98. The Wound on Her Chest
“Although I don’t know why you have such a deep-seated grudge against the bandaged girl, as enemies of humanity, they must be eliminated by us.”
Reina gave a rather official answer.
The Pope looked deeply at Reina.
“When the Saintesses reach a certain age, they must [dedicate] their power to the Goddess of Light. In other words, they die.”
“What?”
“After the Goddess of Light died, the powers of those Saintesses were revived in some form. That is the truth of the Shadow of God.”
The Pope’s voice was a little hoarse, as if saying these words was as difficult as climbing the heavens for him:
“And among them was my wife, Serra.”
Reina froze.
Her mind began to race, trying to process the meaning of the Pope’s words.
The soul of Serra, who had found her before, wasn’t some supernatural event.
It was the bandaged girl?
She controlled a part of her own soul, appeared in Serra’s form, and made me underestimate the man before me, the Pope.
Reina remembered what Agnes had said to her, and now it seemed to connect with what the Pope was saying.
Agnes was her daughter, and the soul of the Pope’s wife had become a part of the bandaged girl. This was the truth of the Shadow of God.
“How can I believe you?”
“Because I saw it. The moment the Dragon King personally executed the God of Light, [Light] slipped out of her body and became an independent personality.”
“What?”
The more the conversation went on, the more confused and incredulous Reina became.
The Dragon King had personally executed the God of Light, then what was she now?
The current situation forced Reina to get to the bottom of it.
She wanted to know the truth about the [Gate of the Celestial Realm], but the only one who knew everything was the Pope.
“Go on. I think this can be part of our deal.”
Reina said.
The Pope, seeing that she was very interested in this topic, looked around, opened a door that seemed to have been abandoned for many years, and beckoned Reina to follow him inside. He had suddenly forgotten that Reina couldn’t see and could only say:
“Do you need me to help you?”
“No need.”
Reina shook her head and activated the [All-Seeing Eye] again.
Entering the dusty door, a cold air from underground suddenly washed over her, making Reina shudder. As expected, this was the entrance to a basement.
The Pope walked in front, lighting the surrounding torches with light attribute magic as he went. Until the two of them walked down to a narrow space, where there was a table and a bookshelf, seemingly recording all the history from the end of the Primordial Era to the Era of Light.
“She was a quiet girl, cold to everyone, which was related to her upbringing… She had been burdened with the responsibility of succession since she was a child, and at that time, she was also caught up in the dragon race’s internal strife.”
An image of a smaller version of Calysia appeared in Reina’s mind.
The members of the [Gate of the Celestial Realm] absolutely would not allow anyone to leak any information. Therefore, they needed a person to make direct contact with the God of Light, to negotiate and communicate, to prevent any accidents. You see, ordinary people couldn’t even look directly at the God of Light. Prolonged contact might even burn their souls, especially for the evil side, this task became particularly dangerous.
At that time, Calysia was just caught up in the dragon race’s internal strife.
A dragon named [Dragon’s Choice] ordered her to become that contact, completely treating her as a puppet. This way, the throne would belong to him, Dragon’s Choice, and not Calysia, who was of the silver dragon bloodline.
She needed to break the “illusion seal” cast by the dark elves early, to temporarily awaken the God of Light, and then perform a series of rituals on her.
Casually awakening the God of Light from the illusion was no different from playing with fire.
That was the strongest illusion that could even cause a mental breakdown in ordinary people. Even if it sealed 99.99% of the God of Light’s body and all her magic power, it could only temporarily bind her.
And the God of Light, with just a single thought, could burn Calysia, who was caught up in the sealing facility and had unauthorizedly broken the seal.
But Calysia wasn’t harmed by the God of Light at all.
During this period, she grew from a weak little dragon girl into a decisive leader in just half a year. She secretly recruited troops, expanded her influence, and used the [Gate of the Celestial Realm] plan to turn the tables, even defeating Dragon’s Choice’s supporter [Dragon Slayer], the strongest creature at the time.
And in the end, Calysia and the Pope successfully prevented the Four Kings of the Realms from continuing to extract the God of Light’s power.
When the Four Kings of the Realms were no longer covetous, they ordered the God of Light to be killed…
This way, they could begin to carve up the human world.
And no one would stand in their way.
“That’s how it was,” the Pope said, becoming more emotional as he spoke, as if he had remembered something astonishing.
“But later, it was very interesting.”
“Actually, I’ve always suspected that the Dragon King and the God of Light had an unspeakable relationship. I saw with my own eyes that even when there were no official duties, she would still go to see the God of Light. Was it to obtain information and power?”
The Pope shook his head:
“Actually, the Dragon King fell in love with the God of Light. Anyone could easily see it.”
“Every time she came out of the sealed room, there was a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes, a satisfaction and joy that could only be obtained from a heart-to-heart talk with a friend or confidante.”
“But what’s intriguing is that she personally [executed] the Goddess of Light.”
“A dark light pierced through the God of Light’s holy body. Calysia fulfilled her duty to the very end, because even killing the God of Light was an extremely difficult task. But [the strongest creature] Calysia did it.”
“And the bandaged girl, the one I want you to kill, also turned into a wisp of light and escaped at that moment.”
The Pope hadn’t thrown away the wine bottles, but had arranged them neatly on a shelf in the corner of the room—Reina counted about thirty or forty empty bottles. And at the same time, Reina, using her full power, activated the [All-Seeing Eye], completely consuming her last use of the Eye of Light for the day.
Each time she used it, she could specify the information she wanted to observe. The more proficient she became, the less magic power it consumed.
And this time, Reina was testing the Pope’s words.
—He wasn’t lying.
The fact that Calysia and the God of Light were in love was true, at least that was the truth the Pope had seen.
At this moment, Reina’s mind was a little confused. On the one hand, she was thinking about what the Shadow of God was, and on the other hand, her mind was full of Calysia.
She suddenly thought of something and asked again:
“When the Dragon King killed the Goddess, where did she stab her?”
The Pope pointed to his chest.
“Right here. It was enough to kill her.”
For a moment, Reina felt a dull ache from the Dragon Mark on her chest.
