Arc 7, Chapter 74 "Idola Misanga"
The sound of footsteps approaching in a heap makes Subaru's heart cower.
Todd and Arakiya, visiting from the Imperial Capital, and the massacre they are causing must be stopped.
So desperately, so hard, he scrabbled with all his might to repel the malice and absurdity that befell him. He kept on clawing and clawing and clawing, but then the worst happened.
A restart point with "death" as the starting point, which keeps getting pushed backwards.
At this time, it was not "death" itself that Subaru feared the most. It was the reality that would be confirmed by Subaru's "death" and by the fact that he would pass away.
--The lives that could not be saved spilled over, which was what he feared the most.
The most important thing is that someone's "death," which cannot be escaped, is approaching so fast.
"AAAHHH--!!"
Subaru's throat screams at the sight before him, the sight of Weitz's bloody collapse.
He shouted and tried to jump out of the way, but his sleeve was grabbed by an outstretched finger, blocking his movement. The one who grabbed him was Tanza, her round eyes teary, shaking her head frantically at Subaru.
He saw this, too. He's already seen it. He saw it, he saw it, this familiar sight.
He is seeing the same scene again, the same scene he saw just a minute ago.
"----σσ"
Immediately after, an ugly, ear-tearing squeal crushes Weitz's entire collapsed body down the passageway, and he falls straight through the floor to the middle of the island.
The giant gray frog and falling debris, it swallows Weitz and disappears from view.
No, no no noooo--!!"
"Mr. Schwarz?!"
With a gruff wave of his arm, Subaru shakes off Tanza's hand. Leaving the startled girl's voice behind, Subaru runs toward the falling weights.
If he ran in right now, he could pick him up as he falls, and he could plug up his eyes and his left arm and the wound he has sustained, and he could go to the healing room and put a bandage or something on it and patch it all up, and surely, surely--.
"Not yet--"
"It's more fragile than I thought it would be."
When he could help Weitz, he ran without any formality.
Subaru is met head-on by something swinging sideways. It is only after a heavy, hard sound, and a great rotation of his vision, that he realizes that it is the blade of a dirty, reddish-black axe.
A large turn, and high up in Subaru's vision, he sees the body of a child running awkwardly. He sees it and realizes that it is his own body without a head, falling forward.
Then where is the head. More importantly, Weitz, Weitz, Weitzweitzweitzweitz.
× × ×
The circling vision is abruptly fixed on a single point, and Subaru's brain is swept away.
It's like a camera that's been spun around so fast it's like it's been brought to an abrupt stop, and the three semicircular canals, which aren't actually moving, are being messed up.
The nausea, the confusion, and the urgency to help Weitz, not to stop and wait--,
"It was my first time......"
Subaru then danced back and saw Weitz muttering bloodily in his field of vision.
Weitz's left arm and right eye bleed profusely, and a second later he collapses.
"Anyone who says they believe me is......"
"AAAHHH--!!"
The irrevocable reality trampled Natsuki Subaru's soul into a crumpled heap.
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The footsteps of doom were creeping steadily and surely.
A massacre begins, and Subaru runs to stop it.
However, the shortening of the grace period, which began with a dozen seconds of backtracking and shaving off the restart point, kept the miracle away and wiped hope from Subaru's heart.
He snuck into Gustav's office and worked with Hiain to get to the bottom of the massacre.
Many times, the discussions with Todd and his team with Gustav were found before they got to the core of the matter, and after many failed attempts and errors, the next time - there was no turning back.
Because the restart point was backed up to the middle of hiding in the Oval Office with Hiain.
"----"
From that moment on, Subaru could hear the voice of doom laughing loudly in his mind.
It was Subaru who was covering him, listening to the sound of the frightened Hiain's heart beating, perhaps even more intensely than it was beating.
What if the massacre is not stopped and the restart point is behind it?
He was filled with a sense of despair, wondering what on earth Natsuki Subaru could do if the irreparable scene was made the starting point for a fresh start.
And then--,
"Bshh--"
When Gustav's head was blown off with the sound of a faint voice, Subaru knew.
He must never die again. If he dies and returns to the place after Gustav has been killed, it will be confirmed that his life can no longer be saved.
Once someone's "death" is confirmed, it is already the same as if Subaru had killed them.
The confirmation of an unsalvageable world was the murder committed by Natsuki Subaru, no matter whose hand it was that brought about the "death".
So he was desperate not to die.
Whether Gustav died, Old Man Null died, the gladiators died, the guards died, or anyone else died, he fought hard not to die.
If Subaru dies, they who were killed will really die.
Even though he knew it was an illogical idea, Subaru had no choice but to struggle with it.
If Subaru does not die, it leaves them with the possibility of not dying. Because then they really don't have to die, so--.
The illusion is that if they don't die forever, he won't let anyone else die.
The illusion proved to be nothing more than an illusion, as Subaru's life proved when he died so unceremoniously.
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How many times have he already "died"?
"What are you going to do when it disappears right in front of your eyes?"
"Schwa--"
The voice that was about to call his name breaks off in front of Subaru, who is limp and on his knees.
The axe, swung mercilessly, smashed Hiain's body to life, and he fell to the floor with a loud thud, his white eyes flashing.
The blood that was flowing was spreading to the floor and mixing with the blood of Idola's corpse, which had fallen earlier.
Idola, whose head was split open, was killed before Hiain.
Subaru failed to save him from Todd's first attack because he failed to save him from Todd's first attack. Idola is killed first, then Hiain, and finally Subaru is left again.
After Tanza had already been tossed by Todd and fell out of the hole in the wall.
The world was already falling backwards to the point where he could hear the screams of the falling Tanza.
Both Weitz, who was hit in the arm and face and swallowed by the collapsing passageway with the entire frog magical beast, and Tanza, who was thrown outside trying to protect Subaru, were "fixed" in a reality that they could not touch.
And then--,
"What's the real story?"
Todd, carrying an axe on his shoulder, asks Subaru, who is slumped on the spot, his knees stained with the blood of the two flowing men.
His numb brain tingles and tells Subaru the words that follow.
He's heard it so many times already, the question from Todd, which is--.
"Are you really the child of His Imperial Highness the Emperor?"
"......Don't prejudge what people say."
Todd muttered in an unpleasant tone of voice at Subaru's downcast words.
He doesn't know how he felt about being told off in private, but he didn't feel threatened enough to immediately become enraged and try to kill him.
He wasn't trying to create a sense of urgency, he was just speaking out of a seizure.
But if Todd's pace is disturbed, even slightly--,
"If you don't want to die, don't move."
Saying this, Subaru pulled out a black sphere from his own pocket - the curse tool that had been placed in Gustav's body, and held it out to show it to Todd.
The black ball, wiped clean of blood and with a texture and feel like a glass ball, was heavier than a golf ball.
He doesn't even know what the heck it's made of, and he doesn't care what it's made of.
The important thing to remember is that this is a very big, cruel force.
If this is the key needed to activate the "curse rule" and Todd wants it too, he can use it.
He said that it should be, and could be, a second possibility, to be heard.
"This, I think, is what you need for the curse rule. If you don't want to die......"
"--. You, that guy"
"--I'll do it! Now! I'm talking to you!! If you didn't want to die, you wouldn't have heard me?!"
Subaru barks, waving his hand with the curse tool, spit flying.
There was no room in his head, crammed with regret and despair, and no space left to examine Todd's every word. He was left with no room in his head to examine Todd's every word, only to let his rage boil over and boil over.
"Oh, dear. Alright, alright."
Seeing Subaru's anger, Todd let out a small exhale, put down his axe and raised his hands.
Subaru is astonished when he sees Todd easily following his instructions. Todd raised one eyebrow at Subaru's reaction.
"You're a funny guy. You told me to do this."
"Th-at's...... such a simple thing to do......"
Unable to talk back to Todd, Subaru's eyes went black and white and he felt intensely sorry for his stupidity.
It wasn't about the emperor's illegitimate son, he should have just used the curse tool as a shield from the start. He screwed it all up because he was scared and impatient and jumped to the easy option.
Gustav and Old Man Null, Weitz and Tanza, all because of Subaru.
All because Subaru didn't use his head properly to think about it, and he didn't think about it--.
"Do you know how to use that?"
"Huh......?"
Blaming and regretting his own stupidity, a voice interrupted Subaru's thoughts.
At Todd's question with both hands raised, Subaru lets out a gravelly voice and looks at the cures tool in his hand. If you ask him how to use it, he doesn't know how to use it. It doesn't have an easy-to-understand switch or a mechanism that tells you how to use it just by holding it.
"--I guess."
And just by the flicker of his gaze, Todd immediately saw through the threat.
"If you knew, you wouldn't have done it. You wouldn't have threatened me with this."
"Ah"
Immediately after, Todd kicked Subaru's hand away with his raised foot while his hands were still up.
The hand with the curse tool sticking out was kicked, and the black ball bounced straight up. Subaru unintentionally followed it with his eyes and did a foolish imitation again.
Looking up is the same as offering your neck to the other person.
"----"
The gaze chases after the leaping curse tool, which is abruptly interrupted.
Just before the interruption, he thought he heard a hard sound escape from the left side to the right, but he had no way or reason to confirm what it was.
And he has to admit.
--That he couldn't think of any way to stop Todd Fang.
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--The fool who was fooled into thinking he was a good guy and had everything taken away from him.
That is the assessment of those around him of Idola Misanga, a man who became a slave after losing his family's business and finding himself on the street.
A small farming village in the northwestern part of the empire, this was Idola's home, a land where the Misanga family had kept the family mill business going for generations.
The mill was started by Idola's grandfather, and his grandfather's grandfather, who was apparently a very accomplished man.
He was entrusted by his lord to manage the water mill built along the river in the village and the mill that used it, and he was in charge of all the milling of the grains from the village.
The payback was greater, the labor was less, and from the perspective of those who had to rely on the Misangas to mill the crops they produced, Idola was from a privileged class.
However, neither Idola himself nor his family lived up to their noses in the family business.
There is no doubt that they were well-off compared to their surroundings. At the same time, however, he has been a member of the village, acting on behalf of the villagers to pay taxes to the lord in times of crop failure, to negotiate directly with the lord, and to perform other roles that would normally be performed by the head of the village.
--To conduct business honestly and strive to earn widespread trust and confidence.
This was the family motto and philosophy of the Misanga family as millers.
Many of them pocket the grain gathered in the process of milling flour using water wheels. At the very least, the world looks hard at millers, and that is why humility is so important, both Idola and Idola's father have been strongly told by their own parents, who are in charge of the family business.
Because it is a role that can easily arouse suspicion, he always treats people with an open heart.
Never monopolize wealth, but share hardships and joys with those around you. This may not be the right way to live in the Vollachia Empire, where the strong are held in high esteem, but it has been respected as the right way to live in remote, cold villages where the iron and blood rule of the Imperial Capital does not reach.
Idola is one of those who have grown up benefiting from it from an early age.
So, even after the family business was handed over to him early on by his father, who was seriously ill, he tried to keep the tradition alive.
"It's a good, honest life. I envy you."
So envied Idola's lifestyle was a man who stopped by the village tavern.
He revealed that he was a mercenary who traveled to various battlefields wielding a large sword in his hand.
Idola, finding it unusual for a man from another place, shared a drink with him and heard many stories.
As far as Idola was concerned, she had never known the outside world, and what the man told her was full of surprises.
Unlike the peaceful, slow pace of life in rural villages, the world in which men live is dangerous and cruel, but at the same time filled with an unforgettable heat.
Even before that, Idola had a vague longing for it.
As a person born in the Vollachia empire, he wondered if he had any other choice than to take over the family business, a hope that he did not take so seriously.
The life of a warrior who values his own strength and faith, and never chooses a lowly way of being.
"Idola, you have a cousin of yours. Actually, I've been thinking about her......"
Idola became friends with a man who visited the village every few months and with whom she shared a drink each time.
And so, on the many nights they spent together, the man confided to Idola with a serious look on his face. His cousin at his age was still unmarried, and Idola even liked her.
So, without hesitation, Idola introduced him to his cousin, arranged for them to be firmly united, and celebrated the birth of their new family with drinks on the night of their marriage.
It was a month later that the man conspired with his cousin to take away the family business as a miller.
The man insisted that his cousin was also qualified to take on the family business of the Misangas, and further lied that Idola and her father had been fabricating the milling and falsified the results of their milling to the villagers.
Of course, Idola insisted that this was not the case, but the suspicion attached to the profession of miller itself was undeniable, and the village was split down the middle.
Before the settlement could be reached, his father, who was seriously ill, died of illness, and his mother, who had been suffering from heartache, followed in his footsteps.
"I'm running out of patience. I will defend my home at all costs......!"
Mourning his parents, Idola cursed himself for his detour, but decided to resist.
If the man and his cousin are planning to do something nefarious, Idola will rightly reclaim his rights. To this end, Idola asked a person from the village to be present in order to petition the man for a trial.
He believed that the trust that the Misangas had developed through honest business practices would do justice.
However--,
"--Why, what is it?"
No one showed up at the appointed place and, on the contrary, Idola's house was found ready for an armed uprising.
Pulled up and put on an unwanted trial before the lord, Idola desperately pleaded his innocence, but none of the villagers defended him.
The man and his cousin orchestrated the whole thing.
The villagers chose the man who lied but contributed profits over the honest Idola.
There was not a shred of hope of winning.
Deprived of his family business and reduced to slavery, Idola was sent to the island by a man-buyer.
Ginunhive is the worst island in the world, where people have nowhere to go and even their only remaining life is being toyed with.
In that place where the fight for life is made a spectacle, Idola felt his heart blackening and his soul rotting away, and he decided to follow his despair.
That's enough.
How can you still be motivated to work hard when you have worked so hard and not been rewarded?
What he believed was a lie. What he relied on was a mistake.
Everyone is looking to take advantage of everyone else, trying to save only themselves.
Then there is nothing wrong with doing so, even for him.
Yes, nothing was idola.
He was not chosen by anyone, and he deserved it.
No trained strength, no ability that would be particularly useful. Who chooses Idola.
Even Idola doesn't choose Hydra.
And yet, who in the world is Idola, Idola, who is just being stupid and honest--.
"--You wanted to be a warrior, Idola! Then now is the time! Now is the time!"
--He believes that even if he lives honestly, the day of reward will never come.
△▼△▼△▼△
"----"
Idola was stuck in a gung-ho, aching head sensation.
His tongue was numb and he couldn't breathe as if his throat was blocked. The sensation in his limbs was distant, as if his body had been torn apart, and he was terrified.
Fear, it is no longer inevitable to remember.
Considering what had happened just before, even the cold freezing sensation of the blood in his body when no one was on his side in his hometown was far from the horror of it.
Weitz is killed in front of him, and the brave Tanza is thrown down out of the aisle.
With that in his eyes, Idola just stiffened and could do nothing. It would be too ironic if that cowardice was the reason he was able to outlive Weitz and Tanza.
Would these few seconds or dozens of seconds be balanced by the humiliation that would burn through his chest?
He couldn't do anything about it, and he left two people who could have done something about it to die.
The despair and regret that this fact brings to Idola is even heavier than the past, when he preyed on his family's business through careless imitation.
"--Hah"
Thinking that much, Idola laughs at his lack of life experience.
He can't think of any experience of pain, let alone happiness, other than the fall of his life when the family business was taken from him. --He realizes that he was blessed and rich.
Such a way of being in Idola may have angered the man who took Idola's life.
If that were the case, though, what the man did would not be allowed.
"----"
Breathing raggedly and with blurry vision, Idola checks his surroundings.
What in the world is going on? He wonders if there is a connection between the aches and pains all over his body and this lack of meaning. In the first place, is it all true?
He thinks it's all a dream, that everyone on the Gladiator Island could be killed, that Schwarz is the illegitimate son of the Emperor, that Weitz and Tanza were both killed, and so on.
It was all a dream, and Idola still has the luxury of being bored with his privileged life--.
"That's a bold move."
Shuddering, cold voices were heard, and Idola stiffened, forgetting the pain in his body.
The blood in his entire body feels frozen beyond cold, and Idola slowly understands that the footsteps of the owner of the voice are approaching.
And then--,
"It's better than standing on a stick, but that's what happens when you jump without a plan."
The man's voice, which sounded like a dazed man, was not directed at Idola.
Idola bites back relief at the voice thrown a short distance away from him. Then, he looks at the direction the voice is headed, with dim eyes that should not be there.
There--,
"--ah, uh"
He saw a ragged, bloodied, dark-haired boy crawling away.
"----"
When he saw the crawling boy and that it was not the upper passageway he had seen earlier, he remembered what had happened in Idola's mind, before his consciousness turned white.
Weitz was killed, Tanza was thrown out, and just before Idola, who screamed incomprehensible things because she couldn't understand the thoughts of the man who had just committed a heinous act, was killed, Schwarz moved.
The ranting Schwarz, assembled around the waist of Idola and Hiain, who were standing on sticks, jumped into the hole in the wall opposite the one where Tanza was thrown down.
The hole in the wall made by the large bird that plunged in, Tanza fell on the back side of the island, and Schwarz jumped in with Idola and the others on the other side - still, the chances of survival were slim.
Scraped by walls, hated by protrusions, slammed to the ground from a height and left to die.
It was a reckless, but desperate escape, like dying nine times in ten attempts, but it was the only way to go.
It is a miracle that he was able to grab that one time that he could be saved. But the miracles stop there.
Neither the crawling Schwarz nor the fallen Idola can escape the man who is chasing them.
He can't see Hiain, either he didn't fall successfully to the scaffold on this hillside, or he is using mimicry to hide and lurk.
If they were hiding, they cannot expect them to have the courage of Hiain.
He is by no means a bad guy, but he is not brave. He is mean, cowardly, and easily out of sorts, and while he misses Schwarz, he is a man who expects nothing more from him.
Still, if there is any chance of not dying, just hide under your breath.
If the miracle that Schwarz has so desperately seized upon will keep Hiain alive, so be it.
That's how much Schwarz should be paid.
"----"
It occurred to him.
Now that the man has fallen from a great height and is in a state of disarray, and that man is paying attention to Schwarz, maybe Idola will think he's dead and let him off the hook.
He is a horrible man, but he would never go around crushing the heads of all the corpses.
Depending on Idola's condition, if he can make him think he's dead with his closing act, he may not die. As it is, to be saved, even if only by himself.
"----"
It was time, of choice.
What will Idola Misanga sacrifice and what will he gain in order to survive?
In this cruel world, where reason prevails and the strong and cunning get whatever they want, who the hell does Idola Misanga choose to become?
The man who foolishly and honestly believed that if he was honest, he would be trusted and credible, and he lost it all--.
"--Ready."
His back, raising an axe gripped in both hands, trying to swing it down on the crawling boy's head.
If he hides his breath, close his eyes, and keep his face down from everything.
--What in the world can be saved by that?
"N-noooooooo--!!"
He forced his whole body to move, pulled off the body that seemed to stick to the ground, and ran ineffectually, coughing up lots of blood.
He ran and jumped on the man's back. His left hand didn't work, so he wanted to just use his right hand, to build up on that body and bite it to death.
"I knew he was alive."
A moment later, as if mocking Idola's determination, the man dropped the axe he had raised over his back. With his hand still empty, he pulls out a knife, the man turns around, and with a flash, Idola's right hand is blown off at the elbow.
The waterwheel works for the flour mill, so the lanky, slender arms, unaware of the hard work involved, flew up.
But--,
"--Take him awaaaaay!!"
Burning heat crawled up from the cut arm, and Idola's vision turned bright red. But for that moment, Idola forgot the pain and screamed with all his might.
The man in front of him raises his eyebrows lightly at the sound of his blood-curdling voice.
He could not understand Idola's cries and actions and their purpose.
But--,
"Tsk"
A man turns around with his tongue out and throws a knife that slashes Idola's arm.
It was thrown at the writhing landscape behind the man, Schwarz crawling on the ground - no, it is no longer there, fleeing, carrying Schwarz.
It was Hiain.
Hiain, who had been hiding under his breath, ran away, carrying Schwarz with him. Seeing this, Idola gritted his teeth and jumped on the man's back.
His right arm is gone and his left arm is immobile, so he bites and clutches at his clothes.
"Buh"
He was struck in the chest by an elbow over his back and kicked down his lower body. However, the left arm that was struck by the impact of the fall began to move instead of being in severe pain. The dislocated shoulder went in.
And then there is a series of miracles where the axe that the man dropped was lying beside his left arm.
"You didn't think he got away?"
The man who gave up his knife and was robbed of his axe tilted his head as he looked at Idola.
The face of a man who doesn't think he is at all disadvantaged by the loss of his weapon. It's no wonder. The blood that Idola has spilled, and the blood that is flowing, is unstoppable.
It was a miracle to be alive, and too many miracles had already happened.
So Idola shook his head at the man's question.
"No. I thought I had escaped. But I also believed this."
"----"
"I just hope he doesn't try to run away."
He is just a man who is mean, cowardly, prone to getting carried away, and not a bad guy.
Idola just foolishly and honestly believed that such Hiain would not run away.
After all, people could not change easily.
He was soon caught in a lie, claiming that he was a warrior in order to deceive those around him and take advantage of them.
Honesty, widespread trust and confidence.
Even if they point and laugh at him for playing the good guy.
Idola Misanga is neither a warrior nor a con artist.
Idola shouted as he swung his axe with one left hand, bleeding.
"I am Idola Misanga! I am the son of a late miller!!"
"I don't know."
Now, with all the strength he had, Idola lunged at the white-faced man.
--He was glad that Schwarz didn't make him a liar that day.
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They are carried by frantically running bodies and taken from the dead.
They are shaken violently and without regard for their wounds or safety, but that's to be expected.
Even Subaru is a wreck, but his opponent's body is no better.
"Hi, a, Hia, in......"
Subaru clawed at his opponent's body as he was painfully gripped around the waist. He's not even sure where he scratched. The person he had scratched was already a mess in appearance.
It's not that they are all scratched up or anything, but the colors, the patterns, everything is just all messed up.
The state of mimicking the surrounding scenery from one side to the other, and no longer knowing what is the right answer. The body, running in such a state, suddenly loses its strength and falls forward.
"Gah!"
Of course, if the other party falls, Subaru will be involved.
Subaru was thrown in front of his fallen opponent and rolled on the cold floor made of stone. He couldn't even passively catch himself, so the impact was like a broken front tooth.
As it is, he raises his jittery, aching face and looks behind him as he lies there.
There--,
"Hii, hii......"
Literally, a groaning, insect-breathing Hiain was lying on the ground.
Hiain, slumped over, a large knife deeply stuck in the middle of his back. He doesn't know when he was stabbed.
Is it time to run away, or is it more forward, or if it was more forward, there is nothing he can do.
If Subaru dies, the soaring will be just before Idola's head is cracked open.
Maybe after it was already cracked. --No, he jumped out to avoid being broken, so maybe before, after, or in the air.
It was hard for all three of them to fall without all of them dying, no matter how hard they tried, and the first time they felt like they got it right, Todd came.
Idola's voice, Hiain's breathing, is distant.
Everything is out of reach, out of place, anymore.
"This, is, ridiculous......"
Hiain's weak voice reaches Subaru's ears as he falls and tries to crawl away.
The reason he sounds like he's talking while lifting his face out of the water is probably because his throat is full of blood. Maybe he needs some kind of procedure, like draining blood or something.
That's what he has to do. He doesn't have to be a doctor to do it.
"I heard once that life is like a...... flower, you pick, the beautiful ones, first......"
"Don't talk...... I'm coming, right now......"
"Then it's ridiculous, that a man, with filthy guts like me, should die first......ah"
Crawl. Crawl.
To pull up Hiain, who is drowning in his own blood on the ground.
And yet, he couldn't move his body forward at all.
"But......"
He couldn't make any progress, and he couldn't reach it.
"......me first, seriously?"
Slower than a turtle crawls. Too slow, too fast, crawling, with movements smaller than an ant.
He crawled and crawled, and when he finally got there, it was too late.
The color of Hiain had returned to its original gray.
With a knife in his back, one broken arm, and blood flowing from all over his body, Hiain could have died on the way to run here.
Maybe he was running while dying. It must have been.
Everyone Subaru can't help anymore is dead.
Subaru killed him.
It's like killing everyone because he couldn't save everyone.
"Gghee"
Is it blood, tears, or snot that stains his face?
He doesn't know which is which, what is what, who is who, or what the answer is anymore.
He doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, understand anything anymore.
"--Oh, could that be Bassu roaring in there?"
"----"
"Oh, I knew it, Bassu! Well, it's a strange coincidence to run into each other in such a situation, isn't it? It's quite a lively situation, but are you having a good time?"
A lighthearted voice called out to Subaru, who was stunned and felt like he had given everything away.
He can't turn around behind where the voice came from. He managed to raise himself up and look with his eyes at the person who had said these, stupid words to him, and with that, he had to say something - with all the strength in his body.
"You don't have to risk your life to turn around."
"--ah"
"Because, you know, this isn't the place to overreach."
Yes, he came around to the front himself - Cecilus looked into Subaru's face and said.
The "Blue Lighting" smiles carefree while the left half of his body is scorched black.
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The sound of footsteps approaching in a heap makes Subaru's heart cower.
Todd and Arakiya, visiting from the Imperial Capital, and the massacre they are causing must be stopped.
So desperately, so hard, he scrabbled with all his might to repel the malice and absurdity that befell him. He kept on clawing and clawing and clawing, but then the worst happened.
A restart point with "death" as the starting point, which keeps getting pushed backwards.
At this time, it was not "death" itself that Subaru feared the most. It was the reality that would be confirmed by Subaru's "death" and by the fact that he would pass away.
--The lives that could not be saved spilled over, which was what he feared the most.
The most important thing is that someone's "death," which cannot be escaped, is approaching so fast.
"AAAHHH--!!"
Subaru's throat screams at the sight before him, the sight of Weitz's bloody collapse.
He shouted and tried to jump out of the way, but his sleeve was grabbed by an outstretched finger, blocking his movement. The one who grabbed him was Tanza, her round eyes teary, shaking her head frantically at Subaru.
He saw this, too. He's already seen it. He saw it, he saw it, this familiar sight.
He is seeing the same scene again, the same scene he saw just a minute ago.
"----σσ"
Immediately after, an ugly, ear-tearing squeal crushes Weitz's entire collapsed body down the passageway, and he falls straight through the floor to the middle of the island.
The giant gray frog and falling debris, it swallows Weitz and disappears from view.
No, no no noooo--!!"
"Mr. Schwarz?!"
With a gruff wave of his arm, Subaru shakes off Tanza's hand. Leaving the startled girl's voice behind, Subaru runs toward the falling weights.
If he ran in right now, he could pick him up as he falls, and he could plug up his eyes and his left arm and the wound he has sustained, and he could go to the healing room and put a bandage or something on it and patch it all up, and surely, surely--.
"Not yet--"
"It's more fragile than I thought it would be."
When he could help Weitz, he ran without any formality.
Subaru is met head-on by something swinging sideways. It is only after a heavy, hard sound, and a great rotation of his vision, that he realizes that it is the blade of a dirty, reddish-black axe.
A large turn, and high up in Subaru's vision, he sees the body of a child running awkwardly. He sees it and realizes that it is his own body without a head, falling forward.
Then where is the head. More importantly, Weitz, Weitz, Weitzweitzweitzweitz.
× × ×
The circling vision is abruptly fixed on a single point, and Subaru's brain is swept away.
It's like a camera that's been spun around so fast it's like it's been brought to an abrupt stop, and the three semicircular canals, which aren't actually moving, are being messed up.
The nausea, the confusion, and the urgency to help Weitz, not to stop and wait--,
"It was my first time......"
Subaru then danced back and saw Weitz muttering bloodily in his field of vision.
Weitz's left arm and right eye bleed profusely, and a second later he collapses.
"Anyone who says they believe me is......"
"AAAHHH--!!"
The irrevocable reality trampled Natsuki Subaru's soul into a crumpled heap.
△▼△▼△▼△
The footsteps of doom were creeping steadily and surely.
A massacre begins, and Subaru runs to stop it.
However, the shortening of the grace period, which began with a dozen seconds of backtracking and shaving off the restart point, kept the miracle away and wiped hope from Subaru's heart.
He snuck into Gustav's office and worked with Hiain to get to the bottom of the massacre.
Many times, the discussions with Todd and his team with Gustav were found before they got to the core of the matter, and after many failed attempts and errors, the next time - there was no turning back.
Because the restart point was backed up to the middle of hiding in the Oval Office with Hiain.
"----"
From that moment on, Subaru could hear the voice of doom laughing loudly in his mind.
It was Subaru who was covering him, listening to the sound of the frightened Hiain's heart beating, perhaps even more intensely than it was beating.
What if the massacre is not stopped and the restart point is behind it?
He was filled with a sense of despair, wondering what on earth Natsuki Subaru could do if the irreparable scene was made the starting point for a fresh start.
And then--,
"Bshh--"
When Gustav's head was blown off with the sound of a faint voice, Subaru knew.
He must never die again. If he dies and returns to the place after Gustav has been killed, it will be confirmed that his life can no longer be saved.
Once someone's "death" is confirmed, it is already the same as if Subaru had killed them.
The confirmation of an unsalvageable world was the murder committed by Natsuki Subaru, no matter whose hand it was that brought about the "death".
So he was desperate not to die.
Whether Gustav died, Old Man Null died, the gladiators died, the guards died, or anyone else died, he fought hard not to die.
If Subaru dies, they who were killed will really die.
Even though he knew it was an illogical idea, Subaru had no choice but to struggle with it.
If Subaru does not die, it leaves them with the possibility of not dying. Because then they really don't have to die, so--.
The illusion is that if they don't die forever, he won't let anyone else die.
The illusion proved to be nothing more than an illusion, as Subaru's life proved when he died so unceremoniously.
△▼△▼△▼△
How many times have he already "died"?
"What are you going to do when it disappears right in front of your eyes?"
"Schwa--"
The voice that was about to call his name breaks off in front of Subaru, who is limp and on his knees.
The axe, swung mercilessly, smashed Hiain's body to life, and he fell to the floor with a loud thud, his white eyes flashing.
The blood that was flowing was spreading to the floor and mixing with the blood of Idola's corpse, which had fallen earlier.
Idola, whose head was split open, was killed before Hiain.
Subaru failed to save him from Todd's first attack because he failed to save him from Todd's first attack. Idola is killed first, then Hiain, and finally Subaru is left again.
After Tanza had already been tossed by Todd and fell out of the hole in the wall.
The world was already falling backwards to the point where he could hear the screams of the falling Tanza.
Both Weitz, who was hit in the arm and face and swallowed by the collapsing passageway with the entire frog magical beast, and Tanza, who was thrown outside trying to protect Subaru, were "fixed" in a reality that they could not touch.
And then--,
"What's the real story?"
Todd, carrying an axe on his shoulder, asks Subaru, who is slumped on the spot, his knees stained with the blood of the two flowing men.
His numb brain tingles and tells Subaru the words that follow.
He's heard it so many times already, the question from Todd, which is--.
"Are you really the child of His Imperial Highness the Emperor?"
"......Don't prejudge what people say."
Todd muttered in an unpleasant tone of voice at Subaru's downcast words.
He doesn't know how he felt about being told off in private, but he didn't feel threatened enough to immediately become enraged and try to kill him.
He wasn't trying to create a sense of urgency, he was just speaking out of a seizure.
But if Todd's pace is disturbed, even slightly--,
"If you don't want to die, don't move."
Saying this, Subaru pulled out a black sphere from his own pocket - the curse tool that had been placed in Gustav's body, and held it out to show it to Todd.
The black ball, wiped clean of blood and with a texture and feel like a glass ball, was heavier than a golf ball.
He doesn't even know what the heck it's made of, and he doesn't care what it's made of.
The important thing to remember is that this is a very big, cruel force.
If this is the key needed to activate the "curse rule" and Todd wants it too, he can use it.
He said that it should be, and could be, a second possibility, to be heard.
"This, I think, is what you need for the curse rule. If you don't want to die......"
"--. You, that guy"
"--I'll do it! Now! I'm talking to you!! If you didn't want to die, you wouldn't have heard me?!"
Subaru barks, waving his hand with the curse tool, spit flying.
There was no room in his head, crammed with regret and despair, and no space left to examine Todd's every word. He was left with no room in his head to examine Todd's every word, only to let his rage boil over and boil over.
"Oh, dear. Alright, alright."
Seeing Subaru's anger, Todd let out a small exhale, put down his axe and raised his hands.
Subaru is astonished when he sees Todd easily following his instructions. Todd raised one eyebrow at Subaru's reaction.
"You're a funny guy. You told me to do this."
"Th-at's...... such a simple thing to do......"
Unable to talk back to Todd, Subaru's eyes went black and white and he felt intensely sorry for his stupidity.
It wasn't about the emperor's illegitimate son, he should have just used the curse tool as a shield from the start. He screwed it all up because he was scared and impatient and jumped to the easy option.
Gustav and Old Man Null, Weitz and Tanza, all because of Subaru.
All because Subaru didn't use his head properly to think about it, and he didn't think about it--.
"Do you know how to use that?"
"Huh......?"
Blaming and regretting his own stupidity, a voice interrupted Subaru's thoughts.
At Todd's question with both hands raised, Subaru lets out a gravelly voice and looks at the cures tool in his hand. If you ask him how to use it, he doesn't know how to use it. It doesn't have an easy-to-understand switch or a mechanism that tells you how to use it just by holding it.
"--I guess."
And just by the flicker of his gaze, Todd immediately saw through the threat.
"If you knew, you wouldn't have done it. You wouldn't have threatened me with this."
"Ah"
Immediately after, Todd kicked Subaru's hand away with his raised foot while his hands were still up.
The hand with the curse tool sticking out was kicked, and the black ball bounced straight up. Subaru unintentionally followed it with his eyes and did a foolish imitation again.
Looking up is the same as offering your neck to the other person.
"----"
The gaze chases after the leaping curse tool, which is abruptly interrupted.
Just before the interruption, he thought he heard a hard sound escape from the left side to the right, but he had no way or reason to confirm what it was.
And he has to admit.
--That he couldn't think of any way to stop Todd Fang.
△▼△▼△▼△
--The fool who was fooled into thinking he was a good guy and had everything taken away from him.
That is the assessment of those around him of Idola Misanga, a man who became a slave after losing his family's business and finding himself on the street.
A small farming village in the northwestern part of the empire, this was Idola's home, a land where the Misanga family had kept the family mill business going for generations.
The mill was started by Idola's grandfather, and his grandfather's grandfather, who was apparently a very accomplished man.
He was entrusted by his lord to manage the water mill built along the river in the village and the mill that used it, and he was in charge of all the milling of the grains from the village.
The payback was greater, the labor was less, and from the perspective of those who had to rely on the Misangas to mill the crops they produced, Idola was from a privileged class.
However, neither Idola himself nor his family lived up to their noses in the family business.
There is no doubt that they were well-off compared to their surroundings. At the same time, however, he has been a member of the village, acting on behalf of the villagers to pay taxes to the lord in times of crop failure, to negotiate directly with the lord, and to perform other roles that would normally be performed by the head of the village.
--To conduct business honestly and strive to earn widespread trust and confidence.
This was the family motto and philosophy of the Misanga family as millers.
Many of them pocket the grain gathered in the process of milling flour using water wheels. At the very least, the world looks hard at millers, and that is why humility is so important, both Idola and Idola's father have been strongly told by their own parents, who are in charge of the family business.
Because it is a role that can easily arouse suspicion, he always treats people with an open heart.
Never monopolize wealth, but share hardships and joys with those around you. This may not be the right way to live in the Vollachia Empire, where the strong are held in high esteem, but it has been respected as the right way to live in remote, cold villages where the iron and blood rule of the Imperial Capital does not reach.
Idola is one of those who have grown up benefiting from it from an early age.
So, even after the family business was handed over to him early on by his father, who was seriously ill, he tried to keep the tradition alive.
"It's a good, honest life. I envy you."
So envied Idola's lifestyle was a man who stopped by the village tavern.
He revealed that he was a mercenary who traveled to various battlefields wielding a large sword in his hand.
Idola, finding it unusual for a man from another place, shared a drink with him and heard many stories.
As far as Idola was concerned, she had never known the outside world, and what the man told her was full of surprises.
Unlike the peaceful, slow pace of life in rural villages, the world in which men live is dangerous and cruel, but at the same time filled with an unforgettable heat.
Even before that, Idola had a vague longing for it.
As a person born in the Vollachia empire, he wondered if he had any other choice than to take over the family business, a hope that he did not take so seriously.
The life of a warrior who values his own strength and faith, and never chooses a lowly way of being.
"Idola, you have a cousin of yours. Actually, I've been thinking about her......"
Idola became friends with a man who visited the village every few months and with whom she shared a drink each time.
And so, on the many nights they spent together, the man confided to Idola with a serious look on his face. His cousin at his age was still unmarried, and Idola even liked her.
So, without hesitation, Idola introduced him to his cousin, arranged for them to be firmly united, and celebrated the birth of their new family with drinks on the night of their marriage.
It was a month later that the man conspired with his cousin to take away the family business as a miller.
The man insisted that his cousin was also qualified to take on the family business of the Misangas, and further lied that Idola and her father had been fabricating the milling and falsified the results of their milling to the villagers.
Of course, Idola insisted that this was not the case, but the suspicion attached to the profession of miller itself was undeniable, and the village was split down the middle.
Before the settlement could be reached, his father, who was seriously ill, died of illness, and his mother, who had been suffering from heartache, followed in his footsteps.
"I'm running out of patience. I will defend my home at all costs......!"
Mourning his parents, Idola cursed himself for his detour, but decided to resist.
If the man and his cousin are planning to do something nefarious, Idola will rightly reclaim his rights. To this end, Idola asked a person from the village to be present in order to petition the man for a trial.
He believed that the trust that the Misangas had developed through honest business practices would do justice.
However--,
"--Why, what is it?"
No one showed up at the appointed place and, on the contrary, Idola's house was found ready for an armed uprising.
Pulled up and put on an unwanted trial before the lord, Idola desperately pleaded his innocence, but none of the villagers defended him.
The man and his cousin orchestrated the whole thing.
The villagers chose the man who lied but contributed profits over the honest Idola.
There was not a shred of hope of winning.
Deprived of his family business and reduced to slavery, Idola was sent to the island by a man-buyer.
Ginunhive is the worst island in the world, where people have nowhere to go and even their only remaining life is being toyed with.
In that place where the fight for life is made a spectacle, Idola felt his heart blackening and his soul rotting away, and he decided to follow his despair.
That's enough.
How can you still be motivated to work hard when you have worked so hard and not been rewarded?
What he believed was a lie. What he relied on was a mistake.
Everyone is looking to take advantage of everyone else, trying to save only themselves.
Then there is nothing wrong with doing so, even for him.
Yes, nothing was idola.
He was not chosen by anyone, and he deserved it.
No trained strength, no ability that would be particularly useful. Who chooses Idola.
Even Idola doesn't choose Hydra.
And yet, who in the world is Idola, Idola, who is just being stupid and honest--.
"--You wanted to be a warrior, Idola! Then now is the time! Now is the time!"
--He believes that even if he lives honestly, the day of reward will never come.
△▼△▼△▼△
"----"
Idola was stuck in a gung-ho, aching head sensation.
His tongue was numb and he couldn't breathe as if his throat was blocked. The sensation in his limbs was distant, as if his body had been torn apart, and he was terrified.
Fear, it is no longer inevitable to remember.
Considering what had happened just before, even the cold freezing sensation of the blood in his body when no one was on his side in his hometown was far from the horror of it.
Weitz is killed in front of him, and the brave Tanza is thrown down out of the aisle.
With that in his eyes, Idola just stiffened and could do nothing. It would be too ironic if that cowardice was the reason he was able to outlive Weitz and Tanza.
Would these few seconds or dozens of seconds be balanced by the humiliation that would burn through his chest?
He couldn't do anything about it, and he left two people who could have done something about it to die.
The despair and regret that this fact brings to Idola is even heavier than the past, when he preyed on his family's business through careless imitation.
"--Hah"
Thinking that much, Idola laughs at his lack of life experience.
He can't think of any experience of pain, let alone happiness, other than the fall of his life when the family business was taken from him. --He realizes that he was blessed and rich.
Such a way of being in Idola may have angered the man who took Idola's life.
If that were the case, though, what the man did would not be allowed.
"----"
Breathing raggedly and with blurry vision, Idola checks his surroundings.
What in the world is going on? He wonders if there is a connection between the aches and pains all over his body and this lack of meaning. In the first place, is it all true?
He thinks it's all a dream, that everyone on the Gladiator Island could be killed, that Schwarz is the illegitimate son of the Emperor, that Weitz and Tanza were both killed, and so on.
It was all a dream, and Idola still has the luxury of being bored with his privileged life--.
"That's a bold move."
Shuddering, cold voices were heard, and Idola stiffened, forgetting the pain in his body.
The blood in his entire body feels frozen beyond cold, and Idola slowly understands that the footsteps of the owner of the voice are approaching.
And then--,
"It's better than standing on a stick, but that's what happens when you jump without a plan."
The man's voice, which sounded like a dazed man, was not directed at Idola.
Idola bites back relief at the voice thrown a short distance away from him. Then, he looks at the direction the voice is headed, with dim eyes that should not be there.
There--,
"--ah, uh"
He saw a ragged, bloodied, dark-haired boy crawling away.
"----"
When he saw the crawling boy and that it was not the upper passageway he had seen earlier, he remembered what had happened in Idola's mind, before his consciousness turned white.
Weitz was killed, Tanza was thrown out, and just before Idola, who screamed incomprehensible things because she couldn't understand the thoughts of the man who had just committed a heinous act, was killed, Schwarz moved.
The ranting Schwarz, assembled around the waist of Idola and Hiain, who were standing on sticks, jumped into the hole in the wall opposite the one where Tanza was thrown down.
The hole in the wall made by the large bird that plunged in, Tanza fell on the back side of the island, and Schwarz jumped in with Idola and the others on the other side - still, the chances of survival were slim.
Scraped by walls, hated by protrusions, slammed to the ground from a height and left to die.
It was a reckless, but desperate escape, like dying nine times in ten attempts, but it was the only way to go.
It is a miracle that he was able to grab that one time that he could be saved. But the miracles stop there.
Neither the crawling Schwarz nor the fallen Idola can escape the man who is chasing them.
He can't see Hiain, either he didn't fall successfully to the scaffold on this hillside, or he is using mimicry to hide and lurk.
If they were hiding, they cannot expect them to have the courage of Hiain.
He is by no means a bad guy, but he is not brave. He is mean, cowardly, and easily out of sorts, and while he misses Schwarz, he is a man who expects nothing more from him.
Still, if there is any chance of not dying, just hide under your breath.
If the miracle that Schwarz has so desperately seized upon will keep Hiain alive, so be it.
That's how much Schwarz should be paid.
"----"
It occurred to him.
Now that the man has fallen from a great height and is in a state of disarray, and that man is paying attention to Schwarz, maybe Idola will think he's dead and let him off the hook.
He is a horrible man, but he would never go around crushing the heads of all the corpses.
Depending on Idola's condition, if he can make him think he's dead with his closing act, he may not die. As it is, to be saved, even if only by himself.
"----"
It was time, of choice.
What will Idola Misanga sacrifice and what will he gain in order to survive?
In this cruel world, where reason prevails and the strong and cunning get whatever they want, who the hell does Idola Misanga choose to become?
The man who foolishly and honestly believed that if he was honest, he would be trusted and credible, and he lost it all--.
"--Ready."
His back, raising an axe gripped in both hands, trying to swing it down on the crawling boy's head.
If he hides his breath, close his eyes, and keep his face down from everything.
--What in the world can be saved by that?
"N-noooooooo--!!"
He forced his whole body to move, pulled off the body that seemed to stick to the ground, and ran ineffectually, coughing up lots of blood.
He ran and jumped on the man's back. His left hand didn't work, so he wanted to just use his right hand, to build up on that body and bite it to death.
"I knew he was alive."
A moment later, as if mocking Idola's determination, the man dropped the axe he had raised over his back. With his hand still empty, he pulls out a knife, the man turns around, and with a flash, Idola's right hand is blown off at the elbow.
The waterwheel works for the flour mill, so the lanky, slender arms, unaware of the hard work involved, flew up.
But--,
"--Take him awaaaaay!!"
Burning heat crawled up from the cut arm, and Idola's vision turned bright red. But for that moment, Idola forgot the pain and screamed with all his might.
The man in front of him raises his eyebrows lightly at the sound of his blood-curdling voice.
He could not understand Idola's cries and actions and their purpose.
But--,
"Tsk"
A man turns around with his tongue out and throws a knife that slashes Idola's arm.
It was thrown at the writhing landscape behind the man, Schwarz crawling on the ground - no, it is no longer there, fleeing, carrying Schwarz.
It was Hiain.
Hiain, who had been hiding under his breath, ran away, carrying Schwarz with him. Seeing this, Idola gritted his teeth and jumped on the man's back.
His right arm is gone and his left arm is immobile, so he bites and clutches at his clothes.
"Buh"
He was struck in the chest by an elbow over his back and kicked down his lower body. However, the left arm that was struck by the impact of the fall began to move instead of being in severe pain. The dislocated shoulder went in.
And then there is a series of miracles where the axe that the man dropped was lying beside his left arm.
"You didn't think he got away?"
The man who gave up his knife and was robbed of his axe tilted his head as he looked at Idola.
The face of a man who doesn't think he is at all disadvantaged by the loss of his weapon. It's no wonder. The blood that Idola has spilled, and the blood that is flowing, is unstoppable.
It was a miracle to be alive, and too many miracles had already happened.
So Idola shook his head at the man's question.
"No. I thought I had escaped. But I also believed this."
"----"
"I just hope he doesn't try to run away."
He is just a man who is mean, cowardly, prone to getting carried away, and not a bad guy.
Idola just foolishly and honestly believed that such Hiain would not run away.
After all, people could not change easily.
He was soon caught in a lie, claiming that he was a warrior in order to deceive those around him and take advantage of them.
Honesty, widespread trust and confidence.
Even if they point and laugh at him for playing the good guy.
Idola Misanga is neither a warrior nor a con artist.
Idola shouted as he swung his axe with one left hand, bleeding.
"I am Idola Misanga! I am the son of a late miller!!"
"I don't know."
Now, with all the strength he had, Idola lunged at the white-faced man.
--He was glad that Schwarz didn't make him a liar that day.
△▼△▼△▼△
They are carried by frantically running bodies and taken from the dead.
They are shaken violently and without regard for their wounds or safety, but that's to be expected.
Even Subaru is a wreck, but his opponent's body is no better.
"Hi, a, Hia, in......"
Subaru clawed at his opponent's body as he was painfully gripped around the waist. He's not even sure where he scratched. The person he had scratched was already a mess in appearance.
It's not that they are all scratched up or anything, but the colors, the patterns, everything is just all messed up.
The state of mimicking the surrounding scenery from one side to the other, and no longer knowing what is the right answer. The body, running in such a state, suddenly loses its strength and falls forward.
"Gah!"
Of course, if the other party falls, Subaru will be involved.
Subaru was thrown in front of his fallen opponent and rolled on the cold floor made of stone. He couldn't even passively catch himself, so the impact was like a broken front tooth.
As it is, he raises his jittery, aching face and looks behind him as he lies there.
There--,
"Hii, hii......"
Literally, a groaning, insect-breathing Hiain was lying on the ground.
Hiain, slumped over, a large knife deeply stuck in the middle of his back. He doesn't know when he was stabbed.
Is it time to run away, or is it more forward, or if it was more forward, there is nothing he can do.
If Subaru dies, the soaring will be just before Idola's head is cracked open.
Maybe after it was already cracked. --No, he jumped out to avoid being broken, so maybe before, after, or in the air.
It was hard for all three of them to fall without all of them dying, no matter how hard they tried, and the first time they felt like they got it right, Todd came.
Idola's voice, Hiain's breathing, is distant.
Everything is out of reach, out of place, anymore.
"This, is, ridiculous......"
Hiain's weak voice reaches Subaru's ears as he falls and tries to crawl away.
The reason he sounds like he's talking while lifting his face out of the water is probably because his throat is full of blood. Maybe he needs some kind of procedure, like draining blood or something.
That's what he has to do. He doesn't have to be a doctor to do it.
"I heard once that life is like a...... flower, you pick, the beautiful ones, first......"
"Don't talk...... I'm coming, right now......"
"Then it's ridiculous, that a man, with filthy guts like me, should die first......ah"
Crawl. Crawl.
To pull up Hiain, who is drowning in his own blood on the ground.
And yet, he couldn't move his body forward at all.
"But......"
He couldn't make any progress, and he couldn't reach it.
"......me first, seriously?"
Slower than a turtle crawls. Too slow, too fast, crawling, with movements smaller than an ant.
He crawled and crawled, and when he finally got there, it was too late.
The color of Hiain had returned to its original gray.
With a knife in his back, one broken arm, and blood flowing from all over his body, Hiain could have died on the way to run here.
Maybe he was running while dying. It must have been.
Everyone Subaru can't help anymore is dead.
Subaru killed him.
It's like killing everyone because he couldn't save everyone.
"Gghee"
Is it blood, tears, or snot that stains his face?
He doesn't know which is which, what is what, who is who, or what the answer is anymore.
He doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, understand anything anymore.
"--Oh, could that be Bassu roaring in there?"
"----"
"Oh, I knew it, Bassu! Well, it's a strange coincidence to run into each other in such a situation, isn't it? It's quite a lively situation, but are you having a good time?"
A lighthearted voice called out to Subaru, who was stunned and felt like he had given everything away.
He can't turn around behind where the voice came from. He managed to raise himself up and look with his eyes at the person who had said these, stupid words to him, and with that, he had to say something - with all the strength in his body.
"You don't have to risk your life to turn around."
"--ah"
"Because, you know, this isn't the place to overreach."
Yes, he came around to the front himself - Cecilus looked into Subaru's face and said.
The "Blue Lighting" smiles carefree while the left half of his body is scorched black.