I was a knight in the Middle Ages

Chapter 530 The Ceremony of the Holy Rings (Page 12)

"To reform? To win people's hearts?" Rahim seemed to have heard the biggest joke, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

"Without the suppression of force, without swift and decisive measures, people will only ignore doctrines. Without the restraint of power, how can there be any order?"

“Then let’s use our actions to influence them!” Alpha’s eyes were burning.

"The mission of the Vatican is salvation and hope. We can establish a dedicated, unarmed team to help those most in need. We can win their faith through our words and actions, not force them to kneel with swords!"

"Form an unarmed team? And go rescue people?" Rahim shook his head repeatedly.

"This is simply a fantasy. In this dog-eat-dog world, without the protection of force, everything is just empty talk. How could those who have already benefited possibly give up their power?"

“Then overthrow the old order and establish a brand new papacy! A brand new order, where everything is under order.” Alpha blurted out, then realized his mistake and immediately shut his mouth.

Rahim wasn't angry. Instead, he looked at him thoughtfully: "Equality, freedom, rehabilitation, redemption... these words sound beautiful. But you're too naive, Alpha. A utopia without the maintenance of force will only be torn to shreds by reality."

"Maybe," Alpha sighed.

"But if we don't even dare to think about it, then the world will never change. If I survive, I hope to see a future where there is a separation of church and state, where the Papacy is only responsible for education and salvation, while secular power belongs to the empire."

Rahim remained silent for a long time, the light in his eyes gradually dimming.

Looking at the idealistic young man before him, he felt a mix of emotions.

“Power and desire are directly proportional…” Rahim said in a low voice.

“The reason Philosopher and I chose to remain neutral is because we are tired of the power struggles. We will not spread your words, but you should not mention them to anyone else either.”

Rahim walked to the holy spring, gazing at the pure holy water in the pool, his voice so soft it was almost a soliloquy: "If I had the chance, I would also like to become a pure knight of light, fighting only against darkness, untainted by any worldly defilement..."

"Unfortunately, neither the Holy Light Church of the past nor the Holy Church of the present can allow uncontrolled paladins like us to exist for long."

Rahim snapped back to reality, said no more, and shoved Alpha toward the holy spring: "Alright, enough nonsense. How much holy water power your body can absorb determines your future achievements. Go down!"

Alpha was caught off guard and fell into the warm and sacred spring water.

He looked back and saw Rahim standing by the pool, his tall figure looking somewhat desolate and tired.

"Having stepped into the Holy Realm, you are now vessels chosen by the gods. The upcoming Holy Ring Ceremony is the questioning of mortal bodies by the gods." The Pope's aged yet imposing voice echoed in the vast hall.

He held a silver holy water jug ​​and stood in front of Alpha, Duke Orlando, and the noble knight Doss, gently shaking it, and the cold holy water fell like raindrops.

Alpha remained oblivious to the hostility around it.

To him, the Duke of Orlando's gaze, which seemed to want to devour him alive, and the Knight of Doss's defiant gesture with his hand on his sword hilt, were nothing more than the last struggle of a clown.

Alpha strode confidently past the two men and headed straight for the assessment area shrouded in mist deep within the main hall.

As the heavy curtains were lifted, a chill that seeped into the bones swept over me.

Alpha then realized that the "holy water baptism" he had experienced with Rahim had not been without effect.

It didn't directly increase Alpha's magic level, but it was like an invisible scalpel, quietly repairing the old internal injuries accumulated from his years of high-intensity training.

At this moment, Alpha could clearly feel a pure and immense holy power lurking within his limbs and bones.

Like a sealed volcano, it will erupt once the test is passed.

If it fails, this power will dissipate the moment it steps out of the temple.

The world before him suddenly collapsed, and Alpha felt himself fall into a dark void.

This is not reality, but a sealed, extremely bloody ancient memory.

It was a battlefield littered with the corpses of gods.

A god-king draped in starlight, leading nine radiant knights, is engaged in a final battle against a demon god representing chaos.

The battle was extremely fierce, and the heavens and earth seemed to change color.

However, just as the demon was about to fall, the ultimate illusion it released corrupted the mind of a knight, causing him to betray the demon and turn against it.

In this critical moment, the tenth knight was born.

His armor was as black as ink, and his abilities were unpredictable and mysterious.

He can perfectly transform into any of the first nine Riders, possessing the exact same powerful abilities.

Thanks to the reversal of the Tenth Knight, the God King finally slew the Demon God and ascended to the pinnacle of all things.

But the pinnacle of power is often accompanied by the deepest suspicion.

The God-King began to fear that these ten knights, who possessed world-destroying power, would turn against him like demons.

So the God-King secretly forged the eleventh Holy Ring.

This ring possesses terrifying power: it can replicate the abilities of all paladins, and it can also instantly nullify the power of all holy rings.

The Ten Commandments are the sharp blades on the battlefield, while the Eleventh Commandment is the guillotine hanging over those blades.

However, the power of the Eleventh Commandment was so terrifying that even the God-King himself could not fully control it.

To counterbalance this power, the God-King created the Twelfth Commandment—symbolizing absolute "destruction".

However, this ring requires the combined power of at least eight paladins to barely activate, making it a trump card that should never be used except as a last resort.

Alpha's consciousness was suddenly jolted awake from the illusion.

He finally saw through the corrupt nature of the Papacy beneath its glamorous exterior!

Now that the Papacy has only seven members left, they desperately need the Ten Commandments in order to restore the glory of the Twelve Commandments or to gather the pieces needed to initiate some kind of ritual.

And he, Alpha, was the replacement for the chosen "Tenth Knight"!

Just then, a vast torrent of energy, as boundless as the sea, suddenly flooded into his mind.

The Holy Ring ceremony has officially begun!

But this force is not a gentle blessing, but a violent plunder.

Alpha felt as if his body was about to burst, the intense swelling accompanied by excruciating pain that seemed to tear his soul apart.

He instantly realized that the so-called "piety" and "belief" were all lies.

The essence of this ritual is a cruel sacrifice of souls.

It forcibly tears apart the soul of the victim, erases their original memories and personality, and then implants the "loyalty" and "doctrine" that the Vatican desires.

"Want to rewrite my story? Not so easy!"

In that life-or-death moment, Alpha demonstrated astonishing decisiveness and ruthlessness.

He did not choose to resist that force, because resistance would only lead to his soul being shattered and him dying.

Instead, Alpha actively changed his soul form, utilizing the special abilities he had gained during the baptism of the Elf King.

Disguising one's soul as a chaotic entity that has already been transformed beyond recognition.

At the same time, Alpha also offered up its own soul, allowing the other party to modify it.

Seeing this, the divine transformative power mistakenly believed that he had submitted and began to brutally reshape the "container".

Alpha closed his eyes, letting the power ravage his body.

A cold smile curled at the corners of his lips.

It turns out that the so-called Holy Ring of Purification is nothing more than a soul formatting and attribute alteration disguised as a sacred act.

Alpha, it seems, successfully deceived the Pope right under his nose during the trial.

The atmosphere at the ceremony of the Holy Ring suddenly became unpredictable.

Alpha kept his eyes tightly shut, enduring the excruciating pain of his soul being torn apart, but he keenly sensed it.

This so-called "holy ring ceremony" is nothing more than a cruel selection process disguised as a sacred ceremony.

The Pope's intentions were crystal clear—he was transforming all three of them at the same time.

Ultimately, only the vessel with the most perfect physical transformation and the most compatible soul will become the true holder of the Holy Ring.

Unfortunately, the Duke of Orlando and the noble knight Dos did not possess Alpha's sophisticated soul disguise skills.

That divine power surged violently into their minds, beginning a complete "formatting" of them.

However, just as the Pope's power was about to completely dominate, a sudden change occurred!

A cold, decaying dark power suddenly erupted from Duke Orlando's body!

That power was like a sleeping serpent suddenly awakening, instantly engaging in a fierce battle with the infused holy power.

"You bastard!" Pope Paul's expression changed drastically.

Pope Paul was completely unaware of the dark mark lurking within the Duke's body.

At this moment, more than half of the divine power had already been released, and it was now impossible to withdraw it.

As Orlando and Doss, the two "vessels," were about to explode and die due to the conflict of power, a hint of ruthlessness and helplessness flashed in the Pope's eyes.

In order to preserve the flame of the Holy Ring's transmission, Pope Paul suddenly waved his hand.

The holy power that was originally poured into the two people was forcibly transferred to Alpha in the middle like a flood breaking through a dam!

In Pope Paul's view, Orlando had been corrupted by darkness, and Doss was not pure enough.

Only Alpha, with its "body of light," is worth his desperate gamble.

But Pope Paul overlooked a fatal hidden danger—the "Praise of Light" had already been planted in Alpha's body by "Pope of Light" Leo!

At this moment, the powers of the two popes collided wildly within Alpha's body. The holy power and the domineering praise of light intertwined, making Alpha feel as if he were in a purgatory of ice and fire.

What terrified the Pope even more was that a sudden, intense burning sensation came from Alpha's back, followed by the slow emergence of a phantom yet majestic figure.

"No, Leo...why? I'm better than you in everything, why did Father give everything to you? Just because you're the older brother?" The voice was filled with resentment and bitterness.

"My brother, thief, thief who stole my divine power, how dare you still look me in the eye?" Pope Leo's tone was full of sarcasm.

As the phantom solidified, the face of the Pope Leo was clearly projected behind Alpha.

“No, this was given to me by my father. He knew you couldn’t protect this family business, so he sent me to stand up against you. He knew you would do something mad and disobey God’s will.” At this moment, Holy Pope Paul no longer cared about anything else.

Pope Leo looked at Paul before him and let out a deafening laugh: "Hahaha! I couldn't protect this legacy? Wasn't it you despicable villains who conspired to steal my power, preventing me from reaching the top, and causing the Holy See to split? Paul, you thief, today I will take back everything that belongs to me!"

It turns out that all of this was a grand scheme orchestrated by Pope Leo of Light.

Not only had Pope Leo planted a hidden plan within Alpha's body, but he had also detonated the previously laid trap in the core area of ​​the Holy See.