Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

Compared with Ella's relatively normal negotiation, Lusa showed an extremely resistant attitude.

"Block the passage and switch positions."

"As ordered."

The named "Infiltrator", under the order of the "Opera House", began to operate the operation panel that appeared on the Dragon Crystal Network. Then, the passage behind the group was suddenly blocked by the lowering and rising isolation walls, and the corridor itself began to tremble, as if undergoing some complicated mechanical operation.

"Lunitia Aguerre—what has happened to her?"

Walking in the corridor where the scenery kept changing, Lusa Ephayet did not show obvious vigilance like Ella Heper, not only as the host, but also towards the guests she invited - and also towards the environment she was in. Although the troops around her had just experienced a fierce battle, it seemed that they were enough to ensure that Ashtherin and Ella could not harm her. However, she also never worried about whether there might be shadows lingering at the corner of the corridor, or whether the door of the room would suddenly open, as if those were non-existent threats.

"Attacked by a shadow."

Ella didn't intend to hide this.

Lunicia's condition was much better than before. While Ella and Ashethelin were running for their lives, her body was continuing to repair itself. Although her consciousness had not yet recovered, at least her breathing had stabilized and the blood that kept flowing out of her face had stopped.

“Not really.”

Lusa just glanced and then looked away.

Just one glance was enough for her to make a judgment. She knew very well what the consequences of being attacked by a shadow would be. Simple external injuries could not have caused Lunicia to be like this now. She looked like she had no obvious wounds, but was unconscious as if she was seriously injured.

"So we don't really know what happened."

"What a dereliction of duty."

"It's not your turn to blame."

"Just think of me as talking to myself."

Ella couldn't help but feel annoyed.

She had not spent much time with the woman known as "Opera House", but she was well aware that the person in front of her spoke in a completely different way than she did now. Because of this, she felt an inexplicable irritation from her attitude - her words were not meant to mock Ella Hepper, but rather to point the finger at herself, which was like giving up on herself.

“…That’s why I’m disgusted.”

"Did you just say anything?"

"No, there isn't."

"Really? Here we are, right here."

He gently swiped the transparent light blue card in his hand on the door, and the seemingly heavy door opened. The other mechanical puppets went to other entrances, leaving only the "Opera House" and Lunicia and her party here.

“It’s very painful.”

After Lusa walked into the room on her own, Ashlee, who had been silent until then, suddenly said this.

"what?"

"Lusa, Lusa Ephayeret."

"Because they are all mechanical puppets, can they feel it?"

"Can't you see?"

"Not really."

Ella shook her head.

Opera House has never been a woman that is difficult to understand. Rather, her flamboyant and exaggerated attitude shows that she is a decision maker, but she always shows what she thinks on her face. Perhaps the Iron Leviathan only assigns positions based on ability and is not that concerned about personality. No matter how she tries to appear calm, the emotions emanating from her are so strong that they are impossible to ignore.

"Do you want to leave? If you turn around and leave now, she might not stop you."

"...Now that Lady Luna is asleep, do you choose me to be the decision maker?"

"Or do you prefer to let the machine make the decision?"

"..."

Ella felt that she was still helpless against the black iron figure in front of her.

Of course, neither she nor Ashlee actually had any reason to refuse the Opera House's invitation.

This place looks like the base camp of the "Iron Leviathan" - at least part of it. Perhaps it was originally a control room, or perhaps it was a small room separated from the huge and spacious space later. There are coffee tables, sofas, beverage machines, holographic sand tables, and complex control consoles that seem completely meaningless. In the wide space separated from this room by one-way transparent glass, many mechanisms can be vaguely seen. Some of them look like the usual style of the "Iron Leviathan", while others are not. Most of the mechanical puppets that serve as "soldiers" are resting or busy in the spacious space. In this small room, there are only the "Opera House" and Lunicia and her group.

“Poor hospitality.”

"It doesn't matter."

"This machine doesn't need any hospitality either."

There was neither tea nor meals. Rather than being a hospitality, it was more of a place to sit down comfortably.

Even so, it's surprising enough.

"It's amazing." Ella frowned, "You seem to have been here for a while."

"Ah, almost...we both forgot how long we've been here."

Although they were having a face-to-face conversation, Lusa seemed completely distracted.

Ella didn't care about her attitude. For her, as long as this mechanical puppet, who was not very familiar with her, was willing to answer questions, it would be fine. Letting Lunicia's head rest on her thigh, Ella gently stroked her head while performing "magic tricks" to clean the blood stains on her body - it's not that she was so pure that she had no interest in Lunicia's traces, but she didn't want to make Lunicia feel uneasy - and then cast her eyes on Lusa Efayeret again.

"What are those outside?"

"The production line."

The person who answered was Ashlee Lin.

"From a structural point of view, this is the case. What about the novel structures? Some are three-order Rubik's Cubes, while others are five-order Rubik's Cubes? The style of the 'Iron Leviathan' is easy to identify, but the rest are completely different. Some are in the style of the old Arkham, and some are in the style of the northwest corner of the continent."

"more or less."

"Can you explain it?"

"Some of them were removed from our ship, and some were originally here." Although absent-minded, Lusa still answered the question honestly, "Rations, ammunition, spare limbs, all supplies are completed by this production line, otherwise we would not have been able to hold out here for so long."

"So, how much do you know about this place?"

"this problem--"

Rosa glanced at the sleeping Lunesia.

"Let's wait until she wakes up."

Interlude Log (Part 4)

[Unintelligible] Year, Month Mao, 30th Diary:

[Scribbled traces, this logbook does not contain any daily reports on the ship’s condition]

It's all over.

Who is there?

I seemed to see it.

I think I saw...what?

This does not exist [indecipherable]

……

[Lots of smears and crossed-out characters]

Not right.

Something is completely wrong.

There is nothing to record anymore. Maybe I should write my suicide note here and wait for the later ones to find it? If this ship crashes, the mass alone will be enough to destroy an area. The chain reaction of the magic mechanism can even wipe out the country. It is meaningless. It would be great if such a thing happened. This ship should not have been designed to be able to sail semi-permanently from the beginning. It is meaningless. It is better to destroy it directly. In that way, it will be the greatest contribution we can make to the world.

The main departments have lost contact, and all the passages leading to the core power section and their office areas have been locked from the inside. Even I, as the captain, can do nothing about the [Unrecognizable] authority. This is the work of the [Unrecognizable] witch, and only she could have this authority.

It can be assumed that a serious problem has occurred in the machinery department. Even if we are not [Unrecognizable], we know about this. We do not have the ability to separate the machinery department, the core power department and the surrounding blocks. This operation can only be performed in the dock. The priority of the core power department overrides any other module. Separating it in flight is equivalent to directly disintegrating this [Unrecognizable]. No one on the ship has this authority, and it is impossible to complete it in terms of operation.

[Unidentifiable]

[Unidentifiable]

[Unidentifiable]

[Unrecognizable][Unrecognizable][Unrecognizable][Unrecognizable]

There is nothing left to record, nothing left to report.

Other crew members reported severe functional abnormalities from [indecipherable], but there was no abnormality in the ship's energy supply. Something is happening there, [indecipherable], something we cannot understand or confirm.

There were reports from all over the ship that they saw [Unidentifiable]. It was no longer possible to dismiss those claims as nonsense. But why? What could be proved by those [Unidentifiable] that lacked logic? It was undoubtedly a secondary effect caused by what happened to the power source, but [Unidentifiable]? Why [Unidentifiable]? No one could answer this question. It was as if the crew of the agency had evaporated from the ship. Maybe they were all there now? In that [Unidentifiable]?

Try to make contact with the ground.

No response received.

The communication was still going on, someone answered the call - but there was no sound coming from here. It wasn't that the call was not connected, the signal was not lost, and there was no abnormality on the panel, but there was no sound from there.

There is no contact with the ground anymore.

It's all over.

It's not too late to die now.

Recorder: [Unidentifiable]

Chapter 23: A Girl's Dream

--Are you there?

I don’t know how many times I’ve asked this question.

I don’t know how many times this was—she responded with silence.

"..."

No——this time, she seemed to say something.

--Are you there?

"...Yeah, always."

It's amazing.

This was not the first time I had met her under such circumstances. On the battlefield of Nosavi, in the tunnel of Myland, when the battle was completely disadvantageous, that orange-red shadow would always appear in front of me. Who was she? An elf living in the sword? It was said that some of the top magic weapons, those artifacts or beings close to artifacts, were weapons, but they had independent intelligence, would choose their favorite masters according to their preferences, and would also use their own methods to assist the holders in battle. Perhaps she was also such an existence.

I originally thought she was a devil who tempted people to fall, but actually it seems that is not the case.

Would the spirits living in weapons feel like this? Lunicia would think about this question from time to time, but because she had never seen other cases, she could not come up with an answer. She was not like a simulated program. Lunicia had also seen mechanical puppets used for service. Although they could perform lifelike, they were still quite different from humans. She could feel the abnormality in terms of values ​​and the like - the inevitable difference between man-made objects and their creators, the inevitable difference due to different ways of survival.

She looked ordinary.

I have normal thoughts, normal worries, and normal temper tantrums.

Of course, from a human perspective, she is also very strange, in terms of personality.

She was like a flame, swaying and burning fiercely. When she fought with Rose in Muirand, she was like a flaming flame, wild, hot, and arrogant; when she confronted Systine in Nosaw, she emitted poisonous smoke and spoke harshly to Lunicia; at other times, she was like a weak flame, always inadvertently sinking, like a warm and bright star that could go out at any time.

Yes.

After spending some time together, Lunicia also got to know her "companion" a little better.

Her features were obstructed by the flames, so imitating the appearance of "Lunicia" was undoubtedly a mockery of her. But if we only talk about her personality, she was actually a surprisingly easy-to-understand woman. She was angry because she couldn't tolerate what was happening in front of her, and because of her anger, she wanted others to feel her anger. The howling, screaming, and chaotic sword skills were all just images condensed from her burning heart.

But if that was all - there was no way she could stop it with just a few words like she did in Nosavi.

She must have been like a storm of fire that would never stop.

Until one day, it was blown out by a howling rainstorm.

Although this was just Lunisia's guess, she felt that it might be true. She wishfully thought that the other person had some unspeakable secrets, wishfully believed in the other person, wishfully placed hope on the other person, and wishfully believed that she and the other person would understand each other one day. She was indeed such a naive woman.

"what."

"..."

The orange flames were still burning between the two of them, adding a touch of color to this vast, silent, dark and peaceful world.

"You... are finally willing to talk to me."

"I have told you several times..."

Although she couldn't see her face, Lunicia inexplicably felt that she must be turning away because she was shy, even though both of them couldn't see each other's expressions.

"Several sentences...so many that I find them annoying."