Chapter 1295: Taking Drastic Measures

Two weeks later, the situation in the second heaven kept deteriorating with more attacks occurring in several major cities. At this time, Tarius' followers also grew bolder with their attacks as they started targeting much larger cities.

The situation across the second heaven became more unstable, which hindered the daily lives of countless people.

With the attacks growing more intense, the security in each domain became much tighter, especially in the capital cities. Because of that, the travel of the people and even economic activities slowed down.

This caused dissatisfaction among the people across the second heaven. The peaceful lives they had been enjoying all this time suddenly turned upside down within the last month. Many even started to doubt the strength of the nobles, the sects, and every other power that ruled over their territories.

Even the temple was not an exception.

Although all of them only dared to talk among their own circles in quiet voices, they started losing faith in the temple's ability to take care of this matter.

The fact that the attacks always succeeded in killing many powerhouses already showed the weakness of the temple and all of Avergis' followers' factions across the second heaven.

Were Tarius' followers really that powerful to the point that neither the temple nor any of Avergis' followers could prevent those savages from succeeding?

Had the era of Avergis' followers as the absolute rulers of the second heaven finally come to an end?

Some domains even had to enact harsh punishments for anyone who doubted the power of the temple or any force that ruled over their territories. They needed to do that to prevent even more people from doubting them, even though they knew it was impossible to stop completely.

They knew that despite what they were doing, the people would still question the strength of the powers across the second heaven against Tarius' followers.

As long as they could not prevent the attacks from happening, the people would continue doubting them.

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In the temple's headquarters, the temple grandmaster was inside his hall, his expression showing nothing but displeasure.

Even he felt a headache for the first time in billions of years of his life.

The situation the second heaven faced at this time was unlike anything before. He still did not understand how Tarius' followers kept passing their inspections while also possessing absurdly powerful strength and countless tricks.

The most irritating thing was that if they were caught, they did not hesitate to commit suicide by blowing themselves up. That part did not surprise him since many of Tarius' followers were a crazy bunch. However, the problem was that in the recent cases, they could not prevent those Tarius' followers from committing suicide.

They could still blow themselves up and kill many people despite the many efforts to stop their suicide. Thanks to that trick, many powerhouses decided not to even try catching any of Tarius' followers alive.

They abandoned the idea of obtaining information from them and simply went for the kill. Even that was difficult to accomplish because of how strong and cunning their enemies were.

The temple grandmaster gritted his teeth as he thought about how far those Tarius' followers had gone in creating trouble.

The envoys from the higher heavens also could not do much because they were the same as everyone else. They could not prevent the attacks. Every effort they made to track down or even prevent the attacks always ended in failure.

However, in the grandmaster's opinion, that was also because most of the envoys were focused on something else. Most of them were still searching for the unknown person connected to the rebels, who had been described as a dangerous individual even by their god.

But even until this moment, their efforts had still not produced any results. Even though the envoys also included several Divine Realm cultivators, they still could not find this person.

With the envoys' focus split, there was no way they could dedicate more attention to solving this problem that was slowly corroding the people's belief in them. With their faith continuing to decline, it was only a matter of time before something much worse happened.

Even the possibility that the temple and the followers of their god would decline significantly was not impossible. He could already see that future. Many might even join Tarius because they saw how powerful those people were.

With how things were going currently, he doubted there would be any change in the situation.

The temple grandmaster was truly frustrated.

'Did those envoys report what happened here to our god? No, even if they did not tell him, he should already know what happened in the second heaven with all of the chaos unfolding,' he thought.

'But should I report directly to my lord just in case?'

He then shook his head.

'No, that would mean I doubt my lord. He must already know and must already be doing something. Yes, that must be it.'

He continued convincing himself while trying to remain positive.

However, he still could not push aside the question of what his god was doing to help his servants in the second heaven.

Why had his god not at least sent someone from the higher heavens to help take care of the situation here? Even if his god chose not to do that, he could at least give him guidance on what he was supposed to do.

'No, I cannot always think that every problem has to be solved by my lord. Maybe this is a test that my lord has given to me.'

He took a deep breath before slowly releasing it. He calmed his mind and heart so he could think more clearly.

He narrowed his eyes.

'Let's see, how am I supposed to solve this problem?'

A few seconds passed in silence, even within his own mind.

After a few moments of silence, he released another deep breath. His eyes glistened.

'In the end, Tarius' followers are still the main problem. If I cannot prevent their attacks on the cities, then at least I can do something else that will deal a destructive blow to Tarius' influence in the second heaven.'

'Since the surprise attacks on the capital cities of the domains, those rats have become bolder and have been attacking more of our territories. It looks like we need to take our war against them more seriously. All this time, I have been too hesitant to make a drastic decision, but not anymore. I have to go all out.'

After deciding what he needed to do, he looked down at the place where he usually saw his subordinates kneeling or kowtowing.

"Arqus, come to me at this moment," he said.

A second after he called, a man appeared in a kneeling position not far from his throne. He was the same person who always delivered reports to the grandmaster.

"At your service, Your Eminence," Arqus said respectfully.

"Relay my order across the second heaven. We will eradicate every trace of Tarius' influence in the second heaven. We will declare total war against his followers. Every temple in its respective domain will lead its troops to every place where Tarius' followers are hiding."

Arqus widened his eyes in shock upon hearing the grandmaster's declaration. His heart trembled because this was the first time in his life that the grandmaster had declared total war on anything. Even according to the historical records, the last time total war had been declared was in the ancient past when the great war against the rebels was still raging.

Since the rebels had been driven into hiding, total war had never been declared again.

Total war was a declaration of war that aimed to destroy the opponent by using all the power they possessed across the second heaven.

It was a declaration that mobilized every powerhouse, and they would use everything they had to ensure they achieved total victory.

Total war would be far bloodier than any ordinary war because the number of cultivators involved would be much greater, and they would do anything to achieve total victory, no matter what it took.

Even if they had to sacrifice many of their own cultivators.

All this time, their war against Tarius' followers had not yet reached the stage of total war. Those involved in the battles against them were only the forces from the territories bordering Tarius' followers' territories.

There had been no need for total war because it had not been necessary. The powers of each domain should have been enough to fight against each group of Tarius' followers within their own territories.

Moreover, there was still the god Tarius, whom they had to take into consideration. Although their faction relationship with Tarius had already become strained because of the strange incident in the first heaven, they still maintained a certain boundary that prevented Tarius from using excessive measures to retaliate against their god.

With total war, it was the same as declaring war directly against Tarius and disregarding his position in the covenant between the gods by eradicating his source of power in the second heaven.

There was no telling what kind of retaliation Tarius would take against their god, Avergis, after this.

'It looks like the recent attacks were the last straw that made the grandmaster decide to declare total war. I wonder if our god already knows about it,' Arqus thought.

However, he did not voice his question and simply responded like the loyal subordinate he was.

"Yes, Your Eminence."

After that, his body disappeared.

The grandmaster looked at the empty space where Arqus had just been with a calm gaze.

'I will solve this problem and not disappoint my lord.'

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In another place, the avatar that was bound for the central region of heaven finally arrived at his destination.

The central region of heaven was finally right before him!