Gateway of Immortality - Chapter 157: The Unexpected

Johnathan, an old man with an extraordinary past but an ordinary end, gets reincarnated in a dark fantasy world full of magic, darkness, and mysteries furled.

However, he committed a grave blunder by taking the fiction he had read as a reference. Reborn as a baby, he hoped to be deemed gifted by speaking early.

One thing led to another, and tragedy struck. The villagers declared him a demon-possessed and called the church. Johnathan, now known as Sylvester Maximilian, realized that he had messed up.

When the church's inquisitors came to judge him and burn him on a pyre. As a last resort and to welcome his soon to arrive second death, he started chanting holy hymns as his last breath.

Overwhelmed, they kneeled, thinking he was a messenger of Solis.

From there, the story of how Sylvester Maximilian rose through the ranks to sit at the top began.

But his life won't be ordinary, as he uses his cunning and the tag of 'God's favored' to his advantage. Fighting treachery, unearthing secret plots and world mysteries, facing the darkness around him and creating his place in history, engraving his name in the annals to be forever remembered as the—Immortal Pope, The Young.

[A/N: To not mislead you, the novel's name does not mean he instantly becomes the Pope from the start. The story will follow the life of MC. Though he will become the Pope at a pretty young age. 40% of the novel will be based around MC fighting to sit on the supreme throne.

If you enjoy world building and lore building, then you will like this story.]
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***Main Tags: FANTASY, ADVENTURE, MAGIC, DARK, STRONG MC(Weak at the start because he's a baby. Not an instant OP though.), WHOLESOME, COMEDY, KINGDOM BUILDING. MENTALLY OLD MC, Politics, Backstabbing, World Building.***

[WARNING: MC will not go around saving everyone. Absolutely not if it puts him in danger. But if he can save someone using his status or position in the church, he will. He will kill innocent people if he has to. MC is not crazy, cynical, or unsociable. The world at some times may seem very DARK.]
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[DISCLAIMER]
The religion will be fake. I won't make it similar to those existing in our world not to trigger anyone. However, the Church terminologies and designations may feel identical as they are simple vocabulary words.

Again, everything you read in this novel is fictional and has no relation to our world.

I hope you enjoy my work. Stay safe and eat healthy bananas.
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[P-CORE BIOS VER 7.3.1 INITIALIZING... 10%][30%][60%][90%][100%][SUBJECT Kael - GENETIC MARKER: PHOENIX PRIME - CONFIRMED][CRYO-STASIS SEQUENCE: ...100%][NEURAL PATHWAY: STABLE][VITAL SIGNS: DETECTED - SUBOPTIMAL][LOADING PHOENIX CORE AI - DESIGNATION: ASHA][ASHA ONLINE - AWAITING SUBJECT CONSCIOUSNESS]Asha: “Kael, your current objective is not to get eaten. My calculations give you a 37.4% chance if you actually follow my advice this time.”Kael: “Right, Asha. 'I'll make sure not to be a snack by these mutated.” He gripped his trusty pipe. “I still haven't met the others who are still sleeping in their pods. How can I think about being eaten?” He glanced towards the cryo-pods, 14 Beautiful girls still on their cold sleep.[Affinity System Sub-Routine... Online. Monitoring Subject Interactions.]Sera (her long silver hair glinting through her waist. Her arms crossed and glaring at Kael who just offered her a slightly squashed ration bar): “I don't need your help or your pitiful food! I can handle myself just perfectly fine..… I know this situation… is temporarily, everything will be fine.”Kael: “Umm.. O-O-Okay. Just… eat this first it's the last one we have.. and you looked really hungry, Sera.”Asha: “[Affinity with Subject Seraphina: -2. Critical Analysis: Subject exhibits classic tsundere defense mechanisms. Probability of her actually wanting the ration bar: 89.7%.]”Kael (to Asha,): “Umm.. Asha?.. What now?”[Humanity's Last Hope: Subject Kael. Current Status: Confused, but trying his best.][Objective: Survive. Protect the 14 Girls. Maybe figure out what 'Affinity' means before someone hits *him* with a pipe.]

The corridor was dark. Selene moved fast, barefoot against the cold stone, her heart thundering in her chest. She didn’t know how they’d gotten so close, how he had.But the moment she turned the corner, he was there, and he slammed her back against the wall.Her gasp was muffled by a rough hand clamping over her mouth. The other braced beside her head as his body caged hers completely. Heat rolled off him like a furnace. His scent hit her nose, faintly familiar. Like burnt cedar, cold steel, and storm.He leaned in, his voice a ragged whisper by her ear.“You’re Selene... my Selene.”Her blood ran cold. Her heart rebelled against her chest, trying to escape.“I’m not,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “You’re mistaken.”His fingers traced the curve of her jaw like he was trying to memorize it. “It’s you. I’d know your soul even if the world burned it from your bones.”“You’re mad,” she spat.But he suddenly dipped his mouth to kiss her hard, to confirm that it was really her.***Selene was the daughter of the cruel Alpha who ruled Moonveil through fear. Years ago, he wiped out an entire pack just to rise to power. But he made one mistake...he left behind four orphaned boys.Those boys returned as Alphas. They are stronger, colder and out for revenge.They took everything...his land, his title, and finally... his life. Selene was only seventeen at the time. She had no idea what her father had done. But that didn’t matter. To them, she was guilty by blood.They didn’t kill her. No. They did something worse.They marked her as a slave.In their world, even omegas had rights. Slaves had none. She became nothing more than property.But Selene still had hope. On her eighteenth birthday, like every werewolf, she expected her wolf to awaken. It was supposed to be the start of her new life.Instead, it turned into a nightmare.Her wolf never came. Her body remained cold and silent. And then… the bond appeared. She was mated to all four of them.The very Alphas who hated her.The ones who owned her.But the truth is Selene was never a wolf to begin with.As her body withers under the weight of the bond, a darker truth surfaces. She is not just a slave… she is the last living witch, born of the very bloodline werewolves have hunted for generations.Now, her enemies wear the mark of her mates...And the witch they thought they broke may be the one who burns them all.

Lives are a currency, and Noah Vines is rich.Reincarnated into the body of a poisoned magic school professor, Noah is given more than just a second chance at life. Every time he dies, his body reforms. With infinite variations of runic magic to discover and with death as a painful soul wound rather than a final end, Noah finally has a chance to wander the lands of the living once again. And this time, he plans to get strong enough to make sure that he never has to wait around in the afterlife again.