Chapter 152: Preparing for War! Mia’s Stance

By the time Caelus and Sylvia teleported in, the atmosphere in Town 513 had grown incredibly anxious.

"If we don’t form a unified Kingdom, we will permanently get removed from the Domain?!"

"I don’t want that! I just got my first Rare skill!"

"Calm down, everyone! The person we follow is literally Player 555. We don’t need to worry at all!"

"Still! I checked the global logs. Our opponents are from the Ritewing, Windborne, and Windblown territories. The Windborne and Windblown territories are historically allied. They will definitely team up against us!"

"As for Ritewing... our Solaris territory has been bitter enemies with them since the past. They won’t negotiate."

The atmosphere was heavy. No one knew what to say.

Among the anxious crowd stood Lara and Ren. Their permanent death penalty cooldown had finally ended. They had just re-entered the Domain after grinding low-level dungeons on Azure Origin Planet, but seeing the state of the town left them utterly dumbfounded.

"It changed so much since the last time we were here," Ren muttered, baffled.

But the instant they overheard the other players talking about the Server Merge, their expressions sank.

Nearby, Caelus, Sylvia, Kevin, Mia, and Julian had already grouped up.

"What do we do, Caelus?" Kevin asked. He had successfully reached Bronze II, and so had Julian.

Mia was surprisingly sitting at Bronze III.

"There will definitely be bloodshed here today," Kevin spoke in a hushed tone. "Those Ritewing people will not sit still."

"Like how we immediately recognized their names on the merge list, they should have recognized ours as well."

"Don’t worry," Caelus looked at them with a small, confident smile. "I know exactly what to do."

He opened his Lord interface to check the current population and available Resource Points.

Before the system forcibly merged the other region clusters that belonged to the royals and the surrounding territories, he only had 3,462 Resource Points and 201,293 Population.

Now, the numbers were completely different.

[Resource Points: 12,345]

[Population: 502,443]

The population had jumped massively. It seemed like among the defeated Royals, one of them possessed the Rookie God or Rookie Emperor title, resulting in a massive influx of NPCs. These new NPCs were currently untamed and unaligned. But he knew exactly how to make them work for him. He was going to forcefully invite all of them into his Chaos Faction.

The more members, the merrier. And the faster they leveled up, the more Gacha pulls he got.

The NPCs would join without a doubt since he also held the Rookie God title. As for the newly merged players, he knew the surviving Royal lackeys hiding among them wouldn’t stay still.

But he still decided to send out a mass Faction Invitation anyway.

Lara and Ren, standing in the crowd, looked at the glowing Faction Invitation prompt with cold expressions.

"This must be Player 555’s faction," Lara sneered softly.

But they were already sworn members of the Holy Church Faction now. Hence, they decisively rejected the invitation.

By formally joining the Church’s faction, they were able to start clearing specialized dungeons and gain access to benefits. That was the primary reason they hadn’t shown up in the Domain all these days.

"We should report this to the Holy Church," Lara turned to Ren, who nodded in agreement. "We will earn a massive amount of merit this way."

A few minutes later, Caelus’s Faction interface updated.

[Faction Members: 35,293 -> 499,921]

The exact instant half a million members officially registered under his Faction banner, his mind began to stir violently. He felt the terrifying presence of a strange, abstract power awakening deep within him.

But the power felt distant. He couldn’t fully grasp what it was.

"Caelus, your Divine Halo is glowing," Mia couldn’t help but point out.

"Hm?" Caelus immediately snapped out of his daze and forcefully suppressed his halo.

’Was that distant power I felt directly related to the Divine Halo absorbing the faith of my members?’ Caelus frowned. He couldn’t wrap his head around the mechanics just yet.

Just then, Mia spoke again, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Caelus, I need to speak with you privately."

"What is it?" Caelus asked. He gestured toward Kevin and Julian, who nodded respectfully and walked away to rally the other players. They were already loyal Faction members; there was no need to keep them in the loop for this.

"The Church is actively plotting to assassinate you," Mia said with a completely straight face.

"They dare?!" Sylvia, who was standing right beside him, experienced a visible change in expression. Her red eyes flared with instant killing intent.

But Caelus simply glanced at her with a calm, reassuring smile. Her intense anger swiftly diminished. She knew that specific smile. It was the smile that told her he already had everything perfectly under control.

Seeing Sylvia calm down, he turned back to Mia.

"I am honestly not surprised," Caelus said, casually spreading his hands. "They must have sensed the chaotic aura leaking from me and realized I am already the leader of an opposing faction."

"But did they try to investigate what my faction actually is?"

"No," Mia shook her head. "They currently consider you a highly talented, but ultimately insignificant small fry. They didn’t put in the effort to run a deep background check."

"What did your Angel master have to say about this assassination plot?"

"She didn’t say a single word to stop them," Mia replied coldly. "I don’t think she is against it."

"So much for being a benevolent Angel," Caelus sighed mockingly. "This specific Angel completely ruined my overall impression of the Boundless Light Faction and Holy Church."

"But the fact that you are actively leaking this highly classified information to me... I take it that you are ready to officially defect into my Faction?"

Mia readily nodded without a second of hesitation. "I am."

"I no longer want to work as a pawn for the Holy Church," Mia stated firmly.

"But how will you deal with your master? Doesn’t she literally live inside your head?"

"No. It is a strictly contractual connection related to the Faction system. Once I forcefully change my allegiance, she will permanently lose all authority to manifest through me," Mia explained.

"Very well," Caelus nodded. "I am willing to extend my trust to you for now, Mia."

"However, considering you were a high-ranking asset of the Holy Church just yesterday, I still have some natural doubts. You will not receive the benefits of being a Faction member for the time being."

Mia nodded. She was perfectly fine with those terms.

In her delicate situation, she could only patiently try to earn Caelus’s genuine trust. He was incredibly smart and calculating. He wouldn’t just hand over maximum authority without verifying her loyalty first.

But she was absolutely not going to betray the person who had saved her life. She wouldn’t be able to live with that guilt.

"For now, let’s trigger a Void Trial," Caelus turned to Sylvia, who nodded eagerly.

This will act as the preparation for the upcoming war between the other domains. bloodshed was certain and Caelus wanted to clear this without losing much from his side.

Things are only just starting.

"Take the other Bronze players and try to eliminate some of the straggling Darkspawns to gain kill count," Caelus turned to Mia and ordered.

They all knew exactly what a Void Trial was, since Caelus had previously left a detailed, comprehensive log on the town boards for everyone while they were undergoing the Town Ascension a few days ago.

Hence, he swiftly opened his Lord interface and activated an Abyssal-level difficulty Void Trial.