Subaru looked at Roswaal as he spoke. "So, I get that Emilia is gonna do these trials and then get more confidence, but may I ask".
Roswaal Smirked as he spoke. "Oh, what is it".
Subaru looked back at the clown as he spoke. "Why, are the people in the Village here".
Roswaal's smirk faltered for just a second—barely noticeable, but Subaru saw it. The eccentric clown-mage tilted his head with a performative flair and answered smoothly:
Roswaal Smirked as he looked at him. "A necessary precaution, of course. The Sanctuary's barrier only permits those of mixed blood to leave... and since half of Arlam village falls under that category—"
Subaru cut in sharply "You dragged them into a sealed tomb of witches because of a technicality?"
Roswaal's eyes glinted. "I brought them here to protect them. If they remained in Arlam unguarded, they would've been easy prey for the Witch Cult or worse. Here, they are under my care."
Subaru narrowed his eyes. "Yeah? Or maybe you brought them here to force Emilia to succeed. Put everyone's safety on her shoulders, so she breaks if she fails."
A long silence passed. Even Garfiel, usually quick to bark, remained still.
Roswaal smiled again— this ti, more honest than smug. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for."
In Subaru's head, [Minerva muttered bitterly, "He's using her like a pawn. Just like before..."]
[Echidna, more curious than outraged, mused "A test of worth...? Or manipulation? I wonder which Roswaal believes more in."]
Subaru's voice ca calm and low: "I'm not letting her carry that burden alone. You don't get to break her just to prove a point."
Roswaal chuckled lightly. "That's the idea, dear Subaru. You're here to help her carry it. That's why you're perfect."
Subaru muttered under his breath. "No... I'm here to burn your damn script."
Subaru ca out of the house, as he sighed, as then his eyes moved, as he saw pink hair, Subaru eyes narrows, as he started to follow that Pink hair, as he did, he actived [Judgnt's Gaze], ready for fight, ready to see what the weakness of his Enemy is.
He looked around as he saw her, it was Ryuzu. "Hello".
Ryuzu looked at him, as she spoke. "Hello Natsuki Subaru".
Subaru narrows his eyes, as he actived [Invisible Providence], as he looked at her. "You know my na."
Ryuzu looked at him, as she spoke. "Will Yes and No".
Subaru didn't drop his guard. The quiet, almost chanical tone in Ryuzu's voice set off every alarm in his head. Even as she smiled politely, he could see the subtle inconsistencies—the stiffness in her posture, the way her eyes didn't quite match her expressions. She wasn't human. Or at least, not anymore.
Subaru stepped forward, his gaze unrelenting under the effect of [Judgnt's Gaze]. Weaknesses flickered into his vision—physical fragility, mana network rigidly structured, artificial core where a heart should be. A construct. A perfected body mimicking humanity.
Subaru: "So... you're Ryuzu. Or a copy?"
Ryuzu smiling faintly. "Correct. I am Ryuzu B... a clone created from the original Ryuzu yer by the Witch of Greed herself."
Subaru muttered, "Figures. Echidna's handiwork. Of course she'd leave creepy backup drives lying around..."
He deactivated [Invisible Providence] but kept his guard up.
Subaru: "So, what's your purpose? You watching ? Testing ? Or just here for exposition?"
Ryuzu B looked at her. ["I have been ordered to observe and assist those who take the Trial. However... it seems Echidna has taken a special interest in you, Natsuki Subaru."]
Subaru scoffed. "Special interest. Great. First witches in my head, now magical clones giving side quests."
[In his mind, Echidna purred. "Don't be so cold, Subaru. She's only here to help. Think of her like your very own tutorial NPC."]
Subaru ntally spoke. "I swear if I unlock another skill tree because of this, I'm deleting your mory from my head."
[Echidna cheerful spoke. "Oh no, that's in your soul. Good luck with that~"]
Back in reality, Ryuzu B bowed slightly. "If you have further questions, I can guide you. Otherwise, I suggest preparing for the Trial. The Tomb awaits."
Subaru turned away, cloak fluttering. "Yeah. Let's get this over with..."
Ryuzu B looked at him as she spoke. "So which is it".
Subaru looked at her as he spoke. "By any chance, did Echidna leave anything, because she made that damn Gospel".
Ryuzu B chuckled as she spoke. "You Wife has actually".
Subaru looked at her as he spoke in his mind. "When was I gonna learn about this?".
[All the witch spoke together. "When it was the right ti"]
Ryuzu B walked up to him, as she handed him sothing, it looked like it was made out of crystal, in the safe of a key kinda, but it was not the full shape, it had a more of angle to it, with scarp edge.
Subaru looked at Ryuzu as he spoke. "Key to seal?".
Ryuzu B noded her head left and right. "No, only the great Mage Flugel can do, and maybe you, this in the other hand, will i don't know what it does, just that she programd into us to give to you when ti ca, and Trust we have been waiting for 400 year's".
Subaru stared at the crystal-like key in his hand, the light from the Sanctuary filtering through it and scattering strange, shifting patterns across his palm. It felt alive—like it pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
Subaru softly spoke "...Programd. Four hundred years. Echidna, what the hell were you planning?"
[Echidna's voice, soft in his mind
"I plan for all possibilities, Subaru. You should know that by now."]
[Typhon chid in. "It's shiny! Can I touch it next ti? Pretty please?"]
[Sekht muttered. "Hmph... leave the past to the dead... if it were dangerous, I'd have stopped it..."]
Subaru ntally sighing "One of these days, I'll open a box and not find a centuries-old magical conspiracy."
He turned to Ryuzu B, voice more serious now. "And you're just giving this now because...?"
Ryuzu B nodded. "Because the conditions Echidna left have been fulfilled. You carry the Witches within your soul. You've inherited their Authorities. The key—if that's even what it is—was never ant for just anyone."
Subaru stared again at the angular object, noticing now the faint etching along the sharp edges—runes? Words? They shimred, impossible to focus on.
[Beatrice, now quietly stirring within his headspace. "...That's not just a key. It's a fragnt of sothing... sothing Flugel made with the First Generation of Spirits."]
Subaru (in shock): "Wait—Flugel made this?!"
[Beatrice]
"Not alone, I suppose, in fact. But if it reacts to you... it might an you're starting to cross the threshold."
Subaru starter thinking. "Threshold of what?"
[Daphne, unusually quiet, whispered
"Maybe... of becoming like one of us."]
The air around them felt heavier now.
Ryuzu B stepped back. "That item is yours now. We do not know its na, or function... only that when the bearer has walked far enough, it will reveal its truth."
Subaru tucked it away, his expression unreadable.
Subaru: "...Guess I'll walk a bit further, then."
Subaru arrived in his Temporary house, Tomorrow will be Emilia first trial, as he looked at the Key in his hand, as then puts in his Inventory, as he wondered what that Key Opens.
[Echidna spoke in his head. "You want to reach Godhood corcet, I am just gonna say that it might help you progress faster, and make your new Pathway Reaction Project much easier"]
Subaru spoke in his head. "That, is actually nice, but you could also be just trolling".
[Echidna spoke in his head. "Or it could be the dwar to all the Witch's Bra and Panties"]
Subaru just ntally chocke, how was that possible, who knows.
[Beatrice spoke in Subaru head, as she spoke to trh Witch's. "Why are all of you like this".
Sekht yawn, as she spoke back to her. "We are 400 years old Witch's of Legends who have sealed away from 400 Years while the world thinks we are death, our only source of entertainnt was eachother and now Subaru morys which was fill with a Lot of Ani, Manga, nhwa and s and more"]
Subaru flopped onto the makeshift bed, letting the worn wood of the house creak beneath him as the crystal key flickered once before vanishing into his Inventory. He exhaled, tired, amused, and vaguely concerned.
Subaru (muttering): "A pathway to godhood... or underwear theft. There is no in-between with you people."
[Echidna chuckled, unrepentant.]
"Why not both, darling?"
[Beatrice hissed in his head, tone flustered.]
"That's indecent, in fact! You're talking about ancient magical knowledge—don't drag it through the mud with... with panty jokes, I suppose!"
[Carmilla giggled softly.]
"But Beatrice, it's funny when Subaru gets all red like that..."
[Typhon chid in cheerfully.]
"I like it when he gets all flustered too! His face gets squishy and weird!"
[Subaru (ntally):] "Okay, we're not turning this into so kind of magical girl sleepover with divine nonsense and trauma bonding over my past ani addiction."
[Minerva added quietly:]
"...But we're proud of you, Subaru. You've co far. The path ahead is harder, but you're not walking alone."
A silence followed her words, warm and deep.
Subaru looked at the ceiling. The Sanctuary had always felt like a crossroads. But now it was more—a forge. Sothing was brewing in the background. With the key in hand, the witches whispering through his soul, and Emilia about to face her first trial, he knew the real story was just beginning.
Tomorrow, the trial.
Tonight, he rests.
Subaru woke back up in the Hanging Garden, as he looked at the witch and walked to the table as he started to look around.
Minerva looked at him as she spoke. "What's Wrong?".
Subaru started to looke around as he spoke. "Beatrice was also speaking in my head, where is she".
Echidna looked at him as she spoke. "Oh she it not here".
Subaru looked at him as he spoke. "Bit confused, is it because the Hanging Garden is my soul, and you all are in my soul, but Beatrice is not in my soul, that why she not here".
Sekht just looked at him as she yawn. "First of all, Yes, and second of all, Never thought I will see the day soone uses Soul 3 tis in a sentence and make it make sense".
Typhon giggled as she leaned on the edge of the table, kicking her legs back and forth.
Typhon: "SoulsoulSoul~! big bro Subaru, your brain is like a squishy puzzle cube, but sohow it works out!"
Subaru scratched his head. "Yeah... well, I guess it's easier to wrap my head around crazy magic systems than it is to understand people most days."
Echidna smirked. "A fair trade, really. But yes, you're correct. This place—the Hanging Garden—is the soulscape constructed by your spiritual density and the anchors we left behind. Beatrice, however, is still bound to the physical realm. Her connection to you isn't deep enough yet to manifest here on her own."
Subaru sat down with a heavy sigh. "So what? Do I build a deeper bond with her or shove her into my soul like you guys?"
Sekht, half-asleep: "You already did the second thing... sort of. You just need to... anchor it."
Minerva: "And that takes ti. Trust. A shared will. It's like—well, forming a contract, but on a much deeper plane."
Carmilla blushed, clasping her hands. "It's like... making a vow from the soul... so romantic."
Subaru (deadpan): "So I basically need to 'soul marry' Beako to get her access."
Echidna: "Crude... but not entirely inaccurate."
[Typhon burst out laughing.]
Typhon: "Beako's gonna flip when she hears that phrasing~!"
Subaru just dropped his head on the table.
Subaru: "You know what... I'll deal with that later."
Subaru looked at them, as he spoke. "But I am sure the Hanging Garden is older then , so what exactly is this place fully"..
Satella looked as she smiled. "It is fully our ntal space and yours, to was created by us, when Flugel sealed us all, we used their as way to keep us contact with eachother".
Pandora then spoke. "Using my powers, we put this in a layer of Reality, One on Top of the Dream Layer, but bellow the Waking Layer".
Subaru looked at them as he spoke. "Yeah, you explained about the Layer things".
Daphne then spoke. "And what is why, after each return by death, you keep coming here".
Subaru looked at her as he spoke. "Ok, but what I didn't have this place, where I would be going after Return By Death".
Satella looked at him as she spoke. "That would be my Shadow Garden".
Subaru blinked."...I'm sorry, what now?"
Satella smiled gently, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "My Shadow Garden. It's where you first ended up, rember? Back when I first granted you Return by Death. It's a raw, emotional plane—unfiltered, unstable, and entirely mine, but you done rember because it was only brief."
Echidna sipped her tea. "She's not wrong. The Shadow Garden is like a default spiritual crash site. You land there when there's no stronger construct to catch your soul. Hence, this place—The Hanging Garden—was ford to stabilize that journey. A halfway house between oblivion and self-awareness."
Subaru rubbed his temples. "So you're saying... the Hanging Garden is a custom soul server built by the Witches to reroute from crashing into Satella's personal void of nightmares?"
Pandora Smirked. "Yes. And the mont your soul matured enough—and your connection to us deepened—it started manifesting here instead."
Typhon: "Like a magical VPN~!"
Carmilla: "But with emotions... and hugs."
Sekht spoke yawning "And fewer teeth than the Shadow Garden."
Subaru just sighed again. "God... no wonder I'm always so emotionally ssed up. Every ti I die, I pass through a divine LAN network built by seven half-mad witches."
Minerva giggle as she spoke. "You're handling it wonderfully."
Subaru: "I feel like I deserve a badge."
Satella (softly): "You deserve the world."
To be continued
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