Chapter 87:
A Distant Gaze
1
Her head rocked back and forth with a great amount of vigor.
She discovered that someone was running quickly with her waist held under their arm. And this wasn’t the first time she had been carried like this. Not that she was used to being treated like an object, but being carried like this by her less-than-considerate partner had happened quite often.
“Cut it ouuut, Elsa...”
She’s always had trouble describing her, someone who wouldn’t listen to her no matter how many times she warned her.
She didn’t trust her enough to call her a partner or a companion, nor was she close enough to her to call her sister or mother. Her relationship with her wasn’t even close enough to call her a friend or acquaintance.
That was why she was always at a loss. What could she call her?
—What did Elsa even think of me?
“I told you to stop shaking meeee...”
It wasn’t something that could be stopped just by saying it, but it annoyed her to no end to think that they’d think she’d given up due to not saying anything, so she made sure to make her voice heard whilst knowing nothing would come of it—no, she tried to do so.
But before she could give it a try, something hot started pouring out of her mouth. She thought she had thrown up what she’d eaten earlier, but that wasn’t the case. What spilled out from deep within her was red blood.
“Damn it! She won’t stop bleeding! Beako! What should I do?!”
“At any rate! I wonder if you can get rid of the blood by making her vomit! It’d be bad if she suffocated, in fact!”
She could hear a man and a woman shouting at each other right next to her ears, and then she was leaned to the side. She continued to cough and cough as blood spilled for her throat through her lips.
Something was put into her mouth and the blood that never stopped flowing was drawn out. On the verge of suffocating, they just barely managed to create an opening in her throat, allowing oxygen to flow into her lungs and brain.
“—*Spit*! Hooray, she can breathe again! Gimme some of your healing magic!”
“Fine, I suppose! But I can’t do that much, in fact.”
“I know that!... It was my mistake that led to Meili putting herself in danger. I’ll pay the price for that.”
She could hear them talking above her head, but when she finally managed to breathe, her body grew heavy. No, it probably really did become heavier. Due to the seriousness of the situation, she had probably shifted her consciousness to other parts of her body, and, as a result of that, she became aware of her body as a whole.
Her hands and feet were immobile. Her head continued to shake. She’d vomited around three glasses of blood. And her whole body felt like it was on fire, but her back was especially so.
There was something especially wrong with her back compared to everything else. That had probably been why she couldn’t move her body and had continuously vomited blood.
Whether it was what had happened before, or what the man and woman arguing were about, or what was happening right now and how, she couldn’t remember well. However, in a world where everything was vague and disjointed, there was something that had grabbed her attention. It was—
“Pro…mise...”
She felt as if she had exchanged that with someone–
2
—When the color of the gigantic scorpion changed, it released the most powerful ray of light so far.
The expanding ray of white light shot out in all directions, and the Hungry Horse Kings, who had been aiming at its crimson shell, were blown into pieces, but it didn’t stop there, but spread out further, leaving a mass of destruction in the sea of sand.
Naturally, Subaru and Beatrice wouldn’t be able to escape unscathed, but Meili was the one who took the most damage out of all of them.
While she was leaning forward in order to command the witchbeast, she had been extremely exposed to the powerful counterattack of the gigantic scorpion—of the Crimson Scorpion.
Fortunately, she’d managed to avoid being directly hit by the stinger, which emitted that deadly ray of white light. If that happened, the body of the small girl would have been disintegrated instantly.
That hadn’t happened. However, the ray of white light from the stinger left a mass of destruction in the sea of sand, and the shock wave it generated had smashed into her. That was more than enough to cause a life-threatening injury.
“Meili!!”
Subaru and Beatrice rushed to her aid and threw themselves down into the sand, and she looked to be in terrible shape when they saw her. She seemed to have instinctively curled herself into a ball, and the impact of the shockwave seemed to have affected her back the most.
Her black cloak had been blown off, and they could see her shredded skin under her torn clothes. She appeared to be suffering from lacerations and severe burns, and, for a moment, Subaru blacked out. However—
“Am I a dumbass? Think about what you need to do right now!”
Using his fist, Subaru brought his distant consciousness back and brought out his inner strength.
His Cor Leonis ability that had always been in use–it was the ability that allowed him to take on the burdens of his friends, and to take on the life-threatening injury that Meili had just been dealt.
And of course, if Subaru were to get taken out due to taking it all on himself, then it would become completely useless. He needed to do his best to help Meili whilst not falling unconscious himself.
“It’s gonna be alright. I can do this. —You got this, Natsuki Subaru.”
Up until this point, he might have become flustered and broken down, and acted in an unsightly and disgraceful manner. But after walking on the same road as ‘Natsuki Subaru’, Subaru looked at himself in a different light. Not only did he have his own role to play, but there were also things that only he could do. Therefore—
“Emilia and Julius are doing alright. And Patrasche and Rem are also safe and sound.”
He took a look at how everyone in the tower was doing, and made a strategy based around their current conditions.
The response from Emilia suddenly disappeared, and he was worried about Julius’ fight with Reid. He was also a bit concerned about the positions of Echidna and Patrasche, but he trusted them enough to leave them be.
Instead, Subaru’s main focus right now was on Ram, and Meili, who was right in front of him.
“—Guh.”
The agony Meili was currently feeling suddenly started pouring into Subaru, causing him to groan in agony due to the intense pain he was feeling in his insides.
To be honest, Ram’s burdens alone were quite difficult to deal with. To add Meili’s life-threatening injuries to that would be akin to suicide.
“This is bad...!”
Though he’d bragged about his abilities before, it was impossible to take on 100% of both at the same time.
And if that’s the case, then Meili, who was dealing with life-threatening injuries, must be given priority, and he would need to reduce the amount of Ram’s burdens flowing into him.
Perhaps Ram would be perceptive enough to figure out what had happened with that alone.
“Man, I’m gonna be in for a big scolding later...”
“Haaa! After all that big talk about your Authority, look how messy things turned out. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Barusu.”
Enduring the bitter taste of blood, Subaru imagined a very realistic reaction from her.
The effect of Cor Leonis should simply take on people’ burdens, but the fact that he could actually taste blood was a sign that a reaction was going on within Subaru’s own body.
One’s imagination had an extraordinary affect on one’s body. He had heard about how if a person firmly believed that a hot iron had been pressed against their body, then they would feel as if they had been burned.
In other words, by taking on Meili’s severe back injury and other internal injuries, Subaru’s body reacted in a similar way. If things went south, there could be two dead bodies lying here with the same causes of death.
“That is…well, a bit troubling, you know—!”
Carrying Meili on his back, he spit the blood in his mouth out and stood up. Then he ducked, evading the flaming spear of the Hungry Horse King, and retreated, and created distance between them with Beatrice’s purple stakes.
The one who was attacking them was the Hungry Horse King that had been carrying them not too long ago. As soon as the situation took a turn for the worse, the intelligent witchbeast did not betray her out of the blue–it was simply because Meili’s Divine Protection was no longer in effect, causing it to return to following its natural instincts.
Without the leadership of Meili, the witchbeast went back to being an enemy of mankind, and regarded Subaru and the others as enemies. And now there were many such witchbeasts in the sea of sand.
“Uuugh.”
“Meili!”
As he was running away from the witchbeast, Meili spat blood onto Subaru’s arm. She coughed up a storm and spat out blood, and seeing her in pain like that made him really nervous. He couldn’t even take a breather and find a place to treat her wounds.
At this rate—
“Damn it! She won’t stop bleeding! Beako! What should I do?!”
“At any rate! I wonder if you can get rid of the blood by making her vomit! It’d be bad if she suffocated, in fact!”
While trying hard to maintain a certain amount of distance between them and the witchbeasts, he gave his mana over to Beatrice. In the meantime, Subaru shook Meili to get her to vomit the blood that was stuck in her throat.
But even with such efforts, Meili’s complexion didn’t change and she wouldn’t stop bleeding. As a result, Subaru had no choice but to forcefully remove the blood from her throat by creating a siphon using his clenched fist, placing it over her mouth, and sucking all of the blood out.
“*Cough*! Gah.”
“—*Spit* Hooray, she can breathe again! Gimme some of your healing magic!”
“Fine, I suppose! But I can’t do that much, in fact.”
“I know that!... It was my mistake that led to Meili putting herself in danger. I’ll pay the price for that.”
Strictly speaking, Subaru was already starting to pay for his failure. But the interest was accumulating at a rapid rate even though he’d already reduced the amount of Ram’s burdens he’d take in.
As it was now, he wondered how much time he could buy.
“No, this is where I need to take a stand. If I stand back and do nothing, I’d just be a cowa...”
“Don’t let go! I suppose!”
“Huh?!”
Subaru ran with his teeth clenched and his body dealing with the full effects of his Authority. And Beatrice suddenly jumped onto his shoulders.
Of course, Subaru was surprised to suddenly be giving someone a piggyback ride, but Beatrice was as light as cotton candy, so it wouldn’t slow down their escape.
“Beako—”
“Subaru, don’t try to do everything by yourself, I suppose. Betty and Subaru are partners, and Meili is as well. You weren’t the only one who promised to help, in fact.”
“───”
Holding Subaru’s head tightly in her arms, Beatrice spoke softly.
Through Subaru, who was speechless after hearing that, she began to treat Meili’s wounds with her gentle healing magic. —And Subaru could feel the sensation of a warm light gradually healing her through him.
Based on this warmth alone, it was clear that Beatrice was looking out for everyone.
“““—ッッッ.”””
“───”
In the background, the battle between the witchbeasts continued.
Fortunately, even when Meili’s Divine Protection was no longer in use, the Crimson Scorpion and the Hungry Horse King’s didn’t sign some sort of peace treaty. And it was the same with all of the other witchbeasts.
The stinger and the pincers of the Crimson Scorpion took out around half of the witchbeasts approaching Subaru and co. And, naturally, the other half was still beelining for them, so there was no time to rest.
“Do we have any options?—”
In fact, it wasn’t that there weren’t any. Based on Beatrice’s words and the care she showed for Meili, there was definitely a way to change their current situation, if not break through it.
However, he was hesitant to do so because he wasn’t sure if it was feasible or not and it could not be confirmed with trial and error this time, so this was the worst kind of situation for Subaru. However—
“Subaru! If you’re hesitating for Betty’s sake, I don’t want you to, I suppose! If the reason has nothing to do with Betty, then we can simply apologize together later, in fact!”
“───”
“—To go through suffering together, to experience happiness together...to never leave Betty behind! Those are the terms of Betty and Subaru’s contract!”
Beatrice cried that out angrily as she looked at Subaru’s profile. Though he couldn’t see her face because she was behind his head, Subaru’s prideful partner, however, was rather adorable even when she got angry.
And so, though Subaru had gotten spoiled, the words his partner uttered to him gave him courage. There was no time for him to worry about anything. The need to worry was no longer necessary due to his partner’s words.
Therefore—
“I love you, Beako.”
“Betty loves you more, in fact.”
They exchanged words of love, and then Subaru looked down at the dying Meili. And, he resolved to never lose another life.
“—Cor Leonis, Second Shift.”
He gave a new name to the Lion’s Heart ability that he had already named himself, and internally switched gears.
By doing so, he expanded his Small King Authority—for he had always been scolded for being an isolated king who carried everyone’s burdens on his back.
However, he would never be like the shameless Greed who forced all of his burdens onto others. And so, what Subaru wanted to do with this Authority was share his burdens with those who wanted to be with him. Basically—
“Second Shift—Burden Sharing.”
The burdens that Subaru had once had to carry by himself would be sent to his friends who’d need to experience it with their entire beings. It would be distributed to those who were willing to accept it.
For now—
“—Subaru.”
“Yeah?”
“...IT’S VERY HARD, IN FACT!!”
“YUP, IT’S VERY HARD!!”
The Second Shift of Cor Leonis had been activated, and the burdens that Subaru received were distributed to the others. It wasn’t half, though. Even so, the burden on him was much lighter now, and Beatrice, who was now sharing in his burdens, looked quite pale.
Subaru shouted that back at Beatrice, who yelled in order to make it seem like she was in more pain than she really was.
It’s tough. It’s painful. It’s impossible to handle.
Having to take care of everyone’s burdens because he’s the king? Damn that. —Therefore, thanks to everyone who wanted to support the Small King, who could not stand alone, he could now move forward.
“Is it fine to share this suffering with you, by the way?...”
“───”
“I see, so I can’t share it with you. That’s too bad.”
Subaru then turned his attention towards the Crimson Scorpion while Beatrice, who now shared his burdens and was on his shoulders, treated Meili.
Its true identity was Shaula, and he could still feel their connection though Cor Leonis. He could see a big, massive light over there.
Unfortunately for them, Subaru and Beatrice didn’t seem to be able to hand all of the burdens over to the Crimson Scorpion. —Since she didn’t have the intention to take it.
Only those who wanted to support the Small King would receive it. The rules of this Authority were very clear and inflexible. That’s why he could not afford to be arrogant. He could not forget that he was being supported by the people around him.
“Beako! Let your head and body do different things!”
“—Mm, That’s a difficult order, in fact!!”
They wanted to continue her treatment, and they also wanted to come up with a solution for the current situation, since the Crimson Scorpion’s tail was starting to light up and turning towards Subaru and co. —
“—E M M!!”
His absolute defense magic, which granted him a form of invincibility and served as a trump card, was activated, and then a shockwave swallowed Subaru’s three-person group.
3
—The events currently occurring below the clouds were not able to be perceived by Emilia, who was above the clouds.
But much like her friends who were fighting for their lives, Emilia, after fighting a fierce battle, had finally made it there.
“───”
The top of the Pleiades Watchtower, above the first floor, the true peak.
In the place she managed to reach by sacrificing countless ice soldiers, she saw the base of the central pillar—a black Monolith had been placed there. The Monolith itself looked just like the one’s she saw during the Trial of the third floor. What made it different was that it was not floating, and the surface, which should have been free of imperfections, caught her eye. It was—
“—Someone’s handprints?”
Emilia, who’d widened her amethyst eyes, could see several sets of handprints on the surface of the Monolith—six in total, including both men and women.
The size of the hands and the thickness of the fingers indicated that they all belonged to humans. And it was clear that they were all friendly with each other due to taking the trouble to place their handprints next to each other like that, and that they had something to do with the tower—
“...Maybe Shaula’s master or Reid?”
They were all Emilia could think of when it came to people who were involved with the tower. There was also Volcanica, but these were human handprints, and there was no sign of dragon handprints. Therefore, she could only come up with two people out of six who could have placed their handprints here.
“—? Wait, this is…”
One of the handprints suddenly made Emilia feel uncomfortable. It was lightly pressed at the end of the other six handprints—the one’s next to it all had similar sizes, but the two at the end were uniquely small.
What had attracted Emilia’s attention the most was this set of handprints—
“Are these handprints…mine...?”
Murmuring that, Emilia frowned and looked down at her right hand.
It was strange, but she couldn’t help but get that feeling. One of the handprints that had been pressed onto the Monolith appeared to be her own.
“───”
Holding her breath, Emilia turned to face the Monolith, and, in order to dispel the doubts she had, she stretched out her right hand towards the handprint—
“—Thou, who hath reached the top of the tower. Step forth onto the first floor, almighty petitioner.”
“—Mmm! He’s here!”
Right before touching the Monolith, Emilia heard a familiar voice sounding down from above, and turned towards it.
It was Volcanica, who fluttered his wings and descended to the upper floor, who had writhed in agony when Emilia’s ice soldiers touched the white scale on his neck earlier.
“───”
With the Monolith behind her, Emilia confronted the Divine Dragon.
When she was climbing up the pillar, the battle they’d waged had been quite intense, and if they were to continue it here, they would have to fight just as hard. Though it had a decent amount of space, the upper floor of the tower was smaller than the floor below, which would make fighting more difficult.
“And if the Monolith gets destroyed, I'll reaaally be in trouble...”
When they first encountered a Monolith on the third floor, Julius and Ram prevented anyone from striking them, so she didn’t know how durable they were.
However, no matter how durable it was, Emilia felt like it wouldn’t be able to survive a strike from the Divine Dragon.
“I’m suuuper positive it’ll break if you try to hit me. Sooo—!”
Just in case, Emilia once again created seven ice soldiers near her. They had been crushed on the way to the upper floor, but their faces were full of energy and confidence like Emilia’s right now.
As they brought out their ice weapons, Emilia created two ice swords and held them in her hands. Then she rushed towards Volcanica in tandem with her seven ice soldiers.
“Let’s go, everyone! The white spot on Volcanica’s neck is suuuper sensitive!”
After seeing how strongly Volcanica reacted when she fiddled with the white scale before, she discovered that it was his weak point. She didn’t want to hurt him or anything, but if she could just get someone to play with it for a while, she would have time to focus on the Monolith—
“—Huh?”
After uttering that, Emilia discovered that she had been turned upside-down.
“───”
She couldn’t figure out what in the world had happened. But she had a feeling that something had touched her foot as it was moving forward. It had happened so quickly that she didn’t realize what had just occurred until she’d already been flipped over.
And, at the same time—
“Ah.”
The seven ice soldiers were reduced to nothing around Emilia, who had been flipped upside-down. All of their heads had been skillfully smashed, reducing them to mana particles before they could make a move. Feeling it on her skin, she shivered.
That had been Volcanica’s tail. It had rapidly swept Emilia’s legs out from under her and at the same time crushed the heads of the ice soldiers. Realizing that a single swing of his tail had done that, her throat froze up.
It was a lot faster than the surprise attack Emilia had been able to block the first time. If the attack power of Subaru’s whip was one, Volcanica’s tail was around 1,000 or even 10,000. Before that power, even Emilia would get mercilessly defeated. And so a question suddenly sprung up in her mind.
“Why are you soooo kind to me...?”
He had only swept her feet from under her and flipped her upside-down, but had mercilessly smashed the heads of the ice soldiers.
Why the different treatment? It was hard for her to believe based on how angry he was when she touched his white scale before.
Then Emilia suddenly remembered that she hadn’t gotten away from the situation she was currently in.
“Oh nooo—”
She was about to fall headfirst into the ground. Once again, a gentle impact from the side had flipped her legs into the air.
“Wow, oopsies...!”
Emilia landed in a dangerous position after rotating herself until she was sideways. At the moment she looked up after that close call—
“...What art thou doing?”
As he said this, she saw the Divine Dragon’s face right in front of her.
“Umm...?”
He was literally right in front of her eyes and nose. If Emilia were to move her face forward just a tad, her nose would brush against his rock-hard, sharp, and robust body.
Emilia was completely surprised by the fact that a dragon’s face was so close to her. But what puzzled Emilia even more was—
“Your way of speaking is soooo different from the way you’ve been speaking this whoooole time!”
“───”
“Have you come back to your senses now? Can we talk about lots of things then? I reaaaally want to talk to you about the Trial and about changing the rules of the tower...”
Gazing at Volcanica, Emilia shot question after question at him. If the Divine Dragon, who she had thought had become senile, had returned to normal, then she could try asking him about the Trial again. Then there would be no need to resort to violence.
“Hey, I’m begging you! Pleaaaase talk to me...”
“What if thou fell due to thou jumping up and down wildly like that? If something were to happen to thee, I would be scolded...because everyone humbles themselves before thee.”
“Volcanica...?”
Volcanica spoke to Emilia, who had been worried about everyone in the tower and desperately begging for his help, with words that had never been spoken before.
However, the content of his answer did not seem to answer Emilia’s plea, which only deepened the amount of confusion.
However, in the eyes of Volcanica that reflected Emilia, there was gentleness. It was the appearance of emotion, quite different from the emptiness of before. He gazed gently and affectionately at Emilia—
“Where art Flugel and Reid? Shaula wilt be lonely if they dost not say adieu when leaving. Farsale, too, shalt make much noise.”
“───”
Volcanica kept going, looking at Emilia with kind eyes. As the dragon gazed at something that wasn’t there, he spoke of Flugel and Reid, as well as Shaula, and another—
It would not be clear unless she knew their family game, but Emilia remembered that name. Farsale, and if that was who she thought it was…
“Farsale? Farsale Lugunica? The king from 400 years ago?”
In the course of studying for the royal selection, that was a person who had been mentioned many times in books.
Farsale Lugunica—the thirty-fifth king of the Kingdom of Lugunica as well as a great man who ruled the kingdom 400 years ago during the era of the Witch.
And the Last Lion King had formed a covenant with none other than the Divine Dragon, Volcanica, which set the future prosperity of the Kingdom of Lugunica in stone.
“───”
Emilia gently turned to look at the Monolith behind her.
There were six handprints—and if what Volcanica said were true, then did three of the handprints belong to Flugel, Reid, and Farsale? And the others probably belonged to a man and a woman.
“Then is the woman’s handprint Shaula’s...?”
She thought that was the most likely answer. She did not know who the last male handprint belonged to, but she’d let it be for now. Anyhow, the biggest issue at the moment was that there was an unknown handprint that appeared to be hers—
“No way, I...am I forgetting even more things than just Mom and everyone else in the forest?”
Emilia had a history of having her memories sealed, so she began to doubt herself. Even if that weren’t the case, the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony was capable of taking away one’s Name and Memories. There was a possibility that she had come here before and left a handprint on it but had forgotten about it.
“No, it doesn’t matter. If only Puck were here, then he could tell me if I’ve been here before or not.”
“—Art thou alright? Is something troubling thee?”
“Oh, well, uh… I’m fine. Thank you for caring about me. Thank you, buuut...”
In the end, Emilia was in trouble since it seemed like it would be hard to have a normal conversation with Volcanica. This was much better than being hit by his tail or paws, there was no question about that, but it still seemed pretty strange since this was a Trial.
Emilia thought about what to do—
“If thou needs anything, tell me. I will remove thy anxiety from thee, —Satella.”
—As he uttered those words, she gasped.
“───”
Satella…it hadn’t been the first time she’d been called that name.
Many people were reminded of that being because of Emilia’s long silver hair, amethyst eyes, and the fact that she was a half-elf. The only difference between them was simply their names.
There were those who called her Satella, those who called her the most horrible calamity, and those who called her the Witch of Envy. Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise that he called Emilia by that name.
What was strange, however, was that he treated Satella with affection. For it was Volcanica, Reid, and Flugel, whose feats were credited to Shaula, who sealed Satella, who was also called the Witch of Envy.
Why did he treat her like that?—
“Why do you speak the name of the Witch of Envy with such gentleness?”
She could have called her Satella or the Witch, too.
There were those who called her Satella, those who called her the worst calamity, and those who called her the Witch.
And Emilia called her the Witch of Envy. That is—
“—The Witch of Envy.”
—There was a change in Volcanica’s distant gaze.
The change that could be seen in Volcanica’s golden eyes was dramatic.
As usual, the dragon’s head, right in front of Emilia, was still gazing at her. That was why she got goosebumps when she saw him change so dramatically up close.
She felt as if it wasn’t a good kind of change, either.
Emilia, who’d been raised in a forest, had knowledge due to experiencing many thing while living out in the wild. In circumstances like that, she had seen many witchbeasts that changed suddenly.
Getting that kind of feeling, Emilia jumped backwards as she was being pulled by something.
That was the correct choice.
“───”
In the moment afterwards, the air in front of Emilia exploded. And that was no exaggeration, as the space had compressed and then quickly expanded, resulting in an explosion.
The principle behind that phenomenon, which was peculiar, was unknowable, and it was as if it warped the space itself. If one were in its area of effect, one would get warped by it, and it did not matter if one’s defenses were strong or not.
And that had occurred right where Emilia’s head had been.
If Emilia had not jumped back in time, she would most certainly have died.
Not to mention his tail attacks, but now even the warping of space itself, Emilia had gotten into many situations that could have led to her death. This may have been the first time that a person’s life had been threatened so many times.
“But I seem to be reaaally lucky so I somehow managed to get through everything.”
If the element of luck was Emilia’s ally, then it was the gift of good luck that gave her a chance to breathe, so she interpretated her situation in a positive manner.
If she didn’t do so, then she would become overwhelmed by all of the new changes. Because—
“—Satella.”
Spreading his wings out once more, Volcanica was starting to express a certain hostility towards her.
Seeing this, Emilia endured the urge to stomp on the ground in frustration. It looked as if he had finally come back to his senses, but now it seemed as if he had reverted to the way he was before.
What’s more, he seemed even more senile and vigilant than when he was in a dazed state.
“—Icicle Line.”
Therefore, there was no need for Emilia to go easy on him, so she unleashed her magic with unwavering determination.
It froze the atmosphere which soon began to crack, then a white mist slowly began to drift through the battlefield. It created a frozen world of white, as if it were no different from the upper floor above the clouds.
Then, making a bit of noise, Emilia slowly stood up wearing ice armor—pulling an ice spear out of the floor, she twirled it around and pointed it in front of her. She once again prepared to fight against Volcanica.
However, if Volcanica were to get serious, Emilia wasn’t sure if she would be able to handle his attacks. He was a lot stronger than he was when he was in a senile state—no, perhaps he was back in that state again.
“But...”
Staring straight into those golden eyes, Emilia wasn’t sure if she could say that Volcanica’s behavior was due to being senile. For his eyes were full of sorrow and anguish.
“Satella, yes, Satella. We must stop thee who hast become the Witch of Envy.”
“...Were you two reaaally close?”
“On that day, I wish I hadn’t hesitated. On that day, if I did not hesitate, then no one would have—”
He did not finish what he was about to say. But based on Volcanica’s trembling voice, the answer as to why was quite clear.
The dragon, languishing in regret, took a deep breath, and the breath that had scorched the world of white earlier was unleashed once again.
But before that happened, it was crucial for Emilia to get up close and strike his white scale. Without doing so, Emilia would perish, and as a consequence, everyone else would too.
“—Subaru, Beatrice, Ram, Rem, Meili, Patrasche, Echidna, Julius, and Anastasia.”
She thought about everyone else in the tower who were fighting for their lives. Of everyone she needed to help, of everyone who was fighting for the same cause. After doing so, a strange power appeared from deep within Emilia’s chest.
“—The Witch of Envy, Satella!!”
“—No, that’s not me. I am the Witch of Glaciation of the Elior Forest, Emilia.”
Emilia answered the Divine Dragon, who mistook her for someone else, in a loud voice, overflowing with the power that had sprung up from within herself.
Though the enemy was the Divine Dragon, there was nothing to be afraid of. —Emilia was supported by everyone.
“—Be sure to at least remember that name!”
—In the final phase of the battle surrounding the Pleiades Watchtower, light erupted above and below the clouds.