Inside the crumbling tower, Subaru's life was burned to ash under Reid's slash.
Literally — burned to ash was the most accurate description of his end.
How he had maintained his footing in a collapsing tower, how he had countered the encroaching density of shadows, what he had planned to do afterward — there were plenty of things he wanted to say, plenty of things he wanted to verify, but he threw all of it away.
The only thing he knew for certain was that Reid's final flash had swallowed Subaru whole and vaporized him.
He thought, probably, there had been no pain.
Of course, he didn't for a moment believe that was Reid's mercy — but that there had been no pain or terror in the instant of "death" was, even for Subaru, who had died multiple times in such a short span, a rare occurrence.
Yes, there had been no pain, no terror. —Only "anger."
"——I..."
Just how many times would he continue to pile up meaningless "deaths"?
As long as there was something to bring back, something to serve as a breakthrough, Subaru's "deaths" were not meaningless, and the deaths he continued to pile up would not go to waste.
That was a colossal self-deception.
It was nothing more than an excuse for not wanting to turn a blind eye to his own powerlessness.
He didn't want to die meaninglessly, helplessly, randomly, mercilessly, in vain. That was all. He wanted a reason for his "death" — he wanted his "death" to mean something.
If only he hadn't been weak, it would have been fine.
If only he had been cleverer, it would have been fine.
If only he had been someone other than this — strong, smart, and capable — it would have been fine.
"But..."
All that existed here was the weak, stupid, pathetic
And that was precisely because, always, no one had ever left him alone.
That was what supported his battered resolve, here and now.
"Therefore, I —"
Therefore, Natsuki Subaru— *** "——If I told you to die, would you die for me?"
The moment those words left his lips, it wasn't as though there had been no hesitation.
It was because, the instant he posed that question, he couldn't predict how the other party would react. —No, he could predict it, at least to a degree.
His imagination had conjured several patterns, and he'd figured it would be one of them.
So then, what was the hesitation he'd felt at the moment of asking the question?
Regardless — "——Huh? If Oshii-sama tells me to die, then I'll die, ssu!"
The casual, guileless way
It pierced him like a stab wound — cracked something deep inside — and a scream rose from the depths of his heart.
"————"
He clutched at his chest, where a phantom pain throbbed, and let out a deep, shuddering breath.
To think he'd gone and inflicted the wound on himself, yet still played the part of the one in pain — how absurdly comical he must have looked. Shaula gazed at him with wide, puzzled eyes.
Her expression was the same as when she'd been asked what was for dinner and had answered without a hint of malice.
That response was the second-worst pattern among those Subaru had anticipated.
Shaula, accepting without the slightest reservation the command to surrender her own life.
That it wasn't a lie or a joke, that it was unmistakably her genuine feeling — one glance into those straight, honest eyes made that clear as day.
Honestly, if he'd glimpsed even a trace of dark calculation or ulterior motive, Subaru's heart might have been saved.
But reality offered him no such escape. Whether that was mercy or cruelty, he couldn't even distinguish at this point — but— "...I see."
"Oshii-sama, do you want me to die? Hmm, I'll do anything Oshii-sama asks, so it's totally fine with me — but you sure picked a weird timing to go for something drastic, ssu? Right now, the tower is all in chaos..."
"I know. I know."
Hearing Subaru's hoarse reply, Shaula tilted her head with her finger still pressed to her cheek. As her head moved, her long braid — her "Scorpion Tail" — swayed along with it.
The Scorpion Tail. Come to think of it, that was an ironic name too.
Just like "Shaula," meaning the constellation Scorpius, the name fit her perfectly — and that was true not just of her name, but of so many other parts of her as well.
That was surely because she had no intention of hiding anything.
Therefore— "——Shaula, can you turn into a giant scorpion?"
Without beating around the bush, Subaru drove straight for the heart of the matter.
The five obstacles besieging the
But that conviction was nothing more than an instinctive answer, derived from Cor Leonis — the authority of whose workings even Subaru himself could not fully grasp.
To turn that instinctive answer into certainty, the fastest approach was to ask directly.
Of course, if he'd had more time, he might have chosen a different method — and if her answer proved untrustworthy, he would have needed to find another way.
But to Subaru's question, Shaula simply tilted her head— "Turn into, ssu? That's a bit of a different nuance, but I can do it, ssu~ Ah, but it's not very pretty, so I don't really like it. I think this form that Ka-sama and Oshii-sama designed for me is the best one, ssu."
Even though the question had been entirely out of nowhere, Shaula answered just as readily, without a moment's hesitation.
"————"
She had no intention of hiding anything.
That much could be concluded from this demonstration of Shaula's fundamental nature. At the same time, he could now confirm with certainty that the great scorpion that had appeared in the tower — its true identity was indeed her.
When Cor Leonis had allowed him to perceive the positions of his allies inside the tower, one of those presences had pointed to that great scorpion. That was the mechanism behind it all along.
"Oshii-sama? Are you okay, ssu? You don't look well, ssu. Would a lap pillow, arm pillow, chest pillow, or hug pillow help you refresh? I'm happy to provide any of those, ssu."
"Don't start saying things that make my resolve crumble. Besides, you were the one who said we don't have the luxury for that."
"The tower being in shambles is a fact, ssu, but Oshii-sama takes priority over everything else in my book. Everything else can wait until later, ssu. So if you want to sneak a little fun with me while everything's falling apart, you're more than welcome, ssu. I'm on fire, ssu."
"Don't ignite. Go throw some water on yourself."
"You're so mean, Oshii-sama~"
Shaula pouted, making a sour face.
If you isolated just their banter and expressions, you'd almost mistake their situation for something peaceful.
"————"
But reality was nothing like kind to Subaru and the others. "Peaceful" was the furthest thing from it.
Even as Subaru and Shaula were having their leisurely conversation,
But even all of that was nothing more than a ruse to buy time for his conversation with Shaula.
Because in this loop, Natsuki Subaru had— "O-Oshii-sama? You're not actually turning weird or something, are you, ssu? If you keep looking at me with those intense eyes, I won't be able to hold back anymore — four hundred years is a long time to wait, ssu...?"
Shaula hugged her slender body with her arms, squirming under Subaru's unwavering gaze. It was a half-hearted attempt at her usual composure, but it wasn't working.
She was genuinely unsettled by Subaru's behavior. Not like her — no, wait. Perhaps this was her truest self.
The Shaula who wouldn't flinch at being told to die would, the moment Subaru's demeanor changed, have her heart shaken with startling fragility — like an innocent chick eagerly seeking its parent.
"————"
When Subaru had first posed the question, he'd had several possibilities in mind.
The worst-case scenario was that the instant Subaru spoke those heartless words, Shaula would transform, reveal her true nature, and kill him on impulse — if everything up to that point had been an act, and every last bit of it a lie.
It wasn't impossible.
Before the question, it hadn't been certainty, but she had transformed into the great scorpion and killed Subaru, Echidna, and Beatrice. Or in the loop where Subaru had been unable to find a single living person, the great scorpion that was Shaula had very likely been involved in that tragedy.
So the first question had been a gamble for Subaru too.
He'd asked, and the instant Shaula accepted the question without flinching — it wouldn't have been strange if Subaru's head had evaporated right then. He'd won that bet.
But a single bet wasn't enough.
The unconscious debt Subaru had accumulated, the stakes laid out by "Gluttony" and the Pleiades Watchtower — to recoup the losses up to this point, small victories alone wouldn't suffice.
To win big, you had to bet big.
Therefore— "Shaula, I'm sorry to keep firing questions, but there's something I need to know. From what I've heard, the 'Trial' of this Pleiades Watchtower is supposed to have several rules, right?"
"You're asking at a time like this when I'm all heated up, ssu!? ...Well, yeah, there are, ssu. I told you about them before Oshii-sama hit your head on the toilet, ssu..."
"Tell me anyway."
Without hiding her sullen attitude at Subaru's persistence, Shaula lightly pressed her fingertips together in front of her chest. But she quickly raised the stacked fingers, murmured "um," and then— "One — leaving without completing the 'Trial' is prohibited. Two — violating the rules of the 'Trial' is prohibited. Three — disrespect toward the Library is prohibited. Four — acts of destruction against the tower itself are prohibited. —Ssu."
Counting on her fingers, Shaula recited in a startlingly smooth voice.
Of course, she was sharp-tongued by nature, so the fluent explanation wasn't surprising. Not entirely. But something had snagged his attention.
It was her uncharacteristically serious tone, yes — but also the way she'd counted on her fingers, pausing on the very last one, touching it, and stopping there.
"What's the fifth one?"
"...There isn't one, ssu. Oshii-sama, weren't you listening, ssu? I only listed four, ssu. Did you forget how to count too, ssu? That's not good~. Even I'm not great with numbers, but I can at least count to four..."
"Shaula."
"————"
With a deliberate scuff of his foot, Subaru took one step closer, closing the distance between them.
They'd been standing face-to-face the whole time, but now the gap had narrowed to arm's length. —This, too, was a gamble on Subaru's part.
Of course, whether the distance was one step wider or one step narrower, the disparity in their combat strength was far too vast for that to make any real difference.
"Oshii-sama... are you toying with my heart, ssu? I won't mind, but if you keep coming this close and want me to spill my secrets, ssu — well, if you went ahead and hugged me right now, for instance..."
"If that would actually make you talk, I'd do it. You could call it a bargain. ...But if I trust this unreliable instinct of mine, I don't think that's how it works."
"————"
"Shaula, I'm asking you again. What is the tower's fifth rule?"
Pressing through Shaula's gentle refusal, Subaru asked once more.
This was not about physical distance — it was about stepping into her heart. And even if her response might be devastating, he had to ask.
Clenching his fists with that resolve, Subaru watched as Shaula took a small breath and— "——NG, ssu."
"...NG?"
She shook her head, crossed her arms over her full chest, and formed an X.
The gesture was childish, but her eyes were anything but casual.
"————"
Staring at Subaru standing in that precarious place, Shaula's eyes filled with fierce emotion.
That quiet yet bottomless passion was something like a desperate plea — fragile and fleeting.
Shaking her head once more with clear reluctance, she said: "NG, ssu. No way, I don't want to talk about it. The fifth rule? What does it even matter, ssu? It has nothing to do with Oshii-sama's and my honeymoon..."
"How could it not matter? I'm challenging this tower's 'Trial,' and so is everyone else. I can't afford to be optimistic about not knowing the rules of the 'Trial.' So, Shaula—"
"...I don't want to, ssu."
"Shaula!"
Like a willful child, Shaula covered her ears and turned her face away. At that, Subaru spoke in a sharp, commanding tone: "You have your own role in this tower. The tower's Star Keeper...? That's what you've been doing all along. I don't know if it's true, but for four hundred years! So—"
"...Four days, ssu."
"...Huh?"
The whispered words stopped Subaru's thoughts cold.
A span of time incomparably shorter than the four centuries he'd just pressed upon her. It was impossible that her words meant Shaula had spent far less time in the Watchtower than she'd claimed — impossible.
With pleading still lingering in her eyes, Shaula's lips trembled as she continued: "It's only been four days since Oshii-sama and the others came to the tower. And of those four days, you were bedridden for the first two, so Oshii-sama and I have only met, talked, and gotten close for two days... I waited four hundred years, but it's only been two days, ssu..."
"Shaula..."
"I thought that even one moment, just one look, would be enough..."
Her gaze faltered, dropping downward — but she quickly stopped, as if even a second of losing Subaru from her field of vision was too much to bear. —No, now that he thought about it, that was exactly how it had always been.
In Subaru's experience, whenever Shaula had been in the same place, the same space as Subaru, she had always been watching him. Not for some dry purpose of monitoring his every move — surely— "For four hundred years, I waited in this tower for Oshii-sama. I thought I'd be satisfied just seeing you once. —But that was a lie, ssu."
"————"
"Because Oshii-sama is everything to me, ssu. I'm made up of every bit of Oshii-sama — every thought I have is of Oshii-sama. Even using all four hundred years, I couldn't get it all across. And now, in just two days... I don't want that, ssu."
"...That's why you can't tell me the fifth rule?"
A painful, aching sincerity enveloped Shaula's entire being, forming the very shape of who she was.
Four hundred years — the weight of those words, which Subaru had only ever understood as figures on a page, finally, truly sank in.
Because her demeanor around that topic had been so light, so casual.
He'd wondered if perhaps she didn't even possess the capacity for pain, hardship, or sorrow.
If she was, down to her very soul, as inorganic as that scorpion.
"I don't want to tell you the rule, ssu. It's NG, ssu. Because if I tell you this..."
"————"
"If I tell you, Oshii-sama will figure out how to clear the 'Trial.' So if I tell you — if I let it slip... then Oshii-sama and I — our time together will be over."
With desperate urgency, Shaula hugged herself and poured out her feelings to Subaru.
Her voice was like something wrenched from her chest — no, like someone choking back sobs — and it pierced straight through Subaru's heart.
It was not the answer he had expected.
Just like with the first question, Subaru had imagined several patterns for how Shaula might answer this one.
Her true reason for hiding the rules of the Pleiades Watchtower — if she was in cahoots with whoever had made the rules for this twisted tower, perhaps she had her own schemes.
Or, entirely apart from such dark intentions, perhaps her silence about the rules was nothing more than a whim or forgetfulness, with no deeper meaning.
But the truth was neither.
Shaula had her own reason for not wanting to reveal the tower's rules. And that reason had nothing to do with the "Sage" who had built the tower — it was a far more heartfelt wish.
——Shaula, who had spent four hundred lonely years waiting for her person's return.
It had finally come true, and she was happy — and so she wanted that time to last even a little longer.
To fulfill such a modest desire, she would— "Oshii-sama, will you hate me for lying, ssu?"
"————"
"Will you hate me, and not even want to see my face anymore...?"
How was it that she looked more pained now than when he'd asked her to die?
How was it that she cared more about whether she'd be hated than whether her life was at stake?
——How was it that, after four hundred years of waiting, she saw that reunion as her finish line?
"...I won't hate you."
"————"
"Your silence is probably why I went through some insanely painful deaths, and honestly, I think there were times I wouldn't have been cornered like this if you'd been upfront."
Addressing the silent Shaula, Subaru spoke from the bottom of his heart.
There was no lie here. This was the truth. Because Shaula had deliberately hidden information, he surely couldn't make the necessary deductions, couldn't reach the answer, and had died terrible deaths over and over again.
Not just Subaru. Everyone else besides him — Emilia, Beatrice too.
He could never forget the despair of those moments, the disappointment, the sense of powerlessness.
So if the person who had been the root cause of that despair had been right in front of him, Subaru was sure he would never be able to forgive them.
Could he think the same thing now, about Shaula, standing before him?
"——No."
Shaula, who had spent four hundred years alone — who had been so thoroughly fulfilled in just two days that she considered it the meaning of her existence — Subaru couldn't see her as the root of all evil.
If there was a root of all evil, it was the sheer unfairness of this world, or whoever had created the circumstances that made it inevitable, or the "Oshii-sama" who had commanded Shaula to spend four hundred years— "...Aa."
A ragged breath suddenly escaped Shaula's lips.
"Shaula?"
"A... a... ah, ah..."
Standing before him, Subaru noticed something wrong with Shaula and called her name. But Shaula didn't respond to his voice — she covered her face with both palms.
From her throat leaked a voice utterly unlike her own, trembling and wretched.
"No... no good, ssu...! Oshii-sama! Oshii-sama, Oshii-sama, Oshii-sama, Oshii-sama...!"
"Shaula!? Shaula, what's wrong!? What happened so suddenly—"
"——Someone broke a rule, ssu."
"————"
Subaru rushed forward and reached for her white shoulders, but his wrist was caught first. Shaula gripped his hand with those slender arms — hard enough to hurt — and spoke.
Subaru stared straight into Shaula's eyes as she spoke, and his breath caught.
——In Shaula's dark eyes, a bizarre transformation was taking place.
Within each of her round pupils, the black centers split into three, and began pulsing a deep, vivid red. The metamorphosis occurred simultaneously in both eyes — meaning the dark centers had split into six.
——Three on each side. Six compound eyes.
"Oshii-sama...! Now, there's still time, ssu..."
"Time for what?"
"If you tell me now — if Oshii-sama orders me to — I can... I can kill myself, ssu."
As Shaula's eyes throbbed red, white steam began rising slowly from her entire body. Her pale skin gradually took on a reddish tint, and even Subaru, standing right beside her, could feel the abnormal rise in her body temperature.
The mechanism was unclear. —But Shaula's body was heating up, triggering a transformation.
This was presumably the initial stage of her metamorphosis into the great scorpion.
"If the change completes, it'll be too late, ssu. I'll become a killing machine with neither blood nor tears, and I'll kill Oshii-sama. Because I want you so much... I want you so badly it's unbearable... so—"
"Before that happens—"
"Please tell me to die, ssu. ...Then, I'll... Oshii-sama..."
She didn't finish the sentence — didn't say, "So I won't have to kill you."
But her eyes, her trembling voice, every fiber of her being said the same thing.
"————"
An indescribable fear crept through Subaru's entire body. It was surely the instinctive response of a human being confronted by something beyond this world.
Natsuki Subaru, the "human," was afraid of Shaula, the "monster" standing before him.
And so, Subaru— "Shaula, tell me the fifth rule."
"Oshii-sama, now is not the time for—"
"If I hear it—!"
Subaru's roar cut through Shaula's plea, and her shoulders flinched at the force of it. He seized those trembling shoulders. Hot — almost scorching his palms, Shaula's body temperature had climbed to the heat of a flame.
But he wouldn't let go. He wouldn't release the thing that was searing her heart and body.
"If I hear it, I'll give you the order. —Relax. Before you become a monster, I'll give you the order myself."
"————"
Hearing Subaru say that so directly, Shaula's eyes went wide.
Then, calling out "Oshii-sama," she said: "You womanizer, Oshii-sama."
"I have no idea what you're talking about..."
"Then you're a Shaula-rizer. A special-purpose heartbreaker... just for me, ssu..."
A faint smile crossed her lips, and Shaula gently placed her own hand over Subaru's where it gripped her shoulder.
And then— "—Five — destruction of the 'Trial' is not prohibited, ssu."
"————"
"See? Your eyes changed color. —To my favorite Oshii-sama's."
With that, Shaula shoved Subaru square in the chest.
The unexpected force sent Subaru stumbling backward — he couldn't keep his grip on her shoulder. He coughed lightly, looked up, and saw Shaula hunched over, clutching her own body— "A... ah... ahhh, ahhhh...!"
From her entire body, red steam rose — the color of blood. The steam shifted hue, turning toward something dangerous. Shaula's eyes had lost their dark centers entirely; they had become wholly, utterly crimson.
"O-Oshii-sama... hurry. Before I stop being... before I'm no longer me..."
"————"
"Ssay it, ssu...! Tell me to die! If Oshii-sama says it, then I'll..."
With the same mouth that had pleaded for him not to end the "Trial" and leave the tower, Shaula was now begging to extinguish her own life — to show Subaru a path where he wouldn't have to be killed.
Hearing Shaula's desperate voice, Subaru let out a breath.
Then— "Shaula."
"Oshii-sama..."
"—I'm sorry. What I said before was a lie."
"EH?"
At Subaru's confession, Shaula's eyes went wide. Having witnessed her reaction, Subaru held his breath — and then launched himself backward.
Being shoved by Shaula had been a stroke of luck. —If she'd kept hold of his wrist, he never could have done this.
What Subaru did was leap off the balcony's edge into empty air.
"O—"
Shaula's instinctive cry was swallowed by the fierce sandstorm and vanished in an instant. Subaru's body, without any lifeline, plummeted straight down — hundreds of meters without stopping.
"————"
There was no strategy for surviving the fall.
He hadn't prepared one. What Subaru had done was pure self-sacrifice. He had never wanted to do this, never wanted it to come to this — but from the very beginning, this had been his plan.
In this loop, if this action was permitted, he was absolutely going to do it.
Because now, Subaru could believe in his own choice without hesitation.
Because— "——OSHII-SAMA!!!"
Shaula had leaped from the balcony after him, diving into the void to give chase.
Eyes wide, arm outstretched, desperately reaching — she wasn't diving to kill him with her own hands, but to save his life.
——The true identity of the great scorpion was Shaula.
——Shaula had deliberately hidden the tower's rules.
——Shaula had killed Subaru and his companions many times over, standing as one of the five obstacles.
But— "——I can save you, can't I?"
"————"
He would never forget the image of her at the very end — transformed against her will, begging him to give the order that would kill her so she wouldn't have to kill him.
It was a terrible, twisted thing to need confirmation of — but he had wanted to verify it.
Who to save, who not to save, who to defeat, who to protect, who to love.
He had believed that without confirming that, Natsuki Subaru could not go on.
He would no longer waver over who he was allowed to love.
"——OSHII-SAMAaaaaaaa!!!"
Reaching out, straining to catch up to Subaru in midair, Shaula's form began to change.
Her outstretched arms swelled, morphing into massive obsidian mandibles. Her white skin vanished beneath rough, dark exoskeleton as her flesh burst outward from within.
For a moment — a grotesque, painful metamorphosis of flesh and blood — then, as if rewinding the tape, it all contracted inward, and finally, the monstrous form of the great scorpion was complete.
Its tail snapped toward Subaru with terrifying speed.
From that tip, the white beam of its stinger would surely fire — and in an instant, incinerate whatever remained of Subaru's life. Suspended in midair, there was no way to dodge.
But— "——I won't let you kill me, because Shaula is crying."
"————"
Before the stinger could fire — the end of the fall arrived first.
Both Subaru and the great scorpion plummeted down onto the horde of magical beasts surging toward the sand tower. Subaru could not witness the result.
A fall of several hundred meters — no human body could survive that.
He burst apart. Life scattered.
But in the instant before his life dispersed, with just one last word— "——I will save you."
——A message the great scorpion would never receive. The sandstorm had only a brief moment to carry it away.