Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Can karmic destiny be changed?

Can it be altered in some way without any apparent consequences?

Well... in this world, the concept of karma probably didn't even exist. Karmic destiny was the idea that one's future path and life outcomes were shaped by a universal law of cause and effect... the circumstances, challenges, and path one experienced being the result of the seeds planted by their past.

As a Japanese man, Subaru believed in Buddhism to a certain extent.

He wasn't particularly devout, but he could still pray to that god, or to all the gods he could remember, because having free will ultimately meant clinging to any bridge that might save you.

'If I had known it would end like this...'

His feet and wrists were bound tightly to something solid, while the ground beneath him burned with such intensity that the unbearable heat forced anyone unfortunate enough to stand there to scream in pain.

It was a shame his throat had already been cut.

When Subaru tried to scream, nothing resembling a human voice came out. Instead, only a broken, breathless noise escaped him, something closer to an animal's dying sobs than a man's cry.

"Uu... ahh... gh..."

He was tied to a wooden stake, much like those used in executions during the witch hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Why did he remember such a precise date?

At the moment of his death, wouldn't ignoring it with trivial thoughts have been less painful?

The fire consumed what remained of his vision.

The intense heat destroyed his eyes, turning the world into an indistinguishable blur before even that disappeared. His nose weakly inhaled the smoke, but each breath became more difficult as his lungs filled with it. They must have been black by now, if they hadn't already been destroyed entirely.

His body was burning alive, and he didn't even have the strength to fight back.

In the midst of the fire, a tomato struck him squarely in the forehead.

Thwack.

His head weakly turned to the side, how did he know it was a tomato?

Even with his eyes already carbonized, he had been hit by enough of them to recognize the sensation without needing to see.

From beyond the flames came the sounds of laughter and cheering.

How could they be so happy?

A person was being burned alive. Regardless of what that person had done in life, wasn't it a little excessive to waste your own time watching someone suffer?

But again, perhaps this wasn't so strange. This wasn't his original, modern world, after all.

His history teacher had once explained how witches were burned centuries ago.

The entire class had listened without much expression, to them, it was simply another history lesson to memorize for the next test.

If someone died, that death existed in a book.

'—Ah.'

Since everything had ended like this, shouldn't he have been somewhere else?

He should have been celebrating his victory with his cute little loli and his half-elf girl. He should have been surrounded by everyone he had fought so hard to protect, laughing together now that it was finally over.

Instead, he was here.

Blackened, helpless, and bound to a stake, listening to the joyful screams of a crowd celebrating as he burned.

Worst of all, he had already won.

In one last act of hope, Subaru activated Cor Leonis.

Just once more.

Before the flames consumed what remained of him, he wanted to see those familiar points of light again... to know that someone, anyone, was still standing beside him.

His heart tightened as the Authority reached out, though the sensation was almost impossible to distinguish from the countless other pains tearing through his burning body.

Nothing.

Subaru had always been something of a star nerd. If anyone was to blame for that, perhaps it was his parents for naming him Subaru in the first place. Maybe if they hadn't, he wouldn't have developed that childish desire to see something that wasn't even a star.

Now, when he wanted to see one more point of light more than anything, there was nothing.

His burned eyes could no longer perceive anything, and even Cor Leonis found no one.

"..."

This was a public execution. The entire kingdom was supposed to know about it, there should have been countless people here.

Perhaps they were all there, or not.

Before the execution began, Subaru's eyes had been blindfolded so he couldn't see who had come to witness his death.

He had never been allowed to know who was standing on the other side of the flames.

Maybe that was for the best.

Those useless, worldly thoughts helped distract him a little.

He didn't need to know who was there anymore. 

The flames continued to consume him until there was barely anything left to burn. His flesh was reduced to ash, his thoughts becoming slower and more distant as even the sensation of pain began to disappear.

He felt that strange sensation of being pulled somewhere else, back toward another chance.

Why did he have to go through all of that again?

He was a useless man who couldn't do anything, he couldn't save anyone, not even himself. Why did Natsuki Subaru have to exist if only for that purpose?

But he had promised Satella that he would love himself more.

He had promised Rem that he would save everyone, even himself. Within that altruistic desire, there was also selfishness.

He wanted to see those beautiful white hairs again, hear that voice as gentle as a silver bell.

He wanted to cling to that purity and leave his ugliest side behind, without having to think about anything else.

The burning sensation in his eyes disappeared.

Subaru opened his eyelids and saw those beautiful amethyst eyes staring back at him. They were as beautiful as jewels, but at that moment they were filled with pure rage, hatred seemingly aged by years.

"PANDORA!!!"

Her beautiful face, something that could only be described as otherworldly, lacked the gentleness she usually displayed when looking at others.

Perhaps, in the entire world, that expression was reserved only for the person standing before her.

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

A boy wearing an athletic tracksuit grabbed the half-elf around the waist, embracing her with complete naturalness and using all the strength his human body possessed to prevent the ice sword in her hand from cutting down the person in front of him.

Of course, compared to Emilia's strength, Subaru's mediocre physical abilities were almost laughable, yet Emilia actually stopped, pouting at Subaru while awkwardly blushing before pushing him aside.

"You said it yourself! She can't do anything now, we have to take advantage of the situation!"

"I know—I know! But we need to stay calm. Remember what Otto said before, right?"

The casual conversation between the two sent a shiver down Subaru's spine. It was like finding what you thought was the original movie in some cheap CD store, only to discover it was nothing more than a second-hand knockoff.

Except this wasn't a movie, that was Subaru.

His face. His voice. His body.

Subaru looked at the scene with a calmness that bordered on madness.

He wasn't trying to look cool, he was devastated. It hurt so much, but before the others arrived, he had to find a way to break this vicious cycle.

Why was he thinking like that?

Why was there another fake Natsuki Subaru standing in front of him?

And why was everyone looking at him as if he were Pandora?

To understand that, we have to go back a little—not to the present, but to the beginning of his first failed loop in the underground mansion.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"This is the end, Pandora!"

The words echoed through the destroyed mansion, buried deep underground and accessible only through a network of disconnected caves scattered across different parts of the world.

Outside, countless Royal Guards surrounded the ruins, with enormous energy cannons... almost absurdly advanced weapons for a world that still resembled the Middle Ages, aimed directly at the mansion.

Across the ground lay several hooded cultists, some cut down without ceremony, others collapsed from heart attacks, and many simply dead. Those cultists belonged to the infamous Witch Cult, responsible for all manner of vile crimes that could only be described as despicable. In a way, it was a one-sided massacre.

Without the Sin Archbishops or their useful pets, such as the White Whale, the Witch Cult was little more than an organized group that could be easily neutralized with enough preparation.

Their greatest strength had never been their numbers.

It was how they moved through the shadows, appearing at the right place and the right time as if they somehow knew the future and could predict when the world would be least prepared for them. Finding this place had therefore been incredibly difficult. It had required the connections of several merchants from Kagaragi, along with getting Sirius to talk and reveal enough information to locate the base.

Even then, Subaru couldn't have reached this point alone.

Lesser spirits, Otto's Divine Protection of Soul Language, and some of Reinhard's absurd abilities had all played a part in getting them here.

In the end, it was the combination of countless factors that Subaru had painstakingly put together that had finally led them to this moment.

Getting Sirius to talk had been one of the worst parts.

It had taken several attempts, with Subaru pretending to be her beloved Petelgeuse in order to extract the information they needed. He had even gone so far as to read that lunatic's Book of the Dead in the Pleiades Watchtower within the Augria Sand Dunes. And, of course, there had been Return by Death.

He had needed several loops just to perfect the interrogation.

Every mistake in his dialogue could cause Sirius to kill him before he obtained anything useful, forcing him to start again and remember exactly what words to use, when to speak, and when to remain silent.

But all of that had finally paid off.

In the mansion's main hall, where a gigantic table once stood for lavish meals, Pandora lay fallen on the floor, surrounded by three people: Emilia, Subaru, and Beatrice.

Pandora's radiant hair flowed down her slender shoulders like a glistening waterfall, reaching slightly below her knees.

Her eyes, with their distinctive slit pupils, were as deep blue as the sea, framed by long eyelashes that only emphasized the unnatural beauty of her face. Her inhuman appearance was terrifying precisely because it was so perfect, anyone who looked directly at her could feel their body tremble despite themselves.

Her features seemed to embody humanity's very definition of beauty, as though the ideal image of the word itself had been given a physical form.

Too bad that beauty was of little use to her at the moment, surrounded as she was by three individuals who, in a way, made for a rather curious combination: a human, a spirit, and a half-elf.

Pandora had been teleporting through countless rooms, constantly escaping whenever they attempted to corner her.

Without Beatrice's invaluable assistance, there was no way they could have kept up with her.

Yin Magic allowed Beatrice to manipulate the fabric of space itself, and Subaru had devised a trick specifically around that ability. They had trapped Pandora inside this room by denying anyone the ability to enter or leave the space without authorization.

The technique had an absurdly complicated name, something along the lines of E.S.G, ("Emilia-tan is Seriously a Goddess").

The room effectively becomes a sealed “bad room”: space still exists inside it, but there is no valid spatial route connecting the interior to the outside.

Any attempt to teleport, walk, or force an object through the boundary is redirected back into the room. Subaru and Beatrice maintain the spell together while Emilia acts as the executioner, leaving Pandora with nowhere to escape.

Its principle was simple enough to explain and absurdly difficult to perform. Rather than creating an ordinary barrier around the room, Beatrice manipulated the space itself, severing the room's connection to everything beyond its boundaries.

It was less like locking someone inside a room and more like removing the room from the rest of the world.

Subaru and Beatrice stood together, holding hands to maintain the spell while Emilia stood before Pandora with her ice sword pointed directly at the woman's forehead. As long as E.S.G. remained active and Emilia kept her weapon trained on Pandora, there was no opening.

Finally, Pandora had been forced to the ground.

Her white robe had been left disheveled from the battle, revealing just enough to make Subaru wonder whether the woman had any concept of modesty whatsoever.

More importantly, the seemingly fragile girl had just been punched directly in the stomach by Emilia.

That was definitely painful.

Pandora simply lay there, one hand resting against her stomach, her expression showing no sign of pain. It was almost surreal. Emilia could break through walls with her bare strength, and the petite woman lying before her looked as though the attack had barely registered.

If that had been Subaru instead, he'd already be screaming on the floor.

Pain couldn't simply be ignored. At least, Subaru didn't believe anyone could become completely immune to it.

The most a person could do was endure it, overcome it once, and then endure it again.

Pandora seemed to exist outside even that rule.

Her beautiful blue eyes slowly lifted toward the three of them. They were as blue as an endless summer sky, and when her lips curved into a gentle smile, it was the kind of expression that could make anyone who didn't know her desperately want to please her.

Subaru had been surrounded by beautiful women for most of his life in this world. Not that he had romantic feelings for all of them, far from it. He could simply acknowledge when someone was beautiful.

Pandora was on an entirely different level.

Comparing her to the women he knew was like comparing a 1080p television to a 4K one.

Not that it mattered, he had a girlfriend.

Actually, two!

Okay, that thought was complicated.

He loved Rem and Emilia. There had been moments when one woman or another had made his heart flutter, but that didn't change where his heart belonged. There was no room for anyone else.

Emilia and Rem were precious to him, and Beatrice was his precious daughter.

A small hand squeezed his calloused one.

Since the battle with Capella, Subaru's body had finally returned to normal. Both of his arms were human again, and the grotesque black arm that had once required him to keep it covered by a glove was gone.

"You're overthinking again, I suppose!"

Subaru glanced down.

The blonde girl holding his hand had twin ponytails and the appearance of a little girl.

Appearance could be deceiving.

Beatrice was a Great Spirit who had existed for four hundred years, dressed in an ornate pink frilled dress with white trimmings and an open front that left her legs visible beneath vertically striped pink-and-purple tights. A tiny crown rested against the right side of her large blonde hair.

Subaru was known as a "lolimancer" mostly because of her.

A title that caused an absolutely unreasonable number of misunderstandings.

"...Haa."

Subaru sighed, that was probably the only response he could give.

On the other side of the room, Pandora slowly began crawling backward.

Her movement was almost pitiful.

The instant she tried to retreat, a series of ice spikes erupted from the ground before her, stopping her escape and slicing through a few strands of her radiant hair.

Pandora stopped, her pale face remained completely calm.

She looked as though she were still in control of the situation, too bad she wasn't.

Everyone present already knew what she had done.

Among them, perhaps no one had been affected more deeply than Reinhard and Emilia.

Pandora had killed his grandmother.

She had taken a single event from his childhood and turned it into a lifetime of suffering, shaping his life into something that could only be described as hell.

The thought alone was enough to make Reinhard want to destroy the entire cave.

The only reason he hadn't simply blown the entire place apart was because everyone was still inside.

"You will suffer the consequences for everything!"

Emilia spoke with a voice that was almost indistinguishable from the angelic one she used with everyone else. Almost.

Even against Regulus, she had never used this voice.

The gentleness was still there, buried beneath something much colder, a hatred that had been allowed to grow for years, aging like one of the finest wines.

Reading Petelgeuse's Book of the Dead had opened Subaru's eyes to many things, but perhaps none more painful than understanding Emilia better and seeing just how strong she had become.

If it had been his own mother, Naoko, dying at the hands of that witch, Subaru knew he would have fallen on top of her body and beaten Pandora repeatedly without caring about anything else.

The fact that Emilia was still standing there, still holding herself back and hadn't already driven her sword through Pandora's neck meant more than he could put into words.

Beatrice let out a quiet sigh, her butterfly-like eyes fixed on the beautiful woman lying before them without a trace of pity. "Regardless of whether you are Betty's mother's mother, what you did was unforgivable, I suppose."

Pandora simply nodded, wearing the calm expression of a grown woman who had supposedly realized her mistake.

"I see. My old methods may have gone a little too far. I promise I will reflect on this and improve as a person."

She closed her eyes as she spoke and slowly began to push herself off the floor, but—

Thud.

Emilia kicked her directly in the face.

Pandora's head snapped to the side before striking the edge of the enormous table, red blood immediately began running down her beautiful pale face.

The contrast between the blood and her almost unnaturally white skin was strangely vivid, like red filling spread across the surface of a perfectly white cake. Her fingers tightened around the tablecloth as she tried to steady herself, accidentally dragging it from the table and sending plates, cups, and cutlery crashing onto the floor.

Crash!

"I see..." Pandora said calmly, as if nothing particularly important had happened. "Did something go wrong again, Emilia? If so, I apologize."

That expression of understanding only made Emilia's face harden.

The half-elf who was usually more innocent than a child now looked at Pandora with an anger Subaru had rarely seen from her.

"This one was for Petelgeuse. The next one is for Mother Fortuna."

It reminded Subaru of the time Emilia had confronted Regulus and his wives, only this time there was something far deeper behind her anger.

Even if Pandora knelt before Emilia and begged for forgiveness, even if she lowered her head and kissed Emilia's feet, nothing would change what she had done.

Subaru couldn't help but frown and look away, feeling a brief pang of pity for the woman on the floor. But as quickly as that feeling appeared, he remembered everything Pandora had done to the people of this world: Petelgeuse, Fortuna, the countless lives destroyed by her actions and all the suffering she had caused. 

He couldn't interfere.

The reason for Emilia's suffering was the woman lying on the floor before them, Subaru had no right to take away the moment Emilia had finally been given to confront her.

Pandora was lifted from the ground by the neck like a helpless chick, forced to look directly into those icy, amethyst-purple eyes filled with barely restrained rage.

Blood trickled down her forehead, running over one of her blue eyes, yet she didn't blink or resist; she simply stared at Emilia with that same absolute calm.

Her white legs dangled uselessly in the air, lifted from the ground by the difference in their heights, while Emilia raised her as high as her arms allowed.

Despite the fury consuming her, Emilia was careful not to crush her throat, the pressure of her fingers was only enough to leave dark marks against Pandora's pale skin.

"I lost so much! I froze everyone in the Elior Forest because of you!"

The words came out through clenched teeth, the guilt she had carried for years surged through her chest... the guilt of freezing the people she loved, the guilt of losing the two people who had been closest to her.

"We did nothing to you! We lived peacefully without hurting anyone!"

Her grip tightened slightly, the bruises around Pandora's slender neck becoming more pronounced.

"Do you have any idea how much I suffered?! Do you have any idea what you took from me?!"

Emilia's voice cracked.

Pandora continued looking at her calmly, even while suspended in the air.

"If it is necessary for you to release your anger upon me, then I am willing to endure it."

"You—"

Emilia's expression twisted with fury, her fingers tightening around Pandora's neck once more.

Subaru covered Beatrice's eyes with both hands, speaking in the most paternal tone he could manage.

"Little girls shouldn't have to watch things like this. You should be sleeping obediently in bed."

"Hmph! Stop talking so strangely! I'm clearly the one who should be sending you to bed, I suppose!"

Despite her complaint, Beatrice didn't resist, allowing Subaru to hold her protectively against him.

Pandora, still suspended by the neck with nothing but her white cloak covering her body, couldn't help but smile. "I'm a little envious. My daughter never obeyed me like that."

Those bloodstained blue eyes turned toward him with an expression Subaru didn't particularly like.

He instinctively pulled Beatrice closer.

"Emilia, I think it's better if you just knock her unconscious."

"Why render me unconscious? How would that help, I wonder?"

The fact that Pandora could speak so casually while being strangled was terrifying.

"We already know how your Authority works."

Snap.

Subaru snapped his fingers with his free hand and gave her a confident grin. Emilia unconsciously loosened her grip slightly when she saw that familiar, daring smile.

"Your Authority isn't as invincible as you make it seem, Pandora. It has limitations."

Subaru's voice grew more serious as he pointed at her.

"It's like an edit button. You can change reality, but only when you're involved in what you're changing."

Pandora blinked, a fascinated smile appearing on her lips.

"And what makes you think that?"

Subaru tapped his head, speaking in a voice that left no room for discussion.

"Petelgeuse's Book of the Dead."

Snap.

"Regulus still remembers Emilia as a child. So you aren't rewriting the past itself, and you aren't rewriting everyone's memories either. You're changing reality around what you did."

He paused, gathering his thoughts.

"You don't erase the memory of an event. You change the event itself... and everything that needs to change because of it follows along."

Pandora's smile widened.

"Keep going, I'm all ear~"

"You can't just change something you have nothing to do with."

The woman, beautiful as a fairy, who had fallen into the mortal world in defeat, said nothing. She simply listened, as though watching a fool’s performance.

"If you could freely rewrite anything, why couldn't you open the seal yourself?"

Subaru’s voice was filled with confidence.

Perhaps there were girls who could be swayed by his charm when he spoke with such intellectual conviction.

"You're basically cheating at a card game. You can change the cards in your own hand, change your own moves, maybe even change the result of something you did..."

He lowered his hand.

"But you can't decide what the other player does."

Subaru's eyes narrowed.

"That's the limit, isn't it? You can rewrite your part of the story, Pandora. But you can't write everyone else's."

"..."

"An interesting theory. Can you really imagine all of that just from that spirit's memories?"

“That’s enough, Pandora. Now that we’ve figured out how your Authority works, there’s nothing you can do anymore.”

He thought for a moment longer, his hand on his chin. 

"I don't think that's anything worth praising. Anyone in my position would have thought the same."

"Emilia is very luck—"

The hand gripping Pandora's neck loosened just a little too much, causing the white-haired woman to drop to the ground with a dull thud as her knees struck the floor.

"We're back to—"

"Shut up."

Smack.

Emilia slapped Pandora across her pale cheek, leaving a bright red mark.

"What do we do now? Should we hand her over to the royal guards?"

Subaru scratched the back of his head, his eyes drifting toward the dark window overlooking the underground cavern.

"Let's leave her to Reinhard. That walking cheat is probably the only person who can actually keep this woman under control."

"Okay... I suppose that's for the best."

"Uhhh... Emilia-tan, are you really okay with this? Just letting her go?"

"I accept it."

Emilia turned toward Subaru and Beatrice with a smile capable of making even the darkest place feel a little brighter. Her amethyst eyes had returned to the familiar gentleness they had carried before all of this.

"Meeting all of you, and everyone else, has been a blessing. Leaving the past behind so I can protect the future... is the best thing I can do."

"Haha... yeah. I guess you're right."

Beside him, the short girl with twin ponytails looked at the two of them and puffed out her cheeks, clearly jealous.

“Could you two stop flirting in front of me? I suppose!”

Subaru finally removed his hands from Beatrice's eyes, giving Emilia a smile that was almost worthy of a knight returning from battle.

"Then let's go home. We've got to give everyone our best smiles when we return. After everything we've been through, we deserve to come back looking like we actually won."

Emilia smiled as well, her gentle expression shining in the darkness.

If a bard had been there to witness the scene, perhaps he would have treasured it for the rest of his life: the beautiful half-elf princess standing beside her fragile human knight, with a tiny spirit between them, after finally overcoming the witch who had haunted them for so long

"We went through so much..."

Emilia looked toward the ruined hall.

"It's finally over."

Beatrice smiled too, taking Subaru's hand in one of hers and Emilia's in the other.

"In fact, everything went well, I suppose."

Subaru rubbed Beatrice's head as he looked back on everything they had been through.

From the Loot House all the way to this place, he had been nobody. He had accepted that he wasn't a powerful or flawless individual, nor did he need to be.

For years, he had projected onto himself an image of someone he could never become, believing his father, Kenichi, was perfect and that he had to be perfect too.

He had made countless mistakes, but the beautiful people around him had always guided him back toward the right path. They were incredible, and Subaru wanted nothing more than to remain by their side forever in this world.

"Time to go home and receive my daily treats, I suppos—"

"One thing I can agree with is that children should obediently be sleeping at this hour, shouldn't they, Natsuki Subaru~"

"—?!"

Subaru felt the small hand in his lose its strength.

He immediately looked down and caught Beatrice before she could fall, lifting her into his arms while his eyes snapped toward Pandora.

"What did you—"

"She's just sleeping~"

A small, soft body that seemed almost boneless against his chest had gone completely limp, her breathing quiet and peaceful, while something whispered directly into his ear.

"Such a good girl, sleeping so obediently."

Pandora's voice came out like the whisper of a snake, venomous but tempting. 

"?!"

Subaru's blood ran cold. The moment Beatrice fell asleep, the spell surrounding the room disappeared.

It was his mistake. He had let his guard down. For just a second, he had believed they had won.

His mind immediately screamed at him to bite his tongue, just as he had done countless times before; if he died now, he could use Return by Death and fix this.

But before he could even move, Pandora spoke again.

"After all, it would be troublesome if everyone stayed so close together."

The world seemed to shift, not dramatically and not enough for anyone else to notice, but Subaru noticed.

Emilia and Beatrice were no longer standing where they had been a moment ago. The distance between them had changed by only a few steps, yet somehow it felt as though the room itself had decided they had never been standing together.

Pandora's Authority.

She hadn't directly controlled Beatrice or forced Emilia to move, she had simply altered the circumstances surrounding herself until the situation became exactly what she wanted.

Emilia reacted faster than Subaru, her ice sword flashing through the air toward.

The sword pierced Pandora chest, the witch's body collapsed to the ground.

Subaru knew this wasn't the end.

Pandora could not be killed by conventional methods, the best option would be to restrict her.

He remembered the things he had learned from Petelgeuse's Book of the Dead, the realization made his blood run cold.

He immediately drew his whip and assumed a defensive stance, while Emilia rushed toward him while Beatrice remained unconscious against the wall.

"SUBARU, BEHIND YOU!"

"What—?!"

White arms, bare beneath the loose white cloak, suddenly wrapped around Subaru from behind, one hand pressing against his chest.

Another Pandora appeared, bearing the same injuries as the one lying on the ground, except that she had no sword embedded in her chest.

For a split second, Subaru froze, his mind unable to resist the woman's unnatural beauty. He simply didn't have Emilia's level of resistance to the witch's feminine charm.

It was almost as though her beauty itself had a strange power over him. Even knowing how dangerous she was, he found it impossible to look away.

"SUBARU!!!"

Emilia's desperate scream came from behind him, a cry that seemed to rise from the very depths of her soul. The sound finally broke through Subaru's momentary trance, but it was already too late. Pandora's lips moved, her voice reduced to a whisper that only the two of them could hear.

“Isn’t it strange? The person standing before you was never Pandora to begin with… it was Natsuki Subaru all along.”

Subaru's eyes widened, he felt something being pulled from inside him.

It wasn't Return by Death.

There was no sensation of dying, no darkness swallowing his consciousness, no strange feeling of being dragged backward through time.

Instead, it felt as though his soul were being pulled away from where it had been placed, drawn inexorably back toward the body it truly belonged to.

Pandora whispered one final sentence against his ear, almost gently.

"You are Pandora... and I am Natsuki Subaru~"

It was only a blink, but when Subaru opened his eyes again, his field of vision had changed.

Everything seemed lower, as if the entire world had suddenly grown taller around him.

The strange sensation immediately made his brow furrow. A powerful sense of déjà vu washed over him. He knew this feeling.

“?!”

He had experienced something similar before, back in Vollachia, when Olbart’s “infantilization” technique had reduced him to a child.

But it had its differences. 

He wasn't nearly as short as he had been then, and there was a strange chill running through his legs, an unfamiliar sensation that made his entire body feel a shiver.

"Wh—?!"

His hands moved instinctively, searching for something to steady himself, instead they touched something firm beneath his palms.

A familiar chest.

The fabric beneath his fingers was indeed familiar.

It was the athletic-style outfit he had been wearing, the same kind of clothing Rem had made for him back when she had poured her talents into creating clothes from the materials available in this world.

"Eh...?"

Being shorter than he was used to, Subaru had to tilt his head back to look up. His gaze met a pair of frightening eyes staring directly down at him.

They were sanpaku eyes, with the whites visible around the irises in a way that made the gaze appear unnaturally sharp and intense. Subaru knew those eyes.

They were the eyes he saw every time he looked into a mirror.

His own eyes.

Still seeing them from this angle, looking up at them instead of seeing them reflected back at him, was completely different.

The visual impact was enough to make even Subaru instinctively want to take a step backward.

Shove.

That face, no, his face... pushed him away.

They didn't feel like his legs anymore, and they certainly didn't possess the strength to support his weight.

Subaru stumbled backward and hit the ground, staring up in disbelief.

"What... the hell...?"

The voice that escaped his lips made his body twitch.

What was wrong with his voice? Why did it sound so high-pitched? Almost... feminine?

The "Subaru" standing before him looked down with cold, unfamiliar eyes.

Was this what Rui had felt when he cornered her?

Seeing his own face from that angle, was his eyes really that frightening?

"PANDORA!!!"

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

'That hurts... Why does it hurt?'

His gaze briefly dropped toward his fallen body, and only then did he begin to register the throbbing pain spreading through his cheek, knees, and stomach. His body looked completely unfamiliar now, even though he knew every feature of it.

Two pale legs were folded beneath him, his knees pressed together in an awkwardly feminine posture that felt impossible for him to reproduce naturally.

His feet looked strangely small, his toes instinctively pressing together as though his body itself were reacting to the vulnerability of the situation.

One of his eyes burned with an irritating, persistent itch, and some warm fluid trickled from beneath it. He raised a trembling hand toward his temple, only to feel something wet running through his fingers.

He stared at them.

Red?

"Blood..."

His pale knees were stained with it as well, only then did another detail register in his mind.

He wasn't wearing his usual pants, actually...

Wait. He wasn't wearing any pants at all?

His gaze slowly traveled down to those two short legs: thin, pale, strangely delicate, lacking the familiar definition of his own body.

They were unmistakably the legs of a young woman.

'What the hell happened to my clothes... and my body?!'

He looked down again, desperately trying to make sense of the unfamiliar form that now belonged to him.

His face lost what little color remained in it, his pupils contracting as he looked up and saw "Subaru" embracing Emilia with a familiar hug that made his stomach twist.

Who was he? He looked exactly like me, how could he hold Emilia like that? How could he speak to her with such familiarity when Subaru himself was lying helplessly on the floor?

Something hot rose from his aching stomach, fueled by a rapidly growing anger.

"You said it yourself! She can't do anything now, we have to take advantage of the situation!"

"I know—I know! But we need to stay calm. Remember what Otto said before, right?"

That voice... that was his voice, wasn't it?

The anger was swallowed by astonishment before Subaru could even process what he was hearing.

Then he noticed something that made his blood run cold: the corner of "Subaru's" mouth twitched upward into a smile.

"—!"

From where he was lying, Subaru was the only one who could see it.

He tried to open his mouth, desperate to shout, Emilia, get away from that fake! or Emilia, what's happening?! That's not me!

But his confused mind couldn't keep up with the situation. The words of surprise and confusion were still trapped in his throat when that thing, his body, his own face, spoke first.

"Emilia! She's going to talk, we can't let it happen again!"

The two moved with almost instantaneous coordination.

Before Subaru could even finish forming a word, Emilia crossed the distance between them and her fist slammed directly into his lips.

Crack!

The blow came with such superhuman speed that Subaru couldn't even follow it.

His body lurched violently, a metallic taste flooded his mouth as something hard and loose scattered between his teeth.

"Hnnngh—!"

Bang!

His body crashed into the wall, the impact rattling his entire new frame. As he was thrown through the air, another unpleasant sensation made him realize just how unfamiliar this body was, the loose white garment shifted violently, leaving him desperately exposed before he struck the wall.

A muffled cry escaped his injured mouth, more of a strained groan than a proper scream, as pain exploded through his jaw and the back of his head.

Crack.

Ice formed around Subaru's wrists, and before he could even understand what was happening, Emilia grabbed him and slammed him against the wall. A second later, two restraints of solid ice crystallized around his hands, pinning his wrists firmly against the stone and trapping him in place.

Had Emilia just hit him?

What?

No. Wait.

Emilia had hit him.

That pain was real. The impact, the wall, the throbbing in his jaw... all of it was real.

But that couldn't be right.

It couldn't.

"Bhhm! Mmmhh!"

He tried to speak, but only a pathetic groan escaped his injured mouth.

His body had never been particularly strong, and Subaru knew that better than anyone, but wasn't this body far too sensitive? If it were seconds ago he would have forced the words out regardless of how badly his mouth hurt. So why was speaking suddenly so difficult?

Was it because this body wasn't his or was there something else wrong with it?

Emilia turned toward "Subaru," her expression filled with absolute concern. "Beatrice! We have to go, quickly!"

The two moved almost in perfect synchronization, leaving the real Subaru behind against the wall, still struggling to make a coherent sound.

'What?!'

He tried to pull himself free and follow them, but the ice restraints held his wrists firmly against the wall. He couldn't move his arms, couldn't properly stand, and couldn't even shout after them.

That was exactly what the restraints had been designed to do.

He processed everything that had happened, forcing himself to ignore the various pains spreading throughout his body, along with the bizarre sensation of cold air against skin that absolutely should have been covered.

Looking down as far as his restrained position allowed, he finally noticed the strange clothing hanging from his new body: a white cloak that seemed almost useless at providing any actual protection. Pandora's clothes...?

Then he felt the weight on his head.

Large strands of white hair had fallen into his field of vision, some of them stained red with blood.

Subaru stared at them for several seconds before the conclusion finally reached his mind.

He wasn't stupid enough to deny the most obvious possibility. After all, how could there be two Subarus?

How could Emilia, his sweet and gentle Emilia, possibly hurt him? His ego wasn't so inflated that he couldn't imagine her being angry with him, but after everything they had been through together, the thought of her deliberately hurting him was almost impossible to accept. Those memories were precious to him, and he was nearly certain they were just as precious to Emilia.

'I... switched bodies with Pandora?'

His entire body began trembling from head to toe, something that almost never happened to him.

His theory about Pandora's Authority had been wrong?

He had believed Vainglory could only rewrite reality through events connected to Pandora herself, changing her actions and the consequences surrounding them.

She couldn't simply rewrite anything she wanted; there had to be some kind of causal connection, some "thread" linking Pandora to what she changed.

But a soul exchange, could that really be within the limits of her Authority?

'Unless...' Subaru's eyes widened.

If Pandora could alter the circumstances surrounding herself, then perhaps she could make reality recognize that Subaru's soul belonged in her body, and hers belonged in his

She wasn't creating an entirely new phenomenon, she was rewriting the circumstances of their existence so that the world accepted the exchange as something that had already happened.

Everything he had just thought was only a fleeting theory.

There was no way for him to know whether he had actually grasped the truth or was simply forcing an explanation onto something he couldn't understand.

If only he were as intelligent as Otto, or as shrewd as Anastasia.

His thoughts were too limited. He could only grasp at possibilities, turning them over in his mind without ever finding an answer that could truly satisfy the despair gnawing at him.

With his injured mouth barely capable of producing sound, Subaru forced something out from the depths of his stomach.

"Nngh...!"

'Invisible... Providence!'

An invisible purple hand emerged from within Pandora's body.

The moment it appeared, an agonizing sensation shot through his head, as if thousands of needles had suddenly been driven into his brain. His vision blurred, his stomach twisted, and his consciousness threatened to disappear.

'Not yet!'

He clenched his smooth thighs together, forcing himself to remain conscious as he extended the invisible hand toward the restraints.

"Mmmh—!"

A muffled scream escaped his damaged throat as the invisible hand wrapped itself around the ice.

He pulled once, nothing.

He pulled again, putting every ounce of strength this body possessed into his Authority.

Crack.

With a final desperate effort, the restraints shattered.

Subaru immediately lost his balance. Pandora's smaller body simply didn't have the strength or coordination he was accustomed to, the moment his wrists were freed, his legs buckled beneath him.

Thud.

His knees struck the ground, reopening the wounds from earlier, but Subaru barely noticed.

He had to save Emilia and Beako. He was the real Natsuki Subaru!

"S'TAY... 'WAY F'OM... 'ER!""

The words came out as a mangled, almost incomprehensible series of sounds, his broken lips and teeth twisting the sentence beyond recognition. What should have been a shout was reduced to a guttural, distorted cry, barely resembling human speech.

Emilia and the person Subaru believed to be Pandora, wearing his body, turned at almost exactly the same time, instinctively positioning themselves between him and Beatrice, who remained peacefully unconscious behind them.

The ice sword tightened in Emilia's slender hand, her amethyst eyes widening with surprise before settling into something colder and disgust.

"Enough of this, Pandora! I tried to be a pacifist, but..."

The blade gleamed beneath the dim light, its surface reflecting Pandora's bloodied face.

That expression, once so calm and inhuman that it seemed incapable of fear, had finally changed.

"Subaru, stay behind!"

Emilia gave the person wearing Subaru's body a gentle, reassuring look before glancing toward the sleeping Beatrice.

"It seems this can't end peacefully."

"Subaru"—or rather, Pandora lowered her gaze, a faint weakness visible in the way her shoulders sagged. The boy who had spent so much of his life trying to avoid unnecessary bloodshed slowly clenched his fists.

"At least... end it on your own terms, Emilia-tan."

"I will."

Emilia smiled reassuringly at him.

"I'll make sure it ends here."

Across the room, the real Subaru felt his blood turn to ice.

A prickling sensation crawled across his skin as the meaning behind their conversation finally began to sink in. The more he listened, the more horrifying it became.

'What... what are they planning?'

He tried to take steps backward, but his weakened body barely responded. Panic clawed at his chest as he watched Emilia raise her sword.

"Nrgh... w-wai... nn..."

His voice came out as little more than a broken whisper.

"I-I... 'm S-Sub... Suba... ru..."

Pain ripped through his lips as he forced the words out again, desperately trying

"I... 'm... S-Suba... rru..."

"Shut up, Pandora!"

Emilia's voice, filled with hatred, made the girl, face covered in blood, let out what could only be described as a pitiful squeal.

He knew Emilia was speaking to Pandora. He knew those cruel words were meant for the Witch, not him.

But hearing them directed at his own face, from the lips of the person he loved most, made something inside him crumble.

His mind trembled with terror, a bone-deep cold spreading through him and freezing his blood.

"If you want it to end like this, then it will end like this! Don't you dare put my knight's name in your mouth!"

Emilia's voice, filled with coldness, made Subaru's heart clench and ache even more fiercely than the pain in his split lips, stomach, and knees

The last time Emilia had shouted at him had been when he embarrassed her by publicly declaring himself her knight without her consent, and in the Sanctuary, when everything between them had fallen apart and Emilia had been pushed to her emotional limit.

But the Emilia standing before him now was different from both of those memories. The look in her eyes was the same one she reserved for Pandora, and now that hatred was directed entirely at him. How could such a beautiful and pure gaze feel more lethal than poison?

His stomach churned as the air around him seemed to grow heavier, every breath becoming harder to take while Emilia slowly stepped toward the short woman.

In the reflection of her ice sword, Subaru finally saw his entire new body clearly: a short, beautiful woman with an expression of pure terror. That incomparable beauty was now twisted by fear, her pale face drenched in sweat while tears streamed freely from the corners of her eyes.

'Am I crying...?'

He didn't know.

All he knew was that Emilia's gaze made his chest tighten until his body began producing tears without his permission.

His eyes blurred as more slipped down his cheeks, and he desperately tried to speak through his ruined lips.

"I... m-me, Em... 'Lia-tan..."

The words came out broken and barely recognizable, each syllable accompanied by another wave of pain.

His voice, coming from a throat that wasn't his, sounded completely strange to him... soft and strangely beautiful, almost like a delicate reed flute struggling to produce a sound through a broken instrument.

He reached out with his two thin, pale hands, hands that didn't belong to him, toward Emilia. It was as though he could somehow make her stop, just for a moment, and give him the chance to explain.

It was almost cruel that he couldn't even string together a proper sentence right now.

Emilia looked at Pandora as though she were completely insane.

Tightening her grip on the sword, she raised her free hand, four enormous walls of ice erupted from the ground around herself and Pandora.

They stretched all the way to the ceiling, forming a sealed enclosure that left the short woman with no room to climb, escape, or attempt any trickery.

Emilia's white-and-purple outfit and the white flower adorning her hair should have given her an almost serene appearance, but the expression on her face was anything but gentle, there was only the determination to finally put an end to the evil standing before her.

"?!"

Subaru finally took a step backward until his body struck the cold wall behind him.

The moment his nearly bare back touched the ice, he shuddered. Pandora’s clothes were far too thin to offer any protection from the freezing surface, a small groan of discomfort escaped his lips.

"EM... 'LIA-TAN...! I-IT'S... M-ME...!"

The words came out desperately, barely understandable through his mangled lips.

"Don't speak my name so casually..."

Emilia seems to have grasped the meaning of that almost pathetic phrase. 

The coldness in Emilia's voice made the girl before her immediately fall silent, her head lowering almost unconsciously. Emilia noticed the strange behavior, but she didn't give it much thought.

That horrible woman always had another trick hidden somewhere.

She raised her free hand again, creating several small blocks of ice around Pandora's feet. They closed around her ankles and pinned her bare feet firmly to the ground, preventing even the smallest attempt at movement.

Subaru shuddered, looking up at Emilia with utterly sincere, bloodshot eyes.

"It's... Pan... P-Pan'dra... she... swi... switched... our b-bodies...!"

"..."

Emilia frowned.

'Did it work...?'

'She believed me...!'

'She actually believed me!'

For one brief moment, Subaru thought he saw hesitation in her eyes. She was about to lower her sword, Subaru's chest filled with the faintest spark of relief.

He could almost feel himself ascending to heaven from sheer relief.

What a pity that those thoughts were nothing more than the ravings of a fool standing at death's door.

Bang!

Her fist slammed into his lips again.

This time, there was no restraint.

The impact sent his head backward with enough force to make his entire body shake, pain exploding through his jaw as several already-damaged teeth were broken loose. His skull struck the ice wall behind him a moment later.

"Mmh! MMMMMH!"

A desperate, wounded whimper escaped his throat.

Emilia stared down at him, her expression colder than the ice surrounding them.

"You're trying to create conflict between me and my knight?"

She clenched her fist.

"This time, that was for Subaru. Never again slander his name with that disgusting mouth of yours."

An intense scream of pain tore from Subaru's throat.

The agony spread through his entire mouth, the metallic taste of blood coating his tongue, but even that was nothing compared to the unbearable sensation of missing teeth and torn gums.

Emilia barely paid attention to his suffering, her gaze remaining fixed on the woman crying helplessly on the floor, her feet trapped in ice and her body trembling.

"You destroyed my whole life, Pandora."

Emilia crouched in front of the short woman, bringing herself closer to the trembling figure that was now barely capable of defending herself. "I don't know what your plan is with this pathetic act. I was willing to let you live, but you had to touch Beatrice and Subaru, didn't you?"

She grabbed a fistful of the woman's white hair, forcing her head upward until their eyes met, her expression completely devoid of mercy.

"Your place in hell is already reserved."

A miserable, broken cry escaped Subaru's throat as tears continued streaming down his face. In one final act of self-preservation, he desperately tried to push Emilia away with his smaller arms, but she didn't move an inch.

To Emilia, the desperate struggling only looked like another performance from Pandora.

"Goodbye, Pandora."

The ice sword flashed.

Why is the world... rolling?

Everything around him seemed to tilt and spin.

The cold floor rushed past his vision, white hair spilling across his face as his body tumbled helplessly through his unfamiliar field of view.

The world went silent as the sensation of death enveloped him.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

He felt his soul being pulled back to the beginning once more, memories resurfaced in his mind as his stomach churned.

"PANDORA!!!"

The sensation of ice around his feet was replaced by the familiar pain in his stomach and knees, blood streaming down his face as he desperately forced his mind to function.

'I'm back...'

"Ugh—kgh! Cough, cough!"

A violent coughing fit tore through his throat, his lungs struggling to catch up with his suddenly returned body.

What checkpoint was this?!

Judging by Emilia’s scream, he had probably returned to a bad favorable point in time.

Couldn't Satella have returned him a little earlier?

No, forget it. There was no time to complain about that now

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

Ignoring the pain spreading through his body, Subaru desperately organized everything in his head. Emilia had killed him. Just thinking those words left a bitter taste in his mouth, but there was no time to dwell on it.

"I'M SUBARU! THAT'S AN IMPOSTOR!"

This time, Subaru was faster than Pandora. He interrupted her before she could give Emilia another order to break his mouth.

He wasn't going to blame Emilia for what had happened in the previous loop. She had believed she was protecting Beatrice and Subaru. Pandora was the one responsible for this entire situation.

'First, get my body back!'

What had happened was awful, still only another trauma to add to the collection.

He could deal with it later.

Once he got his body back, he could scratch his arms until the feeling finally subsided.

No matter how painful something was, no matter how much it hurt, he couldn't afford to let his emotions cloud his judgment. Right now, he needed to think.

Hadn't he survived worse?

He had lost his memories. He had been turned into a child in the middle of a civil war in Vollachia. Still somehow, he had always managed to keep moving forward. As long as he could preserve his mind, he could keep trying. If necessary, he would die again and again until he found the answer.

"Pandora used her Authority to switch our bodies!"

He spoke as quickly as his tongue could manage, forcing every word out before Pandora could interrupt him. Last time, he had desperately tried to convince Emilia without giving her any reason to believe him. This time would be different.

He would rely on reason.

Pandora and Emilia both stared at him as though they were looking at a madwoman.

Her amethyst eyes flickered between Subaru's body and Pandora's.

"...What are you talking about?"

Seeing Emilia's expression soften slightly, Subaru felt a tiny spark of hope.

"Subaru—"

Before she could question her knight, "Subaru" stepped forward and pulled her into a tight embrace.

His sanpaku eyes met Emilia's conflicted amethyst gaze, and for a moment, the scene almost looked peaceful—a couple embracing beneath the light of a sunset.

Too bad they were standing inside a ruined mansion buried beneath a cave.

The real Subaru felt his blood boil. He clenched his remaining teeth, desperately wanting to scream, but then that voice reached his ears, and the sincerity behind it nearly paralyzed him.

"Emilia-tan, I trust your judgment. We've already been through so much together."

"Subaru" glanced toward Pandora lying on the floor and gave her a disdainful smile, hidden from Emilia by the embrace.

The fake Pandora, sprawled on the ground in the humiliating white garment that barely covered him, felt his face grow hot with pure rage. He could only glare helplessly at the sight of his own body wearing that smug expression while holding his Emilia.

"Pandora! If you think you can get away with a trick like this, you're mistaken. We already understand how your Authority works!"

"Wait... what?"

Emilia seemed to snap out of her hesitation. She pulled herself from Subaru's arms, her cheeks faintly flushed as she looked between him and Pandora.

"That's right... Your Authority shouldn't be able to change just anything, should it? It can only alter things connected to your own actions and circumstances."

Subaru opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out was a shaky breath.

His thoughts were a tangled mess, and whatever answer he tried to form refused to become anything coherent.

"I... no, that's... I mean, you... it wasn't... that's not... I..."

The words stumbled over one another, accomplishing nothing except making his confusion painfully obvious.

Emilia uncertainty was gone, the ice sword rose in her hand.

"Subaru, go check on Beatrice. I'll deal with her."

The real Subaru's heart sank.

'No!'

Once again, four walls of ice surrounded the two of them.

Their previous conversation had clearly left a mark on Emilia; she no longer wanted to give Pandora another opportunity to deceive her, determined to end this before another trick could be played.

Subaru felt the ice form around his legs, once again pinning him in place, but he ignored it.

There had to be another way to convince Emilia.

Honestly, his previous explanation hadn't helped much.

He still didn't understand exactly how Pandora had switched their bodies, and his theory about her Authority wasn't completely correct. He couldn't rely on something he himself wasn't certain about.

With Emilia's killing intent filling the room, Subaru desperately searched through his memories of the two of them. If logic wasn't enough, then perhaps their shared history would be.

"We met for the first time at the Loot House! I asked for your name as a reward—"

Slash.

The blade cut through flesh before he could finish, Emilia wouldn't allow herself to be deceived again.

With one swift, precise movement, she severed the head of the woman she believed had destroyed her entire life.

Her priorities were simple now: protect Beako and Subaru. Revenge could come later... or perhaps not at all.

"Goodbye, Pandora."

That voice, the voice Subaru had once loved so deeply carried no warmth.

Only an almost bottomless resentment.

Hearing it directed at him was somehow more painful than any blade.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"PANDORA!!!"

'Did I die sooner?'

This time, the pain was different. At least Emilia hadn't punched her twice before killing her. She had simply ended it.

'No! It was my fault!'

Subaru clenched his teeth. Emilia wouldn't have attacked him if he hadn't made the wrong moves in the first place.

He couldn't blame her for reacting to what she believed was happening.

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

This time, he had to do things differently. He would use their memories first. If he could make Emilia recognize him, perhaps he could break through Pandora's deception.

He swallowed down another cough, ignored the pain in his stomach and knees, and forced his trembling body to keep moving.

"I'M SUBARU! THAT'S AN IMPOSTOR!"

Emilia and "Subaru" both froze, staring at him as though he had completely lost his mind. Their expressions made Subaru's blood boil, especially knowing that Pandora was manipulating the situation so cruelly.

"We met for the first time at the Loot House! I asked for your name as a reward!"

He forced the words out as quickly as possible, his thoughts racing alongside his heartbeat.

"I kissed you in the Sanctuary! I'll never forget that! Afterward, we even had that ridiculous conversation about whether kissing makes babies!"

"Pandora" forced herself upright despite the pain in her stomach. Her beautiful blue eyes were filled with desperation and sincerity, Emilia instinctively took a step back.

Seeing that beautiful, petite woman she hated so much, with her blue eyes veiled in vulnerability and an expression of pure love and trust... sent a shiver of disgust down Emilia’s spine

"How do you know that?"

That flicker of conflict was enough to restore some of Subaru's confidence.

'That's it!'

Emilia was still Emilia.

Their memories, their experiences, everything they had shared... it had to mean something.

"Because I'm Subaru! I don't know how she did it, but Pandora switched our bodies!"

"S-switched...?"

Subaru tried to step closer, but Pandora, still inside his body, immediately moved in front of Emilia and Beatrice.

"Enough with this deception, Pandora! What more do you want from Emilia?!"

"I don't want anything! Pandora, stop this and give me back my body!"

Her unfamiliar, higher-pitched voice cracked as she screamed, desperate to make Emilia understand that she was telling the truth.

The calm, sanpaku eyes of Subaru's body met the frantic, watery-blue eyes of Pandora's body.

There was still a chance, he could still fix this.

"Give me back my bod—"

SLAP!

A powerful, fully grown man’s hand struck his cheek.

The blow sent Pandora's body tumbling to the floor, her unfamiliar legs unable to coordinate with Subaru's soul well enough to catch herself.

She landed with a dull thud against the cold stone.

"Wh-what...?"

She instinctively clutched her chest, staring up in shock.

Pandora, wearing Subaru's body, stood calmly before her with an almost unbearably confident smile. Even Emilia turned toward Subaru's body in confusion, clearly not expecting her knight to strike Pandora.

'She hit me?'

The first emotion that seized Subaru was humiliation.

What right did Pandora have to strike him—right in front of Emilia, no less?! His face burned with shame, but before the humiliation could consume him, another emotion surged through it.

Hope.

Desperate, overwhelming hope.

'That proves it!'

Pandora had struck him because she was desperate. He had convinced Emilia, and in doing so, he had completely ruined Pandora’s plans.

"You're using this entire performance to make Emilia open the seal, aren't you?"

"—What?"

Subaru's blood ran cold.

Pandora's expression remained composed as she stepped forward.

"I'm telling you now: I will protect everyone. I won't allow you to release whatever is inside that seal!"

The conviction in her voice, combined with Subaru's familiar body language, left the real Subaru staring in stunned disbelief.

'She's turned everything around again...'

Emilia's eyes shifted toward his original body, still clutching her chest as she slowly nodded.

"Right... the seal..."

Hearing Subaru's familiar voice, combined with that stubborn determination to protect everyone that she had heard countless times before, seemed to pull Emilia out of her hesitation.

"First of all, it doesn't even make sense. How could she have switched bodies with me?"

Subaru, who was actually Pandora, wearing his body—raised an eyebrow at the beautiful girl lying on the floor, both cheeks flushed from the slap Pandora had just given her and the one Emilia had struck earlier, her trembling expression making her look painfully close to tears.

The sight was almost absurd: Subaru’s own face staring down at Emilia, while the real Subaru stood trapped behind it, forced to watch.

"We won't be fooled!"

Emilia nodded. Seeing Subaru so determined made her instinctively want to follow his pace, to trust him and help protect Beatrice.

The ice formed again.

Crack—crack!

Four enormous walls rose around Emilia and Pandora, stretching toward the ceiling and sealing them inside once more.

To Subaru, they looked less like a prison and more like a symbol of death. He already knew what came next.

"Subaru, go check on Beatrice. I'll deal with her!"

Those words were enough, Emilia had made up her mind.

She wouldn't let Pandora deceive her again.

Subaru’s heart sank. He desperately tried to put some distance between them, his mind scrambling for another way to convince Emilia, but before he could take more than a single step, ice surged up around his feet, locking him in place.

"EMILIA-TAN, BELIEVE IN ME!"

"Shut up."

Emilia's sword flashed through the air in a single, swift motion. She didn't want to hear another word from the woman she believed was Pandora, another lie using Subaru's name.

"Goodbye, Pandora."

The blade passed cleanly through the neck.

The beautiful white-haired head fell from her shoulders and rolled across the cold floor.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"PANDORA!!!"

Opening his eyes once more to the familiar pain in his stomach, Subaru felt his world spin as that shrill voice pierced his ears, his chest tightening with the same bitter sensation.

Why this checkpoint?!

What the hell is Satella thinking?!

Regardless of his complicated feelings toward the Witch, Satella was still his greatest ally, having helped him overcome countless hardships and taught him to value his own life.

Every checkpoint was supposed to help Subaru move forward, except for the one in Vollachia, where Satella couldn't reach him. So why this one? It shouldn't have happened after body swap.

'Why...? Why?!'

He didn't want Emilia looking at him like that; every time he saw that hatred in her eyes, his heart clenched.

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

'Stop talking in my voice! That's my voice!'

"GIVE BACK MY BODY!"

Adrenaline surged through him, Subaru's body suddenly rose from the ground.

Pandora’s usually calm, inhuman voice was now filled with pure, uncontrollable rage.

Now, Subaru understood what Fortuna and Petelgeuse must have felt when they encountered Pandora.

The pity he had once felt for the Witch was gone.

There was no room for it anymore. All that remained was hatred and a bitter resentment he could no longer suppress.

"Tsk..."

Everything was fine a few minutes ago! How did this loop become so screwed up?!

He was Subaru. The real Natsuki Subaru!!!

As if answering his anger, Invisible Providence erupted from Pandora's stomach and struck Emilia, catching the half-elf off guard and forcing her aside. Subaru watched "Pandora's" expression shift from confusion to surprise, then anxiety, and finally anger, before a faint, knowing smile appeared.

He snatched a fallen fork from the floor and rushed toward his original body, pressing its point against her throat.

"GIVE IT BACK!"

The adrenaline made his movements surprisingly quick.

The fake Subaru didn't seem concerned at all, simply allowing himself to fall with the fork pressed against his neck, a cold glint appearing in his familiar eyes.

"—SUBARU!!!"

Emilia's voice came from the side, filled with terror. She quickly composed herself and moved closer, only for Pandora to bring the fork even nearer to her knight's neck.

"EMILIA-TAN, WAKE UP! I AM THE REAL NATSUKI SUBARU!"

Emilia's expression shifted from hatred to nervousness, then anxiety. The weapon pointed at her knight's throat kept her from making any reckless move.

"Pandora... leave him alone! He has nothing to do with our fight!"

She completely ignored the part that mattered most: he wasn't Pandora.

Subaru's blood boiled.

He turned toward Emilia, his forehead bleeding and his desperate eyes meeting hers, only for Emilia to frown at the sight. Seeing her greatest enemy in such a state clearly hadn't been part of the plan.

When he turned his head toward Emilia to shout the truth, the hostage beneath him seized the opening created by his lapse in vigilance.

"WE SWITCHED BODIES! SHE IS PANDOR—"

A knee slammed into the already aching stomach before he could finish. Saliva and blood spilled from his mouth as pain doubled him over.

"Mmmh—ghh!"

The fork slipped from his fingers, "Subaru" immediately kicked it away, shouting toward Emilia.

"Emilia, now!"

Emilia reacted instantly. She raised her hand, and several ice spikes formed in the air before shooting toward the screaming girl.

Fshhhk!

Subaru tried to dodge, but his unfamiliar, uncoordinated body was already overwhelmed by pain. He couldn't move quickly enough.

In fact, even in his original body, the spikes had moved faster than his eyes could perceive. It didn't matter what body he was in—he would always be too slow, too weak, too useless to do anything about it.

The ice pierced him.

Blood scattered across the floor, staining the white cloak and pale skin that had once seemed so beautiful. Subaru collapsed among the ice thorns, his body trembling as his vision blurred.

The last thing he saw was Emilia running toward her original body, reaching down to help "Subaru" back onto his feet.

Small tears slipped from her empty, lifeless eyes.

This was unfair. How had everything gone so wrong?

As that impossibly beautiful girl lay impaled among the ice spikes, Subaru finally understood how foolish he had been. Why had he reacted so recklessly? He should have known better. He was Natsuki Subaru. He had faced situations far more hopeless than this and still found a way forward.

He should have done better.

His new body seemed to react far more strongly to the emotions of his soul than his original one ever had. Fear, panic, and desperation had translated almost instantly into physical weakness and hesitation, as though his body and soul were struggling to exist in harmony.

There was a clear incompatibility between them, and Subaru was paying the price for it.

As his eyes slowly closed, Subaru's thoughts remained fixed on that final image: his beloved Emilia helping that impostor back to her feet.

"...We're not done yet, Pandora."

His voice was faint, barely escaping his throat beneath the crushing pain, yet the light in his eyes had not gone out. If anything, they burned all the brighter—with a desperate, almost reckless refusal to die.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"PANDORA!!!"

That voice filled his eardrums, familiar yet strangely foreign because of the hatred behind it.

Subaru forced himself to calm down.

'What can I do?'

Subaru's original voice had far more impact and credibility than the voice coming from this body, the same body responsible for everything she had done to Emilia and countless others.

No matter what argument Subaru presented, hearing that familiar voice was enough to make Emilia trust the impostor.

He couldn't blame her, it was his own fault.

If he had thought things through, if he hadn't lowered his guard, if he hadn't been so damn incompetent... none of this would have happened.

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

His bare legs trembled against the cold floor as his eyes fell on the scattered silverware.

Subaru considered repeating what he had done in the previous loop. If he could somehow use his original body as a hostage, perhaps he could force Pandora to return his body.

But how?

Pandora seemed completely indifferent to pain, and simply looking at the slender, almost girlish hands that now belonged to him made his mind go blank.

'What do I do...? How can I convince everyone?'

His panicked eyes darted toward Beatrice lying unconscious on the floor.

Wait.

The contract!

Beatrice had been able to locate him through their contract on numerous occasions. If he could wake her up, she should be able to tell who the real Subaru was and who the impostor was.

The body can deceive, but the soul can't!

"You said it yourself! She can't do anything now, we have to take advantage of the situation!"

"I know—I know! But we need to stay calm. Remember what Otto said before, right?"

Pandora's voice rang out, warning Emilia not to let the woman on the floor speak again.

"Emilia! She's going to talk, we can't let it happen again!"

Subaru's eyes widened.

'No!'

Before he could put his plan into action, Emilia's fist slammed into his lips.

Crack!

His body was sent crashing against the wall once more.

What happened next was a painful repetition of events.

When Subaru tried to explain the truth, Emilia's blade cut through his neck, his head rolled across the cold floor once again.

As that familiar sensation of his soul being pulled away began, Subaru finally understood another rule of this loop: he couldn't remain helpless on the ground for too long, or Pandora would simply have Emilia silence him before he could explain himself.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"PANDORA!!!"

How do I reach Beatrice without getting killed first?

Every time Subaru imagined that ice sword slicing through his neck... or Emilia's fists crashing into his face, a bitter, sickening feeling crept through him.

It wasn't Emilia's fault.

How could she possibly know that Pandora had switched their bodies?

This was Subaru's fault, he hadn't thought things through.

He hadn't found a quick enough solution.

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

Ignoring the pain in his stomach, Subaru forced himself to rise. He used that self-blame as fuel rather than letting it consume him.

"Pandora" raised a trembling hand.

"Invisible Providence!"

The invisible hand struck Emilia and pushed her aside.

Subaru immediately rushed toward his original body, grabbed a fallen fork, and climbed onto him despite his aching body and the humiliating lack of clothing.

He pressed the fork against his original throat.

"Nobody move!"

"—SUBARU!!!"

Seeing her knight's life in danger, Emilia hesitated to rush forward, glaring at Pandora with eyes filled with terror and long-simmering rage.

The girl with trembling blue eyes wasn't faring much better.

Every time Subaru used Invisible Providence, it felt as though countless needles were piercing his brain, pushing his mind toward its breaking point, but he bit down on those soft lips that weren't his own and forced himself to endure it.

Using the invisible hand, he pinned his original body more firmly against the floor, the fork still pressed against her throat. Having learned from the previous loop, he kept the unseen hand clamped around Pandora's legs as well, preventing her from kicking him in the stomach again.

"WAKE UP, BEAKO!!!"

His voice rang through the room, driven by an overwhelming will to survive. If he couldn't convince Emilia, then he'd wake Beako first. She might not believe him, but surely she'd trust Beatrice.

"Pandora... leave them alone! He and Beatrice have nothing to do with our fight!"

Hearing Emilia's desperate plea sent a bitter ache through Subaru's chest.

Why did it have to be Emilia?

He had made this choice because confronting Pandora was dangerous, and involving fewer people seemed safer, especially against an Authority capable of manipulating what others perceived.

If only he had brought Otto, someone intelligent who could actually listen to him, or Ram, who never completely trusted him. Even Rem...

If Rem were here, maybe she could sense the Witch's scent clinging to this body.

The thought of Emilia being the one to kill him made something inside him recoil. Of all the people in this world, she was perhaps the one person he could least bear to see turn against him.

He loved that woman so deeply that even imagining her hands becoming the ones to end his life was enough to make his mind scream in protest.

'If...'

But if and maybe wouldn't save him now.

Everyone was waiting for him outside: Emilia's camp, Reinhard, Crusch, and countless others. He couldn't afford to waste another life wishing he had made a different choice.

"It's hard to explain... but the one standing there isn't the real Subaru!"

"What...?"

A sheen of sweat appeared on Emilia's beautiful face. At first glance, she seemed to be carefully weighing Subaru's words, but her eyes kept drifting toward the fork.

She didn't seem concerned with Pandora's credibility at all, her only focus was finding a way to save Subaru without putting him in greater danger.

"I believe you! Please, just let him go first. He hasn't done anything!"

Seeing that affection—an affection strong enough to overcome even the threat of death, Subaru wanted nothing more than to scream at her to stop.

That thing isn't me! But with all eyes on him, he couldn't let his emotions take control again.

"Wake up Beako!"

The short woman holding the taller man to the ground growled threateningly, but there was no real killing intent behind it. Not even in his wildest dreams could Subaru bring himself to hurt Emilia.

When he used Invisible Providence to push her, he knew exactly what he was doing, it was like poking a lion with a stick. He had only managed to catch her off guard.

Even if he had a thousand Invisible Providences, they wouldn't seriously hurt Emilia.

When she still refused to move, Subaru forced himself to press the fork closer against her throat.

Throughout the entire exchange, Pandora's expression barely changed, occasionally giving him a knowing look that made his skin crawl.

Eventually, Emilia reluctantly stepped away from the two and moved toward the small girl resting against the wall.

Subaru and Pandora's faces were directly opposite each other.

One was visibly nervous, the other was completely calm.

It was almost absurd that the calm one was the person with a fork pressed against her throat.

"It seems we're in a dilemma, doesn't it?"

The unnatural calmness in her voice made even the tips of Subaru's long hair tremble. How could she remain so composed? Wasn't the fork pressed against her throat enough of a threat?

Remembering what he had learned from Petelgeuse's Book of the Dead, it wasn't entirely surprising. That woman could be killed repeatedly and still casually wonder whether her own bones were easy to break or her flesh easy to cut.

"What have you done, Pandora?! How does your Authority work?!"

His now beautiful face twisted with anger, something he could see reflected in the sanpaku eyes of his original body.

"Hm? Didn't you just reveal the secret of my power with such confidence? What happened to that certainty?"

"You—!"

Pandora had a talent for getting under people's skin.

His anger surged as he tightened his grip on the fork, its tip digging into her skin until tiny beads of blood appeared.

"What's your goal?! Why did we switch bodies?!"

His voice, beautiful as a melody yet corrupted by hatred, carried an almost eerie charm.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm Natsuki Subaru. How would I know anything about that?"

"You still have the nerve to say that?!"

'Natsuki Subaru, calm down! You're in control of the situation now. What if you let that witch's words deceive you and another unnecessary death happens?'

Nope!

When Beatrice woke up, it would be easy to prove his innocence.

Then, with everyone together, they could figure out a way to get his body back. Otto—or even Roswaal, with his knowledge of magic, should be able to find a solution.

All he had to do was keep this witch under control until his favorite spirit woke up.

Seven minutes had passed since he first pressed Pandora to the ground.

Emilia still glanced toward them from time to time as she gently tried to wake Beatrice, but Subaru couldn't bring himself to rush her.

After everything Beako had been through, the last thing he wanted was to be careless with her.

"...Ahah."

A soft, low laugh that only the two of them could hear reached Subaru's ears. His bare legs trembled slightly at the sound of that relaxed laughter.

"What's so funny? Are you already desperate because your plan didn't work?"

Pandora's expression briefly went blank before her lips curved into a beautiful smile, her eyes narrowing with amusement.

"They finally arrived~"

"Uh...?"

Who could have arrived at this hour? The entire mansion was surrounded by royal guards, Emilia's camp and others.

Could they be cultists?

But that wouldn't explain why Pandora sounded so pleased.

"Al Clar—"

A gentle man's voice rang through the room. It was extremely familiar, belonging to an arrogant and conceited knight Subaru knew better than almost anyone.

"Julius...?"

A sharp sound cut through the room.

For a few milliseconds, seven lights shone simultaneously before merging into a rainbow.

From the doorway, a figure crossed the room at an absurd speed that Subaru couldn't follow even if he had nine lives.

A sword flashed twice.

"Eh...?"

Two pale arms were sent through the air before falling to the ground.

Subaru's blue eyes struggled to understand what had happened. Looking down, he noticed that his original body's chest was suddenly covered in blood.

Where did that come from?

Wait.

Where was the fork?

His gaze moved lower, and the answer became clear.

The blood dripping onto the chest of the man beneath her was coming from Pandora's arms.

More precisely, from the wounds where her arms had been.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

A desperate scream tore from his throat.

Pain coursed through his body, drowning out every thought. He writhed atop his own body, Pandora's small frame trembling uncontrollably as he struggled to make sense of what had just happened.

The calm expression on Subaru's original face seemed almost mocking. Didn't I tell you?

“UAAAGH!”

Pandora screamed again, but the moment didn't last long.

BAM!

With the invisible force gone, Pandora kicked Subaru mercilessly in the stomach.

"AAAGH—!"

His body was sent rolling across the floor before crashing into the wall.

"AAAAAHHH—!"

That beautiful blue eyes were filled with pain as he struggled against the agony, then they met the eyes of the intruder.

Julius Juukulius stood there, tall and well-built, his yellow eyes fixed upon the scene. His light-purple hair was neatly arranged, with a single strand falling across his face, and he wore the formal uniform of the Royal Guard.

His sword was still in his hand. he wasn't looking at Pandora.

He was looking at Subaru.

At his friend, rival, and comrade lying on the ground.

After that, she turned toward Emilia, then glanced at Beatrice lying on the floor.

"Is the Great Spirit alright?"

Emilia seemed to sigh in relief, the hand pressed against her chest finally relaxing. She picked Beatrice up and handed her to Julius.

"As you probably already know, that's Pandora. She threatened me with Subaru and..."

"Ah—!!!"

"I understand. Don't waste your time with me. Go see him."

Julius took the spirit into his arms with ease, receiving a few protests from the seven points of light surrounding him as he turned toward Pandora.

"And what about her?"

"She... will probably die soon?"

Even Emilia wasn't certain. Did Pandora's immortality still remain? If it did, why was she so desperate?

"GAAAAAHHH!"

Emilia shook her head, then lightly slapped both cheeks, making them turn red.

"I have to go see Subaru! We'll think about it later."

She rushed toward Subaru, who was already sitting down and rubbing the back of his head. He had removed the blood-soaked jacket from his body, leaving only his shirt and exposed muscles.

"SUBARU!!!!!"

The half-elf threw herself at him, wrapping him in a tight hug.

"EMILIA-TAN, IS THIS A PUNISHMENT OR A REWARD?! TOO STRONG! MY BONES—!"

"S-sorry!!!"

Meanwhile, the real Subaru writhed in agony in the corner. His stomach throbbed from the earlier blow, blood staining the wounds where his arms had been, while the unfamiliar body was overwhelmed by pain it wasn't accustomed to.

With every use of Invisible Providence, the strain on his mind grew worse, leaving his thoughts increasingly difficult to organize.

"WHY—WHY—WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!"

Pain consumed her body.

That already sensitive body, poorly connected to his soul, moved almost on its own, screaming and contorting beneath the overwhelming agony.

The fact that Pandora was barely clothed made the sight even more uncomfortable to witness, and more pitiful besides. Julius turned his face away, unable to bear looking at such a miserable sight.

"Many people have died by your hand. You are the source of evil that must be exterminated."

He approached with the spirit in his arms, the heavy, shimmering rainbow fountain surrounding him like a radiant halo.

The writhing girl looked up at him through tear-filled eyes, her expression distorted by pure horror.

"I-I DON'T WAN'—DIE! N-NO... NO—! P-please...!"

Julius ignored her words, raising his sword to head level, his gaze devoid of pity or hatred. There was only justice for those who had already passed away.

"When others pleaded with you like that, did you listen to them?"

"I-I'M NOT PANDORA! I-I'm—Ngh... N-NATSUKI...!"

Her words dissolved into helpless, childish sobs, that lovely voice reduced to little more than desperate cries.

Julius frowned, clearly not expecting a witch who had lived for so many years—and who had been responsible for countless crimes, many of which had been falsely attributed to the Witch of Envy, to seem so... human.

"You committed countless crimes and placed the burden of your sins upon the name of that fourteen-year-old witch..."

"Please...! No...! A-ahh...!"

"I cannot forgive you, nor can I spare you. The countless victims cannot rest in peace while you continue to live."

"I'M... N-NATSUKI SUBARU! I... I-I'M...!"

"Hmph... What a waste of time."

The sword descended.

The beautiful girl's head fell to the side, her empty eyes still filled with tears that continued to slip down her cheeks.

The final thing he saw was a friend carrying the spirit toward Emilia and Subaru's original body, the two embracing as though they were the happiest couple in the world.

That smile on his original lips remained deeply etched into his memory, like a leech he couldn't tear away.

He shouldn't have died for Emilia. He shouldn't have died for Julius.

It should have been my moment of happiness!

Oh, fate... why?!

Was it because he was despicable? Because he was useless?

His body, already reacting intensely to the emotions of his soul, only seemed to fuel the fire burning inside him.

The words of Rem and Satella faded beneath his almost blind rage.

"I am Natsuki Suba—"

His voice was so weak that it was almost impossible to hear.

The disembodied head couldn't finish, but somehow, it seemed to have reached at least one person.

Pandora stared at the severed head, as though she were the only person in the room who had noticed his final words.

She blinked slowly, almost as if waving goodbye to an old friend.

Subaru felt his soul being pulled away once more.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"PANDORA!!!"

The scream was almost becoming familiar. The witch lying on the floor remained still for a moment, her stomach throbbing with pain, her eyes vacant as she forced herself to think through the haze.

'There has to be a time limit before Julius appears. If I remember correctly... seven minutes.'

Subaru's thoughts raced.

'I shouldn't have been so considerate of Beako. I should have woken her sooner.'

No, this is my fault.

He had failed to consider that help would arrive after a certain amount of time. That mistake had cost him dearly.

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

This time, he knew exactly what he had to do.

Wake Beatrice. Quickly.

Once Beatrice was awake, she could recognize his soul through their contract and prove that he was the real Subaru. After that, they could figure out how to reverse the body swap.

It was simple, so why couldn't he do it?

'Natsuki Subaru, wake up!''

He forced himself to move despite the pain, hatred and desperation giving him enough strength to act. The invisible hand emerged once more, the familiar agony spreading through his brain as it pushed Emilia aside.

He seized the fork and pressed it against the throat of his original body.

The following events unfolded almost exactly as before.

"Wake her up! Now!"

"I am trying!"

Emilia's voice was filled with anger, but she didn't want Subaru to pay with his life for it. She shook Beatrice's shoulders, desperately trying to wake her.

Two minutes became four, and four became five.

"WAKE HER UP!"

Subaru shouted this time, his voice filled with panic.

Why isn't Beako waking up?!

Only two minutes remained. Should he go over there himself?

If he did, he'd have to carry the hostage with him, giving both Emilia and his original body more opportunities to act. And how was he supposed to wake Beatrice with his hands occupied? One hand held the fork against his original body's neck while the other kept him pinned down.

"PANDORA, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Emilia and the fake Subaru stared at her as though she were a lunatic.

"Shouldn't you be asking yourself that—"

The fork moved closer to the side of his original body's neck, just beneath the jaw. His blue eyes, bright with the desperate will to live, remained fixed on the impostor.

"Speak up, Pandora!"

No matter how close the fork came, the person wearing his body refused to say a word.

"Don't think I won't dare!"

"—SUBARU!!!"

Watching from a distance, Emilia unconsciously summoned an ice hammer, making the witch whose life hung by a thread shudder.

"Don't move!"

Pandora shifted her position, pulling his original body closer and using him as a shield while keeping the fork pressed against his neck.

"Leave her alone! He has nothing to do with our fight!"

"Wake her! This is your last warning!"

It was a bluff.

There was no way Subaru could actually kill his original body—or hurt Emilia, even if he were capable of doing so.

Tension crackled between the two sides: hatred and rage on one, and the desperate will to survive and save everyone on the other.

"Pandora, speak! You don't want to lose your new body, do you?"

"..."

His original body was kneeling on the floor, while Subaru stood behind him, pressing his chest against her back and keeping the fork against her neck. If anything went wrong, he would use his original body as a shield.

"SPEAK!"

This loop couldn't be wasted. He needed at least some information before moving on to the next one.

Why wasn't Beatrice waking up? Was she simply sleeping that deeply? No... was it something like a coma?

'No!'

He couldn't think about the worst-case scenario.

"If she's in a coma, I swear I'll do everything I ca—"

"Six minute and forty-seven seconds have passed."

"—!!"

Subaru's heart seized.

His heartbeat thundered inside that small chest like a trapped beast desperately searching for a way out.

Pandora's voice remained eerily calm.

"I did say that children should obediently be sleeping at this hour, didn't I? So that is how it shall remain. She will only awaken when the sun rises."

The beautiful white hand holding the fork trembled, Pandora's beautiful face had gone pale, as though all its color had been drained away.

"Huh...?"

They had raided the cult's base around midnight, tracked down the location at 1:00 AM, and launched the actual assault at 1:29.

If Subaru had to estimate the current time, it was probably somewhere around 1:40 or 1:50 AM.

If Pandora was telling the truth, Beatrice wouldn't wake up for hours.

His plan from the previous loop had been completely useless, and in this one, Pandora seemed to see through everything he did, simply watching him as though she were observing a clown making a fool of himself.

"PANDOR—"

Only a few seconds remained.

Subaru refused to die.

Clenching his teeth until they nearly cracked, he pressed the fork harder against his original body's neck and dragged him toward the corner of the room. There, at least, he couldn't be surprised from the left, right, or behind. If Emilia or Julius wanted to attack, they would have to come from the front.

He pulled his original body closer, using him as a shield.

Pandora feigned resistance as she called out toward Emilia.

"Don't worry about me! Run away with Beako!"

That voice, filled with self-sacrifice and courage, made the blood of the girl holding her boil.

Had she been planning to put on a show this entire time?

His brain throbbed with pain. His stomach, cheeks, knees hurt, and he still hadn't found a solution.

'If Beatrice couldn't confirm our contract, there was no way Emilia would trust me. Maybe... maybe I should talk to Julius?'

"..."

'DAMN IT! DAMN IT!'

What could he do?! Wasn't this a dead end?!

Perhaps he should run away...?

What a stupid thought. The mansion was surrounded by royal guards, while all of his superhuman friends were positioned outside.

How could he possibly escape?

If... if I could reach the second line of defense, where Rem and Otto were...

The second line was supposed to be a fallback position, but in reality, it was more like a blockade for anyone lucky enough to escape the cave.

Several other caves connecting to the cult's final base had been blocked by their allies as well.

'Wait... perhaps I could meet Crusch...!”'

Crusch's Divine Protection could allow her to see through lies. If he could reach her, she might be able to confirm his identity.

She wasn't blocking any of the exits herself; she was outside the mansion, waiting for them to make a move.

'Or Reinhard...'

Julius was almost there. With both him and Emilia in the room, Subaru's chances of survival were almost nonexistent, but he couldn't afford to lose hope.

"Al Clar—"

For a few milliseconds, seven lights shone simultaneously before merging into a rainbow.

Subaru tightened his grip on his original body, using Invisible Providence to hold him even more firmly as the light flooded the room for a brief moment.

As expected, no pain came.

Julius stood frozen in the doorway, his sword gripped tightly in his hand. Seeing Subaru's position, he couldn't find an opening to rescue him without putting him at risk.

"What's happening here?! Let him go!"

That voice, which should have been so familiar, now carried only the hesitation of a stranger—and a potential enemy. Subaru pressed the fork even harder against his original body's neck.

"Pandora" shouted with absolute conviction.

"This guy is an impostor! I am the real Natsuki Subaru!"

He turned toward Julius, desperately searching through his memories for something only the two of them could know.

"When everyone else lost their memories of you, I still remembered! We went to the Pleiades Watchtower together. Even when I had lost my own memories, I encouraged you to keep fighting!"

Julius's eyes widened, a flicker of hesitation appearing in them.

"What...?"

Julius bit his lip, visibly unsure of what to do. The situation was far more complicated than he had expected, and the witch clearly had no intention of releasing Subaru willingly. Worse, her words were beginning to shake his certainty.

His yellow eyes flicked toward the fork pressed against Subaru's throat. For a few tense seconds, he remained silent, carefully weighing his options before finally relaxing his posture and lowering his sword.

"I believe you. Now, please, let him go."

"..."

"Julius, don't!" Emilia immediately warned, her eyes never leaving Pandora. "We can't trust her!"

"I understand, Emilia-sama. But keeping Subaru at knifepoint will not resolve this."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Julius glanced between the two figures.

"We have two people claiming to be Natsuki Subaru. One is holding the other hostage while insisting that they have switched bodies. Until we determine the truth, neither should make any sudden moves."

Subaru tightened his grip on the fork.

"Exactly! So help me prove it!"

"I intend to."

'Wait... is it working?'

Had convincing Julius really been that easy?

Thinking about it, Julius wasn't Emilia.

His hatred for Pandora hadn't blinded him to reason, he was capable of judging the situation independently of Natsuki Subaru.

When Emilia and Subaru were together, they usually trusted each other's judgment without much argument.

Pandora had been able to manipulate Emilia because she was inside Subaru's body, but how could she possibly have anticipated Julius arriving here?

'Yes...! There is a way out. I can break this loop!'

Hope surged through his soul, almost overwhelming him. His body responded to that sudden burst of optimism, and without realizing it, his grip on the fork loosened slightly.

"Well, it seems we can negotiate."

Julius smiled at him.

It was a genuine, neutral smile.

Now it was simply a matter of honesty. He would release Pandora and prove that he wasn't afraid of being questioned. They would meet Crusch, prove his innocence, and finally put an end to this nightmare.

In the end, Pandora couldn't destroy the bonds they had created. Their friendship would overcome i—

Thud

"Eh?!"

Before Subaru could understand what had happened, Pandora struck the fork from his hand.

The pointed metal object hit the floor with a sharp metallic scrape.

Then, using the momentum of his body being thrown backward, Pandora drove the back of her head into his chin. His jaw snapped upward, striking the corner of the wall, and his grip finally loosened.

“GHA—?!”

The moment he staggered, Pandora slipped free from his grasp and immediately ran toward Julius.

"Julius!"

"Now!"

Julius moved.

The short girl tried to chase after his original body, but Julius was already moving to intercept her.

His sword flashed as he closed the distance, placing himself between Subaru and Pandora before she could reach the knight.

"Stay back!"

"—?!"

What was happening? Why was Julius defending her?!

It had to be some kind of misunderstanding. Of course!

He must have been worried that the two of them would end up fighting over who was truly Natsuki Subaru, which was why he had separated them—

“...Huh?”

Then why did Julius look at him like that?

Those once-neutral golden eyes were filled with suspicion and vigilance, as though he were looking at a madwoman rather than his friend.

"We had an agreement!"

"I gave you my word, and I shall honor it. But your attempt to threaten me with another's life will not make me abandon my duty."

"!!!"

"I AM THE REAL DEAL! SHE IS PANDORA!"

"..."

The short woman's desperate screams were filled with panic and anxiety. Julius pushed Subaru back with one hand before turning his attention toward Pandora.

"So you're claiming to be Natsuki Subaru?"

"YES! IT'S ME! ME!!!"

The spirits surrounding Julius swirled quietly around him, their movements almost seeming to mock her desperation.

The white-haired girl clutched her arms and screamed again.

He didn't want to die, he had to see everyone again.

She had to return to his body!

I'm Subaru. I'm Natsuki Subaru!

"When we first met, you humiliated me! After we reconciled—"

"Stop mocking my memories, witch."

Julius took a step forward, his sword gleaming beneath the dim light of the room.

"I do not care what forbidden means you employed to learn our secrets. My spirits have already delivered their verdict."

"S-Spirits...?"

Was that why he refused to believe her, the spirits had sensed something?

If they could perceive the truth, then why were they rejecting him?

'Nobody will believe me?'

Emilia ran to Subaru and hugged him, which only fueled his anger further.

"I CAN P—"

Seeing Julius approach, his instincts screamed at him to do something—anything.

There was no way to explain it anymore. He knew that feeling all too well, the unmistakable sense that death was closing in.

"AHHHH!!!"

A pathetic, desperate scream tore from her throat, driven by an overwhelming will to live, clinging to survival with the frantic instinct of a cornered insect that refused to be crushed beneath a heel.

From a blind corner where no one could see, Pandora used Invisible Providence to pull the whip from his original body, keeping it hidden behind her back so no one would notice.

He refused to die. If Julius was going to cut him down, he wasn't going to simply stand there and accept it.

FWIP!

The black whip tore through the air, lashing straight toward Julius's face.

SHING!

Julius raised his sword.

SLASH! SLASH!

He moved faster than the human eye could follow.

Without even calling upon his spirits, he sliced the whip into several pieces before immediately following with one final thrust toward Pandora's chest.

THUNK!

The sword drove into her chest and pinned her against the wall, the blade lodged firmly in the stone behind her.

The entire process happened so quickly that Subaru didn't even realize he had been pinned to the wall until it was already over.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Pressed against the wall, the girl screamed as Julius stepped back.

He left her suspended high above the ground, the sword still holding her in place, her feet dangling helplessly above the floor.

"Hh—AAAGH!!!"

She tried to pull the sword from her chest.

GRRNNK!

The movement sent another wave of pain through her body, forcing her to stop. Her legs kicked helplessly in the air as she struggled to breathe.

"What do we do with her?"

Julius turned toward "Subaru," who was being crushed in Emilia's tight embrace.

"EMILIA-TAN, IS THIS A PUNISHMENT OR A REWARD?! TOO STRONG! MY BONES—!"

"S-sorry!!!"

Seeing such an affectionate moment at a time like this, Julius... the kingdom's most elegant knight, could only sigh. He turned away and walked over to the Great Spirit to check on her condition.

"Hhh... ngh..."

Still pinned against the wall, Subaru could only watch Emilia embrace the impostor wearing his body.

For him, it was a cruel punishment: trapped helplessly against the wall, forced to watch the person who had taken his place receive the affection that should have belonged to him.

Julius returned with Beatrice in his arms. Subaru whispered something in his ear that he didn't notice... but his mind, already intoxicated by so much pain, no longer cared. Was he really dying because of his own allies and friends?

No—he had no right to blame them. He hadn't been strong enough, cunning enough, or intelligent enough.

Pandora couldn't do this. She couldn't enjoy the happiness that should have been his. The real Natsuki Subaru's!

'I'm going to kill her... this isn't over!'

"Nngh...!"

How could he die like that? At least... he could take her with him in this loop!

His hatred, pain, and despair gave him strength he never expected to have, allowing him to push invisible providence beyond its normal limits. The moment he chose to ignore the pain for that brief instant, he could go a little further.

The invisible providence stretched from Subaru's chest one last time, his mind already overwhelmed by pain, thoughts barely holding together.

His mind refused to surrender.

The invisible hand extended beyond its usual limits, slowly reaching toward Pandora's heart.

"Hhhnngh...!"

Tears of pain streamed down his face as he watched the scene. Just a little longer.

He was going to destroy her.

Pandora and Emilia were still embracing, the fake gently patting Emilia's back.

The invisible hand crept closer, attempting to reach the chest of his original body. If it reached her heart, he could crush it through her intangible form.

Closer...

Closer...

And just as that tranquil scene was about to be destroyed—

SHING!

A hand tore through the air.

The invisible hand, which should have been invisible, was severed as easily as paper.

"Agh—?!"

Julius had cut through the invisible hand before it could reach Subaru, with his bare hands.

'How?!'

His thoughts screeched to a halt.

How had he seen something that was supposed to be invisible?

“Huh?”

Subaru noticed the strange glow in his original body's eyes. They were shining unnaturally, and Julius's eyes were glowing as well.

"Could it be... Nect...?"

His voice was barely audible, each word dragged out with tremendous effort.

Just like when he and Julius had dealt with the Archbishop of Sloth.

But how could they have known he would use invisible hands?

Wait, they had spoken only moments ago.

Could it be... Pandora knew what he was going to do?

"Ahah... ahaha..."

Even his final stand had been for nothing?

It was as though he had never been anything more than a toy in her hands, played with until there was nothing left of him but an empty ornament to be discarded.

His mind, already weakened by grief, seemed to twist further under the weight of it all, leaving behind thoughts so bitter and self-loathing that even he found them disgusting.

His eyes began to lose their light, his limp body still pinned against the wall by the sword.

The head fell forward, all strength leaving his neck. The once-beautiful woman now hung motionless against the wall, resembling nothing more than a tragic, melancholic decoration... a beautiful sight turned into something sorrowful.

Perhaps that was the cruelest thing about beauty—that no matter how beautiful something was in life, time, pain, and death could reduce it to nothing more than a silent reminder of what had been.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"PANDORA!!!"

"..."

Grabbing the soft white hair, the short woman pulled with all her remaining strength. Her trembling fingers tightened against those unfamiliar strands, while the full lips beneath them twisted with nothing but disgust.

Disgust for that body, for himself, for being so useless.

Emilia's angry voice pierced his ears again, something inside him snapped.

'Enough!'

'Enough!!'

'Enough!!!'

Why did he have to watch Emilia hugging someone else while he was the one suffering?

Why couldn't Beatrice help him?! Why had those stupid spirits lied to Julius?!

He was Natsuki Subaru!

He was Natsuki Subaru!

Why did everyone keep saying otherwise?!

Pandora's eyes, once gentle and calm like a mother's embrace, had become hollow... deep, empty pits with nothing left inside.

"Emilia-tan, calm down! It could be a trap—"

'Stop. Stop talking with my voice. Stop lying. Stop pretending to be me. Stop stealing it.'

"..."

'Give it back! Give it back, give it back, give it back—!'

That body reacted violently to the intensity of his emotions. His heart hammered inside his chest, his whole body trembling as though his soul were desperately trying to escape its unfamiliar shell.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to run to Emilia.

He wanted to take his place back.

"You said it yourself! She can't do anything now, we have to take advantage of the situation!"

"I know—I know! But we need to stay calm. Remember what Otto said before, right?"

How could she pretend to be him? How could she deceive his sweet Emilia so easily?

"No..."

He didn't want to die.

He didn't want it to hurt anymore.

He didn't want to see those eyes filled with hatred again.

"Emilia! She's going to talk, we can't let it happen again!"

'I'm Subaru. I'm Subaru. I'm Subaru.'

Everything would repeat itself. Emilia would now crush his lips, kill him, ignore him.

Was that fair? Why Emilia couldn't tell he was Natsuki Subaru?!

If their places had been reversed, he surely would have realized his mistake and believed Emilia.

So why couldn't she do the same? Why couldn't she give him a chance to explain and believe him?

Was it because he was useless and couldn't accomplish anything? Was this his punishment from heaven for being like this?

...

...

...

Perhaps... could it be that the heavens had forcibly revoked his title because he was unworthy?

That crazy thought, without any real basis, caused that small body to fill with something disgusting and desperate that consumed him.

Emilia had already moved closer, ready to crush his lips.

Those amethyst eyes, filled with hatred, triggered something deep inside him. He couldn't bear to look at them any longer.

No, no, no! He was Subaru! He was Natsuki Subaru! Why couldn't she see it?! Why couldn't anyone see it?!

Her lips moved on their own, and the next words froze his soul as the half-elf approached.

Time seemed to freeze around him, his heart squeezed by a gentle, invisible force compelling him to stop.

Subaru wanted to stop too, but his lips moved on their own once more, driven by the desire to live.

"I... can... r-r-return..."

His voice came out broken, the words stumbling over themselves.

"I can... re—re—return... by... death..."

The words that couldn't be spoken were finally forced out, Emilia's eyes widened before the impostor behind her did the same.

"Khh—cough!"

Before Emilia could react, blood trickled from her lips, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.

The Witch of Envy had crushed Emilia's heart without mercy.

And she wasn't the only one.

The fake Subaru was next. Her feigned look of surprise slowly faded into calmness... and then something that looked almost like victory.

Her body collapsed as well, blood staining the corner of her mouth. It seemed the witch had no pity for her either.

The real Subaru stared at Emilia's fallen body in horror.

What had he done?

"Ah... hah... hahaha..."

Tears welled up in his eyes like never before as he crawled toward Emilia and finally pulled her into an embrace.

After all this deaths, they had finally embraced for real.

So why was he crying?

Those blue eyes, once filled with so much life, held nothing but despair now. As the reality of what he had done finally sank in, his snow-white hand slowly rose toward his own neck.

"Sorry, Emilia—"

Why did he kill her?

What was that horrible body doing to him?

The two white-haired girls remained locked in an embrace, the shorter one pulling Emilia against her small chest as if desperately trying to preserve what little warmth remained.

"My fault... all of this... it's all my fault..."

The short woman released Emilia and slowly walked back toward his original body.

He climbed onto the now-lifeless body, barely noticing as the room grew darker and darker, the Witch of Envy's darkness beginning to swallow the mansion.

It wasn't his fault!

No... it couldn't be.

This damned body was making his thoughts run wild, twisting them into something he could barely recognize.

He couldn't think straight anymore. He couldn't control what was happening inside his own head.

It was that witch's fault.

That damned witch had stolen his place. She had taken everything that belonged to him and left him trapped in a body that was slowly driving him mad.

"Why...?"

Why was this happening?

Why had he come here in the first place?

He could have stayed at the mansion. He could have helped Emilia ascend to the throne. He could have remained beside Emilia and Rem, living out a peaceful life with the people he loved.

Maybe they could have been happy, so why had he come all the way here?

If he had simply turned a blind eye... if he had ignored the suffering of others and chosen to live his own life...

If only she didn't exist.

It was all her fault.

She had trapped him in this body. She had dragged him into this nightmare. She had twisted everything until even Julius and Emilia had been forced to turn against him.

Now Emilia was gone, too.

"Her fault..."

The thought repeated itself.

'Her fault. Her fault. Her fault. Her fault. Her fault.'

Again and again, until there was barely room for anything else in his mind.

The screams coming from outside were unmistakable, but Subaru no longer cared.

The short woman released Emilia and slowly walked back toward her original body.

"Pandora..."

He climbed onto the now-lifeless body, barely noticing as the room grew darker and darker, the Witch of Envy's darkness beginning to swallow the mansion. The screams coming from outside were unmistakable, although Subaru no longer cared.

His half-naked body climbed onto his original self.

SMACK!

His small, soft, white hand struck his own nose with all the strength he could muster.

He dropped that hand again, only to raise it once more.

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

His movements became increasingly frantic, fueled by rage, guilt, and the unbearable hatred he felt toward himself. He didn't stop until his strength finally gave out, his trembling hand falling uselessly at his side.

“Come on, Pandora! Revive! Why don’t you come back and fight me?!”

His voice cracked with desperation, the words carrying a hatred so intense it was almost impossible to tell whether he was cursing her or himself.

She didn’t return from the dead.

Not that he had time to think about it anymore.

His body finally seemed to calm down, collapsing to the floor like a doll without strings.

It seemed like he was going crazy. The longer he remained in that body, the worse everything became.

He had to find a way to return everything to normal. Quickly.

"I love you... love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you..."

That ominous voice belonged to a woman who had saved him countless times, still tormented him just as often, her every whispered word carrying the weight of some terrible secret.

At some point, the body beneath him disappeared.

So did Beako and Emilia.

Even the room itself vanished.

The Witch of Envy appeared before him, wrapped in that dress of shadows, her silver hair the only thing standing out against the darkness.

Slowly, she approached, reaching for him as though she intended to consume both his body and soul.

The short woman didn't resist, Satella lowered herself to his level.

"I love you~"

Her shadowy arms wrapped tightly around him, drawing him into her embrace.

"..."

The two women remained locked together as Subaru slowly closed his eyes, accepting the embrace.

That overwhelming, unhealthy possessiveness should have frightened him, but somehow, it warmed something deep inside his heart.

Little by little, his conscience began to return.

"THIS IS NOT OVER!"

As the shadows closed around him, those sea-blue eyes regained their fierce light, the unmistakable light of someone who still intended to live.

His soul was pulled away once more.

"I am the real Natsuki Subaru!"