Gun of Ashes

Lorenzo walked onto the empty street and sat on a bench not far from the alley. The demons in the alley had already been killed by him, the sharp Nail Sword piercing their hearts, thoroughly severing the spinal cords connecting to their heads.

At this moment, they were nothing but a mass of grotesque, hateful flesh, emitting a disturbing aura, decaying and dying little by little in the darkness.

He reached into the pocket of his pajamas, rummaging around to find a crumpled cigarette. After searching through his pockets, unable to find a lighter, he could only slightly trigger the Secret Blood, the blazing white flames ignited the tobacco, and he inhaled deeply, puffing out clouds of smoke.

Lorenzo recognized from the wreckage of scattered clothes that these demons had been the young people drinking themselves sick in his house. At the time, he saw nothing unusual about them, and there was no source of erosion nearby capable of transforming humans, meaning they were twisted into their current forms by some entity appearing out of nowhere.

Watson could accomplish such things. Lorenzo thought, if he guessed correctly, Watson had recently transformed one of the young people into her vessel, intending to find him. But when something unknown happened, she triggered the erosion, turning these people into demons.

In Lorenzo’s understanding, Watson is not someone who kills indiscriminately. At the very least, she wouldn’t kill someone in such a troublesome manner. Then why did she transform these people?

To confront some enemy?

Lorenzo speculated on what happened at that time.

So why transform humans? Watson could absolutely utilize the In-between realm for combat...

Lorenzo’s thoughts suddenly interrupted, as blood-red writing appeared before his eyes.

”Don’t use Gabriel...”

Unless the enemy’s attacks within the In-between realm are ineffective, or it is impossible to defeat them.

”Silent Ones.”

Lorenzo could only recall this name.

In his calculations, Watson invaded a young person’s body, prepared to find him but was intercepted by a suddenly appearing Silent One. With ineffective combat in the In-between realm, she transformed these people into demons to repel the enemy.

What about Watson?

She is not here now. Did she die or escape? Why did she leave such a message?

As Lorenzo thought about it, a sense of unease facing the unknown surged within him.

He had faced Silent Ones more than once before; those kinds of monsters, although terrifying, were not necessarily a fatal threat to Lorenzo. He might be unable to completely kill these monsters, but Lorenzo confidently believed he could survive their attacks. Watson likely felt the same, but this time was different.

Lorenzo looked toward the alley, then back at the window of his room; the distance between them wasn’t far, only tens of meters. Even if Watson faced a strong enemy like Lawrence, Lorenzo believed she had enough time to come to him and awaken him.

But Watson hadn’t done so. Despite being so close to him, she never sought his help and instead left this warning message.

Lorenzo clenched his fists.

This could only prove one point: the enemy is formidable, so powerful that Watson believed coming to him would drag him into the crisis, and even their combined forces might be unable to resist the enemy’s offensive.

There were no traces of anyone else at the scene, only the corpses of demons and the warning in blood. Lorenzo guessed the nature of the enemy.

It’s a Silent One, but much stronger than the Silent Ones Lorenzo has encountered before. He still remembers what was written in Shermans’ notes: Knowledge is cursed; the more you know, the quicker your demise.

Many times, Lorenzo felt he knew enough. In Maruri, he even called upon the Silent One to descend; however, after doing so, he wasn’t pursued by Silent Ones. This led him to doubt the accuracy of Shermans’ notes, yet thinking it over carefully, it seemed reasonable. After all, not everyone possesses power like Lorenzo’s.

He is an anomaly, a survivor’s anomaly, and anomalies need to be handled with special methods.

”So Watson, did you discover something? Some incredibly important information, important enough for you to encounter a nightmare-like enemy?”

Lorenzo whispered, the sound coming from a distant place under the silent night sky interrupted his thoughts.

The iron clang echoed from the street’s end, as if something ripped through the storm. Looking up, behind the hazy fog were countless shadows speeding by, breaking through the fog barrier in the next moment, appearing before Lorenzo.

The Iron Serpent shattered the moist vapor, slowly stopping in front of Lorenzo. Accompanied by the rush of steam, the door opened, and the man stepped out in a stride.

”Holmes, long time no see.”

Gawain wore a long black coat, his whole figure resembling a ghost of the night, his expression as resolute as ever, like solid steel.

”You didn’t come too late.”

Lorenzo nodded, then stood up.

The Purification Mechanism monitors every corner of this city. At the very outset of its design, they intended to treat this place like a fortress, and according to Lawrence’s prophecies, this might be humanity’s last city of resistance.

”The Peeping Tom sensed the nearby erosion, very intense but sustained only for a brief moment.”

Gawain told Lorenzo, he was already on his way at the instant the alarm was triggered, the information being relayed to him en route via the transmitter.