Arc 6 – 66, 'Second Chance toward the Denouement”

Arc 6 – Chapter 66, “Second Chance toward the Denouement”

ーーThe first thing he did was to make his heart accept the truth that he had『Returned by Death』.

“ーーーー”

Whilst stroking the concerned Beatrice’s head, who was in his arms, Subaru reflected onto the『Predicament』that he had experienced immediately previously and also were happenings of the future.

The fact that he had『Returned by Death』meant that he had been unable to evade the circumstance of crises befalling onto his life.

Abandoning the disasters he knew would arrive, he had exposed the lives of his comrades to hazardーー no, that was naive. That was not what had happened.

He had not exposed their lives to hazard. Subaru, had let Emilia and the others die.

He knew that would be what it would come down to, yet he missed it.

The existence of the five obstacles assailing the tower, difficult to be neglected. Despite knowing of them, Subaru had failed to evade the problems due to his indiscretion and naivete.

At the very last moment, what had perhaps decisively taken his life away had been the colossal black shadow, which relentlessly destroyed this humongous and gigantic tower itselfーー that was, the greatest and the final obstacle.

Including that, he arranged the five obstacles in his mind again.

The first was the large horde of Witch Beasts, pushing into the tower all at once.

The second one was the Sin Archbishop of『Gluttony』, coming with the aim of Subaru’s『Memories』and『Name』.

The third was the titanic scorpion, which invaded into the tower in sometime unknown and lurked in a blind spot, subsequently attacking.

Fourth was the rampaging Reid Astrea, swaggering about freely in the tower, ignoring all enemies and allies.

The fifth one and the last one was the black shadow, which swallowed and ruined everything.

Their circumstances evolved at the same time, and overlooking even a single one of them would easily cause the entire plan to collapse.

Could it be said that the jet black shadow which should rightfully be feared was a gesture of kindness by this unfair and absurd world by notifying Subaru of a time limit. He was in a dilemma whether it was an issue he should feel grateful for.

Subaru: “Leaving the first one, the large horde of Witch Beasts to Meili and Shaula.......”

This choice could be affirmed to not have been wrong.

Last timeーー no, it would be last to last time now, in the loops until last to last time the five obstacles must have also concurrently occured. Subaru had also witnessed the scenario of the Witch Beasts invading into the tower.

Should that happen, crucial fighting forces like Emilia and Julius would have to face the Witch Beasts in order to restrain them. That had been avoided in this loop whereby Meili had survived.

The strength of Meili’s existence was unmistakably a single step forward.

However, it was still not sufficient.

Even if the large horde of Witch Beasts could be held back, Subaru and the others were helpless against the following obstacle.

Emilia had gotten her『Name』robbed by the Sin Archbishop of『Gluttony』who had appeared, and though they somehow managed to have Julius join the fight against Batenkaitos, subsequently Reid partook in the battlefield.

Resultantly the two Emilia and Julius were forced to employ open tactics against the frontiers of both『Gluttony』and Reid, causing valuable time to be lost ultimately leading to the titanic scorpion’s intrusion, and directly hitting the declaration of time up by the shadow..

In other words, that balance mustn’t happen. Their number of moves were lacking.

On top of that, what Subaru feared was if the words of the Sin Archbishop of『Gluttony』ーー Louis Arneb were correct, two of『Gluttony』were supposed to have arrived.

He had encountered Ley Batenkaitos. However, the other one’s form was nowhere to be seen.

ーーThis was bad. This was bad this was bad this was bad. At any rate, this was bad.

Even though the situation was progressing with every second, even though Subaru alone had got a grasp on all the problems, despite piling up so many『Deaths』he did not have the full picture in clarity.

It had taken far too long for him to take a step. Why did his self, spend so much time in inactivityーー.

Beatrice: “Calm down, I suppose!”

Subaru: “Ahyah ~hk!”

Subaru’s brain overhead and almost started fuming, that was when Beatrice strongly sandwiched his cheeks between her two small hands and brought his consciousness back ti reality through pain.

With her hands still on his cheeks, Beatrice resumed at distance close enough to exchange breaths.

Beatrice: “Subaru, tell what happened in the book, in fact. It’ll be fruitless if you take it upon yourself alone, I suppose. Properly talk about it, and it will be thought about together...... that is, Betty and the other’s forte, in fact.”

Subaru: “What happened, in the book, huh.....”

Hearing Beatrice’s earnest appeal, Subaru looked down onto the situation he had been placed in.

He has accepted the truth that he had『Returned by Death』. And similarly, he must also recognise and etch the place he had returned to as well.

This place was the library of the third layer of 『Taygeta』.

In the room surrounded with bookshelves housing countless『Books of the Dead』, this was the scene immediately after his consciousness returned from challenging the『Book of the Dead』of Reid.

And, speaking of what had happened to Subaru in the bookーー.

Subaru: “ーーStand up, happened.”

Beatrice: “Eh?”

Subaru: “No, I mean I got my back kicked and was driven out of giving up. Shit, this is so pathetic. I’ve made no progress at all.”

Subaru scratched his head in front of Beatrice, who rounded her eyes.

Subsequently he stood up whilst keeping Beatrice in his grasp, and slowly looked towards the environsーー towards the two of Echidna and Meili. The members who had been waiting for Subaru to wake up.

He was already aware of what the missing Emilia and Ram, Shaula and Julius were doing.

The circumstances were already breaking forth, there was no time to halt.

That is whyーー,

Subaru: “I’ll cut it short. I failed to see Reid’s memories in the『Book of the Dead』. Something got in the way.『Books of the Dead』are connected to the soles of the existence called Od Lagna, that is where I encountered a problematic one.”

Hearing Subaru’s short and quick explanation, the three widened their eyes in surprise.

Subaru gestured an apology for not giving them the time to halt and give thought to it, and continued his words.

Them beingーー,

Subaru: “ーーThe Sin Archbishop of『Gluttony』, Louis Arneb has declared war on us.”

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

Echidna: “Though I must say, we come so far to the boundary in the east and Sin Archbishops again, huh. It seems that there is a profound and immeasurable connection between them and Natsuki-kun.”

After listening to his explanation, Echidna ridiculed Subaru’s circumstances with that comment.

Whilst hearing that comment, Subaru and the others jumped and descended the staircase of the library, moving in order to reunite with their comrades who had distanced themselves from『Taygeta』.

Subaru: “Unfortunately, I happen to have amnesia. I have no idea about having a relationship with these Sin Archbishop folks if it was worth calling profound...... Am I really that connected to them?”

Beatrice: “At the very least, they are the ones responsible for making Betty and the others come to this tower, I suppose. Made a long journey through the desert, seeking a solution to what all they had done.”

Subaru: “I thought I had heard just the surface of the aim behind coming to this tower, so they were the true origin. They really can’t do anything better.”

Frowning in tediousness, Subaru was stumped by happening to have a destined relationship with unpleasant parties.

Although he did not press them much about it, both Beatrice and Echidna did not limit the people he was connected to as only『Gluttony』. If Subaru’s ideas were correct, then there were perhaps seven people who were all Sin Archbishops, thus he conjectured that the ones he had gotten involved with had not been solely『Gluttony』.

Subaru: “That depresses me, so I don’t want to talk about it right now...... oh.”

???: “Echidna! Subaru, you’re also there!”

And, when Subaru and the others returned to the fourth layer and sprinted towards the aisle, the person who came dashing towards them just in timeーー Julius, raised a voice of surprise.

Last time as well Julius had returned to『Taygeta』in order to inform Echidna and Subaru of the atypical situation surrounding the tower. They had now encountered him a bit earlier.

Seeing Subaru having safely returned from the『Book of the Dead』, Julius said,

Julius: “So you are safe, Subaru. Did you secure the vital information from the『Book of the Dead』?”

Subaru: “Though it’ll be the same explanation as what I gave to Beatrice and the others, that failed. The detailed explanation is a question for me later, so I’d like to solve these abnormal circumstances concurrently.”

Julius: “What do you mean, in other words?”

Subaru: “It means I can guess what the situation basically is. ーーRight now, Witch Beasts are surrounding the tower, right?”

The moment Subaru fired his question, an immense tremor jolted the tower.

That indistinct and constant something akin to tremors reached everyone present inside the tower. Its cause being correctly guessed made Julius gaze in slight wonderment.

However, he immediately lowered his chin and nodded,

Julius: “Just as you say. Currently, the environs of this Pleiades Watchtower have been besieged by a great number of Witch Beasts. At the outer edge of the tower, Miss Shaula is aggressively struggling and stalling the Witch Beasts’ invasion but......”

Meili: “If the identity of these tremors is a horde of bad animal-chan’s the~n, no matter how strongly the naked onee-san may stand she’ll eventually not be able to restrain them hu~h.”

Julius: “Henceforth, I want you to lend your strength. What do you say, Meili.”

Meili jumped into the conversation, and Julius faced and requested her with sincerity. Accepting his sincerity, Meili turned a profoundly meaningful gaze towards Subaru and the others.

Getting the impression that the gaze intended to ask about the pros and cons about her actions, Subaru lightly inhaled and nodded.

Subaru: “I’m requesting you too, Meili, nothing will get sorted if it isn’t for you. Sorry for this being so sudden, but please cooperate so that we can all take a step forward together.”

Meili: “.......Hmm? Geez onii-san, still so pathetic even after saying such grand wo~rds. But, since you asked me earnestly, leave that place to me. Be gratefu~l.”

Subaru: “Ah, my heartfelt gratitude! I love you!”

Meili: “How pe~tty......”

Making a sour look in response to Subaru’s gratitude, Meili consented to cope with the Witch Beasts. With this, one of the five obstacles will be cleared. Till now it had been the same as last time.

Henceーー,

Julius: “Well then, let’s take her to Miss Shaula......”

Subaru: “No, we will be taking a different code of action. Meili, do you know where the balcony is? Work together with Shaula there, and somehow stall the Witch Beasts.”

Meili: “The end of the aisle, ri~ght? Really, you don’t know ho~w to treat people.”

Hearing that, Meili spilled a sigh and dashed off. Though languid and unenthusiastic, he understood that that was her own pose seeing her move in accordance with Subaru’s orders. That was, as fast as she could run.

And,

Julius: “Subaru, with the Witch Beasts aside, you seem to possess confirmation of some sort. What are you aware of?”

Subaru: “I guess so. I’ll explain it along the way. Come with me for now. ーーWe must hurry, or Emilia-chan and the others will be in danger.”

Julius: “ーー~hk!”

Subaru: “......I also trust you for understanding my feelings a bit, you know.”

He had heard that the existence of Echidna consisted of having borrowed the body of the young girl named Anastasia. That could also be said to be a position similar to the present Natsuki Subaru, who was overwriting the existence『Natsuki Subaru』with himself.

Receiving those words from Subaru, Echidna made a staggered expression,

Echidna: “Natsuki-kun, could it be that you areーー.”

Subaru: “ーーI’m counting on you.”

Not letting Echidna complete her words, Subaru sprinted, leaving her and the rest behind.

Ram had already been heading towards the front of the aisle. Leaving whilst catching a small glimpse of Rem’s sleeping face, atop Patrasche’s back, and stimulating her own courage.

Ram: “Why, did you come, Barusu. Rem is......”

Subaru: “Rem said, to do what needs to be done instead of looking after her! That was preached to me in the book!”

Ram: “ーー~hk! By Rem? What does that mean?”

Ram’s light crimson eyes gave way to unrest upon Subaru’s words, who was right next to her. It was just that they simply did not have enough time for him to cordially and courteously explain the events of the『Hall of Memories』.

That’s why Subaru conveyed only what was utmost important briefly.

Subaru: “Rem said to fight, and regain. That’s why, I’ll go with you too!”

Beatrice: “Of course, don’t forget that Betty is there too, in fact.”

Ram: “ーー. That is fine, for now. You’ll be cross-questioned about it a hundred times later.”

Subaru: “Isn’t hundred a bit too scary!?”

Subaru shivered, since he couldn’t even hear it to be a joke in Ram’s case. However, it was her compassion for letting Subaru bypass through that despite not explaining a single crucial thing.

And, the circumstance where that was required to be done, approached right in front of their eyesーー.

???: “ーーIce Brand Arts!”

The following moment, Emilia’s back was visible in the centre of the frozen aisle as she fluttered danced about with armaments of ice.

Confronting her was the Sin Archbishop of dirty appearance, Ley Batenkaitos.

Catching sight of that, Ram shouted.

Ram: “Emilia-sama!”

Subaru conceived that they had made it in time considering that was Emilia’s name.

And at the same time, Emilia noticed them behind upon being called and responded with “Eh, Ram!?”.

Emilia: “Why did you come back!? And Subaru and Beatrice too, I’m glad you’re okay...... but! This is rea~lly dangerous right now! Stay back! Get away!”

Ram: “Rem has been evacuated to someplace safe. Now on, Ram shall also assist you in battle.”

Emilia: “But, Ram, you are......”

Ram: “To be taken away, even if you say that do you think Ram will allow being taken away?”

Whilst responding to Emilia, Ram reached to her legs and unsheathed the slender wand equipped there.

The wand was shorter than what normally magicians could be imagined to have. Though it seemed like an article with no peculiarities, it could also be felt that it exerted a sense of enigma and queer pressure.

And, seeing Ram’s form preparing to use it,『Gluttony』laughed at a distance away from Emilia,

Ley: “Haha~! What’s this what’s this, so you came back, nee-sama! Oh dear, how handsome! Why just why is nee-sama so cool? Truly, nee-sama is wonderful ~tsu!”

Ram: “ーーIrksome. You’re getting killed, Sin Archbishop.”

Ram fired her quiet intent to kill towards the Sin Archbishop clapping his hands and guffawing.

It was intense rage enough to send chills down Subaru’s spine, who had never been faced by it, as he glanced from the side. Despite receiving that direct eye contact, Batenkaitos’ composure did not flinch whatsoever,

Ley: “How nice, so nice, very nice, quite nice, as it’s nice, isn’t it nice, as it’s probably nice, as it’s perhaps nice, as we think it’s nice! Gluttonous drinking ~tsu! Gluttony ~tsu! We apologize for arbitrarily and overwhelmingly bringing an end to the connection. Though in actuality, it was supposed to be a much more touching reunion, you kno~w.”

Ram: “What are you......”

Ley: “Something like stealing the『Name』and『Memories』of a valuable person, feels like becoming the greatest enemy upon being thought of revenge, right? Yet, the people eaten by us, in most cases don’t remember about that is what it means. Even though we love, we understand nee-sama this much, nee-sama doesn’t know even the slightest bit of that feeling is what it means! That’s like, a wasteful way of usage like showering salt onto a salivatingly high-quality ingredient, isn’t it.”

Attentively and profoundly, the Sin Archbishop of『Gluttony』commenced explaining circumstances completely impossible to be referred to.

The truth was, the power『Gluttony』wielded of stealing the memories of others was an act equivalent to trampling upon life. Should family members, lovers, benefactors be attacked and hunted down by them, the worst possible phenomenon would be that they would be forgotten and disappear onto the other side of oblivion, and the hatred which was supposed to exist would also vanish.

In one way, that would function as safety against letting anyone take revenge on themselves.

Howeverーー,

Ley: “ーーIsn’t that we~ll, the greatest level of boring?”

However, none other than Batenkaitos, declared it to be boring.

“ーーーー”

Ley: “Like the rich hatred which was originally supposed to be attained, or the rumbling corrupted rage, such freshly aromatic and fetid emotions get thoroughly denied is what it means. That’s a great loss for us...... Until the onii-san over there, shows up.”

Subaru: “Me......?”

Ley: “Sa~y onii-san, for some reason even after we eat the『Name』you can still remember that person, right? We pretty much do get the reason behind that? The place onii-san was born into must have been a bit different from here, but what’s important is its result. Onii-san, is our saviour.”

Whilst saying so, Batenkaitos opened his arms wide and continued looking at Subaru with an intoxicated expression.

With a passionate and zealous gaze as if he was truly deeply in love with Subaru.

Ley: “No, let’s dare state it this way! Onii-san is our hero ~tsu! Innocent, hard working, uneasy unless someone is by his side, mean, makes our chest sting and hurt the more we think about it, on top of that, a hero who understands those feelings......!”

Subaru: “Stop with such eerie comments! With what intention are you......”

Ley: “Of course, these are emotions from the bottom of the heart. How ha~rsh, how patheti~c. Even though we are so gallantly, we are so wholeheartedly, thinking of onii-san, you know.”

Subaru could not comprehend how true a remark that was, composed of blended emotions. He couldn’t imagine it, neither did he want to.

However, taking Batenkaitos’ comments until now into account it naturally became clear.

The emotions of the existence captured by him, directed towards Subaru were beingーー no, deception was unnecessary.

The emotions of Rem, who had been captured by him, were beingーー,

Ley: “How about it eh! If it suits you then let’s repeat that touching passion once again! Let’s start from here, onii-san ~tsu! From square one, no...... from ze”

Emilia: “ーーHiyah!!”

Ley: “Woopsie!?”

At that instant, after having stalked up to Batenkaitos’ rear, Emilia slammed the large ice hammer she held in both of her hands into the back of the Sin Archbishop’s head mercilessly.

Batenkaitos spilled the words in a ridiculing tone as if in a manga or something and fell towards the front.

Engrossed in recreating the『Memories』, he lost his attention from those other than Subaru.

Even so, he must have still remained vigilant of Ram, but the ones he ought to have paid attention to were not merely Subaru and Ramーー,

Beatrice: “Murak, I suppose. Along with”

Emilia: “I snuck up to him, and bam!”

“ーーーー”

Subaru: “......Eh, we won?”

Emilia: “I did it!”

The silent and inactive Batenkaitos, while Emilia made a triumphant pose with her fist clenched, nodding towards Beatrice who reciprocated. Subaru widened his eyes at the far too quick conclusion.

Beatrice: “......The curtain fell way too quickly, in fact.”

Ram: “Indeed. Where should Ram take these feelings when she was just about to tear that thing to pieces. Emilia-sama!”

Emilia: “Eh, what? Was it wrong?”

Ram: “ーー. No, it was splendid. Yes, truly splendid.”

Beatrice, who was being hugged by Subaru, and Ram expressed their disappointment for the collapsed『Gluttony』.

Ram, who had the connection between her and the bitter enemy trampled by in an unexpected manner, seemed to have a complex state of mind pertaining to Emilia’s action.

However,

Subaru: “Well, there’s certainly a mountain of stuff I’d like to say but the words which come up the first are Emilia-chan, good job! With this, we should tie up『Gluttony』and......”

???: “ーーUnfortunately, it can’t be allowed to go that way, onii-san.”

“ーーーー”

Before Subaru, who was thinking that the second of the five obstacles had been digested in an unexpected fashion, Batenkaitos slowly and relaxedly stood up despite being supposed to have collapsed motionlessly.

Subaru widened his eyes in response to that unnatural movement, whilst Beatrice stiffened herself.

Of course, Emilia and Ram also had a hue of vigilance paint their eyesーー,

Ram: “Did he go crazy by getting hit in the head? Also considering his courting comments towards Barusu, if he can’t discern the situation then......”

???: “Ah, ah, all that is fine. We have also already conveyed our feelings, and neither do we intend to do something like hold back......”

Intercepting Ram’s views, Batenkaitos remained with his eyes cast downwards after standing up, hiding his face behind those long, dark brown hair, he muttered and whispered something.

As if overlapping with those whispers, a distorted and repulsive sound echoed through the aisle.

Emilia: “No way......”

Emilia blinked her amethyst eyes in response to the bizarre happening accompanying the repulsive echo.

What was being reflected in her beautiful eyes was Batenkaitos’ body changing from its very skeletal structure, giving rise to a distorted reportーー the flesh body of the petite youth changed into a muscly and brawny giant.

A nightmarish occurrence, but what was truly nightmarish for Subaru was waiting ahead.

???: “Yay, onii-san, were you surprised? This is『Solar Eclipse』...... well, kind of like one of our trump cards? Unlike earlier, this time we’ll make you ours through sheer force.”

Subaru: “You sure, are saying some pretty eerie stuff, transgender bastard. You are......”

Seized with nightmarish dread, Subaru asked whilst sweating cold.

Receiving that, the giant smiled sweetly and without hiding his eccentric ambience, bowed.

Louis: “ーーWitch Cult Sin Archbishop representing『Gluttony』, Louis Arneb.”

“ーーーー”

Louis: “Can’t stay for much long. By snitching and eating, we must clean up everything, everything while onii-chan is asleep, you see.”