A grotesque sword dance was unfolding on the open-air fifth floor.
"—"
An eyepatch-wearing man with long red hair demonstrated his powerful physique with supreme freedom and grace, producing unbelievable sights with nothing more than a short, fragile stick in his hand.
"—!!"
Charging at that red hair was a monstrous beast—a centaur—crying out with the wailing of a newborn baby, man and horse fused into one.
The monster swung the twin flame swords held aloft by its headless human upper body, unleashing hellish firepower that could carbonize a human body with a passing brush.
But the man deflected them with an unremarkable wooden stick as though it were nothing at all, dancing gracefully through the inferno.
The wooden stick never caught fire. It didn't ignite. Why?
—Probably simply because he was swinging the stick faster than it could burn.
The stick didn't burn because he swung it faster than the flames could scorch it.
He could parry the blazing sword strikes because he applied the minimum necessary force with the wind of his swing to deflect the flash of flame.
The reason he looked like he was having fun in a space saturated with murderous intent and scorching heat was that the man's mind was thoroughly broken.
Reid relaunched the "trial" as though savoring the beauty of spring in the world.
"Sora sora sora sora sora sora sora! What's wrong, you! Are you gonna play or not, you! The situation's different from last time—it's a perfect opening, you! Use your little friends around you and show me some payback! Ora ora ora ora ora ora ora!"
Roaring wildly, Reid sprayed saliva in the flames while gripping a stick in each hand. Those blue eyes were fixed on Julius, who was equally surrounded by the inferno.
Julius handled the centaurs with his knight's sword in one hand, but his expression bore both tension and bewilderment—he couldn't accept Reid's frenzied behavior.
Without changing that expression, Julius shouted: "What exactly are you thinking!? So many beasts have surged up from below! Right now the entire tower is in crisis—we need to combine our strength to fight them!"
"Hmph! The guy with proper sword technique has proper thoughts too, does he? You think that's how you enjoy life, you? In my experience, the guy who does what he wants is stronger and happier than the guy who holds back what he wants to do, you!"
"What are you—"
"I mean, what's the problem with some gross fire-horse running around? It's no different from rain falling. Rain is more annoying, actually. I've got curly hair, see?"
From a common-sense perspective, Julius laid out reasonable truths—but Reid dismissed them with insane nonsense from a deranged viewpoint.
Comparing a horde of fire beasts charging with clear murderous intent to raindrops was proof that Reid's sense of reality had died. No rational argument could ever place them in the same category, and it served no purpose other than filling the listener's heart with bewilderment and confusion.
"—!"
In truth, Julius's thoughts were rattled by an argument he'd never even considered, and as a result, he hesitated in his sword work and was slow to react to a centaur's attack.
"Tch!"
A curved flame sword—Julius didn't block it with his blade but instead dodged backward in a reflexive backflip. Immediately after, another individual tried to crush his skull with its hooves, so he used the momentum of his landing to launch himself forward, then drove his knight's sword into the torso of the centaur that had swung the fire blade, producing a piercing shriek, and turned toward the beast behind him— "—!!"
The instant he tried to turn, a hoof strike caught Julius's left shoulder.
A dull sound rang out, and pain shot across Julius's handsome profile. But he used the force of the hoof's impact to spin himself around, bisecting the overextended beast's leg with his knight's sword, slashing across its tilting torso, and then slamming his own sword pommel hard into his bleeding left shoulder.
A raw, visceral sound of flesh and bone. A rougher treatment than what Reid had given Subaru—the bone snapped back into place.
"That's it, that. Not bad, you, with that face of yours."
While the burning giants and savage hooves transformed the fifth floor into a scorching hellscape, Reid grinned with cruel satisfaction at the sight of Julius—the only one there still resisting despair as a human.
Without the capacity for judgment, the monsters treated both Julius and Reid as equal threats. But anyone with intelligence would know at a glance which was more dangerous.
Julius bled, his usual elegance marred, but his sword withstood the monsters' onslaught, steadily cutting them down one by one. Meanwhile, Reid, his cool expression never wavering, used equal or superior physical technique to mow down monster lives like the Grim Reaper.
And in between— "—gh"
"But your feet are wide open. Well, from where I'm standing, everything about you is wide open."
Reid's long leg, as though bored, kicked Julius squarely in the torso where he'd turned his back. The force of that kick sent Julius's body flying as lightly as cloth wrapping a stone, slamming him into the tower wall.
The impact pierced through the entire tower, and the monsters' shrill roars welcomed their prey's predicament. Julius collapsed to the floor, spewing blood, and the horde of monsters rushed in.
"Kuh!"
Julius survived that death charge by sliding his upper body along the ground in an inverted position, sweeping his long legs to kick away hooves, and springing to his feet. With that momentum, he used the torso of a charging centaur as a stepping stone to break through the encirclement, then turned his left hand toward the monsters who had left themselves open.
"—"
Nothing happened. He clenched his outstretched left hand, and a look of bitter regret crossed his face. The monsters turned and were about to seize on Julius's opening when— "At this point, you still can't go all out, huh, you?"
Reid inserted himself between Julius and the monsters, swinging his stick with a sigh.
The two wooden sticks in his hands generated a sword wind that lifted over a dozen giant centaurs into the air. The sensation of their hooves striking empty air created a gap in the monsters' consciousness.
"Die, you worthless horses."
Reid lightly kicked off the floor and dove in, carefully and surely dispatching each floating monster—slicing through torsos, piercing hearts, snapping the human upper bodies in half, crushing entire bodies underfoot—killing them all through different methods of slaughter.
From rising into the air to scattering as corpses on the ground took only two or three seconds.
Monsters of extraordinary danger killed without any means of resistance, utterly annihilated.
With the centaurs on the fifth floor cleared away, one might have expected a moment's reprieve from the chaotic situation—but "Tch, no end to them. They keep涌出 from their nest one after another."
Reid clicked his tongue, and as if confirming his words, the cries of babies and the sound of hooves descended from the staircase to the sixth floor below, approaching the fifth floor once more.
If this continued, it was only a matter of time before monsters surged upward with momentum matching the pile of corpses already accumulated. Assuming the vast desert outside was the beasts' habitat, there was no imagining their reserves running out.
Reid seemed to share similar thoughts, as he leisurely crossed his arms and said: "People come down here in a mood for an outing, and when you're just trying to clear the table of leftover dishes, they keep getting in the way. What a bunch of annoying bastards, huh."
"Wait—outing? At a time like this, you're saying you plan to leave this tower!?"
"Don't make me repeat the conclusion I've already reached. Like I said. Who would hold back from going out to play just because it rained? Besides, the tower only has boring people in it. My only playmate turned out to be one gorgeous guy... The rest of you can't even serve as my playmate right now."
"—"
Julius ground his molars, burning with fury at Reid's attitude, yet hesitated to let it erupt.
If he exploded now, negotiations with Reid would be over. Then the situation would once again become a two-front battle against both the monsters and Reid. That must have been what Julius's rational mind concluded.
Seeing Julius's visible struggle, Reid murmured as though genuinely disappointed: "You're just hopeless, that nature of yours."
The heartache that arose from those words tightened Julius's cheek. How great that pain was—the whirlpool of complex emotions that passed through his eyes and expression was like a child whose mountaintop had been hidden by clouds.
The pain it inflicted on his heart was something no one besides him could ever glimpse.
—However, what happened next—the pillar of hellfire erupting from below, aimed straight at the frozen Julius, as seen by the "ordinary man" watching the battlefield from above—was clearly visible.
"—ah"
At this point,
"—"
Below, the chaotic melee between Reid and Julius and the monsters was at a level where even thinking about the utterly ordinary Subaru intervening was presumptuous.
His awe and reverence for the extraordinary Reid were nothing new. He would spare that sentiment.
But Julius—for Subaru, seeing his fighting prowess for the first time—his swordsmanship and movement were at a level where not even the slightest opening existed for Subaru to exploit.
If Subaru challenged him to a fight, he'd have his limbs severed in the blink of an eye, suffering an utterly disgraceful defeat. Even if they sparred with wooden swords instead of real blades, he'd surely be demolished without even making that composed expression crack.
He had underestimated the inhabitants of this fantasy world, these otherworldly beings.
He was young and weak, with only the killing of Meili to his name. And even that was an act of "Natsuki Subaru," with Subaru's own involvement virtually nonexistent.
He couldn't kill what he couldn't kill.
Natsuki Subaru now realized he lacked the power to execute his "Book of the Dead" plan.
"—"
That realization spawned hesitation within Natsuki Subaru.
Julius, standing frozen in shock with no expression on his face, was slow to notice the monster behind him. Reid noticed the monster's presence but showed not the slightest inclination to warn him.
If this continued, Julius would be burned by the monster's flames and suffer a fatal wound—the very possibility that had flashed through his mind earlier, coming to fruition. The library would gain Julius's "Book of the Dead."
Subaru couldn't create that situation with his own hands.
He could only use the accidental, fluid circumstances to drive him toward "death."
"—Behind you, Julius!!"
"—!"
Hearing the scream, Julius's body reflexively released its stiffness. Without hesitation, the slender figure dodged to the right, and the hellfire launched from behind scorched past him, obliterating the fifth floor's surface with tremendous force.
The reason the explosive fire dyed the space red was that the beast which had unleashed the blast was more than a size larger than those it had been fighting before.
The difference was like that between an adult and a child, between a mature and young beast—whether monsters had such distinctions, Subaru didn't know, but the difference in level was unmistakable to him.
"—!!"
A mature centaur cloaked in flames, letting out an earsplitting cry, appeared surrounded by multiple young centaurs—the fifth floor was once again seized by the horde.
The situation had regressed to a dead end, and Julius, singed by the aftereffects of the hellfire, discarded his burning cloak to free himself, then prepared to face the monsters— No. His gaze was fixed upward, frozen on Subaru, who had warned him of the danger.
"—"
For an instant, across that long vertical distance, Subaru's and Julius's gazes met.
They were so far apart that they couldn't clearly make out each other's faces, but Subaru caught the complex emotions in those yellow eyes and let a moan escape from deep in his throat.
Suspicion, confusion, hesitation, concern—a whirlpool of negative emotions churned in the depths of those eyes. It pierced through Natsuki Subaru's inexpressible guilt, and— And, at Subaru, who was on the verge of fleeing from it all, Julius— "—Trust Echidna! Trust Anastasia!!"
"—"
Julius pointed his knight's sword toward Subaru—no, behind Subaru, as though pointing to the entire fourth floor, and shouted.
What those words contained was a trust that was cracked and battered, a plea clinging to it.
Perhaps even at this moment, Julius himself wasn't entirely sure whether shouting those words was the right thing to do. That was how the words were uttered.
There was suspicion, confusion, hesitation, and concern—but he didn't stop, and he made his decision.
So— "—!"
As if struck by a force, Subaru moved his heavy feet that had been planted on the floor and began to run. He stumbled, nearly tripped, running with an ungainly form.
Turning his back on the open spiral staircase, he took off.
He didn't know where he was going. Whether he was running away or not—even that, he didn't know.
He couldn't even understand his own feelings, but his feet wouldn't stop.
Leaving Julius on the lower floor, in the midst of the monster horde and Reid's domain, Subaru ran like a freed rabbit.
"—Hmph. You really are just hopeless, that nature of yours."
From far away, Reid's voice carried over, having watched the exchange.
It was a murmur almost identical in content to the one from before.
Whether it carried even the slightest different emotion—that, Subaru would never know.
※ ※ ※ —Why did he scream? Why didn't he just let him die?
"Hah, hah...!"
Gasping for breath as he ran, Subaru's mind repeated this question again and again.
Why did he scream? Why didn't he just let him die?
*'If you're just going to watch someone die, it shouldn't leave any sensation in your hands compared to actually killing them yourself, right?'* A girl's phantom, who had not appeared once since Reid's arrival, walked alongside the running Subaru, pouting with sweet complaints. Her voice was like a curse—'Even though you had your own neck squeezed'—accusing Subaru.
And she was right.
Subaru's actions were contradictory. His thoughts, actions, wishes, and goals didn't align.
The "Book of the Dead" plan was always in the corner of his mind, the craving watching for its opportunity like a tiger stalking prey.
The phantom of the girl he'd killed could see through this struggle, and she was calling out to him, pushing against his hesitant back—so why had Subaru let the opportunity slip?
"—"
He had given Julius a way to escape the hellfire.
But in the end, he'd left him behind on the lower floor. The threat of Reid and the monsters still remained there—wasn't this just passive murder by abandonment? Just that he didn't want to be involved in the decisive moment?
Was it that the instinctive terror of having strangled Meili to death with his own hands was seeped into the depths of his heart, so he couldn't bear to watch someone die before his eyes?
Was that why he'd desperately fled like this?
It had nothing to do with the words Julius had entrusted to him, the plea— "—Subaru!"
Subaru's feet, running in a daze, were forcibly stopped by a sudden call. As he stumbled to a halt, he realized the voice had come from a side passage he'd passed without noticing.
From around that corner, a figure was running toward him.
It was— "I was looking for you! It's probably not a good idea to go that way right now!"
"B-Beatrice...!? And also..."
It was Beatrice, lifting the hem of her dress and running toward him with a desperate expression. Subaru felt simultaneous relief and surprise at confirming she was safe, following Julius.
But his surprise didn't end there. Behind her, accompanying her was— "Echidna!? Why are you two together..."
"...Of all places, to run into you here, Natsuki-kun."
The girl following behind Beatrice—Echidna—murmured, slightly out of breath.
There was surprise at the unexpected pairing, but what gripped Subaru's heart even more tightly was the emotion Echidna directed at him with her pale blue eyes.
"—"
That undisguised suspicion forced Subaru to recognize his own position, whether he wanted to or not.
Reid, of course, knew nothing. It had been unclear from Julius's and Beatrice's attitudes as well. But from Echidna's attitude, it was perfectly clear.
—Echidna knew.
What scene Subaru had exchanged with Emilia and Ram while locked in an ice cage in the room where Meili's corpse was hidden.
And that probably wasn't limited to her alone.
The complex emotion Julius had shown at the end came back to mind.
Everyone must have been sharing knowledge of what had happened to Subaru. If so, Echidna's reaction was natural—and in fact, rather— "Beatrice, did you—"
"—! This isn't the time for that conversation! Come this way!"
But while Subaru hesitated, Beatrice unilaterally took his hand. His trembling voice was drowned out, and he was caught by her small hand, caught completely off guard by the action.
If she had truly been informed of Subaru's situation by Ram and the others, the amount of resolve needed for this action was immeasurable. It was such a reckless action that Subaru himself wanted to ask if she was sane.
"Beatrice, are you serious!? He's outside the cage! Under these circumstances!"
But it was Echidna who screamed with a changed expression at Beatrice's attempt to lead Subaru away. She questioned whether Beatrice's actions were appropriate, and then extended her own hand toward Subaru, pointing her finger. There was more pressure behind that gesture than its appearance suggested.
That stance, which appeared to be a show of force, Subaru sensed was no bluff—it was equivalent to having a gun pointed at him.
But Subaru accepted that threat to his life as something natural.
From Echidna's perspective, being wary of Subaru was only natural. Beatrice was the one acting strangely. —Even now, she was standing against Echidna for Subaru's sake.
"Get away from him, Beatrice! After his suspicious behavior, I can't allow the dangerous choice of traveling with him! As Ram argued, he is not Natsuki Subaru!"
"That's not true! If I hold hands... if I touch him like this, I can tell! Subaru and Betty's contract is still connected! Someone in the same position as Betty should understand that!"
"...Even so, I can't trust him! He's outside the cage under these circumstances! How could you possibly believe him? You can't give a convincing explanation!"
The expression on Echidna's face as she shouted was overflowing with a stronger emotion than she had ever shown before.
To think she could become this emotional—the intense frustration, feeling cornered, she was desperately trying to eliminate the threat before her. Desperately.
"—"
A massive number of monsters had spawned on the lower floors, and the entire tower's situation was in jeopardy.
Watching her emotional outburst in this context, Subaru thought— "Enough. I'm done."
"Subaru?"
Beatrice, still holding his hand, widened her eyes at Subaru's whispered murmur. Subaru unwound her small, soft hand from his.
With a sudden snap, as though a string that had been pulled taut all this time had broken. It had broken.
"...What exactly do you mean by that?"
Echidna furrowed her brows at Subaru, who had stepped forward after pushing Beatrice behind him. Confusion—and beyond that, wariness. None of it moved Subaru's heart.
"As you can see, I surrender. ...From now on, do whatever you want."
He felt as though he could only let things go as they would.
Having committed a crime he had no memory of, desperately trying to hide it, inviting suspicion from everyone around him, having his life threatened when he tried only to live peacefully, and continuing to tremble in the shadow of "Natsuki Subaru."
"You think that showing a humble attitude will make me soften mine? If so, that's a grave misunderstanding. I will not let my guard down around you."
"Fine. Do whatever you want, including that. —This tower is done for."
Subaru was beyond handling.
Things he couldn't control kept happening, overwhelming his capacity. These were words of weakness toward the dead-end situation.
But it seemed to have carried a different meaning for Echidna.
"This tower is done for...? So you've already achieved your purpose, then?"
"...Purpose?"
"Don't play dumb! Your goal was the '
Echidna spoke those words with anguish, her voice overflowing with self-blame and remorse. Subaru had no idea what its true nature was.
She could see something Subaru couldn't. And she was suspecting Subaru of involvement with that something. —Did it even matter anymore, in this world that was about to end?
"Subaru, Subaru! What's happened to you!? That's not like you, Subaru! You wouldn't stop in a place like this!"
"Not like me?"
Subaru's expressionless face was watched from the side by Beatrice, who tugged at his sleeve, pleading.
He looked at Beatrice, his ears ringing with her tearful voice.
"What does 'like me' even mean? Where is this version of me that you all keep looking at?"
"You've lost your memory. You're still going to keep up that terrible act? Ram, who lost her sister's memories, Julius, whose memories were erased—you know that so many people had their precious memories taken, and you're still putting on that cruel performance!"
"Performance!? You think this is a performance!? Give me a break! If it were a performance, you'd at least give me a position where I could act better! Who in their right mind would choose to become 'Natsuki Subaru'!? Who could become this disgusting person!!"
With his mind crumbling, Subaru's fury overpowered Echidna's, drowning everything else out.
If there had been freedom to choose, if there had been time to consider options, who would ever think of becoming "Natsuki Subaru"? Who would want to become such a twisted, unbearable existence?
—Who would ever wish to become "Natsuki Subaru"?
"You have no idea because you're all ganging up on me! Who am I!? I lost everything! I just came back from the convenience store! The only people I talked to today were the store clerk! And suddenly it's another world? A sand tower? Corpses! A 'trial'! A fake! 'Natsuki Subaru'! Don't screw with me! Don't you dare screw with me!"
"—"
"That's right! It's my fault, obviously! I didn't want to be here! I didn't want to go back home! I was scared of pasting on a fake face and causing trouble for Mom and Dad! So yeah, at first I was excited—at first only!"
Beatrice and Echidna stared wide-eyed at Subaru's explosion of emotion.
They probably couldn't understand. They couldn't understand the meaning of Subaru's anguish.
He had told them once—that this was another world.
But they hadn't truly understood the "isekai" Subaru had conveyed. There was an unbridgeable gap.
Subaru was not the "Natsuki Subaru" they were looking for.
And they were not the salvation Subaru was seeking.
"You're probably wondering why I'm suddenly snapping right now! I don't get it either! But I've hit my limit right now! I'm telling you, this is all I am, and something just snapped! Even if I'm wanted, I can't do anything! I can't! So!"
"—"
"So... just forgive me. Please forgive me. Let me go home... If God was going to punish me, then fine... I understand. I was wrong."
His throat had gone hoarse at some point, and there was a bitter ache in the back of his nose as Subaru crouched down.
He pressed his head against the corridor floor, begging for forgiveness. He didn't know who to ask, so he prayed to God. He recited the name of every god he knew and prayed.
If this was the punishment visited upon him—the lazy him—then please, forgive him.
He was sure he had reflected and regretted enough to change his life.
So please, please forgive him.
He didn't want anyone else dragged into the heavenly punishment visited upon the foolish Natsuki Subaru.
He didn't want to be hurt. He didn't want to hurt anyone.
"—"
Crouching, begging through tears, Subaru fell silent—and Echidna and Beatrice fell silent as well.
Beatrice stayed crouched beside him, her palm gently stroking his back.
The touch of that persistent hand—why did it continue to stay by his side?
The answer to that question was far too terrifying for Subaru to hear.
"...I do not trust you."
"Echidna..."
Beatrice called out to Echidna in a hoarse voice at her conclusion, wrung out as though from the depths.
At that call, Echidna slowly shook her head.
"Whether you cry and beg, if I can't wipe away even a sliver of suspicion, my answer remains the same. I... I have a responsibility for borrowing Anna's body. If it means bringing her back safely, I don't care who hates me or resents me."
"—"
"...But, I don't want to be unable to face Anna when she returns."
So saying, Echidna slowly lowered the finger she had been pointing at Subaru's forehead.
The moment she did, the pressure that had filled the corridor vanished, and Subaru understood that the finger that had been aimed at his life had been withdrawn.
But that had nothing to do with the salvation Subaru was seeking.
"Beatrice, you should go with him. I'll go find Julius. Once I've regrouped with him, if nothing's wrong, we'll meet up above."
"...Understood. Come on, Subaru, get up now. If you say you can't stand, Betty will carry you on her back if she has to."
Echidna turned her back, and Beatrice respected her decision. As Beatrice offered Subaru her small shoulder, Subaru watched Echidna's retreating figure.
—Trust Echidna! Trust Anastasia!!
"—What exactly do you mean by this?"
Turning only her head, Echidna fixed Subaru with a severe gaze—he was holding the sleeve of her left hand, trying to stop her.
At Echidna's question, Subaru's face, dirty with tears and snot, stiffened.
Asked what he meant, an answer didn't come immediately.
Subaru couldn't withstand Echidna's accusatory gaze either. And yet, the judgment she had made was that she shouldn't take action against him after hearing his wretched plea.
Her concessionary judgment was now being undone by Subaru's fingertips.
"I intended to concede. How did it come to this?"
"...Julius asked me to."
"Him? Don't be ridiculous. He could have made that kind of judgment—I understand that much—"
For an instant, hesitation arose in Echidna at Subaru's tearful words. She continued with "But beyond that—"
"Did you meet him on the way here? He should have gone to check on the fifth floor. If he was with you... no, more importantly—asked you to? He's currently—"
Hit with rapid-fire questions, Subaru was overwhelmed by their intensity.
The cracks in his heart hadn't even begun to heal. Why—when he had been about to let go of everything, when he felt this world was beyond his control—did this body still move?
Even remembering Julius's shout, which could hardly be called a promise—why— "Ah, we're getting nowhere. In any case, the last place you saw Julius was—"
"—ah"
Echidna brushed aside her urgency and tried to continue the conversation with carefully chosen words.
Watching her effort, Subaru held his breath.
Not because the question of what to do had been resolved.
A more urgent situation had arisen than Echidna before him, more pressing than this impossible circumstance.
"—"
Echidna, glaring at Subaru—behind her, beyond the corridor, a red light had appeared.
Subaru's consciousness was consumed by what it was.
A red light, floating in the darkness—it moved slowly, and Subaru's black eyes locked onto it.
Subaru understood instinctively that they had "made eye contact."
At the same time, the full form of that being became dimly visible in the shadows.
A black body that merged with the darkness, glowing red points of light, an abnormally developed pair of sharp pincers, and most distinctive of all—the fiercely trembling stinger on its tail— "—"
A scorpion of incomprehensible enormity had its tail stinger pointed directly at him.
"Subaru!!"
Beatrice's scream was heard at his side the instant that tail moved.
—Light engulfed the corridor, and a shockwave began to shatter the stone fourth floor.