Chapter 26 - ARC IV : CHAPITRE VII : RYUZU SHIMA

Author : Sorry for the delay, guys, but given Shima's complex, archaic language, I had to go back to my old philosophy books to better understand it.

The stone was as cold as ever. A glacial touch that seemed intent on sucking away what little human warmth he had left. How many times? How many times would the world persist in dragging him back here, like a convict forced to relive his sentence? Trizz wondered if he possessed a Divine Protection of Insolent Misfortune. It would be the only logical explanation for this metaphysical hounding.

​His eyes were wide with residual shock. Acid reflux burned his dry throat. He slammed his hand violently against his mouth, stifling a retch. It wasn't just bile; his brain screamed at him that he could still taste the metallic warmth of Elsa's blood-that vomit of death she had forced upon him with her final breath.

​He regained his composure, his breathing wheezing.

​Ram's manipulation... Otto the suspect... Elsa, Meili, Lyra eliminated. And Leith... that half-dead bastard.

​This loop had been a brutal but effective Test Run. The puzzle was almost complete. Only Leith's case remained an enigma. That ability to return without trauma, to multiply his lives like a common pawn... Trizz knew it wasn't an Authority. It was the claw of Capella. An education through mutilation where death is merely a statistical datum, a physical brainwashing that only the monsters of Lust could conceive.

​Trizz massaged his temples. This save point always arrived at the moment he sacrificed his sleep to train with Beatrice. A melancholy smile stretched across his lips, but it quickly faded. He had forgotten the detail that he had to take responsibility for Her.

​Beside him, sitting on the cold stone, was a young girl with long silver hair. Emilia. She stared at the ground with a heartbreaking insecurity, her shoulders slumped like a beaten child. Trizz had pushed her, almost unconsciously, to stand up. Was it his fault she was in this state of regression? Absolutely not.

​He glanced over his shoulder at Subaru. The latter was trembling, his eyes fixed on Trizz as if he were seeing a ghost. It was understandable Subaru had just watched his friend be eviscerated by a psychopath before receiving an axe to the skull.

​Trizz (coldly): "I'll leave you with Emilia. Take care of her, Barusu. She needs her hero."

​Trizz didn't like her. To him, Emilia was nothing but an emotional leech. She loved "Trizz the Hero," the image of perfection and strength he projected, but she was incapable of seeing-or enduring-"Trizz the Broken Man," the one the loops had reduced to tatters of flesh and hatred. Her naivety wasn't cute; it was a mortal danger.

​Trizz stepped out of the Tomb, leaving the two idealists behind. Outside, the plain was bathed in a glacial moon. The scent of his own Miasma of Pride felt more aggressive than usual, a foul emanation that only Echidna seemed to appreciate.

​He descended the steps, hand still on his aching head, and stopped beside the pink-haired maid.

​Ram: "Have you finally come to your senses, Frizz? Running into that tomb without permission and, worse, returning without Emilia-sama... Ram bitterly regrets having believed, for even a second, in your intelligence."

​Trizz (indifferent): "I admit that entering that old pile of dust was stupid

​Trizz (indifferent): "I admit that entering that old pile of dust was stupid. Unless my virility drove me to face my past? Who knows?"

​Ram turned her blood-red eyes toward him, a dry, mocking laugh escaping her lips.

​Ram: "Your virility? Your virility is nothing but a mixture of self-destruction and a revolting masochistic tendency, Frizz."

​Trizz didn't flinch. From his perspective, she wasn't wrong. Viewed from the outside, his persistence looked like masochism. But wasn't that simply the price of Pride? He noted, not without a hint of cynical amusement, that she was truly short. From his height of 178 cm, he had to look down to meet her eyes, fixed at 155 cm.

​Trizz: "My masochistic tendency is the best weapon to protect you, isn't it... Blood Eyes?"

​Ram (frowning): "Ram hates that new nickname. It simply proves your total disconnection from reality. You invent words to avoid facing your own flaws."

​Trizz: "Ram, always that rigid facade... But it doesn't matter. Subaru is watching over Emilia. In my view, the Trials haven't yet completely broken what remains of her spirit."

​Ram let out an annoyed snort, closing her eyes for a brief moment. Beneath this appearance of a devoted servant hid a woman ready to sacrifice Trizz on the altar of her master's interests. To the false Archbishop, even his allies were merely passive enemies.

​A voice, soft and steeped in the politeness of another age, then rose behind them.

​???: "Garf-bo... I implore your pardon for this untimely delay. Just like me, you are not unaware that our Sanctuary has known great turmoil since the arrival of the royal candidate."

​Trizz turned around. Garfiel's menacing fangs faded, replaced by a relieved look. Before him stood a fragile silhouette: a young girl with long pink hair, light blue eyes, and pointed ears, dressed in an immaculate white dress. She appeared to be only eleven or twelve years old, but her gaze carried a centuries-old melancholy.

​Garfiel (lowering his hands): "Baa-chan, it's nothing. I know since Emilia-sama got here, everything's going to hell. Especially because of this buffoon who reeks of mabeast blood and moldy old paper."

​The girl, observed Trizz with a wise curiosity. Her eyes widened slightly before returning to their calm shape. She placed a hand on her chin, adopting the posture of an old soul in a child's body.

​???: "Garf-bo... Have Emilia-sama or Ra-bo not taken the trouble to tell you the identity of this man standing before you?"

​Garfiel (arms crossed, baring his teeth): "Him? I don't know who this moron dressed as a Cultist is, but he doesn't seem reliable for the safety of the Sanctuary's lambs!"

​???: (waving her hand to calm the young man): "I see you have hardly gathered information on this boy, Garf-bo. He is of a very singular essence, both for our camp and for this place."

​Garfiel: "Singular? But Baa-chan, he reeks of the Witch from miles away! The strangest thing is, it's the first time My Amazing Self has smelled a scent like that."

​???: "Lend an ear, Garf-bo. This young man is the one who saved the candidate, restored her honor, and preserved the villagers from death. He even raised funds for the well-being of this Sanctuary and slew hundreds of fanatics, including an Archbishop. This attire he wears is not a confession, but undoubtedly a ruse of camouflage."

​Garfiel then stared at the man with eyes of dried blood. Trizz stood there, hand on the back of his neck, chatting with a sarcastic but strangely protective Ram. Garfiel's suspicion did not vanish, but deep down, he understood that this man preferred to be perceived as a monster rather than a hero. This vision placed him far above the arrogant knights Garfiel detested, forcing a silent respect.

​Garfiel: "Hey, you! Stinky! Baa-chan wants to talk to you! At the slightest weird move, My Exterminating Self will turn you into mush!"

​Trizz interrupted his verbal sparring with Ram to meet the gaze of Garfiel, whose voice seemed a little less hostile, though still tinged with resentment.

​Ram (closing her red eyes with a glacial bow): "Frizz, your presence is required. Tomorrow, we shall pursue your suicidal plans. May you have many nightmares, Frizz."

She walked away with a polite and distant gait, without a single backward glance.

Trizz: "The same goes for you, Blood Eyes!"

​The sound of her boots on the cold cobblestones stopped dead. Trizz spun around, surprised by a presence he hadn't anticipated. Usually, at this exact point in the loop, he would flee the Tomb to avoid awkward questions. But this time, his curiosity-or perhaps the arrogance of believing he mastered the script-had kept him there.

Standing before him was a young girl with long, pale pink hair, wearing the ceremonial robes of the Sanctuary

Standing before him was a young girl with long, pale pink hair, wearing the ceremonial robes of the Sanctuary. Trizz recognized her immediately. This was no simple, hollow copy. Her gaze bore the weight of years.

Trizz (Smoothing his uniform to mask his surprise): "Good evening, Ryuzu-san. Is there something I can do for you?"

​The silence that followed was heavy. Trizz froze internally. Mistake. He had just uttered her name with a familiarity a stranger should never have possessed.

Ryuzu brought a delicate hand to her mouth, a muffled giggle crinkling her wise eyes.

Ryuzu Shima: "Oh? It would seem my patronymic is already familiar to you, young man... That is quite singular indeed. It suits me, then, to forgo formal introductions, if that is your wish, Tri-bo."

​Tri-bo. That nickname-a mixture of condescending affection and matriarchal authority-made the Archbishop grit his teeth.

Trizz: "That doesn't bother me. Let's move straight to the main subject. What do you want from me?"

He had to regain control. The fact that she had requested his presence, and not Subaru's or Emilia's, was a worrying statistical anomaly.

​Ryuzu Shima (Taking a slow step toward him): "You are quite hasty, Tri-bo. But so be it, since the hour is late... I wonder. What exactly did you see in the Trials?"

She gently clapped her hands, and her round, inscrutable gaze locked onto Trizz's crimson pupils, searching for a truth he was carefully concealing.

Ryuzu Shima: "According to the immutable laws of this Sanctuary, the Tomb does not permit entry to souls who are not invited... Yet, you have emerged from it."

​Her voice, when she mentioned the "Witch," was tinged with a centuries-old melancholy-a respect mixed with sadness. Trizz analyzed the situation in a fraction of a second. Should he confess his conversation with Echidna? No. Telling the truth here would be suicidal. He had to play the role of the victim.

Trizz (Adopting a confused look, massaging his temple): "I met that Witch, indeed. She invited me for tea... But the conversation is a blur. It's like a fog in my head. I believe she erased my memory before throwing me back out."

​A perfect lie. Echidna always took "payment" in the form of her guests' memories. Trizz, thanks to his Pride Factor, was immune to this erasure, but no one else could know that. Passing himself off as a manipulated puppet was the best defense.

Ryuzu Shima (Stepping closer, scrutinizing his face): "Hmn... It is curious to see the ease with which you narrate this encounter, Tri-bo. Your black-haired companion was in a visible state of panic when I explained the nature of his host. You, on the other hand... you seem quite placid for a man who has dined with the devil."

​Trizz (A cold smirk): "Let's just say I don't really feel fear anymore. When you've brushed against death countless times, a Witch quickly becomes... just a nice young girl offering tea."

Inside his skull, he heard Echidna's glacial laughter. "A nice young girl? What a flatterer you are, Frizz..." The Witch was mocking him, but he ignored her. He had to maintain his mask.

Ryuzu seemed to relax her posture slightly. Had she bought his "jaded warrior" act? Or did she simply think he was a fool who had fallen under Greed's spell? If she took him for a manipulated idiot, it was a blow to his Pride, but a tactical victory.

​Ryuzu Shima: "Understood. However, take heed, Tri-bo. The appearance of a book is no guarantee that reading it will be healthy for the mind."

Trizz: "Your advice will be kept in my memory... or at least, in what's left of it."

As if he didn't know Echidna was an intellectual predator. He had already cataloged her as a threat long before this copy started lecturing him.

​Ryuzu Shima: "You show a laudable level of understanding. However... another question gnaws at me. Unlike the other outsiders, why do you address me with such deference? We did not know each other before tonight, and I hardly recall recounting my status as Guardian to you."

Trizz's blood ran cold. Dammit. He had been too polite. Roswaal and Echidna were the only ones who noticed that kind of detail. Why was this "grandmother" so persistent in dissecting his behavior? Was this another punishment from Fate for deviating from his routine?

​Trizz (Sweating internally, but keeping a marble face): "Let's say I have my sources. And you? Why have you dug so deep into my accomplishments? That was private information. I heard your discussion with Garfiel."

He attempted to turn the interrogation back on her. Garfiel, still standing back, growled suspiciously but stayed in his place. Trizz crouched down slightly to be at the height of the 135 cm woman, seeking to intimidate her through proximity.

​Ryuzu Shima (Smiling enigmatically): "Tri-bo, I confess I have sinned through greed by investigating your feats of arms. But the fact that you prefer to hide them... Is that humility? Or are you trying to hide from something... or someone?"

Trizz (Voice hardening): "A few too many questions about me, Ryuzu-san. You shouldn't pry into the lives of your guests; it's impolite, even for a Guardian. The answer 'I work for Roswaal' should suffice, shouldn't it?"

He stared straight into her eyes, his crimson gaze defying the copy's ancient wisdom.

Trizz: "Or are you looking for more than that? If I judge by my discussions with Barusu, you never sought to understand who that idiot was, nor his exploits, nor his knowledge. So, what do you really want from me?"

​Before Ryuzu could answer, Subaru emerged, supporting a trembling Emilia whose face was ravaged by tears. She seemed barely able to walk, her mind shattered by the first Trial.

Trizz: "Guht..."

As soon as she spotted Trizz, Emilia's violet eyes widened. She broke away from Subaru and lunged toward him, colliding with him head-on. Trizz lost his balance and fell backward into the tall grass, the breath knocked out of him by the impact.

​Emilia (Burying her face in Trizz's cloak): "I'm sorr... It's so hard... I couldn't even protect them... I'm so sorry, Trizz..."

Trizz remained frozen for a moment, feeling Emilia's warm tears soaking his clothes. He shot a glare at Subaru, who looked away, helpless. Emotional leech, Trizz thought. But he couldn't push her away now, not in front of Ryuzu and Garfiel.

Trizz (Patting her back with mechanical stiffness): "It's nothing, Emilia. You'll succeed next time if you focus. Stop crying."

Emilia (Clinging tighter, like to a life buoy): "I... I understand..."

​Ryuzu Shima watched the scene with renewed curiosity. She saw the "monster" Garfiel feared consoling the royal candidate with pragmatic clumsiness. She realized she would get nothing more out of him tonight.

Ryuzu Shima (Bowing slightly): "It appears the timing is ill-chosen. I must take my leave, Tri-bo. Good night."

She turned around, her small steps fading into the night, followed by a still-suspicious Garfiel.

Trizz, still on the ground with Emilia clinging to him, narrowed his eyes as he watched the girl's silhouette disappear. He did not trust this so-called guardian. Even as Pride-an erased and feared sin of the Cult-no one should be able to guess his nature that quickly.

There was something else. This loli knew too much. She had just shot to the top of his "Variables to Monitor" list.

Trizz (Internal thought): "Another one who wants to play chess with me. Very well, Ryuzu Shima. We'll see who eats whom."

​[ Time skip... Day 2 ]

​The sun was at its zenith, crushing the Sanctuary under a dry heat. Dead leaves, scorched by the ending summer, fell in silence onto the short grass, indifferent to the laughter of the demi-human children running along the dirt paths, playing hide-and-seek with the innocence of those who do not know they are in a cage.

Sitting on the stone ledge of an old well, a young man clashed violently with this bucolic setting. His cultist robes, orange and black, acted as a natural repellent. No demi-human dared enter his field of vision. What they didn't know was that Trizz's field of vision covered nearly 360 degrees. His fragmented Authority multiplied his vision by eight, turning his crimson irises into biological radars. Under the harsh light, his pupils shone like rubies carved from blood.

But his mind was not there. It remained in the fire of the Roswaal Manor, in the previous loop.

"How did Ram survive?"

That was the statistical anomaly disturbing him. Lyra. That brat possessed a terrifying elemental mastery. Spells of the El, Ul, and potentially Al Fura rank. A mage capable of unleashing windstorms or manipulating water and ice at an AL level should have pulverized the manor and its occupants in a fraction of a second.

Trizz (Thought): "Arrogance? Or voluntary restriction? She didn't use her spells of mass destruction. She was playing with her food... or she was holding back so as not to kill her own allies."

He clenched his fist on the rough stone of the well. He had been insolently lucky to kill her by surprise last time. But luck is not a strategy.

Trizz (Cold whisper): "I'll have to one-shot her. Before her brain even connects the idea of casting a spell. If I come out of that fight half-dead, who will deal with the Great Rabbit?"

His mind then slid toward the true architect of this disaster Roswaal L. Mathers. Piecing together his "reader" knowledge and current events, the puzzle took on a cynical shape. Roswaal's Gospel wasn't guiding him toward Echidna's resurrection. That was a decoy. The book was guiding Roswaal to push Subaru to despair, forcing the latter to accept Echidna's contract.

The Greed IF route. That's what the book was seeking. Roswaal was just a useful idiot, sacrificing his own lineage for a plan that completely surpassed him.

Trizz (Contemptuous smile): "Roswaal... you pathetic bastard. You're nothing but a disposable tool."

Echidna (Internal voice, honeyed and toxic): "Spot on, Frizz. This proves you are far more entertaining and perceptive than that painted clown. You, at least, understand the nuance."

He chased away the Witch's voice with a blink of his eye. He had no time for her flattery. His objective was clear speedrun Arc 4, secure the camp, and treat himself to a year of vacation before the chaos of Arc 5. That was the only salary he would accept.

It was then that a disturbance entered his peripheral vision. Ten meters away, a man of medium height, with gray hair and green merchant attire, approached with palpable hesitation. Otto Suwen.

Otto (Stopping at a respectful distance, nervous): "Uh... Trizz-san? It... it's a nice day today, isn't it? What are you doing here alone? I... I've noticed that many villagers avoid you like the plague... Haha..."

Trizz slowly raised his head

Trizz slowly raised his head. He didn't need to move to see him, but he played the game of human politeness so as not to shatter the merchant's fragile mental state.

Trizz: "Otto. Drop the 'San.' We're friends, or am I mistaken?"

He made a vague gesture toward the surrounding paths.

Trizz: "And if you're wondering why I'm isolated, it's simple. The others are in 'paranoid vigilance' mode. A word of advice: avoid their paths if you don't want to get bitten."

Otto took a step back, a nervous laugh stuck in his throat. Was it a joke? Yet, thinking about it... Emilia was psychologically broken, regressed to childhood. Subaru was chasing a shadow, playing the tragic hero. Ram spat venom with every sentence. Garfiel was a ticking time bomb, and Roswaal... let's not even go there.

In this circus of fools, this man in cultist robes, sitting calmly on a well, paradoxically seemed to be the most stable anchor.

Otto finally approached and sat on the edge of the well, keeping a safety distance.

Otto (Sighing): "Friends, huh? I apologize for my clumsiness. I'm used to purely professional relationships. True friendship is... a rare commodity for me. Most of my 'friends' have betrayed me, sold me out, or died mysteriously."

Trizz (Closing his ruby eyes): "Apology accepted. I have an insolent misfortune of my own, though none of my friends are dead... for now. But as far as paperwork and professional betrayals go, I empathize."

Otto's eyes widened. He felt a connection. He, the cursed merchant, and this man hated by the kingdom.

Otto: "... I am happy to know that someone finally understands me."

He reached out his hand for a fraternal handshake. Trizz stared at him, his cold eyes ignoring the gesture. He didn't reject Otto; he simply ignored him, turning his gaze to the horizon.

Trizz: "When I talk about paperwork, Otto, I'm talking about Royal Candidates who aren't just pretenders, but born manipulators. I spot them in a second."

He left the sentence hanging, creating a heavy silence.

Trizz: "Otto, let's be honest. You didn't come to see me just to talk about the weather. You overheard me talking with Ryuzu Shima earlier, didn't you?"

Otto froze, his hand falling back to his side. The mask dropped. He had forgotten that he was facing a monster of intuition.

Otto (Low voice): "We don't need to play games, indeed. Your discussion with Ryuzu-sama... It was strange. Too many undertones."

Trizz: "You mean the legal Loli? Don't worry about her. What should worry you are the secrets she protects. The darkest secrets of this place."

Otto: "Dark secrets? What do you mean by that?"

Trizz turned toward him, planting his gaze into the merchant's.

Trizz: "Otto, your Divine Protection of Soul Language allows you to talk to everything that lives, doesn't it? Rats, insects, the wind... But has your Blessing never whispered to you that this Sanctuary isn't a refuge?"

He leaned slightly toward him, lowering his voice.

Trizz: "It's a slaughterhouse."

Otto turned pale. The word had snapped like a whip.

Otto: "A... slaughterhouse? Trizz, be specific! What are you talking about?!"

Trizz straightened up, observing the birds flying freely above the barrier-unlike them.

Trizz: "Why do you think Ryuzu is so fixated on me? Because I've pierced through to the truth. And you, Otto, you are the only stable element here. Between a Ram who spies for Roswaal and an unstable Barusu... You are my only potential friend."

​The calculated flattery struck true. Otto, desperate to find his place, nodded, waiting for the rest with mounting anxiety.

​Trizz: "Listen closely. The Ryuzus you've seen... those copies hiding in the woods. They aren't villagers. They are the results of a failed experiment in immortality."

​Otto stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over a bucket of water.

​Otto: "Wh... What?! An immortality experiment? By the owner of this place... Roswaal?!"

​Trizz shook his head with weary resignation.

​Trizz: "No. Roswaal is merely the heir to the madness. The owner is the Witch of Greed. Inside the Tomb, there is a crystal that powers this place. And the fuel... is a girl Echidna sacrificed 400 years ago."

​He pointed toward the demi-human houses in the distance.

​Trizz: "The demi-humans aren't protected here, Otto. They've been corralled. Voluntarily trapped by the Witch. Not for their safety. For science? No. For her greed. To satisfy her thirst for knowledge."

​Otto was trembling. The image of the peaceful village had just shattered to reveal a centuries-old horror.

​Trizz (Relentless): "And the worst part? Roswaal knows. He's known all along. Dozens of generations have died here, prisoners of a dream that was nothing but a waiting room for death."

​He let the information sink into the merchant's mind.

​Trizz: "That is why the Sanctuary wants to eliminate me, Otto. Because I am the only one who wants to break the cage."

​Otto remained petrified, his gaze vacant. In his mind, the puzzle pieces collided violently. He had believed he was tracking a traitor in Trizz, but he realized this man in cultist robes was the only lucid survivor of a shipwreck orchestrated by the lord of the manor. Roswaal... his employer, the one who had "saved" him, was he just another monster?

​Otto (his voice now nothing but a trembling whisper): "Why... why didn't you say anything sooner? You just said we are friends, didn't you? Friends share the burden! You can't carry this hell alone in your corner!"

​Trizz rose slowly. His gaze fixed on Roswaal's residence, a building that, in his eyes, now looked like nothing more than a mausoleum of flesh.

​Trizz: "The question isn't whether we are friends, Otto. The question is: are you ready to bear the weight of the truth? Technically, the answer is 'yes,' because you are a survivor. But strategically? It's a categorical 'no'."

​A drop of cold sweat slid down the merchant's spine. Trizz's aura seemed to suck the surrounding warmth away.

​Otto: "What do you mean, 'strategically no'?"

​Trizz: "Tell me, Otto... You with the keen ears, did you know that Roswaal isn't actually injured? Did you know the Ryuzu clones aren't inhabitants, but biological sensors? Did you know Garfiel isn't the protector of this place, but its jailer? That the clones are his eyes and ears, tracking us-Barusu and me-every second?"

​Otto recoiled, terrified. The merchant's morality had just taken a critical hit. He realized he had locked himself in a protective silence that, in the end, had only served the jailers.

​Trizz (tilting his head, implacable): "So, why didn't you tell me anything?"

​Otto (stammering): "I... it wasn't intentional. I was trying not to... not to worry you with those details."

​Trizz: "Those 'little details' are the foundations of our cage, Otto. We are the only two who have truly contemplated the abyss of this laboratory disguised as a refuge."

​Trizz stepped closer, breaking Otto's safety distance to anchor his words in the merchant's mind.

​Trizz: "Since we are 'friends,' know this: that little girl, Ryuzu, is not like the others. Of the thousands of clones haunting these woods, only four possess a true consciousness. The others? Empty shells. Failed experiments."

​Otto (trembling all over): "Only four? And all the others are just cameras for the Sanctuary? But then... we're being watched right now! Garfiel is going to turn me into mush if he heard that!"

​Trizz (with glacial calm): "No. Strangely, no clone approaches me. I don't know if they're afraid or if they've been ordered to avoid me, but we are in a dead zone for them. Let's take advantage of it."

​Trizz's hypothesis was solid his Pride Aura acted as an apex predator signal, a frequency that the clones, devoid of their own will, dared not cross.

​Trizz: "Your mission is clear. There are four dangerous clones Shima, Bilma, Alma, and Delma. I'll handle Shima-the one from yesterday, the smartest and most ambiguous. You, you're going to watch the other three. They wear black clothes, unlike the white ones who are automatons. They are easier to trick, but stay on your guard."

​Otto: "Right... but Shima, from what I've gathered, seems to have lost control over the other clones for some obscure reason..."

​Trizz: "See? When you want to be, you're useful. Ryuzu Shima has her own objectives, gaps I must fill. Deal with the 'Black' ones."

​Otto hesitated, thinking of the one running everywhere to save everyone without understanding the strings of the theater.

​Otto: "And Natsuki-san? We aren't explaining anything to him? He might be able to help us with his usual audacity..."

​Trizz: "Barusu? Erase that idea from your mind. Barusu only lives for his naive princess. If you give him these details, he'll act on impulse; he'll try some grand gesture and take us all down with him. Bad idea."

​Trizz began to walk away, leaving Otto alone with the weight of his new responsibilities. His silhouette was stark against the dark entrance of the forest.

​Trizz: "I'm going to go master Ul Aka. Call me if anything abnormal happens. Understood?"

​Otto (watching Trizz leave, a hand over his heart): "Ye-yes... but be careful! That spell is extremely dangerous, Trizz! It consumes the user as much as the target!"

​Trizz didn't answer. His plan of "utilitarian corruption" had worked. By destroying Otto's sense of complacency, he had turned him into a precision tool. Now, all that remained was to deal with Ram and tame the golden flame of Ul Aka.

​[ Time skip... ]

​The darkness of the Tomb was a dense matter, a physical pressure that seemed intent on devouring the slightest spark of life. In the depths of this ruined edifice, where roots wound between cold stones like veins searching for a heart to crush, a flickering glow struggled against the void. The golden light, initially brilliant, withered with agonizing slowness, shifting from saffron to sulfur, then to a sickly yellowish-white.

​At the center of this sanctuary of dust, Trizz panted. Sweat, chilled by the tomb's foul air, streamed down his face, splashing onto the basalt floor with the sound of rain on a tombstone. Mastering Ul Aka without the academic foundations of this world was an act of pure madness, an assiduousness bordering on masochism. In the struggle, an image forced itself upon him, burning and unbearable: Priscilla Barielle.

​Technically, the Yang Trizz forged within his entrails was of a superior purity-a solar gold that humiliated the faded white of the Imperial Candidate.

Yet, Priscilla enjoyed an indecent advantage. Her Yang sword of light granted her automatic blessings, a constant flow that exempted her from training and suffering. She had never had to pay the Price of Pride; her arrogance was merely a hollow shell, fed by insolent fortune and the servile gaze of her subjects.

​Trizz (his voice cracked with exhaustion): "No innate potential... Just... self-sufficiency pushed to the breaking point."

​He wore his title of Pride not as a distinction from the Witch Cult-that rabble of madmen led by a half-naked child-but as a declaration of war against reality itself. To him, Pride was not the stupid belief in one's own invincibility. It was the inflexible will to never give up, to reach the darkest goals through the sheer force of soul, without depending on luck or the validation of others. Priscilla was the antithesis of this philosophy she only felt superior because the world obeyed her without resistance.

​Echidna (her voice resonating with glacial politeness in the vastness of the darkness): "Your reflections are admirably consistent, though I find them singularly redundant. I wonder: is the absence of such pride truly so detrimental? As long as the end is achieved, shouldn't the nature of the engine that drives you there be incidental?"

​Trizz (collapsing onto a stone slab, his forehead beaded with sweat): "Pride is no ordinary sin, Echidna. You should know that, unless your library is parasitized by your own prejudices."

​Echidna: "Pride is the original fault, the primary impulse that has precipitated countless insects toward self-destruction and dementia. It is a universal truth I archived long before your first breath came to soil the air of this world."

​Trizz: "And yet, you ignore that Pride possesses a duality. It is not merely a fall."

​Silence fell over the Tomb again, a leaden silence that meant the Witch of Greed had entered a phase of frenetic calculation. In the Citadel of Dreams, her mind, capable of simulating billions of possible futures, processed this enigma with machine-like rigor. If Trizz proclaimed himself second at the summit of world intelligence, it was because he had achieved the feat of manipulating an entire kingdom by posing as a mere genius of chaos, holding every camp by invisible threads.

​Echidna: "I perceive your reasoning. From your narrow perspective, Pride is not a transgression, but a transcendental tool. You believe it allows you to fracture your biological limits. Am I mistaken in this analysis?"

​Trizz: "Yes. You are completely mistaken."

​The change in temperature was instantaneous. The air became so cold that Trizz's breath turned into crystals of frost.

​Echidna (her voice rising, stripped of all softness, sharp as a scalpel): "Me? The great Echidna, holder of the wisdom of centuries, mistaken? The very idea is an unbearable dissonance. I have not committed a single error of logic in four hundred years. It is not some mortal emerged from the void, a shadow archer without a past, who will come to claim my deduction is erroneous. None of my disciples, no monarch, none of my sister witches, not even the Sages have ever dared to question the architecture of my thought. Do you realize the magnitude of the blasphemy you have just uttered? This far exceeds your trivial manipulations and constant lies."

​Trizz felt the Witch's narcissistic wound bleeding in the darkness. Her divine ego, that certainty of being the supreme computer of destiny, had just been slapped by a simple negation.

​Trizz (in a sardonic tone): "Very well, I understand. I offer my humblest apologies, O Great Echidna. I shall go at once to purge myself through twenty agonizing deaths to wash away the affront of my insolence."

​The silence that followed was not one of reflection, but the heavy, brooding silence of a sulking entity that had accepted the apology while still ruminating on the insult. The Witch fell silent, returning to her archives, leaving Trizz alone with his sweat and his dying golden flame.

​Trizz (whispering to himself): "Even an archive of four centuries eventually gathers dust..."

​He clenched his fists. His body screamed in pain, but his determination remained intact. He had tamed the Witch; now he would tame the fire. In three days, the manor would burn, and he would be the one holding the torch, no matter what price his Pride demanded.

​Trizz straightened up with difficulty, short of breath, wiping the sweat from his brow. The golden glow of his Ul Aka vanished, plunging him back into the oppressive gloom of the Tomb. He looked up into the dark void where the Witch's consciousness resided, a provocative smile on his lips.

​Trizz: "As I was saying, Echidna... Pride is what allows one to defy reality itself, to carve out one's own existence by the force of will. That is the very paradox that separates us: I build myself, while you... you are but an empty shell."

​The response was immediate. The air charged with static electricity, and Echidna's voice echoed, polite but vibrating with ill-contained irritation.

​Echidna: "An empty shell, you say? What audacity coming from the most unstable being to ever tread this soil! It is you, Frizz, who embodies the demented masochism of this place, breaking your body for uncertain results!"

​Trizz: "Don't change the subject. Without your immense knowledge, you are a woman without a personality of her own. Your title as the Witch of Greed is just a social shield to mask your inability to understand human emotions!"

​Echidna: "I would ask you to mind your words. At least I have had devoted and respectful disciples! Unlike you, who delight in surrounding yourself with a harem of psychopaths. Those women are all ticking time bombs ready to blow up in your face. Stay away from them-that is the advice of a friend... a very firm one."

​Trizz: "The most unstable and dangerous one in this so-called harem is you, Echidna. But enough chatter. I have a question for you."

​A brief silence hung in the air, heavy with unspoken meaning.

​Echidna: "Oh? And which one, pray tell? As long as it isn't one of your stupid inquiries about the weather or the texture of my bodily fluids..."

​Trizz: "Are you capable, for the first time in your long existence, of answering with absolute sincerity? No deflecting, no riddles?"

​Echidna (sighs slightly): "If it can shorten this conversation and send you back to your «brilliant plans,» so be it. I will do it. Ask your question and let us be done with it."

​Trizz took a deep breath. It was the only question gnawing at him, the one that had blurred his reading of events since his arrival in this Sanctuary after his contract. He stared into the darkness as if he could see the Witch's eyes.

​Trizz: "Echidna... Why do you speak to me so familiarly? Unlike all the others?"

​Echidna: "Because you are my Contractor. What a stupid question."

​Trizz (narrowing his eyes): "Just a Contractor? I feel your hesitation, Echidna. You treat your Contractors with a glacial distance, a museum-like politeness. Why not me?"

​Echidna: "...Because I want to, quite simply. And besides, I feel quite lonely in this tomb, stuck with these other brainless Witches who understand nothing of the art of conversation."

Trizz: "Bullshit. I have access to my isekai memories. In the Greed IF route, even though Barusu barely understood half of your theories, you maintained that same clinical distance with him. You never treated him the way you treat me."

​Echidna: "..."

​The silence of the Witch of Greed stretched out, heavy. She wasn't sulking; she had simply gone quiet, which was a statistical anomaly for a creature who lived by the word.

​Trizz: "Listen, Echidna. This only happens in low-tier isekai or cliche fanfictions where a character's behavior shifts radically because the author wants a yandere for the protagonist. But we are in reality. My life is on the line. So explain it to me."

​The Witch remained mute, her presence still palpable but refusing to speak. Trizz felt impatience rising, mixed with a dull anxiety.

​Trizz (raising his voice): "It's not insignificant! That 'verbal engagement contract' you slipped in the other day, your fits of jealousy whenever Elsa touches me, the fact that you've forbidden me from approaching any other woman for three months, your suffocating proximity in every loop... What are you hiding from me?!"

​Still that stubborn silence. As if she were searching for an answer that wouldn't break the rules of her own game.

​Trizz (almost screaming): "You promised me you would answer sincerely! So answer! Why are you so invested in me, ECHIDNA?!"

​In the sepulchral silence of the Tomb, Trizz perceived a presence approaching long before his normal senses would have allowed. His instinct, sharpened by a fragmented Authority-the same one currently concealing Otto from the eyes of the Meyer clones-acted as an infallible radar.

​He turned his back on the darkness, leaving the Witch to her heavy silence. This sudden quiet from Echidna was becoming an unstable variable in his equation. Was she hiding something? Feelings? Trizz brushed the thought aside with a mental hand-wave. Rubbish. Echidna didn't feel human emotions; in his eyes, she was just a dead archive, a glorified database playing at being a goddess.

​He stepped out of the Tomb, irritation burning his nerves. At least he had left a marker of his Factor on Otto to track him. The merchant was a rare exception he held genuine respect for Trizz, devoid of the knights" jealousy or the assassins" hatred.

​Outside, the sun was setting. The day's crushing heat was softening, giving way to an almost cold breeze as the moon already claimed its celestial throne. Descending the stone steps, Trizz spotted a familiar silhouette charging toward him. Face dripping with sweat, orange and black tracksuit... It was him.

​Trizz narrowed his eyes, contempt slightly distorting his features.

​Trizz: "Barusu. What are you doing here? The Trials haven't even started yet."

​Subaru stopped dead, hands on his knees, breathing ragged from his marathon run from the village. His gaze was haunted, as if he had just crossed paths with a specter.

​Subaru: "Hey, Frizz... I was going to ask you the same thing! What are you doing here?! Everyone is looking for Emilia-tan!"

​A cold sweat, quite different from that of exertion, ran down Trizz's spine. Emilia? Had the naive half-elf gone off again? A pure young girl's whim at the worst possible moment? The blame lay with that cursed author and Subaru, who stubbornly refused to let her grow up on her own.

​Trizz slapped his hand to his forehead, massaging his aching temples.

​Trizz: "Fine, Barusu, you win. Let's go. Maybe that brat isn't far."

​Subaru took a step back, a palpable nervousness in his movements.

​Subaru: "I... Me, follow you? But... I'm already on a trail."

​Trizz: "Then I'm following you, Barusu. I hope you can find her thanks to your useless heroic instinct, right?"

​Subaru: "Frizz, don't underestimate me. I know when to play the Isekai hero, and I can see the brutal reality of this hellish life perfectly well."

​Trizz observed Subaru with a new fascination

​Trizz observed Subaru with a new fascination. There was no longer a trace of the pathetic personality from Arcs 2 or 3. Had he matured in the ashes of the manor? Had his traumas scarred over or festered? Trizz didn't know, but his priority remained finding the Key to the Seal.

​Trizz: "Let's go, super Barusu. We should find that scaredy-cat princess. Quick question: do you still have the handkerchief Petra gave me? I value that object highly."

​Subaru, while walking, tugged slightly on the white cloth tied to his wrist.

​Subaru: "Here it is. If you care about it that much, take it back. Why are you forcing me to wear it for you?!"

​Trizz: "Because, as you heard from Frederica's mouth, that cloth is a promise to return to them. Succeed in this loop. Petra wanted to give you one, but white cloth was scarce because of my plan against the Cult."

​It was a half-lie. Trizz had indeed used the village's white cloth stocks to camouflage his explosives against the Cultists. But the real reason he had forced Subaru to keep that cloth was anything but friendly. If Satella or the Shadow of Envy appeared, that cloth would be the last resort for Subaru to commit suicide quickly and avoid an eternal shadow prison.

​Subaru didn't answer and headed deeper into the forest. The snapping of twigs under his sneakers paced their march, but the atmosphere was heavy. Subaru was strangely nervous. Was it the fear of assassins?

​Trizz: "Barusu, are you going to explain to me why Emilia disappeared under your watch? It was your job to look after her."

​Subaru: "Yes, yes! I know! But given what's happening outside the village, I went out for a walk, to get some air, Frizz!"

​Trizz stopped dead.

​Trizz: "Go for a walk? Do you not realize what's happening? Or are you doing it on purpose?"

​Subaru: "I know it's serious but... I wanted to... understand. Staying in the village doing nothing, it's boring to death, Frizz."

​Trizz's calm shattered like glass.

​Trizz: "But you only had one thing to do, Barusu! It wasn't boring, it was vital!"

​His eyebrows knitted in dark anger. Not only had this idiot lost Emilia, but instead of looking for her logically, he had come to the Tomb... to look for Trizz?

​Trizz clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. He had taken charge of 85% of the loop Elsa's assassins, the Cult of Lust with Lyra and Leith, the threat of the Great Rabbit, Roswaal's manipulation, Shima's management, learning magic, and the psychological duel with Echidna.

​Subaru had only one mission stabilize Emilia for the Trials. And he had failed out of a whim.

​The exhaustion caused by the repeated failures of Ul Aka, the weight of Echidna's secrets, and now Subaru's sheer incompetence... Trizz felt he was at a breaking point.

​Trizz's hand trembled, not with fear, but with a furious urge to strike. It took all the mastery of his Pride not to give in to the frustration. While he and Otto were ready to sacrifice their humanity to save this loop, Subaru continued to act with selfish recklessness, turning a surgical operation into a leisure stroll.

​Suddenly, a light rustle interrupted the thread of his anger. A silhouette emerged from the thicket a white ceremonial robe, pale pink hair falling to the small of the back, and characteristic pointed ears. A Ryuzu copy.

Trizz stiffened, his crimson eyes immediately scanning the surroundings.

​Trizz: "Another automaton? She shouldn't be here. Was my hypothesis about my invisibility zone wrong?"

​Subaru (eyes wide with panic): "Hey! But that means Garfiel is going to spot us! Frizz, if that clone escapes and warns him, Garfiel is going to go into 'Exterminator' mode!"

​Before the small silhouette could take another step, Trizz moved. Despite the exhaustion weighing down his muscles after the Ul Aka training, he lunged at her with predatory fluidity. He caught her by the waist and lifted her off the ground to prevent her from fleeing. She was strangely light, like a feather. Was it because her body was nothing more than a mass of condensed mana?

​Trizz: "This is a nuisance, but we have no choice. We'll have to keep her quiet until we leave the area, Barusu."

​Subaru approached, observing the captive hanging limply in Trizz's grip.

​Subaru: "Wait, Frizz... Is it normal for her to blink like that? Usually, the clones are non-reactive dolls, or is this..."

​Trizz frowned. He too had noticed the total lack of resistance. If she were a simple surveillance drone, why had she left her post? And more importantly, if she was here, it meant she had been watching the Tomb entrance for a while. This was not the behavior of an automaton.

​The little girl sighed, a very human sound.

​???: "You know, it is quite impolite to treat me in such a manner, Tri-bo. No one has lifted me like an undisciplined child for decades. And you too, Su-bo, cease staring at me with that bovine expression."

​Trizz nearly dropped her in surprise, but held on firmly.

​Trizz: "Shima. It's you. What are you doing here, hidden in the woods? Another woman obsessed with my every move? I already have enough on my list of psychopaths."

​She regained her composure in his arms with a dignity ill-suited to the situation.

​Shima: "I told you we would discuss the rest of our conversation, did I not? I rarely fail to keep my promises."

​Trizz: "Discuss, yes. But stalking me? How long have you been lurking there?"

​Shima: "Oh, a few hours, perhaps several. Time is hardly an unlimited resource for a failed creature such as myself, you know?"

​Hours. The information hit Trizz hard. She had seen him enter, train, and exit. She had seen everything. And that remark about being a "failed creature"... she was playing on her own inferiority complex.

​Subaru, realizing the immediate danger had passed, regained his usual nervous smile.

​Subaru: "Ryuzu-san, you too? But... you're supposed to be the wisest person in the Sanctuary! It's incredible... No one escapes the harem genius, right Frizz? Not even the century-old lolis."

​Trizz (glaring at him): "Shut up, Barusu. Keep searching for Emilia. I'll handle Ryuzu-san. And the only one building a harem here is you!"

​Shima: "I do not grasp all of your codes, but I find your companion quite disagreeable, Tri-bo."

​The situation bordered on the ridiculous. Shima allowed herself to be carried without the slightest resistance, acting like a lost child despite her four centuries of existence. She had no dignity left, or perhaps no purpose.

​Suddenly, a shrill voice exploded in Trizz's skull.

​Echidna (internal voice): "Put that thing down immediately! Do not let her touch you! That creature is inferior-a failed copy! She is impure and filthy; imagine, her soul has no complexity!"

​Trizz winced, the pain of the telepathy adding to his migraine.

​Trizz (thought): "Shut up, you brat! Our contract states I won't approach any woman, fine, but this is a four-hundred-year-old loli clone, for heaven's sake!"

​Echidna (hysterical): "What is the difference?! She has the face of a woman, does she not?! She has a consciousness, does she not?! So put that thing down! Respect our contract or I...!"

​Annoyed by the Witch's screams, which echoed like those of a toxic, jealous girlfriend, Trizz reached for his neck. With a swift, fluid motion, he ripped off the pendant that served as a catalyst for their telepathic link, stuffing it brutally into his pocket. Silence returned instantly to his mind, like turning off a noisy radio.

​He sighed in relief and turned his attention back to the small woman in his arms.

​Trizz: "Fine. Ryuzu-san, since you want to talk, let's go to an empty house to discuss this away from prying eyes. But before that... have you seen any other clones nearby?"

​Shima shook her head, her large, calm eyes fixed on him.

​Shima: "Aside from my own person, I have seen no others. Quite fortunate, is it not, Tri-bo?"

​Trizz: "Fortunate indeed."

​Clutching Shima to him like a precious package, he turned around, moving away from the forest's edge.

​Trizz: "Barusu, I'm leaving you to it. Find Emilia. And don't screw up this time."

​He walked away quickly, leaving Subaru alone. It was good tactical news no witness clones, thus no alert given to Garfiel. However, Shima's docile and clingy behavior, coupled with Echidna's fit of jealousy, suggested that this discussion was going to be anything but simple.

​[ Time skip... ]

​The room was bathed in a muffled, almost stifling atmosphere. The walls were paneled with dark wood, polished by time, absorbing the gloom. In the center sat a massive wooden desk, cluttered only with an empty letter left there like a silent warning, flanked by rigid chairs. Through the window, the spectral glow of the moon cut silver rectangles across the floor, illuminating a glass jar where a few wildflowers seemed to struggle to keep their color in the night. A large bed took up half the space, its rumpled sheets testifying to an impossible rest.

​Trizz sat on the edge of the mattress. Beside him, a small, motionless silhouette stood there with a vacant stare the automaton copy he had picked up outside, like an abandoned doll following him mechanically. Opposite them, sitting in a chair by the fireplace where only dying embers remained, Shima watched him. She did not blink.

​Trizz: "Fine. Let's begin. What do you want from me at last, grandmother? Stalking me for hours, accosting me verbally in front of the Tomb, and now letting yourself be picked up like a lost child... Is the four-hundred-year senility finally catching up to you?"

​Shima: "Calling me mad is a bit excessive, Tri-bo. It seems to me I have honored my word from last night. I do not see where I have erred."

​Trizz: "That's no excuse for digging into my past and watching me for hours like a lunatic."

​Shima: "I understand your point of view. But mine was dictated by the safety of the Sanctuary."

​Trizz: "The safety of the Sanctuary? Really? Yet, you seem to have lost your title, haven't you? Which would explain those autumn clothes, quite different from the ceremonial attire of the guardians."

​Shima remained silent for a moment. The air grew heavier. Trizz had hit the mark. He knew, thanks to his reader knowledge, that she had been stripped of her position for entering the Tomb without authorization.

​Trizz: "Can you explain to me why you entered the Tomb? If your research on me doesn't concern the Sanctuary, does that mean it's personal?"

Shima (closing her dark cyan eyes for a moment): "It seems I have underestimated you. Your assertions are correct. I no longer hold the power of command over the other clones."

​Trizz (narrowing his crimson eyes): "Then why stalk me? Misplaced curiosity? If that's all it is, I'm warning you stay away from me."

​Shima (with a faint, melancholy smile): "'Misplaced curiosity' sounds a bit too much like an insult. No matter. But tell me... why do you not wish to take the Trials yourself? Some childhood trauma?"

​Trizz: "Personally, I had a simple life, so no trauma. I just want Emilia to pass the Trials. She must face her own demons and grow."

​Shima: "Your act of kindness is magnificent. But is that all? You seem to be preparing for something much darker. Yet, the only thing that fascinates me about you... is your scent."

​Trizz stiffened imperceptibly. His scent? That of Sin? If she could detect Witch Factors, she became an immediate threat to be eliminated.

​Trizz (placing a hand behind his back): "My scent? It seems so special to you? I have no desire to carry a drug addict on my back."

​Shima: "You could at least cease insulting me constantly with disparaging undertones."

​Beside Trizz, the automaton clone snuggled against his arm, her gaze as vacant as ever, like an animal seeking warmth without understanding why. Trizz ignored her.

​Trizz: "..."

​Shima (placing a finger on her chin): "Your scent... as Garfiel confirmed, it calls to mind old paper, am I wrong?"

​Trizz: "Continue. I'm listening. This interests me."

​Shima: "With my memories dating back several centuries, I know what that scent means to the Witch of Greed. It is an affective mark. A unique imprint toward an individual. A scent that even Roswaal or your friend does not possess, Tri-bo."

​The information hit Trizz with full force. Echidna hadn't masked it? On the contrary, she had marked him as her property. So that was why Roswaal believed in their kiss so easily?

​Trizz: "A unique affective scent? Are you not mistaken? Perhaps other disciples of the Witch also carry this scent."

​Shima shook her head negatively, staring at Trizz with an intensity bordering on obsession.

​Shima: "You are the only one who wears it. Is your claim about your memory being erased true? Or are you playing a charade with me?"

​Trizz: "..."

​Trizz's silence was an answer in itself. All his internal alarm systems were screaming.

​Shima: "Your silence speaks volumes. But one question torments me. If you have kept your memory, coupled with that scent, have you..."

​Shima's eyes widened slightly. A glimmer of nostalgia crossed her blue gaze as she studied the young man's silhouette.

​Shima: "You were in the Tomb. You did not merely converse with the Witch. You formed a contract with her. You are..."

​The sharp crack of a knocked-over chair broke the stillness of the night.

In a fraction of a second, the ex-guardian found herself pinned to the floor. Her pink hair scattered across the wooden planks. Trizz held her by the throat with an iron grip. In the other hand, materialized through magic, a dagger of raw rock, razor-sharp, pressed against her carotid artery.

On the bed, the automaton observed the scene without the slightest emotion-a silent witness to the violence.

​Trizz: "Seriously? You aren't as stupid as I thought. But admit it, you are far more dangerous than Roswaal in this Sanctuary."

​Shima: "..."

​Shima did not struggle. Even as she began to choke, her eyes remained fixed on Trizz's, as if she were transferring her entire existence to him. Trizz relaxed the pressure slightly, just enough for her to speak.

​Trizz: "Go on, speak. Why haven't you denounced me? It would be the best way to regain your position, wouldn't it? Why act according to your whims as a clone?"

​Shima (in a hoarse voice): "I know that my presence is... that of laboratory waste without a purpose... wandering the Sanctuary like a ghost."

​Trizz: "..."

​Shima: "If my existence was created... perhaps it was to serve the Chosen of the Witch of Greed?"

​Trizz: "...?"

​Shima: "Waste... A person like me has no future, no role, no title. But if the purpose of my existence was to wait for you... then I will serve you until my death."

​Slowly, Shima raised her small hands. She did not try to push Trizz away. On the contrary, she grasped the stone dagger the Archbishop held and guided the blade more firmly against her own throat. She was ready for immediate suicide if it served the interests of the one dominating her.

​Trizz observed her with his Authority. His instinct detected no lie, no hidden plan. Just an abyssal void. This was what happened when one no longer had a "me" one desperately sought to be possessed to justify one's existence.

Trizz stood up, canceling the El Dona spell. The earthen dagger crumbled into fine dust on the floor. He scanned the room. The automaton clone on the bed had not moved. It was indeed that scent, and not fear, that made them docile.

​Trizz: "Fine, Shima. Get up. I will trust you. But if you play a dirty trick on me... I'll kill you. You, and every inhabitant of the Sanctuary."

​Shima stood up slowly, smoothing her wrinkled dress. When she looked up at him, her eyes no longer held melancholy, but total adoration.

​Shima: "Yes, Young Master. You can count on the disposable trash that I am."

​"Young Master"... Yet another broken personality coming to seek refuge under the dark wing of Pride. Trizz observed the creature before him with a mixture of weariness and morbid fascination. For beings like Elsa, Meili, and now Shima, free will was not a gift but a crushing burden-a torture they begged to have removed. They all sought a puppeteer to give meaning to their severed strings.

Trizz sighed, accepting this new charge with his characteristic cold pragmatism.

​Trizz: "Very well. If such is your will, you are now my possession, Shima. But before we go any further, we must recap the situation. I am not flying blind."

​Shima (bowing so low her forehead nearly touched the floor): "Yes, Master. My pathetic and unworthy ears will drink in every one of your sacred words, awaiting your orders to justify my existence."

​Trizz winced. This excessive servility was annoying, almost embarrassing. He needed a sharpened tool, not a doormat.

​Trizz: "First, stop dehumanizing yourself like that immediately. If you belong to me, then you have value. You are my most precious possession in this cursed place-remember that well. And second... do not call me 'Master' in public. Before the others, you remain Ryuzu Shima. But in private, when we are alone... call me whatever you wish. Is that understood?"

​The small woman nodded her head with childlike vigor, her pink hair whipping the air. A feverish excitement, totally unsuited to her venerable age of four centuries, shone in her eyes. It disturbed Trizz to the core, but he had to admit that this devotion, born of existential void, far surpassed that of Rem. It was an absolute, terrifying loyalty.

​Trizz: "Now, reassure me on one crucial point. Are you the only one, in this entire Sanctuary, to perceive this 'scent' on me?"

Shima: "No, Master. Aside from my modest self, the automaton clones perceive it, as do my sisters who possess a consciousness... and I strongly suspect that Roswaal-sama senses it as well, with particular acuity."

​The information hit Trizz like a whip. So, the conscious clones felt Echidna's emanation on him... and especially Roswaal. Everything became clear. The irrational hatred, the mistrust, and then the Margrave's morbid fascination in previous loops weren't due to chance. He felt his Mistress's mark on another man.

​Trizz (his face darkened by reflection): "If the other clones endowed with consciousness, like Bilma, sense this scent... does that mean they know about my contract with the Witch?"

​Shima brushed away his concerns with a wave of her hand, a reassuring smile on her lips.

​Shima: "Oh, have no fear on that point. Yes, they sense your scent, that is undeniable. But unlike me, they never had access to the original Ryuzu's memories. They did not know the Witch in her lifetime. For some, this scent marks you as an obscure threat; for others, it is an anomaly they prefer to ignore out of prudence."

​Trizz: "That's good to know... Does that explain why this automaton on the bed avoids my gaze while clinging to me?"

​Shima had no idea that Trizz carried the Pride Factor within him. She attributed everything to Echidna. This was excellent news an extra layer of protection. But could he trust her 100%?

​Shima: "My person knows little of the clones under Bilma's direct control. However, by analyzing what I perceive emanating from you, I could formulate a logical hypothesis regarding the behavior of the automata."

​Trizz: "Go on, I'm listening. As long as this clone at my feet doesn't decide to stick a knife in my back, any theory is worth considering."

​Shima: "My hypothesis is simple, Master you are marked by the Witch herself, and this mark is fresh, living. In the magical hierarchy of this place, it means you are spiritually above the Apostles of the Sanctuary... and thus, above Garf-bo. The automata let you pass not out of indifference, but out of protocol-driven submission."

​Trizz didn't know whether to thank Echidna or insult her for imposing this mask on him, but he had to admit it was saving his skin. He had a diplomatic immunity built right into the security system.

​Trizz: "I see... Your hypothesis holds water. So, if the automata aren't watching me, it's because they see me as an untouchable 'sacred' entity, while the few conscious clones see me as a potential rival for control of the Sanctuary?"

​Shima: "Indeed, that is a pertinent analysis, Master. But... if you will allow me a digression, may I ask why the gray-haired merchant was hidden in the bushes earlier?"

​Trizz stiffened imperceptibly.

​Trizz: "Otto? What do you want to know about him? Was there a problem?"

​Shima: "Your friend nearly committed the irreparable. He narrowly escaped being spotted by one of the patrolling automaton clones. Without my discreet intervention to distract the copy, he would have been caught by the current Guardians, and most certainly by Garf-bo."

​Otto had almost been fried. The information sent a cold shiver down Trizz's spine. With everything Otto knew now, his capture would have been catastrophic. Fortunately, the merchant seemed to have found safety, but it had been a very close call. Trizz realized with satisfaction that Otto was one of his few remaining active and useful allies, unlike Subaru, who was losing himself in his emotions.

​Trizz approached Shima. The small woman looked up at him with expectant eyes. He lowered himself slightly to her level and, in a gesture he hadn't made in a long time, placed his hand on her pink hair, stroking it gently. From her first day in his service, she had already provided more critical information and efficiency than all his flimsy allies combined, who were always waiting for someone to carry their burden for them.

​Trizz (sketching a sincere smile, his first in weeks): "Good work, Shima. You saved my logistician's skin and enlightened me on the enemy. I feel that you and I are going to make a wonderful team."

​Shima (her face turning crimson, her pointed ears quivering with pleasure): "If you say so, Master... I am... I am so happy that my simple person, insignificant as it may be, could help you so much."

​[ Time skip: Day 3 ]

​The rising sun flooded the Sanctuary with golden light, and the birds, morning messengers, already announced the dawn of a new day. The trees, shaken by a light breeze, dropped their dead leaves onto the arid ground, while a few butterflies, indifferent to the tragic fate of this place, danced with divine tranquility around rare wildflowers.

​Yet, inside an isolated building, away from prying eyes, the atmosphere was one of silent conspiracy. Trizz and Shima stood before a massive dark wood bookshelf. It was no ordinary piece of furniture; Trizz knew it. He had a hunch that only someone from another world-an isekai like him-could have provided these plans to Echidna. Even the Witch's genius didn't usually stoop to such cliché mechanisms, worthy of B-grade spy movies.

​Trizz slid his finger over the binding of a specific volume, a smirk on his lips.

​Trizz: "And there we go. The key to the mystery lies in this exact volume. Watch closely."

​He pulled the book toward him. A muffled click echoed, and the entire section of the bookshelf swung silently on invisible hinges, revealing a dark passage. Shima, despite being a guardian of these lands and a resident for centuries, widened her eyes, stunned by this discovery under her own roof.

​Trizz stepped into the opening, followed closely by the small woman. The lack of an alarm confirmed his theory: this was a forgotten refuge, a vestige.

​The secret room was surprisingly clean, spared from the dust of the last four centuries. Trizz had already used this place in secret to assemble his homemade explosives, but today, his quest was different. In the center sat a large experimental table, littered with empty vials and familiar instruments. Someone here had tried to synthesize healing potions, failing with a scientific rigor that commanded respect.

​Shima's gaze was drawn to a brass instrument of complex and unusual shape, resting on a side workbench.

​Shima: "What is this object, Master? Its twisted shape and glass lenses... it gives off a strange aura, quite different from usual magical tools."

​Trizz followed her gaze. It was a microscope. A surge of brutal nostalgia tightened his throat. In his old world, he had loved science, pure logic, before family obligations and his father's company legacy forced him to become a man of business and negotiation. He had dreamed of an isekai like Konosuba, a light and absurd adventure. Instead, his legendary bad luck had thrown him into this world of blood, time loops, and suffering.

​Trizz: "That object is a microscope, Shima. It's an instrument that allows one to see the infinitely small-living beings normally invisible to the naked eye. Judging by the residue in those vials over there, I believe its owner was using it to study the very structure of life... or mana."

He shook his head to chase away the ghosts of his past and approached the central table, which he had mentally dubbed "The Age of golden"-a bitter reference to an Elden Ring ending and his Discord friend group, now lost forever.

​Trizz: "Enough nostalgia. Shima, we are here for a specific purpose. Do you understand?"

​Shima: "Understood, Master. I follow your instructions."

​Trizz pointed to about twenty dull little makeup mirrors lying on the workbench.

​Trizz: "This is what we came for. These two Metia."

​Shima (tilting her head): "A Metia? According to the Witch's archives, these objects were meant to communicate at a distance with another person, like artificial telepathy. But according to her, the experiment was a failure. They are defective objects."

​Trizz (grabbing the crystals greedily): "Defective objects for a perfectionist Witch, perhaps, but priceless treasures for me. Thanks to these, we will be connected twenty-four hours a day. At the slightest problem, at the slightest suspicious movement from Garfiel, you will use this to warn me instantly."

​Shima: "Yes, if you say so, Master. I suppose such a tool would also be quite useful for your friend, Otto-san. If you'll allow me the observation, he is the unluckiest being I have ever met, except perhaps for you."

​Trizz: "I'll grant you that point. Even if my own bad luck rivals his, Otto has the unique gift of finding himself in ridiculous situations seventy percent of the time. It's a statistical anomaly."

​Shima watched Trizz handle the objects, then asked a question that was hanging in the air.

​Shima: "And concerning the other boy... the one with the black hair, so clumsy and loud. Do you intend to take him into your confidence regarding your plan as well?"

​Trizz's face closed up instantly. A shadow of contempt clouded his eyes. Subaru had everything Trizz desired without paying the true psychological price. He was the World's Chosen, the protagonist, while Trizz felt condemned to be the man in the shadows-the one who must manipulate and cheat to survive. If Subaru was Satella's darling child, Trizz sometimes wondered if he wasn't just the broken toy of some other entity.

​Trizz (with glacial scorn): "That guy? It seems to me he prefers chasing after a naive princess and whining about his fate instead of doing what is necessary to stabilize the Sanctuary. To answer you clearly no. That idiot will not be included in our plan. He is too unstable a variable."

​Shima remained silent for a moment, staring at her new master with disarming intensity.

​Shima: "It seems to me you are a bit too hard on that boy, Master. True, he is far too emotional and his actions seem chaotic, even suicidal. But... he seems to learn from his failures, just as you do."

​Trizz: "..."

​Shima: "If you gave him more time, he could serve as a shield or an ally in the future. Sometimes, the dirtiest coal can hide a heart of gold-or at least, a diamond in the rough."

​Trizz sighed, his anger receding to make way for amused resignation. This little century-old creature had a perceptiveness that annoyed him as much as it was useful.

​Trizz: "I get it, Shima... I'll listen to your advice, for this once. But tell me, I'm supposed to be the Master here, right? I'm the one giving the lessons, not the other way around."

​Shima (with a small smirk): "You may have the title, Master, but that does not guarantee you wisdom. That is acquired with centuries... or humility."

​For the first time since his arrival in this hell, someone had managed to draw two sincere smiles from him in a single day. In an impulsive gesture, to break that aura of wisdom that didn't match her physical appearance, Trizz approached her and, in a fluid movement, lifted her by the waist to eye level.

​Trizz: "And now, tell me... who's the miniature loli lecturing adults, huh?"

​Shima, suspended in mid-air, crossed her arms and looked away, pouting with a feigned air of indignation that made her look even more harmless.

​Shima: "You should be ashamed of yourself, Master! Using this physical characteristic as an attack against my poor self is a low blow unworthy of a strategist of your rank!"

​A dull sound, like gravel being crushed, echoed in the room. The secret passage had just opened again, revealing a young man with strained features behind the bookshelf section. Otto froze, eyes wide with perplexity at the mechanism he had just triggered, but his gaze quickly landed on Trizz, who was still holding Shima in his arms.

​Otto (panicked and breathless): "Oh... ha... sorry! I absolutely didn't want to... interrupt your... um... your private moment, Trizz!"

​Trizz (curtly): "Don't go getting any twisted ideas, Otto. You took forever to join us. What happened outside?"

​Otto: "That damned Garfiel wouldn't stop following me in secret, even if he's really not gifted at discretion... I managed to escape him just barely after he ran into Ram on my path. Fortunately, she caught all his attention."

​Shima: "Young merchant, your skin has turned so pale one would think you crossed the entire country on foot without taking a single break."

​Otto (stepping back in pure panic): "But that tone is... Ryuzu-san! Trizz, by all the gods, what is she doing here with you? And why are you holding Garfiel's 'grandmother' in your arms as if she were a treasure!"

​Trizz: "It's a long story, but to keep it short: she is now our ally."

​Trizz abruptly tossed one of the Metia to Otto. The merchant, in his clumsiness, nearly dropped it, but managed to catch it just in time. He began examining the object from every angle before glancing at the other Metia remaining on the experimental table.

​Trizz: "As you've likely noticed, it's a communication Metia. We'll use it to talk at a distance. In case of a serious problem, you'll be able to speak to me instantly."

​Otto (eyes shining): "But... Trizz, a Metia is worth about twenty sacred gold coins on the market! Imagine... if we sold this whole stock, we'd be so rich we wouldn't know what to do with it!"

​Shima: "Young merchant, greed is a very ugly flaw... You would risk losing your soul and your life to it."

​Otto, staring at the small woman in Trizz's arms, stuttered as he tried to justify himself, clearly confused.

​Otto: "But really, I was saying that as a joke, Ryuzu-san... I wasn't serious at all... haha..."

​Trizz: "This is what happens when an Otto sees too much gold at once..."

​Shima: "You are perfectly right, Master. Merchants are all the same; they think only of money."

​Otto: "But I'm not like the others! Is that really what you think of me, Trizz? And first of all, why is Ryuzu-san calling you «Master»? You're hiding way too much from me, my friend!"

​Trizz: "No matter your feelings, Otto. We now have what we needed for what comes next..."

​Trizz suddenly let Shima slide. The small woman fell on her bottom on the floor, eyes round with surprise. But what caused a visceral panic in her was not her fall, but the sight of horror unfolding before her: her Master was beginning to weep tears of pure blood.

​Trizz: "Ghup..."

Trizz collapsed on all fours, vomiting liters of his own blood. What was happening? Was his body exhausted from the Ul Aka training? No, his wounds had healed the day before. Was it poison? Impossible-Trizz's Authority normally purged all toxins from his system.

​Shima (rising in a surge of terror): "Master! Stay with me! What is happening to you... You cannot leave now, not after telling me I had value to you!"

​Otto (rushing forward, placing a trembling hand on his friend's back): "Hey, Trizz! Don't you dare die here! What's wrong with you?! Imagine Petra's face if she saw her hero die in such a pathetic way! and your mistress Betty? She might never leave her library again out of pure melancholy if she found out her apprentice was dead!"

​Nausea overwhelmed him. A violent vertigo turned his vision to white and gray. His throat constricted like a steel trap, and his lungs felt as though they were filling with blood. Trizz felt it: it wasn't his body giving out, but something else. He couldn't die here, or Subaru would be forced to reset the loop through suicide.

​Trizz: "Shima... give me the... ghut..."

​He vomited even more blood, forming a giant pool that surrounded him. Without a word, eyes wide, Shima ran on her small bare feet toward the table to grab one of the potions.

​Otto: "Stop talking, Trizz... and stay calm! Maybe... it's just that insolent bad luck of yours you explained the other day finally catching up to you!"

​In a flash of terrifying lucidity, Trizz understood. It was neither a mana overload nor the world rejecting his existence as a stranger. It was much more personal, much more vicious. It was her.

​In a fluid but desperate movement, Trizz plunged his hand into his pocket, his fingers closing violently around the cold metal of the black chained pendant. He squeezed it hard enough to break his knuckles, cutting the flow. Almost instantaneously, the invisible vise crushing his organs loosened. The hemorrhaging stopped dead, leaving him panting, mind clear but body trembling.

​Shima rushed back, a vial of scarlet liquid in her small hands.

​Shima: "Here, Master... The healing potion, as you requested. Drink, I beg of you, do not leave us..."

​To ensure Shima's efforts weren't in vain and, above all, to keep the secret of his cursed contract from Otto, Trizz ripped off the cap and drained the vial in one go. The liquid, with a strange taste of sugary bitterness, burned his throat but immediately granted him sharpened visual acuity; for a few minutes, he could perceive the surrounding mana flows. It was a perfect cover.

​He stood up with difficulty, slipping in his own blood, leaning against the paneled wall to keep from collapsing again. A cold, pure, sharp hatred ran down his spine.

​Trizz (Internal): "Bitch! Was this your plan? To kill me out of simple jealousy because I ignored your whims?! This is the kind of toxicity even Satella wouldn't inflict on Barusu!"

​Echidna (Internal, in a tone cold and indifferent to his suffering): "Oh, Frizz... It has been exactly thirteen hours, thirty-three minutes, and ten seconds since we last spoke. What useless drama, isn't it? Did you think you could put me on mute like one closes a book?"

​Trizz (Internal): "Shut up, Witch! Don't play innocent. Counting the exact time since we spoke... it's disgusting, it's a pathological obsession!"

​Echidna (Internal, her voice becoming honeyed and oppressive): "You are the only one who can understand me, darling. And why do you still keep that «thing» with you? I am the only one who can share the burden of your loops! The only woman capable of looking at the blood on your hands without turning away, without judging you. They only see a surface. I see everything."

​Trizz (Internal): "No, you're dead wrong. You aren't an ally; you're a parasite feeding on my deaths and my manipulations to satisfy your curiosity. You aren't trying to understand me; you just want to turn me into a being as cold and empty as you are!"

​Trizz cut the mental connection, regaining his senses in reality. He saw Otto, pale as a sheet, and Shima, her cheeks flooded with tears. It was that Witch's fault. Trizz had been so focused on waiting for the end of his three-month contract that he had forgotten the immediate danger of his "partner."

​Trizz (wiping blood from his mouth with a sleeve): "Stop looking at me like that, as if I'm a walking corpse. I'm fine. Now, let's get out of here."

​He took a staggering step toward the exit but was immediately stopped.

​Shima (clinging to his leg): "But Master... If there is something bothering you, a curse or a pain, explain it to us! I will do everything in my meager power to help you, no matter the price!"

​Otto (blocking the way): "Same for me, Trizz! Dammit, we're a team, aren't we? Stop trying to carry the weight of the whole world on your shoulders alone! If you need support, I'll be there for you. I'm not just here to carry the crates!"

​Trizz's crimson eyes widened in stupor. He wasn't alone anymore? These two people... they didn't see him as a manipulative monster or a mere tool for their own survival? Were they sincere? In this world, everyone approached him to ask "how to save Emilia's camp," never "how are you, Trizz."

​Otto (placing his hands firmly on Trizz's shoulders): "I can't know what hell you went through in your past life to become this cynical person before us. But listen closely, Trizz you can't calculate everything on your own. The world can be cruel and full of traitors, but look at me. I remained Otto. Not the opportunistic traveling merchant, but the friend you came to help when I was at my lowest, without ever asking for my life in exchange."

​Shima (nodding vigorously): "Master, this young merchant is right. I was a failed experiment, laboratory waste without a purpose, watching over this Sanctuary for four centuries. I lost my role as Guardian after entering the Tomb to save Garf-bo as a child... I thought I had become a soulless tool. But you arrived. Even if it was just yesterday, you gave me value as a living being, and not as a mere function."

​Did they appreciate Trizz, the man with his flaws, and not Trizz the infallible strategist? The doubt cracked his mask.

​Echidna (Internal, hissing with contempt): "Don't listen to that nonsense, Frizz. They are pathetic, weak humans! The moment they see you fail or commit a stain too bloody, they will betray you or flee. I am the only constant. I am the only one who understands you!"

​Trizz grit his teeth, rejecting the insidious voice.

​Trizz: "You bunch of idiots! I didn't ask you to tell me your tear-jerking biographies. Now, let's get out of here, stop the sentimental chatter, and take action."

​He gently pushed past them, hiding a small, sincere smile at the corner of his lips that only the shadows could see. Trizz was no longer alone. Otto and Shima, initially perplexed by the insult, understood the subtext and smiled back before following him out of the secret library.

​But the moment they left the house to return to the open air, the atmosphere changed radically. Thanks to his Authority, Trizz felt a violent anomaly. The village was empty. No animal sounds, no wind. Just a raw emotion saturating the air an abyssal melancholy.

​Otto (noticing Trizz's vacant and terrified gaze): "Trizz? Are you okay? Has... your illness started again?"

​Trizz: "No, Otto... Otto, answer me quickly. When you crossed the village to come here, were there still villagers? Signs of life?"

​Otto (perplexed, his voice trembling): "Ye-yes... Of course... Why, Trizz? Is there a problem?"

​Trizz, without a word, lifted Shima into his arms without her consent-she was too slow, and flight was going to be necessary. Had Subaru betrayed him again? Had he failed to contain Emilia? Or worse...

​He slowly opened the door leading to the main square. Behind it lay the inevitable.

​Shadows. Tons of black, viscous shadows, swallowing reality. Trizz's eyes widened in pure terror. It was impossible. Everyone had already been engulfed. The village no longer existed.

​Trizz felt a glacial presence materialize just behind his back, a presence that was certainly not Otto. The fear of turning around paralyzed his spine, but the voice whispered in his ear, soft and terrifying like the end of the world:

​???: "I love him..."