Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

This blow was heavier, more powerful, and more difficult to resist than any other blow she had ever received. Lunicia didn't even have time to hold on for a moment before she was smashed into the rubble with her sword. The Gog giant seemed to be tired of playing the cat and mouse game. Its brain, which was on the edge of anger, drove its one arm to smash her into a pool of minced meat with the next blow.

Yet, something was shining.

It is beating and expanding, just like the rhythm of life.

…That is light.

The light is shining, the light is beating, the light is expanding, and the light is turning into the rhythm of life.

--It's now.

The light dissolved the rubble, dissolved the broken houses, dissolved one shoulder and half of the head of the Gog giant!

The sharp blade of light and the giant arm of flesh and blood crossed each other, and Lunicia's body flew backwards with blood splattered, while the legs of the Gug giant went limp and it was difficult to control its body for a while.

Lunicia could feel that the Gog Giant didn't have much life left.

As long as she could use the Holy Slash of the same level once more, she would be able to completely evaporate the remaining life of the Gug Giant without a doubt. However, she no longer had such an opportunity - in order to swing this sword, she had to withstand the Gug Giant's frontal punch.

Her eyes went dark, and her brain became blank and fuzzy from the impact. Even so, she was still clear that her ribs were either broken or cracked, and many of her organs were bleeding. What she vomited out of her mouth was not only blood, but also gastric juice and fragments of internal organs. Even though she was unconsciously using holy healing to alleviate her injuries, it was only a drop in the bucket and she was barely able to keep on breathing.

Like a rootless petal, like drifting snow, her body seemed no longer heavy, but light, even when she fell to the ground. She struggled, trying to get her broken body back on its feet, but it was a futile effort. All she could do was simply turn her body over and support herself with the arm that was not broken.

Blood oozed from his skin and gushed out from the wound. Although it was clearly a blunt injury, the amount of blood flowing was enough to form a small lake beneath his body.

She wanted to take a breath, but in reality, the blood just kept flowing out of her mouth and nose.

She didn't want to give up, but she really didn't see any hope.

Even so, she still didn't want to give up.

She looked at the small, once-delicate piece of rust, which had fallen out of her completely shattered breastplate during the tumble just now, and fell in front of her with a clanking sound.

It was a small box, so rusted that the lid would never close again from such a simple collision.

Inside was an equally tiny ruby ​​brooch.

The ruby ​​was engraved with an intricately winged shield, and the gold was surrounded by a floral and leafy pattern.

It does look very exquisite, but if it were any other time, it would inevitably be considered tacky.

But if...if I knew its story, I probably wouldn't say that.

It was the first gift given to his wife by a husband who failed to fulfill his responsibilities in the last few days of his life.

——did not come.

The Gug Giant was indeed seriously injured, but Lunisia believed that the blow just now was not enough to make it completely unable to move. It could have waved its arms, which had little strength left, to further break its broken body. In the end, it did not do so. Even though its figure had come behind Lunisia, it just raised its arms and then stood there stupidly.

Lunicia turned her head with difficulty, staring with her eyes that could hardly see, trying to figure out what was going on.

There, between her body and the Gog giant, the ghoul priest who was waiting to watch the execution show also had a look of astonishment on his face.

The huge body of the Gug giant was shaking uncontrollably. The arm that was already half-swung suddenly stopped in mid-air. From the five fingers to the upper arm, it was shaking and twitching violently, looking painful and tormented.

She saw it.

The pair of eyes that should have never opened again were now fixed on the ruby ​​brooch.

The man's face showed struggle, pain, and unspeakable sorrow.

In the end, he just cried silently.

"……sorry……"

While trembling, the only remaining giant arm bent on its own and fiercely pierced through its own huge mouth.

Amid the interwoven blood and tears, the giant woven of sin stopped moving.

It knelt on its knees, bending its body slightly, as if in confession.

But no one knows what it is repenting for.

Chapter 27: Pray and then receive a miracle

Anders Amoumian couldn't comprehend what was happening.

Even though he survived for a hundred years thanks to the gift from the Twins of Blasphemy, and finally succeeded in transforming himself into a leader among ghouls, accumulating countless evil knowledge and horrific rituals, and ranking at the forefront of the Holy Family both in battle and in hosting sacrifices, he still could not understand what was happening before his eyes.

Use the filthy earth magic to bind the soul of the tortured dead, then capture a Gug giant as a carrier, sew the dead body, soul and Gug giant's body together with a blasphemous ritual, then nail iron spikes engraved with magic runes into various parts of the meat puppet, wait until those iron spikes completely melt under the effect of magic, and a Gug giant puppet full of dark magic and capable of rapid regeneration is completed.

According to the records of "Corpse Eater Fragments", the Gog giant puppet created by this ritual is not only extremely powerful and difficult to kill due to its rapid regeneration ability, but also completely obeys the orders of the caster and there is absolutely no danger of it getting out of control.

So what is the situation now?

Why did the Gog Giant suddenly get out of control?

Why did the Gog suddenly commit suicide?

Why can't the Gog giant, who can crush mortals like slaughtering ants, take down a little girl?

Just because she entered the mayor's office where no ghouls could find it?

The ghoul priest even forgot the pain of having half of his face torn off. He was completely immersed in shock and disbelief, so much so that it took him a long time to realize that the object of his immense hatred was not dead yet and was still lying on the ground with difficulty.

Thinking of this, he immediately threw away all the unpleasantness in his mind. After all, although he lost a powerful chess piece, his goal was barely achieved - as long as he killed her, everything would return to the original track. Even if there were three rats sneaking into the town, they were just the level that ghouls and zombies could easily deal with. There was no need to worry at all. They would not affect the outcome of this feast, and would not interrupt his annual opportunity to vent his hatred.

It lay on its back, making strange noises in its throat, as if mucus was wriggling and churning.

That was the signal to assemble, that was the instruction to prepare for dinner.

Attracted by the strange sound, the motionless zombies began to move again, like stone statues that had shed their shells. They crawled on all fours, one after another, swarming over the hill of rubble, and at the order of the priest, formed a ritualistic circle. There were so many of them that they had to form two full layers of circles before they were complete.

In the center of the circle that looked like a dining table, Lunicia was still struggling.

Holy healing was working slowly and slightly, allowing her to move her body and bend her knees, changing from a prone position to a half-kneeling position. She held the hilt of the sword with her unbroken right hand, and lifted it from the ground with all her strength. After repeated failures, she inserted it into the gravel as a support point for herself to stand up.

Alas, how ugly.

He leaned almost the entire weight of his body on the blade, and used almost all his strength to support his body. Even so, he could only lie on the sword as if he was about to fall down, with one hand holding the hilt and the other hand hanging down weakly. His knees could not be straightened at all, and his legs covered in blood just barely managed to keep from kneeling down.

The light of the red moon shone through the gap in the ceiling and shone on her body, making her blood-covered body even more crimson, weak, yet determined.

What else can she do?

She didn't even have time to mourn the unknown mayor.

The ghouls gathered in circles, just to devour her as the beginning of the feast.

Those gentle brown eyes were blurry due to blood loss, dim due to sorrow, but there was no trace of despair.

She couldn't help but think of that question again.

She was still at a loss: God's words were vague, and he only asked her to go to the so-called place of destiny, kicking her out of the safe birdcage and sending her to a place that was unknown to her. She didn't know what she should do, why she did it, what else she could do besides following God's will and obeying God's revelation, and what kind of will she could have.

So she asked herself in her heart:

——Is this my destiny?

——Is this where I am buried?

——Is what I have now all there is in my life?

——Is this all I can do?

She had already thought about this question when she was facing the evil god's light that was about to pierce through her in the forest.

No, no, no, she answered all these questions with no.

I don't admit that this is my fate, nor do I admit that I will die here, and I don't think this is all there is to my life. I want to reach out my hand, I want to swing my sword, I want to help more people, I want to save more lives, I want to avoid more tragedies, I want to resolve more sorrows, I want to add some color to this world that is dying bit by bit.

She thought back to her godfather who had raised her.

She recalled the holy warrior predecessor with black hair and black eyes who loved cigarettes and alcohol.

She thought about the people in her team who were still alive and those who had passed away.

She recalled figures in rich dresses, faces of grieving men, children sleeping in despair.

She recalled the version of herself with the same face that she had never faced before.

She had previously thought that it might be a messenger of an evil god, a follower of darkness, but now she no longer thought so. Her consciousness became cold and blurred in the pain, and in her intermittent thoughts, Lunicia was just thinking, if she had the same face as herself, would she have the same wish as herself?

A small and ordinary wish.

Fight for more people.

"...I...don't want to...die here..."

I will never sleep here.

As the ghouls were praying before the meal, Lunicia tore the cloth strips from her broken armor and tied her immobile left hand to the hilt one by one. Only in this way could she barely swing the sword with her broken left arm. Her legs were shaking as she stood still. Her arms, which had reached their limit, raised the sword, and the tip of her sword pointed at the ghoul priest who was presiding over the holy communion ceremony.

There's no chance of winning, is there?

But it doesn’t matter.

If you want to say why...

"I won't let you die here."

It was as if the voice came from the lonely blood moon.

What followed was a storm of death!

The scattered black blades were like rain of steel, and the roaring hot explosions were like lightning and thunder. In just a moment, the zombies in the inner circle had all died in the baptism of iron rain and thunder!

That light figure was so graceful, as if dancing, dancing a wonderful ballet, accompanied by the sound of "click, click". In the extreme silence after the explosion subsided, the black iron feet like high heels stepped in front of Lunicia. There, the girl with black hair and golden eyes was looking down at her, staring at her with those cold and lonely eyes, and stretched out her hand to her, stretched out that beautiful but thin, skeletal iron hand.

Chapter 28: The Sword of the Avenger

He woke up from an iron coffin, and after he climbed out, even the coffin itself had decayed and turned into a wisp of smoke floating in the air.

I was at a loss, confused, with no complete memory in my mind. The originally neat circuits in my electronic brain seemed to have turned into a bunch of weeds, with only confused emotions and fragmented thoughts.

The knowledge and methods of using power are still engraved in the deepest part of the mind, without wear and tear or consumption. The only thing that is lost is something called memory.

However, I still remember some things.

For example, I am a defective product, an imperfect creation, a kind of tool.

These are what her father told her. Who is her father? She has no impression, but she vaguely remembers that there is such a person. She was born for his purpose, and being able to do something for him is the supreme honor for a defective product like her. Her father once told her that she is incomplete, but there is indeed a truly complete existence in the world that can make her complete. If she wants to become "useful" and no longer be a "defective product", then she should look for that complete one.

However, this is not what she really cares about.

Wandering in the long time, approaching death again and again, and then recovering again and again, the pain never diminished, but became more and more severe. She didn't understand why she was the only one in the world who couldn't be liberated, while everyone else could be liberated in the blooming of the flower of flesh and blood and go to a paradise full of happiness.

Every moonlit night, she stayed high up, getting closer to the blood moon hanging in the sky. She felt that the moon might be as lonely as she was. Whenever she bathed in the light of the blood moon, she would think about why.

Because she is defective?

Until she stood on the high tower, until she was surprised to see the girl with the same face as her, she missed the Messiah she had never seen, her Messiah. She wanted to find the complete Messiah, but not to become complete, just to get a key to where her father was.

Then she wanted to ask her father.

"why?"

……

Lunicia didn't understand why the other party did this.

Even so, she still held that hand, that beautiful and thin iron hand.

It looked so slender and weak, yet it held her hand so firmly, as if extending a helping hand to a drowning person, pulling her out of the abyss of helplessness.

She stared at the face, a face that was similar to her own but more delicate.

The pale face was not expressionless, but that expression was too aloof, too focused, and too indifferent, like a plain and noble flower. The golden pupils shone in the dark night, like the pure moonlight, intoxicating and bringing peace to people.

As if encouraged, her originally weak legs seemed to regain some strength, and Lunicia stood up again.

"What on earth are you...?"

In the dissipated black smoke, a sticky and confused voice came from it. The ghoul priest looked down at the two people with similar faces, anger and doubts entangled it at the same time. Everything that happened today made it feel incomprehensible and unhappy. This feeling accumulated again and again, and finally reached its peak at this moment.

However, the crippled girl did not answer its question, nor did she even look at it. She just stared at Lunicia, as if Lunicia was the only one in her eyes.

"…Kill her."

This made the Ghoul Priest completely lose his patience.

In its judgment, although the wave of attacks that came from the sky just now was indeed terrifying and the zombies in the inner circle didn't even have a chance to resist before they turned into broken corpses, that kind of attack didn't seem to be the type that could be launched continuously - whether it was flying knives or bombs, there was no extra space on the body of the disabled girl in front of it to place them. In other words, the previous wave of attacks was probably the last one.

Although she had a metal half body, she was nothing like the "fighting machine" that the ghoul priest understood. Her slender and elegant limbs were completely flashy. It did not think that this work of art machine had the ability to deal with the remaining half of the ghouls.