He drove the first strike in with no holding back — and she caught it between her teeth.
"————"
Loy Alphard, the "Gluttony" Archbishop, gnawing on the tip of the whip and waving his empty hands to show he had no weapons. Alphard. That name rang a bell in Subaru's ears too.
"That guy's named after a star too—!"
"Subaru-sama, we've already covered that conversation! Let's move!"
Subaru yanked the whip hard, and Alphard let go of his prize without a trace of reluctance. Crashing in from the side, Crusch hurled her Hundred-Men-One-Sword at him.
A raging wind blade swept through the first-floor lobby of the municipal building, shredding chairs and everything atop the reception counter as it roared through.
Of course, the slash bore down on Alphard without mercy — but— "Whoa, that's amazing! For a one-trick pony, it's kinda interesting though!"
"—!?"
The boy dodged the invisible wind blade by throwing his body far backward. He bridged his back against the floor with the momentum, flipped over in a full rotation, rose from a crouched position into a sprinter's stance, lifted his face, and sneered.
"As an attack method, it'd probably take out allies too, and it's totally obvious, so I'd call that third-rate. Doesn't look all that appetizing to us!"
The instant he finished speaking, Alphard kicked off the floor and his body shot forward like a bullet.
The small frame leaped at them, baring sharp canines as he opened his maw wide — it gave the impression of a feral stray dog. But his danger level was in a completely different league.
Crusch held her sword vertically and brought the slash down to meet his face. However— "You've got good form, but the polish is lacking! For us, that's nothing more than an appetizer!"
"—Ugh!"
A right hand swung toward the slash, and a sharp ring echoed as Crusch's sword was deflected. Looking closely, Alphard's hands were wrapped in cloth, and the blades of short swords protruded from just below each wrist.
Dual short swords — a fighting style that exploited his small frame's speed and agility.
Opposite the hand that deflected the sword, the left short sword lanced toward Crusch's throat. She twisted aside on reflex, but caught Alphard's kick to her shoulder as he rotated in midair, and her slender body was sent flying sideways.
"Ah—!"
"Crusch-san!"
"That other one over there — you've got better things to do than look away, you know! In fact, you're the easiest target of the bunch!"
Crusch was sliding across the floor, and Subaru's attention had wandered — Alphard kicked off the ground again, aiming straight for him. In the dimness, Gluttony's ragged figure blended into the dark, and Subaru lost sight of him in an instant — but— "Sorry, but..."
"He's proven to be the ideal decoy by what happened during Sloth's attack, hasn't he?"
"What!?"
By targeting the wide-open Subaru, Alphard exposed his own flank.
Subaru was painfully aware of his own helplessness, and he had sworn not to do anything reckless even if his blood was up. He bit through his lip, used the pain to rein in his consciousness, and made sure to give the strongest person here the opening to land a single blow.
The thrusting strike of Julius's rapier pierced the small body floating in midair without a sound.
Alphard twisted his body in the air, but the Knight of the First Order's slash caught his torso in a perfect arc. Blood sprayed as Gluttony's body tumbled across the floor.
"Uwahahaha! Well, I'll be — that surprised me—"
"Then allow me to keep you surprised. Bloom, my buds!"
Before Alphard could finish his line, Julius closed the distance and unleashed his quasi-spirits in pursuit. Alphard sprang up by slamming the floor, but Julius's advance cut him off.
The unlit lobby blazed with rainbow colors as aurora erupted from behind Julius and surged toward Gluttony.
"Spirit User!"
"Whether it pleases your refined palate or not — every one of my buds blooms into a flower I'm proud of."
"You and your pretentious nonsense — we don't much care for it either!"
Watching the aurora scorch the world, Alphard screamed and sprang far backward. Julius's slender sword gave chase, and the blades dispatched in every direction drove Alphard toward a dead end as he tried to escape the range with lateral leaps.
"——'Girl Fondler'!"
"Don't call me that, 'Yuri'!"
"Take the 'War Princess' and head for the upper floors! Stop the broadcast!"
Calling each other by the names they were hiding, Julius declared he would take on Alphard himself.
While hoisting up the coughing Crusch, Subaru understood it was the most logical decision, but in that instant he couldn't bring himself to nod.
That darting, jeering boy was the Archbishop of Gluttony.
For so, so long — over a year now — he had been the enemy Subaru pursued. Defeating him was undoubtedly Subaru's greatest and most important objective.
And he was going to just let that slip by— "I — understand. Yuri-sama, may you have good fortune in battle."
"—!"
But before Subaru's inner conflict could play out, Crusch stood up and gave Julius that reply. Subaru looked up sharply, and in that moment caught the look of frustration on Crusch's profile.
Crusch was also a victim who had her memories stolen by Gluttony.
Naturally, she must have been thinking for a long time about settling that score. And yet, she prioritized her duty and left the fight against Gluttony to someone else.
Setting emotions aside, it was also obvious she lacked the fighting power. Subaru and Crusch — their positions and their thinking converged at exactly this same point, demanding the same choice.
"Well then, well then, what'll you do? We don't mind going together, you know! The empty-shell girl and the crumbly guy — combined, you might serve as a decent warm-up before the main course! That 'Yuri' of yours can eat, gnaw, dine, lick, slurp, devour, chomp, tear, crush, gorge! Gluttony! I wouldn't mind doing all of that either!"
"You'd do well to keep your mouth shut. This Julius has no intention of simply being eaten!"
Even as the aurora carved away at the limited space, Alphard still wore that insufferably relaxed grin. Julius chased after him, and their swordplay clashed in a storm of steel.
In the midst of it, Subaru and Julius's gazes met for just a split second.
That gaze said nothing to Subaru — but— "Ah, damn it! Fine! You — don't you dare lose!"
"That's my line. Losing would be fine, but don't die. No — don't let yourself be killed."
"Let's go, 'Girl Fondler'-sama!"
Subaru clawed at his head, leaving behind nothing but bitter frustration, and broke into a run.
He wanted to at least get ahead of Crusch, but the sorry truth was that Crusch was the one who could react to a surprise ambush. Following after Crusch's back as she pushed forward despite her wounds, Subaru and the others headed for the stairs. Before ascending, they took one last look at Julius and Alphard fighting in the lobby.
The battle appeared to favor Julius. But they couldn't let their guard down.
"Go!"
"—Damn it!"
Julius, who had noticed Subaru's gaze and refused to let him worry about him even at the very end.
Subaru cursed him under his breath as a jerk, then muttered the excuse that he couldn't afford to collapse just yet. After that, he followed Crusch up the stairs to the next floor in one go.
On guard against ambushes, the two passed through the landing and pressed on toward the top floor.
Midway, Crusch spoke softly.
"Subaru-sama, I'm sorry. In an ideal world, you would be the one to face Gluttony above all—"
"Stop, Crusch-san. Nobody thinks this is your fault."
While peeking ahead toward the upper floor, Crusch offered that quiet apology. But Crusch felt just as frustrated. An apology wouldn't fill the hole in either of them.
And worse — having her apologize made him want to blame her, and he hated that about himself.
"...Sorry,
Whispering the name of the girl still sleeping in the mansion, Subaru sent his heartfelt apology to her.
Right now, he wanted to rush back and tear that sneering Sin Archbishop limb from limb. If that would bring her back, what could possibly be wrong with doing it?
And the chaos that would engulf — shaking the lives and deaths of countless people.
Someone simple enough not to think about the consequences would have had it so much easier.
Even knowing that doing it would earn him her anger when she finally woke up.
"————"
Subaru crushed the surging feelings and held his breath. Crusch said nothing. She merely closed her eyes, as if regretting her apology, and took point as they resumed their march.
The municipal building was five stories tall, and Subaru and Crusch were already on the fourth. The intermediate floors held conference rooms and clerical offices, and from what Subaru had gathered of the landing layout, the broadcast room should be on the top floor.
In other words— "That 'Lust' should be up there too..."
"Yes, that's right. But can we really fit through a corridor of this width...?"
Crusch peered into the fourth-floor hallway and furrowed her brow.
Her doubt was justified. Subaru shared the same concern.
The fourth-floor corridor was barely wide enough for four people to walk abreast.
From the square below, the black dragon's silhouette — seen from a distance, sure — had been as large as an elephant. There was no way a creature that size could fit through this building's hallways.
It was possible it had abandoned the corridors and broken through walls, forcing its body into rooms — but— "What do you think?"
"I think we can safely assume there's no ambush in the hallway. You agree on that, Crusch-san? The problem is the ambush waiting in the broadcast room... If they've been inside long enough, they've definitely prepared something."
"...Yes, I think so. The broadcast room — could there be traps set up in there?"
"If you think of it as the one place we're certain to come, then absolutely. But the people who were in the municipal building still haven't been found. Worst case, a hostage situation could—"
The more he thought, the worse the possibilities became.
This wasn't the kind of problem that could be solved by brute force alone. Crusch's combat ability was moderate at best, and by her own admission, she couldn't rely on magic. Subaru's situation wasn't much better —
"I'd love to say 'nothing ventured, nothing gained,' but I can't be that bold. If they finish the fight outside and send reinforcements up, the whole situation could change in an instant—"
"If that happens, 'Lust' would have no reason to delay the broadcast any longer. We'll have to manage on our own, just the two of us."
"The best approach to an ambush..."
Crusch said it firmly and stared at Subaru.
The intensity in her gaze made Subaru feel the weight of it, and he swallowed hard.
"Um, Crusch-san?"
"Wilhelm told me — that in situations exactly like this one, Subaru-sama is the one who arrives at the optimal solution. I believe that too."
"The pressure is real!"
On top of Wilhelm's overestimation, Crusch — who had forgotten Subaru's old reputation for being dead last — was piling on her expectations.
Nearly crushed under the weight of that belief, Subaru nonetheless used every remaining second of their dwindling time to think clearly. And then he decided.
"What can we do about the ambush..."
"Yes?"
"If the enemy is waiting for us to come to them as a matter of course... then we'll shatter that certainty."
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ An ambush has several key elements.
First, the location. The whole idea is to lie in wait and attack the enemy unilaterally from an advantageous position, so this is an essential element.
Second, the certainty that the target will actually show up. You start an ambush, but if the person you're after never comes — it's all for nothing.
Third, predicting when the target will arrive. If you've been waiting so long that your concentration breaks, you can't maximize the ambush's effectiveness.
Therefore, assuming "Lust" is setting an ambush — this time, all three conditions are met.
No matter what, Subaru and his group had to storm the "broadcast room" within a "limited time," and they "had no choice but to do so." For the ambusher, there could be no easier prey to hunt.
"So we need to break that situation."
"I understand. ...No — I am a noble too. I decided to trust Subaru-sama, and I won't keep second-guessing. I leave it to you."
The top floor where the broadcast room lay — or rather, one floor above that.
In other words, they emerged onto the rooftop above the top floor, and there Subaru and Crusch prepared to execute their plan to shatter the enemy's strategy.
Crusch, initially puzzled by Subaru's proposal, seemed to have steeled her resolve. Her willingness to commit once she'd made up her mind — that hadn't changed from before or after she lost her memories. It was a fine quality.
"I'd honestly like to check on the battle in the square, though."
"If they sense us down there, our actions become meaningless."
From the square below, the faint sound of steel clashing and Garfiel's cursing drifted up to this height. The fight was still ongoing. They couldn't count on outside help.
"Even so..."
Subaru surveyed the rooftop and nodded with understanding.
Scattered across the ground were claw marks — traces of where the black dragon had strode about with impunity. The fence and iron railing on the square side had been blasted away by Julius's magic.
Marveling at the terrifying power on display, Subaru made a wide detour across the rooftop to the opposite side from the square. Based on the floor plan he'd studied, the broadcast room was on that side.
Naturally, Capella would be waiting there for them to come rushing up— "Subaru-sama."
"What is it? The prep's almost—"
"I know it's a bit late, but I just realized something."
"...?"
Behind Subaru as he worked on the iron railing, Crusch's voice dropped slightly. When he looked back quizzically, she stared at him with an unusually stiff expression.
"I don't do well with heights. Let's... finish this quickly."
"An unexpected weakness... Understood. Prep's done."
After confirming everything was securely fastened, Subaru nodded to Crusch. She nodded back with that same rigid face, then stepped softly into Subaru's chest as he spread his arms— "—Don't let go."
"Crusch-san, saying things like that is how you give a guy the wrong idea, you know."
"...?"
Subaru smiled wryly at her tilted head, then exhaled. Lifting Crusch's body against his chest, he lunged over the railing— Naturally, gravity took hold, and the two plummeted headfirst along the building's wall. Midway through the fall, the whip coiled around Subaru's arm hit its limit.
"—!"
Supporting both their weights, Subaru gritted his teeth and fought to keep his shoulder from dislocating. The falling arc carried them in a wide swing toward the municipal building's wall — and with both legs extended, Subaru smashed through the window of the room he'd pinpointed as the broadcast room.
"Graaaah—!"
"What!? No way—!"
Showering glass in all directions, Subaru and Crusch tumbled into the broadcast room. For a split second, Crusch seemed to let out a small scream, but Subaru pretended not to hear it and released her from his grip.
They both planted their hands on the floor and immediately scanned the room. And found.
"————"
The black dragon, frozen stiff with eyes wide, stared at the two intruders.
Just as they'd seen on the rooftop, its absurdly massive body had been crammed into the room. Wings folded and head raised, it had apparently been aiming its fire breath toward the hallway door.
It had presumably planned to incinerate Subaru and Crusch when they entered properly — but that plan had missed its mark entirely.
If anything, the oversized body worked against it, making it clumsy inside the cramped room.
The black dragon spread its wings, preparing to fight back against Subaru and Crusch— "Crusch-san!"
"Yes!"
Freed from her fear of heights, Crusch answered with a ringing voice and unleashed her slash.
The wind blade split the dragon's outstretched wing at the base in a single flash. Leaping forward, Crusch severed the black dragon's front leg with a direct strike. "Lust" screamed, and thick black blood gushed out.
"GRAAAAAAAAAH!!"
"Look out! Get dow—Wha!?"
Screaming in agony, Capella thrashed wings and neck alike, destroying the room. It was larger than an average room, sure — but when a creature the size of an elephant went berserk inside it, no amount of structural integrity would hold. Subaru covered his head to avoid being caught in the destruction— And noticed.
At the black dragon's feet, a bound young girl was desperately twisting her body.
"—!"
Her tear-filled eyes and Subaru's locked together.
In that instant, he understood — when the first ambush failed, "Lust" had prepared an effective hostage. Fury ignited in his chest.
His focus sharpened to a razor's edge. His body chose to advance rather than retreat.
He barely ducked under the tail sweeping overhead, then slid in under the black dragon to reach the girl. He scooped up her trembling small frame, and with the whip back in hand, lashed the dragon's back with everything he had. He couldn't tell if it did any damage. It just made him feel slightly better.
But Crusch's blow was something else entirely.
"Wait! Wait! This is different—!"
"No room for talk! Accept your punishment for the chaos and calamity you've brought to this city!"
Crusch's blade showed no mercy as the black dragon hunched over its head with almost human desperation.
It was so fragile on the defensive that it was almost anticlimactic. Capella had revealed just how defenseless and powerless she was against steel blades.
The other wing clutching its head was half-shredded, and Crusch's slender, powerful leg kicked the screaming body. The force — vastly greater than anything Subaru could manage — sent the massive frame stumbling backward toward the window on the opposite side from the one Subaru and Crusch had broken through.
Both of the black dragon's wings had yet to begin regenerating.
For all its claims of immortality, its regenerative speed was nothing to be feared.
"Now it ends—!"
"Wait—"
Crusch was beyond listening. Her barrage of slashes raked the black dragon's torso, neck, and wings, smashed its body against the wall, and shattered the window frame, sending it tumbling outside.
The black dragon tried to spread its wings as it was blasted through the wall, but one was torn from the base and the other split vertically like a钩 rip — neither was in any condition to sustain flight.
"————"
Regeneration couldn't keep up in time. Without even a sound, the black dragon plummeted.
A few seconds later, the impact reached their ears — the sound of flesh slamming into the ground. Like a wet rag slapped against a wall.
"I'll secure the area and keep watch. Subaru-sama, the girl."
"A — yeah, got it."
Approaching the broken window frame, Crusch kept her vigil sharp. Subaru took comfort in her reliable back as he gently set down the girl he'd rescued during the chaos.
The girl's eyes rolled in terror, her face a mask of confusion about her own situation.
Can't be helped. Anyone would be terrified after being glared down by a dragon.
"It's okay. The mean dragon got taken out by a really strong big sister. We can't take it easy just yet, but... where are the other people?"
"Um, um..."
"Sounds weird, but I'm on your side. I came to save you all. We've gotta sort things out before the bad guys get back. Can you help me?"
He knelt to meet her eyes at her level, keeping his voice gentle.
This was the unconscious empathetic behavior that made Subaru good with the younger girls. The girl seemed to calm down slightly. After several shaky breaths— "O-over there, there's a room... everyone's in there."
"They're locked in? That..."
The room the girl pointed to was a smaller room beyond the broadcast room.
Or rather — this room wasn't the broadcast room at all. It was a large space, but there was no broadcast equipment in sight. Even accepting that magical devices might not look like conventional technology, there was nothing resembling any kind of apparatus. This was probably the broadcast preparation room, and the girl's indicated room was the actual broadcast studio.
Subaru looked toward it, then hesitated to ask what he'd been about to follow up with — whether the people locked inside were alive.
Asking a child that would be far too cruel, and irresponsible.
Subaru stroked the still-trembling girl's head, then slowly made his way toward the room.
"————"
His heart pounded hard and fast. Subaru noticed a cold sweat forming along his back.
The voluntary Tarzan jump hadn't made him this tense. The sudden dryness in his throat was strange. An unpleasant premonition, a terrifying premonition that wouldn't go away.
"Subaru-sama?"
"I'm fine. I'll check right now. What about 'Lust'?"
"...Secured over here. For some reason, she hasn't moved since she fell."
Crusch answered while keeping watch over "Lust" below. Hearing that, Subaru took a deep breath, stepped to the door, and reached for the doorknob.
There was still a chance
And yet — he had a strange certainty in his chest that there was no need to worry. And in truth, that thought wasn't wrong.
Because inside, there were no Cult members at all. What was there, was— "————"
"————""————""————""————