Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1754 - 1255: Evil Demon’s Head, Thunderbolt Arrives at Lake Capital City

From the snow and wind of the far north to the tropical highland, the sun hangs high, like the eyes of the Divine, forever watching over the world. If the long and arduous journey to the far north is akin to a slow pendulum, taking fully two years for a round trip, then the nearby Caribbean Islands are the center of the storm, with hurricanes shooting out thunderbolts to the East and West, shaking the world!

The first thunderbolt came from the Great Island of Cuba, from last year until this spring. The Kingdom's longship brought evil demon heads, traversing the Maya Coast and Totonac Seaside, passing through the Tlaxcala Valley, and triumphantly reaching the eastern provinces of the Alliance. Under the proclamation of the Chief God Priest, amidst the shock of countless nobles and Samurai, and the bewildered cries of commoners, Xiulote's astonishing prophecy from years ago finally came unsettlingly true.

"White-skinned demons appear in the Eastern Sea, coming with the great ship of thunder…"

"His Highness of Death God's prophecy has truly come true! Such a divine miracle!"

"Yes, truly a miracle from the Chief Divine! An alive Great Prophet, Death God Xiulotel!…"

Sudden rain falls into the lake, making the already restless lake surface even more rippling. As the evil demon heads are displayed along the way, the most shocking is not the minds of the commoners, but the hearts of Alliance nobles, priests, and Samurai! Because, in the eyes of the common people, miracles are many, priests always have prophetic and divination mana. Yet, the higher up one goes, "miracles" become fewer, and the truth of power becomes more exposed...

Until at the very top, those always high and mighty Great Nobility, and the esteemed High Priests skilled in prophecy and divination. In their eyes, there are nearly no "miracles" already, no "divine power." The so-called true "divine power" is only the "power" of the Alliance and City-State! And such upper cognition is finally seriously challenged at this moment, subjected to challenges from both "divine power" and "authority"...

"Chief Divine! This... this is the head of a demon? Such a large beard, such a high nose, and supposedly originally white skin?… how can the world have such a never-before-seen, strangely-looking white-skinned tribe?!..."

On the pyramid of the Great Temple, standing eighty to ninety meters tall, four hundred Temple Guards are tightly guarding the grandest Chief Divine Temple, guarding the religious center of the Mexica Alliance. In the towering temple, twelve Priesthood Elders rarely gather together, sitting in separate seats beneath the golden statue of the Chief Divine, their gazes simultaneously fixed on the altar.

On the altar before the deity statue, four strange-smelling lime heads are solemnly placed, reportedly from high-ranking captives among the demons.

Upon closer inspection, each of the three heads has a high nose and deep-set eyes, with large beards, skin hue the shade of lime, clearly different in facial structure from all American tribes. If there were surviving crew members from Columbus' fleet here, they would immediately recognize the individuals as captains and navigator of the Pinzon brothers, and the church scholar, royal scribe Rodrigo.

"Chief Divine! No, I must check them personally! What if this beard is glued on?…"

War God Elder Azar, with an impatient nature, was the first to stand up and walk to the altar. He tugged at the hair and curly beard on the large Pinzon head himself. Large Pinzon stared with wide, rotted hollow eye sockets, watching him expressionlessly.

"Hmm? This smell, dead for several months... wonder what they looked like when alive? How many arms, how many legs? What strange words did they speak?…"

With a sniff of his nose, the War God Elder slightly frowned and began examining a nearby mat. On the mat were demon artifacts transported over great distances, placed with captured demon daggers, clothing, coins, and a scroll of parchment sea chart covered in peculiar symbols and marks.

"Chief Divine witness! What are these? Demon weapons and clothing? A sharp knife seemingly made of iron, odd clothes of unknown material… hmm? Circular small silverware with patterns? And strange symbol parchment, like heritage engravings?… ah, their symbols entirely differ from ours, and from all tribes in the world as well! Ah, I have never seen this before!!…"

For every item he examined, the War God Elder muttered a sentence, his voice growing louder and louder. As numerous Priest Elders watched closely at his inspection, when Azar finished looking at all of them, his face expressed utter incredulity. Finally, he turned to the topmost High Priest Uguel, unable to resist exclaiming loudly.

"Chief Divine! This truly is a never-before-seen tribe! A tribe not recorded in any of the heritage tablets!… High Priest, you are well-traveled, have you heard of this white-skinned demon tribe?…"

"Uh…"

The High Priest Uguel had been unperturbed, allowing everyone to deliberate freely. Until Azar asked him, he was momentarily startled, cleared his throat, and spoke leisurely.

"Cough… The gods created the world, with four epochs in succession… each epoch had varied peoples. The giants of the First Era, monkey people of the Second Era, turkey people of the Third Era, fish people of the Fourth Era… some descended into the earth, some climbed trees, some soared to the sky, and others dove into the sea… So many eras have passed, tribes were diverse and abundant!"

"Perhaps, these tribes appearing in the Eastern Sea are transformed fish people from the previous era, hence their skin is white like fish bellies, and fish whiskers became beards… but no one can say for sure, for it is too long ago! These are all ancient gods' conflicts, sacrifices and followers before the Chief Divine opened a new era with old gods…"

"…"

The many elder priests exchanged glances, their faces showing a touch of helplessness, yet they remained silent, waiting for Uguel to finish his tirade of nitpicking, pointless drivel. It was only after Uguel finished speaking that War God Elder Azar spoke again, directly pointing out the crux of the issue with a serious yet passionate expression.

"In the presence of the Chief Divine! High Priest Uguel, four years ago, His Highness Xiulote had already prophesied about these white-skinned tribes, and he predicted their 'evil, greed, thunderbolt, disease, and death'! And now, these tribes have indeed appeared, just as he predicted..."

"So, High Priest, what should the High Priesthood of the Alliance do now? Should we acknowledge that the prophecy has come true? Should we proclaim the threat of the evil demons to the world? ... And if we acknowledge all this, further, should we declare the fifty-two-year end times holy war to the Nav World? ... And for His Highness Xiulote, who accurately predicted all this, how should we communicate with the Priesthood? ... You must understand, this is unprecedented—a living Great Prophet! ..."

"Indeed! A 'living Great Prophet,' the likes of which have never been seen before! ..."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of many elder priests became strangely complex. To those in power who hold divine authority, the appearance of "evil demons" is after all from the far east of the world, and although astonishing, it is not enough to overly concern them or make them feel threatened. What truly keeps them restless is the realization of the prophecy, a "living Great Prophet"!

In the Alliance founded on divine authority, a "Great Prophet" is not a simple title, nor is it one that can be easily bestowed. It has the power to influence the hearts of the nobility and priests, possessing an undeniable divine authority capable of rallying people's hearts!

For such a successful prophetic divine sign, were it to belong to an ordinary person, or a common priest without roots, even one born from a small nobility background... the High Priesthood would immediately control this "Great Prophet," and then quietly send such a "Holy Priest" into the embrace of the Chief Divine, finally posthumously giving them the title of "Saint," an "heroic spirit", etched onto the Heritage Tablet. But it so happens that the one who realized such a prophecy is a prince of real power in the Alliance, a Great Nobility with an army, one of the three most powerful and divine...

"In the protection of the Chief Divine! The splendor of the sun cannot be dictated by fire or feathers..."

Fire God Elder Tekuis exchanged a glance with Elder Priest Como, and they both nodded almost imperceptibly, pursing their lips in silence. They represented the neutral faction within the High Priesthood, representing six or seven elder priests. These elders were not among the three deputy chief priests who held great power, as remaining on the sidelines was the most advantageous position for them.

"The Chief Divine of the sun, the immortal sun..."

Sun God Elder Tonaltiliu squinted his eyes as he glanced at the radiant gold statue of the Chief Divine, then turned his gaze to the new stone relief behind it. It depicted the sun rising from the mortal realm to the heavens, carved for an elder who had passed away and ascended to the Divine Kingdom, and it was carved only two or three years ago.

"Could it be that a new elder is about to rise? ..."

Similar thoughts crossed the mind of Chief Divine Elder Acap. He cast his eyes down, recalling the youth he had watched grow up, pure and remarkable, and a faint sense of unwillingness welled up in his heart.

"Chief Divine! How can You be so partial, always granting Your blessings and guidance to a single person! True devotees cannot fall under Your gaze..."

After the immortal sun had set for only a few years, High Priest Uguel once again sat high and idle, like a wooden carving placed high within the temple. Within the High Priesthood, the deputy priests of the War God, the Sun God, and the Chief Divine had just begun to taste the true flavor of power, and they harbored further ambitions and expectations!

But now, the prestige of Xiulote's fulfilled prophecy, this shivering divinity, this continuous bestowment of the Chief Divine's favored blessings... unambiguously, it is all propelling the emergence of a new divine authority sun, a new elder of the Alliance, to stride towards the summit! And if the other side truly ascends to that position, given the age of the other side, it would be another daunting, half-century-enveloping sun, just like the previous elder...

"Ahem! Don't rush, let me think... that prophecy, the prophet... going over the old Heritage Tablets, everything is there, there are plenty! Hmm... we need to go back and take a closer look, see how the previous elder priests handled it..."

"Oh, by the way! Fifty-two years ago, the Alliance produced a Divinely Inspired Prophet, famous for his divinatory prophecies. His greatest divine revelation was the prophecy of the Alliance's prosperity, stabilizing the people's hearts in the Lake Capital City... And then, he also prophesied the sun divinity of the elder, assisting the elder to ascend as the Chief Priest. Finally, in the name of Divine Revelation, he recommended the previous High Priest Xutel to succeed as the elder priest of the Holy City. He was the most trusted assistant of Predecessor Monarch Montezuma, and he passed away with him..."

High Priest Uguel sat in the high seat, his plump body gently swaying, his old eyes somewhat cloudy, seemingly oblivious to the thoughts running through the elder priests. He leisurely reminisced about past affairs of the Alliance, speaking of the previous priest graced with the title of "prophet," and how he paved paths for the Alliance Royal Family, for himself and for others. These past events seemed mundane but served as reminders to all the elders of the power struggles and compromises experienced within the Priesthood.

Power is always like this, even if the title of prophet were truly legitimate, it is impossible to control everything entirely; compromises must be made with various factions and groups. It is merely a matter of who receives more and who receives less. And it seems that in the future, His Highness Xiulote will receive a considerably larger share. To maintain the current rights of the various elders, unless the entire pie of the Alliance can be further expanded...

"Hmm... of course, we must look at both the skies of the past and the sunlight of the future. This matter concerns the entire Alliance, so we must certainly follow the Divine King's wishes!..."

High Priest Uguel shook his head and mumbled to himself like an old tortoise for a while, primarily ensuring that no decisions made would lead to mistakes. Then, he looked over with a smile at Chief Divine Elder Acap, who was in his prime and deep in thought.

"Acap, you are the youngest in the Priesthood and the one with the brightest future! ... Perhaps you could, on behalf of us old guys, take a trip to the Southern Expedition battlefield, inform the Divine King of this astonishing news... and seek the Divine King's decision?"