I Regressed With a 10,000x God-Tier Multiplier-Chapter 71: The Templar Requisition

The Sanctum of Solaris shook under the Eclipse Convergence.

Lucifer stood in the center of the shattered market square. The conscripted Royal Guards held a tight perimeter around him, their halberds aimed nervously at the jagged purple rifts tearing through the sky.

Archbishop Zerathis was still screaming.

"You can’t abandon the Grand Cathedral!" the old man screamed, his jewel-covered robes whipping in the wind.

He grabbed Lucifer’s arm, his fingernails digging in desperately. "We have the Solaris Templars! The elite defenders! If you abandon them, the Church’s entire heavy infantry will be wiped out!"

Lucifer looked down at the Archbishop’s hand.

The Warlord’s eyes narrowed. He did not physically push Zerathis away. He simply engaged a microscopic fraction of Sovereign’s Weight.

The invisible crushing gravity slammed into Zerathis’s wrist. The old man gasped, his bones cracking instantly under the pressure.

He dropped to his knees, clutching his mangled arm, tears of agony streaming down his face.

"I am not abandoning heavy infantry," Lucifer stated coldly. "I just don’t need you to lead them."

He turned away from the groveling Archbishop.

Lucifer looked at Elara.

"The Cathedral is a fortress," Lucifer observed. "The Templars are locked inside, defending the high altar from the breaches."

"They’re trapped," Elara said. Her golden eyes studied the distant white marble structure. Plumes of green fire and black smoke were already rising from the golden dome.

"The Void Beasts will eventually overwhelm the holy wards. The Templars are too heavily armored to retreat efficiently through the city streets."

"Then we will clear a path for them," Lucifer said.

He activated Zephyr’s Grace.

Lucifer and Elara became very fast. They sprinted out of the market square, completely bypassing the defensive perimeter of the Royal Guards.

They moved at supersonic speeds, weaving through the burning, chaotic avenues of the capital.

They reached the massive, sweeping marble staircase leading up to the Grand Cathedral plaza.

It was an absolute slaughterhouse.

Hundreds of low-level Void Crawlers and huge Abyssal Brutes flooded the plaza. They tore down ornate saint statues and smashed through the Cathedral’s heavy brass doors.

But the doors held.

A tight, desperate phalanx of two hundred Solaris Templars formed an impenetrable shield wall just inside the shattered entrance.

They were the Church’s elite frontline. They wore massive, interlocking suits of blessed silver plate armor and carried heavy tower shields that glowed with continuous holy light.

[System Warning: Hostile Swarm Detected.]

[Entity: Abyssal Brutes (Level 45 - Heavy Infantry)]

[Quantity: 500+]

The Brutes were twelve-foot-tall creatures made of muscle and bone-like armor. They carried massive clubs formed from solid Void energy.

They kept slamming into the Templars’ shields, trying to break the holy formation.

"Hold the Light!" a scarred Templar Captain roared from behind the shield wall. Blood poured from a gash on his forehead, but he did not yield an inch. "Do not let them breach the nave!"

"They are holding," Elara said, halting at the base of the stairs. She leveled her spear. "But their holy magic is fading. The Eclipse Convergence is suppressing their ambient regeneration."

"They just need a distraction," Lucifer said.

He opened his Dimensional Vault.

He grabbed a specific, highly destructive item he had intended to use for a siege, but the current situation required overwhelming, immediate area denial.

He pulled out a massive, heavy iron barrel.

It was a volatile Aether-Bomb, originally designed as ammunition for the Dragoons’ shoulder cannons, but Lucifer had Thrain forge a single, overcharged core the size of a carriage.

Lucifer hoisted the massive bomb onto his shoulder with one hand. The Warlord’s Level 50 physical strength handled the immense weight effortlessly.

"System," Lucifer commanded.

He pointed his empty iron gauntlet directly into the center of the Abyssal Brute swarm battering the Cathedral doors.

"Apply the Apex Multiplier to blast radius," Lucifer ordered.

[Divine Talent: Apex Multiplier Activated!]

[Applying 10,000x multiplier to Area of Effect...]

[Warning: Explosive Yield is Catastrophic. Friendly Fire highly probable.]

"Now!" Lucifer whispered.

He targeted the air directly above the swarm of monsters. He created a singularity, intensely pulling everything in the plaza toward a single point.

The Abyssal Brutes roared in confusion. Their massive clubs were pulled upward. Their heavy, bone-armored bodies were dragged off the marble steps, drawn into a tight, chaotic cluster of struggling limbs and dark magic.

"Elara!!" Lucifer barked.

The Valkyrie moved instantly. She did not raise her spear. She slammed her hands against the marble stairs.

The Void-Weave armor amplified her power, blending celestial light with dark energy. A massive barrier of shimmering twilight energy burst from her core and formed in front of the Templar shield wall, sealing the broken Cathedral doors from the outside.

Lucifer threw the Aether-Bomb.

The heavy iron barrel soared through the air, caught immediately by the gravitational pull of the singularity.

It slammed perfectly into the center of the compressed ball of Abyssal Brutes.

BOOM.

It exploded in a burst of highly volatile blue aether energy. The amplified blast was devastating.

It didn’t just clear the plaza, it erased the upper portion of the grand marble staircase and completely wiped out the Abyssal Brutes in a blinding flash of blue light.

The shockwave hit Elara’s twilight barrier like a physical hammer. The barrier hissed and cracked, but the Mythic-tier magic held strong, completely shielding the exhausted Templars inside the nave from the blast.

[System: Hostile Swarm Eliminated.]

[Area Secured.]

Lucifer deactivated the gravity well. The smoking, completely ruined plaza fell silent, save for the crackle of residual aether-flames melting the remaining marble.

He walked slowly up the destroyed stairs, his boots crunching on the hot slag. Elara dropped the twilight barrier and fell into step beside him.

They stepped through the shattered brass doors and into the Grand Cathedral.

The nave was a disaster. Stained glass littered the floor. The heavy wooden pews were smashed into kindling.

The two hundred Solaris Templars lowered their heavy tower shields. They were drenched in sweat, blood, and soot.

They stared in stunned silence at the massive smoking crater outside the Cathedral doors, then at the dark Warlord and the terrifying twilight-winged Valkyrie who had just effortlessly erased a Level 45 invasion force.

The scarred Templar Captain stepped forward, leaning heavily on his broadsword. He looked at Lucifer’s dark armor, then down at the platinum Grand Marshal medallion resting on his chest.

"You... you are not of the Church," the Captain gasped, his breath ragged. He recognized the Royal badge, but he also sensed the terrifying, unholy density of the Void Arcanist core. "The Grand Marshal? What happened to the King’s Vanguard?"

"The Vanguard is holding the lower city," Lucifer stated smoothly. His voice echoed through the ruined cathedral.

"The King has surrendered all military authority to me. Archbishop Zerathis has abandoned you. The Church hierarchy is currently hiding in their private panic rooms while you bleed on the steps."

The Templars shifted uneasily. They had sworn an oath to the Light, but they were frontline soldiers. They knew when they were being used as cannon fodder.

"I am requisitioning this unit," Lucifer declared.

He didn’t ask for their loyalty. He didn’t preach a holy sermon.

He opened his Dimensional Vault.

A massive stack of pristine, glowing aether-parchment materialized in the air. The Awakened Contracts. The exact same magical binding he had used on the ten thousand mercenaries in the market square.

"You are heavy infantry. You are elite tanks," Lucifer said, his void-swirling eyes locking onto the Captain. "Your holy shields are useless if you are trapped in a burning building.

Sign the contract. You fight for Obsidian now. I will provide you with infinite healing, absolute aerial dominance, and a fortress that does not break."

The Captain looked at the glowing scrolls. He looked back at his exhausted, battered men. They had been fighting continuously for an hour without a single reinforcement from the Cathedral’s inner sanctum.

He looked out at the smoking, completely eradicated plaza.

"And if we refuse?" the Captain asked slowly, his grip tightening on his sword.

"I leave," Lucifer said coldly. "I drop the twilight barrier, and I let the next wave of Void Behemoths finish the job. Your oath to the Church ends today, Captain. Choose."

The scarred veteran did not need to deliberate. He understood the reality of a planar war.

The Captain dropped his broadsword. It clattered loudly against the marble floor. He stepped forward, raising his heavy, silver-gauntleted hand, and pressed his thumb firmly against the first glowing contract.

A bright blue sigil flared, binding him to the Warlord’s command structure.

[System: Contract Bound. Target: Level 40 Templar Captain.]

[Fate Energy Tax: Active (20% routed to Lucifer of Obsidian).]

"Sign the scrolls!" the Captain roared to his men, turning his back on Lucifer. "The Church left us to die! We march with the Marshal!"

The two hundred elite Templars broke their shield wall. They rushed forward, abandoning their posts at the door.

They slammed their gauntlets against the aether-parchment, eager to secure the protection and the immense power they had just witnessed.

[System: Mass Conscription Complete.]

[Unit Acquired: Solaris Templars (Tier 2 - Heavy Infantry)]

[Quantity: 200]

Lucifer watched the blue sigils flare one after another. He had secured the heaviest, most magically resistant infantry the human kingdoms had to offer.

"Form up," Lucifer ordered, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "We are pushing through the nave. The Dawn Saintess is waiting for us in the Royal Spire."

"The Saintess?" the Captain asked, his eyes widening as he picked his sword back up. "She is not secured in the deep vaults?"

"She is commanding the evacuation of the Royal Guard," Lucifer corrected him smoothly. "She fights for Obsidian now."

The Templars exchanged stunned, reverent looks. If the living embodiment of the Light had abandoned the Church to follow the dark Warlord, then their decision was absolutely validated.

"We march, Warlord!" the Captain shouted, slamming his fist against his glowing silver breastplate.

Lucifer turned away from the shattered doors. He led the two hundred massive, silver-armored tanks down the center aisle of the ruined Cathedral, heading toward the back exit that led to the Royal Spire.

The Sanctum of Solaris was completely overrun by the Eclipse Convergence. The Warlord had his army. Now, he just needed to watch the King’s city burn.