Crumbling, crumbling, falling apart.

Crumbling, crumbling, peeling away.

Crumbling, crumbling, fading away.

Crumbling, crumbling, crumbling, everything feels distant and sparkles.

△▼△▼△▼△

—Outside the tower, countless beasts stampede,突破 by the “Beast Master.”

—Second layer, defeat of Reid Astraea who stole the body of Roy Alphard.

—Fourth layer, defeat of the infamous blasphemer, the detested Archbishop of Sin Rai Batenkaitos.

—First layer, still unknown “test,” defeated thanks to Emilia’s valiant efforts.

In the siege of Pleiades Watchtower, the challenges prepared were cleared.

This too was the result of friends coming together, trusting each other, and combining their efforts.

If we were to put it in Emilia’s terms, we could say that “everyone getting along” lead to this result.

Thanks to that, we’ve made it this far.

Now then, it’s time for…

“—If everyone can’t win together, that’d just be a lie!”

Emilia said that when we first came to this Pleiades Watchtower.

We’re not going to lose something; we are here to reclaim what was lost.

Since we agreed to that, we must all return safely from the sandy sea. Regardless of whether the number returning increases compared to when we arrived, it’s just as important.

Subaru, Emilia, Beatrice, Ram, Rem, Meily, Anastasia=Echidna, Julius, and Patrasche, along with Shaula, should all be included.

No matter how noisy or annoying the return trip becomes, it doesn’t matter.

“—Let’s go!”

The two spirit knights stood side by side, with Julius taking the lead, as was expected.

Temporarily stepping away from the timing of healing, Julius retrieved Kua to restore the spirit’s power as he wrapped himself in the aurora that borrowed the might of six spirits.

Judging by the effect of “Cor Leonis,” a tremendous amount of the ether’s light was exchanged for significant stress on both Julius and the spirits.

He’s sure putting on quite a show. But nobody intends to fight long from the start.

“—It’s a short-term decisive battle.”

With a rainbow trail behind him, Julius ran across the sands as if flying.

Closing the distance in an instant, his slash approached the red scorpion. The red scorpion caught this with its fierce compound eyes and swung its massive pincers and tail spikes to deflect it.

However, the scorpion’s shell emitted white smoke upon contact with the rainbow strike.

It melted.

Julius’ slash, now transformed into a rainbow, constantly activated the magical sword “Al-Clarista,” not even allowing for proper defenses to make contact.

Furthermore, the rainbow light that enveloped him wasn’t just for show.

“—”

From close range, the red scorpion’s tail spike struck, a lethal stab known as “Hell’s Snipe,” which had killed Subaru more than ten times and was the cause of Emilia and Julius’ deaths.

But instead of deflecting it with his sword, Julius diverted it with the aurora’s defense.

The thin layer of aurora wrapped around him was an application of the magical concept “Al-Crauzelia,” which creates a wall of rainbows.

In other words, this was offense and defense combined—an ultra-dimensional swordsman that should be called a “Rainbow Spirit Knight.”

“—!!”

The red scorpion faced a disaster as its lethal attacks failed and defenses crumbled.

But even a colossal beast who spent four hundred years as a guardian of the tower had its pride. The red scorpion intensified the glow of its crimson shell, releasing heat from its large pincers to strike Julius fiercely, sending the rainbow knight flying.

The pincers bore fierce heat, distorting the atmosphere surrounding the red scorpion.

Scorching large pincers— if Subaru were to name it, he’d call it “Jesus Scissors Hellfire Form.”

It’s admirable to see such an effort to display a new technique at this point, trying to make the final battle more exciting, but I, on the receiving side, would prefer not to see any further development from this foe.

Enemies that grow and break through their shells aren’t what anyone wishes for right now.

“Minya!!”

The bright red pincers swept through the atmosphere, targeting Julius, but a purple arrow intercepted from the side.

Subaru alone lacked the strength to intervene in this ultimate battle between Julius and the red scorpion. While Beatrice provided support for Julius, Subaru looked for his chance to play.

“—”

While being careful not to get killed by the aftershocks, Subaru’s gaze flickered towards the sand, now swept away by what appeared to be a whirlwind and the swarm of beasts pushed back from there.

In the setting of Augria Sand Dunes, the damage and vigilance that the beasts brought to Subaru and the crew were especially considerable.

The sight of them looking on from a certain distance away from the tower felt strange.

When the clouds around the watchtower cleared, Emilia likely rewrote the tower’s rules on the first layer.

With its application, some sort of measure to keep magical beasts from approaching worked. Originally, it seemed that the watchtower prevented magical beasts from coming near, so the state of the stampede was unnatural.

In any case, the situation where beasts wouldn’t interfere was beneficial for Subaru and the others who wanted to return Shaula back to her senses.

“—Subaru!!”

“Ah.”

A voice reached Subaru, who was cutting obliquely through the sandy sea for proper positioning.

He looked up, and the red scorpion, having dodged Julius’s thrust, inadvertently landed right beside him.

Stopping abruptly upon hearing Beatrice’s plea, Subaru found himself facing the magical beast’s tail as it swayed, with the deadly intent of ‘death’ becoming evident.

“Guts—!!”

“—Murak!”

Subaru’s judgment was synchronized with Beatrice’s.

Giving a slight reduction to the effects of gravity, both Subaru and Beatrice became as light as cotton candy. At the same time, the whip Subaru launched wrapped around the root of the red scorpion’s tail.

The next moment, they were spun around due to the tail’s momentum, as Subaru and Beatrice soared through the air at high speed.

“Wha—”

“Buhyan!?”

Instead of being spun, they were flung off.

Just as Subaru thought his feet were floating, he and Beatrice were slammed hard into the sand.

Even when feeling as light as cotton candy, if the surface were hard ground, their bodies would have shattered to pieces, but thankfully, the sand allowed only breathlessness.

“I’ll have to give up on chasing—!”

“—!!”

The red scorpion, targeting the buried Subaru and Beatrice, embarked on its assault, yet the rainbow light that cut in from the side obstructed it, triggering a clash of scorching heat and auroras.

Light scattered, and each time it did, the sandy sea fractured, generating shockwaves under the clear sky that stirred up sandstorms.

The destructive power was evenly matched, with speed favoring Julius and endurance on the side of the red scorpion—without a decisive strike, the time might run out, leading them to be overwhelmed.

“—Pepp, pepp! Damn it, we need to figure something out!”

“—Pepp, pepp! We need to find a way to win!”

Subaru and Beatrice, both emerging from the sand, spat out sand in unison.

Teary-eyed and searching for a way to reach Shaula with Subaru’s exhortations and Julius’s rainbow, they examined their options.

There were three possibilities to cling to—

Julius would achieve further awakening and decisively defeat the red scorpion for an infuriating win.

Subaru and Beatrice would complete a new technique, sealing the red scorpion and securing team victory.

Emilia would suddenly fall from the sky, and cute enough to bring about peace in the world, initiating love and peace.

“I want to lean towards the first among the three, but…”

It wouldn’t be a surprise to not believe in his own awakening, nor have any expectations on a fortunate appearance from Emilia.

Therefore, Julius’s raw power would be the biggest hope…

“But even that, he’s done it once already, so expecting a repeat is asking too much…”

At a speed Subaru could not track, the duel between Julius and the red scorpion persisted.

As he watched the devastation that risked burning him should he get close, Subaru sought the next move.

Ultimately, all he could do was exhaust every card he had to fight.

So at least let him not miss any chance, and fulfill Natsuki Subaru.

“Think, think, think…”

With his mind at full throttle, seeking no optimistic views or fairy tales, but something real.

And then, after searching through his cards, Subaru realized.

He had one last card left, untouched.

“—Beako!”

“Have you thought of something?”

Beatrice responded as if she had been waiting for Subaru’s call.

Feeling fortunate to have a partner who understood him, Subaru, shouting “Ah!” tightly interlocked their hands as he nodded firmly.

And then—

“—I’m going to use all the power from this journey right here!”

△▼△▼△▼△

Crumbling, crumbling, falling apart.

Crumbling, crumbling, peeling away.

Crumbling, crumbling, fading away.

Crumbling, crumbling, crumbling, everything feels distant and sparkles.

Before him, a rainbow light raced fiercely as he swung both arms instinctively to ward it off.

The bright red pincers of his hands secreted enough firepower to cut through everything, be it rock or steel, assuredly slicing through it like butter.

“Well, I’m not quite sure what butter even is…”

While babbling with half-remembered knowledge, he pursued the sparkling target.

However, the open space above the broad sandy sea had no obstacles, so he could not close in effectively. In an impenetrable area, or in long-range combat, this would undoubtedly be his stage—

“A sniper thrives in solitude!”

This too was learned knowledge: being a sniper means patiently waiting until the prey is in sight.

Thus, he waited. Proudly as a sniper, he continued to linger.

Day after day, he stared longingly at the distance, keeping watch on those coming to the tower.

There were rules. Rules that bound him to this tower.

There had been times when he found them bothersome, but without them, the forgetful him would have surely forgotten many things quickly.

Everything; moments of walking together, conversations shared, days spent, and feelings exchanged—all of it.

“Ah… I really hate that.”

Everything gradually left him behind.

If told to wait, he could wait forever, but if he was going to be made to wait, he wanted them to return. If they came back, he could wait indefinitely.

So—

“I was so happy when my Master returned.”

Everyone had disappeared.

He had lost confidence in whether he could trust those words when they said they would come back.

Had he believed enough to wait, or was he just waiting out of inertia? He couldn’t find the answer. He hadn’t even thought about it.

There was no need to think about it. Because before he could decompose, the promise was kept.

“I’m such a lucky person, Master.”

So, he wished for them to stay. It would be lovely if they could just spend their time here.

No longer feeling lonely, he thought it was time to graduate from being a sniper. Having graduated from that, he thought he deserved some form of reward.

“I don’t want to be left behind anymore, Master. …I also want to be loved.”

Everything had left him behind.

This time, he wanted to follow unceasingly, forever.

So—

“I want you to love me. —Master.”

△▼△▼△▼△

Shaking, the light of the red scorpion’s shell grew more vivid.

It was assumed to be a distinct reaction of “attack color,” but Subaru saw it differently.

That brilliant red seemed the result of Shaula screaming her feelings.

For four hundred years, Shaula had confined her emotions, obeying orders, staying inside this tower, but now her overwhelming feelings exploded, radiating brightly.

Red is passion, red is fervor, red is the color of an uncontrollable “love.”

The red scorpion shines red because it surely loves someone and wishes to be loved back.

“—The woman of Scorpio is said to be affectionate, after all!”

Subaru shouted with strength, kicking the sand as he used his shoulders broadly to release the whip.

“—”

His target, the flirty red scorpion, turned its back on him while engaging in a duel with Julius.

Although he felt apologetic for interrupting its busy business, he asserted with the whip that the one it coveted, its master, was right here. While becoming annoyed and dismissive when pulled close—

“Even if you end up with another guy, that’s just annoying for a man’s heart—!!”

“Subaru, that’s the most awful thing to say!”

Pushed onward by Beatrice’s harsh words, the whip Subaru launched expertly wrapped itself around the base of the red scorpion’s tail.

However, that changed nothing about the present situation where they had previously been spun around and buried in the sand.

The red scorpion, possibly reminded of the previous result of their light tug-of-war, concentrated all its attention on Julius, leaving Subaru and Beatrice to second place.

They were weak. —That realization was exploited.

“El Vita—!!”

“Guhhhh!!”

As Beatrice began to chant magic, the effects washed over Subaru’s entire body, increasing the weight so tremendously that it buried both legs in the sand.

Opposite to Murak, which lightens the influence of gravity, Vitar intensified it—by raising his weight from a mere sumo category to a Yokozuna class, to match the power of the red scorpion’s tail.

Yet, of course, even that was still insufficient. Even though it was heavier, it barely reached over a hundred kilos at best. It didn’t compare to Shaula’s monstrous strength that could even easily carry a dragon cart.

So—

“—Here’s the moment to shine! Do it!!”

Subaru shouted with power as he put strength into his arms, burying his feet into the sand.

The next moment, Subaru’s body was held in place by the tug of the red scorpion’s tail, almost pulled away.

The reason was clear; their opposing forces had reached an equilibrium. Between the red scorpion and Subaru—no, among Subaru’s group.

“—!!”

In front of Subaru who stood his ground, a starving King of Beasts decided to join the tug-of-war, grabbing hold of the taut whip.

And the participation in this unparalleled tug-of-war was not limited to the starving King of Beasts.

A bear adorned with flowers, a mole with wings, and a suspicious snake joined the fray.

Enemies which should have opposed him aided Subaru’s fight.

This could only happen because—

“…Seriously, you’re so demanding.”

The voice of a girl cloaked in a discontented, lethargic atmosphere spoke.

The girl panting with a pale expression on the sandy ground was—Meily.

She tightened her delicate facial features and took a long, deep breath.

Then she clapped her hands together firmly.

“Everyone, come on in! It’s such a waste to just watch!”

Meily’s voice echoed as she clapped, the sandy sea shifted slightly in response.

That was the heavy footsteps of the approaching magical beasts and their cries, capturing the magic zone called the Augria Sand Dunes—no, she could no longer be called simply a “Beast Master.”

It was the resurgence of “Mother of Beasts,” a presence that once ravaged the southern empire.

This battle rightly re-established a full-force stampede.

“—”

The pained expression on Meily’s face belonging to the magical beasts as they continuously served as the same comrades under an imposed fate was a poignant sight for them.

Yet, Subaru’s brain resisted understanding her words.

However, his instincts understood. —This isn’t death.

This was the inevitable conclusion that would come when she was entrusted with the watchtower for four hundred years.

“Then… if we didn’t come here…”

Would she possibly have stayed forever, living in this sandy tower, waiting eternally for someone who never came back — here?

“—Subaru, you should know. That assumption is an insult to her.”

“—”

“And what you should do is not regret.”

The knight, having already sheathed his sword, adjusted his blood-soaked and sandy attire, spoke.

Cold and cruel, yet he was entirely correct.

Clenching his teeth, Subaru hid the bitterness against that righteousness and exhaled.

Then, squeezing the lonely girl who had been all alone for so long, he held her tighter.

Having been abandoned, she spent a long time in a place with no one.

Slowly, no longer alone, he held her at his side as she was sent away.

Subaru, Beatrice, Julius, Meily.

A faint presence of someone running from the distant tower. It was the companions who remained in the tower.

Everyone was gathering together for her, who had spent so much time alone.

“But all I need is for you to be alone, Master.”

The image of her saying something so adorable appeared vividly in his mind, and tears sprang forth.

Slowly, the droplet traveled down Subaru’s cheek, softly brushed by the fanged maw of the magical beast.

With sharp fangs ready to destroy anything, delicate as Subaru, more fragile than anyone present, would not be broken. It treated him gently, tenderly.

And then—

“—Ah.”

The enveloping arms suddenly lost their feel.

The crumbling exterior of the red scorpion unraveled into dust. Black dust danced above the sandy ground, and Subaru opened wide his mouth.

“Shaula…”

“Yes, Master.”

“Shaula… Shaula… Shaula…”

“Did you call for me, Master?”

“Shaula, Shaula…”

“Oh no, I’ve been loved too much by you, Master! It’s really a problem now~!”

When he closed his eyes, her answering voice echoed in his ears.

Yet she was already nowhere to be found.

“—Ah.”

Knelling on the sandy ground, Subaru frantically clawed at the sand.

A voice reached his eardrum, but he couldn’t identify whose it was. Without time to confirm, he merely looked up reflexively to find himself wide-eyed.

A small, palm-sized entity crawled out from the black dust that settled upon the sandy ground.

With two pincers digging through the sand, a small red armored creature appeared, skillfully using its tail to yank itself out of the sand.

“—”

It came close to Subaru, kneeling on the ground, gently nuzzling its tiny claw against his sandy hand.

The simple gesture felt so reminiscent of that charming presence—

△▼△▼△▼△

Crumbling, crumbling, falling apart.

Crumbling, crumbling, peeling away.

Crumbling, crumbling, fading away.

Crumbling, crumbling, crumbling, everything feels distant and sparkles.

Crumbling, crumbling, crumbling, everything feels distant and shines brightly.

—Because you were there amid everything shimmering.

“Four hundred years were like tomorrow’s tomorrow.”

“Because I was loving you even while waiting.”

“Hey, Master. So, until we meet again—”

“Someday, I want to meet you again, Master.”

“Next time, it’ll be your turn to wait for me, okay? The pursued woman will become the pursuer.”

“—Master, it’s an important, precious promise.”

“This time, please don’t forget.”

“—Master, I love you.”

△▼△▼△▼△

“You’re such a fool.”

Subaru murmured with a trembling voice, feeling delighted at the thought of not being forgotten.

Then he delicately lifted that gentle touch from the back of his hand, cradling it in both hands.

It tickled him, like a little scorpion trembling.

Its shell was red, so vividly red to the eye, bright red.

—It was the color of “love” that could not be faded even by four hundred years.