Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

Apart from the lingering malice like thick fog, there is almost nothing on them that can be called aura or presence. They do not make footsteps when moving, they are not blocked by obstacles, and they are not constrained by their shapes. Those shadows that look like performers can stretch and change their shapes at will and attack from incredible angles. Most of the mechanical puppets of "Iron Leviathan" have no magical defense methods, and naturally cannot deal with the "touch" from those shadows. They can only flee and stay away.

The consequences of being touched by it may not be unfamiliar to the "Iron Leviathan" side, but for Lunicia and her group, it is the first time that they have fully realized this.

"Ugh...I'm stuck!"

"Eland, cut off the contact!"

"Can't do it!"

The "Infiltrator" had both arms entangled by tentacles extending from the shadow, tightly bound. She did not look like she was tied up by ropes. The shadow entangled with her did not seem to exist in reality. It was more like a dark pattern on her arm, rapidly expanding on the surface of her body. The "Infiltrator" did not seem to be willing to give up, but even so, the effect was minimal. No matter how much she tried, only the parts that were not covered by black could tremble, and there was no possibility of breaking free.

At the same time, the shadow that was entangled with her opened its arms.

The tall figure in a dress walked slowly towards the "Infiltrator" named Elander as if to hug her.

"'White Eagle'! Cut off the connection between her limbs and torso!"

"It can't be done."

The "White Eagle" that was named immediately gave a negative answer.

With the current rate of erosion, it was almost impossible to separate her mind without causing any damage. It would be better to let "White Eagle" shoot and shatter her mind.

"Eland! Think of a solution! Your relatives and friends are still waiting for you to come back on the third floor, right?!"

"I am so sorry, Mr. Opera."

The "infiltrator" known as Elland did not look back, but stared coldly at the approaching shadow.

For some reason, the outline of that shadow seemed to overlap with a certain figure in my memory.

——Can mechanical dolls dream?

"Please break my mind, Mr. Opera."

However, before she could utter her final wish, her vision was covered by endless darkness.

"Elland?!"

Covered, minced, chewed, swallowed, there was only a black silhouette that was constantly squirming, but one could hear a chilling friction sound coming from it. After the shadow of the lady in the dress squirmed violently, it lost its own shape and turned into a black mark like a pool of water on the ground. Then, not long after, the mark began to squirm violently again, stretching and stretching - and then split into two.

One is the shadow of a lady in a formal dress.

The other is a shadow of the "Infiltrator".

"hateful……!"

Lusa Ephayet's face was instantly filled with anger.

"What's the situation with the special surveillance target?"

"Approaching from mid-air, there is a possibility of a surprise attack from the box area."

"Give me Marduk!"

"As ordered."

The roar and continuous fire from guns and artillery - submachine guns, rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, rocket launchers, portable walking artillery, all poured out ammunition under the command of the "Opera House". Even so, the impact on those shadows was very weak, just like throwing gravel into a lake, splashing a little ripples. The seemingly violent explosion was actually just accompanied by a roar and flash, causing those shadows to sway slightly.

Precisely because she knew the result from the beginning, the "Opera House" did not hold out any hope from the beginning. All she had to do was to attract the other party's attention as much as possible and buy time for the "special surveillance targets" on the list.

"Ashe! Roll over!"

"Um……"

Even without Ella Hepper's reminder, Ashlee knew exactly what to do.

Almost at the same time when the black dot appeared in the monitor's field of vision, Ashlee adjusted her flying posture immediately, avoiding the black tentacles that reached into the air from the ground, and the dark tentacles that shot out from a certain box. Unlike the high altitude where there was almost no shelter or obstruction, there were obstacles everywhere, and she had to carry Lunicia and Ella, and there were enemies everywhere. In this case, Ashlee had no way to fly directly to the center of the "Opera House" position at full speed, otherwise she would be shot down as soon as she started to speed up.

"The next wave is coming!"

"!"

Although Ashlee's monitor also captured this, her body was still in the inertia of the previous roll. Although she immediately increased her power to try to climb, it seemed that she was still a little slow and could not avoid the black tentacles that were stabbing straight at her. She was about to be hit by it.

Buzz——————!

The destructive white light sprayed out, intercepting with incredible precision between the shadow and Ashetherin.

As if it was quite strenuous, Rosa put one foot on the ground and the other on the barrel of "Conqueror Marduk", holding the handle while loading ammunition into the pitch-black giant cannon.

The shadow hit by the hot particle stream could not be seriously injured, but it also lost the opportunity to attack Ashtherin and could only be quickly withdrawn from mid-air.

"Charge! Charge as fast as you can!"

Just as the "Opera House" shouted, at this moment, there was no longer anything in the air above this magnificent stage that could stop Ashlee.

The mechanical wings then gathered momentum, and then released all their thrust.

"--elder sister?"

At this moment, everyone heard the low call.

The sound was weak, faint, ethereal, dreamy and yet real, like a lost child looking for the way home in the wilderness. If the child saw the navigation light, he would surely make such a sound, painful, confused, and mixed with unconcealable joy, as if the familiar door had appeared before his eyes, unable to suppress the bitterness and happiness surging in his heart.

"Sister, are you there?"

At this all-too-familiar call, Lusa Ephayet's expression twisted uncontrollably.

Chapter 22: The Doll's Rejection

My beloved one.

Please forgive me.

Forgive my mistakes, my cowardice, my powerlessness and incompetence.

My beloved one.

Please forgive me.

Forgive my regret, my pain, my sorrow and sadness.

My beloved one—

……

"My... beloved..."

She is looking at you, the invisible girl on the stage.

She is smiling at you.

Once again, once again, showing you that smile in your memory, even if you deny it, regard it as a disguise, a fake, a false mask, anima-animus, you are familiar with the profile of the character you have created, and because you are familiar with it, you feel fear now.

That’s why she showed such an expression because she was deeply frightened.

Her face was pale, her fingertips were trembling, and her voice was filled with mixed emotions. She had only one focus in her sight, in the middle of the stage, in the crowd of people surrounded by shadows, only that figure was so bright and eye-catching, as if everything around it had lost its color, and only that familiar silhouette remained. How could she forget the time she had spent with that shadow, the journey she had taken with that shadow. She still remembered how she had mocked the taste of the "Iron Leviathan", choosing cloth for her, sewing clothes, looking, looking, she remembered it clearly, from that clear outline, you could not see the warrior's attire, you could only see the hem of the girl's skirt.

She was standing there.

With a mixture of bewilderment, confusion, joy and shyness, she caressed the fingertips of her left and right hands, like a girl at a loss in front of her beloved.

"My beloved——"

"Sister, are you there?"

"Shut up……"

"Sister, I can't see anything..."

"Shut up--"

"Sister, Sister Lusa, um...you...are you finally here to pick me up?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"Sister, Sister Lusa, are you angry? Um, did Leah say anything strange? Did Leah do anything that would make you sad? I'm right here. I won't run away to a place where Sister Lusa can't find me. I won't disappear casually again. So Sister Lusa, um, let Leah hear Sister Lusa's voice - let Leah touch Sister Lusa's fingertips... okay?"

She is looking at you, the invisible girl on the stage.

That is the true appearance of her whom you love.

"Sister Lusa, I'm, well, it's a bit embarrassing to say this, but..."

"Shut up, shut up, right now... don't..."

"But, because I wanted to make Sister Rosa happy, I also went to learn poetry and drama. Although I don't remember who the teacher was..."

You've been looking forward to it, haven't you?

I hope to be born like an ordinary sister, and hope to die like an ordinary sister, from dawn to dusk, from cradle to grave.

"don't want……"

"Life is so beautiful."

"don't want……"

Just like a broken phonograph, it starts to creak again with the sound of rust, the gears start to work, and the broken record starts to spin again. What it can produce is not the sweet sound that makes people happy, but only the creepy and chilling notes. No matter how beautiful the voice of the lark with its tongue plucked out is, no matter how loud the voice of the singer with his vocal cords cut out is, no matter how smoothly the music box with its spring removed runs, they are all false, fictitious, forged, and should not exist and should be erased.

Just like it is now.

Time and again, over and over again, today I also heard that cursed song.

"My beloved, will you still offer me your fallen petals now?"

"Ah, ah ah..."

Sweet, greasy, sweet and delicious - how nice it would be if I could always hear that voice, sometimes I would have such thoughts. Maybe that is the voice born for me, maybe that is the proof of my natural singing voice, listen, listen, she is just as I expected, singing, chanting, mastering all kinds of complex and difficult singing and intonation, whether it is opera, idol stage, dubbing work, poetry recitation, speech, or anything else, she can master it with ease, that is the beauty I expected, the moving I expected, the existence that matches me.

It was precisely because of this that the woman named Lusa Efayeret, known as "Opera", knew that it could not be her familiar sister, the girl named Leah Efayeret, codenamed "Arbitrator".

"I--"

Ah, sure enough, it's like this again.

I already knew it.

Again and again.

Listening to that voice you will never get tired of.

Say words that will never bore you.

That is the proof that sin is sin.

"...No, I'll let you continue."

No matter how I torture this mind, this body, this false soul in the dream, it doesn’t matter. This is the torture for the crime, this is the torture for the oath broken, this is the whip for the broken promise - but now it is different, this is the real world where there are other people living besides you and me, what can be achieved here is not only the torture of you and me, but also the passing of the lives of irrelevant people -

Of course, you and I both know that this argument is nothing but sophistry.

It's just a small resistance I made because I didn't want to hear your hypocritical confession.

The pitch-black glass cut the palm and bionic plasma spilled out. The trick of blocking perception simulation was useless in front of it. Only at this time could he realize clearly that this body also had the possibility of existing as "life" instead of as a broken typewriter.

"sorry."

"elder sister?"

The black silhouette tilted its head.

It was clearly just a dark outline - but I could almost see the corners of the mouth wide open, a lovely and gentle smile.

"Why are you apologizing?"

……

"…Do you still need to introduce yourself?"

"You don't look well."

"At least better than you guys."

It can be seen that the woman called "Opera House" is not interested in communicating now. The long black hair is as smooth as a waterfall, and the tailcoat and black trousers are decorated with a gold medal. Only the leather shoes are not as perfect as before. The traces of wear and dust are clearly visible. It seems that they have not been carefully maintained for some time. For a woman as flamboyant and meticulous as her, this level of neglect is definitely intolerable. It is for this reason that this woman, who is not sure whether she became a commander because she loves comfort, or was made as a commander and has a comfortable personality, is so impressive in the bad conditions around her.

Saying that I am better than you is just a joke that can be exposed immediately.

"Why do you want to help?"

"Silly question."

"Although you didn't suffer much damage, I can see that you are not the type to take risks to save others. Do you have any plans for Lady Luna?"

"An annoying statement."