There was a voice in my mind. The voice was vague and distorted, with a slight familiarity, but it was difficult to distinguish from the memory.
[No matter who is alive today, he must be driven by some kind of force that keeps him moving forward. So you, who calls yourself Seny Lothair, what exactly is driving you? 】
Questions echoed.
[Think carefully, is it the anger of the Holy Night?
Yes, the loyal demon hunters were betrayed like this, and everyone disappeared in the raging fire that night. Only you are left alive, and it continues to this day.
What you want is the truth, right?
So you have obtained the truth, what are you driven by now?】
The voice gradually became clearer and filled with evil magic. The new pope seemed to remember who the voice belonged to, but he closed his eyes tightly and did not speak or move.
The new pope was as usual, kneeling on the edge of the Well of Sublimation, with several sharp nail swords lying beside him, emitting an icy cold light.
In front of him was a dark well, and the darkness in it seemed to have a physical form, like burnt rotten wood, constantly exuding pitch-black, particle-like smoke.
They are like mist, rising continuously. Marked by the murals on the well wall, you can clearly see that the darkness has risen a lot. It seems that after a while, they will completely overflow the well mouth and spread to this sacred land.
above.
"Shut up."
He spoke, his voice hoarse.
The fire on the night of Advent left him completely unrecognizable, and his voice had already become distorted, like a broken blower, with a sharp hoarseness in his voice.
But the voice in my head sounded a burst of ridicule anyway, and it questioned.
[Is this really so? I think you are also very confused. What are you fighting for now? 】
The voice seemed to pass through the virtual and the real, and was transmitted into reality. In the mind of the new pope, the voice outlined a familiar face.
The new pope knew who the voice belonged to.
The evil ghost surrounding him in the nightmare finally revealed his original hideous and terrifying face.
It's him.
It was Seine Lothair's voice, the voice before he was infected by the fire.
When he opened his eyes, a familiar face appeared in front of him, just like facing a mirror.
The new pope was absent-minded for a while, and then he accepted all this helplessly and smiled bitterly.
"Has it been so long?"
He shook his head, stretched out his hand, and touched the cold mask on his face.
"It's been so long that I've forgotten what I really looked like."
He took off the mask forcefully, revealing the face covered with scars and burns that looked like an evil ghost. Looking at himself in the mirror, under that "normal person" face, the new pope at this moment looked like a real devil.
"So why are you moving forward now?"
Another person came closer, and this time the sound came directly from his ears, transcending the limitations of reality and reality.
"For...what?"
The new pope grabbed the mask in his hand. The metallic luster reflected his face, but because of the bulges and curvatures on it, his face was distorted.
"Yeah, for what? If you don't even have a reason, why are you still staying here?"
It stretched out its hand and gently put it on the new pope's shoulder, looking friendly.
"Why don't you leave?"
"leave?"
The new pope looked at his former self, and then at the almost broken stasis temple.
"Where can I go after leaving here?"
"It doesn't matter anywhere. You can live another life and start a brand new life."
It seduces.
"Don't you long for it? You could have lived a normal life, but you were trapped in this sinful land by the secret blood of this curse. You have been pious all your life, and all you have served is endless hypocrisy.
There is no God, no salvation, and there is no so-called kingdom of heaven.
If you die, you will die. Isn't it rare that you are not heartbroken by such coldness and cruelty?"
It stretched out its hand, hugged the new pope's hideous face, and gently rubbed the scars.
"You can completely become someone else, a painter, a writer, a navigator... If there is no secret blood, you should have more and more choices in your life... How many beautiful things have you missed? Don't you think so?"
Don’t you regret this?”
"regret."
The new pope's eyes were trembling. In fact, as it said, the new pope had missed too many things. He had not even had much rest in his fighting life.
Looking up at this gloomy scene, the new pope couldn't even remember the last time he left here.
I don’t know when everything has turned into this...
His body began to tremble slightly.
yes.
How long has it been since I saw that pure blue sky?
"Look, you don't care about the so-called religious order, nor the so-called church. This honor that lasts for thousands of years is worthless to you...then there is always something more expensive in your heart, right?
Why don't you think about it for yourself? Just for yourself, get out of here."
Leave...leave, leave!
The new pope's eyes dropped, and then he let out bursts of hoarse laughter, which was like a crazy monster. At this time, it also smiled with satisfaction, as if it was happy for the success of its seduction, and it seemed that
He is really blessing the new pope.
"for what……"
The new pope whispered, then raised his head, and what came into view were a pair of blazing white eyes.
"What does a monster like you know?"
Its smile froze at this moment, and then broke.
Sharp white light passed by, and the new pope swung his nail sword to cut through the hypocrisy in front of him. The wound split along the familiar face, but what came out of it was not blood, but a deep darkness, and the broken ones were not.
Flesh and blood, but sharp fragments like glass.
"Seni Lothair!"
It let out a distorted scream, and at the same time, the mortal body began to collapse, revealing the originally ferocious and decayed body underneath.
It was a scarlet and blurry figure. It was wearing clothes similar to those of a demon hunter, but the clothes had been soaked in blood for who knows how many years and had begun to decay and break. If the new pope hadn't been familiar with all this, even he would have
It's somewhat difficult to identify the clothing.
The head was shriveled, the sunken eye sockets were burning with the same blazing whiteness as the new pope, and the same blood was rushing through the torso.
"Dead people! Sleep in peace!"
The new pope roared angrily, swung his nail sword and slashed open its chest ferociously. Among the chopped flesh, one could easily see the silvery color hidden under the flesh.
It seemed like metal armor embedded between the bones, but as the flesh and blood revived, the silver-white armor continued to burn red and collapse.
What overflowed from the wounds opened by the new pope was not only blood, but also silver-white metal and molten holy silver.
He suddenly raised his foot and kicked the wound hard, kicking the struggling soul-resurrected corpse into the dark well again.
But it was not content with this, and laughter rang out again under its twisted and terrifying face. It stretched out its hand and grabbed the sharp nail sword. Even if it cut its palm, it refused to let go. It pulled the new pope hard, trying to
Drag him together into the deep well.
"Let's step into sublimation together!"
It extends an invitation.
The new pope twisted the sword and easily cut its palm into several pieces. But at this time, his body was pulled forward and half of his body was in the air, almost falling into the deep well.
Then the new pope saw it.
In the rolling black mist, something seemed to be crawling, as if thousands of dead souls were trying to crawl out of the abyss.
The next moment, chaotic hallucinations came into his eyes, distorting his mind and affecting his judgment.
This is its power, the power of hallucination. It has been trying to use hallucinations to interfere with the new pope, but at the last moment, it failed.
"Why don't you want to die?"
The new pope cursed, broke away from the illusion again, threw the nail sword in his hand, and penetrated its throat. The force was so great that the nail sword and the corpse hit the wall of the well and fell into the darkness below.
It was swallowed up by darkness first, and then came the new pope. He stretched out his hand and tried to grasp the relief on the well wall, but the new pope had gone deep into the well of sublimation many times before, and he was very aware of the smoothness of the well wall.
"damn it."
He blamed himself. Logically speaking, given his ability, he would never be in such an embarrassing situation.
The new pope has become weaker. Is it because of the pressure underground, or because he can no longer resist the influence of erosion? He can't figure it out, and he doesn't have time to figure it out. He can only stretch out his hand with all his strength and try to grab something, no matter what.
good.
At the critical moment, the other hand swooped over, like a high-five, and grabbed the new pope hard.
"Don't let go!"
Antony grabbed the edge of the deep well with one hand, and grabbed the new pope who almost fell into the darkness with the other hand, and then pulled hard and dragged him up to the mouth of the well.
The two of them rolled onto the ground, feeling the gravity and flatness beneath them, and couldn't help but let out a long breath.
There seems to be an endless abyss below the Well of Sublimation, and there is no echo of the falling sound.
The new pope struggled to his feet, holding his sword and looking fearfully at the abyss below.
Cold sweat flowed and soaked through his clothes. He gripped the blade of the sword tightly, confirming the existence of matter and ensuring that he was out of the illusion and returned to reality again.
"what happened?"
Anthony came and asked, he didn't know what happened.
"Another monster has climbed up from the well," the new pope said.
"A demon?"
The new pope shook his head and said seriously.
"It's far more troublesome than that thing."
"What?"
"Witchers, dead witchers."
Since the restlessness of the Well of Ascension, first there were nightmares that kept invading, and then there were the evil spirits crawling out of the well, but these evil spirits were just ordinary monsters. Until today, when the new pope saw the corpse of the demon hunter,
Driven corpse.
Few people know that the Well of Ascension is the real cemetery of demon hunters. All dead demon hunters whose bodies can be recovered will be placed in this deep well.
The new pope once thought that this was just some unknown ritual, but now it seems that this is to ensure that the secret blood will stay in the well forever and reduce the possibility of spreading.
But no one expected that these corpses that were supposed to be dead would move again and carry forbidden power.
How many corpses of witchers are there under this deep well?
The new pope did not dare to continue thinking about it. There were not only strange enemies under this deep well, but also an army buried in the tomb.
"Hunter...demon?"
Hearing this, Anthony's expression froze and he felt great pressure, but it was more than just troublesome.
Suddenly, that taboo word came to mind again.
Advent night.
While thinking, more friction sounds sounded, like sharp nails rubbing against metal, leaving tiny scratches on it and making a sharp sound.
The darkness under the deep well became restless, and the new pope saw moving blurry figures in the spreading black mist, as if countless worms were crawling towards the well.
"What's wrong!"
Perhaps due to psychological pressure, Anthony looked a little nervous, but he was grabbed by the new pope, and his ferocious face came into view.
"Calm down, Anthony, and listen to me."
The new pope looked Antony straight in the eyes and forced him to listen.
"Listen to me, now, leave the Stasis Temple immediately, seal this place, seal the entire Saint-Naro Cathedral, seal the entire Seven Hills!"
The voice was like thunder, splitting the evil in Anthony's heart. He calmed down and nodded.
"Yes, we must completely seal this place. We must guard the gate of heaven no matter what, and never allow any demon to escape from here. We must guard it until reinforcements arrive."
"Reinforcements? Do we have reinforcements?"
Anthony didn't know why, and the new pope's eyes dimmed slightly, but soon became bright again. He seemed to be talking to Anthony, but also to himself.
"They will come, they will."
He grabbed another nail sword and pushed Anthony hard.
"Come on! Anthony!"
the new pope urged, recalling the Advent night buried deep in his memory.
"First there is the nightmare from underground, and then there is the spreading erosion. More and more people in the city will turn into monsters! We must guard the Seven Hills no matter what!"
Anthony was pushed forward and took a few steps forward. He soon thought of something, looked at the new pope who was walking towards the well with a sword, and shouted.
"And you!"
"I? Someone needs to be here to hold them back."
The new pope didn't look back and kept moving forward.
"Don't worry, this is something I should have done a long time ago."
The sword blade rubbed against the ground, making the same sharp sound as in the well. The new pope was filled with rage and felt as if he had returned to that night again.
"In the final analysis, I'm just a corpse with a restored soul. I should have died that night a long time ago. Now I'm just recalibrating everything!"
Anger was overflowing, almost bursting blood vessels and bursting out.
Anthony was frightened and hesitant. Looking at the departing figure, he suddenly realized that this might be the last time he saw the new pope. Somehow, he asked loudly.
"Wait a minute! Your Majesty! What exactly is the so-called faith?"
This is a question that Anthony has been chasing for a long time. He hopes to get the answer from the new pope, but now he is about to leave. This is his last chance to ask for it.
The turbulent black mist spread up to the wellhead and continued to overflow from the well. In the blink of an eye, the gray smoke covered the figure of the new pope, and there was no sound anymore.
"Sorry, I don't know either!"
Suddenly there was a sound of thunder, and then the sword blade stirred up wind pressure, easily cutting through the overflowing fog and driving them away. The murderous figure once again came into Anthony's eyes.
He arched his body and held his sword like a silver wolf. He turned his head, but Anthony could not see the Pope's face clearly.
"But I think you already have the answer."
The new pope seemed to be waving goodbye to him, but also seemed to be waving a sword. An evil wail sounded in the black mist. Anthony gritted his teeth, moved his lead-filled legs, and ran away towards the end of the darkness.
Watching Anthony leave, the new pope turned to look at the black well in the black mist. One after another, white and sharp palms stretched out from the edge, crawled out of the well, and stood in front of the new pope.
Looking at the demon hunters of the past generations, there is restless darkness hidden under the decaying corpses.
Thinking of the outcome of all this, the new pope inevitably felt a sadness in his heart, but soon, this sadness was replaced by anger.
"Everyone, I am the Pope, you should kneel down and worship me!"
Seine Lothair smiled wildly, raised his nail sword, pulled out a silver arc of light in the air, and leapt towards him.
The high-pitched sword cry was accompanied by the ferocious sound of tearing flesh and blood, as if demons were fighting here until death.