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The warm gray snow drifted with the wind), the plague doctor stretched out his hand and gently caught the fleeting ashes, it fell in the palm of his hand, and the gentle friction dissipated into dust and disappeared into the air.

This is the end of an era and the arrival of a new era.

The surging white flames were still clearly visible even from such a distance, and the pitch-black bones seemed to be struggling, swaying slightly in the white flames, and a faint wail came from the ears.

"It looks like it's all over. ”

The plague doctor lowered his head and looked at the small boat that was swallowed by the waves, the sea was angry, if it wasn't for this steamship to save him, then he should have slept under the sea with the iron coffin at this moment.

Beneath the dark blue sea there are still the faces of the demons, in essence they are still living creatures, and these incomplete alienated demons are completely restrained by the waves, sinking little by little, dying at the bottom of the sea.

"It's not the end, it's just a new beginning. ”

The man approached in a dark yellow raincoat, and the ship swayed violently in the rough seas, but he kept his delicate balance as if he were walking on the ground, and dragged the heavy iron coffin on the deck with a rope in his hand.

"You look like you're at a loss, that's probably your last demon, it's not an easy job to make such a large number. ”

The plague doctor turned his head to the man and said, these demons were all released by men, if it weren't for the demons' obstruction, the steamship would not have been able to travel such a long distance to avoid the search for the Dawn, that is, the giant eye suspended in the sky, and there was no chance to escape in the unobstructed sea.

"What is lost is only a little bit compared to what is gained. ”

The man chuckled, and an unimaginable force erupted under his body, and the iron coffin that the ascetics carried with all their strength was extremely light in his hands, dragging directly between him and the plague doctor, and with the wind coming, the rags that covered it were gone with the wind, and the mottled and ancient body was directly exposed in front of the eyes of the two of them.

"Whew...... It feels really bad. ”

The plague doctor took a deep breath, his voice tinged with exhaustion and pressure, and he shifted his gaze to the other side, trying to avoid looking directly at him as much as possible.

"You still don't seem to be able to adapt to it, but it's actually very well-behaved, and as long as you have a little bit of honey, you'll be obedient. ”

The man gently stroked the uneven surface, the coldness of metal poured into his body, and everything psychedelic began to appear in front of his eyes.

Memories and hallucinations and strange murmurs swept through his brain, but as if he was not affected, he calmly raised his hand, drew his blade and cut a fatal wound on his wrist, blood pouring into it.

Blood moved along the cracks of the iron coffin, like a picture scroll, filling every vein, and finally constructing an eerie appearance on the ancient metal surface.

The plague doctor saw all this in the afterglow of his eyes, and the strange feeling that had eroded his reason disappeared, but something even stranger appeared, a tooth-aching beating sound, as if snakes were intertwined and rubbing fine scales against each other, and the blood seemed to be sucked up by an iron coffin, and not a drop of it flowed out.

It was like a creature, and the food it had just eaten had finally calmed it down.

"So that's how it's contained? Blood. ”

The plague doctor felt a little strange, as if he didn't expect such a strange thing to rely only on blood for food.

The man shook his head, covering the wound on his wrist and looking at it with some fascination.

"Feeding on the secret blood, of course, this kind of thing can only satisfy it for a moment, and it will become more and more greedy until it needs a cruel sacrifice. ”

"But it would be nice to make it quiet now, after all, the witcher is there, and I don't want anything out of here. ”

The plague doctor nodded slightly, and as he sucked the blood, the erosion of the iron coffin seemed to disappear for a short time, and it was like an ordinary coffin, quietly stagnating here.

"So, can I know what this thing is?"

After a long time, the plague doctor asked.

The man laughed.

"It's not good to know too much. ”

"But it's part of my pay, isn't it? I'm a doctor, I'm a scholar, and I have infinite knowledge. ”

"Even if you die for it?"

The plague doctor was silent for a moment, then nodded firmly.

"Of course. ”

A heavy voice came from under the mask of the bird's beak, and the plague doctor said slowly.

"That's a good ......"

The man stared at the darkness beneath the mask, and he said with some amusement.

"I like people like you, people with ideals. It's a great feeling that everyone is idealistic, and they are fearless even if they die for the sake of their ideals. ”

"So what the hell is it?"

The plague doctor asked again.

"I've been pursuing the essence of life all my life, and I've dissected a lot of demons even ...... In fact, in essence, demons are also a kind of living beings, but they are beyond ordinary people's understanding of the concept of living things.

I've been trying to figure out the nature of demons for so many years, but to no avail, it's you who said that this thing will help me break through research, and I hope you don't break your word. ”

The windbreaker squirmed strangely, raising one bulge after another on the surface of the fabric, and for a moment the plague doctor seemed to have lost his human form, or he was some kind of monster, hiding himself in heavy clothes, barely maintaining his human form,

The man nodded, and he replied.

"I've never broken my word, but before that you want to hear its story? There aren't many people in the world who know about its existence these days. ”

He let out a hoarse laugh, it was a bewilderment, an invitation from the devil, and the plague doctor knew very well some of the rules of these madmen, such as that when you know something, you have a connection with the strange darkness.

He nodded firmly, and the dusty story resurfaced.

"That was a long time ago, after the Crusade hundreds of years ago, we destroyed most of the heretics, ostensibly by the Templar Knights at war, secretly by the Demon Hunters in the decapitation operation, the kingdom and the army were no match for us, it was a moment of glory for the Church, and the whole Western world trembled under our feet. ”

Recalling that glorious moment, the man's eyes shimmered.

"After that, the so-called demons became extinct in the world, and the hunt continued for hundreds of years, until a few years ago, when we killed the last demon. ”

"The last demon?"

The plague doctor asked incredulously.

"Can this kind of thing really be wiped out?"

"Of course you can, just like ripples on calm water, those ripples are demons, but as long as the source is not destroyed, there will be endless demons. ”

"We caught the 'epicenter', the 'concept' of demons...... Stuff. ”

The man thought about it for a moment, and he realized that even after all this time, it was difficult for him to describe that strange existence in the words that humans had.

"The Church calls it the Holy Grail, but I'm more comfortable calling it a demon. ”

He said somewhat casually, and the steamship released a large amount of white mist, riding the wind and waves towards the end of the sea level.

"It was an epoch-making scene, and I'm glad I experienced it myself.

Its execution took place in the Cathedral of Sant'Narlo, in the Place of the Seven Mounds, where the coronation of each pope took place and where their bodies were buried.

The missionaries first bathed the demon with blessed holy water, sharp iron nails pierced its limbs, the holy orchestra sang loudly, and the organ was magnificent.

The execution had nearly exhausted the Church's stockpile of holy silver, which was essentially a metal that was highly poisonous to demons, but was only used as a plating due to the small amount of production.

But this time we bathed it in holy silver, and its body was melted into the boiling silver, and the most skilled blacksmith beat it around the silver ingot, and in its wailing made it into an iron coffin, and then inscribed on it one sentence after another in the prayer of the Pope. ”

Gently brushing over those carved marks that seemed to be words, I don't know what this iron coffin has experienced over the years, and those holy words have been blurred.

"This is the essence of the Sacred Coffin, which is the tomb of the 'concept' of demons. ”

It was a shocking secret, and for a moment the world lost its voice, and the plague doctor could only sense that something was approaching, and in the strange silence, he strangled his throat, and the blood was cold and coagulated, and the frost began to spread from the body, all the way to the heart and brain.

At this moment of life and death, the twisted blood-stained severed limb cracked, and the plague doctor covered his severed arm, gasping for breath.

"It's an entrance fee, and you know that some noble being always has to give a gift, doesn't it?"

The man slowly put away his nail sword, its shiny sword stained with blood.

The Plague Doctor's arm landed on top of the iron coffin, and then it seemed as if time was speeding up, and the blood dried up and left a gray-black mark, the blood and bones shrunk, and the remnants of the cloth completely dissipated into a small pile of dust in the following time.

"But I wish you could let me know in advance. ”

The plague doctor endured the severe pain and said, but the broken wound between his words began to wriggle strangely, first a white bone stretched out from it, and then the fine muscles connected it, covering it heavily, and the new arm appeared in an instant.

"In other words, this last demon is being placed in the iron coffin now?"

It was a terrible fact, and the thought of being with such a dangerous thing for so long gave the plague doctor a chill.

"Almost, but don't worry, all that's in there is now is its remains. ”

"Remains?"

"You can think of it as a corpse, but it's not dead yet, and it's usually hard to die, because to a certain extent, it represents the 'concept' of demons.

We don't know how many other things have such a thing, but they should all be extremely difficult to kill, just like light, and to destroy the concept of 'light' is not only to destroy everything in the world that can emit light, but even to say that there are literary songs, everything that can be associated with light. ”

The man said to the doctor.

"In order to understand this knowledge, we can get a pope for this...... Maybe more than one. ”

Taking a deep breath, the plague doctor wanted to keep a certain distance from this damn thing, but behind him was the sea, and there was nowhere to hide.

"Rest assured, it's still controllable now, after all, it's just a corpse, it can only rely on instinct, the trickiest part has escaped, it's very docile now. ”

"Escaped, you mean this thing is out of the church's grasp?"

The plague doctor realized his mistake halfway through his words, and even the remains were already in front of him, and it was inevitable that this thing would be out of the control of the church.

"Yes, humans still overestimate their own abilities, and we are not qualified to harness the power of this miracle. ”

The flicking hand touched a crack in the metal surface, and the gap was so small that it almost merged with the intricate lines, and if it hadn't been for the man who had seen how it had left, he might not have been able to find it.

"I have lost the trace of that thing since the night of Adventism, and the church has been greatly damaged by the vitality of the night of Advention, and even the recovery of the secret blood has not been completed after so many years, but thank it too, otherwise I would have been caught and executed by the church. ”

"Now no one knows where that thing fled...... Maybe it's in your consciousness right now. ”

The man smiled, but this really made the epidemic doctor unhappy.

"Yes, that's your reward. ”

It was five milliliters of blood, sealed in delicate quartz, like a thin red thread, and through the shimmer of light, the blood reflected it like a ruby.

"Five milliliters of the blood of the Holy Grail. ”

The plague doctor took the blood of the Holy Grail, his voice puzzled.

"So this thing is its blood?"

In the name of the Holy Grail, epidemic doctors have to pay attention to it.

"Yes, or maybe not, after all, that thing is very strange, it is an indescribable thing, the so-called blood is still a body, and it is only a manifestation of the incomprehensible thing, but it is certain that this is the purest secret blood in the history of the Church, infinitely close to purity. ”

It was a miracle in liquid form, and the plague doctor held back the excitement in his heart, but the man's voice sounded again.

"So what are you going to do after that? Now that one of the most precious things in the world is in your hands. ”

Putting away the blood of the Holy Grail, the plague doctor's voice calmed down again, and he said.

"Continuing my research, of course, I'm almost done with my book, thanks to your help, of course. ”

"Oh, what are you going to call it. ”

The man looked to the end of the sea level, and a glimmer of light rose, banishing the darkness and bringing warm hope.

It was dawn, and the desperate night was finally coming to an end.

"I haven't thought about it yet, my research is on humans and demons. There are too many weird things about demons, just like the stomach chewing grass and the illusion of nightmares, it is not just a strange power, it has its own 'species'.

And one of the special human beings, afraid of the sea, evolved gills, unable to fly, grow membranous wings between the limbs, even if the limb is broken, it can quickly recover, no matter how bad the environment, as long as the pollution of demons is high enough, it can adapt and evolve. ”

The mask of the bird's beak looked at the man, and he said.

"Would you like to give me a name? for your good pay. ”

The man thought for a moment.

"Hmm...... Why don't you call it "The Theory of Evolution?"

The plague doctor was silent for a long time, and then said.

"Not bad. ”

A loud whistle sounded from afar, and the ship that greeted the man appeared at the end of the sea, and he carried the iron coffin, the heavy metal glistening in the morning light.

"Then the time of goodbye has come, and I hope we will have the opportunity to work together in the future. ”

The plague doctor nodded and said.

"Goodbye then, Mentor Lawrence. ”

Lawrence nodded, smiled kindly, and stepped into the morning light.

"You too, Mr. Charles Darwin, may we meet in the hell of sinners. ”