Within a secret underground room within the capital of Cayden, Chengyu, two people were present, whispering to each other to avoid unnecessary issues.
"Hey, do you think this will work? After all, almost all of the population has surrendered to them, and no matter how hard we try and convince those who have submitted, no matter what sort of bribes or threats we give them, they refuse to give up on their faith."
"This is the best we can do. We were given orders to mess up the plans of the church by whatever means necessary. And we are achieving our goal. We do not need to worry about failing to stop the church."
"Is that so?" At this moment, an ethereal and slightly robotic voice sounded out, causing the two men to stiffen their bodies as they looked around vigilantly, searching for the source of the voice, with their daggers removed.
However, before they could react, the knives in their hands, and all of the weapons within their bodies had been completely destroyed, reduced to fine dust, as a dashing figure in a white suit walked out from nowhere.
He took out off his white hat, and after placing it in front of his chest, gave a slight bow to the while introducing himself.
"It is I, SPU, the humble servant of the very Lord you fools have been trying to impede."
However, before he could say anything else, he received a command from Jack, causing him to stiffen for a moment before the white light that made up his face flickered slightly, revealing a smile on an empty face, making a really creepy scene.
"My Lord has commanded me not to kill you people. Therefore, none of you shall die this day. However, all of you, will have to submit to the Lord."
"NEVER!" one of the men stated as he dashed towards SPU, only to realise his body had stopped moving as he was now hovering in mid-air.
"You do not have any options, not even death is an option. Whatever my Lord commands, shall happen. That is what a command means. Do you fools not understand such simple logic?" SPU questioned as the smile vanished from his face. [1]
"You!" the man frozen in mid-air spoke, but was cut off by SPU once more.
"Just submit quickly, I have to go and make everyone else within your little cult to submit in secret as well. But once you do that, you need to continue your operations just as they were before, following my Lord's instructions. Oh yes, also tell me who gave you this mission, and everyone else involved."
SPU initially came here to get the name of the mastermind behind this resistance force, as well as to completely annihilate them. However, Jack, who also got to know about this told him not to kill them, and instead make them all submit to him, before continuing to resist, forcing all newcomers to also submit to the system in secret, while resisting it in the open.
This way, any power wanting to stir up trouble in Cayden would likely contact and support this resistance force. Why? Because he had read about stuff like this happening multiple times already. You would make a small enemy while trying to grow. The already established powers would support said enemy until it grows to actually threaten you, and finally overtake you, before said enemy is destroyed as well by the outside powers, allowing them to benefit the most while sacrificing the least, and greatly reducing the possibility of the world finding out what they were doing in secret.
But now, that enemy was actually not an enemy, but was just acting like one. So even if it grew to the size where it could overthrow the church, it would still be part of the church. SPU had to admit, something like this had not occurred to it, since it was extremely inefficient to do so, just killing everyone would be faster. However, this resistance force would be able to merge together with any other new resisting forces, either internal or external, slowly forcing them all to become part of the church.
Essentially, he was setting up a Shadow Church, which would actually be part of the church, but seem as though they were resisting it on the surface, even to the members within the Shadow church.
"You should also come up with a good name for yourselves, one that is not too stupid, not too over the top. Something simple." SPU said as he freed the two leaders of the resistance who had now divulged all the information SPU wanted, and already accepted their new faith.
Within a moment, SPU's figure vanished and the two leaders sighed in their hearts, 'What sort of monster was the church's pope, and were there more like him?'