Rem completed dusting off the east wing of the mansion. Since she awoke, she had already done the majority of her chores for the day. However, she wasn't satisfied with herself. Rem knew that she was only a replacement for her sister. If her sister still had her horn, she would finish her task more diligently and more efficiently. Even now, she had been nothing but trouble for her sister. Rem wanted nothing more than to kill the new guard of Miss Emilia. He smelled exactly like the witch cultists that had taken everything from her. If it weren't for her sister, Rem would have killed him already. After everything, all she could ever strive to be was an inferior replacement for her sister. After all, Ram was right. The royal guard played an important role in repelling the mabeast attack, even helping catch the assailant. Ram had told her that both Frederica and the junior maid had joined them because of Subaru. After finishing her tasks, she stopped her stream of thoughts. Looking outside, she could see the sun slowly rising. It was time for her to wake her sister and help her with her workload.

Subaru stood in the courtyard, involved in his usual sword training. Frederica was watching from the sidelines, giving him a bit of advice. When Subaru turned around, he saw two kids and a blue light moving towards him.

"Hello, Onii-chan." The assassin shouted across half of the garden.

The crowd gathered around Subaru and Frederica, who by now had ceased their practice.

"Why are you walking around here? Shouldn't you be locked up in the basement?" The young guard asked, a bit insensitive.

While the senior maid gave him a reprehensive look, Meili wasn't bothered at all.

"The clown said I could come out and play with Petra and Blue a bit. After all, you promised to keep me safe."

"Are you sure nobody will try to get you out here?"

"Mother will surely send someone, but you will protect me, right?"

"Who is this mother anyway?"

The blue-haired girl crossed her arms to form an x and shook her head in denial.

"I am sorry, but I can't tell you. Mother would do worse things than kill me if I did."

Frederica and Petra seemed mildly disturbed how casual Meili talked about such topics. Subaru had gotten used to it rather quickly. After all, he was the only one who visited her daily. Petra, Meili, and Berehynia took off to play elsewhere in the grand garden, leaving the young man and the beast woman alone.

Petra stood in the center of the flower fields, using her affinity for water to spray the plants. Meili was contently watching her, although she was no stranger to magic. In her jobs, Meili faced many fearsome opponents. Fondly, she remembered the time Elsa fought against Cecils, the [Blue Lightning of Vollachia]. After she also lost the fight against Reinhard, she jokingly said that only the [Admirer] and the [Mad Prince] were missing on her list.

"Petra, you shouldn't use your magic like this." The water spirit scolded the young maid.

"But, why not? It's so much easier."

"You shouldn't use magic for such trivial matters. Besides, you will feel drained, Petra."

Petra puffed up her cheeks, choosing to ignore the spirit. However, she stopped using her water magic.

"Meili, do you have an affinity for a magic element?"

"I don't. However, Elsa always told me that magic users are dangerous."

Both of them continued to chat away about more relaxed topics.

"I have to let you know that both Emilia-sama and I will be leaving today."

"What, why? Why am I not coming with Emilia-tan? I am her guard, after all."

Subaru had jumped up to protest against the decision, which occurred without his involvement.

"There is no need to worry Subaru, Roswaal and I will be safe. We are only going to visit a regional lord. You reaaaally don't have to come with us."

While her line of arguments made sense, Subaru was still unhappy. Yet, no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't come up with a valid reason to join them. Roswaal was the strongest magician in the Kingdom, after all. Annoyed, he accepted it, puffing his cheeks as Beako did. Luckily they would only be absent for two days, in which Subaru was to oversee the mansion's affair.

The rest of the day dragged on infinitely spend doing the same repetitive tasks he did in the last three weeks. Tired, he let himself fall asleep.

In the middle of the night, he awoke to a noise. It sounded like a heavy object falling right in front of his room. Slowly, he made his way to the door, only half awake, and opened it. The heavy something fell towards him, though his eyes were too blurry to make out anything. After rubbing them, he made out the color red. Blinking a few times, his vision finally sharpened. When Subaru could finally make out, the something, he wanted to vomit. A dissected torso laid before him. Blood poured from the upper body, a trail of intensities on the floor. The weapon of the defeated defender, a steel flail, flung against the wall next to his room. The armament must have woken him up. Meters away from the mutilated corpse stood a woman with long black hair, partially clothed. She held a white blade in her left and a knife that looked like an animal's teeth in her right hand. Casually she licked her lips before giving the young man a sadistic smile. Elsa readied herself, full of otherwise deadly bruises and wounds. She was missing her robe. Her outfit somewhat destroyed in the previous fight.

"Two children, a large maid, a shut-in spirit, and twin maids. They have given me more trouble than I thought. The way you look at her shows how close you are. How enviable. Don't worry! You will meet her soon."

In an instant, she closed the distance between the two. Subaru had used up his gates capacity as well as his spirits mana. On top of that, everyone in the mansion was dead. There wasn't any reason for him to continue this life, so he resigned himself to his fate. Elsa brought down her white blade on his head, no longer interested in playing with her prey. Her knife effortlessly ended Subaru's life, as it broke through his skull.

Natsuki Subaru died for the eighth time.

The world became black before colors returned. Subaru touched his head as the pain began to fade from his fatal wound. The young man was disturbed at the lack of panic he had from dying. Dying didn't scare him anymore, neither did the pain that came with it. The boy didn't like this one bit. It felt like someone was slowly stripping him of his humanity. However, he first had to clear out this room before he could return to the real world. Looking around, he noticed that he was in a large arena. In front of him was the epitome of a gallant knight. The knight had flaming red hair, complemented by his sparkling blue eyes. The [Sword Saint], Reinhard van Astrea helped Subaru on his feet.

"Are you feeling alright, Subaru?" Reinhard's voice was full of concern. "We don't have to continue or even start our lessons if you are physically unable."

"No, thank you, Reinhard! Even if you are not real, you are always helpful."

The fake image of Reinhard remained silent at the accusation of being a fraud.

Subaru dismissed it and looked into the knight's eyes.

"So what are we doing?"

Subaru charged forward, slashing and striking at the flashing red. Landing on his feet, he bounced towards the red again and again. Still, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach it. His flurry of attacks ended up hitting nothing. He felt a wooden sword grip puncture his chest. Subaru instantly deflated, the air pushed out of his lungs. Sweat ran across his body as he panted heavily. In front of him was Reinhard.

"You nearly hit me. I am sure next time you will manage it."

Subaru would have been happier if he didn't have to hear this exact line every day in the past eight weeks. Reinhard was unstoppable, a galaxy-wide gap in skill difference between both of them. Yet, he had to admit that he was getting better. Although his reaction was still a bit lacking, his speed increased to compete with an average knight. Reinhard told him that he was now intermediately good at sword fighting. Of course, he packed it between at least a dozen compliments. The bigger problem for Subaru was that his bond with Reinhard would break. A similar thing, although to a smaller degree, had happened with Beatrice.

"It is time for you to leave, Subaru. I am glad that you spent some time with me." Reinhard gave him a warm smile. "I hope that you will join me another time."

Subaru smiled back warmly before the world collapsed yet again.

The four maids of Roswaal's household occupied the kitchen. It was the first time they could talk at leisure. In the last few days, both Frederica and Petra have been busy learning the ropes. Rem, and to a much lesser degree, Ram took care of the rest of the mansion in the meantime. They discussed all kinds of diffrent topics before they reached the enigma that was Subaru.

"So what exactly is Sir Subaru's standing in this household?" Frederica inquired while carefully preparing the dinner tea.

"Subaru is the royal guard of Emilia, but Roswaal-sama wants to make him a full knight in the future." The pink-haired Oni was busy making her special dish, steamed potatoes.

"It might be tactless, but why exactly will he be a knight? He lacks any talent with weapons and has average magic talent."

"He came to this mansion after saving Miss Emilia from the [Bowl Hunter]. Roswaal-sama was kind enough to offer him a favor. That's just what he chose." In Ram's eyes, he was still a freeloader. Yet, her opinion of him, following the mabeast incident, improved a bit.

Frederica put her fingers to her chin, beginning to think about the young man. However, Ram interrupted her.

"Frederica, don't bother breaking your head about him. He can articulate himself well enough, knows proper etiquette, yet could not read. Subaru learned to read and write within just two weeks and seems as selfless as Miss Emilia. Roswaal-sama believes that he grew up in an isolated noble household."

Suddenly, a black-haired boy, with a small girl under his arm, burst into the room.

The assassin moved with incredible agility. The shadows hid Elsa's slender figure as she made no noise while moving through the hallways. Sneaking into the basement, she came face to face with a large metal door. In her years of work, she learned how to pick locks. Elsa began to open lock after lock with incredible ease. Quietly, she pushed the door open. Darkness shrouded the room, which was spare for a single bed. Elsa bit her lip. Even if she loved torturing people, hearing their desperate pleas and screams, this was diffrent. Mother had ordered her to execute Meili, who was like her younger sister. Elsa raised her knife at the sleeping figure. Even if she had to kill her, she would make sure she wouldn't suffer. With a single strike, the assassin struck the kid. The bed collapsed from the sheer force of the blow. Elsa immediately knew something was off. The sweet scent of a fresh kill was missing. The beautiful red of her victim's blood was absent as well.

"Took you long enough, I suppose."

Elsa turned around, faced with the owner of the voice. A girl, about as young as Meili, stared her down.

"That was an awful rude trick, young one. As punishment, I will send you to meet the angels."

The small girl only huffed at her threat. Elsa's whole body was warming with excitement. Although her aura was nothing compared to the [Sword Saint], Elsa knew that the girl outclassed her by a landslide.

" Minya."

About twenty stacks of concentrated mana appeared above the young girl's head.

"How lovely! I had no idea you could do that."

"Have a good taste of mana arrows of stagnant time, I suppose!"

The young girl threw her crystalized mana at the assassin. Elsa began to dodge the arrows to the best of her abilities. She was vulnerable against magic, and she didn't want to use her special robe just yet. Stack after stack flew towards her as Elsa continued to dodge with her athletic skills. As the attack was over, she gave the young girl a triumphant smile, yet the girl smiled back. Looking at her hand, she saw an explosion happen that took her arm with it. Her tongue ran across her lips, preparing herself for the feeling of death.

"That was a mistake on my part."

"You forget that I am much older than you. Now fall apart where you stand, I suppose."

Another dozen arrows of mana pierced her body. Elsa was crystallized by Beatrice's attack, slowly falling apart.

Subaru watched on as Elsa, similar to the witch beast, broke apart. Beatrice looked at him with a smug smile on her face.

"Betty took care of that pesky assassin, in fact. Feel free to praise me."

"Beako, you are the best!" Subaru gave his classic victory pose before moving to pick up the spirit. However, before he got the chance, Beatrice pushed him backward. Falling onto his butt, Subaru could only watch in horror. Elsa sliced his teacher from behind, who watched them both with a sadistic grin on her face.

"So Spirits are diffrent from us."

Were Elsa's blade entered, mana erupted from it, dispersing into the atmosphere. Subaru began to fall into despair as he saw his beloved spirit die. Elsa dropped her after ensuring her death. Subaru crawled towards her, desperately trying to stop Beatrice from dying. However, it was useless. The mana from the wound escaped through his fingers while Beatrice was slowly fading away. Yet, she didn't look sad, smiling at the crying Subaru.

"Now I am finally free." Every word that came out of her mouth was slow, as if she was in pain. "Are you Betty's they?"

Through his tears, he could only nod, hugging her closer to his chest. Her legs ceased to exist, her body warmth slowly fading away. Beatrice gave Subaru one last smile before weakly raising her hand toward's Elsa. The sadistic woman watched from the sidelines, apparently taking great pleasure in their suffering. Beatrice took her last breaths as she fondly remembered her life. Every individual she encountered flashed before her mind. Mother, Roswaal, Bubby, and finally Subaru. At long last, she found [that Person]. Someone that cried for her, someone that cared about her, someone that loved her. Beatrice could feel his body warmth slowly fading away. His screams grew distant. Beako was happy she fulfilled her purpose.

'Are you proud, Mother? I finally found [that Person].'

With her last breath, Beatrice whispered something that only [that Person] could hear.

"Thank you for everything, Subaru." The only thing of her that remained was her head and her arm. Taking one last breath, she screamed with her remaining strength.

"Al Minya!"

A giant arrow of concentrated mana formed itself above the mansion. With one swift motion, it crashed onto Elsa, crystallizing her yet again. Afterward, the giant broke into smaller ones, destroying the entire mansion's east wing. The attack left only Subaru unharmed. He tried to grasp the Beako, but it was futile. The spirit had faded in the attack.

"Beatrice, Beatrice, Beatrice."

Subaru cried for the young girl, but no matter how hard he tried, she wouldn't return. The young man drowned in self-guilt, continuing to blame himself. If he only had been smarter, had could have come up with a better plan. If he possessed more strength, then Beatrice wouldn't have died. If he was more like Reinhard, he could have saved them all.

But he was no hero.

Subaru was only human.

AN:

Thanks for reading this chapter.

According to Tappei Elsa is both the most masochistic and sadistic person in the Re:Zero world.

Poor Betty and poor Sufferau.

(Also, thank you for all the reviews!)