Chapter 56 『Petra Leyte』

――Petra Leyte is a country girl from Arlam Village, a village of the Kingdom of Lugunica.

She was born blessed with exceptional looks and an innate knack for things, but otherwise had nothing particularly noteworthy; under ordinary circumstances she would have had no chance to be involved in anything that would be etched into history, and would probably have ended her days as just another villager, forever dreaming of going to the big city. Therefore, Petra as she is now—having stepped off the『Original』route and been drawn into multiple upheavals worthy of history—is something warped by interference.

Petra herself was aware that there had been a distortion in that fate.

In the『Original』, Petra was a cringey girl who rested on her own cuteness and mistakenly thought she could string along both the adults and the children around her. Surely the『Original』Petra would have spent her days, never corrected in that misunderstanding, acting like the ruler of her tiny world and doing as she pleased. I don’t particularly think that would be a bad life. In its own way, I think it would be fun and happy. It’s just that, with the values of the Petra who has strayed from the『Original』now, I can’t see that as happiness.

「Because none of the people I love now would be there, right?」

Subaru isn’t there. Frederica isn’t there. Emilia isn’t there. Beatrice isn’t there. Meili isn’t there. Ram isn’t there. Rem isn’t there. Ryuzu isn’t there. Annerose isn’t there. Garfiel isn’t there. Otto isn’t there. Clind isn’t there. Roswaal—well, he can wait.――But none of them are there.

「That makes me shudder.」

If the me of the『Original』never met the people I love, and the me here is the result of some collision of destinies, then I’m truly glad I was knocked off course. As a result of taking a route that wasn’t the『Original』, I went on, one after another, to undergo painful, aching, sorrowful, and harsh experiences—brushes with death and even situations that made death seem preferable.

But beyond all those ordeals I faced, there are things I was given, things I managed to seize. That’s why Petra Leyte can say it from the heart.

「Even if I could redo my life over and over, I’d stray from the『Original』again.」

And then, I’d meet you again and again, and tell you this. Because that person who knows the same pain as you, looking like they’re hurting so badly, wishes upon the stars. Petra Leyte is――,

△▼△▼△▼△

――God, Buddha, Od Lagna. I swear that for the rest of my life, I will not merely see someone off on their departure.

△▼△▼△▼△

「—!」

She blew out a hard breath, kicked off the rough rocks, and ran headlong. She corrected her form, leaned forward, and with a start so ideal it made even her swoon, she ran faster than she ever had in her life—ran, ran, and ran. With the thudding sound of blood rushing through her body loud in her ears, her heart bouncing as if it would explode and pounding her chest from the inside, leaving her ragged breaths behind, she ran. And even after running that hard――,

「――Play ball」

The instant that cold proclamation reached her back, her field of vision changed completely. Before she knew it, the legs that had been running faster than ever had stopped, and she was standing there on the rocks in a daze. Before her—though she should have turned her back on it—was a familiar scene, and within it, the man in the Iron Helmet murmured.

「――Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition」

That was the sign that the man who hid his face with a jet-black helm had begun some scheme using his authority. This moment begins with that declaration from the other side, and within the view she is seeing, their comrades who don’t know of the man’s scheme raise voices that shake the air with ferocity.

「Let’s go, you lot!!」 「「――Oooh!!」」

Centered on the brave girl’s rallying cry, the band’s morale rose to a fever pitch and exploded. Riding that momentum, they all leapt at Iron Helmet at once.――But it’s no good. The result is already visible. No matter what they do, the hands they extend will never reach him.

「――――」

Like cut strings, thirty-seven people crumpled to the ground one after another. It looks as though they fell all at once. But in fact, she already knows—having closely observed how each person falls—that there is a subtle order even to the way they go down. At most, there is a difference of two seconds, if that, between when the first person falls and when the thirty-seventh, the last, falls. There is no room to wedge anything into such a tiny span of seconds, and that attempt ended in futility.

『It’s not for nothing. Knowing that this method won’t work isn’t pointless.』

As that parched commentary made itself heard in her—no, not in her eardrums. Because this voice is different from one that reaches you by actually making the air vibrate, it wasn’t her eardrums that were made to quiver. If it wasn’t her eardrums that vibrated, then what on earth did?

『Isn’t it obvious? Your heart.』

The heart. —Yes, that's it. That's right. Because my heart is trembling, I can hear it. There's still enough room left in my heart to tremble. As proof of that, he's there. His name—,

"—Subaru"

"Yeah, I'm right here, Petra."

He said "Petra"—his lips called my name, and I felt relieved. Right. I'm Petra Leyte, and I'm still holding on to that. If that's so, then, if that's the case, then, in that case, yes, that's how it is.

"—Play ball"

—Petra Leyte still has to continue this pilgrimage through hell.

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, Od Lagna. I swear that for the rest of my life I will accept no one's charity.

△▼△▼△▼△

"—Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition" "—Play ball"

A moment that begins with that declaration and ends with that declaration. How much time has passed with Petra trapped in a loop of less than a minute?

"…wait, not even a second has gone by."

Retorting to the whisper of her own heart like that, Petra let out a rasping "ha" of breath. She herself thought it was a terribly cynical, self-mocking, world-weary mutter. She was surprised she could even produce a voice so clouded by such pitch-black emotion. But it wasn't some mistake, nor a mishearing of someone else's voice. Because here—,

"Because here, there are only my voice, those people's, that man's, and Subaru's."

She plopped down on her butt right there, pressed her forehead to her pulled-in knees, and grumbled. Right before her, a group of thirty-seven were yet again about to rush a lone helmeted man, only to be wordlessly countered in an instant—the scene playing out once more. It's really not right. Why won't they understand?

"Is everyone stupid or what? Why, even knowing you're going to get taken out, do you rush straight in without trying a single thing…?"

See, they got taken out again. One after another, they all go down. A sight I'm all too familiar with—more farcical than the villains who get beaten by the heroes in those morning TV hero-time shows I watched endlessly. Again and again and again and again and again, again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again—

"—Stupid."

Even though there should be smart people among them, why—why is there no ingenuity? Even though they've been taken down so many times, why won't they try a different way? I know. They have no awareness that they've been beaten over and over. They don't know they've been beaten repeatedly, and they don't realize they'll be beaten again and again from here on. Since they don't know what's ahead, it's only natural to get swallowed by the all-too-obvious development. This is just me taking it out on them. It's unreasonable. It's absurd. I know. I know, but—

"Even so, you're all adults—do something…!"

She bangs her forehead against her folded knees, again and again. It hurts. It doesn't. It hurts. It doesn't. It hurts. It doesn't. It hurts. It doesn't. It hurts. It hurts.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—Play ballaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa × × × aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinitionaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

She'd managed to cry out at both the end and the beginning of the loop. So what? Petra suddenly starting to shriek brought about a change in the actions of everyone who'd been about to leap at Iron Helmet. They look over here, and their faces change color at the sight of Petra clawing at her head and screaming.

"Hey, what's wrong!?" "Petra! What happened—what did they do to you!?" "Fall back, Petra! You're the linchpin for Ram and the others!"

Voices come flying. Worried for Petra, who had let out a bizarre scream and been struck by an anomaly, they try, with words fresh from that very moment, to draw close to her. I'm happy. Thank you. I love you all. Really. Truly. But, no.

"…I know everything."

When Petra falls apart like this, I know what everyone will say to her. When Petra does her best to explain the loop, I know they'll all rack their brains with her. When Petra proposes that everyone scatter and run using Compression, I know they'll hear her out.

I know. I know it all. I saw, I heard, I talked, I taught, I told, I consulted, I thought, I fretted, I took on challenges, I improvised, I tried, I threw it away, I picked it up, and threw it away again.

"Say something different. Show me something different. Be different. Do something different from a moment ago, from before, from what's next, from this time—do something different...!"

Face all scrunched up, ugly as sin, voice cracking in a pathetic way, clawing at the ground hard enough to peel her nails, Petra lets out incoherent sounds; everyone is struck dumb, instantly pinpoints the cause, turns their anger on the man with the Iron Helmet, and bares their fangs.

"Petra, stand up. Ram will lend you a shoulder."

As the crowd lunges at the Iron Helmet, one person slips out from them and reaches a hand out to Petra. So kind. Even in a situation like this, even with a harsh voice and expression, the way that hand moves is gentle. I love it.

"But, you know."

"—Play ball."

×　　×　　×

"—Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition"

Okay, the scrunched-up face, the peeled nails, the ragged voice—back to normal. The worry they felt for me, the righteous anger bubbling up, the concern for their junior—all reset. Reset, and with a blank slate, let's savor another brand-new beginning and end.

"Let's do this, you bastards!!" "—Yeah!!"

You all have it good, huh. With fresh feelings, you can shout like that again. I can't. I can't do it. I tried to hang in there with you, did it together more than a hundred times. But nothing changes, and you all go down first, eyes rolling back—it's kind of unfair, isn't it.

"Maybe I should cheat, too."

She pouts and blurts that out, just a little. And while she's doing that, everyone is already napping before she knows it, and in front of Petra, with clumsy footfalls, a man fiddling with the fittings of his own helmet was drawing near.

"——"

Slowly, the man extends the hand that had been fiddling with the fittings toward Petra. I wonder, does he properly take care of that helmet? You have to oil it, wipe it dry—maintenance is a must, right? He feels like someone who's been fighting nonstop and hasn't even bathed, and a hand like that reaching out to me makes me a bit resistant. But I'll bear it. I'll bear it and wait for the hand reaching for me to get here. Is it hard to do if I stare? Then I'll close my eyes, so grab me while I do. Okay, one, two, three...

×　　×　　×

"—Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition"

Figures. I knew it. Getting caught won't help. Ahaha, drop dead.

△▼△▼△▼△

—God, Buddha, Od Lagna. I swear I will never speak of my failures for as long as I live.

△▼△▼△▼△

"—Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition"

When the loop that starts at that cue began and she realized she had been drawn into it, Petra managed to keep her cool without flying into a panic, even in the face of this abnormal situation. Of course she was shaken, but far less than one might expect. Because—

"Petra! We're looping a short span of time! It's Al's next technique!"

The one who shouted that in Petra's stead, sharing the loop that had swallowed her and the only one who understood the repeated flow of time, was Imaginary Subaru. The existence of that Subaru and the message from Old Man Rom she glimpsed just before being swallowed—the marks carved into the ground counting something—suppressed Petra's agitation.

"Old Man Rom went through the same thing I'm going through now."

That set of one horizontal line crossed by four vertical lines is a record-keeping method called the tally-mark method; commonly, if using kanji, it's represented with the character "正." Old Man Rom left that written on the ground to convey his situation to Petra. It's hard to think he ended up like that after just five counts carved by his own hand, so what he wanted to convey wasn't how many times he himself had repeated, but the act of repeating itself. To Petra, who had fallen into the same situation, it might seem like information delivered too late—but it wasn't. The message Old Man Rom left gave Petra a clear warning. In other words, Old Man Rom was trying to say this.

"If you just keep on repeating, you'll end up like Old Man Rom."

There were no external injuries on the fallen Old Man Rom; it wasn't that accumulated wounds in the repeating time had brought him to that state. No—in a sense, it was nonetheless the result of accumulation. In other words, within the repeating time, Old Man Rom had had his spirit worn all the way down.

Exactly, that was the very tactic Petra and the Aldebusters had sprung on Al, and you could even say it was turned back on them as payback. She didn’t think Al had been aiming for that payback, but either way, if she had been drawn into the situation without being prepared, Petra might have followed the same fate as Old Man Rom.

『No, it ain’t just Old Man Rom. From the look of things, Ram and the others too.』

「……Yeah. Al-san put the same kind of Authority on everyone who lunged at him… but when the loop started, everyone still had their awareness, right？」

『Yeah. …It’s a repeating situation, but could it be that real-time happenings outside the loop are being reflected too? Like the ones who got taken out are dropping out? If that’s the case—』

「――Then I’m the only one left」

The conclusion she had hammered out with 『Subaru』 was so hopeless that Petra’s cheeks tightened without thinking. If, by the time this loop’s turn came around to Petra, the fate of the 『Aldebusters』 comrades falling couldn’t be changed, then—

「Even if this loop ends…」

『Wait, wait, wait, wait, don’t get pessimistic. Hypothetically… hypothetically, even if that’s how it is, yeah? We’ve got the Authority of 『Melancholy』. We could use 『Compression』 on the cooldown or something.』

「…Use 『Compression』 on the time they’re knocked out and wake them up right away？」

『That’s right! I’ve never done it, but wouldn’t it be awesome if we could?』

At 『Subaru』’s finger-snapping idea, Petra held her breath just a little. Frankly, she could guess it would be quite difficult. Using the Authority, it’s possible to use 『Compression』 to shorten consultation time or the period to learn new techniques, but it requires commensurate energy. Put simply, if she used 『Compression』 on one of Petra’s days, it would consume a day’s worth of energy. If it were three days, then three days’ worth; seven days, seven days’ worth. If the recovery of a frayed heart took a month, or even years, there would be no way to cover the energy needed for 『Compression』. 『Compression』 is by no means omnipotent. —Even so,

「—Yeah, I think it’s really amazing. We might be able to do it.」

『Right? So first, carve it into your head. Once we get out of the loop, the very first thing to do is get everyone who’s fallen back on their feet. Otherwise we’ll get pushed hard all at once.』

She nodded back to 『Subaru』, who was proactively envisioning how things would unfold once the loop ended. Thinking back on it, Old Man Rom had probably thought the same way. Perhaps that wise elder, even with his heart worn thin, prioritized unconsciously carving a message into the ground, and by piling that up again and again, he may have set his post-loop actions. If so, they should adopt 『Subaru』’s plan of deciding on what to do immediately after the loop breaks. Only—

「…How many times did Old Man Rom redo it to make his body remember？」

Even when his heart was frayed and he had fallen into a state where he couldn’t maintain his sense of self, Old Man Rom still managed, right after the loop, to scrape the ground with his finger. Just how much repetition did it take to make that action sink in, engrave it into his soul, and make it doable even with his heart crushed?

「――――」

『Petra, let’s test it. There was a time Beako set me up to loop the same hallway endlessly. If the rules are the same as that, there’s a condition to end the loop.』

As Petra gulped, 『Subaru』 laid out the next course of action. She smiled, nodded back with an “mm-hmm,” and looked forward again.

「Let’s do this, you lot!!」 「「――Yeah!!」」

Even in the gaps of Petra and 『Subaru』’s current exchange, the pattern of the 『Aldebusters』 comrades challenging Al and then collapsing in a flurry before him kept repeating. To be honest, she respected—and thought it cool—the way Subaru, as seen in the 『Book of the Dead』, cherished each and every loop and steadily built every happening into himself, but in a loop that lasts less than a minute, it seemed hard to do the same.

『As expected, I also think it’s unreasonable to tell you to suffer properly every time while everyone’s getting taken out in this situation. But let’s make sure we remember it.』

「The number of repetitions？」

『That too—and Petra’s feelings each time, that you properly got angry, frustrated, and sad.』

「――Yeah, you’re right」

In this repeating world, in a loop that goes on again and again, she’s the only one who can carry these feelings forward, so just as 『Subaru』 said, she’ll make sure to remember them. After they get out of the loop, even if Al didn’t know what Petra and the others went through, she wouldn’t forgive him. She would absolutely slam him with how much they suffered. With that vow in her chest, Petra exchanged a nod with 『Subaru』 and faced forward.

「It was the stars. —The stars were to blame.」

And then, squaring off face-to-face with Al who had come right up to me—,

「—Play ball」 『「—Play ball」』

Yes, I made a brave declaration to set out on a tour of hell.

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddhas, Od Lagna. For the rest of my life, I swear I will never let anyone tie my hair.

△▼△▼△▼△

—And so Petra kept wandering the hell she had resolved to plunge into.

"...What should I do?"

Hugging my knees and curling up, bumping my forehead against them, over and over and over I ask myself. What should I do. What am I supposed to do. How can I end this loop.

"What's the condition?"

To end the loop, there's a condition—that's what that person told Petra. Petra agrees. In this kind of situation where you keep repeating the same circumstances, it's standard that some sort of ending condition becomes the trigger. It's the cliché. It's the convention. It's the rules; because they're rules, you have to follow them. You must. I should be following them. Since I'm following them, there must be a proper way to bring this to an end. Okay, that's enough. This discussion is over. Since it's over, let's think about the condition. What end triggers are there?

"I tried all sorts of things, you know?"

Making full use of Compression, I should have attempted far more things than an ordinary person. Working with my companions, we took down the Iron Helmet, and when defeating it wasn't allowed, I tried using Compression to get everyone away. Of course, I also tried having Petra herself run as far away as possible; I even deliberately let the hand the Iron Helmet stretches out at the end grab me, and I even threw myself into the Iron Helmet's arms. It was useless. Considering the possibility that each of my companions might have some sort of breakthrough in them, we all talked it through, I dug deeply into individuals and their circumstances, we confessed secrets to one another, I listened to each one's family situation and birth and stories of their hometowns, and we traded stories you wouldn't even share with a friend of ten years. No good. I even thought perhaps the right answer was to approach the Iron Helmet itself—so I talked to it, pushed it away, fought one-on-one without my companions and won and lost, fought with and without Compression and won and lost, ran away, mocked it, praised it, sang. It meant nothing.

"Then what am I supposed to do!?"

I did it. I did, didn't I. I've already done everything I could think of, haven't I. Doing it was pointless, wasn't it. It didn't work, did it. It didn't mean anything, did it.

"Let's do this, you punks!!" "—Oh!!"

"Shut up!!"

They can't do anything anyway, and yet they shout all full of pep and it makes me mad. If you're not going to help, at least don't get in the way of my thinking. Ah, I'm taking it out on them. I hate it, I hate it; I hate myself. I don't want to think like this. What, am I just putting on a good-girl act? This is the real me, isn't it. I don't actually like everyone at all, do I. I just like the version of me who says I like everyone, love everyone, adore everyone—broad-minded and compassionate and kind and without discrimination—don't I, don't I.

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up...!"

Right and left and up and down and front and back and the past and the future and the present and today and tomorrow and yesterday and the day after tomorrow and the day before yesterday and last year and this year and next year and my past life and this life and my next life—everything, every last thing, all of it, all everything, shut up.

"—About how many times is it now?"

Shut up. Just die. Or should I kill you?

"Continue."

I knew it.

×　　×　　×

"—Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition"

We come back to the same place. Surprised? Sometimes I say things other than "Play ball." While we're looping, none of them are just puppets stuck there—if you say something, they'll react; if you do something, they'll answer. Not just the others; the Iron Helmet is the same. It's obvious, but the Iron Helmet can tell what I'm going through.

"So what?"

Even if it understands, when the world ends and the next one begins, not even the one who set it up comes along. Petra is always alone, redoing the same world forever. No one understands Petra's anguish or her struggle. Alone. Alone. All by herself. Was she all by herself?

"—Su-Subaru! Subaru!? Where!? Where are you!?"

『Petra!』

The instant the memory hit her like a bolt of lightning, his figure appeared with a whoosh right in front of Petra. Seeing that and knowing for certain that he was Subaru, Petra exhaled. It had felt like everything, all of it, was fading and scraping away, about to disappear until she couldn't tell anymore—but she hadn't forgotten everything, nor had she been abandoned.

"Subaru...!"

With a crumpled, runny face, tears that burst out in an instant dirtying her cheeks, she rushed to him. She leapt at him. He reflexively threw out both hands to catch Petra—he couldn't. She went right through him. She collapsed onto the bare ground without even breaking her fall. It hurt. She smashed her face. Subaru—no, Subaru didn't catch Petra. Of course he didn't. It's always like that. Subaru's hands are always, always occupied by someone else.

"Then don't offer me your hand!"

"Petra..."

"You should've just... just left me like that and let me die! In the village, doing nothing—let the mabeasts kill me, that would've been better..."

She knew. If Subaru Natsuki had done nothing, Petra would have been dead long ago. She should have died, and yet she's alive. She went on living. Because she kept on living, she has to suffer like this, be in pain, and still not be able to end it.

"I'm sorry, Petra... I'm sorry! But wait! Don't say it like that..."

"H-huh!? What is it? After going through something this awful, you're going to scold me!? After this—again and again and again—it's been so hard, I'm crying, and... y-you're g-going to s-scold me? Scold me? Ha, ah, ahaha, cut it out!!"

――――

She shouted him down. She did it. —She'd gone and done it. Subaru stood there with a pained, heartsick face, and Petra felt like vomiting blood. Felt like gouging out her heart. Felt like blowing her head off. You know what, let's do that.

"The simplest, easiest-to-understand trigger to end the loop..."

Saying that, she made a finger gun and pressed her index finger to her own temple. She focused mana into the fingertip, and a dim white light began to glow faintly. Seeing that, Subaru, his face aghast, reached a hand out toward Petra. He couldn't touch her anyway—look, he swung at air.

"Wait, Petra! Don't be rash! I get it, I get it, but hold off on that method! If making you do that is exactly what the enemy is aiming for..."

"Then marry me!!"

—!

"Make me your bride! Be my Subaru! Make me number one! You saved me, so marry me! Hold my whole life in your arms! Make my life Subaru's too! Then fine. But it's not like that, is it? Then it's not your life. If it's my life, let me use my life the way I want!"

I don't even know what I'm saying myself. Anyway, everything makes me mad. Not a single thing goes the way I want. I'm mad at everyone who won't do anything about the situation, and I'm mad at Iron Helmet who made it this way. I end up hating them. Hate, hate. But I like Subaru. Ha. Makes no sense. He doesn't do anything for me, right? Except he's always done something, and even now he's trying to do something. He just won't marry me.

"What even is that—so stupid."

"Pet—"

Ah, no, okay? I wasn't saying that to you, Subaru. The one who's stupid is me. Aah, I don't need a head like this anymore. Bye-bye.

Thinking that, a white light went "bang" from the finger gun—

×　　×　　×

"――Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition"

――. 　――――. 　――――――――. 　――――――――――――. 　――――――――――――――――Right. I knew it.

Ahahaha. Ahahahahaha. Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

△▼△▼△▼△

—Gods, Buddha, Od Lagna. I swear I will not seek good fortune for as long as I live.

△▼△▼△▼△

—The Witch of Melancholy, Petra Leyte, went to face the battle with unshakable resolve.

The witch factor entrusted to her by Clind—the potential of the Authority of Melancholy it brings is off the charts; in terms of setting the board in her favor, it makes you think there might be no power anywhere in the world that exerts as excellent an effect as this authority. And naturally, to wield that much power demands an appropriate price. With great power comes great responsibility—that sort of thing. Maybe not quite the same.

In any case, since she had chosen to accept that great drawback, the benefits had better do their jobs in full. Otherwise, it wouldn't be worth it for Petra, who had resolved to keep lying even to her own people.

"I'm glad Frederica isn't here."

If Frederica had joined 『Aldebusters』, I don’t know if Petra would have been able to keep lying. It’s not so much Frederica’s keen eye; Petra is simply weak when it comes to Frederica. To Frederica, who wins people’s deepest devotion on her own, Petra can’t keep secrets. She would surely spill her heart, and end up crying, clinging to Frederica and seeking comfort. Speaking only of secret-keeping, the same could be said of Ram and Otto at their best. However, with Ram giddy over Rem’s revival and Otto having lost his 『Memory』, neither was in a state to exercise their native insight, so they didn’t notice Petra’s lie.

「I wonder how much Brother Clind understood and let slide.」

Ageless and inscrutable—Clind, the only thing you can believe being that he’s an ally—might well have seen straight through all of Petra’s designs; conversely, given how chummy he is with Roswaal, it wouldn’t be strange if he failed to notice the subtleties of people’s hearts in the least. In any case, Clind knew from the outset that Petra had paid a great sacrifice. Having once paid dearly, he could just as well think either that she would offer nothing more, or that, having paid once, it’s all the same and she’ll offer up even more. In that case, from Petra’s perspective, it’s simplest to think he silently gave a push to the back she had steeled. Whatever Clind’s true intent, Petra has already rolled the dice.

「How many was it now…」

I will not drink. I will not write letters. I will not hug stuffed animals. I will not use needle and thread. I will not sing. I will not play with children. I will not visit places of memories. I will not pick beautiful flowers. I will not taste my favorite foods. I will not return to my hometown. I will not cry in front of others. I will not wipe away anyone’s tears. I will not reminisce. I will not tell my favorite stories. I will not call people by nicknames. I will not invite anyone to my home. I will not watch over someone’s final moments. I will not hold anyone’s hand. I will not hope for reconciliation. I will not show my weakness to anyone. I will not watch the sunrise with anyone. I will have no likes or dislikes. I will not cry for someone. I will not wish upon the stars. I will not arrange to meet. I will not walk with someone at sunset. I will not step on the shadow of the person walking beside me. I will not linger over farewells. I will not speak of dreams. I will not join in celebrations. I will not give gifts. I will not wave. I will not pray before sleeping. I will not tend to wounds. I will not rejoice at a clear sky. I will not lament a rainy sky. I will not look up at rainbows. I will not cherish silence. I will not break important promises. I will not seek kindness. I will not see anyone off on their journey. I will not accept charity. I will not tell stories of failures. I will not let anyone tie my hair. I will not wish for good fortune.――There are so many.

Once she starts counting the prices she has offered up, there’s no end to it, and you could say Petra’s prospects are pitch-black.

「Even so, it’s still one of the better cases.」

The trick to telling a good lie is to mix a true essence into the lie.—So the saying goes, and Petra’s lie ended up carrying a similar nuance. —To split the price of the Authority of 『Melancholy』 among many people other than the holder, Petra, and pay it together. That was the condition under which everyone agreed to let Petra bear the Witch Factor, but the only thing that can have its cost handled this way is 『Compression』, which centers on the target of the effect. If it’s 『Compression』 that Emilia wishes for, to move Emilia, it can be activated with compensation from Emilia; but if Petra thinks Emilia is in danger and moves her with 『Compression』, then it is Petra who pays that price.—This is something no one but the holder can perceive.

At every single meeting of 『Aldebusters』, and when they flung Al, along with Emilia and Rem, out into Azgadd Valley, and when she yanked a comrade back from the jaws of crisis, and when she 『Compressed』 the searing pain everyone would feel into just an instant—the one who paid the price was Petra.

It seems to me that the more precious the things you offer up, the larger the capacity of the Authority of 『Melancholy』 becomes. That is both its impact on the world and, it seems, a response to Petra’s own power to interfere with the world being weakened by bringing about that impact. If, quite simply, Petra were to offer up her entire life, the Witch Factor of 『Melancholy』 would likely grant an even more tremendous power.

「But I’m not going to do that.」

Even if, like selling off her life piecemeal, like shaving down her hopes for the future, like abandoning much happiness, the Authority were to encroach upon Petra Leyte, Petra will not throw her life away in desperation or seek an extreme choice.

「That’s just uncool.」

She doesn’t want to show an uncool side. She doesn’t want to do uncool things. Just the same as when she fought the Sin Archbishop of 『Gluttony』, Roy Alphard.—As long as that feeling supports her, Petra won’t lose herself. Because Petra—Petra Leyte—is, to the stars—,

△▼△▼△▼△

――Gods, Buddhas, Od Lagna. I swear that, for the rest of my life, I will never support anyone’s back.

△▼△▼△▼△

「――Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition」

Why do I have to go through something like this? Did I do something wrong? I was a good girl, right? I was trying to be good, right? Why—how did it end up like this? Someone, please, explain it to me properly.

「Let's do this, you punks!!」 「「――Yeah!!」」

What am I supposed to do? I tried everything, didn’t I? I tried it over and over, didn’t I? I did everything I could think of. I fought and I won. I fought and I lost. I fought and got someone killed. I fought and I died. I died without fighting. I ran. I cried.

「The stars.――The stars were to blame.」

I tried dying a lot. I tried taking down lots of them. I tried running away a lot. I apologized a lot. I got angry a lot. I shed a lot of tears. I was so, so scared. It hurt so much. It was so, so hard.

「――Play ball」

I knew it. It won’t end, will it. It won’t end for me, will it. Even if you hear me right now screaming and wailing, even if you worry, ten seconds later you’ll forget. No, not forget—you’ll just stop knowing. You’ll leave me behind. Only me, left behind.

「――Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition」

I’m done. I hate everyone. Hate, hate, I hate you all. Why won’t you help me? I’m screaming my heart out like this—why? It won’t end. It doesn’t end. It won’t end for me. You won’t let it end. I’m still here. Even now.

「Let's do this, you punks!!」 「「――Yeah!!」」

Even if I cry, scream, make a fuss, or curse, it’s the same thing on repeat. Wow. I was mistaken. I got conceited, thinking maybe I could do something about it. My reliable, reliable—what? When they never do anything for me? Whatever. Those dependable comrades of mine—who were they again? That woman and the others are amazing, so why couldn’t we get over this?

「The stars.――The stars were to blame.」

But you know, I get it. I got it. It can’t be helped, right? Bit by bit, my mind stops working. I lose interest in what’s right in front of me. No—that’s not it. It’s not that I lose interest; I’m trying to distance myself. And I even understand why I do that.

「――Play ball」

Because I don’t want to end up hating everyone. But when I think about everyone, I end up hating them for doing nothing. So I don’t. I won’t think. So I won’t think anymore, so I don’t end up hating them. I won’t think about everyone. I don’t care about everyone. Ah, no, that’s not it. Sorry, sorry—just kidding, I love you. Okay, lo-ove you.

「――Domain Expansion: Matrix Redefinition」

It can’t be helped, can it. I’m still a kid. Even if I stretch to act grown-up, I can’t become an adult in one leap. If I just stay here and spend the same time over and over, will I eventually become an adult? Sorry—nope. Because it’s the same time repeating. No matter how hard I try, it’s the same. If it’s the same even if I try, then isn’t it fine not to try?

「Let's do this, you punks!!」 「「――Yeah!!」」

Yeah, yeah, there’s no point in trying. It’s all the same. Sigh, I tried hard for nothing. Maybe I should stop overthinking. Sigh, I tried hard for nothing. None of it means anything. I’ve been doing useless things all along. Right. That’s right. I knew that.

「The stars.――The stars were to blame.」

In the end, trying hard won’t change anything. Even if I try, it’s not like I’ll become a king. It’s not like I’ll be cherished. It’s not like I can marry that person. So there’s nothing to be done anymore. It can’t be helped.

「――Play ball」

Since it can’t be helped, let’s just stop already.

『――There’s no such thing as “it can’t be helped.”』

Why?

『Giving up isn’t easy, is it? ……But it is easy.』

Why? How come?

『A broken heart, even your own death—those are just scratches.』

Why? How? You can still say things like that?

『Because』

Why? How? You can still say things like that? And after that?

『Because――』

Why? How? You can still say things like that? And after that? After that—?

『――We can still do this. Piece of cake.』

――. ――――. ――――――――. ――――――――――――. ――――――――――――――――Seriously, you’re such a bad liar.

I knew it.

△▼△▼△▼△

――Gods, Buddhas, Od Lagna. Throughout my life, I swear I will never give up.
　――Gods, Buddhas, Od Lagna. Throughout my life, I swear I will never bend the knee.
　――Gods, Buddhas, Od Lagna. Throughout my life, I swear I will never regret my choices.
　――Gods, Buddhas, Od Lagna. Throughout my life, I swear I will never shed tears of frustration.
　――Gods, Buddhas, Od Lagna. Throughout my life, I swear I will never forget that I loved.

△▼△▼△▼△

――Petra Leyte is a country girl from Arlam Village, a village of the Kingdom of Lugunica.

The “original” Petra was not the kind of girl who would take part in battles that decided the fate of the world. As a mere village girl, with her charm and slyness she would either live a slightly nicer life, or be swallowed by the great swell of the times and end with her life scattered miserably. That was all she was.

But having stepped off the “original” route and knowing who she is now, Petra thinks.

“Even if I could redo my life over and over, I would stray from the ‘original’ again.”

Yes, that’s right. Straying from the “original,” Petra will come back here whenever. And she wants to say it—to you who pulled Petra off the “original” path and saved her.

To you, with that pained face and those clumsy lies, trying desperately to take my hand and lead me, I’ll say this.

“――Thanks to the star, I can be here.”

『――――』 「――――」

When Petra said that and wiped her own lips with the back of her hand, Al and Subaru were struck speechless. Leaving Al aside, she understood the reason for Subaru’s speechlessness. He must have thought that with his clumsy lies and encouragement he’d made Petra so depressed she couldn’t even speak. It was, certainly, a clumsy lie. She had just said the trick to a good lie is to mix in a little truth, but it hadn’t a single truth mixed in—the clumsiest lie imaginable.

“But I don’t want to make the person I love into a liar.”

So I pulled myself together. On my own. Because comfort and pep talks aren’t any use, because you kept looking at me so worriedly, because even though you couldn’t touch me you tried to pat my head, to support my back—seeing you so brave and desperate, I couldn’t help thinking, guess I have no choice. That was the weakness of being in love.

“The person I love isn’t a liar.”

Because, look, I managed to stand. Because Petra stood up, Subaru isn’t a liar. The looping world was harsh. It isn’t easy to rebuild a heart that’s once come close to dying. In fact, it was the hardest, most grueling thing in my life so far. But I stood. I did stand. Because right there was someone who always believed in the latest, pathetically weak, flimsy Petra.

“There isn’t a single thing wrong with my star.”

It’s incredible. I have to try so hard—it’s tough. I’m supposed to be the capable type. The kind who can do anything right away, and yet living up to this person’s expectations is really hard. But because this person, even in a hell so awful it would crush anyone’s heart and keep them from ever standing again—being forced to do the same thing hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times—still believes, without any real basis, “Petra won’t lose!”, I’ve got no choice but to do it, right?

If Subaru Natsuki believes Petra Leyte is a girl tough enough that her heart won’t break even across tens of thousands of loops, then I’ll do exactly that.

“Girls from another world can’t get by unless they can at least make a miracle happen with their own hands.”

Unless you do something on the level of jumping the rails of your “original” fate, you won’t even meet someone you can love from the bottom of your heart.

“――Al-san, you can repeat it as many times as you want, but I think it’s pointless.”

Cutting off the stock line about the star’s responsibility, Petra tells the silent Al. This isn’t bravado or bluster, but Petra’s true feelings—no matter if this time is repeated not just tens of thousands, but hundreds of millions, trillions of times, you can’t wear Petra down to nothing. Nor is it some fairy-tale solution like “a girl’s love is infinite.”

“This is a loop that repeats until Al’s enemy’s heart is worn down to the nub, right?”

Even if you defeat Al, kill him, or fling him far, far away, it didn’t end. Even if Al defeats you, captures you, even if you try to run far away, it didn’t end. Even if I kill myself, even if I’m killed, even if I despair and try to throw everything away, it didn’t end. Simply put, I’ve repeated it more than ten thousand times, and it still didn’t end.

“But the one who decides where to call it quits is you, Al-san, isn’t it?”

The only way to bring an end to the endless loop is if Al unravels the 『Domain』. It isn’t the sort of convenient loop that ends on its own just because the target’s heart shatters. Each time, the timing to end it should be something Al inside that loop consciously chooses. Ultimately, if you can make Al throw in the towel, you could end this loop not on the ten-thousandth run, but even on the first—so long as you can make the ever-first-run, cautious, timid Al decide that.

「So I want you to call it here. Everyone except me has already gone down, so Al-san’s results are more than enough. Even if you keep going, it won’t mean anything anymore.」

To repeat: this of Petra’s is neither bluff nor bravado. Even if the loop is repeated like this endlessly, Petra’s heart will not break. Because Petra has chosen.

「You know, I can’t give up anymore, can’t even regret, can’t cry no matter how frustrated I am, and I can’t forget everyone I love.――I became that kind of 『Witch』.」

――Because Petra Leyte chose to become the 『Witch of Melancholy』.

「Hey, Al-san.――How many more times are we going to have this conversation?」

At that, at the tilted-head question from the 『Witch of Melancholy』, Al’s throat gave a small sound. Deep within the Iron Helmet, it was clear his unseen eyes had taken on an inky emotion, as though he had seen something unknowable in the round eyes of the 『Witch of Melancholy』. Perhaps it was connected to an indelible scar, rooted deep, deep in Al’s heart. Perhaps, once before, he had peered deeply into a 『Witch’s』 eyes and been hurt by it. That trauma—

「――『Compress Agony』」

Take the trauma Al bears, run it through 『Compression』, and ram it into him. Make his brain boil, his blood flow backward; joy and lament, happiness and misfortune alike—peel the scab off that still-unclosed wound, and rub in, not salt, but trauma. The stimulus of a trauma that, in the life ahead, would be recalled and wet with tears time and again—dozens, hundreds, thousands of times—make him taste it, in this instant, at thousands of times the concentration.

「――ah」

In that moment, between the fear he felt toward the 『Witch of Melancholy』 and the 『Compression』 of the provoked trauma, Al does not respond with his body but with his soul, reaching for the nearest, easiest salvation. Namely—

「――Game set!」

――The way to end an endless loop is to make the next loop start.

With that conviction, the 『Witch of Melancholy』 intertwines her fingers with the untouchable hand of the beloved at her side, overlapping fingers as she smiles.

「How lame.――If it were Subaru, he’d put on a brave face and say a broken heart is just a scratch.」

『You’re way too cool, Petra』

She heard her beloved say that, weakly yet with pride. Filled by that, the 『Witch of Melancholy』 still faces forward.

――Now then, this is the last, decisive juncture.

Having offered up everything as the price—her wounded heart, the weakness that wants to end it, the tears that flow at the thought of frustration—until she attains victory in the form she desired, the 『Witch of Melancholy』 will not let up.

△▼△▼△▼△

――Unravel the 『Domain』, tie it anew, and recompose the matrix.

It was an acknowledgment that the imposition of the 『Domain』, which ought to guarantee victory, had suffered a certain defeat. But it cannot be helped. There is precedent. The 『Domain』 cannot kill a 『Witch』 who has been made the aggressor. Of course, “kill” here is only for convenience; the aim is limited solely to the heart, but――

「――――」

Petra had declared, openly, that she would endure the 『Domain』—no, she could no longer be called just Petra. She had, without any embellishment, become it.

「――『Witch of Melancholy』」

In the past, the one who defeated the aggressor within Aldebaran’s 『Domain』 was the 『Witch of Greed』. Thinking back, Aldebaran’s authority has had the ill omen of suffering defeat in its first engagement whether the initiative within the 『Domain』 lay with the victim or with the aggressor. Be that as it may, even now that the 『Domain』 has been brushed aside, the battle still favors Aldebaran.

「――ッ」

Aside from the 『Witch of Melancholy』, the 『Aldebusters』 who had championed the subjugation of Aldebaran are annihilated; regrettably, the mental attrition inflicted by the use of the 『Domain』 is absolute. Aldebaran did not decide to impose the 『Domain』 with so lukewarm a resolve that acting or playing dead would let anyone slip by. If anything, he would have verified it by, say, taking one or two of the target’s limbs before deciding to move the 『Domain』 to the next target. Because his self lacks continuity, there’s no way to know by what method he confirmed it, but if I can think of it now, then the me inside the loop could think of it too.

Which is why I can say with confidence.――None but the 『Witch of Melancholy』 can get back up.

「But they know that too.」

If he himself managed to get back on his feet, then the others should too—Aldebaran cannot afford to underestimate the Witch of Melancholy to the point of acting on such a naive outlook. Then there must be one. The Witch of Melancholy has a way to turn this around.

—The trump card of the girl who, even after being made into a "witch," still brazenly claims that she owes the present to the stars.

"——"

The Domain is dispelled, and for an instant both Al and the Witch of Melancholy are in a released state; their distance is about five meters, but before the opponent's Authority it's as good as nothing—or rather, so long as an Authority like Compression exists, distance offers no reassurance at all.

But it's an Authority. She will surely play the hand of the Authority of Melancholy and make her move. The most likely effect, of course, is summoning another through Compression. The ones it could be—,

"—Rem-chan, or Meili-chan. Or maybe the Margrave?"

Thinking of forces absent from here that the Witch of Melancholy could have on hand, those were the faces that first came to mind. Rem should be right in the thick of battle with Yae, but since Ram showed no agitation, the flavor of defeat she would feel through their shared senses hasn't been conveyed. It's hard to imagine that Yae lost, but it's a juncture where one has to consider it. Meili, who leads many mabeasts, and Roswaal, a monster-class artillery piece who did as he pleased even in the Empire, are both entirely plausible.

But either way, they're just strong, just formidable. As has been proven up to now, numbers and brute force won't corner Aldebaran. If that's the aim, then it's nothing but shallow—,

"No—"

None of those, Aldebaran intuits in the eyes of the Witch of Melancholy. From the start, the opponent can compress the process of thought and arrive at conclusions that ignore the very concept of time. Ideas that occur to Aldebaran and are immediately discarded are ones the Witch of Melancholy would throw out at the vetting stage before even attempting them—in other words, it's different.

Change the thinking from the root and catch up. If the Witch of Melancholy is to call someone here, it will be someone who has a reason that can break the deadlock—,

"No way!"

He grits his teeth, his eyes widening. As if to mark the instant Aldebaran's synapses sparked, the Witch of Melancholy raises her hand and brings it down—at that split second, Compression occurs. The one who comes plunging into the space between Aldebaran and the Witch of Melancholy is—

"—Wow. This is one hell of a mess."

—Roy Alphard of Gluttony, shackled with manacles and bound hand and foot.

△▼△▼△▼△

The moment he saw Roy drop in, Aldebaran was certain of her aim.

He had put the odds at eighty percent that Roy wasn't dead. In the first place, if one intends to save the victims of Gluttony, Roy's survival is indispensable. In fact, by making him spit out Rem's 'name,' the Aldebusters should have only grown more confident. How to make him cooperate aside, if you take his life you can't negotiate. As for the twenty percent in which he'd die, he had worried about either a situation where keeping him alive simply wasn't feasible, or the pattern where Roy overdid the provocation and angered someone to the point that killing him became unavoidable.

In any case, Roy being alive is a stroke of luck—but her aim spells trouble.

If the Witch of Melancholy went out of her way to call Roy here and it wasn't mere aid to the enemy, then there's obviously a reason. A purpose. Some secret arrangement to make Roy work to her advantage. And she, who achieved the unthinkable of revival even while reading the Book of the Dead, can, from Subaru Natsuki's knowledge, pick up the reason the Witch of Envy moved. If she realizes that, there's something she can do in a chain reaction. That is—,

"—Reinhard!"

If the private deal the Witch of Melancholy struck with Roy was to have him use that Authority, then, with a mind so broken that even a Domain won't work on her, it wouldn't be strange for her to make the ultimate, self-sacrificing choice to take Subaru Natsuki back. It's the world-saving by the Authority of Gluttony that Aldebaran had anticipated—stealing the 'memories' from the person who read Subaru Natsuki's Book of the Dead.

And if the Witch of Envy withdraws, the world's deterrent that had been held back will come—the Sword Saint, whom they once managed to drive off through countless challenges and traps.

—If Sword Saint Reinhard van Astrea arrives, it's over.

The plan will collapse. Therefore, Aldebaran pours his all into stopping it. Roy Alphard of Gluttony, drawn here by the Authority of Melancholy—,

"—I forbid you to eat 'memories'! The curse seal will burn you!"

Once again, he tightened the terms he had loosened. The repeated alterations to the terms inflicted severe damage even upon the soul of Aldebaran, the one who had inscribed the cursed seal, and he felt the Od in the depths of his body crack. What was there was not pain, but a vast sense of loss—the feeling of impairing one's very root, said to have been tasted by Subaru Natsuki as well.

Yet with this, the situation in which Roy devoured the 'memories' of the Witch of Melancholy could be averted. If the Witch of Envy would not withdraw, then the Sword Saint would reach this place as well—,

――Al-san

It was the very moment he clenched his fist, thinking he'd stopped it. The Witch of Melancholy called out to Aldebaran. He had assumed she'd be wearing a bitter expression at having her plans upset, and indeed, she looked pained. But it was not a face lamenting her own future.――It was one pitying him.

What are you—

With a sensation that made every hair stand on end, Aldebaran tried to ponder the meaning of the Witch of Melancholy's expression. But that was wrong. He should not have thought. Rather than thinking, he should have died at once. If he had died now, whatever it was, he could have handled it.

At the crucial moment, Aldebaran once again could not die. Just as when he had let the sun of this world sink, again.

――Play ball

It happened the instant the Witch of Melancholy spoke the line Aldebaran had meant to say but couldn't.

――His natural enemy was standing behind Aldebaran.

△▼△▼△▼△

――I think I might've figured out your weak point, Al-san.

That was the realization Petra—who had become the Witch of Melancholy—reached during the strategy meeting held to take down Al's crew, before the Aldebusters were officially formed.

From Old Man Rom's testimony, when they learned that Al's Authority was the same looping ability as Subaru Natsuki's Return by Death, Petra thought that if even its activation conditions were the same as Subaru's, then there was a way to prevent it.

Of course, they didn't yet have any certainty at the time. They needed to confirm with the person themself whether that method was possible, and aside from their point of contact in the Book of the Dead, Petra's connection with her—no, with him—was next to none. But if it was possible, she made contact before the Aldebusters' operation and secured a promise to take the mound as the trump card for when Al was truly, truly cornered to the extreme. And then—,

――Play ball

Returning with spite the declaration she had been made to hear over and over, the Witch of Melancholy looked past Roy Alphard—whom she had dropped between herself and Al as a decoy—at the opponent. Sadly, Al moved exactly as the Witch of Melancholy intended, just as she wished. Seeing Roy, she figured he would think the aim was to make him use that Authority.――Roy had struck a secret pact with Felt and harbored treachery toward Al. If there had been a timing within the Time Travel to draw that fact out, she thought he would come to suspect Roy's designs.

Sure enough, Al acted as expected and chose to forestall Roy's betrayal. That the Witch of Melancholy's trump card would appear behind him at the same timing as Roy was likely completely outside his thoughts. He could never have imagined that person was there.

It was no lie that the sixty-one members of the Aldebusters who had gathered here were the total number of forces Emilia Camp and Felt Camp could field.――From Emilia Camp and Felt Camp. Therefore—,

You're a complete mess, nya.――I'll heal you right up for you, 'kay?

In that instant, the greatest healing magic of 'Blue' Ferris—the finest healer to be found anywhere in the world—took 'death' away from Al.

△▼△▼△▼△

――'Blue' Felix Argyle. Commonly called Ferris.

The first knight of the Royal Selection candidate Crusch Karsten, and the kingdom's—no, the world's—greatest user of healing magic. And, of Aldebaran's three archenemies, the last one.

The final obstacle that Aldebaran—who had turned away even Subaru Natsuki and Sword Saint Reinhard van Astrea for the sake of his plan—must never have run into. That one laid upon Aldebaran a gentle, merciful, and cruel magic.

A—gaaaah—!!

In the instant his whole body bristled, Aldebaran whipped his body around, hurled the person who had been standing behind him—Ferris—onto the ground, and undid the packet of poison in his mouth. Dissolving into the mucous membrane of his tongue in a heartbeat, it brought a grave crisis to Aldebaran's vital functions and, in a matter of seconds, would have brought him to his death—no. The tissues that should have been breaking down were repaired one after another, and even the nosebleed that had gushed inside his helmet stopped in a single second.

Damn—

On reflex, he created a stone-dragon blade, pressed it to his own neck, and pulled hard. A thick artery was severed; blood geysered forth with ferocious force—yet it did not imperil Aldebaran’s life. The wound sealed at once, and even the pain felt no more than the prick of a needle.

“Damn, damn, daaaamn…!”

Got me. Of all I could think of, this is the most terrifying, most effective way to bind Aldebaran. The method to seal 『Return by Death』 is nothing complicated—don’t let him die. That alone is enough.

It is the gentlest hands in this world that can kill Aldebaran and Subaru Natsuki.

“This is the end, Al-san.”

So the 『Witch of Melancholy』 quietly told the disgracefully flustered Aldebaran. He cannot die. He cannot redo. For a moment he even considers looking to Ferris, collapsed at his side, and making him dispel that healing magic, but—

“No. Or would you like to have a futile battle of wills with Ferris-chan?”

Ferris did not change his expression even with a blade pointed at him; he too was one who had steeled himself for this challenge. If Ferris had applied to himself healing magic equal to Aldebaran’s current healing, then no matter how he struggled, Aldebaran could not make Ferris lift the spell here and now. In other words, Aldebaran, here, had no move to—

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

「――――」

Again, the voice of the 『Witch』 was heard—and at that very moment, a tremendous, catastrophic shockwave arose in the distance, and it swallowed Aldebaran, the 『Witch of Melancholy』, and everything that stood upon this final stage all at once.

△▼△▼△▼△

—It was by no means an assist the 『Divine Dragon』 intended to cause.

Forced to change battlefields, crossing blades with the rightful owner of the dragonshell, and when the miracle super-magic realized by the two mages bored through its dragon halo, the 『Divine Dragon』 made a great choice. Not its immediate victory in this moment, but the goal, wish, and long-cherished desire of its other half—its other self—and the purpose they had set out to achieve together; it chose to prioritize fulfilling that.

『――――ッッ！！』

The last breath exhaled by the released 『Dragon』 did not head for the dragonkin nor the mages; it set off toward a faraway land—and struck its intended destination, a great hole opened in the earth, the Mogolade Geyser, said to be the deepest and darkest in the world, reaching all the way to the land’s bottom.

The damage like a cataclysm that it stirred up, and the world’s astonishment, were beyond words; even on this battlefield it became a great wave of earth that surged in. A great wave rolling in upon the field of battle where, at the very moment of decision, Aldebaran and the 『Witch of Melancholy』 faced each other.

「――――」

Unaware of any of this, as he was engulfed by water erupting with ferocious force and by the billowing plume of dust that came crashing in, Aldebaran’s eyes widened at a once-in-a-lifetime—truly, a once-in-a-lifetime—opportunity that had arrived. There was no doubt this was an unexpected boon granted to Aldebaran, and his final chance.

It was not something contrived by the 『Witch of Melancholy』, but a stroke of luck that should be rare in Aldebaran’s life—luck he ought to have spent up when he met Priscilla—that now moved in his favor.

「――っ」

In the instant before he could lapse into stupefaction, Aldebaran, battered by wind and water, strained his eyes over a battlefield shrouded in spray and searched for it. Not the 『Witch of Melancholy』, not Ferris, not the fallen 『Aldebusters』.

On this battlefield, the only, the final recourse that Aldebaran might still be able to play. With 『Death』 sealed away and his comrades gone, the last method by which Aldebaran could fulfill the long-cherished wish he had aimed for together with the 『Witch』 that remained only within himself. It was—

“—Roy!! If you’re there, come! Eat me… devour my 『Name』!!”

Recklessly altering the conditions of the cursed sigil, feeling his Od crack again under the tremendous strain, prepared to make his soul cough blood, Aldebaran shouted. Reset this situation to zero—the one strategy available even to an Aldebaran whose Authority had been sealed.

Have my 『Name』 eaten, erase myself from everyone’s memories, and overturn everything. For that, within the billowing dust cloud, Aldebaran searched for the detestable figure of 『Gluttony』 and cried out.

“Eat me! My—my 『Name』 is—”

The being named Aldebaran, made to shoulder the fate of the 『Trailing Star』. To remove Subaru Natsuki from the world and fulfill the wish the 『Witch』 had long cherished. Even while burdened with that fate, he yearned for the sun and, in the end, lost everything—a good-for-nothing. That 『Name』 is—

“Rigel. —Natsuki Rigel!!”

That was the 『Name』 of the foolish star that betrayed the 『Witch』’s expectations and sank the sun.