Babylon...
Wake up. Wake up.
Please, let me heal Babylon... let me cast divine sorcery on him!
That's all right. Go get yourself some rest, miss.
Please! Let me sing!
Get a clue!
Hey!
We were told Babylon was attacked by someone dressed like a pastor.
We can't trust anyone from the church!
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince
so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 2nd Season
Episode 18: Escher's Will
What blasphemy is this?!
I'm... sorry...
Anyone have any ideas?
I'm not sure what you're asking, but...
These are monsters.
There're humans, too.
You can hear what's going on up in the church pretty clearly.
Considering he mentioned always hearing Escher's singing,
and his desire to have more security...
I believe this is that man's hideout.
He doesn't seem to be home, though. Do you think he'll be coming back?
I wouldn't count on it. Not after the scene he made above.
It's natural to assume this place would be discovered.
Sylpha! The way these are sewn together,
they look just like the ghouls we fought in the sewer!
You're right.
Then what happened in the sewer was a part of it...
But what was he doing down here?
Look at that...
Synthesis.
This place has more of an alchemical lab than a sorcerous one.
Taking the cells of living organisms and then cultivating whole limbs,
before attaching them...
It looks like his attempts to infuse wraiths into people
was a part of that research on synthesis.
All this was going on beneath the church?
This makes it questionable if what we were fighting were genuine ghouls.
Creatures cobbled together from various sources...
In other words, chimeras.
This is... horrible!
Toying with lives like this? He can't get away with it!
The real question being, what did he intend on doing with the chimeras he was producing?
Well, whatever it is, it's bound to be nasty.
Yeah. Honestly, it's just so...
Wepugnant!
Oh, ho...
Wepugnant?
Oh man, this guy sure is awful! Yep!
His sense of ethics might well be non-existent!
Which makes it likely that he's modified his own body a lot!
I want to see it. I'd wager his own body is the culmination of all his study!
Let's destroy this laboratory.
Damn right.
This place is a nightmare!
You're really gonna wreck it? All of it?
After a thorough search so we can inform Prince Albert of the details, of course.
I'm surprised to learn you know so much about alchemy as well, Prince Lloyd.
Nah! I just... read about it once...
Slither...
Drop!
Drop
Is that a lamia?!
The bastard has monsters wandering loose in this place?!
A... monster?
Don't kill her.
That's the Air-class spell, Ventercier.
Galilea.
On it.
Arachnid Cocoon!
Swerve
Swerve!
Go, Ren.
Okay.
A magic barrier? She can use that kind of technique?
This is gonna take a while.
No.
Kneel! Kneel!
He got the demons with this one.
Mana focus... Recitation Loop!
Kneel! Kneel! Kneel!
Wow!
With a single attack...
With a power like that, I'm glad you're on our side.
Your cursed speech has gotten way stronger since you've gained control over it, Crow.
You used me as a decoy, didn't you?
Sorry
Now, take a closer look. It's just like I thought.
She wasn't cultivated in here. She's human.
Even if half of her is a monster.
Synthesis experiments on living humans?
Who's this guy think he is?!
What do we do? What can we do for her?
Kneel...
Wait!
Please, wait!
It's okay. You don't have to be afraid.
We're all here to help.
Escher, watch out! If you get too close—
Escher!
That makes sense.
I'm sorry.
It's only natural you'd be scared.
I've been scared out of my mind this whole time.
And feeling powerless.
What can someone like me... even do?
This melody...
Hey.
How long has she been singing?
The entire time. It's been over twelve hours.
That's crazy!
She isn't even casting divine sorcery!
She's run through all of her mana already!
So how is she still upright? Still singing?
This girl...
She's amazing.
And her singing...
I remember. I could hear it all the time...
This singing.
Coming down from that pitch black ceiling...
The same song.
Even he would stop moving when he heard it.
I remember.
When it felt like the monster was going to take over my mind...
I would hear this.
The voice of the person who kept me from losing myself...
I'm sorry.
Um, I...
I'm...
I'm human! I'm sorry!
I'm sorry, too.
You were so close by...
but I never noticed.
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince
so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 2nd Season
Prince Albert's here!
A chimera laboratory beneath the church.
As much as I'd like to hunt down the culprit as soon as possible...
I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Amnesia bad enough to make you forget your own name...
That sounds like a side-effect of the chimerazation experiments.
I've got a good idea, though. You probably used to be an adventurer!
That makes sense, since she could use sorcery.
But even if I knew my identity,
with my body like this, living a normal life is out of the question...
Relax! We're from Lordost Island, and it's a place where folks like you can live happy lives.
Come on down!
We'll make a long skirt for you!
Everyone...
Just who exactly is this mysterious pastor, though?
Oh, I found this in the laboratory.
Do you think it'll be any help?
That's certainly an old-looking rosary.
I'm not sure it belongs to the person you've been calling the mysterious pastor,
but I do have faint memories of him.
I think he... hates the gods.
I've got something for you, while we're on the subject.
Those are the notes from the lab...
With the research data!
He snatched them the second he heard the lab was going to be destroyed.
Lloyd, you can't! Having her look through this sort of thing...
She can always burn it, if she wants to.
But this data is the only lead we have in turning you fully human again.
Your body is functioning thanks to a combination
of mana signatures too complex for even me to grasp at a glance.
You're the only one who can learn this data,
compare it to your situation, and figure out how to change your body back.
Dispose of it, and put it behind you,
or push forward, without looking away from your trauma.
It's your choice.
Thank you! I'll do what I can!
All right, and we'll help however we can.
And that being the case, let's give you a name.
Please enter a name.
It can't be changed later.
Name
Make it something auspicious sounding, Prince Lloyd!
P-Please.
A name full of hope that she'll be human again someday!
Then...
How about Lami? Because it sounds like lamia.
Lami
Did she go back to the castle already?
Saria... Saria!
Saria!
What?
Saria?! What are you still doing at the church?
I was eating some of Macaron's babylons.
As a break from my recital practice.
Would you like some, Escher? Some of Babylon's macarons.
I'm sorry, Saria.
Babylon... I'm going to sing after all.
I want to!
Because it's the only thing I'm good at!
Very good. Let's make it a big show.
For the Great Advent Festival...
Tousle Tousle
The Advent Festival must be canceled.
Whaaat?!
Good boy.
Man, the gang's all here now, huh?
Albert, we can't cancel, no matter what!
Well, the thing is, Saria...
I notice she gets his name right.
After what Lami said about the mysterious pastor having some grudge
against the Church and the gods...
Right!
Everyone, this is incredible!
Look how funny he looks after I put the necklace on him!
You're right!
It won't come off!
Bop
We can assume he hates Escher's singing, which is to say, hymns.
The real issue is what exactly he intended to do,
considering the scale of the laboratory he had built.
I'd probably raise all kinds of hell at the Great Advent Festival.
I think I'd try and kill the Pope.
Yay!
That sounds really likely... which means we really ought to cancel...
But how do I make that kind of announcement?
There's going to be so much backlash, no matter what I do...
There's an additional complication to consider.
Regarding the rosary that Lami found...
Wait, where did it go?
Katarina had it a second ago.
Over here, woof...
Over here, woof.
If this actually did belong to the mysterious pastor,
things are even worse than we imagined.
I have a silver rosary, too.
It... matches Babylon's.
The one that I saw him with was practically brand new.
Maybe he needed a new one, after losing the one she found.
Even if that's the case, I'm not seeing the problem.
Most rosaries are made from silver.
But this one is solid gold.
Right. A solid gold rosary.
There are only twelve people allowed to carry those...
Including the Pope, the twelve bishops who oversee the central church.
You're saying one of the twelve bishops is the bad guy?!
That's absurd!
These are great holy people, they would never do such a thing!
Yeah, that's right...
For one thing, none of them resemble him!
No. Based on Babylon's description, he can likely change his form freely.
Th-Then suppose the rosary is a forgery, or was stolen from one of the bishops...
Whatever the case, there's no way that one of them could be the culprit!
Oh, Babylon made Escher sad.
You suck! Go get your soul cleansed with some purification magic.
Then we'll have a nice Babylon!
Squeak!!!
Squeak!
I can sing!
Don't! I don't need purification—
Luxa.
He didn't need a ritual to use divine sorcery.
He had a pass.
Ever since Prince Lloyd arranged it for us, we've been taking it for granted...
Usually, divine sorcery requires a ritual.
Like Escher's singing, or dancing,
which makes it magic that's a bit more complicated to execute.
That makes it certain, then.
Having a pass that makes divine sorcery possible without a ritual...
It could only be the 12 bishops.
I found a chess board!
I wanna play!
Hey, I have one of those—
Shut up before you complicate things.
Is that all true?
Broadly, but not quite.
I only gave access to a pass to the Pope, Guitane.
The other eleven individuals are people he trusts.
Similar to the relationship between Prince Lloyd and the Lordost Island people.
I trust you, Prince Lloyd!
I endorse these guys.
Then I trust them too!
Rare to hear you having anything good to say about a dude...
Then again, I guess Prince Lloyd is one, too.
And Guitane is a fair comparison.
Given the Church's total rejection of Babylon's testimony,
I doubt they'll be willing to cancel the Advent Festival no matter what we tell them.
Oute!
Maybe if we were playing shogi!
And more importantly, if the enemy really has infiltrated the central church,
Good point...
then His Holiness' life would still be in danger regardless of any cancellation.
True. And most pressingly, there's very little time left until the festival.
If the mysterious pastor is among these eleven people...
We'll have to separate the Pope from his bishops on the day in question,
while we watch them closely, under the pretext of providing security.
That should at least allow us to prevent the Pope's assassination
on the day of the Great Advent Festival.
That might be the only option we really have.
I'll do what I can, but given the situation, we can't turn to the Adventurer's Guild.
Those of us here are the only ones we can really trust.
If you notice anything suspicious with the bishops,
use your own judgment to try and secure them.
We need to make sure the Great Advent Festival ends safely, no matter what!
Wait right there.
Bishop Anastasia.
What's that letter you have there?
Well, it's... a message from the second prince, Albert.
Let me see it.
But I was told to give it directly to His Holiness...
B-Bishop Anastasia?
This is a letter sent from the second prince to the pope.
He wants to inspect the church's facilities,
with the Pope and the bishops in separate groups.
I see. Intel gained from the artificial lamia, I presume.
Yes. It's likely that underground facility was destroyed by the second prince.
But from the contents of the message, it seems he didn't learn much—
There was nothing left of Civil War, apart from this arm.
Granted, his actual cause of death was the Luma Maxima I provided him with...
But his left arm had already been severed.
It's likely he was engaged in battle with something even he couldn't react to.
As for what that could be...
I may have overlooked something rather significant.
However, nothing the second prince could concoct at this point
should pose any kind of problem.
If he thinks that shutting down a mere branch laboratory could impede me even the slightest...
No. Even if he knows exactly what I intend to do...
it won't matter.
The time has come.
There is no one who can stop us at this point.
Now...
Let the curtain rise...
on the Great Advent Festival.
The mastermind is among the twelve bishops?!
My vases... I need to polish my vases to calm down!
Next time, Episode 19:
"The Great Advent Festival."
Episode 19
m 0 0 l 436 0 l 456 24 l 436 48 l 20 48 l 0 24 l 20 0
The Great Advent Festival
You will witness the depths of sorcery.