Ch.107107. The Screams of the Lambs

Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap

As Amon typed like a programmer, the screen responded with rich emotional expressions.

[So your marrrrrr… wait a moment.

(•`_´•)]

After displaying an angry ASCII code, the Mercenary King returned.

[Sorry. There are four crazy guys living in my head. Sometimes this happens. Where were we?]

“Lunatics are pouring out in droves in the Holy City. Just like the friends in your head.”

[I thought so…]

“Seems like you have an idea?”

The “…” appeared repeatedly on the screen.

After a long loading period, the Mercenary King began speaking again.

[Looks like one of the crazy guys living in my head spawned outside.]

“What?”

[I don’t know much either. This terminal is my only means of interacting with the world.]

The Mercenary King was in a coffin, completely isolated from the world,

unable to see, hear, or feel anything.

Among Super AIs, there were monsters that could transcend cognition itself.

For the perfect sealing of the originals, the Mercenary King had no choice but to completely block even his own cognition.

The terminal allowed limited communication, but even that was password-protected for security.

[And you entered that password.]

Clap, clap, clap

The Mercenary King applauded his first conversation partner in 60 years.

Amon felt a strange sense of familiarity as he typed his response.

“You keep changing the subject.”

[Understand me. I’m lonely.]

“What do you mean by ‘spawned’?”

[Don’t you know what spawning is?]

“I do, but I’m just making sure.”

[It’s exactly what you’re thinking. While the original is going boom-baya in my head, something like a clone is hatching outside.]

“How?”

[Well? I’ve run all the integrity checks, and there’s no sign the originals escaped on their own. I think someone physically scanned my brain.]

“Any idea who it might be?”

[Sorry. I can’t tell when my coffin lid is opened. Even if someone stuck a CC in my XX, I wouldn’t know.]

“Hey, there’s a woman here too.”

[Sorry again. As I said, I only know what comes through the terminal. I don’t know who’s with you, or if you’re here doing the deed with that woman… Oh, really. Sorry. It’s my first conversation in 60 years.]

The Mercenary King showed his rough manner of writing, befitting his mercenary background.

Amon typed urgently.

“Then it’s no different from an escpae.”

[Hey, you made a typo. But it’s not as dangerous as you’re worried about.]

“Why?”

[Do you think these guys are just chunks of code? That they can be copied with just a brain scan?]

It was a question loaded with meaning.

As he said, Super AIs were more than just code.

In some ways, they were miraculous creations; in others, inexplicable disasters.

Beings that could transcend networks and affect reality couldn’t possibly be reproduced through simple pattern analysis.

In other words, what was outside was a degraded version.

Amon realized this and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ah. Safe… my ass. It might be manageable for you, but even a degraded version is a disaster for ordinary people.”

[Is that so? Anyway, what’s outside is probably an illegal copy of these guys. But something’s strange.]

“What?”

[To scan my brain, they’d have to open the coffin first, right? But not many people would know the coffin password.]

“Who?”

[First, the kid from the agency.]

Amon turned around to look at the manager.

The manager shook his head vigorously, claiming innocence.

Amon thought it probably wasn’t him either.

“He says it wasn’t him.”

[He’s there? Wow, how old would he be now? About 90…]

“Hey. Focus.”

[Sorry. Back to my colleagues…]

The manager interrupted the conversation.

“They’re all dead. Crow went out in a blaze of glory fighting an evil corporation…”

Amon relayed all of this.

After a brief stutter, the Mercenary King continued typing.

[They all died admirably.]

Though he tried to appear nonchalant, sadness was evident in the Mercenary King’s text.

[Anyway, there are no candidates then. No one else would know the coffin password. But is that important? You figured out what that Cardinal did to me.]

“That’s true.”

[What are you doing? Why aren’t you rushing to stop him?]

Though uneasy, Amon nodded.

There were more urgent matters on the surface.

They could talk more later.

“We’ll talk again later.”

[Welcome anytime. I’ve been bored with no one to talk to on the terminal for 60 years. Before you go.]

“Yes?”

[Type the hibernation command for me. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait fully conscious.]

“What should I type?”

[Good night, cowboy. It was dirty meeting you and let’s never see each other again.]

“… Really?”

[Anything with a similar meaning will do.]

Amon thought for a moment, then typed with reverence for the hero who had saved this world.

– <Good night, cowboy. I’ll try not to have to find you again.>

As the command was entered, noise began to appear on the screen.

Soon, the Mercenary King started outputting meaningless sentences just like before the conversation began.

Amon’s group turned away from the frost-leaking coffin and headed to the surface.

In the room they left behind, the monitor next to the coffin briefly displayed one sentence.

[I wish you luck, Paladin.]

*

After returning to the surface, Amon’s group split into two teams.

“Sister and Sonia, go to the Chief of the Palace Office. Kathy and I will go to Heinrich.”

Only one day remained until the start of the Conclave.

There was no time left.

As Amon was about to rush out, Sonia, who had been watching him worriedly since the underground, stopped him.

“Wait, Amon.”

“What?”

“You don’t look good.”

Amon brought his hand to the corner of his mouth.

Only then did he notice his tense lips.

“It’s nothing.”

“Was it that shocking?”

Nod

Amon moved his head with difficulty.

Sincerely, without a trace of falsehood, he had considered Heinrich a sworn brother.

That’s why Heinrich’s corruption was especially shocking to Amon.

Sonia silently embraced Amon.

“Still, talk to him first. It could be a misunderstanding.”

“You know it’s not.”

“Still, you need to talk. If not for him, then for yourself. Dialogue is?”

“The beginning of inclusion.”

Amon’s heart felt lighter.

Sonia pressed her lips against his, conveying encouragement and various other emotions.

When they separated, Sonia smiled brightly.

“I’ll persuade the Chief of the Palace Office.”

Leaving that persuasion to her, Amon headed toward Heinrich.

On the way to his quarters, Kathy was noticeably fidgety.

Seeing this, Amon let out a chuckle.

“You’re just like me.”

“Huh? What? No, no. I’m fine.”

“Kathy.”

“Yes?”

“Your value isn’t in that. The Kathy I liked was a woman who was confident even without future sight.”

“…”

Something seemed to resonate with her, and Kathy’s expression became resolute.

“Let’s hurry. Before the Cardinal notices.”

The two quickly made their way to Heinrich’s dormitory.

The main entrance opened as if it had been waiting for them as soon as they arrived.

Amon and Kathy reluctantly headed inside.

The entrance opening as if waiting for them, and even the elevator coming down to the first floor.

By this point, suspicion had become certainty.

Amon smoothly reached the door of the Cardinal’s room.

Before he could ring the doorbell,

– “It’s open.”

Hearing the response, Amon sighed.

Amon opened the door.

Heinrich was sitting on the sofa.

He poured wine into a small glass, exuding a melancholy atmosphere.

“This is my blood,”

“The blood of the covenant.”

Amon sat across from Heinrich.

The two men locked eyes.

Amon stared at the Cardinal’s violently trembling pupils.

Amon finally spoke.

“What did you find in Marbas’s treasury?”

“I brought back some technology that converts human brains into computers.”

At those words, Kathy’s shoulders flinched.

Amon held her hand to calm her down as he continued the questioning.

“What did you make with it?”

“… Since I couldn’t extract brains, I scanned them and created some AIs. They were degraded versions, though.”

“I suppose that AI told you we were coming?”

The Cardinal nodded.

“You must have been watching everything. From when we left the Vatican, returned, and went to the catacombs.”

Heinrich nodded again.

In this highly digitized world, there was no place without cameras.

If there were beings that could hack all devices, tracking a person would be no challenge at all.

Amon looked up at the ceiling and asked.

“Why didn’t you stop us?”

There were countless ways.

He could have broken down the car, caused a traffic accident with a truck, or crashed the plane.

Since the original could do even more, the degraded version should be capable of at least that much.

The Cardinal didn’t deny that interference was possible.

“I did consider it once.”

“Then why…”

“Amon, if it weren’t for you, I would have done so.”

“…”

Heinrich swallowed the bitterness rising in his throat and spoke.

“I started this to prove my faith. I might have stopped other corrupt priests for any reason. But stopping you would mean denying everything, wouldn’t it?”

And I doubt I could stop you anyway.

As the Cardinal muttered self-deprecatingly, Amon maintained his silence.

“I wish I had met you earlier. If only I had met you 20 years… no, even 10 years ago…”

The Cardinal pushed aside the glass of wine instead of drinking it.

Wine, symbolizing the blood of the saint, also represented ‘atonement’.

Understanding the Cardinal’s action, Amon asked him.

“Why did you do it?”

“I told you. To prove my faith.”

“You know that doesn’t explain everything.”

“Well…”

Heinrich took out a pendant from his breast pocket.

Amon’s eyes widened as he saw what was inside.

Crow.

She was once a female gunner and comrade of the Mercenary King.

Amon looked at Heinrich with surprised eyes.

This time, Heinrich looked up at the ceiling and rambled.

“Perhaps it was the sorrow of a child born between the great Mercenary King and a revolutionary, but who had to carry on their great cause without receiving parental love?”

“…”

“Or maybe it was the love-hate relationship toward an uncle who adopted me and taught me faith, but ultimately fell into corruption?”

“…”

“Or was it the anger I couldn’t suppress toward priests who insulted the Mother, when she was the only being I could trust in this world?”

The air in the room grew heavier.

Amon barely parted his lips in that heavy atmosphere.

“Don’t you resent the Goddess?”

“How could I resent her? My birth, my good connections, my peace—all of it is her grace.”

“I see.”

Amon coldly evaluated Heinrich.

“So you’ve gone mad after all.”

“I can’t deny that.”

It must have been painful.

As religion’s influence weakened day by day, and the only being he depended on was disrespected.

Because he purely revered God, he couldn’t bear reality, and he took action.

Unfortunately, he had his mother’s physique and his father’s intelligence.

He had the ability to realize plans that should have been dismissed as delusions.

“I know I’m contradictory. But what can I do? Since the moment humans ate the forbidden fruit, we’ve been contradictory beings.”

“I never felt your contradiction until now.”

“It’s not difficult to hide when you’re aware of your own madness. Of course, what I showed you was never a lie or an act.”

“I know.”

He couldn’t lie to the first true believer he had ever met.

That’s why Heinrich had to forcibly conceal the truth.

“If you hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have used this method. I would have used something much more covert… a biochemical weapon.”

However, when the saint Sonia appeared in person and he met Amon, he hastily modified his plan.

Forcibly twisting it left traces, and holes appeared in the plan.

But he didn’t regret it.

“Still, I’m glad I met Brother Amon.”

“Then surrender now.”

Amon gripped his sword in its sheath without drawing it.

But Heinrich shook his head.

“How can I stop now? It’s been 20 years.”

He spent 10 years sharpening his claws and 10 years preparing for war.

He could never give up.

But Amon didn’t give up on persuading him.

“Life is long. There’s still plenty of time left.”

“Of course I know that. The future I have left to live is longer than the past I’ve lived.”

“Then…”

“But I can’t do that. To live compromising with this terrible world all that time.”

“Even so, this method is not right. It’s heretical behavior that goes against doctrine.”

“As for doctrine, I’ve already violated it.”

Heinrich confessed frankly, as if in confession.

“I’ve committed too many sins on my way here.”

Most recently, he drove the Cardinals mad and summoned demons to the Holy City.

Going further back, he instigated the Decadents to assassinate the Pope for this plan.

The further back in time, the more his evil deeds poured out.

Among them…

“I sold the technology to convert human brains into computers to a madam of an investment company.”

Kathy felt her heart sink. She muttered in dismay as she realized the truth.

“W-why?”

“I needed to make people seek the Goddess. And… you were heretics.”

“…What?”

“Despite being descended from a great prophet, you used the power of prophecy for your family instead of the Goddess. Besides, you know how corrupt your family was.”

“Then everything…”

“Yes. It was all in the palm of my hand.”

Unable to listen anymore, Kathy thrust her spear.

But the spear stopped in mid-air before reaching Heinrich.

It was a familiar sensation.

That feeling when her spear was hacked and control was transferred.

‘Impossible!’

She was shocked.

The spear that should have been a piece of scrap metal after the EMP had been hacked.

It was a situation that couldn’t be explained scientifically.

For a moment she trembled at the power of AI that Amon had warned about, but that trembling was soon swallowed by anger.

“I won’t forgive—”

“Kathy. Calm down.”

At that moment, Amon embraced her from behind.

“That’s provocation.”

“You heard him. Everything went according to his plan.”

“No. Think calmly. Logically, if that were true, would your father have stood by and done nothing?”

“Ah…”

“The knowledge about brain computers is probably true. But after that, it would have been beyond his control. Isn’t that right, Heinrich?”

At Amon’s observation, Heinrich gave a bitter smile.

“You’re sharp.”

“Why did you need to provoke like that?”

“Because then you would see me as an enemy.”

“What?”

“I felt I could only carry out my will if you opposed me.”

Kathy couldn’t understand, but Amon could comprehend his feelings.

Although brief, the exchange of faith between Amon and the Cardinal had been far from trivial.

It’s just that for Heinrich, conviction took priority over faith.

Nevertheless, Amon tried his best not to give up on persuasion.

“Please surrender quietly. If you stop now…”

“You know it’s too late for me to turn back.”

“… At least you won’t commit any more sins against the Goddess.”

“I’m sorry. It seems I’m human after all.”

Before he finished speaking, Heinrich pulled out a gun.

Before he could pull the trigger, Amon’s sword cut off his right wrist.

Heinrich, unfazed, pulled the trigger with his remaining left hand and took out Amon’s left shoulder.

“Ugh.”

His shoulder was penetrated without resistance.

The combat suit made of bulletproof material and his body, accustomed to bullets, was pierced too easily.

It was natural for Amon to be wary of the gun barrel.

Meanwhile, Heinrich spoke to Amon.

“Brother.”

“You are no longer a brother.”

“Mr. Amon. I’d like to impose my ideology on this world at least once.”

“How contradictory. Didn’t you want me to stop you?”

“I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

Heinrich wanted to carry out his conviction, but he also wanted Amon to stop him.

Contradictory emotions, lacking humanity, and confusion of identity.

“Cyberpsycho…”

He had already crossed a river of no return.

Amon made a cross with his sword, looking dejected.

Heinrich also made a cross with his two arms.

The two men took a breath and recited simultaneously.

“”Deus vult.””

With voices that, unlike usual, conveyed bitterness instead of anger.