When they left the church, they spotted a bird flying their way.
“…Bernard…”
It was Sara’s most trusted companion, a valiant hawk who’d earned himself the code name Insight.
Bernard had escaped the university alone. He came over and landed by Erna. He was wearing a collar with a device strapped to it—one of the copies of Last Code: The High Plain of Heaven.
When Annette stooped down and pressed it, it began playing audio. “Miss Erna, Miss Annette? Can you hear me?”
“________”
The voice that came out was Sara’s.
Without even thinking about it, Erna lifted Bernard up and held him at face height.
“I’m recording this just outside of Nicola University. You’ve grown so much. Both of you have. There are so many things I want to tell you, but my charge won’t last forever, so I have to make this quick.”
Sara had taped the message in advance.
A knot formed in Erna’s chest—sure enough, Sara had come in knowing this was a possibility.
Right when Erna’s urge to apologize became overwhelming, the voice warmly went on.
“Don’t put everything on yourself.”
The year they’d spent apart had done nothing to dull the kindness in Sara’s voice.
“Let me guess, Miss Erna. Have you been thinking that because we’re all split up, you can’t afford to screw up?”
“………”
Hearing that gave Erna a shock.
The sound of Sara chuckling crackled out from the recorder.
“I’m hoping that you haven’t been, but I worry. You’ll take on too much, so you’ll try to keep Miss Annette on a short leash…and that’ll make Miss Annette lash out and go on a rampage on her own…”
It was like Sara had been right there with them. She’d completely nailed the way Erna and Annette had been working completely out of sync, even if they looked like they were on the same wavelength.
“It’s not true, you know. Even when we’re separated, we’re always connected. And when the two of you mess up, your teammates will have your backs.”
Sara’s voice always had a way of reaching the softest part of Erna’s heart.
“I know that together, the two of you will make the revolution a reality.”
That was the end of the recording.
As soon as it finished playing, Erna felt the waterworks come.
Just as Sara said, they were connected. They might have been separated by distance, but they were all joined in the common goal of starting a revolution. When one of them was in peril, the others could come to their aid.
Erna wasn’t alone.
It was such a simple fact, yet it was one she’d spent the past year overlooking. She’d gotten so flustered, she’d failed to actually listen to what Annette was saying, and she’d fallen right into Nike’s trap.
Now Sara’s words were gently and warmly correcting her mistake.
When Erna let out a wail and began sobbing, the Knights of Valor members anxiously rushed over to her. “We have to get moving,” they urged her.
The only one who didn’t was Jean, who stared at the hawk’s collar as realization dawned on him. “That voice… Was that the brown-haired girl from just now…?” He crouched next to Erna in confusion. “L-look, can we really trust her? Is the LWS Troupe really still—?”
“Will you quit it with the pathetic bellyaching?!”
Jean’s eyes went wide. “…I’m sorry?” he said as Erna grabbed him by the collar.
“That doesn’t even matter!” she growled at the man who’d proved himself all but useless. “That’s not what Big Sis Sara showed us! She showed us something else!”
Her throat trembled from the force of her cry.
“That it doesn’t matter if we’re not strong enough! All it takes is a little courage, and we can stand up to Nike!!”
Sara’s majestic figure had, without a doubt, been carved into their minds. She’d faced off against the Genesis Army all on her own, and everyone in that lecture hall had seen her bravery.
That would provide the tailwind the revolution needed—Erna had to believe it would.
“Get word to everyone who’s ever helped the Knights of Valor and tell them to destroy any evidence of what they did!” Once Erna started shouting, she didn’t stop. “If we don’t hurry, the ones who got captured are going to start talking! We can still save the society! Don’t let everything Big Sis Sara risked her life protecting go to waste!”
When Jean blinked at her in bewilderment, she felt a surge of fury rising in her.
If he had simply been more competent, then much of the situation could have been salvaged. The fault for bringing Chloe back from the mines might have lain with Erna, but letting her talk him into doing something as monumentally stupid as gathering the group’s entire leadership together was simply unacceptable.
Spurred on by her frustration, she let out another bellow. “I’m in charge of the group now! You aren’t cut out for the job!”
That was what she should have done from day one.
She should have used every power at her disposal to seize control. She’d simply lacked the conviction to do so.
From that night on, the Knights of Valor vastly scaled back their operations.
Most of their officers had been arrested by the Genesis Army, but with the help of their supporters, the ones who escaped managed to establish a new base of operations and had begun diligently building back up. Jean was still technically in charge, but for all intents and purposes, the group had become a subordinate arm of Lamplight that answered to Erna. The officers held Sara in particular regard, and they were all fiercely loyal to her.
Sara had accomplished a lot, but the price was correspondingly steep.
“Meadow” Sara had been captured.
Losing the teammate she idolized like an older sister made Erna feel like a hole had been punched through her chest. She knew what happened to captured spies. They got tortured, and ultimately, they got executed.
Lamplight’s first battle against Nike, their mightiest foe to date, had ended in defeat. They’d been completely and thoroughly bested.
“Wuh…”
What escaped Erna’s mouth was an empty, hollow wail.
“WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”
For all her lamentations, though, the situation was unchanged.
Until the revolution was complete, there would be no end to Lamplight’s mission.