The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Dark said with a hint of uncertainty.

　His Holiness the Pope's face turned dark for a moment, but returned to normal in an instant.

　Is it really true that he is worthy of being called the Pope?

　Even their face-changing skills are professional.

　“With Sloan leading the way, we were able to find McCarthy,” the Pope said without changing his expression.

　"Oh."

　Dak responded. He was always so kind.

　Sloan used the [Death Dragon Reaper Form] to sever the barrier between the underworld and the mortal realm. He used the immense suction generated when cutting through space to devour the angelic power, and he himself also escaped into the underworld.

　His decision to abandon direct confrontation and retreat into the underworld was, in effect, a sign of weakness, though the Holy Church also had its methods.

　When Edmund spoke with him, he must have already marked him with an artifact.

　Moreover, this marking should be more precise than the vague connection of "the three corpses".

　If they can enter the Underworld as soon as possible, the Holy Church should be able to track down Sloan and find McCarthy.

　The Pope did not fabricate anything; he simply made an overstatement at the beginning.

　However, it's understandable that older people tend to exaggerate in front of their children and grandchildren.

　Dark found a reason in his mind and said, "This matter should be handled sooner rather than later. If we are to track it down, we should do so as soon as possible."

　The Pope glanced at the night sky where the angels had disappeared and said calmly, "They've already gone. Edmund had already made preparations for the possibility of Sloan escaping to the underworld before he set off for the peace talks."

　Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we have now entered the underworld.

　Dark nodded slightly; the Holy Church clearly knew more about the Underworld than he did.

　Now that we are all sitting face to face, let's wish the Holy Church team a safe journey.

　The room fell silent for a few seconds.

　His Holiness the Pope then slowly said, "Are you willing to become the Holy Son of my Church?"

　He had been contemplating saying this for a long time.

　The words that were originally intended as a prelude were not uttered, resulting in a rather abrupt and jarring situation.

　But after several conversations, he suddenly realized that the Holy Church seemed genuinely unable to provide the answer.

　How much benefit does this young man sitting opposite me offer?

　As the son of a Valkyrie, heir to the Dimon family, star of St. Marian Academy, core member of the Magic League, and dueling king of the World Cup's top 16...

　Darkdemon possesses far too much. There's simply no way to begin!

Chapter 1573 I Will Become the God of Magic (4k)

　"what"

　Faced with His Holiness the Pope's rather abrupt proposal, Darke could not help but show a look of surprise and bewilderment.

　After all, this was a suggestion that even ten brains couldn't come up with. The Pope's words seemed utterly fantastical and illogical to him. The more rational and logically astute a person is, the less likely they are to consider this possibility.

　He just felt that the old man in front of him must really be too old for him to have such thoughts.

　Therefore, he looked at the Pope as if he were looking at a lunatic. He was so surprised that he didn't have time to hide it.

　But Pope Sith felt that since things had already been laid bare, there was no need to hide anything anymore, so he continued to speak at length.

　"Although your magic attribute is not purely light, your affinity with the light element is clearly not low. And the fact that you can be refined into an angelic magical spirit proves that you are qualified to become a holy child."

　He made no mention of Dark's ability to also be transformed into a demon, and completely ignored the fact that his dark affinity was also at its maximum.

　In short, after making that suggestion, the Pope was completely certain of his idea and would no longer hesitate or waver on it.

　Caleb Norris favors Pandora Drogon, who is indeed a very good choice.

　Furthermore, half of Pandora's bloodline comes from the Patricis family, which is his own family and his direct relatives.

　If Pandora is chosen as the absorber of the "divine essence," then the future of the Holy Church will still belong to Patricis.

　Pandora harbored no goodwill toward the Patricis family, but rather a deep hatred for them.

　But we are connected by blood and cannot be separated.

　The people who made those decisions back then have long since passed away. The Patrice family will offer her the greatest compensation and support. But the Pope still harbors resentment.

　After all, Pandora is a human-dragon hybrid, and to make her a "saint" would be an artificial destruction of the sacred doctrine.

　That's why the Pope prefers Darko Dimon.

　Because Dark is a pure-blooded human, he has no flaws other than having too many dark and demon-type magical spirits.

　Dark possesses maxed-out affinity for both light and dark elements, and is of noble birth. He has both "saintly blood" and "heroic blood," making him flawless in character, talent, and strength—it's practically impossible to find a more suitable candidate.

　Moreover, on the other hand, Dark's relationship with Pandora is not a secret.

　In the Holy Church's research materials, he is directly linked to Pandora.

　The probability of them becoming partners in the future is 99.9%.

　This way.

　Dark Dimon will then become the son-in-law of the Patricis family.

　This is equivalent to having the deepest lineage of the Holy Church.

　If Dark Dimon becomes the "Holy Son," absorbs the "Origin of God" to become a "Saint," and incidentally inherits the position of Pope, then the Holy Church will surely prosper!

　After his initial surprise, Dak quickly calmed down and listened very calmly to the Pope's eloquent speech.

　After a moment, he finally understood what the Pope was thinking.

　Unlike the religious leaders who were full of superstitious beliefs, the Pope did not believe in God at all.

　This is the most surprising thing that Dark has heard so far.

　He never imagined that the Pope, who stood at the pinnacle of the Holy Church, would have absolutely no faith in God.

　It's not that he was a heretic.

　He also believed in "holiness," but he believed in the doctrines of "holiness" and in the holy religion itself, not in a god who did not exist at all.

　Therefore, when he was thinking and weighing the pros and cons, he was able to set aside his faith and treat the Holy Church as an "organization".

　Although the Pope said a lot, he has not yet fully revealed the matter of the "origin of God," but only hinted at it.

　He was unaware that Dark already knew of the existence of the "Origin of Gods." So after speaking of the "Holy Son," he directly said that once the child truly matured, he would hand over the papacy to him.

　In the Pope's view... no, in anyone's view, this was something that could not be refused.

　After all, he's the "Pope"!

　Becoming the Pope is equivalent to possessing the entire Holy Church.

　The Holy Church is currently the largest power organization in all of humanity—without exception!

　Excluding the organization of "nation," there are other organizations, such as the Valkyrie faction and St. Marian Academy, whose strength is comparable to that of the Holy Church. Although they exist, their power is far less "vast" than that of the Holy Church! As the only orthodox religion in the human kingdoms, the Holy Church, if fully operational, is actually extremely terrifying.

　Even overthrowing the country... while not exactly easy, it's not actually that difficult.

　The root cause of this abnormal phenomenon is the continuous warfare. Warfare fosters the prosperity of religion.

　That's why the Holy Church is a staunch advocate of war.

　In the decade or so following the end of the war, the influence of the Holy Church did indeed gradually decline.

　But the future belongs to "God".

　The arrival of the gods' resurrection also signifies the inevitability of a "war of the gods." Humanity has just emerged from the war, and its population has not even had time to recover, yet it is about to encounter another "war of the gods," making the impending calamity seem unpredictable.

　However, for the Holy Church, the fear brought about by the "war of gods" can become a catalyst for the rapid cohesion of religious beliefs.

　The Holy Church will flourish, and may even transform the entire human kingdom into an earthly divine kingdom!

　But this is contingent on the Holy Church being able to stand firm during this catastrophe—not just survive.

　Therefore, a "true god" is needed all the more.

　The Pope views the Church as an organization, and naturally cares nothing for whether the leader of this organization is a believer or not.

　Therefore, he had great confidence in handing over such a large organization to someone, believing that no one could refuse this "gift".

　After all, from his perspective, he was the complete "giver" in this matter!

　The other party doesn't need to make any effort; they only need to accept it to gain such a massive organization for free, as well as the yet-to-be-explained opportunity to directly become a god.

　More importantly, this isn't just empty promises; it's a real windfall.

　Why shouldn't we accept this?

　"I'm sorry, but I have no interest."

　After hearing the Pope's explanation and confirming his own thoughts, Dak spoke frankly in return.

　Even if there was no foul play involved, he still couldn't accept it. It had little to do with his own will anymore. After all, the blood of the Demon God still flowed within him, making it fundamentally impossible for him to absorb the "divine essence" of a God of Light.

　He still didn't understand why the Pope had chosen him, but there was nothing more to say about something that left no room for maneuver.

　He wouldn't deliberately feign agreement to seek personal gain.

　The Pope spoke at length, but ultimately came to nothing. The Archbishop stood behind him, his brow slightly furrowed, saying nothing.

　The atmosphere became slightly tense, and the room fell silent. However, there wasn't a particularly deadlocked situation.

　After all, the outcome of this matter was not particularly unexpected.

　The Pope had a vague sense of this outcome the moment he uttered those words, and his subsequent explanations were merely attempts to persuade Dark.

　Since it has come to the point where "persuasion" is necessary, then an unsatisfactory outcome is within the realm of possibilities.

　But the Pope was still somewhat unwilling.

　He took a deep breath and asked in as gentle a tone as possible, "Can you tell me why? What I want you to become is not just the Holy Son..."

　He meant that being canonized as a saint was merely a necessary process, with the ultimate goal of making him the Pope.

　Dark was well aware of this, but he couldn't simply tell the Pope that he had the blood of a demon god. So, after a moment's thought, he could only say, "I will become the God of Magic."

　After a while.

　Dark finally "escaped" from that meeting room. He could sense the earnest hope in Pope Sith's words to him. It was the expectation of a dying old man entrusting his most precious possession to another.

　Although he found this very abrupt, it is actually quite difficult for a person to harbor ill feelings towards someone who has high hopes for them.

　Even without the blood of the demon god, he would refuse without hesitation.

　But in this first formal conversation between the two sides, the Pope left him with a surprisingly good initial impression.

　He is good at thinking from an objective and rational perspective, and then acting with a relatively subjective approach.

　A good impression will not make him biased in his actions toward the Holy Church.

　Tonight's conversation was quite meaningful.

　This at least confirms that the Holy Church was indeed planning to create a "holy" being.

　Later, they also learned about the Holy Church's actions against Sloan.

　Not long after, Dak returned to the restaurant and found that the celebration was still going on.

　The students gathered around the "Bloody Saintess," listening to this "old woman" who looked old but was actually only in her thirties tell her war stories.

　Dark paused briefly at the doorway, and Pandora, sensing his return, came out.

　The two entered one of the empty rooms and set up a barrier to block sound perception.

　Dac then briefly recounted his conversation with the Pope.

　Pandora couldn't help but laugh halfway through the conversation: "That's really unexpected!" Dark sighed and said, "Who says otherwise?"

　Unexpectedly, they were both targeted by the Holy Church.

　However, during the conversation tonight, the Pope did not mention Pandora to Dark.

　It's clear that choosing Senior Pandora was indeed the Archbishop's idea. And judging from Senior Pandora's experiences...

　"Since I've been so resolute, the Pope should give up, right?"