Embers of Embers

Chapter 457 Questions and Answers
The warm sunshine rose from the end of the sea level and shone on the devastated land. People looked at all this with some confusion. Although seven days had passed since the incident occurred, everyone still had an unreal feeling.
The familiar homeland turned into a scorched earth overnight, with corpses and blood everywhere. It was like a sudden nightmare, but this nightmare had no end and would never wake up.
There has been no official explanation for this sudden incident. The atmosphere at Maluri Port has become oppressive. The warships are docked unabashedly, and the soldiers' eyes are like sharp knives slicing everyone in sight.
When the people were panicking, the Orthodox Church appeared in front of everyone. They comforted the people, but did not deliberately preach. The hospitals were already overcrowded, and most civilians who were not seriously injured were accepted and treated by the Orthodox Church.
As the core area of ​​the battle, Theater Square was sealed off and was not reopened until today. Orthodox believers gathered here one after another, knowing exactly what they were going to do today.
The Orthodox Pope should have ascended the throne here seven days ago, but the sudden explosion and fighting stopped everything. The believers were very worried about the Pope's situation. There were rumors that the Pope was injured in the chaos, and there were rumors It is said that what happened on the night of the enthronement is not only what people know. It seems that believers of the Evangelical Church also appeared here and clashed with the Orthodox believers.
In short, there are many, many, many strange conjectures. The devout believers call that night the Night of Tribulation. In order to calm everyone's suspicion and uneasiness, the Orthodox Church will re-perform the enthronement ceremony here and give everyone an answer.
In the Orthodox church, men were arranging their clothes in front of the mirror. From time to time, painful wails could be heard outside the window. Nuns were walking between the buildings holding bloody bandages, and the smell of blood reverberated in the air.
After making all the preparations, the man reached out and picked up the pitch-black mask on the side, and put it on his face.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he seemed to be facing the abyss in the mirror. His gaze did not stay for too long. Lawrence had something to do today, so he turned around and prepared to leave the room.
His movements stopped suddenly, and at some point the girl was already standing by the door, as if she had been waiting for him.
When Liya saw Lawrence looking at her, she lowered her head slightly, as if she didn't dare to look at Lawrence. She made strange noises in her mouth, intermittently, as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn't say anything because she was nervous.
"What's the matter? Child."
A gentle voice sounded from under the mask, and Lawrence walked to the girl's side and stroked her head with some pity.
Lawrence remembered this child, her name was Liya. Before the Night of Tribulation, she was a lively and cheerful child, but after the Night of Tribulation, Liya became completely silent. She used to be radiant, but now her whole person Devoured by shadows.
Looking up and down, the girl's body was still wrapped in bandages. Her body had been burned by the fireworks, and a corner of her cheek was also bandaged. It seemed that she didn't want others to see this, so she deliberately grew her hair to block it.
"I heard everyone said you were recruiting soldiers, right? They said you wanted to form an army..."
Liya's voice was very timid. Maybe she would have said this to Lawrence openly before, but now she was like a frightened little animal, wary of everything.
Raising his head slightly, a pair of fearful eyes could be seen through the gap in the curtain, but deeper down Lawrence saw something interesting.
"Yes."
Lawrence brought a chair, brought one for Liya, and motioned for her to sit down.
Warm light fell from the window, and Lawrence turned his back to the light. Liya looked at the somewhat disturbing mask again, but all she could see was the darkness of the backlight, as if Lawrence's face turned into a shadow in her eyes.
"I see anger in your eyes. Do you want to join the warriors? To avenge your friends?"
Listening to Lawrence's words, Liya was frightened. She didn't expect that her thoughts would be seen through by Lawrence so easily.
"Sorry, I……"
Liya apologized at a loss. She began to regret coming to see Lawrence. The so-called courage was not worth mentioning at all. What she wanted to do was to hold the sword and kill the enemy, but now the conversation with Lawrence could not continue normally. .
"I'm not sorry, but I want to ask you, is revenge important to you?"
Lawrence asked.
"I... they ruined everything and killed my friends. I want revenge. I want to do this. This is important."
Liya struggled to muster up the courage.
"Huh? So who is your enemy?"
Lawrence asked again, and he continued.
"I can tell you who they are, and that guy's name is Lorenzo Holmes, but at the end of the day he's not your real enemy."
"If it's not him... then who is it?"
Hearing Lorenzo's name, Liya felt happy. The monster in her nightmare finally had a name, but when she heard the second half of Lawrence's sentence, she became confused again.
"I saw it with my own eyes. He killed so many people. He even...even killed you."
Liya's voice became pious. Lawrence's death did not bring panic to the believers. In their view, Lawrence was the savior in the suffering night. He saved everyone. His resurrection from the dead was the most perfect manifestation of divine power. reflect.
This divine power is already known to a certain extent within the Orthodox Church. Those who are aware of it call it the secret blood. After the Night of Tribulation, Lawrence announced that he would form an army favored by God. Those who are aware of it are eager to join the army of God. .
"So? In fact, I am not against revenge, but I think revenge is a very meaningless thing. No... to be precise, there are too few things that it can 'change'."
If it weren't for the ominous mask on his face, Lawrence would be like a priest enlightening young people at this moment.
"So what if you kill Lorenzo? He also has friends, and his friends will come to take revenge on you. Then your friends will fall into this reincarnation, the reincarnation of hatred, endless."
"Then you are telling me to forgive him for all he has done and let this sinner live peacefully like this?"
Lia raised her voice and said here she couldn't help crying, for these seven days she could always dream of Juo's death, he grabbed Lorenzo's feet and begged for his mercy like a dog, But the devil-like guy still dropped his sword.
"No...I just said that revenge can 'change' too few things. It can only calm the anger in your heart, and it can't 'change' anything else."
Lawrence said softly.
"I have always felt that holding a sword is a very serious matter. We hold a sword to kill enemies and kill lives. This is the most unacceptable atrocity to God. So we would rather go against God's will to kill enemies. It must be for something greater. something.
To 'change' something. "
Liya couldn't understand what Lawrence was saying. She was like a confused student, quietly listening to Lawrence's teachings.
"Who is Lorenzo? He is not your enemy. He is just a person who disagrees with you. Hatred is just a superficial disguise.
You want me to live, and he wants me to die forever. In the final analysis, these tragic deaths are just conflicts of opinions and positions. "
Lawrence said, picking up the handkerchief and wiping away Liya's tears.
"We can call him a heretic for the time being, and you will encounter many such heretics in your future life, ranging from conflicts of preferences to disputes of faith. These people are all your potential enemies, and they are all possible Swinging swords at you for noble or ridiculous reasons.
Yes, that's it, endless conflicts, this is the bad nature of human beings, the curse of human beings. We will quarrel because of our different likings of sweet and spicy, we will fight because of the different people we support, and we will fight because of the different things we desire. "
"Then... what should I do?"
Liya couldn't understand, these things were still too complicated for her.
"I do not know."
Lawrence suddenly gave such an answer.
"Actually, I don't know what you should do. After all, this is your problem. No one can make a decision for you. The only one who can make a decision is yourself. The most I can do is give advice, and no one knows this. The correct answer to everything, isn’t it? So we have to try it ourselves and find the answer while trying.”
Perhaps because what happened next would be one of his great journeys, Lawrence's mood rarely calmed down, and he chatted with the girl about all this.
"Have you found the answer?" Liya asked.
"I found it, but I don't know whether it is right or wrong... But it doesn't matter. Before my real failure, no one can say that all this is wrong, just like you can also take revenge. Before you really fail, No one can judge whether your answer is right or wrong until you kill him."
Liya gradually let go of her timidity. She found that Lawrence was still very kind, although the dark mask was uneasy.
"So what's your question? And what's your answer?"
Liya asked in a strange way, but she regretted it after asking. She actually dared to question Lawrence about such a thing. However, unlike the expected rage, Lawrence didn't have much reaction and instead spoke calmly.
"My problem is an enemy, a very powerful enemy, it will kill everyone, and I want to defeat it, but there are many people like Lorenzo, these heretics have different ideas and have different ideas than me. interests... we cannot unite, not only that, they will hinder me, they will try to kill me.
I struggled with this for a long time, and then I figured out a solution. "
Lawrence said.
"Force, absolute force, I need to become very strong, so strong that I don't need the help of others, and I won't be afraid of the interference of heretics. As long as I become strong enough, the swords of heretics will be fragile in front of me. , if they want to block my way, then run over them, if they resist me, then kill them all until I am the only voice left."
Beneath the calm voice was a mountain of corpses.
"Can't... we understand each other?"
Liya asked innocently, the blood in Lawrence's words almost made her suffocate.
"Then can you understand Lorenzo Holmes?"
Lawrence asked back.
"Will you trust others? Do you still remember what you were thinking when those people came to kill us? Let me guess, you must be wondering, right? You can't figure out why they did this. It's just the first time they met. , even the names are unclear, two people who have nothing to do with each other, start a life-and-death fight for ridiculous reasons?
Would you believe, even say pray for understanding? "
Lawrence seemed to be asking Liya a question, but in his eyes Liya's face overlapped with another familiar face.
Lorenzo Medici, you wanted to believe, you wanted to understand, but you failed.
I will never step on your old path and repeat the same mistakes.
"This is my answer. What I should do is to use absolute force to change everything. The same is true for your revenge. The change you have to make is not just to kill Lorenzo, but to kill his friends and all those related to him. All heresies must be uprooted together, thus ending the cycle of hatred.”
The face under the mask was already twisted ferociously. Lawrence had waited too long for all this. He would never forget the burning wilderness in his memory, and he would never forget the demon hunters who died beside him.
"There will be no so-called heresy at that time. Everyone will only listen to one voice and one will. If humans cannot unite together, then it will be up to me to unite them."
Lawrence asked at this time.
"Then do you think your revenge is still important? Your enemies are not just Lorenzo, but all heretics. These people are endless. Only absolute force can make them surrender and make them live in fear of power. .”
"But...what are you going to do after this?"
Liya didn't feel scared, she was just a little uneasy and uneasy.
Lawrence suddenly laughed, with some helplessness in his voice.
"After this? I want to defeat my enemies and save the world... Don't you believe it? In fact, many people don't believe it, but I'm too lazy to tell others this. I really just want to save the world, a A very simple, even childish reason.”
Lawrence looked out the window at the warm sunshine. For some reason, after talking to Liya, he felt pretty good.
"No, I believe so, let me join in."
Liya said loudly.
Lawrence is right, her enemy is not Lorenzo, Lorenzo is just one of her enemies. Even if Lorenzo is killed, many enemies will appear, and they will destroy Liya's beauty and make her suffer. The tragedy of the night repeats itself.
"Are you sure? You will kill people and make mistakes. Even God can't save you and me. This is a broken road, just like walking on ice. As you move forward, the ice will continue to break. …There are only two endings on this road: collapse in the cold wind, or fall into the cold deep sea and drown.”
Lawrence intimidates and seduces girls.
"But correspondingly, you will also get a lot, you will accomplish what you expect, and you will have your paradise. Maybe you won't be able to enjoy it all, but the people you love will live on it."
"I do, Master."
Liya replied again, this time with great determination.
"Okay, I promise you, Liya."
Lawrence said, standing up, and said suddenly as he passed Lea.
"But don't call me Dean again."
Liya couldn't understand what Lawrence meant. She also stood up, turned around and saw several believers waiting by the door at some point. They raised the red cloth tray, and Lawrence held it up as Liya looked at it. The crown was placed on his head.
"You should call me Your Majesty."
Lawrence said.
(End of this chapter)