The exaggerated expressions, that bizarrely distinctive voice, and those utterly incomprehensible movements made Souhei feel as though this man was both a complete idiot and something grotesquely absurd.
And yet, somehow, there was a strange comedic flavor to him.
So this was what the Witch Cult was like.
"This is way too scummy..." Souhei muttered, frowning.
In the first loop of the Royal Selection arc, Emilia and everyone in the mansion had been killed by this very gang of lunatics, led by that ridiculous monster of a man.
Souhei kept watching.
After being frozen to death by that inexplicable power in the previous loop, Subaru Natsuki still seemed trapped in a daze. His mind clearly had not recovered. Even after being captured by the Witch Cult, he wore that same vacant expression, as if part of his soul was still frozen in the terror of what had happened before.
From the conversation between Petelgeuse and his subordinates, it seemed Rem had already been defeated in battle.
The moment Souhei realized that, his heart tightened.
Subaru had been captured. Rem had lost.
No matter how he looked at it, this was a total party wipe.
Was the screenwriter Sora really planning to make both of them die again this weekend?
His mood, which had already been unstable, worsened instantly.
If the male lead died, fine. Subaru had already died so many times that one more wouldn't matter. But Rem dying... that was absolutely unacceptable.
He was a devoted Rem fan. Last week's episode had already left him miserable. If this week did it again - if it made him watch another brutal scene of Rem dying - then he definitely would not let it slide. He would go straight to the official website and start tearing into them.
Then Petelgeuse grabbed Subaru's face and, in a gesture so disgusting it was almost surreal, ran his tongue from Subaru's chin all the way up to his eyeball.
Souhei's entire scalp went numb.
What the hell.
That was pure perversion.
Who the hell just licks a stranger's face like that?
The composition of the scene was so unexpected, so completely beyond anything he could have imagined, that it filled him with a powerful mix of revulsion and a faint, undeniable thrill.
It was disgusting, but impossible to look away from.
Even though Petelgeuse was clearly deranged, he had only appeared for a few minutes and already felt far more vivid than any flat, formulaic villain.
"No, no, no... this is actually a question."
As he spoke, he moved with exaggerated theatricality. His head seemed fixed in space like a bird's, while the rest of his body slid strangely from side to side, creating an intensely unsettling visual effect.
"Why are you pretending to be mad?"
Pretending to be mad?
Looking at Subaru's dazed expression, it really did seem possible that the freezing attack from the previous loop had damaged his brain. So from the villain's perspective, was Subaru merely pretending to be insane? Was he acting blank, indifferent even to life and death?
"Your madness exists only because you are still normal. You cleverly and obediently seek the sympathy of others... and that is a grave insult to madness. If you would go mad, then do so without caring for the eyes of others. Laughable. So laughable. From the depths of my heart, I pity you... so miserable, so ugly, so small, so steeped in sin... and yet so loved...!"
Suddenly, Petelgeuse exploded into a shrill scream.
Souhei jolted so hard his whole body twitched.
Those words stabbed straight into Subaru. His face twisted in pain, and the memories of the previous loop - Rem's death, the slaughter of everyone precious to him - rose again all at once.
And the one responsible for all of it stood right in front of him.
Fear was the most natural thing in the world.
Even if Souhei himself had the power to return by death, no matter how many times he repeated things - one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand - he still wouldn't be able to defeat a tyrannosaurus barehanded.
For Subaru, it was the same.
The only way he could fight was by using the information and time advantage gained through repeated death to prepare in advance.
But now?
Now he had been captured directly.
This loop was already over.
Game over. Eliminated.
After finishing that incomprehensible sermon, Petelgeuse grabbed Subaru by the hair and smashed his head against the wall over and over again. Then, staring at his blood-soaked eyes, he delivered that line.
"You are truly... slothful."
The next shot was of a chain crashing into the cave.
And then she appeared.
A girl covered in wounds, her entire body ravaged - and yet still moving forward.
Petelgeuse's eyes lit up with ecstasy.
Rem had entered the scene.
Souhei's heart ignited instantly.
Rem.
"Don't touch him!"
The moment she saw Subaru's miserable state in Petelgeuse's grasp, tears welled in her eyes as she shouted and launched a full assault without hesitation.
And then, only three cuts later, Rem collapsed beneath that incomprehensible, horrifying invisible power.
What followed was nothing less than a group beating.
The Witch Cult descended on her mercilessly.
A deep, aching sorrow rose in Souhei's eyes, along with unbearable helplessness.
Just reset already.
What are you doing, Subaru Natsuki?
Kill yourself and start over. Stop just standing there. This route is already dead.
At the very least, Rem wouldn't have to suffer like this in this loop.
Damn it...
Subaru raised his head weakly and saw only Rem suspended in midair, bound by that invisible force.
Even at the brink of death, her eyes still burned with hatred and fury toward every member of the Witch Cult.
But only until the moment she met Subaru's gaze.
At that instant, all the anger vanished from her face.
Her eyes softened.
And on her lips, a final smile appeared.
"My brain... trembles..." Petelgeuse whispered in delirious delight.
Then it began.
Rem's neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
Her arms snapped like a puppet's.
Then her waist.
Her thighs.
Her legs.
Her ankles.
One by one, every part of her body was crushed by that invisible force, as if each bone were nothing more than a dry matchstick being broken between someone's fingers.
In an instant, blood dyed her blue maid uniform completely red.
Turning toward Subaru, Petelgeuse wore that grotesque, clownish grin and said:
"This is the result of your actions. You did not act. You were slothful. Therefore, this girl died. She was killed by you. How very, very...!"
"You bastard... I'll kill you... I'll kill you!"
The murderous intent in Subaru's eyes was almost tangible, but Petelgeuse merely left him chained in the cave and walked away wearing the satisfied smile of a victor.
There was no one else around. After Petelgeuse left, Subaru would only starve to death in there anyway.
That was no longer just killing someone.
It was killing their heart first.
Souhei let out a trembling breath.
What the hell kind of plot was this?
When he saw Rem collapsed on the ground, covered in blood and mangled beyond recognition, his eyes turned red.
Petelgeuse had to die.
Even killing him a thousand times wouldn't be enough.
And Subaru...
What are you doing?
Just kill yourself already.
Why are you still frozen there?
Being weak was one thing, but not even being able to tell this loop was over? Not even that?
Rem...
Rem...
When the scene flashed across the screen again, showing the state she was in, a suffocating pressure gripped Souhei's chest.
He was the kind of viewer who immersed himself completely in what he watched. By now, his back felt numb, and a thick resentment was steadily building inside him.
Anger at Petelgeuse.
Anger at the Witch Cult.
And anger at Sora too, the screenwriter who had chosen to write a tragedy like this.
This had to be deliberate sadism.
He knew perfectly well that anyone who loved Rem would not be able to bear this scene.
That was exactly why he had made it feel so real.
"Just do it... hurry... please, Subaru..." Souhei was already muttering under his breath without realizing it, speaking as if Subaru could hear him through the screen.
But then the next shot came.
And his whole body turned stiff, as though he had been plunged into freezing water.
Rem - her body riddled with fractures, bleeding from countless wounds - began to move.
Using only her head, the one part of her body that seemed relatively intact, she slowly pushed herself across the ground. Inch by inch, she dragged herself forward, leaving behind a long, dark trail of blood as she crawled toward the place where Subaru was chained.
No.
Don't do this.
The sorrow on Souhei's face deepened into something almost unbearable.
Screenwriter...
Have at least a little conscience.
Please, show some mercy.
She was already in that state, her whole body broken, bones shattered everywhere - so why wouldn't you just let her die already?
How much pain must that have caused?
Why was she still trying to reach Subaru anyway?
"Rem... Rem..." In the anime, Subaru called out to her with a voice torn by grief, each syllable trembling as though his chest were being ripped apart.
When she finally reached his side, Rem moved her bloodstained lips and softly whispered a spell.
Her last remaining strength turned into magic and tore away the chains binding Subaru.
At that instant, Souhei's vision blurred with tears.
So that was it.
She had held onto life only to use that final fragment of strength to free him.
Rem knew.
She knew that if she died first, Subaru - as weak as he was - would never be able to break those chains on his own.
Even in such unimaginable pain, she had refused to let go.
She endured it all just to reach this moment.
"You're not even human..." Souhei muttered through blurred vision, speaking to the screenwriter as though he were standing right there.
End this loop already.
In the third one, bring the revenge.
Hurry.
I want to watch Petelgeuse die. Again and again.
But since the story had already chosen to stab its audience, it was obvious it intended to twist the blade all the way in.
Rem rested in Subaru's arms and, with the little strength she had left, looked at the boy who had once saved her.
That weak, ordinary young man - someone with nothing remarkable on the surface - and yet someone who had risked his life without hesitation to save her.
"Live..."
Her voice was faint, so soft it almost dissolved into the air.
But to Souhei, it struck like thunder.
"Live..."
"Live..."
"Live..."
She simply looked at the face of the boy she loved, a final smile on her lips, repeating that single word until the very end.
Until death.
Rem did not know that Subaru could return after dying.
To her, this was the absolute end.
The end of her life.
And yet even in that final moment, the only wish she held was that Subaru would survive, no matter what it took.
That was Rem's wish in the second loop.
But Souhei knew.
Even if Subaru repeated this ten thousand times, that blue-haired maid would make the same choice every single time.
That was the weight of the love she bore for him.
In the end, the Witch Cult got what they wanted.
Everyone in Roswaal's mansion was killed once again.
Under the influence of some unknown power, the world was suddenly swallowed by an unnatural winter. Holding Rem's corpse in his arms, Subaru could only see, in the direction of the mansion, a colossal beast covered in fur standing at the heart of the frozen storm.
And then he too was frozen to death.
Thus ended Subaru Natsuki's second loop in the Royal Selection arc.
The ending theme began to play, filled with solemn sorrow.
And it matched Souhei's state of mind perfectly. Goosebumps covered his skin, and tears overflowed uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes.
That blue-haired girl's performance in this episode carved itself straight into his heart.
The grief inside him was so strong he couldn't hold it back.
Petelgeuse.
The Witch Cult.
Never in his life had he watched an anime and felt this much hatred for its villains.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Additionally, more chapters exclusive content are available on Patreon: https://patreon.com/ImmortalEmperor?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
- CHRONICLES OF THE ICE SOVEREIGN
-PLAYING ANIME LEGENDS
-THE OTHER WORLD'S ANIMATOR
Join now and help shape the future of the story while enjoying special rewards!