8.2.8

"—"

When the light exploded without warning, Subaru let out a shriek and bent backward. The pain, like needles stuck in his retinas, brought a flood of tears, making him cover his face with his palms—and the next moment, he was hurled free.

"Whoaaa!"

The instant Subaru, overtaken by the floating feeling, realized he had escaped from the hand, he moved to break his fall. He rolled feetfirst over the root of a large tree, minimizing the damage from the fall. Thanks to the Sword Devil's lessons, he was an expert at breaking falls after being sent flying. He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands and lifted his face.

"That was…er, uh-oh!"

When he lifted his head up to check the situation, the pitch-black hand came at high speed to mow him down. Subaru shuddered at the attack, which would have knocked his head clean off had it hit, and glared at the culprit in outrage. When he did so, the madwoman concerned was covering her face with her palms as she blindly flailed at the surrounding area with innumerable evil hands.

"Spirit…! Spiriiiiit!!"

The woman poured hatred onto the spirit, perhaps simply that aggrieved from the blow it had given her. However, the light was nowhere to be seen. The madwoman was merely wrecking the woods in anger, as if trying to inflict even a glancing blow on the offending spirit.

She'd completely taken her attention off Subaru. That moment, he was free to choose whether to attack or flee.

"I'll run, then!"

A greedy choice, like evading the wildly flailing hands and landing a single blow to the madwoman's vitals was beyond Subaru's means. Rather than engage, the better option was to secure combat capability.

"We can't let her be. But I need Wilhelm-level combat strength here! Should be that—"

"—You called, Sir Subaru?"

In his haste to rendezvous with the others, Subaru's eardrums were greeted by the voice he most wanted to hear. When he turned around, his eyes were greeted by the sight of a white-haired, elderly man—the Sword Devil—slipping through a gap in the grove and rushing over.

"Wilhelm!"

"That was most concerning. I am very sorry I could not be here sooner."

Wilhelm, carrying his treasured sword in pursuit, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Subaru was safe. Subaru, delighted at the best reinforcements he could hope for, blinked hard when he noticed the red light floating atop Wilhelm's head.

That glow was none other than that of the spirit that had just saved Subaru from peril.

"That's the spirit from earlier… Wilhelm, don't tell me you use spirits?!"

"Unfortunately, I have no talent beyond the sword. It is purely on loan from its proper contractor. However—it would seem you are in need of my specialty."

Wilhelm had stepped in front of Subaru by the time he finished those words. The ghastly aura radiating from the Sword Devil was great enough that the madwoman, eyes seared by the light, noticed and turned toward it.

"Ahh, SO there you are… You, you shall not escape…!"

The bloodstained woman's madness was directed at both Wilhelm and the spirit attending him.

"The enemy's in the same league as an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins! You saw earlier how strong Unseen Hands are. Even you can't just take her on from the fr—"

"No matter. Knowing they are invisible, I have ways to deal with them."

When Subaru warned him of the seething woman's madness, the Sword Devil made that firm reply as he stepped forward. The sudden move startled Subaru, and even amid her villainy, the woman was dubious as well.

"What is this? Your head, your life…do you come to present these to me? If so, that is a WISE and diligent choice! I would like to respond with all due respect. However…"

"Invisible hands, is it? A most interesting parlor trick—I must experience it at least once."

"…Did you call this a parlor trick?"

For a moment, Wilhelm's words made the madwoman's madness vanish. Wilhelm responded to her utterance by lowering his sword, beckoning her with his open hand—Come on, he taunted.

"—! This foolish endeavor is to abandon all logic! And to discard logic is lazy!!"

"Wi—"

Mad with rage, the woman thrust both hands forward; simultaneously arms spewed from her shadow, assaulting the Sword Devil.

Their ferocity compelled Subaru to instantly shout for him to dodge, but he wasn't in time. The black, evil hands ought to have grasped Wilhelm's limbs, cruelly rending his flesh asunder—

But they did not.

A silver flash ran across the sky, and droplets of blood spurted from the woman's neck.

"If the human launching the attack is in plain sight before you, it can be anticipated, invisible or not. By watching the movement of her eyes, feeling her hostility, reading how she breathes as she aims, it was all too clear."

"—"

The Sword Devil made that frightening declaration having completely anticipated the pitch-black, evil hands, striking them down with his sword. Without exaggeration, his evasive timing was perfect; his talk of reading her breaths was no mere boast. His shocking combat skill had blunted the advantage posed by the invisible hands.

"How, how, how can this…?"

And without doubt, the madwoman's shock was even greater than Subaru's. She pressed a palm to the right side of her neck, taking in the feeling of the blood smearing it from the fresh cut. The very fact that the woman had dodged just prior to Wilhelm's sword strike, the action saving her life, was itself abnormal.

"Damn it, she threw herself with her own power…"

In concert with the sword strike, the woman had leaped backward in an unnatural pose and with unfathomable speed. The shadowy arm had grabbed and tossed the woman's body, narrowly saving her life from the Sword Devil's blade.

However, as a consequence, the evil hand's gripping power had crushed her left shoulder. It was a violent emergency evasive maneuver of sorts with no room for subtlety. However, the woman patted her crushed shoulder, glaring at Wilhelm as she said, "What…what a diligent concept, such diligent skill, aaa diligent way of life!"

Her cheeks flushed, the woman praised Wilhelm with delight in her eyes. Receiving what was, by her standards, unreserved adulation, Wilhelm grimaced in visible displeasure. However, the woman paid this no heed.

"None have ever challenged my love with such a method, such technique, such cunning! What diligence! Ahh, splendid!"

"Even this world is not so barren that I would waste words upon the likes of you."

"Do not say such hurtful things. I want you to show me more! Of you! Your sword! All OF you! Captivate me more!!"

Her body half smeared with blood, the madwoman stretched her hands out to Wilhelm as if seeking his affections. The Sword Devil did not conceal his displeasure at her statement, giving his sword a swing as he charged once more.

"Then then thennnn! HOW about this?!"

Together with her pronouncement, Unseen Hands gushed out from the ground, forming a black wall in front of the woman. It was a wall Wilhelm could not see. If he kept charging in like that, he'd be enmeshed in the evil hands, unable to evade.

"She made a wall of arms in front! Go around!"

"—Understood."

At Subaru's shout, Wilhelm kicked off from the ground, evading just short of the black wall before his eyes. The Sword Devil proceeded to leap sideways, escaping from the arms' range, thrusting his sword into the ground and swinging it upward.

"—!"

The angular sword strike gouged out the earth, sending a shower of dirt pouring onto the madwoman. He had kicked up a completely mundane smoke screen of dust. Naturally, the woman showed no signs of damage from it.

"—? Did that have a point…?"

"I hoped you would not disappoint me! Come! Come, come! Diligent old bones! You, the beloved child that knows love is the greatest thing in this world! Demonstrate your diligence to me!!"

The Sword Devil's behavior drew comments from both Subaru and the madwoman. But Wilhelm said nothing to either set of words. The aged swordsman simply continued his nimble run as dirt showered down upon the woman over and over.

Brushing away the unpleasant downpour, the madwoman turned eyes toward the Sword Devil like a maiden in love. The arms of instant death obstinately pounded down wherever she was looking.

"Are you finished? Is there no more? If so, dismay! Disappointment! Despondency of the soul, despair! Ahh, AHH! Are you lazy?!!!"

"N-no way?!"

At the woman's shout, shadow exploded; it was a terrifying volley of power that squarely locked on to Wilhelm. The hitherto sporadic evil hands now numbered above thirty, literally filling the sky in the narrow gaps between the trees. Subaru felt dizzy from the overwhelming number of them.

Fatally, there were thirty-odd of them, and Subaru could only point out one or two at best—

"Anyway, it's bad, Wilhelm!"

At the same time as Subaru's woefully insufficient cry, the evil hands cascaded straight down onto the Sword Devil. This time, malice that mercilessly destroyed all it touched would trample Wilhelm flat.

As he raced across the ground, Wilhelm looked overhead, his blue eyes narrowing as he said, "I told you."

The Sword Devil's tranquil voice rode on the warm forest breeze as he easily evaded the encroaching invisible hands.

"Huh?"

Both Subaru and the woman were taken aback; not even they knew which one had spoken the word.

The evil hands poured down on all sides, twisting around to assail the Sword Devil's limbs. With superhuman agility, Wilhelm dodged, evaded, and overwhelmed them.

When he had finally shaken off all the ferocious attacks, a vicious smile came over the Sword Devil's cheeks as he glared at the woman.

"—So long as I know the arms are invisible, I have ways to deal with them."

Certainly, he had just proven that his earlier proclamation was in no way false. But the results were so majestic that Subaru could scarcely close his wide-open mouth. Even Wilhelm shouldn't have had the super-senses to detect that many arms coming at him.

"Absurd. Absurd, absurd, absurdabsurdabsurdabsurdsurdsurdsurdsurdsurd…!"

Stricken senseless as she was by the foiling of her best move, the woman's eyes lost all focus. Trembling, the woman crushed her remaining fingers in true Petelgeuse fashion, but her emotional outburst did not relent as blood flowed from her nose.

The nosebleed was still dripping when the woman thrust her blood-smeared right hand at Wilhelm.

"Impossibleimpossibleimpossibleimpossible! How could you escape my Unseen Hands?!"

"Of course, I evaded them by sight. Once I knew their nature, foiling them was mere child's play."

Wilhelm tediously made the declaration as he once again made dirt shower with the tip of his treasured sword.

Dirt poured onto the madwoman, incomprehension on her beet-red face. But after seeing it repeated over and over, Subaru finally understood Wilhelm's objective in making that move. At the same time, he was in shock.

—The repeated showers of dirt were his opening moves for making Unseen Hands visible.

The hands themselves were invisible to the naked eye, interacting with whatever they touched by destroying it. In other words, the evil hands left a trail as they tore through the dirt showers.

Of course, even if he could see the ferocious attacks by thirty-plus hands, evading them was no easy task. And yet, Wilhelm's superhuman, godlike combat capabilities made even this seem like child's play.

"Now then, both of our tricks have been sufficiently exposed. I shall obtain vengeance for my comrades."

Thrusting the tip of his treasured sword forward, Wilhelm threatened with suppressed anger. The hostility radiating from the tip of his sword sent a thrill through Subaru, not even the direct target of that blade. Naturally, his fear was nothing compared to that of the madwoman on the receiving end of that sword tip.

In spite of this, the madwoman spread her blood-smeared arms wide, laughing as if granting his bloodlust a warm welcome.

"Ahh, ahh, it is splendid! Your actions are diligence personified! To inflict this situation, this development, this predicament upon meee…! I, always striving to be first among Her adherents, to repay Her favor and love with diligence! And yet, you have…!"

"To repeat diligence and laziness over and over is foolishness."

Exhaling once in the face of the woman's unsightly cries, the Sword Devil gazed at her with enmity winning out against the bloodlust in his eyes.

"'—If I do this, I will be loved. If I do enough, I will be loved.' The frivolity with which you speak the word rots my ears. It is not love of which you speak. It is merely your own conceit."

"What do you know about love?! Love is eeeverything to me!!"

Wilhelm did not reply to the woman's shriek; rather he slammed his sword down and advanced. The dirt shower recommenced, and the Sword Devil put his foot down, carving a wound in the ground as his body shot out like a bullet.

Even though, like a whip, like a spear, like a maul, like a sword, the madwoman's evil hands raced to mow Wilhelm down, he saw through them all, and was thus allowed to draw near.

And then—

"It is over, heretic."

As he stated this, the treasured sword in Wilhelm's hand plunged to the hilt, deep into the madwoman's belly. The sword ran through her, coming out of her back; when he yanked it out with a twist, a great deal of blood and entrails poured out.

When Wilhelm pulled back, the woman fell to her knees and bent forward as she touched the wound with a hand.

"Ahh, this cannot…"

Her palm was impotent to stop her blood from gushing out, her intestines from pouring out.

Wilhelm silently looked down at the madwoman, unable to stem the spillage of her life. Having cut down so many lives, the Sword Devil knew that she had little time left to live.

"It seems you require a mercy blow?"

"—Mercy is unnecessary. My life drains away, my blooood, disappearing… My diligence, the heartbeat that sustains me, is stopping, vani…sh…ing…"

Refusing the Sword Devil's mercy, the madwoman fell onto her side with a smile on her lips. The light proceeded to fade from the woman's eyes. Subaru stood rooted to the spot as he watched her final moments.

"…!"

"Ahh, my brain is shaaa…"

While Subaru stared, the woman left only those final words before her breathing completely ceased.

It was the death of the second user of Unseen Hands, the second Sloth.

Watching until the end, Subaru let out his breath. The conclusion of the battle had made him practically forget to breathe. His body resumed its life functions, as if remembering that which it had forgotten.

"I-is it…over?"

"—At the very least, this woman has most assuredly ceased to breathe."

Wiping the blood from his sword, Wilhelm replied thus to Subaru, who was nervously peering at the corpse. Subaru bit his lip, feeling as if the meaning behind those words bolstered his earlier deduction.

But Subaru immediately shook his head, switching gears. He knew it was no time to sink into contemplation.

"Setting her aside…anyway, we've gotta head back! I'm worried about everyone else. If we don't link up with them…!"

"—No, Sir Subaru. I have just been informed that they have wrapped up their end."

"Informed…?"

With Subaru agitated, Wilhelm offered a hand toward him. A pale light was floating above his hand. The spirit swayed left and right, emitting a faint red light, asserting its own existence.

"That's the spirit from…er, a minor spirit? Anyway, you're saying that this spirit told you the others are safe on their end?"

Subaru spoke toward the flickering light on Wilhelm's hand in hope of a reply. However, the spirit did not reply with words; it merely floated into the air, entering the forest as if to lead the way.

"That means Follow me, doesn't it?"

"—Let us go, Sir Subaru."

Grasping that it wished to guide them, Subaru and Wilhelm chased after the spirit.

They returned to their comrades after repelling a foe rivaling an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins; considering the circumstances, it was good news to return with, but grave emotions were carved onto the pair's faces.

"—Shit."

But that moment, the only thing on Subaru's mind was the state of the allies with whom he would be reunited.