Re:Zero-Spartan III

by SSJ Red graffiti

(CHAPTER 15 IS OUT) B-312 awakens a month before the Re: Zero story took place. Noble Six has made connections with the wrong people and was soon hired as a Personal Grim Reaper to either kill Emilia or steal her insignia. But because the Spartan was a very Xenophobic super-soldier, he'd much rather murder the Silver-Haired Half-Devil than spare the mongrel's life!

15. H X R Isekai Part 2 (Filler)

My Comment: I liked the reviews from chapter 14 and I also liked the side story so much, so I continued this filler story and it grew a mind of its own. Right now, the continuation of Re: Zero-Spartan III is at a first draft at 1,000 words. I took my time with the Isekai Modders filler arc and completely forgot about the normal story, again. This could become a separate story if it's good enough.

It took listening to the same music I heard while writing chapter 14 to remind me why I wanted to write this in the first place.

Replies: (Not now. Too tired from writing too many deleted scenes. FAR TOO MANY. For some reason I had no idea how to continue this filler story for several months and wrote a bunch of nonsense!)

NOTICE: [This is a chat box for players inside of party chat. None of the NPCs should be capable of understanding this unless it becomes Italic.]

---

Isekai Modder, filler 2

16,000 WORDS

The deleted scenes were accidentally duplicated so I removed them from this chapter.

[X][X][X]

'How could they deliver me from my merciless fate?' Thought Emilia, crying into her hands.

The half-elf was astounded because for the longest time, due to the selfish desires of men, terrible people were attracted to her because of her controversial image. After the half-elf boldly declared her participation in the race and accepted patronage from Roswaal himself, it was only a matter of time until something happened. The half-elf knew that if word of mouth reached across Lugunica, the word that the Emilia camp remained unable to protect their own people, the slim possibility of being elected as the 42nd Ruler would become none-existant.

Had this caravan of soldiers never trespassed into Irlam village, many more lives would have been lost. That is the reason for her sorrow.

"Why do you cry?" Asked the Spartan leader with a reassuring voice. "Not anyone can hurt you now."

The half-elf quickly wiped away her tears and replied, "I am well. Believe me, my own eyes feel irritation." then she bowed her head in gratitude, both maids doing the same.

"Good. Have you more questions?" Asked the Spartan.

The half-elf nodded, "I have just one. Be the villagers in good hands?"

"Pardon?" asked Carter's voice.

Emilia rested her hands on her hips and sternly repeated, "Bid me, hath ye delivered them to safety?"

Hesitating, the Spartan leader replied, "You're as kind as ever. As of now, they've been taken to the Royal Capital for-" but the Spartan was interrupted by another fellow Spartan who managed to capture a member of the Witch's Cult.

"I've got a live one over here!" The SuperSoldier with Jorge's firefight voice dragged the struggling prisoner by the arms then shoved the sectist onto a pile of deceased members of the witch's cult.

"!" All military personnel glanced at the event.

"Why isn't the scum dead?" After deactivating the safety of his rifle, the leader stepped away from Emilia and approached the prisoner while saying, "Excuse us for a moment, Miss Emilia..."

The rest of the supersoldiers near the leader shortly followed him, now ignoring Emilia, Puck, and the twins.

"But what of the Royal Capital?" Asked Emilia, annoyed that the saviors of Irlam stepped away from her only to surround the prisoner. Their weapons were drawn to assert authority and discourage the prisoner from escaping.

Rem and Ram observed then came to the conclusion, "Miss Emilia, they have a prisoner." Said Ram, her sister Rem nodding in agreement after Emilia looked at the twins.

"I see, very well." Emilia still remained unsatisfied that her conversation was interrupted. She wondered if they planned to ignore her in the first place since the leader hesitated to answer her question.

The Spartan with Emile's firefight voice would now act as the interrogator. He lightly shoved his ally aside to approach the prisoner then silently stared before violently tearing the cultist's mask off. It revealed a young male who was greatly frightened. The young man seemed to be new and without experience so perhaps he has yet to fully convert to the insanity of the cult. A successful interrogation should be possible.

Expecting the worst to happen, Emilia averted her eyes from the prisoner. But Rem and Ram watched without pity, their judgemental eyes glaring daggers at the cultist.

Sensing the imminent danger, the young man panicked, "S-Spare me! I'm n-not as the others, f-for I simply wish a life detached from the s-slums!"

The Spartan who would now act as the interrogator chuckled while cinematically cracking his knuckles, "Well then, you'll comply if I ask you a simple question?"

"I-" The young man seemed very hesitant to speak as if he were being watched from the shadows.

Noticing this, the interrogator glanced at the shadows of the damaged structures in Irlam and saw nothing. The Radar demonstrated a complete absence of enemies so the Spartan returned his attention to the prisoner.

"Are you ready?"

With wide eyes, the prisoner silently stared at the interrogator's black visor without giving a response.

The Spartan now asked, "Where's your current archbishop of sloth headed to now? We know he lives because he escaped into another body."

"!" The young man had a look of surprise on his face because somehow they understood the powers of his archbishop.

"Surprised, aren't you? Confess now."

"..."

Silent for too long, the prisoner was grabbed by the shoulders and pulled to the Spartan's height. "You should've stayed in the slums if you weren't ready to face the real world!"

Hovering above the ground, the prisoner panicked with dread, "Wait! I mustn't say, lest I fall prey to-"

-Slam-

Before the young man could finish his protest, a swift punch to the face caused his mouth to become drenched in blood as he fell to the ground. His eyes were full of shock and throbbed left and right as he tried covering his mouth to stop the bleeding but his hands were drenched in red in only a matter of seconds.

The interrogator looked down at him and shouted, "Wrong answer! I DON'T care for your fate! You WILL tell me something useful!"

The bystanders winced at the sight of brutality. Then the Spartan grabbed the cultist by the scarlet robes and pulled him to the Spartan's height again, the Spartan's lifeless visor staring into the soul of the witch-lover while the latter was dazed and confused.

"Speak now!" Ordered the Spartan. "Do you wanna die?!"

"Cursed be your kin!" Shouted the prisoner while spitting blood onto the Spartan's visor, somewhat blinding the Super Soldier's field of vision. It was now that the young man returned to his senses and immediately regretted his actions. He could've sword he heard someone among the green soldiers say, "Cabron, he's gonna get it now!"

After a brief moment, the Spartan dropped the prisoner onto the pile of cultist corpses then proceeded to wipe the blood off the visor. It was mostly in vain because the visor remained drenched in red stains.

Angered with the result, the Spartan eagerly grabbed the cultist by the throat and lifted him to the sky and strangled him. These actions seemed unnecessarily brutal but it was the true way of handling sectists.

For the entire time, the sectist was wide-eyed as blood from his mouth had drenched the Spartan's forearm, the choking only stopped before the cultist could pass out or die. Then the Spartan dropped the cultist onto the pile of dead sectists and sternly asked, "My patience runs thin. Confess! Where's your archbishop?"

The young man wasn't given time to recover and was expected to respond despite being dazed and confused. These were his massacred brothers in arms.

Since Emile couldn't get a response out of the dazed young man, an ally Spartan stepped forth fired a burst of shots at the cultist's kneecaps.

-Brrtttt-

The cultist screamed, "Aaah!" and curled on the ground in pain. Too much of his own blood now filled the pavement as the seconds went by.

Upon witnessing the gruesome scene, Emilia unconsciously stepped away while covering her ears. She, however, made sure to remain close to the maids who didn't flinch at the scene.

"GET UP!" With a single-arm, the interrogator eagerly lifted the young man off the ground. Then he said, "This is your reward." before activating an energy sword with another hand.

Wide-eyed, the young man could only panic and resist in vain as he was lifted to the sky with an iron grip. Then the energy sword rested very close to the sectist's face so that he may feel the heat of a plasma burn.

"Haaa! Aaahh! Raaahh!" His face melted as he screamed in pain so he kicked at the supersoldier to free himself but was ultimately pointless.

This action caused the military personnel to wince at the screaming of the cultist and created mixed feelings among Puck and Emilia.

'Unfathomable, their demeanor falls in comparison to the sect.' Thought Puck while Emilia covered her ears and looked away to shield her innocence.

Meanwhile, Rem and Ram didn't flinch and didn't feel any guilt whatsoever. This was the only true way to treat the witch's cult after the horrors they had brought to the world.

"CULTIST SCUM! THIS IS YOUR ONE CHANCE TO SAVE YOUR LIFE!" shouted the Spartan III to the squirming cultist, but not a word of useful information was said. Instead, the soldier received death threats and curses. Despite this, the marines in the background laughed at this harmless threat.

The Spartan now asked one more time, "Do you wanna die? Answer me!"

But the cultist didn't care. He instead sneered with his pained voice, "Tho I may cease to live, I say unto you, repenteth! Lest the Sloth shall deliver an inferno, for it awaits-"

"WHY WAIT? I'M READY! HOW ABOUT YOU!?" The Spartan stabbed the sectist's abdomen with the superheated blade, the two tips exiting near the spine, causing the cultist's eyes to widen in shock as a reaction to feeling the intense plasma burns inside of his body.

Now satisfied with his work, the Spartan deactivated the energy sword then dropped the prisoner onto a pile of mangled cultists. He expected the scum to die yet he remained alive, worn out, and bleeding to death. Cultists seemed to have too much vitality for some reason so it would take a while for all of the organs to shut down.

All he could do now was remain still and wait for Satella's sweet embrace.

The Spartans looked at the prisoner with disgust and hatred while the interrogator insulted, "You should have stayed in the slums, you GUTTER RAT!"

Emila happened to uncover her ears at the worst time and sternly frowned at their poor choice of insults.

'Those words were harshly spoken because Reinhard presented a girl without nobility to the sage council.' Thought Emilia with sorrow for the young man who resorted to joining the witch's cult.

Since Puck could understand Emila's feelings, he replied with his mind, 'Due to awful conditions of the slums, nobles of the highest status resort to treating the humble unjustly. It caused the meek of heart to become resentful, to an extent which their damaged souls begin to embrace the teachings of the sect.'

Emilia looked at Puck as if this were new information, "Is this true?'

Puck nodded, 'Yes, Lia. In all my years, I've witnessed the disenfranchised conform to extremism at a young age. This harmful behavior had influenced their peers as well.'

Emilia pondered on those serious words, 'If this is true, then pointless it shall be to elect a female to govern all of Lugunica.'

Puck's ears twitched in curiosity, 'You believe so? Why?'

Emilia's ears drooped, 'Because ultimately, the world is shaped by the decisions of men. Be it, good men, or evil disenfranchised men.'

Puck gave her a pained smile, 'Don't give up, Lia. I know you can become a great Ruler!'

She loved his compliment, but Emilia wouldn't return the smile. She instead gained the courage to look at the damaged soul who was brutally interrogated. Her sympathy soon changed into confusion because the young man gazed at her with a disturbing smile. His face was deformed and his own blood had stained his scarlet robes.

Soon, a Spartan noticed and asked, "Why is that thing smiling?"

The interrogator glanced at the ally and asked, "Who?"

Puck stared at the dying prisoner until coming into realization, 'He's about to self destruct!' Emilia widened her eyes in shock after hearing Puck's thoughts.

Sudden images flashed into the mind of the dying cultist, revealing to him the sect ritual he had performed hours ago. Despite the difficulty and pain, he screamed at the top of his lungs, "SATELLA IS GREAT!"

The interrogator turned around only to witness a sudden flash of bright light.

"What?!"

Nearby personnel covered their eyes due to the blinding light that the cultist emitted in all directions. It was even bright enough to blind those who weren't paying attention to the drama of the interrogation.

"Cabron! No veo nada!"

"My eyes!"

"Who tossed that flashbang?!"

But before anything could bad could happen, someone sent a powerful wind blast at the interrogator but harmlessly brushed off the armor, yet managed to slice the dying cultist into several pieces. The bright light quickly faded as the cultist's body was shredded apart, creating an awful mess much like the bloody pile of exterminated cultists scattered throughout Irlam.

All six Supersoldiers glanced to the culprit only to learn Ram was responsible for killing their prisoner. She aimed both hands at the target proving she was suspect.

"What was that?" Asked Jun's voice. The Spartans were confused but a single Spartan was livid.

The interrogator glared at Ram while another Spartan held him back to stop him from attacking the VIPs. "Bitch! You hit me with that magic attack!" Complained the Spartan with Emile's firefight voice even though the shields had saved him.

Rem and Ram retreated a few steps back and embraced each other with fear.

As the angry Spartan stepped closer to the twins, Noobmaster69's Spartan blocked the way and ordered, "Stand down! Your armor negated her magic!"

"That doesn't matter! She could have killed me!" the interrogator tried getting closer to the maids but Noobmaster69 wouldn't allow it.

The leader glanced at the two Spartans and ordered, "Lock it down! Both of you!" and that was enough to cool things down between them, albeit one of them glaring at Ram through the dark visor.

"!" Throughout the drama, Emilia was visibly worried because she felt partially responsible for Ram's behavior despite having not done anything wrong. The maids noticed Emilia's distress, so Ram politely bowed in apology, Rem soon following in her sister's behavior.

"I sincerely apologize to your soldiers. I only wished to protect everyone!" Apologized Ram, then Rem followed with; "Yes, my dear sister is sorry. Sister always has the best of intentions!" Then both maids stared at their leader with pleading eyes.

The interrogator calmed down but some Spartans looked at each other confused.

The leader turned his attention to Ram and ordered, "Explain yourself."

Returning to normal, Ram replied, "With my utmost honesty, had I not slain the sectist, each and every one of us would be dead." at the end of her sentence, Rem nodded in admiration of her sister's words and actions.

While Ram was scolding the soldiers, Puck thought to Emilia in secret, 'Had they forgotten the danger of the sect? Despite their best efforts in coordination, they left out an important detail. If they wish to protect you, never again must they allow such buffoonery. Their ignorance had forced the hand of the maid to act out responsibly, all to prevent the cultist from self-destructing. Had she not responded accordingly, her sister, Rem would have taken her stead, and act in a regretful manner.'

Emilia was also surprised and ultimately agreed with Puck's thoughts, 'How could they have unforeseen this?'

'I am astounded as you, Lia.'

The half-elf looked at the heroes and asked, "Once you delivered Irlam from destruction, we trusted in thy judgment and believeth thou to have full control. Especially due to thy vast knowledge of their archbishops. How couldst thee be unsure?"

The Re: Zero Cast nodded in agreement with Emilia.

How will the soldiers respond? By avoiding the half-elf's first question, they caused her to become serious.

The leader took a deep breath before replying, "We didn't know better, for our orders were to persecute the sect." Then he looked at Ram and thanked her. "Nonetheless, we're thankful for your swift decision, despite the extreme measures."

Emilia's eyes widened as she asked, "So then, we're fortunate because the attackers were unprepared?"

The leader nodded, "Affirmative. Our decisive victory was only due to great coordination and the prayers of our families. All that we know of the sect is very limited but our knowledge of them rapidly expands."

Emilia's shoulders visibly relaxed because this response was enough to calm her nerves. There was no need to feel stress when everybody was safe. Now all they need to do is-

"Judging by your response..." Continued Ram.

The Spartan glanced at her. "Hn?"

Emilia mentally panicked, 'What's she doing?!'

Ram cleared her voice before asking with seriousness, "You marched here blind, did you?" The Spartan leader remained silent at that question so Ram continued asking, "Pardon my tongue, but it would appear as such. Bid me, why is it that you've found it appropriate to step into the Mathers Domain unannounced? If your superiors were aware of a cultist invasion, they must warn us of your arrival so that we may summon preparations in advance."

The leader nodded in agreement, "I see, then I accept full response-"

Rem suddenly interrupts, "Sister is right. If prior to your arrival you'd warned us, we wouldn't have deemed you an enemy and much of your time would have been used far more effectively. And more importantly, we'd have prepared a proper resistance in a few days' time." Added Rem to the criticism.

The leader glanced at Rem, "Aren't you just repeating what your sister said?" He asked.

Rem looked away and huffed.

The Spartan stepped closer to the maids and towered over them, "I see. Nonetheless, before I answer your questions-" he glanced at Emilia and asked, "Was it the maids who attacked us with a hailstorm of ice?" his voice revealed he was irritated.

The twins glanced at each other with sheepish looks before Ram pointed an accusing finger at her sister.

"It was Rem! Take her in my stead!" Protested Ram.

Rem was wide-eyed at her sister's betrayal. So she waved her hands and dismissed the truth, "No! Rem wasn't being hurtful!"

Emilia stomped on the ground, catching everyone's attention, "Rem, Ram! Apologize again!"

The twins stopped what they were doing and immediately obeyed Emilia's command, both sisters bowing to the Spartan leader with respect. "Sister is sorry!" "Yes, Rem apologizes as well!"

Carter's voice sighed in annoyance before giving them a reply, "Alright, I cannot speak for the actions of my superiors, but you should understand the threat of the cult. Sending a message could have put our secrecy in jeopardy. But now that we've made an appearance-"

But Rem suddenly stood up and interrupted him again, "In essence, you're giving chase to the sect?" She asked, cutting to the chase.

The Spartan silently stared before he nodded in agreement.

'She fucking interrupted me again!' The Leader silently complained inside his thoughts. 'Maybe I should have allowed Rem's cheeks to get clapped or something...'

Now it was Ram who asked, "Then why must thee become involved with Miss Emilia's candidacy for the throne?" But before the leader could explain, she continued saying, "To involve yourselves with a candidate could only mean you wish to gain political influence."

Emilia couldn't help but agree so she asked, "Why must thee become involved with my candidacy? Do you wish to reform Lugunica's military or gain the political power of a nation? If your goals align with this, then becoming allies with the Crusch Camp would fit thy interests."

"Why would you believe that?" Asked the leader, curious.

Emilia was twiddling her fingers together, "Well, because of their military background and National reformist mindset. I mean, I'm not much of a termagant person, you see..."

The leader shook his head, "In case you had forgotten, our source informed had informed us that a candidate would die without intervention, leading us to you. The half-elf candidate was the most likely of being in danger because of her lack of allies and her controversial resemblance to the one that must not be named..."

Ram suddenly comments, "Hadn't you admitted to tracking the envious sect?"

The leader didn't look at her but he responded, "That's another reason for us being here. It was very convenient that they decided to attack the Emilia camp, making things easier for us, because now we know who and what they want. Encountering the cultist scum has now become much easier than before."

This brought a new question in Emilia's mind, "Regarding the information you've given me, what interest does your master have in... me?"

"More importantly!" Puck chimed in, "Why do you know so much about us?" Then he asked with a deeper, serious voice, "WeRe YoU sPyInG oN uS?"

The Spartans glanced at each other before looking at the girls again, "Yes because you are far more important than you realize." Explained Carter's voice.

"Huh?" Emilia blushed while Puck and the maids were visibly astounded with the response.

"In short, relations between humans and demihumans would improve if a half-elf were to become a great ruler in Lugunica. But you already know that. Was it not your goal?"

Feeling complimented, Emilia nodded in agreement while thinking to herself, 'It is all true. I do wish to improve the relations among the races.'

Emilia looked at Puck again for an unknown reason and seemed to be sharing her thoughts with him despite not saying any audible words.

[The Spartans were quick to notice this. If it is true that Emilia and Puck can communicate with each other without using audible words, then the players could no longer predict their mentality from here on out in the timeline.]

"Be at peace, Miss Emilia." Said the leader. "You will continue your normal life as a candidate for the throne because only you understand the full extent of your responsibilities. However-"

Emilia shyly stuttered, "W-what is it that you wish of me?" then she placed her hands over her heart, "So long as it is within my power to grant." Puck now began to feel defensive as soon as she said this.

The leader nodded, "Good, now we're down to business."

With the way things were going, the maids carefully listened for any foul intent or any reason for them to defend Emilia from these mercenaries...

The leader began to explain with his arms crossed, "We want the Emilia camp to take full credit for the defeat of the white whale and all of the damages done to the sect."

"?" This response surely wasn't expected.

"What?" Exclaimed Emilia. "I-I couldn't!"

"You don't need to do anything at all. Simply continue your candidacy as normal but allow us to fight the white whale and persecute the witch's cult in your name!"

Emilia was at a loss for words, "But, why are you doing this for me?"

Calmly, the leader replied, "Listen, we were never doing this for your sake."

"Never?" She asked. "Then, why-"

To avoid offending, he carefully explained, "I have my own bias against you, but that remains irrelevant. Because if a half-elf was responsible for the crusade against a sect obsessed with the one that shall not be named, this would mark a new chapter for the world. I won't lie to you and say the scars of the past would be forgotten, but this would mark a blessed Re: Start!"

Emilia covered her mouth and was speechless, "I-I am not certain of this." She started pacing back and forth while thinking of the things that were being promised to her.

"You have the right to deny this, but know that we can provide this opportunity to Miss Felt, who currently leans on the shoulder of Reinhard The Sword Saint. So please, allow the UNSC to help make this possible!" He stated with a proud fist, confident that he made a good first impression.

"!" Emilia was taken aback by their proclamations. She stopped pacing back and forth and looked at the supersoldiers with a straight face.

"While'st thee outperformed against the invasion of the envious sect, how art thee to locate whither the sect hides in mass? For how long shall thee retain in mystery if word of thy existence hath reached all ears? And dreadfully, is it in thy capability to slay the white whale?"

The Spartan almost had trouble understanding the half-elf but he managed to accurately answer;

"To ease your mind, yes, we are fully capable of slaying the White Whale. But not with our current equipment, we haven't brought every war instrument at our disposal. And about the sect, we will take our time before we clash against them again. We need to regain some strength for what we're planning to do. We had 19 casualties, not too many for us, but was unexpected. We thought the cultists were primitive and unintelligent. We were wrong."

Emilia glanced at the maids and the maids smiled at her. She looked at Puck and he looked at her with a troubled expression. When she returned her gaze to the soldiers, the Spartan leader kneeled and placed his rifle aside.

The soldiers waited for a response from Emilia until-

"Wait, UNSC?" Asked Puck, not pronouncing the letters properly. "Whomever yond is, thee never did exist within Lugunica's borders. Art thou an organization from another state?"

"Why, yes..."

The cat suddenly frowned...

"!"

Perhaps Puck was smarter than the players had realized...

Emilia frowned too before saying, "My most humble apology, but receiving assistance from a foreign group is cause for my removal. " and she bowed in apology.

SHE MADE UP HER MIND!

The Spartans noticed Rem and Ram looked at them with their cold judgemental gazes. Whatever they were thinking to themselves, they must have been completely disappointed too.

[X][X][X]

Quickly, Jake32 opened the console menu and paused the world of Re: Zero and froze all AI logic. Everything in the game was now frozen. The NPCs thoughts process has been halted too.

"..."

"Jake, what's going-"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Shouted Jake, slamming his fist on the desk of his powerful computer. "Now I have to revert to the last checkpoint for the billionth time!"

"..."

["Wow bruh, just wow."] Mocked DunkSauZ3. ["You just HAD to mention the UNSC! They DON'T exist in Re: Zero, YOU PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT! I JUST WANTED TO CLAP REM!"]

Jake was laughing and crying at the same time, ["Aaah! I don't know! Gosh! I don't KNOW!"]

The players thought it would be so easy to just do what they want in Re: Zero and feel like badasses while they're at it, but these NPCs have real human feelings and view the world not through a scripted sequence but from a logical point of view. There were also off-camera scenes that happened in their lives, expanding the realm of possibility.

It was only a matter of time until everything fell apart for the players.

[*Yawn* "Well, it was a good run."] Said Noobmaster69 in a tired voice. ["I'm gonna play matchmaking... *Yawn* some infection, I think."]

["No, dude! No, don't leave, man! We just gotta legally exist inside Lugunica so we can make Emilia win!"] Protested Jake32.

["Relax, Jake. After we think things through, we might know what to do next."] Replied Nobmaster69, bored of the game already.

["Didn't you hear what I just said? We just NEED to legally exist inside of Re: Zero in order to work with Emilia's faction!"]

["And didn't you HEAR what I said? Seriously, I said we can do this later when we're all refreshed. And by the way, what you said sounds BORING! It's gonna take a full three years for one candidate to win and we ain't got time for that. We just gotta do something that'll last forever in Re: Zero, so we can leave satisfied."] Suggested Noobmaster69.

["Yeah, we should do that or something..."] Said Stanman12. ["I mean, we're gonna disappear from their world and never show up again once we quit playing the Master Chief Collection."]

["Oh..."] Jake32 said, all depressed.

["Although, while we're still here, it would be cool if we helped the NPCs in Re: Zero modernize their world, somehow."] Suggested Stanman12.

["Guys."] Lord Zedd finally commented. ["I just want to shoot something. I don't care about the anime or watched it anyway."]

["Come on Zedd, his idea is not so bad, hear me out. We make their world a free one like the United States of America while also granting the benefits of some other countries in Europe."] Said Noobmaster69.

["No, I seriously don't care."] Replied Lord Zedd.

(Lord Zedd and Gamecheat13 are only here for modding purposes...)

Jake chimes in, ["Noob, aren't most parts in Re: Zero free already? Well, Kararagi is different since they got slavery going on, but we have no idea how to reform a country."]

DunkSauZ3 finally interrupted, "I DON'T CARE what you guys do! So long as I get to clap Rem's cheeks, I'll be satisfied."

"Dunk! I'll shoot you again!" Complained Jake32.

"Dunk, why are you always talking about Rem?" Asked Stanman12. "I would like to see a cute reaction from Emilia. My gosh dude, why is she so darn cute!?"

"Pff! Emilia is trash and everyone should know that!" Sneered DunkSauZ3. "So I'll do you one better. WHY IS REM SO DAMN SEXY!?"

"Shut up, we all know Betelguese is best girl..."

"..."

"WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT?!" Shouted Jake32 into party chat.

"..."

"It was me..." Noobmaster69 admitted.

"Noob... I thought you were better than this..." Said Jake32, disappointed.

"What?" Asked Noobmaster69, embarrassed.

"..."

Jake32 got tired of the party chat so he finally made up his mind, "Whatever... it's about time I start the game again so I'm reverting to the last checkpo-"

[Checkpoint Done...]

Jake stared profusely at the computer, "Oh no..."

"Jake, what happened?" Asked Noob.

"We're stuck..."

"Jake?"

"We're screwed!" Exclaimed Jake.

"What, why!?" Asked Noob.

Jake shouted into the party chat, "THE GAME JUST SAVED EVEN THOUGH I PAUSED IT!"

"Really?" Asked Noob, shocked.

"Ohoho! You done messed up now." Lord Zedd laughed. Gamecheat13 also chuckling behind his microphone.

"It's not so bad. This happened to Subaru in the anime a few times, ya know." Said Stanman12, failing to make things better.

Jake then proceeds to scream, "NO!" for a long 13 seconds.

[X][X][X]

(This is where the chapter almost ended completely)

The players couldn't revert to the last checkpoint without restarting the entire mission, so they were forced to continue the timeline while facing the consequences.

Carter took a deep breath before coming to terms with reality, "I see, it only makes sense that you follow the laws of your country. Forgive us for being uninformed." then he nervously bowed his head as the rest of the Spartans also bowed their heads in shame.

One of the marines in the background suddenly complained, "Great, just great! Was all this fighting for nothing?!" Then he picked up a brick and shattered a window in the village while shouting, "CABRON!"

Other marines shared similar negative sentiments but Emilia had made up her mind.

The half-elf crossed her arms and looked away from everyone, "I'm sorry but you should have known better. While I am grateful for your noble actions, I cannot step out of line to accept you." as she said this, both maids nodded in agreement while Puck covered his mouth with his paws to avoid laughing at the expense of these young soldiers who fought hard for nothing.

-BANG-

Everyone turned their attention to the loud noise and saw it was the leader who fired one round into the forest.

Now that everyone was silent, the calm Spartan leader reassured everyone, "Our fight wasn't in vain, because our top priority was to encounter the witch's cult. And our goal was met." Then he glanced at the startled half-elf while holstering the firearm. "Despite your ultimate decision, our superiors still endorse the idea of a half-elf becoming the ruler of Lugunica."

Emilia stomped on the ground and raised her voice, "I shall not accept you!" her voice echoed throughout Irlam.

"I know. But let me say, good luck to you. May the best candidate win." He reached out for a handshake but Emilia didn't return the kind gesture, not when Puck was probably whispering into her thoughts to react negatively against them.

Great, what now? Do the players continue normally? After Puck revealed they aren't from Lugunica, a political alliance would never happen.

Suddenly an unidentified signature appeared on the radars so the soldiers looked up and saw a jester in clown make-up floating under the clouds while also staring down at them with a smug grin on his face.

'Roswaal was present the entire time?' Thought the Spartan leader.

"He's flying..." Said Jun's voice, albeit unsurprised.

"Yeah, I can see that." Said Emile's bored voice. (Visor remained bloody)

The marines that gathered dead cultists to burn their corpses into a mass pile stopped what they were doing to stare at the man who was floating under the clouds.

"I thought this day can't get any weirder..." Some marines shared the same sentiments.

"What~ a predicament!" Cheered Roswaal with a vibe that would normally lift the spirits of a depressed person. But this wasn't an appropriate time for that attitude of his.

The master of the Mathers domain has decided to make an appearance, finally. But why did he choose to do it when it was finally safe to do so? The players were gonna have to plan their words carefully because this nobleman is mysteriously unpredictable. Maybe he arrived to help them with legal matters? They could only hope.

Upon touching the ground in front of the six Spartan players, both Rem and Ram formally bowed to Roswaal.

"Welcome home, lord Roswaal." Greeted both maids in unison.

But Roswaal didn't acknowledge the two maids, he didn't need to. His focused gaze was fixed onto the Supersoldiers that had delivered his people from absolute destruction.

They all stared at each other, not anyone dared to break the silence.

Finally, Roswaal spoke, "You've quite the nerve~" He finished his comment with cheerful vibes, but it was hard to know if he was upset because of his odd accent.

The players remained silent while the jester's vibrant eyes stared directly at them, having high expectations for them. What bothered the players greatly was that they had no idea why. After defeating a genocidal cult in battle, this should have been expected.

[X][X][X]

["Oh man, I've gotta pause the game!"] Said Jake32 inside the party chat.

["NO YOU'RE NOT! I'll quit the game if you do!"] Protested Noobmaster69.

["But how the heck are we going through Roswaal?"] Asked Jake32. ["I don't know what to say!"]

["It was gonna happen eventually. Soon, we'll be talking to even smarter NPCs as we progress through the game."] Explained Noobmaster69.

["Well, I'm already nervous!"] Retorted Jake32. ["How the heck do I respond to Roswaal?!"]

["Avoid answering questions you do NOT understand. And absolutely DO NOT LIE!"] Explained Noobmaster69.

["We've already said too many lies! What are we gonna do?!"]

["I don't know! Figure it out!"]

["I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT!"]

["Welp, this is some deep shit we got ourselves into..."]

[X][X][X]

The commander stared at Roswaal for far too long, "You're the master of this domain..." It was more of a nervous statement than a question.

Roswaal raised an eyebrow, sensing their nervousness.

"Indeed~ I am the master of the earth you desecrate. Yet, how did you learn the identity of my affiliates while masking your presence?"

"Is it an apology you want?" Asked Carter but Roswaal shook his head while approaching the leader.

Despite the difference in hight, (Roswaal being 6,1/ Players being 6,9) Roswaal's face was now uncomfortably close to the Spartan leader's visor.

"Excuse me?" Carter asked, visibly uncomfortable. This was a complete contrast to his confident behavior a few minutes ago...

What Roswaal said next caused their heart rates to increase.

"Unmask your face so that I may speak to real men. All six of you." Said Roswaal with a smug grin.

"!"

[X][X][X]

["Guys, I think Roswaal knows we aren't human."] Said Jake32.

["Play it cool! I have a mod for Isekais like this one!"] Cheered Gamecheat13.

["Really? Let's try it."]

[X][X][X]

After some visible hesitation from the Spartan leader, he slowly put both hands on his ODST helmet, it hissed as he removed the helmet revealing the highly detailed face of Carter Noble 1.

Roswaal took two steps back after witnessing the detailed face of Noble 1, as if he didn't expect this. What did he expect to see? Even the floating feline was surprised.

The rest of the players soon removed their helmets revealing the faces of the Noble Team. Since two Spartans never showed their faces, male civilian faces were used instead. One was a handsome shaved African American while the other was a handsome white European descent with a military haircut. The players forgot that every Spartan body they used was male, so having Kat's face present was kind of weird. Although, if kat pretended to be an attractive young male soldier, she could get away with it if she never spoke a word.

Puck looked at Emilia and exchanged thoughts again, 'I can suddenly sense their mana!'

'It must be their strange armor.' Thought Emilia, observing their faces. 'It conceals their mana.'

Once everyone had a good look at their faces, Noble 1 explained, "I'd prefer not to reveal my face, but so be it." then he asked, "Have you any complaints of our trespass onto your Domain?"

Roswaal shook his head in dismay, "Apologies aren't needed today. If anything's~ to be true, the Emilia camp is in dire need of another patron." Then Roswaal glanced at Emilia with a welcoming smile. "Better said, Emilia-sama's public image may improve if she had great backings from multiple patrons."

Emilia blinked twice when all eyes were on her. "I'm sorry but it would be impossible to accept patronage from a foreign organization." as she said this, Puck glared daggers at Roswaal with suspicion.

"What are you plotting, Roswaal?" Puck sneered at the man in clown make-up.

Roswaal glanced at Emilia's familiar and rested one hand over his heart so that he may appear honest. "Oooh~, I've only the truest intentions for her highness, of course."

[X][X][X]

The players in the party chat were confused.

["Okay what the heck does he want?"] Jake32 wondered.

["Why don't you ask him?"] Replied Noobmaster69.

["Dang it."]

[X][X][X]

Curious, the player asked Roswaal with Carter's firefight voice, "Have you by any chance found a loophole in Lugunica's politics?"

Roswaal returned his attention to the Spartan leader and grinned with charisma, "Only, I've thought of a way to give you legal asylum."

The Spartan leaned back in confusion, "Legal Asylum?"

"Indeed~, yet it may be viable if a brief portion of thee wast to forfeit thy ranks to serveth under Miss Emilia's personal militia." Explained Roswaal with clarity.

"Militia?" Asked Carter. "You said legal asylum."

Roswaal's cheerful demeanor was then replaced with a calmer serious tone, "Listen, legal matters must be observed with utmost caution as one shouldst with murky waters. Only this shall prevent the removal of Miss Emilia with absolute certainty."

The player appeared bewildered, "We could make arrangements..."

Roswaal grinned charismatically before Puck flew beside the clown's head and shouted, "Roswaal! Thou mustn't negotiate without Lia's final consent." Complained Puck.

Roswaal sheepishly chuckled, "My mistake~. How malapert of me not to ponder Emilia-sama's thoughts on the matter." Said Roswaal before respectfully approaching the bewildered half-elf.

[X][X][X]

["Wait a minute, Roswaal's actually making things easier for us."] Said Jake32 in the party chat, coming into realization to what's going on.

["That's a relief, I was gonna quit the game a second there."] Said Noob.

["Haha, yeah. Wait, you were what?!"] Exclaimed Jake.

["Oh really? Roswaal's being helpful, you say?"] Asked DunkSauZ3 a bit suspicious.

["What do you mean?"] Asked Stanmn12.

["Dude, whatever the clown's thinking, I think we should SHOOT HIM before anything bad happens."] Said DunkSauZ3, deactivating the safety of his assault rifle in-game.

["WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"] Shouted Stanman12 at DunkSauZ3.

["What? I'm saving our asses from trouble."] Retorted DunkSauZ3, reloading his rifle while gaining the attention of the NPCs.

["DUNKSAUZ3! I don't want you ruining the Re: Zero timelines like you did before!"] Protested Jake32.

["Hah! Then you should have never killed me when I was about clap Rem's cheeks!"]

Suddenly, DunkSauZ3 took aim at Roswaal but before he could open fire, another player quickly assassinated the traitor on the spot. DunkSauZ3 was pushed onto the ground but as he tried to get up he had his neck snapped by Stanman12 who managed to tackle the traitor onto the ground again.

Roswaal turned around and was bewildered by the sight of friendly fire amongst the supersoldiers.

"!"

The Spartan players backed away from Stanman12 as all bystanders watched in horror to what had happened to the Supersoldier who had just attempted to take Roswaal's life.

"..."

"Lord Roswaal, one of them attempted to hurt you." Said Ram.

"Lord Roswaal, they no longer have our trust." Added Rem.

"You had a traitor among you?" Asked Roswaal, crossing his arms. He wasn't cheerful anymore and his body gradually became shrouded with colorful magic aura.

As Stanman12 backed away from the traitor's corpse, DunkSauZ3 waited to respawn so he can try shooting at them again but he ran out of lives.

[Checkpoint Done...]

["WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!"] Shouted Jake32.

["Hahaha! That was damn lit!"] Cheered DunkSauZ3.

["WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!"] Jake yelled in party chat.

["Bruh, why not just kick me out of this stupid game already! I'm super bored!"] Replied DunkSauZ3, irritated. ["And after you do that, I'm going to start my own timeline with Rem after the Royal selection starts!"]

["Seriously?"] Asked Jake32. ["Then you can FUCK OFF!"]

[Are you sure you want to kick this player out of the game?] [Yes No]

[DunkSauZ3 was booted, DunkSauZ3 quit]

[Player limit: 5/16]

["Wow, now we're down to five people!"] Exclaimed Lord Zedd.

["Even so, I'm not afraid to KICK more players! So everyone should behave!"] Complained Jake32, still angry at DunkSauZ3.

["Nah, We'll just quit in advance."] Said GameCHeat13.

["Heh! If he leaves, I'm going too."] Replied Lord Zedd.

[GameCheat13 quit]

["Oh, would you look at that!"]

[Lord Zedd quit]

[Player limit: 3/16]

["Aw shit! We just lost two modders!"] Jake32 had realized his mistake after his poor choice of words.

["What the! Everyone is leaving!"] Complained Stanman12. ["What did you do?!"]

["Dude, now it's just the three of us!"] Noobmaster69 also complained. ["Why did you scare them off?"]

["Ah-I-I don't know, man." *Sigh* "I don't KNOW! Give me a break! DunkSauZ3 jacked things up for the last time!"]

["Well you managed to screw things even more!"]

[X][X][X]

Before the NPCs could question what had just happened, two supersoldiers suddenly collapsed dead next to each other, startling everyone. Their over-shields flashed brightly before popping into a golden EMP blast as would normally happen when a player quits the game.

"!"

Everyone saw that Kat (Gamecheat13) along with Emile (Lord Zedd) died for no explainable reason... (The dead traitor was the European descent)

The marines and ODST in the vicinity suddenly raised their firearms and were ready for another fight the moment two Spartans randomly died without being attacked by anyone. Meanwhile the Ai Spartans were already on the defensive the moment DunkSauZ3 attempted to shoot Roswaal.

An AI Spartan with the voice of a Halo4 Spartan asked, "Hostiles position?!"

There were now 13 active ODST Spartans in the vicinity. 3 of them are real players.

Everyone was on the defensive including the twin maids who now stood closer to Emilia and Roswaal to protect them.

"What was that?!" Asked Rem.

"Was it the sect?" Asked Ram.

The Marines and normal OSDT aimed their rifles in all directions in mass confusion.

"What just happened?!"

"Was that suppose to be magic?!"

"Where are they?!"

"Was it a curse from the witch?!"

"Keep your eyes peeled!"

[X][X][X]

Jake32 observed and came to the realization, ["Hold on... their reactions are making it seem like we're being attacked by the witch's cult from the shadows."]

["Really? This actually made things more believable for us!"] Cheered Noobmaster69.

["Okay, calm down. I have a plan but I'm gonna have to wing it to see if it works."]

["I don't care what you do, just get us out of this confusing mess!"]

["Okay, but follow my lead!"]

[X][X][X]

The leader looked at the Re: Zero Cast and ordered, "Return to your homes! If anyone of us approaches you, attack them without a second thought!"

Roswaal and the Re: Zero Cast were taken aback by the sudden change in atmosphere and stared at the Spartan leader, dumbfounded.

"I said GO!" Shouted Carter' with a powerful voice only a Spartan can boast.

Emilia and the twin maids looked shocked but obeyed and quickly picked up the pace and sprinted towards the shortest path to the mansion. The leader watched as the girls ran with demihuman swiftness towards the mansion but Roswaal simply levitated upwards.

"Roswaal!" Exclaimed Carter, looking up to the Nobleman.

The clown stopped and turned his attention to the Spartan, "I beeeeg~ your pardon?"

"Next time, our representatives won't arrive unannounced..."

Roswaal glared at the leader with a serious eye then smiled. Both men nodded to each other before returning to their devices. Finally, Emilia and the twin maids had quickly arrived at the front gates of the mansion and panted for air while Rem looked back in wonder of what just happened back there...

Meanwhile, from the safety of the Mathers archives, Beatrice watched as the villagers were returned to their homes as soon as all cultist activity was expulsed from the Irlam village and the Mathers domain. The flying vehicles descended one by one, delivering the villagers to their homes again for them to learn that their homes were restored to its former glory as if the battles and explosions never occurred, to begin with.

The only lasting proof of there being a past battle was the dead civilians in bodybags and was laid out in the open in an orderly fashion, waiting to be properly buried by their families. An extra detail that was quickly noticed was a single white rose without thorns being placed on each bodybag to show condolences from the soldiers. Soon, all soldiers of the foreign faction made their final goodbyes before evacuating themselves and their equipment into the aerial vehicles and then vanished into the skies.

"Humans sure progress slowly, kashira." Mused Beatrice to herself as she shut a book in hand. The fact these humans managed the expulsion of the witch's cult without the proper use of mana shows how desperate men are to purge the evils of the world. But she had to admit, they were very effective at countering everything the witch's cult threw at them, including their archbishop. Perhaps the ways of old are now outdated and a new world will arise after these long 400 years.

But despite avoiding mana usage, how was it that they managed to undo all physical damage to Irlam village without a source of mana? Is there another power at work here? It just suddenly happened after their leader gave a verbal command then suddenly all destroyed property was restored.

'I should meet that man, I suppose...'

[X][X][X]

[Custom Game Lobby]

"Okay so I saved and quit..." Said Jake32. The three remaining players remained active in the custom game lobby, speaking about future plans for their 'game session.'

"Are you entirely sure?" Asked Noob. "Make sure you saved it."

"Yeah, I'm entirely sure. Wow!" Replied Jake, annoyed.

"So what do we do now?" Asked Stan, unsure of the future of their game.

"I tell you what, the last game made me feel pretty stupid, so to make sure we aren't fools again, tomorrow we should check out 'Theater Mode' so we can see what happened in off-camera scenes." Suggested Noobmaster69.

"That's..." Jake stuttered to make a retort but "actually not a bad idea." he suddenly agreed.

NOTE: Theater mode is a feature in most halo games that allow players to view what they had missed or record a 'game clip' for an 'MLG' moment for bragging rights. The players could perhaps use theater mode to their advantage to figure out where the witch's cult is hiding without having to be physically present in Re: Zero... Or they could fuck around without being seen by anyone at all which is most likely the case. Why take anything seriously if it's just a game?

"Ha! I just realized something." Commented Noobmaster69.

"And what's that?"

"Right about now, DunkSauZ3 would talk about spying on Rem with Theater Mode so he can watch her take a shower."

"I kicked him out of the game." Said Jake32.

"I know. But I already miss the guy. I wanna hear him talk about clapping Rem's cheeks or something."

"Clap Rem's cheeks? Don't we all?"

"Um..." Murmured Stanman12. "I actually like Emilia."

"..."

"Stan, do you like pain?" Asked Jake32.

"No! Why you gotta be like that? Damn!" Complained Stanman12.

"Whatever. You guys really getting online tomorrow?" Asked Jake.

Noobmaster quickly replied, "Yeah, what did you think my plans were?"

"Sure..." Said Stanman12. "... but can I invite-"

"NO!" Shouted Jake32 into the mic.

"Earrape, dude! Watch it!" Complained Noob.

"Jake, I'm not inviting DunkSauZ3! I'm just-"

"It's not about DunkSauZ3, its the fact that MORE players mean MORE chaos. But now that it's just the three of us, the game has gotten very relaxing." Explained Jake32.

"Oh... like that time, remember Rem was killed by Dun-"

"Good!" Interrupted Jake. "Now that we all understand why we CAN'T have more players, I can now leave in peace!"

"Bro, why you gotta-"

Jake suddenly disconnected from the lobby.

"..."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

[X][X][X]

The next day, our players have entered theater mode and watched how the Spartans spawned into the game inside of the forest with their scorpion tank and two aircraft accompanying them. The three players appeared as Forge balls (Monitors or Oracles if you feel like it) and were completely invisible to the eyes of the NPCs.

["You guys see what I'm seeing?"] Asked Jake, his oracle floating around the trees of the forest.

["Yeah. This is the start of the game."] Replied Noob. ["Right before GameCheat13 accidentally killed Ram with a grenade-"]

["D-don't remind me! We already know what happens here! Let's just fly around the world to see what's going on elsewhere."] Suggested Jake.

["Wouldn't it be better if we used our recourses better and just spy on the Witch's cult?"] Asked Noob.

["Right, that makes sense."] Replied Jake. ["But there are off-camera scenes I want to look at right now."]

["Fine, I'm up for this."] Commented Stan.

All three forge balls followed the long path toward the Royal Capitol to go sight-seeing and learn about what's going on in random parts of Re: Zero... Maybe there was something important happening somewhere else where the players weren't paying attention...

[X][X][X]

Anastasia Hoshin was accompanied by three of her contracted mercenaries, Mimi, Hetaro, and Tivey. The triplets accompanied her to the social plaza because they were acting as her guardians to allow Anastasia to safely observe the Royal selection posters among the commoners. As the candidate stepped closer to the gathered crowd of commoners, upon noticing her image, most of them stepped aside to allow her a better view of the selection posters that hung on a brick wall.

"Is she one of the candidates?"

"What's she doing here?"

Anastasia looked to the commoners and nonchalantly waved her hand at them. "Don't mind me, think of me as another passerby."

"Oh? She's not greedy."

"So humble!"

"What a nice lady!"

The candidate smiled at the praise from the common folk but once she observed the selection posters, she noticed one of the images was torn to shreds.

"Odd, who would do this?" She wondered.

Mimi pointed at the ruined poster, "Look, it's torn to pieces!"

Anastasia pet Mimi's hair in response, "What an excellent observation. Let's see who it was."

Mimi purred as Anastasia pet her hair, "Mmzz... hehe..." She was about to step away from Anastasia to pick up the tattered pieces of the poster but Hetaro was faster and handed them to Anastasia.

"Here ya go!" Said Hetaro with an innocent smile.

Anastasia smiled gratefully, "Thank-"

"Hey!" Complained Mimi with her fists up.

"Too slow!" Hetaro showed Mimi his tongue and mocked her.

Tivey just sighed. He had to tolerate their energetic vibes every day.

Anastasia smiled at the triplets before becoming serious after observing a death threat written onto the poster. It belonged to the half-elf candidate.

The greedy candidate frowned at the act of aggression but it couldn't be helped. It was indeed bold of the half-elf to announce her candidacy despite the obvious reaction from the people.

Pulling Anastasia out of her thoughts, Mimi and Hetaro were continuously poking each other but it seemed more like a playful slap fight. As young kids, they had pent up energy they need to release.

"Mimi, Hetaro." Said Anastasia, earning their attention as they stopped playfully slapping each other. Both demis innocently stared at Anastasia while awaiting her command.

"Why don't the two of you go play somewhere? Tivey will stay with me." Anastasia would be fine with just Tivey, because many of her followers are watching her despite being unnoticed in the background among the commoners. Some were in shops while others walked among the people of the Royal city.

"Really?" "Can we?"

The candidate smiled and pat their heads, "Sure, meet me at your favorite restaurant when you're done."

Both demis became excited, then Mimi playfully poked Hetaro on the nose then jumped away to escape.

"Tag! You're it!" Cheered Mimi.

"No fair!" Hetaro complained as he gave chase to his sister.

Anastasia smiled as the two children played their silly games while Tivey remained by her side because he tends to be the more relaxed of the triplets.

Mimi and Hetaro quickly got into trouble and raced past a bar. Meanwhile, despite the bar being a social-relaxing area, it wasn't safe from Lugunica's politics...

[X][X][X]

"Oy, Dominique! Another drink for the lady!" Exclaimed a furry wolfman in a brown vest and clothing. He was seated next to a human fox girl dressed in white robes which had yellow outlines and Neko ears on the hoodie. The wolfman leaned closer and sniffed her perfume, this internally disturbed the fox girl greatly.

The background character by the name of Dominique glanced at the human fox girl in white robes to confirm she's willing to accept the offer.

With a sweet tender voice, she replied while softly pushing the wolfman away, "I'm flattered... but I'm not interested."

"Not interested?" The wolfman felt out of place after being rejected. "Why not? Can't you-" but he froze in place after realizing that she was a member of the mercenary group 'Iron Fang' because of the kanji symbol on her attire. Wishing to avoid trouble with some mercenaries, he slowly backed away and returned to his buddies at the far corner of the bar. They laughed and snickered at the wolfman's expense.

The bartender sighed and took a seat because of the lack of activity today. He looked at his rough hands and frowned before making a fist and punching the counter, startling the fox girl and the demihuman clients in the bar.

Suddenly the bartender hardened his fists and shouted, "Flugel's beard!" He seemed very frustrated for an unknown reason.

"Wow! What's wrong with the human?" Asked a random client in the bar.

The bartender frowned at the demihuman who made the comment and shouted back at them, "Those Royal selection posters were SUPPOSED to attract more clients but it's done the exact opposite!" then he punched the counter again in double frustration.

Wide-eyed, the fox girl moved away from the bartender to avoid seeing his wrath up close.

"Hey, maybe it's just bad luck because one candidate happens to be a half-elf." Commented a random voice in the bar.

Everyone in the bar suddenly became silent and stared at the demihuman who made the comment and it made the demihuman quite nervous." What? I'm not lying! Go see for yourselves!"

Dominique didn't like the news one bit and complained, "No... that can't be! Is this some sort of joke from the sage council?! Because I'm not laughing!"

The bar remained silent again because everyone had similar sentiments.

"Man, everything's going crazy these days. I mean, why would they allow this to happen?" asked the wolfman who recently tried dating the fox girl. He was now seated at a table with his buddies.

The Newsbringer shrugged before taking a sip from a beverage. "I dunno, it's just true."

The bar became silent again until someone from outside barged into the building from the front door with a loud bang and caught everyone's attention, "Everyone with eyes to see! Come out and look at the sky!"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"What's in the sky?"

The intruder tried to explain but couldn't find the words to do it so he ignored the questions and shouted again, "Just look for yourselves!" then ran outside.

There was a momentary pause of confusion before the fox girl asked, "What's happening out there?" then she stood up from her seat.

"There's only one way to find out." Replied the bartender.

One by one, the clients inside the bar went outside and were quick to notice a loud foreign noise that came from above while people who were already outside stared at something that was Casting a big shadow.

As soon as the raspy bartender exited his establishment, he was quick to ask, "What's all this ruckus about?!" but stopped in his tracks upon seeing a green metal object shooting blue fire to fly in the skies above the plaza of commerce and he heard some bizarre statements and questions from bystanders:

"Is that a demon beast?"

"It can't be. It looks like a carriage but with a bird shape."

"But carriages don't fly or shoot blue fire."

"Is it a house?"

"Does that look like a house to you?!"

"What are those strange white symbols on it?" the bystander stared at four letters. (UNSC)

The green metal bird seemed to be scanning the holy city for something then suddenly picked up speed and flew away, startling the bystanders below.

"It's flying away!"

"Where's it going?"

The bartender didn't know whether to be shocked or not care at all because he had better things to do than being fascinated by strange objects in the sky. He shrugged and returned into the bar but he suddenly heard some voices in his head:

["Okay, I change my mind, we should leave now. This background character is pretty damn boring."]

["Yeah, why are we watching him again? Where's the apple merchant? He's way cooler than this guy."]

["Nah, forget that. The fox girl is about to spy on our Pelican, we should go follow her..."]

["Right. We can't mess around anymore."]

"Huh?" Dominique turned around only to see his former clients staring at the sky or returning to their own business. Then he scratched his head and mused "Are there kids hiding in here?" he checked under the tables but found nothing.

A demihuman seated at the table was visibly confused that the bartender was checking under his table, "Hey, Human! Ah-I mean Dominique!"

The bartender looked up, "yes?"

"Did you lose something?"

"Not at all. Just thought I heard someone." Dominique scratched his head before returning to his work.

[X][X][X]

While everyone returned to their devices, the fox girl decided to put on her Neko hoodie and proceed to follow the flight direction of the unknown foreign object. Perhaps there's something of interest she can learn and then inform Anastasia Hoshin?

She jumped onto the rooftops so that she may catch up with the flying metal object shooting fire out of its wings but she wasn't fast enough. She soon lost sight of it over the horizon of structures that were scattered across the Capitol.

'Damn! It's too fast!' she was forced to pick up her pace but it was for naught.

'No! I'll lose it!' She thought in frustration. 'As the eyes and ears of the Iron Fang, it's my job to keep up with events like this!'

Despite her impressive speed, she mentally compared herself to a slow dog giving chase to a carriage that simply moved too fast. After two long minutes of jumping from house to house, she reached the border wall of the Capitol, then finally caught up with the foreign object and saw that it had chosen an open field as its landing zone right outside the border walls of the Great Royal City.

From behind a broken pillar of a long-forgotten war, the fox girl hid from sight so that she may watch.

'What could it be?' She wondered, staring at the well-crafted vehicle. 'The green metal object had caught the attention of the border guards and put them on high alert. If I'm not mistaken, their priorities would be to ensure it isn't an enemy ambush.'

Indeed, she saw 15 border guards with their swords drawn approaching the foreign object without a clue to what it was.

"What could it be?" asked a lesser knight in silver armor as he approached a pelican.

"I don't know. You think it belongs to a mage who accidentally sent it flying?"

"Keep your guard up! The general shape of it similar to a carriage so it must have passengers hiding inside."

"Could they be invaders?!"

Suddenly, a voice played on loudspeakers, "Back away from the vehicle!"

The guards were startled by the voice, "Who said that?"

"Up here!" Exclaimed the loudspeakers.

The border guards noticed the Pilot of the pelican staring at them through the windshields while waving at them to back off.

"What the?!"

They also witnessed more Pelicans coming into view from the horizon of abandoned structures in the slums and coming to land in an orderly fashion.

"Is this an invasion?!"

"Signal the alarm!"

Up in the border walls, a guard blew a loud horn to warn those in the local vicinity.

As more border guards arrived at the scene, a loud hissing noise erupted from the backdoors of the aerial vehicles and it lowered itself into a platform, allowing the healthy and injured refugees to exit in an orderly fashion.

"One by one! No pushing!" Ordered a sergeant, leading the people out of the vehicle into the open fields. Soon, the rest of the pelicans continued with the same drill as the first one. The villagers of Irlam were dazed and confused that they've managed to reach the capital in a matter of minutes when it normally takes hours to arrive on a normal carriage. They were mostly fascinated by why and how they got here so fast.

"!"

This wasn't an invasion, this looked like an evacuation had previously happened.

The border guards who thought they would be fighting a battle stopped in confusion, "What's the meaning of this?" asked their captain, approaching a marine with a hostile demeanor, sword in hand.

This evacuation was poorly planned, it seems.

"Hm?" One sergeant glanced at the guards in primitive armor, almost chuckling to himself while the latter stared in bewilderment at the green uniform and strange equipment attached to the strange armor.

"What's so funny?" Asked the captain of the border guards, upset that a false alarm went off.

"Erhm..." The sergeant quickly pulled out a paper and began to read, "There's an emergency occurring within the Mathers Domain. The citizens under Roswaal Mathers' protection were evacuated to a faraway location on the-"

"Mathers Domain?" Interrupted the captain. "One of the candidates accepted patronage there, correct?"

"Urm..." The sergeant skipped some lines on the paper but then crunched it and tossed it away. "Yes. I'm told Miss Emilia was targeted by a large group of extremists but the threat is being dealt with as of now..."

The captain frowned, "Extremists?"

One of the lesser knights amongst the border guards leaned closer to the captain and whispered, "Sir, it was bound to happen sooner or later because of the candidate's image."

"Why are you whispering?" Asked the marine.

The border guards looked back but didn't respond. They simply continued speaking to their captain.

'So, it's already common knowledge that the half-elf would be killed?' Thought the soldier. 'The entire country was expecting the candidate to be assassinated, perhaps most of them wanted it to happen.'

The sergeant cleared his voice before catching their attention, "As of now, we have everything under control. The citizens under Roswaal's watch were evacuated with the best equipment at our disposal."

The border guards observed the refugees gathering to one location as disaster relief was provided to them in the form of tents, blankets, food, water, and medical aid. Some refugees complained that they wanted healers to treat them instead of men with medical training. How ungrateful.

'What's all of this?' Thought the captain. 'Why're they helping a candidate who's destined to fail? Perhaps they work for the Mathers household?'

Needing confirmation, the Captain asked, "Do you work for the Mathers family?"

The marine remained silent for a brief moment before he shook his head, "Negative. We've trespassed onto the Mathers Domain for the sole purpose of fighting the Witch's cult in person."

The border guards were astounded.

"The sect?"

"They encountered the sect?"

"No way!"

The border guards refrained from saying witch, but the captain seemed unfazed by the word.

"You admit to us of your trespass onto the Mathers' private domain?" asked the captain. "Simply to combat against the witch's cult?"

The marine nodded and crossed his arms behind his back, "Yes, our representatives claimed full responsibility while promising to repay the Nobleman if necessary."

The border guards seemed to believe the sergeant and visibly relaxed because no fighting will be done today. It was now safe to say the natives trust them with the information being provided. Their captain had even ordered the border guards to sheathe away their swords.

Believing that these foreigners will only stay temporarily, the Captain continued questioning the marine, "Then I presume your representatives will claim full responsibility for your trespass onto Royal grounds? The gathering of refugees is of great disturbance."

The marine nodded and glanced at the path to the Mathers Domain, "I believe so. But our primary concern is to return these people to their homes as soon as we receive confirmation."

This caused the border guards to also stare at whatever the marine was looking at.

One of them suddenly asked, "From whom?"

The marine reached for his backpack and pulled out a datapad and allowed the border guards to see, "Our allies in battle."

The border guards awkwardly stared at the blank screen of the datapad until it lit up brightly, forcing their eyes to adjust to the brightness.

"What was that?!" Exclaimed the captain, his eyes were irritated.

The marine calmly responded, "Simply observe the device."

Only four border guards could watch the datapad at once, while the rest simply took notice of the audio.

[X][X][X]

The datapad displayed a Livestream from the point of view of a lone ODST opening fire onto a group of cultists across a river all while brushing off daggers that rained onto his armor. What caught the attention of the border guards watching the Livestream was the assault rifle and that it was an effective projectile weapon to be used when outnumbered.

In the Livestream, the cultists were caught off guard by the speed of the bullets and the rate of fire so this caused many of them to be shot and injured. Several of them died but those who could still fight managed to dodge at superhuman speeds so this managed to catch the ODST off guard and had him retreat behind his drop pod when one cultist jumped at him from 20ft away.

After shooting the fucker to oblivion (like a player on an infection playlist) the lone ODST in the Livestream seemed to be running into a damaged house in first-person-view because a hailstorm of fireballs rained onto his position. As soon as he reached safety, many shockwaves pushed the ODST onto the ground and had him breathing heavily under combat stress revealing his male gender. Quickly, the male ODST stood up and aimed his rifle outside only to witness several marines were set on fire and accidentally committing friendly fire onto those who were spared of the firestorm.

[X][X][X]

Despite just being a Livestream, the border guards could FEEL the stress of battle. It didn't look like the soldiers had things under control at all!

The captain nervously exhaled before commenting, "How did you manage to evacuate all of these people if you barely put up a fight against the witch's cult?"

The marine buffered a different Livestream on the datapad while responding, "You were watching one of many perspectives of the battle. We DO have things under control. It is only a matter of time before our victory is-"

The datapad suddenly lit up brightly to reveal the tall, black-armored supersoldiers ripping and tearing the Witch's cult to pieces, DOOM 2016 style.

"!" The viewers of the Livestream were shocked after witnessing the brutality on screen.

[X][X][X]

The witch's cult were being tortured on the battlefield all while being destroyed by overwhelming firepower from all points of view. From the sky there were falcon gunners shooting down on the cultists on the ground, from the ground there was an indestructible Scorpion Tank firing explosive shells onto the hiding places of the witch's cult (mostly the forest), the limbs of the targets flew to random locations from the explosion. Warthogs were patrolling the neighborhoods with gunners mowing down anything that wasn't friendly. And finally, snipers were well positioned with active camo to force the Witch's cult into disorder from receiving anonymous gunshots from all directions. The witch's cult were normally organized and lethal but was forced into disorder because of the many different strategies being implemented.

Their tactics seemed well-rehearsed.

[X][X][X]

The Livestream has made it abundantly clear that the marines had everything under control. (Reverting to the last checkpoint sure comes in handy!)

"Ah, I-I stand corrected." Mumbled the captain of the border guards. The sight of cultists being torn to pieces had left him disturbed.

The border guards didn't know what to do now.

"Captain, do we inform everyone about this?" Asked one of the lesser knights.

Before their captain could reply, the marine interrupted, "Feel free to speak of our stunt. Our superiors would be pleased this manages to strike fear into the witch's cult."

The border captain internally frowned, 'Only the candidates must know of this."

[X][X][X]

["Jake, why did we send the refugees outside of the Royal City?" Asked Noob, observing the dialogue between the marines and the primitive border guards.

["So I can make sure our faction gets talked about and we get recognized a little bit."] Replied Jake. ["Also, there are probably fewer cultists here."]

["JAKE! That's a dead-shit retarded decision!"] Said Noob after a brief observation. ["None of what we're doing is going to bring anything good to Emilia."]

["Huh!?"] Jake32 was shocked with Noobmaster69's sudden outburst.

Noob proceeded to explain, ["When the marine explained things to the border guards, he made it seem like Emilia's camp was so incompetent that she needed to be helped even without asking for it."]

"!"

["Really? If that's true, we just made Emilia seem like a worthless candidate!"] Exclaimed Stan.

Noob continued, ["Not only that, but our bad habit of trespassing needs to stop... Rem and Ram didn't like it, Roswaal didn't like it, and the border guards didn't like it either. We seriously need to announce our arrival so that we don't piss off the wealthy people who live under constant law and order."]

["Are you kidding me?! So we screwed up everything?!"] Complained Jake. ["DO I HAVE TO REVERT TO THE LAST CHECKPOINT AGAIN!? LAST I CHECKED, IT SAVED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!"]

["No! Shut up! I think we're still fine, but Emilia's image is in the gutter. Although, we could repair her image if people learn that her faction can improve people's quality of life through modern innovation."] Explained Noob.

["We don't work for her yet, ya know."] Stan corrected Noob.

["I know, I know. But Roswaal considered making us into Emilia's personal militia."]

["Let me stop you again. A militia only fights, ya know."] Stan corrected him again.

["Right, I know..."]

["And there's no guarantee that Emilia would even want us working for her."]

["Dammit, I KNOW!"] Complained Noobmaster69. ["Here I am trying to make things better but here you are shitting on my floor!"]

["So what do we do?"] Asked Jake.

["Hmmm..."]

["Stan, you got anything?"] Asked Jake.

["Let's just wing it again."] Replied Stan.

["NO!"] Complained Nobmaster69. ["We're not doing that again! We need a plan! Just don't let Jake make any more plans."]

["I can't make plans anymore?!"]

["Yeah! Your plans suck!"]

["Alright, alright! Let's think about it after we finish watching the reactions of all the candidates in the present timeline..."]

["Jake, we won't be able to use theater mode anymore if we enter the present timeline. So let me make a plan that doesn't suck like your cum-stained plans."] Said noobmaster69.

["Don't take advantage of my high tolerance of you. Just, indulge us."]

Noobmaster69 proceeded to explain, ["We'll be invisible Spartans and we'll use No-Clip mods to avoid detection. That way we can spy on candidates. Then when we're done, we're spying on the witch's cult, like we should have done a long time ago!"]

["Fine, whatever. Let's do it since you're the new boss now."]

[X][X][X]

Meanwhile in the present Re: Zero timeline - Karsten estate

Crusch Karsten was now fully dressed in her casual military commander uniform and was seated in her office. As of now, she was writing a message to the Emilia Camp with a quill and ink. She wished to know more about the events that occurred inside of the Mathers domain and the unknown faction that helped them push back a cultist invasion.

Wilhelm had not expected such a bewildered response from Miss Crusch. She was already speculating and coming up with theories as to why the Emilia camp had survived with the help of mercenaries. In order to ease her mind, Wilhelm would have to explain the entire news to her.

Wilhelm approached her front desk and cleared his voice before speaking, "Pardon my ongoing intrusion, Milady."

She briefly stopped writing her message to the Emilia camp before glancing at Wilhelm.

"Yes?" She seemed in a hurry to finish writing her message to Emilia.

The butler fixed his tie before saying, "It's only fair that I explain every detail regarding the mercenaries that helped the Emilia camp."

Crusch Karsten nodded in agreement. "Very well. Is there more to know from the events that lead to the defeat of the cultist invasion?"

Wilhelm nodded, "One of your rival candidates by the name of Anastasia Hoshin was generous enough to release the details found by one of her followers."

Intrigued, Crusch Karsten placed the quill into its container of ink, then she straightened her posture so that she may listen better.

"What were the findings?" She asked, curious.

Wilhelm searched the front pockets of his suit and pulled out a neatly folded paper. He began to read, "Milady, the details were as follows:

The unknown mercenaries had admittedly trespassed onto the Mathers Domain for the sole purpose of attacking the Witch's Cult on sight due to predicting the half-elf candidate would be targeted. They had also admitted to trespassing into many private domains across the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica, including the Royal Capitol for the sole purpose of again, attacking the Witch's Cult on sight. They claim to have evacuated all surviving citizens from their homes for the sole purpose of attacking the Witch's Cult without obstruction. It would seem they have no other interests other than persecuting the witch's cult. It was unintentional that the Emilia camp had received assistance. Therefore, she may continue in the race for the throne without interruption."

Crusch Karsten listened intently with her delicate hands resting under her chin. As soon as the butler finished his explanation, the candidate was quick to ask, "Has this become common knowledge among all candidates?"

Wilhelm nodded before replying, "Anastasia herself has found it appropriate to inform us as along with Priscilla-sama and the... Astrea family who's currently backing Felt-sama."

Crusch seemed skeptical, "The note you were reading, let me see it." She put out her hand and waited for Wilhelm to hand it over. The Butler did as he was ordered and turned in the sheet of paper.

The candidate observed the note while humming a tune to herself...

Tapping his foot on the ground, Wilhelm asked, "What are your thoughts, milady?"

"The handwriting, it does belong to the Hoshins." Commented Crusch while observing the neatly folded paper. "I almost believed this note was meant specifically to throw off any unwanted attention from the Emilia camp's private affairs. So it was imperative that I ensure this wasn't a fraudulent note."

Wilhelm nodded while clapping his hands together, "You're as cunning as ever, milady."

Crusch glanced at the outdated letter to the Emilia camp, then she crumbled it before placing a new sheet of paper onto the desk, "I, however, feel the need to pay the half-elf a visit. I shall send the Mathers Domain a notice in advance."

Wilhelm's calm demeanor suddenly changed when he asked, "Will the subjugation be delayed?"

The candidate looked up to Wilhelm, acknowledging his impatience, "The subjugation comes first, because preparations had already begun."

[X][X][X]

Barielle's Estate

Priscilla was amused!

The candidate of great luck and fortune was gracefully seated on her fancy 'pretend throne' while silently listening to the recent news that was kept secret among the candidates.

"-so it should be safe to say, the Emilia camp wasn't cheating with foreign help or anything shady like that. Also, this is supposed to be a secret among the candidates." Explained Aldebaran (or Al) from a sheet of paper.

"Has the quarrel been recent?" Asked Priscilla, her chin resting on her shoulder while she was fanning herself.

Al lowered the note and looked Priscilla in the eyes, "It was a considerable amount of time since that day. The details are limited."

Priscilla remained silently staring at Al before coughing up some fake laughter. "Hahaha!"

Al sighed, "Oh, brother..."

Priscilla proceeds to explain, "It doesn't surprise me, truly. For it was a matter of when that wench would be targeted, for good reason of course. And amusing it is, that she were to receive uncalled assistance from mercenaries! I now have the fortune of rubbing it in her face and there's not a thing she can do against me. I'm glad the mongrel would still live to bear the shame of being an incompetent candidate!"

Her servant, sighed while scratching the side of his helmet, "You have to eventually give the girl a break, she's gone through a rough start in the race."

Amused with the response, she stopped fake-laughing and glanced at her servant with a devilish grin, "That mongrel had it coming. I hope to witness her bewildered gaze when this news reaches the ears of the commoners."

Al crumbled the sheet of paper he previously read before asking, "You won't keep this a secret among the candidates?"

Priscilla's grin only became wider (like a crazy yandere waifu.)

"Why must I keep such juicy information hidden-" before she finished her statement, she proudly stood up while saying, "-when I can spread the gossip to every one of Lugunica?"

Al remained silent before realizing her intentions, "You plan on leaking this news to everyone for the sake of your amusement." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Precisely!" Exclaimed Priscilla while pointing an accusing finger at her servant. "There's a good reason you stand before me as mine own servant."

"Thank you for the praise, Priscilla-sama. You rarely notice the results of my work."

"Don't get emotional, you clown!" Scoffed Priscilla while fanning herself. "Prepare to spread the news of the mongrel's incompetence."

Al bowed his head, "And so it begins..."

[X][X][X]

Astrea Household

"The half-elf lives?" Asked Felt, dressed in orange pajamas. She was seated on her queen-sized bed while ignoring the many books she was supposed to study for the emperor trials.

Overall, she was happy that Emilia remained alive and well. Especially because of the kindness that was demonstrated to her despite the incident with the stolen insignia. The 15-year-old loli knew she had to somehow repay the half-elf candidate.

"Indeed. Albeit, unintentional it was for the half-elf candidate to have received assistance." Explained the maid standing in front of Felt. She bowed to the candidate, then as she tried exiting the bedroom, Felt ordered;

"As you go, make preparations so that I may visit my rival."

The maid faced the candidate and reverently replied, "As you wish, Felt-sama. Yet, under two days ye must complete thy studies."

Felt lied down on the bedsheets and she exasperates, "Gosh! It just never ends! Where is Reinhard for crying out loud!"

Before the maid could respond, she approached Felt's bed and picked up the scattered books and rearranged them in alphabetical order. "Common knowledge it is, that Reinhard has vacated the household under dire circumstances." Explained the maid as she then placed the books onto a neat shelf.

"But where's he gone to?" Asked Felt.

The maid finally handed a single book to Felt before responding, "Sir Reinhard wished for you to study diligently. Worry not for his sake."

Felt averted her gaze in annoyance, "Tsk!"

[X][X][X]

It was sundown at Roswaal's mansion.

The half-elf stood under the roof of a balcony while engulfed in a colorful white aura. Her arms were spread as if she held the hands of long-lost relatives who wished to see her smile again. The lights surrounding her delicate form could be seen even from Irlam. This would have been a normal experience for her if it weren't for the fact that the lesser spirits were troubled by something. Despite the time of peace within the Mathers Domain, the race to the throne had just become more complicated ever since the people of Irlam were delivered from their fated destruction.

It is very likely the candidates were now aware of the situation inside of the Emilia Camp. And worse, the witch's cult had set a target upon the half-elf and will stop at nothing until they complete their 'Ordeal.' One could only hope, if the cult were to make a consecutive appearance, the foreign mercenaries would stop them in their tracks. Their help would be needed again if another skirmish was to be expected.

Perhaps she should have treated them better...

Emilia's eyes slowly opened as the lesser spirits faded away. Then with her forlorn gaze, she recognized a familiar set of stars beyond the darkening skies which brought her mind to hope for better times. As of now, her heart was filled with uncertainty for the future. She was less concerned for herself but more with the well-being of Irlam.

The half-elf placed her hands upon her emerald necklace so that Puck may hear, 'The blame is mine own to bare. Were I to forfeit and never return, my trials would be for naught. Hence, I must prevail in the race to achieve peace and tranquility for all. That is my true goal.'

She hoped to hear a reassuring reply from Puck, but she knew he would be resting. He had a busy day as usual.

Unknown to the half-elf, three invisible supersoldiers stood behind the half-elf. (Their armor was snow-white and of the Gungnir variant with security shoulders. Their player emblems were of the Insignia of the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica)

(They figured, since players don't have in-game souls, they would be completely invisible to Puck and Beatrice. Especially with their active camo abilities enabled)

They watched in person how Emilia talks to spirits and it felt like a religious experience.

Impressed with Emilia's abilities, Jake spoke into the party chat, ["That light show was pretty cool, but I'm tired of watching Emilia all sad and confused."]

["Yeah, YOU seriously messed things up."] Explained Noob. ["Because of Priscilla's toxic attitude, everybody's gonna think Emilia couldn't protect anyone without our help. Or as they like to put it, unintentional help from mercenaries. And worse, Emilia will think we were lying to her when she hears a different perspective to our story."]

["So, when do we pay Emilia a visit again?"] Asked Stan. ["We sent them a notice, right?"]

["Yeah we did, but we're only going when Crusch Karsten decides to do it."] Replied Jake. ["And if Felt goes first, then we'll just follow her instead."]

["Actually, Since we wasted a lot of time, Crusch is almost about to fight the white whale first. We should hurry and do something before she probably dies while fighting it."]

["Right, you make a good point."] Replied Jake. ["We should have never waited too long and just done something about it."]

["When are we gonna do that?"] asked Stan. ["Noob?"]

["After we settle things with Emilia, we'll see that when Crusch's forces attack the white whale, we barge in and kill it in front of their faces."] Explained Noobmaster69.

["So, visiting Emilia comes first? And then we steal the kill from Crusch?"] Asked Jake.

Noob nodded, ["Yeah. that's about it."]

The players soon noticed that had Emilia covered her mouth and yawned in exhaustion because she's about ready to go to sleep.

Being such a fanboy, Stan asked his two allies in-game, ["You guys want to follow Emilia into her bedroom to see what she does all alone?"]

Noob's spartan shook his head, ["That's a terrible idea. We don't want to be called perverts if we're caught."]

Stan shrugged, ["If we no-clip through walls, we won't ever be caught."]

Jake glanced at Stan in amusement, ["Stan, you're becoming like DunkSauZ3. Don't ever do that."]

Suddenly Emilia turned around and unknowingly approached the player positions because they stood in the way of the exit. This forced them to carefully step aside to avoid bumping against her. Clueless to what had just happened, Emilia gently walked away from her stalkers and roamed the dark halls of the manor.

When the coast was clear, Stan asked again, ["Want to no-clip into her bedroom?"]

Jake aimed his rifle at Stan, ["No! Absolutely not!"]

["I wasn't intending anything bad! I thought we were acting like guardian angels or something."] Protested Stan.

Jake lowered his rifle, ["A-actually, that might not be such a bad idea. If we're caught, we'll say that we're just guarding her."]

["Another one of your stupid ideas? Guarding her against what?"]

["I-I don't know! The cult?"]

["Yeah, real believable."] Noob said with sarcasm.

["Just don't get caught, wow!"]

Several time-skipping in-game hours later, the players stood next to Emilia's bed and watched her sleep. Next to the right side of the bed, Stan stood alone while next to the left side, Jake and Noob stood beside each other. Emilia was peacefully sleeping like an angel in pink pajamas while unaware that her life was just a videogame to someone else.

["I'm telling you, why's she so darn cute?"] Asked Stan, staring at the defenseless half-elf.

Jake's in-game spartan shrugged in dismay, ["She's got elven blood in her veins so there's your answer."]

["Dude, I can't believe we're in a girl's bedroom!"] Continued Stanman12, excited with the recent events of the timeline.

Jake shook his head in-game, ["She's not a real person though."]

Stan hardened his fists in-game and complained, ["She's real to me, dammit!"]

["Hush! I think she's waking up!"] Warned Noob, stepping away from Emilia's bed.

Jake was confused, ["She's waking up early in the morning?"]

["Duh! She has a strict contract with Puck."] Replied Noob, standing on the far end of Emilia's bedroom.

Emilia slowly awoke on her comfortable bed and immediately stretched her muscles. After a brief moment of regaining her energy, she sat up straight and stared directly at what she thought was an invisible person standing next to her bed. She became alarmed and rubbed her eyes to gain a better view but it turned out to be nothing.

She sighed in relief, believing she was simply paranoid from what the lesser spirits had told her last night.

["Dude, she almost saw Stan!"]

["Stan! I told you we shouldn't be in her room!"]

["Relax! Everything is fine now!"]

Emilia pushed aside the blankets in bed then she allowed her bare feet to touch the ground. Next to her bed was a drawer, where she picked a purple mirror to practice her smile for the day. She seemed to be having more fun with it than she's supposed to.

["What's she doing? That's very childish of her."]

["That's kind of expected, she has the mentality of a 14-year-old, despite being older than 100 years."]

["But why does she talk like she's an old lady?"]

["I have no idea, dude."]

["Hang on! What is she doing now!?"]

Emilia's eyes widened in realization to something they didn't understand, then she put aside the mirror and quickly unbuttoned her clothes with precise muscle memory. Then she murmured, "I must've overslept..."

"!"

["Everyone, get out!"] Yelled Stanman12 into party chat.

["Huh?"]

["No-clip out of the damn walls and give her some privacy!"]

["But she's not a real person-"]

["SHE'S REAL TO ME!"]

The players ultimately no-clipped outside of Emilia's room and allowed the half-elf some privacy. Now a brief moment has passed since Emilia had refreshed herself and got dressed into her own commonly worn attire. Finally, the players no-clipped back into her bedroom just in time to watch Puck change Emilia's hairstyle once a day.

With the flick of Puck's tiny paws, Emilia's hair was magically rearranged to Puck's preference.

The magical feline smiled and asked, "What are your thoughts on pigtails, Lia?"

Emilia picked the purple mirror and saw herself, smiling. She returned her gaze to Puck and answered, "It is a vast improvement from your last choice."

Puck descended onto the desk in front of her and sheepishly frowned, "Aw come on, the last one wasn't so bad!"

Emilia covered her mouth and giggled at Puck's expense while saying, "I didn't mean for you to think that, I simply believe thou hast learned from thy past experience."

Puck then grinned sheepishly, "That's just your kind way of admitting it was poorly done."

Stan stared at the half-elf in confusion, ["She's talking like an old lady again. What's up with that?"]

["Dude, they're just doing girl stuff. This is too boring, honestly."] Replied Noob.

["Gosh, you always complain about what's boring!"] Retorted Jake.

Suddenly, two soft knocks followed by the soft voice of Rem could be heard on the other side of the bedroom door.

The muffled voice of the maid said, "Miss Emilia, your rival candidate has arrived and she would like a moment to speak with you."

Emilia was surprised, "I-I see. Who could it be?"

The muffled voice behind the door responded, "Her name is Felt-sama."

Emilia smiled at the revelation, "Then I shall greet her soon."

["You hear that, boys? It's time for us to crash the party!"]

The players no-clipped away from Emilia's bedroom and got down to business. Hopefully this time, they don't screw up their chances of working with Emilia.

[X][X][X]

---

Darn it, I wanted to end this filler story with a second chapter but there's just so much to do! I might have to make this into a separate story on Fanfiction to have its own separate reviews. I might call it Isekai Modders. What happened with the original plot for Re: Zero-Spartan III? I have the first draft with 1,000 words. The only reason why I took very long with this chapter was that I wrote too many deleted scenes.

Speaking of Deleted Scenes;

Hours after I uploaded this chapter, I had removed the deleted scenes because I accidentally duplicated them.

:(