The conflict between the empire and the church slowly emerged. Everybody was gradually stripping away the last layer of pretense, and various contradictions were now on the table.
Pope Corsica VI had publicly announced that the Imperial order to stop religious taxation was a challenge against the church's prestige, a disrespect to the Gods. At the same time, the church's Flaming Warriors were frequently mobilized and assembled.
However, the old skeleton was even more ruthless. He issued an order in the name of the Empire's Emperor, that any mobilization of local armies within the empire which involved more than one hundred people must obtain the approval of the imperial commander-in-chief! After such order was issued, the mobilization of the Flaming Warriors was greatly restricted. In some places, hundreds of cases of friction between the Flaming Warriors and local garrisons were reported. All of a sudden, the empire was glutted with countless news of chaos.