In a space where even the ground beneath his feet had become uncertain, Subaru looked straight into the yawning void that would mean certain death should he fall — yet he devoted not a single shred of his awareness to it.
What now dominated Subaru's consciousness was the girl who existed right before him — the
Her overwhelming presence, her intimidation, the fundamental difference in caliber between a being that transcended mortality and a speck like Subaru.
All of it seized his eyes, his heart, his soul, and toyed with them as though grasped by invisible fingertips.
When confronted with true, inescapable terror, this was how thoroughly a person's emotions could be sealed away.
He couldn't breathe. He couldn't feel the beating of his heart. Cold sweat wouldn't even surface, and he couldn't so much as blink without her permission. Absolute isolation existed right there.
"My, my — I suppose I've frightened you too much. Even going back, I've always had this problem. Once I get carried away, my mouth runs away with me. It's a troublesome thing, this nature of a Witch."
All at once,
No — the oppressive force she had been consciously ignoring until just moments ago had, the instant he acknowledged it, planted itself beside his awareness and refused to leave.
The amiable exchange was nowhere to be found. Subaru could no longer see the girl before him as simply a girl. Only as what she truly was — a "Witch."
"Even in life, this happened frequently. It was like that when royalty from various nations came seeking my counsel, among other times... Can you no longer look at my form without being on guard?"
With a helpless shake of her head, Echidna looked at Subaru with those black eyes. Subaru's composure fractured at the sight of his own expressionless face reflected in those dark irises, and she smiled at precisely that moment.
"Then perhaps this next turn of events will be more to your liking?"
"—!?!"
The change came abruptly.
It was the moment Echidna murmured that smile, and Subaru's brow furrowed in incomprehension. Her smile melted into darkness, and right after the breathless Subaru blinked — "What're you looking at, hm~?"
"...Huh?"
"Don't stare so hard, okay~?"
Saying this, the girl stamped her feet and puffed out her cheeks at Subaru.
She had thick green hair cut to her shoulders and cheeks red as apples. Her brown skin looked lovely paired with a white dress-like outfit, radiating the innocent charm of a young girl without reservation. A blue flower-shaped hairpin adorned her hair as a distinguishing feature.
By every measure, she was a harmless, innocent girl — and right now, she was sitting in the very spot where Echidna had been, staring intently at Subaru.
"Ah, eh, oh? W-wait. E-Echidna... where did she go?"
"Donna? Donna went somewhere or other — but what are you supposed to be?"
"M-me? My name is
"Oh~. Then I'll call you Baru~."
While directed at him was something far too cute to call hostility, and while he still couldn't follow the situation, Subaru gave his introduction honestly. The girl accepted it with a cheerful grin that, despite everything, actually warmed his chest.
The situation was complete chaos, but the pressure had lifted the moment Echidna disappeared. Thinking calmly, perhaps this girl, like Subaru, had been dragged here from somewhere else against her will.
Maybe he could cooperate with this child to escape from here — though he had no idea how much help she could actually provide — and as he raised his face to suggest it — "Okay, anyway, first things first — let's hatch an escape plan while the cat's away. The footing doesn't leave much room to think, but first, little lady, your name is —"
"Hey, Baru, are you a sinne~r?"
"I was about to ask you that... What?"
As he reached out his hand, preparing to flash his teeth in a friendly grin, Subaru's brow creased.
Before him, the girl dangled her legs that didn't reach the ground, rocked her chair back and forth with a clattering sound, and with childish impatience, pursed her lips — "I'm asking whether you're a sinner or not~. Well, which is it~?"
"All humans are born as sinful creatures who must sacrifice something in order to live. Perhaps that makes us all sinners from the moment we enter this world. But even so, people keep living — because they know that you can only build something of value atop sacrifice... or something like that. I'm pretty sure having a philosophical debate with a little girl is pointless, but is that what you mean?"
"Hmm~, I don't really get it when you explain it~. Oh well~, I'll just check for myself~."
Subaru tilted his head; the girl tilted hers even further.
She said this, then gripped firmly in her hand the palm Subaru had extended. Her small hand fit perfectly inside his, and the unique softness of a young girl's touch reached him through his skin. A renewed determination struck him — he absolutely had to get this girl out of here safely.
"Hanging around with Petra and the others made me realize I'm actually pretty good with kids. I used to think they were nothing but annoying and couldn't stand them..."
"— SINNERS ARE BORN HAVING SACRIFICED SOMETHING, AND IT IS ONLY UPON THAT SACRIFICE THAT WORTH IS BUILT."
"Hm?"
Suddenly, the girl muttered something in a rapid, quiet voice.
Unable to make it out, Subaru raised one eyebrow and looked toward the girl — and felt a light impact. With a sensation like something gently pulled from his arm came a strange sense of relief, as though a heavy burden had been lifted.
Wondering what had happened, Subaru tried to look around and turned his head.
As always, the world had not changed at all. The only space permitted to Subaru and the girl was enough to sit facing each other, and he still could not feel sound or wind.
And there before him, standing rather than sitting, was the girl swinging her legs in her chair. In one of her hands she held a man's arm, torn away from a shoulder — "—!?"
"It doesn't hurt, which means you're not a sinner — that's good for you~"
Realizing what had happened, Subaru looked at his right arm — or rather, the right half of his body that should have existed — and noticed the arm had been severed at an unnaturally angled cross-section at his shoulder.
There was no pain, no bleeding — more than that, there was no sensation at all. The cross-section revealed pink flesh containing bone and blood vessels, reminiscent of edible meat displayed at a butcher's counter.
Except for the impossible reality that this was happening at his own right shoulder.
"Ah, aaaaahhh!! M-my arm... my arm is — ?!"
"It doesn't hurt, so calm down with the screaming~. If you thrash around too much, it'll fall off and you won't be able to put it back~."
"You — you — YOU!? You just ripped my arm off, and what the hell are you saying!? G-give it back! Give it back!"
Screaming as he touched the severed end of his right arm, Subaru lunged at the snickering girl with a demonic expression. He had to get his right arm back from her grip and reattach it immediately.
Pressing the severed arm against the shoulder wouldn't actually reconnect it, but that was beyond what Subaru's mind could process right then.
But — "— IT IS ONLY WHEN ONE BECOMES A SINNER THAT ONE UNDERSTANDS THE PAIN OF OTHERS."
The instant the girl murmured something else, Subaru's posture crumbled violently. No — more precisely, the foot he had planted on the ground shattered from the knee down like glasswork.
Having lost his right arm and both legs from the knee down, Subaru's body pitched forward on its momentum. The one who caught him was the girl, still seated in her chair.
She gently received the falling Subaru, and with slow strokes like a mother soothing her beloved child, she stroked the trembling boy — "You're not a sinner, but you think of yourself as one. You're a kind kid, you are~. How pitiful~. It must hurt~."
"What... what are you... what... what are you...?"
From his right arm and from his shattered legs, there was no pain. No bleeding either.
He couldn't understand. His existence couldn't accept it. The girl before him — the being he had thought just moments ago was someone to be protected — was now so close yet impossibly distant.
The girl tilted her head in response to Subaru's question — "
"Guh...!?"
This shocking declaration brought Subaru's thoughts to a halt once more.
Rage, fear — all awareness of those had been completely blown away.
Just moments ago, Subaru had been interacting with Echidna, the "Witch of Greed." So why was he suddenly coming into contact with the "Witch of Pride" next?
The Witches who were supposed to have perished, who were already dead, were appearing one after another — "— Whew. Is it my turn next? Good grief, I just can't be bothered."
A languid voice drifted down from above, and Subaru could do nothing but groan in his throat from sheer shock.
Once again, Subaru could only blink. During that time, the world's colors had not changed. His state — minus an arm and both legs — remained the same. And yet — "Good grief, so heavy. Even with my limbs missing I should be a little lighter, but this is what I get. Whew — this is why men are... though honestly, men and women are both just useless clumps of existence, so I suppose you're the better half."
The person Subaru was leaning against had changed — from the girl who called herself Typhon to a different woman entirely.
This woman had unnaturally long reddish-purple hair and gave off an impression of profound lethargy. Her skin and lips were pathologically pale. Her downcast eyes were narrowed more from a lack of will to live than from sleepiness, and even her breathing seemed to require too much effort, spreading a depressive atmosphere around her.
She wore a loose black robe, but it was dotted with stains and frayed threads, giving the strong impression of a garment worn without a single care.
Looking down at the voiceless Subaru, she let out another weary sigh — "Good grief, you really are remarkably unlucky. Being jerked around by Echidna, then running into Typhon, then me... meeting three Witches in succession — honestly, you'd have to be a damn fool or some kind of battle maniac for this to be normal."
"You too, a Witch...? That girl, Echidna..."
"Good grief, I'm
"Give me a break. I'm going to lose my mind if I don't talk to someone. I'll start losing sight of my own reality if I'm left alone. Please — just tell me what's going on."
Using his left hand — the only one still functional — Subaru grabbed onto his robe to keep from falling, and tilted his head up to look at Sekhmet. At that gaze, she let out a sigh that made no effort to hide her annoyance, then with eyes still half-lidded — "Your right arm from the shoulder, good grief, both legs from the knee down — gone. The method of dismemberment matches Typhon's. That girl can't understand other people's pain. Good grief — innocent, merciless, and forever a child. Pitiably so. Good grief."
"My arm and legs... will they come back?"
"Good grief, I couldn't care less... Ah, actually, this is perfect. Good grief. I was looking for a way out of this anyway, so I'll leave the rest to her and go to sleep. Good grief, even breathing is such a hassle. If you could fill your lungs with a lifetime's worth of air in one breath, you'd never need to breathe again, wouldn't you? Good grief."
"If you did that, your lungs would burst and you'd die. Never mind that — what about my situation —"
Without breaking her languid posture, Sekhmet attempted to bewilder Subaru with a completely outlandish statement. Subaru was about to plead with her to take this seriously when — "— Did you just say you were going to die in front of me?"
He heard a voice like a blade.
Before him — Subaru could only stiffen, unable to produce any response other than rigidity to what must have been the hundredth shock by now.
Once again, the person before him had changed. The enormous-haired Witch from moments ago had vanished, and in her place what entered Subaru's eyes was — "...Chest?"
"—! H-hey! Where are you looking?! Where?!"
Trying to look up at the face of the person holding him from her soft lap, Subaru's vision was instead blocked by an enormous chest that rose between him and her face, preventing him from even seeing her eyes.
The feeling of the knees supporting his body was also different from Typhon or Sekhmet's — considerably more voluptuous, to put it bluntly. A figure richly curved in unmistakably feminine ways.
Having experienced this literally from head to toe, Subaru's body was then suddenly lifted by the arms of the voice's owner. — With one hand. Despite the missing arm and both legs, he still retained the weight of an adult woman to that degree, and she lifted him as though he were nothing.
"When you speak, look the other person in the eye — the eye! Honestly, men are always like this, it's unbelievable!"
As she spoke, indignation radiating from her, the one revealing this anger was a beautiful girl with wavy golden hair and blue eyes. She wore a short skirt and other clothing chosen for mobility, suggesting an active outfit. Her height was notably short, even accounting for the fact that she was sitting. And yet, her large bust and overall voluptuous figure gave off an undeniably provocative aura.
That the person herself had such a rough-and-ready attitude made it a kind of healthy sensuality, one might say.
She then glanced down at the Subaru she had lifted, her eyes already blazing with fury. Before Subaru, who was still seeing stars and utterly lost, she brushed back her bangs — "Right arm missing. Both legs missing below the knee. No bleeding, no pain... Typhon's punishment! That girl... going and doing something like this on her own again — that's too much!"
Her blue eyes clouded with powerful emotion as she looked at Subaru's painless wounds.
Her words carried anger, her bearing carried outrage, her gestures carried fury — but what slowly welled up in those blazing eyes were tears.
"Are... are you crying...?"
"I'm not crying! I'm angry! Yes, I'm angry! At Typhon, for making wounds like these and leaving them! At the world, for making a girl do something so terrible! At the injustice of people fighting, hurting each other, making each other suffer!!"
The girl screamed her declaration with powerful force, shaking her head as if flinging the words loose.
Then she raised her arm and suddenly hurled Subaru's body into the air.
"Huh?"
"I will not forgive it! The pain! The fighting! The wounds! How could anyone just let those stand — !!"
The next instant, the girl's fist cut through the air with a force that shattered wind and struck Subaru directly. An incredible speed and power was slammed into his cheek, and Subaru's body was quite literally blown away like a leaf in a storm. However — "Bwah—!?!"
The momentum that should have sent him flying forever ended abruptly as the world's boundary came swiftly upon him.
In the space that Echidna had defined for this world, Subaru could only be blown a minuscule distance by the force of the fist. The shock of colliding with an invisible wall pierced through his body, and he floated in the air, plastered against it, his vision spinning. Then — "You're not going home in one piece, I'd say!!"
The girl leaped after him, and while Subaru's body was midway through its falling sequence, she unleashed a rain of fists upon him.
Wildly flailing fists hammered into him one after another, and Subaru's body was sandwiched between the invisible wall and the barrage. Impact and sound drove through him in rapid succession, transferring force into the wall and beginning to shake the very foundations of the world.
Being ground between the shocks, whipped around until he couldn't tell up from left, Subaru's consciousness went white. All he could see were the fists raining down and the girl's face — no longer bothering to hide it, her cheeks were drenched with copious tears. Watching the tears scatter like glitter through the air, Subaru thought that he was the one who wanted to cry, and opened his mouth to complain — only to have another fist smashed into his face.
An endless hell with no sign of ending — its conclusion came suddenly.
"My fists regenerate the world! My anger purifies the world! My wrath — this healing — is my answer — !!"
The next instant, the world shattered.
The walls that had existed to contain Subaru, unable to withstand the impact of the girl's fists transmitted through his body, crumbled to dust.
In an instant, the sensation of being flung around ceased.
The rain of fists stopped, and then came a soft sensation. When he came to, Subaru's body was lying on the ground — in the very same grassy meadow where the tea party had taken place before the space had been isolated.
Rising and looking around in a daze, Subaru saw the girl land gracefully beside him. She stroked her golden hair, fixed Subaru with a sharp glare, and — "Right arm!"
"Wha—! Yes!"
Called upon, he instinctively raised his hand — and then realized.
His right arm, which had been torn away at the shoulder, was fully regenerated — right down to the fingertips.
"Both legs!"
"They — they're on. I can stand, walk, moonwalk!"
Leaping to his feet at the next instruction, Subaru performed a moonwalk right there on the spot. Watching him glide backward across the green of the meadow, the girl crossed her arms and nodded with satisfaction. Subaru committed to memory the way her large chest jiggled during that gesture — "Th-thank you. You saved me. But, um, going by the pattern here, you're also...?"
"I am
"You literally just introduced yourself!"
"Stop it, I didn't do anything special! I just can't stand seeing hurt people in front of me, that's all! It's nothing worthy of being passed down through the ages!"
"You even decided on your own that your actions were a great feat! This person's the type who doesn't listen to what others say — my least favorite pattern!"
Waving his newly healed arm to express his confusion, Minerva spun on her heel and turned her back to Subaru — "In any case, now that your wounds are healed, there's nothing more for me to do! And don't you go getting hurt again — not even a scratch from a bug! That's the promise of a Witch!"
"You couldn't live in a sterile room and guarantee that! Stop making promises on your own! Promises with Witches come with heavy penalties if you break them!"
"Nothing of the sort. But if that did happen... I'd just heal everyone."
"Could you not say 'heal everyone' like you're saying 'kill everyone'? That's terrifying!"
And yet, the fact remained that Subaru's body had been restored.
A rough remedy — in this case, truly a fitting description of the treatment. Being punched and healed. It was nothing short of a miraculous phenomenon.
If you beat someone to heal them, it was like something out of an old television set.
"— Now then."
Just as it seemed the girl would gracefully stride off somewhere, her body turned back.
Subaru saw her white hair trail behind the motion, spreading gracefully over her black clothing. She tilted her head and looked toward him with unmistakable delight — "I had you meet the other Witches to prove my own harmlessness. What do you think? Perhaps your attitude toward me has softened somewhat — if so, the effort of awakening them from their slumber was worthwhile."
The Witch Echidna revealing the punchline to this utterly wretched experience.
Before her, Subaru exhaled deeply, then slowly raised his head — "You're definitely a Witch. ...You don't think like a human."
That was all he could manage.