Roswaal's heterochromatic eyes flashed with a terrifying light as he finally delivered his judgment. "So, it doesn't matter. Since you cannot complete this final step of your metamorphosis yourself, cannot actively embrace that ultimate truth... I will personally push you over that line, gently and thoroughly, guiding you to your perfect final form."
"You really are quite persistent, Roswaal."
Natsuki Subaru stared at Roswaal, his tone unusually calm, even carrying a hint of imperceptible pity.
He knew clearly that the root of all of Roswaal's actions had always stemmed from the future revealed in the 'Book of Wisdom' he held.
That book recorded that he, Natsuki Subaru, carried the Authority of Return by Death, bestowed by the Witch Satella.
It must be understood that the ability of Return by Death could only be triggered at the cost of one's own death.
Furthermore, after every return, the world would reset, with only him carrying the burden of all memories, while the memories and emotions of others would be completely wiped clean.
This meant he had to repeatedly experience the same or different gruesome deaths, unable to eliminate the primal fear of death through any experience.
This eternal, unshareable cycle of solitude far exceeded the limits of what an ordinary person's psyche could endure, enough to continuously break any resilient spirit.
In the world of the original story, Natsuki Subaru was forced to die and loop time and again, leading to the continuous collapse of his spirit.
But for the current Natsuki Subaru, the world's trajectory had already fundamentally deviated, as he carried an omniscient perspective of the future.
Relying on this informational advantage from another dimension, he had skillfully avoided future death traps time after time, and to this day, he had never once truly triggered the Authority of Return by Death.
Of course, Roswaal was completely in the dark about all of this. He still stubbornly believed in the records of the 'Book of Wisdom,' convinced that Natsuki Subaru must have already experienced several, or even dozens, of loops.
And he felt immense surprise and confusion that the latter's spirit had not completely collapsed after so many deaths.
After all, in Roswaal's view, Natsuki Subaru's near-miraculous ability to peacefully resolve the series of fatal crises he had encountered since arriving in this world must have relied on the Authority of Return by Death, achieving the optimal solution through countless trials and errors, paid for with innumerable lives.
He did not, and simply could not, imagine that Natsuki Subaru had never once used the ability derived from the Witch of Envy.
What Natsuki Subaru relied on was from another, completely different framework—a simple, crude, yet incredibly formidable power bestowed by the System.
It was the overwhelming, absolute strength he gained by continuously leveling up on his own, forcefully carving a bloody path out of desperate situations, breaking intricate schemes with raw power, and resolving all crises head-on.
What had supported him to this day, allowing him to stand here and face everything with composure, was not the tragic Authority granted by the Witch of Envy, looping through infinite deaths.
It was the tangible, powerful strength bestowed by that mysterious System, belonging entirely to him, and which could continuously grow through battle.
This power was Natsuki Subaru's true trump card, the key to subverting all prophecies and shattering every desperate loop!
"Four hundred years ago?"
Beatrice keenly caught the key phrase, her lovely brows immediately knitting together. Her gaze shot toward Roswaal like an arrow, her voice laced with confusion. "What are you talking about? What four hundred years ago? Roswaal? What... does that have to do with you?"
"No matter how the years flow by, you haven't changed a bit, Beatrice."
Roswaal didn't answer directly, instead gently stroking the thick 'Book of Wisdom' in his hand as he turned to look at Beatrice.
An uncharacteristic, almost gentle nostalgia flowed from his eyes. "Just like back then, the stubbornness and confusion in your eyes have never changed, you see~"
"What?"
Both the words and the tone were extremely off.
The content itself was shocking enough, but what sent a chill down Beatrice's spine, quickly turning to a tremor, was Roswaal's current tone of voice.
It was a tone that had been gone for centuries—exceptionally gentle, placid, even carrying a certain heavy nostalgia.
It absolutely did not belong to the contemporary Roswaal L. Mathers she knew.
"You and I... have spoken far too little," Roswaal said slowly, gazing at Beatrice. "It's been this way since we were still by Teacher's side."
"You said... Teacher?!"
Beatrice's entire body jolted. Her blue eyes widened abruptly as she stared blankly at Roswaal, as if seeing him clearly for the very first time.
An utterly absurd, yet undeniable possibility instantly tore through the fixed cognition she had held for four hundred years, brutally subverting all her common sense about time and identity.
This being standing before her, just who...
"Wh-who... who are you... Roswaal A. Mathers?"
Beatrice's voice carried a faint tremor. Looking at this person who was both familiar and incredibly strange, her heart was filled with immense turmoil.
"I have always been Roswaal, you know."
Roswaal replied with a smile, but deep within that smile was hidden a weariness that had crossed the long river of time, and...
"A soul does not easily anchor itself in an ownerless vessel. This problem was a great source of frustration for me at one point..." Roswaal looked at Beatrice with a placid gaze and continued to explain, "But I eventually forced a solution. Since the problem lay in the affinity between the vessel and the soul..."
"You want to get scolded to feel important after doing something wrong? Who'd bother with you?" Upon hearing this, Natsuki Subaru sneered, his tone filled with undisguised ridicule. "Of course, the garbage you're spouting isn't worthy of any praise. It's just dirtying my ears."
"...Y-you... you actually succeeded?"
Realizing the cold fact behind his words, Beatrice felt a bone-deep chill. "But honestly, the only ones who have the right to get up and blame you are the descendants you used as vessels and then threw away."
It is worth mentioning that the Witch of Greed Echidna's failed research into immortality was a byproduct created after Lewes Meyer became the core of the Sanctuary, a fallacy born from a thirst for knowledge to effectively utilize the large number of clones.
Then, Natsuki Subaru took a sudden step forward, his gaze like a torch, fixing on Roswaal as he said, "But your schemes and manipulation against us, against Emilia, against Beatrice, against Ram, against Rem, against every single person here, treating all our lives, emotions, and struggles as disposable pawns on your chessboard... this debt won't be settled so easily!"
"So—what do you intend to do?"
Roswaal raised his bewitching, mismatched eyes to look at Natsuki Subaru with great interest, the corner of his mouth even curling into an expectant arc, as if he was greatly looking forward to the answer.
"Simple." Natsuki Subaru clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking loudly, making no effort to hide his intentions. "Stand still and don't move. Let me use these two fists to beat you and your twisted grand principles half to death. That'll be enough!"
Natsuki Subaru, who already knew everything about Roswaal, felt no shock at this.
It is worth noting that the root of all this can be traced back to Roswaal's 400-year-old obsession.
The Roswaal L. Mathers of today is, in fact, the same person as Roswaal A. Mathers from centuries ago.
It's just that back then, he was a talented young man who, due to his outstanding magical aptitude, was able to study under the Witch of Greed, Echidna, becoming her final disciple.
There, he met the Witch's creation, the artificial spirit Beatrice, and an ordinary girl named Lewes Meyer.
As time passed, Roswaal gradually developed a fervent and obsessive love for the Witch of Greed, Echidna.
However, before his love could bear any fruit, Echidna perished in an attack by the Demon of Melancholy.
Roswaal, who tried to protect her, was also gravely injured by the Demon of Melancholy, losing his original power.
In order to resurrect the one he loved, Roswaal began using the knowledge left behind by the Witch of Greed, Echidna, to continuously marry and have children, transferring his soul from generation to generation into his direct descendants to prolong his life and wait for the right time.
Because through the 'Book of Wisdom' left by Echidna, he had 'already found the method to resurrect Echidna, and the key to it all lay with a young man named Natsuki Subaru from centuries in the future.'
To ensure the fated key, Emilia, and the keyholder, Natsuki Subaru, would meet, Roswaal dispatched the Bowel Hunter to claim Emilia's insignia, thus fostering the initial bond between the two.
Afterward, upon learning that the Witch Cult was about to subject Emilia to a trial, Roswaal quietly left the mansion, firstly to temper his strongest trump card, Natsuki Subaru, and secondly to allow Emilia to gain more prestige and capital in the Royal Selection.
And during the Sanctuary arc, following the guidance of the 'Book of Wisdom,' Roswaal hired the Bowel Hunter Elsa to attack the mansion on one hand, while on the other, he summoned a great snowstorm in the Sanctuary and called forth a Great Rabbit, creating a dual crisis.
In essence, it was to force Natsuki Subaru into a cruel choice between two options.
Either protect Emilia with all his might and abandon the other side, or protect Rem and the others at the mansion and abandon Emilia and the residents of the Sanctuary.
In short, to make Natsuki Subaru into the truly perfect, anything-goes trump card in his hand, he had to make Subaru become like himself—someone who could sacrifice everyone else, including himself, for a single goal.
Just as Roswaal himself could unhesitatingly sacrifice everything to resurrect the Witch of Greed, Echidna.
Hearing Roswaal's words, which were practically an admission, Beatrice's clear blue eyes trembled violently.
In her confusion, she seemed to see two completely different figures overlapping before her.
One was the beautiful man with long blue hair and bizarrely enchanting makeup before her now; the other was a figure sealed in memories from four hundred years ago, the young magic-user who had once admired Echidna alongside her, piously seeking the Witch's teachings.
Two figures, spanning a vast length of time, strangely merged into one at this moment.
"There's nothing to be surprised about, you know—Beatrice."
Roswaal's face still wore that inscrutable smile, as if he were discussing a trivial matter.
"You old schemer, you really hid it deep, for a whole four hundred years."
Although he had long known everything about Roswaal, Natsuki Subaru couldn't help but make a sarcastic comment.
For these four hundred years, Roswaal had extended his life by continuously transcribing his soul onto the bodies of his descendants and guided events with the prophecies of the 'Book of Wisdom,' yet he had never revealed a sliver of the truth to Beatrice, who was right beside him.
It had to be said, such forbearance and cunning were truly beyond that of an ordinary person.
"How could my four hundred years of obsession and accumulation be so easily overturned by a mortal like you?"
Roswaal looked at Natsuki Subaru with his heterochromatic eyes, his tone calm.
In a sense, it was indeed difficult for an ordinary person to comprehend his twisted values, which had persisted for centuries for the sake of achieving his goal at any cost.
"How is that possible... Soul Transcription... That was Mother's theory of immortality she was pursuing back then, wasn't it? B-But that experiment was supposed to have failed..."
Beatrice's voice trembled with disbelief as she tried to find logic within her shattered understanding.
Ultimately, another person's soul could not be stably housed in an empty vessel, and the research was deemed a failure.
However, Roswaal had succeeded.
The soul of the first Roswaal was thus transferred generation after generation into the bodies of the Mathers family's direct descendants, right up to the current one.
"No wonder you've managed to live for four hundred years. So, you survived by constantly possessing the bodies of your descendants."
Natsuki Subaru said, looking at Roswaal with feigned shock.
Speaking of which, many of Roswaal's actions seemed bizarre or even abnormal precisely because of this centuries-long obsession and perseverance.
His love for the Witch of Greed, Echidna, had long been twisted and corrupted, so it was hardly surprising that the actions he took for her sake were so outrageous.
For an obsession that lasted hundreds of years, Roswaal had become both pitiful and detestable.
To resurrect his beloved, he not only sacrificed his descendants and used the lives of countless others but was even willing to use himself as a pawn to achieve his goal.
In the original timeline, he had once willingly thrown himself into a swarm of Great Rabbit right in front of Natsuki Subaru.
One could say he is a ruthless man!
Therefore, Roswaal's logic was actually not that hard to understand.
Even Natsuki Subaru, under extremely similar conditions, might have made the same cruel choices.
In the world of the original story's IF route, in order to awaken Rem, Natsuki Subaru had even entertained the thought of using Emilia, viewing her as a tool.
So, Roswaal could not be simply judged as good or evil.
He was merely a pitiful madman, tormented to insanity by the long passage of time and an obsessive love.
"Roswaal, he's lived for four hundred years..."
Ram stood silently in place, an exceptionally complex light flickering in her red eyes. There was disbelief, the shock of having her worldview overturned, and an imperceptible tremor and sting originating from the depths of her heart.
Because Natsuki Subaru had mercilessly torn away all pretenses, exposing Roswaal's deepest secret to the light of day, it stirred a strong sense of unease within Ram.
She had always known that Roswaal was different from ordinary people.
Roswaal was entangled in too many heavy, unknown secrets. Ram had long grown accustomed to sensing that loneliness and weight, which far surpassed the norms of life, and tacitly accepted it as a part of him.
However, Ram never imagined that the cruelty of the truth would far exceed all her imaginings.
Roswaal was not an ordinary human; his existence had already spanned a full four hundred years, and it was by continuously possessing the bodies of his direct descendants that he prolonged his own life.
Behind every name of Roswaal Mathers, there could be a desperate soul devoured and replaced by their own father or ancestor.
Of course, Ram did not wish to speak of the ethics and bloodshed behind all this at the moment, nor was she in a position to judge.
Her near-obsessive loyalty and ineffable feelings for Roswaal had not arisen from nothing.
After all, it was Roswaal who had rescued her and her sister Rem from the ruins of their flame-engulfed Oni village, giving them a place to stay and a reason to exist.
Another important point was that because of the broken horn on her forehead, Ram had to rely on the mana Roswaal periodically transferred to her just to sustain her life.
This dependence had long surpassed that of master and servant, becoming a part of Ram's very foundation for survival.
However, it was this same benefactor who had given them everything who could, without a ripple of emotion, hire the Bowel Hunter, placing the mansion, Rem, and everyone else under the cold edge of a blade.
Ram might have been able to consider her own life as a pawn to repay his kindness, but Rem... Rem was the one and only younger sister she would protect no matter what.
At this moment, years of devoted loyalty and the horrifying truth before her were clashing violently within Ram's heart, and at the same time, she realized a fact with even greater clarity.
That is, to Roswaal, in order to fulfill that single wish he had clung to for four hundred years, whether it was Natsuki Subaru, Emilia, Rem, Frederica, or anyone else...
"Including even Roswaal's own current body, and even Ram herself who has served him to this day, were all nothing more than tools... whose costs and benefits could be calculated, and who could be discarded at any time for a more important outcome."
Looking at Roswaal ahead, this chilling thought surfaced in Ram's mind.
"Are you all—planning to rebuke me for being inhumane?"
At this moment, Roswaal swept his heterochromatic eyes over everyone present, his tone unusually calm.
"You want to get scolded to feel important after doing something wrong? Who'd bother with you?" Upon hearing this, Natsuki Subaru sneered, his tone filled with undisguised ridicule. "Of course, the garbage you're spouting isn't worthy of any praise. It's just dirtying my ears."
"...Y-you... you actually succeeded?"
Realizing the cold fact behind his words, Beatrice felt a bone-deep chill. "But honestly, the only ones who have the right to get up and blame you are the descendants you used as vessels and then threw away."
Then, Natsuki Subaru took a sudden step forward, his gaze like a torch, fixing on Roswaal as he said, "But your schemes and manipulation against us, against Emilia, against Beatrice, against Ram, against Rem, against every single person here, treating all our lives, emotions, and struggles as disposable pawns on your chessboard... this debt, won't be settled so easily!"
"So—what do you intend to do?"
Roswaal raised his bewitching, mismatched eyes to look at Natsuki Subaru with great interest, the corner of his mouth even curling into an expectant arc, as if he was greatly looking forward to the answer.
"Simple." Natsuki Subaru clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking loudly, making no effort to hide his intentions. "Stand still and don't move. Let me use these two fists to beat you and your twisted grand principles half to death. That'll be enough!"
______
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