Gun of Ashes

What followed was a long silence, and Duke Phoenix asked again.

”Can you promise me these things, Eve? You’re a good child.”

Eve nodded silently, seeing a side of Duke Phoenix she had never seen before—pitiful. Whether it was truth or a lie, it seemed either would bring him some comfort at the moment.

She said nothing, eyes cast down, with no one able to guess what the girl was thinking.

”Leave...”

He seemed to regain his composure. Meanwhile, Blue Jade entered from outside and began discussing directly with Arthur, giving Eve no opportunity to speak.

She felt like a lovely doll being manipulated at will, finally leaving silently.

”You’re deceiving her, aren’t you?” Blue Jade suddenly asked after Eve left, ”You know the truth, but chose not to tell her here.”

Arthur’s expression froze briefly, then he spoke.

”Eavesdropping isn’t a good habit.”

”But I’m your guard; I must ensure your safety.”

”I’m quite safe... Do you think Eve would kill me?” Arthur said, tracing routes on a blueprint.

”Who knows? She’s unpredictable, and when you were lecturing her, she had a Willow Blade hidden at her wrist.” Blue Jade remarked, then asked with some confusion, ”You aren’t aware of your daughter’s habit of concealing weapons, are you? I heard from the doctors that when she was caught attempting to escape the first time, she was hiding a bunch of surgical blades under her clothes.”

Arthur, instead, smiled at this.

”Not a bad habit, at least she’s always had a weapon to protect herself... Alright, I did deceive her.

This is Hell; mortals need some hope to survive in this hellish place. She so eagerly desires that secret, and to know it, she must survive and leave here. This will be her motivation amidst despair.”

”And what’s your motivation?”

”To keep her alive.”

Blue Jade looked at Arthur with a somewhat complex expression, then asked.

”How many will survive?”

”I don’t know, but the priority is evacuating Eve and Owes. They possess research value and might be able to lift the King’s Curse.”

”That’s not all, is it...” Blue Jade obviously noticed something, staring intently at Arthur.

”I just hope she can survive.”

”So, you’ll deceive more people to die, is that it?”

”I’m sorry...”

”No need to apologize; you’re the commander, and we follow your orders. But Arthur, have you ever felt guilty?” Blue Jade asked.

Arthur hesitated for a while, then said.

”Yes, always, constantly, just like a ghost haunting me. But I will not dwell on it as thinking would trouble me, and being troubled would lead me to hesitate and be indecisive.

Initially, I was in great pain, but gradually I’ve become numb. Perhaps it’s the demons’ influence. We’ve become more like them as we fight against them.”

”Is that so... I’m also often troubled by my father’s death. It can be said I killed him with my own hands. Sometimes there’s so much I want to ask him, but unfortunately, the dead won’t speak,” Blue Jade said, ”I rather envy Eve.”

”Envy that she might survive?”

”No, envy that someone is willing to bear the sins for her and still consider themselves right. It sounds foolish, but if possible, I’d want someone like that too.”

From beginning to end, there was not much fluctuation in Blue Jade’s expression; she had always been like this, as if nothing could stir her inner emotions. But now her eyes shone brightly.

”However, she does deserve to live on. We’re all people stuck in hell; even if we escape, we will one day step back into it and die. It’s our destined future, to perish at the hands of demons for the sake of eradicating them.”

”You should fantasize about a retirement life. Perhaps... perhaps we could all survive.”

Not knowing if he was deceiving himself or genuinely harbored hope, Arthur responded.

To this, Blue Jade responded with a smile, ”Tell such lies to Red Falcon; he’s been expecting a retirement life for far too long.”

Her smile grew serious, and she continued to ask.

”What is the plan?”

”We are not far from the lift area, but demons block our path. We must find a way to rush there and return to the surface. Although we aren’t sure of the situation on the surface, there’s an Armor of Original Sin parked there. With it, even in the face of a tide of demons, we have some hope of survival. You should be aware of this,” Arthur said.

”I know, back then, Bola and I relied on the Second Generation Armor to hold off the demons... but that was barely enough,” Blue Jade replied with some concern.

”It’s alright. It’s a First Generation Armor; its power is enough to help us break through.”

The First Generation Armor, gradually sealed away, now oddly appeared here.

”But who could pilot a First Generation Armor?”

Blue Jade asked worriedly. The burden of piloting the Second Generation Armor nearly killed Bola, so what kind of terrible corrosion would a First Generation Armor, whose main framework was almost entirely forged by demons, have on humans? With the current personnel, without the Knight Commander, there was no one to withstand such erosion.

”I’ll pilot it.”

”What?”

Blue Jade doubted she heard correctly.

”I’ll pilot the First Generation Armor. I’m the final product of the Ranger project, and my resistance to corrosion is stronger than any of you. This task should be mine, not anyone else’s.”

Arthur gazed directly at Blue Jade.

”We will survive, more of us will survive.”

Then Arthur murmured and laughed softly.

”Just like Eve, her birth was a miracle, and we will create miracles too...”

”One miracle stacked upon another...”