"I know who ya are, after all."
Weitz's familiar, gravelly voice cut through the tension of the gladiator barracks, but Subaru could not process the words. He couldn't think of anything to say.
The only thing on his mind was the memory of a massacre that hadn't happened yet.
The sight of Gustav's body split in half. The image of the gladiators and guards being utterly torn to pieces by water, wind, and fire. The scenes flashed constantly against the darkness of his closed eyelids. The blood hadn't physically fallen onto his hands, yet they felt stained with it all the same.
How? How? How?
What could he do about this? What was there for him to do? How could he overcome an obstacle like the Spirit Eater? Was there a way to overcome this?
The unachievable. The unattainable. The unreachable.
The doubts lingered in his mind like rot.
What if he simply could not get past this in his current state?
If he got stuck here... Gojo would be fated to turn into a monster. Emilia would wonder where her trusted knight had vanished to. Beatrice would plead for her contractor to come back, never to find an answer for his disappearance. Rem would beg for her hero to return. Ram would hate him for making her dear sister cry.
He couldn't let that happen.
Weitz's voice faded into the background, entirely unheard.
"But that ain't the point," the tattooed man continued, completely unaware of Subaru's internal spiral. "Don't lump me in with Hiain and his smooth talkin'.——"
Not yet...! Not yet...!
"H-Hey, Natsuki!!?"
In an instant, Subaru allowed Cursed Energy to flood through his legs. He blasted forward at top speed, the sheer force of his launch cratering the stone floor where he stood a moment prior. He bounded through the turn of the alley and out onto the main pathway of the island.
"Pride! Come out here!" he yelled while sprinting.
The shadows underneath his blurring boots warped and twisted. Pride quickly emerged from the puddle of darkness, matching Subaru's frantic pace stride for stride.
"What is it...? Wait... that look... did you——"
Subaru had no time to explain. "You've got to find Cecilus! I don't know where he is on the island, but you've got to find him!"
"What...? Hey——!"
Not bothering to listen to Pride's confusion, Subaru picked up the pace, rushing directly for Gustav's office.
All he had to do was make it in time. Todd had mentioned in the previous loop that the cursed tool was hidden inside of Gustav's body. Therefore, all Subaru had to do was get there before Gustav was killed and save the four-armed man.
Todd was a non-issue at this moment, while he was terrifyingly cunning, he wasn't physically powerful enough to be a threat.
The real problem was Arakiya. She was the total opposite of Todd——lacking in intellect, but possessing a raw, overwhelming power that Subaru simply could not match.
He had died instantly when he angered her last time, after all.
Rushing past confused gladiators and startled guards, Subaru opted for a different approach this time. Instead of using the stairs, he leaped into the air. Utilizing the Authority of Pride, he manipulated invisible footholds to act as an extra double-jump, propelling himself high above the courtyard and aligning himself directly over Gustav's office roof.
Gravity took over. He drove his reinforced boot directly through the wooden ceiling in an explosive display of might that filled the office below with smoke and falling splinters.
"Hrk——!? Arakiya!"
The voice, hidden by the dust, undoubtedly belonged to Todd.
As soon as Subaru rose back to his feet, a strong gust of wind billowed past him, dissipating the cloud of smoke formed from his violent arrival.
Unfortunately, despite the fact he had undoubtedly been quicker than before... he was still too late.
Gustav was dead. The Governor's massive body lay split in half on the wooden floor.
"Damn it!" Subaru cursed, instantly raising his fists in preparation.
Arakiya stood opposite him, her wooden branch already leveled.
"Who are you supposed to be? No, seriously."
Todd stepped out from around Gustav's flipped table, his brows furrowed in genuine irritation. He hadn't yet cut the black orb out of Gustav's body, unlike the previous loop. Instead, his full attention was locked onto Subaru.
Todd's nose twitched slightly. "You smell disgustingly similar to a terrifying guy I know..."
"——What?" Subaru's brows furrowed as he glared at Todd.
That was exactly what Todd had said during that last failed attempt. Clearly, that meant Todd was one of the very few people who could smell the miasma radiating off Subaru's body. Or, at least, that was what Subaru presumed was happening.
"The miasma...?"
Todd shook his head. "No, no. Not that, definitely not... I mean your actual odor... do you have an older brother, or something?"
Hearing Subaru's lack of answer, Todd quickly pulled out his large hunting knife and approached Gustav's corpse, never taking his eyes off Subaru.
"...Arakiya, take him seriously. I mean it," Todd ordered quickly. "You've got permission to kill."
Subaru instinctively took a step backward.
"Alright." Arakiya replied calmly, the air around her already humming with mana.
"When you've killed him, come back here," Todd added, kneeling beside the Governor's body. "I can't use it without you, after all."
Subaru's eyes widened. It was a subtle reaction, but his mind raced, instantly dissecting the sentence.
I can't use it without you.
Todd likely misunderstood the situation. He likely presumed that Subaru—being a child who just crashed through the ceiling—didn't have the context regarding the Curse Tool. Therefore, Todd spoke in a rather unassuming manner, assuming the words would mean nothing to the intruder.
But Subaru was not an unassuming intruder. He understood perfectly now.
Todd could not use the Curse Tool to wipe out the island himself. Somehow, he needed Arakiya to trigger it.
By that logic, Todd was even less of a factor now. If Arakiya was removed from the equation, or kept away from the tool, the island was safe.
Of course... dealing with Arakiya was still the biggest hurdle.
As soon as Arakiya moved her branch even a fraction of an inch, Subaru was already a step ahead.
From his outstretched hand, an enormous tidal wave of purple Cursed Energy erupted. It tore through the office, disintegrating furniture and stone alike.
But Arakiya didn't even flinch. Rather, she blasted the energy into nothingness with a powerful gust of wind, the sheer force of it reflecting the shockwave right back at Subaru.
"Hk...!"
Subaru grunted, planting his feet against the brunt of his own attack before he called upon Invisible Providence, aiming the unseen fist directly at Arakiya's chest.
She didn't dodge. She swiped vertically with her branch, unleashing a highly pressurized line of water that sliced through everything in its path——including the unseen hand. The magic severed the connection, sending a spike of phantom pain through Subaru's core.
"Disgusting." Arakiya commented, her nose wrinkling as if she smelled something foul.
Subaru rolled to the side to narrowly evade the rest of the water jet. But as his boots hit the wooden floor, he stumbled. His feet and ankles sank into the ground beneath him. The ground had practically turned to mud in an instant.
Breaking out wasn't a problem for his reinforced muscles, but even a millisecond of an opening against a Divine General was fatal.
Two massive rocky hands formed out of the earth on either side of him. They clapped together at a terrifying speed, a thunderous clap ringing out as Subaru was caught in the center.
With a frantic grimace, he blasted himself free using a burst of Cursed Energy. Mid-air, he thrust his arm forward, hurling a shadow-formed javelin straight at Arakiya the exact moment he was free.
"Arakiya——!" Todd yelled from behind the desk, shielding his eyes from the dust. "I can't do what I need to do with all this chaos! Move him somewhere else!"
Arakiya simply craned her neck, allowing the shadow javelin to fly harmlessly past her ear before she glanced at Todd.
"Alright." She murmured.
Subaru lunged while she was distracted, trying to close the gap, but she was already swinging her branch in a fluid, circular motion.
A thick rope of water whipped out, catching his ankle. The force of it was enough to crack the bone as it tightened, and, before he even registered the pain, he was violently yanked upside down, dangling for less than a second before she swung her arm sideways.
He was launched like a ragdoll.
Subaru hurtled through the air for hundreds of meters. He crashed straight through the upper walls of a guard tower, tumbling out the other side and slamming into the paved street below.
His body carved a deep, jagged gouge into the cobblestones. He slid to a halt, nearly taking out a group of passing gladiators who jumped back in absolute shock.
"What the fuck!?"
"What in the——"
Get up.
His brain screamed at his muscles.
Get up now. Or it's just going to be a repeat of the last loop.
"Argghhhh!!" Groaning through the agonizing pain in his ankle and ribs, Subaru forced himself up.
He swayed, only just taking notice of the warm blood dripping rapidly down his forehead and into his eye, marking the pupil dark red.
"Fuck... why is she so damn strong..." He hissed, spitting blood onto the stones.
"H-Hey... are you alright?!"
Subaru glanced backward, his eyes wide. Several gladiators were staring at him with a mix of concern, fear, and curiosity.
"N-No.... get out of here——"
"Natsuki?!"
A familiar voice cut through the murmurs. Subaru turned, catching sight of the distinctive crimson hair. Idra pushed his way to the front of the crowd, a look of genuine shock on his face.
"What is going on?!" Idra demanded, taking a step toward him.
Why... is he here? This is horrible. They have to move. They have to flee.
Subaru thought, panic spiking in his chest.
"You've got to run... now!!" Subaru yelled, waving him away.
"What...? No, I'm not going to leave you——"
Why does he care so much now? Why didn't he care during that first Sparka, when he tried to push me straight into the jaws of the Witchbeast?
"No... Idra, I'm telling you——"
Unfortunately, before Subaru could properly warn them, the air pressure in the street suddenly vanished.
A powerful torrent of wind blasted through the area, tearing the cobblestones from the ground. The sheer force of the gale knocked Idra and several other gladiators clean off their feet.
The dust settled, revealing the eye of the storm.
Arakiya touched down gently on the ruined street, her wooden branch resting lightly in her grip. She looked at Subaru, then at the terrified gladiators behind him, her red eyes utterly vacant of mercy or emotion.
She didn't look like a person. She looked like a monster. A harbinger of death and destruction that caused Subaru's stomach to drop the moment her feet touched the ground.
Subaru slowly raised his trembling hands, conjuring a jagged sword of solidified darkness within his grip. He truly did not know what he could do right now. Victory was unachievable against an opponent of this caliber as he was now. But he could not just stop and allow himself to die.
He would fight until the very end.
He would fight to protect them——
"...Natsuki."
"What... are you doing?" Subaru asked, his eyes wide with shock.
Idra had stepped in front of him. The crimson-haired gladiator raised his shabby looking steel blade, pointing it directly at the Second Divine General.
"I already... said it before, but I lied about everything," Idra said, his voice shaking so badly it barely carried over the wind. "I'm no warrior. Not at all... I only said that during the Sparka so you guys would let me get that sword. It's cowardly, right? Of course it is. It's the absolute pinnacle of cowardice."
"———"
"You should get out of here... I'm not sure how much time I can really buy for ya, but..." Idra didn't look back. He just gave a small, terrified smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Why——" Subaru choked out, reaching for him.
"Why, indeed. I don't know...!" Idra laughed, a manic, desperate sound. "I'm absolutely terrified... I know I'm going to die like this. But... really, I'm the worst. I was going to feed a damn kid to a Witchbeast. Your strength doesn't change that fact. I'm sorry. Truly... truly sorry, Natsuki——"
"Enough."
Arakiya didn't shout. She simply spoke the word, and the world obeyed.
There was a flash of light. No, there were too many to count. Blinding, searing strokes of blue light that moved faster than thought.
Subaru reached out, desperately attempting to grasp Idra's shoulder to pull him away.
"Huh."
It was too quick to fully see. The movement simply bypassed the limits of human perception. Subaru could only let out a flabbergasted, hollow sound.
He felt a wet splatter against his face. The ringing in his ears was deafening. He reached up, wiping away the hot liquid on his cheek, his eyes slowly tracking downward.
He noticed it then.
Idra's cold, lifeless body was falling into his outstretched hands. There was a black, charred hole punched perfectly through the center of the man's skull.
The upper half of his body tumbled into Subaru's arms.
The lower half, sheared cleanly at the waist, had already hit the cobblestones with a wet, heavy thud.
"———"
No. No, no no no no no no——
Subaru gagged. He took a single, jerky step back, his arms giving out as he accidentally dropped Idra's mutilated torso.
It hit the ground with a sickening splat whilst all he could do was glare at his palms.
They were slick and coated with blood that did and did not belong to him.
Then, he felt something tight around his ankle.
His eyes snapped down. A wave of pure, unfiltered nausea hit him like a physical blow.
"P-Please.... heelp...!"
A gladiator's upper torso—a man so desperately clinging to life—gripped Subaru's ankle in sheer terror. His entrails were pooling out violently behind him, dragging across the stones. Blood poured from the severed torso in a torrential wave, painting the street beneath Subaru in a thick, slick coat of crimson.
Subaru felt something he hadn't truly felt to such a paralyzing degree in a very long time.
Absolute, primal horror.
The stench hit him next. It was thick, cloying. The sharp, metallic tang of iron mixed with the foul odor of ruptured bowels.
It was a stench of such potency it burned the inside of his nose.
And it wasn't silent, either.
Not everyone had died instantly from the flashes of light.
Spread across the area behind him, where dozens of gladiators had been standing just a second ago, was a landscape of butchery. There were pained groans. Desperate, wet coughs. Screams for mothers, for gods, for mercy.
"I don't... wanna die!!" The man grasping his leg pleaded, blood bubbling past his lips.
Subaru could do nothing to help the man. But as he looked at the carnage, the horrible, crushing realization settled into his bones: This is my fault.
"A-AAHHH!!" Subaru screamed, the sound tearing its way out of his chest.
It was a grueling, revolting, disturbing scene. It was a slaughterhouse that eclipsed anything he had ever seen in his worst nightmares.
"P-please... help... mee!" The man pleaded.
Subaru panicked. His breath came in short, hyperventilating gasps. Despite all the strength he had attained, despite the Cursed Energy running through his veins, he could not do a single thing to stop this. He couldn't fix it.
The gruel, blood, and viscera coated the lower half of his own clothes as he staggered backward, violently yanking his leg free from the dying man's desperate hold.
Feeling the vomit rising in his throat, Subaru turned away to try and contain it.
No... no no no... this isn't how it's... supposed to be...
He was supposed to gain their trust. He was supposed to befriend them. He was supposed to lead them to the capital as the key force of the revolution and emerge victorious. All so he could see Gojo, Emilia, Beako, Rem, Ram, and everyone else again.
This wasn't what he wanted.
"A-aaaah...!" Subaru sobbed his tears mixing with the blood on his face.
"So you are just a child, after all." Arakiya commented lazily.
She instantly followed up with a casual, horizontal swipe of her branch.
Subaru hadn't meant to dodge. He simply collapsed to his knees to vomit.
The pressurized grid of water sheared the air inches above his scalp, taking a few strands of his black hair with it. It was a pathetic, accidental motion that narrowly saved him from being diced into pieces.
However, kneeling in the middle of a slaughterhouse, one could truly debate if he was lucky to have survived.
In that moment, his childish brain did the only thing it could think of and scrambled backward like a frightened animal.
His palms slipped on the wet, warm entrails coating the cobblestones. Though he did not look back, despite that.
Instead, he just turned around and began to flee with all of his might.
Why did this have to happen?
The thought looped endlessly in his head as he ran.
He doesn't want to do this.
He doesn't want to keep watching everyone die because of his weakness.
He doesn't want to blame himself. But he has no choice. He has to blame himself, because he is the only one capable of doing anything about this. He is the only one who can fix it.
Through the tears slicking his vision, he didn't even see where he was running. He didn't quite care, either. He just needed to be away from the smell of iron and death.
He slammed into a heavy set of doors, shoving them open and stumbling into the dim, quiet interior of a holding block.
Leaning heavily against the stone wall, he began to hyperventilate.
Coward. Coward. I'm a fucking coward——
Why didn't he just stand there? Why didn't he just let himself die so he could try again right now? Can he really not do a single thing right?
Truly. Really. Without a doubt, he is——
"Uaaaa...?"
Subaru froze.
"L-Louis...?"
He looked ahead with wide, bloodshot eyes. He had been so blinded by panic that he hadn't even noticed the figure standing right in front of him.
A tuft of blonde hair. Big, blue eyes looking up at him with deep concern.
"D-Don't... look at me like that..." Subaru muttered, his voice cracking.
He wiped frantically at his eyes with his sleeve, only succeeding in smearing Idra's blood across his own cheek.
"Don't——"
Subaru took a trembling step back. The weight of her concerned gaze felt suffocating. It was not a look that a failure like him deserved.
"———"
"Uaa..."
Louis didn't hesitate. She stepped forward, completely ignoring the blood stained brutality soaking his clothes. She reached up on her tiptoes and rested her small palm on the top of his head, and began to soothingly stroke his dark hair.
Subaru's breath hitched.
The overwhelming helplessness, the dread, the crushing despair... and now, this gentle warmth. It broke whatever fragile dam was left inside his mind. It acted as fuel, fanning the flames of his ruined emotions until they consumed him entirely.
"U-Ua!?"
Louis's eyes widened in surprise as Subaru suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around her frame. He buried his face into her shoulder, his body shaking violently.
He felt so pathetic. Crying into her arms like this. Crying so helplessly, like a frightened toddler. It was laughable. It was absolutely absurd.
So why? Why isn't she laughing?
"Hk——" Subaru choked on a heavy sob.
Louis didn't push him away. Slowly, clumsily, her small arms wrapped back around him. She rested her chin on his shoulder and began rubbing a slow, soothing circle into his trembling back.
It was pitiful. Totally pitiful.
But as she held him in the quiet dark, the frantic, suffocating panic in his chest finally began to cease.
Slowly, Subaru pulled back and looked into Louis's eyes. "W-We... we have to move. Fast. That woman is c——"
"Found you."
Arakiya's indifferent tone sent a spike of ice straight up Subaru's spine.
A powerful blast of wind annihilated the hinges of the mess hall doors. The heavy steel-reinforced wood was sent flying toward the pair like a pair of cannonballs.
Subaru twisted on instinct, shielding Louis with his body. He took the impact with his back. The steel dented and bounced off his Cursed Energy reinforcement, but the sheer, blinding speed of the projectile knocked the air completely from his lungs.
He keeled forward, gasping for breath.
From the bright light outside, Arakiya's dark silhouette slowly stepped into the dim mess hall.
The Spirit Eater did not waste time gloating. She raised her wooden branch to swing once more.
"Natsuki——!"
Something invisible suddenly grabbed both children around the waists. It tackled them hard to the side, dragging them out of the direct line of fire.
A fraction of a second later, a sharp gust blasted through the space where they had just been. It didn't just uplift the heavy wooden tables and chairs; it eviscerated them entirely, turning the oak into sawdust.
"Fuck... fuck, what am I doing? Ya gotta be kiddin' me...!"
The voice drew out in pure, unfiltered terror as the effects of the chameleon-like camouflage vanished. The familiar visage of a grey lizardman appeared next to them on the floor.
Subaru's eyes widened. "H-Hiain...?!"
"Yes... yes... it's me, damn it!" Hiain hissed, his scales standing fully on end. "Why the hell am I the one savin' you, huh? I thought ya were meant to be untouchable!"
The lizardman made his complaints very clear in his petrified body language as he snapped his head up toward Arakiya. But despite his sheer, paralyzing terror, he had still risked his life to pull them out of the way.
Suddenly——
"Charge!"
"Fuckin' kill her!"
"Get her!"
A chorus of desperate yells echoed from the shattered doorway behind Arakiya.
The Spirit Eater slowly turned around to face the mob of gladiators rushing her.
"What are they doing...? Are they stupid...?" Arakiya muttered, tilting her head.
The gladiators didn't even get within two meters.
Arakiya swung her branch horizontally. A highly pressurized arc of water cleaved through the doorway. It was a singular, effortless motion that split half a dozen men apart before they could even swing their weapons.
"N-No... why——" Subaru choked on the word.
He could not understand.
Why were they all throwing their lives away? For what reason? The most logical thing to do was run away and hide. They didn't know about the Curse Tool. They didn't know they were marked for death. So... why?
"——It's because of ya, Natsuki..."
Subaru's neck snapped to the side.
A tall, heavily tattooed man stepped out from behind a ruined pillar, his posture stiff but his gaze steady.
"W-Weitz...? What're you doing here...?"
"I could see the question all over ya face, ya know? So I just went ahead and answered it..." Weitz said, his gravelly voice tight. "Those guys out there? They ain't usually the self-sacrificial type. But apparently, it's different when it comes to you."
Subaru grimaced. He averted his gaze, the crushing weight of guilt settling back over his chest.
"They... shouldn't be doing that. Not for me..."
Weitz's eyes narrowed.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
——Weitz Rogen had never believed he could live or die honestly.
Society, after all, tended to grossly undervalue the word normal.
'Normal' was employed to convey the meaning of average, or ordinary. Something that did not stand out. But from the viewpoint of those considered less than human, 'normal' was an unreachable, impossible standard.
The City of Iron and Blood, Glarasia. That was the name of Weitz's hometown, the place where he had been born and raised.
It was an unhinged, sweltering city where the weapons and armor used throughout the entire Empire were manufactured. Day and night, craftsmen worked diligently, forging steel into tools designed solely for the sake of wounding others.
About half the residents were involved in some form of arms manufacturing. Weitz had been no exception.
He had no parents around by the time he became aware of his surroundings. He was simply forced to do chores in a local workshop. He had no interest in the craft, and certainly no pride. He performed his job in order to eat. He performed chores at the workshop for no other reason than the simple fact that he had been born in the City of Iron and Blood.
If his hometown's main export had been horse gear, he would have made saddles. If it had been agriculture, he would have carried a hoe.
Without fixation, without interest, Weitz worked silently under the sidelong, judging glances of the craftsmen. Because no one could tell what he was thinking, a rare few called the antisocial Weitz a "hard worker." But most just thought of him as a mysterious, creepy guy.
He thought that, since he had been alone since birth, it was only natural that he would be alone upon his death.
Such ephemeral indifference. That way of life was practically loathed by others. People didn't trust a man who asked for nothing.
So, when suspicions arose that rare materials from the workshop were being siphoned into illegal channels, Weitz was the first one blamed.
Weitz, who often worked by his lonesome. Weitz, who possessed no partner to vouch for him. He had absolutely zero means to clear the suspicions cast upon him.
Ultimately, unable to fight the false accusations, Weitz was tried for a crime he had no memory of committing. He was branded a criminal.
The first tattoo inked onto him was the evidence of his punishment——a mark to ensure he was recognizable as a thief at a mere glance.
There was no hiding it. Nobody in Glarasia wore clothes with long sleeves, the city was constantly enveloped in the blistering heat of the forges. His tattoos were laid bare upon both forearms for all to see. And even if he had worn long sleeves, it would have been immediately blatant that he was hiding something guilty.
Once the evidence of his crime had been carved into his skin, he could no longer live the same life.
It might not have been an excellent life before, but that was the day Weitz Rogen officially gave up on the idea of being normal.
He never thought he would be able to attain his wish after everything that had happened. Not in Glarasia. Not as a mercenary. And certainly not on Gladiator Island.
Then, a black-haired boy crashed into his life.
——"Sooo, what's your name? You already heard mine, right? I did say it quite loudly. My throat's actually kind of stinging from the effort."
It was such a simple, stupid introduction. But it was everything.
The wish to be treated like a normal human being.
To be asked for a name, rather than judged by a tattoo.
That was what Natsuki Subaru had given him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Weitz took a step closer, his eyes narrowing.
"Is this really the look someone related to the Emperor should have, huh? Didn't you have some sort of big-ass plan when ya came here? So what's all this moping about?!"
Subaru gritted his teeth. His contracted pupils wavered violently. He could hear the wet, tearing sounds of more gladiators being cut down just outside the hall.
"I... I got Idra killed... you know?" Subaru said quickly, his voice cracking.
Weitz's eyes widened slightly, his features forming into a sudden grimace at the information. It was exactly the reaction Subaru was hoping for, because he wanted Weitz to be angry. They had every reason to hate him, after all.
But Weitz didn't yell. He just looked at Subaru.
"... Do you think Idra would want you acting like this, after what he did?" Weitz simply asked.
It was a basic, simple question. But it hit Subaru like a physical blow.
"Do you think... he threw his life away just so you could sit here and act like a damn wimp!?"
Weitz shouted, his voice finally breaking its stoic restraint.
"All so you could snivel and cry like a little brat? Where was all that crying before, when you were punchin' holes through the most terrifying monsters I've ever seen, huh!?"
"———"
Subaru could not speak.
"You can't just act like a 'normal' brat now!"
Weitz roared, jabbing a finger at Subaru's chest.
"Not after you saved us! Not after you gave us hope, Natsuki!"
"I..."
"Idra sacrificed himself because he wanted to make things right after what he did at Sparka!"
Weitz barked, cutting him off.
"He made his choice in the end! So don't you go making the damn mistake of bearing all the guilt for something you can't control!"
"Ah——"
Subaru blinked.
His breath caught in his throat.
He made his choice.
The words cut through the suffocating fog in his mind, sharp and clear.
"We ain't just your baggage, kid..."
Weitz growled, his massive fists clenching at his sides.
"We're gladiators. If we choose to stand our ground and die for you, you don't get to spit on that by giving up! You carry it, and you keep moving!"
"Y-Yeah!" Hiain stammered from the floor.
His scales were still standing on end and his teeth chattered so hard they clicked.
"I'm scared shitless! I don't wanna die! But... but I still pulled ya out of the way, didn't I?! Give us some damn credit, Natsuki!"
Subaru stared at them.
He looked down at his small, bloodstained hands. He had been so consumed by his own arrogance——the subconscious idea that he, and he alone, had to perfectly control everyone's fate. By sobbing over his own weakness, he was treating their genuine resolve as nothing more than a tragic consequence of his failure.
He was treating them like props. He was disrespecting their choices.
For the first time since the interaction began, Subaru looked directly into Weitz's eyes.
He saw no pity. He saw no hatred. Just a desperate, stubborn belief in the boy who had saved them in the arena.
He glanced down at Hiain, who was terrified but still holding his ground.
He looked at Louis, who was staring up at him with wide, trusting eyes.
"... Seems I've really made a mess of things, huh?" Subaru muttered.
He placed his hands on his knees and slowly pushed himself up. The trembling in his legs finally stopped.
He stood upright, rolling his shoulders.
When he looked back at the stunned trio, a small, incredibly strained, but genuine smile touched his lips.
"Sorry you had to see me like that, guys."
"N-Natsuki...?" Hiain stammered.
"Thank you. Hiain. Weitz. Louis..." Subaru said quietly.
His dark eyes lost their frantic waver, hardening into something sharp and intensely focused.
"You've opened my eyes again."
Behind him, a heavy thud echoed through the ruined doorway. Arakiya stepped over the final gladiator's corpse, flicking blood from her wooden branch. She looked noticeably more annoyed than before.
"W-Wait—!" Weitz yelled, reaching out as Subaru began to move.
Subaru didn't look back. He took a single, deliberate step toward the Spirit Eater. The despair and panic were gone. The wild, unyielding defiance that had defined Natsuki Subaru for over a year had returned.
"This will be my victory, Arakiya," Subaru declared, his voice ringing loud and clear across the ruined hall. "I don't care how many times I have to do this. I don't care how many times I have to do this whole thing over..."
"———"
Arakiya's brows furrowed. It was the first look of actual turmoil Subaru had seen on her face since she had fought them in Guaral.
As expected, she didn't offer a witty retort. She didn't scoff. Instead, she raised her branch, leveling the tip directly at his head, and muttered a single incantation.
"My name is Natsuki Subaru... and I will win!" He grinned.
A flash of mana later, a condensed beam of light no larger than a marble pierced straight through his brain.