Gun of Ashes

This is a feeling that’s hard to describe—a sensation where everything seems to fall, fall, endlessly fall, descending into the depths of the darkest abyss.

In the numbing descent, the clear sound of water broke the long silence, and in the next moment, a cacophony of sounds erupted, all the accumulated melodies played at once, followed by a burst of color.

Lorenzo saw the dark blue world blur into view, as freezing seawater filled his throat, the extreme cold awakening his numbed spirit. In the distant low hum, he could witness the colossal beings drifting in the dark blue depths, and then he understood.

This isn’t falling; it’s rising, continuously rising until reaching the highest peak.

The sturdy ice surface collapsed at this moment. In the turbulent Ice Sea, Lorenzo clawed desperately at the surrounding floating ice like a drowning man. After a difficult struggle for survival, he climbed wetly out of the Ice Sea, and the familiar bench was not far away. Once again, he found himself in that eerie [Gap].

A desolate, cold world where all life seemed to perish in this moment, leaving only unbearable coldness to endure.

”Indeed... It really is like this...”

Every experience of arrival was never pleasant, yet Lorenzo was still very happy. He proved his idea, using the Armor of Original Sin; he could actively reach the [Gap].

”Medanzo!”

After catching his breath, Lorenzo shouted loudly, the sound reverberating across the desolate ice field, stretching to the world’s edge until he vaguely heard his own echo. But no one responded to him.

Inexplicable panic rose inside, and Lorenzo shouted urgently.

”Watson? Medanzo!”

He called out with all his strength, but there was no response.

It seemed that he was the only one here, the sole person in this barren world.

Lorenzo staggered forward, sitting on the bench like a lost soul, with his head lowered, pondering all of it.

”No... It shouldn’t be like this...”

Logically, Watson and Medanzo should exist here, yet no one responded now. Did his worst thought become reality? Has Watson escaped him? But what about Medanzo? As the most secure safeguard, he couldn’t possibly fail to warn him...

Or did Medanzo also succumb to corruption?

Yes... Medanzo is dead; he’s nothing but a remnant of consciousness, a wandering ghost. How could he possibly resist the Pseudo Holy Grail’s erosion?

Why... why did all this happen so silently?

Lorenzo nervously looked around, his expression a bit deranged, loudly reprimanding the deserted ice plain.

”Or have you always been here? Hiding under some layer of ice, secretly observing me, waiting for my self-doubt? My self-collapse?”

This is a common trick used by demons, like back when, in that Valley of Horror, the Demon Hunters became confused and fearful from their own thoughts before they even encountered any demons.

Lorenzo stubbornly observed all of this and then laughed aloud. He is a Demon Hunter, a detective; since no one answered, he would explore personally.

Effortfully recalling all the previous conversations with Medanzo, memories surged forth like a tide, engulfing Lorenzo.

”Passive connection versus active control...”

Lorenzo seemed to have thought of something; during the time he actively arrived at the [Gap], Medanzo had already shown a dangerous side. He wanted to cooperate with Watson and even demonstrated the bizarre incident to him.

”Did you let her go?”

Lorenzo couldn’t understand; in this tangled contradiction, he suddenly remembered something, a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

[Are you interested... in going home and taking a look?]

If Medanzo hadn’t lied back then, it seems that he might also be able to...

A terrifying thought rose in Lorenzo’s mind; he would never have done this before, but the bizarre occurrences had already placed immense pressure on him. Sometimes, Lorenzo even felt bewildered about himself.

Is he ultimately cold rationality, or has he descended into madness, reaching the extreme, transformed into a seemingly rational norm?

Many things have no answers, or perhaps only he can offer an explanation.

Lorenzo trembled as he stretched out his hand, whispering.

”This is a mental world connecting all of us... An intangible bond linking us all...”

[This is our Gap, the world we control.]

As the raised hand gently slashed down, Lorenzo anticipated something, yet nothing happened. After a long pause, he suddenly laughed, losing composure.

Indeed, these are falsehoods, Watson’s fraud, a deception.

As Lorenzo thought this, the world he recognized had not been shattered; Medanzo’s words were nonsense at the time. This world wouldn’t change due to his wishes. Lorenzo’s common sense was intact, yet he felt a strange sense of loss.

He anticipated some change, like how a priest might secretly visit a casino. People always chase danger, pursuing forbidden pleasures.

But then, a breeze arose, stirring the snow dust on the ground, swirling upward, weaving into countless screens. Lorenzo looked towards the direction his arm was moving; now, instead of intense emotional upheaval, he just said helplessly.

”No way...”

It was a black gap, transcending dimensions and substance, opening a portal to the external world in this desolate realm. And beyond that dark gap, the starry sky was brilliant.

”Is this your conspiracy-driven scheme?”

Lorenzo murmured to himself, but as before, no one responded, and then he laughed.

He approached the gap step by step, remembering the first time he saw it, recalling the trajectories of stars clearly.

”Going home?”

Lorenzo took one last look at the desolate ice field, then headed into the starry sky without turning back.

...

”Lorenzo! Lorenzo!”

Merlin shouted at the Black Angel, but no one responded to him to this day. It seems Lorenzo fell into a coma the moment he activated the Black Angel, arriving at the [Gap].

This damn guy had utilized Merlin to a certain extent, worrying him endlessly about what might follow. Once the Black Angel runs amok, the existing security forces are utterly outmatched.

Just then, the Black Angel stirred. That silent Armor of Original Sin began to move, twisted wings started folding in, like a shield, layer upon layer, cocooning itself, constricting tightly, returning to the form of a black egg, but then flesh began to proliferate beneath the Iron Feather, growing wildly, clinging to the Restraint Device and surrounding machinery.

It was flesh woven like spider silk, covering and occupying all over the air in an instant.

Merlin swallowed, even as an experienced Alchemist, he had no idea what might happen next, but he immediately felt it.

More precisely, everyone present felt it. The surging erosion, like tidal waves, sweeping over each person one after another, penetrating the city’s massive Geiger Counters installed everywhere, all were affected, and this effect continued, spreading instantly throughout Old Dunling, even all of Ingwig.

It wasn’t intense, so mild that many ordinary people merely felt momentary nausea, but those like Merlin, who were in the know, understood what was happening.

”My God...”

Merlin began regretting this experiment, yet the Black Angel’s disturbance hadn’t ceased. Rather than contaminating, it’s akin to calling out for something.

Like the kind of Alchemy Matrix used by Lawrence, the Black Angel expanded the range of erosion, until Lorenzo could connect there despite such great distance.

Beyond those layers of mountains, beneath the distant Holy Capital, lay the origin of all things.

Static Holy Temple.