I Became The Pope, Now What?

Sylvester had never seen a demon-possessed in his life before and didn’t know what it looked like in person. Today, he got the answer to that question, and he didn’t like it. There was a big difference between seeing a creature of the night or a bloodling and a demon-possessed because the possessed one you see is still a human, somewhere trapped inside.

He saw the Chief’s son’s face morphed into a strange demonic shape as if there were tumors, rotten, cracked skin all over, dark black pitch black eyes, spiky teeth, long claw-like nails, and feet as he walked on the ceiling and growled at them.

He was, however, chained, so he could not come close to Sylvester and the rest. The Chief of the town, Chief Kennard, looked at Sylvester in anger. “You see this? Still don’t believe in possession? My son has been dying slowly for so long, and you didn’t even come to see him.”

Sylvester defended his actions. “Because I wanted answers first so I could tell you.”

“And the answer is?”

“The people of the town are not possessed because if anyone is really possessed, then it’s easy for the church to purify them, for the darkness fears the light. Look at this.” Sylvester raised his palm toward the demon-possessed man hanging on the ceiling.

“Reeee…!”

The creature seethed in pain and rage. Sylvester had his point proven, however. “See that? That’s how the possessed ones react to light. They cry in pain, and their skin burns to show steam. But this does not happen to anybody else.”

“Then why is my son’s exorcism not showing improvement? The Archpriest has tried already.” Chief Kennard asked.

Sylvester looked at the demon in wonder and asked Sir Dolorem, who had just arrived. “What are the chances this is a higher-ranking, more powerful demon?”

Sir Dolorem had vast experience with these things since it was his main job for years to kill these creatures and burn them. Inquisitors know which demon to mess with and which not.

“Priest Sylvester, from the look of the horns on the head, the eyes, and the movement, it appears to me that it is at least a B-Class Demon, not easy to banish since they are known to form an extremely strong bond with the host. There is likely something in possession of the man that he picked or received from somewhere—which was haunted by this demon.

“We need to find it to end the possession, as it serves as the key.”

Sylvester looked at Chief Kennard. “Can you tell us about this? Where are your son’s belongings?”

While Sylvester tried to find the final cure, Gabriel and Felix came and put protective runes on the ground to ensure that the demon could not escape the room under any circumstances. Now, it was not them stuck with the demon, but the demon was stuck with them.

Chief Kennard took everything seriously and brought a bag full of belongings to the man. “This is all we took from his room.”

Sylvester started to look into the items as if they were trash. Sir Dolorem helped him find it. “Just try to send some solarium into each object, whichever makes you feel your power is being repulsed. It’s the thing we need.”

Sylvester nodded and started to check every single item. There were clothes, books and some random objects.

Then finally, after a few minutes, he found an old-looking black key. It appeared very old and was similar to no key he’s ever seen in this world, as its shape was extremely odd from the end.

“What does this key unlock?” Sylvester asked Chief Kennard.

The man looked at it closely and frowned. “I don’t remember any such lock being in the entire town. Where did he get this from?”

Sylvester brandished the key toward the possessed man. “You see this. I will end you soon.”

“Wraaa…”

“Yeah, this is it. Look at how it’s screeching, seeing it in my hand. Alright, let’s start the exorcism first and then talk about other things. But, chief Kennard, please go out of the room as we don’t know how the demon will react once we have taken it out of your son’s body. It could attack and take over you.” Sylvester pushed the old man out of the basement room and shut the door close.

Then he looked back at his allies. “Take out your lockets and show them clearly. Keep one light crystal in your mouth to break it anytime the demon tries to attack you. Keep chanting and leave the fight to me. My fist will show it the depths of true hell.”

Immediately they prepared for the ritual. This was more tilted towards harming the other party than just banishing it. At first, they drew a large runic circle around the bed the possessed man was tied to. This would ensure that he can’t run away.

After that, Sylvester threw some water from Holy Land on the bed and the floor and folded his sleeves.

Gabriel and Felix stood at two ends of the circle and started chanting from the book, while Sir Dolorem was there to ensure that the two didn’t get interrupted.

As for Sylvester, he jumped onto the bed, both his fists shining in bright light magic, while Miraj also growled at the demon with his hair standing. It was unknown how effective he would be, but he sure had the spirit.

“Wraaa…”

The demon leaped from the ceiling toward Sylvester with its claws out. At a closer look, Sylvester felt even more disgusted by this thing as the mouth had multiple rows of ugly sharp teeth.

“You—ugly—little shit!” Sylvester pulled his fist back and aligned it with the oncoming demon’s head.

Woosh! 𝗼𝘃𝗹.𝗼𝐫𝗴

Then all of a sudden, his fists got covered in bright light magic, appearing as if fire. “Fist of Light!”

Boom!

It connected cleanly to the jaw of the demon so hard that its jaw got disfigured, and the whole body was thrown away. But the chains attached to the leg did more damage and also broke its ankle.

“Oh no!” Sylvester exclaimed suddenly as he remembered something. “Will beating him also hurt the man it has possessed? Did I just break the jaw of the Chief’s son?”

Felix, Gabriel, and Sir Dolorem awkwardly looked at each other’s faces.

“I didn’t see anything.” Felix blurted.

“Me neither.”

“Nor did I!” Sir Dolorem and Gabriel added.

Sylvester chuckled and prepared to exorcize the demon. “In that case, I won’t pull my punches. Begone! Heathen!”

Boom!

Sylvester punched with his fist of light once again and pinned the demon down as he sat on the chest, putting his knees on his arms. Then, taking out the Soul Tree’s leaf, he placed it on the demon’s forehead and started chanting the expelling ritual; all the same time, the halo reappeared behind his head and made the demon screech in pain from the light.

It cried in pain as the skin burned with steam rising.

“Wreeee…!”

“Shut your mouth.” Sylvester punched the jaws close and kept chanting. Even Miraj was helping by poking his claws into the demon’s eyes.

“…Sit lux domini urat malum…!”

Woosh!

Suddenly the rune circle they had drawn around the bed lit up in light and engulfed everything that was in it in the brightness. Nothing was visible anymore, but much was audible—the screeches of the demon.

“Come closer!” Sylvester roared.

With that, Felix and Gabriel started to push closer toward Sylvester, and slowly, the light in the rune circle started to condense at the center of the demon. Slowly, foot by foot, eventually, the light was only falling on Sylvester and the Demon.

‘Come out now, you filth.’ Sylvester was intently preparing to move quickly.

To kill a demon, the low-level ones could simply be done by pouring light on them even when they are hiding in someone’s body. But on stronger demons, it doesn’t work, and in those cases, one needs to drag the demon out of the body and let the light of the lord engulf it directly.

“There you are!”

In the intense wriggling of the possessed body, the demon finally showed his form, appearing out a little. Sylvester didn’t waste the opportunity and caught the thing with his hand and tried to pull the demon out.

“That’s the end of your terror—to meet you was my pleasure!”

“Wraaa…”

As he pulled the demon out, he saw its final form, which was as hideous as the possessed one, if not more. Nevertheless, Sylvester kept the demon clutched in his claws and let the light do its magic.

“Aaaa…”

Screeches, mindless mumbling of the demon resounded so loudly that it was heard even outside the confines of the mansion of the Chief. Sylvester again used his light magic to burn this thing.

As if a body was being deflated, the demon slowly lost its body mass and appeared to be fluttering with the waves of light magic like a piece of cloth.

“Nnn…ooo… t….l…k…”

“What?” Sylvester stopped trying to kill it fast as he heard some words from the demon, but it was too muffled and unrecognizable. “Can you speak my tongue?”

“Wraaaa….”

But, it was far too late as the empty husk of the demon started to turn into ashes in the holy light and burn away. Soon, the mass disappeared from Sylvester’s hand, and the menacing aura too—the exorcism was successful.

Woosh!

The light dispersed quickly as the chants from Gabriel and Felix ended. But Sylvester didn’t move and stayed seated on top of the now purified and unconscious man.

“Max, what happened?” Felix asked quickly.

“The demon tried to speak to me… what could it possibly wish to say?”

Sir Dolorem interrupted quickly. “People have gone mad trying to decipher just that, Priest Sylvester. Try not to think too much about that, as they are known to try and dupe others when on the brink of death.”

‘Hmm, but that didn’t seem like duping… it was more of a plea.’ Sylvester thought about the cries of the demon. ‘I should try to capture one alive next time.’

He returned to his usual sense and looked at the man they had just saved. He seemed weakened, and of course, his jaw was broken. “He’s alive, at least. Open the door, let the man’s father enter.”

Sylvester fixed his clothes and stood away solemnly. Chief Kennard soon entered and looked around at the pure destruction in the room. All the extra furniture was gone, and the walls appeared as if they were burnt.

He gulped and glanced at his son. “I-Is he…?”

“We have exorcized the demon, Chief. However, your son needs normal healing now, so I suggest you call the town’s healer.” Sir Dolorem suggested.

The man ran up to his son with tearful eyes and caught him in his arms. But he noticed an open jaw. “W-What happened to his mouth?”

All four of them shared a glance at each other. Gabriel, however, spoke in pure worship. “Miracle of the Lord comes at a price. The demon in its last moments fought, and it resulted in this… rejoice, Chief—for he’s alive and saved you from grief.”

Felix tried his best to hold his suppressed laughter. This was some high-level nonsense right there.

‘He’s learning from me.’ Sylvester nodded in pride.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

However, the night seemed to want to not let them have a moment of rest, as suddenly loud bells started to ring around the town.

Chief Kennard stood up in a panic. “Are we being attacked?”

Bam!

The door was slammed open, and Sir Holand rushed in. “Chief! We’re under attack… white mist has surrounded the town’s entrances… and…” There was horror on his face. “I saw walking skeletons… thousands of them!”

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