As long as the Bauhinia Dynasty remains, it’s completely impossible for the Holy Church to regain its former glory. That’s why, in dealing with the Bauhinia Dynasty, the Holy Church and Roland Academy, which had avoided each other for years, rarely joined forces once again. It was then that the two forces began to develop a slight connection and showed signs of reconciliation. However, their ideologies remain different—our Holy Church still adheres to the principle of staying independent from the secular world, while Roland Academy still aims to conquer the Roland Continent by force. So… although the relationship between the two forces is quite good now, this issue still limits their ties.”
“I see!” Du Fan sighed. “I understand now. But there’s still one thing I don’t understand—whose side was the ultimate winner in the war between the two forces, or rather, the two factions?”