My vision was entirely red. The moment I saw that color, a terrifying thought shook my soul: Hoshino had lost control and unleashed total destruction. Submerged in the filth of this reality, I propped up the body and wiped the blood from my face. Slowly, the world returned to its natural colors.
The body was stone cold. A long time had passed since the soul departed. Despair sapped the strength from my limbs, and the weight of the lifeless form sagging against me nearly buckled my knees.
No—in truth, I shouldn't have been able to support this weight at all, yet it felt disturbingly manageable. The body was unnervingly light. Nonomi was never this small; even if she had bled out completely, she remained far lighter than she should be. Those empty sockets where her eyes once were, and the darkness suggesting a fraudulent existence, made it seem as though everything inside Nonomi had been hollowed out, vanishing into the void.
──Hurry and die.
Her beautiful blonde hair was ruined, the strands so brittle and frayed they no longer suited the "Miss Wealthy" title she once carried. Her skin, which should have glowed with health, now bore the hue of a bloodless carcass—a nauseating blend of sallow yellow and pale blue, unnervingly clean in a way that bred only revulsion and confusion.
I knew retrieving her remains would change nothing, yet I didn't stop. Blood and vomit flowed. My throat was parched, and tears streamed without end. I would carry her back; it was the least I could do to atone for my guilt and let everyone know she was gone.
Amidst the horror, I looked up at something that had been lurking in my peripheral vision since I entered the room: a pristine white box. It was unadorned and unnervingly clean, a stark contrast to the gruesome scene.
──Hurry and die.
The box sat neatly on the desk, defying the room's chaos as if waiting for a visitor. It was undoubtedly a "gift" intended for me, for Subaru. I didn't know the culprit, but it was whoever caused this slaughter. Whether it was Suou, Kaiser, or someone else—I wouldn't know the truth until I opened it.
I reached out with blood-soaked hands, staining the pure white surface a deep crimson, then lifted the lid with trembling fingers. Inside were two familiar items. One was a video recording; the other belonged to the person who had gifted me the "Black Weapon"—the pistol I still carried.
Shattered iron fragments, seemingly from the head of the former Kaiser Director, lay beside a Valkyrie Police armband. The charred fabric and bloodstains conjured images of an unspeakable disaster. Whoever had desecrated this place and violated Nonomi's life had left these items as a manifestation of pure malice, aimed at crushing every last shred of my hope.
Regardless of how I interpreted Suou's words, this hell was a "sacrifice" prepared for me. Yet, she wasn't the perpetrator; she lacked the power for such destruction. The many loops I had endured through "Return by Death" gave me enough time to understand the limits of her combat prowess.
My mind shut down. Fluid leaked from my face without stopping. The blood draining from my head pulled the heat from my boiling skull, bleeding out my shattered emotions. My heart, my feelings, my blood—everything eroded as the collapse gnawed at my will, staining my face.
I recognized the reality, yet I couldn't comprehend it. I understood nothing that had happened. Not a single thing. But one fact stood clear before me.
"I must... die quickly."
The truth was that this tragedy, this ruin, this hell... it couldn't end here.
His exhausted mind, pushed beyond its limits and too late to grasp the situation, shuddered at the thought of a "save point update." If his checkpoint updated now, in the midst of this catastrophe, he would be trapped in this hell forever. As hatred consumed his being, Subaru swallowed a bitterness unlike any he had tasted in hundreds of deaths since falling into this world.
His heart continued to send sharp jolts of pain through him.
The taste of blood filled his mouth; he had been grinding his teeth so hard his jaw ached. He stumbled out of the meeting room, his steps shaky and unbalanced under the weight of the corpse he carried. The setting sun once again lit the hallway, casting a long, crimson glow. This place, which he had struggled so hard to reach, was now the one place he longed to flee with every fiber of his being.
He didn't know exactly what had transpired, but something monumental had occurred. And whatever it was, it would not be merciful enough to leave Subaru even a glimmer of hope.
"Arona." (Subaru)
No answer came. This was impossible. Arona was his last hope, his sacred sanctuary that never abandoned him, no matter how nightmares deepened. She was the AI residing in his device, his sole support, and the entity furthest from death in this world. Her main system sat safely in Schale; even if Subaru died, she would remember him. Her silence now signaled absolute despair.
He was afraid—no, he was trembling with terror.
Every conceivable horror and unthinkable form of despair attacked him. He feared the mounting deaths—not just his own, but those of Shiroko, Hoshino, Serika, Ayane, Aru, Kayoko, Mutsuki, Haruka, and Kanna... Simply reciting their names made their deaths feel like an imminent reality.
So, Subaru kept walking, the body heavy on his back. To deny reality or to accept it were both lethal poisons. The overwhelming urge to believe this was all a nightmare crashed against the coldness of the corpse on his back, a freezing reminder that this was inescapable truth. To speak of "dreams" in these conditions felt like drowning in baseless delusions.
"Hoshino... Shiroko, Aru... Serika... Mutsuki..." (Subaru)
He began to mutter the names of his team, one after another. If they were following the plan, they had to be nearby. There had to be a technical reason Arona couldn't reach them.
"Hoshino... as long as Hoshino-chan is there, nothing worse will happen... Everyone is fine..." (Subaru)
What did he mean by "worse than this"? It was already too late. Subaru Natsuki had already lost the very things he was trying to protect. His words were nothing more than excuses to deceive himself—lies thinly veiled as "concern for others."
"Yeah, Hoshino... Hoshino...──" (Subaru)
Excuses that couldn't even fool him. What point was there now?
"Ah." (Subaru)
"The sky..." (Subaru)
A deep, blood-red hue stained the sky and the entire world—a color far different from a normal sunset. To Subaru, it looked like an angel's trumpet heralding the end, the final scene before the credits roll.
His knees gave out. He collapsed in the hallway alongside the body. It was a wretched state, the absolute worst. His heart began to prepare for the end. Despite seeing those girls stand up again and again without surrendering, and despite his promise to protect them next time, he was now on the verge of giving up and admitting defeat.
"...Shiroko, Hoshino..." (Subaru)
"Where... where did I go wrong...?" (Subaru)
Subaru stood up, swaying, and began to move forward with weak, powerless steps. He left Nonomi's remains behind and dragged his feet like a man wasted by disease, heading toward the exit while feeling that everything was already far too late.
"..." (Subaru)
Unaware of what awaited him at the end of that eerie red light, and unwilling to know the truth—despite knowing he must—he continued to wish that this was all just a dream.
"Shiroko." (Subaru)
Clinging to something invisible like a drowning man grasping at a straw, he called out the name of the girl he considered his anchor and refuge. Subaru moved toward the flashing red light, his steps heavier and slower than a tortoise.
●○●○●
──Shiroko lay dead in the desert.
●○●○●
"You're... far... too late..." (Suou)
"..." (Subaru)
The desert, a witness to countless horrors, now presented a bloodstained landscape more harrowing than anything before. Blood and gunpowder smoke claimed the sands, where intense heat had fused grains into jagged glass. Molten shards mingled with the grit in a ghastly display. Explosives had gouged and scarred the terrain, leaving behind scatterings of black powder like the ashes of hell itself. The desert night reflected the stark whiteness of the dunes, while dark blood stained them with desolate, black shadows.
Corpses clad in white uniforms and gas masks littered the ground like fallen stars in a sea of blood. Some were half-incinerated; others had pierced skulls or gaping cavities torn through their torsos—a grotesque tableau, haunting even by Subaru's standards.
"Ah... it's him..." (Suou)
"That... expression..." (Suou)
"...on your face." (Suou)
Suou also lay in the desert, blood seeping from a deep, fatal diagonal gash. Life offered her no more room; her descent into eternal darkness was imminent. There was no time to uncover the truth behind these wretched victims who fell with her. Only the "Horus of the Dawn" in this world wielded the searing heat capable of incinerating these students—strangers in unfamiliar attire who had dared to attack that beast.
"I wanted... to see it." (Suou)
She uttered her final words, her breath hitched, and she passed away.
"..." (Subaru)
"Shiroko." (Subaru)
Nearby lay Shiroko, her halo completely extinguished, yet she bore no visible wounds. Only the sand was supposed to touch her, but the flame of her life had suddenly vanished. No bullet holes, no fires, not even a faint scratch marred her delicate frame.
Why, then, did she lie there? Why had the light in her eyes faded, leaving her to let the desert sands brush against her skin without resistance? Because she was dead. Because she was dead, Shiroko no longer moved.
They said she had no memories, that everyone had rejected her, and that she wasn't truly alive until Hoshino extended a hand. A girl with nothing—no memories, no purpose—until she finally found a reason to live. This meant "Sunaookami Shiroko" had died once before, only to be reborn. A girl who should have enjoyed her "youth" and built a future to compensate for her lost past.
What was her sin, to have everything stolen before her life truly began? What logic drove those killers to end her? A filth and distortion that drove people to harm one another without understanding—Subaru felt a violent wave of nausea.
"What...?" (Subaru)
What did she want to do? Asagiri Suou had left this world; nothing remained of her but a cold wax doll that would not answer. It made no sense. Hadn't she said she wanted to see that face? Hadn't she wanted to see Subaru crawling from the bottom? Hadn't she sought to fill the void inside her by watching another fill theirs, only to end the same way? Shouldn't she have stopped following a hollow desire for revenge and put an end to these futile, empty efforts?
Ah, so that was it.
『Why do you exert such effort for "Abydos"? Most humans cannot move without a motive, and they cannot succeed without a logical justification.』 (Suou)
Since "nothingness" drove Asagiri Suou's actions, it was no wonder they lacked meaning in the end.
"── No." (Subaru)
"I... I'm not like that. I'm nothing like her. Never..." (Subaru)
If Asagiri Suou saw the same "nothingness" in Natsuki Subaru and sought to destroy his fragile hopes to prove herself right, then his struggle was indeed meaningless. Subaru felt it; those eyes that failed to reflect even the red light were mocking him. The heart beating in a blood-dripping chest was laughing at him. He felt a searing self-hatred for the very existence of "Natsuki Subaru."
── If your actions have meaning as you claim, then where did you leave Izayoi Nonomi, and why did you fail to protect her?
"...──" (Subaru)
"..." (Subaru)
"Ho-shi-no." (Subaru)
"Hoshino...── Hoshi...no..." (Subaru)
He began to walk. Like a drifting ghost or a stalk of pampas grass swaying weakly in the wind, he took a single step. His mind, hemorrhaging both blood and emotion, felt suspended in a dream. He prayed with all his soul that it was only that. He walked to surrender to whatever presence would finally kill him and end this torment. He pressed his exhausted feet into the harsh desert sands.
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