89 Saint Baptism Ritual Conclusion (1/2)

After God had left, the Saintess still remained in the divine palace, kneeling with the Pope and the twelve blessed Saints. They all continued praying to God.

They did not stop praying there until after dawn. Within a single day, they had undergone many earth-shattering transformations. Newly rejuvenated, the Saints and the Pope Hodap now seemed to be emitting divine radiance.

Although they did not speak or test their new powers, everyone knew that the Saints were no longer ordinary humans. They had now become completely new existences.

Pope Hodap stood at the center of the crowd, making an announcement. ”I declare the first day of January as the Baptism Day of the Church of Light. It will be the most important festival of the Church of Light. On this day, everyone must pray to and praise God, thanking them for bringing us into the new year with hope and glory.”

As baptism ritual ended, news of the events of the day began spreading. Many people gossiped about the appearance of God and the midnight sun which the whole world had seen. The entire continent was talking about it, making the influence of the Church of Light even more formidable.

Moreover, the influence of the divine incantations and the Saints extended even further. As time passed, their influences would expand, gradually affecting all of Maria's World.

The Healing ability of the Saints could bring patients back from the brink of death, which caused the whole world to go wild. However, even though this ability had miraculous effects on physical wounds, it was somewhat useless against certain diseases. Nevertheless, since it was effective enough on most common diseases, most people found this more than adequate.

The Church proclaimed that the divine incantations could cure all diseases and bring the dead back to life. For those who could not be treated, they were said to have reached the end of their destined lifespan, similar to those who died of old age.

The other divine incantation was called the Judgement of Light. It was the legendary divine spell used for slaying devils. All heretics and sinners who possessed evil within their hearts would be burned by the Judgment of Light, until not even the last particle of their ashes remained. Even their souls would burn for eternity within the holy flames.

The Saints demonstrated their divine incantations. Then, the baptized bishops rushed back to their parishes in order to exhibit their miracles. The believers of the Church also increased dramatically, and former skeptics were converted into devout fanatics. This sort of orchestrated charity for the sick and the poor was very effective in convincing the lower classes into believing in the existence of the gods. They were taught that, as long as they believed in God, they would eventually escape from their suffering and ascend into the kingdom of gods.

The Church of Light was on track to conquer the entire human world. After Elliot VIII suppressed the rebels and the Gathering of Nobles within the Crete Empire, the leadership of the entire empire went through a huge period of change, from top to bottom, which even affected some of the smaller surrounding nations.

During this period, a large number of nobles were captured and killed, including many high ranking nobles, such as the earls and the marquises. The Gathering of Nobles suffered heavy losses, but due to the quick reaction of the secret leaders of the Gathering, they avoided total annihilation. In particular, they were able to maintain their secrecy and prevent their list of members from being exposed. In this way, the rest of the organization quickly hid themselves and were not captured.

The other faiths that had been hiding and protected by the Gathering of Nobles could no longer survive in the central province or any of the nearby human kingdoms. Under the intense persecution of the Church, many of their high ranking clergy were arrested and tried by the Judges of Light. Obviously found guilty, they were then tied to execution platforms and burnt alive. Those few who managed to survive fled to the Tuten Dynasty in the east and the Batko Empire of the desert.