Gun of Ashes

In the shadow of God, demons began to breed, and beneath the magnificent Saint Nalos Cathedral, mortals established the Shadow Kingdom known as the Static Holy Temple. It is here where the demon hunters, locked in battle with demons, paused.

"Are you familiar with the Night of the Holy Arrival? As the new Dean, you should be acquainted with the history of your Order, Anthony... Dean?"

"Just call me Priest, Your Eminence."

The Priest shook his head. He was not familiar with the entirety of the Night of the Holy Arrival and held a certain dread towards the title of Dean.

The melodious music by his ears grew gradually louder, the red light within the iron crevices became increasingly glaring, yet the elevator had not reached the bottom. It kept descending, and amidst this confined darkness, the Pope's voice slowly emerged.

"The Night of the Holy Arrival."

He murmured, sighed.

"The sacred night of arrival...

If the Celestial Kingdom truly exists, that night might have been when we were closest to it."

The Priest remained silent, but at that moment, he had a strange sensation, as if the man beside him was no longer the Pope, but something else entirely different had replaced him, conversing with the Priest here.

"You should know we captured the last demon, and scathing Holy Silver sealed it shut, inscribed with Holy Words. The priests prayed day and night, attempting to purify that sinful soul."

The voice turned gentle, recounting that ancient story in the gradually descending dark abyss.

"We classified that demon as Messiah level, codenamed the Holy Grail. According to our analysis and the accounts in the Revelation, it is the source of the demons. If it were utterly destroyed, the concept of demons would cease to exist."

The Pope spoke thus, yet still harbored doubts in his heart. Would the peculiar demon truly perish?

"But... humans are inherently greedy, Fr. Anthony. If we were truly so holy, there would be no need for such a God to save us."

The cold iron mask reflected the red light, the engravings on it resembling twisting bloodlines. The Priest locked eyes with the darkness beneath the sockets, separated only by a thin line from the oldest and most malevolent secret.

The Priest's breathing involuntarily quickened.

"We have battled demons for too long, so long that we have almost become another demon ourselves... it could be said that everything within the Evangelical Church is built upon the Secret Blood technology of Revelation, upon the demons."

"If we kill that last demon, wouldn't it mean we lose this sinful yet powerful technology too?"

The Pope asked the Priest, speaking as he removed the mask. His face was concealed in the darkness as he lit a cigarette and took a drag, the fire illuminating the surroundings yet not his face.

The Pope's majesty was no more; he was simply a troubled man.

"Of course, nobody knows if that will be the case, or if the concept of demons will truly disappear. All of this changed on the Night of the Holy Arrival.

Truth be told, the timing of capturing the Holy Grail wasn't ideal. If we had captured it a few hundred years earlier... or during the time of the Crusades, that would have been the perfect era. Everyone wanted the demons dead; the Holy Hall Knight Order swept across city after city, and everyone was filled with faith. Even if we lost all technology related to demons, even if we died like that, everyone would agree."

Even to this day, that remains the Church's most glorious era. Everyone was as pure as Saints, and back then, everyone believed the world would become better.

"But unfortunately, times have changed, Fr. Anthony. The old era is gone, never to return.

Ingwig invented the steam engine, the age of steam is unstoppable. Meanwhile, in the distant Far East Empire, new forces have emerged. For hundreds of years, the Church secretly ruled over several nations using the threat of demons. Whenever they branded something as heresy, the terrifying demon hunters would knock on their doors.

We are the Shepherds; they are the lambs, and every lamb must fear the shepherd dog, shouldn't they?

But now those lambs possess the power to fight demons, with warships and cannons, not to mention the Jiuxia which seems to employ similar demon-fighting technology. It was the first time the Church's position was shaken."

The Pope whispered, discarding the cigarette butt, which fell and disappeared into the darkness.

Leaning against the swaying iron, he slowly put the mask back on. In the dimness, it seemed only they were left, the entire world had become so small, with only this forbidden story flowing slowly.

"At that time, the Church was divided into two factions. On one side was the Faith Faction, loyal to their faith, believing their divine mission granted by God had to be fulfilled. Regardless of the obstacles, they thought the Holy Grail should be destroyed. They were true zealots, so obsessed with their faith that they appeared somewhat naive."

He chuckled, then continued.

"On the other side was the War Faction. They believed that if they killed the Holy Grail and truly caused the concept of demons to disappear, then the demon technology the Church had depended on for centuries would collapse entirely. That was the Church's strength. In the rush of the new era, losing those would strip the Church of power against other nations, turning the holy faith into something treated as a mere mascot."

"They thought not only should the Holy Grail be preserved, but its power should be harnessed, keeping the demonic power firmly in hand. Mass-produce Secret Blood, and we would have legions of demon hunters sweeping across the Western world for us."

The slayers of demons became demons themselves.

The Pope said this while softly humming. He remembered the heated debate, the War Faction members banging on tables, their faces flushed with excitement and fervor like martyrs, chanting the sacred words as though they were transported back to that era, rejuvenated.