The man sat cross-legged on the top of the mountain, quietly looking at the sky, like an eternal rock, at the mercy of the wind and rain. He waited for an unknown number of years before finally standing up.

The man grabbed one end of the chain and wrapped it tightly around his arm. "Hey" He pulled hard, and the iron chain connected between heaven and earth was suddenly pulled straight, making a loud "boom".

The man nodded in satisfaction and began to tug at the chain that held the sky day after day, year after year. Every time he pulled the chain with all his might, the loud sound of the taut chain reverberated through heaven and earth.

This scene is a story of miracles recorded in the sacred text of the church, the Word of God. It tells the story of the supreme god who opened up a paradise for human ancestors when he walked on earth.

According to the Word of God, the initial life of humans in the terrestrial world was full of disasters. Powerful beasts, ferocious alien races, changeable weather, and treacherous landscapes all directly threaten the survival of the weak human race.

The great Most High God did not want to see His people suffer in such a bad situation. So it took a full hundred years to personally capture a piece of paradise from the heavenly realm on the "top of the world" on Mount Kinabalu as a paradise for human reproduction. Therefore, this story, when it was circulated in later generations, was called "The Gospel of the True God Catching Heavens". And the miracles shown in the "Gospel of the True God Hunting the Heavens" are called "the coming of the promised land".

As a magician and scholar, Catherine has always maintained a wait-and-see attitude towards religion. In fact, the tradition of the Royal Academy has always been to see religion and theology as a way to explain and understand the world. As a result, the Royal Academy's attitude towards the church has always been relatively mild, and it does not restrict the freedom of worship of teachers and students.

For example, Griggs, the master of alchemy, is a faithful believer in the Most High God. It is said that this has a lot to do with the fact that he was sheltered by a religious church on the way back from the enemy's country.

However, in contrast to the mildness of the Royal Academy, the Church has always regarded magicians as heretics, and considered them heretics. In the royal city of Daxt, due to the authority of His Majesty the King and the traditions of the Royal Academy, both sides were able to exercise due restraint. But in public in other provinces of the kingdom, there were frequent frictions and strife.

Since the beginning of the founding of the Holy Fa'an, the supreme god was worshipped as the only god in the world, and he supported the then Pope Elster VII to officially establish a religious church in the kingdom, which laid a hidden danger for the struggle between royal power and divine power that continues to this day.

In fact, in the eyes of His Majesty St. Faian, the kingdom is completely a state of separation of church and state. Even Elster VII himself probably never imagined that one day the church could influence the decision-making and political situation of the kingdom.

But it is clear that the descendants of the founding king did not inherit the majesty of the Gray Eagle King. In the 500-year history of the kingdom, several monarchs with limited ability have repeatedly relied on the power of the church in order to protect themselves.

Among them, Pharos II, the third grandson of St. Faan, is most hated by His Majesty the King today. Because the bad precedent of the religious church involved in politics is from the beginning.

In all fairness, Pharos II was by no means a mediocre man. He was diligent in his administration and loved the people, and his achievements in diplomacy were particularly prominent. However, the era of Farus II was a famous period of turmoil in the history of the Eastern Continent - the Age of the Ten Kings.

The so-called "Age of the Ten Kings" refers to the era of the ten outstanding kings of mankind. At that time, there were dozens of countries of different sizes coexisting in the Eastern Continent. These countries are at war with each other.

The history of the melee lasted for nearly fifty years, during which ten powerful kingdoms rose one after another. Each of their monarchs was famous and brilliant, and in a short period of time, they shocked all countries and dominated the pattern of the entire Eastern Continent.

The brilliance of these ten kings is so dazzling, like a meteor across the night sky, leaving a strong mark in the history of mankind. Therefore, historians call this period the "Age of the Ten Kings".

Although the "Age of the Ten Kings" was finally ended by the longest-reigning and most martial artist in the history of the kingdom, Favot the Great, and thus won the reputation of the "Sword of Daxter" that will go down in history. But Farus II, who was at the beginning of the "Age of the Ten Kings", did not have such glory.

This monarch, who reigned for only five years, took over the throne at the beginning of the five hundred years since the establishment of the kingdom, when the kingdom was at its weakest and the territory was the smallest.

At that time, the royal city of Dast, because of its geographical location in the center of the continent, was surrounded and peeped at by the five major powers externally, and had just experienced terrible locust plagues and earthquakes internally. Since St. Faan's Hundred-Year Dragon Killing Order is still in effect, the black dragon Hermes often visits the kingdom. As a result, the situation faced by Farus II was one of the most difficult for historians.

It is said that during the reign of Pharos II, he spent up to twelve hours a day dealing with government affairs. He even had a record of not returning to the dormitory for eight months in a row. In just three years, the toiling king had aged by thirty years. So much so that Pope Cherauer I, who had attended his enthronement, did not recognize him for a moment when he met him again.

Therefore, compared with the harshness of His Majesty the King today, the historical evaluation of Farus II by scholars is still objective and fair. The mainstream historical works of the day unanimously affirm the historical exploits of this most difficult king.

In fact, Farus II left posterity not only for his diligence in governance, but also for his diplomatic achievements.

Catherine's teacher, the Grand Magician Gisling, once mentioned to his beloved female disciple the hated Pharous II by His Majesty, and once said, "If it were not for his painstaking use of the mutual restraint between the five nations, the kingdom would not have waited for the day when Emperor Favot came, and would have disappeared into the long river of history." At that time, the mainland powers gave Farus II a resounding nickname - 'the rabbit in the lion's den', which shows how difficult his situation was. ”

The famous book of strategy and diplomacy, "Before and After the War", analyzed in detail the classic foreign policy of Farus II. This kind of weak foreign policy, which is called "bowing diplomacy," has not been correctly understood by mainland politicians for a long time. Without the book Before and After the War, perhaps Farus II's diplomatic skills would never have been recognized and valued.

The most typical successful application of "bowing diplomacy" was that the "rabbit in the lion's den" built a temple in the royal city of Dastne in the fourth year of his reign. Then the king invited Pope Scherauer I to perform the Rite of Purity for the True Believers in the Temple. Farus II thus declared himself a true believer in the arms of the Most High God, and at the same time established the "One Most High and True God" as the state religion.

This is the origin of the "True Believer King's Day", which caused an uproar.

Prior to the "True Believer King's Day", no country on the Eastern Continent had established the "One Supreme True God Religion" as the state religion. No king, including important members of the royal family, would claim to believe in the Most High God. The supreme inviolability of royal power was the consensus of the kings. No royal family would be willing to let a theocratic rope be around their necks.

But this seemingly conventional rule has been broken. Farus II not only bathed himself in the sun of the Most High God, but also knelt before His Majesty the Pope with the dignity of a king.

The "True Believer King's Day" gave birth to the first true believer of the king in the Eastern Continent, and also made the religious church from a folk religious organization to a transcendent force that officially entered the political stage of the mainland.

If St. Faian's willingness to deign to cooperate with Elster VII was only to stabilize the kingdom with the help of the civil influence of religious forces, then Farus II bowed to Sherauer I, which was tantamount to openly offering the staff of royal power in both hands.

A true believer means great devotion to the Most High God. This piety is embodied in the will of God over all activities and personal wishes in the secular system. In other words, if the will of the Most High God today is to demand the immediate abdication of Farus II, then tomorrow the kingdom must choose a new king to ascend to the throne.

The state religion - although there was no precedent for the establishment of a state religion in the human kingdom on the eastern continent at that time, this did not prevent the senior bishops of the religious church from finding the will of the supreme god in the great "Word of God".

Thus a whisper-sounding oracle was promulgated to the royal families and the common people at the same time, in cooperation with the Kingdom and the Church.

"God said, "All truth is light."

God says that all hypocrisy is darkness.

God says that darkness must be dispelled.

God says, "The light must shine."

God says, "Purity sweeps away darkness."

God says that true faith guards the light.

God says that believers are sheltered.

God says, "Faith is the only way to believe in peace." ”

Taken together, these words are often referred to as the "First Oracle." Almost everyone who believes in the Most High God can recite this first edict. To this day, bishops, priests, priests, and other clergy recite the mantra together with the faithful in various ceremonies and ceremonies held in religious churches, large and small, as well as in daily ceremonies and ceremonies.

And that Sherauer I, on the basis of this oracle, uttered the famous theory of the unity of the state religion -- "Believers join the Church, believe in the country and build themselves, the state is the religion, the religion is the country, and the light shines forever."

Since then, the kingdom has become the first kingdom of faith on the Eastern Continent. In the following history, due to the strong intervention of religious churches, the situation on the mainland became more complicated and difficult to solve. The curtain of the Ten Kings Age was officially opened.

A series of religious affairs surrounding the accession of Farus II and the state religion of the kingdom are considered to be one of the major political events that profoundly affected the course of human history. The religious church, which has been dormant for hundreds of years, finally took this opportunity to move from the stage to the stage. The entire Eastern Continent, including several major races other than human beings, are unable to extricate themselves from the whirlpool of history because of the still entangled struggle between royal power and divine power that continues to this day.

Of course, examining these past histories will not help Catherine out of her predicament. Even if the Supreme God really has the ability to capture the paradise of the heavenly realm, the female mage herself does not believe in him. Therefore, the picture of the "Gospel of the True God Catching Heaven" is simple and monotonous, and it is not at all as sacred and transcendent as depicted in the "Divine Language". Even the great Supreme God was a little dwarfed and old in Catherine's imagination.

The man pulls the chains that catch the sky, and from time to time makes a "boom" sound, like a puppet doing repetitive movements.

But the dull sound seems to have some effect. Catherine felt that the heat of the flames had decreased, and the eyes of the huge fire face seemed to be hypnotized, and she wanted to close her heavy eyelids.

"Not enough, not enough. The mage giggled, "Then have more." ”

Catherine slowly straightened out in laughter, her hands and feet gradually filling with flesh again. The female mage moved her whole body, she turned her neck, kicked her legs, waved her hands, and the soft "clucking" between the bones was endless.

Catherine's body magically began to grow taller and larger. A wild smile appeared on her face. She opened her mouth wide and shifted her jaw, then bit hard, making a loud tooth tapping sound.

The female mage's body rose higher and higher, like a tree seed, breaking through the ground and growing into a towering tree in a few minutes. No, Catherine is now taller and more powerful than a towering tree. Her clothes have faded at some point, and her whole body is naked = naked and fit. She seems to be growing all the time, and she has great power in every move.

The top of the world where the supreme god stood was now only up to Catherine's waist, and the man on the top of the mountain was even more inconspicuous. Catherine snatched the chain of catching the sky. The iron chain immediately became thicker and brighter in her hand, as if a silk thread had turned into a thick python in the blink of an eye. The huge chain links swelled like small mountains, and lightning and fire burst out from them.

Catherine wrapped the chain around her wrist and pulled it down hard. The chain was torn straight in an instant, but there was no sound. Half a second later, the space around the chain was flooded with wavy floating shadows, followed by a loud "boom" sound, and the floating shadows spread out like a stormy wave.

The waves were raging, and the astonishing momentum had already dimmed its flames before they even hit the flame's face. The eyes on the fire face stopped moving in vain and opened wide. Its pupils dilated to an unprecedentedly large size, taking up almost half of its entire face. It is filled with endless darkness, bottomless, like an abyss at the end of the world, capable of swallowing everything past, present, and future.

With a "buzz", the floating shadow crashed into the face of the flames. The flames that were originally burning were all extinguished in an instant. The entire scorching space also became extremely cold, and a biting cold wind blew.

The face of the flames had vanished without a trace, leaving only one huge eye in place. Around its pupils, a circle of black flames was still dancing. The whole space seemed to be covered with a black veil, and all its brilliance was lost at once.

Catherine laughed, her laughter shrill and high-pitched, her whole face contorted with excitement. The female mage suddenly grabbed the chain with both hands and pulled it hard. The lightning on the chain link flashed violently, and then emitted a dazzling burst of lightning, and the giant chain that seemed to be thick and sturdy was easily broken by her.

The mage seemed pleased with her strength, and she waved the broken chain, like a child who had been given a new toy, playing with joy. Violent lightning shot out from the chains, making the space suddenly bright again.

Catherine had a lot of fun. She picked up the chain and smashed it to the top of the world behind her. This legendary sacred mountain in the terrestrial world was shattered in three blows and two blows.

The mage laughed happily again, but she didn't seem to be enjoying it yet. She turned to look at the huge eye floating not far away, stepped forward, and the next moment it was already in front of the eye.

Catherine raised her chain and slammed it into her pupils. The eyes seemed to have known their fate for a long time, and they watched indifferently at the crazy actions of the female mage.

But Catherine's attack didn't have the desired effect. The female mage slammed into the pupil fiercely, but even the human chain flipped into it at once, and fell into the boundless darkness of the pupil.