After returning to the meeting room with Wilhelm, the group had been eagerly awaiting Subaru's arrival. Reinhardt looked at Wilhelm, and the grandfather tilted his chin toward his grandson in a greeting of reunion.
With the two of them standing together along the wall, Subaru settled into the seat next to Otto at the round table.
"Sorry I'm late. How'd the discussion go?"
"We'd just finished going over the briefing. Natsuki-san, what about you… How is Lady Crusch?"
"Not great. But I won't say there's no hope. We can't really do anything until we've driven the
"I see. Well, that alone is good news."
Otto let out a relieved sigh, and the others who had been listening reacted with similar relief. Watching their responses, Subaru's heart was heavy with guilt toward them.
It wasn't a lie, but it was far from the truth. The measure that might save Crusch was quite risky for Subaru as well. If someone else existed under the same conditions as him, the chances would improve considerably—but.
"Either way, Crusch can't return to the front lines for the duration of this battle. Felis won't want to leave her side, and I think it's best for the medical team to remain at the city hall. No matter where we go, there's a risk we won't be able to respond."
"The four-way simultaneous assault plan isn't changing, so making the city hall, which is central to the control towers, our base makes the most sense. If that's the case, then…"
Anastasia clapped her hands and looked around at everyone.
"Well then, shall we finally get down to business? —The four control towers and the four Archbishops of Sin. Let's discuss the deployment of forces for taking them down."
The Crusch camp had the "Sword Demon" Wilhelm.
The
The Anastasia camp had the "Finest Knight" Julius and the "
The
And the Priscilla camp had— "Just me and Al."
"As much as I hate to say it… you're going to fight too? You're a royal selection candidate, you know?"
As the group was taking stock of each camp's forces, Priscilla boldly raised her own name. Subaru frowned at this, and she sniffed derisively.
"That is precisely because I am a candidate for the throne. Do not lump me together with a fool who became useless before the matter at hand, or a weakling who never had the capacity to fight in the first place. I stand above all others—that is what makes me who I am, in both swordplay and on stage."
"I cannot let that slide. Surely you are not referring to my master as a fool?"
"Your guilty conscience is what makes it stick, isn't it? You're being roundabout, old soldier. Dropping out over minor matters before the main event is hardly the conduct of the chosen."
The discussion had barely begun before the tense atmosphere between Wilhelm and Priscilla flared up. Normally, it would have been easy to let slide, but under the circumstances, Wilhelm was less composed than usual. Priscilla, on the other hand, was operating at her baseline level of irritation, leaving him without words.
"Okay, okay, the weaklings and the fools are us, so let's just move on. Don't pick a fight."
"Oh, how boring. I am not so easily managed that I would sit still and listen to talk of the weak."
"Being weak doesn't mean you can't win—that's a different matter. You need to show some magnanimity, or no one will follow you. Everyone's on edge here. Try showing a little patience."
"Hmph."
Perhaps Anastasia's point hit the mark, because Priscilla simply snorted and offered no rebuttal. Seeing her lower her spear, Wilhelm, who had been radiating a fierce aura of sword intent, withdrew it as well.
They were from different camps, so it was only natural, but it was hardly a harmonious gathering.
"Then, Lady Priscilla's camp consists of Lady Priscilla and Al—two people? Are we to assume no expectations for that boy?"
"What could that frail, weak little child possibly do? He is nothing more than a plaything I keep around for my amusement. Naturally, I will be leaving him here."
"Understood. Then we have a total of eight people to carry out the assault on four locations."
The young butler serving Priscilla—Schult—stepped back, dividing the round table neatly in half between those who could fight and those who could not.
Excluding the eight combatants, the non-combatants were Anastasia, Schult, Liliana, Otto, and Crusch with Felis on the floor above—six in total.
"Before we divide the forces, let's confirm what we know about the Archbishops of Sin. So, the only one here who's actually seen all of their faces is… Natsuki-kun, right?"
"Yeah, that's right. Being called the Witch Cult's foremost authority really grates on me, but I guess I'll go ahead and explain. What I know about their abilities—here goes."
Subaru stood up and began speaking, drawing the full attention of the room.
About the Witch Cult that had attacked this city, and the most depraved of its Archbishops of Sin.
"First up is 'Wrath.' Goes by Sirius, wraps herself head to toe in bandages. Can't tell from looking, but I'm pretty sure she's a woman. She wraps chains around her arms and swings them around to attack. Also seems to use fire magic."
"That alone doesn't sound like much of a threat—is she some kind of extraordinary fighter?"
"Coming from you, that makes it hard to answer no matter who the opponent is, Reinhardt. …In terms of raw combat power, Wilhelm or Julius could hold their own just fine. She was roughly on par with Emilia in close combat, from what I saw. But, Wrath has her Authority."
"Authority…"
Reinhardt placed a hand on his chin, furrowing his brow at the weight of the word.
Subaru nodded back at him.
"The biggest headache with the Archbishops of Sin is their Authorities—those innate abilities they possess. They're neither magic nor curses; they're some other kind of power that makes no sense. Wasting time trying to understand the principles behind them is pointless. They're all powerful, and figuring out how to counter them is the key to taking down an Archbishop."
"Subaru-dono, you supposedly defeated 'Sloth' in the past. Did that one have an Authority as well?"
"It did. The Sloth Archbishop had two Authorities: 'Unseen Hands' and 'Sloth' itself. One of them lets you extend multiple invisible arms with absurdly powerful force. If any of them grab you, they can tear a human body apart with ease."
"I can attest to that, through Subaru's eyes, even if indirectly. Those arms could tear flesh with the barest graze—it was terrifyingly real."
Julius backed up Subaru's explanation. During the joint battle against Petelgeuse, he had borrowed Subaru's eyes, giving him direct experience with the Unseen Hands. He was in the perfect position to corroborate.
"The other one, Sloth, forcibly drains the will to act from anyone within range. Whether that technically qualifies as an Authority was debatable, but we overcame it because it doesn't work on anyone with the aptitude to use spirits. That worked because it was me and Julius, though."
"What both powers demonstrate is this: no matter how terrifying the abilities an Archbishop of Sin possesses, they are not untouchable if the right people are assigned to handle them."
"You rarely say something useful, Julius. That about sums it up."
Subaru offered what praise he could, and Julius regarded him with a lukewarm expression. Feeling a chill from that look, Subaru cleared his throat and continued.
"Anyway, back to Wrath's Authority. As far as we know, Wrath's power involves the sharing and propagation of emotions and sensations."
"Sharing… emotions and sensations?"
Subaru's explanation didn't seem to click for most of the group, who tilted their heads in confusion. This was a difficult concept to explain, so Subaru had to choose his words carefully.
"Basically, Wrath can force emotions within her range to converge on a single point. She can turn one person's anger into everyone's anger, or one person's sorrow into everyone's sorrow."
"What's the point of that, though? I don't get it at all."
"On its own, it's basically just a power that forces people to read the room. But that's not what makes it scary. The terrifying part is that she can polarize even hostility. In other words, Wrath can project her hostility toward a target onto everyone around her."
"So the people of the city in the surrounding area would turn against us?"
"That's right."
Otto had arrived at the correct answer, and Subaru snapped his fingers to confirm.
The revelation drained the color from everyone's faces, but the problem didn't stop there.
"凡愚, you said earlier that the power of this 'Wrath' involved the sharing of emotions and sensations, correct?"
It was Priscilla who was the first to reach that understanding, reclining in her seat with a haughty air.
Her crimson eyes pierced through Subaru as she spoke, half-concealing her mouth behind her folding fan.
"If the sharing of emotions is what you just described, then the sharing of sensations is something else entirely. And if my guess is correct, that makes it quite a repulsive power, doesn't it?"
"I don't know if your guess is right, but it's about as bad as it gets. Wrath's Authority also shares injuries among everyone in range. And that includes injuries Wrath herself sustains."
"So even she isn't exempt from that… Whoa, hold on—are you serious, brother? That's the worst! So basically, if you kill Wrath, everyone else dies too?"
In Reinhardt's hands, the worst-case scenario had once become reality.
Even if Sirius—the source of the malice—were defeated, she would leave behind unhealing wounds in everyone around her. How many people would have to die alongside her just to kill her?
"…How interesting."
Confronted with this devastating information, no one could come up with a countermeasure and fell silent.
In the midst of that silence, one person alone—Priscilla—curved her lips into a smile, looking genuinely amused.
"Very well. I shall cut off the head of this fool called 'Wrath.' You may celebrate."
"W-wait wait wait! I have no idea why you're all fired up, but this isn't that simple! Were you even listening?!"
"Of course I was listening. And having heard it, I declared that I would be the one to do it. A thoroughly despicable and repugnant opponent, indeed. She is worthy of being felled by my hand."
Ignoring Subaru's protests entirely, Priscilla snapped her fan shut with a sharp crack and looked around at everyone.
Her gaze was so sharp and burning with intensity that it overwhelmed even the formidable group in the room.
"If what you described encompasses the full extent of her Authority, then I have a fair idea of how it works. To think you would dare claim dominion over the masses over me—an affront of the highest order. All of the rabble exist for my sake. Any impudent insect that lays a hand on what is mine shall be expelled from my garden at once."
"M-my lady… don't you think you're laying it on a bit thick?"
"What nonsense are you spouting, Al? I know well that you are a coward, but to show such timidity toward an enemy who has earned my displeasure—how absurd. With myself and that songstress by my side, there is nothing to fear."
"I'm not saying it because I'm scared… songstress?"
Al, who had been trying to rein in his master's outrageous claims, stopped mid-sentence at the unexpected word. The servant's surprise met with a magnanimous nod from Priscilla, and she pointed her folded fan toward Liliana, who sat in a corner of the round table.
Suddenly thrust onto the stage of conversation and confronted with a fan pointed her way, Liliana's eyes went wide.
"A-are you calling on me?! Why would you suddenly say something like that?!"
"Have you forgotten what happened on the road? How much your song shook the hearts of all those rabble. You need only do the same thing again. The emotions of the masses—it is simply a matter of stealing them from one another."
"I just encouraged a few people who looked anxious, that's all! Even by any standard, that's a massive overestimate—I'm just a timid girl who folds under pressure, and…"
"Oh? Then you admit to the failure of the songs your ancestors passed down to you?"
At Priscilla's contemptuous words, Liliana's expression changed. The placating smile she had been wearing, trying to defuse things with false modesty, gave way to something far more serious.
"What do you mean… by that?"
"Surely it's obvious without thinking. The songs you have painstakingly inherited from your ancestors—in this time when people's hearts cry out for salvation, you would shrink away and sing them shamefully? Such a loser's howling—it is nothing but a mass of futility and waste. Even a dog's barking is better, since at least it doesn't boast of self-pity. Why not give it a try? A hymn to the losers, perhaps?"
"A-aaah! You'd really go that far?! Fine then! You're on! Very well! You've gone and done it now—captured me, the wandering minstrel Liliana, and treated me like this! Spoken to me like this! If I stay silent now, I'm no longer a woman! Even the late Kiritaka-san would crawl out of his grave in frustration!"
Provoked spectacularly by Priscilla, Liliana was spectacularly ignited in turn. Her face turned beet red, and she grabbed the instrument resting on her lap, strumming it with wild abandon.
"Poor Kiritaka-san, whose spirit scattered across the city's waters—I was thinking of comforting his soul with a requiem, but never mind that! Never mind! Stealing emotions? You're on! The songs I inherited, the songs humanity has woven throughout the world—do you think they'd lose to some incomprehensible power like that?! The power of song is incomprehensible too, you know! Grrr!"
Completely worked up, Liliana threw herself across the round table and began performing. Schult and Otto hurried to pull her down from it. From across the room, Subaru watched her start playing rock in the corner and turned his attention back to Priscilla.
"Setting aside how easy she is to manipulate, what's your actual plan for winning? That goes for you too—I can't just throw someone into a fight they have no chance of surviving…"
"I do not engage in battles I cannot win. Everything in this world bends to my will. Besides, I was the one who traveled here with that songstress. I recognized her utility, which is why I brought her along—and why I made the decision to keep bringing her."
"Are you saying Liliana has the power to stand up to Sirius?"
"If she does not, then I lose. And my losing is something that simply cannot happen in this world. Therefore, that songstress has such power. Do you need further explanation?"
The complete lack of specifics was finally reaching the limits of Subaru's patience. But as if to back up Priscilla's claims, it was Schult who raised his hand instead.
The young butler's adorable eyes trembled as he carefully chose his words.
"A-about that—I believe it is a fact that Liliana-san's songs have a special power. Hearing Liliana-san's songs truly did free me from my anxiety and frustration, and… we confirmed this at several shelters we passed through before arriving here."
"You went around the shelters and had Liliana sing?"
"That is what I said."
"You never said that!"
The explanation was woefully insufficient.
Running out of patience with Priscilla's manner, Subaru turned to look at Reinhardt.
"Hey, Reinhardt. When you look at someone, can you see the power they have—their, uh, Blessings? Can you tell what Blessings someone has?"
"A Blessing that reveals the Blessings of others? I've heard the owner of the Blessing of Judgment can do that. There's no one like that in Lugunica, but apparently they exist in Vollachia. So you want to confirm what Blessing Liliana has? That would certainly be one form of proof."
Reinhardt grasped the purpose behind Subaru's question and fell into thought.
Subaru knew he was asking the impossible—it had been a shot in the dark—and he waved his hand dismissively at the contemplative red-haired young man.
"I heard you had all sorts of crazy abilities, so I got my hopes up, but I guess it's not that convenient. Fine. Let's first test whether Liliana's singing can cancel out Wrath's Authority, and then—"
"There's no need to worry, Subaru. —I've just received it."
"Huh?"
Just as Subaru was about to propose the singing experiment, Reinhardt tapped his shoulder and smiled. Then the Sword Saint narrowed his blue eyes and gazed at Liliana, performing in the corner of the room.
And then— "Incredible. Liliana-san possesses the Blessing of Heartlink."
"Forget the Blessing—I'm more surprised by you right now. Huh? What did you just say? You 'received' it? What do you mean, received? Like a baby?"
"Subaru, this is no time for jokes. I've confirmed Liliana-san's Blessing. The Blessing of Heartlink is, one could say, a Blessing that allows you to convey your thoughts to others. Normally, it's something on the scale of sending a fleeting thought to someone with whom you share a deep bond, but… through song? I never would have considered that."
Reinhardt was openly impressed by Liliana, but it was Subaru who sat with his mouth agape at the Sight of him.
He had long complained that Reinhardt's abilities were cheated, that he was too much of a superhuman, but this was absurd. He was simply too loved by the gods.
That the Blessing you desired would arrive at your fingertips the moment you wished for it.
"——?"
Following that thought to its conclusion, Subaru felt a sense of unease.
You wished for a Blessing, and you received it. At the very least, that was the only way to describe what had just happened to Reinhardt. And yet—that was supposed to be a wonderfully reassuring, enviable power.
Something about it felt like it could lead to something wrong, and Subaru couldn't put it into words.
The Wrath assault team—Priscilla. Al. Liliana. Decided.