The Pope's Projection
Training, training, and more training.
The Pope of the Extreme Martial God Sect spent her days entirely devoted to training.
She had lived most of her life this way, yet she held no complaints.
Her talent was nothing short of genius, and every session brought noticeable growth.
Others spoke of walls blocking their path, but the Pope had never encountered such obstacles.
From the moment she ascended to the position of Pope and became the unofficial strongest on the continent, she had never once found anything difficult.
There were occasional periods of stagnation, but even those were quickly overcome through secluded training within the sect's inner sanctum.
“Haa… This is difficult.”
Yet lately, her mind had been filled with too many thoughts.
She felt as though she needed only one more step to advance, but that step refused to come.
No matter how much time she invested in training, the wall blocking her remained firmly shut.
Unable to endure the frustration any longer, the Pope stepped outside the main compound.
She raised her head and gazed at the open sky, extending her hand toward it.
“It feels as if I could grasp it… yet why does it remain just out of reach?”
And at that moment—
Crackle!
“?”
An unusual sensation washed over her.
It felt as though her consciousness had connected to something distant.
Though she had not transcended the heavens themselves, the Pope had reached a realm close enough to sense such phenomena.
She felt her mind projecting beyond the sky, into an entirely different dimension far away.
A short while later.
When she opened her eyes, a hazy new surroundings came into view.
Though everything was shrouded in mist and difficult to discern clearly, she could make out clusters of large buildings.
‘The token I gave to the Divine Martial Unit?’
It seemed the token was the reason her consciousness had reached this unknown world.
It was no ordinary token.
Unlike those carried by regular members, this one belonged to the Divine Martial Unit.
Among the Extreme Martial God Sect’s many combat units, the Divine Martial Unit held a special status.
Only those with faith deep enough to revere the Pope as a true god could join.
Their missions were grueling, yet they endured everything through their devotion to the Pope.
Naturally, the Pope treated them differently as well.
She occasionally imparted teachings and personally carved their tokens with a sculpting knife, unlike those given to ordinary members.
This special treatment also meant that, because the tokens were crafted by the Pope—who had reached near transcendence—a fragment of her will had been imbued within them.
“How interesting.”
A faint smile curved her lips.
Her expression had been blank for some time now, and she could not recall the last time she had smiled.
What made it even more intriguing was that the person holding the token was not a member of the Divine Martial Unit.
“Though hazy, I can see. Isn’t that the vice-commander of the Thousand Tiger Unit?”
She knew who it was.
The man who had risen to vice-commander of the Thousand Tiger Unit, one of the sect’s combat forces—Tu Gui.
She had taken quite a liking to him and had kept an eye on the man.
“I heard he went missing. So he was still alive?”
For a member of the Extreme Martial God Sect to go missing usually meant death with high probability.
Yet here he was, alive in some unknown other world.
“Hahaha. How amusing. Truly amusing!”
The Pope extended her pale, delicate hand.
Crackle-crackle!
Blue lightning began to spark between her fingers.
* * *
‘What the—! The Pope of the Extreme Martial God Sect… why is she appearing here!?’
Lim Dojun was stunned.
A hazy apparition had emerged from the token.
Though he had never seen her before, he could immediately guess that this was the Pope.
The moment the apparition appeared, Go Wonjin had dropped to his knees, and more than anything, Lim Dojun could sense an immense presence radiating from what should have been nothing more than a projection.
Because Lim Dojun carried the will of a dragon within him, he understood.
This apparition—the Pope—possessed a will that was by no means inferior to a dragon’s!
He knew better than anyone how absurd that was.
Unlike himself, who barely maintained stability through the system’s assistance and sheer luck, the Pope had forged her soul to such strength through relentless self-discipline!
“Ooh! Your Holiness! This Go Wonjin pays his respects to the Pope!”
Go Wonjin pressed his forehead to the ground in a full prostration, tears streaming down his face.
He had believed he would never see the Pope again until the day he died, yet here she was.
The overwhelming emotion was beyond words.
And then—
The Pope, who had been looking at Go Wonjin, extended her hand.
Crackle!
With the sound of lightning and tearing space, her hand reached out.
For a moment, both men were shocked.
Her entire form remained a hazy apparition, yet only her right hand had gained vivid, lifelike presence.
The soft, pale hand lightly touched Go Wonjin’s head.
“Kuhh!?”
Immediately afterward, Go Wonjin began trembling violently as though struck by lightning, and Lim Dojun instantly gathered his mana.
‘This monster…! Is she even human?’
Just now, a human from Astelgard had briefly manifested on Earth.
She did not seem capable of traveling back and forth completely like Lim Dojun, but even this alone proved she stood halfway across the threshold of transcendence.
Thinking she might attack, he prepared to respond, but at that moment Go Wonjin weakly raised his arm.
“I-I’m fine, brother.”
“Brother?”
“Heh heh… This is the Pope’s blessing. The knowledge of the Soul-Shattering Heart Heaven Sword is flowing into me…!”
After becoming vice-commander of the Thousand Tiger Unit, Go Wonjin had learned a sword art called Soul-Shattering Sword at the main compound.
Mastering it fully would allow entry into the higher technique known as Soul-Shattering Heart Heaven Sword, but he had returned to Earth without ever reaching that level.
“I thought… I would never obtain this knowledge again in my lifetime…”
Tears continued to flow from Go Wonjin’s eyes.
If the earlier tears had been from the joy of seeing the Pope he served once more, these were born from the revival of an ambition he had believed forever unattainable.
In truth, many returnees carried such regrets.
An otherworld they could never return to.
There had been so much they wanted to bring back, including knowledge of techniques far beyond what they had mastered.
Training was possible on Earth, but once they fully internalized what they already knew, that was the end.
Repeated training had its limits.
Only an absurd genius could create something greater on their own, but how many such people existed?
Go Wonjin had been the same, always thirsting for more—until now, when the Pope’s hand granted him new knowledge.
The transmission of knowledge was brief.
“Aah… Your Holiness!”
Go Wonjin bowed his head once more in gratitude, and the Pope’s apparition gradually grew hazier.
And then—
The apparition turned its gaze one final time, looking directly at Lim Dojun.
“!”
The apparition stared at him as though trying to imprint his image.
After a very brief moment of eye contact, the apparition vanished.
Lim Dojun felt a chill run down his spine.
Even though he wore a robe and mask, he wondered if his identity had truly remained hidden.
* * *
The Pope, who had stepped outside the main compound for a brief change of scenery, dismissing even her guardians.
“Y-Your Holiness! Your hand… what happened to it!?”
When she returned, her right hand was scorched black in several places.
The guardians who saw it felt as though the sky had collapsed.
They felt responsible for failing to protect her properly, and they wondered what kind of person could have injured the Pope.
Even if the entire guardian force attacked at once, wounding the Pope should have been impossible.
“Haha. It’s nothing, so don’t make a fuss.”
“But…”
“Enough. Withdraw. I wish to think alone.”
At the sight of the Pope waving her hand with a pleasant smile, the guardians could say nothing more. They bowed their heads and retreated.
Though it was clearly an injury, her expression was brighter and more cheerful than they had seen in recent times.
‘Did she injure herself during training rather than in battle?’
That seemed strange as well, but it was the only explanation that made sense.
Left alone, the Pope looked down at her hand and burst into laughter repeatedly.
“The vice-commander of the Thousand Tiger Unit is alive in an unknown world.”
Because he had been a member she had taken quite an interest in, she had gone so far as to cross dimensional barriers to bestow the Soul-Shattering Heart Heaven Sword upon him.
From what she could see, he had already mastered the Soul-Shattering Sword long ago.
Though she had sustained some injuries from projecting power across dimensional barriers, it had been a duty she was obligated to fulfill as Pope.
Moreover, the gains far outweighed the losses.
Since the mental projection had occurred through the token to begin with, she had gained the experience of projecting power into another dimension—something she normally could not do.
This could be considered a great opportunity.
The path to the next realm had been completely blocked, but after refining this experience, she felt the way forward would become visible.
‘The man standing beside him at the end. Judging from the vice-commander’s behavior, the token seems to have originated from that person.’
Everything had been too hazy for her to see more than that someone was present, and she could not perceive anything else.
Yet she had confirmed that within that person slept a will so immense that even the Pope found it astonishing.
“If I meet him again someday, I suppose I should offer some form of repayment.”
The fact that he carried the token suggested he might be from Astelgard.
She could not be certain.
Yet the Pope felt a strange pull.
It was an intuition that they would meet again someday.
* * *
After the Pope disappeared and Go Wonjin calmed down somewhat while organizing the knowledge he had received—
Lim Dojun listened to Go Wonjin’s account and roughly understood what had happened.
Through the token, a fragment of the Pope’s consciousness had briefly visited Earth.
‘…I probably shouldn’t return to Astelgard for a while.’
If the Pope had recognized him, it would not be strange for her to kidnap him out of curiosity.
If she truly intended to, even hiding deep within the Blue Magic Tower might not be enough to avoid capture.
He wondered if he would have to worry about being abducted by the Pope every time he went to sleep from now on.
‘Lee Chaerin should have mentioned that this token was personally made by the Pope…!’
In truth, this had been nothing more than an accident born of coincidence, yet Lim Dojun found himself wanting to blame Lee Chaerin anyway.
‘From now on, I’m limiting her to exactly one can of cola per day!’
It was the kind of thought that would have made Lee Chaerin scream “dictator!” if she had heard it.
“Whew. Brother. Thank you so much. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay this debt.”
Go Wonjin repeated his gratitude once more.
To Lim Dojun, it felt excessive, yet Go Wonjin believed it was still far from enough.
“Just saying thank you feels ridiculous. This Go Wonjin never forgets grudges or debts. From now on, no matter what you do or what situation you find yourself in, I will support and help you without question. If you ever need anything, call on me anytime.”
“Without question?”
“That’s right. What do you want to do? Overthrow the government? If so, I’ll stand at the forefront. First, we’ll raid the Returnee Alliance leadership, and after that, the President—”
“I don’t want anything like that.”
Lim Dojun waved his hand dismissively.
He could not understand why the man’s thinking was so extreme.
Still, if Go Wonjin was willing to go this far, there was something Lim Dojun wanted to ask.
“Once I finish the organization purge the Returnee Alliance assigned me, I’ll be heading to China. Would you come with me?”
“Oho. The domestic scene is too small, so you’re looking overseas for a bigger stage? And China is the first target for conquest?”
“No…”
“Sounds good! I’ll join you! This’ll be fun!”
Go Wonjin burst into hearty laughter.