Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World – Vol. 17 Ch. 2

Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World. Volume. 17.

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‘Chapter 2:- A SHOWDOWN OF FIRE AND ICE.’

 
Sub-chapter 1.

“And? Would you finally explain what is going on, I wonder?”

After putting a fair amount of distance between themselves and the park, Beatrice determined that Emilia and the others were no longer within sight or earshot. Only then did she relax her pace and ask him about the situation, their hands still joined.

As Beatrice tried to stop walking to hold a proper conversation, Subaru said “Sorry” as he pulled her along.

“Subaru?”

“If I could, I’d really like to have a nice, long chat about this in a place without anyone around, but there’s no time. We don’t even have fifteen minutes.”

“…Very well. May we at least discuss it while walking, I wonder?”

Seeing the obvious apprehension in Subaru’s expression, Beatrice did as he asked without a word of complaint.

Relieved by just how quickly his partner had adapted and adjusted, Subaru hurried over to the square as he tried to explain the jumble of thoughts in his mind.

“Right now, we’re heading toward a place where a Witch Cultist is about to show up. We’ve gotta stop ’em.”

“The Witch Cult…”

As Beatrice drew in her breath, Subaru carefully tried to choose his next words.

What made that difficult was the penalty for divulging information related to Return by Death. As long as he only shared the same details that he told Lachins, there shouldn’t be any problems. The fact that he didn’t know this for certain was one of the things Subaru really hated about the Witch’s curse that bound him.

Whenever he tried to share information about Return by Death, evil black hands would come to inflict a penalty—the severity of which seemed to be based not only on the details contained in Subaru’s words, but also whom he decided to tell them to.

In other words, the degree of information he could convey depended entirely upon the Witch’s whims.

If that wasn’t the case, what else could’ve been responsible for crushing Emilia’s heart after he revealed the secret to her? He never, ever wanted to go through that again.

If someone had to get hurt, then better it be Subaru. Of course, the thought of that frightened him, but it wasn’t unendurable—and it was far better than watching those terrifying hands turning on someone other than him.

Even if the Witch held back somewhat with Subaru, she showed no mercy to anyone else. That was why he was being incredibly careful.

“—There’s no need to make such a worried face.”

“Beatrice…”

“You clearly cannot disclose where you came by such timely information…but do I even need to know, I wonder? If Subaru says it is true, that is enough for Betty to believe.”

When Beatrice gently squeezed his hand and gave him a bold smile, Subaru’s eyes went wide.

“…Damn it, Beatrice. You really are a lifesaver.”

The best partner he could ever ask for was supporting his spineless self, assuring him he wasn’t alone.

“Heh-heh. Is that not obvious, I wonder? Now, let’s start with whatever you can share.”

“Right. First, the Archbishop of Wrath is gonna show up…and she’s a pervert.”

“…If you think that is the piece of information you absolutely needed to share first, I suppose I have no choice but to immediately take back what I said earlier.”

“I’m still trying to figure out what’s safe to tell you. Looks like talking about occupation and perversion doesn’t come with a punishment. Well, next is her Authority… It’s like…resonance between senses and emotions.”

“What does that mean?”

Cocking her head quizzically, Beatrice’s eyes made it clear that she didn’t understand.

She could hardly be blamed. Despite having actually experienced it, Subaru still found it mind-boggling himself.

“…I can’t see what kind of threat a synchronization of senses and emotions might pose.”

“Basically, you stop thinking that dangerous things are dangerous. Anyone affected has their emotions go haywire and can’t properly judge situations or act… I’ve had my fill of that one.”

He remembered how the crowd had raised both arms high to welcome the screams of a boy who didn’t want to die.

From any objective observer’s standpoint, that hellish scene must have been utterly revolting. But what was truly terrifying was that everyone there thought they were in some kind of heaven.

“…I suppose I understand the resonance of emotions somewhat. What is this resonance of senses, then?”

“If the other person feels pain, you feel it, too. Cut off the Archbishop’s head, and everyone watching will lose their heads, too… Insane, right?”

When he said it aloud, the hopelessness of it left him practically in awe.

Even if they managed to kill their target, they would die, too. Put bluntly, it was hard to think of an ability that was better at making an opponent hesitate. Because of Return by Death, Subaru had a unique chance to discuss countermeasures beforehand, but it was simply unacceptable to take great pains to win the battle only to get dragged down by the vanquished in the end.

“It’s pathetic, but I don’t have a single card to play. That’s why I want to borrow your strength and intellect.”

“…Well, of course you do. If anything, isn’t relying on Betty the natural thing to do, I wonder?” As she gradually came to grips with the situation, Beatrice assuaged Subaru’s concerns.

“I guess you’re right… We could also play Reinhard as a wild card, but…”

He revealed to her the possibility that Reinhard might be their one ray of hope.

“…if Reinhard’s there, we don’t have to worry about him losing to any enemy. But if the Archbishop dies at his hands, the problem is that everyone else is gonna get annihilated because they’ll die the same way.”

That was exactly how Subaru had lost his life last time.

The possibility of capturing Sirius alive occurred to him, but with no way to convey the finer details of such a plan to Reinhard, Subaru couldn’t eliminate the danger of Sirius’s resonance kicking in if she was knocked out. If they made even the slightest mistake in neutralizing her, the entire kingdom might very well be destroyed by her sinister “soulwashing” ability.

As Subaru mulled over how to make use of Reinhard, Beatrice raised a tiny hand.

“Subaru, there’s something I must tell you. It’s bad news.”

“…Seriously? I don’t really wanna hear any more bad news than I already have if I can help it…”

“I suppose I understand what you mean. Still, I must mention it nonetheless… Should Reinhard and I stand upon the same battlefield, your Betty will likely be reduced to simply being an adorable girl.”

“Huh?”

Beatrice’s sudden announcement stopped Subaru in his tracks.

“You don’t mean that you won’t be able to do anything because you’ll be too busy swooning at him, right?”

“This is no time for jokes… Is it a physical characteristic of his, I wonder? Reinhard is the epitome of abnormalities in this world. His mere presence causes nearby mana to blindly follow suit. Wouldn’t any magic user or spirit caught up in that cease to function normally, I wonder?”

“Wh-what the hell? Is that even…?”

Possible was what Subaru had been about to say when he recalled what had transpired at the Water Raiment the day before.

Right after his first reunion with Reinhard in ages, Beatrice had been particularly wary of him. If that hero really did have such an abnormal constitution, then everything suddenly made sense.

“If it’s something Reinhard had any control over, Betty would indulge him and play the adorable little girl. However, if it is not an issue Reinhard can resolve by himself—”

“Then a choice that leaves Beako unable to act ain’t much of a choice at all, huh?”

The appearance of a new, immense obstacle shattered one of Subaru’s sources of hope.

As usual, Reinhard defied all convention. Unfortunately, that aspect of him was incredibly inconvenient.

“This is bad… Never mind asking him for help. Him showing up would just make things even more difficult…”

It wasn’t anyone’s fault in particular. The cards in Subaru’s hand just happened to be terribly mismatched.

Emilia, Beatrice, Reinhard—any one of them was powerful individually, but if they stood together, their conflicting characteristics and the enemy’s Authority would prevent them from acting at full strength.

All his allies were formidable in their own right. It was Subaru’s failure and his alone that he couldn’t come up with a strategy that let them reach their true potential.

At this rate, he’d end up confronting the eccentric again without so much as a plan—

“—Subaru, just maybe… I suppose I might have an idea.”

When Beatrice said that right as they were on the verge of reaching the square, Subaru felt like those words were sent straight from heaven.

“Really?! You have a plan?!”

“In the end, it is merely a possibility. If the Archbishop’s Authority is as you describe, does that not sound very similar to the high-level spell Nekt, I wonder?”

“Nekt! Yeah, now that you mention it, that spell’s effect really does resemble Wrath’s Authority!”

Seeing Subaru shouting in surprise, Beatrice raised a finger, wagging it as she nodded.

“Ordinarily, I suppose Nekt is a spell for conveying messages between allies without requiring words. To employ it in this manner… It would be the highest of heresies. Is there anything more unforgivable, I wonder?”

Beatrice took great pride in her magic, so it was natural that she was disturbed by the thought of someone misusing it.

Now that she mentioned it, Subaru recalled relying upon Nekt to fight at Julius’s side once, though he would’ve preferred to forget that episode if he could. That was because sharing his vision had been the only way to grant Julius the ability to see Petelgeuse’s Unseen Hands.

This was the proper application of Nekt. It was never supposed to be used as a power to bind others like a curse.

“Moreover, Nekt is not magic that works on just anyone. At minimum, I suppose you would need complete harmony between both subjects of the spell. The Archbishop’s Authority clearly disregards that requirement.”

“It’s probably an Authority that forces people to link together. More importantly…”

“You want to know a way to counter it, I suppose? Put simply, this is Shamak’s time to shine.”

“It’s Shamak time! As per usual, it’s way more useful than it should be!”

Beatrice’s explanation made Subaru unwittingly shout and clench his fist in celebration.

That was how great the existence of the spell called Shamak was to Subaru. In times of suffering, times of bitterness, times of danger, and times of distress—Shamak had been there with Subaru through it all.

Before he’d formed a pact with Beatrice, it was no exaggeration to say that Shamak had lent its strength to the powerless Subaru just as much as Rem and Patlash had.

After Subaru had wrecked his Gate and was unable to use magic on his own, he’d assumed his relationship with Shamak had come to an end—but was Shamak now going to come riding to Subaru’s aid once again?

“I see… Shamak, huh…? If we use Shamak, I’m sure it’ll manage to come through for us somehow…!”

“Even though it is a beginner-level spell with precious few uses, why do you have such a mysterious level of faith in it, I wonder…?”

“Hold up! I won’t let anyone trash-talk Shamak, even if it’s you, Beako…!”

“In all seriousness, what happened to make Subaru this obsessed…?”

Sighing deeply, Beatrice thrust the tip of her finger at Subaru’s face even as he got all worked up.

“Shamak forcibly prevents the spell’s target from sensing the world around them. The strength of the effect scales with the skill of the caster, but for Betty, casting it on anyone is a simple matter.”

“Meaning…?”

“I suppose I could put every person within the enemy’s range under Shamak’s influence. If our opponent compels comprehension and resonance, then Betty simply needs to sow incomprehension and chaos among them.”

“Hearing you put it that way makes it sound kind of terrible…but I get what you mean now!”

Subaru slapped his knees, completely convinced by Beatrice’s reasoning. Her solution had addressed every single one of Subaru’s concerns, and she was proud of herself for suggesting it.

“Okay, let’s go! If we can nullify that ability, the battle will swing in our favor. After that… Uh, what comes after?”

“The only remaining task would be vanquishing the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins without Reinhard, no?”

“”

The point that Beatrice bluntly raised pressed Subaru into silence.

“Just so you know, Betty will be focused on using Shamak, and it will also be necessary to cast Shamak upon anyone fighting the Archbishop the moment the enemy is defeated. Won’t I be too preoccupied to do anything else, I wonder?”

“Damn, okay. Well, this ain’t good. We’re back where we started.”

Having come this far, the initial hurdle had reappeared—Subaru lacked combat strength.

With Beatrice as Subaru’s only backup, even if they could block the soulwashing, defeating Sirius on his own was out of the question. It irked him that the whip he’d practiced with so much would be of little use.

“I’ll just have to talk to the people in the square when we… Nah, there’s no way to know if they’d buy it. I just happen to know his face, so I managed to convince Lachins to hear me out, but…”

There were several people who seemed like capable fighters at the time-tower square. Unfortunately, the real difficulty was persuading them to cooperate.

“In the first place, how do I get them to help when I don’t even know what they’re capable of? I need to think of something better than that…”

“—If that’s the case, since you know what I can do and you can be sure I’ll listen to whatever you have to say, maybe it’s my time to shine?”

“?!!”

The sound of a voice like a silver bell totally wrecked Subaru’s train of thought in the span of an instant.

The all-too-familiar voice made Subaru and Beatrice turn around with looks of surprise. Behind them, a beautiful silver-haired girl was standing there with her hands on her hips.

Her completely unanticipated presence made Subaru draw in a sharp breath, his lips quivering as he raised a question.

“E-Emilia-tan? What are you doing here…?”

“You were acting really strange, so I assumed you were involved in something awful. I think it’s a bad habit of yours to keep me out of the loop when things like this come up, Subaru.”

Emilia glared at Subaru as she scolded him like he was a naughty child. Subaru was too surprised by her sudden appearance to muster a proper response.

“Didn’t you agree to wait in the park? Are you a naughty girl, I wonder?”

Seeing as how Subaru was still in a state of shock, Beatrice answered instead as she peered up at Emilia. Emilia prefaced her reply with a “Sorry” before she continued:

“I really did intend to wait. But then Priscilla said…”

“The girl in red?”

“She said that if I didn’t go after Subaru right away, I would regret it. If nothing was wrong, I planned to go right back…but I can’t leave now after seeing you two talk so seriously this whole time.”

Subaru wanted to curse Priscilla, the culprit who’d gone and pressured Emilia to take action.

She really did like to stir situations up. This was how she complicated things as if she’d planned it all out in advance. Thanks to her, the situation Subaru had wanted to avoid the most had just come together like it was scripted.

“Emilia, I’m happy you feel that way. I really am, but right now…”

“The Witch Cult is going to show up, right? I caught a little part of your conversation… Subaru, I won’t go back even if you ask me to. I’m not exactly uninvolved when it comes to dealing with the Witch Cult.”

“Emilia!”

Subaru inadvertently raised his voice as he tried to somehow convince Emilia to change her mind.

It wasn’t as if Subaru wanted to push Emilia away without good reason. If the opponent wasn’t the Witch Cult, he would’ve immediately asked Emilia for her help.

But given who they were facing this time, that was not an option. He didn’t need logic or reasoning. It was painfully obvious what a terrible idea it would be.

However, Emilia countered Subaru’s pleas by drilling into him with her earnest eyes.

“It’s no use even if you pretend to be upset. The only time it bothers me when you’re angry is when I’ve done something wrong. It’s not me who won’t listen to reason right now—it’s you, Subaru.”

“Argh…”

Seeing those violet eyes staring straight at him made Subaru falter.

On top of that, while Subaru was at a loss for words, Emilia pleaded with him.

“Subaru, I understand that you’re doing this to try and protect me. But that just means you’ll get hurt again, so I absolutely refuse to turn a blind eye to all this. If you’re fighting, then I’m fighting, too. If you’re fighting to protect someone, then I’ll help, just like you’ve been protecting me all this time, Subaru…”

“”

“I want a chance to protect you, too, Subaru. I mean, look. You seem like you might cry at any moment.”

He couldn’t let his resolve waver, yet Emilia’s pleas pushed him to the limit.

Subaru had to summon his own courage to keep her away from danger. He needed a heart of steel that could withstand any and all hardship.

And yet in that moment, Subaru was afraid. He was scared. He was terrified.

Subaru had already lost his life three times in a single hour.

Even Subaru Natsuki had never experienced so much death in such a brief span of time. To begin with, even if he had an eternity, it wouldn’t be enough time for him to ever get used to dying.

Death was always frightening. There was no getting used to it, nor could he allow himself to become numb to it.

To be robbed of one’s life meant losing a future. It was the denial of one’s way of life, trampling on their existence, and a defilement of the soul; that was what being killed meant.

Subaru had suffered that fate over and over again. I don’t wanna die was the thought that loomed greatest in his mind at any given moment.

No matter how much time passed, Subaru Natsuki was unable to conquer that weakness.

“…Subaru, it’s time to give up.”

With Subaru unable to mount a sensible rebuttal, Beatrice sighed deeply and spoke for him.

“Beatrice…”

“Don’t you know full well how stubborn Emilia can be, I wonder? Now that she’s aware, there is little you can do to dissuade her. Besides, I suppose Betty understands how Emilia feels and has no inclination to convince her otherwise.”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t. She simply didn’t want to. That was what Beatrice, the crux of the operation, had decided.

Emilia gazed at Subaru earnestly. Beatrice gazed at Subaru affectionately.

Under the pair’s gazes, Subaru’s heart finally broke.

“…The Witch Cult is probably targeting you. For starters, please put your safety first at all times.”

“Mm-hmm, okay. I know that you’ll come save me even if I get captured, Subaru.”

“Please don’t say something so ominous… Also, how much did you overhear?”

A smile of relief came over Emilia as Subaru capitulated to her demands. Her expression immediately sobered when she recalled what a difficult foe awaited them.

“I caught most of it. A bad person from the Witch Cult who uses magic like Nekt is coming. Beatrice is going to use Shamak to counter that, and we have to beat the bad guy in the meantime, right?”

“Breaking everything down like that makes it sound like a Sunday morning cartoon, but I guess that’s fine. So I can count on your help?”

“Of course, leave it to me. I’ve grown lots and lots over the past year, you know.”

Putting both fists in front of her, Emilia assumed an adorable fighting stance. She was a little too relaxed, but she had the plan firmly in her mind.

Of course, adding Emilia to the operation didn’t alleviate all his worries, but—

“With Emilia-tan and Beako, there’s no way we’re gonna lose.”

Taking uncertainties and problems and turning them into advantages was just how guys like him rolled.

“On that note, we’re here. It’s time.”

Between Beatrice’s planning session and an unexpected rendezvous with Emilia, they arrived at the time-tower square right before the mysterious interloper was set to appear. The only thing that remained was deciding where to start the operation.

To rescue Lusbel from inside the tower, drawing Sirius away from it would be ideal.

“Emilia-tan, that weirdo’s gonna pop out at the top of the tower anytime now. When she does, launch a preemptive strike with one big shot, would you? It’d be great if you could knock her off it. After that, assuming Beako can get set up, I want you to start combat on my signal. I’ll be providing support.”

“Yeah, leave it to me. I’ll do everything I can.”

Emilia nodded, acknowledging Subaru’s instructions. Counting Beatrice, the three-person operation was ready to go.

Then right after their plans had been set—

“—She’s here!”

—the sight of a dark figure leaning out from the time tower’s window made Subaru unwittingly tense up.

A slender form wrapped in a black robe swayed at the tower’s edge. Beneath her, no one else in the square seemed to notice that someone was looking down on them from that vantage point.

When seen from a bird’s-eye view, it was immediately obvious how fragile the tranquility of a thin layer of ice truly was. With a single action, the stranger peering down from that lofty perch thoroughly shattered the delicate peace.

“”

Slowly, Sirius spread both arms wide. Though her bandages covered up most of her form, the ecstasy on her face was immediately apparent even at a distance. Finally, just as she was about to bring her two hands together with incredible force—

“—Ul Hyuma!!”

—Instantly, a giant icicle appeared directly above the tower and collided with Sirius.

A projectile of ice as thick as five Subarus tied together slammed into the tower. The sturdy wall immediately gave way as the icicle’s tip impaled the upper structure of the tower.

The spectacle nearly made Subaru drop his jaw.

“E-Emilia-tan?”

“You said to launch a preemptive strike, so I tried my best… Did I mess up?”

“No, no, good job. You did well… I was just surprised that it was more preemptive than I expected.”

It was Subaru’s fault for not giving more precise instructions about the timing, but it was the eccentric’s fault for being so unguarded that Emilia didn’t even hesitate in her initial attack. That took care of their first problem, at least.

Their initial strike had been launched without sparing even a single thought to waiting and seeing what would happen. That was the kind of shock and awe that was needed to score a surprise victory.

“Beako, think we got her?”

“For the moment, I believe the people around us think we did.”

When Subaru posed his question, Beatrice also displayed signs of surprise in her reply. Lowering his gaze to see for himself, Subaru concurred with what Beatrice had said.

The people in the square ahead of them were all looking at Subaru and company—or strictly speaking, at Emilia after she’d suddenly committed that act of mass destruction. As far as they were concerned, it was Subaru and the girls who were the real terrorists.

He could claim This was preemptive attack to prevent actual terrorism all he wanted, but whether the crowd would believe him was anyone’s guess.

“Errr, we didn’t mean any harm. See, we’re…”

“—It’s no use, Subaru. Get back behind me.”

Subaru tried to persuade the pedestrians with all the sincerity he could muster, but Emilia pulled him back by his shoulder. Then after she took a step forward to shield him, she raised her right hand and swung it in a downward arc.

Instantly, a crack echoed in the air as a blue sword formed within Emilia’s hand. It was a beautifully sculpted sword, boasting a slender, icy blade. Emilia trained its tip toward the crowd in the square without any hesitation.

“Whoa, whoa, that’s definitely too much! If we talk to them, I’m sure they’ll understa…”

“You’re wrong. Look closer, Subaru. Their eyes—they aren’t sane.”

“What?”

Gasping in response to Emilia’s tense observation, Subaru studied the various people in the square. After a brief examination, Subaru noticed it, too. This was definitely not normal.

Bulging veins marred the faces of everyone glaring at Subaru’s party, and their bloodshot eyes gleamed red, not white. Every last one of them wore the exact same expression.

Their cheeks were twisted, teeth bared like fangs as growls rose from their throats—these were the products of nigh-unendurable emotions of wrath.

“Beako! Is Shamak ready yet?!”

Facing a frothing mob to the front, Subaru called out to Beatrice. However, the girl who was the linchpin of their plan ruefully bit her lip at the sight of the throng.

“…I’ve made a mistake.”

“What?”

“This blasphemy is fundamentally different from Nekt! This is closer to a curse or a hex than any proper magic. I suppose you could call it manipulation of souls themselves! This is not something a mere Shamak can deal with!”

Beatrice’s voice trembled with anger and distress. Hearing that, Subaru gritted his teeth.

He didn’t understand the principles at work in detail, but it was enough to know that Beatrice had judged that Operation Shamak could not be salvaged.

And the fact that the people in the square were being consumed by a tremendous wave of emotion far beyond the norm meant that—

“—It reeks.”

He heard a single word trickle out in a muted voice, like someone was casting a curse.

It was a vicious word that seemed to resent all existence.

“It reeks. It reeks. It reeks. It reeks. It reeks. It reeks. It reeks. I​t​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​r​e​e​k​s​! It reeks! It reeks, it reeks, it reeks!!!”

A moment later, cracks ran along the icicle that had slammed into the upper portions of the time tower and impaled itself in the wall. In the span of a single breath, new fissures ran along the entirety of the mass of ice; an instant later, the icicle shattered into glimmering fragments.

Standing among that dazzling diamond dust, which scattered under the rays of the sun, a single eccentric stood.

She was not unscathed. Half of her white bandages were soaked with blood, and the tower’s white wall was marred by the ichor dripping from her dangling left arm. As she stepped clear of the fallen rubble, her gait seemed unsteady.

However, the insanity and ferocious emotions residing in the madwoman’s eye was nothing like what Subaru had known until then.

“It reeks…horribly… The stench of a woman. The filthy, abominable, awful stench of the half-demon that stole my precious from me. Even though you are not my precious, your fetid odor bears a remarkable resemblance. Aaaah, how dreadful!!”

On the scant remains of the tower’s top floor, Sirius clawed at her bloody bandages. He’d never seen her spit blood and send spittle flying as she shouted in pure hatred.

Even if she was just as insane as before, her madness was taking a very different form.

“Have you come to test my love, spirit?! Are you not satisfied with stealing my precious from me, filthy half-demon?!!”

Spreading both arms wide in anger, Sirius screamed and lunged forward.

As she hurtled from the top of the tower down toward the ground, the madwoman spouted flames from both hands as she raised them overhead. The crimson fire enveloped the chains around her hands, tracing a flaming trail behind her as Sirius landed in the square.

Landing on all fours, both of her hands still burning, she lifted her face.

She trained her eye upon Emilia, who held her ice sword at the ready, and Subaru, who was standing stiff— No, she was actually focused on Beatrice, who was standing out front as if to shield Subaru.

The next instant, Sirius shouted in a voice drenched in enough rage to burn the entire world to ashes.

“I am! A member of the Witch Cult! The Archbishop of Wrath!”

Bathed in the waves of heat emanating from those rising flames, the crowd in the square raised shrill voices, and all of them lifted their arms high.

The waves of insanity and flames were completely at odds with Subaru’s memories, and within that maelstrom, the madwoman introduced herself.

“—I am Sirius Romanée-Conti!! Shitty half-demon and shitty spirit, I will burn you both to ash, then scatter your remains before the grave of the husband you burned!!!”

Sub-chapter 2.

With crimson flames residing in both hands, Sirius bellowed in rage, her face as fiendish as an ogre’s.

She was enveloped by her own dazzling inferno, and the zeal in her eyes burned just as bright. The avatar of Wrath glared at Subaru’s party— No, that wasn’t accurate. After all—

“It reeks, reeksreeksreeksreeksreeksreeks—you reek, you shitty half-demon…!”

—as Sirius hurled more insults, Subaru’s existence didn’t even register within her eye.

Sirius’s undivided gaze, one that seemed capable of searing someone to death with looks alone, was aimed at none other than Emilia and Beatrice, the two girls standing at Subaru’s side.

“The hell’s wrong with her? This is totally different from what she looked like every other time…”

Subaru could not hide his uneasiness at seeing Sirius’s wrathful transformation and where her hatred was directed.

In a very short span of time, Subaru had confronted Sirius on three occasions, and during each encounter, she had been—though he hesitated to use the word—normal. In those fleeting meetings, even if it was extremely difficult to call her a person who possessed common sense, she had also never acted like a creature that had abandoned all reason.

She’d been logical to the end, a morally bankrupt person trying to impose her pet theories on ordinary folk who failed to understand her vision, and that was it.

The version of Sirius before his eyes now stood in stark contrast—this was Wrath incarnate.

“I burn you and burn you, and still, you keep crawling out like maggots… You must hold some grudge against me, eh?! I am sad and depressed, yet I cannot be allowed to even grieve! Just how much…how much will you take…?!”

“…I don’t have any idea what you’re trying to say.”

When Sirius began sending spittle flying with every word, offering nothing but blame and accusations, Emilia didn’t give any ground as she replied. She didn’t flinch or pull back a single step from the fiery verbal assault.

She steadily trained the sword of ice in her hand on the crowd lined up behind Sirius.

“If you’re angry about something, I’ll hear you out. I’m the one who attacked you all of a sudden, so it’s natural for you to be angry. But this has nothing to do with the people around us. Let them go.”

“Don’t look down on me from your high horse! If you wish for me to yield, then show it through your actions! It’s only natural to be angry? Then apologize! Grovel and beg for forgiveness! And then I’ll roast you from your ass to your bowels!!”

“Hmm. Words don’t seem to be getting through— In that case, I have ideas of my own!”

Enraged, Sirius blinked hard at Emilia’s casual change of tone during their brief exchange.

A moment later, Emilia leaped up from the ground, going from a low stance to lunge at Sirius. Emilia’s slender body cut through the air as she swung the sword of ice with her arm, tracing a beautiful arc toward the top of the madwoman’s shoulder.

“Emilia?!”

“—Tch!!”

Subaru’s shout of surprise overlapped with Sirius’s sound of irritation.

Seeing the icy blade approaching her left shoulder, Sirius instantly raised her left arm in an attempt to counter Emilia’s blow with blazing flames. However—

“You shitty half-demon!!”

“Don’t repeat that insult over and over. People will think I’m dirty or something.”

—the pale tip of Emilia’s blade did not lose to the flames as it collided with Sirius’s raised left arm. However, the coiled golden chains enveloped in wreaths of fire gave off a high-pitched creaking sound as the ice sword crashed against Sirius’s flaming limb.

But fire and ice battled for only one brief instant. A second later, Emilia’s weapon audibly shattered.

“Serves you right!”

Leaving only its hilt behind, the magic blade reverted to mana. Sirius raised a cry of victory and swung her flaming right arm at Emilia. It was a brutal attack with enough force to split stone walls. The moment it made contact, it would burn and gouge its target, leaving terrible wounds.

In the blink of an eye, Emilia’s unmatched beauty would be scarred forever—but something else happened first.

“Take that!”

With a voice profoundly out of place, she knocked away Sirius’s arm this time—thanks to what had once been Emilia’s ice sword.

“Aah, aaah, aaaaaah! How frustrating!”

Screaming, Sirius crossed both flaming arms above her head. Up above, Emilia was swinging her summoned hammer of ice downward with unspeakable force.

She’d produced a maul of ice with a broad, blunt face to replace her broken sword. Sirius flew from that heavy, crushing blow, only for Emilia to give chase.

“Yah! Hiyah! Yah! Take that! Uraaah! Hiyah!”

“You piece of shit! Half-demon! Maggot! Insect! Whore! Disgusting eyesore!”

With extraordinary body movements and her weapon’s centrifugal force, Emilia was displaying far greater close-combat capability than Subaru had ever expected. The swings of the icy maul were weighty, keeping Sirius on the defense. It was a one-sided battle after Emilia completely seized the initiative. Thinking that she might prevail at this rate, Subaru clenched a fist hard.

“We can win this… Wait, right now, that’s bad! Emilia! The people in the square are still…”

“Subaru, is it not a bad idea to let your guard down now of all times, I wonder?!”

If Emilia struck Sirius down, the people around them would share the same fate right then and there.

When Subaru tried to point out that danger, Beatrice’s expression changed as she scolded him. Wondering what was wrong, Subaru looked back, only then realizing that countless gazes were turned toward him.

“““““—You shitty insect!!”””””

“Aw, crap.”

The crowd shouted as they looked at Subaru as one, rage and vilification pouring from their bloodshot eyes. The madness they trained upon Subaru and Beatrice was identical to Sirius’s.

It was best to assume they’d been completely soulwashed by Sirius’s Authority. Then in accordance with their irrepressible rage, they shifted their hostility toward Subaru and Beatrice.

“So it’s not just resonance—she can brainwash people and make them into her own pawns?!”

“This is not the time for such musings. Without a plan, I suppose all we can do is buy some time!”

As Subaru clutched his head over how difficult this situation was, Beatrice jumped onto his back. He supported her light body with his hands as the throng came rushing at them all at once.

“Emilia, buy us some time, please!”

“Don’t expect me to do anything too crazy!”

Upon hearing Emilia’s dependable reply, Subaru sprang backward to escape from the mob. Fortunately, the movements of people who had lost their sanity were as slow and clumsy as a poorly controlled marionette.

“Whoa! Wow! Cutting through, here! That was close! But now we’re all clear!”

Dodging the outstretched arms, Subaru evaded with sideways leaps to keep the throng at bay. The sight of a crowd rushing with empty expressions made it look like a scene straight out of a zombie movie. A similar feeling of terror had soaked into his bones.

“Just running ain’t gonna cut it! At this rate, all we can do is wait for reinforcements once people notice the huge commotion!”

“Without a plan to deal with the opponent’s power, wouldn’t reinforcements only increase the casualties, I wonder? If we inadvertently cause Reinhard to come running, all that will do is turn Betty into a mere adorable little girl.”

“Then I’ll really become the Moppet Mage… For the moment, no worries about summoning that hero right this moment.”

After all, Lachins, the one who would be their best option for sending Reinhard a signal, was currently chasing Subaru, raving at him with a bright-red face. Carried by the rest of the crowd, he looked like he was on the brink of a clash with one or two of his impromptu companions.

When Lachins eventually pushed them back, his fellows immediately tripped over their own legs, causing them to tumble downward. Caring nothing for them, the rest of the crowd walked right over the two fallen while moving inexorably forward. It was a frightening sight.

“I don’t think they’re feeling pain from all that adrenaline, but it’d be pretty dangerous without that, right?”

“Given the way they are, it doesn’t seem strange for them to trample one another to death.”

“Well, that’s not good!”

Subaru didn’t want any casualties. That was the biggest objective he was fighting for so hard.

Of course, Subaru understood that there were things beyond his own reach. Indeed, there were far more people whom Subaru couldn’t reach.

There were so many things he wanted to protect. But there was a limit to what he could do.

“—Still, I don’t have any intention of deciding that limit myself!”

“There’s the Subaru that Betty knows best!”

Receiving the greatest encouragement possible from behind, Subaru drew his whip from his hip holster.

He had to save what lives he could. Accordingly, Subaru emotionally resigned himself to inflicting moderate amounts of damage. Charging toward the center of the throng, he locked onto Lachins, running at the head of the crowd.

His target was someone whose face he knew. He couldn’t call their relationship a good one, but Subaru’s heart struggled with the idea of harming him all the same.

“This is gonna hurt, but better than if it’s someone I don’t know! Sorry, Larry!”

“Who’s Larry?! I’m… Habhhh?!”

As Lachins shouted on reflex, Subaru unfurled his whip, wrapping it around his victim’s ankles. Subaru proceeded to yank the whip upward as hard as he could, dragging Lachins, who’d lost his balance, into the people surrounding him.

“Take a time-out and cool your heads!”

Charging toward him, Subaru rammed Lachins in the back, knocking him into the waterway. While Lachins raised a cry, Subaru kicked several others who were tottering down to join Lachins, removing more and more people from the front lines.

“Now that that’s taken care of… Lusbel!”

As he whittled down the number of pursuers coming after them, Subaru raced all the way to the time tower. His objective was to secure Lusbel, who was surely still there on the topmost floor—where Sirius had left him, intending to use him in her speech.

“Beako, hang on tight!”

Subaru called out to Beatrice, who was on his back, as the crowd blocked the way before him. Their arms and bodies mercilessly barred the way, but Subaru did not hesitate as he charged into their ranks once more.

“Now I’ll show you the improvised parkour that my mentor pounded into me!”

As he shouted, Subaru quite literally slipped past countless legs and bodies as he broke through.

These were the fruits of his daily training at the secret base in the forest. The skills that Clind had drilled into him greatly resembled the style of movement that Subaru knew from his world as parkour. Making use of his entire body, he stayed nimble and flexible to skillfully navigate the crowd, cutting right through it.

Still supporting Beatrice on his back, Subaru tumbled his way into the time tower with amazing vigor.

“I bit my tongue!”

“Sorry about that! But saving the hostage up top comes first!”

After answering his partner’s objection, Subaru raced up the spiraling stairs with great haste. The remaining members of the crowd pursued from behind, but all their jostling was preventing them from climbing the stairs easily.

Seizing the opportunity, Subaru and Beatrice stayed ahead of the pack until they finally reached the topmost floor. When he looked around, he saw that because Emilia’s initial blow had half-destroyed the place, the wind could now pass through, making the air quality far better than it was in Subaru’s memories.

For an instant, his blood ran cold as he considered the possibility that even Lusbel had been blasted to bits, but—

“Nngh! Nnngh!”

—the boy bound by chains was there in a space that had narrowly managed to maintain its original shape. Though it was probably a stretch to say he was safe, Subaru raced over after confirming the boy was alive and in one piece.

With Lusbel’s bindings already complete, Subaru undid the painful-looking gag and tried to choose the best words to put him at ease.

“—Behind you!”

“Bwah?!” “Gah, I wonder?!”

Lusbel’s teary-eyed warning made Subaru immediately lower his head, taking Beatrice along for the ride. Instantly, he felt the familiar presence of death whistle by his neck as something passed by.

When he looked back, he saw a fox-man who’d leaped onto the uppermost floor to unleash a massive sword strike. The man was one of the people initially at the square who seemed capable of fighting. His white tail swayed as he launched another attack.

“Beako!” “Shamak!!”

Giving up on challenging such skill head-on, Beatrice instantly activated a spell that quickly enveloped the fox-man in black mist. The beast person lost all fighting capability while lost in the void—proof that Shamak was effective.

“That’s the all-powerful Shamak for you! Doesn’t this mean the link to Sirius got cut?!”

“Who said anything about that, I wonder?! Even if he really is neutralized, the link is still active! I suppose it’s likely that if that degenerate dies, many others will follow suit!”

“Shiiit, what do we do?”

“I’m thinking as hard as I can!”

Leaving the unraveling of the mystery to Beatrice, Subaru could only trust in her and buy some time.

The problem was how Emilia was shaping up against the real enemy.

“Emilia is…”

Hoisting Lusbel up, Subaru climbed over the wrecked windowsill and raced to the tower’s exterior. Beneath him, fire and ice met each other in a furious exchange as Emilia and Sirius remained locked in combat.

Subaru knew that over the last year, Emilia had continually trained herself in between her lessons about governance. Subaru knew very well that Emilia was far stronger than he.

Even so, Subaru was worried for her. It wasn’t an issue of who was stronger. To Subaru, Emilia was the girl he loved. That was the long and short of it.

People might call such worries a trifling matter. But to him, that—

“Terya! Soya! Soooi!”

Raising shouts that, as usual, somehow came off as silly, Emilia looked like she was a raging gale as she hounded Sirius with ruthless ice attacks.

“Eeeiiiyah!”

Spinning her body, Emilia danced as she closed in with twin swords of ice. Sirius swung burning golden chains about, shouting insults as she intercepted the blades, only for Emilia to crouch down as she spawned a new spear of ice, which she immediately used to swipe at Sirius’s chest.

With a painful cry, the force and impact hurled Sirius across the paving stones, leaving her rolling to a stop on the ground.

—Emilia was making full use of her vast mana capacity, launching high-speed combo attacks, fully intending to destroy her ice weapons in the process.

When she used the martial art that Subaru had dubbed “Icebrand Arts,” the fleeting nature of shattering ice engendered such phantasmal beauty, it was like watching the dance of a fairy.

The remnants of ice that were smashed during the battle danced and scattered as glittering mana set the stage for the pair. Emilia and Sirius—fire and ice—employed contrasting weapons as they continued to pursue their deadly duel.

“Uyaaa!”

Pursuing Sirius as the woman rolled, Emilia twirled her icy spear around, lashing out with its haft. Down below, Sirius used crafty groundwork to evade the butt of the spear, then grabbed hold of it herself.

“It is seething zeal that makes the heart tremble! Aa! Aah! Aaah! Wraaaath!”

“Wha?!”

In an instant, the spear of ice transformed into a spear of flame in Sirius’s hands. When the heat made Emilia unwittingly let go, it was Sirius’s turn to go on the offensive this time.

The bandaged madwoman twirled the spear of flame, pursuing the leaping silver-haired girl to burn her to death in an aggressive counterattack.

“Those lascivious eyes! That seductive bell-like voice! That licentious, glimmering silver hair! That indecent white skin! That indecent face! Aah, what a filthy woman! Is that how you make men swoon over you so?! Is that how you stole my precious from me, you thieving cat?!”

“Wha?! Wait a— Please do not say such strange things!!”

Dodging the attack by letting it slide just past her chest, Emilia spawned another ice sword in her hand to intercept it. The three-pronged spear of flame was blocked head-on by a broad greatsword made of ice.

The ice creaked as it held against the hungry flame, leaving Emilia and Sirius deadlocked as they glared at each other.

“These eyes, this voice, this silver hair—all of them were praised by the people I love! They’re the same as the coolest woman in the whole world! If you say any more strange things about them, I’m going to be angry!”

“Anger?! Anger, you say?! Don’t make me laugh! That is mine! That is the treasure that I received from my most precious person! This duty, this name—everything I have was a gift from my precious! To try to take this from me… Stop! Stopstopstopstopstopstopstop!!!”

Sirius’s voice gradually became even more piercing still, eventually rising to a tearful shriek.

The spear of flame in the madwoman’s arms snapped, at which point she crossed her arms, slamming the shortened pieces together with both arms. To counter the flaming-sword combo, Emilia split her own greatsword in two, turning them into a pair of ice daggers.

But under that torrent of blows, it was Emilia who was on the defensive this time. It wasn’t because Sirius had become noticeably stronger. It was the opposite— Doubt had crept into Emilia’s heart.

Rage readily mixed with grief, and the surrounding people in the crowd moaned in agony as they cried tears of blood. That sight in the corner of Emilia’s vision threw her thoughts off slightly. It was then that—

“—Wah, aaaah?!”

“Emilia?!”

Subaru’s eyes went wide at the sight of Emilia raising a shriek and dropping her twin daggers of ice. When Emilia fell on her knees to the pavement stones, Sirius laughed loudly with both blazing arms raised high.

“Look! This is love! This is love! People loving one another, the ideal of the many becoming one! Bonds are forged by our shared feelings, so that we might experience one another’s joy and sadness! That is why this ending has been preordained! O pitiful half-demon, doomed to never obtain love—here, you shall burn!”

“…What love?”

“What?”

As Sirius crowed over the turning of the tables, Emilia’s words brought her pealing laughter to a halt.

Before the madwoman’s fixated, wide-open eyes, Emilia looked squarely at her opponent’s face and continued without fear.

“If I am hearing your words correctly, you seem to think I am mistaken… Why?”

The question that Emilia posed was born from her particularly acute sense of curiosity. But such an earnest plea only poured more fuel on the fires of Sirius’s wrath.

“That is because you do not even know the great truth! You filthy half-demon, living without even knowing what love is. And so you must perish! The very existence of a half-demon is a sin! Your birth was a mistake. It was a mistake for your father to meet your mother! When shit and an insect come together, a shitty insect is the only possible result. Your shit-smeared tale will now come to an end!”

“!”

These were insults that even the kindhearted Emilia refused to pass unchallenged. It was absolute slander, condemning not only her existence, but even her parents for giving birth to her.

“Ooh…”

A trail of light drew a tiny voice out of Sirius as she backed up a step.

Emilia had held her ice sword down low and slashed upward. The pale sword grazed Sirius, sending the fasteners of the madwoman’s black robe flying.

One more step forward, one lunge, and Emilia would land a clean hit. It was with this certainty that she raised her ice sword anew.

“—Eh?”

“Nnngh!”

—Then she saw the girl wrapped up in chains within Sirius’s arms, and time stopped.

“—Tina.”

Dazed, Subaru heard that murmur spill from Lusbel, who was still in his arms, and Subaru cursed Sirius for keeping the most sinister form of insurance on hand.

Matching the instant of Emilia’s sword attack, Sirius had suddenly yanked a chain out of thin air. Materializing from seemingly nowhere, a lone girl appeared right in Sirius’s arms as her evil gambit succeeded.

The golden chains that were coiled around the girl were the same as those that Subaru had seen wrapped around Lusbel inside the tower, and a flood of tears flowed from Lusbel’s eyes—the hostage was Tina, the very same childhood friend whom Lusbel had supposedly been protecting.

Right as Subaru realized the new hostage’s identity, anger consumed Emilia as she laid eyes on the crying girl.

“—That wrath is wasted on you.”

That was the moment Sirius smiled more wickedly than ever before. She then slammed her right arm against the ground, generating a blast of wind that sent Emilia flying backward.

The resulting shockwave kicked up black dust over the center of the square. Emilia rolled onto the paving stones, unable to break her fall. She came to a rest faceup on the ground with her limbs spread out.

“Ah…”

Emilia squirmed about a little, but she only stirred to cough painfully, barely able to breathe.

Seeing this, Sirius let Tina drop and roll at her feet as she raised both arms to the heavens. At that moment, the intensity of the flames enveloping them made them burn so bright, they seemed ready to split the entire sky asunder.

And with flames still entwining her arms, Sirius boisterously applauded Emilia.

“Such sweet passions are not for insects to embrace. Seeing that is just nauseating— Now then, let me say thank you, and sorry.”

Crossing both arms above her head, Sirius increased the potency of the inferno enveloping her.

“Emilia!”

That instant, realizing that he needed to save Emilia, Subaru leaped down from the top of the tower without hesitation. Trusting Beatrice to soften their landing, he focused only on getting to Emilia as fast as he could.

With Beatrice’s magic reducing his body weight to nothing, Subaru safely slowed as he approached the ground. He got ready to charge forward. Or at least, he tried.

“Move, legs, move!!”

Subaru’s limbs rattled and trembled, immobilized as if cowering in fear. The same went for Beatrice on his back and Lusbel in his arms. They couldn’t stop shaking with fright.

The emotions probably came from Tina, who had fallen at Sirius’s feet, spreading from her to them. As she shrank from unprecedented fear, their hearts became one, leaving Subaru and Beatrice unable to shake off the waves of terror.

“…E…milia…!”

With his throat convulsing, his uncontrollable sobbing and nausea left him unable to even shout the name of the girl he loved.

Subaru’s voice likely would not have reached Emilia either way.

What was Emilia thinking as she lay there, powerless before the approaching apocalyptic firestorm?

—This, too, would vanish in the hot white of the inferno burning everything to ash, remaining unknown for all eternity.

“”

The square was scorched by an incredible amount of heat. The heat wave seared skin and lungs alike.

The spectacle of flame was so awe-inspiring that it could only be considered a true enigma.

“Suba…ru…”

As Subaru fell to his knees before the sea of flames, Beatrice called out to him from somewhere behind him.

Subaru didn’t look back. He was still bent forward, every inch of his entire body ruled by fear. He had become desperate even as he denied the reality unfolding before his eyes.

Compared with the desolate alternative, he saw fear as salvation. If he didn’t have to sear into his own eyes the worst of all worlds that had ever come about, then it would be better to simply stay there, ruled by fear foreve—

“Suba-Subaru! Subaru!”

Even so, Beatrice continued calling out Subaru’s name with even greater urgency.

She smacked his head multiple times, but Subaru shook his head side to side. He couldn’t stand. He had no reason to stand.

…Even if, at that moment, the madwoman stood directly before Subaru’s eyes, ready to take his life.

“—I made it in time.”

The instant he heard that voice, Subaru’s heart gave in to his fear of not knowing.

He lifted his head, turning his eyes toward where the flame had fallen onto Emilia and wondering what had happened.

—There was a single man.

Calmly standing on the paving stones, which spewed black smoke, he acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary. And in his arms, the man carried the girl whom Subaru had presumed lost, the girl whom he was sure had vanished.

“Emi…lia…”

The girl whom he had despaired over, the girl enveloped by the flames that he had failed to save her from—she was still there.

Eyes closed, she had gone limp—unconscious. However, her chest rose and fell almost imperceptibly—an unmistakable sign of life. She was not dead. Emilia was alive.

“You’re…”

He was now looking at the person who had suddenly appeared to save Emilia from mortal peril.

Subaru was glad to see that Emilia was safe, but even then, the fear tormenting his heart had not subsided as he called out to the man’s back with a trembling voice.

In response, the man slowly turned around. He relaxed his lips.

“I have come for her. I am relieved I arrived in time. Truly.”

“Come for… What do you…?”

“—I have come to collect my bride. Is that not what one should do as a man—nay, as a person?”

Those unexpected words, spoken as if they were the most natural thing in the world, instantly brought Subaru’s mind to a grinding halt.

While Subaru was as still as a rock, a thin smile came over the young man with a shock of white hair.

“I am the Witch Cult’s Archbishop of Greed—Regulus Corneas.”

“As promised—I have come to make her my seventy-ninth wife.”

Sub-chapter 3.

The man in white had abruptly intervened in the battlefield of raging fire and ice.

He was neither tall nor short and sported white hair and a symmetrical face that left a somewhat middling impression. His physique seemed to be the theoretical ideal of a man of medium height and medium build. Judging from his outward appearance alone, he seemed to have a weak presence that probably let him immediately blend in with any crowd.

But the young man, who lacked defining features, had a name that could not be ignored.

“The Archbishop of Greed…?!”

Before Subaru’s shocked eyes, the man—Regulus—stood serenely in the aftermath of the firestorm in the square.

Regulus was calm after picking up Emilia, who was still unconscious, and enduring Sirius’s apocalyptic inferno.

“But I truly must say, I am glad I reached her in time. My lovely bride was nearly burned to cinders. Even I, a person who takes pride in requesting little from others, am not so strong as to stoically accept my lovely bride being turned into a pile of ashes. Well, that is only natural. I am not an abnormal person, so of course, I could not simply bear with such degeneracy.”

Looking down at Emilia, who was resting in his arms, Regulus spoke eloquently with an expression of relief on his face. The contents of his words were strangely out of place, but there was no mistaking from what he said that he was already ignoring the urgency of the situation from the get-go.

Unfortunately, since Emilia was unconscious, there was no way for his show of concern to reach her, putting it all to waste.

Watching Regulus take everything at his own pace, Subaru swallowed hard before he spoke up.

“Wh-what do you think you’re…?”

“—Excuse me.”

Suddenly, Regulus looked toward Subaru and interrupted his attempt to say something.

Irritation shone clearly in his empty eyes as he sighed with a note of exasperated fatigue.

“Do you not understand the meaning of courtesy? I introduced myself first, didn’t I? The only considerate thing to do would be to introduce yourself to ensure that everything can smoothly proceed. Knowing each other’s names is the first step to establishing a working relationship, yes? I am the kind of person who considers that important, you see, and so I have introduced myself. Of course, this is a basic level of consideration that normally shouldn’t need to be explained—am I wrong? I mean, normally, people simply understand. The fact that you did not and could not—is that something you did on purpose? Or have you simply lived until this very day in such an obtuse manner? This is incredibly rude. To drop formalities with another is to express that you do not see the other party as worthy of politeness. In other words, that is denying their individuality. It is nothing less than infringing upon another’s rights. You are infringing on my rights—me, a rational man free of want or desire.”

“…A—all right, I get it. My name is…Subaru Natsuki.”

Seeing that Regulus’s eyes were becoming more and more tinged with madness as he rambled on and on, Subaru offered his name, heeding the alarm bells going off in his mind.

Instantly, Regulus stopped moving his lips. He slowly narrowed his eyes.

“…Yes, that’s good. Respecting others is part and parcel of respecting yourself. Such concerns may be natural, but this is what creates a better world for all parties to live in. One should not yearn for too many things and accept happiness that is appropriate to one’s station. By abandoning selfish desires, everyone may live within their means. Such is a wise and praiseworthy way of life.”

Regulus laid out his sound argument with such tranquility that it wouldn’t be strange for someone to assume he was joking. But the glimmer in both of his eyes proved that this was no game.

Just like with Sirius’s logic, Regulus’s words sounded like sane if flowery rhetoric at first glance. Yes, his remarks were the same, using superficially sound reasoning to gloss over the abominable statements nestled within—

“Thank you for your opinion— Now burn to ashes and begone!!”

The instant he had the thought, Regulus stood there as a fire resembling an overflowing waterfall assailed him.

The ferocious heat wave from the apocalyptic inferno enveloping the square made Subaru cover his face. Even though Regulus had introduced himself as a fellow Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, Sirius had mercilessly scorched the other away for having interfered with her plan.

And so without any time to counter her, Regulus and Emilia were engulfed by flame once more.

“Subaru…”

Behind his back, Beatrice’s voice trembled as she grabbed onto his shoulder with enough strength to hurt. This was a sign of her concern for Emilia. Subaru knew exactly how she felt, so much so that it stung almost unbearably.

But Greed was so off the charts that the pair’s concerns held no meaning whatsoever.

“Now just a moment. Who raised you to resort to flames before your words? If you wish to say something, then speak. Or are you a talentless fool who cannot even understand language?”

Waving an arm in annoyance, Regulus extinguished the vortex of scorching flame.

The firestorm vanished like it was nothing more than an illusion, with Regulus standing utterly unaffected at its center. Of course, the same went for Emilia there in his arms.

Even after those flames had surrounded him, he didn’t show a single drop of sweat, never mind a burn mark.

“You and I are both Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins, yes? I know that you must be touched in the head. I have enough tolerance to overlook a great many things. However, you see…”

Looking back, Regulus lowered his voice as he glared at Sirius. Taking stock of his gaze, Sirius continued to rub together the golden chains wrapped around both her arms as she gritted her teeth in hatred.

“Just now, you intended to slay this girl by fire, yes? It is somewhat unreasonable to ask me to forgive that transgression. Since time immemorial, every story tells us that when the people we love are harmed, it undoubtedly stokes the fires of anger. That is a right that everyone possesses, and therefore, it is only natural that I am justified in seeking vengeance.”

“Anger?! Ha, do not make me laugh! A small, superficial man like you should not lightly utter such words! Anger is mine! It is the irreplaceable treasure that my precious bestowed upon me!”

“What is it with you? Are you still obsessed with that fool who went ahead on his own and died? My, my, how creepy. Only a flawed person would cling to a dead man all this time. If someone you love dies, you should proactively search for another. That is a law of the world, the extent of nature, and to disobey makes you…quite the piece of garbage.”

“I know you laughed at his death—do not dare to speak such lofty words to me!!”

Showered in detached insults, Sirius sprayed spittle as she flew into a rage.

Giving in to her anger, the madwoman broke a paving stone as she stepped forward to swing her flame-imbued golden chains at Regulus—only for the blow to bounce right off the side of the man’s face. The chains made a dull sound as they struck flesh again and again, going left and right as Sirius’s blinding rage struck Regulus all over. The flaming trails left in their wake enveloped the young man as he stood perfectly still.

“Begonebegonebegonebegonebegone! Turn to cinders along with that abominable half-demon!!”

The next moment, the cage of fire converged toward the center, enveloping Regulus in a rising pillar of searing flames.

Its height surpassed that of the wrecked time tower. Paving stones melted under the intense heat, and enough melted away at the center of the scorching fire, where Regulus stood, that a crater had formed.

There was no mistaking that these flames were not something a mere human could endure. However, no matter how apocalyptic the inferno seemed—

“—You know, you really should realize it by now. You just don’t measure up, you see.”

There, in the crater that was burned by flames all over, a sad smile came over Regulus.

Sure enough, he was unaffected by chain or flame. Emilia was intact within his arms as well. Subaru should have been happy to confirm once again that she was safe, but at the same time, he could see an end coming that would be difficult to avoid.

—If the fight continued, Sirius would be slain by Regulus.

If that was the only issue, Subaru would’ve been fine with it. If anything, having the number of Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins whittled down through infighting was something to celebrate—or it would’ve been if Sirius’s death didn’t affect all the surrounding people, that is.

“”

Even then, the fear racing through Subaru’s body was undiminished. His knees buckled, and his lungs were unreliable, racked by pain that refused to subside.

But in this situation—

“Subaru.”

—his precious partner called him by name, scolding Subaru Natsuki for shirking and cowering.

“”

The warmth that he felt through his back lent strength to his bowed knees. They gave him the courage to defy his fear, to stand and face the twin natural disasters that were the madwoman of Wrath and the villain of Greed.

If Subaru had been by himself, he probably would have long since succumbed to fear. Standing up would’ve been impossible.

Subaru could only do so now because he wasn’t alone. Unlike the people consumed by madness, Subaru had someone right by his side.

That was why—

“…Lusbel. Can you stand and run on your own?”

Putting the boy, whom he had carried in his arms, down on the ground, Subaru released him from his bonds. Lusbel gazed at Subaru, and then he turned to look at Sirius’s feet out of concern for Tina.

“I know you’re worried. But leave that girl to us.”

“…Okay. Please save Tina somehow…”

With teary eyes, Lusbel entrusted Subaru with his hope. Subaru accepted it with a solemn nod—Lusbel’s wish was noble. He wouldn’t let anyone sully it.

“—Beatrice.”

“I know.”

Communicating his thought with a single call of her name, Subaru and Beatrice advanced toward the chaotic battlefield.

Fear had knocked him down. The enemy they faced was almost incomprehensibly dangerous. But most importantly, Subaru had a reason to fight.

“Hmm?”

Right as he was busy glaring at Sirius, Regulus raised an eyebrow, having abruptly felt that something was off.

The cause was probably the end of a whip wrapped around his slender neck. After flying through the air, the whip had found purchase on Regulus’s neck, tightening along its length to rob him of his freedom.

Taking this as a signal, Lusbel raced across the chaotic square. Watching his back…

“Now stop touching my Emilia like she belongs to you…!”

…Subaru howled, the explosion in his heart triggered by unceasing love.

He had no idea whatsoever how Regulus had fended off the flames. He could only assume it was probably the effect of an Authority, something on par with Petelgeuse’s Unseen Hands and Sirius’s soulwashing.

It was safe to assume that he wouldn’t be able to hurt Regulus. In that case, what about binding him with a whip to hinder his movements?

“—Shamak!”

Additionally, Beatrice conjured Shamak, the greatest of all spells, and enveloped Regulus in a black cloud.

Chanting while seated on Subaru’s back, Beatrice had plunged the villain’s thoughts into the void with perfect timing. If he could only pull the guy down within the darkness and take Emilia back—

“Do you have a death wish? Then you should just wait your turn. Do not make me bother with you.”

With a single step, Regulus completely blew away the black cloud surrounding him. It didn’t seem like the spell, which was meant to obliterate the victim’s five senses, had any effect on Regulus, who now turned his gaze toward Subaru and Beatrice as they raced forward.

Instantly, Subaru felt every hair on his body stand up as he sensed impending death, and so he shouted:

“Beako, now!!”

“I suppose I’m ready!”

Matching Subaru’s voice, Beatrice began a complex ritual.

—This evoked one of the fruits of their spending almost every waking moment of the last year together.

“—E M M!!”

Howling as he chanted, Subaru sent mana to Beatrice directly from his broken Gate. This power served as the activation key to initiate an original spell, the only one of its kind in the whole world.

This was E M M, one of the three spells jointly developed by Subaru and Beatrice.

Watching it unfold, Regulus looked like he thought he was being pranked as he stretched his right hand toward Subaru. The five fingers he opened without fanfare contained such immense power that Subaru instinctively knew it was the same as death itself reaching for him.

If they touched him, dying was unavoidable. However—

“Huh?!”

—the instant he thought he’d killed the pest, Regulus’s fingertips brushed the surface of Subaru’s body.

But that was all. There was no blood spatter, nor was Subaru cruelly transformed into a corpse.

This was the effect of E M M—an invisible magic field that covered the entire body, an absolute defensive spell that physically cut a being off from the world, designed to prevent anything from interacting with Subaru whatsoever.

“Uraaah!”

As Regulus blinked hard, Subaru aimed a mighty punch right at his shocked face.

He felt feedback; the punch had undoubtedly landed. But when Regulus recovered from the recoil, there was no mark on his face or any other sign that anything had happened. He had complete damage nullification—in other words, a full-time E M M state.

When Subaru thought about how his own E M M dispelled after taking one hit, the difference in power was staggering.

“I’m still charging!”

Before Regulus could counterattack, Beatrice informed Subaru about her progress toward the next spell. In the intervening time, Subaru was defenseless in a situation where both dodging and blocking were difficult—meaning he would simply have to sacrifice a bit of his soul.

“Do not act so high and—”

“Come!! Invisible Providence!!”

Subaru howled again. A moment later, an invisible fist crashed into Regulus’s irritated-looking face from below, slamming into his jaw.

Interrupted by the blow, Regulus was sent reeling. Subaru closed the distance to try and rip Emilia out of his arms—but then he stopped as he felt his intestines churning and a hot nausea rising up in his throat.

“Ugh, ubhhh!”

Covering his mouth, Subaru coughed. Blood dripped through the gaps in his fingers—this was the cost he paid.

The price of using this invisible force, a forbidden art that exceeded his body’s capacity, was the corruption of Subaru Natsuki’s soul and abject torture for his innards.

“Subaru! Are you all right, I wonder?!”

“Cough… Sorry, I messed up. Even though I wanted to get Emilia back right then…”

Heaving up the clot of blood stuck in his throat, Subaru gritted his teeth at the fact that he’d been one step too slow.

In the one year since the time he’d first used Invisible Providence, his cheap knockoff of Unseen Hands, he still hadn’t mastered it. The unseeable, invisible black hand coming out of his chest was an incomplete Authority, and the price that it demanded was pain that racked his entire body and the deterioration of his soul.

For all that, the effect was only a single punch—a fact that made him want to cry.

“But I still got something out of it… Getting hit by that guy is bad, but his movements are sluggish. Considering all the people I’ve seen to date, even Larry, Curly, and Moe could probably beat this guy.”

Regulus’s style of fighting was amateurish, below even the likes of Subaru; he was barely more skilled than a total novice. His ability to nullify damage was very troublesome, but even lethal blows didn’t mean anything if they couldn’t connect.

Annoyed by that appraisal, Regulus adjusted his grip on Emilia.

“What petty trickery… What if you harmed my lovely bride, flailing around like that? Even without someone teaching you manners, is it not natural to treat girls with kindness? Are you incapable of even that?”

“You just can’t stop grating on my nerves, can you? That girl’s the one I treat the kindest in the whole world. What do you think you’re doing, going ‘lovely bride’ this and ‘lovely bride’ that and all sorts of weird garbage?!”

“I’ve told you before, yes? Do not make me repeat myself—I have come to take this girl as my bride.”

Regulus’s brazen reply treated the sacred institution of marriage with such nonchalance that it was incredibly off-putting.

Even as he forced his quest of seeking love onto others, he prioritized only himself. His fundamentally warped logic was chill-inducing.

“Previously, I was unable to uphold an identical vow. That is why I shall not yield this time. I will protect her. I will take her as my wife, cherish her, and enjoy the tranquility that I am due. I do not wish for many things, but if it is for the sake of protecting my small slice of happiness, I will not hesitate to exploit the power that I have been granted.”

For the first time, Subaru felt fear coming from Regulus’s demeanor as the man shared what seemed to be his genuine thoughts.

Seeing Subaru’s reaction, Regulus went, “Ahh,” seeming to accept something as he nodded. “I see now… You know, it might be cruel to say this, but it’s futile to try and come between destined lovers. It pains me to say this, but everyone knows that it’s quite unsightly to pine for someone who is already spoken for.”

“Shut up! Emilia-tan is my bride. No way am I giving her up to the likes of you!”

“Heh, so Emilia is this girl’s name? It has a nice ring to it. It makes me want to whisper to her, admiring her like a songbird. That name suits this charming girl perfectly, yes?”

“You don’t even…know her name…? What do you see in her that makes you ramble on and on about how she’s your lovely bride?”

“Her face.”

He was stunned. Subaru fell silent after hearing his instantaneous reply.

Regulus cocked his head in confusion as the silence made him wonder if he’d been misunderstood.

“Her face is exquisite. When it comes to love, that is everything, isn’t it?”

“Die.”

“Would it not be better if he was dead, I wonder?”

Subaru and Beatrice’s condemnations overlapped out of simple shared enmity.

Simultaneously, Beatrice tapped Subaru’s shoulder from behind his back, indicating that she was done charging. The details of how Regulus’s damage-nullification Authority worked remained unclear, but they still had something to try.

This was the third of the original spells from the SubaBeako combo—

“—Whoa?!”

The instant he took his first step forward, the ground between Subaru and Regulus suddenly cracked open, revealing a pit of roaring flames.

The heat wave billowing up at Subaru made him recoil. He proceeded to back away, glaring at the perpetrator who had cut his counterattack short.

—It was Sirius, who had been content to simply observe the fight between Subaru and Regulus up to that point.

“You…! Wait, the girl… Where did you put Tina?”

There was no sign of the girl who’d been taken hostage and ought to have been at the madwoman’s feet. However, she did not reply to Subaru, keeping her palms thrust out as she maintained her silence.

He wasn’t sure what the nutcase had in mind after observing the battle so far, but having her intervene was exceptionally worse.

Dealing with Sirius herself was already difficult, especially considering how they had to work around her Authority. Sensing that the situation was deteriorating quickly, Subaru wiped cold sweat off his brow— However, the situation had worsened far more than he had imagined.

“—I have found you.”

“—Wha?”

Finally, as she stood still, Sirius looked at Subaru, and— No, she was only looking at Subaru and him alone as she continued murmuring.

Sirius suddenly seemed as if she’d completely forgotten her bloodlust from moments before. The madwoman was now ignoring Regulus’s very existence, giving her undivided attention to Subaru. Subaru’s throat dried out instantly when he saw the crazed glint in her eye.

Then the madwoman pulled back both arms, which she had thrust out, and gently pressed her hands against her cheeks.

“I have found you. I have found you. I have found you. Ahh, ahh, ahhhh! Yes, there’s no mistake! I am sorry, I am so sorry I didn’t notice earlier! But ahh, it really was true!”

“Wh-what the…?”

“You were here all along, darling?! I searched everywhere but couldn’t find you, and all your spares had been ripped away, nowhere to be found! I have searched for you for so, so, so, so, so, so, so, long…and now you have finally returned! My darling has returned to my side!”

Her shrill, high-pitched voice was born from indecent passion.

Continuing to press her hands to her cheeks, Sirius wriggled and writhed about, her slender hips shaking as her voice leaped with joy. When it finally dawned on Subaru that every aspect of her voice and her demeanor was a manifestation of seething romantic passion, he was struck with horror.

“My feelings have reached you! Finally, my love has reached you! After all this time!”

Utterly ignoring Subaru’s shock, Sirius stretched both hands out toward him.

Then with all the spirit that the madwoman possessed, she pronounced her love in a thundering voice.

“I have been waiting aaaaall this time for you and only you…my beloved, beloved Petelgeuse!”

Sub-chapter 4.

The repulsive zeal in that violet eye was all aimed at Subaru.

The sight of Sirius’s ecstatic gaze left him unable to do anything but draw in his breath.

“…She is…staring at you, Subaru.”

“…I know, so please don’t say it out loud and make me feel worse.”

When Beatrice whispered to him from his back, Subaru replied as he suppressed his fear as best as he could.

He’d felt this terrible premonition during the first time around that one loop.

“…This Romanée-Conti family thing almost sounded like an insane joke, but…”

At first, he’d entertained the ridiculous idea of a famous family in the Witch Cult cranking out one Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins after another, but reality easily exceeded Subaru’s expectations.

“If you have to be a husband-and-wife team of Archbishops, then you should get to pick your bride… Well, I guess if she is your pick, there’s nothing I can do about it, but…”

“Please do not ignore me, Petelgeuse. You truly are naughty. Always acting so coldly toward me… It just, just, just—frustrates me so much!”

Over a year after they last met, Subaru was finding new reasons to resent Petelgeuse and his awful taste.

Meanwhile, Sirius squirmed and pleaded with him in an ingratiating voice. Just the gestures from the bandaged madwoman were nightmarish enough, but seeing the soulwashed crowd performing the same gestures made the scene an outright comedy.

The fact that their souls were being manipulated to make them go along with the madwoman’s delusions really made it more of a tragedy, though.

“And what’s her basis for mistaking me for that Petelgeuse bastard in the first place? I don’t resemble that jerk at all.”

“…Goodness, I simply cannot put up with this. Most likely, she saw your earlier trick, spurring her current disturbing delusion. She truly does not know the meaning of shame. Strong women are so difficult to deal with when they become convinced of something. It goes well beyond pitiable and simply becomes unsightly.”

Regulus, now out of sight and out of mind as far as Sirius was concerned, shrugged with unconcealed disdain on his face.

But Subaru had learned something—it was Invisible Providence that had caused this. Sirius had mistakenly identified that incomplete Authority as Unseen Hands.

What made things worse was the fact that the evil spirit Petelgeuse had the power to possess and hijack the bodies of others. There was no room for doubt that the madwoman thought he was dwelling inside Subaru.

Setting that deduction aside, Sirius’s burning zeal from a moment before vanished like a mirage as she glared at Regulus with frigid eyes.

“Yes, yes, thank you kindly. And so very, very sorry. Right now, I am in the middle of something. Do you understand? Comprehension is quite important, and mutual understanding is just as critical. You’ve finished what you came for, yes? Would you quickly take your leave now?”

“Are you giving me an order? Do not make me laugh. Speaking of making me laugh, you called yourself Sirius Romanée-Conti, did you not? Would you notice already that using your feelings for him as an excuse to take his family name as your own without permission is just downright disturbing? In a sense, that is an infringement upon Petelgeuse’s rights. Well, dead people don’t have rights, so I suppose it’s fine, really.”

“He and I loved each other!!”

Regulus’s words, filled with bottomless disdain, triggered another explosion of Sirius’s emotions.

“I mean, our eyes met over and over again daily! He never scolded me for taking out his things! He let me have his leftover food and said nothing even as I breathed in the air he breathed out! He never grimaced when I slept in the same bed that he had, and he even praised me for skillfully burning half-demons away! He gave me my name! He smiled! For me, me, me aloooone!!”

Sirius’s breath had become ragged, her bandages drenched with tears as she laid her feelings bare. The gruesome sight and the contents of her words made Subaru feel sorry for Sirius for the very first time.

In addition, Sirius’s indignation resonated, and the surrounding crowd was suffused with roiling emotions once again. Their faces became dark red, and the bleeding from their eyes and noses increased; it was clear from a single glance that their lives were being whittled away.

“S-stop it! If this is for my sake, then don’t drag the people around us into this! Behave, please!”

“Behave, you say?”

Thinking about the collateral damage, Subaru clung to a single thread of hope: trying to play on Sirius’s yearning.

When Subaru made that dangerous gamble, Sirius stared at him in a daze for a while.

“…Ah-ha, ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”

Embracing her slender body, Sirius guffawed at Subaru’s words. Her reaction made Subaru tense up. Seeing this, Sirius tore her mouth open to form a crescent moon.

“Even if you wish it, I refuse. I mean, we’ve finally reunited! We have finally met like this once more. And yet once again, you ask me to endure, to hold back?! How dare you tell me to wait while some spirit I’ve never seen clings to your back!! I will burn you!!!”

Even as she spoke, her emotions raged as Sirius let out a roar and pointed at Subaru—no, at Beatrice on Subaru’s back. Sirius then shifted her other hand toward Regulus.

“Either way, your real objective is the half-demon that man is carrying, isn’t it?! Why are you so partial to a filthy, silver-haired half-demon?! Surely, you understand by now?! Why choose that wretched, vulgar, damned half-demon…?! If you love her that much, then I will burn her before your very eyes…!”

“Geez, I don’t even understand a thing you’re saying anymore…”

Screaming and even coughing up blood, Sirius vented her hatred toward both Emilia and the Witch of Jealousy.

Wasn’t resurrecting the Witch of Jealousy the Witch Cult’s goal? Subaru couldn’t understand why she treated the supposed object of their worship like it was the one thing she most hated in the entire world.

More than that, it meant Sirius didn’t share Petelgeuse’s long-cherished desire in the slightest, didn’t it?

In any case, with Subaru’s hope for a breakthrough dashed, the situation had turned into a three-sided battlefield.

That said, the side in the worst state was, without a doubt, Subaru’s party. Despite surviving longer than in any other loop this time around, his failure to acquire any information except how dangerous their enemies were left him in all-consuming despair.

But he couldn’t simply stand there—he had to save Emilia and the city.

“Isn’t it fine either way, I wonder?”

From his back, the sound of a dependable voice bolstered Subaru’s decision. Relying on that voice, Subaru moved to boldly leap toward the two Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins—

“—Excuse me, I am sorry to interrupt when you are getting so motivated, but it is finally time, you see.”

“What?”

Regulus cut in and dashed Subaru and Beatrice’s resolve. Still carrying Emilia with one hand, he pointed toward the sky with his empty one.

—The next moment, the sound of a bell echoed in the sky above the City of Water. That tolling indicated that noon had arrived.

Nodding in response, a melancholic smile came over Regulus as he spoke up.

“With this, I no longer have free time to spare for you. At the very least, you should be thankful to the Gospel that… No. It is meaningless to thank a torn page. You should be thankful to me, then, for doing my part in obeying the Gospel.”

Leaving these words behind, Regulus turned his back on Subaru and Beatrice, having lost all interest in them. Dumbstruck by his sheer gall, Subaru immediately exploded.

“Hold on a minute! ‘Time,’ you say? What about the time? What the hell are you talking about?!”

“It is exactly as you heard. My free time has come to an end. We have something that we came to do in this city. Ahh, I do not mean merely me, but also the woman touched in the head over there. Isn’t that right, Sirius?”

Replying to Subaru’s inquiry, Regulus motioned his chin toward Sirius as the latter stood still.

When Subaru looked over, it was shocking how Sirius, who had been so enraged before, was obediently tucking her chains into her sleeves, looking like she wasn’t satisfied with the outcome. Nonetheless, she was clearly getting ready to move on just like Regulus.

What impudent, selfish, completely conceited people were they to do this much and then just drop it all and walk away?

“Ahh, do not lament, Petelgeuse! I understand! I, too, wish so much to burn what is incomplete! To act like this before you… It fills me with such sadness that I wish to tear my chest apart! Is it not the same for you, darling?!”

In stark contrast to Regulus’s composure, Sirius clawed at her face in grief. Swallowed up by the madwoman’s emotions, the crowd let out sobs and laments that filled the square.

As that painful and revolting scene played out before him, Subaru ferociously broke into a sprint. Regulus was right there, carrying Emilia out of the square as if the conversation was already at an end.

“Wait, you bastard! Don’t carry on with the conversation all on your own! Put that girl down! If you don’t…”

“You see, a thought occurred to me.”

Stopping in his tracks, Regulus turned only his head toward Subaru, smiling.

That smile petrified Subaru’s body—almost fatally so.

“It is a lonely thing to have a ceremony without any attendants on the new bride’s side, so it would be a little too coldhearted and pitiless of me not to invite you, the illicit lover— Therefore, I will not kill you.”

As he spoke, Regulus lightly tapped a paving stone with the tip of his toe.

With a gesture that made it seem like he was only adjusting the fit of his shoe, he shaved the top of the paving stone right off. The resulting debris flew toward Subaru’s legs—instantly causing his right leg to explode.

“—Eh?”

A horrid cross section was revealed as if he’d been gouged by a massive beast’s claw, neatly exposing Subaru’s white bone, pink flesh, yellowish fat, and gray-colored blood vessels, which had been savagely severed.

Incomprehension. Comprehension. A moment later, the pain reached his brain.

“?!! Daaagh! Agaaaagh?!”

His vision went pure white as terrible pain shot through him. It was as if a number of sharp needles had been stabbed into the crown of his head.

Screaming, Subaru failed to break his fall as he tumbled to the ground. He then tried to stanch the leg injury with his hands. It was no use. The wound was too big. Subaru’s hands alone could not plug it.

“Subaru?! Subaru! Subaru, hold on! Let me—!”

Beatrice, falling to the ground alongside Subaru, hurriedly activated a healing spell as she realized the gravity of his injury. Seeing the pair reduced to that miserable state, Regulus nodded in apparent satisfaction.

“Your demeanor toward me has been quite rude this whole time, but with this, let us call it even. I hope this pain serves as sufficient motivation for you to reflect upon your actions. Ahh, there is no need to thank me. I mean, this really isn’t enough to thank someone for. It is merely a wake-up call that should be natural coming from any reasonable person.”

“Aaaaa! Gah, ghh, ugoaaah!!”

That voice wasn’t audible anymore. Pain, pain—Subaru Natsuki was ruled by pain alone.

His eyes were cloudy. He was clenching his back teeth so hard that they seemed ready to split in half. His vision was completely red. He didn’t have any sense of up or down, left or right. Incomprehension. Incomprehensionincomprehension. He did not comprehend, but there was something he knew.

“Emiliaaa…! Waghhh, urgh, goeee!”

In the throes of excruciating pain, Subaru called out the name of the girl who was the only thing he cared about in that moment. But it was useless. As he gasped from pain, tiny Beatrice desperately tried to keep him from thrashing about as she continued treating him.

However, as if to mock Beatrice’s dedicated efforts, the situation continued to worsen.

“…This isn’t funny in the least.”

“My apologies. But this is no joke. This, too, is a matter of natural consequence.”

As Beatrice murmured despondently, Sirius replied from somewhere behind her in a melancholic voice.

All around Sirius, people were writhing in pain. They were screaming from the crippling pain in their leg, identical to Subaru’s wound. It was as if they’d all been maimed by the same beast.

“If my beloved Petelgeuse had a chance to share a few words, he would say this: Pain makes us savor life, and life exists so that we may prove our love. I believe this to be true as well. That is why I have this wish! After all, love is the wish to become one! To see the same things, to feel the same things, to pass the time together, to end our lives together—for love is all about joining with one another!”

Spreading both hands wide, Sirius brought them together before her chest, producing a loud, explosive sound resembling applause.

After indulging in the suffering of others with an expression of pure ecstasy, Sirius turned a hateful eye toward Beatrice.

“Everyone should taste the same life as my precious. But I shall allow no such thing for you or for that filthy half-elf. Who would knowingly allow you to share anything with my precious?”

“…Would you cease being so crazed with jealousy, I wonder? Betty has long become one with Subaru without turning into anything like you. Is Betty not Subaru’s, I wonder?”

“—!”

Beatrice gave a retort, conceding nothing to Sirius and her manipulative words.

The spirit and the madwoman sternly crossed gazes. But the madwoman quickly averted her eyes from the staring contest.

“For now, I leave him to you, for the instructions of the Gospel must take precedence. Yes, I have little choice in the matter. So sorry. My apologies. But I will come to see you again soon. Yes, very soon indeed.”

To the end, Sirius directed her mad feelings of love toward Subaru, even as unbearable pain stripped him of conscious thought. On a final note, the madwoman gave Subaru a long stare of yearning before departing from the bloody square with a single leap.

Beatrice could not even keep her eyes on Sirius’s back as she faded into the distance. Before she realized it, all sight of Regulus, and Emilia with him, had vanished from the square.

“—Subaru.”

Subaru was unconscious, vomiting stomach fluids mixed with froth.

Touching his leg, she continued to treat the still-bleeding wound. The site of the injury was large and deep; if she let her mind wander, he would almost certainly die of blood loss. Subaru’s life was Beatrice’s first priority.

There were nearly fifty other wounded besides Subaru in the square. Thanks to the Authority of Wrath, they had suffered the same exact wound as him, but the effect of Beatrice’s healing was not being shared. It was an abominable Authority.

“—Subaru, I am so sorry.”

Diligently tending to Subaru’s health, Beatrice murmured frailly as she tried to stay strong.

A tear fell from her one of her wide-open eyes, leaving a line as it coursed down her white cheek.

“I am so sorry. Could I be any sorrier, I wonder…?”

Beatrice apologized over and over, even though she knew that her voice could not reach Subaru, who had passed out from the pain.

Even though she knew that her words changed nothing.

“I am so sorry, Emilia…!”

Sirius of Wrath had toyed with people’s hearts, creating a long list of casualties in the process.

And after a display of overwhelming might, Regulus of Greed had abducted Emilia.

—Two Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins had been unleashed upon the Water Gate City of Pristella.

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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.

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