"Subaru!?"
Emilia was the first to cry out in alarm.
She saw Subaru, standing in the knights' ranks, suddenly sway violently before collapsing straight forward like a puppet with its strings cut.
However, a white figure was faster than her voice.
Almost at the exact moment Subaru's knees touched the cold ground, Tsukasa's figure appeared by her side. He dropped to one knee and extended his arm, steadily catching her limp body.
The casual laziness that had been on his face moments ago was now completely gone. Beneath the shadow of his helmet, those blue pupils suddenly contracted.
"Subaru, can you hear me?" He called out in a low voice.
There was no response. The girl in his arms had her eyes tightly shut, her face as pale as paper, and her breathing was weak and irregular.
"Subaru, she..."
Emilia had also stumbled forward, her eyes instantly filling with tears and terror. She reached out, wanting to touch Subaru, but was imperceptibly blocked by Tsukasa's shoulder.
"Don't panic, step back a bit first."
Although Tsukasa's voice was exceptionally low, it carried a reassuring calmness.
With one hand steadily supporting Subaru, he held his other hand open, hovering half an inch above her heart, as a faint, almost invisible shimmer emanated from his palm.
Voom—
An almost inaudible vibration rang out.
Without hesitation, he pushed the power of Reverse Cursed Technique to its limit. Positive energy flowed, attempting to pour into Subaru's body to dispel all abnormalities and repair any possible damage.
However, Tsukasa's brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Under the near-omniscient perception of his Six Eyes, Subaru's physical body was intact. Her bones, internal organs, and blood circulation were all in a normal state. Although her spiritual energy was weak, there were no signs of collapse.
There were no external injuries, no internal bleeding, no signs of poisoning, and no traces of curses or foreign mana.
Positive Energy poured into her body as if into a bottomless ocean—encountering no resistance, but also no target that "needed to be repaired."
It was as if the root of this sudden coma was not at the physical level at all.
Was it mental... or perhaps a problem at the soul level?
Just as this guess flashed through his mind, Emilia's tearful voice rang out again from the side.
"What happened to Subaru?! Why did she suddenly..."
"At the physical level, I can't find any problems."
Tsukasa withdrew his hand and scratched his iron helmet, a hint of helpless irritation in his voice. "But she just won't wake up."
His Six Eyes could see through the flow of energy, analyze the composition of Cursed Techniques, and even capture subtle fluctuations of life that ordinary people couldn't perceive. Yet at this moment, he was completely powerless against Subaru's bizarre condition.
Meanwhile, a chaotic uproar broke out in the hall again due to this sudden incident. The atmosphere, already tense from the previous heated argument regarding Emilia's appearance, was now even worse, filled with unease and commotion.
At that moment, a lithe figure parted the crowd and approached. Felix knelt down, his expression less playful than usual, replaced by the focus of a professional healer.
He extended his fingers, placing them on Subaru's wrist, then pressed his palm against her forehead, closing his eyes to sense for a moment.
"It's spiritual power."
Felix opened his eyes, a flash of realization and gravity appearing in his pupils. "Her spiritual power has been severely depleted, one might even say excessively overextended. It's like finishing a journey that should take days in a single second. Although the body is intact, the 'flame' supporting her consciousness has become extremely weak."
She gave a preliminary judgment that aligned with Tsukasa's findings.
—
Thick rain clouds obscured the sky, but a few stubborn rays of dazzling sunlight still pierced through the clouds, shining diagonally into the room.
Subaru was curled up on her side in bed, her long black hair scattered messily across the pillow. Her body was trembling uncontrollably, her eyes staring blankly at the wall as if her soul had been hollowed out, leaving only a helpless and fragile shell.
"Come to think of it, since coming here, I don't seem to have seen many rainy days."
On the other side of the room, Tsukasa leaned back in a chair with his feet casually propped up on the table. He gazed at the heavy clouds outside, his tone sounding no different from usual.
By now, nearly two days had passed since the sudden incident at the Royal Selection meeting. No one in the capital could give a definitive answer as to why Subaru had suddenly fainted.
Afterward, out of concern for Subaru's condition, Crusch suggested bringing her back to her mansion for care, so that if another change occurred, Felix, as an excellent healer, could respond immediately.
Rem had followed along, guarding her without leaving her side. Emilia and Roswaal had been forced to leave first after staying for a day due to matters in their territory.
Tsukasa withdrew his gaze from the window and let it fall on the figure on the bed, who looked as if she might break at a touch, and sighed softly.
This morning, Subaru had woken up. But she just lay there like that, not speaking, not moving, and not responding to any calls.
Tsukasa and Felix had checked repeatedly. Her bodily functions were all normal, with no organic issues. But her state was exactly like that of a child who had been extremely frightened during a thunderstorm and only knew how to curl up tightly—even though there was no thunder outside right now.
"It's about time. You should be able to say something, right?" Tsukasa's voice rang out in the quiet room, slightly softer than usual.
"Subaru, what exactly happened?"
Perhaps it was the sense of security brought by the person beside her, or perhaps time had finally pried open a crack. Subaru, curled up on the bed, moved her body extremely slowly.
She turned her head slightly, her black hair sticking to her sweat-dampened forehead. Her pupils were still somewhat unfocused and filled with lingering terror as she looked tremblingly at Tsukasa by the bed.
After nearly three hours of silent buffering, her frozen consciousness seemed to have finally regained a bit of the ability to organize language.
Facing Tsukasa's inquiry, Subaru's lips quivered a few times, her voice weak and carrying a distinct tremble. "I... saw it."
"Saw it?"
Tsukasa leaned forward slightly, his gaze behind his sunglasses focused intently on her face.
"Saw what?"
"Everyone... everyone died..."
Subaru's vision began to lose focus, as if she were being pulled back into that horrific scene again, her voice tinged with a despairing sob. "Everyone... all dead... the people in the village... the mansion... Ram... Rem... Lia..."
Her breathing became rapid, and her fingers unconsciously gripped the bedsheets.
"Everyone... everyone died... even you, Tsukasa... were gone... everyone... all dead..."