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They were all fools.
All of them. Especially Emilia
They believed that they were the ones who made progress against the cult. Emilia wanted to believe that she had achieved something that would make her reputation more than just a ‘half-devil.’
The subjugation of the White Whale, Great Rabbit’s demise, protect Pristella from the cult, slayer of Sloth and Greed and conquer the watchtower.
All of which were thought to be hers.
But it never was.
It always belongs to him.
The ‘cultist’. The one her contracted spirit Beatrice said to be, and later presumed to be ‘Pride’ was none other than Natsuki Subaru, her true knight, not Garfiel as she believed.
Throughout the viewing, she was in constant battle with her psyche. She never thinks about how Subaru managed to save everyone from different kinds of threats. Everyone assumed that he just had good intuition and was always at the right place, at the right time. But the viewing shows the simple dark truth.
He died. Multiple times, in fact. Just to get the right ‘loop’ that he and everyone survived. Because of the ‘curse’: Return by Death that was given to him by Satella.
It also revealed that her own camp members also caused those deaths as well. The maid sisters, Garfiel, Roswaal, even herself at one point. Not to mention other camps are not exempt from killing or hurting him, physically or emotionally. Emilia is sure the only people that never harm Subaru in her own camp are Petra and Frederica, and maybe Otto if he was not in the right mind at the time.
All of them also realize the horrible truth: Subaru knew all of their darkness that they didn’t show. Their mistakes were now shown for them to see, and yet…he forgave them, every single one of it.
It hurt them so, so much.
They are now currently finished viewing arc 8. They witnessed him prevent the Great Disaster and save the Vollachia Empire. The trial and tribulation Subaru faced is nothing that any of them can compare.
And then they saw it, one of the Gluttony, Roy, ambushed Subaru and ate his name.
Everyone in the theater tried to close their eyes as they knew exactly what was coming. But the warden forced them to witness their folly, every second of it.
It started with Beatrice who was shouting to her past self to realize who’s the true contractor, then Garfiel tried to jump at the screen to punch it as if it can erase his misdeed but held back by Otto who was horrified by his action. Ram tried to be stoic, but everyone can see that she tried her best to hide her discomfort. Rem’s a sobbing mess and repeating ‘I’m a monster.’ over and over, especially during Arc 8. Frederica is currently consoling Petra who was sobbing uncontrollably. Even Roswaal went completely silent with anger at the half-elf camps.
And Emilia?
Her mind was shutting down the moment she declared Subaru to relinquish his position as a knight. Everything was a blur to her after that. The interrogation, torture and subsequent execution didn’t matter to her as she knew Subaru was good as dead the moment Beatrice accused him of being a cultist.
The other camps didn’t fare better. Felt just broke down crying while Reinhard just muttered apologies to Subaru. Crusch wanted to grieve but had to prevent Wilhelm, who was going to murder Felix at his seat. Anastasia went stiff, her smile vanished as Julius’s whole body was shaking from guilt. Ricardo tried to comfort the triplets. Even Priscilla, while a bit amused, is completely fuming as she realizes the sheer incompetent Lugunica and the treatment of the ‘hero’ and Al is just paying respect for his fallen ‘brother’.
“Well? How does it feel seeing your own mistakes in real time?” The warden asked, obvious to the cast reaction.
No one answers, still drowning in guilt. Then Priscilla replied, “Myself would be very disappointed if I did any of those stupid mistakes. Thankfully, the world still favors me this time.”
“HOW DARE YOU!” It was Felt who was currently standing from her seat and shouting, “You, along with that purple-haired ‘knight’, literally broke big bro’s self confidence to nothing! You are not as blameless as you think, bitch!”
“It was the peasant’s fault that he made a fool of himself. After all, this world is not kind to the weak. You should know better, sewer rat.” Priscilla replied matter-of-factly.
Felt can only gritted her teeth. She was right in a sense, and it's not like she was completely innocent either, being the cause of Subaru’s death by proxy via Elsa.
“Besides, I, nor Vollachia, didn’t betray him just because of the Great Spirit’s stupidity and Lugunica’s own incompetence, right?” Priscilla then smiled like a predator caught sight of her prey.
Everyone now froze at her statement, “Lady Priscilla. I don’t think this will reflect the relationship between Lugunica—” Crusch tried to reason but was cut short by Felt.
“Forget it! Lugunica is dead to me!” Felt declared, earning shocked looks from others while Reinhard just continued sulking, “Even If the damn cult does not remake it in the image, the kingdom’s reputation is completely gone to shit anyway.”
Crusch wanted to argue for the sake of her memory of the old day. But this viewing reveals an undeniable fact: Lugunica is completely useless in the grand scheme of things. It’s always Subaru, the powerless one, save the day. Not even Reinhard can do as much as him. She was also surprised that the council didn’t send Reinhard to help Vollachia despite the threat that posed to the world. ‘I guess they saw the chance to destroy Vollachia without lifting their finger.’ She bitterly thought. And while the Divine General does kill Subaru, they ultimately didn’t betray him and even respect him as a person more than Lugunica did.
‘Maybe Felt was right, Lugunica needs to burn to the ground and rebuild it anew…if we are still allowed to come back.’ Crusch shudders. Never in her life did she be terrified at the mere idea of returning to Lugunica. Even if the cult is dealt with, the people that left behind will be furious at them.
“Well~, I guess the competition is over then.” Anastasia replied in a neutral tone.
“WHAT!? Anastasia-sama! You can’t!” Julius begs her to reconsider her choice.
“Julius.” Anastasia then stood up from her seat and turned around, “What you did to Subaru-kun is unforgivable and the people won’t stand against it. With the recent attack, it is safe to assume that Lugunica is dead for good. Did you forget my intention for the throne?”
Julius shakes his head. He remembered it very well, to expand her venture into Lugunica and satisfy her greed—wait.
“From the look of your face, I assumed you realized it now. Lugunica is not worth my time anymore. Therefore, I withdraw myself from the royal selection.” Anastasia declared.
Julius can only hang his head down and stare at the ground, ‘It was my fault, I let envy and wrath consumed me, turning me into a monster no better than a cultist.’ He thought. Ricardo can only sighed, half-expected this outcome to moment Subaru’s name return. Mimi starts crying while Hetaro and Tivey console her.
Everyone then looked at the last candidate, who was still out after the viewing was finished, “Hey! Lugunica to big sis! Are you there?!” Felt tried to get her attention to no avail.
“It is to be expected, the half-devil is done the moment you discard your knight for some wild mutt.” Priscilla sneered while looking at Emilia camp.
Garfiel, with tears in his eyes, tried to lash out while Otto held him harder while defending Emilia and himself, “And what right did ya have to lecture us!? It’s easy to shame others since ya didn’t do it yerself!”
“Priscilla-sama. You need to understand.” Ram interrupts, “Barusu has the witch scent in him. It’s natural to presume him to be a cultist. Like my sister did.”
“Yet you plebeians cannot differentiate between a cultist and a harmless dog. Not to mention The Great Spirit—” Priscilla’s disgust can be heard in her voice, “declare him as a cultist even though he didn't pose any real threat! Does the Authority of Gluttony steal the entirety of Lugunica’s intellect as well?”
That cut deeps for every Lugunican present here. Crusch can only flinch while Felt just grip her hand so hard it bleeds. Emilia’s eyes started to twitch.
“It’s a shame, If only the peasant in mine camp instead. He would be more useful and maybe become worthy to stand beside me—”
“Shut up…” Emilia mumbled. Cold air started to envelope around her.
“Hmm? Excuse me? Did I hear you saying something, half-devil?” Priscilla taunted, already bracing for the conflict.
“I said SHUT UP!!!” Emilia screamed, many ice particles formed into icicles and flew outward in her direction. Everyone is now defending themselves from the cold and potentially a crazed half-elf.
“Subaru…belongs to me. I-I just need to apologize and give him a rest on my lap as many times as he likes. hahaha…” Emilia completely loses it. Everyone can see that the half-elf was trying to cope with the situation.
“And if anyone disagrees…” She then glares at Priscilla, who glared back with mockery, "I will show them a witch.” Emilia then flares up with more power.
“Erm, Warden? Shouldn’t you interfere right now?” Otto asks, fearing the damage his liege may cause.
“I just gonna- *RING RING* One moment.” The warden replied as something took their attention away. Everyone doesn’t know what happened as they cannot see the warden at all.
“Hello?...Huh!? Are you serious?...He’s already here? You should’ve told me sooner!...Fineeee, might as well get this over with…bye.” The warden replies to someone that no one can see.
For the warden, they look at the back row far from the rest of everyone. They see a person on the seat, one look is enough for the warden to recognize the person and the reason for the call. It seems another warden sneakily inserted him into this theater and cloaked him with an invisibility spell.
“Well, everyone. It seems we had a special guest today.” Warden announced, “And I want everyone to meet with him. Especially you, Emilia.”
Hearing this, Emilia calmed down. The atmosphere returns to normal before asking, “Who?”
“Someone most of you wanted to see again.” The warden cryptically replied before going silent, leaving them alone. But not before summoning a chair for the guest.
“Soooo, is anyone seeing this ‘guest’ of ours?” Anastasia asks everyone while looking around for the ‘guest’ the warden was talking about.
Emilia stays silent, thinking about the warden’s words. ‘ ‘Someone that I would like to see?’ I would like to see Fortuna- No, the warden says ‘he’ so Guese? But…no, nononono it can’t be him!” Her eyes widened at the realization.
“Emilia-san. Did you figure it out?” Crusch asks, noticing her expression.
“It’s-”
Suddenly, footsteps can be heard from the upper row of the theater. The sound is very low, but for the demi-humans, it was clear in their ears.
“Who’s there?!” It’s Ricardo who shouted. Everyone is turned toward the direction of the sound of the footstep coming closer to their position.
They can see the approaching figure walking toward them, his face is still shroud in shadow, but his clothing is visible enough for everyone to see: a black shirt, grey long pants with a belt with a silver buckle and black shoes.
Then his face is fully visible.
Everyone now stands up from their own seat in shock. His hair is grey and styled like a bang. But his eyes…
His intimidating Sanpaku eyes.
Everyone was speechless, “What…?” Felt is the one to speak first. The only person they knew with that kind of eyes is-
“SUBARUUU!!!” Emilia tearfully screams and runs toward him. But before she can reach him, he holds his hand out toward Emilia and shakes his head.
Emilia’s face quickly went from elated to confusion. Why does Subaru stop her? He should be happy to see her, right?
“What are you doing?” Subaru asks. His voice is considerably rougher than normal.
‘Is he older?’ Everyone thought. But that can't be right! He was a teenager when he was executed! So why does he look so old?
“S-Subaru?” Emilia shakenly asks, why does he sound so…cold?
“Captain! Why are you stopping her from hugging? She was glad to see you!” Garfiel shouted from below.
“And?” Subaru shot back, “If this was an attempt to apologize then it was very poorly done.”
Everyone’s now unnerved with Subaru's attitude, his casual dismissal started to rub them the wrong way.
“Let’s just get this over with.” Subaru sighed and walked toward the chair, passing Emilia without looking at her. Emilia slowly walks toward the table, still dazed from the prior action. In the end, Subaru and Emilia are sitting at the opposite end of the table.
“So.” Subaru starts, “All of you saw my journey, all of it.”
“Yeah…but what happened to you, big bro! I dare say you look as old as Wilhelm!” Felt responded, everyone silently agreed with her words.
Subaru’s face twitched a little, “Of all the questions, Is this the first question you guys wanted to ask?”
“Come on, Subaru-san. We were just concerned with you. You can trust us.” Otto, using his negotiation skill, tried to placid Subaru.
“Trust you? Last time I did, it cost me my sanity and my life. Why do I need to trust you all again?” Subaru sarcastically remarked.
Emilia’s camp flinched at his word. His words ring true to everyone to a degree.
“A-All of this is Betty’s fault! Betty’s willing to receive any punishment from her true contractor.” Emilia looked away at that remark, “So please…return to me. I need you.” Beatrice’s now crying, tears flowing freely from her eyes.
“…No.” Subaru bitterly replied. He knew he promised her to live a fullest life, free from Tome of Wisdom’s influence. But with a certain tragedy, that can never happen. Not anymore…
“How could you, Subaru!” Surprisingly to everyone, it was Julius who tried to argue in the Great Spirit’s favor, “You promised to live with her for the entirety of your life! Are you going to break that promise to a Great Spirit!?” Julius shouted, before covering his mouth in shock seconds later, it seems his strict adherence to etiquette overtook his logic.
Now Subaru directs his attention toward Julius. From Julius’s view, his already intimidating eyes are now scarier than usual due to the intent behind those eyes.
“Still a rule stickler, I see.” Subaru stated, his tone terse, “No wonder they call you the ‘finest’ knight. Let me ask you something: Are those ‘rules’ so important to you?”
Normally, Julius would answer that question with confidence. But in this scenario, he can’t do it. Maybe because the guilt or everyone is currently looking at him, “Y-Y-Yes. It’s the etiquette t-that every k-knight has to follow…” He stutters.
Subaru looked at him for a while then looked at others, “Anyone has any questions?” Completely ignore Julius’s inner turmoil.
Julius felt his spirits shatter to pieces. Subaru has just ignored him, he knew they weren’t starting on friendly terms, but to think it ends up this way. It wound him deeply.
“Huh? You’re not going to argue with him, bro?” Al asks, knowing his personality would clash with the knight.
“If witnessing my entire journey and my perspective didn’t change his mind, there is no point in trying to argue with him. It is basically talking with a brick wall and expecting any response.” Subaru states his reason.
“Well said~ Subaru-kun~” Roswaal said, trying to steer the conversation, “It seems you have matured indeed. I wondered what kind of experience you face to mold you into this.”
Subaru then looks at Roswaal, his eyes now burning with fury, “Flattery will get you nowhere, clown. I suggest you don’t try to recruit me back to Emilia camp, my final decision is no.”
Ram bristled, “I suggest you don’t disrespect Roswaal-sama like that, Barusu. Have you forgotten who provided you shelter?”
“Funny, I should say the same thing to you, sister.” Subaru shot back, the word ‘sister’ dripped with contempt, “You of all people knew why he did that. He only saw me, heck, the entire Emilia camp as a tool. Yet you are still defending him? Are you saying that he should be free to do whatever he wants because you loved him? More than your sister or the Oni clan?”
Ram flinched and went silent at the accusation. It was true according to the viewing that Roswaal committed many crimes, but Ram believed that he could be redeemed in her mind.
Emilia decides to take this chance to talk, “Why!? You promise me you will be at my side!? You said ‘I love you’ to me as well!?” She cried.
“Emilia.” Subaru turned to her, his expression remained calm, “You yourself relieved me of my duty as a knight, a promise is not enough for me to stay at your side. Not to mention, I have my own life now. As for the latter…” He paused, thinking how to break it to Emilia, “It was a…desperate attempt, a result from my own low self-esteem. I don’t think that can be considered true love by any standard. For that, I’m truly sorry for causing pain to you.”
Emilia breaks down crying, the remaining cast can only close their eyes as the relationship completely falls apart in front of their eyes, except Priscilla who inwardly smirks, ‘It seems the peasant finally realized his relationship with the half-devil is going nowhere. Good for him, her excuse of a camp is only functioned by him and him alone.’
“Don’t worry, cap’n!” Garfiel chimed in, sounding desperate “I will resign to return the position to you right now! You can continue to serve the princess this way!”
Subaru shakes his head, “No, Garfiel. You can keep it. It's just a fancy title anyway.”
This comment makes everyone in the theater stiff. Knights are one of the most prestigious titles in Lugunica and Subaru just completely rejected the offer to reinstate his title of Emilia’s knight. It was completely unheard of.
Subaru then looked at Rem, who was on the verge of crying, “Rem, I’m glad that you’ve recovered your memory. It seems my effort isn’t in vain.”
“R-Rem is sorry! The mansion, Vollachia. I bring nothing but misery to you!” Rem cried, remembering what she had done to her hero.
“Rem.” Subaru started, “You don’t need to think too much. It was based on your first impression of me, combined with your nature as an Oni that makes you think that way. I don’t blame you for that.”
He didn’t mean it, but the way he referred to her mistake as something in her nature saddened both Rem and, by extension, Ram.
Suddenly, Reinhard bowed to Subaru, “I’m sorry. I should have saved you.”
“Reinhard…”
“If I didn’t get affected by the authorities….”
“Reinhard.”
“If I manage to—”
“REINHARD!” Subaru shouted before calming down, “You don’t need to apologize, it’s already passed.”
“B-But—” Reinhard tried to continue apologizing.
“No, Reinhard. Apologizing won’t fix anything. The only thing you can do is learn from it. But it seems you never did.” Subaru pauses, before continuing, ”Why don’t you try to actively save people then? Just because you have a law that forbids you doesn’t mean you should follow it blindly.”
“But, the council—”
“Rein, I agreed with big bro. Those old crusty bastards only see you as a weapon! You are better than that!” Felt speaks up, trying to make Reinhard understand Subaru’s point. ‘And it’s not like they’re around considering the current state of Lugunica anyway.’ Felt noted in her mind.
While Reinhard still struggled to understand, Anastasia decided to ask, “If you are truly the same Subaru-san on the screen. Why don’t you erm…” She trailed off, knowing the next word is not pretty.
“Taking revenge?” Subaru finished Anastasia’s question, “I’ll admit I did think about it. But life happens and well…” He then looks at Wilhelm, who lowers his eyes, knowing what Subaru was referring to, “You already have an idea how revenge can consume and turn one man’s life into.”
Crusch can only look down in shame. She only focused on how Wilhelm can help her achieve her goal of slaying the White Whale to boost her reputation by promising him revenge. Yet after that, she was basically useless to the Astrea family drama, losing her memories doesn’t help her case either.
The Astrea family isn’t any random family, they are the one who carried the title of Sword Saint for centuries. But the kingdom only cared about the title, not the person bearing it. As a leader, she believed that subordinates reflect a leader's capability. So seeing this from another perspective opened her eyes to how she had tunnel vision on her goal so much.
Felix, for his part, started to see how his obsession for his lady caused him to do unspeakable acts unworthy of a healer. He tried to convince it was for his lady, but after the viewing, he wasn’t so sure anymore.
After a while, Petra decided to ask the same question as Felt at the beginning, ”Subaru-sama, how old are you now?”
Subaru thinks for a sec. It was from Petra, so he doesn't think too much of the information. Besides, she is one of the few innocent people in here, “56.”
“5-5-56!?” Everyone shouted, “You are literally 6 years younger than Wilhelm-san!” Otto shouted while looking at the old man.
Wilhelm actually expressed his shock clearly, to think the boy who he saw as a grandson is now almost as old as him, “But Subaru-dono, you look so…young. Like you were in your 40s!”
Everyone nodded, he looked too young for his age. Not that it’s bad for everyone, of course.
“Hmph, enough of this tomfoolery.” Priscilla declared, her voice boomed in the theater, “You don’t need to explain yourself anymore. Just tell your judgments toward us.”
Subaru’s eyebrows raised while others were surprised at her statement, “Don’t be surprised. The way you act around the half-devil is enough for my divine self to know that you don’t want to meet any of us.” Her tone is full of understanding, something everyone didn’t know the sun princess is capable of.
“True.” Subaru agreed, “I supposed I get carried away easily. Well then…”
Everyone held their breath.
“I cannot forgive you. Most of you anyway.”
The verdict is clear to everyone who was taken part of Subaru’s imprisonment. They can only hang their heads in guilt and shame.
“But I don’t truly hate you all for it.” Subaru finished.
Now that’s caught most of them off-guard. They expected him to lash out at them, not this.
“What? You’re expecting me to carry a grudge for 40 years straight? I moved past that now. The real challenge for all of you is to live on despite those guilt, for that takes more courage than you think. And that goes to all of you as well.”
“And I have my own life now. My friends and…family and is waiting for me back home. I rather spent the rest of my day with them. I hope you all understand that.” He finished.
Everyone just went silent as his word. He truly grew up as a person. They remembered his attic during earlier arcs, his overall weird behavior. But the Subaru in front of them is a calm, reserved individual, a far cry from the boy he once was.
All except one camp.
“Cap’n! What are you saying?! We still need you! The camp isn’t complete without you!” Garfiel tried to convince Subaru to return to Emilia camp, but Otto places his hand on his shoulder and shake his head, basically telling Garfiel, “It’s no use.”
Rem tries to speak but no words come out. Ram tried to comfort her. Petra didn’t react as much since she did expect this outcome. Beatrice just sits there emotionless, her mind still whirling from her foolishness and ignorance. Emilia continued to reeling from Subaru’s rejection.
Roswaal, however, has a final trick on his sleeve, “What about Lugunica, Subaru-kun? Surely you wanted to know what happened to it, right?” he asks Subaru, sounding more serious than usual.
“Lugunica? I suppose Reinhard can handle all of the problems by himself. After all, he was the strongest and loved by Od Laguna itself, right?” Subaru brushes off the concern, completely missing everyone’s horrified reaction.
Roswaal started to panic. To think that Subaru still believed Reinhard can do anything or even dare to think that Lugunica's still standing is nothing short of cosmic irony.
“Look, if the kingdom cannot function because of a single man. Then I think it is the perfect time for the kingdom to undergo a big change, preferably from the ground up.” Subaru continued, “And I think the selection is still going, right? I hope that one of you can change Lugunica for the better.”
The five candidates just looked at each other. Priscilla just looked away, completely uninterested in the competition, Anastasia just shrugged, already backing out. Felt was clenching her hand, still unsure about pulling out. Crusch just awkwardly looked around.
He turned his attention to Emilia camp, “I knew you wanted everything to return to the way it used to be. But as you can see, not everything will be the way you wanted. I’m an old man now, I will be just a burden to you. And Emilia, you need to stand up for yourself. You live longer than most of us, this is merely a beginning for you. Consider this my last advice to you.”
The whole room went silent for a full minute, “It seems no one has any questions left.” Subaru stated, before standing up, “Then I'll take my leave now.” then started to walk away, toward the exit.
“WAIT!” Suddenly, Subaru’s leg was held by Emilia, who was on the ground, “Don’t leave me! Please! I need you!”
“Emilia…” Subaru sighed, he forgot how she was mentally a child who was not ready for the real world. He turns around and replies, “You need to let me go. We have our own lives now. It's best for both of us.”
“NO!” Emilia shouted, still clinging to his leg. Her responses are reduced to uncontrollable sobbing. Her last lifeline is going away and she won’t let anything take him away from her. Fortuna, Geuse, and now Subaru.
Everyone can only pity at the sad display of the half-elf. It was one thing to see on the screen, but seeing it in front of them is another experience.
Subaru then gently removed her hand from his leg, “I’m sorry, Emilia.” He says, looking forlorn, “It has to be this way.” Then with one last look at the remaining cast, he walked away, leaving them to their fate.
—----------------------------------------------------
Extra
After Subaru walked past the door, an entity appeared in front of him. It was human-shaped, but Subaru can only see the outline of it.
“Well, how do you feel?” The entity asked.
“Better, I assume you are one of these ‘wardens' as well.” Subaru asks.
“Well, not quite… I’d like to call myself an ‘observer’ instead. I'm a bit surprised though, I thought that you would ‘crash out’ to your former friends considering your many grievances toward them.” The observer noted.
“It was almost 40 years ago. Can’t say that I remembered all of them. And I don’t think it’s healthy for a normal person to hold that long. Or maybe I just have better things to worry about.” Subaru sighed, remembering his nightmare in that cell. It still haunted him, though less frequent.
“Understandable. Still, you manage to speak your heart out to them. It does wonders to your heart, don’t you agree?” The observer remarked.
“Yeah, I think so.” Subaru agrees with the observer. He knew that if he was summoned far earlier in his life, he’ll definitely lash out at them more than this considering his hot-blood nature in his 20s and the memories being more fresh at the time.
“Well, it’s time for you to return to prepare your final battle. This will be the last time we meet, Subaru-san.” The observer then prepares to teleport Subaru back to his world.
Subaru stands still, his expression becomes serene.
“Goodbye, Natsuki Subaru. You deserved a happy ending after all you’ve been through.” The observer speaks to Subaru for the last time before returning Subaru to his world.
To prepare for his final battle.