Gun of Ashes

The confined compartment was filled with thick blood and flesh, extending into a web-like structure, resembling the lair of some giant spider.

Bola's body was trapped in a corner, curled up like a baby. The layers of blood web entangled his body, with even small tendrils of blood and flesh extending into his mouth and nose.

He was also caught in that endless dream, but suddenly a beam of light lit up in the dark compartment. Then a person swung a folding blade to cut through the layers of blood webs. Watching the sleeping Bola, seemingly surprised that this guy could have such an innocent side, they chuckled mockingly, picked up a syringe, and stabbed it hard into his neck. After a few minutes of the drug taking effect, Bola slowly awoke from the dream.

"Slept well, huh?"

Blue Jade, with the headlamp on her helmet, looked at Bola. The light in the pitch-black compartment was too bright, making it difficult for Bola to look directly at this person.

"What's going on?"

"According to the Purification Mechanism's anomaly guidelines, we can preliminarily determine that we just experienced a large-scale mental anomaly."

Blue Jade recalled these terms inside the Purification Mechanism, an organization relying on technology to fight Demons. The Purification Mechanism practices making the mystical no longer mystical, then using this known mystique.

So it has a set of professional terminology about many Demonic phenomena, far more rational than the Demon Hunting Order, which links everything to the gods, which is frightening.

It could be said they are a group of fervent materialists.

"Was it a dream?"

Recalling everything that felt almost real just now, Bola felt a wave of fear. Without Blue Jade, perhaps he truly couldn't have woken up.

"Yes, as you know, in evaluations my willpower is significant, so I should have been the first to wake up. To enable you to wake up quickly, I injected you with Florun Potion, which temporarily increases your resistance to the erosion."

Blue Jade was terrifyingly calm. She even tossed Bola a gun, then the headlamp scanned the surroundings, everywhere was that damnable blood and flesh.

"We should have already entered Ende Town by now."

"Ende Town?"

Bola found it a bit unbelievable; according to the map, the train had just reached the edge.

"Clearly, this town is different from what we understand. Calling it a mental anomaly zone is more accurate; these should all be products of Demons. We might open the door and face hundreds of Demons."

At such a lousy moment, Blue Jade actually cracked a joke, but Bola found it not funny at all.

Picking up the communicator, inside was only the static of electric current, all channels silent, as if isolated from the world.

"What a lousy start."

After monitoring for a few minutes, the communicator still resembled a dead sea, causing Bola to slump to the side with a helpless bitter smile.

Without yet seeing the so-called Holy Coffin, the prolonged team had already suffered heavy damage. Dismayed for a while, Bola reenergized himself, looked at the weapon rack inside the compartment, and began to arm himself.

"Do we need to go to our deaths now?"

Blue Jade looked at Bola's stance, his body adorned with weapons, as if ready to take on a hundred foes.

"Pretty much, but you can stay here."

Bola continued speaking while loading bullets into his weapon. These were special bullet heads from the Mechanical Institute, costly to produce, but effective against Demons. Logically, everyone should only get a little distributed, but under this large-scale mental anomaly, only Bola could use them.

"Blue Jade, you don't have to die with me. Stay here, try to wake the others. If you gather enough strength, you might as well try to save me."

Bola spoke indifferently, looking like someone who had thought it all through.

"Why? To create an image of sacrificing oneself?"

Blue Jade didn't feel much about it. She wasn't moved by Bola; instead, she saw right through him like a caring older sister.

"Not really. Firstly, someone indeed needs to stay here to awaken the others. Secondly, you're someone with wishes. Haven't you always wanted a beautiful life?"

Looking at the light, the lamp atop Blue Jade's helmet was truly glaring.

"This is an opportunity. If you survive this mission, Arthur might approve your resignation, and you can find some unlucky sod and live a wealthy life."

"Is this your last will?"

This atmosphere was rendered very sorrowful by Bola, so sorrowful it felt like a funeral, where this Dead was about to step into his grave, bidding farewell for the last time.

"Almost. Honestly, I don't want to die either, but there's no choice. I'm the commander, and someone has to do it, so let it be me."

"Ah, if only you said you wanted to die for me, I might have been tempted."

In the bright light, Blue Jade flashed a sly smile, but Bola couldn't see it due to the strong light.

"Huh?"

This statement turned Bola's old face red, and the meticulously cultivated atmosphere of gallantly facing death was completely ruined.

"Don't mind it, just a joke. Let's talk about whether we're going to our deaths after we get out of here first."

Blue Jade looked to the other side, the light illuminating the door.

"Rather than facing death, I think we might not even have a chance to escape."

The overgrown blood and flesh entangled the machinery, the door tightly closed. No matter how much Blue Jade pushed or even tried to pry open the door with the folding blade, it stayed stubbornly shut, unyielding.

"What's going on?"

Finished, it's all finished. The heroic facade created in front of a lady collapsed because the door wouldn't open.

"It's these damnable blood and flesh."

The sharp folding blade cut into the flesh, but it couldn't go further after a half cut. Not just due to the strength issue, the bizarre flesh kept healing, albeit slowly, which was enough to impede them.

This is why the weapons against Demons had to be plated with Holy Silver; only then could they barely limit the Demons' vitality.

"What about the aluminothermic rifle?"

Bola said, taking an aluminothermic rifle from the weapon rack, the igniter igniting a flame in the darkness.

"Are you trying to weld the door shut?"

Blue Jade suddenly felt that Bola seemed slightly mentally off.

An aluminothermic rifle could indeed melt through the door, but once it cooled, it would weld everything tight, and a large amount of oxygen was needed for combustion. They might suffocate before the door melts through.

"Damn! So I can't even go to my death?"

Bola angrily slammed against the door, using all his strength and wedging a small gap into the door seam with the folding blade, but behind the gap was still flesh, blocking them from the outside.

To cope with this mission, the compartments were reinforced armored compartments, effectively resisting Demonic attacks. Now, this compartment had become a tomb for the two of them.

"We need to find a way out; our time is running out."

Blue Jade sat aside, trying to control her breathing. For some unknown reason, the Radiant had stalled, and the oxygen available for breathing in the sealed compartment was gradually depleting.

What an unfavorable start.

Bola rifled through the weapons inside the compartment back and forth. To counter Demons, the Mechanical Institute provided all these high-damage weapons, which, if used here, would kill them with scattered shrapnel before the Demons even attacked.

"The pressure is gradually rising."

Blue Jade looked at the ceiling, suddenly saying this, then her gaze fell on Bola. Her eyes were severe.

"We're still in that enormous pollution source. If this continues to drag on, we'll be completely eroded."

Pollution source.

Bola remembered those words; at the last of his consciousness, Lorenzo had said over the communicator that the Radiant had entered a huge pollution source, so severe that the Geiger counter broke down the moment it sensed it.

Thinking of this, Bola reached for the Geiger counter hanging on his shoulder strap. As Lorenzo said, the needle had already begun to malfunction, shaking erratically.

"It seems there's only one last path to take."

Bola looked into the darkness at the other end of the compartment. This train compartment was from Borhams Military Factory. The layers of armament were not to protect the people inside the compartment but to protect the sealed other end of the compartment, where a weapon from that industrial district was hidden, the mission's trump card.

As the commander, Bola clearly knew what that was and the price of using it.

"Let's go, Blue Jade. It seems we have no other choice."

Bola said as he pushed aside the debris on the ground, revealing a small door afterward, sealed with layers of locks, as if incarcerating some Demon.