Embers of Embers

Chapter 27 The Demon
"I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing can harm you."
In the dark night, someone seemed to be whispering.
Price could barely hear all this, it was words from the Gospel.
Before the rise of steam technology, the Holy Evangelical Papal State ruled the western world. They provoked disputes and wars on the land in the name of God. Under the power of faith, the Templar Crusades crossed the islands and continents, and the cities destroyed wherever the cavalry went. People die.
Under the will of God, they carried out the divine right until Yin Erweg won the Glorious War and the steam engine shattered all faith. Under the leap of technology, the conservative Holy Gospel Papal State and the countries with steam technology formed. There is a huge military gap, and this faith can no longer rule anyone.
Despite this, the influence of the Evangelical Church on various countries still exists. After all, Old Dunling was originally established by the Romans, and most people still maintain their awe and belief in it. They whisper together, and the gathered prayers form a torrent.
Officer Price was kneeling on the ground at the moment, and he didn't understand everything about tonight.
The police chief summoned all the people a few hours ago. He didn't know what happened. He only knew that this was the first such huge police attack in Su Yalan Hall in recent years. He thought it was some secret operation, and he had even prepared for it. They were prepared to die in battle, but when a large number of mounted police arrived, what was waiting for them was the Royal Guards.
Pres rarely saw this group of soldiers wearing red cloaks. During the Glorious War, they were Yin Erweg's trump card. Rumor has it that their cloaks were originally black, but the enemy's blood dyed them red, making them afraid of them. Their enemies called them the Red Shirts.
The iron boots hit the ground, and the crisp iron sound echoed in everyone's ears. A resident who lived not far from the lower city opened the window. He wanted to scold those who woke him up, but he leaned out. But he found that it was pitch black like never before.
The Imperial Guards in red sealed off the entire underground palace and its surroundings. They held up their guns and cast them into cannon walls. In order to prevent unrelated people from seeing this place and accidents, the Mechanical Academy cut off all traffic in this area a few minutes ago. Electricity, lights go out, and darkness separates people from that dirty secret.
There was no resistance, and in fact there was no need to resist. The Royal Guards were controlled by the mounted police before they could figure out the situation. A group of Mounted Policemen from Suryalan Hall had all their weapons confiscated and knelt in the cold night of Old Dunling. Down.
Something must have happened tonight. It was extremely quiet everywhere. Apart from the sound of iron boots, the only sounds left were everyone's breathing and the murmur of prayers.
Suddenly someone among the mounted police stood up, and several Guardsmen pointed their guns directly at him. It was a weapon that Pres had never seen before. It must be a secret product of the Mechanical Institute, but he didn't look much. Clearly, the more you know, the sooner you will die.
"I am Sheriff Donas of Suyalan Hall, and I have the authority to see your person in charge!"
It was Sheriff Donas. He couldn't bear this anymore and roared angrily, but what was waiting for him was a heavy blow from the butt of his rifle. These soldiers didn't care about his identity at all.
"Chief Doners?"
Someone said tentatively in the darkness. As he tilted his head, Donas saw the man walking out of the darkness in pain.
It was an outfit that Donas had never seen before. The edge of the jet-black cloak had gorgeous textures. The sword and gun were both models that had never been seen before, but judging from the complicated craftsmanship, it must be an excellent killing weapon.
He had a strange smell, not bad at all, but very familiar and pungent. Donas thought for a long time before he realized that it was the smell of sulfur.
"Hi, I'm the person in charge here."
It was an exquisite mask, but due to the darkness of his field of vision, Donas couldn't see what it looked like at all.
"Do you know what you're doing?"
Sheriff Donas cursed angrily. As a police sergeant, he had never received such treatment, but obviously his words were of no use. The iron boots kicked him hard in the abdomen, and Donas huddled on the ground in pain.
"I want you to recognize two facts, Sheriff."
The black muzzle of the gun was pointed directly at the sheriff, and the man's expression was very casual, as if he would open fire in the next second.
"The first fact is, if it weren't for the fact that you have too many mounted police officers, we don't want to leave the police force in Su Yalan Hall empty, otherwise according to the procedures, you will all die tonight."
The muzzle of the gun was pressed against Donas' head, and he twisted so hard that he groaned in pain. Seeing the sergeant being treated like this, the other mounted police wanted to take action, but the soldiers directly moved the muzzle of the gun towards them. .
"Second fact, we have the right to shoot anybody tonight."
Raising the muzzle of the gun, the man looked at his watch. The time was almost up, and he shouted loudly.
"Plug their ears and cover their eyes, they won't be able to see what comes next."
Pres was moved without any resistance. The soldiers did not expect to encounter this group of mounted policemen tonight. They could only drive them to the other side of the darkness, blindfolded their eyes and plugged their ears, but when they arrived at Pres, The man suddenly stopped the action and ordered the soldiers to bring Pres over.
"What's your name, officer?"
The man looked at the outer city behind him, as if waiting for something.
"Pres Leilana, sir."
Price didn't dare to neglect this man. After all, even his boss would beat him up if asked, let alone himself.
"My name is Kestrel."
Kestrel turned his head and said, the eyes under the oily red mask looked at Pres. Pres knew very well that this was just a code name, but he didn't understand why the man in front of him told him.
"Hold it to protect your colleagues."
It was the same gun as a Janissary soldier, and it was heavy, unlike any other gun Press had ever used.
"Why... why me."
Preiss had a lot to ask, such as how could he have any chance of protecting himself with such a powerful group of guards, but when it came to his mouth, he could only say this dryly.
"Hmm... maybe it's because of your kindness, or maybe it's the police chief that I can't stand you. Now, don't be stunned. If you can, I hope you can pretend that you haven't seen everything that follows, okay?"
Kestrel said but then remembered something and added.
"'Loss of control' could also happen among those troopers, and if possible I need you to kill your colleagues if necessary...or yourself."
"What's the meaning……"
Press didn't understand, and became more confused. At the same time, the voice of the holy prayer intensified, and a mysterious sense of religion covered every inch of the land.
"Knowing that these things come at a price, it's better you don't know."
Kestrel didn't want to say anything more, it seemed that the conversation just now was just a whim.
As Kestrel finished speaking, the situation did not give Pres a chance to ask more questions, and the sound of a high-pitched whistle came from the distance.
It stands to reason that there should not be a steam tram now, but it actually appeared, and the blazing light cut through the darkness at the end of the fog.
It was at a galloping speed, with a howling wind. When it passed in front of Preiss' eyes, he briefly saw the appearance of the steam tram clearly.
The heavy armor is loaded on the dark surface, and the overall model is far larger than any steam tram that Price has ever seen. This is the real iron snake passing through the defense line with the desire to kill, followed by more whistles. It sounded, roaring from the mist, like the neighing sound of thousands of galloping horses.
For a moment, Press had a strange illusion that the guards in front of him were not tonight's leading actors, but those iron snakes that he had never seen before, coming slowly from the dark night were the real protagonists.
As they submerged into the darkness of the lower city, the roaring sound of cannons and firelight descended, and the entire earth trembled, as if there were some huge monsters fighting in the darkness.
……
Just like the shrike's paradise, the underground palace was also built under ruins. Remember, it was originally a tall and majestic building. Unfortunately, it was covered by enemy artillery fire during the Glorious War, and even this building in the wilderness was not spared.
Soldiers in the same attire as the kestrel guarded every place near the underground palace, and their silent and cold muzzles pointed in the direction of the underground palace.
Shrike has been wandering around in the lower city for so long. I don’t know where he got the original design of the underground palace. Several exits have been filled with heavy troops. Those heavy troops are the first line of defense, followed by soldiers scattered around, and The Praetorian Guards on the periphery.
"So you want to go in personally? Your duty should be to direct from outside, and it should be me who wants to go."
Shrike objected to Galahad's proposal to personally enter the underground palace to search for Eve. The operation is about to start now, and the two are at the main battlefield of the underground palace gate. According to predictions, this place will receive the most violent impact.
"No, time is running out. We must launch an attack when they arrive."
"So you want to rescue people and come out in such a short period of time? You know our process very well. You will die in our hands, and in order to completely eliminate you, you may not even be able to leave your body."
Shrike was full of distrust of Galahad's words.
"Then what do you think we should do?" Galahad said angrily.
Silence greeted him. In fact, Shrike didn't know what to do. That bastard Lorenzo was a very useful sword. It was so useful that if you told him the target, he would solve it cleanly. , but this sword can also easily get out of control. You never know what trouble will be caused in the next second, just like now.
Fortunately, the bad night didn't intend to let the two of them get entangled in this. It directly gave its answer, and an extremely cold chill hit the two of them.
It's hard to describe that feeling. It was like protection from biological instinct. The two people's breathing became heavy for a moment, and the emotion called fear rose from the bottom of their hearts. They looked at each other, and then the piercing siren sounded. Ringing through the night.
It was a ticking sound of extremely high frequency, coming from everyone. As time went by, the frequency became more concentrated and finally turned into a long and harsh sound.
That is a Geiger counter. It is a complex mechanical product, and its function is to detect radiation indices that are difficult for ordinary people to observe, and determine the distance of the target location based on the frequency of warnings.At this moment, the indicator is rising continuously and finally breaks through the critical value, and the blood-red light illuminates everything.
Everyone knew what this meant. Without too many arguments or words, the bullets were loaded and the artillery was ready. Without any hesitation, the overwhelming shells directly covered the surface of the entire underground palace. This was a purge operation, and the purge mechanism did not need to be used. Anyone alive, as for Eve, it seemed to them that Eve's life ended when the alarm sounded.
This is the iron law of the purification mechanism, and it is also the reason why they can fight against those monsters as mortals to this day.
"Attention all units, the reality distortion anomaly has appeared, start to act, no one can leave alive tonight except us!"
As Galahad's roar echoed in the channel, the sacred light fell on the ruins, everything was reflected brightly, and all the darkness was expelled, like a land favored by God.That was the support from the night sky. The huge steel whale slowly swam in the clouds, its light shining like a sharp sword thrown by the gods.
There was a smell of blood and an unknown smell coming from the exit in front of him. Galahad waved his arm directly, and countless firelights lit up in front of the flamethrower. They were rows of soldiers, wearing heavy fireproof suits, their bodies covered with fire. It was completely covered with only a pair of lenses left to observe the outside world, and heavy breathing came from the gas mask.
Those are arsonists. They are the most terrifying nightmare in the attack on underground facilities. The modified flamethrower and large-capacity fuel backpack from the Mechanical Institute can sustain high-temperature burning for tens of minutes. The blazing fire will burn out the underground. All the air in the space then acts like an oven, burning the enemy underground.
More soldiers set up spears behind them. The only weaknesses of the arsonists were their inconvenience in movement and fragile protection. In order to isolate themselves from the high temperature, their fire-proof suits were extremely bulky. Only with the protection of these soldiers could they ensure that they would not be missed. Fish are killed at close range.
This is a city wall that works closely together. A slight gap will cause the entire wall to collapse.
"Did you hear that? Galahad."
Shrike had already set up his strange silver-white spear, his finger was lightly pressed on the trigger, his eyes were solemn and cautious.
It was the sound coming from the dark entrance in front of them, the rapid steps and hoarse whispers. It seemed that a crowd was fleeing in panic towards this place. They were about to escape from the darkness underground, but what awaited them was not a new life of repentance but a new life. A fire that destroys everything.
"Remember our plan, a fuel explosion occurred in Xiacheng District tonight, causing the underground palace to collapse... No one survived."
Galahad's voice was cold, and he was executing orders like a machine. It was completely different from the heroic image he had just tried to save Eve.
Countless twisted figures rushed out of the darkness with a rotting smell. They no longer looked like humans. Their ferocious and mutated makeup looked like the weird things recorded in ancient books. I remember that people called them that at that time.
demon.
Therefore, the dark iron snake came from afar with the howling wind. The huge inertia caused dazzling sparks to be set off at the intersection of the wheels and the rails when decelerating and braking. Then the heavy iron armor was lifted one by one, and the deep and distant prayers were heard. echoed in everyone's communicator.
“Be sober and watchful, for your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”
The iron door popped open instantly, hot steam surged up, and in the endless white tide the man walked into the battlefield in a whisper.
(End of this chapter)