Gun of Ashes

The cold night wind rushed into the pitch-black corner through the opened car door, where Red Falcon lay, his tightly closed eyelids furrowed with brows, beads of sweat seeping from his forehead, as if caught in a nightmare from which he couldn’t awaken.

This situation lasted for about several minutes, and then a faint electric current released from the electrodes buried beneath his flesh, passing through his nerves, continually stimulating him until he gradually awoke.

Red Falcon looked dazedly at the destruction surrounding him, and after a brief stupor, he began to whimper in pain. Struggling to climb up from the ground, he reached to the back of his neck and forcefully tore off the tiny cables, removing the electrodes buried beneath his neck’s skin along with blood.

This was a device known as a safeguard; everyone who battled the demons had such a thing, designed to release electric currents to wake them up when their consciousness was being corroded.

However, the triggering rate of this thing was quite mysterious. Fortunately, it triggered this time, allowing Red Falcon to wake up. The sensation was unpleasant, as if he had been beaten up, his entire body emitting fatigue and pain.

”What on earth...happened?”

Red Falcon recalled the last scene, looking at the opened car door. Lorenzo had discovered something unknown, suddenly dashed out, and then it felt as if the Radiant had collided with something, the entire train coming to a sudden halt amidst resistance, causing Red Falcon to crash into the wall and lose consciousness.

But Red Falcon still recalled something; in the last moments of his muddled consciousness, he saw Eve opening the car door and walking out.

Eve!

The thought of this girl instantly cleared Red Falcon’s mind. Enduring the physical pain, he grabbed the firearm beside him and hobbled out.

Very few people knew about Eve’s secret, even Red Falcon was only aware of a fragment. But just like seeing the shadow of an object, merely from its shadow, one could infer the terribleness of its true form, the same applied to that truth.

Eve couldn’t die here, at least not such a meaningless death.

With this thought, Red Falcon arrived outside, where the entire surface had been altered by the twisted flesh, a vast wilderness transformed into a rugged, uneven terrain under its influence.

”Where are you?”

Red Falcon muttered, continuously sweeping his gaze until he finally saw it. At the end of his field of vision, Eve’s figure was trembling at the top of a raised mountain.

...

The eyes can see the images, the nose can smell the scents, the touch can sense the texture of things, the ears can understand the fluctuations in sound.

Sometimes Eve wondered if what they called intuition might also be a kind of sensory organ, like something that couldn’t be perceived by conventional means, eventually needing this thing called intuition to observe it.

At this moment, Eve was advancing by following her intuition. Following the violent jolts, she staggered out alone. Although she wasn’t capable of defeating a demon, she moved forward slowly, as if suddenly not fearing death anymore.

Seeing the rising green light on the horizon, Eve knew that was her destination, as if something were there waiting for her, calling her.

The people around seemed as if they were dreaming. When she came out, everyone had their eyes tightly closed, breathing slightly.

Or to say, what Eve was experiencing now was as if a dreamscape, after all, she had never seen such a mighty force capable of changing the terrain in such a short period of time. The enormous flesh far exceeded her understanding of biology, the eerie green veil covering the night sky.

All of this was like an absurd dream where dreams and reality intertwined, plunging the world into endless madness.

A distant place echoed with faint roars, it seemed creatures called demons were also rampaging across this land. Eve gripped the silver revolver in her hand, quickening her pace.

She was uncertain what lay beneath the green light, but it felt ceremonial, as though she’d discover something upon arrival, whether it be harsh reality or a solution to end the nightmare.

”Eve!”

Suddenly, a voice called from behind, urgently shouting at her.

Eve instinctively turned back, and the burning bullet head grazed past her shoulder, with the aluminothermic bomb releasing intense heat, piercing through the demon that had suddenly appeared behind her. The demon’s movements had been discreet, but Red Falcon had still detected it during its final assault.

This upper-rank knight showcased an extremely formidable physical prowess, bearing heavy equipment, he caught up with Eve in such a short time, pushing her aside, continuing to fire at the struggling demon in flames until the liquid metal completely cast it, before halting gunfire, dropping his weapon, and panting heavily.

”What are you doing?”

Red Falcon looked at her urgently and confused. Recklessly leaving the protection of the carriage, she might be killed by a passing demon.

”There... there’s something...”

Eve wasn’t sure how to describe the feeling, pointing beneath the green light.

Seeing Eve’s earnest demeanor, in a normal situation, Red Falcon would have certainly reprimanded her actions, then forcibly brought her back to the safety of the carriage. However, this situation seemed far from normal, for Red Falcon rather seemed to heed Eve’s words and asked back.

”What do you think is there?”

He seemed to take Eve’s words seriously, all seriousness etched on his face.

His reaction left Eve somewhat surprised, she thought for a moment, then finally said.

”The source, perhaps...”

”The source?”

Red Falcon nodded, seeming to understand the meaning this word carried, he continued.

”You know, the connections among the darkness are like a vortex; the deeper the connections grow, the weight increases and we’re more easily drawn into the core of that darkness.”

”Like a swamp, that’s how Lorenzo described it to me, those who battle demons are like fighting in a swamp; the more you fight, the deeper you sink.”

Eve responded; her connection with the darkness kept deepening until there was no barrier between them.

”That’s one way to put it. However, what I want to say is, once your connection with the darkness deepens, you’ll see the darkness...do you understand what I mean?”

Red Falcon held the Aluminothermic Rifle, his expression serious.

”You mean... the pollution source is there!!”

Eve exclaimed excitedly yet fearfully.

”Indeed, if your connection with the darkness is really this deep, then your intuition is right, at least all I feel on this journey is annoyance.”

Red Falcon inexplicably trusted Eve and then said.

”Now we need a new plan.”

”What do you mean?”

”What else? We now know its approximate location, and what’s left is finding a way to destroy it.”

Red Falcon said, raising the Aluminothermic Rifle in his hand, the igniter at the front end blazing brightly.

”This should be a large-scale mental anomaly, from the silence until now, it’s apparent, the others should still be sleeping.”

”Should we go back and wake them up?”

Eve felt that going back to wake those guys was the right approach; she thought they wouldn’t reach there no matter how hard she and Red Falcon tried alone.

However, Red Falcon shook his head and said.

”No, the most dangerous place now is the carriage. Under this large-scale mental anomaly, if they wake up, then nothing will happen; once they can’t wake up, they’ll be eroded into demons.”

Red Falcon said calmly, gripping his firearm tightly, stepping forward.

”The optimal solution now is for the two of us to determine the location of the pollution source, and then signal the others who can wake up.”

”But isn’t the communication disrupted?”

Before setting off, Eve picked up a communicator and found it silent, nobody responded to his messages.

”That’s why I brought signal flares.”

Red Falcon proudly revealed the weapon at his waist, a flare gun.

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