MTLNOVEL Chapter 214: Chapter 51:Love love love love love love love love love love love love love love me
Subaru watched in silence as Garfiel, the golden-haired tiger, played.
The beast's claws swung up and struck the witch's head with such force that it was likely to blow away the upper half of her slender torso. There was no doubt that the force of the direct hit would have torn even a witch to shreds. --But it didn't reach her.
Garfiel threw one of the replicas of Lewes as a ploy, going for victory at all costs. Just before his arm reached the Witch, Subaru saw the wound dug into Madara by the shadow start to wriggle.
A wriggling wound - the cause of this was a dark shadow that had crawled up from under the Witch's feet, entangling itself around Garfiel's limbs. The shadow slid its tip into the tiger's gouged wound, scattering destruction that should have been insubstantial, slicing flesh and causing blood to spurt out.
And just like that, Garfiel's massive frame, with cuts all over his body, could no longer withstand the pressure of the expanding shadow inside him, and exploded.
It was a relentless destruction of life, in which there would have been no way for the victim to endure or resist.
In an instant, what had been Garfiel became a pile of dark red flesh, scattered across the square. The only meager proof that he had ever existed in this world was the golden hair that clung to the scattered pieces of flesh.
"――――"
I'm at a loss for words.
Just a moment ago, there had been more than twenty living beings in the square, including the doll-like replica of Ryuzu. In the space of just a few seconds, that number had dropped to just two.
No, if you start to think about it, there must have been hundreds of lives within this 『Sanctuary』.
To think that all of that had now been dragged into the shadows, the sin that the shadow before him had committed was too grave. Too difficult to forgive.
The parts of Subaru's body that had been numb from the change in the situation, his frustration, and his mixed emotions began to flow again, evoking perfectly normal physical reactions.
In other words, it was an expression of a primitive emotion towards the witch standing before him - anger.
"--i love you"
"Shut up."
"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you"
"Shut up, that's what I'm telling you..."
A black shadow with a blurred outline, making it impossible to tell even its height.
The voice was still unclear, as if it was coming through a voice changer, and it was impossible to even tell if it was a man or a woman.
Despite that tone of voice, the sticky passion that was packed into it was disgustingly clear.
Her unchanging love, having devoured the people of the Sanctuary and brutally murdered Garfiel, yet her interest, concern, and love are still poured entirely into Subaru.
It was so distorted, so creepy and so disgusting that it made Subaru feel nauseous.
Just being face to face with the witch makes me feel like my sanity is being chipped away. Feelings close to madness well up within me, and my heart is a complete mess with hatred and loathing.
"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you"
Standing motionless, the Witch continued to mutter her love for Subaru like a curse.
He is filled with melting passion. His incongruity and inability to read the situation is even more than Subaru's.
Even when the person receiving his love shows clear signs of displeasure, he still stubbornly offers his pushy, self-centered love.
All of that love is horrifying.
And what had enraged Subaru more than anything else was--
"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you"
"..."
"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you - Subaru-kun."
"--Don't call me that!!"
Subaru responded to the sweet appeal with rising passion.
Her love-filled voice, her gestures, the way she called out to him, all of it angered Subaru.
"Who gave you permission to call me that? Don't mess with me! Don't mess with me! Don't mess with me!"
The closeness of having it right next door.
The affection in your address.
The loveliness of being close enough to touch.
There was only one person in this world that Subaru would allow to be addressed by that name.
--That was definitely not the witch standing before him.
"You filthy witch. That belongs to only one person. I won't give it to anyone else. No way! I'm not going to give you anything, not even a single hair, a single cell, or the dirt under your fingernails, because you don't deserve it--!"
"――――"
Subaru was enraged and let his anger take over, letting out all the emotions swirling inside him.
Breathing heavily and shaking with his shoulders, Subaru continued to glare at the witch standing in front of him.
There was no way there was any chance of winning against this opponent.
A monster that devoured half the world. A witch among witches who had just killed a strong man called Garfiel right before her eyes with a strength that was beyond compare.
The worst kind of disaster that casts all life into shadow, shows no interest in anything, and continues to whisper obsessive love to only one person.
It was amazing how I was able to stare down such a monster head on.
I can only think that he has become desperate and lost control.
If the Witch so wished, Subaru would sink into the shadow in the blink of an eye, more easily than being dragged into the swamp. Or he would be skewered all over by the tip of the shadow, and turn into filthy fireworks like Garfiel, becoming fertilizer for the forest.
Why is he able to face the Witch knowing this and not give in like this? It is because, subconsciously, Subaru harbours a certain conviction about her.
it is--.
"――――"
"...Move, okay?"
Having calmed down somewhat after letting out his emotions, Subaru felt disbelief at the lack of action from the Witch that he should have taken.
Before he knew it, the words of love that had been whispered like a curse just moments ago - the confessions of affection that had continued unabated even when he'd caused Garfiel to explode - had stopped.
Subaru looked, and saw that the shadow's encroachment, which had been spreading and spreading across the ground of the plaza, had slowed down - no, had stopped. Pushing away the unpleasant feeling of the shadow on the soles of his feet, Subaru moved to a place that wasn't completely submerged in the dark shadow.
All the while, I kept my eyes on the witch, but there was no reaction.
The witch stood motionless with both arms hanging limp, her face expressionless, still wrapped in a shadow so intense it seemed to distort the light's refraction.
Now that he has so many openings, it seems like if he attacked he could even be annihilated.
"Why so suddenly... Did my words have that effect?"
It couldn't be possible, but Subaru grimaced at his inability to completely deny it.
It was hard to imagine that Subaru's words had that much of an impact, but considering the Witch's words and the timing of when she stopped moving, it was true that there was no other possibility that this could have happened.
However, this could also bring about unbearable feelings for Subaru.
"If being rejected by me makes him act this bad..."
If he had spoken up sooner, Garfiel and the others would not have had to die.
Now that Emilia, Ram, Lewes, Otto, and Garfiel who had protected Subaru had all lost their lives to the shadows, Subaru no longer had the will to survive in this world.
Seriously, right after Echidna had assured him that there was no limit to the number of times he could use "Return by Death," he had begun to compromise on life, even though he hadn't realized it himself.
So wasn't that why he immediately withdrew from what he could do, even offering to act as a decoy, when Garfiel rejected it?
Given that she could see that the Witch was obsessed with Subaru, she should have been able to anticipate the possibility that this kind of reaction would occur if Subaru took action from his side.
"I can't tell how this will turn out, but… does that mean my existence will become the Witch of Jealousy's sore spot…?"
Since her attachment to Subaru had not let go, and this situation had arisen, the possibility was high. The question was whether or not an opportunity would ever arise to make use of it.
To begin with, the loop that started from Sanctuary changed its form every time. Subaru was so busy trying to deal with it that he had yet to find a solution to the dire situation――but even so, the change this time was on a completely different level compared to the previous ones.
Elsa, Garfiel, and the Great Rabbit were already too many to handle, but adding the Witch of Jealousy to the mix would be unmanageable. Just like the previous three, he had to figure out the patterns that would emerge, and even thinking about it was draining his energy.
That is how overwhelming the threat of the witch - the hideousness of her existence.
Even coming up with a plan to resist becomes foolish. In terms of breaking down the will to fight before the fight even begins, the witch's small body is more frightening than the white whale's gigantic body.
"――――"
Even though he was facing a motionless witch, Subaru felt his heart being worn down.
The Witch didn't make a move either. She paid no attention to the fact that Subaru was working at his wits' end. She was completely engrossed in her own thoughts.
Time passes without me knowing what to do or what should happen.
The sound of my own breathing, the loud sound of my heartbeat, and the feeling of lukewarm sweat running down my forehead all clearly tell me that time is passing.
Continuing to glare at each other like this, which wasn't even a glare, wasn't going to get us anywhere, Subaru thought, as he took a deep breath and was about to make a move.
The inspiration came to me at that moment.
"--Could this be Echidna's tea party?"
"――――"
"During the time I was invited to his castle, I blurted out all the things I was forbidden to say. I thought that the reason I wasn't penalized was because it was permissible in that place, but…"
--What if that wasn't the case?
What if the Witch hadn't changed and hadn't given Subaru permission to confess his "Return by Death" to others? What if, for casually letting it slip, she was about to punish him as always in a world where time had stopped?
What if the witch, unable to appear beside Subaru, who had been invited to the witch's tea party and unable to interfere, still tried to punish him?
--What if that was the truth behind the tragedy that unfolded in this "Sanctuary".
"Just how selfish can you be?"
Was this massacre an act of revenge for failing to carry out the punishment for Subaru?
Do you really think you have the qualifications to do that? What exactly do you want to show off to others by showing off the power you have?
"--i love you"
Was it because Subaru's thoughts had reached that point and he had touched upon part of the truth?
The witch, who had been motionless up until then, like a shadow puppet, resumed her horrible activities once again. She turned what was supposed to be her head towards Subaru, and once again let out a curse from her mouth.
The whispers of love acknowledged the shadow's advance, and the ground of the square began to be soaked in shadow once again. Feeling as if his feet were being swallowed by a bottomless swamp, Subaru kicked the ground and left the place.
"What's the matter, you... the moment I mentioned the name of another woman, you got a lot more energetic, hey!"
"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you"
"No matter how much you whisper sweet words, I don't love you! The first and second places in my heart have been filled long ago and I won't give them up. There's no room for a witch to fit in."
The words were exchanged -- however, all the witch spoke were a string of love words, with not even the same intonation.
However, finding a definite expression of emotion there, Subaru turned on the gas and laughed maliciously, his cheeks twisting. He was very good at getting on people's nerves, so he decided to test it out and see if it would work on the Witch.
"Don't just say you love me so casually, it's cheap."
"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you"
"The first "I love you" I received in this world was so powerful that it made a hopeless piece of garbage want to become a hero."
The scum that had broken, twisted, and tried to run away, and had almost given up on resisting head-on, was now able to believe that they could try again, and again.
True love is that strong, that noble, and that great.
"Your whispers of love won't reach my ears. What's more, you're jealous and cause havoc by taking out your anger on others, so there's not even a single reason for me to like you."
"I love you, I love you, I love you"
"Rather than falling in love with a witch like you..."
"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you--"
Subaru knew exactly what to say, what should he say, what would most anger the witch; he was second to none when it came to irritating others.
Therefore, Subaru laughed cruelly and turned a scornful gaze towards the Witch,
"Even though they're both witches, Echidna and the others are more lovable--"
"――――"
The moment he spoke, the witch's curse stopped.
and--,
"――――oh"
Subaru's vision, his whole world, was instantly swallowed up in shadow.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
Subaru watched helplessly as the shadow approached with incredible force and mass.
The black shadow that stretched out from under the Witch's feet bore a striking resemblance to the "Invisible Hand" controlled by Betelgeuse. The difference was that the "Invisible Hand" was invisible to anyone other than Subaru, and compared to the "Invisible Hand" which could be avoided if seen, this one attacked with such speed that it was difficult to take evasive action.
And so, at that very moment, Subaru was able to see with his very own eyes how he was enveloped in the shadow, how his body was then lifted high above the trees in the forest, how he was then plummeted at a speed faster than a natural fall, and how he was pulled down right in front of the Witch.
All of this came at Subaru at a speed faster than he could comprehend reality, the shock stirring up his strained organs and causing vomit to overflow from the corners of his mouth.
"O-bu..."
His vision spins around and around, and Subaru is unable to keep his mind straight.
My feet were not on the ground. My whole body was being gently squeezed by something soft, like cloth. The restraints were not hard at all, but they completely restricted my movement, and I couldn't even find a place to put strength into trying to break them.
He thrashed about, his fingertips and ankles. Only the part above his neck was responsive to Subaru's will; the rest of him was covered in a garment of shadow.
As his blurry vision finally regained clarity, Subaru froze when he noticed a vague mass of shadow before his eyes.
--Right in front of him, right in front of his eyes, the witch was standing so close he could almost breathe.
She observed Subaru, trapped in the robe of shadow, from up close, gazing intently into his eyes, eyes that the other side could not see, nearly burning holes into them.
His neck was fixed, and he couldn't escape her gaze. If he had closed his eyes he would have been able to avoid staring at her, but for some reason even that seemed forbidden and he was unable to do so, and so Subaru found himself face to face with the Witch of "Jealousy" up close.
"I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you."
With each syllable, as if punctuating each one, the witch continued to pour out her unchanging love, even in this situation.
Subaru had been overwhelmed by the situation and had lost his voice, but the moment he heard those words, his unbearable rebellious spirit began to ignite once again.
He put all his strength into his body, unable to move, and glared at the witch with wide eyes. Then he opened his mouth to shower her with harsh abuse, as she continued repeating the same stupid repetition.
"It's not a question of distance. You said it didn't resonate with you--"
"I love you. I love you. --Love me."
Subaru's words were then cut short by something the Witch said.
Subaru furrowed his brows and blinked, wondering if he had misheard what he had just heard. In response to Subaru's reaction, the Witch raised her head and said,
"Love me. Love ...
This time, Subaru truly felt fear towards the witch.
Subaru's own inner thoughts, which he had completely concealed up until this point with rebellious spirit, stubbornness, and rising anger - were now all revealed in the face of the witch's call, as the situation had changed.
No matter what she was told or what was done to her, she kept her head held high and determined not to give in.
Subaru had thought that he had found a meaningful reason for doing so, for his stubbornness, in his dealings with the Witch of 『Jealousy』.
His meager courage and rash conclusion were dashed to pieces.
Strange appearance. Abnormal. Madman. Mad love. Cruel. Murderous. A witch.
He kept whispering that he loved her, but he still found that he couldn't get her to love him. So now he wants her to love him in a forceful way. It's not so much greed as it is a shameless attitude.
And understand.
The witch desires Natsuki Subaru, but she does not look at him.
What the Witch sees is not Subaru, but the vessel called Natsuki Subaru. She desires a Subaru that is only on the surface, and wants to be loved by a Subaru that is only on the surface. Whether or not that is his true feelings is irrelevant to her, as she has lost her ability to make normal judgments.
To love Natsuki Subaru, and to be loved by Natsuki Subaru.
That is what the Witch of Jealousy is all about, and what it means to destroy the world.
-I don't understand.
Understanding this, the question that had arisen in Subaru's mind returned to the first one.
In other words, why is the Witch so obsessed with Subaru?
I've never met him, never spoken to him, this is the first time we've even met face to face.
Why could such a person love Subaru so madly?
I don't understand anything. Nothing is logical. It's easy to say that love is something that can't be measured by common sense, but the witch's love transcends that dimension.
"--Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love."
A witch who hopes that her superficial love will be mistaken for true love.
Surely, if Subaru could just say one word in response to her love, the Witch would be able to release him from this bondage.
If it had been the usual Subaru, the calculating, cunning Subaru, he might have responded to her advances with some cheesy words.
However,
"--I hate you."
"――――"
"I'll never love you"
With his soul in denial, Subaru rejected the courtship of the Witch of 『Jealousy』.
"――――"
To Subaru's answer, the Witch remained silent for the umpteenth time.
There couldn't be many humans who had managed to crush the spirit of the Witch of Jealousy a second or even a third time. Subaru felt a silly sense of pride in that. Slowly, his body began to descend.
Subaru's body, which had been suspended in the air while still wrapped in the shadow robe, was lowered to the ground. However, that did not mean that he was being released.
Subaru's body remained restrained, and he was slowly sucked into the swirling shadow beneath the witch's feet, starting from his toes.
Seeing that she could not obtain Subaru's heart, the Witch decided to absorb him. This is nothing but a very shortsighted and materialistic way of thinking.
However, as the shadow engulfed him from the knees, and he was tormented by the fear of losing all sense, a sudden doubt occurred to Subaru.
If Subaru were to be swallowed up in the shadow at this rate, he would undoubtedly lose his life.
It was a kind of resignation. He had half-accepted his own ``death'' and rebelled against the witch. So he could accept it.
but,
--If previous "deaths" had been reversed with the power of the witch, could a situation like this, where someone had lost their life at the witch's own hands, be reversed?
"----!"
The moment Subaru realized this, it was too late to resist. With the lower half of his body already swallowed up in the shadow, any resistance would be far too childish. But he couldn't help but try.
If he thought about it more deeply, he didn't know if he would be swallowed by the shadow and his life would be snatched away without a second thought, let alone if he could start over. If he was not careful, he might be sucked into the shadow and assimilated with the witch, spending a long time without even being allowed to die.
Over that long, long time, would his current resolve, his resolve, wear down, become worn down, and eventually succumb to the Witch? Subaru didn't have enough faith in himself to be able to say for sure that this wouldn't happen. And therefore, he couldn't let himself be consumed like this.
At worst, he would bite off his tongue, but before he fell into the hands of the witch――that decision was,
"--Huh?"
A sudden warm sensation in his chest stopped him before he could continue.
A heat strong enough to cause burns erupted in the left side of his chest, and Subaru dropped his gaze, wondering what was going on. The heat then emitted a light from within, enough to cause light to overflow from the shadow that was enveloping Subaru.
What was even more surprising was that from the spot where the light had come from, the shadow of the witch that had been strangling Subaru gradually disappeared as if it had melted away.
"This, then...!"
Before he could even think about what the sudden light was, Subaru twisted his body and cut through the shadowy garment with the power of the light. Increasing his range of movement, he cut through the garment, and once he was sure his arms were free, he immediately stretched out his fingertips to the source of the light.
And in the fingertips that had been pulled from his pocket was a handkerchief fluttering in the wind - Petra's handkerchief, embroidered with a grey cat.
"Petra's handkerchief...? Why, this... No!"
Putting thought aside, Subaru slashed at the handkerchief in his palm. What should have been a soft material quickly became harder and harder according to Subaru's will, demonstrating its knife-like sharpness, and cut through the shadow connecting the witch to the ground.
"――――"
"Amazing! This...can do it!"
Next, Subaru stabs the blade of his handkerchief into the shadow that has engulfed the lower half of his body.
The tip of the handkerchief, overflowing with light, sinks into the shadow, and for just a moment the shadows appear to gather towards the light, before exploding without a sound.
After the shadow was blown away, all that remained was Subaru with both feet on the ground.
Subaru immediately rolled backwards to check that both of his legs were still intact. Then he placed the handkerchief on his hip and scanned the light spilling out from it.
The handkerchief embroidered by Petra. It was hard to imagine that her feelings for Subaru could have brought about such a miracle. Immediately after, Subaru thought of someone who might have tampered with the handkerchief in this way.
"Echidna... Did she really know this was going to happen?"
The image of a white-haired witch's face, as if to say, "It's insurance, it's insurance," flashed through my mind.
As they parted ways at the tea party, Echidna had taken the handkerchief from the virtual world as payment. She hadn't had the time to think about how something handed over in the dream world could be interfered with in reality - but if it was just a trick, it could have been done from the dream to reality.
in any case,
"If this gives us a means to fight back against the witch, then I'm grateful."
"――――"
The witch stood there, stunned, as if shocked at the fact that the shadow she had created had been wiped away. Subaru took a quick breath, and, taking advantage of the witch's opening, circled around to the side,
"Carelessness is the greatest enemy!"
Subaru slammed the knife in his handkerchief into the Witch, who was standing there motionless. The Witch didn't move. However, as if by automatic defense, a shadow erupted from beneath her feet, activating a defense that Garfiel had called the Shadow Dress.
"--Ruuuuuu!"
However, even that couldn't stop the light of the handkerchief Subaru was holding.
The handkerchief, as sharp as a knife, easily cut through the shadow's dress as easily as ripping through a spider web, and the tip of it advanced towards the witch's face - a direct hit.
"I got it――!"
Cheerful at the solid response, Subaru quickly reversed his momentum. He turned around on the spot, and tried to slam his blade into the witch's body again--
"--picture?"
Seeing the sight before him, his movements stopped.
Before his eyes, the witch stood motionless, watching Subaru. The blow of light that had slammed into the side of her face had certainly reached the witch, peeling off the mask of shadow that had previously looked vague and hazy, exposing her to the outside air.
A familiar, silver-haired girl was staring at Subaru with emotionless eyes.
"Emilia...?"
She didn't respond to my calls, but she was moving around a lot in other ways.
The shadow garment regained its strength. Though it was supposed to have died once, it once again entangled Subaru's body from beneath his feet, this time relentlessly strangling him, making him scream.
Starting from his right side, the left half of his body was tightly bound by the shadow garment. The only thing he could barely move was his right arm, which was holding the handkerchief, but even that was restricted in its range of motion, making it impossible for him to move properly.
With his body immobilized, the sea of shadows dragged Subaru to the bottom without hesitation. It seemed as if they had no intention of going easy on him, as the speed was far greater than before.
The lower half of the body and the left half of the body are submerged up to the shoulders, and only the upper half of the right half of the body, from the chest up and a very small part from the neck up, are exposed.
Desperately lifting his head, Subaru resisted as his body began to sink,
"Emilia! Emilia!? Wh, why, what is this!?"
When she vanished from the tomb and Subaru saw the Sanctuary being swallowed up in shadow, he had assumed that she too had been drowned in the sea of shadows by the witch's hand.
The resistance against the Witch of Jealousy up to this point had, in no small part, been meant as a memorial to her.
--Why was she shrouded in shadow and attacking the Sanctuary?
He couldn't gather his thoughts. She didn't reply. She didn't look at him. The cold, amethyst eyes that he had never seen before sparkled, and Subaru began to doubt whether she was even conscious.
And there's no time to confirm that suspicion.
"Ugh, uh, ah..."
Slowly, my body was dragged further into the shadow.
The swallowed up parts had no feeling. If it had been simply a lack of sensation it would have been one thing, but the fact that he had lost even the sense of existence made Subaru once again aware of the risk he would take if he were to be swallowed by the shadow at this rate.
Then he checked the handkerchief in his right arm and the remaining parts that were still barely moving, and prepared himself.
As he made up his mind, the white-haired witch's name crossed his mind once again.
I would like to correct what I said earlier and say one thing to the witch once again.
"Echidna, did you really think this would happen...?"
If that's the case, the thoughtfulness is enough to bring tears to my eyes.
Tears are tears, but they are tears of blood.
—Subaru closed his eyes, then immediately opened them, and thrust the handkerchief in his right hand down his throat.
I felt the sharp tip tearing flesh, piercing a fatal spot in my throat. Blood flooded my throat, and my consciousness began to drown in the blood rushing into my lungs.
Suicide. The Witch of Greed had prepared this opportunity for Subaru.
This was not a way to fight against the Witch of Jealousy. She had probably realized that the content of their conversation at the castle had infuriated the Witch of Jealousy. And so the price would be paid.
"----!"
Subaru's suicide caused the Witch of Jealousy to explode with emotions other than love for the first time.
However, Subaru, drowning in his own blood and already losing consciousness, doesn't understand this.
However, right in front of his eyes, he saw the familiar face of the girl distorted in pain, and no matter what was going on inside, seeing the girl with such a sad expression on her face, the pain in his emptied heart didn't change――
The overflowing blood soaked his throat, making it difficult for him to form words properly, but still, Subaru spoke to the girl before him, not to the fake that filled the vessel, but to the girl herself.
"I will definitely――"
--I'll save you.
In the next moment, Natsuki Subaru lost his life.