I'm back...I did say I would return in may right? Granted I'm not sure if I'll update as often but I'll try. School threw me a curveball and added another course. I was supposed to have may-august free but damn it utt. Still, I'm back for now. Might try to update every week at least. Either way, enjoy...the true next canon chapter...or hope if was canon but not in the chronological order of things...make what you want of it.

Reinhard was…built differently. It was a term he had grown accustomed to. He was abnormal, a monster in the shape of a man. His powers had destroyed his family without a second thought and try as he might he could not fix it. He was the strongest there ever was, while simultaneously being the most helpless there is. He couldn't do much with worrying. If he overdid it in a fight, he could accidentally kill someone, or destroy something. If he abused his powers, he could end up…like her, just like Satella, alone and hated.

So, he submitted to those who were…weaker. He held back, he restrained himself, he followed and played by all the rules. That was never enough though. Everyone who knew of him, who knew what he was, what he could do. They either feared him like a monster or looked at him like a weapon. It was the way the kingdom treated him and even some of his fellow knights treated him the same way. There were only a few he could call his friends and even that was dubious at best.

Yet with Subaru and Felt, it was different. Felt despite her being his lady and him being her knight, treated him more as an equal. She would try to hit him, a jab at him, overall treat him just like she treated Subaru and Rom. He wasn't Reinhard Van Astrea the Sword Saint, he was Reinhard the moron who endorsed her as Queen alongside Subaru the moron who suggested she try to be Queen, with Rom, the moron who convinced her to be Queen. They were all her morons. With Subaru, the boy despite his oddities and strangeness was indifferent to him as if there was no difference between them. Subaru may admit his jealousy to the knight when they spared but he did it in a more self-loathing way, but there was never any malice towards Reinhard. Subaru even took Reinhard to the Winter Festival. Subaru did not fear him, nor did he see him as a weapon. He did not see Reinhard as another Great Calamity waiting to happen. He saw him as a friend.

It physically pained Reinhard to do what he was doing now because of that friendship. He had been mere moments from opening the door he knew Subaru had gone in. He was just about to turn the knob completely when everything in his body told him not to. It was unnatural like compulsion but not one he was not unfamiliar with. It was as if the Od Laguna was trying to warn him against entering. Would something bad happen? Millions of thoughts filled his brain, was it because he was intruding on his friend, eavesdropping on him, was the Heart of the World warning him against ruining his friendship with Subaru.

It turns out it was not because of that, not in the traditional way at least. The Od Laguna had stopped him from opening the door, but it didn't stop him from seeing beyond it, from hearing beyond it. The room Subaru was in was not what he first thought. It was the Library of Roswaal's Manor. Through some powerful and impressive magic, space was cut between the two as Manor's Library from far away now existed within his home and Subaru was there, but he wasn't alone.

The two Great Spirits accompanied Subaru in the Library. That should have been reassuring but he was hearing other voices as well. Reinhard's hearing as well as his other senses had always been good, but he had learned to consciously turn it down to avoid listening to what others did not want to share, but now he couldn't no matter how hard he tried. He was listening now, and he heard…them.

There were a few voices, all coming from within the Metia Subaru had. Reinhard heard their names, but he didn't recognize most of them. There was one name he did recognize and the emotions he felt accompany it were terrifying. He heard Satella, the Witch of Envy, among the voices, addressed by the voices and speaking with voices and those in the room. It was then he realized what Od Laguna had stopped him for. It was to tell him Subaru and the others were in league with the Witch.

At this point, Reinhard wanted to reason that maybe it was a misunderstanding, that maybe he was finally starting to lose it. His paranoia and depression were finally starting to get to him. He tried every possible fallacy, for what had happened. It was fake, Subaru was being brainwashed, Od Laguna was showing him an alternate timeline like ones where Subaru died to the Bowel hunter, or where the Great Spirit cat had turned into a giant and threatened to destroy the world. It was all futile, it was really Satella, it was really Subaru. There was no trick, no lies, no illusions, this was reality. He was overwhelmed with emotions, yet once more, against his will, Od laguna made him stomach these emotions so he wouldn't freak out. He couldn't act just yet…or more so he no longer wanted to after the Od Laguna calmed him down. He wanted to, no, he needed to believe this was all some misunderstanding on his part.

Much to the Sword Saint's surprise and confusion he heard Subaru and the others talk about plans of an attack on Roswaal's Mansion, however, that wasn't the confusing part. No, the confusing path was them talking about stopping said attack. It was making Reinhard's head spin as he tried to comprehend the reasonings. Subaru had been talking over the various idea, several of which included uniting the camps to slay the White Whale and then the Archbishop of Sloth who would supposedly lead the attack.

Reinhard wondered how he should feel about that. On one hand, the Witch of Envy seemed to have no remorse for the creature or cultist that served her. She was happily agreeing to end them without a second thought. On the other hand, she was happily agreeing to end them, meaning any repercussions people might fear due to her wrath would be empty. Nevertheless, she seemed far more endearing to Subaru.

Reinhard needed more answers, but he wasn't going to risk a direct confrontation with Subaru just yet. He would rather ask the Witch directly and he knew just how might need to do that. Subaru contacted her and the others with his Metia. It wasn't a lie when he said it was a memento from his parents, but Reinhard could only question why his parents had such a device that would enable one to contact a Witch so easily. Nevertheless, Reinhard knew he was going to have to risk his friend's trust and steal the Metia to confront the Witch. Maybe then he could get some answers as to whether she was brainwashing his friend or not.

As such the Sword Saint continued to listen in with the hope that whatever conversation they have, he would eventually understand or make sense of all this. The next topic they spoke about was about the little girl, Meili, if he recalled. Reinhard felt nothing but pure remorse for the girl once the Great Spirit of Fire began informing them about the girl. The Sword Saint could feel what could only be described as sheer horror arise in his soul once more as they explained what had happened to her under the hands of an Archbishop no less. Thankfully the Sword Saint was also given consolation when he felt feelings of Wrath and anger emerge within the room towards the archbishop. Even better was that he knew who those feelings belonged to.

The title of Wrath was a title that was granted to Minerva, the Witch of Wrath, whose anger and hatred towards violence was unmatched by any other being in the world. Her fury was renowned for being able to decimate a mountain with her own strength and could uncontrollably alter nature as a side effect of her powers to heal. She was the second most dangerous Witch to humanity after Satella ironically enough. However, the Wrath of several others was slowly growing to rival the Witch, whether it actually surpassed her or not was another question entirely.

Subaru Natsuki first and foremost was the most furious at what he had been told by the Great Spirits. He was many things actually; disgusted, horrified, sympathetic among many more. To think such a vile and disgusting person could exist let alone with power as warped and twisted as that. No, he could believe it but his mind wanted to think it was not possible. He had met the literal Devils of the world; he actually was roommates with them ironically enough but as far as he knew none of them was this disturbing.

Echidna possibly doing human experimentation was a possibility he was still hoping was false. As for the others, none of them exactly seemed like the kind to chose long-lasting torture. Satella didn't seem to care about anything outside of him and the Witches, Typhon would just judge condemn and move on, Daphne would kill and devour, Carmilla would knock them out via accidentally and Minerva might cause a disaster, and Sekhmet…she would just knock them out with her smell at worse if they left her alone. The Witches were warped in their thinking or differing in terms of morality but they weren't outright cruel and sadistic like that. He felt certain he could claim most of them barring Echidna would even torture a child intentionally let alone violate Meili as Capella did.

"We take her down," Subaru growled. It was barely above a whisper but everyone in the room heard it and could feel the anger emitting from him. He didn't know how but he was going to put it down and he was going to make it as painful as possible. While the Witches may not be as altruistic as Subaru that display of power was extremely disgusting to them, especially to Carmilla the form holder of Capella's Lust factor.

Carmilla hated her Archbishop, no she hated Pandora's Archbishop. The Archbishops and the cult were all that white-haired wench's doing. Carmilla had long since hated her own power of Lust for causing her so much pain. Her ability to feel love had been stifled by the Lust so many had for her that she no longer felt it was possible to love. Love was to be given and take but Carmilla was only given Lust and was incapable of giving love as a result. All those dreams the peach-haired witch had, of marrying her beloved, of having a family and living a simple life; growing old together as they watched their children grow and played with their grandkids. All those dreams were destroyed by the power of Lust because Carmilla had for a moment felt she was not attractive enough to her beloved, she had felt love was shallow at the time and desired to be lusted by her beloved. She had hated herself for such naïve thinking and she hated the factor of Lust even more as result. She would have been happy to rid herself of such power but hearing that the power had gone to Capella. The Witch of Lust would tear Archbishop of Lust's body apart, she would peel the skin and flesh of the Archbishop's bosom, private areas… anything that would make her sexually attractive, Carmilla would make sure to destroy. The normally timid Witch hated the Archbishop that much especially when she realized the Archbishop didn't have the same drawback as her. The Archbishop could have loved truly but instead, she was that perverted monstrosity. "I'm going to kill you myself," Carmilla swore to herself.

"And how do we do that?" Beatrice asked, "She can regenerate almost indefinitely, in fact," The Archbishop of Lust was specialized in shapeshifting due to her factor. Clearing she embodied the more physical aspect of Lust, the body as opposed to the mental aspect that Carmilla dealt with. However, being a shapeshift meant she could regenerate through shapeshifting and if what they knew was correct she could regenerate so long as a single piece of her remained.

"We just blast her with everything we got till there is nothing left to regenerate from," Subaru suggested. It was a classic trope; you can't heal a body if there is nobody.

"As clever as that is…do you have anything with that kind of power, I suppose?" Beatrice asked. She was aware of the situation, the Witches while strong weren't all here. Their souls and bodies were still fragmented with their factors and Satella was still sealed. Whatever power Subaru was using right now, it wouldn't be enough to finish her without unleashing the Witch of Envy, their last resort.

"I'm…not sure," Subaru grimaced.

"Why don't we just eat her?" Daphne suggested. A creature that could regenerate was definitely a good idea for a food source. If she had made a regenerating Demon beast instead of a large one like the whale then for sure it could feed people indefinitely.

"I don't exactly see how we can eat her," Puck answered. Not that he was willing to try. He wanted nothing more than to keep that thing away from him, let alone ingest it.

"Yeah…I'm with the cat on this one," Minerva said. "Eating her might not be the best option we have,"

"We…don't have to eat her," Daphne corrected. "We just need a Demon Beast to do it," Daphne explained. "I vote Shirogi,"

"Shirogi?" Everyone asked in confusion.

"Oh. that's right, I forgot to tell you," Daphne said nervously. "The Great Hare…I started naming them," She explained. Unfortunately, one person was very adamantly against the idea.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Satella screamed. "I AM NOT LETTING THAT NEAR SUBARU AGAIN!" She demanded. She recalled the bunny death. It was the worse one of them all to witness. She had practically broken her seal to go and see Subaru herself, especially when she felt him trying to reveal RBD after his mental breakdown. She didn't want to admit it but she owed Echidna a lot for helping Subaru stay together and not break immediately upon resetting.

"Now hold a second, Satella," Subaru said in a calming voice. "Daphne may on to something here," He said trying to reason with the Witch of Envy. "The Great Hare might be the best bet we have to beat Capella if it can devour her.

"Subaru…you do remember what happened last time right?" Satella asked. She was the Witch without common sense according to Echidna, but right now she was sure it was the other way around. Subaru wanted to use the bunny, the bunny of all things. It was somewhat understandable with Rem, Ram, Julius, and Puck…no wait, it wasn't even understandable with them. Subaru always risked his life and tried to work together with people who hurt or killed him and now he wanted to rely on the Bunny of all things.

"Are you kidding…of course I remember, I haven't had nightmares about it in a while, but I remember everything from that…encounter," Subaru said being wary of Beatrice and Puck. "But I know two things, those bunnies are relentless, and it hurts like hell when they bite you," Subaru explained. "They are the perfect thing to deal with an enemy that regenerates,"

"But…but…Minerva…talk some sense into Subaru," Satella argued.

"Satella does have a point, Daphne, the rabbits are uncontrollable, and they will be drawn to miasma around him like a moth to flames," Minerva told the Gluttonous loli. "Besides what guarantee do you have that the Hare will listen, you Demon Beast's aren't exactly the most cooperative," Minerva pointed out. It was rare for Minerva to even agree to this, let alone go along with such gruesome punishments…but Capella had really crossed the line here. She had defiled a child in such ways, such acts…Minerva knew from experience were unforgivable. There was no accident, no reasoning to justify those actions, and no it was a one-time thing, Meili wasn't the only one who was victimized here, Capella had done this many times.

"Woof…Woof…woof,"

"You're a good boy but I mean the wabbit is a different story," Minerva told Apollo.

"Then we simply trap them with Capella, no escape, no food except for her, no problem," Daphne admitted. Seriously the solution was so simple. How could they not see the genius here?

"See, we already have a solution for the rabbits," Subaru said trying to convince Satella. He wasn't going to lie, the bunnies still terrified him. Scratch that he was mortified at the thought of seeing them again but…he knew if he had the others, he could handle it. Plus, he can speak from experience…bunny death was worse death…and Capella absolutely deserved the worse for this.

"It's a bad idea," Satella pointed out once more. Yet she knew what her final stance was going to be. She didn't like it but she knew what she was going to do.

"So…does this mean you aren't going to support me?" Subaru asked. He didn't know if he felt glad or sad that Satella disagreed. Disagreements might mean she wouldn't be so single-minded on him, but he still wanted her support. Satella seemed to hesitate for a second but lo and behold she answered just as one might expect.

"Of course, I'll support you… I'll just say it's a bad idea," Satella pouted. If he was going to do something crazy, she was going to save him one way or the other, although convincing him not to be reckless would have made things a lot easier. If he had just left the others behind, forgotten about Emilia, Rem, the villagers, the whole world and just let it all burn, if he had not decided to be the hero, to spare himself from trying to fix everyone else's problems, to simply live and love himself and enjoy his own life, it would have been better, but Subaru was Subaru, and she would love and support him regardless of what he did.

"Then perhaps…we should discuss things with Echidna later…besides, you're all getting ahead of yourselves…focus on sloth and the whale first," Sekhmet sighed. They were starting to overthink things. They hadn't even beaten Guese yet. She didn't mind they picked their battles; she would rather not have any extra work to do in general but she wasn't going to leave them to run themselves dry. She'd push it towards Echidna for a solution, after all, the Greedy Witch was always the best bet for making efficient plans…half the time. Speaking of Echidna, Sekhmet wondered how she was fairing with babysitting Typhon.

"What are you doing Dona?" the young child asked. Echidna only spared a glance, noting the position of the prideful child before glancing back down at her own work. The greedy scholar was once again looking at the various note and sketches scattered across her table. Understanding them was a meticulous process, trying to recreate all the scientific achievements of the world beyond her reach, but for a woman who had cheated death, it felt close enough to grasp if she just kept stretching.

"I'm making plans and prototypes," Echidna answered calmly. "I have a lot of work to do when this is all over and I want to get started as soon as possible," She explained to the child.

The young girl merely frowned. Most of what Echidna told her never really made sense. She didn't understand how the white-haired woman could spend so much time reading boring papers. It was no wonder why Echidna was so pale in comparison to everyone else. Typhon hastily wondered if all this studying was Echidna's own form of penance, punishment for crimes long ago.

"Is this why you stayed away from the meeting?" Typhon asked. The others had gone to meet with Betty and Kitty to plan what they would do next. However much to Typhon's dismay both had warned the group that the Witch of Pride should not follow. This meeting was apparently grown-up-only. Typhon had pouted and told them she was grown up enough to go but her words had fallen on deaf ears. They were all dead serious when they told her not to come and even her mother cautioned her against it. She didn't want to disappoint her mother, so she stayed put. It's not like they would be any sinners for her punishment, after all, she had no reason to go to the boring meeting.

"I suppose," Echidna answered quietly. It wouldn't be all that interesting to go, especially when the others would tell her upon returning, besides if they needed her enough, they'd just share the memories. "I have better things to do," Echidna told Typhon.

She glanced at some of her notes on the table, recreations of memories from long ago but not quite exact. Her time in her tomb had decayed them substantially but they were still far better than what most might have. She was looking toward the notes on 'Authorities', the source of all the Witches' power. The power that hacked their world's system, surpassing the 'Divine Protections'. Her studies had shown that an 'Authority' could retain the memories and possible souls of its users, collecting them for later use. Echidna had hoped in her pursuit for immortality that it would have been possible for her own soul to overthrow any newer addition but alas it was nothing but futile dreaming.

The prideful child though took notice of Echidna's notes, the more interesting one. Thoughts filled her own mind as to what the implications could mean. Echidna would have laughed at the ignorance Typhon was cursed with for 400 years if the girl didn't display some of the most random bouts of maturity. "Do you think Juicy will be within Sloth?" Typhon asked innocently.

It was a simple question by a simple child. The answer was anything but simple. Guese was never meant to wield Sloth, he was deemed incompatible after all. He was a man who always claimed himself a sinner and was always diligent in trying to repent for those sins; his body would have rejected the very Sin of Sloth itself. It was ironic then that he would have delivered supplies for her a very sinful and greedy girl, so many centuries ago.

"I don't think Guese will be there, I think what we'll find is the broken toy of Sloth and Pandora," Echidna answered bitterly. The sin was lazy it wouldn't keep such an old version of its host, not when it's had a century to become attached to its new one.

"Are you sure?" Typhon asked. "I think we'll find Juicy," She said cheerfully. "Juicy was always a good person but he thought himself a sinner like Baru and Baru is really strong so Juicy is probably stronger as well…hehe," Typhon giggled.

"And if we don't," Echidna asked the girl curiously. She had a few ideas what Typhon's response could be, but to satiate her curiosity she still inquired.

"Well, then Juicy goes to the same place dad went where all good people go," Typhon answered. "His soul…it has to go somewhere right?" Typhon mused.

"You really were fond of him," Echidna said a small smile forming as she said it. Typhon was always so innocent and naïve like that. The joys and wonders of being a child. Echidna was…nostalgic about the thought. Despite revisiting her own child-like form she couldn't quite regain the feeling of that innocence she once had. It was lost forever to her Greed.

"Of course… did you know Juice even told me where babies come from," Typhon said triumphantly. The others hadn't explained it to her but asking and pouting had worked wonders on the Spirit. It wouldn't be wrong to say Juice was like a second father to her the same way Sekhmet was like a second mother. He was family and family means no one got left behind or forgotten.

Echidna's eyes widened as she heard Typhon mention the forbidden knowledge. She did not consider that today she would find out about that, it was a sworn off-topic they all had agreed on with regards to Typhon. "Do you want to know?" Typhon asked. "I bet you don't know, you all never told me," She said excitedly.

"Alright Typhon, you've piqued my curiosity so now you must indulge me," Echidna chuckled. This should be entertaining.

"Alright," Typhon answered. "So, the process is really simple. You see when a boy and girl love each other, they kiss," Typhon explained.

"And this kiss how babies are made?" Echidna asked, feigning a lack of understanding.

"Yes…but it has to be a special kiss," Typhon added. "It has to be on the lips, and they must both agree to it," Typhon added.

"I see…so babies are made through kissing," Echidna said thoughtfully, before a mischievous idea formed in her mind.

"Yes, they are," Typhon said proudly.

"So then maybe we should start building a nursery," Echidna suggested.

"A nursery…wait a second…someone's pregnant…wait another second…I'm getting a sibling…eh…a niece….nephew?" Typhon asked baffled.

"Well while I don't know if it's a boy or girl nor do I know how we should call him/her, Satella and Subaru have been getting very close lately…it's only a matter of time before they kiss and make a baby," Echidna chuckled.

"BARU'S A DAD!" Typhon yelled in surprise. "That's not good…he shouldn't be a dad at this age he should wait till he was older like around 40…like you did before you had Beatrice," Typhon said frantically. Her father always told her he didn't want her to have kids till she was like 30 or something. Typhon was 400 now and was not interested in being a mom but that didn't mean she was going to allow Subaru to make a mistake like that. He needed to wait till he was older.

"I was within my twenties when I made Beatrice and she's not my daughter, she's an artificial spirit," Echidna argued.

"I see no difference," Typhon deadpanned.

"Well regardless, you should probably go and tell them not to make any babies," Echidna instructed. "Use those exact words as well when you tell them," Echidna smiled.

"Okey dokey," Typhon said as she saluted Echidna. The Witch of Greed could only smile at the trouble Subaru just landed himself.

Hehe...Subaru is in danger now...and also Capella. I may simp for the world-ending Satella but even I have standards, but enough about me. Please tell me your thoughts, constructive critiscm please and don't forget to fav, follow and leave review please.