Since descending to this world, Subaru had experienced death many times, multiple times.
Considering that for most living things, life is a one-shot deal, Subaru, who had already earned the right to try ten times, was something of a veteran when it came to "death."
And so, forced into death, there was a sharpened sense that only Subaru, who had grown close to him regardless of his will, could sense.
ーーIt was a nerve that could clearly detect the clear and immediate presence of 『death』.
"You all came together and did as you pleased."
The voice, carrying a chilling pressure, poured down from the sky to the ground.
Looking up, I saw icicles floating with their sharp tips pointing down, covering the sky, and a tiny shadow with a frozen blade attached to it.
It was only when I looked closely and paid attention that I realised it was a grey, cat-like creature.
However, it is a rare creature in that it stands with its upper body as if walking on two legs, stretches its short arms out as far as it can, wags its abnormally long tail, and has a pink nose.
Before this being that could speak human language, the Witch Cult, including Petelgeuse, were rendered speechless. Subaru, who also collapsed on the spot, was also shocked in a different way, his throat closing.
It was the first time he had seen a being, a spirit, behaving in such an angry manner, and he could feel the world dying just from the aftereffects of that rage.
"...pack"
The air around Puck, the floating spirit, becomes white and hazy, and the forest in the surrounding area begins to change with a cracking sound. The trees turn from green to white, and the leaves, branches, and trunks freeze over, their mana being sucked out and they wither and fall.
The same effect began to appear on the earth, first the plants and trees died, then the soil, and finally it began to extend its evil hand to Subaru and the Witch's Cult, who were both part of that soil.
My skin stings, and a burn-like pain stings my whole body. A sense of weakness slowly rises from deep within my body, I find it difficult to even breathe, and my consciousness begins to fade.
Mana confiscation - Subaru was familiar with the feeling of despair caused by the spirits forcibly taking his mana. What had once only been done to Subaru, the angry Puck was now carrying it out on a global scale.
In fact, as Subaru tried to hold back his groans, Betelgeuse stepped back with greasy sweat running down his forehead, and the kneeling Witch Cultists gasped like fish gasping for oxygen.
Puck looked down at their state and snorted with his adorable nose.
"The Witch Cult? Four hundred years have passed, but you guys haven't changed at all. In every era, you always do the things that make me saddest."
Saying this, Puck's black eyes move and his gaze lands on a spot in the forest.
I followed his gaze and saw that there was just one space left that hadn't been affected by Pac's mana drain.
While the surrounding area was freezing and beginning to wither, there was a single empty space that was still green. - This was the place where Emilia's body lay, leaning against the roots of thin trees.
"Oh, poor Lia. She died without knowing anything."
His voice, which he had tried to keep calm, suddenly took on a tone of grief that he could not hide.
Puck looked at Emilia sadly and forlornly, then slowly turned his eyes to the other survivors who had gathered there,
"The crime of taking my daughter's life is grave. No one will be able to return alive."
"What is this spirit saying?! A half-demon who failed the trial is nothing more than a filthy ragtag mess! It is your "laziness" that should be blamed for not being able to protect that fool! Ah! Ah! Aaahhh! My brain is trembling, rrrrrrrr!!"
Petelgeuse looked up at the sky, stretched both arms out, and spat at the threatening Puck. His bloodshot eyes darted around in different directions, and his murderous intent grew.
Knowing that the power of the opposing spirits is great, Petelgeuse decides to resist them. It is not a choice he could make because he is brave. For him, the strength of power is completely meaningless.
because,
"All events, all events that can possibly occur, are recorded in the Gospel! The Witch loves me! And that is why, in order to repay my love with diligence, you lazy people have no way of resisting!!"
--Love and death, love and death.
For Betelgeuse, faith in the witches is nothing more than an act of returning love, and he firmly believes that the only absolute thing in the world is to show one's love for the witches through action.
Acts of love for the witch take precedence over everything else, and anyone who gets in the way of these acts will be torn apart by love - for love for the witch trumps all else.
"The half-demon must die! You too must suffer the consequences of your sloth! You must sacrifice yourself for the witch's favor! For the love that trembles in your heart!"
Waving his arms and yelling, Betelgeuse stomped his foot.
Puck's eyes were cold as he looked down at the crazy Betelgeuse, who stood on the ground. It was neither pitying nor angry, but the clear gaze of one who saw no value in the subject.
And, under their gaze, Betelgeuse stretched his hands above his head, drawing attention with an exaggerated gesture. Behind him, the kneeling men in black outfits began to move――
"Die."
--The raining ice blades mercilessly pierced the backs of the black-clothed men, before bursting out from their stomachs and skewering their bodies to the ground, where they were stopped.
Like insects attached to specimens, their bodies and limbs were pierced and they were tied to the ground, and the black-clad warriors all died without even a cry of agony. The ice stakes filling the wounds on their pierced bodies were rapidly eroded by the ice, and strangely posed ice sculptures were lined up in the forest.
Without any preparatory movement, Puck had taken nearly twenty lives in an instant, and his gaze hadn't wavered. But the same could be said for Petelgeuse, who had his hand on his head as he glanced at him.
He acted on his own orders, paying no attention to the believers who had literally become sacrificial pawns, and took advantage of the brief moment when Puck's consciousness was removed from his own,
"--My brain is shaking."
Immediately after seeing his lip twist gruesomely, Subaru saw Betelgeuse's shadow spread out as if it had exploded.
Falling, his field of vision now tilted by ninety degrees, multiple black palms shot out from Betelgeuse's shadow and rushed towards Puck, who was floating in the air.
With his strength, there was no way he could have avoided the black palm. However, Puck had his arms crossed and paid no attention to the approach of the threat. --He couldn't see it.
"Pack――!"
"Shut up, Subaru. --Except for you."
Puck quietly told Subaru as he growled, trying to warn him of the danger. Subaru's warning was interrupted by the voice, and the spirit's hand reached out and grasped his small body.
"Mugu?"
Puck's small body is small enough that it can be covered by a single adult's palm.
If seven black palms reached there, Subaru would no longer be able to see his body. Above all, one of those palms had the power to easily tear a human body apart.
Even if it was a spirit, what would happen if it were subjected to such physical power? Especially since the owner of that black palm was Petelgeuse, a fanatic of the Witch Cult.
"Carelessness! Negligence! In other words, laziness! You should have killed me immediately! Even though you had the power, you did not do what you should have done. That is what led to this result! Death! Death! Death Death Death Death!!"
The "invisible hand", visible only to Subaru, envelops Puck and crushes his body.
They crowded together, forming a single black mass, and within it the spirit's body was wiped out by the power of maliceーー,
"Stupid."
The next moment, the black mist was blown away in an instant, and Subaru saw.
"Borrowing the name of a witch for something like this is way too early. If you're serious about killing me--"
The trees couldn't bear the weight and broke, and the long tail swung among the fallen logs. The corpses of the black-clad figures that had turned into ice sculptures were shattered into pieces, and the front paws that had done this led the ground to a world of absolute zero.
His quiet breathing was comparable to a snowstorm, and his golden eyes, shining brilliantly in the white mist, glared down upon the dying earth with a merciless light.
There was
"Show me half of Satella's shadow, a thousand of them."
A cat-like quadruped beast with grey fur and a body that seems to straddle the forest.
It was the Lord of Freezing, the one who had destroyed the mansion in another world and driven Subaru to his death - a magnificent manifestation.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
A grey beast that transforms into a towering giant and truly looks down on the world.
The chill increased in strength as soon as the beast appeared, and even keeping my eyelids open became painful in the low temperature that began to turn my vision white.
"――――"
Subaru felt a slight pain, but his consciousness was no longer there.
Stunned, perhaps, perhaps staring blankly, as if they had seen something unbelievable, they could only stare silently at the beast, which they could not see except by looking up.
"what..."
A trembling voice suddenly echoed in that frigid world.
His voice was trembling, and it couldn't be because of the biting cold air, because the person who had spoken it was just as likely as Subaru to not be aware of the cold.
"What did you bring here, you know?"
It was Betelgeuse who shouted, turning towards me and shaking his head.
His dry lips had split vertically from the scream he had just made, and a small amount of red blood oozed from them - but even that froze in just the blink of an eye, and the bleeding stopped.
As the wind blew, making him feel as if if he blinked his eyes closed he would never open them again, Subaru ruminated on Petelgeuse's scream and looked up at the beast once more.
No matter how much I think about it, there is only one answer to what Betelgeuse just said.
In other words,
"Puck, is that it...?"
『You can see it if you look, right? Is that a mean thing to say?』
In response to Subaru's husky question, the grey beast opened its overly large mouth.
With each word the giant beast spoke, accompanied by a storm, and without a laughing sound, confirmed Subaru's question.
At the same time, Subaru came to one realization.
--Why did I come to such a near-death situation at the end of the last episode?
"That's impossible."
Ignoring the silent Subaru, Petelgeuse muttered the words in a strained voice.
He put each finger of his right hand into his mouth, one by one, and without hesitation bit into the tip of each one, as if he was trying to forcibly hold on to his consciousness that was fading away in the cold air.
"That's impossible, that's impossible, that's impossible, that's impossible, that's impossible! It's just! A spirit! A spirit! It's impossible for him to have this... this kind of power! Such a power..."
『--Echidna.』
"――――"
Betelgeuse, with blood bubbles spilling from the corners of his lips and eyes wide open, stops moving.
The madman's words of refusal were interrupted by Puck's whispered words. The moment he heard what sounded like a person's name, Petelgeuse shut his mouth.
"If you're a member of the Witch Cult, you'll understand the meaning of that name, right?"
Puck asked a question to get the silent Petelgeuse thinking further. Petelgeuse's reaction to that was dramatic.
There was a sound of something hard breaking, and Betelgeuse spat something out. What was spat out was a white fragment - a molar that had been broken off by biting too hard. And then,
"filthy...!!"
Glaring at Puck with bloodshot eyes, Betelgeuse was bleeding profusely from his mouth, his chin and the bottom of his robes were stained bright red.
"Even to speak that name is disgusting! Ahh! You foolish, pathetic, and lazy thing who knows no fear! In front of me! In front of us, the Witch Cult! How dare you call the name of a fallen witch other than the Witch of Envy, Satella...!!"
Perhaps a capillary had burst, as Betelgeuse's eyes were stained crimson with blood. Tears of blood flowed from the corners of his eyes, and the madman pointed his hand, which was missing a fingertip, towards Puck, with blood bubbles flying.
"It's nothing but an insult to our faith, our love, and the time we've dedicated to it!"
『--- A human who has only been alive for a few decades shouldn't talk about time to a spirit.』
Puck coldly dismisses the stomping Petelgeuse, his golden eyes shining.
With just that, Betelgeuse's movements, which had been trembling in frenzy, came to a halt. No, he didn't stop consciously. He was being forcefully frozen from the tip of his toes.
Lying there, with his vision clouded with white smoke, Subaru watched as his sworn enemy was on the brink of death.
As he was being frozen, Betelgeuse also seemed to realize that his own death was fast approaching. Facing death, he looked up at Puck with glaring eyes,
"The depth of one's faith has nothing to do with time! You have an infinite amount of time, but you waste the majority of it aimlessly. I don't want you to lump me in with lazy people like you! Aaaaaaah, my brain is trembling."
Even with his own demise in sight, Betelgeuse's fanaticism remains unwavering.
To Subaru, who knew more than anything about the terror of the absolute phenomenon known as "death", Betelgeuse's attitude was truly out of the ordinary.
To be able to maintain one's state of being even in the face of death - that was proof of pure madness.
"Death isn't even a punishment. --That's why I hate you guys."
「The trial has been accomplished! Someday I will reach the noble witch and join her under her control. Ah, I am looking forward to that time... right!」
Spreading his arms and looking up to the sky, Betelgeuse let out a loud laugh.
The blizzard intensifies, the blowing wind turning his thin body white, and gradually his voice and movements become slower and more distant.
But still, Betelgeuse did not stop laughing, and until the laughter stopped, his expression remained one of cheerful madness.
『---He got away with it.』
Muttering, the ashen beast swung its front paw and shattered the ice sculpture of Betelgeuse.
The blow separated the upper and lower halves of his body, and the upper body fell to the ground, where it was crushed by the weight from above. His remaining lower abdomen was mixed in with the pieces of his black clothing that had been shattered earlier, and there was no doubt that he was dead.
--Just like Puck said, even in death, his will could not be broken.
Even as he watched his hated enemy shatter and his life cruelly snuffed out, the only thing that filled Subaru's heart was an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
He was the man I hated so much and wanted to kill. I was convinced that he was the root cause of everything, that he was at the heart of all my problems. If I could just kill him, everything would be fine.
But what will the results be?
With the fall of Betelgeuse, it can be said that the threat of the Witch Cult has been eliminated.
However, Rem, who was supposed to share this happy outcome with him, vanished from the world, and Emilia, who was supposed to have been able to reconcile with him and bring him the good news, was killed by Subaru himself.
Faced with their deaths, Subaru was unable to abandon his responsibility and throw away his life, and his enemy was killed by the hands of another avenger - his spirit was not broken.
In the end, I couldn't accomplish anything. That was the result.
『Now――』
While Subaru is devastated by his own powerlessness, Puck, who has silently witnessed Petelgeuse's final moments, looks down at him.
When he realized that the giant beast was Puck, he could really feel just how powerful it was. Previously, when the Knights and the Society of Sages had seen Puck at the Royal Castle, they had trembled in fear, and Subaru had watched as if it was none of his business, but,
『Shall we talk?』
--Now, he understood their feelings all too well.
It's so cold that I'm losing consciousness.
All the signs of pain inside his body that had been raging had vanished, and he no longer felt his injured spine, his broken ribs, or his internal organs that had been pierced by bone shards.
I am listening to the footsteps of death approaching. Before those silent, dark footsteps, even the faint sensation of pain fades away.
However,
"It's a big mistake to think you can just disappear like that."
"--Ah!!"
In the cold air, my eyelids were about to close, lured by an enveloping sleepiness, but the pain that I thought had gone away was suddenly awakened by the intense heat.
His throat was tight with excruciating pain, and when Subaru turned his attention to the injured area he saw that his right leg below the knee had been pierced repeatedly by thin ice needles.
The information about the wound received from the eyes is transmitted to the brain, and the oversensitive brain correctly transmits the pain sensation to the whole body. Blood explodes behind the eyes, and the field of vision turns bright red. It's not just a matter of pain, it's painful, it's painful. It's a hell that has occurred in my body that transcends even pain.
"Subaru, you have three sins."
Looking down at Subaru, who was writhing in pain and screaming, the grey beast continued speaking as if nothing had happened.
It has grown to a gigantic size, its mouth is now equipped with many sharp fangs, and even its voice has changed, yet the tone of its speech remains unchanged, which is all the more terrifying.
As Subaru tried to distract himself from the pain by letting pointless thoughts run wild, Puck swung his long tail and knocked down the frozen trees,
"First, you broke your contract with Lia. It seems you don't fully understand how important a promise is to a spiritist. You carelessly broke the contract, and how much it hurt Lia... you probably don't even know."
At the same time that the end of the sentence was finished, the tip of his left foot was now skewered.
The tip of the icicle that had entered through the sole of his foot protruded from his knee, and the icy stake, still embedded inside Subaru's body, branched out, stirring up muscle fibres and nerves, before bursting out, causing pink flesh to burst from the inside.
--Pain controls the brain.
I can't see, I can't hear, I don't understand, I don't want to know. Ouch it hurts ...
"The second reason is that you ignored Lia's request and returned. If you hadn't done that, the Witch Cult would have waited a little longer and there would have been time for the mist to appear. If it hadn't been for that, perhaps some things might have happened in time."
Just like the black-clad men, Subaru's arms were sprawled out and sewn in place by icicles from above. What made them different was that the icicle, with its sharp edge visible, had pierced the back of his hand and moved towards his elbow - the middle of his arm from his wrist to his upper arm, flesh, bone, blood vessels and nerves were neatly severed and exposed to the air.
"And the third is that I caused Leah's death."
All of his wounds froze at once, and the pain that had been wearing away at Subaru's soul like a file suddenly faded away.
The red-hot pain, as if his nerves were immersed in magma, was suddenly taken away from him, and Subaru had even forgotten how to breathe, his lungs and throat spasming as he desperately sought oxygen.
After panting for a while, I finally get the hang of how to breathe.
As my lungs expanded and oxygen reached my body and brain, I gradually began to regain consciousness.
Until just now, he had thought that suffering, despair, and pain were inferior to "death," but now that idea is no longer there.
"Pain", "death", and "fear" - all of these things that humans shy away from, all equally possess the power to crush a weak human called Natsuki Subaru.
In a world where the tears in his eyes instantly turned to ice, Subaru realized that his limbs were already in an irreparable state.
The wound had frozen over and was already one with the ground, and if he tried to move it forcefully it would easily come off around his shoulder or thigh.
It was clear to me now that my limbs only appeared to be connected, and that I was in a Daruma-like position.
"---In accordance with the contract, I will now destroy this country."
Puck tells Subaru, whose consciousness is slowly beginning to comprehend death.
It was the first time that he, who had appeared at the event filled with anger, showed a glimpse of an emotion that was clearly differentiated from anger.
"I will bury everything under ice and snow as a farewell gift to Lea."
"...That's it."
"It doesn't matter if she'll be happy or not. Once I've made a decision, I can't break my promise. Even if it's a contract I made with myself."
In response to Subaru's inarticulate voice, Puck added, "However,"
"I know that I will end up failing. Even if I try to expand the world of ice to cover the entire earth, like the forest where Lia and I lived, Reinhard, the Sword Saint, will surely stand in my way. I will not be able to overcome him."
Speaking the name of the red-haired hero, Puck muttered as if lamenting the difference in strength between them.
Subaru couldn't believe those words, couldn't believe what they meant. He was certain that even someone as great and powerful as Puck could stand no chance against the Sword Saint.
Even though he understands this and knows he will be defeated along the way, he remains stubborn and refuses to stop.
"Why"
"--Leah, Emilia is the reason for my existence."
Puck answers Subaru's question.
Puck rubbed his nose against the ground and twisted his body as if trying to hide his large face from Subaru's view, and in a somewhat lonely voice,
"There's no point in me existing in a world without her. If that's the case, I'll just take my anger out on the world and make it disappear. -- Everything for me ended when she died."
Puck shook his head and finished his sentence, and the wind suddenly got stronger.
The wind became extremely cold, stinging the skin, freezing the eyelids, and even the blood circulating within the body. --The end is near.
"If a person were to slowly freeze from the tips of their fingers and toes, where would they die? Are you interested, Subaru?"
"――――"
"I take silence as a positive response. And you can find the answer for yourself."
Slowly, slowly, the freezing erosion began to eat away at his flesh.
Further beyond his already frozen limbs, his shoulders and thighs began to freeze, and the same destruction that his limbs had felt up until then came, bringing with it excruciating pain and despair.
"---Mist has appeared. It seems that before dying, he summoned a troublesome person."
If pain can drive me crazy, then please destroy my sanity already.
Tear it apart, break it, tear my heart apart, or
"Gluttony... Ah, now you're calling him the White Whale. You called him, you killed Leah, and you lost your own life... You really are hopeless, you know."
I can't hear anyone. I can hear someone's voice in the distance, and only my screams echo endlessly.
Gradually the screams died away and laughter and cheers were heard.
Kick, kick, kick.
It was a familiar laughter. The voice of the man I hated to death.
I felt the need to find out where the laughter was coming from, and my mind raced as I searched for the source.
And then I realized.
I let out an uncontrollable laugh into my own mouth.
I no longer felt pain, and pleasure began to dominate my brain.
A world of madness unfolds before you, and you step into a landscape that is so distorted it's almost pleasant.
I can't stop laughing.
It was a self-mocking laugh.
He let Rem die, killed Emilia, and even died in vain.
Ah, exactly, my gosh.
『--How lazy, Subaru.』
There was a popping sound and I lost consciousness.
And I'm sure it wasn't just consciousness and life that were lost.
--Something that had been holding them together for a long time now suddenly snapped with a sound.
It snapped with an audible snap.