3
Light poured into Subaru’s eyes as he stared in wonder at the state of the second floor.
Up the large staircase, what should have greeted them was a great, white void. Instead, what should have been an empty space was marred by the scars of a furious battle that had left deep gouges in the floors, the walls, and the ceiling.
We’re not allowed to destroy the tower. If that’s the rule that was broken…
“The tower’s tests shouldn’t be allowed to break the tower’s rules. That guy’s a troublemaker no matter what he’s doing…,” Subaru murmured bitterly.
“—Ah? The hell? I was wondering who was comin’, but it’s just you?”
The red-haired hero standing in the middle of the ravaged second floor turned and scrunched up his nose in annoyance.
It was exactly the sort of thing Reid Astrea would say. That attitude perfectly lined up with Subaru’s impression of the man. If anything was different, it was the battered boy he was holding aloft with one hand.
“Kah-ha-ha…”
The boy’s eyes looked half-dead. Subaru had not met him face-to-face before, but his face seemed familiar, resembling Lye Batenkaitos’s. This had to be…
“…Gluttony. Roy Alphard.”
It wasn’t Subaru who said that. It was Julius, the handsome young man clad in white who raced up the stairs close on Subaru’s heels. Right after he woke up, Subaru took Beatrice and headed straight for the second floor, grabbing Julius along the way.
The goal had been to stop Reid and Roy from making contact, but…
“Even coming straight here still wasn’t good enough…”
This was the fastest he could theoretically reach this point, given when and where he started. It would be impossible to prevent the Sword Saint and the Archbishop of Gluttony from making contact. At the same time, it was clear their first meeting wasn’t exactly copacetic.
Given the signs of damage, it must have been some battle these two had fought. Most likely Gluttony had used all the ultimate techniques he had ever gobbled up to corner Reid. Unfortunately, no matter what he pulled out, it wouldn’t be enough to best this immovable object.
“So, what’re you gonna do? I know the tower’s goin’ to shit, so why are you here? You wanna take your examination? A small fry and a rug rat aren’t enough to entertain me…”
“First, I would ask you to release him, Reid Astrea.”
“The hell you say?”
Still holding Roy by the ankle, Reid picked at his ear with his free hand, growling in annoyance. But Julius didn’t wither under Reid’s gaze.
“Allow me to repeat myself. Release him. The fight is clearly over. There’s no need to denigrate the defeated further.”
“I don’t feel like it. And who do you think you’re orderin’ around? He a friend of yours or something?”
“No. I can say with quite some confidence he is not. The Archbishop of Gluttony is in fact a bitter enemy I would gladly fight to the death.”
“Eh? Then why so pissy? Mad I got to him first?”
“Because you are sullying the pride of a swordsman.”
After coming face-to-face with the man named the Sword Saint, a title only meant for those who stood at the very peak of sword skill—and the first man to ever receive the title—Julius declared him lacking.
In response to a statement that could only be interpreted as contempt, Reid exhaled deeply.
“—The pride of a swordsman, huh?”
Subaru could feel that whisper scorch the very air. Even though it was quiet and sounded almost indifferent, it was a sign that the first Sword Saint Reid Astrea was about to erupt.
“Hey, how long are you gonna nap? Get up already.”
“Ghggg!”
There was a terrible groan as he clenched his fist around Roy’s ankle so tightly, it seemed like he might crush it entirely. The boy cried out in pain as Reid looked down at the drooling, upside-down Archbishop.
“What you said before. About eating me up and gobbling me up and all that—I’ll let you do it.”
“…Gee-hee. Kah-ha-ha-ha-ha! What?! What’s this, all of a sudden?! You beat us and pummeled us and battered us because you didn’t want to do that!”
“Changed my mind— Ah, right.”
Reid grinned like a shark and held up his free hand.
He had no problem catching the tip of the whip aimed at his neck—completely thwarting Subaru’s surprise attack.
“Ah…”
Unfortunately, since he had forgotten how to actually use the whip, Subaru had simply mimicked what he had seen before.
“No hesitation. I can respect that. Limper than a wet noodle, though!”
After offering that bit of feedback, Reid yanked the whip. Subaru tried to hold on, but that just meant he was pulled off his feet.
“Wh-whoaaaaa?!” “Subaru!”
Beatrice grabbed onto Subaru and went along for the ride. They flew in an arc and looked like they were due for a bad landing, but Beatrice managed to control their fall with her magic.
“Subaru! Lady Beatri—”
“Heads up, dumbass.”
“Ghh, ahhh!”
Reid noticed Julius’s lapse in attention and promptly kicked the knight aside. Julius managed to raise his sword to block, but he couldn’t lessen the impact and found himself hurtling through the vast, white space.
And before any of them could do anything else—
“Give it your best shot. Can you wolf me down? Will you live or will you die?”
“—Ahhh, yeah, yeah! Got it. We got it. We get it. We understand. All is understood! That’s why! Gluttony! Gluttony!”
Still hanging upside down, Roy howled with glee in Reid’s face. Then the Archbishop of Gluttony reached out, putting his hand over the eye patch covering Reid’s left eye.
And then his mouth cracked wide open.
“Reid Astrea.”
That was all Roy said before he started furiously slurping to devour something invisible to the naked eye. This was Gluttony’s meal and the exact moment he desecrated a being’s very existence to sate his voracious hunger.
“Ah.”
The change was sudden and swift. Reid disappeared like he was a figment of the imagination.
His tall, imposing figure had simply vanished, and Roy, who had been held by the ankle, fell to the floor. Roy landed lightly, licking his lips in rapture.
“Ahhh, incredible…! We imagined so many different flavors, wondering what it might taste like, but…it’s so much better than we imagined!”
“Damn, it’s too late…!”
“Ah-ha-ha, you saw, right?! We ate! We ate it! What a rich flavor! We would eat anything, but after tasting that, even we can see a bit of Lye’s… Oh.”
Roy arched over backward, cheeks red, as he ranted about how Reid tasted. It was the worst sort of food review imaginable—but he was cut short.
For Subaru, who knew what happened next, the reaction was already expected.
“Wh-what’s happening now…?” Beatrice murmured in disgust.
“W-w-w-wait, eeep, gee-hee, gee-heee… This is…this is weird. This is weird, isn’t it?! Th-this is…you’re weird, you bastard!”
Holding Beatrice’s hand, Subaru gritted his teeth.
Roy’s expression changed. A twisted smile suddenly appeared on his face. A familiar sharklike grin.
“Nothin’ weird about it. Eat or be eaten. That’s life.”
Grinning savagely, the boy said something that sounded nothing like Gluttony… And then it happened. Even though they didn’t so much as blink, none of them caught the crucial turning point. That was just how natural the shift was.
“Ahhh, a real, live body is just different. I can feel the blood pumpin’ through my veins.”
In the blink of an eye, there had been a substitution, and just like that, the ferocious Reid Astrea stole the Archbishop of Gluttony’s body and returned to the world of the living.
“Reid Astrea appeared in the Archbishop’s place…”
“More precisely, he took advantage of Gluttony’s authority to re-create someone they’ve eaten and then overwrote his consciousness… Right?”
“Spare me that complicated crap. How should I know? Not like it even matters. Small fry spouting that… Huh? You… This is… Ah, I know what you are.”
“? What?”
He took over his new body through sheer force of will, but that seemed like a secondary concern to Reid. He frowned, seemingly reflecting on something for once, and then his blue eyes focused on Subaru.
“—You’re disgusting.”
The next instant, he launched a chopstick at Subaru’s face.
“Ngh!”
Before Subaru could even register that it would punch right through his skull, a smooth flash of steel cut down the projectile. Leaping in at the last moment, Julius saved him.
Julius’s white cape fluttered as Subaru gasped.
“Reid! Your opponent is—!”
“You? No way you can tangle with me while worrying about that little princess behind you!”
Julius moved as fast as a hurricane, but Reid closed in even faster.
A twisting palm thrust landed square in the center of Julius’s chest, hurling him backward while he coughed up blood. He tried to kill the momentum with his long legs, but he just kept flying.
And then Reid turned his attention to Subaru, who had lost Julius’s protection.
“You’ve lost your pathetic prince now, Princess.”
“I object to those titles…but it bought me the time I need!”
“Ah?”
Just before the chopstick flashed, Subaru and Beatrice slipped in front of Julius.
Clasping both her hands, using all of Subaru’s paltry MP, Beatrice activated a big spell to manipulate space itself.
“Ul Shamak.”
Right after her incantation finished, a massive black hole appeared.
An endless, bottomless, black hole evoking a primordial fear attempted to swallow Reid whole and send him to the great beyond.
Space twisted, and Beatrice’s spell—
“What is this, a breeze? There’s nothing special about a breeze you can find anywhere. You think that’ll stop me?”
Reid casually silenced the massive spell with a single swing of his chopstick.
Dimension Slash—an attack so powerful that anyone else would consider it their ultimate move, and Reid used it incredibly casually. The slash’s blast wave raced toward Subaru and Beatrice. He hurried to get Beatrice to safety when—
“Gaaaaaa!!!”
“Subaru!”
A burning sensation accompanied the feeling of his body splitting open.
Beatrice and Julius shouted as he fell backward. The blood and pain welling up made Subaru want to cry out, but he desperately held it in.
“I’m…fine…”
He shook his head, not wanting them to worry. Of course, it was going to take more than that to convince them.
The wound on my chest is shallow. Okay, it isn’t shallow, but it doesn’t hurt, either. Now I’m definitely lying to myself, but it doesn’t hurt so much that I can’t take it. Anyway, it’s terrible, but it’s fine. Beatrice didn’t get caught up in it. That’s what matters. I can’t let this guy out of my sight.
Keeping his eyes forward, Subaru watched Reid like a hawk.
“You think you can reach me like that?”
Reid watched in exasperation as blood trickled from the corner of Subaru’s mouth.
Subaru stuck out his arm and held up one finger.
“—Yeah. I will.”
Somewhere, someday, I will.
Emilia, Beatrice, Ram, Rem, Meili, Echidna, Julius, Shaula, Patrasche, everyone I care about. I’ll save them all.
Every last one.
So right now—
“Add one to the counter.”
He would die as many times as it took to make this counterattack succeed. He would become the true Natsuki Subaru.
And as Subaru made that final declaration, Reid’s blue eye flashed—
Round 1
•Reid and Gluttony’s battle cannot be prevented. Preventing their merger is virtually impossible.
•Julius has a chance of winning.
•Natsuki Subaru has no hope of winning.
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