Father Anthony stood on a high place and looked down. Even during the day, this city of faith was still full of candlelight, and the sound of pious prayers filled the air, shrouding it like mist.
It's just that this sacred belief has a bit more of a steely chill.
The streets were empty, with no pedestrians, only one armed Templar knight after another. Most of the residents were dismissed, and a few devout people stayed behind to continue their unfinished prayers.
The entire Seven Hills fell into an absolute seal. Outsiders only thought it was an unknown blockade, but Anthony knew very well that it could be said to be a state of war. Whether it was the new order or the Templar Knights, all forces were mobilized to move towards the Seven Hills.
Close to the place where the hill is, and station there.
Many people noticed something was wrong in the atmosphere, but they didn't know what was going on. The new pope seemed to be starting a war, but the front line of the war seemed to be the Seven Hills. What was even weirder was that no one could figure it out.
Who is the enemy?
Nowadays, a world war is coming, but in fact it has nothing to do with the Holy Gospel Papal State. With the development of industrial technology, the dominance of the Holy Evangelical Papal State is constantly declining, and in recent years it has almost hit the bottom. Few people
Will care about this once powerful country of faith.
There are no huge industrial areas here, and there are no sophisticated firearms and weapons. Apart from faith, what is left here is faith, stupid and decadent faith, and worthless faith.
Many believers feel that this war has nothing to do with them. They cannot think of any reason for the Holy Gospel Papal State to declare war, but they may never guess the real situation.
Not only can the Holy Gospel Papal State not stay out of the situation, they are also the origin and core of this war. This is the final battlefield, but the curtain has not yet been lifted.
All the current demon hunters of the new order were mobilized and gathered together. They gathered at the Saint-Naro Cathedral to prevent any possible crisis.
Most of the witchers didn't know what was going on, but they obeyed the orders and guarded in the shadows.
Anthony withdrew his gaze. He had been very calm these past few days, as calm as if the coming of war was just an illusory lie. But unfortunately, he was one of the few people in the Evangelical Church who knew everything.
He knew exactly what was going to happen next.
"You look worried."
Samur walked over. He was wearing heavy armor, and the smooth surface shone with light.
"So what's going on? How long are we going to be like this?"
He asked a few more questions, and Samuel stood beside Anthony. Under the blockade for so many days, many people were extremely confused and didn't know what the new pope was going to do.
Logically speaking, they, the demon hunters, should be chasing demons all over the world, but now they are trapped here, wearing these fancy armors, guarding here like guards.
"A powerful enemy is coming, but he hasn't come yet...but he will come eventually."
Anthony explained vaguely. He wanted to light a cigarette and touched it, but only found that one was crooked and the tobacco in it was almost exposed.
Lorenzo's message arrived safely at the Cathedral of San Naro, but the situation was somewhat different from what Lorenzo expected. In fact, the new order had already known most of the secrets, but it was not as detailed and clear as Lorenzo told it.
As for the source of these secrets...
Anthony glanced at the corridor behind him, which extended to the gate of heaven. In the deep darkness, faint sounds of prayer could be heard.
"Is your Majesty okay? I haven't seen him for a long time."
Seeing that Anthony still didn't want to talk, Samuel directed the topic elsewhere.
"Fortunately, I was about to report to him." Anthony said.
Even so, he did not take any action, but stood here with Samuel, as if enjoying the last peace.
Taking a deep breath, Anthony let out a long sigh. For some reason, even though it was daytime, memories couldn't help but come back to him at this moment.
"This reminds me of a night many years ago..."
Samuel didn't speak, he listened quietly.
"You should know this. We later called that night 'Night of Advent.'"
Anthony whispered softly, for fear of waking up the demon sleeping in the darkness.
"The Night of Holy Advent."
Samuel responded, Anthony nodded, and then he remembered something and asked curiously.
"What were you doing that night? Samuel."
"I?"
Samuel recalled that it was all many years ago. He was just an ordinary person at that time and had no idea of the darkness. He tried to remember.
"I seemed to be in Feilengcui. That night I remember seeing the blazing fire here, and I even called out to my friends." Samuel smiled helplessly, "We thought it was some grand festival.
I’m asking if I want to take a look secretly.”
"Then what?"
Hearing what Samuel said, Anthony couldn't help but laugh. That night, the Cathedral of Saint-Naro was the closest place to hell.
"Then...then the soldiers poured into the streets..."
The distant memories were awakened, and Samuel trembled slightly for a moment. This strange and familiar feeling felt as if what he had just recalled was someone else's memory.
His tone was a little panicked for some reason, and it took so long.
"We were talking and discussing what happened. These soldiers were different from the soldiers we usually see. They were well-equipped and held sharp swords... I found out later that they were Templar Knights."
"Have you never met a Templar before?"
"No," Samuel's eyes were a little dim, "Our family is very poor and lives in a very remote place, and I usually work in a laundry near the Tiber River. It's very hard and I rarely have the opportunity to see them.
Even though they were protecting the cardinals as they traveled, the street was blocked by a heavy crowd. I tried to jump up, but I couldn't jump high enough."
"You have jumped high enough now." Anthony said.
Hearing this, Samuel smiled and continued talking.
"Seeing them in armor... it's so beautiful.
I had this idea at that time, I wanted to become a member of the Templar Knights, and you know what happened next. I participated in the military conscription. It was the only unrestricted conscription that allowed me to become a member of the Templar Knights.
Chance."
"After Advent Night, the Evangelical Church was greatly damaged, not only by the demon hunters, but also by the Templars. We are in urgent need of fresh blood." Anthony thought of that conscription.
"Where are your parents?" he asked again.
"They are all still alive. They were very happy after I became a Templar," Samuel said. "They are devout believers. I have never seen them so happy."
"I bought a small house on the bank of the Tiber River, and they are living there. From the balcony on the second floor, you can see the river bank where we used to work."
"Where are your friends?"
"They made the same wish as me. Fortunately, we all became a member of the Templar Knights..." At this point, Samuel paused, "It's a pity that those guys couldn't hold on.
Pass the test of secret blood."
The two of them were silent, as if they were mourning for those who died. The dim sun in the distance was gradually setting, but there was no sign of darkness in the seven hills shrouded in light. More and more candles were shining, making this place
The city was dragged into the sea of candles.
"Want to hear about my night?"
Anthony picked up the crooked cigarette and squeezed it hard with his hand to make it look better.
Light it up, take a breath, and a faint white mist rises, covering the two of them.
Anthony felt a numbness, and the anesthetic effect of the tobacco made him feel as if he was drinking alcohol, which made him feel much better.
"My experience is better than yours, a lot better to be precise," Anthony said with a smile, and the huge scar on his cheek twisted like a snake. "I was born in a wealthy family, and my family is full of people.
As a devout believer, it can be said that the so-called faith has been engraved in my soul since I was born."
"I did not live up to my parents' expectations. I joined the Knights Templar after graduating from the seminary. Everything was going well until that night."
Anthony repeated.
"That night……"
"I was stationed at my post at the time, and then I suddenly received news...Secret Order No. 13, the Knights Templar will launch an encirclement and suppression of the Saint-Naro Cathedral to hunt down all demons and demon hunters."
There is a scarlet breath in the words. This is the night of Anthony's coming. It is obviously the same night, but everyone's night is so different.
"Then there is nothing too twisty in the plot. We switched to the holy silver bullet that suppresses demons. This thing is very precious. It was the first time I saw it at the time, but in fact it is no different from ordinary bullets.
The first thing that appeared in the field of vision was the demons, but they were quite easy to deal with. They didn’t even need holy silver bullets. Ordinary live bullets could kill them... In fact, from that time on, I realized that these holy silver bullets were
Who are you going to deal with?
We first sealed off the Seven Hills, and then advanced towards the Saint-Naro Cathedral. As we got closer, the erosion became more intense, and some knights began to show signs of alienation. We chose to stay in a safe area and hunt all the guys who escaped.
"
Anthony's face was expressionless, as if what he was telling was another person's memory and had nothing to do with him.
"In fact, not many demons escaped after that. Even if some demons did escape, they were all injured and could be killed easily.
Then the witchers appeared. They were caught off guard by us. They probably didn't expect us to shoot at them. I was very scared at the time. We knew about the existence of the witchers and how powerful they were, so we were ready to do damage.
More than halfway ready.
However, those demon hunters are not very strong. They all look weak. Some of them are covered with wounds like demons, and some of them have begun to mutate. We fired holy silver bullets in volleys, and the bounds were triggered.
Silver Bolt...
Logically speaking, the battle should be easy, but in fact we couldn't stop them at all. They were confused first, and then angry.
Only then did I clearly understand how powerful the demon hunters are. No matter how they decline, they will still be demon hunters after all.
They killed most of the Templars with ease, leaving bodies piled in the streets and rivers of blood."
The same confusion in his memory also appeared on Anthony's face, while Samuel on the side had a stiff face, not knowing what to say.
"I was lucky enough to survive. I and the other survivors retreated to the city gate, and more holy silver bullets were fired... and then we piled them with human lives, and we piled them all to death.
In fact, I'm not sure whether these are counted as those we killed, because every dead demon hunter had silver blood pouring out of their wounds, and the silver blood quickly solidified, killing them.
The corpses were shaped into statues and stayed there forever. Speaking of which, we spent a lot of effort to dispose of those corpses."
Anthony said as he touched his cheek and brushed the hideous scar.
"Then there was him.
It was a demon hunter named Michael, and his body was burning with blazing fire. The light was so strong that we could not see his appearance clearly. We could only shoot in the direction of the light, and kept shooting, using the Holy Spirit.
Silver and human life come to stop his progress."
Listening to Anthony's words, Samuel almost held his breath.
Probably Anthony didn't notice that there was an expression on his face that Samuel had never seen before.
In most people's impressions, Anthony has always looked cold, just like the new pope, with his face covered by a cold mask, as if nothing could break his heart.
But now Anthony's eyes have never been more confused, like a lost lamb, waiting for the light to turn on.
"We failed to stop him, and he finally broke through the defense line. He easily melted a big hole in the iron gate, and he escaped with several injured demon hunters.
But this guy didn't escape far. He knew very well that in their current state, they couldn't escape far. This guy turned back and forced us into the city. The wall that was supposed to besiege them has now imprisoned us."
Anthony's words stopped and he did not continue. He seemed to be meditating and recalling. After a long time, he continued.
"Anyway, he's still dead.
The flames on his body were getting weaker and weaker, and it was difficult to continue to melt the holy silver bullets shot at him. Then came the falling spears, some of which penetrated him, and some of which were nailed to the ground. The Templar Knights were also killed.
Guts, many people started screaming, but I am different, I have devout faith, I will not be afraid, I will dedicate everything to God."
Anthony raised his right hand, and saw several wounds gradually opening on his skin, with gray and black stains all over it, and he was holding a spear tightly.
"That's how it was then..."
Anthony looked at the illusory figure in front of him. After so long, his memory was still so clear.
"I grasped the spear with this hand, rushed towards him, and killed him with one blow. I penetrated his heart, but he also fought back and threw the red-hot broken sword.
The broken sword was supposed to split my head, but he missed it and only cut half of my face open.
Think about it, he has been fighting for so long and killed so many people, and he is very tired, so there is nothing wrong with making some mistakes."
The cigarette burned out and burned Anthony's fingers, but he didn't care, he just watched the bright sparks burning his skin.
"After the flames went out, we saw his appearance clearly. We found that even without us, this guy probably wouldn't live long. A hole was cut open in his stomach. There were no internal organs in it, only a black piece.
With the silver blood constantly flowing out, he stimulated power and accelerated the melting of the silver bolt.
I also roughly know why he lost it. He only had one left arm, and his right arm may have been lost in the Cathedral of Saint-Naro. If he was left-handed, I probably wouldn't have survived."
Throw away the spark in your hand and watch it burn to ashes.
"Even in this state, he has killed so many people. It is hard to imagine what he went through in the Saint-Naro Cathedral, and it is also hard to imagine what the powerful enemies he fought with looked like."
Anthony said indifferently.
"This was my night. Since then, I have been promoted. This is probably the reason why I gave Michael the final blow, but I know very well that he was not killed by me."
In the illusory memory, the burning figure gradually dimmed, fell into the silver blood, and fell into eternal solidification.
"Then I kept thinking, what exactly killed Michael? I'm afraid he couldn't tell clearly."
Samuel didn't respond. He just stood aside blankly, thinking about many words in his mind, but looking at Anthony's confused look, it was difficult for him to speak.
Anthony smiled again, put on the mask of hypocrisy, and ended the conversation.