3
The crimson scorpion shuddered, and the light from its carapace grew even more intense. It could have been simply shifting to an even more aggressive color, but it looked different to Subaru.
That bright, vivid red looked like an expression of Shaula’s cries. Four hundred years she spent with her emotions bottled up, holed up in this tower, doing what she had been told, and now her very being was glowing as all those overflowing emotions surged outward.
Red was the color of passion; red was the color of rage; and red was the color of irrepressible love.
The crimson scorpion glowed red because it wanted to love and to be loved.
“Horoscopes do say Scorpios are supposed to be super passionate!!!”
Shouting as he kicked off the sand, Subaru swung his shoulder and let his whip fly.
“ ”
His aim was the fickle crimson scorpion turning its back on him and dueling with Julius.
He’d make his presence known with the whip.
Sorry to bother you when you’re busy, but the master you’re so passionate about is right here. The attention was so annoying, and I was cruel about it before, but…
“As a man, it does kinda bother me, seeing you so preoccupied with another guy…!”
“You, of all people, shouldn’t be complaining about that!”
Beatrice’s vicious objection rang out as his whip cleanly wound around the base of the crimson scorpion’s tail. His aim was true.
However, it was no different from moments ago when they had been swung down into the sand.
And the crimson scorpion, perhaps because of that underwhelming tug-of-war, stayed focused on Julius, leaving Subaru and Beatrice to be dealt with later.
They were weak. Subaru was more than happy to take advantage of that preconception.
“El Vita!!!”
“Guooooooh!!!”
Beatrice cast a spell, and as it took effect on Subaru’s body, his feet sank into the sand under tremendous weight.
As the opposite of Murak, instead of decreasing an object’s mass, Vita increased it—bumping up his weight class from a sumo wrestler’s makushita tier to a yokozuna tier. With that new mass, he fought the scorpion’s tail.
However, that still wasn’t enough. Even with more weight, it was still just the difference of one or two hundred odd pounds. That was no match for the absurd strength Shaula demonstrated when she carried the dragon carriage so easily over her head.
Holding on tight, his feet sinking into the ground, Subaru shouted.
“Here’s the climax! Go for it!!!”
The next instant, Subaru’s body, which was on the verge of being uprooted, suddenly steadied.
The reason was clear: The forces pulling at the whip were evenly matched. The crimson scorpion versus Subaru—or rather, Subaru and everyone else.
“ Giiiiiii.”
Leaping in front of Subaru, a grotesque, dark figure grabbed the taut whip and burst into the tug-of-war: a gabaou.
And the gabaou wasn’t the only creature joining the fray. A bear with flowers all over its body, a mole with wings, a twin-headed snake all joined, too.
The demon beasts that should have been his mortal enemies were aiding Subaru.
And the cause was, of course…
“…You really are a cruel taskmaster…”
Subaru heard a girl’s annoyed, languid voice. The source stood atop the sands with a pale face and ragged breathing—Meili.
Her sweet face was tensed, and she let out a deep, long sigh.
Clapping her hands loudly, she said:
“Come on now, everyone in. No point watching from the sidelines.”
A beat later, the desert trembled.
It was the footsteps of the charging demon beasts, their cries, and the power of the demon beast tamer—no, the mother of the demon beasts, who ruled over this demonic realm known as the Auguria Dunes.
In this battle, she used the stampede to turn it into a total war, demonstrating the true extent of her abilities.
“ ”
Meili grimaced in pain, but she was still standing.
There was a trick to how she had recovered enough to be able to make it in time for this final battle.
Subaru had taken on the damage she had received using Cor Leonis, of course, and he had parted it out. That was where the last card he had came into play.
It wasn’t Emilia, Beatrice, or Ram. It wasn’t Julius, Echidna, Patrasche, Meili, or the sleeping Rem, either.
The final ally who was supporting them in their attempt to clear the Auguria Dunes…
“—Sorry for getting you caught up in this, Joseph! Please help us!!!”
In the distance, in the tower’s basement—the ground dragon left behind on the sixth floor—Joseph. Noticing his presence with Cor Leonis, Subaru had boldly shifted the burden to the ground dragon.
It was a decision that pained him terribly, but what broke his heart most of all was that Joseph fulfilled the conditions for Cor Leonis. That meant Joseph wanted to support him just as much as Beatrice and his other comrades.
With Joseph’s saintlike agreement, Subaru shifted the bulk of Meili’s burden over to the ground dragon. That was what allowed Meili to stand back up.
That was also the reason why the crimson scorpion was suddenly deeply disadvantaged in this contest of strength.
And…
“…That’s why you’re going to lose, Shaula.”
With the full force of their crew, even borrowing the strength of demon beasts and a ground dragon, they managed to pull the crimson scorpion off the ground.
The Finest of Knights wouldn’t let that opportunity slip through his fingers.
The rainbow slash severed the crimson scorpion’s tail at the base.
“ ”
The severed tail exploded in a blast radius just like when it severed its body parts before, but the rainbow flash didn’t allow it. Interrupted, having its trump card sealed, the crimson scorpion swung its pincers down furiously at Julius’s back.
“Shhhh!”
But the arcing slash cleanly severed the pincer at its weakest joint. The scorpion shuddered from the force of its arm being severed but still reached out with its remaining right pincer to grab at Julius, but…
“Al Clanvel.”
Just before it could close, the aurora around Julius’s body unraveled and then swelled.
When the rainbow armor came undone, there was an explosive swell of light that burst the closing pincer from the inside, blowing it away at its base.
“ Sssssss”
Battered by the shock wave, the crimson scorpion’s massive body rose in the air. And then, slamming down heavily onto the ground on its back, it was in a terrible state without pincers or a tail. The demon beasts quickly surrounded the overturned scorpion.
With all eight legs held in place, it couldn’t move at all. Twisting its body, trying to avoid the impending end, it moved its head to better position its sharp fangs.
Or perhaps, with its extreme adaptability, it wouldn’t have been so surprising if it gave birth to some new ability, managing some new growth to overcome this pinch, but…
“—That’s enough, Shaula.”
Subaru stood in front of the writhing crimson scorpion, reflected in all of its compound eyes.
It would have been easy to finish off the scorpion after it had lost all its weapons, had its legs pinned down, and been forced into this pitiful state. But that wasn’t what Subaru wanted.
He didn’t know for certain what the right choice was, but…
“Meili.”
“…What would you have done without me, I wonder…?”
Meili sighed and moved over toward the crimson scorpion.
Standing beside Subaru, she exhaled and snapped her fingers. Focusing the scorpion’s attention on her, she asked:
“Who are you? A scary red scorpion? Or…?”
“ ”
“Or someone else?”
The movement of the crimson scorpion’s compound eyes dulled. Quivering, they quietly looked at Meili, and then back to Subaru.
Those aggressive red eyes slowly began to change color.
“Shaula.”
The carapace’s red glow faded.
The eyes turned green, the carapace black, gradually calming, until finally…
“Shaula!”
Finally…
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