Live Streaming Academy

Chapter 101: Twelve Popes of the Holy Empire

"Once the casualty reports hit the global network, the Church would have mobilized the Holy Knights immediately. We would have marched into the labyrinth under the guise of an emergency rescue operation—completely bypassing the academy’s restrictive jurisdiction and overriding the portal owners’ authority. We would have formally exterminated the anomaly, executed the Paladin, and seized the greatsword for our own holy armory while the public praised our divine intervention."

The pope leaned back into the shadows of his throne, letting out a frustrated sigh. "That was the flawless design."

Another pope spoke up from the right side of the semicircle, his silhouette shifting aggressively against the veil. "But this unregistered kid, Solomon, completely ruined the orchestration. He wandered into a restricted anomaly ahead of schedule, somehow survived the spatial distortion, and entirely cleared the labyrinth."

"He did not simply clear it," a smaller shadow interjected from the far left. "He humiliated our history. Our analysts reviewed the delayed broadcast footage. He defeated the ancient Paladin purely by staggering luck. The corrupted knight was visibly degraded. He failed to utilize his signature radiant attacks or holy magic during the duel. The child simply capitalized on the decaying corpse’s mechanical limitations and walked away with the exact relic we intended to secure."

The central pope slammed his hand against his armrest, the sharp sound echoing like a gunshot through the chamber.

"And we were entirely blind to the situation until it was already over!" the central figure snarled. "Because the Grandmaster successfully petitioned the global network to permanently prohibit the Holy Empire from directly monitoring the academy’s live streams, we received the intelligence far too late. By the time our external informants relayed the footage of the anomaly clearing, the broadcast had already concluded. Sending the Inquisitor to secure the relic after the fact was a desperate, failed measure."

The chamber fell into a heavy, tense silence as the popes considered the magnitude of the missed opportunity. Tens of thousands of students survived, the academy’s reputation remained perfectly intact, and a priceless holy relic now rested in the hands of a defiant, unawakened teenager. freewёbnoνel.com

"The plan failed," the central pope finally declared, regaining his icy composure. "The academy survives for now. However, this Solomon boy has openly challenged the authority of the Church."

"By the way, has the intelligence report on the boy arrived yet?" a pope asked from the far right of the semicircle.

"It should be here by now," another answered.

Right on cue, the heavy iron doors groaned open. A high-ranking intelligence scribe stepped into the dim, incense-filled chamber. He carried a single, magically sealed document and immediately dropped to one knee before the twelve veiled thrones.

"Deliver your findings," the Lead Pope commanded from the center. "Have our archivists identified any royal kingdoms associated with his distinct silver hair?"

The scribe kept his head bowed to the stone floor. "Your Holiness, historical texts confirm several ancient dynasties possessed that specific trait. Coincidentally, the royal bloodline of the Eden Kingdom was also renowned for their silver hair. However, our global census confirms that there are currently no living royal families who possess it."

"Is it possible the boy is a forgotten descendant?" a shadowed figure asked from the left. "Could he be distantly related to one of these royal families?"

"That is fundamentally impossible," another pope interjected firmly. "You know the laws of the world. A realm is only removed from our dimension and classified as a ’ruin’ when there are absolutely zero living descendants left. If even a single legitimate heir of Eden or any other fallen kingdom were still alive today, those domains would not have become sealed labyrinths. The old bloodlines are completely extinct."

The Lead Pope steepled his fingers, his massive silhouette shifting against the backlit silk. "Then Solomon is nothing more than an ordinary peasant. A low-born filth. What does the intelligence say about his family and civilian background?"

The scribe trembled slightly. "We... we cannot access that information, Your Holiness. The boy’s personal history, familial ties, and civilian records have been heavily encrypted. The Grandmaster of the Live Streaming Academy is personally safeguarding his files under a high-tier sovereign lock. Bypassing his administrative firewall to discover the truth is nearly impossible."

A chorus of angry mutters instantly rippled across the thrones.

"That insolent administrator!" a pope spat, his shadow thrashing violently against the veil. "He has become a persistent, intolerable thorn in the side of the Church!"

"Can we not formally flag the academy?" another pope demanded, standing up from his throne in outrage. "Draft a tribunal mandate! Charge the institution with harboring unregistered combatants, endangering students, or obstructing divine justice! We can mobilize the Holy Knights and place their entire campus under a righteous siege."

"We will do no such thing," the Lead Pope declared.

His voice cut through the chamber like a physical blade, instantly silencing the uproar. The sheer, oppressive gravity of his tone forced the standing pope to slowly sink back into his seat.

"The Grandmaster is merely a shield," the Lead Pope explained, his voice grim and entirely devoid of its usual arrogance. "The true danger is the founder of the Live Streaming Academy. That entity is not someone we can ever afford to provoke. Even if the Holy Empire mobilized its entire military might to challenge them on fabricated charges, the conflict would not end in a siege... it would end in our absolute disaster."

"What else does the intelligence report reveal?" a pope demanded from the right side of the chamber, his silhouette leaning heavily against the veil. "Give us the details of his talent."

The scribe flipped to the next page of the magically sealed document, the parchment glowing faintly in the dim light.

"His recorded talent is named Convergence," the scribe read aloud, his voice echoing in the massive hall. "It is officially classified as an SSS-rank ability. However, according to every credible source, the boy spent three years completely unable to activate or understand it. It was this exact failure that earned him the public moniker of the ’Strongest Loser’ prior to his enrollment."

A harsh laugh erupted from one of the thrones. "A convenient cover story. He is obviously lying about his inability to use it to mask his true capabilities."

"Perhaps, Your Holiness," the scribe answered hesitantly. "But our analysts have reviewed hours of his broadcast footage. He has stated multiple times on his live stream that his internal mana core is entirely dormant and his talent remains unawakened."

"Then how do you explain his strength?" another pope interjected, striking his armrest. "How does an unawakened civilian block the strike of an ancient Paladin? If it is not his SSS-rank talent, where do those combat skills come from?"

"Our background checks confirm he possessed that exact level of physical prowess long before he ever joined the Live Streaming Academy," the scribe explained. "He survived for a year taking undocumented, highly dangerous mercenary commissions. As for the devastating, flashy attacks captured at the end of his broadcast, our theologians suspect that was entirely the latent magic of the holy relic. The greatsword likely amplified his strikes to mimic high-tier attacks."

The popes murmured among themselves, clearly dissatisfied with the explanation.

"What about his inhuman stamina?" a smaller shadow asked from the far left. "The boy streamed his expedition non-stop for days without a single hour of sleep. Could his talent be a passive physical enhancement? An immunity to exhaustion?"

The scribe shook his head. "Negative, Your Holiness. His complete lack of sleep and relentless stamina were also heavily documented during his illegal mercenary days. It is simply a physical anomaly he possessed long before he supposedly stepped into a labyrinth."

"He is playing us for fools," the first pope snarled. "He is most certainly lying. An unawakened child does not simply survive the underworld and clear an ancient kingdom’s anomaly without relying on a hidden power."

"It does not matter if he is lying."

The Lead Pope’s voice cut through the bickering, instantly silencing the chamber.

"The boy’s secrets will be exposed soon enough," the Lead Pope declared, resting his hands together in the shadows. "The Grand Global Academy Tournament begins in a few short months. The Live Streaming Academy will be forced to compete against dozens of the most elite institutions from across the world. More importantly, we, the Holy Empire, will be sending the Holy Knight Academy and the Saintess Academy to participate."

A chilling, collective hum of approval resonated from the twelve thrones.

"When Solomon steps into that official arena," the Lead Pope concluded, "our chosen disciples will shatter his defenses, test the absolute limits of his unawakened flesh, obtain the paladin’s sword, and carve every hidden truth out of him for the entire world to see."

The twelve veiled popes sat in silence, their shadowy figures looming over the dark, incense-filled chamber.

To the global public, the hierarchy of power was strictly defined. The world believed that the twelve popes held absolute religious authority over the Church, but that they ultimately served under the banner of the Holy Empire, comprised of seven distinct kingdoms.

The common consensus dictated that if the Church ever wished to enact a new law, mobilize an army, or alter global regulations, they required the explicit permission and stamped approval of the Holy Emperor himself.

The public, however, was entirely deceived.

In reality, the Holy Emperor was nothing more than a glorified figurehead sitting on a gilded throne. The seven kingdoms of the Holy Empire did not govern the Church, rather the Church governed the Empire.

From the secrecy of this dark, underground Union hall, these twelve popes pulled the strings of kings, dictated the movements of the holy armies, and controlled the entire continent from the shadows.