Chapter 246: Seventy-six, you can only be loyal to me.

Should we extol… and remember forever?

Gerard never expected to hear such words from Oliver’s mouth.

The real mastermind behind all these calamities now spoke such grandiose words.

“Are you serious?” Gerard couldn’t help but say, “Are you really serious?”

“Of course.” Oliver answered calmly, “I have always respected those who have sacrificed. They are like stars in their radiance, and that includes you, Gerard. I’ve always thought you are the brightest among them.”

Gerard felt so absurd he almost laughed.

Ten years ago, he might have taken those words as an honor, especially coming from the Archbishop of the Sky Tower.

But now…

“Gerard, I can understand your anger, your despair, and your current recklessness in trying to fight a deadly battle.” Oliver walked up to Gerard, patted his shoulder gently like an old friend, “Even your current actions are, in your own way, an attempt to save Lyra. Therefore, I won’t blame you; after all, this is all you can do before you can grasp the truth. I respect you, but I also hope you don’t continue down this wrong path… Our future still needs symbols like you, heroes like you.”

“Do you think I would believe such nonsense?”

Oliver sighed lightly, his tone like a helpless old father dealing with rebellious offspring: “I know you won’t simply believe me, that would not be like you… but no matter, we still have time, lots of time. Whatever you want to know, I can tell you.”

Oliver’s voice echoed around every corner of Lyra, allowing every citizen to hear their Archbishop and the conversation with the once hero.

Gerard also tried to calm himself down, knowing that all of Lyra was watching him, and this wasn’t the time to solve the problem with a simple slash.

So he raised his head, looked directly at Oliver, and asked emphatically, “You said you want to kill Lyra.”

“To be precise, I want to kill the Lyra God, not Lyra.” Oliver said, “The people of Lyra, Lyra City, and the Lyra God have been bound together for thousands of years, which should not be.”

“Why?”

“The Mechanicians of Lyra have a saying, ‘For machines to be perpetually new, they must continuously evolve.'” Oliver explained, “This is well-suited for Lyra City, which is like a machine that has been continually upgraded and evolved over the centuries, becoming more advanced and potent, but… that has stopped now.”

Oliver, with his hands behind his back, slowly walked around Gerard.

“Haven’t you noticed? It’s been a hundred years since the last general assembly when we passed the gear train bill, which transformed the entire Lyra City into the most advanced city in the world. But… what about since then? In these hundred years, have we had any innovations as significant as the gear train that could change the city’s structure?”

“No, there hasn’t been.”

“Although we are still progressing in minor aspects, still innovating, our prosthetics becoming more flexible, and our components more precise. But our city hasn’t changed in a hundred years; the tracks of the gear train are still those laid a century ago, each gear emitting an old aura, like a senile elderly person who can change prosthetics and artificial eyes but not his rotting organs and veins, inevitably leading to weakness and death.”

“But people die and then are gone, but what about the city of Lyra? Are we just to watch it weaken and decay like this?”

Oliver stopped in front of Gerard, gazed into his eyes, and then slowly said,

“At least, I can’t bear to watch.”

“So that’s why I decided to do something.”

Hearing Oliver’s explanation, Gerard felt absurd: “So you plan to kill the Lyra God?”

“If we don’t do that, we can’t carry out the innovations,” Oliver said lightly, “Gerard, you should know what constitutes the main body of Lyra City. Without dealing with Him, do you think we can achieve those things?”

Oliver’s words immediately reminded Gerard of the flesh he had seen in the furnace at the gear train station.

Lyra City was composed of the flesh of the Lyra God.

It seemed Oliver was very aware of this.

“Just for that reason, you want to kill the Lyra God?” Gerard still found it unbelievable, “Lyra City was created by the Lyra God, who sheltered us from the Polluted Land before, because of Him we have Lyra City…”

Gerard hadn’t finished speaking when Oliver interrupted him.

“It seems, in your eyes, the Lyra God is our Creator, our protector, our… like a father figure, right?” Oliver asked lightly, “So in your view, I am like a son who wants to kill his father when his body is sick, am I right?”