The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Raindrops pounded on the train's black armored exterior, producing a dense and muffled sound, like thousands of ghosts simultaneously knocking on a coffin.

The dim overhead light reflected the shimmering aftershocks of the icy water, casting fragmented, flickering spots of light on the ceiling.

"Save?" Rundstedt's movements froze in mid-air. The young knight's voice, coming through the visor, echoed dully like a cracked, damp bronze bell: "Who are you?"

The pupils behind the visor of the visor shrank to two pinpoint-sized amethysts, reflecting the blurry yet sharp outline of the girl opposite—she stood still in the drifting light and shadow, like a dagger polished by moonlight.

Silent, yet powerful enough to cut through any thick darkness.

"Among the red, white, and black queens, which one is she? Or is she someone outside the six high priests of the Satanic Order? The current 'Star Seer' of Great Xia?"

As far as he knew, the highest level of the Satanic cult consisted of six people known as the "Blood Priests," three men and three women, who were required not only to have devout faith but also to have the right bloodline.

They must have Lilithian ancestry.

These six high priests are the “bishop” who symbolizes divine control, the “duke” who symbolizes human kingship, and the “knight” who symbolizes the power of punishment.
The Red Queen symbolizes Lilith's blood, the White Queen symbolizes Lilith's bones, and the Black Queen symbolizes Lilith's soul, which is as desolate as the night after her exile.

In terms of status alone, he was equivalent to a cardinal in the Messianic Church, or a cardinal minister.

According to the information known to the Vatican, the Black Queen should be the supreme leader of the Satanic Order, an absolute high-ranking witch. However, the Inquisition has investigated for many years but has never found even a trace of a queen, and is completely unaware of its core.

"Whoever you are, please allow me to express my gratitude for sparing your lives," Rundstedt whispered. "If we can successfully remove the curse from the 'Seraphim' armor and restore their souls, I am certainly willing to cooperate, but I will not offer any sacrifices in exchange..."

"Without sacrificing faith, it is already riddled with holes; without sacrificing loyalty, it has been strangled by its own hands."

"I only hope to successfully complete my final mission, hear the sound of the chains forged by greed breaking, and then find a secluded place where I can spend the rest of my life with my girl."

Although it is difficult, it may just be wishful thinking.

The so-called "peaceful life" is nothing more than folding the remaining years of one's life into a thin coin, dropping it into the bottomless coin well of fate, and hearing a distant, hollow "ding".

Then there is no more then.

Because his fiancée, "White Moon" Tilan, is also a Seraphim Knight and a member of the "Undead".

For centuries, the papacy's secret envoys have been scouting promising children around the world, bringing them back to Florence, and subjecting them to repeated trials. They have forced the children to endure pain and resonate with their armor, training them into a knightly order composed entirely of seraphim, known as the Seraphim Knights.

However, as the technology for manufacturing Seraphs was later lost, the Knights changed to using a second-rate mech, but they were still called the Seraph Knights.

For the past two decades, the Seraph Armor has been largely in a state of disuse, only occasionally being ridden by the Grand Master of the Seraph Knights. However, in recent years, the Cardinals have decided to reactivate this special army and launch a large-scale Seraph selection process.

This is because they are attempting to realize new strategic ambitions, using absolute trump cards to secure victory:

While the Papacy's military power still holds the advantage, the first priority is to completely suppress any potential destabilizing factors within the West! Secondly, and more importantly, is to march eastward!
Faced with the "Great Xia Dragon Sparrow" in the east and its formidable defenses, only they could break through the transportation routes to that land!

Similar to Rundstedt, Licinius, and Caesar, Tilan was a rare "Seraph" candidate, appearing only once in approximately one in a million, and could have become an equally great knight.

At least, he can hold on for a few more years and retire at the age of 22.

But the Cardinal's hasty experiments ruined her.

Due to the sudden increase in casualties at the Seraph Training Camp in recent years, in order to figure out what defects exist in neural circuit control and how to make up for them, the Minerva Organization conducted a large number of overloaded backlash experiments on "White Moon".

The side effects destroyed most of her nervous system, and her brain white matter was also severely damaged.

This happened 12 months ago. Tilan was also the last of the forty Seraph pilots in the military, besides Rundstedt, to become a walking corpse.

Now, they completely obey the orders to kill, never speaking and requiring no supplies, like living alchemical puppets that never stop.

Even their blood turned a dark, murky black, lying in those iron coffins, remaining loyal until their hearts stopped beating, and being buried in an unmarked cemetery! As orphans, they left no trace after death.

For a long time, an army lay in an ice coffin carried by the World Python train, an army in which only Rundstedt could still be considered a complete human being...

"I can grant your wish."

Zhao Qing raised her hand, the tiger-tooth knife hovering at her fingertips like two obedient swallows: "They have just been immersed in their dreams for too long, their shadows twisted into knots, forgetting the warmth of the light."

This matter is not particularly difficult; compared to Tuoba Wuchou, whose consciousness has been corrupted by the elixir of immortality, it is nothing.

She glanced at the second seraphim suspended in mid-air, her left hand forming a loose fist, and starlight diamonds instantly transformed into fine sand, seeping into the gaps in the armor; her right hand, fingers joined like a sword, lightly slashed through the air, drawing a dark rift half a foot wide—

Inside the crack, there was a pale white candle, but its wick was pitch black, emitting a negative light.
What is reflected is not the object itself, but the "shadow" behind it.

The knight inside the armor remained in his dormant position, his pale face pressed against the cold metal inside, his eyelashes still covered with unmelted ice crystals, like a layer of fine snow.

The armor's neural connection electrodes were still inserted into his spinal cord, the fine, pure gold wires gleaming coldly in the dim blue light.

The shadow fell on the back of the seraph's neck, the candle in the crack suddenly went out, the negative light rolled back and turned into a black line, flowing upstream along the golden electrode and instantly piercing its spine.

"Click——"

A soft sound, like an eggshell cracking, came from inside the armor.

The pale, translucent young knight suddenly had faint golden veins appear beneath his skin, like buds in early spring, growing backward along the blood vessels and instantly covering his entire face.

The boy suddenly opened his eyes; his pupils were no longer lifeless blanks, but two vertical golden slits—

It possesses dragon-like characteristics, yet carries with it a sense of unease and bewilderment.

Like a traveler who has finally reached a strange shore after a long night voyage, the first thing they see is the dawn that is both familiar and unfamiliar.

"I..." A dry syllable rolled out of his throat, like a bubble rising from the bottom of a thousand-year-old river, "...still alive?"

Rundstedt froze, the tip of the Dragon Fang sword drooping, dripping a string of raindrops that exploded into shards of silver on the metal floor.

Zhao Qing did not answer, but instead looked up at the train in the distance and gently waved her hand—there, the remaining thirty-eight black iron ice coffins opened at the same time, and the cold air they spewed out condensed into white dragons. The boys and girls who had been awakened by her sword spirit entering the deep dream got up one after another.

The visor was lifted, revealing thirty-eight pairs of golden vertical pupils that simultaneously lit up in the darkness, like thirty-eight rays of dawn being rekindled.

The sound of rain suddenly seemed distant. The train traveled among the mountains, the clatter of its wheels on the rails like a slow, sluggish heartbeat.

"Golden eyes? How could they be this color? What happened to the original purple?" Longdestadt, who had been released simultaneously and landed firmly, lowered his head, countless thoughts flashing through his mind.

If purple pupils represent the legendary devilish constitution, naturally able to resist the spiritual corruption of seraphim, yet destined to bring misfortune to relatives and family, then these eerie, magnificent, crimson-gold vertical pupils are irrefutable proof of depravity and loss of control, an incarnation of heretical demons, and must be immediately put to trial.

Knights of the Seraphs, regardless of whether they are qualified, will have their eyes tinged with purple after years of piloting the Resonance.

Rundstedt had only ever seen such a golden color on experimental subjects whose nervous systems had completely collapsed; they were quickly killed, dissected, and then burned to ashes.

"Were they truly saved, or... quietly replaced by something older and more terrifying?"

Before the question could even be uttered, Zhao Qing proactively offered clarification: "Purple represents the limit of 'humanity,' gold is the light leaking through the crack when the 'door' is pushed open... Some are burned to death on the spot by the light and flames, while others gain the power of 'gods' and angels through it." "If you're worried or anxious, then get closer and see if they are the companions you once knew. There's no need to fake it; even if their forms change, their souls remain the same..."

Rundstedt silently strode forward, his iron hand gripping the key, and inserted it into the lock leading to the next carriage.

He had already come to believe it.

The Vatican excavated God's tomb, turned over his remains, stripped him of his clothes, and used the burial goods to establish their own kingdom. Their greed is insatiable, they distort the truth, and they slander angels as demons, which is not surprising.

From beginning to end, the Minerva Organization never possessed all the secrets of any Seraphim, so its judgments are not entirely credible.

Moreover, the girl's reply, carrying an indescribable sense of sacredness and sincerity, touched his heart.

"Tilan, wait for me!"

Before the World Python left Florence, the operation secretly stole the frozen "White Moon" and transported her to a certain location on the train. Rundstedt, who was eager to see her, asked Zhao Qing to help heal her condition.

Although there were still many awake mechanics on board, how could a group of "office workers" stop him from moving forward?

He had to confirm whether that ray of golden light could also shine into his frozen moon.

Just then, as if some alarm had been triggered, a piercing buzzing sound suddenly rang out.

Throughout the train, countless red lights embedded in the machinery, which never illuminate, flashed in a synchronized rhythm.

Like a flock of startled crows, they fluttered past each carriage.

On the surface, it's not apparent that this train hides so many red lights; they're all concealed within the steel, giving them a similar texture to steel, and at this moment, they're all flashing wildly.

The black train was enveloped in a chilling red light, resembling a blood-soaked black dragon. Outside, it was as if a gate to the void had opened, and countless owls cried out as they took flight from the dense forest beside the tracks.

"A sacred catastrophe!"

A flicker of fear crossed Rundstedt's eyes, and he roared.

After a brief moment of shock and disbelief, he immediately realized that the alarm did not originate from the opening of the Omega box, but from the power thief who had awakened the golden eyes and resonated with the Seraphim.

However, if the person opposite can create hordes of "divine calamities" with just a little spell, then what kind of transcendent being is she herself?

……

Thirty kilometers away, on a hillside, stands a black mountain monastery. Due to its age, it appears somewhat dilapidated.

Ascetics do not allow themselves to approach bustling cities, fearing that worldly pleasures will affect their resolve to follow the path. Therefore, they build their prayer halls in the wilderness.

Some of them will spend their lives building a chapel as their offering to God.

Today, the monastery is preserved only as a tourist attraction in the Marston area, and few people would go to the trouble of coming here to pray.

But tonight is an exception.

Heavy warriors carrying triple-mounted muskets surrounded the building. Two Apocalypse Chariots were parked side by side at the front door, while the Blazing Iron Cavalry, dragging steam pipes behind them, patrolled back and forth. Their metal prosthetics left huge footprints in the wet mud.

The Morse code box was frantically spewing out white paper strips, leaving the officers responsible for deciphering the information in the slips of paper completely bewildered.

The same alarm sounds and flashing red lights echoed through this remote command post, causing widespread panic.

The old man pushed open the door of the prayer hall from the inside out. He was about sixty years old, with a sturdy build and kind eyes. A heavy golden cross hung on his chest, and he held a heavy copy of the Holy Covenant in his aged hands.

This is a typical high-ranking clergyman, the kind of person who holds the core of power in the Papal States.

Father Spencer, the Papal Court Director, the Pope's most ruthless henchman, and the Pope's most trusted man.

The dilapidated corridor echoed with the melodious sound of a organ, a mass played on a pipe organ.

A lantern sat on the table, the tallow candle casting a dim yellow glow through the glass lampshade. A middle-aged man in black sat before the pipe organ, playing intently.

"What? Something went wrong?" The middle-aged man looked up at Spencer, who was sweating profusely, his eyes, like an abyss, shining through his crystal-polished glasses: "The Religious Secrets Act has been triggered?"

“Holy See,” Director Spencer bowed slightly and handed over a long strip of paper with an address printed repeatedly on it, “the location is at the end of the unfinished Path of Holy War, the ambush site planned for the ‘Phoenix Killer’ operation.”

"According to the timeline, the World Python was traveling east at 80 kilometers per hour and has just arrived there, so the train malfunctioned, triggering a Class A sacred disaster..."

According to the "Religious Secrets Law," the area within a one-kilometer radius of the address reported by the Morse code box is designated as a "sacred zone." The law no longer applies there, and religious authorities intervene on all fronts. Unrelated individuals must evacuate as quickly as possible.

What's on that train?

The Pope asked coldly, his cold and ruthless face illuminated by the candlelight, the light reflected from his glasses like swords being drawn from their sheaths.

“That was a special train carrying Seraphim, and it was full of Seraphim,” Director Spencer said in a low voice. “Now it seems that it was also secretly transporting a batch of Omega’s remains.”

"This is equivalent to using Seraphim as escorts, how could something go wrong? Is it Chu Shunhua? We can't count on 'Slaying Phoenix'." The Pope frowned: "How's the situation on the battlefield?"

"The war has not yet officially begun," Director Spencer replied. "The rain is heavy, the roads are muddy, and our Stein heavy machine guns are at a disadvantage... However, the Crusader Guard is ready. Twelve divisions, the Blazing Iron Cavalry, and the Dragon Roar heavy artillery can definitely suppress them..."

"Can you find out what happened on the World Python? Be quick, no matter the cost." The Pope adjusted his glasses. "Send out all the Sky Iron Cavalry from the reserve force, contact our intelligence agents in Marston, and get Licinius involved!"

He then ordered: "Whoever stirs in the darkness must not take those things away. The world cannot know the truth; the truth can only be left to Marston."

“Understood,” said Dean Spencer. “Holy See, we must hurry. The Cardinals should have received the news by now. The elders are meeting to discuss countermeasures. We should resolve this before their decision arrives, either by recalling Omega or destroying it on the spot.”

"The Sanctuary has been demarcated. Wherever Omega goes, the Templar Armored Division will follow. Our people only need to conduct reconnaissance; they don't need to be the first to engage in battle." The Pope instructed in a low voice, "These prehistoric monsters may be far more terrifying than you and I imagine, especially when their spirits are fully unleashed..."

“The Cardinal has used me as a dirty glove; he should experience the pain of a broken wrist too.”

"Hopefully, the situation won't get too out of control." Director Spencer made the sign of the cross on his chest and turned to disappear into the rain.

……

The train stopped deep in the jungle, like a giant black serpent crouching in the grass. The tracks ended there; ahead lay a freshly logged forest, stumps everywhere.

It appears that people originally planned to build a railway here, cutting through mountains and breaking rocks along the way, but the project was abandoned halfway through.

Although the rain had lessened slightly, the sky was still covered with dark clouds, and there was no light of stars or moon.

Judging from the sound of the tide, this place is not far from the sea.

"Here you go." Zhao Qing casually tossed two heavy iron boxes: "The Holy Lance Armor Longinus and the Holy Sword Armor Excalibur. Equip them first, then we'll see." (End of Chapter)