The forest around the cave had fallen unnaturally silent.
No chanting.
No movement.
No whispers from hidden cultists.
Nothing.
Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti stumbled from the cave entrance, his eyes wide and bloodshot.
Then he bit down.
Hard.
His teeth sank into his own thumb.
Blood immediately welled between his lips.
He chewed.
Swallowed.
Chewed again.
"Where... where are they?"
His voice cracked.
"The Fingers... the diligent Fingers... why can we not hear them?"
His head snapped sideways at an impossible angle.
The silence was unbearable.
For years, the network of loyal vessels had existed as a constant reassurance. Even when separated by distance, he could feel their presence. Their devotion. Their diligence.
Now there was nothing.
A void.
An absence.
His trembling hands gripped his Gospel.
"My brain trembles..."
The words escaped him in a whisper.
"My brain trembles desu..."
His gaze swept across the clearing until it landed on the assembled force waiting beyond the trees.
Knights.
Mercenaries.
And standing at their center—
A young man with violet hair stepped forward.
Julius Juukulius.
Despite the tension hanging over the battlefield, his posture remained flawless. His uniform was immaculate. His expression calm.
Even the faint instability among the quasi-spirits orbiting him failed to disturb his composure.
Petelgeuse's eyes narrowed.
"You."
Julius inclined his head politely.
"Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti."
The Archbishop twitched.
The knight rested one hand upon his sword.
"I am Julius Juukulius, Imperial Knight of the Kingdom of Lugunica."
His voice remained perfectly measured.
"I have come to close your department."
Silence.
A breeze passed through the clearing.
Petelgeuse stared.
Then his eye twitched.
Once.
Twice.
His smile stretched wider and wider until it became grotesque.
"Close... our department?"
The words emerged as a strangled laugh.
His shoulders shook.
His neck bent backward.
Farther.
Farther.
Farther.
Until his body resembled a broken puppet.
Blood vessels bulged across his face.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves properly, desu."
The air around him distorted.
Invisible pressure exploded outward.
"We are Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti."
His voice rose.
"Sin Archbishop representing Sloth."
The forest groaned.
Branches snapped.
Leaves scattered.
"We labor diligently for the Witch."
The distortion intensified.
"We devote ourselves to love."
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
"And you stand before us and interrupt our diligent work?"
His head jerked violently.
His thumb disappeared between his teeth again.
Blood splattered down his chin.
"HOW SLOTHFUL DESU!"
The first Unseen Hand erupted forward.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
Dozens of invisible limbs tore through the air toward Julius.
Trees shattered.
Earth exploded.
The clearing became a storm of destruction.
Yet Julius did not move.
His hand remained calmly upon the hilt of his sword.
His eyes never left the Archbishop.
Hidden behind a thick tree near the rear of the formation, I forced my eyes open.
I already knew what should happen.
Nobody could see the Unseen Hands.
Not Julius.
Not the knights.
Not the mercenaries.
Only Subaru had ever been able to perceive them.
So why—
I froze.
My breath caught.
I could see them.
Not clearly.
Not like the anime.
But I could see them.
Faint shapes.
Ghostly outlines.
Translucent distortions stretching through the air like heat ripples.
They weren't solid.
They weren't dark purple.
They looked more like spectral afterimages clawing through space.
"What?"
I blinked.
The hands remained.
Barely visible.
But visible.
My mind raced.
I had no idea why.
No explanation.
No warning.
Just the impossible realization that I could perceive an Authority I should have been completely blind to.
Just faint, translucent visibility.
Unfortunately, that visibility sucked.
The hands moved too quickly.
Too erratically.
Tracking them felt like trying to follow smoke during a hurricane.
I immediately realized I couldn't rely on this.
And Julius definitely couldn't.
Then inspiration struck.
My eyes widened.
"JULIUS!"
The shout echoed across the battlefield.
The knight's gaze flickered toward me.
I pointed at the ground.
"THE GROUND!"
The next words came out as a scream.
"BLIND THE AIR!"
Julius reacted instantly.
No hesitation.
No questions.
His sword flashed.
The blade slammed into the dry forest floor.
Earth exploded upward.
A massive cloud of dust and dirt engulfed the battlefield.
For a brief moment everything vanished behind a brown haze.
Then the miracle happened.
The Unseen Hands tore through the cloud.
And suddenly everyone could see them.
Not the hands themselves.
The absence they created.
Perfect cylindrical tunnels carved through the dust.
Dozens of empty channels ripped through the cloud like invisible artillery fire.
Every knight.
Every mercenary.
Every fighter present instantly understood where the attacks were coming from.
Petelgeuse froze.
Confusion flashed across his face.
Then horror.
His Authority had been exposed.
The battlefield shifted immediately.
Julius stepped aside.
A knight ducked beneath one tunnel.
Another raised a shield against a visible trajectory.
The impossible attack had become predictable.
And predictable attacks could be countered.
I grinned.
"Got him."
The raid boss had just lost his invisibility mechanic.
And now it was time for phase two.
I stepped out from behind the tree.
Immediately.
Twenty Karsten knights shifted formation around me.
Shields locked.
Spears angled.
Armor overlapping into a solid wall of steel.
Julius moved to the center of the formation without needing instructions.
The greatest knight in the kingdom became the point of the spear.
I became the idiot standing behind him.
Exactly where I wanted to be.
Because every MMO player knew the truth.
If you wanted the raid boss dead, somebody had to hold aggro.
And unfortunately, I was uniquely qualified for psychological warfare.
I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled.
Loudly.
Petelgeuse's head snapped toward me.
Perfect.
Aggro acquired.
"HEY, SLOTH!"
The Archbishop twitched.
I pointed directly at him.
"What's wrong?!"
His eye bulged.
I continued before he could answer.
"Is your Gospel blank?!"
The reaction was immediate.
His face twisted.
His neck snapped ninety degrees sideways.
His teeth tore another chunk from his thumb.
Blood ran freely down his hand.
"My brain trembles..."
I could practically hear psychic damage numbers appearing above his head.
"Did Satella forget to write you in?"
Every Unseen Hand violently shifted direction.
Toward me.
Toward the wall of knights.
Toward Julius.
Toward the giant pile of heavily armored problems standing between me and death.
Excellent.
"She doesn't love you!"
Petelgeuse screamed.
Actually screamed.
The sound barely resembled human speech.
I kept going.
"She's ignoring your prayers because you're too slothful to get a real prophecy!"
The Archbishop's spine bent backward.
His body convulsed.
His thumb vanished into his mouth again.
"My brain trembles desu!"
The dust cloud revealed every attack.
Every tunnel.
Every trajectory.
The knights adapted instantly.
Shields shifted.
Spears redirected.
Julius cut through incoming paths with surgical precision.
The Unseen Hands slammed into steel and empty air.
Petelgeuse wasn't fighting intelligently anymore.
He was fighting emotionally.
Which meant he never noticed the real threat.
Ricardo dropped from the trees behind him.
Mimi landed beside him.
Hetaro and Tivey followed a heartbeat later.
The Iron Fang had successfully entered phase three.
The Gank Squad.
Ricardo's cleaver hit first.
The massive blade slammed into Petelgeuse's back.
The Archbishop lurched forward.
Mimi immediately followed with a flying kick directly into his ribs.
Something cracked.
Hetaro struck from the left.
Tivey from the right.
The four mercenaries descended upon him like a coordinated mugging.
It wasn't elegant.
It wasn't honorable.
It was brutally effective.
Petelgeuse shrieked.
His attention remained fixed entirely on me.
Which was honestly hilarious.
The man was getting jumped by four professional mercenaries and still wanted to argue with a teenager.
"LOVE!"
Ricardo buried his cleaver into Petelgeuse's shoulder.
"LOVE!"
Mimi punched him in the face.
"LOVE!"
Hetaro swept his legs.
"LOVE!"
Tivey smashed him from behind.
The Archbishop staggered.
Fell.
Got back up.
Then immediately got hit again.
I folded my arms.
"Wow."
Petelgeuse's eye twitched.
"This is your diligence?"
Another hit.
Another stumble.
Another roar.
I pointed at the Gospel clutched in his hand.
"Check the manual!"
The Archbishop froze.
"What?"
I grinned.
"Does chapter four say anything about getting jumped by mercenaries in the mud?"
Ricardo hit him again.
Mimi hit him again.
Hetaro hit him again.
Tivey hit him again.
Petelgeuse looked genuinely offended.
Which somehow made the situation even funnier.
"You call this diligence?"
His breathing became ragged.
I pointed directly at the Gospel.
"Look at your book."
The Archbishop hesitated.
Then looked down.
I smiled.
"Your book is empty."
His eyes widened.
"No..."
"You've been laid off."
The Gospel trembled in his hands.
"No..."
"The Witch abandoned you."
His breathing stopped.
"No..."
"And you're completely obsolete."
Petelgeuse opened the Gospel.
The pages stared back at him.
Blank.
Completely blank.
The timeline changes had broken whatever guidance he expected to receive.
There was nothing.
No instructions.
No prophecy.
No reassurance.
Just empty pages.
The Archbishop stared.
His hands shook.
His mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
Then something inside him broke.
Not his faith.
Not his devotion.
His restraint.
His head snapped sideways.
Ninety degrees.
A horrible cracking sound echoed through the clearing.
His thumb disappeared into his mouth.
He bit.
Hard.
Skin tore.
Blood sprayed.
"My brain trembles."
The words emerged as a whisper.
Then a laugh.
Then a scream.
"MY BRAIN TREMBLES DESU!"
The forest exploded.
Unseen Hands erupted in every direction.
Trees shattered.
The ground cracked.
Dust blasted outward.
Petelgeuse launched himself forward.
Ignoring Ricardo's cleaver.
Ignoring Mimi's fists.
Ignoring the blood pouring from his body.
Ignoring everything.
"LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!"
The Archbishop crawled.
Stumbled.
Ran.
Fell.
Got back up.
Again.
And again.
And again.
His body was failing.
His mind was failing.
But his devotion remained absolute.
"The Witch loves us!"
Ricardo slammed his cleaver into his back.
Petelgeuse barely noticed.
"The Witch loves us!"
Mimi broke his jaw.
He kept screaming.
"The Witch loves us!"
Hetaro and Tivey hammered him from both sides.
He kept advancing.
Toward me.
Toward the source of the blasphemy.
Toward the person claiming he had been abandoned.
"The Witch loves us!"
The assault became completely feral.
Completely irrational.
Completely suicidal.
And that made him predictable.
The Iron Fang exploited every opening.
Every stumble.
Every reckless charge.
Every moment of blind fanaticism.
The beatdown intensified.
Petelgeuse's body finally began to fail.
His movements slowed.
His limbs shook.
His attacks lost coordination.
Yet he still crawled forward.
Still screaming.
Still insisting upon his love.
And that was when Julius moved.
Not while Petelgeuse was despairing.
Not while he was helpless.
While he was at his most dangerous.
The knight stepped through the chaos.
Through the dust.
Through the flying debris.
Through the storm of invisible limbs.
One strike.
Clean.
Precise.
Final.
The Archbishop's head separated from his shoulders.
His body collapsed into the dirt.
Silence returned.
For exactly half a second.
Then something invisible erupted from the corpse.
I felt it before I saw it.
A freezing sensation.
A pressure.
A presence.
The severed head's eyes rolled wildly.
Its mouth stretched into a grin.
"LOVE."
The voice echoed from nowhere.
Not from the corpse.
Not from the air.
Everywhere.
At once.
My stomach dropped.
"Oh no."