494 The Eternal Dark (1/2)
”I am back to life.”
After hearing the former Pope's declaration, Ludovic put on a poker face and coldly looked at him.
Resurgence?
Nonsense!
As a member of the cardinal church, Ludovic had already read many classified papers and knew that the so-called ”resurgence” written in the Holy Bible was just bullsh*t.
If someone could be brought back to life, there would be no need to elect a new King of Red. Why not just let the first King of Red rule this world for eternity?
If someone wanted to make a dead person ”alive” again, Ludovic knew many ways to do so.
People from the School of Modifications would do so by ”rebuilding a human body.” By putting the basic elements, (iron, calcium, sodium, and kalium, for example), into water, they could make a perfect human body.
People from the School of Choir would do so via ”proliferation of flesh.” With just a small piece of human flesh, they could create an intact human body.
People from the School of Magic would do so by turning an illusion into a reality; people from the School of Summoning would create a monster with a human body…
Of course, their way of doing so could never be called ”resurgence,” or at least, not the perfect resurgence.
”I see, the one who died is actually your substitute?” Ludovic said. ”I should have been more careful.”
The old keeper shook his head and said, ”If there is a substitute, I should be the substitute, or to be more precise, I am the previous incarnation of the former Pope, but I am not the Pope, and neither are you.”
Hearing this, Ludovic sneered. ”If you want to be the Pope again, at least do it like a man! I have known you for such a long time, but I still do not know how much strength you have. I will take this opportunity to test how capable you—the former King of Red—really are!”
Hearing this, the old keeper sighed deeply.
”There is no need. I am not the former King of Red. Why should I fight a human of the Hyakume? Please do me a favor and let me go! I promise I won't take the seat of Pope from you.”
The old keeper shamelessly asked Ludovic to spare him. ”You have already been elected in the Sixtinum conference. Everyone has seen you wearing the crown on your head and holding the scepter in your hand. You are the new Pope, aren't you?”
The old keeper continued to say, ”Although the Pope is just a title, or in other words, you become the new Pope after you wear the pope's robe. Still, there is one last thing you have to do to become a real Pope.”
At the same time, the ground began to tremble and crack. Soon, the ground fell into pieces, and the machine operating beneath was revealed.
The iron and steel were rubbing against each other, and iron hammers were striking at the iron and steel-made floor. Beneath this floor, Ludovic saw the boiling lava. The machine was absorbing all the heat rising from the lava and operating very quickly.
A huge winch slowly rotated and lifted an iron coffin from the lava.
Since the coffin had absorbed a lot of heat, it turned red. When it landed on the floor, it didn't give off any heat at all. In fact, something inside the coffin was absorbing the heat.
Ludovic looked at the Holy Ax and found that the crystal clear blood was gone.
At the same time, the coffin began to collapse.
Inside the coffin, there was a huge petri dish in which floated an iron and steel skeleton.
The Holy Blood poured into the petri dish. In the blink of an eye, it turned into numerous red crystals and stuck itself on the surface of the skeleton, covering it.
The red crystals became a layer of flesh.
The machine was making a deafening sound. The flesh was changing color, one moment the color of iron, the next moment it turned green or white. At last, it turned the color of human flesh.
Now what was inside the petri dish was a human body. Muscle, tendon, sinew, organs, skin, and hair, this body had everything.
Suddenly, the petri dish broke and the sticky liquid inside splashed around. The ”man” finally opened his eyes and pulled up the long and sharp tube from the back of his head, then he threw it onto the ground.
Even his eyes looked like a human's.
Surprisingly, his face looked exactly like Ludovic's!
The old keeper was chewing nuts, then he coldly said, ”You have changed?”
The new-born ”Ludovic” nodded and looked at his palm: ”I am feeling very good.”
At first, his voice was a bit hoarse, but soon, he began to speak fluently and his voice sounded exactly like Ludovic's.
He glanced at the old keeper and said, ”Your body is made of really bad material.”
”Even if that is true, I don't think you should make that clear in front of my face!” The old keeper sighed. ”Although my body doesn't look good, after so many years, I have already gotten used to this body! Besides, without this body, how can you manage to go to the outside world? It is fine that you don't say thank you to me, but you should not dislike my body! You are such a jerk!”
Ludovic was speechless.
Seeing this, the old keeper shook his head and sighed. ”The process of copying the real Ludovic's personality is still on? Or you have not got any sense of humor?”
The new-born Ludovic didn't answer the old keeper. Instead, he turned to the real Ludovic, who was wearing a gloomy face and holding the scepter in his hand.
”Now you can give the scepter back to me,” he said.
”I see.” The real Ludovic looked at him coldly and said, ”You are dead, right? You are not even a living thing, you just look like a human. I never thought that all the former Popes were just a bunch of puppets!”
The real Ludovic stared at the old keeper and said mockingly, ”I never thought the purpose of holding the Sixtinum Conference was just to find a new body for this damn thing! How about the individuality you have all been so proud of? Does this damn thing also get his own individuality?”
”You call me 'damn thing'? It seems that you have not recognized me yet,” the 'Ludovic' said. ”How disappointing! Ludovic, you have just mocked me and said I have not got my own stance.”
”You are Nibelungenlied?”
The old keeper shook his head and said, ”No, he is the 'King of Red.'”
The dim light in the altar began to expand, and soon lit the whole palace as well as the wall behind the altar.
The real Ludovic looked at the wall and found that sixteen crystal boxes were engraved into the wall.
The boxes were filled with liquid that was shining a strange color. Inside each crystal box, there was a brain.
The brains were still working. Some of the brains had withered a bit, but they still looked very fresh.
The strains were twining around the brains, connecting with the brains' consciousness. If looked at from a distance, they looked like grass.
The strains stretched out of the crystal boxes and intertwined with each other and extended to the Alchemy Array. Along the array, they reached to the deepest part of the underground palace and connected with countless brains there.
Every month, some brains would be picked out to become part of the system of the Alchemy Array. Hence, the dead could be reborn in the underground palace, the ”world of the dead.”
”See? This is the real Nibelungenlied.” The old keeper gently touched the crystal boxes and murmured, ”This is the 'world of the dead' beneath the Sacred City.”
”You guys…” Ludovic was so angry that even his face turned blue. He clenched his teeth and said, ”You guys dedicated yourselves to Nibelungenlied?”