The Beast of the End
"Ah, it hurts so much. But it's amazing, ah! This is what it means to be alive. Let's keep going."
Even though her right hand was already twisted into a mangled mess and there was a sizable wound on her waist, Elsa's voice was still filled with excitement.
The three members of Iron Fang who had been pursuing the injured her had now become cold corpses.
Several minutes later, the Iron Fang, having lost two vice-captains, gradually fell into decline, with more and more falling to the ground.
Meanwhile, Elsa's injuries recovered—that was because Ricardo had traded his own right hand for Elsa's life.
He deliberately delivered a flawed strike, then when Elsa chopped off his hand, he fired a close-range verbal attack that pierced Elsa's abdomen.
Although Elsa lost consciousness, her body instinctively held back the remaining Iron Fang members, buying enough time for her awareness to fully return.
Just as the situation was about to turn into a massacre—
"The situation is worse than I imagined. Seeing Tivey fall and rushing over first was definitely the right move. Leave things below to me."
"The Finest knight—Julius! Ah, what a relief."
Breaking the desperate atmosphere was Julius, who suddenly entered the battle surrounded by six tiny spirits.
"Just hold her off, I've already sent word to the knight order." Julius said quietly as he passed by, then left behind blue spirits to heal everyone.
The battle resumed once more.
This was the second time Subaru witnessed someone gaining the upper hand against Elsa.
Of course, Elsa's strength born of many fierce battles was a reason, but Julius's power was also unimaginably terrifying.
His swordsmanship, honed by countless trials, allowed him to share vision with six spirits, granting him a truly all-around awareness—a broken ability.
His mastery of six main elemental magics brought horrific combat power: Yin magic weakened the opponent's status, Yang magic boosted his own, Earth magic imposed restrictions, Fire magic executed area attacks, Water magic healed injuries, and Wind magic performed invisible control.
As the third strongest of the 2000-strong Royal Guard, Julius's tenacity was vividly displayed at this moment.
"Mana naturally depletes faster than stamina, and this place's mana is pitifully scarce. If this keeps up, Julius will definitely lose."
Perhaps noticing Subaru's confusion, Ricardo, having just regained his mobility and now wielding his greatsword with his left hand, explained.
Subaru listened and then started to brace himself against the wall, preparing to stand.
???
Suddenly, a violent noise came from behind.
Like a demolition using explosives, the warehouse behind lost its shape in an instant.
Countless pieces of wood flew out, and Natsuki Subaru was blown far away by the blast wave.
The two combatants simultaneously paused their movements.
Subaru stood there stunned, looking up at the overwhelming destruction.
The familiar building was gone.
In the overwhelming scene beyond comprehension, Subaru exhaled a white breath.
Because he was weak, he felt it all the more intensely—the cold of the ground, his body trembling, the air biting cold enough to hurt his lungs.
Subaru coughed involuntarily, and then he finally realized—
—The breath he was rapidly exhaling appeared as a white mist.
"—!?"
At that moment, stabbing pain swept over his entire body.
Red orbs flickered before his eyes, quickly dimming.
The white breath he exhaled, the air he inhaled felt like swallowing wind and snow, as if his internal organs were slowly freezing.
Subaru's instincts forcefully rang alarms of his life being in danger.
He understood—he was being killed from the inside out.
He didn't know... what was happening...
His body temperature was gradually being stolen away.
Even standing was becoming difficult.
His body wanted to escape, but his muscles froze stiff, causing him to collapse straight to the ground.
His insides froze solid; his limbs couldn't even tremble.
His mind could no longer send thoughts to his hands and feet.
His consciousness began to drift away from his body.
Subaru remembered this feeling. It was the loneliness and helplessness of death.
Trying to resist the approaching end, Subaru commanded his brain nerves to send signals throughout his body.
Was there anywhere still able to move? Even partial movement would do.
He finally found that his head could still move—that was because the Fire spirit was protecting him. Subaru desperately twisted his neck.
What came into view was a sky of heavy snow, the capital slowly freezing over.
Nearby were allies already turned into ice sculptures.
Julius was dragging Subaru, but his own body was already mostly frozen.
Perhaps noticing Subaru's state, or because he had reached his limit, Julius said:
"Sorry, I should have realized when I noticed the mana in the air was especially low that it was being used for something. I promised Reinhild I would protect you..."
The red orbs vanished.
An even more extreme cold rushed in.
Subaru's mouth couldn't move, and he fell to the ground again.
He noticed something emitting white smoke nearby.
'Ah.'
—At the warehouse's location squatted a huge beast.
Covered in gray fur, its eyes gleamed with golden light—this was a sacred beast.
It rested on all fours, swaying its long tail with a serene demeanor, almost too mysterious.
More importantly, this beast possessed a body of extreme strength, as if prehistoric monsters from Godzilla movies had come to life.
"—"
From the not far distance, Subaru realized why the warehouse exploded—because that beast had suddenly emerged from inside the warehouse.
For such a massive body to appear from within, the building obviously couldn't withstand that pressure.
"—"
The gray beast swung its body arrogantly, its face resembling a feline predator.
Its mouth revealed sharp fangs, casually exhaling white, snowy breath.
The giant beast transformed the world into a pure white snowy scene, painting all living things into an icy hell.
What was that?
While thinking that, Subaru's vision gradually turned snow white.
Only now did he notice that his breathing had stopped long ago.
He no longer felt the biting cold.
Not only that, he felt warmth.
He wanted to surrender everything to that warmth.
The temptation shimmered—ready to burn his hateful body, tear apart his soul's sorrow, and wipe all memories clean.
Forget it, forget it, consciousness drifting toward oblivion. Toward that warming ice.
"Sleep—sleep with my daughter. I must fulfill my contract, but I should..."
Before falling asleep, Subaru seemed to hear someone speaking.
A deep, fierce voice. But it also sounded distant and sorrowful.
He didn't know.
He didn't know.
In the silence where nothing mattered anymore.
Natsuki Subaru melted away.
Melted away, melted away, and disappeared.