8.2.2

"Did we get him?!"

Subaru hastily covered his mouth with his hand after he unintentionally exclaimed out loud.

They were at the center of the rock-strewn place in front of the sheer cliff. Wilhelm had just leaped forward, his blade biting into Petelgeuse's slender body at a sharp angle as he sliced it apart.

The madman's body had been slashed from shoulder to hip. His posture swayed wildly from the deep, fatal wound. Even so, Petelgeuse's eyes remained wide open, glaring at Subaru until the bitter end.

"This cannot b—"

But Subaru would never learn what the madman had intended to say.

A horizontal cut traced an arc, sweeping away blood as it parted the wind. That instant, Petelgeuse's severed head spewed blood like a water fountain as it was sent flying.

The sight of a person being decapitated before his eyes left Subaru speechless. However, adamant denial seemed to drive the headless form forward, causing it to extend its withered, branch-like arms toward Subaru.

"Inelegant to the extreme—fall, like a man."

The Sword Devil's blade mercilessly dismembered the body struggling against its own death. The slice sent both arms flying from their shoulders; the blade returned to directly strike the torso, tearing it from the lower body at the waist, sending the madman-turned-sack-of-flesh tumbling to the ground, innards pouring out.

The gushing blood and muscular twitches soon stopped, leaving only the powerful stench of dead blood.

The spectacular manner of death, utterly lacking in any respect for humanity, made nausea well up into Subaru's throat. But he somehow managed to avoid actually vomiting as he said, "I-it's over…right?"

"If it's not over by now, even Ferri will start believing in this favor-of-the-Witch nonsense," Ferris replied from behind Subaru, who was timidly peering at the corpse. He moved beside the unsettled Subaru, examining the remains without hesitation.

"Though it's not much of a surprise, he's definitely dead," Ferris observed. "You have it on the word of the royal capital's greatest healer."

"Oh…really…?"

The corpse, no longer retaining the shape of a person, seemed more like a prop than anything else. Reassured by Ferris's words, Subaru felt the urge to vomit recede as he looked toward the forest.

As planned, their main target—the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins—had been taken care of. Those remaining were Petelgeuse's fingers in the forest.

"Hope everyone else is doing all right…not taking too many risks."

"Sir Subaru, they are not soldiers who would freelance in violation of your instructions. Even if unavoidable combat does take place, Mr. Ricardo and Mr. Julius are with them. A worst case is unlikely."

Back from checking the severed head for himself, Wilhelm respectfully stood at attention. The Sword Devil's guarantee was reassuring. Yet, it did not wipe away Subaru's worry to any great extent.

The object of his worry was the other detachment—those heading off to deal with the Witch Cultists drawn to Subaru until he could make it to Petelgeuse and lure him out in person.

They had surmised that Petelgeuse's subordinates were scattered around the forest, ten groups in all. Subaru had commanded the two fingers he'd encountered midway to return to base, and their actual retreat had already been confirmed. The idea was to let them go, follow them with the tenacity of a sumo wrestler's leg hold, and use them to work out the locations of the rest—Subaru had strictly ordered his people not to attack, even if they held an advantage in numbers.

But if they were spotted by the opposition, combat was no doubt unavoidable.

"I'm seriously afraid of accidents if that happens. This is the plan I drew up, and it has one crucial hole in it…I don't know what the Witch Cult people are thinking, and this unexpectedly large number of people fighting scares me…"

"Yes, yes, the plan maker must not show worry! Besides, I've heard this talk from Nervous Subawu over and over. It's getting old." Ferris sighed with an exasperated face at Subaru, who was worried about the other side now that his side was taken care of. "I understand you're scared, but with Julius and them, fighting shouldn't be a problem, meow. If Julius is fighting seriously, Old Man Wil's probably the only one here who can take him on."

"…That so? He's that strong?"

Ferris had elaborated to address their young leader's inexhaustible worry, but the details still left Subaru conflicted. In terms of his being a reliable ally, Julius's strength was more than welcome—but given his deeply rooted sense of distaste to date, it was difficult for Subaru to accept Julius's worth at face value. Even if the physical wounds from their duel had completely healed, untreatable phantom pains haunted Subaru even then.

"It really does run deep… Setting aside whether it's unconscious or not, I do understand your aversion to him, though…"

"—? What'd you say?"

"Nothing much. In the first place, Julius and them should be much more worried about us! After all, Ferri thought this plan was reckless all this time."

Ferris raised his brows and glared at the acrimonious Subaru, who knit his brow in response.

"…Yeah, I get it. But it worked out, didn't it?" Subaru said as he glanced at the rocky place that had become their battleground.

"Looking at the results only. When the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins suspected you, you were nearly done for, weren't you? It was definitely by the skin of your teeth. Ferri hates people in a hurry to die before his eyes."

"I'm not in a hurry to die at all. Well, not that it sounds very convincing right now…"

The sternness of Ferris's gaze told Subaru that apologizing further would be meaningless.

It had actually been Ferris obsessing over the operation's little details right up until the end. Ferris hadn't objected to the broad outline of the operation itself—Subaru "fishing" for Petelgeuse, luring him out as a decoy—but he was abnormally fixated on hammering out the specifics to raise their degree of safety.

In point of fact, Subaru couldn't deny the low reliability of the plan, given that it greatly hinged on Subaru himself. Everything about luring out the Witch Cultists—locating Petelgeuse, the main target; slowing him down; gathering intel—was on Subaru's shoulders alone. If even a single thing happened contrary to Subaru's expectations, he would perish. Ferris really, really hated that.

In the end, no useful counterproposal emerged, so he hadn't stopped Subaru from carrying out the plan, but—

"Subawu, you know how only going by results leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and still you…"

Ferris's resentful words triggered a memory of other words that had come out of the healer's mouth, spoken close to a half day before at the height of the battle with the White Whale. Ferris had spoken of accepting his role in battle.

Just like Subaru, Ferris was decisively unsuited to the field of battle. On top of that, belonging to the knights meant that, compared to Subaru, he had many more opportunities to feel utterly powerless.

The last words he'd thrown out had an echo of loneliness, as if he'd been betrayed by someone who shared his powerlessness—

"I'm a little surprised, though. I thought you hated me and all."

"Don't be absurd. I don't choose who I heal based on whether I like them or not."

"I wanted you to deny hating me, you know!"

Even if your worth was understood, how you accepted it depended on whether you acknowledged it yourself. When Subaru unwittingly gave a pained smile, Ferris had a sullen face when he touched his only weapon—the dagger on his hip.

"Whether I like or hate someone has no relation to whether it's worth keeping them alive. It's because…that's what Ferri's power is, that others recognize that power."

"Ferris?"

"Besides, a lot of people died in the battle with the White Whale. When someone's squished flat, or erased by the mists, even Ferri…even I can't heal that."

The usual composure in his voice absent, Ferris touched the relief carved into his dagger with a finger. This was the family crest of the Lion Rampant—the same crest on the treasured sword his master, Crusch, had carried.

The touch of Ferris's fingertip seemed to put courage, and more than that, resolve on his face as he glared at Subaru.

"Don't get conceited and think you're the only one who doesn't want people to die in this fight."

"…I'm trying to keep that in mind, too."

He was trying to, but in truth, trying might have been the extent of it. With Ferris's gaze straight on him, Subaru could accept that he wasn't the only one, but he couldn't change his ways. No matter how much Ferris might object, he'd carry out the plan without deviating.

If it was Subaru's own life on the line, he'd probably always bet that chip first.

"We've finished checking the cave. The people inside were completely crushed by falling rock. I feel kind of bad for them."

"Oh yeah, it was perfect! Perfecto-mundo! They all went booooom!"

Just when the conversation was at a pause, the beast person siblings returned from checking on the buried cave. Greeting the pair, Subaru walked over to Petelgeuse's remains.

Uncertain elements had been swept away, and the danger had been completely eliminated. Subaru was no longer feeling tense, and his stiff cheeks had finally slackened.

"Wiping 'em all out in an unexpected outside attack—to be honest, it was pretty unsportsmanlike, but don't think badly of me. After all, you're way, waaaaay worse than I am."

With his opponent already a corpse, all he could do was make a hollow declaration of victory. That the victory had been earned with a surprise attack, practically an assassination, made it baser and hollower still.

Even so, Subaru couldn't help but say it, because now it felt real inside him.

Petelgeuse had been struck down—the result Subaru had redone the world several times over to achieve.

"Wilhelm, thank you very much. Also, sorry for making you push yourself."

"Push myself, you say?"

"Cutting him down with a surprise attack from the rear, it's the worst, right?"

Wilhelm's face became slightly clouded. He was complicit in no mere surprise raid, but a sneak attack. A knight would surely have that on his mind.

But Wilhelm's expression immediately broke into a strong smile.

"I abandoned chivalry long ago. It is nothing you need concern yourself with, Sir Subaru."

"But I'm the one who made you tag along and help with a surprise attack, so…"

It was a fact that the opponent was a heretic against whom honest, forthright measures were useless. Even so, asking others to cooperate in a cowardly scheme like this didn't sit well with him at all.

"Well, Ferri didn't mind at all, meow. Julius might have hated it…but I think he's shrewd enough to accept it."

"That's why I didn't want to tell him to do it. Well, I could sorta predict how you'd react, though."

"Isn't it better to be a little cowardly and have your friends live than to stick to chivalry and have them die, meow? Subawu, whether you or Julius is right is just a matter of your point of view."

Having Ferris intervene was a big help. Wilhelm said nothing, whereas Mimi tilted her head as if she was wondering, Is there a problem with that…? She was a mercenary through and through.

And what TB then did deserved mention as even more mercenary than that; having finished looking around the area, the little cat-man walked over to Petelgeuse's remains…and, without a moment's hesitation, began fishing around in his pockets.

Subaru unwittingly gawked at the sight.

"Hmm, seems he wasn't walking around with much on him…"

"H-hey, little guy, you're checking a corpse's pockets like it's no big deal."

"I am not 'little guy,' I am TB. And this is simply checking his belongings."

With a practiced hand, TB searched for the spoils of war deep inside the blood-smeared habit. Mimi did the same. In contrast to their cuddly appearances, the mercenary siblings really did things their own way.

The inside of the habit was surprisingly deep, making TB's hand unexpectedly busy getting everything out. That said, the contents taken out were all mundane articles.

"Field rations, lagmite ore… Ahh, he has a money pouch, too."

"I'm surprised, his inventory's filled with petite bourgeoisie stuff. So what, is pillaging a part of mercenary culture?"

"I believe that it's normally 'to the victor go the spoils'? …What…is this?"

As he made the statement, TB, well-suited to the mercenary trade, had nearly finished his perusal when a black book drew his attention. Seeing this, Subaru went, "Ah!" with a start.

"That's probably the book Petelgeuse called his Gospel."

"Myuu! This is a Gospel?! Uwaa, I touched it!"

When Subaru pointed it out, TB hurled the book away. He looked very much like a kitten as he bounced nervously, drawing a strained smile from Subaru as he picked up the book.

"I know the owner was icky, but you shouldn't mistreat a book. Not even a weird one like this."

"D-don't touch it. I think you should let go right now. Touching it might make you go weird in the head…! It—it might be better to burn it…"

Ignoring TB's concerns, Subaru opened it and glanced at the pages. However, he was unfortunately unable to identify the characters in which the words were written. They were neither I-script nor R-script, nor even H-script, but some other, mysterious language. They kind of looked like hiragana scribbled way too fast, so much so as to be illegible. On top of that, the latter half of the book was comprised of blank pages; a reasonable person might call it a misprint.

"…Well, I can't read it anyway. I know it was careless of me, so both of you calm down, okay?"

"—My apologies."

"Well, it's your fault, Subawu."

Wilhelm and Ferris dropped the combat postures they'd adopted when Subaru unguardedly opened the book before them.

It was for only a brief instant, but the hostility and enmity had been real. With a touch of cold sweat from that, Subaru showed the two the book in his hand, trying to wrap his head around it.

"Does either of you have a clue about this book?"

"Wait a—! Don't just turn it our way like that! Subawu, don't you do something stupid and try to read a Gospel! I genuinely don't know what it'll do to you!"

Ferris averted his eyes, raging like an inferno toward the book raised before him. Surprisingly, Wilhelm turned his back, displaying his aversion to the book as well.

"I know TB reacted like that, too, but what, the book's seriously dangerous?"

The book was about as big and heavy as a pocket dictionary, with binding that was strictly ordinary. As it was from the Witch Cult, he would've expected a cover made out of human skin, but there was no sign of that.

However, the grimaces on the faces of all save Subaru made their sentiments easy to read.

"To the Witch Cult, having one of those books…those Gospels is proof you are a fellow cultist. Yes, I suppose one could say they are like holy scripture to them."

"Scripture…?"

"Rumor has it that the Witch Cult sends them to particular people, meow. And when they arrive, that's it…poof, another pious Witch Cultist is born! Or so they say."

"Huh?!"

Subaru's voice went shrill at the unexpected and astounding tale. These Witch Cultists were eerie, creepy people he couldn't understand even the tiniest bit. Yet, they had once been normal human beings, their transformation triggered by the arrival of such a book. A deep reading of Ferris's words suggested that the Gospels were books that brainwashed the human beings reading them.

If that was so, many of the Witch Cultists were brainwashed, ordinary people—

"If that's true, then maybe all the people we buried alive in the cave were just…"

"Sir Subaru, you are mistaken. By the time the Gospel reaches them, they have already passed the point of no return. They are not innocent people brainwashed into obedience that can be saved. Sir Subaru, did that Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins appear sane to you?"

"N-nah. He didn't, but…I thought maybe he was an exception."

Brought back from the brink of thoughts of regret, Subaru passively shut his mouth. So Petelgeuse's madness, far beyond the norm, was just one example of the dangerous mental states within the Witch Cult that didn't involve brainwashing. Put bluntly, a part of him was reluctant to take their current conversation as absolute proof it was so.

"Now, Subawu, I know you did a great job as a decoy against the White Whale and the Witch Cult…but I feel like this is putting you in a lot of danger, meow, so don't let the Gospel get you, 'kay?"

"I must ask that as well, Sir Subaru. Please do not make me cut you down."

"I'll try, but is being careful really gonna cut it…?"

It seemed that whether the book "got" someone or not depended on the recipient's mood. If the other side was headhunting, it depended on whether Subaru accepted or declined. The notion left him distinctly uncomfortable.

Sighing at the various things being said, Subaru looked down at the book, which suddenly felt very heavy.

"I guess I'll…keep it with me for now. Even if I can't read it, it might be useful some other way."

It had belonged to an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins. Just maybe deciphering the Gospel might bring him closer to the truth about the Witch Cult.

With that hope in mind, Subaru stuffed the book into his pocket, but no matter how much time passed, the suspicious gazes from the three, looking at him as if he were some crazed daredevil, did not disappear.

"So was there anything else on him that caught your eye? It'd be a super-huge help if he was stupidly walking around with, say, a map with hideouts marked on it…"

"I did not see anything like that among his belongings. Aside from the Gospel text, he was walking around with exactly what one would expect for a man in his attire," TB replied to Subaru's rebound as he checked the confiscated belongings.

Certainly, judging from Petelgeuse's attire, it seemed he traveled light. But even if they wrung his neck, dead men told no tales.

"Hey, hey, can't we just leave? No point fussing over everything here, right? Better to finally head back to everyone?"

At that point, Mimi, having stayed out of the conversation so far, spoke up while tossing dirt over the remains. Her tail sticking out from her hem, she pointed at Petelgeuse, now completely buried, and said:

"We've buried the enemy, so isn't it best to check on how everyone else is doing? Hey, we really should! Really!"

"You say it so innocently, but you're really heartless, wow. With your adorable looks, that contrast's really slapping me in the face."

"Hu-huu, calling me cute's gonna make me blush!"

With convenient hearing, Mimi blushed at the part she liked, drawing a strained smile from Subaru. But it was a fact that she referred to a good opportunity. It really was best to ditch the place and regroup with the main force.

"…"

Looking back, Subaru stared at the place, now completely silent.

The cave was buried in earth and sand, the minions spectacularly crushed, their trump card rendered useless, Petelgeuse slaughtered before he could pull anything—clueless as to what was happening until the bitter end.

Via Return by Death, Subaru had seen what future lay before them if he employed his power to its full extent. They'd scored a complete shutout—and that meant complete victory against the Witch Cult.

It meant that, but—

"Er, no, this is me, right…? There's no way it goes this smoothly. Up till now, no matter how hard I try, there's always a downside. It can't be this good…there's gotta be a catch somewhere…"

"What's with all the suspicion, meow? Hurry up, there's still a lot to do, isn't there?"

"A-ah, yeah. That's right… You're right."

Ferris turned a disbelieving eye toward Subaru, who still couldn't believe the fruits of his labors. Nodding at Ferris's words, he tugged on the back of his hair as he departed the rocky place.

Victory. Yes, victory. It wasn't an accident; he'd won. What was wrong with that?

"—Maybe he comes back to life as soon as our backs are turned?!"

"What are you going on about? Ferri is really angry already! Sheesh!"

"Ow, ow, ow!"

When Subaru looked back, unable to drop his suspicious mind-set, Ferris grabbed hold of his hair and dragged him along. It might have gone without saying, but neither the plugged cave nor Petelgeuse's corpse showed any change.

This time, they would truly take their leave. And then, as the icing on the cake—

"Mister's noisy about it, so just to make sure!"

Saying this, Mimi held her cane in her hand. Magic erupted from it—and Petelgeuse's grave, along with his corpse, exploded.

This time, without exaggeration, Petelgeuse, the Witch Cult's Archbishop of Sloth, was blown to bits.