"Do you have a copy of the Dark Sonata in your possession?"
"That's right."
"Do you know what the Dark Sonata truly is?"
"I do not. What is special about it?"
"The Dark Sonata, in essence, is the same as the Nen-user system of the Begrossé Church—it is all Divine Sound."
Ron frowned slightly.
"Divine Sound?"
It was the first time he had heard the term.
"You know what a Divine Character is, right?"
"I do."
Of course Ron knew. Within the Zoldyck family, in the Gourmet Paradise, and even on Greed Island, Divine Characters had appeared. They were a special kind of existence capable of carrying Nen.
"Divine Sound is similar," the Witch of Sound said. "It's just that, outside of the Begrossé Church, almost no other Nen users employ Divine Sound, so very few people know about it. But the power of Divine Sound is real. And because learning Divine Sound is extremely difficult, even now there are only sixteen Divine Sound scores in the entire human world."
"Four of those are the Dark Sonata. The other twelve correspond to the Twelve Red Cardinals."
Ron asked without thinking, "What about the Archbishop?"
"The Archbishop's is one of those twelve," she explained. "The Archbishop stands one rank above the Twelve Red Cardinals—he is one of the previous generation's Cardinals, the victor among the twelve of his era."
"Have you ever attended a church service?"
Ron nodded.
"During a service, the clergy recite from the Church's scriptures. In truth, those scriptures are weakened versions of the Divine Sound scores. The true Divine Sound cannot be endured by ordinary people. Even the weakened form can affect the human mind."
Ron had felt that himself. Back in the church, he had nearly been brainwashed. Nina and the others hadn't noticed anything until he warned them, and only then did they snap out of it. Ordinary people in Begrossé, under such influence for years, had long since been thoroughly indoctrinated.
"The so-called Dark Sonata is actually four failed Divine Sound scores," the Witch of Sound continued. "But even failed scores hold immense power. The Spirits are, in fact, a member of the Temple—he simply interpreted the score differently while listening to it. We, too, are members of Begrossé.
"This time, if we win, one of us will become the new Red Cardinal. The next Archbishop will also emerge from among us. For ordinary people, though, nothing will change.
"Church members with differing interpretations can be divided into two kinds: the orthodox faction and the lateral faction. There is no true 'legitimate' side. Everyone is legitimate. Throughout Begrossé's long history, control has shifted back and forth many times. This time, honestly, the lateral faction's odds of success are high—but Lawrence has been lucky.
"Your appearance has allowed Lawrence to survive this upheaval."
This was not something Ron had expected. He had sensed before that the Spirits and the Church must share the same origin, but he hadn't imagined their connection to be this close—they were essentially one family. It was merely an internal struggle between two factions of the same Church. No matter which side won, Begrossé would remain Begrossé.
In all of it, only ordinary people were left in the dark, praying for the Church to save them and treating the Spirits as a manifestation of their inner darkness. In reality, things were nothing like that.
In a way, the common people of Begrossé were pitiful—brainwashed, deceived, and existing only to be used by the Church. Then again, in this world, which nation's common people were not pitiful? The underclass of Meteor City, the foot soldiers of the Underworld Mafia, the lowest ranks of NGL, the underclass of the United States of Sahelta… all were the same. Only in Fiora and Minpo might the lower strata be somewhat different, but even that was because they sacrificed their freedoms and rights.
"If I capture both you and the Terror Lord, will the Church take revenge on me later?"
"Normally, no," the Witch of Sound said with a shake of her head. "You were acting on Lawrence's employment. Even if someone wanted to retaliate, they would go after him. But since Lawrence is still alive, he is one of them. Even if the lateral faction wins in some city, they will reconcile with the orthodox faction afterward.
"However…" She paused. "What I've told you is a Church secret. Outsiders must not know. If word gets out that you know this, they will come after you."
Ron's expression hardened.
"About the Dark Sonata—do you know how to use it?"
"I'm afraid I don't. There's no record of it anywhere in the Temple. If there were, the Dark Sonata would never have been lost to the outside world."
Leaving Sumas's space, Ron returned to the car. The driver had changed—Ponzu had been replaced by Machi. The others in the car had their eyes closed, resting.
Ron's mind was on one problem. Begrossé's foundation was the Church. The foundation of the Church was the Divine Sound scores. Twelve Divine Sound scores created the Twelve Red Cardinals, and could continuously produce powerful Nen users. Coupled with the brainwashing effect of the scores, they formed a perfect means to rule Begrossé. Under normal circumstances, Begrossé's rule could be passed down indefinitely.
The only destabilizing factor was the existence of the lateral faction. The two factions within the Church would fight; the losers would die, and the victors would continue to rule.
For Ron, the issue was that he had previously regarded the Dark Sonata and Begrossé as two separate things—absorbing the traits of Begrossé to create one Nen beast, and absorbing the traits of the Dark Sonata to create another. But if the Dark Sonata and the Divine Sound scores were the same, then their traits were in fact one and the same.
"In that case, I'll have to gather all four Dark Sonata scores as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will affect the rest of my plans. The Chimera Ant traits are something I absolutely can't miss—that's even more important than absorbing Greed Island's traits."