A:N= Well, I promised and here I deliver a earlier than usual update (though I was editing and rewriting a few times too many).
Once again many thanks to MagiCati for Beta reading the chapter. And to the reactionist server for some tips of formatting. Yes no more awkward ### in the middle and such.
The return to the mansion was as tense as when they left it, while he could feel that Ram had mellowed out after their exchanges, the few glances he gave to her sister spoke volumes of her opinion of him at the moment, "I feel like I am going to burst out in flames by her stare." He thought to his mental tenant.
His comment went unanswered, Vega being too busy observing as best as he could every single sound and movement from the maid in question, his paranoia ever increasing with every step taken, while he planned different evading methods.
Luckily for all involved, they returned to the manor before the tension could escalate further, near the entrance Subaru released his haul to take a breather while swiping the sweat off his brow, while it was not incredibly heavy, it still took a fair bit of effort to carry it for such a distance.
"Maid approaching from the side." Came Vega's warning, his voice dripping in tension, ready for her to turn hostile.
When he turned around in a minor panic, he saw Rem walk with purpose up to him...and then she picked up his haul and carried it one handed to the mansion's direction with little to no effort while doing so, completely disregarding his presence. He waited for several heartbeats before he released a breath he was holding.
Still staring at her retreating back while remembering her tearing apart a tree last time, he spoke under his breath, "I-I should have expected that." He realized with an awkward smile that he hadn't really managed to help them much.
"I really hope you are not having any untowards thoughts about my sister, Barusu." Came Ram's accusing voice right next to him, her eternal sneer judging him.
Surprised at her tone, he babbled out, "Uh!? N- No, nothing weird, nothing untowards!"
Ram only intensified her gaze at his unconvincing defense, but before she could comment on it the mansion's front doors flew open, revealing the lord of the mansion dressed in some kind of noble traveler's clothes.
""Lord Roswaal."" Came simultaneously both maids' voices accompanied with a bow.
Subaru stared confused for a second or two until he remembered the day before yesterday's dinner disaster, "Oh right, Ros-Chi was heading out today."
"That it's correct Subaru," Said Roswaal while leaving the mansion, "I have business in the capital, a commercial venture may have come up and it requires my personal attention."
"What the hell!?" Came Vega's sudden bewildered voice, gaining Subaru's attention wondering about his outburst.
The lord took a glance at both maids, "I don't think I will be back for afew days. I leave the mansion up to you both until my return."
"What is it?" Asked the young man to his friend, tuning out the outside conversation taking a rough guess of what they were entailing.
The twins lowered their heads, and said something that he hadn't managed to understand while Vega answered, still carrying a hint of confusion, "...Is just, I didn't think much of it at the dinner but last time he didn't leave. Nothing we have done should-"
In his mental conversation, Roswaal walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder startling him in surprise, "I hope I am leaving the safety of all my residents in good hands." He spoke, a dangerous sub-tone in his voice.
He gave up a nod in response being incapable of speaking after that sudden warning, with the affirmation of being understood, the mansion lord took a few steps away from him, and launched to the skies, turning to look at them while he tipped off his hat, he exclaimed, "Then I'll be off, I hope nothing happens while I am away!" With that being said, he picked impulse and flew out of sight while doing a sonic boom.
Subaru kept staring for several moments dumbfounded, his previous wariness fading, "H-He can fly!?" He managed to stutter out, his jaw open.
Vega was not so far behind in his astonishment, "...And breaking the sound barrier in the process, scary."
"Could we fly too?" Subaru asked, the idea of flying like a bird being too awesome for not to be considered and while Murak could imitate the effect, it was not the same.
"Just the mana expenditure to try to replicate the act would drain us in moments if we knew how. So that's a negative Sir" The spirit said, crushing his hopes before they could take off.
Subaru tsked in annoyance, "This is unfair! I never got to choose my starting class."
The pink-haired maid approached and spoke directly to him, "Rem and Ram will be resuming our duties Barusu, don't even think of slacking off with Lord Roswaal absent."
He answered with a thumbs up and a knowing smirk, "Nothing will escape my watch!"
He only got a scoff in response before they disappeared from sight, which he conveniently used to sigh his tension away, trying to keep up the appearances he proceeded to his room and once inside its relative safety he flopped into the bed and executed the second part of his plan, "So, anything suspicious?"
With a sigh, the artificial spirit explained, "While it would have been more effective to act inconspicuous, you managed to get almost everyone in the village in one spot to be observed and...I got nothing." He finished, giving the feeling he was hanging his head in shame.
Subaru was perplexed at the lack of information, "Nothing at all? No one acted strange?"
With a hmm the spirit said the first thought on his mind, "Strangest part was that lady who tried to pinch our-"
"No need to make me remember it!" He wailed, drowning Vega's next choice of words.
"-but apart from that event, nothing was out of the norm in the village...I am worried." His tone conveyed his words.
Subaru sighed in annoyance, but recomposed himself with a hop out of the bed, "Well, we knew there was a chance it would be a bust, we stick to the original plan then."
Vega's non-existent eyebrow shot up, "Are you sure it is wise? Miss Rem was looking rather murderous today, she may not look kindly to us leaving now."
Subaru did a few stretches while speaking back, "Then we sneak out, after we catch the culprit we can explain ourselves."
"You are awfully optimistic of a half-baked plan." The spirit complained in irritation just as Subaru was going to leave his room.
He hesitated on the pommel, "...Is the only thing I have as of now, this will work, I need both of us to believe it." And then he opened it, crossing the barrier between room and hallway, turning around he closed the door at a slow and steady pace, to reduce the noise he would make. Feeling sure nobody could have heard him, he went to exit the mansion, when he observed a maid at the other end of the hallway who saw with clarity him trying to sneak out, looking at him with cold ice in her crystal blue eyes.
Some beats passed before a voice chimed in with a deadpan, "Well, this plan crashed as fast as it was made up that's for sure."
Ignoring him, Subaru tried his best tactic to date, bullshitting his way out, "Hey Rem, fancy meeting you here?" He awkwardly tried to deflect his obvious slip up.
If her stare could have turned any colder, he would have been turned into a popsicle right there, "Rem needs some questions in need of answers." With that being said she took a single step forward, the floor creaking under her foot threatening to split apart.
"Huh...Sure! But I don't promise much, there is a lot I don't know." He spoke with clear nervousness, while tensing his muscles ready to dodge in any direction.
"We are at a disadvantage here, I recommend preparing to shoot her or evade into our room." Advised Vega, already coordinating all spirits.
She took another step, the floor repeating the same threatening noise, "How many of you cultists are there along with you?" She accused with finality.
"Well, crap," He thought to himself, knowing he was going to need all his speech skills to not royally fail this exchange, "Yeah, I don't know any, my parents taught very clear to stay away from creepy looking people, which includes cults of any kind."
"Decide fast! Our window of opportunity is closing." Hastened the spirit, seeing Subaru's refusal to take his recommendation.
"I have an idea..." Subaru took advantage of Rem's silence, and planned a course of action, which Vega could only groan in annoyance.
Another step, now she was two lunges away, or as he knew from the previous loop, basically at a hair breath for her, "Quit stalling. Rem will be merciful if you speak." All her efforts to conceal her disdain for him washed away.
"Why do I have the feeling that's kinda a lie...NOW!" He yelled out of nowhere startling Rem, who before could react received a splash of water in her eyes and a hard hit on the back of her head, not enough to even scratch her, but enough to give him the extra second he needed for the next part of his improvised plan.
Just as she managed to shook off the distraction, she heard some words be spoken from Subaru but couldn't make sense of them before she felt a body slam across her midsection in a tight grip, lifting her up her feet, "This is stupid! This is stupid This is stupid!" Subaru yelled to himself over and over, who after casting Murak instead of running away, decided that if he managed to immobilize her in some way he could talk sense into her.
"Once again we manage to agree!" His companion blasted on his ears, with a massive disapproving tone and at the same time resigned to his.
Not even a few moments after, Rem managed to get her bearings again and went for a solid hit on the top of his head to incapacite him but before she could execute her move she felt her back slamming against what she assumed was a door, tearing it open in the process. No sooner after Subaru released his grip on her and threw her to the other end of the room they found themselves in.
Without a breath wasted she rolled into a standing position and brought out her morningstar winding it up using her momentum, ready to throw the spiked ball in his direction.
He saw Rem unfolding her weapon and readying for the throw. His perspective slowed down for some fractions as he got used to, "Dodge and shoot her!" Yelled Vega in his mind, he went to follow that recommendation out of his instinct of self-preservation, but when he touched the grip of his handgun...he hesitated.
His mind brought back memories of the last loop, "No...I won't..can't do that again." He ignored the yells of protest of Vega and before he could blink, the ball was half-way through the room on a direct collision course with his torso.
His feet didn't move, he couldn't for some reason and in some deep part of himself didn't care, maybe this would be the payment for his failure last time.
But just before the ball could make contact a voice broke both of them out of their combat focus, "That's enough! In fact." Exactly after her words were said, a blast of force hit the spiked ball and sent it hurling back to its sender who managed to grab it mid-air right before it could impact her head.
Vega sighed in relief seeing the interruption of the fight, he would have some words later, but right now he could rest a bit easier knowing they had friendly back up. He still took note to mention what was that about later.
His counterpart wasn't so far behind. Shaking off the last second dark thoughts for later, he congratulated the librarian with a thumbs up, "Nice save Beakoooo!" His mood changed drastically, with a bit of luck and loli power, this could end in peace.
The maid was equal parts enraged and confused, "Lady Beatrice! He is a cultist, It needs to be dealt with before he brings the rest of them!" Her voice turned more and more hateful as words spilled out.
The Great spirit left her seat and began walking to them at a leisure pace while speaking and shaking her head in disappointment, "Foolish maid! You believe a simple cultist would be able to fool Betty? Betty feels insulted, I suppose. Hmph!"
Rem gaped like a fish out of water at her words, "But Lady Beatrice! He smells like them!" Her voice dripped with pure venom at the last word.
She scoffed in response, annoyance filling her features, "Betty has not lost her sense of smell with time. Betty knows that he reeks of the witch, but until yesterday he didn't have any knowledge of it nor the implications it may have." She paused for her words to be processed by the infuriated maid, who widened her eyes after a moment.
Not really stopping she continued on, "And since the first day Bubby and Betty have already determined that he was in the clear. He possesses no Gospel and has no malicious intent against anyone in particular. While his spirit is just fiercely and foolishly protective, in fact." She finished standing between the two of them.
After several beats of dead silence in the library, the morningstar fell to the ground, almost smashing Rem's feet in the fall and leaving a dent in the floor, "But! BUT!..." She brought her hands to her face in horror and started to shake out of control, "...B-But t-then that means R-Rem tried to..." Tears began to fall through her fingers while she tried to comprehend what she had almost done to her innocent co-worker.
Subaru was stuck between feeling relieved and worried at this point, while it looked like Beatrice managed to convince her of his innocence, he couldn't miss how the girl who was usually cold with moments of sweetness was in the beginning of a nervous breakdown after her realization. After pondering for a few moments he went to console her but was interrupted by Beatrice snapping her vision to a spot on Rem's body.
Walking over to her, she demanded with no compassion in her voice, "Show me your hand, Maid" The girl in the middle of a breakdown obeyed without question and extended her palm revealing her horrified expression behind them, in the process inadvertently tightening Subaru's heart in guilt, "I should have fixed this before" He anguished thinking he could have spared her of it.
Unbothered by her grief, Beatrice glared with intensity at her palm, "You have been cursed, I suppose." She shrugged, informing with a matter of fact tone, revealing a dark trail of smoke coming from her hand.
The maid lowered her vision to the cloud of smoke coming from her hand in shock, seeing the visualization of the curse after clearing out her teary eyes with her other sleeve, she proceeded to glance back at Subaru in desperate questioning, clueless of what to believe in anymore.
Beatrice, seeing the maid's look, turned around to see what had brought her attention in such a situation. Both of them noticed the shocked stare of Subaru, who suddenly yelled along with his spirit, "It was the damn dog!?"
Calming down from her emotional rollercoaster, Rem remembered at his exclamation that indeed, the dog bite hadn't healed since it was inflicted, but she was too focused on Subaru's...intentions that she just shrugged it off for later.
Wanting more information, the armored spirit asked, "What type of curse is it?"
Going back to observe the blue haired girl curse, Beatrice answered without looking, "Is a debilitating curse, most likely she will be dead by morning if fate is kind to her, in fact."
Rem's eyes dulled into opaque at her sentence being declared, after so much mental stress in such a small time her knees gave out, plummeting her knees to the ground alongside the dropped morningstar.
"Hey, hey, hold on!" Bellowed Subaru, gaining the attention of the room, "We read about them a few days ago, wouldn't it be able to be dispelled if...If the curse is not active!" He accompanied the last remembrance with a snap of his fingers.
"Do you want to...!? Of course you want to." Vega ended up interrupting himself, of course the fool would forgive her so swiftly without hesitance, he shouldn't be surprised at this point. He paid attention to the defeated maid's eyes who had raised her eyes to him, and his mind traced the beginning of an idea.
The defeated maid's eyes blinked in bafflement at him, incapable of comprehending why he was trying to save her after what just happened. But before she could utter a sound, the vocal Great Spirit in the room dashed her hopes, "Correct, but it requires an adept mage for it and Betty is not in the mood to touch something so abhorrent. More so after you two making such a mess in Betty's room, I suppose." She scorned, more so after seeing the small crack in her previously pristine floor.
"Oh no, not after being so close!" He wailed, his mind rushing through anything that he hadn't used yet, but he had already used all he could to banter with.
"You owe me one for this" His internal voice spoke out of the sudden, "You probably are curious of how I am placed inside his body right?" Having gained the curiosity of the librarian he continued, "We don't know how, but I could try to explain some theories I have thought of and access to a non-invasive inspection." As much as he didn't want poking around in his insides, he felt this could be a nice token of faith and on the way maybe an examination would reveal more clues of his existence.
The young man was baffled at his companion's words, "You have always been pegging her as a big threat to us, why now-" But before he could question him further Beatrice spoke up.
"Now you want to save her pitiful self?" The librarian spoke with a questioning tone and a raised eyebrow, "How strange, in fact...Consider Betty's curiosity picked and the deal made, I suppose." She agreed, grabbing the visualization of the curse. While next to her, Rem's eyes brightened in appreciation.
With a tightening motion on her tiny fist, Beatrice crushed the curse with her small hand, freeing Rem of her impending doom. The moment the curse was lifted the wound began to heal itself, not leaving a trace of a mark behind after it finished, "Now, if you two finally made up and learned to communicate with one another, Betty wants her peace and quiet back, in fact."
"Wait!" Yelled Subaru, gaining the attention of the done with the day spirit and the shakily raising maid, his face in deep thought, "But if the dog bite cursed you, then that means..." Both him and Rem arrived at the conclusion at the same time, ""The children!""
With the newfound threat located, both of them rushed outside in a panic, before they managed to exit the library, Subaru turned back and called out, "I owe you one Beako!" and left the room just hearing from his back.
"Betty only wants answers..."
After leaving the library, both of them found themselves on the second floor of the mansion. Without missing a beat, they travelled all over the layout with haste seeking the other residents that they found together in the kitchen.
Emilia's sweet voice could be heard from the other end of the hallway, "Ram I'm sure I heard a commotion, and I can't find neither Rem nor Subaru."
"As I said, if truly there was a problem, Rem already should have taken care of..." She trailed off at hearing and later seeing the duo rushing through the kitchen's door, "Guys!/Sister!"
Seeing her dear sister in such an agitated state with tears in her eyes, Ram dashed over her and defensively placed herself between her and the guard, "What happened Rem?"
"Sister, Rem was cursed, but Lady Beatrice already took care of Rem, but that's not the problem-" She tried to explain but at that point Ram had already stopped hearing her out and turned angrily at the man on the door.
"How was she cursed?" Her voice was demanding and accusative.
Subaru, exhausted after such a rush, raised his hands, again, in defense, "Hey, don't go blaming me, it was the dog who bit Rem!"
At his explanation, Ram turned to her sister to confirm his version, receiving a nod for an answer she relaxed her posture.
At this point with the tension half-gone, Emilia chimed in the conversation after staring around trying to understand what was happening and pretty sure she had missed some context, "Are you both really alright? Puck once told me that curses were complicated to heal."
"We're fine but the children might not be, we need to hurry!" Subaru informed, he was so close to finally getting out of this looping hell, he was not going to mess up being so close to the end goal.
The half-elf's face went wide with concern, "The children? Are they in danger?"
"They are, the dog that cursed Rem was playing with the kids when we left, we should be moving now!" His agitated state increased his tone a notch.
Emilia brought a hand to her mouth in worry, "We must save them."
Rem interjected, doubting about something, "What if this is a distraction? The coincidence of an incident taking place while Lord Roswaal is not available is too high to not be intentional."
With his emotional status erratic, Subaru's answer was harsh, "Dammit I am not going to let the kids die if I can help it. This was too subtle to be a distraction, we weren't supposed to find it. If I need to go alone then so be it!"
Ram shook her head at his plan, "Hold on Barusu by contract as a guard of the mansion, you can't leave without permission, more so when it is in immediate danger, and Lady Emilia is too important to be risking herself in a wild chase"
He paled at that, what good was this set of tools he was given if he couldn't do anything, he couldn't let himself just stand around problems anymore, "There must be some loophole."
"There isn't. I checked the three times we have read it, Roswaal did his best to keep you here, in case of violation of clausure you are fired and to be thrown out of the mansion grounds with the clothes on your back" The last part was why he didn't really opposed the conditions, he in particular couldn't really bother to care about the rest of the inhabitants so getting fired was a win.
That was all Subaru had to hear, not even thinking of it he spoke, "Then I resi-!" Before he could turn those words into a reality, an pensive half-elf interrupted him.
"You can go" She interjected with a soft voice, ceasing all activity in the kitchen with all attention to her she explained, "I read Subaru's contract, Puck said it would aid me in learning how they are made and to pay attention to the words written. Technically because I am a royal candidate I am allowed to order you as my authority is equal as my employer"
Subaru's expression turned from a despair filled one to pure happiness in an instant, "Emilia-tan is truly an angel! I won't let down your trust"
"I know you won't." Was her gentle answer.
On the other side of the exchange the maids spoke among themselves, "Sister...Rem tried to..." She trailed off, her eyes moisting.
Ram closed her eyes after cleaning her eyes with her sleeve, "I know, I sensed it a while ago" Opening her eyes staring at Rem's ones, she continued, "I assume something happened that made you change your opinion at the last moment?" Another nod of acknowledgment told her enough, knowing her sister and what she would think if something happened, she ordered, "Go with him, make sure that pathetic excuse of a man doesn't drags Lord Roswaal name through the mud."
"Huh, you coming too Rem?" asked Subaru, hearing the last part of the conversation, Rem stared at Ram for a moment before turning to him and nodding, walking to him afterwards, "Just you wait, we will be back before you notice!"
"May the grace of the spirits be with you" Emilia sent as a prayer to his retreating back, hearing it Subaru just looked back and winked at her.
Running alongside the now more mentally stable Rem, Subaru took advantage of the silence to question Vega, "What was that before!?"
"In the long run it would be beneficial to us to know how our union works, just in case. And while I have my...grievances with the maid, you care for her for some reason. So two birds with one stone as the saying goes." The spirit half-lied as naturally as he absorbed mana from the atmosphere.
Having no reason to distrust the voice in his head, Subaru accepted the explanation with a grateful smile, "Thanks, really, I owe you one...Not usable to tell me to leave though." He finished with a grin.
"Wasn't going to." He answered with a slight content tone, while hiding a pang on his core.
Still on the silent journey, he glanced back at the maid who accompanied him. Her face was set in stone straight ahead. He was sure she was avoiding him but didn't know how to confront someone who just tried to kill him just a while ago, it's not like he had taken it to heart, but it still was an awkward topic to talk about.
"Still I must apologize," Continued Vega, shaking Subaru out of his thoughts, "It was my duty to be vigilant for the threat. It could have cursed you just then and I would have been none the wiser, I failed." Subaru could feel his anguished state and how he was beating himself up for something he didn't have a chance against.
Not wanting to keep his friend in that state, he shook him off mentally, "Oi, quit that. It tricked all of us and at least no one was hurt or worse. We just need to take care of it and everything will be over, it was no one's fault." While he could feel it hadn't quite gotten through, his companion was a bit more stable after the comfort words, and kept silent for now.
Reaching the midpoint of the journey, the voice of Rem made him slow his pace, "Subaru?" Her asking tone made him take a look at her, while at a fast glance she kept as before, focused on the journey, her eyes now showed another story, looking downright miserable, "Are you really comfortable with Rem accompanying you?"
Puzzled at her question he answered with another question, "Huh? Why wouldn't I?"
"...You really are something else aren't you?" Spoke Vega with a hint of astonishment, he may only have a few weeks worth of memories but even he could clearly see the ridiculousness that had happened.
"How couldn't you? Didn't you see? Rem attempted to murder you for crying out loud!" She almost screamed with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
He stopped his walking, making her halt too so not to crash into him, with an exhale he turned the rest of his body to her, "I know, I was there" He smiled carefree at her, trying to insert levity into the situation.
"H-how can you say that so lightly!? Don't you value your life? How can you possibly trust Rem after she-"
His hand chopped the top of her head to silence her, like he would do to chastise a child, "Yeah, that was scary for a moment, but it's okay. I didn't end up getting hurt, so I can forgive you."
"But Rem-" She was cut off by the sound of yelling from the village. Both of them stared at each other for a second wide eyed and then rushed the last stretch of the journey as fast as they could.
Well, as fast as he could. It was soon noticeable that Rem was holding back to keep pace with him. He went to tell her to rush ahead of him, then remembered what he had learned in the week.
Sensing the mana channeling from Subaru, Vega deduced what was his intention, "...That should be enough, more and we risk having low reserves if there is a threat."
"Murak!" He chanted, his speed duplicating with no effort on his part, risking a glance back, he saw Rem keeping pace with ease, leaving clouds of dust behind her footsteps.
"Dang, I need to learn how she has such a high grade speed boost stat, remind me to ask her later." He inquired, with Vega accepting it, also curious about it.
With their new established velocity they arrived at the village just as the sun set, the entire main plaza filled with groups of townsfolk running around searching for something. Rushing to one of the townsfolk and gaining the attention of the entire place in the process, with the focus on her Rem questioned, "What happened?"
The interrogated man was surprised at their presence, not expecting the mansion residents to be around at such a late hour, shaking off his confusion he answered, "Y-Yes, we just found out that the children have gone missing, they were playing before it got dark but they never came back-"
Subaru interjected in the conversation, "Tell them to stop searching here" Saying that, he went for a sprint in the direction of the forest, yelling back "The kids have to be in the forest!"
"How can you be so sure of it?" Vega asked, curious about his sudden reasoning.
Rem caught up with him in a moment, unknowingly asking the same question, "What makes you believe that?"
"I can assume, no! I can tell. If the dog is the culprit..." He trailed off reaching the edge of the forest.
At the edge of it, there were a series of green lights attached to some of the trees, forming what he assumed was a circle around the village. The part that had gained their attention had one which was turned off.
Rem gained a worried expression after seeing the non-functional light, "The barrier has been severed!"
"I assume that's bad news?" Subaru quizzed with a slight head tilt.
Looking at him, she clarified for him, "Without the barrier, mabeasts can cross whenever they want...And the forest is the home of the mabeasts" Her words made him close his eyes in acceptance.
Knowing what he needed to do, Subaru took a deep breath to calm himself, it was definitely a different feeling than what he got used to every time his life was in danger in the short time he had been in this world. He was always on the receiving end, he was reacting to danger and doing his best to survive. But for the first time, he was walking into danger fully aware of it with no way to evade it.
A comfortable bubbling feeling in his chest made him remember that at worst, he would never be alone. In some way that brought him the calm he so desperately was searching for. With his resolve restored he began walking inside the woods, drawing a gasp from Rem, "You are not going to try to stop me?"
With a sigh, the spirit answered, "This week I may have realized that would be a foolish and unattainable endeavor, even more so after seeing what happened twenty minutes ago. Best I can do is try to make sure you get out of this as uninjured as possible."
He smirked in response, but another outburst from Rem stopped him on his tracks, "Why!? Why go so far for people you barely know of!? You will be overwhelmingly outnumbered! You could die! It is not even your responsibility! Your contract only speaks of the mansion and its residents, not the villagers!"
He slowly turned his head to stare directly at her eyes, "Why does it need to be a responsibility?" Her eyes snapped open at his conviction, but he continued on relentlessly, "Yes, they are annoying, they are loud, they are rude!" The way he was speaking of them was only confusing the blue haired girl further, "But if I can help them, why do I need a reason that is not simply wanting to? Furthermore..." And then he pointed at the sky in the posture that he used every time he finished his exercises, "I promised I would do Calisthenics with them tomorrow! And I will not break that promise"
"I won't blame you, if you want to come back and update them on what happened do it. But I am going in" Not looking at her further, he went to take the first step into the unknown when a sigh came from Rem's direction
"I guess it cannot be helped" She popped from the corner of his vision, with a small smile and a drying tear on her face, "After all, Rem was assigned the duty of watch over you, looks like she is required to accompany you"
"I guess you are not wrong" He said while scratching under his nose, "Keep a close eye on me, I have a knack of getting in trouble easily."
"Rem will." She spoke reaffirming him of her stance.
It felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulder, knowing that they finally have made peace with each other and on top of that, it reduced his nerves of going to the forest knowing he will not be alone, he went to thank her for accompanying him but a recognizable thud made him freeze.
Robotically turning his head to her, he saw her now holding her weapon of choice, her morningstar, "Err, Rem? Why bring that out-"
"It's for self-defence." She cut him off with an innocent tone that didn't fit her actual image.
"Y-yeah but..." Without thinking he tried to distance himself from the weapon, but she placed her hand on his arm
"Trust Rem, it's for self-defense." Her eyes informing him of her truthfulness
"Sure it wasn't for self-defense half an hour ago but I will let it pass." Vega softly murmured to himself, mostly to vent a little of his earlier frustrations. Seeing that his Creator forgot about it he willed the helmet to appear over his head.
Taking his sudden slight change of perspective without a hiccup, Subaru once again steeled his gaze into the depths of the forest, unslinging his repeater he exclaimed, "Let's go Rem!"
"Yes, let's!" With her affirmation, both of them strode into the shrouded depths of the forest.
On the first few minutes of their journey it was made painfully obvious that their progress would be slow, the woods being too dense for fast and careful movement, even the small path that existed was too narrow forcing them to stick close together. With the sun having settled, darkness took over the entire place, had it not been for Vega he would be almost as blind as a bat, in some way he worried about Rem, but the maid didn't show any impairment from the lack of vision, another thing that confused the hell out of him about her.
He was about to summon one of his spirits to explore ahead when Rem caught his elbow in a tight grip, and spoke with a tone so soft that he had to strain himself to hear it, "Rem smells mabeasts nearby, Ulgarms"
He paused his march at her warning, "An ambush encounter eh? How underhanded." Having thought that, he lowered his stance to a high crouch, a subtle shift of chains on his side telling him that she was getting ready too, "On your right, they are slowly creeping on us."
His movement was minimal, not wanting to startle the beasts, he managed to get a glimpse of a dog-like tail sliding behind a wide tree. Taking a deep breath he took aim in their direction, and carefully placed his index in the trigger, "Is it just one?" He asked, keeping the same low tone.
Rem shook her head in an almost imperceptible way, a second after he saw a few more silhouettes dispersed through the small area, "I deal with the left side, you with the right one." He ordered, not wanting to risk crossfiring her.
Before they could continue their quiet exchange, the mabeasts began closing in, in reaction to this event his index applied a slight pressure on the trigger, ready any time for the eventual resolution. He could hear Vega barking orders to the other spirits but his focus made him unable to process what he had said.
The moment he saw the muscles of one of them tense in preparation, he pulled the trigger all the way down, turning the dark woodland intermittently alight. Alongside him Rem sprang into action, heaving her weapon into an unseen part of the underbrush.
A whine of pain confirmed that his aim was true, but before he could feel pride in that, one of them pounced out of the bushes right at him, he tried to relocate the barrel, when a slice of wind cut the neck of the beast, its body sliding up to his feet motionless coating his boots slick in blood.
Silence took domain between the trees, "No more targets remaining!" Informed his spirit, letting Subaru release his breath out of relief, the exchange being short but tense.
He glanced at the maid, observing her spiked ball drenched in blood and mud, because of his position he could only wonder how the mabeasts looked, a small blessing considering the brutal nature of the weapon.
He went to lower his weapon when his eyes hyper focused in movement behind the maid, who had gazed at him to check if he was okay. From her back a mabeast had pounced at her unprotected side, "Re-!"
Barely hearing the word of warning, the maid turned around and threw a brutal uppercut on the jaw of the beast, snapping its neck without any effort from her part. Well, the last part was what he had predicted, the final result was more brutal, with the uppercut tearing off the head of the beast from its body.
"...Now there are no more targets remaining." Vega corrected himself, cursing his miscalculation.
The girl nonchalantly swiped her hand to clean it of the small droplets of blood that fell into it, after checking that the danger had passed she went to resume the search when she glimpsed at Subaru's helmet staring straight at her unmoving.
"...You are like, way too strong!" He exclaimed out of the sudden, being very glad he never got in the receiving end of her mean punch.
"Are those words to say to a girl Subaru?" She deadpanned in response.
He smiled at the banter, and while crouching on the body of the beast his spirit had killed he commented, "It was a compliment, one day you guys need to tell me how you use magic to hit so hard, I am envious."
She tilted her head in confusion, "Rem barely uses mana enhancement." But alas it went unheard to her target, who was checking the body of the mabeast with curiosity.
"It looks like a mix between a wolf and a doberman?" Out of interest he inspected their anatomy, they had dense black and brown fur, overall the body of a wolf back on his world, but the focus of his curiosity was the horn that protruded from their heads.
"The body looks robust, but not enough to hinder our projectiles, upper body hits should be enough." Seeing Subaru moving to their teeth, he added, "Hopefully the armor can take those canines, but don't take it as a test!"
With his curiosity satisfied he stood up, and saw Rem sniffing the air, which instantly got him nervous by conditioning. After a deep breath he went to check if she was okay when she spoke up looking side to side, "Rem smells something alive."
He raised up his weapon once again, "More of them?"
She shook her head, "No, there is no witch smell from that direction." With that said she began walking following it.
Following her, Subaru groaned in annoyance, "Again with the witch stuff, I have heard enough of her this week for a lifetime"
She stared at him awkwardly, "This may be why they ambushed us so quickly. They are attracted to the smell."
Subaru sighed aloud, "Of course they do...Wait, am I a liability here!?" He realized mid-complain.
"No, they were to find Rem sooner or later if she were by herself, your presence only hastened it." She spoke reassuringly and then she took a hard look in front of her, "Is right in front of us."
"Let's go" He said and began running in the indicated direction, breaching through some bushes he found himself in an open field, and right in the middle...
"The kids! Rem here they are!" Yelled Subaru, informing the maid of her success, not letting her time to catch up he kept his pace at their prone bodies.
"Sure, rush into the center of an open field, this doesn't scream trap at all!" His lack of thought just irked the spirit to his nerves, "Spirits disperse and if you see something tell me." Which was followed by the specks of light spreading themselves around the zone.
He heard his companion, but if it was indeed a trap, it was too late to turn back. By the time he had slided to one of them, Rem was already at his side, "They are alive, but heavily debilitated." She said after seeing several of them having problems even breathing and checking them up with her healing magic.
"The curse?" He questioned, receiving a nod for an answer.
"Rem is not skilled enough to lift the curse, but her healing magic should alleviate the pain." Her face scrunched in effort and concentration.
"Healing magic?" Seeing that it could soothe the kids, he recalled his water spirit to aid in the work, "Stay with them until they get healed okay?" Which was answered by a nod.
He wondered if he could summon more of them for their comfort, but Vega interjected dispelling the idea, "Not advised, the concentration of spirits could be noticeable from far away. On top of that, the fee for the spirits would leave us dry for a short time."
Out of ideas to aid them he ended up crouching awkwardly for a while until he got tired of waiting around, he went to stand up to patrol the area meanwhile when he noticed someone missing, "Where's Petra and the other girl?"
A rasp made him look back at one of the kids, where he observed a familiar kid straining himself, lowering himself once again he comforted him, "Hey, rest easy Lucas, you all will be fine."
The kid in question pointed in the direction of a small trail while trying to form words but he ended up choking every time.
"They went that way?" The boy made a weak nod in response, "Thank you Lucas, rest now, we will deal with the rest." Placing him in a comfortable position, Subaru stood up ready to walk into the direction given.
Seeing his intentions, the maid went to stop his foolishness, "Wait! If the Ulgarms took them, then is hopele-"
He turned right to her, interrupting her in the process, "I know that's a possibility! But if there's just a small chance I will take it with both of my hands."
"You are way too greedy! If you try to hold everything, you'll end up dropping it all" The girl tried to argue with him, keeping the same analogy.
"And that's why I depend on you Rem." His answer surprised Rem, who stared questiongly, "I really don't have to choose don't I? The villagers should arrive any moment now, once they are safe you can come back for me if you wish, the spirit can stay with the kids."
Rem was still unconvinced, "You don't know how many of them there are, you could get overwhelmed and there is no telling when they will arrive, Rem may not find you by then" It was her final plea to keep him out of danger.
"It's alright, I have a constant locator don't I?" He teased while touching the area around his nose.
He could observe her trying real hard to suppress her emotional reaction, "Lady Beatrice already said it but R-Rem wants to make sure. Y-You really didn't knew anything about it?" Her voice turned shakier as the words rolled off her tongue.
Feeling saddened at the state the girl was because of his slothfulness he broke eye contact with her, and while looking at the starry sky answered as honest as he could, "Not a clue, I was thrown here without any kind of guide, truly a massive oversight by whoever is up there"
Having said that, he lowered his eyes to her once again, observing her quivering lips and not wanting to leave her like that he crouched to be at eye level with her and while ordering Vega to retract his gauntlet, interlaced their pinkies together much to her surprise, "Let's make a deal, when we come back to the mansion, let's talk. Talk until our throats are sore and dry, talk until we both understand each other, is that alright with you?"
He received a small pitiful nod as an answer, the moment they separated their fingers Rem asked while staring at her pinky, "What did you just...?"
"Is a form of promise from where I am from, it will guarantee that whoever breaks it will get a thousand needles stuck into them!" His tone playful and childish, "So meanwhile, smile and laugh like a demon, Rem!" He repeated the words he said in what felt like a lifetime ago, remembering the positive impact it made on her that time.
Her eyes widened as he expected, her head tilting cutely while she repeated the words, "Smile and laugh...like a demon?"
"Yes, lately it has become a favourite say of mine" He stood up ready to continue his quest, just before he ventured forth he told her, "Don't worry about me, today I am demonically inspired!" With that said he ran down the path, getting out of view of Rem.
In all this exchange, Vega had kept as a silent but observing watcher, keeping his thoughts to himself.
Not even a few minutes following the direction, and he already had his doubts, "Sure Subaru, walk alone underleveled in a wild area, leaving your only party member behind, what a wonderful idea! Is not like you have heard, don't split the party dozens of times by now. Any moment now one of them is going to pop out of the bushes with a warning of Wild ULGARM appe-!"
His artificial spirit voice cut him off before he could unknowingly raise his voice a bit too high, "While I understand your ramblings help deal with your nerves. You really should be focusing right now, this screams t-"
Subaru finished what he was saying, "Trap. I know, it makes no sense for an animal to drag just a few of them out." He contemplated, but not getting any idea of what it could be, "I assume you don't approve of rescuing them?"
"I haven't been approving since the first step in the forest. Let's get this d-" His complaint got cut off by a nearby low growl.
"Where?" Subaru thought, looking desperately side to side, before he could locate the source of the noise, he felt a heavy blow on his back which almost knocked the wind out of him, letting his body fall forward in a roll, he incidentally threw the beast in front of him.
The ambushing Ulgarm slided on the mud, rolled over and stared full of hate at Subaru, the monster in question roared at the metal coated man in a try of intimidation, and got shot in the head for its trouble, its body standing still for a fraction and then falling without life.
Lowering his repeater at the same time the beast fell, he mentally commanded, seeing some type of warning on his helmet, "Vega, status report?"
"Good news, it seems that their bite is not strong enough to directly pierce our main layer of armor." A hint of pride on his voice at the confirmation of his natural resilience.
A quick glance to his shoulder confirmed it, only a superficial gash in the shoulder pad showing the attack results, "Why do I feel there is bad news too?"
Several more low growls reverberated through the foliage, "Those are the bad news, more are incoming."
"Fantastic!" He snarked, looking side to side he realized he was about to be surrounded, so he proceeded with the first idea he had. A quick Murak chant followed by a leap and he was bailing out that trap.
Touching ground he risked a glance behind him, and saw several Ulgarms crashing between themselves confused, with a quick sniff all of them relocated his position and prepared for a sprint.
"I recommend immediate retaliation!" Advised his companion, to take advantage of their unwarded state.
He raised his repeater downrange, controlling his breathing he fired in controlled bursts to conserve his mana. The first barrage went wide, not even singing the hair of the beast fired at, from his side a fireball barreled towards the group hitting deadcenter into one of them stopping it on its tracks.
Lowering his aim a bit, Subaru fired another salvo, striking true this time with the several bolts of light blowing chunks of meat off another of them. On top of him a blade of wind flew at the two remaining mabeasts, but its timing was poor. The beasts who were already close enough, tensed their hind legs and pounced upon their target, making the slash pass right below them.
Surprised, he had another of his focus moments, point firing one handed he shot the stomach of the right one, while placing his left arm in the trajectory of the other one to serve as protection.
Not that it was needed, just before the beast could snatch his arm, a pillar of earth bursted through the ground, slamming its mouth shut accompanied with the sound of bones shattering.
He stood alert for a brief moment before relaxing a little, "Thank you guys" The little specks of light bouncing around at the job well done, well except air who stood dejected on the side.
"How strange." Murmured Vega absentmindedly, deep in thought.
Wondering what had caught his attention, Subaru asked, "What is strange?"
Shaking off his deep thought, the spirit explained his theory, "They had no self preservation instincts, like they were mindless puppets…an animal like this wouldn't prosper with that attitude, they act like they are being ordered."
"Well, I suppose if they are similar to wolves one could tame thes-"
A whimper interrupted their conversation, glancing back he observed the before knocked out mabeast trying to drag itself to him in an act of desperation. Before he could respond or do anything about it, a fireball from his fire spirit incinerated the beast, silencing it.
Seeing the fire spirit gloat before the other spirits at its superior kill count, Subaru stood awkwardly not knowing what to do, "Why do I feel like we're raising a monster?"
"Focusing on the search now, worrying about pyromaniac spirit in the making later" Vega refocused him, but took note of his concerns for later. Hopefully just being part of their nature.
Taking his input, he left the problem for another day. He recalled his spirits and proceeded with the trek, which soonish became a bifurcation, "Oh fantastic! A multiple path route, let's see. Eeny, meeny, miny, mo-"
"Right front." Interjected the spirit, ignoring all together the routes presented.
"Huh? How are you so sure?" He questioned, curious why he had decided on such a course.
"Look at the ground." Vega said with total confidence.
Obeying the comment, he stared at it for a second seeing multiple recent paw marks everywhere, he was going to give up and ask him until he noticed the detail mentioned, "Why are some deeper? Why would some of them be...heavier!"
Without saying any more words after catching up the reason, he began following them, first walking and slowly accelerating with every step, "They are close, hold on a bit more"
He followed the tracks, sprinting through the woods as every second counted since he didn't know when it'd be too late. It wasn't long before they faded amidst the underbrush, the vegetation being too dense to follow it in any reasonable timeline, "No no! I was so close" He started panicking at the thought of having everything slip through his fingers at the moment of truth.
Out of options he chose desperation and with a quick casting of Murak at full power he jumped straight up into the skies. Reaching a comfortable height and with now having an advantageous bird perspective Subaru searched for any kind of detail that would help him in his search, the wind moving him around but with assistance from his air spirit he maintained a stable enough position.
Not long passed before Vega's voice spoke up with a slight edge on it, "Warning, half of reserves remaining. Please get back to the ground, we will not survive a fall like this."
Dejectedly he went to change his mana output to have a slow fall, when he saw just a tad bit of movement from his periphery, "Wait is that...!?" Focusing on that spot he sweared he saw a small bit of orange coloring, like Petra's hair.
"Throw me!" He commanded his air spirit. Sensing their bafflement he insisted, "I don't have enough mana to float there, use your air to blast me there!"
"Wait a se-!"
The air spirit obeyed with a shrug, placing itself behind Subaru it casted the strongest gust of wind it was capable of, sending Subaru spiralling to the ground, "Would you think things through for once!?" Screamed Vega, expending the rest of their mana to slow him down to survivable speeds.
A feeling of exhaustion overtook Subaru, but he pushed through it just before he felt his body locking up like in the loot house. Hitting the ground like a rock on water, he bounced several times before he could lose all his momentum, "Uhh, I regret everything." He complained on the ground, his entire body feeling like a huge bruise.
"You are so lucky the suit is padded on the inside." His companion mentioned while warnings flashed in his helmet informing him of his utter lack of mana reserve.
Finally recovering control of his body he stood up, and found himself face to face with a snarling Ulgarm, who had two familiar figures on its back.
He thought of unholstering his handgun, with that crash the repeater was probably broken again anyways, but he didn't want to hurt any of its passengers. Both the beast and him stood in a stare duel awaiting the other movements, "Any idea how not to hurt them?"
"It would be easier had you not jumped right into it!" As annoyed as he was, he still had work to do and planned on the spot already with an idea.
From his position he could hear with pure clarity the labored breathing from Petra, he was not overly sure with how the curse worked, so he wanted to minimize her movements, "Let's strike a deal, you release them, and I let you go away?"
"One of these days this tactic is not going to work." Vega complained, annoyed that in some way, it was still working with a mindless beast.
His only response was a beastly growl, "Figures, well at least I distracted you long enough for them to do their magic, hit it!"
The Ulgarm didn't know what hit him, a gust of wind threw it off balance dropping to the ground its cargo which was softened by a lump of dirt, the beast in question was finished by another fiery projectile on its neck killing it in a moment.
He fist bumped seeing the success, "Yeah! I am loving this sync kills, you guys are getting a raise!" Subaru yelled with excitement.
While the spirits bounced happily at the news in the background, he closed on the two kidnapped kids, lowering his helmet to make it clear it was him, he comforted them, "Hey everything will be fine now, we are getting you two out of here"
Vega chimed with uneasiness, "Hurry up, something is amiss here." If this truly was a trap, where was it?
Petra looked downright miserable, had it not been for her eye movement,he could have assumed with ease that she was dead, "Su...Baru...S...She" She tried to rasp out something but she could barely speak.
Assuming what she meant, he reassured her, "Is okay Petra, she should also be okay" Letting her rest and missing her trying to ke, she went over to the other girl, who he still didn't know her name for some reason, and checked her over.
Turning her around, one detail was apparent, "...She looks fine?...!" Spoke Vega with Subaru agreeing with the same amount of confusion, connecting dots on his mind, he went to warn him when the girl struck.
Subaru just saw a glint of steel and reacted without any inner thought, next thing he knew, he was on his back on the dirt, while a burning sensation on his cheek clued him of what almost happened, he lifted himself up in a jump, to see the traitorous child holding Petra's cursed body hostage with a knife placed on her neck.
"You sureee are persistent!" The child said, her demeanor doing a one-eighty from his impression of her since the beginning, "I hoped to lose all of you in the forest, but it looks like I did well having a back up plan" She commented with a childish annoyed tone.
He went to place his hand on his holster by reaction but the kid waved the knife threateningly, "No, no no, big sis alreeeady told me of your toyyyy"
"Your sister?" Asked Subaru absentmindedly, still trying to comprehend what just happened.
"Oops, I already said too muchhh, that wonnn't do. If you give up I will make your end painfull- erm I mean painless!" She corrected herself mid-talk, not dropping the child-like voice at all.
Shaking off his shock of such an innocent looking child acting with so much cruelty, he asked, trying to gain time, "Why are you doing this?
"Petra stole one of my dolls! And that's what meanies do!" She started whipping around her knife in the air angrily in reaction.
A quick interjection came on his ear, "I hope that it is unnecessary to explain that she is lying. Keep her talking" Which was followed by some orders to the other spirits.
Doing his best, he continued the stalling procedure once again, "Well that was not nice of her doesn't it? But I think you may have overreacted a bit"
"You thiiiink so?" Her face pensive for a second before she pressed the edge of the knife once again on Petra's neck, "Well If she apologizes I may forgive her!"
"Yes she would! But I think with her being cursed would make it hard, what if you let her go, and after we heal her, she can then apologize"
"...I agree, it would be the best." She released the knife from her throat and in the process let the girl fall to the floor, making Subaru blink in surprise and confusion, but before he could say something the dark-blue haired girl spoke again, "By the way, Big sis told me of your stalling stunt too, so I prepared accordingly" Following her chilling comment, growls filled the entire area around him and one of the monsters appeared from the shadows placing itself by her side.
Having confirmed the threat, Vega spoke with haste and panic, "Crap! We've been played! We have contacts...Everywhere!" Red eyes appeared all around him, no place lacking their menacing presence.
With a tilt of his head he manifested his helmet on, its low-light vision showing how utterly outnumbered he was, "We are so dead" He thought with dread, sinking in how much he had messed up.
With a snap of her fingers, the girl sealed his fate, fast movement from his side him made him react by instinct turning to see the threat, by the time he had finished turning around he saw three of the Ulgarms mid-air ready to tear him apart on the ground, faint burst of colour showing his spirits engaging several targets around him but no one ready to save him from this.
He didn't even had time to raise his arm to one of them, falling into despair, he was about to close his eyes in acceptance when a uncomfortably familiar sound brought him back, with only a blink after such a sound, the three mabeasts who were ready to tear him apart, were nowhere to be seen only splatters of blood and a single metallic chain in the way.
A thud on his side revealed his savior, the blue haired maid crouching by his side, absorbing a fall, he could see that her uniform had a few cuts in it like she had her fair bit of fight too. In a fluid movement her palm aimed at the assassin's direction followed by a single word, "Huma!" And a single spike of ice flew directly to her, which would have skewered her had it not been for her side Ulgarm taking the hit for her.
The little girl reacted with a hmph of irritation and threw herself into the dark depths of the forest, disappearing from sight not to be seen again for the night.
Without a wasted thought, Subaru went running over Petra's dropped body and lifted her up to his shoulder, while Rem's voice spoke to him with occasional smashes of her morningstar, "Rem apologizes for her delay! Some mabeasts attacked and she had to stay and protect the villagers''
He nodded at her, with a smile that went unseen, "Your timing was perfect for a dramatic entrance! Let's get out of here!" Which was agreed by all present, seeing the circle of beasts closing them off, he had an idea, "How high can you jump!?"
Seeing his plan, she answered with affirmation, "Rem should be capable of jumping over all of them with relative ease!"
With a daredevil smile he ordered, "Then guide us over to the village, we'll be right behind you, Murak!"
The maid had already prepared their escape while he was mid-sentence, easily clearing the ambush in a jump, which was then followed by Subaru tracing her footsteps seconds after he regrouped his spirits.
After a few leaps, they noticed that even at their increased pace, the beasts were still in hot pursuit. With his half-recovered mana reserves dwindling at alarming speeds he yelled, "How far is the village again!?"
Glancing back at him, Rem tried to answer, "Is still far away! We are too deep in the for-!" In her distraction she missed a large boulder flying in a direct intersection course with her.
"Look out!" He managed to howl, sadly in vain. His eyes staring in horror at the boulder hitting the blindsided Rem dead center, flinging her body into the ground without clemency, her mangled body stayed still the moment it stopped bouncing around.
Landing some distance behind her body Subaru felt his knees wanting to give up, "No no no" Had he not unnecessarily asked she would still be...
"Mourn later, pick her up and keep runn...Mana absorption detected in her direction. She is still alive!?" The moment he ended saying the last bit of information a bright pink horn appeared over her temple, which was followed by her opening her eyes, a dangerous glint in them warning him of the danger while her injuries began healing themselves.
He stood in shock at her miraculous recovery, and a bit of fear at the last time he saw her in that state, "She was unconscious at best, how did she...crap!" His train of thought derailed seeing several of the Ulgarms jumping over her prone body, he went to grab his handgun to cover her when the prone girl bursted into motion.
In a blink she had transitioned from her prone posture to punching one of the beasts through, with its motionless body stuck in her arm, she shifted around using its brethren corpse as a makeshift shield, their bites getting stuck in the meat of the body, afterwards she spun around and threw the body with the mabeasts attached with all her might against the nearest tree, splattering them against it with no hope of survival.
Subaru took a step back in horror at the brutality he had witnessed, he was pretty sure that if it had not been for Vega's helmet he would be puking by the smell. More mabeasts kept jumping at her from all sides and she just kept murdering them mindlessly while laughing.
"Sir, I don't believe her horn is a mage thing." Vega deduced with horrifying implications. Sensing his desire to help her he spoke once again, "Don't, she is a mindless beast right now, we will get caught in the crossfire"
It hurt Subaru, but he was right, Rem was laughing and smashing without any care about her surroundings, only slaughter on her mind, her attacks forcing him to cover Petra as best as he could, so she could not be hit by any stray shrapnel. His mind filled by indecision until he observed the puppy who had begun all this mess on top of a small elevation of ground, the puppy in question staring at Rem began channeling his mana and from his feet a massive landslide of dirt traveled at high speeds at Rem, the temporarily insane girl oblivious to it...and to the nearby cliff on the other side.
His feet moved without thought, even faster after he mumbled out a now familiar chanting, with his enhanced speed he tackled the girl out of the way while handing her Petra's unconscious body in the process. Her eyes recovered the bright of intellect behind them mid-fall and staring in horror at him.
"Save yourselves." He managed to rasp to her, with all his momentum passed to the girl he found himself in her previous position, right in the path of the landslide which hit him at full strength, his Murak affected body sending him flying without control down the precipice far away out of reach, only Vega's panicked voice and Rem's screams accompanying him to the bottom.
Until all went dark.