5.4

The instant Subaru broke through the black cloud, leaping outside it, his sword hit something extremely thick. The sword in his hand was ripped out of his grasp. Subaru lifted his face and bit down his shock.

Before his very eyes, the huge demon beast's head remained thrust into the black cloud—and the single-handed sword Subaru had been grasping was deep in its chest.

The surprise blow left an ugly feeling lingering in the middle of Subaru's hand—the feeling of plunging a dull blade into the flesh of a living creature. The psychological shock was greater than he'd anticipated, giving rise to what was almost an eerie, out-of-body feeling.

The demon beast, still in the world of incomprehension, couldn't even feel the blade in its body.

Even as Subaru glanced at the contradictory spectacle of a dead beast that didn't know it was dead, he shamelessly ran, putting distance between them while he still could.

His head was heavy; his whole body was sluggish. It was the aftereffect of using magical power without complete command of it, and thus burning excess amounts of mana.

In the first place, using that magic should have spewed out all the mana in his body, leaving him on the ground and unable to rise again, but Subaru had played his trump card to get around that.

"—Thanks a million, brats."

Subaru spat out the tiny remnants of the fruit's skin still in his mouth as a small smile came over him.

He'd spat out a bokko fruit, a recovery item that brought strength back to a body devoid of mana. It was amid the completely useless things the kids in the village had pushed on to him when he was heading off to rescue Rem. He had no idea where they'd found one.

The instant he was sure he had one, his head had been able to muster that plan alone. If he bit down on it at the exact moment he used his magic, maybe he'd be able to move afterward. He'd gambled his very life on it, but the scales had marvelously swung Subaru's way.

Putting his back to the demon beast trapped in incomprehension, his feet took him in the direction the barrier ought to have been.

Subaru was a beginner with insufficient mana, so he had no idea how long his Shamak would keep going. He couldn't think of any other way to buy time, so he had to get as close to the barrier as he—

"—Ah?"

But Subaru's scheme was instantly foiled by a single claw that grazed the back of his left thigh.

The sharp pain heralded the bleeding. Subaru let out an anguished groan as he fell to his knees. But Subaru's mortal foe would not permit him to kneel.

Its thick paw violently grabbed Subaru's neck, the tips of its claws digging in as it easily hoisted him up.

"Damn it all…"

Before his very eyes, he saw the gaping maw of the huge demon beast, open wide enough to swallow Subaru whole. Its fangs dripped with blood as its stinky breath hit Subaru's face. He could only smile desperately at the depth of the creature's grudge.

"Go to hell, why don't you—?!"

He yanked the sword out of the demon beast and plunged it into the creature's mouth with all his might.

"—!"

The fatal blow delivered to the inside of its mouth sent the demon beast roaring and flinging Subaru's body away.

Subaru tumbled across the ground, holding onto the sword, then held it before him as he looked up at the demon beast.

"Yeah! How's that, sucker?! Bite on that!!"

The demon beast shook its head, facing Subaru in a berserk rage. Subaru, his body drenched with blood, taunted it with trash talk.

With blood all over their faces, they only had eyes for each other. They were whittling down each other's lives.

They both understood. None of this would end until one of them slew the other.

They stood off against each other. A single spark would be enough to set them off.

The confrontation between man and beast—no, two beasts—was on the cusp of beginning. But the square impact of the fiery shot that rained down from the sky put it on permanent suspension at the sound of a man's voice.

"—Ulgoa."

"Whoaaa?!"

Subaru shielded his face as the shock wave enveloped his body and blew him back.

All of a sudden, the ground in front of him exploded into flames. The high-temperature impact enveloped his entire body with a ferocious wave of heat.

Subaru, lying on his side, shook his head as burns added to the wounds already peppering his flesh.

"What the hell just…?"

The hot, parched air seared Subaru's throat as he looked up…and saw. His cheeks stiffened in shock.

—Before Subaru's very eyes, the huge demon beast was wrapped in a pillar of fire. It was burning.

The flames licked its entire body. The demon beast's paws shuddered and tore at the ground in agony. With the air scorching its lungs, the demon beast could not make a sound as it writhed within the crimson sea and finally dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

All that was left behind was a clump of blackened flesh that had lost two-thirds of its mass.

"—"

The unforeseen end of the demon beast was not all that surprised Subaru.

Flaming shots like the one that had burned the demon beast to death rained down from the sky one after another, plunging into the black cloud. From outside the spread of the darkness, Subaru could not see for himself the full power of the flames upon landing. But he could guess what they were doing.

Inside the impermeable darkness, the demon beasts were being destroyed without even realizing.

Subaru could no longer tell if that was cruelty or mercy. However—

"Myyy, my, myyy, who would have thooought that a mere Shamak, used chiefly for smokescreens, could be employed with this much impaaact?"

The man who had directed the demon beast's fiery-death scene floated down from the sky, a flippant smile on his face.

His long indigo hair swayed in the wind. His eyes were oddly colored: one blue, one yellow. He wore a bizarre outfit over his tall, slender body. The clownish lord, mightiest magic user in all the kingdom, Roswaal, had arrived.

Upon landing, Roswaal brushed off his pant legs and swept his long hair behind him as he looked down at Subaru.

"Ohhhh, you look rather teeerrible, I must saaay."

"You're super late to the party, Rozchi. How many times do you think I thought I was gonna die there?"

It was definitely more than a handful.

After flinging his abuse, Subaru lost his strength; he fell down then and there, not even strong enough to get up on his knees.

"You sure figured out where I was, though."

"Ah, that is because of what Lady Emilia pounded iiinto me at the viiillage. She said, 'Even if it's crazy and reckless, if he's backed into a corner he'll probably use magic, so don't you dare miss it from the sky.'"

"Damn it, Beako…you let Emilia figure it out real quick."

Apparently Beatrice had not been up to the task. Perhaps it was for the better, given how Roswaal had miraculously entered the fray at the last moment.

Subaru thought over the circumstances when a voice sounded in his ears.

"Master Roswaal—!"

He saw Ram, who'd taken a detour around the burning black cloud, cutting through some thickets. Rem was leaning on her shoulder as Ram's expression melted in Roswaal's presence.

"I am sorry to have caused you so much trouble."

"Oh no, that is quite fiiine. Indeed, you have done veeery well in my absence."

Blushing hard at the words of praise, Ram pressed a hand to her chest as she made a solemn nod.

Watching the exchange between them, Subaru let out a deep sigh of relief.

"—Subaru!"

Rem suddenly rushed over and embraced Subaru, drawing a sharp cry from his throat.

"Guh!"

Before his eyes, blue hair swayed right next to his face. The soft sensations in so many places made Subaru understand the circumstances. In any other context, he'd be overjoyed, but he had no such leeway at that moment.

"Rem, my body's banged up all over the… Ah, my mind's kinda…"

Maybe she couldn't control her feelings, but she was hugging him with all her might. Every wound on his body began to cry out as Subaru desperately tried to pat Rem's back to appeal to her. But—

"You're alive. You're still alive. Subaru, Subaru…Subaru!"

Rem was too overcome with emotion to notice how Subaru was reacting.

He felt her press her face against his chest and her warm teardrops flowing down her cheek. A wide range of ticklish sensations struck him, well beyond the capacity of Subaru's brain to deal with.

In other words—

"Oh man…not this…again…"

As Subaru spoke, his head slowly tilted forward, his neck no longer able to support itself.

His mind grew distant. The voices grew faint. Finally…

"Go ahead and sleep. When you awaken, I must thank you quite earnestly. At the very least, rest assured I shall eliminate that which threatens you."

…someone's voice sounded in his ears, serious and devoid of clownish affect.

Feeling a deeper sense of security, Subaru gently let go of lucidity.

Until the moment he fell asleep, he reveled in the warmth of the embrace and the relief of finally receiving it.

Subaru's consciousness sank into a river of unconsciousness.