From deep space, looking down, this resplendent jewel—primarily jade-green, dotted with patches of sandy gold and snowy white—resembled the finishing touch upon the most perfect pearl nurtured within the cosmic 'clam' known collectively as an alien universe.
Luminous and radiant, smooth and flawless, it continuously released a faint, crystalline blue glow into the surrounding void.
The mottled hues formed the central supercontinent.
Encasing that patchwork of colors was an endless azure abyss—rosy mists stretching for thousands of miles, curtains of water suspended in midair, emerald waves rolling in ceaseless motion.
At a single glance, it was like an exquisite painting unfurled before one's eyes.
Beautiful beyond measure—so much so that the accompanying poets and war correspondents of the Sacred Selene Empire's Astartes Third Black Templars Legion were utterly entranced...
Such heaven-blessed natural scenery already surpassed the vast majority of the Empire's governed colony worlds.
Even compared to the Empire's famous, name-bearing 'internet celebrity' garden worlds, in the eyes of the military cultural elites composing poetry, painting, arranging music, and carving reliefs aboard naval vessels in low orbit, this planet would rank at least among the foremost.
Unfortunately...
This world was destined to never become a fully open garden world.
Because their Legion Commander had spoken.
This world was to be designated by Lord Leiva as an auxiliary world to a palace estate—a gift from the Black Templars Legion to the sole sun in their hearts, forever elegant and perfect—Sacred Selene.
Unaware that the entire matter had begun merely because a certain someone surnamed Selene wanted to knock Leiva around a bit, the Black Templars warriors were filled with anticipation, assuming it to be their commander's deliberate act of ingratiation.
Nothing shameful about it—just flattering the sovereign.
Perfectly normal. They all wanted to flatter her too.
"I've reviewed the exploration report submitted by the diplomatic delegation. The Holy Kingdom of Gusteko in the north evolved and developed under perennial ice and snow. Those winter-domain castles are quite distinctive. I think it would be good to preserve them..." (PS: The Holy Kingdom of Gusteko is the birthplace of the Bowel Hunter, Elsa Granhiert.)
On the upper observation deck of a colossal warship, its entire hull a noble purple as though constructed from piled golden statues and relief palaces, the echo of footsteps sounded intermittently through the grand hall, accompanied by the deep, resonant voices unique to Astartes.
They wore half-capes of silk—purple base trimmed with silver. Their armor gleamed, edged in gold, its surface carved with lightning bolts and eagles.
Anyone who glimpsed these giants would instinctively think of the apostles clustered at the feet of divine statues in myth—marble sculptures stationed in the most prominent positions of a temple.
Surging, turbulent Honkai energy particles and vital force seemed to form a vortex across reality and Imaginary Space upon the observation deck.
The sovereigns who commanded tens of thousands of troops—the Black Templars' Company Captains.
"Sigh. Compared to the Sacred Vollachia Empire in the south and the dragon-affiliated Kingdom of Lugunica in the east, the Kararagi City-States in the west that I'm responsible for is really the worst draw. A barren desert. Sure, it has thriving commerce and heavy population flow, and there are quite a few charming oasis cities... but I've never heard of desert environments inside Her Majesty's garden courtyards."
"Oh, the Shanglin Garden does have desert environments—but that's for raising beasts... not for people to live in." One Company Captain sounded helpless.
His luck was poor. He had drawn the western Kararagi lot.
"What about me? I drew the 'Great Waterfall' beyond the continent. What am I supposed to do with a vast blue abyss where there's nothing at all?"
As that captain shook his head, another—arms crossed, gazing at Selene's hazy stained-glass portrait upon the massive crystal window lining the corridor—glanced sideways at his comrade.
"No need for exploration. It's completely blank. There's nothing even to renovate."
"Ahem... didn't you hire outside help? The Seiren of the Luna Wolves, the merfolk of the Blood Angels, the sea witches of the Iron Warriors. Among the Empire's legally recognized demi-human races, they're top-tier when it comes to water worlds."
"Right. Start from scratch. Lay the underwater palace foundations first. Show off your outstanding artistic sensibilities."
Just as Leiva was racking his brains over the main structure of Selene's palace upon the central supercontinent, the several Black Templars Company Captains accompanying his main fleet had all abruptly changed careers on the spot—into construction foremen.
East, south, west, north—and the outer sea.
They were in charge of furnishing and refurbishing the 'side halls and suites' of the palace complex.
"Easy for you to say... But this world really is peculiar. It's like an artificially created box-garden world. At the edges of the supercontinent are sheer cliffs. Water pours from them, forming waterfall-like spectacles. As for the outer sea, there are hardly any islands at all—rare even to find shallow reefs. Only bottomless deep ocean."
As they chatted, the Company Captains inevitably shifted the topic to the origins of the supercontinent.
"Because of the 'Great Waterfall' barrier, the natives' exploration limits are confined within it. They seem to have no real concept of an 'ocean.'"
"According to collected testimonies from the natives, the current world topography is what remained after one of the Seven Witches—the Witch of Envy—devoured half the world four hundred years ago."
"The Witch of Envy?"
"Yes. They say she cannot be killed. She was sealed jointly by the Divine Dragon of the Kingdom of Lugunica, the Sage, and the first Sword Saint."
"Sealed where?"
"No idea. That question is taboo among the natives. They won't answer it."
The Company Captains exchanged remarks back and forth.
"It seems they're afraid we'd be tempted and release the calamity again. We can't very well force the issue. That Sword Saint and the knight order aren't weak. If we push too far and tear our relations apart, causing irreversible damage to this beautiful world and its magnificent ancient architecture, that would be unsightly. We're not bandits."
"No rush. We'll learn eventually. What, are we supposed to capture the Witch and make her Her Majesty's maid? If Legion Commander Leiva isn't concerned, why should we be?"
"True. Anyway, back to the main topic. I discovered a major issue with regime change. Silver-haired half-elves... Silver hair and half-elves both have extremely... poor public reputations in this world. Especially when combined."
"Ah?! Cough... I can understand prejudice against half-elves, but discrimination against silver hair? That's courting death. It must be corrected immediately. The sooner the better."
...
Darkness.
Whether the body exists or not holds no attachment. Whether the world exists or not bears no meaning. Whether the soul exists or not requires no understanding.
Pitch-black, without even the faintest outline of fingers before one's eyes. Even self-awareness felt blurred, as if a black curtain pressed directly against the eyeballs. No warmth. Not a single glimmer of starlight. Only countless indistinct, eerie shadows emerging from the haze.
The boy named Subaru Natsuki opened his weary eyes.
Here it comes again...
Lately, for some reason, it's been happening more and more frequently.
To be honest, Subaru Natsuki did not truly understand why he could see those [Shadows], why he had been transported to another world, and why he had received such blazing 'love' from the witches.
Love's violence.
Love's slaughter.
Love's violation.
"I love you."
In this lightless world, a pitch-black silhouette darker even than darkness itself stood before him. She wore a black dress. Long hair of absolute night flowed down her back, and a veil of black covered her face as she gazed at him.
A woman.
The Witch of Envy—Satella.
She was still expressing her 'love' with the same desperate longing.
"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—"
An incomparable fervor, incomprehensible in its blind obsession. A murmured whisper of love, slurred and indistinct.
Subaru knew.
She wanted him to include her among those he intended to save. She yearned for him to kill her in the future. "I will definitely save you"—that was the promise he had left to Satella at the end of liberating the Sanctuary.
After all, he was a hopelessly soft-hearted fool. If he made a promise, he had to fulfill it with everything he had. Though exhausted in both body and mind, he would answer expectations. He was the 'protagonist,' after all. At worst, at least an important supporting character—a named extra!
"I—"
As Subaru opened his mouth, intending once more to respond to Satella and reaffirm his promise, the endless whispering seemed to mix with something else.
"...I love you I love you—please don't [die] again—I love you I love you—danger—I love you I love you—don't die—I love you I love you..."
Satella's voice trembled with anger. Then it trembled with fear. Amid the indistinct murmurs of love, Subaru clearly heard those pitiful fragments of words embedded within that 'love'—and then they abruptly vanished.
Don't die again?
Subaru froze.
It was Satella—the Witch of Envy—who had granted him [Return by Death].
What did that mean?
Had his [Return by Death] reached its limit? Was this a side effect of liberating the Sanctuary? Or was Satella reclaiming her power? If he died again, would that mean he would truly... die?
Crack—crack—
As Subaru pondered the message hidden within this dream, faint clusters of starlight began to shine into the eternally dark shadow-space, as though piercing through from beyond time and space.
They reflected upon his face—made especially haggard by the recent torment of repeated deaths. Interwoven purple-red halos stained half his body a shocking crimson.
What was that?
His thoughts stalled. He forgot to breathe. Unable to move, Subaru could only widen his eyes.
The dark space seemed to be illuminated from that very moment. Slowly, yet with unstoppable dominance, the shadows were dispelled and devoured. Color emerged. In the distant, boundless firmament, space and time warped, and ripples spread across his vision.
Purple-red particles of starlight advanced from afar, compressing the darkness and erasing the pitch-black void.
Within the curling ascent of that purple-red radiance, a resplendent silhouette rose.
Distant beyond reach. Lofty beyond attainment. Seated high above the nine heavens.
It bore an aura entirely different from that of Satella. There was no fluctuation of energy, no trace of malice—nor even the surging waves of 'love.' Yet the faint pressure it exuded seemed capable of freezing even space and time.
Heavy, as though it might crash down at any moment. Oppressive, as though the entire world trembled beneath it.
Silent and aloof—yet far more fatal than a witch.
As the purple-red particles gradually filled this space, this world, Subaru seemed to glimpse something else.
In the next instant, terror flooded his dilated pupils. His entire body stiffened. His chest heaved violently. His teeth clenched.
What was that?
Corpses.
Mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Lives he could neither understand nor recognize. Flourishing nations he had never known. All swallowed in blood and fire in the blink of an eye. Poetry and distant dreams replaced by surreal, horrific ruin.
Because that was war.
"Ahhhhh—!"
At the border of the Kingdom of Lugunica, within the manor of Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers, inside the room bearing the nameplate 'Subaru,' the black-haired, black-eyed boy jolted upright in bed, drenched in sweat. He looked around frantically, examining his intact body.
"Hah... it was a dream."
Patting his chest, he instinctively let out a long breath of relief.
"Wait, no!!"
"I'm not at my own home! This is Roswaal's mansion!" Subaru clawed at his face in despair. "Here, nightmares never mean anything good!"
"What does it mean? Does this mean I can't use [Return by Death] anymore? Maybe that's fine—I've grown. I'm not the same as before... One time. Right, I can't afford even a single mistake now—like hell I can!"
Subaru naturally believed he had value beyond [Return by Death], but without it—without the chance to rewind—he was just an ordinary high school student. Even if he had experienced so much and grown so much, could he truly fulfill his promise? Could he really protect everyone around Emilia-tan?
"Ahhh—this is so annoying!" He ruffled his hair wildly. "One thing after another. Can't it just slow down for once?!"
Recently, the events occurring within the Kingdom of Lugunica had indeed made him increasingly uneasy.
Swish—
He got out of bed and pulled back the curtains. Morning light streamed in, casting long dawn shadows across the European-style walls. Subaru lifted his head, his expression conflicted as he gazed at the faint stars still visible in the sky.
Was it because of them?
The force calling itself the Empire.
Although Subaru had been busy with the 'Liberation of the Sanctuary' and had no time to worry about matters beyond the territory, and though even after that incident ended he had been occupied with recovery, accompanying Emilia and Beatrice, and keeping up his own training routine—
He recalled the reports Otto Suwen had brought back time and time again.
An unknown diplomatic mission claiming to represent an Empire had visited the four great nations, including the Kingdom of Lugunica. In an atmosphere tense to the point of suffocation, they had reached preliminary agreements.
There had even been fighting before the Royal Capital's Council of Wise Men. Members of the Royal Guard had been injured. Even the current [Sword Saint], Reinhard van Astrea, had taken action.
There were also reports that the Empire's diplomatic envoys, traveling in advanced alchemical vehicles and equipped with various alchemical devices, had begun operating within the Kingdom—surveying land everywhere, mapping, selecting sites, seeking master craftsmen, collecting local customs.
"Firearms, energy weapons, exoskeletons, standardized uniforms, insignias on collars and shoulders with unknown meanings, aircraft, hovering motorcycles, double-headed eagles..."
Based on Otto's descriptions, Subaru frowned deeply.
He knew full well that he was not the only visitor from another world.
But combining Otto's descriptions with the image of such otherworldly visitors...
Not good.
This was really not good.
Were they planning to start a war?
—
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