V11 - CHAPTER 2 : GIRL’S GOSPEL

—Instantaneously, Subaru got the sensation that time had simply stopped.

It was an odd feeling, but he remembered having that sensation before. When his life was in danger, his brain's survival instincts kicked in, urgently trying to keep its body alive—from there, things would be decided in seconds.

Why was Elsa there? He had no time to ponder such a question.

It was not why he needed to think about, but rather, how? Calmly, to the extent possible, he tried to grasp the situation he was in.

On the one hand, the black-robed butcher was in the doorway; on the other hand, inside the room, Subaru and Frederica were sitting on sofas, and Ram was standing rooted to the spot, cane in hand—but they were not the only ones present.

"__________"

—Petra was there.

Elsa had made the young Petra stand right beside her as she opened the door. A blade rested against the girl's throat, and her round eyes had large tears welling up in them.

He understood. She'd led Elsa to the room. Elsa forced her to, forbidding her even from crying.

Right then, there was surely a vortex of fear wildly swirling within Petra's heart. Her life was in danger; she'd been made to lead Elsa to Subaru and the others; she wanted so desperately to cry out, "Help me"—

"…Frederica, Ram, Subaru…"

With a quivering voice, Petra called out their names.

What could he do for that voice? He wanted to nod to let her know to rest easy, to tell her it was all right for her to cry—

"—Run!!"

"__________"

Instantly, Petra shouted not "Help me" but "Run," stoking a searing-hot fire in the trio's hearts—for Subaru, it was because he recognized the great threat; for Ram, it was the butcher's ghastly aura; and for Frederica, it was seeing the girl's tears.

"El Fulla—!!"

In a show of force, Ram raised her cane and unleashed a blade of wind at maximum velocity. Mana coalesced into an invisible slash, tearing its way toward the leisurely standing Elsa. The blade of wind could not be stopped with physical force. However—

"What a refreshing breeze. But the sunlight is gentle today… You needn't be so considerate."

Elsa maneuvered her nimble upper body, evading the wind blade of certain death. The figure in black dodged a continuous series of attacks with great ease. It was as if she could read the wind—no, it wasn't merely a figure of speech.

Ram had launched her attacks in such a way as to avoid Petra, who had been taken as a hostage. Elsa took advantage of that, slipping into the blind spots between her and the wind to dodge the blades of air.

"If you were willing to hit this little maid along with me, it might be a different story…"

"—Unfortunately, it is an ironclad rule in this household that servants support and aid one another!"

"Oh my."

From behind, Elsa raised an eyebrow, stroking Petra's cheek, which made something catch in the girl's slender throat. Both of Frederica's arms whipped out as she leaped into close combat, apparently aiming to tear Elsa's torso asunder.

The five-fingered strike was similar to the martial arts move known as a Tiger Claw. But there was one simple difference: The two arms Frederica was attacking with had transformed into genuine bestial claws.

Her slender, pale fingers changed shape and became the talons of a tenacious, ferocious beast, and both of her arms were now wicked implements for the rending of flesh. With a cacophony of furious creaking sounds, sparks flew between Frederica's bestial claws and Elsa's kukri.

"Partial transfiguration…! Demi-human blood, yes? Delightful!"

"Thank you for the unwanted praise… I can do this, too! Petra!"

With Elsa overjoyed by the unexpected clash, Frederica lowered her stance in front of the butcher. The instant she called out Petra's name, the girl's round eyes flew open.

As the girl stood still, a golden sash seemed to stretch before her. It was a slender animal tail covered with golden fur stretching from the back of Frederica's skirt.

"__________!"

The instant she understood that, Petra leaped toward the tail. At the first touch, Frederica used the tail to yank Petra close, pulling out of the butcher's range with the girl in tow.

When Petra leaped away, Elsa tried to close the distance with her blade, but Ram wouldn't allow it.

"Fly into pieces!!"

Robbed of her hostage, and thus her safety zone, Elsa was enveloped by wind. Spherical wind blades expanded to cut off her escape route, converging on their prey in the center all at once, the surrounding gale blowing savagely.

"__________"

It was certain-death timing. Fresh blood spattered about, and there was no doubt the wind had bitten into Elsa. But—

"Her arm…!"

"Ahh, ow, ow… I thought I was going to die."

Lifting her cruelly gouged-out arm aloft, Elsa licked the blood trickling from the terrible wound.

It was a painful-looking injury, but that single arm was the only damage she had taken. Elsa must have used her arm as a shield while the blades of wind flew in, minimizing the damage. At a glance, it seemed like a reckless choice, but it had very much been the optimal course of action—

"You are a detestable woman."

"I rather like you, Miss Medium-Size Maid."

When Ram spat a scathing comment, Elsa shifted her kukri around with her intact arm. One by one, the dully gleaming knife blade displayed the faces of each of the four in the room besides Elsa when she said, "A man and three women, maids large, medium, and small. I shall line you up on the table and compare what is inside your bellies."

"A pick-up line even worse than Garf's. In that case— Barusu!"

"I'm on it—!!"

Petra, in Frederica's embrace, landed behind the others. That instant, at Ram's signal, Subaru heartily thrust his right arm toward Elsa.

His silent observation of the situation up to that point was not because he lacked the power to intervene. Of course, that was a plenty good reason, but more importantly, he had been calculating the right time.

—Time to play the trump card he'd decided to use in advance should he encounter Elsa.

"—Shamaaaaaaak!!"

He was weaponless, with no means of striking back, with inadequate preparations and resolve, and he was engaged with an enemy defying all expectations. However, the least he could do was take advantage of the best card in his very meager hand. He fired up the imperfect magic reactor inside of him, causing the blood coursing through him to light up from its heat. "Don't use it," warned Ferris's voice in the back of his head.

The instant he crushed his hesitation between his molars, black mist explosively flooded out of his right hand.

Less a shadow of the light and more a thick, all-consuming darkness, the black-attired woman that was his target was swallowed whole. Through the power of magic, the spells victim would plunge into incomprehension, robbed of its powers of thought and movement.

"How's that…! If you can climb over that wall of oblivion, then…"

Managing to cast his magic exactly as intended, Subaru let fly with some caustic words—and the next moment, it arrived.

"—Giii?! Gaaaah!!"

With the sound of something being sliced apart, nearly unendurable pain exploded in the center of his skull and torso.

The excessive pain blew Subaru's thoughts away. As he screamed, his vision was dyed in a mix of red and white. Wringing mana out of his incomplete Gate made him feel parched and numb at the same time. Agony came crashing down on his soul.

His vision went blurry, and strength drained out of his knees. At that rate, he'd lose his grip on reality, and with it, his mind—

"Subaru__________!"

A moment before plunging into darkness, a distant voice and the touch of a palm connected to his mind.

His dimming vision beheld a teary-eyed Petra right in front of him. Her voice was making his heart burn hotter.

He had no time to yield. For a brief moment, he forgot the pain that was shredding his nerves and chipping away at his soul. During the time that the "bluff" was effective, Subaru grasped her hand back.

"—We're pulling out!"

"This will get a little rough!" "Hyaaa! M-Miss…?!"

When Ram swiftly decided they must retreat, Frederica put a hand around Petra's waist without hesitation. Then, her remaining arm pulled the wobbly Subaru against her chest as well. It was a soft sensation.

"A-at a safe time I'd like to appreciate this more thoroughly…!"

"As if I'd let you touch me normally! Anyway, out from the window—"

Subaru, still moaning from pain, made a joke that earned a blunt reply from Frederica as she headed to the back of the room. If she broke that window, they'd be able to jump down all the way to the mansion courtyard. The Shamak smoke screen wouldn't postpone things for long. Instant assessments, instant decisions, and instant actions were required at that moment—

"__________uu?"

When Frederica crouched down, Subaru realized something soft had hit his back.

Something felt wrong from around his left shoulder and shoulder blade. Breathing hard, he twisted his neck to check. Something like a skewer was sticking out of it. The lingering shudder of the long, slender object was proof that it had hit only moments ago.

—Countless similar objects came flying from the direction of the black haze all at once.

"—Fredericaaa!!"

He shouted. It didn't come in time.

A flurry of sounds followed as the sharp, glimmering surge sank into soft flesh—

"__________!!!!" "__________El Fulla!!"

—The roars of a demon and beast layered atop one another as a blast of wind blew them out of the reception room.