act42side

You chased me all the way here, then got your cohorts out of the way. You've evidently arrived at the same theory I have.

It's almost time, Fede.

Perhaps the city itself will soon tell us exactly what has happened to it.

//换新的

I've never seen so many outsiders in Laterano.

That's for sure.

The last Summit of Nations didn't have enough guests to fill a single hotel.

Just about every cardinal in the Curia is here... it's so crowded. The air is even more awkward than the Basilica.

We're far enough on the edge, Mostima. We're like the cleaners standing against the wall of a casino.

Whatever this Nativity is, it's probably Andoain bringing out a Sankta kid who just learned to talk, so the Matriarch standing there gets to ceremonially polish the kid's halo...

All symbolic puff. We could be home watching <i>One-Armed Chainsaw Guy 2</i> instead.

Let's just think of it as watching Nurturer Andoain work.

Haven't you already said all that needs to be said to him?

My heart's been feeling twitchy for some reason...

Do you feel it, Mostima?

Yeah.

Fiammetta turns sideways. She has never seen such a serious expression on her friend's face.

I'm feeling nervous... no, anxious, fearful. It's excitement and expectation, and I don't know why...

I can't describe it. It's like my heartbeat isn't my own.

Is this empathy?

You're a fallen Angel and I'm a Liberi. Neither of us has the power. No, it's not just us...

Fiammetta scans the crowd, and is now certain that this heartbeat is not an illusion.

The emotions that she is feeling are written on every face in the crowd. Every heart present throbs to this beat, which does not belong to them.

...Look up.

What?

Comfort bells.

Fiammetta follows her friend's gaze.

All the doors and windows were closed when the Nativity began. Not so much as a breeze can get in.

But the comfort bells are swaying in time, the ones hanging in the Hall of Enlightenment with them, and the ones in the corridors leading to the nurseries. Yet they do not produce the chimes that they should.

A sort of medium... like the musical devices that Leithanians use.

If my guess is right, we're feeling the heartbeat of the mother who is giving birth.

It's exactly the same!

It's exactly the same as what I felt when I waited outside the delivery room when my wife gave birth!

I could feel the unfathomable pain, but she would not give up. Her emotions tugged at mine, and we both spoke the name that we had already decided...

'Bailey, Bailey...'

Lord above!

The mother fainted? She's too weak. The pain of birthing is more than she can take... i-it's not good!

My heart's about to leap out of my mouth.

She's not giving up...

Lord, Holy City Most Pure, have mercy on us.

Have mercy on us.

Have mercy on us.

So... this really is a form of... 'empathy'.

Comfort bells sway violently throughout the hall. The ever-shifting emotions in the irregular heartbeats tug at everyone's nerves.

No one knows who the mother is, what her name is, how old she is, where she came from... but everyone knows what she is experiencing. No one moves a single step.

The fragile newborn has not yet triumphed over death. The struggle to break through the shell of ignorance seems eternal. Inside the Shrine of Nurtury, thousands of people experience a childbirth together—

Such clear empathy should never have existed in Laterano.

After a long, long time...

The heartbeat begins to weaken, until all is silent.

Connect the sensor wire, and activate the timer.

The last bomb... is ready!

Dammit, it's really hard not to march to this heartbeat!

*pant*—*pant*—

Fortunately, I've got the quickest brain in Penguin Logistics!

I could play Super Music Tycoon with one hand and raygun bottle shooting with the other, and beat both the boss and Texas at the same time!

All that practice wasn't for nothing!

Two minute countdown.

Blow up this corridor, and the path to the nursery will be cut off.

I hope my sister's intel is good...

The Shrine of Nurtury took a pregnant Sarkaz from a nomadic abbey, and got her to give birth to a Sarkaz at the Summit of Nations in this crazy ceremony...

I don't know what they're trying to do, but if I can keep her from appearing in front of the crowd—

Excuse me, you're in the way.

The mother is about to give birth. I want to get closer and pray for her.

Sorry, I'll…

Wait.

Pregnant... Sarkaz... aren't you the one?!

Yeah. What of it?

Huh?

Shouldn't you be giving birth—

Lemuel, right?

We've met before. Your sister brought you to our place.

Oh, er, Fiammetta's grandpa... salve...

The others are searching for the bombs and neutralizing them, Reverend Patrizion.

Good work.

Stop this Sankta. She has more explosives on her.

Snipers are in position. We will shoot to kill if the suspect attempts to escape.

Phew.

Reverend Patrizion...

You're late, Cardinal Lemuen.

Take the suspect back to the Seventh Tribunal.

But if the Nativity isn't about this Sarkaz, then...?

The heartbeat that resonated throughout the hall has quieted down.

A door opens to a corridor. Exusiai looks in the direction of the sound—

Carrying a small bundle, the Nurturer stands in the light shining through the door. His hands and robes are stained with blood, but the bundle is clean.

With head bowed, he walks slowly toward the Hall of Enlightenment, towards the waiting Matriarch. The crowd parts to let him through.

Thank you, Andoain.

The Matriarch takes the newborn from the Nurturer. She cannot see, and thus does not realize that his brow is furrowed in sorrow.

The Matriarch gently opens the bundle, and reveals the newborn—

A fledgling beast.

He leans against the Matriarch's shoulder, mucous membrane still sticking to its infantile paws. The wet and creased fur shows no sign of relaxing.

His eyes are closed, his breathing barely audible.

As you can see, the first life that the Shrine of Nurtury has brought into this world is this fledgling arborbeast.

His weight is nothing. His weight is everything.

Before I came to Laterano, I found his mother in an abandoned nomadic abbey. She was so famished, her feathers fallen, that I did not at first recognize her as an arborbeast.

A hunter's spear had impaled the mother's abdomen, but missed the fetus by inches.

I do not know how his mother hid for so long, how she survived, and how she stayed awake through the pain and hunger.

Until now.

I thank this strong mother, our Sankta and Liberi brethren, and our honored guests from afar—

This child was born amidst our prayers. He is a miracle that you have made together.

But why...?