Chapter 145 The only person you can be loyal to is me
We should sing praises... and remember them forever?
Gerard never expected to hear such words from Oliver's mouth.
The real mastermind behind all these disasters is now able to speak such high-sounding words.
"Are you serious?" Gerald couldn't help but say, "Are you really serious?"
"Of course." Oliver replied calmly, "I will always respect those who work hard for their goals. They are as bright as stars. Of course, this includes you, Gerald. I always think that you are the brightest one among them."
Gerard felt so absurd that he almost laughed.
Ten years ago, he might have considered this an honor, after all, the person who said this was the Archbishop of the Tower of Babel.
But now…
"Jellard, I understand your anger, your despair, and your desperate desire to survive at the risk of your life." Oliver walked to Gerard's side and patted his shoulder gently like an old friend. "Even if what you are doing now is actually saving Lyra in your own way, I will not blame you. In the final analysis, this is all you can do before you can no longer covet the truth. I respect you, but I don't want you to go all the way on this wrong path... Our future still needs symbols like you, heroes like you."
"Do you think I'll believe such nonsense?"
Oliver sighed softly, his tone like an old father who was helpless with his rebellious children and grandchildren: "I know you won't believe it so easily, that would not be you... But it doesn't matter, we still have time, a lot of time, I can tell you anything you want to know."
Oliver's words echoed in every corner of Lyra, allowing every Lyran to hear the conversation between their archbishop and the former hero.
Gerard also tried to calm himself down. He knew that everyone in Tianqin was paying attention to him, and now was not the time to solve the problem with just one blow.
So he raised his head, looked directly at Oliver, and asked word by word: "You said you wanted to kill Tianqin."
"To be precise, I want to kill the Lyra God, not Lyra," Oliver said. "The Lyra people, Lyra City, and the Lyra God have been bound together for thousands of years. This shouldn't be the case."
"Why?"
"The mechanics of Lyra have a saying, 'If a machine wants to remain new, it must be constantly iterated.'" Oliver said, "This saying is very appropriate for Lyra. Lyra is like such a machine. For thousands of years, we have been constantly updating and iterating, becoming more and more advanced and powerful, but... this is the end."
Oliver put his hands behind his back and walked slowly around Gerard.
"Have you not noticed? It has been a hundred years since we held the last National Assembly. At that time, we passed the cog train bill, which gave the entire Tianqin City a new look and turned it into the most advanced city in the world. But...what happened after that? In the past hundred years, have we had such major innovations? Do we have innovations as advanced as the cog train that can change the city structure?"
"No more. All gone."
"Although we are still making progress in small aspects and bringing forth new ideas, our prosthetic limbs are becoming more and more flexible, and our accessories are becoming more and more sophisticated. But our city has not changed in a hundred years. The tracks of the gear trains were laid a hundred years ago, and every gear on them exudes an old smell, just like an old man in his twilight years. He can get prosthetic limbs and eyes, but he can't get his corrupted organs and blood vessels, which will inevitably lead him to weakness and death."
"But people die and that's it, but what about the city of Tianqin? Are we just going to watch it decay and decay like this?"
Oliver stopped in front of Gerard, looked into his eyes, and then spoke slowly.
"At least, I can't bear to watch it."
“So I decided to do something.”
After listening to Oliver's explanation, Gerard felt it was ridiculous: "So you plan to kill the God of Lyra?"
"If we don't do this, we won't be able to innovate." Oliver said calmly, "Gerald, you should already know what the main body of Lyra City is made of. If we don't get rid of Him, do you think we can do those things?"
Oliver's words immediately reminded Gerald of the flesh and blood he had seen in the furnace at the Gear Terminal.
The city of Lyra is made up of the flesh and blood of the Lyra God.
It seems that Oliver is also aware of this.
"Just for this reason, you want to kill the God of Lyra?" Gerard still felt incredible. "The city of Lyra was originally created by the God of Lyra. It was He who protected us from the polluted land. It is because of Him that the city of Lyra exists..."
Before Gerard could finish his words, he was interrupted by Oliver.
"It seems that in your eyes, the Lyra God is our creator, our protector, and our... father-like existence, right?" Oliver asked calmly, "So in your eyes, I am like a rebellious son who wanted to kill my father when he was ill, right?"
Gerard looked directly at Oliver: "Isn't it?"
When he said this, Gerard saw a strange smile on Oliver's lips, as if he had been waiting for Gerard to lead the topic here.
But the smile was fleeting, and soon Oliver returned to his previous indifferent look.
No one noticed this smile except Gerard.
This made Gerald feel a little uneasy.
"Yes, it seems that I am indeed a rebellious son." Oliver turned his back and walked slowly towards his seat. "I am too ruthless and cruel to the Creator, our God, am I not?"
He stood in front of his seat, then turned around and scanned all the people attending the meeting, finally his eyes fell on Gerard's face.
"But is our Lord, our Lyran God, really the loving father you claim he is?"
Gerald was slightly startled.
“Is everything He did really to protect us?”
Oliver slowly raised his metal prosthesis, his voice gradually getting louder.
"People of Lyra, look at our bodies."
"Look at my body, the body under the mechanical prosthesis."
Everyone looked at Oliver's raised prosthetic limb.
"Look, what a perfect work. It can do so many things. With it, we are the Lyrans, the most advanced Lyrans in the world." Oliver said with a smile on his face, and then he suddenly exerted force and forcibly removed the prosthesis. Before everyone could react, they saw the hideous muscles at the broken end of Oliver's arm after he took off the prosthesis. Due to excessive force, the broken end was bloody and horrified. "But if we don't have it, what are we?"
His blood dripped onto the stands, which was shocking to see.
"Haha, without this prosthesis, what are we?" He said softly, "We are disabled people, disabled people with incomplete limbs, disabled people who can't hold a knife and fork when eating, and disabled people who have to use crutches when walking."
"But, when did it start?"
"The Lyrans are disabled people with prosthetic limbs."
"Why are we proud of having prosthetic limbs and ashamed of our original flesh and blood?"
"Why, our children are clamoring for newer, better limbs before they reach adulthood."
"Our Lord has not many parts of his body that belong to him."
"Our elderly people cannot have a complete body when they are buried after death."
"Why is this happening?"
Oliver's eyes moved down again and continued to look at Gerald.
"Can you tell me, Gerard? Who made us so dependent on machines? To the point where we would abandon our own flesh and blood to embrace the cold metal?"
"Who has planted shackles in our minds one after another, making it impossible for us to take action against the source of such powerful power even though we possess it?"
"After using these things, the Tianqin people can only be Tianqin people. Once we leave Tianqin and the machines fail, we will just be disabled people who can't do anything."
Oliver's tone gradually turned cold.
"Answer me, Gerard."
"Did he protect the Lyrans or imprison them?"
"Are we His people, or are we His captive... beasts?"
"Jellal, have you ever thought that if He gives up on us one day, there will be millions of disabled people in the entire city."
At this moment, the entire conference hall... no, the entire Lyra City was silent.
People stared at Oliver blankly, and then stared at their own mechanical prostheses blankly.
They had never thought about this issue before, but at this moment, it was as if Oliver had suddenly enlightened them, and unspeakable fear suddenly emerged in their eyes.
Even Gerard couldn't say anything to refute. He just stared at Oliver blankly, no longer having the momentum to question him from before.
This depressing silence lasted for nearly a minute.
Finally, one of the participants trembled and whispered, "Then... kill Tianqin."
His words were like a spark in the kerosene.
In an instant, the fire of anger and fear burned fiercely.
All the participants stood up, raised their fists and shouted.
"Yes, kill Lyra!"
"Kill Lyra! Kill Lyra!"
"Kill Lyra!"
The voices of the participants were heard outside the meeting and also caused an explosion.
The entire city of Lyra was shouting "Kill Lyra" in anger!
Oliver walked off the stage amid the roaring sound like the ocean waves and came in front of Gerard again.
Even though they were of similar height, Jellal felt like Oliver was looking down on him.
"Do you understand now, Gerald?" Oliver said with a smile.
Gerard felt a sore throat. He looked at Oliver and asked in a low voice, "Is this your plan?"
The flames had already been lit, and Oliver no longer needed to let everyone in the city hear his voice, so he spoke in a voice that Gerard could hear: "Yes, of course the original plan was more secure, but because of the trouble you caused me, I had to constantly revise the plan and advance it... Fortunately, it is still going well."
As he spoke, he took another step back and let his voice resound throughout the city again.
"People of Lyra! I have heard your voices and received your prayers." His tone was solemn and dignified, as if a true God had descended. "I, Oliver Deli, promise you that I will definitely change all this. I will kill Lyra with my own hands and bring a brand new future to you!"
As soon as these words were spoken, people's shouts of "Kill Lyra" immediately turned into support for Oliver.
They chanted Oliver's name even louder than they had chanted Lyra's name.
"Now, there is only one last step left." Oliver looked at Gerald again, smiled and extended his hand to him, "Knight of the Evening Star, Gerald. After going through all this, are you willing to be loyal to me again and fight for the future of Lyra once again?"
At this moment, hundreds of burning gazes in the hall fell on Gerard.
Outside the hall, more people were also paying attention to this place.
"As long as you are willing to be loyal to me," Oliver said softly, "I will forgive you for everything you did before, and I will restore your reputation and the reputation of the former Eve Star. They will no longer be rebels, and they will return to everyone's sight as heroes."
"Of course, I will still do it even if I don't want to." Oliver said with a smile, "This is what you deserve."
Jellal opened his mouth.
Just like that... it's over?
He just had to step forward and hold that hand, just like he had done countless times ten years ago.
Is this all going to end?
The reputation of the Evening Star.
Obsession with the past.
Will everything be cleared up? If only a new god could come?
So...beautiful?
Gerard was at a loss for a moment.
But at this moment, he thought of what Bai Wei had said to him.
"Do you know the price of the coming of the new god?"
His pupils narrowed slightly.
No, no, no!
This guy hid the most crucial thing!
Gerard immediately stepped forward: "If we let a new god ascend the throne, you know how many people will die..."
"Your daughter is in the branch tower in the third district." Oliver suddenly spoke, still in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "The child you care about, named Ju, is outside the gate of the Tower of Babel."
Gerald's body stiffened.
Oliver still had a smile on his face, but his words were extremely cold.
"Gerald, think about it carefully. Once some words are spoken, there is no way to take them back... Oh, and that widow." Oliver said, "I am no longer the same as I was yesterday. Now... the entire Tianqin is under my control."
Gerard stared at Oliver. "You know everything? You know what the coming of the new god will bring?! Why are you still doing this?!"
"These are necessary sacrifices, Gerald." Oliver said calmly, "You only have two choices now."
"The first choice is to say that sentence, and then die as a traitor, along with those guys. But you will gain nothing. You should know very well that even if you say that sentence, no one will believe you."
"The second choice is to hold my hand. I will give you everything I promised you. You will still be the hero you once were. Your daughter, that little girl, and that widow... many more people will be redeemed, and you will have a place in the future."
"Both of these choices can only affect you, not me."
"Make your choice, Gerard." Oliver looked Gerard in the eyes and said word by word, "Die as a rebel, or live as a hero!"
Gerard turned his head and through Bai Wei's eyes, he saw something very far away.
At Reem Station, two men were walking towards the crying woman.
In the third area tower, the devil knights standing beside Ina slowly reached for the flaming swords at their waists.
Outside the Tower of Babel, a skeleton knight approached Tachibana enthusiastically, but Tachibana grabbed his collar tightly and wanted to leave, but was stopped.
"Jellard!" Oliver yelled at Jellal, "Make your choice! Now!"
At this moment, Gerard almost collapsed.
Until Bai Wei's unquestionable voice sounded in his mind.
"Reject him, Gerard."
"Someone you can be loyal to."
"just me."
(End of this chapter)
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