Chapter 11 (Part 2)

Among the popes of the Holy Kingdom, not a single one possessed divine power, except for the first pope, Fidelion. Finally, the moment had come when a child with divine power could be born and become the pope… But everything went awry because of Anthus.

“The supreme god remains silent.”

With arms outstretched, Rybid began to chant a spell, and a book floated above his head.

The book’s pages started turning rapidly on their own. When Rybid raised his hand above his head, a bright vortex of light began to swirl.

Sensing something was wrong, Anthus hid Yuliana behind him.

“The noble does not see the silence of God as oppression. The generous God does not judge.”

Anthus was furious at the divine power Rybid was gathering. The divine power he was using was not meant for humans.

“Do you think you’ll be safe using divine power obtained by killing people?”

A terrible sense of discomfort and rage made his body tremble.

“The one who holds the cup of judgment has chosen it himself. If you want salvation instead of judgment, find the judge yourself.”

Anthus sent a sword aura to block Rybid’s spell. But the aura disappeared before reaching Rybid.

“I’d rather put maggots in my mouth than deal with this.”

“Duke Rockbellion, shut your mouth!”

Aens blocked Rybid and glared at Anthus.

“God shall remain silent. Astraphe!”

Rybid shouted as he looked at the divine power gathered above his head.

“It’s over now, Anthus Rockbellion!”

The sphere of divine power emitted a bright light, then cracked and began to shatter.

“Ugh.”

Black smoke began to seep out of Rybid’s body like a haze.

Rybid groaned. The black smoke swirled like a storm around him, growing larger.

The sky began to darken.

Yuliana looked up at the sky. The once-blue sky was losing its light and being covered in deep darkness.

The priests who approached Rybid to stop him vomited blood and withered as soon as they touched the black smoke emanating from his body. Seeing people die instantly, no one dared to approach Rybid.

“Ugh!”

Blood started flowing from Rybid’s mouth. The blood didn’t stop and kept flowing.

“Ugh.”

“Your Holiness!”

The blood Rybid vomited stained the ground.

It was strange. He had chanted and shouted the spell just like the first pope, Fidelion, had shown in the book. 

But… why! Why did it seem like the spell failed? Why did blood keep gushing out every time I coughed? 

Rybid clutched his left chest in pain, gasping.

“My divine power…”

Even when Rybid covered his mouth, black blood seeped through his fingers. After vomiting a large amount of blood, Rybid met Yuliana’s gaze.

“Lia… Don’t look at me like that…”

The more Rybid reached out to Yuliana, the more she hid behind Anthus, looking at him with disgust. He realized something was wrong.

“Don’t look at me like that!”

* * *

Rybid knew well that women always looked at him with eyes full of affection and obedience.

Women were meant to please him. Nothing more, nothing less. He thought he could express his emotions as he pleased. He believed Yuliana wouldn’t be much different from other women.

But perhaps because of her lover, Anthus, she firmly rejected him. It made him feel bad. Normally, he wouldn’t have had any interest in a woman who pushed him away, but she was the daughter of Saint Rosaline and a spirit mage. He needed her blood.

With Ophelia’s help, he managed to bring her to the Holy Kingdom by force. Although the filthy seed of Rockbellion had settled in her belly, the child’s divine power was unmistakably felt even before birth.

A child with divine power, which he could never have, no matter how hard he tried. He moved quickly to make the child the next pope. But…

“Anthus Rockbellion breached the wall alone and is massacring the Holy Knights!”

“The Sirius Empire has declared war!”

Rybid scoffed. Declaring war when divine punishment might befall them, both Cloud, who approved it, and Anthus, who invaded, were clearly out of their minds. But he knew well that it was insufficient to stop the Sword Master’s solo charge.

“Your Holiness, your partner…”

“Be quiet. I know!”

He didn’t know how Yuliana broke the magic restraint, but to get out of this situation, he had no choice but to use the last resort.

“Do whatever it takes to hold off Rockbellion until I gain God’s power.”

“Understood, Your Holiness!”

The priests nodded at Rybid’s words and went outside.

“Aens, we have many sacrifices left. I will gather all their divine power and use the Astraphe divine spell.”

“The Astraphe divine spell… There’s only one pope who used that spell.”

“I know. There was only Fidelion, the first pope. But the only way to kill Anthus is with the Astraphe spell.”

The divine spell that defeated the Demon King. There’s no way a human like Anthus could block Astraphe.

“The Astraphe spell is too dangerous. If something happens to you, Your Holiness… the Holy Kingdom will be finished.”

“I know that well. But in this situation, either Rockbellion dies, or I die. One of us must die.”

A smile appeared on Rybid’s calm face.

“If you don’t take a step forward, nothing will change. If you retreat, you’ll be stabbed in the back by the sword aimed at you. Even if the next step is a cliff, I will move forward.”

Aens also knew. There was no more room to retreat.

Either the Holy Kingdom falls into Anthus’s hands, or Rybid accepts the power and destroys Anthus and the Sirius Empire. It was one of the two.

“Understood. No matter what happens, I will protect you, Your Holiness.”

Rybid entered the secret room of the Papal Palace with Aens. There were nine iron cages for imprisoning beasts, and an altar in the center. Inside the cages, unfocused people stood with no room to move.

Aens took people out of the cages one by one, placed them on the altar, and slit their throats with a knife. The gushing blood began to overflow on the altar. Aens stacked the dead bodies on one side of the floor.

“It’s not enough.”

Rybid tasted the blood on his finger from the altar and spoke disappointingly. He then touched the alchemical formation on the altar.

With a bright light, the blood on the altar was absorbed into the magic circle. As the light faded, it transformed into a small orb that could be held in one hand.

Rybid, as if familiar with it, swallowed the orb that formed on the altar in one gulp.

“The taste is not great.”

Aens continued to take people out of the cages and place them on the altar, repeating the action.

“You’ve consumed more than usual. How do you feel?”

“Put all the sacrifices here on the altar. It might still be insufficient to use the Astraphe divine spell.”

“Understood.”

Aens killed all the people in the cages on the altar, and Rybid absorbed their power.

“I should have consumed like this regularly. I feel a different power than before.”

“That’s fortunate.”

“Then let’s go to where the book containing Astraphe is.”

Rybid headed to the deepest part of the Papal Palace with Aens.

The Astraphe divine spell is the power of the god Agathaine, used by Fidelion, the first pope, to defeat the Demon King.

As he established the Holy Kingdom, Fidelion had the book containing the Astraphe spell stored deep within the Papal Palace.

“We’ve arrived, Your Holiness.”

Standing in front of the room storing the book with the Astraphe spell, Rybid’s heart raced at the thought of using the powerful divine spell that could even destroy the Demon King.

The other name for the Astraphe divine spell is ‘God’s Wrath.’ No matter how skilled a Sword Master, they cannot withstand God’s Wrath.

“Astraphe… said not to be used by those who cannot bear God’s Wrath. It’s a forbidden spell… Those who touch the forbidden are said to incur debts.”

Aens, watching Rybid, nodded. The heavy door of the underground opened, and the dark underground lit up brightly, changing the view.

In the middle of the empty space the size of a training ground, a single book floated in the air.

Rybid approached the floating book and reached out. The book fell directly into Rybid’s hand.

“Finally…”

Rybid opened the book. From the first page to the last, there were no writings.

At that moment, someone’s memories began to flow into his mind.

Rybid staggered, clutching his head with both hands.

“Ugh.”

“Your Holiness!”

<Demon King! This is the end! Elisha!>

<I’ve been waiting… for that spell… give it to me.>

“Demon… King…”

Another memory flowed into Rybid’s mind. He saw a man with black hair and golden eyes, holding a dead woman in his arms, weeping. The man looked very much like him.

<Oh god Agathaine! Please don’t take her away!>

The man stopped crying and began to chant a spell. Rybid clearly heard the spell he spoke.

<Astraphe.>

Rybid dropped the book, returning to reality.

“What is this…”

“Your Holiness, are you alright?”

Aens picked up the book Rybid had dropped and glanced inside. There was no writing.

“That book has no writing. You wouldn’t understand even if you saw it.”

“If there’s no spell written… how on earth…”

“No, I just learned the spell.”

“What do you mean?”

Rybid was sure the man he saw when he opened the book was Fidelion. Only the first pope had used the Astraphe spell.

“There was a reason past popes couldn’t use this book.”

“Because there was no spell written in it.”

“Yes. The Astraphe spell could only be used by the chosen one.”

Rybid gripped the book tightly.

With such confidence, he stepped out of the Papal Palace and stood before Yuliana and Anthus.

If he could destroy Anthus and the Sirius Empire simultaneously with the Astraphe divine spell, other empires would realize, ‘Indeed, those who touch the Holy Kingdom receive divine punishment,’ and fearful people would gather as believers in the Holy Kingdom.