There were many doc.u.ments in p.r.o.noia’s secret meeting room.

All of them were important, but Woohyuk didn’t have time to spare, so he just took a quick glance at the contents.

Nearing the end of his investigation of the doc.u.ments, he found an old collection of books hidden deep inside the interior s.p.a.ce of the room.

‘Is this the journal about Rosa Etherna?’

Next to the collection were piles of magic books that described the steps needed to rebuild the Ark of Knowledge.

These texts couldn’t be understood without knowing the language of the sages, Rosa Etherna.

So, for more than a thousand years, Iscariot’s descendants had been trying to uncover the secrets of Rosa Etherta. However, in the end, they had failed, as the lineage of the descendants had now been cut. 

‘I’m relieved we’ve at least secured the most important doc.u.ments.’

But the problem was that Aleister knew about Rosa Etherna.

This was probably the reason why he left Rosenkreuz to die.

He had to get back the King’s Book that was purportedly in the Kingdom of Enoa as soon as possible.

Of course, he had to stop the first catastrophe/First Great Disaster before that.

After thorough investigation, Woohyuk moved to take control of the head of the Holy Pope’s Office.

“You, who are you!”

One of the cardinals, sitting at his desk and busily rummaging through papers, suddenly shouted out as he saw Woohyuk’s sudden appearance.

However, instead of receiving an answer, a punch was thrown.

The cardinal couldn’t even muster a squeak and fell lifelessly onto the floor.

“Keu-Heuk…”

“Don’t yell. Otherwise, I’ll pull your tongue out.”

“…”

The cardinal nodded silently as if he understood the situation.

Woohyuk grabbed him off the floor and sat him back down on the chair.

“Where are the other cardinals?”

“They’ve led the clergy to the outskirts of the territories to provide support. I was the only one left behind to review important doc.u.ments.”

‘Important doc.u.ments, huh?’

Woohyuk turned his gaze toward the doc.u.ments piled up on the cardinal’s desk.

‘The doc.u.ments are about the sanctification process and upkeep for the Pope’s main sanctuary barrier.’

The sanctuary barrier was able to prevent the invasion of the demons during this period.

Of course, there was an exception for the 72 Demon King and the Seven Sinister Witches.

Based on the doc.u.ments, the sanctuary barrier needed a stone statue of salvation, a relic handed down to successive popes, a tremendous amount of blood from a saint, and an enormous amount of divine power.

Although these were very difficult conditions, the Pope’s Office was able to prepare them continuously and maintain the barrier.

“Then, the Pope will now come out of his place to perform the sanctification ceremony?”

“That’s right. He should be in the G.o.d of Light’s sanctuary right now. If you want, I can guide you…”

The cardinal was a person who achieved his current position by using his innate socialization tactics and reading situations.

Woohyuk nodded when the cardinal appealed for his value in order to survive.

“That wouldn’t be bad either. Anyway, you guys are also needed for this plan, so if you do a good job, I won’t take your life.”

“T-Thank you!”

“But it would be better to take basic measures.”

Woohyuk took Jake’s Pocket Watch out of his pocket and used it to hypnotize the cardinal…

“I will guide you to the place where the Pope is…”

The cardinal became a loyal puppet who obeyed his master’s every word.

Woohyuk eyes twinkled as he walked through the corridor.

‘If I’m able to capture Pope Ignatius and brainwash him, the rest shouldn’t be very difficult.’

He didn’t intend to destroy the Holy Pope’s Office, his reign, or slaughter all the high-ranking priests of the G.o.d of Light’s Church.

Rather, he thought that it was better for him to use them in reverse, to prevent the northern front line from collapsing when the first catastrophe/First Great Disaster occurred.

Since p.r.o.noia was completely destroyed, it was possible to freely control the Holy Pope’s Office from the rear by taking control of the head.

When they arrived at the G.o.d of Light’s sanctuary, two priests intercepted the oncoming cardinal.

“Ignatius told us not to let anyone through until all preparations for the sanctification ceremony are complete.”

Woohyuk was not visible in the eyes of the two priests, as he hid his appearance with Helena’s stealth magic.

So, he was able to attack the two priests without any difficulty.

Bam!

“Argh…”

“Ugh…”

He hit the two priests in their vital spots, making them crumple down onto the floor while foaming at the mouth.

Woohyuk instructed the cardinal on what to do in the future and then opened the large bra.s.s door leading to the sanctuary.

Creak…!

As light leaked into the sanctuary s.p.a.ce from outside the door, the eyes of those who were preparing for the sanctification ceremony fell on Woohyuk.

However, none of them could see Woohyuk’s appearance.

The only person they saw was the cardinal, who had on a blank expression.

Pope Ignatius asked with a puzzled glance,

“Yes, Cardinal Benedict?”

“…”

Cardinal Benedict said nothing.

While the cardinal was buying time, Woohyuk went deep into the sanctuary area and summoned Astaroth, the 29th ranked Demon King.

“Make them all your puppets.”

“Yes, my lord.”

When Astaroth lifted the two-handed sword Regius, the bottom half of the hall was engulfed with a gloomy, dark energy.

Sah~

[The Essence of Heartbreak].

It was a skill that allowed unfriendly targets within a radius of 1 km to become lethargic, absorb their vitality, and manipulate and control those who lost their consciousness.

As the priests fell one by one, Pope Ignatius made a confused expression and stepped back.

“Wasn’t the attack taken care of? I sent five cardinals…”

“It was a strategic play, make some noise in the west and hit from the East,” Woohyuk said as he revealed himself behind Ignatius.

At the same time, Ignatius entire body became rigid with fright. He gulped while tension overwhelmed his expression.

“W-What do you want? For reference, we do not have Solomon’s treasures. That was taken a long time ago by Etheria Rodinus…”

Bam!

Woohyuk’s fierce punch stuck into Ignatius’s abdomen.

“Oof…!”

“I don’t have time to explain everything. All you need to do is to faithfully play the role of my puppet.”

The Pope’s religious power was also needed later on to bring the Tiberius Emperor down from the throne.

Of course, the backlash of the Seven Paladins was inevitable, but that was something he had to face in one way or another later on.

While Woohyuk was walking away with the fainted Ignatius on his back…

“Stop! Otherwise, I’ll attack!”

A priest with light blue hair stood his ground in front of Woohyuk while shouting in a threatening tone.

It was an unforgettable voice for Woohyuk, even after so many years had pa.s.sed.

Woohyuk stopped in place.

“I’m surprised you didn’t lose consciousness.”

“Because I have a higher divine power than most others. Regardless, please bring back His Holiness.”

“That’s difficult. I’m not here to play right now.”

“What is your purpose? Being human, why do you stand on the side of the demons and bring chaos into the world?”

The female priest knew nothing about Woohyuk. This fact pierced Woohyuk’s dull heart like a needle.

‘You and I keep getting farther apart.’

However, this wasn’t the appropriate setting to divulge his inner thoughts.

Furthermore, he didn’t want the tragedy of the past to repeat itself once again.

“If you know too much, you’ll get hurt, Lucretia.”

“… H-How do you know my name?!”

Snap!

Woohyuk teleported behind Lucretia and struck a vital spot on the back of her neck with his hand.

After that, Lucretia lost consciousness. Woohyuk carefully laid her down on the floor.

‘It’s dangerous outside the Holy Pope’s territories, Lucretia. Stay here until everything is over.’

Though he may not be able to have a relations.h.i.+p with her this time around, it was enough for him to know that she could continue to live her life without dying.

Leaving his bitter heart behind, Woohyuk turned to the door.

He had given up everything that humans wanted to enjoy.

This time, he had to see things to the end.

The follow-up on controlling the Holy Pope’s Office was done relatively easily.

Woohyuk captured and brainwashed all the cardinals who had returned and reorganized the special agency, Castineon, filling the agency with the priests he had brainwashed and brought to his side.

The religious power of the Holy Aperia Empire came into his grasp.

Woohyuk decided to actively use this newfound power.

“What? A cataclysm that will destroy my Empire?”

“It is said that the Holy Lady of Prophecy has witnessed the advent of fallen angels several times in her dream. That’s why Pope Ignatius is calling the priests from all over,” Eleanora stated as she explained the situation to Emperor Tiberius.

She had been secretly communicating with Woohyuk through the communication artifact.

Eleanora was trying to get her father’s permission so that Woohyuk could station his troops in the Empire.

“Hmmm… That means I should call upon the Paladins as well. Of course, it would be difficult to bring back those who left for the northern front.”

“Wouldn’t the Heroic King be able to prevent the impending apocalypse? He is a skilled person who defeated the Demon King.”

“Hero King? The rumors about him are so vague… but would he be willing to cooperate with us?”

As the Emperor of an Empire, Tiberius thought process was overly concerned with politics and public image.

Nothing was free in this world.

In order to get someone’s help, one must pay the price and reveal one’s personal desires and inner thoughts.

In addition, the Hero King was a person the Emperor had to be especially careful about, as his influence was rapidly expanding recently.

If the Hero King asked for his own daughter in exchange for military support, the situation would become much more of a headache.

When Tiberius appeared skeptical, Eleanora opened her mouth to speak once again,

“This is information I got in secret, but apparently, only the Hero King can prevent this catastrophe.”

“… What’s your source? Did you ever get in touch with the Holy Lady of Prophecy while riding around the lands on my Wyvern?”

“Ho-ho… Father, stop talking about that… Anyway, it’s from a letter I received from Hildegard. She is said to be with the Holy Lady of Prophecy.”

Eleonora took the letter out of her arms and handed it to Tiberius.

Reading its contents, Tiberius’ expression subtly hardened.

“… It can’t be helped. I have to send a diplomatic envoy to negotiate with that Hero King.”

“Shouldn’t we hurry? I recently heard rumors that Ignatius had invited him to the Holy Pope’s Office.”

The Hero King was once recognized by Rosenkreuz as the G.o.d of Light’s gift of divine intervention.

So, all things considered, the Hero King would probably side with the Pope instead of the Emperor.

Until now, Tiberius had never had any contact with the Hero King.

‘Should I have paid more attention to the western small kingdoms…’

In the kingdom of Enoa, the Alliance of Thorns and Demon Kings continued to rage on, so the Emperor was concentrating his focus and energy on those areas.

He was also wary and keeping an eye on the movements of the Theresian Empire across the sea.

Regardless, he understood that regret was useless, so Tiberius made a decision.

“Okay, then I will give Julia to the Hero King. She’s over 16 years old now.”

Julia was the youngest of Tiberius’ three princesses.

If the Hero King really could stop the cataclysm, it was not a waste to offer her and create a formal relations.h.i.+p.

However, Eleanora was fiercely opposed to Tiberius’ idea.

“What are you doing by sending a kid who doesn’t even know how to deal with men? I would rather marry him. In fact, I personally want to be gifted to him.”

“What?”

At Eleanora’s shocking remarks, Tiberius jaw dropped down.

His daughter, who was so sa.s.sy and didn’t even give a glance to men, was saying that she would volunteer herself for another man.