Chapter 1319 - The Truth behind Fidelinopolis (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren and Lily cried out in unison, “It’s you?!”
The old man was the mysterious elder whom they saw after they witnessed the ancient phantom at the monitoring station!
Back then, the old man had said a lot of puzzling words, but just as Hao Ren and his group were about to inquire further, he vanished into thin air—to think that they would meet the old man again, and in this dimension!
The old man did not look surprised when he saw Hao Ren and his group. He slowly got to his feet, his gaunt figure belying the strength of his body and will. “I saw you coming in my dream. Welcome, fellow guests from afar.”
“Your dream?” Hao Ren repeated the old man’s words. “What we saw earlier was…”
The old man nodded. “It is the Nightmare Realm. There is no longer a firm boundary between dream and reality, so don’t think too hard about it.”
“You’re the pope?” Calaxus exclaimed. “The pope I know is Auguste VII, but I’ve never seen you before! Who are you?”
“You have seen me before. You have seen every version of me.” The old man smiled in the face of Calaxus’ accusation and remained cryptic in his speech. As he spoke, his appearance began to change, and so did his voice. Gradually, he transformed from one form to another. Sometimes he was an elderly, and other times he was a middle-aged man. His voice distorted into a chorus of multiple voices speaking in unison. “I am Charles I, and Harold III, and Auguste VII, and also St Ivan… I am every one of them, and they are all me… I am the pope, and every other pope you knew.”
Calaxus stared at the old man as he recognized familiar faces in the latter’s appearance — these faces adorned the hallways of the Basilica Icon in the form of large portraits that reached one’s height, neatly hung along the walls of the hallway. From the moment he was appointed as assistant bishop, he had walked past the hallway many, many times. He remembered all the face of the popes, past and present. In this mysterious old man’s last form, he recognized Auguste VII. The form lasted for only a few seconds, but it sent a shudder down his spine!
“You… You’re…” Calaxus pointed at the old man with a trembling finger, but could not manage to finish his sentence.
“You’re the combination of all previous popes?” Hao Ren was more adept at dealing with this level of weirdness. He studied the old man curiously. “What are the corrupted creatures that we encountered in the real world? And what’s with the man that is also Auguste VII blocking the way at Asurmen?”
“Lockmarton thought it could easily corrupt a follower, but it did not realize the extent of our conviction.” The old man explained plainly, as though he was narrating someone else’s story. “We are willing to give up our physical bodies, or even our souls, for the sake of our belief. Lockmarton only has power over our mortal coils. If there is no other choice, we would rather destroy ourselves and take down the corrupted beasts in this world than surrendering.”
Hao Ren could roughly guess the truth at this stage, but there were still many questions he needed answered. “So, the ones we saw in the real world are only corrupted bodies? Wait a minute.. We encountered a very strange nightmare creature, it called itself…”
“Benedict III made a tremendous sacrifice in order to spread the message to the outside world.” The pope’s multiform shook his head slowly. “He failed at first, having lost consciousness before he could spread the message, but then he met you out of pure chance, and managed to relay his message.”
“So you have… You have the situation under control?” Calaxus asked shakily .”Your Holiness, why did you not tell me?”
He was asking all the popes in general, but his question was actually directed to Auguste VII.
“Since Lockmarton is monitoring everyone’s dreams, the secret can only be passed between the dead, who never sleeps,” the pope’s multiform explained. “Popes who passed away were buried under the Basilica Icon, while the bodies of devotees, sages, and living saints from all eras were all buried in various tombs in the Sanctum. Some of these Spirit Braves were summoned to enter the Forgotten Abyss and join the Eternal Battlefield, to fight alongside the Warden’s Army against Lockmarton’s invasion into the real world. Other Spirit Braves worked together to protect the living in the form of the will of the dead…”
Lord of the Mountains nodded slowly. “I know of this.”