Gun of Ashes

”A Red Signal Incident occurred with the Perpetual Motion Pump over a decade ago, which led to Demons rampaging in Old Dunling for a time. It’s said that Eve was caught up in the aftermath of this incident... enough said.

At the time, William seemed to be conducting some experiments. However, according to the intelligence provided by Cole, he apparently found something called the ’Truth.’ Meanwhile, our observation was that a massive corruption descended upon the Perpetual Motion Pump abruptly, causing us to lose contact with it entirely.

Even today, we are still unclear about what exactly happened inside the Perpetual Motion Pump on that day. When our Rangers stormed inside, we only found Demons suddenly appearing and corpses strewn everywhere. All records had been deliberately erased by some force, and all personnel fell into madness due to the corruption.”

Arthur’s gaze gradually grew solemn.

”Mordred... that is, Cole, and also William, they all went insane during the Red Signal Incident...

No... this doesn’t seem right...”

The more he reminisced about the past, the more Arthur recalled various doubts. No, these were not doubts but, after so many years, Arthur combined his current intelligence to revise the Red Signal Incident from the past. It now appeared that those points of confusion suddenly became clear.

Then a cold hand caressed Arthur’s neck, and he suddenly felt an indescribable unease.

He vaguely sensed something was blocking him, like a wall.

”This is so similar...”

”What are you talking about?”

Abigail couldn’t hear Arthur’s words.

”It’s too similar... just like another Night of the Holy Arrival.”

He murmured softly in a voice Abigail couldn’t hear.

Reflecting now, Arthur couldn’t help but wonder whether fate truly existed in this world. Once, the progress of understanding Demons was extremely slow, but in recent years, there was rapid advancement—the Armor technology, the Holy Grail and the Pseudo Holy Grail, the decline and rise of the Demon Hunting Order...

These events erupted in these years as if someone was accelerating the course of history.

”Lorenzo Holmes...”

He couldn’t help but mutter that familiar yet unfamiliar name. Arthur rubbed his temple hard. In the past, relying on the Ranger’s constitution, he didn’t care about health or the like. But now it seemed he had to pay more attention, especially since he needed to strive to live, at least until he knew the Truth of it all.

”Where’s Merlin?”

”He should be in his castle,” Abigail said. ”Black Mountain Hospital has turned into a ruin, and many patients have nowhere to go. He offered his dust-covered ancient castle.”

”Is that so...”

Arthur pondered and then asked again.

”Have they found Lorenzo’s whereabouts?”

”I’m not sure, but based on their speculation, that guy is most likely dead, though we haven’t found his corpse yet,” Abigail replied.

In the storm half a month ago, to destroy that high-intensity pollution source, Gareth commanded the Sailing Dawn to launch a bombardment against the Reichenbach, completely destroying the fleshy airship.

At the time, Lorenzo was also on that airship. Although in the end, some observers saw him and the Black Angel detach from the airship, ultimately it was a height of several thousand meters, and the heavy Black Angel had no flying capability at all. All it could do was glide, but at such a height, gliding amounted to merely slowing down death; the impact upon landing would still easily kill him.

”The Black Angel lost control again mysteriously... but the specifics should be asked of Merlin. According to the operation records on the Sailing Dawn, it was Merlin himself who opened the hatch and released the Black Angel.”

Abigail said as she picked up a report from the table.

”This is what they sent this morning, it’s a reconnaissance of the point where Reichenbach crashed.”

Arthur picked up the report, inside were several black and white photographs.

The wreckage of Reichenbach fell on the ridge, the raging fire also spread to the nearby dense forest. Through the inspection of the wreckage, many Demons’ corpses were found. Based on the readings from the Geiger Counter, combined with the Demons’ corpses in Black Mountain Hospital, they speculated that these corpses were Demon Hunters mutated into Demons.

The Black Angel, which fell several kilometers away, was also found. The Armor of Original Sin was nearly shattered from the crash, creating a several-hundred-meter-long impact trail on the ground.

However, they did not find Lorenzo’s corpse.

”Do you think that guy is dead?” Arthur asked.

”Perhaps, after all, from such a height, maybe the strong wind during the fall blew him to another location... anyway, the place has been sealed off by Cleaners. If he’s dead, we’ll find his body sooner or later.”

Abigail said, seeming to remember something, then spoke to Arthur.

”By the way, the New Order has already left; correctly speaking, they have escaped.”

”What?”

Arthur abruptly raised his head, staring at Abigail.

”Yes, that’s what it means. There’s a report about this on the table,” she said, pointing to a small table nearby, already piled high with files.

”It’s certain, a part of the war in Black Mountain Hospital definitely had them stirring the pot, but they had already prepared for it.”

”Not admitting, right?”

”Yes, the Demon Hunters from the Mission have remained inside the embassy, those who were active probably infiltrated secretly, but as long as they don’t admit it, there’s not much we can directly do.