With 87 people in front of her, all the remaining members of the Temple of the Awakening of Dresbert, Layla felt a slight discomfort in her heart, but there was nothing she could do to help these people. ",

Vicente had lost all trust in the Congregation of Revelations and had even gained anger and antipathy towards that religion. He had his reasons, so nothing she could say now would help her reverse the thoughts of the man she loved.

Still, she saw him oppress the Congregation of Revelations with difficulty, clenching his fists as he tried to control his breathing more and more.

Vicente said to those 87 people in front of him in an even tone, but with a trace of murderous intent in his voice. "You have a choice to make now. Your religion will not welcome in my domains. This city, Dresbert, became mine minutes ago. So either you become my subordinates, abandoning your organization and faith, or you will be thrown out of Dresbert by the end of this day."

Panic spread among the 87 people dressed according to their positions in the local temple, with some of them turning pale with fear, not believing that a fellow magician would throw them to the monsters.

Throwing them out of Dresbert would be tantamount to a death sentence. With the strongest there being only a Mage and the situation outside the city being dangerous even for Sovereigns, their future, in the event of exile, was only the darkness of death!

However, how could they doubt the words of someone who had such strong, murderous intent? It was also reasonable to consider that this young Paragon had easily taken over the city.

Vicente supplemented his speech as the people there feared for their lives more than they cared about their religion. "Those who agree to follow what I've said, bend your knees."

As soon as he spoke, the first person to do what he wanted quickly bend their knees, prompting several others to do the same.

Some of them hesitated, thinking that this might be some kind of test. One of the women behind Vicente was dressed as a Sacred Devotee, so perhaps this was some kind of test to determine how determined they were.

But seeing that the overwhelming majority of them were going to bend their knees, even those who were suspicious about the situation did as Vicente had ordered, sitting down on the floor.

With everyone having obeyed him, Vicente smiled and said. "You have made your decision. Now join me, new members of the Cataclysm Order!"

As he spoke, the Throne of Darkness appeared in one of his hands, simultaneously as its green and cyan pentagram glowed, with the Dark Path elements of the area concentrating on the foreheads of those people.

Vicente cast a collective spell, making black magic circles appear around the Magic Gems of each of those people, as they trembled with fear at seeing and understanding the origin of this young Paragon.

Lauren and Layla were talking while Vicente was using a powerful Dark Path spell he had learned after fully controlling the Throne of Darknesswhich would give him the ability to seal deals with beings up to the same level as him.

"You're not happy, I see," Lauren said with a smile on her face. "You're still a devotee of the Congregation of Revelations. Why do you accept what Vicente is doing? I would never let myself be used against what I believe in."

"I disagree with Vicente, but I respect his decisions. He's the leader of the group, but he's also my man. I owe respect to his opinions, even if I disagree with some of his actions." Layla said, not letting herself get carried away by the words of her man's sister.

"You don't have to do that. If you disagree, question him and insist that he do the opposite." Lauren said in an advisory tone. "Men do what their woman want a lot more than you seem to know."

Layla looked at Lauren with her eyes narrowed, seeing this woman's game. 'Trying to pit me against Vicente? It will not work.'

"Although I disagree with him, I have my doubts myself, Lauren. Maybe I want to believe my religion is innocent and has been corrupted by the corrupt people. But I want answers to my doubts.

If I were him, I would act differently. But it's not as if I ignore all the evidence we have. Besides, I can more easily find out the truth by letting him do what he wants."

After saying this, Layla took one of Lauren's arms and directed her forward, walking behind Vicente after he had finished sealing his agreements with the former members of the local temple. Now, each of these people would have to serve him loyally, or the seals on their heads would destroy their Magic Gems, crippling them at best, killing them at worst.

Lauren remained silent after Layla's answer, before following the gray-haired woman and Vicente into the Awakening Temple.

Inside that place, Layla separated from Vicente and Lauren, leaving the two of them while she went to the administrative area of that place to collect the high-level information available at this post.

Meanwhile, Lauren and Vicente went to the Awakening Platform, where he would quickly start collecting the Magic Gems available in the area.

One might wonder why Vicente was taking the gems from there to take to his order's altars. Wouldn't it be better, instead of using the secret altars of the order-located outside the cities-to use the temples of the Congregation of Revelations, which were in the cities?

However, while he could activate a few altars of the order simultaneously using the Cataclysm Moon Pendant, he could only activate one Awakening Temple at a time. And even then, because of the restrictions imposed by Congregation of Revelations, activating just one of the platforms would be rather difficult.

As he also didn't want to be associated with the organization that betrayed humanity and threw the continent off balance, he preferred to go ahead with his plans for the altar, discarding the temples around the continent.