Subaru stormed down the hallway toward his room with quick, furious steps, each footfall echoing like a drumbeat of rage. His heart pounded so violently it hurt, and his thoughts whirled like a violent tempest, colliding and tearing at one another. His breath came in short bursts, every inhale heavy, every exhale sharp with anger. When he threw open the door, his eyes widened, stunned by the sheer weight of the sight that greeted him.
Flugel stood within the chamber—arms crossed, posture regal and unyielding, his cold gaze fixed mercilessly on Hikari and Beatrice. The two stood together in defiance, their voices raised, sharp with desperation as they tried to silence him, to push back against his venom. Yet Flugel's expression was carved with a mocking smirk, one that dripped with derision. The air itself seemed to rebel, turning thick and suffocating, as though a shroud of oppressive mist had descended upon them all.
Subaru's stride quickened, each step carrying the weight of his rising fury. Determination burned in his eyes, and the storm raging in his chest broke free, spilling into his voice.
"Listen, Sage," he spat, teeth clenched so tightly his jaw trembled. His voice shook, not from fear, but from the raw, volatile fire building inside. "I don't know what kind of hatred you hold against Emilia, or what twisted reasons you cling to. But this charade—this act of yours—ends now. I won't stand by while you hurt her any longer!"
Flugel turned his head slowly, deliberately, toward Subaru. The scorn in his eyes deepened, dark and suffocating, as if the very light in the room bent away from him. He brushed Hikari aside with a casual shove, rising to his full height. His black cloak flowed like liquid shadow, rippling with an unseen wind, as though the darkness itself bowed to him. He advanced, each step calm but thunderous, a giant striding forward to pass judgment. When he stopped before Subaru, his voice spilled forth, cold and merciless as winter ice.
"Speaking the truth as it is, Natsuki Subaru, is no performance. The girl you call your beloved is no more than a doll. Hollow, fragile, helpless. And you—you are the fool who deceives himself, weaving illusions to justify your feelings."
The words struck Subaru's heart like blades, each syllable cutting deeper than the last. Rage burst within him, overwhelming, uncontrollable. Without a single thought, he surged forward, hands shooting out to seize Flugel by the collar.
"Don't you dare—don't you ever—say that about her! Or else—"
Flugel's gaze sharpened instantly, the smirk curling on his lips shifting into something crueler, deadlier. "Or else what? Tell me. What could you possibly do to me? Is it a crime that I told you your mind is unraveling? Or is it that you cannot forgive me for dragging you closer to the truth you refuse to face?"
Subaru's roar tore from his throat, so powerful it made the walls seem to quake.
"YES! That's exactly why you're guilty, Flugel! Because you can't keep that cursed mouth shut! You rip apart hearts and shatter them without remorse! Sometimes silence is stronger than words. Sometimes understanding is worth more than truth! Why can't you see that?!"
For the briefest instant, something flickered in Flugel's eyes—surprise, fleeting and uncertain. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced once more by stone-cold indifference. With sudden force, he gripped Subaru's hands and yanked him forward. The cold gleam in his eyes flared, transmuted into a dangerous brilliance, threatening and merciless.
Crack!
The brutal sound of their foreheads colliding ripped through the heavy air like a thunderclap. Pain exploded across Subaru's skull, a sharp, searing agony that blurred his vision. His balance broke, and he reeled backward, stumbling helplessly.
"AGHH!"
Blood spilled from his nose as he crashed onto the floor, staining his lips crimson. The world spun around him, the haze consuming his vision. Through the ringing in his ears, he caught the panicked cries of Hikari and Beatrice.
"Onii-chan!"
"Subaru!"
They rushed to him, voices cracked with fear, faces pale with dread. Subaru raised a trembling hand, struggling to reassure them—signaling that he was still there, still fighting, even as his body screamed with pain. His chest heaved violently, rage and anguish twisting together like twin serpents inside him. Forcing himself upright, he staggered, blood trailing from his nose, yet the fire in his eyes burned with unbroken intensity.
"Flugel…" His voice was raw, torn between fury and sorrow. "No matter how much guidance you've given me, most of the time you're nothing but an unbearable curse. And now… enough is enough!"
For the first time, a subtle shift came over Flugel. His eyes widened slightly, not in mockery, but in the faintest glimmer of unease—as though he sensed a decision looming, a choice that might slip beyond even his control.
"…Hah? What are you planning, boy?"
Subaru inhaled deeply, every breath burning like fire in his lungs. He pressed his palm hard against his chest, feeling the frantic rhythm of his heart and the raging torrents of mana coursing within him. The energy inside was unstable, wild, like molten fire tearing through his veins. Yet through sheer willpower, he tightened his hold over it, forcing the chaos into order. His body trembled under the strain, but his resolve was unshakable.
With that power gathered, Subaru began to press inward, to crush and suppress the very core of authority that Flugel himself had placed within him. The act was reckless, dangerous—like tearing out one's own lifeline. But in his burning eyes, only defiance remained.
Flugel's eyes widened in sheer horror, as if the very foundation of his arrogance had been shattered. His hand clawed desperately at his chest, fingers digging in like a man drowning in invisible currents. His knees buckled, slamming against the stone floor with a hollow thud. The proud mask he wore fractured, and beneath it spilled raw agony—contorted features betraying both fear and rage.
"Y-you… are you seriously doing this?!" he spat, his voice strained, half-choked by disbelief.
Subaru's voice rang through the suffocating silence, sharp and unwavering, cutting through the tension like a blade.
"I'll shut that mouth of yours, sage. No more riddles, no more games. It's time someone silenced you."
The core that bound them ruptured in an instant, shattering like fragile glass. Dark energy surged, the hatred in Flugel's gaze twisting into a storm that clawed at Subaru, threatening to tear him apart. His face contorted, death itself etched across his expression, before his body convulsed and began to dissolve into shadow. Piece by piece, he unraveled, until only a blackened remnant retreated, slipping back into the abyss of Subaru's soul.
Gasping, Subaru filled his lungs with shaky air and forced his voice inward, casting his words into the void. "Stay inside. You won't touch anyone else. You'll rot in this cage, and I'll never let you out again."
From the deepest recesses of his spirit, Flugel's voice slithered forth, colder than ice and sharper than steel. "I can still break free and kill you, Subaru. You know it. You feel it. All it would take is one moment… one slip… and you'll be nothing but another corpse."
Subaru's lips pressed into a thin line. Fear gnawed at the edges of his mind, whispering of hopelessness, but his stubborn fire blazed higher, louder than the dread.
"Then try me. I won't flinch. Let's see who's left standing when it's over."
A searing spike of pain lanced through his skull. His vision clouded, darkness clawing at the edges of his sight as though knives were being driven directly into his brain. Flugel's voice drew closer—so close it seemed to breathe against his ear—murderous, intimate, and suffocating.
"You'll regret this, Subaru. You'll regret it until the end of your days. This mistake will carve itself into your bones."
The air itself quivered. Pressure slammed down like an invisible mountain, filling every inch of the room. Beatrice and Hikari stiffened, their faces pale and fearful, as if even their souls were trembling beneath the unseen weight. Subaru swiped away the blood that trailed from his nose. His body faltered, but his eyes burned hotter, defiance holding fast. No matter how close the shadow drew, one truth screamed inside him: No matter what, I will protect Emilia.
Then came the emptiness. A hollow absence so deep it gnawed at his being. Subaru felt a part of himself torn away, the foundation of his existence pried loose. Flugel was no longer where he had been; his presence vanished, leaving only a crushing void. It pressed into Subaru's chest, heavy and suffocating, like a stone weighing down his lungs. His heart pounded wildly, his throat tightening as panic surged.
He staggered, gasping. His eyes flicked around in frantic desperation, searching for something—anything. Instinct screamed louder than reason. Subaru grabbed Hikari and Beatrice, pulling them back, shielding them from even the whisper of danger lingering in the shadows.
"Please… stay here!" His voice cracked, trembling with desperation. There was a plea within it, but also terror—raw, unfiltered fear.
Hikari froze, her gaze fixed on Subaru's face, stunned by the urgency blazing in his expression. Her lips parted, ready to argue, but her voice failed her. Before she could speak, Beatrice's small hand tightened around Hikari's arm, trembling fingers betraying her own terror. Her wide, tear-bright eyes stared upward, her voice broken and uneven.
"…Listen to him, Hikari. Please… even I—I'm terrified."
The air split apart. A jagged rift ripped itself into existence in the center of the room. It pulsed and writhed, black and alive, as though reality itself had been slashed open by a cosmic blade. From within spilled a suffocating darkness that pressed against the walls, crushing every fragile thing in its path. The pressure was unbearable. Glass windows exploded one after another, shards spinning like deadly stars across the chamber. The stone walls groaned, fissures cracking through them as the structure buckled under the strain.
Subaru reacted on instinct, summoning Duskveil. His twin daggers manifested in his hands, their familiar weight a small comfort—yet even the blades trembled, betraying his fear. A strange vibration shivered along their edges, a resonance not with their wielder, but with the abyssal force emerging. They seemed to bow, compelled not by Subaru's will, but by the presence crawling into the world. Cold sweat trickled down his temple, his breath quick and uneven.
And then the figure appeared. He stepped through the writhing wound in reality, cloaked in black robes that whispered against the floor with each movement. Long, snow-white hair cascaded across his shoulders, ethereal and chilling in its purity. His eyes—one a void of endless black, the other searing with cursed radiance—locked onto Subaru. That gaze tunneled into his soul, hollowing him out, forcing him to stare back into an abyss deeper than death. The aura that radiated from him was suffocating; every breath Subaru dragged into his lungs seared like fire.
It was no echo, no fragment.
Flugel's true form stood before them. The Great Sage had returned to the world, and with him came a darkness that threatened to devour everything.
Subaru forced mana into his daggers, struggling to suppress the fear detonating inside his chest like a storm threatening to rip him apart. His fingers shook violently, sweat dripping down his knuckles, yet he clenched his teeth hard enough to ache. Retreat was no longer an option; he knew the moment he faltered, everything would crumble. But in the next instant, an unseen weight surged through his body. An oppressive force, suffocating and absolute, poured into his veins as if a thousand chains had wrapped around his very soul. The mana flow inside him drowned, choked, and his arms turned rigid, frozen as though carved from stone. His blades quivered, their edges screeching under unbearable strain, until suddenly they were torn from his grasp. With a brutal snap, the weapons soared into the air, betraying him, before drifting down to Flugel's sides like devout servants answering their master's call.
Flugel's voice followed, ancient and merciless. It did not merely speak; it resonated, echoing with a depth that seemed to come from beneath the earth itself. Each syllable was heavy, inevitable, as if the world itself bent under its weight.
"Natsuki Subaru… I granted you a chance. A path through which the torment of your deaths could be refined into strength. I offered you the means to elevate your darkness into greatness, to carve purpose into each end you endured. I sought for you to forge destiny with your hands alone. Yet you… you shattered that gift with your own defiance."
The words pierced Subaru deeper than any blade. He bit down harder, fury clashing with despair in his chest. A suffocating gloom pressed upon him, dragging down his lungs and grinding against his heart. But his resolve did not waver. He thrust his hand toward his inventory, fingers clawing with desperation as he summoned another weapon. Excalibur materialized in his palm in a burst of brilliance, its light breaking through the dim veil of the chamber like the dawn tearing apart a nightmare.
"I meant every word, Sage! Whatever price it demands, I will never go back!"
A faint change flickered across Flugel's gaze. It was subtle, yet undeniable. Mockery still gleamed within, but beneath it lingered something colder—pity, disdain, and an almost cruel acknowledgment.
"She belongs to me… You already know this."
Before Subaru could react, Excalibur shuddered violently and was ripped away from his grasp. The sacred blade, once unwavering in his hands, betrayed him just as the daggers had, gliding reverently to Flugel's side like a chained beast seeking its master. Subaru's breath caught. He stared at his empty palms, and a glacial dread spread through him, numbing his limbs and hollowing his chest.
"No… no, this can't be…" The thought slipped past his lips in a cracked whisper. His throat tightened, and though his mouth moved, no sound followed. In blind panic, he reached for the system.
DING!
[Activation failed! System sealed!]
The words blazed across his mind like a cruel verdict. It was as if another spear had rammed straight through his chest. His foundation, his lifeline—his final guarantee—had been severed. The pit inside him widened, swallowing everything. He staggered, breath shallow, forcing the pain down with a bitter swallow. This is the consequence of my own hands… he thought, a hollow whisper echoing in his skull.
Flugel's gaze, glacial and unyielding, turned from Subaru. Slowly, he shifted toward Hikari. Her small frame trembled, her eyes streaming tears that blurred her sight. Her hands stretched out helplessly toward Subaru, her voice catching in a sob that never reached the air. Flugel lifted his hand, fingers curling like claws. From his palm, waves of pure shadow erupted—nightmares clothed in substance. They cascaded across the chamber, swallowing the girl and Beatrice in a torrent of darkness. In an instant, their bodies dissolved into the abyss, torn away into another dimension before they could even scream.
"NOOO!!" Subaru's throat tore open in a scream, raw and savage. His fury burned like wildfire, fused with terror that threatened to split his sanity apart. His knees trembled under the weight of despair, yet he hurled himself forward, his eyes ablaze with desperation. "Give her back… FLUGEL!"
Flugel did not answer. He only turned those icy eyes upon Subaru. The silence was more cruel than any word. It carved into Subaru deeper than blades, louder than thunder.
Subaru raised his arms to the heavens, and his voice thundered like a desperate incantation.
"PRIDE BREAKER!"
The world itself seemed to shatter. A violent surge of power erupted outward, obliterating the chamber's walls and ceiling. The stone disintegrated into dust, the sky itself swallowed into a void. Only fragments of trembling ground remained beneath their feet. The air thickened, heavy with the stench of scorched stone, burnt ash, and the metallic tang of blood that lingered like iron in the lungs.
Driven by sheer rage, Subaru lunged forward once more, his body straining with every ounce of strength left within him. But Flugel's figure blurred—shadow made flesh, moving beyond human sight. In a heartbeat, he appeared before Subaru, hand thrusting mercilessly into his chest. Fingers, frigid and cruel, closed around the beating heart within.
"On second thought…" A terrible smile split Flugel's lips, jagged with malice. His words seeped with venom, each syllable tearing at Subaru's will. "You have no need for Return by Death anymore, do you?"
Subaru's eyes widened, terror flooding them. His lungs refused him air. His throat clamped shut. A geyser of hot blood spilled from his mouth, staining his lips crimson.
"Ahh—ghhh—!"
Before he could form another word, the hand within him clenched. His heart was ripped free.
The world collapsed. Vision dimmed, light fading into a gray haze. The chamber, the earth, even his own body blurred into nothing. His knees gave way, and his form crashed lifelessly onto the trembling ground. The last image etched into his fading sight was the frozen, merciless stare of the Great Sage.
His lips trembled, dragging forth the final thread of his life, no louder than a whisper carried by the void:
"Hikari… forgive me… my dear sister..."
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Subaru shot upright in bed, as though jolted by an unseen lightning strike. His body was soaked through, clothes clinging to his skin, every pore leaking the cold sweat of terror. His chest heaved, each gasp shallow and violent, as though he were drowning on dry land. His hands trembled uncontrollably, his throat tightened to the point of suffocation. It felt as if his body had just been torn apart and stitched back together in the span of a single heartbeat.
The scream that had ripped itself out of him still echoed faintly in the room. The shadows along the walls seemed to shiver, drawn closer, as though savoring the residue of his fear. Subaru pressed both hands to his chest, desperately trying to cage the wild hammering of his heart. "Breathe… just breathe… You didn't die. Not this time… You're here, you're still here…" The words left him in ragged whispers, more like the prayer of a man clinging to sanity than reassurance.
The ache in his chest made every breath feel like fire. He rubbed his face with damp palms, trying to wipe away the feverish memory of the dream, but the grotesque images refused to vanish. They clung to him, like blood seeping into cloth, refusing to let go. The blurred images of tearing flesh, suffocating lungs, the metallic tang that coated his tongue—none of it was gone. None of it had ever felt false.
"Was that… just a nightmare?" His voice cracked, brittle and hoarse. He knew the answer the moment he asked, because nightmares did not leave the body shaking with phantom wounds. Nightmares didn't leave him tasting blood in the back of his throat.
Silence fell heavy. He stared at the floor, forcing air in and out, until his breaths came in a rhythm that felt almost human again. Slowly, his blurred mind pieced together the fragments. After his talk with Emilia, he had gone to see Hikari. He remembered sitting beside her, listening to the fragile sound of her breathing, finding peace in her presence. He had let himself drift off in that fleeting comfort, eyelids dragging him into sleep.
And then darkness. A darkness that had bled into his dream.
Yes, there had been no confrontation with Flugel in reality. He would never be reckless enough to provoke something like that, not awake. Yet the dream's clarity clawed at him still, so tangible that it felt stitched into his very bones. A dream? Or a memory he should never have borne? The line blurred cruelly.
"That sensation… the tearing of my chest, the unbearable heat, the taste of blood… If that wasn't real, then why does my body still remember? Why do my lungs ache as if they truly drowned in iron?" The thought coiled around him like a serpent, its fangs sinking deeper with each passing second. His hands shook violently. His breathing faltered. Panic clawed at the edges of his mind again, threatening to drown him.
"No… stop it. It was just a dream. Just a dream." He muttered the words in broken repetition, as if they could tether him back. But his heart refused to believe, pounding with a rhythm that screamed otherwise.
And then—the air shifted.
The silence of the room shattered under an invisible weight. The air thickened, suffocating, oppressive, pressing down on him from every side. The shadows rippled, and from that ripple emerged Flugel. His arrival was not a sudden intrusion but a slow bleed, like ink spreading through water, consuming the space until he stood there. The faintest smirk curved his lips, carrying with it both mockery and cruelty. His mere presence bent the balance of the room, turning warmth into icy tension.
"What sight could drive you to scream like that?" Flugel's voice slithered through the silence, sharp with curiosity but devoid of comfort. There was no concern in it, only an entertained cruelty, the delight of a predator watching prey squirm.
Subaru's pupils dilated, fear swelling up so suddenly it almost choked him again. A cry welled in his throat, desperate to escape. He bit down hard, forcing it into silence. Only a strangled gasp left him, air scraping past his dry lips. "J-Just… a nightmare…"
Flugel tilted his head ever so slightly, his gaze glinting like a knife catching light. That patient, predatory amusement was worse than any direct cruelty, for it pressed down on Subaru's chest like a crushing hand. "Is that what you believe, Natsuki Subaru? That it was only a nightmare? But ordinary dreams do not leave you trembling, soaked in terror. Ordinary illusions do not carve their echoes into the body."
He stepped closer, shadows clinging to his form like loyal hounds. "Tell me… what did you truly see?"
Subaru's breath caught in his throat. The memory of the dream's pain returned sharper than ever, and his entire body froze, caught between denial and the awful certainty that some truths cannot be unmade.
Subaru's chest tightened, a knot twisting deeper with every breath. Just putting the memory into words felt like dragging the nightmare out of its grave, as if voicing it would give it flesh again. His jaw ached from how hard he bit his lip, the hesitation in his eyes betraying a war within him. For a moment he thought of staying silent, burying it all where no one could see. But the weight pressed too heavily, and finally he released a long, shuddering sigh.
"You… you were killing me. Mercilessly!" The words slipped out sharp and trembling, his voice cracking like glass under strain. His throat felt raw, as though the confession itself scraped against old wounds. Quickly, with panic rising, he tried to soften it, to twist the truth into something less jagged. His words stumbled over one another. "What I mean is… we fought. And I died. That's all.",
The room froze. Silence pressed in, vast and suffocating, like a vacuum swallowing sound. Subaru's ears rang with the heavy, relentless pounding of his own heartbeat, echoing louder than anything around him. The weight of what he had said clung to the air, seeping into the walls, the floor, the very fabric of the space. Why is it so impossible to retell it? Why does saying it feel like drowning all over again? My chest is tight… my breath keeps slipping away, like invisible hands are squeezing the life from me. He lowered his gaze to the ground, eyes searching for a crack in the floor, an escape hatch, anything to flee from the suffocating moment.
Then, like a blade slashing the tension in two, Flugel spun on his heel and burst into laughter. A deep, booming laugh thundered through the chamber, ricocheting off stone, filling the space until it felt crowded by mockery. The sound crawled into every crevice, a derisive chorus as though even the walls joined in on his ridicule. "Your imagination truly is boundless, Natsuki Subaru. I can only wonder—what would the audience think if they were listening to this tale of yours?"
Subaru didn't answer. He might not have even heard the remark, or perhaps he had simply chosen to bury it beneath his need to survive. His mind shut Flugel out entirely. None of it mattered. What mattered was the fragile longing beating in his chest: a plea for quiet, for peace. "Enough already… I just want silence," he whispered, the words trembling, fragile as glass.
Flugel's laughter dwindled into a smirk, though the echo of it still haunted the air. "Whatever you say! Sparring with you is hardly worth the effort. I'd rather drift back into sleep…" His tone carried a tremor, amusement veined with something less stable, as though he, too, was unsettled by the memory they had touched. Slowly, the oppressive weight of the nightmare began to dissolve, peeling away layer by layer. Subaru felt his pulse slowing, the relentless hammering of his heart easing as the tightness in his chest loosened. The coil of tension winding through his muscles released, leaving only exhaustion in its wake. A heavy weariness washed over him, tugging insistently at his eyelids, urging him to let go.
He lay back down on the bed, movement sluggish, deliberate. As his body met the mattress, he reached out instinctively, drawing the two girls beside him close. He held them as if they were anchors tethering him to reality. Their warmth seeped into his arms and chest, their soft and steady breathing resonating like a balm against his frayed spirit. With every rise and fall of their small forms, Subaru's fear dulled a little more, the sharp edges of his dread blunted by their presence. They're here. They're still here. The only ties that keep me breathing in this cruel world… the fragile thread that binds me to life itself.
He listened for a while, letting their breaths guide his own. The sound was gentle, steady, unbroken. It was proof that, at least in this moment, he was not alone, not abandoned to the abyss clawing at his mind. The longer he held them, the more the storm inside him quieted. The tremors in his hands stilled, and the fear lodged in his throat slipped into silence.
Gradually, his eyelids grew heavier, shadows pooling at the edges of his vision. The storm of fears, nightmares, and questions that had gnawed at him melted away into mist, dissolving further with each inhale and exhale. Even the echo of Flugel's laughter faded into nothingness. His thoughts slowed, softened, then scattered like dust in a gentle wind.
And so, with his arms wrapped around the fragile bonds that gave him strength, Subaru let his body sink deeper into the mattress. He surrendered at last, not to despair, but to the quiet embrace of sleep, drifting toward a peace he could only cling to in dreams.
(A/N: yep its just a dream)