CHAPTER 1
LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVEME
1
The whisper of love echoed.
It sweetly, gently echoed against his eardrums, his brain, his heart, his soul.
“—I love you.”
The whisper of love was muffled.
Did it come from a man or a woman—? Even this was left vague.
But beyond any doubt, this whisper of love was directed at Subaru Natsuki and he alone.
A black wriggling shadow spoke to him softly.
It took the shape of a person, clad in a dress the color of darkness, with long raven-black hair. The shadow stared at him with an inky sable face.
Everything composing the shadow ensnared Subaru’s mind and body, smothering him in sweetness.
“—I love you.”
His thought process had ground to a halt. Subaru had even forgotten how to breathe. All he could manage was to simply gaze forward, unable to make the slightest move.
A dense miasma made his skin prickle as the terrible spectacle of the Sanctuary sank into shadow. Like a small animal encountering a menace so overpowering that it struggled to breathe, Subaru was trapped in a world that had lost its vitality, ripped out by its very roots.
Subaru knew this place. He had tasted its agony and despair over and over again.
This was the world that always appeared whenever he broke the taboo, a place where time stopped and the Witch—
“—I love you. I love you.”
As Subaru was frozen in silence, the shadow slowly extended a finger toward his cheek.
He couldn’t avoid it. The issue wasn’t the shadow holding him down or anything like that.
His inability to move was because Subaru’s own flesh and blood would not permit it. Subaru’s soul refused to offer any resistance against the shadow.
Accordingly, the shadow touched Subaru as it pleased.
“—I love you. I love you. I love you.”
Subaru couldn’t sense any malice from the shadow. There was no animosity. But this wasn’t because it was indifferent toward Subaru.
Indeed, quite the opposite.
The shadow inundated Subaru with an overwhelming level of adoration that bordered on madness.
It was blind, almost stubborn devotion—enough to make a person ask, Why go to such lengths? Subaru felt like he was being blotted out by the inescapably crazed passion—in that moment, the shadow had no interest in anything besides Subaru.
“—I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
The whispers of adoration swirled around inside Subaru’s skull like they were caught in a vortex.
Love stirred his eardrums. Love drenched his brain. As love filled his consciousness to the brim, love was also boiling his soul until it fell to pieces. It was an assault by love, a slaughter by love, a violation by love.
“I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you.”
Love controlled Subaru. Love had enslaved Subaru. Love was robbing Subaru of every drop of love he had—
“—Hey, stop screwin’ around!!”
Suddenly, an unspeakably destructive force wedged itself between Subaru and the shadow’s loving embrace. It crashed violently into the shadow, shattering the blackened earth. As a dark shock wave erupted, the impact sent Subaru flying directly backward.
“Whoaa—?!”
Tumbling across the hard ground after landing, Subaru finally came to a halt when he slammed into an old graveyard wall. Once he gave his head a good shake and looked up, he noticed his mind had been freed from the supernatural fever that had gripped him only moments earlier.
Now that the static in his thoughts had cleared, he forced his eyes open to see what was happening. Then—
“This is seriously the worst-case scenario. Hey, can you move, damn it?”
—there was a voice. Subaru spotted golden hair and a short person backing away from the shadow.
Subaru recognized that abrasive tone and overflowing readiness to leap into battle. He remembered the sight of the peculiar stance that kept the body low to the ground and those bared fangs. The realization that he knew this person shook Subaru to his core.
Even in his wildest dreams he never would’ve guessed who would come to shield him from peril.
“Garfiel… Why are you…?!”
“You serious? In this situation? Don’t make me laugh. Definitely not my first choice, but no way I ain’t pickin’ ya up.”
Garfiel reacted to Subaru’s shock with annoyance. Still wary of the shadow before him, he grabbed Subaru’s collar even though the boy was still in a heap on the ground.
“We’re jumpin’. Might break your neck but just grin ’n’ bear it!”
“That really isn’t somethin’ you can just grin and b—?!”
Before Subaru could finish his quip, Garfiel tensed his knees and launched upward, drawing a “Gwah!” of agony out of Subaru as they escaped into the air—and a moment later, the shadow on the ground swelled up and exploded.
Rapidly gaining mass, the black shadow billowed into a wave that chased the flying pair, threatening to smash them flat. The black wave engulfed everything nearby, scattering destruction over a wide area with dreadful force and scale.
The cascade was so fierce that the forest, the houses, and even the Witch’s tomb were indiscriminately swallowed whole.
“Don’t go bitin’ ya tongue now!!”
Subaru could only gape at the apocalyptic spectacle, but Garfiel didn’t falter.
Obeying his instincts, Garfiel continued bounding ahead in search of a foothold where they might find refuge from the wave. As the encroaching darkness cracked open the muddy ground and knocked over one tree after another, they leaped and leaped and leaped—
“C’mon! C’mooon! Hoaaaa!!”
As the black wave mowed down the forest—tearing up the very earth and blotting out the ground wherever it passed—everything Subaru could see was churned up and consumed by the shadow as it seemed to grow large enough to envelop the entire world. That was when Garfiel finally arrived at their destination.
There was a lone stonework house left standing at the edge of the settlement in the Sanctuary.
The moment he touched down onto its roof, Garfiel tossed Subaru some distance away while continuing to draw ragged breaths.
“Aww, damn it all!! That bastard…!”
“Th-thanks for saving me…”
“The hell? You sure don’t seem like the type who’d say thanks. Ya got a problem or somethin’, huh?”
Garfiel bared his fangs at Subaru, who was crawling along the roof. Looking up at the ferocious darkness forming overhead, Subaru grimaced. The discomfort he felt was showing on his face as well.
“I ain’t complaining… It’s just…I didn’t think you’d save me, so…”
“Ha! Treatin’ me like I got no heart or somethin’. The Rose Knights of Tileos have no need for cradles, y’know? If ya don’t like it, go ahead and jump right into that thing’s bosom.”
“Sorry, I’ve already settled on a favorite bosom, so I’ll pass.”
Sighing at Garfiel’s jab, Subaru gently placed a hand on his chest.
Besides the incomprehensible situation, there was another reason that made his heart leap. Getting saved by Garfiel was a shocking development.
After all, Garfiel was supposed to be his greatest foe within the Sanctuary. The last time around, after rejecting Subaru’s declaration that he would challenge the Trial, he was the one had who incarcerated Subaru before training fang and claw on Ram, Otto, and the people of Earlham Village who had helped him try to escape.
He hadn’t forgotten the anger he felt. It had been unforgivable. This was his mortal enemy who he needed to defeat.
That was why Subaru had no idea why Garfiel was doing his best to save Subaru…
“Garfiel, don’t you…?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. Can’t ya see the situation we’re in? Who gives a damn about our differences? Right now, what’s important is figuring out how to tear out that thing’s neck. Nothin’ else matters.”
When Subaru pressed the point, Garfiel brushed his idle concern aside with a quiet comment. His tone had been calm, but that’s exactly what instilled Subaru with the greatest fear he had felt that day. It was then that he belatedly realized the fire blazing in Garfiel’s jade eyes…
Rage, indignation, fury—the intensity in those eyes immediately brought those words to mind.
As Garfiel nursed those emotions, Subaru finally found the words to ask the question he ought to have brought up earlier.
“—Garfiel. What happened to Ram and the others?”
“?”
“By the time I came out of the tomb, the surface of the whole area had been swallowed up already. You’re here in perfect shape, but where’s everyone else…?”
“…They’re inside the shadow.”
After Subaru raised his fears, hoping they would be laid to rest, the only thing that came back to him was a cruel reply.
As Subaru’s breath caught in his throat, Garfiel made a growl of remorse and said, “It came out of nowhere. By the time I noticed what was happening, everything was already covered by the darkness. As for me, if Ram hadn’t sent me flyin’ with her wind, I probably would’ve gotten caught up in it, too.”
“…You mean…Ram just got caught by that thing? Ryuzu and Otto, too?”
“Yeah, that’s right. The old hag, the noisy dude—everyone.”
“And…Emilia…?”
“?”
Garfiel offered no reply for the trembling Subaru. That was all the answer he needed.
Below where they stood, the ominously undulating shadow continued its encroachment upon the Sanctuary. Stunned to see the treetops of the forest steadily sinking, Subaru forgot to breathe.
Everything was being engulfed by the pitch-black body. What happened to everything that was swallowed by that darkness? The hope that the people inside were only unconscious was dashed the moment he took a good hard look.
Subaru could only imagine that the chances of finding survivors inside the shadow were despairingly bad.
“Wh-what the hell’s going on…? How could…at a time like this?”
—The Bowel Hunter, the Beast Master, the Great Rabbit…and Garfiel.
Subaru had come flying out of the tomb ready to defy any disaster that threatened to befall him. After obtaining Echidna’s cooperation, he had hardened his resolve to face and overcome any obstacle that stood in his way.
…Naturally, he had decided all that completely unaware of the incomprehensible entity before him now.
“Why here, why now…?!”
Subaru glared at the center of the swirling shadow that was devoid of rhyme or reason. He screamed with everything he had.
“Tell me why the hell you’re here—Witch of Jealousy!!”
His ears had heard the name over and over. He’d felt the being’s existence countless times before.
The stories handed down for generations named her as the worst of all calamities. She was the one responsible for Subaru’s suffering. She was the root of all evil—the shadow that had engulfed Emilia and the others was none other than the Witch of Jealousy.
“Think. Thinkthinkthink. If I don’t do something, figure something out and—and—and defeat it somehow…”
Pounding his dull-feeling head, Subaru desperately searched for a path to victory. He had to drive back the shadow and retake the Sanctuary now enveloped by darkness. What for? You’ve already lost Emilia and the others in this world.
“—Ah.”
Subaru, slammed by the internal thought, made a slight sound in his throat.
In contrast to Subaru’s roiling emotions, his inner voice had delivered an exceptionally cold-blooded judgment. It was mocking him for stubbornly clinging to a doomed world that had already gone past the point of no return and demanding that he take logical, decisive action.
What would we do even if we did manage to overcome this? There’s no way to go on. Not in a world like this.
“…Bastard. Tryin’ to say there’s no point in comin’ after me?”
“Wha…?”
With one murmur from Garfiel, Subaru’s deep introspective thoughts vanished. Not bothering with the young boy right beside him, Garfiel turned his sharp, jade-colored eyes toward the shadow.
“Scratch that. This bastard isn’t even looking this way! After doin’ all this, now ya head outside and ignore me, huh?!”
Garfiel roared, practically spitting blood at the humiliation. But the shadow paid him no mind. Like he had said, it was already attempting to leave the Sanctuary, exiting the forest.
After displaying such obsession earlier, the shadow suddenly wasn’t even acknowledging Subaru’s existence as it proceeded out of the Sanctuary. Unable to discern what the true intent might be, Subaru was left confused—then he shuddered, as if struck by a thunderbolt.
A sudden flash of inspiration came to him without a single factual basis. And yet, he knew there could be no mistake. He could declare with absolute certainty that…
“—To the mansion.”
“Ah?”
“The mansion! That Witch, she’s trying to head for Roswaal’s mansion!”
The memory of the Witch’s whispers of love as well as how that it had intruded upon his thoughts even as it violated his mind and soul all came roaring back.
The goal hadn’t been to love Subaru. The purpose was to dive deep inside of Subaru in search of everything that he cared about, to understand those things.
The ultimate goal was to rob the world of everything Subaru might turn his love toward, monopolizing his affections.
“As if I’d let you do whatever you want… We gotta—we’ve gotta stop her…!”
Stop her how? asked the cold, whispering inner voice, but he stubbornly flung it aside.
Stop her how? Figure out a plan; then just stop her, obviously.
He had to find a way to strike down that Witch. It wasn’t pointless. There had to be some meaning in trying to stop her.
“Garfiel! Can’t you attack her?! Slow her down somehow?!”
“Now the idiot asks… Stop runnin’ your damned mouth! Me, I’ve been slammin’ every attack I could think of into that thing for ages! Nothin’ gets through that shadow dress. Doesn’t even leave a scratch!”
“If Garfiel can’t…”
Even what seemed like a surprise attack hadn’t inflicted any damage to the Witch.
If even Garfiel’s mighty blows had no effect, it was very possible that the shadow dress nullified physical attacks. If that was the case, only magic would work. And the top contender for that was—
“I’ll tell ya right now, there ain’t a single reason to look for that damn Roswaal. The only ones left in this forest are me ’n’ that legendary lady Witch.”
“Even Roswaal?! You’re sure?!”
“The old hag’s house and the Cathedral are both gone, down to the last brick. Can’t rely on the loon. It’s just us.”
Even if he was far from full health, Roswaal was unmistakably a powerful man. Unfortunately, Garfiel curtly cut down the optimistic image Subaru had in mind.
If they couldn’t even rely on Roswaal’s aid, the overwhelming power required to win simply didn’t seem to exist.
This was the worst Witch, the one who killed even the other Witches of the Deadly Sins and swallowed half the world.
“Can’t we…do anything? At this rate, even the mansion is gonna get…”
Everything would be engulfed, stolen by that shadow, mercilessly trampled.
Was there something, anything, Subaru could do besides despair—?
“—Wait.”
Watching the Witch grow distant, Subaru had the odd sense that something was wrong.
Was there really no way to stop her? Was there well and truly no move that might come to mind? Think, remember, consider, recall. Find the one thing that only applies in this particular place—
“—There’s the barrier.”
“…What?”
“The barrier! The Witch of Jealousy has to fulfill the conditions to pass through the barrier covering the Sanctuary! The tomb’s Trial hasn’t been cleared and she’s a half-elf!”
It was said that Satella, the Witch of Jealousy, was a silver-haired half-elf.
This fact had caused Emilia to endure irrational discrimination from a great deal of people. At the same time, it was the stories about those notorious features passed down from four centuries ago that made him certain the Witch of Jealousy would be bound by that forest.
That said, if the Witch turned out to be something like a vestigial mind with no physical body, things might not go the way he hoped—
“—No need to worry ’bout that.”
The certainty behind the murmur made Subaru raise his eyebrows. After seeing his reaction, Garfiel clicked his fangs together.
“The Witch has a physical body. Right now it’s just like the root of Balgren’s left wing, ain’t it?”
“…You mean, like, it’s a weak point?”
“Ain’t got no other meanin’! Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it now!”
Slapping Subaru’s shoulder as if praising him for his insight, Garfiel smiled ferociously and carried on.
“She’ll be beggin’ under that disgusting veil when I finally tear her head off!!”
2
The Witch of Jealousy brazenly advanced straight toward the boundary of the Sanctuary, dragging shadow behind her.
Chasing after that vast body of shadow, Subaru—or rather, Garfiel carrying Subaru—set out, traversing the treetops and circling around the Witch’s path.
“Don’t know how much effect the barrier’ll have, but if she weakens even a little…”
Garfiel’s claws would have an opening. If that was the case, even the Witch of Jealousy would not escape unscathed.
Subaru was confident because he had personally experienced what it was like to face Garfiel when he was in his beast form. He needed no explanation to know that a single blow from the bestial Garfiel contained overwhelming raw power.
The only other thing they needed was a way to guarantee the two would clash. And for that—
“Garfiel, she’s drawn to me. So…”
“Hey, if you’re tellin’ me to use ya as a decoy, I’ll bite your fingers off one by one.”
Leaping through the forest from branch to branch, Garfiel chewed out Subaru over his proposal. Faced with his standoffish attitude, Subaru was daunted for a moment; then he lobbed an angry retort.
“I’m not sayin’ this as some kind of joke! Barrier and decoy! They’ll make our chances better, even if only a bit! Isn’t that right?!”
“Oh, shaddap. If you’re gonna be that ignorant, I’ll throw ya overboard right now.”
“—!! You should know already! About the miasma coming from my body that attracts it…”
Irritated by Garfiel’s stubborn attitude, Subaru brought up the miasma swirling around him on his own. Surely Garfiel could not refute an argument made on that basis. However…
“The old hag! And Ram! And everyone else… They all got swallowed up right before my eyes…!”
“—!”
“Like I’m gonna live with the shame of lettin’ even a bastard like you join ’em! The scars of Pararagurara never fade! No way, no way in hell I’d accept that! These scars’ll be carved on the Witch’s heart!!”
Eyes bloodshot, Garfiel vented his raging emotions as he adamantly pushed away Subaru’s plan.
Garfiel’s anger stemmed from stubbornness—the pointless kind, at that.
Subaru understood why the inner voice of his cold, callous side spat out that Garfiel’s insistence was worthless. But the rest of Subaru couldn’t laugh at him at all.
After all, unlike Subaru, who had arrived late to the scene, Garfiel had witnessed the horrors with his own eyes.
Watching Ram, Ryuzu, and all the other people he cared about get swallowed whole, vanishing within the shadow.
But even after so many precious people were stolen from him, Garfiel refused to use revenge as an excuse to throw all decency aside. He wouldn’t tolerate any talk about a victory that involved sacrificing Subaru.
If this was indeed the rationality and conviction at Garfiel’s core that guided his actions—
“Then how could he be capable of doing that to everyone—?”
How had he ended up killing the brave villagers and Otto when he shielded Subaru in such a cruel manner?
When he, too, knew full well the pain of losing something precious, the sadness of loss…
“We’re here.”
With no answer to that question forthcoming, the pair arrived at their destination.
They had chosen a tiny open space within the forest as the site of the decisive battle. The forest had been clear-cut there, leaving the waning moon and the stars overhead as the only audience to witness the Witch of Jealousy’s return to the stage.
Behind them was the barrier; ahead of them, Subaru sensed the wriggling shadow drawing closer. The Witch was headed straight toward them. All that remained was to counterattack—but there was a simple problem with that.
“Garfiel, what are you gonna do? The barrier affects you the same way, right?”
Half-bloods—mixed-blood demi-humans—could not go past the forest’s barrier. That applied to both Garfiel and the Witch. If he was weakened, it wouldn’t matter how much power the Witch lost.
In response, Garfiel took something out of his loincloth. And that something was—
“…A crystal? That’s yours?”
“I don’t owe ya an explanation. Just shut up and watch. Gonna put this early risin’ Witch back to sleep so fast that we won’t need decoys or anythin’ else.”
The crystal glimmered blue—a glimmer he had laid eyes upon several times amid the twists and turns surrounding the Sanctuary.
He knew that Garfiel possessed one identical to the one Frederica owned. In earlier laps he had been through in the current time loop, Subaru had seen those crystals change hands several times over. Even now, he still didn’t know the finer details surrounding the items, but—
“—! Who’s there?!”
The faint sound of footfalls landing on grass made Subaru instantly turn around. It was not the Witch. The direction and the mental pressure were far too different to be her. However, that alone wasn’t a reason to lower his guard.
“…Huh?”
And yet, the instant he set eyes upon the newcomer, Subaru’s caution was blotted out by shock.
“?”
A thicket parted and a young girl emerged.
He had seen her before. The long pink hair and a white poncho-style outfit. Her ears were a little longer than those of the average person, making her impossible to mix up with someone else.
This was Ryuzu, the representative of the Sanctuary who had allegedly been swallowed up by the shadow.
But there was no way this was Ryuzu. What Subaru saw next completely refuted that possibility.
“Is this…some kind of joke…?”
Multiple figures stepped barefoot onto the grass and made their way through the underbrush. Every single one wore the same clothing, the same expression, the same demeanor—in fact, all of them were perfectly identical.
More than twenty perfect copies of Ryuzu appeared from all directions.
“?”
The great throng of girls bearing the same face as Ryuzu were silent, not speaking a single word. Their expressions unchanging, the girls gathered together and stood in a loose row at Garfiel’s back.
There was no way Subaru could call it a sight for sore eyes. It was like something straight out of a nightmare.
“Didn’t wanna show ya this if I didn’t have to.”
Unlike Subaru’s obvious astonishment, Garfiel reacted with only a slightly bitter comment, showing no sign that he was amazed. This wasn’t something worth gaping over for him. As Subaru slowly overcame his initial surprise, a realization dawned on him: He had probably met one of the people in this group face-to-face already.
“…The moment we got here, I was teleported to the forest out of the blue…”
It had occurred right after the magical relocation Subaru experienced upon arriving at the Sanctuary.
The crystal had reacted to the barrier, and the power of the stone had sent Subaru flying into the woods. It must have been one of the perfect copies of Ryuzu that had led the stranded Subaru to the tomb. Once he reunited with Emilia, Otto, and the others, Ram had admonished him to conceal the fact that he had encountered the elven girl.
Until that very moment, Subaru had shoved the girl into a corner of his memory. However, given this unexpected reunion, he understood for the first time that it had been a mistake to overlook that first encounter.
As the doll-like girl—no, girls—stood in silence, it was evident that they were identical beings.
“Don’t tell me these are…clones? Copies…? Is that even possible…?”
Seeing the girls easily evoked those words in the back of Subaru’s brain.
They were terms deeply associated with stories that had science-fictional themes, but they were a poor fit for his new world, a place dominated by swords and spells. In the first place, who could have reproduced that kind of technology—?
“—Sorry to interrupt ya thoughts, but it’s time.”
Giving the confused Subaru a shove on the shoulder, Garfiel reoriented himself toward the forest. The impending pressure was making the hair on Subaru’s back stand up as he glanced back and forth between the forest and the girls.
“Garfiel! Don’t tell me your plan is—”
“Crush her with numbers. Reid always fights head-on, y’know!”
Bringing both fists together in front of his chest, Garfiel revealed that his plan followed the doctrine of “simple is best.” There was no hidden twist, but there was no argument that it wasn’t the most suitable choice. Of course, it was an operation that accepted there would be casualties.
“Don’t get bent out o’ shape worryin’ over them. They ain’t like the old hag. This lot is totally empty on the inside. Still, they should be able to follow orders, no problem. We’ll make an openin’ and take that bastard’s damn head!”
There was no time to lodge any complaint about the operation nor to ask the girls—the copies—what they thought.
“…As for you, lemme say sorry in advance.”
That was all Garfiel said in the final moments before Subaru was thrust into the heart of a new battlefield.
Not comprehending the meaning of the words, the powerless Subaru was relegated to the rear. Garfiel stood at the head of the formation with the twenty-odd copies lined up behind him while Subaru brought up the rear.
With their formation decided, an eerie moment of tranquility settled into place, filled only with his breathing and the beating of his heart.
Slowly, the menace showed itself as it trespassed upon the world.
The forest was being slain before his eyes. Swallowed by a shadow of immense mass, the trees lost their shape like something dissolving into water, leaving no trace behind as the very concepts of tree and forest were contaminated by shadow.
This was heresy. This was violation. This was a slaughter.
The Witch blotting out the world with her love noticed Subaru standing in the path of her advance.
And then—
“—I love you.”
Subaru was beset by an unending revulsion; his instincts kept clamorously ringing an alarm bell to shout Danger! After uttering that lone phrase, the Witch leaped over Garfiel and the Ryuzu brigade, whispering her love to no one but Subaru.
In that instant, the Witch directed all her interest and concern onto Subaru and Subaru alone—
“—Gaaaaaaa!!”
Garfiel, who was their only hope for victory, raised a great howl.
A moment later, the ground exploded. Kicking up plumes of dust, Garfiel leaped up like he had been launched from a slingshot.
Garfiel’s mouth was open wide, fangs bared as he hurtled toward the shadow. As Subaru watched, he saw Garfield’s entire body swell up as his clothing ripped from the inside, unable to endure the expansion of his flesh. His entire body became covered in golden fur, and his hands and feet transformed into bestial claws—Garfiel the great tiger, the ferocious beast Subaru was hard-pressed to forgive, had reared his head.
“—!!”
Roaring as he went, the savage tiger’s speed exceeded all normal bounds.
Given how his beastly movements were unchanged, it was apparent that Garfiel had nullified the effect of the barrier somehow. Accordingly, with neither hesitation nor sorrow, he brought his fangs down to bite into the pitch-black dress and rip it apa—
“?”
—Instantly, shadows stretched away from the Witch’s feet, coiling around the leaping great tiger.
The shadows bound the great tiger’s limbs, stealing away his momentum and trapping the growling creature. As dark tendrils sank into animal limbs as thick as Subaru’s hips, the sound of tearing flesh rang out, accompanied by the spurting of a bloody mist.
There was a scream. The raging great tiger heaved as the shadows tightened their hold and cruelly tore into his body.
“—Ah—”
While Subaru could only watch helplessly with wide eyes, the Ryuzu copies that Garfiel had summoned and left on standby began to join the battle.
Letting out unemotional voices devoid of intelligence, the young girls sprinted toward the shadow all at once. Moving with surprising swiftness, they pursued the great tiger held captive by the shadow, drawing closer to the Witch all the while.
A pair of copies leaped in with arms spread wide as if inviting the Witch into their embrace. Just before they could close the distance, shadows burst outward in the shape of spears, impaling them in the abdomen and hoisting them aloft.
Two girls with identical faces, impaled through their abdomens, were lined up at the same height as Garfiel, his four limbs still bound. The shadow swayed their bodies back and forth as if to mock him.
It was excessively vicious. However, the Witch’s overconfidence had caused her to make a mistake.
There was barely any warning before the change occurred—but it was the change itself that was grand and terrible.
“Wha—?!”
The two impaled Ryuzus began emitting a pale light, and a second later, scattered in every direction like an explosion.
Their battered bodies transformed into particles of light, blowing away the shadow surrounding them. For a single moment, this breathed life back into the world steeped in shadowy darkness and started a chain reaction.
Following the two who had been blown away, the remaining copies shouted at the Witch all at once, launching a suicide charge against her.
It had already been demonstrated that an all-out charge with no thought for survival would prove effective. In response, the Witch didn’t hesitate to direct all her shadows to meet the girls rushing at her.
The shadows welled up, dividing into groups to crush the girls trying to overwhelm the Witch with sheer numbers. There were five razor-edged shadows for each of the girls, a mass of about one hundred raging limbs dancing madly as they fell upon the girls who tried to take evasive action.
The shadows impaled and rent skulls and bodies alike as they sliced the girls to death.
Leaping all at the same moment, the remaining copies launched a simultaneous attack from numerous directions. Now that their little schemes had all been defeated by brute force, the Ryuzus used their last option, transforming into pale light and exploding one after another in a staggered, rhythmical fashion—which temporarily thinned the shadows spawned by the Witch, prying clear a path to the pitch-black dress behind. That was when—
“—Rrrrrrraaaa!!”
The fierce beast that had been riddled with wounds flew into the gap that had been wrenched open.
Escaping the shadow bindings during the replica suicide attack, the ferocious beast crouched low to the ground, and immediately following the pale blue explosions of light, a roar seemed to break through that dazzling glow as the claws of a wild animal swung at the Witch.
“?”
The great tiger became a torrential gale that surged forward as the Witch bundled a few remaining shadows to form a blocking wall. However, the great tiger swung an arm toward the bulwark of shadows, pulling a silhouette forward with its front paw—slamming the last of the replicas home, pulverizing the wall and his own arm. Then fang and claw pierced the veil of pale light, sinking deep into the dress of shadow.
—He got her, thought Subaru. The setup had been so perfect that he was certain of the final outcome.
Without any regrets, the twenty-one Ryuzu replicas had expended themselves in a self-destructive suicide charge.
Against a blow delivered at such a high cost, even the Witch of Jealousy had to be—
“—I love you.”
The firm belief to which Subaru clung was rebuffed and smashed to pieces, along with Garfiel, who turned to bloody mist.
3
Speechless, all Subaru could do was watch as the golden-colored great tiger was eviscerated.
His claws should have torn the Witch’s body apart, and his fangs should have crushed her skull. The tiger’s murderous intent could have pulverized a human body with ease; not even a Witch would have been able to endure it—assuming the attack struck home.
What had robbed Garfiel of his life were shadowy blades that had slipped into his body through the wounds on his limbs. The shadows that had initially bound Garfiel used his wounds as an entryway to race around, cutting his body to shreds from within.
In other words, Garfiel’s death had been decided the moment he suffered his first injury. His life had been whittled down relentlessly.
There were no words for the cruelty of that act. The fragments of flesh that were once Garfiel were mercilessly scattered about the murky black ground. Even these were swallowed by shadow, all traces of his existence erased. The Ryuzu replicas had also been annihilated, so only Subaru and the Witch remained—no, that wasn’t right.
“—I love you.”
From the beginning, the Witch had no eyes for anyone but Subaru, rooted to where he stood.
Not Garfiel, slashed to death; not the Ryuzu replicas, slaughtered; not the people of the Sanctuary and Earlham Village, no doubt engulfed by shadow at a time unbeknownst to him; not Ram; not Otto; not Ryuzu; not Roswaal; not Patlash; not Emilia—anything and everything else was a distant afterthought.
“—I love you.”
“Shut up.”
“I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you.”
“I said, shut up…!”
As Subaru stood still, the Witch walked along a path formed of shadow, moving past the clearing to approach him.
Her contours were hazy. He couldn’t even put a finger on her height. Just as before, he could not distinguish her voice.
And yet, her clingy zeal alone touched Subaru’s heart without reservation to an abominable extent.
“I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you.”
To the immobile Subaru, the Witch whispered her love as it if was a curse.
She acted more out of place and was worse at reading people than even Subaru. Not only did her whispers of love inspire anger in him, the adoration she was offered was completely selfish.
Her love was repulsive. But in that moment, what sent Subaru into even more of a rage was—
“I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you—Subaru.”
“—You don’t get to call me that!!”
That sweet, enchanted form of address made Subaru explode in anger.
The charming voice, the sweet gesture, the feverish way in which she said it rubbed Subaru the worst way possible.
“Who gave you permission to call me that name?! Don’t screw with me! God damn it!!”
It was a form of address filled with trust, with pride, with mutual love meant for those who stood at each other’s side.
In that world, there was only one person Subaru permitted to address him by his first name imbued with such affection.
“This ain’t a joke!! That’s for one person alone. Who the hell would…? No! Letting you go for what you’ve done, forgiving even one lock of your hair or one part of a single cell of yours, is too good for you—!!”
Indignant, Subaru let his anger reign, mercilessly driving home the maelstrom of emotions swirling inside his chest.
He had no chance of victory. He had no chance of survival. Besides, that world held no reason for him to live on anymore.
Even so, he absolutely could not simply stand and watch her trample on that bond as she pleased.
“I love you I love you I love you I love you.”
Her love was relentless. That was why Subaru absolutely refused to respond to that love.
“In this world, when I heard ‘I love you’ spoken seriously to me for the first time…it gave me, an unredeemable bastard, enough power to make me think I could become a hero.”
He was a piece of garbage, twisted down, broken, and ready to flee from everything, but those words had made him believe he could face the future head-on, never giving in—to challenge it once more, over and over, however many times that it took.
Compared to that, the substance of the Witch’s love was insultingly weak.
“I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you.”
“The number one and number two spots in my heart ain’t changin’. There’s no place in there for the likes of you.”
She started it; he finished it—Subaru’s visage contorted vilely as he flatly enumerated those he loved.
“So I’ll roll up your love and toss it aside. And if I’ve gotta compare…”
He had no way to mount a physical attack. But he still had verbal attacks. Getting on other people’s nerves was a particular specialty of his.
What could he say, what should he say, that would rub the Witch the worst way? There was no one better armed to get under someone else’s skin than Subaru. So he knew.
Accordingly, Subaru gave a shallow, cruel laugh, turning a look of scorn toward the Witch.
“—I’d rather love Echidna and the other Witches than you.”
“?”
The instant he made the statement, the Witch’s curse-like words of love halted for the first time.
And then—
“—Ah.”
In an instant, Subaru’s field of vision and the world itself was swallowed by shadow.
4
“I love you. I love you. I love you. —Love me.”
Amid the darkness, he heard a voice.
Swallowed by shadow, he was upside down and shaken around.
Not only his body but the inside of his skull was being ransacked as the shadow whipped Subaru Natsuki about.
Within, as Subaru Natsuki dissolved into the shadow, he heard a whisper.
“Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me love me. —Love me.”
It was horrifying. He trembled in ecstasy. He shuddered in fear. He cried tears of joy. He spat blood in a rage. He cried out in exultation. His emotions were being sliced apart, bounced around, as what was right became wrong and what was wrong became right—
“?”
Subaru Natsuki’s field of vision was growing hazy. He knew his body was being dissolved. Why did he know that? Was it Subaru Natsuki who knew or was it something else?
“?”
Inside the shadow, he sensed some kind of separate presence beyond the whispers of love. —No, he did not sense them, for they were not separate at all. It was Subaru. It was Subaru Natsuki. If he was dissolved, mixed, and combined with one mass, there would be no boundary between him and others. Everything that had been swallowed would become Subaru Natsuki.
There was warmth, sadness, hatred, generosity, dejection, ecstasy, despair, relief, lamentation, satisfaction.
Yes, there was satisfaction. Amid the many despairs and many laments, there was satisfaction.
That satisfaction was a part of Subaru. If that could fill Subaru, then—
“—?”
He reached a hand out toward the satisfaction—no, it was not a hand. He had no body to be found—no, that was not so. His body had been swallowed by shadow, so it was all there: his dissolved heart, his crumbling consciousness, the remains of Subaru Natsuki’s soul. There they were all gathered together. And in gathering them, he comprehended the reason why they were gathered.
There was heat. Subaru Natsuki felt heat in the midst of his return. And so to a place completely different than that false satisfaction, he extended an arm, a right arm, a right wrist. And then—
—in that darkness-colored world, a prayer-imbued handkerchief glimmered vividly.
5
His consciousness floated upward.
As if in struggling to reach the water’s surface in search of oxygen, he frantically clawed against the darkness, desperately moving higher, higher.
His consciousness was enshrouded in darkness. It was as if he had sunk into a swamp. His mind was immersed in weight and weariness, yet Subaru earnestly pressed on even so—
At the end of his struggling, his field of vision suddenly opened. Subaru’s mind had floated back up to the real world.
He had returned from the world of shadow alive—but that did not mean he had escaped peril by any stretch.
“Hagh…! Haa…ah?
His breathing was clumsy. There was some kind of shadow stuffed in his throat. His feet were not on the ground. Bound by shadow, his body was being held aloft at an angle. He could not move. He was not being allowed to move.
But as if clinging to it, he touched the handkerchief wrapped around his right wrist with his left hand.
“…Petra’s handkerchief.”
In that world covered by shadow, Subaru’s field of vision was dyed the color of darkness. Amid that pitch-blackness, Petra’s handkerchief alone dazzled, radiating a white light as if trying to drive off the dark.
The feelings with which Petra’s handkerchief was imbued had granted this miracle to Subaru—no, such a thought was hard to justify. Subaru had a different culprit in mind for the crafty trick that had saved him.
—Namely, the Witch of Greed who had touched that handkerchief upon the occasion of his departure, leaving words of deep import with him.
“That damn Echidna… Did she know this would happen, damn it…?”
It’s insurance. Just to be safe, he could almost hear the Witch’s face say as it floated up in the back of his mind. That one time, he was well and truly grateful for that inconsiderate, boastful Witch.
If not for that light, Subaru would surely have been engulfed by the shadow, vanishing without a trace.
What was happening inside that shadow? —It was a blender. The shadow was dissolving Subaru’s very being. It was melting him and mixing him into something else: everything that had been swallowed by shadow.
—Mixed with all the many, many things that had been swallowed whole by the Witch’s shadow.
Becoming one with those who had been melted before him had exposed Subaru to a great many emotions. Coursing into him were sensations, feelings, memories, knowledge that was not his own. It became natural to be instantly aware of those things as they let themselves in, carving into his body, his mind, and his soul.
He’d escaped by a hair’s breadth. He’d escaped with his life with only fractions of a second to spare. Being engulfed by that shadow was not death. Subaru Natsuki would be stirred into something else, erased through becoming part of a heterogeneous whole.
That was an intolerable defeat, one from which even Return by Death could not bring him back.
Had it not been for Echidna’s aid, Subaru would have come to an end, unable to slip out of the shadow’s embrace. It was because he could feel that in his bones that he wanted to call the Witch right back to thank her.
“Guu…agh…”
But delaying the inevitable with Echidna’s aid had gone as far as it could.
Slowly, Subaru’s body was being engulfed by the shadow once more. As if his lower body was sinking into the ground, as if his extremities were being meticulously digested bit by bit, the Witch’s shadow was consuming Subaru.
He was gradually losing himself. Not only was the sense of loss frightening but the relief.
There was relief. There was joy that he would be swallowed, dissipated, and erased, his fate arriving at its end.
Accordingly, he was certain in his belief. He could not die from being engulfed by shadow. He would continue to be “loved”—forever.
“Damn…it all…”
The light created by the Witch had bought him tens of seconds, but that postponement would not save Subaru’s life.
It was only a brief matter of time until he was pulled in and erased. Just what did Echidna want there?
“That…shitty Witch…!”
The instant he arrived at his conclusion, Subaru cast aside his gratitude from the moment just prior, tearing at the light with his left hand.
The single saving grace was the light that had saved Subaru, brushing aside the shadow engulfing him—and it was here that Echidna’s desire rested.
Echidna had a goal. Echidna had left in Subaru’s hands the means to accomplish it.
It was a lifeline. A lifeline not for saving Subaru but to let him take his own life.
“?”
As if sensing his tragic resolve, the light changed shape, transforming into a radiant dagger.
She had no doubt thought it would be difficult to accomplish with nothing but a single handkerchief. Her polite consideration brought tears to his eyes.
It was just, though they were tears, what coursed out were tears of blood.
He closed his eyes, let out his breath—and with that impetus, he thrust the dagger of light toward his own throat.
“—gh.”
Though the sharpness of the blade of light was unclear, it penetrated his windpipe with ease. Blood coursed backward into the fatal wound, and as it flowed from his throat down to his lungs, his consciousness began to drown.
—The protective charm of light was not a weapon. Echidna had put it in his hands so that he could take his own life.
That was what the postponement of tens of seconds was for, so that he might realize, so that he might carry it out, so that he might Return by Death.
Echidna had most likely anticipated that the Witch of Jealousy would appear outside of the tomb. The reason why remained unclear to Subaru, but he had to pay for it with his life.
“—!”
For the first time, Subaru’s suicide caused the Witch of Jealousy to shout something other than her love.
However, drowning in his own blood, already having let go of his consciousness, Subaru did not comprehend the words.
But he stretched his hand toward the face of the Witch covered in shadow as if it was the natural thing to do. It seemed right.
The dagger of light fell away, and the fingers of the final vestiges of light touched the shadowy veil.
The veil came apart, and the half of the Witch’s face hidden by the shadow was exposed to him.
She had purple eyes that were like gemstones. She had shimmering silver hair that was like moonlight. And she had a lovely and familiar face—
Seeing that face twisted in grief, he felt not so much surprise as pain within his chest. Sadness had impaled his chest.
With his throat filled with blood, he could not form proper words.
Nonetheless, to the one before his eyes, the sad girl who spilled countless tears, he made a declaration…
“I will—”
—I will save you.
The instant he stated it, Subaru Natsuki lost his life.
6
When he straddled “death,” the first piece of reality to arrive was the bitter taste of dust.
“—U-geh!”
Coughing violently, he spat out foreign substances tasting of dirt along with his saliva. After that, Subaru sat up and confirmed that he had been lying on a floor in a cold, dark room.
The stone walls were very faintly glowing blue, and it was tranquil enough to rattle your nerves—he was inside the tomb.
“I’ve re…turned…”
With a raspy voice, opening and closing his hands right before his eyes, Subaru made the result of Return by Death sink in.
His memory from just before was still fresh, both from having been swallowed by shadow and having ended his own life. —So, too, the violent pain in his throat.
“Not the first time I’ve killed myself, is it…?”
The sharp sensation boring into his throat, the feeling of it being gouged out—this made Subaru breathe hard.
There was the suffering of drowning in his own blood and the sense of loss from his consciousness slipping away. No matter how many times he’d tasted death, the horror never dulled. No matter how many times or instances he felt death, it never got easier.
He was afraid of death. Death was terrifying. It was painful, agonizing, yet even so—
“Even so, coming back…beats the hell out of ending with everything lost…!”
He’d chosen to come back. In that place, he’d chosen death without hesitation.
This way, Subaru could still fight. He could resist. He could fight to win his future.
“But I can’t get all mushy about death all the same… I still have things I have to do.”
Gazing anew at those things he had to do, Subaru tried to calm the sound of his heart as he checked around. Having returned to the tomb, there was a silver-haired girl lying right at Subaru’s side.
This was the tomb, the starting point of Return by Death—where Emilia was continuing her nightmare about her past.
He had to shake her slender shoulder and awaken her from that nightmare. Tell her she didn’t have to go through those terrible thoughts anymore, gently embrace her—those were the first things Subaru ought to do.
Hence, as Emilia gasped in anguish, Subaru gently stretched a hand out toward her—
“…The hell?”
There was a tiny tremble in his fingers as he tried to touch Emilia with them.
Wondering what was up, he tried to stop the shaking in his fingers. However, though Subaru was aware of the trembling, his fingertips disregarded his will; if anything, the trembling increased. And that was not all.
A strange clattering sound was echoing off the stone walls. The annoying sound and the trembling fingers left Subaru confused as to what in the world was going on, but belatedly he realized.
The clattering was coming from Subaru’s teeth. Without his teeth pressed together, his jaw was trembling, causing the miserable rattling.
It was as if Subaru was hesitating out of cowardice. His fingers continued to tremble, and his teeth kept clacking.
—The cause behind that trembling was the face he had seen on the other side of that shadowy veil.
“Why am I shaking…? Don’t tell me I’m afraid of…”
He had seen the Witch’s face in the moment just prior to Return by Death—and it was the same face as Emilia’s. After straddling death to come back, he had dragged along a fear of the Witch that stuck with him.
Enough fear to make his soul forget a very basic thing… Emilia was not the Witch of Jealousy.
“A stupid trick like that… Come on, I know better than that, damn it…!”
Subaru didn’t know what had brought on the sudden revival play. However, he did have an idea of why the Witch had taken that form. There was one possibility he could think of.
The Witch had probably manifested in the Sanctuary through taking possession of Emilia’s body.
Petelgeuse, an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, had been an evil spirit able to possess the bodies of others. Knowing of that madman, Subaru could easily accept the possibility that the Witch could take over other people’s bodies as well.
What had convinced him the most was that it perfectly explained everything Garfiel’s demeanor had implied.
For the plan to use the barrier, Garfiel had been absolutely certain the Witch had a physical body. Subaru’s memory was also fresh that he had said he was “sorry in advance” just prior to the decisive battle against the Witch.
In other words, Garfiel had seen the Witch possess Emilia. That was why he hadn’t given a clear answer as to whether Emilia was dead or alive and why he’d apologized to Subaru for striking down both the Witch and Emilia-turned-avatar.
It added up. It explained everything. That was it. Wasn’t it nothing more than that? It had nothing to do with Emilia. It wasn’t any knock against her. There was no reason to be afraid of—
—Quit it with the bald-faced lying, his inner self coldly spat.
Bald-faced lying. His inner self’s words made Subaru aware that he was deceiving himself. He was not afraid of Emilia. That was the truth. But that was one thing. His fear of the Witch was in another dimension.
“?”
—Subaru’s Return by Death was through the power of the Witch of Jealousy.
That was Subaru’s opinion, and Echidna’s had affirmed his own. And understanding this meant that the Witch of Jealousy possessed the power to roll back time.
Therefore, it was not unthinkable for her to employ the same power with which she made him Return by Death to go back in time herself.
Subaru couldn’t firmly declare that she wouldn’t or couldn’t. The possibility terrified him.
There was no answer to that question. —In its place, there was an answer lying right at his side.
“?”
Touching Emilia and making her awaken would make everything become clear.
If Emilia opened her eyes, smiling softly as she always did, all those things would become a needless worry.
But if that wish was not to be granted—
“—Emi…lia.”
Whether he sought to save her or sought to be saved himself, he no longer could tell even that.
But he thought that the fact that his voice called her name and the finger touching her cheek did not shake was miracle enough for him.
“?”
Her pale cheek transferred enough warmth to his fingertip that he thought it would melt. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and light came to rest in her downcast eyes. Her purple eyes blinked several times as they beheld Subaru in them.
And then—
“…Suba…ru?”
When he heard her whispered voice, something heavy dissolved inside of Subaru.
One word, hearing that single call, let Subaru make the fear up to the moment before into a thing of the past. Everything about it was different from the false love that had been showered upon him.
“This is… Until now, I’ve been…”
Subaru let out a long, long breath. Slightly perplexed by the lack of a reply, Emilia slowly sat up, knitting her brows as she looked around the room in which they were.
Awakening from her nightmare, her comprehension was belated. However, she gradually caught up to reality.
“—Ah.”
That tiny voice probably trickled out from remembering something about the dream she saw.
He knew that Emilia would immediately descend into a panic. He had already seen Emilia’s heart crushed by her past three times over. He had to offer her gentle comforting.
For the sake of that, without hurting her in any way, he had to call out to her, to tell her it was all right—
“—Subaru.”
And yet, in spite of Subaru having prepared to do just that, Emilia engaged in an action completely contrary to his expectations.
Her panicked eyes had already regained their calm; her lips, on the verge of trembling, were now pursed with a strong will. To a surprised Subaru, Emilia proceeded to gently reach out with her hand as she spoke.
“Why do you have such a pained look on your face?”
Hgh, went the broken breath that trickled out of him.
Subaru was frozen in surprise as Emilia’s finger gently stroked his cheek. Her white fingertip gently wiped the corner of his eye, pulling down the dam holding back the tears welling up, letting them fall freely.
There were tears. Only then did Subaru realize that he’d been on the verge of completely breaking down.
“Ah, uh, I?”
Once he realized the fact, it only took him a moment to crumble.
The tremors that hit him were in a totally different dimension from what had afflicted his fingers and teeth from moments before. The trembling robbed him of his body’s internal strength, and Subaru, who had been on his knees, lost his balance, sinking onto his rear.
“It’s all right, it’s all right, Subaru. I’m here, I’m right here…”
As his crumpling body leaned forward, a delicate touch embraced him from the front.
Emilia’s temperature was hot enough that he could feel it through the thin fabric of his clothing. A gentle beating came through the chest where he laid his head; he could tell that relief was filling the cracks of his broken heart.
Relief. —Yes, this was beyond all doubt relief: that Emilia had remained herself, that the Witch had not stolen her body away.
And pathetic as it was, Subaru’s body had chosen quivering and crying as its way of expressing that relief.
“I’m so sorry, making you worry like that. It’s all right, it’s all right…”
As Subaru trembled and cowered, Emilia gently consoled him, calling out to him over and over as if pitying him.
Ever so quietly, Emilia continued to console Subaru in that fashion.
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