Gun of Ashes

”Lorenzo, I’ve been pondering... in what form do I exist, and what exactly is the ’Gap’?”

Medanzo gazed at the dim starry sky, then stepped towards it.

”After thinking for a long time, I suddenly realized that I can’t figure it out with my own mind, because the common sense of ’humans’ is interfering with me, just like you can’t completely understand animals.”

Humans find it difficult to make absolutely rational judgments about the unknown, as their common sense interferes with them.

Lorenzo understood what Medanzo meant; he looked towards Watson, the unsettling woman.

”So you consulted a demon?”

”Yes, at least for now, she seems to be the only one who can provide me with answers, so I reached a temporary consensus with... Watson, though there’s always the possibility that she might betray us at a critical moment.”

Medanzo turned back, the terrifying rift looming right behind him.

”I’ve realized that perhaps I exist in a state of mental consciousness, intersecting with yours... our consciousness intersects, and this ’Gap’ is the space that connects us.”

Three different wills exist together within the same ’Gap.’

Lorenzo shook his head, then said.

”I don’t understand.”

”Actually, it’s quite easy to understand; let me give you an example.”

Medanzo said as he stepped aside, allowing Lorenzo to observe the starry sky he had been blocking. In that dim darkness, near the rift, was a bright star.

”That is yet another ’Gap,’ a space that connects people’s will on a mental level, and you should be quite familiar with it.”

”Familiar? How could that be?”

Lorenzo stared at the bizarre starry sky, the darkness seemed to possess a magical power, drawing his thoughts, yet an instinctive sense of crisis warned him that falling into it might lead to endless darkness.

”You are still ensnared in a misconception, Lorenzo; the steel brand left by the Evangelical Church in your mind has yet to be removed.”

Medanzo said somewhat regretfully.

When you are indoctrinated with a thought from birth, an invisible cage confines you, compelling your faith, even if Lorenzo has broken away from the Evangelical Church, even if he no longer believes in any God, deep in his subconscious, Lorenzo still avoids them.

It’s like someone saying ice is scorching, and touching it would burn you; you may question it, but when it becomes an iron law in your life, you may instead regard this ’abnormality’ as ’normal.’ You would not even ponder its right or wrong, since it is as ubiquitous as the wind.

In Lorenzo’s mind, the bindings of the Church remained; he should maintain skepticism towards all things mysterious, rather than accepting these mysteries as the correct reality, transforming the incomprehensible into formulas that can be deciphered.

”Have you never wondered where the voices in your head actually come from?”

”The voices... in my head?”

Lorenzo seemed to realize something, echoing in his mind, the voice from that mysterious machinery.

It’s like a strange system residing within you, assisting and guiding you at certain times, but you’ve never wondered what it actually is, never questioned why it does this—you merely comply with that so-called ’system,’ executing one strange command after another.

Like a humble and pitiable tool person, all your actions, all the conflicts and honors you achieve, all stem from that bizarre system.

Even if you gained supreme power, you’d still be nothing more than the system’s puppet; without it, you are nothing.

”Yes, you can hear the voice from the Silver Binding Bolt, and Watson’s voice, but haven’t you thought about their similarities? Or has the Church concealed it so perfectly that even you were misled?”

The Evangelical Church has too many secrets, so numerous that almost no one fully understands them all.

”Perhaps changing the name would help comprehension.”

Medanzo grinned mischievously, as if about to play a prank, eagerly awaiting Lorenzo’s reaction, for when he truly understood these things, even Medanzo couldn’t help but feel unprecedented shock.

”You can call that star, that ’Gap’... the Static Holy Temple.”

His words were like thunder, clearing all anger and vigilance in an instant, as if the whole person was dazed on the spot.

Medanzo watched Lorenzo’s shocked eyes with great satisfaction.

”Yes, just as you understood, that voice always reverberating in our minds, which we believed came from the Silver Binding Bolt.”

Every Demon Hunter would obey that voice in their mind, following the Church’s commands.

”The Heart Core Network system established on the foundation of the Static Holy Temple, concealed by the Church with mystical mythologies, but if our deduction is correct, its essence is merely a large ’Gap’ that connects every Demon Hunter.”

”A world that can connect consciousness.”

”That’s why you can see Watson and hear Watson, while others cannot, because you are connected to this ’Gap,’ to Watson’s ’Gap,’ which also explains why you could once hear Church instructions from within the Silver Binding Bolt.”

”An invisible ’Gap’ serves as a link connecting you and me.”

And so, the eerie voice echoed across the vast, frigid icy expanse.

[Reconnecting to the Static Holy Temple...]