Death's Right Behind You
Five Months and Fourteen Days since the Last Death (Nine Deaths)
The smell of death hung in the air. Pictures painted in blood depicted scenes of violence and depravity. In this sin-corrupted land, whose soils had been irrigated by the blood of the innocent and on which white-petaled peace would never bloom again. Shattered hearts shed the fluid of life, while their severed spirits mourned their loved ones whose corpses had been desecrated.
The foes of humanity were once again leaving behind a black trail, from which only rottenness would sprout. The Witch Cult, repudiated and feared in equal parts, sowed death and destruction in every place where its adepts showed their unpleasant figures. With wicked smiles, the archbishops witnessed the abhorrent deeds of its followers. The believers of the Witch Cult, pariahs of society, whose tainted spirits would ever qualify to constitute a part of society.
Savagery, cruelty, murder, slaughter, torture, rape, desecration, mutilation, beheading, skinning, necrophilia, necromancy, cannibalism, impalement, multiple acts of brutality by the use of brawn, magic and other skills of a similar nature as an instrument of violence. Wherever those worshippers of the Jealous Witch showed themselves, life would meet its end in the most grotesque ways a human mind could ever conceive.
The Witch Cult was the most feared group of individuals on the continent, above any mafia or sect of assassins, and reasons for this were to be found in abundance. Outcasts who only showed their vile, hooded faces to sow evil. Beings far from the comprehension of sane human minds, beings feared by anyone who had an iota of rationality.
Of all the despicable cult members, their ringleaders would definitely be the most feared, and at the same time the most shrouded in mystery; those who bore the title of Sin Archbishops. Only the actions of two of these terrible cultists really stood out enough to remain constantly in the collective consciousness, for the dread they caused in the hearts of the inhabitants of that world could not be described in mere words.
Sloth and Greed. The most prominent Sin Archbishops. Greed, known for devastating entire cities with his mere presence, and leaving behind minimal numbers of survivors, only enough to render his name a phantom that haunts those indiscreet enough to spread rumors related to his exploits. Destroying the city of the Vollachian Empire, Garkla, by himself and slaying the hero who guarded it, consistently proved to be his most notorious feat. Predicting the next place where he might appear could be considered essentially impossible, and yet, considering what happened to the experienced Sword Demon, succeeding in doing so could be the same as pursuing one's own death.
Sloth, opposite to what his moniker implies, stands out as the most active member of the Witch Cult. A diligent beast who is never satisfied with the amount of blood he, and his subjects, spill. Sloth's irony is well known among the knights of the Dragon Kingdom, who tirelessly track his destructive and twisted displays of love for the witch. However, as the irrational being that he is, his actions are invariably far too erratic to discern a pattern to follow.
Sloth is always ten steps ahead of all the military forces that yearn to terminate his life and that of his followers. However, one defeat tarnishes his almost impeccable record. At the hands of the Royal Court Mage, Roswaal L. Mathers, who thwarted his plans to take the life of the "half-devil" candidate of the Royal Selection. The "ordeal" he had proclaimed was his reason for carrying out such deeds, how he constantly used decoys called "fingers" to avoid his ultimate demise, and the nature of these, remained factors shrouded in the thickest veil of darkness.
The information concerning the remaining sins is extremely scarce, almost non-existent. The only proof of their existence may well be the existence of their companions, and the intermittent slaughters of anonymous authorship that erratically pop up across the continent. How many Sin Archbishops are there in total? That is a query that the terrified inhabitants of that world can only ponder in their worst nightmares.
And yet, there was one piece of good news that could be attached to all that stack of disheartening data. The late Wilhelm Van Astrea accomplished the amazing feat of snuffing out the life of one of those dreaded freaks of darkness. Lye Batenkaitos was overcome by the fiery edge of the Sword Demon's sword, which in less than a couple of seconds sentenced the eerie fellow's life.
One less monster lurked in the shadows, and yet that was not enough alone to appease the fearful masses, who with wary eyes watch the nooks and crannies of their society, from which the nightmarish vermin known as the Witch Cult could emerge at any moment. Still, no one really ever considered that this fear they hoped groundless would turn out to be so overwhelmingly accurate.
The day the meeting of the candidates had taken place, three hours after noon, the carnage commenced. A child tried to scream, yet choked on the blood that rushed fiercely down his throat. The daggers of the sinners sliced the flesh of the innocent, and those not so innocent. Babies, children, the elderly, men and women, the ruthless fanatics unceremoniously slaughtered anyone who came within their field of vision.
Rivers of blood and paths of flesh were erected in what was once a bustling marketplace, located in the southeastern part of the capital's commercial district. The organs and limbs of the victims became disgusting decorations that served to reinforce the hellish scenario that had been unfolded. Was it a sick artistic trend? An expression of the soul of those inhuman savages? Or did they want to deliver a corrupt message intended for those whose minds lacked the sanity needed to not decipher it?
As he wandered the bloodstained streets of the capital's commercial area, Subaru could do nothing but wonder about such matters. How could such despicable beings exist? Did they not regard the gift of life? Someone like him, who was an unwitting confidant of death, recognized the value of life like no one else. The pain of dying, the agony of feeling the fluid of life seep through your fingers, the melancholy of the future that will never be.
Subaru was aware of these aspects of life and death like no one else; he, the man who had experienced his death on nine occasions. Twice disemboweled, once stabbed in the back, once devoured by a mabeast, once caused by his own hand, twice beheaded by a wind blade, and finally, twice bled to death and sliced by the wind magic of a vengeful Oni.
Subaru was familiar with the suffering of death, and therefore recognized the sweetness of life. That there were people capable of so vainly extinguishing the flames of the spirit of so many innocent people, without any remorse, disgusted him. He felt disgust and anger burning inside him, he felt incapacitating nausea and therefore found it difficult to walk; he was no longer even sure whether the source of his discomfort was the massacre around him, or his concurrent raging thoughts.
"I hear nothing... Just complete, absolute, genuine silence..." Subaru heard one of his companions whisper. Lethargically, Subaru turned his face towards the spot where he had heard such a statement. His gaze fell upon the corpse of a woman, hundreds of cuts ran across her body, deep enough to make out the layers of skin, fat, muscle and finally bone. Her eye sockets devoid of eyes, but instead flooded with blood, stared incriminatingly at him.
Holding back the urge to vomit, Subaru hastily glanced at Otto, who was currently walking next to the butchered corpse. The merchant had a blank stare, however, from the trembling in his knees it was evident that he had failed to ignore the bloody gaze of the female corpse. Coughing slightly to clear his throat, in which residue of vomit remained, Subaru asked Otto. "… Your blessing…?"
"Yeah…" He confirmed, glancing sideways at him. "I'd noticed it since we left Leith's house, but now it became too obvious to keep on glossing it over. The closer we get to the nobles' district, the quieter it gets. It's as if all the creatures that prowl the houses, stalls, streets and sewers have been silenced by the fear of being spotted by what lurks in the darkness. It's a truly frightful silence..."
Audibly swallowing another gastric reflux that had threatened to escape his esophagus, Subaru looked away from Otto and refocused on the road ahead. The speed of his strides increased, and with it the tachycardic pounding of his heart. The terrible image of Leith's family slaughtered and turned into a nasty infernal handiwork was still etched in his eyeballs.
From the moment Utada informed him about the siege of the city, Subaru assumed that he would have to deal with the most harrowing situations; however, his imagination proved insufficient to predict what he was soon to encounter. Now that he was witnessing the state of the capital, the terrible fate that had befallen its inhabitants, he finally understood that he was dealing with something that surpassed him by far more than those events of death that he had already overcome.
Every step he took towards the castle, the more hopeless he grew; hope was pouring out of the pores of his skin, and there was nothing that would allow him to prevent it. Still, the horrendous death of Leith's family had also extremely increased the urgency he felt to get to the castle. He needed to meet with Anastasia as soon as possible, he absolutely could not allow the same thing that happened to Leith's family to befall her, or Mimi.
Out of the corner of his eye, Subaru watched Otto once again. The merchant was keeping up with the pace, but for how much longer would he do so? Silently, Subaru shifted his gaze to Otto's back, where a living corpse lay. Leith, whose eyes were completely empty, devoid of either reason or spirit. Subaru really could not blame him, not after witnessing such a traumatizing scene as the one in his former home.
Subaru had opted to leave the area as soon as possible and hurry to get to the castle, and deep down he knew that meant leaving his companion behind. He hated himself for it, in fact, he was sure that the next time he saw himself in a mirror, he would throw up, but Subaru had set his priorities; finding Anastasia and getting out of that situation alive were paramount.
And yet, Otto, understanding Subaru's disgustingly selfish thoughts, decided to carry the deranged and distraught craftsman on his back. Utada could not occupy his hands intended for combat, so he would not shoulder Leith, and Subaru was unwilling to limit his mobility. Only he alone could prevent the bleak fate that hung over Leith Hendar...
Otto did not complain about it, nor did he voice how unfair the situation seemed to him; he simply did what he felt was right. His merchant friend was smart, and he knew he needed Utada to survive, so he simply could not afford to stray from Subaru. And Otto could understand, if only partially, Subaru's concerns and why he was desperate to get to the castle.
Without uttering a word, Subaru returned his gaze to the front. He was aware that he would have to thank his friend once that death event was over, he would have to make it up to him in a big way. He would also have to apologize to Leith... The only perceptible sound was the tread of their footsteps on the rivers of blood that ran through the streets; although, if one paid attention, it would be possible to hear the breathing of the four young men and the rapid beating of their hearts.
As Otto had pointed out, they had been plunged into a world of absolute silence, in which their broken spirits were the only source of sound. It was no longer even possible to pick up the agonizing screams of the victims of the Witch Cult, nor the sounds of clashing irons; any sign of combat had vanished, along with the resistance of the people. The entire area corresponding to this commercial district had been ravaged, rendered barren and utterly desolate; transformed into an evil deed of religious fanaticism.
However, Subaru was keenly conscious that this gloomy silence would not last forever. It was bound to vanish in the clutches of the cultists, for sooner or later they would approach the crest of the bloody wave that was sweeping through the capital of Lugunica. Once they entered the upper-class area, their chances of encountering the demented aggressors would rise enormously. It was only a matter of time, and distance.
Forcing himself to move forward, Subaru advanced stride by stride, feeling how his heart splintered every time he took a single step. Terror was tormenting him, whispering in his ear to escape once more, to leave behind Anastasia, his friends, his goals; to leave everything behind and escape in the opposite direction of the castle. There might be lookouts posted at the city limits, that was true, however, his chances of encountering the cultists would still be less than if he continued to approach the castle.
For it could not be a mere coincidence that the siege of the villains took place on the same day as the meeting of the possible future rulers of the kingdom; by pure logic it could be asserted that there was a connection between the two events. Under that premise, at that moment they were following in the footsteps of the Witch Cult, which clearly nullified one of the reasons they were heading to their current destination; namely, safety.
Escaping to the castle was not the safest option at hand. If they stopped to ponder about it, they would quickly find a better alternative. In that case, why would they not do it? Utada had an obligation to take care of Subaru, no matter where he went, but his boss was in the castle, so he had no reason to object.
Leith at that moment was in a deep state of shock, so he had no way to convey his words, and Otto knew that he could not get away from Subaru, that was clear from the moment he ordered them to quickly head for the castle after witnessing the massacre of Leith's family. Subaru, though he was overwhelmed by fears and doubts, saw no other way to live his life than following the path he had started to walk a year ago.
Subaru was not willing to break another promise, and he had no reason to do so; therefore, he would go to hell itself if necessary; after all, hell was not unknown to him. The four approached the nobles' district, their hearts constricted; some by fear, some by hatred, some by uncertainty. Subaru could visualize the first mansions of the upper-class area, and was unable to decide whether this was reassuring or tormenting.
He was still inwardly deliberating the most accurate answer, when with the corner of his left eye he managed to catch a slight movement. It must be an animal, he thought naively; however, his hopes were betrayed before he could even move his head to try to verify the identity of what had moved in the shadows. He had been surrounded. At least ten men in garments that completely covered their bodies stood around him, a little more than a meter away from his skin, through which crippling shivers ran.
Icy sweat condensed on his face, whose dilated pupil eyes stared in terror at the figures covered by black clerical robes and triangular hoods of the same color, on which could be seen two crimson triangles, placed where the eyes should be, and a symbol similar to a "third eye" drawn over them. The ominous figures remained static, with their ambiguous gazes focused on Subaru, who was unable to react.
"Subaru!
"Shit! Subaru-sama!"
Two screams at last slayed the grim silence that had settled over the devastated business district. Otto, unable to do anything but watch, considering that he was carrying Leith and also lacked the necessary skill to engage the enemies, witnessed as the mercenary with the imposing figure pounced on the strangers who had abruptly surrounded Subaru.
There was nothing to hesitate about, their robes and their actions were more than ample proof that they belonged to the Witch Cult. Therefore, Utada did not hold back his strength as he dropped his heavy fist on the head of one of the shadowy figures. None of the cultists seemed to have any intention of moving, they were all completely mesmerized by Subaru's pathetic existence.
Taking advantage of his enemy's carelessness, Utada had used his superhuman strength to strike one of the cultists, whose head exploded from the force of the impact and showered all those around him with fragments of brain and blood. Shaken, Subaru watched with his eyes wide open as his escort proceeded to rip apart another of the witch cultists, thus leaving his intestines, kidneys and bladder exposed, which were scattered across the tunic shredded by the mercenary's claws.
Finally perceiving the opposing force, the cultists jumped away from the source of their lapse and turned to the huge warrior who seemed ready to exterminate them with a bare fist. With a vicious grin on his face and his hands completely bathed in blood, Utada surveyed the remaining eight cultists, who now surrounded him with cross-shaped daggers in each hand.
"Come, ya cocksuckers! I'm waitin' for ya!" Utada shouted, seeking to provoke his opponents. However, they were unaffected by his words, as they held their positions, denoting that they were being cautious of him. Releasing an audible grunt of annoyance, Utada decided not to waste any more time and resumed the initiative.
He took the huge axe that was hanging from his back and gave a sharp swing, splitting in two another of the cultists, one of those who was closest to him and had failed to dodge his attack. Utada was about to strike at another of the shadowy assassins, when he felt something rapidly approaching him from behind.
Nimbly he turned around, just in time to parry the frenzied thrust of one of the cultists with the haft of his axe. Using his strength to unbalance the attacker, Utada fended him off and pierced his chest with the butt of his axe, which greatly resembled a spear. The cultist fell to the ground, soaking his hood in bloody vomit.
Subaru, aghast, watched the shadowy figure fall to the ground. Blood seeped from his hood and a crimson river began to run down to Subaru's feet, soaking his footwear. The chain of events had happened far too quickly, and he was thoroughly overwhelmed by everything that had just taken place. Still, he could not die there, and if he failed to move, he would only be making it easier for the cultists to do their job.
Forcing himself to move his feet, Subaru stepped away from the pool of blood that had formed beneath his feet, and searched with his eyes for his bodyguard, whom he soon found, surrounded by the four remaining cultists. Despite the inferiority in numbers, Utada was demonstrating why he was among the elite of the Fang of Iron, and did not appear to be in any kind of predicament.
"We may be able to make it..." Subaru heard Otto mutter. A death flag, Subaru thought. And never in his life had he felt so wretched to have been right...
His eyes could barely perceive it, but within himself, he could perfectly sense it. Some kind of shadowy, almost invisible creatures slithered through the air. Subaru became aware of them by the terrifying shiver they induced in him, since the only thing he caught with his eyes was a strange ripple in space, which served as proof that he was not imagining things.
What are those? He wondered, perplexed. But that turned out to be a worthless question as he noticed where the creatures seemed to be heading. "Uta-!" The mercenary tried to look at him, but it was too late. An invisible force comparable to that of a cannon struck Utada in the chest, sending him flying away from the avenue they were on.
"Utada?! What the hell just happened!?" Otto exclaimed, terrified by what had transpired with the mercenary. Subaru, however, was in no position to dispel his doubts. With his gaze fixed on the disturbance in space that outlined the creatures' location, Subaru tried to move away from their path, but stopped when he heard a bloodcurdling voice emerging from the shadows.
"Well, well, well, well, well! It looks like there were still a bunch of diligent survivors left! So how did they manage to survive our sweeping of the area? Does that mean we're... sloth?! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! No way! That's no way to repay for the love we have received, after all!"
Subaru's heart was tightly constricted by the pressure exerted by the being of the shadows, the one who, without showing his face, was ranting against the fact that there were still survivors in the area. Did their lives nullify the love that this mental deviant was talking about? Subaru supposed that the answer was affirmative; at least it was so in the twisted mind of the sick man hiding in the darkness.
He is someone of power within the Witch Cult; he quickly inferred. The aura of death emanating from the crazed anonymous man was so extremely overwhelming that Subaru unconsciously began to brace himself for an unwanted restart. Gathering information would lend value to his death, only then could he leave without feeling that he had failed his promise to Anastasia; it was time to focus on everything around him.
Subaru despised the idea of dying again, he really did. The fear caused by the mere thought of the agonizing seconds in which the connection between his soul and his body was severed was enough to keep him awake for up to a week. Subaru did not consider himself capable of enduring another cycle of death, his mental health had withered away to an extreme, and he completely lacked the determination and resilience necessary to deal with the agony of repeatedly dying and returning indefinitely.
However, his drive to live and achieve his goals was greater than the fears that shackled him. He longed to never have to experience a cycle of death again, he was ambitioning to reach his happy ending without needing to lose his heart along the way; for that is what he feared would happen, if he underwent again a physical and mental torture similar to those he suffered on the day of his arrival at Lugunica, in Priestella and in the Kyo metropolitan area.
His unstable mind would forever forfeit any chance of recovery if he went through it again. His fragmented heart would eventually shatter into lifeless dust. His corrupted spirit would be dyed black and every shred of remnant innocence would be obliterated. Subaru, in a metaphorical sense, would die completely, and not even Return by Death would be enough to bring him back to life.
Avoiding that grim outcome had been vital for Subaru. But given the daunting context in which he found himself embroiled, Subaru unconsciously assumed the stark reality; he would have to discard that naïve wish. He would once again need Return by Death, and it was uncertain how many times he would require to use it to achieve a result that would satisfy his own agenda. Internally and without consciously realizing it, Subaru prepared to walk through the dark tunnel he was about to plunge into.
"Subaru..." While Subaru was cloaked in the dark fog caused by the inner turmoil that ravaged his mind, an alarmed whisper reached his ears. Finding himself in a deep state of alertness, Subaru's body reacted immediately, blasting him out of his mind and forcing him to instinctively look at Otto.
Subaru, due to the adrenaline coursing through his veins vehemently, was able to process the information his senses received rather swiftly. Nodding slowly, Subaru signaled to Otto that he understood what he wanted to convey to him. "We have to get out of here"; it was a simple and obvious message. Utada was no longer with them, and with him gone, they were but mere bugs dancing in the palm of a cruel monster.
"I got an idea..." Subaru gesticulated, performing a phonomimic. To have uttered any sound could have entailed his untimely death, so he had chosen to avoid it. Otto, being the shrewd and resourceful young man that he was, nodded slightly, implying to him that he trusted him.
Satisfied with this, Subaru returned to stare at the area hidden by the shadows from where the frantic voice had come. As Subaru had deduced, the one who had not yet revealed himself was someone important to the cultists, for since those maddening words had been pronounced, they had not dared to lift a finger.
This is my chance, thought Subaru. He then mentally visualized the dark sphere that was his companion and voiced the only incantation capable of carrying out. "Sha-!" However, Subaru interrupted himself when he heard a loud crash a few meters away from him, exactly where Otto was standing.
Failing to muster the courage within his heart to look over there again and check on Otto's condition, Subaru sharpened his hearing and waited in silence, completely transfixed by fear. A drip could be heard; plop, plop, plop, plop, plop... No, it was something more violent than a simple drip; it was a trickle, a violet stream of some kind of liquid.
A jet of an unknown liquid that was spraying the surroundings covered by puddles of blood, that's why he was able to hear drips; they were the rebellious drops that had separated from the jet and ended up dropping into the nearby puddles. Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop. Subaru refused to look, just as he had refused to accept Halibel's help.
His sanity hung by a tenuous thread, and Subaru feared that if he turned around it would be snapped. Plop, plop, plop... The jet was diminishing in power, until only a delicate trickle could be heard. Frozen with horror, Subaru did nothing but listen. However, it was impossible for him not to look, when he felt a light tap on his footwear.
Slowly, Subaru looked down, to then find a marble. A white marble, decorated with red ramified lines and a sort of black circle, inside another circle in blue. It was a peculiar marble... Plop, plop... It was a marble of the strangest texture, even more considering that a kind of fleshy thread was connected to it, a thread from which a crimson liquid that reminded of blood emerged... Plop... It was not a marble.
"Arrrrrrrgghhhh!" At last, Subaru was rendered incapable of maintaining his composure. Freaking out, Subaru began to scream as he tugged maddeningly at his black hair. It wasn't a white marble, it was Otto's eye, whose body, along with Leith's, had been turned into a pile of disgusting smelling organs, flesh and blood. "Blergh!" Falling to his knees, Subaru vomited up the full contents of his stomach.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes... We have already dealt with two of the remnants and proved that we do not neglect the love descending upon our hearts, now only the other is remaining." Exclaimed the voice jovially. To then pronounce solemnly. "However..." Then, the sound of footsteps walking over blood and pieces of flesh could be heard approaching.
Subaru, hyperventilating, slowly looked up, only to find two reddened and unhinged eyes staring at him intently. It was the only one of all the witch cultists who was not covering his face with the triangular hood. He was a man who looked about thirty years old, with moldy brown hair, pale skin like that of a corpse and eyes with yellowish pupils that possessed a blinding glow of madness. The man, after a few seconds of staring at him, pointed at him with one of his aberrantly elongated fingers, which had bite marks all over their surface.
"Could it be known who you might be, besides a loathsome being?" Subaru, confused, was unable to react to the man's sudden question. "No, no, no... This isn't right... It definitely isn't! Why is a despicable, disgusting, vulgar being like you so deeply loved? It stirs my soul to meet another beloved companion, but I find it repulsive to discover that it is someone like you... Hmm... My soul was overflowing with joy at having the opportunity to redo the ordeal, and it seems that made me careless and... slothful. That's why three remnants managed to survive... And, yet, I encounter someone as peculiar as you! Who... are... you?"
"Shamak!" In desperation to get away from the sinister man who was frantically questioning him about his identity, Subaru suddenly commanded his spirit and, with all the strength he was able to elicit from his legs, escaped in the direction of the castle. "I can't stop, I can't stop!" Subaru muttered, as he sped away from the cloud of darkness that had exploded where only a second ago he had stood. "It's too late now, I need to keep going, I can't stop!" He added, thus seeking to engrave in his mind and heart his resolve. It was already too late to change his path, so he would have to keep plunging into that swamp of blood without turning back.
Subaru turned the corner at the end of the block. Down the street he had just walked into was the boundary between the commercial district and the nobility district; a guard post served as the marker dividing the common rock roads from those luxurious rock roads... If he managed to elude the crazed man and his subordinates, there was a chance that he might be able to escape to the castle. Once there, he would explain to Anastasia what had happened, and they would use the Royal Guard to stop the attackers. Subaru unconsciously clutched his right arm and squeezed it tightly; he would just have to press on...
But even before he could prove his renewed determination, which had been carved in the flames of the tragedy, Subaru found it necessary to abruptly halt his escape. In front of him appeared a person whose body, except for their silver hair, purple eyes and yellowish teeth, was completely bandaged. Over the bandages the person wore the same robe as the rest of the cultists, which clearly indicated their affiliation to the followers of the witch.
"Hmm... It seems I'll have to take care of you instead of my beloved. I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience, I really wish I didn't have to importune you like this, but for him I'd do anything." In an abnormally conciliatory voice, the person, a woman, apologized for whatever was about to transpire.
"What are you talking about?" Subaru asked, suddenly feeling as if he was gradually being flooded by an intrusive sense of tranquility.
"I beg your pardon, honestly! "Then, the woman stretched out her bandaged arms, reminiscent of his own, on which hung a long gold-colored chain. Without being able to react, Subaru soon realized that he was wrapped around by the chain. His whole body was being tightly constricted by the steel snake.
"Huh?" A stupid expression of lack of understanding oozed from his throat, and then his whole world was reduced to just pain.
The chain burst into flames, rapidly igniting Subaru's body, which was completely trapped by its fiery grip. With agonizing screams escaping his throat, Subaru writhed about, futilely struggling to escape from the blazing snake and extinguish the flames that engulfed him. His skin was scorching, it was as if thousands of stingers and knives were being thrust into him; there was no part of his body that had not been turned into an inferno.
All the chemical alarms in his body resounded with extreme insistence, his nerves begged him to put a stop to that which was causing such an infernal abnormality. However, there was nothing Subaru could do to end that extreme suffering, since his body was enveloped by the same thing that was provoking such excruciating and agonizing pain.
Heat, heat, heat... His body was heating like never before in his life. His hair became invisible due to the flames that were consuming him, and his skin was gradually beginning to become charred. A strong smell of burnt fat, hair and flesh suffused the atmosphere, while Subaru released the last agonizing screams that his scorched throat was capable of uttering. His body quickly lost all its senses, until the benevolent fire incinerated its nerves, and it was unable to feel pain anymore.
With his eyes melted by the intense heat and morphed into a paste of unpleasant appearance, Subaru was unable to watch any longer. The sound of the flames consuming his body was the last external stimulus he received. It was then that, choking from the lack of oxygen due to his dreadful and endless shrieks of agony, Subaru gasped one last desperate breath of flaming air; of which the fire took advantage to seep inside him. The last breath of life then became the breath of death; his body had been reduced to ashes and pieces of carbonized flesh. His charred soul thus deserted his body of charcoal.