Regarding the Pope's staff... Lu Xiao believes that the original purpose of this thing was not a staff at all, but that the Catholics who accidentally found this Eden artifact forcibly gave it a name and function.
In fact, the true purpose of the Pope's Staff is as one of the two necessary items to open the Isu Chamber of Secrets.
A circular hollow can be clearly seen in the middle of the upper section of the Pope's staff. Lu Xiao speculated that this should be used to place the Golden Apple of Eden. Only when the two are combined can they be combined into a complete key.
"Hey~"
The sharp whistle coming from outside the window woke up Lu Xiao, who was in a daze. This was a signal agreed upon by the assassins who were standing guard behind the scenes, and it meant that a large number of enemies were coming.
Putting back his divergent thoughts, Lu Xiao focused all his attention on the church.
The interior space of the Sistine Chapel is very large. Due to the regulations of the Catholic Church, the holy knights of the Holy See who are armed to the teeth are guarding the periphery of the inner court. Only hundreds of high-status priests and bishops are left in the central chapel.
Only Rodrigo, who was the Pope, had two heavily armored warriors standing on his left and right.
'Get started.'
Lu Xiao confirmed the situation in the chapel and made a gesture to signal Ezio and Federico.
The two young assassins of the Auditore family jumped out from the beam one after another. Federico, who was the first, threw down the heavily armored guard on the left, and stabbed his sharp hidden sword into his neck without hesitation.
Ezio, who landed later, ignored the guards on the right. Another group of assassins attacked almost simultaneously, clearing away the last guard in front of Rodrigo.
Rodrigo remained calm in the face of danger. He had already expected that someone would launch an attack in the chapel. When Ezio quickly approached him, the papal staff in Rodrigo's hand suddenly stopped.
"Boom!"
The spreading sound waves made Ezio's brain dizzy for a moment, and Federico, who was about to stand up, also staggered a step.
"Ugh!"
Lu Xiao, who was still squatting on the beam, also felt the dull pain coming from his brain. The Golden Apple of Eden hanging on his waist sent a stream of clear water to his brain, which greatly relieved Lu Xiao's discomfort.
The Auditore brothers, who had the blood of the First Civilization, only felt swelling and pain in their brains. The other three assassins were not so lucky.
The three people who had just killed the guard on the right fell to the ground screaming. Lu Xiao could clearly see through eagle vision that a certain energy flow on their bodies was converging on the white shimmering Pope's staff in Rodrigo's hand.
.
'Drain life force?'
"You overestimating assassins, I have already guessed that you would launch an attack today!"
Rodrigo swung the Pope's staff horizontally, and the energy ripples that spread from the staff knocked Ezio and Federico away at the same time. The two fell into the group of monks in the church in embarrassment.
Not only did the three assassins who attacked Rodrigo scream and fall down, but the hundreds of monks present also covered their heads in pain and rolled on the ground.
Except for Rodrigo, the operator of the Pope's staff, only Ezio and Federico, who were knocked away, could barely move.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Lu Xiao stretched out his arm armor and simultaneously fired the poisoned crossbow arrows in his left hand and the hidden gun bullets in his right hand at Rodrigo.
"clang!"
Lu Xiao's long-range attacks were blocked by the invisible stance around Rodrigo's body.
However, judging from Rodrigo's panting appearance, even if he absorbed the life force of more than 100 people present, using the Pope's staff would still put a greater burden on him.
Seeing that the long-range attack was useless, Lu Xiao jumped down from the beam and used the soothing effect of the golden apple to lift Ezio and Federico up from the ground.
"It seems that the Pope's staff will have negative effects on people within a certain range. Only those who hold the golden apple can completely resist its power."
Lu Xiao raised his head and looked at Rodrigo, who was holding his staff and panting: "You two take the others out of the scope of the artifact first, and I will deal with Rodrigo."
Ezio and Federico also knew that they would not be needed for the time being. They endured their headaches and helped their three fellow assassins up, stepped over the fallen monks and guards, and retreated to the outside of the church.
Rodrigo held his staff and looked up at Lu Xiao: "Assassin, the treasure in the secret room belongs to the Templars. If you hand over the golden apple, I will spare your life."
Lu Xiao laughed and shook his head: "What are you talking about in your sleep? Do you think you have already won?"
"Ah~" Rodrigo deliberately showed a look of surprise: "It seems that you still don't know the true function of the Pope's staff. You don't think it only has the ability to absorb life force, do you?"
"clang!"
Roderick turned the staff around, pointed the head of the staff at the ground and struck it violently. Invisible fluctuations of stance erupted outward from the center of the staff.
Lu Xiao hurriedly lowered his body weight, and his feet on the bright red carpet slid back about one meter under the force of the staff.
"Not bad ability."
Lu Xiao narrowed his eyes and looked at Rodrigo, activating the Pope's staff and making Rodrigo bend over and cough: "I want to see if you dare to drain all the life force of your subordinates and convert them into attack power.
.”
Lu Xiao's words touched Rodrigo's sore spot.
If all the monks and paladins present were allowed to die here, Rodrigo would have no one available for him for a long time, and he would become a bare pope with no authority.
But without absorbing the life force of those present, Rodrigo would not be able to continue to maintain the power of the Pope's staff.
"Make your choice, Rodrigo."
Lu Xiao held the golden apple in his left hand and pointed the repeating sleeve gun modified by Leonardo da Vinci at Rodrigo in his right hand.
"Become an empty-headed pope that no one can use and fight to the end, or put down the papal staff and continue a prosperous and prosperous life in the future. The choice is in your hands."
Rodrigo's eyes flickered, obviously this dilemma made him undecided for a moment.
"Since you can't make a decision for the time being..."
"Bang!"
The pocket gun fired three shots in a row, and all the pocket bullets that flew out along the rifling hit the invisible position created by the Pope's staff.
Although Rodrigo failed to hurt him, the impact of the three bullets further weakened his control. Rodrigo staggered and almost lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Unlike the last time he was captured, the importance of the secret room to the Templars is by no means comparable to the intelligence of some Eden artifacts. Even the power-hungry Rodrigo did not dare to give up.
Seeing Rodrigo stand up again with a ruthless expression on his face, Lu Xiao understood his choice.
'Do you want to fight to the end...then don't blame me.'
Pulling out the Holy Sword of Eden brought back from France, Lu Xiao poured almost all of his magic power into it, and the surface of the Holy Sword began to glow with a hazy golden light.
Rodrigo looked at the weapon in Lu Xiao's hand in shock: "That's... the Holy Sword of Eden?!"
"That's right, your resistance ends here!"
"boom!"
As Lu Xiao raised the holy sword with both hands and struck down, under the faint echo of the sacred voice, a bright golden energy flow spanned the distance between the two people and hit hard on the invisible barrier created by the Pope's staff.
.
'Why does it look a bit like the light effect of excarlibur...although the sound is much weaker.'
"Dingling~"
There was a crisp cracking sound of substance, and the protection constructed by the Pope's staff was like paper, being torn apart by the light stream emitted by the Holy Sword without any hindrance.
Rodrigo also screamed and was blown away by the force of the earthquake, hitting the wall of the church with exquisite murals.
Based on the experience last time, Lu Xiao retained a small amount of magic power this time to ensure that she would not fall into a magic overdraft state.
Rodrigo, who hit his head against the wall, fainted without any surprise, and the papal staff also fell from his hand.
Walking to Rodrigo and picking up the staff, Lu Xiao embedded the golden apple into the circular hole on the top of the staff, and the two fit together perfectly.
Strange energy poured into Lu Xiao's body, seemingly stimulating his Isu bloodline to some extent.
"Ezio, Federico, let's go in together."
Waving to the Auditore brothers who were peeking out at the door of the church, Lu Xiao used eagle eye skills to find and activate the mechanism, then took the lead into the secret room beneath the Sistine Chapel.
"Let's end this as soon as possible and let us see with our own eyes what 'treasure' is in the secret room."