I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-718

719 718. Different Species, Same Emotions

Crack!

Lord Two felt his bones cracking and the body losing its functions. He continued to stare at Sylvester in disbelief, "You shouldn't be this strong for a new Supreme Wizard."

Sylvester shrugged and tried to check the Demon's anatomy and see what kind of energy they used in their body. "Well, people don't become Supreme Wizards in their twenties either. Yet here I am. Tell me, what did you expect would happen once I'd found out?"

"Haa…" Lord Two began bleeding from his mouth. It was red, surprisingly. "Y-You weren't supposed to be this strong…"

"I still have three more Supreme Wizards as my aid," Sylvester added. He clawed his hand into the open chest and pulled out what he guessed was one of the hearts. "Still not dead? Amusing."

Like fruits being plucked from a tree, Sylvester clawed out another heart from Lord Two's chest. "So, why did you come to this world? Colonize it? But why? If your world is so technologically advanced and peaceful, why come here?"

Lord Two, surprisingly, answered him, albeit struggling with the loss of two out of his three heart-like organs. "T-Too many of us… Overpopulation."

'Overpopulation? That… I wasn't expecting such a reason.' Sylvester felt somewhat speechless there. 'How advanced is their world?'

"So what's the plan? Taking over our land and settling your people?" He asked. "Did your Empress Mother sanction this mission? Is this what her goal is?"

"Hah, she's too soft to take such drastic measures to solve my world's greatest problem."

"So you're rebels?" Sylvester slowly started to build a theory in his head. "How did you enter into my world? Did you possess a human body?"

"..."

But Lord Two didn't speak anymore and silently continued to bleed. Clearly, he wanted to hide the means of their entry.

"No problem, I'll question your 'Generals' directly. By now, they should have rounded all of you up." Sylvester stood up and changed the interior of the Supreme Void, making it invisible to anyone's eyes and making it seem like they were still sitting at the center of the destroyed warehouse.

"You-ugh…" Lord Two groaned with a mix of hate and pain. "You uncultured, backward creatures! Do not refuse the enlightenment of knowledge… We can make your world gr—"

Sylvester didn't like his words, so he stomped on Lord Two's face, shutting him down since the entire mouth caved in. "For someone lecturing about culture and modernity, what is it that you're doing under the Soul Tree? Public service? Hypocritical filth."

Bam!

Sylvester finally kicked Lord Two's head, leaving him almost dead. He still refrained from killing him for now since he could be of use later.

'So Zama'tar was from a different faction all along. But how powerful is this Empress Mother then? Does she even have control over her whole world?' Sylvester worried if entering the Demon World was even worth it. After all, beyond the fact that Diana might be there, there was nothing to be gained.

…

At the same time, outside North City, near the port, Julius led the team of Grand Wizards and one Platinum Knight. It was the worst day for Merrifield as he once again found his teeth knocked out, and his spine broken when he tried to touch Aurora improperly.

But after leaving the man to cry in agony, the team looked around the entire port, searching every ship and building for slaves or slavers. At their speed, it didn't even take them an hour to round up every single slaver they could find and lock them up.

However, that was only the start of their real job, as they all rushed to the Zachod Kingdom and did the same at the port first. Afterward, they entered West City and easily overtook the Royal Palace.

With Julius there to support them, his Supreme Void alone was enough to overcome any obstacle. Their task was to take the King and round up any demonic presence they could find. All of it was supposed to be done covertly without making any noise.

Then came the Meridia Kingdom, and finally Orienta Kingdom in the east. But one Kingdom lacked a King, so they picked up all the demons they could before finally making their way to Northod, where Sylvester was already waiting for them.

…

"You're late," Sylvester said, looking at the team of five entering North City's Royal Palace. It was the spacious, royal throne room, and Sylvester had already brought the sick King's bed there, along with three demons forcibly made to kneel. "Did you catch the fish?"

Julius pulled in a ball of Dark Elemental magic behind himself, hovering in the air as his hand remotely controlled it. "All of them."

Thud!

The ball of dark element burst and released a dozen demons, and two sickly old men, likely the Kings of the remaining kingdoms. They all looked beaten and defeated. A few demons didn't have an arm, and some had lost one of their legs. They were all dressed in black oversized robes, hiding their bodies, but their facial features were similar to Lord Two: four eyes, no nose, and sharp fangs.

"Amusing. This is the first time I've seen demons with uniform facial and bodily features," Sylvester commented.

"Likewise," Julius added. "These are certainly no possessed demons. I feel they've come directly from whatever realm they live in."

Sylvester agreed and walked closer to the defeated demons. "Which one of you are called Generals? Your Lord Two talked about you."

"Lord Two? Where is he?"

'I smell panic.' Sylvester noticed, and felt thankful for his strange abilities that also seemed effective on demons. 'A little too panicked for a mere colleague.'

"Alive, but not for long. I have plucked two of his hearts, or whatever it was in his chest." Sylvester replied as mercilessly as possible, "Why? You want me to kill him faster?"

"No!"

"Shut up!" Just then, another Demon growled and tried to shut the previous one up. "Makils hina ywahl ha Dalgan."

Sylvester sighed and walked to the one who tried to silence the other. "You don't seem to be aware of your situation. Let me show you…"

"Aaaaargh…"

With a single wave of his hand, Sylvester sent a blazing, expanding beam of invisible solarium into the Demon's skull, making it explode like a balloon, spreading blood and fleshy matter all around on his allies.

"This is what'll happen to Lord Two if my questions aren't answered. Which one of you are the Generals, and how did you come to my world?"

"My son!"

'Ah, so that's why he was panicking? No matter the world or species, blood is blood, it seems.' Sylvester finally realized why one Demon appeared so desperate. 'Good, it seems that I won't have to work too hard.'

"Answer me, and you shall have your son."

"I'm a General! There are four of us. You just killed one. I'm called Darlgan… Where is my son?" Dalgan questioned in a heavily accented human language.

Sylvester nodded and began killing the demons who weren't Generals. He made sure it was slow and bloody to place some psychological pressure on them. "I don't think my question was answered completely. I'll ask again, how did you demons enter my world? What are your plans with the Soul Tree?"

Thud!

The more Dalgan waited, the more of his juniors fell to their death. They all screamed in pain, pleading in their demon language. They tried to struggle, but in the end, Sylvester blew up their bodies or chopped their limbs with a blade made of Light Element. So much blood was spilled that there was crimson all over the floors.

"Answer me!"

"Soul Tree!" Dalgan shouted.

"Ikali hwuo dhjr hwuo!"

"Opiud hjuo qioklp unilopa!"

Sylvester sneered at the two other Generals who tried to shut Dalgan up. "Julius, stitch their mouths. Dalgan, if you don't answer, I'll run out of bodies. Then, I'll kill your son right in front of you."

"It's a portal!" Dalgan exclaimed. "The Soul Tree… We made a portal inside it… the energies from my world are modifying your Soul Tree into something that produces not solarium, but our magic… This Continent, the sea around it, Eastern parts of the Sand Continent, and the Blackhart Kingdom will soon be shrouded in the energies of my world."

"What about the fire under the tree? And those human sacrifices?"

"Catalyst to increase the speed of mutation of the tree! Once this land has fallen, all the people under its energy's influence would mutate into lesser versions of us… that you call demons," Dalgan revealed, much to the anger of the other two Generals. They were, at best, as strong as low-level Grand Wizards.

Sylvester sighed and looked at the faces of his team and then back at the two other Generals. "Who is your leader?"

"Grand Prince Zorthror… He is the Grand General of the Northern Imperial Forces."

"What about Empress Mother?"

"She's not aware… Grand General wishes to make this world his new base and challenge Mother Empress for the throne... Where is my son?!" Dalgan knew he couldn't return to his former employer anymore, so he asked for his son, wanting to escape somewhere else.

'The political situation of the Demon World doesn't seem as simple as what Zama'tar led me to believe.' Sylvester tried to count the possibilities. He only had a few days left before entering the demon world anyway.

"He is alive and well, and you can see him. But you can't meet him unless you tell me everything there is to know about your world. From language to cultures, power levels, technology levels, your geography, as well as your religion." Sylvester offered him mercy with a few terms and conditions applied. "You'll then lead me back into your world—to this Empress Mother."

"M-My son?"

Snap!

Sylvester only had to click his fingers together for the Supreme Void that had remained invisible until now, to reveal the dying body of Lord Two.

"He'll die if not cared for swiftly, General Dalgan," Sylvester added. "So choose quickly and wisely."

Thank you for reading. Gifts and GT votes are highly appreciated.