――A black ruin that covered the sky with an intensity and mass that could be mistaken for a nightmare.

At the feet of the woman wearing a distorted smile, the amount of “invisible hands” erupting from the swelling shadows showed no signs of limit.

Stretching into the sky, those hands pointed here—there were nearly a hundred of them without needing to count.

“――Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti!!”

“Oh? How curious to be called before I could even introduce myself! The fingers you know me by should be moving differently, yes?”

As Subaru shouted in rage, the words caught Petelgeuse off guard, yet his expression only grew more gleeful as he stomped his foot and said,

“It seems most of the fingertips I had hidden in the forest have been exterminated, shattered, and completely wiped out! But that can’t be helped! The lives of my devout followers, which I treat with utmost care, are also for this very moment! Ah! Ahh! Love, my beloved! My dear Witch!”

In excitement, Petelgeuse began to chew off his fingers one by one, decorating the battlefield with his blood-stained maniacal laughter, and brandished his dripping arms, declaring,

“Come now, let’s begin the end, and announce the end of the end! And and and and and! Before my love, before my diligent service! Sacrifice your body, your life, your soul to me――!!”

Simultaneously with the declaration, those arms covering the sky began to rain down on us――the Witch Cultists surrounding the raging Petelgeuse also ran forward, grasping their cross-shaped daggers.

On our side, we were a step behind due to being caught off guard by the opponent’s daring onslaught.

Around us, the hunting party was still reeling from the explosions that had hit from behind, and the central blast site was shrouded in smoke—concern for the safety of our two main fighters remained. However,

“Don’t just stand there! If you don’t kill, you’ll be killed――right!”

Swinging a large machete, Ricardo yelled, bearing his sharp fangs. With that alone, the confusion among the beastman mercenaries settled down, and everyone, led by the captain, charged forward atop their liger.

At the same time, Julius raised his knight’s sword high, gathering the gaze of the knights as he declared,

“Do not let the actions of those vile scum disturb your hearts! Behind us are the citizens we must protect. —All personnel, charge!!”

With a sword swing, Julius’s Earth Dragon dashed forward first. Following that, the knights raised their own weapons high, lining up in pursuit of the path of the best knights.

Thus, the formation of the mercenaries and knights began—it was Natsuki Subaru, clinging awkwardly to the back of a beautifully colored black Earth Dragon, who led the charge.

Before the two leaders could calm their companions amidst the chaos, Subaru commanded Patrasche to dive headfirst into the oncoming Witch Cult threat.

There were no prospects of winning here.

In fact, with no change in the combat capabilities, Subaru was such a powerless being that even fighting a lone Witch Cultist with a dagger would lead to his death.

But still, Subaru had to take the lead. Because――,

“Oi, Peteguy! Aim for me! —I’ve got your many little hands right in my line of sight!!”

“――――!?”

Suppressing his fear, Subaru flashed a provocative grin and raised his middle finger, freezing the maniacal expression on Petelgeuse’s face.

As if to prove his words, Subaru skillfully maneuvered the reins to make Patrasche dodge the oncoming invisible hands,

Dodging the reaching arms to the right, he lowered his stance against the outstretched palm. With a sharp turn, he evaded the group of arms blocking his front and left the grasping magical hands behind him with an acceleration.

It wasn’t Subaru’s skill that made the dodging successful, but rather Patrasche’s ability to instantly read Subaru’s intentions through the reins.

And, while barely proofing his own words, Petelgeuse’s expression distended with righteous fury and humiliation as he yelled,

“What foolishness… it cannot be true! Why, why why why why why… my, my exclusive, my only love! How can you see me, see me, see me me me me?!”

“Isn’t it that the Witch’s a bit of a flirt? Oh, did you get played? Poor you!!”

“What an insult! What a humiliation! What a disgrace! How can such words come forth concerning not only me but even my beloved’s guidance…! It must not be permitted! It must not be forgiven! There must be no allowance for it whatsoever!”

With bloodshot eyes wide open, Petelgeuse foamed at the mouth while pursuing Subaru. The bundle of black magic hands transformed into enormous palms, closing in to crush, while Subaru had Patrasche dodge sharply to the left and burst through—

The ground that took the impact heaved up, leaving a deep cleft in the grassland, as if crushed by a giant’s hand.

“Yikes! That was close! A real moment of narrow escape… But with this!”

With a glaring hatred glowing in his eyes, Petelgeuse was completely oblivious to everything but Subaru.

Feeling a chill run down his spine at the sight of the madman’s focus now directed at him, Subaru clenched his fists at the unfolding situation to match his own expectations.

Based on the previous loop’s circumstances, it was to be expected that the number of Petelgeuse’s invisible hands would rise now that he had possessed a new body.

If that lethal magic hands that could not be seen by ordinary people multiplied, there was no doubt they could bring the hunting party, already numerically superior, to ruin.

Thus, Subaru chose to thoroughly provoke Petelgeuse’s obsessively mad affection for the Witch, redirecting his focus entirely toward himself.

Meanwhile, the clash began behind them as the Witch Cultists and the hunting party met.

The first blow came from the hunting party, which had the numerical advantage, erupting and sending the leading group of Witch Cultists splattering blood into the air. However, the eerie movements of the Witch Cult soon began to confuse the untrained knights.

Dragging things along, it would be too much to expect immediate reinforcements to come rushing in.

At the very least, if only Wilhelm, who possessed unmatched strength in close combat, could be relied upon, Subaru regretted.

“My childish thinking caused my failure… If I had known he could possess this ability in death, I should have anticipated he also had a means to commit suicide!”

The explosion of the carriage with the previous Petelgeuse was likely the cause of this catastrophic turn.

Petelgeuse probably had planted something like a bomb inside his cultist’s body beforehand and had instructed them to activate it in response to the situation.

As a result, the previous Petelgeuse’s body had been sacrificed together with the nearby elite forces, successfully moving into a new body.

Smoke continued to rise from the central blast site, and Wilhelm and Felix were nowhere to be found. —It didn’t seem possible that they had simply been blown away.

“I can’t afford to hope we got out unscathed. —As planned, count on me!”

“Desu desu desu desu desu desu desu deeees――!!”

As Petelgeuse shook his head and raved, invisible hands appeared to block the path. However, Subaru skillfully countered and closed the distance to slam into Petelgeuse’s face,

“Z-ZAP-BAM!!”

“Bafuh!?”

The drifting of Patrasche’s pivot dug into the earth, and the flying dirt clumps hit Petelgeuse squarely in the face. With a middle finger raised at his dirt-stained face, Subaru provocatively circled around him, proclaiming,

“Hey hey, even if you’ve got a bunch of hands, it’s pointless if your head’s useless. Learn from our awesome synergy where me and Patrasche’s eyes and hands and hearts and minds connect. Are you feeling lazy or what!?”

“――――!!”

Petelgeuse, now missing even the ability to speak in anger, sent forth a deathly hand in silence.

Yet, being provoked as Subaru displayed his exceptional skill in “taunting,” Petelgeuse’s attack was lacking precision due to his disordered thoughts.

In other words, despite having a significant advantage with his countless palms,

“Your brain can’t keep up. What a laughable story that your hardware doesn’t match the software’s requirements. Have you shaken your brain too much?!”

In this life-threatening situation where a single mistake could lead to death, Subaru couldn’t help but chuckle at his mental state that still allowed him to jabber jokes. A soft giggle escaped his lips amidst the tension, further intensifying the provocation he aimed at Petelgeuse.

What began as a close-range battle now felt almost familiar, as dodge movements began to feel like second nature.

Just hours ago, coordinating with Patrasche felt challenging, yet now their rhythms synchronized, and they could communicate their intents with each other through the reins.

As Julius had said, “Trust and leave it to the winds,”

—That significance was now understood not in words but in feelings!

“――RU!!”

Breaking through the dust cloud, feeling his innards churn from centrifugal force as he pivoted, Subaru’s heated spirit assertively caught a whisper of recognition.

From afar, he caught the voice he couldn’t misinterpret calling his name,

“Subaru――!!”

As the dragon carriage bolted away from the battlefield, sliding through a window, Emilia protruded her long silver hair into the fray, gasping for breath.

It wasn’t merely her dragon carriage that was fleeing from the battlefield. Around her, merchants carrying villagers began to escape, and their escape included a few knights for protection, all were following the previous arrangements.

—The Witch Cult’s final desperate struggle was a foreseen outcome.

When a fight broke out, having non-combatants among them would lead to a disarray they couldn’t afford to deal with. Thus, Subaru had instructed the merchants beforehand to evacuate should hostilities commence. He explained this only to those who could listen calmly to avoid spreading panic among the villagers and arranged various means of transportation for the impending crisis.

Also, of course, he had communicated this to Ram, who would need to navigate a separate route to the Sanctuary—

“Why…!?”

But Subaru had not conveyed this to Emilia.

From the retreating carriage, he could see the anguish etched on Emilia’s face.

The unbearable shock of betrayal struck deep within Subaru’s heart, forcing a profound pain into his chest.

Still, Subaru suppressed the shock inside him and, despite the vibrations and gales raging around, let go of one hand from the unfamiliar reins to give a thumbs up.

“Leave it to me, this is a piece of cake, Natsuki Subaru! You head on first, Emilia-tan! —I’ll catch up real soon, and we’ll have an emotional hug!”

“――――!!”

He couldn’t tell if she could see his shining smile through the distance, but the distant carriage dashing through the forest path only echoed soundless cries in reply.

With the confirmation that her group had safely exited the battlefield, Subaru took a deep breath and turned back toward Petelgeuse, saying,

“I didn’t expect you to wait so quietly. Are you the type to understand sentiment?”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! I haven’t stopped my actions; it’s you who has been avoiding everything! Disrespectful! Irreverent! You dare to reject a Witch’s love! The foolishness of not accepting my embrace! Why must you do such things…!”

“Ah, so you were attacking? Your hands are so slow that I thought you were pausing for me. You can keep on going all leisurely while I…”

The taunts flowed easily from Subaru, but abruptly he felt a shift in the tension of the battlefield. Behind them, a significant change surged in the clash between the Witch Cult and the hunting party.

—Suddenly, several Witch Cultists’ bodies burst into a haze of blood in the air.

“Nnh!!”

A dazzling holy sword danced among the blood and sunlight as it sliced through with incredible speed. Arms, legs, necks, and torsos caught in its path were cleaved, as the knights swiftly dispatched the enemies blown away by their strikes.

Bathed in all that blood, the demon of the sword—Wilhelm had joined the fray.

“――Wilhelm-san!”

Hailing his presence, Subaru cheered, while Petelgeuse bit his lip in annoyance.

Responding to Subaru’s cheers, Wilhelm, moving like a snake, cleanly severed the legs of two more foes from the knees down. Dodging an incoming fireball, he accelerated and piled up the bodies of the dead amid explosive flames.

With Wilhelm’s joining, the momentum shifted significantly toward their side.

Ricardo and Julius, eager to follow the sword demon’s lead, began their fierce onslaught, as every swing of their machetes burst flesh, and each flash of the knight’s sword sparked with magic’s brilliance.

And further back, from the remnants of the blasted carriage site, a figure crawled out, draped in singed fabric covering his bare torso.

It was Felix. Even after being near the blast, he emerged unscathed; his feminine visage and beautifully tended hair bore no marks. The only thing damaged was his clothing.

“Ah, geez—I really died once! Old man Wilhelm! Just tear those guys apart!”

With small fists raised, the half-naked boy cheered for the sword demon with a high-pitched voice.

Subaru felt something unsettling at the sight and directed a triumphant smile at Petelgeuse, declaring,

“Your desperate self-destruct caused no victims… And a multitude met their ends! You should really give up by now!”

“Give up? You think you can allow such foolishness, such nonsense!? Do you think I, as ‘Sloth,’ shall sink into such a lazy choice, abandoning all thought and will?! What an unconscionable insult! What a humiliation! As long as I possess the utmost diligence, to repay love…! That alone is reason enough to wipe away this disgrace—!!”

With both hands spread wide, the invisible hands Petelgeuse had been emitting suddenly disappeared.

Subaru felt a sense of foreboding at Petelgeuse’s posture. However, having taken distance for dodging, he was unable to close back in quickly enough.

As a result,

“Witch! Guidance of my love! I shall offer it, grant it! So then, foolishly turning your back on love, rogue! Thirsty commoners who know nothing of love!”

“Wait, Petelgeuse—You!!”

“And now—be ‘Sloth’!!”

In the next moment, a black wave cross the battlefield, engulfing everything in its path—shattering the frontline.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

The Archbishop of Sin “Sloth,” Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti.

For Subaru, this would be the fourth confrontation with him, yet he could boldly claim that since his summoning to this other world, none have troubled him more than this man.

Having already died eleven times in this world, none of those deaths mirrored the same path. Each death was imbued with an unforgettable reality that carved into his soul.

Before the incomprehensible difference in power, or the senselessness of unavoidable circumstances, or the gaps in awareness due to carelessness, or even through the dread misunderstandings of their own motives, Natsuki Subaru had been repeatedly snuffed out in this other world.

He faced hideous foes. He had met challenging confrontations that could crush his heart utterly. There were overwhelming powers far beyond comprehension, breaking him each time in despair.

Yet, Subaru still stood back up, but the wickedness of this man transcended all that he had encountered thus far in its alien nature.

With invisible arms that tore apart everything—the “invisible hands.”

Abandoning a corpse, possessing a subordinate’s body to relocate his soul and continue living—the “Possession.”

And, the worst capability amid multi-people battles—the “Sloth.”

That overwhelming force, long-forgotten, cascaded over the battlefield, breaking the will of the hunting party that had been charge forward all at once. – No, it wasn’t the will that shattered, but their sanity.

“――――!!”

“――Ah!?”

Screams and shrieks echoed across the battlefield, as many dropped their weapons. Moreover, the Witch Cultists were completely unharmed by Petelgeuse’s “Sloth.”

“Stop…!”

Desperately calling out, he tried to halt their movements, but his words held no meaning in that moment.

Before Subaru’s voice even reached, the wielded cross daggers devoured blood faster than he could scream. The frontline was instantaneously overwhelmed.

Subaru was untouched by “Sloth’s” influence, yet did not comprehend how its psychological contamination inflicted such symptoms on the afflicted. But everyone under its effect succumbed to false hallucinations, auditory illusions, and phantom pains, foaming at the mouth and rolling their eyes, while driven to the brink of madness.

Barely managing to resist the mental contamination were perhaps only fifteen among the fifty strong members of the hunting party. The rest collapsed there, either slashed and bloodied or cut down before the Witch Cult’s blades—fortunate, at least their main forces remained.

“Strange—! This is just like the fog of the White Whale…!”

Wilhelm repelled the approaching blades of three adversaries, dragging the body of a fallen comrade with him in retreat. Ricardo similarly pulled the cat siblings aside, while Julius stirred up a sandstorm with wind magic to provide cover.

“Oh my, it seems surprisingly many have survived! Splendid! What a joyful thing! If there are this many capable individuals remaining, the Church is secure!”

“Capable…? What are you saying!? No, more importantly, this situation is…”

This is bad.

In just a moment, the entire situation had been flipped upside down.

In terms of combat power, the number was nearly even after combining both sides, but our losses tilted towards numerous wounded soldiers compared to their deaths.

On the other hand, the Witch Cultists cared not for their injured comrades. Without hesitation, they disregarded the bodies of fellow cultists they could have saved and charged forth with full knowledge of their critical injuries, intent on trading lives.

And most damning of all――,

“You seem to be an elaborate distraction aimed at drawing my attention, don’t you?”

“――!?”

Petelgeuse discerned Subaru’s intention, his shock unabashedly apparent on his expression.

Seeing that, Petelgeuse clapped his hands with utmost joy, twisting his face into a grand grin, declaring,

“I see! That’s quite a diligent thought indeed! I do not know how you learned of my invisible hands and fingertips, but with that understanding, I see why you moved as you did until now! And… knowing that puts me under no obligation to care about you any longer!”

With that declaration, Petelgeuse turned his back. The gaze now fell back to the battlefield where knights clashed with Witch Cult members, and with fingers reaching from the shadows, they would forcefully shift the advantage in their favor once more.

Subaru gulped, commanding Patrasche to charge at the madman’s back. Even if only to strike him with a body slam without killing him—

“——You, are probably ‘Sloth’!”

“——Urgh!?”

However, that exuberant rush fueled by anxiety was nothing more than a game for Petelgeuse.

He extended his shadows, and from just out of Subaru’s view—suddenly, an invisible hand came flying from straight behind, grabbing hold of Patrasche’s tail and effortlessly tossing the Earth Dragon into the air.

After being struck by a terrifying velocity and surrounded by a sensation of weightlessness, Subaru plummeted—slamming to the ground face-first into the grassy field.

“Ka――ha!”

His body creaked loudly, and sparks danced in front of his eyes, cloaking his vision in darkness.

The impact sent shockwaves through his back, jolting his internal organs as his spasming lungs rejected oxygen, making his throat burn with the urge to vomit.

And right on the heels of that pain, a ringing in his head and a lightning-like pain struck his limbs, sending a distress cry bursting forth from Subaru’s throat.

――It hurts, this is bad, it’s dangerous, it hurts, it hurts, it’s dangerous, it’s dangerous!

Amid the paralyzing agony, Subaru’s mind was ruled by the curse of relentless warning signals echoing within.

He had to do something, anything, yet finding clarity in action eluded him, as even the mere concept of what to do did not form within him clearly.

Against the scorn of rational thought, pure instinct screamed out inside him.

If he didn’t move, he’d die, he didn’t want to die, he had to do something to live.

But even while his instincts tugged at him to act, his body remained unyielding, only allowing him to repetition heavy breaths to sustain himself. In the midst of this turmoil—

“——Oh, huh?”

“What a diligent thing….”

Suddenly, Subaru let out an incomprehensible sound as he sensed the change, and Petelgeuse, who had witnessed the result, regarded him with an expression of respect, marveling.

What in the world had happened? While being spun about by the feeling of weightlessness, Subaru turned his head to look.

――Patrasche had clamped his jaws around Subaru’s waist, attempting to pull him out of Petelgeuse’s magical grasp.

The loyal, pitch-black Earth Dragon showed no concern, even sparing the time to lift its master entirely. Saved by that unwavering allegiance, Subaru successfully fled from the confrontation against Petelgeuse.

Petelgeuse, too, seemed somewhat moved by Patrasche’s unsought act of protection for its rider, and tears streamed down his face as he covered it with his palm.

“Oh, Earth Dragon… Oh, Earth Dragon! What a marvelous thing! Love, love, love love love love love love love love love love looooveee!!”

Tears cascading prodigiously, Petelgeuse stomped about, whirling in a frenzy. Reaching out towards the retreating Earth Dragon’s back, yet striking no attack, his fingers rose skyward, as if reaching toward a receding beloved,

“Love! Supreme love! Unconditional love! Innocent love! How marvelous this is! How beautiful this is! With such devotion and intent for your master, how splendidly you run! Oh, oh, ohh! Diligent! You are the diligent disciple of love! Yes, yes, that’s so magnificent!”

The madman, overwhelmed with admiration, danced alone on that stage, taking no note of his own escape.

Continuing, Subaru’s figure dashed across the grassland, circumventing the battlefield’s chaos. There, attending to aiding the wounded, Felix remained.

“Subaru-kun!? Did you get hurt?! Did you die?!”

“Just barely… still alive, but it hurts like hell. But thanks to Patrasche… ow!”

Receiving a harsh welcome as he reached Felix’s side, Subaru was roughly tossed down into the grass.

With his face plunged into the ground, he tasted grass and dirt blend into his mouth, leaving him speechless. Turning to voice a complaint to Patrasche, he found himself aghast,

“Hey! If you brought me all the way here, couldn’t you handle me a little more…!”

Before the sorrowful state of the Earth Dragon, Subaru’s throat stilled.

He had been thrown because an invisible hand had grasped Patrasche’s tail. That part of the tail had been torn from its root, blood pouring forth in gore, staining the grassland scarlet. Moreover, two gaping wounds marred its side, and perhaps it was when thrown to the ground that the left forefoot had been severely mangled.

Without a doubt, it was in a state of utter destruction.

From having brought Subaru to safety, it seemed Patrasche had exhausted all its remaining strength and collapsed heavily onto the grassland. There, it lay, breathing shallowly and quietly, as if it were dead.

Instinctively, Subaru clung to its body, crying out,

“Hey! No way… Patrasche! You, you… it was my mistake, and now you’re… hey!”

No matter how much he called out or how much he touched, he received no response. Instead, the sense of life within Patrasche faded deeper, and its breathing grew weaker by the moment.

“F-Felix! Patrasche… please help…”

“This kid did brilliantly; he fulfilled his duty to protect you. That alone is something to be proud of.”

As he turned back to Felix, pleading with a trembling voice, Felix replied with piercing certainty.

For a moment, that response baffled Subaru. It was not the answer he sought. It felt as though he were being told to give up on Patrasche.

“That Earth Dragon fully saw its life through. Both you and I cannot salvage everything. Do you understand?”

So cold was Felix’s reply that it struck deep into Subaru’s heart, as he nearly found himself retorting against him, yet he faltered before he could utter anything.

Only the sensation of Patrasche’s presence he still clutched felt distant, as if it was fading away, leaving nothing but a vague feeling of loss in his touch—

“Moreover, since you’ve stepped back… the Archbishop of Sin is going to act!”

“——!?”

Turning to look, he noticed the stretching invisible hand directed toward the battlefield.

In its path were two knights: an old knight and a young knight, both undamaged, fiercely fighting.

“You two over there, be careful――!”

Before the warning reached them, the palm snatched the heads from the knights, ripping them free from their bodies with speed that surpassed his warning.

Blood gushed forth as lifeless heads floated away, the shocked expressions crushed like fruits the next instant. Slowly, the torsos began to convulse before collapsing as laughter echoed.

“Now! Now! Now now now now!!! The beginning of the end has come! It’s ending! Ending, ending, I’m feeling so emotional! I can give you all a peaceful end with my own hands!”

Petelgeuse’s cackling and self-indulgent proclamations did not cease.

Countless invisible hands extended from the shadows, appearing to select their prey while licking their lips.

Wilhelm and the others stood poised, wary of the invisible danger, but once touched, it spelled the end—there was no way to stop it.

“Wh-what to do….”

In desperation, Subaru’s mind spun frantically.

In this situation, he was the only one who grasped the implications. If anyone could conceive a way to turn the tides, it would have to be him.

Yet, despite turning his mind into a boiling maelstrom, there were no answers to be found. Instead, his focus was now split, swayed toward the perilously weakening Patrasche.

――What should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do?

While sizzling thoughts ignited within his mind, all that escaped were shallow breaths.

In this despairing situation, looking at the decision he must make, Petelgeuse raised his hands high, as if ringing time to an end—

“——Muu!?”

Reacting swiftly, a small body darted away, and a moment later, mana catalyzed at Petelgeuse’s previous location—a frozen spike rose up from below, narrowly missing the madman.

“Who dares!?”

Spinning about, Petelgeuse raised his voice in anger, looking toward the hills.

On cue, everybody’s gaze followed his lead, and they caught sight of that presence.

The wind swirled as silver hair danced with it and a beautiful girl stood with the sunlight behind her.

Breathing heavily and bathing in sweat, yet her deep indigo eyes remained unyielding,

“—That’s enough, you villain.”

Her bell-like voice resonated sharply and heroically across the grassy fields.

At that moment, the eyes of Petelgeuse sparkled with delight while Subaru’s were filled with alarm.

A dangerous meeting was unfolding—he had let a madman meet a girl, and the weight of that miscalculation caused despair to swell in Subaru’s throat.

――The finale approached. Without glimmers of hope in sight, the end drew near.