I Became The Pope, Now What?

Sylvester, as always, remained confused even after hearing Solis' reply. "What do you mean 'my plan'? You were my reinsman!"

There was indifference and warning in Solis' tone, "Then continue to follow the path you've been put on. The rest… you will be made aware."

"Amusing," Aveda interjected right then. "What are you two planning?"

Sylvester gritted his teeth and focused on Ashraska. Hitting him was like slamming his head on a rock wall. It was only hurting himself and gave Ashraska a chance to reply with stronger attacks.

"Hah! It seems your 'god' isn't willing to help." Ashraska bellowed with a mocking laugh and launched at Sylvester.

'Not again.' Sylvester tried to dodge the incoming claws that could rip him apart.

Woosh!

Too late once again.

An entire chunk of the right side of Sylvester's chest, right below his shoulder, blew apart. Blood flowed in drops and sprays, and chunks of his flesh exploded into the distance. Once again forced to regenerate and ponder what to do.

"You asked for this rough lesson," Ashraska mocked and turned around, flying at a speed unseen by Sylvester. "I will slice you slowly and force you to consume every bit of your energy until nothing is left."

Boom!

The third eye on Ashraska's forehead opened, and a black beam of energy came out, covering Sylvester entirely. The beam went unnoticed since the realm they were in was of a similar color.

"Burn in the true fire!"

Sylvester tried to move away, but he found himself locked. However, he noticed something highly peculiar. This was pure energy from Ashraska—unfiltered and unrestricted. Yet, he felt no harm to himself other than his remaining energy depleting at a rapid pace.

'This fire can't harm me?' He asked himself, and tried to feel the black energy around him, 'It's so dense and violent. So… savage. As if he's fighting by instinct.'

"What?!" Ashraska was shocked by Sylvester's unchanged appearance. "Immune to fire?"

Sylvester had something else in mind, however. He started moving as fast as he could, unrestricted in the endless space. He tried to gain as much speed as possible, and at the same time, began to chant a hymn to sew as much confusion as possible.

His tried and trusted, Wrath of Heaven beam of light, also started to form in his palms, protruding out as he flew.

♫In the shadow of giants, I stand,

Your fall shall be a tale across the land.

Though your might seem grand and swell,

In every heart, only defiance dwells.

No fortress too strong, no magic spell,

If there is any, I shall take you to hell.♫

Soundless, frictionless, Sylvester flew towards Ashraska while spending his own energy at a pace that scared him. A magnificent, massive halo formed behind his head, illuminating the space that still looked dark from its vastness.

"Ha!" Sylvester roared as loud as he could and pushed forward one of his palms. A huge, white beam of plasma erupted from his hand and launched toward Ashraska while he himself continued to move closer.

"Mere antics…" Ashraksa didn't bother moving and faced the beam head-on.

Boom!

The beam of light didn't do anything.

But Sylvester didn't stop. His other hand raised forward towards Ashraska. Equipped with a long, thick blade made of hardened light, aided by his rapidly increased and peaked speed in flying.

Crack!

He slammed onto Ashraksa's chest with a boom; The hardened blade of light also revealed cracks. However, with Ashraska preoccupied by the beam of light from before, Sylvester found the moments of opportunity and pushed on.

Crack!

'No, no! Don't break!' Sylvester grunted and gave it his all, depleting almost half of his strength that was preserved for so long.

"Hah, you thought this would be eff—"

It was. Sylvester noticed an inch of his blade thrusting into Ashraska's chest. It took everything he had to offer, and that was all he could achieve—he felt excited. But now was not the time to cheer as Ashraska grabbed his neck again and, this time snapped it.

'It fucking hurts!' Sylvester groaned and fixed his neck by cracking it back into place. 'But I can't repeat this too many times. I'm already at half of my strength.'

Sylvester looked at Ashraska. His chest was slowly healing. Much slower than what Sylvester had expected. A sign there was more to Ashraska's mortal body than what meets the eye. The rate of energy replenishment wasn't high.

'The mightier they are, the harder they fall.'

"So you don't bleed," Sylvester muttered, gathering himself to send out a stronger attack this time. 'If I can wound him faster than he can heal himself, will that do something?'

Even then, he felt somewhat less motivated since half of the entire space they were in belonged to Ashraska and his might. Was destroying a mere body even the end of him? Was his own sacrifice enough to bring an end? He still had Aveda to deal with, after all.

'Here~'

Sylvester looked at the back of his shoulder on the right. A strange hissing voice brushed past his ears. 'Am I imagining things?'

'Closer~'

The voice came again. He looked around, and although he could feel Solis' presence, he knew it wasn't him speaking.

Not finding anything, he again began moving, flying away from Ashraska and then making a turn to spearhead toward him once again. His speed increased this time, with his feet helping him with propulsion, a variation of his Piercing Hell move, just without a spear. The halo behind his head returned.

'Argh… I'm losing myself too fast.' He groaned silently, every passing moment a big chunk of his cosmic powers depleting. 'I need a good strike.'

♫I'll strike once; I'll strike twice, no matter the cost,

Only in the name of God, of vileness, limits crossed.

Generations and civilizations await for your demise,

Cutting through your lies, a new dawn longs to arise.♫

He gained the momentum he needed, and Ashraska didn't seem to react. Still drunk in his pride and arrogance. He remained in place and prepared himself to face Sylvester again.

"Shut your pathetic singing! There is no god above me; there is none beyond here."

Sylvester didn't react to the provocation and focused the sword he had made over his aiming arm, sharp and big, sweltering white and reinforced with multiple layers of creation magic to rebuild over time.

It was a dark void, yet Sylvester formed a strange shape around his body like a cone of vapor. But in this case, it was a literal tear through the very space that Ashraska and Aveda ruled over.

"Haaa…!" It contained Sylvester's best. If this strike didn't do enough damage, nothing could. It was the end.

'Come here~'

Sylvester's attention was suddenly diverted, and his trajectory shifted. 'This voice… I know this voice.'

"Running away?" Ashraska bellowed and moved, instantly gaining as much speed as Sylvester and chasing him.

Sylvester didn't bother with that and moved towards the whispering voice.

'This way~'

'Closer~'

'Cut him off~'

The more that voice spoke the closer and clearer it felt. Sylvester didn't know what it was, but any hope was better than no hope. So his frantic rush continued even when Ashraska was already behind him and clawed at his back.

'What am I doing?' Sylvester questioned himself midway, 'If I do this, I won't have enough to strike him. I… I'll die.'

'Take care of my people~'

'Absorb me~'

What it was, he cared not, already feeling desperate as if death crept closer. He tried to absorb the energy like he had absorbed Nehilius long ago.

Clash!

"How?!"

Sylvester abruptly turned around and blocked Ashraska's strike with his Light Sword. Shocked and enraged, Ashraska couldn't believe Sylvester did that.

'This surge of energy in me… so much more...' Sylvester himself felt shocked. Not long ago, feeling hopeless and on the verge of losing, and now this. 'What did I absorb?'

Not for long, sadly, as the Light Sword began to crack against the pressure. He tried to swing the blade in a parrying move and make some distance while aiming for Ashraska's head.

Woosh!

Ashraska didn't dodge, a big mistake. He felt it, the edge of Sylvester's shining, sweltering blade shaving against his corporeal throat. There was a deep black cut, seeping out tar that was his blood.

'I grew stronger?' Sylvester looked at his own hands in confused wonder.

Ashraska didn't jump at Sylvester anymore, "Hiding your true strength? Mere tricks won't end me. You may destroy this body, but I can make countless more. While you have all but finite chances."

Sylvester dared not speak and focused on creating some space between them.

'Human, follow this voice~'

Sylvester's head turned again towards his left, 'Another one?'

He wasted no time and chased after the voice. This time he found Ashraska maintaining distance, his behavior very erratic even for the 'God' to understand. Despite his omniscience, Ashraska couldn't look into the future since, in that realm, there was no time, a void beyond its measure.

'Give respect to my kind~'

What did that mean, Sylvester wondered.

'Cut him off~'

Woosh!

Once again, he felt as if he had walked through an immense cloud of pure cosmic energy on the scale of a thousand Nehilius'. He didn't waste a moment to absorb it all. It was all he could take as Ashraska and Aveda's cosmic energies were too risky to meddle with.

'Cutting him off?' Sylvester turned around right after absorbing it all and, this time gained faster speed. Slicing through the space itself, he seemingly teleported—faster than ever heading towards his target.

Boom!

"What is the depth of your secrets?" Ashraska ragingly interrogated, his chest now with a gaping hole like the one he made on Sylvester before.

'How?' Sylvester himself remained in shock. His speed was so fast that he found it hard to maneuver and stop. Not even realizing it when his blade broke through the tough skin of Ashraska and went beyond it.

♫Such is mortality, short lifespans, yet so much achieved,

Own blessings created; miracles themselves conceived.

O' mighty 'God', for so long you had the innocent deceived,

Pity—As your end draws near, you will not be grieved.♫

Sylvester sang, this time the words coming out on their own. The halo behind his head surged on its own, bigger and brighter than before, his hair fluttering with smooth movements. His eyes glowed crimson as realization dawned—yes, he could fight them, even if to them, reality belonged.

Frustrations triumphed, visible from the creasing nose on Ashraska's face. The twin horns on his forehead began forming a small black orb that was invisible, but no longer absent from Sylvester's reforged senses.

"Stop… that… singing!" Ashraska boomed and launched a bombardment, a first sign of his superior magic. The orbs came out rapidly, thousands in every blink of an eye, all aiming towards Sylvester.

However, Sylvester could see them, calculate their trajectory, and doge them while flying towards the demonic body. "The hymns saved me when I was born. To never forget them, I am sworn."

'Cut him off.'

'Here.'

Sylvester had a different aim in dodging the attacks from Ashraska despite it becoming hard. He chased the voices that made him stronger with each passing moment. He chased them even when the black orbs brushed past him, each time hurting less and less.

'As expected, his experience in physical battle is nil.' Sylvester realized the difference between strategy and planned movements. 'But how to end this?'

"Running will not help you live!" Ashraska bellowed, "Worry not, I shall leave a speck of your life as a witness when I rip apart your world—your so-called emotional support. Your beloved—"

"Enough!" Sylvester charged at him, the voices now coming from Ashraska's direction itself. Almost two dozen times he had gone through that invisible cluster of energies already, and he considered this to be the last one if his guess was right.

Bam!

"What?!"

Sylvester, once again leaving Ashraska in shock, slapped away one of the black orbs coming his way. Once, twice—he did that with each one of them.

Something was wrong, and Ashraska could feel it. Sylvester was different from a few moments ago. Too much advancement in might, too fast.

"Cat got your tongue?" Sylvester moved as if he teleported, appearing right in front of Ashraska, and absorbed the last cluster of energy.

"Wraaa!" Ashraska tried to jab at his chest with a claw, "Arrogan

—"

This time his tongue was truly caught. His claw didn't even leave a scratch on Sylvester's chest.

"Impossible!" Ashraska tried again, using more of his energy since there was no limit.

Boom!

Each time Ashraska jabbed, he used more power. His punches started creating thunderous booms of energy even in that empty space. Each punch made a ripple of mist, yet none left a mark on Sylvester, who was busy in his own mind.

'Cut him off~'

'What do you mean?' Sylvester finally tried to communicate as he took in all the cluster of energies. 'It's you, isn't it—First Pope? How did you get in here?'

'You showed us a path when you gave your all and tore through the space for a minuscule moment. You lead us; you are the tip of this spear. It was written in your fate, Sylvester—this is all written in your journey. You were meant to be here, we were meant to be here—I am meant to be here.'

Sylvester finally started to feel some punches push him back a little. He felt he had to end it before Ashraska truly went full-

power.

'If you know my journey, what has elapsed, and what is to come. Tell me, how do I end this? I'm not them. I'm still a mortal against them.' Sylvester asked, requesting with a tone of helplessness, 'For the last time, help me, Your Holiness.'

A mere specter visible to Sylvester's gaze, he saw Pope Louis' face appear in the dark void above Ashraska's head, smiling. 'Oh, that title, as meaningless as the reason behind all this. You know the answer, Your Holiness—Cut him off.'

'What do you mean?'

The First Pope didn't answer that, however he continued. 'I am grateful to have witnessed your rise. I am grateful for your direction—Farewell, Sylvester, what we couldn't, you became the perfection. I will see you on the other side, until then, please grant the innocent your protection.'

Before Sylvester's gaze, that specter vanished, and the last of the energy was absorbed. Sylvester realized now that all the clusters of energies he absorbed were all the gods he had seen on his last stop. All the gods who had spent millenniums in this battle, who knowingly sacrificed themselves just so he could stand before the mighty.

'And to think I started to believe I was a great man—when so many far greater lived in the shadows.'

Boom!

"Cut him off," Sylvester mumbled those words and focused. Ashraska was in arm's reach as the maddened, raging god slowly increased his power in a show of might. He never wanted to kill Sylvester. He wanted to toy with him.

After all, Ashraska rightfully knew he was invincible and immortal as the co-ruler of all.

Sylvester glanced down at his chest, starting to feel pain as well. Yet confusion clouded him, knowing 'Cut him off' had a bigger meaning.

He looked up into nothingness, which enraged Ashraska even more. He could feel the consciousness of Aveda and Solis watching everything in silence.

"If this is your home, your source…" Sylvester mumbled, lowered his head, and glared eye-to-eye at Ashraska, "Indeed… the answer is to cut you off!"

"Gibberish!" Ashraska scowled.

Woosh!

Sylvester let go of himself, allowing his skin to vaporize, and leave behind a simple humanoid figure of crimson-yellow energy. It was tough, and covered in bright golden frames that started to grow bigger and surround Ashraska as well.

"Losing hope?" Ashraska taunted, "Started to realize you can't even win physically?"

"No." Sylvester barked. Both his hands moved at rippling speed, fists catching onto the two horns of the demon, "I'm cutting you off."

Shhh…!

Sylvester's body became a sun, flames that escaped him held physical matter. Energy so condensed that it was tangible. It wrapped around the two of them from all sides, creating a sphere.

Crack!

Sylvester's grip turned so strong that the horns began to show signs of fracture.

"Ah!" Ashraska groaned, feeling disturbed, "P-Pain?! Impossible!"

Sylvester sneered at the creature. Since Ashraska was so taller than him, Sylvester suddenly hit his face with a knee. It created a real audible sound with the addition of Sylvester's energy particles as a medium—Yes, the nose broke.

"Hah!" Sylvester laughed, "How does it feel to be mortal?"

Ashraska felt sore on his face. He touched his nose with a hand and found black tar, his blood seeping out. His shining blue eye stared at Sylvester and tried to punch him or push him away.

"Aaaaaa!"

In reply to the punch, Sylvester's grip tightened, and he broke Ashraska's twin horns apart with a thunderous boom, leaving a spray of black blood filling up the flaming orb of energy they were inside.

"What did you do?!" Ashraska panicked, unable to feel the outside space, and sensing pain for the first time. He felt smaller all of a sudden, as if his limbs were cut off, his spiritual expanse was blocked, and all that existed was just him in that body. "How are you doing this? I cannot be contained!"

"But you did that for me," Sylvester replied, moving inside the orb of flaming energy faster than Ashraska could track. He appeared behind the massive godly body and locked Ashraska's neck in a chokehold. They didn't breathe, but the hold threatened to snap his neck and behead the being. "You contained yourself in this form. You are the heart to the body that lays outside—I cut you off!"

Crack!

"No, no, no, no… It's impossible! You cannot contain me!" Ashraska, now truly terrified, tried to move. Not to free himself from the chokehold, but to break out of the sphere of crimson fire and energy around him.

Bam!

Bam!

"Never… I am the God! You cannot take my essence away!"

Sylvester squeezed harder, and heard some cracks, "But you are the core of the essence. To kill you is to kill… Ashraska!"

Crunch!

"Argk!" Ashraska felt it became harder to speak; Fear, dread, and panic took over, emotions he never knew existed. This body he controlled was all that he had, yet what scared him most was sensing his brother still watching in silence. "N-never… how? No, no… No! Aveda! Aveda! Show this mortal his place!"

Ashraska desperately called his brother. He waited, Sylvester waited, yet nothing happened. It filled Ashraska with horror to see how his own brother ignored him, with that unbothered, unmoving attitude. His fear and dread turned into panic and hate.

"Ha ha!" Sylvester, genuinely relishing in Ashraska's misery, tightened the grip on his throat. So hard this time that it completely deformed, squeezing to a flat piece of skin, all the bones and muscles squeezed, the ability to speak almost gone.

"A-Akh-Avedaaaa~! My b-brother!"

Yet, there was silence and apathy from Aveda.

"D-Don't-ugh… Brother… Wh-Why?"

Sylvester finally began to rip the head up with one hand and push the torso down with the other. "He can hear you."

"W-Wha… N-N-Nooo…~"

Utter hopelessness took over Ashraska as the realization dawned. No help was coming. His pride and arrogance got the better of him.

"This is exactly what Aveda wants—Your end!"

Snap!