Gargoyle Supremacy-Chapter 61: I’m Raising Gargoyles to Protect Myself. ECD is Raising Terminators to Kill. We’re Not the Same.

At the edge of the Dream Interstate Expressway, Carn in his human form surveyed his handiwork. Around him, his gargoyle army assembled, consisting of 30 unscathed brutes and a dozen half-broken gargoyles, which were riddled with bullet holes. Behind them lay a field with intact human bodies that they had murdered.

Methodically, Carn positioned the corpses in rows across the barren field, muttering incantations under his breath. With a surge of Aether, he raised 20 more gargoyles from the chosen bodies. Stone enveloped the lifeless flesh, twisting their forms into monstrous shapes as the new recruits joined his ranks.

Gawain observed silently from a distance. Though he detested the desecration of the dead, he remained silent. He understood that the demon lord had every right to fortify himself against the pursuit of human authorities.

But just as Gawain thought he had seen the extent of Carn’s ruthlessness, the scene took an unexpected turn.

Carn walked toward the injured gargoyles. He extended his hands over them, and a soft golden light emanated from his palms.

The light spread across the gargoyles, but instead of mending their wounds, the spell began to dispel the petrification. Slowly, the monstrous forms reverted to lifeless human corpses once more. The wounds carried over from their gargoyle forms remained, grotesque and vivid, but Carn’s expression softened.

He knelt beside the bodies, placing his hands over the broken flesh. This time, the golden light returned with a gentler glow. Holy spells wove through the corpses, knitting flesh and bone with care. Each body was restored until they appeared as if they were merely sleeping.

As he finished, Carn clasped his hands together and closed his eyes, praying for the fallen.

"To the souls who have been wronged, I offer my lament and my regret. We were not destined to be enemies, but by the hands of powers beyond you. As a person who is responsible for your untimely departure, I shall embrace your sins and cleanse your souls. May the pain that has bound you to this plane be eased. May the weight of fear, anger, and sorrow melt away."

Carn paused to catch his breath and continued, "To the divine spirits of this broken earth and Mother Tree, I return what was taken, not as absolution, but as an offering of dignity. Let your journey onward be free of the chains of vengeance, And may the light of your memory shine brighter than the shadow of your death. If there is peace beyond this life, find it. If there is love, embrace it. And if there is forgiveness… I hope one day, it is offered to me."

Gawain observed Carn in silence, recalling the time in the Aether world. Whenever Carn freed the souls of his fallen gargoyles in the Aether World, he performed the same rite, offering them to Mother Tree.

Above them, crimson fireflies glared at Carn, radiating resentment and their unresolved anger. Others wore sorrowful expressions, worrying for the families they had left behind. Yet, a small number bore an air of quiet understanding, nodding faintly before dissolving into the beyond.

Carn’s gaze lingered on the vanishing lights with a bitter expression. Despite his efforts, the spirits faded without granting him even a wisp of Aether. He let out a weary sigh, forcing a faint smile.

"Figures."

Gawain broke the silence, curious. "Why use your holy marks for this? You gain nothing. You could have left their souls as they were."

Carn turned to him with a raised brow and an exasperated smirk. "Ever been cursed so badly that your holy power wanted to walk out on you?"

Gawain tilted his head. "Dragoons are immune to curses. Sorry, I can’t relate."

Carn scoffed, rolling his eyes. He jabbed a knuckle lightly against Gawain’s chest plate, producing a dull BONK.

"Immune to curses, my ass. You’re walking proof that even mighty dragoons can be cursed after death."

"Point taken. But I still don’t see why you bother. It’s a waste of energy."

Carn bitterly laughed and confessed, "Maybe I don’t get Aether from this, but I can’t just leave their tattered souls in this world for too long. It pains me whenever I look at them."

"Even if they were created to fight for you?"

"Especially then. Otherwise, I can’t sleep with both my eyes closed."

"…"

After a beat of silence, Carn redirected the conversation, "Still, I’m curious about something. How do you retain holy power in that form? Did Mother Tree help you?"

"Yes, my dragoon comrades and Mother Tree saved my soul."

"Ah, how nice."

"…"

The conversation died as both men lapsed into silence, struggling to think of a new topic to bridge the awkwardness.

*WHOOSH*

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

A sudden gust of displaced air interrupted the quiet. Fleur appeared out of nowhere, teleporting straight into the center of the gargoyle formation, startling the monsters.

Spotting Carn and Gawain together, she didn’t hesitate to teleport again, reappearing directly in front of Carn.

"PEBBLE! YOU SCAMMER!" she yelled.

Carn rolled his eyes. "What? Me? Scammer? I’m neither a Florida man nor an Indian working at a call center, ma’am. I didn’t ask you to ’REDEEM’ anything."

"This body is too fragile!" Fleur ignored the sarcasm and snapped. "I couldn’t even move when I was hunting! It’s annoying!"

She pointed at her current sentry gargoyle form, which locked her in place whenever someone looked at her. Only during the brief moments people looked away could she teleport freely.

Carn shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, it’s an economic mode. It doesn’t require a single drop of Aether to teleport. It’s a good exchange for farming Aether when your tank is empty. Beggars can’t be choosers."

"Then tell me before you make me a vessel! You know what? I want a new body. I want a new one without this stupid restriction!"

Once again, Carn shrugged, "Listen, that mode makes your body practically indestructible in exchange for a tiny inconvenience. But if you want freedom and rapid movement, you can spend 10 Aether to shapeshift and choose your preferred form."

Though still visibly irritated, Fleur begrudgingly acknowledged his advice. Muttering under her breath, she spent 10 Aether from her earlier hunt. Instantly, her body began to change.

Her gargoyle shell morphed and reformed into an imposing figure of a mature woman in her early twenties. Draped in a dark grim reaper’s cloak, she now looked every bit the harbinger of death she once was, with the addition of her pretty face and sexy naked figure beneath the clothes.

Meanwhile, Gawain observed her transformation with a deep frown. He was surprised to see her here.

"Demon Lord Fleur? I thought she had escaped this district long ago. Why is she still here?"

Arthur and Gawain had been tracking escaped ECD entities, including Fleur, ever since the breach. Her abrupt disappearance from their radar had led them to believe she’d fled the area.

Fleur, clearly uninterested in explaining herself, adjusted her cloak and began to walk away. Before vanishing into the shadow of a nearby tree, she raised her middle finger to the two men in a parting gesture.

"Why is she always like this?" Gawain groaned, frustrated by her rude behavior. Then, he turned to Carn, "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing much. I stole all her Aether, trapped her soul in a coin for a while, and then resurrected her by putting that soul into a corpse. Oh, I made sure the original owner of the body had passed on before I did it."

"…"

Carn changed the subject. "Anyway, can you guide me to the ECD facility?"

Gawain narrowed his eyes, "What are you planning to do at the facility? If this is about killing more people?"

"Who said anything about killing?" Carn interrupted with a sigh. "I’m just visiting some people. Speaking of which, do you know where the Ferryman and Akashic Grimoire are contained?"

"ECD-7 and ECD-8888? Why are you visiting them?"

"I need their help."

.

.

Meanwhile, at an ECD base miles away, a cargo plane touched down on the airstrip.

As the plane’s hatch lowered, machines disembarked from the cargo plane in synchronized formation, each cladding in advanced battlesuits bristling with weaponry. On their backs, massive railguns were hoisted. Each machine also wielded two plasma generator handles resembling lightsabers.

As they filed into perfect ranks, their commander, Lt. Gen. Ferdinand, stepped forward to address them.

Ferdinand scanned the line of cold, unfeeling machines. He then smacked his lips in frustration as he hadn’t planned to activate these cutting-edge units so soon.

Clearing his throat, he began briefing the units.

"Listen up! Thanks to some kiddy f-cker’s mess, y’all are being activated ahead of schedule. Consider this a warm-up mission before we throw you into the real sh-tstorm over at the Florida Rift!"

Reaching into his pocket, Ferdinand pulled out a remote and pressed a button. Instantly, a large holographic display flickered to life, showcasing a portrait of a young man: Carn Yunho. Alongside his image were snapshots of his gargoyle form in action.

Ferdinand continued, pointing a laser from his remote at the display.

"This thing is a new loose entity, codename ECD-0173 or ’Gargoyle.’ Let me make this clear. It’s not some runaway kid or the passive ECD-6677 that you met in the past. It’s a killing machine with a long-range teleportation ability, and it LOVES to kill people by snapping their necks like twigs!"

Ferdinand pressed another button, shifting the hologram to a series of grim recordings. Captured from the helmet cams of fallen soldiers and the surveillance feeds from local CCTV.

The videos played out horrifying moments of Carn in action. One showed a slow-motion video of him materializing behind a soldier, twisting the man’s neck before vanishing again.

"Here’s what we know. 50-cal rounds? Useless. Tank shells? Don’t even bother. Mana tranquilizers? Waste of time. Hell, even concentrated railgun blasts don’t leave a scratch on this bastard! But..."

He paused dramatically, letting his words hang in the air.

"We’ve identified a glaring weakness. This thing stops moving whenever one of our elites maintains direct visual contact with it. Eyes on, and it freezes, like a certain time angel in TV!"

He turned to his Terminators, changing into a solemn tone, "Now listen carefully. Our mission isn’t to kill. It’s to contain. The humans will handle the negotiation. But to pull this off, you’ll need to keep your cameras on at all times. The operators at HQ will take turns monitoring live feeds to suspend their movement. If you lose sight of it, you’ll lose control of the situation, and you’re DEAD! DEADER THAN DEAD!"

The machines remained eerily still, noting the complex commands.

Ferdinand let out a deep exhale. He glared at his forces, jabbing the air with his finger.

"Do whatever it takes to keep that thing in your sights. Corner it, contain it, and don’t let it outsmart you. That’s your mission. OPERATION "GARGOYLE FISHING" ARE GO!!"