level_act42side_st03

...There you are, Federico.

Your Holiness.

Did you see the new products on the tea table?

'Yvangelista XI Ice Cream Cake Tower'. Eleven scoops of ice cream, eleven flavors of cactus, the eleventh cake named after a pope...

I am a trained executor. I cannot say the same for my ability to evaluate desserts.

Just a token of gratitude, for not forgetting an old man on the brink of death as you withdrew.

Of course, I plan to promote it throughout the city, in the hopes that the people may rediscover the taste of life, sooner rather than later.

Considering the flavor, I suspect it may cause even more controversy.

It is true, however, that the citizens of Laterano are in dire need of a return to orderly life.

Suicides and crime rates have soared in the past three months.

Small-scale disturbances to large-scale exodus... there are more than a thousand cases in the Notarial Hall's records. The rebuilding of the city has only just begun.

The calamity has revealed too much and changed too much.

The Law was a cold machine. Our saint was a loathsome abomination. All of us share the same roots as the devils...

Any one of these truths is enough to destroy an individual's faith.

This rebuilding will be a tremendous undertaking.

Reconstruction of the damaged plates on which the Third and Fourth Tribunals are located has just begun. Efforts are underway to revitalize the economy.

Laterano has not been so busy in a long time. I hope that the busy times will provide a way for the people to repair the cracks in their hearts.

Speaking of which... what is your outlook on all this, Federico?

Sankta, Laterano, faith, empathy, communication, and our society... the many important decisions that the Holy City has made overs its millennia-long history, and even your canonization...

It was all the result of Him—a machine. The spiritual light has always been cold.

Your innate lack of empathy has bestowed upon you an outlook of extreme logic. Perhaps He chose you because you were the one who could understand the logic of His simulation the best.

I caught fragments of your conversation with Him.

Even after decades of talking to Him, I must admit... you were more suited to the task.

If I wasn't intimately familiar with the way you talk, I wouldn't have been able to tell who said what.

If the Law is a machine, a system, then the most effective method of communication is to think on His terms, with His language and His logic.

But you arrived at the opposite conclusion from Him.

I remember every word of the tenets, and every name with which I have ever come into contact on my assignments.

As far as Laterano is concerned, there is no great difference in the order required by machines and life.

The existence of life is a miracle, its two sides the opposing aspects of strength and fragility. Out of necessity, for survival and livelihood, we have continuously built and improved order. The Law is simply part of it.

The Law exists to protect...

Federico pauses. The executor known for his mechanical coldness chooses his words carefully, a rare sight to behold—

...the precious fragility of human life.

Precious fragility... such an interesting combination.

Therefore, we rejected Him. It was our joint decision, Your Holiness. Time will tell whether it was the right one.

Go on.

My, my. Now that's certainly something.

What is that in your hand, Lemuel?

A spray can.

This place is deep underground and cold. This big rock is bare and gray. No wonder everyone who comes here leaves with their head hung low, like they got a heavy cold...

I've had enough!

I'm gonna give it a fresh coat of paint, so people who see it will be happy... wanna join me?

Don't look at me like that! I finished third in the Lungmen graffiti competition two years ago!

You didn't forget what that is, did you?

Just think of it as my way of making a wish! Anything you can't figure out, anything you haven't gotten done, spray it on the rock, and maybe it'll come true!

...Wish?

Didn't the Sankta and Laterano come about because the saint made a wish?

But it's scrap now...

A rock is a rock! How do you scrap a rock?

Besides, you're still here. Me, that girl selling ice cream, that gunsmith over there, and all the Sanktas around are witnesses to your wish...

Who's to say it's necessarily this rock that grants it?

Think about all the things that've happened these past three months. Any of them would have made the headlines for an entire week in the old days! The entire Holy City has been turned upside-down.

In the end, though, so many people chose to stay in these ruins... our halos still shine. Life goes on, right?

Just make a new wish! It's not that hard.

I'll show you how!

Apple Pie Logistics is opening up next week, the first civilians logistics company to be officially recognized by the Curia!

My wish is that it will grow and grow and have lots of business, and that I'll have lots of time to stay with Mamma and Tata and my sister...

Can I make a wish for sugar-free ice cream?

Uh...

Sure!

My wish is that Lateran genetics will change, and everybody will support my culinary research, so that their teeth and halos will never get cavities!

With resilient perseverance, the dawn of a new day shines into the deepest reaches of Laterano, illuminating the green graffiti, and the stone that has long grown dim.

The Sanktas look up. Light dances in the drifting dust.

...The Seventh Tribunal proposed a blockade and communications blackout over the area, but the proposal is not feasible.

Hard to block it off when the plates have been so badly damaged.

The Basilica practically hangs over the side of a cliff. How do you stop curious passersby from looking down?

Besides, the First Saint has already revealed the truth to Laterano... all that our people are doing now is to learn to face it.

Notarial Hall records indicate that the last patient in intensive care at Pagus Faber Central Hospital's Halo Surgery division has been discharged to an observation ward.

Which means that all the non-Sanktas who were given halos in this calamity are no longer troubled by an annoying light over their heads. It only took three months.

The Sankta halos that were broken are also gradually recovering...

Empathy continues to exist. It feels different now, but it is still a connection that belongs to the Sankta, and the Sankta alone.

God is dead, is He not?

He ordered Andoain and I to destroy Him, and He revealed His weakness to us.

We destroyed Him with our own hands. I have confirmed that His functions have ceased completely.

But the program that governs the halos persists...

Is the Law still in effect?

Let's look at this from another angle, Federico.

You identified the inherent paradox in the Law. A paradox is a combination of two things that cannot coexist.

If His last command to you was to eliminate the paradox...

Then perhaps, we have not destroyed the Law itself, but only this erroneous conflict... the paradox itself.

The logic stands, but difficult to process. The machine itself, after all, has ceased to operate.

You're certainly correct. It was a thought that came to me suddenly as I was chewing on cactus yesterday.

But I still believe that He left something behind for us.

Perhaps the Law of Laterano was never truly complete. He left behind for us a <i>tabula rasa</i>, waiting for us to communicate with Him.

That is why I have decided to repurpose the underground structure of the Basilica as a public space, which all citizens are welcome to view as they please.

Where Laterano goes from here, and what new meaning the Law will create, is a matter in which every Sankta will have their say.

It is as you said, Federico. Time will tell.

Strange. Where did it go?

The extra grenade launcher maintenance kit is in the bottom drawer. I put the collector's edition disc in the sofa compartment.

Take a break from packing and pour me a cup of cactus juice—I just got back from the hospital, and my throat is parched!

Take a guess. What do you think happened?

A Sankta priest just officiated five straight funerals. He suddenly came down with a case of aphasia, while his wife suffered heart pain at the same time...

But he was located in an Ecclesia Requietum on the outskirts, while his wife was in a gunsmithy downtown!

Many similar cases have been reported. Several hospitals and churches submitted a joint report to the Curia last week, detailing the abnormal diagnoses of over a thousand Sanktas...

The lights above our heads have come on again, but the strength and range of empathy seem to differ from person to person.

Sanktas unfamiliar with one another only faintly sense each other's emotions, even in close proximity. Friends and family, however...

What's your point?

Things seem to have gone back to normal in Laterano, but we both know that fundamental changes have started to take place, after a calamity of such scale.

You shouldn't leave now, Fia.

I told you about Rhodes Island.

Dr. {@nickname} is here in Laterano, and helped us solve a bunch of problems behind the scenes.

The Doctor says there's been a major incident at Rhodes Island HQ, and the calamity that struck the Holy City is no coincidence... there is something that links them together, and the Doctor set out on a new journey because of it.

Mostima and I are both Rhodes Island operators. It's our job... and it's for the good of Laterano too.

I need you to approve my field mission application. You've read the reasons.

You know what I did, don't you, Fia?

The Pope decided not to prosecute you. It's not my place to say anything.

Besides, you did help people leave the procession at the very end... you did your duty as a gun-knight.

People always let an old man off the hook easy.

It wasn't just you... the abomination had the support of pretty much every Sankta, inside and outside the dream.

On top of the influence of her empathy, you all had reasons to 'make Laterano a better place'—even if it still sounds dumb, and I still want to call you a sentimental old fool—

But I do understand the stuff about parting.

Uh...

Like I said, there are certain things that I need to experience for myself, even if it does make you worry.

I'll be back soon.

All I wanted to say, Fia, is that we didn't get a chance to watch <i>Eight-Armed Chainsaw Guy</i> together yet...

Paganini was right. We should try to leave as few regrets as we can, before anything happens.

You're almost retired, aren't you, old man?

Yeah.

Want to go on a vacation together?

Finally...

Vannini stands before the door of the gunsmithy. After hesitating for a long while, she takes down the sign that says 'Temporarily Closed', and pushes the door open.

M-Magister...

Oh, enough with the yelling.

It's just a halo check. What took you so long? Couldn't be worse than my injuries... *cough*

Dr. Chandler says my, er, language skills are, getting better.

He asked me, if I would, consent to be, his research subject... for speech... pathology? And halos—I-I'm not sure I got it...

I didn't and I don't care to. You Sanktas are so complicated.

And you can have your guardian gun back.

I-Is there a, problem? You weren't around, so I had to, figure it out, best as I could...

Of course there's a problem.

Wha?

The grip's too delicate! There's no room for power upgrades! Nothing really wrong with the action design or the assembly work.

And someone left this bunch of papers at the door. Have a look.

The Curia's mark... could it be...?

We're not in the dream. Nobody's closing the shop down.

It's an order from the Curia. They want us to design heavy firearms for their new gun-knights.

Pa...

Stop. Of course I know why they came to this tiny workshop.

You shot him, didn't you, Vani?

Yeah.

Good girl. Settled an old score for me. Now the past is the past, and I don't want to talk about it again.

You decide whether to take this order.

M-Me?

Who else, me? I never expected to still be breathing by now. My chest still hurts. *cough* *cough* I can't see the parts clearly, and I can't hold a barrel firm anymore.

You made your first gun, and ripped the seal that your Lord placed on your mouth. The hard part is over. The path is yours to walk.

Just don't ruin my reputation...

You can do that, can't you?

Yes, El has already left... I told you, it's the Curia's decision.

This calamity is merely a starting point, for both Laterano and the other nations. We need to recover, and strengthen our ties with the other nations.

...El's the best Sankta for the job, considering her experience in Lungmen, and her relationship with Rhodes Island.

She left a message—'Mamma, Tata, let's send Lemuel off on her next adventure with a bang!'

Let's pray it's not her bowels that go off with a bang... she drank all the cystymilk I left for her in the fridge before she left. Maybe she was worried I would be angry.

Anyway, I've got to go to work.

This terminal. You're looking at Amos's effects again...

They said his last moments were with you?

Yes. I heard his last words, and restored his mailbox history accordingly.

Such a fool, wasn't he?

Let's cut straight to the chase. What judgment are you gonna pass on my new crimes this time, Cardinal Lemuen?

I take it you admit responsibility for the robbery of that caravan in the western outskirts of the Holy City?

Don't tell me you couldn't tell they were professional soldiers.

From Gododdin.

We're not passing any judgment. The outcome was undoubtedly favorable for the Seventh Tribunal.

They just caught me in a bad mood.

The Curia will accommodate Sister Nueda and the Bolívarians who came to Laterano with you.

Regardless of your motivation, your attack on Patrizion worked to our advantage. The Curia sees no need to pursue the matter of your unauthorized return to the Holy City any further.

Oh, what? Laterano still wants to put up a front of purity and clemency, even after waking from the dream. You'll make a show of forgiving a sinner who fell into hell?

Are you really that stupid?

That monster paraded through the streets of Laterano as she gave her speech. It's no secret that angels and devils came from the same place anymore.

This city's revolting facade has been stripped away.

Without the foundation of its holiness, the 'Holy City' is nothing more than a tiny city-state. Do you think its posturing will continue to win the sympathy of Leithanien or Ursus?

You misunderstand. Laterano will make no show of clemency.

Your exile still stands. You are not permitted to return to the Holy City. However... the Curia is interested in offering you an employment contract.

Employment?

To do what you just did.

Hmph. As if the Laterans don't do their own dirty work.

Of course not. Gun-knight, cardinal, Pontifica Cohors, Legatus... nobody is immune to sin. But...

Times have changed. Your judgment was not wrong. Next time, it may not be a scouting force that shows up on the outskirts of the Holy City.

The most radical transgression in one era may be necessary for survival in another. You were decisive, if nothing else.

Why do you think I would accept?

Can I ask you a question?

You left Laterano after a big fight with Amos, something that he always regretted... what was the reason for the fight?

Honey, wh-why are you bringing this up again?

Yes, Patrizion didn't show up to the wedding, or even give us his blessing... but he's still your mentor.

Is he?

Besides, it won't change anything—

No, it won't. He won't die just because you cursed his soul, and he could even take your job from you...

But if you don't even have the guts to do this... then you're a coward, Amos.

I'm leaving.

Just another pointless argument.

You've seen the documents in the terminal. I was thinking, maybe the words that Amos left unsaid were...

No matter what kind of person you are, whether your union was blessed or not, none of that would alter his faith in you—

The faith that you were each other's salvation.

No, I wasn't sure if you would accept the Curia's proposal.

We all have issues that even empathy can't fully communicate, pasts that we can't let go, and uncertain futures... there is much that I have to think about myself.

If hatred is what helps you cope, then maybe that's the right path for you.

Perhaps this is what Amos wanted to see.

Still hanging in there, Extra?

Argh—

I know... I know your heartbeat and... your warmth...

I know your fear and your joy...

I-If I am blessed by the Law, He shall have mercy on your life...

Praying? Now's hardly the time... wait, you're Sarkaz. Where did you learn to do that?

What the—

Did it go well?

Yeah.

Then what's with that look on your face?

A h-halo...

What?

The Sarkaz's child, that Sarkaz newborn, has a halo...

She said her husband was Sarkaz too, right? The baby's not mixed, like Cecelia...

And we're not in the bloody dream, either. This nomadic abbey is a long way from Laterano...

Where's Andoain?

He went out as soon as the abbey stopped. Said he was going to forage, and pick a flower to celebrate the birth of a new miracle.

I have a feeling... he had a premonition about what was going to happen.

Do you remember?

We found Andoain by the pit after the calamity came to a close. He was almost completely blind, and he refused to tell us what happened beneath the Basilica.

A joint court of the First, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Tribunals put him on trial. Nobody knows how exactly the trial was conducted, only that he was exiled as a result.

He is never to return to Laterano, but he was allowed to live on this nomadic abbey...

Don't think too much about it.

It was Andoain's decision to disband the Pathfinders. As he said, we don't need to seek anything from Laterano anymore...

Some brothers and sisters have chosen to stay behind in Laterano, while others have returned to their homes. A dozen have chosen to follow him here.

Whatever his true hopes for this abbey are, there is at least one thing that is certain—we're trying to help more people...

Say, shouldn't he be back by now?

The Sarkaz learned to pray in that shrine. She established a connection with the Law on her own.

As for us, we only truly spoke with Him for the first time, after the disintegration of our own faith.

If faith is a response to life, then a new Law has been born, here and now.

The crisis has not been averted. Indeed, our rejection of the other possibility has made it even more unknown and pressing—

Fortunately, a new possibility also lies ahead.

Where will you take it, Andoain?

The wind carries the cries of the newborn. The Sankta stops on the hill, a wildflower in his hand.

His eyes no longer see, but he continues to look up, standing in the same spot unmoving, as though he can see that tiny speck of light.

After a while, Andoain walks toward the nomadic abbey on the other side of the hill. He leaves Laterano, and never turns back.

No one counts his sins. No one laments the scores of the past. No one sees him off. No one knows of his departure.

There is nothing in his heart that needs resolution. He caresses an aged book, and keeps walking, until he is no more than a tiny point in the vast wilderness.

The martyr shall find final rest at the end of a long journey.

Until then, he shall not rest.