MTLNOVEL Chapter 234: Chapter 71:『Ending List』
The blade cut was shallow and sharp, tearing through the skin and causing life to flow out.
Fresh blood spurted out, staining the green grassland in specks, and Subaru could see his body reflexively twitching in front of the purple-haired young man looking down at him.
The head, with its eyes rolled up and foam coming out of the corners of its mouth, was spitting out a huge amount of blood. Gradually the flow of blood slowed down, and then there was the sound of someone breathing out, and then...
『――――』
Subaru now clearly understood that his past self had lost his life.
There was no shared feeling between his conscious self and his past self, but even so, the raw sensation of his neck being slashed continued to echo like an indelible echo even to Subaru, who was only conscious - only a soul.
"Emilia-sama, please wipe his...Subaru's face."
"――――"
"He would prefer it done to you, not me. At least by your hands."
Julius wiped his blood-stained knight sword and put it back into its sheath as he called out to the stunned Emilia.
As Subaru collapsed onto his back, a silver-haired girl slumped at his feet, her knees slumped. Her expressionless amethyst eyes were unable to accept reality, and the tear stains that had drenched her cheeks were left untouched, sparkling in the light.
Seeing Emilia like that, Subaru's non-existent chest was dug with a sharp pain that he didn't know how many times it had happened. Emilia's grief-stricken expression brought out the punishment for having turned a blind eye in Subaru, baring her fangs, chipping away at his previous insensitive way of being.
"Subaru."
Slowly, with a crawling movement, Emilia reaches out to Subaru's face, gently wiping the blood and vomit from his face. With her bare hands, but not minding getting dirty, she resists, trying to make Subaru's distorted expression of agony visible, and just as she wipes the blood away, Emilia,
"Why...? Why would Subaru do something like this..."
A question mark. Emilia uttered an empty question to the person who would never give her an answer.
No ears to listen, no mouth to respond, nothing was working.
None of Emilia's words reached Subaru, now a corpse.
『――――』
Looking down at the scene, Subaru recalled a moment in his memory when he had been in this place, which was different from before.
--This was the outcome after the second battle with Petelgeuse, when Subaru was unable to break his possession and destroyed the madman along with his body.
Ferris' magic had disrupted the circulation of mana in the body, putting strain on the capillaries and internal organs, making the corpse far from clean. Blister-like rashes were visible everywhere on the body's skin, and the half-open eyes were dyed bright red from burst blood vessels.
Before the blood was wiped away, the lower half of his face was stained with nosebleed, and if Julius had not intervened, his death would likely have been even more pitiful.
However, even if they died with beautiful faces, it did not bring relief to the hearts of those left behind. Especially those who had overcome the battle with the White Whale and vowed to return in triumph to the royal capital after the final showdown with Sloth - the look of disappointment and regret on their faces was heartbreaking.
"Subaru-sama... I'm sorry..."
Falling to his knees and bowing his head to the dead Subaru, was Wilhelm.
Wilhelm, who had cut down all the Witch Cultists under Petelgeuse's banner, hung his head in bitterness at the outcome of the battle. The elderly knights of the extermination squad, like Wilhelm, were lamenting their misfortune, some throwing their bodies on the ground in anger. Some were even shedding tears in rage.
Subaru was left speechless by the sight of so much regret for his death.
Perhaps this, even more than being confronted with the afterlife scene that he had never tried to be aware of until now, brought about an immense sense of pressure on Subaru's mind.
"Why… even though Subaru has become like this, he still thinks about me… why was it?"
Placing her hand on the silent Subaru's cheek, Emilia continues calling out to him, unable to reach him.
Subaru noticed her tragic appearance even more late.
In this world, Subaru is unable to answer Emilia's question.
Subaru had not given her a true answer to the question she had asked him in the royal capital: "Why are you helping me?"
Therefore, Emilia does not understand the reason for Subaru's devotion.
—It was a scene that created a decisive gap with what he had seen earlier, yet it was the result of an irreparable sin Subaru had committed.
"The Witch Cult, which had tormented the world for a long time, and its vanguard, Sloth, have been defeated. This is a tremendous achievement for the world. --However."
Looking down at Subaru's corpse, Julius tapped the hilt of his sheathed sword with his fingertips. Over and over again, the rhythm continued to repeat, gradually narrowing in time.
Subaru: "Not all of the sacrifices made for that purpose are acceptable. ーーI wanted to exchange more words with you, Natsuki Subaru."
Muttering in pain, Julius turned his face away from Subaru's death.
The knight looked up at the sky, with sadness in his eyes.
"I wanted to call you my friend."
Julius' weak, whispered voice brought an end to the world of the grassland.
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The lights went out again, and Subaru woke up, body trembling and jumping as the lights returned.
"--Zu, ha! ...Ah, ah, ha, ah!?"
I twisted around and found myself on a hard, cold floor.
Subaru rolls around, his nostrils assaulted by the mossy smell, and by immersing himself in the futile act, he tries to escape the emotions that are threatening to stir up a storm inside him.
Don't think about what's going on.
I roll and roll, hurting my semicircular canals, straining my lungs until I gasp for breath, wanting to reduce, even if just a little, the portion of my consciousness devoted to thinking, and sink into unconsciousness.
"--Ugh!"
However, even if you try to cover it up in such an impersonal way, your goal will be thwarted the moment you hit a wall and bounce back.
He felt pain from his back where he had hit it, and blood spurted from his forehead where he had rubbed it. With his face pressed against the floor, Subaru was breathing heavily, and before he knew it, tears were spilling from his eyes.
--Pathetic. Trivial. Hopeless.
Just how many times, just how much would Natsuki Subaru continue to be overwhelmed by his weakness?
How can we acquire a heart of steel that will never waver or break, no matter what situation we face or how much hardship we are hit with?
So weak, so fragile, that's why Subaru has always been――
"I pretended not to see and turned my eyes away, and now this is what I've paid for...?"
It's not that I hadn't thought about it.
At the edge of his consciousness, Subaru had pondered this possibility more than once, many times.
And yet, the reason this possibility never rose beyond the edge of my consciousness was precisely because I unconsciously refused to verify or consider the fact.
Subaru, who used Return by Death, thought about the existence of a world after death - if he even considered that such a thing existed, Subaru's fighting style would crumble beneath his feet.
Everything he had tried to save had left Natsuki Subaru behind.
No, it was Natsuki Subaru who had been left behind. Facing death in a shameful and selfish manner, Subaru had left the world behind and fled to a new world all by himself.
If the world that Natsuki Subaru had left behind due to his rash decision still remained, then the scene Subaru had just been shown was that very thing.
It was a scene beyond the hell that Subaru would be freed from with his death.
"--That's a lie."
Suddenly, my consciousness began to fade again.
It wasn't sleepiness, but a forced detachment from reality, as if my consciousness had suddenly become whiter.
"Look at the impossible present"
Again, a voice I didn't recognize whispered in my ear.
As I pursued it, my consciousness becoming unclear as to who it belonged to, I realized.
--That was, without a doubt, my own voice.
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A young girl was kneeling in front of a corpse with a crushed skull.
Falling from a great height, the human flesh was unable to withstand the impact and broke into pieces, and the black hair spilled its contents onto the ground, blooming like bright red dead flowers.
『――――』
Subaru was no longer surprised by the sensation of his consciousness changing once again.
It was to be expected that such a phenomenon would occur immediately after the forced change in consciousness.
If there was one thing he hadn't predicted, it was the scene that would unfold before his awakened consciousness in this way――
"You kept saying things that didn't make sense right up until the very end... nothing else..."
Standing beside Subaru, who had fallen to his death and was sprawled out on the ground, was the pink-haired girl - Ram, who spat out the words.
His usually neat appearance was now disheveled, and the rips in the edges of his uniform were obvious. His face was intentionally expressionless, but it showed a complex mix of frustration and anger.
It was a face that mourned Subaru's death - or rather, one that felt intense anger at the outcome.
Ram scratches his head violently, then turns around.
Subaru: "Is this all going according to plan, Lady Beatrice? So blocking Ram's path is your…"
"――――"
Ram, who was about to start speaking sternly, stiffened her expression and stopped speaking.
Ram's pale crimson eyes were on Beatrice, kneeling in front of Subaru's corpse. The girl sat on the ground, not minding the hem of her dress getting dirty - Ram's eyes wavered in agitation at the sight of Beatrice.
"Lady Beatrice..."
"--Why"
A soft muttered voice.
Beatrice paid no attention to Ram calling her name, and simply gazed intently at the dead Subaru.
Subaru could see tears trailing from the corners of her blue eyes.
--Beatrice is crying.
Facing Subaru's "death".
This fact caused a sharp feeling of guilt to penetrate Subaru's heart.
The pain that tore into my heart and the feeling of heat in the depths of my non-existent eyes made me want to run up to that young, small body right now and say something to her.
He no longer had the legs, arms, mouth or anything to do it.
"I know that you're not that person, but..."
Beatrice, her expression now blank, continued to shed tears as she muttered in an idiot voice.
Seeing the pitiful sight, Ram seemed to give up on making any further comments about Beatrice. She sighed and cast a scornful look at Subaru's corpse, his neck twisted in an impossible direction.
"What do you mean, I love it - it's really a hopeless story."
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"Look at the impossible present"
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A white, misty cold air dominated the world, as if even the atmosphere was freezing.
The frozen forest crumbles with every wind, and the landscape, with its mana forcibly drained, is unable to sustain its existence and turns to dust.
The trees, the cityscape, the creatures, the world - they were all turned into white crystals and blown apart by the gusts of wind, and the white demise was slowly encroaching upon the world.
『――――』
This time, what Subaru saw before his eyes was the end of the world.
The world was coming to a cold, merciful end, just as it had done when consciousness faded away.
However,
"--It's you after all."
A low, air-rumbling voice roared with a satisfying tone.
Immediately afterwards, a rumbling sound shook the earth, and the scenery changed completely with the impact of the giant body falling to the ground. Trees were mowed down, and the fallen trees crumbled like frost, causing a chain reaction that flattened the entire forest.
The cause of this destruction in the flat, frozen forest was a towering, four-legged beast with long grey fur that looked to be some kind of feline.
The beast's fangs, which were too big to fit into its mouth, were broken halfway, and it exhaled white breath from between the gaps between its sword-like teeth as it leaned sideways, its shining golden eyes facing forward.
And then, while her whole body trembled in convulsions,
"It's frustrating... I know it's going to be like this, but I can't change it."
"--- I have a rough idea of what happened. That's why it's such a shame."
There was no sour grapes, just an intelligent voice that accepted the facts before its eyes, and suddenly a crystal clear, beautiful voice replied.
Even in the midst of the end of the world, the voice does not seem to impair even a little of the vitality of the person. A tall, straight young man with blue eyes and red hair swaying in the white wind.
"Emilia-sama and Subaru are no longer around?"
"Leah has slept, forever. A world without her in it has no worth. I, who was unable to protect her, and that man, are both equally guilty."
"Is that why you want to destroy the world?"
"I knew I would be prevented. But it was my vow to do so."
The gleam of steel was drawn from the sheath engraved with dragon claws and pointed towards the nose of the beast in front of him - Puck, who had revealed his true form. The 『Sword Saint』 Reinhardt, who was holding the sword, quietly shook his head.
His blue eyes were filled with deep sadness and compassion.
"I understand your frustration. I feel the same way. However, that doesn't mean you should just vent your frustration indiscriminately. Your actions, the result of your vow, will bring turmoil to the world. --I can never tolerate that."
"Because it's not correct."
"Yes, it is because it is not right. I am the model of righteousness. I am the sword that corrects wrongs. For that reason, I will cut you down here, Great Spirit."
Despite the overwhelming difference in mass, it was clear to everyone which side the military strength was leaning towards.
Even Puck, who had revealed his true form, was on the verge of death and could not even keep a cool face in front of Reinhard. The tip of the sword pointed at him drew a silver flash, and with that alone, even the existence of a spirit was cut in half by Reinhard's blade.
The tremendous power of the surging sword energy made this clear to those around.
"--Ku"
Therefore, when that sound suddenly rang out, Reinhardt frowned.
Subaru, who was still only conscious, also had a question mark floating in his lack of emotion.
It was a short, intermittent message, and I had no idea what it was.
That's because I couldn't imagine that it was what I had heard.
"Ku, ku ku... haha, fuhaha!"
"--What's so strange?"
Even though his throat was trembling and he was on the verge of death, Puck's face was contorted and he was laughing.
Puck had the power over his life and death, and even though his own actions were being hindered, he still burst out laughing, and Reinhard couldn't understand why, so he asked.
However, Puck's response seemed to make him laugh even more.
"What's strange? Of course it's strange. Reinhard, you… no, you don't understand anything."
"..."
"I remembered. How it was meant to be. A realization that came too late. And the fact that I've realized it, and that you still don't understand it, is just ridiculous."
It was a statement that was very uncharacteristic of Puck, including the fact that his voice was in a different pitch than usual.
Even for Subaru, who had quite a few memories of encountering Puck, a spirit in the form of a cat, it was the first time he had ever seen him speak to others in such a malicious voice.
It was different from when Emilia was killed and he directed his hatred towards Subaru and Petelgeuse. At that time, Puck was still Puck.
However, right now, as he mocked Reinhard, Puck seemed to have become a completely different being, different from any other Puck had ever been.
"...I will prevent any further damage. If you have any grudges, do it to me."
"I won't hold any grudges against you, Reinhard. You are a hero. Heroes have roles and deeds that only heroes can perform. I won't hold any grudges against you or blame you for being in line with them."
"――――"
"You're a hero, Reinhard. —You can only become a hero."
At the very end, that was the most clearly malicious voice yet.
Hearing this, Reinhardt raised the sword he had been holding above his head, and with a single flick of his sword, the blade sparkled and an immense amount of heat was generated.
It split the sky, pierced the atmosphere, shattered the earth, swirled mana, and cut everything in the blade's line of sight in half―the light converged, and the world shifted before Subaru's mind.
"――――"
The world that had been covered in white cold air regenerated after the torrent of slashes subsided.
The gaps in the world were repaired, the swirling mana formed a circle and was returned to the world, flowers sprouted in the shattered earth, the perforated air became filled with warmth, and sunlight streamed in through the cracked sky.
The sword saint's slash brought about both the end of the world and its rebirth at the same time.
And the giant beast that was torn apart by that slash was completely wiped out from the world without even a trace remaining.
The giant body that was surely there just a few moments ago has vanished, and even the aftereffects of the destruction it caused are no longer there.
『――――』
With a high-pitched noise, Reinhard sheathed his knight sword.
The wind blew through his red bangs, and Reinhardt, squinting in the sunlight, looked up at the sky. He let out a faint sigh that no one could hear.
"--Felt-sama will be saddened."
He muttered with his eyes closed.
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"Look at the impossible present"
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"Look at the impossible present"
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"Look at the impossible present"
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
"Look at the impossible present"
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
"Look at the impossible present"
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
"Look at the impossible present"
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"Look at the impossible present"
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"The impossible present--