Lucia Les Bernadette 

Sexual assault/exploitation, small amounts of violence, death.

In this world, there once existed four Sibyls, each possessing the Elementals of fire, water, wind, and earth.
They used their powers to nurture nature, harness it when needed, bestow blessings upon humans, and foster the growth of civilization.
However, the world’s balance was gradually shaken by the excessive worship of the Sibyls and by the emergence of those who sought to control their power.
At first, it was just a small, tiny spark of conflict.
But it spread with a speed beyond human control, and the world was engulfed in chaos.
Caught in the strife of humanity, the Sibyls were swept away in a torrent of tragedy that tore them apart.
Their despair grew so deep that they wished for the world to be destroyed.

The four Sibyls lost their lives in the battle.
With their disappearance, humanity descended into chaos, transforming into something ugly.
God, observing them, lamented.
“Humans are so foolish.”
Regretting having created such foolish creatures, God decided to purge them.
This was the invasion of Idea, the Demiurge.

The few survivors who escaped the threat of Idea’s tremendous power fled for their lives to the holy city of Valvala, in Luthra.
The people of each country who gathered there realized that now was not the time to fight each other.
But mere humans gathered together could never defeat Idea, who possessed the power of all the Elementals.
To fight Idea, people thought that they would need supernatural powers equal to or even greater than those of the former Sibyls.
They did not know how to bring back the Elementals that had disappeared from the world, and since Idea was approaching, they to worship a young, innocent girl as a Saint, clinging to this desperate hope

This is the story of the unknown first Saint who existed before the birth of the second one, “Anna Margrethe”.

The holy city of Valvala.
Although the scars of war were still visible in this land, the people of Luthra and Tioquia were filled with rage.
The people of Agidis, who triggered the war by invading other countries, had now brazenly invaded the land of Luthra that they had ravaged.
Yet, the fury unleashed by the demonic beasts that appeared along with Idea still raged unabated. This was no time for humans to indulge in mutual hatred.
Feeling that humanity would only face extinction if their hearts remain divided, the nobles of each faction sought to create a new host to replace the Sibyls and unite the people.
However, even when selecting a host, the nobles were still unable to abandon their political squabbles.
In the end, the Bernadette family, a powerful noble family from Luthra, was chosen to appease the people of Luthra and Tioquia, who were hostile towards Agidis.

“Lucia Les Bernadette,” daughter of the Bernadette family, lost everything in the invasion of Agidis during the previous war. She lived quietly with her family in the holy city of Valvala.

“I’m… a saint?”
“Yes, Lucia! You have been entrusted with the duty to protect this world and its people, and to triumph over God!”

Lucia still couldn’t comprehend the magnitude of what her father suddenly told her.
She had no outstanding talents or special powers. Before the war began, she had lived a relatively ordinary life.
She herself was aware of this, and so she was more confused than surprised at the fact that she was chosen.

“Right now, we need a young, wise figure who can provide an anchor for the people. No need to overthink it. All you need to do is to accept and comfort the feelings of the soldiers heading to war and the people who are suffering.”
“I understand… if that’s all it takes…”

Lucia’s mediocrity was obvious not only to herself, but also to the nobles who elected her as a Saint.
So why was Lucia chosen?
The only reason was that she possessed a beautiful appearance deemed worthy of the people’s faith.
For that reason alone, she was enshrined as a Saint.

Since becoming a Saint, Lucia’s life has changed completely.
After losing everything in the war and barely regaining a basic standard of living, several maids have been assigned to look after her.
Every day, she was dressed in beautiful clothes and treated to delicious food made by a dedicated chef.
Lucia was welcomed into a luxurious life that even nobles, not to mention commoners, could not afford.
It was not only her servants who welcomed her with open arms, but also those who had gathered in Valvala.
When she walked down the street, they were calling her “Saintly Maiden!” and cheering her on.
Lucia, who had always been more down-to-earth than most nobles and handled her own affairs, was at first very puzzled by the change, but gradually began to feel happy about her wealthy life…

Her only official duties were prayer ceremonies held in Valvala’s cathedral.
Said ceremonies simply involved an attendant telling people to repeat prayers they had prepared in advance.
Even so, the people still prayed to Lucia as if clinging to her.
Prayers to Lucia, who was not a messenger of God but an artificial saint, would not bring them anything.
However, Lucia herself was beginning to find meaning in uniting the masses and bringing them hope.
Watching the Saint and the crowd, the powerful nobles of Valvala chuckled.
The truth behind their creation of the Saint was merely a delaying tactic to buy time until the nobles could flee the country and cross the sea.
And as if sensing their intentions,
Idea, the Demiurge, suddenly appeared.

Hordes of monsters controlled by Idea were ravaging the Water Capital of Tioquia.
As the counterattack forces organized to reclaim Tioquia advanced relentlessly, Lucia offered prayers at Valvala’s cathedral.

“May the true God’s protection be with us all…”

But such prayers were in vain, as the counterattack army was annihilated.
This happened mere moments after the units had reached the front lines.
An urgent letter was delivered to Valvala requesting reinforcement.
The fact that such letter was delivered meant that many lives had been instantly lost.

Though the request for reinforcements was received, nearly all the soldiers in the nation were already deployed to the front lines as part of the counter attack army.
As a result, a volunteer army was quickly recruited, and Lucia headed to the front lines with her maids.
Even though guards had been deployed, Lucia never thought she’d end up on the front lines herself. She trembled with anxiety and tension, but it still felt like something that was still far away.
However, she would soon understand.
Just how cruel the reality of this world was…

When Lucia arrived in Tioquia leading the volunteer army, the city was already half-destroyed.
The strong stench of death filled the air, corpses that no longer retained their human form were everywhere, and hordes of demonic beasts rampaged unchecked; it was a truly hellish scene.
Recapturing the place would demand an effort far outweighing any potential reconstruction. Deciding this, the volunteer army quickly tried to retreat to the border.
However, Idea appeared to block their path.
Without the slightest ostentatious gesture, she moved as if she had simply passed by.
Amidst the murmurs of the startled soldiers, Lucia gasped at the sight of the Demiurge, a figure she had never seen before.

“Is that Idea the Demiurge…? But she’s just a child…!”

She was so far away that a human would never be able to hear.
Despite this, Idea chuckled at her words.

“Hehe, you think so… Are you the one leading these people? You powerless little girl. You make me laugh.”

As she spoke, her horde of demonic beasts attacked all at once, neutralizing the troops in an instant.
Frontline soldiers were helplessly trampled, their arms, legs, and heads torn off.
As if toying with life, the beasts’ attacks did not deliver the final blow, and the bodies of the half-dead soldiers fell onto the battlefield one after another.
Their screams, distorted by pain and despair, overlapped and echoed across the battlefield like a symphony of death played by an orchestra.
Lucia was mocked by Idea, who said that “she was powerless.”
Just as God had said, Lucia was completely useless on the battlefield.

“What can I do… is there anything I can do…”

She desperately searched for any way to help, but there was absolutely nothing Lucia could do.
Faced by the devastation unfolding, the Saint could only stare on in utter bewilderment.

“This is… yes, a bad dream. Please… it’s a dream…”

Lucia had always thought of a battle with a powerful god as something far away, like a fantasy.
Now she realized she was in the worst possible reality. Paralyzed by terror, she collapsed where she stood, muttering incoherently like a delirious person.

“Lady Lucia, over here!”

Unable to respond to her maid’s call, Lucia was dragged away by the arm, stumbling back with tangled feet.
Amidst the fierce pursuit of the demonic beasts, soldiers and maids lost their lives one after another. Lucia fled relentlessly, finally escaping into the border army’s camp.

The beasts’ pursuit stopped, as if they had been defeated.
Lucia sat down on the sandbags, holding her trembling body, and exhaled as if she had just remembered something.

“Lady Lucia, here’s some water. Please drink.”
“Thank you… I’ll have some…”

Her hands were still shaking as she held the water bottle, but by the time she finished drinking she had regained some of her composure.
Looking around, Lucia realized the number of soldiers she had initially led had fallen to less than half.
During her escape, she had witnessed countless maids and soldiers in their final moments.
The image was burned into Lucia’s mind and would not go away.

(I’m just a human… I’ve never heard the voice of God… Why… Must I suffer through this…?)

Lucia understood this reality. But accepting it was a different story.
Her heart was too immature and commonplace to confront the horror head-on and rise above it.

(Is this all because I took on the role of a Saint…? No, that doesn’t matter now… I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die yet…!)

The fear of death befell Lucia.
It pierced her heart like a poisonous arrow, steadily eating away at it.

When Lucia and the surviving volunteers returned to the city, a grand celebration awaited them. It was like a triumphal procession, a far cry from the atmosphere of the battlefield.

“The Saintly Maiden has driven away the demons!”
“Just as we would expect from our savior…!”

The voices of the people’s joy rose from the surging city streets.

(…Drive them away? I didn’t do anything… I only ran away… Worse still, I many lives were lost…)

Contrary to the smiles brimming with the people’s expectations, Lucia only felt emptiness.
But even so, the Saint continued to wave helplessly from the carriage, wearing a fake smile.

Shortly after her return, Lucia set up a discussion with her family, without taking anything with her.
Though slightly exasperated by her father’s expression mirroring that of the people, Lucia pleaded.

“The horror of the Demiurge is beyond human comprehension… Fighting her… No, even thinking about fighting her is presumptuous…”
“Oh, you must have had a frightening experience. That’s what war is like. You’ll soon get used to it.”
“That’s not what I’m saying! I’m not worthy of being a Saint’s vessel… Please let me step down!”
“The hell are you saying!? If people lose you, their hope, the morale of the country will surely drop. And what will my comrades say…”
“Are you saying that you don’t care what happens to me, Father!?”
“…That’s not what I meant. Listen Lucia, it’s because of the Saint that the hearts of so many people are saved. Think carefully about what that means.”

Completely overwhelmed by his arguments, Lucia returned to her room, closed the door, and collapsed against it, sliding down until she was leaning against it.
She had faint hopes that her family would be on her side, but they were dashed in an instant. Now there was no one to rely on.

“What exactly is a Saint…? No matter how much I save people, I’m just a human… I don’t have any power to fight…”

Lucia cried alone, cursing her fate.
The maid who had been closest to her and looked after her has died.
Ironically, she no longer had to worry about her cries being heard.

Taking advantage of the fact that there were fewer maids accompanying her, Lucia sneaked out of her room every night and headed to a small forest nearby.
Not that she did anything in particular. She simply sat, feeling the wind carrying the scent of greenery and gazing at the sky filled with countless stars, lost in thought.
It was her own little act of escape.

One day, as she sat on a rock lamenting her current situation, she suddenly heard footsteps stepping on the grass behind her, and turned around startled.
There was a young man about Lucia’s age, dressed in what appeared to be a hunter’s attire.

“Ah, Saintly Maiden… I’m sorry! Did I surprise you?”
“No…”

He was a mysterious man with a innocent, harmless face.
Above all, no matter what Lucia herself thought, she was the Saint of this country. She wanted to avoid any unnecessary trouble.
Lucia tried to quietly leave the place so as not to get involved.
But the young man stopped her.

“If you don’t mind, could I pray?”

Without waiting for a reply, the young man knelt down on the spot, closed his eyes and began to pray.
Lucia was taken aback, but she couldn’t just ignore him, so she stared at the young man and then she suddenly realized something.
Since she usually only put on a friendly face for crowds, this was actually the first time she’d spoken one-on-one with someone unrelated to her duties since becoming a saint.
Perhaps because of this, a sense of excitement began to grow in Lucia’s heart.
It was also funny to see the young man praying for so long with such a serious expression on his face, so Lucia’s wariness completely faded.

When Lucia asked the young man what he had been praying so fervently about, he began telling her his story.
He told her that he wanted to continue living as a hunter, but his father, a knight, was forcing him to take over the knighthood instead.

“Well, my hunting skills are second rate, though! Ahahaha…”

He laughed playfully, but Lucia couldn’t bring herself to laugh along with him.
She sympathized with him.

“I’m… just like you. I was forced to walk a path I didn’t want to walk…”

Before she realized it, she found herself in his position, his feelings, his circumstances. She had been keeping all her thoughts for herself alone and had never told anyone, and now she was confiding them to the young man.
He was surprised at first, but after hearing the end of her story he smiled and spoke.

“I see… but I’m a little relieved. The Saintly Maiden is just a human too.”

Hearing this, Lucia was happy to feel that she was being recognized as her own person and not just the Saint, and burst into tears.

“Hey hey! Did I say something wrong!?”
“No… it’s not… it’s not…”

Lucia and the young man quickly grew closer as they laid bare their hearts, and the two of them began to meet secretly every night.
Almost as if to avert their eyes from the battle that would surely come again.

Lucia and the young man kept getting closer. So close that their lips meet.
She has come to love him as a man.
However, there was not a single person in the whole country who would accept their relationship.
One night, the young man proposed to run away together.
To somewhere else. Even if it meant creating a world just for the two of them, even if they kept running away from the threat of the Demiurge. With love, they could overcome everything.
It was an immature and extremely short-sighted idea, but Lucia, being of an age where such things were natural, nodded to the proposal.

The next day, Lucia packed her things and slipped out of her room, spending the night with the young man in an abandoned hut far from the city.
It was the first time that Lucia felt the warmth of another person on her whole body.
An incredible sense of happiness filled her, and her dry heart regained moisture…

As she dozed off in the young man’s arms, Lucia realized that she had not expressed her feelings to him.
They had nurtured their connection through mutual understanding, never needing words.
“When I wake up in the morning, I’ll properly express my feelings to him,” Lucia decided, as she went to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning, the young man was nowhere to be seen in the hut.
Worse still, when Lucia looked around, all of her belongings, including her clothes, were gone.
Thinking that he might have gone out for a walk, Lucia wandered around in her underwear looking for him, but she was unable to find him. Soon the sun had set.
Feeling utterly lost, she waited in the hut for the young man’s return, but he never came back. Instead, the maids who had been searching for Lucia appeared.

“Lady Lucia! We’ve been looking for you this whole time! Oh, your clothes… are you okay!?”
“Yes… I’m fine…”

When she weakly told them that she was safe, a relieved maid spoke.

“I’m so glad… There were rumors in town about young thieves lurking about recently… I was so worried that something might have happened to you.”

Lucia was dragged back to the mansion by the maid, and as she was forced into the bath, she thought to herself.
Was the young man a thief?
Was everything he’d shown her up until now just an act?
Did he approach her because he knew she was the Saint?
No matter how much she thought about it, her head remained foggy and she couldn’t come to a conclusion.

The warmth of another person…
I’m sure I felt it at that time…

Suddenly feeling sick of everything, Lucia curled up, her face submerged in the water.

Something Lucia could believe in.
It no longer existed anywhere in this world.

Lucia was completely exhausted after the incident with the young man.
To add insult to injury, Idea and her demonic beasts steadily advanced, and were approaching the border.
Lucia was depressed, but no one around her would forgive her.
She was forced to go to the front line again and to perform a blessing ceremony for the border army.
Her poor complexion and passive demeanor during the ceremony spread unease among the soldiers.

Whether influenced by this or simply outmatched from the start,
the moment combat began, the front collapsed, and the soldiers faced slaughter.
Idea’s forces, pouring in from the broken front, halted abruptly just beyond the border.
There, Idea could only stare at Lucia.
The god who would destroy humans. And the saint who rebelled against god.
It was a confrontation with an unavoidable fate.

“Foolish humans… You are still worshiping such a puppet… I’ll show you what that thing truly is…”

As if amused, Idea aimed at Lucia and her group.
As Lucia fled the battlefield like a rabbit, the soldiers risked their lives to protect her.
All for the sake of Lucia, their symbol of hope.

But it couldn’t be called a battle.
The soldiers’ lives were taken with alarming ease.
The slaughter was so one-sided, it scarcely even qualified as sacrifice.

The pursuit of the beasts controlled by Idea gradually caught up with Lucia’s back.
The guards protecting Lucia were also decreasing one by one.
She joined the rear guard unit arriving from Valvala as if to meet them, but she barely made it through by using them to buy time.
She didn’t want to die. That was all she wanted.
Lucia continued to flee, even using her allies.
Not even a moment did she think about the importance of life.

“Why do I have to go through this!? Just because I’m the Saint… I don’t want to die for this!!”

During her escape, Lucia finally lashed out at the maids without any pretense.
The soldiers and maids alike could not hide their confusion at the sight of the Saint, who was supposed to be an absolute guide for the people, crying out and begging for her life.
Naturally, morale plummeted. Before they knew it, Lucia and her group had become nothing more than prey, hunted down by the so-called volunteer army.

But still, Lucia and her companions continued to run, and a vast forest appeared before them.
The forest was littered with traps. These traps were set according to a specific pattern, allowing allies to identify them and avoid being caught. Moreover, there were more than enough to delay their pursuers.
In other words, if they could just get into that forest, they would be able to escape.
As Lucia contemplated this, she glanced around and realized that the number of guards had dwindled to the point where they could be counted on both hands.
Could they really shake them off?
The thought flashed through her mind for an instant, but Lucia immediately shook it off and kept running.

I will live. I will keep living.
This world is full of madness. This is not where I belong.
Yes… this is not my place.
Being a saint is meaningless. I’m… going to be free…!

Running frantically, Lucia plunged into the forest, dodging traps as she sprinted on.
After a while, she stopped when she realized her pursuers were no longer in sight. But at the same time, her guards, perhaps killed, were also gone.

“Did I… get away…?”

She steadied her breath, still ragged from the flight, fear, and excitement.

Maybe she had survived. The moment of relief made her legs begin to tremble.
But it was by no means unpleasant.
Without even suppressing it, she let out a dry laugh, “Aha… ahaha…”
She was alive.
Lucia was savoring only that joy.
And in that moment.

“La… dy… Lucia…”

Emerging from the shadows with a groan was Lucia’s maid.
Her body was torn to shreds, her steps unsteady.
She collapsed and leaned against Lucia, and before Lucia could call out to her, she died.
Lucia peered down her body, trying to see her face.

“…AAAAH!!”

There lay a pitiful sight, with most of her body dissolved by the demonic beasts’ venom.
Her face was particularly badly dissolved, and it was impossible to tell which of the several maids it was.
But the moment she saw her,
the anguished expression Lucia had worn while mourning the maid’s death vanished.
All that remained was a blank expression like a Noh mask, and a faintly twisted mouth.
Lucia stared at the corpse of the maid, who was likely not much younger than herself, for a while before slowly beginning to strip the clothes from the body.
Then she took off all her clothes and dressed the corpse.
There was no respect for the dead in these actions. The body was handled roughly, as if it was an object.
After they had swapped each other’s clothes, Lucia muttered with a distant look in her eyes.

“…And now, the Saint is dead. I’m just a human now. For the country, for the people… None of that matters anymore…”

Clothed only in the barely-recognizable garments of the maid, Lucia continued to mutter to herself as she staggered deeper into the forest.
In that moment, the beautiful Saint Lucia Les Bernadette died.
She was an ordinary noblewoman whose fate had been twisted.
And she had brought the curtains down on her life with her own hands.
To begin her next stage, one that should have been glorious…

A day passed after the battle.
In Valvala, it was announced to the people that “the first Saint has died.”
The body of the maid was buried as Lucia. No one knew the truth.
The nobles, realizing they couldn’t leave the people trembling in confusion and fear, hastily created a second Saint. Those who had nowhere to turn adapted to her and worshiped her.
But it was all in vain, and the subsequent battle between the new Saint Anna and Idea the Demiurge ended in the collapse of the world.
The power of the four Elementals that supported the world, the Saint whose strong soul was the source of people’s hope, and even the God who absorbed them all…
They no longer existed in this world.

But even so.
The few survivors continued to pray.
To a god of the past.
Or to a god whose very existence was uncertain.

–In a corner of Valvala that had been turned into ruins by Idea.
A young woman of a certain age was gazing out the window with blank eyes.
Outside the window spread a world where order had collapsed, filled with shouts and screams.

“I’ll survive even if I have to crawl on the ground or sip mud… I’m not going to die so easily…”

Just as the woman murmured this, an old man’s voice calling her name echoed.
When she turned around in response, a man with a grin and sweat dripping from his face was standing there.

“Customer, what do you think of this one?”
“She’s nice. I’ll take her.”

The man approached the woman and put his arm around her shoulders.

“Haha, let’s have some fun tonight, okay?”

As the man slowly drew his face closer, the woman grimaced in disgust, yet showed no sign of resistance.
The woman, who has been told by the old man to treat him with respect, left what was hardly called a room with him.
At that moment, she muttered softly enough that no one could hear.

“I no longer have freedom… since the day I accepted the role of Saint…”

Her cheeks were sunken and her face was cast with a shadow, but her features suggested that she must once have been beautiful.
Two eyes flickered upon her face. They seemed hollow, yet gazed not here but somewhere far away.

This was the conclusion for a girl who once yearned for freedom.
Even if she was unable to grasp freedom, she was crushed by despair, and had to cast aside her dignity.
And yet, she still chose the fate of continuing to live.
Even if it meant eternal despair.