The divine favored John was captured by the judgment knights of the Eternal Church.

With the players’ death return, this matter quickly spread among the players and then throughout the entire human world.

For months, through preaching activities, the divine favored John had already made a name for himself on Segis Continent.

To many new converts of life believers in the human world, he was almost like a mentor, thus this incident quickly caused a huge commotion in the human world.

For a time, life believers everywhere were filled with righteous indignation, and the situation, originally tense due to the persecution by the Eternal Church and Imperial Nobles, became even more hostile.

"Lord Elf Priest! Please lead us to save Lord John! He’s the one who saved us from darkness and brought us the faith of the Goddess!"

"That’s right! The Eternal Church is corrupt and degenerate; Lord John will certainly suffer their cruel persecution!"

In the slums of Larona, the converted human believers were furious, pleading to the players who had accepted tasks from Old John and were stationed here to continue preaching.

However, compared to the worried and angry human believers, the players in Larona seemed even more enraged by Old John’s plight.

Their reddened eyes and gritted teeth made them look like their own father had been captured.

"Rest assured, everyone! We will definitely not let the Eternal Church succeed! Lord John is the Goddess’s divine favored, a righteous and kind elder, and saving him is our unshirkable responsibility!"

The players said, righteously indignant, with justice and determination.

Of course, whether it was truly righteous determination or because the NPC giving them tasks was captured, possibly leading to player death and task cancellation, is unknown.

Meanwhile, on the border between the Holy Mania Empire and Aries Kingdom, in the cities where Old John had once stayed, life believers who saw him as an object of loyalty also exploded with anger.

"Evil Eternal Church, they actually kidnapped the deputy of the Goddess, Lord John! These scoundrels who only know how to bully the weak!"

"What did Lord John do wrong? He brought us light, brought us hope, why persecute him! Just because the Divine is different?"

"So what if the Divine is different? When demons attacked, where were they? When nobles oppressed us, where were they? Only the great Goddess sent elf armies to help us!"

"Corrupted! Eternal Church is truly corrupted! They’ve completely forgotten their original purpose!"

"Protest, we need to gather and protest against the Eternal Church together!"

Life believers, furious, quickly gathered to protest and march against the local Eternal Church. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

In some more intense areas, there were even violent assaults on churches because of this.

However, most of them were ordinary people, no matter how angry, how united, they were still no match for the judgment knights, and thus were quickly cruelly suppressed by the Eternal Church.

Yet, this did not solve the problem, it instead further inflamed public outrage.

Especially as, not knowing when, rumors of the Eternal Church violently suppressing life believers began to spread across the continent.

Minstrels sang songs satirizing Eternal Church, singing of the life believers’ resistance.

Even in underground black markets, large amounts of footage of Eternal Church’s bloody suppression circulated, causing their already precarious reputation to worsen.

Like stirring a hornet’s nest, for a time, it seemed the name of the Eternal Church quickly became synonymous with evil demons; though not to the point of everyone shouting to attack, it thoroughly stirred anger in the hearts of the lower-class poor.

Gradually, even before Old John was escorted to Mania, the controversy quickly spread throughout the entire empire, even to southern Aries Kingdom, spreading so quickly that even the black bishops of the Eternal Church’s judgment court responsible for intelligence were stupefied.

"Damn it, what on earth happened? Why suddenly arrest a divine favored of the Life Church? He’s a divine favored, not an ordinary believer! Do you know the trouble this will cause for the Church and Empire?!"

In the judgment court of the Eternal Church, Bishop Wenstar, who also serves as the Regent Minister of the empire, looked grim and roared at the priests and bishops of the judgment court.

The black-clothed bishop responsible for this matter also looked sullen.

He said, with a shadow over his gaze:

"Lord Wenstar, please calm down, this is the Pope’s decision."

"The Pope..."

Bishop Wenstar’s pupils shrank abruptly, then he became furious:

"Has he gone senile?! Segus Magic is reviving, the empire is unstable, we need to stabilize the hearts and minds now, and at this moment he..."

"Lord Wenstar."

The black-clothed bishop interrupted Bishop Wenstar.

He slowly lifted his head, with a heavy gaze:

"The Pope is the eye of our Lord on earth, to denigrate the Pope is to blaspheme the Almighty, please be cautious with your words..."

Bishop Wenstar paused slightly.

His expression shifted, then he spoke through gritted teeth:

"Even if he’s the Pope, he cannot act recklessly! Taking action against a divine favored of another faith is tantamount to declaring war, do you think we’re ready for war with the Life Church now?!"

"Lord Bishop Wenstar..."

The black-clothed bishop sighed lightly.

He took a deep breath and said: