Ch#216
* * *
Noon.
Morien moved toward the newly built purification chamber with an anxious heart.
Walking down the white marble corridor, a sigh escaped his lips.
"......Haa."
Now that the Church's great name had spread across the continent.
No one could dare enter Serkanos Cathedral even with bribes.
Thus, for him to be recognized for his Holy Power at such a young age.
And to leave a good impression on one of the Cardinals during the recent prayer meeting.
Ultimately, to be ordained the youngest bishop and serve God at Serkanos Cathedral was something he should rejoice over.
"Y-Your Holiness......"
At the groan leaking from inside, Morien's hand froze on the door.
He swallowed hard and peered through the gap into the room.
Inside, he saw two colors in chillingly perfect contrast.
The dazzlingly white and pristine stone floor of the purification chamber.
And the black blood staining it.
"Yes, Omen."
The Pope, who had been making an unknown priest atone, opened his mouth.
"Your sins are so heinous and grave that even purification takes a long time."
As if already aware of Morien's arrival, the Pope turned toward the door.
Startled, Morien opened the door and hurriedly bowed his head.
As he approached Pope Luciano, the Pope smiled faintly.
"Quick."
Morien lowered his body and offered what he had brought to Luciano.
No sooner had Luciano taken the item than Morien quickly stepped back two paces.
Yet for some reason, the Pope did not order him to leave even after a long while.
Instead,
"Come to think of it, this is your first time, isn't it, Morien?"
"Pardon?"
"You've been in Serkanos Cathedral for a full year now. You've never seen me purify a fallen priest, have you?"
Morien shut his mouth.
His gaze naturally turned to the small vial in the Pope's hand.
What he had just personally fetched and delivered to the Pope was holy water called Angel's Tears.
'They call it holy water, but in truth......'
As Morien swallowed inwardly, the Pope uncorked the vial.
Holy water leaked from the vial and slowly floated in the air.
"Watch closely."
Golden Holy Power extended from the Pope's hand.
The droplets shattered with a faint popping sound, dividing into thousands of particles.
Like mist, they scattered over the back of the priest the Pope was purifying, who lay prostrated.
"Y-Your, Hol, kuhuk......"
As if the scattered holy water were deadly poison, the old priest lying face-down trembled violently.
One could guess his agony just from his clenched fists convulsing.
The Pope spoke in a gentle voice.
"When the proof of the covenant vanished. It was you, Omen, who claimed time had twisted."
The old priest lifted his pain-distorted face.
Morien flinched upon recognizing it.
Forgetting he should hold his tongue before the Pope, he blurted out in disbelief.
"N-Nordics, sir......?"
At those words, the faded eyes slowly turned toward Morien as well.
"Morien......?"
"Come to think of it, you two are acquaintances."
The Pope, still holding the holy water vial, murmured softly.
Morien looked back and forth between Nordics and the Pope in bewilderment.
"It was Omen who noticed your Holy Power while you were dying in the poorhouse and brought you to the Church, wasn't it?"
Past memories naturally filled Morien's mind.
The ruined poorhouse.
The director had fled, and he had barely survived his childhood eating rotten ingredients with the remaining children.
'From now on, this will be your home.'
There was one who had taken in every single such child without fail and let them rest at his residence.
Not content with that, his mentor had even arranged for Morien, who had manifested Holy Power, the chance to become a seminarian.
"H-How could Nordics, sir......"
But why was that mentor receiving 'purification' from the Pope at this moment?
"......A tragic and sorrowful matter."
The Pope said.
He continued with a genuinely pained expression.
"Morien. Omen may have once been your benefactor, but now he is a sinner who has betrayed God's will. No, perhaps he has been a sinner for a long time."
Morien's lips quivered as he faced the Pope.
"I didn't entrust him with much. Yet due to excessive incompetence, he couldn't even accomplish that."
As if he could endure no longer, Nordics' head dropped to the floor with a thud.
The Pope slowly knelt before him.
Then lifted Nordics' chin with one hand, meeting his gaze.
"Tell me once more. What was the task I gave you?"
Nordics' lips trembled.
A voice barely audible leaked from his mouth.
"To track the proof of the covenant...... the trace of the Black Dragon......"
"Yes. That Black Dragon is the ultimate heresy."
The Pope hardened his expression coldly.
"Even when its aura suddenly vanished, you spoke frankly to me."
"......"
"That all those phenomena suggested the activation of time magic. And I was outraged."
"......"
"That the heretic would audaciously activate time magic. That he would try to escape my grasp with such a shallow trick."
The Pope's eyes gleamed coldly.
"Then one day, the Black Dragon's aura was suddenly detected again. You said it had returned from another dimension."
The Pope's hand touching Nordics' chin glowed faintly.
Black liquid poured from Nordics' mouth once more.
Due to the pain, tears flowed endlessly from his wrinkled eyes.
"Behold this evil, Omen. Behold this incompetence."
Tsking at the liquid dripping to the floor, the Pope continued.
"I gave you chance after chance. Yet you failed to uncover even a single link between the Black Dragon and the Necromancer King. Didn't you say it yourself? That the two exuded similar auras."
"Y-Your Holiness......"
"That's not all. Even the plan to eliminate everyone related to him at the Clock Tower ended in failure. Because you couldn't do it properly."
"......"
"Thus, in the end, I had to make an unpleasant and unholy decision."
The Pope released Nordics' chin as if it were filthy.
"I had no choice but to lure them here."
Nordics collapsed straight to the floor.
The Pope, looking down at him, brushed his hand through the air.
"Seeing you now reminds me of the time I beheaded the archbishops."
Morien, who had been frozen, finally lifted his head in shock.
The incident where the World Tree was corrupted, and the six archbishops who served it were all beheaded.
It was something no priest could be ignorant of.
But at the same time, it was so long ago that it was now regarded like history.
"The reason I spared you alone out of the six archbishops was not forgiveness, Omen."
Morien stared at Nordics in disbelief.
His hair, white with age.
His emaciated body and the countless traces of aging covering his skin.
Even back when he had saved Morien, Nordics had never readily revealed his age.
'The reason was......'
"I believed you still had some use for God's sake. However."
The Pope clasped his hands neatly, still holding the holy water vial.
"Now I think otherwise. Perhaps you and I were wrong from the beginning."
The Pope lowered his gaze.
"You said the aura felt from the Necromancer King is not the Black Dragon's?"
Nordics, lying prostrate, shakily lifted his head.
He nodded with a somehow desperate expression.
"Y-Yes. Truly, the two have no connection......"
"Yes, according to you, he is merely the world's first dark-attribute mage. He merely exudes a similar atmosphere by coincidence, sharing the Underworld."
"Yes, certainly......"
"But whatever his essence. Whether he has utility or not."
The Pope slightly lifted his chin.
"Doesn't it all mean something only when he is under my control?"
Nordics shut his mouth.
The Pope turned his body before him.
"If I cannot control, I eliminate."
"Y-Your Holiness?"
"You kept saying to leave the Necromancer King alive, that using him was better than killing."
"......"
"I can no longer trust your judgment. Ominous buds should be cut from the beginning."
As the Pope walked, the purification chamber's door automatically swung wide open.
"No need to return to the Necromancer King. Stay here and watch. How my net will choke their breaths."
Bang-
The purification chamber's door closed.