A Predestined End
A Predestined End
His Holiness O'Brien was already waiting at the door.
Mayne thought that His Holiness looked older than the last time he had seen him. He was sunken-eyed, and wrinkles around his eyes now had covered his whole face, looking like a spider web. His smile, however, remained kindly as before. Mayne could not help but kneel down in front of the pope. His nose twitched as he began to weep. "Your Holiness, we..."
"Get up, my child." The pope sounded calm and gentle. "I've heard that you're in trouble. Let's talk about it in the hall."
Only several candles placed in the corners of the hall were lit up, as today was not the day for incarnation ceremony where rows of candles would light up the whole place like stars. The pope sat in his chair, panted a little and said, "Now, tell me. What has happened outside?"
Mayne was clear that His Holiness O'Brien shouldered great responsibility and did not have time to take care of those trivial matters that happened outside Holy City. As one of the three archbishops assigned by the pope to assist in managing the church, Mayne knew that he should try his best to avoid bothering His Holiness with these things, but now he really did not know what to do.
He briefed the pope on what had happened.
"Heather is dead..." O'Brien heaved a sigh after a long silence. "She's such an observant, clever and devout girl. I watched her grow up."
"Your Holiness, please refrain your grief."
"The murder will be punished." The Pope nodded. "Now, Garcia and the Kingdom of Wolfheart form an alliance. Did the new poison take effect?"
"It did when we attacked Broken Tooth Castle. All its defending soldiers died after a month. When Judgement Army marched into the city, there was hardly anyone alive in the residential area. However, it didn't seem to work when we attacked Wolfheart City. The resistance of the enemy is still strong at present," Mayne reported.
"You made two mistakes. The people poisoned will get sick and die in seven to ten days. You should have launched an attack when they were in the peak incidence of poison disease and cured the residents in the city to reduce their hostility toward us after you seized the city. Don't forget that what we need is people not empty cities. It's the first mistake," O'Brien said slowly.
"The second mistake you made was that you had waited for a month before you launched an attack. By doing so, you could reduce our casualties but meanwhile you gave more time for your enemy to find treatment. The new poison is in fact made from demonic beasts. Based on what's recorded in 'Canon of Magic', there're over 70 kinds of magic abilities which could stop the infection spreading. There was probably one witch who happened to have such an ability in the city. It's not a rare thing, given that there're tens of thousands of people in the city."
"You mean, they're in collusion with witches..."
"When it comes to life or death, who'll care whether the witches are demon minions or not. That witch might come forward to treat the people by herself or was forced to do so as someone discovered her ability. Neither situation is good news for us. If they really manage to resist our attack with the help of the witch, they may make another disruptive move. They'll accept the witch or even worship her as a hero," the pope said calmly.
"It's all my fault," Mayne said, lowering his head in agony.
"It is, but not a very serious mistake. After all, to minimize the loss to Judgement Army and God's Punishment Army was the reason for you to set such a strategic direction." O'Brien tapped Mayne shoulder with his scepter. "And it's an opportunity for us, as Princess Garcia of Graycastle and the King of Wolfheart are in the same city."
"Oppor-opportunity?" The archbishop was dumbfounded.
"Yes, an opportunity to get them all," O'Brien stood up and said to Mayne, "Follow me."
Guided by guards, Mayne walked behind the pope. They got out of Pivotal Secret Temple and went deeper into the cave inside the cave. In the beginning, Mayne could see the road in the weak light of a large God's Stone of Retaliation, but it was gradually dimming as they moved forward. When Mayne could not help but turn around to look, he found that Pivotal Secret Temple and the God's Stone of Retaliation were already far behind them. At this time, the guards lit up torches in case that anyone stumbled on gravels on the ground.
"Where... are we going?"
"We've arrived, my child." His Holiness O'Brien stopped and panted heavily. "Oh, well, I'm really old. Walking such a short distance can make me so tired now..."
A guard came up to support him and said, "Your Holiness, let me carry you."
"No, thanks. I'll be alright with some rest." O'Brien stood at the place for a moment and then said, "Light up the braziers."
The archbishop had not noticed until now that besides the guards who were holding torches there were several high iron shelves standing by the stone road. It was hard for anyone to see these metal things in darkness. After the guards climbed up the shelves to light up the rosin basins on the top, dazzling flames gushed out all of a sudden. Mayne squinted at first to adapt to the change in light and then looked forward.
In flickering firelight, he saw something tall and huge covered by a dusty sailcloth.
"As demonic beasts are growing stronger, I've planned to put it to use later, but now it seems that I have to use it ahead of the scheduled time." O'Brien waved his hand. "Remove the cloth."
"What's..." Mayne could not believe what he saw now when the thing was unveiled. It was a huge, ferocious-looking iron four-wheeler. It had no carriage, but each of its wheels stood even taller than himself. The thing was mounted with dreadful embolons and an animal bone holder with a bone shield set in the middle. The shield was as large as three to four door plates combined and covered with barbs. Two pointed-end iron rods were stuck out from two holes in the shield, looking like arrows ready to shoot. On both sides of the iron four-wheeler, there were a dozen of iron spears like that. Each spear was thick as his thigh, with dull metallic luster.
"It's referred to as Siege Beast in 'Canon of Magic'." The pope walked to the iron four-wheeler and patted a sturdy iron rod. "It's controlled by magic power. Three to four witches have to work together to operate this thing. Siege Beast's shooting range is much farther than that of a mangonel or ballista. Generally speaking, city walls can hardly resist its iron spear shots, and sailing ship built of giant logs will be as fragile as a piece of paper facing its attack. It'll easily destroy the walls of Wolfheart City and stop Blacksail Fleet."
"Is... it a weapon created by Pivotal Secret Temple?"
"No." O'Brien shook his head. "You should be able to guess it. It comes from our enemies—the demons in the hell. That's why the church has to hide it in the depths of the cave. When you use it, remember to try your best to hide it from the civilians?"
"Got it," Mayne replied while lowering his head.
"How come the witches are able to manipulate a demons' weapon? Do the demons also have magic power?" Instead of raising those questions, Mayne pressed down his suspicions, as he knew he was not entitled to know that until he became the next pope.
"Besides, to prevent Garcia and King of Wolfheart from fleeing this time, I'll send two pure witches to assist you in the battle. No one can escape from them... Go ahead, use those devils' blood to mourn Heather," the pope said solemnly.
"Supreme Pontiff's Pure Witches!" Mayne was thrilled. All the pope's witches had abilities amazing enough to be recorded in "Canon of Magic", as he had chosen for himself the strongest pure witches, who were raised up and controlled by the church. Heather, Tayfun, and Mayne had pure witches, too, but the pope's pure witches were way out of their league. Now that His Holiness had said the enemies could not escape, they were doomed.
"Yes, Your Holiness," Mayne excitedly said.