The arrival of magical beasts at the Watchtower.
Upon receiving Julius's report that the magical beasts in the
What they felt beneath their feet was the faint rumbling and trembling of the tower's floor—when told that those sounds were, without exaggeration, the thundering footsteps and snarling of magical beasts reverberating through the entire tower, it was no wonder they were shaken.
"I've only got a vague sense of how massive this desert is, but..."
During the loop where he had been driven by suspicion and attempted to escape the tower, Subaru's flight plan had failed at the very first step—meaning the harshness of the dunes existed outside his personal experience.
Still, the image of an endless vista of sand was hard to forget, and he could imagine the corresponding danger.
That said, it was hard to picture a desert brimming with life—and yet— "Originally, the Augria Sand Dunes were a nesting ground for magical beasts as well. The damage inflicted by beasts hunting humans who entered the sand was more severe than the cruelty of the wilderness itself, you know."
"At one point, the military even drafted a plan to dispatch troops and exterminate the beasts in the dunes. Although, judging from this rumbling, the results are fairly obvious."
To Subaru's question, Julius and
In other words, the rumbling was no bluff—and Subaru's hope that the enemy numbers were merely "zoo-level" at best was thoroughly misplaced. Apparently, the beasts numbered more akin to savannah levels.
Indeed, one could hardly be blamed for viewing the situation with despair.
However— "So, you called me here for what, exactly?"
It was Meili who spoke up at that point, fidgeting with one of her braids between her fingers.
She was the only one who hadn't shown any agitation prompted by anxiety upon hearing of the magical beasts' arrival. It wasn't the kind of reaction that meant "no surprise there."
It was the kind of reaction that meant she didn't feel threatened by magical beasts at all.
"A pathetic thing to say, but you're exactly right. I want to borrow your power."
Julius, his cheeks taut, nodded in response to Meili's question.
The idea of deploying Meili—someone with the ability to command magical beasts—against the horde that had descended en masse. Subaru understood Julius's reasoning. His own first thought had been the same plan.
And yet, a strange sensation was ringing alarm bells deep in his chest.
"Subaru? What's the matter? You're making a strange face."
"...My strange face has been my fate since the moment I was born."
"That might just be your eyes, though."
With the force of exhaling a large volume of carbon dioxide, he expelled something like a formless unease along with it. It remained, as before, something vague and lacking in concreteness.
"Subaru, is something bothering you?"
"Don't keep pestering me like that. That said, I'm the one making an ambiguous face, so that's on me. But having apologized for that—I have additional intel. An exclusive scoop I picked up from the Book of the Dead."
"————"
Around Julius, who held his breath—and the others like Beatrice, who had already heard the word—their eyes widened. Frankly, their reaction was predictable, but he couldn't explain the situation without saying it.
The rapid turn of events, the reason magical beasts were surging toward the tower in force— "It's 'Gluttony.' The Sin Archbishop of 'Gluttony' is sending the magical beasts to the tower."
"——Why?"
"Sorry about that. Inside Reid's Book of the Dead, I encountered one of the 'Gluttony' pair. More precisely, I reunited with one of them. Apparently we also met the night before. And that..."
"Meaning they're the ones responsible for stealing your memory?"
Cutting Subaru off, Julius reached that conclusion on his own. Subaru pulled his chin back. Calling it "just as expected" sounded odd, but Julius's comprehension was genuinely sharp—connecting the name and the ability of 'Gluttony' to arrive at the desired conclusion almost immediately.
"It's not that I'm without concern. Let me ask again—this time, was nothing taken from you?"
"Luckily, aside from receiving a lifetime stalking declaration, I'm still in pristine condition. I just finished explaining that to Beatrice and the others too."
"I see. ...Beatrice?"
"Your worry is Betty's concern as well. For the time being, I don't see anything abnormal."
"I can't exactly take your word for it..."
Julius, looking satisfied, immediately turned to Beatrice for confirmation. Subaru understood it couldn't be helped, but the sentiment was complicated all the same.
Anyway— "So it seems the enemy already knew we were here as of last night. And about half a day after that... they came strolling in with their pets to cause trouble? That about right?"
"At normal travel speed, reaching this tower in half a day is difficult to imagine—especially with magical beasts obstructing the path along the way. However..."
"However?"
"If 'Gluttony' truly possesses the power to command magical beasts, then it boils down to a question of travel speed alone."
At Echidna's comment, Subaru crossed his arms with a grim expression.
The assumption that 'Gluttony' could command magical beasts was the minimum one to make. At the very least, there was no doubt that magical beasts were being directed toward the tower by the enemy.
He had to keep in mind that they possessed such means.
"Travel speed, you say?"
"...This is a land of sand. Even without interference from magical beasts, speed drops when your feet are caught in the sand. Even if you didn't lose sight of the tower, it would still take several days."
"But there could be other possibilities?"
"If the overland route is time-consuming, the aerial route is an entirely different matter."
"The aerial route...!"
Presented with this unexpected option, Subaru's dark eyes widened in surprise.
The aerial route—if that was available, travel speed could be drastically revised. It made sense that a bird soaring through the sky could travel faster than a person walking on the ground.
"I had this baseless preconception that flying was something special. But magic exists, so is flying through the air just... common?"
"Not quite. Flight magic is a type of composite spell, and the method is complicated. When you consider the risk of falling, it's normally too dangerous to attempt. Only fools, geniuses, or fools who are also geniuses would dare it."
"Though it's well known that the Margrave of Meizers arrives at his castle from the sky..."
"Sounds like a fool who's also a genius to me."
It seemed Beatrice had taken a dislike to this Margrave she'd never even met.
Glancing at Beatrice's adorably sulking expression, and having just learned that flying by magic wasn't common either, Subaru tilted his head.
"If it's not magic, then a giant bird... ah, a dragon! Riding the back of a flying dragon, right?"
"In fact, the technique of dragon-riding has been established as a secret art in the Volacchia Empire to the south. The empire monopolizes the method, but with 'Gluttony's' modus operandi, acquiring it would be easy."
"So you'd just need to ask someone who knows the technique. Eat their memories and help yourself."
When he thought about it, the enemy possessed a devastatingly powerful tool for information warfare.
If you devoured someone's *memories*, you could take everything—from the mysteries they wanted to keep hidden to anything else. And if you devoured their *name*, you could erase the very fact that you'd done so, canceling out the person's very existence.
The saying "memories make the person" really was apt.
"————"
The value of a person, the path they walk—it was something carved into memory and history, Subaru believed.
Within that value system—and especially now—he felt a deep loathing for the despicable power of 'Gluttony.' It was all spoiled.
'Gluttony's' power to steal the memories of others was malice that defiled and ruined everything.
To use it for one's own happiness, in pursuit of happiness—that was preposterous. To try to twist fate through wrong methods, through means that defied reason— —Well, says the guy who can "Return by Death," huh?
"——!"
"Subaru!"
Unconsciously, Subaru bit down hard on his lip. Beatrice called out to him.
When she tugged on his arm, their eyes met—hers blue and anxious. There was a sharp pain at the corner of his mouth, and the embarrassment of realizing he'd bitten himself.
Licking the blood from the wound with his tongue, Subaru ducked his head. "Sorry."
"A nasty expression flitted through my mind for a moment. One of my big goals is to get that guy to fall for it hook, line, and sinker... but the problem ahead of us is actually his brothers."
"We knew the Sin Archbishop of 'Gluttony' came in multiple bodies, but have you learned something?"
"Due to a really confusing first-person pronoun, it's a bit tangled, but I think so. There's the one rambling inside the Book of the Dead, plus two brothers—that's three total."
In the 'Corridor of Memories,' Louis had repeatedly used the terms 'big brother' and 'elder brother.' Taken at face value, that meant Louis had two older brothers.
Whether that exactly proved the existence of the 'Gluttony' triplet was another matter— "At the very least, Louis wasn't the type to engage in that kind of cat-and-mouse game. Well, I'm hardly one to talk, since I nearly fell for the act myself."
If he'd been fully taken in by the other's schemes and had kept squeezing that thin neck, what would have happened? If not for the voice of the blue-haired girl who appeared at that moment, he surely would have— "So, what's big bro trying to say? Going off on tangents like this, always talking in circles—that's one of your bad habits, you know."
There, Meili wiggled in apparent exasperation and voiced her displeasure.
The girl who should have been given her role from the very start was thoroughly unhappy about being kept waiting all this time.
Understanding her frustration, Subaru gestured to calm her. "I get how you feel, but this was a conversation we needed to have. The roundabout approach is definitely one of my bad habits, but please just accept that as part of my charm and love me for it—"
"Want me to bite you?"
"Fine, fine! Look, a huge horde of magical beasts has shown up! So obviously the next move is to ask Meili, our resident beast expert, to handle it! ...That's the most natural flow, right? I told you—the enemy is the ones who stole my memories."
"That means..."
Noticing Subaru's cautious tone, Meili lowered her voice as well. She understood the true meaning of what Subaru was trying to convey.
And the same was true for their companions, whose expressions had changed.
Subaru looked at them all, scratched the back of his head, and continued.
"I'm going to preface this by saying it's my fault. But they have my memories. They know our hand. —We have to outplay that."
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ —The one who controls information controls the battle.
Or something like that was the equation for victory in modern warfare, or so
Even without that, it was an equation a child could understand—you couldn't win a poker game when the opponent could see your cards.
Therefore— "If the enemy can see our combat strength, then I can understand your concern."
Leading from the front, Julius glanced back, his eyes narrowed.
They had briefly finished explaining the situation and shared the understanding that the enemy's approach might be dangerous. Still, the thought that layering anxiety on top of an unknown tactic might throw off their balance wasn't without merit— "Having information kept secret from you and finding out later is far more frightening, I think. Subaru's current approach is correct."
"Really? Is it okay? Everyone isn't going to start hating me, are you?"
"Why are you so insecure about that? It's fine. Nobody's going to start hating Subaru. In fact, st-st-st..."
"Got it, got it. Fine, I feel better. Love you too."
Running hand in hand, Subaru nodded toward Beatrice, who had been trying—however awkwardly—to deliver words of encouragement. Honestly, having the part he couldn't put into words put into words for him was more embarrassing.
Saying it was far easier than hearing it. He had no doubt about his own feelings.
"So, where's
"Up ahead—we're almost there."
At the front, Julius pointed toward a stone corridor. It looked like a dead end, but a concealed side passage was hidden just to the right.
Bending low, they followed Julius through the wall, and the moment they stepped outside the tower, they were greeted by a fierce wind laced with sand and an unfamiliar chain of sounds.
To Subaru's ears, it was like countless panes of glass shattering all at once.
"Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!"
"————"
The space was like a balcony attached to the tower's outer wall.
They had already gathered this from the spiral staircase leading to the lower levels—the fourth floor existed at a height that couldn't be measured in mere tens of meters from the ground.
At that dizzying altitude, dancing across a balcony battered by parched winds, was a stunningly stylish beauty with glossy black braids streaming behind her— "——Shaula!"
"Oh! Master came to see me!? I'm so happy! It's like my big debut—or a workplace tour! Think of it as a parent-teacher observation day—please watch closely!"
Shielding her eyes from the sandstorm with one arm, Shaula called back to Subaru in a bright, exuberant voice. And what she had been doing was nothing short of incredible fantasy.
Stretching across the full width of the balcony, arrayed in a single row, were countless cannon barrels materialized in midair.
"Cannon barrels" was perhaps a touch dramatic, but no better word came to mind. Barrels, muzzles, firing ports—in any case, they were apertures designed to launch something.
White, magical-circle-like formations floated in the air, deployed as grand cannon ports, their aim angled far downward toward the ground below.
And then— "—Infinity Hell's Sniper!!"
"What is that, it's so cool!!"
The instant Shaula called out the technique's name, the white cannon ports blazed with brilliant light.
Drowning out Subaru's playful remark that followed, one after another the glassy shattering sounds rang out across the dune sky. At the same time, the cannon ports lost their form and dissolved into the atmosphere like unraveling threads.
This was the source of the delicate sounds that had greeted Subaru and the others the moment they stepped onto the balcony. And Shaula had only one purpose in playing that symphony.
A single volley of bombardment was unleashed, and white light hurtled toward the ground at literally the speed of light.
Upon striking the sand, the white light erupted with fierce brilliance and blew the earth apart. The same held true when it pierced through the backs of magical beasts charging furiously across the sand.
Beasts kicking up sand clouds in their rush toward the tower were struck from behind by white light, scattering blood and flesh across the sand. The parched sand absorbed the blood and viscera, the scattered carcasses were trampled by other beasts, and the grand carpet-bombing of white light ruthlessly carved into the total number of incoming enemies.
The count of white lights numbered nearly a hundred, and each blast could smash through two or three beasts at once.
And Shaula had fired them all off in mere seconds. Considering that Julius had been away fetching Subaru and the others, she had been fighting alone during that time—and her kill count must have already been approaching a thousand.
But even Shaula's carpet bombing was like pouring water on a hot stone against the swarm of magical beasts filling the area around the tower like an ant colony.
The total number of beasts converging from the dunes was simply enormous.
"Hey, hey, hey... I really don't want to hear this, but—don't tell me..."
"From this vantage point, we can only see one side of the tower. But the same scene is unfolding on the opposite side as well. You can rest assured of that."
"There's also the possibility that only *this* side of the tower got the sugar-water treatment, right?"
"If there really was someone foolish enough to do that, Betty would slap them across the face with all her might."
The ceaseless rumbling, the black mass writhing below.
Being told that it was approaching from every direction—Subaru nearly collapsed under the weight of that reality. Incidentally, he also had a few words to say about the visual design of the magical beasts visible in the distance.
They were grotesque, eerie, and incomprehensible. God's design skills: C-minus.
"How was it, Master!? Did you see my performance!? Also—did you catch that dangerous angle from behind just now? It was a subtle appeal to you! How was it!?"
"Your ability to stay positive in this situation is incredible—I'm genuinely impressed! I've heard that praising the process over the result helps people grow, so—nice job! Seriously great! Awesome work! As for the angle—no way I can appreciate it right now, so focus!"
"Roger that, Master! Defense! Offense!"
Honestly, Subaru had to tip his hat to Shaula's unbreakable spirit. Even as he shouted encouragement that was, admittedly, pretty rough, he felt a pang of guilt watching her valiantly respond.
At the very least, once this battle was over, he wanted to do something to repay her— "First priority is getting through this situation...! Meili!"
"I know what you're going to say even without you yelling. But..."
"But!? But what!? 'But it doesn't matter if we wipe out all the magical beasts, right?' Is that what you're going to say? Great—go for it, in fact, I'm counting on you!"
"Don't get your hopes up so easily. Even I can't handle this many bad animal friends all at once, you know."
Placing her hands over her ears and gazing down from the balcony, Meili wore a troubled expression.
Then, brushing off Subaru's almost-outrageous request, she tightened her cute, youthful features. Licking her rosy lips with a somewhat sultry air, she said— "That's why I prepared the kids I've been raising. I'm going to unleash them."
"——!"
The moment Meili extended her hand toward the ground, a massive form simultaneously burst out from the sand, blasting the dunes apart.
Even at this considerable distance—where even large magical beasts looked like tiny specks—the silhouette of the entity that had erupted from the ground was clearly visible.
It was, in other words, just that massive. An enormous worm, easily twenty to thirty meters long, appeared and began crushing the surrounding beasts beneath its colossal body.
"That's..."
"I've been preparing and taming it just in case something like this happened. I was actually planning to slip away quietly, but I've gone and revealed it here—that's a mistake on my part."
Seeing the giant worm, Subaru's eyes widened. But Meili stuck her tongue out at him.
Actually, what surprised Subaru more than the worm itself was the fact that it looked familiar. It was the same magical beast he'd encountered when he'd tried to flee the tower.
Come to think of it, that worm bursting up from underground had inflicted damage on him too.
And afterward, the worm had been blown away by white light—that memory was firmly lodged in the corner of his mind.
So the worm had been Meili, and the light had been Shaula.
With a sense of belated understanding—and savoring the surprise and astonishment—Subaru reached out and, catching Meili off-guard as she was trying to look tough, roughly patted her head.
"Wha—hey, stop it!"
"I don't know if that's a habit or part of your nature, but there's no need to put on a tough act. I'm not buying the whole 'I was going to run away and leave you all behind' thing."
"Hmm, how can you say that so surely?"
"Well, probably because I'm you, you're me, and we're all different but equally great."
"Huh?"
Meili expressed her confusion at Subaru's words, and Subaru had no intention of explaining.
Ultimately, Meili's verbal deception was something Subaru could easily read at this stage—he had, after all, at one point accessed her memories as his own.
As long as her values hadn't shifted dramatically during her time in the tower—which they apparently hadn't—he could speak with certainty about her.
Keeping his hand on Meili's head as she grumbled "Uuun," Subaru became conscious of the situation currently unfolding—and its correlation with what had happened in the previous loop.
The massed advance of magical beasts was likely the same in principle as the previous loop's burning centaur infiltrating the tower. In other words, the intrusion of magical beasts into the tower had happened last time too. And Julius had been occupied dealing with that, fighting in the lower levels.
Which meant—had Shaula been handling the beasts on this balcony in the same way during the previous loop as well?
And with insufficient manpower, she had been unable to prevent the beasts from getting inside.
But this time would be different.
Against this swarm of magical beasts, they possessed a major advantage that the previous loop had lacked.
That advantage was Meili—the very girl who had, in the previous loop, lost her life at Subaru's own hand. She was the key to breaking through this situation.
"If Meili fights alongside Shaula against the magical beasts, the situation changes. Julius's hands would be freed up. If that's the case, then..."
—Julius could be redeployed to deal with a different problem.
"————"
The moment that thought crystallized, Subaru understood that to address the multiple simultaneous crises erupting across the tower, personnel needed to be moved to the necessary positions.
—The horde of magical beasts engulfing the dunes.
—The Sin Archbishop of 'Gluttony' launching attacks on the tower.
—A vicious giant scorpion rampaging through the tower's interior.
—A massive black shadow threatening to swallow not just the tower but the dunes themselves.
—And
"On our side, there's me and Beatrice,
"Would you also like to include the two earth dragons and the spirits in the Green Room who can provide healing, as extras? I don't think it's bad to keep them as options."
Echidna shrugged as Subaru began counting allies and enemies on his fingers. Subaru nodded at her words and added
As Echidna said, this was no time to hold anything in reserve.
Whatever it took, he had to add every piece to the board, spin his quick-witted brain at full capacity, and fulfill the conditions for their victory.
In that sense, he wanted to keep track of every ally within reach—but— "Wait a second. Isn't this way too slow, no matter what?"
"————"
"Emilia and Ram only went to the Green Room to pick up
Two allies absent from the scene. Their delay in rejoining the group made Subaru's throat go dry.
The Green Room was on the fourth floor—the same level they were currently on. It was possible they simply didn't know where this location was and had gotten separated inside the tower.
"In a situation like this, if it were merely a matter of not knowing where to go, Lady Ram would find a way somehow. Or Lady Emilia would reveal herself by destroying a wall or something."
"Ram aside, what's going on with your opinion of Emilia? There's no way those cute little arms of hers could destroy a wall. Even if they could, that's not the kind of thing she'd do, right?"
"That loss of confidence is proof enough. But Betty is also getting a bad feeling about this."
"——! Shaula! Meili! Can we leave this place to you!?"
Securing the agreement of both Julius and Beatrice, Subaru called out to Shaula and Meili. In response, Shaula—who was still deploying and firing her light cannon ports—gave a thumbs-up, and Meili flicked her braid back and puffed out her slender chest.
"Leave this to me and go on ahead, Master!"
"Leave this much to me and I'll handle it. You sisters had better come back safely, or else!"
As Shaula delivered what was arguably her number one best line before dying, and Meili showed them a reliable back to lean on, Subaru nodded to Beatrice and the others and took off.
Slipping through the wall and into the corridor— "Meili and Shaula are holding the line, but is there still a chance magical beasts could get into the tower?"
"It's not impossible. The underground sand palace where we fell—Natsuki-kun, do you remember? There was a possibility of them entering the tower from there as well. But thanks to Meili, that's been taken care of too."
"The worm went berserk and collapsed the underground?"
"Those underground passages had so many forks. Structurally, they wouldn't have been able to withstand it."
At Echidna's confirmation, Subaru clenched his fist.
In other words, Meili's presence had stopped the magical beast stampede on two fronts. If beasts couldn't enter from above or below, the defenses would hold.
If the magical beast horde was dealt with, that left four of the five major problems.
The path ahead was still dizzying, but having crushed even one obstacle was significant.
Surmounting those five obstacles— "We're going to take this tower..."
Just before Subaru could utter the words "and conquer it— "——Barusu!!"
"——! Ram!?"
While running toward the Green Room, a voice called from the other end of the corridor. Subaru looked up to see a jet-black shadow—Patrasche—charging furiously toward the four of them.
On the sharp-faced earth dragon's back, Ram clung tightly, and cradled safely in her slender arms was Rem's sleeping body.
"Ram! And Patrasche and Rem—are you all safe!?"
"Yes, somehow. You were snoring away while we went through quite the ordeal. How can you be sleeping through all this? Get up already."
"I'm sorry! Stop ganging up on me as sisters! Look—I'm up! I'm running!"
Launching lightly off the earth dragon's back, leaving Rem in the saddle, Subaru was assailed by Ram's sharp tongue.
The words were strikingly similar to what Rem had said in his dream—the nagging—but the fact that it wasn't just in appearance that they were sisters brought a strange sort of emotion.
"? —Barusu's strange attitude is odd, but that's not important right now."
Hearing Subaru's words, Ram furrowed her brows slightly in puzzlement, but quickly shook her head and turned her attention behind her.
Toward the corridor she had just come from—the direction of the Green Room.
Subaru, too, had felt a sense of incongruity: Ram had brought only Patrasche and Rem, but not Emilia, who should have been with them.
"Yeah, I've got questions too, and things to tell you. The person who should have been with you—"
"—I encountered someone who called themselves the Sin Archbishop of 'Gluttony' at the other end of the corridor."
"————"
Ram cut him off with a clear, definitive statement.
The strength of her words gave Subaru pause—and Julius and Beatrice fell silent as well. It was Echidna, the least shaken among them, who responded in their place.
"You said the Sin Archbishop of 'Gluttony'? And they were at the other end of the corridor?"
"Yes, that's right. —And someone is fighting that Sin Archbishop of 'Gluttony.'"
"...Someone?"
It was an explanation that only deepened the strangeness.
Ram's voice was as commanding and confident as ever, but that very clarity made the vague parts stand out, creating an immense sense of dissonance.
When Subaru pressed her on the vague part, Ram nodded.
She nodded, and then said— "A silver-haired stranger is clashing with the Sin Archbishop of 'Gluttony.' They told us to run—and they're still fighting now."