In the dark palace, the dim flame lit the face of a broken statue of a saint. The statue was covered with moss, and small cracks crawled all over it. It held a torch in its hand and gazed into the darkness.
In the huge palace, the green air moved like a snake. Accompanied by a scary melody, the green air expanded and shrank, again and again. Every time the air shrank, someone in the darkness screamed with pain. In the depths of the palace, a few people moaned and cursed.
"Ludovic, how dare you usurp the Pope?!"
"Black musician… as the Cardinal, how dare you collude with the Black musician?! You have infuriated God! You will soon be burnt to death by God!"
"Lord Ludovic, I give in, I would do anything for you…" Before he finished his sentence, he suddenly screamed in extreme pain. Crack! A bone was broken.
A man said with a hoarse voice, "Ludovic, you can kill us if you want! Even if you are the new Pope now, the sacred Palace of Sarroman will never be blasphemed by you! The glory of the Sacred City that has existed for thousands of years will never be tarnished by you either!" Meanwhile, a holy light appeared in the poisonous green air and was soon devoured by the sheer darkness.
In the darkness, these people were being chewed, their blood splashed onto the face of the statue, and soon the face of the statue was covered with red blood.
Finally, silence reclaimed the palace.
The green air began to wriggle and gather together, then turned into a shred of fluorescent light and went back into a skull-made wine glass.
An old and withered musician held up the glass and smirked. He turned around and said, "My Lord, they have died."
A group of priests walked into the darkness and stopped next to the torch. They wore the sacred ferraiolone and scary beak-shaped masks on their faces.
When the green air finally dispersed, Ludovic took off his mask. He stood next to the corpses and looked at them coldly.
"They are such idiots! Why there are so many of them?"
No one answered.
Ludovic held the scepter in his hand and walked to the bottom floor of the underground palace. In front of him, there was a bronze door. He stopped and stared at the terrifying relievo on the door.
There were three bronze statues of ugly sinners on the huge door. Their necks were shackled and their faces were twisted as if they were in great pain. The relievo looked both scary and magnificent. It consisted of hundreds of bronze statues. It was a scene of hell; they were suffering in hell, and the light of heaven was shining upon them. They desperately looked up to the man who was shining and surrounded by numerous angels.
This door was the door of hell and redemption.
Ludovic reached out his hand and touched the faces of the bronze statues of ugly sinners. Then he showed his sympathy and smiled.
The holy Sarroman temple was a forbidden area that only the Pope could step into, and the Holy Ax was sealed in this place. Besides, only the King of Red knew about this place, and only he could reign over it.
"Nibelungenlied," Ludovic said.
"Pope, what can I do for you?" A sound came from the roof.
"Nothing in particular, I just want to show you my gratitude." Ludovic stared at the Three-inch Void in front of him and solidly said, "The holy temple of Sarroman is hidden in the deepest part of the Sacred City. If it were not for your guidance, I could never manage to cross the 'Minotaos road.'"
"It is my duty to lead the Pope."
"So you regard me as the new Pope?" Ludovic smiled. "You are funny. So many people consider me a usurper, while you, a catastrophe, regard me as the new Pope."
"For me, a Pope is a Pope," Nibelungenlied replied. "I made an agreement with humanity, and my duty is to record their stories. In my view, a Pope is just the same as everyone else. Since you have been elected to be the new Pope in the Sixtinum conference, you are the official new Pope, and after you drink the sacred blood, you will become the new King of Red."
"You have no stance on this issue?" Ludovic joked. "I never thought a catastrophe would be someone without their own stance."
"As a recorder, I am not allowed to have a stance; otherwise, my records would be biased," Nibelungenlied said. "'Three Wise Men' coexist with humanity, and they have their own personalities and ways of life. I am neither a leader nor a mentor, I am simply a witness. It is my duty to record the happenings and stories, and I won't stop anyone from reading these stories or try to rewrite them. If you think I have bad intentions, you can choose not to believe me."
Hearing this, Ludovic laughed and said, "Nibelungenlied, you really think you know everything?"
"Not now," Nibelungenlied replied, "but as long as I continue to witness, record, observe, one day I believe I will be able to know everything."
"I think it is impossible, but still I hope you can turn it into reality one day."
Ludovic waved his hand and Nibelungenlied stopped talking.
The palace became quiet again.
"Finally, it is going to begin," Ludovic murmured, while staring at the huge door in front of him.
The light was dim in the palace. His followers all gently backed off and knelt. Ludovic walked forward, held up his scepter, and read out the spell to open the door.
"The mortal shall all die at last."
Bang!
As soon as the scepter was put into the hole in the ground, the whole plaza began to shake. On the ground, countless bronze rings began to rotate, and the gears hidden beneath revealed themselves. The gears rotated quickly and collided with each other. Numerous sparks appeared, and the gears kept running against each other and created a magnificent power.
This magnificent power was created by the collision between the gears made of iron and bronze. It surpassed the physical material, life and the death. The force was unimaginable. The power permeated the sheer darkness and created the sound of a dragon, and at the same time, the fire was lit and the iron melted.
A tornado appeared, and in the next moment, the Door of Hell opened.
Ye Qingxuan woke up in great pain. He raised his head and looked at his hands.
Both of his hands were nailed to the iron wall, the silver nails covered with his blood. Sometimes, having a strong vitality was not a good thing at all. Although his wounds had recovered, once he made a move, he would suffer great pain.
A man walked out of the darkness.
"I never thought you could recover in such a short time," the man said.
The clothes of original sin glanced at Samuel who stood outside of the cage.
In the dim light, Ye Qingxuan found that the man was actually Samuel.
Samuel was wearing a red robe which covered the lower part of his body. The left side of his head was gone, and his face was full of hatred and insanity.
"Open the cage," Samuel said with a hoarse voice. "I have just received a message from Lord Ludovic… everything is going as planned, so we don't need to keep him alive anymore."
"Then I will leave him to you," the clothes of original sin said. "Please leave his brain as well as his consciousness to me; I will give them to my master, and he will be thankful to you."
"No!" Samuel refused this request coldly. "I am going to cut him to pieces."
Hearing this, the clothes of original sin were dazed. Before it could say anything, it heard a sound, as if an apple had fallen onto the ground.
It turned around and found that Ye Qingxuan's head had been cut off.
Ye Qingxuan was wearing a surprised look on his face.
Ludovic walked in silence in the sheer darkness.
Beneath the Palace of Pope, which was located in the core of the Sacred City, there was the Holy Palace of Sarroman that had been heavily guarded and hidden behind the debris of the Aether world.
Even if the Door of Hell was opened, the Sacred Palace of Sarroman was still under the protection of countless enchantments and branch roads.
People knew the importance of the existence of the Holy Palace of Sarroman, so they did everything they could to protect it, set every trap they could think of to prevent others from coming near, and cleared all trace of its existence…
Even a God would get lost in this sheer darkness.
Ludovic's scepter was shone, with its help, Ludovic walked straight forward and opened the doors one by one without being distracted by the illusions and light around him.
All the traps along the way lost their effect under the light given out by the scepter. Even so, anyone who cast his eyes on the traps would most certainly feel extremely frightened, as if he was walking on a steel wire stretched over an abyss.
At last, Ludovic arrived at the deepest part of the Aether world, and walked into a holy city.
He was surrounded by numerous stars. It was as bright and glorious as the Holy Heaven. The last door in front of him was also open, and on the other side of the door was an infinite dark space in which there was an ancient altar.
The Holy Ax was on the altar. With the shred of light, the ax produced the crystal clear holy blood.
Ludovic stared at the ax, his eyes sparkling with green light.
"The Holy Ax…"
The next moment, the smile on his face froze.
Ludovic heard someone coughing behind the altar.
It seemed that the man was suffering from a lung disease of some sort. He was coughing very hard, as if his heart and lungs were going to explode. Finally, he stopped coughing.
"I am so sorry about this. My health has been deteriorating these last few days." A stooped old man walked slowly out from behind the altar. "My back hurts, especially… here…"
The old man pointed to the center of his back—which was supposed to be penetrated by a dagger—that was still intact.
The old man raised his head. With the help of the shred of light, Ludovic found that the old man was the former Pope.
He should be very dead by now. His body was burned to ashes and buried in the underground palace with all the other former Popes. All the other bishops saw it!
The former Pope, who should have been very dead by now, stood in front of the Holy Ax, watching and smiling at Ludovic, who was one of the black hands that killed him.
He was smiling in a rather bizarre way, his smile a mixture of happiness and mockery, which was really terrifying.
Everyone knew that the former Pope never laughed. The former Pope was famous for his indifference and impartiality.
"You must be very bewildered now, aren't you?"
The former Pope sat on the stairs of the altar and mysteriously said, "As you have read from the Holy Bible…"
"I am back to life."
In the dark palace, the dim flame lit the face of a broken statue of a saint. The statue was covered with moss, and small cracks crawled all over it. It held a torch in its hand and gazed into the darkness.
In the huge palace, the green air moved like a snake. Accompanied by a scary melody, the green air expanded and shrank, again and again. Every time the air shrank, someone in the darkness screamed with pain. In the depths of the palace, a few people moaned and cursed.
"Ludovic, how dare you usurp the Pope?!"
"Black musician… as the Cardinal, how dare you collude with the Black musician?! You have infuriated God! You will soon be burnt to death by God!"
"Lord Ludovic, I give in, I would do anything for you…" Before he finished his sentence, he suddenly screamed in extreme pain. Crack! A bone was broken.
A man said with a hoarse voice, "Ludovic, you can kill us if you want! Even if you are the new Pope now, the sacred Palace of Sarroman will never be blasphemed by you! The glory of the Sacred City that has existed for thousands of years will never be tarnished by you either!" Meanwhile, a holy light appeared in the poisonous green air and was soon devoured by the sheer darkness.
In the darkness, these people were being chewed, their blood splashed onto the face of the statue, and soon the face of the statue was covered with red blood.
Finally, silence reclaimed the palace.
The green air began to wriggle and gather together, then turned into a shred of fluorescent light and went back into a skull-made wine glass.
An old and withered musician held up the glass and smirked. He turned around and said, "My Lord, they have died."
A group of priests walked into the darkness and stopped next to the torch. They wore the sacred ferraiolone and scary beak-shaped masks on their faces.
When the green air finally dispersed, Ludovic took off his mask. He stood next to the corpses and looked at them coldly.
"They are such idiots! Why there are so many of them?"
No one answered.
Ludovic held the scepter in his hand and walked to the bottom floor of the underground palace. In front of him, there was a bronze door. He stopped and stared at the terrifying relievo on the door.
There were three bronze statues of ugly sinners on the huge door. Their necks were shackled and their faces were twisted as if they were in great pain. The relievo looked both scary and magnificent. It consisted of hundreds of bronze statues. It was a scene of hell; they were suffering in hell, and the light of heaven was shining upon them. They desperately looked up to the man who was shining and surrounded by numerous angels.
This door was the door of hell and redemption.
Ludovic reached out his hand and touched the faces of the bronze statues of ugly sinners. Then he showed his sympathy and smiled.
The holy Sarroman temple was a forbidden area that only the Pope could step into, and the Holy Ax was sealed in this place. Besides, only the King of Red knew about this place, and only he could reign over it.
"Nibelungenlied," Ludovic said.
"Pope, what can I do for you?" A sound came from the roof.
"Nothing in particular, I just want to show you my gratitude." Ludovic stared at the Three-inch Void in front of him and solidly said, "The holy temple of Sarroman is hidden in the deepest part of the Sacred City. If it were not for your guidance, I could never manage to cross the 'Minotaos road.'"
"It is my duty to lead the Pope."
"So you regard me as the new Pope?" Ludovic smiled. "You are funny. So many people consider me a usurper, while you, a catastrophe, regard me as the new Pope."
"For me, a Pope is a Pope," Nibelungenlied replied. "I made an agreement with humanity, and my duty is to record their stories. In my view, a Pope is just the same as everyone else. Since you have been elected to be the new Pope in the Sixtinum conference, you are the official new Pope, and after you drink the sacred blood, you will become the new King of Red."
"You have no stance on this issue?" Ludovic joked. "I never thought a catastrophe would be someone without their own stance."
"As a recorder, I am not allowed to have a stance; otherwise, my records would be biased," Nibelungenlied said. "'Three Wise Men' coexist with humanity, and they have their own personalities and ways of life. I am neither a leader nor a mentor, I am simply a witness. It is my duty to record the happenings and stories, and I won't stop anyone from reading these stories or try to rewrite them. If you think I have bad intentions, you can choose not to believe me."
Hearing this, Ludovic laughed and said, "Nibelungenlied, you really think you know everything?"
"Not now," Nibelungenlied replied, "but as long as I continue to witness, record, observe, one day I believe I will be able to know everything."
"I think it is impossible, but still I hope you can turn it into reality one day."
Ludovic waved his hand and Nibelungenlied stopped talking.
The palace became quiet again.
"Finally, it is going to begin," Ludovic murmured, while staring at the huge door in front of him.
The light was dim in the palace. His followers all gently backed off and knelt. Ludovic walked forward, held up his scepter, and read out the spell to open the door.
"The mortal shall all die at last."
Bang!
As soon as the scepter was put into the hole in the ground, the whole plaza began to shake. On the ground, countless bronze rings began to rotate, and the gears hidden beneath revealed themselves. The gears rotated quickly and collided with each other. Numerous sparks appeared, and the gears kept running against each other and created a magnificent power.
This magnificent power was created by the collision between the gears made of iron and bronze. It surpassed the physical material, life and the death. The force was unimaginable. The power permeated the sheer darkness and created the sound of a dragon, and at the same time, the fire was lit and the iron melted.
A tornado appeared, and in the next moment, the Door of Hell opened.
Ye Qingxuan woke up in great pain. He raised his head and looked at his hands.
Both of his hands were nailed to the iron wall, the silver nails covered with his blood. Sometimes, having a strong vitality was not a good thing at all. Although his wounds had recovered, once he made a move, he would suffer great pain.
A man walked out of the darkness.
"I never thought you could recover in such a short time," the man said.
The clothes of original sin glanced at Samuel who stood outside of the cage.
In the dim light, Ye Qingxuan found that the man was actually Samuel.
Samuel was wearing a red robe which covered the lower part of his body. The left side of his head was gone, and his face was full of hatred and insanity.
"Open the cage," Samuel said with a hoarse voice. "I have just received a message from Lord Ludovic… everything is going as planned, so we don't need to keep him alive anymore."
"Then I will leave him to you," the clothes of original sin said. "Please leave his brain as well as his consciousness to me; I will give them to my master, and he will be thankful to you."
"No!" Samuel refused this request coldly. "I am going to cut him to pieces."
Hearing this, the clothes of original sin were dazed. Before it could say anything, it heard a sound, as if an apple had fallen onto the ground.
It turned around and found that Ye Qingxuan's head had been cut off.
Ye Qingxuan was wearing a surprised look on his face.
Ludovic walked in silence in the sheer darkness.
Beneath the Palace of Pope, which was located in the core of the Sacred City, there was the Holy Palace of Sarroman that had been heavily guarded and hidden behind the debris of the Aether world.
Even if the Door of Hell was opened, the Sacred Palace of Sarroman was still under the protection of countless enchantments and branch roads.
People knew the importance of the existence of the Holy Palace of Sarroman, so they did everything they could to protect it, set every trap they could think of to prevent others from coming near, and cleared all trace of its existence…
Even a God would get lost in this sheer darkness.
Ludovic's scepter was shone, with its help, Ludovic walked straight forward and opened the doors one by one without being distracted by the illusions and light around him.
All the traps along the way lost their effect under the light given out by the scepter. Even so, anyone who cast his eyes on the traps would most certainly feel extremely frightened, as if he was walking on a steel wire stretched over an abyss.
At last, Ludovic arrived at the deepest part of the Aether world, and walked into a holy city.
He was surrounded by numerous stars. It was as bright and glorious as the Holy Heaven. The last door in front of him was also open, and on the other side of the door was an infinite dark space in which there was an ancient altar.
The Holy Ax was on the altar. With the shred of light, the ax produced the crystal clear holy blood.
Ludovic stared at the ax, his eyes sparkling with green light.
"The Holy Ax…"
The next moment, the smile on his face froze.
Ludovic heard someone coughing behind the altar.
It seemed that the man was suffering from a lung disease of some sort. He was coughing very hard, as if his heart and lungs were going to explode. Finally, he stopped coughing.
"I am so sorry about this. My health has been deteriorating these last few days." A stooped old man walked slowly out from behind the altar. "My back hurts, especially… here…"
The old man pointed to the center of his back—which was supposed to be penetrated by a dagger—that was still intact.
The old man raised his head. With the help of the shred of light, Ludovic found that the old man was the former Pope.
He should be very dead by now. His body was burned to ashes and buried in the underground palace with all the other former Popes. All the other bishops saw it!
The former Pope, who should have been very dead by now, stood in front of the Holy Ax, watching and smiling at Ludovic, who was one of the black hands that killed him.
He was smiling in a rather bizarre way, his smile a mixture of happiness and mockery, which was really terrifying.
Everyone knew that the former Pope never laughed. The former Pope was famous for his indifference and impartiality.
"You must be very bewildered now, aren't you?"
The former Pope sat on the stairs of the altar and mysteriously said, "As you have read from the Holy Bible…"
"I am back to life."
