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Apostles of the Throne
Prologue: A Great End or a New Beginning

Prologue: A Great End or a New Beginning

The collapse of the Hall of Heroes, the burning World Tree, and war spreading across the world, battlefields were piled high with the corpses of gods, giants, and malevolent deities. The sky bled a dark, crimson light, coloring the heavens and the earth in a deep red. The black dragon Nidhogg flew across the battlefield, its wings emitting a terrifying noise, greedily feasting on the still-warm corpses stained with blood.

At this time, there were but a few figures standing on the battlefield. The central courtyard was a sea of fire, with pillars of flame piercing through the universe. The World Tree was ultimately consumed by the flames and collapsed, stars fell from the sky, and the world plunged into darkness. The age of the gods had ended, and the world was destroyed...

Centuries later, the old order had completely collapsed, and a new order was eventually established. The sky finally saw the first light of dawn, and the survivors hiding in the World Tree's hollows began to emerge. Nidhogg flew out from the pile of corpses, its wings laden with skeletons, emitting a dull and heavy roar before falling into a distant abyss, disappearing into the depths.

The survivors began to establish their own era, hoping to restore past glory. Cities were rebuilt, and nations began to form, as if humanity was finally welcoming its rebirth. However, wherever there was light, darkness would inevitably descend. After centuries of peace, a race claiming to be descendants of malevolent gods, referred to as "the Other," emerged from the depths of the distant abyss.

The Others possessed appearances and bodies different from ordinary humans, along with the powers of malevolent gods. They were powerful and greedy, cruel and bloodthirsty, and even consumed humans as food. Faced with this overwhelmingly evil force, the weak humans could only band together for survival.

Nations formed a Holy Alliance led by the strongest country, the Holy Empire, and began a centuries-long war against the Others. However, the Alliance's continuous defeats cost them vast amounts of land and resources. Just as humanity was welcoming a new beginning, they were still unable to escape the fate of destruction. Some people began to ally with the Others in exchange for a chance at life, causing humanity to become fragmented, and the already loose Alliance was on the brink of collapse.

In this desperate era, a group claiming to be messengers of the gods appeared. They proclaimed themselves as envoys of the gods, calling on humanity to join them in worshipping the true gods. They claimed that the gods would return and that the flames of judgment would descend from the sky to burn all sins.

Desperate, people clung to this last hope, and many joined them to worship the gods.

They also sought support from the ruling Holy Alliance, hoping to gain their backing to search for divine power in the ancient ruins - the battlefield of the gods. In the past, anyone who ventured to those ruins never returned alive, and the messengers, with the help of the Holy Alliance, entered the battlefield of the gods but also vanished without a trace, leaving only a tedious wait.

But even with the slimmest hope, people were willing to believe. More and more people prayed for the gods' salvation, but how could gods, who had fallen several eons ago and couldn't even save themselves, hear their prayers? The continuous defeat of the Holy Alliance's army on the frontline became the last straw that broke the camel's back, plunging people into panic. Years passed without any word from the messengers, and all that was left was to wait for despair to approach step by step...

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In the winter of the Holy Year 321, the Others completely defeated the Holy Alliance's army and reached humanity's last line of defense - the Holy City. What was once known as the most beautiful city on the continent was now filled with a bleak atmosphere, its cold air mixed with despair, making the city appear lifeless.

The following year, the Others launched their final assault. After a night of brutal fighting, just as people were powerless to resist and fell into endless despair, a group of steel demons appeared from the direction of the rising sun. They shouted the names of the gods, wielding even more ferocious power, and slaughtered the Others' army with overwhelming force.

In the millennia to come, historians will open their chronicles to lavish praise upon the trial by combat that changed the fate of humanity, referring to the steam-shrouded steel titans as the Divine Servants.

In the year 325 of the Sacred Calendar, the unstoppable ferocity of the Divine Servants drove the alien races back into the abyss to be eternally suppressed. At the same time, atop the ancient ruins, a steel megacity was erected as if by divine miracle.

During the grand celebration of the World Festival, the divine envoys announced to the kings the construction of the Heavenly Capital and the establishment of the Messiah Church. In this city, they would exercise justice across the continent in the name of the gods.

While the kings were awe-struck by the majestic city of machinery, they were already secretly on guard. Outwardly, they signed treaties with the divine envoys and “generously” gifted them the land of ruins, long thought incapable of sprouting a single blade of grass for a millennium. However, behind the scenes, they began a massive slaughter and capture of the divine envoys, recruiting numerous mechanics to dissect and study this incredible masterpiece.

Batch after batch of damaged Divine Servant remains were secretly transported to laboratories, where every alchemist and mechanic involved in the research marveled at this great miracle. The chief mechanic of the Sacred Empire exclaimed in front of a Divine Servant's wreckage that even given thousands of years, humanity could not create such beautiful mechanical works.

Through the tireless efforts of elite mechanics, the nations eventually developed their own powered armor. Although it couldn't compare to the true Divine Servants, it was still a significant reform for humanity at the time. No longer concealing their ambitions, the nations bared their fangs towards the Heavenly Capital, demanding the city of machinery and the core technology of the Divine Servants through their newly mastered armor knights.

Armies of mechanical legions set off to the battlefield, their knights clad in mechanical beauty that even the gods would praise, bringing a song of blood and fire to the continent once again.

Among them, the Divine Wrath II model of the Sacred Empire stood out. The empire's chief mechanic, Ovos Bark, boldly claimed that the appearance of the Divine Wrath II would mark the end of the Divine Servant Knights.

Indeed, the knights of the Divine Wrath were formidable, sweeping across battlefields with unmatched prowess, their blades pointed directly at the Heavenly Capital.

In the winter of the year 326 of the Sacred Calendar, the mechanical legions led by the Divine Wrath Knights arrived at the gates of the Heavenly Capital. Before them stood the city's gates wide open and a legion of steel enveloped in white mist, the Divine Servant Knights, an existence both aspired to and feared by all armor knights.

No one knows what happened that day, nor the horrors of that battle. But thereafter, the nations faced only the unstoppable advance of the Heavenly Capital's army.

In the year 327 of the Sacred Calendar, the Pope of the Messiah Church proclaimed the crimes of Emperor Caesar III of the Sacred Empire and executed judgment upon him.

In the year 328, the emperors of the Crimson Empire and the Lionheart Empire confessed to the Pope and abdicated their thrones, gifting their most fertile lands to the Heavenly Capital. They vowed to follow the will of the gods and uphold the Pope's authority absolutely.

In the year 330, under the witness of the kings of the continent, the Pope was crowned as the sole spokesperson for the gods among men. The establishment of the Papal State marked the end of the Sacred Era and the dawn of the Heavenly Capital Era.

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