Tyranny of Steel

It had been hours since the German Army had taken the city of Rome and surrounded the Holy See. Berengar had personally seen to the capture of the Pope and his cardinals. Currently, in the streets of Rome, citizens and soldiers alike gathered below the Papal Palace to witness a spectacular event.

On the balcony, the soldiers of Germany had tied the Pope and all of his Cardinals to wooden posts which stood above a great pyre. These soldiers carried jerry cans which were filled with diesel in their hands and rapidly doused their victims with the highly flammable substance. 

While the soldiers were preparing the Pope and his lackeys for their deaths, the German Emperor stepped upon the balcony dressed only in a loincloth. His skin was glistening as if he had received an oil massage, but it was not olive oil that coated his skin, but the same flammable liquid which was now being poured onto the pope.

The diesel stuck to the Kaiser's muscles and created the appearance of a Golden God. Which Berengar was more than happy to play the role of. More than one woman in the crowd gazed at the man's oiled, athletic figure and blushed. It was not the kind of sight you saw every day. 

Even though Berengar was thoroughly covered in diesel, he was unsatisfied with the results. He quickly snapped his fingers, which caused his soldiers to pour even more diesel onto his body, as if he had not been absolutely coated in the substance already. Only after he was fully drenched from head to toe in the flammable liquid did Berengar speak to the crowds that had gathered. 

"I am sure you all are wondering what I am doing up here on this balcony. To answer that question, one must go back ten years. It is no secret that I have been at odds with the Papacy. Since I first gained power as a feudal nobleman, it has been the objective of the Catholic Church to silence and eliminate me. Why? Because I dared to challenge their authority over you all.

Throughout this past decade, I have brought the truth of God's will to the people of Germany via my reformation. However, the Pope and his minions have stopped at nothing to get in my way. They have lied; they have cheated, and they have killed in order to maintain their power over Europe and all of its monarchs. 

These men, who proclaim themselves the leaders of Christendom, have lied to you about the word of God. They have sent you to die in meaningless wars that benefitted only them. They have slandered my name, and declared the German Reformation to be heretical. Today, I will prove to you all that the Reformation is truly God's will!

As you can see, I have doused myself with a highly flammable oil. This is the same substance that I have drenched the Pope and his cronies with. In fact, I have gone even further and had this oil massaged into every pore of my body.

In a few moments, I will order my soldiers to light me aflame. From me, the fire will spread to these criminals. Why would I do something so insane? Because I believe in all of my heart that God shall protect me. So I will pray to God to save me, and they shall do the same. Who survives this trial by fire is up to God himself to decide!"

After saying this, Berengar took off his loincloth and nodded his head to the German soldiers to light him aflame. The Kaiser knelt down onto the pyre and closed his eyes while he held his hands in prayer, seemingly calling upon God to save him as his soldiers took a burning torch and touched it against his oily skin. 

The fire instantly engulfed the Kaiser's muscular figure. Despite this, the man did not scream. In fact, he did not even feel it, because he had a secret weapon hidden on his finger. The Ring of Sol which protected its wearer from any bodily harm. Naturally, the fire consumed the diesel which drenched his skin, but it did not cause a single burn to appear on the man's flesh. 

As for the leaders of the Catholic Church, they screamed in agony as the fire spread to their bodies and burned them alive. The fire rapidly consumed the entire pyre into a burning inferno. The crowd could only look upon the trial with dread in their eyes as they shouted their fears aloud.

Only the German soldiers remained calm as they gazed upon the scene of their Kaiser burning with grim eyes. For whatever reason, a single soldier who stood in the crowd broke the cries of the frightened Italians by shouting the lyrics to Christ ist erstanden.

This was a song that all German soldiers knew the lyrics to, as they sung it every year on the anniversary of Christ's resurrection. Thus, shortly after the man began singing, the other German Soldiers in the crowd joined him. Eventually thousands of voices were in unison chanting the lyrics to Christ ist erstanden while the Kaiser and the leaders of the Catholic Church burned on the balcony above. 

Eventually the fire finally faded, all the remained was a pile of ash, and a single man kneeling within it. His hands were folded in prayer, and he appeared to be chanting something, but nobody could hear the words he had spoken. After a few minutes, this man, whose flesh was entirely unblemished from the flame, rose from the ashes and revealed his pale naked body to the public. Berengar gazed around at the results of his trial and smiled before announcing himself to be victorious.

"It is clear that God has forsaken the Catholic Church, and chosen the reformation as the one true Christian Faith! I, Berengar von Kufstein, remain unhindered by the flames! By God's light, I have been saved! Glory to the Reformation, God with us!"

The German Soldiers broke out into cheers as they witnessed their Kaiser emerge from the flames completely unharmed. They shouted out the old battle cry they had used long ago during the early days of Berengar's conquests. 

"God with us! God with us! God with us!"

As for the Italian Citizens who witnessed the scene, they were truly shocked. The leaders of the Catholic Church were dead. There was no way to select a new Pope, and even if they somehow managed to do so, the Kaiser would quickly oust the man. 

The end of the Catholic Church had come in a fiery blaze, and through its ashes the German Reformation had founded the basis for a new era of Christianity, where faith was completely separate from secular affairs. 

As for how the Kaiser pulled off this stunt, nobody knew how he had survived. Most concluded God truly saved him, and as a result, Ludolf would canonize him into the annals of the German Reformation as a living Saint. Where he would be revered by Germans for centuries to come. 

German Scientists would come up with all kinds of plausible theories to explain how Berengar pulled off such a miraculous feat. It would take decades for the men to finally agree on a reasonable explanation for Berengar's trial by fire, and in the end, they would explain it as an overly complex sleight of hand. However, this rationalization would not deter the faithful from their religious beliefs. 

As for the Catholic Church, they were now leaderless. Though local bishoprics continued to exist throughout Europe, though their numbers would dwindle as the Papacy's many crimes came to light. They would be forced to contend with the German Reformation and its many offshoots that would appear in the coming years, and eventually the Catholic Faith would die a quiet death after centuries of decline. 

With the Pope and his Cardinals killed off in the flames, Berengar and his soldiers were free to ransack the Holy See. Among the artifacts that Berengar took for himself were the Papal Crown, the Ring of Sol, and the Papal Throne. He intended to use the Papal Throne as his seat of power within his summer Palace which he planned to construct in Berlin shortly after the war was over. 

Despite the Papacy being obliterated in this moment, the War would continue as Berengar had planned to thoroughly destroy the old order, and replace the rulers of Europe with a variety of puppets. Italy would be his first target, followed by Hungary, Poland-Lithuania, and eventually Burgundy. In the end, all would kneel before Kaiser or die with the old world. 

While Berengar was waging war across Europe, Itami was finalizing her plans to invade the Korean Peninsula. Berengar would be shocked to find that although he had defeated his oldest enemy, a new rival had appeared on the World Stage just when he thought he had established his Pax Germania. One that was far more dangerous than the Catholic Church and its puppet monarchs.