Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Everything had begun as if nothing were wrong. As the group was heading toward Pristella, the city of water, to settle their business, a spatial anomaly had torn them from their reality.

Without warning, they were all sucked into a vast, strange hall—a room that vaguely resembled a movie theater from Subaru's original world.

Nearly all of his acquaintances were gathered there: from the members of his own camp to the other candidates for the royal selection, as well as their knights and servants.

That was when a Guardian had presented himself to them, imposing silence, ready to show them the hidden story of a certain Natsuki Subaru—that boy who had accomplished the impossible, who had braved the most total chaos without ever seeming to fail a single time, at least in appearance.

Through the screen, they discovered the terrifying reality behind this legend. Behind every accomplishment. Behind the man everyone thought they already knew.

Through "narrative arcs," the Guardian showed them what had really happened, on a screen that left nothing in the shadows.

They saw everything, from arcs 1 to 4—from his arrival in this world to the most recent and nightmarish events of the Sanctuary. The truth came to light.

A leaden, heavy, and suffocating silence now crushed the room.

Everyone had learned of the existence of his power, as repulsive as it was priceless:

Return by Death.

They saw his friends. His comrades. Those he respected so much. All of them had seen who the young man truly was, peacefully sleeping beside them in this timeless room.

From his very first steps in this world, dying in a manner as pathetic as it was derisory, to his greatest accomplishments.

Every humiliation, every swallowed rage, every moment he had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders without ever being able to confide the burden to anyone, under pain of even greater suffering.

They had seen him die, over and over again.

But this boy was not the immaculate saint this narrative might have led one to believe at first glance either.

They had seen him be pathetic, loud, arrogant, commit disastrous errors in judgment, sometimes unable to see beyond his own pain, unintentionally hurting the very people he sought to protect through his lack of communication.

That truth too, the screen had shown, unvarnished.

Those who had rubbed shoulders with him most closely knew well that he had also been arrogant and incompetent in his early days.

But they now understood where this clumsiness came from: it was the desperate mask of a terrified boy, bending under a weight that no human mind should bear.

And perhaps that was it, more than anything else, which left such mixed thoughts among those he considered his friends, his family, his home.

They saw him face creatures centuries old, Archbishops of Sin as mad as they were formidable. And yet, even after hitting rock bottom, even when everyone had abandoned him, even when he had nothing left to cling to, he had always gotten back up.

He had kept moving forward, over and over, because that was Natsuki Subaru—the man who could, by the sheer force of his will, change destiny itself. And he had done it.

They also saw him break at the Sanctuary, die in the most atrocious way possible, devoured alive, swallowed up in an absurd void.

They saw him cross paths with the most dangerous beings in this world, and even that of the Witch of Envy herself—the one who seemed to have offered him this power as cursed as it was lifesaving.

They saw him regret his former life, his parents, everything he had never been able to accomplish back there. They saw him betrayed by his own allies, killed by those he sought to save, lose all trust, collapse to the point of bordering on madness, more than once.

And yet—yet—he had continued. He had never truly faltered. He could have given up a thousand times; no one, undoubtedly, would have held it against him, not after enduring so many horrors.

But he had held firm. He had never stopped. He had swallowed his despair, accomplished the impossible, and hoisted himself to the summit, striking down the Great Rabbit, the White Whale, the Archbishop of Sloth, changing destiny by his sole willpower.

All of this for those dear to him. All of this without ever being able to hope to confide his torments to anyone.

Such was the man named Natsuki Subaru. Such was his life. Such was his existence, without which none of those present in this room could have even hoped to breathe another second.

But faced with these revelations, those who had watched everything came away with complex, varied emotions, sometimes contradictory within themselves.

The air was saturated with a toxic, complex, and nuanced guilt.

Emilia's camp

Those who claimed to be his family were the most devastated.

They had all seen how he had braved death itself, over and over, to come to the aid of those around him—without him being able to change a thing about it, deep down. Worse still:

Most of them had, at one point or another, rejected him, betrayed him, killed him with their own hands, or simply left him to die without intervening.

Could they still pretend to be his loved ones after that? The question floated, mute, in the air of the room.

Emilia, for her part, remained the most silent of all.

Emilia : « Why… why didn't you tell me anything? » murmured she, tears flowing unceasingly down her pale cheeks.

This little half-elf for whom Subaru had faced everything—from searching for her lost insignia to helping her face her own past at the Sanctuary—found nothing to say.

She relived her own coldness in the capital. She had abandoned him at the very moment he needed her most, incapable as he was of explaining why.

Puck, her own spiritual father, had even decapitated and frozen him alive multiple times without her being able to intervene.

She now realized that Subaru's clumsiness and stubbornness were merely the silent screams of a boy who was dying for her in the shadows.

It was much more than guilt weighing on her at this moment—a sort of silent vertigo, the impression of having lived alongside a man she had never truly looked at.

Rem and Ram, for their part, shared a burden quite different from one another.

Rem : « I killed… I tortured my own hero… » whispered the blue-haired maid.

Although awakened from her eternal sleep by the Guardian in order to witness this truth, she might have preferred never discovering it.

The reality being forced upon her was a poison. The contradiction tore her soul apart:

Her first reflex toward the man had been to massacre him with unheard-of brutality. Simply, coldly, mistaking him for a follower of the Witch.

Her hero. The man she loved more than anything in the world, the one who had saved her.

She saw herself back at the precise moment when she had been most mistrustful of him, and she had ended up doing what she feared most throughout the viewing: she had killed him with her own hand. More than once, even, out of pure misunderstanding.

She was the murderer of his nightmares.

It wasn't simply shame she felt—it was something heavier, almost physical, like a betrayal of her own heart against itself.

Her sister, on the other hand, wore a much more closed expression. She kept her arms crossed, refusing to let a single tear fall, faithful to her sharp pride.

Ram : « What a fool… Barusu is truly the worst of idiots for inflicting that on himself. » murmured she.

She had seen the « Barusu » she called every name in the book die voluntarily to save her sister. That pitiful idiot had sacrificed his mental sanity to save a person who had nevertheless assassinated him without hesitation.

He didn't even seem to care what might happen to him—the only thing that mattered to him was protecting those he considered his own, even when they hurt him.

Ram, who nevertheless knew her master's machinations, had done nothing to prevent them. She would never say anything aloud—rather cut out her tongue—but something deep inside her had just fractured; the respect she now owed him was immense.

Beatrice was undoubtedly the most affected of the camp, but in a quite singular way.

Beatrice : « Betty was so useless, in fact… » The little librarian trembled, clutching the hem of her dress.

Her contractor, with whom she had shared her life for a year, the one who had saved her from that library where she had languished for centuries, had died so many times without her even lifting a finger.

While she was pathetically waiting for "That Person" in her refuge, he was agonizing over and over again just on the other side of her door. She hadn't known how to protect him.

Worse still: those very people he considered his friends had sometimes taken his life without her intervening.

She had even, unintentionally, made his task harder at the Sanctuary when she was precisely trying to save him.

It wasn't simply that she blamed herself—it was a sensation of deep, almost existential uselessness that gnawed at her in silence.

On the other side of the camp, two faces remained stubbornly lowered.

Otto and Garfiel—those two boys who had self-proclaimed themselves brothers-in-arms and considered themselves Subaru's best friends—had nevertheless, each in his own way, participated in his death.

Garfiel : « I massacred the Captain… I tore him to pieces… »

Otto : « And I threw him to the beasts to save my own skin… »

But the truth was far worse than the simple accusation they inflicted upon themselves: neither of them had ever known, at the time, that Subaru could return from the dead.

They had thus acted thinking only of themselves and their own ego and survival, without ever suspecting the real weight of their actions, even though certainly he hadn't left permanently.

But the justification in no way relieved the nausea twisting their stomachs.

This ignorance did not entirely absolve them in their own eyes—but it made their pain more tragic than despicable, closer to sincere remorse than sterile self-flagellation.

They had believed themselves his pillars; the screen proved to them they had been his executioners. Were they even worthy of being called his friends?

In a more secluded corner, on the side of the maids, Frederica contented herself with hugging Petra a little tighter against her, without a word.

She had followed Roswaal's plan to the very end, never truly measuring to what extent that boy must have suffered because of it. Even her own brother had committed acts she now deemed unforgivable.

Petra, for her part, had cried multiple times—that innocent, affectionate boy who made her little heart beat, who had saved her from demonic beasts, who always risked his life for her and for the entire village.

And yet, all these people who claimed to help and support him had, each in their own way, committed heinous acts toward him.

Petra : « Subaru… why did they do all that to you? » whimpered the little girl.

Her grief was innocent and pure, violently contrasting with the sticky guilt of the adults.

She no longer even knew against whom to direct her childish anger.

At the summit of this pyramid of dysfunction reigned Roswaal L. Mathers.

Unlike the others, his face did not betray the slightest trace of tears, but an unprecedented cadaveric paleness. It wasn't simple human shame gnawing at him—something colder, more dizzying.

Roswaal : « Thus… the Gospel had been wrong from the very beginning… » murmured he, his voice stripped of its usual musicality.

He had just seen collapse, before his eyes, the very certainties upon which he had built his entire existence.

His Gospel, which he had always considered an absolute truth, had just proven to be profoundly flawed from the start.

He thought he was manipulating a useful pawn to force a written future, but reality struck him with the force of a cannonball.

His plan had grazed the total obliteration of their world, and only the absurd persistence of a simple boy, defying the sacred text, had prevented the apocalypse.

It was a total intellectual and spiritual defeat.

He wasn't simply upset: it was the complete collapse of a thought system he believed infallible, a glacial defeat rather than simple moral guilt. He remained silent for a long time, gaze fixed, incapable for once of recovering his usual smile.

A heavy silence then settled over this entire camp, each lost in their own thoughts, until further down in the hall, other gazes turned, too, toward the extinguished screen.

Anastasia's camp

The tension was no lesser on the side of Anastasia's camp.

Julius Juukulius had bitten his lip until it bled, the coppery taste invading his palate.

Julius : « What kind of knight am I, for having broken a man who was already carrying the heavens on his shoulders? »

The image of the arena haunted him.

His guilt, unlike that of the others, came not only from an act, but from a judgment.

He had humiliated him publicly in the arena, judged him for his bravado, believing him unworthy without ever seeking to understand what was really unfolding in his mind, without even suspecting what had driven him to act thus.

Believing he was acting for his own good, he had only made things worse. Worse still, he had even ended up killing, with his own hands, at the end of the fight against Petelgeuse, the man he had come to respect.

His fingers were still trembling just thinking about the scene.

He thought he was doing what was right, but the screen proved to him that he had only added to the crushing burden of a man who was a hundred times worthier than him.

He didn't consider himself someone bad—but someone who had been entirely in the wrong, without having had, at the time, the necessary information to understand. This nuance, however, did not comfort him at all.

At her side, Anastasia Hoshin kept her unwavering merchant's smile against all odds, though it now resembled a cracked porcelain mask—having already fractured an incalculable number of times over the course of the viewing.

Anastasia : « I refused to invest in a human life out of simple pragmatism… » thought she.

She had abandoned Subaru, let him run to his doom without truly caring about his fate, out of pure pragmatism, out of cold calculation, because there was nothing to gain from it at the moment.

Always profit. Nothing but profit. To the detriment of something as simple, and yet as precious, as the life of a human being.

She was discovering today that behind this worthless "resource" lay a boy who paid for every piece of information with his own flesh.

She expressed nothing aloud—but her silence, this time, weighed heavier than any confession.

Crusch's camp

On the side of the Karsten camp, compassion was not total, giving way to fierce internal conflicts.

Felix Argyle felt something much more complex. That arrogant Subaru, who had ridiculed himself in the capital in his early days, had ended up becoming a hero in everyone's eyes in the span of barely a few days.

Incredible, certainly—but also deeply suspicious. And the answer lay right there, before his eyes: a pure anomaly of existence, a power that despised life as much as death.

Felix : « It's an abomination… an insult to life itself, nyah. » practically spat the healer.

For him, a healer devoted body and soul to his art, it was not a blessing, but a pure and simple aberration of nature.

For him, the absolute enemy was death. To see a power that trivialized passing away, that used it as a mere tool, was pure and hard blasphemy.

He now understood all of Subaru's accomplishments and miracles, without making disappear what he felt deep down inside: an ounce of persistent resentment, born from the uncomfortable mirror he inadvertently held up to him.

Felix hated that ability, and by extension, hated Subaru a little bit. He saw in the boy's despair the reflection of his own powerlessness in the face of death, a reality he hated to admit.

He blamed himself for hating him just a little bit more, under layers of regret and shame.

Wilhelm van Astrea, on the other hand, kept his head high, his face simply raised, staring into the void—or rather at the memory of the boy he had met for the first time at the Mathers estate.

Wilhelm : « I understand that gaze better now, Subaru-Dono. »

He relived their first meeting.

He had immediately recognized in him the eyes of someone who had brushed against the Reaper multiple times; he could now only recognize it with a newfound acuity.

But despite everything, what he felt was not guilt—it was a deep martial respect. That boy had helped him accomplish a fourteen-year-old vengeance.

He had seen in him that unshakeable determination, that same smile in the face of victories wrested in blood and pain that he himself had known, once upon a time, in his carefree youth.

He owed him the vengeance of his wife, and it was not pity he would offer him, but eternal gratitude. He was sincerely grateful to him.

Crusch Karsten, for her part, remained steadfastly stoic—though beneath the surface, she struggled against a growing nausea, a deep shame and self-disgust gnawing at her silently.

That boy who mysteriously knew the exact location of the White Whale, who had hatched a plan of formidable precision to offer them victory—she now knew where that information came from:

From his own flesh, from his own entrails poured onto the ground, over and over.

How could she have rejected such a man? Let him go to his death, as if the fate of others mattered so little to her?

Crusch : « Since when have I become such a dishonorable person? »

She had rejected him without pity during the negotiations.

She found nothing else to do than thank him inwardly for having forgiven her despite everything.

Irony struck her full force. She caught herself wondering, without truly daring to believe it:

Her current amnesia, devoured by Gluttony, wouldn't it simply be, in a way, her karma finally catching up with her? The price to pay for having treated the life of a desperate man with such coldness.

Priscilla's camp

At the other end of the room, however, it was neither cries of shame nor complaints of compassion that echoed, but long sighs and a loud yawn imbued with disdain that tore through the silence.

Priscilla : « What a stupid pig, rolling in the mire for such ungrateful wretches. »

Priscilla Barielle hid a half-smile behind her fan. She felt not an ounce of guilt. On the contrary, she watched with disdain as the other camps flagellated themselves.

Priscilla had seen this "pig" roll in the mud to come to the aid of those he considered his own—and even a half-demon, who had nevertheless pushed him to his death one way or another, just like the other members of his entourage.

And yet, he kept going, tirelessly, wagging his tail at the slightest trouble of theirs to come pull them out of it. What could be more stupid?

Nevertheless, her eyes gleamed with a new interest.

She had to at least admit that this boy possessed a certain value, a willpower that defied common sense, to manage to accomplish all of that.

He intrigued her enough for her to consent, at least a little, to let him shine under her sun.

Al, at her side, beneath his metal helmet, Al slowly shook his head. There was no shock in his posture, just a resigned weariness.

He remained probably the calmest of the group.

He wasn't particularly surprised by the deaths, however atrocious they might have been—he had known worse, in his time.

But seeing his « Bro » undergo all that still hurt him, especially coming from someone originating from the same world as him. He had seen him suffer far more than he should have.

Al : « You should have run away, my brother. You really should have. »

Coming from the same world, knowing in a way the infinite cruelty of this universe, Al did not judge. He simply saw a kid who had sunk far too deep into the darkness instead of saving his own skin.

He really should have run away when he hit rock bottom—that would have spared him plenty of trouble. And himself, by extension, though he preferred not to dwell on that for now.

He contented himself with a long sigh—compassion, measured, silent, but sincere.

His gaze drifted for an instant toward the Guardian, a cold and silent fear insinuating itself within him.

If the screen showed all of Subaru's secrets... what would happen if his own shadows were projected for everyone to see?

Felt's camp

Finally, there remained one last camp to consider: that of the candidate with golden hair and scarlet eyes.

Felt had seen the horrors suffered by her « big brother ». She had seen everything she never would have wanted to see—his countless deaths, his heartbreaking cries, his absolute weakness. She felt almost pity for him.

Having undergone all this ordeal, for what in the end? So that his own loved ones would betray him and kill him at the slightest mistake, over and over again?

Felt : « You should have left them to rot in their corner, big brother… »

She wondered with sincere astonishment how he could have a heart big enough to forgive them and start over every single time.

If it had been her, in his place, with her pragmatism forged in the slums, she would have simply left them to rot.

But perhaps that was precisely why her big brother was so incredible in her eyes: he managed to overcome everything.

His mind was as tenacious and indestructible as his heart was vast and warm. She was truly happy for him, happy that he had braved all hells, and that in the end, despite the suffering, he had ended up finding a little bit of happiness.

Reinhard, seated near her, displayed on the other hand a face of glacial closedness.

Reinhard : « Once again… I never arrive in time. I'm truly useless… »

Subaru—that boy who had wanted to become his friend from the very first minutes of his arrival in this world—he had never known how to save him.

Three times, at the very beginning, even before their official meeting, Subaru had been butchered. And things had only gotten worse afterward.

Every time his friend was in mortal danger or screaming for help in the silence of his loops, every time he needed help, Reinhard was never there. Never.

He possessed the brute strength, the divine power capable of leveling continents and solving any problem—and yet, he was never in the right place at the right time.

He had blamed himself, at the very beginning, for having let him go alone toward that mansion. And seeing the scale of all the deaths he had had to endure since, he had felt powerless, over and over again.

Guilt had been gnawing at his insides ever since he had seen the Sanctuary's trial.

Even when he finally deigned to arrive to stop Puck's disaster, it was always after the fact—after everything was already over, after Subaru was already dead, frozen and buried under the bloody snow.

He felt pathetic. Him, the most absolute existence of this world? What a grim joke.

He couldn't even reach out a hand to a friend when he needed it. So what was the point of all this blessing, deep down? None at all.

His gaze remained lowered for long minutes, crushed by his own systemic uselessness.

The entire room was bathed in an absolute certainty, heavy with consequences: none of them, not a single one, could henceforth claim to have known Natsuki Subaru.

They had just completed their own story, building the foundations of their regrets, still ignorant that the Guardian was about to show them something entirely different.

..............

Everyone had now seen Subaru's journey up to the most recent events, and all emerged from it with something as indescribable as it was inconceivable deep inside them.

But it wasn't the end yet.

After these traumatizing viewings, the resonant voice of the Guardian revealed to them that they were now going to discover their own future—for the story, far from being over, was in reality only in its first third.

There were still eight narrative arcs left to cross for a total of twelve. The path ahead was still dizzying. And to accompany them on this future journey, the Guardian finally made Subaru wake up.

Yes… Finally. After all this time spent unconscious, it was a drastic change in the room.

Most of the girls in his camp literally threw themselves at him as soon as they saw his eyes open, in full health.

And, inevitably, the first words that crossed their lips were supplications.

Apologies, uttered in a feverish despair, for all the harm they had done to him, for all the horrors he had endured because of them, for all those atrocious deaths.

Did they even deserve to stand by his side anymore?

Emilia hugged him tight against her, almost breaking his bones, her face buried in his neck, sobbing and apologizing for having been such a blind idiot about everything, trembling with her whole body.

Rem, for her part, remained petrified a few steps away. She didn't know how to react, incapable of facing her hero after seeing her own hands torture and finish him off with unheard-of cruelty.

Beatrice cried openly without restraint, shaken by uncontrollable sobs, hating with all her being that era when she had been nothing more than a useless porcelain doll in the face of the atrocities he had had to bear alone on his bruised shoulders.

Subaru was particularly shocked to see them act this way, completely unaware of what they had just gone through.

But they weren't the only ones. Almost the entire room was eaten away by shame for what they had done.

Otto held his face in his hands, unable to look up at his friend to look him in the face.

Garfiel trembled so violently all over his body that he couldn't even stand on his legs, barely able to remain standing to bow before his captain.

Julius and Reinhard stepped forward solemnly to apologize out loud for their gross ignorance and cowardice, for having been unable to do anything when it mattered, and for having, on the contrary, made things worse, worse still, for sometimes driving him deeper into his despair.

But the most shocking part was Roswaal.

The clown, the machiavellian man behind more than half of Subaru's traumas—came and bowed before him, even more deeply than when he had been defeated at the Sanctuary.

This time, his gesture was disturbingly sincere. He swore on his soul and on his master never to repeat this, never to do the same manipulative actions again.

He felt ashamed, and, in a very rare occurrence for the mage, he showed it without the slightest embarrassment—and this unexpected reaction in particular surprised both the room and Subaru himself.

And of course, Subaru, true to the man everyone had just learned to know viscerally, brushed away their apologies with a wave of his hand.

Subaru : « No way, don't make those faces! It wasn't your fault, just simple mistakes along the way... I was so stupid back then, it was only logical that it ended like that. »

Always and forever devaluing himself—even though they were the ones who were entirely in the wrong.

The group couldn't bear this destructive humility. He was immediately reprimanded for his lack of self-esteem.

Notably Crusch, by Anastasia, and even by Petra who firmly scolded him for his chronic inability to grant himself the slightest worth, refusing to let him erase himself like that.

They had already seen him do that at the Sanctuary; clearly, nothing had changed since.

Priscilla, too, put him back in his place without beating around the bush.

Priscilla : « Stop this distressing false modesty and acknowledge your own prowess, commoner! »

Felt : « Learn to be selfish, damn it! You have the right to think of yourself more than others for once, big brother! »

Felt shouted it at the top of her lungs, venting the accumulated tension.

It wasn't just a simple collective forgiveness, however. Each of their remorse would remain a raw scar, even after Subaru assured them he didn't hold it against them personally.

Then, when the commotion finally subsided and everyone had regained a semblance of color and joy of living, the Guardian cut short their reunion.

He projected their future. He finally showed them what their future would have become if they had never been teleported here to watch everything.

They saw Arc 5—the Arc of the Stars.

Pristella, the marvelous city of waters they were heading toward before all this chaos began.

It became a nightmarish theater.

The simultaneous attack of five Archbishops of Sin triggered a bloodbath.

They saw how they had all suffered in this suffocating urban battle, how they had had to claw their way to survival—for it was only that, survival, not victory—in blood and rage.

There was still some good news:

Regulus Corneas, the invincible Archbishop of Greed, the most powerful of them all, was defeated. Sirius Romanee-Conti, the Archbishop of Wrath, was captured.

A victory, then—but not without its share of disasters. For this triumph came with a terrifying price.

Another oblivion struck the room full force: that of Julius. The knight vanished from everyone's memories.

Being erased from the world, including from his own lady's memory, becoming nothing more than a simple stranger wearing a uniform too fine for what he had become...

This psychological shock struck the room full force, nearly destroying the Spirit Knight.

Yet, the time did not remain one of pessimism, for horror soon gave way to revelation.

They then plunged into Arc 6—the Corridor of Memories.

The Pleiades Watchtower arc. In their quest to cure the victims of Gluttony and Lust, they braved unsuspected trials.

They had lived through unsuspected things, notably Subaru's own memory loss, and all the suffocating psychological horrors that had built up and broken down around it. Where paranoia threatened to destroy the group from within.

Yet, amidst this chaos, a rain of truths fell upon the room.

They finally obtained a few scraps of information on the true events of the world:

Shaula, the tragic guardian of the stars, the brutality of Reid, the fallen majesty of Volcanica, and the shadow of Flugel, the true Sage.

So much knowledge was transmitted to them all at once. The very foundations of their world trembled.

And at the peak of this deadly ascent—Rem. Yes, Rem, finally awake, finally standing.

Cries of joy erupted throughout the room, notably from Subaru himself, who could not hold back his tears. He had succeeded, after a full year of despair and effort. He had saved her.

Oh, if only he knew.

Arcs 7 and 8 brutally projected them into the Vollachia Empire, the Land of Wolves.

Subaru had been transported there, accompanied by Rem and the former Archbishop of Gluttony, Rui—the very one who had stolen his memories, having mysteriously become amnesiac and renamed Spica.

And Rem—oh, Rem—was very much alive, awake, but amnesiac as well. Her memories were gone.

Knowing her distrustful temperament from the very first days, the worst ended up happening: she fled. And Subaru died, over and over again, an incalculable number of times.

Yet he had accomplished so many impossible things in this empire of blood alongside his legitimate king, Vincent Vollachia, overcoming many titanic obstacles.

But it was there that they witnessed the most terrifying of horrors—perhaps one of the worst deaths ever suffered by Subaru, if one could still call that a simple death:

The 10-second loop.

That loop reduced the room to a much more visceral and nauseating silence than all the previous ones. It was no longer the cruelty of the executioners that shocked, but the clinical, cold, and absurd mechanism of that very loop.

Subaru systematically died in ten seconds or less, endlessly reliving the same events, encircled by a save point of absolute injustice.

He had died hundreds of times. Perhaps thousands. Without even having the time, on each attempt, to catch his breath before everything started all over again.

This was undoubtedly the most atrocious experience Subaru had ever been through—not a one-time suffering, but a mechanical, absurd torture, repeated relentlessly.

Rem, in the room, brought a trembling hand to her mouth, incapable of tearing her gaze away from the screen, overcome by a dull nausea.

Emilia, for her part, had stopped breathing, her entire body strained toward this horror she could neither understand nor interrupt.

And yet, he had continued. He had ended up gathering allies, his own friends had come to his rescue, and together, they had put an end to the reign of Sphinx, the half-witch, and her army of the undead.

But victory demanded the sacrifice of a queen:

The death of Priscilla Barielle.

She had given her life to accomplish this miracle. And yet, even so, she had smiled as she disappeared, consuming herself under a crimson sky.

Priscilla, in the future they were watching, almost seemed to answer herself in the room by saying:

Priscilla : « I regret nothing. I have fulfilled my duty! »

She had left with panache—such was Priscilla Barielle, to the very end, wringing silent respect from the audience.

However, this heroic act was the spark that nevertheless triggered many others, each more atrocious than the last.

Then came Arc 9—The Gleam of a Nameless Star.

The arc of absolute betrayal. The one during which the entire room felt most betrayed, since the revelation of Roswaal's plans in Arc 4.

Al. Aldebaran—or rather...

Natsuki Rigel.

This man, whom everyone considered a carefree, mocking, and jaded knight, was none other than a creation of the Witch of Greed, Echidna.

He had upended the entire world, driven by the loss of his lady and his love, with no reason left to live other than to fulfill a final plan.

And for that, he needed to get rid of Natsuki Subaru.

The shock was of unprecedented violence in the room. Incomprehension quickly mutated into fierce hatred within the theater.

Al? That carefree, mocking Al, who seemed to take everything lightly? How could he do such a thing? No one managed to calmly digest this revelation.

Al had accomplished terrible things:

Taking control of the dragon Volcanica thanks to his Book of the Dead, thus creating a second draconian "him"; managing to break both arms of the Sword Saint himself, yet reputed to be untouchable.

Even freeing the Witch of Envy and forcing her to confront the world while he wove his web in the shadows.

The more the viewing progressed, the more each of Al's actions shocked the group and pushed them to hate him even more.

It was Garfiel who cracked first, leaping up in a bound, one hand already clenched on his forearm as if ready to strike.

Julius, hand on the hilt of his sword, had straightened up with a stiff movement, his dark gaze fixed on the real Al, sitting not far away.

Even Reinhard, usually so master of himself, had brought his hand toward his scabbard, his features hardened.

It was Subaru who intervened, placing himself almost physically between them and the helmeted man, trembling but determined.

Subaru : « Stop! It hasn't happened yet, dammit! »

A leaden silence followed. No one understood how he could thus defend the one who, in a future they had just seen, would become his executioner—and perhaps that was precisely what made his gesture as frightening as his forgiveness itself.

The arc continued.

Many other things were discovered—Clind's identity, linked to Volcanica; Petra becoming the terrifying Witch of Melancholy... and so many other revelations besides.

The further the arc progressed, the more the spectators stared at the Al sitting among them with a palpable urge to murder.

Finally, Reinhard managed to free Subaru from his temporal prison.

Subaru restarted the loop, thus trapping Al in his own spell, Ol Shamak, closing all these apocalyptic events as if they had never existed.

This simple gesture, though it erased nothing, at least allowed Al not to be immediately massacred by the group right after Roswaal, once they got out of there.

The one-armed man apologized profusely for all the harm he might have caused, swearing with his head bowed that things would be different this time.

And of course, Subaru, true to his irrational indulgence, immediately forgave him—after all, it hadn't happened yet, and they would make sure it never happened, right?

But among those who were ready to kill Al moments earlier, not all shared this clemency so easily.

Some gazes remained inhabited by a new distrust, the tension remained agonizingly heavy.

Finally came perhaps the most controversial arc they had had to view:

Arc 10—The Land of Lion Kings.

For upon their return to Lugunica, Subaru and his group were welcomed neither as heroes nor amidst cheers—but rather as criminals potentially linked to a cult, because of all the recent events.

Subaru had become far too suspicious in the eyes of the Sages, and anyone attempting to protect him would be immediately arrested.

This institutional paranoia triggered a cold war between former allies and situational enemies.

The height of injustice struck when Reinhard received the formal order from the Sages to neutralize Emilia's camp.

Incapable of disobeying his status, Reinhard carried it out, his heart ravaged by guilt.

Felt shot him a glare blacker than the scarlet of her eyes, hating him for this blind obedience to authority that forced him to destroy his friends.

She was incapable of understanding how he could not defy authority for so many things, never, even when his friends' lives were truly at stake.

Reinhard blamed himself too—but he knew his counterpart had no choice, for he could not know what he himself now knew: the truth behind Subaru's feats, and why he could say nothing to defend him publicly.

It was in this climate of total political fracture that they began viewing the first episodes of Arc 10, watching their world collapse under the weight of ingratitude, until reaching a very particular moment...

...............

A heavy silence had settled into the viewing room, disturbed only by the rustling of clothes and a few impatient sighs.

The group had just finished a particularly harrowing episode of Arc 10, and the atmosphere was heavy. And yet, nothing was happening. No flickering. No familiar voice. Nothing.

The wait for the next excerpt dragged on, leaving the spectators alone with their thoughts.

Reinhard, always respectful but sensing the general anxiety, finally raised his hand politely toward the dark ceiling, as if politely addressing someone in an empty room.

Reinhard : « Um... Guardian-san? Why is this taking so long? »

No answer came to break the silence. Everyone had been waiting for a long time, but their divine host showed no sign of life.

The stillness of the room began to weigh heavily on the already frayed nerves of Emilia's camp.

Subaru, for his part, had long since abandoned any form of patience.

Subaru : « Hey! Damned Guardian! Are you listening to us or what?! » exclaimed the boy, half-rising from his seat.

« Yes, well, alright! One minute! »

The voice resonated suddenly throughout the room, unannounced, with an almost casual intonation that startled several people, breaking the wait.

Emilia froze slightly, frowning.

Emilia : « Wait... He seems... different, doesn't he? » she murmured, her eyes wide with surprise.

Anastasia : « Yes... That wasn't the same voice as the one we heard earlier, » the merchant intervened.

Her tone remained neutral, almost analytical, but her gaze had sharpened, mechanically stroking her fox scarf while observing this sudden change.

Crusch : « Hmm... Could you be... a new Guardian? » asked the duchess with an inquiring look, her hand resting on the pommel of her sword out of pure reflex.

« Ahah... Yes! I'm not your usual Guardian... I'm a new one... Pleased to meet you! »

Rang out the voice with a disconcerting enthusiasm that violently contrasted with the gravity of the previous entity.

Garfiel : « Huh?! Then where did our old Guardian go?! » exclaimed the shield of the Sanctuary with a sharp roar, slamming his fists together.

His voice struck like a whip crack in the room.

A little further away, Roswaal let out a murmur, almost to himself.

Roswaal : « Hoo... now that is very interesting... » murmured the mage, an enigmatic smile stretching his made-up lips.

« Ohh well... Your former Guardian has, how shall I put it... a few minor technical issues related to the continuation of Arc 10. »

Answered the new Guardian in a somewhat abrupt voice, almost amused by the situation.

Emilia : « Some... problems? » said the half-elf, sincerely shocked and a little worried.

Beatrice : « Hmph... Explain yourself, actually! » exclaimed the great spirit in her usual haughty tone, crossing her arms while staring at the emptiness above her.

« Well, well, easy... What I mean is that your Guardian hasn't prepared the upcoming episodes of the arc yet. »

Conceded the voice, lowering its tone slightly, adopting an almost familiar attitude.

Subaru : « What?! Then what do we do? Just stand here waiting?! » he asked, visibly annoyed to see his tragic future paused without any certainty.

His voice betrayed barely contained frustration—that of not knowing what misfortunes still awaited them.

Otto, standing a bit back, sighed longly before casting his gaze toward the ceiling, where the voice echoed.

Otto : « Ahh, Natsuki-san, calm down a bit... Getting up won't change anything, » sighed the merchant, rubbing his temples from the back seat.

Then, he refocused attention on what mattered.

Otto : « So, Guardian... does this have something to do with you? »

« Ohh Otto... Always so good at getting straight to the point, huh? Well, yes, you're entirely right! »

Exclaimed the entity with palpable joy.

Julius : « What do you mean by that? Explain yourself, please, » intervened the Knight, seeking clear details in the face of this chaotic voice.

Felix : « That's right, nyah... Are you going to show us something to pass the time? » asked the healer in his playful voice, his cat ears twitching with anticipation.

« Ohh yes... precisely. While waiting for your Guardian to be ready for the rest... Me! I am going to show you a rather interesting story! »

Cried out the voice, vibrating with an almost childlike impatience.

Priscilla : « Hmph. And what kind of story could possibly interest my divine self? A better one than that servant's over there... at the very least, » declared the sun princess in a deeply disdainful tone, hiding her face behind her fan.

Her scornful gaze slid toward Subaru, the remark immediately earning her a few dark looks from some of the women present.

Al, sitting next to her, simply let out a heavy sigh muffled beneath his helmet.

« Ohh, you want to know? Well, it will be the story of Subaru... well... that of a Subaru a bit different from this one! »

At these words, the entire room froze for a moment, plunging into complete silence. Everyone's attention, scattered until then, abruptly refocused.

Subaru : « Uh, what? What do you mean by a different 'me'? » asked the boy, genuinely shocked, pointing a finger at himself.

« Ohh that's right... You haven't heard about it... Didn't your Guardian explain to you that there are different worlds and different Subarus? Sort of alternative stories? 'IF' routes? »

The Guardian almost marveled.

Al : « Euhh yeah, he told us about it, but we've never seen any... »

He had answered in a low voice, without much enthusiasm, as if he didn't particularly want to draw attention to his own knowledge of multiverse concepts.

Rem : « So... Are we going to see a brand-new Subaru-kun? » asked the blue-haired maid.

Stars instantly shone in her eyes at the thought of discovering another facet of her hero.

Ram : « Ah... Don't get too excited, Rem, » began the older sister near her, crossing her arms.

Ram : « If it's another Barusu... then he must be just as pathetic and useless as him, without a doubt, » she finished with her haughty and acerbic air.

Subaru : « Hey! Cut it out, Nee-sama! I might be pathetic, but I'm not useless! » exclaimed the person in question to defend himself, gesticulating from his seat.

By wanting to retort, he was only twisting the knife in his own wound, which triggered a collective heavy sigh from most of the people present.

Wilhelm : « Subaru-dono... Do not say that... You are absolutely not pathetic, quite the contrary... We all saw it clearly. » declared the old swordsman in a grave and sincere voice.

The old man had observed the boy with quiet benevolence and deep respect.

This unexpected intervention made Subaru stutter a bit, before sitting back down, his cheeks a little red.

It was then that a small, thin voice, hesitant yet curious, rose from the back of the room.

Petra : « So, Mr. Guardian... what is this new Subaru like? » asked the little girl, her face sparkling with hope and curiosity.

« Ohh Petra... Always so cute... Well, this Subaru will be quite different from yours in several aspects... Notably intelligence. »

A slight teasing laugh accompanied his remark.

Subaru : « Hey! I'm not an idiot! » exclaimed Emilia's knight, clearly understanding the jab directed at him.

« Ahah, yes, yes... Anyway, talking for two hours is useless... Let me show you a little clip! »

Exclaimed the Guardian, his voice resounding loud and clear, cutting short any complaints.

At that precise moment, the room's light went out.

The screen began to flicker without transition, immediately capturing the group's full attention.

Felt : « Ohh, I wonder what we're going to see! What do you say, Rein? » asked the young candidate, all excited as she leaned forward.

Reinhard : « Well... we shall see. » calmly replied the Sword Saint.

He had refocused his attention toward the screen, a slight pensive fold at the corner of his lips.

The screen lights up without transition.

White text appears briefly against the black background of the image:

[One year later.]

Subaru : « What, one year later?! » cried the boy, breaking the silence, completely shocked by this brutal time skip.

He was the first to show astonishment, visibly caught off guard.

Julius : « Hmm... what is this referring to? » asked the knight, narrowing his eyes to analyze what the screen was trying to tell them even before the image appeared.

Anastasia : « Let's wait and see what happens next, » calmly said the candidate to her knight.

Julius simply nodded, his gaze already riveted on the screen.

Then the image is revealed.

A vast crater extends in the middle of an isolated mountainous region of Lugunica. The rock is shattered, blackened in places, as if an entire mountain had been pulverized, razed in a single stroke of colossal power. The wind ominously sweeps the dust at the bottom of the titanic depression.

A heavy silence fell over the room. No one spoke for a moment — the mere sight of this devastation was enough to cut short any lightheartedness.

Emilia : « ...What could have done that? »

Her voice was low, almost worried.

Crusch : « Such destruction has nothing of a natural accident about it. »

Roswaal : « Hoo... now this is getting truly interesting, » remarked the lord of the domain, his heterochromatic eye already noticing the proportions of the disaster.

Emilia : « I hope it's nothing serious... » murmured the half-elf, short of breath, feeling a deep apprehension facing the apocalyptic landscape they were about to observe.

Two silhouettes stand face to face in the center of this devastated place.

Felt : « Wait... who are these two guys? » asked the former thief, surprised by the cataclysmic scale of the scenery.

The camera slowly zooms in on the two figures.

Reinhard van Astrea is perfectly recognizable. Upright posture, with Olympian calm, the wooden training sword already firmly held in his hand.

Felt : « What, Rein! Is that you? Are you going to fight someone? » she asked her knight upon seeing his double on screen, ready for the action.

Garfiel : « Yeah! We're gonna see him fight again! » exclaimed the demi-human, his eyes sparkling with excitement at the idea of witnessing a demonstration of absolute force.

He had straightened up with a bound, sparks in his gaze — before a firm hand slammed down on the back of his skull.

Garfiel : « Ouch! Why?! » he cried out, a comical tear in his eye as he rubbed his head.

It was Frederica who had just struck him.

Frederica : « Stay calm, Garf... You're stopping us from seeing the rest, » she reprimanded him in a firm, maternal tone.

Garfiel grunted dully, but sat back down, his eyes once more glued to the screen.

Back to the screen... opposite Reinhard —

Subaru.

His hair is no longer black. It is immaculately white, almost luminous in the daylight. His eyes, once amber, now shine with a deep, piercing scarlet. A discreet but heavy aura emanates from him, even in broad daylight.

He holds two wooden daggers. Simple in appearance.

A deathly silence fell over the room. For a long, agonizing second, no one breathed.

No one spoke. Not right away.

What struck the room was almost more violent than a scream — as if everyone was holding their breath at the same time, incapable of tearing their gaze away from this silhouette.

The vision of this boy, both so familiar and so fundamentally terrifying, froze every spectator in place. The weight of this invisible aura seemed to cross the screen to freeze the audience's blood.

It was Subaru, finally, who broke it first, his voice tense.

Subaru : « What the hell, who is that guy?! » suddenly exploded the real Subaru, totally caught off guard, almost standing up from his chair in front of this unnatural reflection.

Emilia : « Wait... is that... Subaru? » stammered the half-elf.

She had brought a hand to her mouth, completely caught off guard to see him with such a discolored appearance and such a harsh gaze.

Al : « Ahahah... Looks like Bro got a new look, huh? » tried to joke the helmeted man with a nervous laugh, although he was inwardly just as shocked and tense as the others by this murderous aura.

His laugh sounded a bit fake — even he seemed shaken.

Rem : « Subaru-kun is so handsome... He looks so different, » murmured the maid, observing the snow-white hair and blood-red eyes of the man on screen.

Her lips had barely moved.

It was almost just an escaped thought, her gaze suspended over this unknown version of Subaru, something like fascination, although an imperceptible trace of worry trembled in her voice facing this crushing presence.

Otto : « Wait... is he the one going to face Reinhard?! » exclaimed the merchant, terrified as he suddenly connected the geographical dots and the combatants' posture.

Subaru : « Wait... That's right... It's me, »

He realized immediately, swallowing hard as he imagined the outcome of such a confrontation.

He had almost whispered, as if the realization had just hit him full force.

Anastasia : « Impressive... So this Subaru is truly different, isn't he? » said the merchant, her mind racing at top speed.

A slight smile floated on her lips.

Ram : « Hmph... Don't let it go to your head, Barusu. A changed appearance doesn't automatically make someone more capable. If this is a version of you... then he won't do anything grand, » she declared in her usual acerbic tone.

Yet, her fists were lightly clenched on her knees. She had furrowed her brows, her gaze fixed on the aura that seemed to weigh on the image, almost despite herself.

Even she could not ignore the dull danger emanating from this anomaly.

Rem : « Nee-sama... Don't say that... » gently tried the young girl to calm her, her eyes still riveted on the screen.

On screen, the camera lingers for a moment on Reinhard's face.

He shows no alarm at his opponent's drastic physical change. Only contained surprise... then something softer.

His gaze lingers on Subaru's eyes. Not on the white hair. Not on the aura. On the gaze.

As if he saw something in it that he hadn't seen in so long.

In the room, Reinhard had straightened up slightly, his eyes narrowed, as if recognizing in his counterpart's posture on screen a language he knew well.

Julius : « Wait... Reinhard... Why are you looking at him like that? » softly asked the purple-haired knight, turning to his friend sitting not far from him.

The real Reinhard remained silent for a moment, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

His ordinarily perfect expression had split, giving way to a deeply pensive air, troubled by an emotion he himself struggled to identify.

Reinhard : « I... don't know... I feel like my counterpart seems to have things to share with this Subaru... » he simply said, his voice strangely veiled.

Julius : « Ohh... I see, » he solemnly acknowledged, bringing his attention back to the imminent confrontation.

He did not insist, returning then to the screen, but his gaze lingered for a moment on his friend, pensive.

Reinhard adopts a perfect posture, almost unreal in its balance.

Reinhard : « Are you ready, Subaru? »

Subaru inspires slightly. His expression is calm, but there is a contained tension in his jaw.

Subaru : « Yes... I am ready. But know that this will be our last training match. »

Reinhard tilts his head slightly. No questions. Only pure acceptance.

Reinhard : « I understand. »

Crusch : « Ohh, I see... So they train regularly together, » understood the duchess.

Her sharpened gaze remained fixed on the two men on screen, pensive. The dynamic between them exuded mutual respect.

Felix : « So that means something happened between them, for them to train like that, nya? » wondered the healer, keeping his singing tone, although his mind was analyzing the situation at top speed.

Otto : « Wait... Isn't Subaru holding wooden daggers in his hands? » the merchant suddenly pointed out.

He was feverishly pointing at the bottom of the screen, his brows furrowed.

Subaru : « Ahh... That's right! So that means my "self" over there masters daggers? » he asked himself.

He looked perplexed, almost troubled by this choice of armament that was totally foreign to him.

Priscilla : « Hmph... Then it means this servant on screen is far less clueless and useless than the one in this room, it would seem, » spat the princess, hiding the lower half of her face.

A smug smile stretched her lips.

Emilia : « Oh, so Subaru uses daggers rather than a whip? » said the silver-haired candidate.

She ignored the jab to turn curiously toward the black-haired boy beside her.

Emilia : « Subaru, have you ever tried daggers? » she asked innocently.

At this question, the boy sighed heavily and looked away, scratching the back of his head, a bit embarrassed.

Subaru : « No, never... I didn't think I was made for that kind of weapon... but I've never actually tried, » he confessed with a resigned sigh, realizing the chasm that perhaps already separated him from this double.

Garfiel : « Ahah! That means this captain must be damn strong, right? Maybe not as strong as my incredible self, but still! » exclaimed the young tiger, the excitement of the fight taking over.

A proud smile had formed on his face, despite the gravity of the scene.

Otto : « Garfiel, stay calm, » sighed the poor merchant from his seat, already dreading the proportions this fight was going to take.

Without waiting for any more answers, his gaze had already returned to the screen — where Reinhard and Subaru, motionless, seemed to size each other up one last time before everything collapsed.

Subaru spins one of his daggers between his fingers in an almost distracted gesture. Then he raises his eyes back to Reinhard.

A smile stretches his lips.

It is not the polite, calculated smile he so often displayed. It is something cruder. More sincere. Almost predatory... and yet alive.

Subaru : « So... don't hold back. Otherwise, I might just beat you. »

A brief, almost suspended silence fell over the room — as if no one dared be the first to react to such a phrase.

« WHAT?! » they cried almost in unison in the room, breaking the calm that had settled.

Felt sprang up, pointing at the screen.

Felt : « Wait... he can beat Rein?! »

Crusch kept her eyes narrowed, attentively observing the carnivorous smile of the Subaru on screen.

Crusch : « Now this is getting... interesting. »

Subaru, completely overwhelmed, shook his head vehemently.

Subaru : « Wait, wait, wait! How could I even hope to beat Reinhard, no matter the version of me?! That's just impossible! » he cried out, undoubtedly the most shocked of the entire assembly.

Al gave a small amused chuckle, an eyebrow raised.

Al : « Well, it looks like that guy on screen is actually capable of it, my friend. »

Wilhelm remained silent a moment longer, observing the frozen features of the face on screen.

Wilhelm : « At the very least... he is fully confident in his abilities, » intervened the old swordsman, his voice grave.

Wilhelm : « I see it in his gaze. There is no hesitation, no fake bravado. It is the posture of a man who has absolute confidence in his own strength. »

Felix turned his head toward him, surprised.

Felix : « Seriously, old Wil? Wow... » murmured the healer, ears pinned back with a somewhat tight smile.

Hearing such an analysis from the Sword Demon suddenly made the scene very oppressive.

Julius kept his fixed gaze unchanged.

Julius : « This is to say the least surprising... Such assurance facing the Sword Saint, » he said, almost to himself, hand on his chin.

Beatrice wore a proud, almost involuntary little smile.

Beatrice : « Hmph. Betty's Subaru on screen must actually be quite dignified, » declared the spirit, crossing her arms.

Rem, her gaze a bit lost in the image, smiled softly.

Rem : « Indeed, Beatrice-sama. We shall see how it turns out. »

Emilia, noticing that Subaru was fidgeting strangely next to her, leaned slightly.

Emilia : « Subaru... are you okay? »

Subaru gave a somewhat forced smile.

Subaru : « No, nothing... I'm just still in shock thinking that I could one day beat Reinhard and all his cheat codes... » he replied, feigning a smile to reassure her.

Emilia awkwardly tried to keep him company.

Emilia : « Oh, alright, don't worry too much! »

Reinhard, on his side, remained silent, observing the scene without a word. His blue eyes never left the screen.

« Beat me, huh... » he thought, a small, almost imperceptible smile forming on his face.

« Perhaps... I am no longer entirely alone in this world... »

Reinhard blinks once.

Then, slowly, a smile also appears on his face.

Reinhard : « I'll make a note of that, Subaru. »

Felt pointed at Reinhard on screen with wide eyes.

Felt : « Look at his expression! He's taking him seriously! »

Several members of the room slowly nodded in agreement. The ginger redhead's change in attitude was undeniable.

Roswaal let out a small, deliberately a bit too loud laugh.

Roswaal : « Oh, ooooh... It seems things are starting to get particularly interestiiiing, » teased the mage in a singing voice, a bit too loud.

Priscilla spoke without even granting him a glance.

Priscilla : « Hmph. Shut that foul mouth, clown. You bring nothing but noise pollution, as usual, » spat the sun princess with absolute disdain.

Roswaal, with a smirk, deliberately trying to provoke her:

Roswaal : « Oh...? So Lady Barielle-sama seems to be intrigued by what the screen is showing us, noooo? »

Priscilla didn't flinch.

Priscilla : « Hmph. Such pathetic tactics will have no effect on my divine self. »

A short silence.

Priscilla : « But... I must admit it has piqued my curiosity. So shut that viper's tongue, and let's resume. »

Roswaal then wore a final smile.

Roswaal : « I see, I seee... Forgive meee, » he chuckled one last time before turning his heterochromatic eye back to the projection.

The two men stop. A few meters from each other.

Perfect postures. Gaze locked with gaze. The wind blows through the valley, making their clothes ripple.

Above them, a single leaf detaches from a branch. It slowly flutters in the air. Descends. Spins again.

Then touches the ground, exactly between them.

In the room, no one spoke anymore.

Garfiel was leaning so far forward he was almost falling out of his chair.

Wilhelm, hand clenched on his knee, was holding his breath without even realizing it.

Julius had stopped breathing.

The instant the leaf touches the grass... they disappear.

Garfiel : « Huh?! »

Then, even louder, having been completely unable to follow anything:

Garfiel : « Damn it, what is that speed?! » he yelled, purely caught off guard, eyes wide at having been totally unable to see anything.

Julius kept his gaze fixed on the screen, jaw clenched.

Julius : « I must admit... that is truly terrifying, » murmured the Knight of Knights, searching for the slightest trace of movement.

Wilhelm, on his side, remained completely silent, eyes wide — he, a veteran of so many battles, hadn't even been able to perceive the slightest pressure in the air before their disappearance.

His hands clenched slightly on his knees.

Around him, all the warriors present in the room felt at that exact same moment this same chilling absurdity.

The air seems to collapse in on itself.

A fraction of a second later, they reappear in the center of the clearing, weapons already clashing.

The shock is monstrous.

A wave of pure power explodes from the point of impact, sweeping across the entire valley. Trees shake for over a hundred meters. The ground caves in beneath their feet. Dust rises in a violent cloud.

The screen vibrates.

Then...

Clean cut.

Black screen.

The silence that followed was absolute. No one moved.

For one, then two long seconds, no one breathed, during an instant that felt endless — as if the entire room needed this void to simply comprehend what it had just seen.

Eyes were fixed on the dark void of the screen, minds struggling to assimilate the visual cataclysm that had just been projected to them.

Subaru broke the silence with a shout.

Subaru : « WHAT THE FUCK! » he screamed, purely shocked by the incredible impact he had just witnessed.

Otto : « So... that Subaru was telling the truth? » stammered the merchant, trembling slightly.

Otto : « He can really face Reinhard? Is he at... his level?! »

He could not rationally conceiving such a thing.

Garfiel spoke, as excited as he was troubled.

Garfiel : « Damn... the captain is ultra strong! » exclaimed the shield of the Sanctuary, dumbfounded to see such raw power emanate from his captain.

Rem murmured.

Rem : « That was... incredible. Subaru-kun was incredible, » breathed the young demon girl, her gaze continuing to fix the black screen with adoration mixed with stupor.

Anastasia began softly, but her voice grew steadier.

Anastasia : « I must admit that what was shown... far exceeded anything I could have imagined, » said the merchant, stroking her scarf, keeping her business smile even though a bead of sweat rolled down her temple.

Anastasia : « What do you think, Julius? »

She turned her gaze toward her knight.

Julius : « Well... Anastasia-sama... All I can say is that events of unfathomable magnitude must have occurred in his world to reach this point, » he analyzed.

He was still dumbfounded to see that Subaru managed to go toe-to-toe with the monster that Reinhard was, if only for a fraction of a second.

Felix murmured, a slightly tight smile, ears slightly pinned back, as if trying to mask a shudder under false lightness.

Felix : « It's a... an aberration... » murmured the demi-humain, his usual smile totally erased by the tension.

Crusch turned her head toward him.

Crusch : « Felix? What are you talking about? » exclaimed the duchess, looking at her knight with a stern yet intrigued expression.

Felix : « Forgive me, Crusch-sama... but it's simply... too much. How did he manage to become like that?! » he asked frantically.

Crusch : « I don't know... But one thing is sure: he must have lived through an enormous amount of things, » she said, respectfully lowering her gaze in homage to this man's invisible battles.

Wilhelm, beside her, simply contented himself with a long sigh, trying to calm the beats of his own warrior heart.

Felt was already standing, radiant.

Felt : « Damn, Rein! Did you see that?! Big brother managed to hold his own against you, isn't that awesome?! » cried the little blonde, bouncing from her seat with a joyful laugh.

Reinhard gently tried to make her sit back down.

Reinhard : « Yes, Felt-sama... » he replied softly.

But in his mind, something else still floated.

« So, this time, I'm really not alone... that's good. »

A slight smile persisted while Felt was still protesting to stay standing.

Al turned his head toward Priscilla.

Al : « Wow... that's pretty good. What do you say, Princess? »

She wore a smirk, hidden behind her fan, herself visibly surprised despite her haughty tone.

Priscilla : « Hmph. It seems at least one counterpart of this dog didn't remain a mere mutt in the mud. »

Subaru, realizing the screen wasn't turning back on, straightened up.

Subaru : « Wait, is that it?! »

Garfiel stood up in a bound.

Garfiel : « That's right! Where did the new captain go?! We want to see the fight! »

He received a sharp blow from Frederica and another from Otto, which nailed him back to his seat.

« Oh, so you want to see more? »

The Guardian's voice suddenly resounded like a deep gong in the immensity of the room, cutting short the agitation and commotion.

Reinhard then calmly questioned.

Reinhard : « Excuse me, Guardian-san... what was that, exactly? » politely asked the red-haired knight.

« Oh, you want to know? Well, it's a different world that I take care of myself! Exactly like your Guardian takes care of yours. »

The room gradually quieted down, focusing on the divine voice.

Subaru : « So... that's his story you're going to show us, right? » he asked, finally regaining a bit of composure.

« Yes, yes, yes! But the part you just saw is far in the future — at the very beginning of this story. To understand the origin of this strength, I am going to show you the prologue, and the how and why he became like that. »

At these words, the room exploded once more into murmurs.

Emilia : « What? That was only him in the future? » exclaimed the half-elf, shocked.

Garfiel spoke out loud.

Garfiel : « Damn... what is the Captain going to go through, then, in his story?! » wondered the young tiger, terrified at the idea of the trials necessary to forge such power.

Everyone was now asking themselves the same silent and dizzying question:

If this Subaru's story was still only at that level, then — and afterwards? How had he gotten there? What was he going to have to face?

Otto tried to calm the crowd, before turning his eyes to the ceiling.

Otto : « Please, calm down! » he yelled to try to appease the crowd, before raising his eyes to the ceiling.

Otto : « Uh, Guardian-san... are you saying this Subaru has been like that from the start? »

« At what point did I say that? I said he was like that at the beginning of HIS story — but if we were to map his timeline onto your own temporal arcs... This Subaru is the one from the beginning of Arc 5, right after the one-year time skip that followed Sanctuary in Arc 4. »

Subaru was the most dismayed by these words.

Subaru : « What, seriously?! That's a fucking cheat! »

He was incapable of understanding.

How could his counterpart already rival Reinhard even before the events of Pristella, while he himself was still an ant five arcs later?

Anastasia : « Oh... I see. So that was the meaning of the "One year later" that appeared on the screen earlier, » analyzed the merchant, finally connecting the pieces of the puzzle.

Julius connected the dots out loud.

Julius : « Wait... Does that mean the first four narrative arcs we know are nothing more than a simple prologue for him? » asked the knight, his eyes narrowed in reflection.

« Oh, yes! Because after that... well... let's say the story takes a pretty incredible turn. But the very beginning started quite similarly to yours. »

Something then clicked in Subaru's mind. His voice faltered, already starting to self-deprecate.

Subaru : « Wait... if his story started roughly the same way as mine... how come he became so powerful and I didn't?! »

Garfiel : « Hahaha... No worries, Captain! You're strong! » he tried to encourage him by hitting his own chest.

But this only accentuated the boy's embarrassment.

Beatrice then turned her gaze with a pout.

Beatrice : « Hmph. Silly contractor, actually. Why want to be strong when you have Betty? »

Subaru : « No, Beako! I know you're amazing... but you understand... sometimes a man wants to be able to rely on his own strength! » he exclaimed, trying to save face.

Subaru defended himself as best as he could, which only triggered a few laughs in the room.

Ram, with a cynical smile on her lips:

Ram : « Hah... Barusu will always remain as strong as a worm, » slipped the pink-haired maid with a cynical smile.

Rem smiled softly and placed a tender hand on Subaru's head to stroke it for a moment.

Rem : « Subaru-kun is strong, to Rem. »

This calmed the boy down a bit, even though the humiliation of the comparison still stung.

However, a strange phenomenon seemed to suddenly occur on Emilia's side.

More discreetly — as if, for reasons unknown, a chill had filled the room.

No one commented, but it was as if, for a brief instant, the temperature of the room had brutally dropped by a few degrees, a subtle and silent cold sweeping the seats around the half-elf.

« Anyway, anyway... » resumed the Guardian forcefully, ignoring the group's dynamic.

« This Subaru is slightly different from you... but that simple detail led to what you all just saw! »

This simple sentence had the effect of a cold bomb.

A perplexed silence followed this announcement.

Roswaal, looking pensive, let his tone drop into an almost grave voice.

Roswaal : « ...A simple detail. Sufficient to transform an unwavering determination into a force capable of facing the Sword Saint himself. »

He added nothing more, but his gaze remained pensive for a long moment.

Everyone wondered about the absurdity of this revelation.

What choice, what thought, what minuscule divergence could create such a chasm between their two realities?

But before anyone could formulate a theory, the voice resumed.

« So... dearest "prisoners", do you want to see the story of this Subaru, while your Guardian prepares the rest of yours? »

At this, everyone remained silent. Truly silent. A real, heavy silence.

No one spoke — but slowly, one by one, all the gazes in the room, without exception, turned toward a single person:

Subaru.

He felt it. This silent respect.

It was his life, his face, his potential sufferings that were going to be exposed. The choice rightfully belonged to him.

He choked for a second, looking at the faces of his friends, his allies, and even his rivals.

Subaru : « Well... I suppose there's no harm in that, right? » said he with a nervous little smile.

Most nodded in silent approval.

Beatrice : « Hmph. Good decision, I suppose. »

Petra : « Yay! We're gonna see the white-haired Subaru again! » cried the little girl, raising her arms.

Her pure enthusiasm brought softened smiles to the entire room.

« Hmm, very well! Then let's start from the very beginning of the story! » declared the Guardian.

The big black screen shivered, then slowly began to light up.

In the dim light, the group prepared themselves.

Perhaps they were going to discover much more about the boy with vicious eyes than they ever would have imagined, in this story.