65. Out of the Darkness

Okay, Lady Nightingale. What's it gonna be? Do you want to be escorted to hell or return voluntarily to the other side?

...Baphomet, your naivety hasn't changed a bit.

What are you talking about?

Even if I came back to the Inquisition, nothing would change. You thought I was your light in the darkness, and I thought so too.

But that was delusional. We have no obligation to bear the darkness of the Church. On the contrary, we ought to break away from it. That goes for both of us.

Why are you telling me this nonsense? My patience is running thin. Tell me, do you wish to surrender or die here?

Guys, help me stall her a few minutes.

Huh? What are you going to do?

Pull out my trump card to get us out of here.

But she just threatened you.

Ignore her. I know a way out of here.

, I hate being ignored! Get them!

Sorry. Can't let you pass.

Ha, your resistance is futile. Soon the gate will open, and more of us will show up!

(...Damn it! I hate to admit it, but she's right. Has Nightingale not prepared for this? What is she going to do?!)

What the...? Nightingale, what are you... Urghhh!

Urghhhh! My heart! My chest!

What's happening to me?! My body... Where did this pain come from?!

Damn... you...! Nightingale! This... singing... What... is... it?!

What's wrong? Why are they reacting so strongly to the hymn...?

The hymn...! Nightingale! How dare you! Ugh! I can't control my magic!

Wow! Did that just happen?!

...So this is the real hymn.

What do you mean?

As its name suggests, the hymn is a song stemming from holy magic.

The Church uses it to promote its cause and appease rebels, but that's only because they sing it the wrong way.

So the hymn is supposed to be magically powered? In other words, it's essentially a... sound wave spell?

I'm afraid so. The hymn alone is powerful enough to influence the listeners... And when it's combined with magic, there's no telling what it can do.

Yes, it's like you said, the hymn is a spell from the Church's sound wave grimoire.

So it's just... sound? Then I'll be fine if I stop listening.

No, this can't be! How come I still can't... use my magic?

Baphomet, the answer to that question is obvious if you remember the notes I left behind.

Shut up! I can't believe after all that happened... you're still pulling this teacher crap on me!

Fine, I'll get straight to the answer. The very reason the choir can survive to this day is the various hymns they sing.

The [Requiem] is the most popular among them. It serves one purpose: regulating the listener's endocrine system.

Endocrine... system?

That hymn steadies the heart rate, enhances endocrine secretion, quickens blood circulation... All benefits and no harm, for ordinary people.

But it's a different story for people who work in the darkness, who are torn and tormented inside, and who have to take tons of drugs to keep their badly damaged bodies from exploding like taut balloons.

Does that mean...

Yes. For ordinary people, the hymn is nothing more than a tickling massage. But for you inquisitors, it's the spark that lights the fuse of the bomb inside your body.

You hear no explosions yet, because the fuse will burn for a while. Now we will fight back.

You won't... get away...

(She's got some fight in her, refusing to back down even though she can barely stand...)

Damn you, Nightingale! You're worse than us. You made us become what we are!

...So how come the hymn only hurts us but not you?! You created us freaks... Why do you get to be spared?!

...The hymn does not discriminate in its targets. Even I am not immune to it. And you're right, Baphomet, my sins are many times worse than yours. So...

So the pain I'm enduring right now is many times greater than yours too.

You...

The only difference is that I'm used to it, which is why I can still move. This curse we have in our bodies, it's unnecessary just like the darkness of the Church.

It fears the light and lurks in the dark. It may seem to harmoniously coexist with us, but when it raises its head, it'll be the end of us.

That's why I decided to confront my past, to learn to accept the light. It hurt me like hell, but I knew I'd get used to it in time. I'd rather endure that pain than spend the rest of my life dreading my moment of reckoning in the darkness.

And in the end... you abandoned... all of us.

Yes. And I have no intention of going back. I'm sorry, my dear apprentices, this is the final farewell. I will be waiting for you in the light.

...You haven't changed one bit... you goddamn self-serving bastard!!!

(...No! I don't want to be abandoned... not again!)