A snowy landscape spread out in all directions.
Her breath was white. The cold stabbed at her skin. Setting eyes upon the falling snow, which blew almost horizontally, Emilia blinked hard.
What in the world had happened?
"—ady Emilia!"
Hearing a voice over the roaring and howling of the cold wind, Emilia darted out. She gingerly put a foot on the snow-covered steps before racing down toward the clearing. In this world hidden by so much white, she could barely see anything else, Emilia desperately searched for any sign of the people who were supposed to be here.
With the persistent flurries of snow buffeting her, she hoped everyone had taken shelter, but based on that voice she had just heard—
"Everyone! You shouldn't be out here like this! You need to stay in your… homes?"
When Emilia caught sight of people huddled shoulder to shoulder in the heavy snowfall, she raced over. Right as she began scolding them for foolishly deciding to remain outside in this weather, her words caught in her throat.
These were the people of the Sanctuary and Earlham Village—the hundred people who had patiently awaited Emilia's return. The situation was simply far beyond what she'd expected.
—They were surrounded by walls of ice on four sides, protecting them from the blowing snow.
"This is…"
"Lady Emilia has returned! Lady Emilia! Does this mean the Trials are over?!"
When Emilia came to a spontaneous halt, a youthful voice called to her from within the icy walls. Noticing this, the people awaiting Emilia's return looked at one another's faces, then let out an exultant shout.
"Th-thank you! I was able to come back safe and sound thanks to all of you! I'm…really grateful, but this is terrible! What happened? What's with this snow?"
"It began falling but a short while ago. This much accumulated in no time at all."
Initially overwhelmed by their intense greetings, Emilia finally managed a response and asked a question of her own. That was when the face of Milde poked out from the press of bodies. She bowed quite deeply.
"We have endured the wind and snow thanks to these walls of ice. Therefore, I judged it was best we should remain in place. Please forgive me."
"That's… Mm-hmm, yes, I think you were right. In this kind of weather, there's no telling what might happen if you move around carelessly. But…"
"Even with the barrier lifted, this makes movement rather…difficult, I imagine."
Emilia gritted her teeth as Milde offered her assessment and let out a white breath.
It would've been best if they started ferrying these hundred people out of the Sanctuary after lifting the barrier. But this was impossible, since the wheels of the dragon carriages wouldn't allow them to travel in such heavy snow. That said, remaining in place was not an option. If they could at least reach a place that sheltered them from the wind—
"If it's too hard to return to the Cathedral, how about the tomb? The mana inside keeps it fairly warm, and there's no concern about it collapsing even if the snow piles really high."
"Go…inside it?"
"Yes, it's all right! All the dangerous mechanisms have stopped, so going in is no problem. Everyone, please head inside. Beyond that—You! I have a favor to ask!"
As the surprised Milde gave a nod, Emilia pointed to one of the men. This was the last individual she'd exchanged words with before challenging the final Trial. His eyes went wide, but he immediately stood straighter.
"—! U-understood! I'm Tokaku! Say whatever you wish!"
"Thank you, Mr. Tokaku. There have to be people who aren't here yet, right? I want you to gather them together. Have all the merchants and land dragons meet up at the tomb!"
Besides the hundred in front of the tomb, there was a small number of stragglers remaining in the Sanctuary. She could not abandon them. She judged that if anything happened, it would be easier to protect everyone if they were in one place.
"…Leave it to me. I will see this task through!"
Tokaku nodded deeply in response to her instructions. Emilia had determined him to be the right person for the job after noting how he was physically stouter than anyone else present.
Then Emilia addressed the remaining concern, namely—
"Where did Miss Ryuzu go? Also, where are Ram and Roswaal…?"
She did not see the youthful-looking elder, who should have been at Milde's side. Ram, who had left to attend to her duty, had not returned yet, and Roswaal's absence left Emilia concerned for Ram's well-being.
"When the snow first began to fall, the elder left, saying she had to go see her family. We tried to stop her, but…"
"Family? Family… Did she mean Miss Shima?"
The mention of family left Emilia with the mental image of Ryuzu's seemingly identical twin sister coming to mind.
Ryuzu and Shima were not sisters, strictly speaking, but that was how Emilia conceptualized their relationship. And according to what she'd heard from Ram, Shima was supposed to have been resting at home at the moment.
"But Miss Ryuzu's so little herself. She should have just asked someone to help her instead of going alone…"
"Er, pardon me, Lady Emilia…but who is this Shima of whom you speak?"
"Ehhh?! You don't know her?! Why not?!"
It wasn't just the people of Earlham Village cocking their heads at the mention of the unfamiliar name but the residents of the Sanctuary as well. It seemed not a single person present had even heard of her.
Emilia sensed there had to have been some reason behind this strange confusion, but the unexpected development left her feeling anxious nonetheless.
"I've actually met her, so she must be… Anyway! I'll go look for both of them! Or is that three…four people now? Anyway, I'll look for them!"
On top of Ryuzu and Shima, Ram and Roswaal further added to Emilia's list of people to question. Their circumstances no doubt differed, but Emilia wanted to speak to all of them in a safe place.
"After that… These walls of ice! I want to speak to whoever made these. If there's someone who specializes in magic, I'd be happy if that person would help Mr. Tokaku, but…"
Pointing to the snow-repelling walls of ice, Emilia let her gaze wander as she searched for the person responsible. Had it not been for those ice walls, it would have taken her far longer to ascertain the situation, and organizing everyone's movements would have been exceedingly difficult.
This led her to think more aid from this person would be a huge help. But her words made the people—in particular, the people of Earlham Village— look at one another's faces.
"…Lady Emilia, was this not your doing?"
"Eh? Me? I didn't do it, but…"
The assertion blindsided Emilia, who widened her eyes in shock. She remained surprised as Milde continued to speak.
"However, that spirit said to thank Lady Emilia…or Lia, rather." Being called Lia made Emilia's breath catch.
"Just as the snow began falling, a tiny spirit flew over the clearing, making these walls in no time at all. As Lady Emilia is a spirit mage, I was completely convinced that…"
"Puck…"
The only one who called Emilia Lia was that adorable spirit. He was the sole one she could think of who would have tried to help in a place like this whether he liked it or not.
Emilia's heart was trembling from Milde's explanation as she touched an icy wall. She thought if he was the one who had made them, there might be some trace, some lingering feeling that she might sense through her touch.
But the instant she touched the wall, the sensation shooting through Emilia's hand was not adorable at all.
"—Ah."
Something flowed into Emilia through the palm she'd set on the wall. That instant, in a gap between the roar of the cold, blowing wind, she lifted her head, hearing something that sounded like the very world had split apart.
—With snow-blurred vision, Emilia saw a tower formed of ice standing in the white-covered forest off in the distance.
The tower of ice, manifesting that very moment, was an invitation, a guidepost for Emilia.
You still have a job to do, don't you, Lia?
She clenched her teeth tightly, feeling as if she heard the voice of family who should have been forever by her side.
Realizing intuitively that she needed to rush over to that place, Emilia turned back toward the hundred present.
"Seems like I have to head that way—could you wait here where it's safe?"
"—We will do as we promised before the Trial. Lady Emilia, be careful."
With those words as her send-off, Emilia smiled, then turned toward the tower of ice in the forest.
There was no hesitation in her steps. Of course there wasn't. Puck would never lead Emilia astray.
5
The unconscious Ram looked like she was merely asleep.
"…Ram?"
Picking up her listless body from the ground, Roswaal called out the girl's name. There was no reply. Normally, Ram would make Roswaal's
words her first priority, putting all other things aside, but now…
—Now she was on death's door, and the one responsible was none other than Roswaal.
"So you lost your temper when she burned the book. Not like you at all.
But she was prepared for even this. I think she really is a strong girl."
Puck looked down at Ram's charred form as he spoke, his oversize form having long since dissipated. After taking a direct hit from a fiery shot, his mana-composed body was faintly thinner than before. But the respect in his voice was genuine, and he surely retained enough power to flatten the dazed Roswaal.
However, Puck did no such thing, seemingly content to hover silently as the battle was postponed.
"…Ram."
Roswaal paid Puck no heed as he embraced the girl's slender body and called her name.
He could not remember what he had been thinking until he had picked up Ram's prone body a moment before.
He still could not comprehend why Ram had confronted him, exhausting her strength until she was on the brink of death.
To Roswaal, Ram was a useful and convenient pawn. She was invaluable in terms of strength and mental prowess; more than anything, her vengeful heart, which was aimed at Roswaal, made her flawless.
He'd genuinely thought he was fine granting another control over his final moments…as long as it was her.
With her vengeful heart unceasingly continuing to blaze within her, she would obey him until the very end, at which point he would offer himself to her, no longer caring that his soul would be seared away by the fires of her revenge.
She had betrayed him—in a way he had never fathomed and for a reason he did not comprehend.
"Ram, why did you…?"
Had she changed? Had her feelings taken a new shape? He could not understand.
All of one's emotions ought to continue in the same manner from the moment when they glimmered at their strongest.
If you truly loved someone, if you truly hated someone, that passion, that radiance, should remain constant for eternity.
It was holding on to hopes and desires for a long, long time that made them truly genuine. Over long months and years, feeling hardened so that nothing and no one could undermine them. That was the ideal.
Garfiel's hateful heart toward what rested beyond the Sanctuary should never have been broken.
Time should not have healed Emilia's aversion and regrets toward the past.
And that went for Ram's inexhaustible hatred and vengeful heart toward Roswaal all the more.
Master Roswaal, Ram loves you.
"You've lost, Roswaal."
The confession of love had been burned into his ears like a curse.
Even that moment, in his arms with her eyes closed, the girl's lips were pursed with an expression of emotion that should not have existed.
Roswaal made a faint noise in his throat as he mulled and deciphered these things in his mind.
"She has fulfilled her goal, albeit by the barest of threads."
" "
"Soon, Lia will also finish the Trials. You lost the book you depended on. I understand why you were so obsessed. But…"
This is the end, the spirit was saying. It was the second demand for surrender Roswaal had received that day.
The first came from Subaru Natsuki and the second from the Great Spirit. But the difference between the first and the second was the power to resist that remained within him.
Roswaal found he could not bear to even move his limbs. Even if the reason for his condition was unclear, facts were facts. That moment, he lacked the strength with which to defy the spirit's words.
—But this applied only to the Roswaal at that particular moment in time.
The cold wind carried the stench of flames and the thick aroma of something scorched. Vestiges of battle raged through the forest as Puck watched Roswaal hold the weakened Ram in his arms. It was then that the spirit suddenly noticed.
A sprinkle of white snowflakes crept into his field of vision, melting and vanishing before they even fell to the ground.
"Snow…? It can't be. I mean, you're right here…"
As he looked up at the flurry of snow, Puck's voice quivered at the presence of heavy clouds filling the sky.
—Using a magic crystal as a catalyst, the weather had been changed, causing snow to fall upon the Sanctuary.
This had been Roswaal's aim, the act he had intended to perform in adherence to what was written in his book of knowledge. Preventing this from happening was why Ram and Puck had joined together, and they had even succeeding in consigning the book of knowledge to the flame.
But their plan had fallen one step short of catching up to Roswaal's meticulousness.
"—You got us good. You'd already made preparations to call the snow clouds before the battle had even begun, didn't you? All you needed to do after was to drag it out."
Before the battle had kicked off, Roswaal had etched the spell's formula directly into the magic crystal, then pulled the pair away and diverted their attention while it activated. Since the spell needed to be kept active full-time, this prevented Roswaal from using his trump card, sixfold magic, which had made the battle far more arduous for him. But—
"The snow will fall. It'll be just as Subaru feared. I'm going to head off and postpone the worst."
" "
"Roswaal, you're really something. You're an amazing magic user. So far as I know, there is probably no human who has honed himself as much as this. But you know what, though?"
The floating spirit rose higher, turning his back to Roswaal, the harbinger of the snow clouds.
He left one final comment.
"No matter how far you go, you're still human—you'll never be like that devil."
As the spirit flew off, his voice became distant, and his presence vanished, leaving behind only a soft glow.
What remained was the scattering snow and a girl carried by a devil— Nay, there was only a clown.
He was a wretched fool who had tried to become a devil and failed.
" "
Roswaal put strength into the arms in which he held the sleeping girl. But the girl's breathing remained faint, distant, and there was no doubt her life was coming to an end.
His heart beat faster, yelling at him that this could not, must not continue. His left eye throbbed. It throbbed so much that he was tempted to gouge it out of its socket. Stop. Don't throb. I will stop being me.
What should he do? What could he do? There had to be something he could do, something he needed to do. He did not understand what was wrong. He couldn't remember. He couldn't think.
" "
He looked around him. There was nothing he sought anywhere he looked.
The book in which the future was written, surely leading Roswaal to the promised day, was scorched from flames, all in pieces. There was no one to tell him what to do.
In that moment, what choice was best? There was no one to turn to, no one to guide him.
The clouds grew thicker, and snow steadily covered more of the forest flake by flake. The world was being repainted in ever deepening layers of white, and Roswaal, his breath frosting, didn't know what to do about the increasingly cold body that lay within his arms.
"In accordance with the book of knowledge, I have made the snow fall… What do I do now?"
At this point, Roswaal had fulfilled and finished his role for "this time around."
In the first place, it had been an attempt he would have abandoned long before if not for the wager with Subaru. From the very beginning, there had been no special objective worthy of the word—even that gamble occupied but a fragment in the corner of his mind.
To Roswaal, it was no longer necessary to do any more. What was important was the conclusion that the events in the Sanctuary would reach: The snow would fall, and the barrier would be lifted.
If these were achieved. If these were achieved—what was supposed to happen, exactly?
"Ram… Ahhh, that's right. Ram."
The sound of Ram's breathing had already vanished. Half out of habit, Roswaal touched her forehead.
Her forehead was drenched with blood that flowed from the white scar where her horn had once been. This was the result of forcibly entering her demonic form. Wiping it clean, Roswaal subconsciously poured colorless mana into the wound.
It was a ritual he had continued all that time, for Ram's body required mana to circulate within her every bit as much as her Oni blood.
It was not out of any conscious thought.
It was simply that Roswaal subconsciously understood the only way to keep Ram's life tethered was to gamble on Ram's own Oni vitality. He never questioned whether to save her.
Ram had to live.
She was Roswaal's fate. His last moments needed to be ended by her hand. For the sake of fulfilling his objective… For the sake of what would come after he fulfilled his objective…Ram had to live.
"Teacher… I…"
His mind felt completely lost. Only the sight of the Witch who had taught him filled his mind.
"I…I! What should I do, Teacher…?! Teacher…please tell me. I still don't understand anything… Please show me the way, Teacher…!"
Even as he tried to sustain Ram's tenuous hold on life, his anger toward her betrayal had not faded.
Even though he understood there was no longer anything left to guide him, he still yearned to see that promised day.
The falling snow mercilessly daubed Roswaal's and Ram's bodies with fresh powder.
The white was all-encompassing, causing everything to vanish.
—Yet, at no point did he think that he would be satisfied with such an ending.
6
Emilia earnestly raced down the snowy path as she headed toward the tower of ice standing tall in the forest.
Letting out sharp white breaths, her speed was unthinkably fast given the poor footing, but Emilia was not running on the poor footing. With each step, her foot made contact with an icy platform; then she would use her heels to launch herself to the next one. This way, she made considerable progress in a short amount of time.
"I! Did it! There we go!"
Of course, the icy footholds resting on top of snow made for quite a slippery path. But to Emilia, raised in the frozen Great Elior Forest, this was nothing. He knew that, too.
Armed with this knowledge, the spirit had created this footing without the slightest hesitation.
Steadily, she crept deeper into the white forest. Emilia did not think of this as cause for concern. She would believe in what she wanted to, rely on what she wished to. With those thoughts in her mind, she was invincible.
Subaru. Otto. Garfiel. Frederica. Ryuzu. Shima. The villagers. The people of the Sanctuary—Ram. Puck. Herself. She believed in them.
Hence, it was not long before she arrived at a white structure deep within the forest.
"There are eddies of mana here… Is this the cause of the snow falling?"
Emilia let out those words along with a white breath as she faced the snow-buried ruin before her.
Standing beside the white ruin was the spire of ice that had led her to it. Like a person awaiting the arrival of his guest, it instantly shattered, the mana returning now that its goal had been fulfilled. As the scattering mana glittered and danced in the sky, she was drawn to the open, yawning entrance leading into the structure.
Furthermore, as if to guide Emilia within, instead of words, she felt Puck's feelings urging her onward.
"—! It's really smelly. Animal repellent…? Besides that, this thick mana is a spirit repellent… Someone really didn't want anyone going inside."
The pungent odor pricked her nostrils as the concentrated mana, something she had no resistance to, clouded her consciousness. The thorough means to keep people out was proof enough that this was the nexus of the disturbance.
"—Puck's waiting. I have to go."
After hesitating for one moment, Emilia steeled herself and stepped into the ruin.
Snow was coming in from the cracks in the ceiling, and so, too, was the air indoors bitingly cold. There were a number of small rooms along the path, but Emilia headed to the back without paying them heed—that was where she felt a precious spirit's presence.
Then, at the very back of the structure, she made a slight sound in her throat when she spotted a room from which a faint blue light trickled forth.
—For it was there that contained an unbelievably large magic crystal and a throng of girls all around it.
"…Miss Ryuzu?"
"Lady Emilia?! Why have you come here…? No."
When Emilia called out, it was…probably Ryuzu who turned toward her with a nervous look. She could not say for sure only because the other girls in attendance—all of them—bore the same face as Ryuzu.
There were twenty or so, and Emilia could not conceal her inner turmoil from seeing a line of girls with the same face.
She was just now discovering that not only did Ryuzu have Shima for a sister, but she also had so many, many others…
"So many… Miss Ryuzu's mother must have had it really tough…"
"I'll save the replica explanation for later! At any rate, please hold me back!"
"Stop you, Miss Ryuzu…?"
It was taking Emilia a while to grasp the situation. But then she noticed the throng of Ryuzu sisters was impeding Ryuzu's actions, preventing her from moving forward. Then Emilia realized the girl standing in front of the giant magic crystal looked like Shima.
Shima's expression, somehow sad and tragic, sent a chill up Emilia's spine.
Recalling the Trials of the past, the future, and the unknowable present, Shima's face bore the same resolve as the people she had seen in those visions, determining their own fates—
"That's you, Miss Shima, right? What in the world are you doing? What is this place?"
"Lady Emilia, the fact that you are here safe and sound means the Trials have ended, yes? In other words, all is prepared for us to fulfill our final duty… Young Gar's gamble has paid off."
"—! There's a Miss Ryuzu inside the magic crystal?"
As Shima heaved a heavy sigh, there was a person resting within the magic crystal behind her. It was a little girl with her eyes closed and clutching her knees—yet another who looked just like Ryuzu.
Except for Emilia, there was no one present except a group of girls with the same face. Being seized by the abnormality, the creepiness of the situation would have been normal. But Emilia stepped to the fore.
"Did you come to bring the girl out of the magic crystal? Can I just take all of you to the tomb with me?"
"—I am utterly amazed that you could look at this situation and have those be the first words out of your mouth."
Emilia's words made Shima's eyes bulge. She was so taken aback, the tone of her voice changed slightly.
"Mm, it's all right. I may not look it, but I have a lot of power, so if I make an ice sled to ride, I think I could pull all of you with me."
From what Emilia could tell, the magic crystal was rather large, but with
the proper preparation, transporting it was surely possible. With this many people helping, even if they had been ordinary children, they could get it moving with some hard work and planning.
If that's what it took to wipe that tragic, forlorn look off Shima's face, she'd work as hard as it took.
However, Emilia's suggestion caused Shima to say "no," shaking her head with a slight smile.
"Your feelings make me happy, but that will not be necessary. I have not come here to take our sleeping ancestor inside the magic crystal with us…but to bring her duty to an end." "Duty to an end…?"
"This magic crystal is the core of the barrier enveloping the Sanctuary. The ritual was activated from the tomb, and this core acted as the catalyst to give the barrier form. In other words, when both sites have ceased to function, the Sanctuary's role as a place of shelter shall end; it shall be set free, so to speak. Lady Emilia, you have broken the ritual. Therefore, what remains is…"
Emilia, who had destroyed the ritual in the coffin with the intent of lifting the barrier, was taken by surprise. If this was true, this ceremony was necessary and unavoidable, but—
"Er, does it have to be done right now? Right now, snow is falling really heavily outside, so I wanted to assemble everyone at the tomb…"
"If, by any chance, this facility was to be destroyed or its administrators lost, it would become an unsalvageable situation. That is why we, the administrators of the Sanctuary, the personalities representing the replicas, are also its keys."
Shima was dubbing herself a key that they could not afford to lose. Emilia intuitively understood this was likely an undeniable fact.
People had their roles to play, just like the roles Emilia had there in the Sanctuary and in the Kingdom of Lugunica.
The same went for Shima, and she was attempting to fulfill hers.
"Lady Emilia, take this."
Detecting a shift in Emilia's expression, Shima tossed something her way. Instantly catching it, Emilia let out an "ah…" at what had fallen into her palm.
This was a piece broken off from the magic crystal, a tiny fragment containing tremendous power. More than anything, Emilia felt a pulse run through the high-purity magic crystal: that of the precious spirit who had led Emilia to this place where they ought to have met each other…
"Puck, is that you?"
"The Great Spirit preceded your arrival, destroyed the seals, and apparently delayed the spell's activation. He used all his strength to save the people in the settlement."
Shima's explanation made Emilia notice the vestiges of an extremely complex formula at the center of the magic crystal. Its overwhelmingly dense magical composition rivaled that of the spell with the coffin at its core.
Ordinarily, a magical bulwark sufficient to burn one to a crisp would have prevented all entry into that room. The fact that she could read the composition of the unraveled formula was not due to the caster's lack of skill but because it had been constructed in a rush. Indeed, a surprised gasp escaped her when she realized it had been hastily assembled yet still possessed such vast power.
The being who had removed the magical bulwark, leaving her a path forward, was doubtlessly the Great Spirit who continued to sleep in the magic crystal fragment in Emilia's palm.
"You opened up the magical barrier, protected everyone from the falling snow, and did something reckless just to tell me about this place… How many other unreasonable things did you do besides that…?"
There was no reply to her question. Having ensured Emilia's arrival, Puck had fallen completely silent.
He had arbitrarily rescinded their pact in order to wrench open the lid on Emilia's memories. She'd already come to terms with him vanishing somewhere far off and for any reunion to be a long ways down the road.
However, Puck had used his vanishing existence to keep pushing, lending her a paw until the very, very end. As a result, he had lost his power and had fallen asleep—a long, long sleep inside that fragment.
"…Lady Emilia, you and Young Su have borrowed much outside power besides his. If this opportunity has been granted as a consequence, it should fall to me to bring our duty to an end."
Emilia, closing her eyes as she clutched the tiny magic crystal against her chest, lifted up her head. When she looked, Shima was touching a hand to the large magic crystal with a soft, pleasant smile on her face.
Somehow, when she looked at that smile, it overlapped with that of the now-departed Puck's and the one Fortuna showed in her final moments.
The tragic resolve she had sensed earlier was because here, Shima had found meaning in the fulfillment of her duty.
"Duty, duty… I understand our duty! But why must it be you?!"
That instant, while Emilia stayed silent, Ryuzu's voice cried out raggedly. Shima's smile drove her to make her earnest plea even as the other girls held her arms and legs tight.
Tears were welling in her blue eyes—tears that spoke of compassion, regret, and a powerful sense of responsibility.
"We have forsaken you for these past ten years. You were removed from your duty as administrator, leaving you to live alone this whole time…and
yet, after all that, now you take this duty upon yourself?"
"…I suppose you have a point. Were I truly alone for ten years, I might well have borne a grudge."
Lowering her eyes, Shima reminisced about the long months and years to which Ryuzu referred. Emilia did not know what passed between the two. However, as she reminisced about those ten lonely years, Shima smiled.
Ryuzu had called them ten years she had spent each and every day alone, yet Shima had found sufficient reason to smile.
"But I was not alone. I was with my adorable grandson and grew to know him well. I was able to watch him grow up and become strong, bit by bit. And now that child… Garf, our grandchild, has gone outside, standing tall and proud."
" "
"I gave that child a push in the back already. Please watch over him from now on. Arma, Bilma, Derma…my sisters, my other selves."
Narrowing her eyes, Shima looked straight at Ryuzu as she spoke. Ryuzu acknowledged those words and that gaze; her delicate shoulder trembled as Emilia gently placed a hand upon it.
Emilia wanted to stop her. However, she could not. All she offered was a simple nod.
Gazing into Shima's eyes, Emilia stood straighter. She knew that what she had to do…was watch her fulfill her duty.
"…You can leave the rest to me."
"—It is surprising how much you have grown in a mere half a day. This is what brings us elders joy."
The corners of her eyes fell. Her elderly smile seemed misplaced on her youthful face.
Leaving this behind, Shima turned toward the magic crystal—and the spitting image of herself within, gently nodding toward something. That instant, a pale, dazzling light filled the room's interior.
The flash of white seemingly melted the world away, blotting it out. After so very, very long, that pale, warm light heralded the Sanctuary's true end—it was the final demise of the cradle of the gentle Witch.
" "
Then, when the light cleared, surprisingly, there was nothing at all.
All signs of Shima and the giant magic crystal on the pedestal were completely gone. Within the room, only Emilia, Ryuzu, and the many girls who had no one left to rely on remained.
Emilia wasn't sure exactly what had happened. She could not bring herself to ask for details. She had merely been in attendance during a pivotal moment, bearing witness until the end.
And with that complete, Emilia had a duty of her own to carry on.
Puck and Shima had both done what they had to do. Then, having arrived at this point…
"Let's go, Miss Ryuzu. There are things we need to do."
"Lady Emilia…"
"We've been entrusted with important thoughts and hopes, so for now…"
Turning around, Emilia set eyes upon the entrance leading outside the room. Ryuzu followed suit, glancing at her sisters to confirm they did the same before giving a determined nod
"We'll save the tears until later—that's what the people I love always tell me with a smile."
7
Ryuzu offered an explanation that the girls' duty was to serve as the Sanctuary's "eyes."
" "
It certainly weighed on Emilia's mind to know that the sisters would silently carry out her every order. But she set that aside for the moment.
Just like how Shima had fulfilled her role and how Ryuzu had her own duty, these girls also had their own roles to play. However, that didn't mean there was nothing for them in life beyond that.
They would get many wonderful opportunities after everything happening in the Sanctuary was finished. Emilia was sure of it.
Therefore, for that instant only, Emilia wanted to rely on them to fulfill their responsibilities, so that she, who was lacking in so many things, could reach the place she so dearly wanted to go— "Ram! Roswaal!!"
There were gaps between snapped-off trees, furrows of overturned earth, and the unnatural snowfall—when she saw the man and woman nestled close in front of that backdrop, Emilia raced over without a moment to spare.
With the silent girls in tow, Emilia slid over frozen snow and bounded toward the copse of the trees. When she reached her destination and examined Roswaal, she realized he was half-covered in snow, not making the slightest movement as he gazed into the distance.
Emilia violently shook his shoulder as she harshly called out to him.
"Hey, Roswaal! Are you listening? Roswaal, I'm talking to you! You can't stay in a place like this! You need to get to the tomb right away… This isn't the time to freeze!"
When she shook him, snow that had accumulated on Roswaal's head fell away. When she caught a glimpse of the side of his face her shaking had uncovered, it stole Emilia's breath away.
She sensed no life in those eyes, no gravitas from his expression… He looked so very frail.
"—! Ram?"
Frightened by Roswaal's lack of reaction, Emilia called out to the girl sleeping in his arms. But seeing her slumbering face, she immediately sensed something was wrong. There was no sign of the snow accumulating on her cheek melting away…
"Ram? Ram!"
Emilia desperately called out to that sleeping face, trying to see if that would wake her. However, there was no response. Of course there was no reply, but her eyelids didn't even twitch. When she touched the girl, her cheek and her lips seemed abnormally cold. It was almost as if—
"That can't be…!"
Brushing that grim possibility aside, Emilia put a hand into Ram's clothes. When she touched the girl's diminutive, cold-feeling chest to make sure, her palm felt a faint reaction…the weakest of heartbeats.
"—She's alive! It'll be all right! We can still make it! Roswaal!"
Having found a ray of hope, Emilia looked back at Roswaal. His hand still touched her forehead, but his eyes remained vacant and distant. That same moment, she understood.
A vast amount of mana was coursing from Roswaal's palm into Ram's forehead. By feeding her considerably weakened body that mana, he had helped maintain her weak hold on life, if just barely.
"You saved Ram, didn't you…?"
Recognizing this, Emilia sank into thought. Ram's condition was poor. Under normal circumstances, it would most likely not be a good idea to move her at all. But there was a reason she could not simply leave them there.
Ryuzu had informed her of the terrifying demon beasts closing in on them.
The heavy snow was a foreboding omen, and with each moment that passed, danger drew closer to the Sanctuary.
Emilia truly had made the right decision to gather everyone together at the tomb. There, she could set up a defensive perimeter and secure the people who she had to protect. It wasn't an issue of whether she could. She'd do it no matter what.
Even if she could not borrow Roswaal's strength, Emilia possessed the combat capability to do it alone.
"Anyway, Roswaal, let's bring Ram with us. These girls will help, so we'll evacuate you both to the tomb. Roswaal, don't give up on treating
Ram…"
"…s fine."
"—Huh?"
Emilia gazed in astonishment, doubting whether she'd correctly heard the raspy voice her eardrums had caught.
To Emilia, that was how unexpected those words were. That was to what extent she found them unbelievable. Emilia stood there dumbfounded as Roswaal repeated them.
"It's fine…"
The voice seemed ready to vanish.
As a matter of fact, the words were immediately taken and swept away by the cold wind, scattering them aside.
He seemed to be muttering under his breath. It was not even clear if Roswaal himself heard the words.
But that weak, chafed voice of resignation certainly reached her.
Hence, Emilia—
"—Don't you dare decide something like that on your own!!" Emilia grasped Roswaal's collar, her voice shaking with anger.
The force made him cry out in pain. Emilia glared at his face as if she was ready to bite it off.
Indignation rested in her violet eyes as she howled:
"It's fine?! What do you mean, fine?! There's nothing fine about this! There's not a single thing here that's fine! Don't you dare give up and try to end this on your own! For me, Ram, and you, Roswaal, there's no way any of this is fine!!"
"—Uagh."
"I finished the Trials! The past I was afraid of seeing! The happy future that could have been! The miserable future that might come who-knowswhen! I saw it all! Even so, I decided to walk this path… Yes, I decided!
And I'm walking it now!"
She howled. She kept on howling.
Uncontainable anger bubbled up from deep within Emilia, an anger beyond anything she had ever known.
Yes. That was it. What a weak voice she had and what pathetic answers. She'd been spoiled to the core. Could it really be called living life if it ended the moment someone gave up?
Roswaal's cheeks stiffened. He squirmed in an apparent attempt to avoid her gaze. This was not out of anxiousness for Ram as she rested in his arms; he simply wanted to escape the look in her eyes.
This, she would not allow. Grasping his chin, Emilia turned him to face her.
"When you're having a conversation, look who's talking to you in the eye!"
"—!"
"If you don't look someone in the eye, you can't tell when someone's desperately trying to think of something. If someone's not looking into your eyes, they can't tell why you want to do something. So look into my eyes, listen to my voice, stand up, and come with me—don't give up."
Roswaal blinked. His differently colored eyes seemed to have realized something.
His small lips twitched. However, they did not form a sound. Nonetheless, they possessed tangible…will.
"—Ah."
"I won't let anyone say it's fine. As long as we're alive, there'll be none of this it's fine stuff—that's why I don't want to give up on anyone, not anymore!"
She stood up. That instant, Emilia whirled around, thrusting her arm toward the forest behind her.
She froze to the bone the demon beast leaping toward her, enveloping it in blustering snow and glacial cold.
The creature she had caught was white, small enough to fit in her palm. However, this was a ferocious being with gleaming red eyes.
—It had arrived. The demon beast known as the Great Rabbit had finally come.
"They're here… Yeah, because I'm a Witch. Or is it because Puck is here?"
The Witch who had frozen the Great Elior Forest or the Great Spirit who had served as her father figure—either one made delicious feed for the horde of demon beasts raising a racket with their teeth gnashing as they steadily drew nearer.
Touching a hand to her chest, Emilia said a prayer on the new magic crystal fragment that hung from her neck.
—Not a prayer yearning for deliverance but a vow that she would see things through.
"Take care of Roswaal and Ram. Everything will be fine as long as you can make it back to the tomb… I'll protect everyone without fail!"
As Emilia decisively issued instructions to Ryuzu's sisters, the girls immediately did as they were told.
It was their role to obey this temporary master, who just so happened to have the qualifications to order them—but it was up to Emilia to play the role assigned to her more valiantly than any other in the four centuries of the Sanctuary's history.
Using magic to scatter the pursuing demon beasts, Emilia cut open a path toward the tomb and raced ahead. The girls followed close behind her, looking like retainers who had sworn fealty to their king.
—For in Emilia's footsteps and her gaze, there was no hesitation. Not anymore.
CHAPTER 7
—PICK ME
1
It was immediately after being separated from Ryuzu that Beatrice began waiting for That Person.
Having lost Ryuzu Meyer, who had established the Sanctuary at the cost of her own existence, they had endured against Hector, Devil of Melancholy. Her wait began immediately following that.
"Beatrice. I entrust you with administering the archive containing my knowledge. Until the appointed hour comes, I want you to protect the archive's store of knowledge as its guardian so that none may ransack it."
"—Eh?"
Called to her mother's study, Beatrice opened her eyes wide, bewildered and shaken as she was commanded to keep watch.
She'd been certain that her mother—the Witch Echidna—would command her to risk her life fighting to support her in a coming battle. Beatrice could only widen her eyes at being handed a role she'd never even conceived of.
"Fortunately, as a master of Dark magic, you wield Passage, which connects an isolated space to familiar places… Yes, let us call this space the archive of forbidden books. Therein, the writings that contain all the knowledge I possess shall be collected and preserved. This is what I want you to protect."
"W-wait…"
"You may link the archive to Roswaal's mansion. That child… It's more than likely his Gate was crushed in the previous battle and he'll never be able to demonstrate his genius again. Even so, I am certain he will be of great assistance to you. I want both of you to get along nicely and await my return…"
"Wait just a… Could you hold on for a moment, I wonder?!"
As Echidna ignored her shock and kept pushing on with the conversation, Beatrice desperately asked her to slow down.
She could not comprehend Mother's words—No, her instincts screamed she could not allow herself to comprehend. Echidna's farseeing, far-reaching plans were well beyond the ken of any normal person. Her words were always absolute, so never once before had Beatrice even considered interrupting them.
That was precisely why she interjected now. If the words ahead were also absolute, she would forever regret allowing them to be spoken.
"Mother…what are you saying? D-do I even understand what this archive of forbidden books means, I wonder?! Betty…wants to go with Mother!!"
"Unfortunately, even if you are with me, I can do nothing against a foe even Roswaal could not handle. If you and I are both destroyed, what will happen to the knowledge I have accumulated? I have a duty to see it inherited."
And having someone inherit this knowledge was the duty she was leaving to Beatrice by entrusting her with the archive of forbidden books.
Instantly, Beatrice came to a realization. She finally understood the meaning of the Dark magic she had so passionately studied, the purpose of her affinity for it.
"It cannot be… Betty's power…was for this?"
" "
"Mother, from the beginning, you knew this would… Then not only this so-called archive but the Sanctuary…and Roswaal, and Ryuzu also…!"
Resentfully, with tears in her eyes, Beatrice shook her head. Echidna fell silent, narrowing her black eyes. Then the Witch stood up, gently offering her daughter the single tome that had been resting on her desk.
"This is…"
"An imperfect copy of my Authority. This is the book of knowledge. I have not completely analyzed the methodology behind that magic tome, but it should suffice as a simple guidepost in showing the way to the bearer's future."
The ring of those words, a magic tome guiding the way to the future, made Beatrice draw in her breath as she accepted the book.
If she'd had this before, leading her onto the proper path, would the words she was hearing from her mother that very moment, and what she should do next, be written within?
"There are two copies. The first, I give to you, and the second, I will give to Roswaal. He should make the proper arrangements henceforth. I am sorry
this is so arbitrary, but I want you to do as I say."
When Beatrice took in all of Mother's words, she realized it was already too late.
No matter how much Beatrice cried, clung, and wailed don't go, her mother would not change her ways.
—For Echidna, the Witch of Greed, had chosen to be a Witch ahead of being a mother.
"Let us speak about your term as guardian of the archive. Even if I do not return, the archive must be opened to someone at some point. The one suitable to inherit my knowledge will surely come one day. You will know when the time has come."
"Come for Betty…?"
"As a placeholder, let us use the words That Person. Your term will last until That Person arrives at the archive of forbidden books and tells you that your duty has come to an end—this is my final request."
Her final request—the ring of those words made Beatrice look up at Echidna's black eyes once more.
Her mother's…expression was ever-unchanged. And yet, for the briefest of moments, an unknown emotion passed over it. "Betty—be well."
2
After parting ways with Echidna, Beatrice's losses and farewells continued.
Just as Mother had told her to, Beatrice took up residence at the Roswaal family's home. There, she used her mastery of Dark magic to construct the archive of forbidden books, filled it with her mother's knowledge, and called herself its librarian.
Immersing herself in that role, she turned a blind eye to all the despair remaining in the world around her.
"Copying the soul… Overwriting the vessel…"
At some point, Roswaal began to frequently visit the archive of forbidden books. But his only interest was the bookshelves of knowledge within, so he and Beatrice exchanged hardly any words.
Beatrice wondered when the youth, once too lanky and stubble covering his face, had become an adult?
He bore a staff and looked like he had trouble walking—he had suffered unhealed wounds during the battle with that devil, putting Roswaal's body into a state that made even day-to-day life arduous. In spite of this, ever since he had become able to walk again, he had terribly abused that inconvenient body, whittling his life away as he remained turned toward the bookshelves. "Hellooo, Beatrice. I shall intruuude upon you today once more."
"…Do as you please."
By rights, the archive of forbidden books was a place she shouldn't have allowed anyone into.
Echidna's request was for That Person to eventually come and inherit her knowledge. It wasn't an open library that just anyone could peruse until That Person came. Everyone else belonged in the Sanctuary.
But even so, Roswaal, and only Roswaal, was the exception.
He alone was special, the only other one to whom, like Beatrice, Echidna had entrusted a vital mission.
And to Beatrice, he was the only reminder that the days she treasured existed without a doubt. Yes, to Beatrice, only he—
" "
He had come to the archive again. Roswaal threw himself into the sea of Echidna's knowledge with wild abandon, seemingly gambling his life on finding something within—Beatrice did not know if he ever did.
But several years later, Roswaal A. Mathers—the last person she had known from those days—lost his life just on the verge of entering his thirties, and administration of the mansion was passed on to the next generation.
"Greetings, Lady Beatrice. I thought I should say somethiiiing to you in place of my predecessor."
"…Did Roswaal die, I wonder?"
"My predecessor has passed away. However, rest at ease. As current head of the household, I, Roswaal B. Mathers, duly inherit his duty toward you and his debt of obligation toward your mother."
—He smiled as his eyes, one yellow, one blue, reflected her expressionless face.
3
Little worth mentioning happened after that.
The heads of the Mathers family continued to call themselves Roswaal, inheriting the name from previous generations.
This was apparently so they would never forget to revere Echidna, Beatrice's departed mother. Even though she understood this, she could not treat them like she had the first generation.
Of course she couldn't. To Beatrice, there was only one Roswaal she could consider special.
All others were fakes. To maintain the archive of forbidden books, she needed them to provide access to the mansion. Furthermore, even if they offered other amenities, she wanted nothing beyond that, as it was a place for the sake of That Person alone.
And so for the sake of her guiding mission, she was alone for a long, long time.
Four hundred years passed—and in that time, the number of people who reached the Archive were few.
"Your power is simply marvelous. Please, by all means, lend me your power as a spirit."
Shut up. Go away.
"Even if someone ordered it, making you stay all alone in a place like this is unforgivable."
As if you understand? This is the precious duty Mother entrusted to me.
"Knowledge should be spread far and wide. If the vast wisdom accumulated here was shared, just how many people do you think it would help? Surely, you understand this."
I care nothing for the many. Betty only wanted to save the one. "Let's go together. You've already done enough. Let me save you." There is only one person who can save Betty now.
Both men and women said all sorts of things to Betty, guardian of the archive of forbidden books. In the end, they all invariably asked her to open the archive.
Many times over, their proposals, their commands, and the hands they reached out with made her heart tremble.
Every time the door was pushed open, every time someone came in, her expectations rose. Had That Person arrived?
But her hopes were always dashed. These visitors knew nothing of That Person's duty, nor did the mystic tome left to her by Mother indicate any of them was That Person.
Therefore, Beatrice brushed aside their words, their feelings, and the hands they extended, rejecting them all, clinging to Mother's words alone and continuing to gradually shut herself in a cage of loneliness.
Would the key to that cage come from inside, or would it come from outside?
—Not even Beatrice herself knew anymore.
4
As that long, empty time passed, an unwanted change arrived at Beatrice's doorstep.
Even Beatrice, who tried her hardest not to associate with the outside world, had learned a fair bit about the circumstances of the half-demon girl —Puck's contractor—whom Roswaal had brought home with him.
One might call the unexpected reunion with Puck at Roswaal's mansion one of the few events that had made Beatrice's heart leap in those four centuries of service.
Puck was a Great Spirit with origins identical to Beatrice's. However, unlike how she lived according to the will of Echidna the Witch since days long past, he had started a new life long before the birth of the Sanctuary, and she had not seen him since.
However, the joy Beatrice felt at being reunited with the spirit who she adored like an older brother—was swiftly crushed.
Seeing Puck spend blissful days with the half-demon girl he'd contracted with sent cracks running through her heart.
She was jealous. No, it was something more than jealousy—she was envious that he was fulfilling his duty, something she could only imagine in her wildest of dreams.
Therefore, to the greatest extent possible, she did her best to avoid interacting with the half-demon girl who was so precious to Puck. Had she not done so, no doubt someday she would have taken the unease lurking in her heart out on the girl.
They would have clashed, and through no fault of anyone's, she would surely make a mistake she could never undo against the girl her beloved older brother considered to be the most precious in the world.
She appealed to her heart's self-control. Suppressing her emotions and keeping her words sealed away was her specialty.
She had done so over and over across four centuries. Her heart did not fear silence or loneliness at that late hour.
In her familiar, tried-and-true fashion, she gave up and chalked it up to the despair she knew so well.
—It was during those days of resignation that an anomaly suddenly intruded upon her domain.
At first, she assumed he was just another foolish human and held no interest in him whatsoever. He was a traveler the half-demon girl had brought back from the royal capital, and a stupid one at that.
By some twist of fate, he ended up staying at the mansion, and on top of that, he had an affinity for Dark magic, making him highly compatible with Beatrice's Passage; as a result, he forced his way into the archive of forbidden books time and time again.
He was an odd boy.
It was plain as day to anyone with eyes that the boy was completely smitten with the half-demon girl. It was just as obvious that this was no scheme or dark ambition; the only motive was his shockingly simplistic love for her and nothing more.
On a whim, she had saved the boy from a curse and offered him words of advice.
She regretted this when afterward, he settled down at the mansion indefinitely, insisting on becoming even chummier.
But what she found surprising was that he knew of Beatrice's talents yet did not desire them in any way. Indeed, when he came to ask about curses, it was Beatrice, and not the archive of forbidden books, he came to consult.
The boy harbored no interest in the knowledge left in her care or Beatrice's power whatsoever.
Up until then, various persons had arrived at the archive of forbidden books, in which Beatrice placed her fleeting hopes—yet Beatrice herself had rejected them, denied them.
In the first place, the boy lacked many of the attributes Beatrice hoped for in the person she awaited.
First, there was a nasty quality to his eyes. His attitude was awful. His upbringing was deficient. His legs were short. He had someone he already cared for with all his being, and he wasn't kind to Beatrice. She couldn't find even one good thing about him.
It genuinely hurt when she tried to understand what the half-demon girl and the younger of the maid sisters saw in him.
He had absolutely no redeeming qualities, so Beatrice wished he would know his place and just accept being alone.
And given his situation, she thought she could at least be a little nicer whenever he poked his head into the archive.
Yet, even though that was how she thought of him at the time—
—in the end, without a single shred of consideration for Beatrice's bewilderment, time coursed, and the world moved.
Beatrice did not know the fine details of what happened outside the mansion after that.
But the half-demon girl was summoned to the capital, and when she returned, the boy, who should have been traveling by her side, was absent. When he next reappeared, the boy had acquired an heirloom that belonged to someone whom she had fond memories of.
Upon seeing the book, Beatrice gained a keen appreciation of how yet another had left her behind in the world, even as she sent the boy and those with him off to the Sanctuary in accordance with Roswaal's plot.
He was going to meet the Witch of Greed, fulfilling the long-cherished desire of his family—such were the words Roswaal left with Beatrice when he visited her in the archive before heading to the Sanctuary.
From those words and the look in Roswaal's eyes, Beatrice surmised he was going to settle things.
Simultaneously, Beatrice settled upon a conclusion of her own.
A conclusion about the promised person supposedly recorded in the book of knowledge that had remained blank for four centuries.
—That Person would never arrive at Beatrice's doorstep.
When the air of death permeated the mansion, Beatrice immediately came to a realization.
Even in the presence of such a thick aura, the book of knowledge had nothing written in it about Beatrice's future. Destiny had abandoned her. And for some reason, she accepted this with ease.
That was probably because Beatrice had finally caught sight of the conclusion that she had long desired.
—That Person would never come. Yet, even so, she had to keep waiting.
In which case, Beatrice had no choice but to wait until someone stopped her from waiting any longer.
If that also meant robbing her of her life, she didn't care who did it.
If it was possible, she would have liked to entrust even a tiny bit of the end of those four centuries to another.
Therefore, that night, when the boy—Subaru Natsuki—raced into the archive of forbidden books, Beatrice vented all her deeply repressed feelings, which were so difficult to put into words.
That instant, for the first time, Beatrice wanted some revenge against the destiny that had not tried to save her heart even once.
If he could be the one to take her and finally end the pact, then that would be—
"I'm getting you out of here, Beatrice—This time, my hand's gonna lead you right out under the big ol' sun, and we'll play around until that dress is totally black from mud."
" "
—So why, when it was far too late, did his hardened resolve tear at Beatrice's heart?
All she'd thought about was meeting her end.
And yet, the boy showed her a possible future that differed from Beatrice's own hopes.
She didn't hope for anything like that. Such hopes had been worn away by four centuries.
"If—if you…were…the one I've been waiting for…"
That was how it should have been. Yet, as she listened to the boy's indignant voice, a change began within her.
If she put it on her lips, if she spoke the words, her dormant emotions would bubble over and come out onto her face.
Beatrice would lose her obsession with Mother's words, which had bound her for four hundred years, and from that moment forward, she would cling to something new, something she would never let go.
It was with full knowledge of this that Beatrice posed the decisive question—
"Would you…become That Person for Betty?"
"You really are an idiot. There's no way in hell I'd become this stupid person or whatever for you."
5
She had been in danger of doing something she could never take back.
But before she even had a chance to try, the possibility was snatched away.
—She felt like she had reduced herself to a frivolous and very cheap clown.
"…Am I just…tired, I wonder?"
In the first place, she was wrong to even think of taking that boy's hand.
He did not possess the pure heart of someone who would dirty his own hands for the sake of someone else without a second thought.
Just like Beatrice, he possessed a weak heart. He was indecisive and agonized over trivial things; uncertain of himself and hesitant, always ready to pile up one excuse after another instead of facing things head-on.
That was why her death would no doubt come in a different form.
Just like the intruders who had come into the mansion, enshrouded in a dense halo of death.
Or perhaps the flames spreading through the mansion would burn all to ash, like a fiery purgatory.
All she had to do was wait for it—
"Aaand I'm back! Hey, you big moron! You really got me good back there, damn it…"
"—!!"
"Gaaagh?!"
When the boy suddenly appeared in the archive of forbidden books like so many times before, Beatrice blew him away on reflex.
She was seething, and the attack came swifter than she could think. The boy was struck by a shock wave, shooting him out the door through which he had just entered. The door audibly slammed shut.
"I—I am finished speaking with you…and yet, you came again. Just how impudent are you, I wonder?!"
Beatrice couldn't even understand the sheer gall needed for him to show his face again after what he had said to her last.
As if to clear her mind, Beatrice took several deep breaths, once more waiting for time to—
"Cut it out with the temper tantrums already! If you resort to violence right away, this conversation'll never— "You cut it out!!"
"Waaah!"
A two-pronged flow of magical energy hit him in the face, then in the gut.
The boy proceeded to groan in agony as he was hurled out of the room before the door shut again, forcibly ejecting him from the space.
"Is this even remotely funny, I wonder…?"
Murmuring with irritation, Beatrice settled back onto her stool, clutching the blank book of knowledge as she glared at the door, fearful that it might open again.
She was scared that her feelings, which had been shoved aside by arbitrary logic and unthinkable emotions, might be forced to the surface.
No matter how many times you come, I will continue to refuse you. After all, you are not That Person.
You abandoned any right to take Beatrice from here.
That is why Beatrice will stay until she and her unfulfilled promise meet their ends.
—At that moment, that was the only thing Beatrice thought could grant her salvation.
6
Sent flying out of the archive, Subaru wisely broke his fall the instant he collided with the hallway wall.
"Gah… I'm in one piece!"
Having split off from Petra and Otto, he was hell-bent on trying to persuade Beatrice for the fourth time—and thanks to being smacked so much in a short span, he was becoming quite an expert at blunting the impact of the invisible shock waves.
"This ain't the time to polish up stupid techniques like that. My instincts are telling me the fire's getting bad."
Wiping off his coursing sweat with a sleeve, Subaru crouched, clicking his tongue at the poor visibility.
The fire consuming the mansion had worsened, and hovering black smoke now reached every corner of the main wing. The floor below was already enveloped by the tendrils of flames; if he fell through the floor, he would not be able to avoid being charred to a crisp.
With the fire having spread to both the east and west wings, it was no longer possible to stop it.
The silver linings were that the candidates for Passage had been drastically reduced and that many of the demon beasts had fled due to the inferno, leaving Subaru with no enemies barring his path as he scurried around the mansion. That said, the more of the mansion that was lost to flames, the higher the odds of Subaru burning to death.
It would not be long until the mansion underwent a fiery collapse. He had to get Beatrice out of there before it came to that.
"Besides, what's gonna happen to her archive of forbidden books if all the doors are burned to a crisp…?"
If, by any chance, all links to the doors were cut, just where would that archive's door lead? Perhaps it would lead nowhere, and that girl's world of loneliness would continue on for eternity?
Or perhaps the archive of forbidden books would share the mansion's fate, consumed by flames and returned to ash?
"As if I'm gonna just stand by and let you end up like that…!"
Taking a deep breath, Subaru ran while staying so low to the ground, he was practically licking the floor. Throwing open the door from which he had been hurled, he put his hand on the next door, opening one after another.
The structural materials burned, and there was something like a bursting sound as the mansion where he spent so many irreplaceable days burned to the ground.
"—Gah, agh!"
When he grasped the doorknob of a yet-unopened door, he suppressed the urge to cry out in pain from his scorched palm. However, in a short span of time, it was a pain he'd grown accustomed to feeling.
The pain sharply stabbed him through his temples as he kicked the door open, racing inside.
" "
He gasped, breathing in the aroma of old books and seeing an atmosphere disconnected from scalding heat—it was the archive of forbidden books.
Realizing this, Subaru lifted his face. The girl sitting on the stool was glaring straight at Subaru.
"You again. You do not know when to give up…!"
"Ha!! Damn right I don't! I'll come to spirit you away as many times as it takes! If you don't like it, come with me already! Do that, and it'll be the last time I barge in here like this!"
"I have had enough of your flapping tongue! Do you even realize the mansion is on fire, I wonder?! If you do not flee this very instant, all that awaits you is your own fiery death!"
The fifth time Subaru challenged her, Beatrice chewed him out, having deemed him an incorrigible fool. Fierce emotion rested in her blue eyes, her lips quavered, and her fingers dug into her mystic tome.
"You… Have you not realized that you are out of opportunities to speak with Betty, I wonder? You are an unwelcome intruder… Why do you not understand this?!"
"Well, I don't understand. As long as you're not seriously rejecting me,
I'll come as many times as I want."
"—!! Betty is rejec—!"
She was so angry, so offended, that Beatrice's words made it halfway out of her throat before she opened her eyes wide.
She truly hadn't realized the meaning of Subaru's words.
Beatrice's own words, own actions, were contradicted by Subaru's very presence.
"Beatrice, if you genuinely don't want to see me, just hole up here in the archive."
"What are you…? At present, can Betty take even a single step out of the archive, I wonder?! And yet—And yet, you barge in here all on your…"
"Nah, you're wrong. If you were serious, I'd never have been able to reach this place over and over in such a short time like this. Your rejection is skin-deep."
"—I, ah…"
Beatrice grew even more confused. She was at a loss, unable to form the words with which to reject him.
Passage was not all-powerful. That was simply fact. However, it came shockingly close.
If Beatrice had genuinely wanted to separate the archive of forbidden books from the outside world, it should have been easy to prevent Subaru from entering.
Did she not—could she not—do so because her heart had strayed?
" "
After considering Subaru's assertion, Beatrice, too, began to doubt her own heart.
Even had she not, the promise from four centuries ago that underpinned the current Beatrice was lost, leaving her wavering.
She no longer knew whether Subaru's words or her own hopes were correct.
—And really, Subaru didn't know, either.
Perhaps it was simply that the more the mansion burned away, the more the choices dwindled as well.
Perhaps Subaru was conveniently discovering hidden powers at the perfect moment, enabling him to see right through Passage.
And perhaps it truly was that Beatrice could not bring herself to reject Subaru sincerely, and therefore Passage's entrance remained open to him.
He didn't know which was true—but Subaru hoped, prayed it was the last possibility.
But whatever the truth, it didn't matter. There and then, every part of Subaru Natsuki was devoted to reaching the possibility of taking Beatrice with him.
"You…you…! You are not That Person for Betty!"
Seemingly unable to contain the inner turmoil swirling inside her any longer, Beatrice grasped the hem of her skirt and raised her voice. Abandoning the thoughts racing within her mind, she seemed ready to burst into tears as she stated her case to Subaru.
"You said yourself that you weren't! You said it yourself! Did you not say it, I wonder? If only you were That Person… Had you said so, even as a lie, Betty would have probably believed you. Even knowing it was a lie, she would have to believe you."
"Beatrice…"
"But did you not say that was wrong, I wonder? You said it was wrong, and you said it was stupid. Well, I suppose you were right. Yes, Betty is an idiot, a huge idiot who cannot bring herself to forget a verbal promise she made four centuries ago… That's why! No matter what you say, is it not already over, I wonder?!"
As Beatrice shouted her rejection, fierce gales spawned around her, enveloping her like a cage.
The torrent of magical energy made the girl's dress and hair flap in the wind, and a tragic mood filled the archive of forbidden books. After watching this unfold, Subaru drew in his breath, then began walking forward.
His feeble heart was afraid—afraid that the squalls would hurt him. Fighting against that fear, he clenched his burned palms tight and used that pain to focus on just looking straight ahead.
"I…"
" "
"I'm not That Person or anything like that. I'll say it as many times as you like. The prince riding a white horse who you're waiting for isn't coming. He'll never come no matter how long you wait here for him."
As she listened to the repeated denials, the despair in Beatrice's eyes grew deeper.
If things ended here again, nothing would change. Yet, if he could just tell her what came after…
"But."
" "
"I want to be by your side, Beatrice."
"—!"
"I want to be there for you so your gentle self won't be sad anymore."
"Ah…uuugh…!"
Beatrice's expression twisted up.
The surging magical energy lost its focus, and the wind began to whip around indiscriminately, coming closer and closer to harming Beatrice herself.
Her face crumpled with grief, anger, and something beyond those things. Then she opened the book on her lap as if to hold on for dear life. The pages flapping in the wind…were white. They were all blank.
—The book of prophecy revealed nothing and urged her to make a choice all the same.
"—The hell?"
Beatrice closed the book. Simultaneously, there was an unnatural distortion in Subaru's field of view. His vision became hazy, and he fell to his knees, unable to stand. It definitely wasn't anemia or fatigue that brought him down.
The real culprit was the archive of forbidden books itself, which was swaying quite violently. The floor twisted, and the bookshelves, having lost their balance, tumbled one after another. The books lining their shelves were sent flying, blanketing the room in a sea of covers, spines, and paper.
This was the archive of forbidden books that Beatrice had built—if the state of the archive correlated with Beatrice's mental state, then it was clear she was shaken to the point where she could no longer maintain the place.
"Beatrice—!"
As everything around him became progressively more warped, Subaru did his best to stand as he reached a hand out toward Beatrice. The area around her was the only place unaffected by the distortion; even then, the girl sat atop the stool.
If he jumped, he'd reach her. Trusting in this, Subaru turned toward Beatrice and took a leap of faith.
The instant he did, space itself ripped open like a piece of paper, and Subaru's body was only moments away from being swallowed by the tear. "—Oh, cra…!"
He wouldn't make it. Able to do nothing else, Subaru dove into the gap.
This was not Passage. It was a leap through space that did not involve a door—Subaru had experienced this exact thing once before.
It was when he'd let Emilia die. It was when he'd let Beatrice die.
" "
At the last second, when he turned his eyes toward the rip in space, he saw Beatrice's lips move.
—Every part of her face seemed to say the same thing.
Good-bye.