Embers of Embers

Chapter 689: The Soul-Returning Corpses
【What exactly do you want? 】
There was a voice in my mind, vague and distorted, slightly familiar, but difficult to distinguish from memory.
[No matter who is alive today, he must be driven by some kind of force that keeps him moving forward. So you, who calls yourself Seine Lothair, what exactly is driving you? 】
Questions echoed.
[Think carefully, is it the anger of the Holy Night?
Yes, the loyal demon hunters were betrayed like this, and everyone disappeared in the raging fire that night. Only you are left to survive and continue to this day.
What you want is a truth, right?
So you have obtained the truth, what are you driven by now? 】
The voice gradually became clearer and filled with evil magic. The new pope seemed to remember who the voice belonged to, but he closed his eyes tightly and did not speak or move.
The new pope was as usual, kneeling on the edge of the Well of Sublimation, with several sharp nail swords lying beside him, emitting an icy cold light.
In front of him was a dark well, and the darkness in it seemed to have a physical form, like burnt rotten wood, constantly exuding pitch-black, particle-like smoke.
They are like mist, rising continuously. Marked by the murals on the well wall, it can be clearly seen that the darkness has risen a lot. It seems that after a while, they will completely overflow the well mouth and spread to this sacred land. above.
"To shut up."
He spoke, his voice hoarse.
The fire on the night of Holy Advent left him completely unrecognizable, and his voice had already become distorted, like a broken blower, with a sharp hoarseness in his voice.
But the voice in my head sounded a burst of ridicule instead, and it questioned.
【Is this really so?I think you are also very confused. What are you fighting for now? 】
The voice seemed to pass through the virtual and the real and was transmitted into reality. In the mind of the new pope, the voice outlined a familiar face.
The new pope knew whose voice it was.
The evil ghost surrounding him in the nightmare finally revealed his original hideous and terrifying face.
It's him.
It was Seine Lothair's voice, the voice before he was infected by the fire.
Opening his eyes, a familiar face appeared in front of him, just like facing a mirror.
The new pope was absent-minded for a while, and then he accepted it all with a wry smile.
"Has it been so long?"
He shook his head, stretched out his hand, and touched the cold mask on his face.
"It's been so long that I've forgotten what I really looked like."
He took off the mask forcefully, revealing the face covered with scars and burns that looked like an evil ghost. He looked at himself in the mirror. Under that "normal person" face, the new pope at this moment looked like a real devil.
"So, why are you moving forward now?"
Another person came closer, and this time the sound came directly from his ears, transcending the limitations of reality and reality.
"For...what?"
The new Pope held the mask in his hand, his face was reflected in the metallic luster, but because of the bulge and curvature on it, his face was distorted again.
"Yeah, for what? If you don't even have a reason, why are you still here?"
It stretched out its hand and gently put it on the new pope's shoulder, looking friendly.
"Why don't you leave?"
"leave?"
The new pope looked at his former self, and then at the almost broken stasis temple.
"Where can I go after leaving here?"
"It doesn't matter anywhere. You can live another life and start a new life."
It seduces.
"Don't you long for it? You can completely live a normal life, but you are trapped in this sinful land by the secret blood of this curse. You have been pious all your life, and all you have served is endless hypocrisy.
There is no God, no salvation, and there is no so-called kingdom of heaven.
Death is death. Isn't it rare that you are not heartbroken by such coldness and cruelty? "
It stretched out its hand, hugged the new pope's hideous face, and gently rubbed the scars.
"You can completely become someone else, a painter, a writer, a navigator... If there is no secret blood, you should have more and more choices in your life... How many beautiful things have you missed? Don't you think so?" Don't you regret it?"
"regret."
The new pope's eyes were trembling. In fact, as it said, the new pope had missed too many things. He had not even had much rest in his fighting life.
Looking up at this gloomy scene, the new pope couldn't even remember the last time he left here.
I don’t know when everything has turned into this...
His body began to tremble slightly.
Yes.
How long has it been since I saw that pure blue sky?
"Look, you don't care about the so-called religious order, nor the so-called church. This honor that lasts for thousands of years is worthless to you... Then there is always something more expensive in your heart, right?
Why not think about it for yourself?Even if it's for yourself, get out of here. "
Leave... leave, leave!
The new pope's eyes dropped, and then he let out bursts of hoarse laughter, which was like a crazy monster. At this time, it was also smiling with satisfaction, as if it was happy for the success of its seduction, and it seemed that It is really blessing the new Pope.
"for what……"
The new pope whispered, then raised his head, and what came into view was a pair of blazing white eyes.
"What does a monster like you know?"
Its smile froze at this moment, and then broke.
The sharp white light flashed by, and the new Pope swung the spiked sword, cutting through the hypocrisy in front of his eyes. The wound opened along the familiar face, but what gushed out was not blood, but a deep darkness, and the broken pieces were not broken. Flesh and blood, but sharp fragments like glass.
"Seni Lothair!"
It let out a distorted scream, and at the same time, the mortal body began to collapse, revealing the originally ferocious and decayed body underneath.
It was a scarlet and blurry figure. It was wearing clothes similar to those of a demon hunter, but the clothes had been soaked in blood for who knows how many years and had begun to decay and break. If the new pope hadn't been familiar with all this, even he would have The clothing is somewhat difficult to identify.
The head was shriveled, the sunken eye sockets were burning with the same blazing whiteness as the new pope, and the same blood was rushing through the torso.
"Dead people! Sleep in peace!"
The new pope roared angrily, swung his nail sword and slashed open its chest ferociously. Among the chopped flesh, one could easily see the silvery color hidden under the flesh.
It seemed like metal armor embedded between the bones, but as the flesh and blood recovered, the silver-white armor continued to burn red and collapse.
What overflowed from the wounds opened by the new pope was not only blood, but also silver-white metal and molten holy silver.
He suddenly raised his foot and kicked the wound hard, kicking the struggling soul-resurrected corpse into the dark well again.
But it was not content with this. Laughter rang out again under its twisted and terrifying face. It stretched out its hand and grabbed the sharp nail sword. Even if it cut its palm, it refused to let go. It pulled the new pope hard, trying to Drag him into the deep well.
"Let's step into sublimation together!"
It extends an invitation.
The new Pope twisted his sword and easily split its palm into several sections, but at this moment his body was already being pulled forward, half of his body flew into the air, and he almost fell into the deep well together.
Then the new Pope saw it.
Something seemed to be squirming in the rolling black mist, as if thousands of dead souls were trying to crawl out of the abyss.
The next moment, chaotic hallucinations came into his eyes, distorting his mind and affecting his judgment.
This is its power, the power of hallucination. It has been trying to use hallucinations to interfere with the new pope, but at the last moment, it failed.
"Why don't you want to die?"
The new pope cursed, broke away from the illusion again, threw the nail sword in his hand, and penetrated its throat. With such force, the nail sword and the corpse hit the wall of the well and fell into the darkness below.
It was swallowed up by darkness first, and then came the new pope. He stretched out his hand and tried to grasp the relief on the well wall, but the new pope had gone deep into the well of sublimation many times before, and he was very aware of the smoothness of the well wall.
"damn it."
He blamed himself. Logically speaking, with his ability, he would not be in such an embarrassing situation.
Is the new pope weaker because of the pressure down there, or because he can no longer resist the encroaching influence?He couldn't figure it out, and he didn't have time to figure it out. He could only stretch out his hand with all his strength and try to grab something, no matter what.
At the critical moment, the other hand swooped over, like a high-five, and grabbed the new pope hard.
"Don't let go!"
Antony grabbed the edge of the deep well with one hand, and grabbed the new pope who almost fell into the darkness with the other hand, and then pulled hard and dragged him up to the mouth of the well.
The two of them rolled onto the ground, feeling the gravity and flatness underneath them, and couldn't help but let out a long breath.
There seemed to be an endless abyss below the Well of Sublimation, and there was no echo of the falling sound.
The new pope struggled to his feet, holding his sword and looking fearfully at the abyss below.
Cold sweat ran through him and soaked his clothes. He gripped the blade of the sword tightly, confirming the existence of matter and ensuring that he was out of the illusion and returned to reality again.
"what happened?"
Anthony asked as he arrived, he didn't know what happened.
"Another monster has climbed up from the well," the new pope said.
"A demon?"
The new pope shook his head and said seriously.
"It's far more troublesome than that thing."
"what?"
"Witchers, dead witchers."
Ever since the restlessness of the Well of Sublimation, there have been nightmares that kept attacking at first, and then there were evil spirits crawling out of the well, but these evil spirits were just ordinary demons. Until today, the new pope saw the corpse of the demon hunter, Driven corpse.
Few people know that the Well of Ascension is the true cemetery of demon hunters. All dead demon hunters whose bodies can be recycled will be placed in this deep well.
The new Pope once thought it was just some kind of unknown ceremony, but now it seems that this is to ensure that the secret blood will stay in the well forever and reduce the possibility of spreading.
But no one expected that these corpses that were supposed to be dead would move again and carry forbidden power.
How many corpses of witchers are there under this deep well?
The new pope didn't dare to think about it any longer. Under this deep well, there were not only strange enemies, but also an army buried in the tomb.
"Hunting...demon?"
Hearing this, Anthony's expression also froze, and he felt great pressure, but it was more than just troublesome.
In a trance, that taboo word came to mind again.
Advent night.
As he thought about it, more friction sounds sounded, like sharp nails rubbing against metal, leaving tiny scratches on it and making a sharp sound.
The darkness under the deep well became restless, and the new pope saw moving blurry figures in the spreading black mist, as if countless worms were crawling towards the well.
"What's wrong!"
Perhaps due to psychological pressure, Anthony looked a little nervous, but he was grabbed by the new pope, and his ferocious face came into view.
"Calm down, Anthony, and listen to me."
The new pope looked Antony straight in the eyes and forced him to listen.
"Listen to me, now, immediately leave the Temple of Stasis, block here, block the entire San Naro Cathedral, block the entire Seven Hills!"
The voice was like thunder, splitting away the evil thoughts in Anthony's heart. He calmed down and nodded.
"Yes, we must completely seal this place. We must guard the gate of heaven no matter what. We must not allow any demon to escape from here. We must guard it until reinforcements arrive."
"Reinforcements? Do we have reinforcements?"
Anthony didn't know why, and the new pope's eyes dimmed slightly, but soon became bright again. He seemed to be talking to Anthony, and he also thought he was talking to himself.
"They will come, they will."
He grabbed another spiked sword and pushed Anthony hard.
"Come on! Anthony!"
the new pope urged, recalling the Advent night buried deep in his memory.
"First came the nightmare from the underground, and then the spreading erosion, more and more people in the city will become monsters! No matter what, we must guard the Seven Hills!"
Anthony was pushed forward and took a few steps forward. He soon thought of something, looked at the new pope who was walking towards the well with a sword, and shouted.
"And you!"
"Me? Someone has to stay here and hold them back."
The new pope didn't look back and kept moving forward.
"Don't worry, this is something I should have done long ago."
The sword blade rubbed against the ground, making the same sharp sound as in the well. The new pope was filled with rage and felt as if he had returned to that night again.
"In the end, I'm just a reincarnated corpse. I should have died that night long ago. Now it's just a matter of recalibrating everything!"
Anger was so overflowing that it almost burst his blood vessels and burst out.
Anthony was frightened and hesitant. Looking at the departing figure, he suddenly realized that this might be the last time he saw the new pope. By some strange coincidence, he asked loudly.
"Wait a minute! Your Majesty! What is the so-called faith?"
This is a question that Anthony has been chasing for a long time. He hopes to get the answer from the new pope, but now he is leaving. This is his last chance to ask for it.
The turbulent black mist spread up to the wellhead and continued to overflow from the well. In the blink of an eye, the gray smoke covered the figure of the new pope, making him silent.
"Sorry, I don't know either!"
Suddenly there was a sound of thunder, and then the sword blade stirred up wind pressure, easily cutting through the overflowing fog and driving them away. The murderous figure once again came into Anthony's eyes.
He arched his body, holding his sword like a silvery white wolf, and turned his head, but Anthony could not see clearly the Pope's face.
"But I think you already have your answer."
The new pope seemed to be waving goodbye to him, but he also seemed to be waving a sword. An evil howl sounded in the black mist. Anthony gritted his teeth, moved his lead-filled legs, and ran away towards the end of the darkness.
Watching Anthony's departure, the new pope turned to look at the black well in the black mist. One after another, pale and sharp palms protruded from the edge, crawled out of the well, and stood in front of the new pope.
Looking at the demon hunters of the past generations, there is restless darkness hidden under the decaying corpses.
Thinking of the outcome of all this, the new pope inevitably felt a sadness in his heart, but soon, this sadness was replaced by anger.
"Witchers, I order you in the name of the Pope!!"
Seni Lothar laughed wildly, raised the nail sword, pulled out a silver arc of light in the air, and leaped towards him.
"Die again!"
The high-pitched sword cry carried the ferocious sound of tearing flesh and blood, as if there were demons fighting here until they died.
(End of this chapter)