Gun of Ashes

[Echo of the End].

The final gift from the Secret Keeper, the most potent ”variable” in this protracted war.

Lorenzo holds high hopes for it, perhaps it can become the ending note of this grand symphony, bringing all this madness back to silence.

”[Echo of the End], the ultimate anti-meme weapon of the old humanity. It gravely wounded the Inexpressible, sending it into a long slumber, and this is the last and the only one.”

Lorenzo’s mouth slightly curved upward as he looked at those around him, sensing clearly that as the black cube was placed on the round table, others were momentarily shaken, their gaze consumed by the profound darkness and unable to look away.

Both Arthur and Left Garrison, even the seemingly unserious Shao Liangxi were so. Everyone maintained absolute silence, solemnly staring at the black cube.

Amidst the calm, the heavy heartbeat began to rise, like the interwoven dense beats of drums, until Lorenzo forcefully clapped his hands, the loud applause snapping everyone out of their enchanted state.

Cold sweat slowly slid down, everyone in a state as if waking from a great dream, they glanced around in panic before witnessing Lorenzo pick up the black cube, putting it away once more. It was then that the force tugging at every heart seemed cut off and vanished.

”I... I am beginning to understand why you were chosen, to become its Sword Holder.”

Left Garrison’s voice trembled slightly but soon returned to calm.

”Being a Demon Hunter is not easy. To bind the demon within my blood, my will is usually strong,” Lorenzo said.

”Very optimistic too,” Left Garrison added.

”Back to the point, this weapon cannot be used on Roger and Delun. Where it can be employed is only in the Well of Ascension, to completely exile the Inexpressible,” Lorenzo emphasized.

”But if we don’t use the [Echo of the End], considering our current strength of the Purification Mechanism, we don’t have the capability to destroy these two monsters.

Iron and fire can kill flesh but cannot destroy souls.”

Lorenzo stood up, walking around the round table, his voice drifting near and far.

”Just as I mentioned in the report earlier, I possess the Authority·Gabriel, but my level of ascension isn’t like those two monsters. Even if I risk my life, I don’t have the capability to confront them directly, not to mention two of them.”

”Your life is precious, we wouldn’t have you sent to death this way,” Arthur said at this moment.

Lorenzo holds the [Echo of the End], the Purification Mechanism needs him to complete the final deployment to utterly end all this.

”So, to all of Jiuxia, those of you who possess reverse meme technology, do you have any gift you can show us?”

Lorenzo stopped behind Left Garrison, placing his hands on his chair, he feigned arrogance and spoke softly.

Left Garrison didn’t turn to look at Lorenzo. Instead, he propped his chin on his hands on the table, his gaze lowered like a sly old fox.

”Just like you knights of the Purification Mechanism, we Anonymous are also a special unit within Jiuxia, against demons. Accordingly, we possess the power to suppress demons,” Left Garrison said.

”Such as?”

”Anti-Meme.”

Hearing the answer he wanted, Lorenzo revealed a smile.

”The Purification Mechanism utilizes machinery and demon flesh, the Demon Hunting Order boldly extracts taboos from blood, retracing the path of ascension... No matter how cautious you are, these powers are still related to demons, are they not?” Left Garrison looked ahead at Arthur, ”I suppose you have also paid the price for this.”

The collapse of the old humanity, the loss of control of the Armor of Original Sin, the eruption of the Night of the Holy Arrival... Matters related to demons seem never to meet a happy end.

”Back when Jiuxia was established, our leading Secret Keeper decided to banish demons. The power we should have has nothing to do with demons, even armor technology is like this,” Left Garrison recalled the current Armor of Original Sin and added, ”of course, now our armor is considered backward compared to yours.”

Hearing this, Merlin intended to inquire Left Garrison about their technology but then cooled down, realizing this was not the occasion for technical dialogue.

”So our weapon against demons is the anti-meme, directly utilizing this power to incapacitate and kill them.”

Left Garrison explained the Anonymous force’s power to everyone.

”So you have brought a lot of anti-meme weapons with you?” Lorenzo appeared calm, but inwardly he was nearly jumping with excitement. If this was feasible, they would possess a sharp spear to slay ascenders, a damage even armor couldn’t withstand.

”Anti-meme is a piece of self-enclosed information. Once spread, it also pollutes and closes more information. Therefore, to balance and contain this power, we usually need a medium to limit it, like storing [Echo of the End] in that black cube.”

Left Garrison’s words proved he indeed understood anti-meme, he continued.

”Different strengths of anti-meme bring different effects. During operations, we usually don’t use very strong anti-memes, otherwise, it would cause trouble for our own people too.”

Left Garrison lifted an exquisite piece of firearms from his side and placed it on the round table. Engraved brass outlined cloud patterns, with subtle carvings on the wooden stock, and inscriptions etched in even finer corners.

The abundant embellishments testified to the owner’s noble status, but essentially, it remained a firearm, a weapon for killing.