This is the center of all faith in the Vatican, and the center of all faith power in the world.
The faith power here is tens of times more concentrated than that carried by any statue outside.
However, someone has arrived here before the two of them.
"You two have finally arrived."
The old, gray-robed Pope stood beneath the colossal statue, his head tilted upwards. The scepter in his hand seemed to tremble slightly.
He did not seem surprised by the arrival of Lin Xiao and Qi Tian.
"So, you are the Pope."
Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes. He was beginning to understand.
This man was undoubtedly being dominated by the Pope's soul. The body of the Dark Archmage should not possess consciousness on its own.
All parts of the Dark Archmage were clearly just beginning to regain their strength, whether they were the ones domestically or in the United States. They clearly acted on instinct alone. The main soul of the Dark Archmage should not be in these parts, yet this torso possessed such strong autonomy, even transforming into the likeness of the old Pope to communicate with them.
This was clearly not something the Dark Archmage's body could achieve on its own.
Thus, there was only one possibility.
This torso was actually controlled by the soul of the old Pope, allowing him to fully retain all of the Pope's memories and to have arrived here without anyone noticing.
Otherwise, given the Pope's devotion to the Lord, he didn't think this torso could have completely extracted all of the Pope's memories while attempting to devour his soul.
"As expected of Mr. Lin."
The old Pope said softly, "I have indeed abandoned my original body... this body is too powerful."
"You have betrayed your faith."
Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes.
"It is not I who betrayed my faith, but the one I believed in has betrayed us," the old Pope remained calm, as if merely stating a fact. "God loves the world, yet all people suffer. God loves the world, yet has never saved his believers... The disappearances of so many people in the Vatican could not prompt them to appear and save their flock."
"At that time, I thought, if God cannot save them, then I shall save them myself."
Lin Xiao seemed to understand what the Pope meant.
"So I found this entity. It was attempting to devour the flock of the Vatican at the time. I was furious, but... I was no match for it," the Pope said. The crown on his head flickered, and then, countless streams of faith power began to enter the crown.
"I lost. Even with the divine miracles I used, I failed. But, I also won."
The Pope looked at his hands as he spoke. "My soul entered his body, and I discovered that under the protection of faith power, my soul did not dissipate. In fact, upon entering this entity's body, I instantly gained control of it."
"And then... I thought, since God cannot save his people, then I will save them." The more the old Pope spoke, the more potent the faith power around him became. "God is able to be more powerful because they can absorb more faith power. As a human before, I couldn't do this, but now... I am no longer human. I am now a demigod."
"Then, I can possess more."