The Pope had naturally noticed that the clerics on his side were suffering. He hadn't expected that Duke Roger would gather so many forces to fight against them.

It felt as though Duke Roger was aware of his trump cards. However, he wasn't flustered.

​​

He was extremely confident in the Radiant Church's ability to keep a secret. Even the Archbishops wouldn't know about the true secrets before becoming a Pope.

Only after becoming a Pope do these clerics realize the significant distance between a Pope and an Archbishop.

No matter how hard an Archbishop worked, he could never fill up that gap in the rank.

This gap in the rank wasn't just the cultivation difference between the two. It was a difference in their value and loyalty.

Only the Archbishops who had proven their value and loyalty to the Celestials would get the chance to be a Pope and learn the true secrets of the Radiant Church.

An Archbishop would rarely get the chance to interact with a Celestial, and it would be extremely difficult to make a good impression on them within that short period.

The Pope here had succeeded in that difficult task. He knew that he couldn't allow his men to continue to suffer these casualties.

It was time for him to utilize his first trump card.

The bracelet on his wrist began to shine. It was giving off an extremely Holy Aura.

The Roger Dukedom's contracted warriors were all seasoned combatants. They all possessed incredibly keen senses and could sense a threat to their lives.

Most of them turned their heads towards the Pope's side. They noticed that he was releasing an unreal amount of Holy Ardor.

"Let's take him down before he can launch that attack."

A commander ordered his subordinates and moved to attack the Pope.

However, this was a blunder. The commander had wrongly estimated the time it would take for the Pope to use this attack.

Moreover, once this commander and his subordinates focused on Pope, the pressure on the Radiant Chuch's clerics lessened a great deal.

The clerics were now focusing on the warriors attacking them from other directions. They didn't prevent these warriors from reaching the Pope since they had all received a command in their heads 'Focus on other warriors. Leave them to me!'

The Pope had spoken in such a forceful tone that the clerics had no choice but to obey him. It wasn't just because they wanted to follow his order, but they also sensed the confidence in his tone.

It meant that these people wouldn't be able to fight him.

The command and his group of warriors immediately launched an attack as they felt the stench of death getting stronger.

However, the Holy Light around the Pope suddenly flared up. A colossal column of light was shining around the Pope.

All the attacks thrown at the pope were dispersed as they struck that gigantic column of light. It didn't matter what element the attack was. It dispersed upon contact.

In the distance, Edwin squinted his eyes as he saw what happened.

'That bracelet…It not only possesses a great deal of Holy Ardor, but it also possesses a passive ability that converts Humanely Ardor attacks into Holy Ardor. Irrespective of the element it strikes, the energy is converted into Holy Particles that just particularly strengthens that light pillar.'

Edwin perfectly understood the concept of what was occurring. This was not some shocking sight to him.

He was all too familiar with these bracelets. These were the toys used by the Celestials. Against the Demonic Ardor, these bracelets wouldn't absorb the Demonic Ardor but purge it. Thus, negating the attack.

However, it would be costly for them to use the bracelets since the bracelet would crack into pieces after using up all its Holy Ardor.

This was just the Absorption Bracelet.

Edwin was sure there was a Release Bracelet as well.

The Pope did have a similar-looking bracelet on his hand. Its size and pattern appeared to be similar to the other bracelet.

Soon, he struck the other bracelet with his Absorption Bracelet. He let out a whisper, "Radiant Law."

The Pillar of Light around him sent out a strong attack that emerged from the Pope's body and spread in all directions.

It felt like a tsunami of Holy Ardor was washing over the area with the Pope as its origin.

All of Roger Dukedom's warriors and the Radiant Church's clerics were submerged in that Holy Ardor.

The Radiant Law possessed laws of Light and burned his opponents enveloped in Holy Ardor.

All the clerics of the Radiant Church felt blessed at this moment, though. They felt as if their bodies were filled to the brim with pure energy.

The only time they felt something remotely similar to this was when they first officially became the Radiant Church's clerics.

"Launch your attacks now." The Pope immediately shouted out. The bracelet wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

He was sure that many of these warriors could survive until then. If they survived, they would definitely fight even more desperately and use their strongest attacks on them.

Those attacks would deal a lot of damage to the Radiant Church's foundations.

Fortunately, the Radiant Church's clerics were so elated with this burst of Holy Ardor that they also wished to check the strength of their attacks.

They had all launched an attack named Ark. It was a Holy Attack that launched a beam with high piercing power.

It was a relatively simple attack of the Celestials. However, this was the strongest attack that the Clerics below the Pope rank could learn.

In normal circumstances, even a normal Ardor barrier would be enough to defend against this attack from the Radiant Church's clerics.

However, currently, the Holy Ardor of the clerics was significantly boosted. Also, the Roger Dukedom's warriors were in so much shock and anguish that they couldn't focus on maintaining a protective barrier around their bodies.

Hence, they suffered badly. Each beam of light would at least pass through three of four people.

It could be said that their high numbers backfired here. Their casualties were too great.

When Steven Roger saw his men being slaughtered there, he clenched his fists in anger.

He wanted to head off and take vengeance. It would be extremely difficult for the Roger Dukedom to gather such a force again.

He looked in Shun's direction and saw him shaking his head negatively.

"You can't save them yet. These people must die if the Roger Dukedom wishes for any chance of survival." Shun spoke with a cold tone.

Steven Roger knew why Shun had given that advice.

This thought had occurred in his mind as well.

The people within the Sinyalian Kingdom had to see that the Roger Dukedom had barely survived against the Radiant Church.

If the Roger Dukedom won too comfortably by letting their 6 Star Experts attack, the people would rage out at the Roger Dukedom for bullying the weak.

In fact, the supporters of the Radiant Church would immediately start an active movement to go against the Roger Dukedom.

They would file complaints in the Royal Court and even go on protest.

To appease the public, the King was sure to make his move. And his move wouldn't be in the Roger Dukedom's favor.

Thus, when Shun had proposed the scheme of allowing the Radiant Church to kill his warriors, Steven Roger could only grit his teeth and accept that scheme.

He cursed his weakness that he was forced to use such a low-class scheme. It didn't just hurt his pride but also made him a lot guilty.

It was true that he was an opportunistic greedy individual, but he did wish well for the citizens in his territory.

He had never expected that even with all the power and influence of Roger Dukedom, he would be forced to rely on this shameless trick to save his Dukedom.