Natsuki Subaru silently watched as Garfiel exploded.

The fierce beast’s claw swung with enough force to obliterate the witch’s head along with her slender body. There’s no doubt that even a witch would be torn apart by that direct hit. — But it didn’t reach her.

Garfiel, aiming for victory without care, hurled a Replica of Ryuzu as a diversion. Just as his arm was about to reach the witch, Subaru witnessed a wound carved into his skin quivering in response to the shadow that had snaked its way up from the witch’s feet, entwining Garfiel’s limbs.

The squirming wound – caused by the Black Shadow that had crawled up from the witch’s feet, entwined Garfiel’s limbs. The shadow slipped into the gaping wound of the great tiger, spreading what should be destruction, causing havoc within his flesh, and gushing forth blood.

And just like that, with his body cut all over, Garfiel could no longer withstand the pressure of the shadow expanding inside him and burst apart.

He had no chance to resist; the destruction inflicted was relentless.

What was Garfiel moments ago now scattered across the square as a pile of dark red remains. The golden fur clinging to the scattered bits was but a whisper of his existence in this world.

“――――”

No words could escape.

Just moments ago, more than twenty lives, including the doll-like Replica of Ryuzu, filled the square. In just a few dozen seconds, there were only two left.

No, if I start counting, there should have been over a hundred lives in this “Sanctuary.”

Thinking about how all of them have now been dragged into the shadows, the sins committed by the shadow before me were too heavy. Unforgivable.

Amid the confusion and impatience stirred by the turn of events, blood began to flow through the numbness of Subaru’s body, awakening an utterly primal reaction.

In other words, the raw emotion borne against the witch standing before him — anger.

“――I love you.”

“Shut up.”

“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“I said shut up, didn’t I…?”

The contours of the figure blurred, its height indistinct, shrouded in black shadow.

The voice remained distorted, as if filtered through a voice changer, making it impossible to distinguish between male and female.

Yet despite that, the sticky heat of the emotion contained within was infuriatingly clear.

Unchanging affection swallowed the people of the “Sanctuary,” mercilessly killing Garfiel, and even now, her interest, her concern, her love focused intensely on Subaru.

It was so grotesque, so sickening, that he felt nausea rising within him.

Just being face-to-face with the witch gradually eroded his sanity. A near-manic rage bubbled up, and inside him, hatred and disgust were in utter disarray.

“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Standing unmoving, the witch continued to mutter her love for Subaru as if it were a curse.

With a passion that seemed to melt away. She outdid even Subaru in her cluelessness and lack of awareness.

Even though the one she aimed such love at was making his discomfort obvious, she persisted with her overwhelming, one-sided affection.

All of that love was repulsive.

And most infuriatingly, what made Subaru rage even more was —

“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“………”

“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you — Subaru-kun.”

“――Don’t call me that!!”

The sweet summons ignited Subaru’s fury in response.

That voice, those gestures, that way of calling him — all of it struck a nerve.

“Who gave you permission to call me that? Don’t mess with me! Don’t mess with me!!”

The closeness of them standing side by side.

The fondness contained in that call.

The tenderness of standing next to one another.

The only person Subaru allowed to address him like that in this world was one.

— And it certainly was not the witch standing before him.

“You filthy witch, don’t joke with me. That’s something for only one person. I won’t give it to anyone else. No way! I wouldn’t even give you a single hair, a single cell, or a fleck of dirt –!!”

“――――”

In his fury, Subaru poured forth the emotions swirling within him, faced with the witch.

Gasping for breath, his shoulders shaking, he glared fiercely at the witch in front of him.

There was no way he could win against her.

A monster that devoured half the world. Now, the witch of witches had just disposed of the formidable Garfiel with a strength beyond mortal comprehension.

Submerging all lives into shadows, devoid of interest, coddling only one person with a twisted obsession – the ultimate calamity.

It was strange that he could even face such a monster head-on.

He felt as if he was throwing caution to the wind, losing all restraint.

If the witch had a mind to, she could drag Subaru into the shadows in the blink of an eye, making him burst like Garfiel, becoming nothing but ugly fireworks within the forest’s soil.

Understanding this, and still managing to confront her without yielding his heart was, without a doubt, because Subaru unconsciously held a certain conviction about the witch.

That was —

“――――”

“…. Not moving, huh?”

With his feelings released, Subaru began to note the lack of any action from the witch, which should have been expected.

Suddenly realizing, the suffocating words of love that had been whispered like an incantation just moments ago – even while she continued her declarations of affection as she had when she burst Garfiel, had been abruptly interrupted.

The darkness that had spread to engulf the square was now stagnating — no, it had completely stopped. Shifting his feet away from the unpleasant sensation of shadows beneath him, Subaru moved to safer ground not yet submerged.

The whole time, he remained vigilant, never taking his eyes off the witch, looking for signs of movement, but there were none.

The witch stood there with her arms hanging limply, still clad in a writhing cloak of shadows, expression hidden as she remained frozen in place.

Now was the perfect moment for a strike. He could easily wipe her out right now.

“What’s with this sudden change… Could it be that my words actually had some effect?”

Impossible, he thought, but he couldn’t deny the thought that flashed in his mind.

It seemed unlikely that Subaru’s words held such influence, but considering the timing of the witch’s words and her halted movements, it was hard to think of any other possibility.

But that also presented a distressing possibility for Subaru.

“If just rejecting me causes her to become this disordered…”

Maybe if he had yelled out sooner, Garfiel, everyone else, might have been saved from death.

Emilia, Ram, Ryuzu, Otto, and Garfiel who had shielded Subaru – now laid dead before the shadow. He could not muster the spirit to persevere in this world.

It was right after he had just received assurance from Echidna that his “Return by Death” had no limit. Unbeknownst to him, a compromise toward life had been forming deep within him.

Thus, when he proposed even being a decoy to Garfiel, he retreated immediately upon Garfiel’s rejection.

Seeing that the witch was fixated on Subaru, he should have anticipated that action from himself would elicit such a reaction.

“I can’t predict her next move… But I must be the weak spot for this ‘Witch of Jealousy’…?”

Given that her obsession with Subaru wouldn’t wane, the possibility remained high. The question now was whether he could capitalize on this opportunity.

After all, the loops beginning from the “Sanctuary” had altered with each iteration. This left Subaru scrambling to catch up, never having the chance to grasp the situation; nonetheless, the change happening before him now was unprecedented compared to past occurrences.

Elsa, Garfiel, the Great Rabbit alone had been overwhelming, and now adding the “Witch of Jealousy” would create an uncontrollable scenario. Just like those three, he would have to discern the patterns of her appearance, leaving him deflated and lacking the willpower to entertain such thoughts.

Such was the overwhelming threat of the witch—her very existence was terrifying.

It seemed almost foolish to even consider strategies to resist. In terms of breaking one’s fighting spirit before a battle, the witch’s frail body edged out the monstrous form of the White Whale.

“――――”

Even though he was facing the witch that remained motionless, Subaru felt his heart wearing thin.

The witch wasn’t moving either. The burns of thought regarding capturing his response were of little concern to her. She continued to focus solely on herself.

How things could shift, and what should happen, time rolled on without his understanding.

Tick by tick, time flowed forward, marked sharply by his heavy breaths and the echoing pulse, accompanied by the damp warmth of sweat sliding down his forehead.

Continuing to stare each other down, without even genuine contact, would lead to nothing. Just as Subaru prepared to act, momentarily gasping in relief.

That thought struck him suddenly,

“—Could it be that tea party with Echidna?”

“――――”

“During my invitation to her castle, I rambled on about what I shouldn’t! I thought the lack of a penalty was because it was permissible there…”

— But what if it weren’t?

What if the witch had never allowed him to confess his “Return by Death” to anyone else? What if, as she always did, she intended to punish Subaru in this frozen world for allowing such careless words to escape?

If the witch’s failure to materialize beside Subaru at the tea party was because she’d been unable to, would she still try to punish him now?

— If that were the truth behind the tragedies happening in this “Sanctuary” now.

“How… selfish can you be?”

Were the countless acts of slaughter brought forth, a result of being unable to punish Subaru?

Did she believe she had the right to do so? To boast about her capability, wanting to show off to someone—who exactly?

“——I love you.”

Perhaps because Subaru’s thoughts finally reached that truth.

The witch, who had remained motionless like a shadow puppet, resumed her repugnant activities. She directed what could be considered her head and eyes toward Subaru, continuing to spill curses with that ghastly mouth.

The whispers of love recognized the advance of shadows on the square, and the earth was swiftly resaturated by darkness. Feeling as if he were devoured by bottomless mire, Subaru kicked the ground and began to move.

“What now, huh? You perked up once I mentioned another girl’s name, didn’t you?!”

“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“No matter how many times you whisper your love to me, I’m not loving you! My heart is already filled and not yielding. There’s no space for a witch like you!”

This trading of insults was met with the witch’s monotone repetitions of overlapping phrases that gave no variances in inflection.

However, detecting a genuine need for emotion, Subaru’s resolve surged, and he smirked with malicious glee. He thrived in exasperating others; surely, he could test it on the witch too.

“Don’t throw around ‘I love you’ so lightly, it’s cheap.”

“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“The very first ‘I love you’ I received on this world had the weight of a no-good scoundrel aiming to become a hero.”

A down-and-out loser trying to make a stand against an overwhelming future, yet still believing they’d face any challenge again, time and time again.

That was what real love meant; it was that strong, noble, and expansive.

“Your whispers of love don’t reach me! And more so, there’s not a single hint of goodwill toward someone who’s as jealous and prone to random disasters as you!”

“I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“I’d rather not fall for a witch like you…”

“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love –”

What could he say, what should he say, what might trigger the witch’s wrath? Subaru knew no one could unsettle others the way he did.

Therefore, with total disdain, he laughed cruelly, casting scornful glances at the witch,

“There are other witches, like Echidna, whom I can love much more –”

“――――”

At that moment, the witch’s curses came to a halt.

And then —

“――――oh.”

Subaru’s vision, the world, was instantly consumed by shadow.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

With astonishing speed and mass, shadows closed in around Subaru, who could only watch helplessly.

The black shadow stretching from the witch’s feet resembled Petelgeuse’s “Unseen Hand.” The difference was that while the “Unseen Hand” was invisible to all but Subaru, making it avoidable, this new shadow approached at speeds that made evading impossible.

Thus, even in this moment, Subaru perceived himself being enveloped by shadows, lifted high above the treetops, then yanked down at a speed that exceeded natural gravity, all while drawn toward the witch’s presence.

Everything surged toward him, assaulting his ability to recognize reality, leaving him gasping, and the strain on his internals sent eruptions of vomit past his lips.

“O, bur…”

Spinning, his vision twisted, and Subaru struggled to keep his consciousness focused.

His feet were off the ground. He felt soft fabric, like cloth, tightly constricting his whole body. The grip was not too tight, yet he couldn’t move, unable to find a spot to muster power to break free.

Struggling, he flailed with his fingertips and from his ankles up. Only the top part of his body, particularly his head, responded to his will, while the rest lay completely covered in the flowing shadows.

As his blurry vision regained clarity, Subaru froze in horror as he recognized a vast mound of shadow directly before him.

— Right there, at what felt like breathing distance, stood the witch.

She was closely scrutinizing the ensnared Subaru, observing him with intensity that could pierce through him, her gaze fixing on his own eyes, as if she could bore holes into him.

With his neck immobilized, he couldn’t escape her stare. Had he closed his eyes, he might have evaded the staring contest, yet somehow he felt denied even that respite, now facing down the “Witch of Jealousy.”

“I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”

The witch continued to pour out love in segmented tones, as if savoring each word despite the dire situation.

With no words to counter her, Subaru regained his voice, ignited by an unbearable defiance.

With every ounce of strength, he amplified his will to oppose the witch, fixing his gaze upon her.

“It’s not about distance. It’s about how your heart doesn’t resonate with mine!”

“I love you. I love you. — Love.”

His words were immediately eclipsed by one of the witch’s all-consuming declarations.

Frowning, Subaru felt as if what he just heard couldn’t possibly be correct. In reaction to his response, the witch lifted her head slightly.

“I love. I love. I love. I love. I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love,– I love.”

This time, Subaru felt genuine fear creep up his spine.

Until now, he had hidden behind feelings of defiance, pride, and rising anger, but faced with the witch’s altered addresses, he was left exposed.

No matter what was said, no matter how he protested, he had adamantly held his ground against her.

He had thought that the challenge to resist was validated by his oppositional emotions toward the “Witch of Jealousy.”

Now, that fleeting courage, that hasty conclusion, crumbled into a thousand pieces.

Abnormal. Distorted. Mad. Obsession. Malicious. A fiend. A witch.

She continued to whisper that she loved him, and realizing she could never have him, she now sought to forcibly claim him. Her greed took on an absurdly base display.

And with that understanding came clarity.

The witch wanted Natsuki Subaru, but did not see him.

The witch didn’t gaze upon Subaru himself, but was fixated on the vessel that was Natsuki Subaru. She desired merely the surface of him and craved love returned for that surface alone. It mattered not to her if recognition of having lost her rationality crept into her mind.

Loving Natsuki Subaru, to be loved by Natsuki Subaru.

That was all-encompassing for the “Witch of Jealousy,” a reason that could destroy worlds.

— It made no sense.

Understanding this, the only question swirling in Subaru was the same as before.

Why was the witch so fixated on him?

He had never met her, never spoken to her; they were facing each other for the very first time.

Why, then, was someone he’d never encountered so obsessively in love with him?

Nothing made sense. None of it was logical. It might be easy to say that love couldn’t be measured by reason but the witch’s love clearly transcended that dimension.

“――I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love.”

The witch, who wished to delude herself into thinking her shallow love was true love.

If only Subaru would respond with a single phrase of appreciation for her affection, she would undoubtedly release him from this state of bondage.

Normally, if Subaru were thinking more calculatively, if he were being cunning, he might have sweet-talked her in response to her advances.

Yet,

“――I hate you.”

“――――”

“I absolutely won’t love you.”

As if his soul were rejecting her, Subaru turned away the affection of the “Witch of Jealousy.”

“――――”

The witch went silent, for what felt like the umpteenth time.

There wouldn’t be many who could claim to have just so easily cut her down. Finding this a mildly amusing acclaim for Subaru, he slowly began to descend.

As Subaru’s body, wrapped in shadows, was lowered toward the ground, it didn’t signify its release.

Instead, Subaru’s being remained bound, and the shadows began to envelop him from his feet as he slowly sank into the swirling darkness beneath the witch’s feet.

Realizing that she could not claim his heart, the witch had apparently decided to encompass Subaru’s entirety. That felt far too direct, too blunt.

Yet, just as he began to succumb to fear as he felt his legs disappearing into shadow, doubt sparked in Subaru’s thoughts.

If he were swallowed into the shadows now, he would definitely lose his life.

That was a kind of resignation he could accept. To die was something he half anticipated with his opposition against the witch. He could come to terms with that.

However,

— What if all those past “deaths” had been jobs done through the witch’s power? What if this time he faced death at her hands? Could he still manage to redo this moment?

“――――!”

Refocusing his mind, Subaru made a feeble attempt at resistance. With his lower body already swallowed by the shadows, that effort felt frustratingly childish. Still, he couldn’t just do nothing.

If he thought more deeply about it, even whether he could evade death was uncertain with shadows encroaching; worse, he could be swallowed in such a way that he’d assimilate with the witch, unable to die even as he existed.

During a long, torturous time submerged like that, he couldn’t guarantee that his will or determination would last under the witch’s influence. Worthy of his conviction, he couldn’t entirely trust himself. Thus, he could not just resign to being devoured.

At worst, he would bite down hard on his tongue before submitting to the witch’s claimed descent. — That resolve burned on his thoughts just as—

“—u, oh?”

A sudden surge of warmth filled his chest, interrupting whatever resolution he had.

An intense heat ignited in his left chest, and Subaru lowered his gaze, confused. The warmth emanated from within, glowing visibly enough to radiate through the shadows surrounding him.

More astonishing was how the shadow that had been constricting him began to dissolve slowly from the source of light.

“This… means…!”

With the light flashing suddenly, before contemplating the source, Subaru twisted himself. Utilizing the power of illumination, he severed the shadowy robes binding him. Expanding the range of movement, Subaru confirmed he had liberated his arms and immediately reached to the source of light.

And in pocket, he grasped a fluttering handkerchief – it was Petra’s handkerchief, decorated with a gray cat embroidery.

“Why is this… no!”

He pushed any thoughts of that aside, and with a swift motion, Subaru whipped the handkerchief. What should have felt like soft fabric rapidly hardened, striking like a knife to slice through the shadows connecting the witch and the ground.

“――――”

“This is amazing! Now I can…!”

With that energy, Subaru thrust the handkerchief blade toward the shadows consuming his lower body.

The glowing edge of the handkerchief sank into the darkness, briefly causing the shadow to react, gathering towards the light, before suddenly bursting apart with no noise.

Left standing in the wake of the explosion was Subaru, arms thrown out toward the ground.

Immediately, he rolled backward to confirm the safety of his legs. He adopted a ready stance with the handkerchief, eyes racing over the shimmering brilliance it exuded.

Petra’s embroidered handkerchief. It seemed almost unbelievable that her feelings for Subaru could trigger such a miracle. At once, Subaru’s mind conjured a certain figure who might have been behind this handiwork.

“Could it be Echidna… did she foresee this happening?”

The image of the white-haired witch, who seemed to imply it was an insurance policy, flashed through his mind.

During his farewell at the tea party, Echidna had taken the handkerchief as a ‘cost.’ He hadn’t taken the time to ponder how the virtual world might interfere with reality, but the idea suggested that she could earnestly manipulate such outcomes from dreams to the tangible.

Regardless,

“If this gives me a means to fight back against the witch, I owe her gratitude.”

“――――”

Staring blankly, the witch stood frozen at the reality of her own shadows being cut away. Drawing in a short breath, Subaru took advantage of her moment of uncertainty to pivot sideways.

“Complacency is your worst enemy!”

From the side of the stagnant witch, Subaru executed an upward thrust of his handkerchief blade. The witch did not move. Yet from beneath her, shadows erupted as if on automatic defense, activating the “shadow dress” Garfiel had previously mentioned.

“――Rraaaaaaaa!”

Yet even that could not halt the brilliance that Subaru wielded.

The handkerchief with the sharpness of a knife sliced through the shadow dress with the ease of breaking through spider silk, its tip lunging unerringly toward the witch’s profile – making contact.

“I got it――!”

Feeling a solid impact, Subaru could not suppress his excitement, seizing the momentum to turn his stance. He spun in place to strike back, aiming the handkerchief back at the witch’s body.

“――Huh?”

Stopping in his tracks faced with the sight before him.

There, standing still, was the witch who looked directly at Subaru. The light attack that struck her side had undeniably reached, peeling away the previously obscured mask of shadows and exposing her face to the light.

The familiar, silver-haired girl stared blankly at Subaru, her expression frozen with lifeless eyes.

“Emilia…?”

She did not respond to his call; yet, everything around her was alive and moving.

The flow of shadows that had regained speed returned. Once thought dead, the mass surged from beneath Subaru to ensnare him again with no trace of mercy, forcing a scream from his lips.

The right side of his body became tightly bound, ensnared by the unwavering grip of the shadow. The only movable limb was his right arm, which reached for the handkerchief, albeit with limited mobility.

The shadows did not hesitate, dragging Subaru into the depths.

His lower body was engulfed, his left half up to his shoulder submerged, leaving only his right half above from chest up, with just his head barely sticking out.

Desperately lifting his neck, Subaru shouted out, “Emilia! Emilia!? What, why, what’s going on!?”

He had thought the loss of Emilia all but confirmed as the “Sanctuary” was drawn into the shadows — that she’d fallen prey to the “Witch of Jealousy.”

This resistance against the “Witch of Jealousy” had surely been meaningful for her.

— Why, then, did she wear the shadows, assaulting the “Sanctuary”?

His thoughts muddled, she offered no answers. She did not glance back at him. A piercing gaze with cold indigo hues made Subaru question if she even had any awareness remaining.

And yet, there was no time to verify that doubt.

“Guh, uh…”

As shadows continued to tug relentlessly, Subaru felt himself being drawn further under.

The areas submerged lost all sensation. If it were merely numbness, that could be withstood—but he was faintly losing all sense of existing. The risk of being swallowed entirely by shadows came rushing back.

Glancing at the shadow within his right hand—the dying handkerchief—and noting the fraction of freedom remaining, he made up his mind.

The white-haired witch resurfaced in thought.

He would like nothing more than to correct himself regarding her previous words, addressing the witch once more.

“Echidna, did you honestly anticipate it would come to this…?”

If that were truly the case, he might feel tears welling from the thorough consideration.

Even if they were tears, they were blood tears…

— Closing his eyes, seconds later, Subaru drove the edge of the handkerchief into his own throat.

He felt the sharp tip pierce flesh, creating a fatal wound in his neck. Blood surged back, inundating his throat and gushing into his lungs, drowning him in a red haze.

Suicide. The “Greedy” witch had orchestrated this opportunity for Subaru.

This was not a means to oppose the “Witch of Jealousy.” She had likely understood the contents of their conversation in the castle would trigger the “Witch of Jealousy’s” wrath, and indeed, payment would be exacted like this.

“――――!”

In response to Subaru’s self-inflicted end, the “Witch of Jealousy” erupted with her very first explosion of emotions other than love.

However, even in witnessing the woman he had always known, her features twisted in despair, he could scarcely comprehend as his consciousness slipped away.

Only, seeing the girl’s once-familiar face morph into anguish left distortion aching in his heart, even as he felt himself fading.

Warm blood flowed from his neck, soaking him, rendering him incapable of expressing the words he longed to share. Yet still, he spoke instead to her, not to the counterfeit she sought to fill.

“I will definitely–”

— Save you.

In the next heartbeat, Natsuki Subaru perished.