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“Hey Kurono,” Lily began. It was right after dinner and the three of us were relaxing at the lounge. “There’s something I want to run by you.”

She was currently in our academy uniform, with an appearance no different from a cute 1st grader, but her mind had switched to adult mode, and her expression made it clear that she was about to discuss something very serious.

“Alright, go ahead.” I said.

“Ah, hold on please―― nom nom,” Fiona, who had been endlessly emptying plates of dessert, hurriedly finished up the last of her apple pie. Even she wasn’t so easygoing as to continue munching away during this sort of important discussion. “... Ng, all done, go ahead.”

The action itself may sound considerate, but with her cheeks stuffed like a fluffy hamster’s, it really looked like she was fooling around.

Oh well, with Fiona now ready to listen, (Simon was on a quest with Sofi, the mysterious female adventurer) the small dorm house consisted of only party members and we could thus discuss our matters without reserve.

So without further ado, Lily dropped it on us―― “I’ve figured out how we can beat Sariel.”

“You whaaaat!?” I yelled. Talk about overreaction. Was that really necessary?

“This is still only insurance in the case that Anticross fails to kill her. Think of it as our plan B.” Lily continued, quickly bringing my tension down. It’d be a lie to say I wasn’t expecting something huge. Still, it was better to have a plan B than not.

“If you’re saying we need one to kill that monster,” I said, referring to the white apostle, “I’m down for any number of plans.”

“Fufu, thanks Kurono,” Lily smiled with a faint satisfaction, “I really appreciate that part about you.”

She returned to the explanation, “First off, I should mention that this plan will only work on Sariel. In other words, it does not apply to any of the other apostles.”

By which, was she saying she found a weakness exclusive to Sariel?

I’d faced her twice so far, and I hadn’t seen anything even resembling a weakness. Honestly, it even felt like we’d have an easier time beating Ai, the 8th apostle, or Misa, the 12th.

Those two, now that I think back on it, seemed unusually casual. They had given off neither the rigidness of knights nor the battle hardiness of warriors.

Yet, they were powerful all the same. Ai’s mystery Lux Sagitta, enchanted with Ai-ther (whatever that is) had easily defeated both me and Lily, and Misa had single handedly murdered close to 10,000 villagers who were guarded by Vulcan and many strong adventurers.

But that only meant that faced with an enemy of equal power, they wouldn’t be able to maintain their nonchalant cool. Meaning, they could be psychologically cornered.

Sariel on the other hand, stayed completely emotionless, giving her the advantage of utilizing 100% of her battle potential no matter how strong the enemy.

So what could this exclusive weakness even be? Rather than asking that, I simply listened to Lily continue. She’d get to it eventually.

“Now, the basic premise of this plan is simple――” Lily paused.

I gulped audibly due to the tense atmosphere. Fiona though, she looked sleepy like always. As if this particular reveal had been spoiled to her already...

“―― We need to break Sariel’s Mind Protect.”

In other words, what...? I was sort of confused, but then I remembered something, “... Which reminds me, Lily, didn’t you say you tried to attack with your Telepathy when the two of us fought her?”

It was when I had the misfortune of having to meet Sariel for a 2nd time, resulting in the battle on top of Daidalos’ city walls.

I had recklessly attempted to beat her using the Basilisk’s Needlebone that I had hidden away, but she was quickly able to overcome even that. I can still vividly remember that fight.

Then, after she knocked me unconscious, Lily had to use her trump card, Life Drain, to transform into her true form only to carry me and escape.

“I did. Back then, I thought that her mind was only protected by a simple barrier spell.”

Or right, when I heard that Lily had even attempted hacking into that emotionless apostle, I distinctly remember not feeling creeped out in the least. In fact, I only thought that Lily was even more amazing to pull off a Telepathy attack in the middle of all that chaos.

And now, Lily was saying that she had uncovered the mystery behind that powerful Mind Protect.

“That there wasn’t your ordinary countermeasure against mind reading magic like Telepathy, or anything else in the Illusion school. It was definitely a seal put on her memories.”

Stuff like sealed memories might sound like something out of a chuunibyou’s notebook―― and I’d be thinking that too, ordinarily. But, subconsciously, instinctively, just hearing about it gave me intense shivers along with hair-raising goosebumps. My whole body reacted with an absolute aversion to the very concept.

“A memory, seal... no...”

“Yes, I know it’s a sensitive subject for you, Kurono.” Lily revealed. “That’s why I didn’t mention it... until now that is. But there’s no choice anymore, it won’t be long until the Crusaders attack.”

She made the right choice telling me. I knew that.

But yet, there was still this violent turbulence in the depth of my heart, and I was completely powerless to stop it.

“By memory seal, I’m saying that it’s the same thing that you were made to go through by the White Sacrament.”

Memories of my family, dumb conversations with friends, awkward, self-conscious moments alone with that girl I liked. My days of peace were slowly, surely, being sent to a place where I could never reach them. I could still vaguely remember myself going down that path.

And if back then, by some coincidence, accident, or whatever, if I hadn’t woken up from it, what would I――

“Kurono, everything alright?” Lily asked, concerned.

“Yeah, don’t worry... I’m fine.”

It was a painful, traumatic experience, but I wasn’t about to give in to that now.

If gouging into my trauma is the only way to beat that apostle, then bring it on, I can take it in full stride.

“Right, makes sense...” I said again after a moment, “so her memories weren’t erased, but only sealed.”

“White Sacrament, in other words, the people who experimented on you have one goal.” Lily continued. “That is, to make a fully autonomous doll. And one step in making such a puppet that intelligently moved to their will was to seal away the parts they didn’t need. Their memories.”

The evil bastards were treating memories like a removable piece.

“Then again, it’s thanks to that very fact that our Kurono-san still maintains his memories today.” Fiona commented.

“That’d be the silver lining...” I began, and then realized, “wait, Fiona, you knew?”

Fiona’s mouth flapped open and closed without words and I could almost hear her going ah, crap.

“No, I’m not blaming you. In fact, I should thank you for being considerate for me.”

“Oh, no... it was nothing, really...” I couldn’t tell if she was being nervous or shy, but it was cute.

“That, aside.” Lily, rather forcefully, brought us back on topic. She looked positively miffed; wonder why? “The fact of the matter is that Sariel’s memories are still sealed somewhere in that head of hers!”

“Huh, doesn’t that mean she’s like me, summoned from another world?”

That’d be one hell of a shocking revelation. But the idea was immediately, and unanimously denied by every member of the council making the decisions in my head.

I know for a fact that no Japanese girl looks like her. Sariel had the features of a French bisque doll, the difference is literally glaring compared to Shirasaki-san, the ideal (and my ideal) Japanese beauty.

“I can’t say if she hasn’t undergone similar experiments, but she isn’t from a foreign world.” Right, of course she isn’t, and Lily denied it instantly too. Still, she’s went through the same experiments as me...

“Back in the Republic,” Fiona added, “there’d been rumors how the 7th Apostle is an artificial Apostle created by a top-secret organization within the church.”

“Now that... I didn’t know.”

“I thought of it as mere rumor too, of course. After all, gossip and hearsay concerning Apostles rivaled the number of stars in the sky.”

And under the premise of Lily’s conclusions, one could say that that particular rumor had some inkling of truth to it.

“And the rumors about her didn’t end there.” Fiona recounted stories from her homeland. “Some said she was a being from a foreign realm like yourself. While others argued she could be a slave, or even a pagan devout captured from one of the colonies. The most likely case was that she was one of Sinclair’s many orphans, without home or family, but it seems that too isn’t quite correct.”

Then what? Just what could Sariel possibly be? The question was on my tongue as Lily put forth the answer: “She’s a homunculus.”

“You mean, like the ones found in ancient ruins...?”

Artificial lifeforms, imitation humans manufactured through the use of ancient over-technology.

Then again, this world had beastkin and vampires, and even talking goblins and golems. At this point, even if I don’t see it, I can accept most things simply being a thing here just by thinking that’s how it is.

“No wait, Lily, weren’t those Servants of yours also homunculi?”

“Yes, they are indeed――” Lily’s small hand made a quick circle in the air, and instantly, a brilliant magic circle appeared inside the lounge, “Come out, Eins, Zwei.”

Lily’s so-called Servants, the ones that carried in the large bed some days ago, came out of the gleaming doorway. The tall, wide-shouldered figures had the same appearance I remembered, black overcoat and iron masks with smiley faces drawn on.

“Reveal your faces to your Lord.” receiving their master’s order which they took as absolute and without question, the two servants each immediately raised a black, leather gloved hand and proceeded to take off their iron masks.

And under there, the sight that awaited me was――

“Huh? They’re exactly the same.”

They had chiseled, male faces of the Western variety. But however realistic they looked, they gave me the same impression as dressed up mannequins inside clothing stores.

Their white faces and red eyes, completely devoid of emotion, reminded me only of Sariel. Due to their coats, whose hoods they wore low over their eyes, I couldn’t see the top of their heads, but from the few strands of hair I could glimpse at peeking from the front of their ears, I could ascertain that that too was the same white as the 7th Apostle’s.

Two of these faces stood before us like twins, no, they could very well be mass produced.

“Apparently, most homunculi that are dug up from ruins tend to share these albino features, bleached skin and hair, and red eyes.” Lily explained. I seemed to remember hearing something similar at the academy too. “I believe Fiona told you about them before. I have nine of these Living Dead under my control. All of them share the same form, that is to say, they’re all homunculi.”

Makes sense. I could sense life force from these Servants not only because they were homunculi, but also because they’d been processed through Lily’s Original brand of necromancy.

Theory aside, actually looking at two complete similar and equally emotionless faces lined up like this... yeah, it gave me the creeps.

“I’m honestly still surprised you managed to get your hands on these things.”

“Same here, I could only say I was lucky.” Like, suuuper lucky, Lily’s smile seemed to imply.

Who knows, maybe she dove into an ancient ruins dungeon during her training trip in Avalon. She was still keeping it a secret though, so I decided not to pry; not that she’d tell me anything.

“Oh, I get it now. With your own homunculi to research on, you were able to figure out what Sariel must be.”

“Correct.”

To put it all together, White Sacrament had used a girl homunculus as a base to raise it into their 7th Apostle. Having succeeded in that, they made Sariel, her memories sealed away, act as a proxy for their God.

“Kurono-san, do you pity Sariel?” Fiona asked sheepishly.

“I’ve gone through similar stuff after all, can’t say I don’t――”

If everything we said here turns out to be true, then Sariel is just another victim, made to be strung along by those villains. I couldn’t say if she was exactly like me, did a homunculus have family, friends? Did she have a life before it all? I didn’t know. But I did know that the trials and experiments she must’ve went through were cruel and merciless.

I had managed to escape, but Sariel had been made to complete those mad experiments to the very end. She’d likely gone through experiments so vicious, I couldn’t begin to imagine.

“―― Still, it doesn’t matter.” I recalled what I did. Of course, I’d never forgotten, but had subconsciously kept those thoughts away, closed my eyes from them. “I’ve killed others like me before. I was made to in the experiments. Even when the completed ones, the Hundred Numbers, appeared on the road to Galahad, I never once hesitated.”

Lily said, “You had no choice, Kurono. Killing them was the right thing to do.” to which Fiona followed, “She’s right. They were all beyond saving.”

They weren’t just saying it to be nice, they were trying to convince me that it was the truth.

And why wouldn’t it be? They were in fact beyond saving. I had to kill them, or they’d kill me. What reason did I have to regret it? ―― I had to keep thinking like that, or else, I might as well break down.

“I killed them. I didn’t want to, but I did. But that doesn’t mean I can carry that weight, it doesn’t mean I’ll swear to save them next time. If it comes to it...” I firmed my resolve “I’ll kill as many as it takes.”

Hope and ideals don’t save anyone.

Everything has an order of priority, even lives. I had to drive it into my head that to save the ones I truly care about, I might just need to sacrifice everything else.

“Sariel is the Commander-in-Chief of the Crusader army. Without her dead, the battle can’t end. So I won’t show mercy, no matter how much she’s suffered. I’ll kill her, by any means, by my own hands.”

“And to do that,” Lily stared to me gravely, “are you really willing to do anything, no matter how cowardly?”

“I am. Lily, I think I understand what your plan is now.”

Break the seal on Sariel’s memories.

Reawaken the days filled with nothing but pain and cruelty, gouge into the trauma that is the White Sacrament’s many trials that led to her creation. It was a merciless plan, inhumane I could say.

“It’s unknown what sort of memories she has in there, but I’m sure that if we can break a lock that tight, she’s bound to lose her sanity right there, if only for a moment.” Lily surmised.

“And that moment, will be our chance to finish her.” Fiona followed in closing.

It wasn’t a complicated plan, despite everything.

But we of all people were painfully aware how difficult it was to find that one moment of weakness for an Apostle. This was doubly so for someone as mechanically calm and collected as Sariel.

Which brings us to the all-important question: “So, how exactly are we going to break that Mind Protect anyway?”

“That,” Lily exclaimed, “that was the hardest thing to figure out. I’ve told you how my Telepathy isn’t strong enough, right? That means we need another way.”

“Another way...” I thought on that. Ultimately, nothing came up, “any ideas on that?”

“We use a magic item,” of course, Fiona said as if it was obvious, and to pass along the conversation, she chided, “And I’m sure our intelligent Lily-san knows exactly the thing we need?”

“What we need, is a magic item that can affect the mind, a very powerful one. Now, one can’t find something so convenient just lying around...” Lily gave me a knowing look, “but what if we had just the right material to make one?”

A material that tampers with the mind. It could even be some part of a monster specialized in parasitising――

“Sloth Gill!” I shouted in realization, earning a cute fairy smile and applause from Lily.

“You should know very well how tenacious that parasite was.” Lily grinned. “We make an item using it’s body as material, and I have no doubt it will destroy the calm right out of Sariel.”

For an instant, the thought struck me that maybe Mia-chan set the Sloth Gill as my third Trial for this very reason.

Was he really pulling the strings, or was it just a coincidence? I guess it doesn’t matter.

“That, just might work.” I said, almost excitedly.

“Sure, but it won’t be easy,” Fiona brought me back to reality, “It’ll work, but only if we can make use of it.”

If the critical magic item gets destroyed in battle, or if Sariel simply dodges it, we’d get nowhere fast.

“In other words, we need to make sure it hits.”

“Yes, and we’ll have to count on formation Anticross to make that possible.”

Still, having that extra trump card can make all the difference. Without it, we’d have to rely on only Anticross to finish her off. Anticross completely depended on the combined use of our divine protections, and there’s no telling how long that can last in the middle of battle.

But with this plan, we’ll have the goal of weakening her until we can hit her with a super effective magic item.

We would soon be taking on a Lich quest to field test formation Anticross. After that, we’ll know exactly how powerful it is, and we’ll also get an idea as to how long we can continuously use it.

“Anyway,” Lily took over, “I thought hard about what shape this mind breaking magic item needs to be, and the best one I can think of is, well, a bullet.”

Telepathy, she explained, is a magic that operates on invisible waves of mana. These waves got weaker with distance and could also be shielded from with different means.

This implies that the magic will have the greatest effect if the caster can touch the target directly.

“We don’t necessarily need it to pierce her body, a simple touch will be more than enough.”

So rather than make it inconspicuous like a needle, we can use make it a bullet and use the speed granted via my Bullet Arts.

Genius, she was absolutely right.

“Although, I have some doubts whether you’ll have enough stamina to make the shot right after Anticross ends, so...” said Lily, in her bountiful wisdom, “I’d like to have some insurance.”

Perplexed, I repeated the word, “... Insurance?”

“Yes, in other words―― we can rely on a specialist, someone who can make sure a bullet finds its mark. Any ideas?”

And so, the plan was set. Our anti-Sariel battle plan.

It required a number of things: all divine protections granted to Element Masters, a magic item in the shape of a bullet, and a master sniper to make it all work.

As for the person himself... well, I’ll just have to beg him with all my might until he accepts.