Embers of Embers

Chapter 262 Merlin’s Cliff
Endless dome light fell, illuminating this messy battlefield.
Two extreme monsters fought here, and the fierce battle finally ended, leaving only this terrifying scenery.
Blood and mechanical fragments were scattered all over the ground, as if it was a slaughterhouse of some kind of hybrid creature of machinery and flesh and blood. The disgusting smell was mixed together, impacting everyone's taste.
The squirming and entangled flesh and blood gradually fell asleep. As Lorenzo cut off the connection between the two, the violent armor also lost all power and half-knelt motionless on the metal remains.
Night Owl looked at Lorenzo in disbelief. With his back to the light, he could only see the blurry darkness, like a shadow in the sun.
"Are you ok?"
Lorenzo asked. He showed the power of the Black Angel and remained awake, but under the influence of the erosion, he still showed some shakes, such as emotional anger.
Because of these interferences, it also contributed to the current tragic situation of the sword dancer. Lorenzo's original intention was to incapacitate him, but he still hit him a few more times, completely destroying the armor.
"I...I'm fine..."
Ye Xiao was in a daze, he was so close to death, and even said that he felt dead just now, and then the black shadow stretched out his hand to him.
……
"what happened?"
Nicholas was lying on the edge of the lift platform, looking down. He was ready to lose control of his armor, but when the situation was about to reach its end, everything suddenly stopped.
The Geiger Index began to fall back, and the continuously sounding alarms slowly stopped as all this ended. Everyone had a look of fear on their faces, until Merlin suddenly laughed.
"Should I say he is worthy of being a demon hunter?"
Looking at Lorenzo below who still hadn't figured out the situation, Merlin didn't hide his praise.
"He didn't lose control?"
Nicholas calmed down immediately. If the Black Angel loses control, it will not stop at all. It will kill Night Owl first, and then himself.
"Of course, he is a demon hunter, a demon hunter with secret blood... Many times, the awakening of secret blood actually has the same principle as driving armor. It uses the will of a mortal to awaken a forbidden power, and then To stay sane under the pressure of that horror."
Merlin said and clapped his hands gently. Lorenzo not only proved the ability of a generation of armor, but also proved his own ability.
"Unlike us, we only need to resist the erosion when driving the armor. The demon hunters have been dealing with the forbidden power all the time in their long lives. The long-term erosion has made their willpower incomparable. Strong, how can the erosion of this armor affect him?"
"Restrainer..."
What else did Nicholas want to say? Unlike Merlin, he didn't know anything about these mysterious academics. The only thing he could trust was the stable values ​​derived from formulas.
"It's very simple. Do you think a rusty sword blade can enable a swordsman to exert his full power? The same is true for Black Angel."
The bound Black Angel is unable to display Lorenzo's full power, and they complement each other to become a nightmarish and terrifying being.
"This is Lorenzo's first test drive of such a powerful single-target combat capability, and without external weapon support, he can easily defeat a heavily armed sword dancer."
Merlin said, still staring down, where Lorenzo was forcefully breaking apart the steel and trying to drag Night Owl out of it.
"Then...should we continue the development of the first generation of armor?"
Nicholas asked.
As a person highly recommended by Merlin, there have been rumors that Nicholas can start a new era in the Perpetual Pump, and he also represents the rational science side of the Perpetual Pump. Now Lorenzo has proved the power of a generation of armor. Potential, based on demon technology, it may suppress the rational side.
But in the next scene, the worried Nicholas did not expect that Merlin actually shook his head and rejected these.
"No, on the contrary, we must do our best to develop third-generation armor."
"why?"
Nicholas was a little puzzled.
Merlin was in a daze at first, then seemed to remember something, and his tone actually sounded a bit innocent.
"Because this is the future."
"Just like alchemy, the same is true for a generation of armor. It is powerful and efficient, but in the end it can only serve a few people, a very small number of special people. Do you think our ordinary people can have the resistance of a demon hunter?"
Alchemy is dead, the last generation of alchemists insists on it, even to this day.
"The third generation of armor belongs to us. The future of most people. Even if they have not been specialized like a knight commander, ordinary knights like Night Owl can be armed and have the power to fight against the first generation of armor...
Maybe one person can't defeat it, but what about hundreds or thousands?Hundreds and thousands of fully armed Original Sin Armors, they are a torrent of steel, an unstoppable tide of death.
The efficient production of modern industry is our advantage, not to mention the discovery of crude oil, a new energy source. This is the future, the future of most people, and the future of armor. "
Nicholas looked at Merlin in disbelief, and after a long time he asked slowly.
"Then the so-called alchemy is destined to be forgotten by then, right?"
"This is the progress of the times, the elimination of the good and the bad." Merlin replied almost indifferently.
"So you are destined not to see the truth you have been pursuing for so long, right?"
Nicholas is not an alchemist, but he has been with Merlin for so long. Although he has always maintained a terrifying rationality, when the temptation of truth appears, he will still waver a little, just like his greed for knowledge. Like, falling into a slightly crazy obsession.
But if Merlin goes on as expected, he may no longer be able to see the truth he is looking for.
Merlin murmured as old memories somehow came up at this moment.
"I don't know why, but I suddenly thought of my teacher."
Nicholas was silent. He didn't know how to answer. Perhaps it was because of his awe. He was made an exception to join the Perpetual Pump, and Merlin was like his teacher for a long time. Generally speaking, although it has not been officially admitted, this is how Nicholas feels.
Merlin seemed to be talking to himself on the side.
"Actually, if people live too long, the past events will become hazy. Sometimes when I suddenly think back, I will feel strange. It suddenly feels like so much time has passed..."
As he spoke, tears unexpectedly fell from his empty eyes.
"Merlin..."
Nikolai was a little at a loss. He had never seen Merlin cry before. He might not have thought that people like Merlin could shed tears. Sometimes the real leaders of the purge agency were like this. They were so cold. Like a stone sculpture that has lost its soul, it seems that no matter how cruel the decision is, it is as light as a feather in their hands.
Most of the time, these people could hardly be called human beings. Nikolai felt that they were a group of monsters in human skins...Only monsters could compete with monsters.
"That was really an unforgettable memory. Maybe everyone's good memories come from the time when they were studying."
Merlin said softly, for most people, those beautiful memories may be concentrated in that period of schooling, when everyone sat in the classroom and listened to classes, got to know classmates, had friendship and happiness, and even that ignorant love.
"You must be the same, right, Nicholas, campus life is always so fascinating, and I am no exception, even though I am an alchemist."
He suddenly laughed as he spoke, without waiting for Nicholas to answer. Maybe he didn't expect any answer.
"If people are like clay sculptures, that period should be when we are at our softest, and are distorted into different shapes by the things we come into contact with. In fact, a large factor of what I look like now comes from that time."
"My teacher has influenced me a lot. The first thing he taught me was to hold a sword and take me to the door to kill various alchemists... Of course, we let those alchemists who cooperated have a way out. What do you think? Are we crazy?"
Merlin said as he suddenly looked at him, his empty eyes filled with tears. This was so strange, but Nicholas felt an indescribable sadness.
"Actually, the idea that alchemy is dead was put forward by my teacher, but at the beginning he also worked hard with the idea of ​​saving alchemy. He was not only an excellent alchemist, but also a powerful swordsman. He felt that alchemy was The masters have been fighting on their own for too long. Everyone is so greedy and unwilling to share knowledge with others. This will only make the alchemists continue to decline.
So I followed him around, using my sword to convince those stubborn old guys. We tried to unite all the alchemists, piece together everyone’s knowledge, and restore the appearance of the truth..."
Merlin's words suddenly stopped, as if he was swallowed up by the tide of memories. After a long time, he slowly continued.
"But human beings are like this, ridiculous and pitiful. Everything we do is in vain. The teacher who was once passionate has also become decadent. Alchemy is dead and destined to die. In other words, it is like this, tempting humans to move forward, but it is We are left with irreparable flaws and can only kneel down in front of the door of truth and beg.”
Nicholas was absent-minded for a while. He looked at Merlin and felt the unknown for the first time.
Many people know that there are too many secrets hidden in Merlin's mind, but few people have thought about Merlin's own secrets. Nicholas, who heard all this, could feel the sadness. A man who did not hesitate to use his sword to fight with The guy who came to save alchemy with blood finally came up with the idea that alchemy is dead...
"The pursuit of truth? That's a good ideal, but the ideal will be replaced by a better ideal."
Merlin answered like this, his eyes empty and his face expressionless, and he returned to his previous appearance. He had always been like this, and all his emotional activities required others to guess.
"I very much agree with this sentence. We are all travelers walking on fragile ice, heading for the place we will eventually reach in the cold wind, but this ice cannot bear our weight, and we will always leave behind us on the way forward. Something... it's just like our sanity, Nicholas."
Merlin looked at this young child. He had a sickly face and had dark circles under his eyes due to working late at night for a long time.
"We need to ensure our own sanity, but human beings are all poor guys, with seven emotions and six desires, so our... at least there is such a cliff in my heart."
"cliff?"
"The cliff of reason, the lazy Merlin, the angry Merlin, the ridiculous Merlin... One after another, they walked up the cliff, were pushed down by the rational Merlin, and fell to the bottom..."
The alchemist said the most terrifying words with a deadpan expression.
Merlin lined up one after another, their figures stretched for several thousand meters, they walked towards the cliff of reason in a daze, and jumped.
"The timid Merlin, the greedy Merlin, the cowardly Merlin, they all died. They died in the valley under the cliff. Their bodies formed a hill. But this was not enough. Our destination was still too far away. For In all this we still need to keep our wits about us and go further.
So to kill more emotions. "
The voice was so plain, with a bone-chilling coldness to it. It was a person's self-destruction, and in this underground world, everyone seemed to be like this. Nicholas even forgot to breathe for a moment.
Countless people jumped from the peak of reason, fell to pieces and were buried with more corpses. One group after another, they kept accumulating and dying.
"Of course, sometimes other Merlins don't want to be like this. The comfortable Merlin wants to give up and escape. The painful Merlin can't bear it. He leaves wailing... But they still die, killed by the rational Merlin. He is A cold, murderous maniac after everything but sanity."
Merlin laughed as he spoke. Sometimes there is only a thin line between sanity and madness. Even the most knowledgeable healer sometimes cannot tell the difference.
"For that lofty ideal, we should do whatever it takes, and rationally kill all the unnecessary emotions that may interfere with us. Then the stubborn Merlin, the eager Merlin, the selfish Merlin, and even the truth-seeking Merlin were all pushed to the bottom. "
The rational Merlin stood on the cliff, with the howling wind blowing. His face was cold and he was holding the blood-stained sword. He was doing what he thought was a noble thing, but the sword in his hand was doing the most brutal massacre, just like that Crazy lunatic.
The rational Merlin murmured repeatedly in a low voice.
"Stay sane, stay sane..."
Only by staying rational can he make the right decision, only by staying rational can he not be infected by demons, and only by staying rational can this long night of fear usher in the dawn.
stay sane.
Light rain fell on the dome. They washed away the blood-stained iron walls, neutralizing the pollution left by erosion. They drizzled on Nikolai's body and on Merlin's body. The two of them said nothing. Just waiting for this to end.
(End of this chapter)