The scene unfolding before Subaru's eyes left him with no answer other than total incomprehension.
He had witnessed the devastating physical prowess firsthand, yet Subaru could not bring himself to believe that it was Roswaal who had carried it out.
"The idea that mages can't hold their own in hand-to-hand combat — that's purely a preconceived notion, you know~? Anyone who harbors ill will toward me naturally thinks that way. ...As for what happened to all those stubborn folks, well, you can see for yourself~"
The reply, which caught the unspoken depths of Subaru's feelings, made him instinctively hold his breath.
Roswaal traced a line of spatter across his face with one finger, overwriting the blue eyeliner with crimson, and smiled. Demonic — in the sense of pulling one in, it was accurate.
"W-why...?"
"Hmm~?"
"Why did you... kill them? Both of them... Ram... and even Garfiel. Garfiel too... There was no need to kill..."
"Because having Garfiel around would have been a nuisance while I talked with you alone~ As for Ram, I do feel it was an unfortunate thing to do. But I'm not strong enough to face Garfiel head-on. The only reason I could kill him now was that I caught him off guard~"
That opening he spoke of — it was the act that had pierced through Ram along with Garfiel.
The way Roswaal so nonchalantly stated his reasons for murdering the two caused Subaru's emotions to break past fury and instead return to a calm he hadn't expected.
An absurd answer to an absurd situation. If Roswaal was trying to toy with him in the palm of his hand, then flying into a rage was playing right into his hands.
"............"
"Ho~um, that's unexpected. I thought this kind of statement would make you terribly angry~?"
"The anger did a full flip and came back upside down. ...It's not that I'm not furious. Obviously. Obviously I am."
"I wonder~? It's a welcome attitude, I suppose, but the
One eye closed, the yellow iris locked onto Subaru once more.
He had noticed it by now: Roswaal had a habit of looking at people with just that one eye — always the one that glowed yellow.
And when he found himself reflected in that blazing yellow gaze, Subaru felt a sensation of terrible unease.
"I know I'm an idiot, but I haven't stopped growing, you know. I'm not so clueless that I don't understand this isn't the kind of situation where throwing a tantrum helps..."
"No, no, that's not what I mean~ Subaru-kun. Subaru-kun. Natsuki Subaru-kun~"
Shaking his indigo hair, Roswaal stroked Subaru's head with his left hand — the one untouched by blood — and provocatively repeated his name.
Amid the madness, Subaru sensed something unknowable, yet he did not retreat. Instead, he stepped forward and glared straight at the jester's face.
"What are you trying to say?"
"What am I trying to say? If you ask me that, then what I want to tell you is this: — Congratulations. Welcome. I've been waiting for you. I've been waiting for you to stand here, like this~"
A chill ran down Subaru's spine, as though a wet fingertip had traced along it.
Before him, Roswaal gazed at Subaru with exactly the joy his words proclaimed. That attitude, that joy, filled Subaru with an incomprehensible loathing.
It was no irony — Roswaal genuinely felt a sense of elation toward Subaru. The problem was, neither the meaning of his words nor the meaning of that elation would ever be understood.
"You were... waiting for me to stand here?"
"Don't make the painfully obvious mistake of thinking I mean this exact spot in this exact room~ You can understand that's not what I mean. You, of all people, should be able to understand that~"
"I, of all people... can understand?"
The pieces of a puzzle with no visible completed picture were slowly assembling in his mind. Bit by bit, hesitantly, the pieces connected, and gradually the shape of the whole began to take a hazy form.
When he caught a glimpse of that final picture, a sense of disbelief pierced through him.
"Wondering~ Subaru-kun? The reason you're keeping your composure despite witnessing two deaths — the reason you haven't gone mad with rage — deep down, you already know what it is~"
"————"
"You see, you haven't been all that shaken by their deaths. You're surprised that they lost their lives. Indignant, no doubt~ But you haven't felt grief. That's why you can't bring yourself to rage at me here or raise your fists~"
Roswaal spoke as though he had everything figured out, and Subaru opened his mouth to argue, only to close it again, unable to form words.
'What do you know?!' 'How can I not grieve their deaths?!' 'How dare you kill Ram, how dare you kill Garfiel, you inhuman monster!' There was no shortage of words to shout cycling through his head.
In truth, those explosive emotions had been rising within him again and again since this began, surging up his throat and dissipating before they could escape.
He was angry. He was shocked. He must be grieving too.
He must be — and yet the reason he could not form a rebuttal to Roswaal's words was— "— Because you believe it can be undone, don't you~?"
"You—"
A shudder froze his throat. Without metaphor, he felt as though an invisible hand had seized his heart in a crushing grip. The shock was that profound.
Lifting his head, Subaru frantically glanced around, gripped by terror that a black palm might appear to punish him for breaking the taboo — for he had once denied the existence of 'the
But— "Doesn't... happen."
"I'm not sure what you're on guard against... but ah, perhaps it has to do with the terms of your contract~ I see. Then your odd behavior up until now makes sense."
"Makes sense... No, wait, before that—"
Roswaal nodded, hand on his chin, while Subaru's face turned pale and his lips trembled.
Roswaal's remark had undeniably struck at Subaru's very core, and being struck there meant— "You... you figured out... what's happening to me!?"
"As long as it doesn't contradict what the book says, yes. — You've obtained the means to start over, haven't you~?"
Clear as day, Roswaal confessed that he knew about 'Return by Death.' Subaru's breath caught. In the next instant, he recognized just how dangerous the situation had become.
Because the conditions were now identical to
If he continued discussing 'Return by Death' with Roswaal openly, as though it were an established fact, that same tragedy — swallowed by shadows, the '
Worse, even now, the Witch could come to seize him.
He swallowed the breath back down to his stomach, exhaled deeply, and confirmed that time had not frozen.
In other words, the penalty of having his heart seized by the Witch had not been triggered. For Subaru personally it was an unbearable thing, but the mildest possibility was now off the table.
What remained was— "— 'Silence is proof of assent' — who was it that left those words behind, I wonder~?"
Roswaal's voice pierced through Subaru's frantic mental calculations, sounding almost bored with the delay.
For Roswaal himself, that statement must have carried enormous weight.
And Subaru's silence in response made Roswaal furrow his brow in rare displeasure.
"Well, it's a preposterous story, I'll grant you. At least I can say I'm being more honest by not brushing it off with a boring deflection~"
"You—"
"Oh~h, no, no. I brought it up myself, but I'm sure hearing you confirm it would lead to something unpleasant. That must be why you've kept it secret all this time. And besides—"
One syllable cut Subaru off, and Roswaal paused meaningfully.
As Subaru bit his lip, Roswaal sent him a sidelong glance, his lips curling with a lascivious ease.
"Perhaps you were afraid of how people would see you if you told them~"
"—————"
"That's right. Because the power to redo the world is something truly extraordinary~? Manipulating time is the ultimate of the ultimate in Yin-element magic, after all. Even
Having his unspoken intentions deep-read, denied any chance of rebuttal, and now having Beatrice's name brought up — Subaru's face stiffened in shock.
A flashback seared through his mind: the final expression on her face, serene and heartbroken, as she dissolved into mist, pierced by Elsa's blade from behind.
"— Judging by that reaction, it seems Beatrice did her part after all~"
"Did her part... You knew about— Yes."
Seizing the opening created by the conversation drifting away from 'Return by Death,' Subaru pulled his wavering consciousness back into focus and lunged at Roswaal's composed mask.
Did this man know how desperately lonely Beatrice had been?
"Did you know what she was suffering? She was trapped in that mansion for so long, clinging to a contract — a promise made ages ago — and you knew she had worn herself down to nothing because of it, didn't you?!"
"Of course I knew~ Beatrice and I go waaay back. Since birth, in fact. I've always known about the loneliness that girl carried in her heart~"
"Then why—!"
"Don't you dare ask why I didn't do something about it. You know as well as I that no one else could have fixed that girl's sorrow~"
Roswaal's cold logic struck the heart Subaru had been about to unleash in a roar.
He could raise his voice and condemn Roswaal. He could make Beatrice's anguished cry ring in this man's ears. He could do all that, but the truth was it meant nothing.
Beatrice was already dead, and the grief in her heart could heal no one.
Only Subaru — the sole bearer of the power to redo — could stand witness to her end again and again. But how was he supposed to heal four hundred years of sorrow?
Four hundred years — even for him, there existed no means to reach back that far.
Roswaal gave a small shake of his head at the silent Subaru facing him.
Then he spoke.
"I envy her~"
"You... envy her?"
Subaru's voice was low. But Roswaal, seemingly oblivious, nodded matter-of-factly.
"Of course I do~ Beatrice was able to fulfill her deepest wish and vanish. And the fact that you're here means that's exactly what happened, doesn't it~?"
"Her deepest wish...? That... that horrible death was what she wished for, and you're—! You're going to say that?!"
"Was it not what Beatrice herself desired? No one else has the right to question it, and no one can deny another's personal measure of worth. Neither you nor I — of course — are permitted to desecrate Beatrice's death~"
Reasonable words. Sound logic. They had no right — that much was true.
Subaru and Beatrice were strangers to the end. He had never understood her wish, never even thought to try to grant it.
But still — was it truly what Beatrice had wanted?
— Then why, in her final moment, had Beatrice thrown herself in front of Subaru?
"Beatrice fulfilled her deepest wish. I can only envy that from the bottom of my heart. — Because my own deepest wish, it seems, is one I cannot grant by myself~"
"————"
There was something off about the way he said it.
Exactly what felt off, Subaru couldn't quite pinpoint.
But something definitely did.
"Your... deepest wish..."
"That I cannot tell you. The terms of the contract don't allow it — that's all I can say~ This is as far as I'm willing to bend the rules of that contract, just for tonight. However, there is one thing I can say~"
"————"
"I have always, always, always, always done the utmost to bring about my own deepest wish. There is not a single meaningless act I have performed. Not a single deed I am ashamed of."
Roswaal declared it grandly — not the slightest hint of shame for anything he had done.
After the initial shock of that brazen composure, a dark, murky anger slowly welled up from within Subaru.
It was a selfish anger — an anger that conveniently set aside all the emotions and thoughts he had left behind on his way here. It was selfish, but he could not help feeling it.
"Because it was necessary...? Killing Ram and Garfiel, covering the 'Sanctuary' in snow like this — all of it... you're telling me it was all necessary?"
"Hmm. Regarding the former... no, that would just make things more complicated. As for the latter, I would say that is correct~"
"What's the point?!!"
Baring his teeth and flailing his arms wildly, Subaru screamed.
"What's the point of doing any of this?! Making it snow in the 'Sanctuary,' tormenting the residents for your twisted amusement... What is your goal?! What's the meaning of any of this?! Tell me, Roswaal!!"
"That's simple. — Lady
"— Wh-what?"
"I'll repeat: by making it snow and causing harm to the residents, Lady Emilia falls into a deeply unstable emotional state. That is what happened, isn't it~?"
Roswaal spoke as though he had witnessed it all himself. Emilia's condition inside the tomb was, at this very moment, playing out exactly as Roswaal had planned.
Subaru had no intention of honestly reporting that. More importantly, the meaning of Roswaal's words had become, now more than ever, the most profoundly 'unintelligible' thing he had encountered.
"This is land tied to the Witch, and Lady Emilia is right in the middle of undergoing the 'trials' necessary to release the 'Sanctuary.' When a localized cataclysm strikes under circumstances like those~ ...what kind of attention do you think falls on Lady Emilia?"
"You—"
"A headstrong person like Garfiel would be useful in times like this. He would be the very first to suspect Lady Emilia, and the loudest to say so. And with the volume of his voice, everyone would think the same thing: — that this cataclysm was caused by Lady Emilia."
Roswaal's reading was spot on. Garfiel had danced right in the palm of his hand. When Subaru first returned, Garfiel had attacked him immediately, fully believing that this frigid 'Sanctuary' was Emilia's doing.
This was the soil — in this land, in this world — that allowed every last drop of malice to be directed at Emilia, even though other beings were perfectly capable of such things.
That was precisely the demon of prejudice that had tormented Emilia for years.
"And what happens to an isolated Lady Emilia? She is, in truth, a fragile person. She would think nothing of entrusting all her trust to someone who affirms her — and if that someone also wished to support her with all their being, so much the better."
"Wait— wait— wait wait wait wait—"
Subaru thrust his arms out, trying to stop Roswaal from saying more.
Right now, he felt as though he was hearing something inconceivable.
Right now, he felt as though he was being told some unthinkable truth.
Right now, there was something he must not hear— "You cannot distance yourself from a dependent Emilia. Naturally — because you love her. If the Emilia you love has entrusted everything to someone, you cannot push that away."
"That's not—"
It wasn't.
That couldn't possibly be true.
In truth, Subaru had held himself back this time too — from drowning in Emilia's desperation as she clung to him in the tomb. He had endured, and made his way here.
He had not been able to outright reject Emilia's temptation, her whispered words of love.
But knowing that it wasn't her true self, he could not simply allow himself to sink completely— "You'd say that's not the case right now, and I believe you. The only shame is that, for the present you, there are a few too many superfluous attachments~"
Before the tormented Subaru, Roswaal took one quiet step forward.
Hearing the wet splash of a foot entering the blood puddle, Subaru's body instinctively tensed.
As Roswaal closed the distance, long limbs swaying, Subaru swallowed hard.
"You're going to... kill me?"
"Kill is such a crude word~ I can't have you dying on me. No matter what happens, I need you to start over again~"
"Huh—?"
Roswaal's words stunned Subaru for a single heartbeat.
But almost immediately he caught the discrepancy — the gap between Roswaal's understanding and reality.
Roswaal knew that Subaru could 'start over,' but he did not know it was triggered by 'death' — that it was 'Return by Death.' Therefore, Roswaal intended to push Subaru to the breaking point until Subaru chose to 'start over' of his own will. Or perhaps it would involve pain beyond a swift death.
If Roswaal had no intention of truly harming Subaru, there was a chance.
"— Everyone, get in here!!"
Raising his hand, Subaru shouted.
The instant Roswaal's brow furrowed at that voice, the room's door and window — along with the windows and doors of the adjacent room and parlor — were all smashed in at once. And through the breach, a small shadow leapt in on the bitter wind. Twenty — no, all of them — were identical: young girls with pale rose-colored hair.
Seeing that whole row of identical faces arrayed before him, Roswaal closed one eye and glanced at Subaru.
"I thought command of the copies had transferred to Garfiel~?"
"But with someone as suspicious as you, I had to come in strong. — I added a few extra cards to my hand~"
This was the exchange that took place after Subaru left the tomb and confronted Garfiel.
Subaru had stopped Garfiel — who had immediately tried to rush Roswaal — and first had himself designated as the new commander of the copies in the Crystal Room, transferring authority from Garfiel.
He then stationed Ryuzu's copies outside the house where Roswaal was recuperating, ready to storm in at a moment's notice.
All of this had been prepared for the scenario where Roswaal turned out to be the mastermind behind this atrocity.
— Of course, the fact that Roswaal had killed both Garfiel and Ram was, while not surprising in principle, outside Subaru's planning.
"So~ what do you intend to do with me surrounded like this~?"
"I was surprised you're that strong with just your bare hands, but even so, numbers win out. If you were only as ridiculous as Berserk Garfiel, having a crowd might not have been enough, but..."
Roswaal had impaled Ram along with Garfiel precisely because he lacked confidence in winning a direct confrontation. He was still far stronger than Subaru, no question — but— "Twenty-something copies will overwhelm you with sheer numbers. We'll beat you down, pin you, and make you talk — spill everything you're still hiding."
"How important the observance of contracts is — even you, bound as you are, should understand that~"
"Unfortunately for me, mine was forced on me without my say-so, and breaking it triggers an automatic punishment. The fact that nothing's happened yet means I'm in the clear!"
In the cramped house, twenty-plus people packed together was essentially a sardine tin.
The expressionless copies of Ryuzu Meyer obeyed Subaru's command and lunged at Roswaal, faces blank as ever.
Roswaal, still unarmed, could handle at most two at a time — that much was expected. But the weather he had been manipulating was now working against him; unable to cast magic, he was being swept away by sheer numbers.
Subaru, though barely victorious, was confident of the win. But— "— Admittedly, numbers do win out~"
"————"
"Against a mage, relying on a numerical advantage is a rather foolish decision, wouldn't you say~?"
Fire roared sideways through the room. The Ryuzu Meyer copies standing in its path were incinerated root and stem — a wall of flame that devoured every small body from feet to crown in an instant, reducing them to ash and returning them to mana.
In Subaru's eyes, it looked like nothing more than a flash of red light and a blast of heat sweeping the room for a single instant.
"You... can't use magic..."
"Because I was manipulating the weather~ A shame, but the reason I was making it snow is gone now. So I actually stopped a while ago. I should have mentioned it, I suppose~"
"Wha— guh—"
In the instant Subaru lost his words, Roswaal closed the distance and seized his throat. Where those slender arms found such strength was beyond him — Subaru was lifted effortlessly, feet dangling, and as he thrashed, Roswaal cocked his arm back.
"Ha—!"
From behind, a copy crashed through the remaining half of the already-shattered window and hurled Subaru outside the building. His body hit the snow, tumbled, and slammed into a wall.
Muddy snow filled his mouth. Spitting it out, he shook his head and looked up.
Roswaal emerged from the house leisurely, trailing the remaining copies behind him. With no orders given, the copies stood in uncertain limbo.
But Subaru had no idea what to tell them either.
"You've been through all that and still haven't 'started over~'? Or perhaps you already have and this is what comes after? Come to think of it, if a 'redo' does occur, I have no idea what would happen to my own awareness. That's a problem, isn't it~?"
Roswaal came to where Subaru was crawling on all fours and tilted his head.
Looking up at the jester, Subaru coughed out a question that had risen suddenly amid the pain and breathlessness.
"Ros... waal... You keep saying 'start over' this and 'start over' that..."
"Oh~? Something important, is it~? Do tell~"
"I'm the one with the question. You're acting on the premise of someone else's 'redo' — that's insane. ...You too, aren't you really..."
Could it be that Roswaal, too, possessed some means of inheriting memories?
Just as Echidna was holed up inside the tomb, in her castle of dreams, perhaps Roswaal also carried forward the memories of the world before — the world where Subaru had experienced 'Return by Death.' Without that, Subaru could not reconcile Roswaal's breezy attitude toward wanting him to 'start over.' "If that's the case, fine. But then you and I could..."
They could cooperate, couldn't they?
Roswaal's goals were inscrutable, and the man had piled crime upon crime.
The murder of Ram and Garfiel, the cornering of Emilia — Subaru would never forgive any of it. But the situation was not so favorable that he could dismiss Roswaal's power as unnecessary and push him away on principle alone. If anything, things were more dire than ever.
If swallowing poison was what it took— If that was the expression that applied, Subaru was prepared to drink the venom.
"— It seems even that won't work~"
But the thread of hope, thin as it was, was severed by a shake of Roswaal's head.
Roswaal looked away from the downcast Subaru, raised one finger, and aimed it into the distance.
"Gao."
A small flame rose, and in the direction Roswaal faced, the forest caught fire.
As Subaru blinked at the sudden act of destruction, something cut through the sound of trees cracking and burning— — It was the sound of a tiny, tiny animal's death cry.
"No... way—"
"I see~ ...So that's how it ends."
Springing to his feet, face drained of all color, Subaru scanned his surroundings. Roswaal, shifting his position with each snap of his fingers, sent flame after flame roaring out — and with each burst came the smell of burning meat and piercing shrieks that tore across the 'Sanctuary.' And when one of the charred remains crashed to the ground before him, Subaru understood clearly.
"Oh... rabbits...!!"
The
The swarm was already oozing out of the forest. Roswaal hurled magic at them and burned them one by one. Even clustered together, they were easy prey for him.
There was no fighting force to match Roswaal against such numbers. Even knowing this, Subaru's heart was gripped by a terror that refused to let go.
Close his eyes, and the memory returned: his entire body being shredded by razor-sharp teeth.
His fingers, his body, his innards — devoured piece by piece. The sense of loss from that experience was beyond words.
With the appearance of the Mabeast that had done it, Subaru heard his own soul screaming.
"But it's still only day five... We should have had more than half a day left!"
"The snow~"
"Snow—!?"
"A weather-altering spell of that magnitude means a correspondingly massive amount of mana saturating the atmosphere. And with the snow driving everyone into the Great Cathedral, it becomes the most obvious feeding ground imaginable for any Mabeast nearby~"
Hearing Roswaal's calm analysis, Subaru shuddered. If that was true, then the most dangerous place in the entire 'Sanctuary' for the Great Rabbit's attack was— "The G-Great Cathedral! We have to get to the Great Cathedral—!"
"It's already too late. The fact that they showed up here, in a place with so few people, means there are already stragglers that couldn't get enough to eat. — There's nothing left~"
"But Rem is—!"
He had had Rem taken there.
She was with Ryuzu. She was at the Great Cathedral. Over a hundred people — every resident of the 'Sanctuary' and every refugee from
All of them, consumed at once. He did not want to think about it.
"Roswaal! We're calling a truce! I'm going to the Great Cathedral! I need to retrieve survivors, find a safe place—"
Subaru lunged at Roswaal, grabbed him by the collar, and shouted.
But Roswaal gently pressed down Subaru's gripping hand.
"Run? Where, exactly? There's a barrier. The residents of the 'Sanctuary' cannot escape~"
"That's..."
"You ran out of time, Subaru-kun. Until the 'trials' are cleared, the residents can't leave the 'Sanctuary.' Which means your wish cannot be fulfilled."
Shoved away, Subaru fell backward into the snow on his backside.
The Ryuzu copies swarmed around the fallen Subaru, standing by expectantly, awaiting orders — a comical sight.
And then, a beat later, Subaru realized.
Roswaal — who moments ago had been incinerating every Mabeast in sight — had completely stopped.
"R-Roswaal! Why did you stop— don't tell me you've run out of mana—?"
"Oh~ no, that's not it. My mana is, in a sense, inexhaustible~ It doesn't simply run out. ...What's run out is my reason to live~"
Slowly, steadily, white furballs were beginning to crawl out of the forest.
They were the same color as the snow, leaving tiny footprints as they advanced steadily closer.
"Even if I can redo this, you can't go out like this! We should have talked properly first! Maybe you don't care, but the next you—"
"I think there's one thing you've misunderstood, Subaru-kun."
"Huh?"
"Even if you redo things, I won't be there to redo them with you. The me that exists after your redo cannot be the me that stands before you now. I end here. — But that's fine~"
Dumbfounded, Subaru was beaten down by Roswaal's words.
Roswaal had declared himself exempt from the redo. That meant he was a man who merely knew about Subaru's 'Return by Death' — and dying here meant the end of this consciousness called Roswaal.
And even knowing that, he still ordered Subaru to redo. Despite knowing the him that existed on the other side would no longer be this Roswaal.
The way he thought about it was far too— "That's not how a human... thinks..."
Unlike Subaru, whose consciousness was continuous— Roswaal's consciousness was not continuous. If he died, that was the end.
To be aware of that end and accept it as though it were the most natural thing in the world — that was abnormal.
"There will come a day, Subaru-kun, when you truly catch up to me~"
"Ros... waal..."
"Listen well, Subaru-kun. — The thing that matters. The one thing, the truly, genuinely important thing for you. Shed everything else. Let go of everything else and focus only on protecting that one thing~"
"————"
"And when you do—"
Roswaal raised a finger, as though lecturing.
At that moment, the Great Rabbit that had crept close latched onto Roswaal's wrist. Blood sprayed. His right forearm was crushed between the jaws, and another set of teeth clamped onto his elbow, his shoulder — in an instant, dozens of fangs sank into his torso, and the dull sound of flesh being torn apart rang out.
"Roswaaaaaaal!!"
"— You can become like me too, you know~"
The jester's smile disappeared behind the body of the rabbit, jaws spread wide.
The swarm of white rabbits engulfed Roswaal's tall frame in overwhelming numbers. He toppled sideways, and the rabbits devoured his flesh — devouring, devouring, devouring.
Blood scattered. Flesh split. White snow was dyed crimson, and even the blood-stained snow the rabbits lapped up, consuming it all.
Subaru could only watch in silence as Roswaal ceased to be Roswaal.
He watched as the existence called Roswaal was erased from the world, chewed to nothing.
— He watched.