Chapter 127: Deceiving "Fate"
A searing flash of blue light tore through the air, forcing Mouri Ran, Haibara, and the others to squeeze their eyes shut.
Only when the glare had finally softened did they dare open their eyes again.
Haibara found her companions still beside her — Neuvillette as well. As she swept her gaze over their surroundings, she realized they were standing in a space that resembled the Opera Epiclese and yet was somehow not quite it; all around them, objects drifted weightlessly through the air as if gravity itself had been switched off. This was, without a doubt, no place in the real world.
"Look, over there — someone's there!" Ayumi cried, pointing at a figure some distance away.
"Looks kinda like that Hydro Archon lady..." Genta muttered, squinting in that direction. "But what's that blue thing floating above her? It looks really dangerous."
"That... looks like an execution device from Country F. If I'm not mistaken... it's the blade of a guillotine..." It was Emori who answered Genta's question — as a second-generation heir groomed by his family from childhood, his knowledge ran somewhat broader than the others' — though his tone was less than certain.
A guillotine? Country F? An execution...
"Louis XVI..." Haibara said abruptly.
"Haibara, what are you talking about? Who's Louis XVI?" The others all looked baffled at her words.
"Louis XVI was a king of Country F — the only king in Country F's history ever to be executed. Half a year after Country F's Great Revolution, his own people sent him to the guillotine..." As it happened, Emori and Kikukawa both knew a fair amount about Louis XVI, and they gave the others a quick explanation.
Genta scratched his head, looking lost. "Hmm... what's that got to do with the spot we're in now? And why'd that king get sent to the guillotine in the first place?"
"Louis XVI ended up on the guillotine because, in the midst of the Great Revolution, he tried to fix the country's financial crisis by raising taxes," Haibara explained. "All that did was inflame social tensions and stir the people's anger — and that, in the end, was what sent him to his execution..."
Genta nodded, understanding only halfway. "Ohh~ So this Louis XVI wasn't such a bad king after all, huh."
Haibara glanced his way. "You could put it that way — but that's beside the point. My guess is that thing hanging up there is the instrument of execution meant for the Hydro Archon, and the person standing beneath it is the real Hydro Archon herself."
"The real Hydro Archon?! So Focalors really wasn't the Hydro Archon after all!"
As if she had heard them talking about her, the figure who had kept her back turned to them all this while finally turned around.
"Lady Focalors?!" the children cried out the moment they saw her face clearly.
Strange. Hadn't Haibara just said that woman was the real Hydro Archon? Then why does she look like Focalors? Could Haibara have guessed wrong?
"She is not Focalors. No — to put it more precisely, she is not the Focalors you know," said Neuvillette, who had been standing quietly off to the side, his expression grave. "She is, I believe, the true Hydro Archon."
Kikukawa nodded at that. "True. Their clothes are different, at least."
"Idiot, clothes can be changed," Genta shot back. "I say it's the eye color that's different."
Mitsuhiko looked doubtful. "Really? I could've sworn they were the same?"
"The eye color is the same — you're remembering it wrong, Genta," Haibara said, taking Mitsuhiko's side. "Apart from the clothes, the biggest difference between the two of them is their hair."
Standing off to one side, listening to the children carry on, Ran felt a bead of sweat slide down her temple. Kids really were kids — not one shred of tension among them. They had been abruptly dropped into some other place entirely, and they still had the presence of mind to play spot-the-difference...
Taking no notice of the children's whispering, the Hydro Archon studied Neuvillette's astonished expression — and a laugh burst from her before she could stop it.
"Forgive me, Neuvillette. I used to imagine, so many times, the look on your face — the moment you saw me, the moment you learned the truth. Now that I finally get to see it... it truly is amusing. The laugh escaped me before I knew it."
"In truth, I meant only to invite you here to witness my ending. I never imagined I would find myself with several uninvited guests besides — charming ones, of course..."
With that, the Hydro Archon shifted her gaze to Haibara and the others. "Hello, little ones — ah, and one grown-up friend as well. I am the Demon God Focalors, the true Hydro Archon of Fontaine."
"This Hydro Archon feels so different from the Lady Focalors we saw before," Ayumi whispered.
"Yeah, she seems a lot more composed," said Mitsuhiko.
"More than that — there's real conviction behind her..." said Emori.
Paying no mind to the others around her, Haibara stepped forward. "Then, Lady Hydro Archon, I would like to ask: since you are the true Hydro Archon, who exactly is Focalors? Er — I mean the Focalors who has always been in Fontaine."
Before Haibara had even finished, Genta pressed forward, curiosity getting the better of him. "And how come the two of you look exactly alike?!"
The Hydro Archon gave a light laugh, her voice gentle. "No need to rush — take your time. I imagine Neuvillette would like the answers to your questions as well. Rest assured, we still have time. I will untangle your doubts one by one."
"First, then — who exactly is Focalors? She... is another me. A human being through and through. The ideal self I had always longed to be..."
At those words, Haibara noticed the Hydro Archon release a sigh so faint it was nearly imperceptible, her eyes shadowed with sorrow.
"Another self? What do you mean?" Neuvillette asked.
"I was, in truth, one of the pure-water spirit kin of the previous Hydro Archon, Egeria. After I became a god..." From there, the Hydro Archon went on to tell them of the bond between herself and Focalors.
"In my eyes, she was a perfect human being. Brave, kind, arrogant, cowardly... Every virtue a human ought to have, she had; every flaw a human ought to have, she had as well. Such a person was the ideal 'me' I dreamed of becoming."
Genta looked baffled. "If she had flaws, why would the Hydro Archon call her a perfect human? Aren't people better off without flaws?"
Ran reached out and ruffled Genta's hair. "Because everyone is bound to have flaws, you know. A person without a single flaw would be..." She mulled it over for a while before the right word finally came to her. "...a saint."
"Heh — this young lady is exactly right," the Hydro Archon said with another soft laugh. "It is precisely because of joy and sorrow, of strengths and flaws alike, that people can be called human. They are the true human I so wished to become..."
Neuvillette regarded the Hydro Archon, something unreadable stirring in his eyes. "Then why did you do it?"