Chapter 754: Fall

"Everything seems so difficult. Our enemy is very powerful, so powerful that it is difficult for us to contend with it. Even someone like me who is called God's only beloved by the world cannot succeed."

Before the war, Luca came to Leo's church on purpose. Here, it was not yet time for worship, so Augustus could be alone in a room with the Pope.

It was also here that Luca confessed his feelings to Pope Leo.

"It seems that your need for an exorcism ritual is a complete cover!" Having said this, Leo put away the open Bible with a sullen look on his face and glared at Luca, who no longer had the panicked look he had when he just rushed in.

"You are Augustus!" Leo whispered in reproach. "Your every word and action is watched closely. Of course, if the citizens of Rome saw you panicking, they would have crowded at the city gates and shouted to flee!"

"But the Vandals have surrounded Rome, haven't they?" Luca looked relaxed. "Unless they collude with Gaiseric, this is inevitable. If they still have a little conscience as Romans, they will definitely not do this."

"Your attack on Carthage brought a lot of benefits to these old guys." Leo snorted coldly, put away the Bible, and then sat next to Luca. "They think you are a cash cow. Every idea of ​​war always brings them a lot of benefits."

"Then it seems that when I became Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire, their attitude towards me completely changed."

"You always do things beyond their imagination." Leo smiled. "You also know that Rome never lacks land, and gold is something the more the better. I have never seriously thought about how pious they are to God. Although what you do is a complete non-conformist, in my opinion you are much purer than those guys who pray on time every day but have ulterior motives."

"Okay, papa, I'll take this as a compliment." Luca gave a helpless smile, then he took off the lion skin on his back. It was a very heavy burden. If it weren't for the sake of beauty, no one would be willing to wear such a heavy fur coat. This was completely a way to attract attention.

"Tell me, you have brought me here by tricking me like this, you must have something to tell me." Leo guessed Luca's thoughts, "You don't have any hope of winning this war."

"Yes, you can say that." Luca shook his head slightly, "As you can see, Papa, we are isolated and helpless. No one will come to help us. They are all hiding aside as spectators. I guess they will not lend us a hand either."

"You knew clearly that this was a cage from which you could not escape, but you still jumped in without hesitation. You are such a strange fellow!"

"Everyone will face death, whether it's a priest or a mortal. Even our Lord Jesus died on the cross!"

"I must correct you, Luca!" Leo said seriously, "Jesus sacrificed himself for salvation. He entered the kingdom of heaven..."

"I know, I know!" Leo never expected that Luca would suddenly interrupt him. "Humans, with their mortal bodies, will eventually die, but their souls and spirits are eternal. Having said that, everyone is doomed to die, but devout believers have the right to decide how they die, just like Vespasian died standing, and Jesus Christ used his life to influence Longinus. People always need to die meaningfully. After all, the soul controls the body. Although the death of the body cannot be avoided, it can always decide where the body dies."

"So you plan to stay, stay in this land that is already dead." Leo's face was solemn. He looked at Luca with a strange expression. He was about to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back.

"What a difficult guy to understand." Leo shook his head and then stood up. "Okay, what a strange guy. If you choose to become a priest, maybe I will have a strong opponent."

Luga remained silent, just lowered his head. It was not difficult to tell that talking so much really took up a lot of his energy.

"It seems that I really shouldn't disturb you, even though you are in my place now." Leo sighed softly and stood up to leave.

"Huneric!"

"What?" Leo turned around and looked at Luca with a puzzled look.

"Huneric," Luca went on to explain, "the eldest son of Gaiseric, came to Rome as a hostage, and is in the city of Rome."

"Huneric, oh, yes, yes, that guy who didn't follow the rules, I remember him." Leo nodded.

"You know Huneric's identity very well now. He is just a hostage. It is because of his identity that he is the only bargaining chip we can use to negotiate with Gaiseric after we are unable to do anything!"

"What?" Leo stared at Luga with his eyes wide open in disbelief. "This is a very important guy. We can use him as a hostage to force Gaiseric to withdraw his troops."

"But Gaiseric is here. He is a very stubborn guy. We can't let him go too easily, nor can we hold him too tightly." Luca shook his head slightly and reminded Leo: "Before everything is over, this is the only way to protect the Church. Huneric's ability is not that great. After all, Gaiseric has more than one son. I believe he will give in here, but against me, I am afraid he will not even blink an eye at the cost of sacrificing a flesh and blood he hasn't seen for many years to kill his old enemy."

"What a madman." Leo's memories came to an abrupt end here, and even he couldn't help but sigh like this. Scenes from the past reappeared before his eyes. This happened just yesterday, but for some reason, he always felt as if all this had just happened yesterday.

Luca was gasping for breath. He was already exhausted and powerless, and his lungs were aching as if they had exploded. But that was nothing because his head hurt even more.

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"Defense! Defense!"

The soldiers roared and rushed towards the oncoming Vandal army, forming a line of defense in front of Luga, trying hard to protect Luga's safety.

"I, I can still fight!"

Luga lowered his head, using the eagle flag as a crutch, looking down at the Dragon Breath Sword stuck in the enemy's body.

The sword was already stained with the blood of the Vandals. Through the moonlight, the blood-stained sword revealed a hint of cold light.

Luga slowly stretched out his hand, and his trembling hand moved towards the sword little by little, closer and closer. Luga gritted his teeth and finally touched the hilt of the sword with his middle finger and index finger.

Suddenly, for some reason, Luca felt a buzzing in his head, and then he felt that everything in front of him was twisted together in an instant, whether it was the soldiers who were yelling at him to "leave" or the Vandals who were roaring towards him, everything was twisted together and ceased to exist.

(End of this chapter)