A lukewarm breeze, bathed in light, softly stroked Subaru's bangs.
Feeling that ticklishness, Subaru received the sensation of the young girl's hand held in his and the breathing of the tall beauty standing behind him.
They were atop the Ruberian Castle—above even the spacious room on the highest floor, standing on the roof tiles, at "the place closest to the sky" from which one could take in the entire Chaos Frame.
It was the nearest point to the "scenic abyss" Subaru had deduced.
"Olbart, I seriously think your personality is terrible."
With his free hand—the one not linked with Rui—Subaru pointed at the diminutive old man who had plopped himself down at the edge of the castle roof.
The strange old man—Olbart—sat cross-legged, slid his rear around, and turned back, then pressed his mouth to the gourd in his hand and gulped down the liquor inside with loud swallows.
And then—, "That how it is, kid? Aren't ye hungry?"
"…H-Hungry?"
"Aye, that's right, your belly. After all, lookin' at this mess right after waking up, ye didn't have a chance to eat, did ye? How your belly's feelin' affects both your head and your body, y'know."
As he spoke, Olbart set the gourd aside and produced a separate bundle from inside his coat. Before the slightly wary Subaru, Olbart let out a small "ka ka ka" laugh and unwrapped the bundle.
Inside was a black, round object about the size of a golf ball.
"That's…"
"It's called a provision pill. Portable rations for us shinobi. One of these'll keep your belly going for a whole day, and it gets both head and body runnin' smooth. Only thing is, the taste is the worst."
Picking up the provision pill from the top of the bundle with his fingers, Olbart held it up and gave it a shake.
It looked like emergency rations with no regard whatsoever for taste. There might be nutritional value in it, but the appearance alone was enough to make Subaru not want to eat it voluntarily.
Olbart rolled it across his palm as he said, "Been a shinobi since I was young, so naturally, I've been with these things since I was young too. And every time I had to eat one on the job, I always thought the same thing. That I oughta retire early like the old geezers back at the village, and live a life where I didn't have to eat stuff like this."
"…Then why don't you just do that? You said you were the head of the shinobi village, so aren't you important enough?"
"Aye, that's exactly right. I'm more important and stronger than those old coots who used to boss me around… but somehow, I still eat these things."
Saying that, Olbart tossed the provision pill he'd been rolling on his palm into his mouth. The strange old man chewed the food he'd called no good, then swallowed it with a gulp.
Then he opened his mouth wide, showing that he'd eaten it completely, and continued, "In the end, you can't break old habits, is what it comes down to. This—this mess of food with no regard for taste or appearance—is the finest meal there is for me. Don't that make ye wanna cry, hearin' that? …It don't? Ka ka ka ka!"
The strange old man laughed, clacking his teeth together. That reaction gave Subaru an unsettling feeling.
It seemed like something he should have understood, regardless of how young he was, about what that entire exchange signified. But at the same time, he couldn't just ignore all of it either.
He had a feeling it was, in Olbart's own way, a form of praise—or a compliment.
"—Olbart, this is my castle, you know?"
Timing the conversation's lull, the one who spoke was the Empress of the Demon City—Joruna Mishigre, who had come to the rooftop alongside Subaru and the others.
Stared down by Joruna's blue eyes, Olbart stopped his "Oh ho ho" laugh.
"Of course, I know that well. Keeping the castle lord in check while keeping the castle itself under my heel—now that's a mighty fine feeling. Lliving however ye please is the secret to a long life, after all."
"My, my. For someone of your stature, what a thoroughly vulgar hobby you have. It's truly beyond me to even imagine such a thing."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Naturally. After all—using that secret to long life of yours to shorten your own lifespan is hardly what anyone would call sane."
Gently pressing her sleeve to her lips, Joruna smiled gracefully, radiating heat. The anger contained in that delicate gesture—its tip was aimed, of course, at Olbart.
Olbart was surely aware of Joruna's anger, yet the strange old man simply sat cross-legged and popped the next provision pill from the open bundle on his lap into his mouth.
"Now why are the three of ye gettin' along so chummy? A fox-girl and two little runts—makin' friends? That don't suit ye at all."
"I'm afraid that unlike the nefarious Olbart, I have neither the hobby of teasing children nor the inclination to torment them. When it comes to children, proper hospitality is only natural. Moreover—"
There, she paused. Joruna twirled her golden kiseru with one finger. Pointing the tip of the smoking pipe—where the smoke trailed—at Olbart, she continued, "If it's true that Olbart has been luring children astray and even deceiving my attendant… as the mistress of this city, I have no choice but to take the measures that must be taken."
"Oh ho, ho."
Stroking his chin gently, Olbart turned his amused gaze toward Subaru and the others.
Sensing the intent behind that look, Subaru nodded deeply.
"Sorry, but I tattled on you. It's not against your rules, is it? You set your people on us, after all."
"Ka ka ka ka! Quite the sharp-tongued kid, aren't ye. But that's the right call. Since we're the ones who started this, crying about getting payback would be unbecoming. Still…"
"Still?"
"Even though ye can't even keep track of what's inside yer own head, ye sure do think hard, don't ye? Kid, could you by chance be of the Volachia imperial family? With personalities that terrible, I mean."
"Don't say something that terrifying…"
By hair color alone, Subaru shared that with Abel, the current Emperor, but beyond that, the differences were too great. Their facial structure and leg length proved as much.
Besides, saying the Volachia imperial family had terrible personalities was an insult that went too far.
For example—, "I can say 'thank you' properly when someone's been good to me."
"And you do it with a big smile on your face to boot. Children should be just like that. I'd like
Parting her lips with a smile, evaluating Subaru's high spirits, Joruna lowered her voice. Her eyes narrowed, and the warm, friendly atmosphere drew to a close.
Because—, "To admonish my devoted attendant, the attendant herself needs to be present for that conversation. So, Olbart—where exactly did you hide that girl?"
That question from Joruna was the very reason she had accompanied them here.
"————"
Feeling the prickling pressure radiating from Joruna toward Olbart, Subaru bit his lip and confirmed the sound of his own pounding heart.
—Downstairs, right after entering the castle, Subaru had run into Joruna. Having learned the previous day about who Joruna truly was, Subaru had once again taken a tremendous gamble.
He had told Joruna as much as possible, with as little concealment as he could manage, about the situation they were in—and about the game of "hide-and-seek" taking place in this Chaos Frame.
Of course, he hadn't revealed Abel's true identity, nor had he let on that he and the others had been turned into children by Olbart's hand. What mattered was that Subaru and the others were playing "hide-and-seek" with Olbart, and that Tanza was assisting in it.
Resolved to face Joruna with everything he had—sincerely pleading and patiently working to dispel her doubts—Subaru had confided in her.
And after pondering for a moment, Joruna had said— '—I am not a woman who cannot see through the desperate words of a child.' And with that, she had taken Subaru and Rui along, escorting them all the way to the top of the Ruberian Castle.
"Honestly, I never thought you'd be someone I could talk to this openly…"
"Au au."
"Yeah, I know."
Hearing Subaru's murmur, Rui shook his clasped hand and puckered his lips.
At that reaction, Subaru told himself that this was a stroke of luck brought about by many coincidences stacking up. Without any one factor, this situation could never have come to be.
Being separated from Abel, who was plotting something.
Reaching the Ruberian Castle thanks to
Being found directly by Joruna rather than by a sentry.
Having Rui with him instead of Al or Medium.
And Subaru—the one most heavily affected by the "child transformation"—being the one to take the gamble.
The biggest reason Joruna had lent an ear to Subaru was that she had taken it to be genuine—the sincere plea of a child, with no lies in it.
Just as there are adults who won't take a child's words seriously and laugh them off…
There are also adults who take children's words to heart and try to meet their expectations.
He would never have expected that of one of the "Nine Divine Generals" of this ruthless Volachia Empire.
"Who on earth said Joruna was out of her mind…"
He supposed it was because, logically, she didn't accept what was considered common sense in Volachia—the law of the jungle—and so she was treated that way.
At the very least, Subaru, who had been treated so well by her, had no alternative way to think about it.
"Olbart, I have two demands to make of you."
As she spoke, Joruna gently held up two fingers.
Subaru couldn't interject into the conversation between these transcendent beings playing out over his head. He simply kept conscious of the sensation of Rui's hand, ready to move if something happened.
If they warped downstairs, that alone would be enough to escape the rooftop battlefield.
"Demands? Let's hear them."
"First, return Tanza to my side."
"Now hold on, that's a rough deal. A girl's got her own thoughts, don't she? Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone and plotted something behind your back, would she?"
"—Silence."
Olbart, half-admitting that he knew where Tanza was, had his laughter cut short by a single sharp command from Joruna.
Those words, heavy with quiet intensity, had the power to completely transform the atmosphere.
In fact, even Subaru—who wasn't the one being addressed—held his breath.
And so, having silenced Olbart's defiant tongue, Joruna brought the kiseru she was toying with to her lips, slowly filled her lungs with purple smoke, and said, "I'm afraid I have no intention of hearing Tanza's pleas or thoughts from anyone's mouth other than her own. Least of all after they've been filtered through the tongue of the 'Nefarious Elder.'"
"Ka ka, I'm hated, it seems."
"You're more than aware of the reasons, I'm sure?"
Smiling aggressively and tilting her head, Joruna's hair ornament swayed with a soft clink. The ornate hairpin embedded in her luxuriously arranged hair—even that embellished beauty struck Subaru as one of Joruna's weapons.
—Important people want to be feared.
It was Joruna who had taught Subaru that such a way of thinking existed. Perhaps being feared wasn't all—making someone see you as beautiful might serve the same purpose.
"And second—this game that these children are playing, it must be stopped."
"A game, huh. Well, even if it looks like play, it's a serious contest."
"I told you this yesterday, in the presence of His Majesty the Emperor. —That no one is to lay a hand on our envoys, and I expect that to be upheld regardless of who it may be."
—No one would be allowed to lay a hand on Subaru and the others.
That was, as it happened, the decision Joruna had relayed through Tanza. And Joruna herself fully intended to enforce it, and was furious that it had been violated.
In other words—, "Are you prepared to make an enemy of me in this Demon City?"
"Oh my, how terrifying. What a scary girl. …Well, for what it's worth, I haven't actually done anything to them—I can at least say that much."
"That's merely the interpretation Olbart has chosen for himself, isn't it? —Just whose city do you think this is? Do you take me for such a broad-minded woman that I'd simply laugh and let that slide?"
Savoring the sensation of the air heating up around them, Subaru felt goosebumps cover his whole body.
The further Joruna's words progressed, the more her emotions surged. Of course, she wasn't the kind of person to let that show in her tone of voice or on her face.
But he could feel it. Because Subaru had seen plenty of people who were truly angry in his life.
People who were truly angry burned with those emotions, staking their very lives on them. That's why, being near them, you could just tell. That a very pure anger was there.
"Mmm…"
Rui, sharing the same tense air as Subaru, let out a small groan.
On the journey here, Rui had proactively attacked anyone who pursued them. But the ones present now were Joruna and Olbart—people whose strength was on an entirely different level from their pursuers.
By animal instinct, she probably understood that fighting would be futile. Maybe she was even worried about Subaru getting caught up in the fight—, "—Olbart!"
Sensing that his thoughts about Rui were softening, Subaru shook it off. Riding that momentum, he called out to Olbart, who was locked in a staring contest with Joruna.
Olbart, still seated on the roof, deftly focused one eye on Joruna while directing the other toward Subaru.
"H-How are you doing that…?"
"Ka ka ka ka! Body control is the foundation of a shinobi's foundations! Right hand and left hand, right foot and left foot—if ye can't do different things with each, ye can't call yerself a shinobi. So—?"
"Huh?"
"I just called out to me a bit ago, right? Lemme tell ye, this is one of the handful of dangerous situations I've had in my life. I can only give half my attention to one eye's worth, y'know."
Though his carefree attitude hadn't broken, Olbart clearly understood this was a critical moment. In that case, even one eye's worth of attention was appreciated.
Subaru placed a hand on his own chest, took several deep breaths, and said, "Can't we call it even?"
"…Hmm?"
At Subaru's proposal, Olbart opened his left eye wide. Having drawn that much attention, Subaru frustratingly raised his voice, saying "I mean—!"
"Even! Even, Olbart! You were about to do something that seemed like a rule violation too, and I tattled to Joruna. It's both or neither, so…"
"So you're sayin' we both admit we were wrong and leave it at that, eh?"
"Y-Yeah, exactly! See, it's not bad, right? I'll give you what you want for sure, and our problem gets solved too!"
What Olbart wanted was the secret of the Emperor that Abel possessed.
Subaru didn't know the details, but if that could be handed over, Olbart would likely find it easier to withdraw. The "hide-and-seek" had originally been a kind of test of wits, meant to determine whether that information could be believed.
"The deal was three rounds, and I've only been found twice so far… but go easy on me on that. I did make it all the way to the top of the castle somehow."
"Hmm… By the way, was it you who figured out this was the hiding spot? Not that young fellow with the demon mask or whatever?"
"Y-Yeah, that was me. The 'scenic abyss' thing—I just happened to think of it. …There was one other spot I had in mind, too."
Perhaps Abel and the others were heading for that other location.
Either way, sooner or later, Abel and the others would also arrive at the answer and come to the Ruberian Castle. Subaru had cheated with Rui's teleportation and Ubilk's "advice."
But if he could claim credit here, it might make it easier to persuade Abel and the others regarding Rui's treatment. And if that still wasn't enough, there was always the option of enlisting Joruna as an ally.
Though of course, once Joruna learned of Rui's true identity, it was anyone's guess how she would act.
"In any case! What do you think, Olbart? Will you… no, will you agree to listen to our proposal?"
Shaking his head to dispel the negative thoughts, Subaru looked at Olbart.
He'd said "our" because this reconciliation required Joruna's cooperation. If Joruna were to declare she wouldn't forgive Olbart for luring Tanza into his schemes, then the proposal Subaru had worked so hard on would be rendered meaningless.
However—, "————"
Joruna, eyes half-closed, kiseru between her lips, raised no objection. Subaru took her silence to mean she was respecting his opinion.
He was incredibly, incredibly grateful. He wanted to thank her from the bottom of his heart.
And so, in order not to waste the trust—or perhaps the kindness—that Joruna had placed in him, "Olbart."
Once more, Subaru called Olbart's name, hoping for him to come around.
Receiving Subaru's expectant gaze, Olbart picked up the gourd he'd set down with one finger. Then he pressed his mouth to it and drained every last drop of liquor, "Tell me, kid. Whether it's something only you right now could think of, or something you would've thought of regardless… I really can't tell at all…"
"————"
"A match I've already set in motion—I'm not the kind of man who'd toss it aside halfway through and call it quits. —Old geezers are stubborn, y'know?"
The strange old man grinned, and in his hand the gourd was crushed, shattering to pieces.
The fragments scattered with a clatter, and Subaru gasped.
Right after—, "An old relic too senile to even take the hand a child offers—lament that obstinacy of yours."
Joruna's long leg shot out and came crashing down, and with a thunderous roar, the Ruberian Castle's keep was split in two.
△▼△▼△▼△ A foot clad in thick-soled geta rose high into the air, then slammed straight down at tremendous speed.
In that instant, the keep buckled under the direct impact of the heel, and after a beat it cracked, shattered, and burst apart with a deafening explosion, as if hit by a bomb.
Roof tiles blew into the air and thick smoke billowed upward, and standing in the epicenter—beautifully flipping the hem of her kimono—was Joruna, the one who had unleashed that devastating strike.
A single leap followed by a heel drop, executed in one continuous motion by Joruna—the result of that immense destructive power was the half-destroyed castle.
In the most literal sense, the keep had collapsed from a single heel strike by Joruna, destroying the beautiful scenery of the Ruberian Castle.
"Whoaaa—!?!"
Witnessing that catastrophic destructive power firsthand, Subaru clutched his head and crouched down.
He had narrowly avoided being caught up in the destruction of the castle, but the tremendous shaking nearly sent him tumbling off the roof.
Though, admittedly, Rui's arm was there to hold him back.
"Auu!"
"Damn it! Why does it always end up like this…!"
Pulled tight into a half-crouch, Subaru shouted through tear-filled eyes.
Smoke and debris had blown into his eyes—that was why they were tearing up. It was absolutely not because Olbart, the stubborn fool, had rejected his proposal.
That hurt too, of course, but—, "Joruna!!"
"Step back, so you don't get caught in this. I'm afraid I'm not very good at holding back. —That said,"
Without turning around to Subaru's call from behind, Joruna responded.
She paused there, then pulled her foot free from the roof where it had been embedded, brushed the grime from the hem of her kimono, and looked up— "As expected, your lightness is impressive."
Floating amid the curtain of billowing smoke and roof tile fragments directly above her, a small figure spun and soared through the air—Olbart's silhouette.
Bathed in Joruna's gaze, Olbart bared his teeth in a grin and said, "We were supposed to agree on no outside interference, weren't we? …Does this mean you're fair game now?"
"Truly a surprise that you think you can beat me in this city. If you've gone senile, I'd recommend vacating your seat among the Nine Divine Generals for your successor."
"Ka ka ka ka! That ain't happening. I'm planning to be the longest-living of the Nine Divine Generals."
In the air and on the rooftop, their gazes met, and the two exchanged intentions of attack, bracing themselves.
Joruna put her kiseru to her lips while Olbart inverted himself in midair—and as purple smoke spewed forth, Olbart kicked off the sky and dove in at arrow-like speed.
"—!"
Olbart's glowing eyes fixed on the target as his foot-blade collided head-on with Joruna's billowing purple smoke.
The smoke from the kiseru—something that should possess neither mass nor hardness—caught Olbart's kick, bending and flexing as it dispersed the impact.
Seeing that, Olbart deepened his grin, "Sha—!!"
His short legs spun at high speed, unleashing a barrage of ten, twenty ferocious kicks.
The purple smoke deflected blow after blow, but the power of the kicks gradually scattered it further and further. As the smoke thinned and could no longer serve its role as a shield or armor— It was already somewhat absurd that it had managed to serve that role at all, but— "Now that's a neat trick. I'd like to write that one down in a technique manual."
"I'm afraid it's a secret art that no shinobi who can't love others could ever replicate."
The moment Olbart broke through the smoke, Joruna's figure appeared at his flank.
Joruna, who had leaped into midair, swung the elegant kiseru in her hand, aiming for the back of Olbart's exposed head.
The length and weight were a bit lacking for a bludgeoning weapon, but Olbart caught it—not with his arm, but with the kunai concealed within it.
With a sharp metallic ring, the kunai hidden in Olbart's sleeve shattered.
Naturally, it should have been made of a fitting material, but the kunai broke cleanly while Joruna's kiseru remained completely undamaged. What on earth was Joruna's kiseru made of?
"Ka ka, ye gotta be gentle with old folks. Teasing them is just not right, girl."
"I won't deny that there are elderly who deserve to be treated with care. But Olbart, you're not one of them by any stretch of the imagination. In that case—"
"I'll just have to take care of myself, since no one else will."
They exchanged light banter while casually hurling lethal attacks at each other.
Joruna's slender arms and long legs delivered blows that, despite their elegant appearance, each packed enough power to crumble castle walls.
Compared to that, Olbart's attacks lacked any flash, deftly parrying Joruna's strikes while sneaking in the occasional nuisance jab.
But—, "I don't need the power to topple castles just to kill someone. In the end, sticking a longish needle right here does the trick."
"Then by all means, try it."
Receiving Joruna's quiet provocation, Olbart's crafty expression dissolved into the sky. —No, he had begun moving at a speed impossible for a normal eye to follow.
There had once been a legendary boxer who danced like a butterfly and stung like a bee, and Olbart's fighting style on the stage of the half-destroyed keep was exactly that.
Or to put it more accurately, it might be better to say he flew around like a fighter jet and struck like a sniper rifle.
"My, what an acrobat you are. A bit too rowdy, if you ask me."
Whether it was from Olbart's leg strength, the roof tiles he stepped on would burst, and in the next instant his figure would appear from a different location, landing a strike on Joruna.
Joruna countered with superhuman reflexes, catching the blows on her kiseru or dodging them entirely. Both were transcendent beings locked in a fierce battle, and Subaru forgot to even breathe.
"Au…!"
Beside him, Rui—who was watching the same spectacle—huddled her body tight.
At the start of the fight, there had been a worry that Rui might leap out, unable to endure waiting passively in the middle of this.
But the battle between Joruna and Olbart was no longer on that level.
Whichever side won, catastrophic damage would surely follow.
That was a result vastly different from what Subaru had idealized.
"But what am I supposed to do? There's no way to stop this…!"
With a fight this spectacular and the keep already destroyed so spectacularly, everyone in the city would surely have realized something was happening at the castle.
If that happened, the people who adored Joruna could come swarming, or the Fake Emperor and his companions—allies of Olbart—might make their move.
If that came to pass, it would be the start of a full-scale citywide war.
That was not what Subaru wanted.
Even if he had come to recruit Joruna into Abel's great battle to reclaim the throne, a battle begun without adequate preparation could bring any manner of tragedy.
"Shiii—!!"
A sharp cry rang out, and the spinning strange old man's feet pierced the roof just in front of Joruna. The shockwave traveled through the roof, and the ground beneath Joruna's feet exploded, launching her body high into the air. The positions of those in the sky and those standing on the ground had been reversed.
"————"
Beneath Joruna, now suspended in midair, shuriken closed in from all directions.
When exactly had he thrown them, she had no idea. Had he thrown them after sending Joruna skyward, or had he thrown them knowing they'd arrive at the right time even before that? Either way, there was no escape.
High in the sky, the shuriken would cruelly carve wounds into Joruna's soft skin — or so it would have, if— "You realize, I trust, that I am the sovereign of this city—the ruler of the Demon City."
As she answered, the spinning shuriken surrounding Joruna came to a halt in midair.
The one who accomplished this was not Joruna, who had moved at extreme speed. She hadn't needed to move at all. What stopped the shuriken was a single roof tile that had been swirling in the air.
It couldn't be called a stroke of incredible luck.
Because for all ten-plus shuriken closing in from every direction to be caught by tiles—no matter how favorable the odds, that was an impossibility.
Gazing wide-eyed at this sight were Subaru and Olbart, as Joruna gently waved her arm.
And in sync with her arm's motion, the tiles that had caught the shuriken swam through the air, then came to a stop around her in a spiral, like a floating staircase.
With unhurried grace, Joruna's thick-soled geta stepped onto the tiles, and she descended slowly toward the keep.
It was a sudden illusion—or perhaps psychokinesis made manifest. It could be called magic, of course, but it was somewhat different from the magic Subaru knew.
What she had manipulated wasn't fire, ice, wind, or earth, but the building itself—its very components.
"Gaah, what a pain in the rear you are. So that's what it is—the trick that Cecilus and Araki were talking about. How does it work?"
"I told you, didn't I? A secret art that no shinobi who can't love others could pull off… Despite appearances, I'm a woman who cherishes things, you see."
Smiling, the kiseru clamped between her lips, Joruna clapped her empty hands together twice.
At that signal, the half-destroyed keep began to change. —No, calling it a change was far too mild. It was a sorcery that warped reality itself, as if it were a dream.
"This… this is…"
The ground twisted beneath them. Gasping, Subaru felt Rui cling to his arm. Supporting her body, Subaru witnessed the extraordinary phenomenon unfolding before his eyes—the restoration of the half-destroyed keep.
Slowly, as if running a recording of the wounds healing at high speed, the building was restored.
Joruna was a practitioner of what Abel had theorized to be the "Soul Marriage Art." Combined with what she had said earlier, a single hypothesis surfaced in Subaru's mind.
It was an absurdly, impossibly far-fetched notion—but Joruna Mishigre was…
"You're using the Soul Marriage Art on the castle itself…?"
At a loss for words, Subaru could only stare at the mistress of the Demon City, who had displayed truly off-the-charts power beyond all measure.