I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-540

Outside,

"What is that dark thing?!" Aurora's face contorted in worry, and she attempted to leap toward it.

"Stop there." the Inquisitor High Lord placed his heavy hand on her shoulder. "Do not meddle in a duel of the holy—you will only be proving the bard of being lowly."

"But!" She fretted for her brother in all but name. "What is that? Sylvester isn't coming out of it."

"That's a Supreme Void," Gabriel revealed, sounding somewhat hesitant. "I've only ever read about it, but seeing it for the first time... However, this should be impossible to create for someone of Niel's caliber."

"What do you mean? Is he concealing his strength?" She inquired.

"Could be, or perhaps not—all I know is that this ability is only possible for someone who possesses the physique and magic of a Supreme Wizard. To create a Void of your own, you need an immense amount of solarium and complete control over a few magical elements," Gabriel explained to her, confident that Sylvester was also pondering this inside the Void.

The Inquisitor High Lord wasn't concerned about it, however. "Numerous strong men and women have stood before the bard, only to have their lives discarded. Have faith in your next Pope—it's not so simple to break this world's last hope."

So, they did what they could and just watched the strange black space in the sky.

…

Back inside the dark space,

'Ugh… Focus, Sylvester. You can do it… this is no challenge to you.' Sylvester attempted to sense the solarium around him and passively absorb it, as Elaine had instructed him. To passively absorb the solarium within his body, he had to first become accustomed to the sensation of drawing it in.

But it was easier said than done. Consuming the solarium crystals was a matter of ingesting or holding them. However, how does one consume solarium from nature itself? He had pondered this extensively over the past few days and attempted to find the answer. He wondered how the human body absorbed solarium from the sun and why a wizard was weakest at night.

"Confess to your sins—You killed the monarchs of Gracia and Riveria." Niel's voice persisted with the questions. The enormous eerie eye in the sky never blinked and just continued to watch. Its purpose remained unknown.

'So he does not know it was Lord Inquisitor who killed Queen Rexina?' Sylvester realized that Niel's facts were not in order. 'I need to earn more time… let's bait him.'

"Indeed, I killed the King of Riveria for placing a bounty on the Pope's head. Then I killed Conrad for standing with you—the devil! But I did not touch the Queen of Gracia." Sylvester threw Niel into a discussion.

'The eye could be the means he's using to look at me in this strange place? Or I could be wrong… the solarium is equally distributed everywhere. The ground, the pillars, and the eye have a uniform consistency—this means this place is certainly artificial.' Sylvester theorized and continued his attempts to consume or assimilate the solarium.

The gravity had increased significantly, but Sylvester remained focused and unbothered. Every chance he got, he tried to pick something to sniff or touch to see if he could crack the secret. From what he knew, the secret was similar to a long-forgotten knowledge that you know you have forgotten, and no matter how much you try, you can't remember. However, once you get a clue, the knowledge returns as if it was never lost.

'My Elder magic allows me to absorb more solarium in the air. But how do I divert the absorption to plants and land?' Sylvester pondered aloud and leaped again as the tenth pillar cracked and crumbled.

It was a futile endeavor, and only his body continued to be crushed under the escalating gravity. There was no escape to be found. But he still didn't smell the death creeping in.

"Evil always loses—by repentance or by testing your body's tolerance—you chose the latter, bard!" Niel's voice sounded enraged this time, and the eye in the sky finally began to react. There was something new about it—the sclera started turning bloody, and the pupil, resembling a black hole, began to shimmer in a red glow.

'Is it going to shoot a laser from the ey—'

BOOM!

'Holy… Solis! It's shooting a laser from the eye!'

The red beam of light, spanning over a hundred meters in width, descended directly from the sky with Sylvester at its epicenter. With such a wide area of impact, Sylvester had to exert great effort to leap and protect himself, especially with gravity which seemed to be over fifty times stronger already.

"Confess to your sins!" Niel's voice roared.

Sylvester was all too focused on protecting himself as he continued to jump. The beams were also regular without any long intervals. However, Sylvester felt something strange at that point. 'Weird, I still don't smell death. But this isn't an illusion… what's happening?'

Boom!

Much less terrified of the imposing beam, Sylvester, this time, tried to check how hot it was. Since the fire was unable to burn him, he reckoned it would not harm him much. Just to be certain, he used only his fractured arm, which refused to heal due to the light runes in the sky.

Shhh…!

As he leaped to save himself, he allowed the edge of his fingers to graze the light beam. To his astonishment, it merely seared his skin, turning it into smoke, and apart from that, nothing occurred. He didn't even experience pain; it was more of a tickle.

'The beam is real… but so weak?'

"Confess to your sins!"

Sylvester no longer bothered to glance at the reddened, blister-like eye. This time, he remained rooted to his spot, his gaze fixed and his mind prepared to endure whatever Niel was about to throw. Considering the beam was made of concentrated solarium as well, he knew this was the moment to try to consume it.

In a split second, the entire crimson beam was upon him. Everything appeared red in his vision due to it, yet he found himself able to move effortlessly, and the heat merely caused a slight pinch on his skin. His armor and hair remained in impeccable condition.

Thud!

Before Sylvester knew it, the pillar he stood on also broke apart, and he fell into the gooey pit of red liquid. However, it didn't burn either, and he found himself to be able to walk on it with ease. The only thing he did feel was the gravity—the rest was of no consequence.

'This is my chance… Niel is wasting too much of his solarium on this strange magic. But does he not know how pathetic this is?' Sylvester wondered, but didn't bother speaking about it. As a wise man once said—never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake.

Sylvester felt the sensation of the beam pinching his skin a little bit. He could feel the solarium connecting with his body, and all he had to do was absorb it instead of letting it dissipate. All his answers seemed as if just a single thin wall away.

"Sylvester Maximilian—Confess to your sin…"

While the raging voice of Niel began to sound more and more desperate with each minute, Sylvester sat down on the liquid ground, cross-legged. His eyes closed as he filtered out all the sounds around him, attaining true peace of mind.

One breath out and one breath in, he took the solarium into the body and felt its sensation. He attempted to replicate what he had done during his meditations on the Soul Tree in the Holy Land.

'The world is a solarium crystal.' He repeated.

And with that, his mind went blank. His entire life flashed before his eyes in a matter of seconds, and all the previous visions reemerged. However, there was something different now. In most of the visions of Zyelena, he had only seen her weep. But now, she wore a warm, radiant smile and adorned beautiful, cozy garments.

But the scenes didn't take long to turn into a familiar yet frightening scene. The same dark space manifested in his mind, and the enormous golden throne became visible. Seated upon it was the entity with a face concealed in shadow, but the intense warmth emanating from the colossal fire behind its head conveyed only one word—Solis.

A muffled voice emerged, and to Sylvester's astonishment, this was no mere memory from the past.

"An abundance of Gods walked the very earth you live upon. There may be multiple roads, but all end up as one single path—persevere, Sylvester Maximilian, do not cease, do not waver, show them your blazing wrath!"

BOOM!

The form of Solis erupted in a fiery implosion and vanished from his sight. In that moment, as all those memories and visions concluded, and darkness returned, Sylvester realized something.

'I remember! This sensations—I've known it forever—I've used elven magic but never knew what it was…'

The sensation of his body comprehending how to absorb solarium felt akin to the creation of the universe, the blossoming of flowers, or the emergence of the sun after a long, frigid night. The solarium coursed through his body, imbuing every inch of his being. Each breath he took felt rejuvenating, and, at last, despite the rune in the sky, his injured arm seemed to be healing.

'The First Pope perished while absorbing the solarium from the Orb of Purity—did he also master elven magic? How far can I push myself before suffering the same fate?'

Sylvester opened his eyes and ears to his surroundings once more. He could sense that he was already covered by the red beam for the umpteenth time. However, shining brighter than the beam, his body radiated a golden light emanating from the halo behind his head.

His hair, too, seemed to emit a glow, and his eyes brimmed with assurance. Magic exuded from his entire being, while the only thing diminishing appeared to be the beam from the sky.

"I can feel it..." Sylvester murmured to himself and gazed directly into the crimson light above.

He pressed his legs before kicking the ground and soaring into the sky. His spear remained poised before him as his body spun like an arrow. Within moments, a wide, golden rune circle materialized at the spear's tip, visibly blocking the beam from the sky and pushing it back toward the eye.

BOOM!

"Niel! All your magic is—mine."

[A/N: Tomorrow will be the last chapter of this whole battle. I initially planned to post it all together, but papa gorilla has heart surgery scheduled for tomorrow. So I could not find time to finish the chapters.]

Thank you for reading. GT votes are much appreciated.