Only God

Witch Gathering.

They assembled at the headquarters of the gathering, a temple-style building located on the mid-slope of a secret forest.

This was an abandoned temple that had been forsaken for many years, it once offered worship to the King of Gods Shan'en, Prophetic God Kagawus, Dragon God Endora, and other divines, but it had been abandoned for over two thousand years. When the witches arrived and took this place as their new headquarters, the temple was already surrounded by shrubs, as if it was about to be devoured, and the path up the mountain had been smoothed by the passage of time.

They had spent a considerable amount of time cleaning the temple, not just removing weeds, sweeping away filth and dust, but they also took care of the divine statues. They removed a series of bird nests from the tops of the statues' heads, dozens of spider webs from the legs, all of the moss was swept away, even the vegetation inside the stone divine statues was cleaned out thoroughly.

The witches did this, not out of faith or awe; if it were for faith, they should have removed these statues and erected steles engraved with Holy Scripture; if it were out of awe, they should have renovated and repaired the statues. But they did none of that, the only reason they cleaned the statues was that they were simply too dirty.

"Our predecessors chose a good place," said one witch.

"Of course, not only is it quiet and secluded, the temple is also spacious enough with tens of rooms, and the forest is just next door, where any magic creature or herb can be taken as needed," agreed another more senior witch.

Killing Rozmel, eliminating the devil wizard, brought joy to each of the witches.

"It's time to offer flowers on the graves of the sisters who were killed, may they rest in peace with the Lord," Chief Witch Mona said, bringing her hands together in prayer.

The witches all bowed their heads slightly, offering a moment of silence for the deceased.

Before long, they emerged from their moment of silence and walked towards the inside of the temple.

The witches who stayed behind at the headquarters greeted them with great excitement, and among the witches stood a kind and amiable old woman.

Unlike the other radiant and captivating witches, this old woman's skin was wrinkled and yellow, with a pointed nose, resembling the typical old witch of stories, yet the kindness on her face was like that of a compassionate nun.

Witches often consume a magic potion to keep their youth, so even at the age of ninety, they usually look like they are in their thirties or forties, making such an old witch rarer than gold in the desert.

Mona approached the old woman, lifted her skirt slightly, and paid a small gesture of respect,

"Grandmother President, Rozmel is dead, you must have seen it in your heart."

The old woman was none other than the President of the Witch Gathering. Although Mona was the Chief Witch, within the gathering, only this President had the highest decision-making power.

In fact, for a long time, the duties of the Chief Witch and the President were both held by the same person, and only in rare circumstances were they held by two different individuals.

Mona's talent was too astonishing, but she lacked the experience to lead everyone, which was one of the rare cases in the history of the Witch Gathering.

"Good, children, may his soul be tormented in Hell," the old woman said.

"He might not have believed in the Lord."

"Then let Death God Nakbet 'entertain' him well, we believe in the Netherworld Monarch's justice," the old woman replied with a smile.

For a moment, all the witches laughed, the pleasure of vengeance spreading.

After the laughter, Mona thought of something,

"Grandmother President, have you looked at the devil wizard's notes?"

After killing Rozmel, the witches did not immediately divide up the remaining spoils of war, but had their animal friends send these things back to the gathering.

Among these spoils of war, what the witches valued most was Rozmel's notes.

Almost every wizard wrote notes, and Rozmel was no exception.

A wizard's memory is limited, even with memory-enhancing potion, it is impossible to remember every detail of each witchcraft experiment.

Therefore, when a witch kills another witch, they often treat the other's notes as treasures, and each witch sees their notes as more important than their very lives.

Precisely because of this, the witches were very pleased with Cui's choice, for he did not choose to take this notebook.

And Cui also seemed to be satisfied with this.

It was a win-win situation.

However, what satisfied the Witch Gathering was not because they were interested in the knowledge written in Rozmel's notes—they were indifferent to that.

Rozmel was a despised devil wizard and blood mage, whose knowledge on those pages was bound to violate ethics and morals and was bloody and depraved.

What they were more concerned about was the information in the notes.

"I've unlocked the seal on the notes."

The old woman looked around at everyone, cleared her throat, and began to speak with a serious expression.

The witches held their breath slightly, each perking up their ears and listening intently.

"Before discussing the content of the notes… I have a question to ask you," the old woman paused, then asked slowly:

"Tell me, the 'Eden' mentioned in the notes, is he the same 'Eden' you encountered?"

This name is common among True Believers.

"What?!" Before the other witches could speak, Mona exclaimed in surprise,

"Why would you… ask this?"

The old woman said solemnly:

"It's a matter of grave importance, and I need to confirm it."

Mona couldn't help but ask:

"What did you… see in the notes?"

After hearing the question, the old woman looked around at everyone, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately said:

"In the last few pages of the notes, Rozmel repeatedly mentioned a person named Eden.

The devil wizard mentioned that the followers of the Fahela Sect called him… the Prophet, God's Messenger, and that he was entrusted by the Elders of the Fahela Sect to examine the truth and falsehood.

These paragraphs I found inadvertently, I almost missed them, but I didn't, it seems to be a stroke of luck."

The president's words fell, and the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became a lot colder, especially among the witches who had cooperated in hunting Lodzmer, their faces turned pale.

"The Fahela Sect? That bunch who consort with the Zor... heretics."

After a long silence, a witch exclaimed in shock:

"Is their envoy really Eden?! Is that the same Eden we met?!"

Another witch regained some composure and retorted:

"Apart from that Eden, have we encountered any other in recent times?"

"Thinking about it, why would the Devil Wizard fixate on him, could it really be because he's the Princess Guard?!"

"Lodzmer wouldn't make such a fuss about dealing with just a guard."

"If he really is the envoy the Fahela Sect speaks of... everything seems to make sense now."

......

The witches, especially those who had worked with Eden, suddenly chattered noisily.

A wave of after-fright spread among them.

The elder woman looked around at everyone and then fixed Mona with a stern gaze.

Mona suddenly felt awkward; her light blue, elongated ears began to quiver, and she looked down, nervously tapping her foot.

"You all should understand what the Fahela Sect means to us."

The elder woman took a deep breath,

"Behind them stands an entity beyond our scrutiny, and it is this entity... that created the Zor Elves.

For tens of thousands of years, we witches have fought fiercely, generation after generation making sacrifices, shedding blood, all to protect the legacy of Solamus.

Solamus's legacy must not be sullied by any abomination."

The president spoke with weight, adding gravity to the hall's atmosphere. Every witch who joined the gathering, whether a True Believer or not, understood how important Solamus's legacy was to the Witch Gathering.

It was more than just a symbol of the Witch Gathering's spirit.

Now, the Zor Elves who are scheming to snatch the Holy Artifact, along with the Fahela Sect who consort with them, are posing a great threat to the Witch Gathering.

The Zor king has always coveted Solamus's legacy.

And the Eden working with the witches seems to be the envoy spoken of by the Fahela Sect.

"Keep an eye on that Eden, make sure to keep it on that Eden."

The elder woman instructed seriously:

"If necessary, find an opportunity to eliminate him."

The president's words were heavy.

But the witches felt she was not wrong.

The Witch Gathering, having made contact with the Fahela Sect, understood exactly what kind of heretical sect it was.

They followed the teachings of Fahela, proclaiming that a new god would emerge and replace the lord of True Religion, taking the scepter to rule the world.

And the presence giving revelations to the Fahela Sect,

Is an even more...

Terrifying entity beyond the witches' ken.

........................

........................

From a hill not far from the camp, the tournament venue was a colorful scene, with various ribbons tied to the fences around the venue. The inside and outside of the venue were filled with noise, and the rudimentary wooden grandstands were packed with people, with thousands of voices calling out, opening various betting games.

On the luxurious grandstand with the best view.

"Your Highness, that is the brave warrior we are proud of."

An Ausenco Earl pointed out a knight in the field and said,

"His valor, as though he's been favored by Hercules."

Arsia glanced at the man; that Ausenco indeed had incredible strength, at least two and a half meters tall, he reminded one of the giants who associated with Dwarves.

"I remember, his name is Buzi, right? Indeed unusually strong."

Arsia said indifferently,

"Even in the Empire, he's noteworthy."

The Ausenco Earl was pleased with the princess's praise; he smiled and started talking to the other envoys beside him.

However, Eden beside the princess noticed, beneath Arsia's praise, there was disdain in her eyes.

She always held everything in this kingdom in contempt, whether it be the unrefined nobles or the towns that seemed paltry and lackluster compared to the Empire.

From his lofty vantage point, Eden watched the knights on the battlefield below, both Ausenco and Danschel knights were poised and eager to show off and win the princess's favor.

The breeze brushed the ground's weeds, the sky was clear, and Eden looked towards Buzi's direction, the tall, strong knight was staring intently in the direction of the grandstands, seemingly fascinated by the beautiful princess, and he glared fiercely at the guard by her side.

It seemed like a challenge.

Eden felt somewhat helpless.

Doing nothing could still provoke the dissatisfaction of others. Is this the power of the curse of misfortune?

As the horn sounded, the tournament officially began; for fairness, the use of Ancient Language, Divine Path, witchcraft, and Divine blessings were not allowed and rituals limiting these powers were placed all around the venue, knights from different teams wore clothes of different colors with matching ribbons.

Thunderous, in an instant, the knights clashed together, war hammer, longsword, spear, axe, shield, various blunted tournament weapons were wielded on the battlefield, metal struck metal, each person exerted all their might, fighting for the laurel crown and the princess's favor.

The knights from Ausenco were especially fierce as they relentlessly taunted the Danschel knights, berating them as a bunch of feeble prostitutes, as if they came to the tournament not only for victory but to ridicule the Danschels.

The Danschel knights did not back down, striking back hard with action and words.

Arsia watched the tournament field nervously, despite typically lacking piety, she found herself praying in her heart that the Ausenco would not win. Because according to those sad Barbarian customs, the victorious Ausenco would surely seize the chance to demand an oath of allegiance from her, oh God, she did not want to be the patron of a bunch of savages.

However, the situation on the battlefield was not going her way.