"Hahahaha~ faster, faster, more, more, more!"
Rui Arneb's voice rang like a bell made of broken glass, her laughter wild and grating as she slipped between Rom's heavy swings with impossible ease. Each strike of his steel club missed her by inches but slammed into the stone hard enough to leave craters in the plaza floor.
Even with Otto's involvement, the monster disguised as a little girl was still toying with them.
"Rhhh—damn it, I'm gettin' too old for this!"
Rom snarled, sweat running down his temple.
He abruptly changed his stance, his club whistling in a wide arc aimed at Rui's side, only when it seemed like it was about to land did Rui intercept, one of her small palms smashing against the side of steel.
"—Palm of the Fist King!"
The impact detonated like a thunderclap. Wind blasted outward, cracks spidering through the stone beneath Rui's feet. Both combatants slid backward from the shockwave, Rom skidding a dozen paces, Rui only a few—but she actually swayed, her grin faltering for a heartbeat.
Then she noticed what had changed.
"…Huh?"
Shadows. Dozens of them blotting out the sunlight around her. She tilted her head up—and a rock the size of a man's skull clipped her shoulder.
Above, a swarm of insects Otto had called gathered like a living storm, each insect clutching stones. As one, they released them, a rain of jagged projectiles pelting down. The plaza vanished into a choking cloud of debris and grey dust.
"Good goin'!" Rom roared, glancing at Otto.
"We got her square this time!"
Otto's Divine Protection of the Soul of Language had made for the opportunity of an ambush. And finally—finally—they'd landed a hit on Gluttony.
But when the dust parted, the girl emerged again. Scuffed. Bruised. But standing.
"Argh…" Otto muttered through his teeth.
"I was hoping that would do a lot more in all honesty…"
And then he noticed: she wasn't even looking at Rom anymore. Those enormous blue eyes fixed on him, and him alone, as if she'd found a new toy and immediately discarded the old one.
"Ahhh… we understand now~ such a stupid, stupid mistake. Underestimating someone so dangerous. We've tasted so many memories—should've known better."
Her grin sharpened.
"Not the big old man. But big brother instead. You're the danger. You scream it~"
The next moment, she crouched low, arms dangling limply in front, one foot sliding back like a predator about to sprint.
Rom's heart lurched, it was a stance familiar to him after all.
"Shit—move!!"
The water in the nearest canal trembled. Then it erupted upward—
"As I said before, when negotiating with us merchants…"
Otto whispered, blood suddenly trickling from one of his nostrils.
Rui blurred forward with a jump—only for a massive water dragon to surge from the canal behind him, jaws wide enough to swallow a carriage.
"…you should know we always have a trick or two!!"
"We knew it—you really are dangerous!"
Rui laughs fell silent as she tried to change direction, but the dragon's maw closed around her despite her protests anyway. Silence fell over the ruined plaza. Rom stopped mid-stride, eyes wide. Otto exhaled a ragged breath, wiping blood from nose.
"—Checkmate!"
Or so he thought.
A few seconds of victory passed between them before the water dragon started convulsing, shrieking.
Then, its head sheared cleanly from its neck by a blur of movement to fast to see.
It collapsed into a wet heap of scales and blood against the shattered stone ground.
From the mist stepped a figure. Not the girl. Not even close.
"Hahaha~ that was pretty close!" the stranger said lightly.
"We seriously underestimated you."
Rom's hands trembled on his club. Otto just stared in shock.
Where Rui Arneb had stood was now a brown-haired young man about Otto's age, steel sword in hand, chainmail hugging his frame. His smile wasn't human—it was a thing wearing human skin.
"Old man, did you think we were joking at the start with what we said? No no no, we weren't at all~"
"Then that means you're…"
Rom muttered, and although he didn't finish, it gave more than any words could.
The grin widened, disturbing.
"These are the people we've eaten. From both big brother and elder brother, it allows us to take the shape and powers of whoever we have completely eaten."
He pressed his palm to his face and melted into another form. Another man. Taller. Muscular. A sickle-like claw sprouting from one arm, crackling with red energy. The air warped when he swung it once, the arc directed toward the merchant—
Otto felt it in his gut. Death.
Rom wasn't going to make it. Even if he did, could he stop it?
Does the world really hate him so much, he's truly so un—
"So I got here on time then."
—Lucky.
The crimson wave froze in midair, suspended a foot from Otto's face until it dissipated into flecks of vermillion light that blew away in the wind.
Satoru Gojo stepped forward, fingers raised in a lazy sign before lowering them, a grin curling his lips.
The monster flickered, reverting to the golden-haired child, pupils shrinking with raw excitement at the sight of the white-haired man.
"Ahh~ it's you, it's you you you~! Big brother killer is here, hahaa~!!"
Gojo tilted his head.
"Ah, that's why you feel so repulsive! That annoying little brat talking about 'food food food!' from the mansion was your brother, huh? The other one from the watchtower too? Rough luck."
"Mhm. But now…" Rui's smile sharpened into something feral.
"Now that you're here, we can finally get what we've wanted since the start of this fight."
Before Gojo even bothered replying to the Archbishop, he turned his head toward the battered Rom and the wide-eyed Otto.
"Tell me something. Either of you hand over your names?"
They both froze. Otto's brows knit tight. Rom squinted through the pain.
"No…? No we didn't." Otto finally muttered.
"Good."
Gojo nodded once, then tipped his chin toward Rui, the last surviving member of Gluttony's so-called family.
"See, me and Subaru already have 'history' with this lot. Used to be a trio. Now it's just her—we took care of the other two. Point is, their ability is pretty disturbing. It's eating memories. Identities—as you've probably already guessed."
"The way they do it…" Gojo continued, raising a single finger to his lips.
"—Is through names. Names are the trigger."
Silence fell heavy.
"So yeah. Not. A. Word. From either of you."
"…Right."
Otto breathed.
Rom spat blood, leaning forward despite the strain.
"Sat—…hrn. Be careful. She might look like a brat, but she's a fast one."
Gojo's smirk only deepened. He didn't even bother turning his head back to look at Rui, hands in pockets, eyes fixed onto Rom.
"A fast one, huh? Well—"
"Watch out damn it!!"
The warning was too late.
From above, Rui dropped like a meteor, her small frame streaking gold with speed. The plaza shook as her fist cratered the stone, a storm of smoke and dust swallowing the impact.
But when the haze cleared, Gojo was standing right beside her, untouched, his smirk curling wider. Both hands still pocketed. Rui's fist was embedded deep in the rubble.
"She doesn't seem that fast to me."
He'd evaded. Effortlessly.
Not because he had to—because he wanted to. He wasn't here to end it instantly. He was here to play.
"Ahh~? You dodged. Dodgeddodgeddodged!" Rui's voice cracked into laughter, eyes shining mad.
"Fast, really fast, super fast! We thought we were the fastest! Maybe not anymore, nope, nope~!"
Gojo chuckled, stepping forward at last. His right fist reeled back, humming with cursed energy.
"Yeah. I don't think you even crack my top three~!"
He threw the punch.
Rui managed to cross her arms in front of her face at the last possible instant but the impact sounded like a cannon blast. She was launched off her feet, tumbling across the plaza until she stabbed a hand into the stone to catch herself. Dust plumed around her, the ground torn in her wake.
Even with the Carnivorous Beast augmenting her body to monstrous levels, her forearms were shaking violently, mottled with bruises. That strike was unlike anything she'd ever endured.
"…I thought maybe big brother was just careless when he died to you." Rui hissed, staggering upright. Her grin twitched wider, fractured.
"But no. Nope. Nuh-uh. You're dangerous. Danger, danger."
Her foot slammed down, fists clenching, her manic energy rising like a storm about to break.
"But we've got nothing left anyway… No dream of wholeness! No family! So we'll spend everything—everything—making you suffer before we see big brother and elder brother again!"
Gojo's smirk faded. His hands slid free from his pockets, shoulders rolling loose as he set himself to face her properly. The levity bled out of his voice, replaced with something flat and cold.
"Family? That's laughable."
His sunglasses caught the light, but beneath them, his pupils shrank to sharp cerulean points that glimmered like blades of ice.
"You erased countless people from existence. And now you wanna all be one big happy family?"
His voice dropped.
"You disgust me."
Rui's manic grin faltered. For a heartbeat, the monster stared into something even worse: the quiet, focused malice of Satoru Gojo.
Gojo clapped his hands once.
The sound barely echoed before space itself seemed to fold and ripple. In an instant, he was gone—only to reappear a heartbeat later, less than a meter from Rui's side.
His palms tore apart, and one drove straight into her solar plexus.
The impact shattered the ground, a hurricane of dust and debris exploding outward. Rui gagged, crimson spittle bursting from her lips as her body folded inward. Before she could even draw breath, the second strike slammed into her ribs. Then a third. A fourth. A fifth. A sixth.
"—GghHUurkk!?"
Each blow hit like thunder, rattling her small frame, stealing her air, never giving her mind the chance to catch up. Rui had devoured the skills of countless fighters, her body honed with inhuman precision—but none of that mattered. Gojo was simply too fast. Too overwhelming.
His leg whipped upward, then snapped down in a spinning arc. His shin crashed into her side like a truck, and her body was launched across the plaza—until suddenly, it wasn't.
The world warped. Time itself stuttered.
Blue.
A cerulean glow enveloped her tiny body, pulling her backward as if reality itself had been rewound. She snapped back through the air, dragged straight into the outstretched palm waiting for her throat.
Gojo's hand closed around her neck and instantly smashed her down into the ground with enough force to crater it from the impact.
He leaned in, voice smooth, almost playful, though the flicker in his eye betrayed something colder.
"Look, I'm not really the type to bully kids in a fight… And I know, I know… you're not actually one at this point—you might wear the skin of a child sure, but you're nothing more than a monster in the end…"
Rui's left hand tapped firmly against his chest before Gojo batted it aside with a sharp slap and continued speaking.
"So here's the deal. Since I'm such a nice guy, I'll give you something no one else ever got from you and the other two—mercy. Say your last words, and I'll make it painless."
For a moment, Rui only blinked. Then, slowly, a grin split her face. Too wide. Too sharp. Gleaming with teeth like knives.
"Ahhh~ so kind, so very kind. Last words, last mercy, mercymercymeeercy~"
Her left hand rose, palm inching toward her face.
"…But I already know your name."
Her voice cracked into delighted hysteria as she licked her palm clean.
"—What?"
————————————
Subaru's eyes widened at the sight—
A girl stood before him, laughing shrilly as she ground her heel again and again into Crusch's body. Golden hair framed her head, one long strand draped to the side with a rose tied neatly at its end. She wore almost nothing—hot pants, leggings, a bikini top.
But Subaru wasn't fooled by the appearance. Not anymore. He'd met Witch Cultists, fought alongside and against monsters, faced Petelgeuse's madness—but none of them radiated such impure malice. This thing before him wasn't just evil. It was the distilled epitome of everything rotten in the world, molded into flesh.
"Y-You damn bitch—!!"
His pupils shrank, rage boiling up as he bent his knees and cursed energy sparked in his limbs—
"Ah, ahhh~ don't twitch, meat scrap."
Capella's sing-song voice lilted mockingly. Her grin split wider as she kicked Crusch onto her stomach, then dug her heel into the woman's sternum.
"Unless you want this beautiful piece of meat split open right here, hmm? Don't you just loooove it, staring at her figure? So disgusting, so revolting! All you filthy male scraps must drool over it, don't you? And you—you can hardly hold yourself back, can you?"
Each word dripped venom, each kick sharper than the last. Capella's heel pressed harder against Crusch's chest, drawing out a ragged breath from the woman beneath her.
Subaru's veins throbbed, every nerve screaming to move, to strike.
Capella leaned down, eyes glimmering with ecstasy at his fury.
"I don't even understand why you're angry~ it's your fault! All your fault, you stupid, stupid, stupid scummy meat. Honestly! You see a crying little child, chained up in the City Hall of all places, and you don't think it's strange? Suspicious? No no no, you just eat it up like a dog. Pathetic, laughable, pitiful—so ugly~!"
Subaru didn't doubt for a second—every heartbeat wasted meant Crusch's life slipped further into danger. He couldn't let this monster toy with her any longer.
Authority of Pride!
His arm snapped up, veins blackening and bulging before bursting outward into a blade-tipped spike of shadow.
"Huh?"
Capella blinked right as the spike lanced straight through her skull, erupting in a spray of blood and brain matter through the air.
Her body swayed, arms dangling limp as smoke curled from the wound. When it cleared, the sight was grotesque. Half her face was gone—skin torn away, exposing teeth, jaw, and bone beneath, one eye hanging loose in its socket.
But still, she grinned maniacally.
"Gyahahahahaha~ you really are stupid, meat scrap!"
Her laughter tore through the room like nails on glass.
Subaru bent his knees, ready to dart for Crusch—
Until suddenly, something huge smashed into his ribs, sending him rolling before he barely managed to catch and stop himself from slamming dead into a wall.
"What…the fuck…?"
The answer slithered before his eyes: a massive, scaled black tail sprouting from Capella's back. Its size, its texture—identical to the dragon they'd already killed. Yet its corpse still lay nearby.
Which left only one explanation.
"…You're a human… that can transform into a dragon?"
Capella swayed her hips, cackling. The gaping ruin of her face writhed, knitting back together with obscene speed—flesh, bone, and even her missing eye regenerating.
"Gyahahahahaha~ it took that much for you to figure it out? Pathetic! Still, I suppose even a hopeless little worm can squirm toward the simplest truths if I shove them down your throat."
Her tail slammed down again, Subaru leaping aside as stone shattered under its weight.
"Tsck—!"
A colossal fist followed, nearly dwarfing him. Subaru reinforced his arm with cursed energy just in time to block, but the impact flung him across the plaza, his body screaming in protest.
She's using Crusch as a hostage… If I go all out, she'll—
He rolled, barely evading another strike, then lunged forward. Capella's arm warped into a serpentine maw bristling with razor fangs that lunged forward endlessly.
Subaru's Authority seized control, yanking the trajectory of Capella's arm off course. The fang-lined appendage chewed into the stone instead, buying him just enough time to close the gap.
His fist connected. Bone shattered. Her head snapped sideways as her body ragdolled across the floor, blood gushing outward in a wide arc through the air.
Three uses at most before that ability burns me out… What a damn pain…
Snatching Crusch up, Subaru retreated in a heartbeat, laying her unconscious body gently down off to the side before stepping back toward the smoking crater.
The sound of bones grinding into place, flesh knitting, echoed out through the cloud of smoke, then footsteps followed, growing more and more prominent. Capella emerged, flawless once more, her grin wide and shining with cruelty.
"What the hell… are you?
She touched her cheek delicately, eyes glittering.
"I already told you, meat scrap. I am Capella Emerada Lugunica. I embody every drop of lust in this filthy world. Mine, mine, MINE alone! I am perfection itself, beauty itself, and I can become whatever pathetic fantasy you desire…"
Her skin peeled off like a mask—revealing a brown-haired child's face. Then, in a blink, she was a voluptuous woman. Then, an innocent farm girl, eyes wide and pure, but twisted by her lewd grin.
Subaru's stomach churned. Never before had disgust so thoroughly drowned his rage.
"Now then~"
She slithered back into her usual form.
"Since scraps like you rarely connect the dots, let me help you. That dragon you and the female meat scrap killed and those countless buzzing flies behind that door… What do you suppose they are?"
Subaru blinked. Sweat pricked his forehead. His heart skipped, then plummeted as horror struck.
"Ahhh~ there it is~ that look! Yes, yes, yes! Say it—saaay it, meat scrap! What are my lovely, ugly little flies~?"
He didn't want to. But there was only one answer.
Her Authority of Lust didn't just warp her own body. She could transform others.
Those flies were the hostages.
The thought ignited something deep in Subaru. Rage. A fury that burned hotter than anything he had ever felt.
"You… you need to die!!"
His voice ripped from his throat as his right arm turned pitch black from the entire, shadow's surging and twisting like a rapidly flowing river following his intense emotions.
He lunged, driving the limb forward with every ounce of will. Capella's eyes widened in that short fraction in time—then her entire being exploded into a pink mist.
The black pillar ripped through the Archbishop and tore into the sky, shredding the rooftop and filling half of the chamber with sprawling brambles of shadow. From above, stone and debris from the ceiling began to fill up every portion of the room, until soon enough, that entire side was drowned completely in rubble.
"Argh—AGHHHHRR!!"
Blood burst from every pore in his face the moment a second passed, his entire body seizing up and his legs buckling under his body weight. Subaru collapsed, vomiting blood as he rolled against the ground in a pain unlike anything he had ever felt before.
"Hrkkhhggghhh…"
Subaru's entire body convulsed, but somehow, against all odds, he didn't lose consciousness. That in itself was a miracle. After unleashing Pride at full output like that, he had fully expected the worst—collapse, coma, maybe even death. Yet here he was, barely clinging to the thread of life.
But survival didn't mean safety.
Every muscle in his body screamed, refusing to obey him. His arms and legs twitched, sluggish and stiff. It was as if his nerves had been set on fire and then drowned in ice water. Even breathing hurt.
Still… surely nothing could've survived that level of damage, right? That last strike hadn't just destroyed her—it had annihilated her. No regeneration, no healing could possibly bring someone back from being reduced to a red mist.
Right?
Wrong.
A new sound cut into the high-pitched ringing in his ears: snapping, wet cracks, the noise of bones realigning. Subaru, with monumental effort, tilted his head. His eyes widened, bloodshot and stinging.
"…H-Hah…?"
The impossible was standing before him.
From the mass of writhing black brambles, something stepped forward.
A figure that could barely even be called human. Skin was gone, stripped away. It was raw muscle, sinew, and tendon, stretched across a frame that twitched unnaturally with every movement. One arm was still half-missing, grotesquely regenerating from the stump. Her neck hung broken at a ninety-degree angle, eyes bloodshot, glaring at him upside down.
Capella Emerada Lugunica.
The Sin Archbishop of Lust.
Even obliteration hadn't stopped her.
Move. Move, move, MOVE!
Subaru's mind screamed, but his body refused. He pressed his palms against the rubble-strewn floor, every ounce of will straining to lift himself. His arms trembled violently, elbows locking, his face twisted in agony.
Capella's regenerating arm snapped fully into place. New skin slithered across her muscles like a living shroud. With grotesque casualness, her extended arm grew and grabbed Crusch by the tuff of her green hair, dragging her limp body forward before her feet before finally dropping it.
After she'd snapped her own neck back into alignment, her head tilted back toward Subaru—voice dripped with venomous mockery.
"That anger… that look of repulsion in your eyes. You can't hide it, meat scrap~ When you see those flies, you want to vomit, don't you? Ugly, pitiful, revolting creatures—no one could ever love them. And yet…"
She spread her arms wide, as if to present herself.
"I embody beauty. I embody desire. The perfect woman, the only woman worth loving. Don't you agree?"
Subaru forced himself upright, legs wobbling, his teeth grinding hard enough to chip.
"…Y… you… shut the hell up."
She smiled sweetly, but her eyes burned with madness.
"Luckily for you~ Capella-chan is benevolent, affectionate, merciful! If there's even the tiniest chance that your lust might blossom into love, then I'll let you embrace me, let you have your way with me. Isn't that generous~? That is my wish. My desire."
Her words made his stomach churn.
With one last surge of will, Subaru raised his hand. Rage and disgust surged together into a beam of cursed energy, lancing across the room. It tore through Capella's left arm, severing it in a spray of blood before she leapt back, giggling with delight.
He slid forward, planting himself before Crusch, shielding her.
"Ahhh~ still clinging to her, are you?! Instead of accepting my love? That female meat scrap, with her hair, her lips, her figure—hah, nothing but bait to ensnare male lust. And you pretend it's love? LOVELOVELOVE!?"
Her arm warped grotesquely, ballooning into the body of a massive serpent that lunged at them with snapping jaws. Subaru rolled aside just in time, but the reprieve lasted only seconds.
"—!!"
Wings burst from her back, feathers ruffling from the wind. In an instant, she shot forward, seized Subaru around the waist, and slammed him through the wall of the building before dragging him upward and through it.
Debris shredded his clothes, cut his skin raw, until she twisted mid-flight and hurled him down toward the stone floor.
"See? That's all it is! Carnal desire masquerading as love!"
she shrieked, diving after him.
The impact drove the breath from his lungs. Blood filled his mouth, dripping down his chin. He pushed himself up, coughing violently.
"Y… you… sure talk a lot of shit…"
"Oh? Still alive? How stubborn."
She tilted her head, then her eyes gleamed.
"Ahhh, right! Let's test this one~"
She turned away from him, strolling toward Crusch's unconscious form. Subaru's eyes widened as her jaws opened unnaturally wide. Her teeth sank into her own hand, and thick unnatural droplets of blood rolled down her arm before falling onto Crusch's face.
The reaction was immediate. Crusch's body convulsed violently, her back arching as if electrocuted. Foam bubbled from her lips.
"CRUSCH!!"
Subaru howled, stumbling forward—only for his legs to give out beneath him, forcing him to his knees. His vision blurred, pupils shrinking.
Capella's laugh rang out like shattered glass.
"My blood is not like ordinary human blood. Mine carries the curse of a dragon. It reshapes, corrodes, destroys. I wonder… how long will your beloved female meat last?"
Subaru tried to rise, but agony pinned him down. His voice cracked.
"What… are… you…?"
Step. Step. Step. She walked closer, looming over him now, her arm raised. Crimson dripped from her fingertips, ready to fall onto him next.
"You'll find out soon enough~"
Subaru clenched his teeth, preparing himself. He doubted he'd survive what Crusch had just endured. But he refused to simply wait.
And then—
A thunderous sound tore through the hall.
Capella's head snapped toward the broken wall. The dragon's corpse, or what should have been a corpse, was moving. Its ruined head twitched, its ruined body staggered upright, black scales cracking.
Its chest expanded. Air surged into its lungs. Then—
Fwooooshhh—!!
A torrent of black flame spewed forth, racing toward her.
Capella cursed, wings snapping wide as she leapt back, her blood spattering harmlessly onto the ground instead of Subaru's body.
He didn't waste a second. Summoning every ounce of strength he had left, Subaru sprinted, seized Crusch by the arm, and dragged her onto his back mid-sprint. His legs screamed in protest, his lungs begged for air, but he didn't stop. Shoulder down, he smashed through the wall, carrying her with him through the air as the pair flew.
BOOOOOOOM—!!
Behind him, the plaza erupted. Black fire swallowed everything—walls, ceiling, rubble—obliterating it in a tidal wave of destruction.
But Subaru's relief was short-lived.
From below and all around, a shrill clang, clang, clang echoed across the city. Bells rang, alarms blaring, signaling disaster.
"What now…?!"
he gasped, stumbling along a collapsing rooftop.
The ground quaked as he fell toward it. A tidal wave—black and blue, massive and merciless—rose up, sweeping through the city. He barely had time to register it before it struck.
His grip on Crusch slipped.
The water swallowed him whole.
Darkness consumed everything.