Realm of Power

On the vast land where the winter snow is falling, on the rolling hills, the endless army is advancing westward.

The cold north wind covered with snowflakes hit her face. Putamia stared at the advancing army. As far as her eyes could see, a banner was fluttering like the sea, the sword was like snow, the spear was like cloud, and the momentum was like rainbow. , the military is at its peak, and the heart is full of confidence. This army is not fighting for the so-called Pope, but For oneself, these are two completely different concepts. Previously, the army and the Templars followed him because he was the Pope. Now, the Templars and the army follow him because he is Putamia. The Valkyrie Putamia single-handedly destroyed the southern overlord of the Eero Empire.

The border guards of the Order State defected, and the gates of the Order State were opened wide. The news spread back to the Order Army headquarters under Pudamia in the north of Hero. The low morale of the entire army immediately soared like a shot of chicken blood. The border guards have all defected, which means that there is no longer any obstacle to returning home. For the soldiers of the Legion who have been fighting in the north of Hérault for more than half a year and are eager to return home, this is simply a dream come true.

That afternoon, the generals of the religious regiment held an emergency meeting.

Potamia's return was a secret act. For fear of the news leaking, even the generals under his command did not know. If the news of the defection of the border guards had not reached the base camp, the generals would have thought that His Royal Highness the Pope was in Port Hérault with the Empire. What was the emperor discussing? Unexpectedly, His Highness the Pope returned secretly! At the meeting, the commander of the 17th Army, Aitaide, looked at the generals in the meeting with a fiery face: "His Royal Highness the Pope, as a woman, dares to return to the country alone. As soldiers of the Order, shouldn't it be better for us to teach?" If His Highness the Pope fails, no matter what you decide, I have decided to follow His Highness the Pope's footsteps and embark on the road to return home."

"Aitaide, what you said is meaningless. We followed His Highness the Pope in a bloody battle in the north of Hérault, defeated the Hérault Empire along the way, and broke through the capital of Hérault. Who has not already regarded His Highness the Pope as such? Since His Holiness the Pope has chosen to return to the country, he is the true hero worthy of being followed, so naturally we will follow him!" A strong man with several scars on his right face pressed his hands on the long conference table, his mouth disdainful. He curled his head and said, "Ruta That's right, we have to go back and let those little people who are hiding at home to do mischief see that His Highness the Pope is the real master of the Order. When His Highness the Pope fought to the death with the Eero people in the north of Eero , these despicable people actually stabbed His Highness the Pope in the back. As a general under His Highness the Pope, I, Lasiel, will definitely wield the sword of judgment in my hand to defend His Highness the Pope's reputation! "A general stood up with an excited tone! said

"Yes, as soldiers, we must defend the honor of His Highness the Pope to the death." The other generals' eyes lit up and they stood up one after another. Now, they have returned home with honor! What originally worried the generals was that once they followed Putamia back to the country, they would inevitably be judged as rebels by the Council of Elders. However, the defection of the border guards reversed the entire situation. Regarding the domestic military situation, the generals were still relatively concerned. clear

Almost all the elite members of the domestic religious legion have been exhausted, and now that the border guards have been lost, there is no door to block the wind. All that is left is the Templar Skitarii and the Knights, and they are still incomplete in numbers. The Knights Templar, these two armies are usually stationed in the religious capital. Near the holy city of Yehoya, on the other hand, on the side of Putamia, 50,000 border guards defected and joined. If we include the religious army stranded in the north of Hero, the military strength is no longer afraid of the domestic power, and it is against the religious army. For the generals, the opportunity to change their destiny is right in front of them, how can they let it go! If His Highness Potamia returns to the country successfully, then they will be the heroes who support His Highness, and they have followed His Highness in the fierce battle in the north of Hérault for more than half a year, and they have long been deeply marked by Potamia. At this moment , If you don’t support Her Highness Putamia, who else will you support?

Although the decisive battle of Lutia Castle, which decided the entire war, was actually a blow from the back of the Imperial Army that saved the collapsed Order Army, the fact that the Order Army had already overwhelmed the capital of Ero before the decisive battle made The generals automatically ignored it With the intervention of the Empire, victory is victory. Since ancient times, it has been the principle that the winner is the king and the loser is the enemy. All "justice" is written by the victor. Now that they have occupied the royal capital of Hérault and forced the Hérault royal family to move south in embarrassment, no Is it the Legion Army?

"Since everyone thinks so, then let's follow His Highness the Pope and fight!" other generals said one after another.

After leaving 20,000 religious legionnaires to continue guarding the northern part of Hérault, the 60,000 religious legionnaires who had completed their repairs joined Putamia's return team, and together with the 50,000 legionnaire border guards who had defected, the total strength was 110,000. Attack the important border town of Lancheng, where the Knights Templar are stationed on the border, responsible for monitoring the entire border.

Under Orchid City, Putamia looked at rows of bright arrows appearing on the battlements in front of her.

"Attention, below is the rebellious Potamia of the Order State. She must not be allowed to enter Lan City!" A knight commander of the Knights Templar at the entrance of the city shouted with a pale face. The cloud-like army below , the ninth team of the Templars is stationed in Lancheng, with a total of 3,780 Templars. Including the Skitarii, the number is about 11,000. As a heavy armored regiment on the border, it is well-equipped.

After learning that the border guards had defected, the ninth team of the Templar Knights withdrew all the troops outside Lancheng into the city. The disparity was too great, so they chose to wait for reinforcements!

Faced with the countless bright and sharp arrows, in full view of the crowd, Pudamiya strode forward fearlessly, wearing the white robe of the Pope of the Order, and raised her head so that the soldiers on the top of the city could see her face clearly. Her clear voice spread across the city, "The Ninth Team of the Knights Templar, I am Pudamiya, the Pope of the Order. I fought bloody battles in the north of Erro and finally defeated the Erro Empire that had oppressed us for decades. I beheaded the Emperor of Erro and now I am returning home with the flag of victory held high. Is this how you welcome your Pope?" "It's really His Holiness the Pope!"

In an instant, the rows of arrows on the top of the city were in chaos. The ground began to shake and screams were heard one after another. Although the Council of Elders declared Putamiya a traitor, to the Ninth Team of the Knights Templar stationed on the border, Her Highness Putamiya, who defeated the Eero Empire and occupied the capital of Eero, was obviously more like the Pope who was most in line with the doctrine. "It's Her Highness Putamiya." "It's Her Highness Putamiya who killed Emperor Eero!" The archer with the bow and arrow struggled. "Don't be bewitched by this woman. She is no longer the Pope. She is a rebel now." The leader of the Knights Templar saw that things were not going well and quickly ordered, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot her to death!" But not a single arrow was shot. The Knights Templar looked furious and shouted angrily, "Supervisory team, those who disobey orders are all rebellious accomplices below, kill him! Shoot immediately!" Under the strong command, arrows were finally shot from the top of the city wall. They were sparse, but the accuracy was surprisingly poor. Not even a single arrow landed within ten meters of Pudamiya.

"My Knights Templar, do you still remember the oath you made? Obey the Pope's order. In your lifetime, you will destroy the evil Ero Empire and let the light of the Holy Church return to the Holy City! Now is the time to obey your oath." Pudamiya raised her head and suddenly pointed at the Knights Templar on the top of the city wall. "Everyone, obey my order and kill him!"

A thunderous response sounded from the top of the city wall, "Yes, Your Highness the Pope"

"Swish"

In an instant, thousands of strong bows turned their directions at the same time, and the Knights Templar only had time to scream "No──" in a sharp whistle! With countless arrows stuck in his body, the corpse shook twice and rolled down the top of the city wall, and with a bang, it fell into a pile of meat paste in front of Pudamiya, and blood foam splattered. Pudamiya stood there, looking at the bloody corpse in front of her indifferently. Right in front of her, with a creaking sound, the gate of Lancheng, which was known as the most powerful fortress on the border and had resisted the invasion of the Ero army several times, was slowly descending. The alarm bells in the tall buildings in Lancheng were ringing like crazy at this moment.

The capital of the border province of the Order, Yazi

"My lord, the ninth team of the Templar Knights in Lancheng has also turned against us! The rebels have already entered Yazi City."

A Templar Knight hurriedly entered the Templar Hall in the capital. The capital Yazi is only thirty miles away from Lancheng. After Pudamia took over Lancheng, she quickly rushed to the capital Yazi, and almost without any hindrance, she broke through the weak defense of the capital's 1,000 defenders. Pudamia's Order Army used a huge wood to knock open the door of the Governor's Mansion. Behind the broken door appeared the guards of the Governor's Mansion. They drew their swords and formed a human wall, but faced with the astonishing number of Order Army that broke in, they were knocked down and trampled to death by the terrible crowd before they even had time to fight, and blood stains splattered all over the solemn steps.

"I am Hornde, what do you want to do!"

A tall figure with white hair appeared at the end of the bloodstained steps. Seeing him, the deafening slogans suddenly stopped, the soldiers stopped, and the Knights Templar also put away the cross swords in their hands. He is the current provincial governor, Hornde, one of the six former Knights Templar. Because of his advanced age, he resigned from the position of the six Knights Templar and took the initiative to transfer to the border province as governor. He used his lifetime to erect a barrier for the Order to block the westward expansion of the Ero people. In the entire border area, no one does not know the Grand Knight Hornde. This old man blocked four breakthrough attacks by the Ero people in five years. As a result, the old man's two sons died on the border. Both the Knights Templar and the border troops have great respect for this Grand Knight.

"Atakya, have you rebelled too!" Hornde's eyes fell on a Knight Templar, with white hair and light gray knight's eyes meticulously. The row of medals on his chest showed his lifelong military career. He calmly looked down at the Order army that rushed into the Governor's Palace, and looked at the wounded and dead struggling in a pool of blood, and his face couldn't help showing a painful expression.

"Dear teacher, the students are not rebelling, but upholding the loyalty and faith in their hearts, defending His Highness the Pope with the cross sword in their hands, fighting for His Highness the Pope, and fighting for the survival of the Order. Isn't this what you taught your students back then?" The Templar Knights' face changed slightly, and under the gaze of Hornde, he couldn't help but feel guilty and slowly retreated. This old man in his twilight years had an inexplicable majesty

"Lord Hornde, I didn't expect to see you again!" Suddenly, the dense group of soldiers separated a path like a tide, and the Templar Knights looked hot. A pretty woman in armor walked slowly in the crowd of hundreds of people. She made a gesture, and the subordinates who followed her stopped where they were. She walked up the steps alone and stopped ten steps away from Hornde. The two looked at each other,

Hornde's eyes were sharp as knives, and he said solemnly, "Why do you want to come back? You have already occupied the northern part of Ero, and you have such a large and fertile land. Even if you don't come back, no one will do anything to you! Have you ever thought about what a civil war of this scale means according to the current internal situation of the Order?"

Pudamiya bowed slightly, and her attitude was very respectful, "I'm sorry to involve you, but this is my country!"

"Have you decided, Your Highness?"

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here!"

"For this, you are willing to push the country to split, lead the army to riot, and launch a rebellion. Your Highness, think about what kind of reputation you will leave in the future history of the country?" "The highest authority in the Order is the Council of Elders, not the Pope. Isn't this a rebellion in itself?

"I don't know if Lord Hornde thinks that I, Pudamiya, will be infamous for thousands of years, or the Council of Elders will be infamous for thousands of years? ‘Pudamiya smiled. In this bloody battlefield, the leaders of the two hostile parties were talking to each other. The atmosphere was indescribably strange. Thousands of religious troops crowded in the yard but made no sound.

“If the Pope is just a puppet of the Presbyterian Church, is there any need to consider his reputation? Didn’t you leave in anger because you couldn’t stand the Presbyterian Church’s brutal suppression of the South?”

Pudamiya paused for a moment before saying slowly, “Grand Knight Hornde, you are worthy of the title of the Templar Knights. Follow me, let’s save this country together. The real Holy Church should not be like this now, and the southern tribes should not be treated so harshly. This time in the north of Erro, I saw a lot of things worth thinking about. If we keep wasting time in such a muddy shoal, the Holy When will the light of the Holy Church return to the Holy City? "

Hornd smiled helplessly, shook his head and said, "Save the country, let the Holy Light return to the Holy City, Your Highness, I am too old, saving the country or destroying the country, those great goals, I am too old and can't distinguish. I only know that the duty of the Knights Templar is to maintain the Holy Church. Since Your Highness is going to destroy an old era, you should not let me go, because I am also a part of the old era. I am too old and have no use to you. Please fulfill my wish. "Hornd smiled slightly, winked at Pudamiya mischievously, and suddenly raised his voice, "Sorry, I can't allow rebellion to trample on the glory of the Holy City!"

Pudamiya was silent for a while, raised his hand and ordered "Kill him!"

The soldiers rumbled up the steps like a tide, drowning the old man. Unable to bear the scene of blood and flesh flying, Pudamiya turned and walked out of the Governor's Mansion.