However, the Pope did not seem to put his guards down even after blocking the attack effortlessly. He could not help but take a few steps backwards like a terrified boy; his grip on the scepter quivering.
He stared speechlessly at the madame.
"Not bad! You’re steadier now with receiving this ‘tiny gift’ of mine compared to many years ago," The madame replied, nodding with a hint of pleased compliment as she looked at the the Pope who was shocked.
The Pope did not reply, though. His eyes were still wide opened, his face filled with appalled confusion as if he was still too stunned to move. There was a moment of awkward and tense silence.
Bang!
Suddenly, the top end of the scepter exploded as one of the biggest diamonds shattered and turned into a burst of white light that enveloped the Pope entirely.
In less than a second, the Pope disappeared in the light, fleeing the place.
At the exact same moment, a burst of white light appeared in the fields a few miles away, in which the Pope was seen stepping out of it. Just as he appeared, he immediately turned around to examine the place he originally came from, his eyes revealing fear.
"How…... How could it be her? Didn’t she die years ago?" He wiped off the cold sweat trickling down his forehead and started mumbling in shock. Thank God he managed to escape, or else…...
When he was counting his blessings, he heard the madame’s voice from behind him, "I did nearly die years ago."
This time, he was so surprised that he jolted and nearly threw his scepter away. Alarmed, he turned to find the madame standing not far behind him, and was still looking at him with the oblivious and naive smile.
She followed him here. After he escaped with the scepter, the madame somehow managed to go after him in pursuit within ten seconds. The Pope felt dizzy when faced with this even though he was always the person who sat calmly amidst the storm.
"You…... No, this is wrong. You may be alive, but it will be impossible for you to still have the power you had at that time. What happened that year…... I still remember it clearly. Even if teacher did not perish with you, you should not be able to maintain your level of magic."
The Pope forced himself to maintain a cool composure after inhaling deeply. He then spoke to the madame in a cold manner.
He was the present Pope. He must remain unruffled.
Also, once he calmed himself down and thought carefully, there was no need for him to remain traumatized by his experience with her that year.
The madame nodded at the Pope’s statement.
She said, her face suddenly filled with melancholy, "You’re right. The fifth pope was indeed a formidable figure. I was just a little more than twenty years old that time. I thought I was facing certain death when he led five bishops, ten platoons of Holy Knights, and more than twenty priests to surround me. I thought I was done."
She purportedly paused and then continued, "Hence, I fought with my life and burnt all of my spiritual energy and affinity to elements to kill all of them."
After hearing this from the madame, the Pope planted the scepter on the ground like a cane and soothed his fears. He no longer shuddered in fear, and cold sweat no longer filled his palm.
Right…...
How threatening would a mage be with a severely damaged spiritual energy and affinity to the elements? Even if the mage spent years to recuperate, how much of her own power could she retain? There was no need for him to tremble like an inexperienced priest. He was no longer the newbie priest in the Church.
"Then, you shouldn’t have revealed yourself." A hint of murderous intent seeped into the Pope’s voice when he put aside his fear, "I never expected the legendary Soul’s Fire hidden amongst the nobles in the kingdom. However, since God has willed for you to be here, there must be an end to the happenings of the past now."
He raised his scepter.
The madame gave him an uneasy feeling, a sense of danger that annoyed him. Thus, in an effort to calm his racing heart and regain his honour as the Pope, he had no plans to dilly-dally around here.
He would personally explore if the mage who caused the fall of the fifth pope was the real deal.
He was prepared to attack.
Invisible energy waves emanated from the Pope like a cool breeze blowing past the desert; it was a force that could shake one’s souls. At the summon of the waves, the surrounding holy lights quickly flew towards the Pope, and the holy lights were so concentrated that countless visible hues were formed on the top of the Pope’s head. The Pope raised both of his hands, his face stoic as if he was a deity that was going to pass judgement to the world.
Emotionless, he looked at the madame. He opened his mouth and prepared to chant.
Snap!
With her head tilted, the madame snapped her fingers. The Pope who was guiding the holy light suddenly felt a piercing pain in his head. Then, the holy light surrounding him went out of control and dispersed like frightened birds. His casting was interrupted. When he realised this, he was once again surprised and looked at the madame with astonishment.
…...How could this be?
"Well, you know, spiritual energy and affinity to elements are things that are unbelievably bothersome," The madame said as she massaged her temples as if she was having a headache, "I became an idiot soon after I depleted them. I lost my memory, and aimlessly wandered around the kingdom. But my memory was like weed that grew endlessly even if you trimmed them often, and I became normal just after a year. Three years later, I regained all my memories, and it only took me another two years to become a mage again. It took me thirty years to finally become the mage I once was. Can you imagine? After I got my memories back, I realised I somehow ended up marrying Duke Lithur of the time, and even had a child! Oh, the headache I had."
She made a gesture that appeared like she sighed, as if she was really troubled by her resilient magical gift. The Pope, on the other hand, sank into a pool of bewilderment after her statement. He could only shake his head in denial as he continued staring in disbelief.
This…... This was impossible!
The Church was constantly researching spiritual energy, and he clearly knew that once spiritual energy was damaged, it would be extremely difficult for the mage to recover. The more severe the damage was, the more difficult the recovery process would be. Thus, even if the Church knew that mages had quite a number of Secret Spells that would work for the cost of their spiritual energy or even their soul, they never took it seriously enough to research it. That was basically quenching your thirst with poison!
He never knew that spiritual energy could ‘grow back’ in a few years.
Was this the will of God? Was this God’s test to his determination? Why else would something so confounding happen right in front of him?
The madame shrugged as she looked at the Pope’s constipated expression, "To be fair, I did not do this intentionally. This is my natural born talent, and regardless of what I do, my spiritual energy and affinity to the elements will grow. They would grow after I burn them all, and they actually grow faster than I ever dreamt! I never did practice magic throughout the years, but they still managed to recover. I had no choice, really."
"..."
Maybe it was because of the failure of casting a charm, but the Pope suddenly had the urge to vomit blood.
However, the Pope did not seem to put his guards down even after blocking the attack effortlessly. He could not help but take a few steps backwards like a terrified boy; his grip on the scepter quivering.
He stared speechlessly at the madame.
"Not bad! You’re steadier now with receiving this ‘tiny gift’ of mine compared to many years ago," The madame replied, nodding with a hint of pleased compliment as she looked at the the Pope who was shocked.
The Pope did not reply, though. His eyes were still wide opened, his face filled with appalled confusion as if he was still too stunned to move. There was a moment of awkward and tense silence.
Bang!
Suddenly, the top end of the scepter exploded as one of the biggest diamonds shattered and turned into a burst of white light that enveloped the Pope entirely.
In less than a second, the Pope disappeared in the light, fleeing the place.
At the exact same moment, a burst of white light appeared in the fields a few miles away, in which the Pope was seen stepping out of it. Just as he appeared, he immediately turned around to examine the place he originally came from, his eyes revealing fear.
"How…... How could it be her? Didn’t she die years ago?" He wiped off the cold sweat trickling down his forehead and started mumbling in shock. Thank God he managed to escape, or else…...
When he was counting his blessings, he heard the madame’s voice from behind him, "I did nearly die years ago."
This time, he was so surprised that he jolted and nearly threw his scepter away. Alarmed, he turned to find the madame standing not far behind him, and was still looking at him with the oblivious and naive smile.
She followed him here. After he escaped with the scepter, the madame somehow managed to go after him in pursuit within ten seconds. The Pope felt dizzy when faced with this even though he was always the person who sat calmly amidst the storm.
"You…... No, this is wrong. You may be alive, but it will be impossible for you to still have the power you had at that time. What happened that year…... I still remember it clearly. Even if teacher did not perish with you, you should not be able to maintain your level of magic."
The Pope forced himself to maintain a cool composure after inhaling deeply. He then spoke to the madame in a cold manner.
He was the present Pope. He must remain unruffled.
Also, once he calmed himself down and thought carefully, there was no need for him to remain traumatized by his experience with her that year.
The madame nodded at the Pope’s statement.
She said, her face suddenly filled with melancholy, "You’re right. The fifth pope was indeed a formidable figure. I was just a little more than twenty years old that time. I thought I was facing certain death when he led five bishops, ten platoons of Holy Knights, and more than twenty priests to surround me. I thought I was done."
She purportedly paused and then continued, "Hence, I fought with my life and burnt all of my spiritual energy and affinity to elements to kill all of them."
After hearing this from the madame, the Pope planted the scepter on the ground like a cane and soothed his fears. He no longer shuddered in fear, and cold sweat no longer filled his palm.
Right…...
How threatening would a mage be with a severely damaged spiritual energy and affinity to the elements? Even if the mage spent years to recuperate, how much of her own power could she retain? There was no need for him to tremble like an inexperienced priest. He was no longer the newbie priest in the Church.
"Then, you shouldn’t have revealed yourself." A hint of murderous intent seeped into the Pope’s voice when he put aside his fear, "I never expected the legendary Soul’s Fire hidden amongst the nobles in the kingdom. However, since God has willed for you to be here, there must be an end to the happenings of the past now."
He raised his scepter.
The madame gave him an uneasy feeling, a sense of danger that annoyed him. Thus, in an effort to calm his racing heart and regain his honour as the Pope, he had no plans to dilly-dally around here.
He would personally explore if the mage who caused the fall of the fifth pope was the real deal.
He was prepared to attack.
Invisible energy waves emanated from the Pope like a cool breeze blowing past the desert; it was a force that could shake one’s souls. At the summon of the waves, the surrounding holy lights quickly flew towards the Pope, and the holy lights were so concentrated that countless visible hues were formed on the top of the Pope’s head. The Pope raised both of his hands, his face stoic as if he was a deity that was going to pass judgement to the world.
Emotionless, he looked at the madame. He opened his mouth and prepared to chant.
Snap!
With her head tilted, the madame snapped her fingers. The Pope who was guiding the holy light suddenly felt a piercing pain in his head. Then, the holy light surrounding him went out of control and dispersed like frightened birds. His casting was interrupted. When he realised this, he was once again surprised and looked at the madame with astonishment.
…...How could this be?
"Well, you know, spiritual energy and affinity to elements are things that are unbelievably bothersome," The madame said as she massaged her temples as if she was having a headache, "I became an idiot soon after I depleted them. I lost my memory, and aimlessly wandered around the kingdom. But my memory was like weed that grew endlessly even if you trimmed them often, and I became normal just after a year. Three years later, I regained all my memories, and it only took me another two years to become a mage again. It took me thirty years to finally become the mage I once was. Can you imagine? After I got my memories back, I realised I somehow ended up marrying Duke Lithur of the time, and even had a child! Oh, the headache I had."
She made a gesture that appeared like she sighed, as if she was really troubled by her resilient magical gift. The Pope, on the other hand, sank into a pool of bewilderment after her statement. He could only shake his head in denial as he continued staring in disbelief.
This…... This was impossible!
The Church was constantly researching spiritual energy, and he clearly knew that once spiritual energy was damaged, it would be extremely difficult for the mage to recover. The more severe the damage was, the more difficult the recovery process would be. Thus, even if the Church knew that mages had quite a number of Secret Spells that would work for the cost of their spiritual energy or even their soul, they never took it seriously enough to research it. That was basically quenching your thirst with poison!
He never knew that spiritual energy could ‘grow back’ in a few years.
Was this the will of God? Was this God’s test to his determination? Why else would something so confounding happen right in front of him?
The madame shrugged as she looked at the Pope’s constipated expression, "To be fair, I did not do this intentionally. This is my natural born talent, and regardless of what I do, my spiritual energy and affinity to the elements will grow. They would grow after I burn them all, and they actually grow faster than I ever dreamt! I never did practice magic throughout the years, but they still managed to recover. I had no choice, really."
"..."
Maybe it was because of the failure of casting a charm, but the Pope suddenly had the urge to vomit blood.
