Chapter 7:

Subaru woke up on the morning of the attack. He stared up at the ceiling. "Alright."

He pulled on the contract between him and Ceres in the back of his mind. The small spirit formed in front of him. Subaru looked at her. "Today is the day that person will attack."

[Ready!] She sent motivation through their contract.

Subaru sent back motivation as he got ready for the day.

Subaru sat opposite Amai. They were in the upper room again. Ceres glowed nearby. Subaru opened his mouth, "Could you teach us how to make a shield of ice or something similar today?"

Amai nodded, "Alright." The old man sighed, "Today is the day you requested to learn magic by."

Amai's gaze sharpened as he observed the man before him. "Are you sure you don't need any help for whatever this is?"

Subaru hesitated for a moment but nodded.

The old man's frown barely showed on his face as he stood up and began to teach Subaru.

And thus, Amai taught the two how to form a shield of ice. It was pretty much the same concept as Huma, forming mana together into a shape, only instead of a shard the mana is made of hexagons and laid out flat in the air.

The biggest problem was how long it took to cast. Huma took the two about two seconds to form, but this shield took around three seconds.

Subaru asked Amai about increasing the speed of the formation process, but once again he only replied with, "The speed increases as the skill of the spirit and spiritualist increases."

Subaru returned home not too long after. He had opted to not practice for too long so as not to exhaust themselves again. He was sure to lock the door behind him, though he doubted it would do much. He nervously sat on the couch, once again thinking everything over. Luckily he still had quite a lot of time before the attack should come. Ceres formed in front of him, sending him reassuring feelings before saying, [Someone's coming to the door.]

Subaru swallowed hard.

His eyes glanced over at a nearby window, it was still day, probably around 3 PM. He rose to his feet so he told Ceres to start gathering mana. She floated around, gathering up mana from the air around them and storing it within herself.

A knock resounded on the front door. Subaru gulped and stepped over towards it, terrible memories from his previous loop resurfacing. Ceres felt his nervousness and prepared to create a shield at any moment.

Subaru tried to glance out a window near the door and see who was there, but he couldn't quite see them.

He telepathically asked Ceres, [You ready, Ceres?]

[Yep.]

The small spirit sent reassuring emotions towards him. Subaru stepped up to the door, and froze when he heard someone say from behind it, "Hello?"

The familiar voice continued, "Subaru? Are you there? I forgot my keys when I left this morning."

Subaru sighed as he relaxed. It's just Clement…

Subaru told Ceres to relax as he unlocked the door and opened it for the brown-haired man.

Clement stood behind it, he wore his usual gray coat. His nose was red from the cold. He smiled and said, "Thanks."

Clement stepped inside, rubbing his uncovered hands together.

"Oh—"

He let out a short sound before he stumbled forward into Subaru his head hitting Subaru's chest as he slumped down. Subaru caught him by his arms.

"What's wrong—"

Subaru's eyes landed on an arrow stuck in Clement's back. He stifled a scream.

"Subaru… what's… happening…?" Clement looked up at Subaru, his eyes full of fear.

Clement's eyes went dull as he went limp. Fear filled Subaru and he stepped back, pushing Clement away from him. Subaru's eyes were locked on him. The man hit the floor. The same arrow was sticking out of his chest, its head covered in blood. It ran straight through his chest—straight through his heart. Subaru's mouth fell open and a scream exploded from him.

"A-a-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH."

His composure left him, and he ran away from the door, stumbling over his own feet as he ran through the house.

[Subaru!] Ceres followed after him, calling his name through their temporary contract.

He's dead. Clement is dead. Shit. ShitshitshitShitshitshitShitshitshit-

Tears bubbled up in his eyes.

A glowing orb flew in front of him. [Subaru, stop!]

"C…Ceres…"

[Calm down. Remember what we were taught. We can do this!]

"But… Clement…"

[You can still live for him. You can get revenge for him.]

That… That's right.

Subaru took a few deep breaths, he looked around, making sure no windows were nearby that he could be shot through. He was currently in the hallway, just outside of his room, no windows were near him.

He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, composing himself as best as he could.

He began to think. An arrow… is it another archer? It's probably more likely to be the same archer as the one that was against Hans… but why would she kill Clement? She was with us against Hans…

He bit his lip.

Not good… I don't have enough information…

Subaru was brought out of his thoughts by a loud crashing of glass from a nearby room. He spun around. He wasn't sure what room it was from.

Ceres was on high alert, watching for any difference in mana around them.

She suddenly yelled, [Behind!]

Subaru jumped forward, spinning around. He hit the wall nearby, his eyes trained on the wall that had just been behind him. He held his breath, and Ceres prepared to create a shield.

A few moments passed in silence.

Subaru yelped as the wall in front of him exploded into splinters. He closed his eyes, trusting Ceres to protect him against anything that might happen. A moment later he heard a clang. Subaru's eyes flew open.

A man with brown hair wearing a black cloak with gray edges stared at Subaru from behind a transparent shield of ice. His red eyes were filled with murderous intent as he stared. He held a sword in his hands, it was currently pressed up against the shield of ice. The shield had a large crack across it. Subaru pushed away his fear and jumped away from the man. He yelled, "Huma!"

He quickly ran through the steps of casting a spell, and Ceres formed it. The man lept at them before they could finish it. Ceres forced the mana together as fast as she could, forming a tiny blunt shard of ice, and flung it at the man. The small shard bounced off of him.

Subaru jumped away again. The man chased after him as he reached the peak of his jump. Subaru landed in the living room, his heart racing. Clement's corpse lay nearby in a puddle of blood. He tried his best not to look at it and stay focused on the battle.

The man swung his sword at Subaru, who barely dodged it. "Huma!'

He ran through the steps once again and ceres began forming the spell.

Meanwhile, Subaru received a large cut across his arm after just barely dodging another slash.

He clenched his jaw in pain.

Subaru yelled, "Who are you?!"

"My name is Zei." The brown-haired man said this before lunging at Subaru again. Subaru jumped to the side, yelling, "Why, why are you doing this?!"

"I work for my master—Youra Alphe—and do what he commands."

"Eh—"

Subaru froze at the name. Ceres finished the spell and shot it towards Zei. The man cut it down without even looking at it. Subaru's eyes were wide.

Subaru mumbled, "Youra…?"

Zei jumped towards the stunned man, slashing his sword at him. Subaru's instincts made him try to avoid it, but he moved too slow and the man's sword cut through his lower arm, chopping it off. The sword continued and sliced through about half of his abdomen.

Subaru was snapped back to the situation at hand. Pain washed over him. He screamed, spitting out blood.

He writhed in pain, blood surrounded him on the floor, his internal organs were spilling out of his split abdomen.

Blood poured and poured onto the floor. Zei looked down at him. Ceres floated nearby, frozen, fear emanating off of her.

Blood poured out of his body. Blood. So much blood.

His vision began fading. Darkness consumed the corners of his vision.

Blood. So warm. So slick. Cold replaced the warmth in his body as his warmth spilled onto the floor.

Blood. Soaking into his clothes. Puddling around him.

Pain. Intense, hot, terrible. So much pain. So much blood. Subaru was barely even aware of his surroundings.

Pain pounded within his heart. Why? Youra, why?

Tears dripped down his cheeks.

The darkness continued overtaking his vision. It reminded his barely conscious mind of something. It was warming, calming, and loving.

A single word left his already open mouth. Those around him could barely even hear it.

"—Satella…"

Natsuki Subaru's world ended for the fourteenth time.