Gun of Ashes

”Once again, rebirth!”

Indeed, Lorenzo has died more than once and come back to life more than once, like a ghost hovering between life and death, clinging to everything he has.

With a roar, the Holy Silver Bullet seemed like a swiftly rushing silver lance, effortlessly piercing through all the obstacles ahead. The deadly Holy Silver corroded flesh; the wounds couldn’t stop festering and decaying, as if burned by intense flames, turning the shattered flesh into ashes that scattered.

The power furnace roared in operation, and the Demon Hunter Yanar sat beneath it, his body completely fused with the twisted thorns, his head drooping, yet the embers in his eyes burning ever brighter.

A pitch-black shadow passed over Lorenzo’s head, the Black Angel forcefully swung its wings, countless iron feathers pinned to the ground like spears, piercing through the serpentine thorns and the corpses rising once again.

Lorenzo leaped high, stepping onto the edge of the iron feathers, lifting the broken Nail Sword.

”Laugh aloud, the aura renews and iterates!”

He stood before the Demon Hunter Yanar, perhaps instinctively sensing the threat, the twisted head slowly lifted, staring directly at Lorenzo.

”Death is merely a man-made concept.”

Just like miracles, they are born of human will and should be governed by humans.

Lorenzo dragged his final slash, sharp steel tearing through flesh, crushing bones, destroying from top to bottom the head, spine, and heart altogether.

The light burning in the eyes fell with the judgment of death, after a brief pause, as if dead, the burning flames extinguished, along with the twisted flesh, the soft surface began to harden, initially struggling to twist, finally solidifying as if petrified.

Cracks burst forth, erupting and shattering into dense smoke and dust scattered away.

It was all over.

The Reichenbach died, its fall accelerating, vibrating incessantly.

The great battle came to an end, the hot blood gradually cooling down, Lorenzo turned back somewhat tiredly, the shadow of the Black Angel enveloped him, iron feathers slowly spread, reaching out.

Surprisingly, Lorenzo did not reach out, he took a deep look at the armor, and softly said.

”Please wait for me a moment.”

Lorenzo’s gaze moved, landing beneath the ashes, upon the dying body.

The entire body had become a blurred shape from being burned, the head shriveled, limbs no longer oozing blood, it was already a corpse, yet it stubbornly refused to die, small bright white flames burning insistently within shriveled wounds.

The battle had ended, but Lorenzo and Moriarty’s duel had not, even in death they hadn’t decided a victor.

Lorenzo couldn’t accept such an outcome, so he walked towards the body, likewise, Moriarty couldn’t accept such an outcome, even now, the broken body stubbornly gasping.

”You’re right, we are alike, both complete lunatics.”

Lorenzo stood by the dying body, gently touching the already slightly carbonized head.

He had remembered everything, everything Lorenzo deliberately forgot, those lost authorities once again tightly gripped in his hand.

Lorenzo closed his eyes, firelight flickered in the gap.

Authority · Gabriel.

...

He slowly pushed open the heavy iron door, before his eyes was a dimly lit ward, in the small space lay a simple iron bed, and a window sealed with iron wire mesh, the view outside the window blurred, unable to clearly see the scenery.

Lorenzo rubbed his eyes, it was his first time trying to actively invade the gap, unexpectedly smooth.

”So is this your ’Gap’?” Lorenzo asked.

”’Gap’? So this ghostly place is called ’Gap’?”

A voice sounded from the dark corner, the person sitting on the iron bed, eyes looking towards the world beyond the iron mesh.

”I feel I’ve slept for a long time, so long that even my consciousness is somewhat unclear,” the person mumbled.

”Yes, I don’t know much about it either, but now it seems the ’Gap’ is shaped by ourselves, the most memorable scenes from our memories become what carries our ’Gap’.”

Just like Lorenzo’s own ’Gap’, that icy plain under the night sky, that was actually the scene of his first death and rebirth, on that night he killed his beloved ones, and on that night he lost everything.

With this thought, Lorenzo suddenly couldn’t help but recall Dean Lawrence, he once fought with him in his ’Gap’, in that burning wilderness under the setting sun.

Lorenzo couldn’t help but wonder, what had Lawrence experienced there? That he persevered so deeply in all these, thereby forming his ’Gap’.

He didn’t continue to ponder but picked up a chair beside him, sitting in front of the bed.

”So is this the place you find hardest to forget?”

”Pretty much, this is my home, I lived in this ghostly place for decades, apart from here, I have no impressions of anywhere else.”

Moriarty sat up, his entire body emerging from the darkness, wearing a straitjacket, chains clasped on his feet.

”Lorenzo Holmes, I remember us fighting joyfully, I remember we wounded each other... so it’s a draw? How regrettable, I really want to settle a score with you.”