The Self-Proclaimed Knight and the Greatest Knight

It's almost time. Looking forward to this week too!

We're resuming from where Subaru was possessed by Petelgeuse last time, followed by Ferris and Julius giving him the mercy killing.

He came back in the middle of the strategy meeting with the subjugation force after the White Whale subjugation.

It's been a while since we heard the "uweh-woah" too.

I think many of you have already realized this, but as for the opening, well...

Part A start! After reflecting on last time, the contents of the strategy meeting have been changed a bit!

It may seem like Subaru recovers quickly, but in fact there was a bit more time where he was still shaken up.

Julius's phrasing is a bit hard to follow, but basically he's saying, "A possession target needs prior preparation, so it's not like he can possess whoever he wants whenever he wants."

It's being inferred that the targets he can "possess" are the executives called the Fingers.

But if those are the conditions, then what about Subaru?

It feels like I'm hearing an awful lot of Priscilla-sama's abuse.

Emilia side.

Emilia is bad at waking up, but because she also has trouble falling asleep, on this day she spent several hours repeatedly dozing off and waking back up.

It's been a while since we've had Emilia-tan in pajamas. So cute.

Transformation begins.

A blank letter of introduction is practically synonymous with a declaration of war. Emilia was having a very hard time deciding what to make of it.

The subjugation force has already arrived at the village, and everyone except Emilia has been informed of the same situation as last time. They've chosen to prioritize evacuation over subjugating Petelgeuse, but what is our protagonist thinking...?

You somehow can't quite make out the face of the person who just came in, almost as if they're wearing a Cloak of Obscured Recognition. And then there's the groundwork package.

Just who could that hooded person possibly be...?

Also, the fact that you can't really see his face properly doesn't register as strange, because your perception is being interfered with.

Petra and the others are such good kids.

Petra, Luka, Mildo, Dain, Cain, and Meina. The six children of Arlam Village are good kids. They've been that way ever since Arc 2.

But still, Petra really is overwhelmingly the cutest.

Petra's full name is Petra Leyte. She's such a capable child, you wouldn't think she came from a remote village.

That spy's cover was completely blown. Well, given what happened last time.

Part A over! Going this far ahead of the curve is what really lets Return by Death show what it can do! Took you long enough!

The new commercial is seriously cool.

Let Emilia and the others escape, then face Petelgeuse again. That is Subaru-kun's choice this time. And his companions are there to back him up. In other words, he's in the best possible condition.

Part B start!

Sending out the maximum fighting القوة as Emilia's guards. A shining example of being overprotective.

Thanks to having this robe, Subaru never had to suffer from an Emilia-ze deficiency. Emilia-ze is a fictional nutrient, by the way, but you can absorb it by interacting with Emilia, talking to her, sniffing her lingering scent, and so on.

For the behind-the-scenes this time, I went with an approach of earnestly appealing to him nonstop with speedrun resistance. The depiction is a bit rushed, but for the finer details, check volume 9 of the books! The important thing is the big scene!

By capturing Ketty, who was a spy, they've secretly raided a base of the "Fingers." The key judgment behind this operation was that they needed to wipe out Petelgeuse's potential bodies to possess before he could use them.

Hang on, was there just someone we weren't supposed to see!?

Reuniting with Petelgeuse

It really shows how important first impressions are. If Subaru had treated him politely, Petelgeuse-san would be this friendly too.

An embrace

If they align, embrace them; if they don't, cast them out.

This is a "Metia" called a "Dialogue Mirror." It's a Metia that lets a pair of matching mirrors communicate with each other, and the other half of the one Ketty possessed was being carried by a cultist at the base where Otto was being held.

The reason Subaru-kun is facing Petelgeuse alone like this is that, behind the scenes of this contact with Petelgeuse, members of the subjugation force are taking out the "Fingers" at other bases one by one, destroying the bodies Petelgeuse can "possess."

The reason the "Unseen Hand" looks gigantic is less that it's actually huge and more that it's like multiple arms are being bundled together to make it bigger. To people who can't see it, it looks like he's flying around sitting with his knees hugged to his chest.

That sloth guy who got him last time! It's the sloth guy!

If all the bodies he can possess are wiped out, only one Petelgeuse remains, but the last Subaru is still there. So where's the path to victory?

Incidentally, this is the place Subaru jumped from in episode 7.

The Finest casually climbing down the height Subaru died from.

"You can manage without me now, can't you, Subaru?"

At last, before the final battle, these people can say what they've been wanting to say.

This is Clarista, Julius's own original magic sword technique.

"Nect" is a spell that synchronizes senses with a target, and because Julius and the quasi-spirits are so exceptionally skilled, Subaru's and Julius's senses can overlap without their consciousnesses mixing, making it possible for Julius to "see" through Subaru's "field of vision." As long as Subaru doesn't look away, the "Unseen Hand" is visible.

As the trump card against Petelgeuse, Subaru concluded that the one force who might be able to see the "Unseen Hand" and still win head-on was Julius Juukulius.

From episode 13's "Self-Proclaimed Knight Natsuki Subaru" to episode 24's "The Self-Proclaimed Knight and the Finest of Knights," that's a subtitle I rather like as the author too.

Even so, this week went by fast too... It was brought to you by Ferris popping out and Mimi closing things off, but it's sad to say goodbye to this sponsor gag too.

By the way, Petelgeuse's "Unseen Hand" can normally only produce up to seven hands. But it's obvious just from looking that the final Petelgeuse is putting out far more than that. That's because the factors for "possession" that Petelgeuse planted in the "Fingers" have returned to him, increasing his power.

In other words, the possessed bodies are getting cut down left and right offscreen, so as for the people who were rampaging so fiercely last time...

Incidentally, other than killing them, there's basically no way to strip away a factor, but Ferris alone can do it. Offscreen, they're also trying to strip the factors from the "Fingers," take them prisoner, and extract information about the Witch Cult's inner workings...

With the power of Nect, they found a countermeasure against the "Unseen Hand." But what about a countermeasure against "Possession"? And with that, wait for next time! Re:Zero anime final episode, 25! There's only one episode left, but please stick with us! Well then, goodbye for today!