Chapter Text
The screen displayed an immense glow, a sign that the program was about to begin.
But suddenly, without any transition, the projection surface became as black as night, plunging the assembly into a silent gloom, without any explanation.
This left most of those present with perplexed and questioning looks, the adrenaline of the previous scene abruptly fading away.
Subaru then spoke up.
Subaru : « Uh... Guardian? Why is the screen suddenly turning all black? » he asked, surprised by this change of pace when he expected to see the beginning of this other life.
« Oh, yes, sorry... I'm the one who did it! »
Exclaimed the Guardian's voice, resounding with an almost palpable childish pride.
This joyful intervention left the room appalled. Gazes shifted from incomprehension to slight exasperation.
Emilia : « Uh... Why do that, Mr. Guardian? » asked the half-elf, perplexed, her hands wisely placed on her knees.
« Well... I have a few small important things to tell you regarding this specific story. » Announced the Guardian.
His voice had suddenly lost its childish intonation to adopt a strangely different timbre... calmer, colder, more composed.
Priscilla exclaimed directly without wasting time.
Priscilla : « Hmph... And what kind of thing is important enough to dare interrupt the curiosity of my divine self? Speak! » exclaimed the sun princess, hiding her impatience behind her fan.
Al tried to reason with her, without much success.
Al : « Princess... please, don't make things harder than they are... » tried to calm her down the helmeted knight, his tone heavy with a fatigue he had been dragging since their previous visions.
Priscilla : « Hmph. Don't you dare speak, Aldebaran... or rather, should I say Rigel? » she retorted in a tone of absolute disdain, her red eyes piercing the man.
Priscilla : « I haven't forgotten what you did. You'd better shut up. »
At these words, Al paled slightly under his helmet.
Of course, his lady had not yet forgiven him the faults and betrayals he had committed in that future they had glimpsed. Although he had sworn never again to let that tragic destiny come to pass, the wound was still open.
Al : « Forgive me, princess... but I prefer that you call me Al. » he replied simply, without aggressiveness, accepting the venom with a resigned dignity.
Priscilla looked away with a haughty snort.
Around them, several members of the opposing camps observed the scene with a hint of pity for the one-armed man.
All had been changed by what they had seen. All now knew each other's sins.
« Anyway, anyway! » exclaimed the Guardian's voice, breaking the tension to refocus attention.
« To tell you all... This story will be told in a quite different way from yours. »
Everyone looked at each other, uncomprehending.
Julius : « Excuse me, Guardian... What exactly do you mean by that? » asked the Knight of Knights, politely raising his hand, his mind already analyzing the situation.
« Oh, well, as I told you, the prologue of its first arcs is quite similar to the beginning of your Subaru, isn't it? »
Asked the Guardian to the assembly.
Everyone nodded, remembering the Guardian's words.
Subaru : « Yeah, we know, that's what you said. So? »
« So the "canonical" moments, or identical ones to your own story, will be shortened and summarized, to directly make way for the divergent moments. You don't mind that, do you? »
Everyone thought for a moment.
Anastasia : « That makes sense, » began the merchant, stroking her fox scarf.
Anastasia : « After all, it would be a waste of time and pretty boring to re-watch the exact same events from the beginning that we already know in their entirety. »
At these words, Subaru couldn't help but retort a second later.
Subaru : « Hey! You guys saw it, not me! » exclaimed the boy with the mean eyes, stung to the quick.
Subaru : « I only woke up in this room during Arc 5, I remind you! »
He had never seen the way his own first adventures had been recounted, even before seeing his future.
Beatrice merely sighed, comfortably installed on his lap.
Beatrice : « Ahh... you've already lived it yourself in your own flesh, I suppose. What's the point of wanting to re-watch your own traumas through a screen, in fact? »
Subaru : « But Beako! I would have liked to see how my own events were recounted! Especially since they turned my life into a fucking anime episode... »
He muttered this last sentence mostly to himself, crossing his arms.
Felt burst out laughing.
Felt : « Ahaha, don't worry, big bro! We can all tell you how much of an idiot you were at the beginning! » exclaimed the little blonde candidate, laughing as she recalled their very first chaotic encounter in the capital's slums.
Subaru, shouting, ashamed :
Subaru : « Hush! Don't remind me... » he groaned, red with shame.
Felt simply shrugged while holding back a chuckle.
« Can you let me finish? » resumed the Guardian in a falsely annoyed tone.
Everyone stopped wandering and refocused on the voice.
« Anyway, that's not the only thing I have to tell you about this story. »
This left several of them perplexed.
Crusch then spoke up, looking for answers.
Crusch : « Uh, Guardian... what else could there be that is so fundamental to the narration? » asked Duchess Karsten, eyes narrowed, sensing that the real announcement was coming.
« As I said, the, shall we say, canonical moments of your story will be summarized, okay? »
Everyone nodded in understanding.
« But that's not all! Since you've seen all your own arcs to date and now know pretty much everyone's history, secrets, and sins here... »
His voice grew more and more powerful.
Subaru swallowed hard, expecting the worst.
« Then this tale will be told so that all the plots, all the plans, and all the internal thoughts of each character are known out in the open! »
His voice amplified, literally making the walls of the room vibrate.
This cast a slight leaden silence over the entire room, left open-mouthed.
Reinhard : « Excuse me, Guardian... » intervened the Sword Saint, a hint of unprecedented suspicion crossing his azure blue gaze.
Reinhard : « What do you mean by "all thoughts"? »
« Oh, well, let's say the facts will be narrated in such a way as to enter directly into the characters' minds, and express their secrets without distinction, since, technically, you already know them in your world! »
Seeing that no one really understood despite everything, he continued :
« I mean that we will show everything about yourselves that your counterparts on screen ignore. For instance, Roswaal's machinations could be explained in detail starting from Arc 2 without anyone else in their world being aware of it... Or Al's thoughts on his teacher's true plan could be highlighted for the greatest enjoyment of my dear viewers! »
At this, everyone fell silent immediately. The atmosphere in the room changed radically. This was no longer a simple viewing. It was an absolute stripping bare.
Granted, they now knew each other's most unspeakable secrets — but hearing that their psychological equivalents were going to be dissected like this, simply for their own enjoyment, felt strange, and made them deeply uneasy.
The politicians tensed up.
Roswaal, for his part, was already pondering how his master's plans might have deviated with this Subaru.
Roswaal : « Ooooh... I see that certain things are going to become eeeeormously more interesting, aren't they? »
The mage did this, his mismatched eye shining with a calculating glow, trying to mask his own tension over what his alternative thoughts might reveal.
Al, for his part, remained perfectly motionless, releasing a long, weary sigh behind his helmet.
« Oh, and I forgot to add a small detail... There will also be a narrator to dress up these kinds of deep scenes! »
Added the voice casually.
Subaru then exclaimed, quickly guessing what it was all about, thanks to his anime and manga culture.
Subaru : « Huh? A narrator? Like those in super famous anime in my world? » wondered the boy, immediately understanding the staging implications.
Otto then began, understanding that things would henceforth be entirely different.
Otto : « I see... It's true that this will make the experience quite different from the raw way the events of our own timeline have been shown to us so far. » thought the merchant, wiping away a drop of sweat.
« Well, is everyone ready? You'll understand everything by watching the first episode. »
Seeing that everyone agreed, he resumed again.
« Ah yes, one last little thing... »
The Guardian's voice lost all warmth.
« This Subaru has suffered much more than your Subaru during all the narrative arcs — both physically and mentally, despite his strength. Ehehehe... »
A small laugh, cold and emotionless, died out in the heights.
This final laugh cast an immense chill across the room.
Reinhard imperceptibly clenched his fists.
« So this is the price of this power, thought the red-haired knight. Suffering beyond what we have already seen… »
What could this Subaru have possibly gone through to end up like this? The answer was already presenting itself to them.
Arc 1 : Dark Echo
Episode 1 : Begin
The screen lights up without any smooth transition.
The asphalt vanishes all at once, replaced by hard earth crushed under a stifling heat. Natsuki Subaru blinks, still dazed, facing a sun that is no longer his.
An instant earlier, he was walking out of a convenience store with a bag of snacks. Now, he finds himself in the middle of a crowd of fantastic creatures: lizard-headed merchants, carriages pulled by earth dragons, medieval architecture.
The screen displays in close-up a single sharp word: Isekai.
Subaru : « Very well... so this is really happening. Am I officially the protagonist of an epic adventure? »
Subaru laughed all at once, remembering how wrong he had been upon arriving in this world.
Subaru : « Ahah... if only I had known what I was getting into. » he laughed to himself, a laugh tinged with bitter nostalgia as he reviewed his own arrogant ignorance.
Emilia then recalled their entire adventure and turned to him.
Emilia : « Stop that, Subaru... After all... with everything we've seen so far, hasn't that sentence become true? » asked the half-elf gently, casting a warm look at her knight.
Garfiel : « That's for sure! The Captain is a real hero, damn it! » exclaimed the demi-human with a fierce smile, banging his fists together.
Rem : « He is the greatest of heroes for Rem. » added the blue maid, radiant with unshakable affection.
Beatrice : « Betty's Subaru has proven his worth a million times, I suppose, » muttered the spirit, sinking a bit closer against him.
Seeing them all compliment him with such sincerity, the fruit of all the horrors they had seen him overcome, Subaru quickly turned peony red.
Subaru : « Yeah, well... you might be right. »
He muttered this, embarrassed, hastily refocusing on the screen to flee their benevolent gazes.
The screen accelerates brutally, scenes flashing by at a dizzying speed, summarizing the following minutes:
The boy's initial enthusiasm quickly collapses. He gets chased away by an apple merchant, then quickly finds himself lost in dark alleys, surrounded by three thugs, completely in trouble.
Anastasia saw the past events quickly get to the point and muttered a bit to herself.
Anastasia : « Ahh, alright... so that's what the Guardian wanted to talk about when he said everything would be summarized. » muttered the selection candidate, impressed by the editing's efficiency.
It is then that she appears on screen: a magnificent silver-haired young girl. Her amethyst eyes shine with an anxiety she clumsily tries to hide behind a cold and authoritative facade. She introduces herself as « Satella ». She announces she is looking for an insignia that was stolen from her.
Driven by a mix of gamer instinct, misplaced heroism, and an immediate attraction he cannot explain, young Subaru decides to accompany her. Clumsy, internally panicked, totally out of his element, he does the only thing an idiot full of good intentions in his situation can do: promise to protect her.
— A naive promise, uttered in a world whose rules he still absolutely ignores. —
The deep, theatrical, and enveloping voice resonated directly from the screen.
Subaru : « Waaa, what was that?! » he startled, surprised by the dramatic intervention.
Crusch observed the scene.
Crusch : « I see... so that's the narrator the Guardian was talking about. » deduced Duchess Karsten, analyzing the added value of this voice on the scene's atmosphere.
Petra : « Wait... that's our Guardian's voice, right? » asked the little maid, immediately recognizing the familiar intonation beneath the dramatic tone.
Subaru understood in turn.
Subaru : « Wait... But yeah, you're right! It's totally him! » he exclaimed, breaking the magic of the moment a bit.
« Ahaha... yes, I am indeed the narrator! And I went to a lot of trouble to adjust my voice for your viewing pleasure, so shut up and watch the screen! »
Falsely annoyed, the Guardian from the heights of the room, before his presence disappeared once again.
This forced the audience to refocus with amused smiles or resigned sighs on the screen, a slightly strange expression painted on every face.
The screen cuts abruptly to nightfall. Much faster than he would have thought, they reach an isolated tavern in the slums. The door opens. A woman dressed in black appears in the shadows.
Her laugh, soft as velvet and sharp as a razor, echoes in the room. It is the last sound Subaru hears.
The camera does an extreme close-up on his face at the exact moment the cold grips him.
An absolute, unreal cold, as pain explodes and his entrails spill heavily onto the dusty wood of the tavern. Beside him, the silver-haired young girl collapses in a crimson pool.
The boy's last thought, scribbled in his own blood and screamed in his mind:
« I'm going to save you. »
He dies.
Black screen.
In the viewing room, no one was speaking anymore. The amusement of the previous scene had been swept away. Everyone remained silent, without another word.
Wilhelm briefly closed his eyes, his fists clenched on his knees.
Emilia shivered imperceptibly, reviving the ghost of that blade on her own belly.
They had seen Subaru die dozens of times, in ways much more atrocious than one another, devoured by rabbits or shattered by the cold…
But even so, seeing him die again at that precise moment, the genesis of his nightmare, always left a taste of metallic ash in their mouths.
Subaru blew out a breath, seeing himself back at his very beginnings in this world.
Subaru : « Yeah... a truly pathetic death... » he murmured darkly.
Subaru : « A kid who had nothing, who knew nothing, and yet thought he could accomplish everything with a snap of his fingers… »
Beatrice, still on his lap, couldn't let him continue like this.
Beatrice : « Don't say that, in fact! » exclaimed the artificial spirit dryly, firmly gripping the sleeve of his jacket.
Beatrice : « You couldn't know anything about the danger, and you couldn't do anything against that woman at that moment! So don't say it was pathetic, I suppose! »
Faced with the protective fierceness of his contractor, Subaru's dark introspection shattered.
He looked at her, then sighed, giving her a little pat on the head as an apology with a slight smile on his lips.
Subaru : « Yeah, sorry, Beako. I was thinking out loud. » said he, lowering his gaze for a moment.
On the still-black screen, blindingly white letters began to drip like inverted ink, forming a single sentence:
« But death is not the end. Something refuses to let him go. »
In the room, everyone watched these words melt like ink, each with a different look — some already understanding the implications, others knowing things were much more complicated than that, and still others trying to reassure themselves in their certainties.
Felix muttered in his corner, always finding this power to be a pure aberration.
Felix : « Nya... of course it's not the end for someone like him... » murmured the healing knight with a bitter, joyless smirk.
Felix : « Someone who possesses the arrogance to bypass the very laws of life and death with his Authority… Breaking the natural cycle of reincarnation that Od Laguna established… »
Return by Death — a power capable of bringing back to life — an anomaly, simply.
For Felix, whose hands had failed to save so many lives, this power would always remain, deep down, a divine aberration.
Julius : « Yes... I must admit it's logical. This counterpart and our Subaru therefore possess the exact same starting Authority. » thought aloud the spirit knight, pragmatic.
Anastasia : « Yes... but in that case, what is different compared to ours? » wondered the purple-haired candidate, her mind spinning.
Anastasia : « After all, we just saw this Subaru enter this world and get killed by the Bowels Hunter in a way perfectly identical to ours… What could possibly be so decisive that changes? »
Crusch : « Well... I suppose we will only find out by continuing to watch this screen. » decided the duchess to force the assembly to turn their attention back to the image.
Back to the screen — but suddenly, the image itself seems to shatter like a glass mirror.
The air, the shadows, the light bend and tear apart. The contours of the tavern blur in a chaotic maelstrom. Sounds fade away. Then, absolute silence.
Subaru does not wake up in front of the apple merchant.
He floats.
The screen shows the young man suspended in a bottomless, totally black space, halfway between existence and nothingness. Neither dead nor alive. He drifts in this abyssal void. He waits, frozen, like an unfinished sentence cast into oblivion.
Then, with atrocious slowness, the world around him begins to rebuild, assembling piece by piece, memory by memory, until sunlight hits his retinas once again.
Garfiel : « What... what the hell was that?! » exclaimed the demi-human, almost leaping from his seat, taken completely off guard.
The entire room was hit by a frontal shock. They were more than shocked by this vision. Incomprehension painted their faces.
They knew Return by Death. They knew the brutality of immediate respawn. But this? They had never seen anything like it during all their previous viewings.
Never, in everything they had already watched after a death of Subaru, had they seen anything similar.
Otto, cold sweat running down his back:
Otto : « Na... Natsuki-san... » stammered the merchant, cold sweat beading along his temple, his terrified gaze fixed on his friend.
Otto : « You... do you know what that means? What was that horrible place? Why did your counterpart seem to both be there and not be there? »
He knew nothing about it.
But Subaru was perhaps the palest of the entire assembly.
Subaru : « I... I don't know, Otto. That never happened. » murmured he, his voice trembling, shocked to the core by this vision of a clinical hell.
Julius, turning toward him, seized with sudden incomprehension.
Julius : « What? Subaru... even you don't know what this space represents? » asked the knight, his brows furrowed with sudden worry.
Subaru turned abruptly toward him in turn, just as shocked as the others.
Subaru : « No! Usually, when I die, time rewinds and I come straight back to my checkpoint by opening my eyes… I never go through some fucking intersidereal void… We've all seen it! »
He exclaimed a bit too loudly, horrified by the implication of consciously floating in nothingness after each demise.
His words cast a glacial chill across the room. If even the bearer of the Authority didn't understand what he had just seen, the implications were terrifying.
Was this the famous divergence the Guardian was talking about? This "simple detail"? What could such a stase between life and death inflict on a man's mind long-term?
No one could know. They couldn't have said.
But in their corner, Emilia, Rem, and Beatrice hadn't uttered a single word. They remained fixed on the black screen, haunted gazes.
Unlike the others who sought a logical or magical explanation, they trembled slightly.
As if, at the precise moment this Subaru's body had begun to float in absolute nothingness, they had felt an overwhelming coldness emanate from his broken soul that the others didn't understand yet.
The screen stabilizes again. The transition is brutal: the unfathomable void disappears, replaced by an overwhelming close-up on Subaru's face, his cheek pressed against the rough paving stones.
He blinks. The blinding sunlight burns his retinas, barely dissipating the sensation of unreal floating that had inhabited him a second earlier.
Terrestrial gravity suddenly crushes him with all its weight. He remains motionless for a long second, short of breath, the joyful sounds of the market reaching him like a distant echo underwater.
Somewhere deep inside him, a floating sensation still lingered — as if a part of him hadn't quite come back down, before gravity abruptly caught up with him.
Subaru : « No... no, no, no... »
He sits up too fast. Nausea hits him full force. He leans against the wall, fingers gripping the stone.
Subaru : « This isn't real. It's impossible. I... I... »
Wilhelm pointed his gaze at Subaru's face on the screen.
Wilhelm : « Look at his eyes! He remembers everything, absolutely perfectly. » exclaimed the Old Demon of the Sword.
He knew, armed with his decades of experience on battlefields — he knew how to recognize the pupils of someone who had just stared death in the face.
But this time, it was very different from the first time they had seen their own Subaru.
This one didn't just seem confused, he seemed detached, as if he were still living through it.
Felt, gaze fixed on the screen.
Felt : « Damn... look at his fingers. He's shaking like a leaf… as if he's still feeling the pain of the blade. » exclaimed the little blonde candidate, gaze glued to the screen.
Everyone watched Subaru's body tremble.
The screen lingers for a moment on his hands, which tremble violently against the stone.
A strange weight remains lodged deep in his stomach. It is no longer the pain of Elsa's blade; it is something else. Duller. Deeper.
Electric tingles run through his arms. His fingers tremble. His heart beats far too hard against his ribs, like a caged bird.
Subaru : « It was just a dream. It was just a dream. Just a— »
Julius looked at the sweating boy on the screen.
Julius : « Yes… he remembers it much more clearly, much more viscerally, than our Subaru in his early days. » murmured the Spirit Knight, observing the boy with compassion.
Emilia : « He… he is so scared… » murmured the half-elf, her heart beating wildly.
She placed a hand on her chest, deeply worried for this Subaru and the way he seemed barely able to stand.
Emilia : « It's as if the sensation of his own death stayed engraved within him, even after the world changed… »
On the screen, he frantically lowers his eyes to his abdomen and pats his tracksuit. Nothing. No injury. Not the slightest scar. His clothes are intact. His plastic bag rests at his feet. His phone is still in his pocket.
As if the tavern massacre had never existed.
Subaru : « Then why do I remember it so clearly? »
He slides down and sits against the wall, drawing his knees tight against himself. Each breath is heavy, wheezing.
Ram : « Hah! Still the same Barusu trembling and whining over nothing, even when his body is perfectly intact… Hmph. Pathetic. » spat the pink-haired maid, crossing her arms as she watched the stunned boy on the screen.
Rem, trying to defend him:
Rem : « Nee-sama, please… You can see he is still terrified of what he just went through. Who wouldn't be after facing such a brutal death? » tried to defend the young blue Oni, her fists clenched on her knees.
Ram let out only a dull "Ah", refusing to admit she was touched, before refocusing on the screen.
— Something deep inside him was screaming that everything had changed. Something irreversible. It wasn't the simple fear of dying. It was the terrifying certainty that nothing would ever be the same again. —
Subaru : « Damn, what does that mean? » he asked himself aloud in the room, listening to the narrator's deep voice echo in his own mind on the screen.
Crusch : « I understand better why the Guardian said we would enter directly into their psyche. » murmured the Karsten matriarch.
Crusch : « The narrator just explained the exact nature of his trauma without him having to formulate a single word. »
Priscilla, mocking, finally taking the time to observe the screen to see the novelties:
Priscilla : « So, if I understand correctly, we are finally seeing the true difference with the servant sitting right here? At last things are moving forward. » mocked the Sun Princess, finally taking the trouble to observe the screen in search of something new.
Al : « Princess… could you avoid twisting the knife in the wound? It's already weird enough for them, » muttered the one-armed knight to calm her down.
He received for his only answer a violent kick with a sharp heel to the shin, sending him tumbling to the ground with a muffled groan.
Roswaal : « Ooooh… sooooo, something really has changed within him… » murmured the mage, an indecipherable smile stretching his lips as he ignored the man on the ground to stare at Subaru.
On the screen, the image widens. A sturdy merchant enters the frame, a red apple in hand.
Kodomon : « Hey, kid! Are you just going to stand there catching flies? Look at these apples, they're magnificent, aren't they? »
Subaru : « No… no, it's fine. Sorry, I'm just… a little disoriented. »
Kodomon : « Seriously? If you don't have any money, get lost! You're driving customers away with that death-heated face! »
The man walks away grunting.
The screen follows Subaru as he gets back up and starts walking again, first slowly, then faster.
A brief panning shot sweeps across the street, lingering on the environment: everything is strictly identical to before. Same faces, same stalls, same sky.
Anastasia began to deduce something while observing the screen.
Anastasia : « It seems something different is going to happen for us to be given such detailed focus on the exact location, » began the white-fox merchant, her eye sharp.
On the screen, Subaru stops dead in his tracks.
A humanoid wolf crosses the street a good ten meters behind him. But even before the creature enters his field of vision, Subaru's gaze turns toward it all on its own.
His body pivots slightly on its footing, already ready to react to an invisible threat.
Subaru : « What… »
He freezes. Reaches out his hand. Slowly closes his fist.
Close-up on his fingers: his muscles respond with a fluidity he has never known them to have.
Subaru : « Is this… is this really me? »
— He refused to understand. Shock, adrenaline, fatigue… anything else would have been easier to accept. —
In the room, everyone remained perplexed at what they had just seen. What could this possibly mean?
Subaru turned to the assembly.
Subaru : « Say… you saw the same thing as me, right? » he asked, pointing a finger at the screen, his eyes wide.
Reinhard : « Yes. I can confirm it: this Subaru sensed the demi-human arriving even before noticing him himself. » declared the Sword Saint, having observed every micro-contraction of the scene.
Julius : « That therefore means his senses are sharper… But how? » wondered the knight, deeply intrigued.
Crusch observed Subaru's fist on the screen.
Crusch : « Yes… and he doesn't seem to understand what is happening to himself, given how surprised he was by his own fist's reactivity. » continued the duchess analytically.
Emilia : « I just hope it's nothing dangerous for him… » murmured the half-elf with sincere concern.
This Subaru already seemed changed, too changed, and this loss of control over his own body frightened her.
Beatrice : « Hmph. Let's keep watching. We'll see it soon enough, I suppose. »
Subaru : « Yes… Beako, you're right. » he agreed, sitting back down, glued to the screen.
Then the memory strikes him.
Subaru : « Satella… »
She is still outside. He grits his teeth and starts walking again.
Subaru : « I have to find her. »
The screen shifts to a narrow alleyway. Three men bar his way. Subaru recognizes them immediately. The exact same ones as in his memory.
Garfiel exclaimed with joy, remembering how his captain had taken down those three punks in this precise loop.
Garfiel : « Aahh! We're gonna see how the captain beats those three bastards! »
Otto : « Hmm… maybe things will be different this time? » wondered the merchant, observing the scene with renewed caution.
Rachins : « Hey, stranger. Looks like you've got something interesting on you. »
His stomach knots.
But his gaze darkens and automatically analyzes the scene: the tallest one's imbalance on his left leg, the nervous one in the back, the poorly stowed knife in the first one's belt.
Felt : « Wait, Rein… Did I see what I saw? Big bro was analyzing their combat stances, right? » asked the former thief, observing Subaru's sharp gaze.
Reinhard : « Yes, Felt-sama. He was scrutinizing his enemies' weak points with precision, » nodded the red-haired knight gravely.
Subaru : « Wait… I knew how to do that?! » he choked out in surprise.
Gaston : « So what? We can do this the easy way… or the hard way. »
Subaru : « … Get lost. »
The first one charges.
The screen barely slows down on the movement: a perfect half-step back, a torso pivot down to the millimeter, and the fist passes heavily by.
— He hadn't decided to do that. His body had done it for him. —
Subaru : « What do you mean he didn't decide?! His body moved all by itself?! » he exclaimed, more and more perplexed by the chilling explanation of the narration.
An awkward hook of devastating precision into the ribs, an unnamed wristlock, and the man is slammed to the ground before Subaru even understood his own gesture.
Subaru : « What the… »
Garfiel beamed with joy.
Garfiel : « There! That's my captain! »
Frederica, beside him, wondered to herself.
Frederica : « Has Subaru-sama always been able to pull off movements of such technicality? » thought the blonde maid, troubled as she watched the screen.
The second man draws his knife. Once again, Subaru's body acts well before his head. A raised knee, an elbow strike, a surgical sweep. The man collapses. The third flees.
The screen lingers on his trembling hands, while he remains planted in the middle of the alleyway, the two thugs at his feet.
Subaru : « Did I really do that? »
Priscilla : « Pfft… He doesn't even know his own strength. How stupid, » spoke the princess in a harsh tone.
No one paid much attention to it, all being too shocked by the scene.
Subaru pointed a finger at the screen.
Subaru : « Wait, was I always this strong at that moment?! » he asked, pointing at the alleyway.
Garfiel : « I gotta say, the captain is strong! But… not to that extent… » corrected the beastman, seeing clearly that his counterpart on screen was executing much more impressive techniques than his counterpart in the room.
Julius : « Yes… Subaru has never shown such fluidity, at least not to my knowledge. » continued the knight.
Subaru cried out, slightly annoyed.
Subaru : « Hey! Do you have to make me look weak? Even if I am, don't say it like that! »
Julius only gave him a small, sympathetic smile.
Reinhard : « If you'll allow me… I'd like to put forward a hypothesis. » announced the Saint, raising his hand.
Everyone turned toward him.
Reinhard : « As you know, the Subaru of that moment couldn't have beaten those thugs so easily, could he? »
Subaru : « Yeah… I remember I caught them by surprise, otherwise I'd have been in deep trouble. » he admitted, recalling his messy scuffle.
Reinhard : « Yes. Yet, the Subaru on screen seems to have analyzed their movements, dodged them, and counter-attacked perfectly, without even thinking about it. »
Emilia then remembered the narrator's words.
Emilia : « Yes! And the narrator also said he seemed to have done that against his will… » murmured the half-elf.
Reinhard : « Exactly. That means this Subaru seems to have grown stronger after his death. Doesn't he? » he concluded gravely.
At this, the entire room seemed shocked in realization.
Subaru : « Wait… he gets stronger with every death? What kind of a cheat power is that?! » he exclaimed with as much surprise as dull rage.
How could this Subaru possess such power? If he himself had had it… then maybe things would have been different. Very different.
Felix : « Nyahh, I see! » suddenly cried out the cat-eared healer, a gleam of relentless understanding in his eyes.
Felix : « So that's how he reached Reinhard's level so quickly! »
He muttered the rest to himself:
Felix : « He must have abused his power. »
Crusch turned abruptly toward her knight.
Crusch : « Felix… what do you mean by that? » asked the duchess, though she guessed where he was getting at.
Felix : « Think about it! If he gets stronger with every death… how could he hold his own against Reinhard even before Pristella? He must have abused it to reach that level! » he exclaimed.
This accusation cast a deep chill across the room.
Subaru… their Subaru?
Could he really die voluntarily just to gain power? Taking his own life as a mere tool to that extent, and right from the beginning?
Subaru gritted his teeth.
He would have liked to say it was false. But with a power so tempting to save everyone without effort… would he really do it?
He wasn't sure. This intimate terror kept him from speaking.
The other members of his camp, however, knew he would never do such a thing.
Next to him, Rem had already clenched her fists, ready to pounce on Felix to defend Subaru-Kun.
Emilia, for her part, was holding her breath, her gaze fixed, as if wounded herself by the accusation leveled against the one she knew.
But before Emilia or even Garfiel could cry out to defend him, Wilhelm spoke, as composed as ever:
Wilhelm : « Sir Felix. »
Always pragmatic and wise, the old man fixed his gaze on the healer.
Wilhelm : « Are you asserting that Subaru-Dono could have died voluntarily, just to gain power? »
Felix, cut short:
Felix : « Uh, I… » stammered the demi-human, caught off guard.
Wilhelm : « Allow me to disagree. No matter the boy's powers… he would never die out of selfishness. » he began in a voice sharp as steel.
Wilhelm : « We've all seen it in this room: he has never died for his own needs, solely to save others. »
At this, Felix paled slightly, unable to retort in the face of the old swordsman's unshakable conviction.
Julius : « I must agree with Wilhelm-san, Felix. And according to the Guardian's words, their story is quite similar at the start. Knowing Subaru, he could never have committed such a thing for the mere taste of strength. »
The knight finished his words with nobility.
Felix, turning his face away:
Felix : « Yes, alright, I apologize! » cried the healer, turning his face away, ashamed of his hasty extrapolation.
A discreet chuckle ran through the room.
Reinhard smiled indulgently to ease the atmosphere.
Reinhard : « Well. But let's not forget that all this is just a theory for now. We'll see in due time. » he said, resuming his viewing, his gaze riveted on his friend's altered destiny.
He shifted his attention back to the screen.
On the screen, Subaru looks at his trembling hands as if they no longer belonged to him. His knuckles are covered in scrapes, his palms sweaty.
Subaru : « I'm dead. I'm really dead. And now I… »
He doesn't finish. He exhales, pulls himself together, and resumes his journey toward the warehouse. His legs carry him almost in spite of himself.
He has to find her. The silver-haired girl.
« Satella ».
The image finally reveals the building. Old, dilapidated, bathed in the golden glows of dusk that would make it almost welcoming… if one ignored the horrors that were soon to unfold there.
Subaru, observing the scene:
Subaru : « Okay… this is the moment of truth. »
He murmured this while watching the scene, his fists clenched on his knees.
Around him, the rest of the room also watched in a heavy silence. Everyone knew that despite this Subaru's strange new strength, the outcome against the assassin was inevitable.
Everyone mentally prepared themselves for the bloodbath that was about to follow.
The screen follows the boy as he stops in front of the heavy wooden door of the warehouse. Something tightens painfully in his arms, like a silent warning, a primitive alarm signal he hasn't yet learned to interpret.
Subaru : « Don't panic… don't panic… »
He knocks.
The door squeaks and opens onto a giant. Rom. Old, massive, a club already within reach, staring at the intruder with a look that instantly discourages any bad idea.
Rom : « Who are you? You can't just walk in here like nothing's wrong. Do you know the password? »
Subaru blinks, momentarily taken aback.
Subaru : « You… you're alive. »
Rom : « … Of course I'm alive, kid. »
A heavy silence sets in. Rom squints, sizing up this weird boy, then steps aside reluctantly to let him in.
Felt laughed slightly upon seeing the scene.
Felt : « Yeah… that's still big bro, talking about the dead like that with that tone… »
The young girl let out a light chuckle in the room, relaxing the murky atmosphere for a fraction of a second.
Inside, the screen follows Subaru's movements. The room smells of dust, old wood, and something metallic.
But it is his behavior that strikes: his gaze drifts frantically, instinctively, toward the shelves, the crates, scrutinizing every corner plunged in shadow as if searching for escape routes without wanting to.
« Stop. », murmurs the voice of his thoughts on the screen, trying to force his own eyes to settle.
Anastasia : « Oh, now that's surprising… »
The merchant murmured this while stroking her scarf, her eyes riveted on the screen.
Julius : « What do you mean, Anastasia-sama? » asked the intrigued knight.
Anastasia then continued, her eyes locked on the scene.
Anastasia : « Well, look at him. He absolutely doesn't seem to control his new senses, to the point where his gaze drifts against his own will to analyze the environment. It's almost a parasitic reflex. »
Julius chimed in turn.
Julius : « I see… Receiving heightened perceptions without martial discipline to filter them. That could prove very problematic. »
Julius nodded, recognizing the burden that represented.
On screen, the dialogue resumed.
Subaru : « Have you seen a silver-haired girl? »
Rom : « A silver-haired girl. »
The old giant repeats the phrase as if it were the most stupid question of the year.
Rom : « No. But if someone like that existed in this district, I would have noticed. »
Subaru starts explaining himself, awkwardly. He speaks too fast, his words tumbling over each other. He's looking for an insignia. It's crucial. He absolutely has to return it to her.
Rom listens with the resigned patience of someone who has seen too many sincere fools pass through his long life.
Rom : « Someone might be delivering something tonight. A big score, from what I hear. »
Subaru : « Is Felt making the delivery? »
Rom raises a massive, suspicious eyebrow.
Rom : « For a stranger, you know way too much, kid. »
Subaru takes out his cell phone. The cold glow of the screen illuminates the dusty room. Rom steps back a notch despite himself, suspicion suddenly giving way to an almost childish curiosity that he doesn't try to hide.
Subaru : « It's worth a lot. It can capture a moment in time, keep it just as it is. In your world, there's probably nothing comparable. »
Priscilla : « Hmmm… always the same boring passages… Why must we watch the same scene over and over again, Guardian? »
She waved her fan with an exasperated pout.
Subaru turned toward the ceiling.
Subaru : « Uh, that's true… Didn't the Guardian say he would summarize these kinds of already-lived scenes? »
No answer came to him.
Beatrice : « Hmph. If the scene continues without a cut, it must be important for what follows, I suppose. »
The Spirit crossed her arms, refocusing her attention on the images.
The door opens before Rom can reply.
Felt enters. Small, distrustful, her eyes sweep the room in a fraction of a second. Her gaze lands on Subaru, then on the phone, then on Rom.
Felt : « Who is this guy? »
Rom : « A potential customer. »
Felt : « I'm negotiating for someone else tonight. Ten holy coins. »
Rom : « His metia could be worth at least double. »
Suddenly, the screen slightly accelerates the pace. Voices overlap faster during the negotiation. But the staging insists on a precise detail :
Subaru lets it happen, intervening in fits and starts, but his gaze continues to observe every hesitation of Felt, every muscle contraction, every silent calculation in Rom's eyes.
—He is reading them without the slightest desire to do so, as if his body had decided to treat absolutely everyone as a potential threat to analyze—
« What is this thing happening to me… », thinks the Subaru on the screen, frightened by his own physiological paranoia.
Emilia began to understand.
Emilia : « Ohh, so that's where it speeds up. »
Subaru then muttered:
Subaru : « Ah, alright, I see why he left all that at normal speed at the beginning… »
Otto, listening to the narrator's words, continued in turn:
Otto : « Yes, the narrator's voice is quite useful for understanding these kinds of changes invisible to the naked eye. »
Anastasia, for her part, saw her hypothesis confirmed.
Anastasia : « Well, it really seems that these sensory skills are too great for him, aren't they? »
Julius nodded next to her.
Julius : « Yes. Exactly as you predicted, Anastasia-sama. »
Someone knocks on the warehouse door.
Felt goes to open it. At that exact moment, Subaru freezes completely.
The woman in black enters silently. Her purple eyes sweep the room with the absolute tranquility of someone who has never known fear. Her smile is light, almost pleasant. The kind of enchanting smile one learns to recognize far too late.
Elsa : « It seems there are several strangers here tonight. »
Subaru does not move.
But his body instantly tenses like a bowstring about to snap. His stomach knots with unprecedented violence.
—He recognizes her. Not her face. He recognizes her danger. The same phantom blade that eviscerated him. The same deadly precision floating in the air—
Priscilla, seeing that the story was finally moving forward, spoke up lightly.
Priscilla : « Hmph. Finally, something interesting. »
Her smile widens.
But beside her, the mood was shifting.
Rem began to tremble slightly, her hands clutching the fabric of her skirt.
Emilia, for her part, grew visibly pale, her pupils trembling before the assassin who had massacred her knight.
Rem : « Be careful, Subaru-Kun… » she murmured, her gaze on the screen, starting to worry.
Subaru : « Yeah… something is seriously wrong… and it doesn't just concern her physical power! »
He suddenly exclaimed, drawing all eyes toward him.
Emilia : « Subaru… what do you mean by that? »
Subaru : « I am best placed to know, and I'm telling you clearly: he remembers his death way too perfectly! Unlike me back then, his trauma is crystallized right down into his muscles. And it has absolutely nothing to do with just being stronger! »
He pointed a finger at the screen. He knew it.
From the beginning, this Subaru on screen had acted very differently from him — because even a little extra power would have only served against three unimportant thugs, and wouldn't have changed anything else.
It would never have dictated this paranoid behavior and automatic threat reading.
But all these small deviations were beginning to accumulate far too much to be mere coincidences.
Crusch turned toward Subaru, and spoke in a steady voice.
Crusch : « Hmm… It indeed seems that strange events are at play. But let's not jump to hasty conclusions. Let's wait and see, alright, Subaru? »
The duchess adopted a calm and authoritative voice.
Subaru exhaled and sat back down, nodding.
On the screen, the boy's panicked whisper broke the mental silence.
« No. No, no, no. It's impossible. It was a dream. It was just a— »
Subaru : « Hey… it wasn't a dream at all, man… »
The Subaru in the room let out a joyless chuckle, wondering inwardly how he could have been stupid enough not to recognize her the first time around himself.
Felt : « So you're competing. It doesn't matter who wins, as long as the amount at stake goes up. »
Elsa sits down with predatory grace. She orders a glass of milk with unsettling casualness, then places her offer on the table. Rom counts the coins with his expert eye.
Rom : « Twenty holy coins. »
Subaru thinks he has lost. His heart races. But Rom slowly shakes his bald head.
Rom : « The boy's Metia is worth more. Victory is his. »
Subaru lets out an indefinable sound, halfway between the relief of having succeeded and the wonder of seeing his plan work. Then, tragically, he meets Elsa's gaze.
She is still smiling. But her eyes, icy and empty, are not smiling at all.
Elsa : « Well… that's a real shame. And… What do you intend to do with that insignia, little boy? »
Subaru : « I'm going to return it to its owner. »
—He didn't know why he had said that. It was the truth, yes. But above all, it was unspeakably stupid. And he knew it full well. And he had said it anyway, unable to hold his tongue—
Beatrice rolled her eyes while listening to the pathetic thoughts transcribed by the narrator.
Beatrice : « What do you even want to do with it, in fact? Betty's Subaru is an irredeemable idiot, hmph. »
Subaru, defending himself:
Subaru : « Hey! I couldn't have known, alright? It wasn't obvious at the time! »
He tried to defend himself by waving his arms. But the room gives him no gifts.
This time, it wasn't everyone turning around to mock in unison.
From Julius to Al, passing through Reinhard and even Emilia and Rem, absolutely everyone looks away, plunged into a palpable collective awkwardness.
Only Beatrice insisted, with her usual half-annoyed, half-tender tone, while the others contented themselves with a discreet exchange of glances.
Julius with a smirk, Al rolling his eyes, Reinhard barely sketching a smile, none of them bothering to phrase it out loud.
Subaru felt embarrassed, more than he would have thought. After all, didn't he want to review his past actions? Let him own up to them now.
Ram, finishing, a mischievous smile on her lips:
Ram : « Ah… Barusu is and will remain an idiot, no matter the world or his so-called strength. It's a fundamental law of the universe. »
The pink Oni's sharp remark pierced Subaru's poor bruised heart, and he admitted defeat, slumping into his seat, accompanied by a few light, muffled laughs from the audience.
But this lightness is short-lived.
On the screen, Felt and Rom exchange a tense look.
Elsa finishes her glass of milk quietly. She sets it down. And she stands up.
Elsa : « So… you're with them after all. »
The ebony blade appears even before the human eye can see it move.
But Subaru's body instinctively dives to the side. A purely animal dodge, dictated by the visceral terror of his first death. The blade only grazes his stomach, tearing the fabric. A slight burn. Superficial.
Subaru : « W-what— »
Elsa : « Do you want to die? »
Her tone is sickly sweet. The smile on her lips remains exactly the same, impassive, macabre.
In the viewing room, from that precise moment on, no one dared utter a single word. Every trace of lightness, laughter, or mockery had literally vanished, swallowed by the murderous aura of the Bowels Hunter.
Everyone knew what was going to happen in a few moments — but the only thing they could do now was watch this screen, throats tight, and pray that the impending massacre would pass as quickly as possible.
— The fight was not a fight. It was a lesson. —
Subaru gritted his teeth.
Subaru : « No need to push it, huh… we know » he spat against the narrative voice.
Everyone in the room already knew full well the crushing power gap between him and the assassin; there was no longer any need to state the obvious with such theatricality.
Rom charged first, his heavy club in hand. Elsa pivoted, avoided him with disconcerting ease, and retaliated with inhuman speed.
Felt throws herself into the fray from an unexpected angle, hoping to create an opening. Elsa dodged her with almost no effort.
Felt : « Don't worry — old Rom can't lose! »
Then, in a blinding flash, the curved blade cleanly severed the giant's arm.
Felt : « OLD ROM ! »
Rom didn't even scream. He staggered, eyes wide with shock, and charged once more in a final desperate burst before Elsa finished the matter for good. The giant collapsed heavily onto the floor, without another word.
Subaru, petrified with terror, could do absolutely nothing.
Subaru : « And as always… I'm useless… » murmured the Subaru in the room, his gaze empty, remembering how he had remained nailed to the spot without lifting a finger in the face of this massacre.
Rem leaned gently toward him, placing a comforting hand on his arm.
Rem : « Don't say that, Subaru-Kun… You had no way to change things at that precise moment… It wasn't your fault. » Rem gently reassured him, sitting beside him.
Subaru let out a big breath, trying to chase away the lump tightening his throat.
Subaru : « Yeah, I know… but it still hurts to watch this again… » he replied, refocusing his attention on the macabre projection.
On the screen, Felt rushes forward, her speed drastically increased by her Divine Protection of the Wind.
The projection lingers for a moment on Subaru's face, where a fragile glimmer of hope passed — for two short seconds, he sincerely believed she stood a chance.
But Elsa dodges gracefully, then retaliates with surgical precision. Felt was fatally struck, her chest split open by the blade. It was all over.
The killer then slowly turned toward the terrified boy.
Elsa : « They are both dead. And you, you're still here. »
Subaru trembles with his whole being. He doesn't consciously decide to charge. His body did it for him, propelled by an impulse that looked much more like visceral panic than true courage.
« Does he even stand a chance, now? »
Such was the thought that crossed the minds of many spectators in the room, at that precise moment.
After all, there had to be a reason, something drastically different for the Guardian to decide to show them this scene in detail.
Was this Subaru finally going to accomplish something impressive to reverse the trend? Only the rest would reveal it to them.
Elsa broke him in three fluid movements. Broken nose. Breath knocked out. The boy fell violently to his knees, his mouth spitting blood.
Elsa : « You're a novice. No talent, no technique. »
She tilts her head slightly, observes him with almost sincere curiosity, her dark eyes shining with an amused glow.
Elsa : « But your determination is… interesting. »
Subaru painfully raises his head. His vision blurs dangerously. His ribs screamed with pain with every inhalation.
Subaru : « If I could just— »
Elsa : « It's time to finish this. »
She charges straight at him.
At that fateful instant, most of the spectators looked away, unable to bear another evisceration.
Frederica hastened to cover Petra's eyes with her hands so she wouldn't see the scene.
Julius febrilley gripped the hilt of his sword, frustrated that he couldn't do anything else.
Reinhard lowered his head, ashamed, knowing that nothing would change the inevitable outcome.
Subaru, for his part, continued to stare at the screen without looking away, inflicting this vision upon himself without blinking.
« I was truly pathetic back then… » he thought bitterly.
The blade targets his entrails, in the exact same spot as before, on the same murderous trajectory. But this time, his body recognized it.
Driven by a supernatural survival instinct, he dodges. It was an awkward movement, too late, rolling to the side… but just enough to avoid the worst. The blade gashes his side instead of piercing him right through.
A long gaping cut. Painful. But not fatal.
The camera zooms in on the bloody wound: the flesh begins to close up. Just a little. The edges of the wound drew closer together, the bleeding slowed down drastically. The pain decreased by half a notch.
— A pathetic regeneration. But real. —
« What?! » cried out in chorus those who had followed the scene, struck by a total shockwave.
Most expected to see Subaru's entrails scattered across the tavern floor.
But not only had he achieved the impossible by dodging the fatal attack, but on top of that, his wound was already beginning to heal on its own. The narrator's words were merely the cherry on top.
Subaru : « Damn, a regeneration?! How did he get that? Wasn't he supposed to just get physically stronger? » he exclaimed, totally flabbergasted.
Reinhard slowly raised his head, eyes wide with the revelation.
Reinhard : « It seems our initial hypothesis is mistaken… » murmured Reinhard while observing the scene.
« Yes… it seems much more complex than a simple gain in strength. » he thought.
Meanwhile, the mage of the Mathers domain displayed a satisfied smirk.
Roswaal : « Ohh, ohhh… I see, I see… » he murmured to himself, having already begun to construct his own theories on the organic nature of this power.
Subaru : « What am I becoming… »
Despite the confusion, he takes advantage of the unexpected opening. He strikes. Just once, his clenched fist crashes right into the assassin's face. A blow that surprised the young woman much more than it hurt her.
Elsa steps back a pace, disconcerted. Then, her eyes light up with a carnivorous gleam.
Elsa : « You touched me… how can a novice move like that? »
That was the last good news for the boy.
Fatigue overwhelms him all at once. His legs become excruciatingly heavy. His reflexes slow down by a fatal fraction of a second. Elsa was learning much faster than him.
The blade pierces him. Deeply. This time, for good.
Subaru collapses to his knees. His weak regeneration did nothing. Too little. Too weak to counter such a massacre. Warm blood spilled abundantly onto the rotting wooden floor. His vision flickered.
The whole room fell instantly silent.
Garfiel violently clenched his teeth and turned his head away, unable to bear any more.
Garfiel : « That bitch… I'll make her pay… » he spat with pure hatred.
Emilia, trembling, squeezed the hand of the Subaru sitting beside her with desperate strength.
Granted, she had already seen this boy die many times, but the horror remained intact. Even though she had already seen this scene — watching it again didn't enchant her in the least.
This time, at least, knowing that her own Subaru, the real one, was there, alive and warm against her, barely soothed her bruised heart.
Elsa : « You are dying. »
Subaru : « I'm… am I going to die?! »
His own voice sounds distant to him, detached from reality.
Elsa : « Yes. Slowly. Very slowly. »
She doesn't seem in any hurry to finish him off.
The world loses its contours. Sounds become cottony, muffled beneath the shroud of imminent death. The lights grow too soft.
Behind him, Rom's body no longer moves. Felt's neither.
Subaru slowly slumps, one hand flat on the blood-sticky floor, unable to decide whether he should be afraid or if he is simply too exhausted for it.
— That was his last coherent thought. Not a hope. Not a certainty. Just a raw fact. —
Last sentence on screen:
Natsuki Subaru has died for the second time.
Black screen.
Title card: The Flesh Remembers
End of Episode 1
The entire room was white as snow. Subaru had died, again.
They knew from experience that they would never get used to it, no matter how many times they saw him bleed out. No one uttered a single word for long seconds, letting a leaden silence crush the assembly.
Until the familiar voice rang out.
« Ohhh so, did you like this first episode? I must say I took a lot of pleasure in lending my voice to this, ehehe! »
The entity's laughter sharply broke the suffocating tension of the room.
Yet, everyone remained deeply perplexed and sickened in the face of this morbid lightheartedness.
« Ohh, come on! One more death won't change anything, right? You've seen much worse with yours! Go ahead, ask me questions before we move on to the next episode. »
Exclaimed the Guardian in a disdainful tone facing the gloom of his audience.
Reinhard slowly raised his hand, seeking to bring order back to this intellectual chaos.
Reinhard : « So, uh… What exactly is this Subaru's power? » he asked calmly.
Subaru startled, recovering a bit of his exuberance in the face of this cosmic injustice.
Subaru : « Yeah, that's true! Why can this guy get more powerful with every death and even have other cool powers like regeneration? It's totally unfair! » he exclaimed, truly bewildered.
« Unfair? Ahahaha… Ohh, my poor Subaru… have you forgotten what I told you earlier? » asked the Guardian.
The boy flinched slightly at this abyssal tone shift.
Subaru : « What? What are you talking about? »
The voice then rose, more solemn.
« I told you that this Subaru has suffered much, MUCH more than you… But you haven't seen anything yet. Ohh, you know strictly nothing about it. Do you even know the unspeakable horrors he had to face to forge this strength? »
At these words, the entire assembly fell silent instantly. A glacial chill ran down the spine of every person present.
Everyone knew full well that their Subaru, despite his overwhelming weakness, had had to face the worst nightmares of this world.
So… what could this other boy possibly have lived through to deserve such power in compensation? What worse thing had he faced for his flesh to remember like this?
« Anyway, regarding the exact divergence of his power… you'll see for yourselves in the continuation. » finally concluded the Guardian.
Subaru lowered his eyes, his face darkened.
Subaru : « Ohh… alright… » he murmured, having lost all trace of his enthusiasm in the face of the Guardian's terrifying implication.
No one in the room could say another word.
Even Priscilla didn't dare show herself contemptuous this time, and kept silent behind her fan.
Only Roswaal maintained his eternal enigmatic smile, having presumably begun to grasp the atrocious truth behind the mechanisms of this gift.
« Well, since no one has any other questions… Are you ready to move on to the next part, or do you want a break? » asked the Guardian.
The cast members exchanged loaded glances for a few seconds.
Despite their varied expressions — ranging from apprehension to resolve — a collective nod rippled through the ranks.
Subaru : « I… I think we can handle it, let's go. » Subaru ended up saying.
« Oh, very well! But I'll have a little surprise for what's next… Ahah, anyway, until next time, here we go! » exclaimed the Guardian.
At these words, the screen crackled again, and the second episode started without waiting, and with it, the continuation of events.