Chapter 7:
The young man found himself in an ethereal plane.
It was dark, and black shadowy mist floated around.
He had no form.
Only his consciousness floated about within the dark.
He began to feel a strange warmth coming from something within the darkness.
He wished he could see what it was coming from.
With that wish, he found that he could see — eyes had been formed from his wish.
He laid his eyes upon a shadowy feminine figure far far away in the void.
The warmth undeniably came from her.
Someone then spoke, he could hear it despite his lack of ears. It was soft.
"I cannot meet you. Not yet."
The black-haired young man once again was in the alleyway. "Ghk-"
The nausea of death was receding, yet despair still filled his heart. He slumped against the wall and looked out towards the street he had just died at. People walked past the alley, completely unaware of what he had just experienced. Subaru had grown used to the cold air that surrounded him. He was just staring down at the cold ground.
"I was incredibly close..."
"How many times does that make now…? Ten deaths?"
Ten times he had died in this city. Ten times Hans had directly or indirectly caused his death. Ten times had he felt the terror of death. Nine times more than anyone should die in their life. Death still terrified him. The man was just pushing all the terrible negative feelings deep down inside of himself and then bottling them up. He didn't have time to grieve over his death. He had to keep going, pushing forward and using his ability—Return by Death—to gain information that would eventually let him break free of this. No matter how long it took, no matter how many times he had to die.
The man sighed, readied his determination, and started walking out of the alley.
Subaru jumped to the side as he heard Hans running up to him. He had once again distracted the yellow-haired Youra long enough for Hans to attack. Everything went the same as last time. The man yelled something about his wife before he and Hans began truly fighting. They parried each other's strikes and dodged other ones. Hans got a couple of cuts on Youra before he stepped back, breathing heavily.
Youra jumped towards Hans and faked him out with a fake slash before kicking the murderer. Hans took a step back, and Youra kneed him in his abdomen before swinging his sword at the murderer. The sword was stopped by one of Hans' daggers, but not before digging deep into his arm.
The young man who was watching off to the side was occasionally glancing up at the roof the archer had perched on last time. She still wasn't there.
The yellow-haired Youra jumped to the side, avoiding a strike of Hans' dagger. Hans swung his leg at the man, hitting him hard. A crack was heard from those nearby as a few of his ribs cracked. Youra gasped, and Hans took the opportunity to stab his abdomen. He ripped the dagger out and stabbed it back into the man. He grabbed the dagger again, but the man pushed him away and stumbled back, dropping his sword. Crimson blood soaked his shirt.
Youra struggled to speak, "Hans… you... monster…"
He yelled as he leaped at Hans. He skillfully avoided the murderer's slashes and grabbed his neck. He squeezed, crushing the murderer's throat. The murderer stabbed his daggers into the yellow-haired Youra's arm, yet he just squeezed tighter. Then, an arrow flew down and stabbed into Hans' back, hitting right next to his spine. Hans' eyes filled with panic, and he opened his mouth. "Ful-" Subaru, who had been watching off to the side, ran over and delivered a strong punch to the murderer's jaw.
Hans swung his dagger at the black-haired young man, who dodged it. The murderer said, quick enough that Subaru couldn't do anything to stop him, "Fula."
Blood spurted out of the yellow-haired Youra's neck, which had been cut open by a magical blade of air. He released the murderer and fell to the ground. Hans turned to the young man.
"No!"
Subaru yelled this and he jumped away from the murderer's slash. Hans took a deep breath and looked at the woman on the roof. "El Fula."
Nearly instantly a blade of wind that seemingly couldn't be stopped by anything cut the woman in two. She fell down and rolled off of the roof, landing with a splat on the street, organs spilling out of her. Hans clutched his chest and grimaced in pain. "...How troublesome."
Hans turned to the young man. Desperation filled Subaru. If I just keep him here for a little while… then that boy will come and…
"H-hold on…" Subaru gulped, "Would you mind… at least telling me why you're doing this…?"
"I just…. Can't stand you."
"Why?! That isn't a reason to kill someone!"
"It's your... there's... miasma all around you. It isn't something a normal person should have."
"Wha…" He was baffled.
"Now, please let yourself die."
At that moment the murderer was kicked away by a teenage boy. He wore a jacket and cloth pants. He held two daggers.
Thank God.
The boy ran over towards the murderer.
The boy slashed his blades at the murderer.
And then, "Fula."
The boy's neck was cut open.
The murderer fell down, clutching his chest and gritting his teeth. "My… gate..."
Meanwhile, Subaru fell to his knees, his last hope in this loop dead.
He glared at the murderer.
However, Subaru didn't want to just accept his death.
And so, he stood up and ran.