Gun of Ashes

She muttered.

…

121A Cork Street, Winchester Law Firm.

Perhaps it was a silver lining amidst misfortune; during the storm, the firm didn’t suffer any damage and remained standing. However, the rain was so heavy that water seeped into the building, ruining the flooring.

Lorenzo moved a bench up to the rooftop to soak in the sunlight and listen to the sounds of renovation from downstairs.

His right arm was wrapped in bandages. Likely due to the direct impact from Wangchuan, Lorenzo’s self-healing ability couldn’t do much this time; he could only wait for it to heal slowly.

“What a beautiful view it is.”

Lorenzo sighed, grabbing the bottle of liquor from the small table beside him and downing it under the daylight.

Some commotion arose on the street; a few people gathered and were shouting something loudly.

“The truth can’t be like this! They’re definitely hiding something!” The leading man shouted at the crowd, “I saw it! Those monsters! It was the monsters who did all of this!”

Among the crowd, some were curious, while others were swayed by his words and started shouting with righteous indignation.

Indeed, no matter how thorough the handling is, there are always a few that slip through the net. After all, to completely cover up an incident, a mark will always be left unless it never happened at all.

Lorenzo didn’t care about them; he guessed these people would be visited by the Cleaners tonight, and their memories would realign with the masses, continuing to protect this dark and dirty secret.

Such things continuously occur in secret. These days, the Cleaners seem to be on the edge of madness from busyness.

“Are you okay?”

A voice sounded from behind, and Watson came over, concerned about Lorenzo’s condition.

“I’m fine; Wangchuan only affected my shell.”

Lorenzo waved his bandaged arm. It was not unusable, but each time he moved it, it brought an intense prickling pain.

Watson stood beside Lorenzo, hearing him sigh.

“Finally, those two big problems are solved. As long as we destroy the thing beneath the Well of Ascension, we’ll be free of this dark fate.”

“Do you think we’ll succeed?”

“I feel… who knows? But we have to try, plus you’ve seen Ed Delun validate it for us firsthand.”

Lorenzo looked at his arm, the pain transcending the flesh and directly impacting his consciousness.

“Anti-Memes seem to layer on each other; layers of Wangchuan stacked until I swung the last sword, and Wangchuan reached the threshold, completely collapsing Roger.”

Lorenzo recalled another figure.

“You remember, the Secret Keeper mentioned that in their final battle, they poured all of their Echo of the End but couldn’t fully exile it, only putting it into a deep slumber…”

“You’re saying?”

Lorenzo looked at Watson, as if seeing into the depths of her soul.

“Perhaps they almost succeeded; they infused everything but not literally everything. They had one Echo of the End left, and we will finally, after so many years, strike the last blow from those distant times.”

Watson considered, as Lorenzo said, maybe it’s feasible, and if so, they truly have a chance to completely end it all.

Gazing at Lorenzo, Watson was about to say something but saw an extremely twisted and eerie face.

Lorenzo was smiling, basking in the sunlight, with a grin of utter hatred, the kind only a demon would possess.

“Why are you smiling, Lorenzo?”

Lorenzo looked at Watson, meeting her gaze.

“It’s finally coming to an end, Watson, all of it…”

He sighed, as if exhaling his soul, his expression falling into tranquil peacefulness.

“What a prolonged war it has been…”