I Became The Pope, Now What?

“How long can we hold on? If the crystals run out of power, it’s the end.” Gabriel asked.

Sir Doloem and Gabriel were worried for Sylvester and also for their own safety. They weren’t strong enough to keep the bloodling away with their magic. These crystals were their bloodlines, and they were running out.

However, Sylvester had already prepared for this situation after suffering the last time. He had ordered his little invisible friend to be with the two.

“Uwaaa…!”

Thud!

“W-What was that? Where did this come from?” Gabriel exclaimed.

Out of nowhere, a new bag full of light and Solarium crystals appeared… it appeared a little wet and sticky, but that was alright.

Sir Dolorem blankly stared at it. “There are things about Sylvester we don’t know… and it’s better we never ask… if we survive this, we owe him this one.”

But the cat beside them felt offended. ‘What about Chonky? I get no thank you? This is the worst deal ever—where my bananas?’

Bam!

Sir Dolorem watched as the Bloodling tried to break into their little barrier with all its might, seething in range and blind lust for their lives. “We can’t beat it… this is much different from the Bloodling in that cave years ago.”

“How different?” Gabriel questioned as all they could do was watch their death slowly creep towards them.

“This one can think.”

However, just then, the Bloodling stopped midway through and screamed as if in agony. “Wraaaaa!”

And for no reason, it flew away, as its life depended on it—into the mist in the distance. This allowed Sir Dolorem and Gabriel to preserve some crystals.

“He’s alive… it seems… and kicking,” Gabriel muttered as he watched the direction the creature left.

“We need to follow it.” Sir Dolorem was quick to start packing up. “We need to give him backup with the IED Bombs he made.”

…

Sylvester did not know where he was since he was thrown like a ragdoll. Blood was oozing out of his mouth, nose, and ears, as most likely his lungs had been damaged from the impact. He had also inhaled a tiny amount of the mist, making him cough out even more blood.

It was hurting like hell, but he tried to manage it consciously.

He also quickly started to sing hymns and tried to get up, only to realize he could not, for he was surrounded by the little snakes in the unknown region. The light showed the nasty creatures intertwined and moving all around him, just staying away from the light—from eating him up.

Badly hurt yet somewhat safe, he tried to give his body some rest to heal as he thought about his next move.

‘How do I kill that thing? Why can’t I use that move? What am I doing wrong? I tried everything, all hymns and…wait! There are three stages of mass…!’

An idea appeared in his head that may just work. Could it be the missing key to the ultimate move? It was merely a thought, however—something only time shall prove.

He decided it was time to move out as there was also Bishop waiting to be rescued, and letting Sir Dolorem and Gabriel alone was still risking them.

“Burn, you filth!” Sylvester cursed as he started to use fire magic to engulf the little opening he had under the mountain of snakes. They squirmed and curled as they got burnt away and made way for his light to shine on the ground. Sylvester slowly made his way up and realized how deep under he was.

‘Bloodling must be feeling pain right now… is it going to come here and fight me?’ Sylvester wondered as he got out. He’d rather have the thing not come to him as he wanted to try to use the move he just theorized.

‘Ugh… this itch just keeps increasing!’ Sylvester grunted at the feeling in his body.

Since he didn’t have much time, he decided to go ahead and try using the move right there and make a path for himself.

What he had theorized was really simple. He had until now tried to cast the light beam while singing a hymn and spewing the normal light from his palm and the hardened version. But what if it was supposed to be the middle way?

What if the ultimate beam was supposed to be made of liquid light instead of just pure light? And it would actually explain how it could cause so much damage and burn everything in its way.

If normal light could be seen as a gas and the hardened light as solid, then only liquid remained, which he had not tried before. But how to make it was the tricky part. ‘I guess I will just try to combine it with the water element.’

He closed his eyes while letting the light from his halo keep him safe. He calmed himself and tried to imagine what his attack would look like and how he would make it all combine.

‘Since we can combine air and fire elements to create fire tornadoes, then why not combine light with water?’ he wondered and prepared.

He placed his right-hand palm facing forward near his chest and started chanting the hymn vocally.

Move aside as the lord commands,

His bard here makes the demands.

Purge under the holy light,

Heal this land’s unholy plight

For there lives an evil inside—destruction is its pride.

Your bard takes your name—on your name I have relied…?

Woosh!

Sylvester didn’t rejoice this time and just watched the light come out of his palm. He had tried his best to force light and water to mix through the masterful manipulation of Solarium. The fact was that the magic limitations were based on biology in this world, and there is a limit to how much Solarium a body can store, which increases with each rank-up–—He didn’t know how strong the attack would be if it happened.

Sylvester’s case was special, however, as his body was made to be in harmony with light, and since his talent was already the peak, his natural body was better than most others.

‘Please… just come out now!’

He did not know if Solis was real as he prayed. If he was, Sylvester only wished to master this move now and end this whole assignment and go home to sleep for days.

Zzzz!

As if electricity, he heard a buzz from his palm, but since it was facing away, he could not look closely to check it. He just kept focusing and prepared to shoot out the beam—if it came out.

Begone! For evil has no place here.

Whatever you throw, vile or naught.

Master of magic and knights of swords will bear.

We fight until to justice evil has been brought…?

Bless me, Solis—save us from this abyss…?

Boom!

Woosh!

A deafening explosion took Sylvester by surprise, and a blinding light emitted out of the palm of his hand. Shocked and elated, he watched as the scene changed—gone were the hordes of snakes above him. Now there appeared a straight cave in front of him, wide as a man, burned through the bodies of the creatures.

Not only that, the rest of the creatures that never came in direct contact with it died, too, as the holy light devoured all evil that existed around.

Sylvester was on cloud nine. ‘Yes! Yes! Finally! The missing key!’

He finally had a powerful weapon unique to himself in his arsenal. But soon, his elation turned to depression as he tried to quickly stop the beam that kept emitting. ‘Fuck! Stop now!’

He remembered he had fallen unconscious when he was little after using this move. ‘I can’t have the same thing happen now! That will be the death sentence otherwise.’

He cursed silently as he felt his solarium reserves depleting rapidly. He quickly took out some Solarium crystals and chewed on them quickly. At the same time, he quickly tried to stop combining water and light in his body.

But, he could not do it as if a chain reaction had started. The Light Beam, golden in color, kept raging through and traveling like a pillar, piercing through the dense purple mist, creating a hole in the clouds, and reaching the heavens—illuminating it.

People as far as five hundred miles away could see the shocking strange phenomenon occur in confusion. As for Sylvester, he was shocked at the destructiveness of his move as the sky appeared clear now, albeit in a large circle. The mist, the cloud—all had dispersed and let him see a clear blue sky.

“Ugh! Just stop already!” He cursed vocally this time to make it stop—the energy beam also stopped.

Sylvester instantly realized what had happened. “The moment I stopped singing the hymn and making the halo, it stopped… Does this mean… this power has something to do with this blessing? Why—how am I blessed?”

But, he didn’t have time to ponder on it for now. He climbed out of the hole and silently chanted again to keep the reappearing mist away. However, only now did he see where he was stuck. It was a literal hill of these snakes that he stood on, for as far as he could see, they appeared like little ropes—disgusting.

But now they remain dead, all of them. ‘This must have enraged that Bloodling.’

“Argh!”

Thud!

He fell to one knee suddenly. ‘That move is too much for my body.’ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘭．𝑜𝘳𝘨

Sylvester felt exhausted and had no idea how many more times he could use this move again. All he knew was that just the crystals would not fill his reserves completely.

Still, he ate all the Solarium Crystals he had and prepared to fight because he again felt the approaching scent of death. He quickly put forward his spear in front and waited for the enemy. This time, his aim was the head.

Boom!

“Here it is!” Sylvester didn’t go into the air this time, as that made him prone to being thrown away.

“Wraaaa!”

Like a blurry shadow, the Bloodling struck Sylvester with its arm tentacles. But Sylvester used his spear of infinity and was shocked as he successfully blocked the strikes without being thrown away.

Clank!

“I can now hold on to the attacks? No! The attacks seem weaker now… and the… good lord! Its size has been reduced!” Sylvester, wide-eyed, rejoiced at this news.

It was not hard to imagine how it happened. He just killed tens of thousands of those snakes, and if they were a part of this Bloodling, then that’d mean he killed a part of it.

Bam!

Sylvester successfully slapped a fireball on its head. ‘It’s slower too now… and have I leveled up?’

There was so much going on that he could not focus. All he knew was that there was a significant shift in winning chances. He could kill this thing successfully… All he needed to do was slow it down.

“Max!”

“Priest Sylvester!”

“Meow!”

Sylvester grinned at the appearance of his two allies, so much so that he wished to kiss them right away.

Bam!

He kept blocking the strikes from the Bloodling while maintaining a halo behind his head with silent chants of hymns in his mind. It was hard to do, but he was used to it by now.

With no reservations, he boomed. “Both of you! Start killing those snakes! They can slow this thing down—so I can use Wrath of the Heavens on it!”

Sir Dolorem and Gabriel were alarmed by Sylvester’s torn clothes, bloodied face, and thinned-out body. But they obeyed as winning was a priority.

“Let’s do it!” Sir Dolorem nodded at Gabriel and stopped using the Light stones.

“Hah… So we’re the bait now?” Gabriel helplessly chuckled and noticed a distant swarm of snakes coming towards them. “And did you hear a cat just now, Sir Dolorem?”

The old knight didn’t reply, though his curious eyes made it clear he did.

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