I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-724

725 724. I Feel Different

Sylvester could still feel his mind and memories intact, but he couldn't feel his body anywhere. No arms, no legs; He couldn't move them, nor could he feel pain. But he was sure that he was still inside the core of the sun, and from what Nehilius had said, he had to construct a body of his own using all the ingredients now.

'I'm sure he doesn't want me to make another body with water and other minerals like the previous one. But where do I even start?' Sylvester wondered in silence, contemplating what he was even supposed to do.

What he knew was that there were elemental sources, a sacrifice, and the sun. The only way forward seemed to assimilate all three of them and make a body with it, but what should the constitution be?

'A body made purely from elements? But then, what am I to do with the sacrificial soul and the sun?' Sylvester wondered as a mere metaphysical consciousness in the vast void of scorching heat. He couldn't see anything as he had no eyes, but he could still feel some warmth. It was a strange feeling that brought him back to his despicable origin in the new life.

He pondered and pondered. Time passed, and he still tried to think about what to do. He could feel the presence of the elemental sources resting within him, as well as the vial of the soul.

'What did Nehilius say about the soul? May it become my second soul of sacrifice? A barrier to shield me from life's finality, an instrument to guide my journey? In that case, is it supposed to be my first layer of vessel?' He wondered and tried to do as Nehilius had instructed, in the same order.

Crack!

The sound was something he only imagined as he let the vial containing the sacrificial soul pour out and spread all around his consciousness.

'Argh!' He felt attacked all of a sudden as if something was trying to take over his entire being. 'Demon? Ah, it must be Alvath, the one that I killed… In your dream, pest!'

With a simple thought and his firm will, he was able to subdue Alvath's soul and maintain the whole process. The sensation of being engulfed in something viscous increased, and the scorching heat of the sun slowly reduced.

'It's working?' He wondered and focused on the next thing Nehilius had said. 'Let them be the base of my physical body. The ingredient of the finest creation, worthy of harboring a god's foundation? The elemental sources are supposed to be the base of my physical body? But then… I already reached peak affinity. What would happen afterward?'

But still, he felt the elemental sources go loose inside the new container of his soul. They were like stones, breaking apart into fine powder and coating the outside of his soul container—

Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Light, and Darkness.

'Ughk!' Sylvester groaned when the Darkness element began to assimilate. 'The others didn't cause me any pain… Ah! It's increasing… Why?'

In a precarious situation, he tried to calculate everything that could have gone wrong. And in the end, only one thing made sense. 'I've never comprehended the Darkness element. This is entirely new to not only my senses but also my soul… I need to understand this quickly.'

Taking a calming break, he focused on the Darkness elemental source only, while the others continued to form the shape of a humanoid body around him. He had experienced the Darkness element in battles before, but never felt it inside his body.

'Opposite of light? No, it can't be the opposite since its base is still solarium… Yes, solarium is the answer for everything related to magic.' Sylvester tried to understand the element as if it was a race against time. The increasing, piercing pain in his intangible body kept soaring, trying to break his concentration. 'Ugh… To make light, I use solarium and a hint of Fire element sometimes… Darkness… By reducing everything related to light?'

Crack!

'It's working?!' He felt the Darkness Elemental Source cracking apart, while the others were almost at the last stage of assimilating with him. 'Yes, by removing all the light from the solarium, I can turn it into Darkness!'

Boom!

Finally, the formation finished, and a god's foundation was created amidst the center of the sun. Humanoid, but without skin or features, it remained hovering in one place while the flares of the sun began to absorb into his body.

"Aaaaargh… What now?!" Sylvester groaned in physical pain this time and could feel his voice coming out. "The sun… I'm absorbing it all…"

"Ugh… It's… burning everything…!" Sylvester tried to control the flow of the flames into himself. He attempted to remember what Nehilius had said, but there was nothing about the sun. The only clue was that this was the Source of Existence.

"My existence?" He questioned, wondering what the aim was behind absorbing an entire sun. All he could do was go through the excruciating pain and let the fire converge inside his body. He didn't know if he had any veins anymore, but all he knew was that this sun's energy was filling his vessel and burning something inside him.

"Ah! The soul for sacrifice!" He remembered just then and focused to see what was going on inside himself. Sure enough, the first layer of defense around his body was the Essence of Life. It was slowly eroding but too fast to last all the way. "This is the real trial! To protect my soul from this scorching energy!"

"Aaaaaargh…"

His groaning, pained screams fell on deaf ears as Nehilius and one more entity watched the whole trial from a distance, silently waiting for the moment a new divine entity was going to be born.

"Surviving this is impossible for a mortal of such low origin," Nehilius said, somewhat disappointed that his chosen heir was going to die.

"He will survive and thrive," the second voice replied, appearing like a shining blob of light. "He is finally riding on a path he was born to drive—He will live, and he will fulfill the reason for which he is still alive."

The two remained silent beyond that, harboring only hope for the hopeful end.

Sylvester remained stuck as the sacrificial soul slowly burnt away. He tried all he could to reduce the speed and did something by using the elemental source he had just deposited all over himself. But to his shock, the more those elements fought against the Source of Existence—the sun—the stronger the elements became.

This was a double-edged sword as the moment the harmony between the two was to break. One would overcome the other and ruin everything, leaving him without a physical vessel. What would happen after that was something he chose not to think about.

Time passed, and the struggle continued. Sylvester wondered if he would be able to make it in time for the evening dinner with his family. The last thing he wanted was to miss it this time.

'If I can't even handle this, there's no possibility of battling the Primordial Gods,' he reminded himself, reaffirming his will to focus on dealing with this situation. No matter the exhaustion, he continued to absorb the energies from the sun and assimilate them into the elemental sources.

Over time, he could feel the intensity of the sun decreasing, as well as its size. The sacrificial soul was barely holding on with his help. It took an arm and leg to secure himself.

'Hmm?' He noticed something at last. 'Why is there a solid layer coming closer?'

He reckoned he was nearly finished with the whole ordeal when he noticed a solid sphere layer around him. It was getting smaller and surrounding him like a cocoon.

"Ugh… It's getting too narrow. At this rate, this sphere will crush me." But at the same time, he couldn't stop absorbing the energy, which made the sphere smaller. "What now?"

As time went by, he could finally feel the walls of the hard crystalline sphere touching his newly formed body that he had yet to check. But first, he had to save himself, and no matter how much he tried to attack it with elemental energy, it didn't budge.

"If not elements, then what? Solarium?" He wondered and tried to manipulate the magical particles that were in abundance inside his body and break the sphere apart. "Still nothing… It's crushing me! Aaaaa…"

Outside the small sphere, Nehilius alone awaited. "Think, Sylvester Maximilian—A god's tool is not mortals' magic. A god wills to make, and wills to destroy—Remember the laws."

Crack!

"Aaaaa!" Sylvester's voice suddenly echoed when a miniature crack formed on the outer shell of the crystal. "Creation! Destruction!"

BOOM!

Like a massive glass orb exploding, the sphere shattered and vanished everywhere, leaving a lone humanoid form engulfed in flames all around, absorbing what was left of the Source of Existence.

Flares upon flares shot in every direction, some striking Nehilius and shockingly left charred cut marks.

As the last of the flares began to vanish into the humanoid body, physical features began to form. A nose, facial features, hair, and muscles. Merely cosmetics that coated the scorching core of a divine being.

Sylvester, free from all the confines, felt an immense surge of raw power flow through his body. But it was unlike anything, as it didn't seem physical or magical. He simply felt powerful—

elevated.

"Sylvester Maximilian, through the trials and evolution, you were torn." Nehilius's words rang everywhere, gaining Sylvester's attention. "Forgotten once, today I lay witness to another almighty being born."

Boom!

A wave of fiery energy shot everywhere in the shape of a spiral galaxy as Sylvester clenched his right fist and slammed it on his other palm.

"I do… feel… different."

A/N: See Sylvester out of the sphere.

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