I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-763

Sylvester lowered his gaze and looked at the area around the volcano. It was riddled with dead bodies of the giant sea monsters of the Darkpit Sea. Likely sucked into the portal and ejected out. The heat and the lack of water brought a tormenting death soon after.

"Where are we?" Sylvester asked.

"The Devil Islands," Dalgan responded. "They have this type of sand and volcanoes. It's inhabited by undead creatures that lack a mind of their own. It's a graveyard for the most part, and occasional appearances of powerful creatures make it uninhabitable."

"Do you two not see the Black Hole up there?" Zenith bellowed in the middle, "How can you still talk so calmly?"

"I've accepted my death long ago," Dalgan blurted.

"It's under control," Sylvester responded. "I'll try to deal with the Black Hole. You two return to your Imperial Capital and see what the situation is. If I find any trouble stopping that, I'll inform you."

"What happens if you can't deal with it?"

"Then it's the will of the 'Gods' and we can't do anything," Sylvester answered, not giving any false hopes. "Inform me if you find Felix too. I'll send him home immediately."

Zenith nodded, wasting no time. Being in her home world again, she was able to make minor teleportation portals for herself and Dalgan. So she made one directly to the inner sanctum of her Imperial Palace. "Please don't die."

"I can't afford to," Sylvester said and left the two on the ground away from the volcano before flying up towards the Black Hole. The massive cosmic marvel was so close that its shining disc seemed more beautiful than threatening.

Sadly, Sylvester soon watched the real horrors it was inflicting on the Demon World that killed any joy from the view. He could see in the far distance chunks of land being broken apart and sucked into the sky. The gravity being changed in the region, and the atmosphere in shambles. It was the death of a planet with a trillion cuts, only in this case, they were invisible and extremely fast.

'The cities must be in chaos.'

Despite having no relation with the species, he pitied them. It wasn't a natural phenomenon, simply a forced end of a civilization.

A Black Hole was a minor object for him now. So, while hovering midair, he spread his arms and tried to remove the Black Hole from existence itself by transferring it to a void in space. In theory, it was as easy as moving his finger.

However, moments passed, and Sylvester felt nothing changing. So, he decided to destroy the Black Hole, which was even easier than moving it. He simply started to absorb the energies emitting from the Black Hole at a pace fast enough to kill the cosmic horror.

Yet, moments passed, and the size didn't change. In fact, it looked the same as when he started.

"Pushback?" He concluded it was definitely the work of the two gods. All his attempts were being canceled out by the will of the Primordial Gods since they were the managers, the writers of the rules. If they decided the Black Hole was invincible, then it was indeed invincible.

'I can't let this go on.' Sylvester mumbled and changed his tactic. Preserving life was the most important part for now.

So, like he did with his home planet, he enveloped this Demon Planet with his consciousness, energies that made every nook and cranny of the land a part of him. The demons on it as a piece of himself.

He stood between the planet and the Black hole like a shield. He stopped the cities, mountains, oceans, and rivers from being ripped apart and removed from existence.

"How long will you stand as their shield?"

Sylvester heard a thunderous voice coming from the deepest parts of the universe he was in. It felt as if it came at him from all sides, overbearing, but also personal. Only he could hear it, he was sure, and it could be none other than them.

"As long as I must."

"Even when your world faces the same sealed fate?"

Sylvester's jaw tightened at that. Countless theories, doubts, and cases arose in his thoughts. Was this a trap to take him away from his home? Or was it a different scheme he was yet to look past?

'I need to hide from them,' he felt, and quickly took out the artifacts left behind by twenty Johnathans. He wore them all and hoped it would work to hide him from the Primordial Gods. 'Now off to the next part.'

Even if his home faced the same threat, he couldn't just leave this world to die. It would mean his absolute failure.

So, he tried to speak with Zenith in her head. 'They're opposing my control over the Black Hole. And it isn't the Black Hole that was moved here, but it's your planet that was plucked from its system and thrown into the Event Horizon of a Black Hole."

Zenith answered the call right away, "What will you do now? It's chaotic everywhere here. I can't find the Oracle or the Supreme Commanders either."

Sylvester took a very short break to think. It was important to take everything into account before doing what he slowly prepared for. "I won't be able to save this planet, but I can save all your people. Zenith, when I tell you, you need to repeat what I say. Don't ask questions. Just say it, and the entire world of yours will hear you."

"Understood. I will continue to search for the Supreme Commanders." Zenith, as told, didn't ask questions. "Please save my people, Sylvester."

It didn't need to be asked. Sylvester silently began preparing the entire planet for his next move. He didn't plan for it or even think deeply about it in fear that the Primordial Gods could see through his mind or his future.

'Chonky, I'll be sending you too.' Sylvester spoke directly in Miraj's head. 'I need someone at home who's strong enough to protect the Holy Land and Mum.'

"What are you going to do, Maxy?"

'Just a little population migration,' Sylvester muttered and closed his eyes while remaining as a shield against the Black Hole. He could sense every single living thing, every speck of dirt on the Demon Planet by the time he finished spreading his senses.

After a while of preparing, Sylvester smirked a little. "I bet you thought I wouldn't see through your little scheme."

The two gods didn't reply to him.

But Sylvester was sure they were watching. "You thought I'd end up being the one to trigger a species war by bringing the demonkind to my world? Sadly, you underestimate me."

This maneuver wasn't simple, however. Even for Sylveser, handling this many teleportations through the boundaries of universes was akin to rewriting their existence into the nature of another universe.

It ate a lot of Sylvester's energy, but he did it anyway. And finally, when he was sure all the demons were magically tagged to be moved away, he contacted Zenith.

"Repeat after me, Zenith," he notified her, and right then, huge floating images appeared in the field of view of every single demon on the planet. "I, your Void, alongside the human God Solis, have come to aid your rescue."

Zenith was in utter shock. While Sylvester was completely focused on making Zenith's image appear similar to the shape of their god, Void. A dark creature made of shadows that were akin to strips of clothing. Meanwhile, Sylvester had it easier masquerading as Solis since it only took bright light behind the look and nothing in the place of a face.

"Us, or them. Void, or Solis. Humans, or demons—We have a common enemy," Sylvester bellowed, and with him, Zenith repeated as the Void. "First, they came after our home. Next, they will come for the home of the humans. Yet, kindness is not lost, and against all odds, Solis and I have come to an understanding. My voices, my preachers, my followers—accept the warmth surrounding your being. Accept the new land as if it were the land of your dream. Live by peace, love, and calm—

that is the key to the blessing from my palm."

Sylvester finished that broadcast and started to send the demons one after another to his home world. It was an extremely risky move, but this was all he knew. Still, it took everything he had to change the natural order of his home world.

Changing the Sand Continent and the Central Continent into a single landmass, with all the human population teleported away into Sol was a complex task that was bound to create a lot of chaos. And then sending the demons to that new continent was even more difficult.

But Sylvester did it. The bodies of young, old, and ordinary were covered in a golden hue, and their bodies started to disappear into tiny cracks that appeared beside them.

The population was more than a billion. There were a lot of people to feed as well, so Sylvester tried to deal with that too. But first, he had to address someone he had finally found on the planet.

'Chonky, you need to return home with Felix.'

Miraj looked left and right, "Where is he?"

And right there, Sylvester saw Felix from his senses that covered the planet. His best friend stood cornered by a lone enemy whose body appeared mutated beyond the worst of nightmares. What was that thing, a human or a creature of the night?

"Need help?" Sylvester's words reverberated in the sky above.

Felix grinned, having recognized that voice.

"Sleeping beauty finally wakes up?" Felix barked. "No need.