All the churches collapsed in a short period of time. Round after round of blazing "fireballs" rose from the ground in various parts of the city-state, burning Pland's last anchor in reality. The bells stopped one after another, and in just a moment, all that remained of this pearl on the sea were endless ruins and ashes.
Fanna rushed through the burning intersections and streets like a gust of wind, rushing towards the cathedral with a pillar of fire burning to the sky. In her sight, the church had changed its appearance in a short period of time -
The main building has collapsed, and the main frame of the thousand-year-old building has melted and collapsed like wax. The towering side buildings were reduced to twisted and red-hot skeletons in the blink of an eye. Above all this, a "sun" with bright white edges but a dark and red interior like dried blood is quietly suspended above the cathedral. It looks like a terrifying hole leading to an endless abyss, but it is constantly releasing destructive light and heat.
The edge of this blasphemous sun disk is constantly dripping with bright red liquid - it is hot lava, or the blood of the blasphemer.
What could he do if he rushed over now? Kill the culprit? Reverse the history that had already overlapped? Or use his strength to bravely but futilely prove his faith and loyalty?
Vanna didn't know, nor did she know what else she could do, but she still instinctively rushed towards the church. At this moment, a distorted green light suddenly appeared in the corner of her eyes, as if something flashed in the sea of fire. Then, a majestic and low voice sounded directly in her mind: "Go to the big bell tower."
The voice came so suddenly that Vanna subconsciously stopped. She looked for the direction where the voice came from, or any signs around her that could prove that the ghost captain was watching her, but she only saw a raging sea of fire. The molten lava dripping from the blasphemous "sun" of darkness was igniting every inch of land near the cathedral.
But at this moment, a voice broke Vanna's brief hesitation.
She heard a sudden, melodious sound of bells—the bells came from the ancient bell tower behind the cathedral.
The sound of the bell was so loud that it seemed to cover the entire Plande again.
The bell tower had been completely burned by flames and it was impossible for it to make any sound.
At this moment, Fanna threw away all her hesitation and worries and rushed towards the clock tower.
She no longer cared about the ghost captain's intentions, nor did she care about the consequences of following his arrangements - with all the churches falling in an instant and the entire city-state burned down, the only path she could choose was the still-ringing bell tower.
She crossed the square in front of the church.
The defense forces that had assembled in the square had been completely wiped out. All that could be seen in the rolling heat wave were countless twisted and scrapped steam walkers and steam tanks. The defense lines built by the defenders and city-state guards had turned into layers of charcoal, covered in shocking ashes.
She chopped down the countless shadows of ash that swarmed towards her, walked through the main building and sanctuary of the church that had been burned to ruins, walked through the wide-open courtyard, and saw the bell tower standing tall at the end of her sight.
Hot ashes fell from the sky and sparks danced like fireflies.
This reminded her of what she had seen not long ago on the other side of the "veil", and of the Pland that she had seen burned down in 1889.
Pseudo-history covers official history, and what is behind the curtain replaces the real world in front of the curtain.
But the bells are still ringing.
The door leading to the upper level of the bell tower had collapsed, and the internal stairs had also broken and collapsed. After confirming this, Fanna gave up the idea of climbing the tower through the normal road. She came to the foot of the outer wall of the bell tower, looked up and briefly determined the route, then reached out and grabbed the raised structure on the wall and began to climb up.
The outer wall had been roasted by flames for a long time and was as hot as a red-hot iron plate, but Vanna's climbing speed was not affected at all. She almost went up like a gust of wind. In just a moment, she had reached the top of the bell tower, passed the mechanical dial that had stopped working, and came to the top of the tower where the bonfire and the big bell were placed.
This place is very spacious, with a spire structure open on all four sides as a shelter. Under the spire, in addition to the brazier, there is a bell device - a huge machine that uses gears and levers as the power mechanism.
The bell is housed beneath this mechanism, concealed in a resonance chamber.
Vanna jumped to the top of the tower and flipped over to the ground.
She looked back in the direction she came from, and saw that the city-state was engulfed in flames beneath her feet. The hot lava flowed through the streets, leaving behind shocking gullies. She was overlooking the purgatory from the top of the city-state, and the scene was in ruins.
Then she turned around and looked at the bell device that had obviously lost power but was still running.
A figure... or rather a mass of charcoal that barely maintained a human outline, was clinging to the pull rod next to the bell device, using human power to push the heavy gear to continue turning.
Vanna took a step forward subconsciously, and the lump of charcoal seemed to sense her approach. It slowly raised its head and turned its face, staring at the young inquisitor who appeared on the top of the tower with a pair of human eyes.
"Hold... the bell tower..."
The lump of charcoal said hoarsely.
Then he fell to the ground with a loud bang, his completely carbonized body shattered into pieces, and the red fire marks gradually went out among the wreckage that was still hot.
A storm emblem symbolizing the Deep Sea Church rolled to the ground from the charcoal.
The final bell of Pland finally stopped.
"archbishop!"
Vanna recognized the pair of eyes and rushed forward, wanting to save the pile of ashes or restart the stopped bell mechanism. However, just as she took a step, a sudden strong pressure stopped her.
Fanna stopped abruptly and turned to look in the direction where the powerful pressure came from.
A tall and thin figure wearing a tattered gray robe, looking skinny and shriveled like an ascetic monk, was standing quietly on the edge of the platform.
The "ascetic" looked at Vanna with compassion, and in the sky behind him was a dark sun that was constantly dripping hot molten lava and was inlaid with a circle of dazzling bright edges.
The figure appeared there at some point, and his arrival was so silent that Vanna didn't even notice it - as if he had been standing on this tower from the beginning, from a long, long time ago, before the fire started.
"You struggled as hard as you could, kid. All of you struggled as hard as you could, even delaying the time several times longer than expected. But there was no point in delaying and holding on... No one would come to save you. In this closed historical vision, any reinforcements were doomed to not reach Plande before history was corrected..." the skinny black shadow said slowly. He raised his hand slightly, and his bony arm seemed to be floating with a layer of fire under the reflection of the dark sun. "Now, embrace this new future, kid who was reborn from the ashes... Your survival and return did not change anything."
Fanna remained silent and quietly took off the huge sword from her back.
"Oh, the negotiations broke down..." The End Preacher saw Vanna's actions, but his face was still compassionate and calm. "Of course you can kill me easily, but it is meaningless... The descendants of the sun are ready to welcome the coming. As for me, I am just a witness to this end. I will witness it now and in the future. And you... did you see the sun?"
Vanna raised her eyes slightly, her gaze passed over the figure of the End Preacher, and finally noticed that in the darkness deep in the blasphemous sun, there seemed to be something beating slowly, like a gestating embryo, a heart gradually resurrecting.
A strange palpitation suddenly came over me.
She finally realized that the powerful oppressive force that had suddenly descended upon her did not come from the skinny and weak Preacher of the End of Time in front of her - but from the black sun behind him.
Something is awakening deep in the sun!
"This plan encountered many twists and turns. A force that could never be seen clearly interfered with our revision of history time and time again," the End Preacher looked at Vanna's eyes quietly with a compassionate look on his face. His voice was low and seemed to be bewitching. "And the disturbance it brought made some eyes that should not have been opened perceive the truth... You are actually just a little bit away from uncovering the whole truth, really, just a little bit - but that's fate.
"My child, fate is so unreasonable."
He sighed with compassion and walked forward slowly. He came to Vanna who was still standing firmly, and said as if reading out some truth: "But you are blessed. You died and were resurrected, and you will be reborn and die again. You have obtained the highest blessing... and you have the opportunity to embrace all of this."
Vanna gripped the hilt of the sword tightly. For the first time in her life, she was driven by such strong hatred rather than justice or duty to kill. However, at the last second before raising the sword, her movement was suddenly interrupted by a stream of flames that ignited out of nowhere at the edge of the platform.
A dark green flaming door suddenly appeared behind the Preacher of the End, and a tall and majestic figure covered in spiritual flames stepped out of it.
The End Preacher seemed to be completely unaware of the door that appeared behind him. He opened his arms to Vanna and declared like a prophet preaching to the world before the final judgment came -
"Blessed child, do not resist, as you can see, times have changed..."
He suddenly stopped.
An unspeakable fear suddenly penetrated his chaotic mind, and a chaotic noise that seemed to come directly from the warp mixed with Pland's raging fire. The madman hurriedly wanted to turn back, but before he could do so, a hand had already gently rested on his shoulder.
"Change back."
A calm voice said so.
★Illustration 41★