City of Sin

Book 9, 20

The Pope’s Experience

Martin’s sudden shift of attitude left Richard stunned, destroying the respect the divine child had built up only a moment ago. He shook his head, taking out a small box and passing it over, “I just made this bauble. Give me a price if it’s useful, or just write off the favour that I owe you.”

“The things you call baubles are baubles from a saint runemaster’s perspective,” Martin said as he opened the box, “Of course they are different to us normal— Lord!”

Martin’s yelp shocked Richard for a moment, confusing him greatly. As the creator of the rune, he knew just how limited the Praise of Light was. It certainly was a saint rune in the same way as Mana Armament was, but its use was nowhere near as great. He had only brought it over assuming that the boost to divine light spells would help the Church of Glory; a rune with that single function that required a saint rune’s capacity wasn’t all that great.

Martin channeled a strand of divine power into the rune, his expression warping as he saw the pure light coming out the other end. He stared Richard in the eye, “How did you discover this secret?”

“Secret?” Richard didn’t understand what he was saying.

“Sigh. It’s fate, it’s all fate... Never mind, you’ll understand one day. This... bauble of yours is extremely useful, I think it’ll help us settle things with the Pope.”

“It’s related to the pope?” Richard frowned. Anything that had to do with that mysterious old man definitely wasn’t simple.

Martin laughed, “It’s fine, say and do whatever you want later. With this... What’s it called?”

“I call it the Praise of Light, but you can do whatever.”

“No, that’s a good name, there’s no need to change it.”

Walking as they talked, the two quickly reached the Hall of Glory. Martin brought Richard straight through the majestic hall, and as they entered Richard suddenly felt a heavy pressure that prompted him to lower his voice. This hall was the source of countless decisions and conspiracies, a condensation of plane-altering power.

They soon entered a long corridor near the back, possessing no decorations and only lit by a single dim lamp. It was hard to imagine a hall as grand as the Hall of Glory connecting to such a run-down corridor, but Richard followed along to a small wooden shrine.

Martin opened up the shrine to reveal a tiny space with no decorations outside of an altar and a statue of the Radiant Lord. There were two rows of wooden benches right in front of the altar, the surfaces smoothed by years of use. On each side was a wooden door, and the one on the left seemed to open into a tiny library with ancient books within. The shelves themselves seemed to be so old they were on the verge of rotting, but impeccable maintenance had kept them in decent shape.

Martin pointed to the benches, pulling Richard over to sit down and wait quietly. Moments later, the closed door on the right opened and the pope walked out, revealing behind him a small meditation room and bedroom that were exceedingly simple.

The pope prayed to the statue of the Radiant Lord for a moment before turning around and staring at Richard, “You have arrived.”

“Yes,” Richard stood up, saying bluntly, “I planned to battle you.”

The pope stared at Richard seriously and shook his head, “Now is not the time. You must have heard from Martin that your style of battle is suppressed by mine. You might have defeated Empress Apeiron, but that does not make you invincible.”

Richard frowned, answering slowly, “I’ve thought about it, you know. You can only suppress my mind and soul, but that might not succeed if I’m careful.”

The pope smiled sinisterly, “Have I not succeeded already?”

A strong feeling of dread arose in Richard’s heart, and he even felt an aura of death all around him. He immediately activated a number of barriers to defend himself, but he suddenly felt like something was wrong. Time seemed to reverse, the scenery warping back to the point where the pope pushed the door open once more.

Richard turned to look at Martin, finding the Saint still sitting on his bench and staring at himself helplessly. He suddenly understood that everything just now had been an illusion, the power so great that he hadn’t even realised it happening.

Martin shrugged, “See, I told you that you’d be suppressed by the old man, I wasn’t lying.”

Richard’s heart froze as he looked at the pope walking towards the statue of the Radiant Lord, the old man praying for a moment before turning around, “You have arrived.”

Richard was stunned, immediately taking two steps back as he stared at the pope in shock. He couldn’t distinguish between reality and illusion, so he couldn’t be sure whether everything would return to when the pope had just walked out once more. The world felt like it had fallen into a loop, and it left him extremely uncomfortable.

However, the shock was only momentary. He suddenly activated the power of Dizmason, blue flames appearing around his body. The pope’s calm expression immediately changed, his hands flying around rapidly as he cast dozens of barriers on the area. He wasn’t protecting himself, but the statue, altar, library, and even the wooden benches in the shrine.

“STOP!” Martin shouted as well.

Richard smirked. The blue flames didn’t spread out, but he didn’t withdraw them either and allowed them to flow across the surface of his body, “Seems like I’m not that easy to suppress.”

“Who knew that you could control flames from the Star of Destruction! End those damned things immediately, the heat could cause permanent damage!”

Richard’s heart stirred, and he slowly withdrew the flames as he glanced around the room, “Are the items here precious?”

Martin laughed bitterly: “Very precious, but they have no value. To worshippers like us, everything here is a divine item. The Radiant Lord lived here for a long time before lighting his godspark; everything here was used by him once, so even if they don’t have divine power they are very important.”

Richard’s expression relaxed. Knowing this, it was clear that the pope had no plans to battle.

“Well old man, you know I’m right now. Richard isn’t an easy target,” Martin picked up a divine tome from the altar and flipped it open, divinity surging in his hands as he looked through the pages before turning to Richard, “Do you still not know why you need to fight him?”

Richard simply nodded.

“Ugh... Well, his proudest experience is that he has been to the Darkness and returned alive. That might be what you need to learn.”

“Probably. I’ll need to survive the Darkness and return.”

The pope finally spoke up, “I see no need to show you how. I agreed to meet, and we have met. You may leave now.”

Richard smirked, blue flames starting to dance on his fingertips. Feeling the threat, Martin suddenly coughed and took out the case containing the Praise of Light, “You might want to have a look at this before making any decisions.”

As Martin opened the box to reveal the rune inside, the pope’s expression immediately changed. His hand stretched out, but the box suddenly snapped shut before he could grab its contents. The old man’s hand started shivering in mid-air; he knew he wouldn’t be able to steal that box away, but he was unwilling to let go.

“That thing... Is it...”

“The Praise of Light. It can turn any energy into pure light!”

“No... Impossible! How could such a thing exist? It should never have appeared!”

Martin shrugged, “How should I know? Ask Richard if you’re interested, he was the one who made this thing.”

The pope immediately stared at Richard, his breaths ragged, “What do you want?”

“What can you give me?” Richard asked.

“Double the normal price.”

“And?” Richard was unmoved.

Snaps kept ringing out as Martin opened and closed the lid continuously. The sound obviously left the pope restless, but after walking back and forth in the room for a while, he finally spoke up, “I... can let you experience the Darkness.”