Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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In early 1379, during the seventh century, His Holiness Gregory III of the Papacy passed away, and His Holiness Anos I succeeded him.
In the past, the papacy required the College of Cardinals to discuss and vote, which often took weeks or even months, allowing the Empire and the various duchies enough time to negotiate, prepare gifts, and so on. However, the speed and efficiency of this time made everyone realize that something was unusual.
In particular, the old pope did not abdicate but died— of all the popes in the history of the Vatican, more than 90% abdicated after they grew old, and the remaining few were martyred on the front lines against the demonic realm.
This had led various countries to suspect whether a silent coup had taken place within the Vatican.
However, this did not prevent countries from preparing gifts and sending special envoys to the new pope’s ceremonies.
At the same time, the title “Anos” chosen by this Pope was also quite surprising. In the Seventh Age, most popes’ titles were inherited from those of previous popes, indicating that this pope’s political views were consistent with the title he inherited.
For example, Saint Gregory III succeeded Saint Gregory II, and during his reign, like Saint Gregory II, his goal was to strengthen divine authority and overwhelm royal authority.
There was a common characteristic to the succession of popes in the Papacy: most powerful, monarchical popes were followed by a weaker pope who was engrossed in theological studies. As a result, the Papacy’s oppressive power was significantly reduced, leading to the saying that “a fat pope is followed by a thin pope.”
Of course, in essence, this was all about the balance of power between religious authority and secular power.
In these power struggles, the Pope of the Papacy gradually became a successor to only two or three doctrines, and no new doctrines or new titles have emerged for a long time.
Now that the new pope has chosen a new title… what political stance will it represent? What does he intend to achieve?
….
The new pope didn’t think about anything.
Luo Mi stood at the foot of the white tower, gazing up at the spiral staircase leading upwards.
A cardinal stood beside him, bowing slightly, and reported on the matter of sending invitations to the empire and various duchies for the ceremony.
After the report was finished, the cardinal respectfully asked, “Your Majesty, is there anything I have overlooked?”
Luo Mi said irritably, “I don’t care, do whatever you want, just don’t bother me with such trivial matters in the future.”
The cardinal was momentarily speechless, then became even more respectful, wiping his sweat: “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Luo Mi didn’t care what he was imagining and waved for him to leave.
After saving the Holy City that day, Luo Mi originally wanted to leave the Papacy with Anos immediately, but when he turned around, Anos had already disappeared.
He had intended to go find him, but the College of Cardinals arrived, attempting to keep their new pope.
In the end, a single sentence from the College of Cardinals moved Luo Mi: “Your Majesty, how can the efficiency of your search alone compare to the power of the entire Papacy and the Scepter of Glory?”
Therefore, before finding Anos, Luo Mi remained in the holy city of Bethlehem and specifically chose Anos’s name as his Pope name.
The College of Cardinals were well aware of the new Pope’s identity and political opinions, and knew that the position of Pope, the most powerful man in the world, held little appeal for Luo Mi, who might resign at any time. Therefore, they did not dare to make things difficult for him in many ways but instead tried to increase the attractiveness of the Papacy as much as possible, striving to ensure that Luo Mi could continue to hold the position peacefully.
If possible, they would rather be the pope themselves— the problem was that the blasphemous former pope was punished by God and reduced to ashes, while the new pope had transformed into an angel and the scepter of glory had come to him, clearly showing that God’s gaze was on Luo Mi. If they still dared to play tricks, they would simply be courting death.
The cardinals had no choice but to grit their teeth and get to work.
Luo Mi had been using this papal scepter to conduct a full search of the light domain for the past few days but had not found any trace of Anos.
The power of the Scepter of Glory was simple: it mobilized everything related to divine power, including living believers and the inanimate objects. It was the latter that propelled the Holy City to meet the Blackwing Lord’s attack. Luo Mi, however, utilized the former by manipulating the believers’ “vision.”
In layman’s terms, whatever the believers saw, the Scepter of Glory could be activated and woven into an image for Luo Mi to see. If Luo Mi wanted, he could even forcibly control the believers to look in a certain direction, thus allowing him to monitor the entire light domain in real time.
Unfortunately, Luo Mi searched for a long time but couldn’t find any trace of Anos.
According to his speculation, either Anos was simply avoiding everything and everyone related to the gods, or Anos had the ability to shield himself against the scepter of glory.
If it was the latter, then it was hard to say whether “Anos” now was the Anos he knew.
These days, Luo Mi recalled the events of that day that turned everything upside down, remembering many details.
When Anos killed John and Lina, his eyes were neither azure nor blood red, but silver-white.
So, was that another personality of Anos? Luo Mi recalled the “2/” progress in the system task.
Although the system’s criteria for judgment were unknown, both the Black and White Anos were now considered corrupted, yet the mission had not been completed, suggesting that there may be other Anos.
Moreover… Luo Mi went even further and suspected that his time travel and the so-called “original work” might be a pre-planned hoax!
After the system completely disappeared, this suspicion became clearer, but Luo Mi had not yet found a clear possible inclination.
Luo Mi flapped his wings and flew upwards, instinctively calling out “System” a few times in his mind.
The system did not respond.
If it weren’t for the fact that Luo Mi could still use the system’s storage space normally, he would have thought that the system had left his body.
Unable to find Anos or the system, Luo Mi could only turn his attention to the inner workings of the Holy See.
Behind St. Paul’s Basilica, the towering white tower was a huge library. The spiral staircase led upwards, and the walls on both sides were filled with books. These were all the documents and materials of the Papacy since the establishment of the Third Age. All of them were protected by magic and encrypted at different levels. Some could only be viewed by cardinals and above, while others could only be viewed by the Pope.
Luo Mi’s goal was these materials that were restricted to the Pope’s reading.
He wanted to figure out the mystery of Anos’s identity, the truth of the apocalypse, and the “ark” that St. Gregory III spoke of.
“Precautions for Using the Great Prophecy”, “The Fall of Saint Sinos”, “A Summary of Omega Empire Technology”, “The Vatican’s Land Value Compilation”, “Records of Cardinal Violations”…
Looking at the book titles, Luo Mi couldn’t help but twitch his lips: What kind of nonsense are these Pope-restricted books…?
Surprisingly, there were quite a few books that were restricted to the Pope’s reading.
Luo Mi pondered for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration: Why don’t he use his divination technique?
Although the names Prophecy and Great Prophecy were similar, they were fundamentally different. The power of prophecy was not exclusive to the Pope, but the Pope’s use of the Scepter of Glory allowed for a higher degree of precision.
After becoming an angel and obtaining the Scepter of Glory, Luo Mi discovered that he had learned how to use most divine spells without being taught, but he only understood them in theory and had never actually used them.
He attempted to fuse the holy light with the scepter of glory at a certain frequency, as required by the divine magic, and added the content he wanted to prophesy: “Which book should I read now?”
Soon, he had an idea and flew upwards.
After flying for about ten meters, Luo Mi stopped in front of a bookshelf and pulled out a book with an orange-yellow cover.
Record of the Dreams of Saint Gregory III
Luo Mi: “…”
Why does Saint Gregory III need to memorize all this? No wonder it’s set to be read only by the Pope!
Since the prophecy said so, Luo Mi still opened the book with a complicated expression, hoping to find some valuable content.
“January 3rd. I ate too much for dinner today.”
“January 4th. *snoring*”
“January 5th. I really don’t want to wet my pants… but I’m getting old, there’s nothing I can do…”
“January 6th. *snoring*”
“…”
After reading the entire book, Luo Mi had to admit that he had wasted half an hour of his life.
The image of Saint Gregory III has been shrouded in the shadow of an old man.
Looking at the time, Luo Mi sighed and landed at the bottom of the White Tower, where he ran into the cardinal who was coming over.
“How did John and Lina’s funeral go?” Luo Mi asked.
“That is precisely what I must report to His Majesty,” the cardinal replied. “The bodies of those two believers have vanished.”
Luo Mi was taken aback: “Take me to see.”
….
After John and Lina’s deaths, the Vatican moved their bodies to another location, protected them with divine magic, and, following Luo Mi’s instructions, prepared to hold a funeral for them and to comfort their families.
But the coffin that originally contained two corpses was empty.
Not to mention the people, even the bloodstains left when the body was moved have disappeared without a trace.
Luo Mi narrowed her eyes: “You all go out first.”
After the others withdrew, Luo Mi stroked the top of the Glory Scepter, activating a divine spell.
It was hard to say about other places, but within the Holy City, the Pope had absolute control, not only now, but also in the past.
The scene before her eyes quickly changed. Two corpses reappeared in the coffin, and figures moved back and forth, passing through Luo Mi’s body like phantoms.
Luo Mi patiently observed John and Lina.
At a certain point in time, the two corpses suddenly changed— their surfaces began to glow with a silvery-white light.
Soon, the bodies of the two children, along with the bloodstains they had left elsewhere, were enveloped in silver, like sugar cubes dissolving in water, quickly disappearing without a trace.
Luo Mi paused, suddenly recalling something Anos had mentioned before: the three chosen ones in the Duchy of Perde disappeared inexplicably after the matter was resolved, leaving no trace, not even the Holy See’s divine legion could find them.
He stared silently at the empty coffin for a moment, then called for people and told them to prepare a funeral for John and Lina as planned, as if their bodies were still alive.
….
After nightfall, Luo Mi, who had made little progress all day, dejectedly rejected the suggestion of sleeping in the Pope’s palace and instead stayed at Anos’s residence.
He used to sleep here, and he still wanted to sleep here now.
He threw himself onto the bed and yawned.
For a succubus, this wasn’t actually time to rest, but Luo Mi was a little tired today, so he drifted off to sleep.
In his dream, his consciousness drifted and he arrived at a church that looked somewhat familiar.
An elderly man with white hair and beard sat on a bench, his eyes closed as he prayed devoutly.
Luo Mi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly regained his senses: “Saint Gregory III?”
Didn’t he die from divine punishment?
The old pope turned and glanced at him, his beard twitching, and he frowned slightly: “You are the pope who succeeded me? Why don’t I recognize you?”
Luo Mi didn’t know how to answer, so he could only say, “Who told you to die so quickly?”
The old pope paused for a moment, then chuckled self-deprecatingly: “It seems I couldn’t escape the gaze of the gods.”
Luo Mi blinked: “So, you’re still alive?”
The old pope shook his head: “What you see now is not me, but a personality and consciousness that I created through alchemy.”
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