I Became The Pope, Now What?

Staring at the void of darkness, Sylvester found himself speechless. 'What happened?' He was sure he didn't feel any spatial distortion, magic, or energy flaring up. So, how did the entire mountain seemingly teleport into nothing?

"S-Sylvester… what is this?" Even Empress Zenith seemed to show hints of panic. "Where are we?"

"Certainly not home," Sylvester replied and knelt down at the edge of the tunnel he had formed. He looked at the endless darkness and used Elder Magic to see the magic in the air. Sure enough, he noticed an endless sea of the same black eel-like worms tangled everywhere.

'Chonky, do you feel something?' he asked, using Solarium Web to express his thoughts.

Miraj nodded strongly, 'Like my belly again, same as before, Maxy. Where are we? It feels… nice.'

"Was this a trap?" Dalgan wondered.

Sylvester shook his head at that, "No, we're right where we belong. The only way to cross this endless dark space is to master spatial magic. Your previous empress wrote about this in the journal."

"It took me more than a hundred years to learn what I do with spatial magic now. How will you master it to… cross an entire uncharted space? It's suicide," Zenith warned him.

Sylvester chuckled, "With the way things are, we're already headed towards suicide, Empress. Let's not waste time. I need your help understanding your world's runes and magical schemes. Teach me everything you know so we can leave this place."

"Shouldn't I be the one to cross this space? It'd be faster for me to lea—"

"It took me twenty-six years to become as strong as a Supreme Wizard, and two more to break beyond that limit," Sylvester blurted to her face. "Besides, the method she wrote involves more than magic that you can't simply learn without a thorough understanding of the basics."

"Forgive me. I'm just worried about the Oracle. If we're too late…" She rubbed her face annoyedly and nodded, "What do you need to learn?"

"This," Sylvester took the book from Miraj and sat down in front of Zenith. He pointed at the magical formulas and the schemes that were in the Demon World's language. "Help me understand all of this."

Zenith frowned, staring at the other side of the page. "I don't think I know that part,"

"That's physics, don't worry about that." He steered her to focus only on the magical aspect, "Diana… I mean, your previous Empress knowingly wrote this down for me."

Zenith nodded and silently began to look through the pages to understand what the whole scope of the written materials was. Sylvester even handed her pieces of paper and pen with the help of Miraj, and watched her write down magical runes in the shape of larger patterns. Sylvester already knew how to speak the Demon Realm language, but the written script was a different thing.

"It's mostly advanced magic. Even I don't know most of it, but I do know how to read it," Zenith said, her brows frowning underneath her helmet. "I'll try my best, Sylvester."

"That will be sufficient, Empress."

"Just call me Zenith… we're equals in stature, even if not might."

"Self-aware," Sylvester quipped. "Then let's begin, Zenith."

She placed a sheet of paper before Sylvester and began pointing. "These are the core shapes that make up the individual letters of my language. The runes are derived from these as well, and learning one will help you learn the other."

Like a little boy back in school, Sylvester learned the alphabet of the Demon World. Fortunately, it wasn't hard for him. However, the same couldn't be said about a certain furry cat who tried to study as well.

Clearly, the alphabet lacked any mention of bananas for him to retain it in his brain.

…

Meanwhile, back in the Empress' Palace, the Oracle paced back and forth in her room. It had been a month since the Empress left with the otherworlder, and the four Supreme Commanders had begun to ask questions.

Knock! Knock!

"Oracle, open the door, or we shall break it! Where is the Empress?"

"We'll count to ten!"

The Oracle bit her lips and tried to find cover for herself. But what could even protect her from the four peak powerhouses of the world? So, at best, she found some cover behind a couch.

Boom!

The door was blown open to pieces. Four tall men in their regal cloaks entered with heavy steps. Their weapons held low as they searched the room for the Oracle.

"Come out, Oracle. Just tell us where the Empress is!" shouted Commander Koznox.

There was nothing she could do, so she rose from her hiding place and stared at the tall men. "The Empress went to a secret training session with the guest Lucifer."

Thud!

"We're late!" Commander Bakillan cried, falling to his knees in defeat. "We should have begged harder."

The Oracle speechlessly stared at the four men. She expected them to pounce on her and try to kill her like they always wished to. "What do you mean, Commander?"

"We wanted to receive training from Sage Lucifer," Commander Jaek devastatingly added.

"I hope he'll return."

"How strong will the Empress be when she returns?"

At that moment, the Oracle realized something. The four Commanders were something much more than just heartless killers.

They were also muscleheads.

…

How long had it been? Sylvester had no clue. Since he and the Empress were in the realm of Supreme Wizards, they did not need to sleep and rest. Continuously, Sylvester went from one goal to another, learning everything he could from the Empress.

Starting from the language and then to the runes. Once he was able to understand the runes, everything was easy since magic was mostly similar to what he had in his world. With minor changes, he made significant progress, and by combining it with the physics formulas that Diana had written, he felt like he could make the jump into space now.

'If we were back at home, you would have received a Nobel prize, Diana. To create an entirely new theory and formula for space travel, explaining the breaking of the laws of physics and proving it—I'm in awe.' He sighed every single time he looked at the physics side of the journal.

"Are you sure you don't want to train more? You only learned to read it," Zenith asked, seeing him getting prepared to make the jump.

"I don't have the luxury of spare time, Zenith. If I don't end this trip here quickly, I might not have a home to return to," Sylvester explained, taking out metal chains from the Chonky Bank. "Tie them to your wrist. If I lose you while traversing space, you might be lost forever."

"Give me another," Zenith blurted.

"I don't even care." Suicidal Dalgan was still the same as ever.

Sylvester quickly gathered all the things they had used over the unknown time spent there and tied Miraj to his chest with a harness. It confused the other two about what he was doing, but they didn't bother asking.

There was nervousness, but Sylvester didn't show it on his face.

"Do you have the coordinates of my or your world?" asked Zenith.

Sylvester shook his head rather casually. "I don't have a reference point to calculate them. For now, the methods of calculations are useless. They can only help me set up a destination that is in line of sight."

"Then how are we going to return home? I don't suppose going straight from here will get us to my world." Zenith started to doubt if following this plan was the right thing to do. "Maybe we should plan more."

"Nothing will come from doing that. We have no point of reference, no matter what we do. But I do have something in mind… Just trust me." Sylvester walked to the edge of the tunnel he had built and closed his eyes.

Opening himself up to magic, he utilized elder magic to look around at the countless eel-like creatures. Currently, they were blocking everything in front of him. In the suitable case, there was supposed to be a tunnel between them.

'A point of reference.' He tried to focus on something that he himself wasn't particularly sure about. 'If my memory serves me right, I did experience spatial travel before. It should be enough as a point of interest.'

Minutes passed, and then hours went by. Silently, Sylvester remained standing in one place, unmoving like a dead man. Dalgan and Zenith also remained silent the whole time. As for Miraj, he was snoring in the harness.

"Hmm?" Sylvester reacted all of a sudden and opened his eyes, looking left and right. "Did you hear that voice?"

"What voice?" Dalgan exclaimed, as this was precisely what Sylvester had asked when traveling to the Demon World.

Sylvester shook his head and tried to focus. "I-It's the voice of a child. Speaking human tongue."

He focused on it again and heard the words much clearer this time.

'I'm hungry… Why did Roger hit me?'

Sylvester was now confident that it was the voice of a child—

possibly five to nine years old, but certainly not more than ten—

a girl from the mannerisms and the changes in pitch. But the content of those words took him by surprise.

'Ah, my hands. It's so painful… why won't he give me a brush to wash the dishes?'

Sylvester took a leap of faith and stepped forward while keeping his focus on the voice. He was strong enough to easily pull the two behind himself and floated in the sea of black invisible eels.

But Sylvester could see the tunnel-like path the eels were creating for him. The more he focused, the farther and faster they moved through space.

'Is God real?'

By that point, Sylvester had no clue what this girl was even going through. It seemed like abuse.

'If I'm a good girl, will my wish come true?'

Faster and faster, he felt his comprehension of spatial magic rising with each moment. The voice of the girl felt like it was getting closer as well.

'Then, can I have tasty food? An-and lots of sweets… No, no… forget that, I want a big brother, or father… I wanna go home… I… don't wanna run anymore… please…'

Utterly shocked, Sylvester felt scent through time and space. So much sorrow and depression that he could taste the foul scent of rotten meat. Hopelessness, fear, hunger.

"Who are you, girl?"

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