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――The fierce, golden tiger stooped low, and glowered over its surroundings with its razor sharp gaze.

The great tiger was about four meters in length, a four-legged beast boasting a body over twice the size of the lions and tigers Subaru knew.

With lumbering legs and its mouth unable to close in its long, protruding fangs, the beast flaunted its blood-drenched daggers to and fro.

[Subaru: Wh, at...]

...is that? But before he could finish the question, the airborne carriages crashed to the ground. The sound of destruction echoed, splinters of wood scattered, and shrieks saturated the air.

The passengers swallowed by the impact were thrown to the ground, those conscious wailing in pain, while those unconscious lay motionless in their own puddling blood.

――That instant, Subaru was struck with the thought: I have to help the wounded.

But before he could turn that thought into action, an intense movement swept Subaru along.

Swinging around, ignoring Subaru's astonished cry, Patrasche scraped her foot into the ground and dashed away from the beast, aiming straight for the forest.

[Subaru: Wai――! Hey, Patrasche!?]

Subaru shouted to the dragon that was ignoring her rider, but, just like on the way here, Patrasche showed no intention of obeying his will.

Leaving behind Otto and the others, who had been stunned into motionlessness, Patrasche accelerated, bearing Subaru on her back. But,

[Beast: ――――WRR!!]

With a thunderous bellow, as if slicing through the forest, the beast hounded Subaru's trail.

A torrent of bestial rage and hostility pierced down the road such that as much as Patrasche tried to get away, her instincts froze her still.

The petrifying sensation of a mighty existence possessing life-threatening power making him the focal point of its hostility. Taking in this feeling he had felt many times before, terror and dread coursed up Subaru's spine. And precisely because he knew this feeling well, he could not blame the frozen Patrasche for stopping her steps in such a time and place. He could not blame her, but the consequence was clear.

[Subaru: ――a]

Turning around, the devastation at the root of his terror flowed into his sight.

From light swings of the beast's paws, dragon carriages were sent tumbling like toy boxes as their contents scattered and struck upon the trees of the forest. Perhaps, if one amplified the sound of chopsticks snapping by a hundredfold, it would be something resembling this sound of wood and human bones shattering against one another.

Faced with a literal monster, despite knowing that inaction was the same as waiting for death, no one moved from their spot.

Perhaps, they were afraid that any movement might excite the great beast to turn its claws, its fangs, and its wrath towards them.

Although, they instinctively knew that doing so would only be shifting around the order of their doom.

[Subaru: Is that thing... the reason why there was no one in the Sanctuary...?]

Trembling from the roots of his teeth on the petrified dragon's back, Subaru burned the murdering beast into the back of his eye with the resolve of certain death.

Coated in beautiful golden fur, its face possessed at once savagery and dauntless dignity. Its keen eyes were brilliant with hostility and rage, and its rattling fangs were too sharp to be likened to mere blades. ――This could very well be the thing that attacked the Sanctuary.

[Subaru: ――Huh?]

Intently watching without missing a single gesture, expression, or movement, Subaru noticed something out of place about the beast that was slowly approaching. Squinting his single eye in search of the cause of that incongruity, he noticed it:

――Something was sticking out of the left side of the great tiger's back.

To the enormous beast with seemingly limitless physical strength, the damage must have been trifling. From its movements as it walked, it didn't seem to be even aware of the wound, and must have considered it no more than a scratch.

Yet for Subaru, it possessed great meaning. Not the wound itself, but the familiar-looking object that inflicted it.

――It was Ram's favourite wand that should still be in her hand.

The small casting-wand that Ram used for chanting magic. At least, Subaru had never seen her use any other medium for spellcasting. Just now, she was wielding it in her hand in her stand-off against Garfiel. There was no mistaking it.

There was no way he could be mistaken. But why was it jutting out of the great tiger's back? The answer――

[Subaru: Atav…ism...]

Suddenly, a scene from before flashed across Subaru's mind.

It was the day Garfiel showed him a fragment of his lineage, the special quality of his physical body. That time, he had only fully beastified a section of his arm as a demonstration of the demihuman part of his lineage, but,

[Subaru: If he's that were-tiger, then...]

If that murderous beast was the fully beastified Garfiel...

…..then that would explain why Ram, who had stayed behind to delay him, drove her wand into the tiger's body. Yet, at the same time, it also meant that――

――Ram, having lost her wand, failed to stop the tiger-morphed Garfiel in the end.

[Subaru: Garfiel, you.... what did you do to Ram?]

[Beast: ――――]

[Subaru: ANSWER ME! AY! WHAT DID YOU DO TO RAM!? GARFIEL!!]

The monster's face scowled at Subaru's call, without answering.

Only, as if irritated by Subaru's voice, it shook its lumbering head and waved up its paw, revealing the tip of its claw. At the end of its claw, there dangled a strip of a familiar-looking black fabric. Seeing this alone, Subaru understood the fate of that peach-color haired girl.

[Subaru: GARFIIEEEELLLLLLLLLL!!!!]

Screaming, abandoned to rage, Subaru let go of the reins and flew down from Patrasche's back. Landing miserably, he rolled to the ground, and, climbing onto all fours, he glared in front of him.

Both on all four limbs, man and beast faced one another at a distance. The gap in strength was obvious, and without a single hair's chance of victory, there was already no room for negotiation between them.

[Subaru: You, despise me that much...?]

[Beast: ――――]

[Subaru: You, hate me that much...?]

[Beast: ――――]

[Subaru: IF YOU REALLY! WANTED! TO KILL ME! YOU ONLY HAD TO TARGET ME!!]

[Beast: ――――WRRR!!]

Answering Subaru's enraged scream, the beast roared into the sky.

The atmosphere pulsated, the forest recoiled, the leaves shuddered and all living things cowered, overtaken by dread. But Subaru alone, unfazed, bared his teeth.

[Subaru: You'd even lay hands on the girl you loved… What "Fangs of the Sanctuary", DON'T MAKE ME FUCKING LAUGH!!]

[Beast: ――――WRRRR!!]

The next moment, in answer to Subaru's insult, the enormous tiger charged.

With overwhelming momentum, the wreckages of dragon carriages between them were blown into the air as the beast advanced through the mist of splinters and blood.

Incredible velocity, and enormous mass. Direct impact would be akin to being struck by a large truck: instant death without even the time to gasp.

Imminent death was before him. Sensing its inevitability, Subaru's mind turned with unprecedented speed. Tapping into rage, his brain cells ignited in an explosion of emotion.

A certain darkness loomed within his chest, and following the flow of blood it coursed throughout his body. Hot, black, dark, faint, murky, and immaterial, that something horrible―― can be grasped.

His single eye flying open, Subaru felt the sensation of having grasped onto something within himself.

He looked in front of him. At a distance close enough to feel each other's breaths, the beast's fangs were upon him. With reflex transcending the physical limits of his body, Subaru saw, at the back of the beast's opened mouth, its red and black esophagus that was the entryway into death. In that instant, Subaru raised up his arm and placed it between the fangs and his chest.

[Beast: ――――!?]

Suddenly, with a swirl of wind, the body of the great beast vanished before Subaru's eyes.

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No, more accurately, it was not that it vanished. But, from sheer momentum, with its head as the pivot, the great tiger was flung into a 180 degree arc into the air. Just like this, it landed with its back crashing to the ground, barking in pain and incomprehension as its enormous mass bounced off the surface, rocking the earth with its impact as it tumbled.

[Subaru: Wh...!?]

Turning around, Subaru watched in disbelief as the fierce tiger rolled across the ground. Just now, Subaru was certain that he would lose his life.

The beast seemed just as shocked. Lying sideways on the ground, its face told of utter confusion as it slowly pushed itself off the surface, but owing to the impact to its semicircular canals, it collapsed to the ground once more.

Neither understanding what had happened, they looked at each other, panting. But Subaru, feeling a sudden fatigue surging through his body, fell to the ground, while the great tiger stood up with a frustrated shake of his head.

Once again, which side had the advantage was as clear as day. Even now, Subaru had no idea what had happened, but――

[Subaru: If it responded to my taunt like this... there's no doubt it's Garfiel]

Forcing his trembling arms to push his body upright, Subaru sank his teeth into his lip to keep himself conscious. In front of him, the giant beast cautiously shifted its body left and right, most likely trying to fathom the incomprehensible phenomenon behind that momentary exchange.

Still, Subaru wasn't sure if he could bring that mysterious sensation out again, even if he tried.

He managed to land one on him, but none of it had felt real.

His opponent's caution was almost comical, but, without any grounds to laugh, Subaru himself was just as ridiculous.

Step by step, the giant beast approached warily, still half-doubtful of Subaru's inaction, but then, it abruptly stopped, and――

[Beast: ――――WRRR!!]

[Subaru: a]

A roar.

Feeling the illusion of being bathed in a great stormwind, Subaru covered his face and his body instinctively contracted. Cutting through the gaps of his petrified nerves, was the sound of steps stamping into the earth.

Shattering the ground, the beast's body leaped into the air, throwing itself directly at Subaru.

Its mass, its claws, neither was avoidable. This time, the sensation from before did not emerge on the tips of his fingers. It's the end. The end is coming.

And,

[Subaru: ――――!!]

[Beast: ――――WR!?]

Thrusting in from the side, Patrasche rammed her head into the great beast's stomach.

The great tiger let out a painful wail as the impact bent its body into a V, choking the air from its lungs. Then, swinging her body, Patrasche slammed her tail into the tiger's eyes, temporarily robbing it of its vision.

Immediately turning around, Patrasche picked up Subaru with her mouth and attempted once more to escape into the wind――

[Subaru: Patra――]

His call was interrupted by a sound of tearing flesh.

Dangling by his waist from Patrasche's mouth, Subaru was suddenly thrown into the ground ahead. When he looked back, Subaru saw that Patrasche's tail was caught in the great beast's fangs. Her body which weighed over 400 kilograms was being flailed about like a paper toy.

Patrasche screeched in pain. Her flesh ripped as blood sprayed out, and the instant her tail was severed from its root, blood spouted down, dyeing half of Subaru in red.

Helplessly tossed into the air, Patrasche tumbled to the ground. Witnessing her wretched state, with panting breaths, Subaru turned and glared at the giant tiger.

Harboring utmost hatred in his single eye, Subaru faced down the enemy whom he once might have called friend,

[Subaru: Ga...rfiiiiieeEEELLLLLLL...!]

With only single-minded hostility, he called to that name.

There was no answer. Perhaps beastification had robbed it of its human vocal organ. For within the mighty tiger's throat as it extended out its paw, there was no hatred, or murder, or any words, for that matter.

There was only instinct transformed into action.

――To snap his neck, or to crush his head in its jaw.

No matter what kind of pain, or how wretched his end, Subaru was ready to accept "Death".

He would swallow down all the suffering, make it his food, and turn it into his reason to obtain that perfect future.

[Subaru: You think you'll be around in that future...?]

With his gaze fixed on the steadily approaching claw, Subaru conveyed his hateful final words.

And then, closing his left eye, he shut his sight into darkness.

Left with only the regret of Patrasche's sacrifice, and his inability to save her――

[Subaru: ――――?]

Although Subaru was ready to accept the coming end, its visit did not come. Surprised, he furrowed his brows as irritation began to rise at the tardiness of the arrival of "Death". Finally, he opened his eye,

[Subaru: Ah?]

In front of him, behind the sharp claw that was supposed to have ripped Subaru to shreds, he saw the expression on the beast's face. The reason Subaru's throat let out a stupid groan, was because the beast's face, the face that was supposed to be pouring all its bloodlust onto Subaru, was instead turned towards a completely different direction.

The great beast had taken its gaze off of Subaru, and was instead looking towards something to Subaru's left. Turning to follow its gaze, Subaru saw something fly over and bounce off the beast before rolling onto the ground. ――A rock.

Completely ordinary, it was just a rock about the size that would fit in the palm of a hand. Tracing back the course of the projectile, he saw the silhouette of a person standing at the edge of the treeline.

With short hair, a skinny face, and scrawny limbs, it was a man with no distinctive or noteworthy qualities whatsoever, but Subaru knew him.

He was one of the Arlam villagers, a member of the youth militia, one of the refugees who had taken refuge in the Sanctuary, someone who was aboard one of the toppled carriages, and now, he was there, staggering with blood flowing down his forehead.

Sluggishly, he bent down, picked up the nearest rock, and with feeble movements, he threw it at the beast. Of course, the force was next to nothing. But,

[Youth: Get.. away from Su..baru-sama. You… monster...]

Wrenching out his voice in midst groans of pain, he nonetheless asserted his will.

The moment those words struck him, Subaru suddenly felt a quiver running through his body. Losing his voice as it reached the tips of his fingers, not knowing what to say, Subaru watched in silence.

[Subaru: ――――]

Then, came rocks, boards, sticks, and shoes, thrown at the monster's body from all directions.

What he was seeing was the people who should have been broken under the overwhelming pressure emanating from the beast putting up a clumsy, weak, and almost surreal resistance.

[Subaru: he…y....]

What are they doing? Subaru thought, astounded.

What is the point of doing something like that? Did they think they could do something to the beast? Would it penetrate its fur and hide, and do any damage to the flesh beneath? That's not even possible. It won't even leave a scratch. It's only futile resistance.

[Subaru: Stop...]

Hugging their heads and running away should have been the wisest choice.

They should have all boarded any still-functional dragon carriages and immediately fled this place. Either escape into the Sanctuary, or break through the forest. They should have taken an action that left them at least a small chance of staying alive. And yet, why were they――

[Subaru: Everyone, what're you doing!? Hurry, run away...]

[Old Man: Subaru-sama! You won't convince us just like that!]

Subaru waved his arms, desperately trying to convey his intentions, but his words were cut short.

The one who shouted back was an old man with limbs like dried twigs, who, swinging up one arm with all his might, threw a branch that struck directly on the beast's snout. Then, panting, he looked over to Subaru,

[Old Man: If we ran for our lives and abandoned our benefactor, how could we ever show our face in front of our kids again? Besides, you came here in order to help us...]

[Subaru: That's...]

[Old Man: If you die here, then we'll die here as well. That's the least we'll be willing to accept, and that's what everyone's already agreed on]

Stunned, Subaru's face stiffened.

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Seeing Subaru's astonished expression, for some reason, a gentle smile rose up on the man's face. It was just way too out of place, a bright smile that almost made one forget about the threat that was before them.

The attack resumed. Everyone struck at once at the murderous beast――Garfiel, with a hail of stones. But its power was just as weak as before. Far from causing him to flinch, it wasn't even enough to scratch an itch.

Slowly raising his massive body, Garfiel began to move. Ignoring Subaru at the forest's edge, who was only waiting to be torn apart―― it turned to the youth who had thrown the first stone.

[Youth: ――――]

The beast and the youth faced one another. In front of the overwhelming pressure, the youth lost his voice, but, with only the act of drawing his short sword from its sheath on his hip, he asserted his will,

[Youth: Then, eat this――!]

Placing all his force behind the thrust, the youth drove it between Garfiel's brows―― and, in the next instant, with a shrill sound, the blade snapped in two.

Perhaps because the golden fur possessed considerable resilience, the crudely made blade failed to penetrate it.

Then, as the youth completed his final defiance, the beast raised its paw,

[Subaru: Stop――!!]

Subaru screamed. But even so, in the face of the inevitable, it was nothing but empty noise.

Accompanied by the sound of crushing flesh, the youth's scrawny body was crushed from head to toe into a pulp under the force of the impact. Blood sprayed like a fountain from the gaps of Garfiel's claws, and when he lifted the paw once more, left in its wake was nothing but a swirling, dark red puddle of gore.

[Subaru: ――――]

This time, a scream of pure wrath rose in his throat.

With a screech that could slice through metal, Subaru scrambled off the ground and threw himself directly at the monster's back. But the attack was snuffed out by a light rise of the beast's hind-paw. His momentum was met by the paw, and, just like that, Subaru's was kicked into the air like a rubber ball, sending his back crashing into the trunk of a large tree――his entire body cracked in the sound of shattering bones.

[Subaru: GA, AAAagh――!?]

Rolling onto the ground, giant clots of blood surging up his aching throat spilled from his mouth. His body was unresponsive. His right arm, beginning from the shoulder, was twisted into a strange angle. His spine, having sustained that impact, completely lost its shape. Weak, and frail, nothing had changed at all.

[Beast: ――――!!]

[Villagers: aaaah――!!]

The beast, barking, leaped into the fray of refugees around him, flaunting fangs and claws. Blood danced, shrieks resounded, and Subaru knew that lives were being extinguished in a place he could not see.

Someone was screaming. A bestial scream. Bestial, and yet in the voice of a human. Confusion ran through the beast. Whose scream was it? What was it roaring for? Trapped within his own failures, Subaru did not know the answer.

[O??o: ――Natsuki-san! Please stay alive!]

His name was called. It was the voice of someone he knew, but his mind's attempt to match the voice to a name was obstructed by the pain. His thoughts flashed and dimmed, the world grew out of focus, and even his own emotions were vague. He could no longer tell what was a dream and what was real. Hatred and pain scattered all else into the wind.

He mustn't fall asleep here. He must stand up. Stand up, stand up, if anyone is going to die, you have to be the one to die first.

[Subaru: …don..'t die...ev..ryone...just me, dying... is more than enough...!]

Spewing blood while wrenching out these words, Subaru desperately tried to push himself off the ground. His right arm already useless, he frantically crawled with his left. A red curtain had been drawn over his left field of vision, and Subaru knew that it was the blood flowing from his forehead. Roughly scraping his eyelids against his shoulder, he clenched his teeth as if to crush his molars, and turned up his face.

[Subaru: ――――]

The carnage spanned out before him.

Every swing of the beast's arm sent men flying, blood spraying, extinguishing the flames of life.

No matter how courageous and desperate their resolve, their resistance fell uselessly against the beast. Its golden fur was stained only with their blood, and their deaths had no meaning at all.

Mere defiance, only to be blown away like dust. Not the slightest meaning at all.

If there was only a single "Death" that could be meaningful, it was Subaru's.

[Subaru: Stop it, stop it, stop it stop it stop it... please, stop...!]

If you are going to kill, kill me first.

He was the target to begin with. There was no reason to hurt those brave, kind people, no reason to take their lives.

Or, rather, wasn't their deaths just another consequence of Subaru's stupidity? If so, then isn't it just too――

[Subaru: ――ug, ah!?]

Subaru felt his body being picked up, as his face dropped down towards the ground.

Dangling helplessly from his back, Subaru was lifted off the ground by Patrasche, who was bleeding profusely from her wounds. Despite only barely clinging onto life after Garfiel's merciless strike, she had crawled to Subaru's side.

Witnessing her pitiful state, Subaru could not hold back what was welling up in the back of his eye from flowing out,

[Subaru: No, it's alright... that's enough. You've done enough, Patrasche...]

Softly calling to her, Subaru reached out his hand to Patrasche's blood-soaked jaw. But she shook her head at Subaru's voice, as if trying to say [It's not over yet, you know]. Then, tugging her muzzle under Subaru's stomach, she lifted the helpless Subaru onto her back.

Subaru groaned in surprise. And with this, Patrasche set out her steps. The steadiness of her strides made one wonder just how she still had strength left within her.

No doubt, she was using up the last strengths of her life.

[Subaru: ――――]

But even with the last ounce of life force she could muster, straining herself to the end, her speed was nothing compared to what she was usually capable of. And so, it was far from enough to escape the pursuing fangs.

The beast's teeth sank into Patrasche's hind leg as she shrieked with pain. Once again, Subaru was thrown into the air. But, floating weightlessly through space, just as he was prepared to crash to the ground, Patrasche reached out her neck and caught him in her jaw.

And, in the same motion, with all her might, she used her head to throw him as far as she could into the depths of the trees.

[Subaru: ――――!]

Subaru knew that it was all Patrasche could have done to put him as far from harm's way as she could.

At the same time, he realized it. Why, after parting with Ram, she had taken the shortcuts through the forest to rejoin with the train of refugees.

――Patrasche had sensed the existence of the beast.

And because she sensed it, in order to increase the chance of Subaru's survival, if only by a little, she fled towards the place where there were the largest number of other preys. All to protect Subaru.

Slamming onto the ground, Subaru's body bounced once, then twice. And after wailing at the third bounce―― weightlessness overtook his body once again.

[Subaru: ――a]

A steep slope opened into a ravine, and Subaru's body rolled straight downward. Without even the strength to cry out, scraped by branches and gravel, tossed from bounce to bounce, Subaru's body tumbled and fell,

[Subaru: ――――]

Sliding in somersaults, his vision swirling and swaying, Subaru caught a glimpse of what was above him.

There, he witnessed a sight he had no wish to see.

[Subaru: ――――patrasche]

The great tiger held Patrasche's body in its jaws, and clenched down with unimaginable force. Its fangs tore into her flesh, and in a mass of spraying blood, her body was crushed in two.

Unable to even cry out in death, the loyal dragon sacrificed her last for Subaru.

[Subaru: ――――]

His throat burned. His throat was tearing. Rage was boiling his brain and it felt like his blood was catching fire.

Bouncing, tumbling, sliding, rolling, scraping, Subaru went on falling.

――Rebounding high into the air, he felt weightless once again.

Crashing to the ground, his consciousness was swallowed into the impact.

His body did not stop falling. But all awareness had already separated from his flesh.

――Only a resentful voice, which refused to disappear, swirled and churned within his chest.

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