4
—Circling in the sky high above city hall, the black dragon continued its mocking laughter.
It had sharp, ferocious fangs, magnificent black wings that gathered the wind underneath to soar through the skies, plus a daunting face, and it was encased in a hide of rocklike scales—this was well and truly what Subaru imagined a dragon would be.
Some of its features resembled Patlash, the land dragon, but they were incomparable in the size of their frames and the raw power they possessed. If a land dragon was on par with a horse, then the black dragon overhead was best likened to an elephant.
The sight of it spreading its wings and leisurely gliding around brought no words to mind save nightmare.
“Gawking at me with those passionate gazes means you’re all turned on, aren’t you? What, are you animals in heat the whole year? Are you enjoying this chance to ogle me? Oh noooo, whatever shall I do?!”
“…Well, this dragon’s so expressive that it gives me chills.”
Writhing in midair, Capella—the black dragon twisting its reptilian form into vulgar shapes—behaved in a way that left Subaru unable to conceal his disgust. How could he take anything else away from the mouthy dragon’s first impression being this twisted?
It was impossible not to feel repulsed by Capella, who came off as human in all the wrong ways.
“If it was doable, I would have liked to confront Lust in order.”
Checking the heft of his knight’s sword, Julius peered up at the dragon overhead as he commented in a quiet voice. Mentally agreeing with those words, Subaru saw the pair of sword fighters down on the surface apparently stiffening from awe at the appearance of their comrade, the winged dragon overhead.
The two of them knelt as if in reverence for the winged dragon that was their master, even as they kept an eye on Subaru and the rest of the party without ever letting their guard down. They were such formidable foes by themselves that adding in the black dragon would put the group at an overwhelming disadvantage.
However—
“—When fighting a dragon, the important thing is to break its wings as soon as possible, bringing it crashing to the ground. If we permit it to fly in the sky as it pleases, it will rain dragon breath upon us unopposed. We must avoid this at all costs.”
With all of them unsettled by the appearance of the dragon, Wilhelm delivered that bold pronouncement at the center of their formation. His words, filled with such certainty, made Subaru unconsciously glance over toward the Sword Devil.
“From how you said that just now, it kinda sounds like you have experience fighting dragons.”
“Once, nearly four decades ago, I crossed swords with Bargren the Black Dragon, who appeared in the south of the kingdom. Compared with that one, this dragon is far too small. Should we lop off her head once, she will surely perish.”
“What, once wasn’t enough for this Bargren guy?”
“I lopped off all three of his heads.”
There is only one to lop off this time, implied his deeply reassuring words.
The evocative tale of that legendary duel to the death bolstered Subaru’s spirits as he adjusted the grip on his whip. Privately deciding that he needed to hear that heroic tale in detail later, he girded himself to rejoin the battle. The others’ morale had recovered as well.
Seeing that Subaru and company’s hearts were unbroken, Capella went, “Wuh?” as if totally taken off guard. “My, my, a die-hard bunch, aren’t you? Normally, after being screwed around with so much, reinforcements arrive, and oh, look, it’s the Archbishop!! The usual routine is for weaklings like you to try to run with your little tails between your legs. Or did I mistake you for the wrong kind of insect?”
“—Quit yappin’ on and on! I don’t care whether you’re a big lizard or an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins! Everyone who gets in my way, I’m gonna smash ’em, send ’em flyin’, and beat ’em down!”
When Capella made her bizarrely long tongue dance and form such wicked words, Garfiel turned his fist on her. Detecting such incredible hostility directed toward her, Capella went, “Eh? Ehhhhhhh?” and laughed. “Bwa-ha! I think beaten dogs howling in the distance are the annoying ones. Ohh, that’s right, you’re not a beaten dog—you’re a beaten cat, was it? Meow, meow, meow, meow, your face went beet red when you cried over that kitty girl dying didn’t you? Poor widdle kitty!”
“!!”
Garfiel listened to nearly unendurable words of abuse as they clawed at the weakness in his heart. Seeing the painful look on the side of his face, Subaru took a step to stand in front of Garfiel.
“General…”
With his adorable little brother calling his name out, Subaru glared at Capella overhead without saying a word. Noticing his gaze, the black dragon narrowed its red eyes, clearly finding it unpleasant.
“Huh? What’s with you? Even compared with the other meatbags, you have the most out-of-place scent, you know? How did you even get mixed in all this? Did you get loooost?”
“Shut up. The more you talk, the more you’re ruining my internal idea of dragons. Also, quit claiming the name of that princess. I feel sorry for her.”
“Claiming? What in the world are you talking abou…?”
“Also, you people are so sloppy, it’s painful to watch! You big shots should be biding your time and coming out one by one! Who the hell just shows up all at once without paying any attention to the pacing?! Who do you think you are, trampling on people’s daily lives looking like that? Are you pretending to be a god?!”
“ ”
The caustic words that Subaru unleashed with the force of a volley of arrows made Capella open her eyes wide, taking her aback for a moment.
Seeing a black dragon look dumbfounded was quite a spectacle in and of itself, but that hadn’t been Subaru’s aim. Of course, he couldn’t deny that his tirade contained more than a fair bit of his real feelings, but the actual purpose was—
“That’s enough stalling from me! Nail her, Julius!”
“On occasion, I admire your brashness from the bottom of my heart.”
As Subaru clapped his hands together, Julius immediately replied from behind, gathering light upon the tip of his knight’s sword. When all six greater spirits assembled within the blade, The Finest of Knights swung it like a musical conductor.
“What a petty little trick you’re trying to use on…!”
“Burn under the light of the rainbow! —Al Clauzeria!”
The tip of the sword, which he thrust out, emitted a rainbow-colored beam, unleashing a swirling aurora. The rainbow attack, which contained the combined might of six greater spirits, shot out in a straight line, aimed right at the black dragon circling directly overhead.
—Instantly, the beam burst apart, enveloping the roof of city hall with an explosion of light.
The sky was dyed in the surreal colors of the beautiful aurora—a purifying ritual to purge all evil. The spell, which had been wielded so fiercely in the battle with Petelgeuse, now bared its fangs at Capella.
“Gaaaaaah!!”
Struck by a direct hit from the rainbow light, Capella raised a high-pitched shriek.
“ ”
With this strike serving as a signal for combat to resume, the kneeling pair of sword fighters kicked off the ground once more, quickly approaching Subaru and the others.
A fluttering longsword and several whirling greatswords were intercepted by the white-haired Sword Devil and a ferocious golden-haired tiger.
“As if I’d let ya!!”
Making his battered will to fight burn even higher, Garfiel blocked the giant’s greatswords with both shields. The vigorous impact rocked Garfiel back on his heels, but he did not retreat a single step.
Beside him, the swordswoman was being pressured by Wilhelm’s slashing sword attacks, forcing her backward.
“Do not assume you can retreat with ease! I must know for certain!”
The Sword Devil dealt out more attacks without mercy. However, the woman skillfully wielded her longsword, parrying each and every sword blow while evading pursuit with highly polished footwork.
Her body almost seemed like it was designed for the sole purpose of wielding a sword.
Wilhelm was exhibiting swordsmanship on the same level that he had brought out during the fight against the White Whale. The swordswoman engaging him displayed excellence in technique and creativity, along with a superhuman sense of balance.
Lashing blades whistled through the air and scraped against the ground as they ran along their paths, parrying, redirecting, and defeating each other’s blows.
Not even sound could intrude as their incredible sword duel continued, each attack and defense so polished that it was no exaggeration to call it the pinnacle of the sword.
“Uraaaaa!!”
The other battlefield nearby was a cruder scene as half-beast and giant swordsman clashed head-on.
Garfiel raised a battle cry as he and the giant slammed into each other with mighty blows. This was a contest of wild savagery that was incomparable with the elegant battle of sword masters.
The fighting style of the sword-wielding giant could not be cleanly categorized as that of a trained swordsman. Against an opponent employing what was ultimately refined brutality, Garfiel counterattacked with his personal brand of brawling.
Bones creaked, flesh ruptured, and souls cracked in the grand, chaotic battle of titanic blows, with the clashing of shield against greatsword reverberating like a symphony of percussion instruments. Their fight also sent sparks flying everywhere, distracting the eyes as well as the ears.
Wilhelm’s duel had gone eerily silent, while Garfiel’s battlefield was a roaring thunderstorm.
Lacking the ability to intrude upon any of those matches, Subaru was left alone in the three-sided battle. But there was no time to bemoan his lack of strength. Before he had a chance, a new move revealed itself upon the game board.
And this was—
“Master Subaru, look out!!” “Pull back!!”
Right after two voices called out, Crusch came flying in from the side, tackling Subaru. Pinned under her soft body, he watched as Ricardo stepped forward.
Ricardo opened his large maw and let a howl erupt from the space between his rows of sharp fangs—
“Wahaaah!!”
His howling voice made the very air quake as the resulting sound became a shock wave that was imbued with enough destructive force to reshape the world around them.
It was a Howling Wave—an attack similar to what Mimi and her little brothers had used to great effect during the battles against the White Whale and Petelgeuse. However, the frightening thing was that Ricardo could, on his own, unleash a blow on par with what had required the cooperation of all three siblings.
“ ”
Ricardo’s target had been a plume of hungry black flames that was chewing through the aurora and descending onto the surface.
The thick spouts of fire, which was blacker than darkness itself, collided head-on with the Howling Wave in midair. Instantly, the flames were snuffed out by the shock wave without offering any resistance, leaving the lingering embers to scatter here and there all over the field of battle.
But if anything, this helped the black flames become even more effective.
“The hell’s with this black fire…? It ain’t goin’ out?”
The flying black flames continued to blaze ceaselessly, whether they sat atop paving stones, waterways, or masses of flesh. The area that was covered by the wave of writhing flames expanded bit by bit, encroaching upon the world more and more as if they were alive.
Like setting oil on the surface of water aflame, the black flames continued asserting their presence.
“ ”
The downpour of black flames had not touched Subaru or the others, erasing the aurora in their stead by disrupting its magical composition. Julius’s wary gaze was still focused on the black dragon, which had spewed the black flames.
Following his lead, the sight of the black dragon entered Subaru’s vision as well—
“—Eek! Oh no, oh no, staring at someone from such a harsh angle is turning you on, isn’t it? Stooop, don’t look! Stop violating me with your eyes! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! If I told you that it’s forbidden to touch the dancing girls, are you going to say searing them with magic doesn’t count as touching…? Bwa-ha-ha-ha!”
Unleashing another stream of vulgar words, Capella looked fine and well as she landed on top of the city-hall roof. But this was not in the sense of being unscathed— If anything, the effects of Julius’s spell had been profound.
As the black dragon rested her wings, both of those wings were still aflame from coming into contact with the aurora, with bone poking out from molten membrane in some places. The damage did not end there; her internal organs were boiling from the scorching heat deep in her seared abdomen, and the right half of the dragon’s head had been sent flying, leaving that stupidly laughing tongue in tatters as one of her eyeballs hung freely.
Half-alive and half-dead didn’t even cover it. From this terrible spectacle, she was already on the brink of death.
However, it was not this alarming sight that caused Subaru to swallow his breath, Julius and Ricardo to narrow their eyebrows, and Crusch to inadvertently raise a feminine-sounding yelp.
—All those terrible wounds were regenerating at a speed that was outright disgusting.
Blood vessels wriggled, flesh swelled up, bones broke audibly, torn tissues mended, and Capella’s destroyed flesh repaired itself with swiftness that was a far cry from any norm.
The speed of this healing ability made her cells seethe, vaporizing the blood coursing through them and causing it to rise as a ghoulish red vapor.
“So are you satisfied now that you’ve caused even my beautiful viscera to be exposed for everyone to see? You’re all perverts with such uncontrollable lust that you’d do anything to see even your beloved meatbag’s rectum, aren’t you? Hey, hey, are you satisfied? Hey, are you totally sweaty because you had your fill?”
“You’re… What the hell…is that?”
“Asking something you can figure out the answer to just by looking makes you a fool through and through, doesn’t it? But I will reply because of the depths of my compassion. As you can see, I have conquered death! I am a complete being!!”
As Capella embraced herself with her healed wings, her grandiose words rocked Subaru.
A complete being—put another way, Capella was calling herself immortal. And after seeing half her head get blown away only to heal it at great speed without relinquishing life, there was a strong case to be made that she was telling the truth.
One had bodies to spare, one dragged others to the grave, one was an invincible being, and one was an immortal monster—
“! Damned Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins!”
“Ah, somehow, I feel like you lumped me in with those jerks just now. Could you please stop that? I mean, come on! People will start calling my character into question!”
When Subaru resentfully clicked his tongue, Capella rejected him with vivid displeasure. In that time, the black dragon, her body largely finished regenerating, slowly raised her heavy hips—
“Oops. Whoa there. Coming through.”
The next instant, the distant ring of the time tower’s bell echoed across the city’s sky.
Hearing this, Capella’s motions came to a full stop, and when the black dragon tilted her long head, she let out a languid “Ahh—” as she gazed wistfully at the sky, watching evening approach.
“Seems like it’s the appointed hour. Your clumsy faces really aren’t bad, but a bigger stage awaits me, so excuse me while I go back inside!”
“Huh?! W-wait!”
“Why should I?! My beautiful voice needs to echo across the sky! How exactly will these fools stuck in the insect cage suffer? Stay tuned for the broadcast and find out! As for you, do entertain my minions and then die and rot as you see fit! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Laughing loudly, Capella unilaterally declared that the time for talk was over and then turned around on the spot. The black dragon’s huge body then promptly vanished into the roof. It seemed that Lust was genuinely intent on leaving the battlefield.
Of course, the right thing was to think she was making Subaru and company lower their guard as part of some sort of ruse, but—
“If we let her go, there is no telling what she might finally inflict upon the hostages. We must make haste.”
“If she broadcasts it live, morale will crumble, and panic will spread across the city like wildfire. Shit! No way forward except through, huh? Man, we have to chase her in there? In a situation like this?”
It was clearly a bad move, but they had no other cards to play. In the first place, they’d challenged the enemy at city hall because rescuing the hostages and stopping the broadcast was a top priority. If that meant dancing on the enemy’s palm, they just had to grin and bear it.
“Guess that’s settled, then. Leave the folks outside to me and those two. Julius, Bro, and Ms. Crusch will charge in.”
Ricardo announced his plan to Subaru and Crusch as they pondered. Subaru’s eyes questioned whether he had any basis for his unwavering judgment.
“Ain’t nothin’ special. Just intuition, Bro! Intuition! …The mountain of intuition I’ve built up from surviving a ton of battles!”
“So we’re just trusting your gut?! Maybe that’s the best thing to rely on…!”
Concurring with Ricardo’s judgment, Subaru leaped up on the spot. Then lending a hand to Crusch, who’d saved him from the black dragon’s flames, he helped her to her feet.
“You really saved me back there, Crusch. Usually, it’s the other way around.”
“Let’s keep it a secret from Ferris and Lady Emilia.”
His eyes went round at the unexpected reply, but he grasped that this turn of phrase was Crusch’s way of lightening the mood. As he focused on the task before him, Subaru clenched his teeth then and called out to Garfiel, who was still caught in a battle of frenzied blows.
“Garfiel! We’re going ahead to stop Lust! Once we’re done here, we gotta go save Emilia! Don’t lose!”
“!! Go and get it done, General! Me, I’m seein’ this through!!”
Slipping between the gaps of whipping greatswords, Garfiel sent sparks flying as he howled his reply.
“Wilhelm, I leave this place to you!”
“Understood!”
Beside Subaru, Crusch shouted a few brief words of encouragement to the Sword Devil, who replied as he unleashed a flurry of countless silver flashes.
Finally, Subaru and Crusch broke into a run, heading straight for city hall with Julius taking point. Of course, the two warriors whom Lust had entrusted with guarding the place tried to move to bar their way, but—
“Line up like that, and you’re basically just food for me!!!”
Ricardo leaped toward them and used his powerful shout to blow both sword fighters away as they attempted to impede Subaru and the others’ advance. The giant and the swordswoman used their own evasive techniques to avoid taking any damage from the howling wave.
But the partners of the dances that the enigmatic pair had pulled out from prematurely did not let them escape without a fight.
“Do not be so cold. I am right here, devoted to you every step of the way!”
“Don’t go showin’ your ass in the middle of a fight! I’ll tear your tail fur out and give you a real thrashin’!!”
Sword against sword, and fist against slam—furious blows met again and again, allowing no one in that square even a moment’s respite.
The two Witch Cultists were being hindered, and if they insisted on giving chase, Ricardo would stop them by force. With reliable allies covering their backs, Subaru and the others headed straight for city hall, reaching it by the shortest possible route.
“Subaru! I will carve you a path! I entrust Lady Crusch to you!”
On the verge of racing into the building, Julius raised his knight’s sword high as the greater spirits gave off a dazzling radiance.
Wondering what was happening, Subaru blinked furiously when, right before his eyes, Julius was enveloped in an explosive wind that materialized directly below him, his mantle fluttering as Julius sailed into the sky.
“Why did yo…?! Crusch, pardon me!”
Feeling the same wind buoying his own legs, Subaru forcefully picked up Crusch as she ran alongside. Lighter than I figured, he idly thought; a moment later, Subaru’s legs peeled away from the ground as he shot into the air.
“Waaaaaaaaaah!!”
Picked up so suddenly and unsure how to deal with the abrupt weightlessness, Crusch raised a loud yell. The two kept on going, sailing over the wall surrounding city hall and finally flying all the way to the roof.
“Crusch, hang on tight!”
Shouting, Subaru supported Crusch with one hand as he drew his whip out with the other. Holding her breath, Crusch clung to Subaru for dear life as he used his whip and instantly wrapped it around the roof’s railing.
Taking advantage of this foothold, Subaru and Crusch traced a large, semicircular arc toward city hall’s roof. The instant they landed, Subaru spread his legs wide as he fell to the floor.
“Guhohhhh!!”
Feeling a numbness that was impossible to ignore run through his legs, Subaru heard an improper sound coming from his right leg. Having so swiftly betrayed Ferris’s admonition telling him not to push it, Subaru released Crusch from his arm.
“…Crusch, are you all right?”
“I—I am fine. But, Master Subaru, your leg…”
“It’s all right—don’t worry about it. It doesn’t hurt. Also, if you mention this to Ferris, he might kill me, so, uh…”
Genuinely fearful of such a future, Subaru gingerly turned his eyes toward the roof.
What he saw was not Capella, who’d been burned by the rainbow, but only a roof that had been wrecked by the black dragon’s movements. The only thing on the roof itself was a single door leading to the building’s interior.
According to Kiritaka, the metia was located on the building’s uppermost floor. Having moved Subaru and Crusch here and taken the shortest route to pursue Capella, Julius brushed back his mantle and looked at the pair.
Flipping off the handsome knight with his middle finger, Subaru tried to race to the door leading inside when—
“—Ah-ha-ha. Settle down right there, ladies and gentlemen.”
Loud laughter stopped Subaru in his tracks. Suddenly, the metal door was kicked apart from the inside, blown off its hinges. A new person came on the scene with the sound of bare feet, stepping upon the door, which had fallen so dramatically.
“ ”
—At a glance, their newest opponent seemed like a young boy.
One thought so because he was small in stature with a youthful face, and the voice they heard sounded like it had yet to crack from puberty. But one glance at the boy’s eyes was enough to realize that such sentiments were deeply mistaken.
No proper human being would have such warped eyes that seemed like all the vices of the world were fermenting within them.
“We’re so happy. We’re so glad. We’re so delighted. We’re so overjoyed. Happy thoughts help us feel happy! Drink! Gorge!! The longer we have to wait, the emptier our belly becomes! And the more we savor the very first bite!”
His scorched-brown hair was tied up in a braid, and his small physique was wrapped in a long robe, with long hems, cuffs, and sleeves that hung about. There was a sadistic smile plastered onto his youthful face, and his smile showed that he had teeth like a shark’s.
All these characteristics matched the identity of someone Subaru had heard about before.
“Hmm? Why do you look so annoyed, mister? Could it be that you have some kind of grudge against one of us guys? We’re tryin’ and tryin’ to remember, but we’re really bad at faces. Really, we’re no good at remembering at all…”
Enduring Subaru’s withering gaze, the boy adopted a cruel smile that was reminiscent of a cat toying with a mouse. This attitude grated on Subaru’s nerves as he exhaled, striving to remain calm.
“Hey, you shitty brat. If you just walked in here because you have no sense of direction, now’s the time to surrender. That’s pretty stupid, but it’s forgivable. Still…”
“We are the Witch Cult’s Archbishop of—”
Subaru did everything he could to remain calm. To try and keep a cool head. He tried and tried and tried.
“—Gluttony, Roy Alphard!”
Attempting to maintain his calm any further was impossible.
“Gluttonyyy!!!”
The instant the boy openly declared himself as Gluttony, Subaru unleashed the fastest and mightiest whip blow of his life.
The tip of the whip tore through the air, mercilessly scoring the face of his greatest foe. A direct hit should have peeled the skin back and rent the flesh, leaving a scar so severe that anyone who saw it wouldn’t dare look at it twice, and this blow—
“—Well, lots of people hold a grudge against us because of our feeding.”
Catching the tip of the whip with his teeth, Gluttony spoke those words without a single ounce of shame.
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