The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

"Dumb—dumb—"

Two crows fluttered through the low sky, leaving a series of hoarse and rough cries in their wake.

Klosten’s Cathedral of Destiny is where Nicholas talked to Luca Kaslana and Otto two nights ago. There is a wide square in front of the church. It is said that thousands of years ago, the castle council The system is not perfect. When Tianming makes major decisions, he often calls on all the citizens of Klosten to vote in this square. But now, it has become a customary place of execution.

Of course, not everyone is qualified to be tortured here. Generally speaking, only the most vicious gangsters, witches and the like are qualified to die at the gate of heaven.

Ironically, less than a hundred meters behind the execution ground is the so-called heaven on earth, the place where gods live and move in the world. The Lord should have sprinkled the gospel and holy light on the world here, rained down milk and honey, and let the trees bear fruit like bread...

But now, people have erected a huge gallows here, and the knights have formed a human wall side by side. The spear tips in their hands reflect the hot sunlight. There is a circle of unnamed large trees on the edge of the square, but I don’t know who it is. It's not that the season is wrong, it's so bare that there isn't a single leaf.

It will take some time for the gallows to be completely completed. It rained last night, and there was still a damp and unpleasant earthy smell in the air. The laborers carrying the wooden stakes walked up and down the square, and the hollow floor tiles followed them. The square was filled with dirty and smelly puddles, spitting water out with each step.

"Get out of the way! Why don't you let us in!"

When Eleanor, dressed in regular clothes and empty-handed, came to the square with two Valkyries, she was immediately stopped by the vigilant knights.

"Captain Eleanor, please don't make it difficult for us. According to the order of the Lord Bishop, except for a few Valkyries who are performing tasks outside, the rest of the Valkyries have a collective day off today. You should rest at home now!"

"Tsk!"

Eleanor smacked her lips, her chest rose and fell rapidly, she exhaled several times, walked back and forth in front of the knight twice, and then gritted her teeth and asked:

"Who said you have to stay at home when you are on vacation? Of course I knew the order for vacation, so I did not carry any weapons or armor. I am not acting as the Valkyrie Eleanor now, but as an ordinary citizen Eleanor ·Standing here as Shaniyat, or as the current patriarch of the Shaniyat family? As the patriarch of the three major families of destiny, Shaniyat is not even qualified to be a spectator of this hanging. ?”

The knight captain touched the mask on his face and replied angrily:

"Captain Eleanor...Okay, okay, Miss Eleanor, please don't join in the fun? Let me be honest, do you really not know why the Bishop gave the Valkyrie troops a holiday?"

The answer is obvious. Although the Valkyrie troops have proven by their actions that they are not willing to stand on Kallen's side to fight against Destiny, as a team that Kallen once led, Destiny still cannot completely trust them. The same is true for Bishop Kras and the Castle Council.

Kallen's willingness to die rather than surrender caught Bishop Nicholas a little off guard, but it didn't matter. All he needed was to control the Kaslana family. Luca had already offered his surrender on Kaslana's behalf, so would Kallen be willing to fulfill it? The engagement became a pawn for him to control Kaslana, so it was no longer necessary.

As for the Castle Council? As Nicholas said, all they want is the power in the hands of Kaslana. Kallen and the Kaslana family themselves are an obstacle to them, so it is better to get rid of them all.

Karen Kaslana must die. Since this is the only common wish of both parties in the conflict, there must be no room for error in this matter.

Therefore, Valkyrie is nominally taking a day off, but if she is conscious enough, it is better to stay at home and take the initiative to be placed under house arrest.

Eleanor was not an idiot. She got up early in the morning and knocked on the doors of the Valkyries, but there were only two Valkyries with a little Shaniyat blood who were willing to let her cause trouble.

Unsurprisingly, they couldn't even enter the venue.

The knight captain sighed. As an ordinary person, he was reluctant to offend the Valkyrie, but he had to obey the orders of destiny. Instead, he became a sandwich, caught in a dilemma.

"Miss Eleanor, I beg you, don't make it difficult for us! Besides, it doesn't matter whether you can get in or not? Are you trying to rob the execution ground?"

Eleanor's thin lips pursed into a straight line, and she quickly shook her head, "I just...wanted to say goodbye to my friend."

"Well……"

Even through the mask, Eleanor still felt the corners of the knight's mouth twitching in front of her.

"Miss Eleanor, please stop joking. Who doesn't know that you and Karen are in the same boat..."

After the knight said this, he couldn't help but pat his cheek - yes, everyone knows that Eleanor and Kallen have a bad relationship, so why does the bishop do this? Oh, women's friendship is so complicated.

When he raised his head again, Eleanor had turned around and left with the two Valkyries, leaving only one sentence:

"It's boring!"

The knight captain scratched his head through his helmet, and then he realized - did he offend the Valkyrie just now?

There was really nothing he could do. If he let them in, he would be offending fate, and he had no choice.

But this still affected his mood after all, so that when a tall white-haired man walked up to him, he just glanced casually and saw that the man didn't bring any weapons, so he turned sideways and let him in.

"Hey! Old Turtledove, although your ability is weird, it is really useful! Even though you are far away, I can tell you what I am thinking in my mind... Are there any other ways to use it? For example, let someone The person who originally hated you fell in love with you in an instant... No! Tell me the truth, have you done this a long time ago?"

"Miss Eleanor, you promised me not to use the derogatory name of Old Turtle Dove."

"Did I promise?"

"You promised."

"But you haven't told me your name, right? If I don't call you Old Turtle Dove, what can I call you?"

"Didn't I tell you your name?"

"Why are you asking me, I don't know!"

"...Miss Eleanor, we are face to face now, we can talk directly..."

"Huh? What, are you afraid of being laughed at by your comrades?"

Listening to the noise in the mental communication network established by Su, Kevin snorted coldly at first, but then a strange feeling filled his heart.

He chewed it carefully and realized that it was a heartfelt joy.

The relationship between people is neither simple nor complex. He and Su were best friends once, and they were still the same now. As for some differences that could not be ignored, they were just differences. After they calmed down, they would not affect their relationship.

So, if there really is a girl who can pester Su all day long and call him Old Turtle Dove...

The corners of Kevin's mouth turned upward, just for a moment, and then lowered in an instant.

Because that was impossible. Compared to parting with life and death decades later, it might be a wiser choice to let everything stay at the stage where it had not yet begun. He believed that Su also understood this.

However, today's main goal is not this, and Su doesn't need him to talk.

Kevin squeezed forward bit by bit. Even though he was much taller than people of this era, there were so many people in the square that he seemed to be stuck in a swamp. No matter how hard he struggled, he only moved forward a little bit. .

If he really wanted to squeeze in, there was no way out. He just needed to stop restraining himself and let the cold air in his body escape, which would be enough to make the people around him stay away from him quickly. But there is no need to do that. It was Eleanor's suggestion to sneak in here. For him, it doesn't matter if it is further away, even in Vienna or further away. He can catch up, just like other people. Alone, she...

Kevin turned his head and his gaze shot out like arrows, landing on an ordinary roof thousands of meters away. Eight figures stood loosely on the roof.

It stands to reason that this matter involves both destiny and Kaslana. It is more or less Kevin's own family matter and should not be allowed to be interfered with by others. But for some reason, he always has a bad premonition, as if things are not going well. It's not that simple...

To be on the safe side, he still called Hua, who happened to be convinced by him. After defeating the Judgment-level Honkaimon in Australia, he followed him to Europe.

"hehe……"

Kevin suddenly sneered twice and stopped in his tracks, then the words of the citizens around him reached his ears without any hesitation:

"Hey! Why are there so many people today? There weren't so many people when we executed witches before, right? It seems like half the city is here."

"Hush! Can a witch compare to this one? This is the daughter of the Kaslana family! Just tell me, we have lived half our lives, when will we have the opportunity to see a nobleman executed? Or a member of the Kaslana family, or a Girl! She is still the captain of the Valkyrie Force!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! It's true, this kind of opportunity comes only once in a hundred years... But what did she commit? A nobleman was actually sentenced to death by hanging. Normally, aren't nobles under house arrest? Even if they are to be executed, they will be executed. Give me a drink of poison secretly?"

A group of people gathered together and chewed their tongues. It seemed that they had not experienced the previous things. Suddenly an old man in front turned around and interrupted:

"That's different! Don't you know what happened a few days ago?"

"What happened? I really don't know."

"Speak quickly, speak quickly! Don't show off!"

"Hey! That day in the square in the XC district, this girl suddenly borrowed the stage where someone was performing and said she wanted to talk to everyone. No one wanted to talk to her at first, but when they saw it, she was a good guy with a sack on her shoulders. , wearing a mask on her head, but wearing the uniform of a Valkyrie, with the Kaslana family crest on the collar, I was confused, I didn’t know which song she was going to sing.”

"No, old man, can you speak quickly! Don't talk about these useless things!"

"Oops! I know you're in a hurry, but don't be in a hurry! When telling a story, you have to explain the causes and consequences clearly, right?"

"Then you should speak faster! The gallows has been set up! The nun will come out soon to read out the charges. Who will listen to you!"

"That's right!"

"Tsk! Anyway, that girl is quite innocent. She said a lot of things, all of which were about indulgences..."

"Good scolding! So what did she scold?"

I was about to say something simple, but as soon as I got up, I was questioned. The old man was also very helpless:

"I forgot, it's been so many days, who still remembers it! Anyway... I thought what she said was quite reasonable at the time, but to put it bluntly, didn't she just want to call on everyone to boycott indulgences?"

Probably after hearing the argument here, more people joined the discussion:

"Just listen to that. If you don't buy the indulgence, the knight won't knock on Kaslana's door! But this girl is crazy enough. She actually robbed the indulgence salesman and gave the money It was thrown everywhere. Unfortunately, the knights came too quickly and ran away before I could pick it up. I really took advantage of the knights. "

"Then this girl is quite pitiful."

"Pity? What's so pitiful? The Kaslana family has enjoyed prosperity and wealth for thousands of years, where did the money come from? Wake up! Everyone is here to have fun, and they still sympathize with the nobles, bah! Isn’t that just the leek’s sympathy for the sickle?”

"Although I always feel that something is not quite right, you seem to be right."

"Shh! It's started, it's started!"

A nun in black robes was seen standing on the execution platform. The upper half of her face was covered with a crow-winged eyepatch, which made people wonder if she could not see anything at all.

"Next, read out the charges against Kallen, the former captain of the Valkyrie Force..."

"snort……"

Kevin crossed his arms, snorted softly, and stopped listening.

He had already learned what happened from Eleanor and Su, so he couldn't understand it. Maybe Kallen Kaslana's behavior seemed childish to him, but whether it was as a Valkyrie day or night and Beng The fight between bad beasts, or the resolute criticism of destiny in public not long ago, isn't it essentially that the people in front of them can live a better life?

Why do these people come here with the mentality of watching a show instead of speaking rudely?

Yes, he thought that the crowd here was because everyone came to say goodbye to her, but he didn't expect that everyone just thought it was fun to execute a noble, so they came to watch the fun.

It’s hard not to understand, and it’s hard not to feel chilling. But at the same time, Kevin was not surprised.

What's so surprising? He really doesn't understand it, but it's not like he hasn't experienced it before.

Precisely because he has experienced it, he does not want to understand, let alone expect Puo to understand him and them in turn.

Anyway, people are always responsible for their own choices. Fifty thousand years ago, humans made what they thought was the right choice at the cost of their own lives.

Now, of course, these people can do this, just be silent bystanders, laughing at Kallen's naivety and her vulnerability. What's the price? Whatever it is, it is due to their own decision.

It is precisely because of this, and precisely because humans are like this, that Kevin believes more in the Stigma Project...

"The charges have been read out, and here comes..."

"Dumb—dumb—dumb—"

The sudden cry of crows interrupted the nun's reading. The two crows went away and came back again, followed closely by a flock of crows that almost covered the entire sky. The rough crows made people's ears hurt. , the surrounding light and shadow dimmed with the arrival of the crows. People had never seen such a scene before. They held their breath and looked around, their nervousness palpable.

Kevin also raised his head consciously and saw hundreds of crows circling repeatedly in the air. After about ten minutes, the crows seemed to have reached an agreement and separated into countless teams from the seemingly chaotic formation. , some fell on the surrounding roofs, looking coldly at the frightened crowd at their feet with dark and chaotic pupils, and more fell on the bare branches around the square, hanging so full that the slender branches were all It drooped under the weight.

Under the nearly dark light and shadow, the crows hanging on the branches looked like clusters of leaves, making the scene even more depressing and heavy.

Almost dark?

Only then did people react and looked up again, only to see that the sun that was originally in the sky was only a thin golden halo, and the center part was strangely plunged into darkness.

"Eclipse!"

"The Star Demon swallows the sun!"

The crowd became commotion, surging back and forth like waves under a storm, but no matter forward or backward, there were knights as a human wall to maintain order. The commotion did not last long, and destiny soon came to the knights. Here comes the torch.

The flames re-illuminated everything around them, and the nun responsible for reading out Karen's crime stood on the execution platform from beginning to end, without any movement, like a clay sculpture.

At this moment she finally spoke again:

“God’s maid, bring the criminals forward and prepare to receive the Lord’s judgment!”

"Wow——"

Accompanied by the sound of the chain sliding, from the direction of the church, Kallen, dressed in a plain white Valkyrie uniform, was walked forward sandwiched by two nuns all in black.

Kallen had just been given a bowl of decoction, which was stronger than what she had taken a few days ago. Not only was the Honkai Impact now unusable, but her limbs had also become limp, and her strength was not as strong as that of an ordinary person.

She walked forward step by step. The wooden shackles she was holding on her hands and the shackles she was dragging on her feet were extremely heavy. Every step she took required all her strength.

Sandwiched between two nuns, she took an even path, getting closer and closer to the gallows.

"Wow——"

Unable to escape, she stepped into the pond, and the splash of sewage stained her snow-white boots and skirt black.

Finally, she walked to the execution platform, raised her head slightly, and looked into the eyes of the silent crowd.

The torches in the hands of the knights swayed gently in the breeze. With this light, her eyes quickly swept over the heads that towered like stacked mountains, and then, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly for some unknown reason.

"pity……"

It was a pity that she didn't see a familiar figure in the crowd, but that was fine. Otto had always regarded her as a hero, although she knew very well that she was not, but she did not want to suffer such a humiliating death in front of Otto.

The nun unshackled her feet, not because she wanted her to die with dignity, but because she was afraid that the hanging rope would be torn off by the heavy shackles.

Then, one of the two nuns pulled her, and the other put the knot on her head accurately and adjusted the size.

"Prepare for execution!"

Several nuns stood aside, and one of them reached out to hold the mechanism beside the gallows.