Waking up, Subaru found himself surrounded by the fang of iron waiting for him to tell them the plan he had come up with to take down the Archbishop of Sloth Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti. Was that a dream? Who was that man? Why couldn't he remember his name? And why did he claim that Subaru had power? How could a failure like him hold anything of value?

"Nyan" and immediately after hearing that Subaru felt something wet tickling his left ear and whirled around to see Felix had bit down on his ear to snap him out of his reverie.

"Whaaa-Ferris what are you doing"

"You seemed to be spacing out so I wanted to snap you out of it-nyan"

"Oh is that so? I'll get back to the plan now. Do any of you know of magic that can take over someone's body?"

"I do believe there is a form of spirit arts that could do what you are describing, though I know not of how it is performed" responded Julius.

"Oh is that so? Well the archbishop can take over the bodies of his subordinates known as fingers and act from their bodies"

"So we'll just have ta crush his fingers as well then" called out one the fang of iron members with full confidence in the abilities of himself and his allies.

"There is another problem, I think it might work on me too, what do you think I should do?"

The ones present at this meeting couldn't help but gawk at the words Subaru just said.

The preparations for the underway when Felix approached Subaru who was staring at a sword in his hand as though he was boring a hole into it. It was a rather long katana, about six or seven inches more in length than a standard katana.

Subaru didn't know what to make of the blade in his hands. For one he had no idea when and how he had gotten it. He had simply realised he was holding onto it as though his life depended on it when he had gotten up after the meeting to devise a plan to take down sloth. But more importantly, the blade felt like it was part of him. It was like when he had met the old man, was this what he was talking about?

If so he wanted to toss the blade in his hands off the great waterfall, but he had to hold onto it. Rem had called him her hero and to live up to her words and be the hero she deserved, he would have to be strong. If trusting the man from his dreams meant he could be strong then he had no choice but to take his hand.

"Subaru-kyun" the demihuman boy called out.

"What is it, Ferris?"

"Where did you get the sword you're holding onto? It wasn't in Crusch-sama's caravans or with the fang of iron, and I'm fairly certain that none of the soldiers used a weapon so peculiar"

"It's not that important is it, we have an expedition to complete. We can't be wasting our time like this" Subaru desperately tried to deflect the issue at hand because he didn't know all the answers himself

This was a bit suspicious but Felix was willing to let it pass. Subaru had helped Wilhelm complete his dearest wish of avenging his wife and Crusch trusted Subaru. He wasn't going to strain their relationship over a piece of metal

The plan to take out the witches cult went smoothly. The fang of iron mercenaries and the soldiers from the Karsten house took out all the fingers while Subaru and Julius killed Betelgeuse. But Subaru had been informed that a bag of firestones had been planted in Emilia's carriage acting as an explosive and had to arrive in time so he could keep the inevitable explosion from harming Emilia and the kids.

Subaru wouldn't be able to make it on time no matter how fast he went ut salvation appeared in the form of a grey-haired merchant by the name of Otto. He agreed to take Subaru through a shortcut only he would know by asking the animals around him if Subaru agreed to take otto to see the margrave to negotiate a reward for helping save the royal candidate he sponsored.

Immediately the two took off into the forest and were making great process when they heard the sound of crashing trees. Subaru whirled around to see an enraged Petelguese crawling towards them using his unseen hands. His clothes were tattered to the point where it looked as though he wore nothing but a pair of torn-up shorts. His skin was peeling off leaving a few patches of muscle and bone visible, he was missing an arm and it looked as though he was crying tears of blood from his eyeless sockets.

"Just how persistent is this guy?"

"The love, the love, the witches love. How dare you violate it so? To so selfishly take the witches to love and not repay it is the epitome of sloth. YES YES YES, you are SLOTH, NATSUKI SUBARU!"

"Natsuki-san is something coming behind us?" asked a frightened otto

"Don't worry otto. It's just some big black animal. It has a wild voice and a scary face so you're better off not looking" Subaru responded with a brave face.

"You know that just makes me more curious"

"Forget it! JUST DRIVE!" turning back to face the madman Subaru asked him "just how many times will I have to play this level? What about you is slothful, you uselessly hard worker?"

"Witch, Satella, give me...Love! Love! Love! Love!"

"Will you look at me? I'm your opponent here. I won't let you get past me."

Subaru took the sword out of its sheath and held it steady. It felt perfect in his hands. Like it was made specifically to be wielded by him. The hilt was just the right size for his hands and the blade was perfectly balanced despite its oddly long length.

As the madman approached Subaru could feel fear build up in himself but he held steady. As the madman got closer one of his unseen hands shot toward Subaru and he had to put all his power into cutting it. He could not do it as effortlessly as Julius had done so but the hand dissipated nonetheless. Enraged by this Petelguese kept throwing more and more hands at Subaru but he kept deflecting and cutting them.

Subaru was flailing around with the blade. There was no technique in his swings but Petelguese being weakened as he was could not use the full potential of his abilities.

"Natsuki-san we are exiting the forest" came ottos voice from behind Subaru.

"Love! Love! Love! Love alone is EVERYTHING!"

Eventually, Petelguese got close enough for Subaru to touch with and he immediately swung his blade down with all the force he could muster. "I'm sorry I can't take you to where Emilia-tan is" He felt the sensation of cutting through flesh but there was something else his blade cut through. It didn't feel like anything that would be in a human body. It felt foreign. Like it was not supposed to be in this body. It was when he cut this foreign body was when Petelguese finally died.

Blood sprayed forth and the unseen hands faded as the madman's ranting finally ceased. The corpse of Petelguese fell away cut in two.

"This time stay asleep forever Peteguese"

Subaru turned around and had otto hurry up. He could not waste any more time in getting to Emilia.

"Natsuki-san look"

Subaru turned around to see a battlefield. It was a sea of corpses, witch cultists and Karsten soldiers alike were on the ground lifeless. The cultists were throwing balls of fire and knives at their opponents in a desperate attempt to break through the soldiers and make it to the carriages carrying the villagers to safety so they could complete the ordeal.

But the soldiers held steady and a certain old swordsman was dashing through the ranks of the cultists, killings them in quick succession with apparent ease.

It was when a Karsten soldier disappeared that Subaru noticed it. There were people on the battlefield that were disappearing at random. They had a chain attached to their chest and the end would glow a bright golden before being pulled taught and spirited away.

"Otto, what the fuck is happening to those people? How are they just disappearing?"

"What do you mean Natsuki-san? There is no one disappearing"

Subaru was confused by his words when he looked closer and noticed a peculiarity. Every time a man died someone identical would pop up with that chain on their chest before disappearing

"They're ghosts…"

"Huh, did you say something?"

"It's nothing keep driving" he then noticed a familiar old man rather close to their carriage. "Wilhelm-san where is Emilia-tan?"

Wilhelm looked up to see Subaru waving to catch his attention. "She is just up ahead, keep going straight" he then noticed a cultist taking aim at Subaru "this is a perfect chance to repay my debt. I won't let any of you get in the way of a man trying to meet his love" saying this he bisected the cultist.

Subaru looked ahead. He had to save Emilia or this whole operation would be for nothing.

Soon the carriage carrying Emilia came into view so Subaru hopped onto Patrache and raced toward the carriage. When he reached he ripped open the floorboard and took out the ouch of firestones hidden in it. He had gotten back onto Patrache when Emilia called out to him and asked "why? Why are you doing this?"

"Because I love you" with this response Subaru rode Patrache to the corpse of the white whale and threw the bag into it.

But they weren't able to make it that far when the Firestone detonated. Patrache shielded Subarus body from the brunt of the blast

Subarus consciousness waned for a few seconds but he managed to stay conscious for the most part. He looked over to Patrache and saw the burnt scales of the dragon that had shielded him.

"Patrache, oh no, please don't die!"

Subaru could make out the silhouette of a person coming over and when they were close enough he could make out the figure of Emilia

"Emilia, please heal Patrache!"

"Huh?" she voiced out her confusion but upon seeing the burnt body of the ground dragon next to Subaru she understood "oh alright" and began healing the ground dragon.

After a while, she had done all she could. She knew healing magic but she could heal only surface level wounds so she couldn't heal the ground dragon fully.

"Subaru I've done the best I can to heal her burns. She was burned pretty badly but her life wasn't in danger."

"Oh is that so, I'm glad she is ok. I honestly wouldn't have survived that blast had it not been for her. Hell I'm surprised I'm still conscious, I was sure I would be out like a light for hours"

"Mhm, I'm surprised you were able to amass such a large force for this evacuation. I'm surprised you were able to work with Julius, he was in the village as well laIt I saw."

"It was for reasons bluer than the mountains and taller than the seas Emilia-tan. I finally made it back. I felt like I was having a long dream. A terrible dream...maybe not"

"A good dream then?"

"No a good reality. Back then you asked me why...why I always saved you."

"You said it was because I saved you. But I've never been able to do something like that for you. It's always you who has been saving me. And then when you get hurt and say it was for my sake…"

"You know things had really gotten to my head back then. I was only thinking about myself. I said I was doing it all for you when I was really only drunk on the idea of doing it all for you. I believed that if I said it enough then it would be the truth. But I was wrong. Everything you said was correct. But I wasn't wrong about one thing. I want to save you. I want to help you and that's no lie. I say it from the bottom of my heart when I say I want to save you."

"Why?"

"Because I love you, Emilia. I love you with all my heart."

"But I'm a half-elf," Emilia cried out with tears starting to form in her eyes

"I know"

"I'm a silver-haired half-elf and a lot of people hate me because I look like the witch."

"I know. I saw that. They are all blind."

"I don't have a lot of experience with people so I'm pretty foolish and naive so I say some strange things sometimes. And the reason I want to become a ruler is really, really selfish"

"I don't care what anyone else says about you, I love you. I love you like crazy and if you say ten things you hate about yourself I will say two thousand things I love about you.

"Why two thousand?"

"Because just ten times over is not enough"

"This is the first time special treatment has made me so happy. I'm happy so so happy. I never thought there would come a day when someone would tell me that they love me. What should I do?"

"Don't stress over it. I'm not demanding an answer right now. And ill stay by your side always so I can catch you when you fall head over heels in love with me."

"Thank you, Subaru, for saving me" Emilia was letting her tears fall with no concern, her smile as wide as it could go from the joy she was feeling from the word Subaru said to her. She felt a palm on her cheek. Subaru wiped her tears with his fingers when Emilia grabbed hold of his hand and held it to her cheek and he was content to let it stay there.

After a few minutes, a group of soldiers arrived and carried Patrache off to Felix so the ground dragon could get further treatment." we really should get going now Emilia tan" and when Subaru said that the two got up to head toward the carriage when Subaru stumbled and nearly fell over due to exhaustion and the injuries he sustained through the white whale hunt and the subsequent operation to take down sloth.

"S-Subaru what's wrong?"

"It's nothing don't worry I'm just tired."

"Are you sure, I could carry you if you can't walk?"

"That would hurt my pride more than walking would"

"E-eh is that so, then at least let me help you walk" saying that Emilia draped his arm over her shoulder and supported him as he walked.

"Being this close to Emilia-tan is like a dream come true" there was a growing blush on the faces of both Emilia and Subaru as they headed toward the carriage.

A comfortable silence had descended on the carriage when Subaru decided to ask Emilia if she was ok with being in a polyamorous relationship with himself and Rem. It was difficult and embarrassing to get out but he did it.

"Subaru," Subaru displayed his anticipation for her answer and didn't even bother to hide it. "Who is Rem?"

With those words, Subaru's world was shattered again