Radiant Church

"This was all due to the Radiant Church!!! Radiant, radiant, haha! The Radiant Church is radiant? If it was radiant, then why would they murder people with pure, innocent souls and offer them to the Radiant Sovereign? [...] Radiant Church, just wait. There will come a day when I will pull you out by the roots."

- Linley Baruch sworn revenge on the Radiant Church, the true murderers of his parents

The Radiant Church (simplified Chinese: 光明教廷, the Brightness Church) is a church on Yulan Continent within Chinese fantasy novel, Coiling Dragon series and its comic adaptation. It is a holy church of brightness opposed to the Cult of Shadows. However, the Radiant Church is soon revealed to be one of the main villains of the series, and served as the main antagonist from volume 7 to volume 12.

The church captured pure hearted souls and sacrificed them to please their god, the Radiant Sovereign. The foremost thing is that the members of the church are the driven force of the murder of House Baruch and the mastermind of King Clayde's heinous crimes. Therefore, this Holier-Than-Thou chruch is often considered as the true primary villain of the whole series by many Chinese fans.

What is more, the god they worshipped, known as Augusta the Radiant Sovereign, is a major antagonist of the later parts of Coiling Dragon series, and the Radiant Sovereign and Olf the Fate Sovereign (the final boss of the series) are in fact one and the same.

Role in the Baruch tragedy
The Radiant Church was founded, possibly by Heidens - or his preceeder(s) if he had, to worship Augusta the Radiant Soveregin and fight against the evil Cult of Shadows. The Radiant Church soon became famous and received acclaim throughout the land of Yulan. However, unbeknowest to anyone, the Radiant Church is a corrupt church which is nothing better compared to its rivals.

The Radiant Church is connected to the Kingdom of Finley, where King Clayde started his reign of terror. As the house of Baruch gained their fame throughout the land due to Dragonblood, a plan committed by the Radiant Church had struck it down. The Church committed human sacrifise by giving innoncent souls to their god. At the year when Linley was just a child, a day before the Yulan Feast, King Clayde set out for this dirty work. He soon spotted Lady Baruch and felt the purity inside her soul. Clayde ordered his brother, Duke Patterson, to capture Lady Baruch. Patterson also killed Lord Baruch in process, making Linley and Wharton orphaned children.

Soon, the sacrificial begun. Heidens killed Lady Baruch with "mercy" and gave her soul to the Radiant Sovereign, making an angel to possess her corpse. The Radiant Sovereign rewarded Clayde a magic scroll and made him into a nine-level warrior. After this tragedy, Linley and Wharton seperated and was raised by his uncle, Hillman. House of Baruch fell to ruins.

At an unknown period of time, possibly after the Baruch tragedy, a man named Deslie once joined the Radiant Church as an Asetic in order to become stonger, and he later became the legendary leader of Asetics, but soon he found out that the Radiant Church committed human sacrifise. Horrified and disgusted, Deslie was determined to abandon his faith to the Radiant Sovereign, so that he defect and left the Radiant Church, due to the fact that he witnessed the Church's true inhumane nature and rejected it.

However, Deslie was hunted by the Radiant Church due his crime of apostasy. Deslie soon lived as a solitude, in order to hide from the Radiant Church, and continuing his studying to become stronger. Later, he was invited by Beruit and started a secret rebellion.

Divine Baptism
"The Radiant Sovereign, as a Sovereign, one of the most powerful entities in existence, could extend a thread of his divine, faith-based power to totally cleanse a person’s soul, causing them to be wholly devoted and faithful to the Radiant Sovereign. Only a person who had already reached the Saint-level and was able to crystalize his soul would be able to resist the effects of this Divine Baptism."

- Volume 7

Coming Soon!

Members
"To tell the truth, Linley, if you want to challenge the Radiant Church now, it will have no possibility! The true elites among them are so powerful, that they can even stand against me. The Radiant Church have so many elites, that you, alongside your brother, two monsters, those immortal warriors and that necromancer... will all die if you challenge them!"

- Hordan to Linley and Wharton

''This list is incomplete. Most of the Radiant Church members' status below are depending on books. In the current comic version, most of them are still alive.''

Popes
The only known Radiant Holy Emperor (Pope in Chinese version) so far is Heidens, an elderly yet still powerful radiant oracular - and yet another holier-than-thou hypocrite, being the hidden but true main antagonist of the series until his final death. He was blessed by the Overgod of Fate who passed down Oracular Magic.
 * Pope Heidens (leader; deceased)

Ecclesiastical Tribunal

 * Osenno (deceased)

Osenno, the Praetor of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, was one of the other pillars of the Radiant Church. He was also the hidden secondary leader of the Radiant Church. In truth, it should be said that the Radiant Church actually had two leaders; the public leader known as the Holy Emperor, and the hidden leader in charge of killings, slaughters, and eliminating heathens and apostates – the Praetor of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.

Cardinals, Bishops and Archbishops

 * Cardinal Guillermo (Cardinal; captured)

Special Executors of the Radiant Church
Special Executors of the Radiant Church are powerful agents of the Radiant Church. They often gathered in six a group and fought together. They can detact anything, even something underground. After Linley successfully assasinated Clayde, six Special Executors arrived for execution and nearly killed Linley. In the end, Master Doehring commit a fatal attack in order to save Linley, which killed all of the executors with a tragic result - the vaporization of Doehring's own soul.


 * Stehle
 * Six nameless members (deceased)

Angels
The angels of Radiant Church, also known as the Ascending Angels, are one of the hidden powers of the Radiant Church (alongside Fanatic Army). They are the angels who used human body as a host after the sacrifise is over. They cannot ascend on Yulan Plane without a human host, but their power had only limited at Saint levels. Even so, they are still horrendous and powerful. The strongest angel had six wings. The more wings they have, the stronger they are.
 * Lyndin (deceased)
 * Alfanso (deceased)

Asetics

 * Fallen Leaf (deceased)
 * Deslie (defected)

Allies

 * Cult of Shadows (former enemies; destroyed)
 * Alphlec (deceased)
 * King Clayde (deceased)
 * Duke Patterson (deceased)
 * Five Servants of Clayde (dissolved)

Trivia

 * The Radiant Church is the first primary villainous organization in the works of Zhu Hongzhi (also known by his pen name, "I-Eat-Tomatoes") that is designed in a Western fantasy theme, due to Coiling Dragon itself to be the first works by I-Eat-Tomatoes to be a Western-themed fantasy story.
 * Due to the revalation right at the finale of Coiling Dragon that Linley is the future Hongmeng Creator appeared in the end of a earlier novel by the same author, The Legends of Immortals, the Radiant Church is highly responsible for most of the major events in "I-Eat-Tomatoes"' earlier works and thus a prequel arch-villain for The Lengends of Immortals.
 * It is partly based on Roman Catholic Church, thus having similairties with Order of the Sword and Roman Orthodox Church, which are both based on Catholic Church itself.