Gun of Ashes

”We walk on the ice surface filled with cracks, struggling forward against the fierce wind and snow dust.”

A voice echoed by Eve’s ear. She opened her eyes to see the familiar ice field and the dazzling night sky, recalling that this should be Lorenzo’s [Gap].

Her consciousness was somewhat hazy, like the remnants of a dream after waking. She vaguely remembered she should have just been confronting someone, but this memory gradually became blurry until it shattered and disappeared.

”What we desire is at the end of this snowstorm, but we ourselves are too heavy, burdened with the baseness and desires of mortality.

The further we advance, the more fragile the ice surface becomes. Each step we take brings countless cracks, and the bone-chilling cold seawater seeping through the crevices makes the entire ice surface precarious, unable to support our weight. It seems that any moment now, we might plunge into the Ice Sea.”

sat on the other side of the bench, looking at the other end of the ice field. In his gaze, 042 moved forward into the wind and snow, his steps faltering, falling every few steps, then struggling to get up again.

”We are so heavy, so we must discard something in order to move forward on this fragile ice surface.”

said as he turned his head to look at Eve.

”What do you think?”

”Think of what? If we need to discard things, then discard them all. As long as we can reach there, what is there to linger over?” Eve thought for a moment and answered.

”But is it really so?”

seemed troubled. He watched as 042 fell into the sea, struggling forcefully, crawling ashore, seemingly resting, then stepping onto the ice again.

”If we discard everything, doesn’t that make us ’blank’?”

”So what?”

”Then, with us being ’blank’, do we still remember why we’re going there?”

As the voice trailed off, everything fell into an endless silence. The splashing water, the swirling snow dust, and the fragments of ice all froze at this moment.

In the distance, 042 maintained a forward posture, frozen as if sculpted, stretching out his hand as if trying to touch something, but in front of him was only an impenetrable chaos.

”What... did you say?”

Eve looked at 047 in confusion, a bizarre feeling welling up from within her, one she couldn’t articulate.

”Surely there must be some reason that set us on this one-way journey, but if we even discard this initial reason, upon reaching the end, does any of this still hold meaning?”

In the moment poised to make a wish, having gone through countless hardships to reach the journey’s end, the wish is lost right before fulfillment.

Does any of this still hold meaning?

The suspended time shattered, everything returning to its course. 042 ran forward with determination, the cracks on the ice following his steps, nearly reaching the end when he saw those who were lost.

Their bodies were so light. Having discarded everything, rendering themselves blank, nothing could bind them. Their bodies floated slowly into the sky, their gazes empty, as if dead.

Hundreds, thousands of blank corpses hung in the sky.

...

Overwhelming malice arose in the office, invisible tendrils madly clawing at everything around, revealing a bloodthirsty maw, wantonly devouring the lives of the living.

In this moment, Eve deeply felt the shape of ”despair,” could smell its scent, hear its whispers, stirring the most primal of emotions.

Fear.

Pupils narrowing, heart racing, temperature rising, the Ranger’s power took effect at this moment. Under the stifling pressure that would cause ordinary people to lose their sanity, Eve broke free of the control, swinging her Folding Blade. Though unclear on exactly what was happening, the ferocious fear in her heart urged her to attack.

Kill Watson.

The distance was so close, probably less than three or four meters, but at this moment, it felt interminably long. Eve struggled to take a step, raising her Folding Blade.

She could see that Watson had removed most of the crown, only some edges still clinging to his forehead, with a blazing white storm swirling in those exhausted eyes, so dazzling, breathtakingly beautiful.

Come on, Eve, as long as you can drive the steel in your hand into this woman’s heart, as long as you can stop this bizarre power from spreading, as long as...

Eve was silently cheering herself on, but as soon as she took a step, her body began losing control. The force called erosion took effect on her, due to being too close to the source of erosion, not just an increase of negative emotions, but also affecting her five senses.

Her vision started seeing hallucinations, the blazing white in her pupils twisted into a scorching sun, the room’s shadows began writhing, like boiling black water, as if something was about to crawl out from within.

What... is happening?

Eve questioned, her vision starting to shake. She remembered her steps were steady, but now she fell towards the ground, erosion affecting her senses, even walking became difficult.

Falling awkwardly, she turned her head, just in time to see Watson sitting against the wall, the bright white in his pupils growing ever brighter, nearly consuming Eve entirely.

Am I... going to die?

Eve’s gaze was vacant. Under the oppression of erosion, she could barely recall her past before dying, ending up dying in such a ludicrous manner, just like this...

In an instant, all anomalies disappeared.

It was as if an invisible mighty force suppressed the spawn of darkness in a split second. Watson, with a fierce expression, veins throbbing on her arm, put the coronet of Holy Silver back on, isolating her dark will within the flesh.

Thus, everything returned to peace.

This tranquility lasted a long time, and both Watson and Eve appeared utterly exhausted, their heavy breaths echoing between them.

After an unknown amount of time, Eve finally eased out of the oppression brought by erosion. She tried to stand, but her entire body was weak. Like Watson, she moved back a few steps, leaning against the window.

”Were you... trying to kill me?”

Eve asked with trepidation, the fear and despair from earlier still echoing in her mind, death was so close.

Watson did not respond. To suppress her frantic thoughts, she had almost exhausted all her remaining strength.

She lowered her head and looked at her palms. Watson should have been vigilant about those insane murmurs long ago.

After learning the secret of the old pope, Watson and the new pope ventured beyond the barrier, almost touching the deeply buried evil anomaly.

Watson thought she had avoided it well, yet she had long been captured by that unspeakable power. The Silencers fought so hard to keep this force outside the barrier, and now she and the new pope, in pursuit of the truth, touched this power once more.

She wasn’t quite sure how to describe this wicked force; if it needed a name, it would perhaps be called the ”Root Source,” a distortion-mad ”Root Source.”

”My Ascension is not incomplete.”

Watson spoke softly, her voice so low that Eve couldn’t hear what she was saying.

All along, Watson thought she was like Lorenzo. They underwent Ascension, but it wasn’t complete. Lorenzo was still bound by the flesh, while Watson couldn’t advance further under the void’s will.

But suddenly, Watson felt that wasn’t the case.

Watson’s Ascension was complete, but she still carried too many impurities, preventing her from fully ascending to a higher being. A vague suspicion lingered in her heart; maybe listening to the Root Source and abandoning everything, Watson could then eliminate these impurities and ascend.

Both she and Lorenzo are like this. They already possess the Credentials to open the gate, but they can’t abandon everything and struggle to cross the fragile ice.

Then... what would it be to abandon everything?

A Silencer? Or the so-called Root Source?

Watson couldn’t guess deeper secrets, but she felt extreme fear towards the end of all this.

The moment she removed the coronet, inexplicable hallucinations suddenly flashed before her eyes. The deceased 047 was talking nonsense on the bench.

Indeed, if truly abandoning everything, would she still be herself?

”Why did you give up? You could have killed me; why did you give up in the end?”

Eve asked again. Now she felt much better, her stripped senses gradually recovering. She sat still, not making any reckless moves.

”Huh?”

Watson was pulled back to reality by Eve’s words, ending her frantic fantasy. She seemed somewhat slow, and after being stunned for a long time, she slowly spoke.

”You’re Lorenzo’s friend. If you died, he would be sad.”

Perhaps it was due to this reason, maybe lacking the courage to abandon everything, possibly still attached to the complexity of humanity, or maybe it was for Lorenzo Holmes... Regardless, at the last moment, Watson woke up from losing control.

”Is that so?”

Eve showed a wry smile. She never expected that it was this reason that saved her, how ridiculous.

The gentle sunlight fell on Eve through the window, warm, dispelling much of the chill in her heart. She looked at the listless Watson, recalling that ridiculous reason from before.

”Morning Glow Advance.”

Upon hearing Eve’s voice, Watson raised her head.

”Lorenzo is on that ship, and it’s taking them to the Viking countries... He’s been gone many days, and might have already reached the Viking countries. If you want to find him, you might need to speed up.”

Her voice paused, remembering Watson’s earlier oddity, she added.

”But you’re his friend, that shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

Eve smiled at Watson, tossing the folding blade beside her, which stuck steadily into the floor before Watson.

”Take it with you, you’ll need it.”