“I do not know the origin of my name. I heard that the person who was in charge of me took it from the character of a book he was reading.”
More consideration would be given to naming a dog or cat. The Saint’s devotees had not even been afforded that attention.
“I never doubted or thought it was unfair. However, I have never discovered joy in fighting either.”
But then he encountered the expert martial artist Suzuka. For Toolman, that was a stroke of great fortune.
“This technique has no regard for what happens if my opponent dodges. If I hit, I kill in one blow. If I miss, I die. Easy to understand, isn’t it?”
If Toolman’s sword struck, he would win. If Suzuka dodged him, he would be defenseless and she would defeat him. It was an all-or-nothing attack and he felt joy for the first time at being able to use it.
“Here I come!!”
Toolman launched and closed in with an odd monkey-like cry—“Kyaieee!” Suzuka prepared to defend.
“What?!”
Something intervened. Someone threw something that pierced Toolman’s chest and stopped him.
“What... is this? A hand?!”
It was the arm of a girl. It was not a human arm. It was the severed right arm of a mechanical doll, a humanoid Hunter Unit. With the hand positioned in a martial arts chop, it had been thrown like a spear and impaled Toolman’s chest.
“W... what the?!”
Coughing up copious blood, he looked behind and saw a man and woman dressed in crimson. One was Blitzdonner. The other was Rebecca.
“We made it in time.” Rebecca’s voice was cold and collected.
“The red girl? You... came back to life?”
Suzuka had heard from Blitzdonner that the Saint had defeated and killed Rebecca.
“I would have died, but this time I owe thanks to Svelgen.”
After her encounter with the Saint, Rebecca had stopped functioning. The Saint had turned off Rebecca’s rezanium reactor, which was her heart and brain. However, Sven could also control rezanium. Before Lud recovered, Blitzdonner and Sven were able to repair Rebecca.
“I see. But I’m surprised you’re safe. I thought you were destroyed.”
“Yes... I was aware of that.”
She had been moved while nonfunctional to a safe place.
“I never imagined she would save me this way.”
Rebecca was smiling bitterly, a rare thing for her.
“You jerks... Why did you interfere in the fight?!”
Toolman cursed them as he collapsed, spewing blood. He used his remaining life to express fury at those who had interfered with a battle between warriors.
“Don’t be ridiculous. This is war. If you wanted ceremonial duels, you should never have become a soldier.” Rebecca icily contradicted him. “You were trying to start a world war, yet you want a clean conclusion for yourself? That’s asking too much.”
“Ungh...” Lacking the strength to argue any further, or perhaps unable to find words for a retort, Toolman drew his last breath.
If it had been someone else’s fight, Rebecca might not have interfered. She might have prevented Blitzdonner from doing so. Another person’s past and their dreams for the future wouldn’t have mattered to her. Toolman was different. Indiscriminately delivering death and ignoring emotion and principles was the reality of war.
“What a pitiful man!”
As she spoke, Suzuka looked at Toolman’s corpse. She understood what Rebecca was saying. She understood this was the end Toolman had to suffer. Suzuka pitied Toolman, who died just as he experienced the life he might have had.
“The rest of you soldiers should end this now.” She urged the Saint’s remaining followers to stop and prevent Toolman’s death from going to waste.
There were less than ten soldiers left. They had little chance of defeating Suzuka and Sophia, and now would also face Rebecca and Blitzdonner.
“It’s no use,” Rebecca said coldly.
As if intent on proving otherwise, the remaining soldiers raised their firearms and faced their opponents.
“I am not human, but I’m like them in that I have a mission I must fulfill.”
For that reason, Rebecca could somewhat understand how the Saint’s devotees felt.
“The meaning and purpose of the mission is irrelevant to the people who have lived and died for it. They know no other way.”
No one knows why they were born. They had to find the answer for themselves.
“To people who have lived only to obey the Saint’s commands, it doesn’t matter if they can’t fulfill those commands. They would run into a wall over and over. That’s all they know.”
They were incapable of choosing to disobey orders.
“Yes, that’s right. They cannot ignore my commands.”
Everyone froze at the sound of the voice. It was the Saint.
“No... surely not!”
The voice was coming from a transmitter. Blitzdonner looked down at Toolman’s corpse. The voice was coming from a transmitter in Toolman’s ear.
“You have done the unexpected, but I have prepared for that.”
The Saint did not sound unsettled. She didn’t sound concerned about Rebecca, Suzuka and Sophia’s opposition.
“I know you too well. You are foolish and are not intelligent, so you throw tantrums and resist. I have countermeasures for all of it.”
She looked down on them with contempt, she mocked and pitied them, but there was no insult. The foolishness of human beings was a simple fact to her, like the red of the setting sun. That was instantly proven.
“What?!” Sophia was the first to notice. “Impossible... Where did they come from?!”
One, two, three... One after another, armed soldiers emerged from the forest that surrounded the test site. Their fatigues bore no indication of their affiliation or rank. Their insignia had been ripped off. However, Sophia knew where they were from.
“Why are Augustan soldiers here?!”
These were special operations soldiers from August, the nation under the Saint’s control. There were already over fifty, equaling one platoon. If Lud and Sven could see the woman leading them, they would have been shocked into silence. It was Mary Ville Mehl.
“Now you will despair! Deeply, darkly and forever!” The Saint’s voice rang out through the transmitter as if to cast them straight to hell.