The roaring and the heavy breathing have ceased. Did we kill it?
Ksenia
But it's still standing—
Mon3tr
Don't move! I'll check.
Mon3tr ascertains that the other two are at a safe distance, and approaches it on her own.
The manglerbeast stands quietly, no sign of the madness that had engulfed it only moments ago, its strange forelimbs hanging still in front of its body. Part of the Originium covering it has been chipped away.
Mon3tr approaches carefully.
She observes the manglerbeast. It was dangerous to begin with, and its mutations make it look strange, almost otherworldly.
Mon3tr
The influence of Originium is turning it into a 'human' physiologically...
Mon3tr
It must be in a great deal of pain...
Mon3tr, look out!It's moving again!
Mon3tr
Oh—
But the manglerbeast does not attack or even move from its spot. It falls toward the ground—
Until its forelimbs touch the ground again with a thud.
Mon3tr
......
Now's our chance to leave, Mon3tr.We should leave and go back to the lab, now.
Mon3tr
No, Doctor.
Mon3tr?
Mon3tr
It's still breathing!
Mon3tr
And it sounds like it's... in pain? I think.
Mon3tr
I can't sense another's emotions like Amiya can, and this is just a mutated animal. But...
Mon3tr
I know it will die, even if we don't do anything.
Mon3tr
The Originium has impaled its throat. Every part of its body is in pain. It would claw out its own mutated organs if it could.
Mon3tr
Perhaps this is why it attacked us. It's not in control of itself anymore.
Let's end its pain, then.
Mon3tr
Yes.
Mon3tr
......
Mon3tr
I can do it. I can...
Mon3tr
End its pain.
She walks towards the fallen beast. Standing next to it, she puts her claws against a piece of fur with fewer crystals.
Mon3tr gazes at the manglerbeast with incredible calm in her eyes.
Then, she surgically extinguishes the mutated manglerbeast's last, intermittent breathing.
Mon3tr
Let's go, Doctor.
Mon3tr
Back to the lab.
Mantra continues to listen.
She knows she cannot trust what she sees, whether it is twisted by intention, or reflecting reality by accident.
And so she listens, until the first word of prayer drops in the crowd like the first snow.
Mantra
Yurodstvo...
Mantra
'Gabrielus.'
I'm listening.
Mantra
Then stop.
Mantra
Stop—
Mantra
Stop it all!
I cannot stop what never began.
What you see is only in your mind.
Mantra stops trying to communicate. She steps forward and tries to steady the trembling red, white and black threads.
She looks around and realizes that the remaining miners look different from before. She frowns and glances around herself.
Mantra
Where is Eloysius?
Raidian
She heard me and ran outside.
Mantra
So you did tell us to leave.
Raidian
Yes, but I don't remember why... this is strange.
Mantra
Mental Arts.
Raidian
Are you sure? I've received specific training. I would not be defenseless against such attacks.
Mantra
Check for short-term memory interference, Raidian.
Raidian
What sort of interference?
Mantra
Interference that I can create.
Mantra
One time, I had Mechanist forget that he wanted to ask you about borrowing Dendie and Axie. Not by wiping the memory, but by blocking its formation.
Raidian
I remember... that was the first time you tried to use your Arts like that, I think? We forget when information in our brain is not successfully stored in the memory.
Mantra
Yes. It was your idea. You are far more experienced than I am in the understanding and utilization of human bioelectrical signals.
Raidian
You think someone here uses the same sort of Arts?
Mantra
Unsure. Perhaps I just saw and heard more than you did.
Raidian
What do you mean?
Mantra
The Yurodstvo of Ursus may be here, Raidian.
Raidian
Yurodstvo? Why do you bring that up—
Raidian
The Yurodstvo is here? But the last Yurodstvo was burned alive in Grypherburg two years ago. Could another be born so soon?
Mantra
I don't know. I'm going to find out.
Raidian
If it's really the Yurodstvo, and it was hidden in the group, without me detecting it... then it's extremely dangerous.
Raidian
I'll put the others on alert. Be careful.
Mantra
The danger is not physical. Not yet, at least.
Mantra
I'll seek help if necessary.
Raidian
Don't forget it.
Mantra turns around and walks towards the place where the red was, a few moments ago.
The assembled miners either give way to her, or reach out to her.
Vetochki
Who are you... looking for?
Vetochki
We're still going, to Grypherburg, right?
Vetochki
We'll l-live...
Mantra
(Nods)
Vetochki
But they look like, they don't want, to leave? I asked Dyadya Volya. He doesn't want, to leave.
Vetochki
He'd rather, his wounds rot, than to run.
Vetochki
But isn't surviving, the most important thing?
Mantra
......
Vetochki
You're not, talking...
Tired Miner
Stranger.
Tired Miner
Are you going to see Nadia? Then go on your knees, and raise your eyes to her.
Tired Miner
See her, repent, and be forgiven. Then you will realize how foolish you were, for struggling and failing to find peace.
Mantra neither assents nor dissents. She does not speak to them with Arts. She simply nods and passes them by, staring straight into the deepest reaches of the room.
Tired Miner
You will understand... when you are in her presence.
A hunched, tiny grey-white figure sits at the end of the room like a statue.
Impossible. It's impossible! The Yurodstvo is dead!
Eloysius
The Tsar granted the madman the mercy of defending himself before his sentence was pronounced.
Eloysius
Seven days! He engaged in sophistry for seven days without stopping, without eating or drinking.
Eloysius
He had the audacity to stand in the middle of the State Council, telling everyone who came to listen—
Eloysius
'I forgive you.'
Eloysius
His Imperial Majesty finally had enough and sentenced him to death, personally, but brainwashed believers attempted to raid the execution, resulting in the biggest riot in Grypherburg in a decade.
Raidian
We know all that.
Eloysius
......
Raidian
If Mantra said it was the Yurodstvo, she must have had the evidence to make the deduction.
Raidian
All we need to do is protect ourselves and wait to hear from her.
No. The Royal Guard... if you can influence a Royal Guard, you can influence the miners.
Nadia
You killed it. You became me.
Mantra
If this is the only thing we share in common...
Mantra
The body, and rotten flesh. Your relationship to the Royal Guard—the Yurodstvo was the source of the Royal Guard experiments.
No sound comes from the trembling shadows, neither affirmation nor denial.
Mantra begins to back off and leaves the shadow's edge.
Mantra
...I need support, Raidian.
Raidian
I'm here.
Mantra
The conjecture is confirmed.
Mantra
Also, additional information...
Mantra
The Yurodstvo hid amongst the miners and helped them kill the Royal Guard.
Raidian
...I see.
Raidian
What do you need us to do?
Mantra
I need you to continue to contact other Rhodes Island assets in Ursus, and ask Amiya to delay Eloysius.
Mantra
We can't leave yet, at least not until I find a way to rouse the miners.
Mantra
Have Elysium standby inside the range of my Arts. I may need his assistance.
Raidian
What's your plan?
Mantra
Remove the influence that the Yurodstvo has on the miners.
Raidian
You think the Yurodstvo is controlling the miners and causing them to refuse to leave?
Mantra
Yes.
Mantra
We cannot kill the Yurodstvo directly, but it can kill anyone here, anytime it chooses to.
Raidian
Maybe Amiya can help.
Mantra
Maybe. But Amiya does not understand the Yurodstvo, and I do not want to her to become involved without any understanding.
Mantra
The Yurodstvo's powers are similar to mine. This is why I am the only one who can make this decision.
Mantra
It relies on the cognition of others to establish itself. I must find the key to its establishment of the 'Nadia' identity, in order to remove its influence.
Raidian
You have someone you suspect.
Mantra
...Yes.
Mantra casts her gaze at the surrounding miners, and eventually upon the girl who walks past her to the Yurodstvo.
She mutters in a daze, in bewilderment and sorrow.
