Tyranny of Steel

Deep within the halls of the Vatican, Pope Julius was sitting upon his papal throne. As he did so, he held his head within his hands. The man was so thoroughly enraged that he felt like he was about to suffer an aneurysm. The war between the Holy Roman Empire and the newfound Kingdom of Austria had turned into an enormous disaster.

To calm his nerves, Julius breathed in and exhaled a few times; as he did so, he made a snarky comment about his current condition.

"So this is how Valentinian felt right before he died?"

This was a reference to the ancient Roman Emperor who had gotten so irritated that he suffered a stroke and thus quite literally died of anger. No matter how much the Pope tried to calm his nerves, he could not help but think of the setbacks that the Church was currently facing due to Berengar's rapid rise to power.

The Italians were swiftly being pushed back to Florence, which was the seat of Imperial Power, and the Swiss Confederation had surrendered, becoming annexed by the Austrians in the process. Due to this fact, between ten and twenty thousand Austrians would be heading to the Italian theater of war to crush the Italian Army thoroughly.

The pillar of Papal military power was the might that the Holy Roman Empire possessed. Only now did the Pope realize the mistakes that he had made when the Hussite Wars broke out. He should have sent the Catholic Armies into Austria the moment he was able to do so and route out the avatar of Satan that was King Berengar von Kufstein.

King? What gave him the right to call himself that the Pope did not crown him, and as such, Julius did not recognize the legitimacy of Berengar's newfound title. Regardless of this alleged illegitimacy, Julius could not deny that Berengar had truly outplayed him.

Berengar had done the unthinkable and used his neighbors and allies as a proxy to hamper the Catholic Kingdoms and their military might. In doing so, he had pretended to be at peace but instead was preparing an Army the likes the world had never seen before.

Not just an Army, but a powerful enough Navy to challenge the Holy Roman Empire and its vassal states on the Mediterranean. Before the Italians could even respond to Berengar's Navy, the demon had sent his Armada to eradicate the majority of their fleet. This attack was launched without warning as the vessels were docked in their two most important port cities, crippling the massive fleet they had built up in preparation for the war.

All of these things made the Vicar of Christ, of all people, question his faith in the Lord God almighty. Was Berengar not the serpent in the flesh? Was he actually an envoy of God's will sent to deliver Christendom from the corruption that had consumed the Roman Catholic Church?

If not, then how could Berengar triumph against his enemies over and over again without suffering? Such thoughts plagued the mind of the new Pope, who had to inherit the mess his predecessor created.

"Damn you, Simeon! Damn you to the depths of hell! What kind of monster have you provoked against our faith!"

Julius could not help but curse the previous Pope who was forced to vacate his position after the disaster he had caused in the German Realm. While the Germans slaughtered one another for a meaningless title, Bohemia was in an even worse state.

With each passing day, the Hussites gained further ground within Bohemia. Somehow, recently captured Hussite arms had made their way into the hands of murderers and thieves, causing the Bohemian people to lose faith in their King.

"Radek, what the hell are you doing!?! King of Bohemia, and yet you can't prevent your soldiers from selling captured rebel arms to a bunch of brigands! Bah, you don't deserve your title."

Despite being alone, Julius could not prevent himself from venting his frustrations in the darkness surrounding him. If one were to enter the chambers, they would see a lonely old Pope sitting on his throne in the dark, cursing at people who were hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

If there was one good thing that had happened during this time, it was the fact that the Emirate of Granada had recently been suffering setbacks in their war with the Iberian Union, that, and the fact that various designs of the so-called Arkebuse and Musket had been captured by the Papacy's allies, and thus brought to them for reverse-engineering.

Indeed God was testing his patience, but it would all be worth it when they finally managed to figure out how Berengar's weapons worked. Once they did, they could gather together a grand army of Crusaders the likes the world had never seen before and march on Austria with the weapons that Berengar had created.

It was not just matchlocks and flintlocks that the Church had acquired, but Falconets too. Compared to Berengar's defenses, such cannons were severely obsolete; it did not change the fact that they finally had access to more sophisticated artillery. Maybe they could even produce a gun based upon the one-pounder falconet that was scaled up in size?

Undoubtedly Berengar had received the visions of such designs from Satan himself! Despite the demonic origins of these devices, the Church had no choice but to employ them against their greatest enemy, for if they continued to attack Austria in the same manner that they had been conducting warfare, there was only one outcome; utter defeat!

Like it or not, Berengar was right when he said the era of Knights and Chivalry had come to an end. If only they could get their hands on one of Berengar's vessels, maybe they could figure out how such things functioned and then be able to reproduce it. Unfortunately, such an outcome was unlikely to occur.

As the Pope was dwelling upon such possibilities, a Cardinal entered the great hall, where he immediately approached Julius with a letter in his hand.

"Your holiness, we have received word from the Patriarch of Constantinople!"

When Julius heard this, he looked up from the ground where he had been staring at and into the eyes of the Cardinal. As he did so, he scoffed before insulting his equal to the East.

"So that coward finally responds to our demands! It took him long enough; tell me what exactly is the response that Petrus has given us?"

The Cardinal shifted his feet in anxiety while gazing down at the stone floor; after a few moments of silence, Julius raised his voice before giving him a command.

"Speak!"

Upon hearing the anger in the Pope's voice, the Cardinal instantly blurted out the words contained in the letter.

"The Patriarch of Constantinople has declared that the Orthodox Church will not be sending us aid in our efforts to crush the Berengar Heresy and has openly declared the so-called German Reformation as a legitimate branch of Christianity. By decree of Emperor Vetranis, the Byzantine Empire expresses support for the Kingdom of Austria and recognizes its legitimacy..."

The moment the Holy Father heard this, he felt as if his brain were about to explode; he stood there in silence for a few moments as his face twitched with wrath. Never in a million years did he think that his allies in the east would stab him in the back like this. After well over a minute had passed, the Pope broke out into a fit of rage as he cursed the Patriarch of Constantinople.

"Excommunicated! That damn bastard and the entire Orthodox Church is henceforth excommunicated and damned to the depths of hell for all eternity! Fucking Apostates! If you side with Heretics, then you shall be treated as such!"

The Cardinal was surprised by this response, and he quite honestly felt it was unjustifiable. However, he held his tongue. Knowing the stress that the Pope had been going through with the difficulties the Church was facing at the moment was enough to convince the Cardinal from invoking the Holy Father's ire any further. As such, he bowed his head and responded obediently to the Vicar of Christ

"I will prepare a public announcement. If you are going through with this, then a schism between our two Churches is unavoidable. I hope you have thought this through..."

With this said, the Cardinal swiftly left the room fearing retaliation for his words, leaving the Pope Alone in the dark, who once more sat upon his throne. After the Cardinal had left and silence prevailed within the Great Hall of the Vatican, the Pope began to grind his teeth before cursing once more.

"Berengar von Kufstein, if you had known your place and submitted to the Church, you may have been spared, however for what you have done and what you will do, you can never be forgiven. Even if it is the death of me, I will bring you to your knees and restore the authority of the Vatican over Christendom!"