A bitter wind howled against him. A cold so sharp it cut through flesh.
White voracity blanketed his entire field of vision. Warmth transmitted through clasped palms.
"I made a cool entrance, but the situation's a little weird, isn't it!?"
Cheeks stinging from the snowflakes pelting his face, Subaru raised his voice at a landscape that wasn't what he'd expected.
The
The Sanctuary being covered in snow and the white demon beasts lured by it gathering — that was supposed to happen by dawn. He'd still had over half a day to spare, he was certain.
A little behind and to his left, a silver-haired girl shivered, breath misting in white puffs as her shoulders trembled.
Inwardly praising Emilia's composure, Subaru suspected her as the cause of the snow.
If so, the uncontrolled outburst of magical power had brought the snow, which in turn had summoned the Great Rabbits?
"That still doesn't add up, though…"
The order was wrong — uncontrolled mana, then Great Rabbits drawn by the snow.
Emilia had used her magic to fight the rabbits, and the result was damage to herself. If he read the causal chain correctly, the real trigger was…
"———"
Behind Emilia,
And from its entrance, multiple pairs of eyes peered out nervously at the world outside. Subaru confirmed them and nodded. If the residents of the Sanctuary were inside, they hadn't been affected by the tomb's mechanism — meaning it had ceased functioning, which in turn meant Emilia had passed the Trial.
Emilia, who had overcome the Trial. Snow falling ahead of schedule. The state of the Sanctuary's residents, Emilia's resolute expression and shout. And then — "Roswaal."
"———"
Roswaal sat slumped near the entrance of the tomb, staring blankly in their direction. Whether
He had to believe she was.
"Subaru."
A small hand tugged at the hand of the lost-in-thought Subaru.
Hearing that familiar voice call him by something other than the usual, Subaru reflexively held his breath — "Oh, hi."
"…Why are you answering like that?"
"You just called me by my name — it's refreshing. Could you do it again? Make it sound all bashful?"
"You — ! Are you really insane? Now of all times, you want to play the fool!?"
Guessing she wouldn't let him off the hook even if he begged, Subaru reluctantly backed down. Then — "S-Subaru… c'mon, let's do this."
"Beako, you're so cute."
"——! I won't forgive you for that! Remember it when this is over!"
Beatrice swung their joined hands back and forth, her face bright red with fury.
Watching the girl with an amused expression, Subaru turned his attention to the ring of rabbits slowly closing in. He licked his dry lips once.
"So, Beatrice. The opponent is the Great Rabbits, but are you ready?"
"Just formed the contract. Opponent is one-third of the Three Great Demon Beasts. Preparation insufficient, situation dire, contractor is an amateur. Betty hasn't been dragged into real combat in four hundred years."
"And?"
"A handicap seems just right."
Beatrice grinned fearlessly as the chattering demon beasts surged forward all at once. Stepping out to meet them head-on, Subaru glanced back over his shoulder at Emilia.
"Beako and I are going to wreck the Great Rabbits! Sorry to dump this on you, Emilia-tan, but please guard against any that slip through!"
"I also…"
She cut herself off, hesitating for just a moment about whether to continue.
Then she closed her eyes, took a small breath, and — "Got it. Leave it to me. —So, I'm trusting you."
"Right-o. Trust me."
Right tool for the right job. Division of labor. As long as the husband's healthy, it's fine for the house to be empty.
Emilia let out a deep breath, set up a defensive perimeter while concentrating on controlling her own mana. Amid the ceaseless snowfall, Emilia wove an even more elaborate barrier of ice.
Stepping outside that defensive line, Subaru looked beyond the white tempest.
What filled his entire field of vision were red eyes and sharp fangs. Demon beasts covered in pure white fur — the most primitive, most ravenous appetite in all existence. Many rabbits — and thus, the
The grinding sound of teeth sent a tremor through Subaru's soul that spread through his entire body.
Those fangs tearing into him, chewing through his innards — that horrifying death. A hole punched through his torso, blood gushing, his windpipe gnawed apart in searing agony. Then flesh devoured all across his body, limbs torn away, ending in Emilia's arms with an overwhelming sense of loss.
Natsuki Subaru's current loop wouldn't be complete unless he overcame this demon beast.
"…Are you scared?"
Beatrice spoke to Subaru as he held his breath, staring down the demon beasts.
Glancing sideways up at him, Beatrice wore a composed expression. But her eyes, her profile, told him more eloquently than words — Who exactly was standing beside him.
"No. I'm not scared."
"I see."
"Emilia's behind us, and you're beside me. What more could anyone ask for? I feel invincible."
"Indeed."
Her cheeks softened, and Beatrice smiled.
As if to say, "You finally get it," Subaru too bared his teeth in a fierce grin.
The Great Rabbits rallied and lunged at the boldly defiant pair all at once.
In response, Beatrice raised her right hand — the one not linked with Subaru's left — "Shall we start with a little warm-up? —El Minya."
The moment the incantation left her lips, space swirled, and purple crystals materialized around them, forming a ring.
Their icicle-like shape and gleam — those were the magic stakes Beatrice had used to skewer Elsa in a previous loop. In an instant, roughly forty of them were generated.
Aimed in a single instant, they shot out soundlessly — and pierced straight through the face of an open-mouthed rabbit. The stake that pinned one beast flew onward into the crowd of rabbits massed behind it, detonated, and the shrapnel tore apart every rabbit at the point of impact.
That was the power of a single volley — forty stakes fired simultaneously.
From every direction, the shockwave of destruction struck, and red flowers of rabbit blood bloomed across the white world.
The opening salvo annihilated hundreds of the demon beasts deployed in front of them in one devastating blow. The plaza, now littered with traces of destruction, echoed with the pained shrieks of surviving Great Rabbits. The endlessly multiplying beasts still had plenty of numbers left, but Subaru was fired up.
By Beatrice's, well beyond his imagination, overwhelmingly devastating killing power.
"In-incredible!!!"
"R-really? It's nothing special. For Betty, it's barely the opening act. Easy as pie."
"Wait, this spell had that kind of power?! What attribute is it?!"
"Yin attribute, obviously. Nothing else I'm particularly good at."
Beatrice looked none too displeased with Subaru's praise.
The blasted-apart beasts were already feeding on the carcasses of their fallen kin and regenerating, but Beatrice didn't so much as bat an eye at the growing number of rank-and-file.
"It's fine, Subaru. As a fellow Yin-attribute user, shall I give you a little lecture out of the goodness of my heart?"
"Huh? That's it?"
"Ha?"
"I thought we were connected by more than just being Yin-attribute users…"
"I-I didn't mean it like that! Same Yin-attribute user, contractor, and um, Betty's Subaru. Yes, so I'll teach you."
Beatrice was flustered, probably not even sure what she was saying. The girl cleared her throat, held up a finger, and deliberately lowered her voice.
"The pinnacle of Yin attribute — the world's greatest Yin magic."
"What should I do?"
"Just hold hands with Betty and don't leave me alone."
"Well, that's important too, but…"
"…I worry about your future as a spirit user if you don't even know the basics."
Even hearing herself say it with that exasperated tone, there was nothing Subaru could do about not knowing what he didn't know.
He pulled a face, and Beatrice shook her head, stepping forward while pulling his hand.
"Basically, a spirit user and their spirit each fight as separate individuals on the battlefield."
"Separate individuals…"
He remembered Emilia's fighting style.
The most vivid example was her battle against Elsa in the loot house. Back then, Emilia had assigned attacks to
The old geezer hanging around back then had said that was the fundamental way a spirit user fought.
"So I just do the same thing, right? Got it — leave Shamac to me!"
"If you use your half-baked Shamac, you'll probably hurt us too, so please don't. Besides, right now, Subaru's gate is…"
Beatrice trailed off, looking reluctant to spell it out. That manner made Subaru regret making her say it. His gate was probably done for.
He'd overworked it to the breaking point. He'd felt it crack. So that was a pipe dream too.
"…Coming."
Mid-explanation, Beatrice muttered softly. "Huh?" Subaru said — and then realized his feet had left the ground.
Beatrice had lightly kicked off the ground, and the springlike force had carried them both airborne in an instant. In the next moment, demon beast fangs closed on the spot where they'd been standing. The sound of Great Rabbit teeth clacking together rang out as beast after beast kicked off the ground after them.
"We're flying?!"
"Just a light hop. I reduced the effects of gravity with a Yin spell called Murak. If we wanted to, we could ride the wind and fly."
"But we're falling!?"
"If we only wanted to escape, riding the wind would be fine… but I'd rather destroy them."
Like leaves tossed by the wind, their bodies were buffeted by the snowstorm. The fact that they weren't tumbling awkwardly midair probably meant Beatrice was doing something about it.
From about ten meters up, they descended slowly. The swarm of Great Rabbits waiting below with gaping maws seemed to beg for another barrage of magic stakes.
"Beatrice, about what you were saying — originally, a spirit user doesn't use the mana inside their body but directly interferes with the mana existing in the atmosphere to cast magic. For this, a contract with minor spirits is essential, and the current Subaru doesn't meet that condition."
"Uh — Beatrice-san? Down below! There's a ton of them down below!"
"Just listen, will you? Your gate is shot. You can't use minor spirits. A Subaru who's that useless and has nothing going for him has nothing to do but stand beside Betty and praise how wonderful Betty is. What's the point of even being here?"
"That's what I want to know!"
"Then let me tell you."
Right below, the jaws of the Great Rabbits were almost at their feet. Once bitten, those teeth would never let go. Acting cool and composed, taking a massive hit, and ending up crying about it — that would be lame beyond words.
Beatrice's theatrical pause made Subaru shout in exasperation.
"What the hell am I supposed to do?!"
"Visualize it. Picture the same crystal Betty made earlier. It's magic power crystallized and materialized — a stake woven from solidified mana. Sharpen the tip, pack destruction into the core, pierce through defenses and pierce flesh — one strike like that."
"Got it!"
"Then all that's left is to chant!"
Right below — a swarm of Great Rabbits opening their jaws wide.
Red eyes, blood-smeared mouths, sharp fangs. Instinct that saw Subaru as nothing but a chunk of meat.
Everything was loathsome, everything was hateful — the ultimate enemy within the Sanctuary.
"——El Minya!!"
Subaru and Beatrice's incantations overlaid each other, and the magic stakes materialized above, raining down from the sky to the earth.
Explosions and destruction blew apart the ground of the Sanctuary as ugly demon beasts were torn to shreds.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "Incredible…"
Freezing a Great Rabbit that had broken through from the left with an icicle pillar, Emilia let out a breath of amazement.
Her violet eyes were transfixed on the figures of Subaru and Beatrice fighting the demon beasts across the blizzard.
More precisely, her gaze was locked on Beatrice, holding hands with Subaru.
As a spirit user herself, someone currently cooperating with minor spirits to cast magic, Emilia could understand all too painfully just how extraordinary the magical battle unfolding before her was.
First, Beatrice was not drawing mana from Subaru.
This wasn't because the two, bound by contract, lacked a pathway — Beatrice was doing it deliberately. Subaru had just entered a contract with a spirit and was diving into real combat for the first time. Draining the necessary mana from him would wreck his body in no time.
Beatrice understood this and was taking measures to avoid burdening him.
Second, Beatrice was not receiving mana from Subaru — she was giving it to him.
Poorly phrased as it might be, that was the fact. Right now, Subaru, holding Beatrice's hand, was receiving her aid to cast magic he shouldn't yet be able to handle. Using Beatrice's existence itself as a surrogate for his own gate.
He couldn't possibly understand how extraordinary that was.
Despite being a spirit, Beatrice was compensating with her own stored mana reserves for both her own and Subaru's share.
And third — witnessing the true pinnacle of Yin magic.
For a mage, one's affinity attribute could greatly determine their future. Just as the four basic elements clearly defined roles when specialized, the two special attributes of Yin and Yang differed fundamentally from the other four even before being mastered.
Especially for an attribute that seemed, at first glance, to have few practical applications. Long activation times, high mana costs — there were numerous drawbacks.
Combined with their rarity, this meant few people even attempted to master Yin or Yang attributes. Many spells had been lost to time, unlike the other four elements, making it difficult for new great mages to emerge.
Yet Beatrice had mastered Yin attribute magic — and not just the modern variety, but ancient spells buried in the depths of history.
"She's flying all over the place. Wait… did she just vanish? Ah, she's over there now."
It was the kind of battle performance that made you forget the reality of the situation, as if you were watching a dream or an illusion.
The fact that Subaru and Beatrice were cheerfully holding hands probably contributed to that impression.
She could tell Subaru was fighting desperately, but Beatrice was even wearing a faint smile.
That girl must really be enjoying this. Not the thrill of battle or the joy of wielding power — just the act of being there, together.
"———"
In the blink of an eye, Subaru and Beatrice's position shifted to an entirely different spot. A limited form of teleportation, like the Door Crossing. Purple stakes blasted through rows of Great Rabbits from front and back; the ferociously snarling beasts lunged at the pair only to be shredded in midair by something they'd struck.
Straining her eyes, Emilia realized.
The fragments from the detonated stakes hadn't vanished — they were suspended in midair as if frozen in time. The leaping beast's body had been torn apart by those shards, tearing itself to pieces.
Light-catching fragments had been scattered everywhere as traps, and the rabbits that bounded, rolled, or boldly charged at the pair — those that moved around the area — were falling into them one after another, comically.
The Great Rabbits were terrifying demon beasts, but their individual capabilities weren't particularly high, even among demon beasts.
Their individual strength was low. Against a single one, if you were mindful of their ferocity and battle-experienced, you'd never fall behind.
Driven purely by the instinct of hunger, their suicidal fighting style had no learning capacity. Even as their kin around them were caught in traps and blown apart, their appetite was all that mattered. They never considered that the same trap could kill them too, and so they charged in and became carrion.
"Ha!"
Another rabbit that had broken through the encirclement met Emilia's spell head-on.
Driving forward, Emilia didn't hesitate to kick apart the frozen icicle pillar trapping the rabbit. Reduced to shards of ice, the demon beast died beyond any hope of regeneration.
Thanks to Subaru and Beatrice's efforts, the number of Great Rabbits breaking through to her side was astonishingly small. Emilia could devote her energy to controlling the vortex of mana within her.
But even watching Beatrice display such overwhelming power, the seed of unease inside Emilia never faded.
Beatrice's trap-based encirclement was powerful and cunning. The Great Rabbits were caught one after another, piling into a mountain of corpses. But she couldn't see the bottom of it.
Right before Emilia's eyes, a huddled rabbit shuddered, and as if growing from its back, another Great Rabbit multiplied into existence. Repeating the process, the demon beasts multiplied at an exponential rate.
One hundred rabbits became two hundred in the next instant, and four hundred in the one after that.
The sheer mass, and the wretched instinct that knew no retreat — that was why these demon beasts were counted among the Three Great Demon Beasts and had held the name of "Calamity" for four hundred years.
"Subaru. Beatrice."
She called their names — even though they seemed to hold the overwhelming advantage, complacency was not an option.
The horror she'd felt when first confirming the rabbit swarm after bringing Roswaal and Ram back to the tomb — that was something Emilia would never forget.
Those eyes that regarded every living thing as nothing more than food.
An existence truly irreconcilable with life itself — facing one made you feel that kind of abyssal despair.
To counter overwhelming irrationality, one had no choice but to muster equally overwhelming force.
That was what Emilia intended to do, truly.
The torrent of uncontainable magical power swirling inside her — power that surely wasn't hers alone — if she released it, she could annihilate even this swarm of Great Rabbits.
The price would be her own life. At worst, she had prepared herself for that.
"Subaru…"
Before her eyes, she murmured the name of the man fighting.
He, who had forewarned the Great Rabbits' attack, surely wouldn't challenge this onslaught without a plan. He had brought Beatrice out of the Forbidden Library and made her so vibrant, so alive.
He would never do anything to cloud that smile.
So Emilia believed in the man called Natsuki Subaru.
Inside her chest, the white magical power that would end everything pressed to be unleashed — she held it down, telling herself her turn had not yet come.
—She believed in his words.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ For Subaru, casting magic had always felt like grinding away at his own soul.
As Pack and Roswaal had both pointed out from the start, Subaru had absolutely zero talent as a mage. The first time he'd used Shamac, he'd squeezed out so much mana from his body that he couldn't even move.
After that, he'd borrowed Bocco fruit for doping. Even when told not to use magic, he'd used it in his duel anyway, and in the end he'd pushed past his limits until his gate collapsed.
The path of a mage was, for him, completely severed.
Magic had saved him on many occasions, but for Subaru, it was like whittling down an already razor-thin core to sharpen it. It was inevitable that it had broken.
That was precisely why the sight he was living now — firing off grand magic in rapid succession — was something he could only dream of. He had always believed it was impossible.
"Hey, Beatrice! Are we good to keep firing like this?!"
The Great Rabbits, which responded to each blow by multiplying even faster than they were killed, were apparently expending energy on reproduction — the more of them there were, the more momentum each individual gained.
A faint hope stirred that if they kept up this attrition, the beasts might eventually run out of reproductive energy — "There's no limit to their multiplication. They were made that way. They can never be destroyed — not unless every last one is eliminated at once."
"Then what do we do? You got any ideas?"
"Is Subaru really going to keep relying on his adorable Betty?"
The detonating stakes opened gaps in the pack, sending rabbits flying where they shredded on the lingering shards. Watching this unfold, Beatrice lightly pulled Subaru's arm and took flight. Despite her casual grip and modest jumping force, they glided effortlessly.
Dancing through the air, Beatrice sidestepped fangs with dance-like steps, threading through gaps in the shard traps. That she could remain so exhilarated and fearless in this battle was proven by the fact that her lavish dress still bore neither stain nor bloodstain.
"Crossing over."
"Right."
A shout, and in the next instant space warped, teleporting them a short distance.
Traveling through space in a different manner from the Door Crossing, they materialized directly behind the rabbit swarm. The beasts, snorting and searching, had lost sight of Subaru and Beatrice — full of openings.
"Take the left?"
"Then leave the right to me."
He visualized. The image flowing through Subaru's palms responded to Beatrice's mana, and the world transformed under that interference.
It was like wrestling in someone else's loincloth, but that was exactly why there was no room for sloppiness.
Following Subaru's imagination, the dark purple crystal took shape — Yin-attribute Minya-class.
He carved grooves into it as it formed, raising its piercing power, and launched it in a single burst. The sensation of something his hand never touched flying off at his will.
Like drawing the string of a bow that existed only in his mind and releasing an arrow with no physical form.
The stakes punched through the air, gained momentum, and struck the unguarded swarm head-on. The earsplitting screams of rabbits tore through the air as the horde was blown apart.
On the right side of the pack, the same thing happened — Beatrice's destruction erased Great Rabbits by the cluster.
A fissure opened in space and swallowed a group of beasts; the closed space sealed like a painting, trapping hundreds of rabbits inside. The beasts bounced around in what seemed like the other side of a mirror. Aimed at that clueless swarm, Beatrice fired a single stake — the two-dimensional world shattered to pieces, and the rabbits within were devoured by oblivion, all at once.
Subaru swallowed, tongue-tied by the breadth of Beatrice's magical repertoire.
While he repeated Minya by rote like a one-trick pony, Beatrice deployed a different Yin spell with each attack, systematically annihilating the Great Rabbits.
As if she were showing Subaru every card in her hand. Or perhaps reminding herself of techniques she once wielded.
"Almost… time."
"Huh?"
The Great Rabbits had thinned considerably, but each loss was compensated for in an instant.
Watching them, Subaru felt the same sense of wrongness he'd been harboring. Combined with Beatrice's murmur, he wanted to exchange words.
"Beatrice. They've been regenerating at the rate they're killed, but… doesn't it feel like their total number isn't actually growing beyond what it started at?"
If a thousand rabbits had been present, killing a hundred would bring back a hundred. Killing two hundred would bring back two hundred. Following that pattern, no matter how many they killed, the tide never seemed to turn.
But Subaru didn't have the sense that they were growing beyond their maximum.
Tucking her chin, Beatrice replied: "There's probably no limit to their multiplication itself, but there is a cap on the maximum population they can sustain. So they can't grow beyond that number."
"Then if we could take out the entire maximum at once…"
"Theoretically, they could be destroyed. …But that's easier said than done."
She gave him a complicated look, dashing the glimmer of hope.
Of course. The Great Rabbits filled his entire field of vision. A spell powerful enough to scorch everything in sight could destroy them, but to execute that in an instant, all at once — how much power would that take?
Even with the power Subaru knew about, it would be something crude like carpet-bombing the area with missiles. And if even a single rabbit survived, it would regenerate instantly. Far too risky.
"That leaves us with… that, then."
"Are you thinking of something?"
"Honestly, I'm back to relying entirely on you again."
Watching the swarm multiply, Subaru leaned in and whispered into Beatrice's ear.
Hearing it, Beatrice narrowed her eyes in thought, then nodded.
"Betty was thinking the same thing. But to do that…"
"I know there's a bottleneck. But listen — don't get me wrong, Beatrice!"
"?"
"We don't have to solve this on our own, you know?"
Hearing Subaru's answer, Beatrice's eyes widened slightly. Then she let out a small breath and tipped forward, pressing her forehead to his chest.
"You really… do come up with the most incredible answers, Subaru."
"I promise to keep being a contractor who never bores you — fresh, one-of-a-kind."
Subaru flashed a grin, teeth glinting as he gave a thumbs-up. Beatrice smirked wryly.
Then she lifted her face from his chest and — "Fine, I'll do it. But it'll take time for Betty to set things up. In the meantime, try to manage."
"Sit back and relax. I've got this."
"Shall we watch who's really pulling the oars?"
Beatrice pushed off his chest and stepped away.
The girl inhaled, closed her eyes, and began gathering her mana with intense focus.
Reading the signs, Subaru steeled himself and kicked off the snow.
He ran. The demon beasts chased, teeth snapping. Shadows lunged for his legs. But they were too slow. After the hells he'd been through these past two days, even the last Great Rabbit felt sluggish.
"Out of my way, out of my way! Scram! I don't have time for you right now!"
Dodging fangs, kicking them aside.
Incanting, carving a path with magic stakes, Subaru tore through the bullet-riddled plaza with Beatrice clutched in his arms and sprinted back toward the tomb.
"Wha — Subaru!?"
Seeing him return, Emilia's face lit with surprise.
Sliding in through the snow beside her, Subaru set down the still-shutting-her-eyes Beatrice and patted her head.
"Sorry, Emilia-tan! Beako and I couldn't handle this alone!"
"That's fine and all… but what's the plan? Should I still…?"
"Nope — I've got an idea for how to beat them. You don't need to go all self-destruct on us or anything. Actually, don't. That would ruin everything we've worked for."
Emilia drew a sharp breath and stared at Subaru's face.
Had she really thought he wouldn't notice? She must have.
In a situation like this, pushed to the absolute limit, Emilia would absolutely sacrifice herself to save everyone. What a troublesome girl.
"I don't want you hurting yourself just to keep others safe. Please don't."
"Everyone being safe and everyone being saved — that's the best outcome, obviously."
"…Subaru."
"Emilia-tan, I'm about to ask you to do something reckless. If you can't, we'll figure it out, but if you can, I need you to give it everything. —Let's win this together."
"———"
Emilia pressed her hand to her chest, blinking rapidly as if feeling something from Subaru's words.
Buying time for her to make up her mind, Subaru generated magic stakes and fired them into the swarm to keep up the suppression. But it didn't take long.
"I understand. Let's do it, Subaru. Just tell me what you need."
Resolve settled in her eyes, and Emilia's answer came with unwavering determination.
Subaru clenched his fist and turned back — "Now we're talking! Let's do this!"
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ A tremendous surge of magical power — Subaru felt it from both sides of where he stood.
Emilia on his left. Beatrice on his right.
Each girl held one of his hands, the three of them linked.
The formation itself didn't carry special meaning. It just raised Subaru's fighting spirit.
That surge of fighting spirit was called morale in battle. And high morale was a critical factor that could even determine the outcome of a fight.
"Visualize, visualize, visualize!"
In his mind's eye, he pictured a fierce and devastating magical strike.
He materialized sharpened purple stakes and bombarded the encircling demon beasts, repeating the suppression while struggling to keep them from closing in on the tomb or on themselves.
In this Yin magic, Subaru wasn't using his own mana — and so he was casting magic without any burden at all.
That was wrong, of course.
The mana needed for the spells was borrowed from Beatrice, but the control was unmistakably Subaru's own. Power, aim, quantity — he shaped them as images, materialized them, launched them, and immediately decided on the next attack.
A professional mage would add physical exhaustion to all that. The sheer volume of parallel processing and the toll it took were immeasurable. No wonder he'd been told he had no talent.
He smashed a stake down; the ground exploded, and the shockwave sent Great Rabbits flying as they screeched in protest. The grinding teeth noise chained through the blizzard like the gears of hell itself.
The death conveyor leading them to the guillotine was advancing steadily, click by click.
"Minya! Minya! Ugh, dammit — this spell name sucks!"
Complaining about the awkward incantation, Subaru targeted a protruding cluster of rabbits.
The generated stake was launched — but it grazed the lead beast's head, hit the ground in front, and the shockwave pushed the entire group back into the pack.
Phase one of the plan.
Subaru was using the stakes to suppress the swarm, not to kill. If he killed them, the maximum-population principle would break down, and uncontrolled multiplication could occur.
The Great Rabbits needed to stay pinned here at their maximum count. And besides — "If they're lured by the scent of mana, there's no way you're taking your eyes off the two of us right now."
After all, they had two people nearby with mana reserves so vast that it was a rare sight — and both of them were beautiful girls. Subaru had his hands full in every sense. He was guaranteed to be envied.
"Visualize, visualize, visualize… what's wrong, jealous? Come at me!"
Humming to himself, Subaru didn't skip the taunting, even though the beasts wouldn't understand.
Prodding the enemy was part of the strategy, but Subaru's quips served even more to psyche himself up. Putting on a mask of normalcy amid the abnormal — that was how he held himself together.
Otherwise, he couldn't guarantee his knees wouldn't give out right now. The warmth flowing through both his hands. Feeling that sensation up close, he couldn't afford to look pathetic.
"Visualize, visualize, visualize…!"
Again and again, he muttered, narrowing his focus.
The Great Rabbit swarm was advancing as one; there was a limit to how long he could hold them back. But preparations weren't complete yet.
Not for Emilia, not for Beatrice, and not for Subaru.
"…Subaru."
He felt a squeeze on his left hand — it was Emilia, cracking her eyes open, watching him. Her preparations were complete. Her lips curved slightly as she waited for his signal.
"——!"
Buoyed by Emilia's gaze at his back, Subaru strained his bloodshot eyes even harder.
The curtain of blizzard was thick, obscuring the spots he needed to see. But the squirming white forms still gave him a faint outline between beast and snowfield.
—Almost there, a little more, just a little more, go, go, go!
Gritting his teeth, he waited for the moment.
Scanning the far edge, both flanks, the near side, all at once — Subaru's eyes snapped wide open.
"Now, Emilia! Trace the line —!!"
He roared and gripped Emilia's hand tight.
Emilia's violet eyes locked forward with fierce determination as she looked upon the line Subaru had drawn.
While using the stakes to suppress the Great Rabbits, Subaru had simultaneously been etching a mana line on the ground. Unlike the solid stakes, carving with invisible mana on the ground was a feat of extraordinary difficulty.
But the supposedly talentless Subaru had overcome that through sheer concentration and his far-beyond-ordinary "vanity" — the desperate will to never look uncool.
Four lines were drawn.
A rectangular boundary drawn around the Great Rabbit swarm in front of them.
Lines traced within range so Emilia could see.
"That's amazing, Subaru! So wonderfully done!"
At the magnificent setup, Emilia raised a cry of joy she would never normally utter.
Raising the hand still linked with Subaru's, she overlaid it with her left hand, which was being steadily covered white by the runaway mana. And then she incanted.
"——El Hulu!!"
A vast torrent of mana erupted, and the world transformed at Emilia's command.
The rushing mana flowed through their joined hands, leaped into the atmosphere, pierced through the earth, and converged onto the mana line Subaru had drawn.
—A thunderous roar shook the world as a staggering phenomenon occurred.
"Whoa…"
Staring wide-eyed, Subaru let out a stunned voice.
And who could blame him? Anyone witnessing this scene would have the same reaction.
Emilia's mana followed the lines Subaru had drawn — and lifted the entire snowy ground within that rectangle, snowfield and all, into the air.
Naturally, the Great Rabbit swarm was still sitting atop the snow that had been lifted, and the beasts hadn't even realized that their footing had just levitated.
Despite the limited range, the floating snowfield was about twenty meters on each side.
The dense pack of Great Rabbits was what it was — seeing countless white furballs trembling atop that white ground perfectly captured the otherworldly nature of magic itself.
"Emilia!"
"I know! I'm not letting them escape!"
But if it ended here, the rabbits would simply jump off the floating snowfield and that would be that.
To prevent that, one more trick was needed.
Emilia raised their still-linked hands high, then swept them down in one decisive motion.
At that cue, the levitated snowfield shuddered. The Great Rabbits on top could never have imagined what was about to happen.
A tremendous sound — and a piercingly cold, freezing gale erupted.
Bathed in it, Subaru and Beatrice didn't look away, watching the result unfold.
—When the wind died, there was the sight of the snowfield, folded shut vertically.
Emilia had folded the lifted snowfield inward from both sides, crushing it to the center.
Like closing a book, she had folded the earth shut, and the Great Rabbits atop it were sealed helpless between the two halves.
Quickly scanning around the folded snowfield — no stragglers, no movement.
Every last Great Rabbit had been sealed in a single, extremely narrow space. Under these conditions — "Now, bring down the curtain, Beatrice —!"
Calling to Beatrice on his linked right hand, Subaru announced the end of setup after setup. The girl, who had been quietly chanting all this while, gently opened her eyes.
Taking in the scene before her, Beatrice smiled faintly.
Not from surprise. Just a smile imbued entirely with trust.
"This is the pinnacle of Yin magic — Al Shamak."
The instant the incantation was whispered, the world was swallowed in shadow.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ —For a moment, it was assailed by a sensation like being flung about by weightlessness.
But that too was truly a fleeting thing.
The weightlessness ended, and impact arrived from beneath its feet. The constricting pressure that had bound its entire body vanished, and its first act was to shake its body violently to dislodge the snow clinging to its fur.
It snorted, turning its head.
With its eyes, its nose, its ears — searching for prey was always its first priority. It scanned its red eyes across its surroundings, hunting for the scent of ripe flesh.
Nothing. Only moments ago, there had been prey before it — the kind that made its stomach cramp with hunger. Soft flesh, sweet blood, prey that could intoxicate it with even a momentary sense of fullness. That prey had definitely been there.
Nose — nothing. Eyes — nothing. Ears — nothing.
The prey that should have been there was gone. It turned its head. Couldn't find it.
The feeling closest to disappointment was instantly overwritten by immediate hunger. And to stave off both the craving and the emptiness, it lunged at the nearest white lump.
Tearing, ripping flesh, lapping blood, scooping out innards. Chewing thoroughly, devouring completely, it noticed that the same meal was being repeated all around it.
Its prey was being consumed.
Not from a sense of crisis, but driven by survival instinct, it savaged the head of the white lump in front of it, then bit down, swallowed.
Again, again — driven by insatiable hunger, it devoured the prey beside it, and the prey beside that, and the prey beside that, and the one beside that — Eventually, it had consumed everything around it and was alone.
Lapping at the blood soaking the ground, it chewed every scrap of flesh, every blade of blood-stained grass. And once even the leftovers were neatly cleaned away, it was truly alone.
Inside its body, a hunger that even its enormous volume couldn't satisfy attacked it with full force.
It shrieked, gnashing its teeth, driven half-mad. An endless empty feeling, a hunger that could never be filled. Eating and eating and eating, yet never permitted relief — a maddening cycle.
Had Mother harbored this too?
For just an instant, a mysterious thought flickered through the mind consumed by appetite.
It was nothing more than a burst of sensation, noise-like, never crystallized into words. And even that vanished in an instant, swallowed by the hunger that drove it toward madness.
It trembled, shuddering violently, screaming against the feeling of its innards being wrung, and unconsciously spawned an existence separate from itself.
The white lump that suddenly appeared rolled off its back, seemingly having forgotten how to walk.
Having perceived the new prey with every sense, it bit into the rolling lump without hesitation.
Without even allowing a scream, it devoured it. After devouring it, the hunger returned. And in its writhing agony, yet another separate being was born into the world.
Again and again, it continued.
Alone. A world with nothing else. There were buildings, forests, earth, air, wind — everything except prey. Alone.
It kept eating.
And eventually, even "it" was devoured by a different hunger and ceased to exist.
A new "alone" was born, only to lose its solitude again, and the world turned.
—An insatiable hunger, never to be filled.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ For an instant, Subaru had held his breath at the overwhelming shadow that filled his vision.
"———"
The pitch-black sphere conjured by Beatrice's incantation swallowed the snowfield containing Emilia's sealed Great Rabbits whole, compressed with a rhythmic thudding, shrank smaller and smaller until it was the size of a marble, then vanished without a sound.
Even without understanding the principle, Subaru could vaguely grasp the result.
Al Shamak — the greatest of the Shamak-class spells — was a magic that acted upon space itself.
And that spell had swallowed the snowfield and the entire Great Rabbit swarm, blasting them to another dimension. Regeneration, multiplication — none of it meant a thing now.
It was literally a story from another world.
"I did say I wanted to send them somewhere isolated, like the Forbidden Library…"
"Are you dissatisfied?"
Subaru's voice trembled before the overwhelming feat, and Beatrice, beside him, pursed her lips.
Hands on her hips, the girl looked thoroughly displeased with his attitude.
"Really… incredible…"
Beside Subaru, Emilia was equally wide-eyed at the result.
For Emilia, whose understanding of magic ran deeper than Subaru's, the surprise likely came from an entirely different angle. Her half-frozen condition also seemed to have eased somewhat now that she'd used a large-scale spell. She'd probably be fine with the remaining control.
Turning his head, Subaru confirmed that the spot where the Great Rabbits had been was now empty.
Glancing behind him, he confirmed the tomb's safety too. Peering quietly from the tomb's entrance was the expressionless group of Ryuzu clones. They all seemed to have evacuated safely as well.
At the tomb's entrance, Roswaal was leaning against the wall, and Ram was in his arms.
And Subaru could see Ram's hand touching Roswaal's cheek — and Roswaal, weeping.
"———"
Seeing that, Subaru felt the tightness in his chest rapidly dissolve.
There was still surely a great deal to discuss. He'd left Otto, Garfiel, and the others behind at the mansion. They were probably safe, but once they reunited, they'd need to have a proper conversation. There was a lot he wanted to ask Emilia about what had happened here too.
But somehow, all of it felt like it would be all right.
Even though there was so much still unconfirmed, seeing Roswaal crying, and Ram watching him with a smile — somehow, it was going to be all right.
"Subaru, look."
Emilia suddenly poked Subaru's cheek with her finger.
He looked at her, and she smiled, then gestured behind him with her hand. Over there, Beatrice still stood with her arms crossed, wearing a pouty face.
"I think you owe the person who did most of the work a word of thanks."
Watching the girl puff out her cheeks in that childlike gesture, Subaru gave a small nod.
Then — "Wha—!?"
He slid his hands under her arms and swept the light body up in one motion.
Ignoring the adorable shriek, Subaru spun around with the girl in his arms — "You were incredible! That was amazing, I love you, Beako!!"
"W-wait! No — let go! Betty isn't someone who — !"
"There we go, there we go! Adorable, adorable! Beako's the best! Beako's number one! Beako forever!"
Heaping on the praise, Subaru kept spinning around with Beatrice in his arms.
The girl in his embrace turned beet-red, while Emilia watched the two of them frolicking with an incredibly gentle expression.
Thus, spirit and contractor spun on in their joyous embrace — "A—!"
At the end, their feet slipped, and the two went face-first into the snow together.
—This concludes the main story of Chapter 4!
The epilogue will wrap up the long-running Chapter 4.