"Even if you forget, I will always remember you..."
Such was the last thought of the madman in objective reality, before his very being left the burning capital and followed the sweet ringing of silver bells into the eternal embrace of the shadows, into that empty and lonely place where he had fallen tens, if not hundreds of thousands of times. To a place where such a disgusting arrogant sinner like himself belongs.
Once this man was called Natsuki Subaru, and once upon a time he consciously went down the wrong path of delusions straight into darkness for the sake of the good of the only person dear to him, in order to exalt its light against the background of the darkness of his own rotten soul. And now his bloody path over other people's heads has finally reached the finish line, its logical conclusion. Now everything is fine. His troublesome amber-coloured eyes were closed, and there was a satisfied smile on his face. The young man was lying on what felt like the finest pillow in the universe, and that something was clearly alive. However, Subaru was not up to it, because he finally received the long-awaited peace and was no longer able to think about something or do something. He had the right to succumb to idleness and rest.
Sob. Then another and another. «She shouldn't cry», runs through the mind of the madman, even if he didn't know who she was. This beautiful, incredible, bewitching, wonderful, ideal ... she is beloved.
The black-haired guy opens his eyes only after someone's gentle hand brushes a few strands off his forehead, after which he sees an angel ... or a real goddess. Above him hung such a familiar beautiful image, in the name of which he had been walking the path of bloody delusions for many decades. Although no, it was not her, just someone just as beautiful, looking at whose face his hardened heart began to beat much faster, and the blood rushed to his cheeks. The realization that his head rested on the thighs of this goddess almost turned his face into the ripest tomato, to which the beautiful half-elf only laughed so cleanly and loudly.
"Good morning, my beloved," proclaims the somewhat sad but happy ringing of bells.
"Good——…what? Beloved?" - unpleasant eyes widen in incomprehension, after which an analysis of the situation takes place in his head. It was definitely not Emilia in front of him, right, which means ... "You are Satella, right?"
He finally realized this only when the girl next to him called him her lover. Emilia did not know him and simply could not love the monster he became for her sake. Based on this disappointing conclusion, in front of him was the legendary Witch of Envy, an uncontrollable crazy creature that destroyed half the world 400 years ago - Satella. The one whose love and compassion he used to sow despair. The one he wanted to use against the greatest hero of the hateful, disgusting world he had abandoned. His reaper, his contractor, his personal guide to the world of the dead, who for some reason brought him back so many times. Some members of the Witch Cult referred to Subaru as the "Witch's lover", or said that the Witch's love for him was stronger than on the strongest and most devoted Archbishops of Sin. And now, looking at the true evil and the cause of the fears of many thousands of people, Natsuki couldn't help but agree with the statement above. He wanted to be there every second, to lie in this position, to wipe the tears from her pale pink cheeks, to always hold her hand, to kiss her, to possess her so that she was only him, proud that Satella loves only him and that he can love her in response, and——
"Exactly. The great and terrible Witch of Envy Satella!" The half-elf raised her hands menacingly over her champion, barely holding back her wonderful laugh, though there was still a hint of sadness in her ringing of silver bells. "Therefore, tremble, mister, because I am taking you to a dark and terrible place from which there is no way out!"
But then the former Sin Archbishop of Pride laughed, reluctantly rising from such attractive legs, staring at her and overpowering the just surging delusion. If the girl in front of him is a sinister witch, then he is a formidable good person. However, despite the happiness that filled his soul, Subaru felt that it was time for them to go somewhere. He didn't know exactly where, but Satella knew exactly where their final destination was, where they would spend eternity. Now that the archbishop's true love was left as the sole candidate for the royal throne of Lugunica and the hero who had officially destroyed the entire Witch Cult, the young man could move on. And Satella rises to her feet, feeling the readiness of her beloved to move on, after which she holds out her hand to him. The black-haired guy reaches for her, once again noting to himself that everything is finally over, however...
"Try even better," someone's shadow snatches it from under the nose of a beautiful lady so quickly that she barely has time to scream angrily at someone else's shadow. "Be diligent..."
After this mechanical furious voice in Subaru's eyes darkens and he loses consciousness. The last thing he saw was that the aforementioned Satella entered into battle with a shadow that inspires only fear and hatred, clearly not wanting to give the boy to her. But it didn't matter, he just had to try better. He just has to be... has to be diligent.
-*-*-*
Amber eyes open so abruptly that the rays of the bright sun bring not the most pleasant sensations. The boy's eyes darken, causing him to lean against the nearest tree and hastily duck into its shadow. He breathed in clean air, not yet polluted by the caustic, punishing flame. It could only mean one thing. Natsuki Subaru just...
"I returned by death. Again".
There was a real storm of thoughts in the boy's head, and the most frequent thought was "Why?" Why did he come back? Why isn't Lugunica on fire? Why are pleas for help not heard from everywhere, cries of pain, and why is the spirit of despair that he brought to the inhabitants of this country not felt in the air? And where the hell is his sinful body right now? Memory lapses were not uncommon for this cultist, given how many times he repeated his last day in a row. In order to bring pain to the Sword Saint alone, Subaru repeated the day of attacking the capital over a hundred thousand times. Only in order to see pain, suffering and hatred black as night on his face. And now all his efforts went down the drain, because he had no idea in what time period he had been thrown. He didn't know what cycle it was because he didn't remember a similar forest. He needed Meili. Her mabestias were somewhere around anyway and could lead to the blue-haired killer girl. And where Meili was, there was also Elsa, Blue, perhaps that gray-haired boy who could become his friend, and at least the annoying clown margrave with his eternal sing-along red-haired maid.
"I can return by death," the Archbishop says softly, to provoke the Witch's punishment and increase her scent, which summons all the monsters around.
But nothing happened. The cold hand invisible to everyone around him did not touch his heart, the shadows did not surround the space around to show him the dark silhouette of a woman, as happened from time to time when the annoying clown began to think aloud about Natsuki's ability to rewind time. Nothing usual happened, which means there was no one around. The guy sighs heavily. Now this place is his current save point, apparently, which means he should have been doing what Natsuki Subaru does best - intelligence and information gathering.
A black-haired boy in a shabby black and orange tracksuit is finally getting used to the still quite bright sunlight and steps out of the shadows. It seemed that it was a little after noon, which means that the peak of the heat and the light that burned out the eyes had already passed and it only remained to wait for this. According to Subaru's observation of the area, the forest was completely normal, such as in the sponsor's territory near the village of Arlam, which meant that no familiar dangers were expected, which was somewhat reassuring. Without his accomplices, Subaru is not the best fighter with great evil, although technically he was in good physical shape and quite flexible, but this did not make him sufficiently prepared for fights with the best of knights or the Archbishops of Sin. And his only real power is knowledge of the future with some conventions. In other words, now, in the current loop, Natsuki was not the personification of Pride, but the personification of terrifying futility. And what's more...
"When the hag said she scented that whore witch in the forest, the cool myself thought she was just insane or something, but as it turns out, you are wandering around here."
What's more, Subaru wasn't here alone now. Slowly, so as not to provoke a potential enemy ahead of time, the black-haired one turns 180 degrees to meet a somewhat overgrown young man in strange clothes, giving him a certain wildness. His angry green eyes collided with the cold amber of a boy in a tracksuit. Natsuki raises an eyebrow questioningly and points his finger at himself with a certain mockery, as if asking if the savage is talking about him now?
"It's the glorious "Myself" who's asking the questions here, not you, you fucking witch cultist! I give you one last chance to answer. Who are you and what the hell are you doing in a witch's tomb?!"
"Well...it's a long time."