I didn't know what the man in front of me was thinking, but he must have been extremely frustrated. Just a second ago, he was still the Pope, the ruler of billions of lives in the entire galaxy. He had a seemingly endless lifespan, power that far exceeded that of mortals, and three hundred years of experience. I felt that this last point was enough to make the listless Wangcai next door raise its head and bark like a husky when it was young. But that was in the past. His glorious career came to an abrupt end because he was fired.
No matter how many stains there were in his rule, he was a person worthy of sympathy at this time. Perhaps he could still stand in front of the Mobradoan civilians as a puppet to maintain the stability of this theocratic society, but for a person in his position, losing his authority was basically another kind of death.
After Bruna's voice trailed off, the Pope remained silent for a long time. I could feel his gaze constantly scanning us through the mask. It was obvious that he still felt that the current situation was a little unreal. However, the light from the Empire's battleship outside the window had yet to completely disperse. Just by looking out, he could see a large number of civilians gathering in the Pope's palace. This made it impossible for him to question the current situation. Of course, this was only part of the reason. The most important reason was that he realized that he had lost the power that he trusted the most.
Sandora had just cut off his spiritual connection to the outside. In other words, other than his physical attributes, the Holy Pope was no different from an ordinary Mobradan. His most powerful weapon, the 'Gun of Condemnation', was no longer in his control. Sandora told me that the so-called 'Gun of Condemnation' was a high-level armed satellite. Its output power was at least fifty times greater than the satellite that Miriya was connected to previously. It was enough to burn a large city into ashes in an instant. It could be said to be a very powerful support weapon. If the other twelve Guns of Condemnation were of the same scale, it was no wonder that the Holy Pope and the Twelve Knights could suppress the resistance of the entire world with their power for three hundred years.
But as mentioned before, that was in the past. When the Holy Pope suddenly realized that his control over the ancient weapon had left him, he finally confirmed that this wasn't a nightmare, nor was it a ridiculous drama directed by Zaku. Even if the people in the room weren't saints, they were powerful enough to drive him off his pedestal.
"Who would have thought that I would not be defeated on the battlefield, but forced to take off my divine robe in my own room like a pitiful mortal." The Pope looked around at the people around him. His tone was full of vicissitudes. Liliana quickly tried to persuade him. "Just say it. If you want to take it off, wait for us girls to go out!"
The Supreme Pontiff's silhouette seemed even more weathered than before. I pushed Liliana to the side as I thought, 'At this point in time, we should leave him some face.'
"So, you are the Sage? The master I follow? "
"You gave yourself the title of successor." Sandora replied with a cold voice. She was not satisfied with this human who called himself the 'Heir'. The latter had obviously misunderstood the legacy and spirit of the Empire. However, she was merely dissatisfied and did not need to 'punish' him. I could somewhat understand this feeling. It was probably the disappointment of seeing the successor of one's servant perform poorly.
"Then, where did I go wrong?" The Supreme Pontiff slowly stood up. He was still wearing his mask as he faced us through the layer of smooth metal. "I firmly believe that I am walking on the path that you have set for this world. Power, obedience, discipline, and absolute unity. These are the imprints that you have left on the ancient people. I have carefully recreated them in this civilization. I do not believe that I have done anything wrong."
"I am rather curious as to how you know about the old Empire … In other words, how the Sage that you speak of ruled over the ancient civilization. Just the traces left behind by a ruin from hundreds of thousands of years ago aren't enough for you to conclude all these things." My big sister sized him up and down with a curious gaze.
The Supreme Pontiff was surrounded by us like a criminal. At this moment, he could only answer every question. "The Gun of Condemnation has brought us extraordinary knowledge, but also a lot of vague memories. Those memories have shown us a glorious and powerful image. They have pointed out the path for me and allowed me to find a way to save this world! "
"Sigh, your faith is strong, but your direction is wrong." Liliana concluded with a heavy heart.
"Am I really not the Chosen?!" The Supreme Pontiff struggled to ask us. Sandora snorted. I kindly explained to him, "The so-called 'Chosen' does not exist. In fact, even the Shiring Apostles could not choose a person who would only be born tens of thousands of years later as their Heir. From a certain point of view, you have indeed inherited our legacy. It is a pity that you have not used it properly and are unable to gain recognition. Didn't you want to ask yourself where did you go wrong? Then take this opportunity to think about it. If this civilization were to be tormented by you like this, would it still be able to develop? "
This was the reason why Sandora and I agreed that the man in front of us was not suitable to continue leading the Mobrador civilization. It was not just because of his unlikable personality. After all, having a bad personality was not an unacceptable flaw for a ruler. What we were really dissatisfied with was his train of thought.
To be fair, a person who almost single-handedly ended the history of war for an entire race, brought the civilization into a state of complete unity, and eliminated all disputes (at least, most of the disputes that could be discovered) could almost be called a great person. What this Supreme Pontiff had done was not an exaggeration to say that he had made great contributions to the entire development of Mobrador. However, there was a limit to everything, and rules should be followed. The reason why the Shiring Apostles could completely eliminate civil war was because their civilization had developed to a certain level, and their internal strife had become the residue of the wheel of evolution. However, a civilization like Mobrador had obviously not reached such a level. Even their ancestors, the ancient people, did not dare to say that they had eliminated all the conflicts in the world under the rule of the Empire. This Supreme Pontiff, on the other hand, was equivalent to using violence to stop everything. The end of the internal strife may have allowed the entire civilization to embark on the path of rapid development in the early stages, but after a certain period of rapid development, they would face the bottleneck of a lack of motivation. Under the protection of the ruins of the Empire, this galaxy was absolutely safe, and there would never be any external strife. Moreover, in the foreseeable future, they had an inexhaustible energy source. In this way, even if some people hoped for the civilization to progress, how much motivation did they have to progress as a whole?
A flower in a greenhouse could not grow strong. Without pressure, there would be no motivation. If you let Pandora live in a kindergarten from now on, she would probably forget about growing taller.
This was only one of the bottlenecks. The second bottleneck was the loss of diversity after the thoughts of the entire race were unified into one person. In the entire Mobrador, there was only one person whose words could be regarded as the absolute truth, and that was the Supreme Pontiff. He believed that his judgment was always correct, so this civilization could never have a second thought. The Supreme Pontiff fanatically advocated the knowledge of the "Sage," so all the scholars in Mobrador only studied the legacy left behind by the Sage. Any scholar who studied other branches of technology would be regarded as heretics and sent to the stake. According to historical records, hundreds of years ago in Mobrador, although the knowledge of the Sage was also the focus of human research, there were still countless other disciplines in this world. After the Twelve Knights and the Holy Supreme Pontiff ruled this world, those disciplines were condemned as rebellious and burned to the ground.
If those disciplines had been able to continue until today, coupled with the technology excavated from the ancient ruins, Mobrador might not have been confined to the stage of a galactic civilization. To put it simply, the Supreme Pontiff's "ideological dictatorship" caused the entire civilization to lose the courage to develop freely. They only dared to carefully read ancient documents under strict rules. Such a race would never be able to develop their own technology tree even after ten thousand years.
The Holy Supreme Pontiff's third mistake, which was also the reason why Sandora and I couldn't allow him to continue in his position, was that he might bring the entire world to destruction. This wasn't alarmist talk, but the possibility had already been revealed. Although the current Holy Supreme Pontiff often caused people to frown, many records and signs showed that 300 years ago, he was just a slightly arrogant young hero. Uncle Zaku called him a "hothead." A hothead, even if his methods were a little violent, could also become a hero as long as he had upright ideals. Therefore, the Holy Supreme Pontiff's performance in the first 100 years of ruling this world was quite satisfactory. But as time passed, he had changed.
This world didn't need to doubt the Supreme Pontiff's judgment, because the Supreme Pontiff's judgment came from the guidance of the Sage. The Holy Supreme Pontiff had used this sentence to hypnotize himself for hundreds of years. Finally, not only did he make his believers believe in this, but even he himself also believed in it. He had become arrogant and lived in his fantasy of being a demigod, ruling this world as the Son of God. Even after the Papal Palace was breached, he calmly determined the identity of the other party: he thought he should know everything.
Long-term absolute power, absolute authority that no one dared to question, a superhuman life, and an unlimited lifespan had turned a hot-blooded and hot-blooded young man into a monster that was not human. This was a tragedy. And if he had continued to live in this position for another 300 years, I'm afraid that the tragedy wouldn't be the only one.
But this wasn't all his fault, it was the result of the environment. He had obtained incomprehensible power, but there was no clear guidance to guide him on the right track. So he could only imagine, and if he overdid it, he would be delusional. Just think about me. I was just an ordinary high school student back then, but in the blink of an eye, my identity changed completely, and I even obtained terrifying power. If Pandora didn't come to my side, if Sandora didn't tell me so many things, if I didn't have a group of cute and annoying subordinates, what would I have become? What would I have done to Earth?
I couldn't imagine what path I would be walking on if things had developed that way. In any case, if that had happened, this book would have become popular long ago.
I also felt a little depressed for this Holy Pope. You see, he was still a big figure, a Lord who had dominated billions of people for 300 years. In the end, he didn't fight a bloody battle on the battlefield, didn't fight a coup d 'état, and in the end, he was surrounded by a group of people in his bedroom and announced to be fired. This kind of ending was really not in line with his previous 300 years of life. This was probably what made the Pope the most depressed. I almost couldn't help but suggest that if he really couldn't be the Pope for a few more days, we should send a few Heroic Spirits to assassinate him when he went out to give a speech. At that time, he would roll down from the high platform like Lelouch. This way, he would be able to save his face.
In the end, the Pope didn't agree.
"Zaku, can you tell us about your past?"
Seeing that Bruna was busy talking with the Pope, I called Zaku over to have a chat. No one was worried that the Pope would suddenly make a move, because Sandora had already turned him into an ordinary person. The Pope's previous strength was completely built on power that surpassed this world. He himself was well aware of this point. When all of his power was sealed, anyone with an IQ of more than two digits wouldn't act blindly without thinking. Of course, it was quite admirable that the other party didn't go crazy after suffering such a huge blow.
From the conversation between Zaku and the other party, I had already guessed many things. However, without the person personally talking about it, I still felt that my guesses were only from the same person …
"I'm afraid that this is just an unremarkable little story to you." Zaku shrugged at us, indicating that there was nothing to talk about. However, he still gave a brief explanation. "It happened more than 300 years ago. When the world was still in the midst of war, there was a group of lively and happy fellows in this chaotic world. A group of adventurers that relied on ancient ruins and reselling firearms to wantonly squander their money. I was the leader of that adventurers …"
"At that time, all of the races in the world were fighting against each other. There was almost no place that wasn't filled with the smoke of war. However, the adventurers that I led became a very special place. In the adventurers, almost all of the races and countries gathered together. We were all orphans of war. When we were wandering and fleeing, we gathered together. We fought from a young age until we grew up, almost forgetting our own race. The man who now called himself the Pope, his real name was Rudaff. He and Bruna were the first fellows that I knew. A group of vagabonds, from street thugs, to sneaky bandits, and then to an adventurers that boldly went to ancient ruins and battlefields to pick up things. Step by step, they walked to where they were now. Now that I think about it, although the life back then was dangerous, it was the happiest days in my 300 years of memory …
Back then, Rudaff was a hot-blooded and heroic young man. Because he and Bruna were reincarnated, they were bullied everywhere in society. I wasn't much better off. Ordinary humans always looked down on beastmen. In the difficult life, Rudaff often said that he must become an amazing person, to quell all the wars in the world, and to make all races equal. This should be the environment in the adventurers that made him give up on the hatred of other races. Although his thoughts were a little exaggerated, it was actually the wish of many people in the adventurers.
Later on … The adventurers slowly grew stronger. We had our own airship and started to accept some big business. We even took the initiative to search for ancient ruins. At that time, the Church of Pale Blue had not been established yet. The Saint's Ruins were open to everyone. With the thought of making a fortune and then relaxing for a few years, we went to a place called the 'Echo Mine'. That place has now become the holy land of the church. However, at that time, it was just an abandoned mine. At that time, we heard the news that the ground near the mine was glowing with a blue light, so we decided to go and see if we could hit the jackpot.
Later on, we really hit the jackpot. It was a Saint's Ruins that were almost perfectly preserved. However … that was also the day that the adventurers were destroyed.
While we were in the ruins, one of the newbies accidentally triggered the ruins' defense system. Including that newbie, more than half of the dozens of adventurer team members were killed in an instant. The remaining fifteen of us ran for our lives. We didn't know which direction to go, but we ended up in a place filled with blue light. The blue light was still bouncing around in my eyes.
In the panic, Bruna and I got separated from the other thirteen people. We bumped around like headless flies in the passageway that glowed with blue light. When we were exhausted, we ran into a transparent crystal pipe. Through the pipe … "
"He saw me and twelve other brothers and sisters being trapped on a flying bridge that was suspended in the sky. A stream of raging flame flashed across the bridge, and then we all fell down," the Pope interrupted Zaku's narration. He stood up, and gently took off his mask.
I thought that I would see a severely burned face, an ordinary middle-aged man, or a gloomy man with the word "conspiracy" engraved on his face. At the very least, it would be fine if you looked exactly like Guo Degang, or even Marilyn Monroe. But in reality … there was nothing behind the mask, only a small blue ball of light that was vibrating at high speed.
A few uncontrollable exclamations resounded in the room. Among them, Bruna's scream was the most obvious.
"The flame burned our bodies and purified the sins of mortals." A sharp voice came from the small ball of light. 'It' floated out from the Pope's hood. The Pope's long robe and artificial skin fell to the ground like rags. It was just a skin. The real Pope was just a ball of light the size of a ping pong ball?!
"The blue light granted us rebirth. When we woke up, we had already become the purest light. In the ruins, there was a magical machine left by the Sage. They had modified us. This modification had also given us greater power. Although we had lost our bodies, we could use our spiritual power to do the same things as when we had a body. Moreover, we could control an even more powerful holy weapon: the Lance of Condemnation. "
After the Pope finished speaking, the small ball of light moved slightly closer to Bruna. "You were right. It's time for my era to end. Since this world was left by the Sage, then we should unconditionally accept all their arrangements. Perhaps my long life had really made me a little muddle-headed. I had almost forgotten the oath that I had made after returning to the human world from the ruins. "
"No wonder you had been wearing a mask since that day." Uncle Zaku hissed. Then, he looked at the skin on the ground. "When you invited me and Bruna to join your great cause, you refused to take off your mask. So that's why."
"It's the special technology of my servants. It's a method to extract the souls of the fallen soldiers and make them permanent." Sandora said in a low voice. "However, the success rate isn't high. It seems that the large amount of radiation from the crystal had strengthened their spiritual power, allowing the thirteen knights to pass the modification. If that's the case, then they really 'passed the test' and became the successor. "
"Sage, please forgive my previous recklessness." The small ball of light in the air trembled slightly towards Sandora and me. "I didn't think that after suddenly removing this identity, I would feel so much more awake … Please head to the hall. I hope to know what happened. In three hundred years, this is the first time I'm curious about fate."
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