"From this moment on, Andromeda Island is officially erased from this world." Tossing to the ground the chains in his hand that had already been torn into several pieces, Chris looked at the dying Albiore on the ground and said.
"This is the fate of those who make enemies of us Berserkers. We'll see just how many forces you Saints still have left under the Sanctuary. Rest assured, Lord Ares will lead us to destroy them all. Hahaha—cough, cough, cough."
As Chris laughed maniacally in triumph, he accidentally pulled at his own wounds, and a stab of pain twisted his face.
Although the battle of Andromeda Island had ultimately ended in victory for the Berserkers, Albiore was, after all, a Saint with Gold‑level combat strength. Chris had paid no small price to bring him down, but to Berserkers who lived and breathed slaughter, that was nothing worth mentioning.
"Don't think your delusions will come true. It's not just the Sanctuary. All over this world there are branches stronger than I am—cough, cough—like Death Queen Island in the Pacific, and the Pamir Plateau, and... They will definitely butcher every last one of you damned Berserkers." Albiore seemed to expend the last of his strength to get these words out, then slumped over to the side.
"Death Queen Island, huh? Looks like that one's been handed over to the 'Terror' Legion to deal with. While the Terror Legion isn't the strongest of the Four Great Legions, they're by far the most vicious. Pray for your comrades' good luck. Hmph, mere Saints..." Chris did not take to heart the final words Albiore uttered before his death. After leaving behind the insignia of the Ares Legion to show that this was their work, he summoned the Berserkers who had come with him and withdrew.
What he did not know was that the Ares Legion, which had practically swept away every Sanctuary branch force across the globe, had taken a severe beating in the two places Albiore had just mentioned.
One was the Pamir Plateau, where talented Saints appeared in an endless stream, and where, in every Holy War, several people with Gold Saint aptitude would emerge.
The other was Death Queen Island, birthplace of the Dark Saints and now the main base of the Black Iron Saints.
In particular, the troops dispatched to Death Queen Island had been completely wiped out; not a single survivor escaped.
Even the commander of the Terror Legion had ultimately fallen there.
That place had been under the Chimera Ant Corps' rule for more than ten years. It housed not only countless Black Iron Saints with Bronze‑Saint‑level strength, but also some of the Chimera Ant Corps' guards lurking in the shadows.
Even though the Ares Legion had suffered heavy losses at those two powers, the Sanctuary's branches in other regions of the world were left grievously weakened. While none had been uprooted as brutally as Andromeda Island, in the end very few Saint candidates were left alive.
It could truly be called a bloodbath, especially for Albiore, who in the original Saga Rebellion should have died and who, in the end, still fell on the battlefield. Compared with dying at the hands of his own people, however, to die in battle for Athena was far more glorious for Albiore.
A pity that a Silver‑class expert with Gold‑level strength thus perished.
"Your Holiness... The Sicily branch of the Saints has been attacked by an unknown force. Among the fallen Saint candidates, the Silver Saint... is dead."
"Your Holiness... The Greenland branch of the Saints has been attacked by an unknown force. Several Saint candidates have been lost; among them, the Silver Saint... is dead."
"Your Holiness... At the Saints' branch in the Pyrenees of Spain, three Bronze Saints... are dead."
In this high‑tech age of rapid information transfer, the Sanctuary received calls for help the moment the Berserkers attacked these Saint branches.
However, by the time they dispatched the appropriate Saints to the scenes, everything was already over. Since the Sanctuary's greatest enemy, the Underworld, showed no sign of activity, the Gold Saints were not allowed to leave the Sanctuary unless the situation was critical.
At present, apart from Cancer's Deathmask and several Silver Saints, who had been sent to Asgard to monitor the movements of the God Warriors, only Libra's Dohko remained on the Five Old Peaks. The other ten Gold Saints were all standing guard within the Sanctuary.
Incidentally, the Five Old Peaks had also come under attack from Berserkers. Of course, the Berserkers ended in defeat, because a group of warriors in strange black armor who called themselves Diao Taoists intervened and cut down all the intruders.
Naturally, this group calling themselves Diao Taoists were also members of the Chimera Ant Corps secretly arranged there by Meruem; otherwise, that bunch of Diao Taoists in the Immortal Realm, whose combat power was barely 5, would never have been able to take down Berserkers.
It is worth mentioning that in the world of the Saints, almost every mythology that had existed in Meruem's previous life could be found, along with the corresponding gods, buddhas, demons, and monsters. Although, apart from the Olympian pantheon, they were basically all in a fallen state, at least they had once existed.
The only exception was that in the world of the Saints there was not the slightest trace of the Chinese Federation's mythological system. Let alone the Three Pure Ones, the Three Teachings, or the Heavenly Court, there was not even a legend of the Underworld. The only thing that could barely be connected with immortals was the White Dragon and his group of Diao Taoists in the Immortal Realm.
Yet White Dragon was not an immortal, and the Diao Taoists were not cultivators.
It was truly bizarre.
Kanon, who had already become Pope, looked with a throbbing headache at the stack after stack of documents handed to him. He had only just taken office, and something like this had already happened, which left him feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Of course, he was also seething with anger inside. What a joke—every single one of those documents represented the death of Saints. Those were all the fresh blood of the Sanctuary and its core strength.
Stifling his frustration, Kanon clenched his fists so tightly that the veins on his forehead stood out clearly. He truly wanted to disregard everything and declare an all‑out war on Ares. However, he could not do that; he was only the Pope and could not speak on Athena's behalf.
The key point was that this was the very first major matter he had to rule on since becoming Pope, so he had to consider it very carefully.
Being Pope required more than just great strength. It also demanded strategic vision as well as command and judgment. Many Saints had their eyes on the Pope's seat, waiting for Kanon to make a mistake so they could rise to power.
"Convene the Council of the Twelve Gold Saints! And request that the Goddess and Meruem attend as well." After pacing back and forth in the Pope's Hall for a long time, deep in thought, Kanon finally spoke to his mystic strategist of the Sanctuary.
"Is there even anything to think about? They've already come knocking at our door, so of course we strike back!" At the Council of the Twelve Gold Saints, Meruem stated his opinion.
At the same time, Saori also put on the wreath of thorns that symbolized battle and valor.
Give him an inch and he thinks he can take a mile; Ares was nothing more than a loser who had already been defeated once.
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