――Using the “Soul Marriage Technique” on the castle, even communicating with inanimate objects through Aether.

That must be the bizarre reality of Yorna’s unbelievable phenomenon, utilizing the spiral-shaped roof tiles as her foothold.

Abel mentioned that her “Soul Marriage Technique” being applied to at least the hundred people pursuing Subaru and the others was already abnormal, but it goes beyond that.

If she is sharing Aether even with her own castle and smoking pipes…

“That sounds incredibly unhealthy…!”

First of all, the very act of transferring mana to someone else is quite tiring.

In fact, Subaru, who regularly exchanges mana with Beatrice, has experienced firsthand just how taxing it can be.

While crossing the sandy sea to reach the watchtower, even though it was necessary, he was left exhausted after giving Beatrice a significant amount of mana.

And that was just a connection with Beatrice— the risks multiply over a hundred fold in Yorna’s case.

On top of that, she possesses enough power to unleash an incredible battle on her own.

It was hard to believe that she could be left in a fatigued state while distributing her strength to others and still manage to obliterate a castle with her heel.

“Haha, what an odd technique you’re using. No matter how long I live, I keep encountering unknown skills, it’s truly a headache.”

“That’s the fertile soil of such techniques. There’s no use lamenting. From my perspective, Roswaal’s skills are troublesome enough… best erased.”

“Ha ha ha! You think you can erase me so easily… ugh!?”

Roswaal laughed loudly, then immediately leaped back in response to the hostility directed at him.

In that instant, the roof beneath Roswaal’s feet exploded, sending roof tiles flying upward from the impact below. As if it were vengeance for Yorna’s earlier attack that sent her soaring.

Moreover, unlike Roswaal’s strike, Yorna’s attacks continued to rain down relentlessly.

Boom, boom, boom! The shockwaves chased after the spinning Roswaal as he rotated backward. Yorna was able to accomplish this simply by elegantly waving her fingers on the tiles that were fixed in midair.

“Ha! Ho! Ha! You’re impressive!”

“Roswaal, you are quite resilient.”

“Against a mere insect, you don’t understand the plight of an elder. But—”

He cut off his words as the spinning Roswaal twisted his body. In that position, he faced backward as the waves of roof tiles rose to greet him.

He was caught between the shockwaves coming from the front and the crashing waves of tiles from behind— like a scene from a vast ocean, the sight was something Subaru could hardly believe.

However, the unbelievable sight only continued in the next moment.

“——”

As the waves of roof tiles surged, Roswaal kicked off, heading straight towards them with his head down.

Though it looked like waves, these tiles retained their hardness and weight.

If he dove in headfirst, he’d be subject to crushing blows that could break bones, causing a catastrophic scene. Subaru instinctively covered the face of a startled Lui, groaning, “Ugh!”

But that cruel outcome did not occur.

“An application of the earth-submerging technique, am I not impressive for pulling it off on a whim?”

At the moment of impact, Roswaal dove silently into the waves like a fish, bursting out from behind the advancing roof waves. Grinding his heels on the chipped tiles, Roswaal flashed a cunning smile, revealing his white teeth and acting as if he had the situation under control.

In reality, he had yet to show his true power.

On the other hand, while Yorna may have unveiled the fearsome nature of her “Soul Marriage Technique,”

“While you scurry about like that, does Roswaal’s scheme still bear fruit?”

She looked down at the old man from the sky with calm composure, completely unharmed.

Both had only revealed mere fragments of their abilities. Nonetheless, that alone was enough to prove the incredible strength of the Empire’s greatest force, the “Nine Divine Generals.”

However, if the battle continued at this pace, with neither party conceding, there was a palpable sense of continued stalemate.

It wasn’t just Subaru and the others observing from the sidelines who felt this impression.

“Good grief, that’s some painful talk. But if ‘Three’ is stubbornly holding out against ‘Seven’, it’s only natural to get the ire of His Excellency, huh?”

“So, what shall we do?”

“Well, it isn’t as if I was just idly running away…”

With a furrowed brow, Yorna asked, and Roswaal stroked his chin while briefly checking his gaze elsewhere.

His glimmering yellow eyes shifted toward the two children watching the battle—

“——”

“Elder!!”

Roswaal’s gaze sharpened in an instant, causing Subaru to shrink back.

Immediately, Yorna kicked a tile with her foot and launched herself fiercely at Roswaal. Once again, Yorna’s fierce strike fell upon Roswaal just as it had before.

However—

“That’s why you won’t manage to even reach His Excellency with such a rebellious mindset.”

Roswaal spat disdainfully, swiftly raising his comparatively shorter legs, which could barely compare to Yorna’s thick-soled heels. Yet, their soles collided head-on as a shockwave whipped back their long hair dramatically.

Yorna grit her teeth while Roswaal clenched his, and a second later, both bodies were sent flying in opposite directions.

Seeing the distance between them widen, Roswaal thrust his arms into his sleeves, pulling out something—a total of eight black orbs, four from each hand.

“Food bombs!?”

“They may appear so, but you’d be in real trouble if you eat them. They’re stuffed with crushed fire magic stones.”

Hearing Subaru’s horrified scream, Roswaal laughed as he waved his arms energetically.

If his words were to be trusted, then those black orbs were bombs. And they were flung towards Yorna, who had shown a significant opening— no, it was not simply that.

“The previous rebellion, the ones that went against each other? They wouldn’t dare do such things with those types, so this should be a refreshing change, huh?”

Roswaal said, grinning, as he tossed the bombs high into the expansive sky above the roof.

He wasn’t aiming at anything specifically, but that was exactly the point. For Roswaal, as long as the bombs fell somewhere with people, that was sufficient.

And that alone—

“I heard your people in this city are quite sturdy, but… do they truly measure up to my village?”

“—You scoundrel!”

The bombs were small in size, their concealed power unknown.

Moreover, it was uncertain how many people Yorna’s “Soul Marriage Technique” was affecting throughout the city. Therefore, leaving those bombs unattended was nothing short of reckless.

Yorna made the same judgment instantly. Thus—

“Yahhhhhh!!”

With a determined stomp that was strong enough to shatter the roof, Yorna swung her arm back. Grasped within that arm was a smoking pipe, previously used in her attack against Roswaal.

As her arm swung, smoke billowed forth, tracing the same arc, the mass-laden violet smoke slicing through the air of the Chaos Frame as if it were a horizontal slash.

The weighty violet smoke ensnared each of the bombs scattered about.

In the next moment, phenomenal explosions erupted in a chain reaction, filling the castle’s air with deafening noise and shockwaves. One of the explosions occurred right beside Subaru, dazzling him and making him unable to stand.

“Ugh—”

As explosions ignited, he recalled hearing somewhere that when an explosion happens, one should cover their ears and open their mouths.

Failing to do both, Subaru suffered significant damage. His head spun, and his vision turned crimson. That was how out of the ordinary Roswaal’s bombs were.

The fact that he went around carrying multiple of those was madness.

Unhesitatingly, he aimed to scatter them across the city as well, which was blatantly obvious—.

“Ugh!”

A cry erupted, and Subaru felt a small hand shake his shoulder.

When he looked, he saw Lui’s face reflected in his blurry red vision, her expression strained. Trembling lips quaked as tears gathered in her blue eyes.

While witnessing that turmoil, Subaru attempted to respond with a “It’s okay,” but—

“—agh”

In the edge of his red vision, he spotted Roswaal appearing behind Yorna.

“——”

Doubled over in the chaos of tackling the falling bombs, Yorna was still poised with her smoking pipe outstretched. Roswaal was pulling back an arm, preparing to strike with a sword hand.

His target was the center of Yorna’s back, a position that could easily puncture her heart in a comic.

Whether something like a comic could truly occur was indeterminate. But thus far, Yorna and Roswaal had proven themselves to be superhumans with powers akin to those of a comic.

At this rate, Yorna would die. So—

“Lui—!”

Grabbing the hand of Lui perched on his shoulder, Subaru pointed toward Yorna and the others.

He had communicated and rehearsed the procedures well before entering the castle, and now it was time to execute them, leading to Lui’s wide-eyed astonishment.

Then in an instant, Subaru’s vision sparkled, and teleportation happened.

And—

“Ah”

Barely taking a breath, Subaru let slip a dazed response.

The reason was simple; even in his deeply crimson vision, he was suddenly struck by a tepid sensation. It was caused by some liquid that splashed onto his face.

As he tried to wipe that sensation away with his arm, he felt an oddity.

The hand grasping Lui’s arm felt far too light.

“What the… was that? You guys should have been frozen over there, right?”

Roswaal’s incredulous voice reached him, and Subaru raised his dumbfounded face. The blurry vision revealed the figure of the elderly man, shaking his head vigorously.

Within the red hue, Roswaal’s unusually red arm waved back and forth.

“Lui…?”

Subaru called out her name while looking at Lui, tightening his grip on her hand.

He felt an urgent need to flee from the scene immediately. It seemed he might have to teleport again, probably more than twice. He expected to vomit, but that was something he could endure.

He had to endure and leave this place right away.

So—

“Lui! If we don’t hurry—”

“No, that would be cruel to say. Her head’s not even there!”

“—Huh?”

Taken aback by that blunt response, Subaru found it hard to comprehend the meaning.

Maybe he was in shock, mentally shriking back, as that caused his brain to not grasp the situation. Told something incomprehensible and his mind resisted understanding, leading to—

The idea of “No head?” was far too absurd for him to process.

“How dare you… done that to me!!”

Just then, alongside an angry voice, something pierced through above Subaru’s head. Roswaal jumped sideways, barely avoiding the fierce impact that ran in a straight line through where he’d been standing moments ago, leading to yet another destruction of the recently repaired castle.

But Roswaal was undeterred by such an impactful strike, remarking—

“Ooh, scary, scary. But you should be thankful, fox girl.”

“Why would I be?!”

“Without that kid and girl entering, you would have been dead, wouldn’t you? Well, at this pace, it’s only a matter of time.”

“——”

Waving his fingers, Roswaal continued in an affable tone.

Yorna, who had held her breath, briefly diverted her gaze from the old man and turned toward Subaru. However, he found himself crumpling to the ground, merely managing to pull Lui’s light form closer.

“L-Lui…”

His vision remained blood-red, obscuring Lui’s figure.

Was this an abnormality in his own vision or was Lui’s appearance genuinely stained red? He couldn’t distinguish between the two.

All he could say was this—. “Lui is dead.”

Subaru was uncertain as to what he should do with her or what could possibly be done, yet no answers surfaced.

Subaru had acted as he said, leading to the outcome of her death.

Subaru had permitted her to die.

“Child! Child, look at me!”

Forcefully, Subaru’s downturned face was lifted as hands grasped his cheeks.

Before him, there was a beautiful woman’s face against the red backdrop, and it took him a moment to realize it was Yorna, her expression wrought with grief.

It was different from the confident face she’d shown Subaru and the false emperor yesterday.

It also contrasted sharply with the gentle expression she displayed earlier in an attempt to treat Subaru and his companions kindly.

Right now, Yorna’s eyes trembled as they gazed sorrowfully at Subaru.

Only understanding came slowly through the reflection of sorrow in Yorna’s eyes before him.

“—Ah”

Kneeling down, Subaru’s face was horrid.

The left eyeball had burst into a sea of red, while the right had spilled from the socket, stringing along with it. The shocking impact of the explosion had forced his eyes out.

It appeared as though he’d stepped right into a poorly-made zombie movie’s special effects, which was borderline absurd.

“Hoo…”

Subaru sighed, realizing his situation, and the view of only his left eye began to waver. Yet, Yorna wouldn’t allow him to collapse.

Trembling her lips, Yorna called out, “Child…” while looking into Subaru’s eyes.

“—Love me, right now.”

She declared, her forward gaze earnest and resolute.

To ask for love now— that was absurdly unreasonable. First off, he had no idea how to even do that. Loving someone was no easy feat.

Yorna was nice and beautiful, but…

“Child! If you love me, those wounds will…”

“Hahaha! Hey now, what an outlandish thing to say, seriously. I have no clue, but love doesn’t just sprout up that simply, does it?”

“Shut up!”

Yorna yelled back at Roswaal, her eyes deepening with intensity.

Witnessing her so close, Subaru gasped his ragged breaths, beginning to accept the waves of pain approaching him.

Even with one eyeball bursting and another popping out, these were not fatal injuries.

Unlike Lui, he still had his head. Thus, he anticipated a world of pain to come. He would surely howl and cry, becoming a great nuisance to Yorna.

He would refuse to let anyone get burdened any further—

“Child”

Being called by that singular word, Subaru’s consciousness flickered slightly.

In that split second, Yorna’s serious face moved closer.

“——”

Yorna’s lips touched Subaru’s, connecting with his.

A soft feeling pressed against his face, and he could feel her breath close by. It took him a moment to realize he’d been kissed.

Due to his inexperience and the fact that he was simply young, it took him time to register what was happening. The scant memories were far off, filled with touches of emotion he had once felt, but this—.

“My lips aren’t cheap. With this…”

As she completed the kiss and drew her face back, Yorna’s words drifted off. Yet, the continuation of her sentence lingered in the air, and Subaru slowly grasped its implications.

She was probably suggesting— with this act, could he really learn to love her?

If Subaru came to love Yorna, then the situation would change.

That was surely the source of Yorna’s power or the reason behind her strength, in some way.

But—

“I have someone I love…”

In the depths of the crimson vision, the face of the girl he loved floated before him.

Seeing her smile caused his heart to race. Therefore, he couldn’t bring himself to love Yorna.

Because he couldn’t, the moment he spoke those words out loud, it was heartbreaking to see Yorna’s expression crumble with deep sorrow.

“—Well, matters between men and women hardly ever go smoothly.”

In that instant, a tone of disappointment echoed, and Subaru’s vision shifted.

“——”

The face of Yorna that had been so close suddenly vanished, exposing a sky stained in red.

Like Lui’s teleportation, the shifting of his view quickly transitioned— no, this was different from Lui’s.

Lui’s teleportation revealed a vibrant, pristine world instantaneously.

But what was now happening to Subaru felt coarse, messy. The vision spun chaotically as if overlapping and seamlessly flowed without interruptions.

Directly below him stood Yorna on her knees, while beside her stood Roswaal. To Yorna’s side lay the unconscious form of a girl— whom Subaru guessed to be Lui.

Additionally, between Yorna and Roswaal, there stood something— someone—.

That was—

“——Ah”

It was the body of a young Subaru without a head.

“Good grief, killing a child is quite the mental strain, you know? Though physically, it’s rather easy for me, though.”

“Elder—!!”

With a scream as raw as a cough of blood, Yorna barreled toward Roswaal. Roswaal received her attack head-on, and their bodies crashed into each other, causing Crimson Lapis Castle to shake violently.

It trembled, cracked, shattered— destruction spread further and wider; what became of it all—

From that point on, Subaru lost all understanding.

Nothing made sense anymore. He drifted away, his head bouncing atop the roof—

Bouncing—.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　△▼△▼△▼△

――A dark, dark space pulled him in.

“——”

There was nothing. Floating. No limbs, incomprehensible. Neither sky nor ground existed. Drifted and undulating— unable to fight or taste, or tremble in fear within that void.

It resembled something seen many times, yet felt like the first time witnessing it.

Slowly receding, endlessly closing in—

An endless void that seemed to represent eternal darkness.

Amidst that oppressive blackness, a sound resonated.

The sound of someone quietly sobbing, a voice lacking presence that struck against an invisible chest, a voice—

“I love you…”

It was a declaration of love.

A voice conveying feelings of love, a plea for affection, a cry for love, a sharing of love, resonating with the essence of love.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.”

Layered in declarations of love that should have contained a variety of emotions.

Happy, angry, sad, joyful— swirling emotions.

Yet, here, in this eternal blackness, was filled only with a single emotion.

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

All the emotions, swirling with love, filled solely with “sadness.”

Sorrow being, sorrowing, the sadness causing the expression of love to weep.

The weeping would not cease.

Just listening felt suffocating— it would satisfy the instinct to want to die.

“Sad love, sad emotions, feelings of love sorrowing, love sorrowing deeply.”

Tears fell, love was filled with sorrow, while finally, intertwined with sadness.

“—Where are you?”

“Based on what I’ve heard, it seems the people in your city are quite sturdy… so, are they sturdier than my village folks?”

“—You scoundrel!”

Suddenly, the spinning crimson view whirled away, followed by a blaring voice that struck the eardrums.

One was an old man; the other, a woman— instantly, he recognized it was Roswaal and Yorna.

Realization came crashing down like a wave.

“Eh…?”

“Yahhhhhh!!”

Subaru let out an overwhelmed cry as Yorna’s feet smashed powerfully through the castle roof. Simultaneously, she swung her golden smoking pipe high.

An enormous arc swept across, the blow came with incredible speed and destructive power, casting violet smoke high into the air of the Chaos Frame.

Whatever was to happen next was understood by Subaru.

Though he understood and knew, the knowledge barely caught up to the reality.

—The explosive bomb struck by Yorna’s violet mist detonated, engulfing the surroundings in shockwaves.

“Ugh—“

Once again, the same shock pulverized him, rendering Subaru’s vision decidedly red.

He heard the sound of something tiny breaking, connecting the red around him to something that had just shattered. His eyeball must have burst. Thus, the view turned blood-red.

Then, for the other half, why did it plunge into darkness—

“AH, GIGIIIIII—!!”

With both hands covering his face, Subaru screamed, suffering pain and “understanding” together.

He now “understood.” That one of his eyeballs had burst while the other was pushed out. While his brain denied the acceptance of that pain, he could easily disregard it.

But had he understood the consequence from the start, he wouldn’t be able to nullify that pain.

“Achah! Ahh, gigi—giga—!”

“Ugh! Ugh!”

Dropping backward where he lay, Subaru was enveloped by small arms that clung to him.

A voice called his name. He didn’t comprehend it. His ears rang as if they were buzzing. He couldn’t hear his voice, which was far too loud. The pain pulsated within him, overwhelming him with sounds of his own blood rushing and flowing inside and out. Pain— it hurt so much. It hurt, hurt, hurt— it was terrible.

“Someone help! I don’t want to feel this pain. I don’t want to face this! I don’t want to die—”

“Woah—!”

“Hey, hey! That’s a bad move!”

“——!”

The pain whirled around in his head, while the crimson view seemed to gleam.

Next came the grip of someone trying to restrain him as he thrashed about, blocking his way. Thus, he needed to scream louder, thrash more violently to release that pain from his body.

That wasn’t the problem— his face and ears. So, if pain struck another part, would perhaps that pain redirect?

“Ugh! Ugh, waah!”

Banging his head against the ground. Stronger force returns to consciousness. Someone from behind restrained him, making him immobile. It hurt, he was scared of pain. Terrified of dying.

“Grrr…”

“Ah! You’re serious, fox girl. How is it possible you’re alive after that? Were you trying to convey the message that it was because Cecilis couldn’t behead you?”

“…There’s no way I would reveal the secrets of a maiden to a brute who harms children.”

From afar, voices of disagreement bubbled forth. Lost between his own grumbling voice and those attempting to silence him, words failed to congeal. The pain was everything that felt wrong.

Yes, everything felt wrong. The red, the pain, it all felt wrongful. All of it, it was the cause.

“That’s the cause…! That’s it, it’s all wrong! I’m not to blame! I’m not at fault! Uggiiiii—!”

“Ugh—!”

Thrashed about, Subaru swung at everything, trying to cast it away. If he could escape, what would he do afterward?

That was something he’d consider once he fled. He had to escape, then think onward.

“Ugh! The weeping of children is unbearable. — Holy crap.”

“Wait right there—!”

A desperate voice rang in contrast with a dismissive tone.

After hearing those, something approached with a sound that seemed to flake away. The figure restraining him from behind sprang forward, tightly wrapping around Subaru.

Yet, being held ensured nothing.

For that crimson radiance swelled and consumed Yorna and the others.

Devouring the pain, and with it—.

“Huh, based on what I’ve heard, it seems the people in your city are quite sturdy… are they sturdier than those from my village?”

“—You scoundrel!”

In an instant, the voice he’d heard earlier echoed, his consciousness fading into white.

“Eh…?”

Everything abruptly halted, becoming jarring as the frame reset right after.

The once red view regained its losing colors, sound returned to his ear with the gentle winds blowing, he felt a warm body of a soft girl by his side, and then—

“Yahhhhhh!!”

A brave woman’s voice rang out brightly, and in that moment, her arm swung with astounding force.

The trajectory of her swing unfurled results he was already familiar with.

—The cascading series of explosive sounds echoed, staining his vision red with shockwaves.

“Gahhh—!!”

Covering his face, while dealing with the agony of bursting eyeballs and that shooting pain, Subaru found himself toppled onto the roof with a scream.

“Ugh! Ughhhh!”

Atop that fallen form came the sound of someone’s voice, on the verge of tears.

As Subaru felt that sensation, a buzzing filled the air while the pain and suffering seemed like cries echoed around.

He felt the overwhelming flood of confusion— he was likely dead. He grasped that notion.

He sensed the death. It felt painfully forcing him away, then coming back, leading to death again… though the explosions raged on in fiery red hues.

Despite understanding all of this, Subaru repeated within his mind, “Why….”

—This was wrong.

Faintly, that sensation roared within him. It felt nauseatingly painful. But

 

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