REASON TO LIVE?

(PS: FIRST CHAPTER WITH SOME ACTUAL SWEARING - YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!)

"Damn... Just when everything seemed to be doing so well...!" The boy spoke to himself, running away from the place where all that previous action was taking place.

He was looking at the smoke screen that came from the area where the hotel was located. Preparing to get out of there, Ryan focused some Mana on his feet, jumping up to the top of a house.

"What's on these people's minds?! Who are the components of this damn Witch Cult?!"

Without further ado, he piled up Mana on his back, trying to concentrate as much as he could. Ryan felt the flow run through his body, heading toward the intercostal muscles, thinking of them as if they were expanding out of his body.

"Now...!"

He jumped. Jumped far too high. If any resident of Lugunica looked up from the moment Ryan jumped, that person would see a huge luminous object that ran through the air like an arrow, almost like a shooting star that was dangerously close to falling right in the center of the place, causing a huge impact.

It was faster than any plane in his world - in fact, Ryan could beat the maximum bombing missile speed when at that speed, and within seconds, he felt the altitude drop.

"Damn it...!"

He rolled, crashed to the ground, gliding like a soccer ball kicked by a professional player on that main street. He only stopped after several meters, having collided with a house.

If it weren't for his superhuman existence, it would have killed him twenty times, back and forth, forty times total. Rising hastily, Ryan healed a wound on his forehead, which glowed in light when he touched it. He could never land right - it was like a curse.

"I just hope I didn't hit anyone...!" He spoke out loud.

People hadn't paid any attention to him, preferring to hide in their homes. He, running towards where Rem was standing, breathed deeply as the smokescreen only increased.

"Rem...!" Ryan violently opened the hotel door, facing a frightened receptionist.

" Kyaa !" The woman's first reaction was to throw a thick book in the boy's direction. No wonder, since all that chaos meant immense danger.

Ryan just took the book in his hand, somewhat surprised at his own reaction speed upon the chaos. Anyway, he didn't have time to think about how good he was at picking up books, and that was far from being a priority.

"What happened here?! Is everyone okay?!" he asked, revealing his presence. "I'm not one of the cultists! No need to fear me! Say, is everyone alright?!"

His screams drew a series of looks. Behind the counter, hidden under tables, and inside cabinets to store cleaning materials, the employees of the place appeared. Everyone was paralyzed with fear, refusing to leave their hiding place, even for an ordinary person.

"There was... There was an explosion, and... And...!" The woman began to cry, collapsing in panic, fear and tears before she could even finish what she had to say.

"You don't need to tell me anything. It's comforting to know that everyone is right here... Stay hidden! You are doing very well!" He started to raise his voice.

The place appeared to be minimally protected from any attack that might happen, and that was a good thing. The structure was more solid than those of the surrounding houses, and could survive a medium-sized bombardment that was some distance away.

"I can only pray they don't blow up the place directly...!" He thought. In his observations, however, Ryan noticed that there were also some Lugunica citizens who sought the place of refuge among the workers.

"Stay hidden! This is the safest place for you...!" He said, out loud. "And by the way, did you guys see a blue-haired maid-"

"Ahhh!" A high-pitched, guttural scream ripped through the air, sending it everywhere as the sound of the door was also heard opening.

"...!" Ryan looked back, being alerted by the woman's scream.

Unfortunately, he was without his sword available, which meant a slightly harder fight. From the door of the hotel, an explosion was heard, and as the flames from a series of Goa launched against the structure revealed a huge hole where the entrance should have been, a group of five hooded figures entered.

They brandished ritual knives, a type of dagger that was shaped in a very specific way. Just by looking at the weapons, you could tell that this was not something to be used by a good-natured person.

Without another word, the group of men raised their blades, heading towards them with great speed.

"Everyone heading upstairs...!" Ryan screamed in a way he never had before. A fight that didn't promise to be pretty would start there.

... ... ...

"Damn it...! These guys aren't very strong, but they're fast...!" Ryan ducked to avoid being stabbed by one of them.

A multiple sequence of attacks with the daggers was performed by one of them, who began slicing the air in front of him like a piece of ricotta. Stepping back, Ryan began to think about what he would do.

"Oh, what the hell...!" He yelled at the five, pointing his hand forward. "I got no time for this!"

A burst of unseen force managed to send at least one of them heavily toward a wall. The impact had managed to incapacitate him, but now, the other five prepared large balls of fire, larger than those used to destroy the entrance door.

Ryan couldn't do extreme things either - the place was full of people, and using a higher order spell would risk making it all come crashing down. For now, he should contain his powers.

"Ah, but you won't do this…! Everyone, close your eyes... Now...!"

Ryan raised his hand, causing a huge white light to come out of there, spreading across the room. The glow was comparable to watching an atomic explosion a few thousandths before being hit by it. That destabilized the cultists, who were either blind or also lost their focus by closing their own eyes to the situation.

"Now you're going to have it from me... You had to show up and ruin everything, didn't you?!"

Ryan created four clones, who took advantage of the situation to attack heavily. Each of the copies landed punches and kicks reinforced with Mana, causing those cultists to be quickly defeated.

Needless to say, he was quite enraged - it was the biggest day for Emilia and the other candidates, and it had all meant a lot to him too. For this type of person to show up and end everything as if it were normal...

"You piss me off...! All of this annoys me!" Ryan grabbed one of the cultists by the neck, using the man's body as if he were holding a mere puppet. He spun it around by the leg, causing the head to hit the ground directly, causing blood and brain matter to fall to the ground.

"I'm going to end this clowning here and now...!" He thought, leaving the place, but not before without giving some last orders. "Stay here, and go up to some rooms! This place is no longer safe!"

Having left that message. The boy cast [Transport] and took his sword. He felt prepared to end this whole situation.

"Knowing Rem, she's probably gone to check the origin of all this...!" Running toward the explosion, Ryan began to wonder. The place chosen by those sick of spirit had been the center of one of the main shopping streets in Lugunica. The place was busy enough to cause immense disruption.

Destruction on all sides. People, houses... Everything was a scene of desolation. It was as if a war was happening right now. It was cruel, impossible for the common citizen to imagine.

This scenario, however, was something Ryan Savoia had experienced before in his life...

"I don't believe it... I can't believe this...!"

He began to run towards it, through the rubble, cries for help from the wounded. A great deal of fire consumed the nearby structures, little by little, increasing with the materials.

"What the hell... What the hell...!" He continued to scream to himself, aloud, as he ran around looking for a single person. "Rem...! Rem! Where are you, Rem?!"

"Why?! Why is this happening...? This was supposed to be the perfect loop... Everything should be perfect...!"

He had finally managed to do things the right way. Elsa was dead, and the village children were safe... Rem was his best friend, almost a little sister he could care for... And he, above all, had managed to make Emilia smile and listen to all the things she deserved. ..

If he died now, how far would he be sent back? Who can guarantee it will be after all the trouble at the mansion? What if he has to relive and redo it all over again?

"No no no no...!" He denied that possibility, continuing to run. "Rem...!"

Exhaustively screaming, Ryan looked everywhere. His throat already hurt from calling out for the maid. Considering the way she couldn't hold back from the witch's scent, she must surely be in the vicinity.

"Please, Rem...Rem...!"

Just a sign of life, a single symbol that it wasn't all over, that he wouldn't have to start all over again... That's it, that's all. He just needed this. A reason to keep living, a reality without major losses...

Other people could die anyway! He didn't care! It might sound selfish and bad to say, but that was the truth for him. Ryan didn't care about anyone else - all he needed was for the people he cared about the most to stay alive.

"Rem...! Please, Rem... Rem...!"

... ... ...

"Ryan-kun!"

A familiar call immediately soothed his heart… The moment he heard that voice, Ryan thought he might actually vomit—not from discomfort, but as a force to drive away the apprehension that had built up in his stomach and throat. Still, holding back that feeling, he looked in that direction.

Eyes blue as the sky, as well as strands of hair of equal color. A maid's outfit she always wore, but which was now a bit dirty with blood and dust. In her right hand, the flail she used as a weapon. It was all he needed to hear.

"Rem...! It is so good... Good to see you, Rem!"

He did something completely unexpected. To the maid's immense surprise, Rem was caught in the boy's wide arms, who seemed to be almost wanting to squeeze her like a stuffed toy.

"I've been so worried about you... Oh my, Rem... What a relief...!" Ryan looked the maid into her eyes. "What have you been doing in that time? Have you been fighting the cultists?!"

"Yes. Rem tore apart the vast majority of these damned Witch cultists... After ending the lives of all of them, Rem also began tending to some of the wounded and assisting in the rescue."

"Well. That's very good… Keep up the good work, Rem." Ryan greeted the maid with a slight smile. "Now, I think we have some issues to deal with... No need to worry about Emilia - she's safe, and I doubt Roswaal would make light of that sort of thing."

He actually put all his faith that the clown would be able to contain the situation in case of any attack, after all, he was the greatest Mage in the entire Kingdom!

"Rem, we need to get to the heart of this… We have to get this over with! If we manage to take the leader down, we'll end it all!"

The teams of Royal Knights and Healers continued to arrive, taking on the roles of rescuing people from the rubble and tending to the wounded. This was a job they could do.

Now, there was a bigger goal ahead. Alongside Rem, Ryan began running through the streets of Lugunica. He could only rely on the girl's powerful sense of smell to pick up the witch's scent, which was apparently much stronger on cultists than on Ryan.

"Is my lack of recent deaths the cause of this?" Ryan questioned himself as they ran through the streets, easily killing any and all of those hooded people.

He hadn't died in four weeks. If the witch's scent was like any other scent, it should normally fade with time.

"Well, I guess I can just 'thanks' that this is my situation...!" He smiled a little to himself, cutting yet another cultist in half with his sword.

"Take this one! The blow I learned from a certain infamous assassin, but which is now in the past by this sword!"

With a single, precise cut, Ryan was able to burst horizontally through the bodies of the cultists. With a few weeks of training, Gut-Chopping Slice was made into a perfect move, capable of fast execution and high efficiency ratings.

Right behind him was Rem, crushing the heads and abdomens of those twisted-minded people with her flail. It was always surprising to see how she could handle that weapon with such mastery.

Before long, the entire perimeter had been cleared of any and all cultists. Realizing this, he turned to the girl standing beside him.

"What now, Rem? Where is the smell stronger?" he questioned, already brandishing his sword.

"Over there. That's the strongest source Rem has detected so far…" She pointed in one direction. "Ryan-kun, do you think that might be the leader?"

"I do not only think. I'm sure of it. From what you said, he has the strongest odor, doesn't he? Well... let's check this out..."

As they approached the scene, Ryan and Rem saw something horrible slowly appear, becoming huge before their eyes - it was total carnage. In the middle of that part of the city, in a very central region, the number of bodies on the ground gradually increased.

"Oh my gosh...!" Ryan commented, studying the floor of the place.

There were several dead people, most terribly disfigured by some kind of massive impact, mainly in the chest and skull regions, the latter usually finding itself completely crushed in the victims.

Rem's hatred also increased. Watching that happen, the blue-haired maid started to almost foam from the mouth...

"Rem... I know this is horrible... But we need a plan here... We have to finish this guy with minimal risk..."

"If he himself could have caused all this... I can only assume that he is very powerful..."

The density of dead people only increased as they got closer. Both couldn't stand to see it anymore - there were too many dead people!

When they reached a certain corner, Ryan hid behind a certain house, forcing Rem to do the same. The maid was tense, but Ryan continued to hold her back by holding her left shoulder, holding her in place.

"No, Rem... Not yet... We can't go yet." He was trying to force her to stay there.

"But Ryan-kun...! That's the damn leading cultist...! We need to kill him soon! He was the one who caused all this!" She protested, already with a small luminosity coming out of her forehead. She was ready to let the horn out.

"Rem, no…! I can't let you risk this... He doesn't seem to have noticed us yet, so-"

... ... ...

"Oh, but what is this? What is it?! I'm feeling it, I can feel it, I feel the presence of a faithful person of love close to me...!" The man began to speak.

Ryan's heart nearly stopped at that, and a wave of cold consumed him as he realized the man was looking… Exactly at him. There was no longer any way to escape. Ryan had been noticed.

"Ryan-kun...!"

"Rem. Get out of here. Run. Get as far as you can."

"But...!"

A huge force began to gently pull Rem away, carrying her through the air like a feline carries its cubs by the neck. She couldn't fight it, and she just felt herself going farther and farther.

"Ryan-kun...!" She tried to reach out a hand, but to no avail.

... ... ...

"Finally you showed up, you damn son of a bitch...!"

Ryan stepped out from behind where he was, revealing himself completely to the decadent-looking man. His skin was greenish, and he had severe signs of what appeared to be malnutrition. But Ryan knew that underneath that appearance of being a madman was someone highly cruel and capable.

Upon noticing him, the man smiled widely, releasing a smile that had a certain evil glint, something unattractive, but which was undoubtedly a smile nonetheless.

"Oh? ... Greetings, faithful in love! The great and infinite love of the Witch brought you here! It's a fateful encounter, I would say!" The crazy man twisted his neck at angles impossible for an ordinary human being. "I suppose you came to see the great phenomenon that will take place here today!"

He then very quickly withdrew a black-covered book from within his purple robes, and literally ignoring the way Ryan was looking at it, began to read...

"Let's see, let's see... Where in the gospel should you be...?"

He continued to read, flipping through the pages as if in an immense hurry. He became more apprehensive with each page that passed, until he neared an end. As he did, his tone changed completely, and with a look of some contempt, he spoke.

"You... You don't appear in the gospel." He said. "What are you?"

The man threw up his hands, laughing like the maniac he was. He laughed for about five seconds, until he looked at him again, and called for something… Or at least tried.

"Proof of love! Authority of Sloth, Unseen- "

... ... ...

"Shut the fuck up!" Ryan yelled, pointing a single finger at the man, who fell to the ground. "I don't care about your bitch witch or whoever this damn demon is. Tell her to get fucked once you reach hell!"

It had been a single quick magic shot, aimed right at the center of the madman's forehead. He wouldn't survive this. In the middle of his face, a hole was made, which deepened until it came out on the other side.

He fell to the ground without any reaction. For Ryan, that had been the last thing.

"You and your damn organization have caused a lot of trouble today...!" He released a last cry to the motionless body, firing five more projectiles that pierced several regions of the man's abdomen and thorax.

Ryan turned back, noting all the destruction that still continued to grow in places from the fire. He would have to help the teams take care of that, as well as help heal people.

"Sorry, Emilia... I won't be able to follow the rest of this with you."

A certain duty called him - to annihilate the rest of those people, to stop the further destruction . . . and to try to have some peace after all this madness.

... ... ...

"Hehehehe..."

"But what?!"

Ryan turned immediately at the sound. Fallen in the middle of a large pool of his own blood, the man still displayed signs of life and full consciousness.

His movements were jerky, but too perfect to be merely accidental. He was alive, so alive that faint laughs could be heard coming out of his blood-filled mouth.

"The proof of love... The proof of ultimate love... Witch... Witch... Witch...!" He started screaming, meaningless.

The one eye of his that had survived the impact of Mana's shots looked up, trembling with the sensation of death. And as his last true words, he blurted out the following words:

"The Witch's Love... Begins now..."

It was the last thing he said before he expired, and then...

The sound of an immense explosion was heard in the distance.

... ... ...

"Lie. This can only be a lie. Someone, please tell me it's a lie... This has to be a lie..."

In the distance, an enormous mixture of dust and small flying particles began to rise into the air. This was a unique and very distinguished place. It was nothing but the place where the Royal Selection was taking place, where all the candidates were.

That second explosion had been much stronger and bigger than the first, and it certainly would have annihilated any miserable person in the place.

"And that's it. There's no way anything can be that convenient... The world is never convenient when it's needed..."

Looking at that scene, a crooked smile creased Ryan's smile. Nothing goes the way you want it, does it?

"It's never convenient."

He picked up the silver blade he had let slip from his grip upon seeing the scene. His knees weakened, but even so he ignored the pain of their contact with the ground. Nothing really mattered anymore at that point than how things were.

Something to stay alive for? A familiar tie to life? A selfish desire of having something to hold on to? Nonsense. That thing was far away from him now. There was no longer any real reason to remain connected to that world.

"Never." He looked at the blade. It reflected his face perfectly, letting him see that smile so weak, but at the same time, so sincere.

... ... ...

"Ryan-kun!" That voice tried to reach him, but it was too late to change anything.

Everything had been lost. That was the end of that reality. There was no reason to stay here. He should just move on.

"Ryan-kun...?"

He watched as the maid's face distorted into a look of pure terror. She covered her mouth, in an attempt to hide the excess of emotion at the terrible situation that was taking place there, in front of her eyes.

"No...! Why?!" She screamed. An erratic, wet scream. A voice of heartbreak. "Ryan-kun... Ryan-kun...!"

... But what scared her most, after all, was the smile he provided, as the red blood made its way into that ear-to-ear grin that formed a second mouth in the region of his throat.

"I'll fix of all this, Rem."

And just before she could reach him, his consciousness faded.

... ... ...

"An intriguing choice to say the least, I must say."

... ... ...

He woke up. Feeling that heavy sensation of the mind returning to the body, he tried to steady himself. It was like waking up from fainting - only much worse and deeper.

"I really can't get used to doing this..." He thought, looking straight ahead.

He felt bad. It was as if he'd eaten something that hadn't done so well to the body. Ryan didn't feel good in any way, but one of the reasons for that was special...

After all, he had just returned to the exact moment before he had said all those things to Emilia.

"My progress was lost... All that, erased..."

Unfair. That was so unfair. The power behind the capacity to loop wouldn't be kind enough to leave him in a desired spot in time... If he had to describe it in one word, he'd say that-

He locked his teeth tightly together, locking them in a tight embrace, closing his mouth so that nothing could come out. Nothing made him feel as angry as that.

Angry... And sad.

He should be clapping his hands now... He should be approaching the place, in the midst of all that silence, to explain to all these ignorant little people who think they are too much because of some coins, the true value of the silver haired girl... He should be telling everyone how much she mattered to him, how much all the things she did for him made him feel happier than ever, but...

... But, he wouldn't be able to do that anymore. All because of a damn Cult that started attacking the Capital out of the blue, and that will blow up this place in a time span that will be less than half an hour...

He had little time, and a lot of problems, and that made Ryan want to end up beating up the first thing that came his way, whether it was a cultist or not.

To soothe that anger, he raised his left hand to his face. A wet sound cut across the place.

"Ryan?! What happened?" Reinhard was the first to notice that irrational move. "Why did you do this to yourself?!"

... ... ...

Ryan opened his jaw. Fat drops of blood fell onto the rug's carpets. Alerted by the Sword Saint, all candidates, their knights and companions looked in the boy's direction.

"Ryan... Why...?" Emilia couldn't react properly to what she was seeing. She was living at the same time, in that exact second, the feeling of not having been heard by a single person and the panic of having to see that image.

He had bitten his hand, in the area between the palm and the thumb. It had been something very potent, to the point of showing all the red flesh the teeth had dug. An ample amount of blood oozed from the wound, and it only seemed to increase.

No one had words to say for what seemed so insane.

... ... ...

"Alright, I think I'm a little calmer now."

Ryan sucked in a huge amount of air. He had used his Magic to stop the bleeding, but the deep wound from the bite marks was still there, stamped and hurting, as a reminder. Using his right hand, he wiped the blood from his face, and slowly walked to the center of the room.

"Who are you and what do you think you are doing?" Miklotov, as on the first occasion, asked.

"Ryan, you-!" Julius tried to talk to him.

"I'm fine, Julius. I'm fine." He held up his right hand, almost as if to say "just shut up and listen to me" to the Knight. "The thing is, I don't want to stay here for long, so I'll talk about what's going to happen here in the next few minutes..."

He took an immense amount of air, and affirmed it to everyone, not caring about anything, and in a surprisingly neutral tone.

"This place must have some kind of bomb, and this entire building is going to explode in a few minutes. I recommend that everyone evacuate from here right now, or that the artifact be found and neutralized."

A great tumult, bigger than any other, began to take over the place. Everyone started yelling at him, calling him a terrorist, associating him with the Cult of the Jealous Witch, and many other things...

But Ryan didn't give a damn. He had no reason to care, and he just kept staring at everyone.

Anyone would say that he was either a criminal or a madman, and in a short time almost everyone wanted to expel him from there on the basis of force, and these people even included Julius, who didn't think it was appropriate.

But, among everyone there, there was one person who could feel something different.

"Ryan Savoia."

A certain woman's voice cut across the place. It was firm and authoritative, full of strength and domination. A leader's voice.

Calmly, the woman descended from where she was, even being instructed by her knight not to do that. She ignored any and all warnings, and just kept walking towards him. With every step, the place seemed to grow a little quieter.

She moved closer until she was within ten feet of him. It was a dangerous distance, but she wanted to attest to something, something she could feel.

"Explain yourself. How do you know the place will be destroyed? I want to know the whole truth. Because of your calm, I suppose we have quite a bit of time before it happens. Speak the whole truth now."

Unlike everyone else, this woman had come out of her complacent state with the information. She wanted to know more, wanted to find out the truth, as she always had, and looking into the depths of his eyes, she waited for the answer.

"Very well." He said. "I'll tell."

The anticipation of the answer made its way into her eyes, which were already sharpening in the silence. Ryan's lips parted, and the next words were uttered.

"I know that, since I can Return by Death."

AUTHOR NOTES

Ooh! He called you the "b-word", Satella! I wouldn't leave that cheap!

Guys, sorry if the chapter feels rushed or poorly written - i decided to write it in a last moment, before the end of this Sunday. Chapter was started in around 7 PM and was finished in about 2 hours, which is a time a lot shorter than what i'm used to spend writing.

So, next chapter is going to bring some info regarding how RbD works in his case!