"My name is Red Falcon."
Red Falcon turned his head and said, the eyes underneath the oil-painted red mask scrutinizing Pres. Pres knew this was just a code name, but he couldn't comprehend why the man before him would divulge this information.
"Take this and protect your colleagues."
It was a firearm identical to those used by the Forbidden Guard soldiers, heavy and unlike any weapon Pres had ever handled.
"Why... why me?"
Pres had many questions, such as why, with such a formidable Forbidden Guard around, he would be needed for protection, but all he could muster was this dry response.
"Hmm... maybe it's because you seem friendly, or perhaps I just can't stand your chief. Anyway, don't just stand there. If possible, I hope you can pretend you didn't see anything that happens next, okay?"
Red Falcon said, then remembered something and added.
"The 'out of control' might also happen among those mounted police. If possible, I need you to kill your colleague... or yourself when necessary."
"What... do you mean..."
Pres was bewildered, filled with even more questions, while the sacred prayer grew louder, the mysterious religious sensation enveloping every inch of this place.
"Knowing these things comes with a price; it's better if you don't know."
Red Falcon didn't want to elaborate, as if the conversation had been just a momentary whim.
As Red Falcon's words fell, events left no room for Pres to inquire further. A loud whistle sounded from afar.
By all accounts, there shouldn't be any steam trains now, yet it appeared, its radiant light cutting through the darkness at the fog's end.
That was speed in a rush, carrying the howling wind. Only when it passed before Pres did he catch a brief glimpse of the steam train.
Its black surface was loaded with heavy armor, far larger than any steam train Pres had ever seen. This was the true Iron Serpent, sweeping past the defenses with murderous intent, followed by more whistles roaring from the fog, like the cries of ten thousand galloping horses.
For a moment, Pres felt an odd illusion that these Forbidden Guard were not the stars of tonight, but rather those Iron Serpents, striding slowly from the darkness, were the true protagonists.
As they plunged into the darkness of the Lower City District, roaring cannon fire and flames descended, shaking the whole earth as if some colossal beast waged war in that dark.
...
Just like Bola's Paradise, the Underground Palace was built beneath a ruin. It was once a tall and majestic building, but unfortunately, enemy artillery during the Radiant War left it devastated, untouched even by wilderness structures.
Soldiers dressed like Red Falcon guarded every inch near the Underground Palace, their cold muzzles pointing at its direction in silence.
Bola hadn't idly loitered in the Lower City District for so long; somehow, he obtained the original design plans of the Underground Palace. Heavy soldiers were stationed at several exit points, forming the first line of defense, followed by scattered soldiers and the outer Forbidden Guard.
"So you're going in yourself? Your duty should be to command from outside. It should be me going in instead,"
Bola opposed Galahad's suggestion to personally enter the Underground Palace to search for Eve. At the moment, with the operation about to commence, both stood in the main battlefield at the palace's entrance, predicting it would face the fiercest assault.
"No, we don't have much time. Once they arrive, we must launch the attack."
"So you plan to rescue and return in such a short time? You know our process; you'll die at our hands, and to ensure thorough purification, you might not even leave a corpse."
Bola distrusted Galahad's words.
"Then what do you suggest I do?" Galahad said angrily.
He was met with silence; in truth, Bola also didn't know what to do. Lorenzo, that bastard, was like a well-used sword. He would cleanly solve a target once told, yet this sword was also prone to losing control, never knowing what it might do the next moment, like now.
Fortunately, the grim night didn't leave the two to dispute further, directly offering its answer. Suddenly, an intense chill washed over them.
It's hard to describe that feeling, resembling a biological instinctive defense. Their breathing became heavy in an instant, terror surfacing from the depths of their hearts. They exchanged a glance, immediately followed by an ear-piercing siren piercing the night.
That was a high-frequency ticking, emanating from everyone. As time passed, the frequency concentrated until it became a shrill continuous tone.
That was the Geiger Counter, a complex mechanical creation designed to detect radiation levels invisible to most people, determining target distance by the frequency of its alarms. Now, the readings constantly climbed until they breached the threshold, blood-red lights illuminating everything.
Everyone knew what this meant. There was no debate or argument, rounds chambered, cannons at the ready, without hesitation, bombarding the entire underground surface in a cleansing operation. The Purification Mechanism demanded no survivors; as for Eve, in their eyes, her life ended the moment the alarm sounded.
This was the ironclad rule of the Purification Mechanism, the reason they had fought against those demons with human bodies until today.
"All units pay attention, reality distortion anomaly has appeared, commence operation. None alive except us will leave tonight!"
As Galahad's cry echoed in the channel, holy light fell on this wasteland, illuminating everything bright, banishing all the dark as if God blessed this land. It was aerial support from the night sky, a massive steel whale gliding through clouds, the light like a divine blade cast down by God.
Inside the entrance ahead came the stench of blood and ominousness. Galahad wielded his arm, and countless bright lights ignited before the flamethrowers. They were rows of soldiers wearing heavy fireproof suits, fully covered except for lenses for observation, with heavy breathing emanating from their gas masks.
They were the burners, terrifying nightmares in underground facility assaults. The flamethrowers and large-capacity fuel backpacks from the Mechanical Institute could sustain high-temperature burns for up to tens of minutes, the intense heat consuming all the air in the underground space, roasting the enemy to death as in an oven afterward.
More soldiers behind them raised long guns. The burners' only weaknesses were mobility and fragile protection; their fireproof suits were incredibly cumbersome, isolated against high temperatures, only assured against close-range threats with these soldiers' protection.
This is a tightly-knit wall, with any breach causing the entire wall to collapse.
"Did you hear it, Galahad?"
Bola had already set up his bizarre silver-white long gun, finger lightly touching the trigger, gaze serious and cautious.
Sound echoed from the dark entrance ahead, hurried footsteps and hoarse murmurs, seemingly a chaotic crowd attempting to escape towards them. They were escaping the underground darkness, but waiting for them was not a reformed new life, but consuming flames.
"Remember our plan, tonight a fuel explosion in the Lower City District collapses the Underground Palace... no survivors."
Galahad's voice was cold, executing orders like a machine, entirely different from the hero attempting to save Eve moments ago.
Countless twisted figures reeking of decay burst from the dark. They were no longer human, the grotesque forms resembling the strange creatures documented in ancient books, known as one thing at that time.
Demons.
So the black Iron Serpent arrived from afar with roaring winds, the immense inertia causing sparks where wheels met tracks during deceleration braking, then the heavy armor lifted one by one, and a profound ancient prayer echoed in everyone's communicators.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith."
The iron gate snapped open, scalding steam surged up, and amongst the endless white tide, a man whispered and stepped into the battlefield.