"Then... who... hmph!"
Archbishop Adam's voice had grown hoarse. He cleared his throat and composed himself before continuing, "Then who could seal God? Ku...?"
In the distant cavern, the corpse, over two meters tall, hung limply from the cross. It was utterly still and silent, yet Adam could not shake the feeling that He was still alive.
Or rather, that He was listening to their conversation at that very moment, simply without moving.
The thought unnerved Archbishop Adam. He did not even dare speak Kuba's full name again, for fear that the progenitor of vampires might somehow sense it.
Since God could not die, then clearly Kuba, the progenitor of vampires, who had inherited everything from him, could not die either.
"No, it was Shenyin."
His Holiness the pope's eyes were full of reminiscence, as though he had lived through that era himself.
But he was growing weaker and weaker, and his eyes had even begun to close.
"What?" Archbishop Adam was startled, finding it hard to believe.
According to the Church's records, Shenyin had clearly been God's most favored one. He had even created the Ascension Ritual to resurrect God.
To this day, the Ascension Ritual remained one of the most important rituals in the Church.
Little Norton was especially well qualified to speak on that point.
"You say you study the Church's scriptures every day. Then what do you think of God, Adam?"
Archbishop Adam thought for a moment, then glanced at God's corpse hanging high on the cross in the distance. Hesitantly, he said, "God is holy and possesses great power, but... whether in the records of the Holy Covenant or those of the Ascension, God seems to have desires and preferences of his own. Or rather, his humanity outweighs his divinity."
"That's right. God clearly has desires, thoughts, and preferences of His own.
"But that is the greatest terror of all for every living thing.
"God can be a cold, emotionless, desireless god, reigning high above all! He can also be a Holy Father who possesses nothing but love and holiness. Or He can be a supreme will.
"The one thing He cannot be is a living being with desires and thoughts of His own!
"His existence is a threat to everything.
"So after Kuba attacked God, Shenyin dismantled Kuba's body and made a cross from his bones. He hung God's corpse high upon the cross and exposed it to the sun day after day, using Kuba's divinity and the accumulated death to prevent God from awakening."
The fundamental purpose of the Ascension Ritual was the exact opposite of what Archbishop Adam had imagined.
He had already sensed something was wrong. If the sun was death, then was exposing God to its rays meant to awaken Him or keep Him from awakening?
He had assumed that God had created the sun, and that absorbing sunlight would restore His power.
Who would have thought the fundamental purpose was to keep God from awakening?
As His Holiness spoke, Archbishop Adam raised his head slightly and looked at the cavern ceiling.
He had not noticed it earlier, but now that he looked closely, he saw that a huge opening had been made in the top of the cavern, with an enormous oval crystal fitted into it.
Judging by the crystal's convex center, it clearly focused the light like a magnifying glass to intensify the sunlight.
The sight of such an uncannily ingenious creation left Archbishop Adam momentarily dazed.
Divinity. Divinity again.
Kuba was a lesser God, so only his body, imbued with divinity, could suppress God's awakening!
He had never imagined that this was the history of the ancient era.
Still, Archbishop Adam understood His Holiness's words perfectly.
He felt that if he were Shenyin, he would have done the same.
No one would tolerate a god with the power to create and destroy everything living in the world. Otherwise, they would never sleep soundly at night.
Just as Archbishop Adam was reeling from the revelation, His Holiness's faint cough brought him back to his senses.
"Cough, cough... I... have no time left, Adam. I can already feel God calling me."
"Your Holiness!"
Archbishop Adam grew anxious.
Before, he had been eager for His Holiness to hurry up and die so he could take over as pope.
But now he felt there was little appeal in sitting on the papal throne, especially with God's corpse constantly weighing on his mind.
Thinking about it that way, he felt he would be better off not becoming pope. At least then he would not have to know about this or worry about it all the time!
"Adam!" His Holiness's body had already begun to tremble.
His eyes, which had closed just moments ago, opened again. But unlike before, they were now utterly devoid of light, clouded with the gray pall of death.
From beneath the covers, His Holiness extended his right hand, which had long since withered to a state more horrifying than that of a dried corpse.
Archbishop Adam immediately took it in both hands and cradled it in his palms.
"Your Holiness!"
His Holiness gasped heavily, seemingly entering his final convulsions.
"Huff... huff... huff... Divine blood... can be used to cultivate Holy Knights. I've already given the order for you to succeed me as pope.
"You may manage the Church as you please... but, but when it comes to God's corpse, you must look beyond the Church's interests!
"God's awakening will be a catastrophe that wipes out everything... so even if the Church is destroyed, even if you are hanged from the gallows, you must reveal the existence of God's corpse and make sure the next king or pope knows.
"Adam... the Church may be destroyed... but God's corpse... must not..."
His Holiness arched backward in his wheelchair, as though resisting the arrival of death.
But as his words grew more intermittent, his corpse-like body suddenly lost all its strength and fell back into the wheelchair.
The old pope's gaunt body lay still, his eyes slightly open. Not a breath remained in him.
"Your Holiness, Your Holiness!!!"
Archbishop Adam cried out the old pope's title, but received no response.
No!!!
Wait, I became the fucking pope!
His Holiness Adam had mixed feelings, and not just because he had ascended to the lofty position of pope. More than that, it was because of God's corpse, which he had just learned about, and the old pope's final words.
"Even if the Church is destroyed and I'm hanged, I can't let anything go wrong with God's corpse? Your Holiness, you think far too highly of me!"
His Holiness Adam looked at God's corpse hanging high in the cavern and let out a long sigh.
"You left far too suddenly, Your Holiness. What became of Kuba, Shenyin, and Jonah?"
His Holiness Adam felt that his choice to take over as pope had been utterly terrible.