When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 984, page 1453: The Fall of the Holy Throne City (Part 1)
Time goes back to a month ago.

The waves hurled their icy spray against the railings on the shore.

A cold wind swept by, turning the railings and the seawater dripping from the shore into crystal-like icicles.

A cold mist rose from the sea, and Sherley could not see beyond the sea, nor could he see the future.

Since the defeat at Grey Robe Hill four years ago, the entire Northern Church has been in decline.

First, the Kingdom of Leia, a political ally, was in decline and plagued by constant strife, and then the Kingdom of Fran invaded from the north.

The Northern Church has been accused of colluding with the Royal Court, and ironically, the only one who can help them right now is the Royal Court.

Even if Priyano was unwilling, he could not change the fact that the royal army insisted on coming to his aid.

All he could do was pretend not to know and refuse to help.

But the Pope's orders prevented them from leaving not only the Golden Horn, but even the Holy See.

Following the Battle of Grey Hill and the Fall of the Angels, Pope Priano's prestige suffered a great loss.

The College of Cardinals had practically sidelined him, and on the matter of the Royal Court, they unanimously chose to support him.

Despite Priano's objections, he could only watch helplessly, unable to retaliate in any way.

The result of handing the Papacy over to the cardinals was that the Holy See, which had stood for a thousand years, was captured by the cannibalistic warlord Cancun.

Sheryl recalled that day.

The terrifying vampires glided to the top of the wall and swept across the temple knights with frost-condensed javelins.

They then raided the city gate winch room, lowered the city gate, and allowed the enormous ogre Cancun to enter.

Under normal circumstances, the Holy See City is heavily guarded by the Papal Guard, the Knights Templar, and the Frontier Knights.

Even if ogres enter, there are high-ranking knights like the Grand Knights to defend it, as well as armies from various places supporting the Holy Throne City.

Unfortunately, the Papal Guard, the Templar Knights, and the Frontier Knights were wiped out by Priano in the Battle of the Thousand Rivers.

Sherley recalled arriving with his armed monks and confronting the vampires in the street.

Normally, everyone knows each other. After fighting each other for thousands of years, they should have a good understanding of each other's potential fighting strength.

But the battle that day was one that Sherley had never seen before in his life.

The number of those high-ranking vampires is enormous compared to the past!

Just as every vampire is proficient in bone spurs and blood explosions, they forcefully drove the supporting temple knights into a series of defeats.

One by one, powerful knights fell amidst the bone spikes, and pungent red smoke spread through the streets.

Even the snow-white flag with the character "屮" fell into the pool of blood, turning black and red, and was trampled under the vampires' boots.

In just one day and one night, all four city walls fell, leaving only the Papal Palace still putting up a stubborn resistance.

In the past, troops from various countries would have come to support them.

But now?

The Kingdom of Leia is barely alive.

The Kingdom of Fran was an enemy, not a friend.

The Norn Kingdom was too far away to intervene.

Who else can we count on? The Holy Alliance?
How did the Church fall into such a state? Could this be divine punishment from the Holy Messiah?

Wrapped in a heavy black woolen robe, he stood atop the wall of the Papal Palace, looking around inside and out.

On the top of the wall stood a group of white-armored knights, while in the square in front of the wall, blood slaves pushed catapults, hurling large pieces of granite and small skulls at the top of the wall.

As for the Papal Palace behind the wall, the Papal Palace that had stood for a thousand years, the magnificent Papal Palace, it seemed to Cecil Ricci somewhat precarious.

For some reason, the Papal Palace in front of me suddenly became blurry.

Was it fog, or tears in my eyes?
"...Lord Sheri, Lord Sheri?"

The approaching shouts pulled Sheri from his reverie back to reality. He wiped his eyes with his robes: "Priest Alfonso, what do you need me for?"

The priest forced a smile and said, "His Holiness the Pope requests that you come over for an audience."

As the personal monk of the former pope, Sheryl became the youngest cardinal after Johnny VIII's death.

Of course, aside from the fact that Priyanov was favored by the old pope and thus given a certain degree of important positions, he always held the lowest rank among the cardinals.

They're too young, after all.

However, precisely because of this, he became Priyano's confidant, especially after the pope was sidelined.

Following Priest Alfonso, Sheryl jogged all the way to the authentic Stag Room, where he saw the Pope sitting slumped over.

Compared to his past self, the still relatively young Priano had red eyes, dark circles under his eyes, and even his cheeks were sunken. His Holiness the Pope didn't waste any words, asking directly, "How much longer do you think the Papal Palace can hold out?"

"........."

"to be honest."

"One week, one week."

"A week? Probably not even three days! Those damned red-skinned bastards have probably been planning to sell me out for a while now, haven't they?"

As one of the "red-skinned beasts," Sherley didn't know how to respond.

“To this church, I am an orphan.” Priano slowly stood up. “I haven’t had time to build my own foundation, and you are the only person I can trust… Can I trust you?”

"can."

Priano believed Celi's words because he knew that Celi was also an enemy to the cardinals.

From the moment Johnny VIII used the forceful means of his will to promote Sheri to the College of Cardinals, he was bound to the new pope.

If Priano was an illegitimate pope, then Celi was an illegitimate cardinal.

But if given a choice, Priano really wouldn't want Celi to do it.

But he had no choice.

"This is the Ark of the Holy See, and there are only six remaining Angel Tears Candles. Take it with you and escape through the secret passage."

Sheri stood frozen for a full five seconds before rushing forward in alarm to support Priano, whispering, "If anyone should be running away, it should be you!"

"If I don't run away, what kind of mess will the Pope make if he runs away? I will stay here, even die here, otherwise no one in the empire will believe in the religion anymore!"

Sheri was at a loss for words, but Priano spoke up: "These things are sacred relics. Take them with you and don't let them be defiled by vampires."

Sheryl remained silent for a long time, and finally couldn't help but ask, "Excuse my bluntness, but if the Ark of the Sacred Relic is a sacred object, then what about the Triple Crown? Shouldn't that be the last thing a vampire should get?"

“You can’t take it with you. If you try to leave with it, the vampires besieging the city will find you immediately.”

"why?"

“This is not my saying,” Priano pointed to the sky. “It is the Lord’s saying.”

"...Holy Lord, has the Holy Lord issued a divine decree? Did He say how to resolve this predicament?"

"Yes." Priano smiled bitterly. If he had given this answer four years ago, he would never have believed it would have come out of his own mouth.

"Take these sacred relics to the Holy Alliance and announce to the world—the Holy Lord has issued a divine decree, passing the throne of the next Pope to the Holy Alliance, the son of Mysera—Horn Galar!"

Seeing Celi standing frozen in place, Priano remained calm, just as he had been shocked at the time.

Even more shocked than Sherley.

Priyanos had no idea what the Lord was thinking.

Generally speaking, based on the memories left by previous popes, it is known that the triple crown can receive one glance from the Messiah and one oracle.

This gaze should disappear quickly, and after that, as long as one follows the divine decree, the Lord will not interfere with whatever the Pope does.

As for the Lord's indifference, it can be seen in the High Priestess Joan.

She became pope as a witch, and the Lord didn't say anything.

As for the consequences of disobeying divine pronouncements, the most classic example is Pope Joan – who was directly “killed” by angels who descended to earth.

This should be the case under normal circumstances.

But after I put it on, the Lord gave me four clear divine pronouncements.

When he first ascended to the papacy, he instructed them to invite him if possible, and if not, to capture Horn Galar alive and bring him to the Holy See.

The second time, when Horngal defeated Prince Condé, they were instructed to kill Horngal with all their might and burn his body as soon as possible.

The third time, after King Gigi's defeat, he ordered the Pope to send angels to assassinate Horn Galar.

The fourth time was this one. After the angel's assassination attempt failed and the Lord remained silent for four years, the first oracle was to bring the Ark of the Holy See and the six remaining Angelic Tear Candles to Horn Galar.

Priano simply couldn't understand what the Lord was trying to do.
One minute they want to invite him, the next they want to kill him, and then they want to entrust him with the principles of law and morality...

How come the Lord is like that crazy woman, sometimes loving her to the bone and sometimes hating her to the bone?

Could this Horn really be God's illegitimate son? Or does God simply want to call his son back to the heavenly paradise?
This wasn't just Priyanov's wild imagination; such an anomaly was extremely rare, occurring only once every few centuries.

If he could have seen that Horn, he might have known, but unfortunately, he no longer has that chance.

"Xieli".

Sheri looked up from his confusion and shock, only to see Priano bow deeply to him: "The purity and faith of the Messiah Church are entrusted to you."

(End of this chapter)