The Demon Emperor was Saint Emperor

Chapter 116: Destroy to Rebuild

After sending off Lynn and the others, Helena summoned the team led by Sifrin from the Light Church Court in the Golden Hall.

The headquarters of the Light Church Court is located in Light City, the Imperial City of the Light Empire, but it does not actually belong to the jurisdiction of the Light Empire; it is an independent institution.

In fact, within any Empire, the Divine Hall and royal power are separate, for example, in the Celestial Destiny Empire, the Celestial Destiny Divine Hall is only responsible for sacrificial ceremonies and does not interfere with Empire affairs at all, not even needing to be notified for the ascension of a new emperor. The reason is simple: clergy are merely followers of deities, while royal families of major empires are actually descendants of True Gods.

You’ve never heard of a young master needing to seek the opinion of a steward to inherit the family estate, especially since there is no reigning Saint Emperor in the Celestial Destiny Divine Hall, making its presence even more negligible.

But there are different situations, like the Light Church Court, although it similarly cannot directly interfere in the affairs of the Light Empire, it possesses extremely high status across the entire Divine Protection Continent as the strongest force on the continent.

Moreover, as the Divine Hall serving the Light God, the Light Church Court is the pinnacle of faith on the continent, given that the great Light God stands as the King of Gods, the only one at the very top of the Pantheon as His Majesty the God King.

At the inception of the Light Empire, the Light God was not yet a Divine King, so His descendants were merely common Divine Blood Nobility, but with the passage of time, the Light God King has ascended to the top of the Divine Realm, and His descendants did not tarnish His name, successfully claiming the throne of the First Empire in Miracle World.

And this is not the most crucial aspect; the truly important part is that because the Light God became a King in the Divine Realm, naturally, as His divine authority representative in Miracle World, the Light Church Court also possesses jurisdiction over various Divine Halls.

Since the royal families of the Eight Great Empires are descendants of True Gods, theoretically, apart from the royals of the Light Empire, the royal families of the other Seven Great Empires must also submit to the jurisdiction of the Light Church Court.

However, out of respect for the Seven Main Gods, the Light Church Court has yet to truly exercise this right to this day.

Yet just because it is unused doesn’t mean anyone can actually consider it nonexistent.

Therefore, when summoning the Light Empire’s envoy, Helena put on airs befitting a sovereign, but when meeting with Sifrin, she could only interact on equal status.

A proud Empress of an Empire can only stand equal to the Saintess of the Light Church Court; should she meet the Saint Emperor as the Pope, even Helena would have to bow and address him as Your Majesty.

"Sifrin Windsor of the Light Church Court, pays respect to Her Majesty the Celestial Mandate Empress."

Invited into the Golden Hall with utmost respect, Sifrin marveled at the extravagant grandeur of the Celestial Destiny Emperor, far surpassing that of the Light Emperor, yet she politely paid her respects to the Celestial Mandate Empress first.

Although she could entirely forgo bowing to an Emperor, Sifrin seized the situation with restraint during official matters without letting things fall loose.

"You are too courteous, Princess Sifrin. We are of similar age; no need for formality. Simply call me sister."

Helena did not sit high upon the Imperial Throne but stood within the hall, overwhelmed by the affairs of the Celestial Destiny Empire, not wanting to incur dissatisfaction from the Light Church Court due to an overly high posture.

"That’s true. You are the sister of my cousin... Catherine, so it’s reasonable for us to call each other sisters."

Upon hearing Helena’s words, Sifrin quickly agreed.

Whether she referred to sisterhood because of Catherine or something else, Helena was unsure.

"Now, Sister Helena, I’ve brought the people Catherine lent us, numbering three thousand. It’s enough to deal with the mess in the Celestial Destiny Empire. But, are you truly determined? You must know that destruction is easy; rebuilding is extremely hard."

Approaching the main topic, Sifrin shed her playful demeanor. She came, besides her three attendants brought into the Golden Hall, with three thousand troops stationed in Celestial Destiny City, all borrowed or rented from Catherine and the Light Church Court upon Helena’s request.

Don’t underestimate just three thousand troops; even compared to the military forces counting in tens of thousands, the Light Church Court’s forces can easily confront ten thousand troops anywhere.

After all, the judgment mission of the Light Judgment Hall ranks among the top three forces on the Divine Protection Continent, alongside the Divine Hall Knight Order and Holy Hall Knights also from the Light Church Court.

Even the fourth-ranked force also stems from the Light Church Court, its Divine Mage troops. They rank fourth not due to weakness, but because qualified Divine Mages are too scarce, barely forming a thousand-member team, insufficient to compete for the top three.

"Without breaking, there is no establishing; cutting away rotten flesh is only a temporary fix, but only by severing the root cause can the Empire be saved. I have long been prepared either to save the nation and its people from misery or to become the ruler of a fallen nation."

Facing Sifrin, Helena spoke with determined eyes.

Though having the Light Judgment Hall intervene could lead her Empire to rivers of blood, rather than allowing future generations to be exploited, draining dry the blood of those deserving might be a better choice.

Since blood will be shed, let it be the bad blood, the pus; when these are washed away, only fresh blood remains in the veins of the Empire.

Even if this reckless method may bring the Empire to the brink of collapse...

"Since Sister has such resolve, give the command, and three thousand Light Judges are ready to mobilize at any corner of the Celestial Destiny Empire!"

Sifrin’s expression was uncommonly serious. Truthfully, this wasn’t the first time the Light Judgment Hall was sent to execute tasks in foreign lands, but its scope and intensity were unprecedented.

When Catherine arrived at the Light Church Court to relay the Celestial Mandate Empress’s request, many, including Sifrin, thought perhaps the Celestial Mandate Empress had gone mad, daring to dig at her own nation’s roots. She wasn’t merely cutting flesh but extracting bone and marrow; should she succeed, she may scrape clean the deeply entrenched illness, but should she fail, it would be her ruin.

And the odds between the two were not proportionate; the likelihood of successful reform is minuscule, even granting her 10% is generous, whereas the probability of failure is as high as 90%, even saying that is understated.

Frankly, if not for the gratitude owed to the mysterious protector beside the Celestial Mandate Empress who saved Catherine’s life, even with the unprecedented price offered by the Celestial Mandate Empress, the Saint Emperor of Light wouldn’t have agreed to this endeavor, notwithstanding the Light Judgment Hall’s primary role is to punish and eradicate evil.

They are embodiments of justice, but not justice itself, unable to battle every single evil to the death.