"What exactly is the 'Rite of Blood Destiny'?"
"For the Shudrak, a people who place immense value on pride and oaths, it is one custom that can never be ignored. The specifics will be better explained by them. More importantly—"
Abel answered only the surface of Subaru's question and shot him a glare.
The Shudrak girl had gone to relay Abel's earlier message to the clan chief Mizelda, leaving only Subaru and Abel at the spot. In other words, their time for a private conversation was limited.
"Let me hear it. You said you were captured at the camp outside the forest. How were you treated?"
"...The wounds on my shoulder and back are proof of their handiwork. Beyond that, I was put to work doing chores."
Technically, the chores and the abuse were from separate loops, but Subaru answered under the weight of Abel's intimidating presence.
Hearing this, Abel narrowed his eyes with a "Hm" and glanced at Subaru's left hand.
"Judging by the fact that you haven't mentioned your fingers, that must have been a separate incident. Don't tell me—the woman you were chasing got you."
"Ggh... What does that have to do with anything?"
"It's evidence that you're a fool who pines after a woman who breaks your fingers."
That description wasn't exactly apt for the nature of Subaru and
Abel, too, quickly moved on from the state of Subaru's left hand.
"If you were doing chores, then you must have seen the layout of the camp. What was the general arrangement? Squeeze whatever you can out of that empty head and drag it from your memory."
"A few tents and maybe the number of people in the camp, but... Hey, what are we even talking about here?"
"You don't understand? It's obvious. What you saw—"
Abel snorted at Subaru, who was grimacing under the rapid-fire questioning.
But Abel couldn't answer Subaru's question. Sooner than he could, the sound of multiple footsteps was once again heading toward their cage.
It was Mizelda and her entourage, led there by that girl.
"I heard from Utakata. That you two said you'd undergo the Rite of Blood Destiny."
With her hand resting on the head of the girl clutching at her feet—the one called Utakata—the red-haired Mizelda fixed Subaru and Abel with a piercing gaze.
It was a look bristling with a sharpness equal to the vigor she'd shown when Subaru had trampled on their pride as warriors.
"Where on earth did you learn about the Rite of Blood Destiny? It's supposed to be a ritual known only among us, the Shudrak."
"Don't make me laugh, young chief of the Shudrak. Do you really believe that your oral traditions are unknown to anyone in this day and age? Where there are two humans, secrets leak. Stop indulging in fantasies about your unity being monolithic."
"..."
"Your precious Rite of Blood Destiny is no exception. In fact, I know what kind of ritual it is, and what happened in the past."
Mizelda's gaze grew fiercer, and Abel's rhetoric grew correspondingly heated.
Watching not only Mizelda but the Shudrak people around her visibly stiffen at that high-handed manner of speaking, Subaru swallowed hard.
In the current situation, Subaru was the only one who didn't know what the "Rite of Blood Destiny" actually entailed, left trailing behind the conversation. Still, one thing was certain: this was an important ritual to Mizelda and the others, and Abel's dismissive attitude toward their feelings was not welcome.
And so, Subaru called out "Excuse me!" to prevent further conflict.
"Sorry to interrupt when things are getting heated, but could someone tell me about the Rite of Blood Destiny? It probably concerns me too, right?"
"...Why do you think so?"
"Well, this masked guy over here was threatening me earlier. Something about whether I'd be willing to sacrifice everything. My answer was 'hell no,' obviously."
"Then wh—"
"The only thing I can wager is myself. You're overestimating your influence a bit too much."
A declaration of sacrificing "everything" was one only someone with real power could make. Unfortunately, Subaru and Abel—captured by the Shudrak and powerless—didn't even have the right to face such a grandiose choice. And so, his stake was limited to what he held in his hand. Right now, only
"But like Abel said, I need Mizelda and the rest of you to hear me out too. I know it's repeating what I said before, but I'll say it as many times as it takes. At the very least, to protect what matters to me, I need to be let go."
"...I see. It seems you do have the qualification to take the Rite of Blood Destiny."
Mizelda murmured softly in response to Subaru's plea, which was born out of his desperation to make this work.
Subaru's eyes went wide at the answer, and Abel swallowed faintly. But hearing Mizelda's words, there was one person who reacted strongly.
She was a member of Mizelda's group—the blue-haired woman standing beside her.
"Sister! Are you serious? Taking these men's words at face value..."
"I'm not taking them at face value, Taritta. I just thought they'd be a shame to discard."
"Sister..."
Taritta, the woman addressed, lowered her gaze at Mizelda's words.
The two appeared to be sisters, and come to think of it, their facial features—particularly their striking, forceful eyes—were indeed quite similar.
Having dismissed her sister's words, Mizelda turned her attention back to Subaru.
"You've asked about the Rite of Blood Destiny. It is an ancient ritual passed down among us, the Shudrak—a ceremony to prove oneself worthy to the tribe. You could call it a rite of passage to adulthood."
A rite of passage to adulthood... Ah, so that's what it is. But we're not— "Not Shudrak. Everyone knows that without being told. Don't waste time with foolishness. What matters is the essence of the ritual."
Abel looked exasperated at Subaru, who was visibly flustered upon learning this was essentially a Shudrak adulthood ritual. Subaru's cheeks twitched at the tone, but he understood what Abel was getting at.
The essence of an adulthood rite was to force the community to recognize the challenger as a full-fledged member. In other words, the essence of the "Rite of Blood Destiny" was— "A rite of passage to get the Shudrak to listen to me as an equal..."
"That's right."
Confirming Subaru's thought, Abel crossed his arms and looked at Mizelda. Mizelda met his gaze and gave a firm nod.
"If you say you'll take on the Rite of Blood Destiny, I expect you to be prepared."
"And if we take it back? Are you going to say you'll release us now? Unfortunately, neither I nor this Natsuki Subaru are so out of touch with reality as to hope for such a convenient outcome."
"Huh!?"
Caught between the two who had gotten carried away on their own, Subaru was stunned, but Abel didn't spare him a glance.
Being swept along by their pace, Subaru answered Mizelda's question of "What'll you do?"
"...I'll do it. If there's no other way, I'll go through the ritual and get you to hear me out. But it can't be one of those things that takes days."
"That's right. We don't want that either. Then, in that case..."
"Sister, if that's the case, how about an Ergina?"
Having steeled himself for the ritual, Subaru watched as Taritta offered a suggestion to the contemplative Mizelda. At her sister's proposal, Mizelda nodded deeply.
"That's good. The Rite of Blood Destiny chooses the greatest available challenge at the time of its performance."
"The greatest available challenge... That is—"
"—Ergina."
Mizelda repeated the word to the swallowing Subaru.
Upon hearing it, Utakata flinched and shrank back, and a tension settled over the Shudrak women. Their reaction—women who prided themselves as warriors—was more than enough to stoke Subaru's anxiety.
But— "Neither you nor I can turn back now. Are you ready?"
"Don't act all high and mighty when you're the one pushing this forward. You're way overstepping just because you think you've got leverage over me..."
He did owe Abel a debt for the knife, but their exchange here had blown away any residual goodwill. He was grateful, of course, for Abel helping him recover from his earlier blunder and creating an opening to be heard.
"As far as I know, there's not a decent person among those who hide their faces!"
"There are reasons for it, I assure you. —Pardon the impudence, but I won't deny it."
In stories, when a masked or hidden-face character appeared, there was a high probability they were connected to the protagonist. In this case, Subaru held the protagonist position, but— "Abel's got a skinnier build than my old man, and his voice is different. Besides, there's no way I'd mistake my dad for someone else."
"...You seem to be having some rather pointless conversation."
"It's not pointless. It's about my old man. The most annoyingly cool guy in the world."
"..."
Perhaps it wasn't a topic that held much interest, because the temperature of Abel's gaze visibly dropped.
In truth, Subaru had only made the idle comparison because this was the Empire, where hidden-face characters seemed to appear. It was probably best understood as a casual observation about unfamiliar masked strangers.
Setting those idle thoughts aside, Mizelda gave instructions to the surrounding Shudrak.
"Abel and Natsuki Subaru—you two will be taken to the Ergina. Show me you can complete the Rite of Blood Destiny!"
With that, the cage was opened, and Subaru and Abel were led outside.
△▼△▼△▼△ Having been released from the cage, Subaru and Abel were marched outside the settlement, surrounded by Shudrak people, without blindfolds or restraints.
The dense, overgrown forest was like groping through pitch darkness. Subaru stumbled again and again, each time being steadied by the Shudrak around him.
"Ah, sorry. Thanks for catching me again..."
"It's all right~. I'm strong, so it's no bother at all~."
So saying, a yellow-haired woman steadied the nearly tripping Subaru. She had soft features and a gentle manner of speaking, with a full, rounded figure. Among the Shudrak, where lean, muscular women were the norm, she was a rare type—but her vibe was incredibly approachable.
"Are your injuries doing okay~? I was the one who treated them~."
"Oh, so you were the one who treated these. Yeah, I'm all right. Still a little—no, quite a bit—well, actually, a lot of pain, but better than before."
"Ahaha, you're an honest one~."
Her easygoing smile was reassuring in its own way. She had, after all, treated his wounds—saved him in more ways than one.
Subaru naturally relaxed around this generous, warm woman. What did bother him, though, was that she was carrying a bone-in piece of meat in one hand the entire time.
"Hm~? Are you hungry~? Want some meat~?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine. I mean, I'm not *not* hungry, but I won't be able to move if I eat."
"Ahaha, that's true~. Besides, if you're full, dying is even more painful~."
"Ha ha..."
Nibbling away on the bone-in meat with a soft expression, she was still Shudrak through and through.
Anyway, the Shudrak leading them somewhere like this didn't seem to harbor any ill will toward them. The same went for Mizelda—it seemed that the moment Subaru and Abel had committed to the Rite of Blood Destiny, the fallout from their initial failed negotiation had already dissipated. In other words, regardless of the ritual's outcome, they had successfully recovered her good opinion. This way, perhaps even if the ritual didn't go well, they'd still get another seat at the negotiating table.
"—or so your expression seems to suggest."
"Don't go reading my thoughts from my face or the way I look at things. You do it too, but are all Empire people like this?"
"I have no idea what's irritating you, nor do I care who you're comparing. But people of the Empire learn to read others well in order to survive. There is a difference compared to people of the Kingdom."
"Reading others well, huh..."
Walking alongside as a fellow captive, Subaru found something to take to heart in Abel's words. It was a lesson not just for the Empire, but for anyone who lacked overwhelming combat power. Subaru, too, had to observe and read his opponents carefully—otherwise, he'd never capitalize on the already slim odds in his favor. It was something he needed to keep firmly, firmly in mind going forward.
"By the way. Have you considered making a break for it while you can?"
Abel whispered this as Subaru was lost in thought like that.
At the coldness of it, Subaru narrowed his eyes even as he was startled.
"Would you quit with the bizarre temptations? It's not like the thought hasn't crossed my mind, but I'm not doing it."
"Oh? Why not? Right now, there should be more room to escape than when we were in that cage. If you create an opening just right, we might slip past the Shudrak's eyes."
"Sure, when my head was hot I almost did make a reckless run for it, but..."
At Abel's almost amused provocation, Subaru surveyed his surroundings.
The forest darkness was too deep; Subaru couldn't see more than a few meters ahead. To top it off, the direction and distance of the camp he needed to return to were vague—there was nowhere to run. Moreover, every Shudrak person around them was far more skilled than Subaru, whose hands were essentially out of commission.
"Hm~? What's wrong~?"
"Must be staring at Hou. Hou's the most beautiful woman in the village."
"Oh my~ How embarrassing~."
The woman beside him and Utakata chatted about the direction of Subaru's gaze. The woman shook her head in modest denial, her cheeks flushed red—adorable, but not someone with an opening. If Subaru tried to run, she'd no doubt take him down in an instant.
More importantly— "If I ran, what would happen to you, exactly?"
"...I see. So that's the sort you are. A contemptible, pointless hero complex."
"What did you say?"
Abel averted his gaze and spat the words out. Provoked by the accusation, Subaru was about to snap back at the profile hidden behind that mask. But before he could question Abel's meaning, Mizelda—leading at the front—stopped walking.
"Here."
"'Here'? I can't see anything..."
Even with the raised torches illuminating the area, all they revealed was a few meters at most. To Subaru, the forest scenery looked no different from before. What could possibly be here— "You'll see when you go."
"Rea— huh!?"
Straining his eyes into the darkness, Subaru leaned forward. His back was pushed by Taritta from behind, and after one step, two steps, his feet lost their purchase. The ground had vanished. It was proof that his foothold—and his reason to stand—was gone.
"This feeling... Not again!?"
Involuntarily raising his voice, Subaru found the ground simply gone—no, it was a steep slope. He planted his feet on the incline and slid downward, struggling to keep from flipping over. Racing down the slope, he somehow managed to catch his breath at the bottom.
"Ah, damn close... I wasn't even going to use my hands, and it's instant—?!"
"Move."
Just as he barely stopped, a violent impact slammed into his back, sending him sprawling forward. Glaring behind him, he saw it was Abel who'd crashed into him. It seemed Abel had been pushed down the steep slope the same way.
"Doesn't look like the bottom of a pit, but... is this where the ritual takes place?"
"Must be. Now, what'll they throw at us next? They said Ergina, didn't they."
"Do you have any idea what that means?"
"El does mean 'great' or 'large,' but... hmm."
As Subaru and Abel conversed at the bottom of the slope, something was thrown down to them. A cloth bundle rolled to a stop at Abel's feet. What peeked out from inside the bundle was— "My belongings and your junk."
"My stuff isn't junk!"
What had been tossed down was their confiscated equipment. Inside, of course, was the Guilty Whip, along with the knife that had been stuck in Subaru's back—the one given to him by Abel, which had come full circle back to this place. Abel, too, quickly picked up his sword and cloak and equipped himself.
"But why are we getting these back..."
"We're watching! Do your best!"
A high-pitched voice answered Subaru's question as he followed Abel's lead in retrieving his equipment. Looking up, Utakata was standing at the top of the slope, waving both hands—she'd apparently been the one to throw down their gear. Neither Mizelda nor Taritta objected to Utakata's actions. Perhaps this level of assistance didn't impede the progress of the ritual.
And at the same time— "Well then, do your best~!"
"You've gotta be kidding me..."
The yellow-haired woman was blocking the slope's entrance with a large boulder, doing so with a leisurely voice, a leisurely pace, and a beatific smile. There was no mistaking it—the ground tremor that reached him confirmed it. Incredible strength—it was now clear who had built that sturdy makeshift cage.
With the entrance sealed, the space where Subaru and Abel had been dropped was a valley roughly twenty meters wide on each side. Darkness stretched out before them at the opposite end from the sealed entrance, but they should disabuse themselves of the naive notion that they could simply run straight through and escape.
"Natsuki Subaru, how much can you move both hands?"
"Huh? Both hands... You can see for yourself. The right one can't raise up, and the left can't grip hard. Obviously, fine motor work is out of the question too... Whoa!?"
"Put it on the fingers of your good hand! There's no time!"
Abel tossed a ring from his belongings at Subaru, who caught it reflexively and, under the force of Abel's commanding tone, slipped it onto the middle finger of his left hand. It was set with a black gemstone—an exquisite ring that carried both an air of luxury and a strange, oppressive aura.
"What is this?"
"It's a ring that seals demonic power. Kiss the gem before using it. It's limited, but it can spit fire."
"Huh? Demonic power? Kiss it? What the—"
"—It's coming."
Leaving Subaru behind—who couldn't keep up with the rapid developments—Abel drew his own sword. Drawn by his narrowed eyes, Subaru hastily took hold of his whip.
With their equipment finally in order— "Oh, come on. You've got to be joking."
With the sealed slope at their backs, Subaru stood beside Abel and stared blankly at what lay before them.
Slowly crawling across the ground, the thing that emerged from the darkness was a mass of glistening, wet green scales—a great serpent. A mabeast serpent they had already encountered twice in this Vollachian jungle.
"Could it be... Ergina...?"
"——!!"
Subaru's hesitant murmur, swallowed in a sharp gasp.
The great serpent opened its maw wide and let out a colossal roar, as if confirming the truth of Subaru's words. Bathed in the violent rush of air, Subaru's body went rigid.
Ergina. A great serpent. And the Rite of Blood Destiny would have them face the greatest available challenge. If that was the case, then the wall Subaru and Abel had to break through this time was— "Now then—fight, and prove your worth as warriors! The hunting eyes of the Shudrak will bear witness!"
"Gaaah! I knew it!!"
From the cliff above, Mizelda's spirited voice echoed down to Subaru and Abel facing the mabeast below, joined by the Shudrak people's rallying cries of "Waaaah—!" As they were watched over by sounds that hovered somewhere between cheers and war cries, the great serpent drew itself up— "—Here it comes, Natsuki Subaru!"
"I can see it! Damn it, all I've been doing is getting tested ever since I got here!"
And with a surge that overwhelmed Subaru's lament, the great serpent surged forward, and the Rite of Blood Destiny began.
△▼△▼△▼△ The mabeast known as "Ergina," native to the Vollachian jungle.
According to Abel, "El" meant "great," so the "serpent" part of the name must come from "gina." Or perhaps even that was simply the Shudrak's unique way of naming things. Either way, verifying it and contributing to the history of cultural anthropology would have to wait.
"Right now, dealing with the enemy in front of me comes first—!"
The great serpent lunged forward with its massive jaws gaping open, baring sharp fangs. Its body stretched over ten meters, looking for all the world like a sentient ancient tree rampaging through the forest. Its trunk was as thick as several logs bundled together, and the momentum of its swinging tail was powerful enough to inflict serious injury with even a glancing blow.
As always, mabeasts were built to kill humans from the ground up.
"Bea—"
He called out the name of his absent partner and gritted his molars.
When caught in a sudden crisis, Subaru had always considered it best to entrust himself to
"You fool! This is no time to be spacing out!"
The instant his face tightened at the realization that he'd messed up, a roar accompanied his hair being grabbed from behind. Subaru yelped and was yanked backward.
The great serpent's jaws clamped down mercilessly over the spot where Subaru's head had been an instant before, producing a tremendous sound as the atmosphere itself seemed to be crushed. Simultaneously, the erupting smoke and wind blasted the ground apart with savage force.
"Whooooa—"
Propelled by the violent blast, Subaru rolled across the ground helpless. But he couldn't keep rolling forever. Snatching a one-in-a-million chance only to squander it would be a fool's errand.
Using his momentum to rise, he tried to put distance between himself and the serpent— "Don't make me say it again, imbecile. Hold your breath and stay down."
"Gkh."
His head was slammed down, and Subaru was forced face-first into the dirt. Looking over, Abel—also coated in dust—had enveloped both of them within his cloak. That said, it wasn't a very large cloak. It was too small for two people, leaving Subaru in a position with Abel sprawled on top of him.
"Wh-What is this... Oh right, the 'Appearance Hiding'!"
"That's right. If we hold our breath, it won't catch us in the moment. ...Still, we're unlucky. If the Rite of Blood Destiny had been anything other than a test of skill, we might have had a chance."
Even as he gauged the great serpent's presence from nearby, Abel's eyes mixed anger with frustration. From his manner of speaking, Subaru understood his thoughts all too painfully.
The contents of the "Rite of Blood Destiny" seemed to vary each time. There were surely methods other than fighting a mabeast among them. But Subaru and Abel had been thrown into the path of fighting the great serpent to prove their worth as warriors.
"My hands are busted, and Abel's swordsmanship is second-rate... What a shit situation."
"You say 'second-rate,' do you. Right now, you're in no position to even slow me down."
"The right to snap back still remains, actually... Oh, about what we were saying earlier—"
Through the hazy smoke, Subaru raised his left hand, showing the ring on his middle finger. The ring had been tossed to him by Abel, with far too little explanation. He'd said something about kissing it and spewing fire, but— "How do I use it?"
"I already told you. Kiss the gem and make it recognize you as its owner. After that, just use it like you would any magic."
"What is this, some kind of light-novel weapon ring...!"
Glancing at the ring with more doubt than belief, Subaru grimaced at the explanation. Meanwhile, ignoring Subaru's inner monologue, Abel was watching the great serpent's movements through the smoke. Even Abel, who had been so composed inside the cage, couldn't hide his tension in the face of a real threat. Drawing deep breaths, Abel gripped the sword hilt tightly.
"Even if we close in, piercing those scales is uncertain. We'll have to target areas without scales... the eyes or mouth, or perhaps where the scales are thin, or our attacks won't get through."
"We'd need to create an opening for that. Somehow..."
"You create the opening. That's the whole point of the two of us working together, isn't it?"
"I was about to say the same thing, but hearing someone else tell you to be the decoy is seriously annoying..."
That said, given their equipment and physical condition, there was really no other way to divide their roles. Subaru on support, Abel on offense—a fairly familiar split. As always, Natsuki Subaru was relegated to the assistant role.
"Right now, the mabeast has lost track of us. Draw its attention with the ring's flame. Create an opening from that."
"Yeah, I kn—"
Pouring resources in at the start to maximize effect was a fundamental of combat. As it happened, they could use the smoke screen the mabeast itself had created—leveraging the environment to defeat their enemy.
Just as Subaru reached that thought, he felt a sudden sense of unease.
The source of that unease was the mabeast "Ergina."
A mabeast in the form of a great serpent—its enormous size put it on par with an anaconda, but its threat level was higher, given it actively hunted humans. And if the opponent was a serpent-type mabeast, whose ecology closely mirrored that of snakes— In that instant— Subaru pressed his lips to the ring instinctively. Then he thrust it upward, aiming it toward the smoke Abel was glaring through. Before Abel could even question the action, Subaru opened his lips— "—Goa."
In that instant, fire exploded on the nose of the great serpent that had been piercing through the smoke to lunge at them.
△▼△▼△▼△ The pit organ, as it was called, was the heat-sensing organ that snakes possessed.
Snakes—creatures that often dwelled in forests and rocky shadows and were predominantly nocturnal—possessed pit organs to locate prey even in total darkness. By detecting the temperature of their quarry, these organs enabled snakes to swiftly lock onto and consume their targets in the black of night.
This principle was applied in devices called thermal cameras, but snakes had it built-in by nature—true assassins of the dark.
And to make matters worse, this great serpent appeared to possess pit organs as well.
The great serpent, which had been creeping closer and lunging at them, had its attack turned back by the fire that scorched its snout. As the shrieking serpent reared its head, Abel instantly struck.
Abel's strike wasted no opportunity—his most penetrating thrust surged toward the great serpent's throat, and the keen blade seemed to dig deep into the mabeast's scales.
"Gk—!"
Abel grunted, and the impact knocked his right arm back. The blade tip had barely pierced the surface of the scales before being stopped from going any deeper. His stance could have been better, but there was no question it had been an all-out strike.
And it hadn't gotten through.
"Bastard!!"
The mabeast, glaring at the retreating Abel and about to unleash a follow-up attack, had a fireball slam into its face. With a blast of hot wind and red light, the humid jungle air was scorched—but the damage to the great serpent was negligible. The mabeast flicked out its long tongue to lick its singed cheek, then turned its yellow eyes toward Subaru and opened its jaws in a roar.
"Damn—"
A single exchange. Barely thirty seconds since the fight began.
But in that brief time, it was already clear that Subaru and Abel had no chance of winning. Abel's sword couldn't penetrate the scales, and Subaru's tricks with his injured body were poorly suited for this fight. Having no answer to overwhelming force from the start—that was Subaru's limit.
"Goa! Goa! Stack them—Goaaaaa!!"
Waving his left hand at the lunging great serpent, Subaru fired off magic wildly in rapid succession. Each shot blazed with light, the ring's flames missing the mabeast but causing the cliff walls of the valley battlefield to crumble, temporarily separating Subaru and Abel from the creature.
"Hey, Mizelda! This thing is—"
Subaru was about to protest that this was too much—then he gasped. Above them, the Shudrak people watching their desperate fight—every single one of them had drawn her bow and was aiming at Subaru and Abel.
The Shudrak had emptied their expressions and fixed their prey with cold, calculating eyes. That included Mizelda, Taritta, the gentle yellow-haired woman, and even Utakata—without a single exception, every one of them stared at Subaru and Abel with icy eyes.
"O—"
"Once the ritual has begun, there is no escape from the Rite of Blood Destiny. Unless you defeat that thing, your wish won't come true—nor will you even keep your life."
Abel informed the freezing Subaru, who was receiving the cold stares of the Shudrak.
It was the difference in worldview that he'd experienced time and again since being flung to Vollachia, from the Imperial camp to here. —They could share a laugh with someone and then be ready to kill each other the next second. Looking at Utakata, it was clear that this worldview was something ingrained from childhood. There was no point in questioning the rightness or wrongness of that worldview here. This was not a place where ideologies clashed and opponents were argued into submission.
What was needed was to win the Rite of Blood Destiny by their rules.
"The scales on its torso can't be breached. If we can't reach its heart, do we aim for the brain through its eyes or mouth?"
"The brain being the weakness is universal for living creatures, but... that's probably difficult too. In that case, the victory condition we're aiming for is just a little bit higher."
"Higher."
Rather than thinking about dealing a killing blow to claim victory, then there was no choice but to claim victory without a killing blow. If this were a mabeast's nest, threatening the serpent's eggs to force a surrender might work as an unorthodox strategy—but this wasn't that. That left only one option: targeting the weakness shared by all mabeasts.
"Break its horn, and the mabeast will submit to the one who broke it. —That's the only way."
"The plan?"
"Same as the proposal earlier. I'm the decoy, the attacker is the suspicious masked man."
"'Suspicious'? The only masked man here is a noble one."
Exchanging words with the sharp-tongued Abel, Subaru took a deep breath and let it out. With the victory condition shared, their course of action was set.
With the Shudrak's frozen gazes on their backs and overhead, Subaru and Abel took on the great serpent that had made the forest its domain—to prove their worth as warriors. He didn't look the part of a warrior, and he didn't particularly want one—but "If that's what it takes to get to where you are, I'll take it."
Thinking of Rem, who he'd left behind at the Imperial soldiers' camp, Subaru planted his foot forward with conviction.
The great serpent burst through the smoke with its massive jaws open, charging straight at them. Facing the serpent head-on, Subaru thrust out his left hand. At the sight, the serpent's yellow eyes sharpened with caution—it closed its mouth and shifted its head sideways.
The lowest-tier flames hadn't done much damage, but they'd apparently been enough to create a strong aversion in the serpent. That caution would be its undoing. Right now, the ring was *not* on Subaru's left hand.
"My left hand wasn't aiming at your face—it was aiming above it!"
As he said this, the tip of his whip was what lashed out from his left hand. He'd been trained by his master Krenda to use it almost equally well with either hand. Rather than his right, which couldn't rise above his shoulder, he pushed his left—where even just two fingers could still move properly—to its limit.
The whip's tip naturally wasn't aiming for the serpent's scales, but for the thick branches of the dense jungle canopy above the snake's head. Lashing the whip around a branch, Subaru's body swung upward with momentum.
Pursuing the airborne Subaru, the snake's extended jaw came snapping after him. Had he not tucked his knees at the last second, his body would have been caught in those closing fangs, and everything from the thighs down would have been torn off.
"S-Sister! That man is getting away!!"
"Sh—"
Seeing Subaru rising rapidly and circling above the valley that had become a battlefield, Taritta screamed and drew her bow. But Mizelda lowered it with her hand.
And then, Mizelda's green eyes blazed— "He's not running—he's looking for a fight!!"
In Mizelda's field of vision, Subaru circled through the air on his whip. Drawing a swirling arc through the air like some kind of amusement park attraction, Subaru took aim at the cliff's edge with the ring on his right hand.
"Gooooaaaah—!!"
It was less a chant and more a battle cry. The fire pouring from Subaru's right hand as he screamed caught onto the vines and branches stretching down the valley walls, becoming an inferno that consumed the valley.
"Uwaaah—?!"
"Wh-wh-wh-wh! Utakata, that's dangerous~!"
"Aaah, sister! Sister! Are you really sure about this!?"
Watching the valley engulfed in flames, the Shudrak who had been observing the battlefield began to panic. Utakata and the yellow-haired girl clung to each other, and Taritta begged her sister for permission to shoot Subaru. But Mizelda, her eyes blazing bright, didn't notice the plea. She simply clenched her fists tight, her eyes glued to the scene.
"Yes, yes, this is good! How exciting!"
"Gaaaaaaah—!!"
Mizelda's cheers and Subaru's final scream before running out of breath overlapped. The light of the ring's flames faded, and as a final roar echoed in response, a fireball was launched that crumbled part of the cliff—the great serpent retreated to avoid the falling debris.
But— The serpent, having backed away, realized it had no escape route. The valley was already ablaze—the fallen trees burning alongside everything else, the roaring flames eliminating any need for torchlight. More importantly, flames scattered this generously— "Likely relying on heat detection. —That, too, is no longer of any use."
Having concealed himself with the "Appearance Hiding" cloak, Abel was rendered invisible to the great serpent as he lunged.
Sensing danger, the serpent's eyes flared—but above it, Subaru was radiating miasma, its heat sense was deadened by the fire, and Abel's form had gone transparent. All the serpent could do was plunge toward a less fire-covered path from where it stood.
And that was the false escape route Subaru had created by scattering flames— "Gaaaaah—!!"
In that instant, Abel leaped from the cliff and pounced on the head of the serpent as it plunged into the false path. His raised sword arced downward, a silver flash surging toward the twisted horn on the serpent's head. It entered the horn's center at an angle, aiming to cleave it in one stroke— An inch from severing the horn and stripping the mabeast of its consciousness— The great serpent screamed and twisted its head in one last desperate attempt to escape the blow. But a flailing struggle was just that. Such desperation wouldn't work.
—If it had been a warrior's strike.
"Gu—"
By twisting its head, the serpent deflected the flash of his blade, and Abel's strike halted midway through the horn. Before he could power through for a second attempt, the sweeping tail caught Abel. Violently ragdolled by the impact, Abel's slender body was hurled sideways. Unable to land safely, he tumbled through the burning valley and coughed blood.
"Kgh... I missed... Can't go at it like that reckless fool..."
The great serpent turned its face toward Abel, who was crawling through the dirt and coughing blood. The serpent's eyes gleamed with malice at this once-in-a-lifetime chance to turn the tables. It glided toward Abel. Having taken a hit, Abel couldn't stand, let alone wrap himself in the "Appearance Hiding" cloak.
Its massive jaws gaped open, and the serpent lunged to swallow Abel whole.
Witnessing that, there was no time left to think.
"I'm going to 'Return by Death' and—"
—and with that, he muttered the words. It had been quite some time since he'd said them aloud.
But for Subaru, who had retraced his own footsteps within the
"Gk—gu—"
As color drained from the world, sound vanished, and even the flow of air became imperceptible, what arrived in Subaru's place was a black shadow flooding into the frozen world. It was the same entity as the massive black shadow that had surged toward Subaru after he'd completed his "trials," lost
"...Yeah, you're a broken record."
To those words, Subaru offered the same reply.
Immediately after, a hand slid in and seized his heart—the agony of his entire body being crushed from the fingertips inward, and a shock more like his eyeballs exploding than his vision turning red tore through him. An unfamiliar pain, a gripping despair that promised no end.
But when that eventually receded— "Look at me—!!"
"——!!"
The moment color, sound, smell, and sensation returned to the world, Subaru screamed those words with all his might. Sensing the swell of miasma that accompanied that presence's return, the great serpent turned—not toward the weak masked man it could kill