[Lawrence, you have finally reached the end of the prophecy.]
【You are going to die.】
【How sad.】
Perhaps due to excessive blood loss, Lawrence's already broken consciousness became heavier and heavier, and weird and sinister voices kept ringing, as if there was an invisible devil lingering beside him, claiming his soul.
soul……
Thinking of this, Lawrence had an ugly smile on his face.
Does he really still have that noble soul? He can't remember the specific time, but he knows that that precious thing has been abandoned by him long ago to find a way forward and fill the cornerstone of the abyss.
As a believer, he is not qualified to ascend to the kingdom of heaven, and he has already been prepared for such an outcome.
Soon those whispers also continued to fade and dissipate. They were fading away. The world began to become silent. Chaotic hallucinations appeared in front of his eyes. Lawrence could see pairs of big bloody hands stretching out from the pool of blood under him.
He came out, grabbed himself, and tried to drag himself bit by bit into the pool of blood, the depths of hell.
Lawrence was absent-minded for a while, and he had already been prepared in his heart, but when such an ending actually came, he still couldn't help but feel a little ridiculous.
The new Pope...the Unspeakable is right.
Lawrence himself was an apostate, but after that, he found a pillar of faith for himself.
prophecy.
The prophecy enabled Lawrence to overcome many obstacles and made him invincible. It became the sharpest spear in Lawrence's hand and the heaviest shackles, binding Lawrence tightly.
Every time he crawls out of death, every time he comes back to life, the "curse" of the prophecy is deepened. Until now, the prophecy has really come true. He will no longer have the power to resist, and is just ridiculously dragged into
The abyss of hell.
"How ironic..."
Lawrence laughed at himself. Only now did he suddenly wake up. He was so mocking the nihilistic faith, but in the end, he became a devout fanatic and a slave to fate.
The heads of the dead protruded from the sea of blood, bearing familiar faces one after another. Lawrence vaguely remembered these faces. They were the people who died because of him. The fragments of memories were stacked in the corners of his [gap].
, now as they near death, they burst out together.
Nibbling, scratching, screaming, and calling names together.
【Lawrence! How should you repay your debt!】
The body was crushed bit by bit by bloody hands. Lawrence stretched out his hand and tried to resist, but the power of breaking steel and cracking stone was no longer available. He was as fragile as an old mortal and was dragged into the bloody water.
A large amount of blood poured into his mouth and nose. He was in an unprecedented state of embarrassment. He struggled hard and raised his hands high, like a drowned traveler.
This feeble struggle ended quickly. He was dragged into the thick blood. Looking towards the bottom of the water, a scarlet world came into view. Countless dead people were crawling on the ground, as numerous as a sea of sand.
.
The sand accumulated in piles and shaped into tall towers.
The scarlet figures were superimposed on top of each other, thousands of them, innumerable. One layer supported the other, turning into a towering tower of Babel. They just climbed up from the bottom of the water and caught Lawrence.
Excited gasps could be heard. The dead were eager for Lawrence's flesh and blood. They were scrambling for the first place. The tower kept shaking, but it did not collapse. The figures on it kept falling, but soon new dead people filled it.
There is a vacancy.
【Lawrence!】
They called out, tasting Lawrence's flesh and blood, and the intense pain was superimposed. Lawrence did not feel numb, but felt more clear and real torture.
But he didn't wail, he just kept an indifferent face, and memories of the past kept flashing back in front of his eyes.
Lawrence had heard rumors that when people die, they quickly look back on their lives.
He has struggled between life and death many times, but he has never witnessed his own memories. He thought this rumor was false, but now it seems that it may be true, but his previous deaths all have the effect of returning.
moment, but this time he exhausted all his body and his consciousness was exhausted.
What awaits Lawrence is "real" death.
He has reached the end of the prophecy and ushered in his own death. Therefore, Lawrence no longer resists and waits for the darkness to come.
Gradually, the swaying palms like seaweed engulfed Lawrence, and he disappeared as if he had merged with the scarlet tower. In the scarlet world, only the greedy and excited breathing was left, and the inside of the tower
There was a dense, small sound, like the sound of insects gnawing.
His vision fell into endless darkness, and the pain in his body suddenly disappeared. Lawrence only felt that he was falling continuously. This fall might last for a few seconds, or it might last for many years, until at a certain moment, he finally hit the bottom.
When he regained consciousness, he looked at the wooden floor under his feet, with dust accumulated in the gaps. When he raised his head, the scarlet world was no longer, replaced by endless darkness, and a light fell from the top, illuminating Lawrence.
"what happened?"
He turned around in a circle, muttering to himself, wanting to say something, but his memory seemed to be missing. He couldn't remember how he came here, nor what he was going to do now.
But in the next second, more lights fell, coming from all directions, all focused on Lawrence. The endless darkness began to clear up, and with the brightness of his field of vision, Lawrence could clearly see the surrounding environment.
Like a concave spiral, he was in the center of the spiral, surrounded by countless seats, which were connected together to form an endless auditorium.
This was a grand performance. Lawrence could see that the auditorium was full of people, but if he looked carefully, he could only see gray outlines one after another, unable to see their faces clearly.
Lawrence was a little frightened and hesitant, and tried to take a few steps forward, the light following him closely.
On this empty stage, he is the only and only protagonist.
Thunderous applause.
Everyone clapped together, and the collective applause was like a rolling thundercloud, which shocked Lawrence so much that he did not dare to move. Then several more lights fell down, illuminating the seats closest to the stage, on which sat the guests who looked like guests.
characters, they all applauded Lawrence.
"What a great performance! Lawrence!"
Someone cheered, and Lawrence saw his appearance clearly. The man was wearing a gray coat, and his face was hidden under a beak mask. As he applauded, blood continued to seep out from under the mask, but Lawrence did not feel fear.
"continue!"
Someone echoed, it was Curley, this may be the greatest performance he has ever seen, he was so excited that he even shed tears.
As his eyes moved slowly, Lawrence saw more familiar faces, memories that had not yet been swallowed up by the darkness, but soon, as the lights moved away, these faces also fell into darkness.
Cheers rang out and the audience shouted.
"Lawrence!"
"Lawrence!"
"Lawrence!"
He stood there blankly, surrounded by cheers. Lawrence paused for a long time, a great sense of satisfaction filled his heart. He slowly opened his hands, with a smile on his face, and greeted the audience.
“Let’s bring this show to a close!”
There was a voice coming from the darkness. The owner of the voice seemed to be the director of this performance. Following his order, the cheers disappeared for a moment, and then the grand orchestral music sounded, and the melody was wrapped with swords, guns, swords and halberds, and came from the audience.
Chorus of hymns.
The red curtain behind him was slowly opened, revealing a long staircase that extended to the end of the darkness. Under the staircase was a raging fire, the white fire reaching into the sky, almost burning away the darkness.
No one gave Lawrence instructions, and even his own consciousness was hazy and unclear about the current situation, but with this magnificent accompaniment, he still took his legs and stepped onto the stairs.
This is a lonely, lonely, and extremely long journey.
Melody moves forward with Lawrence, and it seems that as long as he does not reach the end, everything will not stop.
Then comes the long climb up the stairs.
All Lawrence could see was the end of the stairs. He moved his legs mechanically, and as he moved forward, countless petals fell from the darkness.
This seemed to be the appreciation coming from the audience, who sang unknown hymns and sent flowers to Lawrence.
The petals brushed against Lawrence's body and fell into the sea of fire below. He could smell the fragrance among the pungent sulfur.
"It's so long..."
Lawrence muttered, he didn't know how long he had been moving forward, his sense of time was constantly being blurred, and as the march progressed, he gradually forgot even the purpose of why he was moving forward.
During the long journey, he began to think about other things, trying hard to look through his broken memories and find something to pass the time from that few words.
But soon, as we moved forward, these only memories collapsed little by little, and were eaten away by the evil ghosts hiding in our own consciousness.
I don't know how long it took, but Lawrence remembered some ancient legends. In that legend, there was a man pushing a boulder to the top of the mountain every day, but when he reached the top of the mountain, the boulder would roll back again. He repeated this endlessly.
In the cycle of reincarnation, I use up everything I have.
This is a boring story, a meaningless story, but Lawrence felt sad about it. He felt that he was somewhat similar to the people in the story, and he was also pushing the boulder.
I can no longer remember why I climbed up this long staircase, nor do I know what will be waiting for me after this long staircase.
He only felt tired and lonely. If possible, he would like to end it and get real sleep from this endless reincarnation.
"Are you...going to admit defeat?"
After many years, in the endless loneliness, another voice sounded. In an instant, Lawrence recognized the owner of the voice, and those lost memories were recovered.
It was him, the one who put him on the ladder, the one who completed this performance.
Looking forward with dull eyes, he could see a pair of feet standing on the steps in front of him. Lawrence tried to raise his head, but found that he had no strength to do this. He was too tired, and his body had never been heavier. Even
It takes a lot of effort to move your fingers.
By the end, Lawrence was even crawling on all fours on the steps.
"I've already lost, haven't I?"
Lawrence muttered to himself, recalling the memories from that endless time before, yes, that's right, he had lost, he was already dead.
"Really? If you believed in fate, you wouldn't be here at all, would you?"
The man asked rhetorically.
"You followed the path of fate and returned from death countless times. But wasn't the original purpose of all this to disobey it?"
Lawrence smiled, admitting that it did sound a bit strange.
In order to prevent the dark fate, he believed the prophecy and was driven by another fate to resist another fate. From beginning to end, he stood on the stage, like a puppet on strings, performing comically.
"Lawrence, do you really want to admit defeat?"
The voice asked again.
Lawrence was silent, reluctantly raised his head, saw the figure, and then laughed hoarsely.
"Let me just say, that bronze statue looks nothing like you."
His memory has long been blurred, and he can hardly remember the appearance of his old friend. Now on the edge of hell, seeing this familiar face again, Lawrence feels really good.
Then he complied with his fate, lowered his head, his hands slumped down, and his whole body was completely paralyzed on the long steps like a wild dog with its spine broken.
He was like a lunatic, muttering crazy words.
"Life is just a shadow. A poor person who is funny and clumsy on the stage appears for a moment and then quietly retreats. This is a story told by a fool. It is ridiculous, full of noise and restlessness, and has no meaning at all."
Suddenly, a light fell down and shone on the protagonist.
Lorenzo Medici shook his head in disappointment and stared at the decaying corpse. He was about to leave when he heard the sound of war drums beating under the corpse.
He heard the roar of wild beasts.
"Who would believe in such a thing as fate?"
Lawrence struggled like a crazy beast. He did not give up, but just needed a little time to rest. He stretched out his hand and scratched the steps, and his nails were broken and stained with blood.
"There is no destiny at all, there is only the reality that is called destiny."
He was suffocating with anger, like a demon who chooses people to eat.
"This is my great achievement, how could I let fate take the lead? This is mine, Lawrence's, and has nothing to do with fate or gods. This is my own and belongs only to me!"
He staggered to his feet, excited and full of rage, like a greedy and selfish devil who wanted to take all this for himself.
"There is no destiny, this is just the self-deception of poor people."
Lawrence tried to reach out to the old friend in front of him. Lorenzo Medici's figure began to disappear and turned into a deep corridor. At the end of the corridor hung an oil painting depicting Lawrence's death and the scarlet sea.
.
"What's more, I saw...Lorenzo Medici."
Lawrence's voice became softer, and he reached out his hand and took off the painting, revealing another painting underneath.
A sky, a golden sky.
…
"I saw."
Lawrence's vague voice began to become firm, tears filled his eyes, and he grasped the spear that penetrated his chest.
This unusual movement made the new pope tremble. He had no idea what was happening. In his mind, Lawrence, who was supposed to be dead with a weak breath, seemed to be grabbing the throat of the God of Death, forcing his life to continue, and he became a person again.
Got furious.
"I saw……"
With a ferocious expression, strength once again poured into the broken body. Lawrence used both hands to pull out the spear that penetrated from his chest bit by bit.
The plasma was pouring out, dyeing almost everything scarlet.
"This is far from the end of my destiny... I should die under that golden sky."
After the scarlet sea, at the end of this endless disaster, Lawrence has been unable to determine whether it is true or false, but in the false hallucination just now, looking back on his life, he saw it.
That golden sky is real and not Lawrence’s crazy imagination.
He laughed. He was driven by fate, but now he went against the will of fate. Lawrence roared, pulled out the spear, and thrust it out hard. Unfortunately, the new pope stretched out his hand and blocked it.
He was struck by the spear, and the sharp tip was pressed against the palm of his hand, unable to penetrate beneath it.
"The wild dog's counterattack? It's so embarrassing! Lawrence!"
The new pope mocked him with all his might, but Lawrence just laughed loudly.
"You have devoured so many humans, but your understanding of humans is still so simple?" The angry expression softened, and Lawrence said with relief, "Your understanding of 'body' is too narrow."
The new pope's body was split with a hundred scarlet eyes. They were keenly observing the surroundings, searching for the "body" that Lawrence said. It stands to reason that in the fight just now, he had indeed destroyed all of Lawrence's body. Could it be that he
What other trump cards are there?
Such thoughts were soon interrupted. The new pope could feel the stinging pain coming from the palm of his hand. In an instant, Lawrence's strength increased several times. The spear penetrated directly through the palm of his hand, broke his arm, and stabbed to the chest.
.
The new pope was cornered, and he let out a sharp scream. At the same time, countless branches were peeled off from his body and slapped on Lawrence's body.
But Lawrence just laughed and roared loudly.
"I will open the way to a new world for you!"
He allowed his body to be torn into pieces, and finally turned into pieces of flesh that dissipated all over the sky. Lawrence didn't care about this at all. The moment he lost his body, he started his final charge, roaring at the top of his lungs.
"go ahead!"
It was like a spell to wake up a demon. In the blood mist inspired by the broken flesh, the spear did not stop, but continued to thrust forward, and a sharp white light walked with it, splitting all obstacles.
"Although I really don't want to admit it, I guess the last body he is referring to should be me."
Lawrence's palm was broken, but he still held on to the spear tightly. It wasn't until his other hand held the spear that it reluctantly let go and fell into the darkness.
Like a baton, this alternation was repeated over the endless years, leading everything to this day.
Pierced through the palm and nailed into the heart, Lorenzo swung the nail sword and cut off the new pope's withered arm.
The blazing eyes were right in front of him, and it was only now that the new pope understood the reason for all this.
He was deceived, deceived by the cunning Lawrence. Lawrence had been using his body to trial and error and fight. He thought that destroying all his body would restrict his actions, but no one could have guessed that Lawrence
You yourself are also a part of trial and error.
He has been numbing himself with constant death, until this moment, the bloody corpse paved the way for Lorenzo to move forward.
Crazy sacrifice, just to hide this deadly blade, Lawrence had made such a plan from the beginning.
Lorenzo also used the cover of Lawrence's suicide attack to finally get close to the new pope.
This is something that the Unspeakables can never understand. Although they are independent individuals, they seem to be united as a whole, moving forward for a collective consciousness that does not exist.
The spear penetrated the heart and broke out from behind the withered body. The nail sword suddenly rolled up a blazing arc and slashed upward diagonally, splitting the new pope's body into two. At the same time, it seemed to be holding up
The big gray tree that had stagnated the temple also collapsed in response.
"Let's go to hell together!"
Lorenzo did not stop. He gripped the spear tightly, stained with Lawrence's blood, and pushed hard, pushing the new pope into the dark abyss behind him.
Finally...it's over.
Lorenzo was thinking this in his mind, but when he looked forward, he met a pair of completely dark eyes.
"I've got you...caught."
The new pope's voice was hoarse, and a shuddering laughter came from his throat.
Lorenzo's figure froze on the spot. He was only a fraction away from ending everything, but his consciousness kept sinking and falling in the whirlpool of the abyss.
At the end of the darkness, Lorenzo heard some strange sounds, like the crackling of a glacier and the slight sound of young shoots pushing through the soil.