Gun of Ashes

Moriarty sighed, seemingly understanding this place as the afterlife, believing that both he and Lorenzo were dead.

”No, I won, Moriarty. The Gap is one’s mental world. Your body is gradually dying, and I also wanted to decide a winner with you, so I chose to invade your Gap,” Lorenzo said.

”So... is that it? Am I dying?”

Moriarty paused, then smiled, showing no fear in the face of death.

”So you did all this just to show me that you won?”

”Of course, after all, we’ve both paid a great price for all this,” Lorenzo replied emotionlessly.

Moriarty wasn’t surprised by Lorenzo’s response. Instead, he could understand Lorenzo.

Finally defeating his nemesis, yet the nemesis is dead; Moriarty couldn’t accept such humiliation.

”How interesting...”

Moriarty smiled, looked outside the window, and then at Lorenzo, moving to the head of the bed, leaning against the wall.

”Does the great James Moriarty end like this? Actually... I don’t mind it.”

He spoke, looking directly into Lorenzo’s eyes, as if he had discovered something.

”You look happy, is it because you’ve defeated me? No... that’s not it. That should feel like the thrill of revenge, yet the feeling you’re giving me now seems like something warm happened...”

Moriarty’s expression suddenly changed, the calm smile disappeared, replaced by fear. Even knowing he was about to die hadn’t elicited such an expression, yet now it was all slowly happening.

”Why? Why can you show such an expression? Lorenzo Holmes, is there someone who understands you, recognizes you?”

Moriarty suddenly roared in anger, becoming violent, but the straitjacket and chains bound him, leaving him to struggle powerlessly.

He couldn’t accept it. He had thought Lorenzo was a monster just as lonely as himself, but now it seemed that he was the only one lonely, and he couldn’t accept it, yet he was also powerless to change it.

Lorenzo, however, remained with the same rigid expression, quietly watching Moriarty’s madness.

Gradually, Moriarty also stopped, leaning against the wall in disappointment, whispering.

”What a pity, Lorenzo Holmes.”

”I am in pain, I feel out of place in this world. It seems like I have a disease, no... it’s this world that is diseased, and I am the only normal person.

We have human forms, but beneath this facade, we are different...”

Facing these words, Lorenzo remained as cold as steel, but this time he asked.

”Are you confessing?”

”How could that be, how is that possible?”

Moriarty laughed mockingly, his expression again filled with anger, provoked by Lorenzo.

”I am Moriarty, I am a monster, I am a pure villain, I need no confession, nor forgiveness or pity.”

Yet immediately, he became dejected again, as if his spine had been snapped, collapsing in the corner.

”I am just... I am just trapped in this human body, Lorenzo Holmes.”

Moriarty is a complete madman, no one knew what he would do next, his emotional fluctuations so rapid that even Lorenzo couldn’t predict them.

”This world is too cruel, we always need something to deceive ourselves... but I am too smart, these things can’t deceive me, nor can I pretend, disguise myself as a normal person.

I am a born monster, a born madman.

I thought we were the same, Lorenzo Holmes, but it’s a pity that only I am like this, I never expected... even the brutal you once had something good.”

It’s really enviable.”

The blazing flames rose, covering the view outside the window, fine cracks spread throughout the ward, and with slight tremors, ancient dust fell.

”Am I going to die, Lorenzo Holmes?”

Moriarty lifted his head, asking as he watched.

”Yes, your will is dying bit by bit,” Lorenzo replied coldly.

”Not bad, at least we finally decided a winner.”

Moriarty looked painfully sad, he ultimately lost.

Lorenzo silently stood up, walking towards the iron door from which he came, forcefully twisting the cold, rusty steel, slowly opening the heavy door, when Moriarty’s voice rang out again.

”Did you really win! Lorenzo Holmes!”

Lorenzo’s actions paused.

”You are the real monster, more terrifying than I am! I never experienced such goodness, to me it was only a false concept, but you are different, Lorenzo Holmes!

You experienced that goodness, and fate cruelly took it away from you! Will you truly submit to its judgment?”

Lorenzo turned, seeing a sly smile on Moriarty’s face, as if all his previous acts were a facade, this thorough madman had never conceded defeat, and only now was the winner truly decided between him and Lorenzo.

He tried to approach Lorenzo, the chains chafing his skin, bloody, but he didn’t care, instead shouting with all his might.

”I won! Lorenzo Holmes! Look at yourself, you’ve become a more terrifying monster than I am!”

The entire ward began to crumble as his will died, hot flames rising from the cracks, and in this sea of fire, Moriarty maintained his mad expression, laughing at Lorenzo.

”Although you killed me, in the end, it was I who won!”

Moriarty won; under a series of events, Lorenzo recovered his lost past, but he also became an unknown monster, casually invading others’ wills, an evil ghost.

He still lost.

Lorenzo could only feel a profound cold, watching Moriarty’s dying madness, wanting to refute something, but the words could not leave his mouth.

Yes, on that burning night, Lorenzo’s fate was already sealed, he walked towards his end.

”Lorenzo Holmes! Monsters don’t fit in with this world, I can understand you!”

Moriarty laughed wildly amidst the sea of flame.

”Thus, I bless you, Lorenzo Holmes!

May you bear your hatred unceasingly! May your burning rage never extinguish! May the blood on your sword never dry!”

The rubble and fierce flames consumed Moriarty’s figure, but within the shattered darkness, those words of curse still echoed in Lorenzo’s ears.

The darkness shattered, amidst the dancing ashes, a Black Angel grabbed the still-dazed Lorenzo, escaping through the breach created earlier.

Grey ashes and fierce winds, Lorenzo barely opened his eyes, seeing that the broken body had finally perished, yet the charred head still bore an eerie grin.

The next moment, the howling wind took away Lorenzo’s hearing, and after a brief chaos, his vision cleared again, high above the sky, the Black Angel unfurled its wings, gliding through the roaring storm.

The roaring cannon fire covered the thunder, burning meteors passed beneath the Sailing Dawn, all crashing onto the falling Reichenbach, utterly destroying the sinister, bizarre airship, its burning fragments falling like a Fallen Star.

Lorenzo held tightly to the steel, hanging amidst the storm, his expression somewhat rigid, as if he hadn’t yet recovered from Moriarty’s rant, but then warm light fell on his face, illuminating his darkened heart.

Looking up, at the end of the lead-grey sky, a gentle light like a spear pierced through the storm, with brilliant golden skies at its end.

”How beautiful...”

For some reason, Lorenzo sighed mournfully.

The wind and rain gradually weakened, the swirling storm began to dissipate, the rainwater flooding the streets slowly receded, and warm sunlight shone upon the steel city, even the cold steel emanating warmth.

Old Dunling’s rainy season came to an end.