Like surging waves, shadows and pitch-black passion surged toward Subaru and the others.
Perched on the trunk of a great tree, Subaru had no means of escape while clinging to a branch. He instinctively looked to Garfiel, who should have been right beside him.
"Garfiel!?"
He released his grip on the branch and, without a care for what he was doing, plummeted in free fall toward the earth below. The shadow-corrupted ground tried to slurp up both his feet the moment they landed. But Garfiel paid it no mind, swinging both fists down into the earth like stakes, planting all four limbs firmly on the ground— "Before the shadows swallow me, how about this—!!"
A howl erupted from his throat as Garfiel wrenched both arms upward from where they were driven into the earth.
With that motion, the ground peeled upward. The shadow-draped earth—the very ground that had been a breath away from being consumed by the wave of darkness—was torn up en masse and hurled back, a brutal force play aimed at colliding with the encroaching shadows to nullify them.
Clods of earth erupted skyward. With a deafening roar, the upturned ground smashed into the shadows head-on. For a single instant, the seemingly massless shadows and the hurtling earth reached an equilibrium—just as had happened with the building before. The shadows devoured the soil storm and grew even larger.
The wave of shadow deepened its height, its breadth, and the intensity of its blackness. The more it devoured, the more sinister it became. But even so—a slight, faint stagnation had formed.
"If we don't get down quick, we'll be left behind!"
"Whoa—!"
Subaru, who had been watching the spectacle in stunned silence, was suddenly unable to withstand the impact and sent tumbling from the tree toward the ground. Just before slamming into the earth, Garfiel's outstretched hand caught him by the waist in a brutal emergency stop. Dazed and still trying to comprehend what had happened, Subaru sputtered— "You—you can't just kick someone off!?"
"Yer too slow on the uptake! Seemed like he was dead set on you. Setting aside me, if he caught you, you'd be swallowed in an instant and it'd be over."
Garfiel gripped Subaru firmly and jerked his chin toward the shadow mass swelling before them, a savage grin on his face. Subaru followed his gaze and saw, beyond the wave, the shadow's origin—vaguely tracing the outline of a human figure, extending its arms frantically in their direction.
"I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you—"
The muffled voice that reached him was an impossibility—it still arrived as a whisper at his ear even from this distance.
The way this abnormality ignored all laws of physics, as though the distance between them meant nothing, filled Subaru with a creeping sense of horror.
Looking at that shadow, having that dark, overwhelming passion directed at him so intensely—all that welled up inside Subaru's chest was an unbearable revulsion and loathing.
That thing was what sent him back through "Return by Death." In a sense, it could even be called his benefactor.
But no. He couldn't accept it. Physically, spiritually—his very soul rejected it.
He'd rather hurl himself into the
"Garfiel, what do we do...!"
"We've only got one choice—we retreat! Can't count on Roswaal either.
Garfiel ground his teeth and let out a frustrated growl.
Unlike Subaru, Garfiel had watched with his own eyes as Ram, Ryuzu, and other familiar faces were swallowed by the shadow. His anguish was more than imaginable.
For Subaru, who harbored memories of loathing toward Garfiel, seeing him grief-stricken like this was an unbearably complicated sight.
"——!"
The writhing shadow—if it was a colossal palm—suddenly sent its fingertips hurtling toward the two of them. At the last possible second, Garfiel yanked Subaru along and dodged with a backstep. The amount of shadow soaking into the ground beneath their feet was still minimal. As long as they kept distance from the shadow at the center, they could at least avoid being dragged straight into a bottomless bog.
"But retreating like this is just a slow death... What happened with the attack?"
"The shadow's dress didn't crack. If it was a single, all-out blow, it might've been a different story, but we can't create an opportunity to land something like that."
With a wide leap backward, weaving between the trees, Subaru and Garfiel exchanged opinions. Despite the speed at which they were leaving the shadow behind in the forest, the pursuing mass showed no sign of losing ground. Was the shadow's authority what kept it from losing them?
And there were still more changes.
"...Damn it."
Garfiel spat and irritatedly cleared his throat.
His shoulders heaved with ragged breath. Sweat poured from his forehead, and every movement carried an unnatural stiffness that wasn't there normally.
It wasn't the fatigue of carrying Subaru's weight.
Subaru frowned at the sight. Seeing his reaction, Garfiel clicked his tongue—"Tch"—and muttered: "My body's gotten abnormally heavy. The shadow—it's draining the life force from everything around us."
"The ground beneath us—the shadow?!"
Startled by Garfiel's answer, Subaru—who had no footing of his own—swayed as he stared down at the shadow below, trembling at the sheer extent of its coverage over the grassland.
And then, belatedly—far too belatedly—he grasured the shadow's true threat.
"Wait—don't tell me—"
—the forest was sinking.
The trees surrounding the "
The trees hadn't been mown down, nor had their branches been burned away. The forest's greenery still stood, still rustled in the wind with its soft whispering.
—but the height of the forest had dropped so low that a single jump from Subaru could clear the treetops.
"The forest is sinking—?!"
"You gotta keep moving or that's what happens! The more it swallows, the stronger it gets—that's what's going on—!"
The shadow's reach across the entire Sanctuary was intensifying, and the whole forest was beginning to be engulfed in pitch blackness.
No matter where Subaru looked—front, back, left, right—there was no stretch of ground free of shadow. Even past the barrier, even past the forest's edge—it went on and on, an endless despair that made one wonder if there was ever an end.
A development unlike anything before, and the
That was the Witch of Envy—who had once swallowed half the world and whose claw marks of terror were still deeply etched upon it. The worst catastrophe in existence.
"She can't seriously be expanding her reach to the level of half the world... right?"
"There's stories about her swallowing entire countries whole. If you wanna laugh it off, you'd better not know about that one."
Garfiel snorted in agreement.
The fatigue etched into his features came not only from the shadow's corrosive effect, but because the rate of its encroachment was accelerating and the sensation of the earth sinking beneath them was growing stronger.
With every step, his feet sank deeper. The leg strength needed for the next stride was increasing dramatically. If it were just Garfiel alone, he could probably still escape—but.
"Garfiel—her target is me. So..."
"If yer gonna say 'just drop me,' then I'll gnaw off your fingers one by one with my fangs, got it?"
Before Subaru could finish, his suggestion was flatly rejected and he was left speechless. But he quickly shook the wind back into himself and glared at Garfiel's sweat-slicked profile.
"No time for this! At this rate, we'll both get swallowed! If I face her, I should be able to buy at least a little time. In that window..."
"Run, you mean? Or call for Roswaal? That shadow hit the village center first... everyone from the village, the evacuees, Roswaal—every last one of them got swallowed."
"—! Are... are you sure?"
"Everything in the Sanctuary that you couldn't see—every bit of it's been taken by that shadow. Unless everyone just happened to go forest-gazing on the moon together, I ain't wrong."
Garfiel's words were delivered without a trace of emotion—an uncharacteristic detachment that only reinforced their truth.
If the noncombatant refugees, the Sanctuary residents who avoided violence, and even Roswaal himself had all been swallowed, then the situation could only be called despair incarnate.
For Garfiel, whose primary method of attack was closing the distance and striking in melee, the Witch of Envy—attacking from afar with extending shadows—was the worst possible matchup.
If Roswaal or Ram, or someone skilled in ranged combat had still been available, they could have combined long-range and short-range attacks to mount an assault.
"In that case, if you drop out, we lose any chance of fighting back..."
"The old lady! Ram! Everyone else—they've all been swallowed...!"
"——!"
"And now you want me to throw you in too, just so I don't have to live with that shame...? Absolutely not. Not in a million years. I've gotta teach that thing—teeth first—that 'the scars of the
Garfiel bared his fangs and roared. The boundless fury at the shadow burned in his expression—but it seemed like something more than that. Was Subaru imagining things?
If this was a man who knew the pain of having loved ones taken, the agony of loss—if Garfiel truly carried that within him— "Then why did you... do what you did to those people...?"
Why had he killed the villagers who had faced him with such courage? Cruelly, mercilessly.
Garfiel knew the pain of having things stolen, the suffering of loss. He had enough feeling to empathize.
And yet—why had he resorted to something so cruel?
Perhaps Subaru's pointed question didn't register with Garfiel. The man simply tightened his grip on Subaru wordlessly, making his refusal to throw him away unmistakable. The shadows behind them continued to accelerate their encroachment, and Garfiel pressed on with even greater force, flying through the ever-sinking forest.
Subaru, still unable to decide how to feel about the looming threat behind them and about Garfiel, suddenly looked up in surprise as the view ahead opened wide.
Bursting through the sinking forest, the two of them had launched into an open space. Barely—the encroachment here was still weak. Exposed earth, low grass, and above all what truly stunned Subaru— "—What?!"
The instant he took in the sight, Subaru's body was hurled out toward the meadow.
Crying out in shock, Subaru tumbled across the ground, scraping dirt to slow his momentum before shaking his head. But rather than protest being thrown, his desire to question what he'd just seen overwhelmed everything else. Specifically— "Why are you—Ryuzu-san—here?!"
Before Subaru's trembling gaze stood a girl with long, reddish-tinged hair swaying in the breeze—the figure of Ryuzu, who housed the soul of an elderly person.
At her vacant, distant stare, Subaru was shaken to his core.
Because he had just heard from Garfiel's own mouth that she had been swallowed by the shadow.
What stood before him and the information he'd just received didn't match.
If pressed on which to believe, it was the reality right in front of him. But if that was the case—had everything Garfiel just told him been a lie?
"Garfiel, what is this—"
"Don't jump to conclusions. I know what yer thinking and what you wanna say, but we ain't got time. I managed to lure 'em here, and that's what matters."
Garfiel waved off Subaru's attempt to press further and cast his eyes around the area. Then, lifting his chin upward, he drew a deep breath— "——Oooooooooon!"
It wasn't loud enough to pierce through the forest, but a long, strange howl that somehow cut cleanly through the still air.
Despite the circumstances, Subaru found himself thinking what an odd thing it was for him to be capable of. But then he saw the result of that howl, and this time he truly lost the ability to speak.
"——!"
With a rustling of footsteps and the sound of parting foliage, one figure after another spilled into the clearing.
They were all short in stature, with long—impossibly long—hair that nearly dragged on the ground. Faint red hair, pale translucent skin, round eyes devoid of expression. They wore oversized robes that didn't fit, trailing hems of far too much fabric. Beneath those robes, worn directly against bare skin, their legs were visible through the open gaps—barefoot.
Shuffling forward in a group, there must have been nearly twenty of them.
Lined up along half the clearing, filling it, they all shared the same face. Not the same expression—the same face.
"What... what kind of joke is this...?"
"If I could've avoided showing you, I would've."
Garfiel's pained mutter didn't reach Subaru's ears, which were ringing with shock. No—it reached him, but it failed to properly register as meaning in his brain.
Girls with the same face as Ryuzu—identical copies of her—standing there in a neat row. The sight gave Subaru the vivid illusion that he was dreaming.
In fact, this was exactly the sort of nightmare Subaru had seen before. Part of him wanted to chalk this up as just another one. But— "The cuts from those branches hurt, and this pain in my chest—this is reality."
Pressing his bleeding forearm and his violently hammering chest, Subaru took a deep breath. Steeling himself to accept the sight before him, he studied the girls more carefully.
The Ryuzu-doppelgänger girls all shared not just the same facial features but the same expression every single one: blank, emotionless, doll-like faces.
The Ryuzu Subaru knew might not have been an outgoing person, but she was expressive—alive in her mannerisms, brimming with unmistakable human warmth.
"—"
That distinctly human quality was nowhere to be found in the girls before him.
Doll-like—that description was more than apt. They were dolls, plain and simple.
They breathed, they lived, they moved—but they were hollow shells. And now, twenty identical copies of the same face stood assembled. The abnormality of it was staggering.
"Clones... or something like that—this world doesn't have that kind of technology. Divided selves, duplication magic...? But all Ryuzu, just Ryuzu...?"
The word "somatic cell clone" flickered through his mind before Subaru suddenly realized— The fact that this "Sanctuary" was called a testing ground. The reason
"Could this be—the result of the Sanctuary's experiments...? Copies of Ryuzu. But what would be the point of making them...?"
"Hate to interrupt yer deep thoughts, but I think our time's about up."
Standing beside the rapidly thinking Subaru, Garfiel's arms had swelled enormously. Covered in golden fur, the muscles had bulged from within, tearing through his clothing, nearly triple the thickness of his normal arms.
Atavism—if Garfiel was the true form of the great tiger, this partial transformation was likely a prelude to his trump card.
"I'll surround 'em and smash 'em. Simple, but if everyone else is gone, it's all we've got."
"...I kind of figured you'd be the deciding factor, but those, uh, children—"
"Don't worry about it. They ain't like the old lady—the insides are empty. But they can still follow my directions. If that creates an opening, we win."
There were a million things Subaru wanted to ask—about the strategy, about Ryuzu's copies. But there was no time left for questions, let alone for a calm discussion.
Garfiel shoved Subaru toward the far end of the clearing with his thick arms. Stumbling forward, Subaru complied with the rough command. Behind him, the group of Ryuzu copies moved forward as if to shield him.
The arrangement was now Garfiel at the center of the clearing, Ryuzu's copies behind him, and Subaru at the rear. Then Garfiel fixed his glare on the trees being devoured by the encroaching shadows— "—I love you I love you I love you I love you"
With a slow, gliding motion, the whispers of love washed over the forest as the shadow poured through.
The unstoppable revulsion and the alarm bells of danger hammered at his skull without pause. The witch's shadow—what appeared to be its head—rose up, caught sight of Subaru, and— "—"
The shadow's movements visibly gained an almost jubilant energy, a sense of ecstatic elation.
The spiraling black mass pulled the forest trees into its vortex, snapping trunks with sharp cracks, compacting them into fragments—whispering its love as it advanced.
The meadow in the clearing was violated. The spreading shadow submerged the earth in pitch-blackness in an instant. Soon—within a short span of time—this clearing would sink into shadow just like the forest.
Therefore, if Garfiel had any chance of victory, it was now—this very moment, just before the shadow swallowed the clearing entirely.
"——GUAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Head thrown back, Garfiel's throat unleashed a howling roar that shook the atmosphere itself.
The violent churning of air sent a primal terror through Subaru, making him feel as if his very organs were shriveling. Before the cowering Subaru, Garfiel's transformation accelerated—not just his arms, but both legs morphed into beastly limbs—and he slammed his paws down against the ground with savage force.
The instant after, the earth erupted. Using Garfiel's stomping point as a fulcrum, the ground bearing the witch was crumpled like a seesaw, launching the shadow skyward.
It was a recreation of what had happened when he'd first met Subaru—the moment Garfiel had torn up the earth itself along with the dragon carriage drawn by
The shadow, hurled upward along with the clods of earth, lost all sense of direction. Garfiel lowered his stance, planted all four limbs, and howled as his body transformed further.
His clothing burst apart under the strain of his expanding muscles, caught on golden fur and hanging as tattered remnants. A body exceeding four meters—massive, powerful limbs, and a head bearing fangs like sharp blades set into its jaw.
It was the very manifestation of the great tiger that had once driven Subaru into despair and an unforgivable rage.
"——!!"
A roar erupted. The savage beast's body tore through the wind and lunged at the shadow.
The ground beneath the titanic beast collapsed from the force of its launch. The speed of the leap was ferocious beyond reason for its enormous size.
Jaws opened, fangs that could crush iron ready to tear through the shadow's slender midsection— "—"
In the instant before it connected, shadow rising from below ensnared the leaping great tiger and bound it. The momentum killed mid-air, the tiger froze in place—and then it screamed, throat convulsing.
The shadow wrapping around its limbs sent up sprays of blood-mist, wrenching at its thick arms and legs as though intent of snapping them. Arms the size of Subaru's waist began tearing apart with the sound of flesh ripping.
Screaming—the great tiger, unable to move in midair, couldn't escape Subaru's gaze. And the shadow, mercilessly, began to tear its body apart. Organs and blood splattered— "—Ah—"
But it didn't come to that.
Before Subaru's stunned gaze, two of the Ryuzu copies suddenly broke from their formation and charged toward the clash between the great tiger and the witch.
Running with mouths agape, spilling meaningless gasps, the young girls moved with surprising speed—piercing through the shadow, landing on the ground, approaching the witch who held the great tiger bound in the air.
"Mmph."
"—"
Arms spread wide, the two of them lunged as if to embrace the witch. But the witch noticed their approach just before contact. Extending shadow pierced through them without hesitation, ending their charge.
The shadow—its tip sharpened to the shape of a spearhead, its body as flexible as a whip—slid toward its prey, severing both girls' legs at the ankle, skewering them through the torso, and lifting them up for display next to the still-screaming Garfiel.
A grotesque sight—but it was a mistake born of the witch's overconfidence.
"——Ooooooon!"
The great tiger, its throat raw from the pain, saw the mutilated copies arranged beside it and unleashed a howl of a different color—one that made Subaru's brow furrow in confusion.
Before Subaru could process the meaning of that change in tone, a rapid, pale-blue light flooded the bodies of the two impaled Ryuzu copies— "—?!"
"—"
The next instant, both copies detonated in a blinding explosion of light.
Not the grotesque carnage of a living thing bursting—not organs and blood spraying. Their bodies became particles of light, scattering the shadows around them and bringing a momentary flicker of life back to the world. An explosion and dispersal—yet entirely different from death by detonation.
Subaru, eyes seared by the white light, rubbed them violently. When his vision cleared, he saw that the Ryuzu copies who had been serving as his wall had, just like the first two, charged out en masse.
Scattering in every direction with coordinated timing, the eighteen remaining copies surrounded the witch. Their arms spread wide, they plunged into the shadow's radius—just as the two before them had, their sole objective to physically reach the witch, as if they possessed no other form of attack.
But despite their coordination, the copies' movements remained within the realm of human capability. And their opponent was the Witch of Envy—the worst catastrophe in existence.
The witch barely glanced at the encircling copies before shadow surged skyward, its tip splitting into eighteen shards. Transformed into razor-sharp blades, they descended—piercing skulls, splitting torsos, piercing lower abdomens—with a precision that mocked every evasion attempt the eighteen Ryuzus made.
Though they attacked with staggered timing, all eighteen Ryuzu copies were annihilated. A beat later, every one of them erupted in pale-blue light and burst apart—temporarily driving the shadows back from the clearing, causing the vortex around the witch to vanish.
"——LULULULULULULUGAAAAAAAAH!!"
The great tiger, battered and bloody, did not miss that opening.
Having broken free from the shadow's binding during the Ryuzu copies' charge, the titanic beast crouched all four limbs and, at the very instant the eighteen copies detonated, unleashed its mightiest howl and plunged headfirst into the shadow.
The great tiger bore down through the wind. The witch conjured a wall of shadow to counter—but the tiger took a figure it had been concealing—a hidden copy—and smashed it against the wall. A literal sacrifice. The wall shattered. The beast crossed the barrier of pale light, and fangs and claws fell upon the shadow.
It was a masterwork so perfect that even Subaru was convinced it had succeeded.
Twenty-one Ryuzu copies—fed into the fray without a shred of hesitation. An inhumane expenditure.
If Garfiel's claws, in his great tiger form, made direct contact—no witch, no matter how fearsome, would survive— "—I love you."
Subaru's desperate certainty— "—Subaru-kun."
—the sweet, silken call of the shadow, and Garfiel's body bursting apart from within— was utterly and completely pulverized to dust.