Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 122
EP. 122 Play Part 3
As soon as Bishop Lea met the Pope, her expression hardened. She had never imagined she would meet the highest figure of the church like this.
‘I never thought... I would end up meeting the Pope.’
She bore no personal grudge. However, everything the Pope did and enjoyed far exceeded her authority. She had wanted to live without encountering her, but she hadn't expected to meet her in such an important situation.
"Ugh."
The sound of teeth grinding. With only the Pope around, she was unconsciously grinding her teeth. Realizing that nothing would go right in this state, she made an effort to calm herself and opened her mouth.
"It's been a while, Your Holiness."
"It has indeed... It's the first time since you went missing."
The Pope greeted her as if she was glad to see her after a long time, with a slight smile. Then she quickly hardened her expression and got to the point.
"... So, Bishop Lea, why are you in the village where the heretics are?"
With that short sentence, her breath caught for a moment. Though she was speaking indirectly, the implication of her words was, "Aren't you a heretic too?"
Lea briefly considered denying it but shook her head to dispel the thought. The Pope was the law of the church, the absolute order. Denying her was no different from heresy.
‘Even if I say yes, I'm a heretic; if I say no, I'm a heretic. How amusing.’
This was what a witch trial must be like. She sighed with a smile, calming her mind, and decided to act as she always did.
"I came here guided by the Goddess... Even if I failed, I am a priestess who set out on an adventure to defeat the Demon King. As such, I still hear the voice of the Goddess, and that's why I'm here."
— Didn’t you hear the Goddess telling you to come here because you're outdated and can't hear her voice? And why am I here? Obviously, the Goddess sent me to stop what you're doing.
The Pope found her words somewhat amusing and laughed.
"Is that so? That's an interesting story for a fake."
"......"
Lea flinched at the word "fake." The true companion of the Hero's party was the "Saintess," after all. No matter what she did, she could never be the real one. It was the source of her inferiority complex and her Achilles' heel. When that was touched, a surge of emotion rose within her, but she forced herself to suppress it and calm her expression. If she expressed her emotions here, she would lose all her options.
‘No, what I need to do here is… make this situation spiral further out of control. I need to push things to the point where the Pope’s actions seem like a lie—so that the moment she tries to have me executed, doubt will creep into the minds of those watching.’
Having decided on the direction to lead the conversation, she was about to speak when she saw a massive spear coming down on her and had to roll to the side.
Boom!
A loud explosion. As she struggled to regain her senses amidst the explosion, someone descended from the sky, laughing bizarrely.
‘... What is that?’
Even she, who had committed evil deeds as a pawn of the church for a long time, couldn't help but gasp at the strange form she saw for the first time.
‘A chimera? No, it has too much divine power to be a chimera... But its appearance is too much like a chimera...’
It was as if it had been made to resemble a mythical monster. As she stared blankly at the grotesque form, the Pope sighed lightly and petted what appeared to be a chimera, speaking.
"Didn't I tell you to come out slowly, Paladin? ... Well, I appreciate that you recognized your master and tried to protect me."
A paladin? How could that be a paladin? Where had the paladin she knew gone, and why was this thing being called a paladin? Realizing that the Pope had completely lost her mind, Lea abandoned her previous thoughts and tried to escape.
"Bishop Lea, you always had a tendency to make mistakes at crucial moments."
"......"
"Well, thanks to that, you managed to rise to the rank of archbishop, but... this is no longer important."
"What?"
"Oh, you didn't know? The reason you became an archbishop and joined the Hero's party was all thanks to me."
Her mind grew complicated at those words. She couldn't understand what the Pope was saying.
"What are you talking about now..."
"It's almost time. Even if I wanted to tell you, there's no time... It's time to end this."
With those words, an overwhelming divine power poured down. Feeling a white barrier approaching her, she tried to resist by summoning the remaining divine power, but...
‘Due to the aftermath of torture...!’
She couldn't hold out for long and had to kneel under the Pope's divine power.
"Cough."
Red blood trickled from her mouth. It felt like her insides were crushed and mixed. As she tried to calm her trembling hands and gasped for breath, the Pope slowly approached her, smiling as she spoke.
"But it was fun, wasn't it? Those moments when you strutted around as if you were the protagonist of the world must have been happy."
"Get lost..."
"Hmm, it's too bad to let you go like this, so I'll show you something interesting."
With those words, the Pope quickly smiled and shouted loudly at the knights standing behind her.
"Bishop Lea, a heretic and a traitor to humanity... No, I hereby permanently expel Lea from the church and open a holy trial against her."
At the shocking statement, everyone froze. It was unprecedented in the history of the church to expel someone of bishop rank without any meeting and declare a "holy trial" against a high-ranking clergy member.
‘... A holy trial.’
Despite its name, a holy trial meant cruel torture and execution. It was usually carried out on heinous serial killers or demons, not clergy.
"I ended up being the first high-ranking clergy to receive such a thing in the history of the church."
Lea realized that this would have a tremendous impact—enough to be recorded in history books. Just then, she heard clapping from behind.
"Wow, damn. This is it."
Along with the applause came a voice of admiration. Looking in that direction, she saw the Hero—the very person she so desperately wanted to seek forgiveness from.
"......"
Jeong-hyeon approached the Pope and spoke in an admiring voice.
"This is what a Pope should be."
He was mocking under the guise of praise. Smiling at the Pope, he began listing her misdeeds one by one.
"Not only did you join hands with the demons, but you also killed innocent believers to gain faith. And now you're trying to kill a bishop who speaks the truth... Amazing."
It was the pinnacle of sarcasm. Using a tone meant to provoke, he swaggered around. The knights, watching this, simultaneously drew their swords and began to surround him.
"How dare you...! Do you know where you are to spout such nonsense?"
"Those disrespectful words towards the Pope! You too will surely face a holy trial!"
"Protect the Pope! Don't let that heretic get close to her!"
Hundreds of knights, as if they had been waiting, raised their divine power with angry expressions. It was the first time the famously kind knights had shown such anger. As Lea crouched low and watched, the Hero smiled brightly and spoke.
"What, I'm a heretic?"
Then he drew a sword from his waist... No, was it right to call that a sword? Seeing a blade with an excessive amount of divine power, she couldn't hide her fear. The divine power was so immense it could be compared to the Hero himself... To think it was contained in a mere sword. It wasn’t some mythical holy sword...
"A holy sword?"
She said it herself, but was so startled she almost hiccuped. She had heard the holy sword was destroyed in the previous generation... So why was the Hero holding it? She glanced at the Pope to see if she knew, but...
"The Pope doesn't seem to know either."
The Pope, like her, was staring at the Hero with a hardened expression. The Hero, indifferent to their reactions, scattered an immense amount of divine power, pressing down on the surrounding knights.
Thud!
The sound of heavy armor crashing to the ground. The knights surrounding the Hero simultaneously fell, unable to rise. Watching this scene, the Hero raised his divine power even further and shouted loudly.
"I am the proof of the Goddess’s existence."
With the immense divine power emanating from the holy sword, countless corpses began to be summoned around him. Among the corpses were heroes who had once dominated their eras, surprising her. The Hero continued to speak playfully.
"I am the savior of this world… And you call me a heretic?"
At the word "savior," the knights seemed to realize who the Hero was, exchanging glances with each other. They couldn't understand why the Hero, not a demon, was attacking them. Seeing their confusion, the Hero, with a face that belied his playful expression, spoke to them.
"Well, in a way, you're not wrong. Because..."
He stepped on the head of a knight in front of him, splattering red blood everywhere as he spoke.
"I was a savior."
At that declaration, the Pope hurriedly looked to the side. She seemed to have just realized that all of this was being recorded. As soon as the Pope realized this, she tried to give an order to the new paladin, but the Hero was quicker.
He threw the holy sword, embedding it deeply in the Pope’s right chest.
The jarring sound of cold metal piercing flesh. Along with that sound, an excessive amount of blue blood splattered everywhere.
"... A demon?"
Seeing the blue blood, which only demons possessed, Lea looked at the Pope with a face full of astonishment. The Pope, too, blinked as if she couldn’t understand why such blood was coming from her.
‘Acting...?’
No, it was too vivid to be acting. If she had known, she would have tried to hide it, not act so bewildered. The Pope genuinely seemed unable to understand why blue blood was coming from her, looking at it with a blank expression. Then she covered it with her hand and began rolling her eyes.
‘... Could it be?’
Was this all planned by the Hero? As soon as that thought crossed Lea’s mind, she looked at the ground. She saw red blood mixed with the blue blood.
‘Ah...’
She realized it immediately. The scene of the blue blood gushing out was all intentional.