At night, the City of a Thousand Stars fell into utter silence.
Having sent off Talier and Falco one after another, the vast alchemy lab was now completely quiet.
Without the chatter of those two, Ansu was more than happy to enjoy the peace, sitting before the blackboard and repeatedly refining his plan.
Suddenly, the door was pushed open.
Hoffman strode in with a solemn expression. He looked as if he had rushed over in a hurry, the chill of the night wind still clinging to his robes.
“Why are you the only one here? Where are the others?”
Ansu looked at him. “Arnold is still at the Great Library. As for the other two... they've probably returned to their respective dormitories.”
“We must call them back immediately.”
Hoffman's expression was incredibly grave. He immediately cast a transmission spell.
After briefly contacting the three of them, he turned back to Ansu and quickly explained:
“Julius sent word through someone. The Norn Empire no longer has a place for us. Our interference in the God-Making Project is now seen as an obstacle. Tonight, a large group of assassins with military backgrounds will surround and wipe this place out.”
As he spoke, he rummaged through the alchemy lab, quickly packing up his manuscripts and several important magical artifacts.
“Su, we must leave tonight.”
Ansu frowned. “Then our plan to head to the God-Making base soon...”
“Let's escape the academy first.” Hoffman walked over to the window, peering outside vigilantly.
A series of hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor.
Because of the suddenness of the situation and Hoffman's personal urgency, the three apprentices returned incredibly fast.
Falco was out of breath. “Teacher, what's wrong?”
Talier was still clutching her weapon, looking left and right the moment she entered. “Is it assassins sent by those bastards from the Divine faction again?”
“Yes.” Hoffman's gaze swept over the three of them. “We are leaving the academy immediately!”
Then, he leaned down in the center of the room and began to cast a mass teleportation circle.
“There are spiritual fluctuations.” Ansu suddenly spoke. He looked around, his spiritual perception spreading out in all directions. “They're already here. Everywhere.”
Magic fluctuations from all sides were rapidly closing in.
A moment later, Arnold's expression changed drastically. He had sensed it too.
The approaching killing intent, like an oncoming tide, was completely undisguised and bone-chillingly cold.
“Watch out!” Arnold suddenly raised his hand, and a magic shield rapidly expanded like a flat plane, blocking the window.
Several beams of light pierced the night sky, slamming heavily into the outer wall of the academy building they were in. The entire building shook violently, and dust cascaded down from the ceiling.
Falco was shocked and enraged. “Are they insane? There are other teachers and students in this building!”
Hoffman's mass teleportation circle was nearing completion. Arnold flashed in front of Hoffman, shaping his Shield spell into a hemispherical barrier.
Without a second thought, Talier slung the bag packed by Hoffman over her shoulder and grabbed the adamantine hammer Falco had given her with her other hand, tucking it into her waist.
“Everyone come over, get close to me!” Hoffman called out in a low voice as the teleportation circle glowed with a deep blue light.
Right at that moment, the shadows in the corner of the room suddenly writhed, and numerous assassins using shadow magic emerged, holding gleaming standard-issue military sabers in their hands.
“Be careful!” the three apprentices stepped forward in unison.
But the moment they took a step, they were pushed back into the teleportation circle by an irresistible, invisible force. Caught off guard, Falco fell flat on his back.
It was Ansu who had acted.
He stared coldly at the ghost-like assassins closing in, mobilizing his vast, ocean-like spiritual power at that very instant.
Then, his eyes suddenly lit up, and a devastating mental shock flooded into the brains of every assassin.
In the next instant, all the assassins froze in place.
They clutched their heads in agony, letting out incredibly wretched shrieks as crimson blood poured from their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears simultaneously.
Ansu suppressed his majestic spiritual power once more. The assassins' eyes widened, and their dozen or so bodies collapsed to the ground one after another like puppets with their strings cut, completely lifeless.
“Beautiful!” Talier shouted from within the teleportation circle. “Su! Hurry up and get over here!”
Outside the window, a new offensive had already taken shape—
A barrage of magic as dense as a rainstorm fell from the heavens, resembling a grand meteor shower that painted the entire night sky in a deep blue.
Ansu's figure merged into the teleportation light as if teleporting.
In the next second, the figures of the four people and the one spirit vanished simultaneously.
The magical barrage poured down from the sky, instantly leveling the simple, ancient Gothic building to the ground.
...
The teleportation point Hoffman chose was Gria City in the south-central part of the Norn Empire, which was Julius's core parish.
It was now late at night, and the moon was completely hidden behind thick clouds.
Dressed in casual clothes, Julius had been waiting for a long time. The moment he saw them, he quickly walked up to greet them.
“You've finally arrived!” He lowered his voice, speaking urgently. “I just received news. Marcus and Gatur are dead as well.”
“But they were members of the Senate!” Arnold had a shocked expression.
The reason the Rationalist faction had been able to deal with the Divine faction during this period was because they had several heavyweight public officials backing them in the Senate. Yet, they had died just like that?
“There has been a coup in the Norn capital,” Julius said gloomily. “General Maxim is currently in control of the government. That guy doesn't care about the Senate at all... Not to mention our people, even several members of the Divine faction who advocated for moderation were slaughtered by him! Maxim is like a mad dog. Now, whoever opposes him or stands in the way of his foreign wars dies!”
Hearing this, everyone's faces turned grim.
“Go to war?” Hoffman frowned. “Against whom? Didn't we just destroy the Kingdom of Soran?”
“It's a two-front war: an expedition north against the demon empire, and a conquest west against the dwarven Iron Hill Kingdom,” Julius said helplessly. “He wants to throw the 'god-level weapon' carefully crafted by the Empire into this massive gamble. He even claims that the God of Magic's state is becoming increasingly stable and controllable, and if we don't act now, it will be too late to regret it later...”
Hoffman fell silent for a moment, spitting out a word through clenched teeth. “Madman.”
“What should we do?” Julius asked hurriedly. “Why don't you leave Norn with me? I've already had my subordinates start preparing.”
Ansu looked toward the cathedral.
All the priests and nuns were busily packing their belongings. Some had run out still wearing their nightgowns, clutching holy scriptures and candlesticks tightly in their arms.
The entire small city was in a state of panic. Even in the dead of night, half of the windows were lit up.
Julius looked at all of this and let out a long sigh.
“To be honest, I don't want this faith to die out. They are all good people. They shouldn't have to die with me.”
Hoffman looked at him, a rare hint of emotion rising in his eyes.
The playboy of the past had now found a cause he was willing to fight for.
“Norn will naturally not tolerate you, but it will tolerate me even less.” Hoffman stared at his old friend and spoke slowly. “You still have time to escape Norn. Take your believers and leave. Go to the distant Black Forest in the northeast. There are several tribes of Novalon barbarians there. Though they are fierce, they have not yet been tainted by Norn's other churches. Go develop there! As long as you persist, the Holy Light teachings will take root and sprout sooner or later.”
Julius pondered for a moment and finally nodded heavily.
The northeast... Ansu was also thinking silently.
The Novalon barbarians—the very beginning of the largest and most universal Novalon Empire of later generations.
The church and the empire would coexist. The barbarians would be civilized, and the church would spread in all directions alongside the empire's expansion, eventually becoming the most numerous and massive Church of Holy Light.
So the source of it all was hidden in tonight's hurried escape.
“What about you then?” Julius asked suddenly. “From the sound of it, you aren't coming with us?”
Hoffman shook his head. “I need to go to the God-Making base one more time.”
“Are you crazy?” Julius's voice suddenly rose. “What time is it now, and you still want to go there? Are you looking to die?”
“There's no other choice...” Hoffman let out a bitter laugh. “The 【Rationality】 and 【Knowledge】 authorities need to be continuously consolidated. Otherwise, as you know, that guy could lose control again at any moment. Furthermore, I must continue to weaken its divine spark to prevent it from re-coalescing a clamorous and filthy divinity...”
Julius looked at him listing out his plans endlessly, knowing that no matter how much he tried to persuade him, it would be useless.
He could only sigh deeply in his heart.
“Teacher, we're going too!” Arnold suddenly interrupted.
Talier and Falco exchanged a look and spoke almost in unison: “We're going too!”
“No, it's too dangerous.” Hoffman shook his head. He had already decided on the arrangements long ago. “You will go with Mr. Julius to the Novalon region on the northeastern border.”
“Stop joking, Teacher. What could happen to us?” Falco became uncharacteristically serious, his gaze sweeping over everyone. “Arnold is so strong that he practically crushes all the students of his year. And me? I'm elven royalty! One of the legitimate heirs to Elune. Would they dare kill me?”
Saying this, his gaze swept back to Talier, his lips curling up habitually.
He started telling a dwarf joke once again. “As for this dwarf, she is indeed an exceptional meat shield. No enemy can actually cut through them; they're practically invincible...”
Ansu subconsciously waited for the punchline—something like 'the enemy has to find her first to cut her' or 'dwarves are so short that arrows can't even find their target on the battlefield'...
But Falco just stopped there. “So what do we have to fear?”
For once, Talier didn't get angry at the dwarf joke. Instead, she also said to Hoffman, “Teacher, we're going with you! Take us along!”
Looking at the stubborn gazes of his three students, Hoffman could only sigh in the end and nod. “Alright.”
Ansu's voice rang out among them: “I'm going too.”
Hoffman looked at him and nodded.
Julius had already turned around to direct the relocation of the believers. Urgent footsteps and whispered voices rose and fell on the streets outside the cathedral.
He took one last look at Hoffman, saying no words of farewell, only waving his hand silently.
The night grew deeper.
Ansu took a deep breath.
Though a spiritual body did not need to breathe, he knew clearly in his heart... this was perhaps the most crucial moment of his plan.
...
Rate on N.U.
