Gun of Ashes

He let out a hoarse laugh, a temptation, an invitation from the Devil, the Plague Doctor was well aware of some of the madmen's rules, like once you knew about something, you were connected to that eerie darkness.

He nodded firmly, and then the dust-covered story resurfaced.

"It happened long ago, after the ancient crusades, we destroyed most of the heretics, on the surface the Holy Hall Knight Order waged war, secretly the Demon Hunting Order carried out decapitation operations, neither the kingdom nor the army was our match, it was the Church's most glorious moment, the entire Western world trembled under our feet."

Recalling that glorious moment, a glow appeared in the man's eyes.

"After that, the so-called Demons were once wiped out from the world, the hunt continued in the following centuries until a few years ago, when we killed the last Demon."

"The last Demon?"

The Plague Doctor asked incredulously.

"Can such a thing really be completely eradicated?"

"Of course, just like ripples on a calm water surface, those ripples are Demons, but as long as the source of disturbance is not destroyed, endless Demons will be born."

"We captured that 'source', the... thing that carries the 'concept' of Demon."

The man pondered carefully, he found it difficult to describe that bizarre existence with the words humans now have, even after so long.

"The Church has termed it the Holy Grail, but I prefer to call it Demon."

He spoke casually, the steamship released vast quantities of white mist, slicing through the waves towards the horizon.

"It was a groundbreaking scene, I am glad to have witnessed it personally.

The execution was held in Saint Nalos Cathedral at Seven Hills, where every Pope is crowned, and their remains are buried.

Missionaries first bathed that Demon with blessed Holy Water, sharp iron nails pierced its limbs, the Holy Orchestra sang loud, the organ majestic and grand.

This execution nearly exhausted the Church's stored Holy Silver; essentially a metal highly toxic to Demons, due to its scarce production, it was used as a mere plating.

But this time, we bathed it in Holy Silver, its body was melted into boiling Holy Silver, and Florence's most skilled blacksmiths surrounded the still unsolidified silver ingot, forging it into the shape of an Iron Coffin amidst its screams, later engraving line after line of Holy Words on it amidst the Pope's prayers."

Gently brushing over those etching-like carved marks, unsure of what this Iron Coffin had gone through all these years, those Holy Words have blurred beyond recognition.

"This is the essence of the Holy Coffin, it is the grave of the 'concept' of Demon."

It was a startling secret, the world lost sound for an instant, the Plague Doctor could only sense something approaching, clutching his throat in the eerie silence, blood and flesh turned cold, solidified, frost spreading from inside, surging towards the heart and brain.

In this life-and-death moment, twisted, blood-stained broken limbs shattered, the Plague Doctor clutched his already severed arm, gasping heavily.

"It's the price of admission, knowing about a certain noble existence always requires giving a gift, right?"

The man calmly sheathed the Nail Sword, the shiny blade stained with blood.

The Plague Doctor's arm fell atop the Iron Coffin, then as if time accelerated, his blood dried leaving a gray-black mark, flesh and bone shrank, and the residual fabric completely dissipated into a small pile of dust in the next moments.

"But I wish you had informed me ahead of time."

The Plague Doctor spoke enduring intense pain, yet as he spoke the severed wound began to writhe eerily, first a white bone emerged from it, then layers of fine muscle connected to it, covering it layer by layer, a new hand appeared in an instant.

"So, right now the last Demon is inside the Iron Coffin?"

This is truly a terrifying fact, the thought of being in the presence of such a dangerous thing for so long sent shivers down the Plague Doctor's spine.

"Roughly, but don't worry, there's only its remains inside now."

"Remains?"

"You can regard it as a corpse, but it's not entirely dead yet, such things are usually hard to kill, after all, to a certain extent it represents the 'concept' of Demon.

We don't know how many things hold a 'concept' like this, but they're likely extremely hard to kill, much like light, to destroy the 'concept' of light one would need to destroy all things capable of illuminating in the world, to even say, literature and songs, everything that can remind people of light."

The man spoke to the Plague Doctor.

"To unravel this knowledge, we've risked one Pope... perhaps more than one."

Taking a deep breath, the Plague Doctor wished to keep some distance from this damned thing, but behind him was the sea, there was nowhere to hide.

"Rest assured, for now, it's still controllable, since it's only a corpse, acting solely on instinct, the most troublesome part has already escaped, it's quite docile now."

"Escaped, you mean this damned thing has already slipped out of the Church's control?"

The Plague Doctor realized his error midway through speaking, given the remains were already presented before him, this thing escaping the Church's control was inevitable.