Holy Blood

“Your Holiness, please grant my only request!”

Professor Mekal dropped to one knee, ignoring the strange looks on everyone’s faces, and pleaded in a devout tone.

The corner of Lu Li’s mouth twitched.

Didn't this woman say she was only interested in Holy Relics?

Study him? What was there to study about him?

“Get up first,” Lu Li said.

However, Mekal was determined to stay on her knees until the young Pope agreed. “If Your Holiness does not agree, I will not get up.”

The youth’s posture on the throne visibly deflated. Looking down at the disheveled, wild figure kneeling before him, he realized she would almost certainly follow through on her word.

Sighing helplessly, Lu Li offered a slight nod. “Fine, I agree. But let’s make one thing clear beforehand: touching or feeling me up under the guise of research is strictly forbidden.”

Hearing this, Professor Mekal’s expression turned solemn. She immediately patted her chest and promised solemnly, “Rest assured, Your Holiness, I will guard your chastity with my life!”

What a massive headache this person is! Maybe all geniuses have weird quirks that ordinary people can’t comprehend?

Lu Li stared expressionlessly at the renowned professor, who looked as if she had been granted a new lease on life, feeling a strange sense of helplessness welling up within him.

A world with far more women than men! A world born from this imbalance! And the one who taught him to master everything was...

Mekal left in high spirits, looking like she had acquired a priceless treasure.

“Your Holiness, are you really going to agree to her request?” Anthelia asked incredulously. What had she just heard? His Holiness had actually agreed to such an impudent request?

She had specifically requested to stay by Lu Li’s side as a bodyguard after hearing he had granted Mekal an audience. After all, in her eyes, Mekal was an extremely dangerous individual, and she did not believe such a person had good intentions in approaching the Holy See.

“As you saw,” Lu Li replied. Since he had already promised, he naturally wouldn't go back on his word.

Anthelia grit her teeth, attempting to persuade him again out of reluctance. “But... what if she harbors ill intentions toward Your Holiness...?”

Lu Li shot her a strange look, as if suddenly understanding something.

Thus, he said, “What is there to worry about? Don't I still have you?”

Hearing that, Anthelia blinked, then stared intently at the youth’s extraordinarily handsome profile.

Right! How could she forget? She was still here! His Holiness trusted her so much, so she had to work hard to live up to his expectations!

“Please rest assured, I will never let her succeed!”

...

The research Mekal spoke of truly was just research.

Sitting on a chair in the laboratory, Lu Li watched helplessly as she drew a vial of blood from his body.

“Heavens! This is simply the most wonderful thing in the world!”

She held up the vial of fresh blood under the light to admire it, murmuring in awe.

Yet, it was merely blood like any other—at least in Lu Li’s eyes. He could not see how his blood differed from anyone else's.

Though before they began, Anthelia had repeatedly objected: “Your Holiness, that is Holy Blood! It cannot be lightly bestowed upon others!”

Legend had it that Holy Blood possessed the divine power to thoroughly cleanse sin, and drinking it could grant immortality.

Lu Li did not think his blood possessed such power. Well... cleansing sin might have a tiny sliver of possibility, but granting immortality was completely ridiculous.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Lu Li had still agreed to Mekal's request to draw his blood.

Everything that followed was even simpler. Lu Li hardly moved from his seat the entire time. Instead, Mekal busied herself running around, fetching various mysterious instruments, waving them back and forth in front of Lu Li while constantly shouting “A miracle!”, providing Lu Li with an overwhelming sense of emotional validation, even though he had no idea where the supposed “miracle” actually was.

“By the way, Professor, among the power armors you created, is there a model capable of rivaling Holy Relic armaments?”

Lu Li was quite interested in power armors, so he asked while waiting for the instruments to scan him.

“Ordinary mass-produced models are naturally not even one-tenth as strong as Holy Relic armaments,” Professor Mekal recalled briefly before replying with a proud face, “however, there is a special model that can draw out eighty percent of a Holy Relic armament's power.”

“Oh? That impressive?” Curiosity sparkled in Lu Li's eyes, and he did not skimp on praise.

“Of course! I call it the ‘Resurrection Armor’!”

Mekal could hardly contain her excitement. After all, the person praising her was not just the Pope, but the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. No woman could withstand a casual compliment from him.

...

Madi was utterly sick of this damned frontline.

Not only was the border extremely windy, but there was also no hot water for baths. She felt like she was turning sour after just a few days.

“By the way, why haven't I seen Professor Mekal these past few days?” Madi suddenly remembered that crazy woman, realizing she hadn't seen her for days.

The soldiers beside her exchanged glances, none of them able to answer for a moment.

Madi’s face darkened slightly, and she immediately burst out cursing: “You idiots! Go check right now! If Professor Mekal goes missing, none of us will hear the end of it!”

The soldiers panicked for a second before hastily rushing to the temporary encampment's research area to search for Professor Mekal, whom their commander hadn't seen in days. However, reality was destined to disappoint them.

Soon, the soldiers returned with two pieces of bad news.

“Professor Mekal is missing!”

“The Templar Knights have deployed three whole Holy Relic armaments! Our defense line is on the verge of collapsing!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Madi slammed her fist on the table, her expression terrifyingly grim.

“Useless! Useless! Useless! A bunch of useless trash! You can't even keep an eye on a single person!”

“Damn it! Screw the Templar Knights! Screw the Holy State! Do they really think I have no temper?!”

Having been tossed onto the frontline by a sudden order, Madi already had a fire burning in her chest. Now, not only was Professor Mekal—a vital asset to the kingdom—missing, but those bastards from the Templar Knights were pushing her way too far!

“Deploy that thing! If we're going down, we're taking everyone with us!” Madi roared.

Over all these years, her ability to hold down the position of Commander of the Hellfire Legion was thanks to nothing other than her sheer ruthless tenacity.

Though she was usually lazy and cowardly, if anyone truly pushed her to her limit, she would hurl herself at even a god just to cover them in her blood.

The greatsword in Amore’s hand met no equal. With just a swing, she could effortlessly mow down waves of enemy troops.

Suddenly, she noticed that the Hellfire Legion troops, who had been surging toward her like a tidal wave, were gradually dispersing. Just as she thought today would end in another disastrous defeat for the Hellfire Legion, a black figure slowly emerged on Northland's border defense line.

It was a set of power armor that was pitch-black all over. Looking at it, a wave of nausea suddenly welled up from deep within Amore, as if she were staring at... a rotting corpse crawling with maggots.

It wasn't literally covered in maggots, but rather a sort of mental pollution effect.

“Is this Northland’s secret weapon—the Resurrection Armor?”

Amore desperately suppressed her physical discomfort, constantly recalling the youth’s warm smile in her mind to ease the psychological burden.

Once this battle was over and she returned to school, she definitely had to recharge with plenty of “Holy See” energy.

“Just wait! I will definitely become one of the Twelve Sacred Knights standing by your side!”