The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Nuns On The Run – 1

It has been 35 days since the class selection, and many significant events have occurred.

One notable development is that many of the Awakeners from Earth have climbed more than 15 floors.

If they ascend five more floors, they will finally gain entry to Solarta, the first realm within the tower.

These Awakeners have chosen the difficulty of the trials as either [Normal] or [Hard].

Only a handful of individuals from each country have managed to clear the trials on [Nightmare] difficulty.

Those who dared to enter the trials in [Hell] mode have never been seen again.

These individuals are presumed dead, and the terror of the [Hell] mode trials has already spread across the globe.

In Italy, one of the few who managed to clear the trials on [Nightmare] mode is the Saintess of the Vatican, also known by her esteemed title, the Holy Maiden of the Vatican Church.

She recently returned to Earth after successfully completing the 17th trial of the Tower of Evolution.

Vatican City, Italy.

The Saintess was resting in her personal quarters, cultivating using her Holy power, following the [Holy Energy Cultivation Manual], which used her own holy energy to strengthen her body.

It was very similar to the [Qi Cultivation Method] that Damian used, except his version used Qi to cultivate, while her version used Holy energy.

Her concentration was disturbed when someone knocked on the door.

The Saintess spread her senses outside her quarters and found two of her warrior nuns standing outside, sensing Holy energy emanating from them.

All the warrior nuns had access to Holy energy, which they gained after obtaining their class, all of which were related to the Holy powers, much like the Saintess.

“Come in, please.”

The warrior nuns heard the voice of the Saintess and gently opened the door.

They entered the room and looked at their leader, the Saintess.

“Saintess, the—”

“Stop.” The Saintess stopped the warrior nun before she could speak of her reason for coming here.

“Didn’t I say you should stop calling me Saintess? Just call me by my name,” the Saintess said, slightly pouting.

“I-I understand,” the two warrior nuns nodded.

“Anyway, why did you come to me?”

“M-Maria, Father asked us to bring you,” one of the warrior nuns, who had dark black hair, said.

“He said he has something important to tell us,” the other warrior nun, who had brown hair, added.

Maria sensed something was wrong when she saw the expressions of the two nuns.

Her expression changed dramatically. “Let’s go.”

Without wasting any more time, the Saintess and the warrior nuns entered a large room.

There was a huge bed on which a man with grey hair, an old man, lay.

He looked as if he were barely hanging onto his life.

He wasn’t alone; around him were ten warrior nuns, their hands behind their backs, looking at the old man with worried and saddened expressions.

The door opened, and the Saintess ran inside.

She knelt beside the bed, looking at the old man with the same worried expression as the other warrior nuns.

“Father,” the Saintess gently called out.

The old man slowly opened his eyes, revealing eyes that were reddened, as if they were too tired to open.

“M-Maria… y-you are here,” the old man smiled as he tried to sit up, but he couldn’t, as his body refused to obey him.

It was too weak.

“Father… you are too weak. Please don’t strain yourself,” the warrior nun said with a worried expression.

“I-It’s alright…” With the help of the warrior nuns, the old man gently sat up, resting his back on the headboard.

“Please, Father, you should conserve your energy,” the Saintess said.

“There is no reason to save energy… my time has come,” the old man said, coughing violently.

“Please don’t say that… Nothing is going to happen to you.”

“Don’t worry about me… This old man no longer matters,” the old man, whose identity was the Pope of the Vatican, the most powerful person in the entire Vatican Church, said.

“I will die any moment now…”

“I don’t want to waste what little time I have left thinking about what could have been… I just want to speak to my daughters.”

The old man coughed a few times, and a green substance began to drip from his nose before he continued. “All my life, since the day I became the pope, I always tried my best to guide the people in the way of Christ, to save them from doing bad things, to make the world a better place.”

“But now, as I am on my final breath, I realize I didn’t accomplish anything. I failed. I failed my predecessors. I failed to spread the good. I couldn’t even save those who are beside me from falling into corruption.”

“It’s not true. Please don’t speak like that, Father…”

The Saintess’ eyes became moist as she thought about everything that had happened up until now.

She was an orphan, having lost her parents and brother in a fire.

Fortunately, she survived, although half of her face became a victim to the flames.

At the time, she had been nothing more than a little girl, no older than eight years old.

She was sent to an orphanage, but her life didn’t improve there.

She was bullied, discriminated against, and made fun of because of her burnt face.

She couldn’t forget the nights she stayed up crying, imagining what her life would have been like if her family hadn’t been killed, if Christ had saved them.

She began to fall into despair, lost in the deep darkness of her thoughts.

The faces of those who were disgusted by her, the expressions of the other children her age pointing fingers at her, whispering, and the faces of those who pitied her—these memories tormented her day and night.

It became too difficult to remember the last time she smiled. Her face had lost the sensation of smiling a long time ago.

Then, her despaired world turned upside down when she awakened a power known as holy power.

Yes, the Saintess was someone who had awakened her power long before the day of awakening, a power that healed her face completely and made her beautiful.

That was when she caught the eye of the Vatican Church, who wanted to make her a symbol for the Church and spread the religion.

But in truth, it was never about spreading faith—it was all about religion and money.

That was when she met the pope, the old man who was the kindest person she had ever met.

He took her in and raised her like his own daughter, along with other children whom he adopted.

These children would later become the warrior nuns.

He taught her about the world, both the good and the bad.

He taught her about life.

He wasn’t like the fake people who wanted to use her for political reasons.

He wanted her to live her own life, to have a normal life, under the protection of the Heavenly Father.

Little by little, things began to get better.

With the support of the pope and her adopted siblings, she slowly rose from despair and became a pillar of support for the pope and for the Vatican.

She dedicated her life to the good cause, helping those in need, teaching the true meaning of Christ, and spreading happiness and empathy.

Then the day of awakening came, and once again, things started to take another turn.

But this time, it was for the worse.

The seven cardinal generals, who were meant to represent the seven heavenly virtues, became enticed and fell into selfish ways.

They began to use their newfound power for their own desires, all while claiming they were following the words of Christ.

They even went as far as to try and kill the one person who stood in their way—the pope.

They poisoned him, and with the pope dying, the seven cardinals began to take control of the power within the Christian community.

They also sought to take control over the warrior nuns because they knew the warrior nuns had more influence over the followers of the religion.

With the pope out of the picture, if they could also gain control of the warrior nuns, they would completely take over the Vatican, the strongest force on Earth.

“I have little time left…” The pope said, looking at all of his daughters with a tear overflowing from his red, sick eyes.

“No…” The warrior nuns cried out.

“My daughters… I have many regrets in my life, but you are not one of them. I don’t know if I have done good things in my life as the pope. I don’t know if my ways have helped people or placed them on the right path, but I do know that I did everything I could for you.”

“You did… you did, Father.” The Saintess held his hand as tears flowed from her eyes.

“All my life, I tried to see the good in people but ended up seeing the bad… I just hope that you, my daughters, will never stray from your paths.” The pope placed his sick hand on each of the warrior nuns’ heads as if blessing them one last time.