——Three days had passed since the day that featured both the second "Spalca" and the grand banquet that followed, with no clear winner as to which should count as the main event.
During that time, nothing of note had occurred on the Sword Slave Island.
What caught even Subaru off guard was that a third Spalca—with new slave candidates brought in from outside—never materialized, and not a single regular death match was scheduled either.
Ordinary death matches were a kind of practice bout, designed to keep the gladiators from letting their skills deteriorate ahead of the main events.
But calling them practice bouts didn't change the fact that people could die if you let your guard down—and there were dangerous individuals who could kill you even when you didn't.
And unlike the Spalca, Subaru couldn't very well interfere with the death matches without risking punishment—so in a way, he was relieved.
"The guards are all wound way too tight. ...Maybe they're scared of the boss and us, huh?"
That was Hiaen's take on the Sword Slave Island's atmosphere over the past few days—and it wasn't a bad reading of the situation.
The lizard-man had apparently been overjoyed to have his comrade saved during the second Spalca, because ever since then his friendliness toward Subaru had skyrocketed.
It was Subaru who had started calling him "boss" first, but the feeling was mutual—Hiaen treated him like a brother-in-arms.
"Well, I can't say I mind at all."
Subaru found himself exasperated at the guy's shamelessly opportunistic nature, but Hiaen's softer attitude was more than welcome.
Everyone preferred a relaxed atmosphere over a tense one. And it wasn't just Hiaen who had warmed up. Weitz now greeted Subaru with a grounded sort of trust, and Idra with an unmistakable hint of respect.
And that shift in attitude had spread, for the better, among the island's gladiators as well.
So—— "Hey, Schwaltz! Looking sharp today!"
"Your fighting spirit's practically overflowing!"
"The guards are complaining—if this keeps up, there'll be no combat beasts left!"
More and more gladiators were approaching Subaru with bright, friendly voices.
Subaru welcomed every bit of it, for the same reason he appreciated Hiaen: the more people willing to talk to him, the easier it would be to gather the information he needed.
For the moment—setting aside his wariness of Gustaf's "Curse"—the information Subaru wanted most was—— "—The drawbridge control tower."
The method for operating the drawbridge—the sole link between the island and the outside world—and how to get inside the control tower.
That was what he needed most right now.
"The control tower itself is visible from anywhere, but you can't actually get in..."
The tower stood imposingly right beside the drawbridge on the island side. There were no guards posted at it, but the entrance was sealed with an impressive lock, and without the key, the heavy metal door couldn't be opened.
He'd spent the past few days searching for the key's whereabouts, but since it appeared Gustaf operated the drawbridge personally, there was a good chance he carried it on him.
"Hmm, picking a fight with Gustaf would be a losing proposition."
Honestly, just how strong Gustaf was remained something of a mystery to Subaru. The man had four arms on top of that physique of his, and he'd been entrusted with managing the entire Sword Slave Island. Someone in a position to command a bunch of roughneck gladiators couldn't possibly be weak.
Sure, he could figure out whether Gustaf was truly strong or not by actually fighting him—but— "More importantly, I don't want to antagonize Gustaf..."
In terms of their positions, Subaru and Gustaf stood on opposite sides as gladiator and administrator, but on a personal level, Subaru didn't dislike the man.
In fact, compared to the Empire at large—where Subaru had encountered far too many people who were impossible to reason with—Gustaf was a refreshing exception. He'd never once raised his voice at Subaru and could actually hold a conversation. That made him a rare find.
At the very least, he was a far cry from Fake Cecilus, who lurked about on the knife's edge between ally and enemy.
So the ideal approach was to quietly pilfer the key from Gustaf.
"That said, casually strolling around his workplace like Cecilus does is out of the question."
Now that the Curse's restrictions had been lifted, Gustaf—ever the dutiful administrator—could no longer be considered dangerous to Subaru in the way he once was. Even so, Subaru wasn't thick-skinned enough to brazenly search for or ask about the key's location.
The worst-case scenario for Subaru was that Gustaf would find him a nuisance and lock him away somewhere on the island, cutting off all freedom of movement.
If that happened, Subaru would have no choice but to rely on the last resort hidden behind his back molar.
So—— "My only option is to chip away at it, little by little."
Scratching his head, Subaru muttered this to himself and curled his lip at the difficult road ahead.
To gather information about the drawbridge, Subaru had been trying to make inroads with the administrative side—meaning the guards who watched over the gladiators.
The guards followed Gustaf's lead and were fewer in number than the gladiators, but their bearing was that of hardened Imperial soldiers, leaving little room for weakness or openings to exploit.
Gustaf's training and discipline seemed thorough. Even when Child Subaru approached them, the guards didn't relax their vigilance—if anything, it tightened. Subaru suspected that the precedent set by Fake Cecilus—an even less lovable child than himself—had something to do with that.
In any case, extracting information from the guards was proving exceptionally difficult.
Subaru was beginning to wonder if he'd made a misstep. It seemed Gustaf had warned the guards about him, because no matter where he went, their stern eyes were locked onto him.
He'd only been trying to get information about the Curse's true nature, but he'd ended up spooking Gustaf instead.
"If only I'd gotten punished for some other reason... No, no use dwelling on it."
Self-reflection was important, but regret produced nothing of value.
Regret was a luxury people indulged in for its own sake. Unfortunately, Subaru had no time to pity his own stupidity. Not a minute, not a second could be wasted.
If one guard rejected him, he'd simply move on to ten, then a hundred.
"That's right—some wise man once said that it's all about numbers. Not that this is exactly hitting on people."
Clenching his fist, Subaru steadied his resolve by drawing inspiration from a professional in an entirely different field.
He trudged onward, heading for another section of the island to make himself unwelcome to the guards there, when— "What a restless one you are, Schwaltz..."
"W-Wait—Weitz?"
A low voice called out to Subaru as he wandered in search of guards. It was Weitz.
The man sat on the ground with his back against a wall, and Subaru tilted his head. They were near the corridor leading to the arena. The arena itself, however, was locked outside of Spalca and death match times, with an iron grate lowered across the corridor.
In other words, today this was nothing but a dead end.
"What are you doing in a place like this? Playing hide-and-seek?"
"Not sure what that means, but... that's probably not it. I came to check on the underground area..."
"Underground—ah, that spot."
Subaru glanced in the direction Weitz indicated with a nod of his chin.
Just beside the corridor to the arena was a door leading to the island's underground. As Subaru already knew, the island sat on a lake, so the basement didn't connect to anything.
Technically, it did lead outside—but— "It only connects directly to the lake. The whole point is disposing of corpses."
"Gladiators and combat beasts who died in the death matches... thrown in together. ...We would have been fish food too, if we'd lost..."
"Charming."
"Fish food" referred to the aquatic magic beasts inhabiting the lake. Apparently, some rather ferocious specimens had been let loose down there. While death matches were the number one cause of death on the island, the number two cause—barring accidents or escape attempts—was being devoured by those beasts.
Subaru, too, would have no choice but to become their meal if the drawbridge couldn't be used.
"Have you heard... the story of the gladiator who escaped the island before...?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I've heard. That's why the previous manager got fired and Gustaf was chosen as the new one."
"The living conditions have improved... but the status of the gladiators remains unchanged... What do you think...?"
"What do I think..."
"Should we... accept being slaves? Being dominated...?"
"————"
At Weitz's words, Subaru instinctively glanced around to make sure no one was nearby.
What Weitz had just said was an extremely dangerous statement for a gladiator on Sword Slave Island. If a guard with a nasty disposition overheard, it would be ample grounds for punishment.
Besides, Weitz was in the same "Match" grouping as Subaru, which likely meant he was under even stricter surveillance than the other gladiators.
"Uh, Weitz, I think you should be more careful about saying things like that. I don't care personally, but you have to think about how others will react."
Subaru tried, in a roundabout way, to steer Weitz's thinking in a different direction.
If the next Spalca dragged in only Subaru, there were ways to deal with it. But adding Weitz to the mix would make things exponentially harder.
But even as Subaru thought this, Weitz continued, "Schwaltz..."
"Why do you think I came to the underground...? To lend you a hand..."
"———!"
"I know what you're planning... you intend to leave this place. And I intend to accompany you... I have no desire to remain here as a gladiator... I owe you a debt, besides..."
As he spoke, Weitz slowly rose to his feet.
From within his tattoo-covered face, he fixed Subaru with a piercing, earnest gaze. Caught under the weight of those eyes, Subaru froze and drew a sharp breath.
This was not a situation where deflecting with humor was remotely possible.
"Weitz, I—"
"I know who you are..."
"Huh?"
"But that doesn't matter... Don't lump me in with that smooth-talking Hiaen... I have no interest in the crown you wear... I'm simply lending you my strength. Remember that."
The revelation that Weitz knew his identity sent every hair on Subaru's body standing on end. But the words that followed froze him in a way that went beyond shock.
No matter who Subaru was, Weitz had said he would repay his debt and lend him his strength.
That was, that was truly—— "...That means a lot, Weitz."
"Hmph..."
Subaru gave a thumbs-up and smiled. Weitz looked away and sniffed in that characteristically graceless way of his. Subaru took it all in good spirits—it was so perfectly Weitz.
Weitz had come to scout the underground area to help Subaru figure out how to operate the drawbridge—the way out.
Ultimately, they'd found nothing down there. The conclusion was the same as before: the drawbridge was the only way off the island.
And it was right at the moment Subaru reached this conclusion that—— "——! This shaking!"
"The drawbridge..."
A rumbling tremor and a deep, resonant sound shook the very foundations beneath them. Subaru and Weitz arrived at the same conclusion and exchanged a look.
Nothing on the entire island could cause a tremor this massive except the arena or the drawbridge. And since the corridor to the arena was blocked by the two of them, the drawbridge was the only remaining possibility.
"New arrivals again..."
People coming meant the next Spalca was about to begin.
Subaru moistened his parched mouth and murmured. Weitz looked at him. Subaru returned the gaze with a smile—reassuring him that there was nothing to worry about.
"——. Let's go take a look..."
Whether that smile had its intended effect or not, Weitz's feelings were unknowable as he turned his back without another word. The two of them climbed from the island's lower level to the mid-level, making for the overlook where the drawbridge could be seen below.
"I'd also like to catch a glimpse of the control tower entrance opening and closing, if possible..."
"Schwaltz-sama, over here!"
"
As Subaru huffed and puffed up the stairs, wiping the sweat from his chin, a girl's voice called out. Tanza, who had reached the overlook first, waved them over, and Subaru and Weitz joined her.
Tanza glanced over at Weitz and said, "So you were with Weitz-sama."
"Ran into him downstairs. We were having an embarrassing chat. What about you?"
"...I was keeping watch on the tower. As suspected, it appears Gustaf-sama possesses the key."
"Ugh, so I was right."
Tanza, too, understood that the drawbridge was essential to escaping the island. Subaru had already shared the truth of the Curse with her, and the two children were effectively conspiring to break out.
But then Weitz butted in, blunt as ever.
"If we just need to take the key... we could storm him in numbers...?"
"That plan is way too rash! Besides, the Curse would stop us cold if we tried anything that reckless."
"——Eh."
"Yeah..."
Subaru shot down Weitz's simplistic proposal by invoking the Curse as a shield.
Tanza's eyes went wide at this, so Subaru pressed a finger to his lips to silence her.
The truth—that the Curse no longer existed—was something he had not yet revealed to anyone besides Tanza. Fake Cecilus, who had been present at the time, did know, but the guy had no friends to tell, so there was no risk of it spreading.
Still, Subaru believed this was a truth far too dangerous to let get out.
"The Curse is part of why the gladiators stay docile."
The lack of serious complaints about their treatment, and the threat of instant death for defiance—that was why the gladiators of Gnunhaive submitted so tamely to Gustaf's rule. If word got out that the Curse was gone, people who thought like Weitz would inevitably emerge.
That would spark an all-out war between the gladiators and the administration.
Numbers-wise, the gladiators might even win despite the casualties—but— "The guards all keep tamed magic beasts. It'd be a bloodbath."
It wasn't just the guards themselves who were formidable; their magic beasts made the Sword Slave Island's security a nightmare.
The combat beasts that fought in the Spalca were all beasts kept and trained by the guards. The lion and the rat that Subaru and the others had struggled so hard to defeat were merely a fraction of the reserves still held in reserve.
That was exactly why Subaru couldn't afford to have Weitz acting rashly.
"But waiting for Schwaltz-sama to single-handedly defeat every combat beast in the Spalca doesn't seem like a realistic plan."
"That's reckless in a different way... And besides, imagine how demoralizing it'd be if they just brought in more beasts. I'm not counting on that strategy."
"Then..."
"I've got various things in the works, so don't worry. You don't have to believe in me if you don't want to, but please at least believe that I'm dead set on meeting someone."
Subaru said this while concealing his true intentions from Weitz. Tanza fell silent. She lowered her gaze slightly, then continued, "The person you wish to meet—"
"Is it... a family member?"
"Hmm? Well, there are people as important as family, and also someone I like."
At the slightly probing question, Subaru tilted his head and answered casually.
Tanza looked as if she wanted to say something more, her lips moving slightly. But before she could, Weitz cut in with, "Look..." pointing down toward the drawbridge below.
The drawbridges on both sides had activated, and a carriage was crossing toward the island—new residents of Sword Slave Island arriving.
"What kind of people are they this time...? Surely it's not another acquaintance of Weitz or Idra."
"Anyone who knows my face can drop dead for all I care..."
"Don't be so scary—and a little sad, to boot—"
Subaru was about to say "don't," but the words died in his throat. He could now clearly see the carriage crossing the drawbridge.
It was drawn by black galehorses in armor, much like three days ago. But there was one difference from the carriage carrying Orthins and the others: the people aboard were not sitting quietly. Someone was standing—on the roof.
Standing on the swaying roof of the carriage was a woman with brown skin and a slender frame—— "——!!"
The instant Subaru laid eyes on her face and distinctive features, he choked down a scream, dropped into a crouch, and shrank behind the railing.
His heart was pounding at an insane rate, and the roar of blood rushing through his veins exploded inside his head.
"S-Schwaltz-sama?! What's wrong—why did you suddenly—"
"Ah..."
"Ah?"
"That woman—she's bad news."
Tanza, crouching beside him, stared with wide eyes.
But Subaru had no composure to spare for her astonishment.
"A woman... that woman...?"
At Subaru's murmur, Weitz—who was leaning against the railing—looked toward the drawbridge. He could apparently make out the figure on the carriage roof as well.
He didn't seem to know who the woman was, but Subaru did. And he knew this was the worst possible timing.
That carriage—or rather, the woman on its roof—was not a candidate for the next Spalca.
Because her identity was—— "——Can't recall her name off the top of my head, but she's one of the 'Nine Divine Generals.'"
The impossibly strong woman with silver hair and an eyepatch who had caused devastation in
△▼△▼△▼△ "This visitor is not a gladiator—it appears they're an envoy from the Imperial Capital."
That was Idra's report, supposedly from gossip he'd overheard from the guards.
Subaru and the others had been watching the carriage's arrival from the overlook, but the impact delivered by the woman on the roof—a threat beyond all calculation—had been overwhelming.
"That woman noticed me and looked this way..."
Weitz, who had stayed crouched beside Subaru while the carriage finished crossing the drawbridge, was trembling with disbelief.
She had been at least a hundred meters away, yet to feel her gaze from that distance made her a monster. Since Weitz said she'd looked his way, Subaru's instinct to drop down had been absolutely the right call.
Of course, Subaru doubted that even looking at him now would let her figure out who he was.
"A canine demi-human, and a 'Nine Divine Generals' member... most likely the
"Tanza, you know about her?"
"...She's one of the people who targeted Yorna-sama of the Chaos Frame. I haven't seen her with my own eyes, but apparently she engulfed an entire district of the city in flames."
"A-Are you serious? That's... that's a joke, right?"
Hiaen tried to laugh off Tanza's grave tone. But there wasn't a single person there who could laugh it off.
Subaru, in particular, was shaken badly.
"It's the straightforwardly strong ones that give me the worst trouble."
If an opponent had exploitable weaknesses, or could be beaten with the right strategy, Subaru could conceivably find a way to win.
But when the gap in raw ability was simply too vast, all strategies vanished. Because they were strong. Against a truly powerful opponent, petty tricks were worthless.
The privilege of being overwhelmingly strong was the ability to trample over all of that—over all of Subaru's careful preparations—and crush them to dust.
"Schwaltz-sama, please don't be so pessimistic. They said to be an envoy from the Imperial Capital, so that doesn't necessarily mean they'll do anything to us directly. To label them an enemy—"
"Is premature. Yeah, yeah, that's true. It's true, but..."
"————"
"...When you consider the worst-case scenario, I can't help but..."
Subaru hugged his thin arms and answered Tanza, who was trying to encourage him.
He appreciated her concern, and she herself surely didn't want to make an enemy of the Nine Divine Generals. At a minimum, this woman was on par with—or above—Yorna in strength.
Trapped on this island, there was no way they could fight someone at that level.
"B-But why are you so worried, boss? If she's from the Imperial Capital, then..."
"Hiaen, are you not getting it? The Empire is split in two right now!"
"Huh? Oh—oh! Crap, you're right...!"
Beside Subaru, who was deep in thought, Hiaen and Idra were having a grim conversation.
Subaru couldn't quite follow the flow of their discussion, and he had no attention to spare for it anyway.
In truth, the likelihood that Subaru was overthinking things was quite high.
"For now, I don't think Tanza or I could be the target of that woman's—"
"The Arakiya General."
"—objective."
Even if they stood out somewhat on the island, it was unlikely that had spread beyond its walls. And even if it had, they still looked like this. It would be unnatural for that to draw scrutiny.
Orvalto, even if he wanted to do something about Abel, would have no reason to worry about Subaru or Tanza.
"So then, what brings an envoy from the Imperial Capital to the island?"
"If I had to guess... perhaps for the island's spectacle?"
"The spectacle—this Sword Slave Island's original purpose, you mean."
Weitz and Tanza arrived at the most plausible explanation for Arakiya's visit.
The spectacle—that was the true function of Gnunhaive, the Sword Slave Island: to stage death matches between gladiators for the entertainment of outsiders.
A tasteless affair, but one that supposedly helped restrain the fearful desires of the Imperial citizenry.
"A spectacle, huh... So we're going to be forced to fight again? But they're doing this now, when there's a rebellion going on and everything's in chaos?!"
"There's an argument that it's precisely because of the chaos that it should be done. The goal would be to tighten the Imperial citizenry's mindset—to remind them that they must remain strong."
"That would be the Emperor's thinking, then..."
Between Hiaen's incredulous outburst, Idra's persuasive reasoning, and Weitz's heavy murmur, all eyes turned toward Subaru.
It was as if they expected him to have the answer. But Subaru had none. All he could do was shake his head.
"Both Hiaen's theory and Idra's theory are plausible. But..."
"But?"
"I'm not so sure the Emperor actually cares about this place..."
Subaru knew that the Emperor giving orders from the Imperial Capital was a fake.
Both the real and the fake had been part of the Chaos Frame, but with the rebellion in full swing, Subaru doubted Abel had somehow reclaimed his position without his knowledge.
So any directive from the capital came from the fake Emperor's thinking. That counterfeit Emperor, Vincent—who was just as capable as Abel—hardly seemed the type to take a pointless trip.
"There has to be some reason."
A reason why "the Nine Divine Generals" had been sent to a lake island that seemed to have been left behind by the world—at this particular time, no less—instead of the real Emperor, who should have been Abel.
"She was the Arakiya General, but she didn't arrive with a large entourage, did she?"
"No..."
"I only saw from a distance, but they arrived in a single carriage. Five or six people at most. The only standout was the General herself."
"...Is that so."
Tanza lowered her gaze, stumbling over the same question of motive as Subaru.
One could say they were overthinking it, and simply keep their heads down and wait for the storm to pass— "On the other hand, consider this... We could hide inside the envoy's carriage and slip off the island..."
"We already did the hiding-in-a-carriage trick during the Chaos Frame, didn't we?"
"But even the same method can work over and over, if the opportunity is right..."
Weitz's proposal was met with serious consideration from Subaru and Tanza. But Hiaen, who had been listening in, raised his voice with a booming, "Wait wait wait!"
The grey-scaled lizard-man turned to face them and said, loud enough to make Subaru look, "Have you lost your minds!? You'll die!"
"Staying here just means they'll force us to fight and we'll die eventually, you coward..."
"But it won't happen today or tomorrow! Boss... your brother is here too!"
"I never intended to stay here long. In fact, I have zero desire to stick around."
Hiaen's jaw quivered, his wide mouth lined with small fangs trembling as he was struck speechless by Subaru's resolve. For Hiaen, maybe the island really was more livable than the outside.
After surviving a Spalca and becoming a gladiator, your life outside of death matches was effectively guaranteed—it wasn't an exaggeration to say the environment made it feel that way. Subaru could understand the impulse to think that.
"Kid! Idra! What about you two...?"
"Like Schwaltz-sama, I too have reasons why I cannot remain here long."
"I—I... if it were possible, I would like to leave."
Though with different levels of enthusiasm—earnest versus reluctant—both had no love for the island either.
Hiaen clearly couldn't believe it.
"Th-There are limits to how reckless you can be...!"
"Sorry to cause you trouble, Hiaen. But I want you to think about this too: is staying here really what's right?"
"————"
Hiaen stared at them as if looking at something terrifying.
But if he didn't stop thinking—if he thought hard enough—he would understand. The sense of security and safety one could find here was nothing more than a stasis purchased at the cost of many other things.
"...If you leave, what about the Curse?"
Having dropped his knee-jerk rejection, this was Hiaen's next objection.
The invisible chain that bound the gladiators of Sword Slave Island—the very reason they languished here—was the same thing Weitz had brought up earlier.
That it was already neutralized was something Subaru wanted to keep under wraps for as long as possible. But as long as Hiaen remained wary of the Curse, he would keep questioning their sanity.
So Subaru decided to try, if only a little, to ease that wariness.
"The Curse, too—I'll find a way to handle it. Actually, I've already gotten a hint on how to do that."
"——!? You can deal with the Curse?"
"Yeah."
Subaru nodded with a confident expression, making sure not to seem hesitant.
That answer startled not just Hiaen but Weitz and Idra as well. Only Tanza, who already knew the truth, said nothing and quietly observed.
Subaru couldn't reveal the whole truth, but projecting confidence here was essential to putting Hiaen and the others at ease. He couldn't afford to show doubt on his face.
Even if Arakiya's purpose as an envoy remained unclear—— "I will find a way off this island. So—"
When that time comes, I want you to lend me your strength. ——That was what he'd been about to say.
But Subaru's words never came.
Or rather, there was no longer any point in saying them.
"——Ka"
A rasping sound escaped, and Hiaen collapsed, his eyes bloodshot.
"————"
His narrow pupils went red and his massive body toppled sideways.
The suddenness of it, with no warning whatsoever, left Subaru unable to react in time. He couldn't even catch Hiaen as he fell.
"H-Hiaen?!"
With a heavy thud, Hiaen's body hit the common room floor and went limp. He stopped moving. Only his limbs twitched and spasmed.
Like a cicada, Subaru thought. A cicada flipped over on the road in the dead of summer.
A dying cicada's movements—that was Hiaen now.
——It wasn't just Hiaen.
"...Ah"
A lighter sound—lighter compared to Hiaen's fall—rang out. Subaru spun around in mute shock.
They were on the ground. All three he'd been speaking with—Idra, Weitz, and Tanza—had collapsed where they stood, trembling and convulsing in the same way.
"Tanza?!"
He couldn't understand. The incomprehension was so total that he couldn't even react.
He dropped to his knees beside Tanza, who had fallen right next to him, and turned her limp body over. Her head lolled, and from her eyes ran tears of blood.
Blood was streaming from her eyes, her nose, and her ears, dripping steadily onto the floor.
"Hh—"
Subaru's throat convulsed and he let go of Tanza's body.
He scrambled to check on the other three. All of them—eyes, nose, ears bleeding—were motionless.
"What..."
What was happening? The question erupted in his head like a roar.
Why why why why—the meaning of the scene before him was incomprehensible, and Subaru's mind spun in a dizzying vortex of questions while a ringing in his ears grew deafeningly loud.
The illusion that his skull was splitting apart threatened to swallow him whole, when— "Wrong..."
Subaru clutched his head and forced his gaze upward.
A sharp, searing pain hammered through his skull, and blood began dripping from his nose. The ringing wouldn't stop, and he could feel blood welling up inside him in a slow, sickening tide.
The timing was off. Later than Tanza and the others, but Subaru was feeling the same pain.
And realizing that, he understood what was happening.
"Th-this can't be..."
Bracing his hands against the floor, then against a wall, Subaru somehow got to his feet. He staggered out into the hallway to confirm what was happening.
Inside the room, Tanza and the others were gone. But it wasn't just them. Everything, everything else was gone too.
"————"
The common room next door, the corridors branching off in every direction, the great hall, the area beside the drawbridge—all of it. Everyone was dead.
Dragging his feet, vision flickering, feeling as though his brain matter was oozing out through his ears, clothes soaked with blood—Subaru surveyed the island.
Everyone was dead. Everyone, everyone, everyone.
They had all bled from their eyes, their noses, their ears—and died. Dead.
"Why?"
Why had everyone—gladiators and guards alike, without distinction—died so suddenly?
All of them, just like that, in an instant.
"Why?"
Everyone was gone. Suddenly, impossibly.
He couldn't believe it. Couldn't accept it. All he could do was stammer the question at—what? The sky? If not the sky, then the water.
"Why—"
"——Hey there."
Just then, when no answer should have come to Subaru's voice, someone answered.
Left alone on this island where everyone had suddenly died—nose and ears still bleeding—Subaru was terrified. Afraid.
So he turned toward the voice that sounded like it might offer an answer, and there stood— "What are you doing in a place like this?"
A man who, in a single instant, turned Subaru's sense of salvation into ice.
△▼△▼△▼△ "As you can see, I figured everyone on the island was dead..."
The man speaking—cracking his neck as he did so—wore a black bandana.
Bright orange hair pulled back by the bandana with a red stripe, the lean silhouette of an Imperial soldier.
At a glance, he had a friendly-looking face. But that was a colossal misunderstanding. A massive error. Don't be fooled.
The seemingly gentle face, the seemingly approachable voice—all of it was an act.
And the name of this man made entirely of pretense was—— "——Todd."
It was a name that Subaru—whose memory was growing harder to pry open, bit by bit—could still pull out effortlessly because it was filed in the most important place.
And the reason it was so important— "——. Hey, how do you know my name?"
Because the man would shift his entire demeanor at a single address, closing the distance—he was a dangerous individual.
Todd closed the gap in long, heavy strides, lumbering toward Subaru. Subaru tried to flee, but his battered body wouldn't cooperate.
Todd caught up in an instant, and Subaru was violently slammed against the wall.
"Ow—!"
"Don't recognize you. I never forget a face, but I don't know this one. —Wait."
Cheek pressed against the rough surface of the building wall, enduring the pain as Todd pressed harder, Subaru felt the man bring his nose close to his hair.
Todd sniffed loudly, taking in Subaru's scent.
"You smell like someone dangerous I know."
Subaru went cold at the low voice. It was the dual sensation of being talked about—and the revulsion of Todd.
This was the face he never wanted to see again. And somehow, it was here.
"Why..."
Why was Todd here—the man who should have fled Guaral—here on this island?
Come to think of it, Todd had fled with Arakiya in tow. Subaru should have realized: if Arakiya was here, Todd might be too.
But that was stupid. Just because they'd escaped together didn't mean they'd end up at the same place next.
Why, why, why, he didn't want this, he was scared, why was Todd here, why— "Why did you—everyone—"
"Kill them? I'm not answering that. From my perspective, the fact that you survived is the miscalculation. Though, left alone, you'd probably be dead soon enough anyway."
"——Ugh."
"I don't like leaving things to time or chance."
Todd's voice whispered in his ear, and something cold pressed against Subaru's neck. It was the cold blade of the large knife Todd had drawn from his hip.
The kind of knife that looked like it could skin a large animal—if pulled hard, Subaru's head wouldn't just be cut, it might clean off entirely.
And Todd, regardless of whether the target was a child, would not hesitate.
But—— "————"
There was a chance—a slim one.
That Todd wouldn't kill Subaru here. That he'd put it off. That he'd try to extract information from Subaru instead. If that happened, it would be irretrievable.
Irretrievable—and lead to despair.
So rather than let that happen—— "Wait."
"——!"
His head ached, his nosebleed wouldn't stop.
Dizzy from blood loss, Subaru groped with his tongue for the back molar—his last resort.
In the next instant, Todd's fingers jammed into Subaru's mouth.
"——Ah!"
Todd forced his way in with brutal roughness, and Subaru gagged hard enough to heave. His stomach contents surged upward. But Todd didn't care—he kept probing with his fingers.
And then, along with the vomit, he pulled it out.
"What's this... Poison?"
"————"
"Hey, what kind of kid are you? You actually kept poison in your mouth on purpose? A suicide pill for when things go south? You're out of your mind, throwing your life away like that."
Todd wiped his soiled fingers on Subaru's clothes and spoke with a casual air.
But there was nothing joking about it. His attitude said, with complete sincerity, that he couldn't fathom Subaru's way of thinking.
As if the notion of taking your own life were the most absurd thing in the world.
"Anyway. I'm not trying to torture you. You can use it if you want."
"That—that means—"
"Sure. If you're going to die, suicide works for me too. Saves me from dirtying my knife."
To prove the point, Todd shrugged and placed the "medicine" packet back inside Subaru's mouth.
He set it right on top of the back molar—bite down hard enough to crack the casing and the contents would spill. That would end Subaru's life. Todd knew this.
"I'm fine either way. As long as you die."
Todd grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
Todd's face loomed directly before him, Subaru's back pressed against the wall. He wanted desperately to fight back, but his body was growing weaker by the second, tingling, going numb.
Slowly, in the same way as Tanza and the others, the "death" was eating away at Subaru.
He didn't know why it was so slow, why it came so gradually, but— "Time's up, suicide, knife."
"————"
"Choose."
Todd held up three fingers, pressing Subaru for an answer—making it clear that the destination was the same regardless.
It was so, so quiet, and Subaru hated Todd with every fiber of his being.
Tanza, Hiaen, Weitz, Idra—all dead.
Orthins and the others, Old Nerg, the guards—all dead.
Why was Todd alive? Why was Subaru the one dying?
"——!"
While savoring a wrenching, tearing agony in his chest, Subaru bit down hard on the back molar.
The casing cracked. The "medicine" inside spilled out, seeping into the gaps between his tongue and teeth, seeping, seeping, and then— "——Bleh!"
Subaru spat a torrent of blood directly at Todd's face.
Not to drag him along—just to get one shot in, to soil his clothes. But Todd was sharp. The instant Subaru tensed, he dodged sideways.
The blood missed. Subaru simply vomited and collapsed.
Collapsed, collapsed, and then, and then, and then— "Ahh—uh—ah—aaahhhhh—!"
His entire body convulsed violently, the poison spreading with terrifying speed.
Blood poured from his nose and ears with even greater force than before. His eyes swelled until they seemed ready to burst, and every muscle, every bone in his body groaned in unison.
No—it sounded like screaming. His entire body was screaming.
"It—hur—hurts—it hu-hurts—Hurts—!!"
Blood burned like fire. Like being plunged into a boiling pot. Scalding.
His whole body seethed and roiled as though his skin had been peeled away and covered in wasabi and mustard and every hot spice imaginable—as though a mountain of needles had been driven into him—as though his entire body was being grated on a rasp—it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt.
The pain alone made him want to die.
The agony alone made him want to die.
"Something's wrong with you."
Twitching, thrashing like a fish on a line, hurtling toward death.
Todd stared at the drowning Subaru—a sea of his own blood—and muttered something. Subaru couldn't make out the words. Couldn't understand, and wouldn't have cared to.
Everything, everything was becoming indistinct. Everything, indistinct— "——Normally, you'd at least prepare a poison that kills painlessly, if you're going to use it for suicide."
The voice was distant, consciousness drifting to white, to white, to— Even so, until the very end, the very end—the pain, the agony, the blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, bl-bl-bl-bl— A pop. A sound. Blood. Vision. Gone.
△▼△▼△▼△ "I know who you are..."
"————"
"But that doesn't matter... Don't lump me in with that smooth-talking Hiaen... I have no interest in the crown you wear... I'm simply lending you my strength. Remember that..."
Burning, blazing, his entire body being scoured away—the pain existed.
And then, as suddenly as that pain had vanished, Subaru found himself in freezing-cold air.
And then— "Ah, ah..."
"Schwaltz...?"
"Ahhhhhh—!!"
On the spot, Subaru wrapped his arms around himself, opened his mouth wide, and screamed.
He screamed and screamed, trying to drive the poison from within himself. Trying to expel poison that should no longer be inside his body. He could still feel it—the poison that would kill him.
The deadly poison that tortured him, tormented him, and would certainly kill him.
No matter how many times he experienced it— "Ghh—uh—ahhhhhhh—!"
That medicine's gift of "death" was, for Subaru, an inescapable sentinel of the final fortress—reminding him, again and again, that there was no easy death waiting for him.