Gun of Ashes

042 couldn’t understand what the old man truly wanted to do. Was he seeking death? Bringing so many demon hunters to die with him? But wasn’t he supposed to lead the golden age? If not seeking death, then what was he planning to do now? Continuing like this would only lead everyone to their deaths here.

”That was a long time ago. I encountered the Silencer, but interestingly, I didn’t die. Instead, I survived and came to understand their existence.”

The old man seemed like a reckless person, holding a wine glass while leaning beside a corpse, and started talking to himself again.

”Lorenzo de’ Medici!”

042 shouted impatiently, clenching his fists. Under this extreme erosion, he found it difficult to suppress his emotional turmoil.

”Don’t be impatient, child. 011 is strong. We still have plenty of time to talk about those stories buried in dust,” the old man said with a smile rather than anger.

”To put it briefly, after several experiments, I captured a Silencer. I sealed it in a coffin forged from Holy Silver. Holy Silver seems to be very effective in preventing that spirit body’s intrusion. Then I presented it to others, thinking they would, like me, continue to explore the world’s [Boundary], but unfortunately, they rejected it, more strongly than ever this time.

Everyone started to resist me. As I aged, everything turned out just as I said before, and I became like this.”

The old man spoke somewhat bitterly.

”They called it the [Holy Grail], regarded it as the origin of demons, and spread these tales, celebrating all this on the day of revelry, believing humanity had triumphed over demons.

I thought they were crazy, but later I realized they weren’t; they were just too greedy. With the advancement of the times and human technology, demons had less and less impact on humanity. Even for some unknown reason, the number of demons themselves was decreasing, as if secretly, there were some existences we were not aware of also hunting demons.”

He looked up at the demon hunters fighting above, emotions conflicted.

”Yes, we never considered one thing. What if demons were eradicated? In fact, demons would still exist, but this time they transformed into greedy humans. Those guys didn’t want to give up the power of the demons, nor did they want to throw all their strength against the demons. Their main opponents now are other humans, those increasingly powerful nations.”

”I was so foolish, 042. I shouldn’t have believed those guys, harboring some ridiculous hope for them. They were merely miserable creatures clinging to life,”

the old man mocked himself.

”So was it all just a scam?”

042 faintly knew about the events of the day of revelry. The Demon Hunting Order had captured the source of the demons, ending the history of human-demon conflict. Was it all just a scam?

”More or less. In fact, as humanity developed, the threat of demons gradually diminished. Such powerful weapons like demon hunters should be used in other places, like wars...”

”However, we did have a small chance to end all this, and that was to study the [Holy Grail], to study these [Silencers], to understand what they truly were, what they wanted to do, but they refused...” the old man sighed powerlessly, ”they didn’t care about any golden age; they only cared about their own power and authority, and they didn’t want to be dominated by me.

I once thought I would be the savior of this world, but it was then I realized, in the eyes of those I wanted to protect, I was merely a tyrant desperately greedy for power.”

042 remained silent, a tinge of sadness in his gaze, seemingly able to understand the old man’s thoughts, and the old man seemed to notice this and smiled back at him.

”Growing old continuously, I too became this ridiculous figure... I eventually made a deal with the Church, relinquished all my power, and withdrew here. But before that, I had a precious time to research these things.

I found a certain Authority in the Revelation that resembled the Silencer, a power that unbeknownst to me had been sealed away. According to annotations in the Revelation, all I know is that the one who sealed this Authority was named Adren Levien. Throughout the Church’s history, very few have been able to read the Revelation and leave annotations, at least those of the Pope level could do so, but I found no record of this person’s existence in the archives.

Interesting, isn’t it, 042? But what’s even more interesting is the Authority hidden away by Adren Levien.”

Unknowingly, the falling blood already covered his knees. The demon hunters were still fighting hard, but it was clear they had fallen at a disadvantage. The corpses of the Silencers remained occasionally decaying into ashes, but amidst piles of blood, the evaporation of this blood pool at their feet was evidently much slower.

The old man walked towards 042, speaking slowly as he walked.

”He named that Authority Gabriel.”

”Gabriel?”

”Yes, a very interesting Authority. It’s interesting that its nature is somewhat similar to the Silencer, yet different. But most importantly, it allows a person’s consciousness to traverse different bodies.”

”Traverse between bodies?”

”Yes, according to my research, in the description of Alchemy, everyone possesses a unique mental space called the [Gap], where our consciousness, soul, spirit body... actually, it doesn’t matter what it’s called; this Authority traverses and alters within it.”