5
“Gahhhh!!!”
Mizelda screamed as flames consumed her body in an instant.

Everyone froze, watching as she transformed into a fiery figure.

“—Holly!” Kuna shouted.

“G-got it!!!”

Holly dashed to a water jug large enough to fill her arms. With her superhuman strength, she lifted it and hurled it with all her might at Mizelda’s feet.

The jug shattered, spilling water across the floor, dousing Mizelda as she collapsed.

“…Ah.”

The flames had only burned for an instant, but the searing pain she had endured was unimaginable.

What had happened?

Subaru couldn’t process it. Panic swirled through the hall, confusion gripping everyone—until he noticed an unfamiliar figure.

And it wasn’t just him.

The others could see it, too.

—A beautiful, brown-skinned girl stood before them, wearing clothes that left little to the imagination.

She had short silver hair with a few red strands, an eye patch covering her left eye, and a bushy tail swaying behind her. In her hand she held a simple branch, which looked as if she had picked it up off the ground.

Her expression was flat, her face youthful and immature, yet her body had ample curves, creating an odd, unbalanced impression.

There was no question that she had caused what had just happened.

But exactly what she had done, what her goal was, or who she even was—all of it remained unclear.

“…So it’s you, Arakiya.”

While most remained frozen in shock, one person spoke her name.

The emperor, driven from the throne of Volakia, fixed his sharp gaze on the girl he called Arakiya.

Faced with the same overwhelming aura that had made Zikr immediately swear fealty, Arakiya merely swung the branch in her hand casually from side to side.

“It’s been a while, Your Highness.”

“You seem to be in good health. Chisha is merciless.”

“Mercy? No. That’s dangerous.”

Her voice was lighthearted, her tone casual.

But Abel’s tense expression made it clear—whatever conversation could be had with her, she was not someone who could improve the situation.

Who was she, to act so nonchalant while recognizing Abel?

“General…First-Class…Arakiya…”

“…What did you say?”

The voice belonged to Zikr, who had ended up standing beside Subaru.

Subaru twitched at those words.

He wished he had misheard them.

But Zikr was visibly sweating, his expression deadly serious—there was no chance Subaru had heard wrong.

And to hammer it home, Zikr continued—

“General First-Class Arakiya…is one of the Nine Divine Generals!”

“Not just one of them—her position is Two,” Abel supplemented. “Meaning she’s the second highest in the entire empire.”

“The second…?!” Subaru shouted, ignoring any concern for appearances.

With all eyes on her, Arakiya lifted what looked like a stick and puffed out her chest. “I’m important.”

The Shudrak in the hall began edging around, forming a circle around her. Mizelda had fallen in the first move, but seventeen Shudrak remained—including Utakata, though it was unclear how much fighting strength she could provide. But…

“Do you think I’ll let this victory be snatched away at the last minute?!”

Subaru picked up one of the swords they had taken from the soldiers. Drive her back, beat her down, and capture her—whatever it takes, whatever we do, I won’t let this win slip away…

“Even if you try, it won’t matter.”

In the next instant, a powerful wind surged, twisting the entire hall. Subaru, the Shudrak, and even the bound soldiers were all thrown into disarray.

“…”

The world spun as Subaru lost all sense of direction, his body slamming into the floor, the wall, the ceiling. The intense pain nearly made him pass out.

“Kh…”

What had happened? Tossed onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling, he slowly worked to analyze the situation. —It was probably…a whirlwind.

A massive whirlwind had erupted inside the room, swallowing Subaru—no, all of them—and wildly flinging them about. Arakiya’s storm raged without distinction between friend and foe.

The only reason Subaru had barely clung to consciousness was…

“I won’t allow…a woman to…be injured any further…”

Zikr had held on to Subaru. The moment the whirlwind began, he had immediately pulled Subaru close, shielding him from the storm’s destructive rampage. Meager though his body was, it had served as a cushion, keeping Subaru conscious.

However…

“No…way…”

Despair gripped Subaru as he surveyed the carnage in the room. People and objects were crumpled throughout the hall. The Shudrak, who had been ready to fight moments ago, now lay sprawled across the floor, completely incapacitated.

“…Rem…”

Enduring the pain consuming his body, Subaru searched for Rem.

She might have been knocked out, too. Depending on how she was hit, it could be really bad.

As he scanned the room, he spotted something.

It wasn’t Rem, but it caught his attention—because despite the whirlwind’s rampage, someone was still standing.

Leaning against the half-destroyed balcony railing, glowering at Arakiya, was Abel.

“Abel…”

How had he protected himself?

Abel’s injuries were minimal, but even so, a cut on his forehead bled, and one of his arms hung limply in a painful-looking way.

Yet his eyes remained as sharp as ever, fixed straight on Arakiya.

“The obedient puppet really overdid it. Have you forgotten why you became my subordinate?”

“…You lied, Your Highness. I was tricked. I won’t forgive you.”

“Did Chisha put that in your head, too?”

Lowering his gaze slightly, Abel let out a heavy, bloody sigh.

Arakiya’s expression remained flat, but clear anger burned in her eyes as she slowly stepped forward, crossing the battered floor toward the balcony.

Step by step, she approached Abel…

“Uwaaaaaa!”

A loud shout rang out, and in the next moment, a massive pillar crashed down where Arakiya had been just about to step. The stone shattered with a thunderous crash as the primitive weapon, weighing several hundred kilograms, came down on her.

Rem had been waiting behind the pillar for her chance.

Even through the whirlwind, she had remained conscious, using the pillar as cover. From where Abel stood, she was almost certainly visible. She had hidden her presence, waiting for Abel’s gaze on Arakiya to time her attack and push the pillar down.

It was their last, desperate move—relying on Rem’s Herculean strength.

Her aim was true. The massive stone loomed over Arakiya’s delicate body—

“Huh?”

“…No way.”

Arakiya didn’t even glance at it. The floor beneath her feet shifted, stretching upward like sugar crystals, catching the pillar and propping it steadily back into place.

The surprise attack had failed.

Rem’s desperate effort hadn’t just missed its mark—it hadn’t even drawn Arakiya’s attention.

Arakiya turned toward Rem, who was kneeling at the base of the broken pillar. Her eyes widened slightly.

“Oh, an oni. Rare.”

“You are…”

“…Don’t get in the way. I don’t want to hurt a peer.”

“A peer?” Rem’s face flushed red with anger. She was unable to understand the words.

But with such an overwhelming difference in strength, anger was just an emotion—her will to resist was meaningless.

She reached for the rubble, signaling her intent to attack with a throw, but before she could, Arakiya swung her stick.

A fierce wind erupted, sweeping away all the rubble near Rem—not just the debris, but the wall and ceiling behind her. Pieces of the building were torn away one after another.

“I’m not good at holding back. You’ll fly, too.”

“Then—then why not just do it?! After all this, what reason do you have to hesitate now? This—”

“…Unfortunate.”

Arakiya’s shoulders slumped at Rem’s defiant response.

But while the gesture seemed almost cute, what came next was neither gentle nor kind.

Slowly, she raised her stick—an extradimensional force poised to shatter Rem’s very being.

—There was no way Subaru Natsuki could allow that to happen.

“Aah, aaaaaaah!!!”

Shouting and suppressing all the pain, his body leaped into action.

In this one moment, the paralyzing fear and the anxiety of what might come—it was all just in the way. Abandoning all thought and moving forward on pure instinct, he stepped between Rem and Arakiya.

It’s fine if I die. If I can protect Rem, it’s fine if I die.

He did not want to die, and it was his cursed fate that everything would be wasted if he did, but in that moment, he wouldn’t mind dying.

Dressed as a girl, with false breasts, makeup, a wig—using every trick he knew to make his skin look paler and more beautiful—even in that ridiculous form, Subaru Natsuki stood his ground to protect the girl who had to be protected at all costs.

“—Ngh!”

He spread his arms wide, shielding Rem with his body. He heard her gasp as she realized he had moved in front of her. However, he would never get the chance to know what she thought of it, what she felt.

In the face of Arakiya’s destruction, it would all be swept away in an instant…

“…What an absurd self-sacrifice. But not bad.”

As everything was about to be stolen away, as he steeled himself for the nothingness that awaited, a voice reached him.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he had tried to accept impending doom—but the heat, the emptiness, or whatever force was meant to take his life never reached him. He gulped.

Slowly he opened his eyes.

Subaru stood in front of Rem, arms spread as he shielded her with his back. And in front of him, there was another person’s back.

Not Arakiya. Arakiya stood beyond that figure, her face frozen in astonishment.

The one who had stopped it all held a gleaming red sword in her right hand, having sliced through the destruction that would have consumed Subaru.

Arrogant, pompous crimson eyes that knew—without a doubt—that everything in this world knelt at her feet.

One arm wrapped around her chest, accentuating her abundant bosom, an embodiment of cruel beauty with a sneer on her lips—someone who should not be there.

Subaru held his breath, staring at the impossible sight before him.

With Subaru behind her, the manifestation of the word crimson sniffed.

“You need not speak your name, fool. Simply call my name instead.”

Priscilla Bariel flashed a blood-colored smile.

<END>