Golden Dragon: Six Thousand Years of Empire

But now, there are vampires bold enough to brazenly appear in the temple of the Lord of Flame Sun, even standing on the divine platform overlooking them—it's simply intolerable.

"I came to kindly remind you, yet this is your attitude? Truly disappointing. Is this the demeanor of the priests of the Divine?"

Wayne stepped down from the divine platform, his lazy posture further enraging several True God Priests,

"I've come down, what can you possibly do to me?"

"Die!"

The moment Wayne's feet touched the ground, a towering, irritable priest drew a three-headed chain mace from beneath his white robe with gold trim and swung it at this wicked creature.

A competent True God Priest in battle can fill any role, whether close combat, long-range spell-casting, or support healing, stepping up as needed.

As for priests who are only good at healing, they're dead-end waste who can never reach the Legendary level; a priest who can't engage in melee combat is no priest at all!

"Has the flame burned your brains to ash? Since I dare to stand before you, it means I have something to rely on!"

Facing the holy chain mace crashing down upon him, Wayne sighed lightly, then, in the incredulous gaze of many clergy members, snatched the divinely blessed weapon with his bare hands.

Sizzle～

The sound of searing flesh rang out, wisps of green smoke wafted from Wayne's slender fingers, yet his face still bore a nonchalant, casual smile. He glanced at the weapon, then commented,

"What a crude, ugly weapon, devoid of any beauty!"

Crack～

The moment the words fell, the weapon began to fracture from where his hand held it, spreading to the entire weapon, which then shattered explosively, pieces flying everywhere, intercepting attacks coming from all directions—it was no one-on-one knightly duel, after all.

Yet within this temple, inside the Holy Domain under divine protection, the man of darkness strolled leisurely, easily fending off divine arts meant to burn and purify him.

This Night Monarch who effortlessly neutralized all attacks still had plenty of energy and leisure, eyeing the bishop who had first struck at him. Under the Pope's abrupt awakening gaze, he reached out his hand and lightly clenched his fist.

Splash～

A vibrant crimson stream of blood danced through the hall, sourced from the bishop whose weapon Wayne had taken, his bodily blood emptied in that instant.

Wayne's weapon snatch involved no technique, purely brute force. Consequently, the original wielder's hand was mostly skin-flayed—a mere scratch for a Legendary, yet now a fatal weakness for this bishop.

"How dare you!"

The Pope could bear it no longer. Seeing a Flame Sun Archbishop killed by a vampire under divine scrutiny was cause enough for him to commit suicide.

"Heh heh!"

Wayne coldly chuckled, reached out and grasped, and the blood he extracted transformed into a blade in mid-air, landing in his hand. Simultaneously, his exclusive Eternal Night Domain unfolded abruptly.

The light dimmed, darkness enveloping the land, as if night had fallen, though this was a temple of a deity wielding the Power of the Sun.

Ordinarily, Wayne wouldn't dare be so arrogant, even though he had successfully turned into the Night Monarch while retaining part of the Titan Bloodline, it's no reason to run wild beneath a True God's statue.

He dared to be so reckless because he witnessed his great-uncle's arrival. Having long been in hiding, he stormed the temple, slaughtering wantonly, betting this deity wouldn't reincarnate.

For a deity, casting power into the Material Realm consumes at least ten times that power—an exhausting investment.

If there were any gains, it would be justified, but the sent-down avatars are invariably sacrifices; rational judgment dictates a deity with any sense shouldn't send down avatars again.

Even in the worst-case scenario, it doesn't matter—his great-uncle has come, the divine incarnation will be handled by him, and Wayne will harvest them just the same.

Regrettably, under the Eternal Night Domain, the once-brilliant statue dimmed gradually without the slightest intent of resisting.

"Your Majesty!"

Witnessing this, even the Pope, one of God's chosen people for nearly a millennium, felt his heart tremor, understanding that the statue defiled by an evil domain symbolized their True God had abandoned this place.

"Do you see? Your god has forsaken you! Why not consider following me instead? I would never abandon you."

Seeing the statue's change, Wayne, who was somewhat concerned, couldn't stop himself from laughing wildly. His body exploded into a torrent of bats that filled the hall, engulfing all the clergy present.

When the Dragon Clan destroyed the Main Temple, collapsing a corner, a seemingly endless black tide surged forth—it was a dense swarm of bloodthirsty bats.

"Hahaha, Holy Dragon Emperor, I must thank you. Who'd have thought I'd ever taste the blood of God's chosen—it truly is sweet blood!"

Laughing joyously, the voice echoed through the sky as the surging black tide gradually shadowed the Flame Sun Sect Country's capital. The bats, no bigger than palms, covered every inch of space, seemingly omnipresent.

When Dragon Clan or Dragon-men could no longer suppress themselves, unable to bear the pervasive threat like a prickling needle, and attacked the bats, these seemingly daunting bats shattered on contact, evaporating into a dark mist.

In merely a moment, the seemingly omnipresent bat-black tide vanished without a trace, but along with the bats, all the High Rank clergy within the Main Temple, including the Pope, also disappeared.

Hence, the Dragon Army, from top to bottom, knew that their victory over the Church Country was partially seized by a long-hidden Vampire Monarch.

Of course, it wasn't all profit for him; before the Dragon Clan set foot in the temple, he had already taken care of all clergy there, eliminating numerous troubles for the Dragon Army.

Even so, resentment and hostility towards this Vampire Monarch simmered within the army, as he had virtually ransacked the Flame Sun Sect Country's core level, looting the largest treasure hoard.

Further irking many Dragon-men Commanders, this despicable Vampire Monarch clung like a maggot, harassing the army's advance.

Wherever the army moved, bloodthirsty bats followed; when Dragon-men crushed the Flame Sun Church's resistance, the bats seized the opportunity to rush in, drinking the faithful's blood freely.

Though this brought no tangible loss to the Dragon-man Army, the feeling of someone profiting off them was truly distasteful to the Dragons.

"All sins shall belong to me!"

Before the shining Ancestral Golden Dragon, the man clad in night slightly bowed,

"As for you, my great-uncle, you will be the Eternal Golden Sun upon this land!"

"Thank you for your efforts!"

Noah looked at the nephew before him, whose aura swelled and expanded at every moment, sighing slightly.

The Church Country has been shattered, but what was shattered was the deity-governed belief Order; still, the land retained a multitude of general believers and devout followers of the Flame Sun Sovereign.

For Noah, this was a daunting issue; he could justify using revenge as a reason to strike back against the Divine Spirit Country, but raising his blade against millions of common humans felt unjustifiable.

However, the issue no longer concerned him; as someone bearing all sins had wiped out all devout followers for him.