Chapter 50.2
Seeing the girl standing there at the back of the clearing, watching him with her vast, boundless gaze, Subaru wavered .
Surely, Garfiel had just told him that she was swallowed by the shadow .
But that was clearly at odds with what he was seeing .
If he had to choose which one to believe in, he could only choose to believe the reality in front of his eyes . In that case, was all their previous conversation just a lie?
[Subaru: Garfiel, what is this……]
[Garfiel: ……Don’t go jumpin’ t’conclusions . I know what y’wanna say ‘n ask, but we ain’t got time for that, now that we lured that thing here]
Dismissing Subaru with a wave of his hand, Garfiel cast his gaze over his surroundings . Then, lifting his chin and drawing in a deep breath,
[Garfiel: ――――oooorrrrrrrrrRRRRR!]
Although its volume fell short of covering the entire expanse of the forest, like a distant howl, the call pierced through the wondrously silent air .
Hearing it, for a moment, the rather out-of-place thought occurred to Subaru, “That guy’s super good at making animal noises”, but it soon gave way when he saw the answer to that howl .
[Subaru: ――――!?]
Accompanied by the sound of rustling, one after another, small silhouettes stepped out of the foliage and into the clearing .
Short in stature, their long, pink hair was almost dragging on the ground . Their skins were translucent-white, and their eyes devoid of emotion . The robes they wore seemed unfitting for their size, with sleeves dangling way past the tip their hands . They didn’t seem to be wearing any other garment underneath, and, peeking between the gaps, he could see that they were barefoot .
The number of figures stepping out of the treeline must have totaled about twenty or so .
Lining up to fill almost half of the clearing, they all bore the exact same face . Not just the same expression―― but the same face .
[Subaru: What kind of, joke is……]
[Garfiel: Woulda preferred if I didn’t have t’show ya]
Garfiel’s pained mutter failed to enter Subaru’s stricken ears . Or rather, despite entering his ears, they failed to register any proper meaning in his brain .
Seeing the girls with identical faces lined up before his eyes―― all looking exactly like Lewes, gave Subaru the illusion that he might be dreaming .
Truth is, Subaru had these kinds of nightmares before, and he had hoped that this was just another one of them . But,
[Subaru: The scratches from the branches hurt… and my heart too…… this is real, isn’t it]
Checking the blood seeping from his arms, and pressing against the sharp pounding of his heart, Subaru took a deep breath . And then, having resolved to accept this scene as reality, he scanned his eyes over the girls once more .
They all looked exactly the same as Lewes, and even their expressions were identical . That is to say, they were all emotionless, unmoving, and doll-like .
Even though Subaru knew that Lewes was never an especially lively person, she was always abundant in emotion, and, more importantly, her every action resembled that of a living human being .
[Subaru: ――――]
But that characteristic feeling of living human beings was entirely absent from these girls .
They were like dolls . There could be no description more accurate than that . One could even say they were dolls .
Despite breathing and carrying life, they were no more than moving dolls―― such, was the abnormality of seeing twenty identical faces arranged in a row .
[Subaru: Clones…… this world can’t have that kind of technology . Is it some kind of replication magic……? But then why make so many Lewes-sans……]
When the term “Somatic Cell Cloning” flashed across his mind, Subaru suddenly realized it .
Why the Sanctuary was called the Experimental Grounds, and why its master, Echidona, was so reluctant to talk about it . And then, there was also why Garfiel repeatedly cursed this place as a deadlock .
[Subaru: Unless, this is the result of the Sanctuary’s experiments……? Replicating Lewes-san? No… but, what’s the point of doing something like that……]
[Garfiel: Sorry t’do this when yer busy ponderin’, but looks like it’s about time]
While Subaru’s mind was turning at an incredible speed, beside him, Garfiel’s arms began to expand .
His arms, covered over with golden hair, swelled to rip through his clothing as muscles bulged to three times their original width .
Atavism―― if the giant tiger was Garfiel’s true form, then this partial transformation was merely the first stage of his trump card .
[Garfiel: Surround it n’ crush it . Simple, but with e’ryone else eaten, this is all that’s left]
[Subaru: ……I can understand what your plan is, but they’re…]
[Garfiel: Don’t worry . They ain’t like Granny, their insides’re empty . But they can follow orders at least . If they can just create an openin’, we’re set]
Whether it was the details of his strategy, or about Lewes’ replicants, there were still too many questions Subaru wanted to ask . But there was no time for that, or for carrying on a peaceful conversation, for that matter .
With a swipe of his massive arm, Garfiel pushed Subaru to the very back of the clearing . Then, at Garfiel’s brutish signal, the Lewes-formation pressed forward to shield Subaru behind them .
Garfiel stood himself in the dead center of the clearing . Behind him, were the Lewes-clones, and at the tail end, was Subaru . All the while, swallowing the trees of the forest, on the opposite end of Garfiel’s glare,
{???: ――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 I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you}
With slow, writhing movements, the words of love seeped from the edge of the forest .
Boundless revulsion and blaring alarms crying “danger” rang ceaselessly inside his skull . Then, the Witch’s shadow lifted what should be its head, and caught Subaru within its sights,
[Subaru: ――――]
Before he knew it, he could see the shadow undulating with joy .
Surrounded by a black vortex sweeping the trees of the forest into its spiral, amidst the sound of crushing wood, whispering love, the shadow stepped closer .
Defiling the grass of the clearing, it took only an instant for the expanding darkness to usurp this small patch of earth . Before long, everything here would be sinking into the shadow just as the forest had .
So if Garfiel was to have any chance of winning, it would have to be before this place was engulfed by the shadow . That is, now . This very moment .
[Garfiel: ――――GhrraaaAAAAAAHHHHH!!]
Tilting his head to the sky, Garfiel’s throat expelled a roar that quaked the atmosphere .
The violent tremors tearing through the air petrified Subaru’s every organ with instinctive terror . Before the frozen Subaru, not only Garfiel’s arms, but his legs had transformed into those of a beast, slamming to the ground with all its force .
Instantly, with the ruptured earth under Garfiel’s foot as the pivot, the ground beneath the Witch sprang up like a giant seesaw .
It was every bit a reenactment of Garfiel’s first meeting with Subaru, where he flipped Patrasche and the carriage clean off of the ground .
As the shadow was launched into the air alongside clumps of swept-up earth, Garfiel lowered his posture, placing all four limbs onto the ground . And, with a howl, he spurred on the next stage of his transformation .
Unable to withstand his expanding body, his clothes burst into slithers of rags dangling from his golden fur . Held up by lumbering limbs, his body grew to exceed four meters in length, as dagger-like fangs lined inside his jaw .
This was none other than the manifestation of the great tiger that had once conferred on Subaru such fury and despair .
[Garfiel: ――――WWRRRRR!!]
Roaring, the beast’s body tore through the wind, lunging for the shadow .
And, just as it flung open its jaws, threatening to crush the shadow’s slender waist with fangs that could shear through steel――
[???: ――――]
――fingers of shadows reached out from beneath the leaping beast and wound it within its grasp . Intercepted like this, the great tiger stopped mid-air . And, the moment after, a throat-rending shriek rang out .
A mist of blood burst from the tiger’s constricted limbs, practically announcing the shadow’s intent to crush them in its grip . Arms as thick as Subaru’s waist began producing the sound of ripping flesh .
Subaru watched the great tiger, shrieking and immobilized mid-air, but couldn’t tear his eyes away . And from there, the shadow mercilessly snapped the beast’s body into an explosion of organs and blood――
[Subaru: ――ah―]
――was not what happened .
While Subaru watched on in a daze, two Lewes replicants leaped into the fray between the tiger and the Witch .
The little girls shot forward, panting pointlessly with open mouths . With incredible speed, they passed through the shadow, and, landing on the ground, they darted towards the Witch whose gaze was transfixed on the tiger held high in her grip .
[Lewes-clones: u―]
[Subaru: ――――]
Spreading their arms, they threw themselves at the Witch as if to hug her . But the Witch, having noticed their approach, easily skewered them in place with an outstretched shadow .
The sharp, spear-tipped shadow, with the motion of a whip slinging to their prey, severed the two Lewes-clone’s legs from under them before skewering them through the waist . Then, it brought them next to the shrieking Garfiel, as if to show him .
A far too abominable sight, but that laxness was the Witch’s mistake .
[Garfiel: ――wwWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRR!]
When he saw the replicants’ mutilated bodies brought before him, Garfiel’s tremoring throat, already tearing from shrieks of agony, let out a roar of an entirely different hue that forced Subaru’s brows to furrow .
Confused as to the meaning of that change in tone, before Subaru eyes, he saw the hanging bodies of the Lewes-clones rapidly engulfed by an abounding, pale-blue light――
[Subaru: ――――!?]
[???: ――――]
The next instant, the bodies exploded with a blinding flash .
There were no blood or organs, or any gory indications that a living organism had exploded . Their flesh merely transformed into particles of light, blasting clear the surrounding shadows and returning a brief moment of life to the world . Blown and scattered―― but unlike any ordinary death by explosion .
Blinded by the flash of light, Subaru violently rubbed at his eyes . And, hurriedly regaining his vision, his eyes opened in time to see the wall of Lewes-clones that was shielding him rushing towards the shadow just as the first two had done before them .
Dispersing in all directions, with impeccable coordination, the eighteen Lewes-clones surrounded the Witch . Apparently having no other means of attack, their only aim was to stick themselves onto the Witch as they closed in their encirclement with their arms spread wide .
But, even with their coordinated advance, the replicants’ movements were still constrained by human limits . Not to mention that their adversary was the primal calamity of the Witch of Envy .
Just when Subaru thought it was about to be swamped by the Lewes-clones, the tip of the up-surging shadow split into eighteen strands . Each becoming a blade, as if mocking the Leweses’ efforts to evade them, the whips sliced through their skulls, torsos, abdomens, piercing and slashing, rending them to shreds .
Despite spacing out their attacks, the Lewes-clones were annihilated, and, after the passing of a single beat, all the Leweses exploded in a pulse of white light―― temporarily expelling all darkness from the clearing, and stripping away the vortex of shadow that surrounded the Witch .
[Garfiel: ――WRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!]
There was no way the wound-ridden tiger could allow this opportunity to slip away .
Using the opening created by Lewe-clones’ charge to free himself from bondage, the moment after the replicants exploded, with a roar that surpassed all that came before, the giant beast lunged for the shadow’s head .
The Witch erected a wall of shade to meet the giant tiger rushing towards her, but the tiger, holding the silhouette of a person on the tip of his claw―― a Lewes-replicant which it had hidden for this very purpose, slammed it into the wall, blasting it apart . Through the pale-blue flash of light, his fangs and claws fell upon the heart of the shadow .
――It was so perfect that even Subaru was convinced that he had it .
An inhumane tactic that unhesitatingly sacrificed twenty-one Lewes-replicants .
If the tiger-morphed Garfiel could land a single direct strike with its claw, surely, even a Witch couldn’t hope to survive――
{???: ――I love you}
Or at least, that was what Subaru implored in his heart,
{???: ――Subaru-kun}
The shadow called sweetly, as Garfiel’s burst-open corpse shattered into dust .
-=Chapter 50 End=-