Chapter 648 The opening of the Church
The church of death was constructed exactly beside the church of life in the heart of Purplehaze City.Given the same height and a comparable structural construction , the two churches were designed to look like sisters however the vibes could not be more different.
The church of life was made with white marble stones and had an open serene feel to it. One would feel content seeing the structure with its backend having a reservoir of holy water and the residence of the bishop and the other paladins.
The church of death was the complete opposite , being made of pitch black marble stones and designed so that the entry was very small compared to the internal structure , it seemed like the church was not welcoming to visitors.
The backside of the church had a sacrificial area where a devotee may voluntarily chose to cut themselves and drop their blood on the plant of death , the same mysterious plant that Rudra had found growing at the bottom of the lake in the ancient ruins.
Placed in a small pond in the back it radiated tremendous energy and mesmerized anyone who saw it.
Although there were quarters for paladins and a bishop , since Rudra had taken none of them in yet they remained unoccupied.
Inside the church was a large statue of Hades , however Rudra did not depict him like the cold god of death from the ancient times , but rather chose to depict him as a strong and just sovereign as he sat on a throne with a magnificent scythe in his hand.
It was the image of Rudra seeing him for the first time that was imprinted in his mind , as he tried to paint him in the same light . His statue carved from a very rare crystal , it costed over 700 billion dollars of his own personal wealth to create , however Rudra did not cut costs in that area.
Right before the statue was a place where offerings could be made as he kept that part of the rituals the same as the ancient times , putting a great sword made for decapitation and a blood collection pool that would drain into the statue's feet later.
The interior of the church was also lavish and it was a good way to establish the dignity of the church or death.
Today was the opening day and many important guests were set to attend with the world excited for its grand launch.
Rudra had repeatedly tried to contact Hades , but the god was silent during the past 8 months and had not contacted Rudra no matter what he did.
Rudra was hence a bit afraid for the opening day as he had no idea wether Hades would bless anyone with anything at all or would all the hype blow up in his face.
The only assurance he had at the moment was that there was no resistance from beniogre and the church of light as they did not obstruct to Rudra constructing the temple and the pope even decided to personally attent it's opening which Rudra took as a good sign.
Rudra was technically poaching a lot of beleivers from the church of light and he could understand if beniogre became angry with him for this , but apparently Hades must have talked with her as she showed no reaction to the birth of a competitor relegion.
Although Rudra did not buy that god's after the same things could ever become friends , he chose to beleive for the moment that a negotiated arrangement had been met between the two.
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The forums had went nuts for the last couple of days regarding the opening of the church of death as the buzz surrounding it was unreal.
Within the last 2 days a total of 7.9 million people paid the immigration toll at the Purplehaze city teleportation centre while 4.2 million more entered via the city gates.
The revenue generated from this event alone was enough to recuperate 20% of the construction costs and should the event be a success then would result in recurring income for years to come.
Thinking about it this way , it was an investment into cultural architecture that boosted a city's vibrance .
The incoming visitors were shocked to see how much Purplehaze city had changed over the last 6 months as the city had started to stand back on its feet again .
Many modern buildings were constructed between the typical cultural buildings as the city looked like a place that was undergoing a period of modernization.
The architecture style of the newer buildings were like those of the late 1800's era with beautiful vines and climbers adorning the walls of the construction.
The elite goverment gave the citizens a 30% subsidy on material costs and a 100% tax rebate should their house be destroyed in the war to stimulate fast growth and reconstruction of the city .
Every street had some ongoing reconstruction project and overall the city had changed drastically from the last time one may have visited it many months ago.
The tourists were hence mesmerized by the place as many spent the two days in just touring the beautiful city and enjoying the exotic cuisine.
Rudra had opened a free food and drinks bar in the city called the ' Victory Celebration ' , where Purplehaze city citizens could enjoy unlimited food and drinks all on the house 24/7.
It was a very popular local and tourist spot as the crowded cafe became a great source of joy for the locals who thanked their king profusely for his kindness.
Rudra's image amongst both the locals and the elites was akin to that of a god and hence many Purplehaze city NPC were also interested in adopting the church of death because Rudra was endorsing the thing.
This resulted in the opening day becoming one of the most crowded days in Purplehaze city as the military had to be brought out to patrol the streets and mentain civil order.
With Emperor Cervantez and the pope both being in attendance , the event was sure to be a grand one , the only question that remained was that would Hades bless the followers or not?
With Rudra's reputation on the line , it was the million dollar question that the world wanted to seek answers to.
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( Meanwhile Max)
Max had started to learn from Jhonny English about martial arts and how to become a mercenary.
Jhonny had apparently taken a liking to the kid and was now teaching him the basic of hand to hand combat.
Max was a fast learner and absorbed everything that Jhonny taught him very fast , however every single day at training Max couldnt help but feel more and more mesmerized with Jhonny's skills.
Jhonny was an expert in the art of throwing knives , and the in-game skill had been deeply imprinted into his real life persona as Jhonny English did not miss a single throw even in real life.
Although it was mostly because of his insane luck in real life that every shot he made became more epic than he himself intended to , poor Max who couldn't distinguish fluke from skill thought Jhonny to be a God level knife thrower.
Even after trying very hard and keeping a balanced posture , Max could barely hit the target board from a distance of 25 meters or more , but Jhonny could be eating an apple and be over 50 meters away , but with a casual flick of his wrists the dagger would always land on the dead centre of the bulls-eye.
Everyday Max became more and more impressed with Jhonny and tried to push towards attaining his skill level .
Although he understood that it was not a one day , one week or one month task to reach jhonny's skill level and would mostly likely take him a lifetime of practice . With becoming like Rudra his ambition in life , Max wanted to learn from people of an equal skill Calibre.
In Japan , Jhonny was a legend who was said to be comparable in power to Rudra , which was the reason why Max took him in as his master.
His brother was too overprotective of him and would not teach him the rough way which was why max did not approach him for things.
He was at an age where he did not like being pampered and taken care of anymore as he wanted to become independent as soon as possible . However Rudra being the elder brother that he was he would preffer that max rather played than trained at such a tender age.
Rudra who had seen much more life than Max knew that he had a lifetime of grind ahead of him where nobody would accept him even if he wanted to play. However right now he was still at an age where it was perfectly normal for him to take life one day at a time.
But having his mind dead set on the future Max Rajput wanted to get stronger and get stronger as fast as possible so that he could become independent and stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother someday.
His time to shine started now ....
/// A/N - sorry guys , although I'm writing this chapter on 1st June , you lot will not be able to access it till much later. It pains my heart to starve you all from the content but i have no options with my exams ongoing , it's already me pushing myself to the very limits to write even one to mentain win-win.
I will make it upto you all later in the month for sure . Once again apologies ///