I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-553

"...Come clossser…"

"...Don't you love mommy…"

The strange voice hitting Sylvester slowly started to get more personal, as if it knew who Sylvester was. Or, more appropriately, it could read Sylvester's mind. It was an even more terrifying thought to him since a spy's greatest treasures were his secrets.

"...Mary, if it's a girl. Jack, if it's a boy…"

Sylvester gritted his teeth as he recognized the voice of Diana and the conversation they had when she was pregnant. It became evident that the entity wasn't just trying to break him mentally, but it was actually inside his head.

Without care, Sylvester felt the wind hitting his face as he descended into the dark abyss below him. Since the sun was yet to cast its light there, there was no way to find out what was at the bottom. Moreover, he felt something more.

'The air is… it's getting denser. It has more substance to it.' He realized the more he fell. What worried him more was that the further down he went, the more his speed increased—unnaturally. Which meant that Miraj was descending faster than him as he was already ahead.

'What is this? A Supreme Wizard's Supreme Void they talked about?' Sylvester wondered since nothing else made sense to him. He had never read about a Demon this strong in any book before, one able to affect a landmass as massive as the Divider Swamp. Even the Soul Eater didn't come close.

"Chonky! Wake up!" Sylvester tried to wake Miraj up.

But Miraj's face didn't even show any reactions anymore. The giggles had gone, and he fell like a lifeless doll. It worried Sylvester to no end, and he decided to use magic to go faster.

Using simple fire elemental magic from the bottom of his feet, he accelerated his dive. It had already been over a few seconds, and he expected the ground to arrive anytime now.

'Since my speed is around fifty-five meters per second, and ten seconds have passed—that means… I've already fallen almost half a kilometer! How deep is this abyss?' Sylvester felt confused and worried at the same time.

However, he didn't dare slow down. Before reaching the ground, he had to have Miraj in his arms.

"...Dear, how do I look?..."

Sylvester felt the words hitting him much more than before, physically touching him as if they were made of sharp airwaves. Unbeknownst to him, they had indeed injured him, evident by the tiny but sharp scratch marks on his neck and face.

"...If the war begins, I'll be dead in months. So give my family all my money, will you…"

"…If something happens to me in the future, will you give my life savings to my sister and… ensure she marries a good guy?..."

"...If I die, I'd just be shamed by my father, and my ashes would be tossed in the gutters, but I promise you two…"

Sylvester remembered those words very well, the small pact they made, the Pact of Brothers they had called. "Markus… Gab… Felix…"

The words coming to him began to affect his mind at last and brought out emotions. Back then, he had silently shrugged off the pact, only being interested in surviving. But so many years later, he had accepted this to be his real life as well—those close to him were also precious.

In a low voice, Sylvester began to mumble unintelligible words, mumbling the names of his friends and precious memories. The regret of being incapable of saving someone, or the hatred for those who tried to control him.

Amidst the darkness, he slowly began to lose himself, and his eyes started to look hazy. His mind slowly got dizzy, and the focus on Miraj's body began to wane.

"...Me, you, Big Mum, Dol Dol—we'll be happy forever…"

A slight, faint smile curved on Sylvester's lips as Miraj's words from the previous day echoed in his mind due to the unknown entity.

"Happy forever… Happy forever…" Sylvester repeated many times.

However, his body twitched frantically a moment later, and his eyes opened wide again. As if the focus on saving Miraj returned to his mind, his body began to glow with light magic.

♫Filth of the swamp, stay away from my mind.

Your dark aura and ways, I know your kind.

You are the unholy in this world Solis designed.

Your place beneath my feet, must I remind?♫

A brilliant, radiant, golden halo sharply formed behind Sylvester's head. His focus was revived because of the unknown entity's magic itself, reminding him of Miraj's words. He had lived so long already, and in no way could he lose now when peace was so close.

"CHONKY!" Sylvester's magic erupted behind his feet, leaving a trail of fire. The depth he had descended into was now unknown to him.

Inch by inch, he fought against the voices that tried to take back his mind, and reached closer to Miraj. The speed at which they fell exceeded what he believed could be normal, but he persevered.

"Just a little more… Wake up, Chonky!" Sylvester felt Miraj's form just an arm's length away, so he called out to him. "Wake up… the voice isn't real!"

But Miraj didn't even flinch, shaking Sylvester's heart. He gave it his all and leaped forward.

Bam!

"Got you!" He bellowed as soon as the soft body pressed against his chest. However, he wasted no time stopping their fall and quickly plunged his the Spear of Infinity into the cliff wall as firmly as possible.

BOOM!

The cliff wall collapsed a little since Sylvester's fall was too heavy. The spear dragged down a little. But eventually, the descent stopped since the spear continued to elongate into the rocks.

In the end, Sylvester coughed amidst the small cloud of dust that surrounded him. He looked below, and there was still utter darkness, and when he looked up, there too, he saw a dark mist, but beyond it was the faint light of the sky.

"Chonky." He brought his focus back to Miraj. He quickly felt his pulse and the short breaths. But when he noticed the closed eyes, he was taken aback. "Y-You cried? Wake up, buddy, tell me what happened. You're alright now."

However, there was no response coming from Miraj, despite there being nothing wrong with his body. On top of that, Sylvester had no idea about Miraj's biology, which could really help him.

'I never saw him ever being affected by anything this badly.' Sylvester's heart wrenched; the chirping songs Miraj had sung on their journey rang in his ears.

"...I can heal him…"

The moment the suspected Demon's voice came again, veins popped on Sylvester's head. "Silence!… You will have your end soon!"

Surprisingly, the voices did stop after his small outburst. Sylvester couldn't care less, however, and focused entirely on Miraj. "Chonky, do you want a thousand bananas? Or perhaps a banana pie made by Mum?... Move, buddy… don't be like this."

However, Miraj didn't respond at all. But despite all the harrowing thoughts that flooded his mind, he tried to stay level-headed.

"Let's get out first."

Still hanging with one arm from the spear, he quickly tore his armor cape from behind and tied Miraj's body close to his chest like a baby. Then, he used his other hand to get the extra sword from his waist and use it as a hook to climb up.

Bam!—He stepped on the spear and firmly stabbed the normal sword into the rocks. Then, he took out the spear and plunged it further above. He also used Light Steps to go higher or at least find a place to stand. However, the downward pull from the abyss was such that his body kept cracking the Light Tiles he created, making them only usable for a second.

Nevertheless, he didn't give up and kept climbing, no matter how much the voices rang in his head. His thoughts were only focused on ensuring Miraj's safety. He sweated profusely, and his muscles ached, but the will never broke.

'What am I even up against?' He wondered since light magic also didn't help too much there.

Bam!

"Hmm?" Abruptly, just as he tried to pull himself up on the deeply lodged Spear of Infinity, he felt his body couldn't pull itself up, and instead, something else was now pulling him down.

Quickly, Sylvester looked below, although he felt he shouldn't have a moment later. "What the… what is this?!"

Multiple dark hands came from the darkness below, as thin as a toddler's arms, long like infinite tentacles, but they had the firm grip of a man's hand with its five fingers. The hands grabbed onto Sylvester's legs and tried to pull him down. With each passing moment, more hands caught onto him, each slowly creeping upward.

Starting from his feet, then thighs, waist, and gradually his chest—the hands continued to increase in number, and so did their pull.

"Ugh…" Sylvester held onto the spear of Infinity for dear life, his arm's muscles being stretched like never before. The weakened blood circulation made his arms eventually numb, but they never released their grip.

"...Maxy, come down…I miss you…" The echoing and hissing voices now sounded like Miraj.

Once again, Sylvester looked down, trying to find what the creature was, so he could think about defeating it quickly. However, once again, he found himself cursing at the decision to look.

To his shock, he could finally see the bottom of the strange abyss. It was still dark, but no longer fully covered in mist. There was some gooey liquid down below, spread everywhere. But right below him was a small mound of that liquid—and in it was a colossal gaping mouth, at least more than a hundred meters wide. It was round and had multiple dirty teeth growing in rows that went deeper into the creature's dark void-like throat, from where shining sparks were also emitting.

Red mist was coming out of it, and the red innards of the mouth highlighted the black tongue. However, what horrified Sylvester more was a single, big, round eye at the tip of the tongue that stared at him—ever so eager and hungry.

"I… I can smell it now!" Sylvester felt his heart shake. "The bitterness on my tongue, the scent of death!"

He was strong enough to kill a level ten Grand Wizard by now, and that left only one category of foes who could seriously threaten him. But even then, he had the confidence to at least try and talk his way out of a confrontation.

But now, what was he even supposed to do to such a creature? It wasn't the fear of strength—it was the fear of the unknown that he felt.

Sylvester glanced at Miraj in the little baby carry he had made. 'Explosives could have helped to distract it…'

Sadly, he had none on him. He only carried Light and Solarium crystals. Heck, even Solarium crystals were now becoming useless as he had grown too strong, and to fill his own body with Solarium, he needed tens of thousands of them.

Bam!

The tentacle-like hands grabbed his long hair and pulled him forcefully—they slowly climbed above and began to cover his entire face as well, but he didn't let go of his grip.

At that moment, Sylvester couldn't help but question his decision since there was nobody but himself to blame for his situation. 'W-When did I become this arrogant?'

Just before his eyes were covered, he took one glance at the sky and the expanse of the swamp.

'T-Ten more minutes… I can do it… I have to do it.'

[A/N: See the monster/demon/entity thing here.]

Thank you for reading. GT votes are much appreciated.

[A/N: The Pact of Brothers was mentioned in Chapter 51]