On the ground, pale ashes fell like heavy snow.
But what hits my face is not the coldness, but the painful heat left behind after burning out.
As far as the eye can see, on the land covered by shadows, everything is covered with a layer of gray, cold and distant.
In the ruins, Ye Qingxuan stared at the sky.
Between heaven and earth, where the material world and the etheric world overlap, one can faintly observe the huge boundary that distorts the line of sight. In the boundary, all changes are solidified and frozen, becoming an eternally static world.
There, only the cold and sharp city hung high.
It penetrates the material world and the etheric world through the power of heaven and abyss, and draws strength from it. In the burning of the holy fire, some terrible disaster is brewing.
He stared blankly at the shadows in the sky for a long time, then lowered his head sadly and rubbed the thing in his palm. It had fallen to the ground, covered in ashes, and looked like the remnants of something that had not been burned in the fire.
The only remnant.
"damn it… "
He murmured softly, clenching his hands weakly.
I don’t know how long it took, but the silence was broken, and the clanging sound of iron armor was heard. The old man wearing armor marched in from the ashes, and was pushed aside as the ashes flew.
"Ye Qingxuan?"
A long-lost voice sounded.
Ye Qingxuan turned around and was stunned. After a long while, he smiled bitterly and lowered his head: "Father, long time no see... It seems that every time I see you, I always look so embarrassed."
Ben was silent. He looked at the child who grew up beside him. His eyebrows and eyes were as stubborn as before, but for some reason, something seemed to have changed.
He couldn't speak and didn't know what to say.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
Ben reached out and patted his shoulder gently: "You... I hope you're okay."
Ye Qingxuan saw his sword and the badge on his shoulder, and noticed the respectful looks of the Templar knights around him, and he laughed: "I didn't expect that what Mr. Langdi said was true. Father, you actually became a high official. .”
The tone of laughter was as usual, but Ben couldn't hear the smile. He was like a poor drama actor reluctantly reciting his lines, full of exhaustion.
"This is not a place to reminisce. You should go and rest first."
Ben reached out and brushed away the ashes from his hair, and said in a low voice: "I have heard about you: you did your best, did well enough, and kept the way I taught you. , with no regrets in my heart. As for the rest... let God decide."
He turned to leave, and the Templar stepped forward and wrapped a blanket around him. They wanted to take him away from here, but Ye Qingxuan didn't move. He just stood there and looked at Ben's back.
"Father."
Ye Qingxuan suddenly called him, his voice hoarse: "I want to ask you something."
Ben's steps suddenly stopped and he looked back at him.
"Ye, you have never asked me for anything. Call me priest today and ask for it with me. If it is something that a priest can do, I will not refuse."
Ye Qingxuan laughed bitterly and said:
"-Please send me up."
Ben was stunned and frowned: "Ye Qingxuan, you are going to die!"
"Even if it means dying, I can't leave her alone there."
Ye Qingxuan looked at him with a hoarse voice: "Actually, I should have understood a long time ago that she is afraid..."
"She has nothing to do with you!"
The priest's voice was cold, "Ye Qingxuan, do you think she will think you are her friend!"
"She must have noticed something, Father. Perhaps, she has discovered that this is not her home, her family may have disappeared, and everyone who knew her is dead. When I found her, she was hiding in the corner. She told me that she was waiting for someone. I thought she was waiting for her father to come back, but now I understand that she...was waiting for me."
Ye Qingxuan raised his hand and slowly opened his clenched fist.
You can vaguely make out a small doll in the ashes in the palm of your hand. It was a strange doll woven from withered grass. It was simple and rough. It looked strange and not good-looking at all.
It was something Ye Qingxuan picked up from the ashes. Elsa had been holding it in her hand, not letting anyone see it, as if she was protecting her last precious item.
She lost her guinea pig, her little hairpin, and even her friend book, but she still remembered to bring this thing with her.
As long as this thing exists, then there will definitely be people who remember me.
Even though she no longer remembers why she compiled this thing, she once had such a friend...
"She also remembered that she was giving this thing to someone."
Ye Qingxuan lowered his eyes and held the withered grass doll tightly: "That's why she stayed there and waited, Father, she was waiting for that person to come to her."
"She's waiting for me."
"I can't keep her waiting too long. Father, I have to get there."
Ye Qingxuan looked at him, his voice hoarse: "If even I give up on her, no one in this world will remember her."
Ben was silent, frowning, and soon he raised his hand.
The Templar knights around him came up and were about to take him away by force, but another voice sounded.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute... don't worry."
Master Angelou, who had disappeared for a long time, ran over on the ashes, stopped the Templars, and pulled Father Ben aside.
"Don't be in a hurry to lock him up, Father... Just let him go without any worries, I'll be there to protect him!"
The master put his arms around his shoulders, and his tone was not like a musician, but like a gangster who was making trouble. He whispered: "As for the time of 'Faust' standing still, he is the least to worry about. After all, he is also being arrested." ... That person who is optimistic about the next action. With him there, he may be able to help."
"This has nothing to do with you."
Father Ben looked at him coldly: "Even if you are a master sent by Angelou, please do not interfere in the military affairs of the Knights Templar."
"Don't be like this." The master stamped his foot, sighed, and quietly stuffed something from his sleeve: "Look at this, still can't believe me?"
Ben looked down at the thing in his hand, frowned, and looked at the master coldly. The master still wore a hood and just laughed twice.
After a long time, Ban withdrew his gaze and glanced at Ye Qingxuan in the distance.
Ye Qingxuan was also looking at him.
"—Come here, put some armor on him!"
After Ben issued the order, he turned around and left without stopping.
Soon, the iron whale in the sky dropped an iron cabinet. The dark iron cabinet was engraved with complex patterns. The two Templars opened the iron cabinet, revealing the steel armor sleeping inside.
With the cooperation of several knights, the cyan power armor was quickly assembled on Ye Qingxuan's body. The thick metal fused with lapis lazuli did not hinder Ye Qingxuan's induction of ether, but instead became clearer.
Soon, the last piece of "artificial spine" fit onto the steel muscle, the fine tenon holes tightened, and the complex and strong parts gathered together, tightly combining without any gaps.
The heavy armor fit Ye Qingxuan's body, as if it was tailor-made for him. There was no inconvenience in his movements, but he became more flexible. The body was so light that it seemed like it was about to fly.
The model of the armor is the same as that of the Messenger Knight. It is not too bulky or bulky in structure, ensuring lightness and agility. It only strengthens the defense in key parts.
Finally, the Templar handed a document with a fire seal to Ye Qingxuan: "This is the activation password, key parameters and usage of 'Sword Dancer'. You have ten minutes to memorize it, but it is forbidden to spread it outside." .”
Ten minutes later, the Templars burned the documents to ashes in front of him, turned around and left, leaving only one sentence: "Lord Benn's order: assemble in three minutes, no waiting until late."
Only now did Ye Qingxuan have the opportunity to thank the master who had never cared about him.
"You're welcome." In the darkness under the hood, the master's voice seemed to be laughing, with a strange and ambiguous tone: "I have to be responsible for you, right?"
“…”
Ye Qingxuan was speechless and just quietly moved back a little, lest this master of unknown identity and questionable sexual orientation really do something to him that he would be responsible for.
…
Three minutes later, under the huge shadow of the iron whale, a small cabin slowly landed on the ground along the steel cable and opened.
Except for Mr. Hu, who was not under the jurisdiction of the Holy City, several temporarily recruited masters entered and sat among them. Ye Qingxuan, who finally arrived, was intercepted by Father Ben at the cabin door.
"Next, as a Templar, you will enter there with several masters."
Ben looked at him with a cold voice: "Remember, the Holy City cannot allow the Romulus people to plunge into the abyss. Half an hour, you only have half an hour. After half an hour, if you don't When I come back, I will order the activation of the 'Gate of Heaven' and ask His Majesty the Pope to use "Destiny"."
"destiny"…
Thinking of the ultimate movement known as God's Judgment and Punishment, Ye Qingxuan felt a chill all over, then nodded and walked into the cabin silently.
Father Ben gave him one last look and closed the hatch.
Amidst the roar, the cabin was pulled by the steel cable and rose into the sky. After a minute, it would fall directly into the city frozen in time.
The priest watched the cabin rise and watched them go away.
After a long time, the Knight Templar arrived quietly and whispered beside him: "Caligula is willing to speak."
…
…
Iron Whale airdropped the forged raw materials, and with the assembly of the Templars, the prototype of the headquarters was quickly built on the ground. And in the metal prison made of steel, Caligula was sitting on a chair with disheveled hair.
He didn't seem to have been treated cruelly, but he still looked haggard.
It's like I've aged dozens of years overnight.
Father Ben signaled others to guard the door. The door was closed. He sat opposite Caligula and looked at him indifferently: "You are asking for natural disasters... why?"
Caligula raised his messy hair and looked at him, and suddenly smiled: "Am I asking for your non-existent god?"
Ben's expression remained indifferent, but he just raised his voice:
"I'm asking you, why?"
"Why?"
The elder scratched his gray and messy hair and repeated his question in confusion: "If you want to ask why, I am also at a loss."
"Probably... I have to do this."