"—So let me get this straight."
Gojo's ever-familiar, lazy drawl rang in Subaru's ears, but there was a subtle edge beneath it. He was trying to make sense of what Subaru had just unloaded on him.
"After touching Reid's Book of the Dead, instead of getting his memories, you wound up in some white mindscape, where a yellow-haired brat—who also happens to be a Sin Archbishop—decided she wanted to eat you?"
Subaru just nodded, dead serious, as if describing what he had for breakfast.
"I don't mean literally… or maybe I do, who knows. Point is—she wanted my memories. And she got some, after I slipped my last name." He tapped the side of his head repeatedly with his index finger. "I can feel the holes. They're small, but they're there."
His jaw tightened. "The missing bits? They're all from before I came here—my parents, my old life. If I'd given her my full name, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be standing here right now. Or maybe I would, but it wouldn't be me anymore, you know?"
He hated how much that stung to say. His life on Earth, the ties to his parents partially missing, chewed on by some golden-haired freak in a child's body. He'd been suspicious, and still he slipped up. One mistake, and he lost a piece of himself he could never get back.
Gojo tilted his head in that infuriatingly casual way.
"Mhm… so?"
"…So?" Subaru blinked.
"Now what? You gonna keep sulking here, or are you planning to actually do something about Reid?"
Subaru's brow twitched, but he shook his head and sighed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll get to that. But first—I need to tell you something."
He found himself glancing around, as if waiting for Shaula to show herself and leap out straight onto his body, yet she never came.
"Where's Shaula?"
Gojo raised a brow, before nodding.
"Well while you were busy snoozing apparently some stuff was going down outside the tower so Shaula's off to... do her job? I guess?"
Subaru tilted his head, perhaps this had something to do with Gluttony, Lye Batenkaitos, infiltrating the tower. He was most likely busy healing from the constant beatings against Reid in the last loop, thus he'd never realized what was happening before until it was too late and costed Shaula her life.
"…Alright. You remember what I said before—back in the library, when you tried to peek into my book? About that thing I couldn't tell you?"
Gojo's posture shifted ever so slightly, hands still in his pockets, head cocked.
"Yeah. The 'dangerous if I say it out loud' thing."
Subaru's throat went dry. But he nodded.
"Well… something's changed. I found out I can tell you. Don't ask me why. But listen, Gojo-sensei—this doesn't leave us. Not a word. Not a hint. This is the kind of secret that will be very very bad if told to anyone else."
Gojo gave the smallest of nods, silent. Waiting.
Subaru's heart hammered. He swallowed, then forced it out.
"…I can Return by Death."
The words fell heavy, as though even the library itself was holding its breath. Subaru instinctively glanced around, waiting for the Witch's suffocating grip, for the black hands to strangle his lungs. But—nothing. Only silence.
He pressed on, voice low but steady.
"Every time I die… I reset. Not always to the same point, but usually the day before, sometimes more or sometimes less. I've seen you die. I've seen the world almost end. I've had to crawl through that nightmare again and again just to make it here."
He swallowed hard.
"That's my reality."
Gojo's lips were pursed, expression unreadable under the blindfold. Several long seconds ticked by. Then, finally, he lifted a hand, rubbing the side of his head.
"…Okay. Yeah, I can tell you're not lying." His voice was calm, but laced with something different than his usual mockery. "That's… one hell of a cheat code you know.."
He stopped Subaru from speaking just then with a raised palm.
"Don't answer. I don't need the details. It all clicks now—your freaky knowledge, the times you know things no one should, the way you act like you've seen it all before. Hell, judging by that twitch in your face just now, I have probably said this exact line to you already, haven't I?"
Subaru's jaw clenched, but he didn't deny it.
Gojo let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Weird. But makes sense. …So, why me? Why could you tell me, but not anyone else?"
Subaru's eyes sharpened.
"That's the thing. Before you, I only ever tried with Emilia. The moment I spoke—time froze. Next thing I knew, she was dead, I fled from the mansion, Puck was freezing literally everything, you showed up swinging, Regulus was there… yeah. You get the picture."
Gojo exhaled slowly.
"…So telling anyone else is basically pulling the pin on the apocalypse."
"Exactly. But with you? For some reason, it sticks. Maybe 'cause we're both from Japan, maybe because we landed in this world at the same time—I don't know."
Gojo hummed.
"Yeah… that day with Elsa, in that old building. That was your first day too, huh?"
Subaru nodded. His expression hardened.
"And there's more. In the last loop—Shaula died. You got angry. The entire tower started shaking. Reid was out of the trial room, fighting Witchbeasts. You thought he was the killer—but he wasn't. I ran into the real one. We fought. And—I actually landed a solid hit before kicking the bucket."
Gojo's head tilted.
"…That why you were asking me weird questions earlier?"
Subaru rubbed his neck, wincing.
"…Yeah."
Satoru let out a low breath.
"So… who was the real one? The killer, I mean?"
"Ahh… that's—"
Subaru froze. Not because he wanted to. The floor itself trembled under his feet, faint at first, but growing sharper, more deliberate. Not enough to topple anything, or even on the intensity of the trembling in the previous loop… but enough to feel wrong.
His blood ran cold.
Shit. No, no, no—did I misjudge the return point? Already? Is Shaula… dead?
"Fuck—Gojo-sensei, find Shaula!"
Normally, Gojo would've laughed, tossed in a smug remark, maybe even teased him for the sudden panic. But one look at Subaru's eyes—hard, desperate, deadly serious—was enough. Without a word, Gojo vanished from sight, his body accelerating so quickly the wind slammed Subaru's hair back like a jet stream tearing past.
—————————————————————
Gojo cut through the tower's halls, movements sharp, rotations seamless as he bent corners without losing speed. The mana in the air prickled against his senses—Shaula's mana. Faint, but there.
So Subaru's died before. Shaula's died before. I've died before. He's not making this up that's for sure. Those "loops" are busted as hell… and I'm the overpowered one he says? He's literally unbeatable in a sense.
He slid to a halt, head tilting toward what looked like solid stone wall. To anyone else, it was nothing. To the Six Eyes, it was obvious.
A veil. A door hidden in plain sight. Gojo ducked beneath, stepping out into the roaring winds of a high balcony. And there—arms outstretched, hair whipping and grinning gleefully—was Shaula.
"—Infinitied Hells Snipe!!"
The air behind her warped with hundreds of condensed mana blasts, white spheres forming like a swarm of miniature suns. They tore free at once, firing downward in a storm of light as each discharge echoing like shattering glass across the sandy skies.
Gojo whistled low.
"…Well, that's one way to say hello."
Below, the desert writhed. A tide of witchbeasts—feral, countless, utterly suicidal—rushed the tower's base. Shaula's bombardment tore through them, white lances skewering bodies in rapid succession, blood bursting into mist with each impact. But for every beast cut down, another leapt forward, clawing over the corpses of its mangled kin.
"What the shit is going on…?!"
Subaru's voice cut in as he stumbled onto the balcony, eyes wide at the sight of the endless slaughter below.
Gojo raised a brow.
"This didn't happen before?"
Subaru's silence was the answer to that question. Something had shifted. And it wasn't in their favor.
"Master! Heeey, master~! What do you think of my services, hmmm?! Pretty cool, right?!" Shaula's voice rang high, almost gleeful, even as her magic burned the desert red and misty far below.
"Err—yeah, sure! Keep it up, Shaula!" Subaru shouted back. "Focus on keeping them down!"
"Yes, masteeeer~!"
Gojo stepped forward, arm raised lazily. His fingers formed a gun shape, an orb of vermilion humming at the tip.
"Guess I'll help tidy up."
He fired. A single blast of Red obliterated dozens of beasts in one go, the sheer repulsive force flattening the desert in a circular crater. Without pause, he fired again. And again. And again. The ground quaked with every impact, witchbeasts getting flattened like paper under Gojo's artillery fire.
"…Damn pests."
Gojo muttered, rolling his shoulders as he reset his energy with constant surges of Reverse Cursed Technique.
"Sensei!" Subaru called out, straining to be heard over the thunderous bombardment. "I don't wanna be that guy, but—there's no way they're only hitting this side of the tower!"
Gojo clicked his tongue.
"…You're probably right."
That was all Subaru needed to hear. He spun on his heel and bolted, sprinting back into the tower. His chest burned, mind racing, footsteps echoing.
—————————————————————
He ran and he ran and he ran at top speed through the halls, his chest heaving, not from exhaustion but sheer nervousness and confusion, eventually he found himself slowing despite the clear severity of the entire situation.
Meeting Louis Arneb… did that really speed everything up? Shift the timeline forward a whole damn day? No—this is different too, it's even worse than what happened, last time there were only those fiery centaurs that Reid was fighting, Gojo and that red madman cleaned them up real quick.
The hall narrowed. His breathing slowed. Instinct told him to stop.
This feels familiar. Too familiar…
STEP- STEP- STEP-
From the shadows, a figure emerged. Brown hair. Green eyes. A swaying, deliberate gait. His features could've been charming, handsome even—if not for the madness swimming in his gaze. A glint Subaru had already seen in Louis Arneb.
Lye Batenkaitos.
"Ahaaa~! If it isn't the main dish itself~!" The Sin Archbishop sang, words dripping with madness. "We have been waiting—eagerly waiting—to taste you. Because, because—yes, because—you looked after little sister for a while, isn't it~"
That grin. That voice. It was Louis's reflection in a cracked mirror. That same green-eyed mad man he'd faced once before in the last loop and annoyingly even died to.
Subaru's eyes narrowed, his stance steady despite the storm raging in his chest.
"…Heh. Figures. I can tell you're related. The same rotten stink and maddening look in your eye."
"Ah, yes—you're right, probably right, definitely right, certainly right, absolutely ri—!"
Lye's rambling was cut short this time. Subaru didn't hesitate, didn't let the Archbishop dictate the rhythm this time around. He exploded forward, cursed energy surging along his leg as he brought it down in a crushing overhead arc.
"Tsu—?!"
Lye tucked his knees, springing backward with inhuman agility. His daggers flashed silver in the darkness, snapping up like fangs. He darted back in—low, sharp, snake-fast. A thrust for Subaru's ribs.
Steel met skin.
Subaru caught the strike with his forearm, cursed reinforcement dampening the blade's edge. It bit in—an inch, maybe two—enough to draw blood, but not to cripple. Pain flared, white-hot, but Subaru pushed through, twisting into a knee strike aimed at Lye's midsection.
Blocked.
The Archbishop laughed, licking his lips as he hopped back again.
"Ahhh~ very strange, incredibly strange, super strange, impossibly strange! That cut should have gone clean through—but it didn't! Nope nope nope, not you, not this one, tsu~!"
Rather than fear, his grin widened. His tongue slipped past his teeth, long, hungry, savoring the taste of the fight itself.
He stepped forward, savoring each word.
"Knowledge is strength, POWER~! Memories are bonds, threads, strings that make people, form people, are people! And we—we EAT! Eat, drink, devour, gluttonous gorging, tsu~!"
The next step Lye was simply gone.
He blurred, a streak of shadow cutting through the darkness, and slammed his foot into Subaru's gut. The blow launched him backward, skidding across stone, ribs rattling from the impact.
"Ghkk—!"
Subaru spat, breath forced from his lungs. His knees bent, body tensed, forcing air back into his chest.
Fast. Just as fast as I remember. This won't be easy.
His hands trembled—then steadied. Cursed energy and the Witch's miasma pulsed in unison, swelling inside him like twin storms colliding.
"Haahhh—" Subaru hissed, the corners of his lips twitching into a grimace that was almost a grin. "I can return by—rhkk!"
He launched forward, even faster than before. Lye's eyes widened, just slightly, as Subaru's movements spiked beyond expectation.
Daggers swept. Subaru bent, weaving, ducking. A silver edge whistled above his head, shaving strands of black hair. He snapped upward with a fist, raw power behind the strike.
Blocked by Lye's knee. The impact rang sharp through the stone as the Archbishop flipped, pushing off the ceiling and diving like a hawk.
Subaru raised his arm—
CLANG—!
Not flesh. Not bone. Darkness itself had solidified across his arm, forming a shield that caught the dagger clean.
"…Tsu?!" Lye's green eyes widened, just for a heartbeat.
Subaru's fist hammered down in the next instant, shattering stone in an imprint where Lye had been.
He flickered. Pure speed, gone in a blur once again.
Subaru hissed as pain cut across his left arm—shallow, but clean. He pivoted, lashing out, only to have his punch intercepted and another blade flash toward his side. Subaru disengaged, bending low, teeth gritted as he forced distance between them.
For a moment, silence. The two circled, predators gauging each other in the gloom.
He's fast—but not consistent. His strength spikes, dips, shifts like he's pulling from different bodies, different skills. Eating memories… yeah. That's it. He's stitching together stolen techniques. No wonder I can't predict him.
Lye tilted his head, daggers twirling lazily between his fingers, grin never faltering.
"You're having trouble, big trouble, delicious trouble, tsu~! We can't blame you, can't fault you, no no no~!"
Choosing not to reply, Subaru exhaled, steady but sharp.
"I can return by—hrrk!!"
The words came again, reckless and taboo. The surge of miasma flooded outward, purple-black streaks spiraling like burning chains around his shoulders.
Then—
STOMP-!
Darkness burst from his heel, a spike over a meter wide erupting from the top of Subaru's foot and lunging at Gluttony.
"Tsu—!"
The Archbishop kicked off the spike, feet grazing the surface of the darkness for half a heartbeat before he vaulted skyward, daggers flashing at the sensation of danger. He carved through the shadows with rapid slashes, shattering branch after branch of congealed darkness.
But it was distraction.
"Gh—!" Lye's eyes widened just before Subaru's fist slammed into his ribs, driving him downward like a meteor. Blood sprayed as he skidded across stone, but he twisted, rebounding without hesitation.
Clash. Spark. Step. Strike.
The hallway rang with steel and fists colliding at impossible speed.
Stronger—but he's faster. Faster, and way more skilled.
A sting—Subaru's cheek opened, red spilling.
A graze—his fist clipped Lye's shoulder.
And then Lye changed. His whole rhythm shifted—stance, momentum, even the angle of his grin. It wasn't one fighter anymore; it was like fighting a whole other person after every string of attacks.
"—Tsu!"
His palm darted through Subaru's guard, faster than the eye could track.
BAM-!
Air exploded from Subaru's lungs as the strike crushed into his stomach. Blood surged up his throat, and before he could collapse, the dagger twisted forward—wind coiling along its edge like a living serpent.
"Enuma Elish, tsu~!"
"—!?"
What the fuck.
The blade roared. A cyclone howled out, a column of tearing, blade-like air that smashed Subaru full on. His body bent, bones creaked, and he was hurled spinning down the corridor before slamming into the far wall with bone-snapping force.
"Ghhhk—!" He hacked blood, dragging himself from the crater, his knees buckling but refusing to drop. "What kind of… urhhkkk—copyright infringement is this!?"
Lye was grinning, wild and gleeful, daggers dancing between his fingers.
"Hehehehe, tsu~! The appeal, the thrill, the power, the scream of it—ahhh, we understand now~! Because it is us, it is us, it is always us! Who ate Subaru, who became Subaru, who wears Subaru! Tsu~! So impressive, so powerful, so terrifyingly strong—the strongest we are~!"
Subaru's face twisted, sweat streaking through blood.
So they share memories then. Doesn't matter if it was Louis that ate a part of my memories—this one has access too. Damn it. Kinda regret binging the fate series now...
Subaru's tongue lanced upward, snaking out and catching the blood that dripped from his nose—crimson mingling with the sweat already streaming down his face. Another thin line traced its way from his forehead, dripping into the corner of his left eye.
"You? Strongest? Scary? Impressive?"
His voice cracked into a bark of laughter, wild, unrestrained, shaking the chamber more than the dagger had.
"—I didn't know you could tell a good joke, but here we are I guess!"
For a heartbeat, the world went still.
Lye's grin faltered. His expression stilled. The endless babble of words caught in his throat, silenced by something he had not expected—not pain, not pressure, but mockery. Subaru had been blasted into a wall, bones creaking, blood spilling freely—and yet here he was, grinning like a man who welcomed it.
"You're lying, tricking, faking, bluffing bluffing bluffing, tsu~! You should be broken, not laughing, not smiling, not standing!" Lye shrieked, voice fraying at the edges, the daggers in his hands twitching with every word.
But Subaru didn't budge. His knees were shaking, his lungs felt like glass, and each breath was a war—but his grin refused to fade. He raised a trembling fist, wiped blood off his chin with the back of his hand, and spat red into the floor.
The Archbishop's eye twitched. His laughter returned, sharper now, manic, like glass shards grinding against one another.
"Ahhh~! We see it now, we see it, we understand it, tsu~! You're not fighting to win—you're fighting to lose! How delicious—how insane—how utterly Subaru!"
He leaned forward, tongue slithering out as his daggers lifted, light catching on their edges.
"We'll carve you up, chew you down, eat your screams, your blood, your bones, every last piece of you—until not even death will take you, tsu~!"
Subaru's grin widened, teeth flashing in the gloom. His voice was a low, dangerous rasp.
"...Then come try it."
Lye's green eyes twitched—something like irritation flaring across them—and he stepped forward. In the blink between his motion and Subaru's breath, he vanished, closing the distance in an instant.
"—I CAN RETURN BY—HRKK!?" Subaru roared, the taboo ripping out of him like a razor. The world convulsed at that word, madness threatening to swallow Subaru whole: his fists slammed into the brick floor with such violence the stone split, cracks spidering outward and gouging the walls.
Lye had to alter course; the initial sprint became a short, roundabout dash. He flicked a silver arc with his dagger aimed to shear Subaru's side—
CLASH—!
Purple claws spiraled out of Subaru's hands, barely holding form as they met steel. The force jolted up Subaru's arms, but his grin only widened through all the blood and the sweat. He shoved off with his foot, propelled like a battering ram; Lye went flying, and Subaru surged after him with a flurry of strikes. Each claw left jagged gouges in the bricks. Lye danced, slipped, and countered—one dagger finding flesh, tearing a line across Subaru's arm. Blood sprayed, but Subaru didn't flinch.
All of it registered for him as a single delicious truth: this is what he was made for all along. The ecstasy of striking, of taking damage to give it back harder. He'd denied that hunger—denied the way his chest lit when an opponent pushed him to the edge—but it now pulsed through him, intoxicating and clean.
CLANG—! CLANG—! CLANK—!
Their fight became unrelenting chaos. They sprinted the corridor like a pair of meteors, golden sparks and fragments of brick and stone raining around them. Walls threatened to crumble. The hall's air roared with metal and force.
At the right turn they had stepped into, Subaru planted a foot against the wall and flipped—somersaulting over Lye's downward dagger with animalistic grace. For the breath he had, a blade of wind erupted from Lye's weapon and punched into Subaru's guarding claws, dispersing the purple cursed energy and choking his momentum.
Subaru was sent hurtling down the hallway's right turn and steadily stumbled upright, breath ragged.
"Haaaa... I can't... this is just—"
"Tsu…? Just what? Too bad? Pitiful?"
Lye mocked, but Subaru's reply was a tense, blood-slick grin that formed ear-to-ear as he slowly lifted one of his arms up from his side.
"—This is just too damn GOOD!!"
From Subaru's bloodied raised palm a purple wave of energy detonated, a searing wash of miasma mixed with cursed energy that filled the corridor. It consumed everything in front of him—smoke, collapsing stone, the taste of iron on his tongue. For a heartbeat he squinted, waiting to see if it had worked.
SWOOSH—
Lye stepped from the haze like a nightmare made flesh: half his body ragged, charred, streaked with gore—but still grinning, still feral. The more punishment he took, the bolder his hunger grew.
"Rhh—meal, main course—yes yes, the main course! All this just makes you taste better, tsu—" he snarled.
He stamped the scorched bricks, then blurred forward.
One dagger lunged for Subaru's gut—but Subaru didn't pull away, instead, he'd positioned his hand in the daggers trajectory and allowed it to strike. The blade slammed through him, ripping muscle and bone and poking out the other side of his palm. Subaru didn't scream. He clenched the hilt with vice-like grip and shoved. With his free hand he seized the side of Lye's head and shoved them both toward the nearby wall.
BOOM—!
Lye's skull met stone. He twisted, trying to yank the dagger free; Subaru used the pain as leverage and drove his weight again and again. Lye's counterstrike nicked and hacked, but Subaru kept bashing, headbutting until the wall's surface fractured and spiders of rubble fell.
Lye's face became a ruin under Subaru's onslaught—teeth shattered, jaw and facial bones cracking—yet he still scrambled, slashing, twisting, trying to wrench himself loose. Subaru pushed until the brick gave way entirely. The corridor collapsed in a tumble of mortar and dust, burying them both.
For a second there was only the grinding hush of falling stone and the wet, ragged sound of broken breath. Subaru's own forehead split where it had struck; blood mixed with dust and trickled down into his eye. He pushed his hand through the debris, tasting grit and iron, and felt for movement.
Strands of brown hair. A twitch beneath it.
Subaru hauled himself up through the rubble, raw lungs burning, muscles screaming. He spat blood and laughed—a short, incredulous bark. He stood over the ruin where Lye was, blood on his knuckles, hair matted to his face, chest heaving, grin savage.
"Hah… ahahahh…" His voice cracked, rasping, drunk on the high of it all. "Take that… you little shit."
For a moment, the silence was perfect.
Then—
"…Tsu~"
A gurgle, wet and broken, like laughter bubbling through blood. The rubble shifted as began to be pulled apart from movement. A hand twitched, bone bent at a wrong angle yet still moving as it clawed against the ground.
"…Meal… main meal, broken meal, bleeding meal… delicious, delicious, delicious, tsu~."
The stones quivered, some sliding aside as if shoved by sheer stubborn hunger. And in that half-second where any sane person would've felt dread, Subaru just bared his teeth wider, his bloody grin stretching almost too far.
"Good…" he rasped, stepping forward. "That's good. I'm not done either."
Lye twitched as he tore himself free from the rubble. His body convulsed, not in pain but in delight—shaking with manic laughter that wheezed through shattered teeth.
"Hhhk—kahhh… ahhh! Yes yes yes, this taste, this taste, this taste—tsu~!"
His body was half limp, swaying, blood sliding down his chin, one green eye swollen half-shut. And still, that grin. That horrid grin was even more nightmarish at this point.
Subaru's own chest heaved, each breath ragged fire in his ribs, but he stepped forward anyway. His fists trembled, not from fear but from adrenaline boiling his veins. The dust made his cuts sting like fire, but he smiled through it, lips split and dripping red.
"…The hell's wrong with you? Normal people don't tend to laugh when their faces get caved in."
Lye giggled, a wet gargle, coughing pink froth.
"Normal? N-normal, ahhh, normal, very normal, quite normal, absolutely normal?! Ahaaa—nothing normal here, not in us, not in you, not ever, not ever, tsu~!"
With a snap, his body jerked upright, daggers still clutched, his head rolling loose on a half-broken neck. He snapped it back into place with a crunch that echoed down the broken hall, one that made Subaru question whether or not Lye was actually human at all.
But still, they crashed together again.
No stances, no rhythm, no finesse—just raw violence. Subaru's claws reignited and met daggers, sparks and cursed energy scattering with each strike. Every wound bled, every hit shook their bones. Subaru let Lye's blade bite into his side just so he could drive an elbow into Lye's temple. Lye accepted the blow, spinning with it, using the momentum to rake a dagger up Subaru's chest.
Blood splashed stone. Neither slowed.
Lye cackled even as Subaru's fist split his brow wide open.
"Hahhh.."
Subaru let out a deep breath, voice breaking, but his fist drove into Lye's ribs with such force that bone cracked like glass underfoot. They staggered apart for a heartbeat, both dripping, both trembling, both swaying like drunkards. The rubble beneath their feet crumbled with every step, hardly able to hold on for any longer.
Subaru spat a mouthful of blood and barked out a laugh that startled even himself.
"Haahh… is this what you wanted?"
Lye's grin widened, impossibly so, green eyes glowing through the mess of blood.
"Yes yes yes—delicious, delirious, delirium—fight until nothing's left, until only tsu~ remains, it is~"
Then they roared and surged again.
This time there was no dodging. Subaru tanked the dagger that plunged into his shoulder, pushing himself onto the blade so he could get close enough to slam his forehead into Lye's nose again and again. Bone crunched. Blood ran down both their faces. Lye sank his teeth into Subaru's neck, tearing a ragged chunk of flesh free, and Subaru screamed—yet even as the sound ripped out of him, his claws sank into Lye's side, dragging deep furrows through flesh.
The two collapsed into each other, grappling violently, rolling through the rubble. Blood, grit, and shattered stone coated everything. Teeth, claws, daggers, fists—it didn't matter. Every limb, every fragment of body and cursed energy became a weapon, a battering ram, a brutal extension of their wills.
When they finally tore apart, both staggered upright, bodies drenched in red, faces cracked and bloodied, yet grins like devils.
Subaru's vision wavered, his body screaming to collapse—but his mind, fury, and sheer refusal would not relent.
"…You're not getting me." he growled, voice ragged, teeth bared. "…And I've got no intention of letting you leave alive."
Lye's head lolled, his laughter spilling from his cracked, bleeding mouth, eyes glinting with feral delight.
"No no no—hagk.. -you already belong to us, always will now, yes, mhm, yep… little sister too, and me me me me me, tsu~!"
The words hung in the chaos, a jagged echo that made Subaru's blood hum.
Then—a sharp whistle sliced through the air. Both fighters snapped their heads to the sound. Subaru's eyes widened. Lye's green eyes twitched in equal shock.
From the corner, no more than two meters away, flowed a flash of crimson hair and a fiery kimono, draped casually against the wall like a predator surveying the aftermath of two rabbits fighting.
"—You, oi you, small fry, fuck're you doin' brawlin' like a dumbass?" Reid Astrea said, his voice smooth but cutting like steel.
The fiendish smile on Reid's face was ice in Subaru's veins, the kind that made a man instantly calculate the margin between life and death. Ecstatic though he was body buzzing with adrenaline and power—he wasn't foolish. Reid wasn't someone to challenge lightly. Whether he lived or died now was entirely at his discretion.
"…Fuck." he muttered under his breath, lips tightening.
"Reid… Astreaaa… isn't it? The first Sword Saint… the dessert after the main course, tsu~!" Lye slurred, staggering forward, his words dripping with mania as he swayed. His body was broken, yet his desire to consume, to dominate, was still raw and palpable.
Reid's nails scraped audibly across his own chest, a casual scratch that didn't seem fitting considering the situation. His grin twitched down, and his half-lidded eyes narrowed with that strange mix of boredom and cruelty.
"Brats, brats, brats—don't know their fuckin' place anymore eh, y'hear me you? All y'talk about is eatin' this, killin' that, main course, dessert… tch. Ain't no dinner table, you."
The air shifted. Subaru felt it instantly—the suffocating pressure that came with Reid Astrea deciding he was annoyed. His legs wanted to buckle, his claws wavered, his breath caught in his throat. Compared to Lye's chaotic hunger, Reid's presence was clean, sharp, absolute. So much so the hairs on the back of his stood.
Lye staggered, his mangled face curling into a bloody grin even wider.
"Heheheheh—yes yes yes, tsu~! You're angry, so angry, we like that, we'll eat that, eat YOU, eat it ALL—"
"Oi."
Reid's voice cut him off. No rise, no roar, just a flat sound that froze Subaru's blood.
"You shut your trap before I get real mad at you, you."
The smirk remained, but Subaru saw it—the tiniest twitch of Reid's fingers, like he was already picturing how easily he could carve both of them down where they stood.
Subaru swallowed, his grin fading at last.
"…Shit."
The First Sword Saint tilted his head, fiery hair spilling across his face as his eyes slid to Subaru.
"And you, black-hair. Don't be puffin' your chest too hard, you. That thing you're doin'? Bleedin' out on the floor while pretendin' it's a fight? Ain't impressin' me you."
Subaru's frown grew more evident, blood dripping down his chin, but he clenched his fists anyway. His body screamed, but that refusal—that need to prove he wasn't done—flared hotter. "…And if I keep fighting?"
Reid's laugh was sudden, sharp, cruel.
"Real interestin' huh? Y'think all those ass-whoopings I gave y'before made us all buddy buddy or somethin' or have y'actually just grew a spine, you?"
Silence followed, thick enough that Subaru's heartbeat drowned out the crumbling of rubble around them.
Then Lye broke it—cackling, delirious, swaying like a drunk.
"Ahhh—! Three courses, three flavors, three devils, tsu~! The first Sword Saint, the stubborn meal, and us us us us—"
In an instant, Reid moved.
The red flash was blinding, and utterly incomprehensible—his sandal cracked the stone, and suddenly he was in front of Lye. Subaru didn't even see him cross the space. Reid's bare hand gripped Lye's throat, lifting the Archbishop clear off the ground like a ragdoll before a knee slammed straight against Gluttony's side, his unconscious body flailing through the air and laying flat, arms and legs wide against the ground opposite Subaru.
"…Told you once, didn't I?" Reid muttered, voice low, eyes half-shadowed. "Shut your trap, you."
"Now then, what shall we do about you, hrnn? I guess I got some time t'kill before leavin' this place…"
Reid's one visible eye closed as he spoke, a moment of silence stirring before it reopened and he continued, a grin manifesting.
"… One last test from me, y'hear. So give me y'best shot, black-hair."