The sun of Lugunica shone intensely, with an almost insolent brilliance. It flooded the blue sky with its age-old splendor, as it had done so many times before. But this time, on this particular day, its light was not content to shine at random, indifferent to the fate of the mortals below.
No — for once, rarer than all others, it seemed to deign to meticulously illuminate very specific places, bathing with its golden rays the theater where history was about to be rewritten in sweat and blood.
One of these places was the Mathers domain, the nerve center of this upheaval.
On this day, a plan had been launched — a plan aimed at eliminating, once and for all, the threat of the Witch Cult.
« The Plan Zero Adept »
For hours, each faction had worked with clockwork precision. Under the orders of Wilhelm van Astrea, each group accomplished its mission with formidable precision.
The troops had thrown themselves upon the fanatics of the Witch Cult. Caught off guard by this surgical counter-offensive based on information of terrifying accuracy, the adepts had collapsed one after another. Even Petelgeuse's formidable « Fingers » had not been able to react in time, surrounded and executed in a deluge of steel and magic.
But make no mistake: this was by no means a simple formality.
It was a victory torn from pain, marked by slashed flesh and the extreme exhaustion of the combatants. It was a brief but bloody hell.
Yet, miraculously, thanks to the precious information that had been transmitted to them, no lives were to be deplored in their camp — a feat that, without this advantage, would probably have cost dearly.
On the Cult's side, on the other hand, there was no mercy. The annihilation was total. Not a single adept remained alive. The ten Fingers — those zealous executors who normally should have represented a considerable threat — were reduced to ashes before they could even sketch a true resistance.
It was Emilia who had carried the brunt of this effort, having given all her heart, all her soul, in this battle to annihilate the slightest trace of threat weighing on the domain.
They had defeated the Cult.
But there was still one head that had not fallen. Their leader.
The Archbishop of Sloth in person. Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti.
For him, a plan had been hatched well in advance. Natsuki Subaru had offered himself up as bait.
Used as a living bait, the boy had monopolized all of Petelgeuse's frantic attention, distracting him for the exact time necessary for the extermination of his receptacles, his Fingers — thus preventing him from resorting to his possession power to flee at the slightest sign of defeat.
When the reality of his forced solitude had finally pierced the Archbishop's twisted mind, the monster's rage had exploded.
Petelgeuse had wanted to tear the insolent fellow apart immediately, but Subaru, anticipating his adversary's dementia, had released a Shamak before plunging into the dense vegetation.
Petelgeuse, in his fury, had naturally set off in pursuit of him through the forest, until catching up with him in a clearing.
Petelgeuse : « AHAHAHA ! It's useless ! You're finished, Natsuki Subaru ! Love will always catch up to you ! »
The green monster with the dislocated silhouette screamed, bounding through the clearing where he thought he had cornered his prey.
He laughed out loud, already savoring his victory.
But facing the Archbishop, Subaru showed no terror. A confident smirk stretched his trembling lips.
For what the green man totally ignored was that he had just thrown himself straight into a trap.
Subaru : « You fell right into it, you freak. »
Just as Petelgeuse was arming his invisible limbs to crush the boy —
SLASH ! CHICK !
Two dry sounds echoed, cleaving the air in a stinging echo.
Instantly, the spectral appendages that were about to swoop down on Subaru were sliced clean in a spray of residual force.
Petelgeuse recoiled with a bound, his albino eyes bulging from shock.
Petelgeuse : « What ?! What is this witchcraft ?! You... you can see the Invisible Hands of my Love ?! »
He cried out, completely shocked.
Subaru : « Phew... You guys took your time. I almost pissed myself. »
He smiled upon seeing two silhouettes emerge from the trees.
Al : « What, Bro ? It's not easy to be on point every single second, you know. »
The one-armed warrior sighed as he stepped forward, lazily resting his sword on his shoulder, while a second silhouette of absolute elegance stepped up beside Subaru.
Julius : « Well... It would seem that the first phase of the plan went off to perfection. »
The Spirit Knight gently patted Subaru's shoulder, a discreet smile on his lips, transmitting via his quasi-visible spirits the flow of mana necessary to link their perceptions.
Thanks to this sharing of senses orchestrated by Julius, the trio now possessed a perfect vision of the invisible scourge.
Subaru : « Yeah. Come on, let's take him down! »
He exclaimed, a determined smile on his face.
Al sighed once more, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Al : « Yeah, yeah... Let's finish this quickly, I don't feel like spending the day here. »
His gaze remained fixed on Petelgeuse, still confused.
Julius : « Don't worry, Al. This fight will be prompt. »
His sword was already drawn, ready to pierce the monster.
Petelgeuse observed them for a moment, his jaw trembling with sacrilegious fury.
Then, in a gesture of familiar dementia, he brought his own fingers to his mouth and bit them to the bone, tearing the flesh with a sickening crunch. Blood spurted onto his dark clothes as he spat out a piece of skin.
Petelgeuse : « Ehehehe... AHAHAHA ! Do you really think you can win against the purity of my Love ?! No, no, NO ! Slothful ! You are all horribly slothful ! I am going to show you that my Love is infinite ! »
He cried that out as he withdrew his bloody fingers from his mouth.
Petelgeuse : « INVISIBLE HAND ! »
Immediately, a swarming mass of spectral arms burst from his chest, crashing onto the group like a destructive wave.
Subaru : « Watch out, it's coming from everywhere ! Hold the formation ! »
« Here we go, once again... » He murmured this thought, his gaze grave.
The battle engaged with unheard-of violence.
In theory, this fight should have quickly ended in Petelgeuse's crushing victory due to his colossal power and the invisibility of the attacks — after all, no one could see his Invisible Hands.
No one, except a single person in the world: Natsuki Subaru.
And thanks to the sharing of senses offered by Julius's spirit magic, the entire trio could suddenly perceive each movement of the archbishop's hands, finally allowing them to defend themselves effectively.
What followed was almost distressing for Petelgeuse.
He was strong — extremely strong, even. But his greatest advantage lay entirely in the invisibility of his authority. Now, he had just lost it. And that was enough to completely tip the balance of power in his disfavor.
No matter the fury with which he attacked — seeing his hands, Julius and Al, elite warriors well-versed in close combat, whirled on the front line, slicing them without apparent great effort.
Their blades carved through the ethereal limbs with surgical precision, but the mass of arms was such that the physical effort weighed heavily on their shoulders. The pressure shots narrowly missed decapitating them, razing the surrounding trees in a deafening crash.
While Subaru kept his eyes glued to the archbishop to offer the duo a constant overview of the upcoming assaults.
Being two to share the burden, the number of hands remained negligible for each, allowing them to hold their ground without sustaining a truly mortal injury.
Petelgeuse : « Arghhh, die ! Die ! DIE FOR LOVE ! »
He cried that out, increasingly enraged to see the proof of his love brushed aside like a vulgar annoying fly.
Sweat and blood flowed down Subaru's face, his eyes burning from the constant tension of analyzing each trajectory.
The fight continued thus, but the trio progressively gained ground — until managing to reach the archbishop directly, inflicting real gashes upon him.
Julius cleaved the air, delivering a first deep thrust into Petelgeuse's flank, while Al slashed his thigh, constantly forcing the Archbishop to retreat, to protect himself behind his own hands.
But the further the fight progressed, the more Petelgeuse began to understand that the real problem did not lie in those fighting him head-on — but rather in that boy who was watching them from behind, orchestrating each parry.
So he smiled, and tried something as Julius and Al rushed toward him, swords raised.
He voluntarily allowed himself to be hit, taking two masterful thrusts right in the abdomen — but it was only a feint.
Taking advantage of the temporary immobilization of the two blades planted in his body, Petelgeuse projected a string of invisible hands directly at Subaru, completely in the open.
Petelgeuse : « Ehehe, die for love ! Die for having flouted our pure love ! »
He laughed, persuaded that the boy was finished.
Subaru : « Damn ! »
Listening only to his survival instinct forged by countless deaths, Subaru, instead of retreating, rushed straight toward the hands.
He leaped to the side, dodging the first, then a second that swooped down on him — he executed a low roll, avoiding by a few millimeters a hand that pulverized the ground behind him, then slid to the side to escape a second attack that grazed his cheek.
But a dozen other arms were already swooping down on him to reduce him to mush.
CRACK !
A dense earth wall, hastily erected by Al's magic, interposed in extremis, absorbing the devastating impact.
Subaru skirted the obstacle without slowing down, rushing at full speed toward the impaled Archbishop.
Petelgeuse : « Impossible ! Heretic ! Immoral ! »
He screamed that out while almost tearing his hair out, unleashing a torrent of hands on everything surrounding him.
Subaru : « ...This is the end of you, Petelgeuse. »
He smiled, barely a few meters away from his target. It was the final phase of their plan — he was finally close enough.
Subaru : « Shamak ! »
Instantly, a torrent of darkness engulfed the entire clearing, covering the place with a dark and impenetrable cloud. Yin magic instantly deprived Petelgeuse of all his normal senses.
Petelgeuse : « What ?! My eyes ! My ears ! Why can't I see anything anymore ?! »
He cried out, completely disoriented, his hands beginning to whip the air in all random directions, creating a storm of blind terror, striking everywhere and nowhere at once, guided by instinctive panic rather than precise targeting.
SHLUCK !
Petelgeuse : « Ehh... wha... »
He looked down at his own chest. A blade had just pierced him right through, taking advantage of this opening born from his own blind panic.
Al : « Sorry, man. That's life. »
He murmured that, right behind him.
Of course, Shamak deprived anyone of their senses within its radius of action — but by sharing his senses with Subaru, Al had been able to continue moving without the slightest difficulty through the darkness, gliding into the monster's blind spot.
Petelgeuse : « Die ! Die, go to hell ! »
He screamed, desperately trying to flay Al with his hands — but the latter already leaped backward, disappearing immediately into the black mist.
Shamak then dissipated under Petelgeuse's disorderly assault — but a silhouette was already standing before him.
Petelgeuse : « How... »
He was taken completely off guard.
It was Julius Juukulius, his sword shining with a dazzling prismatic glow.
Julius : « AL CLARISTA ! »
He exclaimed, swinging his multicolored blade straight at Petelgeuse.
BOOM !
An explosion rang out. The shockwave pulverized Petelgeuse's torso, literally slicing him in two in a spectacular explosion.
The upper part of his bloody body was propelled several meters into the underbrush, crashing heavily into the mud.
A heavy silence settled in. The three men breathed with difficulty, their bodies bruised by the intensity of the battle.
It was over. The trio had won. They had finally defeated the archbishop — at least, that is what they believed, breathing out for a moment under the weight of accumulated fatigue.
Julius : « Is it... over ? »
Subaru : « Let's stay cautious. This guy is a real tick. »
As they approached the underbrush to inspect the remains of the monster collapsed on the ground, it suddenly began to thrash violently, without any of them being able to understand the reason.
Voice : « Eeeeheheheheheh… AHAHAHAHA ! »
A strident laugh escaped from the bloody mass.
Subaru : « Damn, it's a trap ! »
He cried out — but it was already too late.
Petelgeuse made his hands resurface, unleashing a veritable apocalypse across the forest: the earth was turning over, the trees were uprooted like wisps of straw, the entire environment disintegrating in his wake.
The explosion of force swept away Julius and Al, violently propelling them several dozen meters through tree trunks.
Julius : « Damn it… What monstrous power... how can he still do that... »
He got up painfully, wiping the blood flowing from his forehead, his body sore — then something caught his gaze.
Julius saw a scene that froze his blood: Subaru. Running. And in front of him, Petelgeuse, fleeing by crawling like a monstrous insect at a crazy speed, clutching onto branches with his invisible hands, dragging his own entrails behind him.
Julius : « Subaru ! Wait ! »
He shouted, ready to rush in turn — but a hand placed itself firmly on his shoulder, stopping him short.
Julius : « Al… ? what are you doing ?! Subaru is in mortal danger ! »
He cried out, absolutely not understanding why the one-armed man had just held him back.
Al : « Let him be, Knight. »
Al's voice was calm, devoid of his usual nonchalance.
Al : « Sometimes... a man needs to do things alone. He needed this revenge. »
Julius : « But... he is alone ! He cannot defeat the rest of this Archbishop without our help ! »
He insisted, truly worried for the boy.
Al sighed.
Al : « What do you know about it ? Take a good look at that gaze. That's not the gaze of a guy who's going to get killed. That's the gaze of a guy who's going to settle scores with his own demon. »
He said it with disarming sincerity.
At these words, Julius appeared perplexed for an instant.
He fixed his eyes on Subaru's silhouette disappearing under the canopy — then swallowed his worry, and ended up releasing the pressure on his sword, choosing, against all apparent logic, to trust him.
« Subaru... survive. »
He thought that, bitterly, incapable of doing more.
At the heart of the dark underbrush, the pursuit was raging.
Subaru pursued Petelgeuse reduced to a bloody bust, whose entrails literally hung out of his mangled body on the ground.
The archbishop continued to move between the trees thanks to his Invisible Hands, despite a blood loss that should have, in all logic, finished him off long ago — but his obsession seemed to keep him alive well beyond what his body should have supported, as if "love" itself refused to let him die before having had its revenge.
Subaru : « You won't escape ! Not this time, you monster ! »
He cried out while pursuing him relentlessly, his breath short.
Until suddenly, the man stopped — and looked at him.
It was a downright nightmarish vision.
Petelgeuse stood suspended in the air, hooked from all sides by his own Invisible Hands planted in the surrounding trunks, like a monstrous spider weaving its web of flesh.
Petelgeuse : « Eeheheh... you are going to die, Natsuki Subaru ! You are going to serve as an offering for my Love ! »
He screamed that out, deploying all the strength he had left to eliminate him once and for all.
All the remaining invisible hands shot out at the same time, rushing at Subaru like lethal spikes.
Subaru exhaled a big breath — and ran.
He dashed, immediately pivoted around a large oak tree instantly pulverized by a furious hand, made a complete detour without slowing his run while other hands chased him relentlessly.
He sharply branched off to the left, dodged a hand targeting his leg, jumped over an invisible limb sweeping the ground to prevent his feet from being shredded, slalomed between several trunks as the hands continued their pursuit tirelessly.
The violence of the attacks slashed his clothes and flesh —
SHIRKK.
A hand passed too close, slashing his leg, making him skid violently in the dead leaves and collapse onto the ground.
Petelgeuse : « Ahahaha ! You are down ! This is the end ! DIE ! »
He laughed, sending all the hands he had left to finally shred him.
But —
Petelgeuse : « Hugh... what ?! »
The hands stopped dead, barely a few centimeters away from Subaru's body sprawled on the ground.
Petelgeuse : « What... how... why aren't my arms moving anymore ?! »
He cried out, completely caught off guard.
Subaru : « Ahh... it worked… »
Getting up painfully, wiping the sweat and dust from his face, Subaru sketched a tired smile.
All around him, the entirety of the invisible hands was completely intertwined with one another, stuck and tied up, held prisoner in the complex ramification of the trees that Subaru had knowingly skirted during his run.
His run had had nothing random about it — each turn, each feint, had been calculated to methodically trap each hand in this vegetative maze. And it had worked.
Petelgeuse : « Arghhh, arghhh ! Curse ! Free me ! »
He cried out, forcing with all his remaining meager strength — but the hands barely moved, too entangled with each other to sketch the slightest free movement.
Subaru approached slowly, bending down gently to pass under the line of an immobile hand, staring at the suspended and powerless monster.
Subaru : « All those times...»
He murmured, remembering each of the deaths he had suffered facing this man, each of the loops where he had failed.
Subaru : « All the times I couldn't save them… Where you took everything from me...»
In his mind, the memories of past loops resurfaced with a bloody clarity:
Rem's crucified body.
The empty gaze of frozen Emilia
Ram's scattered limbs.
The massacre of the Mathers mansion — all these horrors lived in the most total solitude, all these deaths, each in the most atrocious way possible — paraded through his mind, a torrent of memories he thought he had buried.
Subaru : « It's over. I'm going to finish this now. »
Subaru plunged his hand into his jacket and pulled out a heavy leather bag. Inside sparkled several highly explosive fire stones — the exact same ones he had recovered from under the children's cart.
He looked at Petelgeuse, suspended, powerless, and sighed — a mixture of weariness, contained hatred, and an almost painful relief in his voice.
Petelgeuse : « No... Wait ! Heretic ! You cannot— »
Subaru : « Goodbye, fucking fanatic. »
Subaru threw the bag of stones directly at the monster's face.
Petelgeuse saw the light melt upon him and could only scream.
Petelgeuse : « Na… NATSUKI SUBARUUUUUU ! »
BOUMMMM !
A torrential explosion rang out with phenomenal force across the entire forest, illuminating the area with an incandescent blaze.
Even Julius and Al, in the distance, saw it illuminate the sky.
Julius : « Subaru ! »
He cried out, already rushing in that direction, Al on his heels.
Meanwhile, in the center of the charred clearing, Subaru collapsed to his knees, his face bathed in tears, but a radiant smile illuminating his tired features.
Subaru : « I did it... I did it ! »
He exclaimed, tears in his eyes, a mix of total exhaustion and pure relief in his voice.
Finally. He had accomplished something. By himself. By his own strength. He had succeeded.
At the same moment, well above the chaos, in a distant place, at the summit of what seemed to be the great tree Flugel, a silhouette all dressed in white observed the scene, seated quietly.
It was Kozuwa Kurisu.
In his raised right hand rested something, a sort of flame, dark and yet luminous at the same time — Petelgeuse's wandering soul, which was desperately searching for a receptacle to initiate a possession — danced weakly, flickering gently between his fingers.
Kurisu : « Kekeke... well done, my little student. You have accomplished something great by yourself. »
He observed the flame for an instant, an enigmatic smile floating on his lips.
Kurisu : « You don't steal the spotlight from the protagonist during the final fight, Petelgeuse. That's a basic rule of the script. »
He gently closed his hand over the flame, extinguishing it with apparent ease.
Kurisu : « I'm nice today. No need for a possession temptation to ruin his moment. Enjoy your victory, Subaru. »
He reopened his palm — and the last residues of the flame dispersed into a fine dust of luminous stars, fading into the daytime air.
Kurisu : « Well... I have work to do too. Kekeke. »
The man in white stood up, quietly readjusting his attire. The wind blew one last time around him — and he evaporated in a sudden breeze, leaving the forest to return to its recovered calm.
......
The candidates' convoy continued its journey under a sun already high in the sky, bathing the plain in an overwhelming heat. The carriages advanced at a steady pace toward the capital, escorted by the surviving knights and transporting the wounded from the battle.
Inside the cabin of one of them, the atmosphere was calm, almost solemn. Rem and Crusch Karsten were sitting opposite each other, talking in low voices.
Crusch : « I must say that this man is truly strange... »
The green-haired candidate murmured these words while pensively holding her chin, her gaze lost in the passing landscape.
Crusch : « If I am to believe what you reported to me... he carries the scent of the Witch Cult's adepts. Yet, he has never done you the slightest harm. Worse still, he even helped Natsuki Subaru... Is that correct? »
Rem slowly nodded, her eyes fixed on her hands crossed on her knees.
Rem : « Yes... Although the scent in itself does not necessarily mean being allied with the Cult, since Subaru-kun carries one as well... His is... simply too strong. It is so dense, so dark, that it always puts me beside myself by pure instinct, without me really knowing why. »
She lowered her eyes as she said this. She kept the most painful part of this truth to herself.
She could not confess, not even to Crusch, that it was actually thanks to this man that she had not committed the irreparable by assassinating Subaru in the mansion with her own hands.
A deep shame gripped her heart at the thought of owing her lucidity, and the life of the one she loved, to a man exuding such an aura of death.
Crusch : « Hmm. Anyway... If he genuinely wanted to annihilate us, with the overwhelming power he demonstrated to us during the meeting, he would have done so long ago. There is no use digging further into his affairs for the moment. »
The duchess let out a slight pragmatic sigh as she settled a bit more comfortably on the cushions of her seat.
Rem : « Yes... you are undoubtedly right. »
She said it without much conviction, a persistent doubt lurking deep within her.
Suddenly, a jolt of unheard-of violence shook the carriage. The vehicle swerved brutally amidst a crash of wheels skidding on the dirt, nearly toppling the two women from their seats.
Crusch : « What... What is happening? »
Crusch straightened up instantly, her warrior instinct taking over, and addressed the front of the cabin.
Coachman : « Me lady... There is... There is a man right in the middle of the road! »
The coachman's voice betrayed manifest perplexity.
Crusch : « What? »
She leaned toward the window, surprised. In the distance, at the exact center of the dirt path, an immobile silhouette was indeed standing. The individual made not the slightest gesture to step aside despite the thunderous approach of the armored convoy.
It was more than strange — it was unnatural. A simple villager would have already stepped aside by reflex. This one did not budge an inch. Faced with this anomaly defying all logic, Crusch's military composure took over.
Crusch : « If he does not move when he sees us arriving... it means he knows exactly what he is doing. Crush him! »
She ordered this in a firm voice.
A collective cry of assent rose among the vanguard, whipping their mounts to charge the silhouette at full speed, and the entire convoy accelerated its run.
But inside, Rem was suddenly struck by a wave of cold sweat. Her pupils contracted under the effect of terror.
A nauseating odor, a pestilence of suffocating density, had just instantly invaded the carriage's air, compressing her lungs — an odor she knew all too well.
Rem : « Watch out! »
Screaming at the top of her lungs, Rem listened only to her survival instinct. She violently grabbed Crusch by the waist and hurled her out of the carriage, shattering the door with her own body.
BOOM ! SHIIIIING !
The next instant, the world plunged into absolute horror.
In a fraction of a second, all the convoy's carriages present were sliced into thousands of pieces with surgical precision, collapsing in a cloud of dust and debris.
The dozens of escort knights, caught in full momentum, were lifted and suspended in the air by strange, immaculately white threads.
Their heavy armor was severed like cheap paper, and their bodies were contorted in anatomically absurd ways, twisted into angles that human biology should never have allowed.
Blood gushed in scarlet geysers, beading from all sides under the pressure of the invisible threads. Then, in a macabre silence, the threads disappeared. The mutilated remains of the guards fell heavily to the earth, definitively motionless.
A deathly silence fell upon the road. A silence so total that even the wind seemed to have held its breath.
Crusch : « Who... who are you ?! »
The duchess screamed as she got up painfully, her gaze horrified by this vision of carnage that had just swept away her elite in a single blink of an eye. Her sword was drawn from its scabbard, her hand trembling imperceptibly.
Standing in the immaculate glow of day, amidst the corpses and shattered wood, a slender silhouette slowly emerged from the silence. The man exuded a profoundly theatrical and chilling aura, worthy of the greatest shadow masterminds.
On his face — not the slightest gaze, not the slightest trace of human emotion:
Only a white, smooth, and immaculate mask, frozen in an absolute neutrality that totally erased any identity.
Around this rigid surface, rebellious strands of jet-black hair, curled with maniacal care and perfectly styled, fell on either side, framing his faceless face.
Dressed in a three-piece suit of irreproachable elegance, enveloped in a long dark trench coat that floated heavily behind him with each movement of the breeze, he stood there, immobile, menacing, hands in his pockets.
A veritable costumed ghost, ready to pull the strings of a world on the brink of the abyss.
Crusch : « State your identity, immediately! »
Crusch put herself on guard, her sword already drawn and pointed toward the unknown, her heart beating wildly in the face of this abnormal pressure.
The masked man : « Ohhh, ohhh... please excuse me for my flagrant lack of politeness, fair ladies. »
The voice that resonated behind the mask was polite, honeyed, but hid a smile that one could guess beneath the fabric, terrifying despite its invisibility.
Regulus : « I am Regulus Corneas. Archbishop of Sin of the Witch Cult, in charge of Greed. »
The man withdrew a hand from his pocket and placed it on his chest before bowing in an excruciatingly theatrical reverence.
Regulus : « It is a true pleasure to make your acquaintance. »
Rem : « An... Archbishop of Sin... »
Rem's blood froze before boiling instantly. Her gaze, initially shocked, filled with a mad, murderous rage.
The scent, the title, the massacre. Everything connected in her bruised mind.
Crusch : « So all of this is because of you ?! »
The duchess pointed her blade at the bloody carnage surrounding them, her voice trembling with indignation.
Regulus : « Ohh, you look upon me as sincerely sorry for it. I didn't mean to do so much harm, believe me. But you see? I didn't know that these people were so fragile and weak that they couldn't support a simple greeting. I am sorry about it, my upbringing has taken a hit. »
He apologized, lowering his head slightly, mimicking a pathetic sadness that reeked of sarcasm from miles away, with a feigned sincerity that made the scene even more unbearable.
Rem : « You... you call those greetings ?! Killing all these people for nothing ?! DIE, ADEPT ! »
Letting her fury explode, Rem immediately activated her horn. A bluish, wild aura enveloped her tired body.
Ignoring the pain of her depleted reserves, she sprang forward at lightning speed, whirling the mace of her flail with devastating force.
Following her movement, Crusch cocked her own blade and simultaneously swung a series of invisible, sharp wind blades.
The joint assault, of deadly precision, converged directly on the Archbishop.
But the man merely smiled beneath his mask. He did not move a millimeter. He simply raised a finger.
CLANG ! FSSSH !
The impact was instantaneous and terrifying.
The heavy steel ball of Rem's flail was reduced to ashes even before touching his coat.
All of Crusch's wind blades vanished into nothingness, and before the duchess could understand, the blade of her sword was severed clean.
The cancellation of their attacks created a reversed shockwave, a colossal cutting gust that exploded right in front of them, violently propelling them backward with phenomenal force.
BAM !
A thick cloud of dust rose as the two young women crashed heavily against the ruins of an overturned carriage.
Rem : « Kgh… how... what did you do ?! »
She roared, her body riddled with fine cuts and bloody scrapes, struggling to get up on trembling arms while spitting blood.
When the dust settled, squinting toward the masked man, she finally noticed the phenomenon — dozens of immaculately white threads, so fine they almost blended with the light, slowly whirled around him like an impassable barrier.
Regulus : « Do you see this? It is my Authority. Simple little threads that cut. It is rather modest and unassuming, isn't it? »
He smiled, and took a graceful step forward.
Under his control, the threads began to whirl around the ruins at an absurd speed, whipping the air with a shrill whistle and lightly grazing Rem and Crusch's skin, as if to show them just how much they remained at his mercy.
Regulus : « Forgive me, ladies. But I am afraid I cannot let you leave. »
He said this as he approached, each step echoing in that heavy silence.
But just as the dust of the massacre finished dissipating on the right flank of the road. Amidst the disaster, a clear, haughty voice overflowing with boredom rang out.
Priscilla : « Ah ! So this is what an archbishop of sin is? You are truly as pathetic as your reputation implies. »
Priscilla Barielle had just exclaimed with a graceful yawn.
She was there, sitting comfortably on the rich red armchair of her own carriage — whose wooden structure had been pulverized, reduced to pieces like everything else.
Around her, everything was nothing but ruins and corpses, but she remained completely intact. Her dress did not bear the slightest cut, not the slightest grain of dust, not the slightest scratch, despite the chaos reigning all around her seat.
The massacre had literally bypassed her.
Crusch : « Baroness… »
Crusch widened her eyes, stunned to see her in such perfect condition.
Regulus : « Ohhh, now that is surprising. Lady Barielle if I'm not mistaken. How did you survive this without the slightest scratch? »
The Archbishop tilted his head to the side, a hint of sincere curiosity piercing beneath his usual politeness.
Priscilla : « Hmph ! What could be more natural? The entire world revolves around my person, isn't that an absolute certainty? »
She unfurled her crimson fan with a smile radiant with vanity, before lowering her tone slightly, a troubling and proud smirk stretching her perfect lips, with an almost unsettling intonation:
Priscilla : « Yes... the world truly is at my feet... Thanks to my husband. »
At those precise words, an infinitesimal but palpable change occurred in the costumed monster. Regulus seemed to freeze.
His shoulders began to tremble imperceptibly. His hands contracted.
Regulus : « Ohh… The world revolves around you... Thanks to your husband, you say? »
The voice behind the mask seemed to waver.
Priscilla : « Of course! And he will never let anything happen to me. Even the insignificant power of an Archbishop is absolutely nothing compared to him! »
She exclaimed, proud, absolutely certain of her inviolability.
Regulus's trembling intensified.
Seeing her opponent's shoulders shaking so violently, Priscilla thought she had struck a flaw. She wore a condescending smirk.
Priscilla : « What? Are you trembling with fear? Have you finally understood that your pathetic little attacks will never do anything to me? »
She giggled, already savoring her psychological victory.
But contrary to what she imagined, the man was not crying. He was not fleeing —
Regulus : « Ahah… Pfft… AHAHAHAHAHAHA ! »
The man burst into thunderous laughter, heartily, a sincere laughter, but of a tone so strange, so monstrously freezing, that it violently made the three women shudder far more than any of his attacks.
The tremors were not terror, but a sadistic and repressed hilarity in the face of so much futility.
Rem : « What… What is he doing? » murmured the maid, unseated by this psychological turnaround.
Crusch : « I don't know, but stay on your guard! »
She replied, equally disoriented.
Regulus : « Ahhh… Very well. Wonderful. So you think you are different from the others? You think the world revolves around your little blessed existence? That my force can do nothing to you? »
He asked this, staring at Priscilla through the slits of his mask.
The solar candidate's smile had suddenly vanished before the murderous aura, heavy as lead, which had just crushed the plain, replaced by a gleam of uncertainty she had probably never felt in her entire existence.
Regulus : « Then look closely, princess. And learn. Because to me... your world is strictly nothing. »
Suddenly, he slowly raised his hands toward the sky. At the tips of his gloves, the white threads on his fingers began to shine with a new and blinding intensity, saturating the air with an oppressive heat.
Regulus : « Authority of Greed… Rainbow Threads! »
The network of ethereal cords immediately shifted from pure white to a sparkling, crackling yellow, vibrating with a much denser, much heavier energy than the first wave — as if each strand now bore the weight of a tenfold increased threat.
The atmosphere itself seemed to tear apart under their vibration.
Regulus : « Try to block that. » he said with a deadly sweetness.
He smiled, and the threads immediately shot forth like lightning bolts.
Crusch put herself on guard with the stump of her sword. Rem clenched her fists, ready to sacrifice her body to defend them. Priscilla, finally losing her composure, tried to summon her Yang sword in a burst of protective light —
But it was already too late. The rules of luck had just been shattered.
CHING ! CHING ! CHING !
In a shrill whistle, the yellow threads instantly pierced the magical defenses, weapons, and armor.
In the blink of an eye, the three women were violently snatched from the ground, bound on all sides and suspended in the void several meters high, like grotesque puppets.
The threads sank deeply beneath their skin, freezing them in postures of pure agony.
Priscilla : « Arghhh... ! »
For the first time in her life, Priscilla screamed in pain.
Pride left her eyes as she watched in horror the incandescent threads slice her intact dress and sink deeply into her perfect flesh, unable to understand how her own luck could have failed her this time.
Blood flowed from her arms and legs.
Regulus : « Please excuse me for so much brutality toward ladies of your rank… But I am strictly keeping to the orders that were provided to me. »
He let out a weary sigh, crossing his arms while watching his three victims struggle and suffer with a little sadistic smile barely concealed beneath his mask.
Regulus : « But anyway… I hope the scene will be sufficiently... ready. Mhh… A small adjustment is called for. »
He smiled, raised a finger, and carelessly pulled on a thread with a sharp jerk.
Crusch, Rem, and Priscilla let out a simultaneous cry of agony, an excruciating pain radiating from their nerves. Every muscle in their bodies screamed in mortal agony, seeming to tear from the inside, as if sliced into invisible pieces.
The threads sank down to the bone, crushing their flesh and grazing their internal organs without completely severing them, however. Their limbs slowly dislocated under the infernal tension, leaving them in a state of critical mutilation, on the brink of death.
Torrents of blood escaped from their lips, raining down onto the ravaged earth below. The consciousness of the three women began to sink into the darkness of pure pain.
Regulus : « Ahhh… Yes. I think it's perfect like this. »
Contemplating his masterpiece of despair, the gentleman of the shadow stepped back.
Regulus : « Thank you for this marvelous show, dear ladies. »
He said this with a satisfied smile.
With a fluid gesture, he bowed in a final and majestic theatrical reverence before them, like an artist greeting his public after the performance.
Then, without another word, he turned around, his trench coat floating behind him, and walked away at a quiet, nonchalant pace, amidst the smoking carcasses and lifeless bodies — until in a blink of an eye, the immaculate silhouette melted into the shadows of the falling dust, evaporating into the silence of the plain, as if he had never been there.
There remained on this now-silent road only three women suspended in their own blood, barely conscious, awaiting the one who would discover this hell and the wind that was already beginning to scatter the dust of the massacre.
........
Night had now fallen over the base camp, enveloping the landscape in a heavy and suffocating darkness.
Subaru finally arrived at the scene, still out of breath from the frenzy of the battle against Petelgeuse. Deep inside him, a flicker of hope and relief wavered: they had defeated the Great Archbishop of Sloth.
He had succeeded. But as he crossed the final hills, that flicker was brutally extinguished to make way for pure horror.
Subaru : « What... what is this? ... »
He murmured this, eyes wide, unable to understand what was unfolding before him.
Subaru stopped dead in his tracks. Before him stood not a victorious encampment, but nothing less than a genuine carnage. The air was saturated with a ferrous odor of fresh blood and burned flesh.
Soldiers and knights lay across the mud. The wounded were everywhere — lying flat on the ground, leaning against carriage debris, moaning faintly.
Some had lost an arm, others a leg; others bore dislocated or mutilated bodies, sliced on all sides with terrifying precision, barely breathing, their chests rising in irregular jerks.
Cuts and scars of all kinds covered the bodies, their metal armor ripped open like cheap paper, revealing slashed flesh and internal organs visibly hit through gaping wounds.
Healers were running in all directions, frantically trying to stop the hemorrhages of one wounded person after another, overwhelmed.
People were weeping for their loved ones, collapsed on the ground. Others, further away, were already literally in mourning, kneeling near shapes covered by a sheet.
Subaru's heart tightened in an invisible vise. A visceral panic seized his entire being, instantly sweeping away the fatigue of battle.
Subaru : « Wh... Rem. Where is Rem ?! »
He cried out, starting to run like a madman through the chaos, tripping over wooden debris and bloody armor fragments, shoving everything in his path.
Subaru : « Rem ! »
He screamed that name over and over, desperately searching for that blue hair among the wounded.
He turned his head to the left, then to the right, shoving mourning guards and ignoring their protests, scanning every face, every stretcher, every lying body, with a panic that mounted with every second passing without an answer.
Someone finally pointed out to him, with a vague and exhausted gesture, an improvised wooden structure where the most seriously wounded were being gathered.
Subaru rushed there immediately, opening the door with a sharp push, almost tearing it off its hinges.
Subaru : « Rem ! »
The interior of the room was dark, illuminated only by the sickly light of a single candle. On the bed at the back, a frail silhouette was lying down. Subaru approached, breathless.
Immaculate bandages covered the entirety of the young girl's body from head to toe — one could barely make out a few strands of her blue hair, as the rest disappeared beneath white fabrics stained with dark spots.
Only her face, pale as marble, protruded from the cloth.
Subaru : « Rem... Rem... what happened to you... »
His voice trembled uncontrollably. He advanced with slow steps, as if fearing that the simple act of approaching would shatter the illusion, his legs shaking.
He extended a trembling hand and placed his fingers on the maid's cheek.
The contact felt like an electric shock to him.
Her body was cold. Glacial, even. A corpse's temperature.
He frantically slid two fingers against her neck, searching for a pulse, a rhythm, the slightest sign of life. Nothing. Not the slightest wave, as if he were already touching a corpse.
Subaru : « Rem... Rem ! »
His voice broke.
Subaru : « No... no, no... »
He murmured this, overcome by total panic.
Subaru : « Don't tell me that... no, please... no... »
The world around him collapsed. His legs refused to carry him any longer and he collapsed to his knees on the floor, defeated, his forehead pressed against the edge of the mattress. Guilt struck him with unprecedented violence.
He thought everything was finally over. He thought he had finally broken the cycle of fatality. He thought he had triumphed — that after this final loop, after this last effort, he could finally breathe.
And yet, while he was playing the hero against Sloth, the person who had believed in him had been massacred in the shadows.
And now Rem, for her part, was gone.
In the darkness of his mind, a dark and familiar thought began to sprout.
If Rem was gone…
« Then maybe... maybe I should really do it... »
The dark thought began to insinuate itself within him, familiar, almost reassuring in its horror. He was going to do it. He would not hesitate.
But before he could sink any further into it, the bedroom door opened gently with a sinister creak, interrupting the destructive process of his thoughts.
It was Felix.
His usually immaculate uniform was stained with dark spots already drying on the fabric, his hands still slightly trembling from having drawn far beyond his mana reserves.
Deep dark circles hollowed out his usually so lively face.
Seeing the scene — Subaru collapsed on the floor, Rem motionless in her bed — he let out a long sigh, imbued with a sincere pity that he did not try to conceal.
Felix : « She is alive... Subaru-kyun. »
He said it softly, almost cautiously, like someone announcing news they dread seeing poorly received.
At these words, Subaru abruptly raised his head, eyes wide, staring at Felix as if he had just announced the end of the world or an impossible miracle.
Subaru : « What... ? »
He did that, completely dumbfounded.
Felix : « Yes. She is alive... Although she is among the most severely affected, along with Lady Crusch and Lady Priscilla. Her body has suffered heavy damage, both outwardly and inwardly... and her mana reserve is completely dried up. But her life is no longer in immediate danger. »
He gently closed the door behind him as he left, without another word — He could clearly see the absolute distress ravaging the young man's face and knew full well that words would not suffice.
The boy had need of being alone now.
Felix : « Get some rest... I have to go take care of the others. »
The door slammed and Felix slipped away, letting silence invade the room once more.
Subaru remained motionless on the floor like that for a long moment, his gaze fixed on this unrecognizable young girl, almost erased beneath the bandages.
Tears, contained until then by shock, began to flow by themselves down his cheeks, tracing clean paths on his dust-soiled face without him even realizing it.
Subaru : « Forgive me, Rem... If I had known... If only I could have been there... »
He sobbed, remaining prostrated there, brooding, for long, long minutes in total solitude, listening to Rem's imperceptible and labored breath.
Finally, unable to bear the weight of his own powerlessness in that room any longer, he got up painfully, stepped out into the dark hallway, and gently closed the door behind him.
He took a step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
His strength failed him once again.
And he collapsed against the hallway wall, his nails furiously scratching the partition in a gesture of pure annoyance and despondency. His gaze was fixed, dark, drowned in emptiness.
Then a voice, imbued with honeyed malice, whispered right next to him — so close it sounded as though it were coming from his very ear.
Voice : « Hurts, doesn't it ? »
Subaru started and abruptly turned his head toward the voice.
Leaning against the wall just a few centimeters away from him, a man dressed in an impeccably elegant white suit was looking at him with a slight smile on his lips.
It was Kurisu.
Subaru looked at him for a moment, his eyes empty. His fingers trembled — heavily, uncontrollably.
He clenched his teeth enough to break his jaws before managing to articulate a hoarse murmur
Subaru : « You... you... »
Kurisu : « Hmmm ? »
Kurisu tilted his head and cocked his ear with a feigned, amused curiosity, as if he were totally oblivious to what was coming.
Subaru : « You knew... You knew... didn't you ? »
He murmured this, eyes lowered, his face plunged into the shadow of his unruly hair, his expression indecipherable in the hallway's dim light.
Kurisu : « If I knew what, exactly ? »
He asked this with a slight smile, feigning innocence.
Subaru : « You knew this was going to happen, huh ?! You knew their convoy was going to be attacked ! That everyone was going to suffer... You knew, didn't you ?! »
He finally shouted at the top of his lungs, raising his head completely. His face was no longer the same:
Deep, dark circles encircled his bloodshot eyes, traces of long minutes of silent tears.
His gaze, formerly devoid of expression, was now filled with a mad rage. He glared at the man before him with a hatred he had never felt toward him until now.
Kurisu simply maintained his enigmatic smile. Then, without the slightest change in his expression, he asked:
Kurisu : « Yes. I knew everything from the beginning. So what ? »
Subaru : « So what... ? So what ?! »
Mad with rage, Subaru jumped to his feet.
Adrenaline swept away his fatigue and he threw himself at Kurisu, grabbing him with both hands by the collar of his suit to violently slam him against the wooden wall.
Subaru : « Why didn't you tell me anything ?! Why didn't you warn me ?! If you had... then they... then Rem... »
His voice choked in his throat.
His hands began to tremble on Kurisu's precious fabric, gradually losing their pressure as despair threatened to overwhelm him once more.
Kurisu : « And why would I have done that, tell me ? »
He asked this, imperturbable.
Subaru : « What... »
He raised his head — but when he met the man's gaze, he found nothing in it.
Not the slightest trace of malice or mockery anymore. Just absolute emptiness. An unfathomable abyss that seemed to dissect his entire being, down to the marrow.
Grabbing Subaru's wrists without the slightest effort, Kurisu pushed him aside with disconcerting ease.
He slowly adjusted his collar, then began to walk in a slow, measured pace around the prostrate young man.
Kurisu : « You seem to be forgetting a fundamental thing, Subaru. »
He began, back turned, before raising a first finger.
Kurisu : « I only helped you this much until now because I found you interesting, and because it amused me. Nothing more. »
He made a graceful about-face and raised a second finger, approaching stealthily.
Kurisu : « The others ? I couldn't care less. »
His face came close to touching Subaru's.
Kurisu : « Whether they are tied to you, or mere strangers — whether they live, suffer, drop dead, or die in horrible agony has never been and never will be my problem. »
He leaned forward abruptly, pressing his face a few centimeters from Subaru's, and raised a third finger right in front of his eyes, pointing it straight ahead, between the two of them.
Kurisu : « If I helped them from time to time, it was solely to foster your own development. So that you would grow — exactly as I did with the candidates. Remember that well... Kekeke. »
He burst into full-throated laughter, echoing coldly down the empty hallway.
Subaru stared at him, overwhelmed.
He looked at him, and something broke inside him — almost as if he had just been stabbed in the back by the only person he thought he could lean on in this cruel world.
As if he had just been betrayed by the person who mattered most to him, without him ever truly admitting it.
He collapsed to the floor once more, his gaze fixed on the parquet slats.
He tried for a split second to pull himself up, fists clenched, a final spark of pride refusing to completely yield — but his arms trembled too much, and he fell back down, half-seated against the wall, drained of all strength.
Subaru : « Yes... that's right. I had almost forgotten... After you helped me all this time... »
He began, his voice extinguished, before raising his head to look Kurisu straight in the eyes, an empty, bitter smile stretching his lips.
Subaru : « You're a fucking monster... »
He spat out these words with all the venom he had left.
Yet, instead of taking offense, Kurisu saw his smile widen even more.
He crouched down in front of the boy, extended two fingers and firmly grasped his chin, forcing him to plant his gaze into his.
Kurisu : « Ohhh... Me, a monster ? Kekeke... No. I am a demon ! Have you already forgotten ? »
He laughed heartily, a sincere laughter this time, almost childish in its cruelty.
After all, he had already explained it to him before: a monster attacks without the slightest restraint, blindly. A demon, on the other hand, knew how to show compassion — whenever it felt like it.
He played with the human heart as he pleased, capable just as easily of helping it, of offering it happiness, as of destroying an entire life with a single gesture.
It was an essential nuance. A nuance that Subaru, visibly, still struggled to grasp.
Kurisu released Subaru's chin with false delicacy.
He straightened up, turned his back, and spread his arms in a grandiose gesture, like an actor greeting an invisible crowd.
Kurisu : « But tell me, Subaru... What would you have done if you had known ? »
He asked this without turning around.
Subaru : « What... what do you mean ? I would have saved them ! »
He cried out with conviction, almost offended that anyone could doubt it.
Kurisu : « Ohh, really ? Are you so sure ? »
He asked this, a smile in his voice.
Subaru : « What are you... trying to imply ?! »
He did that, perplexed.
Kurisu let out a long theatrical sigh and raised his left index finger once again.
Kurisu : « Let's assume I told you. You would have gone to save them, warning everyone about the coming attack. Wouldn't you ? »
He then raised his right index finger.
Kurisu : « However... By doing that, you were immediately condemning the group sent to eliminate the Cult at the Mathers domain. Because remember: you were the ONLY one capable of perceiving Petelgeuse's Unseen Hands. »
He then turned completely toward him, fixing a piercing gaze on the young man.
Kurisu : « By wasting your time playing savior at the convoy, you ran the certain risk of causing the main mission to fail — and having the entire domain die. Including Emilia... Exactly as you have already, alas, far too often seen happen in your previous attempts. »
At these words, Subaru instantly froze. His mouth remained slightly open, but no sound came out. The truth of this statement struck him like a sledgehammer.
He could answer nothing. Kurisu was right.
If he had gone to save Rem and the others, without him — without his unique ability — no one could have defeated the Archbishop of Sloth, and the entire domain would have died.
But Kurisu did not stop there.
Kurisu : « You would have remained trapped in an impossible dilemma — An excruciating choice between who to let live and who to let die. Between Emilia and Rem. »
He paused, before resuming, a smirk distorting his lips.
Kurisu : « But deep down... you would have probably preferred that, huh ?! »
He exclaimed, grabbing him brutally by the collar, lifting him halfway off the floor.
Subaru : « What... what are you talking about... Let me go ! »
Subaru tried to struggle, grasping Kurisu's wrists, but the man's grip was like wrought iron.
Kurisu : « What ? You think I don't read you like an open book ? You couldn't have chosen. You would have wanted to save both, dying over and over again, to try to find THE perfect loop — once again taking your own life for a mere object, solely for the purpose of helping others, at the expense of yourself. Of your own soul. »
Kurisu tightened his grip on Subaru's throat, briefly cutting off his breath, which tore a gasp from him, a trickle of saliva escaping his lips despite himself.
Kurisu : « You think I don't know what you were thinking earlier when you thought Rem was dead ? You already wanted to commit suicide. You wanted to slit your throat right on the spot just to start over and save her. Do you see how absurd that is ?! »
With a sharp movement, Kurisu released him. Subaru crashed heavily onto the parquet, panting, both hands brought to his sore throat.
Subaru : « But... what else should I have done ?! If Rem was... If she was dead... then... »
He murmured this, eyes lowered.
Even cornered by Kurisu's ruthless logic, a spark of denial still burned within Subaru.
Whatever might have actually happened — even facing Kurisu's words, he knew deep down that he would have tried everything, sacrificed everything, to save them, both her and the others.
Kurisu : « Pathetic... »
Kurisu looked down on him from the height of his grandeur, his gaze saturated with scorn.
Kurisu : « Have you already forgotten everything I told you ? Back then ? In the snow ? »
He asked this, his tone suddenly becoming sharper, colder.
Kurisu : « You are not a hero, Subaru. You never will be. So get this through your skull: you won't always be able to save everyone. Because only heroes can do that — and you will never be one. You are just an ordinary human. That is your new lesson. »
Subaru froze at that exact moment, his face concealed by his hair, incapable of answering anything. Reality was catching up to him with unprecedented violence.
Yes, Kurisu had told him in the past that his friends were there to support him in difficult times. But had he truly believed, deep down, that he could accomplish everything — even with them ?
In his naivety, Subaru had believed that would be enough to guarantee a world where no one would ever suffer again.
He was not the hero of a fairy tale, capable of saving the world without ever losing anything in the process. This world was cruel. Extremely cruel. He had lived it, with his own eyes, over and over again. He had been its privileged witness through countless traumatic deaths.
And yet, he still dared to hope he could save every single person, without exception ?
Kurisu : « You make me pity you. You really thought that sacrificing your life, over and over, was going to change something ? That everything was going to magically resolve itself ? You are just a weak, pathetic man, without any talent, who has nothing going for him except an absurd determination. »
He spat these last words at the man collapsed on the floor.
Kurisu : « And you thought you could handle the misfortunes of the entire world without ever losing anything in return ? Without giving anything ? You really think this world is made of roses and rainbows ? Wake up ! »
Every word from Kurisu resounded like a whip-crack in Subaru's mind.
It was raw truth, stripped of all artifice.
Subaru was finally seeing reality as it was — all the words that Kurisu had, in his own twisted way, already shown him before. Yes, he could accomplish miracles, surrounded by his allies. He had just proven it, facing Petelgeuse and the White Whale.
But did he truly believe he could do it without ever losing anything on his end ? Did he believe the world would spare him, of all people ?
He had just won a victory against Sloth, but reality had just reminded him that the world kept turning and striking where he wasn't looking.
Yet he should have known — after all those lived loops, all those absorbed deaths — that this world would never grant him any gifts. And yet, he still thought he could have everything without giving anything in return. Who did he take himself for ?
Kurisu finally approached, finishing his speech.
Kurisu : « Pff... I would have really thought you would evolve with a few words... But I was wrong, it seems. »
He advanced slowly right up close to the boy.
Without the slightest hesitation, he placed the heel of his shoe on Subaru's skull and slammed his head against the parquet with a sharp crack, a gesture of absolute coldness.
Kurisu : « Perhaps I should simply reset your checkpoint, right at the very beginning of your appearance in this world, as punishment ? There... Perhaps you will understand, in the depths of despair. »
He finished this in a perfectly neutral voice — which made the threat even more terrifying than a cry of rage.
The sentence fell in the hallway like a guillotine blade.
It was, without the slightest doubt, the most abject threat one could formulate to someone like Subaru.
To him, it wasn't a simple death threat.
It was the total annihilation of everything he had accomplished. The loss of all his bonds, all his efforts, Emilia's smile, Rem's trust, the alliance with Crusch. Everything would be erased.
And yet — even when Kurisu withdrew his foot, Subaru remained motionless for a moment, his face against the floor, fists clenched, desperately trying to gather enough rage, enough pride to pull himself up, to scream that he would never let him do that, that —
But nothing came. No strength answered his inner call. There was nothing left to oppose. He was right. All down the line. He could do nothing else but submit.
He understood, now, fully this man's words. He wasn't a monster. He was a demon. And a demon could play with the hearts of men, doing both evil and good alike, depending on his mood of the moment.
He barely raised his head, and knelt down, his gaze still lowered, as a sign of apology, totally defeated.
Subaru : « Sorry... I beg your pardon... For being so pathetic... Forgive me for always wanting to use my life as an object... »
He murmured this barely audibly, tears flowing onto the wooden floor without him even realizing it and without him trying to wipe them away.
Subaru : « But please... Don't do that... Don't reset everything to zero... Don't destroy this life... »
He begged, in muffled sobs echoing in the silence of the night.
Kurisu : « Ohhh, why is that ? I think it would be much better, no ? You could correct your mistakes, right ? And what else... one or two months to redo ? You could change everything. So why are you hesitating ? Kekekeke. »
He laughed, this diabolic entity laughed to his heart's content, while Subaru continued to beg him, broken.
But then, without warning, with disconcerting versatility, Kurisu crouched down and came to place a hand on his shoulder.
This hand was warm. Strangely, paradoxically warm — an almost comforting warmth, absurd after so much calculated coldness, which created a profound dissonance in Subaru, almost more disturbing than the threat itself.
Kurisu : « Come on, stop depressing. It was an empty threat. I won't do it. I have far too much to lose too, lol. »
With a firm yet gentle pressure, he effortlessly helped the boy back up.
Subaru stared at him with a dazed look, still under the shock of the terror he had just felt. He remained silent, in absolute silence, while Kurisu stepped away from him slightly, watching him with an almost tender attention.
Kurisu : « And besides... if you didn't know — nobody died in this attack. Not even a single knight. You can go check, if you want. »
He said this, pointing toward the end of the hallway with a nonchalant gesture.
Subaru stammered immediately.
Subaru : « What... how... with all that... »
He was in shock, unable to reconcile what he had just heard with the image of the carnage he had walked through a few moments earlier. It was medically and physically impossible.
Kurisu : « Ohh, why ? Well... It's thanks to me, lmao ! »
He pointed a finger at himself, a proud smile on his lips.
Subaru : « What... but... Why...? »
He was increasingly disoriented.
Kurisu : « Kekeke. I knew my idiot student would feel guilty to death over this carnage that had absolutely nothing to do with him. So I protected them ALL from death at the moment of the attack — even though they're in a messy state, that being said. »
He smiled, perfectly satisfied with himself, while Subaru remained purely petrified by incomprehension, his brain completely paralyzed by this absurd turnaround.
Kurisu continued, imperturbable.
Kurisu : « Do you see how good of a master I am ? You should crawl at my feet to thank me, and follow my teachings to the letter — rather than continuing to think about your own little self ! »
He exclaimed, almost dismayed that even after all this, his student apparently still hadn't learned anything.
Subaru stared at the man in white for long seconds, not knowing what to think. Total incomprehension reigned in his mind.
On one hand, this man had just threatened to destroy his entire life.
On the other, he was inflicting the worst psychological horrors on him to, he said, teach him to love himself better, to re-teach him the value of his own existence.
And at other times still, he helped him without ever counting anything in return, saving dozens of lives simply to spare him unnecessary guilt.
He definitely understood absolutely nothing about the man standing before him.
But one thing, henceforth, was certain.
Subaru let out a long sigh, and murmured:
Subaru : « A demon, huh... I understand now. »
He said it with a slight smile, almost disarmed, imbued with a tired irony, drawing across his lips.
After all — even the worst of demons, the most malevolent one possible, could, at rare moments, accomplish acts of pure benevolence.
Kurisu contemplated Subaru for a moment, an enigmatic smile floating on his lips.
« Come on... here we finally are at the next arc. The last one... before the true end of this story. Kekeke... »
He thought this inwardly, chuckling silently.
While Kurisu was already drifting in his thoughts, planning the twisted and entertaining events he was preparing for the Mathers domain and the Sanctuary in the upcoming Arc 4 — an arc that promised to be extremely incredible. And much funnier still...
Subaru remained seated in the hallway, his heart still heavy but his mind now lucid.
Thus concluded Arc 3: in a mixture of dread, profound psychological transformation, and preparation for the events to come.