Subaru's fingers closed around a thin, white neck.
He squeezed with everything he had, feeling the vertebrae grind against his palm with a sickening creak, even as an incongruous thought surfaced in his mind: it's thin — a girl's neck.
"…Ah, ugh…"
"————"
If Ram were resisting at full strength, Subaru stood no chance.
She was the girl who, back in the
But that was only if at least one of her limbs was free.
"Invisible Providence."
"…!"
With his hands still locked around her neck, Subaru unleashed the dark impulse churning within him.
The invisible pool of darkness took corporeal form, now contributing to pinning Ram's limbs firmly in place. Pinned limb to limb, Ram couldn't even struggle effectively. If Subaru kept pouring strength into the arms wrapped around her throat, her breath would cut out before long.
And once her breathing stopped, Ram would surely regret her earlier outburst.
He could make her pay — with her life as the price — for the selfish, baseless delusion that Subaru didn't care about
"You brought this on yourself. You did this. You! You! YOU!"
He hated Ram. He hated Ram. He hated Ram.
Small grievances had piled up, passed through a great catalyst, and overflowed.
Hatred was packed into the tips of his strangling fingers, nails biting into white skin until blood dripped free.
"Hhh…!"
Feeling the hot warmth of blood at his fingertips, Subaru panted for air as Ram fixed him with a glare of pure loathing.
Despite being on the very verge of death, the steely resolve burning in those pale-pink eyes was something beyond comprehension. Her gaze seemed to say that simply being killed wasn't enough to make her die.
After he strangled her to death, he'd gouge out those eyes. He decided.
"I'll tear you apart, you bitch. …Every time I think about how you, with a face just like Rem's, were looking at me — it makes me want to puke."
"…………"
"Huh? What, I can't hear you. If you've got something to say, say it clearly—"
"…La—"
Subaru's tirade was cut off as Ram's voice, small and faint, bled over it.
The instant he narrowed his eyes at the sound of that word— The sandy ground beneath Subaru, who had Ram pinned, exploded, and both bodies were hurled through the air.
"Wha—!?"
"Guh…!"
Blasted by the sudden detonation, Subaru was showered with sand and left tumbling backward, his eyes and mouth full of grit, staggered by pain and the taste of earth. Ram had been caught in the same blast, her small frame taking the brunt of the force even more than Subaru's, and she went rolling away.
The explosion had left both of them lacerated, and droplets of Ram's blood fell onto the sand in scattered points.
But Ram had escaped Subaru's restraint. That was the fact of the matter.
"Ram! You, with magic…!"
"I just needed… a moment to catch my breath. That's all I needed… to chant…"
Ram, on her knees and barely able to stay upright, gasped those words at Subaru through ragged breaths.
Even while being strangled, Ram had managed — just barely — to chant the wind spell known as "Huula." Unable to aim properly, or to aim with any precision, she'd conjured it directly beneath herself.
As a result, she'd engulfed herself and Subaru alike in the blast, barely managing to escape.
"Tch—!"
"————"
Before the implications of that fact could fully register, Subaru was already reaching behind his back for his whip. At the same time, Ram drew a short staff from within her garment and radiated the fighting spirit of someone preparing for battle.
In terms of raw power per strike, the mage Ram held the advantage, but when it came to attack speed, Subaru was no slouch. The swift lethality of his whip was effective even against superhuman combatants in this world. All he had to do was crack that whip against that composed face of hers and rearrange it beyond recognition.
"Crying and apologizing won't save you now! It's too late for that!"
"That's my line. A heartless pervert like you, Barusu, isn't even worth letting Rem see. Cut yourself into rings and wither on the sand."
"Keep talking!"
With Ram quietly stoking her killing intent, Subaru had steeled his own resolve to match.
Using the faint light from the campfire that had fallen between them as their guide, the two circled one another warily, matching each other step for step, gazes locked in a death stare.
They were mere seconds from the opening salvo of a fight to the death when— "Alright, that's enough!"
"—!?"
A loud clap of hands rang out, and Subaru and Ram both snapped their faces upward at the sound of dry applause. Standing above them on
Still seated as always atop the earth dragon, she swept her gaze back and forth between the two who had been on the verge of a genuine, no-holds-barred killing match, and said: "That's enough. You're companions, and yet you're glaring at each other with those terrifying faces — it's a bit much. No matter how you slice it, there has to be a limit."
"A limit? Yeah, there is a limit — and the one who crossed it and said something unforgivable was her! That's why I'm going to make her pay for it!"
"No good, no good — I can't get through to you at all. What about you, Ram-san?"
Subaru jabbed a finger at Ram, spitting his words at her, and Anastasia looked at him with an exasperated expression. She then turned the conversation toward Ram, but the pink-haired girl's response was no different from Subaru's.
She kept her staff trained on Subaru without letting her guard drop, maintaining her combat stance, and said: "What a stupid question. Barusu's behavior is beyond the pale… I've simply reached my limit of tolerance. If you care so much about yourself and nothing else, then let me drop you alone into the darkness you deserve."
"I'm too stunned for words. Drop dead."
"You too, huh? What is it with you two already? I've bitten off more than I can chew…"
With Ram's attitude showing no trace of softening, Subaru's own fury showed no sign of abating either.
Anastasia shrugged helplessly at the two of them exchanging murderous hostility, but Subaru was beginning to feel irritated with her too.
For starters, why did she keep looking at this whole thing as if she were some kind of outsider?
Who was it that had set these events in motion? Who was the one who had come to the
And to top it all off, she was still perched alone on top of Patrasche, looking down at them— "Hey, you. What's with the condescending lecture from up there? Get down."
"Oh my, so that's how it is?"
"Before you start spouting off like you're better than everyone, get down to eye level first. I'll hear what you have to say after that. If you can't do that, don't you dare talk down to me!"
He lashed the whip downward, splitting the air with a sharp whistle and kicking up a spray of sand.
It was the kind of weapon that, on contact, would split skin open and leave a horrific wound. Whatever Anastasia's true nature might be —
In fact, following Subaru's demand, Anastasia slowly climbed down from Patrasche. She touched down on the sand with exaggerated caution, then tilted her head as if to say, "Now what?"
"I've come down too, just like you asked… So what do you want, Natsuki-kun?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to make that idiot take back what she just said. And if she won't, then there's only one thing left to do."
If Ram were to sincerely, from the bottom of her heart, apologize and retract every word she'd said and turn over a new leaf, Subaru might consider showing some leniency.
But Ram's response to hearing that was crystal clear.
"Sure, Natsuki-kun can say whatever he likes, but what do you think, Ram-san?"
"I can't find a single thing I should retract, so this so-called conversation is beyond absurd. I'm struggling to understand what, exactly, he wants me to reword."
Ram snorted, delivering those words with an attitude of utter contempt from the depths of her soul.
That was her answer. And so the chance for forgiveness was lost forever.
"You heard her. Stay back. I'll make sure that face — the same face as Rem's — is the last one of its kind in this world."
"————"
"Huh, hey? Nothing to say?"
"This is just me talking to myself, but talking to an idiot makes you stupid too. So I'm not going to talk."
Veins bulged on Subaru's forehead, and the last of his patience finally snapped.
Fueling himself with rage, Subaru lunged straight toward Ram, ready to tear her to pieces. But Anastasia stepped in front of him, spreading both arms wide.
"Now, now, now! Look, calm down! It's still too early to reach any conclusions!"
"Get out of the way! Maybe I'll just kill you first!"
"Leave this to me, okay? Come on, Ram-san, just a moment—"
She stopped Subaru's advance and forced her way over to Ram. Ram, silent, kept her eyes locked on Subaru but grudgingly moved to Anastasia's side.
However, there was little chance that would make her change her mind. Indeed, Ram approached Anastasia with eyes that made it plain she had no such intention whatsoever — she was only going through the motions of obligation.
"Look, Ram-san. I know the atmosphere is awful, and I understand that feelings are getting frayed…"
"That sort of talk is meaningless right now. More importantly, I need to deal with that fool—"
"Yes, you're right. It doesn't matter anymore."
Irritated, Ram tried to cut short her conversation with Anastasia. Her gaze finally shifted away from Subaru for the first time, meeting Anastasia's eyes head-on.
The catalyst was an impact. A forceful strike to Ram's body — specifically, her left chest. It came from a thick-bladed knife gripped in Anastasia's hand.
"A, guh…?"
"I had to compare which of you was more useful. That's the conclusion I reached. You'll have to excuse me."
With a sharp twist, Anastasia withdrew the knife from the wound with a deft, practiced motion.
Ram looked down at the fatal wound that had appeared in her left chest, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. Then, raising her eyes to Anastasia, she saw the girl lightly raise a hand and smile — and collapsed.
Ram crumpled lifelessly onto the sand, her blood flowing into the dry ground and being swallowed up.
"Hh—huh?"
Subaru could only watch, powerless to do anything.
The hand gripping the whip trembled violently, his back teeth grinding together with rage.
"Why the hell did you…!?"
"If you'd kept dithering, Natsuki-kun, Ram-san never would've let her guard down and the two of you would've killed each other! And if both of you got hurt, or both of you died, then what? I can't get out of a place like this on my own, you know?"
Anastasia tilted her head at Subaru's wrathful expression, looking genuinely innocent.
Her words were reasonable — but how was he supposed to reconcile that with the violent emotion threatening to tear him apart? The impulse he'd been about to unleash on Ram was now left unspent, his anger undischarged.
"So then… are you planning to take that frustration out on me?"
"————"
"Do you really think it's worth getting blinded by short-sighted anger and losing sight of your purpose? Reducing our numbers over something so petty — once was more than enough."
Anastasia's words gradually washed over him, cooling his fury like water poured over a flame.
She was right, of course. After coming this far, it would be foolish to reduce the number of people who could still think clearly. Besides, Anastasia — or Echidna — served as their guide to the
Unlike Ram, who said nothing but infuriating things and offered not a shred of practical value. Ram was a piece they couldn't afford to lose.
"…Fine. I'll let your silver tongue carry the day. For now."
"Mm, that's the way. Ahh, what a relief. I was sweating there."
Anastasia made an exaggerated show of patting her chest in relief, a broad smile spreading across her face. Then, unsteadily treading through the sand, she walked over to Subaru and extended her hand.
Was she offering a handshake?
"A handshake for reconciliation — and to say we're partners from here on out."
"————"
Subaru looked down at the hand extended toward him with that guileless expression and considered for a moment.
He couldn't fathom Anastasia's true intentions — or rather, Echidna's, in the current state of affairs. Subaru was neither carefree nor optimistic enough to believe that every word out of her mouth was genuine.
After all, it was Anastasia who had, wearing that very same smile, plunged a hidden knife into Ram's chest.
That thick-bladed knife she still held — used the right way, it could probably sever bone.
It was one of the items kept in her emergency go-bag alongside the campfire gear, a practical piece designed with survival in mind. But Anastasia had kept it hidden the entire time, deploying it at precisely the critical moment — and not for self-defense. Perhaps not even that.
"Natsuki-kun?"
"————"
"Won't you take my hand?"
Her right hand was empty, but the knife remained clutched in her left. The distance at which one could shake hands was, in turn, the range at which that knife could reach.
If he took her hand, at least one of his hands would be occupied. At this range, it went without saying which was the superior weapon — knife or whip. Wasn't accepting that handshake itself a trap?
— Before being killed, shouldn't he kill first?
"Natsuki-kun?"
"Nah, it's nothing."
Subaru offered a thin smile, then reached for Anastasia's right hand.
The moment they clasped grips and her guard dropped completely — that would be his opening.
Invisible Providence.
The unseen hand activated once more, silently, its black fingers taking aim at Anastasia's slender neck.
He wouldn't repeat his blunder from before with Ram. This time, without mercy, he'd have those dark fingers crush her throat.
She was smug because she thought the knife gave her the advantage. He'd teach her a lesson.
Of course, even if he wanted to show her, this hand was invisible— "————"
And so, Subaru kept the fingertips of the black hand hovering at Anastasia's throat while slowly clasping the hand she offered. He felt the touch of her slender fingers, and Anastasia's smile deepened.
At the same time, a grim smile crept onto Subaru's own face.
"Then…"
This is it — he was certain.
Before Anastasia could say anything or raise her knife, he'd activate the hand's power. Those slender fingers would close around that slender neck, and in an instant her spine would be snapped— —Just before that, a blade of wind sliced Anastasia's torso in two from behind.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ It happened in the instant after he'd mistaken the sensation for a gust of wind.
A spray of red erupted before his eyes, a dumb "Eh?" escaped his lips, and Anastasia's body split cleanly in half at the waist.
A massive volume of blood spilled across the white sand, and in the cold air, the steaming heat of warm entrails and excrement mingled into a nauseating stench that filled the hollow around them.
Pink intestines — small and large — and other organs that still faintly twitched rolled across the sand, as though the spot had been transformed into a grotesque exhibition of the inner workings of a young girl's body.
"…Huh?"
Staring at the sight before him, Subaru looked down at his own hands.
There was Anastasia's body, from the waist up, her hand still locked firmly in Subaru's grip. Both of her eyes were wide open as she stared blankly up at him.
Behind her, her severed lower half had already collapsed to the ground, its doll-like legs twitching and jerking, urine streaming freely from the muscles that had gone slack.
"A, aaaaah—!?"
Confronted with the sheer horror of Anastasia's condition, Subaru's throat erupted in a scream.
He tried to shake off the arm he'd grabbed in desperation, but the grip on his hand was inhumanly strong. Unable to free himself, Subaru could do nothing but swing around Anastasia's half-body like a weight. The violent motion only intensified the bleeding, and the intestines that still connected her upper and lower halves whipped about, spraying bodily fluids in every direction, the stench growing worse.
"Let go! Let gooooo!"
"No way! I don't want to die…!"
"You're already dead! There's no way to save you!"
The raw, vivid cry of someone clinging to life — more horrifying than anything he'd imagined — forced Subaru to scream right back.
She was split in half. Blood and organs had spilled out in quantities that defied reason. It was wrong that she hadn't died instantly. It was wrong that she was still clinging to his hand. Everything about this was wrong.
"Let go let go let go let go let go let go—"
"No! Noooo! Don't leave me! Don't leave me behiiiind—"
"It's too late for that now—gah!?"
Anastasia's upper body clung to his arm, and as Subaru tried to hurl her away, a searing bolt of agony shot through his shoulder. She was driving the knife — still in her left hand — into his body, desperate not to let him escape.
The sharp blade pierced Subaru's left shoulder with ease, cracking the collarbone beneath it, and the scorching pain and blood loss forced a scream from his own throat.
"Gaaaahhhh—!? You stupid, worthless bitch, just die alreeeeeeady!!"
"N-nooo…!"
Subaru roughly grabbed Anastasia's face and ripped her body away by force. The girl was screaming something through her tears, but Subaru finally managed to wrench her free and fling her aside.
Originally slight, Anastasia's body was now half its mass and had lost so much blood that it was almost weightless. She bounced off the sand and rolled into the very pool of blood she'd created.
"Hah, hah, hah…"
Without sparing her a glance, Subaru pressed a hand to the stab wound in his right shoulder. The pain made his vision flicker, and the amount of blood he was losing made his heart race as though it would explode, but it wasn't a life-threatening wound.
Gripped by a nausea so intense he thought he might vomit, Subaru at last arrived at a thought that should have come sooner.
That blow — the one that killed Anastasia— "Barusu."
"Gu—ah."
A shadow swayed into view before Subaru, who had collapsed on his rear end, gasping in pain.
In the faint light of the sand-buried campfire, what emerged was a slender girl, half-soaked in blood — Ram.
The knife that had pierced her chest should have been fatal. But she was still alive. And fueled by sheer willpower alone, she had used magic to kill Anastasia.
"…You damn fool. If you're going to die, go die alone."
Subaru looked up at the swaying Ram and spat those words with undisguised loathing.
Ram's state went far beyond merely battered. Anastasia's blow had undoubtedly been a mortal wound. Blood was still flowing freely from the wound in her chest, trailing endlessly from the hem of her skirt. She would succumb to blood loss before long.
But before that happened, she could drag Subaru down with her.
"Damn…"
Subaru looked around for his whip. But even if he found it, his right arm — the one that could wield it — was injured at the shoulder. His left hand couldn't replicate the dexterity of his dominant arm.
If that was the case, then there was only one option left.
"Invisible Providence—!?"
The trump card he had already relied on so many times in this short span.
The instant he tried to unleash the power of the invisible black hand once more, Subaru's brain erupted with a searing pain, and the agony of a drill boring through his skull exploded inside his head.
"Gah!? Ah!? Gooaaah!?"
Sporadic waves of excruciating pain sent vomit spilling from the corners of his mouth.
Was this the price for trying to use his trump card beyond its limit? A hellish feast of agony, originating in the nerves and erupting within his cranium, shattered his consciousness into pieces. The pain in his right shoulder was nothing by comparison.
It stripped away skull and brain, gnawed at his soul — a sense of annihilation that locked away Subaru's awareness.
Much less offering any semblance of a fight with his whip, Subaru was thrashing on the ground, a helpless target.
Dying Ram, driven by nothing but hatred, forced her body forward, raising her blood-soaked staff toward Subaru.
"Hu—"
"Gaaaah! Agah! Ooooaah!?"
Subaru rolled through the pool of Anastasia's blood, clutching his head.
Ram looked down at him, her lips moving clumsily as the incantation began.
And it was— "Rà—"
"————"
The incantation completed, and a blade of wind materialized to slice Subaru to ribbons.
Just before that, a hard, crunching sound echoed through the cold, sandy hollow.
The grating noise came again and again, mingled with wet sounds and the unmistakable noise of flesh being chewed.
"Ah… aah…"
He was going to die. Sliced to ribbons. He was certain of it.
But the death that should have come never arrived. Gradually, as he continued to gasp and writhe, the headache and sense of loss began to fade from his head.
"A, ha, ah, ah?"
He covered his face with his left hand and roughly shook his sweat-drenched head. A dull ache remained, but the blade-sharp pain had receded. Taking several deep breaths, he summoned every ounce of his strength to push himself upright.
It took a ridiculously long time just to sit up, and as he did, Subaru wiped his wet cheeks.
His palm came away stained crimson, and he realized the cause — his eyes. It seemed he'd been crying tears of blood.
Blood was also streaming copiously from his nose, and the lower half of his face was no doubt a ghastly sight. The piercing, drill-like pain in his brain had been the price of using the unseen hand — the feedback.
It was an old story. The backlash of an extraordinary ability. That was what had hit him.
"What… is this…"
He wiped his face roughly with his sleeve and looked around.
He had no idea how long he'd been writhing on the ground in agony. And yet it was hard to believe he'd had that much time to spare.
Something had happened, and that was why he— "Patrasche?"
"————"
The pitch-black earth dragon lay close beside him where he sat in a daze.
Crouching low in the sand, Patrasche noticed Subaru's voice, swished her long tail, and signaled that she was unharmed.
"You're okay. Let me see…"
In that instant, the events that had just transpired came rushing back.
Anastasia split in two. Ram, the one who had done it, standing over Subaru with her staff raised.
Right — if things had continued as they were, Subaru should have been torn apart by Ram's hand.
"But then… why? Where's Ram?"
Had she collapsed from exhaustion?
It was an absurdly convenient turn of events, but Ram had been dealt a mortal wound herself. It wasn't impossible.
"Lucky… or unlucky…"
He couldn't say he was lucky when he'd nearly died. But thinking that things would have gone worse if the luck had been bad, he couldn't very well call it unlucky either.
Either way, this was no time for contemplation. If the obstruction was gone, he needed to flee this place immediately and head for the Watchtower.
"Patrasche… sorry. Give me a ride."
"————"
"Patrasche?"
He called to her and touched her back, but the earth dragon refused to comply.
More than that, Patrasche, who had crouched in place, didn't so much as turn her face toward Subaru. She simply sat her massive frame on the sand and continued to breathe slightly rough beside him.
"Hey, Patrasche. Are you listening? Hey."
Slowly, his irritation began to build.
It was close to what he'd felt toward Ram and Anastasia — a negative spiral of emotion accumulating at an impossible speed.
The earth dragon's refusal to answer his call made him want to teach her who was in charge.
"Hey, Patrasche! Turn around! Hey!"
"————"
"You bastard, from the start you never—"
Subaru struck her back roughly and raised his voice. Patrasche lifted her head at the blow, snorted hotly, and turned to face him — and then he noticed.
Patrasche's jaws, turned back toward him, were stained a vivid, unnatural red.
"————"
That shade of crimson was one he'd grown all too familiar with in this short time.
There was blood on Subaru's body too, still flowing from his right shoulder. The stench hanging in the air was thick with the scent of excrement and its telltale coloring — unmistakable.
But he hadn't wanted to notice. And he shouldn't have had to.
"————"
Patrasche's mouth, now facing him, had countless strands of "pink hair" tangled in her teeth.
"Ah…"
On the far side of Patrasche's hulking form, Ram lay collapsed where he'd lost sight of her.
It was impossible to tell whether she'd fallen face-up or face-down. He could tell if he looked at her head — but that was precisely why he couldn't.
Her head from the neck up had been crushed beyond recognition.
Her skull had been shattered by those savage jaws, brain matter spilling out — Ram was dead.
Just as Anastasia had died with her guts spilled across the sand, Ram had died with the contents of her skull spilled across it.
And Patrasche, who had done this, was now staring at him.
Those reptilian yellow eyes were terribly sharp, steeped in madness.
"Stop—"
The last thing he saw before everything went dark was those jaws opening before his eyes.
From that point until consciousness faded,
He found it strange — where was he even hearing it from? — and it almost made him laugh. But he had no mouth left to laugh with, no life left to laugh away, and absolutely nothing left to laugh about.
His partner had crushed him to death.
Some readers may find the descriptions in this chapter to be intense. If your imagination is easily overwhelmed, it's recommended to skip ahead.