Chapter 288 - Hatching (2)
Silence hung in the air for a few moments.
If Henry's claims were indeed true, the Pope had committed a serious crime, so serious that even burning at the stake would be too light of a sentence for him.
However, he was still the Pope, the highest figure of authority within the Holy City. Thus, despite the fact that Henry’s words were convincing and made sense, everyone hesitated to speak up. Nevertheless, all eyes were set on the Pope, waiting for his response.
The Pope lowered his head for a few moments, and when he looked up again, everyone was shocked.
“...!”
“...!”
The Pope was smiling, but he no longer had the wrinkled face of a ninety-year-old man.
“Surprised?” the Pope asked casually, as if he hadn’t just been exposed. In a matter of seconds, he had magically transformed into a young man.
Seeing this, Henry couldn't help bursting into laughter. “Pff-! Phahahaha!”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Aaaah... How can I not laugh? Ross Borgia, you are truly amazing. This level of composure in this situation... Wow!”
Ross merely shrugged his shoulders at Henry’s remark and replied, “What about this situation? Some people might mistakenly believe that something bad has happened to me.”
The Pope was talking to Henry in a calm manner, not saying anything rash. His impressive composure stemmed from the fact that he had convinced himself that he wasn’t afraid of anything.
“Yo-Your Holiness! Wait, no...!”
Logger was stunned by how the Pope had been exposed. He had hurriedly tried to call out to him, desperate to make some sense of this, but he was so shocked that he kept slurring his words. Indeed, the man before him was not the Pope he knew, but a criminal, an enemy, and yet Logger couldn’t approach him.
“Youth, huh... Makes sense that an old man wants it back. But it was clearly a mistake to abandon Irene for the Demon God, Ross.”
“Demon?”
The Pope slightly tilted his head at Henry’s statement. He then smirked as he put a finger on his chin.
“I don’t understand... You’ve been rambling on about Warlocks and some Demon God for a while now, but I don’t serve such filthy beings.”
“What?”
“Let me show you the power of my actual master,” declared Ross before he closed his eyes. Then, he let out violet energy and dark red gas hissed out of him.
Crunch! Crunch!
A disturbing, gross sound reverberated in the air, and as it persisted, Ross tore through his robe as his body kept contracting and changing, his bones dislocating with loud cracks and his muscles growing in size.
‘Don’t tell me...’
Only Chimeras would rearrange their muscles and bones like that. Henry anticipated something ominous and shouted, “Everyone, regain your composure and cast the Protection Holy Code!”
“Y-yes!”
The Holy Knights who had been staring dumbfounded at the Pope’s transformation came to their senses after hearing Henry’s amplified voice and cast the Protection Holy Code. Holy light shone over the Holy City, and with that, Henry unleashed his magic as well.
Rumble! Rumble!
Thunder God’s Wrath was a powerful 7th-Circle thunderbolt spell. As Henry cast his spell, dark clouds obstructed the sky. And then...
Boom! Crash!
A colossal thunderbolt hit Ross mid-transformation, striking the ground with a deafening roar. It had been so loud that everyone’s ears were ringing. However, after the sound subsided and the lightning bolt disappeared, Ross was still seamlessly going through his transformation, seemingly unharmed.
Following the lightning strike, Henry locked eyes with Ross, and the latter smirked back.
“...!"
Ross flashed Henry a wry smile, as if saying, “Is that all you’ve got?”
“Sword on.”
In response to his taunt, Henry swiftly drew his sword and stomped on the ground.
Thud!
The impact of the stomp returned to Henry as his magic armor materialized on him. Then he quickly recited an acceleration spell, gripped the Colt Sword, and closed the gap between him and the Pope at lightning speed, swinging his Colt Sword at him just as fast.
However...
Clang!
A sharp clang reverberated as Henry’s sword stopped mid-air. He quickly realized that he had hit some kind of invisible barrier.
'A barrier?'
Henry had swung his sword with full force, without the slightest hesitation. He had given his all with this attack, yet he hadn’t even managed to touch Ross. His sword had stopped mid-way like a throwing star getting stuck in a snowball.
Henry tried to back away from the barrier, but he realized he couldn’t move. He was overcome by discomfort and repulsion as he was up close to the Pope. Having finished his transformation, Ross leaned forward and brought his face closer to Henry’s. His new appearance was both uncanny and vile.
“Henry,” the monstrosity called out in a deeply disturbing voice. The Pope’s veneer of benevolence and piety was now gone. His voice felt disgusting; it sounded as repulsive as rotten meat that had been left in the water until it swole up.
“You call yourself a Grand Wizard?” continued Ross with a twisted grin. His face was something awful that people would see in their worst nightmares.
Henry struggled to break free from the invisible barrier. He couldn’t feel his Aura or mana, but at the same time, he didn’t feel any demonic energy like he had felt back then with Hoosler and the Messiah.
‘Wait, don’t tell me he... There’s no way...’
Something flashed through Henry’s mind when Ross denied having any connection with demons or Warlocks. Then, when Ross started transforming like a Chimera, Henry received his confirmation.
‘Arthus!’
The new deity that the Pope served was no demon. It was Arthus.
Realizing this, Henry was enraged.
‘Why...? Why?! Why?! WHY?!?! What the fuck do they all see in him?!’
Henry was furious, but also disappointed. To him, it didn’t make sense for the leader of the state religion, the one who had emerged victorious in a war against all the other religions, to give up his honor and everything else he had built to serve a man like Arthus.
Ross kept smirking at Henry, mocking him from the other side of the barrier, and he kept transforming as he did so.
“Snort.”
Boom!
Ross eventually grew tired of ridiculing Henry and unleashed a ferocious wind attack at him, blowing him away in the distance. Thick dust kicked up from the ground, and Ross controlled the wind to blow it away, revealing his final form.
Crack, crack.
His body resembled that of a demon. His build was significantly larger than before, his intricate muscles and bones looking like impenetrable armor. His whole body pulsated rhythmically, signifying that this creature was brimming with life.
“This is...”
Ross examined his evolved body, towering over two meters tall, his limbs similar to that of a demonic creature. He could feel an overwhelming power surge through him. He scanned his surroundings, causing the Holy Knights surrounding him to flinch and take a few steps back.
“You poor things...”
Ross looked at them with condescending eyes, pitying them for being such feeble creatures.
But then, a cold, low voice traveled through the crowd and grabbed Ross’ attention.
It was no other than Henry. Even though he had been blasted away by Ross’ wind attack, he had quickly risen to his feet, even more furious.
Seeing this, Ross clapped and said, “Oh, I guess they don’t call you the Great Archmage for nothing. Or rather, should I call you the Great Magic Swordsman since you also wield that blade?”
Ross continued to mock Henry and his spirit, but Henry didn’t hear any of his words. He was seething with the anger that had accumulated ever since he had learned about Ross’ schemes from Hoosler at that underground temple beneath the well.
After learning the shocking truth, Henry had taken Saint Irenae, Herarion, and Hoosler to the Holy City with the sole purpose of overthrowing the Pope.
However, the Pope turned out to be infinitely worse than Henry had expected. He was one kind of a bastard. In fact, the word ‘bastard’ would be too kind for what the Pope had done.
Henry calmly gave Ross his last warning.
“Ross Boriga I. You will pay for your sins. I will see to it.”
“Haha, I’m really looking forward to it,” Ross replied confidently, relishing in Arthus’ blessing. He wasn’t scared at all of the Grand Magic Swordsman or Irene’s divine power emanating from the Holy Knights that stood before him. He was confident that Arthus’ blessing was far superior to the power of these fools.
His confidence didn’t stem only from his faith in Arthus. Palo had also told him that the apostles had annihilated other regions with Arthus’ blessing.
“Alright then, let’s see what you’ve got,” said Ross. He was making sure to take his time, gesturing with his finger for Henry to come at him.
In response, Henry retrieved a necklace from his pocket.
Clink!
It was no ordinary necklace, for attached to it were the ten rings infused with divine power that Herabola had given him. Henry rolled it on his fist and lifted the Colt Sword once again.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes, Archmage!”
Henry used his magic to call for Herarion, who had been observing the situation from the stone tower. He then brought his hands together and proceeded to pray to La.
“Wlrmadms toqur, sksms dhsmfeh akrkadmf gksek...!”
There was no way of telling what Herarion was saying. However, as he was performing the royal ancestral rite, reciting the blessings to honor the souls of his ancestors, La's divine power resonated with the divine objects in Henry's hand.
With that, a pure white Aura enveloped Henry. He then firmly stomped on the ground once again.
Thud!
Whirl!
A burst of white light accompanied by an emerald-colored Aura created an enormous tornado. Then, incredibly powerful and fast winds swept through the area, causing everyone to get down on the ground as dust swirled everywhere.
Only Henry and Ross stood their ground.
“It seems like you’ve borrowed some crappy divine object from somewhere. But you don’t think you can even scratch me with such false divine power, do you?”
Ross noticed what Henry was trying to do. He had decades of experience in terms of religion, so it would’ve been truly laughable if he hadn’t been able to sense the divine power coming from Henry.
Despite his mockery, Henry firmly denied his supposition.
“You’re wrong.”
“What?”
“I don’t put my faith in divine objects.” Henry slowly raised his sword above his head before continuing, “I only trust myself to cut you down.”
“Ha! You're spitting out childish nonsense. Did you get that from a fable or something? I didn’t expect the Archmage’s only disciple to be such a bard-like dreamer. Alright, come at me! I’ll help you wake up to the harsh reality!”
Ross spread his arms and puffed his chest, showing that he wasn’t fazed by Henry’s false divine power. Soon, the two energies flowing from the Colt Sword merged into a flashing green brilliance.
Henry then swung his sword.
Flash!
The green brilliance engulfed the Holy City, radiating in the horizon from every direction and blinding everyone. It lasted a few good moments until it faded away.
Only after the skies cleared up could the Holy Knights raise their heads and see what had happened in between.
“H-how...?”
Henry had slashed Ross diagonally, the red trail that extended from his collarbone to his left hip looking like lava. His upper body was barely clinging to the rest of his body, ash and smoke coming off of him.
“It’s over, Ross.”
With those final words, Henry swung his Colt Sword once again, this time with no light, in the same diagonal motion, only a bit higher.
Swoosh! Thud!
Ross's head fell to the ground.
Crack!
The egg Henry had received from Hedajaon, which was in his pocket, cracked slightly.
Translator’s note:
If you type the spell that Herarion casts with the Korean keyboard, it translates to “Past midnight, I’m submitting chapters.” The author writes what’s currently on his mind using the Korean keyboard, but then changes to the English keyboard lol.
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