Chapter 54 - 'Demon' VS 'the Witch'

"—I'm a failure of a girl, just like you."

Aldebaran will never forget the wistful look on the Witch's face when she said that.

He found himself thinking: Even that Witch who wears the face of someone who knows every law of this world, who acts as though her roots of knowledge reach into every last corner, who carries herself like one versed in all things under heaven and earth—does even she have moments when she wants to lament her own lack of power?

"Of course I do. Put simply, your very existence… the fact that you are like this is itself proof that I am lacking."

Hearing that left Aldebaran with complicated feelings. To Aldebaran, the Witch's existence is immense—he hates to admit it, but it's great. He doesn't have many points of comparison, but measured against anything, she'd feel large. So it did not please him to hear that Witch call herself inept. Only, without that Witch's self-awareness, he and she would not have the relationship they do now. If the Witch had been in a position where she need not acknowledge her inadequacy—

"In that case, both you and I would simply have been where we were meant to be. You're free to dwell on the future where that didn't happen, but unfortunately you drew the worst fate. Regrettably for you—though for me, it was a windfall."

In that pseudo-villainous turn of phrase, it felt like the Witch's own humor and the Witch's own true feelings were mixed in equal measure. In truth, he doesn't know. The Witch is always claiming she doesn't understand people's hearts, and even for Aldebaran, who has known her a long time, her true feelings were hazy and hard to pin down.

But if the Witch's contention is right, it's a strange tale. For while this situation is said to be the worst alignment of stars for Aldebaran, he did not think his days with the Witch were unhappy. Certainly, he was put through "trials" where he was killed a million times, and even if he refused she would call him by a name he did not like—an environment far removed from ordinary happiness.

"To find value in a life with a failed Witch—you're a pitiable child too."

It was a complicated murmur that was both self-mockery and, squarely, a jab at another. Yet Aldebaran did not miss the gentle undertone that could not be hidden there. However small, however easy to overlook, however hard to grasp, the Witch did have feelings. Finding traces that could serve as grounds to believe that was Aldebaran's hobby.

He doesn't know how it really is. It might just be delusion or misunderstanding. What matters is how Aldebaran feels; the Witch's true intent belongs to the Witch. —The truth that belongs to Aldebaran is Aldebaran's.

"That way you can neatly compartmentalize things—it's very similar. Influence, as it were, really can't be underestimated."

Narrowing her black eyes and toying with her white forelock between her fingers, the Witch said that. It was a reminiscence murmured while she looked past Aldebaran at someone, and at herself reflected in Aldebaran's eyes.

Influence—of course it exists. In one's birth, in one's upbringing. For Aldebaran, and for the Witch.

Defective, insufficient, incomplete. —Is that a past the Witch ought to be ashamed of? If the days with the Witch exist because it was so, is thinking that a curse?

If there's just one thing that can be said—

"—Aldebaran."

When, in a scene familiar to Aldebaran over ten years and to the other for over four hundred, they reunited—and the figure of the Witch—no, the Witch of Greed—that he beheld there denied the "defectiveness" she had spoken of that day, what Aldebaran tasted was unbearable loss and despair.

△▼△▼△▼△

—Click-clack. Fidgeting with the fittings of his black helmet, Aldebaran surveyed the situation from above.

Before him, a gigantic anchor of ice that verged on the divine, and taking it as their marker a lineup of faces arrayed in a row, stood proudly to confront Aldebaran. Opposite him was a group centered on Filore—no, Felt—and Aldebaran deliberately refrained from pressing what it meant that they had all been able to assemble here.

He didn't need to ask to know. —Roy and Heinkel have been defeated. He didn't think even "Aldebaran" had lost, but since the Dragon wasn't rushing to this scene, even "Aldebaran" seemed to be getting held up somehow. Frankly, even granted the twin shackles of an Authority and a no-kill restriction, for them to have defeated the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony and, on top of that, come with countermeasures for the Divine Dragon was beyond what he'd imagined.

What kind of plan have they prepared? Even if he asked, they wouldn't tell him, but—

×　　×　　×

—246.

「――No matter how you look at it, you’ve committed way too hard to that Witch Factor, Miss Petra.」

「――!」

At Aldebaran’s head-on remark, tension ran through Felt and the others. The one whose cheeks stiffened most, of course, was Petra herself, whom he had named. From their point of view, Petra’s Authority was their trump card and should have been top secret. In fact, that policy had been firmly shared among all their comrades.

However, even the steeliest heart can’t help but react to a sudden jab.

At Aldebaran’s question, everyone tried to school their expressions and feelings, but if even the slightest gaze or awareness shifted, he would just test that angle again and again, tracing it. In the end, following those trifling reactions led him to the very answer he wanted, standing there bravely.――That it turned out to be Petra, who had taken in a Witch Factor, was quite a surprise, though.

「To begin with, in my book, after reading that, Miss Petra or Miss Meili coming back to the line wasn’t supposed to be possible.」

Aldebaran, who had confined Subaru Natsuki and Beatrice in the Pleiades Watchtower, drove back Garfiel and Ezzo and then let Petra and the others go without harming them. That was not only because there was no need to eliminate them, but also a stratagem made with an eye to what would follow.

To stall Reinhard, the manifestation of the Witch of Envy was indispensable. As the personnel to trigger that—by having them read Subaru Natsuki’s Book of the Dead—Aldebaran singled out Petra and the others. In practice, the battle between Aldebaran and Reinhard was interrupted by the Witch of Envy barging in, and removing the plan’s greatest obstacle succeeded. However――

「…Even just reading someone’s single volume could easily make you have a mental breakdown, and you’re telling me she endured Subaru Natsuki’s Book of the Dead?」

There is precedent.――Aldebaran himself has more than enough come to mind, but even so, it’s the absoluteness of the concept of “death” that makes it hard to believe the same feat can be repeated. Depending on the case, Subaru Natsuki’s Book of the Dead is a top-class cursed item that could become a trump card for felling someone above your weight. There can’t be many who wouldn’t have their hearts broken by that.

「…Yeah, underestimating others is my bad habit.」

Whatever Aldebaran thinks, the fact is that Petra is standing here. Not only did she not have her heart shattered by the shock of reading the Book of the Dead, she even went so far as to commit the reckless act of housing a Witch Factor in herself to stop Aldebaran. Perhaps the experience of reading the Book of the Dead is what drove Petra to such extremes.

『――No one can defeat the you I created.』

The words of the Witch that flickered through his mind were meant to spur Aldebaran on—never to puff him up with arrogance and make him stumble. If he mistook that, then this time Aldebaran would truly lose the Witch—the Witch who had ended up as the Witch of Greed, who had truly lost the heart that had once been there.

「――In the end, you can’t leave your fate to someone else.」

He sank the twinge of sentiment that had slipped into his heart down to the bottom of his chest with a deep breath, and Aldebaran faced forward. The enemy was strong, the obstacles many, no comrades, nothing to boast of to anyone—and even so, he decided to go. In that instant――

「――Oooooh!!」

――A mighty fist of the golden tiger, blazing with rage, smashed fiercely into Aldebaran’s head.

△▼△▼△▼△

――Gods, Buddha, Od Lagna. I swear I will never take part in celebrations for as long as I live.

△▼△▼△▼△

――A total of sixty-one. This is, without a doubt, the Aldebusters—reorganized after settling things with Gluttony’s Roy Alphard for the final showdown with Al—the combined might of the Emilia Camp and the Felt Camp. Reassembled right on the heels of that fierce battle, with no time to catch a breath, Petra couldn’t help but feel gratitude and respect for those who’d managed to remain this many. But that in no way disparages those who couldn’t keep up with the reorganized team.

『We can’t let Otto or Meili push themselves any further.』

As Imaginary Subaru said, Otto and Meili—both of whom were decisive in the fight with Gluttony—were in no shape to continue: not only had Otto had his memories eaten, but Meili had used her blessing too much to stop the Black Serpent and was severely spent; withdrawing from the front lines was inevitable. And not just them. There were also those who, by Roy’s last-minute trump card—the Authority of Gluttony—were forced to re-chew their past pain and had their minds worn down to the limit. Unlike wounds to the body, wear to the heart doesn’t recover easily even with Petra’s Compression. Even so, Meili kept insisting she’d “compress” her recovery time and get back to the front――

「Even if you borrow against your life, Subaru won’t be happy about it, you know?」

And so, persuaded by Petra, she reluctantly—truly, very reluctantly—accepted pulling out of the line. Honestly, the way Meili agreed once Subaru was brought up left a faint snag in Petra’s maiden circuitry, but since she was the one who did it, she didn’t say much. Besides, she also had the job of keeping watch for the Black Serpent that Gluttony had drawn in and that slipped away after the fight. She felt bad that she couldn’t let her rest completely.

'We’ve got no choice but to have the ones who can do it patch the holes. That said, there are crazies who’ll jump into a hot zone even without their memories.'

“It’s amazing, right? Even without his memories, Otto is still like that, I can’t help thinking.”

'Maybe it’s just how he was born. He might be a risk junkie.'

Either way, memories or not, if the man himself heard that he’d probably butt in with, “Could you not say things that make me sound awful!?”—but you can hardly blame them for thinking it.

At any rate, Gluttony cleanly shaved down our precious fighting strength and left our hand for the climax uncomfortably tight. Garfiel’s return is welcome, but not being able to pour everything into Emilia and Rem is, from Petra’s point of view and from ‘Subaru’s’ as well, a bitter blow. Even so—

“—We’re going to win, Subaru.”

'Yeah, let’s go for the win. So all the savings we’ve built up to now don’t go to waste.'

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. I swear I will never speak of my dreams with anyone for as long as I live.

△▼△▼△▼△

“—In the end, it means you can’t leave your fate to somebody else.”

Flippant in content yet hiding resolve in his tone, Al said that—and it became the signal.

“—Oooooh!!”

With a ferociously howling Garfiel as vanguard, the Aldebusters burst into motion. Watching their movements, Petra clasped both hands tight at her chest.

—Using the ice anchor Emilia had driven in as a marker, Petra used Compression to shorten the distance with the Aldebusters in tow and once more stood in Al’s way. To be honest, the absence of Emilia and Rem there, and the fact that Al’s attendant kunoichi, drawn out unexpectedly, was nowhere to be seen, were unavoidably worrying factors, but—

'—Al has no reason to lift his nonlethal constraint.'

Taking comfort in that was perhaps expecting a bit too much of the opponent’s capability and creed. But thinking of how Al, who holds the Authority of Time Regression, had fought up to now, it was still grounds enough. Precisely because the Authority is too strong, in a sense Al has been allowed to sandbag up to this point. And that premise, even now that they’ve torn his companions away from him, ultimately hasn’t changed.

“Gagh.”

Charging straight in without any windup, Garfiel let out a groan. The reason was that on his diving line he collided with a stone slab that popped into existence. Smashed in the face by the ambush slab that had read his opening move, Garfiel’s body flipped in midair. Slipping under the inverted Garfiel, Al moved to intercept the forces coming after the golden tiger.

Next came Ram and Flam and Grassis—the three of them.

'By a quirk of fate, the pink-haired sisters! Now, how’s this gonna go!?'

△▼△▼△▼△

—37.

He met Garfiel’s lunge with a stone slab and slipped under him as he back-flipped in midair. The timing was harsher than expected. Insert the slab too early and it’d be swept aside; too late and it would let Garfiel slip by. He burned into his body the split second before it hit his face, and put it into practice.

“Gagh.”

With that groan sounding at the back of his head, three shadows came at Aldebaran as he faced forward. From the left and right, Flam and her sister; from a slightly elevated diagonal, Ram—perfectly synchronized. It was teamwork that highlighted the twins’ unique precision, with Ram’s ability to sync on the first try standing out as abnormal. And then—

“That Rem girl is splattered flat against the cliff behind you.”

“She isn’t. Don’t underestimate the sisterly love between Ram and Rem.”

The poison in his words was detoxified by the sisters’ shared senses and failed to take effect. Since there was no agitation, Ram’s words weren’t a lie. Catching what that meant—that Rem was safe and Yae’s condition unknown—the poison instead worked on him. However—

“—Earthbrand Arts.”

Using the mana returning through his pass with the Dragon, stone blades ringed Aldebaran. To evade the points of swords and spearheads erupting one after another from the earth, the twins made large evasive motions; a split-second lag was born, and the trio’s coordination switched to a solo attack by Ram. At that isolated Ram, he brought the stone dragon blade he’d picked up in the flow straight down from the front—

“Nice. I’ll borrow it.”

As Ram scooped the blade up with wind magic and swung through, Al’s jaw was smashed from the side.

×　　×　　×

—91.

“Nice. I’ll borrow—actually, I won’t.”

Spitting the words out, Ram let the stone sword drawn in by the wind pass her by; the stone blade that slipped past her crumbled brittlely, and Aldebaran’s strike was drawn toward her as she failed to recover her weapon. Ram caught it on a wind-wreathed staff, deftly manipulated the wind, and, by generating pressure even while airborne, tried to force through the bind. He grabbed Ram’s leg with his rocky prosthetic arm and, parrying the blades of wind, flung her backward.

"—!"

With Ram’s grinding teeth behind him, Aldebaran pressed forward; Flam and the sister apparently called Grassis, who had fallen behind in the earlier confusion, rushed him at once. Matching the quickness that left no room to let their youth lower his guard, Aldebaran spread his own right arm and his artificial left arm wide and raised a billow of sand that swept across a hundred and eighty degrees of his view. The heaving masses of sand swallowed the girls, becoming a cage that sank them into the earth—

"—Shade Six, Warrior! Wind Five, Mage! Flower Eight, King!"

He was slugged head-on by a pressure that welled up out of nowhere and dropped onto his back into the sea of blades he himself had made.

×　　×　　×

—112.

"—Shade Six, Warrior! Wind Five, Mage! Flower Eight, King!"

The instant he heard it, he forcibly clapped his spread arms shut and fixed the muzzle of the sand surge straight ahead—and the bearded hulk that had appeared literally in the blink of an eye was drenched in the surge, ending up like Flam and Grassis. Using that to slip the danger, Aldebaran sprang out at a diagonal, trying to vault over the enemy ranks—

"Ul Goa!!"

Still mid-leap, he took a searing cannonball of flame he couldn’t dodge; his entrails flared.

×　　×　　×

—146.

"Ul Goa!!"

Pinning the twins and the big man down with sand, he deliberately lagged a step behind against the oncoming fireball. The one that took the flames head-on instead was a shoddy earthen doll Aldebaran cobbled together on the spot—an inferior knockoff of the magic Emilia used to reproduce Subaru Natsuki in ice. The fireball, launched with the aim of pinning the head of the lunging Aldebaran, in a battle that demanded split-second judgment, took the bait of the crude earthen doll hook, line, and sinker.

"Wha—!?"

The caster—a scrawny guy with a tongue piercing and a nasty look in his eyes—gasped at Aldebaran’s response. Unless you were a seasoned mage, you couldn’t just sling Ul-class magic back to back. Flipping up the middle finger of his prosthetic, Aldebaran this time truly went for further advance—

"—Blow it away!!"

From diagonally behind him, a shockwave of light fired from that position struck Aldebaran square in the back; the intensity of the white light, as if burning the world, painted even his consciousness pure white.

×　　×　　×

—147.

"—Blow it away!!"

At the brave war cry, he turned toward it; the culprit was Felt, her gallant face baring a fang, and he saw the source of the light was the magic staff in her grip. It was the 『Star Staff』 called 『Meteor』, which in life 『the Witch』 had bragged had once made even the 『Divine Dragon』 cry—in other words, his master’s mess.

"Getting blocked by my teacher here is way too much of a bug."

As the long, unending challenge ahead and the realization that the wall he had to overcome was a handmade piece by none other than 『the Witch』 who had shown Aldebaran the way sank in, a melancholy feeling sprouted.

That Aldebaran was mercilessly swallowed by the white light. Now then—

×　　×　　×

—148.

"—Blow it away!!"

—How in the world do I break through this onrushing white light?

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. For the rest of my life, I swear I will never give gifts.

×　　×　　×

"—What does the Authority of 『Melancholy』 do?"

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. For the rest of my life, I swear I will never wave at anyone.

×　　×　　×

"—You can’t explain it as just a warp. An Authority shouldn’t be like that."

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. For the rest of my life, I swear I will never pray before sleeping.

×　　×　　×

"—It has to represent some concept, right? 『Melancholy』… 『Melancholy』, huh."

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. For the rest of my life, I swear I will never be there for anyone’s pain.

×　　×　　×

"—Feelings sink, downer, overcast sky, getting depressed, caving in… caving in?"

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. For the rest of my life, I swear I will never rejoice at a clear sky.

×　　×　　×

"—So you’re crushing—gaps, distance. No, it’s not just those you’re crushing, is it?"

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. For the rest of my life, I swear I will never lament a rainy sky.

×　　×　　×

"—You’re crushing the lack of thinking time to make up for it, aren’t you? But a Witch Factor…"

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. For the rest of my life, I swear I will never look up at a rainbow with anyone.

△▼△▼△▼△

"—A Witch Factor isn’t something that convenient, is it?"

In an instant, as Al broke through the 『Aldebusters』’ encirclement and closed all the way to right in front of her, his words sent a chill racing up Petra’s spine. Al’s eyes were hidden beneath an iron helm—yet their eyes met. With that sensation, she felt as though he had seen right through her, and anxiety seized Petra’s heart. Somehow, Al knew the Witch Factor even better than Petra did.

『Petra!!』 「—Eight of Flowers, Witch!!」

「—!」

With the urgent, hoarse instruction overlapping the cry of the beloved within, Petra invoked 『Compression』 on the hesitation that had arisen inside her; so as not to let Al’s outstretched arm catch her, she slipped past that hand, and, compressing the very process of opening distance from him with 『Compression』, she sprang away all at once.

「Hey, hey, you can even crush your own timing, huh…!」

Vanishing right before his eyes and making him swing at empty air, Petra drew a tongue-click from Al as he turned back. With Al’s shoulders rising and falling, the distance between him and Petra was reset yet again. Between the two glaring at each other stood the comrades of the 『Aldebusters』 whom Al had fought so hard to break through. To reach Petra once more, he would have to clear the same hurdles again. Yet Petra felt nothing like a sense that she had pulled one over on him.

『Petra, about what Al said just now…』

「I know. …He really is redoing it.」

At the words of the hovering 『Imaginary Subaru』 by her side, Petra narrowed her eyes and nodded. She hadn’t exactly been doubting it by this point, but actually witnessing Al’s 『Time Regression』 with her own eyes, she couldn’t help being astonished at how out of spec it was.

Garfiel’s opening strike, the coordinated attack by Ram and 『Flam and Grassis』, the encirclement by Gaston, Rachins, and Felt launched from three directions via 『Compression』, and even the obstruction by fifty people moving under Old Man Rom’s orders—Al handled all of it perfectly. He ran every last one of them through the one and only optimal solution—the answer of “this is the only way.”

『Compressing our thinking on our side can kind of get us to a similar result, but…』

「That’s just us thinking as hard as we can until we get to the answer that feels right. It’s still a bit different from the power Subaru and Mr Al have.」

『…If things were as they should be, I ought to be about this strong too.』

『Subaru』 scratched his head and drooped in dejection. But Petra didn’t think so. Subaru, in Subaru’s own way, had faced his Authority head-on, held fast to many things that should have been lost, and saved Petra and the others. There wasn’t a single thing about him that was inadequate. And yet, at the same time—

「…How many times did you redo it before you were reaching your hand out to me?」

As far as Petra knew, Al’s ability as a warrior was middling at best—far beneath Ram and Garfiel, and likely not even a match for Heinkel. And yet, Al single-handedly toyed with the 『Aldebusters』 and nearly put them in check.

『Not just ten—he might have repeated it twenty times.』

「…It could be even more.」

At 『Subaru’s』 mild estimate, Petra guessed at the possibility of ten or twenty times that. In fact, if Petra herself were in the position of outmaneuvering the 『Aldebusters』, even if she had an Authority that told her what would happen next, she wasn’t confident she could clear it in a hundred attempts. What’s more, even if he had borrowed the power of 『the Dragon』, Al had a track record of even slipping past Reinhard. To accomplish something of that caliber, how far can a person kill their heart and keep challenging?

If Al’s 『Time Regression』 really was, as Petra and the others imagined, a power traded for “death” like Subaru Natsuki’s, then the one standing there was a terrifying 『demon』 affecting frivolity.

Al had already overcome the fear and sense of loss of “death”—no, there is no human who can overcome that. If anything, it isn’t overcoming; it’s numbness. A being whose very life’s instinct—to fear “death” and keep it at a distance—has been numbed—that is the secret of Al’s strength, and what leads to his absoluteness as a 『demon』. To surpass that absoluteness, we too must pay a commensurate price.

『—Petra』

「It’s okay, Subaru. …I’m okay.」

He was a presence lodged in her head. Only to 『Imaginary Subaru』 had Petra’s secret—known neither to anyone in the 『Aldebusters』 nor to anyone in the Emilia Camp—been exposed. It was something even the 『demon』 before her, versed in the Witch Factor, had also pointed out.

—No convenient fate smiles upon one who calls herself the 『Witch of Melancholy』.

「Even so, that’s no reason for me to stop.」

Deceiving even herself like that, Petra Leyte—the 『Witch of Melancholy』—exercised her Authority. In exchange for interfering with the order of the world, a future shaved away from the existence that is herself—even if it was precious and irreplaceable—the newly born 『the Witch』 had no hesitation.

△▼△▼△▼△

—7011.

「Even so, that’s no reason for me to stop.」

Seeing the words forming on Petra’s lips from afar, Aldebaran felt like taking his hat off to her. He didn’t actually remove his helm, but that was how he felt. Because, well, of course.

"...I really can’t forgive Subaru Natsuki."

Grinding his teeth, Aldebaran looked over the mixed force he’d faced so far—apparently they’re calling themselves Aldebusters. He liked the naming sense, though he’d rather not dwell on its source. At any rate, in the back-and-forth with the Aldebusters up to now, he had unraveled most of how the Witch Factor of Melancholy Petra had taken in worked, and the particulars of its Authority.

As with any fight, it’s crucial to gather as much accurate information on the opponent as you can. With Sin Archbishops and the Witch in particular, that goes double; if you confront them without grasping what kind of Authority they possess, it’s not unusual to get one-sidedly killed on the spot. Getting past that kind of first-encounter kill is exactly the strength of Aldebaran and Subaru Natsuki.

Putting that strength to full use, Aldebaran had pinned down Melancholy’s Authority—and it had a downright absurd performance. The power to press down and crush intervals and time—Compression—would brook no rival in versatility and nuisance. On top of that, this Authority apparently enables even the Compression of thought, so that even within a single second of give-and-take, thoroughly reasoned, razor-honed conclusions came at him one after another. Even with Aldebaran’s “Domain,” that was a problem set not easily solved.

In fact, it took seven thousand retries just to slip through a mere eleven seconds of exchange.

And even after all that, he still let the crucial target, Petra, get away. —Given that she had opened up the same distance again, catching up next time would demand an equal or greater challenge.

"Even so, Melancholy’s Authority and Valga are the worst possible match..."

Among the Aldebusters was Valga Cromwell, who had tormented him to no end. A monster of cunning who made no use at all of his blessed giant frame, given unlimited free thinking time he would press Aldebaran by producing the one and only optimal answer. It was, truly, a nightmare combination—like handing an oni an iron club.

If he let himself dance in Valga’s hand, there was a risk they’d seal Aldebaran down all over again. Hence, even if his time to think was forcibly stripped away, he would not grant many chances for trial and error. All the more so because letting them keep using Melancholy’s Authority wasn’t Aldebaran’s intent to begin with. Because—

"—The Witch Factor of Melancholy is a defective product. A one-off prepared for a hero, it doesn’t mesh with anyone else. Turn it around and you could say it will mesh with anyone if you pay the price, but people are creatures who can, in exchange for resolve, sell off far too much of themselves piece by piece."

Information about the Witch Factor of Melancholy he had once heard from the Witch. Perhaps she had strong feelings about it; she’d been reluctant to say much about the two Witch Factors that should be called outliers, but once she gave in she was positively talkative. Summarizing her unfocused, long-winded explanation, the main points were these.

—The Witch Factor of Melancholy activates its Authority in exchange for the holder’s will. —The price for using the Witch Factor of Melancholy can only be paid by its holder.

"—Subaru Natsuki."

At that point in his train of thought, Aldebaran once more felt anger toward Subaru Natsuki. Of course, Aldebaran did not think that his own plan—having her read the Book of the Dead—was unrelated to the process by which Petra came to take in the Witch Factor of Melancholy. But if it was Aldebaran who created the opportunity, then a large share of the responsibility lies with Subaru Natsuki. Considering the relationship between Aldebaran and Subaru Natsuki, it’s only natural to say at least that much. The great shadow cast over Petra’s life began with Subaru Natsuki. He didn’t have malice—Aldebaran won’t say that, won’t even think it—but there’s no denying the magnitude of his influence. And that influence doesn’t stop at Petra; it has shown itself in many scenes even before this battle—something like a kind of fate power. —'Co' Even so, fate power is an ironic thing. Of all people, it is Subaru Natsuki and Aldebaran who can most rightly say they hate fate, and yet— —'m' it’s no exaggeration to say their actions determine fate. —'pre' When he thought that, what flashed through Aldebaran’s mind were her words, crimson and searingly vivid. Those— —'ss' words of praise she spoke in those final moments now try to scorch Aldebaran’s heart. He deliberately averts his eyes, stops up his ears to them. —'A' The time to look back on his deeds is long past. What supports Aldebaran now is not the woman he lost, but his vow with his teacher. —'g' Why was Aldebaran born, and for what was he made to be Aldebaran? The sum of all that is about to be tested. Which is why he has no time to stop and think—wait, wait wait wait. Isn’t this taking too long? The fight should resume after scarcely a breath, after taking a deep inhalation. —'o' That’s how it should be. The enemy doesn’t want to let us come up for air. We don’t want to give the enemy much time either. —'n' With that consensus in place, why is Aldebaran able to take his sweet time thinking like this— —'y'. Not good. Something’s off. What is it? What did she say? In the distance, he could see Petra’s lips moving. One by one, he picked up the sounds those lips spun. He gathered the pieces tossed into the gaps between thoughts. Slow. Maddening. Far too slow. Grasp the meaning, grasp the purport, grasp the intent. —. ——. ——. Impossible. He can’t make his thoughts go quiet. Fine, think as you do it. “Compress”? To press down? Press down what? “Agony”? Pain? Suffering? Anguish… anguish? Worry it, think, unravel it. Damn, she got me. I was put under Compression.

—My thoughts were put under Compression!!

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, and Od Lagna. I swear I will never reveal an important secret for as long as I live.

△▼△▼△▼△

“—‘Compress Agony’”

Compression of thought by the Authority of Melancholy—a powerful buff that speeds up allies’ thinking, lets them skip discussion, and strikes with the optimal move hammered out by everyone’s combined thought. Bestowing that on Al was one of the counters Petra had prepared for him.

“When you’ve got too much to think about, your head’ll pop, right?”

Presumptuous as it may be, Petra now considers herself the third most knowledgeable person in the world about Return by Death—Time Regression—after Subaru and Al. Drawing on that scholarship and on the experience of reliving the suffering of Subaru’s “deaths,” she found a way not to nullify but to overheat Al’s seemingly invincible Authority.

That is, an overload on the mind via accelerated cognition.

Back when the Royal Selection had only just begun, Subaru, who wound up parting from Emilia after a quarrel in the royal capital, once wore his heart completely down from crushing stress and mental strain. By chance he found the impetus to stand back up through Rem’s devotion and his anger at the Sin Archbishop, but the fact remains that he temporarily lost the will to fight and became an empty shell. —Recreate that.

By now, Al’s emotion of fearing “death” has gone numb; no matter how many “deaths” he stacks up, his heart might never break. Even so, even if he’s turned the world against himself, Al is human. Cracks will form in his mind, and he will reach his limit. Induce that.

And for that, no matter what part of myself I have to trade away—

“—Domain Expansion, Matrix Redefinition”

Even as accelerated thought tormented him, Petra could tell Al quietly murmured those words. The mental load is heavy, but this state is a double-edged sword. It’s even odds whether Al’s heart, so fiercely worn down until now, reaches its limit first, or whether—like the Aldebusters—he turns that Compression of thought to the utmost and counterattacks Petra and the others.

Hence, from here on, the battle is, in the truest sense, the Aldebusters’ moment of truth—

“—Everyone! From here on out! Don’t let your guard down!” “—Ooo!!”

At Petra's rousing call, replies come back from comrades whose exchanges have been compressed by Compression. Feeling heartened by that, she was about to restart the showdown with Al—when she noticed.

Among those who had just answered so strongly, there was one whose voice she didn't hear. It could simply be that they missed the timing. But a strange sense of wrongness pricked at her, and Petra flicked her gaze that way, searching for the one who hadn't replied. And then, she found them.

"—Old Man Rom?"

—the hulking elder who hadn't answered, their grand strategist tasked with surveying the battlefield and issuing timely, precise orders, his eyes rolling white as he slowly collapsed to the ground.

△▼△▼△▼△

—Time rewinds by only an instant.

"—Domain Expansion, Matrix Redefinition"

Hearing Aldebaran spit those words out, Old Man Rom's broad shoulders trembled. Eyes widening in frozen astonishment, he stiffened, an agitation that shouldn't have been there gripping him at the sight of Aldebaran standing stock-still facing the combined force.

Old Man Rom had also heard Petra's plan using the Authority of Melancholy. It was a strategy to accelerate Aldebaran's thinking, put a load on his mind, and drain him all at once. That in itself he judged a necessary step to defeat Aldebaran with his so-called Time Regression, and he promised to cooperate. He had misgivings about speeding up Aldebaran's thoughts, but they, too, were compressing the path to the optimal move with Compression; he accepted it as a situation to press with their combined strength. A big part of his agreement was that, under that policy, Old Man Rom himself could lend his strength.

And in practice, in their battle with Aldebaran, Old Man Rom's expectations proved right. By moving his comrades swiftly, they succeeded in cornering Aldebaran—but what shocked Old Man Rom and unsteadied him came after that.

"—Domain Expansion, Matrix Redefinition"

With that declaration, Old Man Rom's position shifted in an instant—no, it wasn't only Old Man Rom. The positions of Aldebaran, Felt, and everyone taking part in this fight had rewound to what they'd been a mere dozen-odd seconds before, and the whole thing was starting over.

And by then, Old Man Rom had already repeated that five times—

"—What in blazes is this situation?"

Turning his head in a full sweep, amid the same scene he'd seen five times, Old Man Rom squeezed the words out heavily. No one but Old Man Rom sensed that anything was off.

"—Everyone! This is where it starts! Don't let your guard down!" "—Ooooh!!"

As proof, everyone except Old Man Rom answered Petra's brave steering call. Then they all lunged at Aldebaran at once.

"Old Man Rom! Give us orders!"

Unaware of his turmoil, Felt, Star Staff in hand, searched for an angle of attack. Others besides Felt who possessed finishing moves were running too, seeking Old Man Rom's orders. At their backs, Old Man Rom swallowed a bitter mouthful and sent out orders different from before—

"—Domain Expansion, Matrix Redefinition"

—Thus began the sixth run of the final battle with Aldebaran.