Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

The flames burning with righteous indignation did not burn the evil that was supposed to be directed at it. If she was really willing to let this happen, "Wouldn't it be easier for you to fight and swing your sword in anger?" She wouldn't have said that in such an annoyed tone from the beginning. She was a magic sword that only knew how to be angry, a magic sword that had no choice but to fight. In Lunicia's eyes, she was the one who should be sympathized with.

"Are you... pitying me?"

"Ah."

"I don't need that kind of thing...don't think that of me."

"Yes. It would be very uncomfortable if someone looked at you in that way."

Lunisia paused for a moment.

"But I just wanted to hug you."

"..."

"Thank you. You always take over battles that I can't handle and force myself to do things I don't like. In this sense, I should be the one to apologize to you."

"It's the same with you..."

"Hey."

"If... you don't intend to abandon me, and you don't intend to let me lose control..."

"Ok?"

"Shouldn't you take better care of yourself?"

"Well, take care of yourself..."

"This time, you've made yourself into a mess by being a pushover, right?"

"Broken and tattered..."

"After the limbs were broken, there was intracranial hemorrhage, and your soul was torn apart. You almost died."

"Hmm... I can't refute that."

"Because there is no clear enemy, even if you are really going to die, I can't do anything about it."

"Feel sorry."

"…If you want to apologize, you might as well treat yourself well."

Her voice was no more distinct than the breeze.

"You too, and so are the people around you. It seems that only abnormal people are living in this world now."

"is it?"

Maybe it is.

The darkness around him, the reflection in the water under his feet, the orange wall of flames—everything in his field of vision was becoming blurry and hazy, with a bright glimmer of light. This was the sign of waking up from a long sleep, a prelude to uncertainty.

This tea party was not long, but it was not short either.

But there was no black tea and no cookies.

"…Although, I have been abnormal for a long time…"

In a voice that no one could hear, she whispered softly while sitting sideways on the water.

"Among those people before, there were only upright and noble people, no madmen who could talk to swords."

Chapter 24: The Girls' Grief

"……Well……"

The vision gradually changed from blurry to clear.

The scene reflected in front of my eyes was so strange, the strange ceiling, the strange lights, the strange room - only those figures looked extremely familiar. That's right, even if I lose consciousness, even if my soul is broken, even if my body is groggy, I will never forget, and I will never want to forget those figures.

"Ah, Lady Luna... are you awake?!... Um, that's great... No, that's not right. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere? Is there something else wrong with your body? If you feel something is not right, please tell me. This situation has never happened before. There may be something that your regenerative ability cannot take care of..."

She seemed to be holding it back and kept talking about her concerns for me. Her hands never stopped checking Lunicea's physical condition and analyzing her heartbeat and breathing.

She is Ella Heper, a half-elf who dances with two swords and is gorgeous. Her long light pink hair is very soft and makes you feel calm just by looking at her. She is a magical child. It seems that worrying about me like this has become her daily routine. I don’t feel unhappy about it. On the contrary, it’s not a bad feeling. I just hope she can pay more attention to herself.

"Ella, you're speaking too fast. Luna may not be able to hear you clearly. Don't glare at me. Good morning, Luna. Did you sleep well? Apart from the black void, there are only white waves under your feet. Is that a scene that makes people linger?"

She exchanged glances with Ella and gave me a look that seemed emotionless. Perhaps other people would be scared by those seemingly cold golden eyes, but not me, after all, we have been together for so long.

She is Ashetherin, who originally had no name of her own. She is a magical mechanical girl with an evil flavor. Her body is half flesh and half mechanical, with no ups and downs in her voice and expression. Her face is similar to mine but much more delicate and beautiful than mine. I survived with half of the life she gave me, and I have almost no way to repay this kindness.

They are my most important travel companions.

But then again...

Who is she...?

The beautiful lady in men's clothing, gorgeous decorations and ponytail, no matter how exquisite her clothes and makeup were, seemed unable to hide the tiredness on her face. She must be very tired. Now she turned away, as if she didn't want to look at me.

……

"Lusa. Lusa Ephayeret."

The Opera House still turned its face toward the one-way glass curtain, watching the mechanical puppets coming and going, watching how they worked with the Scouts, moving supplies, organizing equipment, and controlling the operation of the production line. In her eyes, there were no three relatively unfamiliar girls, only the scenery that seemed to never change.

That never changes, does it?

No, compared to the beginning, it has changed a lot.

I don't know how many of them have stopped functioning, how many have been lost in battle, how many have voluntarily decomposed into raw materials, and how many have become enemies. They don't even have a chance to back up. Memory is equivalent to the soul of the mechanical puppets. These mechanical puppets whose whereabouts are unknown cannot transmit their memories back to the large differential mechanism located in the main brain. Even these basic mechanical puppets, because their consciousness and memory are not unique, without this memory flowing back, their personalities are equivalent to being lost from the world forever.

Even though they are just souls with shallow emotions and memories, full of simplicity.

No one knows what the Opera House felt as it watched them slowly die.

"Lusa...ah...I remember now."

Covering her head, Lunicia smiled softly.

"It's the one called 'Opera'."

"..."

Lusa didn't seem to be interested in communicating with her.

The reason why he said he would wait until Lunicia woke up to explain was probably just to save the trouble of repeating it. Compared with the "opera house" who was full of exaggerated words at the beginning, she was now as silent as a stone on the roadside.

"Compared to the last time we met, you seem...changed."

"It's an illusion."

For some reason, she seemed to be in a particularly bad mood.

"Is it an illusion..."

"Maybe the me you saw before was fake, and the me now is the real me."

“Ahahaha, this kind of thing…”

It's just because my head was groggy that I didn't remember anything about her for a while.

But, I don’t know why, but I always feel like I have a very deep impression of another thing about “her”.

"In my dream..."

"..."

"I, seemed to hear a voice..."

"..."

"Lonely and sad, like a lost child...a child looking for a way home."

"..."

"Lea... 'The Arbiter', Lea Ephayeret... I don't think I see her? Where is she...?"

"Why……"

"Hey?"

Bang——!

The tables and chairs turned over and collided with the ground with a terrifying noise.

Pressing down on Lunesia and grabbing her collar with both hands, the woman named Lusa Ephayet abandoned her usual calmness and pride, leaving only a distorted look.

"Why……!"

Zheng————

The long sword came out of the scabbard, and the black and purple blade was placed on the white neck of the "Opera House". With a slight shake, it could cut off her finely carved head. Even if it was a mechanical puppet, if it suffered enough trauma to destroy its mental structure, it would actually be no different from death. All it could wait for was to be born again, and then be given a personality again, and breathe the familiar air again, and feel the comfort of the familiar wind.

Mechanical puppets are different from humans. Their personalities, memories, and minds are engraved on the server. As long as they are made and produced again, they can be revived again in the state of the last backup. But in that case, after losing the memory in the middle, is she still the same person now? Is she still the "Opera House" Lusa Efayeret? Rationalists may give a positive answer. Even if there is a gap in memory, the general data has not changed. The gears are still the same gears, and the downloaded backups are also their own. But for Lusa, who is emotional, that must be something that cannot be tolerated. It is precisely because of this that she is proud of her identity of "never being destroyed, never being reproduced, never losing herself, and always being coherent". She also uses this standard to protect her most precious sister who has no blood relationship at all.

Compared to a mechanical puppet, she is too close to a human.

To the point that even the definition of death is so close.

"What do you want to do?"

But now she doesn't care.

Even though she knew that Ella Hepper would chop off her head at any time, she had no intention of stopping.

However, Lunicia, as the attacked party, after a brief panic, used her eyes to stop Ella from taking any further action.

“Why…!”

"Lusa..."

Neither elegant nor graceful, she was just roaring at the top of her lungs, her voice trembling, just like her shoulders.

“Why… They are all people with flower fields in their heads… People like you who only think about good things… People who are stupid, gentle, and kind… Why…! Why can you live, but she has to encounter such a thing…! Is it because of lack of strength… Is it because of fate… Is it because the time has not come yet… Or is it just because… that luck is so bad… People like you… People like you… Why…”

Beneath her seemingly nonchalant appearance, pain, regret, sorrow, hatred, fear, anger, self-blame, and mourning never dissipated.

"Why... leave me... alone..."

"Really, that's right."

Lunicia just hugged her shoulders gently.

"Ms. Luna..."

It turned out to be the case.

She had no reason to be angry with Lunicia from the beginning.

She just hated herself.

She just hated herself for being powerless.

Just like the brief dream that had happened before, burning in orange flames.

“Ugh…why…”

"It's really too much to say that there's a flower field growing in your head. Hurting others and taking lives... I didn't know that someone like me could be evaluated like this."

"Woo...Woo..."

"Ms. Luna, please don't say that..."

A look of worry appeared on Ella's face.

"Savior" - although she called Lunicia with such words, never hesitated to praise her in any way, boasted about her, and regarded her as the most dazzling treasure in the world, Ella Hepper never required her with such a pure and flawless standard. In this world, killing, being killed, and life built on the death of others, everything seemed so common. People struggling in the dark mud never thought that there was anything wrong with taking the lives of others for their own survival, not to mention that it was just legitimate defense.

But, did she actually consider that a sin, and consider taking the lives of others in order to protect herself as her karma?

"It's okay. I'm fine."

Lunicia raised her head and forced a smile at Ella.

The hands that Lusa had originally grabbed Lunicia's collar no longer had that strength, and she just placed them on her chest, beating it weakly again and again. Lunicia did not push her away, but just patted her back gently, as if she was comforting this extremely fragile doll.

"She didn't do anything wrong in this matter, right? Even so...she still blames herself like this."

Otherwise, why would he cry so hard?

"Jealous?"

"…No, do I look like that?"

"It's quite similar."