Blinding radiance filled everything.
Even Sachsen, the owner of this space, could see nothing.
It was as though he had gone blind.
But the light did not last long. Gradually it faded, and eventually everything regained its original color.
Only then was Sachsen finally able to see.
Su-ho still stood there in the exact posture of his sword swing.
There was nothing before him.
Something that should have been there had vanished.
The Knight of Resentment.
Saaaaa—
Sachsen revealed himself once more.
Then he approached Su-ho, who stood frozen like a stone statue.
Su-ho still remained in the posture of his swing, stiff as a carved monument.
His condition was terrible.
Naturally, his body looked like tattered rags, and blood stained various parts of him.
Looking closer, even his lower jaw trembled faintly.
At last, sensing Sachsen’s presence, Su-ho slowly lowered his sword.
The process almost sounded like rusted machinery creaking back into motion.
Only after straightening himself did Su-ho slowly exhale.
A stale breath escaped him, and the muscles beneath one eye twitched slightly.
Sachsen raised one corner of his lips and asked,
“What happened to the Knight of Resentment?”
“I cut it down.”
“You cut it down?”
“Yes. I simply cut it down.”
“Wasn’t it difficult?”
“It was.”
“Then how did you endure it?”
“Because I’m suffering more.”
“...What?”
“They all carried tragic stories soaked in blood and tears. But even so, I looked more miserable and pitiful to myself than any of them. That’s why I was able to overcome their stories and cut down the Knight of Resentment.”
Sachsen’s brows narrowed.
Yet the corners of his mouth remained raised.
Because he was laughing in disbelief.
“Haha... Hahahaha! Is that truly your reason?”
“Yes.”
“Explain a little further.”
“I’m the Pope. But I don’t think of myself as a true Pope. It’s just a title I obtained through the System. So unlike a genuine saint, I couldn’t empathize with and understand everyone’s suffering equally. That’s why I interpreted everything in my own way and accepted it in my own way.”
“Excellent!”
Sachsen was genuinely impressed.
Yes.
Someone seeking revenge was not some living Buddha.
What use was there in trying to understand everyone else’s emotions?
A true avenger had to place only their own emotions above all else.
Only then could they focus entirely on revenge.
Having calmed himself, Su-ho released a long breath.
Then he brushed his hair back and straightened his posture.
“So? Do you acknowledge me now?”
“More than enough!”
“Then let’s move on immediately.”
“Heh heh. Very well.”
Sachsen swung his sword.
And as if by magic, the murky sky cleared, revealing a bright blue heaven once more.
Instead of recovering himself, Su-ho simply stood still and waited for the next instruction.
“Do you know why I was called the Red Pope?”
“I don’t.”
“Because I stained my hands with more blood than any other Pope in history.”
Su-ho found himself nodding naturally.
Even just from the earlier trial, it was obvious.
Sachsen was someone who placed his own pain above all else.
To kill the System, he must have struggled endlessly.
The blood spilled along the way would have been enough to form a river.
“The most important thing in revenge is power. Sympathy, reasons, tragic stories, meaningless philosophies—none of that matters. In that sense, I believe the reason I failed in my revenge was simple: I lacked power.”
“What kind of power do you think you lacked?”
“Different power. As a Crusader and priest of the Church of the Chief God, I firmly believed I possessed every kind of power Quai could possibly grant. And yet I still lost. At first, I couldn’t understand why. I had miracles capable of reviving the dead and enough strength to split the sea with a single slash of my sword, yet I still couldn’t understand why I was defeated.”
As though recalling the past, he closed his eyes.
“I used this place as a prison of sorts and spent a very long time thinking. Thinking and thinking again. And eventually I realized it. Ah... I had arrogantly tried to defeat the System using rules from outside the game. Against a System that had already perfectly conquered and invaded my world.”
His eyes slowly opened.
“It was truly arrogant. I never should have done that. The System had scattered countless methods for Players to grow stronger everywhere, but because of my stubbornness, I refused to accept any of them.”
“So you truly challenged it using only the power you originally possessed?”
Sachsen nodded heavily.
...Damn.
That was impressive.
How had he even come up with such an idea?
But at the time, Sachsen genuinely believed it was possible.
A world where dragons, magic, and holy arts existed.
Within that world, Sachsen had been the strongest swordsman, possessed martial instincts worthy of a War God, command abilities rivaling a God of War, and mana reserves comparable to an Archmage.
On top of that, he was humanity’s strongest warrior, someone who had slain Demon Kings and dragons alike.
Only someone like that could have dared think such a thing possible.
Sachsen continued speaking.
“That’s why I envy you instead. You came from a world without dragons, magic, or divinity, which is why during your second life, you chose to become a healer instead of a swordsman.”
“When you put it that way, I suppose I was lucky.”
“The title Red Pope was also a color bestowed only upon me. But something darker than red is black. Thinking about it now, it feels obvious. We walked the same path and looked toward the same destination, but unlike me, you accepted everything.”
That was why he was black instead of red.
Because in the end, mixing every color together produced black.
“You haven’t learned the techniques of the other Masters yet, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s begin with learning their techniques.”
After speaking, Sachsen struck the altar once more with his greatsword.
At once, a dark violet stone pillar burst upward from the center of the altar like a mole springing out of a whack-a-mole game.
“It’s a Pantheon Stone.”
“A Pantheon Stone?”
“To be precise, a Crusader Stone. Some call it a Quai Stone, but because only Crusader teachings are recorded within it, we usually call it a Crusader Stone. You’ve seen similar things before, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have.”
“The Pope of the Pantheon can possess a total of four Stones. Paladin, Monk, Cleric, and Crusader. If each Master grants permission, these Stones can be summoned at any time in response to the Pope’s will. You can call them whatever you like, though people generally lump them together as Pantheon Stones or Quai Stones. Why don’t you try summoning them yourself?”
“Yes. I’ll try.”
“You were once a Player, so think of it like using a skill. That should make it easier.”
Like using a skill.
Su-ho imagined summoning the Pantheon Stones in his mind.
And shortly afterward—
KUGUGUGUGU!!
Three Pantheon Stones rose around Su-ho like giant gravestones.
“Oh.”
He had known he would encounter them again someday.
But he had not expected that time to be now.
Especially since he had assumed either Quai or the individual Masters would teach him how to use the Pantheon Stones.
Sachsen looked up at the Pantheon Stones.
“Pantheon Stones. Crystallized collections of holy arts created by countless practitioners. Naturally, this means you can now learn every technique recorded within them.”
Then Sachsen struck the ground once more.
The earth rumbled, and three more Pantheon Stones identical to Su-ho’s rose around Sachsen.
“Pantheon Stones.”
“Pantheon Stones? But I thought the Pantheon Stones were already—”
“Haha, why are you so surprised? I too was once a Pope. Naturally, I can summon Pantheon Stones.”
“There are multiple Stones? I thought they were uniquely inherited.”
“They are inherited.”
Answering calmly, Sachsen raised his sword.
Then he approached Su-ho and swung his blade at one of Su-ho’s Pantheon Stones.
KWAAAAANG!!
The Pantheon Stone shattered in a single strike.
Completely pulverized.
Yet Su-ho did not look surprised, causing Sachsen to grin.
“You’re not surprised?”
“Haha. I may be a new Pope, but I’m not a child.”
“Heh heh. Experienced people really are no fun to tease.”
“So the Pantheon Stones can simply be resummoned.”
“Correct. What matters to us isn’t the Stones themselves, but the teachings engraved within them.”
“I assumed the Stones themselves were what got inherited.”
“That would create all sorts of inconveniences. No matter how precious a lump of stone may be, how valuable could it really become in a world overflowing with mysteries? What matters is the message, not the messenger. Which means...”
Sachsen raised his sword again.
What was he doing?
Just as Su-ho wondered that—
Something fell from the sky.
KWABOOM! KWAKANG! KWAGAGAGANG!!
Thick clouds of dust exploded outward.
What fell from the heavens were, astonishingly enough, Pantheon Stones.
Like precision-guided bombardments, they crashed down perfectly into the four cardinal directions surrounding Su-ho.
Yet despite falling from the sky, the Pantheon Stones did not possess a single crack.
Apparently they were sturdier than expected.
Sachsen laughed.
“If you make proper use of the Pantheon Stones, you can use them like this as well.”
“That’s pretty amusing. For a student, this would basically be the equivalent of beating someone with a textbook.”
“Something like that. Though after arriving at the Pantheon, I discovered I’m apparently the only one who uses Pantheon Stones this way.”
“Huh? Ah!”
Su-ho understood instantly.
From the Masters he had met so far, the Pantheon Stones were practically sacred relics to them.
So who in their right mind would ever think of using holy relics like this?
And suddenly a thought crossed his mind.
‘Wait a minute. Maybe the reason Crusaders were disliked by the other Cardinals was...?’
Because of Sachsen?
Honestly, it seemed entirely possible.
Even now, that was exactly what it looked like.
A man who used sacred Pantheon Stones like Meteor Strikes.
Perhaps reading Su-ho’s expression, Sachsen laughed.
“Now then, enough ice-breaking. Shall we begin the real lesson?”
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