At this time, the plague had already halved the population of the Sakatekatz Empire, and its military strength had diminished greatly.
Meanwhile, Leilin's Hope Fort continued to draw nourishment from Banksi Island, rising ever more prosperous with each passing day.
According to Leilin's plan, a new round of territorial expansion was about to begin.
"Judging from the movements of those earthbound spirits and totems, they've been plotting some kind of major operation lately as well…"
Leilin stroked his chin, a contemplative look crossing his face.
The totem spirits and nature spirits on Banksi Island were, in essence, a form similar to earthbound spirits and local earth deities. The strength of such earth deities was directly tied to the scope of their domain and the number of their believers.
The ones Leilin had previously destroyed were all small tribes, and their totems had only reached the level of divinity-bearing beings — even within their domains, Leilin had not feared them in the slightest.
But across the entire Sakatekatz Empire, several of the larger earth deities had likely already reached the level of Demigods! And with the amplification of their domains, their power might rival that of a True God!
In other words, if Leilin were to enter the Sakatekatz Empire's territory directly at this point, he would almost certainly be swarmed and killed by a group of earth deities whose strength was in no way inferior to that of a True God.
But conversely, if these earth deities dared to venture outside, they would possess at most their original Demigod-level strength — and once they entered Hope Fort's sphere of influence, it would continue to weaken further.
Under these circumstances, Leilin naturally had no intention of rushing to destroy their totems directly. Instead, he adopted the approach of gradually encroaching upon them through mortal forces.
After all, to him, those earth deities were already caged beasts. He could continue to weaken them through strikes against their faith and their secular armies — so why rush?
With the assistance of the plague, Leilin's expansion across Banksi Island proceeded with unstoppable momentum.
One after another, natives who had abandoned their totem spirits came seeking to join Hope Fort. There were even cases where an entire tribe cast off its upper nobility and its faith entirely!
After all, for the natives of this era, what Hope Fort represented was life itself!
If they did not join, they could only wait for death in the midst of the plague. Under such a tremendous threat, all manner of racial and religious conflicts could be set aside. Only the most fanatical devotees would continue to hold on.
Faced with Leilin's crushing advance, the earth deities were utterly powerless.
With their divine power and the priests and clergymen they had cultivated, the divine spells they could produce each day were barely enough to protect a small number of nobles. They were completely helpless against the vast common populace.
What was even more critical — and shameless — was that the pathogens Leilin had unleashed would not cause the human body to produce antibodies after a single infection, unless one had received his specially developed vaccine. There remained a persistent risk of falling ill again!
The entire Bankes Island had now been unceremoniously turned into a 'Plague Island.' All the natives who refused to submit to Leilin could only cower in the corners of cities and shrinks, trembling as they awaited the relentless onslaught of disease!
Once the majority of the faithful had abandoned their original beliefs, the totem spirits and nature spirits had essentially become a flock of lambs awaiting the slaughter.
With only the remaining handful of zealots, priests, and a small number of nobles, there was simply no way to sustain a Demigod's divine power. This consequence directly resulted in fewer divine spells the earth deities could bestow, which in turn led to more deaths—forming yet another vicious cycle.
Moreover, as their control continued to weaken, the domains of those earth deities were steadily shrinking.
At the very least, Leilin had already expanded his influence to nearly a quarter of the island. Though these were mostly peripheral regions, the empire's totem spirits could no longer hold sway there—and this trend showed no signs of stopping.
Leilin even suspected that, if things continued on this trajectory, he might not need to lift a finger. The earth deities would simply perish from the extinction of their faith!
The earth deities, naturally, were not without countermeasures.
In the midst of a plague outbreak, large-scale warfare was clearly impossible. But each of them issued divine decrees, employing every conceivable means to block refugees within their territories from fleeing toward Leilin.
They even spread rumors that Leilin was the true culprit behind the plague—though this happened to be the truth.
'That devil serpent from the West. It ruthlessly tore out the innards of the native peoples, offering their blood in sacrifice to evil, and thereby summoned the terrifying plague...' 'The pale-skinned men from the West came with ill intentions. They covet our wealth, greedily yearn for our lands, and even prepare to sacrifice our lives to curry favor with their gods...' Rumors of this nature ran rampant across Bankes Island, and had even begun to circulate faintly within Hope Fortress itself.
It was precisely from these maneuvers that Leilin caught a whiff of something unusual.
"Survival and procreation are the two most fundamental primal desires of all living things, and the power born from them is something even gods must fear..."
Leilin gazed at the increasingly prosperous Hope Fortress, a brilliant smile on his face.
"But the desire for survival far outweighs the need for procreation... Under the force of such a powerful survival instinct, even if I truly were killing natives here and using their hearts and blood for sacrifice, as long as I could provide them with divine baptism and cure their disease, refugees would still keep coming in droves... Until the native deities develop a specific remedy, this trend is simply unavoidable. The spread of rumors, at most, will only add a little extra work for Tifa and the church..."
The gene-tailored pathogens Leilin had refined at the
"My Lord... You are the world-devouring serpent, the master of slaughter. One day, you shall transform into a star in the heavens..."
At that moment, the great doors behind Leilin swung open, and Tifa strode in wearing a pristine white priest's robe.
In this uniquely advantageous place, Leilin had finally placed the construction of his own church at the top of his agenda.
The ceaseless conquests and battles not only provided Leilin with a vast number of followers, but also served as a crucible for the previously trained apprentice priests, producing a wealth of new talent.
With Tifa's priest corps as the backbone, his own family's talents as a counterbalance, and a massive base of grateful native fanatics, the establishment of a church had become a natural and effortless undertaking.
Leilin named this church "the Serpent," using an abstracted version of the Targaryen winged serpent as its holy emblem, while Tifa was leading a team to urgently produce the doctrines and other sacred scriptures.
As the first recipient of Leilin's soul power infusion and one of only two legendary powerhouses in the Serpent Church, Tifa was naturally elevated by Leilin to the position of Pontiff.
Given his merit in training the first generation of priests, this position was rightfully his, and Leilin had always intended it so from the very beginning.
As for
"What is it?"
Leilin turned with calm indifference, an overwhelming aura of authority radiating from him at every moment.
"We've already captured several suspects — they were the ones secretly spreading rumors, slandering our God's reputation!"
Though Tifa could more or less guess what had transpired, neither Leilin nor he would ever admit to it.
With this sort of matter, unless someone was caught red-handed distributing the poison, there was simply no concrete evidence to be found.
As for the miracle medicine and holy water, it could easily be chalked up to Leilin's divine power properties naturally suppressing the plague.
After all, he hadn't condensed any divine domains or divine offices such as Plague or Disease, so there was nothing to fear from any investigation.
In truth, if anyone were truly held accountable, it would probably be the Lady of Plague who'd have to take the blame for Leilin — after all, she had always been fond of releasing viruses and plagues.
Crafting such a massive plague through alchemical expertise rather than divine magic was virtually unheard of in the world of the gods; this was technology originating from an entirely different world.
"My Lord, shall we punish them directly?"
Tifa asked in a grave voice.
"Punishment" naturally meant disposing of them quietly. After all, Tifa hailed from the Dark Realm and had done this sort of thing more times than he could count. Even the benevolent gods of the continent maintained specialized departments within their churches for exactly this kind of dirty work.
"Tifa..." Leilin's voice was mild, yet carried some ineffable gravity that immediately made Tifa adopt an attentive expression, his body tensing.
"The Church is one of light. For those rats lurking in the dark sewers, we should likewise grant them a fair trial — especially in connection with this matter..."
"Understood..."
Tifa's face took on a contemplative expression, and he withdrew respectfully.
Leilin's meaning was clear — to put the captured spies and such on direct public trial, with open and legitimate punishment carried out for all to see.
While those in power and the wise could see through the whole charade, what did that matter? In any era, the common people at the bottom always numbered the most.
Official statements, some plausibly crafted evidence, and the propaganda apparatus of state power — that was more than enough.
And Leilin and the Church equally needed a fig leaf. Settling things quietly in the shadows would only make them seem guilty.
But once the momentum was built, the resulting wave would sweep up even those who might have originally seen through the whole thing.
Sometimes, having that superficial veneer of propriety was a matter of great importance.
In matters like these, when it came to reading the hearts of men, Leilin — with his demonic memory — could be said to surpass all the gods of the Bankes pantheon.
A few days later, under the watchful eyes of the natives, the grand trial began in full force.
Tifa did not press relentlessly on the charge of spreading rumors, merely mentioning it in passing during the prosecution. Instead, he placed the full weight of the case on "the intent to destroy the altar and sabotage the Divine Baptification"! This immediately caused an enormous uproar!