Every muscle in his body was alive with vitality, the fighting spirit surging through him sharpening his canines to razor points.
Drawing that vigor upward from the soles of his feet, planted firmly on the cracked, upturned streets ravaged by the aftershock of battle, he flooded his soul with it and glared head-on at the majestic figure spreading its wings in the sky above him.
The sound of blood coursing through his veins was fast, his heartbeat thundering loud and high — like drums driving his very existence forward.
In other words— "—I'm in TOP FORM!!"
Garfiel snarled, gnashing his fangs, then lunged forward, shattering the street underfoot as he surged ahead.
Facing him in the sky was that awe-inspiring majesty — the white Cloud Dragon — and as its gaze bore into him, reflecting his own image back, Garfiel's blood, flesh, and soul could no longer contain their exultation.
As a strike from the rebel army, he had exchanged fists with one powerhouse after another in the decisive battle for the Imperial Capital.
His clashes against a man approaching the caliber of the Nine Divine Generals, against one of the Generals themselves, against unmistakable powerhouses — each had driven home the role Garfiel had carved out for himself as a member of this camp.
Clashing with the "Generals" of the Volakia Empire had been a true honor for a warrior.
But — while he fully acknowledged those encounters as invaluable experience — what he had truly been waiting for was this.
"Finally — FINALLY — I get my chance to tangle with a DRAGON!!"
For anyone born in the Holy
Garfiel was no exception. He knew that a Dragon could not be measured by any mortal standard.
And yet, at the
"Dragons? Hmm, both
That was what Emilia had told him about the threat of Dragons.
She had described, with animated gestures, just how monstrous those Dragons truly were — but beyond the limits of her expressiveness, the words still failed to fully convey it.
Here, he would experience firsthand the gap between what Emilia had described and the real thing— "—!!"
The ground erupted. Charging toward Garfiel with ferocious speed, the Cloud Dragon opened its maw.
Garfiel tensed, bracing for the same breath that had incinerated the Imperial Capital moments ago — but what Mezoreia unleashed matched its earlier prelude in appearance only.
"Gaah!?"
Struck by a bizarre combination of heat and impact that was neither scorching nor freezing, Garfiel let out a pained grunt.
He had just dodged sideways, evading the line of fire — and from directly to his side, a second blast of breath bore down on him.
No need to squint to figure out what the opponent had done.
Instead of unleashing in a single breath the kind of blast that could flatten an entire city block — the same one-shot devastation that had burned through the Imperial Capital — Mezoreia had split it. Not a long, sustained exhalation, but short, rapid bursts. Two quick shots instead of one.
—No, not just two. If one split the breath further, three or four times was equally possible.
"Tch!"
Still scorched on his left arm from the first hit, Garfiel let the momentum of his sideways leap carry him crashing through the wall of a nearby house, vanishing from the Cloud Dragon's line of sight.
But stone buildings were no defense against the Cloud Dragon's breath. It was nothing like the anecdote Subaru had once told him — about a wolf's breath failing to blow down a pig's house.
Pummeled by successive concentrated bursts, the house was stripped of its walls and shattered furniture in an instant, the destruction reaching toward Garfiel who had burst inside— Or so it should have.
"Oooooh, come ON!!"
Before the house could be torn to pieces around him, Garfiel's roaring arms seized the entire structure — walls, floor, and all — wrenched it from its foundation, and hurled it gloriously into the sky.
The house spun through the air like a cannonball, scattering streets as it went — a tactic remarkably similar to the one
"Out of my waaay!"
Despite its colossal form, the Cloud Dragon spoke in an oddly cute tone — and the house disintegrated before it could even reach the Dragon.
But if Mezoreia thought that bought it a moment's rest, it was sorely mistaken.
"Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, COME ON!!"
Garfiel snatched up building after building from the neatly arranged city blocks and hurled them skyward at the Cloud Dragon, one after another.
A product of both Garfiel's inhuman strength and the fact that repeated impacts had loosened the Imperial Capital's foundations, this barrage of mass projectiles defied all reason — and Mezoreia's golden eyes widened at the spectacle.
"Thiiiiiis is annooooyiiiing!!"
Wings flaring, Mezoreia met the incoming house-bombardment head-on.
Its clawed arms slashed through the air with savage fury, blasting one building, then two, then three apart — while its tail swung from directly below, a devastating strike that crushed three more structures in a single sweep.
And then— "—Enough already, die."
"—"
Using the wreckage of hurled and destroyed buildings as a springboard, Garfiel had launched himself into the air — and Mezoreia, reading the ambush, caught him dead center, slamming both dragon claws inward from either side.
Trapped between trajectories converging like a clap before his chest, the airborne Garfiel fired both arms outward to intercept — his left against the Dragon's right claw, his right against its left — meeting them head-on.
A staggering impact ripped through Garfiel's entire body. The teeth he had clenched cracked, and blood sprayed from his nose.
Any other human would have been reduced to a pulp of meat in less than a second. Even Mezoreia's whiskers trembled at the result, surprise flickering across its face at a human who had not been crushed.
Meeting that surprise with a twisted grin, Garfiel opened his mouth— "Wha—"
—but before he could even get the word out, the tail descending from directly above struck him dead on. Garfiel's body was launched away faster than sound, tumbling over and over and over, reshaping the cityscape with each impact, until he finally slammed into the Imperial Capital's outer wall from the inside and came to a halt.
"Hey—Hey!? Hey, kid!!"
Through the billowing clouds of dust and smoke, a man who had witnessed the cratered trail — the gouges, scrapes, and craters where Garfiel had bounced, skidded, and smashed through the street — ran toward him, his voice cracking.
This man, who could do nothing but watch in stunned silence as Garfiel clashed with the Cloud Dragon — a blow that would have reduced any ordinary person to hamburger meat in a hundred places — now sprinted to where Garfiel lay.
"He's dead... He's dead, right? He must be! Something like that..."
"...I'm not gonna... let you kill me off that easy..."
The voice reached Heinkel just as he was imagining a life snuffed out, scattered before its time amid the mountain of rubble. He snapped his gaze up — the rubble collapsed, and there was Garfiel, sprawled with both legs sticking out.
Garfiel's back was against the wall, his face hidden as he slumped forward. Without looking up, he mumbled something, then spat out shattered fangs along with blood.
And then— "Ah, damn... Turns out dragons really are absurd after all. I get what Emilia was trying to say now, all that flustered stuff she said—"
Shaking his head, he slowly rose to his feet.
Running his tongue inside his mouth, he felt a tooth broken roughly in half, already half-heartedly trying to regrow itself. He jammed a finger in and ripped it out by the root. Almost immediately, the tip of a new tooth poked through where the old one had been. He cracked his neck with a loud pop.
"You... aren't hurt...?"
"Of COURSE I'm hurt. Took a dragon's hit — no, two, three hits to the face. Guess that makes me a 'living miracle Manfred,' huh?"
"————"
"But I can still fight. —And I'm damn glad I can."
Every part of his body screamed with dull and sharp pain alike, but Garfiel clenched both fists, exhaled a shaking breath, and said it with conviction.
Here — taking the full brunt of a dragon's attack that transcended mortal comprehension, and still getting back on his feet.
He was glad. Truly glad. That he could do this.
"...What the hell... what the hell are you?!"
It was Heinkel who involuntarily shouted that at Garfiel's words.
The man stared with wide blue eyes at Garfiel, then roughly raked his free hand through his own hair— "Why did you come back?! It doesn't make any sense! It's a dragon... a DRAGON!? There's no way you can win. Coming here was the act of a fool! And yet—"
"Well, that goes both ways, old man."
"...What?"
"If being here and picking a fight with a dragon is the act of a fool, then you're doing the same thing, aren't you?"
Heinkel went silent at those words, his hand freezing mid-scratch, eyes going wide.
His attitude practically screamed don't lump me in with you — but if that was what he wanted, it would be fatal. Because in Heinkel's other hand — the one that hadn't been raking through his hair— "You're still holding onto that sword."
"————"
Garfiel believed that the sword still in Heinkel's grip was proof of the man's last shred of desire to fight.
Maybe his fingers had simply frozen from fear, unable to let go. —No. He crushed that thought.
Maybe he had simply been holding it, forgetful of himself, without thinking. —No. He crushed that thought.
Maybe at this very moment, he had been about to sheathe it and flee. —No. He crushed that thought.
Every weak thought, every wavering will, every reason to flinch — he crushed them all.
Because he believed that on the other side of all that crushing, on the other side of clenching one's teeth and standing up to face what one wished for — that was where a man's true face was forged.
"The Captain, Otto-nii — they're the same. And I want the same."
"I— I—"
Trembling, Heinkel stared down at his own shaking hand still gripping the sword. Garfiel, ignoring the man's shaking, slammed his back against the wall to straighten his posture.
Then, turning to the still-unsteady Heinkel, he spoke.
"You asked me why I came back, didn't you?"
"...Huh?"
At the quietness in Garfiel's voice, Heinkel's eyes widened.
As Heinkel waited for what would follow, Garfiel did not offer more words — instead, he extended his arm and shoved the man square in the chest.
Heinkel was sent tumbling dramatically into the street.
In the next instant, the Cloud Dragon's breath — fired from the sky at the heart of the city — hurtled toward Garfiel, who had the wall at his back. And Garfiel answered it by leaping straight up.
"Wh—whooooaa..."
Having jumped straight up from the wall, Garfiel watched as the breath — looking like a white heat ray — angled its trajectory upward to follow him. The cityscape burned, the wall crumbled to dust, and still the breath chased him higher, higher, higher.
It was nipping at his toes, about to engulf his entire body when— "The Captain told me something."
Even as the dragon breath meant to scorch the world itself grazed his feet, there was not a hint of panic in his voice. What it held, instead, was trust — and the pride of wanting to repay it.
Garfiel tucked his body midair, and his soles found a wall that still retained some shape. In the same motion, he kicked off it with enough force to send radial cracks splintering through the stone — and launched himself forward.
Forward, forward, forward — toward the Cloud Dragon soaring through the skies of the Imperial Capital, mouth open wide, wind rushing past his newly grown fangs as he closed in— "—The Captain told me to bring down a dragon that flies around acting all tough!!"
"—!!?"
Flying straight over the breath to reach the Cloud Dragon, Garfiel fired both pulled-back arms forward simultaneously. The destructive force — surpassing cannon fire — caught Mezoreia square on the snout.
A deafening roar rang through the sky, as if an entire warehouse packed with magic stones had detonated. The Cloud Dragon, taking the blow head-on, reeled backward — and in the next instant, sprayed a gusher of crimson blood.
From its shattered snout, the Dragon dripped blood as it reeled, and Garfiel — slammed into the ground by the recoil of his own fists — was drenched in it. Drenched and laughing.
"Ha—HA—HA—HA!! I made a dragon BLEED from the NOSE!!"
"You — YOU!!"
Consumed by an humiliation it could not accept, Mezoreia flew into a rage — and Garfiel laughed even harder at the sight.
Watching from a distance — having been shoved clear and saved from the breath — Heinkel sat on the ground where he'd fallen, and stared in mute astonishment, dumbfounded...
"...This guy's not sane."
Heinkel whispered it weakly, almost at the same moment that the battlefield Garfiel had carved out in his confrontation with the dragon spawned an equivalent transformation — a shift in the very air — across the Imperial Capital.
Facing the sight of dragon and tiger locked in battle — yet unable to move.
Unable to flee, unable to stand.
—Only his right hand continued to grip the sword.
△▼△▼△▼△ —Time slipped back slightly, to just before the battlefield of dragon and tiger was forged.
"————"
The sensation of cold water striking his cheeks and forehead brought Subaru's consciousness sharply awake.
He wasn't drowsy, nor did he feel any heaviness in his body. Still, there was a sensation of something clicking into place inside him, and he let out a long, deep breath.
Before him, in the basin of water rippling gently, he could see his own face reflected back, wavering and distorted. A face that still carried traces of childishness — or rather, a face so childish there was no other way to describe it, with its perpetual scowl.
A face he had long since grown used to looking at, yet one he could never afford to accept as-is. He prodded at it with a finger, poking and squishing— "Subaru, are you okay? Are you feeling sick somewhere?"
He glanced over at the voice that had come from beside him, and Subaru lifted his face from the basin. There, right in front of him, leaning in with eyes like polished amethysts, was Emilia.
Her face was surprisingly close — Subaru's heart skipped a beat even as he answered.
"I-I-I'm totally fine, Emilia-tan. Just loosening up my cheek muscles a bit. See, I always wanna show you my best smile, Emilia-tan."
"I mean, as long as it's not the kind of smile you put on when you're forcing yourself, I'd be happy no matter how you smiled, Subaru..."
"Oh, man, that's... that's really hitting me right here—"
He pressed a finger to his lips, flustered by the unguarded sincerity in Emilia's words. Trying to mask his burning cheeks, he reached for his sleeve to wipe his damp face — when two towels appeared from either side.
Both had made the same move at the same time. Their already round eyes went even rounder in mutual surprise, and then, recognizing each other, they narrowed their eyes at one another.
"Deer girl, Subaru wants Beatrice's towel. So why don't you put yours away, I suppose."
"Schwarz-sama hasn't said a thing. To put forth your own thoughts as though they were Schwarz-sama's wishes — isn't that rather presumptuous?"
"Wh-wh-wh-what an infuriating girl you are!"
"Hey—hey—hey—hey—why are you two fighting already?! Here, I'll use both! I'll wipe the right side of my face with one and the left side with the other!"
Subaru thrust himself into the sudden squabble that had erupted for no discernible reason, attempting to defuse the situation by holding up both towels. But his intervention only drew twin sighs. The situation was not defused.
Seeing Subaru's shoulders slump, Emilia put a hand on her hip and said, "Honestly—"
"Beatrice and Tanza-chan, don't trouble Subaru. He's already exhausted from one difficult thing after another..."
"Oh, Emilia-tan, your kindness really warms my heart... but I'm not saying you two don't care about me or anything! Really, you're always helping me out... and the more I say, the more it sounds like I'm making excuses, doesn't it!?"
"Oh, dear, oh dear, I suppose."
"Everything Schwarz-sama does is simply in character."
Subaru clutched his head. In response to his helpless reaction, Beatrice and Tanza reluctantly softened their stances.
Inadvertently cast as the villain, Subaru couldn't help but tilt his head — but Emilia gently patted it, and he decided that was good enough.
In any case— "But seriously, I'm not just putting on a brave face, Emilia-tan. I really am okay. They let me rest at the fortress until it was time to depart... and besides, if I happened to collapse from sleep deprivation at a critical moment, the whole Pleiades Battle Division would fall apart."
The Pleiades Battle Division, bound by a powerful bond — their strengths and weaknesses were crystal clear.
As a united force, they were an unstoppable, go-getting group, but the linchpin holding them together was Subaru's presence — not to boast, but specifically his "Cor Leonis."
The moment Subaru fell asleep or lost consciousness, that effect cut out completely, which meant he couldn't afford to so much as doze off from here on out.
"I know that. That's why I'm fine. Trust me, Emilia-tan."
"Is that so? Then that's fine, but can you really promise me you won't do anything reckless?"
"You have so little faith in me, Emilia-tan..."
"As for why that is — why don't you have a serious talk with your own heart about it."
Trust, she was subtly telling him, was the sum total of one's past actions. Subaru had no rebuttal to that.
That said, it was the honest truth that both his body and mind were in remarkably good shape — better than he'd expected. The reason was probably the extreme tension keeping his spirits artificially high, which meant that once this battle was over, the accumulated debt would come crashing down at once.
But if a little advance on his energy was what it took to get through this, he was prepared to accept whatever came after.
—At present, the "Volakia Empire Rescue Brigade" had departed from the fortress city of
"Of course,
Reaching out, Subaru stroked the neck of his jet-black ground dragon, Patrasche, tethered to the wagon.
Patrasche had reunited with them safely in the Empire, and she had treated Subaru to a fierce tail-whip as payback for worrying her — without changing her attitude one bit regardless of how much he had shrunk.
The single blow that sent him crashing spectacularly into a wall had been reminiscent of the damage he'd sustained during the "Sparka" fight with Guiltylaw on the Gladiator Island — but if it was only one hit, he could live with that.
After accepting Subaru's profuse apologies, Patrasche was now cooperating with everything she had.
"Ohhh, so this ground dragon is one of yours, is it?"
It was
The tall wolf-man shinobi rolled the pipe held between his lips up and down as he spoke.
"Was thinkin' you were real brave, fightin' off that dragon zombie all by yourself — pat on the back for you."
"Oh! You get it too, Halibel — just how excellent our Patrasche is!"
"That I do. You're a lucky man. —Anya-chan and this one, they were all worried about you, you know."
Halibel, renowned as the strongest in the city-states — Subaru had nearly jumped for joy at that endorsement, but the words that followed made his eyes go wide. Then he nodded, seriously.
He hadn't needed to be told, but being told drove it home all over again. —He was blessed.
Emilia and the others, Julius and Anastasia — they had broken through every conceivable obstacle to enter the Empire, and they had followed his whims all the way to the end.
How reassuring that was. How sorry he felt about it.
"That's exactly why I gotta do everything I can."
"Subaru? You remember the promise you made with me just now?"
"I remember, I remember — no recklessness! But... if it's truly necessary..."
"See? You break it that easily again."
He puffed out his cheeks. Emilia's little pout made Subaru scratch his own cheek in embarrassment.
Watching the exchange with a pleased rumble in his throat, Halibel looked thoroughly amused — even though what awaited them might be a battle on which the fate of the Empire, perhaps the world, hung in the balance. The man was unshakeable.
"Ahaha, I don't think Halibel is one to talk, coming from you, Subaru-kun."
"There she is."
"Well, of course she's here when she's traveling with you. Honestly, I'd appreciate it if you'd finally acknowledge that I'm a full-fledged ally here in the Empire."
Roswaal shrugged with a weary smile, looking unbothered by Beatrice's attitude.
He had appeared at the far end of the camp where they had stopped the wagon. Emilia tilted her head, asking, "Is this okay?"
Technically, Roswaal was supposed to be accompanying Abel — currently serving as the chief strategist of Emilia's camp — in his discussions with the camp's leaders.
"So Roswaal considers himself a proper ally, but Abel and the others don't trust him... is that it, I suppose?"
"If that's the case, he'd have nowhere to fit in, in either the Kingdom or the Empire — poor thing. —But don't worry. Over there, Lord Vincent has moved on to rallying the soldiers and boosting their morale. I'm rather in the way, I suppose."
"That's good, then. Oh, and Roswaal's place is definitely right here with us, so don't worry. He just needs to not scheme behind our backs."
With a sweet smile, Emilia delivered an angelic response to Roswaal's self-deprecating remark.
Roswaal, for his part, simply smiled wryly at her words — and said nothing whatsoever about whether or not he had any schemes in the works, the scoundrel.
"Still, Abel's triumphant return really does seem to be having the desired effect. Infuriating."
As Subaru said this, he glanced toward the center of the camp. What he heard from that direction was the roaring cheers of Imperial soldiers.
Not battle cries to steel their nerves for the coming fight, but cheers born of overwhelming emotion — they were celebrating the fact that their Emperor had personally addressed them.
Of course, Subaru was so familiar with Abel's sour-faced expression that he was sick of it — but for most citizens of the Empire, seeing that face up close was something they would never be permitted.
"If I were just an ordinary citizen, with only Emilia-tan's name and face to my name... I think I'd understand how they feel. Actually, yeah — if I really think about it, I might start crying."
"What's wrong with you, Subaru? You're not my knight. Get it together!"
"Right?! This isn't a dream, right? Ugh — Abel almost got me there."
As a bit of light banter that would make Abel grimace if it reached his ears, Subaru nonetheless welcomed the fact that the emperor's approach was producing results as planned.
Though when he considered Medium's feelings — being paraded as the future empress after the war to boost the soldiers' morale — he couldn't exactly praise it without reservation.
"I hope
"Right. Abel is suuuper smart, I think, but this is one area where I don't think he's very good either."
"That's exactly why he got kicked off the throne in the first place."
Subaru and Emilia nodded in agreement, united in their criticism of Abel's blind spot. Halibel, watching the pair, let out another rumbling chuckle.
"You two don't have an ounce of fear, going up against the Volakia Emperor like that."
"Well, as long as Beatrice is with me, Subaru has no reason to be afraid of anyone, I suppose."
"The fact that His Majesty rejected Lady Jordna only proves that the Emperor is a heartless man, as is well known."
"Hmm, I really don't want the people in this camp to hear this conversation..."
Amid a camp already buzzing with the Emperor's triumphant return, Roswaal smiled wryly at the sharp remarks being directed at Abel. Then he closed one eye and said, casually: "If he's been this quiet and hasn't shown himself, Garfiel must be quite focused. —He seems to be taking Subaru-kun's big appointment very seriously, doesn't he?"
"—Yeah."
Roswaal turned his one open yellow eye toward Subaru, who nodded in response.
Garfiel, who hadn't joined the conversation happening among the others, was now inside the wagon connected to Patrasche, sitting in silent meditation, sharpening his focus.
This was proof that he was giving everything he had to live up to Subaru's expectations — the expectation that Subaru had placed in him to face the Cloud Dragon, Mezoreia.
"Mezoreia has superior mobility and far too much destructive power. Ideally, I'd want someone who can pin down its movements. Right now, the person best suited for that role is Garfiel."
"Can I ask why? Anya-chan did say to follow your people's orders as much as possible, but... I'm stronger than that tiger brat, you know?"
Halibel tilted his head, pipe trailing smoke, questioning Subaru's judgment.
If he felt he was being underestimated, some anger might have been warranted — but Halibel's tone remained entirely flat.
Recognizing him as a man who had simply voiced a genuine tactical question, Subaru answered honestly.
"I don't doubt for a second that you're the strongest among us here, Halibel. It's more about matching the right person to the right role... There's someone else I need you to take on."
"That sounds ominous. Putting the dragon on hold to deal with something else... you mean there's something more dangerous than a dragon?"
"In a sense, yes."
No point beating around the bush — Subaru said it plainly.
At that declaration, Halibel fell silent for a moment. But then, with the wide grin characteristic of his wolf-man heritage, he said: "I see, I see. Well then, I'd better get fired up too."
And just like that, he accepted Subaru's orders and showed his willingness to follow through.
"Garfiel and Halibel... and there's a place we want the two of you, and us, to go as well."
Once the exchange between Subaru and Halibel had settled, Emilia looked at Subaru with a serious expression, one finger touching the mana crystal at her chest, her amethyst eyes fixed on him.
It wasn't just Emilia. Beatrice and Tanza, Roswaal — all were looking at him.
"That's right. Everyone here... including Abel and the others over there — it's an all-out battle."
"Fortunately, Subaru already has a general idea of where the enemy is, I suppose."
"Right. It's that special ability he used at the Pleiades Watchtower — his authority."
"Mm. That's what made this possible."
At Emilia and Beatrice's words, Subaru thumped his fist against his own chest.
The feat "Cor Leonis" had demonstrated at the Pleiades Watchtower — locating allies from distant positions and directing them to deal with problems within the tower — was what had earned Emilia's trust.
The ability to know the optimal placement for every fighter against the powerful enemy awaiting them at the Imperial Capital of Lupugana — Subaru's "lie."
"—I'll do what I can."
Emilia. Beatrice. Spica. Tanza. Garfiel. Roswaal. Halibel. Abel. Medium. Jamal. Olbart. He would distribute them all.
Deploying every card he had to win through the battle at the Imperial Capital— "Of course, I'm counting on you too, Patrasche."
He reached out and stroked her neck once more. Patrasche answered with a resonant whinny.
As that single cry from Patrasche rallied everyone's spirits— "Subaru-kun. This really is the best option, isn't it?"
Roswaal's gaze did not waver from Subaru's face.
To that question, Subaru gave a deep, firm nod.
"Yeah. This has to be the best option. —I made sure to check."
This was simply Subaru Natsuki doing what Subaru Natsuki could do.
Which meant — it shouldn't count as breaking his promise to Emilia. Not to "go doing anything reckless."