"Cecilus Segmunt."
The way he moved—one arm outstretched, the other tucked behind his back in a flourish of a bow—was the last thing Subaru was prepared for.
"I am Vollachia's Blue Lightning. ——The lead actor of this world."
Subaru gawked as the boy made his grand declaration.
It felt as though Cecilus wasn't just announcing his name to Subaru, but to something beyond him——a silent, unseen audience.
Cecilus leaned back slightly, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he prepared to speak again.
"Aha! I see it now! The classic 'mysterious traveler with a hidden past' trope! Truly a staple of any good dramatic narrative!"
It hit Subaru then, with the force of a staged monologue: the boyu before him—Vollachia's strongest, no less—was a complete fanatic for drama.
"I'm literally a child holding a child's hand, do I look like I have a 'hidden past'?"
"Appearances are merely the costumes we wear on the grand stage of life, Mister Guest Character!"
Cecilus threw his arms wide, posing dramatically as if addressing an invisible audience.
"Why, look at me! I may appear as a humble, pint-sized swordsman, but the heavens themselves know I am the undeniable star of this world!"
"You're certainly the star of giving me a migraine."
Subaru muttered, rubbing his temples with his free hand.
"Haha! That's one I've had yet to hear, how amusing!"
I can't deal with this right now, he's exactly the same as before. If I say the wrong thing, he might just cut me in half to see if it makes the 'story' more interesting.
"Segmunt."
Gustav's voice dropped like an anvil, instantly crushing the theatrical atmosphere the blue-haired boy was trying to build. The multi-armed Governor hadn't moved an inch, his four hands still perfectly steepled upon the desk.
"Cease this illogical prattle. I am conducting an inquiry."
Cecilus puffed out his cheeks, crossing his arms in a pout.
"Island Chieeeef....! You have absolutely zero sense of pacing! Oh, oh... is this about that? I certainly wouldn't mind going to fight to the death once more!"
Ignoring the blue-haired anomaly entirely, Gustav shifted his heavy, uncompromising gaze back to Subaru.
"Boy. You claim you 'ran' here of your own will. Yet you refuse to elaborate on your objective."
The Governor's eyes narrowed slightly, dissecting Subaru's posture.
"A normal child crossing the lake of Ginunhive is an impossibility. Therefore, you are either lying about your method of arrival, or you possess an anomaly that defies logic."
Subaru swallowed hard, keeping his face as carefully blank as possible.
There's no way in hell I'm telling him the truth. 'Hey there, four-armed Governor who strictly enforces Vollachian law, I'm actually a rebel from the mainland here to gather an army of your prisoners to overthrow what he assumes is still the real Emperor. Mind giving me the keys to the Curse Tool?' Yeah, that'll work for suuure.
"Look, Governor... it's like I said. We just ended up here!" Subaru lied smoothly, offering a weak, self-deprecating laugh. "Wrong place, wrong time. We're just trying to survive. We don't want any trouble, honestly..."
"Uau!" Louis chimed in agreeably, completely ruining Subaru's attempt at looking incredibly pathetic by giving Gustav a bright, gap-toothed smile.
Gustav stared at them for a long, suffocating moment.
The silence was absolute, save for Cecilus humming a cheerful tune in the background.
"Whether you desire trouble is entirely irrelevant," Gustav finally stated, his voice echoing with absolute finality. "Your origins, your secrets, and your reasons for coming to Ginunhive no longer matter. You have stepped foot upon this island."
"Right, and we'd be happy to step right off it——"
"That is impossible." Gustav interrupted, raising one of his massive right hands.
But of course, Subaru was already aware of why leaving the island was an impossibility.
Regardless of that, however, he would just act as he should be.
"Ginunhive is an island of blood and iron. It is a crucible forged by Imperial Law. By the direct orders of His Excellency, the Emperor, those who enter this island with or without an official invitation are subject to its rules."
Subaru tilted his head.
"Rules?"
"If you wish to breathe the air of this encampment, you must prove your worth. If you wish to eat, you must prove your worth."
Gustav leaned forward slightly, the sheer gravity of his presence pressing down on Subaru's small shoulders.
"You will participate in the upcoming Sparka. That is the law."
Subaru's jaw dropped. He was quite proud of his acting abilities.
He didn't really have any information of what a 'Sparka' was supposed to be, but it certainly didn't take a genius to have a few ideas.
"Wait, wait, wait! Look at me! Look at us! We're kids! You're going to throw a pair of kids into a deathmatch with full-grown gladiators?!"
"Age is not an excuse. Logic dictates that if you had the strength to cross the lake, you have the strength to hold a weapon. Refusal means execution. Participation means a chance at survival. The Emperor's law does not discriminate."
"Oh, wonderful! A mandatory training arc!"
Cecilus cheered, clapping his hands together.
He leaned in close to Subaru, his starry eyes practically vibrating with excitement.
"Don't worry, Mister Guest Character! You'll do just fine, I can feel it. Oh, oh, you aren't fighting the other 'Gladiators' either. Though, I don't really want to tease... just consider it some basic 'foreshadowing' instead!"
Subaru stared at the four-armed giant enforcing the rules of a madman, and the hyperactive child with a blank expression.
It definitely seems to me that this country, is completely, utterly, irredeemably insane.
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The air in the waiting room of Ginunhive was heavy, suffocatingly hot, and reeked of a terrible mixture of sweat and old blood.
Subaru sat on a cracked wooden bench, staring down at his small hands. Outside, the muffled, thunderous sounds of the bloodthirsty crowd bled through the stone.
His first Sparka was minutes away.
There's no reason to show what I can fully do. I'm trying to install trust into the gladiators watching, not fear.
"You know, for someone about to make their grand debut, you have a terribly gloomy expression on your face. As if you've swallowed a rather bitter bug!"
Subaru flinched, his head snapping up.
Hanging upside down from the rusted iron bars of the cell ceiling, his blue kimono defying gravity and his starry eyes wide with amusement, was Cecilus Segmunt.
Subaru hadn't heard him enter. He hadn't felt the air shift. The boy simply existed in a space where he previously hadn't.
"Do you ever use doors normally? And why are you even down here? Gustav said you weren't participating in this bracket."
"I'm not a hundred percent sure~ I just have a feeling it's something I should be doing right now. Like, a sensation in my stomach that tells me you're much more than you're letting off."
Cecilus declared cheerfully.
That's one hell of a gut feeling.
With a fluid, impossible twist of his small body, he dropped from the ceiling, landing on his wooden sandals without making a single sound.
"Besides, the Island Chief's lectures were getting repetitive. 'Segmunt, obey the rules.' 'Segmunt, do not provoke the Witchbeasts.' Where is the drama in that?"
Subaru watched the blue-haired boy stretch his arms, completely unbothered by the oppressive, murderous atmosphere of the gladiator pits.
It was jarring. The disconnect between the boy's cheerful demeanor and the absolute lethality hidden beneath his skin was enough to give Subaru whiplash.
At least, a lot of the fear Subaru had before of the Blue Lightning had diminished.
"I don't get you," Subaru muttered, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "Do you always just do whatever you want? Doesn't the Emperor or the other Divine Generals try to keep a leash on you?"
Cecilus tilted his head, his vibrant blue eyes blinking in genuine confusion.
"Divine... Generals? Hmm. Is that some sort of famous acting troupe? A rival theatrical company? The name sounds a bit too stuffy for my liking, if you ask me!"
Subaru froze.
The low, constant hum of the arena above seemed to fade out entirely, leaving a ringing silence in Subaru's ears. He stared at the blue-haired boy, searching those starry eyes for any hint of deception, any flicker of a lie. There was none. It was just pure, unadulterated curiosity.
"Wait——You seriously don't know what a Divine General is?"
"Should I?" Cecilus crossed his arms, puffing his cheeks out in a childish pout. "If they're supposed to be my co-stars, they haven't shown themselves to me for as long as I can remember."
"How... how long have you even been on this island?"
"Oh, who knows! A few weeks? A month?"
Cecilus laughed, waving a dismissive hand as if time were a completely trivial concept.
"I simply opened my eyes one day, the salty breeze in my hair, the sand beneath my toes, and this grand, magnificent colosseum stretching out before me! Just the heavens dropping me directly onto the perfect stage. It was a brilliant directorial decision, if you ask me!"
A cold sweat broke out across the back of Subaru's neck.
The pieces suddenly slammed into place. The Vollachian Empire's strongest weapon, the First Divine General, the Blue Lightning who could cut down armies in the blink of an eye——was currently a blank slate.
A terrifyingly powerful child running purely on instinct, muscle memory, and a massive, uncontainable flair for the dramatic.
It was an incredibly dangerous revelation, but simultaneously, a spark of hope ignited in Subaru's chest.
If he doesn't remember his loyalty to the Empire... then he's not my enemy. Not strictly, anyway. Well, Abel spoke of him like he was a wildcard to begin with, so who knows...
Before Subaru could process the tactical implications of this any further, a massive, deafening horn blew from the arena above. The ground shuddered.
The heavy chains of the iron gates began to grind, slowly hauling the gate upward. Blinding, harsh sunlight spilled into the dim cell, alongside a wave of blistering heat.
"Oya oya! Hear that? That's your cue!"
Cecilus stepped back, a vibrant, ear-to-ear grin splitting his face.
He swept his arm out in a grand, theatrical gesture toward the blinding sands of the arena.
"Go out there and give them a show, Mister Guest Character! My gut is practically screaming with anticipation, so I'll be watching with very high expectations!"
Subaru let out a long, ragged exhale. He pushed himself off the wooden bench, his boots crunching against the dirt floor.
"Heh. 'Mister Guest Character,' huh...?"
Subaru spun around, a sharp retort ready, but the space behind him was utterly empty.
Cecilus, naturally, would have already claimed his vantage point in the audience, anticipating the spectacle to begin.
Good.
He had a role to play, and he intended to deliver his best performance, just as Cecilus clearly desired.
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The heat of the gladiatorial arena pressed down on him from all sides, thick, suffocating, and baked into the blood-stained sands beneath his small boots.
Subaru stood at the edge of the venue, his fingers gently but firmly holding onto Louis's small hand.
"It'll be alright, Louis."
Subaru murmured, his voice low, steady, and entirely devoid of the trembling fear a child ought to possess in this situation.
"Uau..." she replied with her usual cheerfulness.
If Subaru had based his expectations of Ginunhive on movies, he would have anticipated a deafening roar from the circular stands above, a chaotic frenzy for blood.
But the reality was far more oppressive. There were countless gazes bearing down on them from the other gladiators watching from the cages and upper tiers, but there was no cheering.
It was a heavy, judgmental silence.
The only real noise was coming from right beside him.
"Shit... shit, shit, you've gotta be kidding me... seriously!"
"I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna be the one to fucking do it...!"
"Silence! Follow my orders obediently, all of you! Do so, and you'll make it out alive!"
Cutting through the quiet tension were the three men Subaru had been lumped together with.
A lizardman with rock-like scales, a bald man with intricate tattoos covering his scalp and arms, and a young man with a desperate, handsome face framed by long, rust-colored hair.
They were a motley crew of different backgrounds and races, united by only two things: the absolute terror in their eyes, and their complete, utter disregard for the two children standing next to them.
To them, Subaru and Louis weren't manpower; they were just dead weight.
Subaru simply huffed out of his nose.
It had been quite some time since he'd been underestimated this badly.
But, looking down at his own shrunken limbs, he couldn't exactly blame them.
He was hoping they might have had at least a shred of faith, considering the only other child wandering around this hellhole was the strongest being in the Empire. But expecting these grunts to know that Cecilus Segmunt was actually here, let alone draw that comparison, was a tall order.
"――Gentlemen, first of all, congratulations on landing upon this Island."
The heavy, grating voice of Gustav Morello echoed from a viewing balcony high above the stands.
"His Excellency, Emperor Vincent Vollachia, shall be very pleased. As the Governor who has been personally entrusted with the management of Ginunhive, I am pleased to present you with an honorable trial."
Subaru clicked his tongue, a bitter taste rising in his mouth at the word 'honorable'.
Before he could voice his complaints, a dreadful, grinding sound erupted from the opposing end of the arena.
The heavy iron portcullis was hauled upward, and from the pitch-black maw of the passageway, a nightmare emerged.
It had the face of a lion and eyes the color of fresh blood. Its four legs ended in heavy, deer-like hooves, and twisted horns jutted from its skull.
Its sheer, oppressive mass made even the giant Gustav seem manageable by comparison.
A Witchbeast.
It glared across the sands, letting out a low, vibrating growl. Being a creature driven purely by mindless hunger and malice, it didn't see gladiators. It saw a platter of meat.
"You've got to be kidding me! Why, why, why?!"
The lizardman lamented, clutching the sides of his scaly head as his knees knocked together.
"Shut up, shut the fuck up! ――Look over there and use your brain for just three seconds, will you?!"
The rust-haired man barked, pointing frantically toward the far edges of the venue.
Lodged deep into the sand, equidistant from their group and the lion, were two weapons.
"Those are... swords?"
The tattooed man muttered, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes, exactly! They wouldn't just turn us into Witchbeast food without giving us a damn fighting chance."
The rust-haired man reasoned rapidly, sweat beading on his forehead.
"...But only one of them is viable."
The tattooed man nodded in grim understanding. One of the swords was practically a slab of iron, so obnoxiously large that nobody there could hope to swing it effectively. The other was a standard, albeit worn, broadsword.
"Aiming for its eyes is our best bet," the rust-haired man declared, thumping a hand against his chest. "And placing your odds on me is the smartest move. I used to be a warrior, so I can use a weapon like that much better than any of you guys can. So, unless you want to bet your lives on that cowardly lizard or the damn kids, you trust me."
The tattooed man remained quiet, offering only a slow, calculating nod.
"――As is desired by His Excellency the Emperor, prove your prestige as strong citizens of the Empire! LET SPARKA COMMENCE!"
Gustav's voice boomed.
With a deafening roar, the lion kicked off the dirt, its massive frame hurtling toward them with terrifying speed.
"Hrk――alright! Kid, it's all or nothing!" The rust-haired man practically screamed at Subaru. "Wave your arms, shout, whatever the fuck you can do! Just distract it so I can get that damn sword!"
Subaru looked up at the man and gave a slow, indifferent shrug.
"...Tch, creepy brat! Show a little fear, or somethi――"
The moment the rust-haired man shifted his weight to sprint, a heavy boot slammed into his ankles.
With an unceremonious yelp, the rust-haired man ate dirt.
"I ain't putting my life in someone else's hands..."
The tattooed man spat, having swept his 'comrade's' legs. Without missing a beat, the bald man bolted across the arena, making a mad dash for the smaller sword.
At the same time, the lizardman shrieked, turning his back entirely on the beast and scrambling toward the arena wall, his scales already shifting color to blend into the stone.
"Uaa...?"
Louis tugged at Subaru's sleeve, watching the chaotic breakdown of their 'team'.
"Just give it a second, Louis," Subaru sighed.
"Fuck! Fucking bastard!"
The rust-haired man scrambled to his knees, spitting sand from his mouth.
His rage was immediately eclipsed by a shadow falling over him.
The lion was closing the distance, its jaws parted to reveal rows of jagged, yellow fangs.
But the beast wasn't looking at the rust-haired man.
Its blood-red eyes were locked entirely on the pair of children standing behind him.
I guess I should've expected this...
Subaru thought, scratching the back of his head.
Me and a former Sin Archbishop. To a Witchbeast, we really must smell like a Michelin-star buffet.
"I'm not dying here!" the rust-haired man shrieked.
Driven by absolute, blinding terror, the man turned. He reached out, grabbing Subaru by the shoulders, fully intending to hurl the boy directly into the beast's path to buy himself a few seconds to run.
"――Wha?"
The man's desperate shove met an immovable object. The tiny, black-haired boy hadn't budged a single millimeter.
"You'd really try to feed a kid to a Witchbeast to save your own skin, huh?"
Subaru muttered, his unsettling eyes locking onto the man's terrified face.
Before the rust-haired man could comprehend what was happening, Subaru caught him by the forearm.
With a casual, almost frightening lack of effort, Subaru yanked the full-grown adult sideways, hurling him out of the trajectory of the lion's massive claws.
The beast's paw swiped through empty air whilst Subaru stepped backward with Louis.
Confused by the sudden miss, the lion snapped its jaws forward, aiming to swallow the boy whole.
It was a fatal miscalculation.
Subaru didn't flinch. He simply stepped into the beast's guard and brought his small boot up in a vicious, upward arc.
The sickening sound of shattered bone echoed through the silent arena. The strike caught the lion directly under the jaw, the sheer, unreasonable kinetic force of the Cursed Energy reinforcement sending the multi-ton Witchbeast reeling backward.
It crashed onto its side, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
"What the fuck... how the――!?"
The rust-haired man babbled from the dirt, his eyes practically bulging out of his skull as he stared at the child who had just drop-kicked a monster.
But a Witchbeast's vitality was entirely detached from logic.
Blinded by starvation and rage, the lion scrambled back to its hooves almost instantly, letting out a furious roar.
But before it could lunge again, a glint of steel flashed in the sunlight.
"HAAAA!"
The blade plunged directly into the lion's right eye.
The beast let out an agonizing, high-pitched screech. Subaru's eyebrows shot up.
The tattooed man was hanging onto the hilt of the sword, his face twisted in a desperate snarl.
In all likelihood, the man did not see Subaru's display of superhuman prowess, that was the only logical explanation for why he would put himself such at risk.
He hadn't run away; he had used the chaos to secure the weapon and flank the beast. In the cutthroat world of Vollachia, it was a genuinely shocking display of teamwork.
But, even with the sneak attack, the sword hadn't pierced deep enough to begin with.
"Kid, hrk――stand back!"
The tattooed man choked out, braced for his death but still trying to warn the child.
Thrashing violently in pain, the lion bucked. The sheer force ripped the sword from the man's grip, sending the blade hurtling high into the air. The tattooed man was thrown off, landing hard on his back.
The lion pivoted, its remaining eye burning with hatred. It raised a massive, clawed paw, bringing it down with enough force to completely splatter the bald man's head into the sand.
Subaru moved. He blurred across the sand, stepping directly over the tattooed man. He didn't conjure a weapon. He merely raised his left arm.
The lion's paw slammed down.
Instead of the sickening crunch of a crushed child, the arena was treated to the sound of a dull, heavy shockwave.
Subaru stood his ground, his small forearm completely arresting the beast's strike. The sand around his boots exploded outward in a crater from the dispersed force.
"Hey, Cecilus!"
Subaru suddenly yelled, his voice cutting through the beast's frantic roars.
He didn't look at the lion. His dark eyes were fixated upwards, scanning the VIP seating carved into the arena walls.
High above, a boy with vibrant blue hair leaned over the stone railing, his starry eyes wide with unabashed delight.
"Huh? Oh, what's up?!"
Cecilus yelled back, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"――Etch this name into your brain...!"
Subaru reached his right hand toward the sky.
Gravity reclaimed the sword that the lion had bucked into the air. The worn hilt fell perfectly, flawlessly, into Subaru's waiting palm.
Without even looking at the blade, Subaru shifted his grip, twisting his body and funneling the entirety of his reinforced strength into a single, brutal, downward swing.
The blade sheared through the thick bone of the lion's skull with a sickening crunch, burying itself hilt-deep into the Witchbeast's brain.
The monster's entire body seized, completely rigid for a fraction of a second, before the life was violently severed from its body. It collapsed, hitting the sand with a heavy, lifeless thud.
Silence descended upon Ginunhive. The gladiators in the stands, the rust-haired man, the tattooed man on the ground, the lizardman hiding against the wall——they all simply stared, their minds unable to process the absolute absurdity of the spectacle.
Standing atop the corpse of the giant beast, the black-haired boy rested the bloodied sword against his small shoulder.
He looked up at the blue-haired anomaly in the stands, a wide, arrogant grin stretching across his face.
It was an expression perfectly suited for a Lead Actor.
"――Natsuki Subaru. Don't forget it!"
It was a declaration.
Not just to Cecilus, but to every single Gladiator listening to him.
For a long, drawn-out moment, the only sound in the arena was the wet dripping of the Witchbeast's blood sliding down the steel length of the blade.
Then, a sound completely inappropriate for a gladiatorial deathmatch shattered the silence.
It was the sharp, enthusiastic clapping of small hands.
High up in the VIP stands, Cecilus Segmunt was leaning so far over the stone railing he looked like he was about to fall out of the sky.
"Splendid! Marvelous! A breathtaking twist to say the least, it seems even with eyes as keen as mine, I had underestimated you. Consider this my apology!"
Cecilus beamed, his voice carrying effortlessly over the expanse of the arena.
"Natsuki Subaru, you say? A name with a nice ring to it! It possesses the perfect amount of defiance for an interesting character! Consider it etched directly into my brain! Basu, yes, that's perfect, I'll call you Basu!"
"Hah?"
Subaru kept the arrogant grin plastered on his face, raising two fingers in a mock salute toward the blue-haired boy.
The adrenaline was beginning to thin, and the backlash of forcing that much Cursed Energy through his body was hitting his nervous system like a freight train.
It felt as though someone had poured boiling water directly into his veins.
He'd definitely have to get used to lowering his output a smidge.
Well, given the 'ridiculous' amount he had, Gojo-sensei's words, not his, it shouldn't make too much of a difference.
"Uau! Uaa!"
Louis, who had trotted over the sand completely unbothered by the massive corpse, began clapping along with Cecilus, clearly thinking this was all a very fun game.
"Yeah, yeah, hold the applause."
Subaru muttered softly, though he gently patted the blonde girl's head with a trembling hand.
Down in the ground, the tattooed man slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position.
He didn't look at his own scraped arms, nor did he look at the rust-haired man who was still hyperventilating off to the side, or toward the lizardman who had finally appeared from wherever he was hiding.
His wide, disbelieving eyes were entirely fixed on the black-haired child.
"...What the hell are you?"
Subaru hopped down from the lion's flank, his small boots hitting the sand with a soft thud. He didn't answer the question. Instead, he just looked down at the man, his dark eyes devoid of the childish innocence he had faked earlier.
"Hmmm. Well, I could answer that in several different ways, but for now... I guess 'you're welcome' works best?"
The tattooed man blinked.
The sheer, breezy casualness of the response was like a physical blow.
He stared at Subaru's small, outstretched hand, then back at the dead monster.
"Ah... right, thanks for that... for savin' us."
The words felt clumsy, coming from a man who had been prepared to die or betray everyone in the arena moments ago.
But hearing them, Subaru's expression softened into a small, genuine smile.
"Sooo, what's your name? You already heard mine, right? I did say it quite loudly. My throat's actually kind of stinging from the effort."
"... Ya, Natsuki, ya definitely did. It's Weitz, that's my name... should I also say, 'dont forget it'?"
Subaru puffed out his cheeks, his face turning a slight shade of red that actually made him look like the child he appeared to be.
"H-Hey... I thought it was pretty cool myself, no need to mock it."
A moment later, a heavy, reverberating voice washed over the arena, silencing any further conversation.
"――The trial is concluded."
Gustav Morello stood at the edge of his balcony.
His four massive arms were crossed, and his stern, deeply lined face betrayed absolutely no surprise at the outcome.
To the Governor of Ginunhive, it did not matter if a seasoned warrior or a mysterious child delivered the killing blow. The only thing that mattered was the result.
"All of you have survived," Gustav declared, his tone as uncompromising as iron. "You have proven your worth to breathe the air of this island. As of this moment, you are officially Gladiators of Ginunhive."
The heavy iron portcullis on the far side of the arena—the one Subaru and the others had entered through—began to slowly grind upward with a harsh metallic screech.
"Return to the underground. Rest, and prepare. Your lives now belong to the Sparka."
With that final decree, Gustav turned his back and disappeared into the shadows of the VIP box.
Subaru didn't wait for the other two men. He took Louis's hand and began the long walk back across the blood-soaked sand toward the dark passageway.
With every step he took away from the center of the arena, away from the prying eyes of the other gladiators and Cecilus, the arrogant posture he had constructed began to crack. His small shoulders slumped. His breathing grew shallow and ragged.
As soon as they crossed the threshold of the gate and the shadows of the underground tunnel swallowed them, Subaru leaned heavily against the cold, damp stone wall.
He coughed violently into his sleeve, leaving a small, dark stain of blood on the fabric.
"Uau...?"
Louis tilted her head, her smile fading into a look of genuine, innocent concern as she tugged at his sleeve.
"I'm fine... I'm fine, Louis."
Subaru gasped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
He looked down the dark corridor of the prison, listening to the heavy footsteps of the tattooed and rust-haired men slowly approaching from behind.
He had survived his first Sparka. He had secured a tentative position of power over the grunts, and he had caught the attention of the strongest entity in the Empire.
But as the phantom pain in his body flared once more, Natsuki Subaru closed his eyes and let out a tired, miserable sigh.
He didn't know what was going on with his body—using a tad more Cursed Energy than what his body can handle surely shouldn't have such extreme effects—but it was definitely quite annoying.
"This is going to be a really, really long week."