The world trembled.
The sky was torn apart by Satella's dark wings.
From within the endless blackness, a presence spilled forth, shredding the fabric of reality as time and space twisted helplessly.
Shadows surged like a flood.
The wind howled, ripping everything from its place, and the sky itself seemed to wail in sorrow.
Subaru was still standing.
Bloodied. Gasping for breath...
His fingers trembled, his legs faltered, but he hadn't fallen.
He just… didn't know why he was still on his feet.
He tried to reach Emilia.
But no sound came. His throat felt like it was gripped by an invisible hand.
His heart… was shattered.
His eyes were locked onto Satella's silhouette. Not with fear. Not with hatred.
It was something more primal.
A feeling that shook his very being to the roots — something he didn't even have a name for.
The shadow surged from Satella's body like a sea.
And it swallowed Subaru whole.
It didn't just consume his body; it took his existence.His voice, his image, his name… all devoured.Never to echo again.
Gone.
Emptiness.
Silence.
A darkness infinite and crushing.
Time had lost its meaning.
The boundaries of memory dissolved.
The moment of death still echoed in his mind, yet even pain no longer existed.
No heartbeat.
No breath.
No thought.
No hope.
Only… nothingness.
And then—
"We finally meet, Natsuki Subaru."
The voice tore through the void, passing straight through him.
It was neither warm nor cold — but the power it carried was overwhelming.
It rippled outward like waves.
As the shadows closed in like a suffocating blanket, two eyes emerged from the distance:
One was gray. The other, an abyssal black.
But they weren't just eyes...
The presence flowing from them seeped into Subaru's very existence.
He instinctively tried to stand, but he couldn't move.
Maybe… he no longer had a body.
Even his thoughts felt formless in this place.
"Who… are you?" he asked.
His voice came out with effort.He had no breath, yet he could speak.
The rules here were different.
Speech wasn't a physical act — it was an echo of the soul.
A figure stepped out from the darkness.
It wore a long cloak — as if its very existence was woven into it.
Not fabric, but something stitched from shadow itself.
Its face… resembled Subaru's.
But the eyes had never been his.In those eyes… lingered echoes of the past.
Scars of countless memories.
Ashes of unnumbered lives.
"Interesting," the figure said, tilting its head slightly.
"That's the first thing you ask? How many deaths is this for you, Subaru? Seventy? A hundred? Perhaps a thousand?
But you… you haven't died as many times as they have."Subaru remained silent.
There was a hum inside him — the weight of those words pressing down on his soul.The figure took a step forward.
The void beneath its feet unraveled, as if even this place bowed in reverence to it.
Each step left a mark on the surface of the darkness, like a signature etched in shadow.
"The answer is simple," it said."I… am you, Natsuki Subaru.
Maybe the version of you that will be, or the one you'll never become.
I am one of the many yous that exist."
Its voice echoed. Soft, yet mocking.
Like the final note of a melody — sweet, but foreboding.
"You already know me well," it continued.
"I've lived through what you have, billions of times.
With each death, again and again…"
Subaru's mind began to blur.
The words were too much. His head spun — though he no longer had a head.
His consciousness was teetering on the edge of shattering.
"Who is this? He looks like me... Is there another me?" he thought.
"Don't be ridiculous," Subaru said through gritted teeth. "I don't know you.""You don't… because everyone who did is dead," the figure whispered.
The words were spoken lightly — as if they meant nothing.And yet that nothingness settled in Subaru's throat like a knot.The words drowned in the dark.The figure came closer. A glint shimmered in its eyes —Like a star's final flicker before it dies: beautiful, and deadly.V
"My name… is Flugel.
At least, that's what they call me here.
I deemed it fitting for myself."
"I… wouldn't have given myself that name," Subaru said, frowning.
"You wouldn't," Flugel replied with a smile. "But you know it. Instinctively.
Because every part of you that makes you you... knows me.
I am not your past. Nor your future.
I am your potential.
The possibility you missed, suppressed, buried." Silence fell.
As if the entire universe had stopped to hold its breath."Seriously," Flugel said, rolling his eyes.
"Is that half-elf girl really worth dying for this many times?
You've rejected the witch who brought you this far over and over."Subaru's eyes twitched. "What are you talking about?
The witch gave me this power? She's the reason for all this pain?"
Flugel let out a harsh, grating laugh.
It echoed through the void, dissolving into the infinite.
"Oh, Natsuki Subaru... You really are a fool to the core.
Without this power, you would've been six feet under on day one.
In the real world, you were just a loser.
No one wanted anything from you, and you never reached for anything.
Even your family had given up on you.
And now, just because you think you're 'special' here… you believe you're someone else? No.
You're still that same pathetic, cowardly, foolish Natsuki Subaru."
Subaru tried to take a deep breath — but there was no air in this darkness.
This place wasn't meant for those who breathe…
It was meant for those who confront their failures
A place where your darkest self watches in silence — and finally decides to speak."What do you want?" he asked at last.
His voice was hoarse and broken, as if even the shadows were stealing pieces of it.
"Ah, the classic question. Fine then — playtime's over.
I came here to offer you a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
"A chance to be free of your weakness," Flugel said.The words were simple — but the weight behind them was immense.
This wasn't just an offer.It was a mirror — held up to the most helpless, broken part of him.Suddenly, Flugel pressed his fingers to Subaru's forehead.
They weren't cold, nor warm.They simply… were.They embodied existence itself.And then—A scream tore through the void — his own.Subaru's mind shattered.
Every death — soaked in blood and tears — played again.
Each scene that flashed before his eyes pierced his soul like a blade drawn across flesh.
Sometimes he died in a friend's arms.
Other times, alone in a back alley...But every time, it was the same: pain, loss, failure.
Pitiful… and yet undeniably real.
Proof that he couldn't escape himself — that no matter how hard he tried, some pain would always return.Flugel watched with a wicked smile.
There was a twisted joy in his gaze, feeding off Subaru's suffering.
But within that cruel pleasure… was something more.
An expectation.A test. A challenge.
"Natsuki Subaru, I will give you the chance to turn your deaths into power.
"One of his eyes lit up —And in the starless dark, that glint fell like a bolt of lightning.
"Are you ready? Because this isn't just a deal.
This is your chance to begin again.But it won't come without a price."Subaru swallowed hard.
The silence caught in his throat was louder than any words.
A voice rose from deep within him .Plain Firm. Echoing:
"Listen."
"Listen, because in this darkness, there's no other way out."
Maybe the voice wasn't his own.
Maybe… it was the final whisper of a future self.
Or maybe… it was the witch herself.
"My terms,"
Flugel said, "are a fragment of your soul… and a complete Restart."
Suddenly, a translucent screen appeared in front of Subaru.
The text on it was in Japanese.
Familiar, yet unsettling — like a game menu bleeding through the seams of reality.
Subaru read it carefully.
His eyes searched for the threat hidden between the lines.
But at the same time… for hope.
For salvation.
Flugel smiled.
Behind that smile was the same crushing feeling Subaru had carried since childhood:
Inadequacy.
Worthlessness. Nothingness.
"I know you liked fantasy series back in your world with systems like this,"
Flugel said. "Thought you'd find it interesting.
So, what do you say, Natsuki Subaru?"
"A piece of my soul… What does that even mean?"
"A small price for my help," Flugel replied.
His gaze was still locked on Subaru.
But he wasn't just looking at him anymore.
He was staring into him — beneath the skin, through the coils of thought, into the fractures along the edges of his soul.
"Fine," Subaru said. "I accept your terms."
His voice was firm — but there was a tremble beneath it.
Not fear.
Not belief.
It was necessity.The dark kind of peace that comes from knowing there is no other way.
Flugel seemed satisfied.
But the satisfaction on his face was like that of a merchant who knew he'd just closed a winning deal.
"Then, by the terms of our agreement… I shall give you this."
Dark hands reached out and surrounded Subaru.
Each one touched him with a cold that wasn't of temperature,
But of something deeper.
Something more fundamental.
As if a presence was slipping between the walls of his identity, loosening the bricks.
He felt something shift within his heart and soul — but he couldn't name it.
When he closed his eyes, echoes began to rise.
It was his own voice.
But all at once — from the past, from the future, from possible and impossible versions of himself — they whispered:
"You are no longer alone."
.
[ DING! ]
Authority Unlocked: Resonance by Death
Type: Passive Authority
Effect: When Subaru dies, he copies a specific ability from the entity that caused his death.
Limitations:
-Dying repeatedly to the same entity can increase the proficiency of the copied ability.
-However, each ability has a maximum threshold exceeding it may trigger side effects
-Copied abilities may be incomprehensible to Subaru's mind or incompatible with his body, leading to control issues.
Flugel looked on with pale eyes.
But in them, there wasn't finality.It wasn't a farewell —It was a "see you soon."
"Our contract is sealed, Natsuki Subaru.
Let's hope you manage to die a little less this time.
But don't worry...We'll be meeting again soon."
Subaru's vision went dark. His senses faded.
And he died.But this was not the end.
It was an echo.
A ripple.
The dark sound of rebirth…