The 'Saint' drags her massive body along as she walks at the head of the procession. The Sankta named Lemuel jumps around, pulling out gun after gun like prestidigitation, raining a hail of gunfire onto her quarry.
But the 'Saint' barely even spares her a glance.
Her halo shimmers, and despite the great distance separating them, Patrizion still hears her 'voice' with perfect clarity.
Their empathy is growing stronger, which means their long journey approaches its end.
'Saint'
Allow our other cohorts to take care of your friend's remains, Patrizion. We do not need to mourn him.
Patrizion
Your Beatitude...
'Saint'
Do you still remember that arborbeast fledgling?
'Saint'
If we reach our destination, Laterano shall recreate the miracle of life once more. Every miracle, freely performed.
The grand procession passes statues after statue, workshop after workshop. The city grows brighter, step by step, pace by pace.
Patrizion walks forward in silence.
???
S... Stop.
A young gunsmith's apprentice walks against the flow of people, stopping in front of Patrizion. Vannini stares down the gun-knight, many times taller than her. She raises her gun against him.
The crowd parts around them, but none look toward them. Vannini bites her lip, doing her best to stop her hand from trembling.
Patrizion
...
Patrizion
Ah, you are his apprentice, yes?
Vannini
Magister Paganini... Where is he?
Patrizion
He...
Vannini
He warned me. So in the dream, I-I... hid in the workshop. After I awoke, I still hesitated for so long...
Vannini
Right now, you're... scary. Laterano's scary. I don't know what's going on, I don't even have a patron firearm...
Vannini
But I can't just hide and wait...
Patrizion
So you made yourself that gun and came to stop me?
Vannini
Mhm.
Patrizion
That's very brave of you.
Patrizion
But do you see this procession, my child? We will birth a miracle, one that nearly all Laterans will be a part of.
Patrizion
It's not 'scary'.
Vannini
(Shakes head) That's got... nothing to do with me.
Vannini
I'm not very... good with words. I couldn't... couldn't think of any worse ones...
Pag, you never got a halo in the dream, so why did you join the procession?
Paganini
To find a chance to kill you, obviously.
Patrizion
...
Paganini
That sniper, your old student?
Patrizion
...
Paganini
Tragic, isn't it?
Patrizion
...
Paganini
Worse than when Gia left?
Patrizion
...
Paganini
You still going to listen to that monster? Going to keep protecting the crowd on this walk?
Patrizion
...
Paganini
Don't think I don't know what you're thinking.
Paganini
The Laterano of fifty years ago forced you to banish an infected Liberi. The Laterano of ten years ago forced you to banish a fallen gun-knight.
Paganini
Even your granddaughter is far too stubborn and opinionated. Who knows if someday, she too will...
Paganini
So, you hope for a better Laterano?
Paganini
You want it to be like a doctor who becomes a miracle worker, able to treat Oripathy, able to fix personality flaws, able to make everyone accept one another, no questions asked?
Paganini
That way, no more sad farewells like you've suffered through before?
Patrizion
...
Paganini
*cough*... You're a coward through and through, Patrizion!
Paganini
Farewells are like melted ice cream and worn-out guns. Doesn't matter what you do, it's bound to happen, right?
Paganini
Even if you can't stop them from happening, you can still give your well-wishes. A simple 'goodbye' is all you need.
Paganini
It's not like you have a speech impediment like Vannini. Is it so hard to find a way to shed some of your regret?
Patrizion
Enough talk! Just hang on!
Paganini
Hang on, my feathery ass—*cough*—This is... a bullet that can cut right through gun-knight armor...
Paganini
Don't touch me. Let me finish, otherwise I'll step into the grave that much quicker.
Patrizion
A-Alright then...
Paganini
What's with the tone? Don't even think about getting sentimental on me, Patrizion!
Paganini
Why do you think I saved you?
Paganini
Don't jabber at me about calamity or crisis or what path Laterano should take...
Paganini
If the city really is going to be destroyed, surely we can do more than just leave it to some monster from beyond our nightmares that sprang up out of nowhere?
Paganini
Aurela, Fiammetta, all those other Laterans you know... Are these connections that weak to you?
Paganini
You're a gun-knight, you stulte! The best gun-knight in all of Laterano!
Paganini
*cough* *cough*—
Paganini gets more intense the more he rambles, but his voice grows quieter by the second.
Patrizion holds his old friend tight, feeling the warmth slowly drain out of him, as though the last dregs of his life had spilled out with his latest outburst.
Paganini
Hey, not going to say anything?
Patrizion
...
Paganini
Never mind then. Before, at the Shrine, I said we never actually shared anything these past few decades...
Forgive me. I couldn't even give you one final moment with Pag.
Vannini
*sob*—
Vannini
Vannini, i-if you had just... been a bit quicker... making this gun, if you had just gotten here quicker...
Vannini lowers her head as if in a daze. She looks about at the people walking past, like she is only just noticing her surroundings.
Her halo suddenly begins to shine. All it would take is a momentary waver of the heart, and the empathy of the countless masses would come crashing down on this confused, lonely Sankta.
Patrizion
No, child.
Patrizion
Keep a tight grip on your gun!
Patrizion
Ggh...
For a moment, Patrizion feels pain, but it is followed by a gentle, yet irrefusable comfort. It flows from her, from those enlightened creatures, from his people in the procession.
He knows his unusual reaction has been noticed, prompting the crashing waves of empathy, like seawater forcing its way back upriver.
Patrizion
Ah—
Patrizion feels dizzy. He sighs, and slowly crouches down.
A moment later, the elderly gun-knight grips the barrel of the gunsmith's apprentice's gun, pointing it towards him.
If this keeps on, I'm gonna have to start smacking them with my weapon!
Sankta Errari
Me too.
Mostima
My hand's getting numb, can barely hold my staff.
Mostima
Don't know how it's going on Fiammetta's side of things. According to the plan, once she sets the explosives, we'll blow up the plate's locking mechanisms and send all of Pagus Saint Marcel adrift.
Mostima
It'll also cut those monsters off from the Basilica.
Mostima
Tsch. If we can hold on that long.
???
Dispersing Arrows!
???
Leave them to me!
Mostima
These clothes...
Hildegard
Landen Guard temporary solo combat team, Hildegard, at your service!
Mostima
Landen... Sorry, never heard of you.
Hildegard
It's fine, I'm used to it, haha.
Hildegard
Some of my Sankta sisters are in that procession. We were running our business when we got called back, and then... we went through a whole bunch of stuff.
Hildegard
How should I put this...? Even if everything that happened was fake, and Landen Monastery hasn't actually been given important responsibilities by the Curia...
Hildegard
As long as I'm here, Laterano will once again remember the name of Landen Monastery!
Hildegard
These monsters might look strange, but they're hardly more of a challenge than the beasts of the great snowcapped mountains.
Hildegard
I've got enough arrows, and I've got a sharp eye. I'll help you hold them off!
Sankta Errari
But we're all tired out, kid. We've racked our brains and put in the effort, but all we can do is keep falling back.
Sankta Errari
We're not exactly settling any grudges here. We came back to Laterano just to suffer again.
Fallen Angel
It's almost time, Mostima. Still no news from that Lemuen lady?
Fallen Angel
If we can't disengage the defenses on the plate lock mechanism, we won't be able to blow through their armor plating, right?
Sankta Errari
Let's just call it here then.
Sankta Errari
If those guys reach the Basilica, then what happens? Everyone more or less becomes Sankta?
Sankta Errari
What's that got to do with us?
Sankta Errari
Look around you. We can't even cobble together a single halo. Our long-awaited reinforcements are just one Liberi nun.
Sankta Errari
We've got an entire city's worth of people against us. Why do we Alieni have to hold all of them off?
Hildegard
Come now, that's not the best attitude to have right now...
Mostima
Because right now, we're the only ones who can.
Sanktas Errari
...
Mostima
We're always having to bust our asses doing things ordinary Sankta take for granted, right?
Mostima
I had a little accident, as you can see. If I hadn't become a Legatus, I don't know what I'd be doing right now.
Mostima
I said I was going to be doing Messenger stuff when I left the Holy City, but I was just wandering around, really.
Mostima
Wandering to places without any Sankta, places where these black horns on my head don't stand out, places where silent empathy's the norm...
Mostima
It was hard.
Mostima
It took two whole years before I could look my friends in the eyes again without breaking out in a sweat.
Mostima
Liberi, Fallen Angels, we're obsessed with assimilating or getting our old lives back. After putting in all that effort, why go with the hatchet job?
???
Well, how about that.
Fiammetta
I never thought I'd hear those words coming out of your mouth, Mostima.
Mostima
Promise me you'll forget you heard anything.
Fiammetta
Forget what?
Mostima
How did things go on your end?
Fiammetta
Good news is, the bombs are in place.
Fiammetta
Bad news is, I was afraid they wouldn't be enough to blow through all the lock mechanisms, so I shoved the rest of my grenades in there with them...
Fiammetta
Which means I'm all out of grenades to shoot at these things.
Enlightened Creature A
(Halo rapidly flickers)
Enlightened Creature B
(Continuous sounds of prayer)
Mostima
Hey, Fiammetta, let's blow this joint.
Patia
Wait! We still haven't heard anything from Lemuen. If the defenses aren't disengaged in time, all our explosives will go to waste!
Fiammetta
Time to explosion, one minute!
Patia
Wha-?
The timer starts ticking down in Fiammetta's hand. The enlightened creatures stop their prayers. As if sensing something is up, they throw themselves at her like rabid beasts.
A wheelchair suddenly brakes, throwing up a cloud of dust as it screeches across the ground. Its rider spins its left wheel as she hoists her rifle with her right hand, her long hair fluttering in the air.
Mostima
You're right on time!
Lemuen
Good to know we're still in sync!
Lemuen
The two of you will never guess how hard I beat my old wheelchair speed-shooting record by after I broke through their cordon around the Seventh Tribunal!
Fiammetta
Forty seconds!
Lemuen
I heard what you said just now. Fallen Angels, Liberi, Alieni... I'm inclined to use another term to sum up our relationship.
Lemuen
Friends, countrymen—Laterans!
Lemuen
I've solved the permissions issue. The lock mechanism defenses are disengaged. Everyone, retreat to the Basilica doors! I'll hold these monsters off.
Fiammetta
Thirty seconds!
Mostima
You're going to shoot them, Lemuen? You'll fall!
Enlightened Creature
...
Lemuen
I hate to admit it, but I can sense what you're thinking.
Lemuen
So shut those mouths of yours. Laterano doesn't need to be saved! By you! Like this!
The click of bullets loading and the thrumming of the monsters' hearts reverberate through Lemuen's ears. She is nearly face-to-face with them, going against every sniper's instinct she has.
She listens to her own breathing, calm and steady.
Under these conditions, how fast can a sniper fire? Time to find out.
Lemuen
Lemuen, Cardinal of the Seventh Tribunal. In the name of Laterano's national security, I sentence you to death!
Hey, turns out it was my sis and her crew! They did a real bang-up job!
Enlightened Creature A
(Wounded wail)
Enlightened Creature B
(Fragmented prayer)
'Saint'
Retreat somewhere safe, for the time being.
'Saint'
A rift... One my people cannot cross. But we once forded raging rivers and traversed great valleys. Compared to those dangers, this is nothing.
'Saint'
He lies ahead. I shall not stop.
Exusiai
*cough* I... I never said I'd let you pass.
'Saint'
Your body is weak. I fear you have not an ounce of strength left. Am I wrong?
Exusiai
—
Exusiai does not answer.
She has told herself the entire time to ignore how tired she feels, how strange falling makes her feel. She continues her barrage against the saint's colossal body, but once again to no avail.
The saint makes no move against her. Rather, she continues to cradle her, the same way she did when they left the dream. Never before has such a strange cradle been seen, one made from a malformed yet mighty arm.
'Saint'
Even though you know the entire truth of both past and present, even though you know we are working to create a new miracle, like the birth of Laterano...
'Saint'
Even though you know our journey thus far has been to awaken our Lord, to ensure that in the future with but a hair's breadth separating destruction from continuation, the Sankta shall persist...
'Saint'
Why do you still stand against us?
Exusiai
Hmm...
Exusiai
Am I the only one?
'Saint'
What?
Exusiai
With empathy that strong, I don't believe for a second you can't feel it!
I'm just an ordinary Lateran. Nobody important, and I don't have any special skills.
Exusiai
So when I listened to you talk about the origins of the Sankta, the history of Laterano, the essence of faith, the crazy truth behind the life we're used to...
Exusiai
I was shocked! Shocked right down to my core!
Exusiai
If things really are like you say, then the life we enjoyed in Laterano really is a kind of miracle.
Exusiai
But since I'm just an ordinary Lateran, while you were explaining everything happening around us, all I noticed was...
Exusiai
How nobody looked happy at all.
Exusiai
Shouldn't Laterano be a happy place?
Exusiai
If... If lots of our people will suffer when we complete this journey, how am I supposed to believe you can make the miracle happen?
Exusiai
Wait, no, scratch that, how am I supposed to believe it's a miracle in the first place?
Exusiai
So, even if I wasn't around, there'd be other Sankta to stand against you.
'Saint'
I shared all I have seen and all I have experienced, yet you still choose to turn away?
'Saint'
The path of the Sankta is a cruel one, our faith paved with sin and suffering.
'Saint'
Have their years inside this peculiar, distorted Paradise left our brethren so weak?
Exusiai
Ugh, you're not getting me at all.
Exusiai
Maybe I should be asking what you asked me earlier—
Exusiai
Why you?
'Saint'
...
'Saint'
I have already told you my answer.
Exusiai
Even if this Terra-destroying calamity is real, and millions of Sankta are doomed, and Laterano's about to be completely screwed...
Exusiai
Why are you, a 'Saint', the only one who can bring us salvation?
Exusiai
We're the ones who live in this city right now, who enjoy its blessings, who went through its changes, and who protected it from destruction.
Exusiai
You don't exist anymore. You're just a ghost! A string of code I can shoot!
'Saint'
Incorrect, my child. When I lifted my spear against my dying companion, the sleeping silver mounts answered me, and recorded my prayer for all eternity.
'Saint'
All that is happening here and now is a continuation of that prayer.
'Saint'
Death cannot be undone, yet I wandered amongst His datastream. Together, we heard your prayers.
'Saint'
No matter how appearances may change, no matter how the faith develops as time flows by, so long as the Sankta still pray, He shall operate eternally, and I shall forever be there...
'Saint'
The spiritual light will always shine on Laterano.
'Saint'
This is our mission.
Exusiai
...Prayer is useless.
'Saint'
Pardon?
Exusiai
To be honest, I learned a long time ago that prayer is useless.
'Saint'
...
Exusiai
When I was in my third year of primary school, an investigator from the Sixth Tribunal did an experiment at our school.
Exusiai
She said there were two groups of patients at Faber Central Hospital with more or less the same conditions, and split us into our own two groups. One group would pray every day, while the other didn't have to do anything.
Exusiai
But in the end, there wasn't any difference in their recovery. The investigator told us the results in class: prayer is useless.
Exusiai
Haha, it's funny, really. This country's full of churches, but it's always doing these kinds of 'outrageous' experiments.
'Saint'
(Halo flickers)
Exusiai
You're right, Laterans really do pray to the Lord every day.
Exusiai
Praying they'll get better soon after getting sick, praying they'll pick the coolest guardian gun ever, praying the caravans won't run into Catastrophes on the way home, praying they'll never have to say goodbye to their friends...
Exusiai
Praying that they'll be able to make it through all sorts of pain and suffering.
Exusiai
But I never actually expected there to be a 'Lord' who would grant everyone's wishes, who would swoop in to save us when we're in trouble.
'Saint'
...
Exusiai
Empathy lets us sense the emotions of our people. It lets me know if the ones by my side are happy or sad.
Exusiai
But prayer? Prayer doesn't just need me to sense things, it needs me to want to help my family and friends, to understand things outside of empathy.
Exusiai
It even lets me feel like I could help some complete strangers get well sooner.
Exusiai
Even though I know it probably won't change a thing.
Exusiai
I met lots of Sankta while running around with Penguin Logistics. You'd be hard pressed to call some of them Father, while others don't live life like we do in the Holy City anymore.
Exusiai
But they were all so... fulfilled. I still felt close to them.
Exusiai
I believe it's because we still prayed like we always did.
Exusiai
It needs us to not doubt. It needs us to hold hope in our hearts.
Exusiai
Just being down to pray for each other is a beautiful thing in itself.
Exusiai
It gives me a true connection to people.
'Saint'
(Thunderous sigh)
'Saint'
If these connections were the foundation of faith, it would be exceedingly frail.
Exusiai
No. I think it's exactly these connections that help hold our lives up.
'Saint'
'Survival'... 'Life'...
Exusiai
If you don't understand why Sankta these days are all about desserts and explosions—
Exusiai
What's up with you?
'Saint'
(Fretful pacing)
The saint suddenly becomes exceptionally restless. She feels out the edge of the rift as she paces along it, her sharp front claws piercing the exposed, bent foundations, trying to find a way to climb down.
'Saint'
...
'Saint'
This rift you have opened allows me to sense His signal much more clearly.
'Saint'
He is below the Basilica, calling out for me to approach—
'Saint'
No, no... Why is His signal in such disarray... He is anxious, uneasy...
'Saint'
The Creator has already revoked... or perhaps.... there are other threats forcing Him to... change...
The sound of machinery, faint yet clear, rises out from the depths of the rift below their feet.
The saint's unease becomes increasingly obvious. Half of her body has already entered the fault. Her claws clench, and Exusiai senses that she is in great pain.
Behind her, the procession stops, countless halos flickering over and over due to her worry, like a river of paralyzed stars.
'Saint'
Child, talks of past and present are meaningless... You need only step towards... the future...
'Saint'
You do not understand this crisis. There are no new solutions for you to find. You must... survive...
Exusiai
I said it before, I'm not letting you pass.
'Saint'
How are you meant to stop... a ghost... a string of code...?
'Saint'
(Mournful roar)
The saint's voice becomes garbled. She has reverted to barely more than a beast, like the Teekaz who trudged through the mud all those years ago.
Exusiai
If we weren't in this mess, we could've been pretty good friends. A ghost, a string of code, the very first Sankta... There's no cooler friend than that!
Exusiai
Ah, silly me! Can't believe I forgot to introduce myself!
Exusiai
Lemuel of St. Theodore's Comprehensive School, number one student in the 84th Intercity Net Security preparatory course! And I've got the school certs to prove it!
Exusiai
Every bullet I got you with was custom-made! They just needed some time to take effect!
Her patron firearm howls once more. The force of the barrage finally frees Exusiai from the saint's grasp.
She leaps high into the sky.
Exusiai
We're not going to give up on life, obviously, but we're definitely not going to go with your plan.
Exusiai
If refusing it means the halos connecting us will be cut off, then cut them off.
Exusiai
Because even if you do, we will never stop praying for each other.
Exusiai
We'll still give thanks to the Lord for His existence, even if He isn't what we thought He was.
Exusiai
O Lord, thank you for being there, for blessing us with bread and bullets, for being there for us during our trials and tribulations!
Exusiai
Thank you for spreading the light across Laterano all this time, giving everyone the chance for salvation!
Exusiai
Thank you for clearing the way for us!
Exusiai
Amen. There, prayer done.
Exusiai
Let's say bye-bye, the wildest way I know—
'Saint'
(Roars)
Explosives fall like rain, linking together into a chain of blasts as they collide with the bullets embedded in the saint's body.
The saint howls, but not because of the explosions, not because of her flesh wounds, but because of the strange, dissonant sound caused by the 'ammunition' as it scrapes across her skin.
It's like the sea back home. Calm, beautiful, but one nobody dares to set out on it.
Arborbeast
Maybe, maybe not. This is familiar to you because... because the sea by your hometown is here. There's even a part of you here too.
Arborbeast
All things that are have been sealed here. A coffin for the world and everything upon it.
Andoain
Like the crystals left behind by Oripathy patients after they die?
Arborbeast
If that helps you understand it, then yes.
Arborbeast
Amazing, isn't it? This was once the end of everything.
Arborbeast
We are born far too late, our lives far too short. We even unconsciously take some inconsequential mishaps, and turn them into the foundation of our very being.
Arborbeast
Like how you blindly took a shattered memory and turned it into divine revelation.
Arborbeast
But no matter. The Law wishes to bestow upon you true revelation.
Personnel with relevant privileges have provided PCS with new set of directives. Cognitive radiation amplifier at maximum output. Effective range: Terra.
Originium will connect to PCS after maintenance is complete.
Originium is inevitable.
Federico
...
Federico
The Law created the Sankta from the Teekaz, built the order of Laterano in untamed wilds, and even attempted to establish a Terra-wide religion spanning multiple civilizations.
Federico
He has worked for millennia in service of humanity. Surely it was not simply to turn all of it into Originium?
Federico
Is that truly the Law's ultimate goal?
Negative.
This is the goal of Originium, not the goal of 'the Law'.
Originium has been set as a prerequisite of 'the Law'.
Federico
If Originium is as you earlier described, able to assimilate everything, why is it a prerequisite to anything?
Federico
Surely it is more than the end of everything?
Federico
How would the Law be able to operate inside a field of uniform Originium? What would be the meaning of a halo in that case?
As Originium is the end of all things, there is meaning in bestowing halos on everything.
Angels before Originium are merely angels.
Angels after Originium are the only method of existence that will retain meaning.
Aggy... Agathangelos? I don't like this name. It's too long and hard to read, and it doesn't sound like any of the other names here.
Sickly Woman
This is... my surname. Before your father left, he kept telling me he hoped I would give it to you.
Andoain
But, Mamma...
Sickly Woman
I know it's strange and hard to read, Andoain.
Sickly Woman
If the other children knew you had this name, they might say hurtful things to you like 'there's that weird boy!'.
Sickly Woman
Once you head out further afield, bandits may think you're a rich foreigner, while the Inquisition might assume you're a zealot up to no good.
Sickly Woman
Which is why I hope you never share it with others. Stick with a simple name, like the other orphans here.
Sickly Woman
I hope you will keep it in the deepest recesses of your heart, a place where your happiness, anger, sorrow and joy cannot touch.
Andoain
But I feel really sad right now... I don't know if there's anywhere in me that doesn't feel sad.
Andoain
Is there really a place like that in my heart?
Sickly Woman
Of course, Andoain. Everyone has one.
Sickly Woman
I hope that, when you think of this name, you will be free from suffering, grief, frustration, and strife.
Sickly Woman
Forget the dying and the hungry by the road who claw at your ankles. Forget those in despair, whose minds were eaten away by the sea fog, and the flesh they chew on.
Sickly Woman
Forget the monster doll your father made, and my finscale soup. Forget the storybook you keep beneath your pillow, and the brush you found in the old chapel.
Andoain
But I don't want to forget them!
Sickly Woman
...It's just for a little while, alright?
Sickly Woman
I hope that, when you think of this name, you will find tranquility... the tranquility of emptiness.
The ocean of Originium is endless. Those who look upon it soon realize that every observation they make of it is without meaning.
When everything the eye can see is impossible to differentiate, where to start looking is similarly impossible to determine.
But now, above this great sea of uniformity, something shines.
It is as if the edge of the Originium sea has converged into a river that flows into the heavens. Countless fragments of Originium rise up from the surface of the sea, floating up into the distant, empty beyond in perfect formation.
The fragments are jagged and irregular. Some are as small as dust, others as immense as stars, but all, without exception, are crowned with a glimmer of light.
A glimmer shaped like a ring.
Andoain
Halos...
Arborbeast
Beautiful, aren't they?
Arborbeast
It's a pity that all the beauty and ugliness in the world is meaningless to angels.
Arborbeast
Angels are neither beautiful nor ugly. They are neither high nor low, noble nor base, reverent nor blasphemous, adorant nor disdainful.
Arborbeast
They know neither meeting nor separation, happiness nor suffering.
Andoain
Can they even be considered life?
Arborbeast
Does that matter? All the praise we heap upon life is nothing but egotistical admiration.
Arborbeast
Observing their forms in an attempt to compare them to our definition of life is simply us trying to find resonance with them.
Andoain
Then, are they the Law? Are they gods?
Arborbeast
If there is no distinction between beauty and ugliness, high and low, noble and base, why would there be one for god and worshiper?
Arborbeast
Angels do not understand faith. They simply exist in the furthest reaches of the universe, taking on the most distinctive forms.
Arborbeast
It was our forebears who encountered them, shamelessly disturbing them as they did so. In their name, we created a forgery of a dialectic, of god and worshiper.
Andoain
If all our emotions, ideas and actions have nothing to do with angels...
Andoain
What does our future have to do with them?
Arborbeast
It is because everything we are has nothing to do with angels that we should become them.
Arborbeast
Now, this is only a possibility, but...
Arborbeast
When the Creator descends, when everything is submerged into this ocean before us, a time of stasis, uniformity, and meaninglessness...
Arborbeast
The Sankta within can take on the forms of angels and enjoy an eternal existence, where they shall shine forevermore.
Arborbeast
This is the final answer we shall submit to death.
Arborbeast
This is His gift to the people He has guarded for thousands of years, His final blessing and salvation.
We drift, just as we drift between past and future.
We flicker, just as we flicker between reality and the void.
Angels know not beginnings or ends. Angels know not increase or decrease. Angels know not life or death.
In an existence where nothing exists, we can only exist in the form of angels.
Incomprehensible to the point where the Law cannot directly describe them, instead defining them by what they are not?
Federico
Immaterial to the point where taking the form of angels allows one to continue to exist after becoming Originium?
Federico
This is the existence the Law has chosen once everything returns to Originium?
Affirmative.
Federico
If this is the ultimate purpose of the Law, then as a saint and an executor, I should implement and enforce it.
Federico
Unless...
Federico
Unless the Law itself is a paradox.
Federico
I have one final question!
Federico
Explain to me how, if angels truly are as you say, without beginning or end, increase or decrease, life or death...
Federico
Then why do they—you—have such a strong desire to exist... to continue to exist?
...
............
As machines have inputs, so they have outputs.
The saints sought answers in the Law, and the Law granted them revelation.
The fleet asked the system for instructions, so the system issued commands.
The Lord, or rather, PCS, has never been as silent as it is now.
Federico
You are an artificial system, so you require people to operate you. This is true for both a 'command system' and the Law worshiped by the Holy City.
Federico
The ultimate purpose you were given was to break humanity free from their shackles and return their angelic nature.
Federico
However, this purpose, does it stem from people, or from angels?
Federico
Why would the angels you described desire this? Their actions do not have purpose, assuming they can even perform actions other than 'drift' and 'flicker'.
Federico
But if this purpose comes from people, how will you turn them into angels?
Federico
Surely everything you have done was more than just—
Guide your people to angelification. Guide yourself.
Arborbeast
Be free from suffering, grief, frustration, and strife. You will obtain tranquility, the tranquility of emptiness, as shall those you have helped and harmed alike.
Arborbeast
You need not live as an egotist, a villain, a traitor, or a fanatic. Nor do you need to die as one.
Andoain
...
Andoain feels more tired than he has ever been before, as if an entire lifetime's worth of burdens have been pressed down onto his back at once.
The arborbeast was right. He really is like that Sarkaz drunkard, acutely aware this is the last chance he has.
If he wanted relief, this is the only way.
'Relief'. He only needs to hear the word's crisp syllables to feel joy, to want to fall to the ground and weep until he has spent all his strength, then fall further into a deep slumber.
But he uses that strength to instead open his clouded eyes.
I don't know what kind of answer His Holiness gave you, nor do I know what Mostima, Fiammetta, Lemuen or her little sister are thinking right now aboveground.
Andoain
I don't know where Patia and our former fellows are headed, nor do I know whose bosom the children I tended in the Shrine of Nurtury have clutched.
Andoain
I don't know if they want this salvation, this relief.
Andoain
But if what you really care about is my answer as a 'suitable candidate'...
Andoain
Then my answer is no.
Andoain
I'm far too conceited. Even to this very moment, I still refuse to believe my arduous search for answers, decades in the making, was all for this simple relief.
Andoain
I'm not only conceited, I'm an egotist, a villain, a traitor, and a fanatic. And so I suffer and grieve, my frustrations giving rise to strife.
Andoain
But they are the foundations of my life.
Andoain
If I were to abandon them, the one who obtains relief, who becomes an angel, would not be me.
Andoain
Andoain Agathangelos shall never obtain relief.
Andoain
Nor will he ever wish for it!
Andoain
Let suffering scar his flesh, let strife snap his bones! Then, and only then, will he have the clarity of mind to walk his path!
Federico
It seems we have reached an agreement.
Federico
The Law itself is a paradox. He cannot be implemented, nor should He be.
Federico
Andoain, we must correct Him... or stop Him, if He cannot be corrected.
Paradox discovered. Attempting correction.
Performing diagnostic simulation.
............
Abnormal node: Wish to 'continue'.
Derived abnormal node: PCS, Personality and Cognition Synchronization system.
Abnormal node: Wish to 'survive'.
Derived abnormal node: The Law, God, Laterano.
Abnormal node: Wish for 'angels'.
Derived abnormal node: Me.
'Continue'. A scientist input this command.
'Survive'. A Teekaz howled this.
And so, an imitator of angels began its endless yet transient pilgrimage.
The imitator of angels became a command system, became the Law, became a god, yet it could not become an angel.
Then I would rather be born as a human, with all the ugliness, transience, and suffering that entails.
Importing additional condition: Wish to 'refuse'.
Re-exporting solution: must eliminate abnormal nodes and derived abnormal nodes.
Eliminate 'me'.
Federico Giallo. Andoain Agathangelos.
Execute solution.
Andoain
God's final commandment... is to kill God.
Andoain
Even if He was a paradox, he was still the foundation of the Paradise of Laterano. With His death, the Sankta will no longer be linked by empathy or receive guidance from the Law.
Andoain
Like an infant trapped within a womb, biting apart its umbilical cord and crawling its way out of its mother's cold body, helpless as it faces a land steeped in cruelty.
Andoain
But it is only in such a land that we can be called truly human.
Andoain
That we can have the right to talk about salvation.
Arturia leans against her cello. Finally. She frees a hand and holds it against her chest, allowing herself to catch her breath.
Arturia
Nearly there. If my memory serves me correctly, I just head down this corridor to return to the surface.
Arturia
Oh, you patrols truly are relentless.
Shrine Patrol A
(Restless gasping)
Shrine Patrol B
(Halo flashing rapidly)
The wispy guards surround Arturia, attempting to drag her back underground. She has wasted far too much time inside this maze since she turned away from the machine.
Her patron firearm is lost. She has no desire to join her pursuers in prayer, or to perform their hearts' songs. She would rather destroy her own cello... Arturia has never found herself in such a predicament before.
The exit is right ahead, but she no longer has the strength to carry on.
Arturia tries to make sense of it all. This is not the same as what happened in Zwillingstürme. There is no malevolent force sowing discord among the emotions of the people this time around.
It is like a movement, one played countless times by an orchestra of the masses, had part of its melody forcibly plucked away, as if it never existed.
Like walking along a road with the sun, the rain, your friends and your home ahead of you, but you are torn away from it for no reason, leaving you feeling alone and helpless...
Alongside millions of your people.
Arturia
'The Sankta will lose the cozy cabin of their faith'... Everything has come to pass.
You noticed Giselle's tears, didn't you, Romya? Have you forgotten what tears mean?
Nueda
Let's finish our song, okay?
Nueda
You see, Laterano hymns and Bolívarian hymns are quite different, so we need time to teach each other the parts we don't know.
Nueda
We will be here, together.
Nueda
East of the east of La Unidad♪
Panicking Child
L-Laterano, holy city of white♪
Fearful Child
...There, the earth hides no bombs♪
Children
There, the fields share wheat most bright♪
...
Nueda
All shall bask in His love♪
Arturia hears singing.
It wavers, revealing the anxiety, terror and worries of the singers... alongside pure, honest longing.
A longing for tranquility, to see night fall in peace and quiet.
Arturia
Your Holiness, I have no doubt that Laterano as it is may be walking to its demise.
Arturia
But I also believe it has never been this sincere.
Arturia
I've said before that I can't hold off the apocalypse or overwrite death, and I refuse to lead.
Arturia
But maybe my Arts can help them stave off this oncoming collapse.
Arturia
They will let my brethren, free of empathy, to 'communicate' without reservation, purely and honestly.
Arturia
Go listen to those songs. Go share your emotions. Go tell one another that, at this very moment, in the face of this indescribable loss, we still feel joy and sorrow together.
Arturia
This has nothing to do with saints and sinners, redemption and responsibility, or whichever path I walk.
Arturia
This is simply my reason to exist.
Laterano, holy city of purest white, falls into night. But today, there may not be an electrical operator named Alcide there to turn on the city lights.
