*This chapter is an edited MTL

　A loud laugh echoed off the dark, cold walls of the cave.

　Petelgeuse laughed and laughed, despite nothing being funny. He kept laughing with his teeth stained red with blood.

　Petelgeuse would have stayed like that forever if there was no one to stop him. And Subaru, who was the object of the laughter, remained lying on his face, staring at the ground in front of this bizarre sight.

　Subaru's body was taken into the back of the cavern by a black-robed man, and he was thrown against the wall and was bound to it. The iron fetters clamped around his arms and legs so tightly that they began to change color, and the numbness of the strangling veins was beginning to spread gradually.

Subaru: "Heh, heh, heh..."

　Subaru's limbs felt numb, and he smiled a drawn-out smile as if he knew no other expression for the sensation. Seeing this, Petelgeuse clapped his hands with even more amusement.

Petelgeuse: "Oh, it IS hilarious!　It IS quite the sight to behold. It really, really, really, really, really trembles my brain…"

　Dripping blood from the wound on his left hand, he wiped it with the fingers of his right hand and smeared it on his forehead.

　Petelgeuse was out of the ordinary as he drew a mottled pattern on his forehead and smiled wickedly.

　Subaru was smiling at something that was not reality, and Petelgeuse was immersed in a world of pure madness. In the space where the two's mad laughter lightly undermined the sense of reality, a shadow suddenly sprung up.

　It was a shadow different from the one that carried Subaru and brought him to the cave. The tall shadow didn’t even make a sound with its gliding movement, and it huddled beside the laughing Petelgeuse and,

Shadow: "——"

　He muttered something in a voice so quiet that only he could hear it.

　Petelgeuse, hearing this, suddenly lost the wicked smile that had been twisting his cheeks, and stopped his playful gesture.

Petelgeuse: "It’s, like, that!　Ah, that’s, ah... brain trembling, ISN’T it!"

　With the same expression that had sparked his earlier evil laugh, but with an expression of such evil that chills ran down one's spine, Petelgeuse bit his left fingernail.

　He bit, chewed, shredded nails, ripped and bled, and even gnawed at his flesh without a care in the world.

Petelgeuse: "...Aah, it hurts. Hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts. My brain trembles! Do it. Keep going!　There's no time to wait!　I shout!　I call out!　My brain TREMBLES!"

　He shook his arm, and blood fell from his clawed left hand onto the cold ground of the cave.

　The Black Shadow watched emotionlessly and leaned forward slightly—showing a gesture of gratitude—and whispered to Petelgeuse, who was still in a maniacal state.

Petelgeuse: "My left ring finger was destroyed!?　Aah, what a sweet Ordeal it IS!　Even though I have been so diligently challenging… the world has not been kind to me today!"

Shadow: "——"

Petelgeuse: "Oh, that IS good. I’m sure each remaining Finger joins the one next to it. There are still nine fingers left. Don't worry about it!"

Shadow: "——"

Petelgeuse: "YES...!　Ordeal!　Ordeal!　This is an Ordeal!　It's all a test to see if we will do her will!　Shine, shine ...Aah, my brain TREMBLES!"

　Petelgeuse laughed, spitting with glee, and spun around on the spot with his head in his hands.

　The shadow’s voice was muffled and inaudible even in the enclosed space of the cave. Therefore, the conversation between Petelgeuse and the Black Shadow was almost comical, as if Petelgeuse were performing a monologue, which, combined with his eccentric behavior, added to the creepiness.

Petelgeuse: “Aah, It IS, IS, IS, IS, ISISISISISISISIS!!”

Shadow: "——"

Petelgeuse: "It IS... Aah, IS it him? IS it him that you are interested in? No no, nonononononononono, I Uundeerstaand… IT!"

　Bending at his waist, Petelgeuse lowered himself and twisted even more to get closer to Subaru. He moved his face close to Subaru's and exhaled a somewhat fishy breath, and the smiling Subaru looked up at the maniac with emotionless eyes.

　Petelgeuse stared at Subaru's grayish eyes with such force that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and said, “Surely,”

Petelgeuse: "Surely, surelysurelysurelysurely, it is strange, disturbing, inexplicable... At this juncture, in the face of the Ordeal, why is there a being such as yourself?"

Shadow: "——"

Petelgeuse: "A dragon carriage!　Oh, I love dragons!　Ground dragons are very cute and very good!　Unlike humans, they don't have any unnecessary emotions. Above all, their diligent obedience to human commands, their diligent work, and their willingness to be diligent ARE wonderful!"

Shadow: "——"

Petelgeuse: "Killed!　Aah, that IS good too!　We had no choice but to bring it down!　Ah, you are also diligent!　Good, that IS good!　If you're going to be by my side, the fingers of my hands, diligence IS more important than anything else!　Good!　Good!　Veryveryveryryryry, goooood!”

　Petelgeuse turned his body and showed such flexibility that his head almost touched the ground. He remained in ecstasy, recoiling like a bow that had been drawn out, and he raised himself up.

Petelgeuse: "The diligence of my fingers!　I have brought down a ground dragon, a creature like a mass of diligence!　Aah, my brain trembles! Trembles, trembles, trembles, trembles, tremblestremblestreeeeeeembles!!"

　His face turned red with excitement at the madness that no ordinary person could comprehend, and suddenly a line of blood flowed out of Petelgeuse' nostrils.

　Petelgeuse licked it, which was about to run into his mouth, off with his tongue, and his face turned vermilion, his cheeks loosening in a fascinated, euphoric expression.

Petelgeuse: "Aah, ...the dead ground dragon really is «Slothful», ISN’T it?"

　Petelgeuse shuddered in climax as he spilled this out with feverish eyes.

　Then he wiped the blood from his nose roughly with the sleeve of his vestments, so cool-headedly that one would think he had thrown away all his previously raging emotions.

Petelgeuse: "Immediately clean up the site where the dragon carriage was destroyed. We must avoid any exposure of our presence before the coming day of the Ordeal. We should not have to worry about witnesses since the exorcism has already been done, but what about the... passengers?　Did you kill them properly?"

Shadow: "——"

Petelgeuse: "Report on that point?　Aah, let's hear it. Generously, heroically, with enormous amounts of love. I will treat my fingers with mercy."

　Petelgeuse nodded solemnly, his hands outstretched and the hem of his vestments shaking.

　Seeing this behavior, which is in keeping with his position as a so-called Archbishop, the black shadow pulled back his chin and kept his voice stubbornly quiet.

Shadow: "——"

Petelgeuse: "One passenger is… a blue-haired girl. She broke my left ring finger that destroyed the dragon carriage. When securing her, she entered battle... and the breaking of the ring finger was caused by that girl..., dead or alive, unknown."

　Petelgeuse shook his head from side to side and rang his bones as he accepted the black shadow's report.

　He continued to ponder, shaking his head from side to side like the pendulum of a clock, twisting, turning, rocking, and finally tilting it forward with a jerk.

Petelgeuse: "Life・Death・Unknown… is that so?"

　He finished, and then he slowly, slowly lifted his shaking head and turned his vacant gray eyes to the black-clad man.

Petelgeuse: "You are «Slothful», aren't you?"

　As he said this, Petelgeuse lifted his left hand and put its ring finger in his mouth.

　Immediately after, without any hesitation, he bit down on the tip of his ring finger as hard as he could.

　Disgusting sounds rose as his flesh was grinded and roughly squeezed between his back teeth. Petelgeuse bit his nails, chewed his flesh, collected the resulting blood in his mouth, spat everything out together, and grabbed the black shadow's face with his reddened left hand.

Petelgeuse: "The Ordeal, ahead, the matter is about to be exposed!　That's it!　That's it!　That'sitthat’sithat’sithat’sithat’sit!　That's your sincere retribution for the gospel!　Ah, Slothful!　Slothful!　SlothfulSlothfulSlothful!"

　It was unknown as to where in his body of only skin and bones did he have such power, Petelgeuse swung his victim, who was so strong that he could carry Subaru and run, to the right and left with his face in his grasp. Petelgeuse, who was wildly swinging his victim around, looked up at the ceiling, although the black-suited man was probably influenced by his irresistance.

Petelgeuse: "And!　The Sloth of my fingers is my Sloth!　Oh, forgive my Sloth, which cannot be repaid with favor!　Forgive me for living and being in accord with the Gospel, with all my body and soul, with all my diligence!　I beg you to FORGIVE me!"

　Petelgeuse, who had removed his hand from the black shadow and kneeled down, tears streaming down his eyes, folded his blood stained hands and prayed, clutching them, as if he could see something in them.

　The black-robed man, who had been roughly handled, followed Petelgeuse' prayer and looked up at the ceiling above him, silently confessing his own immorality and sins.

　—It was an extraordinary scene.

　Petelgeuse, who switched between joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure without any sign of distress. This was not emotional instability. It was an emotionally missing state of being.

　The black-robed man who accepted this as a matter of course and showed no reaction even to his own assault was also bizarre. The way they followed Petelgeuse, who calls himself an Archbishop, might be called a believer. Or, more correctly, a fanatic.

Petelgeuse: "Love!　We MUST repay love!　We must not be idle!　We must obey the Gospel!　We must return the love given to us by loving!"

Shadow: "——"

Petelgeuse: "We must find the girl who IS not dead or alive!　If she's alive, we'll choke her to death!　If she IS dead, cut off her head!　Bring her here!　I must clean up the mess myself and apologize for my negligence!"

　The black shadow responded to the screeching command, and the shadow disappeared into the darkness of the cave as if melting.

　And so the presence moved away, and Petelgeuse was stunned for a moment, kneeling there, breathing roughly, but then he said,

Petelgeuse: "Well, well, wellwellwellwellweeellllllll..."

　While kneeling, Petelgeuse grinded up to Subaru in a kneeling motion.

　The movement of scraping his knees against the hard, sharp rocky ground that peeked out was a self-inflicted wound that only caused the skin beneath his vestments to be mischievously scratched.

　He peered at Subaru, seemingly disregarding those pains or the extent of his wounds.

Petelgeuse: "What IS it with you?"

Subaru: "Uu… auu..."

Petelgeuse: "You don't seem to have been led by the gospel, but the intense love that wafts from your body. It IS really, reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally, interesting...!"

　Bringing his face close to Subaru's and sticking out his tongue at an almost lickable distance, Petelgeus looked at Subaru. The first thing that came to mind was the fact that Subaru was not in a position to respond to his question.

　Subaru was still looking somewhere other than here, and Petelgeuse was ecstatically muttering, "Aah, my brain trembles…”

Petelgeuse: "I'm sure I know all the faces except for «Pride», but I don't think the one who has been favored so much doesn’t have anything to do with the gospel, do you?

　Spilling, he reached into his vestments——and pulled out a book.

　It was a black-bound book. It was about the size of a dictionary and nearly as thick. At first glance, it would appear that he'd merely taken out his favorite book.

Petelgeuse: "Oh…, I feel the gospel. My, brain, trembleees..."

　The book's black spine was lovingly stroked with a finger, and a hot exhale escaped from his lips, so you could tell that that was not the case.

　Holding the untitled book in his hands, Petelgeuse took a moment to enjoy the feel of it before slowly and solemnly beginning to turn the pages.

Petelgeuse: "There is no mention of you in the Gospel. Not a word about the problems that arose before this great Ordeal, not a single thing about the present!　That is!　What it says!"

　He closed the book with a sound, held it closed, and spat at Subaru.

Petelgeuse: “Your existence, which is not recorded in the Gospel, IS entrusted to me! With such deep, deep, deep, deep love? How contradictory are you! Aah, my brain, my brain, my braaaaaain!”

　He thrust his fingers against his temples and moved his nails with a force that threatened to tear through them. The skin tore and blood began to trickle.

　Subaru saw this, but still does not react. He simply smiled and literally overlooked Petelgeuse' self-inflicted wounds.

Petelgeuse: "Ah・Ah・Ah・Ah・Ah... Aah, ignoring me IS so lonely!　So much, so much!　I'm being so nice to you, and yet, and yet, and yet, andyetandyetandyetandyetandyetandyet!"

　Petelgeuse' hand reached out and grabbed Subaru's face, fixing his vision and forcing him to face his own twin eyes.

　Subaru, who was in a state of self-loss, frowned and tried to resist the violent action.

Petelgeuse: "—Look into my eyes."

　Quietly, with the least emotional volatility in his words so far, but with a strong power in his voice and in his eyes that made it unsure whether or not he was in agreement.

　Subaru's body shuddered, and he did as he was told, looking into Petelgeuse' gray eyes, which emit a maniacal glow.

　And then,

Petelgeuse: "Answer. You must answer. To my question, to my request. Why are you here, why are you so favored? Don't you have the Gospel with you?　Have you ever heard the Gospel directly?"

Subaru: "Aah, heu… hihaha."

Petelgeuse: "I'm not getting anywhere... Then let's change the order of things, shall we?"

　Petelgeuse tilted his head ninety degrees to the right as Subaru dodged his series of questions.

　With his face tilted to the side, Petelgeuse brought his face even closer.

　Then,

Petelgeuse: "Let me ask you something."

Subaru: "—Auuh!"

　With his face close to hers, Petelgeuse extended his tongue and licked Subaru's left eye with it.

　Subaru's eyes were licked by another person, and he shuddered as the chains of his shackles clinked, showing his rejection to this unusual touch.

　But that was until he heard the following words.

Petelgeuse: "—Why are you pretending to be crazy?"

※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

　He was afraid of Gray.

　He was afraid of the eyes that were staring at him in front of him, that he can't look away from.

　He shook his body, turned his face away, and tried to escape from those eyes, but the hands that held his face were so hard, and the chains that bound his body were so cold, that he couldn’t escape.

　Every part of his body ached.

　The abrasions he had sustained all over his body from being thrown out of the overturned dragon carriage have not been treated in any way. The red, frayed wounds under his torn clothes made the pain worse, and he felt as if they were directly connected to some incredibly unpleasant memory.

　He wondered where Blue had gone.

　Blue, who was always by his side. She was always by his side, touching him tenderly. She fed him, held his hand when he was anxious, and so on.

　He wouldn't have to be so afraid if Blue had been there.

　There was no Green, Brown, or White here.

　There was only pitch Black, which seemed to be invisible, and Gray, which was right in front of him.

　He was afraid of Black, which never said anything, never answered, and just stayed still.

　But Gray is much, much scarier.

???: "Have you ever heard the gospel directly?"

　He didn't know what he was talking about. He couldn't wrap his head around understanding it. He just had a great desire to reject what he didn't like, and he rejected it by turning his body, his face, and his heart away.

　But the other person won't let him do it, and Gray brought his face even closer to his.

Gray: "I'm not getting anywhere... Then let's change the order of things, shall we?"

　Gray moved closer to his face as he spoke. The tongue that extended from his mouth, an unusually long tongue, a red tongue that had just licked his dripping blood, came at him relentlessly.

Gray: "Let me ask you something."

　—His tongue kneaded the surface of his left eye, just above his pupil, as if it were abusing him.

　The disgust that welled up in him, the overwhelming fear, rattled his chains and revealed his rejection. But Gray would not stop. At the same time, he ran his tongue around the back of his eye and rolled the eyeball on his tongue.

　It was disgusting, he hated it, forgive him, help him, he was afraid, he was afraid, he was afraid, he was afraid.

　Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, 

Gray: "—Why are you pretending to be crazy?"

　Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Scared, Sca–?

　He didn't know what he was talking about.

　The discomfort of having his eyes licked, the queasiness of being stared at, and the rejection of being afraid of the madness he could see, made his body, which should have been trembling, stop shaking.

　Stunned, dumbfounded, with his mouth gaping open and his licked eyes wide-open.

Gray: "Why, you, are you pretending to be crazy?"

　He heard Gray repeat the question.

Subaru: "AauuAaauuuau!"

Gray: “No, no, no,no,no,no,nonononononononononononononononononono. Why, why, why are you pretending to be insane? What IS it for?”

　Do not listen. Do not listen. Not allowed to know.

　Shaking his head, he let his shackles ring and ring and ring, and he detached himself from his consciousness. Keep the words of the man in front of you away from your ears. Do not listen, do not notice, do not know.

Petelgeuse: “Unconsciousness IS not a convenient escape route. You are conscious, you understand yourself, and you ARE pretending to be insane."

Subaru: "Aah!　Agh!　Uuhh, ahhh!

Petelgeuse: "Your madness IS too rational. You can't be that wise, that mature, that sympathetic, that loved, and that crazy.

　He raised his voice and tried to muffle the man’s voice, screaming so loudly that his throat felt like it was about to burst. But the man rather mocked his behavior and inserted his words as if he was trying to sew a gap in his consciousness.

Petelgeuse: "You’re acting like a failed madman. If you are truly mad, if you are truly immersed in the world of madness, you must not be conscious of the eyes of others. Your world must be self-contained, because to be mad IS to be out of it!"

Subaru: "—Baaaah!　Baaah!　Babababaaa!"

Petelgeuse: "Oh, HOW ridiculous, ridiculous!　Why ARE you pretending to be a madman?　From the point of view of someone truly off the hook, that facade peels right off, you can see it, and it IS just too funny!"

　Words he didn’t want to hear, things he didn’t want to know, pounded on his eardrums and poured in.

　It was painful. He felt sick. Something was swelling up inside his chest. Something dark and black was screaming to get out. He couldn’t let it out.

　If it got out, if that happened...

Petelgeuse: "Pity, pity!　I pity you, you wretched, ugly, lowly, petty, sinful thing!　Why should I reject you when you ARE so loved?　Do you simply wish to fade into stagnation, neither indulging in the love that has been given, neither repaying the favor, nor rejecting it?”

　The gray man shook his head and threw his face out of his grasp.

　His head slammed into the wall behind him, sending sparks flying and a sharp pain that made him yelp.

　The man, however, paid no attention to him, but instead twisted another finger into the wound of the finger he had just bitten off, causing it to bleed even more.

Petelgeuse: "Aah, aah, aah, aah, you… ARE «Slothful»!"

　With a crack, I felt something split in my head.

　He heard nothing. He heard nothing. It was all the ramblings of a madman. Nothing was on point, nothing had arrived at the truth.

　Nothing was known, nothing was understood. It should be so. It should have been so. It has to be so.

　Otherwise, he would have—

Petelgeuse: "Oh, that IS it."

　A blackness welled up in his chest, and just as it was about to explode, the man suddenly lost all momentum and muttered something.

　Instantly, the sense of danger that had been rising in his skin, the light of madness that was approaching his eyes, faded away, and his entire body, which had been tense, relaxed without him knowing it.

Petelgeuse: "Not too much, not too much, not too much, not too much, not too much, not too much. It would be good to take some time to think about it.　If you face your love with sincerity, you will naturally find the answer."

Subaru: "Aah… Uguuhh…”

　What on earth was this man talking about?

　From one to ten, nothing the man said reached his understanding. Even though he could not reach him, the man acted as if he had everything under control, as if he understood him in the darkness, as if he was a gentle adult taking the hand of a young child, as if he was the devil who deceived the wanderer crossing a suspension bridge.

　Do not understand. Do not try to understand. And he couldn’t even think like that now. He shouldn’t be able to.

　Once you understood it, there was no going back.

Petelgeuse: "Oh, I hope... you are not «Slothful», but diligent."