Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

This sounds really ironic and ridiculous.

With this little distracting thought, my mood could no longer remain so stable. I seemed to have been here for too long. It was already late when I came in, so what time was it now? How many hours were left before the 12 o'clock limit? Minutes? Seconds? The sense of time became blurred as the killing unfolded. I was not tired yet, but I didn't know if I would have the chance to be tired. I couldn't confirm the current time with my companions. I was afraid that even if I asked such questions unconsciously, I would ignore the answer that came with the wind in a certain swing of the sword.

——Then, what happened?

My consciousness was blown away, and then completely severed, leaving only a horrible gap in my memory that was difficult to cross. It was impossible to cross it. After all, the gap was so wide, like a short nap.

"Lady Luna, listen to me - um... next, you may have to break through the blockade of the ritual site by yourself."

——What are you talking about? Ella... Ella Hepper, didn't you say you wanted to go together?

She barely remembered what happened, but her consciousness was still intermittent and it was difficult to connect into a decent piece for a while. It seemed that Ella was also very clear about Lunicia's current condition. Moreover, the sound coming from behind was getting worse and worse, and the pain in her body was becoming more and more obvious. The current situation did not allow her to delay any longer. She took out the remaining potion from her waist bag, sprinkled the external potion into Lunicia's armor, and fed the internal potion and the powerful energy potion into Lunicia's mouth.

In order to ensure the effect and to ensure that this would not be delayed too long, Ella used everything she had on her.

While the consequences are foreseeable, the effects are also significant enough - the disconnected thoughts are reconnecting, the pain in the body is easing, and even the wounds are healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The energy is fully squeezed out, constantly replenished and invigorated. Perhaps after everything is over, she will immediately collapse from excessive fatigue, but at least now, Lunicia's consciousness is clearer than ever, and it seems that her condition has not only returned to the peak, but is even stronger.

"Ahem, ahem... Ella, what did you just give me to drink?"

"Vitality potion, heroism potion, powerful healing potion, energy potion, and so on." Ella's words were quick but clear, and her movements were still gentle, as if she was afraid of accidentally hurting Lunicia. "Lady Luna, I'll leave it to you to stop the ceremony."

"Wait, what about you, you and Ash—"

"We will stay here and hold 'her' back...wait for your good news."

The purple and black swords were originally placed on the ground, but now Ella picked them up again and held them in her hands.

She smiled as if trying to be relaxed, but the smile could not hide the gradually expanding bloodstains on her abdomen. It did not look like the blood splashed when she killed the enemy, but rather like... blood oozing out of her body.

"Let's go, Master Luna, my savior."

Before that, she had already straightened Lunicia's body, allowing her to stand up easily after regaining her strength. There seemed to be nothing she could do here, and she had given Lunicia everything she had, and it seemed that because of this, her smile became more relaxed.

“Ella…”

Lunicia seemed to want to say something, but when the words came to her lips, she seemed unable to say anything.

Her strength was gradually returning, but even so, she still couldn't lift her arms, and it seemed that she didn't even have the chance to reach out and hold on.

She knew what Ashlee was doing—so she couldn't stop Ella either.

"... Make sure you stay safe."

"Well, I will wait for your return, my savior."

She turned around and took a step towards the battlefield that did not belong to Lunisia.

The powder of the raw gemstone flickered, and the invisible wall of force isolated the image and sound. As a result, Lunicia could no longer see the back of the pink-haired girl. It seemed that only the magic gem at hand, which retained its magic power and was used to activate the last resort, could prove to Lunicia that she did have such a travel companion.

……

What happened then?

Not only Lunicia was thinking about this, but Ella Hepper was also thinking about it. However, Lunicia was thinking about regaining the memory that was temporarily lost in the impact, while Ella was thinking about what to do next.

How can we win? How can we save our lives?

No.

There is one thing to think about, only one, and only one.

——How can we delay it for longer?

After arriving at the underground hall, the enemy's offensive slowed down. Although their morale remained and they were still able to organize their offensive as before, they seemed unable to withstand the continued loss of men and were forced to slow down their pace. They watched Lunicia and her party bypass the dungeon, pass through the warehouse, enter the storage room, and approach the final ceremony site.

At that time, it would mean that Lunisia and her group had achieved their goal, and it would also mean the failure of these guards.

But just when things were going so well, Lunicia was knocked away.

The first blow, a rapier shot straight from the end of the passage, pierced Lunicia's shoulder, and the excessive force pulled her body backwards.

The second attack came from "someone" in the same direction. He had already stepped forward before the rapier hit Lunicia. The speed was so fast and the force was so strong that it looked almost like he was flying in the passage, or even moving instantly. "Someone" grasped Lunicia's head with his hand, and before she could react from the residual force of the rapier, he smashed Lunicia into the wall.

With the third blow, "someone" pulled the rapier out of Lunisia's shoulder and stabbed it deep into her chest, piercing through her ribs and lungs.

With the fourth strike, the diaphragm was pierced. With the fifth strike, the tip of the sword shifted slightly downward. With the sixth strike, a hole was opened in the liver. With the seventh strike, the rapier slid past the spleen... "Someone" seemed to be doing something meaningless. He was neither enjoying himself nor fighting. It seemed that he was simply "completing some kind of work". After the rapier pierced into Lunicia's body twelve times, "someone" threw Lunicia's unconscious and broken body to the side without even glancing at her again.

Instead, the cold, slender, blood-bright vertical pupils stared at Ella and Ashetherin.

"Are you the enemy? Big~sisters~?"

The girl's voice was clear and pure, with the innocence of a child, like a clear spring with blood as its water.

Perhaps, as consciousness returned and memory returned, Lunicia was able to recall who the sudden attacker was - Rose, Rose, the rosy girl, the actor of "Pendulum Knight Schitzberg", a famous actor of the Muirand Theater. These titles seemed difficult to match with the dragonborn in front of her, but that appearance, those unique horns, the slender red tail, the scarlet dragon scales, each of them revealed her identity.

Why her? This is something that only Lunicea would think about.

To Ella, she was just an enemy that needed to be held back—an enemy that had to be held back no matter what.

Her expression was so solemn and focused that she ignored Ashlee who had chosen to fight in order to buy time, and forgot about Lunicia who didn't know whether she could reach the finish line. All she had eyes for was the scarlet enemy - the dragon-like existence.

"What's going on? What's going on? Can mechanical puppets bleed? What color is the blood of mechanical puppets~?"

The ornate silver rapier, though of good quality, did not seem to be her usual weapon and had long been thrown aside by her. Now, Rose was stabbing her empty hand into Ashlee's shoulder, penetrating deep and deep until the beautiful blue liquid splashed out of the wound, fell to the ground, and turned into specks of sand.

"It's so beautiful, I can't help but want to see more... But what a pity..."

"What is there to be sorry about?"

"The hands and legs are already broken. If the neck is also broken, wouldn't it be too early and boring to end? The elder sister is obviously a mechanical puppet, so she should be more interesting~"

Just as she said, Ashlee's hands and feet, those delicate mechanical creations like works of art, were now in a miserable state of twisted knots, twisted and broken, and thrown away like shards of glass. The broken parts were mixed with the dark blue liquid, making it difficult to distinguish between them.

"Even if it turns out like this, won't big sis scream? It's nothing big, how boring."

"Whatever you say..."

"Then it ends here—"

"——Do it!"

As Rose's arms were raised, the sound of a blade breaking through the air followed as Ashetherin's voice rang out.

Dazzling purple butterflies were flying everywhere. At the moment when the "Cruel Spell" took effect, Ella Heper stepped into the battlefield again, swinging the purple and black swords at the same time and slashing at Rose. She went all out from the first strike without reservation.

Ever since Rose had cut her side with her fingers and used the "Merge into the Shadow" technique to erase the trace, Ella had temporarily left the battlefield, not only to stabilize her injuries and treat Lunicia, but also for the long-awaited blow.

"Curse of the Cursed Sword", "Curse of Fragility", plus "Magic Slash" - this attack carried almost all the power that Ella Hepper could muster at the moment.

"Ashe! Can you still move?!"

"It'll be fine soon."

Because she was suppressed by Rose before, whenever she tried to regenerate, the newly repaired parts would be immediately destroyed again. In this case, even Ashetherin could not recover her combat effectiveness. Due to the gap created by Ashetherin's attack, she was able to repair her completely destroyed limbs.

However, the other party didn't seem to intend to give them too much time.

The historic walls were smashed, and dust spread everywhere. In the diffuse shadow, a red figure slowly stood up, neither hurried nor slow.

"Ha ha……"

She chuckled, and with a simple wave of her hand, she dispersed the dust and repelled Ella, who was waiting with sword at hand.

“Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha—”

She smiled happily, without any negative emotion, because of the simple and straightforward happiness and joy.

She was shaking her bright red tail, and the scales on her neck and wrists seemed to tremble slightly with pleasure, as if she didn't mind the shallow scar on her forearm caused by the sword.

After all, the wound was squirming and gathering together, and healed in the blink of an eye, leaving only a shallow red mark - why should we care about such a thing?

"Big sisters, the carnival is about to begin, huh?"

Different from the two who were on high alert, it seemed that for her who was laughing, this was not a fight with her life at stake.

It's just a game of torturing prey.

Chapter 49 Day 3: Rest

Lunicia was unaware of the battle situation on the other side. Everything seemed to have calmed down again. Only the bloodstains at her feet could prove that what had happened before was not an illusion.

Her strength had gradually recovered, but her wounds had not yet completely healed. However, Lunicia could not care less now. She could only try her best to endure the pain coming from her lungs, dragging the white giant sword, and slowly moving forward. There was no time to delay here any longer. She had to move forward as soon as possible and destroy the ceremony site - not only because the boundary of twelve o'clock was rapidly approaching, but also because someone was waiting for her.

——Hold on...

She swung her sword instinctively, and pounced out from the shadows to chop off the guards who were trying to attack her. Lunicia had become numb to the flowing blood and internal organs. She seemed to have become accustomed to using the giant sword to tear open flesh and chop apart those of her own kind who had no grudges against her but were naturally hostile to her.

Even so, her progress was still slow.

The wound was indeed healing slowly, and the strength was indeed gradually recovering, but the enemies here seemed to be no less numerous than those outside. This seemed to be the so-called last line of defense. The proportion of ordinary soldiers had been greatly reduced, and all those gathered here seemed to be professionals. This made it impossible for Lunicia to repeat her old tricks and take out the attacking guards one by one with her sword like cutting through wooden stakes.

However, in terms of the result, it was still her victory.

She used the sword skills she learned from Sestine Agris to deflect the attack, and then used the "Avenger" in her hand to cut off the flesh. Even though the enemy's strength and skills had improved significantly compared to before, they were still no match for her as a paladin at the professional level. What's more, Lunicia's sword skills and weapons had an insurmountable advantage. It was precisely because of this that she was able to break through obstructions and blockades again and again, overcome enemies and obstacles again and again, and slowly approach the door leading to the underground altar.

Why was the trap in the hall set up like this, requiring a very close distance to trigger? Lunicia didn't understand at first, but after Ella explained it to her, she realized the purpose of doing so: it was mainly to prevent being discovered before it was triggered. If the spell used to trigger the trap is compared to a "fuse", then a "fuse" that is too long will become easily detected. On the contrary, a short "fuse" is easier to hide, making the already inert trap difficult to detect.

But that doesn't matter anymore.

Quickly press the button to destroy everything here - then turn around and reunite with Ella and Ashlee, and everyone escapes from here safely.

He gripped the hilt of the sword tightly with his right hand, rotating the blade, blocking the incoming straight sword while striking back with his hand. His left hand was completely unaffected by the movements of the other hand, tightly grasping the crystal he got from Ella Heper.

Click, la——

In this ancient and spacious passage, the sound of crystal breaking sounded crisp and loud.

boom--! ! !

When she came to her senses, her body had been blown away. It was not because she forgot that she was close to one of the explosion points. Lunicia simply wanted to use the trap to clear the enemies around her. However, she slightly underestimated the small preparations made by Ella and Asheselin, so her right leg was blown off on the spot, and her consciousness was temporarily thrown to the distant and unreachable other side along with the buzzing sound in her ears.

The momentum was far greater than Lunicia had imagined. How many magic traps had been set up? How many bricks and stones had been secretly transformed into bombs? Her blank consciousness made it impossible for her to think at all. She could only follow her instinct to survive, piece things together bit by bit, and try to regain control of her body bit by bit.

What will happen next?

She didn't know, nor was she able to know. The huge impact tore open the wounds all over her body. Those wounds that could not be healed with the help of Ashetherin's prayers and healing potions were now bleeding, forming a shallow pool of blood under the body of the young holy warrior. She was even unable to confirm the results of her actions for a moment, and could only stare with lifeless eyes, waiting for consciousness to return.

What will happen next?

Perhaps Lunicia still has the energy to think about this kind of thing, but on the other hand, for Ashlee and Ella Hepper, there is no need to consider this kind of problem at all. They had no energy to consider it even before the explosion sounded.

"Gu...well..."

How was the progress with Lady Luna? She hadn't heard the explosion she had planned yet, and if she continued like this, she would probably not hear it even if the sound really happened on time.

Consciousness gradually dissipated as the blood flowed away. I seemed to have lost all feeling in my body, and the only thing left was the increasingly obvious coldness. My ribs must have been broken, and my spine seemed to be broken as well. I couldn't feel my legs at all, but even if my spine was intact, it wouldn't matter. These legs that had become like pulp couldn't support my body at all. My internal organs were also in a mess. If I cut open my stomach, I probably wouldn't be able to find a single intact place inside.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

What was frightening was that even though he knew how badly he was injured, he felt no pain at all. All he could feel was the cold and exhaustion, as if he was too tired to even move a finger. He could not see anything in front of him, and his broken eyeballs could not reflect any scene. But he could barely hear something in his ears, the sound of metal being crushed and happy laughter. Perhaps in that impenetrable darkness, Ashlee's condition was not much better than his own.

In fact, it was true. The pile of disassembled fragments that could not be recognized by shape, the messy mixture of flesh, blood and mechanisms, the object that was crushed one by one starting from the smallest component structure, even if it was still squirming and trembling, I am afraid no one could tell that it was the existence that was once called "Aishelin" - maybe there was an exception, but so what, the current "she" just couldn't die, which didn't mean she could do anything.

I really want to just close my eyes like this.

This way I can die, just like I wished for so long ago, and die as I wished.

But, now, we can't do that.

If I just close my eyes like this──wouldn't I be unable to do anything for the Savior?

Therefore, I couldn't close my eyes for the time being, and I couldn't die so simply, so I held the hilt tightly, and even though my fingers could hardly move, I never let go. But so what, what could I do if I just held the sword? My body couldn't move at all, and even if I didn't choose to give up, I was only one step away from the boundary called death.

Isn't it, Ella Hepper?

So what to do, wasn't it clear from the beginning? Ella Hepper? Why be timid, why be afraid, why hesitate at the last moment? Cold whispers echoed around, murmuring, admonishing, reminding, telling the only thing you can do, and that is what you must do. In fact, you have understood it from the beginning, haven't you? Only in this way can you make yourself most valuable to the savior, right?

So wasn’t it clear from the beginning what to do?

“…Dedicate yourself—”

The pink-haired girl opened her lips slightly and uttered such a weak and low voice.

That’s right, that’s it, that’s good.

They laughed and smiled as they watched the ending they wanted.

The pair of eyeballs embedded in the purple sword were looking at her, the pair of eyeballs embedded in the black sword were looking at her, the girls' eyes were full of cruel smiles, and the corners of their non-existent mouths were grinning. The twins were silent, waiting for what the madness in their consciousness expected - at the same time, at this moment, they were also what Ella Hepper needed.

"Is it broken already? It's nothing serious..."

The girl named Rose seemed to be unaware of anything. She just stepped lightly on the metal debris with the tip of her shoe and trampled on something that might have been an eyeball with the sole of her boot. The trembling stopped, and the wriggling stopped. Rose didn't know whether this meant the limit of regeneration or the end of immortality. It didn't matter to her. She only knew one thing, that the object in front of her seemed to be completely broken.

What is the truth? Regeneration has not reached its limit yet. As long as she continues to repair herself, Ashlee will still be immortal. However, she hesitated because of surprise and astonishment. She wanted to stop everything she "saw", but she finally found that she did not have the ability to do so.

why?