"Among the
Running side by side on their earth dragons, Julius said this to Subaru.
Subaru was clinging to Patrash with considerable effort, while Julius, long accustomed to riding, cut a dashing figure. Glancing over at Subaru's wretched state made him not want to ride alongside, but whether Julius understood Subaru's turmoil or not— "The names of the Archbishops of Sin are known, but in actual records of Witch Cult activity, only those two appear. 'Sloth' shows up more frequently, but 'Greed' is responsible for greater damage."
"Sounds like a real piece of work either way… Just how widespread is the info on them?"
"It's not all that detailed, you know."
Julius stroked his swaying bangs to one side, casting Subaru a sidelong glance as the latter reluctantly answered. He looked down at Subaru's stiff, bracing expression against the bouncing of the ride.
"Is it all right if I continue the story?"
"There's no reason to worry about me. Where I come from, we ride earth dragons all the time. Right, Patrash—hey, don't you shake me, you lizard!"
"Perhaps the issue is a lack of trust between you and your earth dragon. The earth dragon is your legs, but it is not your possession. Unless you entrust it with your trust and yield to the wind, harmonizing your breathing is—"
"Spare me the lecture. Forget that—tell me the rest of what you were saying earlier."
Subaru stuck out his tongue at the ever-superior Julius while making an effort to sync his breathing with Patrash, urging him to continue. At Subaru's sour attitude, Julius let out a deep sigh, then wagged a raised finger side to side.
"The Archbishop of Sin 'Sloth' participates in Witch Cult operations at an extremely high rate. Over half of all incidents attributed to the Witch Cult across various regions bear 'Sloth's' involvement."
"So he's just a glory hound."
"It's theorized that he has an extraordinary fixation on being the first to act. Despite calling himself 'Sloth,' he's quite the diligent worker, in a way. —Assuming where all that energy is directed weren't such heretical deeds, that is."
Subaru recalled the image of Petelgeuse laboring ceaselessly at his own diligence—and forcing that same effort onto others.
He had been the one designated to handle 'Sloth,' yet the man himself seemed to despise true 'Sloth' in the proper sense. Perhaps that rebellious streak was precisely what accounted for the abnormally high activity frequency of 'Sloth' within the Witch Cult.
"But if he pops up that often, how come there's still nothing solid on him? Couldn't the Knights corner him or something?"
"The Witch Cult's activities are, in principle, impossible to even sense in advance. It's only after arriving at the scene of destruction that you learn it was the Witch Cult's doing. That's the kind of group we're dealing with. Even managing to survive an encounter is no simple feat."
"But this time, it won't come to that."
Subaru's question drew a frustrated look from Julius. But the one who firmly denied the handsome knight's answer was another rider flanking Subaru from the opposite side—Wilhelm.
The old swordsman kept a quiet fighting spirit in his eyes, sliding the scabbard of the treasure sword at his hip.
"If we can suppress their initial thrust, then this becomes a proper contest of strength. With myself, the rest of the squad, Lord Ricard, and Julius—we should not fall short."
"Right. I think so too."
Analyzing the balance of forces between both sides calmly, Subaru gave Wilhelm an affirmative answer.
If comparing pure combat power, the Witch Cult under Petelgeuse's command should be unable to match them, who had the advantage in numbers. Furthermore, Petelgeuse's own combat ability was not particularly high.
If you could close the distance, even an amateur like Subaru could dodge his attacks. And if the one who closed the distance was Wilhelm, a decapitation in an instant would be entirely possible.
—The biggest obstacle in taking him down was, as always, those "Unseen Hands."
Whether they could slip past those dark mist-like palms stretching endlessly in all directions and close in on him—that was what would make or break the fight. And Subaru was the only one who could counter those "Unseen Hands."
"This plan hinges on that. I'm counting on you, Wilhelm."
"As you command."
Wilhelm drew his chin in solemnly and responded briefly. Nothing but reliability emanated from him.
Standing beside Subaru—who felt an almost irresistible impulse to place his entire trust in the old swordsman—Julius nodded several times.
"That is correct. If we can reach the stage of crossing swords in reality, I have no intention of losing. Up until now, I've let those opportunities slip and regretted it every time… but this time, it won't be like that."
A quiet fire burned in Julius's eyes.
He, too, as a member of the Knights of the Royal Guard, harbored an unsettled feeling toward the Witch Cult, which had been evading capture time and again.
On that point, Subaru completely agreed.
"Incidentally, the Sloth talk got pretty heated, but what about the other famous one—'Greed'?"
"Unlike Sloth, there aren't many reported incidents involving Greed. However, the damage caused by the events where that name did appear was enormous."
"Enormous damage…?"
At Subaru's puzzled words, Julius turned his serious profile into the wind, closing his eyes in thought.
"South of the kingdom lies the
"Took it!? A city!? By himself!?"
"An army should always be elite and strong—when that spirit pervades the land, even a single soldier there becomes a fiend. To breach a fortress city guarded by such soldiers, 'Greed' went in alone. He even defeated the Vollachian hero, '
As Subaru's mouth hung open in shock, Wilhelm pressed on. He spoke the name of the hero supposedly felled by Greed, and his white brows furrowed as a nostalgic emotion surfaced in his eyes.
Noticing that look, Subaru fell silent. The old swordsman glanced at his reaction, gave a small shake of his head.
"I crossed swords with Kurgan on several occasions. —He was a fine fighter. I severed six of his eight arms, but in return, he skewered me through the gut. We both ended up on death's door, a draw with no resolution."
"And just like that, an utterly devastating old war story drops—!"
The episodes from the Sword Devil's active days were, honestly, so light-novel-esque that Subaru's composure was shaken. He wanted to dig deeper into that, but he wasn't so thoughtless as to press the man who was recounting how that great rival had been killed.
Still, the tale of 'Greed' was a genuinely heavy subject for Subaru as well.
"Sloth and Greed. Plus four more… no, three if we exclude Gluttony. This is going to be rough."
"…So you're already looking further ahead."
"I'd rather not, but I get the feeling the odds are pretty high."
With the confrontation with the Witch Cult looming before him, Subaru gazed into the distance. The decisive battle with 'Sloth' Petelgeuse was an unavoidable situation, including the fact that the other side would come provoking them. And settling things with Petelgeuse meant a definitive clash with the Witch Cult.
"Inevitably, the time will come when I'll run into the next Archbishop of Sin or whatever. …It's the kind of infuriating grudge-match development where, once you take one down, they send another with backup—straight out of delinquent manga."
In reality, colliding and reaching a conclusion wasn't the end of it. If one side wasn't driven to annihilation, it wouldn't stop. As long as Subaru continued wanting to face forward while at
"Even just hearing about Greed is making my heart go pop-pop. Help me."
"It's talk about something that hasn't even happened yet. It's hard to see why you'd be that dejected. —Subaru, you should focus on what's right in front of you."
"I know that. Sloth is right ahead, and I'm just a tiny bit nervous, that's all."
At Julius's admonishing words, Subaru set his jaw and tightened his focus.
Just before that, he thought he heard Julius murmur something like "Sloth…?" but he brushed it aside as nothing important.
Night was beginning to pale, and from beyond the dark sky, the first rays of sunlight were starting to rise.
They had already entered the Meikers territory. The combined anti-Witch Cult force—merging the subjugation squad and the beastman mercenaries—rode their beasts forward with high spirits.
Ahead on their path was not their destination—the mansion of Lord Roswaal.
Subaru had indeed considered a plan to head straight for Roswaal's estate and escort the villagers and Emilia's party out with everyone.
In terms of protecting them through to the end, the risk calculation would arguably be lower that way. However.
"Only I know it's definitely coming, and the moment we move in to escort them, that timing shifts. Once that happens, I won't know the future anymore."
If an armed group entered the mansion, even Petelgeuse might revise his approach. The fanatic might swallow even that and push through regardless—but even that would already diverge from the future Subaru knew.
Having slain the
The continued fear of an adversary would drain morale, and the burden imposed on Emilia and the villagers by being constantly guarded would grow as well. It could no longer be called certain.
"Then there's only one way to work within the future I know—hit them with a preemptive strike and take them out in one go!"
Being paralyzed with fear over an enemy of unknown arrival was not the approach Subaru, who had seen the future, should take. He needed to find the path that maximized the chance he'd gained through Return by Death—a chance that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
Then the method, and its odds— * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Feeling fallen leaves underfoot, Subaru walked forward at a slow pace.
Treading over uneven ground, Subaru was pushing through a dim forest.
The sun had already climbed high, its rays piercing through the gaps between the trees. The wind that blew through was damp, and the chill of the sweat beading on his forehead made itself felt with an acuity that startled even Subaru, who was already aware of his quickening heartbeat.
—Right now, Subaru was alone.
Walking isolated through the cold, wind-swept forest, he hadn't even brought Patrash, who had galloped alongside him on the highway. His hands were empty, and his posture—shoulders bobbing with each lazy step—cut an unreliable figure.
"I left Patrash behind. Didn't seem like he could keep up in this fight."
He let out a small laugh, slightly out of breath as he spoke.
He'd been walking alone like this for quite some distance now. Slipping between narrow trees, stepping on fallen branches that cracked underfoot, carefully descending slippery slopes without tumbling. The pathless trail could hardly even be called a game trail, and it simply and purely obstructed Subaru's progress.
This would be his third time walking through this forest.
The first and second times, he'd been carrying someone in his arms—which meant he should have been far more unencumbered now. Yet why did his steps feel heavier now than back then? Was it because of his feelings toward where those steps were heading? Or because whoever had been in his arms had been the kind of person who made Subaru forget his fatigue?
"Both, probably… but nothing to brag about."
The first and second times, he hadn't been able to protect the person in his arms. That was the result.
And if the third time—now—was going smoothly with nothing in hand, then he absolutely had to prevent any further repetition. That was precisely why this moment mattered.
"—!"
Stepping around a poisonous-looking mushroom, using a nearby tree trunk to push off in a small leap—he landed and immediately felt the air change through his skin.
It was different from the taut, skin-prickling tension he'd felt before the battle with the White Whale. The current air wasn't taut so much as clinging—a heavy darkness that dragged at him, forcing Subaru to become acutely aware of the sweat covering his entire body.
"It's here. …That feeling, like spotting a cockroach in the corner of a quiet room."
Staring silently at the black, motionless object X. In the endless, possibly interminable lonely struggle that followed, people experienced an eternity—as if time itself had been stretched thin.
A similarly unpleasant sensation was crawling across his entire body.
A glance right and left showed the same forest scenery—yet he noticed a strange sense of familiarity, as if he'd seen this place before.
No—he had truly stumbled upon a landscape he knew.
"Having walked pathless trails like this and ended up in the right spot every time, my sense of direction—or maybe instinct—must be so honed it's almost laughable."
Or perhaps he should say his nose had become sharp enough to smell them.
Hunting hounds trained specifically for the Witch Cult—he supposed calling them that had a certain flair, but it was the kind of role he'd rather decline. Just for this once, he wanted to pass.
"—Welcome. Thanks for coming out to greet me."
Straining his eyes into the gloom ahead, Subaru offered those words.
There was no genuine warmth in them, of course—but he knew full well that the people they addressed lacked the humanity to care about such things. It made him wonder, now that he thought about it: what exactly were they?
Like willless marionettes, they continued writhing without words or assertions—where did their true intentions lie?
"You probably wouldn't answer even if I asked,
"—"
In an instant, Subaru was surrounded by men in black garb that merged with the darkness.
The sounds of wind, the chirping of insects—all had vanished from the world, and the ground beneath them had been prepped immaculately for their appearance. So there was virtually no surprise at the encounter. Only relief—out of place as it was—that they'd shown their faces right on cue.
"You can take the details to your boss, but for now—scram."
"—"
"Not sure about the specifics, but I outrank you in the hierarchy, right? Do me a favor."
He raised a hand, gesturing for them to leave.
The black-clad men bowed their heads in a show of respect toward Subaru, and in that posture, they melted back into the darkness as fluidly as they'd arrived. This, too, was the expected reaction.
It was somewhat complicated, but these people harbored no hostility toward Subaru. As long as he didn't show ill intent—or unless Petelgeuse gave orders—there was no need to worry about them attacking on their own.
"If only they'd obey an order to disappear to some other country and never show their faces again—that'd make things easy."
He let out a breath, shoulders slumping. As if things would work out that conveniently.
The truth was, without someone in a command structure like Petelgeuse, the chance of getting obedience on such an order wasn't zero, which spoke to the unfathomable nature of these faceless people. But in the current hierarchy, Subaru's standing was below Petelgeuse's. The man remained an eyesore.
Still, the fact that the group withdrew obediently could be called good news. The setup was excellent—though depending on how things went, the groundwork could have collapsed and a battle could have broken out right here. Even the encounter just now, despite the calm front, had been on a razor's edge.
To think he'd grown bold enough to step into a situation like that—even if he assessed himself as being closer to reckless than resolved, the change from the coward he used to be was almost comical.
"Well, not a bad trend. Bear with me a little longer, my liver."
After confirming the black-clad figures had vanished, Subaru stepped onto the earth once more.
Moving through a world dominated only by his own breathing and footsteps, he almost felt as if time had stopped and he was walking endlessly through an endless darkness in solitude. But that moment of introspection was quickly cut short as the trees parted to reveal a sheer cliff face.
A high, sheer rock wall spread across the front, the forest cut away as if by a giant claw. Boulders blocked the ground at the cliff's base, and for reasons unknown, touching one would guide the hidden cave's entrance into this body through its cold, dark walls.
But before he could touch the rock, the shadow that greeted Subaru turned to face him first.
"—I have been waiting for you, DESU. Beloved apostle."
A man stood with arms spread wide, his face beaming with elation.
Sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. Deep green hair with an unhealthy sheen, and beneath the black cassock, limbs thin and frail as dead branches. He appeared perhaps mid-thirties, but the overall impression of frailty was such that being told he was in his fifties would hardly raise an eyebrow.
Only those glaring, gleaming eyes remained unchanged—they burned with a fanatical light as they poured over Subaru like he was being devoured.
"I am of the Witch Cult, Archbishop of Sin bearing the name 'Sloth'—
Drool dripped from the tip of his extended tongue as the madman—Petelgeuse—greeted Subaru with a cackling laugh.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Standing before his nemesis Petelgeuse, Subaru became acutely aware of the fact that he was remarkably calm.
Perhaps in his short life, there had never been anyone he hated more than this man.
He had thought of nothing but killing this man—until his vision burned crimson and his thoughts were scorched by murderous intent.
The worst calamity who mercilessly slaughtered those precious to him, those he held dear.
He had once been consumed with fury, vowing to snap this man's neck with his own hands. Yet now, confronted with that ghastly visage of dead branches, all Subaru felt was a measure of relief.
—The same kind he'd felt upon safely making contact with the Witch Cultists not long ago.
"Welcome—Welcome, MAGO, beloved child favored by the Witch! Splendid. Splendid. Splennnnndid! How deep is the love adorning your person! How lofty is the love swaddling your form! How ardent is the love embracing your being! In this very place! A new, beloved—ah, ah, an an an an—apostle favored by the Witch reveals themselves! How truly, impossibly magnificent!"
While Subaru was grappling with this feeling, Petelgeuse's gears had already hit top speed. Shaking his head wildly, clawing at the backs of his bony hands, drawing blood from his self-inflicted wounds, the Archbishop of Sin was unable to contain his ecstatic rapture.
The first time, Subaru had been gripped by terror. The second time, by hostility. This third time, he had finally arrived at the appropriate emotion: revulsion. The only feeling Subaru held toward Petelgeuse's way of existing was the primal loathing one felt toward the incomprehensible.
Suppressing the involuntary twitch threatening to crease his face, Subaru took a deep breath before Petelgeuse. Steeling himself, he gave a small wave.
"Thanks for the warm welcome. Though I gotta say, it doesn't feel all that real to me."
"It is no DESUprise! My own beginning was sudden, DESU. Everyone, at some point in life, becomes aware that they are being 'loved.' And once you become aware of it, you can never let go of that love. —For love is everything, DESU!"
Petelgeuse seized on the conversational thread Subaru had dangled, riding it with glee. He spread his trembling, blood-dripping hands wide, heedless of the lives he trampled so casually, and proclaimed love—his twisted, grotesque version of love.
"Love! Toward the love bestowed upon us! I—we—must answer with diligence! Thus, trials! We must give trials. We must hurl trials! In this world, in this era, in these days, in this moment, in this instant, in this heartbeat—for the meaning behind my receiving the Witch's favor, with love, with love, with love, with love, with love, love love love lo—lo—love!!!"
"So sloth won't do. To be true to love, you've got to be diligent."
"That—is—RIGHT—DESU!!"
At Subaru's show of understanding the statement, Petelgeuse's face broke into its most delighted expression yet, chin tilting upward.
He didn't want to agree with or understand a madman's views, but Subaru continued to suppress the welling revulsion and face him—buying time and even a sliver of whatever he could get.
"Uh, so, I'm here to join up with you guys… Is that how this works? Are there, like, procedures? Paperwork I gotta stamp? I don't have a personal seal—will a thumbprint do?"
"To join under my umbrella right now… the favor bestowed upon you seems almost too richly saturated, DESU… Even I have not been given such a heady fragrance of the Witch. If it were 'Lust' or 'Wrath,' I would surely envy it… Could it be—are you perhaps 'Pride,' DESU!?"
"Pride…?"
"Of the six seats of the Archbishops of Sin, 'Pride' alone remains vacant, DESU! Until one worthy appears, the sins shall not be complete… but the Witch Factor should already have descended to the next Pride, DESU.—Tell me, have you received the 'Gospel,' DESU?"
Petelgeuse closed the distance by a step, tilting his head ninety degrees to press the question.
The destination of that question left Subaru with nothing to offer but bewilderment. To the question of whether he was Pride, Subaru had no answer. Nor could he comprehend whatever this "Gospel" was supposed to be.
Unable to give a good response yet forbidden from letting silence fill the gap, Subaru clammed up—and Petelgeuse knit his brows in suspicion.
"—My brain… is trembling…"
In a small, rasping voice, Petelgeuse murmured those words.
But that feeble voice held no tremor—all the ecstatic rapture from moments before had vanished entirely, leaving only an emptiness so absolute it made listeners uneasy and afraid.
Just facing him sent anxiety clawing through Subaru's chest, and he realized his breathing had quickened without his notice.
His heart hammered high, creaking against his breastbone with enough force to cause pain.
His calves began to shake in small tremors, and without conscious effort to remain standing, he might have grown unsteady under the oppressive gale of intimidation. And in the midst of it all, Petelgeuse tilted his head the opposite direction, raised his right hand, and shoved his fingers into his mouth—biting down.
"The Gospel—show me proof of your favor—"
His left hand slipped inside the black cassock, and what it produced was a book bound in pure black.
Opening it deftly with one hand—a volume roughly the size of a dictionary from his original world—Petelgeuse's bloodshot eyes raced across the pages. And then: "My Gospel contains no mention of you. So tell me—why have you appeared here, come to visit, and what meaning do you bring to me, DESU?"
"If the title of that book is 'Gospel,' then—yeah, about that. A lot of things happened, and I don't actually have it on me right now."
"A lot of things, DESU?"
"Yeah. —It got dirty when I used it as a trivet, so I threw it out."
—This was the dividing line.
The instant Petelgeuse heard Subaru's flippant answer, his expression twisted into something savage.
Immediately after, the madman's shadow erupted outward like an explosion, and from it countless black hands shot skyward. Each palm carried the strength to tear a human body apart with ease—the embodiment of a nightmare.
They soared high, then reared up like serpents, fixing their gaze on Subaru before hurtling toward him in a sudden burst of speed to ensnare him— —Right before that.
"Follow—ME!!"
From his pocket, Subaru drew a magic stone and hurled it skyward.
Though stained red—the color of aggression—it was aimed not at Petelgeuse but at the sky. It flew high, and the stone cast into the dawn sky burst, releasing light.
Simultaneously, Subaru threw himself into a full-force backstep, putting distance between himself and Petelgeuse, trying to escape the range of the black hands reaching for his limbs.
"Too slow, DESU! Too slow, too slow, too slow—slooow slooow slooow—DESU!!"
Stepping forward, Petelgeuse extended his 'Unseen Hands' at the fleeing Subaru.
Seven demonic hands spiraled in from every direction, bearing down on the traitor who defied the Witch's favor, intent on delivering divine punishment.
But— "Wah—!"
"Hehh—!!"
Overlapping howls split the air, shaking the atmosphere and unleashing massive destruction upon the earth.
The rocky ground peeled upward, clods of earth sprayed into the wind, fissures spread across the surface like a spider's web, and claw marks were gouged into the cliff face.
"What—!?"
As Petelgeuse spun around, the combined attack of a pair of beastman siblings detonated the boulders piled high at the cliff's base. In other words, it buried the entrance to one of the Witch Cult's meeting spots hidden behind the rock.
"Eat dirt, you freaks. —Apologize for what you've done, and suffer."
Raising his middle finger and baring his teeth, Subaru snarled the declaration with feral intensity.
Before Petelgeuse's trembling eyes, the cliff wall could not withstand the damage propagating through its cracks, and the majority of it crumbled pitifully, crushing the Witch Cultists hidden beneath in one devastating blow.
Dust billowed, the shockwave reached Subaru's feet as a ground tremor—and isolated in the open, Petelgeuse threw his mouth wide, tears streaming down his face.
"What… what have you done…!!"
He raised both hands, clawing at his own head, yanking out tufts of hair. Blood seeped from his scalp with each violent motion, yet his passions still hadn't spent themselves, and he stamped the ground in fury.
"To treat my fingertips… so ruthlessly, so mercilessly, so without order, without intention, without design, without meaning—to slay them, kill them, annihilate them—ah, ah, ah! My brain! My bra—bra—brain… is trembling, trembling, trembling, trembling, trembling, trembling…"
"Eeeek, that old guy's seriously creepy…"
"All Witch Cultists are like that, sister. Doesn't matter who it is."
Glancing at Petelgeuse, who bemoaned his loss like a child, the beastman siblings Mimi and Mimi whispered uneasily.
The two—Mimi and Tivey—had been moving behind Subaru with their presence suppressed, and at the signal of the magic stone's flash, they'd burst out and sealed off the Witch Cult's reinforcement route exactly as planned.
Petelgeuse slowly fixed his gaze on the pair who'd just accomplished a feat worth its weight in gold.
Whatever he saw in the expression Subaru couldn't see from behind—for the first time ever, Mimi, who had never once shown a negative emotion, made a small sound.
"H-hey…"
She shrank back, shoulders trembling, eyes wide.
Beside her, her brother Tivey—while bearing a strong resemblance to his sister but with a more intellectual bearing—mixed loathing and terror in his eyes, body rigid, voice struck dumb.
And then— "—Even 'Sloth,'"
Petelgeuse's lips barely formed the words when black mist exploded across the world.
Its speed and force were such that it seemed to engulf his entire field of vision—unprepared for any countermeasure, Subaru felt his throat freeze as the pitch-black tide surged toward him like a crushing wave.
Could it be—he'd had this trump card besides the Unseen Hands— "Huh?"
A befuddled sound escaped his throat as Subaru glanced at his raised palm and cocked his head.
The black mist should have engulfed his entire body—surely it had swept across him—but he felt absolutely nothing.
"What… the—"
He checked his limbs, confirming no effect, and blinked in confusion. But while Subaru stood unharmed— "—Ugh…"
Two beastmen crumpled to the ground, groaning in agony.
Mimi and Tivey's faces were contorted, sweat pouring down as they gasped for air, mouths opening and closing with desperate effort.
This was Petelgeuse's doing—just moments ago.
And as the two lay immobilized, Petelgeuse's shadow, which had risen back up, began writhing again. The black hands angled their fingertips toward the pair— "—Hey, you piece of—! Don't you ignore me! I'm your opponent!"
"…Aah, right. That's true, DESU."
Subaru slammed his foot down, spitting as he roared. Hearing that, Petelgeuse turned back as if chastising himself for the knee-jerk reaction, fixing Subaru with those hollow, empty eyes. The void of his gaze reflected a blurry image of Subaru.
"As expected, it has no effect on you, DESU."
"Huh?"
Unlike Mimi and the others, Petelgeuse's pronouncement had no impact on Subaru.
Looking at such a Subaru, Petelgeuse shifted gears—his passionate fury giving way to a composed expression as he stared him down.
"Good. Good, DESU.—Very well, DESU! DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESUUUUUU!!"
He ducked his head forward, then arched his back like a spring, screamed at the top of his lungs, and burst into cackling laughter. After a good laugh, Petelgeuse pointed at Subaru with an energy they hadn't seen before, blood dripping from his crushed fingertips.
"Very good. I understand now, DESU! Let's do this—let us compete! You and I—let us see which of us is more worthy of the Witch's favor, of love, of the Witch's passion! Oh, love, love, love, looooove!!"
"…Hate to kill the mood, but—"
Tapping the ground with his toe, Subaru looked at Petelgeuse, who was hyping up their contest.
The Archbishop narrowed his eyes quizzically at Subaru's attitude—which was far from combative.
"What is it, DESU?! Now—at this very moment—I am prepared to stake my life and take on this trial—"
"Your opponent's been assigned to someone else."
Subaru pointed a finger at Petelgeuse, who was still gearing up, and delivered the line with cold precision.
The moment Petelgeuse's eyes flew wide open, about to fire back a question— "Yaaaaahh—!!"
A blade threaded through the gap between trees and descended in a diagonal slash—entering through Petelgeuse's right shoulder and exiting from his left flank. The old swordsman's cut had cleaved the madman's body clean in two.