Lord of Cinder in American Comics

"Ever since I came into contact with that dragon egg that sealed time in your world, even with the help of the Time Stone, I can no longer see the future."

Or rather, no one will be able to see the future through the Time Stone anymore; the power of time has already begun to flow in your world.

Pushing the Time Stone toward Orbeck, the Ancient One said, "You've read the books about the Time Stone, so I believe you can use it too. Give it a try."

Half-believing, half-doubting, Obek picked up the gem and put it on his chest, then formed the secret hand seals according to the instructions in the book.

Sure enough, the Time Stone trembled for a moment before finally settling down.

Obek didn't believe it and kept trying. This time, he used the gem to perform a secret spell on the teacup on the table.

The tea in the teacup slowly sank, while the water in the teapot overflowed.

Having confirmed that the gem in his hand was genuine and that what the Ancient One said was true, Orbeck returned the gem to the Ancient One.

After resealing the gem into the Eye of Agamotto, the Ancient One slowly said, "You have inherited the power of time. Your ability to taste is evidence of the flow of time. After all, I remember that the Undead have no sense of taste."

Obek did not respond, but simply picked up his teacup, took small sips, and savored the taste of the tea.

“I have seen the past of your world through the gem, and I have also carefully looked at Ash’s past. Since he can take on the responsibility of linking the fire and keep moving forward for it, he will also take on the responsibility of protecting this world.”

Orbeck understood the Ancient One's reasoning and agreed with her decision, but he felt a pang of reluctance to once again place the world's burdens on his disciple's shoulders.

“I will tell other people about this and ask for their opinions, but ultimately it is Ash’s decision to make.”

Orbeck compromised, though he knew in his heart that only the Fire Keeper and Karula would likely fully support all of Ash's decisions. The others might not.

Meanwhile, the forces of Londor, represented by Yulia, will continue to push Ash to the throne.

The world in the painting is now under the control of the young lady, and Gale is completely obedient to her, making him an asset to Ash.

As for the gods, those who were originally tasked with linking the fire, ever since Ash proposed changing the outcome of linking the fire, they have all been eager to regain their freedom.

Lorrian went so far as to hand over Lothric's entire military force to Ash, all in order to allow his brother Lothric to leave.

Aside from the armed forces handed over by the Lords of Cinder, Ash's forces consist only of Lothric Castle and the Ringed City.

Even though Orbeck knew the truth, he still added the condition that Ash should make the decision herself, even though he knew that Ash, who was carrying the Dark Souls world forward, would definitely agree.

'Embers without fire, you must have your mission, must you?'

Feeling a pang of responsibility towards Ash, Orbeck bid farewell to the Ancient One.

“Ancient One, I’m leaving now. I promised my foolish disciple that I would rebuild Dragon Academy, and now I’m going to fulfill that promise.”

Faced with the pressure on Ash, Orbeck felt it was necessary to train a group of mages to assist him, so that they wouldn't be inferior to him in any aspect.

As he spoke, Obek reached out and drew circles in front of himself with his staff, and flames flickered and gathered to form a portal for the arcane mages.

Across the portal was Obek's residence in Kathmandu. Unlike the others, Obek had a burning spiral sword stuck in his house.

"Have a safe journey. As agreed, the first group of exchange scholars from Kamar-Taj will also depart soon."

The Ancient One nodded to Orbeck, watching Orbeck's portal disappear before her eyes.

At this moment, on Brokeland Island, Stark was practically grabbing Ashe by the neck and demanding to know what he meant.

"Were you abandoned by your teacher or what?"

"I think he means, do it my way?"

Ash was a little unsure, as Orbeck had been sending intelligence to Firelink Shrine ever since he went to Kathmandu.

Obek, a former spy, even thoroughly investigated the composition of Kathmandu's population, the number and classification of mages, and the weaknesses in its defenses.

This ambiguous answer may truly mean that Ash is leaving the decision to himself.

During the few minutes Ash hesitated, the tornado in the sky grew even larger, and the bottom of the tornado touched the ground.

"Regardless of whether you were abandoned by your master or not, we need to move to a different location now, as that thing is about to spread here."

Without hesitation, Ash turned and informed General Hammer to give orders to the Marines to evacuate the hostages to the island.

## Chapter Sixty-Two: The Gunslinger

After informing General Hammer and entrusting Stark to Sandman and his squad for protection, Ash went to find Cassel and his daughter Alex.

Following the route Kassel had taken, Ash found the two people being held captive in a small kiosk, where other hostages were also gathered.

Hammer's orders had reached every soldier, and the soldiers led the hostages to begin evacuating. Intimidated by the soldiers' weapons, no one dared to do anything wrong.

“Casel, we have to leave. This place will soon be covered by that tornado.”

At that moment, Cassel crouched down, holding his daughter, and it seemed he had maintained this position for a long time. Ash's arrival broke the touching father-daughter scene.

Seeing Ash in such a hurry, Cassell asked, puzzled, "Didn't you persuade that general?"

Ash pointed to the strange celestial phenomenon overhead and said, "It's not about the poison gas anymore. The energy of that unusual phenomenon is enough to destroy the entire East Coast. We need to evacuate to a safer place before the tornado hits the ground."

After saying that, Ash grabbed Cassell and Alex and headed in the direction of evacuation.

"Wait, you're the military, you should be protecting others."

A voice, clearly that of a child, spoke the words of a child.

Looking in the direction of the voice, a little boy with black hair, wearing a thin hoodie and covered in dirt, said the words above to Ash.

Beside him was a black man in a black trench coat, covered in dust, who was holding the little boy's hand to prevent him from bumping into Ash.

“Child, we evacuated to protect the people here. Nobody knows what’s behind that strange celestial phenomenon.”

Ash was always patient with the child, explaining the reasons for their actions to the little boy.

"No, you must cooperate with Gunslinger to stop him from arriving."

The boy's words jolted Ash awake from her dream, making her realize that the person in front of her was the target of the strange celestial phenomenon.

"Kid, can you tell me who the gunslinger we should cooperate with is?"

The boy obediently looked at the black man behind him, waiting for the man's response.

Ash reached out his hand to the Black man in a friendly gesture, but it turned out that only Ash awkwardly extended his hand into the air.

"He comes from Middle-earth and doesn't quite understand Earthly etiquette."

Ash crouched down to the child's eye level, looked into the child's eyes, and said, "So, child, what can you tell me? Only with relevant information can I tell the troops on the ground what to do."

The boy slowly explained the origin of the story. It turned out that the child's name was Jack, and he often dreamed of a gunslinger traveling to different worlds.

After an argument with his parents, the boy impulsively went to a place he had encountered in his dream, and ended up in a parallel world by a twist of fate.

In a parallel world, Jack encounters the Gunslinger from his dreams. The Gunslinger understands Jack's uniqueness and prepares to follow Jack's dream to find the Man in Black and stop him from destroying the world.

However, Jack's parents on Earth were approached by the Men in Black and brutally murdered, leaving the boy to rely on the Gunslinger for survival.

They came to Brokeland Island because it has a teleportation machine that leads to the area where the Men in Black are located, but it seems that the Men in Black have acted first.

After listening to the little boy Jack's story, Ash finally understood what had happened. It's no wonder that America is so full of misfortunes; all sorts of things happen here.

"Gunman, is that right? What's your name?"

"Roland Deshan".

"Bring the kids and come with me. We need to discuss how to deal with this big problem."

With Gunslinger and Jack in tow, followed by Cassel and Alex, Ash led them to the command room on the second floor.

At this moment, everyone is in the command room helping to pack up their belongings in preparation for evacuation.

"General Hammer, I've figured it out. The celestial phenomena outside are because..."

He recounted Jack's story to the others in the command room, explaining the reasons behind it.

Stark always gets to the heart of the matter, asking, "Why is that man in black looking for the child?"

"Because this child possesses powerful spiritual energy, he can be turned into a weapon by the men in black to attack the pillar of the world—the Dark Tower."

Gunslinger's explanation, however, raised another question. Stark continued, "The Dark Tower, what is that?"

"That is the pillar of Middle-earth and many other worlds. Without it, many worlds would perish."

At this point, Gunslinger Roland tried to explain the support system of the world, but after thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with the right words to explain it.

Seeing the gunslinger's predicament, Ash stepped forward and explained in a language everyone could understand.

"Middle-earth and the other worlds are like soap bubbles clustered together, and the Dark Tower is the space in the middle formed by the other bubbles. If this space is broken, the other worlds will also shatter."

Stark then understood and said with some pride, "Isn't this the cosmic bubble hypothesis? Hawking gave a popular science lecture on the universe a few months ago, which introduced the theoretical conjecture. Didn't you guys watch it?"

No one paid attention to Stark's smugness; the others, realizing the gravity of the situation, began to re-plan the mission objectives.

"This child is the key. Release the rest of the hostages and we will organize a defense on the spot. The existing fortifications can be put to good use."

General Hammer quickly assigned the military tasks, and the Marines moved into position.

Seeing everyone taking action, Gunslinger Roland stepped forward and said, "I can help too, but I need some bullets."

As he spoke, Roland lifted his trench coat, revealing two revolvers hidden beneath it.

"Anderson, come here and find some bullets for this gunslinger. Also, after the mission is over, you'd better write me a proper operation report."

Hammer practically gritted his teeth as he said this; one of the hostages was even armed, and Anderson's hostage vetting work had been a complete mess.

Ash then informed the three people outside the island that the military and Foborough would begin sending armed personnel to the island as soon as possible, but due to the previous blockade, there were no ships available for deployment at the moment.

Now, only the combat personnel and Stark, who was unwilling to retreat to the depths of the island, remained at the service station. Cassell was resting in the command room with Jack and Alex.

Dark clouds had covered the entire sky, and the condensing tornado had touched the ground. Gradually, the fog on the ground became thicker and thicker, eventually connecting with the sky to form a cone shape.

Ash and Roland stood at the front line observing the strange phenomena in the sky. Ash casually asked, "Roland, where is the Dark Tower you mentioned?"

Roland pointed to the cone-shaped tornado in front of them and said, "It's right there."

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Wishing you all good health. Please don't stay up late, exercise more, and maintaining good health is the most important thing.

## Chapter Sixty-Three: The Orc Invasion

"You mean, this giant cone-shaped tornado in front of us is the Dark Tower?" Ash asked incredulously, pointing at the massive tornado.

"Yes, the man in black could only destroy it if he was inside the space where the Dark Tower was located."

"So you just let a bad guy stay outside the bank vault, waiting for him to find a time to blow it up?"