Chapter 202 – Penetration

Chapter 202 – Penetration

Fire, burning fire everywhere, either that or the look of ashes everywhere after the flames had burned out, the church was destroyed by fire, the bell tower was destroyed by fire, and the city-state itself seemed to have been destroyed by fire as well.

A hot, dry wind whistled through the ruined church square, which was swirling with ash, tiny sparks drifted down from the great bell tower, and charred banners drooped and fell in the wind.

A tall, lightly armored figure stepped onto the square, the heavy, broad, huge sword in his hand cutting a series of sparks into the scorched ground.

The ends of Vanna’s hair were already a little charred by the incredible heat of the environment, and her armor was torn in various places, with still bleeding wounds visible in some of the torn areas, which were writhing with flesh and blood and were slowly healing.

She held her sword in her right hand, while in her left she carried a massive rotary machine gun, the heavy ammunition crate on her back – it had been removed from a half-destroyed steam walker while passing through the arsenal not too long ago, and was still in good working order.

The smell of ash drilled into her nostrils as the hot wind blew, and Vanna squinted slightly at the street in the distance, and the smoke and red light that slowly rose in the background of it.

In this “history”, all of Prand had been burned.

The fire had begun in 1889, had gone unnoticed for eleven years, and had finally burned through the city, solidifying the entire city-state in ruins as it slowly burned away.

Even the power of the Storm Goddess had been severely distorted and interfered with – the longer Vanna stayed here, the harder she found it to feel the moisturizing sea breeze.

It was easy to burn down a city-state, but it was difficult to burn it down without the gods realizing it; those heretics had exploited the gaps in history, and had probably even used the bit of the Black Sun to interfere with the gods’ judgment of the earthly world.

But …… where exactly are those heretics?
A low, hoarse murmur suddenly came from among the shadows of a nearby building, a murmur that carried the power of blasphemous malice, shadows coalescing out of thin air at the sound of the murmur, transforming into a hallucinatory illusion, but instead of turning her eyes in the direction of the coalescing shadows and the murmuring murmur at all, Vanna casually lifted up her left hand’s six-barrel machine gun and squeezed the trigger in a different, seemingly empty, direction.

Deafening roar exploded over the square, yellow bullet shells scattered like rain, tongues of fire swept through, and a tall, thin shadow suddenly emerged in the air, that shadow was originally hidden in the gaps of light and shadow, but at this moment it was forced to appear, and in its haste, it could only use a large number of tentacles and the black umbrella in its hand to fend off the barrage of bullets that came in its face – and It was during this blocking that the roaring waves exploded violently!

Vanna threw out the huge sword in her hand, which was wrapped in the power of the storm and slammed down, piercing through the monster and then flying ten meters away and firmly nailed to the ground, and then she didn’t care about the attacker that had already been nailed down in the slightest, but instead turned around quickly, side-stepped, and then casually grabbed and pulled down a twisted and deformed street lamp post, and then slammed the heavy steel to her side.

The second, hidden assailant was smashed to the ground by the streetlight, its ugly, flesh-and-blood flower-like head shattering into a puddle of rotting flesh, its remnants struggling and writhing violently on the ground until Vanna turned the massive rotary machine gun around and the searing bullets swept through like a storm.

“A stealthy sneak attack in pairs …… Your tactics seem to stop there.”

Vanna muttered, casually throwing away the lamp post that had already been severely twisted and deformed, and beckoning to the side to retrieve the Storm Giant Sword, she stood it up on its side with one hand, while the other hand, still holding the machine gun up, continued to point it at the crushed flesh of the monster on the ground like an execution.

After a few seconds, she frowned.

“No regeneration?”

The young Inquisitor bent down and confirmed that the pile of debris crumbs that had once belonged to the Sunchild was simply lying still on the ground, not only showing no signs of regeneration at all, but even now it had begun to rapidly lose its moisture and activity, turning into a pile of dried charcoal at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.

Why is this? Why did these remnants lose their regeneration ability? Was it because their essence had suddenly weakened? Or was it because these remnants had already been greatly weakened for some reason?
Vanna looked at the scene with confusion and alarm, then suddenly raised her head and stared at the street not far away as if she sensed something.

A stream of green fire surfaced in the darkness, then darted around the edge of the square, gathering and spreading, before swooping down on the remains of the scion’s corpse as if sensing something!
Burning, devouring, growing.

In front of Vanna, this invading green flame burned through the lifeless flesh and blood as if a predator enjoying its catch.

The young Inquisitor’s eyes instantly glazed over, staring warily at the spreading green flames, thoughts and speculations raging in her mind, yet the spreading flames seemed to ignore her – they flowed right through the surroundings, balking at all parts of the plaza, and finally streaming away further away.

Vanna watched thoughtfully as the flames flowed and spread, then stepped away, heading deeper into the city-state.

……

Heavy rain poured down, a curtain of water that connected the sky to the ground, and the sudden rain that fell from the thick clouds seemed like a conspiracy that had been brewing for many years and had finally made itself known, washing away everything in the city-state of Prand.

And after the force of the rainstorm could not even stop Morris, the destiny of bad luck once again played a role – his car finally broke down.

The old scholar decisively gave up the idea of restarting the car, knowing that the obstructing force would only grow stronger, for the final preacher had already placed a manifesto on himself at some point unknown to him, and this curse would not allow him to fix the car.

But the “declaration” of the final preacher is not an incantation without a solution. Normally, it can only guide or interfere with the “event” to varying degrees, and the longer it lasts, and the larger the area it covers, the more power it requires, and the greater the wear and tear it produces! The longer it lasts and the greater the area covered, the more power it requires and the greater the wear and tear.

He couldn’t stop in the middle of this storm.

Maurice opened the car door, and the biting cold wind and torrential rain hit him at the same time, instantly drenching his entire body and even blowing him into a stagger.

But the old man just reached out and pressed his hat down, gripping his cane tightly in his other hand, and took a step toward the chaotic, hazy curtain of rain in front of him.

He didn’t have an umbrella, and in this kind of weather, there was little point in having one. It was close enough to that antique store, half a block away, and in slightly better weather, one could even see the sign for the store.

But in the harsh conditions of the moment, all he could see was a pale curtain of rain, and a few stores with closed windows and doors on either side of the street, nearest to him.

Maurice trudged through the torrential rain, not knowing how long he had been walking, and finally, he saw the familiar store appear in his field of vision.

The old man subconsciously quickened his pace.

The curse that the Final Preacher had placed on himself also seemed to have finally reached its end, the wind of confrontation that always blew head-on gradually weakened, the chill wrapped in the wind was no longer as cold and piercing as it had been in the beginning, and the curtain of rain, though still dense, no longer smashed down on his body like a stone.

With only a few steps left to go before the antique store, Morris suddenly heard a voice beside his ear-

“Stop, you will regret it!
“There is no salvation ahead …… Prender will only be swallowed up by another disaster!
“History is about to complete the replacement …… What you are saving is no longer true reality, but the remnants of a wrong path ……”

Maurice’s steps didn’t linger at all as he ran two tight steps forward and finally almost crashed through the door.

In that one moment alone, the voice in his ears abruptly disappeared, as if it had never been there.

The cold wind and sudden rain on the street were also blocked from the door together.

Maurice stumbled forward a few steps, water spilling from his body onto the floor, and the warm, bright interior was too much for him to adjust to for a moment.

He faintly heard conversation coming from upstairs, two young girls, one of whose voices was Nina’s, “It’s raining so hard!”

“Yes, it suddenly started raining …… Luckily, I listened to your uncle and came back early.”

“Then my hair is also soaked …… Shirley you help me wipe the back of my hair!”

Morris shook his head, letting his thoughts, which were somewhat numbed by the cold wind and cold rain, gradually recover, he raised his head and looked in the direction of the counter.

In the warm light, a blonde lady in a long, complicated dark purple dress was sitting quietly behind the counter, casting a curious gaze this way.

A very pretty lady, but Morris didn’t pay much attention to the lady’s appearance.

What he noticed was the superbly elegant aura on the other party, as well as the mysterious and quiet atmosphere that seemed to linger around her.

It was as if she were not sitting in a down-town antique store, but in a quiet palace garden, surveying herself, the presumptuous outsider, with a look of transcendent calmness and grace.

Maurice felt as if he perceived some …… inhuman trait in the lady, but he collected all his perceptions in the next instant.

Mr. Duncan’s antique store appeared in the “newcomer” never seen before, but no matter what the identity of this newcomer, absolutely can not just pry into.

Then, he heard a greeting from the opposite side: “It’s raining heavily outside, old sir, do you need help?”

“Mr. Duncan …… I’m looking for Mr. Duncan,” Maurice was stunned for a moment and rushed to speak, “Something very important! Is he not in the store?”

“He is,” the mysterious, elegant woman smiled, “he said his blood pressure was a little high, so he’s resting on the second floor.”

Morris was stunned, “Blood pressure …… is a little high?”

The blonde woman behind the counter shook her head, “I don’t know what’s going on – he wasn’t in a very good mood after our discussion about history and forgeries.”

History and forgeries?

Maurice’s heart suddenly jumped and he was about to ask something more, but just then he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, followed by Mr. Duncan’s voice, “Alice, do you have a guest?”

“Yes, Mr. Duncan! An old man I don’t know!”

Maurice looked up and saw Duncan standing on the stairs, half illuminated by the light, half hidden in the shadows.

He saw himself, and there was some surprise and curiosity in his face.

(End of chapter)