Gun of Ashes

This diffusion continues, already covering most of the body. Presumably, once it spreads completely, the angel will possess the ability to act independently.

”You’ve seen this thing too, haven’t you?”

The new pope looked at Lawrence’s terrified face, his eyes completely bloodshot, scarlet, like a wild beast.

”How interesting, you should be kin with them, yet you fear them?”

He analyzed everything keenly, piecing together the broken clues.

Sainy Loter was never a foolish man, on the contrary, he was extremely alert and experienced. He was once crowned with the name Raphael the Demon Hunter, like Lawrence, a terrifying person weaving webs in the dark.

The Night of the Holy Arrival destroyed everything for him, so he used authority and tactics to destroy the Evangelical Church, seizing the holy crown. He longed to know the reason for all of this, so he implemented every method to seek that non-existent answer.

He carefully observed Lawrence’s expression. Although this was not his body, the emotions generated by his will were perfectly expressed in this fragile body at the moment. Lawrence wanted to hide it all, but as the angel constantly woke up, that horrific erosion gradually pressed on.

Like the angel, Lawrence also existed in the state of a ghost, yet he was unaware of the entirety of this power or the existence of the angel. Lawrence was like a naive newborn now, with no one to teach him all of this, and could only dig through it slowly by himself.

In the shadows, the woman stopped speaking, but the new pope could feel those eyes on him.

Within the angel, it was not absolutely united.

This was the answer the new pope instantly analyzed, within the angel, there were dissenters and those unaware of everything, just like Lawrence in front of his eyes. From his reaction, it could be seen that he was aware of the angel’s existence and feared it.

Yet inside Lawrence’s mind there were completely different thoughts.

Is this the Holy Grail that escaped from the Holy Coffin? Or perhaps there are multiple Holy Grails existing, this world has more than one Holy Grail, gnashing, drinking blood, as numerous as sand in a sea.

In this light, what was the celebration day, heralding the victory over the demons, about?

The Demon Hunting Order captured the last demon, that so-called Holy Grail, believing to have defeated the demons...

Why did the Evangelical Church at that time make such a judgment?

Lawrence’s mind was a chaos, he suddenly realized, regarding that day of victory celebration, he only remembered a short phrase.

As if deliberately forgotten, this should not be, he should not have forgotten!

Nails pierced into flesh, crimson eyes seemed as though about to drip blood.

Exactly, at the capture of the Holy Grail, it was during his tenure as Dean of the Demon Hunting Order, why did he not participate in all of this?

This world was too twisted, as if there’s a hand of God, arbitrarily controlling everything, hiding the truth all desire behind layers of veils.

Everything within the Static Holy Temple was as its name suggests, plunging into absolute silence and stasis, almost devoid of any sound, while those still breathing inside were like sculptures, forgetting to breathe.

Thoughts surged in their minds, the new pope, Lawrence, and the woman ever observing, they arduously organized these gathered intelligence, eager to excavate more information from others’ mouths, yet wary of each other, until that jade-like body began to move.

The angel slowly started moving, breaking the tranquility. At this moment, the only one with direct combat power was the new pope. He temporarily halted his thoughts, once again tightening the nail sword in his hand.

Lawrence took no action, the new pope’s gaze did not escape Lawrence’s perception, he knew this mysterious man had read much from his reactions, he did not wish to expose more to this cryptic existence, coldly staring like the woman in the shadows.

He wanted to see how the new pope would kill this angel, how to kill this evil anomaly.

Suddenly, Lawrence felt a surreal absurdity akin to seeing a ghost; he thought the world laughable to the extreme, riddled with lies and deceit.

Sainy Loter, wearing that holy crown, as the new pope of the Evangelical Church, was supposed to be the one who embraced God the most, yet now he wielded the nail sword attempting to kill the angel before him, and from his words, it was clear it was not his first time doing so.

Meant to be the most loyal believer, at this moment attempted to slay the servant of God.

Sharp resonant sounds swept through everyone present, that was the sound of wings scraping, those thousands of blades swinging, interweaving, clashing, raising dazzling sparks, pounding at the divine enemy ahead.

The angel’s pure face bore no expression, like a mask, this was an arduous battle... it was always like this, but the new pope was already accustomed to it all.

In fact, the emptiness of the Static Holy Temple, even Saint Nalos Cathedral, had its reasons. When the new pope realized the existence of these ghosts could plunder others’ bodies, he drove away as many people as possible, leaving only minimal manpower to ensure the normal operation of everything.

He hovered before this, guarding it here.

It was a chilling strike, carrying biting cold traversing through layers of wings, stabbing the angel.

Blood could indeed be shed, and the scarlet blood was glaring against the white skin, yet the angel did not have any expressions, never communicated, nor showed any emotions, like a flesh machine faithfully executing orders.

Then the intensity of erosion suddenly surged, unexpected pressure slowed the new pope’s sword slightly, dazzling white light burst forth in an instant, the air tore with beast-like howls.

No one would doubt the force of this strike, the angel did not roar, nor showed rage, the weapon bore only a cold judgment, like a higher judge penning a death sentence.

At the final moment, the new pope parried that heavy blow, but it was not wings that fell.

A blade, more accurately a blade-like weapon, resembling a nail sword, slender but sturdy, emitting faint white light, with spiral engravings and bloodstains, yet the new pope remained unscathed, the blood was the angel’s own.

Slender silvery nails protruded from the angel’s palms, appearing to continue the extension of the holy silver bones along the hand bones.

Fierce assault soared anew, wings and two blades interweaved, slashed, the new pope was worn defending, yet among his defenses, the varying lengths of wings fell, some blocked by the nail sword, others extending forth, piercing flesh.

Risings of faint heat upon the wounds, not just the freshness of flesh, but also a burning pain akin to flames.

The edges of wings were plated with holy silver, crafted not by smiths but birthed alongside the angel’s ”birth”.

None escaped the eyes of others, Lawrence and the woman both analyzing the angel’s nature based on the new pope and angel’s battle.

In this strange twisted world, intelligence was everything, it could lead one to the ultimate truth, it could leave enemies with no secrets in your eyes.

The new pope felt enormous pressure, normally he would not be so passive, with authority·Raphael he could well oppose the angel, but authority was his greatest secret, for now he had already exposed in the eyes of these people.

These observing ghosts were clearly not on the same faction as the angel, his identity as a demon hunter was already exposed to them, he did not want to also reveal his authority.

In this world, no absolute allies, moreover at this moment the new pope was unclear of their purposes.

In the shadow, the ever-observing woman suddenly ceased observing, stepped out of the shadow, the sound of a man resonated.

”What do you intend to do?”

016, or rather Watson, she fixated on the sacred angel, voicing her doubts and intentions together.

”An imaginary will has gained corporeal form... meaning there is now a mysterious will controlling this body, right?”

”What do you intend to do?”

”I want to see who truly controls all of this after the sacred, 047,” Watson replied to that voice.

”I am going to invade... its gap.”