WHDAAA SPINOFF: REACTION TO 'GUY'S NIGHT OUT' - NEISSERIAMENINGITIDIS

by TheAppaMan

Well, with the surge of WHDAAA spinoffs, I wanted to try one to. Here's a reaction fic to my 'Guy's night out' written by my dad, Notsk. Hope you like it. Takes place after cast reacts to arc 4. More details inside.

3. Chapter 3

Watching him die again and again spin off: Cast Reacts to 'Guys' night out' by 'Neisseria_Meningitidis'

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CAST REACTS TO GUYS' NIGHT OUT: CHAPTER 2

(LINK TO GUYS NIGHT OUT: /works/27609812/chapters/67546496#workskin)

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FINALLY! Man, that was a long break. All I can say is that I was busy with a lot of stuff so thank you for waiting so long for this chapter. Also, there's a discord server made by the writer of Shattered Glass (really good fic, check it out) where you can hop in to ask stuff from various writers regarding there upcoming chapters or just chill around. So hop in sometimes. (Link: /MWXAQBGMxC). With that being said, enjoy the chapter :)

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Finding Subaru was the number one priority, they couldn't let him wander alone in an unfamiliar city. They decided to stay together to not complicate the situation any further, finding Subaru would be useless if they lost the rest of the group. Subaru was no child and could take care of himself, but he was wandering alone in an unknown city and he had a talent for attracting trouble.

Emilia was praying for her knight's safety, and so were his other friends. Even though the screen had asked them to relax, the impact of the previous viewings had been too adverse. They couldn't calm down untill Subaru's safety was ensured.

"We should have stopped when Emilia's puppet made her entrance, we knew it was bad news." Julius truly regretted his lack of foresight, he should have known it was going to break Subaru's heart.

Julius agreed with his screen self, as he tried to reassure the others that nothing could have gone wrong.

"We should have never started to watch it in the first place, nyah~. We got nothing from it except tears and sadness."

Crusch found herself in agreement with the comment made by Felix. Not because she couldn't take the hate of the masses, but because she was not expecting another death of Emilia's knight. She had already seen him break and die too many times, but it was never easy.

The crowd was dense, making finding Subaru akin to finding a needle in a haystack. His black dress and ponytail didn't make him stand out from far away, but there was hope that those who saw him pass by would remember him.

Beatrice's eyes searched for her contractor on the screen. "How careless, I suppose", she thought, as she leaned on his chest. At least he was with her right now.

Petra also hoped nothing bad had happened. She wanted to believe in what the screen had said.

"Hey, lad!" Al stopped by a weapon stand. "Have you seen a hot chick in a black dress running by? She has a black ponytail and a fur scarf. She was crying, maybe?"

Some people glared towards Aldebran for the kind of language he used to describe Subaru, and he couldn't give any less fucks.

"With stilt instead of heels?" the man answered.
"Yes!"
"Hard to forget her, nobody else wears those kinds of things here. Which is a shame, it made me want to see what those endless legs of hers led to, ha!"

"Not anywhere you would have wanted to go, Bud", Ricardo joked, which made some people laugh.

"You should have caught that piece of shit, idiot", Priscilla glared at Aldebran. "I would have let him see the gates of hell as I would have killed him by my own feet."

Garfiel on the other hand couldn't stop from letting a giggle slip even though he was worried. Otto smiled at his brother. He hoped nothing sad happens, as Garfiel had already gone through too much since they came here.

"You'll be surprised, lad. So where she went?"
"Toward Mark's road. If you're her man you should run after her. This is no place for a pretty girl. This is no place for anybody if you want my opinion."
"Thanks, lad."

Mimi and Tivey were giggling, since the man was so wrong in reality.

On the other hand…

"Mark's road?!"

"You idiot!"

"As expected of Barusu. Stay safe there at least!"

As expected, Subaru ran straight into the most dangerous place in town. Sometimes, they wondered if he was doing it on purpose, he was never far away when bad things happened after all. The area near Mark's road was isolated and deserted, especially at this hour in the evening. Which was really bad news, it's already been an hour since his disappearance and so much could have happened.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HE-!" it was his voice. And he was close.

"SUBARU!", Emilia screamed at the top of her lungs.

While she tried to assess the situation, everyone else took a breather because…

"This is it! This is exactly how it went!", exclaimed Reinhard. The other three knights shook their heads in agreement. This calmed down everyone, because if the story was going on as the knights had experienced it, it meant that Subaru hadn't died.

Reinhard didn't waste a single second and ran toward the voice, this situation reminded him of their first meeting but it was no time to reminisce, Subaru was in danger. Julius and Ferris followed Reinhard's lead and Al ran after them, he didn't like the direction the events were taking, he had no need for this kind of trouble.

"YES, go for it", Mimi and Tivey cheered.

SMACK

"OUCH, Princess. That hurts you know", Al cried.

"Why are you the one who's always behind in everything. Can't you make yourself more useful?", Priscilla scolded.

Since Al's face was covered by his helmet, nobody was able to see it. But I'll explain how his face looked. Google – 'Guess I'll die meme template' and you can see his expression.

When Reinhard found him, he was cornered in a dead-end by five armed men. He was kneeling on the ground, face hidden by his hands and disheveled hair. He hoped he wasn't too late and not even a second later Julius was by his side.

Felt leaned forward, excited and a bit scared for what's to come.

"Go for it Rein", she cheered in her mind.

"I am going to ask you to let go of my friend."

Reinhard had no weapon on him, but he never needed any. He was blocking the dead-end's only exit with Julius and soon enough Al and Ferris joined them. Four of the five turned around to greet their new company, the last one made sure to their victim in sight.

Garfiel couldn't believe that the sword saint was actually half as cool as his captain. But being equal to him? Nah, he's 17 deaths younger for that.

"Allow me to repeat myself. Please, back off of my friend and return to your usual peaceful activities."
"Look like this whore has a few knights in shining armor coming to the rescue." one of the men walked toward the group. A single flame appeared wordlessly in the palm of his hand.

Rem glared at the men with hatred. She didn't like the way they spoke at all. Ram also looked at them with spiteful eyes.

"Listen, flame-guy, I don't want to fight but those guys are going to bite your heads off if you don't stop with your shit." Al had no interest in a street fight, he just wanted to enjoy the marketplace and chill with friendly chaps.

"Ha Ha, nice one", Ricardo laughed and smacked Al's back to which he shrugged.

Fredrica was kind of excited for this. She loved seeing both the sword saint and the greatest knight in battle. It was a royal spectacle.

"I would like to see you try." the man and his goons laughed. "Let me ask you something too. You, the two other bitches, and the little girl should put your tail between your leg and run. Now." the flame in his hand grew bigger.

"Tch." Crusch wished she was present at the scene. Wilhelm was offended too, seeing how those men behaved in front of the royal knights of Lugunica.

"It's okay Crush-sama. They are going to get what they deserve, nyan."

Julius was about to unsheathe his newly brought blade when Reinhard barred him from getting closer to the man. He could take care of it alone, no need to involve anyone else. Had he been wearing a wig instead of dyeing his hair, he could have made his true identity known and scare the felons away, a missed opportunity on his part.

"I am afraid I must give you an ultimatum. You have ten seconds to leave the premise." Reinhard was glaring at the presumed leader with cold hard eyes.
"Or else?" the man laughed.
"10." He didn't answer and began to count.

"Oh boy, the atmosphere grew really cold here", Otto squealed. Emilia nodded in agreement.

"9."

Beatrice didn't like how the situation was turning out. She knew the Sword Saint was angry and she also knew what an angered Sword Saint meant.

Al prepared himself, he wasn't needed here but running away would do nothing but incur the other's wrath on him.

"8."

Roswaal adjusted himself in his seat, leg's crossed, smile on face. "Finally, something interesting", he thought.

Subaru threw a glance at his friend but said nothing. He just wanted it to be over.

"7."

Emilia glanced at the sleeping boy beside her. He looked so scared on the screen, it made her heart break into pieces.

The man silently channelled a large amount of mana in his palm, making the flame grow ten times larger. Before he had a chance to unleash his inferno, Julius unsheathed his sword and pointed it toward him. Ia, his fire spirit, came out from hiding and placed itself at the very tip of the sword.

"Nice", Mimi jumped in her seat.

The quasi-spirit gathered mana and froze the air around the leader's hands, trapping it in ice and keeping him from releasing his fire magic.

"6."

Reinhard felt a bit disgusted looking at the way he let his anger control him. "I am sorry", he thought, hoping that somewhere there is some divine protection of sharing thoughts, that would share his apology to others. Of course, there's none.

The other criminal sneered and drew their weapon, they had underestimated their opponents

"5."

Anastasia maintained a calm composure, but from the inside, she wished these goons to suffer from the worst fate possible. They reminded her of her sad past, especially the way they behaved with a woman…

"Eat shit", she murmured, quietly enough for no one else to hear.

The leader had enough, burning his fire to melt the ice, he freed his hand and spat at those stupid fools.

"You're going to get what you deserve then!" the man spat again. "Kill the whore and teach them a lesson." Nobody could make a fool of him and get out alive.

Garfiel's claw started to appear and he started growling heavily. This scared Otto a bit who was sitting right beside. If not for the supressing nature of the hall way, Garfiel would have transformed completely and smashed straight into the screen.

"GRRRRRRR"

Garfiel couldn't supress his growl anymore.

"Calm down Garf, it's a thing of the past. This is just a viewing and you can't do anything about it", Fredrica prompted. This made Garfiel calm down a bit.

The closest goon to Subaru started to raise his knife in the air when a powerful wind blew it away from his hand.

Rem's fists were shaking with anger when-

"ENOUGH!" Reinhard took a single step toward the men, destroying the ground beneath his feet and blasting the air around him as if he was the eye of a hurricane.

Everyone's face had the expression like a cat who was forcefully made to take a bath.

That shout was more of a divine order than an appeal. Even people like Garf, Priscilla and Roswaal held their breath for a bit.

"..." Julius' face went pale. He never heard Reinhard raise his voice in such a way before.

Even after having anticipated what was about to come, Julius's face had the same expression as his screen self.

The only ones who were relaxed right now were the Sword Saint and his mistress.

"Finally! Finally you showed some emotion. Good job Rein", Felt praised him. (Seriously?)

Reinhard rubbed his hair sheepishly, not understanding whether that was sarcasm or a compliment. Divine protection of salt or sugar needs an update probably.

"Had I been a better man, I could have convinced you to lay your weapon down." Reinhard took another step, bringing even more destruction than before. "But I am afraid that you are going to pay the price of my weakness."

"Yeah, kick their asses", Felt cheered, while others were genuinely concerned as to why the little girl didn't show any sign of feeling afraid at all. On the other hand, Wilhelm who was Reinhard's grandfather, wiped sweat from his forehead.

With his now free hand, the leader threw a torrent of flame toward Reinhard. The heat was so intense Ferris, Al, and Julius had to shield their eyes from the burning inferno. Reinhard didn't stop his stride even as wild flames devoured him. Even though the criminal struck true, he didn't stop his attack only pouring more mana in it, he was going to incinerate this clown.

At this point, the others had calmed down a bit.

Felt, Mimi and Tivey cheered for Reinhard.

"Fuck them up!", Garfiel cheered too and got a smack on his head from Fredrica.

He was smiling, savoring his vengeance when he got his breath kicked out of him. The impact sent him flying toward the end of the dead-end and left him on the verge of death.

As the flame died with their summoner's consciousness, they revealed Reinhard still walking toward Subaru, unscathed. The other criminals knew they had lost, but were lucid enough to know that mercy was out of the question. The man walking toward them was nothing short of a god and he was seeking his tribute.

Priscilla clicked her tongue. She hated the fact that someone this strong is aiding his strength to a filthy rat from the sewers. Yes, she had the world following her but shouldn't a Goddess like her have every precious toy that existed. Guess what they say is true after all.

"He's just built different", she thought.

Meanwhile…

"Holy shit!", Garfiel jumped of his seat. "How strong is this dude?"

The Sword Saint never failed to impress him. He still remembered the time when he killed the beast of end in one go.

Reinhard just smiled at him, while Felt raised her head in pride. Rem thanked the sword saint in her mind for once again saving her love.

"That's the Sword Saint for you", Anastasia answered.

In desperation, one of them took hold of Subaru as a bargaining chip. A futile move that did nothing but anger the devil in front of them as their hostage wasn't as helpless as they thought.

Emilia was feeling happy and sad at the same time.

Happy that Subaru had made such good friends in such a short amount of time. He was amusingly well at befriending people.

But her heart also sank due to the fact that every time Subaru was in some problem, she was never there to help him. Everyone… The entire camp, other camps and his friends… everyone had helped Subaru at least once when he was in a dangerous situation, except her. She was away, either relaxing, or busy with her own problems. Every… single… time…

But not anymore…

If Subaru had no chance against five armed people, he could easily get rid of one of his captors. He hammered his elbow in the man's stomach and drove his heel in one of his feet. After impaling the man's feet, he kicked him toward the wall, taking him out in an instant.

"OOOFFF, that was a solid hit", Ricardo praised.

"Let them have it, Cap. Throw them away!", Garfiel cheered for his captain.

Ram wondered how Subaru was able to achieve such a feat, while Beatrice wondered why Garf was being excited over such a simple thing.

"He's Betty's contractor after all. Such a simple feat is nothing for him, in fact", she said while the others around her smiled.

Otto was also cheering for his buddy silently.

As Reinhard was about to reach for one of the three remaining threats, Julius unleashed a new blast of ice from his sword. This one was infinitely more powerful than the first, ensnaring two of the thugs in an ice coffin.

"Good job, Julius-kun. You never fail to impress", Anastasia complimented her knight.

"You are too generous Anastasia-sama. I still have to learn a lot," Julius replied with a smile, which made Anastasia giggle once again.

Al followed Julius' example and invoked a set of earth walls to trap the last one of them, putting an end to this confrontation.

"Look Princess. How's that. You see how your servant was the one to end the battle!", Al jumped in his place, hoping to get some sort of praise.

"Yes, come here. I'll reward you", Priscilla ordered him while pointing her fingers towards her foot.

Roswaal who was sitting beside them couldn't believe his eyes when Aldebran literally jumped from his place to Priscilla's feet and started rubbing his head under her shoe sole. (TF dude…)

"You finally did something after all. You deserve this", Priscilla said as she rubbed her feet on his helmet.

Meanwhile, Ram was trying her best to prevent puke from coming out while Rem rubbed her back. She was unfortunate enough to catch a glimpse of what Priscilla and Al were doing.

Reinhard didn't bat an eye at his friends' intervention and continued to walk toward Subaru before hugging him in relief.

"Hey, hey. No need to hold me so tightly." Subaru wiggled to create some breathing room. "I'm alright! Barely bruised!"

Rem was… jealous?

"If only I was present there instead…", she thought.

Subaru tried to flash him a smile, he wanted to put this fiasco behind him as fast as he could. A big mistake on his part, as revealing his face to Reinhard uncovered how swollen half of it was.

"Oh Subaru…", Emilia was tearing up again. He suffered this pain because of that puppet show, which was about her… He suffered because of her again… Why… Why is it her every time?... WHY?

Crystals of ice started to form around, but soon Emilia's mind was given a tug.

"Huh"

Umm…

"A-Are you announcing something? Why is no one else responding?", Emilia voiced her thoughts.

Uh… You see, right now we are in your mind. So they can't listen to me.

"Oh, I understand", Emilia said, her tone still sad.

"Why did you call me here?"

Well, because of two things

Emilia lifted an eyebrow, as if asking 'What'.

No 1: You are forgetting the reason you were brought here. You mind was going fragile upon seeing Subaru suffer again and again.

"But what am I supposed to do? I feel so useless. Why does Subaru have to suffer so much in the first place. Why can't both of us be allowed to live happily like others. Why us? WHY?"

Emilia couldn't stop her tears anymore as she started crying. The warden waited till she calmed down a bit.

"I'm sorry. I needed to vent it out a bit", she said rubbing her tears.

It's alright. To be honest, I'm new to this so I don't know what to say exactly. But I just wanted to remind you that these viewings are so that you can understand what Subaru is going through and stand beside him like he always does with you.

Emilia nodded her head in agreement as her tears dried up and a small smile crawled up on her face.

So, you don't need to worry about not being able to do anything. These events have happened in the past and can't be changed. But you can look forward to a brighter future and work hard for it.

"I will", Emilia said in a confident tone.

"Thank you for that. I really needed it."

It's alright, I'll send you back now.

"Uh, but… what was the second thing you wanted to remind me of?" Emilia asked.

Oh right. I just wanted to remind you that your powers were going out of hand. Even with me controlling them, your ice has frozen Subaru's left arm completely. Had I not intervened, you would have frozen his entire body, triggering return by death. Although, I've healed his arm, so you don't need to worry about that.

"Ah!" Emilia cupped her hands around her mouth at the horrible fact. Then she shook her head, apologized and closed her eyes, ready to return. And when she opened them…

"You're hurt!" Ferris ran toward his injured friend.
"Ah, this. Nothing but a flesh wound." Subaru smiled even wider to prove his point.
"A FLESH WOUND, NYAH?" Subaru was driving Ferris crazy. "They broke your cheekbone!" Even though he was raging, Ferris gently placed his hand over the broken bone and let his magic do its work.

Emilia looked at the screen firmly, as she caressed Subaru's left hand.

Meanwhile, Rem and Beatrice felt the urge to jump in and heal Subaru as the damage was too much to bear.

Garfiel was happy that everything is ok, but he felt like trash, because this incident happened after he had joined the camp, and he still couldn't help his captain. Although, Otto giving him a pat on the back did help in feeling better.

Julius took his time to reunite with the other as he stopped in front of the two men he embedded in ice. Their heads were stinking out nice of the body of ice, allowing them to breathe and even talk.

"He was about to kill you, are you aware of that?" Julius wanted to know the extent of their foolishness.
"So what? Want us to suck your dick for sparing us?" one of the men sneered at him.

"Gayyyy", Roswaal commented.

"Alright, mister 'I gave birth to myself'", Aldebran said in a mocking tone, making others laugh, as he returned back to his seat.

"Please, do not misunderstand me. I did not intervene to save you." Julius scoffed at them before throwing them a last glance. "I did it because I don't want your dirty blood on his hands."

Reinhard looked at Julius with stunned eyes, and Julius shot a smile towards him. Understanding the sentiment, Reinhard smiled while nodding his head and then looked towards the screen.

Julius flipped his hair and reunited with his friends, he wanted to slap their faces off, but it would be gratuitous. Al, on the other hand, had no qualm about killing them or letting Reinhard do it, he just didn't want to have a body on his shoulders. Participating in a… spicy street fight is a thing, having to get rid of a few bodies were another.

Ferris healed the unconscious criminal, making sure to make them sleep for a long time. They would tip the authorities on their location later.

Crusch smiled at her knight's diligence being shown. Truth to be told, when everyone was scared about Subaru, she was too, but she knew nothing bad could happen as Felix was present there. The relationship of trust between her and her knight was unbreakable.

Even though all traces of the incident had left Subaru's face and that the man himself smiled at him, Reinhard felt absolutely awful. He failed to see his pain at the puppet show and he failed to save him before he got hurt. And who knew what they did to him before they arrived? Subaru would rather die than telling them, he was sure of it.

"Subaru." Reinhard took a deep breath, not letting his friend go. "I'm sor-"

"AWWW" (Don't ask me how many people did this. Just understand that even Roswaal was among them).

"Poor Rein", Felt said while patting Reinhard's head while the strongest person alive looked like a cat. (Where Tatoes?)

"Tsss." Subaru put his finger over Reinhard's mouth. "They told me about your 'no apologies' rule. And I won't let you use me as an excuse to violate it."

"Hahaha", Petra started laughing. Dummy Subaru can't quit joking for even once, can he?

Many others including the Emilia camp members joined her.

"What should I do about you?", Emilia said while giving Subaru's cheek a tug and smiling.

"Big Bro gets it, haha", Felt started laughing while the cat's (read Reinhard) head pat session was left in between.

"Can't you be serious for once?" Reinhard let a sour laugh.
"Nope. Not possible. I would die from it." Subaru freed himself from Reinhard's grasp.

Beatrice headbutted Subaru's chin, hoping that would hurt, because it should.

"What a foolish thing to say, in fact."

He then walked around the place as if nothing happened, spinning around in his dress and humming to himself.

HALT! HALT! Let's take a short break.

Everyone back when this timer hits zero (It was 30 mins)

---

"Man, did you see how captain smacked the shit out of that thug?", Garfiel asked Otto with stars in his eyes, as they returned back from the restroom.

"Yes, I did", Otto smiled.

"Captain's really the best. Even without his powers, he can take care of goons. Did you see how he ignored all that pain. That was sooo manly!"

After the viewing, Garfiel's respect for his captain had quadrupled. The memory of the invisible uppercut that Subaru had given him during their battle was engraved in his soul. That was the coolest thing he had ever seen!

"Anyways, let's get back to what we had planned Garf", Otto reminded, as Garfiel had begun to throw random punches in the air, trying to copy that uppercut.

"Yeah!"

---

"Thank you to all of you for taking care of Subaru and being such a good friend of his."

Emilia was standing with all the knights in the middle of the hallway. She was thanking them for the way they cared about Subaru.

"It's nothing really Emilia-sama. I feel like it's my duty as a friend and comrade to take care of Subaru, especially when we are on one team", Reinhard replied.

"Yes, Subaru has already proven to us that he is a trust worthy comrade. I don't mind his origins, he's my friend and I must treat him as one", Julius said while flipping his hair.

"Even though Natsuki-kyun causes trouble sometimes, he's very reliable. So it's a given that we trust him, nyah", Felix giggled.

Emilia smiled at all of them. Suddenly, she remembered something.

"By the way Reinhard, you should not let Subaru play jokes on you like that. I will remember to scold him for it", she said, and looked at the sleeping boy with a pout.

"Ah, it's not that big of a deal Emilia-sama, you don't need to go that far. In fact, I like it when Subaru is joking around and playing pranks on me. It does not make me angry at all, but rather strengthens our friendship", Reinhard said with a smile. (Pride if go brrrrrrr)

Emilia smiled at him and then Anastasia joined the group.

"Man, you guys really saved Subaru from getting molested there, didn't you?", she said with a giggle, making Felix giggle as well, while Reinhard and Julius rubbed their hair.

"Mo-lested? What does that mean?" Emilia tilted her head and gave a confused look.

"You don't know what it means!", Anastasia questioned.

"U-uh, no…", Emilia said, while looking down with a sorry face.

"Oh, right. You don't even know how babies are made", Anastasia giggled. She remembered the time when Emilia had said that babies are made by kissing. She laughed so hard at that.

"Anastasia-sama!", Julius called out to her.

"Oh, come on Julius-kun, I'm not telling her anything. I remember what those maids had told us", she replied while giggling.

Still, the three knights didn't like where this conversation was heading.

"Mmm", Emilia couldn't take this childish treatment anymore. She thought she should say something. How about… a lie?

"I know how babies are made!", she shouted, loudly enough to attract the attention of someone who was passing by.

Reinhard wanted to point out that fact that the wind of untruth was blowing but his Divine Protection of 'Reading the mood' advised him not to do it.

"Oh really. Pffft, fine, I believe yo-", Anastasia was about to end the conversation when…

"And how's that?", A scarlet eyes, orange haired duchess entered the conversation.

"A-ah, ummm…", Emilia began to think. This was a problem. She had to think of a way babies are made now. "Think something." Finally, she found the most probable answer she could think of.

"A-a girl and b-boy hug each other and sleep in one bed and… the next morning a baby is in the girl's tummy", she said in a low voice, after a gathering every bit of courage in her body. This was soo embarrassing.

"HAHAHAHA", Anastasia burst out laughing.

Felix had already run away, giving an excuse that he needs to tend to Crusch. Julius was face palming, since the situation was really weird, and embarrassing. Reinhard wondered if he should correct Emilia, but his Divine Protection of 'Reading the mood' stopped him again.

Priscilla stood in her place and thought for a while. Then grabbing Emilia's hand, she dragged her towards her room.

"U-ah?" (confused Emilia noises)

"Looks like I would have to take it upon mineselves to educate your half wit mind. Seeing your response to the reality would be interesting." Priscilla said, while dragging Emilia against her.

Julius tried to intervene, but Anastasia stopped him.

"Julius-kun, leave that Vollachian idiot alone. If you try to stop her, she'll might create trouble for you", she suggested him.

"I understand your viewpoint, Anastasia-sama", Julius replied with a bow down. He looked back once again, to where Emilia was taken. He really wanted to intervene, but his status prevented him from doing so.

Soon, the two of them went back to their seats. Reinhard saw Felt coming out of her room, and then went back to his seat with her.

---

"Ha, you're approaching meeeeee?" The clown asked with fake confusion. (Wait, is that a reference from jo-)

"Shut up and spill the beans", the beast boy got straight to the point.

Otto and Garfiel had gone to Roswaal for a particular discussion.

"Hmm? I don't get what you are trying to saaaayyyy."

"Very well then, let me explain." Otto started talking.

"We know from the previous viewings that Natsuki-san is your last bet to reach your goal. But now that every camp knows his powers, they will try to take advantage of the situation and bring him over to their camp, like we had discussed previously. So, we came here hoping if you had devised some sort of plan which could help us in protecting Natsuki-san." Otto said, making Roswaal raise an eyebrow.

Oh plans. Yes, now that he knew how to trigger RBD, Roswaal had a lot of plans. But he also knew that the others won't be in agreement with his plans.

"Noooooo, I don't", Roswaal said.

Otto looked into his eyes for a moment before turning around.

"Very well, let's ask Emilia-sama if she has some plan then", Otto said and signaled Garfiel with his eyes. Getting the signal, Garfiel understood and stood beside Roswaal, while Otto went to bring Emilia.

Meanwhile, Crusch glared at Roswaal. She couldn't hear what he was saying but she did sensed the wind of untruth that came from him.

---

It had been quite a while since both of them had went in. Soon, the door to Priscilla's room opened and she went back to her seat, smiling. And not much later, someone else came out of the same room. A half elf with silver hair, amethyst eyes, white clothes and… an appa for a face? (No seriously, it was so red, even an appa doesn't compare)

Priscilla had explained her everything… EVERYTHING! IN DETAILS!

She just came out of the room and stood in one place, her back against the wall. Her eyes felt like they were spinning around.

"I… is this wh…y Puck never told me… any of this?", she wondered, her mind still processing what she had been told.

It was so weird for her. And so much different than what she had expected…

"If… if I were to m-marry Subaru… t-then we both-", saying that she covered her face in her arms, from embarrassment, the redness of her face doubling.

"Emilia-sama!", Otto came dashing towards her, waving one arm.

"AAA- NO, I-I don't know anything about-", Emilia said whatever she could to save her from further embarrassment.

"Wh..what are you talking about?", Otto asked with a confused smile. Emilia realized how weird she had been acting.

"Sorry, Otto-kun. I was wondering about something else. Do you want to say something?", she replied, trying not to worsen the situation.

"Ah, I wanted to know if you had any plans regarding Natsuki-san", asked Otto, and then he saw for the first time in his life, a person's face turning into an appa.

"N-NO, I DON'T HAVE A-ANY DIRTY PLANS. W-WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!", Emilia shouted out in embarrassment and then rushed back to her seat, before Otto could say anything.

"E-eh? Dirty plans…?"

Umm…

Can everyone return back to their seats now?

An announcement was made and Otto realized that he was the only one left. So he rushed back to his seat quickly.

---

Everyone had assumed their seats.

"Why didn't you bring the princess?" Garfiel asked Otto.

"I had gone to, but… when I asked her, she gave a weird response", Otto replied, and got smacked by Garfiel.

"You must have startled her. You always do this, can you ever do something calmly?", he scolded Otto and then facepalmed. "Looks like we'll have to wait and see what happens."

Meanwhile, Otto thought if he had really done something weird. But from what he remembered…

On the front row was seated a black haired boy, sleeping. On his right side was a green haired Duchess and on his left was red faced half elf.

Emilia was finding it hard to be near Subaru now. Whenever she looked at him, she remembered all that Priscilla had told her and her face kept on getting more and more flushed. Anastasia was seeing all this and giggling while hiding her smile under her scarf, while Julius and Reinhard were feeling sorry for Emilia.

To stop her face from turning red forever, Emilia focused her attention towards the screen.

Alright, were all here? Good. Let's continue

Julius and Reinhard smiled for what was about to come, while Felix wanted to dig a hole and jump inside it.

The viewing continued-

"Are we going to camp here? Haven't we an entire marketplace to visit? We still have a mission, don't we?" Subaru walked out of the dead-end without looking at his assailants.

When the viewing began, it suddenly struck Emilia what the men were trying to do with Subaru, and what Anastasia had meant by molestation. She didn't know if she should feel angry or more embarrassed, but she thanked the Od that nothing wrong happened. If the knights had been too late then…

"Big sis?" Felt was shocked on seeing that her big sis had suddenly smacked herself in the face. Emilia had to do it to keep the weird thoughts from coming, but she couldn't tell this to Felt.

"It's nothing Felt-chan, I'm just a bit tired", Emilia replied.

"E-eh?"

Meanwhile, the little spirit sitting beside Emilia wondered what kind of girls her contractor was indulging himself with.

"Don't you want to talk about it, nyah~? It must have been hard for you? Just because I healed your face doesn't mean nothing happened."
"Ferris." Subaru dramatically turned his upper body to look at Ferris. "If I stopped at the first sign of trouble, I would still be aimlessly wandering in the capital right now."
"Let's go, buddy." Al put his arm around Subaru's shoulder. "We respect your choice."

"Nice"

"Huh?" Aldebran got confused at the sudden compliment from his mistress.

"Keep luring him like that, and we'll soon have him joining us", she said, agreeing to his act.

Aldebran rubbed the back of his helmet, confused, since luring Subaru was not his intention here, but oh, whatever.

"He worries me a lot too, Ferris." Julius walked by Ferris' side. "But now is not the time, all we can do is lend him an ear when he'll want to talk."
"But what if he is never ready, nyah!"

Rem smiled that Subaru got acquainted with such nice people while she was asleep, but then…

"Then, we will be there to help him get back up when he'll eventually break." Julius would pay a good sum of money to know what went through Subaru's mind, but such a feat was impossible.

"What the hell?"

Rem glared towards Julius who looked at her with the expression that asked "What?"

To which Rem nodded her head, saying that it was nothing.

Julius' comment creeped out everybody a bit, now that they new the truth, and the fact that Subaru's mind breaking might become a reality.

"It wasn't a pleasant experience viewing what was in his mind after all", Julius thought.

They quickly reached the marketplace, Subaru used his classic antics to wipe away the gloomy mood and lift everybody's spirit. They worried far too much, this little incident was already old news to him. If he had to rank it in his 'worst things that ever happened to me' list, it would be #232 or something similar.

The Emilia camp facepalmed at this, except Petra, who giggled at how Subaru can turn anything funny, and Garfiel, who thought how cool his captain is for such a horrific incident to be nothing for him.

"You are an idiot, in fact", Beatrice scolded the Subaru on screen, worried at the fact that her contractor does not care about such dreadful incident.

While walking around the market, they noticed a man sitting behind a small box with three cups on it. The man switched the cups at varying speeds and asked customers to find a hidden pearl.

"Hmm?", Ram leaned forward. The game interested her.

"Well, well. Young lady, young sir. Are you interested in a little game?" the man approached Ferris and Al.

"HAHAHA! Young lady", Garfiel laughed out loud to assert dominance over Felix, while Ricardo and the twins couldn't stop themselves from giggling. Felix would have made a comeback, if his mind had not been preoccupied from what was about to come.

"Don't, pal. It's a scam." Al said to Ferris."Aaaah, shoot, nyah~." He wouldn't lie, he was interested in the game. He was sure he could win, but if Al said it was a scam…
"A scam?! How? It's just a little game between friends!" the man then turned toward Subaru and Julius. "And you, young fellows? Interested? It's a perfect way to impress a lady."

"Ah shit! Another one bewitched by Natsuki-san's trick", Otto facepalmed while the ladies giggled at how the man had considered Subaru to be a lady so easily.

"Ah! As if! Neither Jul-"
"I accept." Julius interrupted Subaru.

"Huh?", Anastasia raised a finger to her lip, wondering why Julius would participate in a scam.
"Juli… El is right, it is a scam." Reinhard was surprised by Julius' behavior, he was the first one to call a scam out usually.
"Do not worry for me, I am not duped easily. Moreover, our new friend is right, it is nothing but a game."

Ricardo looked at Julius and Julius gave him a smile. Then he looked around to see that Felix and Reinhard were smiling too.

The man invited Julius to sit on the chair in front of the box.

"So, dear friend. Do you know how to play this game?"
"Absolutely not. Would you mind telling the rules?" Julius put his hand under his chin.

This astonished Anastasia. Julius didn't even know the rules and still he sat down to play?

"Now this is interesting", Crusch mused.

Meanwhile, Emilia busy was trying to keep her mind from wandering away.

"I would be charmed to! It's child's play! I will hide this little pearl under one of these cups and then I will move them around! Your job is to follow the pearl and tell me under which cup it is!" the man made a demonstration of the game. "Let's start with a freebie, between you and me!"

"Woah, this sounds interesting. I would like to try this someday." Tivey voiced his thoughts.

"I think the pearl is under this one." Julius lifted the cup to find the pearl beneath it.

Everyone was shocked. Even Julius. Because it wasn't only Julius on the screen who had guessed it correctly, but Priscilla sitting at the back pointed out the correct cup even before Julius.

"Ah! You are incredible at this game, you're actually going to make me lose money!"
"It was just beginner's luck!" Julius waved his victory away.

Ferris looked at the game being played and he managed to follow the pearl too.

"You lied to me, 'EL'! It's no scam!" Ferris punched Al's arm in retribution.
"Wait and see, pal. Wait and see."

Emilia had followed the coin too. She was confident that she could guess the correct one herself. So, she pointed out the cup she had seen having the pearl under it.

"This one." Julius pointed at the cup in a graceful manner.

Sadly, Emilia was wrong ;-; . But what was even more surprising, was that Priscilla had yet again guessed the correct cup all by herself.

"And you did it again! Marvelous!"
"He did it again, nyah~!" This game was too easy, he should have accepted to play.

"How are you doing it?" Felt and Anastasia asked Julius in unison.

"Don't worry, it will be shown in a minute", replied Julius, more worried over the fact as how Priscilla was guessing the correct one.

This time the man decided it was time for the real game to start, and incited Julius to place a bigger bet. When Reinhard saw the actual amount, his eyes almost popped out of their orbits, was Julius becoming mad?

"Juli, it's enough, you shou-"
"Please, please. I came here to have some harmless fun, let me play as I wish."
"That's what I want to hear!" the man moved the cup, making sure to switch the pearl's place. "So dear friend, can you find the pearl this time."
"Take this one, take this one!" Ferris pointed to the leftmost cup.
"Do you agree with this lovely lady?" like a moth to a flame.
"Ah. I was distracted during the jumble... So I will let fate choose in my stead." Julius let his finger jump from one cup to the other mumbling inaudible words. "This one, please."

"You should've listened to Rein. The one you chose looked wrong-", Felt was about to complete her sentence with Emilia nodding in support when-

"It is the right one", Priscilla said. Petra knew Priscilla was wrong this time, she had seen with her eyes.

"Nyyyyaaaah, you got it wrong!"

Felix wondered where did he missed the correct one.

Beatrice had already stopped guessing at this point. Had she been there, she would have just linked the cups and moved the pearl under any particular cup which she would have chosen.

Ram had guessed one in her mind but she kept quiet about it. She waited to see the outcome.

"Ahem." the man was not pleased. "Seems like Lady Fate is sensible to your charm! You are right!" he would get his revenge next round. "But you won't end your winning streak in such a way, right?"
"Well, of course. I'll make sure to make proper attention next time"

And everyone's expectations were broken again. Priscilla smiled behind her fan.

"HAAH", Ram smiled and looked the other way. She had, in fact, guessed the correct one.

The man gave Julius his due, but just as planned Julius bet it back and even added more money. He really found a lucky sucker, didn't he? The man mixed the cups again and switched the pearl once more. He wanted to make sure that Julius followed the 'right' cup with his eyes this time, but the tinted glass made it quite difficult. Still, he looked focused enough.

"So, young lad, did you pay attention this time?"
"Actually, I did." Julius smiled warmly as he played with one of the coins.
"And it's this one, right?" Ferris pointed giddily one of the cups. "I was wrong last time, but I followed the pearl really closely this time, nyah~!"

"At this point, I don't think Felix-san will ever be right", Otto said which made some people giggle.

"You never learn, don't you. You make me want to scam your money out of you, pal." Al had lost a lot of respect for Ferris today.
"Juli?" Subaru lent over Julius' shoulder and started to whisper in his ear. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"HaHa, nice", Roswaal laughed, and so did Garfiel.

"Me?" Julius faced Subaru. "I am just playing, dear."
"Sweet lady, I know you are worried for your man but you should trust him a little more." the man laughed.

"Uuuuhh", Ram held her head. This is happening again!

Ricardo was laughing while Emilia and Rem didn't like how Julius called out Subaru, even though they knew it was a joke.

"Ah, yes. I am just really worried for my sweet love." Subaru put his hands over Julius' shoulders and started to squeeze them viciously. "My sweet love can be quite the airhead sometimes" he squeezed harder.
"You are too kind, dear." If Julius was hurting, he didn't show it. "Then since it's our second wedding anniversary, I will choose the second cup."

Ricardo was rolling on the ground, while Wilhelm just smiled at the men being cheerful for once in a while. But Beatrice had started feeling weird, while Rem was looking for a puking bag for her sister, as Ram was finding it hard to hold it in.

"Why?" the man was panicking. "This is quite a… foolish move." he wanted to slap some sense into this man.
"Ah, the things I do for love." Julius lifted the second cup. "Oh, there it is! Dear, my love for you guided me once again."
"Ahahahahahahah." Subaru laughed before whispering in Julius' ear once again. "You better give me some of this damn money."

Emilia face palmed. Subaru can never change, can he?

Once again, Julius betted all the money and added some more to the table. The number of coins in play was outrageous. The man kept cheating, but as Julius kept winning, Reinhard chose to keep his mouth shut.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Garfiel and Felt shouted in unison.

"H-How?", Otto asked the question for them. Anastasia, Crusch and Emilia were confused too. Beatrice had got the idea as to what Julius.

Hell, even Julius was confused. Priscilla guessed the correct cup, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

"That's Princess for ya", Aldebran laughed.

Everyone looked towards Priscilla.

"What?" The fiery eyed princess asked.

"HOW?" The rest of the hall asked.

"Isn't it obvious. The world itself changes the pearl according to my wish. I choose anyone that I feel like and it is the correct one, as it should be", she said, smiling behind her fan.

Now some where actually confused if what she always said regarding her luck was actually the truth.

"Last round! After I close up shop, you are ruining me!"
"Ah, yes. I don't want to worry my dear heart any longer."

"Gaaaaay", Roswaal said from the back. He was bored and wanted to doze off at this point.

Garfiel and Otto founded them in agreement with what the clown had said.

Beatrice didn't exactly know what Roswaal meant, as she used to think gay meant happy, and there was no reason for the clown to randomly say that. But it reminded her one thing. After an year spent with her contractor, she had come to learn a lot of references, jokes and 'mimes' from him. She remembered one that Subaru had told her for the situation on the screen. She wondered if she should say that.

"Use this money to buy something nice and I'll let you play longer, sweetie." Subaru warped his arms around Julius' neck.

"Remw, thw bawg", Ram asked while holding her mouth. It was unbearable at this point.

"A-ah, I couldn't find any bag, nee-sama", Rem replied, too busy imagining herself in Julius' place.

"The fuck dude", Garfiel looked at Julius with a weird face.

Julius was confused. He didn't understand what was wrong here. And so was Reinhard.

"Crusch-sama, are you feeling unwell, nyah?", Felix rushed to his master.

"N-No Ferris, what gave you the idea?", Crusch asked.

"You face looks all red", Felix replied, his tone filled with worry.

"E-Eh?"

What seemed like an affectionate gesture was more of a reminder of his looming presence. Julius was having too much fun to his taste.
"Your ambition is what makes you so loveable, dear."
"Yes, yes. Sorry to interrupt such adorable lovebirds, but we have a game to play."
"I would give you my advice, nyah~. But it seems I'm really bad at this game." Ferris held back a tear.
"So, my friend, do choose!" the man made sure to switch the pearl multiple times.
"My love, I feel my luck evading me. Would you kindly kiss me for good luck?" Julius presented his hand to Subaru. He was having one of the best times of his life, Subaru was too easy to tease and taunt.

"UUUURRGHHHH", Ram got up from her seat, and ran towards the restroom, with her left hand holding the mouth, while her right hand holding her belly.

"Nee-sama!", Rem rushed behind her sister, feeling sad that after Emilia, even Julius got a kiss from Subaru, but she didn't. Damn you, gluttony. She wanted to see more too, but sister's health was more important right now.

"Hahahaha." Subaru tightened his arms around Julius' neck. "You're so funny, ha ha hahaha." he then added in Julius' ear "I'll take 90% of your gains." he then kissed Julius on the cheek, fighting off the desire to bite him instead.

At this point, poor Garfiel was feeling sick too. He took Otto's hat and went to a corner.

"My precious haaattt!", Otto cried.

Meanwhile Beatrice got off her seat and walked up to Julius. Seeing a great spirit approach him, Julius bowed down in front of her and looked into her eyes, waiting for her to say something.

.

.

.

"Why are you gay, I suppose?" Betty asked, remembering what her contractor had told to say in such a situation.

.

.

.

Anastasia and Ricardo started rolling on the ground while Felt and Aldebran were laughing as hard as they could. Roswaal whistled for Beatrice and shouted "Once more!".

Fredrica got up from her seat, apologized to Julius and requested Beatrice to come back. Meanwhile, Julius was left with such an expression that he no longer looked like the Julius we know but rather James from good ol' team rocket.

Garfiel returned back to his seat with Otto's cap.

"The fuck do I do with this now? Throw it away!" Otto shouted at Garfiel. While Garf was still feeling bit sick, so he couldn't care less what Otto was trying to say. He just followed and threw the hat back… And it landed on Roswaal's face.

"GYAAAAAAHHH" Roswaal threw the hat in one of the nearby bins, and rushed to the rest room to wash his face. Aldebran was banging his head on the floor and even Priscilla was laughing. The situation was a complete mess!

The viewing had to pause as many people had left their seats and Emilia, Petra, Fredrica, Felix and Wilhelm were trying to wake Crusch up, who had fainted after her face went too red from seeing the last scene.

Beatrice just facepalmed herself. Leaving that library was a mistake!

After a 15 minute break, everyone returned back.

"Haah, haah… idiots", Ram said in anger.

Roswaal was busy putting his makeup again.

"What had happened, Crusch-sama?" Felix asked in a worry. He was genuinely scared. And so was Emilia.

"Ah, d-don't worry Felix, it was probably due to the lack of sleep", she said. Suddenly, she remembered something and looked towards Reinhard. He was looking at her at that moment. Crusch had lied after all, so the wind of untruth must be blowing. She requested him with her facial expression and hands, to stay quiet. Reinhard just smiled. Anastasia had seen this and was giggling.

"Ah, we need to get you to bed right now", Felix got up in a hurry.

"No, it's fine. I'll take ample rest after the viewing", Crusch replied and asked Emilia and Felix to not worry about her as she's fine.

Otto had also mourned for his martyred hat and planned a funeral for it.

Everyone was ready to continue.

"Thank you, dear. Then I will choose… this one." he smiled and tried to lift the cup but the man took his hand.
"What's your fucking deal?"
"I beg your pardon?" Julius feigned ignorance.

"Well, I have a few friends to introduce you to." The man was about to signal his friends.

"Cheat!" Felt shouted.

"How charming. I have friends too." Julius smiled, showing a bit of teeth.
"I think you don't get what I me-" the man felt something warm next to his stomach.

Looking down to see what was next to his belly, he saw a tiny red light floating. He then felt another one at his right side, then another again at his left side. He was getting surrounded by rather hostile spirits. He could feel their power oozing from them, those were very powerful. The man looked at his 'customer', no, his captor, who was still smiling.

"Oh, now it all makes sense", Anastasia understood how Julius was guessing everything correctly.

"Not only do you have many friends, but you are popular with the fairer sex. What a lucky man you are." Julius got up and took all the money on the table. "Now, if I may, I'll take my due and let you close shop. Do you have any objections?"
"..." the man said nothing, even if he called his friends, those quasi-spirits were no jokes. Better lose the money and live another day.
"Good. With this, farewell."

"Yeah! The bastard deserved that!" Felt cheered. Garfiel found those spirit arts kinda cool and even Emilia was impressed.

"Such weak spirits. These are nothing compared to the likes of Betty and Bubby, in fact", Beatrice laughed at the quasi-spirits which made Julius' heart ache.

Julius walked away from the man and called back for his little buds, they did a phenomenal job, first telling him where the pearl was then helping reason with their new friend. After putting some distance between them and the unlucky scammer, they stopped to see how much Julius won.

"Woah, so you took the help of your spirits? That's so smart of you, Julius-kun". Anastasia clapped after being impressed to which Julius just bowed.

Felt also found it cool, but she still couldn't understand how in the world did Pricilla guessed them all right. Garfiel didn't find Julius' act manly enough, while Otto acknowledged the strategy and got smacked.

Emilia was pouting, because Julius had cheated, while she had tried so hard.

"Dear God, I didn't think you had it in you, mate!" Al was truly impressed, Julius was not to trifle with.
"I never thought you could be so cunning." Reinhard was happy to see a new side of his friend, but it was quite frightening. "But I guess even the most graceful rose has its thorns."
"I'm sorry, but those kinds of con-artists anger to no end. They prey on the naive and innocent. Ferris almost fell to his malfeasance."
"I'm sorry, nyah~." Ferris looked at the ground. "I can't resist the sirens of gambling…"

After visiting the more recluse part of the marketplace, the group started to feel exhausted from this long eventful evening. But of course, they wanted to finish with a bang, so they started to think about what their last activities should be.

"Man, You guys really had a big night", Felt exclaimed to which the others smiled.

"Hey, friend." Al stopped a random man in the market. "If ya could do only one thing here before dying, what would ya do?"
"Depends… But I guess the Witch's Manor."

"What's that?" Garfiel asked Otto, who was trembling already.

Since Otto couldn't answer, Ricardo did the job.

"It's a place filled with scary mannequins and stuff to pose a challenge to anyone who enters. It's just an activity for fun", he said. Garfiel's eyes sparkled at that. He would love to go to a place like this and break through everything like a beast.

Petra snugged closer to Fredrica. She had gone to one of those with her parents (a much simpler one) and it was not fun for her.

Emilia leaned a bit near Subaru. She was not used to scary things.

"Ooooooh, spooky!" Subaru put himself between Al and the man. "Is it a haunted house?"
"I don't know what you mean by 'haunted house', but it's not for the faint-hearted."

Everyone looked towards Aldebran for an explanation, which made Betty 'hmph' because she knew the answer too, but no one asked her.

"Ha ha, don't worry, a haunted house is the same thing. Exactly like the witch's manor, it is a scary recreational place to have fun, trying to find the exit.

"Perfect! IT IS PERFECT! Where is it?"
"Are you sure? I'm not sure it's good for a frail little girl like you."
"..." Subaru didn't say anything, he just let his naturally terrifying eyes resurface. Giving the man the look his mother saved for when he truly fucked-up.

Petra and Emilia giggles at Subaru's reaction.

"Aaah. It's over there…"
"Thank you!" he blew him a kiss and took Al's hand.

"Neat. The boy knows how to impress", Ricardo complimented.

"I hope this 'haunted house' is no bullshit. He hyped me up." Al adjusted his mask.
"I hope this 'haunted house' is pure bullshit. My little heart is fragile, nyah~!"

"I hope this 'haunted house' has various scary things. I wanna see more stuff", Mimi jumped in her seat.

"I hope this 'haunted house' doesn't cause any more trouble for Betty's Subaru, in fact", Betty voiced her wish.

"I hope this-"

"Shhh, calm down now, will you?", Tivey wanted to continue but Mimi, stopped him.

It took them thirty minutes to reach the manor, it was nested on a hill, near a smallish lake. Julius had to admit, the manor really had a sinister feel to it.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Are you here to challenge the Witch's manor?" a woman in a long black dress greeted them.
"YES! YES! YES!" Subaru was jumping in place.

Rem smiled looking at the screen. Subaru looked so happy here, compared to all the previous viewings. She planned to build a haunted house for Subaru once they get out, so that he can be happy like this. (Oh no…)

"Are you aware of the history of this cursed place.?"
"NO! NO! NO!" Subaru was still jumping in place.

Emilia was giggling at how childish Subaru was. Childish… child… babies? Suddenly she remembered what Priscilla had said. "Between you legs… he inserts his…", and appa face Emilia returns.

The woman started to lead them to the entrance of the manor, climbing the stairs slowly. Only using an oil lamp to light up the way until the wooden door. The woman then put the lamp on a strange statue near her.

"This place was the home of some awful witch cultists." she did a dramatic pause. "In order to free their dark goddess they made the most gruesome experiments."

Petra hugged Fredrica tighter. "Scary", she said.

Emilia and Beatrice both were hugging Subaru tightly. Crusch was just resting her hand over his, things like these didn't affect her.

Otto missed his hat which would have helped him block the view. Ram was hugging Rem?

Anastasia felt a bit uneasy, but that was it. Roswaal just yawned. Priscilla was excited, while Felix wanted to die. The rest weren't affected much.

"Ah." Ferris was already getting uncomfortable.
"They kidnapped nearby villagers, girls and boys, children and the elderly alike. Their vile nature knew no end."
"But what were those experiments?" Reinhard asked, genuinely curious.
"They thought some people were naturally linked to the witch. And that killing them painfully would awaken their goddess."

"Haha, what bullcrap. This is so funny", Felt laughed.

Reinhard felt happy and worried for his Lady at the same time. Happy because she was so courageous, worried because she needed to change the way she talked.

"Nasty." Al commented.
"And to find those victims, they used bloodhounds that could smell the witch's miasma on them." she looked away. "Nobody knows why some people have this smell on them. And anybody can have it." the woman turned to face Subaru. "Even you, young lady."

"Hahaha", Roswaal laughed at the fact that the man was actually correct, while the others glared at him. Emilia felt a bit sad, and so did Beatrice.

"Really? That would be odd, haha." Subaru didn't blink, this was getting too real.
"Yes, they say she favors young beautiful women. You and your lady friend should watch out."
"We should?" Ferris was not liking any of this.

Crusch laughed at how cute Ferris and Subaru were in the scene. Ferris saw her laughing and just wanted to hide his face. After thinking for a bit, he got up from his place and sat beside Roswaal, since Crusch can't look up there easily, and he won't have to see her face.

Roswaal passed the popcorn packet to him, so Ferris took one.

The door of the manor opened on their own, a violent gust of wind coming out of it.

"The manor invited you in. It's too late to go back now. I wish you good luck." The woman took back her lamp and went down the stairs.

Emilia snuggled in closer. "Scary.." she thought.

Julius was the first to go in, entering a large well-lit hall. He could feel his little buds dancing under his hair like they always did when they were anxious, the mansion's lady really did an impression on them. Ferris took Al's arms and followed Julius in, Al seemed to be unaffected by the scare-factor of this manor, so he should make an alright companion for the visit.

"It's alright, pal. If you're scared you can jump in my arms. Can't guarantee I will catch you, though."

Ferris now regretted going with Al at that time.

Subaru and Reinhard were the last, they all gathered in the hall and started to look for clues on what to do next. It wasn't Subaru's first 'haunted house' and he had a very bad track record with them, but he hoped his relative experience would help him. He began by examining one of the portraits on the wall, moving paintings were a classic after all.

"What is he trying to do?", Felt asked.

"Haunted house in our world often have hidden switches placed in hidden locations that might lead to some secret passage. He's probably trying to see if any of those are present here", Aldebran explained and the others nodded.

"Do you find this one interesting? Is it to your liking?" Reinhard followed Subaru in his examination. He seemed to be the one who knew the most about this kind of entertainment.
"Nope. Nope. Nope. I don't like his face at all!"

"Betty does not like it either, I suppose", Betty said.

"Me too", Emilia agreed.

"Me three" Otto also agreed and got smacked.

"Grow a pair of balls", Garfiel shouted at Otto and his sister smacked him, asking him to mind his language.

One of Julius' little buds went straight to the large fireplace. Julius followed, trusting his quasi-spirit instinct, and started to inspect the 'marble' frame. He knew by just touching it that there was something unusual about it.

"You're cheating again!", Mimi jumped and tried to hit Julius, but Ricardo grabbed him.

"This isn't cheating, my friends wanted to participate too", Julius explained, and Mimi pouted at him.

He was deep in thought when the light went out and the main door closed in a bang, leaving the hall completely in the dark. He felt himself moving even though he was perfectly immobile and the ground shook beneath his feet.

"It's not me, I swear! I didn't touch anything!"

"Of course he's the one to cause trouble first. What a troublesome contractor you are, I suppose", Betty said and facepalmed.

Julius heard Subaru's panicked voice getting quieter as the ground stopped shaking. When the light came back, he was alone in a poorly lit corridor. Looking behind him, he saw the same fireplace that he touched. He was unfortunately cut off from the rest of the group, but as long as his little buds were with him, he feared nothing. But he had to admit, this Witch's Manor was more interesting than he thought. To cover more ground he decided to send five of his little buds to scout the mansion, he trusted them to come back to him when needed. He kept Io with him to help light his way around the mansion.

"Man, those spirits of his are sure useful", Otto praised the quasi spirits.

"Yeah, they really are", Garfiel nodded in agreement.

And then they both realized how bad they fucked up. In front of them was a blonde spirit GLARING. "I look forward to meeting you both outside of this hall, I suppose", Beatrice said with a smile to the profusely sweating buddies of Subaru.

Still trapped in the dark main hall, Subaru started to panic. He just touched a single candle on the wall and everything went downhill from here. The light, the door, the shaking ground, and now a great bang reverberated in the hall. He bit his tongue to keep himself from screaming but he was going to give in soon.

"Oh, Subaru-kun", Rem got worried. Looks like building a haunted house was not a good idea after all.

"H-Haah, B-Barusu. Path-thetic as alw..ays…", Ram said will hiding her face in Rem's chest.

A row of blue little light appeared on the walls, illuminating faintly the main hall. Subaru looked around him to understand what happened and found that a thick earth wall came from the ground, cutting the main hall in half.

"Dude! Buddy! You're on the other side?" Al's voice came from behind the earth wall. "I'm with… ah… FELICIA here!" using the fake names was too hard for him."Miss Natsumi and I are safe on this side of the wall." Reinhard looked around. "But are you sure Juli is not with you?"
"NYAH! THEY TOOK JULIU-" Ferris was about to cry. He was stuck in half a hall with Al and he didn't know what would happen next.

"Damn, yooouuu had it hard", Roswaal said.

"Yeah, it was really scary, nyan", Felix replied as he ate another popcorn.

These two are becoming best buds (-_-)

"SSsssshhhh. Nope, Juli's not here, dude." Al had to admit, this 'haunted house' was not for little children. Maybe for teens, but as an adult, he was totally not affected.
"We should look for him, then. A door opened on our side, maybe he went through there."
"NOPE. There is no door, he is hallucinating. We're not going anywhere!" Subaru refused to take the scary hallway, he had enough scary hallways in his life.
"It's only a game, Miss Natsumi. Do not worry, I won't leave your side."

"You seem unaffected. Do you have a Divine Protection for this too?", Felt asked.

"Yes Felt-sama. Things like these don't scare me and my Divine Protection allowed me to get out of mazes easily" Reinhard replied. Hearing them, Priscilla bit her lower lip a bit and Anastasia rubbed her scarf.

Reinhard took Subaru by the hand and started to explore the new hallway. He wanted his friend to have fun, not just to cry in a dark room. If Subaru needed a little coaxing to start enjoying the mansion, Reinhard was going to give it to him.

On the other side of the wall, Al also found a new opening and started to follow the new path. Ferris watched in horror as Al left his side to enter an even darker place. Following him deeper into this hell was the last thing he wanted. But after a few seconds of consideration alone in the dark hall, Ferris ran after Al.

"Oh, poor Ferris", Crusch felt a little bad. Wilhelm smiled at Ferris' childishness. He was also happy that Subaru was at least enjoying himself. The young lad always had it hard.

Emilia, Beatrice and Subaru were in a three-way hug position at this point. This place was too scary for Emilia and Beatrice.

When Ferris entered the new room, he suddenly missed the relative normality of the main hall. This room was entirely empty save for a dozen mannequins in full witch cultist's attire, facing the walls.

"El, for the love of God, if one of those things starts to move, I'll kill you!" Ferris had heard too many evil living dolls stories to feel comfortable in this room.
"Don't worry, pal. Even if they are alive, I'm sure we could beat them up. Expect if they can use magic, then we're totally screwed."
"DON'T SAY THAT, NYAH!"

"AAAH, SCARY!", Petra screamed and jumped into Fredrica's lap, who embraced her into a warm hug.

"AAAH, SCARY!", Otto screamed and jumped into Garfiel's lap, who threw him away.

"What the fuck man!", he shouted at Otto.

Nes might have been a shadow quasi-spirit, but it didn't mean that she was not afraid of the dark. She would have loved to stay by Julius' side, but he needed her help to unlock the secrets of this mansion. So she explored the mansion for her master's sake. He was lucky she loved him so much.

The entire Anastasia camp were booing at Julius for cheating, except Anastasia, who wasn't scared… not at all…

Hearing Ferris' voice in the distance, Nes rushed towards it, she had found one of her master's friends! Once Nes entered the mannequin's room, she met face to face with the most terrifying face. She followed her master all around the world, but she never saw something so ugly and unsightly in her spirit life. She tried to fly away from the face without leaving the room completely, only to find a worse one and a worse one and a worse one. She started to panic, she didn't want to abandon her master's friend but it was getting too much for her. She tried one last time to stay with them but she saw the worst this room had to offer: what looked like an eyeless Petelgeuse.

"Aww come on, not this again!", Ricardo said for everyone and held his head in his hands, while everyone else looked down. After seeing both arc 3 and arc 4, the cast had mixed opinion regarding Petelgeuse. It was hard to form a concrete opinion on him, because although his past was tragic, what he did during arc 3 was unforgivable. So, people just wanted to forget him, as they considered that dying would have been better for him than living the hellish life that he had.

"Geuse…", Beatrice and Emilia teared up a bit.

Al was hesitating to touch one of the mannequins when the room filled itself with a cloud of thick disorienting smoke. Al had to admit, whoever put this mansion together was good, maybe a little too good.

"NYAAAAH! THEY CAN USE MAGIC!" Ferris ran toward the door while he still could, only to find it closed. "LET ME GO!" he clawed at the door as the shadows swallowed him.

"Damn", Roswaal said as he ate another popcorn.

"Yeah, damn", Felix said as he took one popcorn and put it in his mouth.

Meanwhile, Aldebran was getting creeped out from this newly budding friendship.

Unable to pinpoint where they were in the room and driven by terror, they both started to run in a random direction. In their flight, they knocked over the mannequins making an unnerving cacophony of fallen bodies, and even ran into each other before screaming in pure fright.

Mimi and Tivey couldn't hold their laughs and even Petra started to laugh.

"Pfft, sorry but that was actually funny", Emilia said as she tried to control her giggles.

And like always, Garfiel laughed out loud to assert dominance over Felix.

A few rooms away from Al and Ferris, Subaru could hear their scream of sheer terror.

"Don't be scared, they must have met someone in a scary costume." Reinhard smiled at his anxious friend. "I would know it if they were really in danger."

Subaru didn't feel any better. 'I would know if they were dying' was not good enough, far from it. Reinhard did his best, but walking down a hallway in ruin and covered in 'fake' blood was slightly unnerving. But what made it worse, was how chilling the temperature was. It reminded him of a certain endless hidden tunnel. This world ruined snow for him, he could never see it the same way anymore. Dead was his childhood innocence where snow brought joy to his heart, now it was only a prelude for horror.

As Subaru's thoughts were displayed, Emilia found her heart aching. Leaning in closer, she whispered sorry into his ears, and embraced him with both arms.

"We are all equally responsible, I suppose. Don't you dare put the blame completely upon yourself." Beatrice reminded Emilia, which made her feel a bit better.

Rem looked down, remembering the previous loops. She knew those memories would never go away from her mind. Her sister, her hero, everyone was dead in the ice… Subaru wasn't the only one who hated ice currently.

Garfiel… didn't look down this time. No. As the green haired princess had said, looking down is just running away from your problems. He looked forward. Whatever had happened was a thing of the past. Now that the shield of the Sanctuary is present with the Emilia camp, he will allow no one to do any harm to his friends.

Reinhard read every message on the wall, most of them were vague warnings about the witch or some calls for help. He wondered what they used for the fake blood effect, one of his blessings told him it was a sugary liquid but nothing more. He actually wanted to taste some, but Subaru was nervous enough without him acting like a lunatic.

"What the hell Rein?" Felt asked, shocked.

"No Felt-sama. That was actually a syrup made of sugar. I knew it from the start. It looked like blood, but it was edible", Reinhard explained. Felt just 'felt' (yeah) even more disgusted.

The part of the hallway in front of them was wider than before and the floor was covered in black and white tiles. Reinhard, who was leading the duo, stopped in front of the tiled floor. There was a trap in front of them, he just knew it. Nothing major, nothing deadly, but a trap nonetheless. One of the messages on the walls flashed back in his mind, something about looking out for the darkness under one's feet and over one's head. Looking up, Reinhard saw the same tiled pattern as the floor on the ceiling. From then, the way to avoid the trap was obvious: don't touch the darkest tiles.

"There is a trap hidden in this hallway." Reinhard turned to face Subaru.
"..." Subaru did not need to hear that.

Beatrice facepalmed. She knew what her contractor would do. She was happy that at least the sword saint was with him, which ensured her Subaru's safety.

"But don't worry!" he should have started by reassuring him before dropping the unpleasant information. "As long as you only walk on the white tiles, you should… you will be fine." Reinhard made a demonstration of his strategy, reaching the end of the hallway without any trouble. "Tada! You see, no problem! But if you're still unsure, I could carry you."

"He would deny it. There's no need to even think about this one", Julius said with a smile.

"Of course. Captain is brave enough; he doesn't need anyone's help. Isn't that right Otto? Huh, Otto?" Otto was not beside Garfiel.

"I'm h-here", Otto said from below. Garfiel looked down to see Otto hidden under the seat. He never got up after Garfiel threw him down.

"Pussy, come out and be a man", Garfiel shouted as he pulled Otto out and made him sit on the seat.

"NO!" Subaru hit the floor with his heel. "I still have my man's pride, you know. I'm walking on my own. I'll just… take my time doing it." Subaru started to make his way slowly, making sure to carefully avoid the black tiles.

Ik prided herself on being Julius' most loyal spirit. They were all loyal to him, but she was the most devoted. When Julius asked her to explore (alone) the darkest recess of a cursed witch cultist's mansion, she was far from ecstatic

Ik made the unique choice of forfeiting her wall-passing abilities to attach herself to a little stone. She couldn't help herself, nothing soothed an earth spirit like earth itself.

"What a weak little spirit, I suppose", Beatrice said, mocking Ik, while she herself hid her face whenever some scary scene appeared.

After weaving her way in a tiny hole in a wall, she found herself in a long hallway. She felt herself jumping in joy when she saw some of Julius' friends in the distance. Ik made her way to Subaru and Reinhard, waving up and down in absolute bliss. She flew toward them and stopped just behind Subaru who was taking unusually long strides to advance.

"Ik?" Reinhard saw the little quasi-spirit behind Subaru.
"Ik? Ik, what? What does that mean?" Subaru didn't need Reinhard saying cryptic bullshit.

"Oh, this is getting all weird and messed up", Felt facepalmed.

Anastasia was now a bit more relieved, now that the atmosphere had turned quite funny.

"Your spirits are very cute", she giggled, trying to hide the fact that she was scared a minute ago.

Ricardo laughed at his boss's trick. Things like the ones shown on the screen don't scare him anymore. Maybe if it he was a child then it would have been different.

"!" Ik was so happy, she found Reinhard and he recognized her! Nobbing in her own way, Ik started to fly up and down and up and down. Unfortunately for her, she went through the ceiling in her excitement.
"Oh!" Reinhard couldn't say anything else, as he powerlessly watched the quasi-spirit and her little stone hit one of the black tiles on the ceiling.

"OH NOOO!", Garfiel shouted.

"Oh My God!", Otto shouted too. (Subaru, stop teaching them all these references)

Emerging through the ceiling to the floor upstairs, Ik didn't understand how she got there, but she knew it was bad news. Looking around for her peddle, she started to panic. She had lost the only thing getting her through this hell! Taking the closest stone near her, she went on her way to find back her master. She was sure he would understand she wasn't meant for recon missions.

"She has already created a problem probably", Crusch said what she had in her mind.

Emilia took a gulp. This place was getting out of hand.

While he was still making his way through the hallway, Subaru heard a faint noise and something falling behind him. Not daring to look behind him, he stopped right into place. He then heard a click above his head and felt something ungodly cold fall on him. Not trying to make sense of the situation he started to run to escape whatever was falling on him.

"As expected, I suppose", Beatrice said, as her prediction was coming true.

Reinhard felt sorry for not being able to do anything at that moment.

"YOU LIED TO ME! YOU LIED TO ME!" Reinhard told him nothing bad would happen if he stayed on the white tiles and he lied to him. "YOU LIED TO ME!"
"Subaru, be careful!"
"CAREFUL OF WHAT?! IT'S ALREAD-" one of Subaru's heel broke under the abuse, making him trip on the floor.

"Hehehe, I'm really sorry, but big bro's expressions are really funny", Felt said, as she couldn't stop herself from giggling.

Crusch found it hard to disagree with felt, as she was trying to hold a smile too.

"Are you alright?" Reinhard ran to Subaru's side.
"Ahhh." he wanted to cry. "KILL ME ALREADY!" he wanted it all to stop, he just wanted it all to stop.

"No, Subaru-kun!", Rem shouted. Subaru's mental state was not right at that moment. She could feel it. Anymore trauma would have a negative effect.

Beatrice got down and smacked Subaru, Emilia and Petra joining after her. Then she sat back in his lap again.

"Why does everything regarding you has to be related with death, I suppose? Can you not say anything stupid for once?"

"It could be worse." Reinhard looked at the poor man laying on the floor, covered in a strange red goo.

"Oh no, his condition looks sooo bad", Emilia said, worrying for her love, who looked like a living corpse on screen.

"Hooooow?" he was not in the mood for platitudes.
"I don't know… But it could have been."

Reinhard helped Subaru to stand up, staining his own clothes with the red substance. It was most likely the fake blood they used for the bloody message. The urge to taste it to know what it was made of was stronger than ever, but Reinhard kept his weird impulsion to himself.

"Rei-"

"I'm sorry Felt-sama. And I'm sorry for breaking the rule too." Suddenly it struck him.

"Wait… this is it. I can always break the rule and then apologize for breaking it too", Reinhard's happiness knew no bounds.

"Wha…" Felt had never thought that Reinhard wo go so far just to find a way to apologize.

"I think you should take off your shoes. It is no good to have a leg longer than the other."

"Gib more popcorn, nyan"

"But it's fiiiiiinished"

"You ate most of it yourself. What the hell? I'm going, nyan"

"Huh? I thought we were friiiieeends?"

"Friends? With you? Haha, dyon't make me laugh", Felix giggled as he went back to his seat beside Wilhelm. After looking at how much the others had gone through, Felix felt that he shouldn't be so embarrassed especially after he had seen Crusch getting worried for him.

Aldebran took a breather. Felix and Roswaal being friends would be the last thing he wants to see before dying. Oh wait…

Subaru took them off without a word and threw them against a wall. He was being punished by some kind of sadistic gods, he was sure of it. He just wanted the traditional 'haunted house' experience, with fake skeletons and maybe some dudes behind masks, not being trapped in a mix of Dracula's castle and an ancient Egyptian tomb. Why was everything so hard here, couldn't he have a break for once in his new life?

"H-he He, Barusu i-is being the sc-scaredy cat he is..", Ram laughed.

"Nee-sama, do you have a cold?", Rem asked with concern for her sister.

"N-no Rem. What made you th-think that?", Ram asked.

"You are trembling since the witch's manor's viewing had begun", Rem replied.

"E-eh?"

Ferris and Al finally got out of the mannequin's room by destroying a tiny bit of wall. Ferris would feel bad if the owner of the mansion didn't booby trap a room full of fake witch cultists. Unfortunately, he didn't escape the room unscathed and half his dress had been thorned in the fight for their life. He lost his hat too, but it was the least of his problems. In an unexpected gentleman move, Al offered the poor Ferris his own shirt to wear. Ferris gladly took it, walking in underwear in this mansion of doom would have been less than ideal.

Garfiel stood up and shot a thumbs up to Aldebran for the manly behaviour.

"This guy gets it! Now wonder he's from captain's world", he thought.

Saying that Ferris was a scaredy-cat would have been an understatement, his exhaustion made him paranoid. Only one thing was clear in his disturbed mind: when he would find Subaru, he would kill him. It was his fault if he was here in the first place and he was not going to forget that. He would take his revenge.

Many people glared at Felix when his thoughts were displayed.

"Ayye kitty, don't you think you're getting a bit ahead of yourselves?", Garfiel asked.

"I- I apologize, nyan", Felix said to everyone.

"You don't need to, Felix-kun. You were scared at that moment, and it was just a thought. You didn't even say it. So, you don't have to worry about apologizing", Emilia explained, making the entire Crusch camp smile.

The Emilia camp members nodded in agreement, except Garfiel, who was not going to let Felix get away so easily.

Al was looking straight ahead to avoid having to see disturbing things. The shadow room had been the final straw and his mind couldn't take it anymore. Whoever built this mansion was a madman who didn't care if his guest got hurt. Maybe he wanted one of them to die in a publicity stunt. He knew that this world would not have the same draconian regulations as his homeworld, but this was insane. He almost killed Ferris in his panic, or at least, almost injured him. He even tore his dress by accident, not that he would tell Ferris it was his fault.

"Hey, pal."
"Yes?" Ferris didn't have time to talk, he had to stay focused. Even the wind could betray them.
"The silence is killing me, pal. Maybe we should talk to lighten the mood."
"..." Ferris didn't listen, he was too focused on the wind.
"...ok." Al got the memo.

"Hmmh, what is this rubbish? You got scared from such a puny thing Aldebran." Priscilla reprimanded Al.

"Like I said princess, it was the atmosphere that was weirding me out. It was too calm and eerie", Al tried to explain.

"Keep your excuses to yourself", Priscilla shut him up, giving Roswaal a chance to laugh at Al.

Kua may not be the bravest among her sisters, but she was no coward. Her strategy was to cover as much ground as possible and gather all the intel she could. She was so focused on her task, that she zoomed past Ferris and Al without stopping and continued to fly through the walls.

"Your spirits are causing more trouble rather than helping", Tivey said.

Julius let that pass. Even though his little buds had not helped much, they did work very hard for him, which made him happy.

"AAAAAAAH!" Ferris pointed at something he saw moving in the corner of his eyes.

In his terror, he pushed Al and ran away as fast as he could. He didn't even look in front of him, he just ran as much as he could. Al only watched as Ferris bolted out of the room, it happened so fast he didn't have the time to understand what made Ferris hysteric. Without anywhere to go, Al took the same door as Ferris even though it was too late to follow him. He still had to carry on, after all.

"Hahahaha", Garfiel and Felt laughed out loud, while Emilia, Anastasia and Crusch giggled. Felix found the scene to be funny himself. The children or the other hand were rolling on the floors while holding their tummies.

Subaru thought that it couldn't be worse and it was a deadly mistake. Even just thinking 'it' was enough to bring misfortune and calamity.

The atmosphere was going dull with each passing moment. Seeing how scared Subaru was, most of them just wanted him to get out of the place as quickly as possible.

And the corridor of mabeasts was the peak of misfortune. Walking past the fox mabeasts was one thing and walking past the dogs one was another, but a room full of those rabbits… This was absolute despair.

"Shit!", Garfiel couldn't stop from cursing. The rabbit scene had haunted the entire room and it was just bringing back dreadful memories.

"Get out of there, I suppose!", Beatrice cried out. She couldn't sleep for two days after seeing his contractor getting eaten alive by a horde of rabbits.

"S-Subaru", Crusch called with a trembling voice as her grip on the boy's hand tightened. The reason for her nightmares had reappeared.

He could not even cry anymore, his brain was not capable of anything but moving his legs. Trying to do anything more made his mind flashback to his fateful encounters with the sizable hare.

"Su-ba-ruuu!" Petra tried to call out between her sobs. The warden had advised her that day to not see what was about to come. She wished she had listened.

"I'm really sorry… Subaru-kun…", Rem called out to hero. She regretted it, she regretted it all. Not being able to protect him on that day, she regretted her existence. It was her sister who helped her get out of that phase and now it was coming back.

And midst of these was a silver haired half elf, who could say nothing, do nothing, but remember those memories of hers and cry. Latching onto him from one side, she cried her heart out, apologizing as many times as she could, just like the first time when her knight was eaten alive. Had she known the fact before, the rabbit wouldn't have gotten such painless death.

Reinhard watched Subaru walking mechanically without a sound. He wasn't even looking at anything, his gaze was empty of any intent. It was obvious that Subaru wasn't in his right mind. He wasn't joking around, he wasn't complaining, he wasn't even reacting to his environment. If Reinhard ever doubted Subaru's encounter with the sizable hare, there was no doubt left now. He had seen them and had suffered from their endless hunger. With how powerful Emilia's and Beatrice's healing magic were, the hare could have eaten all his skin off and he wouldn't have died.

Reinhard got up and apologized to the Emilia camp in front of everyone for not doing anything. As a knight, as a comrade, and as a friend, he should have done more. He should have tried to understand Subaru's condition. They told him that its alright, since Reinhard himself had no idea, but Reinhard still couldn't feel the burden to be lifted.

"Subaru?" Reinhard asked softly.

He didn't react, he just kept walking straight ahead. It broke Reinhard's heart. He missed Subaru's incoherent shouting, those were signs of his vitality. The man before him was dissociating from his own mind. Reinhard wanted to reassure him, make his presence known. Subaru wasn't alone in this hardship. And truth be told, if Subaru asked him to get out now, he would break the few walls between them and freedom in a heartbeat. Making him go through this endless corridor was torture.

"He's so scared…", Otto was getting tensed for his friend. The rabbit viewing had broken him when he saw it the first time. That day he cried for his friend in his room till his tears dried out. And now those tears were coming back.

"DAMN RABBITS!" Garfiel was so angry, he could transform any moment. He regretted the fact that he was not present at the sanctuary when Emilia, Subaru and Beatrice had fought the rabbits. He would have loved to rip and tear through those tiny shit pieces.

In absence of Subaru's input, Reinhard decided to take matters into his own hands. He would pay for the destruction he caused, but he would not let Subaru suffer any longer. He took Subaru's hand to guide him toward the exit he was going to create when he understood the gravity of his mistake.

"!" a pathetic soft noise came out of Subaru's throat. "Go away! Vade Retro Satana!" he threw something at Reinhard's face before passing out.

Everyone was so tensed that no one even bothered asking Aldebran what 'Vade Retro Satana' meant. And truth to be told, even if someone would have asked, he was too stressed out himself to reply.

Reinhard had no idea what 'Vade Retro Satana' meant, but it was definitely salt that Subaru threw at him. He never thought that his 'Divine Protection of Salt Reasoning' would come into play one day, but he was wrong. At least he had his eyes closed when he received the salt in his face.

"Get out of there, Rein, Big Brooo", Felt cried out. That day was heart breaking for her. The fact that her big bro could smile even after such a terrific incident was honestly amazing.

Julius clicked his teeth. He had sworn that day; he along with an entire battalion of knights would go find the black serpent and kill it. Subaru had already died because of the white whale and great rabbit. Who knows when he could run into the serpent? Not on his watch. Anastasia had promised that she would provide all the resources for fighting the black serpent. That damn thing should be killed before it causes any trouble. (Good luck with that one)

Reinhard took Subaru's unconscious body in his arms, making sure he would be comfortable in them. At least now he didn't have to destroy any walls but this was really one of the biggest debacles of his life. Nobody died, yes, but everything that could go wrong went wrong. If Subaru had been conscious at this time, he would have muttered something about Murphy's law.

Everyone took a breather. Even though Subaru was unconscious, they knew that he was safe with Reinhard. And that was the most important thing right now.

"Weak", Roswaal called out to everyone with a whisper. They were so weak to get scared from such simple dolls.

Ever since Al lost Ferris, he felt two times better. Not that he disliked his kitten friend, but he was a mood killer. A few more minutes with him and he would have ended up as insane as he was. And insanity was lurking near in this mansion. When Al saw a little white light in the middle of a room full of (hopefully) fake dead bodies, he was about to adopt 'the Ferris methods' of dealing with the unknown: running away screaming. But he managed to keep a hold of himself and just screamed a little bit. Al was proud of himself.

Priscilla smacked Al on the head with her fan.

"Be useful at least once", she shouted.

In was floating in the middle of a room full of (hopefully) fake dead bodies when she almost adopted 'the Kua methods' of dealing with the unknown: flying away under Julius' hair. But Julius was not here and she was no human and thus could not meet their fate. When she heard someone screaming not too far away from her, she considered again 'the Kua methods' but managed to only shake a little bit. In was proud of herself.

Julius face palmed. Now, even he felt that he was actually causing half of the troubles that everyone was going through.

Al walked slowly toward the small light. At first, he was afraid it was the lost soul of a vengeful witch cultist coming to kill him, but it was only one of Julius' spirits. He didn't know the name of his 'little buddies' or whatever he called them, but he knew they were allies. The little light spirit flew toward him, seemingly happy to have found him.

In thought she had lost herself but she found one of Julius' friends!

"So, eh, little buddy. You know the way out?"

In flew from right to left, she hoped Al would be the one knowing his way around. She could only lead him to Julius and she didn't know how to do it without passing through the walls. But reuniting with her master was better than nothing, with all the intel he must have gathered he was maybe already outside.

"Such timid spirits, in fact. They really nothing in comparison to Betty, I suppose", Beatrice said, mocking Julius, and Emilia, who had calmed down now, pulled the blonde spirits ear.

"Beako, making fun of others is bad manners", she scolded.

"aaaAaaahh"

Julius looked at Ik, Kua, and Nes dancing in the palm of his hands, they all came back without any useful information. He wasn't mad, but he was a tiny bit disappointed. But in the end, it was his fault, he knew his little buds felt uneasy and he still sent them away. So he lightly kissed them and told them to not leave his side. He would find the exit eventually, it would just take more time than planned.

Truth to be told, Julius was more proud of his little buddies than he could ever be. They had worked so hard even after being scared.

Ferris was running for his life and he would never forfeit it to one of the witch devils. He knew something was following him but he didn't know what and he was too scared to discover. So he ran and ran while the thing gave chase without tiring. Whatever was tracking him down must want him dead.

Aro was so confused. After spending half an hour exploring this weird mansion, she finally found one of Julius' friends but he was running away from her. Had she done anything wrong?

Crusch held her hand to her mouth.

"Pffhmhmhm, poor F-Ferris. I…I'm so sorry for -pfff- lauging", she said while trying as hard as she could to hold her giggle.

Ferris wasted to cry, so Wilhelm patted his back to make him feel better.

Ferris took a left turn, hoping to lose the thing in his trail, but it didn't work. No matter where he went, the thing followed relentlessly. When he was about to look behind him to at least see what wanted him dead, he heard a ghastly voice from behind.

"Feeeeeeelliiiiiiiiis"

Moving the air around her to mimic a voice was one of Aro's secret weapons.

Felix smacked himself on his face. What an idiot he was to think that Aro was some sort of ghost! How did he not recognize her?

Garfiel was laughing all over the place. He couldn't get a better chance to mock Felix. What a day it was!

"Look at the pussy, HAHAHA!"

"Feeeeellliiiiisssss. Issssss Aaaallooooo."

Aro had no way to produce the 'r' sound, but it was close enough. Julius was always so proud of her when she tried to mimic his voice. It sounded nothing like him, but he was proud nonetheless. What other mouthless spirits could speak? Only her, only Aro.

"Feeeeeeellliiiissss."

The thing knew his name. His real name, not his fake one. The thing knew his real name! Ferris took the last shred of energy inside his body and ran faster than he never thought he could. Even Julius or Reinhard could run that fast, Ferris was sure he achieved some kind of speed trance.

"Feeeeeellliiiisss. Issssss Aaaaalloooo"

At this point, everyone in the hall was laughing out loud. Even though Felix was embarrassed, he was also a tiny bit happy at the fact that he lifted up everyone's mood.

"This is getting out of hand, I suppose. You all need to get out of here", Beatrice called out.

Why wasn't he stopping? She called his name, she told him she was Aro. Why wasn't he stopping? He wasn't even taking turns anymore, he was just running straight ahead. If he wanted to get out of the mansion, running ahead would take him outside, but it wasn't an exit. In fact, ahead was a hidden window overlooking the lake next to the mansion. Even if Ferris went straight through it, he would fall straight into the lake. Aro was sure Julius wouldn't recommend it. She had to convince him to stop!

"FEEEEEEELLLLIIIIIIIISSSS STOOOOOOOOOOP."

Oh no, he wasn't going to stop. He was Speed itself and he wasn't going to stop. In his rush, Ferris failed to notice a dark curtain hiding a window behind it. And he was already flying through it when he understood he wasn't touching the ground anymore. Flying in the air among glass shards, Ferris fell right into the lake next to the mansion.

"HAHAHAHAAHAHA!HAHAHAHAHAH!"

It was hard to tell whether Garfiel was laughing or roaring at this point. This was the funniest thing he had seen in her life. And the others were no behind.

Crusch got up from her place while giggling, went up and head patted Felix. She felt so bad for laughing at him, but she couldn't stop however hard she tried.

When Ferris managed to figure out what happened to him, he was gently floating on the water of the lake. His water magic had already healed any cut the broken glass might have given him. Ferris closed his eyes and let the water carry his weight. It didn't matter if he was half-naked in a lake, he was out of this mansion of horror.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Ferris was happy.

Beatrice was sitting in Fredrica's lap for the time being, because the half elf girl couldn't sit properly at all. Emilia was finding it so hard to sit straight that she had fallen in Subaru's lap as she laughed while holding her stomach.

The woman in charge of the mansion was patiently waiting for her guests' arrival. They must have been particularly slow because most guests were already out by then. She was about to send people to help them find their way out when one of them finally came out of the mansion.

Julius was looking around him after stepping out of the mansion, but only the woman was here. He must have been the first to find his way out then.

"Were you lost inside the witch's mansion? Did you lose your friend?" she asked her guest.
"Quite lost, indeed. Your little mansion is full of trickery." Julius laughed. "But I wouldn't call it scary. It was more of a labyrinth than anything else."
"You must be brave, then."

"He was the one who created most of the problems, Hahaha", Anastasia was so busy laughing, that she couldn't stop from speaking what was on her mind.

Julius cried his heart out.

She was about to congratulate her guest when she heard a scream and something hitting the water. Did something or someone fall into the lake? She went to the lake to see what happened only to find one of her guests floating in it.

"How did he get there?" she asked the guest by her side.
"That… I don't know." Julius watched as Ferris dabbled in the lake.

"Aww, poor kitty-kun", Petra felt bad for Felix.

He also saw his little air quasi-spirit flying above the water. "Aro! Can you tell me what happened?"
"Aaaaaaaallooooooo!" Aro jumped with joy when she saw her master, but stopped when he asked to tell what happened. She had the intuition he wouldn't like the answers.
"I see. I see." Julius nobbed as he listened to his little bud story. "Miss, how much does one of your windows cost?"
"Excuse me?" did she hear him correctly?

"HAHAHA", Garfiel laughed aloud while hitting Otto's head. Why was this so. fucking. funny?

With the light spirit by his side, Al felt fearless. Exploring the mansion became a child's play and he knew he was just about to find the exit. And even when he heard noises coming from the room next to him, he was still in total control of his emotions. He wasn't scared to look inside the room, not at all. That would be why he didn't enter it, he didn't need to, he already knew that whatever was in there was harmless. And that would be also why he went in the opposite direction because investigating the noises would be useless.

He heard the floor crack behind him, but it must have been the wind. He then heard a door open and close behind him, but it must have been a stronger wind. He then heard somebody say his name, but it must have been a very strong wind.

"What a fool you are! As expected anyways", Priscilla said, mocking Al for his incompetence.

"B-but princess, that was genuinely scary. Even you would have been sca-"

Al suddenly realized what he had said, and then he saw the fiery Princess glaring at him.

Welp, here wo go again.

"Al, please."

A very, very, very strong wind. Al took a deep breath in and slowly turned to check on this incredible wind only to be greeted by pure horror. The body of an unconscious woman being covered in blood. After looking at her face, it was the body of an unconscious Subaru being covered in taking a step back, it was Reinhard emotionlessly holding the body of an unconscious Subaru being covered in blood. Al gulped as his brain calculated the only possible explanation: Reinhard went mad and killed Subaru.

"Yeah, it makes sense, mate." was all Al said before passing out.

Priscilla had to face palm herself, as Felt fell down from her seat while laughing. Reinhard thought if he was really that scary.

Ricardo patted Al on the back, while also laughing at him.

Reinhard watched as Al fell on the floor. Saying that the situation was getting out of hand was an understatement. Resigning himself to the situation, Reinhard put Subaru under an arm and took Al in the other. Hoping he wasn't going to make anybody faint anymore, he continued his merry way through the mansion.

"All of them are hopeless", Ram huffed. She wasn't scared anymore. The idiots on the screen had completely changed to mood of the viewing. Rem smiled now that her sister was normal.

After graciously paying for the damages with his gains at the cup game and entrusting the poor Ferris to the mansion's lady, Julius went ahead to fetch the carriage. Julius wanted to hope the others fared better, but he knew deep inside that very unlikely. He trusted in Subaru's capacity to attract misfortune and in Al's brand of weirdness.

When he came back with the driver, In flew to him laughing in her own way. Looking through the window, he saw Ferris warped in Reinhard's (bloody?) coat and Al sitting bare-chested next to him. The latter had smoke coming out from his mask, was he smoking?

"Man, that this viewing got weird real quick", Otto said while slamming his hand on his face. What a shit show it was!

"What do you want, mate? I had a bad day, ha!" Al continued to puff on his cigar. "I should have known I was too old for this bullshit."

Julius was about to ask him about the logistics of smoking with a mask on but he reconsidered. He heard a knock on the door of the carriage, and Reinhard entered it without asking (how unlike him).

Emilia too wanted to say that smoking in public was bad, but she decided to keep it for later.

"I fear we are going to owe the driver some hefty cleaning fees." he put the heavily asleep Subaru on one of the bench seats. "Don't worry, he is just sleeping. His visit had been… eventful."

As Emilia looked up while her head was still in Subaru's lap, she gently rubbed her hand on his cheeks. "It's always rough for my poor knight", she thought. She looked at his face. It was so cute… gentle… childish… child… babies? Appa Emilia strikes back.

Realizing in what position she was, Emilia quickly got up, and adjusted herself properly. Crusch giggled at her clumsiness, as Beako walked back to her contractor.

"You got up sooner than expected, I suppose", she said to the embarrassed Emilia while sitting on Subaru's lap.

Subaru was snoring loudly without a care in the world. He actually woke up from his fright a few minutes after fainting, but he had no interest in continuing his visit so he fell back asleep. He knew it was against his 'man's pride', but he had to admit that it died a long time ago. And Reinhard's arms were comfy, more comfortable than his own bed. Did he have a 'arms of Morpheus' blessing? Or was he just this good at 'rescuing' people? He should be 'rescued' more often then, for he was having the best sleep in his life. He even dreamt of burning those damn rabbits to death, it was glorious.

Rem giggled at how cute Subaru was being.

"What is the red substance on him? Fake blood?" Julius wanted to know but was scared of the answer.
"A mix of sugar syrup, red dye, and blueberry juice." Reinhard answered immediately. "It does not taste as good as it seems."
"Ah. Thanks for the information." Julius decided it was time to stop asking questions.

"You hadda taste it", Felt said from the floor, too tired to get up after laughing so much.

Reinhard just rubbed his hair sheepishly. This act of his always irritated her. Raising one leg, she threw one of her shoes at his face. But due to Reinhard's Divine Protection, the shoe turned around and went towards Priscilla instead.

The crimson eyed Vollachian Princess observed the shoe coming closer. With one smack of her fan, she sent it flying the other way. It went straight and hit Roswaal on the face so hard, that he got knocked out unconscious. With this the viewing reached its climax.

The driver could do nothing but watch as a cortege of half-naked wet people entered his carriage. He knew it was going to be a bad night for him, he should have run away while he could. But now, he was just going to make sure his esteemed customers would help him clean up or die trying.

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Well there ends the chapter. And no, the ending won't be so abrupt. There will be an epilogue chapter in a week or so, marking a proper end to this react fic after which I'll try writing something new (no reactions after this one). Also, you're free to leave any story ideas in the review section that you would like me to do. I can try them out if I liked them (please don't give any reaction fic ideas). With that being said, be sure to check out my other fics, particularly 'a knock on the door' (my personal favourite). And I'll see you all in the epilogue now!