"By divine oracle, this place has been corrupted by the power of heresy — it must be purified!"
At the center of the Knights' formation stood an elderly man dressed in bishop's robes, his expression devout and holy, yet carrying an unprecedented gravity.
"Your Eminence! The perimeter has been fully established!"
A Knight whose features looked as though they had been carved by knife and axe spurred his horse forward and delivered his report with deep respect.
"Good! The clergy squads are to coordinate — not a single heretic is to escape!"
The bishop waved his hand, and behind him, a large number of young priests clad in white vestments, their faces equally resolute, fell into orderly formation and began moving out alongside the other Knight squads.
A grave crisis descended upon the small town in an instant, yet its residents remained utterly unaware.
"Hmm?! Transcendents imbued with the power of other Laws…"
Although his own detection capabilities had become severely limited, Lei Lin still managed to notice this once the enemy had fully encircled the village. The pity was that he could do nothing about it.
In his current state, even stepping out of the forest would require Tifa's help, let alone breaking through the encirclement on his own.
"The gods' surveillance over this world is truly impossibly thorough…"
Lei Lin marveled at the realization. The moment he had entered the village, he had discovered the altar within it, as well as the power of Laws radiating from it.
Naturally, this power of Laws was somewhat different from what existed in the outside world — perhaps it should more accurately be called divine power!
Under the protection of this divine power, the entire village had formed something akin to a domain. Though its effect was far weaker than a true domain, it possessed the same fundamental properties.
"Someone like me — the moment I step into their domain, I'll be discovered!"
Lei Lin sighed. "Unless I can find a true gathering place of the faithless, or avoid all altars, temples, and the like, my current form leaves me nowhere to hide… Unfortunately, that's practically impossible."
According to Beilusebabu's memories, virtually every sentient being in the gods' world worshipped some deity.
And here, being faithless was a truly terrible thing. Even heretics or those who worshipped devils received far better treatment than the faithless.
In the rumors, the souls of the faithless were not accepted by any god after death — they could only be nailed alive upon the Wailing Wall.
"The faiths of the gods are like countless nodes, spread across nearly the entire divine world, and the soul of every believer bears their brand!"
Here, killing was certainly not forbidden, but any research related to souls was considered blasphemy against the gods. Once discovered, it meant being burned at the stake.
In fact, killing a god's follower would go unpunished, but the moment you touched the other party's soul, the gods would detect it instantly.
The fury of having one's cheese touched would bring down divine wrath upon the perpetrator.
"Priests, clerics, devout believers, and holy warriors — their souls must never be defiled, or it will inevitably provoke an unending hunt from their respective deity!"
This was the most profound lesson
"In other words, in the divine world, the path of rapidly recovering by slaughtering and devouring souls on a massive scale is completely unviable. Otherwise, it would be like having a tracker placed on me — no matter where I went, the gods would find me... Of course, the same applies to soul power from other worlds... There's basically no escaping..."
Once he had assessed the situation, Leylin actually felt more at ease.
After all, right now he was merely a soul seed. Even if it was destroyed, it wouldn't affect his main body in the slightest. He might as well take this opportunity to gather additional data.
"Come at me, priests of the gods!"
A faint dark-red glow flickered from the broken sword, carrying a bloodthirsty gleam.
……
The neighing of horses, the raising of furious roars, and the shrill screams along with deep, desperate pleas.
Tifa rubbed his eyes with the relatively clean back of his palm. Then his jaw dropped.
Awakened by all the noise, he could see a great deal of firelight pouring in from outside the windows. The thundering of countless hooves, the banging on doors, and the shouting all swirled around his ears ceaselessly, like the whispers of demons.
"What's going on? Is this a nightmare?" Tifa's mind was a fog, still unable to process what was happening.
"What are you doing out here? Get back inside!" The moment Tifa stepped out of his room, his father roughly shoved him back in.
On his father's face, Tifa saw a gravity and seriousness like he had never seen before.
But before he could obediently retreat back into the house, a towering warhorse burst straight into their courtyard.
Atop the horse sat a knight clad in steel armor — a level of wealth that left Tifa stunned. A full suit of refined steel armor was often a family heirloom passed down among knight-lords or even barons.
Even the nearest lord's household didn't seem to possess steel of this quality.
Tifa's gaze held a mixture of fear and envy. At the same time, he noticed a crest on the knight's armor — the holy emblem of the Goddess of Springs!
"A Temple Knight of the Goddess of Springs! What are they doing here?"
He had to admit it — before this, those Temple Knights had been Tifa's idols. But now their behavior had shattered his dreams.
"Respected sir! May I ask..."
Tifa's father mustered his courage and stepped forward to the Knight, but before he could finish speaking, he was sent flying through the air and slammed to the ground.
"I'll only say this once. All residents, report to the altar immediately! Everyone!"
The Knight barged through the front door of Tifa's home, followed by the sound of drawers and cabinets being ransacked. Tifa's mother, along with several younger brothers and sisters, were all driven out as well.
And so, Tifa followed his father and family out of their home, converging toward the center of the village.
Only now did Tifa realize with alarm that other villagers had been driven from their homes too, converging on the village center like so many streams flowing together.
"What on earth is going on?" Tifa still had no idea what had happened. All he could feel was his mother gripping his hand so tightly it hurt.
Ahead of him, his father's face was utterly grim, carrying a thick air of unease.
Even during the famine years when the town's tax collector had come in person, Tifa had never seen such an expression on his father's face.
The villagers gathered together like a flock of sheep being driven onward, while the other Knights surrounded them holding torches, illuminating the night with blinding brightness.
Among these Knights, Tifa also spotted a large number of Priests.
Their robes were far more splendid than those of the Priest he had seen in the village before — in short, they were all very important figures.
"Kuh... kuh..." The solemn atmosphere, along with the arrival of these clergymen and Knights, made Tifa start to feel afraid, though he didn't know why.
"Bishop! All the villagers are here. And this is the village chief!"
A Knight with golden engravings on his armor hurled a trembling old man — shaking like a sieve — to the Bishop's feet.
"Bishop! Our Kain Village has always been devout in its worship of the Goddess of Springs! We have never committed any offense!"
In Tifa's eyes, the village chief — the man who was usually so capable and authoritative — now seemed like nothing more than an infant, weeping and sobbing uncontrollably before the old Bishop.
"The Goddess teaches us to face each and every one of her followers with compassion!"
The old Bishop kindly helped the village chief to his feet, even kneeling down to brush the dirt off his clothes, which immediately made the man even more grateful and devoted.
"I came here under the Goddess's divine decree — to cleanse the heresy!"
After the village chief had finally calmed down, the Bishop slowly revealed the purpose of his visit.
But for reasons he couldn't understand, Tifa saw his father's body sway, nearly collapsing to the ground. Even his mother had begun to sob quietly, and the villagers around them all looked as though the end of the world had arrived.
It was only much later that Tifa learned the churches of the gods dealt with heresy in the most brutal fashion imaginable — that even the innocent civilians caught up in the fallout met utterly tragic fates.
Of course, at this point he was still just a child. All he knew was that after the Bishop — who clearly had some impressive backing — finished speaking, the villagers, the village chief included, collapsed to the ground, too terrified to even beg for mercy.
"Great Goddess of Springs! Your humble servant offers devout worship here. Open your divine eye and judge the heresy in this place!"
Before the small village's altar, the Bishop prayed with fervent devotion. Immediately after, a burst of milky-white radiance rose from the altar, shimmering with a sacred, holy glow.
"Come forward one at a time for alignment judgment. The Goddess does not misidentify a single soul!"
The old Bishop declared, and then the Knights began grabbing villagers and shoving them before the altar, forcing them to kneel and confess.
One villager after another was compelled to undergo the ritual before the altar, while the white light above continued to shine.
"Next!" The old Bishop's expression was cold, as though nothing in the entire world was worth furrowing his brow over anymore. The Temple Knights moved like golems, mechanically carrying out their duties.
At last, it was Tifa's family's turn.
First came his father and younger sister, and then it was Tifa's turn.
Tifa's knees pressed against the cold ground, an intensely uncomfortable sensation.
"Quick! Confess!" But a tremendous force immediately struck him from behind, forcing him flat against the ground.
"Great Goddess of Springs, Risi, you who govern all springs and stand among the stars of heaven, loving us as a mother loves her children — I confess to you…"