novelSusiti Chapter 159 The Pact Between Royal Power and Divine Power
Chapter 159 The Pact Between Royal Power and Divine Power
"I will declare war on hell for the Lamb of my Lord!"
Callinicus's voice reverberated in the stone chamber, each word like tempered steel, carrying a resolute and ruthless aura. His outstretched arms trembled, not from fear, but from the fact that his long-suppressed rage had finally found an outlet.
Constantine didn't speak, he just watched quietly.
He knew that igniting this divine fire was only the beginning; the real art lay in how to make the flames burn only the enemies he wanted to burn.
The raging storm lasted for a moment.
Callinicus whirled around, his burning eyes locking onto Constantine once more. He withdrew his aura, but the air in the stone chamber only grew heavier, as if it had been sucked out, making one feel suffocated.
He began pacing back and forth in the cramped space, his emaciated body dragging his coarse robe, like a wild beast imprisoned in a cage, smelling blood and searching for the weakest point of the fence.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince."
He stopped, his voice devoid of fire, replaced by an extreme coldness and a weary understanding of the ways of the world.
"Are you showing me this to make me cry for you?"
He stepped forward, his chiseled face looming close to Constantine's, the light of the oil lamp casting two deep shadows in his sunken eye sockets.
"Or do you want me to kneel here and pray for you, begging God to send down lightning to strike down those maggots in holy robes?" His words contained no respect, only undisguised questioning.
Constantine didn't back down an inch, and shook his head, meeting the gaze that seemed to burn through one's soul.
"No."
His answer was only one word: clear and firm.
"God's thunder has descended. It is seeking a human guide to lead it." Constantine lowered his gaze to the ground between them. "I have come to you, not for your tears, nor for your prayers."
He reached out and pushed the open file, which contained numerous pieces of evidence of crimes, along with the Bible that Sophia had copied by hand, in front of Callinicus.
"I've come to ask you to grasp this bolt of lightning."
Callinicus's gaze shifted from Constantine's face to the Bible and the file. One contained the words of God, the other the sins of the devil; the two stood side by side, creating a startling tension.
Constantine continued, his voice low but precise, cutting to the heart of the matter: "My army could flatten that island overnight. My court could hang that abbot within three days. But, Father, what will happen after that?"
He didn't wait for an answer; he gave it to himself.
"They will not be nailed to the pillar of shame for sinners. They will become martyrs, slaughtered by the army of the 'tyrant' in the monastery. The Athenian newspapers will write hymns for them, the uninformed believers will light candles for them, while the real devil will hide behind the scenes, celebrating a great victory."
"Only the knife of the church can cut away the cancer of the church. Any other knife will only allow the pus and blood of the cancer to contaminate the whole body."
Constantine raised his head and met Callinicus's gaze intently.
"I need you, Father. Be this knife."
Callinicus stared at Constantine, remaining silent for a long time. The only sound in the stone chamber was the howling of the sea breeze.
He suddenly let out a dry, cold laugh, like a withered branch breaking.
"A knife?" He bent down, picking up the file as if it were a dirty scrap of paper. "What a fine knife. But have you ever considered what those pampered bishops of Athens will do when I draw this knife?"
"They would immediately declare me a 'heretic'! They would use a sacred council to excommunicate me! They would tell all believers that not a single word of a madman abandoned by God can be trusted!"
Callinicus slammed the file to the ground, took a step forward, and his withered fingers almost poked Constantine in the chest.
"By then, I will not be a knife, but merely a piece of scrap metal they've thrown into the fire to melt! And you, Your Highness, will become the biggest joke in this farce!"
His burning eyes were fixed on Constantine.
"Unless you can give me a sword hilt that even a bishop, or even an archbishop, cannot break!"
This is exactly what Constantine was waiting for.
He stood up straight, a stark contrast to Callinicus's fanaticism.
"I'll give it to you!"
Two words: resolute and decisive.
Constantine's voice echoed in the stone chamber, each word carrying undeniable weight.
"From this moment forward, in the name of the Crown Prince of Greece, I grant you the full authority of 'Special Inspector of Royal Church Property and Ethics'! Your investigations are directly accountable to me personally, and are free from interference by any diocese, monastery, or bishop!"
"I grant you supreme legal authority, I give you the absolute force of the royal guard! I provide you with everything you need to open the treasury of any church!"
He looked at the other person's eyes, which were slightly widened in shock.
"They can excommunicate you, but they can't strip me of my appointment. They can call you a heretic, but my guards will show you who the true heretic of Greece is!"
"You will no longer be Father Callinikos."
Constantine's voice turned low.
"You will be an extension of royal power, an agent of God's wrath on earth!"
The stone chamber fell into a deathly silence.
The sea breeze continued to howl outside the window, but inside, even the flame of the oil lamp had stopped flickering.
Callinicus stared intently at Constantine, his scrutinizing gaze seeming to pierce through flesh and blood, to see through the young prince's bones and soul, to discern whether behind every promise he made lay salvation or a deeper hell.
for a long time.
for a long time.
Callinicus slowly bent down. He didn't look at the Bible again, but picked up the file of incriminating evidence that he had thrown to the ground.
With his rough fingers, he gently brushed away the dust from the pages of the file, one by one, as if he were polishing a rare and sacred object.
"it is good."
He raised his head, and for the first time, a smile appeared on his gaunt face.
That smile was fanatical and sinister, like a black lotus blooming in the fires of hell.
"I will descend the mountain to cleanse this world of its filth for you."
He gripped the file tightly in his hand; the thin sheet of paper, under his control, seemed to become a scepter with immense power.
"But please remember this, Your Highness."
He concluded.
"When the power of religion is unleashed, it will no longer be limited to regulating ordinary people."