I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-541

It was an uphill battle to fight against gravity in order to reach the eye. However, Sylvester felt increasingly powerful the further he progressed. His body acted like a sponge, taking in all the solarium around him.

There was nothing that could stop him now. His enemy's solarium, the basic foundation of magic, became his own weapon.

"I feel good!" Sylvester couldn't hold back the revitalizing sensation. His fatigue was gone, and his arm healed itself. "Give me all you got!"

At last, his spear pushed back the beam and reached the pupil of the giant eye. Without stopping, Sylvester went right into the dark circle. He expected there to be some greater resistance inside the eye, but all he saw was endless darkness as he pressed further inside.

Bam!

At last, he felt the momentum stop and the spear hitting something—resembling a wall. Yet, he didn't falter and continued to use fire magic in his feet to propel his flight.

"Hah! I don't know what magic this is…" Sylvester bellowed and drank all the solarium around him like it was the sweetest honey in the world. "But it's too weak."

As if a colossal tornado had erupted, the strange reality seemed to disintegrate into tiny particles—as if it was being erased from existence. And all those particles came together in sand-like form, entering Sylvester's body from all directions. He was quite literally devouring the world Niel had created.

Crack!

Sylvester felt the unknown glass-like barrier before him started to crack. "Niel—It was foolish of you to believe you can kill me with this reality you've made—When it was a mere cosmetic."

Crack!

As the glass broke with increasing force, Sylvester devoured whatever solarium he could find. In contrast to Niel's act of constructing a new world, Sylvester stripped it away and brought back the darkness.

BOOM!

The glass shattered, and Sylvester burst through, crossing over and finding himself back in the normal world he remembered. The sun bathed the ravaged battlefield in bright light. But when he looked below, all he saw was a dark void converging into a center point.

It was the unraveling of the magic that Niel had placed.

Eventually, the darkness vanished, and in its place, Niel appeared once again. However, he didn't seem to be doing very well, panting profusely, with blood pouring from his eyes. Hovering in midair, since the magic ended, Niel started to fall. His battered body couldn't react quickly enough.

"Not yet."

Boom!

Sylvester dove straight toward Niel like a bolt of lightning. His feet propelled him at great speed. His hand grasped the false Pope's throat with ease and adjusted the trajectory to slam him onto the ground with as much force as possible.

The earth approached rapidly as they plummeted freely. Sylvester didn't care how far they flew in their freefall either.

The entire way, Niel's bloodied, half-ripped face kept staring at Sylvester, mumbling the same thing. "You know nothing… You know nothing…"

"Shut up." Sylvester realized they were already over the abandoned Green City, having traveled almost a hundred kilometers in the freefall.

Niel smiled, revealing his bloodied teeth. "If you knew the truth, you would have joined me instead of resisting."

"What truth?" Sylvester questioned. "Your riddles hold no sway now—I will take what I want today."

"The truth will shatter your life—your view of the world and your will to serve. Nothing is real—everything is planned!"

Not understanding the man, Sylvester took no chances and went straight down in the middle of the Green City. "Whatever it is, I will handle it. My mercy, your words can't buy—so shut up and just die."

BOOM!

Sylvester rocketed down vertically and at last slammed First Guardian of Light, Niel's body, onto the ground. The blast generated from that maneuver was so massive that it created a wave, just like the ocean. The earth was uprooted, and the entire city was reduced to rubble, save for a few keeps.

Rocks, debris, clothing, and other objects were scattered everywhere. And in the middle of it all was Sylvester, with Niel's head still in his grasp, which he continued to slam onto the ground, deepening the crater.

Boom!

With each slam, the shockwaves reverberated with an echo. Niel's body was nothing but a ragdoll by that point since his solarium was drained, and his greatest ability had been rendered useless.

"You claimed to be the embodiment of light—Yet forgot it is I who rules over it. You can run as fast as light, but I always see and feel it—for it is my blessing." Sylvester stopped slamming him and clutched his face into his palm. "Now, whatever magic is left in you, I'll be taking it."

Having remembered the sensation, Sylvester effortlessly attempted to take away the Solarium from Niel's body. He reckoned it wasn't something the elves could do; Otherwise, they would have already conquered the world by consuming solarium from others.

Nial's body began to visibly age and shrink, skin clinging onto his bones. The already tattered white robes gradually transformed into a loose gown on his body. The cheekbones protruded, and his eyes started losing their luster as they sank into his skull.

"Seek the… truth." Niel still tried to utter those words once more. "I found out… I was cursed with… it."

Sylvester's raging golden eyes and the crimson halo intensified. "As long as you speak in riddles, there shall be no mercy to your heresy."

A faint smile appeared on Niel's dying face. "You broke the void…"

"Is that what it was called?" Sylvester felt tempted to stop and ask the man about the strange ability. Whatever magic Niel used was clearly not in its final form, as he stood unharmed. But on second thought, he decided not to take any risks.

Niel had already accepted his end. "H-Honored to… to lose to one who could b-break the supreme… I couldn't, you realized my dream…"

Sylvester cared not for Niel's riddles and stopped holding back from draining the solarium. With that, the rate of decay and aging escalated. Within seconds, the muscles withered away, leaving behind a skull-like face, and his eyes had almost popped out. The sparkle of life within Niel's gaze ceased to exist—his brain was dead, and only his heart remained beating.

Although Sylvester held disdain for Niel, he respected him as a foe. Although he was killing the man, it didn't mean he had to curse him. "May your soul find solace in death—In salvation, may you take another breath."

"Amen."

"What?" Sylevster's head spun to his left, and his eyes shrank at the sight of the man. The voice belonged to someone he had almost forgotten. White robes with golden trim and embroidery, a hooded head, and a mask on half of their face. Golden shoulder armor, gauntlets, and a fancy long staff with the strange sun-like sigil at the head.

Releasing his grip on Niel's body, Sylvester turned to face the unexpected visitor. However, when he attempted to move toward him, he found his body had frozen—but on another look, it seemed like the entire area had frozen over, including the birds in the sky. Yet, he knew the time wasn't being manipulated as the subtle shift of the sun's position was visible.

"Saint Scepter… I was waiting for you to show up."

Sylvester sounded calm, but his mind raged with questions. Just like Niel, he had no idea what this man was capable of. On top of that, the gap in strength among them was likely immense.

Nonetheless, he didn't stop defying the magic Saint Scepter had placed upon the surrounding. He tried to move to the best of his ability, going as far as to use Elder Magic to his heart's content since solarium was the one thing he had in abundance.

'Ugh… it's like I'm at the bottom of the ocean. There's so much pressure.' Sylvester silently grunted and finally managed to move a few inches.

Crack!

'Hmm? What's this?'

Crack!

As he slowly inched forward while exerting himself, he noticed the space around him cracking like glass.

"Wonderful thing, isn't it… this ancient elder magic?" Saint Scepter spoke with an amused tone.

'I can't read any of his emotions.' Sylvester was alerted to the strange wall between their existences.

"What do you want?" Sylvester questioned him. "Where is the Pope?"

Saint Scepter moved suddenly and crossed through Sylvester's body as if a ghost and gazed at Niel's body. "He was never a match to you, but every tool has a use—he served his, and you serve yours."

Crack!

Sylvester turned around, breaking the space around his body. He felt slightly worried after seeing the subtle but almost impossible feat of magic by the man. "Did you kill the Pope? I remember he called you his closest friend."

Saint Scepter raised his right palm, covered with a gauntlet. Then abruptly, a shining yellow dot appeared on it, and it kept growing bigger and bigger. The heat the orb produced was terrifying, the likes of which Sylvester had never felt before.

The orb grew and flew over Saint Scepter's head. "Do you know what this is? This is a small sun in the palm of my hands, the same sun you worship as Solis—I can destroy this reality if I wish to."

Woosh!

The sun abruptly vanished. "But I won't—for I am merely an overseer of the world's trajectory, a skilled mechanic who corrects its course should it become my duty."

"Who do you serve?" Sylvester questioned. "There has to be a purpose behind all that you do."

"You cannot fathom them,"

'Them?' Sylvester saw the hidden meanings. 'Nothing he's saying is meaningless. Does he plan to tell me all this?'

"Are you going to fight me?" Sylvester questioned.

"No, for a fight must be on equal footing—but if it becomes my duty, I shall—kill you." Without an ounce of doubt in himself, Saint Scepter spoke as a matter of fact.

Leaving Sylvester to ponder, the man seized Niel by the back of his collar and began levitating in the air.

Sylvester, alarmed, tried to stop him. "He's not dead yet—Are you going to break the Holy Duel? The stake was the throne. I earned it."

Saint Scepter answered. "I merely oversee that the rightful takes the throne—I take no sides. Niel's mind has left this realm, but his heart remains steady. He may no longer live, but he has a purpose to fulfill while you remain away."

"Away? I'm not planning on going anywhere." Sylvester stated.

"You have already won the throne, Sylvester Maximilian, but your time to sit on it has yet to arrive. Many answers remain unknown. Many mysteries remain unsolved—Your goal shall remain unreachable unless, in these ancient secrets, you get involved."

Saint Scepter began to rise into the sky, flying away. But Sylvester was still not done with his questions since there was a reason why he kept himself so focused and calm during that whole interaction.

"Where does this all end? You're so powerful, so why not fight against 'them'?" Sylvester questioned with a shout.

Saint Scepter shook his head as he flew away. "A man is bound by the duty his fate decides upon. If he ignores doing what he is born to do, is he even alive? To try and bring the heavens down, isn't that to battle against nature itself?"

"But everything eventually falls!" Sylvester continued, trying to stop Saint Scepter before he went too far away. "Eventually, the mighty always fall—Masan did, Riveria did, Hitler did, Constantine did, Cleopatra did…"

'Got you!'

Saint Scepter suddenly stopped for a split second and then continued to leave, vanishing into the distant sky and eventually freeing Sylvester from the terrifying power that froze him.

However, despite losing the battle and the annoying meddling, a smile remained on Sylvester's face.

'A man born during or after Cleopatra and before Constantine's reign—this means somewhere between 50BCE and 306AD… He has no knowledge of modern technology.' Sylvester deduced from that little flinch he saw in Saint Scepter's demeanor.

'Thank you for the clues, Saint Scepter.'

[A/N: Yes, Sylvester is aware that this was a double-edged sword.]

Thank you for reading. GT votes are much appreciated.