I am the Pope in the Western Fantasy World

The sun sets and rises again. It is a rare sunny and warm day in winter.

In the solemn Cathedral of the Dead, all the high-ranking members of the Church of the Dead stood on both sides, with dignified and solemn expressions, but with a hint of joy on their brows.

The air was filled with a faint scent of incense and echoed with low music, as if sounding the prelude to the upcoming ceremony.

That’s right, a country cannot be without a king for a day, and a religion cannot be without a master for a day. The coronation ceremony of the new Pope will be held on the second day after the selection results are announced.

Under the statue of the God of Death is an altar. A luxurious red carpet extends from the church entrance to the altar. The carpet is embroidered with various patterns of the dead, as well as scepters and swords that symbolize power. Anyone who walks across it will have the authority to rule over the dead and believers.

The candles burning on both sides of the carpet emit a soft glow, leading this sacred path.

"Boom-"

Along with the ringing of clear bells, the door of the church was slowly opened by two undead knights in black armor. A figure walked in and stepped onto the red carpet.

He was wearing a loose black robe embroidered with silver silk threads, forming patterns that looked like skulls. However, it did not look scary, but rather solemn and elegant.

The light of the candle illuminated the handsome face of the visitor, who was none other than the new Pope, Michelangelo.

Phil Gray walked slowly on the red carpet with firm and powerful steps. At this moment, the hymn chanting death began to echo in the church, making his every step full of sacredness and solemnity.

All the church clergy bowed slightly and looked at the new Pope respectfully as he walked across the red carpet and came to the statue of God.

In front of the altar, Phil Gray knelt under the statue with a pious expression. Elder Sid came to his side holding the Holy Book of Death and solemnly read: "Milu, in the presence of the gods and many believers, I will crown you on their behalf. From now on, you will master the secret of the path from the human world to the abyss, and will be the agent of the God of Death in the human world. May you lead our Church of the Dead to create new glory! Praise the God of Death!"

Phil Gray also spoke up: "Praise the God of Death!"

He stood up and lowered his head again, while Elder Sid on the other side took a silver crown from the archbishop next to him. The crown was inlaid with several black gems and diamonds and was of exquisite craftsmanship.

Elder Sid gently placed the crown on the Pope's head, and then knelt down like the other elders around him to pledge allegiance to the new Pope.

"Praise the God of Death!"

"Praise your majesty!"

The voices of the believers were extremely excited, and Phil Gray walked slowly towards the throne that belonged exclusively to the Pope.

The throne carved from bones symbolizes supreme authority and glory. It is said that these bones came from the body of a bone dragon thousands of years ago, an extremely powerful creature from the abyss.

He glanced at these devout believers. The elders had joy on their faces. Eli held Heiye and winked at him. The little black cat was acting weird but looking at him intently. Yi Laizhe's eyes were also full of smiles.

He raised the corners of his lips slightly.

At this moment, the statue of the god emitted a black light, and a thick breath of death enveloped the entire church.

This is the breath of the god that they are extremely familiar with!

“Is this a divine visit?”

"Oh my God! Praise the god of death!"

"Praise the God of Death!"

The believers were extremely excited, but the god did not seem to express anything and did not give any oracle. He just sat quietly on the statue, watching everything in the church.

"Let's continue," Phil Gray said, and the believers put away their excitement and listened carefully to the new Pope's speech.

The Pope's coronation ceremony continued under the watchful eyes of the gods, and the statue did not return to its original appearance until the ceremony was completely over.

This day is destined to be recorded in the history of the church.

……

After a busy day of coronation ceremonies, Phil Gray finally had time to step into the late Pope's palace at night. This palace is not far from the cathedral and is the residence of all successive popes.

"Your Majesty, starting tomorrow, all church affairs will be sent to your study, which is the first room on the left on the second floor. That is also where you will meet other guests. Of course, you can also go to the cathedral every day, but I think you will be happier in your palace." The archbishop walked behind him and introduced.

"OK, thanks."

Phil Gray suddenly had an urge to run away. He hadn't finished dealing with the affairs of the Church of Fate yet, so why was he working in the Church of the Dead now?

"Tonight, Great Elder Sid will leave the church and head for the abyss."

"So urgent?"

"There is no undead who does not yearn for the abyss. He has long wanted to leave, but he has always been worried about the church. Now that the church has your leadership, he can leave with peace of mind."

Phil Gray nodded, and thought of another mission he had for the Church of the Dead. "I heard that you had a different opinion with the Great Elder on whether my church should participate in the war with the Dawn Alliance?"

"Yes. If we go to war with the Dawn Alliance, it means that we are standing on the opposite side of most of the sects in the Weir Continent. Wouldn't that mean we are on the same side as those dirty and despicable plague makers and the bloody disaster? Moreover, war and dreams are not very reliable allies. Who knows if they will turn against us when both we and the Dawn are defeated?" The archbishop explained while secretly guessing what the new pope was thinking. His intuition told him that the pope agreed with him.

Sure enough, the new Pope agreed and said, "You are right. I will soon announce that the Church of the Dead will not participate in the war with Dawn."

"After the great elder leaves tonight?" the archbishop said with a smile.

"Yes."

"But the Second Elder and the leader of our Legion of the Dead may not support your opinion." The Archbishop said worriedly.

"But they won't openly oppose me as soon as I take office, right?"

Phil Gray didn't want to think about it so much. On behalf of the Church of the Dead, he issued a declaration not to join the war. Could the two of them openly deny their decision?

"You are right. It seems that I can draft your first imperial decree after taking office tonight."

"After the Great Elder left, his position..."

"Of course, it will be from the Second Elder upwards."

"Then there should be a vacant elder position, right?"

"No, our elders are divided into upper elders and lower elders. The upper elders are the first five elders, and can only be appointed by gods who have been demoted. There is no limit to the number of lower elders. God-level elders are qualified to serve as lower elders, and gods who have been demoted will become candidates for upper elders, so the candidate elders will fill the vacancies of the five elders. According to past regulations, the saints who failed in this selection are qualified to become lower elders."

"So that's it."

"Of course, if they don't want to be idle elders for the time being, they can apply to become bishops of a certain district in Gilga City, or go to a local city to be bishops. After going through various levels of training, they can also serve as the next archbishop. The third elder should have already started making arrangements for them."

"Then do I have the power to appoint them to a certain position?" Why does Phil Gray feel that the way the Church of the Dead and the Church of Destiny operate are quite different? In Destiny, he can appoint anyone to any position he wants.

However, there are indeed quite a lot of elders who have been demoted from gods here. If it comes down to strength, I really can't beat them.

The archbishop laughed. "Of course, if your appointment is reasonable, but positions like archbishop and head of the Knights may require you to consider carefully and listen to the opinions of the elders."

"Okay, then can I nominate Eli as the next Archbishop?"

The archbishop was stunned for a moment, then smiled at His Holiness the Pope, his mustaches trembling slightly. "It may not be possible for him to take the position now, but I will do my best to train him and let him gradually take over my affairs. When the time is right, he will take over my position through formal channels."

Phil Gray had a better impression of the archbishop, "Thank you."

"You are too polite. By the way, the leader of our Legion of the Dead will be back tomorrow afternoon. He took some members of the Knights to explore a ruin deep in the north. He was not able to return even when the previous pope died. He only returned because of your appointment. I believe he will come to see you tomorrow."

"That's it..."

"Don't worry, I will definitely issue your first imperial order before he comes back."

"Thank you for your hard work, Archbishop."

Phil Gray looked at the Archbishop and saw the smile in each other's eyes.

As for how the second elder and the team leader would react, he was not really afraid.

Perhaps it was because he did not have deep feelings for the Church of the Dead, he always had a feeling that he could slip away at any time, no matter what would happen to this church in the future, but the Church of Destiny seemed like a home that had been waiting for him.

After the archbishop left, Phil Gray sat on the big bed in the bedroom. The bedroom had been renovated after the death of the previous pope. Apart from its rather depressing style, it was quite satisfactory to him.

"Huh..." He let out a light breath, and all the fatigue from the past few days disappeared.

At this moment, a reminder that the proverb was completed rang in his ears. His eyes lit up, and he felt that the more turbulent power of death had broken through the original limitations and reached the level of divine revelation!

Before this, he pretended to be a divinely-revelated person to become the Pope. Now, he finally lived up to the title.

"The new skill is the Scythe of Death, which is actually a weapon-type skill..." A long sickle made of the power of death condensed in Phil Gray's hand. The blade emitted a cold light, making people feel as if they were being stared at by the god of death. It seemed ready to reap people's lives and souls at any time.

"One strike can harvest lives, and another strike can annihilate souls. In addition to being able to use it directly, if it is integrated into one's own weapon, it can also be transformed into a more powerful weapon and exert tremendous power..." Phil Gray was very surprised, but his face became strange again, "But my only weapon is the Blazing Sun Sword. One is full of the power of the morning light, and the other is made of the power of death. If the two are integrated... it won't explode, right?"