Sword in hand, Leah Yakaran faced Carlo, the man she once respected immeasurably.
"Uncle Carlo …"
"Your Highness, I was the one who taught you your swordsmanship, and I know every move you make," Carlo said coldly. "You should know very well that you have no chance against me."
Though she had no intention of surrendering, the girl was at a loss.
Her mother had died in childbirth and her father had passed away when she was young. When she was young, many in the palace believed that it was the consequence of her grandfather Yakaran the Eleventh's lack of belief in the gods, and saw her as a blasphemer despite having survived. Even if they hid it well, the girl could still notice that they hated her and wanted to keep their distance.
One could say that the closest person to Leah in her childhood was her grandfather, the fallen ruler of Tierra.
Her grandfather, who was known as the King of Blindness and Stupidity, believed that the gods were parasites of the world. Though they were far more powerful than humans, they were of no help to the development of the world, humans, or civilization. In fact, their thirst for human belief was an obstacle to progress, which was why he became a non-believer and created the Church of Games as a national religion to deceive the public.
The reason he chose 'games' as a disguise for his faith was that Yakaran the Eleventh believed that entertainment was necessary to improve national happiness and relax people after heavy work.
And that was the truth. During Yakaran the Eleventh's reign, Tierra's national power surpassed that of several neighboring countries combined.
And yet, that was the source of the calamity.
Holding a vessel filled with gold and gems and having no power to protect it, it was only natural that others would covet it.
Though Tierra had shocking wealth, it did not have a god that could protect it. Against the armies of other countries that were blessed by a god, the army of mortals was defeated even if they had better weapons and better armor, and was eventually torn apart and devoured by the neighboring countries.
Leah's grandfather, Yakaran the Eleventh, fought desperately in the castle to give Leah a chance to escape, even after the imperial capital was breached.
In the end, the indestructible castle was burned to the ground by the priests of the 'Golden Temple' who worshipped Emporio, the sun god, using a coordinated sacred art to summon the flames of the sun …
Would they be defeated if they didn't bow down to those parasitic gods? Could it be that Grandfather's policy of wanting to share happiness with the people was wrong?
In that very moment, the girl's mind was at a loss. As if shrouded in a dense fog, her once immeasurably firm resolve to take revenge and rebuild the Tierra Empire could not find a way forward.
Such bewilderment naturally left Leah distracted in her confrontation with Karol. As Leah's swordsmanship instructor and former captain of the Tierra Royal Guard, Karol keenly caught on to her momentary lapse in concentration.
Before the girl could regain her senses, Carlo had already pressed forward, easily dodging the pincer attack of the other two attendants. With a swing of his sword, he knocked away the weapon in Lia's hand, causing her to stagger two steps back and almost fall to the ground.
"It's over." The cultist leader, who was shrouded in a black cloak and had a mask on his face, let out a sinister laugh. He had no interest in the beautifully decorated sword that had landed before him.
Karol intended to press his advantage. As long as he could capture Leah, the operation was basically a complete victory, and it did not matter what happened to the others.
And yet, in that split second, a blinding light suddenly shone out of thin air, stealing everyone's vision in an instant!
When the light faded, the cultists realized in shock that the Tierra survivors who had been surrounded, including Leah, were nowhere to be seen. Only Karol, who had betrayed Tierra, remained where he was, a look of bewilderment on his face, completely unsure of what had happened.
Leah, however, was the first to react after being wrapped in the light.
She found herself in a pure-white space, and the guards who had followed her here were unresponsive as if they had turned into rigid statues. She could not wake them up no matter what she did.
"Don't waste your strength. Their faith is too shallow, and they can't face the gods for now."
The unfamiliar voice promptly put the girl on alert. She tried to draw her sword by reflex, only to find that she no longer had one. Hence, she simply pulled one from the guard beside her and made a wary pose.
"Gods?" The girl clearly did not believe it. She could only vaguely see a humanoid creature nearby, and it must have been the one who had spoken just now.
"That's right."
"Then you must be mistaken. The real non-believers are here!" Having understood her current situation, the girl thought about it for a moment before seriously stating her conditions. "Although I don't know how you brought us to this place, I still have to thank you … I'm your target, am I not? If that's the case, those guards are innocent. Let them go, and I don't care what you do to me! "
While she did not believe that the one who spoke was a god, the fact that he could instantly lead them away from the cultists' encirclement showed that he was very powerful, perhaps even more troublesome than the cultists themselves. It was completely unwise to put up a fight now, or she might as well get some information from him first.
"That's a shame. I'm not the God of Licentiousness." "You should have heard of my name. After all, you've prayed to me not long ago …" said the other party, who was in the white void and could not be seen clearly, "You should have heard of my name. After all, you've prayed to me not long ago …"
"What?!" The girl did a double take.
"Let me reintroduce myself." Xi Wei smiled — it seemed that the fish had taken the bait. "I am the God of Games!"
"The God of Games … You actually exist?"
It seems that even a devout believer like Leah was starting to doubt the God of Games' authenticity after not getting an answer to her prayers for so long. If Xi Wei did not show up this time, his faith here would probably be completely cut off.
"I'm sorry. I had just awakened as well, which was why I could not help when Tierra was destroyed." Xi Wei continued with his deep and mysterious tone. "But your prayers were not in vain. I have awakened, and now it is time to reappear in my friend's kingdom, Tierra!"
Leah felt a myriad of emotions when she heard the god she worshiped say such words. She never imagined that she would receive the help of a god who had been silent all this while when she was at the end of her tether.
At the same time, the girl felt as if she was a wandering traveler who had finally found her home.