Chapter 345: Declaration of a Crusade (1/2)
Pope Julius was standing upon the balcony of his Palace within the Vatican. Tens of thousands of his supporters were gathered in the holy city to listen to the Vicar of Christ's decree. For many of the rulers of Christendom, what he was about to say came as no surprise. Yet to the common people, his words were shocking, to say the least.
The Holy Father gazed at the massive crowd gathered before him as he uttered the words from his mouth; the speech he gave would not be expected of God's representative on Earth. Instead, his tone was filled with vitriol and hatred.
”Berengar the Accursed! I am confident this is a name that every one of you gathered here today is familiar with. If I am the Vicar of Christ, then this man, the self-proclaimed King of Austria, is the Avatar of Satan!
Through vile sorcery, he has conjured technology that has been destructive not only to the warriors of Christ but the citizens of Christendom! I am sure you are all familiar with the fate of Florence, for Berengar and his Army of Apostates have thoroughly destroyed the city! In the process, they mercilessly slaughtered everyone gathered within it by conjuring the fires of hell upon the faithful!
This was no simple act of war but a criminal act against all of God's children on this Earth! Thus in response to this crime against humanity, I hereby declare a Crusade against the Kingdom of Austria and the Berengar Heresy as a whole! I call upon every faithful Christian to take arms against this demonic scion and his heretical followers! For so long as Berengar the Accursed is allowed to remain in a position of power, the souls of every Christian are at the risk of damnation! God wills it!”
The moment the Pope said these words, the crowd of tens of thousands of Catholics began to chant the final words in unison.
”God wills it! God wills it! God wills it!”
The sight of which brought a wicked grin to Pope Julius' aging face; after witnessing the mob gathered before him, he knew that he would have an army capable of invading Austria within a few years. As such, he gave one final decree to the gathered crowd before departing towards the interior of his Palace.
”Go now, and make your preparations; it will be some time before the Armies of Christ are capable of waging war against the hellspawn that is the Army of Austria but make no mistake, we will muster the entire might of the Christian world against our foes!”
Having said this, Julius returned to the interior of his Palace, where he was immediately confronted by a variety of Cardinals who had watched his speech from inside. Among them was a man known for being against Julius' predecessor's harsh actions against Berengar.
”Your Holiness, declaring a Crusade against King Berengar is unwise. You know as well as I that the Austrian Army has seized the assets of the Medici Bank, and in doing so, left us destitute. We don't have the funds to build an army capable of such a thing!”
In response to this, Pope Julius spat on the ground before lecturing the Cardinal for his remarks.
”King Berengar, is it? Funny, I don't remember placing a Crown on the man's head. If I were you, I would be cautious about the words I choose, for legitimizing the Avatar of Satan is in itself an act of heresy!”
When the Cardinal heard this, his mouth dropped agape before questioning the Pope's sanity.
”You don't honestly believe the words from your speech, do you? Berengar can't possibly be the incarnation of Satan. I will admit he is a powerful adversary of the Church, but to think that he is some Hellspawn is truly insanity!”
Upon hearing his sanity questioned, Julius backhanded the Cardinal with his ring hand, leaving a bloody lip on the man who had so brazenly rebuked his words.
”You think it is such an impossibility? Then Explain to me where he gets the technology he has created! The man is either the greatest genius in history, or he has struck an accord with the devil! There is no other conceivable explanation! He is a lowly baron's son, and yet he has advanced Austria in agriculture, industry, weaponry, maritime technology, and every other metric I can think of beyond the scopes of what we know to be reality!”