71: Liars are gonna lie, after all.

I'd really like a chance to stop and think. To make sense of this new authority, and all the info from Ahab. Charging in without a plan is what gets me killed the most, after all - but for now I have to put all of that aside, because there's something way more important to deal with.

Francois Prelati.

We're already entering his fake reality marble - I need a plan to kill him, as quickly as possible.

But when is 'as soon as possible' anyway? Obviously, pulling it off inside his Grand Illusion is going to be near impossible. That means I'll need to make a contract with him; but there's no way in hell I can risk him getting to view my past through his dreams - so I'll have to betray him before the next time I sleep, or something along those lines, right?

…It's simple, then. We'll push straight through to Lyon without sleeping so we can save Siegfried, and I'll use a command spell to kill Prelati immediately after.

I just need to keep my cool for ten hours or so. Just remain calm for that long, and everything will-

"Oh dear." Marie mutters, and the carriage rapidly draws to a stop. "It seems there's another lone Servant in our path."

"...Already, huh." I say, heaving a deep breath. It's fine. I'll be fine. After all, he doesn't know about [Return by Death] yet, so in the absolute worst case, he kills me and I can try again until I finally kill the bastard.

And so, with my heart pounding in my ears, I step out of the carriage into a beautiful meadow.

"How do you do, fellow defenders of humanity?" Asks Prelati, seated at a nice looking picnic, arms stretched wide.

My breath hitches. I can't do this. I can't do this. It's too much, just hearing his voice makes me want to scream in terror.

But I have to-

"Oh?~ You seem a bit worked up there, Subaru." The alchemist says, grinning. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine." I say, goosebumps running up my arms as his grin widens. "Look, let's just-"

"Oh, that's good. That means we can pick up where we left off!" He laughs, and I freeze.

I open my mouth, trying to say something to play it off, but no words come out.

Boom. Boom. Boom. I can barely hear his next sentence over the sound of my own heartbeat.

"-Come on, did you think it would be that easy to escape me?" He chuckles, and arms emerge from among the flowers beneath him, lifting him to his feet.

Immediately, I turn to run, but it's too late. I sink into the flowers, the hands dragging me down, and I can clearly see that the carriage I exited is nowhere to be found.

"Ahahaha! What part of 'no escape' don't you get?" He laughs, grabbing me by the hair and dragging me up once more, knocking me to the ground where more hands bind my movement.

In desperation I lash out, seizing his head with [Invisible Providence], only for it and his whole body to dissolve into a cloud of laughing butterflies, a new body rising from amidst the flowers elsewhere.

"Ah, scary, scary!~" Prelati chuckles. "But you already know that won't work, right? So hey, won't you tell me? I was sure it was foolproof, so how did you end up escaping my noose, Subaru?"

How? How the hell does he know!? Didn't he say he learned from dreams of my past!? But we aren't contracted this time!

"Hm? You look really confused - d-don't tell me, my future self told you I learned about your ability from the Dream Cycle or something! Bwahahaha! That's hilarious!" He wipes a tear from his eyes. "I see, I see - so it was actually advanced play, to make you think you'd escaped! As expected of me!"

I can't move. I can't scream. No, no, no, not again, I can't take this again, please, someone-!

"I know, I know, it hurts - but doesn't it hurt more, knowing your friends are all alone out there? They're all going to die, you know?"

From the fog, a blur of red lightning explodes. Mordred streaks forward, her sword already ablaze - but tentacles erupt from the ground, scattering a cloud of flowers into the air, restraining her limbs. I watch it all - the crunching of broken bones, the screams as she is dragged beneath and devoured by something unseen.

It's not real. It's not real. Please, it's not real.

"Of course, if you could only kill yourself, you'd be able to escape - but even then, do you really think you can escape me?"

[Invisible Providence] finds my brain stem and crushes it - but all that follows is darkness. Eternal darkness. Can't breath, can't think, out of lives, dead, dead, dead.

It's not real. It's not real. It's not real.

"Don't you see that even if you escape, I'll live in your heart forever? Because that's what love is, right?"

A monster of unfathomable size emerges from the flowers, and tears me to shreds as my own body and sanity turn themselves inside out, but it's not real, it can't be real nothing is real please please please.

"More! More! Suffer more, suffer eternally! Fill yourself up, fit to burst! Until you become the perfect living monument to sin! Until you become the ultimate proof that humanity is unworthy of pity!"

I scream and bite my tongue and the blood drowns the whole world and it isn't real. I catch Prelati by the throat and choke the life out of him but then it's not him it's a young girl, Meili, dead again at my hands but it isn't real. I am crushed burned torn to pieces eaten alive swallowed by darkness frozen to death but it isn't real isn't real isn't real isn't real.

"Don't worry, I won't let up! I'll see you to the ultimate finish line, where you're finally perfect! Because, after all, I'm your ally!"

Ally.

At that word, a dim, hazy idea cuts through the pain. I tried it last time, and it didn't work - but somehow, this time, I can feel it properly.

Broken arm broken toes broken ribs.

Prelati is my ally - that's right. Regardless of everything else, this guy still thinks he's my ally.

Eyes gouged out nose removed tongue torn out.

So I'll accept those feelings. I'll gladly accept them. I'll be your friend, Francois Prelati. I'll take all the help you can possibly give me, including-

Healed to full and repeat ad nauseam.

[Cor Leonis].

I won't take your burdens. You won't take mine. But - I know exactly where you are now. And so I wait.

I wait for him to heal me one more time. I wait for, ignoring his illusory duplicate, his true body to draw just a little bit closer. Three meters. That's all I need. Three meters - but he's too far. He won't get-

No. That isn't true. Because the star directly next to his, in the dim awareness of my authority, is undoubtedly Natsuki Subaru. My awareness was displaced - no wonder I couldn't kill myself, the body I was trying to destroy was an illusion all along.

But now, there's a chance. One chance - now wait. Wait for him to get distracted.

-There. A pause in his rantings. I don't know what he's busy with - adjusting the illusion, or something?

But it's enough. From my chest, two unseen hands surge forth. Brain stem. Heart. Both are valid targets, so I'll destroy both. Crush, twist, tear.

Francois Prelati does not have Battle Continuation. Francois Prelati has no defensive stats to speak of. And so, he receives no final words as my authority tears him to pieces.

All I hear is the roar of a colossal beast as the foggy world dissolves into nothingness.

A/N:

Prelati lied?

Impossible. There's just no way.

Anyway, Subaru managed to piece together an escape method this time - for some reason, Prelati didn't prepare a countermeasure for Cor Leonis in this loop, but he did last loop. Why is that, I wonder?

Anyway, I'm sure it's still Wednesday in some parts of the world. Next chapter Saturday.