The Melancholic Path

by Strandenstein

Subaru meets a particularly Melancholic Man during his last failed attempt to reach the mansion and decides to form a contract for their mutual benefit. However upon returning by death to the market with Rem, Subaru questions why he would even bother to save everyone after what they put him through.

13. Rock Bottom

The past, the present, and the future, all terms that can be used to describe time relative to one's current position in life, all capable of being looked upon in both a positive and negative light, yet all affecting one in a slightly different way.

The future is something that one can look at with hope and anticipation as they can see that it will certainly herald times that one will enjoy and relish, the same as one may anticipate basking in the sun's warm rays as they wait in anticipation for it to rise during the dawn of a new morning. Yet the future can also be looked upon with dread and anxiety, for just as easily as one can predict the goodness ahead, they can also potentially see catastrophe as they await the inevitable collapse of a precarious situation. If one were to be standing atop the surface of a frozen lake and they were to hear a cacophony of cracks coming from all directions, both around and below them then they would understand that it was only a matter of time until the ice gave out and they plunged into the frigid waters below. The future's true impact comes when one manages to understand and accept that it is inevitable, after a certain point it becomes impossible to change and all one can do is simply wait for its arrival; once one has made their bed all they have left to do is to lie in it and meet with the dreams that await them, good or bad.

While the future's main impact on one's emotions comes from how it has not arrived, the present affects one due to it being the current state they are in, the fluidity of the environment around them as it changes in what can seem to be a confusing manner at times. The present can seem to be easily changeable by some while being completely insurmountable by others, some see how their actions have immediate effect while others get too caught up in the situation around them, leading to them becoming overwhelmed and unable to see how they are altering their own path. While some realize that the present is their only opportunity to alter the path that their future will take while it remains malleable, others do not. The captains of some ships that travel through storms understand how critical it is to keep their boat fluid and supple, yet how important it is to not yield to the storm around them during the singular critical time in order to prevent disaster. In contrast some captains fail to tread this fine line, either leading to them yielding to the storm completely and achieving nothing or failing to yield even an single bit in the face of the storm. It is these captains that fail to realize that they must diverge from their desired course that are certain to suffer the worst fate of all, they fight as hard as they can to keep their ship completely rigid and stay on their direct route only to be forced to watch as everything is torn apart around them, as the ship and its crew whom amount to their entire life's work are thrown asunder and consumed by the storm, until the captain find themselves slowly sinking into the deep blue sea knowing that the only thing that awaits them is a watery grave.

Yet of all these points in time it is the past that can be the harshest or the most liberating, and this is due to solely one single thing. No matter what happens the past cannot be changed, no matter how hard one may try, it is set in stone for all eternity. Of course the stone can be presented in different ways, be it hidden, put on display, recoloured, but no matter what the stone cannot be removed from existence. Even if one were to try and banish the stone to the deepest reaches of the sea there is nothing that one can do to truly run for it, for no matter what they do they will know where the stone is and exactly what is said on it. No matter where one goes or how fast they try to run the stone will always manage to catch up to them, even if the stone never moves it will always chase someone at a speed that far exceeds what one could possibly sustain as they try desperation to escape it. And unlike any living creature, stone does not tire, the march of time is nigh insurmountable, to the point that even those who claim to bend it to their will are likely no more then its servants, their actions destined since the beginning and fated to occur far before the end that shall never come.

What is more interesting than these abstract views of different points in time is the psychology of those living in them as they desperately struggle to comprehend the world that flows around them. It is a fact set in stone that those who experience time are incapable of comprehending all its aspects at once. No matter how wise, intelligent, or learned one may be, it is a simple matter of the fact that they experience time, and that they can therefore only focus on one of its aspects at any single moment. In general, an individual will place far more weight upon either the past, present, or the future, neglecting the other two in order to immerse themselves in the one of their choosing. Be it a burdened life of being chained to the past, a carefree one in the present, or a hopeful one that looks ahead to the future in hope of better a better tomorrow; no matter what there is only one, singular focus.

There is no exception to this rule, not a single being is able to truly escape one of these three viewpoints as they move through their life. Emilia herself was no different, as she lay near unmoving on the floor of the cabin, her consciousness only beginning to awaken to reality as her mind returned from a vision that could have been potentially a gift or a curse from another, a vision whose vividness was rapidly fading.

However, as the images left new ones flooded in, if new could be the proper term to use for them as they had existed within the confines of her memory the entire time, simply being blocked due to her contract with Puck.

It was like an uncountable number of connections within her brain were suddenly forming, the first trial which had at first seemed completely incomprehensible suddenly gained form and meaning as it flashed before her very eyes. The frozen elves who blamed her for their untimely demise, the woman broken by the fact that Emilia did not remember her name, the platinum haired girl drenched in blood.

Emilia remembered it all.

She remained on the floor where she had fallen when she had collapsed when the vision had wormed its way in. There was a small patch of dried blood around the area where her head had hit the floor, entirely due to a slight break in her skin and not a more serious or debilitating injury.

Her eyes opened sluggishly at first, however the second the world around her came into focus she scurried of the floor and pressed herself into the corner of the room. Her pupils shrunk to the size of tiny pinpricks as they frantically darted around, even if it may have been pitch black she was seemingly in a state of pure terror as she looked around for something. Her heartbeat with such vigour that she could hear it in her ears, feel it in her throat, even her skin broke out into a cold sweat as she pulled her legs to her chest and gripped them as hard as she could with her arms, ever single part of her body was quivering in fear.

Yet the outwardly directed fear soon ceased, instead redirecting inward and towards herself, as well as being corrupted by a crippling melancholy which washed over her. However her body did not free itself from the reaction to the fear that had enraptured it when it had awoken, it felt totally justified in keeping them as it truly began to fear itself.

Emilia had positioned herself so that she was sandwiched in the corner of the room between a night table and the wall. Atop this night table was something that Emilia had avoided for the short time that she had been in the cabin out of a habit from living with Puck for so long, yet she now reached for it as there existed a curiosity in her mind that she desired to have answered, while she still had time.

It took nought but a few seconds, but her hand soon found the heavy brass object she searched for and grasped it before lowering it in front of herself. It was a small brass mirror that one would commonly use when getting ready in the morning, and Emilia now firmly held it right in front of her face.

While one handheld the heavy metal mirror the other cupped her cheek which had taken on a clammy and sickly pale colour since her night out in the rain when she arrived in the Sanctuary. Her eyes gazed into the mirror where her reflection stared back at her, the look she saw was one of a sad, depressed and broken girl. Yet this did not surprise her in the slightest for she had felt this way for a long time, it was almost comforting to know that her appearance adhered to how she felt, to what she was, there was not the slightest hint of vanity within her.

Her eyes had long lost their luster, there was no spark of joy nor twinkle of life within them, they were a combination of white, amethyst purple, and blue that looked as if a dull glaze had formed overtop of them long ago, only broken by the bright red of the tiny blood vessels that angrily reached to the surface. Her skin had taken on a sickly greyish colour that complimented the dullness of her eyes, leading to them appearing as if they had slightly sunken into her face. Her once lustrous silver hair had long lost its sheen, leading to it taking on a dullness that made it seem almost grey in colour. Her hair had seemingly grown more and more frayed and thin since leaving the mansion, giving it a wiry feeling that gave the appearance that the volume it once held had seemingly been sucked out almost overnight.

However none of this was what really stood out to Emilia as she looked into the mirror, she knew that she would appear to be in a terrible state, because that would just be the physical manifestation of her mental state. The thing that stood out most to Emilia where the features of her face that were not things she could change, things like the skeletal structure and the shape of her eyes.

She had expected her face to see features similar to Mother Fortuna's, features that were sharp, strong, mean looking. Yet she did not see Mother Fortuna's sharp jawline, strong cheek bones, not even her mean looking eyes. Her own face was instead rounded, gentle, her eyes could even be described as being kind, yet Emilia knew she was anything but kind, she now knew just how horrible she was.

She moved her hand around her face, watching her skin shift under the pressure exerted by her fingertips before her lips began to tremble as she spoke aloud to nobody in particular.

"I guess they were right….I deserve to be compared to her…..I'm a monster just like her….I'm a murderer too…."

Emilia's reflection began to grow blurry as her eyes began to fill with tears, but her vision did not divert from the mirror for even an instant, she could not bring herself to look away from her reflection, she did not feel that she deserved such relief.

It was almost as if she could still hear their voices from the trials, the voices of the frozen elves and Mother Fortuna, it felt like they were almost standing around her, jeering at her with their lamentations.

"I'm sorry I killed you all…..I'm really sorry…. I don't deserve your forgiveness…..I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry"

Emilia's voice grew more and more frantic, tears streaming down her face as she gripped the mirror in two hands, staring at it in desperation as it slowly swayed in her hands before her, the words leaving her mouth began to be punctured by gasps of air as she began to sob.

"I'm terrible….. I'm really horrible… I don't deserve to have gotten to live alongside all of you…. Mother Fortuna loved me and I killed her…..You all would've been better off if I'd just never been born….."

Emilia clamped her eyes shut as she gripped the mirror with both hands and brought it so that the glass just gently touched her forehead, her grip on the handle of the mirror grew tighter as she began to sob even harder.

At first the mirror wavered a bit as Emilia's breathing grew harsher and harsher, before it suddenly became completely still. Emilia had come to a decision on how to best proceed down this path she found herself on.

She would end it in the name of all the sins she had committed.

"I wish I had never been born…It would have been better for all of you…."

Emilia muttered as she slowly moved the hand mirror an arms length away, from here she proceeded to swing it right back into herself with every bit of strength that she could muster.

The mirror hit her face at such an angle that it struck both the tip of her nose and the centre of her forehead at the same time, the glass pain shattering into a spiderweb before spewing forth a cloud of shards as the mirror made contact with her skull. This cloud of razor-sharp glass flew into her face with enough force and at sufficient speed such that they cut into and left long and deep gouges, some of the shards even driving themselves deep into her skin where they remained as painful protrusions.

As the hand mirror was made of a heavy bronze it carried significant momentum behind it, the force of the blow it dealt to her face was enough that there was a painful and sickening crack as her nose deformed so that it harshly bent to one side, where what remained of her nostrils began to flood with blood.

Her face erupted into a combination of burning, stinging, and electrifying pain as blood began to leak out of the smaller cuts, the deeper gouges, and the puncture wounds created by the glass shards, joining that which poured from Emilia's now shattered and broken nose.

She moved the now broken mirror which had been reduced to not much more then the bronze frame and handle with only a few shards of glass remaining, away from herself. When it was about half an arms length away, she began to speak in a voice contorted by the pain that was plaguing her. It was not the physical pain emanating from her face that mangled her voice however, it was the emotional pain swirling within her heart, pain that had risen up into a torrential storm that was rapidly tearing her apart from the inside.

"I HATE HOW I LOOK!"

Emilia shouted at the top of her lungs in what amounted to something between a wail and a cry for help, the tears that still streamed from her eyes mixing with the blood flowing from her face, quickening its flow.

She then slammed the mirror back into her face with even greater force then the first time, driving the glass shards even deeper and causing the break in her nose to travel further up the bridge. She could feel each of the shards of glass rending the flesh of her cheeks as the flow of blood from them increased.

"I HATE WHO I AM!"

Emilia did not give herself even a moments respite as she immediately slammed the bronze frame into her head once again, causing blood to spatter all over her white clothing as well as the walls and floor.

"I HATE MYSELF, I WISH I'D NEVER EVER BEEN BORN!"

Emilia then frantically struck herself one last time in the head with the mirror using every last bit of strength that she could muster, sending even more blood around the room, but this time there was a loud and even more sickening crack when contact was made compared to the blow that had broken her nose. A small red crack had appeared on her forehead that ran about one third the way across and was located roughly where the top edge of the mirror had struck her. The bone of either edge of this crack was slightly depressed inwards where it had been pushed by the force of the strike.

Blood of a deep crimson colour found itself slowly oozing out of this self-inflicted wound onto her face before it ran down her chin and dripped onto her clothes at a slow but steady rhythm.

The second this final blow had made contact with her skull, all the strength had seemingly left her body as she had gone limp, the remains of the bronze mirror clattering to the blood-spattered floor as her grip opened and her arm fell to her side.

It was the result of this mental break brought on by the return of her memories that had revealed sins that were so vile to Emilia that they had driven her to make an attempt on her own life. An attempt that had left her on the brink of death, alone and in the corner of the unfamiliar room where even her father had decided to abandon her.

Her once white clothes quickly became dyed crimson as the blood that gave her life leaked out onto them, her eyes that had remained open a crack were completely devoid of motion, the only sign that life remained at all within her body was the slow and weak breaths that still somehow managed to travel through her parted lips.

If something did not change soon it is almost certain that Emilia would be dead before the sun rose, yet this was the fate that she seemingly desired.

Everything felt numb, she could not move, she could not even speak, it was like she was trapped inside her own body as she was forced to watch time play out in front of her, forced to watch as beads of blood gradually rolled overtop of her eyes and dyed her vision red.

She did not feel the slightest bit of strength in a single fibre of her body, her mind grew cloudier and cloudier as she sat there slumped in the corner. The only indication that time was even still passing was the gentle shifting of the rays of silver moonlight streaming through the window as the occasional cloud moved across the sky.

Emilia may not have been anywhere near an expert in regard to healing or medicine, but she did not need to be one to know that she would soon die given the rate she was bleeding.

Yet she did not feel the slightest bit of panic nor urgency at this idea, not even resentment or regret of her most recent action that had caused it, one could even say that she would say that it was for the best, if she could still speak.

If someone where to see her right now they would liken her appearance to that of a monster made up by older children in an attempt to scare one another. Her forehead was cracked open and seeping blood at an alarming rate, her face was covered in cuts ranging from that of a deep scratch to a terrifying gouge where the skin appeared to have been ripped apart. Some of the glass that had dealt these wounds remained buried in her once pristine face, either at the ends of the cuts they had creating when they tore the skin apart or driven deep inwards as part of a puncture wound. The metal frame of the hand mirror had done its part too besides simply splitting her forehead, leaving her once angelically porcelain skin black, blue, and swollen from the repeated impacts.

The blood-stained body of Emilia stayed slumped in the corner as time continued to march ever onwards, with each step it took forward her body only grew weaker and her mind foggier, with each step time took forward the moon fell lower and lower in the sky. As the moon travelled the brilliant silver rays it reflected moved across the room until they reached Emilia in the corner, forcing her immobile eyes to stare into their light.

For a second her consciousness slipped away from the world before quickly returning to her, yet when it did she found herself looking into the glossy amethyst eyes of someone she knew well, yet had forgotten about until recently. However her ability to fully comprehend the sight before her eyes was immensely hampered by the mental fog that was undoutably brought on by a severe concussion.

The amethyst eyes belonged to a woman who was kneeling in front of Emilia, she had short silver hair and the characteristically pointy ears of a full-blooded elf, and she looked to be in complete disbelief and unfathomable shock to see Emilia in the state that she was in.

"Why Emilia…why would you do something like this after all this time….after everything we all did for you, after all the sacrifices we made…..why would you give up like this….."

Mother Fortuna looked completely heartbroken as she stared into the near lifeless eyes of her daughter, a gaze that Emilia would give anything to not have to return, but she no longer had control over the direction her eyes pointed.

"It's not because you owe us for what we did, we all did so willingly because we loved you…Your Mother, Father, Geuse, and myself…. We all gave everything to save you because we wanted to see that happy little girl go on one more day…Your Mother and Father may have only known you as an infant, but they willingly gave up everything in that pit so that their little baby girl could coo and cah at butterfly's and birds for another day….. Geuse and I died so that you would get to go another day without having to bear the guilt of unleashing the monster behind that black door, so that you would have a world to grow up in….But our happy little girl isn't in there anymore is she? We didn't guide you far enough so that the little one who brought joy to all our hearts could make it to the point that she could stand on her own against the storm…. I'm sorry Emilia, I'm reallllllllllly sorry…"

Mother Fortuna broke her gaze with Emilia as she hung her head seemingly out of shame, as tears dripped out of her eyes, falling to the floor before striking the wood and disappearing into nothing.

Emilia wanted to call out to her mother that it was not her fault, that the sight she saw before her was a product of her own actions and not Mother Fortuna's nor anyone else's. Emilia could not stand to see how she had hurt her, how a choice that she had made entirely on her own had brought so much suffering to someone who was so important to her. She did not want to die anymore, she wanted to go on and keep suffering solely so she would not hurt Mother Fortuna and everyone else she had mentioned that had cared so much about her as to give up their own lives.

Emilia may have desperately wanted this, but in the end there was nothing she could do about it, she had gone so far as to seemingly remove all agency she had over the direction of what little remained of her life.

Emilia wanted nothing more but to tell Mother Fortuna that everything would be alright, that she would be okay, even if it would make her a liar. But Emilia could not do that, all that happened was a single tear rolling its way out of her eye as the world turned black and her consciousness slipped away once more, her desperate cry that she did not want to die being lost along with it.

She did not know how long she was out, it was something impossible to tell, all she knew was that when her consciousness returned that she could see the faint crimson rays of the rising sun streaking in through the window, and that there were two visitors in the cabin with her.

"Gran th' cuts on 'er face ain't closing, the big one ain't letting 'em, I think I can 'ven see 'er brain through it, what're we gonna do?"

Garfiel was knelt in front of Emilia with his jaw clenched and a look of complete focus overtaking his face, a soft yet immensely strong blue light emanating from his palm that was nearly touching her face, a light that was so strong that she felt like it could blind her.

"Just keep your magic up for a little bit longer Gar-bo, I've found some cloth that should be sanitary enough to use as a bandage. We'll move her after the larger wounds are covered."

Ryuzu's voice then dramatically dropped in volume as she seemingly muttered something to herself that was only just barely audible to Emilia.

"What Echidna-sama doesn't know cannot hurt her I guess."

This muttering was then followed by a loud ripping sound as a chunk of cloth was seemingly torn off what could only be assumed to be a piece of clothing. Emilia then heard light yet hurried footsteps as Ryuzu came into the corner of her vision carrying a makeshift bandage made of elegant black cloth.

She then knelt beside Garfiel as she gently affixed the bandage to Emilia's face, completely obscuring Emilia's vision.

"What's moving her gonna do, if my amazin' self can't heal her then there's no one in the whol' Sanctuary who can, who are we gonna take 'er to?"

Garfiel's voice was hurried but also sounded strained by the sheer amount of focus he was investing into his healing magic, but the surprise that entered his voice when he heard his grandmother's response was somehow evident through all of it.

"We're going to bring her to the tomb and hope that Echidna-sama decides to heal her, if she cannot or decides not to then there's nothing to else we can possibly do. Her odds of beating death are far, far less then it besting her at this point."

There was a heavy tone of resignation that laced Ryuzu's voice as she spoke, like she herself did not believe in her own plan.

"But the Witch in that tomb is long dead ain't she? How's she going to be able to do a damn thing, why would she do a damn thing if she's kept us all trapped here for so long anyways?"

Garfiel sounded like he was in complete disbelief as he heard his grandmothers plan, like it was absolute lunacy in his eyes, something that fundamentally made no sense even at the most basic level.

"Pick her up Gar-bo, I'll explain on the way, but we have to hurry, there isn't much time left."

Emilia felt herself being roughly scooped up and then jostled around as Garfiel began to run while carrying her, from the sound of Ryuzu's voice Emilia could tell that she was managing to keep the pace despite her age.

"When we get to the tomb I want you to carefully place Emilia just inside the trial room by reaching in while keeping your body outside, if you end up inside the trial instead of her then you will have no choice but to face it again, and it will also ensure that Emilia dies. However make sure that she is far enough inside that she cannot be seen by anyone outside the tomb and then leave immediately, this part is equally as critical as the first. As for Echidna-sama, she is almost certainly not de….."

It was at this point that Emilia's consciousness drifted away once more as the blackness that filled her vision descended onto her mind itself, preventing her from hearing the rest of the conversation.

---

The numbness was gone from her body as normal feeling had returned to replace it, she could clench and unclench her fingers and there was not even any noticeable pain left, in fact she could even go as far as saying that she physically felt better then she ever remembered feeling.

Emilia slowly reached towards her face with her hands and removed the cloth bandage whilst running her hands against her smooth skin, there were no cuts, no gouges, not even any pieces of glass remained jutting out of her face.

It was as if she had never harmed herself in the first place.

Emilia felt the cool earth beneath her head, a rich and loose floor of dirt that was covered in a soft and thick layer of moss; she looked up towards the sky and saw tall trees that reached towards the clouds far above gently swaying in the wind with their luscious green leaves.

"So you're just going to lay their waiting for people to fawn over you I suppose, you truly still are quite the attention whore."

Emilia slowly got up off the ground so that she was standing opposite the source of the voice, it was a woman with long white hair, a black dress the went all the way to the ground, and an emerald green butterfly ornament in her hair. The woman was leaning against a tree for support as she glared at Emilia with her arms crossed underneath her chest, the look in her eyes was one that someone would use if they were staring at the most disgusting, revolting existence in the world.

"Oh so you've decided to gift me with some of your attention, my-my we must truly be blessed on this oh so splendid day. Are you hoping that I'm going to obsess over you now, subject myself to suffering in order to aide you, do you think I'm just like Natsuki Subaru, Carmilla, or Minerva? Do you think I, Echidna, The Witch of Greed will fall for your tricks? Do you think I will force myself to endure endless trauma, anxiety over reprisal, or heart ache, just to help you? Did you come here thinking that I would pity you and give you and easy way out of the nightmare that awaits you?"

Echidna essentially spat these words at Emilia as she continued to stare at her with her cold, black eyes. The words she hurled at Emilia like daggers stung as they drove themselves into her heart with their razor sharp edges, releasing a near torrent of other emotions as a side effect, as if they had been laced with poison.

Emilia was selfish, she knew that through and through, whenever she had tried to do something for herself it had only ended up hurting others, making them suffer for her or in her stead. She had ruined Subaru's life, Carmilla looked so afraid that someone would hurt her when she took the risk to help Emilia, but Minerva was a name she did not know, yet one that felt intimately familiar as it brought out an odd yet warm feeling in her chest. But if that name was being mentioned alongside the other two then it was clear that Emilia had hurt her somehow, made her suffer because she had dared to help her.

Echidna's words may have hurt, they may have stung, but Emilia knew they were the truth, and Echidna had supposedly saved her life after she was carried into the trial on the verge of death, and no matter what such an action had to be thanked properly.

Emilia tried her best to meet Echidna's gaze, but she could not do such a thing, at this point she could not find the strength to withstand it, which led to her eyes drifting down towards the ground near the Witch's feet.

"Thank you….for saving me…"

The voice that Emilia spoke in was one that was incredibly meek and completely devoid of any kind of self confidence or strength.

"Huh…Save you? You think I'd even lift a finger to save you after that stunt you pulled? If it were up to me I would've let you live the rest of your short life with the consequences of your actions, but Minerva just couldn't stand to see you suffer like you were. She was completely distraught, barely able to keep herself together, brought to a state nearing the same madness she fell to after she saved your life the first time. You subjected her to this torment entirely because you ignored what Carmilla told you the first time. It's like you tried to kill yourself solely for the attention. You're so self centered that its honestly disgusting to see."

Tears once again began to build up behind Emilia's eyes as she thought about how her recent actions had impacted those few who still cared about her, how hurt they must have been to learn about how she had taken everything they had done for her and simply thrown it away. Emilia thought about how badly she must have hurt them when she gave up and gave into the sadness, when they had to learn that she decided to kill herself and reject their love.

"I…I didn't do it to hurt her, I just couldn't take it anymore…. Even now I don't think I can keep going…"

Tears ran down Emilia's face as she leaned her shoulder up against a tree for support before tilting her head to do the same. Somehow, she was overall even more broken emotionally now then when she was trying to bash her own head in, yet the only reason she was not trying to repeat the attempt on her own life was due to a combination of both sheer exhaustion and a dearth of passion in her emotions, her depression was devoid of the earlier mania that had driven her to such acts as before.

"Well if you truly wanted to end it all you would have just taken a shard of the glass from my mirror and cut your wrist open, it would have been a significantly more effective method then trying to bludgeon yourself to death with the thing."

Echidna held out a hand in front of her and turned it around whilst splaying her fingers, seemingly inspecting it as she spoke about this incredibly morbid topic as if it were seemingly an after thought.

Emilia however upon hearing this held out her own arm in front of her and turned it as she stared at her own wrist, her eyes locked on the patch of sickly white skin which lay just above the radial artery, which when severed would quickly leak enough blood to end her life. However her attention was soon drawn away from herself as Echidna spoke up.

"If you still intend to end your own life, I ask that you avoid doing so here. As you would be both forcing her to watch it and it would leave me pointlessly stuck watching some parts of your worthless life until the trial finished running its course."

While Echidna's voice was completely devoid of any concern whatsoever for Emilia herself, which was also backed up by her still completely relaxed demeanor, however she did seemingly manage to remove Emilia's attention away from her wrists and back to the situation at hand.

"I guess so, I'm not someone worth crying over anyways….."

Emilia's voice was full of sadness as her head drooped even lower as she said this, to the point that she was staring at the ground next to her own feet instead. Yet for a brief moment a tiny bit of surprise flashed across Echidna's face.

"Well that's just a bit surprising, you seem to be close to honestly meaning what you say. Now let's get on with this trial, after you."

The surprise quickly faded from Echidna's face however as she ceased leaning against the tree and gestured with her arms for Emilia to take the lead. Seeing this Emilia slowly walked towards her before passing her, a sullen frown gracing her face as her head remained tilted so she looked exclusively towards the ground.

Both her posture and gait were poor as she walked down a dirt path between the trees, her shoulders rolled forward just ever so slightly, her back bent just enough to give it a curved appearance, her feet only raising far enough off the ground to avoid being dragged through the dirt with each step.

Emilia seemed almost oblivious to what was going on around her as she walked not much more then half a pace ahead of the Witch of Greed, whose face may have been devoid of any real expression, yet whose eyes remained fixed on the depressed half elf walking in front of her.

They walked in silence for a bit until the Greedy Witch oddly decided to break it by speaking to the person she had only shown the utmost disdain and loathing for until this point.

"It is honestly surprising that you're back, it is truly rather rare for someone to attempt the trial a second time after failing it, but then again its not like you returned due to your own willpower was it?"

Echidna posed this question to Emilia with her voice only having the slightest bit of underlying edge to it in order to insinuate that it was meant to be an insult to her, yet Emilia did not stop nor even turn to face her when she responded. Instead Emilia kept walking forward with her head held low, and spoke in a voice equally as quiet.

"I know I'm useless, incapable of doing anything on my own, the only reason I made it this far is because others were literally willing to carry me along with them…."

The melancholy in Emilia's voice was heavy and as Echidna heard Emilia's response her eyebrows raised just ever so slightly, this was not exactly how she had expected the Witch's Daughter to act from the glimpses of her she had already witnessed.

"Well, it's a good thing that you recognize the truth at least, now is there anything different about this trial so far compared to the disaster that was your first attempt?"

Contrary to both the wording of her question as well as how she had delivered her previous one, Echidna's voice was completely lacking in malice as she spoke to Emilia. Hearing this Emilia lifted her head from the ground and took a brief look at the surroundings as the two continued to walk along the path.

She saw the green leaves gently swaying with the trees in the wind, she saw the birds flying through the sky, even the little insects on the ground as they hurriedly crawled under and around rocks and deadfall, yet there was one thing that stood out to her.

"It's warm, there's no snow or storm this time."

Was all that Emilia said to the Witch, yet Echidna certainly was not through with this line of thought and decided to press further.

"Do you have any idea on why the trial might be different like this?"

Echidna's tone when she said this was a quizzical one, like how a schoolteacher poses a question to their pupils that they already know the answer to.

"I'm not very smart Echidna….. so I don't know…."

This self defeatist remark was all that came from Emilia as the two stopped walking somewhere along the trail, Emilia standing with her back to Echidna as she resumed looking towards the ground.

"Well see this trial is constructed out of your memories of a rather important part of your past, something with immense emotional significance. But seeing as up until now your memories were partially sealed by the contract you held with Puck, the whole process got just a little stymied. That is why your first trial seemed so abnormal, so jumbled, so wrong yet so true. You could say that Puck leaving you like he did has a silver lining in that by returning your memories to you he gives you just the tiniest chance to actually complete the trial and liberate Sanctuary."

In the face of Echidna's words that seemed to carry the tiniest bit of hope Emilia could feel nothing but despair. They served as nothing but another reminder that someone else had been forced through an arduous task, risking their own wellbeing for her sake, as well as serving as a reminder of the pain she had so recently gone through herself.

"I would thank Puck if I could…but remembering is also so painful…..having to recall what I did to them all….. just…hurts so much. I love Mother Fortuna, but I'd almost rather have not gotten my memories back…..they're just tearing my heart apart with guilt."

From Echidna's point of view it was possible to see a few tears falling from Emilia's eyes, these along with the audible breaks in her speech when she sucked in a breath made it clear that she was on the verge of breaking down sobbing. Emilia's face was most likely growing red and contorting as she tried to hold back the dam of sadness that was threatening to break.

"I'm not going to stoop to comforting you, I won't give you a shoulder to cry on. All I will say however is that if you want to stand here sobbing away that you will likely miss too much of the trial and fail it, in order to come to terms with your past it is essential to fully understand it, and your memories as they stand now are nowhere near detailed enough to achieve that."

Hearing Echidna's words Emilia weakly nodded her head as she wiped her tears away and continued walking down the trail in silence, Echidna following close behind. The two continued to walk like this until they reached an area where the trees grew less dense and small huts started to appear around them, as well as Elves milling about as they got to their days.

The second Emilia saw them she froze up, her hand rushing to cover her mouth as a barely audible cry escaped it, her eyes wide open and glued to the figures milling about only a handful of paces from her.

Some of the elves were coming back in from denser parts of the forest carrying an assortment of different things, fish, berries, wood, even stone. Meanwhile others were seemingly heading out as they carried with them a variety of tools, many of which Emilia did not recognize nor understand the purpose of. Yet of all the elves in this town square that she saw heading off in all directions, there were two that just so happened to be heading straight for where she was standing.

One was a woman whom Emilia could not recall ever meeting, she was of an average build with long brown hair that hung down as far as her waste, her eyes were an emerald green colour that nearly matched the foliage around her, however the man whom she was talking to as they walked was someone Emilia recognized instantly.

He wore clothes of a white and purple colour scheme that were reminiscent of Emilia's own before they had become splattered with blood. His long blond hair ran down just below his shoulders in two long and elegant twin tails, his eyes were a shade of green that almost perfectly matched the woman who walked beside him with the sole exception that his were only slightly lighter in tone.

This man was undoubtedly Arche, the member of the village who Emilia had been closest to bar Mother Fortuna.

The path he walked would undoubtedly take him within arms reach of Emilia as she stood at the mouth of the path, perhaps even closer.

He proceeded to get closer.

And closer.

As he neared what would probably be the closest point Emilia slowly raised an arm as if to try and grab onto a loose fold in his clothing, yet just when she tried to grasp the cloth, she found that her fingers simply phased through it.

"Arche…."

Was all that Emilia managed to mumble in a nigh despondent tone as Arche walked past her before disappearing from view behind the trees as the path curved away. This left Emilia standing still with her arm still extended, which she slowly lowered to her side as her head fell once again.

"Sometimes the trial allows for one to interact with it, other times you are left to merely watch events unfold in front of you, this appears to be the latter rather then the former."

Hearing Echidna's explanation from behind her Emilia simply let out a "ahh" in acknowledgement before beginning to trudge forward almost aimlessly while essentially dragging her feet behind her.

The two walked along a path in complete silence as they slowly found themselves travelling farther and farther from the village centre where they had been previously, before they eventually stopped in front of a lone hut on what seemed to be the very edge of the village.

The door to the hut was directly in front of Emilia, yet she did not make the slightest effort to grasp the handle in order to enter the dwelling, instead choosing to simply stand in front of it with her head down.

"Had enough already? Was that all it took to get you to give up on the trial? If you brought us all the way here then I'm certain that whatever lies inside that building is important to you, and I can be fairly confident in saying that if you don't face it then you will certainly fail. So do you still intend to face your past, or do you intend to cower away in fear?"

Hearing Echidna's remark Emilia took a rattly breath in before gingerly moving her hand to grasp the handle, only for it to completely phase right through. She proceeded to try a few more times, almost like she was pawing at the door rather then trying to open it, yet each time her hand passed right through as if the door was not even there to begin with.

"I can't grab the handle Echidna….."

Emilia spoke with the tone of someone who had completely given up on life while once again not even turning to face the person she was speaking to.

"If your hand can phase through the door then so can your body, just walk right through. It's really not that hard you know, even I expected a little bit more from you then this."

Echidna said this remark with an incredibly condescending tone while shaking her head slowly and crossing her arms, she very clearly was not impressed.

"Sorry…."

Was all the Emilia mustered in response before ducking her head and walking though the small round door in front of her, Echidna following suit shortly after.

The two found themselves standing in what looked to be the main room of a tiny home, the only other living spaces looking to be at the top of a staircase that was tucked away in the back of the room. Just in front of said staircase was what looked to be a stone fireplace that must have served as both the main heating source for the dwelling, as well as the place where meals would be cooked. The fireplace connected to a chimney that appeared to be made of the same stone, however these two things appeared to be the only items of stone construction in the building, with the rest being, including the walls, comprised of wood instead.

There was a small table placed up against one of the walls with a somewhat rough cloth placed overtop of it, it only had three chairs set up around it with the place for the fourth being taken by the wall itself.

The last thing of note in the room was the wooden counters next to the door, there were a wide variety of bowls, cutlery, and other various objects laid out atop it. However what was vastly more interesting and likely important to the trial was not the layout of the house nor the objects contained within it, it was the two people standing right in front of Emilia and Echidna.

The two stood side on to them, or rather one stood while cradling the other in their arms, given this and taking into account the vast age difference that was readily apparent between the two, it would not be incorrect to assume that one was the mother of the other.

Both wore clothes with a purple and white colour scheme, and both had the same amethyst eyes and silver hair, the sole exception being that the woman wore hers fairly short while the child's was long enough to hang partway down their back.

Seeing this sight Emilia audibly gasped even if she had tried to prepare herself for this, all the strength left her knee's as she sank to the ground, both her hands clasped tightly over the opening to her mouth as her fixated eyes began to produce a near uncontrollable flow of tears.

"….Mother…..Fortuna…"

These were the only words to escape Emilia's mouth after she fell to the ground, her eyes were so utterly fixated on the sight in front of her that it seemed that she could not bring herself to focus on anything other then it. Meanwhile Echidna leaned against the wall with her arms crossed underneath her chest, seemingly content to watch the scene unfold before her.

Mother Fortuna held what looked to be a two year old Emilia in her arms, a smile on her face that made her look utterly ecstatic, captivated, even enthralled by just the sight of Emilia alone, like a mother holding a newborn for the first time. Meanwhile Emilia appeared to be incredibly drowsy and barely awake, like she had just woken up from an incredibly long sleep, her eyes even fluttering slightly like they were verging on closing again as she struggled to stay awake.

Mother Fortuna then lifted Emilia up so that she was pressed into her cheek, and with a smile that nearly stretched from ear to ear began to speak to the still sleepy little half elf.

"I realllllllly reallllllllllly reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly missed you Emilia, I love you, I reallllllllly realllllllly love you and I hope you know that. I'm not going to let anything happen to you ever again."

Mother Fortuna then started rubbing her cheek against Emilia's as she held her child as close as she possibly could to herself, but little Emilia seemed to be finally waking up at this point and did not seem to be exactly happy with how much affection she was receiving.

"Stop, stooooooooooooop!"

Emilia shouted this as loud as she could with her tiny voice she used her two little hands to try and push Fortuna's face away from her own, which did not achieve much besides signalling to Fortuna that her little Emilia had enough of all the love for now.

"What's wrong Emilia, have you had enough of your mommy already? You've been asleep for soooooo long that I just can't help but be excited!"

Emilia did not immediately respond to this as she started to squirm around in Fortuna's arms while stretching her arms and legs out, turning her head away to look at the floor while doing this.

"Mhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmm MMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMM"

Emilia did not open her mouth but instead decided to groan through her closed teeth while Fortuna began to giggle and swoon over this display of cuteness that she had been deprived of for so long.

"Now Emilia, in this house we use our words, if you want to be put down you need to ask politely."

Fortuna tried her best to put some authority behind her voice but she could not even manage to hide her smile from her daughter as she tried her best to parent her.

"I'm a big girl now, no more mommy!"

Emilia blurted this out as Fortuna almost froze up in shock when she heard this comment from Emilia.

"What do you mean 'no more mommy' Emilia, do you not want me around anymore? Are you ready to go live out in the world on your own?"

It was obvious from how Fortuna spoke that she did not take Emilia's statement literally, yet even though it was irrational she could not help but feel hurt that this was the first real thing her daughter said to her after they had been effectively separated for so long.

"I'm a big girl now, only babies use the word mommy!"

After Emilia said this she crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks while looking at Fortuna straight in the eye. Which although was probably meant to be serious only ended up looking absolutely adorable to the point that Fortuna could not help but beam a big smile in response, her earlier irrational thoughts falling away completely.

"Oh so you think you're too grown up now to call me 'mommy' anymore missy? If you're so mature then what are you going to be calling your mother from now on?"

Fortuna used an incredibly playful tone to say this, and whilst doing so she used her free hand to tickle Emilia in the side who then proceeded to burst out into a fit of giggling and laughing.

"hahahahahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Emilia's laughter and giggling filled the whole house and one could readily tell from looking at Fortuna that she was having the time of her life and was incredibly happy, but that happiness was soon interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Fortuna-sama, Bishop Romanée-Conti has arrived and is waiting in the village centre."

While hearing this voice come through the door Fortuna stopped tickling Emilia but did not respond, instead choosing to walk to the door and begin to open it. Emilia however was not exactly the happiest of campers at the prospect of being ignored and started to fuss in Fortuna's arms as she was carried with her. When Fortuna finally opened the door to reveal a male elf who looked to be average in all respects Emilia had begun to entertain herself by trying to reach the clip in Fortuna's hair, however it was just slightly too far away for her tiny arms to reach no matter how hard she tried.

Initially the in descript male elf opened his mouth to speak once the door was open, however the second he saw Emilia his eyes opened wide in shock.

"Emilia…is finally awake?"

The elf's voice sounded just as surprised as his face looked, before turning to one of joy when Fortuna confirmed what he was seeing in front of him with his own eyes.

"You can see it can't you, it's a bit odd to think that you two were born only a few months apart."

Fortuna looked down at Emilia with a smile on her face before poking Emilia right on the nose, causing Emilia to cover it with both her hands and pout while looking right back up at Mother Fortuna.

"Don't worry about Romanée-Conti-sama, Fortuna-sama. We will do our best to get by without you today, just do we have permission to inform him about Emilia?"

The elf had quickly regained his composure, yet a tiny smile remained on his face even as he spoke, it was clear that Emilia waking up was going to be news across the entire village.

"Thank you, its realllllly appreciated, and you can tell Geuse, just as long as he agrees to keep it to himself."

Hearing this the Elf nodded and began to walk away from the house, Fortuna looked down at Emilia and waved to him as he left, leading to Emilia to wave to him as well with her tiny hand before Fortuna closed the door and carried her back into the house.

Once she had closed the door behind them Fortuna raised Emilia up higher in her arms so that she was face to face, only then did she notice that Emilia was struggling to keep her eyes open.

"I'm realllllllly sleepy, love you Mother Fortuna…"

As Emilia said this in a voice that only emanated how tired she was, she wrapped her arms around Fortuna's neck in as tight an embrace as the little girl could manage before she fell asleep with her head resting on Fortuna's shoulder. The only sounds coming from Emilia now was her soft rhythmic breathing as she lay nearly motionless with her arms still around her mother.

"Sleep tight little Emilia, I really reallllllllllly love you too."

Tears started to well behind Fortuna's eyes with a few escaping each time she blinked, yet they were not tears of sadness but instead tears of joy. A smile graced her face as she hugged her sleeping little girl back before she started to walk towards the staircase at the back of her house.

"I guess sleeping for 300 years wasn't enough rest for you, but today was a big day, a really happy day….."

These were the last words both Emilia and Echidna heard before time seemed to grind to a complete halt, leaving Fortuna frozen both midstep and midsentence.

The trial seemed that it would give the Emilia of the present a bit of a respite, something she appeared to sorely need.

Her eyes were wide open, trembling as they remained fixed on the frozen figure of Mother Fortuna before her. As she stood kneeling, her entire body trembling at the sight that she had just witnessed, she had both her hands pressed against the side of her head.

"Mother Fortuna…..How could you love me…how could you love someone so horrid as me….If you knew what I did….what I would do….you'd hate me right?"

Emilia's tone was feeble, weak, shaking as she spoke, she was completely incapable of viewing the events before her in any other light then the one she saw the modern times in, she could not possibly comprehend the idea that someone could love her like she had just seen.

"I wonder if you would be saying what you are right now if you had been allowed to see her initial reaction to you waking up after your first long sleep, but then again seeing that may have just made you feel worse."

Echidna gave her thoughts out loud but the only person who could seemingly hear them was completely ignoring her, she could not possibly remove her attention from what she had just seen, from what she was still seeing as she looked at the frozen image of her mother embracing her younger self.

"You loved me so much, enough to wait three hundred years for me to wake up…. And what did I do in return…I killed you and all the other elves in the forest…"

The tears that had slowly been building behind Emilia's eyes finally took the chance to stream out, rocketing forth in a torrent, yet this time her hands were preoccupied with something else instead of wiping them from her eyes.

While they were pressed against the sides of her head, her hands had curled up into what resembled claw as she drove her nails right into the thin layer of tissue that covered the sides of her skull.

"I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF IHATEMYSELFIHATEMYSELF "

Emilia once again seemed to completely surrendered what little self control she had to the torrential storm of her emotions, letting all her regret, guilt, and melancholy over her own actions weaponize her own body against itself. She began to rock back and forth as her nails dug deep enough that thin red trails of blood began to trickle their way down her fingers and arms.

"Stop it"

Echidna called out from behind her, but instead of her voice having its normal air of reserve or apathy surrounding whatever emotion tainted it, it held nothing but a raw annoyance. Except Emilia did not pay the slightest bit of attention to it, her mental state too far gone at this point to recognize anything as subtle as a different tone of voice.

"I should be dead instead of all of them…..why do people keep saving me….why don't they just let me die….WHY CAN'T I JUST DIE!"

Emilia's tone initially fell to that nearing a whisper before once again building up to a shout as she dug deeper and deeper into the flesh adorning the sides of her head, as she began to tear away at it and vastly increase the blood now pouring out of the sides of her head.

"I SAID STOP IT!"

Yet Emilia soon found someone grabbing onto both of her wrists and trying to pull her hands away from the sides of her head, yet she was far stronger then this unathletic Witch who had once been human. No matter how hard Echidna tried to stop Emilia from tearing away herself in an act of self harm, there was no even the slightest chance that she would be able to physically overpower the strength brought on by the elven blood in Emilia's veins, even if Emilia was still immensely malnourished and sleep deprived.

There was no look of annoyance in Echidna's eyes as she let go and took a step away from the rapidly deteriorating half elf, instead her eyes burned with pure, raw anger as she raised one hand so that her palm faced Emilia.

"Ul Vita" were the only two words that she nearly snarled in the direction of Emilia as she watched her body instantly get pressed against the floor of the dwelling they were in, Emilia's hands finally being removed from the sides of her head by the vastly increased force of gravity being exerted upon her body.

Echidna walked around Emilia as she continued to struggle a bit against the gravity pinning her down, yet it was strong enough that she could not even open her mouth to speak. Once Echidna stood in front of Emilia she knelt down and so that the distraught half-elf could see directly into her eyes.

Emilia's pupils initially darted every which way in an attempt to avoid making eye contact with the enraged Witch, yet due to the circumstances and the lack of distance between the two there was nowhere else they could go other then the face that was currently contorted in anger as it looked at her.

"I absolutely loathe you, despise you, I truly wish that I had never been forced to meet you. You're weak, stupid, lazy, and ignorant, you are absolutely nothing compared to the mother that gave up everything she had for you. I could not care less about what happens to you, yet I asked you to do one simple thing and you were too incompetent to even do that properly. I told you to not harm yourself here because she can see you, and then you go and do this. She was one of my few friends, she hated having to see violence or suffering, yet she drove herself to madness in order to protect you, she broke herself in that pit by making a martyr out of her own husband when she forced him to continue to stand for days against a serpent he had no chances of beating. She made him stand up again and again and again, no matter how many times he fell she rebuilt him so that he may continue to fight. And do you know what happened when help finally arrived to take you away and out of the pit? She lowered her fists and let her husband finally rest before allowing the serpent to claim her own life as well. So until you can comprehend the magnitude of that sacrifice and show a tiny bit of respect for that decision by not harming yourself in front of her, you will remained pinned to this floor, trial be damned!"

Echidna's voice was utterly boiling with rage as she spoke to the still distraught half elf, yet it seemed this uncharacteristic display of force had eventually gotten Emilia's attention as by the end of the lecture the teary amethyst eyes had remained focused on Echidna's empty black ones, their erratic movement completely disappearing.

Echidna ceased kneeling and took a few steps backward so that she was leaning against one of the buildings walls as she kept Emilia pinned to the ground, a more characteristically reserved look of disgust quickly replacing the anger on her face, yet the whole time she did not look away from Emilia for even a second.

Time passed in silence as the two waited in a state completely devoid of movement with the sole exception of their breathing, Emilia seemingly growing calmer as she tried less and less to struggle against the force that kept her pinned to the ground.

"Are you calm and ready to try behaving like an adult again or do I need to keep you there for a bit longer?"

Echidna spoke in a voice that was nearly devoid of emotion as she watched Emilia slightly move her head up and down as to answer the question in the affirmative. Upon seeing this Echidna released the magic that had kept Emilia pinned to the floor without moving a single muscle, Emilia motionless for a few seconds longer as she took a several deep breaths before standing up.

"I'm sorry for that…." Emilia uttered weakly as she kept her eyes on the floor much like she had for the entire time prior to her encounter with Mother Fortuna.

"As I said, I could not care less about what happens to you, if you ever get the chance to meet your mother then she would be the one whom you should be apologizing to. I can only imagine the absolute breakdown she must be having now after being forced to watch that display."

Echidna spoke in a tone as detached as possible from the current situation, but as she did so she took a few steps towards Emilia to close the distance between them to less then an armlength.

Hearing this however only reminded Emilia of the other people that she hurt, how she had hurt someone else who cared about her, how she had hurt the mother who loved her enough to die for her.

"You knew my mother, Echidna?" Emilia asked in a voice that sounded only depressed, completely lacking any hint of excitement or even anxiety about the idea of learning more about the mother whom she had never met.

"She was among the few friends I ever had, so yes I knew her, but I have already told you far too much, enough to expose her identity and so I will say nothing more."

Echidna spoke rather curtly to emphasize that the topic was finished and not a matter that was up for further discussion, even if Emilia looked too broken to press any further. However Echidna did take the opportunity to raise her hands to the sides of Emilia's head that were still bleeding, where she radiated a blue light that resulted in the angry red wounds being repaired almost instantly.

Realizing this Emilia looked up from the ground towards Echidna with the slightest hint of surprise in her depressed eyes, seeing this Echidna decided to give a brief explanation.

"You were still bleeding and I would rather that she was not forced to watch something like that for the remainder of the trial."

Hearing this Emilia nodded slightly before letting her head tilt back down so that her eyes could return to what had become their natural resting place. Seeing this Echidna crossed her arms underneath her chest and said "lets just get the rest of this over with" in what seemed to be a slightly irritated voice.

Almost as if on command the entire world around them seemingly rocketed forth at a breakneck pace. They watched Mother Fortuna zip around the inside of the dwelling, sometimes going outside, sometimes holding Emilia. Yet as time relentlessly marched forward around like this they got to see the little Emilia grow up, slowly growing bigger as what seemed like years marched by. No longer was Mother Fortuna holding her all the time, instead she began to spend more and more time walking on her own, no longer was Mother Fortuna having to play with her and entertain her the entire time as she learned to paint and play with dolls on her own. By the time that time finally slowed to a normal rate the toddler that Emili had been when they had first started watching was there no longer, instead being replaced by a child who looked to be about seven years of age.

However something else was different, it was like the room around them had seemingly changed nearly completely as well, changes that were so drastic that it seemed like the room they were now in could not possibly have ever been the same one as before, like the trial had suddenly taken them to another building while they had been distracted. The room was overall significantly smaller with no indication of being connected to a second floor as the staircase they had seen previously was completely absent. What was also absent was everything that could be considered necessary to make it a livable dwelling, there was no fire for heating or cooking, nor any counter space for preparation of any kind. The room seemed rather spartan in furnishing as its walls were made of packed dirt and tree roots that came from above, the floor was much the same with the sole exception of what looked to be a tatami mat in the centre of the small room. The only other things that were visible were a few small bins containing what looked to be several jars of ink, some dolls, a few rolls of paper, and even what looked to be a few children's books; the only living beings truly in the room being a young Emilia and Fortuna.

The now child aged Emilia stood opposite Mother Fortuna with her arms cross and a pout adorning her face, even though she was barely tall enough to reach Mother Fortuna's waste, Fortuna choose to stand at her full height with her hands on her hips, while seemingly lecturing Emilia about something.

"Now Emilia, I want you to stay here until I'm back. You've got your drawing ink, your dolls, and even a snack if you get hungry, can you be a good girl and do what I ask today?"

Although Fortuna spoke in a voice that was as genuine and kind as could possibly be, the young Emilia turned her head to the side while continuing to pout. Seeing this Mother Fortuna kneeled down and began to stroke Emilia's head even though she tried to bat her hand away in a seeming fit of frustration.

"Mother Fortuna, always leaving me alone when I just want to be with you, so selfish…..hmmmph"

Although it was unclear whether the young Emilia truly meant this or was just saying this because she was upset at the prospect of having to be locked in this room alone for the next little while, it was evident that these words stung Mother Fortuna rather deeply. Her hand froze midair as a pained expression shot across her face for a brief instant before she pulled a metaphorical mask overtop of it and proceeded to laugh off her daughters overly effective jab.

"Ah yes Emilia, I'm realllllllllly selfish, that's why when I come back I'm going to tickle you alllll day, just like this!"

Mother Fortuna then started to tickle the still pouting Emilia's sides, who initially tried to not react whatsoever to the tickling, but her face slowly grew redder and redder until the look of defiance fell from it and she collapsed on to the ground laughing, trying to cover her sides and push Fortuna's tickling attack away.

However this did not last forever as after not more then another moment or two Fortuna stopped tickling Emilia, stood up and began walking to the door.

"Now be a good girl Emilia, I'll be back reallllly soon…..oh?"

As Fortuna had been talking she had started walking to the door, she had taken her first step just fine, but when she had begun to lift her other foot she found an unexpected weight on it trying to hold it down, it was Emilia laying on the ground grasping her ankle with both hands.

"Please don't go…." Murmured Emilia in a sad tone as she looked up at Mother Fortuna with a face fitting of her voice.

Seeing this one could easily tell that Mother Fortuna wanted to do anything but leave Emilia behind in this room. Yet it was readily apparent by the change in her eye's glint that she was trying her best to fight off her emotions so that she could go and tend to her duty as the leader of the Elves in the Elior Forest.

Mother Fortuna then knelt down so that she was closer to Emilia and spoke in one of the softest and gentlest voices that one could possibly imagine.

"I really don't want to go either Emilia, if I could I would stay with you for ever and ever, I reallllllly would, but I can't. The other people here rely on me too, so sometimes I have to go and help them when they need me, do you believe me Emilia? Do you believe me when I say that I'm only leaving you here because I realllly have to?"

Fortuna looked down at Emilia as she said this, yet Emilia did not look back up at her, instead she choose to look down towards the only door that stood directly behind Mother Fortuna, yet she did release her grip on Mother Fortuna's ankle.

"Thank you Emilia, I promise I'll come back as fast as I possibly can and then we can play alllll you want!"

And with those parting words Fortuna turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her with one last regretful look over her shoulder at Emilia who continued to lay splayed out on the floor. Once the door closed there was the sound of a wooden cross beam being slid into place and then complete and utter silence as the world seemingly came to a complete standstill around Emilia and Echidna.

"Well you were a selfish brat, saying things to hurt her only to then try and stop her from leaving in an effort to hurt her further, you truly were an utter ingrate."

Echidna said this rather nonchalantly as she watched Emilia from her almost characterising position of leaning up against the wall for support with her arms crossed just underneath her chest, yet Emilia did not respond as she stood closer to the middle of the room with her whole head downcast.

"Why did I have to hurt her….why did I have to make it harder for her….I could see the pain behind her eyes yet I did it anyways….."

A few large tears found their way out of Emilia's eyes and then plummeted to the ground where they simply vanished upon making contact. Yet his time the trial did not give Emilia the time of day to weep over her past as the young Emilia before her began to stir from her position on the ground.

"Stupid Mother Fortuna, saying she cares about me and then leaving me all alone, hmmmmph!"

In a near complete contrast to the present Emilia, her past self rebounded almost instantaneously from the sadness of being left behind and locked into a room alone as she pushed herself off the floor and then sauntered over to the bins pull of toys and craft supplies to find something to entertain herself with.

Her eyes moved across the books before shifting to the bin containing some dolls before finally settling onto the paper and drawing ink, from which she plucked up a single roll of paper and a small blue vial. She then returns to laying on the matt and unrolled the paper before beginning to lazily kick her feet back and forth in the air behind her.

"Hmmmmmmm, what to draw?" Emilia said out loud as she looked around the room while gently rocking her head from side to side until she suddenly stopped. She moved one of her hands from where they rested on the paper so that it was placed directly overtop of her heart as she became completely still for a second.

Emilia then went back to happily kicking her feet in the air as she grabbed the vial of ink she had brought with her in one hand and tugged on the stopper with the other. With a look of focus and exertion on her face she pulled as hard as she could on the stopper until it came out with a sudden pop. Emilia then proceeded to gently stick a single one of her tiny fingers into the vial so that the tip of it was covered in the rich blue ink before she removed it and began to happily start painting away on the paper.

Her finger slid effortlessly and quickly across the page, her eyes darting around just as fast, the only interruptions to her drawing was when she needed to stick her finger back into the vial for more ink.

Time ticked by as she worked with a degree of focus that was nearly unbelievable to come from someone as young or seemingly impatient as her, yet this was exactly what she showed.

But both the incredible focus and rapid pace of work instantly disappeared when she finally finished painting after a considerable period of time. Emilia wiped away the remaining ink on her finger with the edge of the paper before shoving the stopper back into the ink vial, at which point she sat up and held up the paper so she could get a better look at it.

The best way to describe the drawing she had produced was as a crude masterpiece, a vivid depiction of ornate detail that was only brought down in terms of quality by the smudging caused by the fact she used her finger as her drawing utensil. However even then it was still possible for one to make out some of the ornate details that she had put into this incredibly unique and imaginative drawing of a key, mostly in thanks to how much larger she had drawn it compared to a normal key.

The handle of the key was shaped like that of a butterfly's wing with a hole through the centre to allow it to be grasped, a web like network around the edges that was reminiscent of the pattern that one would see on the butterfly's wing itself. The shaft of the key was reminiscent of a butterfly's thorax as it was gradually tapered at both ends with the middle bulging out ever so slightly. Then there were the teeth of the key, and these were the most intricate details of all in the drawing. They looked to be formed by multiple pairs of insect legs that came down from either side of the shaft in bunches, only joining with their opposite in the pair at the very end of the tooth. The only way that they diverged from that of an insects legs was how they gently curved over the course of the journey from the shaft to the meeting point instead of being comprised of discrete and straight subsections, allowing the key to retain its overall elegant look.

Quite frankly it was impossible to believe that even the mind of a child could produce such an intricate design and even less believable that one could produce a drawing so detailed without a reference, yet here Emilia sat staring at the paper with just a drawing as that on it.

"I'm bored!" Emilia shouted as she heaved the drawing into the air behind her and then let herself fall backwards onto her back with her limbs stretched out in a way that resembled a starfish.

She lay there groaning in dissatisfaction every so often for the next little while, flopping her head around and pulling her mouth into different shapes with her hands while making strange sounds in an effort to pass the time, all until a strange and pale light hovering in the room caught her eye.

It was like the pale light recognized that she had seen it as it suddenly began to dart around the room in excitement as Emilia hurriedly sat up, only to then zoom up to her face before coming to a standstill a short distance from her nose.

Emilia tilted her head slightly to one side as her curious amethyst eyes focused on the pale ball of light in front of her.

"Fairy?" Was the only word to leave her mouth, yet the second that this word got out the ball of light excitedly floated up and down at a rapid pace, almost like it was trying to mimic the motion of excitedly nodding ones head.

Seeing this Emilia's eyes lit up as her face broke into a big smile.

"Want to play, Fairy?" Emilia asked only to become even more elated when she saw the supposed fairy continue its up and down motion.

Emilia quickly jumped to her feat and began to chase the pale ball of light around the room as it zipped, zoomed, ducked, and dove in ever which way as it tried to playfully avoid the tiny hands of the little half-elf.

The air in the small room was completely filled with giggling and laughter as Emilia ran around, only for it to come to an abrupt stop as Emilia came to a skidding halt after feeling a tiny crunch underneath her small boot.

The fairy stopped darting around the room and came to gently float beside her head as Emilia hesitantly and anxiously looked down towards her boot to see the crushed vial of drawing ink underneath it and sprayed all over the matt.

Emilia raised her hands to her cheeks as she started to say, "What am I going to do?" over and over again in a near panic, her eyes glued to the ink that was now all over the matt. It was at this point however that the little ball of light came to float in front of her eyes and steal her attention away from the mess she had just made.

The fairy floated up and down before flying over to the wall and back again, repeating the process until Emilia raised a finger to her chin and said, "You want me to follow you?"

Hearing this the fairy vigorously floated up and down, to which a devilish smile returned to replace the panic that had overtaken Emilia's face. The spirit flew back to the wall, hovering for a bit around a patch of roots before flying into the roots and disappearing completely from vision.

Emilia followed it only to stop in front of this patch in that wall as she inspected it. Unlike other parts of the wall there was very little dirt here, only a rather dense bundle of thin tree roots that seemed to have grown in front of what must have originally been the tunnel an animal had used.

Without stopping to give it much thought Emilia instantly jammed her hands into the patch of roots and using all of her strength she managed to push them to either side of the hole, which she then scurried into in order to chase after the fairy, leaving her future self behind with the Witch of Greed.

Echidna walked over to where the drawing had ended up after being thrown by young Emilia before kneeling down to study it in greater detail. However Emilia did not follow her as she did this, instead choosing to walk over to the opening her younger self had used to escape the room.

"She asked me to do just one thing…just one simple thing and I couldn't do it…."

Emilia spoke in a voice that was so regretful, so guilt filled that it should have been hard to ignore, yet Echidna completely ignored her and seemingly started to think out loud as she remained fixated on the key drawn onto the page.

"I'm honestly surprised that you managed to draw this so accurately when it was something that you had only seen as an infant, if anything this is actually praiseworthy, even if it is a rather crude depiction. It honestly makes me wonder if you remember it this well due to more of my likeness rubbing off on you then I thought….."

Echidna's voice was tinged with surprise as she continued to stare at the drawing with eyes that were opened just a bit wider then normal, as if to soak in every last detail she could from the paper. Hearing Echidna so uncharacteristically praise her made Emilia turn to face her, but the fact that she did not have the slightest clue as to why she was being praised combined with her own dearth of self confidence to completely annihilate any emotional boon brought on by the small compliment she had been given.

"I don't know anything about any key, but thank you I guess….."

Emilia's voice reflected just how unsure of herself she was, there was no hint of self confidence nor happiness over the fact that she had supposedly achieved something, and Echidna did not seem to have changed her opinion in regard to Emilia whatsoever over this single small success.

"Well I wasn't complimenting your intelligence so something like this is to be expected, I suppose. But the fact that you are so painfully out of touch with what's going on around you and what this is leading up to even though it's been hinted to you time and time again, is quite frankly just beginning to get on my nerves, so I guess I will enlighten you. There is an enchanted key embedded within you, a key that I both made and through the use of magic was able to hide within your body so that only you could readily retrieve it. Nobody either then you or I could even attempt to remove it from your body as it exists in a subspace of sorts that is anchored to your heart. Should I breach this subspace forcfully then you would certainly perish as the key would appear in the space your heart presently occupies. Although I don't particularly care about what happens to you, I also don't care about this key in the slightest, so the very effort required to retrieve is quite simply not worth it. So in the end its very existence is completely irrelevant to me, and only relevant to you should you choose to interact with a certain deranged and unhinged lunatic. There are however a few other spells that were embedded into it as a kind of insurance so to say, which are certainly relevant to both of us and have already been demonstrated to those around you, prior to the timeframe we are currently watching."

While Echidna's voice was initially somewhat snide sounding and snarky, the mocking tones rooted in it rather quickly fell away to be replaced by a naturalness that would not have been out of place in the situation of a professor lecturing to one of their students.

"I'm not sure I understand but tha….."

While Emilia was still speaking in her now characteristically depressed and unsure voice, this time she had actually lifted her eyes off the floor to look at the witch who still knelt on the ground beside the picture, yet just as their eyes met Emilia found an outstretched palm in her face and a voice interrupting her own.

"You see, its not the fact that you don't understand that makes me so irritated when I have to talk to you, its that your so dimwitted as to not even try to find the answer. Instead you seem content to just sit back and expect people to hand everything to you, is this why you were so enraptured with that boy? Did you only want him around because he enabled your behaviour by placing you on a pedestal and willingly doing anything he even expected you might ask. Honestly I would not be the least bit surprised if Natsuki Subaru was willing to die for you if he had even suspected that it might be necessary for your selection campaign. There is literally only one person I have ever met that I believe to be less intelligent than you, and its solely because she draws such insane conclusions from events with no support whatsoever and then believes them to the extent that she would probably kill everyone around her and then die before allowing herself to be proven wrong. The world honestly better hope that I don't have to ever deal with the both of you at the same time because quite frankly I don't know how I will deal with being surrounded with such immense amounts of stupidity."

In contrast to her previous lecture this one led to her getting more and more worked up until the end, where she closed her eyes and slowed her breathing in order to regain some semblance pf composure before standing up and walking to the door. Hearing this only lead to Emilia lowering her eyes back to the ground before she followed behind Echidna with a slight whimper of a few words that were all but inaudible to even the Greedy Witch directly in front of her.

"I really am just a useless doll, aren't I…."

The two walked straight through the closed door of the room to arrive back outside in the forest, their surroundings not matching those that they had seen around Fortuna's house whatsoever. If they were to try and judge their location based solely on the density of elven dwellings that they could see, then it was likely that they were far closer to the centre of the village then before.

Having emerged through the hole directly to their left, little Emilia stood with the fairy floating around her as she staired down at what had been her pristine white and purple clothing, now muddied and scuffed from the dirt and rock that she had squeezed through to escape the confines of the room.

"Mother Fortuna is going to be realllllly mad isn't she…"

Emilia said this in an apprehensive voice as she looked down at her clothes, briefly trying to brush off some of the dirt with her hands only to end up rubbing it further and deeper into the fabric, making the problem worse and causing her to promptly give up.

Just then her ear twitched a bit as she heard the voices of a handful of villagers walking down a nearby path, causing Emilia to freeze up in panic. But luckily for her the pale speck of light that she had been following swooped in front of her face to catch her attention before it darted off into a patch of dense shrubs, it was showing her the way to a hiding place which would keep her safely hidden from vision of those approaching.

Emilia darted off into the shrubbery as fast as her little legs could carry her before almost diving in headfirst so that her body was completely obscured by the dense branches and the small petal like green leaves that adorned them.

She held her breath as she watched a group of three elves walk down the path away from the village centre whilst carrying bins full of various goods; luckily for her none of them seemed to have any intention of walking towards the bush she was in or the room where she was supposed to be waiting for Mother Fortuna's return.

"Can you take me to the part of the forest the gatherers don't go to so we can play more?"

Once the group of villagers was safely out of earshot, Emilia turns to the fairy and said this while looking at it with her large and round amethyst eyes, the expectation in her face was so apparent only a fool could possibly have missed it.

Yet the fairy seemed hesitant at first as it floated completely motionlessly before only slowly bobbing up and down a bit, to which Emilia responded with a burst of elated joy at the prospect of getting to play outside with her new friend.

Together the two quickly darted between patches of vegetation in the sneakiest way they could manage, doing their best to not accidently get caught by the occasional villager that was hanging around. Eventually they found themselves surrounded not by elven homes or worn path, but solely by untouched nature in all its glory, so untouched that it did not appear that anyone had even walked there recently.

"We did it! Now let's play!" Emilia squealed in joy as she threw her hands above her head, the fairy's former apprehension completely gone as it started to fly circles around her as if taunting her to chase it, a challenge that she happily accepted.

Emilia ran after the spirit as she weaved between trees and large rocks, skillfully avoiding any and all obstacles in her path as she gave chase to an entity that was completely unbothered by such terrain. She followed the fairy through a dense group of bushes that were taller than her by a fair margin, instantly raising her arms in front to protect her face as she did so.

She burst through the bushes while running at full gait, the fairy was so close that if she reached out her arm she could nearly touch it. She pushed herself harder, doing her best to run just a little bit faster, she was already going so fast that she could feel the resulting wind flowing against the skin on her cheeks and lifting her hair up behind her. She was completely determined to win this game that she ignored the sound of rushing water as she darted after the pale speck of light as it zipped into another group of bushes up ahead in an effort to slow her down, it too obviously did not want to lose.

Emilia kept one arm outstretched as she raised the other in front of her eyes to shield them as she barreled directly into the bushes and came bolting out the other side at such a speed that it was a wonder that she was able to maintain her footing.

She lowered her arm from its position in front of her eyes just in time to see that the path ahead was anything but clear, for it was completely blocked by the body of a young woman who was not more then a few paces away, far too close for Emilia to stop or even change course enough to avoid a collision.

The young woman had long platinum hair, crystal blue eyes that matched the water of the stream behind her and wore what looked like a white sheet with a large hole cut out for her head. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Emilia careening out of control towards her. The young woman began to lift her arms up at the very last second in what looked like an attempt to halt stop the collision, but she was far too slow, her reflexes seemed sluggish even in comparison to someone with an aura far more normal then hers.

The two collided in a jumble of limbs as the woman was knocked backwards with Emilia bumping her head into the woman's chin before landing on top of her. For but a second neither of the two moved as they laid there stunned, wondering what had happened so suddenly.

But it only took a few seconds for a stinging pain to being to erupt around the slight red spot on Emilia's forehead, she sat herself up on the ground as she held both her hands against the place where the spot was quickly turning into a bump.

"Ow…."

Little Emilia murmured this as she continued to hold her head, her eyes shut only to open when she heard a voice begin to speak to her that was so soft as to almost be unnerving.

"It's unfortunate that such a thing happened, especially when it was not meant to occur in the first place."

Emilia opened her eyes as the stinging suddenly disappeared from her forehead to see the woman sitting directly across from her on the ground with only a short distance separating them, so short that the woman was easily able to reach out and touch her knee.

"All better now Emilia? Although this may have not been the ideal way for our first meeting after so long to have occurred, it is truly wonderful to see that you've recovered from the affliction my friend placed you under so long ago."

The woman spoke in a kind tone, had a smile on her face, used friendly body language, she even had kind looking eyes, yet even though Emilia was still just a child she noticed that there was something wrong and unnerving about those very crystal blue eyes that looked at her. It was like there was something deep within them that just gave the woman an aura of feeling off, that there was something that was not right about her, yet Emilia could not place what was off about her eyes, no matter how hard she tried.

"Uhm…. Thank you, but I'm feeling really confused right now…..I don't know why my head doesn't hurt anymore, I don't remember being sick with something recently, and I don't remember ever meeting you …I guess I don't know a lot of things…."

Emilia still felt a bit unsettled about seeing this woman but now her attention was diverted to trying to figure out all these things that she should remember but could not, her face was one of concentration as she racked her mind for the answers, but the woman interrupted Emilia's thoughts before they could get to far.

"You should not feel bad for not being able to remember me, you were barely two years old last time we met and you appeared to be under the influence of my dear friend at the time. My name is Pandora, it is nice to meet you again Emilia. As to answer your remaining question, we were never meant to bump into one another like we just did and so I just exposed the vanity of this fake timeline and corrected it. In reality we never collided so the pain you felt was just one of the many lies sown into the world around us, by exposing it I removed its repercussions, and so therefore there can be no pain and injury brought on by it."

Hearing this Emilia just looked at Pandora as she at first opened her mouth before slowly closing it, to say she was confused by this overly wordy explanation was an understatement at the very least, but thankfully for her, Pandora seemed to pick up on this.

"Confusing, something that most people are unfortunately shackled to when they hear about just how fake the world they live in is. You don't need to feel such apprehension around me, what matters is that your injury is gone and that you may go back to doing what you were prior to my interruption, just as you should have been."

Pandora then stood up and looked like she was going to start to walk away before a pale speck of light floated in front of Emilia with what seems like hesitation before it managed to catch Pandora's attention as her jaw slackened just the tiniest bit.

"Emilia, what were you and the spirit doing here? Its quite unusual to see anyone from the village come here and even more unusual to see a spirit venture here when they are seemingly so afraid of this place."

Emilia looked at Pandora with a face of confusion once again before having what seemed to be a eureka moment, after which she started to speak quite excitedly as her apprehension that she was feeling around Pandora had mysteriously fallen away, allowing her childish and carefree nature to return.

"The fairy and I were playing! I was chasing it and it was trying to fly away from me, its really fun. Do you want to join us, we could even play a different game like hide and seek!"

Emilia stood up as well and looked at Pandora with her big, round eyes and hands clasped in front of her as if begging her to accept. Seeing this a smile proceed to spread across Pandora's face as she looked down at the young child.

"Fairy, the creativity and imagination of a child is truly wonderful; very well I'll accept your offer to join in the fun, I'm sure it will be a wonderous time. Now you go hide, but let's say that the river is the boundary, I'll give you to the count of ten, starting now."

Hearing this Emilia jumped with joy while shouting "YAY!" before she sprinted off into the woods with the fairy in tow.

"Implying that I'm your friend is wrong on so many levels that I don't even know whether to be irritated or pity the immensity of your stupidity….."

Echidna muttered under her own breath as she stood whilst staring at the trio playing hide and seek with her hands balled into fists.

"How can I look so happy…disobeying Mother Fortuna to play out int the forest…..she's going to be so worried when she finds I'm gone…"

Emilia was kneeling down as she said this with her hands wrapped around her legs and her head hung low, her voice plagued with sadness and guilt as she imagined the worry that Mother Fortuna must have felt when she showed up to the messy room to find Emilia gone. How she was probably rushing through the forest trying to find her while Emilia was having fun playing a game, completely carefree.

"While you were certainly quite the uncaring brat as a child, frolicking around while others rushed around worrying about you. Although this behaviour was not exactly helped by how those around you tended to tell you what you wanted to hear in an effort to make you feel better, blissful ignorance in its finest."

Hearing this Emilia seemed to somehow shrink even smaller in stature as her head tilted even farther so that her forehead completely rested on her knee's, no longer even able to see the game going on between her younger self and someone she would have felt pure hatred in seeing if her heart wasn't already full of melancholy.

"I know I'm such a horrible person, everyone would have been better off if they had never met me…"

Hearing this Echidna's eyes opened just a little bit wider as she appeared to be a bit surprised at this statement, and the apparent truth within the words of the one who said them.

"Well that's surprising, the fact that you recognize your own worthlessness and how problematic your literal existence is, is something that is actually almost praiseworthy."

Emilia did not react whatsoever to this comment, instead she focused on the spectacle that was seemingly coming to an end in front of her whilst continuing to beat herself up over every supposed misstep she had witnessed herself make since this trial began.

She watched as her younger self hide alongside the spirit in a bush as Pandora slowly meandered towards them checking behind ever tree, shrub, and rock along the way. It was clear from the way she looked back at the bush that Emilia was hiding in that she knew exactly where she was, but was choosing to play along anyways.

"Found you!" Pandora exclaimed as she peaked around a rock, only to feign surprise when Emilia was not behind it, causing the little Emilia to giggle and smile in joy from within the bush she was actually hiding in.

"If you aren't here, then you absolutely must be …right….here!"

Pandora quickly checked behind the tree that stood adjacent to the bush that contained Emilia and the spirit, once again feigning surprise to find it empty. She then stood there seemingly deep in thought as she scanned the forest around her, looking like she was trying to ascertain the true location of Emilia.

Pandora then began to walk away from where Emilia was hiding, taking herself out of sight yet due to the fact that she was speaking it was easy to tell roughly where she was. Her voice was slowly growing quieter and quieter as she got further and further away, before suddenly and instantaneously increasing in volume as if she was directly behind them.

"Where oh where could they be, they seem to have found a truly wonderful hiding spot…..Found you!"

Emilia was initially surprised to find that she had Pandora's hand on her shoulder, only for the surprise to fade as the fact she lost sunk in.

"It was really wonderful to get to play with you Emilia, I truthfully had a lot of fun, but unfortunately I believe that it is time for me to depart, I fear that I have long overstayed my welcome."

While Emilia had been starting to sulk over having lost the game, that instantly disappeared once she heard that her new friend was going to leave.

"No don't go, we can play again and this time you can hide! It'll be a lot of fun so please stay….."

Emilia looked up at Pandora as she pleaded with her to stay, but in the end Pandora only ended up shaking her head from side to side in response.

"It really is unfortunate, but if I stay any longer today I will likely only end up causing problems that could lead to irreparable damage, but I can promise you that I'll come back another day and maybe we can play more then. For now take this, consider it reciprocation for the fun we got to share, it has truly been a long time since I got to do anything like that."

As Pandora spoke she held out her hand to reveal a pearly white round candy in her palm, which she held towards Emilia as if offering it to her. Emilia then the slowly reached out to take the candy as she spoke in a voice that was truly reminiscent of an innocent child.

"You'll really come back another day, you can't break a promise, so you realllllllly will?"

And to this Pandora looked at Emilia right in the yes while smiling and giving a slight nod.

"Of course, I had a wonderful time, and I believe that there are many more important moments for us to share. The only thing that I ask you is that you keep our meeting as our little secret, I would in fact prefer if you promise me that you will."

Hearing this Emilia looked slightly conflicted for a few moments as she thought about what she was being asked to do, before starting to speak in a voice that was full of hesitation.

"I guess since Mother Fortuna is allowed to keep secrets then I can too, I promise that I won't tell her about meeting you since you promised that we can play again."

Pandora appeared elated at hearing this, but Emilia still seemed to be slightly upset about having to go back to the room. Yet when she plopped the candy she had been given into her mouth she suddenly found herself being overtaken by what seemed like euphoria from how delicious it was, leading to her to cease paying attention to Pandora for a few seconds.

"Promises are truly wonderful things, but now it is time for you to return home and me to leave, both of us heading back to the places we should have been all along."

When Emilia returned her eyes to the place where Pandora had been she found that Pandora appeared to have vanished into thin air, yet for whatever reason her mind seemed to not question this irregularity in the slightest. Instead Emilia found herself with the sudden desire to return back to the village, once again an oddness that she did not think to question whatsoever.

Emilia then turned to the spirit who had seemingly taken a backseat to the present events once Pandora had shown up and proceeded to ask for its help.

"Mother Fortuna is probably going to be coming back soon, can you show me the way home?"

The spirit which was presently floating right in front of Emilia's face vigorously floated up and down, just as it had done when it had led her out of the room she was locked in back in the village. However just as Emilia turned to follow it back towards the village, she was greeted by the sight of someone bursting right through the bushes and rushing towards her with a look of worry painted on their face.

Mother Fortuna practically bolted towards Emilia and pulled her into a tight embrace the second she reached her, tears streaming out of her desperate looking eyes.

"I asked you to wait in the room for me Emilia…..but when I got back you weren't there and it made me really worried….and when we found your tracks heading towards the forbidden part of the forest I thought I lost you…."

Emilia was truck speechless by how emotional Mother Fortuna was over something as minor as her going to play in the forest, it did not help that this was also the first time she had ever seen Fortuna cry like this. Emilia was so affected that she could not find anything to say before Mother Fortuna started to speak again.

"You didn't cross the river did you Emilia, no bites, cuts, or blackmarks? If you start feeling sick you really have to tell me alright?"

Mother Fortuna looked at Emilia right in the eye with a stern and serious expression, yet the heavy layer of desperation remained in her voice, Emilia really did not understand what she was talking about, but it was clear that it was in regards to something that was both immensely important and serious.

"I'm fine Mother Fortuna, I did not cross the river and I feel okay."

Emilia kind of sputtered this out as she still felt incredibly overwhelmed at how worried and emotional the main parental figure in her life seemed, but in the end Emilia ended up embracing her mother as well before time seemed to distort once again, leaving everything in a state of flux except for the present Emilia and Echidna.

The present Emilia was frozen staring at the scene in front of her, her head raised to reveal the tears streaming down her face as she spoke in a quivering voice that verged on breaking into sobs.

"How can she love me like this…..how could she care about me when I made her worry so much…I'm so horrid that I don't deserve this…why do you still care about me so much…."

As Emilia spoke of simply not being able to understand why someone would love her after she had wronged them, an obvious product of her recent experiences eroding any normalcy in her. Echidna however decided to provide her own take on Emilia's situation from her position of standing behind her, the slight tone of malice in her voice making itself prevalent.

"You always have been one to be able to lure people into caring about you, first your birth mother, then Fortuna, then the Great Spirit Puck, and most recently the boy Natsuki Subaru. You pull them in close and then suck them dry of everything they once had, leaving them to fall away as a broken husk of their former self. You're like some kind of horrid succubus who brings ruin to anyone either kind or stupid enough to let you latch onto them, simply a blight upon this world."

Echidna's malicious words cut deep into Emilia's heart, reminding her of the many wounds that it bore, and unfortunately for her they found a place on her heart to leave one more mark that had previously been avoided solely due to a lack of understanding.

"Echidna…you said I hurt my birth mother…was that why she and my dad were too busy to raise me?"

Emilia weakly whimpered this as she turned to face Echidna, the weakness in her voice was not entirely due to the constant emotional bombardment she had been facing since the trial began, but also due to the anxiety that was building within her heart and threatening to strangle her, she was afraid to know the truth.

"They were too busy to raise you? Is that the lie that you were told to keep your happiness? Is that the lie you've so idiotically believed even after I've slowly prodded you with the truth since we met? Emilia, you inept and repulsive fool, your mother and father both died trying to protect your worthless self shortly after you were born. They cut their own lives short to give you one that you have so far only listlessly wasted away in ignorance, they were your first victims. My friend gave up everything to save you and you only disgrace her sacrifice repeatedly with your actions, if you cannot wholeheartedly embrace who you are and what you've done then you quite honestly don't deserve to live in my eyes, yet her view obviously differs from mine."

And there it was, the truth that Emilia wished she had not of had to hear, the truth that she had seemingly felt in her heart without knowing, the truth that her mind tried to reject with every bit of strength that remained, yet it was the truth that Emilia's heart demanded she accept.

"I killed my mother….."

Her entire body trembled as the realization became apartment, as she unfortunately began to understand the true depth of her sins.

"The first person to love me died for it…"

Her hands reached up to touch the thoroughly tear stained skin that now comprised much of her face, shaking as they did so.

"Why'd I ever have to be born…."

While Emilia's eyes had shifted away from Echidna as she struggled to process this thought they once again rose up so that they staired directly into the eyes of the Greedy Witch, who raised an eyebrow at the slight glint of determination she saw in the broken half-elf.

"Echidna….can you kill me?"

Were the only five words to leave her mouth, yet the Witch of Greed responded with five of her own, seemingly uncaring of the conviction behind the half-elf's request.

"Are you really that stupid?"

Echidna spoke in a voice that completely lacked her normal neutrality, or even the irritation or somewhat fiery anger that Emilia had heard before, instead it sounded as cold as the ice that she knew would come.

Echidna walked towards Emilia and grabbed her still bloodstained clothing with both hands as an odd sense of weightlessness flooded over Emilia, before she was hoisted up so that her eyes could see nothing other then the pitch block abyss that were Echidna's pupils.

"If we take exclusively my opinion then I would say that your life holds nowhere near the value of all the lives that were lost in its preservation, yet it is precisely because of this that I will not do as you request even though I am certainly capable of it. I wholeheartedly believe that the greatest punishment for all the sins you have committed is being forced to live with them for the rest of your near eternal life. Spend every moment of every hour of every day reflecting on what you have done and who you have hurt, do so while asking yourself why they did not hate you for what you did to them. Only when the world see's fit that your atonement is sufficient and delivers death to your footstep will you be able to end the life that has been given to you without insulting their sacrifice. Seeing the pieces of your past that I was missing have changed my opinion about your worthless self, you do not deserve the mercy that is death."

Hearing this Emilia's eyes once again fell to the ground as she mumbled "Sorry…." before turning to face the scene in front of her as the oddities in the trials time sorted themselves out and they were presented with a unified and followable image once again. However it was unclear how much of Echidna's message truly resonated with her, or if she had simply stopped listening the second her request had been denied.

They were still at the edge of the stream, in what seemed to be the exact same place that they had seen Emilia meet Pandora and judging by the lack of growth or even change in the scenery, it did not seem that any particularly significant period of time had passed, likely less then a month all things considered.

What was of slight concern however was how this timelines Emilia stood at the edge of the water staring into it with a whole cloud of spirits of varying colours orbiting her, seemingly also hesitant to cross the boundary that the water represented.

The river did not appear to be particularly deep yet was incredibly wide, it would likely barely come above Emilia's ankles and as such perhaps the term stream was a more fitting way to describe it as it did not even have a particularly strong current.

As well even though Emilia seemed to be immensely curious as she stared at it, she also looked at it with slight apprehension, apparently even all the curiosity driving her on was not enough to get her to cross into a part of the forest that Fortuna had gone as far as to forbid any member of the village from entering.

Maybe there was something else that was not apparent to Echidna and Emilia going on in the background, maybe something had happened back in the room that Emilia had almost certainly escaped from again. But in the end what mattered is that the young Emilia took the first step into the crystal clear yet oddly frigid water as she began to cross the threshold that should not be crossed.

"Why…..why am I doing this when Mother Fortuna begged me not too…."

The present Emilia lamented as she watched her past self slowly and carefully cross the water with twenty or thirty spirits in tow, Echidna only smirking from behind as she eagerly awaited the events that were to come.

Once on the other side of the stream Emilia found herself face to face with the sight of a sick forest full of wispy underbrush and thick yet almost bare trees that looked as if they were on the verge of dying. Emilia at first hesitantly began to walk among these trees as she started to explore this forbidden section of the forest, yet not before long her strides grew in length and steps gained purpose. Maybe it was due to her youth and the lack of experience that came with it, or maybe it was also due to whatever had driven her to cross the stream in the first place but it soon became clear that Emilia no longer feared the ill forest that would have sent fully grown adults packing due to the sheer eeriness of it.

While this part of the forest may have been immensely different from the section that she lived in, it was also vastly less interesting once one had grown acclimatized to only seeing foliage that looked to be on the brink of death. There were no animals nor even insects around, and the spirits that had followed Emilia here seemed to be downright terrified of where they were, to the point that most of them appeared to be trying to hide behind Emilia's back rather then flying around her like they had been doing prior to crossing the stream.

While the entirety of this section of forest that Emilia had seen so far contained only the faintest inklings of plant life, she soon found herself in a patch that was even completely devoid of even that. There was nothing except the lifeless dirt underneath her feet without the tiniest hint of even a blade of grass. There was one thing that stood out amongst the dirt however, except that it was not plant life, but instead a large hole in the ground. This hole even appeared to be in the epicentre of this localized dead zone, like whatever was strangling the life in this area was residing somewhere within it.

This may have not exactly made for a particularly inviting seen, yet nevertheless it managed to grab hold of Emilia's curiosity as she slowly began to approach the pit under an air that was completely silent except for the sound of her wet boots treading upon the bare dirt.

She gradually inched closer and closer to the massive pit in front of her, some of the spirits behind her occasionally buzzing in front of her face in what was seemingly an effort to get her to stop before she got too close, yet these did not faze her as she was about to peer over the edge of the deep pit.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind slammed into her from the front and threw her away from the edge and onto her backside as about ten of pale white spirits buzzed around desperately in front of her.

"Hey that's not fair, I want to see what's in the hole!"

Emilia exclaimed this as she tried once more to stand up and walk towards the pit, yet the second she raised her foot in order to step towards it she found her self assaulted by another large gust of wind emitted form the spirits, throwing her back onto the ground once again. She then made one last effort to crawl towards the edge of the pit, but the wind spirits once again rushed towards her and threw her back with their wind magic.

"Okay, okay, if you reallllllllly don't want me to go anywhere near it I won't, you win!"

Emilia exclaimed this as she pouted with her arms crossed, sitting on the ground a short distance away from the pit as she scanned around in an attempt to find somewhere more interesting to explore.

"I do have to say that you tend to be on the side favoured by luck, if you had of been allowed to peer into that pit then I doubt that the creature living within it would have let you live long enough to realize just how much a mistake you have made by entering this part of the forest."

Echidna stated this in a rather matter of fact voice, yet Emilia was completely incapable of responding as she watched whilst probably wishing that the monster the lived in the pit had just killed her then and there, saving her from the suffering she was being so thoroughly subjected to.

Little Emilia however by this point had managed to latch onto a new destination with her eyes, far off in the distance she spied what appeared to be some kind of grove that radiated life among the sea of death that was this section of forest.

Emilia quickly got up and hurried towards it as fast as she could, she did not want to be stopped this time, yet as a result of her fixation she failed to notice that the closer she got to this odd clustering of trees, fewer spirits continued to follow her.

They left her not because of something as mysterious as the effect of a power that drove them away, instead it was something as simple as fear, a fear so intense that it easily eclipsed and surpassed their love for the young child. A fear so strong that they readily abandoned this girl they were so drawn towards solely due to an unwillingness to be near whatever allowed the grove to flourish even as all the land around it was being slowly poisoned.

Emilia found herself before the thick wall of trees that formed the outer layer of the grove, they looked healthy in comparison to those seen in the rest of the forbidden part of the forest as they grow thick and tall in comparison to the wispy twigs verging upon death she had seen before. There was just one thing off about them, the leaves and needles that grew out of them were bleached white, yet when Emilia touched one of the leaves she noticed that it felt identical to that of a normal healthy green leaf. These trees and the undergrowth around them were all very much alive, just something had changed them, corrupted them.

She bravely ventured into the grove, spurred on by what had driven her to cross the river in the first place, and that was when she saw it. Directly in front of her was a clearing that was full of a healthy albeit white grass, yet at its centre was an imposing obsidian door that stood many times higher than Emilia was tall.

She walked towards it, wide eyed and curious, yet also spurred on by a strange attraction between something in her chest and the door itself, an attraction that felt almost magnetic in nature. It was almost like the door itself was calling to her, like there was something to be made right, a lie to be uncovered.

Emilia approached the door and stared at it, there was no handle, only a keyhole that she could barely reach. She walked around it only to find that it did not seem to be connected to anything, that it seemed to be a freestanding door, embedded into the ground.

Emilia reached out and gave the door a push with all the strength she could muster, with how it was built it looked like it should tip over easily, yet it did not even budge in the slightest. Emilia tried for a few more moments to push it over before backing up seemingly in defeat, she realized that she was not going to be able to knock it over as easily as that. However she was still curious, she still desired to learn more about it, and because of this she scanned the grove for something that could help her like a stick or rock she could use as a tool. However the only thing she could see in the grove was a large boulder that was significantly too heavy for her to ever hope to lift, it looked like it could make a good seat though if she were to get tired however.

"I guess I'll just have to try something else then….." Emilia said to herself as she took a few steps back before sprinting at the door as fast as she could, before slamming into it with her whole body, slumping down in front of it with a resounding "ooof".

Thankfully she was not hurt by her reckless action, yet she could swear that she felt the door budge just a tiny bit within its frame when the part of her chest containing her heart made contact with it; it was this apparent bit of progress that tempted her into trying again.

This time Emilia backed up all the way to the very edge of the clearing before taking a deep breath and sprinting as fast as she could towards the door, intent on using the extra speed she would build up to push it wide open.

She was going faster and faster, building up even more speed with each step she took, if the last attempt did not work then surely this one must.

She was only twenty something paces from the door now and she pushed herself to run even faster, tuning out everything but her body and the door to drive her little legs even harder.

She got closer.

And closer.

She was less then ten paces away and going faster than she had ever run in her life.

She was less then five paces away.

And then she found herself suddenly being jerked through the air and slingshot towards the ground at an immense rate.

Emilia found herself in a state of shock as she looked down to see her foot had gotten caught on a half-buried stone that she had missed earlier. It was like time was flowing in slow motion as she then tilted her head back up to see where she was going to fall, raising her arms in an effort to cushion her landing as she did so.

Except it was only then that she realized that her vision was filled with the obsidian black of the large metal door, she was so close when she tripped that she was guaranteed to slam into it rather then the ground, and due to the differing point of impact she would not be able to raise her arms to shield her head in time.

She watched in what seemed like slow motion as her face got closer and closer to the metal door, all but giving up on being able to raise her arms in time to protect herself, simply waiting for it to happen and hoping that it would not be too bad of an experience.

It was certainly a hope she had in the world, a hope that was not met with the appropriate promise in return as her head slammed into the unfathomably heavy metal door with a dull yet sickeningly squishy thud.

However oddly for Emilia there was no pain as an unusual numbness instantly took hold of her entire body as she soon found herself laying unmoving in front of the door. She could not tell that anything was wrong with her expect for the fact that the vision through her right eye very quickly became dyed red as blood began to run down her forehead.

However Emilia was still a child, and this was a new and uncomfortable feeling, it scared her and she wanted comfort. She had gone too far away from home, gotten herself hurt, and now desired nothing more then to be with Mother Fortuna even if she would be very, very cross with her.

Tears began to stream from Emilia's eyes and her breathing began to catch and hitch as she began to fall into a full blown, fear induced meltdown.

She tried to get her arms underneath herself so that she could push herself onto her feet, but it was hard. She could barely feel any of her limbs and when she tried to move them, they only barely followed the commands of her brain; it was a sensation similar to when she would fall asleep at an odd angle that led to her waking up with her leg still asleep, except this time it was across her whole body.

She really, really wanted to be back home right now, she did not want to be exploring anymore, she wished she had just listened and done what she was told.

Eventually Emilia managed to get her hands into position to push herself up, and she tried as hard as she could to slowly lift her body enough to get her feet underneath herself. She managed to carefully and gingerly stand up, but she was hit by a wave of nausea the second she did so, alongside an incomprehensible amount of dizziness. It was so intense that she could barely focus on where she was trying to walk as the ground seemingly rocked underneath her numb feet.

"IwantogohomeIwantogohomeIwantogohomeIwantogohomeIwantogohomeIwantogohome…"

Emilia sobbed as she tried to walk in what seemed like an almost arbitrary direction whilst swaying from side to side as she fought a losing battle to maintain her balance, what remained of her vision not obscured by blood became clouded by the sheer intensity of her tears.

Emilia only made it a few more steps after saying this before she collapsed onto the ground and began to vomit up the entirety of what was in her stomach, the nausea and dizziness becoming too much for her to handle.

Except she still had to get back, it was scary out here and she wanted her mother.

"Mother Fortuna I'm scared,I'mscaredI'mscaredI'mscared, I'm sorry for not listening to you, I'm really scared, I don't care if your mad, just please come and get meeeeeeeeeee!"

Emilia screamed this as loud as she could whilst crawling on the ground, her arms at this point felt so numb that trying to use them to drag herself was an experience akin to trying to use a long stick, they felt that unwieldy.

"Anyone please help me…..please…..help…me…"

Emilia gave one last cry as the numbness overtook her whole body, making her fall limp and unable to do something as simple as cry for help or even move.

Yet from her position of being splayed on the ground she saw the bushes in front of her rustle as someone burst through them at a brisk pace. It was not the person she had called though; it was not Mother Fortuna.

Instead it was the woman she had played hide and seek with a few weeks ago, it was Pandora who had heard her cry for help.

Pandora rushed towards her before coming to a stop and kneeling down beside her, looking down at her with a face of immense worry as she hastily but carefully rolled Emilia onto her back while supporting her head. Should someone have seen her they would have assumed that she was truly immensely worried over the wellbeing of Emilia. However only Emilia could see her eyes due to the way that Pandora was looking down at her, and therefore only Emilia could possibly have noticed that the eyes that she looked at her with were the exact same ones that she had used when they had first met and played together, and they were certainly not the least bit worries.

However Emilia was panicking, terrified, and injured, there was no way that she would be able to pick up on a detail as subtle as that, even if her alarm at the eeriness of this woman had faded after hearing her say some peculiar words.

"This is really unfortunate, not wonderful at all, and it wasn't supposed to happen to begin with."

Pandora spoke in a voice that was tainted due to the sad sight that she saw directly before her, yet as the last words left her lips the numbness that had been plaguing Emilia's body suddenly disappeared. Except the blood that covered a large portion of her face remained even if it seemed to have stopped flowing, the bits of vomit that had gotten onto her clothes remained as well.

The second the numbness left Emilia's body she instantly sprung up and grabbed onto Pandora as tight as she could, burying her face into her as she resumed her uncontrollable sobbing.

"I'mscaredI'mscaredI'mscaredI'mscared, IwantogohomeIwantogohome….."

Pandora appeared to be initially shocked by this, surprised that this child had grabbed onto her for comfort. But the surprise soon faded as a smile spread across her face while one of her arms wound its way around Emilia's back and the other began to slowly stroke her head whilst she whispered into her ear as softly as she could in an effort to calm her down.

"Everything is okay Emilia, everything is okay. Those odd feelings that were bothering you are gone now aren't they, so everything is just wonderful now isn't it?"

Pandora then loosened her grip on Emilia as she felt Emilia's breathing begin to calm, and before long Emilia too gradually loosened her grip on Pandora as she pulled back to look at her.

However before either of the two could say anything they are joined as two more people burst in through the bushes, a silver haired woman fraught with worry in the lead with an equally distraught green haired man struggling to keep up as he trailed close behind.

Mother Fortuna and Bishop of the Witches Cult Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti had arrived to join them in the grove as well.

Yet the two nearly instantly came to a stop the second they saw Emilia still loosely holding onto Pandora whilst still covered in what looked to be her own blood and vomit. Seeing this sight Betelgeuse's entire body froze in shock as his words seemingly got caught in his throat as he tried to speak.

"Pandora-sama…why are you….here?"

But before Pandora could even get a chance to answer, a desperate looking Fortuna shouted at the top of her lungs as her whole body seemed to burn with an unfathomable rage, mana condensing into razor sharp spears of ice all around here.

"PANDORA, RELEASE EMILIA THIS INSTANT BEFORE I SKEWER YOU LIKE I SHOULD'VE SO LONG AGO!"

However in the face of this threat Pandora did not even flinch nor show the slightest sense of urgency as she replied in a voice so calm that it seemed more fitting coming from an elder drinking tea rather then someone staring down a massive barrage of magic.

"Calm your anger Fortuna, as you can see it is Emilia who is clinging to me, I am not unnaturally restraining her whatsoever. As a child it is only natural for her to seek out safety when she is scared."

Realizing that there may have been some truth to Pandora's words Mother Fortuna redirected her voice in order to speak to Emilia who had frozen up in shock when she heard the sheer wrath and anger embedded in her mothers voice.

"Emilia, please come to me right now, you're not safe with her, she's a really mean and bad lady and you realllly should not be so close to her."

Fortuna tried to use the calmest voice she could when speaking to her daughter, yet it was impossible to hide the boiling anger that hid just underneath the surface. However one look at Emilia would have told you that even if Mother Fortuna had been able to perfectly dress up her voice that it would not have mattered, Emilia was completely frozen in fear and did not look like she would be moving anytime soon.

Fortuna slowed her breathing as she prepared to hurl her magic straight at Pandora, relying on her own experience and skill in order to avoid harming Emilia, except before she could do so she was stopped as the terrified voice of a young child rang out across the silent grove.

"Why do you want to hurt her Mother Fortuna, she doesn't seem like a bad person. She played with me when I was alone, she helped me when I was hurt and scared, Pandora is my friend, so why do you want to hurt her?"

Emilia looked at her mother in pure disbelief that she was prepared to hurt Pandora, someone who had only been kind to her, someone who in her eyes was undeserving of such hatred. Seeing this Fortuna felt a pang in her heart, it hurt her immensely to receive such an alienated look from the little girl she had raised.

"Emilia, if you come here like a good girl, I'll let Pandora leave without hurting her, just please come back to mommy…"

Fortuna called out to Emilia in a broken voice tinged with fear, the scene in front of her reminded her of the day three hundred years ago when she thought she had lost Emilia forever, she was terrified something like that would happen again.

"Please accept Pandora-sama! Nobody has to get hurt, things can go back to the way they should have been!"

Betelgeuse pleaded with Pandora with a look of desperation on his face, yet this desperation was also mixed with hope as he saw Emilia slowly and hesitantly let go of Pandora and begin to take a step away from her and towards Fortuna. However he did not realize just how quickly he would come to regret his own phrasing.

His hope completely vanished when he saw Emilia come to a stop and freeze as Pandora placed a single hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking any father away. A sly smirk spread across Pandora's face as she turned to face her bishop and began to almost lecture him on the true reality of the world.

"It's truly wonderful that you seem to be on the cusp of grasping the truth of this world, Bishop Romanée-Conti, yet unfortunately the truth you speak of could not be farther from reality. Things will not go back to normal if I let Emilia return to the side of her loving mother simply because the world we exist in now is nothing but vain, an obstruction that lies overtop of the reality that was meant to be. Fortunately the true reality can be returned to its rightful place, I only need Emilia's help to open that door and complete the final task that Sensei Flügel laid out for me, to ready things so that he can expose all the lies in this world and make things right."

For the first time since they met in this grove the blissful calmness left Pandora's voice as it was overtaken by an emotion that seemingly took grip of her entire body. As she spoke of completing her final task and freeing the world of the lies that obscured the true reality it was like she was overcome with joy. Yet as Betelgeuse saw this it was like he fell to melancholy, his face sinking to the ground as he muttered something out loud.

"Pandora-sama, Flügel-sama cannot do anything that you speak of, he's dead, you yourself killed him long ago."

Yet hearing this did not seem to dampen the joy that had taken over Pandora's mood whatsoever, as she simply rebuked the statement with a voice that remained just as joyous and cheerful.

"Sensei Flügel is certainly not dead, Bishop Romanée-Conti, he simply lies in wait for things to be ready for him to complete his final task, the sooner we can do that then the sooner that he may return to us, and the sooner we can all know true joy."

Hearing this Fortuna clenched her jaw as she bared her teeth and glared directly at Pandora with an anger that seemed without bound, muttering under her breath as she took a step forward.

"You're insane Pandora, if you won't let Emilia go I will free her by force, just as I should have done the second I saw you here."

However suddenly the air was split by an ear splitting and unnatural sound as the ground was thoroughly ripped apart, like an invisible blade was cutting through it before flying off into the forest, reducing everything it hit to smithereens.

Fortuna was forced to quickly jump back to avoid being hit by this unseen attack, even if she wanted to rush to her daughter's side as she heard her yelp in fright. However the second that Betelgeuse saw this attack unfold in front of him his jaw fell open in disbelief as he turned to face the man who was approaching from the direction it had originated from while shouting at Pandora.

"WHY WOULD YOU BRING A MONSTER LIKE HIM HERE? DO YOU NOT REALIZE NOW THAT THE ONLY WAY THAT THINGS WILL END IS IN A BLOODBATH? HOW CAN YOU PREACH OF THE LOVE THE WITCH EXEMPLIFIED AND STILL BRING SOMEONE WHO HAS NO QUALM WITH SLAUGHTERING A WHOLE VILLAGE JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE ANNOYED HIM?"

Not even Betelgeuse's shouting seemed capable of dampening Pandora's mood as she remained facing him with a smile on her face, continuing to hold Emilia as she only grew more and more terrified of what was going on around her.

"Its rather simple Bishop Romanée-Conti, it matters not if someone perishes before their time in this world as all it achieves is to add another lie atop the heaping mountain that covers the truth, another lie that will be washed away when Sensei Flügel purges the vanity from this world along with all the other sins."

And it was this statement that finally managed to make Betelgeuse too look at Pandora with eyes that no longer pitied her detachment from reality, but instead feared the sheer madness that she was preaching.

However all four present had made one fatal mistake in their discussion, they had ignored the fifth member who had only just arrived after travelling to meet them out of his oh so generous heart.

"Now look here! I do believe it is incredibly rude to ignore someone right after they travelled so far to meet you, I do believe that it is a thorough and utter infringement upon my right to be treated with respect. I, Regulus Corneas, Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult representing Greed, the most satisfied existence in this world, have gone out of my way to come here and you dare to start without me and then ignore me. Now listen here. I would give you a lesson on proper etiquette but the fact that you all intentionally act in such a way to drive me into teaching you how to properly behave makes me only think that you did it solely in order to force me to give you such a lesson, thereby trying to strip me of my choice and violating my right to self determination, something that I cannot and will not stand idly by and allow!"

Hearing this Betelgeuse closed his eyes briefly as he clenched his jaw before turning to Fortuna and beginning to speak in a grave voice.

"Fortuna-sama, he is not someone we can hope to beat in a fight, please take Emilia and run while I slow him down….."

Hearing this Forutna turned towards Betelgeuse with a look of disbelief, yet before she could speak Regulus cut in, somehow even more irritated than he was before.

"Now you're talking about fighting me? I don't even like to fight, why would you assume that I would even want to participate in something when I am already satisfied with the current state of the things. Do you think I could possibly desire something as trivial as beating someone as weak as you? Do you take me to be that greedy of a person when I am literally the antithesis of greed itself? Do you…. Wait what are you doing, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING TO DO WITH THAT!"

Regulus had begun to fall into a rant when his attention was suddenly taken as he saw a Betelgeuse remove a small black box from within his robes, holding it in his palm and staring at it intently while talking to nobody in particular.

"I know I wasn't your ideal choice to be the guardian of this, I know you told me that it should be kept safe and never opened. You trusted me to work diligently so that it never had to be used, FORGIVE ME FLÜGEL-SAMA FOR MY SLOTHFULNESS, BUT I MUST ATONE FOR THE SINS WE HAVE ALL COMITTED UPON THIS MOTHER AND HER CHILD!"

At first Betelgeuse spoke in a grave and foreboding voice, yet as he opened the black box his voice suddenly filled with determination and strength before he jammed the box into his chest and erupted into a cascade of what looked to be purple tentacles wrapping their way around him and enveloping his whole body.

To an observer it may have looked like the witch factor was attempting to break and devour him as the purple tentacles cracked and crushed the bones in his body, it may have looked like the Bishop was going to be broken in the face of its power as he seemingly screamed in torment while blood began to pour out of every single orifice in his body. Yet this would only mean that the observer did not understand the truth of the being that was Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti, and how he was diligently working to subdue and subjugate the witch factor of Sloth into his body so that he may put it to diligent work. They did not understand that it was a product of his sheer willpower alone that he held this vile existence within himself, even as it tried to wreck the vessel that was to become its cage, a vessel that it viewed as something to be despised on a very fundamental level.

While everyone was seemingly enraptured by the actions of Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti, Pandora reached around Emilia as she began to clap while leaning forward to whisper something into the mortified child's ear.

"Isn't it just wonderful to see one's devotion to love, truly an excellent example of what my sister believed in. It is truly wonderful the boundless love that he still holds for you even if this is only your second time meeting, you could say that it is his truly slothful side finally shedding the lies of his diligence as he truly awakes to the love of the witch for the first time, unfortunately he could have expressed this love so much earlier."

Pandora's voice had returned to its eery calmness as she whispered words to Emilia that petrified her in fear as she watched with horrified eyes as Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti suddenly stopped battling the purple tentacles, which in turn disappeared inside his body.

Then a near psychotic grin spread itself across his blood spattered face as Betelgeuse faced Regulus with his body, raising his broken arms high in the air as the hung by nothing more then threads of skin, spilling blood everywhere, before he began to preach some form of horrid sermon.

"I AM SLOTHFUL, TRULY SLOTHFUL, AND DUE TO MY SLOTHFULNESS I HAVE PLACED THOSE JOINED BY LOVE IN DANGER OF HAVING THEIR LOVE TORN ASUNDER. I CAN ONLY PLEAD FOR ATONEMENT THROUGH MY DILIGENT WORK, THROUGH MY DILIGENCE I SHALL RUN FROM THE SLOTHFULNESS THAT I SHALL NEVER ESCAPE. FORTUNA-SAMA, NOW!"

Betelgeuse screamed into the air, calling Fortuna to action, yet she could not bring herself to move as she found herself shocked into slothfulness by Betelgeuse's sudden shift into insanity. However there was one person present who could watch Betelgeuse without being stunned into inaction, that being the ever calm Pandora who was once again clapping.

"Magnificent, truly magnificent Sin Archibishop of the Witch's Cult Romanée-Conti, you are truly deserving of the seat of sloth." Pandora then turned to Regulus and said only a few words in her still calm voice, "Bishop Corneas, here it comes."

All Regulus managed to get out was a "huh" before he felt something grab onto his leg and lift him high into the air at a rapid speed.

Betelgeuse swung Regulus around like he was a doll, before slamming him into tree after tree, each one shattering on impact, each one a blow that should have been strong enough to reduce a normal man into nothing more then a blood stained streak.

"YOU ENDURE, YOU REFUSE TO DIE, YOU SLOTHFULLY CLING TO THIS WORLD IN A COMPLETE REFUTE TO THE LOVE THAT I WIELD. YOU YOU YOU YOU ARE SO TRULY SLOTHFUL IT MAKES MY BRAIN TREMBLE, IT TREMBLESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

Betelgeuse screamed as he seemingly further and further departed from the reality infront of him, crying of a love he had never received, screaming of a physical sensation that he had never experienced, crying of slothfulness where he sees none.

Betelegeuse then slams Regulus up and down into the dirt, over and over again as he continues to scream and cry out delusions that exceed the comprehension of most of those around him.

"THIS IS THE STRENGTH OF THE LOVE I WAS GIVEN, THIS IS THE STRENGTH OF THE LOVE I MUST REPAY, THIS IS THE STRENGTH OF THE LOVE I MUST ENDEVOUR TO PROTECT!"

As Betelgeuse screamed this cry he held Regulus still in the air before the entire grove was filled with an empty silence as everyone watched Regulus get folded up into a ball. First his head was turned all the way so that it now looked directly behind him, then Betelgeuse moved on to do the same with his arms and legs, bending them so far back that they far exceeded their normal range of motion.

"EVEN IN THE FACE OF DEATH YOU ARE SLOTHFUL, YOU DON'T FIGHT BACK, YOU DON'T STRUGGLE, YET YOU ALSO DON'T GIVE UP, YOU DON'T DIE, HOW? MY BRAIN TREMBLESSSSSSSSSSSS!"

Betelgeuse was flailing his shattered arms in the air while screaming like a deranged maniac only to suddenly freeze when the most irate and least satisfied voice possible rang out from the ball of limbs.

"Did I ever say that I like fighting? Did I ever say that I enjoy it enough to be forced into it without my explicit consent?"

These words rang out as limb-by-limb Regulus began to unfold himself.

His arms bent themselves back into place.

Then his legs unfolded themselves from behind his back.

Until finally his head made a half rotation so that it was staring right back at Betelgeuse.

"DON'T GET SUCH A COCKY ATTITUDE AS TO ASSUME ANYTHING ABOUT ME YOU DERANGED AND FANATICAL LUNATIC!"

Regulus screamed at the top of his lungs as he was suddenly and forcefully released from whatever held him aloft in the air.

The second Regulus hit the ground he instantly grabbed a handful of dirt in his hand and hurled it in the direction of Betelgeuse, except this clump of dirt delivered with it a strike far deadlier than anyone could have possibly imagined.

The entire centre of Betegeuse' chest suddenly had a hole blasted through it a few sizes larger than a human fist, large enough that an immense quantity of blood started to poor out as Betelgeuse collapsed onto the ground like a broken doll. However one could say that he had been saved from instant death by the fact that he was close enough that the dirt did not have time to spread out, as the forest behind him suffered far worse.

While Betelgeuse had knocked over most of the living tree's when he had been swinging Regulus into them, there still remained a vast swath of sickly trees behind the living ones that remained standing, or they were until Regulus' attack struck them.

The dirt reached an ideal level of dispersion not far behind Betelgeuse where it had spread out enough that each individual piece was able to cause an optimal level of destruction without overlapping the damage done by other parts of the former clump. This led to the single attack from Regulus succeeding in felling hundreds of trees behind the broken body of the newly anointed Sin Archbishop.

"TO THINK YOU COULD EVEN STAND A CHANCE OF ASSUALTING ME, WHAT UTTER NOENSENSE, I WILL REDUCE YOU ALL TO POOLS OF BLOOD IF YOU EVEN DARE TO ATTEMPT TO INFRINGE UPON MY BEING AGAIN!"

Regulus continued to shout at the top of his lungs as he walked towards Betelgeuse with a look of pure rage etched into his face, his hands clenched into fists as he made it clear that he intended to finish the job before the dying Sin Archbishop could succumb on his own.

"AL HUMA!"

Fortuna shouted as a massive chunk of ice slammed into the unprepared Regulus from the side and sent him flying into the forest, albeit it almost certainly did not succeed in even scratching him it would at least buy a tiny fraction of time for Fortuna to save Emilia.

"Succumb not to sloth…..Fortuna…..save Emilia…..and leave me to cover….your escape….."

Betelgeuse gurgled as his throat filled with blood while a rare glint of sanity surface in his eyes. Yet Fortuna called out to him as she began to sprint towards Pandora who stood motionless with her arms around Emilia, clearly lacking any intent of trying to escape with the petrified child.

"How could I leave you Geuse after you've taken care of us for so long? I'm getting us all out of here!"

As Fortuna ran she formed her mana into a single sword comprised of the purest ice that one could possibly imagine before she swung it in a horizontal arc right over Emilia's head, and right into the forehead of the Witch who just stood there smiling at her whilst seemingly studying her with those unnerving crystal blue eyes.

The blade did not even seem to meet the slightest resistance as made contact and then swiftly cut through the Vain Witch's skull, barely even spraying any blood as the brain within was cleanly bisected.

Emilia did not even move as she felt what little strength was contained within Pandora's arms leave them, before hearing the body they were attached to lifelessly slump over behind her.

She was terrified, she was scared, she had never recalled ever seeing anything die before, she had certainly never even seen or heard of someone she had met dying. And it was this fear that caused her to latch onto her mother the second that Fortuna grabbed her, clinging to her like an infant animal might when its mother carries it through the trees for the first time.

"I'm scared Mother Fortuna, I'm scared, I'm scared….."

Emilia cried out as she slammed her glassy eyes shut and buried her head into the crux of Mother Fortuna's neck.

"It's okay Emilia, everything is almost over. You've been sooooo brave, and I'm really proud of you, you just have to continue being brave for a bit longer, okay?"

Mother Fortuna put on a voice meant to sooth the young child as she dropped her sword and held onto Emilia with both hands as she ran towards Betelgeuse, yet she suddenly stopped as she froze up in shock at the sight of someone she did not expect to see.

It was a woman with long platinum hair, dressed in nothing but a white cloth sheet with a hole cut through for her head. She stared at Mother Fortuna with a pair of crystal blue eyes that gave the impression that she was looking at something completely fake, and she spoke with a voice that remained perfectly calm despite the fact that she had just gotten her head cut in half.

"I'd like to ask you to calm your anger Fortuna, there doesn't need to be any violence between us, I simply ask that you get Emilia to open the sealed door and in return I will leave and undo the damage caused here."

The initial shock that Fortuna felt was instantly blasted away as her breathing hitched, her face contorting in rage as she heard the proposal from Pandora, mana instantly gathering around and within her.

"You think I would ever allow that thing to be opened, I only allowed it to be built because my sister-in-law trusted Flügel, yet each day since you killed him it has started to release corrupted mana that twists the life around it. I don't know what kind of monster is sealed away behind it, but I do know that I will die before I let loose in this world, especially if Emilia would have to be the one to carry the guilt of releasing the seal its held behind."

There was then only a moments delay before Fortuna shouted "Ul Huma" as a million needles of ice suddenly spurted from the ground and impaled Pandora's body from head to toe, her blood dyeing the blue tinted needles a crimson red.

"Unfortunately, I refuse to allow your short-sighted stubbornness to sabotage the only path currently present to release this world from its suffering, the beast equally as stubborn as yourself will have to show you what is truly important in this world."

Fortuna slowly turned her head as she heard a wicked hissing come from behind her to see a large black snake that was rapidly oozing a pool of black goo around it.

Before she had a chance to examine the monster she suddenly had to duck at a speed unimaginable for a normal human as the beast's several meter long body launched itself at a speed equally unfathomable as her own, soaring right over her head. She felt its scaly body brush up against the top few hairs on her scalp, which she instantly crystalized in ice before any kind of vileness could spread from them.

Fortuna had heard all to well what kind of horrid things could befall someone who was somuch as touched by the scales of the Black Snake, even after 300 years the day she rescued Emilia from that pit and watched her Brother and Sister-in-law fall to it still remained fresh in her mind. It was not like the images of seeing their bodies decay before her very eyes before being feasted on by that cursed beast would ever leave her nightmares, it was not like she wanted them to however, either.

It was those cursed images that gave her the strength to never give up, the inspiration to fight to the bitter end for those that you loved, even if you knew it would break you. It was why she was able to still stand and fight against a witch with an incomprehensible power who was aided by an archbishop who seemed nigh indestructible.

She turned back to see the where the snake had landed as she saw it chomp down on Pandora's neck, the venom from its fangs instantly spreading through her body and tainting her skin a putrid black colour. The now rotting flesh started to fall off her bones as her body collapsed into a heap on the white grass, and Fortuna took this as an opportunity to sprint to the fallen trees were Geuse lay.

Yet just as she made it to the trees, she was met with the sight of an exhausted looking blond haired elf sprinting towards her while barely maintaining his footing, it was Arche and she had last seen him near the village when she had asked him to help her search for Emilia.

He briefly stopped as he stood dumbfounded at the damage and wanton destruction arrayed in front of him, but he soon snapped himself out of it.

"Fortuna-sama, the village is under attack by an endless horde of Mabeasts, they look just like small rabbits, but they are devouring everything in sight and no matter how many we kill they just keep coming!"

Arche spoke in a voice that sounded completely exasperated and defeated, his eyes appeared sunken and haunted, like he had just been exposed to more then a lifetime of horror compacted into just under an hour.

"Grab Geuse and we'll take him and Emilia to the edge of the forest, then we will head back and see what we can do about the village."

Arche heard this command and weakly nodded his head, yet as he stumbled towards Betelgeuse he suddenly turned and went wide eyed as the black beast slammed into his neck, pinning him to the forest floor and ripping him to pieces as it began to devour its latest meal.

"I'm sorry Geuse….."

Fortuna muttered as she briefly turned to face the broken Archbishop who only weakly managed to smile back at her as if to let her know that it was fine, and that he understood that she could no longer keep the promise she had just made.

Fortuna then sprinted past him as she carried a now crying Emilia away from the grove in her arms, tears could be seen coming from Fortuna's own eyes as well as she ran. Yet before they had even gotten to the edge of the grove a calm voice rang out, reaching them even if it lacked the strength to carry as far as they had gotten.

"Giving up like that and surrendering to fate was truly slothful of you, Sin Archbishop Romanée-Conti."

And with those words suddenly a fallen tree next to them exploded as something invisible slammed into it, and then another tree, and another, each strike landing closer to them compared to the last as Fortuna continued to run.

With each strike Emilia yelped a little louder, with each strike she gripped her mother a little tighter, this was the most terrified she had ever been in her entire life.

"It's okay Emilia, we're going to be oka….."

Fortuna suddenly stopped speaking midsentence as blood spurted forth from her mouth and covered Emilia's face. She felt all the muscles in Fortuna's body instantly relax as they were both lifted up in the air.

Emilia was screaming, not because they were flying through the air back in the direction that they came, but because she was staring at Mother Fortuna as she tried to speak to her, to comfort her, but all that was coming out were gurgles as blood sputtered forth and ran down her chin.

Emilia never stopped screaming, not when she found that they had stopped moving and once again hung in the air above the grove, not even when the crazed preaching of a lunatic boomed through the air.

"YOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOU ARE TRULY SLOTHFUL, YOU CLAIMED THAT YOU WOULD SAVE ME, YOU CLAIMED THAT YOU WOULD SAVE HER, YET YOU ACHIEVED NONE OF THESE THINGS BEFORE YOU YOURSELF DIED. IF YOU HAD JUST ACCEPTED THE WITCH'S LOVE WHEN IT HAD BEEN PRESENTED TO YOU THEN YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DRIVE AWAY THIS SLOTHFULNESS THROUGH LOVE. SLOTH SLOTH SLOTH SLOTH SLOTH SLOTH, THERE IS NOTHING IN THE WORLD BUT SLOTH, MY BRAIN TREMBLESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

Emilia did not stop screaming as she then found herself falling the short distance to the ground as she landed beside her mother's body as the madman holding them in the air finally passed out due to blood loss. Even then she did not stop clinging to Mother Fortuna's body, nor did she give the gaping hole in Mother Fortuna's chest where her heart should have been any notice either, besides acknowledging that it had been the wound to end her mother's life.

She did not stop screaming as the Black Snake slowly slithered into view, eyeing her with its beady black eyes and tasting the air around her with its jet-black tongue. She did not take her eyes of Mother Fortuna's lifeless corpse to recognize the constant struggle within the Black Snake as it battled its desire to endlessly feast with that of the one who imposed a will upon it in a vain attempt to control it.

The screaming from Emilia did not even stop as Regulus Corneas angrily marched out of the forest, reducing any tree that both happened to still be standing and in his way into sawdust.

"WHO DO YOU PEOPLE EVEN THINK YOU ARE, LAUNCHING ME AWAY INTO THE FOREST LIKE SOME TOY THAT CAN JUST BE DISCARDED! I AM A MAN, THE MOST PERFECT BEING IN EXISTANCE, I HAVE RIGHTS! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE LOOKS ON ALL YOUR FACES WHEN I REDUCE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU INTO POOLS OF BLOOD, ESPECIALLY THE ONE WHO SO ARROGANTLY DECIDED TO JUST LAUNCH ME AWAY LIKE THAT. WHO THE HELL TAUGHT YOU THAT BEING SO RUDE WAS SOCIALLY ACCPETABLE!"

His face was already contorted into one of pure rage, yet when he saw that Mother Fortuna, the one who should have been the first target of his wrath lay dead in front of him, it was like he somehow became even more unhinged.

"WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO DIE YOU WENCH, WHO DARED TO INFRINGE UPON MY RIGHT TO GET REVENGE ON THOSE WHO WRONGED ME!"

It was at this point that the vast amount of noise that his yelling managed to draw the Black Snake away from Emilia as it launched itself at him with the same vigour and speed as it had done countless times before. Yet when it bore with its fangs on Regulus' neck they did not even pierce the skin before instantly shattering into hundreds of shard of bone.

"WAS IT YOU WHO STOLE MY CHANCE FROM ME, YOU TERRIBLE EXCUSE FOR A MONSTER?"

But Regulus did not give the Great Mabeast even a second to recoil as he grabbed it just behind the head and hurled it into the sky with such force that a boom could be heard as it shattered the sound barrier.

But Regulus was still seething with rage as he continued to walk further and further into the grove, his whole body appeared filled with tension as he headed straight for the still wailing Emilia who was tightly clasped to her mother's corpse.

"AND YOU! CAN YOU BE QUIET FOR ONE DAMN SECOND AND STOP ASSAULTING MY EARS SO I CAN THINK? THIS IS NOTHING MORE THEN A VIOLATION OF MY RIGHT TO HAVE JUST A BIT OF PEACE AND QUIET! YOU'RE SO IRRITATING THAT NOT EVEN WITHIN THE VAST AMOUNTS OF PATIENCE THAT I HAVE CAN I FIND ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH YOU. JUST SHUT UP!"

Emilia did not pay even the slightest bit of attention to Regulus as she was focused solely on the cold dead eyes of Mother Fortuna, which had not changed in the slightest since they had been overtaken with surprise when she had been fatally struck.

Yet thankfully for Emilia there still seemed to be one person present who was looking out for her, and this person stepped between her and Regulus Corneas before speaking to him in a voice that was infinitely calmer then his own.

"I ask that you stop right there and take a moment to admire the perfection of this scene, Bishop Corneas. Do you see the true love, the truly natural wonder that is a child's adoration for their mother, doesn't it just fill you with joy and pride in the work we undertake?"

Pandora spoke in a perfectly calm voice as she faced the Regulus who had stopped not more then a pace in front of her, yet her words seemed to strike something deep inside him as he stopped shouting for just a second.

"Are you ordering me to allow my rights to be violated….STOP ASSUMING YOU HAVE ANY RIGHT TO COMMAND ME YOU ARROGANT EXCUSE FOR A WOMAN!"

Regulus then grabbed Pandora by the neck and hurled her directly into the sky with such force that there were three successive booms before her body was torn apart by the acceleration needed to break though the sound barrier three times in half a second, the disintegrated bits of her flesh did not even get a chance to rain down back to earth.

Regulus Corneas turned to looked down at Emilia next, before grabbing her by the throat and lifting her up so that her bawling amethyst eyes looked straight into his gold ones.

"CAN YOU NOT SHUT UP AND STOP ASSAULTING ME FOR ONE SECOND?!"

Regulus screamed right into her face as she continued to wail, yet this did not silence her. Instead Emilia began to flail her arms and legs as she tried her hardest to escape from his grip and return to her mothers side, even if she was already dead.

"LET ME GO, LET ME GO, LET ME G….."

However the second her foot kicked Regulus in the chest he began to tighten his grip around her neck.

First she could not breath anymore, silencing her crying.

Next circulation to her head was caught off as she began to grow dizzy, stopping her flailing.

Finally with a pop she lost feeling as her neck was broken and the blood flow was immediately severed to her brain by near instantaneous swelling.

The moment this happened Emilia instantly went limp and feeling this through his hand Regulus then threw her to the side as if he was discarding a broken toy before turning to leave, satisfied that he had finally silenced any and all who dared to even consider infringing upon his rights.

"I can normally look past your excessive violence, Bishop Corneas. But she is not someone I can allow to die, even if it may be the natural way of things."

Pandora hovered in the air just above Regulus as his face exploded into one of shock, and while he was shocked Pandora gently pressed on his head with her foot as the ground opened up beneath him, quickly swallowing him up to his neck.

"Bishop Corneas is back in his mansion with his wives, Emilia never suffered the fate that she currently is as such a thing is simply a lie upon the world produced by the miss-actions of Bishop Corneas."

Pandora took advantage of Regulus' shock to vanish him instantly from the forest itself, healing Emilia as she instantly rushed back to Mother Fortuna, hugging her tightly even though she felt so very cold.

"Emilia, do you want your mother back?"

Yet it was these words from Pandora that got Emilia to willingly turn to face her, to see the cold, crystal blue eyes staring right back at her.

"Y-Yes….." Was the only word that the still sobbing Emilia could get out as she held Mother Fortuna's hand while looking up at Pandora.

"Then all you have to do is summon the key that Echidna hid inside you and release the lock that keeps that metal door sealed, in exchange I will return your mother to you."

Pandora spoke in a matter-of-fact voice, yet Emilia had no idea that she possessed any kind of key, and as a result just blankly looked at Pandora as she struggled to find the words to communicate that she did not have what she needed to save her mother.

"You may not remember the key as you were quite young when it was placed inside you, but it will certainly come if you call it."

Pandora sensed the confusion and desperation that Emilia exuded as she seemed unable to bring herself struggled to think of how to say she did not have it. Yet after hearing these words Emilia looked down in her hands and found a large key, one that perfectly matched the one she had drawn earlier.

"Now go on and open the door, once its open I promise I will bring your mother back."

Pandora urged Emilia on, yet after taking a single step towards the door Emilia stopped in her tracks before looking first at the door, then down at then key, and finally back at her mother's body. Emilia then turned and stepped back to her mother, she closed her eyes as if making a hard decision, her face growing red as she grit her teeth together, a few tears streaming out of her eyes.

Once the seven year old Emilia had decided what she would do she opened her eyes and with a shaking hand removed one of her hair clips and replaced it with one she took from her mother's hair, before she turned to Pandora with a look of complete resolve on her tiny face, the key clasped in both her hands.

"Why did Mother Fortuna have to die?"

It was this question that she posed to Pandora, her voice quivering through her resolve as she choked out the words, yet Pandora seemed entirely unphased by this question.

"She got in the way of my goal to unseal the door, unfortunately that meant she had to be killed to allow for you to make the right decision to bring her back. In the end though her death is irrelevant because I know that you will do what you need to in order to bring her back because of the love you hold for her Emilia."

This was all Emilia needed to hear, she remembered what her mother had said to Pandora about opening the door, she remembered her saying that she preferred death to having whatever lay behind it unleashed.

Emilia let go of the key in her hands as she let it fall, the second it touched the ground it disappeared from her view as it returned to its place hidden deep within her.

Perhaps Emilia knew about this particular mechanism regarding the key, but more then likely she did this simply because she could not care less about it anymore, there was only one thing that she cared about as she lost all control of a tornado of pure rage that was swirling up inside her, one that rivaled that of her mother, her real mother.

"Die"

Pandora's body suddenly ruptured into a beautiful display of blood as icy flowers burst forth from within her.

"Emilia you must calm down, viol….."

Pandora was cut off as her she was suddenly impaled by a thousand icicles flying at her from every direction, summoned by Emilia simply saying the word "Die" again.

"Th….."

Pandora reappeared and tried once again to reason with the child who had lost control of their own emotions and was quickly losing control of their body, but she was cut off as she was instantly frozen solid before shattering into a million pieces.

"Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE,DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!"

Emilia began to chant the call of death as the sky became covered in thick grey clouds, as the temperature began to plummet, as thick blue ice formed on the ground around her and began to creep up her legs.

"I guess I will just have to come back another time, it seems you are in for another long sleep until someone with comparable power to yourself decides to free you from your icy prison, it is truly unfortunate. Though I do suppose that for you to give in and lose yourself to your own anger is a natural end."

As the storm above produced a downpour of snow that was so thick as to reduce vision to all but zero, as Emilia nearly became completely incased in ice, Pandora made one final utterance.

"We will return to see the truth revealed, all of us still have an important roll to play."

And with those words Pandora vanished along with two of the three corpses that remained on the scene, along with who knows what that existed outside their vision. It was not soon enough for them as the second Emilia became completely encased in ice a blast of mana flew out of her now icy tomb. Everything this wave of mana touched turned to solid ice, unlike her there was nothing left inside to awaken.

And with this time seemed to finally cease in the trial as it reached an end to what it intended to show, leaving all but the most important part left, the judging.

"So that was the greed of this time period…"

Echidna seemingly spoke her thoughts aloud as she cradled her chin between her thumb and forefinger, seemingly deep in thought as she almost blankly stared towards the place that Regulus had been before he had been vanished by Pandora.

However Emilia gave no heed to what her counterpart was doing as she almost stumbled towards the icy outline left by the frozen corpse of Mother Fortuna, falling to her knee's before it as she stared down into its empty eyes. Emilia's eyes remained locked on the gaping wound located in the centre of its chest, even as her hand shakily reached out to cup her cheek.

"I don't deserve your love…..I never did….I can't believe I did this to you after all you had done for me…even now you'd probably wince knowing what I did with your sacrifice…."

Emilia spoke in a sullen and depressed voice as she looked down, blinking her eyes a few times as tears built up in them and began to pour out for what seemed like the millionth time during this long day. Emilia wanted her eyes to be as clear as possible so she could absorb every last detail of the scene that lay before her, she was focused to the point that although she heard Echidna walk up behind her she did not turn to face her. Instead she found herself falling face first onto her Mothers icy shell as the dam within her that had broken many times this day, only to be hastily put back up, broke once more.

"I can't believe I did this…I can't believe that I'm this horrid…..I did everything wrong at every single turn….I can't believe that I killed you Mother Fortuna, I'm trying to accept what I did but I just can't…I just can't accept that I'm such a monster that I killed you after all the love you gave me…after seeing all this I feel like I just can't accept it…..I won't be able to take it otherwise….I'll just end up doing something that will make everyone even more upset…."

As Emilia lay atop the ice in the shape of her mother's corpse, bawling her eyes out and sobbing, she half heartedly poured out her minds attempt to justify the horrors and the sins that the trial tried to accuse her of. It was a complete about face that defied what her heart told her, it screamed to her to accept the truth that she was guilty of causing this final horror, yet seemingly in an act of self preservation her mind refuted this. And it was this refutation that seemed to stir the Witch of Greed to action once again.

"You do realize that Fortuna may have been able to escape had she not been forced to carry you. She was a several century old elf who was a master at fire magic, a Sin Archbishop as weak as Betelgeuse should have had no hope of beating her in a fight, not even considering the fact that she was trying to run away instead. If only she had not been distracted and slowed down by a particularly whiney child it is almost certain that her escape would have been a success."

Echidna began to lecture Emilia in a voice that was almost empty of emotion, each word that left her mouth becoming a nail that drove into Emilia's heart in an effort to release the self hatred and depression that would unleash the truth that she was refusing to accept. Each word that she said causing Emilia to cry harder and harder, the tears flowing from her face before landing onto ice below.

"We can even take the thought further, had you not gone wandering into the forest that day in complete and utter defiance of Mother Fortuna's wishes then she likely could have avoided the confrontation that killed her entirely. Or better yet, if you had simply perished in place of your birth mother then this calamity would not have befallen the elven village to begin with, they would likely all have been alive to this very day, and not be frozen nor food for one Great Mabeast or another."

Echidna then leaned in close so that she could whisper what she had to say next into Emilia's ear, using a hand to brush away any hair that might possibly obstruct her words so that she could be heard over Emilia's now uncontrollable sobbing.

"I'm absolutely certain that if it were not for your unique ability to completely ruin the lives of everyone around you, that each and every one of these people would have gone on to live a perfectly normal and happy life. The sole factor that prevented that was the fact that you made yourself a presence in their lives, now how do you feel knowing that?"

Echidna then leaned back with a completely blank expression painted onto her face as she watched her nails finally break Emilia's heart, as she watched Emilia howl and scream in torment as she failed to handle the truth that she had been forced to accept.

"I GET IT…I'M A HORRID MONSTER THAT KILLS EVERYONE WHO CARES FOR HER….I DID THIS…..I CAUSED ALL THIS SUFFERING….I RUINED ALL THERE LIVES…I DESERVE EVERY BIT OF PAIN AND SUFFERING THAT I'VE EXPERIENCED SINCE THEN….I DESERVE NOTHING BUT DEATH….IT'S ALL MY FAULT AND I JUST WANT TO DIE….."

As Echidna heard Emilia struggle to choke out cries of guilt between her sobs that were racking her whole body, a sly smile spread across her face as she once again knelt down and gently turned Emilia's face towards her by the chin. She looked down at the puffy eyed and sniffling half-elf, and as the world around them began to disintegrate and fall away into a blank white void she delivered the final nail needed to seal her fate.

"Emilia, you don't deserve death, a release like that is something way too good for you. What you deserve is to spend the rest of your oh so enviably long life right in that forest, so that every day you can wake up and be reminded of just what you did. So that everyday you feel these very same emotions that are coursing through your veins, driving you to end the miserable pittance that you call life, and be forced to simply endure them. The only fitting punishment for a monster like you is to suffer for near eternity in your own little, personal piece of hell until all that's left of you is a broken, lifeless, husk, a walking corpse just like your mother here."

And with that Echidna released Emilia's chin as she watched the half-elf's eyes sink right to the ground where they looked blankly forward, neither blinking or even quivering as Emilia knelt there completely broken beyond repair.

Yet Echidna had one last thing to say as she turned away from Emilia to stare off into the white void.

"Now Emilia, you haven't forgotten about those villagers who saved your life by carrying you into my tomb in an attempt to save your life after your poor excuse for a suicide attempt. You haven't forgotten that they are still trapped in the ruins of a village facing certain death should winter come? Although it will likely hurt your heart and make you suffer, you could help them by taking on the next trial, think of it as repay….."

While Echidna was in the midst of her long explanation, she was cut off by the broken voice of Emilia that was barely audible.

"I don't deserve happiness….I don't deserve what they did for me….I'll help them….."

And hearing this the grin on Echidna's face grew further until it stretched from ear to ear.