Gun of Ashes

It was another moment when dawn and dusk intersected, Lorenzo stood on a high slope, gazing at the distant world.

He had thought about his feelings upon truly reaching the World’s End — excitement? Overjoyed madness? A hysterical scream? Lorenzo had considered all these, but when the moment actually came, his heart was just calm.

No, this couldn’t even be considered calm. To be precise, in the face of such a massive impact, Lorenzo had momentarily lost the ability to think. All he could do was observe the scenery before him as much as possible, etching it deep into his soul, to be remembered forever.

”Here... is this the World’s End?”

The Plague Doctor asked in disbelief, something he had never imagined, never seen.

”It should be. The aurora ends here.”

Lorenzo said as he lifted his hand, pointing at the night that was about to be driven away by the dawn light.

The aurora was slowly vanishing, but even so, it was clear that this band of light which had guided them into the Silent Sea ended here, as if something was blocking its progress. The gleam wandered in the scene before them, then finally dissipated.

Lorenzo chuckled slightly, and then said.

”I once thought, could there be a giant billboard here, with ’World’s End’ written on it, and a few Secret Keepers standing underneath, joyfully welcoming our arrival.”

This wasn’t a particularly funny joke. Everyone was deeply entrenched in the shock, no one bothered with Lorenzo’s strange joke.

After a brief stupor, the forgetful Froki also let out a whimpering sound. He was probably cheering, ecstatic, but his mind was left with only two words. After the whimpering, he clumsily shouted.

”Nautical Chart! Nautical Chart! Nautical Chart!”

Lorenzo couldn’t comprehend the meaning of Froki’s words, then he saw Froki take out a parchment, scribbling and drawing on it, the strokes were remarkably steady, depicting everything in detail.

”He actually remembers such a thing? Did I bring a Cartographer with me?”

Lorenzo looked puzzled as he spoke, unable to understand why Froki remembered all these random matters, but he quickly turned his gaze forward again, trying to savor the moment as much as possible.

”World’s End...”

The Black Angel let out a muffled sound, while Watson surveyed the surroundings, allowing the light of dawn to cascade down.

The four of them stood atop a towering snow slope, and this snow slope was actually the edge of a gigantic ring-shaped pit... They weren’t entirely sure if it should be called a crater, after all, it was too enormous. Lorenzo looked to both sides and could see the snow slopes stretching into the horizon, circling out a massive circle, enclosing everything ahead within it.

In front was a cliff of great height, as if a terrifying explosion had created this huge crater, and the impact had piled up rocks and earth, pressing against each other, forming such a cliff,

The bottom of the cliff was filled with accumulated snow, and the vast snowy field had numerous protrusions. Due to the strong light of dawn, Lorenzo couldn’t discern what they were, but looking further, he could see endless light.

They were enormous pillar-like entities, densely embedded in the ground, their heights varied, like a dense forest, refraction of strong light made it difficult to discern their true form. Yet, even so, Lorenzo could still vaguely make out some details.

They were all diamond-shaped structures, with smooth surfaces, devoid of any snow or frost, unclear whether they were made of metal, or some unknown crystal.

But it was evident that they were artificial constructions, silently towering at the edge of this desolate forbidden zone, hard to describe with any adjectives, only emptiness existed in the mind.

Lorenzo had finally found it, this final refuge.

”Let’s go.”

Lorenzo said to the others, forcing back the excitement gradually rising within him.

It seemed as though those artificial structures were close at hand, but in reality, Lorenzo estimated that there was still at least several kilometers between him and them. If the scale of those artificial structures was overly massive, the distance would likely increase even more.

”At this height, we could try gliding over.”

Watson said, they hadn’t encountered any battles along the way, and the Black Angel had only used up one fuel tank, there was plenty left to be used here.

”No need, we’ve come such a long distance, what’s a little more? Save the fuel for something more useful.”

Lorenzo shook his head, refusing Watson’s suggestion, temporarily untying the rope, gripping the Nail Sword tightly, and leaping down towards the base of the cliff.

The glimmer reflected off the snow interfered with his vision, the height of the cliff was much higher than Lorenzo had estimated, unimaginable how this terrain had originally formed.

Nearing the ground, Lorenzo thrust the Nail Sword, fiercely scraping against the surface, sparks and fragments flew, bouncing him off, then landing steadily on the snow.

Following closely behind was the Plague Doctor, who lacked Lorenzo’s flashy moves, simply spreading his arms, with membrane wings unfolding beneath his armpits, as if biological evolution was realized in those few seconds, slowing his descent, and landing slightly heavily.

The pitch-black shadow covered the two, such a height posed no issue for the Black Angel, it grabbed the bewildered Froki, descending from above.

The snowfield quivered under the Black Angel’s heavy weight, the snow was also jolted loose, exposing the frozen ice beneath.