Gabella, the capital city.
Today is the day Gabella's army sets out again.
The army assembled in the city center square, received the inspection of Emperor Antonio Griffin, and then marched in neat formation through the central avenue, leaving the capital through the south gate of the city, heading to the western frontier battlefield of the empire.
The war between Gabella and The Holy See of Light has broken out.
After years of conquests, Antonio Griffin had firmly grasped the power of an emperor.
However, another power structure exists in this country: the Gabella Church, the branch of the Holy See of Light within the empire, which extends its influence into every aspect of society like a vine.
If Antonio Griffin had been content with merely holding onto secular power, he might have tolerated the Church's spiritual dominance over the people of Gabella, or even cooperated with it as previous emperors had done.
But his other identity made it impossible for him to stand idly by while the church's rule continued—he was a wizard, and the leader of the wizarding organization Arcane Society.
The Holy See of Light has always held an extremely hostile attitude towards wizards, and the consequences of discovering Antonio's true identity would be unpredictable.
Correspondingly, most Spellcasters also held an extremely hostile attitude towards the church due to its oppression, and Antonio was naturally one of them.
Moreover, in order to deal with the prophecy of the coming of the Great Destroyer, the human world must unite around a core. The Holy See of Light has a long-standing authoritative position and is the natural leader of the human world, but the Spellcasters certainly do not want to relinquish the role of savior to the Church, which they see as both corrupt and brutal.
Whether for the future of humanity or to allow his fellow Spellcasters to walk openly in the sunlight, Antonio has come to regard the Papacy as the greatest obstacle on the road ahead and is seizing every opportunity to weaken or even destroy it.
So, while the Vatican was mired in the Horn Bay religious war—which was naturally orchestrated by the Arcane Society — Antonio took action against the church in the country.
The Imperial Guard raided the church headquarters in the capital, citing the fact that Gabella Church had been deeply involved with Prince Felix and played a key role in his rebellion.
As the investigation into the church progressed, numerous related cases were exposed. As an organization that had long held significant power, Gabella Church was certainly not innocent. Many of its members were corrupt and degenerate to varying degrees. The imperial government compiled the church's numerous sordid deeds into a book and published it to the public, which quickly caused a huge uproar throughout the empire. Many people's trust in the church collapsed overnight.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Emperor Antonio Griffin ordered that the personnel power of the Gabella Church be returned to the imperial government, and appointed a person he trusted as the new archbishop. At the same time, he sent officials to various parts of the empire to thoroughly investigate the various subordinate organizations of the church, arresting a large number of clergy with questionable morals, and then selecting young clergy with clean records who had sworn to the Lord of Light to be fully loyal to the empire to fill the vacant positions.
Antonio did not want to destroy the Gabella Church, at least not now was not a good time to do so. No matter how much the emperor loathed the organization, as the ruler of the country, he could not afford the turmoil caused by the confusion of the people's minds.
He decided to first bring it under his control and then gradually reduce its influence. As for whether he would completely erase it or turn it into a useful tool in the future, it would depend on whether the church would still have any value to him at that time.
Gabella Church has existed for so many years and has a large number of believers. If we take a completely negative attitude towards it, it will not only cause turmoil, but also push those devout believers into the arms of a new enemy.
That new enemy is the Vatican, which was behind the original Gabella Church.
The Papacy was furious at Antonio's series of rebellious acts, but still sent an envoy to Gabella to reason with the emperor. However, the envoy was humiliated and expelled.
The emperor has made his stance clear: he is completely opposed to the Papacy.
Although the Papacy was deeply mired in Horn Bay at the time, Gabella, as one of the top powers on the continent and its pivotal position connecting the east and west of the continent, was ten times more serious than losing Horn Bay.
After making a hasty final effort to no avail, the Papacy decisively abandoned Horn Bay and concentrated all its forces on pressing the Gabella Empire.
Unlike Horn Bay, which was geographically inaccessible, the territory controlled by the Papacy had convenient transportation to Gabella, so the troops that could be dispatched were incomparable to those during the Horn Bay War.
Two hundred thousand troops marched menacingly into the empire, and many third-party countries joined in, sending troops to support the operation.
Gabella is in a huge crisis.
But as a nation with a strong militaristic tradition, the Papacy's actions of war quickly provoked the anger of the Gabella people. Since the founding of their nation, they had always been the ones attacking others, and now they were being attacked on their own doorstep.
Many nobles petitioned Emperor Antonio Griffin, hoping to earn glory on the battlefield.
Against this backdrop, Antonio Griffin formally declared war on the Holy See of Light and ordered the formation of an army to defend the country's territory.
Kevin squeezed into the crowd, standing on tiptoe to look into the distance. As a member of Scholars Tower, he and his companions had come to attend the farewell ceremony.
Before the morning mist had completely dissipated, a golden light appeared at the end of the street— the armor of the knight Gabella gleamed in the rising sun.
As the first column of cavalry rounded the street corner, he heard gasps rising and falling around him.
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What a magnificent procession! The silver-armored knights were arranged in four columns, their warhorses marching in perfect unison, their iron hooves striking the bluestone slabs with a dull thud.
In the morning light, the imperial insignia on their chests reflected a dazzling light, their scarlet cloaks fluttered in the wind, and their spears stood like a forest, the colorful flags on their tips swaying gently with the gait of their warhorses, like a patch of multicolored flames dancing.
People on both sides of the street spontaneously knelt down. Kevin heard suppressed sobs behind him as an old woman trembled and made a prayer gesture on her chest.
Many people tossed freshly baked bread to the knights, a tradition of the Gabella people when sending off the army. The golden round loaves drew graceful arcs in the air, were caught steadily by the knights, and they nodded to the throwers.
In the middle of the procession, a huge banner slowly approached. The imperial military flag unfurled in the morning breeze, and the eagle embroidered on the flag was lifelike.
The standard-bearer was a young knight. His visor was lifted, revealing a sharply defined face. His imposing gaze swept across the crowd, eliciting cheers wherever it went.
Behind the military banner, the thunderous hooves of heavy cavalry shook the ground slightly. Their armor was far thicker than that of the light cavalry, and even their warhorses were clad in chainmail. These steel behemoths of knights held halberds, their gazes beneath their visors cold and resolute. The street fell into a brief silence, broken only by the clatter of armor echoing in the air.
At the rear of the procession was a supply wagon, its wheels creaking over the flagstones. Food, weapons, tents—all the supplies needed for the campaign were neatly stacked on the wagons. The artisans accompanying the army walked alongside the wagons, their leather aprons still stained with the oil from the previous night's work.
As the last carriage turned the corner, the sun had already risen above the clock tower. Kevin stood there, gazing in the direction the army had gone. He suddenly thought of Alvis, the highly respected scholar who had been missing for a long time. His teacher, Aldrich, had said he had gone traveling.
It's a real shame that Alvis missed such an important occasion.