Universe Infinite Canteen

"Prophet Yongyi prophesied the apocalypse three hundred years hence and thus, he and his disciples and believers established the Holy Temple City on this land as the final refuge for humanity."

"At first, people laughed at them, deeming it the mad ravings of a religious charlatan, but when Green Hell truly descended, this city preserved the last spark of civilization."

"Just as Yongyi had predicted, a group of young women from among the humans awakened to special abilities after the catastrophe and became witches."

"Among them, Prophet Weise's daughter was the most powerful. She called herself Red Dragon, harboring a terrifyingly destructive force within her that could kill energized plants with her bare hands without relying on any weapons."

"She was like the demigod heroes of myth, immediately becoming an idol to many young people in the city. At that time, humans and witches joined forces to combat the energized plants."

"Humans took responsibility for researching weapons and equipment the witches could use, providing them with support and dealing with the side effects they suffered from using magic power, while the witches fought on the front lines against the energized plants, scavenged for resources, and protected the ordinary people within the city." Continue reading on empire

"That period could be described as a honeymoon phase for the relationship between the two groups, as the sudden disaster tightly united everyone."

"But Red Dragon was not satisfied with just being a hero, especially as she came to deeply understand the vastness of her powers and how insignificant mortals were. Her ambition began to grow uncontrollably."

"Like all politicians in history, her first step was to find her supporters, unite them, and convert them into a force that would obey only her."

"This was not difficult for her. Besides her, there were over thirty witches in the Holy Temple City at the time, all of whom respected and idolized Red Dragon and possessed powers far beyond the ordinary."

"Red Dragon almost effortlessly recruited them all under her command, as they were already comrades in arms. Of course, this was not enough. As a political group, they also needed a political platform."

"Red Dragon painted a tremendously enticing vision for the witches—a world where witches would ascend from mortal bodies to divinity."

"To achieve this, they first had to take over the Church, using the Church's influence to propagate decrees in the name of the Master of Order, and indoctrinate the believers that the witches' magic power stemmed from the divine blood within them."

"Red Dragon declared that the witches were daughters of the Master of Order, sent to save the world, and thus, ordinary people should serve them just as they would serve a deity."

"According to Red Dragon, apart from the holy witches, all humans were born sinful. This apocalypse was a judgment upon humanity, and survival necessitated atonement... How does that sound? Familiar at all?"

"The witches' original sin theory?" Ma Lu raised an eyebrow, "But a version for the ordinary people?"

"History is also a circle; be wary of the blade swung in the past, for it aims towards your tomorrow."

The old nun continued, "Let's return to the events of the 14th Holy Year, Red Dragon was almost successful. The disaster had just occurred, and the Church's organization was not as well-developed as it is today."

"The Sacred Order of Knights had been established for less than three years, the Power Armor had not yet been developed successfully, and the Church had just trained its first batch of knights. They trained extremely hard and their faith was unwavering and fearless. However, no matter how hard they tried, they could not harm the Energized Plants.

"Therefore, they could only take on reconnaissance and logistical tasks, serving the witches, but even so, they still performed very bravely on the battlefield and were the pride of humanity.

"But to control the Church, the Red Dragon used just one piece of false information to lead to the complete destruction of the entire Order of Knights. Those young people followed the Red Dragon's orders, holding their position steadfastly even though support was continuously delayed, but they fought to the last moment, spilling every last drop of blood."

"After that tragic battle, the Church lost nearly all its armed forces, and even though the remaining people had realized the conspiracy between the Red Dragon and those witches, they were powerless to stop it.

"It seemed only a matter of time before they became deities, but at the crucial moment, an ordinary person from the Weaponry Department stood up.

"She was different from the others; she had distrusted those witches from the start, believing that inflated power would surely bring inflated ambition.

"Moreover, the most critical point was that the witches' power far surpassed that of humans. Without constraints, even without the Red Dragon, should other ambitious figures arise in the future, it would put humanity in a very passive position. Thus, she secretly created the Ring of Order, as a means to counterbalance the witches,"

"Of course, the Red Dragon and her witches would not simply comply, so she devised a method by presenting the Ring of Order as a divine necklace to the Red Dragon.

"Led personally by Prophet Weise, a grand banquet was organized. Weise knelt on the ground, crowned his daughter, and kissed her toes, but in fact, he placed an eternal shackle on the witch lineage."

"Now, you have finally learned the truth you longed for, and also understand why the Church is so cautious of the witches."

A cold smirk appeared on the corner of Thorn Hawk's mouth, "As the blade of the Church, the guardian of humanity, I hope you will also remember your mission in the future and not let down the blood shed by those pioneers."

Ma Lu retorted, "Why was this event erased from the "Chronicles of the Holy Temple City"?"

"Because it was a stain for Prophet Weise, to deceive the Red Dragon, he swore to the Master of Order that it was a gift meant for the deity; otherwise, even as his daughter, the Red Dragon and the other witches would not have been so easily deceived.

""Moreover, after that event, the Church also reevaluated its attitude towards the witches, increasing control over them, not just physically, but also mentally, to completely prevent another Red Dragon incident from occurring."

The old nun paused, "Despite the Church's intention to play down the events of the 14th Holy Year by erasing them from the "Chronicles of the Holy Temple City", and even making the Red Dragon's name taboo today,

"the deep-seated impact still continues, as once the seed of doubt is sown, it cannot be eradicated.

"The Church's actions against the witches are not about justice; this is a war between races."

Thorn Hawk said, "As long as the witches still possess great power, humanity's fear and caution towards them will never cease."