Embers of Embers

Chapter 678 Prologue: Purifying Blood and Eliminating Demons
Countless candlelights fell on the Maruli Port at night. The light was not strong and looked dim under the reflection. Along with the softly murmured prayers, the whole city was covered with a mysterious veil.
The man was walking in the alley at the edge of the street. Looking up from here, he could just see the cathedral hidden among the buildings and guards.
That was Herne Cathedral, now the residence of the Orthodox Pope, surrounded by monks and soldiers and heavily guarded.
Reporters once wanted to interview this mysterious pope, but after the coronation ceremony, he never appeared in the public eye again. However, at the same time, the Orthodox Church's actions became more intensive.
In less than a year, this trading port city was about to turn into another city of faith. It was difficult for men to understand such changes.
"what 's the truth?"
The man whispered, excitedly picking up the camera and notepad in his arms.
The more mysterious this kind of thing is, the more people want to find out. All the newspapers have secretly issued heavy rewards. As long as they can learn the inside information of the Orthodox Church, they will get a large bonus.
The man's eyes were bloodshot. He had been wandering here for several days. He disguised himself as a homeless man and tried to get around the sight of the guards, but their guarding was too tight and they wouldn't let him go. Opportunities for outsiders to approach.
Even pretending to be a believer is not enough. It seems that Herne Cathedral is a territory that only belongs to the Pope. Even if other believers want to enter, they must make various declarations.
But today, the man finally figured out the patrol route of the soldiers and discovered a secret route.
He could not contain the curiosity rising in his heart, not only the desire for bonuses, but also the desire for mysterious knowledge.
All of this prompted him to move closer to Herne Cathedral.
The gasps became clearer and tension filled the air.
The cold current was biting and made him shiver.
Winter is coming, everyone says, and the cold gradually engulfs the port city, leaving men with nowhere to escape.
He was trembling with joy in the desolate darkness.
It seemed that he himself had not noticed the changes in his own psychology, as if he had fallen into a deep vortex. He was a chaotic crawler in the darkness, moving towards the light, step by step.
"Herne Cathedral, it is so mysterious and magnificent, as if it has some magic power, it seduces me and calls me..."
He used the cold moonlight to write crooked handwriting on the notepad, and any wind and grass would arouse his vigilance, so he stopped writing suddenly and stared at the darkness in the distance.
The darkness began to squirm slowly. It may be due to the high mental pressure for many days. The darkness has distorted into a hideous appearance. This may be an illusion, or it may be real.
The man witnessed the darkness opened his fangs, and the strange feeling of suffocation carried the waves of the sea, causing waves of ripples, vigorously kneading his mind, just when he couldn't help but screamed out , "Darkness" ran quickly, it stayed in the moonlight, outlined the silhouette of a black wild cat, and then quickly disappeared.
The panic in his eyes gradually dissipated, and the man's gaze stayed for a long time, then turned away numbly and continued writing on the notepad.
"While wandering here, in addition to the piety of believers, I also heard other rumors..."
After writing this, he looked around in panic, as if there were countless eyes peering at him in the darkness.
The cold wind carried whispers. He was sweating and speeding up his movements.
"Some say the devil is imprisoned in Herne Cathedral."
As he started writing, it seemed as if the story he was writing was eroding reality, crawling out bit by bit from an elusive nightmare, with a moist and sticky sound.
"Deep under the church, the devil is imprisoned. Some say that his gibbering and singing can be heard, and even a magnificent pipe organ cannot suppress his voice.
Some people began to have hallucinations and constant nightmares, but these messages seemed to be blocked by the Orthodox Church. I could always see soldiers and priests entering residential areas on the streets and carrying someone away from inside. "
The man's notes gradually began to scribble, and finally they became a mess, like maggots swarming together.
He stopped the pen in his hand and wiped the cold sweat on his forehead vigorously.
At first, the man only thought that this was nonsense told by believers for their stupid beliefs. But the longer he wandered here, the more these hallucinations and nightmares became.
First he felt the uneasiness of the unknown, and then his nerves gradually became exhausted. Just a wild cat could scare him into this state.
"It's not like that, it's not like that."
The man murmured to himself, comforting himself.
He has no faith, if anything, he believes in science, which is why he came to investigate Orthodoxy.
Gaulnaro has been eaten away by the Evangelical Church for too long. It was thought that with the decline of the Evangelical Church, the country would be freed from the shackles of faith, but it ended up falling into another shackles called Orthodoxy.
But now all kinds of strange feelings are constantly attacking the man's solid worldview. It is shattering into countless cracks, making sizzling sounds, and is teetering on the verge of collapse.
He got up and continued to move forward, following the secret passage he had obtained.
The man was very aware of the uneasiness in his heart, but like a man possessed, he couldn't stop himself from moving forward.
There was something waiting for him to arrive. The man didn't know what it was, but he was certain that the moment he saw it, all the desires in his heart would be satisfied.
The man didn't think about it anymore, he held on to the damp, moss-covered wall and walked along the dark and smelly road. He could hear the sound of the incoming tide, and the water splashed against the rocks, like flesh hitting the ground , broken into countless dust.
This is a road that few people know, and it was learned by a man from a believer. Before the Orthodox Church was so strong, the Orthodox believers would follow this secret road to the underground of the Hearne Cathedral, where A secret meeting was held, and above them were the believers of the Evangelical Church.
Hide in the shadows of your enemies.
After the rise of Orthodoxy, believers no longer had to be secretive, and with the blockade of Herne Cathedral, no one would advance through this secret passage until the arrival of men.
As the man advanced, the darkness was disturbed, and rats swarmed out of the cracks and passed him.
The man stamped his feet in panic, but the rats did not stay around him for too long. They seemed to be chased by something and did not care about the man's existence at all.
Taking a deep breath, the sound of his heartbeat became extremely clear in the sudden silence. The man could hear the soft sound of sweat flowing, and even heard the rush of blood in his veins.
He knew that those rumors might be true. Under the Herne Cathedral, there might really be a ferocious and terrifying devil locked away, and its evil spirit could not be suppressed by the priests, and it spread.
After many days of wandering, the man was also deeply involved. He knew all this, but he didn't dare to think about it. Like a patient who deceives himself, he was already terminally ill.
There was no way back for the man. He continued to advance on the muddy ground, stepping on the stinky soil and the dead bodies of rats. He entered the tunnel, and the surrounding light suddenly dimmed. In the endless darkness, there was only a faint light guiding him. the way.
Keep going.
He heard singing.
There is a majestic pipe organ matching the woman's shallow singing. The man thinks that it must be a perfect and sacred music. But in this deep and dark underground, no matter how brilliant the song is, it is blocked by layers of mud and stone, reaching the man's ears. Only soft singing was left, as if someone was whispering something in his ear.
The temperature gradually became hotter, and as it went deeper, all the moisture in the body seemed to be dried away, along with bursts of beast-like roars.
It was like being in a savage jungle. After night fell, those terrifying predators came out of their lairs one after another. They were bloodthirsty, hunting and killing life.
The man didn't notice that his breathing began to quicken. He wanted to stop uneasily, but he was surprised to find that he no longer had the strength to control his feet, or even his consciousness.
As if possessed by some kind of evil spirit, it was sending out bursts of evil laughter, driving the man's steps towards the end of the abyss.
"No, no, no..."
The man whined in pain. Under the threat of death, his survival instinct finally slightly defeated the strange magic power.
He staggered, and finally stopped. He exhaled loudly, thankful for everything, but at this moment, scarlet firelight fell on him.
The man raised his head, he saw it, and was captured by deeper despair.
It's not that his own will has defeated the unknown magic power, but that it has achieved its purpose and released itself.
The huge furnace made of flesh and blood is burning blazingly. The outer wall of flesh and blood is covered with limbs and faces, and one face after another is embedded in it. They should be dead, but they have their eyes and mouths open. Along with the raging fire and the fleeting flames, there were pitiful howls and whines, creating this devastating movement.
At the same time, there are countless chains binding all of this. They hang from the red above and extend into the darkness below. There is more restlessness in the darkness, and it seems that there is an incomprehensible monster carrying the furnace. Imprisoned in darkness.
It was it, it was the devil, the devil in captivity!
The man was speechless. He knelt on the ground, grabbed the camera and tried to take a picture, but in the darkness, he couldn't hold the camera. It rolled on the ground and then fell into the darkness.
He smashed the ground angrily, his instinct telling the man that he had reached the end, and all he could do now was to leave as many records as possible, recording everything hideous and terrifying in the darkness.
The man picked up the notepad and held the pen awkwardly. He lowered his head and tried to write something, but a crazy and distorted painting came into his eyes.
That was his scrawled handwriting, but the scrawled handwriting seemed to come alive. It was twisted together to outline a face that could only be seen in nightmares. It appeared on the paper through the man's writing, and now it is alive. He came over and was smiling at the man.
The smile faltered, then broke.
The man retched, as if his intestines were twisted together, causing severe colic, but he was very happy, and saw that the notepad returned to normal, with only scrawled writing left, and the crazy face was just an illusion. That’s all.
Yes, hallucination...
Thinking of this, the man stopped all his movements, and even the pain in his stomach disappeared. He looked at his raised hand, and suddenly he understood why his handwriting was so illegible, and that as a reporter, he actually failed Grab your own camera.
The nails turned gray, like some kind of solid hard material. They extended for several centimeters in length, like sharp claws. Various abnormalities also appeared on the back of the hands. The blood vessels became thicker and clearly highlighted on the skin. The bones It was also twisting slowly, as if something was about to break through the flesh.
What's going on here?
The man couldn't figure out what he wanted to say, but found that he couldn't say anything, and there were only hoarse, whistling sounds coming from his throat.
A light flashed.
The soldier swung his sword and cut off the demon's head, and then pierced its heart with another sword.
They remained silent, without even taking a second look at the corpse. They kicked it into the darkness below, and together with its notepad, it was completely swallowed by the darkness.
High above the furnace, someone was staring at all this. He was wearing a white robe and a silver crown, and his face was completely hidden under the cold face of steel.
In the face outlined by the mask, the eyes are sunken deeply into the darkness, and in the deepest part of the darkness there are two swaying white stars like will-o'-the-wisps.
He stood above the furnace for a long time. In the darkness beside him, Liya had been waiting for a long time. After an unknown amount of time, the will-o'-the-wisp flame went out, and he slowly straightened up and stretched his body.
"They killed Roger Cruz, and Edlen Levien."
Lawrence said.
"As expected?" Liya asked.
"Absolutely," Lawrence said, with a smile in his voice, "It looks like our plan doesn't need to be changed at all."
There was the chill of cold rain in his voice, as if Lawrence was not here just now, but was really in the rainstorm.
The assassin lurking under the storm is not only Watson, but also another vicious oriole.
"It has gotten a little out of control. It is producing large quantities of secret blood, causing the erosion to spread."
Liya glanced at the furnace, which the epidemic doctor called a "flesh steam engine", and then at the demon corpse being processed by the soldiers.
Things like this often happen recently. A group of people are affected by the erosion and approach here under the spell. Then they turn into monsters, bloodthirsty and crazy.
"It doesn't matter, it will stop soon," Lawrence said easily, "Our army is ready, right?"
"Ah."
Hearing Liya's affirmation, Lawrence's words brought more smiles.
"Then take away the remaining secret blood and destroy this place."
"Destroy?" After hearing this, Liya looked very surprised.
"what happened?"
"But……"
Lawrence seemed to understand her worries and continued.
"We are going to fight that destined war. If we win, it will no longer be necessary to exist. But if we lose, even if it still exists, what's the point?"
Lawrence grasped the armrest with both hands, and the force was so strong that the metal whined and shriveled under the squeeze.
"Destroy them all. After all, I am fighting an extraordinary war."
There is rolling fire in the old voice, and just listening to it can make you feel the sting like being burned by fireworks.
"A war to eradicate all demons."
(End of this chapter)