-"Found you."
What happened in that instant was difficult for everyone present to fully grasp.
"Guh."
Olbart grunted under his breath and swiftly withdrew his outstretched right hand.
-But he was too late.
His wrinkle-covered right hand turned to dust from the wrist down, silently dispersing into the air as though it had never existed.
An overwhelming premonition of danger surged through him. Unless he got away from this brat, he would probably lose more than an arm.
Drawing on everything he had learned in his lifetime as a ninja, he vanished in an instant, too fast for even Night Weeping to perceive.
"I'm outta here!" (Time to scram.)
"Little one-"
"Uwaa, uuu!!"
Night Weeping caught Louis just before she dashed out, hugged her tightly to her chest, and leaped backward. A touch of her toes against the glazed tiles sent her shooting dozens of meters away like an arrow loosed from a bow, opening a considerable distance.
The next second-
Pitch-black darkness flooded their vision like a tide.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the keep of beautiful Scarlet Lapis Castle, famed for its dazzling splendor, the castle's upper half, its middle-
Were devoured completely.
It was as though that stretch of space itself had been erased from the world by something.
-
Vincent stood up.
His sharp gaze turned toward the blackened castle. He blinked those eyes whose foresight had earned him praise for his "uncanny calculations," the ominous darkness reflected in his black pupils.
"How could... the castle... Lady Night Weeping..."
Tanza, the little maid who had wandered off on her own, fell to her knees, both hands covering her mouth. She stared at the shadow over the Demon City, so dense it seemed almost tangible, her voice trembling until it was barely audible.
"Ah, aaaaah, aaaaaaaaaah-!!"
"Al!?"
The young children stared, dumbstruck, too shocked even to cry. Tanza worried about her mistress still inside the castle, while Al-
Faced with the disaster before him, Al screamed louder than anyone in the city-no, louder than anyone else in the world.
"It's over, it's over. That thing's here... that thing's here..."
Though nothing was pressing down on his small body, he crouched tightly, unwilling to rise. Both hands clutched his bandaged head as he muttered over and over.
"I've gotten smaller... smaller... no ability... I'll die... I'll die... no!"
Medium rushed over and steadied his swaying shoulders. Completely unable to make sense of what was happening, she, too, held her breath and looked toward Vincent for support.
"Ohhh dear, how very..."
Gazing into the distance at the collapsing castle being swallowed by shadow, Ubilk shaded his eyes with a hand and spoke leisurely.
"-Perhaps this isn't the time for stargazing."
His tone remained light, but something trembled faintly in the depths of his starry blue eyes.
-
"-Are this and what's up in the sky the truth behind the secret you've kept hidden in your heart all this time?"
Vincent, who had witnessed the same thing as the sobbing Al, murmured softly.
He clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. He hid his lips, bitten until they bled, behind his demon mask, his expression as fierce as the terrifying mask itself.
He glared at that darkness.
He glared at the darkness that had swallowed everything and was still spreading.
"Everyone! Head to the Crystal Palace immediately and rescue them!"
"Don't go, none of you go! You can't handle it, you can't handle it-"
Al had been shouting, but his voice suddenly dropped, as though he feared something. Behind the bandages on his face, his pupil contracted violently, as though he had seen something only he could see.
Medium could not concern herself with all that. She forcibly dragged him toward the Crystal Palace. Natsuki Subaru was there, Louis was there, Lady Night Weeping was there-as their companion, how could she not go?
And so Vincent, Medium, and Al, along with Night Weeping's little maid Tanza, of course, all rushed toward the Crystal Palace close at hand.
-
Then-
-I love you.
-I love you. I love you. I love you.
Though perfectly audible, it sounded unlike any language.
It was something more primal, more fundamental-like the pulse of the world itself, like the will flowing through the deepest layers of Od Laguna.
It was a love that transcended every dimension, erased the existence called Natsuki Subaru, and would never let him leave-
A love like a curse.
-
Subaru's consciousness drifted through the darkness.
He had known a hellish world without love. In that world, no one would cry for him, and no one would care whether he disappeared.
Even so, he was still loved.
Natsuki Subaru knew that well.
But at the same time, he also knew-not everything about "love" deserved affirmation.
It was precisely because he had not known before that retribution had come.
Precisely because he had not known why it was feared, had not known that everyone shunned and avoided it-
Now, he knew.
-
It became a black shadow, devouring everything, cheering as it destroyed.
It cheered for reunion, for meeting, for embraces, for restraint, for fate, for moving forward.
It cheered for confession, for regret, for suspicion, for mystery, for elation, for devotion.
He had known a hellish world without love.
In that case-
What was it like to visit the hell of a world with love?
Subaru did not understand.
Subaru knew nothing.
In this situation where no one understood what was happening, only one thing could be said with certainty.
The Demon City of Chaosflame, a paradise where the outcasts had settled.
-The destruction of that paradise had not been caused by anyone else.
It had been brought about by Natsuki Subaru's misfortune.
But was that truly the case?
-
"-That's enough!"
That voice was like a sharp sword, cleaving through the darkness enveloping everything.
To the other one's projection, what an unpleasant roar and rebuke it was.
But to Subaru, it was a firm, gentle declaration, bearing four hundred years of longing-
A proclamation.
Satella, the "Witch of Envy," had arrived.
Or rather-the kind and innocent witch had brought her remaining strength across a barrier of four hundred years to return to the side of the one she loved.
Her figure appeared at the very center of that darkness.
Her dark robe billowed in the gale, her long silver hair cascading like a waterfall. In her eyes burned a light utterly different from that "black shadow"-
No longer the other one's possessiveness and curses, but clearheaded protection and support.
-
"As the price of controlling that power, as the price of forcibly assimilating the Witch Factor of Envy-"
Satella's voice echoed through the darkness, each word like a hammer striking an invisible barrier.
"Your existence truly couldn't be helped, and inevitably, you've also hurt far, far too many people."
Her gaze pierced the darkness and fell upon the depths of the churning black shadow.
"But you-will stay obediently inside the seal!"
Her voice suddenly rose.
"And your power-"
She extended a hand, pointing her slender fingers toward that black shadow.
"-Will remain under my control!"
-
"You can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this-"
The black shadow churned, roared, and struggled.
"I love you, I love you, I love you-you won't take it away, you won't take it away!"
Two streams of world-destroying power collided in the darkness.
No clash of magic or contest of authorities could describe this internal war.
It was merely two "existences" of the same origin, originally one, fighting over the same place to return to.
-
Yet the black shadow had more than one root.
Though Satella held the Witch of Envy's negative personality in check, the shadows that had already spread continued greedily devouring Scarlet Lapis Castle. Rubble fell, glazed tiles shattered, and the entire castle let out its final lament.
"Lady Night Weeping-!"
Tanza's voice was heartrending. Possessing brute strength ordinary people could scarcely attain, she ran and leaped across the solid ground, charging into the Crystal Palace.
She saw her mistress-the woman who always smoked her pipe languidly, yet sheltered this Demon City more gently than anyone-now protecting Louis in her arms with all her strength, her feet planted at the edge of an eave about to collapse.
Her mistress would not retreat.
Because behind her stood her Crystal Palace and the people she loved.
"...Tanza."
Night Weeping did not turn around.
Her voice was soft, yet it pierced Tanza's chest like a knife.
"Run."
"-I won't."
Tanza broke into a run, using every ounce of strength, as though she meant to trample through something unfair.
Her legs trembled.
Her eyes brimmed with tears.
But she did not stop.
"Tanza! What are you doing-"
"Lady Night Weeping."
Tanza turned around and gave her mistress a smile more painful than crying.
"Tanza... won't let Lady Night Weeping get hurt."
Then-
She turned and charged into that black shadow.
-
"Tanza-!!"
Night Weeping's scream tore through the night sky.
But it was already too late.
Tanza's figure was swallowed by darkness. The next second, her body began to glow-it was the light of the Soul Marriage Technique.
She was Night Weeping's "child."
One of the fragments split from Night Weeping's soul.
And now, she turned everything she had-her life, her soul, her existence-into a key.
A key to detonate the black shadow.
"-Burst."
Tanza's lips parted slightly as she spoke her final word.
-
Boom-!!!
There were no flames, no shock wave.
Only a silent, pure white light exploded from the very center of the black shadow.
Like a sharp blade, that white light tore apart the remaining power of the Witch of Envy's negative personality from within. The black shadow howled soundlessly, twisting, convulsing, disintegrating-
Then vanished as though it had never existed.
Though the upper half of Scarlet Lapis Castle had already been reduced to ruins, its lower half had been saved.
The Demon City of Chaosflame had been saved.
And Tanza-
Her final silhouette gradually disappeared amid the sound of the explosion.
-
"Tanza... Tanza...!"
Night Weeping fell to her knees on the rubble, bracing both hands against the ground, her shoulders shaking violently.
Louis stood behind her, at a loss as she watched the mistress of the Demon City show vulnerability for the first time.
Vincent closed his eyes and pulled his oni mask lower.
Medium covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
Al knelt on the ground, his head lowered, saying nothing. On his tightly bandaged face, only his eyes were filled with disbelief-the devastating calamity had suddenly appeared, then suddenly vanished completely.
Far away.
Ubilk lowered the hand shielding his eyes, an inscrutable smile appearing on his lips.
"As the stars foretold-"
He murmured softly, his voice carrying a distant quality that did not belong to this mortal world.
"The brightest star is indeed the loneliest hero."
"But a lonely star will also encounter another star-even more than one."
He looked up at the heavens, shifting light reflected in his starry blue eyes.
"Even if it means crossing four hundred years, even if there are still more hardships and dangers..."
"Those many stars will eventually join into a brilliant constellation."
Meanwhile, Olbart had long since fled far away, relying on a ninja's instinct for fear.
Having lost an arm, he certainly would not throw away his life now-after all, he was so obsessed with longevity.
As an old ninja who had lived this long, he had always followed the Vollachian Empire's principle: survival of the strong.
Or, to put it another way: bullying the weak.
He was glad he had run so far, putting so much distance between himself and that shadow.
But-
"After making my Subaru suffer so terribly, where do you think you're running?"
The sudden voice made Olbart shudder all over. As a ninja, his reactions were already fast enough; as one of the Nine Divine Generals, his strength was already beyond what ordinary people could match. But there was always a higher heaven, always someone stronger-his fate would come for him.
"What did I ever do wrong?! A calamity like this has set its sights on me-it must all be that brat's fault!"
He was still trying to throw bombs and kunai to fight back-or rather, to struggle.
But he discovered that, at some point, a tiny black spot had appeared above his head.
Then the black spot expanded and expanded, finally becoming a mass of shadow that surrounded and enveloped him.
"Perhaps with another 'me,' you would only lose an arm."
Satella's voice came from every direction, as cold as the wind on a winter night.
"But here, with me-your life has reached its end."
"-Die."
The shadow swallowed everything belonging to the ill-natured old man.
Then it dispersed once more, as though it had never existed.
And deep within that dispersing shadow-
Satella withdrew her hand.
She looked at the "other self" before her, who had lost her anchor and was slowly disintegrating. There was no joy in her silver eyes, only a faint weariness.
"...Go back."
She spoke softly.
Then she turned around.
Subaru floated in the darkness behind her, his consciousness hazy, his body broken, like porcelain that might shatter at any moment.
Satella reached out and gently cradled his cheek.
"Subaru."
She called to him softly.
"I'll take you away."
A breeze blew past.
It was a breeze-with not the slightest detectable fluctuation of magic or trace of an Authority.
The wind lifted Satella's long silver hair, lifted Subaru's short black hair, lifted the dust from the rubble-
Then vanished into the air, taking both of them with it.
At the same time.
On the ruins of Scarlet Lapis Castle, Night Weeping abruptly raised her head.
"...Little one?"
She looked around, but saw only Louis's bewildered gaze and Al slowly rising to his feet.
Subaru was gone.
The shadow was gone too.
And disappearing along with them was-
"Tanza... hasn't come back either..."
Night Weeping murmured, her voice as rough as sandpaper.
"Don't lose heart, Night Weeping. At least only half of the Crystal Palace was destroyed."
Vincent's voice came from behind her, calm and certain.
"Perhaps both of them are still alive."
"No, as long as that person is alive, your little maid will be safe."
Sword Slave Island
The westernmost edge of the empire.
An isolated island surrounded by a gray sea.
There were no green trees on the island, no flowers or grass, only bare rock and weathered sand and soil. The sea wind howled, carrying a salty, briny smell as it swept past rows of low stone houses.
This was the empire's place of exile.
It was also-
The final destination of the abandoned.
And on the witch's side, how long had the battle for a place to belong lasted?
No one knew.
Within that space swallowed by shadow, time had lost its meaning.
But in the end-
Satella, already freed from her seal, defeated this so-called "projection."
She reached out and drew the remaining power from the shadow, strand by strand, as though teasing threads from a tangled mass.
Those powers struggled, shrieked, and roared in her palm-
Then slowly merged into her body.
It was power that had originally been one, so merging it posed no difficulty.
Nor were there any side effects.
After all-
The price had already been paid.
It had been the birth of a suffering personality.
And-
Four hundred long, lonely, painful years of struggle.
"At last, I've gathered all this power-this 'less than a tenth' that remains."
Satella lowered her head to look at her hands.
Those hands had once devastated heaven and earth.
Those hands had once swallowed half the world.
But now-
She gently clenched her fists, then relaxed them.
"It's enough."
She raised her head.
"Subaru!"
She threw herself toward him.
Like a moth diving toward a candle flame.
Like a meteor falling to earth.
Like a ray of light piercing four hundred years of darkness.
Under that gentle soothing, Subaru's consciousness had already been on the verge of sleep.
The pain had disappeared.
The fear had dissipated.
In their place was something he had never experienced before, something complete and unreserved-
A sense of safety.
Then-
He felt something warm throw itself into his arms.
That weight was light.
As light as a feather.
And yet it was heavy.
As heavy as though it carried four hundred years of longing.
"Emilia?"
He murmured instinctively.
No.
That face was indeed identical to Emilia's-long silver hair, purple eyes, delicate features.
But the look in her eyes was different.
In Emilia's eyes were clear, innocent emotions, as transparent as ice and snow.
But these eyes-
Were gentle, sorrowful, carrying four hundred years of solitude-
"No, Satella?"
That wasn't right either.
He had met Satella.
In that dark space within his consciousness, in that nightmare swallowed by shadows.
But the person before him-
"...You seem different from the one I met, too."
His voice was very soft, as though he were talking in his sleep.
"Who are you, really?"
The person in his arms raised her head.
Her long silver hair brushed his chin, making it tickle slightly.
Those purple eyes-deeper than Emilia's, clearer than Satella's-looked straight into his.
Then she smiled.
That smile was soft and faint.
Yet it was like an April breeze, like warm winter sunshine, like everything beautiful and gentle that made one want to cry.
"Me-"
She said.
"-I'm your lover."
In the distance, the waves remained unchanged.
The isolated island remained unchanged.
But something, upon this forgotten land-
Was quietly beginning to sprout.
And somewhere on this isolated island, a streak of blue-green lightning was quietly threading its way between the stone houses.