But—life just wasn't that easy.
"…IT seems I was being prideful."
The mountain of rubble collapsed, and from under the remains of the roof, countless shadows welled up all at once. The wriggling, pitch-black arms writhed like tentacles. A tiny figure rose up from the middle of that black mass.
It was the madwoman—bloodied and reduced to a state half-living, halfdead.
Her head was bleeding from lacerations it had suffered, and her left eye was completely taken out, impaled by a shard of glass. The right half of her body, caught up in the collapse of the house, was dyed crimson, and Subaru doubted her slender arms or legs were now of much use. From the looks of her, there was no doubting that she was wounded all over.
And yet, having said all that, the vigor and madness displayed by her right eye was greater than ever.
"You…yes, you certainly are a diligent human being. Yes, diligent! Compared to you, having come so far, using everything at your disposal to challenge your foe, I was so very careless! Architect of my own ruin! Neglectful! Insufficient! I was too prideful! Ahh, I was so lazy!"
"—"
Her demeanor and the statements themselves did not differ from those of the other mad people in any way. Even if she did have a new thought, he could deal with her the same way provided there was no extreme change in her tactics or repeated attacks. Now that he was riding Patlash, able to dish out speeds far greater than Subaru himself, it was even easier.
Having played for time, Subaru would deliver as decisive a blow as possible to defeat this Sloth—with neither having a decisive way to win, the fight would come down to whichever found a way to finish the other off first.
But the woman cruelly laughed in the face of Subaru's resolve.
"I will show you my favor. That is the first thing you should accept. If you do not acknowledge it, adhering to the only love you know, and as a result sinking into laziness, that, to me, would be the greatest and vilest of acts… and furthermore, one I shall correct."
"…Shit."
As the madwoman continued her murmurs, the countless evil hands moved toward the sky. Watching the spectacle, Subaru cursed, suppressing the shudder in his creaking heart.
Before his eyes, each of the many arms took hold of the wreckage of the collapsed house.
"That's her best option, damn it."
An instant after his rueful declaration, the rampage began.
She hurled the wreckage of the house at them, the building becoming shrapnel that poured onto Subaru and Patlash all at once.
4
The means Sloth had chosen was her best option against Subaru because it did not use Unseen Hands.
In other words, put briefly, all she had to do was stop Unseen Hands from attacking directly, using the evil hands to attack indirectly instead. The attack speed of Unseen Hands itself was less than that of a punch from a normal arm; if you didn't panic, they could be dodged, even in great numbers.
But if the evil hands grasped things and threw them, the speed was incomparable. The pure physical might they possessed went far beyond human norms. The missiles they threw traveled with a speed rivaling that of a major-league fastball.
On top of that, what she launched at them was, at minimum, the size of a human head—a single solid hit would be fatal.
"Patlash! Out of the village, into the forest! Without cover we're dead!"
"—!"
Subaru clung as tightly to Patlash's head as he could; she accelerated at the same time he gave the order. She had probably come to the same conclusion before hearing his command, but either way, charging into the forest was the right call.
In the hands of those pitch-black limbs, broken pieces of the brick house served as fine weapons of murder. Fortunately, thanks to the thrower's lack of technique, the control was awful. In spite of that, the flying rubble unleashed showered down like rain. As with a poorly aimed firearm, a few hits and you were just as dead.
"—"
A ferocious sound arose as flying rubble mowed down trees right beside them, exploding into the ground just behind them as they galloped forward. Bounding over the earth, they wove about as the entrance to the forest into which they had leaped turned to charred plains in the blink of an eye. Impact, destruction, impact, destruction—they alternated over and over.
"Guooo!"
Subaru lowered his head to narrow his profile even a little. All he could do at the moment was cling to Patlash. A piece of flying rubble grazed the land dragon's black hide, gouging the hard scales and causing blood to spurt out. But Patlash's speed did not lessen, nor did she raise any outcry.
Though they sprinted over poor footing, she galloped with the ease he'd been told about. Patlash's contributions, which were beyond Subaru's expectations, had saved him. But letting her literally shoulder all the burden wasn't a solution.
When he looked behind him, the actions of the madwoman pursuing them were burned into his eyes. Even if he regrouped and found a way to fight, it meant nothing if he couldn't predict her actions. At the very least, if she couldn't keep up with Patlash, that'd make things go a lot smoother— "—So much for Patlash's speed!"
"Yesyesyesyesyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees—!!"
As Subaru made a disparaging shout, it was overridden by the hateful voice repeating itself. The mad voice was launched from a height surpassing that of the trees of the forest, literally right above him.
The woman was now far overhead.
Her diminutive, beat-up body was curled up with her hands around her knees—put crudely, a somersault pose. She remained in that pose as she used Unseen Hands to grab her own body, hurling herself through the sky—as in a game of catch, she tossed herself from one hand to another as she chased after Subaru and Patlash.
Whatever it looked like, it was disturbingly fast. Sprinting through the forest, Patlash was breaking sixty kilometers an hour. However, if you disregarded her moving only in straight lines at low accuracy, the speed of Sloth, flying like a human cannonball, was butting against a hundred.
It wasn't much of a difference, but Subaru couldn't shake her off at that range. At that rate, with her looking down at them, they'd be wonderful targets for her sniping. Furthermore, Subaru lacked the means to reach the madwoman as she moved far overhead.
"Can't go back to the village. With her like that, no way we can draw her back now."
Besides, Subaru would be at an even greater disadvantage if she linked up with the Witch Cultists. Subaru was the only one who was still a good matchup against Sloth after being backed this far into a corner. "But at this rate, I'll be hit sooner or—"
"—!"
As soon as he said it, "sooner" came calling.
A flying clump of brick hurled at them squarely connected with Patlash's head, sending the leather helmet covering the top of the land dragon's head flying. Her posture heavily tilted as blood poured from her head. Subaru bit back an anguished cry, earnestly pulling on the reins to keep them from bowling over.
"Patlash!!"
There was no way shouting to her would give her strength. It could not be so, but the way Patlash dramatically slammed the ground with her foot, refusing to tumble, he thought it just might be true. He'd have to praise the land dragon ten times as much for guts alone. But the flying rubble continued, and blood kept flowing. At that rate, victory was out of reach—
"After lasting this long, even if we get deep in the forest, at this rate…"
Continuing the war of attrition had poor prospects, but he couldn't find any leads for a counterattack if they didn't buy some time. However, the damage just now had already stamped a time limit on Patlash. He couldn't expect the same performance from her as before. If he was going to have a
flash of inspiration, it needed to be that moment, because if not—
But such a convenient turn of events had never happened to Subaru before, and it likely never w— "—Just now…"
Subaru bit his lip in anger at the absurdity of it all. That instant, he saw something out of place in the background of the forest they were passing through. The question of what it was tugged at his mind; the instant suitable information floated up, he pulled back on the reins.
If things were as Subaru remembered, it was worth a shot. When a plan to achieve victory offered itself, you bit.
"Patlash, left!"
"—"
Patlash was bleeding when Subaru gave the order. For a single moment, she shifted her eyes in that direction, as if to ask, Are you sane? and Are you sure about this?
It was natural to wonder if he was sane. However, if sanity kept victory out of reach, madness was indispensable.
Subaru answered his favorite dragon's silent question as he stood straight, giving the reins a heavy flick.
"That's right! Patlash, head for the light in the woods!!"
He shouted, repeating and emphasizing the command. Patlash glared forward, and hesitation vanished from her eyes and gait. Apparently, she greatly esteemed Subaru's judgment. She had put her life in his hands.
The land dragon's feet seemed to scrape the earth as they drove into the forest floor, braking hard as they changed course. The wind repel blessing cut out, and Subaru gritted his teeth to endure the momentum threatening to throw him off. Right after he held on, on, on for dear life, they accelerated, running down to the left at a steep angle.
"No matter where you run, there is nowhere to hide!"
The madwoman did not miss Subaru and Patlash's sharp turn and roaring descent. The angle of the hurled rubble shifted, and the trail of sylvan destruction followed suit. Verdant trees burst apart; the split, fallen trees were immediately recycled, grasped and hurled to spread the destruction further. Death followed close behind them.
"—"
Even as that cascade of destruction pursued them, Subaru ordered Patlash to follow the flickering light he'd seen from the corner of his vision—one that might prove a literal beacon of hope.
The land dragon zigzagged left and right as she ran, making herself a difficult target even without pulling farther ahead. Subaru wondered how arduous it must have been for his steed to go at high speed down a steep incline with a wounded body, but no matter how much his head might ponder, an answer would not be forthcoming.
"Do you not know when to give in? What is ALL this running, running, running? And where does it all lead?! Your actions only prolong the inevitable… No! No, I will not!"
Sloth looked straight down at Subaru and Patlash as they continued fleeing at full tilt. However, the woman's words were cut off at that point as she jabbed a finger into her crushed left eye in apparent self-rebuke.
She proceeded to gouge out the flesh, causing blood to flow once more, her voice shrill with bitter resentment and delight.
"I must be neither careless nor prideful. My task unfulfilled, brought to death for the first time, I must part ways with my doubts, my fate, my distracted thoughts!"
Killing carelessness with self-mutilation, Sloth continued her attacks, hurling relentlessly.
The ground exploded, and flying rubble ripped through the air; a fragment clipped Subaru's shoulder, making his bones creak. He threw his head back, bit down a cry of pain, and groaned as he endured. He would not cry out before Patlash.
But their chase scene was finally coming to an end—
"Gah—!"
A blow conveyed through the earth made the ground beneath Patlash's feet disappear. A moment later, the land dragon's huge frame floated skyward. By the time Subaru noticed, he didn't even have time to scream as he rotated hard in midair, holding on to the reins as he thrashed about, and fell hard toward the ground, his entire body slamming fiercely into it.
"Aghh…!"
They vigorously rolled downhill. When they stopped, Subaru had lost track of which way was up.
He was hurting all over, but miraculously, he couldn't see any sign of mortal injury. No matter how much his limbs were torn up, his head was still attached to his body.
But that good fortune seemed only to have managed to push his death a tiny bit into the future.
"IT seems that finally…the time to end this has arrived."
"—"
Subaru lay faceup, watching Sloth descending from the sky.
When she landed, the woman dismissed the evil hand that had carried her, standing beside Subaru, still unable to move. Then she gave a bloody smile full of satisfaction and tendered a hand down to him.
"Now, return my Gospel. It is not for the likes of you to possess."
"Gos-pel…"
Murmuring in a broken voice, Subaru obeyed the woman's demand, putting his hand into his pocket. His fingers found the cover they sought. Fortuitously, it had not fallen from his pocket during all the time they'd been chased.
"If you want it…take it…!"
Grasping the book, Subaru pulled it out and mischievously tossed it into a thicket. The woman's hand reached out, grasping nothing but air; she opened and shut her fist as she let out a sigh.
"It would seem your attitude regarding my favor, and the things of others, has NOT improved."
The woman shook her head; her apparent lament had an echo of disappointment. Subaru coughed. He'd never imagined that the madwoman would make an appeal to reason and common sense.
The woman went over to pick up the book Subaru had thrown. Meanwhile Subaru moved his head in an attempt to locate the fallen Patlash. He found her; her breaths were labored, but she was all right.
And ideally positioned.
"Ahh, guide for my love, proof of my favor…! Finally within my hands…
I am deeply MOVED!"
The woman clutched the recovered Gospel to her chest as she shed tears. Holding the written word, her crazed love in tangible form, the woman shifted her head, turning a mad smile toward the barely alive Subaru.
"You fought bravely. You fought well, worthy of such praise! You and your land dragon resisted so well, so diligently! In praise of your actions, I shall grant thee mercy!"
"…Mercy?"
"YES! Mercy! If you have any last words, I shall burn your words into my very soul, never to forget them for eternity! Now, say what you will!"
He was surprised that the madwoman would show her opponent compassion after a hard-fought battle. She only made room for it because she'd recovered the book and had victory right before her eyes, but it was an unexpected side of her even so.
Then Subaru, taking the madwoman up on her offer, lifted up a hand.
It was his left hand, opposite of that which had thrown the Gospel. He was holding something in it.
"Do you know what this is?"
The question made a suspicious look come over Sloth. The words were different from those she had sought, but the woman peered into Subaru's hand. It held a magic crystal, small enough to rest in a palm.
Giving off a white light, it was—not a one-shot-one-kill trump card. By itself, it held no power to turn the battle around. In the first place, there were things like this all over the forest.
And properly speaking, it belonged among the others, not in his palm.
"This is…"
"A barrier magic crystal. They're stuck on trees all over the forest. You didn't notice?"
"…"
Subaru wondered if her silence meant that she hadn't noticed, or that she didn't understand what he was saying.
He didn't really care which. The plan was already in motion.
"What are you sayi—?"
The woman, her disquiet at Subaru's last words evident, suspiciously reached out with a hand.
Just before her hand arrived, the plan went operational.
"—!!"
Sensing something leaping toward her shoulder, the woman instantly tried to turn around.
She never made it.
From behind, the fangs of the demon beast breaking through the forest sank deep into her neck.
5
He'd had his suspicions. The possibility had grazed his head several times while they'd been on the march.
The kicker was when Julius and Ferris looked as if they doubted their ears when he told them the area around the mansion and village was a giant demon beast habitat.
Demon beasts harbored nothing but hatred for all living things. The battle with the White Whale had soaked that terrifying aspect of their nature into his
bones. But at the same time, he wondered…
The demonic, canine Urugarums in the forest, as well as the White Whale, hated Subaru's physical makeup and saw him as an enemy. If so, didn't the same go for the Witch Cultists, who saw Subaru as an ally?
—And now, firm proof of that hypothesis rested right before his eyes.
"Gaaaaaaa!"
Impaled by sharp pain and the sudden impact, the madwoman looked unaware of what had happened as she screamed.
With the leaping demon beast's fangs in her neck, the small-statured woman could do nothing to throw him off. The black-furred demon dog was large enough that it made the tiny woman look like a child standing beside an adult.
The woman was swung up and down by the demon beast maw clamping down on her, slamming her into the ground several times. The woman went limp, drained of strength. Without hesitation the demonic canine held her down, withdrew its fangs, and went for the final blow.
With a growl, it opened its maw, this time aiming for the woman's windpipe. Perhaps it meant to snuff her life out; perhaps its action was pointless, the fruit of its murderous instincts. Subaru could not tell which.
He could not, but the madwoman was not one to go down without a fight.
"Filthy beast…! Unseen Hands!"
Pressed against the ground, the woman shouted, and instantly, her wriggling shadow became evil hands that mowed the demon dog down.
Bathed in the invisible attack, the demon dog cried out very much like a puppy as it tumbled heavily. But it instantly got back on its paws, howling as it moved anew to rend its prey apart—
"Wait! That's enough!"
But Subaru intervened, barrier crystal in hand, putting a halt to its aggression.
The demon beast was in a leaping stance as it growled, glaring hatefully at the white magic crystal in Subaru's hand. The beast slowly backed away, perhaps compelled to do so by the power residing in the crystal.
Subaru and the madwoman might have been the pair the demon beast could least overlook. Even so, the demon beast did not leap at them. Its fangs quivered; it growled and drooled as it leaped backward. The demon beast proceeded to mingle with the thickets, its footsteps growing more distant.
There was no way it had let them go. It probably meant to watch and wait until he let go of the barrier crystal.
Watching the demon beast's retreat, Subaru let out a long sigh before turning his head, looking down at the madwoman. Stopping the Urugarum demon beast from finishing her off had certainly not been an act of mercy.
There had been no need. From the way her guts were already spilling out from her belly, the woman must have already known this for herself.
"How can this be? To think, at a demon beast's…"
"You didn't do your homework. This whole area's a demon beast habitat.
They just isolate it with the barrier."
The back of her neck bitten off, the woman was unable to move, covered in mortal wounds. Perhaps she was already blind; her one remaining eye, lacking any spark, did not turn Subaru's way.
The results weren't sufficient to call the operation a success. He'd been saved by happenstance and a flash of inspiration, clutching victory by a hairbreadth. After all their history, to think an Urugarum would appear in a place like that…
"Roswaal, you bastard…you said you'd wiped 'em all out."
Cursing his all-too-secretive supporter, Subaru knelt on one knee at the woman's side. He picked up the Gospel that lay right beside the woman, bloody and on death's door.
Even if Subaru couldn't play decoy himself, the book could still be used as bait in scenes to come. The battle with the woman had proven its worth well enough.
"I don't know what happened to Kety, but at most, there's two fingers left…we'll smash 'em."
"Mm-mm-mmm…"
Subaru looked down at her. "Oh, it's reckless? Undoable? How many of you have I taken down? Learn already, geez. Though no point saying that to you now, I suppose."
"—"
On the brink, the woman twisted her lips at Subaru's words. The bleeding from them wouldn't stop. Blood trickled from the corners of her lips as the woman smiled, boldly greeting her impending death.
When Subaru saw her like that, it sent the greatest possible chill up his spine.
"Go ahead…hold it, for now. But…soon…"
"…"
"Soon, I will taaake my love back."
At the end, that part came out loud and clear before the woman's smile faltered, her life signs coming to an end. It was death, plain and simple—an end from which there was no coming back.
It was the fourth, or perhaps the third, death of Sloth he had witnessed.
"Shit…what was she trying to tell me anyway?"
Subaru scratched his head as he looked down at the dead woman's face. The inside of his mouth was dry, and he felt that his arteries had oddly quickened for reasons unrelated to stress and nervousness.
For the first time, without relying on anyone else, Subaru had brought another person to death in the midst of combat. That fact made his knees faintly shake. He clamped his teeth down and sighed at length.
The woman had set a curse upon Subaru just before her death. It was a curse he could not dispel right that moment.
"…Can't stay standing around. Even if one's down, there's still Sloths left."
Brushing hesitancy aside, Subaru turned his eyes away from the corpse and rushed over to Patlash. The land dragon looked pretty beat-up from the furious tumble, bearing countless wounds over the entirety of her body.
And yet, when the land dragon sensed Subaru's approach, she stoutly rose to her feet.
"Sorry, Patlash. I really want to give you a break, but I still need you."
"…"
When Subaru declared he would push her further, Patlash silently turned her back to him in response. He mounted, unable to count how many debts he now owed the land dragon after the last half day, the last several hours in particular.
Drawing the reins, he ordered the helmetless land dragon to return to the village. The barrier crystal in his hand was warm, steadily continuing to warn of the presence of demon beasts.
Perhaps the demon dog was lurking in the thicket, watching them that very moment. He paid no heed as they took off running.
"The Sloths left over, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins' fingers… probably one left!"
At the height of the battle in the village, Subaru and Julius had headed toward the source of the Unseen Hands. There, they found an explosion, and at the center of that explosion, Wilhelm. Subaru had no doubt Wilhelm had been fighting that Sloth until the instant just prior to that. He was sure the Sword Devil had struck down his foe.
He deduced that, just as with the dragon carriage explosion, something in
Kety's possession had caused it. If Kety had been defeated by the Sword Devil, he might have blown himself up to try to bring Wilhelm down with him.
If that was true, there was one finger remaining—and that ought to be the last Sloth left.
"If we can deal with that one, we just need to mop up the regular Witch
Cultists and we win!"
He finally saw a beacon of certain victory. But that glimmer was far back in Subaru's mind.
To escape the madwoman's attacks, he'd had to flee deep into the forest. He was far from the village, where the battle was surely still raging. Every second spent running uphill felt like a lifetime.
"—?! Shit! He really did come out!!"
Clenching his teeth, Subaru glared up at the sky, shouting with anger and nervousness. The sight was even worse than he'd expected.
Once more, black hands stretched from the other side of the forest up to the sky before his eyes, pointed toward the village. Subaru was still far away. His shout could not reach the people those arms were aimed at.
If they swung downward, more would die. Knights. Beast people.
Villagers.
Lives would be snuffed out. Lives that belonged to people Subaru knew.
Raising a voiceless scream, Subaru prayed for the black, evil hands to disappear.
As if responding to Subaru's lament, Patlash, battered all over, increased her speed. They practically flew over the lip, charged down into the forest, and raced to the village on the verge of being violated once more.
"Sloth!!"
As they galloped, he yelled hard enough to rend his throat.
The village bore vast traces of destruction: human corpses were strewn all over the place; flames were raging, mingling with someone's crying voice in the air. Even in a world filled with the sound of swords clashing, he instantly knew who the madman must be.
The fifth Sloth was a very thin, balding, middle-aged man, tearing at his bloody face as he laughed maniacally.
"—"
Subaru instinctively knew that this was the last one. The madman turned, seemingly drawn by Subaru's certainty.
They exchanged gazes, acknowledging each other as enemies. However, the man played the most horrific of opening moves first.
"Ahh—my brain is shaaaaaking!"
Already, countless arms swung up, blocking the heavens before they came crashing down alongside an angry, unhinged shout. The attack became a cascade of death, no doubt intended to violate the village to its roots, crushing anyone and everyone to death by sheer force of numbers.
"Gotta stop him!" Subaru cried with determination, but it was a cry of despair, for he had no power with which to do so.
And a moment before the madman's act of brutality proceeded to repaint the world in black—
"That is far enough, villain."
—he heard a voice.
And that voice took everyone aback.
Standing in a daze, they looked up at the sky, unable to move.
"Enough—I will tolerate no more violence from you."
For above the myriad wriggling black hands, the sky was covered in the pale glow of absolute zero.
CHAPTER 5
A PACT FULFILLED
1
The pale light danced violently, covering Earlham Village, crimson from blood and flame, with its twinkle.
The frigid air spawned fine fragments of ice, reflecting the light to create a fantastic sight—a phenomenon known as diamond dust, robbed of its beauty by the reality of the tragedy beneath it.
"Enough—I will tolerate no more violence from you."
The beautiful voice cut through that surreal scene like light through a clear piece of glass.
The battlefield was dominated by that voice, clear as a bell, and everyone's eyes were stolen by the girl who appeared upon it.
Her long, silver hair flapped in a warm wind. Her violet eyes were imbued with a powerful will. Her beauty was so great that none who witnessed it could ever forget. Her outward appearance was enough to draw the eyes of others several times over.
However, in that instant, her appearance was not why she had stolen the gazes of all present.
Everyone's eyes had been stolen for no reason beyond the overwhelming awe of her presence.
"…"
The sound of steel against steel, the cries of anger and sadness, and even the flames burning homes fell into silence, seemingly holding their breath.
In such a world, the silver-haired girl—Emilia—quietly gazed at her foe.
"Emilia…"
When Subaru put her name on his lips, all of his complicated feelings enveloped him.
Of course it had come to this.
There was a battle raging on the mansion's doorstep. Villagers were evacuating to the mansion one after another. Someone was fighting to protect her. There was no way she would stay quietly shut in.
Emilia's eyes contained sorrow—and enmity toward the Witch Cult that had created the field of battle.
"Step back, villain. I won't…let you do such terrible things."
"Ahh, how can this be…?"
Identifying the madman standing in the square as her enemy, Emilia pricked him with a stern tone of voice. However, the madman was hardly thrown off by that voice; his blood-smeared face registered surprise before beaming with delight.
Sloth twisted his body, stretched both hands toward Emilia, and continued to smile as he shouted.
"Ahh, ahhh! What a fortuitous, wonderful day! Such marvelous fate! To think such a wondrous opportunity would come to fruition! Truly, the living image! Never, amid these repeated trials, did I believe I would have the chance to come across a vessel of such magnitude…!"
"…What are you saying?"
So deeply moved was the fifth Sloth that he wept, a flood of tears pouring out of him. Seeing the madman's out-of-place tears, Emilia raised her eyebrows, bewilderment plain on her face.
"Ohh, ohh, O Witch…the beacon of love that guides me…!"
The madman stumbled forward, narrowing the range between himself and Emilia. Perhaps her reaction was part of what stirred him so deeply. With the distance counting down to ruin, Emilia turned a palm toward him.
"Don't move! I won't warn you again."
Emilia kept her palm thrust out, making the statement as the madman stepped closer. However, her call for him to halt never reached the madman's ears. He took one step, then another, narrowing the distance—
"This time! Or the next! Someday, someday, I shall…!"
"I told you, don't move."
As she had said, this time was not another warning. She coldly switched from an ultimatum to an implementation of force.
The light wildly dancing in the sky cracked open, and a surge of mana froze water droplets in the atmosphere. This created a total of four sharp, icy spears—and these, she launched in an instant.
"—"
The chill of overwhelming death was merciless. A single blow would sever the thread of life without fail; a being impaled with a solid blow would have his flesh dyed white, frozen down to the soul to become an icy statue.
However—
"No hesitation, no pity, no mercy… Truly, truly, truly a diligent decision!"
"…Aren't they your allies?"
The madman energetically laughed beside the Witch Cultists now frozen beside him, having shielded him with their bodies. The sight made Emilia uncomprehendingly furrow her brow.
Responding to her doubts, the madman tilted his head at a ninety-degree angle, stretching an evil hand to a frozen subordinate, shattering him.
"They are disciples! Furthermore, my fingers! However, before you, before the vessel, these things bear no meaning! It is the same even for ME! Right now, now, nownownownownownownownow! My will, my reason for existence! All of it, unto you!"
"—"
"Unto you, unto you, unto you… However, that is not where it must end."
To Emilia, aghast at his madness, the madman opened his eyes wide and raised a bloody finger. He trained the crushed fingertip on Emilia—or, more precisely, Emilia's left shoulder.
Atop her slender shoulder, a little cat spirit was nestled against her silver hair. It was to this being that Sloth turned his hated.
"Spirit, spirit, spiriiit! Diminutive in stature, knowing neither love nor righteousness! Unaware of just how grave a crime it is to cuddle up to the vessel! Ignorant, in other words, sinful! What blasphemy!!"
Sloth vented excessive rage and hatred toward Puck. However, when the madman addressed him with a torrent of enmity, Puck trained cruel eyes upon him.
It was an expression unimaginable on the spirit that had been so gentle and carefree daily—no, Subaru knew that look, what Puck looked like with bloodlust honed to a tip.
Subaru knew the mighty power resting inside that tiny body, for he had experienced it for himself.
"Unfortunately, being with her is the reason for my existence. I do not need anyone's permission, nor do I intend to seek it—besides, you're the unpleasant one here."
Both were set in their ways, making the hatred they turned toward each other all the clearer. The madman had rebuked Puck with fierce emotion; Puck responded to the madman's disgust with scorn.
At that rate, the slightest touch would set them off, and the clash between two beings of immense power would truly begin.
"Wait, that's…"
"You're the one who needs to wait, Subawu. Settle down, now…"
When Subaru tried to intervene on the brink of hostilities, someone suddenly tugged him back by his sleeve. The force took Subaru by surprise; Ferris, who'd appeared at some point, was the one pulling his sleeve. Ferris, still wearing the tattered mantle from earlier, stroked a heavily wounded Patlash as he sighed at Subaru.
"Subawu, she's terribly wounded, and so are you. You need absolute rest.
That's an order, meow."
"Like this is the time! I can't just make Emilia fight that…"
"It was Ram and I who decided to call Lady Emilia—trust her a little, okay?"
With a stop put to his nervous feet, Subaru grimaced at Ferris's words.
In response to the perplexed Subaru, Ferris closed one eye and said, "Trust that the person you want to protect isn't only fit to stand back and watch."
2
Considering the harsh exchange just before, the battle began in eerie silence.
"—"
The walls of icy mist Emilia had scattered around her were smashed as she leaped heavily backward. Just then, the ground where she had stood until a moment before exploded; she blinked at the clumps of excavated dirt.
"So you really can't see them at all."
"This needs extra attention."
Puck whispered from atop Emilia's shoulder. She straightened herself out as she lightly touched down on the tips of her toes.
The invisible blow wielded by the madman—as Ferris had informed her beforehand, Emilia's eyes could not catch sight of the fists. But she had ways to defend herself even without seeing them.
She surrounded herself with a body of icy mist, dodging when she sensed outside intrusion. Puck had suggested the method, and with his capabilities, it was far from impossible to pull off.
"I'll get close and hit him right away."
As Emilia murmured, the ground tapped by her tiptoes was being dyed white. Centered on Emilia, the frost covering the ground spread farther, turning it into frozen earth for a twenty-yard radius around her in the blink of an eye.
It was a familiar sensation under her soles. Influenced as she was by the forest she had been born and raised in, gliding on ice was second nature to her.
"Before my love, such petty moves! Tricks! SCHEMES! Merely futile resistance!"
The man shouted at the gliding Emilia, reaching top velocity from the first step toward her. The next moment, he pressed on with an oppressive cry, ripping away the icy mist floating around her. But by the time the invisible arms broke through the mist, Emilia's body was nowhere to be found.
Gliding over the ice, Emilia was running circles around the man to throw off his aim. He tried chasing and getting in front of her, but nothing he tried resulted in a hit. Freely dispersing ice over the ground, she could escape anywhere.
And before the invisible arms could hit her, Emilia's reliable protector completed his encircling snare.
"I understand you falling for my beloved daughter. I'm very proud of her.
But no pests allowed."
"Nn—?!"
The instant Puck made this laid-back statement, thick walls of ice rose up, surrounding the man on four sides. His path of escape blocked, the man's eyes went wide with wonder, leaving him completely defenseless.
Immediately, the icy walls let out a creak as they shot spikes from the surfaces within.
There was nowhere to run; a lethal attack without any forewarning.
Prey struck squarely would be impaled inside the walls, frozen to the last drop of its flowing blood, and shattered.
It was an attack that embodied the innocent cruelty under Puck's adorable surface. But—
"—Naive!! Naivenaivenaiveveveeeeee, yessss!!"
A bellow rose from inside the icy encirclement. The next instant, the icy walls broke into smithereens with a high-pitched sound. The ice-turnedshards twinkled as the man leaped out of them, unharmed.
The instant he was showered in spikes, he'd created a wall of invisible force against the interior of the walls of ice. Unable to withstand the pressure from within, the icy walls had been smashed to pieces.
"That mere tricks could defeat me is absurd! A trial is not so easily—"
"Eiiya!"
"—Kwaa?!"
However, when the man, proud of his victory, trod across the ice, Emilia launched from her powerful glide into a flip. Emilia's kick, slipped in without a sound, drove into the man's defenseless solar plexus. The speed and force of the unexpected kick were of sufficient power to lightly blow the man off his feet.
"This time…eh?!"
Emilia proceeded to beat the man to where he was due to fall and deploy her magical energy, making icy flowers bloom—but the spectacle she witnessed made her doubt her own eyes.
Tracing an arc, the man she had knocked away halted in midair, flying up in another direction. The movement was unnatural, as if something had caught him out of thin air before hurling him in another direction—
"Using it like that…"
"Ahh, the repudiation of thought is the essence of Sloth! Apply! Redirect!
Reappropriate further!"
When the man, dancing in the sky, reached an arm toward her, Emilia instantly formed a pillar of ice, driving it toward her opponent. But as the icy pillar flew toward the man, it struck something and shattered, failing to reach him.
In contrast, with the oppressive force coming from the man undiminished,
Emilia glided across the ground, moving forward—and proceeded to use the momentum from her glide to sail into the air.
"—"
With both rising into midair, Emilia and the man exchanged glances.
Madness met righteous indignation, and once again, it was Emilia who first went on the attack. The next things she created were multiple icy disks that she pounded toward the man, sending them through the air in erratic curves.
Stranded in midair, the man could not dodge the icy disks surrounding him above, below, left, and right.
"Yesyesyesyes, YES—!!"
However, the man did evade the flying, icy disks, moving unnaturally via the most absurd of methods. He bounced erratically in the sky, and though he was uncontrollably spun round and round, the man escaped the disks, shouting in delight.
"What was…what?"
"THIS is love!"
When the creepy movements made even Emilia exclaim, the man gave a reply that was not an answer. His ferocious desire to return the favor transmuted into stabbing bloodlust that made goose bumps stand on Emilia's pale flesh.
The man's combativeness was more than a match for her wariness. He poured his hostility into the hands he powerfully brought together—
"Be baptized by Her favor, the symbol of my love! Prepare to undergo the trial!!"
"—!"
When Emilia felt the icy mist being destroyed, her face stiffened for the first time in the battle. That was the result of detecting the invisible menace unleashed upon her from all sides, denying her any avenue of escape.
She was in the sky, unable to move freely. The difficult-to-evade blow was truly retribution for the earlier attack.
"—"
And then the center of Emilia's chest was impaled, brutally run through.
The destructive power gouged out her breasts, punching right through her chest. The man's eyes bulged at the results, the wound so deep that he could see through to the other side.
"This is the result of Her favor! The fruit of my love! The proof that the Witch responds to my love! But there is no cause for despair! Even if what is within is lost, the vessel is ours to—"
"Eiiya!"
"—Kuwaa?!"
The man's declaration of victory was interrupted by a kick. The blow from behind sent his body flying.
Beyond the sheer force of the kick to the man's blind spot, completely unexpected from his point of view, he had no idea what had happened. Before him was Emilia, with Puck riding on her shoulder, clapping his paws with no hint of sarcasm.
That instant, the ice statue of Emilia pierced through the chest shattered into dust. Even the light had been fine-tuned to create a false Emilia that looked just like the real thing.
"That's no good, looking away in the middle of a fight—you'll get sucker punched, you know?"
The man she had kicked into the sky, spinning round and round, had no time to get his bearings. He'd fallen for Puck's fake Emilia hook, line, and sinker, exposing his defenseless back.
And with that setting the stage, Emilia couldn't miss.
"You won't get away this time."
"—!"
The man was hurtling downward from the kick when his arms and legs were buried in manacles of ice. He was no longer able to move, no longer able to resist, and Emilia's blow was already prepared in full.
The man slammed into the ground; his frozen limbs pinned his body there. From midair, Emilia proceeded to fall straight down, aimed right at the man's torso.
The man's eyes widened as the distance narrowed. Then he laughed at the fast-approaching Emilia.
"Ahh. This—is truly diligent!"
"Thank you—now die properly!"
Descending straight down, Emilia thrust the heel of her palm into the laughing man's torso.
The force made his bones creak. The man let out a painful cry, stunned by the blow. But the cry lasted for only an instant.
The next instant, the place touched by her palm began to freeze over. Not only his limbs but the man's entire body was dyed white, freezing to its core.
"—"
Unable to even raise a death cry, the man became part of an ice flower in full bloom and perished.
That was how the battle between Emilia and the man was decided.
3
Watching the outcome of the battle, Subaru was rooted to the spot, unable to make a sound.
"—"
Overwhelming was insufficient to express it. From start to finish, Emilia had soundly engaged the enemy, splendidly succeeding in striking down the final Sloth.
"You see? It's just like I said, meow?"
In place of the dumbstruck Subaru, Ferris, standing beside him, expressed admiration for Emilia's battle. His basic healing magic had closed up the land dragon's wounds; now he reached a hand out to heal Subaru's.
The touch of his slender fingers made Subaru aware of the pain of his own wounds once more. He had countless bumps and scrapes all over his body; in particular, the right side of his body really hurt. He'd taken a hard hit when he and Patlash had been bowled over in the forest.
"Ah, Subawu…doesn't this really hurt? Your ankle, your shoulder…"
"Where's your bedside manner?! Put my mind on the parts that don't hurt or something!!"
"Ahh, this might be pretty bad. You might die from it, meow…"
When Subaru made a grandiose show of pain, Ferris teasingly poked his ribs. When his teasing hand withdrew, Subaru sighed as he looked toward Emilia once more.
It was unclear what Emilia felt concerning the madman's death. But there was a trickle on her pale cheek; Subaru saw a shining tear rolling down it.
It must have pained her spirit to take another person's life. If so, that was Subaru Natsuki's sin—it was his powerlessness that had drawn Emilia and the Cult together.
"…"
However, Emilia looked surprised at the rolling tear on her face, quickly wiping it off. Perhaps the spirit on her shoulder had said something to her, for Emilia knit her brows with a conflicted look.
She didn't even know why she'd shed a tear. That was how it looked to Subaru.
"…?"
As Subaru watched Emilia, he suddenly noticed deep emotions strangely stirring in his chest. The multiple thoughts toward her somehow seemed like separate, foreign emotions.
For some mysterious reason, he had a deep urge to scratch his brain. It was almost as if—
"My, my, they're all so hasty."
Ferris, hearing battle cries in the distance from all over the village, gave a slightly pained smile as he spoke. Now that Emilia had struck down the final Sloth, the battle was nearing its conclusion. The Witch Cultists being fought in every corner of the village had largely been slain, and cries of victory filled the sky.
The Iron Fangs were particularly boisterous, but it was not only in the beast people that victory bubbled to the surface. The knights who had fought and survived raised their swords, letting up shouts of their own.
To Ferris, a healer, the real battle had now begun, for the number of casualties, and the number of casualties who could be returned to health, rested upon his skill.
Of course, pouring cold water on his comrades when they boiled with victory was the one thing he could not do, but—
"Ferris."
"Yes, yes, Ferri at your servi—er, Old Man Wil?!"
When addressed, Ferris turned around with a lighthearted greeting, but was taken aback at who the speaker was. Behind him was Wilhelm, breathing raggedly as he dragged his half-bloodied body around. The heavy burns and countless lacerations on him truly justified the word half-alive.
"Wait a—! You can't walk around with those wounds! If I don't lay you down and heal you right now—"
"I can wait. More importantly, there is something crucial I must say."
"You might die, you know?! Don't tell me it's more important than your l —"
"Even so, I must speak it now. Where is Sir Subaru?"
In contrast to his level of injury, Wilhelm's voice was filled with vigor and drive. He would have fallen on the spot, save for sheer will.
Both surprised and exasperated at the fact, Ferris immediately looked back and said, "Subawu? He's right h—"
He ought to have been rooted to the spot, hemming and hawing over what to say to Emilia.
And yet— "—Subawu?"
When Ferris looked back, Subaru Natsuki was nowhere his eyes could see.
4
Clutching his head, he barreled through the thickets, running deeper and deeper into the forest.
He had to get as far as he could, as far as he could manage, as far as was humanly possible; far from the village, far from the square, far from his friends—and far from Emilia.
"Haa, hu…haa!"
Short of breath, he earnestly, desperately ran across the poor footing of the forest. Sweat was in his eyes, and his heart hurt as if it would leap out of his mouth, but he couldn't be bothered to care.
The image of a silver-haired girl turned away from him was burned into the back of his eyelids. She would turn, their eyes would meet, and they would speak words of reunion—but that was a moment he could accept no longer.
It was not that he was ashamed to meet her face, nor was it timidity of any kind. He had a different reason.
A terrible, abominable reason.
"—"
"Subaru, where are you going?!"
"—?!"
Subaru had headed toward the uninhabited depths of the forest, and yet someone had called out to him even so. He stopped; his eyes turned back, watching the slender figure with wonder.
He was a handsome young man, with short, light-purple hair and a look of elegance and refinement—Julius Juukulius.
Julius, wiping his bloodstained uniform with a sleeve, put a hand against a large tree beside him as he gazed at Subaru.
"I am glad that you are safe…but what happened? I hear cries of victory from the village. If you are here like this, that Sloth must have been slain.
And yet, why are you here?"
"…"
"If something troubles you, please, speak of it. After all that, we are comrades through thick and thin."
Hand-combing his disheveled hair, Julius spoke patiently to the stiff-faced Subaru. Just as he'd said, Subaru could still hear their comrades' voices from the direction of the village.
They were still close enough that he could hear them, even though he needed to be farther, much farther away…
After all, if he didn't get farther away—
"Subaru?"
Julius knit his brows at Subaru's persisting silence, saying nothing. Sensing that something was off, the knight took a step forward, approaching with concern in his eyes. It was the look of concern one gave the ill or wounded.
However, it was not his body that was the problem. Ferris's no-frills healing let him move without any difficulty.
—That was why he was using that flesh to the fullest.
"Suba—"
"Julius, get away fro—but it is TOO late!!"
"—?!"
Desperately, Subaru resisted with all his body and soul, managing to partially hold it back. But even the fragmented, cut-off words made the knight instantly put distance between them to avoid the risk.
"Subaru" raised an arm, swinging it in the air, and tilted his head in dissatisfaction—at a ninety-degree angle, straight to the side.
"A fine reaction, yes! Though this flesh resists, you evaded WELL. You truly, truly, truly are a diligent person! All the greater the pity…"
"—I had a bad feeling when I was suddenly expelled from Subaru's body."
On one knee, cavalry saber drawn, Julius murmured with frustration. Complex emotions swirled in his yellow eyes: anger, regret, and inexhaustible hostility and hesitation.
Seeing the wavering of his eyes, "Subaru" squared his shoulders in approval.
"All the more promising! The way you are, you think, you waver, is all proof of your diligence! The only thing that sullied that was your base, filthy soul…"
"Truly, it is he who has been sullied by something base and filthy.
Namely, you—"
Mad hatred and hatred mixed with righteous anger clashed as Julius and
"Subaru" glared at each other, their fierce emotions at polar opposites. And then—
"Julius! Subawu!"
With a great sound of running feet, a high-pitched voice intervened, riding through the trees. A jet-black land dragon appeared, kicking up a cloud of dirt, and riding on its back were Ferris and Wilhelm.
Atop the dragon, Ferris's eyes widened as he saw Julius and "Subaru" facing off. Wilhelm leaped down from the dragon, standing at Julius's side.
Then he turned to "Subaru" with a grave look in his eyes.
"Sir Julius, Sir Subaru…"
"Master Wilhelm—that is not Subaru."
Hearing Julius's hushed reply, Wilhelm radiated hostility, clenching his teeth enough to make them creak.
The atmosphere tightened. Their faces contorted—Ferris's with worry, Julius's with righteous anger, Wilhelm's with fierce emotion. "Subaru" was the only one having a good time, clapping his hands as a crazed smile came over him.
And then—
"Now that you are assembled, allow me to reintroduce myself—I am the
Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins entrusted with Sloth…"
His head tilted at ninety degrees, "Subaru" opened the front of his jersey —and the madman laughed grandly.
"Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti!!" Thus did he give his name.
5
He'd been wrong. He'd been mistaken. Subaru had failed to grasp the most important thing about his enemy.
He had been mistaken about the evilest, most important part of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti.
The Witch Cult's Archbishop of Sloth was not multiple beings bearing the titles of ten fingers.
It was a single spiritual entity named Petelgeuse, attaching itself to the flesh of others.
* * *
"Truly fine! Truly a splendid body! It has been decades since flesh has felt so comfortable, the perfect resource for supplementing my lost fingers!"
"How dare you…?! Get out of Sir Subaru's body right now, heretic!"
"For what purpose, and with what right do you say such a thing? It is because you robbed me of my precious fingers that I must inhabit this body as a last resort!"
Wilhelm grasped Petelgeuse's face, bending his head back while yelling into it. But the madman responded with Subaru's face and Subaru's voice and, for the pure enjoyment of it, scratched at his throat.
The painful sight of gouged flesh and blood scattering mortified Julius and the others.
"Your qualifications are by no means poor. Unfortunately, you have engraved too many excess rituals into your fleeesh. This makes you fundamentally unsuitable to be my finger."
"—"
"Diligent old bones! Your flesh, too, is unsuited to be my finger! Even if I must praise the spirit, your flesh is an unsuitable vessel for love…ahh, how tragic!"
To Ferris, and then Wilhelm, Petelgeuse pointed his finger and shook his head. They did not understand the finer details of what his declarations meant. But putting aside that he could mean nothing good, they understood that they were unsuitable in his eyes. And then—
"—And above all else, a spirit user. You are the MOST incompatible of all. The hindrance of your impurity aside, you would become a fine finger of mine. Is THIS answer enough?"
"Unfortunately, I shall not cast the flowers aside, even if they were to abandon me. Perhaps a madman like you cannot understand such feelings."
Julius responded to that extraordinary malice with a reply of utmost enmity. The contents thereof made Petelgeuse's eyes go wide; the next moment, he slapped his knees, seized by laughter.
"Madman! Truly, that IS the proper term! Yes, I am crazy for love! Love, undaunted love, mementos of love, affectionate love, kind love, warm love, benevolent love, thirst for love, reverent love, love of family, climactic love, private love, pure love, cherished love, gushing love, filial love, trusting love, deep love, virtuous love, sensual love, bitter love, profound love, charitable love, spiteful love, faithful love, gracious love, humble love, biased love, delusional love, fraternal love, romantic love, love, love, love, loveloveloveloveloooooooooovvvvve!!"
"Damned fool…"
As Petelgeuse made his insanity clear, Julius focused his hostility at him while pleading to Subaru's soul.
"Subaru! Open your eyes! You are too good to be taken over by a madman like…!"
"It is futile! This flesh is already under the control of my mind! Though it attempts to RESIST, it is fruitless, meaningless! This body is already my finger!"
"No one is speaking to you! Subaru, think! What did you come back for? Why do you fight? Did you not shout those very words to me?!"
While disparaging Petelgeuse, Julius wrapped his six colored spirits around his cavalry saber, raising it high. The powerful, rainbowlike light repelled the darkness in the forest, its radiance dazzling the eyes for a brief moment.
This created a faint gap in Petelgeuse's thoughts, which had completely smothered Subaru's to that point. And then—
"Wh-what is this?! What are…? As if you need it spelled out, you stupid jerk…!"
"—!"
The madman opened his eyes in shock, rocked back by the torrent of emotions surging up from within. Halting as they were, the words that trickled out of his mouth were a glimpse of the mind of the owner of that flesh.
In short order, Petelgeuse's look of shock was forced back, replaced from beneath by the look of Subaru breathing painfully. The transformation made Julius and the others raise their voices, seeing a glimmer of hope.
"Subaru!" "Subawu!" "Sir Subaru!"
"I am…Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti… Shut the hell up, I'm Subaru Natsuki…!"
Push back, push back. Bury everything in the dark dregs of the mind.
"You are merely…mumbling in my ears…you will soon falter… Do you really think…you can defeat the likes of me, by strength of will…?"
With bluff, a show of pretense, he tried to take back, seize back his own mind.
If he didn't, he was on the brink of surrendering to the urge to destroy himself that very moment. Or perhaps of wanting the destructive arms to stretch from his shadow and lay waste to everything around him.
"—"
Was that urge a darkness that enveloped Petelgeuse around the clock?
If so, he could, on one level, understand and sympathize with the madman's aberrant actions to date.
Immersed in such madness, he injured himself to maintain his sanity.
If he was constantly coated in such powerful madness, small wonder he'd become mentally unbalanced.
Was this the world as Petelgeuse saw it?
"I do not seek your understanding!"
Those were the first words Petelgeuse spoke when he broke past Subaru's resistance.
The voice that had spoken such madness, such crazed delight, such fury, now spoke with a mind that was indifferent, unmoved.
It was a darkness that chilled Subaru to the bone more than any of his madness ever had.
And then he understood—he couldn't let this darkness come to the surface.
"…Do it, Julius."
With Petelgeuse's resistance slackening, he'd settle it while he was still in control.
For that purpose, Subaru chose the method most likely to succeed. That sword held the greatest possibility for beating Petelgeuse.
When addressed, Julius was aghast; his eyes widened, and his lips quivered.
"What are…you saying?"
"Sorry, but…it's only a matter of time. If you…don't stop me now, we can't win…so before that happens…"
"No! Subaru, you must reconsider! I am both a knight and a spirit mage, a spirit knight who swore to aid you in your objective. I cannot break that oath now!"
"You swore with me to…protect Emilia… Pretty sick of me, I know." The reply Subaru wrung out of himself made Julius grimace in anguish.
He'd always maintained his elegance and composure. With that demeanor to go on, Subaru was a little surprised at the expression he was making.
Subaru had never dreamed that he'd hesitate after coming this far.
"And you had something to speak to me about later."
"…Sorry. But no can do."
He remembered the words spoken the instant they'd prayed for each other's good fortune in battle at the height of the fight with Sloth. He should have cleared the air before that, but in the end, after dragging his feet, he hadn't said it in time.
"Wilhelm, don't do anything rash…"
"I pushed myself to reach this point. I absolutely will not accept an end like—"
Wilhelm was heavily wounded, having delayed treatment for his injuries to rush over with all haste. Subaru could only praise the Sword Devil, forcing a body that should not to move through willpower alone, but this darkness could not be swept away by skill with the sword.
Subaru gave a momentary, limp smile before leaving things in the hands of the last person.
"Ferris, please."
"You can hate me for this, Subaru—I hate me, too."
At Subaru's words, Ferris—the person there who most hated the cruelty of life and death—nodded. He seemed to somehow have known he would be called upon. With tears in his eyes, he pointed a finger at Subaru.
The gesture triggered an abnormality in Subaru's core—namely, a scorching pain, as if his blood were being boiled, burning his entire body with unendurable heat.
"Ga—aaaa—!!"
Hot. Hot. Hothothothothothothothothothot—
His throat was hot. His eyes were hot. His body was hot. His tongue was hot. His nose was hot. His hands were hot. His ears were hot. His feet were hot. His blood was hot. His brain was hot. His bones were hot. His soul was hot. His life was hot. Hot, hot, hot.
His blood was literally boiling, his internal organs were simmering, and
the high-temperature steam his brain gave off clouded his vision.
"Aaaaaaa—?!"
From somewhere other than his melting ears, he heard the echo of a death cry that was not his own.
One body was inhabited by two minds. Naturally, burning the body meant burning the mind of the madman with it.
There was no escape. At this rate, that soul, trapped in its vessel, would be sent straight to the afterlife.
"—"
He suffered, he writhed, he convulsed, and finally, his body could move no more.
Petelgeuse could try his sore loser act again, but it wouldn't work this time. Inside Subaru, his days were done.
"Ferris! Why…?"
"No one else could do it, right? This is what Subawu wanted."
"Even so, to inflict such pain on Sir Subaru like this—"
"—! Do you think I wanted to?! To use this power, power I have for Lady
Crusch's sake, that I promised to use to put her on the throne, like this…!" The voices of lament, regret, anger, sadness…they sounded so distant.
Lacking the strength to even shift his head, Subaru silently apologized for forcing Ferris to stain his hands like this. With Julius hesitating, and Wilhelm beyond reach, Ferris was the only one he could count on.
It was the same method he'd used to make Kety faint inside the dragon carriage that later exploded. Subaru's body had been directly healed by Ferris, so Ferris could interfere with Subaru's mana without touching him.
The result was plain. The power, and suffering, were beyond Subaru's expectations, almost enough to make him regret his choice.
But those feelings were overshadowed by his guilt of forcing such a deed on Ferris.
Ferris's power was the power to heal others. That was the source of Ferris's pride, his mission in life, and the part of himself he treasured above all else. Subaru had made him use that power in a terrible way.
He just wished he could utter the word sorry.
"—"
Lying on the ground, unable to move, Subaru felt something touching his face. His eyes felt like a haze, displaying nothing. But Subaru recognized the hard, grainy sensation from somewhere.
It was not from Julius, nor from Ferris, nor from Wilhelm, but from someone else related to—
"—"
With Subaru's life flickering like a candle in the wind, he felt Patlash, the jet-black land dragon, nestle close to mourn his passing.
Probably, these were the top four on the list of people he'd caused trouble for—no, Emilia and Ram were missing from that list. And he was truly grateful neither of the two was there.
"Subaru."
He sensed someone standing opposite Patlash, speaking with a forthright voice. He didn't even have to think about who it was. Full of determination,
the voice could be none other than that of "The Finest of Knights." After all, there was no knightly knight in that place save he.
"It was my inadequacy that forced you and Ferris into an unpalatable decision. I shall surely pay for this sin someday."
Don't dwell on stupid stuff like that, was exactly what he didn't feel like saying.
Dwell on it more and more, damn it. Don't you ever forget it.
I won't ever forget. This pain, this powerlessness—
"—"
For a moment, there was silence. However, that did not break the knight's resolve.
Sensing the feeling of cold steel on his neck, Subaru let out his breath at the apparent fact that he would soon be sent on his way.
"Sir Subaru, I am very sorry."
"Lady Emilia will probably cry."
The voices sounded distant and broken to him. Everything was vague, incomprehensible.
There were promises. To never forget. To take something back. To definitely come again.
It ends here? Absurd! I cannot…not like this! Right when I have found a suitable vessel! On the eve of the trial's completion! A finger! If I have a new vessel, I cannot be destr…
—Shut up and go to hell.
6
He fell, fell to an unknown place far, far away—
Somehow, he'd died again. He'd probably lost it all once more.
He surrendered everything to the abyss. This was the familiar embrace of failure after he pathetically lost his life.
Look back at the world.
Look back at your failures.
Don't forget. Don't forget. Do not forget.
Ferris's tear-filled voice. Wilhelm's lament, shaking with regrets. Julius's resolve and remorse, so great he probably gnashes his teeth over it—Don't forget, ever. No matter how low you are, don't ever let go.
Thus, another life came to an end.
However, nonetheless, even so—Subaru Natsuki continued.
Whatever happened, no matter where he came back, no matter how much suffering he carried with him, his struggle would not cease. He would repeat and do over, for that was what he swore.
With a strike, and a sound, everything plunged into darkness. And so it was interrupted. It was severed. And then—
"I love you."
Together with that soft, gentle, fleeting, and cruel breath—
Subaru Natsuki lost his life, and the world was born again once more.