Chapter 5: My pet

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The sound of a church bell resounded throughout the whole City and this church bell didn't just ring throughout one but all six Cities. The church bells were created in a chain reaction manner where if one rang then the other five would also ring with it. One of the previous Popes had requested this design for when he wanted to address all church members in all six Cities.

It hadn't been a long time since the church bells rang as Pope James would ring the bells every time one of his children went to battle or when they passed away so everyone was quite used to the bell ringing.

When the bells rang, it should have been a normal occurrence but today, everyone felt apprehensive in going to church which would start in an hour.

[Carol, go to the Holy Church and record everything that happens there. Make sure to get it all on camera and it should be perfectly recorded. In fact, get a front row seat at the church and make your video live for us to see. If you complete this mission successfully, you shall receive a promotion effective immediately!]

"Yes, Chairman Shawn. I won't disappoint you!"

…

In a completely dark room, many candles placed in a rather odd circular pattern lit up one by one and illuminated the room in a red light. At the centre of this room was a pentagram drawn with blood and a humanoid being was seated cross legged on it.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Click!

A person knocked three times and then entered the room while the humanoid being remained cross legged.

"Lord First Blood, you requested for my presence."

[That idiot Pope James has rung the bell once again, I doubt this time it's to honour his dead idiot children. I want you to be my eyes and ears but most importantly, see if we can finally recruit that idiot pastor into our ranks. With his influence, we can accomplish a lot of things for the cult.]

"Yes, Lord First."

The person then stood up and left the room. When this person closed the door behind them, the humanoid being slowly opened his eyes which were crimson red.

[Something tells me things are about to be interesting… very interesting, hahaha!]

…

All leaders of their respective factions sent spies to the church to find out what Pope James had planned for the future now that he's lost everything. As much as they liked to believe that Pope James hadn't changed, they knew deep down that the recent incident of Pope James losing his family was the straw that broke the camel's back and there was no going back.

And most of these leaders gave their spies spy cams to record live everything that happened in the Holy Church.

…

An hour quickly passed and all six churches across the Human Continent were packed, almost all civilians had come to the church to listen to Pope James speak. This was how much influence Pope James had over humanity, with a wave of his hand he could make or break the human civilisation. He alone held so much influence, he alone was a danger to all organisations and he alone could crowd his churches every time he rung the church bells. This was something not even his father could accomplish while he was still alive.

Pope James or rather Rubert James stood on the podium in preparations to address the masses. Today, he wasn't wearing his usual pope attire but wore a formal black suit that everyone wore and stood calmly while gazing at the crowd.

On the other five churches in the five Cities, the masses watched Rubert James on holographic 3D projections and it felt like he was the real him rather than a projection. All front row, second row and third row seats were all occupied by spies of different organisations who were focused on Pope James appearance.

A bald head, chocolate brown skin, deep black eyes that felt deep for all who made eye contact, a middle aged man's face and a vertical black line as thin as a strand of hair was drawn in between his eyebrows, making him look a bit devilish. But his overall appearance was that of a person who looked harmless

*Clears throat*

"Greetings everyone. First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for coming here at such a short notice. My condolences to all those who've lost their loved ones in the recent explosion, may their souls rest in peace."

The crowd exclaimed and James continued with his speech, "But I'm not here to talk about that today. Today, I'm here to enlighten you all, lead all you lost lambs into a brighter future or rather help you fulfil your destinies. I had a revelation that helped me understand why we're suffering so much as our Holy Father watches from above and the truth is quite shocking to say the least.

We have people here who are born with disabilities, whether it be physically or mentally disabled and why is that. To those born blind, deaf or mute, did the Lord mean that they would live their lives without being able to see, hear or talk to their loved ones or children? To those in vegetable states, was it God's plan for them to live their whole lives bedridden? To those who die from hunger, to those who die from diseases and to those who are brutally murdered, is it God's plan to die in such a gruesome manner? The answer is yes."

*Gasp!*

*Whispers!*

People began to whisper in discussion about today's sermon and about Pope James and what had changed about him. James continued to preach and the whispers died down as everyone listened attentively.

"I came to two conclusion, the first one being that the entity we believe in, the Lord we pray to, the Holy Father we're faithful to simply doesn't exist. Yes, you heard me correctly, he doesn't exist otherwise he would have long answered our prayers but I think I hit the nail on the head with my second conclusion.

My second conclusion is that the Holy Father exists but he's not who we think he is. He's not the merciful, loving, just and definitely not holy. He is neither omnipotent nor omniscient because if it was so then getting rid of evil in the world would have been as easy as breathing. I refuse to believe that someone who can create an entire universe can't get rid of all evil in such a small world, I refuse to believe that someone who is loving and merciful can watch as children are raped, kidnapped and trafficked, tortured and mutilated. And I refuse to believe that a just Holy Father could just watch as my family burned to death, me, his most faithful servant!"

A dark and ominous aura was slowly emanating from James's body, the whites of his eyes being slowly devoured by darkness and his voice sounding deeper than it previously was. The people shivered in fear while some straight out cried.

"Pope James, are you possessed?!"

"The demons have finally extinguished our last light, our last hope."

"Give Pope James back you devil! In the face of evil, I shall fear not for the Lord is with me!"

People started praying for God to have mercy on the possessed Pope James and bring him back to the light but James wasn't deterred by their actions but was more motivated.

…

"Open your eyes and see the world for what it truly is. A hundred thousand years ago, money made the world go round and a hundred thousand years later, power makes the world go round. Don't you understand, don't you understand the one and only Universal Truth, only when you have power can everything go your way! Only with power in your hands, can you truly be free and I'm here to offer you that freedom… for I'm a pioneer of freedom."

Everyone was shocked by Pope James's last sentence because truth be spoken, he had a useless Superpower and was as weak as them so what fredom was he talking about? Fortunate, they didn't have to wait long before Pope James showed it to them.

Ash black wings appeared on his back and slowly unfurled, they were so beautiful that everyone's eyes were glued to them.

"I have been reborn. I have been given a chance to have control over my own life, future and my destiny. Tell me, don't you want power? Don't you want to control how you live and how you die? Don't you want to see the outside world? Go to the beach again?

I'm giving you a chance to not believe in the unknown but rather believe in yourself. I want you say 'I accomplished that!' rather than 'It's all because the Lord is with me!'. I want all of you to be your own person, able to stand on your own feet and achieve greatness without giving credit to someone else. Join me and let's grow stronger together, take the world by storm together and conquer the world together. Don't do it for me, do it for yourself."

After his speech, James could clearly see the faith the masses had for the Holy Lord dwindle and disappeared.

[As the Successor of the Three Eyed Death Crow, I introduce to you… prosperity.] and after saying that, the thin black vertical line between his eyebrows slowly split and opened.

Pah! Pah! Pah! Pah! Pah!

His ash black wings flapped in excitement as a pitch black eye appeared with a flickering small grey flame acting as the pupil. A strong aura of death covered James when his 'third eye' fully opened, his ash grey wings suddenly turned into a pair of grey flaming wings that caused the temperature to drop drastically. Everyone felt their spines tingle with fear when they gazed at James.

Feeling the immense power coursing through his veins, James couldn't help but smile but people became more fearful of him because his saliva was as black as ink. But more than fear, the people actually felt excitement and a great hunger for power. They were all asking themselves the same question.

'If I accept this being, will I become as strong as Pope, no, will I become as strong as James… the Servant Of Death?!'

No matter how one looked at it, James Rubert really did look like a Servant Of Death. On the other hand, James turned around to gaze at the golden statue with a blinding light, in the beginning, he was always in awe of this blindingly bright statue but now, he felt nothing but hatred for it, hatred so deep it was engraved on his very being.

[From times of Immemorial to the present and the future! From the creation of life and everything living, from above and below, of light and darkness. The inevitable, the blessing within a curse, the end of everything. As it has been and always will be, I call upon thee… Herald Of Death, to occupy these sacred places and make them your own. From light to darkness, from the faithful to the heartless, from a Sacred House Of God to the Sacrificial Altar. I call upon thee… Three Eyed Death Crow!]

A single black dot appeared on not just one statue but all six, this black dot, no matter how minuscule it was, it tainted the blindingly bright statue. And after it appeared, it started to grow at a very slow speed but as the seconds passed, it grew faster and faster until the whole golden statue was nothing more than a completely black metal statue.

This statue was not much different from the previous one, its whole being was hidden by a long grey robe with a hoodie, the hands were hidden under the robe but they held a huge death scythe and, a pair of grey wings and a grey flame under the dark hoodie, only this flame could be seen under the hoodie and nothing else.

SCREECH!!!!!

[We pay homage to the Herald Of Death, Three Eyed Death Crow. As it has been and always will be, Darkness shall forever reign Supreme!]

…

[We pay homage to the Herald Of Death, Three Eyed Death Crow. As it has been and always will be, Darkness shall forever reign Supreme!]

…

[We pay homage to the Herald Of Death, Three Eyed Death Crow. As it has been and always will be, Darkness shall forever reign Supreme!]

…

[We pay homage to the Herald Of Death, Three Eyed Death Crow. As it has been and always will be, Darkness shall forever reign Supreme!]

…

Across all six Cities, the masses welcomed the appearance of a new God with open arms and payed homage to this terrifying entity. Their voices reverberated throughout all six cities as the screeches of a crow reverberated throughout the Human Continent and beyond.

This day would be recorded in history books as the day humanity marked its first step forward, its first step towards a greater future and its first step towards freedom.

…

Nighttime.

Kaleo watched this spectacle together with Mr Perga while Kaleo indulged himself in delicious food. The screen not far from him nothing more than a form of entertainment while he was eating.

"Sir Ail, what do you think of this? Is it good or bad for humanity? And is what James said about the Holy Father not caring about humanity actually true?"

"Whether it's good or bad for humanity will depend on humanity itself and how they use it. And I'm glad that humanity has finally been united, as for those living in the Villages with their useless Superpowers, don't they know of the phrase; There's no useless ability, only useless people. Oh this is delicious, this too even though I forgot its name. As for the god part, I think it's true that this Holy Father exists but doesn't give a shit about humanity or at least on this planet. In his eyes, humanity here is probably no different from micro-organisms, do you care about micro-organisms? No right, it's probably the same for this Holy Father." said Kaleo as he continued eating like his life depended on it.

"Thank you for your insights and I almost forgot, tomorrow is your ID Card's day of evaluation. I had to pull a few strings for it to be this quick, I hope everything goes well so you can get started and used to your job as soon as possible."

"Mhm. By the way, I've searched all over the internet for new anime but didn't find any, why is that?" asked Kaleo nonchalantly.

"Anime? Oh , you mean cartoons from the past that the Japanese used to make. The Japanese have long stopped creating those due to the Catastrophes and the continuous invasion from other races. They are now focussed on advanced weaponry and technology."

[What..?!]

The temperature in the room suddenly rose, immediately burning all the food on the big table, it was so hot that the furniture was beginning to melt from the heat. This sudden change in attitude shocked Mr Perga so much that he was sweating bullets as he didn't know why the guy was so worked up.

"Hahaha, it's just anime, is there a need to react in such a manner? Haha."

Kaleo took a deep breath to calm down and the temperature returned to normal, Josh could see that the guy was a bit annoyed by what he said but didn't know why.

"First of all, it's not cartoon. After so many years, people like you still exist who call anime cartoons. Secondly, it's not just anime, it's life, it's a way of living and I won't allow even you, my employer to disrespect it like that."

"Oh, my apologies. As you know, I'm not…"

"It's fine but I must do something about this. Which City do they occupy?"

"If you're asking which City is occupied by the Japanese then none because all human races live in all cities without any race actually dominating the place with numbers. All races live in all cities in peace and harmony, the headquarters of the Japanese is in Frost City, sharing it with the Russian Federation and the Cartel, in fact, the Cartel is everywhere and is…"

"That's enough information for now, thank you. Three, are you up for the task?" asked Kaleo.

When Kaleo mentioned the name 'Three' the entire hotel was engulfed in complete darkness, and not just the hotel but the whole city was engulfed in absolute pitch darkness that people couldn't even see their own hands, much less the person next to them. Whatever Kaleo summoned, it was powerful enough to engulf an area of about twenty million square miles in complete darkness with just its appearance.

Sniff! Sniff! Sniff

[Master, you know that you only have to point me to any direction and I'll make it happen. Isn't it just an army, I can make it disappear in a few minutes, an hour if I'm careless.] a voice sounded in the room but since it was super dark, Josh Perga couldn't see anything but the voice alone scared him enough to croak while wetting himself. The pressure was so overwhelming that his heart literally stopped beating and his body had turned into a corpse, not moving an inch.

"I'm not talking about getting rid of the invaders. I want you to make sure that animators are willing and happy to create anime content again and won't stop anytime soon. And don't forget, those 'chains' are there for a reason… you're not allowed to break them, understand? And do this without attracting any attention!"

[Yes Master. I'll be on my way then.]

…

"Haaa… haaa… haaa… haaa… Mr Ail, pardon me sticking my nose into your business b-but… what was that?!" inquired Josh who was still trying to catch his breath.

"A pet, a cute and adorable pet of mine."