—I want to be happy.
△▼△▼△▼△ —The quality of a life is determined by the grand gamble of birth and environment.
That was the philosophy Louis Arneb arrived at after devouring countless lives as the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony.
Louis Arneb was the youngest of the three siblings who held the title of Sin Archbishop of Gluttony.
The
The main reason was that most people who encountered them lost their lives, but even so, the only Sin Archbishops whose names were widely known—no, had been known, since this was in the past—were the two of Sloth and Greed.
It was generally known that there also existed Sin Archbishops of Wrath, Lust, and Gluttony, but what manner of people they were had been a mystery for years. And the existence of Louis Arneb, the youngest of the three Gluttony siblings, was unknown even to the other Sin Archbishops, with very few exceptions.
A Sin Archbishop kept in the shadows—that was Louis Arneb's position.
"Well, it's not like any of us asked for it, you know."
Stretching out her legs in the white space that had been with her since birth, Louis murmured those words.
As things stood, Louis couldn't leave this space or meet anyone. The Authority of Gluttony could only be used in extremely limited locations—talk about having a treasure and not being able to use it.
However, thanks to her two older brothers, she never went hungry.
By snagging bites from the "memories" and "names"—in other words, the lives—of others that her brothers consumed, she was able to fill her own hunger.
"Why are we like this, I wonder?"
Gorging on scraps from her brothers and devouring other people's lives bit by bit as her sense of self slowly formed, Louis soon realized that her circumstances were entirely different from everyone else's.
She had no body that could move freely—only her consciousness was mobile.
She had the "memories" of walking, but no experience of having walked. That was what made her a defective product.
"Ah… what a miserable existence we lead."
Louis was fully aware that her circumstances were "miserable."
And she understood that no matter how much she lamented, those circumstances could not be changed.
As if to console their grieving little sister, her brothers would compete to provide meals, serving her the same plates they had consumed.
Those plates they carried over overflowed with each one's distinctive personality.
Rai, who called himself "the Gourmet," loved lives that were rich in flavor, for better or worse.
Roy, the "Glutton," prioritized quantity above all else, obsessed with filling his hunger through a medley of miscellaneous tastes.
For her part, Louis generally enjoyed the plates Rai selected more, but even the plates Roy picked through indiscriminately offered her plenty of value.
After chewing through countless lives, comparing their flavors, rolling them over on her tongue and in her mind, she came to understand something—the absolute disparity in the quantity of happiness.
Possessing the power to compare other people's lives through her own value system, Louis scored and ranked them one after another on an additive scale, weighing factors ranging from wealth and poverty, the presence or absence of love, upbringing, family and friends, romantic partners, and more.
Because they were born wealthy. Because they were loved by their parents and siblings. Because they lived smooth, untroubled lives. Because they had plenty of friends who would lend a hand when they were in need. Because they were brimming with talent and could outperform others at what they did best.
This and that, this and that—reasons were limitless, enough to throw away, whether for happiness or unhappiness.
It was an exceedingly arrogant and conceited way of thinking, but Louis possessed an Authority that made it possible.
In other words, it was equivalent to peeking over someone's shoulder at their game screen and whining about what they should have done differently, pointing and mocking every misstep.
She hurled contempt and ridicule at them through that screen, critiquing their lives at will as a bystander. She could shower them with abuse or spew out undifferentiated raw impressions—anything she pleased.
That was what Louis did. Self-centered rankings, selfish slander.
But the pleasure she initially derived from it soon turned to boredom.
Naturally. All Louis could do was critique past "memories"—she couldn't interfere with anything beyond that. She had no say in the present or future.
Devaluing someone's gameplay, trying to correct it—it was no fun at all when the other party couldn't hear a word of it.
Staring endlessly at a bad player's screen was less like boredom and more like torture.
"If you'd just let us do it, we could do it so, so much better! Every last one of them is hopeless, you know."
They had the legs to walk their own lives, the arms to carve through hardship, the minds to envision a future—and yet every single one of them was useless.
That included Louis's own brothers, Rai and Roy. If anything, they could be called the very embodiment of incompetence.
Peek into their "memories" and you could see exactly where their lives went wrong, where things became irreparable. It was all the same—pathetic accumulations of simple, trivial mistakes.
Louis could not understand, not at all, why they stumbled over such things.
"Hopeless, hopeless, hopeless. If you're going to live so carelessly, just hand those lives over to us. We'd do so, so, so much better. Everyone, everyone, everyone is just too incompetent."
One contemptible "life" after another was lined up as a plate before her.
Chewing through one after another, Louis was so consumed by rage she thought she would be sick.
She was furious at her brothers too—who kept feasting to satisfy their own desires without the slightest understanding of Louis's feelings. Not once did they spare a thought for their sister, who looked like she was about to retch. To keep piling plate after plate before her endlessly—that was a folly beyond all forgiveness.
"Ah, don't eat so happily, big bro."
"Ah, don't eat so cheerfully, big brother."
"—Ah, we are, I am, about to throw up right now."
That was the reason Louis Arneb called herself the Archbishop of "Binge Eating."
No matter how much she consumed, the hunger was never satisfied.
What she was starving for was not her body—it was her soul.
△▼△▼△▼△ —I want to be happy.
—I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy.
△▼△▼△▼△ "—Ah ha ha ha ha! So this is what it feels like to walk around outside! Big bro and big brother have been doing this the whole time… Ah, how unfair, how unfair, how unfair!"
Confined within enforced constraints, the self-awareness that was bound only grew more expansive.
Just as meals promote healthy growth in a normal person, Louis flourished despite being fed unwanted plates.
The same was true of her two older brothers, Rai and Roy.
They too indulged freely, their egos swelling ever larger as they became more and more obsessed with feasting. Louis was perpetually irritated by their thoughtless choices of meals.
That change was a byproduct of Louis's growth—and of the irritation it spawned.
"This is the outside air! This is the outside water! This is the outside soil! This is the outside blood! Ah, amazing, amazing, amazing! It's real! It's real!"
A boy sprawled on the ground, lovingly licking the soil, savoring the world with his entire being—no, that physical form belonged to the one who called himself Rai Batenkaitos, but what resided inside was something else entirely.
The one who held dominion over that body and moved it freely was not Rai.
Louis Arneb—who had been thought to bear the fate of never leaving the white world, the tragic Sin Archbishop—had shattered the white cage for the first time.
It was an accident.
She had never expected her Authority to hold such power. Or perhaps Louis's desperate yearning had awakened the Authority—the answer was uncertain. It didn't matter either way.
What mattered was that it had been realized. That she could—walk outside.
"Ah ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
At this limited interference with reality and its fruits, Louis laughed with extravagant relish.
By borrowing her brothers' bodies, she could freely manipulate their physical forms and their Authorities.
And then— "Hah? Rai, what exactly do you think you're doing? While you're busy being all picky and putting on airs as 'the Gourmet,' your stomach's gotten so empty you've lost your mind, hasn't it?"
"Ah ha ha ha! No, no, that's totally wrong! It's wrong because it's wrong, and it's different because it's different—precisely because it's different!"
"————"
"We are the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, Louis Arneb."
Saying that, Louis used Rai Batenkaitos's body to introduce herself to the bewildered
After all, this was the first time she had ever spoken to her brothers.
"We're the cute, adorable triplet little sister of big bro and big brother. Please love us, cherish us, celebrate us, and take care of us, okay?"
△▼△▼△▼△ —I want to be happy.
—I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy.
—I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy.
△▼△▼△▼△ By borrowing her brothers' bodies, she had gained the means to interfere with the outside world.
Her brothers' supply of meals never stopped, and she was never without hunger.
But even with this long-awaited opportunity and the outside world she had yearned for, Louis Arneb quickly grew bored. She had grown bored.
"The outside is more boring than I expected, you know."
In the end, a borrowed body was just a borrowed body.
The fact that her own real body remained trapped in the white world had not changed.
If anything, she had seen the full depth of that shadow, and it was like strangling herself with her own hands.
"In the end, a life isn't about what you eat or how much you eat. It's about who you eat it with, you know."
Her brothers were living their own lives. That was probably why they didn't crave anything more.
Only Louis had her life taken from her. That was probably why she could never stop craving.
"I want to be happy."
In the white world, scattering countless "memories" in all directions, she wished for it with unwavering single-mindedness.
That was perhaps Louis Arneb's greatest—or perhaps her only—desire.
"I want to be happy."
An unfulfillable wish.
Even borrowing her brothers' bodies to her heart's content, to kick others around as much as she pleased—it would never be enough to ease that longing.
Savoring a rich "life," intoxicated in fleeting pleasure—emptiness would follow immediately.
"I want to be happy."
She grew bored. She had grown bored.
She wanted a life of her own. A body, a soul, a destiny that belonged to her alone.
"I want to be happy."
Louis was miserable.
The beginning of Louis's misery was that her own life existed nowhere.
"I want to be happy."
But at the same time, Louis knew herself.
Even if she, fickle and quick to abandon everything, were to suddenly receive a life of her own, she could never be satisfied by it. Because she knew—had come to know.
This world contained countless lives, and those lives differed in their absolute measure of happiness, and those differences were ultimately decided by the cruel, unstoppable gamble of existence.
What becomes of a poor person born in the harsh
What becomes of one born weak in the Volachia Empire, where the strong are revered?
What becomes of a slow-witted fool born in the
What becomes of a half-blood, a half-elf with silver hair, born in the old, tradition-ridden
Louis had witnessed through the lives of others that none of them met a favorable end.
But did that mean being fortunate guaranteed happiness? That was a colossal mistake as well.
Even if you were born into the household of Gusteko's High Priest, even the household of a Volachia general, even the household of a great merchant in Kararagi, even the household of any great noble in Lugunica—there was always someone above you, endlessly.
Louis refused to be inferior. She wanted to be blessed. She refused to be looked down upon.
She had ranked the lives of others.
Among those, even the highest-rated life did not score perfectly in every criterion. Even that highest-rated life was not enough.
"Ah, I want to be happy."
—It was during such a time that Rai and Roy discovered a new transformation of their Authority: "Erosion."
The power possessed by the Authority of Gluttony was the ability to steal and devour the "memories" and "names" of others. Applying this, the Authorities of "Solar Eclipse" and "Lunar Eclipse" could reproduce the people whose memories had been stolen.
Lunar Eclipse extracted skills and knowledge from others' "memories" and used them as one's own.
Since it only extracted techniques, there was no benefit to physical ability, and it was highly likely that its full power could not be wielded effectively.
Solar Eclipse, on the other hand, took the consumed "name" and reproduced the person in their entirety, perfectly replicating the skills honed through their body and allowing its power to be unleashed to the fullest.
As abilities, Solar Eclipse was overwhelmingly superior—this went without saying—but the two brothers preferred to use Lunar Eclipse rather than Solar Eclipse. No, rather, it would be more accurate to say they feared and despised using Solar Eclipse.
In Rai and Roy's understanding, Solar Eclipse caused one's thoughts to be pulled toward the transformed body.
The sensation of feeling oneself being eroded away was unbearable—that was their reasoning. Having heard their story, Louis thought it was utterly ridiculous.
Even though they possessed their own bodies and had fully established their sense of self, the idea that they couldn't maintain that solid sense of self—how flimsy and fragile their self-awareness must be.
To claim they were more miserable than her—who had no body of her own, who hadn't even been known to her own siblings for over a decade, who had grown sick and tired of every sweet and bitter taste of life—that was a joke.
The Authority of Solar Eclipse—splendid, even. For Louis, it was ideal.
This was none other than the power Louis Arneb had been desperately waiting for.
—Louis Arneb wanted a life of her own. And the best life at that.
It was different from the self-indulgence of her brothers, who were content to devour others' lives and swallow their "memories." It was a nobler, more universal right—Louis wanted to live.
You couldn't choose your birth.
That was the root cause of all human misery. But Louis was different.
Louis had gained the power—the opportunity—to choose her birth, to choose her life. All she had to do was steal others' "memories," reproduce them through Solar Eclipse, and make them her own.
She could choose her life. She could choose it all over again.
Searching for the greatest "memories" and "names" she had never seen before, handpicking them.
Among the things Rai and Roy had consumed, some had been promising, but none were perfect. They all lacked novelty and originality.
A happy family, kind parents, a prosperous life, a blessed environment, wonderful friends, a fated partner—all of it was just a "happiness that looked familiar from somewhere."
She wanted something different—the ultimate life.
Being able to choose freely didn't mean she wouldn't grow tired of the options. When every plate lined up before her had grown stale, what joy was there left to find?
Louis Arneb was searching for the ultimate life. She had been searching.
And so— △▼△▼△▼△ —And so, when she met
"Hmm? You're… um, what was it again—Natsuki Subaru?"
Strictly speaking, it wasn't the instant they met that she was captivated.
Natsuki Subaru's appearance was not to Louis's taste, at least not for immediate attraction.
There was no such thing as a "type" per se, but by the value system Louis had cultivated, the face that most people would consider beautiful was the face she sought.
In that sense, there was not a shred of anything in Natsuki Subaru's appearance that could excite her.
Furthermore, to Louis, Natsuki Subaru was a known figure—but only because he existed in someone else's "memories," and he wasn't someone she had paid particular attention to.
Even without thinking too hard, it should have been obvious: the "memories" contained within Louis were astronomically numerous. Extracting the specific "memory" she wanted from that mass was no easy task.
All the more so when the subject didn't interest her.
The reason Louis could recall his name at a glance was that it wasn't Louis herself, but one of her brothers—Rai Batenkaitos—who had been significantly obsessed with that name.
As it happened, among the plates Rai had devoured, there had been one with an intense fixation on Natsuki Subaru.
"————"
"This place? This is the cradle of Od Laguna… the 'Corridor of Memories.' It's where the souls of the dead are filtered. Not many people come here while keeping their awareness intact, so I'm welcoming you, big bro. We've been bored out of our minds, you know."
Smiling darkly, Louis greeted her rare visitor with open arms.
In truth, there was no lie in her welcome. Louis was, to a considerable degree, starved for companionship.
Louis Arneb's birthplace—the white world she could never leave—the "Corridor of Memories."
Louis had learned that this place bore such a name and served as the vast, inexplicable workshop of an incomprehensibly enormous existence only after mobilizing all the knowledge her brothers had devoured through their feasting.
Among those consumed by the Authority of Gluttony, there had been many brilliant minds who had made great research contributions and historical discoveries that would have gone down in posterity. They had never seen the light of day, ending up at the bottom of the three Gluttony siblings' stomachs instead, but they had been invaluable contributors to Louis.
Honestly, Louis had no interest in the reason she was born here or the reason she was bound here.
There was probably no way to unravel it, and she felt no meaning in doing so. She had simply accepted that this was how things were. Even if she were suddenly dropped into the outside world, it would only be a hassle.
She would leave here only when she had found the ultimate life.
"————"
"Ah! Sorry, sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet! But forgive me, okay? I mean, it's not every day I get to do a proper introduction face-to-face like this in this place, you know!"
"————"
"So, let me introduce myself properly! —We are the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, Louis Arneb!"
"————"
"I'm not sure if it's a long or short stay, but nice to meet you, big bro?"
To Louis's self-introduction, the other party seemed considerably shaken and flustered.
This was entirely to be expected. In principle, no one who set foot in this place had intended to come here. Occasionally, someone wandered in like this, and Louis considered them to be something like lost souls—in other words, the result of a near-death experience.
A condition where the "soul" was prone to separating from the body—or had already been torn free.
To them, it probably felt much like being suddenly summoned by Od Laguna.
Thinking about it that way, Louis's role was something like a guide, there to calm the panic of the dying and explain what this place was.
And the fact that this all took place on the invisible palm of Od Laguna—that, too, was infuriating.
Louis hated being looked down upon, and she hated being ordered around.
Even if it was Od Laguna, a supernatural entity—that held true. Louis's life, which hadn't even begun yet, would not be bent by anyone's interference other than her own.
"————"
"Huh? Of course I know them! Rai and Roy… big bro and big brother, right? Ah, ah, don't get so worked up, big bro! They're just fond of their little sister, that's all."
"————"
"The reason they rampage everywhere eating things is partly for our sake. They don't have enough brains, and they don't understand my tastes at all, but they do care. Probably. But I can't really blame them. After all, the three of us have never been together."
"————"
"I do take over their bodies sometimes and peek outside, you know? But when I do that, the one whose body I borrowed falls asleep, so we can't meet! That's why the three of us have never been together. Ah ha, I said too much."
Speaking rapidly in her excitement while carefully studying the other party's reactions.
A little fear, a touch of confusion. Rather a lot of anger, and a strong sense of duty. At first completely bewildered, they now seemed to be settling down, trying to maintain composure.
"Hmm…"
Not bad at all—Louis licked her lips internally.
Whether to call it accustomed to life-or-death situations or simply quick to adapt to circumstances, their behavior was a striking mismatch with the first impression they'd given.
That quality, so far removed from their original nature, had been honed postnatally—and forcibly at that.
Curious about what lay at the root of it, while her interest and hunger stirred— "—Ah, there it is. That's the one, big bro."
While talking, Louis pulled out a particular "memory."
One of the plates Rai had consumed, containing the greatest reason for his fixation on the boy before her. Summoning the "memory" that called out so powerfully—so strongly—to his existence, Louis synchronized with it.
"—Ah ha."
Instantly, an overwhelming surge of affection flooded her chest, stealing her breath.
An endless welling of tenderness for the boy before her. He was precious, so precious, unbearably precious. Louis's small chest burned hot, and her entire body tingled with a sweet premonition.
Her eyes glistened, her breath grew warm and sweet, and her lips parted.
And then— "Please don't look so anxious. —Subaru-kun."
—In that instant, a fierce, powerful rejection arose.
"————!!"
Natsuki Subaru, eyes blazing with fury, lunged at her.
An impulse surged within her to welcome his charge with open arms, but she suppressed it, using the "memory" to deftly slip inside his guard.
In one fluid motion, she caught the boy's arm, pulled him in, and wrenched it behind his back. With a body that had no physical substance, she hallucinated the creak of bone as the boy groaned and she pinned him face-down on the white floor.
"————"
"Please stop. Such a brave charge is rather embarrassing, you know. —I'm kidding."
Using the "memory" of treasuring this boy, she overpowered him by force.
Her sadistic pleasure surging, the corners of her mouth curled upward. What further sated that sadistic appetite was the sound of Natsuki Subaru's voice, screaming desperately as he writhed.
That figure, fighting furiously for someone else's sake—Louis tilted her head at the sight.
"—Big bro, why do you remember the 'memories' we took?"
It was an unnatural reaction.
Pinning him down and only then realizing it, Louis was deeply puzzled.
The "memories" consumed by Gluttony did not remain within their original owners, nor did the "names" remain with others. This was because the Authority tore them away from the "soul" that defined a person's existence in the world.
Under normal circumstances, what happened in the Corridor of Memories was the "purification" of "souls" conducted by Od Laguna—and what the Authority of Gluttony did was secretly hijack that process and siphon off the results.
Therefore, the "memories" and "names" stolen by Gluttony did not remain in anyone. There were limited cases where only "memories" or only "names" were taken, but the respective drawbacks applied regardless.
If "memories" were taken, the owner forgot. If "names" were taken, others forgot the person. That was the nature of the "soul," and as long as one remained under the protection of Od Laguna, it could not be changed.
And yet, Natsuki Subaru remembered.
He remembered the "memories" and "names" of a food ingredient whose "soul" had been stripped bare.
He shouldn't have been able to remember. Why, why, why— "————"
"I'm starting to get a little interested in you, big bro. Big bro is going to be pretty upset about this, though."
Louis licked her lips, her cheeks flushing with rising desire.
This was the person Rai had been obsessed with. To snag a bite from the side like this—even Rai, who was quite doting toward his little sister, would be furious. But his indulgence had one inviolable prerequisite: that their appetites not come into conflict.
Appetite—Gluttony—was, for Louis, for Rai, and for Roy, the meaning of life.
To have that arbitrarily trampled upon was absolutely unacceptable.
"If someone snatched the plate you'd been looking forward to, even a sibling would have every right to kill them for it. —Ah, but you're irresistible, big bro."
Twisting the boy's arm behind his back, she pressed him against the floor and brought her lips to the nape of his neck.
He was something like a disembodied spiritual entity—a being with nothing but a "soul." The taste of sweat was imperceptible to him. Pain, too, was presumably something like an illusion, though she had no intention of informing him of that.
What she wanted was simply to touch, to be close—her bursting affection could not be contained. The original owner of this "memory" had been obsessed with this boy to an extraordinary degree. She could feel it vividly.
"Well, that's pretty much what we are now, anyway."
Whether the "memories" came secondhand or not, now that she had accumulated them, they were her own.
She could understand, to some degree, why Rai and Roy feared "Erosion." She herself felt no fear, but she could acknowledge that the two of them might be onto something. Because—probably, if things continued as they were— "We're definitely going to fall in love with you, big bro."
"————"
"…Huh? You'd rather I threw up? That's so mean. We're girls too, you know, and we worked up the courage to confess—how rude. Ah, he's thrashing again. Don't do that, big bro. I won't hurt you, so calm down, okay?"
"————"
"Why would we ever want to hurt you? We love you so much. So relax."
Even as she spoke gently to soothe him, he resisted desperately with every muscle.
Having the "memory's" name called out again and again, Louis was racked with an intoxicating sense of ecstasy that made her entire body tremble. This euphoria was something only someone who remembered a person whose "name" had been taken could experience.
In other words, it was a taste Louis had never known before.
It was an unknown, oh-so-sweet fruit.
"—Natsuki Subaru."
—What kind of flavor do you have?
"Itadakimasu."
Seeking the answer to that delectable curiosity, Louis gently ran her red tongue along the nape of the boy's neck. Calling his name, savoring the feel of fine hairs on her tongue tip, she licked, soft and tender.
In the sense of wanting to be filled, appetite was similar to desire.
With her affection for the person before her growing this intensely, and with this bottomless hunger also able to be sated—it was almost like the desperate, melting embrace of two lovers.
Two people who cherished each other, intertwined within Louis.
The taste of it—how unbearably sweet it must be— "—Thank you for the meal."
Having savored it fully, to her heart's content, Louis gave her gratitude in words.
That was the procedure of Gluttony's meal—call out the name of the one whose "memories" you wanted to take, peel away a portion of their "soul" from their body, and consume it.
—"Memories" were like sediment accumulated within the "soul."
They could be described as a feast served on a white plate, adorned with beautiful words.
But if everything were laid bare in its primal form, the futility of all that elegant decoration would be laid bare as well. That was Louis's understanding of the Authority of Gluttony—this power to devour "souls" was Louis's privilege.
With this, everything related to the "soul" of the boy before her would be laid bare.
All that remained was to mix it with the girl's "memory" already within Louis and savor whatever chemical reaction occurred— '—What did you just do to me?' A voice that should not have been audible reached her, and only then did Louis face Natsuki Subaru directly.
Until now, it had seemed like conversation but wasn't. They had appeared to face each other, but hadn't really. It had been nothing more than a hazy, dreamlike encounter.
That changed when something entirely new occurred—something unprecedented even for Louis.
What had he just said?
"…Big bro, don't tell me—you remember us?"
A gaze burning with fierce hostility served as her answer.
"—Ah."
Louis's thin, small chest thudded with a strong, sure heartbeat.
△▼△▼△▼△ Why, despite having his "memories" devoured, was he composed?
Why, with those eyes, did he still glare at Louis?
Why was Louis so captivated, her heart racing like this?
Why, why, why, why, why— Perhaps it was an instinct akin to premonition.
"Why do you remember us, big bro?"
Looking down at the back of Natsuki Subaru's head where she had him pinned, the first thing Louis suspected was that the meal had failed.
There were several absolutely essential procedures for Louis—the Authority of Gluttony.
The most critical of these was knowing the name of the target, an indispensable element for interfering with their "soul."
Therefore, if a false name was given, the Authority was neutralized.
Cases where the meal had failed had occurred several times before.
In those instances, it was always Rai or Roy who suffered the consequences—Louis herself had never once been hurt—but "Big bro and big brother were vomiting and looking like they were in terrible pain…"
She tensed, wondering if she might face similar backlash.
However, no matter how long she waited, there was no sign of any such backlash reaching her.
Furthermore, within Louis, new "memories" were indeed flowing in.
"The 'Sage' Watchtower, companions, a 'trial'…"
Muttering to herself, she read through the book that had materialized in her mind like a newly bound volume, immersed in excavating these fresh "memories."
In addition to the absence of backlash, the seizure of "memories" had been a success.
By referencing these "memories," she could understand what Natsuki Subaru and his companions had been doing and how they had wandered into this "Corridor of Memories."
Now all that remained was Natsuki Subaru's particularity— "—Huh?"
In that instant, the magnitude of the shock that struck Louis was beyond words.
"————"
Stunned beyond belief, her arms went slack and her eyes flew wide.
Seizing the opening, Natsuki Subaru wrenched himself free from her grip. He stumbled back into distance, striking an unconvincing fighting stance.
The resistance was almost comical enough to laugh at, but Louis couldn't laugh.
She had no composure for that.
The shock of having witnessed the impossible had pierced her small body.
It was— "Why do you have 'memories' of dying?"
"————"
"No, it's more than that. It's more than that, big bro. Having memories of death is obviously strange enough. Plenty strange. But it goes beyond that. Because…"
"————"
"Because among the 'memories' we consumed, there are none where we killed you—yet you have memories of being killed!"
It was anomalous.
A paradox that should never occur had manifested.
Ah, perhaps thanks to the influence of Natsuki Subaru's "memories," her vocabulary had expanded to include words she'd never have known otherwise. A paradox. An emergency brought about by a paradox—Schrödinger's Maxwell's Einstein and Nikola Tesla— "What is this!? What does this mean!? 'Memories' aren't delusions! The sediment adhered to the 'soul' can't be twisted around at will! So! This is the world you saw! This is the history you experienced! This is your story—only your story!"
Running her fingers through her long, long golden hair, Louis unleashed the surging impulse inside her.
She couldn't hold this explosion in for even a second. The moment she did, Louis Arneb would detonate—scatter in all directions, her psyche reduced to fragments.
"New… new new new new new new! A new worldview!"
That was what she had encountered.
Something she had never known, never seen, never imagined—an encounter with something beyond her imagination.
Her entire body was struck by lightning, and nothing else could occupy her mind. What else could this be called but fate? What name should be given to this emotion?
"Big bro, could you be like us? A Sin Archbishop, maybe?"
"————"
"We've never met directly, you know, but Petelgeuse told us! He said the factor should have arrived! Since the seats of sin are filled, everyone will gather eventually! That empty seat… was it yours, big bro? Was it my—mine?"
"————!!"
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Don't be angry, don't be angry, big bro! Stop confusing us any further! My head is full, completely full, and my tiny chest feels like it's going to burst—it's agonizing! Ah, ah, ah! Amazing, amazing, amazing!"
Tapping her temples with her fingers, Louis sucked the "memories" down to the bone.
Unbelievable. Inconceivable. The only entity capable of witnessing this was Gluttony itself.
Because Louis shared the same "memories," she could believe in Natsuki Subaru's journey. No—not believe. She knew it as fact.
Because this was also a path that Louis Arneb had walked.
"Ah, how 'Prideful'!! So unfair… so unfair, so unfair! Unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair!! —No, it's wonderful! Big bro, you really can die over and over and over again!"
"————"
"Wow, amazing! You're really dying! You die miserably, big bro! Over and over, utterly helpless, you die, big bro! This actually happens, big bro!"
Applause, a standing ovation, congratulations on being born.
Gratitude for the miracle of meeting you, the train heading toward the future.
"Welling inspiration! Innovation through stimulation! Big bro, you came from somewhere that isn't here—that isn't anywhere!? Ah, this is just… too…"
Emotions gushing forth unstoppable, Louis had been soaking in them without resistance when she suddenly realized a possibility—or rather, she listened to the voice within.
Knowing landscapes she shouldn't know, being born from an unknown world—these certainly were a sumptuous course that could satisfy Louis's curiosity and hunger.
But the most noteworthy characteristic of Natsuki Subaru was— "—The memories of 'death'."
Memories that shouldn't exist. Memories of what came after "death"—memories that absolutely should not have been.
This was fundamentally different from some cheap near-death experience tour. These were phenomena that came into being because the "soul" had actually been shattered, life had been torn apart, and the breath of life had been extinguished.
The other side of the river, the boundary between this world and the next, from which there was no return. And yet, rather than crossing it or straddling it, here were "memories" of having restarted a stolen life— "—'Return by Death.'"
The "memories" that had sprouted within her—its greatest centerpiece—Louis gave that name.
The repeated experiences of "death" accumulated as memories, and that which could never be etched into memory even once was carried forward to the next self as something real.
And that was how Natsuki Subaru had overcome every hardship.
"You're amazing, big bro! Really amazing! I'm moved. I'm genuinely moved. You can really do it—overcome 'death' and live freely!"
"————"
"No, no, don't be modest. We're being serious! We're seriously envious of you. Because nobody—absolutely nobody—has memories of 'death'!"
"————"
"And besides, why is that? Why are you fine even after we steal your 'memories'? What's so special? A 'soul' save? A backup? Incomprehensible, incomprehensible!"
Within the struggling Natsuki Subaru, there existed countless memories of death.
This was an exhilaration Louis had never been able to obtain. More than that, the power to die endlessly, to layer death upon death—this was the object of her envy.
"—I want it."
She wanted the power of "Return by Death."
Not because it allowed her to repeat death—though that fresh exhilaration was certainly an irresistible element. What was more important was the ability to "start over."
—Louis Arneb was searching for the ultimate life.
And the conclusion Louis had drawn after gorging on countless lives was this: the ultimate life was not about wealth, nor about being loved by many, nor about holding a high position.
The ultimate life was a life where "everything went as she wished."
Everything unfolding exactly as she had believed, expected, and wished it to. A perfect worldview with no defects, no incompleteness, no absurdity.
She had been searching for the means to realize this for so long. The answer had been an endlessly unproductive darkness within her, but at last, she understood.
"—'Return by Death.'"
If she could have that, she could undo mistakes. She could retrieve failures.
If she knew what would happen in the future, she could handle it. If she knew what mistakes she would make, what injustices awaited her, what imperfections she would encounter—if she only knew.
"I can live the ultimate life!"
"————"
"What do I have to do? How can I steal it? If your 'Return by Death' is an Authority, just eating it won't be enough. It's not something that comes attached to 'memories' and 'names.' The
So, if she wanted to seize the Authority, she would have to steal the Witch Factor itself.
But Louis didn't know how to steal a Witch Factor. She had never before desired the Authority of another Sin Archbishop. Those people were repulsive, not even worth touching.
But— "Big bro, the Authority of Petelgeuse that you killed—are you using it?"
The "Invisible Providence" that existed in his "memories" was weaker in both number and range than the original, but it was unmistakably the power that madman had wielded. This meant, without question, that Natsuki Subaru had multiple Witch Factors stored within him.
Witch Factor storage—if that was possible— "I will definitely, no matter what it takes, obtain 'Return by Death.' Your Authority is our hope. If I can have it, then I—"
"————"
"—We can live our own lives!!"
I want to be happy.
I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy.
I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy.
"The method for that is right here… the method… for that…"
"————"
"—! You're just saying whatever you want! 'Return by Death' isn't some wonderful thing, you know! Someone who's had it would never understand how someone without it feels!"
She had no patience for rehearsed-sounding lectures from who knew where.
It was absurd for someone who had used that power to its fullest to then claim they didn't want to use it.
So she would take it. Absolutely, without fail, without question, absolutely.
How— "How do I steal an Authority… No, that's not it. That's not it, and it's different because it's different—it's too different, I'm telling you, it's different precisely because it's different! Overindulgence! Gluttony!"
Slapping her hands together hard, Louis's eyes went wide.
Baring her sharp teeth, she gave herself a round of applause for her own brilliance.
At some point, the means and the end had switched places.
But no—that wasn't it. It really wasn't.
Louis didn't want to "die and come back." She wanted to obtain the Authority of "Return by Death" so she could live the ultimate life to the fullest. Stealing was not the goal.
After playing the role of Sin Archbishop of Gluttony for so long, she had developed a bad habit of thinking about everything in threatening terms. It was a problem—a trap of fixed thinking. And that was a recipe for failure.
It was simple, really. If the goal wasn't to steal but to obtain— "—We just need to become you."
"————"
"We just need to become you, big bro. If we become you and let the Authority of Gluttony devour ourselves—we can integrate the Witch Factor. We can stockpile it, because it's you."
Saying that, Louis pinched both her cheeks and pulled them hard, roughly.
It wasn't a cute gesture—it was done with the intent to cause pain, to hurt. For what purpose? To tear apart flesh and blood, to sever herself from herself—that was why.
"You know about the Three Great Mabeasts? Turns out, they were created by someone who held a Witch Factor long before us. We could probably do something similar. We never did, because there was no point—but, you know."
"————"
"—We can do anything we want to do."
—We can do anything we want to do.
That was what it meant to be a monster of potential.
That was the potential of a pure, pre-born existence.
That was the destiny of one who was fated to live the ultimate life.
—That was the destiny of Louis Arneb, the most blessed existence of all.
"—That is who we are."
The words Louis had been slowly weaving together, spoken aloud in unison.
The phenomenon of hearing the same voice doubled was no auditory hallucination or mistake—it was simply the same voice, same tone, same person, duplicated exactly as it had occurred.
"I was surprised by your 'memories,' you know—Arneb is a constellation, the hare! And you were the one who wiped out the
"But if that's the case, it's not much of a surprise, right? Did we just multiply? Or is cute little Louis multiplying and big bro overjoy? No, huh? No. Big bro isn't the type to get excited over small children. Hmm, is that so?"
Looking at the other party, whose eyes were wide with shock, Louis—the one standing right beside her—put her arm around her shoulder. Here, in the "Corridor of Memories," a place severed from reality, Louis was nothing more than a being formed from a Witch Factor and a "soul," without a physical body. As for the rest, it seemed the three siblings' names corresponded to the Three Great Mabeasts, but honestly, that hardly mattered.
In any case, by splitting the Witch Factor in two, Louis Arneb became two.
This was likely a feat that Rai and Roy—the two who feared losing themselves through Solar Eclipse—could never pull off. To know that the self could be duplicated would lead to the loss of one's essential identity.
But for Louis, whose sense of self had always been vaguely established, it didn't apply.
One Louis, two Louis—this was possible.
With this, Louis Arneb could take Natsuki Subaru's Authority.
"————"
"Hm? What?"
The boy who housed the Witch Factor said something.
Looking at him, Louis felt not only the allure of "Return by Death" but also an overwhelming, irrepressible wave of pure affection. She found it irritating, so she discarded the "memory" she had brought to the surface.
Peeling it away from her own "soul," she tossed it aside as something no longer needed.
No—not "as if" it were no longer needed. It truly was no longer needed.
All the "memories" had been nothing more than a bridge, a snack en route to finding the ultimate life. And now Louis Arneb had finally reached her own full-course meal.
"—We can do anything we want to do."
So she would have it her way.
Corroding Natsuki Subaru from the inside. And from the outside, draining him dry of everything remaining—Louis Arneb would take Natsuki Subaru for herself.
'—No, stop. Don't do this.' Right until the very end, the vessel kept saying something.
But what it was saying no longer mattered. Licking away the sediment stuck to the "soul," Louis inherited the "memories."
And within the vessel, now stripped of everything, Louis joined the Witch Factor of her own volition.
All that remained was— "All that remains is to wait for the completion."
She was accustomed to waiting here in the "Corridor of Memories."
The challenge was handling the "memories." To devour a target's "memories" a second time required ingenuity. A gourmet Authority would not accept the same dish twice—same name, same flavor.
So she would need to alter the seasoning from the "soul."
To make it taste so utterly different that the Authority of Gluttony would treat it as something entirely new.
Hoping that it would become the exquisite flavor Louis Arneb had been longing for.
That it would be crafted into the ultimate, finest, best dish.
Counting down to that moment, licking her lips, desperately yearning— △▼△▼△▼△ "So? Did you see what you wanted to see? —Louis Arneb."
"Huh?"
Startled by the sudden address, Louis blinked her eyes into wakefulness.
She blinked several times, checking her surroundings. White everywhere—white floor, white sky, a world of pure blankness—and Louis stood in the middle of it with a vacant expression.
"————"
She touched her face, patting it to feel the texture.
There was no mirror here, so she couldn't see, but the sensation was unmistakably her own. This place offered little in the way of entertainment, and the only things to touch were her own face and body.
She had touched her own face so often she had grown sick of it. So, touching a face she was sick of touching, she could immediately tell what state she and her body were in.
Back to normal. Yes, normal. —This was Louis's own body.
"Did you see what you wanted to see?"
Slowly, numbly, Louis confirmed her own existence.
Once that was settled, the same question was posed to her again. She looked up and saw the figure who had been standing directly in front of her the entire time.
A boy with short black hair, sharp sanpaku eyes, a lanky build with short legs, and shabby clothes.
His name was Natsuki Subaru. Moments ago, he had been the being with whom Louis had unified as a Witch Factor, and— "—Ah."
—And he was a being of incomprehensible madness who possessed the Authority to "Return by Death."
"Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—!!"
Louis opened her mouth and screamed.
With all her strength, with everything she had, with her entire being, she screamed.
If she didn't, she would be crushed—by fear, by terror, by despair.
Trapped in the madness of someone who repeatedly, endlessly died and pressed forward regardless.
"I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!!"
Shaking her head, she collapsed to the ground, crawling backward as she desperately pleaded.
Having merged with that existence, Louis had experienced "death." She had tasted it. By being absorbed into the "soul" that used "Return by Death," she had felt firsthand the reality of "death" that reversed even time itself.
The memories of "death," incomplete from Natsuki Subaru's "memories" alone— Memories were, in the end, just memories. The fresh, sensational impact of each moment, each instant—lost once and never recovered twice—could not be obtained through recollection alone.
So she had craved it. She had craved the taste of "death."
Even if "death" had not been as exhilarating as Louis had expected, the right to walk a life where "Return by Death" made it possible to try again was more than worth the price.
So she had believed—until she actually tasted "death" herself.
"Something like that… there's no way anyone could endure it! That kind of suffering! That sense of loss! It's impossible to bear! Impossible, impossible! Absolutely impossible! I hate it!"
Not once had the death been painless.
Not once had "death" felt sweet.
Not once had she felt willing to die.
And Natsuki Subaru had tasted that—over twenty times—and relived it.
"Someone who can endure that isn't human! A monster! You're a monster!!"
She couldn't do it. It was impossible.
Louis had devoured countless lives, violated countless "souls," and searched for her own life.
She had believed she had the right, the privilege, to do so.
And so she had reached out to Natsuki Subaru's "soul"—and in doing so, had her sweet fantasy shattered.
Because— "—A human heart cannot bear its own death!!"
I want to be happy.
I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy.
I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happ— —I wanted to be happy.
I wanted to be happy.
That was the wish Louis Arneb had been nurturing for so, so long.
She had the right to wield power—trampling over everything, seizing the ultimate life—and she had believed it without a shred of remorse. That was how she had lived until today.
And that, that, that—that premise was crumbling.
I wanted to be happy. But now, her wish had changed.
"I don't want to die."
I don't want to die.
I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die.
I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die— "—And that's why I told you, when you tried to devour me."
Cradling her head, crouching down, desperately trying to protect herself.
From just above her—from a vantage she couldn't even bring herself to raise her head toward—a voice descended.
She didn't even want to hear it. Hearing it was terrifying. But not hearing it might bring something worse. —She was afraid to die.
So she had no choice but to listen.
And as she looked down at Louis, who trembled and shrank away, the voice continued.
Prefacing it with a warning— "I told you— you'd absolutely regret it."