harleyscars Page 163
Page 163
And yet, such a thing happened in such a place, which is rare for even a cat to feel angry.
After crossing the Good Fortune Bridge, you will reach the southern part of Dusk Street.
That area is also home to wealthy people.
Compared to the dilapidated and wretched northern part of Twilight Street, it was like heaven and earth.
Clean and tidy.
Everything looked so well-organized.
It's also much bigger than the north...it's completely baffling.
Even though Paddo frequently came to the wealthy district to rob the rich and give to the poor, she couldn't say she was familiar with the place. The security was too strong, especially after she had visited several times, the wealthy district had become quite wary.
She rarely comes here since she almost got shot last time.
"Sister Aili, the wealthy area is so big, how are we going to find the people from the nursing home?"
"Phyllis, what's in that direction?"
Following Alicia's gaze, Pado recalled for a moment, then said somewhat uncertainly:
"Hmm... I remember it was a church. Apparently, Sister Aponia used to be a nun there. Later, the church was abandoned, and it seems that it was recently taken over by some unknown sect."
"What was it called again... I think it was called..."
—The Church of Apocalypse.
Chapter 154 Da Nai Nai, the Ascetic Beauty
"The Church of Apocalypse? Why are you mentioning that name? Did you encounter it?"
MEI on the other end of the communicator was somewhat surprised and taken aback.
"Well, the person I'm looking for might have been kidnapped by them, so I'm asking."
"This is not good news."
MEI sighed and began to recount information about the Church of Apocalypse:
"The Church of Apocalypse is a new sect that emerged in Eastern Europe after the First Great Collapse. Its founder seems to be a person named Otto, who advocated the theory of Honkai evolution—he believed that the occurrence of the Great Collapse was not a disaster, but a way to help humanity evolve. In the past, it was an outright cult theory... but now, it seems that they are the more correct one."
This familiar information caused the pink-clad girl to raise an eyebrow slightly.
Well... this is totally my style.
When Jiang Qiao first heard the name, it felt familiar.
When this church's doctrine came out... wasn't this just the Honkai cult that was running rampant in the Zero Era DLC for Honkai Impact 2? Even the founder was the same.
Of course, he wasn't particularly surprised.
After all, there are all kinds of birds in a big forest, and the world is so big that all kinds of ideas will be popular. The Honkai evolution theory is just an idea that will inevitably emerge on the road of mankind to fight against Honkai.
The fact that the founder was actually Otto, that old bastard, made him a little nervous.
In the current era, you're the Bishop of Mandate. In the previous civilization, there was no Mandate, so you just created the Church of Apocalypse. You're a seasoned charlatan, completely inseparable from religious belief, right?
However, Otto actually guessed right this time. From the perspective of the cocoon, the Honkai as a trial is indeed a way to help humanity evolve—Dr. Mebius might even have something in common with him on this point.
After all, one of the many Stigmata projects devised by Mebius was based on Darwinian evolution, a process of natural selection.
"Although it is considered a cult, the Church of Apocalypse operates in a rather upright manner, often providing free relief to the poor. As a result, the Church of Apocalypse enjoys a good reputation among the people, which has caused a lot of trouble for various countries."
"But recently, this sect seems to be showing signs of extremism. The Fire Moth has received a lot of reports about the trouble caused by this sect, and I plan to send Sakura to investigate."
MEI's voice revealed helplessness and exhaustion.
With the occurrence of the Fourth Great Collapse, the Firemoth's influence in various countries has further increased, and its scale and funds have grown tremendously. Under the manipulation of Velvet and Mebius, the leadership of the Firemoth has gradually fallen into her hands—which is by no means a good thing.
She has to get involved in everything, big and small, within the organization. MEI has already entered the state of being the Dr. MEI who commands all of humanity ahead of time, at least in terms of workload. She even wonders if she might die from overwork at her desk one day... Oh, she's a Herrscher now, she won't die from overwork, oh dear, that's really great news.
MEI, who doesn't think this is a good thing at all, is already planning when to create an AI to assist her. If this continues, even if she doesn't die from overwork, she will eventually suffer from neurasthenia.
"Hmm... I understand. In that case, I'll investigate while I'm at it."
After ending the communication, Alicia gazed at the distant church, a thoughtful expression on her delicate face.
"The Church of Apocalypse..."
...
For Aponia, this was hardly a 'normal' day.
She possesses the ability to see the fate of others, and this ability has always troubled her.
As a nun, Aponia has always tried to change the fate of those she sees who are tormented by destiny.
One of her attempts was to take in homeless people and sick, abandoned people in nursing homes.
She didn't know when, but she saw more and more people heading towards destruction, towards an irreversible hell.
Although in this twilight street, baseness is a means of survival, when exactly did this baseness gradually become an instinct?
She felt saddened by this change, but it seemed that all she could do was try to save the people of this land with her innate abilities.
Just like in the past, despite the good intentions, the final result was still unsatisfactory, and even affected the entire nursing home.
On this day, the Church of Apocalypse, which colluded with the wealthy, stormed into the sanatorium and arrested everyone—except for that mischievous child who escaped.
Aponia is fortunate about this.
Burn her! Burn her! Burn this witch!
The angry shouts and clamor around me revealed a surprisingly consistent message: the enormous stake that now stood before the Church of the Apocalypse.
Just like the witch trials popular in medieval Europe, a woman named Aponia seems to be facing the same fate.
Those faces that were already repulsive on ordinary days became even more grotesque with the flying spittle.
The rich people disliked this disqualified nun who liked to take in lowly patients everywhere. They had planned countless times to demolish the sanatorium, which was like a garbage dump, but each time they inexplicably failed.
Now that the controlling particles are spreading, and the tentacles of the Church of Apocalypse have reached this area, they have finally broken through this 'protection' and tied the witch-like 'Aponia' to the stake.
All the advice and admonitions of the past have now turned into a counterforce of equal measure.
Meanwhile, the fanatical religious members belonging to the Church of the Apocalypse looked at those bound to the stake with malicious and hostile eyes, especially Aponia.
For religions, the most intolerable thing is not a traitor—but a heretic!
Without a doubt, Aponia is such a being.
She admires beauty, admonishes people, and hinders the freedom that belongs to desire.
Although none of these fanatical religious figures can be called complete 'rulers of domination', they are all puppets dominated by desire.
But they could clearly sense that Aponia was a heretic, the greatest enemy of domination.
Perhaps the results of discipline are often unsatisfactory, and may even make things worse.
Without a doubt, the power of this 'discipline' is undoubtedly the greatest enemy of 'domination'.
It ruthlessly blocked the desires etched into human DNA, and subjected the driving force of human desires to a choking restraint.
It's like a natural enemy.
You can sense the undisguised depravity in them. Aponia, bound to the stake, has no fear of death, only sorrow for those around her at this moment.
She didn't even feel a moment of 'hatred', only apology and despair—this feeling didn't come from life and death, but from the emotion that I hadn't saved anything, hadn't changed anything, and hadn't accomplished anything.
Trying to change other people's fates, but instead being tricked by fate, achieving the opposite result.
Am I riddled with sins?
The discarded torch ignited the firewood, and the flickering flames obscured the view, bringing an unbearable heat.
As she gazed at the overly hymn-filled church, Aponia's bright blue eyes gradually dimmed, just like the sky at that moment—a gloomy color obscured the sky, as if it were eager to replace something.
There is not a glimmer of hope in sight.
The crackling of the burning firewood and the cheers of the people gradually faded away, until—
"call out--!"
Like a shooting star, a pink glow streaked across the sky, piercing through the dark clouds and dispelling all the gloom.
The obscured dawn light spilled across the earth through the gap, illuminating the dim eyes as well.
Reflected in the hopeless azure sky was the pink-clad girl standing atop the church, as exquisite as a fairy from a fairy tale, slowly lowering the dazzling crystal bow adorned with a hundred flowers.
Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, 'she' lifted her sleeve and leaped to the ground, just like in a movie. In the moment of everyone's unconscious daze, she landed before the pyre, raised her dreamlike face, and smiled at Aponia:
"Hmm~ it seems I'm not too late."
A gentle breeze stirred her beautiful, flowing pink hair, and before she knew it, the flames surrounding the pyre had gone out.
"..."
The somewhat dreamlike scene left Aponia momentarily stunned.
Although she was well-liked in the lower class of Twilight Street because of her good deeds, she never thought that someone would come to save her.
In this twilight street, there probably isn't anyone who would risk their life to save you.