The old man you see with your phone is highly suspicious.

As soon as he finished speaking, the paladins in the hall raised their warhammers and glared at the messenger sent by the empire.

A faint light flowed over the warhammer, and the oppressive aura emanating from the heavily armored paladins, each over two meters tall, almost suffocated him.

"You'll regret this..." The messenger was so frightened he almost knelt down and hurriedly left.

"Did I tell you to stand?" came the icy voice of Pope Alora.

The messenger dared not speak further, fearing he wouldn't be able to leave the hall. He could only curl up into a ball, muttering, "Fine, I'll get out..."

“Your Holiness Pope Alora, the Empire is beyond saving. What should we do next?” a priest said.

They had long realized that the empire was doomed; since the death of the former general, no one in the empire had been able to suppress the undead calamity.

This only allowed the Scourge to wreak havoc on the Empire's borders, gradually eroding the defenses.

This crushing defeat has only buried the already hopeless empire to the ground, and has even cost the Papacy's 10,000 Crusaders their lives.

"Escape? Where can we escape to?" the Pope retorted.

The entire hall fell into complete silence.

"We have nowhere to escape! Behind us lies the sea, the endless sea that even the sacrifice of tens of thousands of warships could not find!" the Pope roared.

She had had enough of this empire. Ever since the death of the previous pope twenty years ago, she, as a saintess, was appointed to take over this mess.

The empire, having lost its former general, has become utterly useless, with deserters becoming generals? From then on, the empire had no brave warriors left, and every battle with the undead army became a race to see who could run the fastest.

If you run too slowly, you'll become a sinner with countless crimes, just like the former general!

That incident was purely a political struggle. Before that, the Empire had only three legendary masters: the Imperial Court Archmage, the Pope, and the former General Barak.

This was the empire's strongest period, with three legendary figures. Even when facing the Lich King, who had swept through surrounding small countries and unleashed the Scourge of the Undead, the empire could still keep him out and even had the power to kill him.

However, a foolish political struggle ruined everything. The Empire was dissatisfied with General Barak's background as a paladin. Even though General Barak's family was an old imperial noble family, he was considered absolutely disloyal by the Empire because his loyalty was not absolute.

Therefore, in that political struggle, General Barak died and became a ghost, and the Pope also died, killed by General Barak.

The empire won a great victory, and the power of the Papacy was weakened to the extreme, but what was the price?

Years later, after the court's grand mage also died of old age, the entire empire had not a single legendary-level powerhouse!

The undead army outside has been crushing everything in its path, having already swallowed up 80% of the empire's territory. The Lich King himself is the strongest being on the entire continent, the only legendary being.

The empire is doomed, a calamity of the undead has struck! How utterly ridiculous!

"How far has the purification of General Barak's spirit progressed?" the Pope asked the bishop of the Inquisition in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, during yesterday's inspection, more than 80% of it has been purified. At the current rate, it will only take four years to complete the purification. We will then obtain a holy sword and a holy spirit that can be passed down for eternity," the cardinal said.

"Four years..." the Pope murmured softly.

It's too late now. The empire is like a dying camel, and the last straw has broken its back, leaving it with no room for a final struggle.

"Take me to the underground chamber, I will speak with General Barak." The Pope seemed to have made some kind of decision.

"Wait, Your Holiness the Pope."

"No, the General is still a ghost."

"We are unsure whether the General will attack you directly..."

"Enough! I am the Pope!" Alora's roar silenced all the bishops.

Yes, they had no other choice. They had already broken ties with the Empire, and the undead army was at their gates. They had nothing left to lose.

Now that things have come to this, we can only pray that General Barak still cares about the Papacy and can still rout the undead army.

Pope Alora was panting heavily, his chest heaving.

She seemed to have made her final decision: even if it meant death, she would release the only legendary-level powerhouse, the undead Barak.

She has a secret she hasn't told anyone: by blood, she is the granddaughter of General Barak.

Her mother was the illegitimate daughter of a great general. The general did not take her back to his family, but entrusted her to the care of a friend of the Church. Later, her mother married a gifted paladin and gave birth to her.

Twenty years ago, the Barak family was massacred, and only her branch survived because she had changed her name and lived in hiding. This was a secret the former pope told her before he died.

The reason she was chosen as the new pope was precisely because of this important position, because if anyone could best wield that demonic sword, it was only her, the last remaining member of the Barak family.

The former pope had calculated that even if General Barak harbored great resentment, he would still protect his only remaining relative.

Because he no longer has any family.

In the future seen by the former Pope through the Great Prophecy, only this demonic sword was capable of killing the Lich King and resolving the Scourge of the Undead.

All other futures are doomsday!

That's why he risked his life to seal General Barak, betting his fate on the future! Betting on that one and only future that could end the undead scourge.

"Buzz..." The sudden earthquake shocked everyone.

Then, the Inquisition members' expressions changed drastically, and they said, "Oh no, it's the secret chamber that seals the Holy Sword! Damn it, General Barak may have rioted."

However, they didn't have time to check before the massive impact shattered the ground.

The earth cracked and houses shook.

A skeletal demon, over five meters tall, soared into the sky and hovered above the cathedral. Its figure blocked out the sunlight, its bone wings spread wide, making it look like a demon from hell.

Chapter 6 Battle, awesome!

Those bone wings, like a dark cloud covering the sky, brought a nightmare, blocking out the sunlight from the entire cathedral and causing countless refugees below to begin to stir.

There were many who were terrified, frightened, and constantly chanting doctrines in an attempt to have the gods drive away the demons.

The knights of the Papacy felt an indescribable evil surging into their minds, along with an irresistible fear.

"All troops, form ranks and prepare to meet the enemy!" the knight commander roared instantly.

He immediately pulled out his giant shield and held it up in front of everyone, while the warhammer in his hand emitted a surging, powerful light.

They were all high-ranking members of the Vatican and knew that General Barak's spirit was sealed at the very bottom of the cathedral, but they could never believe that General Barak, who was about to be purified, suddenly went berserk and broke the seal.

Without any warning, without giving them the slightest warning, it was just like the undead calamity that swept across the continent.

The paladins drew their great shields, their warhammers gleaming, and divine spells were ready to be unleashed.

But all the knights who had experienced that battle twenty years ago felt only a chill from head to toe.

They knew General Barak's true strength. When he was alive, this imperial general was basically the strongest person on the continent, and even after becoming an undead, his strength had not diminished much.

Even with the combined efforts of the legendary former pope and the assistance of countless members of the Holy Knights, they could only seal him away.

That was a powerful figure who could withstand the calamity of billions of undead and perish together with the Lich King. But now the Holy See is in decline, and only two near-legendary figures remain. How can they possibly deal with this undead general?

Between near-legendary and true legendary levels, there is a difference in combat power of at least several times.

Will it win?

There's no way we can win!

If they are capable of defeating the Undead General head-on, then they are fully capable of defeating the Lich King head-on, but how is that possible?

But there was no other way; their duty was to expel and purify the dead.

Fear turned into rage, and with the knight commander's roar, countless holy light spears formed from divine magic were hurled at the skeletal demon in the sky, transforming into a rain of light cannons and swords.

"You're courting death!" The enormous skeletal demon swooped down.

The original plan was not to be at odds with the Vatican, but since the Vatican has launched an attack, we are not going to stand idly by!

The strong winds it generated almost blew the people below away, and the dust on the ground was blown around like a sandstorm.

A clash between knights and demons, a collision between a giant shield and a demonic sword.

The battle between the two sides then began.

"Divine Shield!"

The knights were bathed in holy light, and the skeletal demon looked toward the pope behind them.

The idea of ​​cutting down the back row flashed through his mind in an instant. The skeletal demon ignored the holy spear stuck in its body and stopped fighting the iron-clad knights. It flew straight towards the back row of the knights, towards the female pope standing on the throne.

The greatsword cleaved through the air. When Xue Lude decided to ignore these iron-clad paladins, there was nothing they could do but watch as the skeletal demon charged toward their pope.

The enormous demonic sword sliced ​​through the golden throne from above, like a hot knife through butter, and hurtled towards High Priestess Alora.

"Grandpa Barak!"

The shouts echoed throughout the church.

The giant sword hovered a few dozen centimeters above Alora's head.

The grotesque skeletal demon looked down upon her, holy light shining upon it, while its shadow enveloped the panting pope, whose chest heaved violently.

“Ah…Lola…” the skeletal demon’s hoarse voice rang out.

"Protect the Pope!" The paladins finally rushed in. Their heavy armor provided them with enough defense to withstand some legendary-level damage, but it also greatly limited their mobility.

The bone wing flew vertically upwards, smashed through the church ceiling, and then left safely.

Only a group of paladins, powerless to do anything, lingered in the afterglow of fear, along with the pope, whose body was panting heavily.

……

"This is not in line with our plan; we should have just left."

In an abandoned mansion in the capital, the old ghost spoke with Xue Luding.

"I actually wanted to test that power from before..." Xue Dinglu said somewhat embarrassedly.

There was no plan to fight the Papacy, but the Papacy made the first move.

However, Xue also obediently admitted his mistake. It was mainly because it was the first time he had used the power of the old man's possession, which gave him the illusion that he could punch a planet to pieces.

It's commonly known as getting carried away.

However, they did not kill him. In the transformed state just now, Xue Lude was in control, while the old undead played a supporting and coordinating role, managing to stop him from making a mistake just before he was about to kill him.

No, I need to stay calm and not let power control my thinking.

Xue Dinglu quickly pulled himself away from the pleasure brought by that power. After all, it was not his power; in essence, it belonged to the old undead. He was just a pilot who piloted a Gundam.

At that moment, he felt something strange coming from his body.

A drop of dark red liquid fell to the ground. Xue Dinglu immediately touched his nose, and the sight of his hand covered in blood stunned him.