Yama Rising

Perhaps it was a figment of her imagination, but right before Elena's consciousness faded, she felt as if she heard the werewolf heave a faint sigh before saying something in Cathayan.

She couldn't understand what had been said, but it was the words "rest in peace".

There was no room for benevolence on the international political stage. Had Usonia considered affording Yugoslavia kindness before the latter was bombed?

Where was the dialog about human rights when Usonia toppled Iraq for its oil reserves?

In Qin Ye's position, he absolutely couldn't afford to allow his sympathy to get the better of him when he needed to be ruthless. Politics wasn't just a battle of words, it produced very real casualties as well.

The entire city seemed to have fallen completely silent.

In the next instant, all of the surrounding witch hunters erupted into a thunderous rage as one exorcism flare after another was set off in the heavens and countless holy silver crossbow bolts were sent flying through the air!

"Die, demon!!"

"Die! Die!! Die!!!"

"The radiance of the lord will incinerate all of you into ashes!!"

The streaks of silver light were raining down in a torrential downpour, and the man standing at the center of the street opened his eyes as a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face.

The first thing that he saw was close to 20 exorcism flares in the sky to the east!

Furthermore, that wasn't the end. Shortly after this flurry of exorcism flares were set off, over 20 more exorcism flares flew up into the sky in the west as well!

On a certain building to the west, a vampire was standing amid a gorey scene with a wooden expression, looking on as the survivors on the rooftop set off their remaining exorcism flares.

Within the shadow of the man standing at the center of the street, a pair of eyes suddenly opened up. "Udyr, are you really going to..."

Udyr cut her off with a bloodthirsty lick of his lips. "Demons belong in hell, don't they? I promised not to do anything as long as they don't provoke me, but now..."

He made a grabbing motion, and a burst of dazzling golden radiance pierced through hte darkness as a massive sword with a blade that was over two meters wide was slowly pulled out of thin air.

"I'm going to make them regret ever appearing in this world!!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, three bursts of dazzling light erupted out of his chest!

These were three ancient pages, and they flew up into the sky as the complex passages inscribed upon them glowed with silver radiance, lighting up the entire night sky!

At the same time, a series of what appeared to be corpses situated in the buildings around Saint Peter's Church raised their heads in unison.

There were about 300 of them in total, and they seemed to have been awakened from a long slumber.

Golden holy light radiated out of every single one of their pores, and in the next instant, they rushed out of the buildings before converging toward Saint Peter's Church like asteroids hurtling toward the earth!

The peace of the new continent had been hanging by a thread prior to this, and this thread had finally been severed in Philadelphia.

In the sky above, the three pages from the Gospel of Matthew were glowing like the sun as they rapidly multiplied, soon producing countless copies of themselves as complex holy scripture filled the entire sky, encompassing an area in a radius of several kilometers around Saint Peter's Church!

Only humans could enter and exit the heavenly barricade, while all forces of evil would be trapped inside and be forced to face the wrath of the lord!

"Piss off back to hell, demons!!" Udyr was roaring with laughter as he sprang forward with enormous true energy circling all around him.

Fierce winds were howling past his ears, and his eyes had already turned bright red. He raised his head and let loose a thunderous roar toward the heavens, following which a suit of armor constructed entirely from light converged toward his body.

He wasn't the only one, suits of armor had appeared around all of the 300 or so men and women who had rushed out of the buildings around Saint Peter's Church. The pieces of armor were quickly adhering to the corresponding parts of their bodies amid flashes of golden radiance, and all of a sudden, a loud whistle rang out, following which all of them descended in unison. On the ground below, the golden light had formed a series of warhorses, straddled on top of which were knights in heavy medieval armor.

These were the paladins among the witch hunters, the elite of the elite among the church's forces and the most disciplined demon slayers!

Spears of light materialized out of thin air before falling into their hands, and the tips of the spears scraped along the ground, leaving a trail of sparks in their wake as the warhorses galloped onward. The entire earth was trembling in the wake of the war horses' thundering hooves and the paladins were charging straight toward Saint Peter's Church.

Right behind them, several thousand witch hunters were gliding through the air like stars in the night sky, traversing between the modern tall built buildings.

Their crossbow bolts had already been dipped in holy water, giving them an extra layer of luster to further contribute to their already menacing gleam.

Behind them were hundreds of reverends, nuns, and priests that had gathered from all directions, and none of them were holding back in the slightest as they set their true energy alight. In the face of demonic forces, the catholic church had never cowered!

Udyr was charging at the forefront while his giant sword trailed along behind him, creating a deep gash in the ground. His warhorse and armor were particularly extravagant in design, and he was charging directly toward the dumbfounded Duke DuPont, who was standing at the entrance to Saint Peter's Church. The distance between them was being rapidly closed down, and upon reaching within 30 meters away from DuPont, Udyr raised his giant sword in one violent motion before leaping up with all his might, then sent the huge sword crashing down toward Brando.

"For the lord!!"

"For the lord!!" His roar was echoed by the countless paladins and followers of the catholic church behind him, and a flurry of holy silver crossbow bolts shot forth in a frenzy as one witch hunter after another advanced like a pride of hunting lions. As for the paladins at the forefront, they had already formed a dazzling spear formation and rushed past the first line of werewolves.

This was the power of numbers.

Theoretically, the werewolf army was far more powerful than the church's forces, yet the army was instantly scattered by the rapidly advancing paladins. Brando raised a hand to block Udyr's giant sword amid a loud clang. As a result of the recoil force, Udyr was sent stumbling back several dozen meters. Brando's eyelids were twitching as he looked at the formidable army of the catholic church, and his lips were trembling from fury as he roared in an enraged voice, "Have you gone insane?!"

Udyr rose to his feet and countered, "Just now, two groups of witch hunters were killed by werewolves and vampires! You dared to fire the first shot, so isn't this exactly what you wanted?!"

I don't know anything about that!

Brando was at a complete loss. How could this be possible? It didn't make any sense! All of the werewolves were under his supervision and no one had strayed away from the church!

Brando wasn't an idiot. Far from it, he was one of the wiliest and most intelligent people in the world and there was no way he would provoke the church under these circumstances.

However, what was most frustrating to him was that as one of the Freemasonry's Master Masons and the patriarch of the werewolf clan, his hands were completely tied!

He couldn't call for a truce now. All of the werewolves were looking at him, and among their ranks were the five werewolf elders, 12 werewolf generals, and over 1,000 elite werewolf warriors. Several dozen werewolves had just been slain by the church in the blink of an eye for no reason whatsoever, and as the patriarch of the clan, he had no choice but to fight back!

If he were to stomach this loss and ask for a truce, his reputation would be swept to the ground and no one would continue to support him as one of the Freemasonry's Master Masons.

How the hell did this happen?! Could there be some rogue werewolf doing all of this? But that's not possible, either! I can sense all werewolves, and no werewolf can escape my bloodline detection unless they're dead!

Unfortunately, there was no time for him to think. The sea of dazzling holy light was about to reach him, and he gritted his teeth tightly as he roared, "Piss off back to your masters and tell them that there's been a mistake!"

"Face the wrath of the lord!!" This was the only response given to him by the hundreds of charging paladins!

BOOM!!!

In that instant, all light seemed to have faded from the city of Philadelphia.

The most dazzling and radiant light imaginable was erupting at Saint Peter's Church, yet the light only appeared for an instant before it was completely quelled by a burst of devastating Yin energy.

Right in front of the first line of paladins, a thunderous roar rang out, and Yin energy surged violently. In the next instant, seven blood-red eyes appeared within the Yin energy, resembling seven blood moons.

Some Dukes were very conservative in the fights that they chose to pick, such as a certain King Yanluo.

They would avoid direct confrontation unless it was absolutely unavoidable, and even if they had to face an opponent in direct battle, they had to ensure that their powers far exceeded those of said opponents.

However, they were the minority. Most Dukes had been worshipped and revered for countless years, and they chose to fight for their honor and the honor of their people.

A werewolf that was over five meters tall emerged from within the Yin energy. It had three heads and its entire body was riddled with bright red runes. There were seven eyes on its central head, and he opened his mouths to reveal sets of sharp fangs as he chuckled in a sinister voice, "Fine, if it's a battle you want, then a battle is what you'll have!!"

Immediately thereafter, he raised his heads to the heavens and let loose a long howl, which was instantly echoed by thousands of howls all over the entire city.

The howls of countless werewolves rang out incessantly as they leaped onto the rooftops or galloped along the streets, heading rapidly toward Saint Peter's Church.

"Kill them all!!"

………………………………………………

Unbeknownst to everyone, there was an even fiercer battle taking place at the Masonic Temple in the distance.

The entire area around the temple had already been sealed off by restrictions, and the two bishops were frantically attacking Edward. The Gospel of Matthew had been unveiled to unleash the heavenly barricade, following which all of the paladins, witch hunters, and other followers of the catholic church in the city had been mobilized. In response, Brando had summoned all of the werewolves in the city to retaliate, and the two bishops knew that if they didn't arrive on the scene soon, the entire city would become a warzone!

The holy war that had been brewing for several hundred years was about to commence again, and without their prior notification, the mortal realm hadn't set up any measures to prepare for such carnage. The catholic church couldn't afford to handle the consequences of this war, and they were going to lose the support of the entire Usonian continent!

Faithful followers were the basis of the catholic church, and losing an entire continent of followers would undoubtedly deal the church a massive blow!

"Please step aside!!" The elderly bishop's white and golden robes were flapping all around him as he swept his hands through the air, sending countless golden runes surging directly toward Edward, but those runes were destroyed in an instant.

"We do not wish to fight you!!"

"You are a Duke, a figure who stands at the top of this world! Surely you're aware of the influence that the catholic church has!"

Edward remained completely unfazed.

Of course, he had no intention of killing these two bishops. The deaths of a few paladins and witch hunters would be largely inconsequential, but killing bishops would incur serious repercussions.

Furthermore, he had more important things to do.

He was currently diverting his attention toward controlling Dusk 12, who had already undergone his Moonlight transformation.

Vampires were inferior to werewolves when it came to absolute strength, but they were far superior when it came to speed and stealth. What he was trying to do was to hide Dusk 12 as close to Saint Peter's Church as possible without being detected.

However, Saint Peter's Church was currently in a state of complete chaos, so even though Dusk 12 had concealed himself and was being supported by Qin Ye's Yin energy, there was no way he could reach within 100 meters of the church.

Brando had already revealed his true form, and his power as a Duke made it a downright suicide mission for one to approach him. Even so, he still hadn't unleashed his full power as he didn't want to alert the general public in the city. Furthermore, with each death that Dusk 12 suffered, he would have to be resurrected in the Dusk Legionnaire, which would require Yin energy expenditure from Qin Ye, and this was probably the only flaw to the Dusk Legionnaire.

Dusk 12 had already died several dozen times in quick succession, and even Qin Ye's Yin energy was struggling a little to keep up.

"Stop making these futile efforts," he said in a cold voice. "If you give up now, I can assure you that your lives will be spared."

"Oh? Are you sure you're in a position to be making such threats?" Right at this moment, a voice rang out up above, completely ignoring the restrictions he had set up.

It was a mid Yama-King!

Edward instantly looked up to discover that the restriction overhead was receding like melting snow under the scorching sun, and the two bishops faltered slightly before immediately heaving sighs of relief. "Cardinal Fernando!"

Fernando didn't respond. He still hadn't revealed himself yet, but his gaze was already fixed intently on Edward. "Have you possessed this body? You must be an emissary of the Cathayan Underworld who's only recently reached the Yama-King level, right?"

Edward wasn't fearful in the slightest as he smiled and asked, "Why are you so sure that I've only recently become a Yama-King?"

"Because all of the Cathayan Underworld's Yama-Kings are at least at the mid Yama-King level," Fernando replied. "As expected of the way the Cathayan Underworld does things, whenever you strike, it's always with peerless decisiveness and ruthlessness. However..."

The night sky suddenly swayed slightly as Fernando concluded, "You've overstepped your boundaries this time!"

Golden light converged from all directions, transforming into a giant golden hand that was closing itself around Edward. Fernando's voice was full of unbridled fury as he continued, "You've deceived both the catholic church and the werewolves to instigate this conflict! You are no different from a demon yourself! On behalf of the lord, I, Cardinal Fernando, will pass down judgment upon you! After this, I will go to the Cathayan Underworld in person to beg for Yanluo Qin's forgiveness, but before that, your life must end here!"