Ch.290The Switch (10)

The Saint turned back time right in front of Eidel.

Familiar scenery and faces entered her vision, but she couldn’t feel at ease.

“Haa, haa…!”

“S-Saint?”

“Believers! Stop, stop the holy war immediately!”

Eidel had said it.

If they couldn’t escape the loop next time, this moment would repeat forever.

When the Saint told them this fact, the believers became enraged or confused.

“Let’s go find Rheinland and kill him right now!”

“How can we kill him when we haven’t been able to until now?”

“Isn’t there more hope than just sitting around doing nothing?”

“We haven’t won so far, so how could we possibly—!”

“Both sides, be quiet!”

The Saint shouted.

“We don’t have time for this discussion! Quickly, quickly tell everyone to stop the holy war!”

“It’s the Saint’s order. Everyone, stop the jihad!”

At this point, the ordinary believers didn’t know why they had to stop. Still, they did stop because the Saint had commanded it.

“Has that Rheinland finally died?”

“Does this mean we don’t have to go back in time anymore?”

“Perhaps the Outer God has given a new oracle!”

But the believers’ expectations were completely off the mark.

“I-I overstepped by causing terrorism. I’m truly sorry.”

The Saint, who had been wandering around the laboratory, immediately knelt down and bowed her head when she met Eidel’s group.

“S-Saint?”

“How could the Saint, to such an evil scientist…”

The believers were considerably shocked by this unsightly scene.

Although it was a cult, a religious leader had submitted to the enemy. It was the moment when the believers’ faith disappeared.

“This is absurd. Saint, to someone like you!”

Bang!

A hole appeared in the forehead of the priest who was about to draw his gun.

“Don’t touch Eidel.”

The splattered blood stained the Saint’s holy garments. The Saint bowed her head even lower and trembled.

Death wasn’t frightening.

What was truly frightening was what future would come if she didn’t submit now.

Would she be trapped in an infinite loop?

And then what? Would the end come?

If so, she couldn’t see Idea.

Not only would she be unable to become a higher being than she was now, but she also wouldn’t be able to save herself and her believers from the eventual end.

Even if it was humiliating, it was time to bow her head.

“I will never do this again. Please show mercy…”

“If you want mercy, fix that immediately. Like it never happened.”

“I’m sorry, but what’s already happened cannot be reversed…”

“Look at this. You’re lying?”

“It’s true! This is the limit! The damage is already minimized! Please believe me!”

The Saint begged desperately. She banged her head against the floor. Her forehead began to bruise and swell.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please, forgive me…”

She wasn’t just asking Eidel for forgiveness. She was also apologizing to the Outer God. Begging it not to blame her for her incompetence.

And then the next moment came.

[─ You have surrendered to enemy forces and are being processed for disobeying the oracle.]

[─ Quest failed. Penalty will be applied.]

“Ugh!”

A tingling sensation ran down her spine.

It had begun.

The Outer God’s punishment.

Unbearable pain coursed through her entire body. The Saint stopped banging her head and began to gasp. It felt like her body was crumbling like a cracker.

The Saint’s posture collapsed. Soon, groans burst forth like a flood.

“Kahahk, ugh, hak, aaagh…!”

“S-Saint?”

“A-aaagh, it hurts, it hurts so much, aghhh…!”

Her muscles stiffened as if she’d been stung by a poisonous needle, and saliva dripped from her mouth as if she had rabies.

It was an unsightly appearance. She never wanted to show this to her priests. It wasn’t for nothing that she would lock herself in the prayer room and suffer alone whenever she failed a quest.

“Saint, what on earth…”

The believers’ expressions were aghast. Could there be a greater humiliation than this?

“Why is the Saint like this?”

“It’s the Outer God’s penalty.”

Eidel said.

“If we leave her like this, she’ll die before she can turn back time.”

“Please do something!”

“Why should I?”

“I’m begging you! Without the Saint, there’s no church, no salvation! Please save the Saint!”

The believers also prostrated themselves.

Though some had been disappointed and already left, there were still many believers by the Saint’s side.

Eidel sighed and made a gesture. The security androids that had been on standby all moved at once.

“Arrest them all. Take this woman to the hospital.”

It was the moment when the church’s defeat was decided.

***

The madness of the Megnus Church couldn’t be broken by ordinary methods. As long as the Saint remained unbroken, their fanatical movements would continue indefinitely.

That’s why I focused on breaking the Saint’s mental state.

I gave her a sense of unease by making her experience defeat in each loop. Once the pattern was somewhat established, I amplified that unease. This way, the Saint would unconsciously begin to feel fear.

I didn’t count how many attempts it took. What mattered was breaking the opponent, not how many tries it took.

If I had failed in this loop, I would have continued. If the Saint had fled to another planetary system, I was prepared to abandon my research and chase her to the ends of the universe.

Anyway, I succeeded in destroying the Saint’s will to fight. It was her defeat.

“Ah, augh, kuheuugh!”

The surrendered Saint was paying dearly for abandoning the holy war after her spirit was broken.

It was, needless to say, the Outer God’s penalty.

Zernya examined the Saint and her expression hardened.

“Her symptoms are close to CRPS.”

“What syndrome?”

“CRPS. More commonly known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.”

I’d heard of it. Wasn’t it a rare condition caused by nervous system abnormalities?

“Even small stimuli cause great pain. It’s like constantly feeling the pain of being burned or slashed with a knife.”

Zernya administered narcotic painkillers to the wailing Saint. The bed sheets were soaked with sweat.

“Can’t you cure it somehow?”

“You said it’s the Outer God’s penalty. Wait. I should be able to do something with my constellation.”

Three days passed.

Perhaps thanks to Zernya’s treatment, the Saint’s breathing, which had been punctuated with groans, had calmed considerably.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, ugh…!”

The Saint breathed heavily. She weakly moved her lips.

“Why… why did you save me?”

“To compensate for the accelerator. Two beam lines, so roughly 100 billion.”

“I-I don’t have that kind of money…”

I snorted.

“Don’t you have money collected from donations?”

“Well, I spent it all preparing for this operation.”

“…”

“Heuuk, I-I’m sorry! I’ll pay you back somehow! I’ll pay, so please, just not that loop…!”

When I wiggled my finger, the Saint slowly sat up. She rolled her eyes around and carefully opened her mouth.

“Excuse me.”

“What.”

“Since I won’t attack you anymore, could you please speak to me respectfully?”

“Wouldn’t I need to respect you first before speaking respectfully?”

She was more brazen than she looked. The first thing she says after recovering is to ask me to use polite speech.

“Excuse me.”

“What.”

“Where is that white-haired, short doctor?”

“She’s on maternity leave since she’s about to give birth.”

“Perhaps…”

“She’s my wife. Touch her and I’ll take your head, understand?”

The Saint closed her mouth. Was she really thinking of doing something?

“I, I was going to file a complaint…”

“What, why.”

“She treated me, but she also hurt me.”

What is she talking about now?

“Um, a-actually. Can I tell you?”

“Let’s hear it.”

“That doctor called me a bitch, and asked if I grew up on a planet with no roots and no education. She also personally attacked me, saying she’d never seen a white-haired woman with any manners… And, also, also…!”

“Also what.”

The Saint blushed and sobbed.

“On the first day, she said I dressed like a prostitute and asked if I collected donations by selling my body…!”

“Wasn’t that true?”

“It’s not! I feel wronged! I’m a virgin!”

I turned my gaze to Ireh, who was disguised as Sonia. Ireh’s expression had stiffened.

Could it be that the information Ireh had collected was fake?

“Although I was born and raised on a frontier planet, I’ve lived while preserving my purity. I was originally a believer in the fundamentalist Holy Spirit Church. My body is entrusted to God, so I decided to live devoutly for my entire life.”

“Ah, I see.”

“What happened to the other believers?”

“Prison.”

The Saint closed her mouth.

“Terrorists start with life imprisonment without special sentencing considerations. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The Saint trembled.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“Can you use your time-rewinding ability again?”

“Since the penalty is over. Look. I can use it again.”

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“Your time-rewinding ability… Ah, right. You can use it. That’s good. Don’t use it without my permission from now on. Understand?”

“Ah, I understand.”

“And this.”

I covered the Saint with the net I had obtained before. The Saint’s expression became puzzled.

“Your net, I’m returning it.”

It was an artifact that sealed the abilities of constellations or Outer Gods. With this, the Saint couldn’t turn back time or take out an Outer God’s weapon to attack.

This should be enough for now.

[─ ‘Rippling Rage’ is trying to talk to you.]

[─ ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ blocks the message coming to you.]

[─ ‘Rippling Rage’ is angry.]

[─ ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ chuckles.]

Our lady is also handling the Outer God’s mischief well.

Everything is perfect.

Now there’s just one thing left.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“You know what will happen to you like this, right?”

“I’ll go to court and get at least life imprisonment…”

“If you do well, I might defend you.”

The Saint was startled and kicked off her blanket.

“What do you mean?”

“I said earlier that terrorists get at least life imprisonment without sentencing considerations, right? You fit those ‘sentencing considerations.'”

“Me?”

“You made a contract with an Outer God.”

“Ah, that’s right. If I pretend not to know and deny it, my sentence would be greatly reduced. This is really good information you’ve given me…”

“The problem is that I’m recording all of this.”

I said this while taking my hand out of my pocket. It was a portable recorder. The Saint’s expression froze as if time had stopped.

[Ah, that’s right. If I pretend not to know and deny it, my sentence would be greatly reduced.]

[If I deny it, my sentence would be greatly reduced.]

[If I deny it, my sentence would be greatly…]

“Let’s see. On top of basic life imprisonment, if we apply aggravated charges for this… what comes after life imprisonment?”

The Saint banged her head.

“P-please spare me.”

“Alright. I’ll give you a chance.”

“Really?”

“I’ll cover for you if you give me 100 billion.”

“But the money…”

“Then there’s another way.”

The Saint had already fallen into my trap.

“Get a suspended sentence and work in my lab for free.”