"——Guahh!!"
Of the three present, only Otto had been able to react on instinct to the threat bearing down on them.
He thrust both hands forward and interfered with the world through incantation—a torrent of mana shattered the mansion's floor and pushed up an earthen wall, spreading across the wide corridor and standing as an obstacle against the pitch-black shadow.
However— "Annoying."
"One strike!?"
A short voice, and two curved blades swung in tandem.
The crescent-shaped slash effortlessly bisected the earthen wall like a sheet of paper. The severed halves were kicked aside by long legs and collapsed in an instant.
Scattered particles of mana, the crumbling remains of the earthen wall. A sadistic grin etched into the scene, and the dull gleam of silver blades.
"I suppose I'll have to slit your throat first to make you behave, won't I?"
"That's not something you say so casually!"
In the one-second gap Otto had created, Subaru scooped up Petra and rolled into the adjacent room. A heartbeat later, Otto dove in after them, slammed the door shut, then ducked behind the bed.
A slash diagonally carved through the door, and the severed half slid off and was kicked into the room.
"Take this—!"
As Elsa slipped through the gap in the door, Subaru brought down a wooden clothes rack. Elsa leaned back to avoid it, her turning blade cleaving the rack in half. The returning strike aimed for Subaru's throat, but because Petra had thrown herself at him, it only grazed him.
"Oh my, what a bad boy."
"He's the best kid there is, you freak!"
Subaru clutched his shallowly cut neck where blood was spattering and retreated, pulling Petra close.
Elsa flashed a fearsome smile and moved to pursue the retreating Subaru.
However— "How about this—!"
Otto swung his arm and hurled a magic ore stone at Elsa's profile. It glowed a faint red—an explosive projectile charged with "fire" mana. A true trump card, of even higher purity than the one he'd used in his decisive battle with Garfiel.
Otto's hidden ace struck the defenseless Elsa squarely from the side and detonated.
Between Otto and Elsa, the power of the shattered magic ore erupted in a blaze of crimson.
Sound and light engulfed the room, and as the heat-lashed wind whipped around him, Subaru watched.
Within the narrowed focus of his concentration—sharp enough to perceive the flow of time—the magic ore stone Otto had thrown was neutralized by a throwing knife Elsa had launched without even turning to look.
The unexpected explosion caught Otto off guard, searing his eyes and sending him reeling backward.
The tip of Elsa's long-clawed foot drove into his midsection, and he went flying in a U-shape to slam into the wall. Without sparing a glance at the crumpling Otto, Elsa turned back toward the breathless Subaru and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh my? You… I'm quite sure I've seen your face before—in the royal capital, wasn't it?"
"I-I'm honored that you remember. With that connection, could you maybe let us off the hook this once?"
"I always make it a point to see the innards I've overlooked, even if it takes time."
"Wow, what a collector's spirit!"
Subaru felt Petra clutch the hem of his shirt tightly and stoked his thoughts into a white-hot blaze.
He could feel that the gate inside his body was dead. No matter how much he prayed or burned his soul, neither mana nor gate would respond. Deploying Shamak here was impossible, and before that, he'd be reduced to a cripple who couldn't move—which was the one thing he couldn't afford.
Then there was only one option to rely on—Invisible Providence.
"——"
The instant he decided to use it, a nameless black something began writhing through the insides of his body.
It had been still, but the moment it realized Subaru had summoned it, it began asserting its existence, clamoring eagerly for a chance to unleash its power.
The abhorrent sensation—like feeding a monster—stabbed through him.
Consciously ignoring it, Subaru poured orders into the black power raising its first cry, and steeled his resolve to carve a path from the inner world to the outer.
After the agony that felt like shedding tears of blood, there came a deep-seated revulsion toward using this power.
And yet—he would cling to what he could cling to, use what he could use, and live in order to keep on living.
For the sake of saving everything he wished to be saved—nothing less, and nothing more.
"Ah… that look on your face gives me the chills."
"I'll show you something even better."
"Yes, I look forward to it—"
Subaru aimed for the center of Elsa's two raised blades and squeezed the trigger.
All he had to do was release it, and it should tear through her slender body and pierce it clean through.
"——Hnnghh…"
Something viscous and writhing flowed into his blood vessels and surged through his entire body.
He had the illusion that the breath he exhaled had taken on color, that his body was running a fever. Black, indescribable claws extended from within, and he could foresee a future where Elsa was split clean in two.
Just like this, offering everything, and then— "Subaru!"
A stricken voice, and a piercing numbness as his side was pinched.
When he grimaced in shock, the abhorrent emotion that had been pooling in his gut dissipated instantly.
What remained was a small residue of black filth, and an undiminished outpouring of pitch-black killing intent.
As Elsa moved to close in, Subaru hastily tried to realign his aim, but he was too slow—then— "You're in danger!"
"I'm supposed to dodge that!?"
Elsa deflected the fierce gust of wind bearing down from behind with a split-second read.
She abandoned her slash at Subaru, twisted her body, and danced through the claw strike aimed at her back.
Her spinning body kicked Frederica in the flank, and using the momentum she drove an elbow into Subaru. She backflipped through the gap between the two as they were sent flying, and alighted with ease on the bed at the far end of the room.
She placed a hand on her back, and her palm came away slick with blood—her expression was one of ecstasy.
Then she looked down at Frederica, who had dropped to her knees, and tilted her head in amusement.
"Another one… no, two more guests. What a lovely mansion."
"That ambush didn't even land properly… That's not a human's reflex."
Frederica growled in frustration, unable to hide her horror.
Subaru, whose chest had taken a heavy blow, coughed and crawled toward Frederica on his hands and knees.
"Frederica, sorry—you saved me. And Petra too."
He spoke to Frederica upon regrouping, then thanked Petra, whose hand he was still holding. Petra, still teary-eyed, shook her head.
"N-No, I should be the one apologizing. But Subaru… just now, you had this really dangerous look in your eyes…"
"Honestly, I think I was about to get swallowed up. If you hadn't pulled me back, it could've been bad. I can't just recklessly lean on Invisible Providence anymore…"
"Invis… what now?"
That his trump card was a double-edged sword was no longer anything that surprised Subaru.
The problem was that the situations where he could use it were growing ever more limited. All he could do was pray that his current flaw was caused by consecutive use.
At the very least, the only thing he felt from relying on Invisible Providence in this battle was a premonition that the price of doing so would be far too great.
"Frederica-nee-sama…"
"Petra, you've been through something frightening. But you did well to hold back your tears."
Petra, still clutching Subaru's hem, called out to Frederica. As Frederica acknowledged the brave efforts of the dear young girl who was like a sister to her, she directed a stern expression toward Subaru.
"Subaru-sama, I'm terribly sorry. My assigned role was to escort Lady
"Nah, it couldn't be helped, given the situation. They say it's even worse outside… How about Rem?"
"Right here."
Frederica wore claw-shaped gauntlets on both hands, with nothing else in them.
Sensing Subaru's worry at Rem's absence, Frederica turned her back to him. There, securely fastened with cords, Rem was strapped to Frederica's back.
She was bound tight—but it was a surreally comical sight all the same.
"I get that it's an emergency, but if you move around too much like that, Rem's head might come off and that's terrifying, you know!?"
"Well, I'm not sure 'fortunately' is quite the right word, but Lady Rem's body has been severed from the normal flow of time. So even if she's handled somewhat roughly, there should be no ill effects…"
"S-Still, please be as gentle and careful as you can…?"
This was the result of Frederica doing her utmost in her own way.
Subaru had no intention of finding fault with that without offering an alternative. Rem would simply have to endure a bit of discomfort.
After all, among them— "There's no one who can fight besides Frederica. Me and Petra are combat-ineffective. Rem's asleep. Otto fought his heart out, but his brave efforts have already…"
"I'm not dead, you know!? Could people please not say terrifying things while I'm still seeing stars from hitting my head!? Please!?"
Otto, who had been rolling around in the corner of the room, revived to contest Subaru's words.
Shaking his head, Otto crawled across the floor to rejoin the group, shuddering at the severed door and clothes rack.
"To think my magic ore stone would be knocked down like that… It worked perfectly fine against Garfiel, though."
"Different combat experience, and probably a different caliber of brain, too. Don't go comparing—it'd be cruel."
"Garfi… as expected, he grew up exactly the way he looks. If only I'd been there to see…"
Otto's assessment prompted Subaru to stop the cruel comparison.
Frederica, too, seemed to have mixed feelings about reuniting with Garfiel after a ten-year separation. Perhaps there was some guilt in having let her eyes slip from the growth of a brother who had turned out so… thug-like.
The smoothing over of those feelings would have to wait—for now, the sibling relationship needed to be built step by step.
"First, we've gotta band together and deal with this."
"I believe we've had quite enough of our pleasant conversation, wouldn't you agree?"
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. But are you ready for the five-on-one beatdown coming your way?"
"I count three or four people on your side whom I'd hesitate to call combatants."
At Subaru's bold provocation, Elsa gave a faint smile as she accurately tallied the non-combatants.
She swayed the curved blades hanging at her sides and lightly hopped down from the bed. Watching her, Subaru noticed— Elsa's back had stopped dripping blood.
"That looked like a pretty deep hit, didn't it?"
"The wound? Don't worry about it. Here, see for yourself."
With that, Elsa gave a twirl on the spot.
And sure enough—just as Subaru had seen, the wound Frederica had carved into her back moments ago had vanished completely. The claw marks remained on the back of her outfit, so he hadn't been hallucinating.
Everyone except Subaru—their faces went rigid, and they drew sharp breaths.
Subaru, for his part, heaved a deep sigh, cursing the fulfillment of his bad premonition.
"I knew you wouldn't die even if killed, but the wounds heal too? You're practically a monster."
"I have no memory of surrendering my humanity, and calling a lady a monster like that is rather uncouth, don't you think? Besides—where did you learn about my constitution?"
"If Reinhard hasn't cut you in half, anyone would figure there's something unusual going on."
"That's quite the experience. I very nearly was split in two, you know. —I wonder what a hero's innards look like. I'm terribly curious."
Even after witnessing that level of combat prowess, Elsa showed not a shred of contrition.
She should have been hounding Reinhard—who was truly unkillable—instead of persistently pestering Subaru and his group. What kind of karma drove that?
It gave him even more reason to hold a grudge against Roswaal.
"Subaru-sama… if that woman is here, then what about Garfi?"
Frederica asked hesitantly, her expression tight.
Having witnessed the abnormality of Elsa's body, she was now worried about the safety of her brother, who was nowhere to be seen.
But Subaru, too, had no answer that could put Frederica's unease to rest.
If there was one thing he could say— "I hate to say it, but I can't explain why she's here any more than you can. But it's also hard to believe Garfiel went down in such a short time."
"From what I could see, they were fairly evenly matched… It looked like Garfi had a slight edge, actually."
"That's what I saw too, but in the end, there's no—"
He couldn't find an answer. Subaru's gaze darted toward Elsa, and he involuntarily held his breath.
Drawn by Subaru's gaze, Frederica and the others looked in the same direction and froze as well.
Elsa furrowed her brow at their reaction, then looked up above her own head.
She could see the ceiling of the guest room descending as if it were sinking— "Now, you lot—!!"
"Hyah—!?"
"That idiot!!"
The instant the ceiling crashed through with a deafening sound, Subaru and the others lunged for the door all at once.
Cursing under his breath at the voice he'd heard, Subaru and the four others burst through the severed door mere moments before the guest room ceiling crushed everything in the room. The anguished sound of furniture and timber snapping echoed through the air.
A boom like an explosion and a violent gale tore through, and the aftermath washed out into the hallway beyond.
White smoke billowed up, and gritting down the gravel-like dust in his mouth, Subaru rolled through the hallway to evacuate. Fortunately, it seemed none of their allies had been caught in the collapse.
And from beyond the smoke— "Don't you go doing boring stuff like that! Come on, dance for me!"
A familiar, rough voice shouted with barely contained excitement.
Accompanying the voice were the sounds of impacts and steel clashing against steel. Before long, a figure tumbled through the parting smoke and into the hallway.
"Oh—whoa!?"
Seeing the tumbling figure, Subaru couldn't help but cry out in surprise.
And with good reason. It bore no resemblance to any form he had expected—it was a four-legged beast with thick fur and sharp claws on all four limbs. With its mottled coloring, it resembled a hyena.
However, its size was beyond anything a hyena could compare to. It was a colossus—easily twice Subaru's height.
For an instant, Subaru tensed at the appearance of the massive beast, but he quickly realized the hyena's eyes held no light and that it was already dead. Upon closer inspection, its neck bone had been grotesquely snapped, its head twisted to face the opposite direction from where it should have been.
There was no doubt that some tremendous force had wrenched its cervical vertebrae out of place.
And now, the only thing in this mansion that could oppose a beast and do something like that— "Heya, Boss. Were you still holed up in there?"
Kicking aside the smoke, Garfiel strolled casually into the hallway.
He noticed Subaru and the others standing in a daze over the hyena's corpse, and broke into a wide grin.
"No need to go freaking out—I clobbered the big guy myself."
"Oh, well, that's a relief… No, it's NOT! Why'd you take your eyes off her in the first place!? I thought I was gonna die! I was scared! I really thought I was done for!"
"My bad, my bad—I never had the slightest intention of letting her get away, ya know. But that pain-in-the-ass thing got on my case and she slipped off somewhere in the meantime."
"Something 'pain-in-the-ass'… you—"
Garfiel twisted his face in annoyance, gnashing his teeth.
The "pain-in-the-ass thing" he mentioned must have been this hyena-like beast. Combined with the earlier conversation, it was undoubtedly some manner of spirit beast—but just then— "Geez! Unbelievable! Elsa! Elsa! Do something about this!"
"I'd love to, but didn't you tell me to handle my end while you dealt with everything else? Besides, I'd much more vividly enjoy life than end up as beast feed. I'd rather be the one doing the killing, wouldn't you agree?"
As the girl pouted, Elsa strode up to the beast and turned a cold eye toward the exchange.
Subaru exhaled at the back-and-forth between these two lunatics, then raised a single finger.
"Alright then, I've got the coolest proposal for you. Take that knife you've got, flip it to a reverse grip, and stab yourself right in the gut. Then slide it sideways. Organs go splat, I'm happy, you're happy. Belly-cutting challenge. Cool, right?"
"Pfft—ahahahaha! Amazing, amazing! Hey, Elsa, why don't you try? Elsa, you love innards, don't you? It'd be so fun! So exciting!"
"Oh, I'm afraid I've already exhausted that particular trick since acquiring this constitution."
Hearing that his ultra-cool proposal had already been carried out sent a chill of genuine terror down his spine.
Regardless, there were two crises staring them in the face.
"I don't know how it works exactly, but we can assume that girl's controlling the spirit beasts, right?"
"Wouldn't doubt it for a second, ya know. The ones surrounding the outside and that big mutt just now—they all did exactly as she said. So, what's the plan, Boss?"
Confirming Subaru's understanding, Garfiel asked whether to proceed with their strategy.
Honestly, the situation had changed dramatically from the original plan. Not only Elsa, but another enemy had appeared—one who commanded massive spirit beasts.
As long as the spirit beasts outside remained, a clean escape from the mansion would be difficult. And above all, they still hadn't secured all the people who needed rescuing.
Getting Frederica, Petra, and Rem out wasn't enough.
"Garfiel… can I ask something insane of you?"
"Go ahead, Boss."
"I want you to hold off both Elsa and that girl at the same time."
"——"
Garfiel fell silent, and Subaru knew full well he'd made an absurdly unreasonable request.
Elsa alone was a nightmarish opponent in a straight fight. And on top of that, he'd need to split his attention between her and the massive spirit beast as well.
The threat of spirit beasts was something Subaru had come to understand painfully ever since arriving in this world.
So— "Sure thing. Leave it to me. I'm fired up!"
"R-Really? Seriously? You can actually do it?"
"That's what I'm here for, ain't it? I've been running my mouth about being huge and tough this whole time. Now that the enemy's gotten bigger and stronger, there's no way I'm gonna cry about it. 'When Miden carries the cliff on her back, there's nowhere to run'—that's the kind of situation we're in!"
Quoting a back-to-the-wall proverb, Garfiel clanged his twin shields together.
Subaru knew full well it was bravado rather than unshakable confidence backing those words.
But right now, Garfiel was the only one he could rely on.
"Garfiel. I've said it a bunch of times in the dragon carriage, but—"
"Don't worry about it. I ain't planning on kicking the bucket in a dump like this."
When Subaru tried to press the point further, Garfiel pushed him back with his shoulder.
He'd made it clear with his attitude that no more words were needed.
Feeling that pressing further would be tasteless against such resolve, Subaru swallowed his words and pushed back with his shoulder.
That alone was enough—he had imposed his demanding trust onto him.
"Now get a move on, all of ya. If you're in my way, I can't fight for real!"
Baring his teeth, Garfiel called out to the others who remained.
Otto and Frederica exchanged glances— "Garfiel, please don't die. I really don't want to be the one running around doing Subaru's cleanup work alone."
"There's so much we haven't talked about yet. You'd better come back safe. We'll have a proper chat—all three of us, including Grandmother."
"Y-Your scary face… do your best."
At the three of their parting words, Garfiel nodded with a wry smile.
Subaru felt like the conversation had piled up enough death flags to last a lifetime, but he decided to cling to hope by telling himself that perhaps by stacking that many, they'd cancel each other out into survival flags instead.
"So the deal is, you're still stuck with me. This time, I ain't letting you look away or run around on the side! I'll crush you with my claws, my fangs, and my shields—so you'd better cry about it!"
Garfiel spun around with a heavy footfall and roared.
Elsa smiled as she faced that lion-hearted fury head-on, and the beast the girl straddled trembled its throat and let out a low, bestial howl.
"Meili. Do try not to get in my way this time."
"That should be what I say to you! I'm just doing what Mama told me!"
Bickering with each other, Elsa and the girl directed their attacks toward the roaring Garfiel.
Bracing himself, Garfiel caught the heavy strike and the sharp strike with both his shields, and sparks scattered through the air. Having witnessed that, Subaru turned and sprinted with all his might.
"Otto! Frederica! The situation's changed! If we can't get out through any random exit, we find another route without getting bitten by spirit beasts!"
"Even if you say 'another route,' going out through the back servant's entrance leads to the same outcome, doesn't it? If we can't force through with Garfiel's strength either, then what?"
"How about you use your 'Blessing of the Word Spirits' to desperately negotiate with the spirit beasts and ask them to let us pass—diplomatic extraction! It's a protagonist moment!"
"Spirit beasts pretty much only say 'me, you, nom nom,' so there's no conversation to be had…!"
The proposal, which had been low on prospects to begin with, was met by Otto with a pathetic expression.
There were simply some opponents with whom, no matter what words you tried, communication was fundamentally impossible. That held true whether they were human or animal—and Elsa was proof enough.
That left only one escape route Subaru could think of— "Subaru-sama. I know of one possible way out."
"I know, Frederica. Chances are, I'm thinking of the same place. But…"
That route had its own problems.
He was about to point this out when Subaru, sprinting through the hallway, swore through his teeth.
"No matter where we run, it ain't ever gonna be easy—damn it!"
Ahead of them, two hyenas had spotted them and were lunging forward.
The Battle of Roswaal Mansion had swapped its cast, but the fierce fighting raged on.