The Divine Armor of the Old Century（Book 1）

Chapter 132

The Scavengers had arrived, clad in heavy hazmat suits, their breathing audible through gas masks. They worked tirelessly, rotating every few minutes due to the lack of specialized equipment. Occasionally, alarms would blare, and unconscious personnel would be carried out by their colleagues. A faint mist permeated the air, a vaporized neutralizing agent. Though it couldn't combat the insidious corruption, it offered a small comfort.

Ordinary humans were powerless against the corruption, yet they had managed to eke out a fragile advantage in their war against the demons. The eerie shrieks of monsters echoed intermittently—some of their eggs hadn't fully hatched. The Scavengers roughly cracked open the hard shells, dragging out mucus-covered demons that resembled malformed fetuses. Their bodies, twisted and hunched, bore unsettling human features, as if they were incomplete evolutions.

Thermite rifles ignited as soldiers stood watch, herding the demons into iron cages. The Perpetual Motion Pump had never encountered such creatures in their embryonic state and required samples.

"This place has been burned?" Lloyd sniffed the air, detecting the scent of ash.

Arthur responded, "There was a strange plant, resembling a demon but in herbaceous form. We discovered it during the fall of the catacombs. We didn't expect to find it here."

"It's Gastrisect Weed," Lloyd identified it from Arthur's description. "Father Lawrence's cultivation techniques are quite unusual. It's fortunate we discovered it in time; Gastrisect Weed spreading is far more troublesome than regular demons."

"Mr. Holmes, there's something we can't understand," Arthur pointed further ahead. "The Geiger counter readings indicate that this is the source of contamination in the cultivation ground, where the corruption is most intense."

Arthur gestured towards a shattered egg at the center of a ritualistic furnace, filled with ashes and cooled metal remnants.

"What is this?" Lloyd felt the overwhelming presence of corruption emanating from the furnace, like a vortex drawing everything into a deep, dark abyss.

Arthur, puzzled, observed, "I don't know what this is, but the metal residue in the furnace seems to be holy silver. Father Lawrence might have used it to forge holy silver. But why would it carry such a strong corruption if it's meant to destroy demons?"

Lloyd didn't respond. He approached the furnace, the pressure almost unbearable. The Scavengers had erected a caution tape around it, warning others of the lethal danger. Arthur didn't understand, but Lloyd did. Within him was the Silver Binding Pin, made of holy silver to seal his secret blood.

As Lloyd moved closer, the hallucinations intensified. The world twisted and cracked, accompanied by disorienting sounds. Suddenly, all noise ceased, and the world returned to normal. Standing across from the furnace was Watson.

"This thing is very dangerous," Watson peered into the furnace, where the holy silver glowed faintly.

Lloyd felt a strange sensation, the pressure vanishing or perhaps becoming imperceptible.

"Father Lawrence does have the knowledge to forge holy silver," Lloyd muttered, staring at the solidified metal.

"No, Lloyd, think again," Watson corrected, gently placing her hand on his chest. "Connect all the stories. Holy silver isn't that easy to forge."

Lloyd gazed into her ethereal eyes, momentarily lost.

"Is this a devil's gift?" he asked.

"I was once human, Lloyd. We were such good friends. Why would helping a friend need a reason?" Watson's eyes reflected his.

"No, you're dead, Watson. Now you're just a shell for some demon," Lloyd said, his grey-blue eyes filled with a chilling rationality.

"And how do you define the form of life? My body died, but my spirit lives on. Is that not a form of survival? My physical body burned away, yet I remain in your mind and memories. Perhaps I am just a figment of your imagination?"

Watson smiled, her voice tinged with wickedness. "Or maybe I am a fragment of your split personality?"

"Lloyd, you can't comprehend my existence. If you could, you wouldn't be so confused. The old fossils in the Gospel Church wouldn't be so crazed either," Watson's voice turned cold, staring into the furnace.

"Lloyd, I am the Church's mistake. You opened Pandora's box. You saw me as a Holy Grail, but I was just a false grail, wasn't I?"

Something within Lloyd snapped, his gaze becoming dangerously sharp. He looked at the furnace and then back at Watson, his voice trembling.

"It's it..."

"Yes, you've guessed right," Watson praised. "The detective hasn't wasted his talents. Smarter than before."

"The Messiah-class containment refers to those highly corrosive, hard-to-kill demons the Gospel Church once called calamities," Watson whispered. "The Church found ways to kill them eventually, didn't they? Like a lobotomy, they sealed every possible spread, trapping them forever."

"This is the last calamity, the final demon, the only Holy Grail, Mr. Lloyd Holmes," she continued. "I am a counterfeit, but they are emerging from their forgotten graves."

The eerie voice lingered, then everything vanished. Lloyd stood behind Arthur's wheelchair, separated from the furnace by the yellow caution tape. Cold sweat dripped from his nose as he released the chair's handle, clenching his fists.

It had all been an illusion since he first saw the furnace, Watson's words echoing like a curse, disturbing his mind.

"You don't look well, Mr. Holmes," Arthur observed, concerned.

"I think I understand now," Lloyd replied wearily. Watson's words had confirmed his suspicions, leading to a chilling conclusion.

"These holy silver pieces weren't forged by Father Lawrence. I should have realized it sooner. He carried the Gospel Church's accumulated holy silver for centuries. It wouldn't take much to disguise this place."

Lloyd gazed at the vast cultivation ground. Father Lawrence had strategically placed holy silver to contain the corruption, minimizing external contamination to evade purification.

"What do you mean?" Arthur felt a creeping unease.

"Arthur, remember the Sacred Coffin? That Messiah-class containment held the most toxic demon, impossible to kill but containable. The Church collected and sealed many such demons over centuries," Lloyd explained.

"You mean..." Arthur felt a chill, the secret inches away from him.

"The Sacred Coffin, made entirely of holy silver, contained the last demon. The Church's only unhandled Messiah-class containment, codenamed Holy Grail, triggered the Night of the Holy Descent."

Lloyd approached the furnace, the abyss beckoning with unseen hands. He imagined the scene, flames consuming the Sacred Coffin, holy silver melting away, revealing the unspeakable form within, twisted and eager to embrace the world.

"Father Lawrence melted the Sacred Coffin, releasing that damned thing..." Lloyd's voice was hollow, as if seeing the horror unfold, a hand emerging from the furnace's flames.

So what are you trying to achieve, Father Lawrence? Once a demon hunter, now releasing the very horrors he fought against.