The world was nothing but a gaping wound, a vision of absolute black where reality itself seemed to have been crossed out by a wrathful hand. In this unnervingly soft darkness, held together by liquid shadows, Trizz's eyes remained fixed on the void. There was no longer a celestial vault, no sun to burn the skin, no landscape to anchor the senses. Only the void, simple and pure-an embrace of nothingness that refused to release its prisoners.
A vibration, more than a sound, began to saturate the space. A voice devoid of lungs, emanating from every particle of shadow:
Satella: "I love him..."
Despite the glacial cold of this non-place, a persistent warmth refused to go out. It was there, clinging to the man's chest-a tiny, fragile presence that seemed to be the last anchor of reality. Shima remained pressed against him, her small hands clutching his clothes as if letting go meant sinking for eternity. But in Trizz's mind, the question was not about survival. It was about legitimacy. Did he deserve this warmth-he, who had turned his soul into a field of ruins?
Satella: "I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I love himI love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,..."
Trizz stood still, a solitary silhouette in the ink. His hair, black as the anchor of a lost ship, framed a face with features drawn by millennial fatigue. His eyes, usually a brilliant crimson reminiscent of the fresh blood spilled during the massacres of Arc 3, had mutated. They were now a dark red-the shade of dried blood, of scabs and rust. This was the price of his sins, engraved in his pupils as an eternal punishment for daring to toy with destiny.
Satella: "I love him, I love him, I love himI love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,I love him,..." .
The man standing there possessed the stature of a king, but it was merely a skin-suit for the monster lurking beneath. A master of manipulation, a pitiless executioner, an architect of systematic decapitations, and a pathological liar. He who bore the legendary title of Archbishop of Pride felt, in this moment, like the most wretched being in creation. His Pride was nothing but a stupid crutch for a broken man.
In the real world around him, he was seen as an infallible deity. To Beatrice, he was the protective apprentice; to Anastasia, a fascinating intellectual rival; to Petra, a selfless hero. But it was all a vast farce. Trizz considered himself an error of existence, a loathsome being. How could they see him that way when he was incapable of protecting Otto and Shima without turning them into collateral damage? A bunch of idiots. He hated them for their naivety, and he hated himself for his weakness camouflaged behind a facade of arrogance. His entire life was a construction of interchangeable masks. No one loved Trizz. They loved the mask he wore and the brain that animated it.
Satella: "I love him, I love him, I love hi-"
Trizz: "I get it! Your idiot lover went to talk to Echidna about his contract, didn't he?"
His voice cut through the litany like a razor blade. Cold, sharp, devoid of the slightest reverence for the deity surrounding him.
Trizz: "So you came to get me because you know that, thanks to my pendant, I can teleport into her Citadel. You want me to go there to save your beloved from the clutches of that two-bit witch, am I wrong?"
The black silhouette of the Witch remained frozen, like a statue of shadows vibrating with fury and melancholy. No one ever asked Trizz how he was doing. No one sought to understand the weight of his dried blood. To Satella, as to the others, he was merely a variable-a practical tool capable of fixing problems where brute force failed. A chess piece endowed with its own desires that everyone chose to ignore.
Trizz: "Answer me, Shadow. Is that all I am to you? A spare key to access the dream world?"
The silence that followed was heavier than the shadow itself-a suffocating wait where a man's pride challenged a goddess's madness.
Trizz: "Fine. If that is the role you assign me, I will play it."
The cold metal of the pendant seemed to devour the heat of his palm, vibrating with clinical malevolence. Trizz squeezed it until his knuckles nearly broke, feeling the object come to life. Under the pressure of his Witch Factor, the stone began to pulse-a black, steady heartbeat that finally aligned with the jagged rhythm of his own blood.
A harsh light, brutal as a whip-crack, tore through Satella's darkness. Without waiting for his vision to adjust, guided by a survival instinct sharpened by loops of carnage, Trizz threw his right fist toward the only thermal presence in front of him. A sharp crack echoed. His hand met a warm face and soft flesh.
Trizz: "..."
He rubbed his eyes to clear the colorful spots. A few meters away, five silhouettes watched the scene with the passivity of theater spectators: Carmilla, hands buried in her scarf; Typhon, wearing a smile far too innocent to be honest; Sekhmet, slumped on the ground in absolute lethargy; Minerva, already poised to leap in indignation; and finally, the creature who had orchestrated his tragic destiny, Satella, draped in a shroud of vibrating shadows.
Trizz: "Perfect. Six asylum lunatics for the price of one."
In front of him, a woman with abyssal eyes wide with surprise took a step back. Her porcelain features and white hair, long as a river of frost, were not enough to hide the red mark streaking across her face.
Echidna: "But... didn't I explain this mechanism of our contract to you?!"
Trizz superbly ignored her to look at the boy in the black and orange tracksuit, prostrate on the ground, hands pressed to a face that had turned tomato-red under the impact.
Trizz (in a weary and contemptuous tone): "Barusu... You actually tried to make a contract with Echidna? You are even more hopeless than I imagined. Have you never learned to grow up?"
Subaru struggled to his feet, pulling his hands away to stare at his friend with an incredulous gaze.
Subaru: "But Frizz... She made a contract with you! So why not with-"
Trizz (cutting him off, frustration grinding in his voice): "Listen to me carefully, Barusu. Not only did you ignore my warnings about this psychopath, but you have the arrogance to believe we're playing in the same league? If this thing told you we were linked, did she even explain the terms of the exchange?"
Subaru: "No... but she seems legit! She promised to help us leave this hell! She just wants Return by Death in exchange for saving us all! Frizz, I can't let you carry the weight of these loops alone anymore!"
Trizz looked away, his gaze meeting Minerva's. The Witch of Wrath was seething, arms crossed. If Subaru had listened to the two thousand conditions of the contract, how could he still be so blind? Was it out of a pure desire to save Trizz from self-destruction, or simply an egoistic vanity disguised as heroism?
Minerva: "Don't look at me like that! You scare me with those crow eyes! Your friend is naive, he didn't want to hear anything... But so you were the one talking to Echidna?"
Trizz (staring at Subaru without sparing a glance for Minerva, his tone icy): "Let's say yes. Got a problem, Blondie? I'm not in the habit of wasting my time listening to the ramblings of the seven greatest hysterics in this world."
Minerva stomped her foot, making the reality of the Citadel tremble. she couldn't believe a mere human could address them with such arrogance. Was he mad, or had his Pride finally consumed his survival instinct?
Minerva: "Don't talk to me in that tone! Do you even know who I am?! You're probably just like your friend-another self-absorbed idiot playing at being a savior!"
Trizz: "I'm not going to waste my neurons on the whims of a child trapped in an adult's body. Come back to me when your IQ finally reaches room temperature."
He turned back to Subaru, anchoring him with his dark red gaze.
Trizz: "Barusu, open your brain-growth ears. My contract with Echidna is a surgical transaction. Roswaal had trapped me, turned me into his slave through a contractual oath. I used Echidna to shatter that bond by feeding her the fragments of my Isekai memories. Do you finally understand, you moron? This thing is not an ally, nor a shy girl. She is a low-rent manipulator taking advantage of your trauma to collect your deaths like others collect insects."
In the immaculate azure of the Citadel, silence had become a weapon. A trembling Subaru desperately sought a lifeline in Echidna's gaze before turning back to Trizz.
Subaru: "But... she told me she was helping you! She told me you were collaborating in the loops to end this nightmare. She explained that your tactics, your self-destructive maneuvers... all of it was just to give us the victory! She wants to do the same for me, Frizz!"
Trizz did not answer immediately. His scarlet gaze, heavy with analytical coldness, swept over Subaru. He replayed every suspicious detail of the last few days the avoided eye contact, the banal excuses to isolate himself in the Tomb, the strange disappearance of Emilia which, suddenly, looked less like a kidnapping and more like crude bait.
Trizz: "I'm starting to piece together your little theater, Echidna... All this circus, this 'spurned lover' performance, these secrets whispered behind my back... All of it was just a vulgar diversion to keep me away? Tell me, Witch of Greed, have you fallen so low that you have to play a tragedy's matchmaker just to hope for control over your precious specimen? It's of a pathos that borders on the sublime."
Echidna (her voice betraying increasing instability beneath her calm facade): "Pathos? Don't be presumptuous. My plan was a symphony of pure logic. If that intruder in black hadn't come to devastate everything by her mere presence, you would still be searching for your path in the shadows of the Sanctuary. And besides... how do you know the teleportation mechanism of the pendant? I never gave you that key."
Trizz: "You should have thought twice before betting on my ignorance. If I could have, I would have forced Barusu to make a contract with Satella herself just for the pleasure of seeing your face decompose the moment his shatters. You thought you had bound me through knowledge?"
Subaru: "Wait... Frizz... You tricked her? Like a child?
Subaru looked at Echidna. The fearful admiration he had felt for her evaporated, replaced by the vision of a merchant of false dreams whose merchandise was adulterated. If she was so easy to scam, how could she claim to save his future?
Trizz: "Don't get fired up too quickly, Barusu. She succeeded in one thing: isolating us from each other. She lied to me about your potential for 'Wisdom' to make me lower my guard, while she attempted to turn me into a block of ice as empty as she is. She wanted to separate us to better dissect us. We are equals in this mess, with one difference I have become autonomous, while she watches her house of cards collapse because of the black-clad madwoman lurking outside."
Subaru (head low, voice broken by a brutal self-hatred): "So that's it... I was just a tool for both of you. A lever to be pulled to get what you want. I'm the loud idiot who understands nothing until the truth is shoved under his nose with a filter... God, I hate myself..."
Trizz felt a surge of bitter nostalgia for his former life as a ruthless bureaucrat, but he brushed it away with a mental flick of the wrist.
Trizz: "It's irritating, Barusu. Having to constantly remind you of your role while reality collapses around us is a waste of time I shouldn't tolerate."
Subaru (with tears in his eyes): "And what is it, this role? The irredeemable idiot? The resident clown for Emilia-tan? Or just the 'Reset' button someone presses when the strategy fails? That's it, isn't it? The useless, impulsive friend?"
Trizz approached, his imposing silhouette casting a shadow over Subaru. He placed a heavy, almost brutal hand on the boy's shoulder.
Trizz: "Stop listening to this low-rent Witch. Listen to me. In this duo, I may have the higher IQ, but my emotional quotient is an industrial disaster. I am incapable of sincerely bonding with others without seeing pawns. But... you, you have the highest EQ I've ever encountered. Without you, I am a cold machine that eventually self-destructs. Without me, you are a spark that goes out in the wind. We are the Yin and Yang of this hell, Barusu. We need each other to bend reality and snatch an ending that isn't a massacre."
Trizz lowered himself to meet Subaru's gaze, his eyes burning with a dark red intensity.
Trizz: "If you choose me, I will use your Return by Death to sculpt a future that suits us. It will be neither the idealistic utopia of your dreams, nor Echidna's clinical coldness. It will be a perfect future, because it will be real. But be warned I am neither a hero nor your servant. I am prepared to sacrifice you ten thousand times to reach the path I have mapped out. I don't promise you that you won't see Emilia or the others die in failed loops. I only promise you that I will be there to carry the sin with you."
A deathly silence fell over the Citadel. The other Witches watched the scene, hanging on the verdict of the Archbishop of Pride.
Trizz: "So, Barusu? What do you choose? The artificial wisdom of a dead archive that wants to make you her puppet... or the pride of a friend who treats you like a man capable of bleeding?"
Echidna, sensing that her most precious "research subject" was slipping through her fingers in favor of Trizz, displayed a smile whose sweetness was but a thin film over an abyss of cruelty.
Echidna: "Sorry to interrupt this touching moment of masculine intimacy, but you're forgetting a crucial detail, Subaru... Or should I say, you're forgetting who Trizz really is. I prefer Frizz, it's more... malleable. Tell me, Subaru, did you know that this man with such a brilliant intellect has already sacrificed your entire camp? Not once, not twice, but several times."
She took a light step toward Subaru, her ebony eyes shining with a malicious glow.
Echidna: "To trace this path toward the 'happy ending' you dream of, Frizz has walked over mountains of corpses. Your friends, your allies... all put to the blade of his cold logic. What irony, isn't it? Wanting to build a radiant future with an architect who uses the blood of your loved ones as mortar."
Subaru's world wavered. The idea that Trizz could sacrifice him, he had accepted. But Beatrice? Petra? Emilia?
Subaru: (Voice trembling, eyes fixed on the ground) "Frizz... tell me it's not true. Tell me you never... that you didn't prepare for their deaths in every failed loop just to see what would happen. Beatrice... Petra... Emilia-tan... You didn't treat them as mere disposable pawns?"
Trizz remained motionless, his dark silhouette cut against the immaculate horizon. He did not look away. His expression betrayed no shame, only a glacial weariness.
Trizz: "She isn't lying, Barusu. In the third loop, during the Cult's attack, I did indeed orchestrate the total elimination of the camp to test the reactivity of the Fingers and the effectiveness of my own traps. My empathy isn't dead; it is selective. When I told you my emotional quotient was an industrial disaster, it wasn't a poetic metaphor. It was a warning."
He took a step toward Subaru, his shadow extending over the prostrate boy.
Trizz: "I am going to be frank in a way that will burn your ears: if the situation demands it, if the global plan is threatened, I will sacrifice an ally without hesitation. If a pawn cannot survive despite countless attempts, I will leave them behind to save the rest of the chessboard. I am not here to save everyone, Barusu. I am here so that someone survives in the end."
Echidna let out a small, crystalline laugh, delighted by Trizz's brutality. She thought this monstrous honesty would push Subaru toward her.
Echidna: "Do you see, Subaru? With him, your friends are in permanent mortal danger under the pretext of the 'common good.' But with... my contract is much more elegant. Each death will be but a statistic to me. I guarantee you that none of your friends will die permanently. I am prepared to let you die hundreds of millions of times to satisfy my curiosity, certainly... but in the end, you will always move toward your salvation. It's magnificent, isn't it?"
Subaru was caught in a vice between two horrors the direct coldness of Trizz who accepted the sacrifice of others, and the greed of Echidna who demanded his infinite agony for an artificial security.
It was then that a voice rose, drawling, heavy, as if every word required a superhuman effort to cross her lips.
Sekhmet: "Your name is Trizz, isn't it... haa... Your behavior is of such absurdity... haa... Tell me, do you have any idea what you are doing?... huu... It looks like you are trying to convince yourself that you are guided by Pride... haa."
Trizz turned toward the Witch of Sloth, one eyebrow raised, visibly annoyed by this intrusion.
Trizz: "What are you rambling about, Sloth? It's not for me to decide the future of this idiot, nor that of the black-clad madwoman who serves as your neighbor."
Beside them, Carmilla cowered behind Minerva, terrified by the aura emanating from Trizz. Typhon, for her part, stared at Trizz with a fascination mixed with dread. To her, Trizz was the incarnation of what her own sin could become if pushed to its peak: a tyrant of logic, a man with raven hair and dried-blood eyes who had ceased to be human to become a function.
Sekhmet: "You may terrify my sisters... haa... I know that what you say is an anomaly... huu... Someone who wants to save a friend does not speak like that... haa... Carmilla read your emotions, and they are far too solid for a human supposed to have suffered such traumas... haa... Carrying this unstable factor within you without going mad... haa... Who are you really? Echidna, if I were you, I would be wary... this person is not normal."
Trizz: (With Olympian calm) "Who am I? I told you, I am Pride. Why ask me the question? I prefer a responsible Subaru to a Barusu hiding behind his naive idealism. My madness? Who told you I was normal? I never claimed to be. Let's just say I am... functional."
Sekhmet: "You claimed to have given all your memories of the loops to Echidna... huu... but she showed us your evolution, and it is surprising... haa... Your sacrifices, Pride... they are selective, but are they truly necessary?... haa."
Trizz darted a steel gaze toward Sekhmet. The message was clear: "go no further." Echidna had noticed nothing, too busy with her own arrogance, but Sekhmet had seen the flaw. It wasn't Pride forcing Trizz to tell this brutal truth to Subaru. It was something far more dangerous and effective.
The sky of the Citadel seemed to darken under the weight of an electric tension. Subaru, gaze lost in the azure, weighed the destiny of the world on the scales of his soul. To accept either of these offers was to embrace a specific hell. But... staying alone would mean watching the corpses of his friends pile up until madness claimed him.
Subaru: "Frizz... I know you're trying to break my innocence, to force me to look into the abyss for our common good. But... faced with this bloody truth, I choose Echidna."
A predatory smile, almost childlike in its cruelty, stretched across the Witch's lips. Her cheeks flushed with febrile excitement. She extended her thin arm toward the boy, her slender fingers already brushing against her victory.
Echidna: "A choice full of wisdom, Subaru. Come... finally accept the terms of our union. We shall visit every branch of destiny, hand in hand, for eterni-"
Subaru: "-I would choose your contract, Echidna, if I hadn't finally understood the true nature of this bottomless fool!"
Subaru cut the Witch off sharply, his eyes shining with a strange mixture of amusement and lucid hatred. He turned toward Trizz, who was staring at him with the expression of a gambler seeing his final roll of the dice stop on the winning number.
Subaru (rising abruptly to grab Trizz's shoulders): "Admit it, Frizz! You lied to me about half your intentions! You would never let one of them die permanently... not out of kindness, but because you are far too proud to accept a single failure in your calculations!"
Echidna (eyes wide, voice betraying total confusion): "What? Proud? Subaru, what are you talking about? Do you accept my contract, yes or no!"
Subaru: "Echidna, when you showed me his memories... admit that that initial massacre was only just desserts. It was karma for throwing him to the mabeasts (Arc 2) to save Rem, wasn't it? A cold revenge disguised as strategy."
Echidna: "His reasons don't matter! He sacrificed your friends, your dear Emilia, several times! You cannot decently choose to follow this monster!"
Subaru anchored his gaze into the Witch's, a fierce determination sweeping away his last hesitations.
Subaru: "This «monster»... it's because of my own sins and my cowardice that he became what he is today. But look at him closely, Echidna. Look at this man who claims to be nothing but a machine. Trizz, admit it to save Otto, Shima, Petra, and Beatrice, you are ready to burn your own nerves and die thousands of times. Because in your eyes, they are no longer pawns... they are part of your territory. They are in your empathy bar, at the very top, where your Pride forbids you from failing."
Trizz said nothing. His crimson eyes, once cold as the stone of a tomb, seemed to burn with an inner light. The silence that followed was not a disavowal, but a solemn confirmation that Subaru no longer needed words to decipher.
Subaru: "I accept the challenge. I promise you, I, Natsuki Subaru... I will show you that this world is not just a landfill of flesh and blood. I will prove to you that it is still filled with goodness, even if I have to tear it out of you by force. That is my promise, Frizz."
Trizz took a step back, not out of fear, but to mark the end of an era. He extended a firm hand toward Subaru. His gaze was no longer that of a judge, but that of an architect who finally sees the foundations of his work stabilize.
Trizz: "Welcome. The time for games of deception is over. You are no longer Barusu, the plaything of circumstance, are you? You are Natsuki Subaru, the Hero. My equal. The only being capable of looking me in the face without flinching before the horror."
Subaru (seizing Trizz's hand with a newfound pride): "And you, you aren't Frizz, the Witch's tool. You are Trizz, my best friend. The one who will cross the loops, hand in hand with me, to forge a perfect future. My only true equal in suffering."
Echidna: "But... what happened? All of this is the fault of that devil outside! My plan was perfect! The logic was absolute!"
Trizz: "There is your weakness, Echidna. Your vanity, your pathological narcissism, your divinity complex... and above all, your sterile curiosity. Look around you. Even Sekhmet preferred my side to yours, though she has only known me for a few minutes."
Trizz turned away from Echidna, placing a hand on the back of his neck, displaying a now-human awkwardness before the other Witches.
Trizz: "Sorry for being so aggressive with you all earlier. It was a plan, not a mindless insult. And you, Sekhmet... I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are the coolest Witch I've ever met. You're first in my ranking; Satella is only second now."
Sekhmet, slumped on the ground, allowed a tiny smile to flicker at the corner of her lips. Although she had a certain respect for Echidna-the only one to have offered her a place to sleep peacefully-she hated her arrogance and that facade of macabre wisdom she constantly wore.
Sekhmet: "You're welcome... but a host of Pride... haa... you trust your friend far too much... haa... And you even manage to apologize... it's improbable, you know... haa..."
Trizz: "My Pride does not whisper to me that I am perfect or invincible. That is narcissism and empty arrogance. I am the Pride of absolute determination and the «self-made man.» I am the antithesis of your leader."
Sekhmet understood and respected this will, even if the idea of Echidna being their "leader" irritated her slightly. But, true to herself, she was far too lazy to debate and preferred simply to close her eyes.
Echidna: "Sekhmet! You couldn't have done this to me?! I am the one who brought you all together! I am the most intelligent among you! The Witch of Witches! The most respected!"
Subaru (stepping toward Trizz with cautious curiosity): "But Trizz... Echidna is your intellectual equal, right? If you are her equal, that means you can stop Roswaal through strategy, doesn't it?"
Trizz (with a smile poorly concealing his annoyance): "To answer you directly: yes, I am superior to Roswaal in strategy. But... Echidna herself is far inferior to me in intellect."
Subaru seemed completely bewildered. He knew that Trizz's Pride would not allow him to believe himself superior without implacable logic. If Trizz claimed to surpass the Witch of Wisdom, it was an accomplished fact in his mind, however improbable it might seem.
Echidna: "You! What are you talking about? I am the most intelligent and wisest being in this world of predictable insects! If I accept you as an equal, see it as a divine blessing!"
Trizz: "Subaru, I'm going to tell you something that might change your perception of Echidna forever. Are you ready, or would you prefer I keep it from you?"
Subaru: "If it's not dangerous... I figure if she kills me, I'll just come back anyway. Go ahead, Trizz. Let it out."
Trizz then stared at Echidna, not as a divine entity, but as a pathetic woman suffering from a superiority complex that reminded him of Roswaal or Priscilla.
Trizz: "Echidna has no natural intellect, unlike me. Her intelligence is artificially boosted by her Witch Factor. It is a poisoned gift: it gives her access to the Archives of the World, but in exchange..."
Trizz flashed a cruel smile, savoring the revelation of this flaw.
Trizz: "...She is condemned to learn. Her thirst for knowledge is not a choice; it is an impulse stronger than her. She is a knowledge addict, a slave to her own sin. And the most delicious part, Subaru, is that like any good addict, if she possessed your power, once she had explored every possible branch of destiny, she would discard you like a worn-out tool. Exactly as she did with Roswaal and Beatrice. Today, it was you and me she wanted to make into her new toys."
Subaru's eyes widened, horrified by Trizz's words, but he felt the truth didn't end there.
Trizz: "Look at the clues, Subaru. Remember the Gospels of the Cult? Echidna is at the origin of that organization. You know the secrets of the Ryuzu, but did you know that one of them is responsible for the demi-human war? For the greatest genocide in history? Roswaal, in his madness, did not remain passive. He manipulated kings and killed countless innocents for a Gospel Echidna gave him, promising he would see her again. In reality, that book was nothing but an instrument to force you to sign her contract today."
Trizz cast a gaze laden with bitter empathy toward the other Witches.
Trizz: "Here, every Witch carries a sin. But when you look at their respective destructions, you notice they are not calamities if they aren't provoked. Someone effectively destroyed their reputations to use them as decoys, isn't that right, Echidna? Take Daphne her IQ is so low she could never have led anything. If she created the three Great Mabeasts and masses of monsters, it's because someone whispered the idea to her, just «to see what would happen»..."
Trizz turned back toward Echidna. She was an open book to him, even if he had been forced to play her game since the signing of their contract.
Trizz: "Echidna... I called you by your name because you were the perfect tool to make Subaru grow. But from now on, I will call you nothing but «Witch.» Because behind that stolen knowledge, you no longer resemble a human being at all."
The silence that fell over the Citadel was not one of regained peace, but the oppressive quiet that follows the execution of an idol. Trizz stood there, hands thrust into his pockets, observing the psychological debris of the Witch of Greed with clinical satisfaction.
Trizz: "Was my deconstruction too abrupt for your sensibilities? I apologize in advance, but clarity is a courtesy one owes to the dying. Since we are dealing in revelations, allow me to establish the final hierarchy. Here is the ranking of intellect in this world, or at least, of what remains of it."
Trizz paused, his red eyes sweeping over the assembly with quiet arrogance.
Trizz: "In first place, myself. My existence is not a gift of fate, but an architecture of pure will. My strategy does not need to draw from millennial archives to thwart the plans of a fallen deity. In second place, Shima. She is the only true holder of the Sanctuary's wisdom, for she possesses what the Witch will never have a soul capable of learning through real suffering and not simple observation. In third place, far behind, we find the Witch of Greed. Subaru, if you focused for a tenth of a second on something other than your heroic fantasies, you would eventually surpass her. She is merely a search engine disguised as a woman. And finally, in fourth place, Roswaal... the poor heir to Echidna's madness. A man who confused the obsession of an archive with love. That is all for the honor roll."
Subaru: "But... Trizz... Echidna is the equivalent of the devil in this world! Her eyes, her knowledge... Are you telling me I almost signed an eternal pact with a mere sideshow freak? A parasite passing itself off as a guide?"
Trizz: "Yes, I admit, the staging was a bit extreme. I had enough confidence in your survival capacity to let you approach the precipice, but now, the truth is naked. Roswaal is just one victim among others. Greed does not settle for knowing; it corrupts everything it touches. I even suspect that the Envy factor-the one Satella consumed at the cost of her sanity-was just another one of her little experiments to observe 'what would happen'."
Before Subaru could articulate a protest, a quavering voice, almost inaudible, rose from the group of Witches. Carmilla stepped forward, trembling hands pressed against her chest.
Carmilla: "T-tell me... that it's not true, Echidna... You couldn't have done that... n-not to our reputations... Outside, people tremble at the mere mention of us... We are p-perceived as monsters because of your games?"
Typhon pointed an accusing finger, her child-like eyes shining with absolute severity.
Typhon: "Echidna, you're guilty! You're guilty of lying about the world! If the world is hurting, it's because you judged wrongly!"
Sekhmet let out a long guttural sigh, her hair dragging in the dreamlike grass.
Sekhmet: "Echidna... you should have remained wise, but it's ironic... haa... You have no character to claim wisdom... You are just a collector of dust... huu..."
Daphne swayed nervously on her coffin, her bindings clicking softly.
Daphne: "Dona-Dona... Daphne has lost her appetite... The truth is too raw, it's inedible... You don't eat the memories of others to feed yourself; it's a sin of bad taste..."
Minerva struck the ground with her fist, a shockwave rippling through the prairie.
Minerva: "Don't tell me this idiot dressed like a Cult heir is right?! Imagine the number of people hurt because of you! The amount of weeping you caused just to fill your books with misery!"
Echidna no longer answered. The Witch of Wisdom, she who claimed to know everything, was petrified. She trembled with helpless hatred, her porcelain mask shattering under the weight of her own sisters' gazes. To Trizz, this was not mindless cruelty, but a surgical necessity: Echidna's psyche had to be broken so Subaru could finally see the abyss.
Yet, against all odds, Trizz slowly approached Echidna. He did not brandish a weapon. He opened his arms, enveloping the Witch in an embrace that seemed, on the surface, full of compassion.
Trizz: "Everyone has turned their back on you... But I, I will stay here. I am the only one who can still stand the sight of you, isn't that right?"
Echidna gripped Trizz's clothes with desperate strength, her fingers sinking into the fabric. She trembled violently, her jagged breathing betraying a total regression.
Echidna: "You will be... always there? Even when they all hate me? Even when my knowledge is no longer enough? You won't leave me alone in the void?"
Subaru watched the scene, completely stunned, ready to intervene, but Sekhmet gave him an imperceptible sign with her hand. She knew. If Echidna collapsed completely here and now, the Citadel of Dreams would crash, taking their souls into the void.
Trizz: "Yes, I will be there. We are bound by a contract, aren't we? We are inseparable now."
Trizz stroked the Witch's hair with a mechanical gentleness. Inside, he seethed with disgust. He hated this role of consoler for an entity he despised, but he knew it was the price of control. His contract lasted only three months, not an eternity, but to stabilize the Citadel and keep Echidna "functional," he was ready to whisper every lie she burned to hear. He had chained her to him, not by love, but by the dependency of a broken child upon her only remaining executioner.
Echidna: "No one truly understands me, except for you... They all covet my knowledge, they drink deeply of my secrets, but they hate me for what I intrinsically am. Is it my fault if the world refuses to see the woman behind the deity? Am I condemned to be nothing more than a marble idol that people always end up cursing?"
Trizz observed her, feeling that emotional void resonate within him. He knew this burden the burden of being perceived only as a tool, a cold brain, a machine for solving the impossible. In his own camp, most only loved his intellect, ignoring the man drowning beneath the calculations. Only Petra, Beatrice, Otto, Shima, and now Subaru saw beyond the function. But to a fanatic like Roswaal or to these Witches, he was merely a curiosity. Yet, despite this fleeting pity, Trizz forgot nothing. Echidna's crimes, her centuries of manipulation, and her contempt for human life remained engraved in his mind. He could never fully accept her.
Sekhmet (in a low voice, ensuring Echidna heard nothing): "Look closely at your friend, Subaru... haaa... He is sacrificing his dignity and his honor to stabilize this woman's ego... huu... He is playing a part to prevent this place from crushing your souls prematurely..."
Subaru: "Time is running out, isn't it? If we don't get out of here immediately, we'll end up as dream dust... Outside, Satella is reducing reality to ashes."
Subaru looked at Trizz with bitter gratitude. He had finally found an ally willing to soil his soul for the common good, but at what cost? How many lives were being extinguished outside while they negotiated their spiritual survival in this palace of mirrors?
Carmilla: "Even love is p-perverted here... It's a transaction. He chains her to him through pity to s-save you both. It's a p-parody of tenderness..."
Trizz began to prepare his mana. A golden glow, faint but constant, enveloped his silhouette. He was invoking a Yang element buff, El Aka, while drawing from the raw reserve of his Pride Factor. His muscles tensed; his senses sharpened.
In a flash, Trizz let go of Echidna. Without another word, he rushed toward Subaru, hoisted him up like a simple sack of goods, and bolted in a single stride toward the Citadel's exit.
Subaru (hair whipped by the wind of their sprint): "Trizz! Now is really not the time for jokes, but this situation furiously reminds me of a failed loop where Rem hunted us down in this exact state..."
Trizz (with a nervous laugh, despite the landscape fracturing around them): "How could I forget? That humiliation where Ram picked us both off when we were already half-dead..."
Behind them, the idyllic scenery of the Citadel was collapsing. The azure sky turned a blinding white, torn by black-violet cracks crawling across the ground like serpents of nothingness.
Trizz: "The breach is right there, Subaru! Don't stop!"
The sound of their footsteps echoed like claps of thunder in the white silence. To get lost here meant wandering for eternity in a nameless void. But just as they were only a few meters from safety, a childish voice, steeped in cruel amusement, pierced the air. Daphne, freed from her coffin, leaped with supernatural agility.
Daphne: "But Onii-Onii! It really is you! Daphne has wanted to taste you for so long!"
In an incomprehensible surge, she threw herself onto Trizz's face, her frail limbs destabilizing him mid-run. A searing pain-a migraine unlike any Trizz had ever known-crushed his skull. The light turned to darkness.
He woke up with a start. The cold stone of the Tomb bit into his skin. No trace of the Shadow of Envy, no melancholic saturation. The silence was total, disturbed only by his own panting breath. Beside him, Subaru lay unconscious on the frozen floor.
Trizz understood immediately. The migraine, that sudden void... Subaru had committed suicide outside, in the Tomb, while he was still a prisoner of the shadows. The loop had just restarted. They were back at the starting point, in the bowels of the stone.
Trizz (massaging his aching temples): "Good old Barusu... You really didn't wait for me to walk out the front door."
The next second, Subaru woke up with a start, lungs burning and temples hammered by an excruciating migraine. The memory of the suicide, that sharp cold of the shadow, still haunted his nerves. But as he sought a landmark in the darkness of the Tomb, his eyes fell upon the silhouette sitting near him. He remained petrified, face distorted by total incomprehension, as if he were staring at a specter returned from the dead.
Subaru: "Wait... Trizz? What happened to your appearance?! Your eyes... they look like they're burning! And your hair!"
Trizz did not answer immediately, contenting himself with massaging his own temples. His pupils were no longer that dry, rusty red from the end of the previous loop. They now boasted a bright, vivid red, like freshly shed arterial blood, glowing with a new light of authority.
(Time skip... Day 3 of the new loop)
In the secret room hidden behind the imposing dark wood bookshelf, the atmosphere was saturated with electric tension. Four silhouettes stood out in the gloom of the laboratory, lit by the flickering glow of a few mana crystals arranged on a cluttered experimental table.
Subaru: "A clandestine lab right in the middle of the Sanctuary... It's irrefutable proof that the creator of this place was a first-class egoist. Hiding tools like these while the people here are dying of hunger and fear is pure madness."
Otto, nervously fiddling with the edges of his green merchant's hat, observed the instruments with evident suspicion, his fingers trembling slightly as they brushed a glass lens.
Otto: "Natsuki-san, if the owner saw fit to keep this place secret, it was undoubtedly to avoid the wrath of the Kingdom's Church or the Knights... But Trizz, by all the gods, how can you handle these strange objects with such ease? It's as if you've spent your life among these mechanisms of glass and copper."
Trizz, whose scarlet gaze never left a vial he was filling with surgical precision, let out a sigh of quiet superiority.
Trizz: "Let's just say my source of knowledge is a safe for which you don't have the key, Otto. Trying to explain the origin of these concepts to you would be like trying to teach the principles of aviation to a fish. You don't have the necessary software to process the information."
Otto: "Hey! Don't underestimate me like that! I may be a merchant chased by bad luck, but my mind is sharp when it comes to understanding the world around me!"
Trizz paused, exchanging a look heavy with subtext with Subaru, as if gauging whether he should actually break the reality barrier for the merchant. Subaru simply shrugged with a smirk.
Trizz: "Very well. Otto, does the word 'isekai' evoke even the slightest logical structure in your brain?"
Otto's eyes widened, mouth slightly agape, repeating the word as if it were a forbidden incantation or absurd babble.
Otto: "An... ise-what? Is it a variety of oil leaves or a distant region of Kararagi? What is it actually supposed to mean?!"
Trizz: "There. The demonstration is complete. You don't understand, so the interrogation is officially over."
Otto: "But... you can't dismiss me like that! It's a flagrant injustice! I'm convinced you just made that word up this second, solely to confuse me and keep your secrets!"
Trizz: "Your incredulity in no way alters the reality of my absolute genius, Otto. Content yourself with being the logistical arm; I'll handle being the brain."
Suddenly, a dull thud, like gravel crushed under mechanical pressure, echoed in the room. The secret passage pivoted silently on its invisible hinges, revealing a young woman with pink hair and a sharp gaze. Ram entered the room, her red eyes sweeping the lab with a hint of disdain, barely masking her surprise at discovering such a place after years of service in the Sanctuary.
Ram: "Ah, Rem's famous dog... Ram has come as agreed, though the idea of locking herself in a rat hole with the three of you hardly enchants her. Frizz, your so-called genius is actually just an advanced form of masochism combined with latent sadism."
Trizz: "Charming. I've been insulted for the thirty-second time since sunrise. That's a personal record, isn't it, «Blood-Eyes»?"
Otto: "Ram-san! You're here... but I thought you were monitoring Garfiel's movements!"
Ram: "If Ram is here, it is certainly not for the beautiful eyes of this raving masochist. I am here for Rem and to tear Roswaal-sama away from his own dementia. But for pity's sake, Frizz, make an effort with your appearance. This aura you're giving off has become... stifling."
Trizz: "My appearance is an insignificant detail compared to the complexity of our strategy. Focus on your tasks, Ram."
Subaru: "You say that, Trizz, but you should listen to Ram. No one will take you seriously as a formidable strategist if you're constantly escorted by lolis... especially when one of them is literally settled on your thighs."
Indeed, sitting on Trizz's knees with disconcerting dignity despite the situation was a little girl with pale pink hair and deep dark blue eyes. Shima remained motionless, like a porcelain doll invested with ancient wisdom.
Trizz: "You know perfectly well that I was forced into this situation by circumstances, Subaru. See it as the price of my Pride and the logical consequence of recruiting the most indispensable ally in this Sanctuary."
Subaru: "The price of Pride? Beatrice at the mansion, and now Shima here? Trizz, admit it, you're not the genius of chaos-you're a legendary «Loli Tamer»!"
Trizz furrowed his brows, his features hardening as he tried to hide a growing frustration at his friend's mockery.
Trizz: "Idiot! Is this really the time to ramble about absurd titles while the fate of the Sanctuary is at stake?"
Shima: "Su-bo, if your mind cannot help but dwell on such trivialities despite the gravity of the hour, it means my poor self has greatly overestimated the acuity of your intelligence."
Ram: "Barusu remains Barusu. No matter the danger, he will always find a way to sink into ridiculous awkwardness."
Subaru, face crimson, tried desperately to blend into the stone backdrop, hands pressed to his cheeks to mask an embarrassment that seemed to radiate through the entire room. In contrast to this childish agitation, Otto remained still, his usually shifty gaze suddenly anchoring into a cold lucidity. He placed his merchant's hat on the experimental table with unusual solemnity, breaking the heavy silence of the laboratory.
Otto: "Trizz, Natsuki-san... Before we move to execution, I need a vital confirmation. Are your alliance networks with the other camps still operational and exploitable in the immediate future?"
Trizz allowed his scarlet eyes to drift slowly toward the merchant, momentarily abandoning the vials he was manipulating. His gaze held no warmth, only the precision of a scalpel.
Trizz: "My strategy does not admit expiration, Otto. Regarding Crusch Karsten's camp, the situation is optimal for an intellectual takeover. She is currently handicapped by an amnesia that has eroded her political stature. I have already planned how we will barter our aid I will not be their ally; I will be their indispensable crutch. They will agree to let me direct their movements in exchange for the stability I bring them, especially after our joint triumph against the White Whale. Their vulnerability is my lever."
He swept the room with a circular glance, ensuring every word imprinted itself upon the minds of his listeners.
Trizz: "As for little Felt, my intervention to integrate her into the Royal Selection was not an act of charity, but a disguised wardship. She is now invulnerable to the political attacks of other camps thanks to the protection I have erected around her. And finally, the financial pillar: my contract with Anastasia Hoshin is locked. We are going to flood the market with my inventions based on mana crystals and magical engineering. The dividends will serve to cleanse the slums, won't they, Subaru? A pragmatic way to transform misery into an army of loyalties."
Subaru, regaining his composure, nodded with a newfound gravity.
Subaru: "That's exactly right. We've locked the deal with Anastasia and... that damn Julius... for commercial exploitation. Trizz has already drawn up the blueprints for what will become a technological revolution. But Otto, why the sudden curiosity about our political contact list?"
Otto: "Because logistics without striking power is nothing but a moving target. My question is simple do you possess a direct communication channel to mobilize their military forces?"
Trizz sketched an imperceptible smile, already anticipating the merchant's conclusion.
Trizz: "I see where your pragmatic mind is trying to lead us. The Iron Fang mercenaries are indebted to me; I saved over a hundred of their fighters during the fall of the Cult. Anastasia will not refuse to deploy them under my orders. Add to that Reinhard van Astrea via Felt, and the remains of Crusch's heavy cavalry. You are suggesting, then, that we saturate the Sanctuary with elite troops to counter the imminent offensive of the Cult of Lust?"
Otto: "Precisely. If we coordinate these reinforcements, we have a strike force including yourself, Ram, Frederica, and potentially Garfiel if we manage to break his mental chains. This is the only configuration that allows us to annihilate Elsa's faction of assassins-Meili, Leith, and Lyra-while standing our ground against the approaching fanatics."
The silence grew denser as Otto pointed to dates on a mental calendar that everyone began to visualize.
Otto: "Here is the equation: if the assassins launch the assault on the night of the fifth day, and the Cult of Lust arrives on the sixth, our window of opportunity is minuscule. Emilia-sama must imperatively complete the Trials during the day of the fifth day. This will allow us to evacuate the villagers and the residents of the mansion beforehand. In conclusion, Garfiel must be rallied to our cause today, or tomorrow morning at the latest. It is a race against time."
Trizz closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the accuracy of the analysis. It was a perfect score the merchant had just delivered to him.
Trizz: "An acceptable proposal, though a bit rudimentary. If I had drafted this agenda myself, I would have included three additional contingency plans, but for an oil-leaf merchant, it is almost impressive."
Ram crossed her arms over her chest, her ruby gaze darted at Trizz with undisguised contempt.
Ram: "Shut up, Frizz. For once, someone has managed to organize your cerebral mess into a readable strategy. The merchant has just surpassed you on the field of clarity."
Subaru: "Seriously, Otto, you're killing it! You're really on fire with this one. Now, all that's left is to let Trizz apply the 'strong method' so everything clicks into place."
Shima, who had remained silent, observed Otto with evident fascination, her small fingers clutching the sleeve of Trizz's garment.
Shima: "Young merchant, your foresight is admirable. To show such experience at your age is a rare gift... It is almost as fascinating as the presence of my Master."
Otto: (scratching the back of his neck awkwardly) "Oh, it's nothing... Natsuki-san simply explained the roots of the problem to me; I just did the math."
Trizz looked up at the stone ceiling, his face resuming its mask of impassivity, but inside, the turmoil would not subside. The specter of the Witch of Greed continued to claw at the walls of his mind. Every memory of her manipulations, every "Frizz" whispered with that false affection, every moment she had deliberately isolated him from Subaru to break their synergy... all of it burned within him like poison.
He recalled with pure hatred the way she had exposed his own perception of the loops, from Arc 1 to Arc 4, for the sole purpose of disgusting Subaru with him. She had not just violated his privacy; she had tried to emotionally lobotomize him to turn him into an exact replica of herself: a cold, analytical machine devoid of a soul.
Trizz (Internal): "Echidna, you are already dead and yet you continue to parasitize my reality. You have lost your allies, your sisters curse you, and even Subaru feels nothing but pity for your pathetic existence. I will reduce your Sanctuary to ashes after purging this mansion of your mistakes. I will destroy every shred of your dignity until nothing remains of you but a forgotten line of text. Be cursed, Witch."
Trizz straightened up, his aura of Pride suddenly saturating the room with a glacial authority that made Otto shiver.
Trizz: "Enough talk. The agenda is set. Subaru, Otto, prepare the link with the Iron Fangs. Ram, stay here with me and Shima. We are going to prepare the ground for Garfiel's psychological deconstruction. If fate refuses to bend, we will break its limbs."