"So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice he'd heard so many times before.
The raspy voice of an old man, and the furious voice of a woman. And then— "Hah, aaaaaaah!!"
The violent impact of a rooftop tile being stomped surged up through his feet, followed by the savage swing of a kiseru trailing purple smoke. It swept across the chaos-flame sky—once, twice, three times— —And then came the chain of explosions, and that searing red pain arrived once more.
"Gy—gaaghaaah—!!"
"Uwaauh! Uwaaauh!"
One eye burst. The other popped out. Clutching his face from the agony and shock of both, he crumpled to the ground. He knew the light weight that leaped onto him and pinned him down, too.
He knew it, and yet he couldn't do a thing. There was simply, impossibly, not enough time.
"Gyiii! Agh, gu, gugigiiii!"
A blood-red field of vision, his skull splitting apart, a soul screaming "why"—all of it, every last shred, conspired to waste Subaru's ten seconds of despair yet again.
The pain stopped him from thinking. The red tide of loss blinded him to everything around. Even when everything suddenly receded and came rushing back, a mere three seconds later he was made to taste that same pain all over again.
It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. it's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death—an endless, agonizing repetition.
His mind was going to break.
"So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice again. The pain and the redness cut out for just an instant.
But he was about to taste that same agony once more, and the thought made his soul shrink with terror.
"Aaaaaaah—!!"
He didn't want to hear anything. He didn't want to feel any more pain. Scary, scary, scary, scary. He threw his mouth open in a scream, his throat on the verge of ripping apart, clamped his eyes shut and clutched his head, cowering down.
Then, in the very next instant— "————"
A deafening explosion rattled across the air, and Subaru's small body was flung spinning. The ringing in his ears receded, and as the pain and the redness threatened to return, his soul trembled.
But— "—Eh"
That pain didn't come.
Neither the agony of one eye rupturing and the other popping out arrived. His ears were still ringing and wrecked, but the world wasn't red. The worst of the pain was only in his throat, raw from screaming at the top of his lungs.
"How... why..."
"Uwaauh!"
Barely had that stunned whisper escaped before a small body threw itself at him.
It was Louis. Louis grabbed his arm, trying to haul him to his feet. But his knees wouldn't hold, and Subaru—whose mind still hadn't produced an answer to "why"—couldn't stand.
His throat just convulsed, and for even that single instant, the fact that the red agony had been kept at bay filled him with a joy so fierce that tears welled up. He couldn't hold them back and sank into a crouch, sobbing.
"I'll al—"
"Well now, that's a terrible move, that is."
"——!"
A short distance away from Subaru, still crouched and sobbing, a battle on an entirely different level was raging on. No—the momentum had swung dramatically, and Subaru could make out the woman dropping to her knees through his blurred vision.
Jorna, on one knee, with Olbart standing behind her.
Olbart raised his blood-soaked right hand, looking down at Jorna—who was bleeding from the corner of her mouth—with an expression of surprise, raising his brows.
"Guh...!"
"Ha— are you serious, you fox-eared wench? Not dying from that? What kind of body have you got? Was that thing about Cecilus not being able to cut your head off the real deal too?"
"...I would never reveal a lady's secrets to a man who would lay hands on a child."
Gritting her back teeth, Jorna answered Olbart in a voice that hadn't lost an ounce of its vigor. Hearing this, Olbart let out a high-pitched "Kakakaka!" laugh.
After laughing, he flicked his blood-soaked sleeve and said— "You're saying silly things. When I say 'lay hands on a child,' I mean something like this."
"Stop—!"
From that sleeve, he drew a black orb—a bomb—and hurled it, sending it flying toward Subaru and the others.
Louis instinctively threw herself in front of Subaru to deflect it, but she was too late.
Red light exploded in Subaru's eyes once more, and Louis's body, flung forward ahead of him, along with Subaru himself, was swallowed by the blast and torn to pieces— "So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice again.
△▼△▼△▼△ —The instant the redness and the pain vanished, he shut his eyes and screamed.
That was the ironclad rule Subaru had gleaned from repeating the red agony over and over, with only a handful of chances to escape it.
The bottom line was, whenever the redness and the pain came together at once, Subaru was completely helpless. He'd scream, he'd thrash, and he'd die.
And just when he thought he was dead, he'd hear that voice again, and take the full force of the explosion's red pain.
He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't. He couldn't, so please, please, he was so scared.
"So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice again.
In that instant, the pain and the redness all receded, and a moment of safety washed over him so thoroughly that he nearly went limp. He clenched hard against it and forced himself to do what had to be done.
"Aaaaaaaaah—!!"
Throwing his mouth wide open in a howl, he squeezed his eyes shut with all his might.
While his own scream kept him from hearing it, Jorna was probably swinging her kiseru down, cutting through the air to detonate the bomb Olbart had thrown.
And so, right after that— "—!"
The blast and the shockwave slammed his entire body, and Subaru landed on the rooftop on his rear. The edge of a tile dug into his backside with a sharp, almost tear-inducing sting.
But he wouldn't cry. He didn't want to blur his vision with tears. Because— "I can... see..."
Timidly opening his eyes, he found that they hadn't burst or popped out—his vision was intact.
His ears were still ringing and shot, and his throat burned like hell, but the red agony was gone. He was right. Thank God.
If he shut his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs, that red agony wouldn't destroy him.
"Uwaauh!"
Overcome with emotion and on the verge of tears, Subaru was pounced on by Louis in a panic. He could finally see her face—her blue eyes were wide with worry for him.
Without thinking, he hugged her small body tight and shouted, "I'm okay!"
"Uah"
"I'm okay! It hurts, it's red... Ah, forget it, but I'm okay...!"
The rule was simple: whenever the redness and the pain vanished, shut his eyes and scream.
As long as he remembered that rule, the suffering wouldn't get to him. Subaru clutched Louis's slender body tight, convinced— "Well now, that don't look okay at all, now does it? Here comes, here comes."
Immediately, a spine-chilling voice reached him, and Subaru reflexively raised his head.
In his wide-open field of vision, Olbart—grinning from ear to ear—was hurling shuriken that arced through the air on irregular trajectories, converging on Subaru and Louis.
Each of the shinobi's weapons gleamed with a dull, sinister light, all aimed dead-center at vitals.
"Nnh—"
"I won't allow such reckless behavior."
As Subaru's throat seized up, Jorna appeared directly in front of him, her back turned. She wedged her kiseru into the path of the incoming shuriken, batting every last one from the sky.
At the same time, roof tiles peeled up on either side of Olbart and smashed down on the old man with the force of a mousetrap or flyswatter.
But— "Kakakaka! Flashy and impressive, that's some fun technique you've got!"
Olbart twisted his diminutive body and dodged the barrage of tiles with effortless ease.
Subaru had always assumed that those who fought for a living benefited from being large—more strength, wider reach. But Olbart's agility overturned that impression entirely.
"Still, I don't need this kind of flashiness. In the end, humans drop dead the moment a needle's stuck deep enough in this ole noggin, y'know."
"My, my, your words tickle these fox ears something terrible. —Well then, how about this?"
"Oh?"
Having sidestepped the flashy assault, Olbart saw Jorna stamp the rooftop with her heel right before his eyes. The roof tiles peeled up one after another, rising and beginning to spin through the air.
They traced a massive spiral, sweeping around the entire rooftop in a vortex centered on Olbart, tightening its ring by the second. Like a tornado.
And— "Show me the shinobi technique to escape from a place with no gaps!"
Before she'd finished speaking, Jorna's outstretched hand clenched tight.
In the next heartbeat, the swirling tornado of tiles that encircled Olbart compressed inward all at once. Tiles crashed into one another without mercy, and a thunderous roar of total obliteration shook the air.
A cataclysm of destruction—if one were at the center of it, no human body, however sturdy, could withstand that pressure. You'd be crushed flat, with no hope of survival.
"Uaah..."
Louis, watching the same spectacle, gasped at its devastating power.
Reading Louis's reaction, Jorna quietly replied, "I'm afraid I've startled you," and added, "I got ahead of myself. You must think terrible things of us."
"Now now, don't go assuming it's over just because you started and finished on your own. I'll have you know, living long enough to become an old man means you're just that damn hard to put down."
"——!"
Jorna, who had been about to turn around, pricked her fox ears at those words. Looking closer, the voice had come from behind the pile of tiles that had crashed inward and crushed the center.
With a grinding rumble, the mound of tile debris collapsed—and popping up from behind it, completely unscathed despite being at the epicenter of that destructive vortex, was Olbart.
The old man waved his hand casually, flashed a face full of nothing but malice, and grinned, "Yo—"
"The shinobi technique to slip out from a place with no gaps. Satisfied now?"
"—Even in old age and decay, you remain one of the 'Nine Divine Generals,' do you not?"
"Kakakaka! Now that's a nasty thing to say! I mean, I was already an old man the moment I was chosen as one of the 'Nine Divine Generals,' wasn't I? I'm way tougher than the average joe precisely because I've aged and decayed. But you know, what a waste of a fine young thing you are."
"Excuse me?"
Tucking the arm he'd waved back into his sleeve, Olbart tilted his head. Jorna frowned at him.
To her question, Olbart replied with a "Well, the thing is—"
"Between the townsfolk and the kids behind you, you've got too many people to protect. If you had fewer of them, you could really go at me properly, couldn't you?"
"——!"
"You fight because you want to protect them, but wanting to protect them is exactly what makes you weaker. That's why you can never reach the level of His Excellency, no matter how many times you try, miss."
As he said this, Olbart's yellow eyes pierced through Jorna to stab into Subaru and Louis.
In that instant, Subaru realized once more that they were being targeted. Realizing it, he immediately gripped Louis's hand tight and said— "Jorna! Louis and I are vanishing! Do your best!"
Drawing them into this and then fleeing, leaving Jorna behind—that was the lowest of the low.
But if Subaru and Louis were here, Jorna would fight to protect them, Olbart would exploit the opening, and she'd die all over again.
That couldn't happen. He had to find a way to prevent it. No matter what.
"Louis!"
Shouting, Subaru pointed downward at his feet and squeezed Louis's hand hard.
Combining the sensation and the instruction, Louis responded with "Uah!" and a teleportation was triggered.
Subaru and Louis's bodies dropped straight down into the interior of the castle, their feet touching down on a wooden floor.
Confirming that, Subaru gritted his back teeth.
"Ugh...!"
A sensation of his insides flipping over, his head spinning. For a moment, flashes of red vision and pain flickered through, but it was a far cry from the real thing.
Now he just had to hope that after they disappeared, Jorna could fight freely— "—What!?"
Right after, what happened overhead was an explosion that shredded Subaru's brand-new trauma.
A devastating chain of explosions, the shockwave rippling down through the roof and through the entire castle, reaching even Subaru and Louis. His knees nearly buckled, but he fought it down and looked up at the ceiling.
He couldn't see it, but it had to be Olbart.
Even after scattering that many bombs, the man was still carrying more.
"Oh. There you are, there you are."
"Eh?"
Looking up, Subaru saw a wrinkled face phase right through the ceiling, peering down from the floor above.
Subaru froze at the suddenness—and then Olbart's body, not just his face, passed straight through the ceiling and dropped toward them.
The old man grinned as he fell through the ceiling— "That last one gave me a fright, I'll admit. Underestimated you as just a kid—my mistake, my mistake."
"Uaaah!"
The instant that grinning face drew close, Louis kicked out with her slender leg. But Olbart answered with a quick "Yo," deflected the kick with a flick of his arm, and sent it careening away at the shin.
Louis's pale foot spun through the air, spraying blood, and a scream tore from her.
"Aguuuu—!"
Her shrieking figure, and Subaru's eyes flew wide as he tried to pull her toward him.
Whether it was to get her away, or to save the girl screaming in agony over her severed leg, he couldn't tell.
But either way, even that split-second action was more than he could pull off.
"Gubh—"
The instant he heard a sharp sound, Subaru's throat seared with a heat beyond what a scream could produce. Blood welled up, choking his throat—he couldn't speak, couldn't breathe.
"Can't have you escaping like that—gets messy. Well, just the head oughta be enough to get the point across to the fox girl."
With that, Olbart's finger tapped Subaru's forehead. His lolling neck pitched forward, and his head came to rest on his own collapsing knees.
One strip of skin was all that connected it—so it didn't fall off, just sat there on his lap.
"Decapitation? More like a head still attached, eh?"
That awful, unfunny joke echoed in his ears, and then faded into nothing.
And then— "So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice again.
Instinctively, he grasped what he had to do—pull Louis close, and then— As he was thinking that, the explosion roared.
—His vision detonated into pure red, and the pain swallowed
△▼△▼△▼△ —The instant he heard the same voice, he clamped his ears, shut his eyes, and screamed.
That was the survival rule Subaru had found after repeating those ten seconds of despair dozens upon dozens of times.
The equation for what came after, however, remained completely unsolved.
"So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
Olbart hurled a bomb, Jorna swung her kiseru to knock it aside. The heavy impact rippled through the soles of his feet, and Subaru remembered where he'd returned to and what he had to do, obeying the instinct burned into him.
Cover his ears, close his eyes, open his mouth and scream—ride out the explosion.
Covering his ears would protect his eardrums. Closing his eyes would protect his eyes. He still didn't know what good opening his mouth did, but since it was absolutely necessary when he wasn't in pain or seeing red, the idea of not doing it was inconceivable.
Doing something different and ending up in that agony again—he couldn't bear it.
One mistimed move, and it would take more than ten repetitions of those ten seconds of despair just to get another chance.
He was sick of it. The pain, the terror—he was sick of all of it.
It never got easier. The pain was always pain. The terror was always terror. And death always lay at the end of pain and terror.
So— "Uwaauh!"
Both his ears and his eyes intact, he caught Louis's small body as she launched herself at him.
Somehow, once again, he'd survived the first explosion without a scratch. All that remained was to recall what would happen next in the chain—and it started with— "Shuriken—"
"Don't think you're done just surviving the shuriken!"
The memory and Olbart's voice came at the exact same moment.
In the next instant, shuriken were hurtling from every direction—none following the same trajectory—a storm of blades raining down on Subaru and Louis from all sides.
More than ten shuriken, and if even one hit, he'd be incapacitated.
Jorna was about to leap out to intercept— "Such reckless behavior—"
"Jorna! It's fine!"
He stopped her with an outstretched palm, then changed the gesture to a pointed finger. And, squeezing the hand still linked with Louis with all his strength— "What the—!?"
In that flash, the teleportation activated, swapping their field of vision, and the shuriken embedded themselves where Subaru and Louis had just been.
Olbart's eyes went wide in shock at what had happened—Louis's teleportation gave no tell whatsoever. This was a secret weapon even Olbart didn't know about.
He'd used it before, too, to escape into the castle. Only to be caught and killed by Olbart with embarrassing ease— but— "If it works even once..."
He could catch Olbart off guard.
And in that opening bought by Olbart's surprise— "Keep your eyes on the field—!" Jorna shouted.
"Tch— gaah!"
Jorna's devastating heel drop plummeted straight down from above, driving into Olbart.
His split-second reaction was too slow, and the kick he raised to counter wasn't fast enough. Olbart's body absorbed the full impact and folded backward. His skull slammed into the rooftop with a thunderous crash, and Olbart vanished into the castle below.
That crushing blow had surely dealt serious damage even to Olbart— "Kakakaka! Ouch, ouch!"
"You're kidding!?"
Right after Subaru cried out in triumph at the decisive hit, Olbart reappeared.
He burst through a different hole in the roof—his teeth bared, his right arm drenched in blood from his own hand.
He'd caught Jorna's heel with his arm, and that withered limb had been crushed to a pulp.
The sight was ghastly enough to make you look away, but Olbart paid it no mind. With his remaining left arm, he hurled shuriken—aiming at Subaru and Louis in front and Jorna simultaneously.
Of course, Subaru couldn't react. Jorna deflected the shuriken aimed at her with her kiseru, then flicked her fingers and launched a tile to shield Subaru and Louis.
And then— "Here, ninety-year vintage."
With that, Olbart committed a sudden act of savagery.
He extended his blood-drenched right arm, then used the kunai in his left hand to sever it at the bicep. The arm spun through the air, spraying blood, hurtling straight at Jorna.
"————"
Facing it, Jorna was forced to make a split-second choice.
Sweep the incoming arm aside, or dodge it—there was no third option.
But— "Too bad. Both are wrong."
"Guh...!?"
Before she could act on her choice regarding the flying arm, an explosion erupted from beneath Jorna's feet. It was the hole Olbart had blown open earlier—the one leading to the floor below.
From it erupted a literal gale that tore through Jorna's kimono.
"That's shinobi basics for you. Right or left—which way to run. Once they're second-guessing, you've won."
"Insolent... old man...!"
Showered with wind-blades, her kimono in tatters, Jorna gritted her teeth. But she pressed forward, ignoring the bait arm, and lunged toward Olbart.
Matching her advance, Olbart let out a sigh and said— "That 'both are wrong' bit was a lie too, you know."
—In the next instant, the arm he'd thrown exploded from within.
"—!"
"Jorna!!"
The blast erupted right beside her, swallowing Jorna's body and sending it flying. She rolled across the rooftop, and Subaru watched with wide eyes, screaming with his ruined throat.
A trap in the hole he'd fallen into, a trap in the severed arm—a trap in everything.
From the moment the impression of shinobi—of ninja—had crossed his mind, Subaru had known this would be an impossibly troublesome opponent. But he'd never imagined the depths of this man's viciousness.
And as Subaru shuddered, Olbart turned around almost simultaneously.
"—Louis!"
The instant Subaru saw Olbart's gaze lock on with predatory intent, he screamed.
He gripped Louis's hand tight and willed a second teleportation almost on top of the first—putting as much distance between them and Olbart as he could, pointing at a far-off spot— "Uwah uah."
Louis's teleportation triggered, and both their bodies vanished in an instant.
They appeared far off Olbart's line of sight, at a considerable distance. If escaping into the castle wouldn't save them, all Subaru could do was put distance between them, buy time, and pray that Jorna could hold Olbart off. That was all he was capable of, having survived that first explosion.
And then— "Eh?"
Something tapped the tip of his toe.
He looked down in spite of himself to see what had hit him. It was a black, round orb.
He'd seen it countless times—the orb that had cast him into the depths of despair over and over.
"I saw where you pointed. You go where you point, right? No idea how it works."
So Olbart had simply lobbed the orb in the direction Subaru pointed, shrugging as he said it.
The old man, balancing on one arm, unsteady—shrugging.
"Uwaauh."
Louis called to Subaru again.
Then, right beneath their feet, the black orb detonated, and from it burst countless shards like glass that scattered through the air, shredding Subaru and Louis—tearing, shredding, shredding.
Blood sprayed crimson, shards flew into his eyes and mouth, his insides were sliced to ribbons, a razor-sharp agony devoured him head to toe, and his limbs flew apart.
"What's inside? You'll find out after you've tasted it. Fun, right?"
The pain was red again, and there was nothing to do but question your own sanity.
"So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice again.
"——!"
The instant he heard it, Subaru clamped his ears, shut his eyes, and threw his mouth wide open. No scream came out. Just a hoarse rasp. Even so, the blast and shockwave still hammered him.
His whole body was pummeled, and he landed on the rooftop on his rear. He'd failed to follow the rule. He couldn't scream. He was terrified of the red and the pain returning. But— "Uwaauh!"
A light weight crashed into him, and Subaru let out a breath— "Hah."
Then he confirmed his eyes and ears—and everything else—were all right. Even without the scream, his eyes and eardrums were intact. The voice didn't matter. The mouth might matter, though.
He didn't know. He didn't know, but— "Guuuuh...!"
Clutching Louis to him, grinding his back teeth, Subaru sobbed—and no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't find a way to survive what came after the explosion.
He couldn't find it, so he cried, he crouched, he couldn't move, and so— "Pipipip, a child's crying is hard to bear. —Shut up."
Once again, inescapable "death" swallowed Natsuki Subaru whole.
△▼△▼△▼△ Over and over, the red and the pain, and the powerlessness that lay beyond—and beyond that, the pain and the strain, the suffocation and the fear, layered on top of one another, and still he couldn't reach it.
"—Love me. Right now."
Beat up and broken, how many times had someone saved him like this?
And every time, the ache of not being able to do as they asked.
"Uwaauh! Uwaaauh!"
Louis desperately pulled at his arm, doing everything she could to keep Subaru alive, to keep him from dying.
And that was exactly why she always died before him—every single time—and the pain of it was unbearable.
Over and over, dozens upon dozens of times, repeating ten seconds of death and despair.
A world of red, senses dominated by nothing but pain, and a powerlessness that no matter how many times he tried, he could never overcome—repeated so many times, over and over, it felt like it would never end.
His mind was breaking. His heart was about to die.
This was not "Return by Death."
This was something that had surrounded Natsuki Subaru—something that was not "Return by Death."
He hadn't wanted to think even once that "Return by Death" was merciful.
But compared to these ten seconds and the endless accumulation of loss—it was so much worse.
—If this was what it took to make you think "Return by Death" had love in it, then this was an act utterly devoid of love.
△▼△▼△▼△ "So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice again.
Olbart's carefree tone, and Jorna's urgent one.
The pain and sense of loss from the previous loop faded, and for just an instant—a mere few seconds—Subaru returned to the blue sky visible above and a body free of pain.
His brain was numb, his throat was tearing itself apart with the continuation of a scream from before death, and the strength drained from his knees.
And yet, the reflex now carved into his very soul made him clamp his ears, shut his eyes, and keep his screaming mouth open.
"Hah, aaaaaaah!!"
Jorna, howling, swung her kiseru, and a dozen bursts of explosive flame bloomed across the chaos-flame sky.
Heat and shockwave and concussive sound crashed over them, but this time, landing on his rear was something he couldn't endure no matter how many times it happened.
"Uwaauh!"
As Subaru hit the ground, Louis's light body tackled him.
He caught her and held her tight. That was reflex now, too. Simply from dying so many times over and over, he craved the warmth of another person. That was all.
There was no other reason. None at all, so he ground his teeth.
"From here..."
Before he could even catch his breath, the attack that would kill Subaru was already incoming.
"Don't think surviving the shuriken means you're done!"
At the same instant Olbart's voice rang out, shuriken flew at Subaru and Louis from every direction—more than ten blades, their keenness able to slice through a child's soft flesh like nothing. He knew that already.
He'd been killed by shuriken, too, countless times. But which death matched that particular pain? He couldn't remember. Since not a single death was painless, he'd lost the ability to tell them apart.
"Such reckless behavior—I won't allow it."
While Subaru floundered, Jorna's back appeared between him and the blades.
She batted aside every shuriken with her kiseru, then rippled roof tiles in a wave from both sides to crush Olbart in a pincer strike.
"Kakakaka! Flashy and impressive, that's some fun technique!"
Olbart dodged the entire thing, his agility on full display.
Subaru's delayed reactions meant he was following the same script. But having watched this scene play out countless times already, there was nothing Subaru could do.
When he'd shielded Jorna from attack, when he'd fled into the castle, when his mind had gone haywire and he'd charged at Olbart—every single path led to death.
If every path, every action, led to death—then what was he supposed to do?
"Still, I don't need this kind of flashiness. In the end, humans drop dead the moment a needle's stuck deep enough in this ole noggin, y'know."
"My, my, your words tickle these fox ears something terrible. —Well then, how about this?"
"Oh?"
Olbart's shameless provocation was met by Jorna stamping the rooftop with her heel.
Tiles peeled up and rose in succession, and what emerged was a vortex of destruction spiraling around the castle. He knew how devastating it was. But Olbart couldn't be beaten.
"What do I..."
Maybe it was fine. He didn't know. The premonition of the next round of pain and terror was already closing in.
He'd fail. What could he do to avoid it—the red world, the chorus of agony?
He wanted to help Jorna, but he'd only get in the way.
He wanted to escape with Louis, but they'd be caught.
If only he could go back further, he shouldn't have come to the rooftop with Jorna in the first place. If only he'd left Jorna alone, if only he hadn't left her behind, if only he hadn't parted ways with Abel, if only he hadn't told Louis about it, if only he hadn't shrunk, if only he were the original Subaru—if only—Zikr, Flop, Midelda, Kuna,
If he was trapped in a world where death was unavoidable and all he could do was keep dying, forever and ever—then what could Natsuki Subaru do?
Death after death, pain after pain, that crushing sense of powerlessness pressing down on him from all sides, and then— "Uwaauh."
The warmth of the girl's hand, gently squeezing his, reached him, and Subaru caught his breath.
That warmth made him think—suddenly, unexpectedly.
Natsuki Subaru couldn't do it alone.
"—What would everyone do?"
△▼△▼△▼△ It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death.
It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death.
It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. it's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death. It hurts. it's red. It's scary. Why. Death.
That was the ten seconds of despair, repeated over and over.
Pain and powerlessness layered atop one another, trying to break Subaru's heart again and again—an endless hell.
But by stacking those ten seconds of despair over and over, he had reached what lay beyond.
It hurts. It's red. It's scary. Why. Death.—Beyond that.
In exchange, beyond those ten seconds of despair, there were infinitely more branching possibilities—and no answer to be found anywhere on how to escape the pain.
Subaru died again. Over and over, through pain and agony, he died.
Not a single one went right.
He always ended up making Jorna sad, letting Louis die first, and dying himself.
—But beyond those ten seconds of despair, there were more than ten seconds.
Use all of that time.
Use every second—even if he was absolutely going to die—to reach the eleventh second and beyond, and think as hard as he possibly could.
—What would everyone do?
"So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice again.
In that instant, Subaru clamped his ears, shut his eyes, opened his mouth, and endured the explosion. The blast and shockwave hammered his entire body, and—unable to bear it—he landed on his rear once more.
Immediately, the small body that screamed "Uwaauh!" threw itself at him. He caught it and held it close, as if to reassure it, and all the while he was thinking.
—What would everyone do?
"————"
Subaru had become small.
His limbs had shrunk, and the contents of his mind were surely childish now.
The original Subaru might have been able to do more, might have come up with something. But the original Subaru wasn't here. And he couldn't think of a way to fix that.
If so, then this problem was unsolvable for Natsuki Subaru.
So— "If it were everyone..."
So far, he'd faced all sorts of problems and made tons of mistakes, but they'd overcome them all together and made it this far.
Right now, Subaru was alone. He was in an empire where he barely knew a soul.
But there was something inside him—a gift from every one of them.
"If it were everyone..."
What would they do?
If it were Otto, Garfiel, Roswaal, Frederica, Petra,
"If it were everyone..."
What would they do?
If it were Julius, Anastasia,
"If they were really strong..."
The ones who could fight Olbart—he wanted them cheering from behind.
The ones who could outsmart Olbart's trickery and his insane little techniques—they had no part in this one. Sorry. Thanks. I love you.
"If they could use magic..."
The ones who could help Jorna—maybe even they couldn't replicate it right now.
He didn't want to be a burden on gentle Jorna. But healing magic probably had no place here either. Sorry. Thanks. I love you all.
"Then..."
How about imitating the ones who refused to give up, who clawed forward until the very last moment?
Using everything at his disposal—pushing past those ten seconds of despair, past the eleventh second, and even further—how about trying to be like them?
"Such reckless behavior—I won't allow it."
The kiseru flashed, and the shuriken bearing down on them was deflected with a high-pitched ring.
Tiles peeled up on both sides of Olbart, attempting to crush the old man between them.
"————"
Watching Jorna and Olbart's battle, Subaru thought as hard as he could.
He'd died so many times, hadn't he? He'd seen this scene so many times, hadn't he? He was sick of even remembering it—he could still feel the pain.
Just thinking about it made him tremble. His heart shrank, his soul cowered.
It was as if the very existence of Natsuki Subaru was frozen solid. But— "Uwaauh."
The warmth transmitted through their clasped hands kept him from freezing to death.
Because he hadn't frozen to death, he could still remember them—all of them—clearly.
He couldn't intervene in the fight between Jorna and Olbart.
Even if he wanted Jorna to win, he and Louis would only be a liability since Olbart was targeting them. The fight had already begun, and someone had to win for things to move forward.
Most likely, Olbart had always won, and Subaru and the others had always died.
But if Subaru and Louis survived—would that be enough?
That was probably spectacularly wrong, too. No, that wasn't it—Jorna had to be safe too. There had to be a better way. Don't stop thinking, damn it. Giving up here would be a joke. I'm absolutely, definitely going to be fine. Everyone's right here with me. And you don't want the pain or the suffering anymore, right? Battles always have a resolution, it's inevitable. There has to be a gap I can slip into. I'll find it. That's the key to victory.
"The key... to victory."
Whose? Obviously, the person who was fighting.
So who was fighting—Jorna and Olbart, but which one— "That's wrong—"
"Hm?"
"Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG—!"
In front of Louis, who tilted her head, Subaru screamed at the top of his lungs.
Wrong. He'd gotten it wrong. He loved everyone. So— "The one who wins is—"
Once more, the red light and the pain spread before his eyes, and— "So I hear the folk in your town are real tough customers... But are they tougher than the folks from my village, I wonder?"
"—You scoundrel!"
The same voice again.
The instant he heard it, Subaru clamped his ears, shut his eyes, opened his mouth, and crouched down. Immediately, the blast and shockwave struck his full body, but this time he didn't fall on his rear.
He let go of both hands and raised his head. There— "Uwaauh!"
Louis, her face tight with worry, threw herself at him.
He caught her head-on, and Subaru stood up from that spot. And then— "Thanks."
"Hm?"
Louis's eyes went round. Looking straight ahead over her head, Subaru faced forward.
His body was scorched to the bone, his innards pulped and ground—he was still dragging that pain with him. If he let his guard down, he'd be screaming and thrashing and rolling on the ground.
But— "Don't think surviving the shuriken means you're—"
Olbart was saying as he drew shuriken from both sleeves, ready to throw.
Olbart's eyes and Subaru's eyes met dead-on.
The eyes of a "vicious old man" who would kill even a child without hesitation or mercy, and the tearful eyes of a child who had been beaten down by powerlessness again and again and was barely holding back the urge to cry.
But whatever Olbart saw in those tears, his yellow eyes shifted and blazed with renewed light.
He wasn't targeting Subaru just to distract Jorna.
The shuriken flew from the "vicious old man's" hand to kill Natsuki Subaru.
An attack with no play in it. Subaru's eyes couldn't track the incoming threat, but he could feel it on his skin, and with his finger raised and pointing straight ahead—right at Olbart—Subaru shouted.
What would everyone do?
He racked his brain, trying to think the way they would, and then— If it were everyone—even after dying over and over, beaten to a pulp by powerlessness, driven to the brink of nothing—they would believe in him, no matter how broken he was.
Even if he was ugly and wretched and pathetically dead—crying, screaming, even wetting himself—they would believe in him.
He loved everyone.
On top of this castle, having died countless times, fighting to reach beyond those ten seconds of despair, past the eleventh second, and further still—the one who wins this— —the one who wins is always the teacher!!
"Louisssss—!!"
Pointing at Olbart, Subaru called out the name of the girl at the end of the warmth he held so dear.
And he squeezed Louis's hand—hard, so hard—and in that instant, the world changed.
"What—!?"
The target he'd been about to kill with a shuriken had vanished, and Olbart let out a cry of shock.
This teleportation was a cheat that existed entirely outside Olbart's frame of reference—a trick the cautious shinobi couldn't detect at all. Only the first time, before he could adapt, could it catch Olbart off guard.
And using Louis's power to teleport, Subaru— "Aaaaaaaaaah—!!"
"Nuwah!?"
He lunged forward and latched onto the back of Olbart's head, right in front of him.
Desperately clinging to the diminutive old man, he grabbed a fistful of white hair and held on for dear life. Even Olbart, caught off-guard by the instantaneous teleportation, couldn't react in time to the boy who'd suddenly clung to him.
For a man of roughly the same height, the small Subaru had latched on with everything he had.
Naturally, Olbart tried to pry him off, and Jorna—eyes wide at the sudden development—started rushing over.
"Whoa! What, what is this?! A brat!?"
"Boy! Let go immediately! Lord Olbart is—"
Olbart's hand grabbed Subaru's hair and tried to rip him free. Jorna, terrified of getting Subaru caught in the crossfire, hesitated just a fraction of a second too long.
But Subaru, ignoring both of their reactions, clung on for all he was worth and screamed— "—I win!!"
"Huh?"
In that instant, Olbart's hands, trying to pry Subaru off, went slack. Jorna, too, stared wide-eyed at what Subaru had just said.
Ignoring the dumbfounded expressions of both adults, Subaru clung tighter, unwilling to be shaken loose— "I win... I win! You lost, Olbart! That's right, isn't it!?"
"What on earth are you talking about...?"
"I said one round was enough, didn't I!?"
"Hm?"
The loosening grip gave Subaru the chance to finally lift his head and address the white-haired back of Olbart's skull directly. Tears and snot surged with his excitement and racing heart, and he sniffled through both as he stammered— "Tag! Hide-and-seek, you had to find them three times... but with tag, you're done once you catch someone... so—"
"————"
"So! I win! I caught you! The match—I win! You lost, Olbart, and you lost too, Jorna! I win... I WIN...!"
Even he thought it sounded like an insane argument as the words tumbled out.
They'd chosen hide-and-seek from the start—it had been Subaru's own idea. To suddenly pull that back and switch to the rules of tag was cheating, he knew.
But it was all he had. He couldn't think of anything else.
And besides— "You were the one who cheated first, Olbart..."
"————"
"D-, so, I win. I win... I..."
The tears and snot spilled over, and no matter how hard he tried to hold them back, they wouldn't stop. His voice went raw.
But even so, Subaru gripped tighter with the arms still wrapped around Olbart and refused to let go of this crooked victory. He'd caught Olbart. He'd won at tag. He'd won.
"—Lord Olbart. What would you like to do?"
Quietly, Jorna posed the question to the silent Olbart.
She'd re-lit the tip of her kiseru and let fresh purple smoke curl upward. Drawing it into her lungs, she looked as beautiful as she had before the fight—unchanged.
Which meant that, depending on Olbart's answer, she wouldn't hesitate to shelter Subaru and Louis—who had virtually no connection to her—and keep fighting.
Olbart's tribulation wasn't limited to that alone.
"Uwaauh! Ah, uhhh!"
"That hurts, don't it."
Louis, who had arrived with Subaru, stomped hard on the foot of the old man he was clinging to. Her round eyes narrowed to slits as she glared at Olbart.
Facing Subaru's plea, Jorna's question, and Louis's glare, Olbart was silent for a moment—then roughly scratched his own head.
And then— "I'm the one who said you can't throw away a fight you started. But I never figured it'd be twisted around and used against me like this."
"—Is that your answer, old man?"
Jorna's voice was quiet, and her gaze dropped an extra notch.
There was no mystery to it. Olbart had simply plopped down cross-legged right there on the rooftop. With Subaru still clinging to his back, the old man bared his teeth and grinned— "Kakakaka! Anybody can see I lost. If I tried to claim the win-loss didn't matter, then I wouldn't be a shinobi anymore—I'd be a beast."
After saying that, he slapped his own knee and threw his head back, laughing, "Lost it, lost it!"
Beneath the blue sky, atop a beautiful castle slowly being restored—second by second, beyond those ten seconds of despair, past the eleventh second and beyond, time was ticking forward, quiet and certain.
"I win... I wiiin...!"
Sniffling and sobbing, Subaru kept protesting through his tears.
With the boy still clinging to his back, Olbart laughed—"Kakakaka!"—and said— "Hearing it over and over gets annoying, y'know. —Shut up."
And with that, he gave Subaru's forehead a solid smack.