Following Mithras' departure from the headmistress' chambers, a new set of incomprehensible events swept through the Red Cloud Theocracy, throwing its leadership into nightmares and depression.
One after the other, junior and senior priests started dropping in packs of five and ten, causing overwhelming chaos to spread throughout the city-size temple's walls.
The sa red patches spread across the victims' skins. But while at first, the leadership wished to focus on the missing pythons and stolen items, when elder priests started dropping as well, their priorities made a 180 spin.
It wasn't long before they noticed the Headmistress' situation—a crippling blow to the theocracy's morale. Now, the elder council gathered on top of a red-stone cathedral, led by their leader: Grand Priest Elijah.
'This is clearly the work of Red Cloud Pythons. The Red Cloud Theocracy is being invaded by Red Cloud Pythons. What a joke…' Red Cloud Pythons received from the Red God the rare ability to control their size, a power that only Sages and Gods normally had access to.
They could also erase their presence, aning that they could basically sneak up on anyone who didn't possess the Exalted Sense. Add their fearso venom to the mix, and their talent for assassination beca too much to ignore.
No wonder the Headmistress didn't see the bite coming. But interestingly, the pythons only killed the elder priests, putting their other victims in comas or crippling fevers instead.
"This is bad…it's really bad.
If the manpower at Inner Accumulation tier and above determines the might of a faction, then we can say the Red Cloud Pythons represented about 50% of our strength.
That 50% has now rebelled. Now let's assu for a second that they've never left, that they're still lurking on temple ground…waiting for their master's orders to sink their fangs into our necks.
How do we fight back?" An elder priest asked, making the council's mbers lower their heads and hide their trembling eyes.
The situation was far from ideal, but as the Red Priests were convinced things couldn't get worse…
"Huh?" Large reptilian tails appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around several elder priests' throats and snapping their necks with a single squeeze. Panic spread like a wildfire. The templars summoned blazing swords, cleaving at the beasts while at their back, the gurus cast a series of mantras, summoning elentals that rained streams of fire on the pythons.
[Illumination Flare]
The Grand Priest closed his eyes, continuously tapping his chest while whispering mysterious incantations. A cluster of 36 torches appeared the mont next, floating above the cathedral, and casting a blinding flash of light on the platform.
"Tsssss!" Shockingly, the Red-Cloud Pythons hiding on the scene appeared in their true form, shutting their eyes tight and crawling away from the light.
A rather useful spell, Illumination Flare enabled the caster to reveal the true shape of shifters and disable camouflage abilities. But as maintaining it required too much energy, the Grand Priest couldn't maintain it 24/7.
It also didn't work on Divine Secrets.
[Conflagration Choppers]
Elijah didn't relent, extending his right arm, and snapping his fingers in a loud banging sound. A pair of blazing lion jaws ford at the Grand Priest's left and right, lunging at the pythons, and detonating in their vicinity.
Without a doubt, the Grand Priest's Conflagration Choppers carried more than enough to wipe out the murderous snakes on the scene. However, several elder priests threw themselves into the conflagration, sucking a large portion of the explosive energies into their bodies before burning to a crisp. The rest bounced off a wall of senior priests, injuring them severely.
Confused by his subordinates' actions, Elijah blanked out, staring dumbstruck at the injured priests, and failing to notice that the pythons had vanished already.
This mont of confusion was all it took for more priests to break rank, shooting towards Elijah, and stabbing him with blazing knives.
"Traitors…scum! What in the bloody hell is wrong with you people?!" Enraged, Elijah slamd his hands together, causing waves of boiling lava to roll out and sweep through the traitors' ranks—burning them as well.
"Grand Priest, how many tis do I need to remind you that Red Cloud Pythons are envoys and descendants of our god? A devotee of the Red God should treat them with respect.
But perhaps that's asking too much of the fake believer who relied on his strength and the theocracy's influence to coerce nearby nations into putting endless tributes at his feet.
Elijah, you couldn't care less for our god's na and were a traitor before you first put on the red robe. So what's so wrong with putting you down?" Another elder priest broke ranks, facing Elijah with a disdainful sneer. Scarlet flas burned in the priest's eyes, making Elijah realize that his subordinates were likely being manipulated.
But how?
A brief look revealed that the compromised priests were made up of so of the most hardcore believers in the faith.
Was there a connection?
Elijah wouldn't have the ti to find out, because as his mind reeled from these events, all true devotees of the Red God present on the scene went up in flas, burning with peaceful smiles as they left for the Red Paradise.
A magnificent blaze of scarlet flas ford at the cathedral's summit, becoming coiling pillars that shot through the sky. The mont next, a hooded figure appeared behind Elijah, clad in a red flaming cloak.
[Scorching Envoys of Cremation]
Without even looking at his back, Elijah cast his strongest mantra, and in a twister of red flas, seven giant fla skeletons ford around the assassin, hacking at him from all sides with colossal battle axes.
A little too late. The assassin's searing claws pierced through Elijah's back, lighting the Grand Priest's organs on fire. At the sa ti, a gigantic winged python dropped from the sky, slicing through the fla skeletons' axes with a single tail swipe.
"Hugh!" The Grand Priest's skin turned red, and as blood trickled down his lips, Elijah tried to propel himself off Mithras' dragon claws. Mithras didn't let go, keeping his claws on Elijah's spine.
"It's you? After stealing our pythons and treasures, you still had to assault us and set our headquarters on fire? Why? How…have we offended Your Excellency?" Recognizing Mithras' robe and the scarlet flas coiling up his claws, Elijah took a cautious approach.
"There is just a little sothing I need to check. 12 years ago, you used a king-class Immolation Ritual on the surviving mbers of the Last Line. Correct?"
"C-correct."
"Was there a man blind in his left eye and with a scar above the right?" Mithras asked in a deadpan tone, giving the Grand Priest no insight into his emotions.
"The man who walked into the funeral pyre? Y-yes…of course. He…stole the show. Why do you care?"
"I guess…because he was my old man," Mithras said in a soft and level tone, before clenching his fist and letting loose his two divine flas.
"Wait, wait! It wasn't ! AAAAAAAAAARGH!" Barely had the Grand Priest started that Mithras' divine flas went off, cooking Elijah piece by piece.
But fearing that he was missing out on sothing critical, Mithras dispelled the flas, but maintained his grip on Elijah's spine.
"What do you an?"
"Where do you think I've learned a king-class immolation ritual? It's the Angra Theocracy! I don't know why, but Lady Akamana wanted to immolate your father," Elijah said in a hurried tone, sending Mithras' mind reeling from the news.
Here, Mithras' grip on the Grand Priest loosened, and sensing this opportunity, the thousand-year-old Guru spun 360, smashing his fist and foot into Mithras' jaw and liver respectively.
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