"…"
Subaru blinked. The world came back in a rush of silence.
The Flugel Tree loomed overhead, its massive roots anchoring the world. Light filtered through the leaves in divine threads, weaving a tapestry of fake peace. A warm breeze brushed his skin, but his throat still burned with the phantom sensation of being crushed.
"Yooo... Earth to Subaru? Or, well... not Earth, I guess?"
Gojo's voice. Casual. Familiar. It sliced through the mental fog like a sharp blade.
Subaru's eyes snapped toward him. The white hair, that cocky grin, the blindfold pushed up like it was just a fashion choice. His friend. His teacher.
Subaru took a step back.
It wasn't a choice; his body just remembered something his brain hadn't processed yet. Gojo noticed. A brow rose behind his shades. He didn't look murderous——he just looked confused. Concerned.
"Huh."
Subaru's breathing hitched. Logically, he knew this wasn't that Gojo. Not the corpse-thing that had just choked the life out of him. But it didn't matter. His fingers twitched. His neck throbbed.
If only I was stronger.
The thought hit a bitter chord in his chest. If he were actually strong, Gojo wouldn't have needed to protect them. Emilia wouldn't have had to fight. Rem wouldn't have had to die over and over. And he wouldn't have died like a helpless child in the dirt.
He clenched his fist until his nails drew blood.
If you want strength that badly... then just take it.
The whisper crawled through the back of his mind. It wasn't the Witch. This voice was his own, just smoother. More arrogant.
"Dude..?"
Gojo stepped forward, his smile slipping into a frown of genuine worry.
Subaru's heart hammered against his ribs. He forced himself to look up and meet those eyes. Around them, the soldiers, the villagers, and his friends—Rem, Wilhelm, Felix—were all watching. They were all asking the same thing: Is he okay?
So Subaru smiled. It was a crooked, bloodless mask.
"Sorry. Just... intense thinking, you know? Strategizing!"
Gojo relaxed a bit, though he kept a cautious eye on him. Subaru let out a shaky breath.
He wouldn't do that. Gojo wouldn't do that...
And yet, his hands wouldn't stop shaking.
You're envious, aren't you? Of his perfection?
The voice scratched at his skull. Subaru squeezed his eyes shut to drown it out.
"Right… where was I..."
He walked forward, repeating every word from the last loop. Exactly. If he deviated even an inch, he felt like the world would collapse again. This time, he had to win.
He's better than you. He's a symbol. You? You're a leech, Natsuki Subaru. You rely on them because you're a coward.
Subaru didn't answer. He couldn't. The voice sounded like a version of him that looked down on the world from a throne.
He looked at Gojo again——effortlessly calm. Still the center of the universe.
Rely on 'me' instead. Let me in. We're the main characters, aren't we? Let's act like it.
Wilhelm stepped forward, his voice grave but warm.
"After your role in slaying the Whale... I would walk with you through death and beyond tenfold, Natsuki Subaru."
Subaru blinked. He didn't smile back. He couldn't. His gaze dropped to the dirt, his hand still feeling the phantom warmth of Gojo's fingers around his windpipe.
"…Right… let's get going."
————————————
Everything went perfectly. It was smooth sailing right up until they stood over the mangled remains of Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti.
The Archbishop was twitching, refusing to accept he'd been beaten. Not that it mattered. They had crushed him. Again. At this point, Betelgeuse wasn't a threat; he was a speed bump.
You only beat him because you used everyone else as a shield… can you even call that a win?
Rem leaned in, her blue eyes soft with concern.
"Subaru-kun? Are you alright?"
"…Just fine."
He lied. He had to.
You want power, but you cling to them like a child. Cut them loose. Stand alone. Then you'll understand what it means to be Pride.
"Stop," Subaru growled under his breath.
You hate yourself. You use this 'Return' to fill a void. Pathetic. I know, because I am you. The part of you with actual standards.
"Enough…"
I'm the only one who can—
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, DAMN IT!!"
His voice cracked through the forest like a gunshot.
Wilhelm froze. Rem stared, her hands hovering near him in shock. The silence that followed was suffocating. Subaru stood there, trembling, as the darkness of the Authority began to swirl, unseen, behind his eyes.
————————————
Pride sat in the dark, tossing the severed head of the previous loop's Betelgeuse aside like a piece of trash. The green hair slipped through his fingers as the head rolled into the fog, frozen in a final scream.
He leaned back, resting his cheek on his palm in a pose that was way too theatrical for an empty void.
"Jeeeez... what to do about 'that guy'?" he mused, the smirk obvious in his voice. "Is it stubbornness or just plain stupidity? He's never going to be whole if he keeps ignoring the best part of himself."
He stretched his limbs, his silhouette shifting against the thick, eternal mist of Subaru's subconscious. Then he started walking. It was a slow, confident stride—the walk of someone who owned the place.
He tilted his head, as if he were mid-conversation with someone walking right beside him.
"Hm? Bullying? Come on—we're the same person. You can't blame his brain for making me. I just turned out... better. More refined. A lot less whiny."
He stopped and sat down. The mist surged under him, hardening into the shape of an ornate, jagged throne. Pride crossed his legs and rested his chin on his fist, looking up into the nothingness.
"I might not be strong enough to kill someone like you right now," he said, his grin widening. "But you can't kill me either. I am Natsuki Subaru, after all. And you wouldn't ever hurt your beloved, right?"
Silence was his only answer. He let out a dramatic, heavy sigh and leaned forward.
"Alright, alright, my bad. I'm just curious, though. How many times do 'I' have to die before finally realizing that relying on these people isn't strength? It's just delaying the inevitable."
——————————————
Subaru sat in one of the few village buildings that wasn't currently kindling. Felix was across from him, but Subaru had zoned out long ago. He'd heard the medical scolding and the worry in previous loops.
His focus was inward. The voice was gone for now—whoever it was. Himself? He couldn't even tell anymore.
BOOOOOM——!!
A shockwave rattled the building, dusting the room in debris. Subaru and Felix jolted upright.
"W-What's going on?!"
Felix cried, his ears flattening.
Subaru didn't answer. He kicked the door open and sprinted into the chaos. When he skidded to a stop, he saw him.
Satoru Gojo.
He was shirtless, his body a mess of scars and fresh wounds from a battle Subaru hadn't witnessed. But it was the eyes that froze Subaru's blood. The Six Eyes. Uncovered. They glowed with a terrifying, divine light——the same look they had in the last loop when Gojo looked at him without any expression.
To his left and right, Rem and Wilhelm had been blasted away. They hadn't expected the man who saved them to turn his fangs on them.
Subaru took a step back, gripped by primal fear. Even weakened, Gojo was a calamity. Tears welled in Subaru's eyes as the silhouette approached.
I don't want to fight you. I didn't last loop either... but what choice do I have? I just don't want to keep dying.
He took shaking breaths. Gojo's steps were deliberate, the pressure suffocating. With Rem and Wilhelm down, Subaru was alone.
You are me, and I am you…
The voice of Pride hissed.
Look at your teacher——he stands at the pinnacle because he is alone. He never asks for help. That is the difference between us!
Subaru looked at his shaking hands. What's so wrong with relying on others…?
Everything! It is not PRIDE. You cannot be the main character if you are constantly waiting for the supporting cast to save you!
"It's not fair..."
Subaru whispered.
At the tip of Gojo's finger, a vermillion spark took shape. A small, screaming orb of concentrated power.
Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.
The blast shot outward—a colossal force designed to erase everything. Subaru didn't move. He didn't try to dodge. He accepted that this loop was a failure.
——CRACK.
A pitch-black wall erupted from the ground, obsidian glass intercepting the attack. The collision was cataclysmic. The black barrier held, hissing as reality warped around the impact.
Then came the pain. It wasn't physical; it was like a serrated blade dragging across his soul. Subaru hit the ground, vomiting and writhing as his mind fractured. He felt torn apart and stitched back together in the wrong order.
Why is this happening? What did I do wrong?
As if answering his plea, the pain began to fade. In its place came an overwhelming coldness. It felt like phantom fingertips gently gripping his heart——not to crush it, but to shield it. The darkness itself seemed to want the suffering to end.
Then, there was only silence. And darkness, without the pain.
——————————————
"Ah..."
Subaru's eyes shot open. The Flugel Tree loomed above, its branches filtering the same shimmering light. The wind was warm, but Subaru felt a chill that wouldn't leave his bones.
He felt empty. Not the hollow shock of a fresh death, but the heavy, stagnant emptiness that follows a realization you can't outrun.
Behold an Unthinkable Present...
He had played it perfectly. Every word, every step, every breath calibrated. And still, he died. To Gojo.
He'll win next time.
Behold an Unthinkable Present...
To the Beast of the End.
He'll win next time.
Behold an Unthinkable Present...
He changed the plan entirely. Regulus killed him.
He'll.. win next time...
Behold an Unthinkable Present...
Gojo again. Puck. Gojo. Puck. The cycle blurred into a jagged montage of white hair and freezing frost.
Behold an Unthinkable Present... Behold an Unthinkable Present... Behold an Unthinkable Present...
Subaru clutched his head and staggered back. His knees buckled, but he refused to fall. His body shook with a frantic, absolute outrage—not at the world, but at his own weakness.
You're clearly not thinking straight, man…
The voice said. It wasn't a whisper anymore.
Why keep doing the same things that led to failure? There's nothing wrong with putting yourself over others. It's basic human emotion.
Subaru's vision blurred, but not from tears. The world rippled like a stone hitting water. Trees stretched unnaturally; the sky pulsed. Shadows moved while the light stayed still.
"So... let me show you what it means to stop losing."
Subaru's head snapped toward the sound. The voice was physical now——fixed in space. He blinked, staring at a pitch-black silhouette standing in the center of a mist-filled, dark landscape.
"What's happening...?"
Subaru heard his own lips move, but the voice felt distant.
In that split second, he felt it——something utterly revolting. A second heartbeat surged from within his chest, heavy and confident, syncing with his own.
Ba-dum.
Ba-dum.
"Be more selfish," the silhouette commanded.
Ba-dum.
"Be more prideful."
Ba-dum.
"No more weakness."
Then, with terrifying gentleness, the figure stepped closer.
"I'll carry it with you. The burden. The pain. The fear. All I ask is that you let me take the reins every now and then..."
Subaru didn't answer. He didn't have to. A part of him—the exhausted, broken part that was tired of dying—had already opened the door. In the quiet void behind his consciousness, the silhouette's grin grew wide and sharp.
"——Let us become Pride."
———————————————
Subaru opened his eyes again. The world returned in silence.
His gaze swept across the scene he had memorized to the point of nausea—Flugel's Tree, towering above like a god carved from time. Around him, the soldiers waited for orders from the boy who had led them to a miracle. It was muscle memory now.
Subaru straightened, the same crooked smile stretching across his face.
"The Whale is dead!" he declared, raising his fist. "That damn monster that haunted the world for generations is finally gone!"
The cheer that erupted was deafening. Fists punched the air; men roared in triumph. Subaru joined the shout, but his voice lacked heat. His heart wasn't in the celebration anymore.
I'm happy for them, but I understand now. For what comes next—they aren't needed.
His eyes shifted, locking onto the one figure standing apart from the crowd: Satoru Gojo. Smug grin, lazy posture, eyes hidden behind shades.
Just me and Gojo... if it's him, I guess it's fine.
Pride's voice hummed at the edge of his consciousness—calm, confident, and dangerously close. Subaru swallowed the guilt. He cherished Rem, Crusch, and Wilhelm. They were friends. But right now? Right now, he didn't need love. He needed power over everything else, so that those he cherished wouldn't have to die—so he wouldn't have to die.
"Gojo-sensei," Subaru said, his voice even. "Can you teleport us to Arlam Village? Or just outside it."
Gojo raised a brow. "Huh? Bit sudden." He paused, then nodded. "Sure."
He stepped forward, resting a hand lightly on Subaru's shoulder. In the blink of an eye, the world blurred. The wind shifted, the trees vanished, and they stood on a dirt road bordered by endless green. Peaceful. Temporary.
"Why, though?" Gojo asked, his eyes narrowing.
"The Witch's Cult," Subaru replied without hesitation. "They're attacking the village and mansion soon. I've already sent word through Rem; the evacuation should be underway."
Gojo's expression darkened.
"Mm. Yeah. That sounds... serious."
Subaru gave a curt nod.
'There's no reason to change what doesn't need to be changed…'
"I don't know exactly when they'll hit," Subaru added. "But it'll be soon. You should get ready."
Gojo eyed him for a moment longer, his gaze more analytical than usual.
"Y'know... you feel different lately. Not bad. Just... off. I can't quite put my finger on it."
Then, shrugging, he offered a smirk.
"But hey, you've been on a roll. I'll trust you."
With a lazy wave, Gojo vanished, blasting into the forest like a white thunderbolt.
Subaru watched him go, his lips pressed in a tight line.
Sorry, Sensei. But after so many loops, I've realized the fastest way for you to grow stronger is to face death and return. And if you fail? I'll just redo it until you succeed.
————————————
Explosions continued to hammer the horizon, the shockwaves of Gojo and Regulus's battle rattling the very air. But in the center of Arlam Village, the atmosphere was different. It was heavy, stagnant, and cold.
Subaru stood alone. Or rather, he stood with himself.
"You guys can come out now…" he said. His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the distant thunder with the weight of an absolute command.
From the shadows of the empty houses and the soil of the vegetable patches, the cultists rose. They didn't attack. They knelt. Dozens of black-hooded figures bowed their heads in a silent, servile reverence that would have turned the old Subaru's stomach.
'Feels good, doesn't it? To see them grovel like the insects they are?'
Subaru's lips curled into a thin, dangerous line.
"Could you get Sloth over here? I've got a few words for him... as the 'Archbishop of Pride'."
One cultist wordlessly melted back into the earth. Subaru waited, his fingers twitching. He didn't have to wait long.
"A-Ahhh... is it TRULY TRUE?!" Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti emerged, twitching and spasming like a broken doll. "Though the GOSPEL reveals not your visage, the scent... the sting of the Witch's LOVE clings so DILIGENTLY to you!"
The madman bit into his own fingers, tearing flesh and snapping tendons in a grotesque display of "diligence." Subaru watched with a look of pure, unadulterated boredom.
"Don't worry about it," Subaru said, slipping a hand into his tracksuit. "My Gospel told me to be here. Come closer."
As the Archbishop dragged his bleeding body forward, Pride took the reins. Subaru's eyes shifted—the brown iris replaced by a swirling, galactic purple.
"You think you can just look at me?" Pride asked, his voice echoing with a double-tonal quality. "Stand in my presence without groveling? Is that not... Sloth?"
"What... are you——"
"My bad, my bad," Pride chuckled, his head tilting at an unnatural angle. "That was corny. Still getting used to this Authority, you know?"
The ground beneath them gaped open like a shark's maw made of obsidian. A hundred jagged teeth spiraled up, devouring both Pride and Betelgeuse in a sphere of total void. When the shadows receded, only Pride remained.
He looked at the stunned cultists.
"Well... I dunno, you tell me. We are the same after all, bro."
Did you get him?
Subaru's internal voice asked.
"..No,"
Pride muttered, his eyes narrowing as purple ghostly arms erupted from a nearby cultist.
"He's a tenacious one."
Betelgeuse howled from a new vessel.
"You DARE stand without LOVE?! GO, MY FINGERS!!"
Pride didn't dodge. He stepped into the swarm of Unseen Hands. The air warped. Infinity? No. It was something more insulting. Reality itself simply refused to let them touch him. They slammed into the earth around him, carving a massive 'V' in the dirt, but Pride remained untouched in the center.
"You... YOU——YOU, YOU YOU!!"
"I guess we can't all be as broken as Gojo-sensei~," Pride grinned.
The earth shattered beneath his heel as he blurred forward. Cultists lunged, daggers flying like rain. The blades curved in mid-air, diverted by the sheer pressure of his presence. They weren't worthy to draw his blood.
Pride moved like a demon. His fist, dripping with dense, pulsing Cursed Energy, collided with the first cultist's chest.
The blow didn't just break him; it vaporized his torso. Red mist and bone fragments sprayed the crowd as the upper half of the body was erased from existence.
Another cultist tried to ambush him from behind. Pride didn't even turn. He reached back, his fingers clamping onto the attacker's face.
The skull compressed like an eggshell. Black veins of liquid void crawled up Pride's arm and into the cultist's head.
An obsidian spike burst from Pride's palm, spearing through the skull and branching out like a tree of spears, shredding everything inside. He tossed the mutilated corpse into the crowd like trash.
"These guys kind of suck——"
Suddenly, a pressure gripped his forearm. His right arm was snapped backward at an impossible angle.
"Darn... Sloth…"
Pride didn't scream. He looked at his broken limb with mild irritation, as if someone had spilled a drink on his shirt.
"This was supposed to be my big debut, you know? You're ruining the pacing."
His left hand clamped over the unseen force holding him. Darkness surged——living, pulsing malice.
Black spikes slithered up the invisible arm, tracing it back to a cultist in the treeline. The vessel exploded from the inside out, turned into a writhing sack of meat.
He raised his unharmed hand.
"It's been fun playing with you guys..."
The ground ruptured. Massive, barbed black tendrils erupted from the soil, skewering the remaining cultists and lifting them into the air like macabre ornaments.
Pride extended his palm to the side. A jagged, coiling sword of obsidian formed in his hand, pulsing with a deep violet light. He took the stance of an executioner.
"...but I'm done pretending you're actually interesting."