Lu Mingfei Development Program

Chapter 545 The Sistine Trial
Florence, the center of the Western world, the holy place in the hearts of Messianic believers, and the real capital of all cities. Anyone who comes to Florence will definitely come to see the Sistine Chapel. If Florence is the center of the world, then the Sistine Chapel is the center of Florence.

This is where the cardinals, or cardinals, hold meetings. More than once, the cardinals have elected the pope who represents God's will here. In a sense, this is also the birthplace of the pope.

In the eyes of most people, the Pope is the de facto leader of this religious country. However, the Pope, who is elected by the cardinals, is only conveying their will.

The cardinals are the small group of people who control this country and even the entire Western world.

The Sistine Chapel is not open to believers today. It is rare for the church to be blocked, but every time it happens, it is either the trial of some heinous heretic or the cardinals are discussing how to burn a witch to death.

Armored knights and guards holding muskets were standing in strict guard here, and executive officers with the symbol of a black six-winged angel were walking around. The Inquisition, an organization feared by the Western world, had already taken over this place.

Each of them was explaining how evil the heretics who were being tried in the church were.

Unlike the solemn church outside, which looked like the eve of a war, the church was magnificent, with famous paintings that drove countless artists crazy hanging on both sides of the church. Cardinals wearing red vestments and silver masks sat behind the lectern, their gloomy eyes hidden behind the silver masks staring intently at the center of the church.

The seats in the church for believers to attend mass had long been removed. A chair was placed in the center of the church, and sitting on it was the heretic who was being tried.

He looked so casual, as if he was just attending a party that he could leave at any time, rather than a trial that would decide his fate. He didn't look like a criminal at all, and the Inquisition's executors had wanted to tie him to a cross and make him humble himself before the cardinals.

But all the executive officers did not dare to step forward after seeing his calm purple eyes. It was not their illusion, but there was a golden meaning flowing in those purple pupils, and just looking at them would make people retreat.

No one could approach this peaceful but dangerous heretic, so he could only maintain this rude attitude.

"Cesare Borgia, do you plead guilty?" A majestic voice resounded throughout the Sistine Chapel. The speaker was Archbishop Cicero, one of the leaders among the cardinals.

César looked up at him. There was a height difference between the judge's seat and the judged seat. The cardinals surrounded him, locking him at the bottom of a well.

"Then please tell me, what crime have I committed?" César said softly.

He had always felt very strange about the identity of Archbishop Cicero, one of the leaders of the cardinals. From this one, it can be seen that the cardinals are not of one mind, and one of the greatest functions of the Pope's existence is probably to make them reach a consensus.

There are quite a few cardinals who want him dead now. They wanted to die three years ago. But there are also quite a few who don't want him to die... or want to squeeze out all his value before killing him.

This so-called trial is just to make them reach a consensus again.

"Destroyed the Templar Armored Division's operations, causing the annihilation of its armored knights; sneaked into the Midgard Serpent Train with the intention of stealing the Papal States' most precious assets; spared the traitor Rundstedt, allowing him to escape with a large number of Papal States' secrets and Seraph Armor..."

Archbishop Cicero enumerated César's crimes one by one, and his old body could not help but tremble, both out of anger and fear.

As one of the founders of the Templar Armored Division, he knew very well how powerful this secret unit belonging to the Cardinal was. But he saw from the reports of the surviving ground troops that the destruction of this armored team came so quickly.

They couldn't even put up a decent resistance!

The boy who destroyed them was now sitting expressionless on the judgment seat. He had a calm look on his face, and he looked at them like a king waiting for an envoy to come to him for an audience.

How dare he? Not even his father would let them treat him like this!

Xizel said calmly: "I only saw a group of thugs wearing mobile armor breaking into the Messiah's church and attempting to kill the Messiah believers who took refuge in the church."

"Stop your quibbling!" Archbishop Cicero was furious. "Three years ago, in this same church, we agreed to exile you for committing a serious crime. Now, you have committed a serious crime again, and you will never be treated the same way again!"

"So you want to sentence me to death..." Xizel said calmly, "If that's the case, there's no need for this trial."

He silently looked at the angry Archbishop Cicero. His purple eyes with a golden hue made it easy to see the old pupils trembling with fear under the other's silver mask.

Xizel continued, "You mentioned my so-called crimes, but you didn't mention what I did. It was me who reminded you that Rundstedt had committed treason, and it was me who resolved the sacred disaster and minimized the losses."

This minimum naturally does not include the Templar Armored Division.

"On the contrary, look at what you have done." He looked at the cardinals calmly, "Before this, none of you noticed Rundstedt's abnormality... or rather, you noticed it but did not stop him, which led to him hijacking the train and rushing into Marston."

"And because you hid something shameful in the train, the Prometheus IIs that were supposed to be sent to the Marston battlefield to fight against the Xia army were urgently transferred to the city of Marston, resulting in a defeat on the frontal battlefield and the almost complete annihilation of the Seraphic Cavalry." His voice flickered like a candle flame.

With every word César spoke, the cardinal's face turned as pale as his mask, because these were all facts.

Rundstedt used the word "dirty" to describe the Papal States, but this was not a malicious disparagement on his part, but rather the people who controlled the country were inherently filthy. The Inquisition, which was also controlled by the cardinals, was not only the most feared religious inquisition, but was also the most notorious intelligence agency in the entire West, and even the world.

This can be seen from the fact that they have secretly infiltrated Marston for many years.

No matter how secretive the transactions between Rundstedt, Chu Shunhua, and even Dasmond were, the hounds in the dark world must have smelled something.

Some of the cardinals may have discovered this, so they sent many Seraphim to monitor Rundstedt. At the same time, they reminded the Pope that Lon Borgia, known as the Iron Pope, was not afraid of any challenge. He was more like a marshal commanding an army than a religious leader. However, he did not appear at the front to command the army in person, but hid in a church outside Marston. He would not do that if no one reminded him.

Another group of cardinals secretly hoped that Rundstedt would succeed in assassinating the Pope. To this end, they gave him the Holy Spear Equipment Longinus, named after the Spear of Destiny.

But everyone underestimated Rundstedt. Half of the Seraphim, who were theoretically sent to assist but were actually monitoring, were instantly destroyed. If he hadn't needed the other half of the Seraphim as a bargaining chip, it wouldn't just be the Seraphim Cavalry that would have been hit hard in this war.

However, with almost half of the Seraphim reduced in numbers, it is difficult for them to regain the same combat effectiveness as before. The Seraphim armor is not replicable, and the armored knights who can control the Seraphim are rare.

Cesare ruthlessly exposed the predicament facing the Papal States at the moment, and their position as the leader of Western countries was in jeopardy.

The Kingdom of Charlemagne in the west was ambitious. Once given the chance, he would rush into Florence and ask the Pope to crown him, changing his title from king to emperor. The New Roman Empire in the east was no less ambitious. He was once the leader of the Western world and had been subservient to the Papal States for a hundred years, but that didn't mean he didn't want to return to the position of leader again.

Most of the territory of the Yenisei Kingdom in the north is located in the east, so it is ignored by most Western countries. The contradiction has been planted, and he will also be a potential enemy.

The rest of the Western countries also questioned the authority of the Papal States. Half of the Crusaders who were also severely damaged were sent by the kings of various countries who believed in the Messianic Church. Because Chu Shunhua's whereabouts were exposed in advance, they had ample time to send armored knights to enter the field.

However, the ending was obvious to all. Their armored knights were mixed in with the Blazing Iron Cavalry and were crushed by the ghost warriors of Xia Country...

If the ancient lion of Xia State has awakened, then the newborn lion of the Papal State is already old, and is surrounded by hounds that want to tear his flesh and blood.

No matter what, the Papal States must come up with some achievements to make the Western countries bow their heads again. This can be a powerful armored knight group, or a cross-era mobile armor... and a knight king who is far more powerful than all the previous knight kings.

And all of these are just describing one person - Cesar.

He single-handedly wiped out the armored knights of the Templar Armored Division and all the Omegas without any damage. His bravery was indeed amazing, but most of the cardinals believed that his success was largely due to the armor he was wearing at the time.

According to the report of the soldiers who entered the Marston campus with the Pope, César was wearing this new style of mobile armor at the time.

They didn't know who provided him with this powerful armor, but they understood that once they obtained the data of the armor and mass-produced it, even if its performance was less than one-tenth of the original, they could build another armored knight group that would convince Westerners again.

But unfortunately, when Cesare returned to Florence with the Pope, the armor was hidden by the father and son.

During this trial, no one really wanted Cesare to be sentenced to death. The purpose of this trial was to tame this unruly lion.

This was bound to be a difficult process, because they had once identified his mother as a witch in this church and sentenced her to be burned at the stake.

However, due to the woman's identity - the former lover of the current Pope, and the mother of the Ceylon Destroyer and future Knight King, the fire punishment was changed to a white matter removal operation. As long as she forgets the forbidden knowledge, she will still be one of the top ladies in this country.

Unfortunately, César, who was about to become the Knight King, was dissatisfied with this arrangement. On the night of the operation, he launched the largest rebellion since the founding of Florence.

He drove the armor named Red Dragon and took the woman with him, fleeing from the Sistine Chapel to the embassy district where envoys from various countries lived. Red Dragon almost succeeded, and the boy destroyed countless blocks and destroyed countless armors.

He successfully reached the bridge in front of the embassy district. By crossing this bridge, he could give them some respite, or even a chance to truly escape from Florence.

Unfortunately, he still failed. He was so exhausted that he just wanted the woman to escape by herself. But he neglected that the envoys from various countries in the embassy area were willing to help him only because of the red dragon armor he was wearing and himself.

But the Red Dragon was almost scrapped and he was exhausted. He was worthless and could only watch the gate in front of the embassy district fall.

Finally, the witch was shot dead on the bridge, and her body was burned at the stake according to the previous trial. The rebel was expelled from Florence, until three years later, when he boarded the Midgard Serpent Train...

There is another person who cannot be avoided in taming Cesare, the current Pope, Ron Borgia. He was originally just a proxy elected by the cardinals to balance each other's power, but during his administration, the power of the cardinals was reduced, and the power of the Pope's faction grew instead.

He was also a rebellious lion. Without him, Cesare would not have been able to launch the rebellion, let alone be exiled from Florence. Today, many people still laugh when they think back to the fact that the judgment made by the Pope was just like this.

It can be said that the cardinals, and even the entire Papal State, have a deep rift with Cesare, and he wants to destroy the country much more than Rundstedt. But he is willing to step into Florence again, which gives the cardinals an opportunity.

This lion must be used by the Papal States, and even if he dies, his body must belong to the Papal States. For this reason, the cardinals are more united than ever before.

Archbishop Cicero retracted his gaze, and the fear in his eyes was not fake. It was difficult to get Cesare to serve the Papal States again, but it was also simple to let the guy who had sentenced his mother to be burned at the stake, that is, himself, calm Cesare's anger.

As for the way to appease the situation, the simplest one is to atone for the crime with death.

But Cicero didn't want to die. He was one of the people who controlled the power of this country and even the world. He shouldn't die in such a frustrating way. So, he also had his own way of dealing with César's problem.

All the cardinals seemed to have forgotten that this lion-like father and son pair actually had a soft spot that absolutely could not be touched.

Adele Borgia, the girl who holds the title of Princess of Verdun, it is time for her to fulfill the duties of a princess.

(End of this chapter)