“So what?! Defending isn’t enough to beat me!”
Nonetheless, he possessed a human being’s sword skills. The Saint possessed a strength no human could match, while ignoring normal attack range. To fight against her, human opponents were forced to focus only on defense and could barely manage that.
“I’m aware of that!”
Creating this deadlock had been Lud’s goal.
“That’s right!”
From behind Lud, Sven glared at the Saint. Her red eyes looked directly into the Saint’s.
“What’d you say?!”
The Saint understood what Sven and Lud were hiding.
“Your power is superhuman... No... it isn’t human at all!”
The Saint had lived over one hundred years and acquired knowledge and power from the ancient empire, so she possessed physical abilities surpassing those of human beings. But, such a being could still be human.
“The source of that power... It’s the rezanium, like mine!”
Sven’s influence over the power of her invisible blades turned the Saint’s suspicion to certainty.
“In that case, I too have God’s blessing, so I can stop you with my power!!”
Sven’s red eyes shone even more brightly. The Saint’s eyes also spilled red light as if resonating with them.
“Urgh... Agh?!”
The Saint began to suppress Sven’s power.
“You’re like me? But I don’t know who gave birth to you!”
Sven had become certain.
“You’re a synthetic human, just like me! You’re a machine!”
She proved it by touching the Saint with her power.
“What...?”
The Saint’s smile completely disappeared when she heard those words. The Saint spoke with a voice lacking any trace of humanity—coldly... colder than a doll.
“I’m a synthetic human? Like you... I’m a mechanical doll, did you say?!”
An explosive sound rang out—bam!—as if something had broken loose. It was the sound of Sven’s power, which was interfering with the Saint.
“Ungh!” Sven flew back from her own power’s recoil.
“You’d better take me seriously, you fake! Don’t lump us together!”
Fierce and crazy with anger, the Saint kicked off the ground and sprung toward Sven. Then she hit Sven’s face mercilessly with a tight fist.
“—?!”
Unable to cry out, Sven was bashed into the floor.
“Me... a doll?! A fake?! An imitation?! I’m not like you!! Never think that!!!”
With a ghastly face, she punched Sven over and over as if to smash her out of this world and erase her very existence.
“Why you...!!”
“Stop!!”
The Saint threw more punches, but Lud raced over to stop her. Even though she wasn’t human, he couldn’t be violent toward a girl. However, when that girl acted like this, it was a different story. Brandishing the katana, he moved to stop her but not go so far as to kill her.
“Don’t interfere!!”
He couldn’t do it. The Saint gave in to her anger, like a wild beast, without elegance or any concern for appearances. She landed a backhand blow, sending both the katana and Lud flying.
“M... Master!”
Seeing that, Sven tried to stand. She wouldn’t let anyone harm her master. That would always be true.
“Shut up!!”
Even Sven’s determination, which yielded to no opponent, couldn’t stand against the Saint’s wrath. The Saint used one hand to force Sven’s head down, smashing her face into the floor.
“We’re not the same! I... I am the only human God is supposed to love!!”
Contrary to her words, she continued pressing Sven down with monstrous strength. Attacking wasn’t all. She was trying to crush Sven’s head.
“I will pulverize you, you doll!”
The Saint was beyond anger and began to laugh crazily.
“Umph!”
Lud stood up to help Sven. The single punch from the Saint’s small fist had broken a few of his ribs. There might also be damage to his internal organs. Intense pain coursed through him, but he was so panicked he didn’t have time to worry about it.
“Sven!”
He had to save her but there was nothing he could do now. Even if he had been equipped with heavy weaponry, he may not have been able to defeat the Saint. Nonetheless, he stood up and tried once more.
“Don’t you give up?!”
Sensing his approach, the Saint continued to hold Sven down with one hand as she swung her other hand in a tight fist toward Lud.
In that moment, everything in Lud’s field of vision slowed down. Due to the extreme tension, a brain secretion accelerated neural transmissions and caused an implosion of visual information. That state was called the zone. Lud heard a voice.
“What’s wrong, Langart? I showed you how to do it!”
It must have been an auditory hallucination. It was the voice of his former friend—and former enemy—a man no longer alive. It was Genitz’s voice.
At the last moment, he avoided the Saint’s flying fist. Even though the Saint wasn’t human, she had human form, therefore the principle was the same.
Budo was the ultimate defensive art developed by an island nation in the east. It was a god-like art for maneuvering an opponent’s strength. Suzuka was a distinguished expert, but Genitz had also been proficient in the skill. Lud now hit the Saint with Budo.
“What?!”
When her own strength was turned back on her, the Saint flew through the air. Her hands and feet didn’t touch the ground. She was airborne. The technique had been delivered so perfectly even the Saint didn’t understand what had happened and was slow to respond. Her left side was wide open.
“Graaahhh!”
This might be his only chance to deliver a blow. He struck with all the strength he had.
Ryuku was a technique from eastern bujutsu.
Its force could reach into the recipient’s internal organs and cause direct damage, no matter how thick her armor or how tough the protective muscles.
“Guh!”
The Saint’s face froze. She spit blood and collapsed on the spot.
“Blood...?”
Sven looked as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing as the Saint coughed up red blood, which didn’t flow through mechanical dolls.
“What the...? Are you... a real human?”
The ryuku Lud had released would damage the human heart. It could not work against someone without a heart, much less a machine.
“I told you... you’re a fake.”
Despite the intense pain that felt like an unseen dragon’s claws raking through her insides, the Saint spoke with hate.
“I am... human. I’m different... from you!!”
Once upon a time, the people of Europea killed the Saint and invited God’s wrath. That was not the only sin they committed.
“If the Saint is dead, but we provide a replacement, God will be satisfied.”
They cultivated cells from the Saint’s body and made a copy. God abandoned them because of that act, which treated life without due respect. The empire was destroyed and all life turned to pillars of salt, but God overlooked one individual because she too was a victim. It was the copy of the Saint. The unfortunate copy was left all alone.
“God chose me! In that empire of fools, I alone was allowed to live! I am righteous! I am the chosen one! I’m different from the rest! I am God’s only beloved in this world!!”
Tearing out her hair, the Saint ranted and raved. Her beautiful hair was scattered across the floor. She looked down on human beings because God had abandoned them. She looked down on Sven as a fake because as the Saint, she was proud of herself.
“But you’re the replacement, aren’t you? No, maybe you aren’t even that?”
“Silence!”
Her face contorted by anger, the Saint kicked Sven in the face.
“Gagh!”
Sven rolled across the floor.
“Ngah!”
The Saint’s heart had been injured by Lud’s blow, and she was gravely wounded.
She clawed at her chest and moaned in pain.
“Aaagh!!”
The dress she wore was shredded.
“?!”
Sven and Lud were silent when they saw what was beneath her clothes. Countless mechanical parts were connected where she should have had breasts. All sorts of mechanisms—cogs, screws, bearings, bolts and cylinders—had been pieced together like a chimera to form a human doll.
✦ ✦ ✦
