Chapter 557: We Fight For What We Believe In!

The Church’s sudden display of aggression made the Voidwalkers second-guess their decision. As Baiyi, who they considered a tyrannical bastard, was not around to boss them around, the Archmage had to fill in as leader. “Look, saving Noirciel is a must. We may be able to consider our position on other things, but not on saving Noirciel.”

The First Voidwalker then glared at the Cleric Walker and Paladin Walker, both of whom felt cold sweat dripping down their backs.

“You do realize that without our tyrannical admin, fighting a group of Angels will be very troublesome, right?” The Charlatan Walker said.

“Be that as it may, angels aren’t entirely invincible,” the Archmage solemnly replied. “Back when my protégé had zero experience in fighting angels, he was still able to defeat Noirciel when she was still the mighty representative of the God of Time.”

The first walker waved the documents in his hand. “These creatures might be powerful, but they do have weak spots. We just need to find those spots and capitalize on them.”

“But, is it really worth it? Look, aren’t we doing all this just to get ourselves a cheerleader?” The Merchant Walker asked nervously. As one of the few Voidwalkers that did not specialize in combat, the thought of engaging in violence did not sit well with this Voidwalker.

“Noirciel was initially intended to be cheerleader, but now that the gods have bared their fangs, she is something more. She knows everything that we need to know about the gods and other occupants of the Divine Realm. Do I have to remind you all that no matter what happens in the future, rebelling against the beings in the Divine Realm is our calling?” The Archmage replied. “I think I speak for everyone here when I say that no one wants to leave in fear of the gods’ attack. If you agree, then find your strength and courage within yourself!”

The workload born by the Voidwalkers had greatly increased, but they had to continue their search for a vessel good enough to store Noirciel’s powers. They also had to quickly find and understand the secrets hidden with the complex angel summoning ritual; they had to find its weaknesses and come up with ways to exploit them. Furthermore, they had to make their preparations for the impending war.

Two days later, the Church, with feigned righteousness, officially declared war on the Voidwalkers. The Archibishop of Cannigham stood on a podium in front of the Canningham Basilica, giving a lengthy speech.

He read out every “sin” that the Voidwalkers had committed against the Church. The accusations included “meddling into state government affairs” and “inciting immorality among impressionable youths”. Hundreds of alleged criminal activity was read aloud. One would think that the Voidwalkers had broken every commandment listed in the Scriptures.

The Archbishop’s accusations did not stop there. He implied that the world was nearing an apocalypse, which he blamed the Voidwalkers for bringing about. To him, these demons had to slain now, and this purge was a righteous cause that good people must support.

If one was to pay attention to the accusations being read out, they would realize that many of them were just preposterous. This included the accusations that Da Xue was created to groom underage girls, who would then be sold to pedophiles — and that its female students were regularly harassed sexually. Only the first three proclamations were worthy of any rational person’s attention, as those were essentially the gods’ declaration by proxy.

“Tylemus the God of Time condemned the Voidwalkers’ desire for His powers and their arrogance for interfering with His matters. Krachlon the God of Nature has condemned the Voidwalkers’ disregard for the boundary between divine beings and mortals, which caused them to blaspheme against the gods and their laws…”

These seemed to be the real reasons why the gods were angry.

After listing out the allegations, the Archbishop called for the Voidwalkers to confess and submissively face their due punishment from the Church. The Archbishop did not mention anyone else but the Voidwalkers. It was as though they were giving other organizations some room to distance themselves from the Voidwalkers and the trouble they were in.

The Voidwalkers gathered again when they learned of the reasons for the gods’ anger.

“Apparently, we ‘blasphemed’ against some gods. How? By trying to save Noirciel’s life? It makes even less sense for them to accuse of us trying to steal their powers. Have we interacted with this Tyle-who before?”

“Well, Noirciel was his vassal, right? She was demoted and punished for using that fella’s power without his permission, so this, in some way, makes us guilty? Okay, I don’t know how to stretch that Nature God’s case.”

“Oh! Do you remember the Abyss Lord that we fought a few years ago? Could that be… Even if this is the reason for his anger, it’s been a decade already! Are gods this petty?”

“Well, whatever the case may be, we need to explain our situation to our students,” the Archmage said.

All the students and staff of Da Xue were quickly briefed. “None of the Church’s allegations are true, and I’m sure that those of you that have been with Da Xue all these years can testify to that. Nevertheless, we didn’t host this meeting to proclaim our innocence. We will not plead guilty, neither will we submit to them,” the Archmage said. “We have decided to raise our weapons in retaliation!

“This is our war, not yours. We are the targets, not you — for now. Thus, we do not need any of you to fight with us. I am confident that we will prevail in the end, but at this moment, there is nothing to prove that,” the Archmage called out. “Furthermore, we expect this to be a difficult battle, in which we will suffer more casualties than we ever have. For your safety, you all should leave; we will not hold this against you. Just remember to come back to school once the war is over.”

The Archmage could have chosen to detain a few noble kids as hostages to threaten the Church with, but the Voidwalkers did not need to resort to such underhanded methods to win. The war was waged against them, so no third party would be dragged into the fray!

The hall was silent for a second, after which a cacophony of panicked voices broke out in the usually orderly Da Xue. In the three days that followed, students and staff hurriedly packed and left Da Xue.

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As promised, the Voidwalkers did not give them grief as they did this. Some of these students worshipped at the Church and could not stand at odds with it. Many other students were the heirs of their family, so in order to avoid an untimely death, they chose not to participate in the dangerous war that was to come. A few students wished to fight alongside the Voidwalkers, but their families would not let them; this annoyed them.

The students and staff of Da Xue were not the targets of the Church, so they could stay out, and many did. However, a third of the students refused to leave, so the Archmage called them over to ask why.

“What else do we have if we lose Da Xue?”

“Fight the Church and the legendary angels? Hell yea! If I leave now, I’ll never get the chance to participate in such an epic battle!”

“I don’t really have a reason, sir; I just really love this place. I really love Da Xue..”

“I’ve been a teacher here for ten years. This is my home! I can’t possibly stand and watch get destroyed by invaders!”

Some of Da Xue’s alumni— led by Tim Wolt, who owned a platinum necklace personally awarded by Baiyi — reapplied to Da Xue just so they could participate.

The Archmage called over this group, too, and when they were done making their case, he frowned at one of the smartest ex-students in the group. “Are you brats out of your mind?! Get outta here! We don’t need you, you, or you! We don’t need any of you! You brats have a promising future ahead of you, so ignore this petty squabble between adults!”

The first Voidwalker could not bear to imagine the best and brightest of the young generation needlessly sacrificing themselves in such a senseless war.

“Please, sir, give me a chance to repay my academy!” Tim exclaimed in protest. “I just can’t watch the place that had brought me so much happiness, the place where I was nurtured for a better future, get threatened and torched down!”

“Torched down? Kid, are you high on something?” The Archmage asked, waving off his concern. “To us, this is just a stupid little squabble. We can end without the help of little punks.”

“Ah, so this is just a ‘stupid little squabble’? I guess there’s even less reason to not let us fight, right?” Tim said, grinning. “After all, a stupid little squabble can’t be too dangerous, can it? It’s settled; we’re joining the fight, lads!”

The Archmage was speechless. He had not expected the punk to use his own words against him.

“Sir, Da Xue is a sacred ground for us,” Tim said. “We will fight for what we believe in, and we believe in Da Xue. If we die, we die as men and women of conviction!”

The Archmage could only listen in stunned silence.

Another ex-student that was bestowed a platinum necklace, Eisenrose, was towering above her older lookalike in the latter’s office. The former Knights’ faculty student had managed to perform magnificently in her final exam, so she was awarded the necklace by the end of the semester.

“Why are you here?!” Attie shouted as she looked at her then-favorite student, who was now much taller than her, as she was still a loli. An expression of worry emerged on Attie’s face.

“This war, you’ll get involved in, right?” Eisenrose, whose gaze was fixed on Attie, replied in a low voice. “I was worried about you, so I came back.”

“But, this is beyond any academy test you have taken, and it’s definitely not some epic battle in a young adult’s novel! Do you know how powerful angels are?” Attie frowned. “Just one was enough to send Principal Hope flying! That means they are way, way above my league!”

Eisenrose did not flinch at that. “You once told us that we’ll never lose as long as the enemies’ attacks don’t hit us. Besides, if Da Xue loses, I don’t think they’ll let us off the hook, either, professor.”

“Excuse you! Those of the Void never loses!” Attie walked forward and began to give her favorite ex-student a stern talking-to.

Similar conversations were taking place across Da Xue. Most of the alumni were the favorite students of some Voidwalkers, so they came over the instant they heard that their favorite teachers were about to fight the Church. These bright kids knew nothing of the danger than angels posed, but they understood that the war would bring about great degrees of danger.

This did not deter them, though. They were not even scared of death. Profit, power, and a promising future were very important to some people, but these kids had other things that they valued more.

“Urgh, these kids are all so young, weak, and foolish! However, inside their chests are hearts that beat with mettle,” the Archmage said with a sigh, looking at the students that had chosen to remain behind.

“Is there anything that can make an instructor prouder?”

In the end, one thousand and thirty-three individuals had decided to stay back in their beloved academy and fight.