Hearing the bandaged figure's opening speech, the crowd could only stare up in stunned silence. The voice was shrill, piercing, yet strangely captivating—like glass scraping against stone in a twisted melody.
But it wasn't the voice, nor the bizarre wrappings and chains that froze them in place.
It was instinct.
Every living being knows when a predator is before them.
No one dared to look away from that figure.
The murmurs began anyway, shaky and uncertain.
"Huh… is this for real?"
"Gotta be some kind of prank."
"What did that person just say…?"
But Subaru's mind wasn't on the crowd. He was shaking with something hotter, deeper.
"…Romanee… Conti?"
The name tasted like bile. Petelgeuse's shadow flashed in his mind. A madman who had killed, tortured, destroyed—and yet, the figure before him might even be worse.
"Okay, okay—" The figure clapped its bound hands together, chains scraping.
"That's enough! Twenty-two seconds to settle down—not too bad! Thank you, truly, thank you! I'm so happy!"
The voice swelled, grating and melodic all at once, before the figure pointed. The chains dragged, screeching against the stone. Its purple eyes glimmered as the gesture fell upon Subaru.
"You there! Ah, and you there too! Please don't be angry. I'm sorry, terribly sorry for taking up everyone's precious time!"
The crowd shifted, confused. Subaru glanced at the others the Archbishop pointed at—fighters, not ordinary citizens. People like swordsmen, or those with larger, more prominent builds. Their faces flushed red, breath hitching unnaturally.
Something was being done to them. Subaru could feel it gnawing at the edges of his own chest, subtle, but there.
The figure lowered its arm, tilting its head.
"I understand your unease. Hearing the name Witch Cult doesn't inspire good feelings, does it? But! I'm not here to do anything too special today. I only wanted to confirm one little matter!"
Gasps rippled, voices overlapping in chaotic noise.
"…A matter…?"
Someone whispered.
"Ahh, hush now, hush—please, don't be noisy! If something bothers you, say it clearly please, I will gladly listen to whatever you have to say!"
And as if compelled, the tension dissolved. Confusion gave way to calm curiosity. The shift was unnatural—like strings tugged tight, then slack.
Sirius clasped her hands into the shape of a heart.
"Right, right. Frankly speaking, what I wish to talk about is… love."
"Kyaaa~!" She recoiled, covering her bandaged face in mock embarrassment.
"So embarrassing, oh my, how could I say that!?"
The crowd burst into laughter—raw, booming, wrong. All except Subaru who remained quiet, fists clenched so tightly his nails dug into his palms.
"Of course, I expected to be laughed at. But thank you anyway, thank you! I have a request too!"
Sirius leaned forward, trembling with joy.
"If everyone stays with me for a little while… we can affirm this love together!"
The crowd answered in unison, unnervingly eager:
"Yeah, of course—!"
"Don't even worry about it!"
"I'll gladly show up late to work for this!"
Sirius shivered with delight, nearly in tears.
"Ahhh, truly… thank you! This world—it's so kind, so very, very kind!"
Then she remembered what she was here for, as such, she turned to the tower's window and reached inside.
"Sorry, sorry! I've kept you waiting, haven't I? My apologies, truly my apologies—!"
Her voice remained sweet. The sight did not.
A boy was dragged forward, bound from head to toe in heavy chains. Only his face remained uncovered, gagged by links that bit into his mouth until blood dripped down his chin. His eyes were wide, wet with terror. Ten years old at most.
"Mmmpf! Mmmfff—!"
Sirius cradled him like a doll, smiling as though she held a treasure.
"My sincerest apologies if I frightened you, little one! But surely, surely—even a little boy like you shouldn't cry so much?"
The crowd jeered.
"Yeah! Don't cry, it's embarrassing!"
"Men only cry three times in life you know!"
"Don't shame yourself, brat!"
Their grins didn't falter, even as their voices mocked.
Something…
It wasn't natural. It wasn't human. They were laughing.
Sirius beamed, stroking the boy's trembling hair.
"Ahh, enough, enough. He's not weak—he's brave, isn't he, Lusbel?"
The boy shook his head desperately, trying to escape her touch.
"Now then!" Sirius cooed. "Little Lusbel has a sweet childhood friend, a darling girl named Tina. Their bond is so pure, so perfect—it makes my heart simply ache! I thought long and hard about which one I should bring here… but brave Lusbel begged to take her place instead. Isn't that just wonderful?!"
The crowd roared approval, clapping, cheering.
Something…
Lusbel sobbed, his gag muffling the sound. The Archbishop's tears flowed freely as she hugged him tighter.
"Thank you! Truly, thank you all! This—this is Love! What else could it be if not that?!"
The audience wept, grabbing each other, their emotions distorted beyond recognition.
Sirius lifted Lusbel higher and higher, chains rattling as she forced his chin down toward the crowd.
Look, little Lusbel. Look how everyone shares your courage! Our hearts are one. We don't need tragedy! We don't need a world that makes us cry! Everyone agrees, don't you see?!"
Lusbel's gaze darted through the blur of faces—laughing, crying, clapping—and then it stopped.
One man.
Dark hair. Cold, sharp eyes.
Not smiling. Not weeping. Just watching.
Lusbel's heart screamed for salvation.
Something—
Sirius's voice cracked with joy.
"Truly… this is… Love!"
—Wrong.
Completely wrong.
The applause thundered even louder as Sirius released her grip. The boy tumbled from the tower edge, chains whipping in the wind as he plummeted toward the stone below. His muffled scream tore the air apart.
He squeezed his eyes shut—
But the ground never came.
Instead, his fall slowed, suspended.
He opened his eyes.
And saw an unfamiliar figure holding him steady, smiling with quiet relief.
"Sorry I was late. Had to make sure that thing wouldn't just kill you the moment I climbed up."
Subaru's grip tightened, before he reached out to loosen the chain through sheer strength alone, watching as it unravels and falls to the ground— Lusbel doesn't even wait a moment before reaching out despite his heavy breaths.
"T-T-Tina... you, you must... please, save Tina!"
Subaru winced, breath hitching, lungs burning with every inhale. His legs trembled as he stared at the boy in his arms.
W-What is… happening? Why am I… scared?
The fear wasn't his own—he realized that much. It pressed against his heart like a foreign weight, worming its way into his chest until he could hardly tell where Lusbel's terror ended and his began.
…Her Authority, it must be. She's making emotions contagious?
His grip faltered. Subaru forced himself to set the boy down, steadying his breath as best he could. He crouched low, meeting the child's terrified eyes.
"I'll get your friend back. Don't worry. I promise."
But even as he said it, pain flared in his head. His hand clenched against his temple. His body was trembling, screaming at him to give in to the flood of fear.
"Ahhh, apologies, truly, my apologies…"
Sirius's sing-song voice slid over him like oil. She leaned forward on the tower's edge, arms spread wide, chains clinking as they dragged.
"But that was rude, don't you think? We were all connected, all one—and you, you, you broke that! Why fight it? Don't you want to empathize with everyone else, feel as your LOVE comes together?!"
Her pace was steady, deliberate—most likely buying time for her Authority. Subaru recognized it instantly.
His knees bent, cursed energy flaring through him on reflex—his body moving before thought could catch up.
In an instant, he launched skyward. The stone cracked beneath his feet as he rocketed toward the tower.
His fist met Sirius's raised forearms with explosive force. The impact rattled the air, blasting her from her perch and hurling her upward. Subaru pursued without touching the ground, cursed energy bursting in surges that carried him higher.
Chains lashed at him midair, gleaming gold and barbed with hooked steel. Subaru twisted, parried, his movements sharp and desperate. Gravity pulled at him, but black masses bloomed beneath his feet—manifestations of Pride, forming momentary footholds. He kicked off them, lunging at Sirius again.
She caught herself against the tower wall, chains whipping outward in a frenzy. They writhed like living serpents, each strike cracking stone and splitting the air with metallic shrieks.
"Tch—gotta end this!"
Subaru snarled, thrusting his hand forward.
A chain coiled around that same hand, barbs tearing flesh. Sirius yanked—hard, digging into flesh.
Subaru's body jerked forward slightly, but instead of resisting, he pulled back with every ounce of strength he had.
The Archbishop of Wrath was ripped from the wall, dragged toward him like a hooked fish. His knee rose overhead then instantly whipped downward in a brutal arc. Sirius managed to catch the strike with a cross of chains, but the blow still landed—enough to blast her body downward, slamming her into the ground below with bone-jarring force.
Subaru landed hard on the plaza stones, chest heaving, not from physical exhaustion, but mental.
Then his eyes widened.
The crowd.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of enthralled townsfolk surged toward him, their faces twisted in laughter and tears, their cries blending into a monstrous chorus as tears welled in their red eyes.
"Hey you!"
"Don't cry, be strong!"
"Love! Love! Love!"
And among them—Lusbel. The boy staggered back, completely cornered, his small body trembling as a part of the mob closed in on him.
"Shit—!"
Subaru vaulted forward, cursed energy igniting under his feet. He leapt over the tide of bodies, hand snapping out to grab the boy's waist. With a fluid motion he tucked Lusbel close, pulling him out of reach as the mob clawed at empty air.
Landing on the far side, Subaru's knees nearly buckled. Sweat drenched his brow. His heart thundered, the infected fear clawing deeper.
"Hhgh—Urgh… this is… getting bad…"
"Haha, hahaha! Aha, HAHAHAHA!! We are all ONE! Is this not—this, this, not what LOVE is!?"
Sirius howled, her bandaged body convulsing with laughter as she whipped her arm outward. Chains unraveled further, slicing through the air with blistering speed.
Subaru clutched Lusbel tighter and dropped low, feeling the chain split the air above him. It tore past his head—then surged toward the mind-controlled civilians that still chased behind.
No—if that hits them…!
A spike of darkness erupted from Subaru's raised hand, intercepting the chain mid-flight. The severed metal lashed in a wild arc, screeching across the stone. The strain left blood dripping from his nose, but there was no time to care.
Another chain snapped toward him.
"I can Return by—!"
Miasma surged, hot and poisonous, rushing through him like an addiction. His body bent, vaulted, sprang skyward above the chain that came his way with the boy in his arms. Platforms of darkness bloomed beneath his feet as he stood perpendicular to the ground, before finally bending his knees and propelling himself forth toward the Archbishop.
From his hand, an onyx blade bloomed into existence. Subaru thrust for Sirius's chest—but she twisted at the last instant. Darkness bit her side, blood spraying.
Chains crisscrossed to meet him in an instant before Subaru reacted on instinct and caught it with the flat of his blade.
"Ahhh, this is wonderful! You are wonderful!"
Sirius shrieked, ecstatic.
Subaru's face remained set, but inside, he was losing ground. Not to her chains—not to her strength. To her Authority. The flood of familiar emotions gnawed at his mind. Fear, despair, anger—they weren't all his, but they felt like they were.
He had to end this.
No more games.
"—"
STEP—!
He blurred forward the next moment. The onyx blade swept, meeting a descending chain head-on.
Sirius's grin widened.
Ahhh, so he is going to trade blows with me. Then—victory is—!
The chains however, did what Sirius least expected and missed Subaru entirely, as if an unseen force had quite literally shoved them aside, gouging stone in their wake as they struck the surface.
Sirius blinked, though her smile didn't waver.
"Ahhh, you are just—!!"
SLASH—!!
Her head flew free before she could finish the sentence, bisected cleanly from her shoulders. It tumbled through the air, landing beside her twitching body with a heavy splatter of blood.
Subaru landed hard, gasping. It was over.
"…Damn. I'm killing these Archbishops like Pokemon."
But no grin came with the joke.
Because the crowd wasn't moving.
They were all slouched. Still. Silent.
Dead.
Subaru's throat locked. His vision swam.
Every head… gone. Blood pooled thick and dark beneath limp torsos. Eyes glazed, mouths frozen in mid-laughter, as though Sirius's 'love' had clung to them even in death.
And in his own arms—
"L-Lusbel…?"
The boy he had saved, the boy he was protecting, was headless in his arms. His small body twitched once before going completely still, warm blood running across Subaru's fingers and clothes.
"…W-W… What is this…?"
The onyx sword dissolved in his hand as he staggered backward, nearly slipping on the blood-soaked stone. His wide eyes darted across the carnage—the river of corpses, broken limbs, decapitated people. All his doing.
All his fault.
"No, no, no, no, no—"
Guards surged into the plaza in an instant, steel flashing. Their voices cut sharp, filled with disgust and fury. But to Subaru, their words melted into meaningless noise. The only sound that existed was his own jagged breathing.
His chest heaved. His stomach churned. The world tilted sideways.
"I feel sick… sick, sick, sick—"
He collapsed to his knees. His hands shook violently, still wet and sticky with blood. His breaths came shallow, panicked, like a drowning man.
How?
How is she supposed to be beaten?
If killing her means everyone else dies too—then what am I even…?
The walls of reality pressed in. The corpses, the screaming, the guards drawing nearer—it all blurred into a nightmarish smear.
Until—
"…That's enough."
The voice cut cleanly through the storm in his head.
Subaru jerked his gaze upward.
White hair. Sunglasses. Casual clothes. Standing amidst the massacre like it was nothing more than a spring afternoon.
Satoru Gojo.
"Stay back, young man—!" one guard barked.
"Wait, you're—!" another stammered.
Gojo ignored them. His Six Eyes slid over the carnage, over Sirius's remains, over the sea of corpses. Then, finally, they stopped on Subaru.
"…It's not your fault."
Subaru froze. His breath hitched.
"—!?"
"You can fix this after all."
Gojo's tone was maddeningly calm, almost lazy. His hands never even left his pockets.
And yet—those words landed like lifelines.
Subaru blinked, realization piercing the haze. Of course. How could he forget? Gojo, he knew.
"Next time, right?"
The trembling in his hands slowed. His breath steadied, inch by inch. The screaming inside his skull dimmed, replaced by a single, subtle clarity.
"…Just do better next time." Gojo repeated.
Suddenly, Subaru tore himself free of the guards' restraints. Cursed energy exploded outward, shattering stone beneath his feet and blasting the soldiers back like leaves in a storm.
Slowly, he raised one bloodstained hand. Fingers shaped into a pistol. Pressed coldly against his temple.
"Yeah… next time. Thanks, Gojo-sensei."
Gojo tilted his head away from the scene and closed his eyes.
And Subaru pulled the trigger.
Darkness swallowed him whole.