Gun of Ashes

He then stepped onto the protrusion beside him and leapt directly towards the Peacekeeper, the Folding Blade pierced fiercely, ruthlessly stabbing into the seams of the armor, tightly bound by blood and flesh.

Scarlet flesh writhing like maggots started to climb along the blade, and Shao Liangye tugged forcefully, tearing apart large swathes of flesh and opening the seams of the armor, revealing the machinery beneath.

Losing his footing, he fell backward but fired towards the seam at the last moment.

It was a bullet engraved with intricate patterns; if you didn’t look closely, you would hardly notice it was different from other bullets, spinning swiftly before plunging into the darkness.

The Demonic flesh exploded violently, blood boiled and flowed, the body of the Peacekeeper started to sway, unable to keep its balance, it staggered and fell to one side, only able to crawl across the ground with both hands grotesquely.

The Anti-Meme Bullet penetrated through layers of defenses and hit the Peacekeeper’s interior; this time, the anti-meme took effect, restricting the Peacekeeper’s balance.

But before Shao Liangye could try anything more, another shadow loomed over him.

Another Peacekeeper raising a Giant Blade.

Shao Liangye had previously understood the armor technology of the Purification Mechanism; as Third Generation Armor, the Peacekeeper’s agility was poor, so perhaps this could suppress the enemy.

The shrillness of the wind shredded Shao Liangye’s thoughts into fragments.

He instinctively rolled, dodging the deadly strike, then the wall behind him collapsed thunderously, debris struck his body, leaving wounds of varying depths.

Strugglingly raising his head, the imposing figure loomed close.

Logically the cumbersome Peacekeeper shouldn’t be able to make such moves, yet now it’s enshrouded entirely in Demonic flesh, strong muscles dragging steel, effortlessly doing movements it couldn’t do at its design inception.

Shao Liangye took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a sense of helplessness.

When all is said and done, Anonymous are just ordinary mortals; the only somewhat unique aspect is the complex anti-meme they carry.

The Giant Blade raised once more, Shao Liangye’s heartstrings tightened.

Death was approaching, Shao Liangye did not fear.

He had always been curious about what his own ”trigger” would be; some said that at death’s door, the Anonymous’ triggers acting as catalysts would be activated, awakening certain memories, and something yet unknown.

Shao Liangye never doubted this; he was eager to find out what he would trigger?

The half-melted metal spear crossed the battlefield, seemingly destined to pierce, it hit the Peacekeeper raising the Giant Blade, extreme high temperatures and steel pierced through its armor effortlessly, briefly pausing before erupting with a scorching white flame within the armor.

It seemed a blazing sun was rising inside the armor, flames piercing gaps, emitting a wailing sound, and the raging fire devoured the flesh inside, in the blink of an eye reduced the Peacekeeper to a charred husk.

The flames burned his face with some pain, Shao Liangye turned around, seeing the burning figure.

The scorching white flames spilled through the seams of the Black Armor, and Lorenzo subdued the impaired Peacekeeper, reaching out his hand.

Even steel struggled to withstand the high temperature, as his palm descended, the solid metal began to melt, flesh tried to struggle, only to be instantly evaporated, Lorenzo pierced through the Peacekeeper’s chest, causing it to cease struggling, becoming one of many corpses.

”Are you waiting for death?”

Lorenzo curiously asked.

Looking at the blazing Lorenzo, recalling earlier thinking he was dead, Shao Liangye was a bit dumbfounded.

”No... I was waiting for the trigger to be activated... so you didn’t die?”

”Demon Hunters are tougher than you think.”

The flames on his body diminished and extinguished, Lorenzo walked past Shao Liangye with unbearable residual heat.

Shao Liangye looked at the ground, and as Lorenzo passed, he left charred footprints, those footprints crossing the Peacekeeper’s corpse amid the dust-covered ground.

Looking afar, dim flames still burned on the ruins where Lorenzo fell, charred corpses scattered everywhere.

Shao Liangye rubbed his eyes forcefully; he felt he had gained a new understanding of the Western world, more wails sounded.

Another Peacekeeper was on the move, it smashed through walls, stepping into the casino.

No one expected the Peacekeeper to enter in such a manner, leading to doubts whether it had become a rampant monster or another soul was driving it.

”Get down!”

Red Falcon shouted.

The dense barrage swept overhead, upon hearing Red Falcon’s shout, everyone acted, except Rod, the unlucky bureaucrat, stood bewildered.

Although he was a member of the Purification Mechanism, he had never engaged in direct combat, saying things others hardly believed; this was Rod’s first close encounter with living Demons.

Going to die.

Rod’s mind only held this thought; he expected some deathbed reminiscing, but his mind was blank, nothing at all.

Then Rod fell.

He was not shot by metal but kicked down by someone.

His vision blurred, he saw Shao Liangxi, she rushed over, delivering a sliding kick at the last moment, toppling Rod.

”Bullseye!”

Amidst the pain, Rod heard the girl cheerfully shouting.

Then the dense barrage swept over, some guests who failed to evade were torn into bloody pieces, poker tables and other items shattered.

”This was all Bola’s painstaking effort!”

Amidst the deafening shots, Red Falcon made a crude comment, unaware of what Bola’s feelings would be seeing this scene upon returning.

The clinking metal sound rang out, deformed bullets fell to the ground, a wave of heat passed.

Through the smoke, everyone saw the rugged figure, Lorenzo stepped forward against the concentrated rain of bullets.

The scorching white flame melted metal, dense Iron Armor offered further protection, the Peacekeeper’s shots had little effect on Lorenzo, his pace quickened and then sprinted to the Peacekeeper’s front.

Flames swirling in his eyes, although the enemy was right in front, Lorenzo’s attention was on the surroundings.

Roger Cruz, where are you?

Why don’t you strike? What are you waiting for?

Or are you fearing something?

[Echo of the End]? Or Adren Levien perhaps.

Lorenzo was unsure of Roger’s intentions, nor knew what would happen next; he was alarmed but very curious.

The Peacekeepers posing significant threats had been cleared; sporadic gunfire still echoed in the Lower City District, and remaining Peacekeepers showed no signs of erosion, seemingly soon resolving this loss of control.

Then in a certain moment, Lorenzo saw it.

A guy hiding among the crowd; these were casino guests, fortunate enough to survive amidst continuous chaos, they huddled tightly with fear in their eyes.

But that guy’s eyes lacked fear, staring expressionlessly at Lorenzo.

The cool chill brushed past, at that moment Lorenzo realized one thing.

He had never truly seen Roger Cruz appear, Lorenzo didn’t know his appearance, even in the memories of the Secret Keeper, those faces blurred with time, let alone after such a long time.

”Roger... Cruz.”

Lorenzo whispered.

In the next instant, rampant erosion exploded from Lorenzo as the origin, Secret Blood ascended in a flash, breaking critical points.

Facing Roger, Lorenzo only had a moment’s chance; once missing this initial strike, he had no chance of harming Roger.

Roger’s indifferent face cracked a smile, then intense fluctuations released from underground, sharp buzzing rang in Lorenzo’s ears, the vision in his pupils turned brilliant and chaotic.

Something seemed to be collapsing.

Lorenzo heard complex, mournful sounds; they reverberated in his ears, refusing to disperse.