"Hey, this so-called hunting is just an excuse, right? You don't really believe it, do you?"
Under the illumination spell, Cyra and I walked slowly, while Pope Cysper was restless. As a religious and national leader with a "high age" of thousands of years, he acted like a child, constantly running around us.
Sometimes he curiously examined the roots and soil under trees with tools. Other times, he suddenly threw a light bolt into the distance, but hit nothing.
"Of course I know! But even if it's an excuse, we have to bring back some trophies when we return, or how can we explain to Yulanda and the others?"
Seeing this, Cysper couldn't help but click his tongue and casually replied. It's unknown what prey he saw, but he didn't seem satisfied with the previous attack. It was obvious that his efforts were futile, yet he refused to give up.
"Besides, it's rare to leave Jethrobaines. I've never seen the outside night before, let alone night hunting like this. Of course I can't miss this opportunity!"
"Is this really your first time leaving the holy city?"
I couldn't help but ask. I didn't think he could catch anything. Although the Pope's strength should be formidable, most animals have hidden away now, leaving few outside.
"Remember when we swapped bodies, you warned me never to leave the city of Jethrobaines, saying it was life-threatening? But you didn't mention the reason and told me not to casually reveal it. But now we're so far away with no issues..."
Like me, Cyra had bottled this up for a long time too, and could finally vent.
"You're not tricking me, are you?"
"I indeed didn't trick you. There are just some slight changes in the situation."
Cysper shook his head and walked back from the darkness, surprisingly holding a rabbit! I didn't expect he actually "got" prey.
"Let me put it this way. As angels, you've probably noticed that I'm different from ordinary humans - my body is composed of light elements, just like you. But strangely, if I left a certain range of Jethrobaines before, the light elements forming my body would gradually dissipate, and my consciousness would fall into a coma and slowly die. So for thousands of years, I was trapped in the holy city and couldn't figure out why."
Putting the trophy on the ground and not paying attention to us, Cysper briefly explained before diving back into the darkness to hunt again.
"Body dissipating? How's that possible! Then your current situation is..."
Hearing this, I was shocked and sensed Cysper's body again. It was exactly the same, with no signs of dissipating light elements, contrary to his words. It's hard to believe this place was still within the holy city's range. The only possibility is the "changes" he mentioned.
"Could it be because we're with you?"
Though unclear on the reason, the only difference was our presence as angels. This also explains the bizarre attitude of the Pope's entourage when seeing us off - perhaps they were testing if he could leave with us.
However, Cysper's voice came from the darkness to correct me.
"Although I'm not sure, I think it has more to do with Cyra."
"Me? No way!"
Cyra opened her mouth in disbelief. But soon she reacted and tentatively asked, "Is it because we swapped?"
"Those two things shouldn't be related, right?"
I glanced at her, unable to see how a soul swap relates to stopping the Pope's body from mysteriously dissipating. But then again, the reason for their swap remains unknown, so it's hard to discern any hidden factors.
"That night when you took me outside Jethrobaines, I realized my inability to leave the holy city stemmed from my body, not soul. So I decided to take a risk. Actually, this trip was initially just an attempt - even I didn't expect it to succeed!"
Cysper emerged from the darkness again, this time empty-handed. It seems even the Pope couldn't succeed on such a night with scarce prey.
"No wonder you specifically asked when we'd leave after our first meeting. I thought you just wanted to see us off, but you had this intention too..."
Connecting his series of actions, I finally understood the deeper motive behind it all.
"But what's really going on with your body? It's too strange! What's your background?"
To be honest, I understand why Cysper hid this weakness from us initially. Since he's willing to open up now, it shows his trust in us has deepened. At least we're starting to understand each other, which can't hurt. It may even help solve the mystery surrounding him.
Cysper can't recall his earliest memories, or if he even had any origins. His first impression was waking up in a corner of Jethrobaines city, with only the goal of reviving the True Church and some specific ideologies and methods in mind.
Back then, Jethrobaines wasn't as large as the current holy city, just a very small town - although still a place where the Church of Truth prevailed.
Of course, Cysper wasn't the Pope initially. But relying on his 100% light element affinity, he quickly gained many followers and began unifying the scattered True Church organizations across the continent. As he claimed, there were far fewer humans back then, most of whom believed in the True Church. As such, a unified religious nation - the Cresthaven Papal Dominion - was soon established.
Although some other religious forces emerged over thousands of years, even attempting to challenge the True Church, under the mighty Star Glory Knights' military might and with him, the "Child of God's Favor" presiding, several religious wars later saw no other force capable of rivaling - they either perished or became heretical cults.