Ch.110110. Hymn of the Lambs

The thread is caught.

Kathy began manipulating the red thread in bewilderment.

At first, she thought it was a hallucination.

But,

[I cannot understand the meaning of this fragile thread, human.]

When she realized that Laplace could also see the thread, she became convinced it wasn’t a hallucination.

‘Then this is…’

Instead, her questions only deepened.

She continued experimenting with the thread while swinging her spear.

She discovered nothing except that each thread had different durability.

If there was any functionality, it was that Laplace’s attacks had weakened as he became wary of the suddenly appearing threads.

Then, she realized something peculiar.

‘Why has Laplace suddenly become an idiot?’

It wasn’t simply that his movements had slowed due to caution.

Laplace had clearly become stupid.

He made incomprehensible choices that Kathy couldn’t understand, leading himself to destruction.

Like a puppet carrying out the future Kathy desired.

She conducted several experiments with the red thread.

Like a curious cat, she tried various things with the thread.

The more she handled the thread, the more her suspicion turned to certainty.

‘It’s not a thread that forces fate.’

Such power doesn’t exist.

If one could force fate, it wouldn’t be prophecy in the first place.

Instead, this red thread was the ability to show prophecy.

When she tied the thread to someone’s body, it showed them the red thread of fate that she was glimpsing.

It seemed trivial and insignificant, but the effect was remarkable.

‘So that’s how ridiculous I looked.’

The more an opponent relied on future sight, the less they could escape the future shown by the red thread.

Laplace, who blindly trusted his abilities, followed the ridiculous future she presented without doubt.

More absurdly, despite repeated failures, Laplace continued to follow the prophecies of the red thread.

Watching this, she recalled advice her father once gave her.

– Seeing the future narrows your choices. Like turning an essay question into multiple choice.

Paradoxically, the better the prophet, the less they believe in the future.

This was to avoid being swayed by that future.

Only then did she realize one virtue.

‘Faith.’

Future sight was something those anxious about the future clung to.

Just like her past self.

In contrast, if one believed in oneself, and if someone believed in them, there was no reason to be swayed by such things.

‘I…’

Kathy thought of her companions.

‘By my side…’

Recalling the faces of Amon and Sonia,

‘I have people who believe in me. There was never a frightening future to begin with.’

The threads began to weave together.

The red threads formed rings and wove like chains above her head.

Soon, the chains became a halo floating above her head.

“I wonder if this makes me similar to Sonia now.”

Kathy chuckled.

No wings, no elaborate display like Sonia’s.

But this was enough for Kathy.

‘Because it’s the faith I need.’

Her faith in others, and others’ faith in her.

This was sufficient.

She smiled with satisfaction.

Having realized this virtue, she moved her fingers to show the future to the Laplaces surrounding her.

The futures she showed became self-fulfilling prophecies that controlled them.

The Laplaces became puppets in her puppet show, ridiculously subdued.

Yet until their annihilation, they never doubted their abilities.

They couldn’t.

As AIs created to predict the future, denying future sight was impossible.

Because that would be denying their very existence.

After dealing with the Laplaces surrounding her, Kathy immediately followed the thickest red thread.

Toward the future husband she so desperately wanted to meet.

*

Back in the present,

Kathy spun red threads in front of Amon.

The Laplaces were guided by her finger movements.

Like a grand puppet show, they followed Kathy’s hand gestures.

“This is quite dreamlike.”

While Amon marveled at the surreal scene, Kathy shouted urgently.

“Amon! I know you’re tired, but capture that knight commander!”

“Why?”

“If we catch him, it’s checkmate! I’ll explain later.”

“Got it!”

Amon rushed toward the commander, breaking through numerous holy knights.

Trusting Kathy, he pushed himself to reach the commander.

“Mmmmph!”

Biting his dangling, cumbersome right arm to stabilize it,

Amon drove his exhausted body with War Cry as he charged at the commander.

The Laplace who had taken over the commander’s body was momentarily confused.

[Is this recklessness?]

But soon he judged Amon’s action as recklessness and calculated the optimal response…

[Dodge the horizontal slash with a propulsion jump.]

Calculating…

[Wait. Why did I come up with this calculation?]

Jumping into the air would leave him defenseless during the airborne time.

The doubt was fleeting.

Laplace recalled his identity as a predictive AI and jumped anyway.

Numerous questions stirred through his data, but Laplace continued to recall his identity,

Unaware that everything was orchestrated by a single conductor.

“Amon! Now!”

Kathy’s red thread wrapped around Amon’s wrist.

No words were needed.

The future she showed would be her strategy.

Amon used a triple jump to catch the commander from behind as he leaped into the air.

Finding a port at the back of the commander’s neck,

“It’s over!”

He inserted the USB that Kathy had kept in her pocket.

As soon as the somewhat old USB was plugged into the back of his neck, the knight commander’s body convulsed.

Finally, Laplace spoke through the commander’s vocal cords.

[A perfect defeat.]

Laplace barely supported his collapsing body and steadied himself.

Then, like a Japanese samurai, he sat cross-legged,

[Strike me down!]

Laplace exposed the back of his neck, perfect for beheading.

Amon expressed his bewilderment at Laplace’s behavior.

“What is he thinking?”

Was this some illegal copy from Japan?

The Laplace that Amon knew didn’t have such a romantic personality.

It was strange to look for romance in an AI that had nearly destroyed the world.

But instead of answering, Laplace silently waited for his beheading.

As Amon remained wary of Laplace, Kathy explained the reason.

“Laplace is now trapped in the knight commander’s body.”

When he heard this, Amon could hardly believe it.

How could a super AI be defeated by a mere USB?

But this entire situation was the result of Kathy’s manipulation.

“I forced his main consciousness into the commander’s body, deactivated his replication function, weakened his firewall…”

Her red threads had gradually made Laplace expose his own weaknesses.

“Is that possible?”

“AIs live by their identity and die by their identity.”

After continuous defeats, Laplace began to doubt his own predictions.

The problem was that when a predictive AI doubts its predictions, numerous algorithmic contradictions occur—

or paradoxes, which are the natural enemy of AIs.

To resolve these contradictions, he had to deactivate many of his defense systems,

“That’s when I uploaded the appropriate virus.”

Laplace had weakened himself to the point where a crude USB could neutralize him.

After hearing the explanation, Amon nodded.

“I understand.”

“You do?”

“You’re really smart. I’m not good at this kind of thinking.”

“Without you, I couldn’t have implemented it. This strategy was only possible because you trusted me this much.”

Kathy smiled brightly.

As if representing her emotions, the red halo spun fiercely.

Amon followed the rotating halo with his eyes and voiced a question he’d been holding.

“But why a samurai of all things?”

He pointed at Laplace, who was still waiting for samurai-style beheading.

At his question, Kathy gave a dry laugh.

“I hastily grabbed a USB from a certain store and modified it with a virus…”

“What kind of store?”

“A video rental store…”

“And it happened to be a samurai video?”

“The other options were prostitution, murder, or homosexuality.”

“…Isn’t this the Vatican?”

“Come to think of it, yes.”

“Do you remember the store’s name?”

Kathy nodded.

Amon sighed deeply.

“There are too many heretics…”

While Amon lamented the corrupted city, Sonia and the Squinty-eyed Priest finally joined them.

“Oh, Kathy? You too?”

Sonia pointed at Kathy’s halo as soon as she arrived.

Kathy nodded in affirmation.

“That’s how it turned out.”

“What was yours?”

“Faith. What I needed. And what I’ll continue to need.”

“I see.”

Sonia congratulated her sincerely.

“Then will you also…”

“I’m not going to become a saint.”

From the beginning, the red thread ability could hardly be considered a condition for sainthood.

It was miraculous, but unlike Sonia, it didn’t heal or help others.

It remained a personal achievement, insufficient as a qualification for sainthood.

Sonia seemed to understand and nodded.

“I understand. But what happened to Laplace?”

At those words, Amon and Kathy simultaneously looked toward the knight commander.

Laplace was kneeling, waiting for execution.

When he met Sonia’s eyes, he shouted in the mechanical voice characteristic of AIs.

[Are you mocking me! Strike now!]

The unnecessary solemnity was an added bonus.

“???”

A Vatican knight commander possessed by Laplace acting like a samurai.

Sonia’s pupils trembled at this incomprehensible reality.

The Squinty-eyed Priest chuckled as if he had reached enlightenment.

And so, Laplace, who had burned the city, was subdued while pretending to be a samurai.

It was a rather anticlimactic end for a super AI.