Pale skin drained of all color, with golden irises floating within pitch-black eyes.
The army of corpses that had suddenly appeared dealt a literal bucket of cold water to both the
A war between the living competing for the Empire's supremacy had, before anyone realized, transformed into a survival contest between the living and the dead—and the intensity of its cruelty only deepened.
"Uuaaahhh—!!"
With a mighty roar, he brought both hands down on his sword and drove it into the enemy before him.
The opponent had raised a tattered sword—wherever he'd scavenged it from—to block, but the reckless blow shattered the brittle blade and drove straight through into the enemy's skull.
The sensation of a skull cracking open—yet what followed was not a ghastly spray of blood and brain matter, but a shower of fragments resembling a shattered ceramic pot, a sight utterly unlike any way a human could die.
These inhuman beings were wrong not just in appearance, but even in the manner of their deaths.
As someone living in the Empire, he'd had the opportunity to see races with unusual physical traits—different numbers of arms or eyes, for instance—but even for them, the way they died was the same.
All living things ought to meet their end as living things. That was only natural.
But these corpses didn't have that. Perhaps that was why the revulsion was so visceral.
Even in the Empire—where soldiers fought day and night and lives were said to be cheaper than elsewhere—even here, no one trampled on life itself the way these corpses did.
"Hold the line! Let His Excellency and the citizens escape!"
"Ooooh—!!"
When one of the "generals" shouted his orders, the surrounding soldiers screamed as if seized by a fever.
The army of corpses and the rampage of the "Cloud Dragon"—the retaining wall of the reservoir in the northern part of the Imperial Capital had been destroyed, and His Excellency had decided to abandon the capital and order a full retreat.
The Imperial Army had rallied as one, pouring everything into supporting the evacuation of the Emperor and the citizens of Lupugana. Ironic as it was, the emergence of this third faction had rendered the battle with the rebels moot. Now, without distinction between regular soldiers and rebels, the lines were drawn between the living and the dead, and a fierce battle raged on.
An imperial soldier who had just struck down a corpse struggled to hold his ground. He and the soldiers around him fought with everything they had to hold back as many corpses as possible—whether they could drag any of them to the afterlife along with them.
"I've got no idea what those things are. But..."
"If His Excellency is there—"
"Then surely he will devise a plan to exterminate you all!"
No matter what the enemy was, their trust in Vincent Volachia—the Empire's supreme ruler—remained unshaken. That was the greatest reason they could hold their ground without fear.
Vincent had continued to deliver results. Imperial soldiers took the blood spilled against his enemies and the pile of corpses he'd amassed as proof of why they trusted him.
When you considered the absoluteness of his rule, their fighting spirit was purer than that of those who had casually plotted rebellion.
The same was true of their will to fight against the corpses threatening to shake the Empire.
"—! Everyone, take that one down!"
The "general's" cry was directed at a particularly massive corpse.
The bald, hulking corpse swung both its arms, sending imperial soldiers flying like scraps of paper. If left unchecked, that massive body would punch a hole in the line and the carefully constructed defensive position would collapse from that point.
To stop it, soldiers obeyed the "general's" command and charged the giant all at once.
"U, uuaaahhh!!"
Ducking the corpse of a comrade who had been punched and had his skull caved in, the imperial soldier slashed low at the giant's legs.
The cut landed, and the enemy's posture buckled. But as the soldier looked up, his eyes met the golden irises of the creature, and the tip of a sword wrenched from someone else glinted dully.
Just before being impaled on that point, a figure threw itself between the sword and the imperial soldier.
"I... yaaargh...!"
Chest pierced, screaming amidst bloody froth—it was the "general."
The imperial soldier shielded by the "general" caught his breath, then burst from behind the man's back and, with every ounce of strength, brought his sword crashing down on the giant corpse's head.
The sword snapped in half from the impact, but the giant fell without counterattacking, its entire body scattering into pieces.
With a thud, the "general" collapsed to the ground behind the soldier—he'd traded his life for the giant corpse's.
The "general," chest pierced through, had already expired. The imperial soldier praised his bravery as he borrowed the man's sword to replace his broken one.
Then, as he turned his head to search for the next enemy— "Son of a bitch..."
The soldier cursed under his breath, hooking a finger under his dented helmet to adjust it.
He'd just survived a near-death encounter, and what filled his vision next was another corpse—wearing the exact same equipment and bearing the exact same face as the "general" who had just died protecting him.
The "general's" corpse lay crumpled beside him. He himself was holding the "general's" sword.
And yet, standing before him was a pale face with golden eyes—the very same "general," risen again.
"Son of a bitch."
A battlefield where even comrades fell and immediately rose as corpses to fight against you.
In this drenched hellhole that made you want to curse the heavens, the imperial soldier raised his sword and fought on for as long as he had breath left.
--- Outside the Imperial Capital Lupugana, fleeing toward the fortress city of Garfiel—a chain-linked dragon carriage.
Inside that carriage, the historic alliance forged between
Though, to be fair, the source of that interruption was— "What's with that? We were worried sick about you, Natsuki-kun, and now you greet us like uninvited guests? That's just hurtful, that is."
"I don't have that look on my face! I'm happy we got to meet. Anastasia-san, of course, and Julius too, I can see through that composed act of yours—"
"Composed isn't quite the word for it. It's your appearance that's to blame, Subaru."
Looking Subaru up and down with undisguised interest were Julius and Anastasia, who had abruptly joined up with the chain-linked dragon carriage.
Naturally, running into the two of them here was a bolt from the blue for Subaru.
The shock was comparable to when Priscilla had suddenly descended from the sky back at the fortified city.
Moreover, Subaru wasn't so dense that he couldn't guess why the two of them were in the Volachia Empire.
"That said, Emilia and the others coming to look for us is one thing, but Anastasia-san too... You went out of your way to come find me via
"Indeed. It was quite the grand tour—three countries in total! Crossing into Volachia wasn't exactly easy either. We had to spend a pretty penny on the journey, you know."
"Ugh..."
"I don't like to bring up money, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't forget the price of the bones we broke on your behalf."
Being sent to the Empire had been beyond Subaru's control, but hearing about the worry they'd gone through made his chest tight. He'd been thoroughly cornered by Anastasia's gaze and words—on the verge of owing her an enormous debt.
But then, from near Anastasia's collar, a voice called out "Ana": "There's no need to tease Natsuki-kun so mercilessly. With the way he looks right now, anyone watching would think you're the bully picking on a child."
"Oh..."
When Subaru looked up at that voice, the speaker responded by swishing its white tail.
It was the fox fur stole draped over Anastasia's shoulders—that is to say,
Unlike the
With this, of the companions separated at the Pleiades Watchtower, all Subaru had left to show his safe face to was Mimi—once he could see
In any case— "Anastasia-san! Julius too—so you made it to Volachia safely."
"It's wonderful that you and the others are safe, Emilia-san. The trouble we had getting here... Well, it's only awkward because we didn't find Natsuki-kun first, unlike you."
"No, that feeling means so much to me. Thank you."
Emilia welcomed Anastasia's arrival with a warm smile of her own.
As if the situation in the Volachia Empire weren't dire enough with a civil war, now they had a corpse calamity on top of it. They could count themselves lucky that they hadn't crossed paths with Anastasia's group in the Imperial Capital.
And just as the unexpected reunion was settling down— "Have you finished reminiscing? Whether you know it or not, time for the war council is limited."
The one who threw cold water on the mood was Abel, arms folded with his usual brazen composure.
For him, it was a miracle of restraint that he'd read the room this long, but even he had his limits. With a pointed remark, Abel shot Subaru a sidelong glance.
"Another acquaintance of yours. I didn't expect you'd have extended your reach all the way to Kararagi."
"That's actually a bit complicated. Anastasia-san and the others are from Kararagi but also not from Kararagi, if you know what I mean... How should I put it?"
Subaru tilted his head in puzzlement, his gaze falling on
"I'll take that explanation. After all, I was the one who personally arranged their passage on the airship."
To answer Subaru's question, Julius wiped the scar beneath his left eye with a finger.
The fresh white scar on that handsome profile, combined with his unfamiliar wasao attire, accentuated Julius's composed severity in a way that struck Subaru as strange.
Whether that strange feeling was influenced by his "infantilization" was hard to say, but it was more likely due to the changes in Julius himself.
Somehow, Julius seemed to have more composure now than before.
Previously, he'd had a certain elegance as the "Knight of Finest," but that was different from composure—perhaps even the opposite.
Whether this attitude—like finally shedding armor he'd worn too long—came from his experience at the Pleiades Watchtower or from some other cause, Subaru couldn't say.
"—Your Excellency Emperor Vincent Volachia. First of all, I am relieved to see you safe. To be granted the honor of an audience once more is a privilege beyond my expectations."
Oblivious to Subaru's musings, Julius stepped forward and delivered his greeting with a fluid bow.
Standing behind the imposing Goz, Abel narrowed his sharp brow at Julius's salutation. Subaru too felt a twinge of unease at the word "once more."
"You said 'once more.' But I have no memory of meeting a City-State swordsman, nor do I recognize your face. On what basis do you claim we've met before?"
"With your leave, I was once granted the opportunity to catch a glimpse of you. That said, I was not a City-State swordsman at that time, but a knight of the Kingdom."
"A knight of the—"
Even facing the Emperor of Volachia, Julius showed no fear. Abel studied him with narrowed black eyes, but seemed to find no thread of memory to pull on.
Given how boldly Julius was conducting himself, he clearly wasn't lying. That meant the two had actually met, but Abel had simply forgotten.
In other words, it was proof that the effects of the "Gluttony" that had made everyone forget Julius had not yet fully recovered.
"If you're scheming, your attitude doesn't quite add up.—Berstetz."
"Yes. I too have no recollection of that gentleman."
"An occasion where Berstetz was absent from an audience would be rare. In other words, this isn't a problem between you and me alone—it's a broader issue."
From a single query about whether Berstetz remembered Julius, Abel instantly deduced that the gap in their perceptions had special circumstances behind it.
Hearing this, Subaru couldn't help muttering, "Is this guy for real?"
"Would a normal person just accept something like this? This is crazy..."
"Corpses are rising from the dead, and the Emperor has been driven from his capital. Whether your body has shrunk or not is hardly a difference in scale. The key is whether you can conceive of the possibility."
"I wouldn't say my shrinking is just another everyday occurrence..."
The theory that anything in the world could be accepted if you could conceive of it wasn't exactly convincing.
As Subaru furrowed his brow,
"Perhaps you shouldn't think too hard about it. Besides, it's far more convenient to deal with someone who has the capacity to listen than a stubborn fool."
"...That's true. Also, that feels really good, so keep doing it a little longer."
"If you insist, I suppose."
While Beatrice continued the massage between Subaru's brows, Julius—having cleared up the question from the greeting—turned to the matter at hand.
"First, the person beside me is
"Oh my, Lady Emilia and another. So the Kingdom's next royal selection candidates have gathered in a foreign land. How delightfully rare."
Selina's scarred face twisted with amusement, and Julius gave a silent nod in response to her words. Accepting his confirmation, the Imperial camp's eyes turned to Emilia—and at their gaze, she parted her lips.
"Yes, Julius is telling the truth. Both Anastasia-san and I are royal selection candidates, and we're friends."
"To be precise, the 'friends' part was decided after the royal selection ended.—As he introduced, I represent the Hoshin Trading Company of Kararagi and am one of the royal selection candidates for the
"That's quite the title, and from the Kingdom to boot."
"I'd hate to surprise you with a title alone, but in fact, that's not the only hat I wear. And that, you see, is the reason we went to the trouble of arriving by airship."
Abel had just established a friendly alliance with Emilia as the Empire's leader. At the prospect of another Kingdom citizen being involved, he was about to show displeasure—but Anastasia held up a hand to pause him.
At Anastasia's hint that there was still another title to reveal, Emilia touched a finger to her lips with a puzzled expression.
"But Anastasia-san, you're already the trading company's representative and a royal selection candidate... There's more? Oh—could you be the one who employs Mimi and the others' mercenary group?"
"The '
"Different..."
Being told she was wrong, Emilia murmured in that adorably troubled voice of hers.
At this, Anastasia smiled wryly, and Julius gestured toward her with his hand: "On this occasion, Anastasia has been entrusted with a mission as an envoy of the Kararagi City Alliance—and has come to the Empire in that capacity."
"—The Kararagi City Alliance!?"
It was Otto who nearly flipped his voice upside down at Julius's answer.
Having broken his self-imposed silence, Otto wore an awkward expression. Subaru seized the opportunity to ask him, "City Alliance? What's that?"
"I know Kararagi is called a City-State, meaning lots of cities bundled together into one country, but..."
"—That understanding is correct. The Kararagi City-States are, broadly speaking, a nation composed of ten major cities. Each city has its own mayor, and together they form a council—what we call the City Alliance."
"Huh... Kind of like Pristella's council of ten?"
"More accurately, the council of ten at Pristella was modeled after the City Alliance. The 'Mantle of Water Pavilion' as well—being on the border, Pristella has a great deal of Kararagi cultural influence."
"Oh, now that you mention it..."
The "Mantle of Water Pavilion," where they'd stayed as Anastasia's guests, was steeped in Wafoe style inside and out—a style that had supposedly come from Kararagi.
Going further back, the Wafoe style itself was probably knowledge carried over from Subaru's own world, but he set that aside for now.
In any case— "To enter the Empire not just as a Kingdom royal selection candidate, but as an envoy bearing the City Alliance's mandate—that's no small matter."
"It's true. Kararagi may not be as bad as Lugunica, but you certainly can't call Volachia and Kararagi close friends. Actually, the Empire doesn't really get along with anyone."
"Probably because the Emperor is such a pain. Maybe things will mellow out a little from now on."
"Shut up."
Subaru chimed in with Anastasia's straightforward manner of speaking, and Abel flung a verbal insult at him without changing expression.
Subaru stuck his tongue out in response, but the exchange left Julius visibly startled.
Julius stared at Subaru with wide eyes, but since an explanation would take too long, Subaru simply stuck his tongue out at him too and let it go.
"The situation in Volachia has reached our ears even back in Kararagi. But we didn't come here to take advantage of it."
"How magnanimous. Though I doubt your motives are entirely pure."
"Well, you've got to be shrewd to get by. Wouldn't it feel worse if someone helped you for free?"
"—That's fair enough."
Abel's gaze flicked momentarily to Emilia at Anastasia's mischievous eyes.
Emilia looked puzzled by the look, but from Abel and Anastasia's perspective, Emilia's goodwill was far more naïve than anything calculated.
Even Subaru wouldn't go so far as to say they should help Abel for free—and if he did, Otto would deliver a thousand sermons straight from hell.
Just then, a hoarse voice asked, "May I speak?"
Berstetz, having received Abel's silent assent, turned his thread-thin eyes toward Anastasia and Julius.
"I find it somewhat puzzling. Might I ask why the City-States would send an envoy to the Empire in its current state? Surely you're not here to hold us accountable—claiming that the Empire's troubles have spilled over into your territory?"
"In Kararagi, where we believe 'time and money are equivalent,' even we wouldn't come to talk money in the middle of a full-blown crisis. Interfering in internal affairs without thorough preparation is just asking to lose."
"You're beating around the bush. I told you—time is limited."
"My, how impatient. Fine, fine.—Halibel."
"Hm? I get to talk?"
When the Empire's leadership pressed for answers, Anastasia called on Halibel, who was nearby.
Leaning against the carriage wall and blowing smoke rings from his pipe, Halibel stroked the fur along his chin as the others' gazes converged on him.
His fur was quite lush and well-kept, Subaru noted.
"Well then, I'll lay it out for you... Turns out something strange has been happening in Kararagi lately. And I've been asked by the City Alliance to sort it out."
"Something strange?"
"Something you'd probably connect the dots on.—The dead have been moving."
"Dead?"
The casual, slightly teasing words from Halibel made Subaru catch his breath. But Emilia and Goz tilted their heads at the unfamiliar term.
Reading their reaction, Halibel smiled sheepishly and said, "Sorry, sorry—"
"Right, right, that's Kararagi dialect, so it wouldn't make sense to you. When I say 'the dead,' I mean what you'd call corpses. In other words..."
"—The City-States have also been hit by the corpse calamity?"
"That's exactly it."
Halibel's calm confirmation sent the same shock through Emilia's group that Subaru had felt.
If the same army of corpses that had ambushed the Imperial Capital's defense was also operating in Kararagi, then this was far more than an Empire-only crisis.
"Th-then you're saying this could be happening on a world scale?! What about the zombie situation in Kararagi—how did that resolve?"
"Zombie?"
"The walking dead! It's easier to understand with a name."
"Ohhh, I see, I see. Huh—even though it's a word I don't know, it rolls off the tongue nicely."
Halibel puffed on his pipe in response to Subaru's explanation, looking cheerful. His casual attitude frustrated Subaru, who leaned forward and exclaimed, "Halibel!"
The corpse calamity might be expanding by the hour— "There's no time to waste. If this is what's happening, then being in the Empire is—"
"Don't worry. I took care of the zombie mess in Kararagi properly. So there's no need to fret about Kararagi."
"Oh..."
"What a sweet kid you are. Like giving candy to a child. ...Ah, I don't actually have any candy on me."
Halibel made no move to search his sleeves, but reassured Subaru in a light tone. Feeling rebuked for having leaned forward so eagerly, Subaru pouted.
"According to Halibel's investigation, tracing the pattern of the zombie incidents showed that the damage was gradually moving toward the Empire. That's why the City Alliance sent an envoy—to investigate the events within their borders and to alert your nation—"
"I was hired because of my expertise on the situation, and took on the City Alliance's envoy role. That's also how we got help crossing the border."
And with that, Anastasia summarized how she'd come to serve as the City Alliance's envoy.
She might have been trying to keep things from getting too heavy, but unfortunately, the content of the discussion was not the kind that could be kept light no matter how carefully it was handled.
In particular, the fact that the corpse calamity had struck Kararagi first— "The disaster struck your country before it struck ours. That being the case, couldn't one say this calamity was brought to the Empire from your nation?"
"That could be argued, yes. But we hold a different opinion as well."
"Oh? If it's not an attempt to evade responsibility, do share."
"Kararagi was indeed where the dead... the zombies appeared first.—But we believe the real target was Volachia, and Kararagi was just the practice run."
To Abel's sharp accusation, Anastasia responded with her usual unflappable composure.
Beneath that tranquil exterior, however, her hypothesis was devastatingly blunt. Kararagi as a practice run, Volachia as the real thing—that was a hard pill to swallow.
"Why do you think that, Anastasia-san? That Kararagi wasn't serious, and Volachia was the real target?"
"The scale of the damage."
Anastasia answered Emilia, who had voiced the same question Subaru was thinking, with those two words. Meeting Emilia's violet eyes with her own pale blue ones, she continued: "The information was tangled, but we did receive the first reports of the capital's damage from Garfiel. Even if the details aren't precise—the Imperial Capital was taken by zombies, wasn't it?"
"Having the Volachia Empire's center of power—Imperial Capital Lupugana—seized, with a mass evacuation of its citizens, is no ordinary event. Therefore, there is no doubt that the 'enemy' behind this situation had their sights set on the Empire."
"That logic tracks."
To the reasoning laid out by Anastasia and Julius, Abel gave a brief reply.
However, the Emperor—whose calm black eyes harbored deep machinations—prefaced his next words with "However," and turned his gaze toward Halibel.
"You spoke of damage you suppressed in the City-States. What actually happened there? I haven't heard that the City-States were destroyed by corpses, regardless of the Empire's situation."
"That's right. I stopped it before it reached that point.—But as I said, the enemy's goal wasn't to wreck Kararagi. I think it was more of an acclimation exercise, like little Ana said."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Simple. The zombies I encountered had swapped places with the townspeople—every last one of them—and were living exactly as the living had. To avoid being discovered."
"Wh—"
At Halibel's revelation, Subaru was struck speechless.
He wasn't the only one. The strategists all wore thoughtful expressions, while Subaru's companions on the surprise side of things couldn't even form words.
Of course. What Halibel had just described was far removed from anything they'd imagined.
"Those... those corpses can even impersonate the living?! Lady
"To think our assumption—that the corpses attack the living on sight—was wrong. Having ones with intelligence is troublesome enough, but this changes everything about how we treat them as enemies. It's becoming rather interesting."
"What's interesting about this, Lord Draconia?! Have you no sense of decorum?!"
Goz and Selina clashed over the implications of this miscalculation.
But their reactions were entirely natural. In truth, Subaru felt exactly the same way. This wasn't just a matter of fighting—it was a matter of being outmaneuvered.
Moreover— "Halibel, you said the people in the town were all turned into 'zombies'... How many people lived in that town?"
It was a question someone needed to ask.
Subaru regretted that he'd let Emilia field it instead of doing so himself. That regret deepened when he heard Halibel's answer.
Because— "—Roughly two thousand."
"That many..."
Halibel's answer put a clear number to the scale of the damage.
The destruction Subaru imagined was enough to cast a harsh shadow over Emilia's face and drive a cold, sharp thorn into his chest.
But among those wounded by Halibel's answer, some were looking further ahead.
"If they can convincingly pose as the living, that's a serious problem indeed. What tipped you off?"
"The supplies coming in and out of the town. They'd faked some of it, but there's only so much you can fake. The numbers between the living and the dead didn't add up. The dead don't need food or water, so the discrepancies started showing."
"The line between the living and the dead.—Not easy to cross."
Unlike Subaru, who tended to stall under the weight of emotion, Abel and Anastasia didn't hesitate.
Subaru felt a sting of frustration at that difference, but he also didn't want to forget the lesson he'd learned—that he'd needed to push past that frustration, that Abel had told him so.
"Berstetz. We had a force stationed in the western region, didn't we?"
Ignoring the grinding of Subaru's back teeth, Abel directed his question to Berstetz.
Berstetz gave a curt "Yes" in response: "We had received reports of unsettling movements along the western border with Kararagi. This was before the signs of civil war had fully spread, but fearing a two-front situation with the rebels, I ordered the force to maintain a holding position.—Could it be..."
"The force was entrusted to Groby Gamlet, wasn't it?"
Berstetz's thread-thin eyes widened slightly, revealing his shock. Abel let out a small sigh, as if confirming the minister's realization.
The name he uttered belonged to one of the "Nine Divine Generals"—a general Subaru had never had the occasion to meet.
And the reason Abel narrowed his eyes in weariness at that name was— "Your Excellency! Surely... surely not! General Groby—!"
"Maintaining a holding position on the border with the City-States—using that as his reason for not participating in the great battle at the capital, and with no movement to join up even now that things have come to this—the worst-case scenario is the only conclusion."
"The worst-case scenario, I see. Even I would not call that a pleasant one."
Goz flushed red, and the thin smile vanished from Selina's lips.
As the dignitaries reacted, Abel delivered his verdict: "Groby Gamlet and his army have already fallen to the corpses. If they fail to link up with us from here on, we must factor that possibility into our calculations."
"—!"
At Abel's words, Goz clenched his entire body and ground his back teeth to powder.
Not metaphorically—he literally crushed his molars. The fury that had shot through every fiber of Goz Ralgon, warrior, at the possible loss of a comrade was devastating.
Even for Subaru and the others, who had never met the man in person, it was a quiet blow.
"Your Excellency, if the corpses can truly disguise themselves as the living..."
"From here on, every report from the field is suspect on its own. Without corroborating intelligence, throwing ourselves into the battle to retake the capital would be the height of folly."
Which reports came from living allies, and which from dead enemies—there was no way to tell.
Faced with that terrifying possibility, Subaru held his breath.
"So that's why the City Alliance entrusted Anastasia-san with the envoy mission..."
"We wanted to share our sense of crisis. This sort of thing absolutely cannot be allowed to spread. So we chose to advance with a small group of people we could trust."
At Anastasia's nodding explanation, Julius and Halibel each confirmed.
They had been selected as trustworthy individual combatants for the start of the fight against the corpses.
"What about Ricardo, and Mimi and the others?"
"They're establishing a joint front with the City Alliance at the border. In principle, they won't be entering the Empire. If the Empire can't hold the line, Kararagi needs to be ready too."
"Sounds ominous, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. Then again, you've always had a way with words, Ana-han."
"Halibel."
Anastasia answered the question of the Iron Fang's whereabouts with a smile, then turned that smile on Halibel. Posing elegantly with a hand to her cheek, she held his gaze: "I let it slide the first time, but how about you drop the 'little Ana' act? I'm not a child anymore, and I represent Kararagi, you know."
"Not a child, but you haven't changed a bit since you were one. Same as when you and Ricardo used to cause trouble back in the day. Your personality hasn't changed either..."
"Halibel."
"Alright, alright, my fault."
Halibel waved his hands in surrender.
The apparently familiar relationship between those two was intriguing, but compared to the matter at hand, it was a trifle.
Yes—from the standpoint of needing to prevent this unprecedented corpse calamity— "Allow me to convey the Kararagi City Alliance's position once more. To halt this disaster of the corpses... of the zombies, the City-States wish to provide the Empire with every possible support."
"—We will respond to the offer of support after hammering out the details. But let me ask—do you have any idea of a means to stop this situation?"
"Well, it's not like the dead rising is a natural phenomenon, right? Someone must have had some very deliberate intent behind it. In other words—"
"—A mastermind. A sorcerer. A ringleader. Whatever you call them—we must take them down."
A crisis that could plunge the entire world into danger, and the means to stop it.
Stopping the perpetrator—the invisible "enemy" who had orchestrated this atrocity—was the top priority of the Kingdom of Lugunica, the Volachia Empire, and the Kararagi City-States.
"—An 'enemy' of unknown identity."
Quietly, Subaru thought of that formless "enemy" and murmured.
What kind of form did this "enemy" take? What ideology drove them to prepare such a horrific act?
The hardships and obstacles that awaited in the pursuit of this unseen foe—even thinking about it was enough to send cold sweat down his spine.
But— "With this many people gathered here..."
What kept Subaru's wavering heart from breaking was the faces around him.
Emilia and the others, who had come all the way to the Empire to find him. The Empire's leadership, who had resolved to unite in defense of their nation. And the reliable reinforcements from Kararagi.
"Whatever that 'enemy' is planning—we absolutely cannot lose—!"
That was
--- And in the moment Subaru was rallying spirits inside the chain-linked dragon carriage— From the shattered retaining wall, water from the reservoir surged forth with tremendous force, and the Imperial Capital was swallowed by the flood.
Watching from above as the torrent swept buildings away, tearing apart people and trees alike without distinction, the blue-haired boy had escaped to high ground and watched through a shield made of his hands.
"Well, I bought as much time as I could. I wonder if everyone got out. I'd hate it if the bosses got too heated and botched the retreat."
The one murmuring so casually, dressed in wasao and zori, was Cecilius.
In this epic battle for the Imperial Capital, Cecilius had been the single greatest troublemaker tied to the dramatic turn in circumstances—and with his trademark instinct and narrative sense, he had identified the situation and come racing onto the stage.
In fact, had it not been for Cecilius's characteristically reckless initiative, the capital would have been swallowed by water far sooner, with far more people failing to escape and far greater casualties.
In that sense, Cecilius's actions had been unpredictable for everyone, and at the same time had brought fortunate results for many.
But for the man himself, it was no victory.
The army of corpses that had appeared without warning. The Imperial Capital battle's sudden reversal. The third "enemy" trying to snatch victory with an unsporting interruption. Cecilius had leaped into the fray to shake them—so spectacularly that he could have crowed about his starring role in a world-shaking performance.
And yet— "Still, this was completely beyond my expectations."
Cecilius scratched his cheek, gazing at the corpses—like him, driven to high ground—that still clung to their obsession with the living even as the flood consumed the capital.
That those beings were something unnatural, reanimated by a sorcery even Cecilius didn't recognize, was beyond doubt.
In fact, he'd encountered the one who had done this to them.
And yet, despite everything having played out exactly as his instincts had foretold— "I never imagined that slaying the sorcerer in question would fail to resolve the situation!"
At Cecilius's raised voice, the sorcerer who had reanimated and commanded the corpses lay collapsed at his feet.
With beautiful pink hair and long ears, looking not much older than Cecilius himself—a young girl who had stood against the "Blue Lightning" Cecilius and was now, already, a lifeless "witch."