Gun of Ashes

”Yes, this place holds extraordinary significance for me. Decades ago, I was part of the Ranger program here, and in the times that followed, I became ’Arthur’. This was where it all began for me, and where it ended for her... She passed away here.”

”You truly loved her.”

”Perhaps.”

Arthur removed the syringe from Owes, and blood flowed uncontrollably. Arthur could only attach a blood bag to Owes to prevent him from going into shock from blood loss.

”The intelligence from the New Congregation might alleviate the ’King’s Curse’, but you can’t just conduct such experiments directly on the Queen, right?”

Arthur pushed Owes’ wheelchair.

”Are you going to experiment on me?” Owes asked.

”Of course, you’re just a peripheral member of the Royal Family anyway, and you’re dying. Just treat it as a gamble. If you win, you go back to being Lancelot, keep slaying demons. If you lose... where do you want to die? Buried in the Royal Family’s cemetery, or joining the Purification Mechanism’s grave family?”

Arthur rarely told jokes, but this joke was so cold, it made even him feel a bit chilly.

”What is the experiment?”

In the long corridor, Owes looked up and asked. The boy looked like a rag doll, his pale face adorned with crystal clear eyes. If you set aside those complex identities, he was just an ordinary boy, at an age where he should be running and jumping, not facing these evil anomalies.

Every time he faced him, Arthur’s firm heart would struggle. It reminded him of Eve. To Arthur, they were just children, who should be innocent and playful. Dealing with demons should be left to crazy people like him.

”Secret Blood.”

Arthur said.

”You want to turn us... into Demon Hunters?”

Owes was shocked, but after that shock, he found it reasonable. He had personally witnessed the incredible recovery ability of Demon Hunters. Perhaps... perhaps this power could alleviate or even cure the King’s Curse.

”No, that’s too dangerous. Handing the entire Royal Family over to demons? Even though Demon Hunters tend to be stable, you’ve seen that lunatic Lorenzo. Sometimes I wonder if all his madness is just the influence of the Secret Blood.”

Arthur laid out this entire concept.

”We plan to restart the ’Ranger Program’, shifting the human enhancement experiments to utilize Secret Blood. Of course, we can’t achieve the kind of violent full-body blood replacement like the Demon Hunting Order.”

According to Dean Abigail’s proposal, if we abandon the negative effects brought by Secret Blood, understand and refine it into a potion, it might relieve the burden of the King’s Curse on your body.”

They stepped into the elevator, but this time it wasn’t ascending; it was descending, plummeting into the dark abyss.

The Mechanical Institute had nearly hollowed out the underground of Old Dunling, and Black Mountain Hospital was no exception. Beneath this soil lay not only steam pipes but also the mysterious third area, the research area.

”We intended to collaborate with the New Congregation, but they lost ’Revelation’. The Demon Hunters of the New Congregation carry unstable Secret Blood... at least that’s what Anthony told me. Their Secret Blood isn’t reliable. We need a Demon Hunter with stable Secret Blood.”

”Lorenzo Holmes.”

Owes spoke that name, and Arthur nodded in agreement.

”Exactly, in a sense, the Demon Hunting Order no longer exists. The current New Congregation is merely a shadow of the past glory.

Lorenzo Holmes is the last one.

The last Demon Hunter.”