Pope of Glory

## [source]

The **Pope** was the greatest individual beneath the Radiant Lord in the Church of Glory. He had designs to take over the divine throne, the pope wanted to become a deity and replaced the Radiant Lord.

Flowsand once said that if Richard could bring down the pope of the Sacred Tree Empire. He should be strong enough to find her in the Darkness.

The old man hadn’t given his all in a fight for entire decades, leaving no one able to estimate his true strength. However, he continued to seem listless under the expectant gazes of the crowd, with no signs of stepping forward. All of the leaders were left helpless; theirs was the only empire in a unique situation where the Church controlled all the epic beings. The royal family could only rely on the Church’s goodwill.

## Description

A thin old man walked out of the door, clothed in robes only normal clergymen would wear with a dull black staff in hand. However, Richard promptly found his eyes glued to this newcomer, who to him looked like a ball of extremely powerful light. Both the robe and staff were divine items with unimaginable power! His heart froze as he recalled two legends of the Church of Glory— the robe and staff that the Radiant Lord had used when he lit his godspark. Saintly Robes and Sceptre of Glory.

The pope who seemed to be an unimposing old man. The hand was dry and yellowing, covered in spots of all shades, but the magic ring on the index finger was clearly visible for all to see.

## Plot

Michael: I am loyal to the Radiance. The Radiance is the Lord, but the Lord might not be the Radiance. Anyone who obtains the recognition of the Radiance shall be the Radiant Lord.

“How is the Pope such an unknown?” Richard asked. It was near impossible for someone to reach the epic realm without showing their hand. He knew the rough limits of Apeiron’s strength himself, despite the aura of chaos about her.

Martin muttered to himself for a while, “This is related to the situation in Heaven. You know the Radiant Lord’s relationship with the celestials; he was possibly one himself. However, the entire plane is currently in disorder and nobody knows the situation. All portals in are closed, and even citizens like Michael couldn’t return. The Lord hasn’t answered our prayers in a long time.”

He paused for a moment, “Something must have happened that we cannot hope to understand. I suspect he is involved with some outside actors, but I need time to investigate completely. I recommend you don’t challenge him until you figure out the aces up his sleeve; like I said before, he’s trying to light his godspark. If we find ourselves against a true god walking in the mortal realm, we’ll have no chance to resist.”

## Abilities

### **Darkness**

The pope’s experience in the Darkness was his greatest asset, and upon his return he had gained the terrifying ability to manifest his memories and pull others into them. The laws of the Darkness were entirely different from the system established by the Eternal Dragon, making it difficult to even track one’s own thoughts. Most opponents would fail to adapt, leaving them catatonic for the rest of their lives.

This was the reason Martin had always been wary of the pope; knowing his own limits, the divine child understood that he would never be able to escape that memory. Of course, such an ability had to come with a price. The pope lost his memories every time he manifested upon them, and rumours were that he could use the ability only three times in total. It had already been used to get rid of two extremely powerful enemies in the past, but the one use was enough to leave even Hendrick wary. Martin would definitely die, while Hendrick’s situation would be a coin toss.

However, this opportunity had been used on Richard, which meant the pope had just given up the one card he could use to suppress his competition. The old man was still a formidable opponent, but not to nearly the same degree.

This explanation finally allowed Richard to understand just why Flowsand had wanted him to challenge the pope before setting off to find her. She must have known that the pope would send him into those memories; if he could survive that, he would know more about the Darkness. If he died, then that same situation would occur when he actually tried to go over.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Book 8, Chapter 69
2. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 63
3. ↑ Book 8, Chapter 68
4. ↑ Book 8, Chapter 125
5. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 21