The events Meitzer was relaying were absurd and too unimaginable for Sven to accept. However, she couldn’t dispel one doubt about herself.
“I’m not the Saint!” She was Svelgen Avei. She had once been an assistive A.I. in a Hunter Unit, and now she was a humanoid mechanical doll.
“Yes, that’s right. However, you are the Saint.” Then he revealed an even more unexpected truth. “You are the deceased Saint brought back to life with a synthetic soul and synthetic body.”
Using blood from the Saint’s remains, Daian Fortuner created synthetic flesh and pseudo body fluid. Sven was born when he transplanted the rezanium reactor from the Hunter Unit known as Avei into the mechanical doll he had created.
“Your heart is like the strings of a musical instrument. The fluctuations it produces... the waves... Anyway, something like that artificially recreated the Saint’s fluctuations.”
Human beings do not understand the structure of their own spirit. European science defined the human spirit as composed of three parts. The soul, the spirit and the heart. Avei’s soul and Sven’s heart recreated the ancient Saint’s spirit.
“Didn’t God say so?”
At Meitzer’s question, Sven remembered. She recalled his first words to her.
“It seems you were born a slightly different way.”
This was utterly absurd. However, if it was true, it made sense. Rezanium powered August’s autonomous tanks and the airship Defairedead. Sven had been able to control both, if only temporarily.
“You once almost opened a Door beneath Berun.”
“You know about that too?”
Threatened by Genitz during his rebellion, she had opened a Door. That had incurred God’s wrath. The power coursing through the open door turned Genitz into a pillar of salt.
“That same thing happened to ten million people. That’s the truth of the destruction of the European Empire.”
Hardly anything remained of the empire that existed one thousand years ago. That might also have been due to God’s wrath. The nation’s capital, the central government, the energy source and countless citizens... all destroyed in an instant because God willed that the flourishing empire must disappear.
“It finally makes sense. That’s why that woman called me a fake.” Sven now understood why it felt as if she were seeing herself when she met the Saint. “Is that woman the real Saint?”
This absurd story continued. Sven was about to say that it would be very strange if someone from one thousand years ago was still alive. But Meitzer said no.
“She isn’t the Saint.”
“What?” Sven was puzzled, but Meitzer said no more.
“For now, you must rescue Langart. That’s something only you can do.”
“No, wait! First—” Having listened so far, Blitzdonner jumped in. “Svelgen, first there’s something I want you to do.”
The Saint was waiting quietly in the castle’s office. Events were proceeding in a slightly different direction from her calculations. That was not a problem. Her expectations included even this variation. She knew what humans were like. No matter how carefully you led them, they were foolish and headstrong. That was why God had forsaken them. There was no need to lead the blockheads any further, so he had erased them with his own hands and departed.
The Saint was different. She needed to be loved. If her plan worked, she would be one step closer to God.
“Just you wait. I shall reach you.”
Svelgen went inside Lud’s heart. It was surprisingly easy. She poured her spirit through the trace of rezanium inside Lud. The next thing she knew, she entered his world. However...
“Where am I?”
It was a grassland. Was it an imaginary landscape? She had never been inside someone’s heart, so it was a world she didn’t understand. If Sven had been human, she might have described it as a dream world.
She saw people running in the distance. One was Lud. Another was the woman called the Saint. They were being pursued by a group of men wearing masks and wrapped in black robes, like priests in a heretical religion.
Who are they?
Sven ran toward them. Gradually their voices became audible. The two fleeing were eventually driven to the edge of a cliff.
“Why won’t you leave us alone?”
“I don’t want to be God’s companion.”
“I want to stay married to this person for life.”
Sven could hear the distraught girl’s cries. However, the masked men in black would not listen to her.
What is this? Is it familiar?
Her chest felt constricted as she ran closer. The sound of firing rang out as she was about to reach them. A gunshot. Something like a small firearm had been fired. Lud collapsed, blood spurting from his mouth.
“That’s good.”
“The fool. He played with the Saint.”
“He’s merely a Shepherd!”
The men in black showered Lud with abuse. Crying and screaming, the Saint clung to Lud. But, he was dead. No matter how much they shouted, he would not wake up.
“Let’s go back, Saint.”
“God is waiting for you.”
The men in black seized the Saint, ready to drag her if they must.
No, stop! You mustn’t!
Sven tried to shout, but could make no sound. She knew... She knew what was about to happen.
“I won’t do what you want!”
“My life is my own! I will live the way I want!”
“My heart lies with him!”
Raising her voice in determination, the Saint clasped Lud’s body and jumped from the cliff.
“What has she done?!”
“This is awful!”
The men in black raised a commotion in their panic.
“What will we tell God?!”
“We’ll prepare a replacement.”
“Yes. If we make him a copy, God will understand.”
The men in black turned on their heels and left. They behaved as if the two corpses at the bottom of the cliff didn’t exist.
No... This is bad.
The scenery changed before her eyes. It was now a city. It was a world so closely resembling a heavenly temple that it made the royal capital of Berun look like a country village. Several tall castle-like towers rose overhead and the geometrical cityscape looked like a work of art.
Suddenly the city crumbled. Light from a giant red crystal floating in the center of the city destroyed every building, like sand exposed to ocean waves. Nothing remained. Everything faded and disappeared.
“God, why do you treat us like this?!”
“We did everything for you!”
“Please, pardon us! Forgive us!”
She saw the men dressed in black. They were desperately begging for forgiveness, but the red light showed no mercy. They too disappeared.