--Hardcore, terrifying, sinister.
Seeing that presence approaching from behind, Subaru's mind was filled with negative emotions. Petelgeuse's current appearance was just that abnormal.
His body was crushed by the falling rock and was half-destroyed. His right side was crushed, exposing his bones, and the skin on his head was peeling off, alternating between red and white. His right leg was missing from the shin down, and his dangling limbs showed no sign of life whatsoever.
A dead person. A corpse. The desperate struggle of a corpse. A twisted spirit that had taken over the body of another person and forcibly brought it under its control, struggling to stay alive until the very end.
because,
"--My body, my fleshy body!!!"
"Don't you remember what happened when you entered my world?!"
As he spoke, Subaru was astonished at how terrible the words "Come inside me" were. Speaking of being astonished, however, Petelgeuse's admirable tenacity was far superior.
The host's body had ceased to function as a corpse. Betelgeuse - in this case, the spirit that dwells in the body - had extended its "invisible hands" to his own body, binding his limbs and forcing them to move. Even the strength of the force was not precise enough, and every time it was moved the bones of his limbs creaked and the flesh was squeezed and destroyed.
If this self-destructive behavior continued, it would cause the monster to lose its body and dissipate.
"Waiting for the time to run out is tough, damn it!"
Subaru slammed his fist into the edge of the swaying truck bed and spat out his frustration, grinding his teeth.
In order to get through the forest and escape from the presence that was closing in on them from behind, Patrasche and the others who were pulling the dragon carriage increased their speed even further. With the blessing of the ``Windbreak'', their speed was exactly like the wind itself. However, Petelgeuse, who was destroying the forest and pursuing them, surpassed them.
I could see the evil black flame flickering violently, like the last glow of life, the flame of a candle just before it goes out.
The jet-black demonic hands bound his limbs, and the palms of his hands were inside his chest, likely replacing his stopped heart. The body was on the verge of collapse, stretched out on the ground like an extension of his body, a mass of shadow - a monster born of delusion and distorted life force.
"So this is a spirit... What about it? Isn't it something more sacred?"
The spirits that Subaru imagined should be brighter and more magnificent, adorned with a transience and beauty that made him hesitate to touch them.
And yet what is this? This dark and paranoid thing, this distorted and ugly thing that I can't bear to even look at, with not a shred of gratitude in it.
"I've come to realise just how kind-hearted Puck and other quasi-spirits appear to people."
"--Natsuki-san! What's that coming from behind you!?"
Subaru clicked his tongue in disgust, and Otto's screams overlapped. Unable to see directly behind him from the driver's seat, the nightmare looming behind him was still beyond his visual field.
And that was probably what made him happy. Subaru put his hand over his head to stop him from leaning forward and looking behind him, and raised his voice so as not to reveal who was behind him.
"It's just a big black beast chasing you. It probably stepped on its tail somewhere you didn't know it was. It has a loud cry and a scary face, so it's best not to look."
"Are you really not going to show me?! Even though you're always saying things that are obviously bothering you?!"
"Just let it fly! If I get bitten, it'll be you next!!"
"Uhh - that's scary!"
Subaru urges Otto, who is holding the reins, to hurry down the road. However, even with Otto's enthusiasm, it is the two earth dragons at the end of his reins that are running. They are already running at full speed, and there is no way he can urge them any faster.
In other words,
"My role is to hold you back. My highlight will be the final stage… How many times am I going to make you go through the final stage! How are you 'lazy', you useless hard worker!!"
"Witch... Satella...! I, love myself, love ...
"Neither you nor I are loved! There's no way there's a romantic comedy where you try to crush the heart of the person you love! I don't want it!"
Betelgeuse lifted his head, and a scream echoed from his face, which looked nothing like death.
Even though he was on his last legs, and had been betrayed, Petelgeuse still cried out his unchanging "love" for the Witch. For the first time, Subaru found it pitiful.
His cries for a body, his screams for "love" from the witch -- behind these screams was the fact that, as a spirit without a physical body, he had few opportunities to be recognized, which led to his longing to be loved, an unquenchable thirst that was endlessly eating away at his existence.
--However, that should not be taken to affirm its existence.
"You have no special moves or super magic. But you're my opponent. I won't let you get ahead of me, and I definitely won't let you meet the girl ahead of me...!"
"Natsuki-san, you love me that much...!"
"Can you be quiet for a second?! I'm trying to look cool right now!"
Subaru yelled back at Otto, who was unclear whether he was interrupting or being serious, then turned towards Petelgeuse, who was closing in on him.
Due to Julius' intercept, the total number of "invisible hands" he could use had decreased. Also, since they were being used to sustain his own life, the number of magic hands he could use to attack him seemed to be—seven, the same as at the beginning.
Betelgeuse slowly dragged his body along the ground as he approached. His demonic hands swung up, snapping branches and slamming into the ground from above. His fingertips barely grazed the rear of the carrier, gouging out the edge regardless of its strength.
If the next shot hit the center of the carrier, it would surely topple the dragon carriage. Subaru was thrown off and swallowed by Betelgeuse, and this time he was bitten from the head up.
"If they can't take over my body, then that will definitely bring them down with them."
"Natsuki-san, we're leaving the forest――!"
At the same time as Otto's voice was heard, the green in my vision suddenly cleared.
It bursts through the forest, accelerates, and slides down the slope of the grassland. Betelgeuse chases after it, clawing at the earth, its shadow engulfing fallen trees and boulders as it turns into a twisted, evil being that heads up the slope.
--We left the forest and entered the road. Soon we caught up with Emilia and the others.
She couldn't bring Petelgeuse before them, before her. Even though she didn't know the details of the Archbishop's Trial, it was certain that a tragedy would occur.
So, therefore, if that is the case,
"The forest has been cleared. --I won't go easy on you!"
"Love! Love! Love is all there is――!!"
Petelgeuse cried tears of blood and laughed with his toothless mouth open.
Hearing that shrill voice, Subaru unpacked some of the cargo from the back of the bed. He pulled out the heavy thing, and the pungent smell of what was poured into it hit his nose.
He then grabs it and points his finger at its bloodstained face.
"--Burn down, Petelgeuse."
「――――!!」
The "invisible hand" reached up towards the sky, tensing to shake off the waterfall of destruction, but Subaru's movement was faster than the falling object.
He raised the pot with both arms and, with a wicked smile, threw the ``Oil Pot'' at him.
The black hand falls.
To crush the dragon carriage along with its loading platform, and blow Subaru to shreds.
Extend your arm straight out and point your index finger at it like a gun.
A red glow appeared at his fingertips - the quasi-spirit of 『Red』 that he had borrowed from Julius resided there.
"I'll borrow your strength, Julius Euclius."
"You baaaaaa――!"
Petelgeuse shouted, and an arm approached from above. It looked the worst, like an evil god that was difficult to name.
My fingertips are tingling. The name of the spirit that lends me my strength is "Ea." So,
"Nooooo, hasta――!!"
An incomplete chant, a chanter, and an uncontracted quasi-spirit.
A combination of imperfection and incompleteness, yet with a unified will.
And it only takes a single spark to interfere with the world.
The mana was on the verge of running out of gas, and the power of the spirits interfered with the atmosphere, causing explosions of sparks to burn the air and approach Betelgeuse. A man with a ferocious expression, covered in blood and oil, opened his mouth wide――
"--Ahhhhhh!!"
--In an instant, Subaru's field of vision was enveloped in a brilliant, swelling red.
Betelgeuse's entire body was burning with an incredible amount of heat, ignited by the oil he had been doused in. As his entire body was roasted by the rippling flames, Betelgeuse's voiceless screams tore through the air.
For Subaru, whose only physical means of attack were his bare hands and who had no effective means of attacking against the spirit Petelgeuse, this was the ultimate and final blow he could muster.
He had considered the worst case scenario, that flames without magical power would be powerless against spirits, but after hearing Petelgeuse's request for his body, he decided that attacking his body, which was close to being a corpse, would not be a waste of time.
Judging from the way he cried out in agony and heat, his thoughts were not wrong.
One of the oil pots I'd brought along for some reason without telling Otto, who was under the impression that I'd dropped off my cargo in the village, had come in handy here. If it was this effective, I probably should have snatched two or three more, but I didn't have time to regret it.
With a trembling voice in pain, Petelgeuse raised his "invisible hand" and swung it down like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.
Betelgeuse shook his head, his vision burned by the flames, not aiming.
Subaru quickly rolled to the side, dodging to the edge of the unstable loading platform - and immediately afterwards, an arm slammed into his path, barely missing the soles of his feet.
The wooden loading platform sagged from the impact, and the part of the platform where the devil's hand had slammed into it was easily bent as if it were made of paper. The platform was gouged out into a U-shape, and with half of his body showered with flying shards of wood, Subaru gritted his teeth and dragged his right foot to the back of the platform.
"--Ouch! Ah, ahhh!"
The fingertips grazed his calf, gouging it deeply and causing a large amount of blood to spurt out a greasy sweat. His vision flickers as the pain of his flesh being scraped away and the sensation of blood draining from his body. He quickly places his palm over the area to stop the bleeding, but without a tourniquet, it's like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water.
And above all,
"Give it to me, give it to me, hand it over..."
His burning black fingertips were placed on the edge of the dragon carriage, which was swaying violently.
Then he slowly lifted his upper body and forcefully dragged his lower body, which was nearly torn off, until a jet-black lump fell onto the loading platform with a disgusting splashing sound.
The wriggling demonic hands formed a soft, flabby body, and the original, delicate body of the possessed man lost its original form. "Invisible hands" protruded from his back and sides, and, except for his right arm, which was torn off with flesh, four demonic hands had grown in addition to his original left arm, giving him a vicious appearance.
The lower half of the body, dead and limp from the knees down, was dragging along, and an arm protruding from mid-thigh served as a replacement for the missing leg.
His face was looking down, his eyes rolled up, and even his tears of blood had been burned by the flames, charring half of them. His whole body was still licked by the tongues of flame, and all that was left was the barely recognizable robes he was wearing, which only accentuated his hideousness.
Because it is a hideous monster that blatantly asserts that it is wearing human skin.
"What a terrible state you've been in... I have no right to criticize others though."
Subaru, struggling to bear it, stood up, face twisted in pain. His leg was still bleeding, so he couldn't afford to waste time. Of course, the same could be said for his opponent.
Betelgeuse's entire body had already decayed, and was on the verge of being burned to ashes by the flames. They didn't want a long battle either. The confrontation would be over in an instant.
There aren't many cards left to discard. In fact, there are very few.
All Subaru can do is the incomplete magic Shamak, and low-level fire magic with the help of a quasi-spirit. Other than that, he can only ignore the pain and use his bare hands.
There are so few options that it's almost laughable, but I have to use one of them to get out of this situation. I've exhausted all my options. All that's left is to be cunning.
"My flesh, my body, won't disappear... I can't just disappear..."
"I told you! If you enter my body you'll only end up suffering! What's with the witch? You and I are just being manipulated!"
Petelgeuse dragged himself forward, haltingly demanding Subaru's body. Subaru roared at his refusal to give up and set out to break the madman's heart.
However, Petelgeuse's reaction to the shout was different than before.
"--Witch, Satella."
Suddenly, he muttered in a clear voice and Petelgeuse's face lifted.
His face, half-destroyed and missing cheeks, looked very similar to the human anatomy diagrams he had seen at school. With the inside of his skin exposed, Betelgeuse's eyes, which had been inverted, returned to their original position.
Her unfocused eyes flickered, and gradually an image formed of Subaru.
「You are... in danger. Listen, danger, listen, listen, listen, danger, danger, danger, danger――death!」
"Ahh――!?"
"While receiving, receiving, the favor. You deny the love, and you drive me, me, me, me, this far, this far, death, death, death, death, death, death, death, death, death――"
"――!"
Petelgeuse shook his head and spoke incoherent words. An arm suddenly reached out from his body towards Subaru, grazing his shoulder and side before piercing the wall behind him, unable to react. --It wasn't so fast that he couldn't see. However, he simply couldn't react because he had no preparatory movements.
Betelgeuse's thoughts were all jumbled up right now, and his movements were no longer measurable by normal nerves. He was always dangerous, not knowing what he might do in the next moment, but when he reached a level where his movements could not be predicted in the next moment, there was nothing Subaru could do.
The "invisible hand" was still stretched out with the Subaru between them, connecting the two men, who were facing each other at the front and rear of the loading platform, in a straight line.
With the distance between them gradually closing like this, Subaru would be engulfed without being able to resist.
Her instincts from before - when her desire for a body was taking over, she would probably have attacked Subaru in a primitive way. Having heard the witch's name, she had regained some of her intelligence, but now she was in this situation. What a nasty thing to do.
"To the witch, to Satella, Satella, I love you, love, love! I love you! You love me! Satella, you, you made me into me! I haven't forgotten for a moment... Even if you forget, I haven't forgotten!"
Tears flow. Not bloody tears, but real tears.
Indeed, at this point, for the first time, Petelgeuse shouted sane words.
Those words, those wills, pulled Petelgeuse back from the insane darkness to reality. Petelgeuse's once cloudy eyes now held a firm resolve, and he glared at Subaru.
"You are dangerous! One day you will become a threat to the Witch Cult! Before that happens! Before you can reach out to Satella! Here! Right here! With my hands! With my diligence! Break away from my "laziness" and make my love true... I will die!!"
Shaking his upper body back and forth, a great deal of blood spilled from Petelgeuse's entire body. It was a sign that the energy of the "Invisible Hand" was about to burst from the inside of his body and burst out. Petelgeuse was no longer interested in taking Subaru's body, but in leaving the witch he worshipped with no regrets, and for that reason he was trying to kill Subaru.
It is a thought that has will, intelligence, and is different from that of an animal.
"If you had remained a monster, I would have lost."
Subaru took his hand out of his pocket, and Petelgeuse's eyes widened when he saw what it was holding.
Subaru felt his heart ache at that reaction, but he turned his eyes away, not wanting to face the momentary sentimentality, and raised his arms high.
A black-bound book - the Gospels - was thrown from the tip of his hand.
"Ah... Satella."
The voice that came out of Betelgeuse's mouth was low and quiet, like the voice of someone calling out to someone they loved deeply in comfort.
Looking up to the heavens, Betelgeuse raised his fleshy arm into the sky, and a jet-black demonic hand followed suit, shooting up into the air and aiming for the Gospels that were flying through the air. The moment his fingertips touched the cover and he grabbed it, it came.
The book, which had been thrown from the loading platform into the air, was fluttering in the wind and was on the verge of being blown away by its force. This was proof that it was directly exposed to the resistance of the wind and its force, and the act of reaching out for the Gospels in that state was,
"--!?"
Betelgeuse, who had been looking upwards, was hit by the fierce wind and tilted backwards. His dragging feet smashed into the hollowed-out wooden floor, and half of his body was thrown out and sunk.
This was a phenomenon that occurred because his fingertips had escaped the range of effect of the 『Windbreak』 blessing that earth dragons were born with, which even affected the dragon carriage while it was in motion.
Subaru had once found himself in a similar situation while playing around in a dragon carriage on the way to the royal capital.
The carriage of the dragon carriage had no windbreak, and without any protection, it was directly exposed to the wind pressure and shaking from full speed, there was no way it could maintain its posture.
"--Oh, ohhhh!!"
The moment Betelgeuse tilted sharply, Subaru roared and stepped forward.
He forgot the pain of his gouged leg and torn shoulder and took off as if bounced. He didn't have any great technique that would determine the outcome of the match. So he made sure to make the right move at the crucial moment.
Subaru had come and gone countless times between life and death, and at the end of it all he had acquired was a unique sense of smell.
Subaru took off running, and as he approached, Petelgeuse raised his head, opened his mouth and shouted something. Subaru heard nothing. He simply lowered his body desperately, and aimed for Petelgeuse's arms, diving headfirst into him.
The 『Invisible Hand』 was projected. The speed of the palm was slow, and for some reason it even seemed to stagnate, with the utmost concentration.
I tilted my head. My body wouldn't move as I wanted it to. Even though my palm avoided a direct hit, it was definitely in a position to graze my cheek and neck. I could feel the pain coming. The pressure made me instinctively close my eyes.
In such a situation, I remember things. Memories of the terrible, continuous pain I felt. I had always thought of those days as meaningless, but
"--There were two things I learned from Wilhelm-san."
His palm comes. The surface of his tilted neck, his cheek and part of his ear explode with a pain as if a hot iron was being pressed against them. The pain makes his thoughts burn, and a white light begins to shine before his eyes.
I dodged it. I took a breath. It wasn't over yet.
"I don't have the slightest talent for the sword."
Burning with pain, relaxing with relief. The two sensations tried to steal his consciousness, and Subaru looked straight ahead, caught in the gap between them.
From behind the palm that had been dodged, another palm was now aimed at Subaru's face――
"--The courage to not close your eyes when you get hit!!"
He screamed, ducking his head. He gritted his teeth despite the pain from the palm of his hand peeling off the back of his neck. In front of him was Betelgeuse, his eyes wide with shock. His body was no longer human, but it felt as if his face, with its exposed bones and muscle tissue, still retained traces of humanity.
"--!!"
A full-powered fist slammed into his face, dealing a fatal blow to Betelgeuse's leaning body - his body dropped from the force of the blow, missing the floor and being thrown out of the dragon carriage. And then,
"Ohh ..."
Hanging upside down in mid-air, Betelgeuse was dragged towards the dragon carriage. Part of his robes got caught on the edge of the damaged platform, and while still tethered to the carriage, he was pushed down towards the ground and rubbed down.
Blood splattered, flesh exploded, and even the "invisible hand" that made up his body peeled off, and the existence known as Betelgeuse crumbled. But even so, Betelgeuse turned upside down, lifted his crumbling face, and glared at Subaru on the loading platform,
"It's over, it's over, it's not over, it's not over, death, death, death!?"
"--No, it's over now."
Looking down at the stubborn Petelgeuse, Subaru suddenly noticed that in the corner of the bed - there, the Gospel that Petelgeuse had reached out and grabbed, had fallen.
He picks it up and starts flipping through the pages. At the end, he comes across a blank page.
Subaru: "The Gospel, that, that is… it gives me a future, affirms my actions, gives me the means to repay love, my love… ah!"
"So it was moving just like this. --In that case."
Petelgeuse moved his shoulders as if searching for the Gospel. However, his right arm was already gone, and his left arm, which had fallen off, had been lost from the upper arm down due to friction with the ground. Having lost all his limbs, and even his "invisible hand", Petelgeuse was on the verge of disappearing, and he clung to the Gospel for the last time.
Subaru opened the blank page to show off, and with his right hand he used his fingers to scoop up the blood flowing from his neck. Then, he slammed the Gospel in red ink,
"This is the end for you!"
The word "The End" was inscribed in large red letters on a double-page spread of blank paper.
Seeing this, Betelgeuse opened his eyes wide and pursed his lips. The waves of emotion spreading through his eyes were so complex that Subaru couldn't read anything of it.
And before that passion can be put into words, the end comes.
The dragon carriage bounced, and the bottom of Betelgeuse's robe, which had been caught on the carriage, came loose. This caused Betelgeuse's body to fall straight to the ground, and before it could hit the ground, the torn and stretched robe got tangled in the wheels of the rotating dragon carriage.
Dragged by the robes that got caught up in him, Petelgeuse's light body, bloodless and limbless, closed the distance towards the wheel. The end was in sight. The sound of the robes tearing mixed with the sound of blood splashing, and at the last moment Petelgeuse looked up at Subaru and shouted.
"--Natsuki Subaruuuuuuuuuu!!"
A scream echoed, turning into a death throes.
As he called out Subaru's name, Petelgeuse's body was swallowed up by the wheels, engulfed and crushed, blood and flesh flying everywhere as his life came to an end.
The physical body disappears, and the spirit that dwelled within it is also caught up in the brutal end and dissipates.
At the very last moment, an "invisible hand" reached out before Subaru.
Her palm stopped just before it reached Subaru's face, and the liquid disappeared as if spilling out from her fingertips. That was the true meaning of the fact that Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti had vanished.
"This time, just sleep forever... Petelgeuse."
Convinced that it was over, Subaru collapsed into the truck.
Instantly, the pain he had been able to ignore up until then returned, and Subaru was half crying――No, he rolled over in tears.
"Ouch, so bad, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, it hurts, so bad, so bad...!"
The tears won't stop. The pain won't stop. The wound, from which the blood is flowing, throbs and throbs, and the pain stimulates every part of my body. So the pain in my chest is simply due to the pain in the wound.
There is nothing to pity. There is nothing to sympathize with for the madman, the mad spirit Petelgeuse. He rampaged according to his own self-centeredness, and that's how he met his end.
They shout about blind love, then act selfishly, and rot away alone.
There was no need for anyone to feel pity for the fate of such a man as Petelgeuse.
ーーApart from Subaru, no one else needed to think that way.
"No one is going to understand you. You deserve to die. You deserve to die. No one, no one, will ever forgive you. ーーSo, I can only sympathize with you."
A lonely monster who is not understood by anyone and cannot give love to the person he seeks.
This time, Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti will finally disappear.
Leaving nothing behind in anyone's heart, in anyone's mind.
Just drive a wedge of pity into Subaru's heart, for real this time.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
"Natsuki-san, you're covered in wounds, are you okay?"
"There's no way I'm okay. I cried like crazy. It was the first time I'd cried since the anesthesia wore off while I was getting my tooth drilled. Even now, I'm still all in pain from all the wounds."
Moving from the half-destroyed bed to the driver's seat, Subaru tentatively tries to stop the bleeding from the wound with the first aid kit that Otto hands him. It seems that traveling as a peddler is always dangerous, so it seems that such medicines and tools are kept on hand at all times. His thoughtfulness has saved him.
"I don't know how well the medicine from another world will suit my body. I wonder if this ointment will irritate my skin. My skin is pretty sensitive."
"It's a medicine that activates the mana in your body and speeds up the healing of wounds. If you're covered in wounds, it hurts me just watching, so please treat you quickly. Quickly."
"I get it. What's that, just a little prank... Ouch! Eh, what is this, eh, this is bad! It hurts! It stings! Hey, it stings, I'm gonna die!"
"The medicine will sting extremely well. The pain will soon disappear -- but until then, you will have to endure the torments of hell."
Glancing sideways at Subaru writhing in pain from the medicine, Otto grinned, as if he had finally gotten his revenge. Looking at the demon's profile, Subaru wiped away the tears that had once again welled up with his fingers,
"So, how late was it?"
"We're not falling behind. If anything, we're doing quite well thanks to the efforts of both earth dragons in the face of an unbelievable predicament... Really, what was chasing us?"
"They're lazy, don't you know? They're animals that hang upside down from tree branches and stuff, with long arms and stuff."
Otto sighed softly at Subaru's nonchalant response, and glared ahead, seemingly giving up on pursuing the matter any further. Subaru followed his gaze, peering ahead at the grasslands of the Leafous Highway. The road stretched to the horizon, and there was still no sign of the shadow he was looking for,
"I will definitely catch up with you. This time, I will definitely save you."
He muttered, and with renewed determination, slapped himself on the cheek. A sharp pain ran through the wound, but perhaps due to the medicine's effect, the bleeding had already stopped, and he only ended up half crying.
"Do you think we'll make it in time?"
"We'll make it in time!"
Otto's words were not timid, but rather seemed to question Subaru's resolve. It probably also implied that he wanted to hear Subaru's answer and then decide on the direction of his own heart.
Subaru sniffled, the corners of his mouth twisted, revealing a toothy grin,
"It's about time Rem got tired of waiting for good news. If I don't live up to her expectations, I'm not a man."
"Is that the name of the girl you fell in love with?"
"That's the name of the girl who has a crush on me!"
Hearing Subaru say this confidently, without any nervousness or embarrassment, Otto looked taken aback for just a moment. Then, his face immediately burst into laughter,
"Oh, that's not cool!"
Otto yelled cheerfully, and the reins swung wildly up and down, making a dry noise.
The two earth dragons neighed, and the dragon carriage cut through the wind as it sped up.
The dragon carriage raced, raced, and sprinted down the road like a wing.
To find something important that had become so far away, beyond the horizon.
Time passes by, but Natsuki Subaru looks ahead.
Natsuki Subaru simply looked forward.