Ahav 

References to human experimentation and attempted suicide in episodes 3 and 4.

I can't fully understand all of his anger and sadness, but I have to convey that pain.

After the old humanity, drawing near to their own extinction, vanished into the electronic paradise, it was we "Paragons" who were entrusted with restoring the devastated world. Created by a mechanical god and given predetermined roles, carrying out such a task was considered the utmost delight. Thus, we believed that we would live on Earth as its successors should the restoration be completed.

It was about halfway through my "service life" that I began to feel that something was wrong. We were given egos after a certain generation, and asked to use our own judgement in our duty to restore the surface. I was both a doctor and a researcher, but my lifespan was shorter than that of the latest generation. Still, I was destined to wait for the end with every passing moment.

One day, I listened to my ego and decided to perform mechanization surgery on myself to extend the life I had remaining. That was when I arrived at the truth. I understood—Our rulers had no intention to hand over the land to us, and saw us as nothing more than tools to repair it.

From the knowledge I acquired when I reconstructed my body into a mechanical one, I began to understand the bodies of Paragons. What I learned was that the Machines did not wish for the Paragons to prosper. Despite our detailed creation in the image of humans, our reproductive capabilities alone were deliberately omitted. Whether we lived or died was all in the hands of the Machines. It was no different than devoting our entire lifetime to them.

For the first time, I felt indignation at the gods—the Machines—who constructed this world. They had betrayed, blasphemed against those of us who had given their lives for generations to restore the land. I would not tolerate such injustice. It must not go unpunished.

I made up my mind. I would slaughter those gods who spoke lies as easily as breathing, and become a leader who would deliver salvation unto the Paragons. For such a cause, I would sacrifice all. My life, my body, my time—everything that I had left.

I traveled the world. Those who sought to escape the Machines' control, and those who showed their rage at their treatment—by lamenting their anger and pain together, I would accept them, and they would follow me. Eventually, we built a sizable force, which was one day given a name. The name of those who dissented to God—"Innovators." The name of those who would reshape the world.

Along with leading the Innovators, I worked alongside like-minded researchers to seek a way to ensure the survival of our species without relying on the Machines.

Reproductive abilities had been intentionally removed from the Paragons. First, I needed to restore that function. The fastest way to unravel this would of course be to study and compare with real humans. Among the survivors of the old humanity on Earth, many were "impure," fused with machinery, but there were also those who escaped God's judgement in underground cities.

I would need many samples for my research. Men and women, young and old. I repeated my experiments, taking every one of them without gaps or exceptions. Again, again, and again, so I could understand that "function." I tested the possibilities of the old humans and the Paragons, trying to restore that function by exchanging them. However, nothing led to success. No matter how many Paragons were sacrificed, the result was never enough—even my wife and child were transformed into something otherworldly.

There was no going against the flow of time. Most of my body had been replaced with machinery to prolong my life. Even so, I had yet to achieve results. To me, that was fear itself. Would I go on to meet my end like this? As I feared, could Paragons truly not survive without the Machines' patronage?

That was when it happened. As I fought against imminent death, I saw a ray of hope.

The birth of my daughter Bathsheba. My entire being trembled with great joy.

At last...at last! Perhaps we had finally achieved it. With my own hands, I had found the hope that would connect the Paragons' history to our future! If we could restore the reproductive function, we could one day be released from the Machines' control!

However—she was the product of a miracle I could not recreate. No matter how many times I repeated the experiment, not a single other child was born like Bathsheba.

Why—Why can't I do it!? What have I overlooked!?

With each failure, my approaching lifespan rubbed salt in the wound.

"At...at this pace..."

I mustn't let that ray of hope die. I must carve the path to our continued existence with my own hands!

I did not mind becoming the worst kind of fiend for such a purpose.

The one and only person whose existence even suggested the possibility of the Paragons' survival was my daughter, Bathsheba. I conducted many experiments on those close in age to her using her genes. It was an experiment with a great and noble purpose. However, no matter how much I explained its importance to the young Bathsheba, she showed no sign of understanding. She even tried purposefully to throw away her sacred body.

Her behavior terrified me, as if she were throwing away the future. From the bottom of my heart, I was relieved that I had taken certain "measures."

After that, Bathsheba no longer displayed the same liveliness, but perhaps she had finally realized how sacred her body was. Going forward, she willingly gave herself to all kinds of experiments. However, that was when a new problem arose. A new race called the "Returnees" suddenly appeared on the Earth, protected by foolish moderate Paragons and the Machines that carried on their reign of dominance even now. Every one of them must be eliminated from this Earth.

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A white room in Olympias cathedral. It was here that Bathsheba gazed out at the world.

"Bathsheba, I will lead my troops to storm Perses Colony, the Machines' stronghold. Once the Machines are eradicated, I shall offer this world to you. You will become the queen who rules over the world."

She would transcend the Paragons as their ruler and bring the world to a new stage.

"Hehe... The queen? How wonderful."

"Is it not? That is why you have a duty to bear a child as the Paragons' savior—to build our millennial kingdom."

"..."

Perhaps she still could not understand my true intentions, but for now, that was fine. The time would come eventually.

"Then, I am off."

"I will await your success."

The moment I left the cathedral, I heard Bathsheba's singing voice in the wind. Her clear voice swayed through the evening sky, as if blessing our departure for the front.

As we advanced from Olympias to Perses, what awaited us was like a bolt from the blue.

"It can't be...!?"

A blue frame far larger than the structures below floated in the sky, emanating an overwhelming presence. It wielded a massive steel sword, and its battle cry was that of an emissary of God bringing ruin.

Annihilation weapon, mobile weapon—there were many names to call it.

These things, tales of which were passed down over generations in each underground city, were relics built by the Machines to obliterate the old human race.

"I would never have expected an encounter with the mechanical gods of calamity..."

This was not an opponent we could handle on a tactical level. However, it clearly saw us as enemies. There was no avoiding this battle any longer. Furthermore, were we to shamelessly pull back, it would be no different than surrendering to the Machines.

"W-What should we do, Lord Ahav...!?"

"All ships, change course at once! Concentrate fire and take the initiative!"

The allied ships immediately changed formation to counterattack and fired, but a large shield blocked it before it could reach the mobile weapon.

"So it blocked that! Load the next round, hurry!"

Since it had not attacked from that distance, it was highly likely that it could only engage in close-quarters combat. In that case, we needed only bombard it with shells before it drew close. However, the weapon started to move first.

"It's going higher? No... All ships, alert! Distance yourselves and avoid it at once!"

The mobile weapon soared far above. The next moment it appeared, much of my fleet was sunk by its steel sword.

"Such power from a mobile weapon...!?"

To think there would be such a gap in our fighting strength... Still, if I could not defeat this ghost of the past, our rebellion against the godlike Machines would be nothing more than an empty dream! There was surely a way to turn the situation around.

"Mmm... Oh?"

Looking closer, I saw smoke rising from part of the weapon.

I see. It is already near its limit.

I suspected that parts of the frame had corroded from improper maintenance. In that case, we needed only to endure. Then, we would become victorious.

The battle had been fierce. My fleet suffered serious damage, but the mobile weapon was also rapidly losing power, putting both in a precarious position. Before my eyes, the weapon raised its sword as if rousing its spirits, and made a show of its fighting strength with a roar.

Aggravating relic... Pretending you're the judge, are you!?

"...That mobile weapon—no, that ancient relic must be eliminated at any cost."

With our remaining strength, we stood no chance of invading Perses. However—

"For our children who will follow after us!"

We cannot retreat here! We will sink it even if we have to fire every last shot! If it cannot move, it is nothing more than scrap iron!

"This will finish it! All guns, fire at once!"

The mobile weapon threw down its shield and soared through the barrage. It thrust out its longsword, paying no mind to the pieces of its armor peeling off. The tip of its blade was aimed straight for my flagship.

The next moment... The flagship and mobile weapon crashed into each other simultaneously. An impact shook the hull and the body went flying—

"—Where...?"

When I looked around, I was surrounded by flames and wreckage.

Did I lose consciousness? I must have survived the explosion...

Just then, I felt a sudden weight on my body. I looked toward it to see my personal guards piled protectively on top of me, all dead.

"I see... I am grateful to all of you."

"—Lord Ahav! Are you safe?"

It seemed that a search party had been sent out from the surviving ships. Alas, it was too late... Intense pain ran through every inch of my body. The crash had damaged the control system that maintained my body. My life would end before I could return to Olympias. In that case, I would have to muster the remaining strength in my rotting body and inspect the wreckage of the mobile weapon.

"Lord Ahav, we should retreat to Olympias for now and—"

"No. There is something I must do here."

I pushed past the search party and headed for the fallen weapon. It lay face down nearby, apparently entangled with the flagship in the crash. Then, just as I got close, something caught my eye—

"So it was you who operated that relic."

—The figure of a heavily damaged Machine in blue. There was no mistaking it—this was the Machine that Saul's troops had reported to be guarding the Returnee. That meant it was highly likely for the Returnee to still be somewhere in the city. Immediately, I ordered my soldiers to pursue the Returnee, and turned to confront the Machine.

"Indeed. And you must be the leader of the Innovators," he said, smiling with one side of his face, his eyes moving about as if in appraisal.

"I am. And I would never have expected such a clownish Machine to stand in the way of my most cherished wish."

"If you cannot defeat one such clown, perhaps trying to destroy all Machinekind is rather presumptuous."

"Aggravating Machine. I have no more words to exchange with you."

I shall destroy all Machines. This world has no need for them!

"I shall destroy you here and now!"

Ahav fired his optical weapon continuously to keep Blue Stein at bay. But Blue Stein dodged it and slipped within arm's reach without hesitation.

"Ngh...!?"

Ahav, without the equipment that let him maneuver easily, had to throw down his gun and fight with only his longsword to handle close combat. Though they had both wounded each other, Blue Stein with his purely mechanical body was far superior to Ahav in terms of fighting strength. Moreover, a Machine's range of motion exceeded that of the human body, on which the Paragons were modeled. Ahav was slowly pushed back by attacks flying at him from trajectories that made no sense for a human body structure.

"Hah!"

Blue Stein's fist sank into Ahav's abdomen. The impact made his body fold at an angle, and he sank to his knees with a groan.

"You...damn...Machine..."

Blue Stein regarded him calmly, and loudly declared, "Just as I hypothesized!"

"What...?"

"Giving you egos was a mistake to begin with! All they wrought in the past was destruction!"

At those words, Ahav turned to the mechanical man with a fire burning in his eyes. "The likes of you have no right to speak of such things!"

"Therefore! I must take responsibility and bury you! That! Will be how we make amends! For giving you empty hope!"

Blue Stein laughed defiantly, waving both hands as if conducting a symphony.

"Amends? Don't you dare... To think, with just one word...! You could pretend all the hellish torment we suffered never happened! How truly arrogant!"

"This is my atonement!"

He pointed the timeworn shotgun at his hip, "Swordfish," at Ahav. With its extremely shortened barrel, it was as lethal as physically possible at point-blank. He was about to fire at close range—meaning certain death.

The moment that deadly bullet was about to be fired—

Ahav's knee split open and fired a laser, slicing Blue Stein's body in two.

"What—!?"

The bullet was fired half a step too late. It did seem to catch Ahav, but his longsword and life support system shielded him, saving him from losing his life.

"Gh... Nnngh...!"

Groaning on his knees, Ahav mustered his remaining strength and stood up. Then, he walked toward one half of Blue Stein. Only the clattering of his sword dragging along the ground echoed through the wasteland. Ahav stared down, eyes full of hatred, at the Machine in blue breathing raggedly and attempting to get up with one hand.

"You would bury your creators with those hands?"

"A creator who only saw us as tools," Ahav replied, "is no father to me."

"Don't you understand? What awaits you after that is destruction..."

Ahav turned his bloodstained face toward him and said plainly, "What of it? I vowed to create a future for Paragons. I do not mind becoming the worst kind of fiend for such a purpose."

"...The future, hmm? ...I, too—"

Before Blue Stein could finish speaking, Ahav raised his longsword and stabbed it into his mechanical body.

"..."

A creaking cacophony of metal on metal shook the very air, the death throes of the Machine in blue. Once he confirmed that his mechanical body had stopped functioning after making those strange noises, Ahav pulled out his sword. Then, checking that his own body was still just barely working, he boarded the ship the search party had left behind to chase after the Returnee.

"I cannot...stop here... For the sake...of our future..."

Ahav started up the ship and headed for the city of Zeleucia—to deal a finishing blow with his own hands to the Returnee who would bar the way to his future.

As we made our way through the smoke-filled city of Zeleucia, we had no choice but to fight the Innovators who chased us. Yonah would keep our opponents at bay with Bardiche, and then once that got their attention, I would catch them off guard one by one with Vambraze and Brigandine.

It wasn't long before we had overcome our pursuers and made it safely to the Pequod. We set our sights on Perses, following the route Mr. Blue Stein had set.

"Let's go, Lena!"

"Yeah!"

Yonah followed a guide to start up the ship. Just a bit longer, and we would be out of Zeleucia. Then, it would all be over—or so I thought. But...

"Yonah! Something's coming this way!"

"Another enemy!?"

When the ship was visible, there was no doubt about it—that was an Innovator combat ship. It attacked us the moment we left the city. I thought I saw the flash of several optical weapons, and then—

"No good, I can't dodge it! Lena! Hold on tight!"

Right after that, one of them hit our ship. The hull shook violently. The ship lost control, veering off course and falling.

At this rate, we'll crash—!

The next moment, we ran aground. A violent impact hit us, and—

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"...ngh, ah..."

We had been thrown out by the force of the crash. Luckily, I wasn't seriously injured, but—

"—na, Yonah, wake up! Hey, Yonah...!"

Yonah lay on her back with blood flowing down her head. My mind went blank. All I could do was keep calling her name.

"Wake up, Yonah... Please..."

I can't lose anyone else precious to me...!

My tears fell onto Yonah's cheek. Maybe that was what got through to her, because the vitality slowly came back to her face.

"Huh...? I..."

"Yonah!? Oh, thank goodness... Yonaaah!"

"Um... I must have passed out..."

Yonah touched my cheek with her right hand.

"Sorry for making you worry."

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're safe."

She smiled gently, and I smiled back. The warmth I felt from Yonah on my cheek told me that I really was alive.

"I wonder where we are now..."

We checked our location information. Currently, we were in the hills just outside of Zeleucia.

"We'd better check for damage for now," Yonah said, and went outside. When I opened the hatch to follow her—

Something rolled onto the deck with a thud. Right in front of me was Mr. Blue Stein, who should have been fighting in Megiddo Gog—or rather, his head.

"Blue Stein!?" Yonah screamed.

"No...way..."

"I've found you, Returnee..."

I heard a rasping mechanical voice. Standing in the direction of the voice was—

"For my most cherished wish, and our children, I shall dispose of you here and now."

Next to me, Yonah gasped. She said nothing, just glaring at him in silence.

"Don't tell me, are you...Ahav!?"

"The very same. And you are to become the cornerstone of our bright future!"

Dragging his ragged body, the Innovators' great leader came closer. I could see the fierce hatred shining in his eyes through the gaps in his broken armor.

"I think I understand how much you've all suffered," I said. "But even so! There has to be a future where we don't have to fight!"

"In that case, go ahead and impart your wisdom unto us fools! A Returnee who hardly knows this world has no right to speak of the future!"

"I've seen it with my own eyes—all kinds of pain and sadness! And hope! You've experienced so much more of it than I have, so why are you inflicting the same things!?"

"Hmph. No more than drivel from one so blessed by the world."

Ahav's gun flashed.

"Lena, look out!"

Thanks to Yonah immediately pulling me close to her, I didn't die.

"I reject you! I shall deliver judgement on the Machines' chosen successor with my own hands!"

It was so frustrating. None of my words had reached him—the determination in his eyes told me so.

Slow footsteps crunched across the ground. Ahav dragged his battered body along as though he might collapse at any moment, and pointed the muzzle of his gun at me. Hatred burned in his eyes.

"In order to manifest our ideals..." he rasped, "I shall dispose of this insect barring my most cherished wish, here and now."

"I'll never let you. I made a promise with everyone."

"I cannot accept a future created by Machines!"

"—That's what Lena's here for!"

Yonah gently placed her hand on Daybreaker. She moved my unsteady aim square on toward Ahav.

This was a bullet to end hatred. It would be my farewell to Ahav, tied down by his tragic past in his quest to destroy me.

And so, I pulled the trigger. For those important people I wanted to protect. To fight those who would deny me. I'd defy them to my last breath! I was determined! I'd made my choice! So I wouldn't give up!

"Yonah, Gideon, Miriam—"

I put my feelings for everyone into the muzzle. I'd shoot through that man who was ruled by his own hatred! We would be the ones to decide our future!

"For a world of Paragons—!"

"I'll shoot right through your feelings!"

Two lights shone brightly, each reflecting the other's will.

""Go!""

Daybreaker's flash and the light Ahav fired swallowed up everything. Where Ahav had just stood, there was nothing left. Up in the sky, I could see an Innovator ship getting farther away. The threat...was gone.

"Lena, we...we did it..."

"Yeah..."

We hugged each other as if to check that we were still alive. After a while, Yonah put her hand on my head.

"Let's go."

"Okay."

I grabbed Yonah's hand and took a step forward. Then, an especially strong wind blew by. As I withstood it, the thick clouds shrouding the sky slowly shifted, moved by the wind... Sunlight shone through gaps in the clouds, as if illuminating the path we should take forward.

"So pretty... It's almost like God is blessing us," Yonah said.

"I have a feeling it's Gideon and Miriam, and Mr. Blue Stein, too, blessing us."

"Oh... Hehe, you might be right."

"It's thanks to them we made it this far. No, not just them. We're alive now because of so many people who came together."

We headed for the Machines' home base, Perses Colony. We didn't know what awaited us there. Maybe cruel reality would hurt us once again. Even so, as long as the two of us were together, we could surely overcome it. Tightly tied bonds, inherited feelings. No one could sever our precious determination.

"Let's go to the east," we said together.

----------

The silver ship soared. It left the hills, gently drew a path and vanished into the eastern sky. A small grave marker had been built on the hill. The white flowers at the grave swayed gently, as if praying for their future.

Ahav's "millenial kingdom" in episode 4 is a specific reference to millenarianism, a belief in a massive societal upheaval, originating from the Book of Revelation, which states that the Kingdom of God will last for a millennium.