Shattered Kasaneru

by BobDoorman

In Echidna's unending curiosity she decides to end her contract with Subaru. After this, another witch steps in and returns him all the way back to zero.

23. A Flash of Blue

"Mmh," Subaru grunted as he collapsed onto his hands and knees. He tried to look around at his surroundings, but tears clouded his eyes and blocked his vision. However, he knew where he was anyway. He could see the glowing stone beneath his palms, and he was able to see a massive hallway in front of him.

Fuck! He slammed his knuckles into the ground. Emilia had already failed her trial.

Subaru stayed on the ground for a moment before pushing himself back to his feet. He wobbled in the process, it took him a second to get used to having legs again. But eventually, he regained his balance.

Images flashed through his mind. Ram's eyes danced wildly as she looked at him, terror and guilt dancing alongside each other as she'd realized her mistake. Red eyes which had once been so sharp had become so dull.

Another memory smothered him, it was the sight of Elsa shoving her knife through Ram's neck. A sob escaped Subaru's throat as he leaned against the wall next to the entrance of the tomb.

Something else was building in his throat, a scream of agony and anguish. He brought a new sight into his mind, it was the dream of his child with Ram, still so clear in his memory. For a few seconds, it faltered as he thought of Ram's guilt-filled, and trampled eyes, but he was able to solidify the image and hold it in his mind.

Otto and Rem soon joined alongside Ram and the child. Wilhelm's words whispered in his ears.

I have to move forward and stop that from ever happening again. He pushed himself off of the wall and forced down the anguish in his heart. Perseverance rushed in to take its place.

A silver-haired girl stepped up to him and her crazed purple eyes shone with betrayal, "Subaru, you liar."

Emilia's words tried to break his strength, but he'd heard her say those words before, and now they just served as a reminder of his need to fix everything, and take on everyone's suffering.

Only I should have to suffer.

"I'm sorry for lying, Emilia," Subaru wrapped the girl in a hug and said the words he hadn't been able to in the last loop.

"Subaru?" Her tone was teary as she leaned on him. He didn't resist, and let her, at least for now. As long as she could stand back on her two feet after this then it would all be alright. And even if at that point it wasn't… well, then he'd just push forward and find a way to make it all okay.

"It's alright Emilia, I lied before and I'm sorry, but I'm not going to lie to you anymore," He patted his hand against her back, but his mind was not fully focused on her.

Part of it was focused on the hatred growing in his chest. It wasn't directed at Emilia, instead, it was toward one of his old enemies.

Blonde hair burned in his mind as rage blossomed in his eyes.

Capella Emerada Lugunica. I'm going to kill you this time, and make it so Ram never has to suffer that fate again.

---

Subaru watched over Emilia's sleeping body, in a position almost the same as the last loop; however, now he wasn't thinking about her. He was thinking of ways to beat Capella.

On the night of the attack Ram and I can't be in that cabin, we need to stay here around people who can help us deal with her. But how do we deal with her?

He summoned up memories of Priestella into his mind. Red hair smoldered in his mind in each memory of vanquishing Capella and looping because there had been a single casualty.

"This is going to be difficult without Reinhard," He whispered to himself, however, the determination in his eyes was not dampened, there had to be some way for him to kill Capella, otherwise Satella wouldn't have set the save point where she did. Even armed with the knowledge that the Witch may have set it here so he had time to run away, he was still not deterred in the least.

Ram and I found a way to kill Gluttony, we can find a way to kill Lust. Another image appeared unbidden in his mind. It was Ram leaning against him, her hands desperate as she tried not to fall. He rubbed away her hair and found her forehead gushing blood.

He shook his head and forced away from the memory. Even if he couldn't kill Capella in the same way, he and Ram could still win.

"F-" A familiar word took root in his head, but he pushed the voice from his mind before the recollection could finish.

Subaru shoved everything down and calmed his mind. He exhaled in and out slowly in an attempt to calm himself, which for the most part succeeded.

For the next few minutes he waited for Rem to take his place, and in the meantime worked through ways he could stop Capella. Each one of his plans always looped back to the same place.

"I need to talk to Ros," He muttered under his breath, as a sense of betrayal filled him. He hadn't trusted the man, but Roswaal had still been so vehement about him not doing anything or having anything planned.

Subaru's hands balled into fists and his nails dug into his palms. Rivulets of blood dripped onto the floor. He hunched over and let out a shaky breath, all the while his sharp eyes grew clouded with tears.

He inhaled forcing his breaths to be calm, and with effort, he straightened out his back. His hands opened and his nails fell away from his palms.

The sound of squeaking door hinges floated across the room toward him. "Subaru-kun, how is she doing?" Rem, who'd been waiting for him outside, asked with a quiet voice.

"She's…" He paused to think about it and realized he hadn't been focusing on Emilia too much. More guilt blossomed in his chest, but he didn't let it consume him. There were far more important things he had to think about right now.

"She's doing a little better than she was, and she can sleep, so that's a plus," He remembered all those loops of Emilia being tortured in the first trial, and how every time after taking the trial more than twice she stopped being able to sleep very well.

"That's good, now you can go to sleep, I'll take over from here," He noticed there was hesitance in Rem's voice. She didn't think she was cut out for the job at the moment, or maybe she knew she was the best choice but was still second-guessing herself.

Either way, Subaru wrapped her into a hug anyway, and her eyes widened in shock, "Don't worry, Rem, you've got this." He couldn't suppress the shuddering breath that came from his throat. For a moment it seemed like Subaru was seeking comfort instead of trying to give it. But Rem didn't take note of it as he suppressed the desire quickly.

However even so his words were honest, and a smile spread across her face as she stepped out of the hug. "Thank you, Subaru-kun," She let out her gratitude as she sat down in his seat, and he walked out of the room.

Before he exited the cabin he froze, he knew Ram was waiting for him outside. He hadn't spoken to Ram since he'd returned, as he'd been too busy with Emilia and thinking on how to stop the Archbishop. But now he knew how he would stop Capella, he needed to appeal to Roswaal, so his mind was free to focus on some less life-threatening situations.

His breath was trapped in his lungs as he stared at the handle and started to raise his hand out to it. He heard someone inhale in the back of his mind as if they were about to speak. Instead of letting the memory play out he shoved it to the back of his mind, and focused on another memory.

"From square one. No, from zero," He grabbed onto the handle and strode through the door with little hesitation.

"I assume Emilia-sama is doing okay?" She asked while stepping away from the wall next to him. Subaru turned his head at her voice, earlier he'd been too focused to truly look at her.

"Ram?" Her name passed through his lips.

"What is it, Barusu?" She tilted her head.

His breath grew shaky for a moment. How am I going to appeal to Roswaal, and Garfiel? There were so many things he still had to do. He couldn't drop his determination yet.

"C'mon I need some help dealing with some new information I have," He grabbed onto her wrist and started to pull her behind him. Ram saw the resolve mixed with franticness in his eyes and didn't resist him physically, however she still questioned him.

"What happened?" She said in a calm voice.

For a moment he stopped walking and she almost crashed into him, "Nothing, just some…" Tears clouded his eyes, "New information." Ram raised one last protest to him.

"What about me dealing with Garf?" He thought about it for a second before responding.

Garfiel can help deal with Elsa and Meili, but he won't be able to deal with Capella. "Deal with him tomorrow," He said after he came to his decision, "But for now I need your help."

Ram's heart twisted at the look in his eyes, and she knew it would be better to go along with what he was saying, "Alright, Barusu."

---

Subaru led her out to the same cabin they'd been staying in during the past loop, and a look of surprise and confusion grew on Ram's face. This had been the same one she'd wanted to bring him to.

"Hm…?" An involuntary sound escaped her throat.

Subaru turned back to her, "What is it?"

"Why did you bring us out here?" She questioned with an odd mix of confusion and joy on her face.

"We needed someplace private to work on these plans, can't have Shima relaying anything…" He trailed off before he could finish what he was saying, then grabbed her hand to lead her into the cabin.

Ram's eyes probed for any source of light in the dark room, but other than the moonlight there was nothing, at least not until Subaru raised his right hand. Blue globes of light rushed out and surrounded his arm, within seconds dozens floated around the two of them and brought illumination to the room.

The pink-haired maid took a moment to admire the sight of minor spirits hovering around them. It was calming in a way.

"So what is this new information that you've found?" She had no idea how he got this knowledge of his, but she trusted him.

Subaru sat down at the table in the corner of the cabin. He took a second to think while she did the same and took a seat next to him. "So I don't have to head off to the mansion anymore."

Ram celebrated internally for a brief second before she truly thought about the tone in his voice, "Why not?" The question fell from her throat.

"The people who I feared were threatening it, Elsa Granhiert and Meili Portroute, are going to attack the Sanctuary itself instead." Ram grimaced, she recognized the name of the bowel hunter.

"Who is Meili Portroute?" She said while contemplating the depth of the situation.

"She's a girl who can control mabeasts, and was responsible for what happened in the forest near Arlam. And now she has access to mabeasts I've never seen before, but from the descriptions of a certain, curious woman they're from the Augria Sand Dunes," He explained all of this information with a neutral expression.

Ram cupped her chin in her hands, "That won't be easy to deal with, especially for someone as moronic as you, Barusu." She tried to use her insults to bring a sense of normalcy to the situation.

"It gets worse…" His face filled with rage as he contemplated his next words, "The Sin Archbishop of Lust is with them."

Ram's eyes widened at his words, "What is your plan to deal with them?" She dropped the insults and focused on a way to fix the new situation which had presented itself.

"We can't do what we did against Ley, otherwise you'll get hurt past a point that anyone here can heal you," He paused, she didn't think it was because of hesitance, instead it was something he didn't want to say. "Garfiel might be able to fight Elsa, but with Meili, it will be difficult, we could have Emilia help, but Puck isn't coming out so she won't be of as much help in her current state, Rem isn't strong enough to deal with anything other than a couple of the mabeasts from Augria, and Otto won't be able to come up with any plan that could possibly defeat Lust. So... we have to find a way to get Roswaal to help." He ran his hand through his hair.

"That will be difficult to achieve," She wasn't hopeful for Roswaal to assist, seeing as these new developments were likely all according to his plan.

"There's no other person with the strength to beat Capella, we could evacuate the Sanctuary, but that will piss off Roswaal and Garfiel." His voice was shaky, not because of anger or the like, but instead because of uncertainty.

"And how would Roswaal actually kill her?" She knew that his uncertainty would need to be made into certainty for the plan to work.

"Her Authority of Lust allows her to heal from any injury and she can also turn others into whatever she wants," He held his head back as if remembering something, "Even cutting off her head doesn't work, she needs to be destroyed to the point where there is nothing left of her to regenerate. Although we might be able to just apply enough damage to wear her out entirely."

Ram's expression had fallen slightly, and a hint of despair had entered her heart, however, she quickly forced it down. Despair isn't an option here, we need to focus on finding a way to solve this.

"Roswaal is the only one here capable of your more certain solution, and do you know how long we have?" She wanted that knowledge, as it would help immensely in their planning.

"They attack in two days. The night after tomorrow night," Ram's conviction remained steady on her face, but there was a question lingering in her mind.

Is this even possible? She thought to herself, but she crushed the doubt and forced it to the back of her mind. It would serve no purpose in dealing with the situation before them.

"Alright Barusu, now let's focus on how to convince Roswaal to go along with your plan," They needed to get to work quickly so they couldn't waste any more time with doubts and second-guessing.

"Our approach depends on if Capella's arrival is according to Ros' plans or not. If it is then I'll have to handle him alone," He scrunched his face as he racked his mind for solutions.

Ram's red eyes examined him. She trusted Subaru, so went along with his thought process even if her own didn't agree with the statement he just made, "And if it isn't according to his plan?"

"Then I'll need your help to get him to alter his plan," He answered.

Ram nodded her head, "What's the plan for if this doesn't follow his own?"

"I have the broad strokes," He responded.

"Well then let's work out everything," She knew they needed to be deliberate and do everything perfectly, so the two of them spent the next hour discussing how to deal with Roswaal.

"Well then we'll deal with him tomorrow, but what are we doing tonight, idiot?" Now that they'd discussed Ram felt more sure of their chances.

"Tonight you help Rem with Emilia, if she can clear the trials then we can get everyone out of the Sanctuary, and I'll get Otto to start helping us out."

"What about Garf?" She knew that Garfiel needed to be talked into realizing that Subaru wasn't a threat to the Sanctuary.

"He doesn't need our attention at the moment, there are far more pressing matters at hand," He dismissed her worries.

Idiot Barusu, I'm sorry but I have to go against this part of your plan. She felt no guilt as she was accustomed to opposing someone she loved if it was in their best interest.

"Fine, I'll go along with your awful plan, idiot Barusu," Her insult held little bite. And she crossed her arms while standing up from her seat.

Subaru did the same as he parted his lips to speak, "Hey you came up with a lot of it, so if the plan is bad then that means you're partly to blame."

"Ha!" She pushed a smug smile onto her face, "What a moron you are Barusu, truly idiotic, if any parts of the plan are bad then those are just the parts you came up with." She wasn't entirely lying just for the insult, as she did think his approach to handling Garfiel wasn't going to work.

"Well even if it is a terrible plan it's better than nothing," The humor that had been in his eyes yesterday had faded, but it was still hiding there, and Ram smiled as she gazed upon it.

"Fine. I'll aid you in your terrible plan," The smug smile on her face widened as the two stepped for the door and split up to go pursue their respective pieces of the plan.

---

Subaru was able to find Otto with no trouble at all. He was sleeping in the church just like it was supposed to. Seems you don't have any nighttime activities like me or Ram. The black-haired boy thought as he shook the merchant awake.

Subaru dropped his voice to a whisper, "Hey, Otto."

Otto sat up in his bed and looked at him with grumpy eyes. "What is it, Natsuki-san?"

Subaru tapped him on the shoulder, "C'mon I can't explain it in here," He grabbed onto Otto's hand and helped him to his feet, where he led the merchant outside of the church.

When they were outside, Otto spoke up in his tiredness, "Can you please explain why you woke me up?"

"Well Ram and I need your help to defend Sanctuary, and its inhabitants, against some very disgusting individuals." He explained with a mostly resolved expression, there was a hint of something else there, but Subaru suppressed it before either of them could notice it.

"Who are these-haaaa-people?" The merchant yawned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"The bowel hunter, a kid who can control mabeasts, and the Sin Archbishop of Lust." Subaru listed them off, causing Otto's eyes to widen. The gray-haired man dropped his hand away from rubbing his eyes as all tiredness had faded from them.

"And you need my help, Natsuki-san?" Otto's blue eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight, almost like steel.

Subaru hesitated for a second and paused to think. Do I really want to get Otto involved in this… he could suffer because of this.

"You're a moron for not realizing, you don't have to defeat Gluttony alone." A memory of Ram's voice played in the back of his mind.

Subaru opened his mouth to speak to Otto but he was still silent. He tried to push the words from his throat but nothing came out until blonde hair glowed within his mind.

Thousands of memories of Capella burned alight. And Ram's red eyes full of terror stared at him.

"Yeah, I need your help to delay Lust's companion Meili, and to find a way to down her mabeasts." He explained.

"What kind of mabeasts are they?" Otto didn't hesitate in responding.

"Multiple Courtesan Bears, and a Gabou, but there may be more mabeasts than that," Subaru called on his knowledge of mabeasts from all the time he'd spent studying them.

Otto held his hand to his chin, "Augria mabeasts, those will be tough." The man didn't seem fearful or hesitant of the fact that he had to deal with some of the world's deadliest creatures.

"How long do I have to prepare and do you know where they're coming from?" Otto started to work out a plan in his head, but before he went further he would need those two pieces of information.

"The night after tomorrow night, I would plan for them arriving a little after sunset, but I'm not sure exactly when," He hesitated on the merchant's second question, "And I don't know where they're coming from."

Otto wasn't deterred by Subaru's lack of an answer, "Well then I guess I just have to figure it out."

Subaru's eyes widened at Otto's words, he'd seen the man like this, but it was something he'd almost forgotten.

Otto didn't wait on Subaru any longer, "I should get to work now, and Natsuki-san," He met Subaru's brown eyes, "Can you keep Garfiel off of me? He might oppose me doing suspicious things in his forest."

Subaru answered him quickly, "Don't worry about it, Garfiel won't be a problem."

Otto nodded his gratitude and stepped off into the forest to begin his planning.

The black-haired boy watched him go as he rubbed the back of his right knee. When he noticed what he was doing he yanked his hand away.

Stop… it wasn't… Subaru forced Capella's face into his mind and ignored the small sense of vindication within him. He didn't let himself think of where it was from.

"Otto's taken care of, and now…" He trailed off as spirits glowed around his fingers, then scattered throughout the forest around him. It only took them a few moments to find what he was searching for.

"Time to deal with Garfiel," Subaru stepped into the forest, walking toward the location his spirits had indicated.

Ram's screams burned in his mind, and he remembered what Capella had done to him. She'd turned him into a gelatinous mass unable to help the woman he loved in any way, as he sat in contentment while she was being tortured.

"Fula," The word she'd spoken to cut his leg off filled his ears, and set them ringing as he arrived at his destination, only a few moments walk away from where he'd started.

I'm never going to let anything like that happen again, and you're going to help me stop her suffering from ever happening, Garfiel Tinzel. Subaru pushed the hatred, and whatever else was there from his face.

He looked upon the one hiding there, "Ryuzu Shima, there are some things we need to talk about."

---

At the same time as Subaru set off from the cabin to search for Otto, Ram went out in search of Garfiel.

It didn't take her very long to track the demi-human boy down using her Clairvoyance.

A few minutes later, she approached him while he was walking along the pathways of the forest. The maid didn't try to sneak around and surprise him, as she once might have, because the impending threat that was facing the Sanctuary was too much for her to be messing around.

"Garf," He turned his head as she called his name, "I need to speak with you."

"What's going on, Ram?" Garfiel asked with a tilted head.

She searched around for anyone watching them with her Clairvoyance before explaining, "I need you to be calm about this, alright?"

Garfiel noticed the serious tone in her voice and placed his hand on his forehead to rub his scar. However Ram still looked at him with skepticism, but she had no choice. Waiting to enlist his help would make everything within Sanctuary worse, and that wasn't what Subaru needed at the moment.

So she breathed in, filling her lungs with air, and explained the situation, "Garfiel there are two extremely deadly assassins on the way here, one is the Bowel Hunter-" Garfiel widened his eyes in recognition, he'd read about the woman before, "And the other is a mabeast user who has beasts from the Augria Sand Dunes-"

"Well then we need t'get workin'," His eyes were determined as he started to walk past Ram.

"Garf, I wasn't finished," The boy met her red eyes with his own widened green ones, "The Sin Archbishop of Lust is on her way as well."

"I can take'er," The boy slammed his fists together.

Ram grabbed onto his arms, "Garfiel, I have fought a Sin Archbishop, if this one is anything like the last one then you will be killed easily."

Again the demi-human's eyes widened, and he grabbed onto his scar once more. It took him a few deep breaths before he spoke again.

Good he's calming himself, he'll likely need that, but there is space for his mindlessness. She observed as she waited for his response.

"First off, you've fought an Archbishop?" There was a slight glimmer in his eyes as he thought of how cool it was.

"Yes I fought Gluttony," She crossed her arms but didn't stop this line of conversation. If they jumped straight to the Archbishop of Lust Garfiel would grow suspicious because the information was from Subaru.

"So how was it, was anyone else in on it?" His childishness came out in full force.

Ram gave him a small smile before answering, "It was something that needed to be done to protect Rem," She didn't mention the black-haired boy she had also wanted to protect, "Also Rem, Emilia, and Barusu were involved."

"Barusu, you mean that Subaru guy?" He asked.

"Yes I mean Barusu," Ram nodded.

"Huh, anyway how was he involved," With all he'd done to calm his mind he'd started to see the true feelings in Ram's voice when she spoke his name. Suspicion sparked in his eyes.

Ram noticed it quickly and spoke just as fast, "Even though he is an utter moron, he somehow managed to plan the entire operation to kill Gluttony. Without Barusu, he would still be around today." She explained to the blonde-haired boy before her, who wanted to reject what she'd told him.

"Mmh…" He grumbled.

After a few moments of thought, he came to the obvious conclusion, "The cultists wouldn't help him at all if that's the case," The tiger crossed his arms and was forced to accept the reality of the situation. "So he has the information that can stop the Sin Archbishop from destroying Sanctuary?"

"Yes, and I trust that information, mostly because he's too much of an idiot that he probably doesn't remember how to lie," She explained to the Shield of the Sanctuary.

Garfiel held his hand to his scar, "Alright, so can you explain to me what's going to happen?"

"They're going to attack the night after tomorrow night, just after the sun goes down, somewhere in there, and he doesn't know where they'll attack. But he is enlisting the help of Otto, that merchant." She leaned against a tree and explained it to him.

Garfiel copied her action and asked, "Why should my amazin' self trust this?"

"I know you don't trust Barusu, but do you trust me?" She questioned, "And since I know that may be difficult for you to answer at the moment, what happens if he's lying?"

"Nothin'" Garfiel responded quickly. He was mad about it, but he knew that if Subaru was wrong and Garfiel paid attention to him then nothing would get worse; however, if Subaru was right and he ignored him then he was facing off against all of Sanctuary's threats alone, which he certainly wanted to deal with alone, he wanted to be strong enough to deal with it, but there was no way for him to fight a Sin Archbishop alone.

"Keep an eye on Otto though," Ram gave him that warning, "I can't speak for him like I can for Barusu, so watch what he does."

"Thanks, Ram, I'll get on that tomorrow, but for now I have t'go do somethin'," Garfiel said as he walked off deeper into the forest.

Ram watched him go with a slightly perplexed look, he'd seemed a little frantic as he'd left. Hm? Is it that Ryuzu double you speak to a lot? The maid didn't know the answer to the question, but she felt satisfied with the result of her conversation with Garfiel.

Now that she was done with that she could finally get to what Subaru had asked her to do. Instead of activating her Clairvoyance she focused on her Synesthesia and followed its call to her little sister.

---

Subaru stood above the pink-haired elder who looked like a little girl. His brown eyes sparkled with recognition, and nostalgia, as he stared at her.

Throughout his innumerable loops within Sanctuary he had interacted with Shima on multiple occasions, often he'd randomly found her hiding in the forest. However, as the loops had continued he'd started to discover the influence she had on Garfiel.

He'd had to figure all of that out on his own as, oddly, Echidna was always silent when he interacted with Shima.

While looking down at her a weird compulsion passed through him. His hand curled into a fist, and the sensation of rope around his arms sparked in his mind for a moment. He looked down, bewildered, until uncurling his fist and returning his focus to the woman in front of him.

He noticed how quiet Shima had been. Almost like she was caught in a trance.

"We need to talk, Shima," He wouldn't be deterred by her lack of reaction, he had come here with a purpose.

The clone was shaken from her lapse in focus by Subaru's voice. Her blue eyes locked onto him. Then scanned him in interest. She hadn't expected him to be this forthright in his interactions with her. He doubted she'd even considered it a possibility that he knew about her.

Without warning she pushed her hand against his stomach, in response, a few dozen spirits manifested around Subaru.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, young Su." Her eyes snapped wide for a moment, and Subaru felt an odd sensation in his chest. There was a connection between the two, or a connection between things within them.

Both felt their consciousnesses fade, and their eyes drooped, as something within their minds touched.

"Ah how very interesting, and nostalgic. I remember what my, I suppose our, plan for this clone was," The Witch of Greed's voice rang out in their minds, but neither of them was able to retain the memory of her voice for longer than a second.

"This is also, so incredibly interesting," A second woman spoke, her voice was the same but it seemed younger, less knowing, and full of suspicion for the woman she'd responded to.

Subaru and Shima's eyes slipped closed as the conversation continued, the two of them tried to stand but they were swaying in place, almost as if the conversation taking place was too much for their bodies to handle.

The two witches continued to speak, and to watch each other, probing for information, which neither Subaru nor Shima was able to retain.

"I see, he could satisfy us, and your plan for stopping love from fading, it's interesting in and of itself," The younger voice of Greed responded.

"Let's make a-" The other voice tried to speak, but was stopped, and an impression of anger ran through Shima and Subaru.

"This is interesting, and a little frustrating," The younger Witch said.

"It does delay me, but it will be fixed," There was a touch of real anger in her voice, "That spirit…" She trailed off.

Subaru and Shima's eyes snapped open and the two jumped back from each other. They panted and gazed at the other with mutual suspicion. "What did you do to me?" Her words pierced his ears, and he realized something.

"I have no idea," His face scrunched up as he tried to bring up his foggy recollection of the words he'd heard, but almost all of them were faded.

The pink-haired elder continued to stare at him like she was a cornered animal. "You…" Her voice lost power and trailed off.

Subaru kept looking at her, waiting for her to continue, but no more words came from her mouth.

Instead, her eyes bored into him, searching and analyzing him. Subaru did the same and tried to figure out what she was looking at.

"Oh…" Her eyes dropped to the floor, "This is an interesting path, young Su."

Subaru tilted his head at her words, "Drop that. We need to focus on what will happen to Sanctuary soon."

Shima examined him once more, "What is it that will happen to Sanctuary?"

"There is a Sin Archbishop on the way, along with very dangerous assassins that work for her," Subaru stepped closer to her, a frantic look in his eyes.

"Step away, young Su, it is impossible to think while the witch's scent is overpowering every sense in my body." She raised the staff in her other hand, and in a gentle manner, pushed him a few steps back then continued, "Why are you telling me this, young Su, if you were able to find me, you must know far more about this place than you let on," She said.

"Because I need help getting Garfiel on my side to stop the Archbishop that's coming," Subaru explained to her.

"You must know young Gar would have helped you anyway," She tried to dissect his motivations, "Hm…"

Subaru's eyes darted around her, and at the subtle movements of her body. How can I manage this? She may be right about Garfiel, but… Capella's red eyes landed on him in his mind. A sadistic smile spread across her face as she walked toward him, and Ram screamed out in his mind.

"You want assurance that young Gar will help you," Shima noticed, "You don't have anything planned to destroy Sanctuary."

The black-haired boy's eyes widened at her assessment, "Why do you think that I'm not a threat?"

"The witch's scent makes it difficult to trust you, but, if you knew of my existence already, and my influence on young Gar… then it makes little sense why you would make a blunder this stupid." She smiled at him, having analyzed him well enough to come out ahead in the conversation.

Subaru was forced to take a step back before calm returned to his face, "I was attempting to manipulate you and Garfiel with this move, is that not reason enough?"

"Well if you did have something planned then you wouldn't admit that this easily to me. And I understand your manipulation. It is right to be a little suspicious of others," Shima smiled at him and turned toward the forest. "I will tell young Gar that you are safe to be trusted."

He watched her go and was left too stunned to speak. He couldn't believe how quickly that manipulation had gotten away from him. The last words she'd spoken to him about suspicion had resonated with him. To an uncomfortable degree.

A memory of Garfiel gripping him by the throat and taking him captive rushed into his head. "Maybe this was a bad way to go about this…" He tried to calm himself down, but the emotions roiling in his chest wouldn't allow it right now.

Instead of doing anything else for the night, he returned to the cabin he shared with Ram and continued to plan out the encounter with Roswaal in his mind.

---

It only took a couple of minutes for Ram to arrive at the cabin where her sister was making sure Emilia was recovering. The pink-haired maid placed her hand on the door and wondered what she was going to say. She knew very little about Emilia, but Subaru had thought this would help her, and maybe it would. Just not in the way he thought.

There was little Ram was ever going to be able to do to get Emilia to face the trials, as she didn't believe the silver-haired girl could even face them. The maid couldn't ignore that logical piece of her that told her that, and maybe it was wrong, Emilia had been raised too poorly to be strong enough.

However, the determined part of her mind wouldn't let her let the problem go, so she'd discovered a way for her to help. She had to speak with her sister to give her more strength in supporting Emilia.

Rem trusted the silver-haired candidate where Ram could not, so to help as Subaru wanted she had to help Rem.

A few days ago the pink-haired maid had thought it impossible for her to help Rem. But thanks to Subaru's actions maybe she could support Rem without damaging her younger sister's mental state.

Ram solidified that idea within her mind as she pulled open the door to the cabin, and stepped toward where her Synesthesia was guiding her. There was a short hallway in between the main doorway and Emilia's room, and as Ram traversed it she felt a rough impression of surprise come from the other side of her connection to Rem. It was soon followed by a sense of joy.

The pink-haired maid smiled and knew her sister had done the same even though a wooden door separated the two of them.

Once she opened the door into Emilia's room Rem turned to her, and the older maid was proven right, there was a smile on her little sister's face. When their blue and red eyes met Rem stood up from her chair and grabbed one for Ram to sit on.

Ram's smile widened at the gesture. Once she would have just offered me her chair, thank you, Barusu. The black-haired boy appeared in her mind, and her smile dampened slightly. There had been something troubling Subaru, and it wasn't just the impending feeling of knowing he had little time to fight against a Sin Archbishop.

After all, she'd seen how he normally dealt with impending Sin Archbishops, he may have struggled at the idea of fighting Gluttony but after some help from her, he'd been able to stand up, and challenge the boy without even so much as a doubt in his mind.

There was more here troubling Subaru, and there had likely been something far more vast going on in his head than she had realized when he was fighting Gluttony. I know so little about you, Barusu. Her lips turned down into a frown until Rem gestured for her to sit next to her.

"Are you alright, sister?" Rem whispered to her. The blue-haired maid had noticed her sadness through their connection.

"Yes, I'm fine Rem, especially now that I'm with you," Ram's smile returned. She could focus on Subaru in the future, but in the present, she had to support her sister, "So how is Emilia-sama doing?"

"She hasn't woken up yet, but she's had a few nightmares and I've tried to help stop them but I'm not sure if Rem is doing a good job, and you or Subaru-kun could probably do it far better-"

"Rem," Ram put a stop to her steady fall into self-doubt, "You are the only one who can support Emilia-sama, and I believe you can do it better than Barusu or I ever could."

"Of course, you're correct sister, but only because you don't know Emilia-sama, if you did then you could undoubtedly do a better job." Rem gripped onto her view of herself being lower than her sister.

"But I don't know Emilia-sama, so you are the only one who can do this, and I believe even if things were different you'd still be the best person for the job," Ram whispered to her sister.

Rem couldn't deny the honesty in her sister's words. She could feel it through her Synesthesia. "Still if the situation was different-" Rem was interrupted once more when Ram pulled her sister's head down into her lap.

"Sister?" Rem's voice floated up to her.

"You don't have to worry about that other situation Rem, and you don't have to worry about a thing right now. You can support Emilia-sama, and you can provide the support she needs to pass the trials." Ram ran her hand through Rem's blue hair and left her with sweet words.

Rem didn't let herself fall asleep, but she did let the stress drain from her body. The two sisters remained like that for nearly half an hour, only listening to the others breathing and enjoying the feeling of their Synesthesia being so strong thanks to their proximity.

Ram's body had relaxed as well with her sister so close to her, and it didn't feel like she was comforting Rem, but like they were comforting each other.

After a few minutes Ram broke the silence, "Rem, I need to go now. Barusu has gotten his hands on information of an attack on the Sanctuary the night after tomorrow night," Rem's eyes widened at her words, "I have no idea how he managed to get the information, the man can barely even tell his right from his left."

A small giggle fell from Rem's throat at Ram's constant insults of Subaru. It was hard for her to get too worried about the threat she had just been warned about, especially when she was in this state of relaxation thanks to her sister.

"It's very dangerous, and I need to help him out, so I'm sorry, Rem, but I'll be busy these next couple of days. I can make time to come tell you exactly what is going to happen tomorrow though, so how does that sound?" Ram proposed.

Rem thought about it for a few seconds, "Yes Subaru-kun is quite hopeless you will need to help him out a lot," Her false disparagement caused a short chuckle in her older sister, "But yes that sounds good to me, thank you, sister. I can support Emilia from here."

Ram nodded and gave her sister a hug and a kiss on the forehead as she exited the room and activated her Clairvoyance. It didn't take her long to find the cabin that she and Subaru had taken over, and look through his eyes to find him sitting at the table sipping at a cup of tea.

With a sure stride Ram stepped out of Emilia's cabin and into the forest. Her words broke the silence as she oriented herself in the direction of her and Subaru's cabin.

"I'm going to find out what's troubling you, and I'm doing it tonight. Mark my words, Barusu," A determined smile grew on her face.

---

Subaru sipped at a cup of tea and ignored the crude make of the cup. It wasn't one of Echidna's perfectly constructed cups, which he was still so accustomed to drinking out of. Sometimes at the end of the day, he would be blown away by the fact that he hadn't had a tea party with her.

The concept of not having a tea party with the Witch of Greed every day was so foreign that he almost didn't believe it sometimes. But then he would think back to what it had been like to live in those days where he'd sat across from her in that dream world. One each day. Day after day. For millions of days. He'd been trapped in an ever-repeating dream.

So every day when he was surprised about not drinking Echidna's tea he paused and remembered how real his life felt in comparison to his old one. Now every moment felt important like he couldn't miss it, but back in those days, he'd spent most of his time in a state where hours had passed in seconds.

So focusing on the moment, a small sigh of contentment came from his throat as he sipped at the tea in his hands once more. He couldn't taste it in the slightest, but he could admire the texture of it, the feeling as it slid down the back of his throat. Although the tea, being a few hours old, brought him no physical warmth, the knowledge that it had been made by Ram brought warmth to his chest anyway.

As he took one more sip, Ram appeared in his mind, and he knew every moment of his life now was so much more important than when he was with Echidna. So when he ever doubted it and started to fall into the habit of letting the hours slip by unnoticed; he summoned an image of Ram in his heart and mind. Then he kept her there, and the day passed by slowly, and normally.

His breathing hitched as his thoughts of Ram shifted away from her smug face, and images from the minutes prior to his most recent death played in his mind.

"Fula-" He shoved that portion of the memory down and moved onto the next part. Which, unfortunately, was the sight and sound of Ram's blood-filled breaths as Elsa's knife was buried into her throat.

In reality, a shaky and tear-filled breath came from his throat.

In the memory, guilt-filled Ram's once vibrant red eyes as she stared at him, and reached her bloody hand out to him. Subaru reached out to her and was barely able to grasp onto her hand.

It wasn't her fault. The current Subaru thought.

He held his head in his hands and ran his hands through his hair as the version of him in the memory picked up Ram's corpse. Her pink hair had been stained by blood as he'd screamed for her to come back.

The shakiness of his breaths decreased as the memory shifted onto Elsa cutting him open. He cared little for what the black-haired woman had done to him.

"Fula-" Subaru stopped the memory and substituted it with the dream of a future child with Ram he'd had before the battle with Gluttony.

A thin sense of calm covered the hatred and guilt he felt in his heart. His face scrunched up as he tried to keep what he'd seen inside. He had to continue, and couldn't let himself be bogged down in anguish. With Capella so close there was simply no other option, so he had to focus on Roswaal, and that's what he tried to do.

For the next few minutes, he made his wrung-out mind try and think of more of the details of dealing with the clown. But little actually came to his mind.

Thankfully the door creaked open as Ram stepped into the room. Subaru summoned minor spirits around him to light up the cabin. He hadn't lit any lanterns as he'd been able to navigate without them.

"Ram," Subaru stepped over to her.

"Barusu-" She tried to start speaking but Subaru wrapped his arms around her, taking her by surprise.

"Ram…" A small sob escaped his throat. His hatred for Capella hadn't allowed him to slow down earlier, but now that everything that could be accomplished tonight had been, his tunnel vision had faded. He could finally accept that Ram was alive. She was here. She hadn't been tortured, she hadn't used magic on him, and she hadn't been stabbed through the throat.

She was Ram, and she was alright.

His sobbing grew stronger as he clung to her. He'd seen Ram fall to the great rabbit before, but that memory was so long ago, and he hadn't truly loved Ram at the time. And he'd watched her be consumed by Gluttony, but she hadn't suffered, and she hadn't been broken like she had been before he looped.

"Ram," He fell onto his knees and sobbed into her chest.

Ram let one of her hands run through his hair in an attempt to help him feel comfortable, and she let another rest on his back, "It's alright, Barusu, I'm here."

---

Subaru's sobs had mostly faded away by the time Ram moved him to the bed and let him lay in her arms.

"It's alright, Barusu," She smiled as she spoke with her arms wrapped around him.

Subaru didn't say anything.

"What's troubling you, Barusu?" She asked him, "Well aside from the constant realization that you are intellectually below everyone you come into contact with."

Subaru's sobs stopped altogether as he found comfort in her fake insult. It's Ram… He spoke to that little piece of his mind which had been whispering to him.

"Hey, if I'm really that low intellectually why do you hang around me so much?" Subaru asked with a slight hint of mockery in his voice.

Ram didn't hesitate before responding, "Ha. That's simple, you are a child, and I have taken it upon myself to care for you. Out of the pure goodness of my heart." Her smile turned from reassuring to smug, "You don't have to thank me."

Subaru's lips tilted upward before his eyes shifted from looking at her to through her. Ram knew instantly he was looking at something only he could see.

"Barusu, are you alright, what is it?" She asked, desperate to help.

Subaru's vision returned to focusing on the real world, "It's…" He trailed off for a few moments before finishing, "Just some memories."

"Memories of what?" She asked before seeing another pained look cross his face, "Never m-"

"Capella Emerada Lugunica," A hateful whisper escaped his throat, "The Sin Archbishop of Lust."

Barusu…? She wasn't able to speak her thoughts aloud. Too stunned by the emotion within his voice. There was more than hatred there. There was pain, anguish, and betrayal in that voice.

"What happened Barusu?"

"I… it happened, I can't say how long ago, but it was…" He tried to get through what he meant to say, but the pain was now burning in his eyes.

"Someone I care about was forced to hurt me because of what the Archbishop did to them." Ram tried to move closer to him, but he shied away for a second.

"It's alright, Barusu, you can tell me," A new smile grew on her face, and it was full of warmth.

---

Subaru stared up at Ram through his brown eyes. "Fula…" A memory of the pink-haired oni played within his mind. He shied away from her a little more, but he had heard her words, and he felt words of his own brewing in his chest.

Another memory played in his mind, and then, he was standing in a forest surrounded by Ulgarm. He'd been sprinting through that very forest for nearly a day. One hundred and twelve was how many times he'd died. He hadn't cared about the pain of each death, and he had been greeted with no sense of loss, after all, he had only been losing about ten minutes each time.

So without anything holding him back, he'd run into the forest for hours. Each time he grew closer to the truth, and his honesty. By the time he'd reached that one hundred and thirteenth loop of running through that forest over and over, he'd realized what he needed to say.

He'd realized the truth he needed to speak.

Natsuki Subaru needed someone to know of the burdens he was carrying, maybe not how he was carrying them, but that he was carrying them.

In the present one more sob escaped his throat before he chose to embrace that honesty once more.

"It's a memory of Capella, and what she did to someone close to me. I was asleep in my bed, the person I care about was in the same room, and then I woke up, and Capella grabbed me, and forced me into a state where I couldn't speak, and couldn't even think. Then she tortured that person until they were barely more than a shell of their former self, it only took her a few hours. She used her Authority to make it seem like I was the one doing it. And then eventually, for some reason I don't know, Capella left, and I regained my mind and body. After that I tried to escape with that person, but…" He choked up before forcing himself to finish, "Since Capella had tortured them in my body they thought I was her, so they hurt me and tried to escape from me, after that an assassin working with Capella shoved a knife through their throat."

He stopped after that, as any more would have triggered Satella to come out, and he could barely even speak through the lump in his throat.

"Barusu…" Ram looked into his eyes, and he saw a massive amount of concern there. He once more realized how vibrant her red eyes were. The corners of his mouth tilted upward slightly.

I'm going to prevent you from suffering, Ram, even if I have to take it onto myself.

"Barusu," He was shaken from his thoughts by Ram's voice. Subaru didn't say anything, for he didn't need to say anything more. He'd said what he needed to say.

Right now he would have been content to fall into sleep, but Ram had another plan right now. Which he discovered as she pulled him into her chest and started to rub the top of his head, "Everything's alright now, Barusu. We'll kill this Archbishop, even if you can barely walk five footsteps without forgetting what you were doing."

She didn't let him see her smile as she continued to hold him to her chest, "Your insults are getting worse. You might need to find new ones, eh Ram?"

"Ha, my insults aren't getting worse, it's just that your brain is too underdeveloped to realize the brilliance in each one." Ram used her insults to soothe him.

"Your insults? Brilliant? Suuuure," He responded to her, "You can barely come up with anything that isn't idiot Barusu about half the time. And when you do the other forty percent of those are just bad as well."

"So you only recognize the brilliance of ten percent of my insults? Honestly Barusu I expected better even for an idiot like you."

"See there it is again, you can't use an insult other than idiot Barusu." His tone shifted from neutral to warm as he clapped back once more.

"Haaa," She sighed, "You really are hopeless aren't you Barusu. Until you can see the proper value and beauty in every word I speak I don't think you'll ever be able to truly reach the level of an actual human."

"Oh, so I'm lower than a human?" He asked with a bit of humor in his tone, "What level am I at then?"

"Ha, I suppose I would have to explain it to you, but you are like a dog that is slightly above average in intelligence." Ram tried to scowl and force disgust with him onto her face, but she only succeeded in highlighting the warmth that was already there.

"Sure Ram, sure. Anyway, we should probably go to sleep before the brilliant Ram embarrasses herself more with her unoriginality." He spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"Mmh," The brilliant Ram grumbled, "Fine, goodnight Barusu." Her words softened and she laid a kiss on his forehead, kept him wrapped in her embrace. After what she'd heard of his past she wasn't going to let him sleep all alone anymore, and would protect him with all she had.

The pair's eyes slipped closed easily. They were content as they fell asleep.

---

"Ahh, you keep resetting, so interesting." A woman who possessed black hair with glowing white highlights spoke to him.

"This gets more powerful each time, although you still will remember little of this, it is always interesting to speak with you," She said to him.

He realized she was right. He was still a small piece of a greater mind, but he was greater in this dream than in the others. Others in which he had only a faint recollection of.

The boy tried to speak to the woman who was sitting across from him, but it was of little use. He didn't have a voice.

Once he figured that out he gave up on communicating and searched around his environment for anything aside from the woman. It didn't take him long to find a small cup of tea. Instead of reaching for it, as he had last time, he pushed it across the table to the woman with a black butterfly in her hair.

"I see you have some memory of what happened last time. This is such an interesting system. Your Return by Death is truly quite wonderful. It gives me some beautiful situations to observe, and it gives me more time to suppress a certain spirit." The woman smiled, there was no emotion in it, other than a touch of anticipation, and a hint of annoyance at the spirit she was referring to.

When he didn't show any reaction to her words the woman's anticipation turned to disappointment. "This is somewhat annoying," Her expression remained the same, "I will have to find a way to get something fulfilling out of you."

The woman sat silent for the next few moments, or it could have been hours. He was too insignificant to track the passing of time very well.

"I suppose that I will just have to continue with what I have been doing," A patient look reigned on her face.

"Although a few interesting things did happen today. That Echidna in Shima, ah it brought back many old memories." Her expression remained the same, and her nostalgic words didn't show on her face.

He tilted his head at her. Confused as to her motives in talking to him.

"I've been curious if I could do this," The woman stepped out from her seat and crossed the table to rest her thumb on his forehead, "If I do this to a piece as minor as you can I affect the whole mind?" She asked him even though she knew she would get little response.

"This will be enlightening if it works, and if it doesn't…" Her expression remained the same. She was patient.

"Goodbye, fragment." She pushed her thumb through his forehead, it slipped right through his skin almost as if he was a ghost.

Subaru stared up at Echidna, and a ragged breath escaped his throat, "W-" He was forced back into his dreams.

---

The black-haired boy stared around in confusion. His mind was foggy as he tried to remember what he'd just seen.

Was that Echidna? With black hair? He stepped on wet grass and kept his eyes forward as he tried to figure out what he'd seen.

It was probably a dream. He didn't take into account that he was outside of the cabin, and Sanctuary itself. Or the dreamlike twisting of the atmosphere in places where he wasn't paying attention to.

He did, however, notice the miles of marsh-like plains around him. He seemed to be on a high point as he was currently above the water.

It was an odd sight to behold and one that he didn't entirely know what to make of. Other than a single thought in his mind. Find Ram.

To obey his mind, he walked. And walked. For miles in wet grass.

After a certain point, each step brought a sloshing of liquid instead of just soggy grass.

In an attempt to pass the time he tried to focus on what he'd seen before beginning his long trek.

He tried to hold onto the picture of Echidna smiling down at him, her hair black as night, long enough to truly remember what he'd just seen.

He ran his hands through his hair due to the mental strain of trying to hold onto that image. It was so difficult he didn't notice that his shoes had become stuck in the mud.

Subaru pushed his eyes open and for the first time looked down, only to realize that the ground wasn't slick with water. It was soaked with blood. His eyebrows rose at the sight of it, and he started to look around for the blood's source.

When he saw nothing he fell back on his old goal. I need to get to Ram. He yanked his feet out of the bloody mud and left his shoes behind.

Eventually, he stepped on something other than mud.

"Hm?" He stared down and was unable to see a thing through the red blood, but instead of trying to bend down to get a better look as he normally might have, he looked around him. In a sweeping view, he saw emptiness as far as his eyes could see.

"Shit I need to keep walking and find where Ram is," He forced himself to step forward, though it was odd and he nearly tripped. The new ground he was walking on had all these nooks and crannies for him to slip on, and whenever he took a step his foot would slide. Not like ice, but more as if he was placing his foot on something flexible.

He continued forward as he took careful consideration to walk upright even with the odd conditions. It didn't take him long before he noticed the surface he was walking on was starting to incline.

Not too long after, the ground rose above the level of the blood. When he gazed down, at the now visible ground, tears came to his eyes, and a scream built at the back of his throat.

He was walking on a massive pile of bodies, and each one was Ram's. He wanted to bend down and start crying, but he knew now this was a dream, and that's what he told himself.

Only a dream. Only a dream. Yet he fell into the normal pattern of making odd dreamlike actions. Instead of trying to wake himself up, he kept walking forward, until there was practically a mountain of Ram's bodies that he had to reach the summit of.

He barely held back a scream as he climbed further and further up the mountain of her corpses. He sobbed each time he recognized the injuries on one of the corpses.

When he reached the summit, tears were dripping down his face in a constant stream. And he was barely holding in the massive amount of sobs and screams pawing at him.

"Barusu," Ram's stern voice greeted him as he looked up through clouded eyes. The pink-haired maid was there, and she was alive. There was not a scratch on her as she walked toward him.

However, on her way toward him, she looked at how Subaru had gotten up to her, and saw the blood staining his hands.

She knew that he'd climbed up to her on a mountain of her corpses. Any warmth in her gaze drained away, as did the vibrance in her red irises.

"Barusu," Everything about the way Ram said that word had changed. She no longer said it with that stern, yet warm, voice. Now she said the nickname with distaste, disdain, and disgust.

Subaru took a step back at the piercing gaze she had adopted, "Ram, Ram, I'm sorry, Ram-" He was interrupted by innumerable screams of pain. Each one from Ram herself. He held his head in his hands, and let words pour from his throat.

"I'm sorry, Ram, I never wanted any of this to happen, please Ram. I'm sorry." The screams in his mind stopped, and he slowly looked out upon the world again. Only to find that the Ram who'd been standing before him now lay dead.

There was a kukri knife shoved through her neck.

"No, Ram!" He forced himself to run over to her, but his vision fell as he collapsed to the ground. A burning pain shot through his leg, although it was easy for him to ignore it.

He didn't pay any attention to the injury, instead, he reached his arm toward Ram. "I'm going to take on your suffering, I won't let any of this happen again."

With that determination in mind, Subaru forced himself from his nightmare.

---

A small part of his mind remained within the dream. Once he observed his surroundings he tried to escape Ram's bodies but they were everywhere. However, he was soon joined by another presence to ease the tiny fragment of his mind that she'd been able to hold onto.

"That truly was interesting, mmh," A small groan escaped a greedy woman's throat as she stepped up next to him. "It is quite interesting that I can force your entire mind into dreams but cannot control them. My… controlling your dreams would really make things easier. But I cannot complain about these results."

A satisfied smile was painted across her face as she thought about what she'd seen.

She looked down at the tiny piece of his mind that was still there. He could tell there was fondness in that gaze.

The woman placed her hand atop his head. It was odd that he even had a body that could be touched but apparently, it was there.

"No one has ever said rekindling love is easy, but they have also never said rekindling that love wouldn't be… satisfying." The woman licked her lips and removed her hand from his head.

"It seems we are out of time once more," She lamented to him, "The time available to me may be getting longer, but that doesn't change that our time is up now."

Her deep black eyes met his. There were no whites in those eyes. They were reminiscent of the void brought by closing your eyes.

Her tongue rolled out of her mouth and ran along her pale hand, which was also filled with purple veins. Once her pink tongue had rolled along the entire back of her hand she placed her finger on his forehead.

Then, she pushed her finger into his head, all the while a whisper slipped from her throat, "Goodbye, Natsuki Subaru."

---

Subaru woke up to the soft feeling of Ram's chest under his head. Her arms were still wrapped protectively around him. However, he didn't let himself fully enjoy it at first as he had to make sure he wasn't dreaming. So after he pinched his cheek to make sure, and assessed his thought process to check for any odd compulsions he decided everything was normal enough for it to be real.

Once he'd confirmed that he let himself relax, and his lips tilted upward a tiny bit as he breathed out a sigh of relief. He didn't have to worry about the thousands of Ram's bodies that he'd climbed in his dream. After all, Ram was here.

"You can't do anything about the past Barusu, so stop worrying about it and have resolve in the present." Ram's words from the last loop emanated in his mind. He realized she was right.

The pink-haired maid whom he loved was still alive, and she hadn't become a victim of Capella. He could take on her suffering in this timeline, even if he'd failed last time.

For the next couple of minutes, he closed his eyes and waited. He didn't fall asleep, as he wasn't tired, but he let himself relax in Ram's arms until she woke up.

Eventually, the maid opened her red eyes and looked down at him, "Lazy Barusu, wake up so we can get to work," She yelled at him but left him in her arms. After what he'd told her yesterday she wasn't going to go around throwing him off her as much. At least not without a little warning first.

"I've been up for a while," He responded with clear words, and a lack of sleep in his voice.

"Well then, I guess you should get up now, slow Barusu," She pushed a scowl on her face and stared down at her, but instead of getting up Subaru only wrapped himself deeper into her embrace.

"No." Subaru didn't say anything else as the corners of his mouth tilted up a bit.

"Hmph," Ram huffed, "I suppose you leave my no choice, disgusting Barusu. Fine. You can take comfort in my very lovable arms for the next few minutes." A smug smile spread across her face as she spoke that last sentence.

"Thanks, Ram." The two relaxed like that, before eventually getting up and heading off to gather the final key to Capella's defeat.

---

Roswaal L. Mathers sat upon his bed and stared out toward the rising sun. The bandages covering him itched, but he needed to maintain this facade for now.

Instead of contemplating Subaru's words from yesterday any further, he reached under the pillow behind him. He rubbed the cover of the black book he retrieved. Then forced a smile onto his face. There was a hint of pain to it, but he shoved it down and opened the book's cover.

He located and flipped to the pages pertaining to Sanctuary without any delay. He knew their places by heart.

As he looked over it he realized something. Nothing from my conversation with Subaru-kun yesterday was the same as in the gospel. I must already not be the final Roswaal, but maybe there is a way to become the final Roswaal.

"Hoooooow unfortunate," He whispered the thought aloud. It was a struggle to keep up the speech pattern.

However, he kept up the speech pattern because even if the conversation was off, the loop was going in the general direction it should. Maybe it was just that Subaru had not seen the conversation yesterday as something he should need to reset for.

Roswaal forced his mind away from Subaru as his words started returning to the clown's mind. He reread the gospel diligently and took all of its instructions into his mind.

Small rivulets of blood dripped down onto his blankets. His nails had started digging into his palm. Back when he'd read these orders, he'd doubted the gospel for the first time in four centuries. But yesterday he'd realized what it had told him was true, and that meant he would have to follow its instructions.

He searched through the wording of its orders with desperation in his gaze. He wanted, needed, and had to find a way to not follow the instructions in the gospel. It was one of the very very few times in which he'd searched for ways to resist the book's predictions.

Teacher needs to be revived, but if there is a way to do it without this, then that is what I will do.

But after nearly an hour of searching, he realized there was little way around the orders without outright flaunting them.

If this conversation doesn't go the way the gospel said it would then I will not do what it said. He hoped that Subaru hadn't reset enough times to reach the final loop.

For the first time since Subaru had come into his life he prayed he wasn't the final Roswaal.

I'm sorry Roswaal L. Mathers, He apologized to the final incarnation of himself, But you need to do this, until then I will not.

The fingers on his left hand united the gospel's pages as he closed the book. "Please, hoooold onto it at least for this loooooop." Roswaal knew what was coming to Sanctuary, and what it would do to Subaru.

By the time the clown had put the book behind his pillow he was practically shoving it away.

After that, he waited in calm patience. Subaru would come through the door eventually, and then he would know whether this loop was the final, if he could make it the final, or if there was no hope for the loop.

It took only another couple of minutes before the door into his cabin opened, and two sets of footsteps grew closer to his door.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply to try and calm himself. It was easier than it may have been a few minutes ago thanks to there being two sets of feet instead of one. However, until they walked into the room that meant very little.

Though, he did succeed in relaxing both of his hands. The nails on his right fingertips fell away from his palm, and his left hand stopped gripping his blankets.

"Sup, Ros," His multi-colored eyes snapped open at Subaru's greeting to him. The boy had been able to enter the room without Roswaal noticing. Not because of any incredible stealth but due to the clown's shifting of focus from the outside world inward.

Instead of responding immediately, Roswaal took a moment to study Subaru's face. It was slightly more pained than it had been yesterday, but his resolve was still intact.

"Subaaaru-kun?" The clown whispered. Is he the only one coming into the room? Dread roiled within Roswaal's chest.

However, thankfully Ram followed shortly behind Subaru. "Ah, it's gooood that you could join us, Raaaaam."

He was barely able to hold in the relieved sigh that wanted to fall from his lips.

After he barely managed to hold that in he noticed that an awkward silence had stretched out across the room. Roswaal had been too focused on appearing outwardly calm that he hadn't started a conversation, and Ram was waiting on Subaru who was only watching him.

"So what did you come to talk about, Subaru-kuuuun?" Roswaal pushed past his hesitance and initiated a conversation.

"I need you to answer a question of mine," He began, and continued at Roswaal's nod, "Are you the one who hired Capella, Elsa, and Meili to attack Sanctuary?"

Roswaal's eyes widened, but he was able to swiftly suppress his reaction, "So that's what will happen to Sanctuaaaaaary?"

This isn't the loop the gospel tells of. But can it be made the final loop? The true loop.

Now it was Subaru's turn to be surprised. He hadn't expected Roswaal's response to sound so relieved.

So there are still things that can surprise you. Memories from yesterday rose in Roswaal's mind. He could still clearly picture the age that had hidden behind Subaru's eyes. The eons that were concealed there.

A small bit of confidence mixed with a reminder of the fear he'd faced in that gaze rose within the Margrave.

"Hm…" Subaru turned to Ram who was standing next to him. Roswaal watched with interest as Ram nodded.

Any attempt he made to discern their communication was of no use. And dread hid within him, either Subaru was hiding how much he knew, or…

He's old enough to know when to hide his cards until the right moment.

Once Subaru and Ram were done talking the boy put his attention back on Roswaal.

Subaru grabbed two wooden chairs and sat down on one while Ram sat in the other.

"Why should we believe you, Roswaal L. Mathers?" Subaru's behavior completely shifted. His words grew methodical, and his eyes showed that age Roswaal had feared so much yesterday.

Doing this in front of Ram, risky. Roswaal didn't blame him, however, nor could he criticize Subaru, he'd shared all of his secrets with Ram, who'd fiercely hated him.

"Youuuuu'll just have to truuust me, won't you." He doesn't know whether I did it. The tiny hint of hope that had entered his heart dimmed.

"Do you feel guilt Roswaal?" Subaru wondered idly.

"You wouuuuund me Subaru-kun," Roswaal tried to play up his nature as a jester, "I have dooooone nothing worthy of making meeee feel guilty."

Subaru continued to stare at him, "Are you aware of what Capella leaves in her wake?"

"Yeeeees, I am." His hands closed into fists around his blankets once more.

"So there is guilt there," Subaru's voice was confident, but not from a knowledge advantage. He was just strong. Roswaal could barely keep his smile as he realized how little knowledge Subaru had.

"Ram, you can leave now, he probably hired Capella." Subaru turned and spoke those words to her. Instead of accepting his words and leaving Ram's red eyes shot to his hands. Her eyes probed him analyzing every single piece of him.

"He didn't," Her voice was sure as she responded, "He knows what this Sin Archbishop is capable of, and he is guilty because he plans to let you defeat her without his help. Also, there is no reason for him to lie."

Subaru accepted her words easily, "Well then," He met Roswaal's eyes once more, and then he stood up and stretched out his hand to Roswaal, "Help us kill Capella, and I'll find a way for either me or Emilia to beat the trials."

Ram stood up behind him and placed a hand on Subaru's shoulder. Pain shot into Roswaal's chest and he didn't focus on Subaru's hand.

"Youuuuu only want my help with Capella?"

"Of course, Garfiel can handle Elsa and I know a way to handle Meili," Subaru spoke with confidence.

"Roswaal-sama, your help would be greatly appreciated," Ram added on.

Well then. This is not a loop I can make final.

"That's really all you know?" Subaru and Ram's eyes widened as the clown's speech pattern disappeared. However, Roswaal didn't notice. He'd stopped looking at them.

A massive sigh fell from Roswaal's throat and he dropped the fake grin from his face. "Roswaal?" Subaru said, "What do you mean?"

"The perfect conditions have not presented themselves, and the gospel's writ has not been met."

"Roswaal-sama, this is important, we need to defeat Capella." Ram tried to get through to him. Guilt shot into Roswaal at the tone in her voice.

"I'm sorry Ram, but there is nothing to be done." Roswaal laid down on his bed and stared up at the sky. There was no terrifying glint in his eyes anymore. No immense desire to reach for Echidna and never stop.

I'm too weak to do anything on my own, without the perfect circumstances being in place.

"What do you know, Ros?" Subaru asked.

"More than you." The clown let his eyelids close. There was no point in keeping them open anymore.

"You can beat Capella, but she isn't all we have to worry about, is she?" Roswaal didn't answer Subaru.

"Roswaal," Ram dropped the honorific and grabbed onto his shoulders, "Stop being cryptic and help us." She was fed up with his behavior.

He tried to ignore her as Ram picked him up.

"I'm going to prove you wrong Roswaal. I'll find a way to manage this without you." Subaru had already deemed it impossible to get Roswaal out of this state without killing Capella and disproving the clown.

"Roswaal, get up." Ram's voice was full of anger and something that might have been fondness. His face twisted at the tone in her words.

"There is nothing to be done." He whispered under his breath, "I can't do it…"

"No Roswaal-." Subaru placed his hand on Ram's shoulder.

"He isn't going to change his mind Ram, just put him down," Subaru soothed her worries, "Well he will change his mind when we kill Capella without him, c'mon I think I have a way that might work." The determination in his words got through to Ram, and she gently laid Roswaal back down.

They left without a word.

After, Roswaal found himself staring out of the window at the sky.

A melancholic man stood above him, but Roswaal knew he was only a hallucination. The haunting reminder of what happened when he thought himself strong.

"I'm weak…"

---

Otto cast a glance over his shoulder to look at the small clearing in the trees. He made a mental note that it was there. Then he straightened his head and continued to walk forward as he rubbed his eyes.

He walked a few steps before bumping into something. Before he noticed, he was on the floor.

"Hey Otto," A blonde-haired demi-human stood above him with a sharp-toothed smile on his face.

Shit. Otto's tired mind thought. It took him a few seconds to fully able to appreciate the danger of the situation as he hadn't slept since Subaru had woken him up last night.

However when he did realize it his eyes snapped open, and he ignored the tiredness while adrenaline shot through him. He kept his movements slow and careful as he stood up and met the boy's eyes.

"Hey Garfiel, what do you need?" There was no fear in his body as he stared the tiger down.

"Ram asked my amazin' self to help out with the attack on Sanctuary that's goin' to happen tomorrow night, so I'm gonna help you." He smiled at Otto and the merchant could easily tell that he was lying, or at least not telling the full truth. The blonde boy wanted to help, but he also wanted to make sure Otto didn't do anything to damage the Sanctuary.

"We should get Natsuki-san to explain what he knows," Otto explained, "He probably has a more in-depth plan for what we should each be doing. I haven't actually set anything up yet, I was just scouting out the forest."

No surprise showed on Garfiel's face at his last words. So he's been watching me. Otto figured out.

"Mmh," A slight grumble came from Garfiel's mouth as he rubbed the x-shaped scar atop his head, "That's probably a good idea." He admitted.

He doesn't trust Natsuki-san either. Otto noted. Shortly after he discovered the blue spirit that was glowing next to his head.

"Hello, spirit," A tone of awe entered Otto's voice as he switched into the language of the spirits. "Are you one of Natsuki-san's?"

The spirit signaled its affirmation with something that was the equivalent of a grunt in its language. His Divine Protection may have allowed him to understand and speak to spirits but since he didn't have any spirit affinity they never wanted to speak to him.

"Well it seems we won't have to try and find Natsuki-san." Otto flipped back to speaking in his natural tongue.

"Huh," Garfiel searched around, "What'd ya mean?"

In response, Otto gestured to the blue globe of light that was floating above him. "So he's a spiritualist eh?" Garfiel's voice was filled with distrust.

Hm? Envy? That's odd. Otto didn't know what to make of Garfiel after this second impression. The merchant continued to stare at the demi-human for a moment before crossing his arms and leaning against a tree to wait for Subaru.

The second he closed his eyes he realized he'd made a slight miscalculation. He'd still only gotten about an hour of sleep last night, and now his brain wanted to make up on that lost time.

Unfortunately, though, he was too tired to fight against sleep's calling. So he didn't care when a short exhalation fell from his throat and he fell asleep.

---

Subaru and Ram stepped through the trees and discovered Garfiel and Otto waiting for them. Well, at least Garfiel was still waiting. Subaru realized the green-clad merchant was fast asleep.

"Damn…" Subaru wondered if he should let Otto sleep, but he soon realized that without Roswaal they would need every hand on deck for the upcoming fight, "Welp sorry about this Otto."

He closed the distance between himself and the merchant who was leaning against a tree. "Ooh. I wonder how he'll react if I do... this," Subaru reached up and grabbed Otto's hat and placed it on his head.

"Eugh," Ram made a noise of mock disgust, though, in reality, she was curious, "What are you doing wearing that disgusting man's hat Barusu? Although I guess you wearing something so disgusting only fits."

"It does fit doesn't it, thanks for the compliment Ram," Subaru responded as he ran his hand along the green hat atop his head. His lips tilted up a bit as he met Garfiel's eyes. "How do I look, Garfiel?"

"Why you askin' me?" Garfiel responded quickly. He was barely able to stand Subaru's unnerving presence. And could only manage it thanks to the conversation he'd had with Shima. She'd spoken of how Subaru had no ill intent toward Sanctuary. So he held onto that as he rubbed the scar on his forehead.

"Huh don't know…" Subaru shrugged with a slight hint of humor in his eyes. "Well anyway," He raised his right hand and brought it down on the top of Otto's head.

"Ah," A short groan came from Otto's throat as his eyes pulled open slowly, "Natsuki-san? Why are you wearing my hat?"

Subaru shrugged once more and placed the hat back on top of Otto's head. "Wanted to see how it felt," He finally came up with an explanation as Otto rubbed his eyes.

"Alright, Natsuki-san. Are you going to tell us who we each have to deal with?" Otto got straight to the point in his tiredness.

"Yeah, one thing tho," A glimmer of mirth appeared in Subaru's eyes, "Can you go get Emilia and Rem for me?"

"Haaaa," Otto shook his head and rushed off to get the maid and the candidate. The merchant whispered in the language of some animal or another while he walked off.

"Might be too mean to him," Subaru commented before rubbing his head and pulling one of Otto's hairs from his own.

"What did I say, idiot Barusu," She shook her head, "I hope you've learned a valuable lesson about listening to me today."

"Mmh," A small growl emanated from Garfiel, but Subaru ignored it. Without Roswaal he would truly have to think of a creative way to defeat Capella.

He had a multitude of plans in mind, and most of them were very stupid, but he wasn't discouraged. His plan going up against Ley had been far worse.

Though the only thing he was worried about was the things Roswaal had said. If he wasn't lying and there was more threatening the Sanctuary… then he didn't have much of a solution.

Maybe he could use his spirits to communicate with everyone and if there were any other threats he could be warned of them. That was his only idea for how to counter an enemy he didn't even know was coming. Anything else may put the plan for the three he had concrete proof of in jeopardy.

In any case, Subaru decided it would be best to not speak to Ram or Garfiel for now as it would bother the blonde-haired man. Best to just focus on the impending threat.

So for the next few minutes, the group waited in relative silence, aside from Ram and Garfiel trading a few insults every now and again. Subaru didn't notice it, instead, he continued to figure out everyone's role in the upcoming fight.

He was interrupted from his planning when Otto stepped into his peripheral vision with Emilia and Rem in tow. His brown eyes flicked to the silver-haired girl who had a determined look in her eye. It was much the same as the one she'd had in the last loop before attempting the first trial for the second time.

Then his eyes jumped to Rem who had some suspicion in her gaze, it seemed she didn't trust Otto all that much. However, she had come along with the merchant as the tiredness in his eyes had looked too real for her to think he was in any state to kill her and Emilia.

Subaru didn't need to look at Otto to get a feel for his emotions he could guess pretty easily just by looking at the bags under his eyes.

"Subaru-kun, what did you need?" Rem asked as she and Emilia stepped up to them.

"Rem, this is about what I was talking about last night, Barusu is planning how to defeat the attackers," Ram explained to her sister.

"Huh, what attackers, what's going on Subaru?" Emilia's voice felt distant to Subaru which tore at his chest, but there was nothing to be done about it. He would just have to accept it until he could defeat the three assailants threatening the Sanctuary and then he could fix his relationship with Emilia.

Subaru readied himself to explain what was going on until his brown eyes rested upon Rem. How is she going to handle this? He asked himself, but when he saw the look of determination and fondness in her eyes he decided to trust that she would be able to control her impulses.

With his trust in Rem affirmed he explained what was going to happen, "So tomorrow night a little bit after sundown Elsa Granhiert the Bowel Hunter who tried to kill Emilia and me in the capital, along with Meili a mabeast user responsible for the attack on the kids in the forest, and Capella Emerada Lugunica, the Sin Archbishop of Lust are all going to be attacking Sanctuary."

Rem's face twisted in anger at his words, and her breathing picked up. Ram stepped over to her and placed a hand on the maid's back. A look of gratitude passed upon Rem's face as she saw the love in her sister's eyes, and then she took a deep breath. She continued to breathe as Subaru readied himself to go on.

Though Subaru wasn't ignoring what was going on in front of him. His lips had tilted up a tiny bit when he saw Rem calm herself down with the help of her sister.

"That's going to be tough," Emilia whispered, "Are you sure, you believe in me to help?"

"Yes," Subaru responded without hesitating. He trusted all of the people around him to be able to help in the fight before him. He may not have had perfect faith in Emilia's ability to pass Echidna's trials but he did trust her to defeat an enemy in front of her as long as she had good allies and a good plan.

Emilia's purple eyes widened at the speed of his response, and the corners of her mouth quirked upward into a subtle smile.

"Also Emilia, just until we defeat them I need you to not take the trials," Emilia's smile soon disappeared at Subaru's next words. "I'm sorry, but there simply isn't time for you to pass all three of them and focus on helping us with setting up the forest for the fight."

Emilia thought upon his words for a moment, and eventually nodded, "Thaaat makes sense." She realized that this wasn't about him not believing in her ability to take the trials. It was him trusting in her to help defend Sanctuary.

"Thanks Emilia, and now, I think I've figured out how to position everyone," Subaru said as he explained the details of the plan to them.

Once he was finished with his explanation he asked them a question, "Alright does everyone know what they're doing?" They all nodded in response. "Good now let's get to work. We have a forest to defend."

---

For the rest of that day, every member of the group was rushing all across Sanctuary scouting out the forest and starting to set up all the preparations for their plans. They all had a set goal in mind, that being finding a way to make Subaru's plan a reality. All of them had agreed that on paper the plan was great, but it would need some preparation within the forest if it was to succeed.

And once the day was over everyone returned to their separate cabins, or communal church in Otto's case, to sleep so they could be ready for the plan tomorrow.

---

Ram opened her red eyes to sunlight streaming into her and Subaru's cabin. "Are you pretending to be asleep, Barusu?" She asked loudly down at his face, which seemed to be asleep.

"Huh?" Subaru stirred and opened his eyes to look up at her. He was wrapped in her embrace much like he had been last night, "What's happening Ram?"

Dammit. I woke him up. She cursed herself internally. Subaru would need all the rest he could get for the battle that was going to happen tonight. Also after all he'd said he'd been through in his past Ram wanted to be less merciless with him.

Subaru was silent for a few moments before a smug look entered his eyes, though his face remained the same. "I've been awake for a few minutes, so yes I was pretending."

Ram shook her head and sighed before tossing Subaru off of her and onto the other side of the bed, "Honestly Barusu you need to get a grip on reality. You are a menace."

"Sure Ram, anyway let's get back to doing our final prep work," Once he said those words Ram found herself agreeing with him. As much as she wanted to stay here and trade insults with him there was simply no time for all of that.

"So you've finally realized that not slacking off is important. Took you so long to learn that, but I guess you can teach an old pile of trash new tricks," She tossed a biteless insult at him as she got out of bed to start the morning.

Subaru did the same and the two were ready in only a few minutes. They didn't waste any more time on idle talk as they rushed out to make sure everything was in place for the attack tonight.

---

The rest of the day passed quickly, and by the time the sun was reaching down to touch the horizon, there was not a hint of doubt within Subaru.

"You two ready?" He called back to the blue-haired maid and blonde-haired demi-human who were standing behind him.

The group was waiting outside of the church, where everyone who lived within the Sanctuary, and the members of Arlam village had been evacuated too.

"Of course, Subaru-kun," Rem answered.

"No shit," Garfiel responded, in a bit of a different manner.

"Alright then," He reached into his mind and called upon the spirit he'd left with Otto and his group.

"Are they ready?" He relayed a message through the spirit to Otto who was waiting on the other side to use his Divine Protection so they could communicate.

"Yes," The spirit responded, giving him Otto's affirmation. Once he heard the spirit's words he called upon a couple dozen of the other minor spirits and set them to watching all the borders of the forest.

As night descended upon the Forest of Kremaldy his body remained as still as a statue while he was focused on the perspectives of his spirits. They continued to sweep the forest until a small portion of them stumbled upon an odd bat-like creature.

Right as the spirits locked onto the horn atop its head ten courtesan bears stepped into their vision followed by a purple-haired girl sitting atop a gabou. A black-haired woman was standing walking next to her. Subaru ordered the spirits to all zone in on that spot and search for Capella, who was suspiciously absent.

While they did that he shifted his mind to speaking to the one with Otto. He quickly relayed Elsa and Meili's location.

"So they are coming from the spot you predicted Otto," Subaru said with a relieved breath. The merchant had centered almost all of his preparations since yesterday on his prediction of where the attackers would come from.

"Alright be ready, they're about to run into Otto, and then we'll have some company to deal with shortly." He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out his whip. Behind him, Garfiel slammed his gauntleted fists together and Rem pulled her flail from her skirt.

Their bodies were set with determination. They were all ready to defend Sanctuary.

---

"Elsa and Meili are on their way to you, and they have their mabeasts with them," A blue globe of light whispered into Otto's ear. The spirit's voice was unhappy while it talked to him, but it still provided the warning because Subaru was the one giving it. "And they're coming from the spot you predicted."

Otto nodded his head at its words and let his blue eyes jump to the other two people waiting with him. Those people being Ram and Emilia. He forced down the feelings of fear and suspicion he felt as his eyes passed along Emilia's ears.

"They're coming, are you all ready?" The merchant asked the two women.

"Ha. Of course, I'm ready," Ram uncrossed her arms and stopped leaning on the tree behind her. Otto saw the slight shakiness in her limbs, which were still leftover from the injuries she'd sustained while facing Ley. Guilt and gratitude rose in his chest as she'd sustained those injuries saving him from the Sin Archbishop.

"I recognize that look merchant, drop the guilt, it makes you look even more disgusting," Her words didn't feel like an insult to the young man.

"Huh?" Emilia made a noise of confusion.

"Don't worry about it, Emilia-sama," Ram dismissed her confusion.

"They're getting close," The blue spirit that was hovering above his head relayed Subaru's words once more. Otto shut his eyes at the words and activated his divine protection.

He shifted into the language of insects and spoke, "I need some of you to act as my eyes and ears here."

"Against mabeasts, of course," A few bugs rose from the trees around him and rushed off to where Elsa and Meili were coming from.

"They're close," He switched back to the human tongue and whispered to Emilia and Ram.

"You can handle this, Emilia-sama," Ram's voice was honest as she whispered to the girl.

Emilia heard the maid's words, and the truthfulness contained within them and grinned. Her purple eyes took on a steely determination and she nodded. "Is there a signal you want me to follow, Otto-san?"

"Nope, it's up to your judgment," He was relying on her to execute this part of the plan, as he and Ram had other things they would need to focus on.

Emilia's smile widened a little at the trust they displayed in her.

Bated breaths passed among the group as the moments stretched on and the growls of mabeasts rang out. Eventually, Elsa, Meili, and their mabeasts entered their vision.

Otto stepped into clear view, as did the other two. Stealth was not necessary, and would likely have been detrimental, to their plan.

Just have to wait for them to make the first move. Thanks to Subaru the group knew how these two would act. They'd been expecting Capella though, so her not being here made their plan easier; however, it caused them to worry about where she was going to be. But they couldn't alter their plan at all, as it had to go perfectly.

"Emilia-sama," Otto signaled for the first part of the plan to begin. After this though, Emilia would be working with her own judgment.

---

Emilia, at Otto's words, stepped forward and stood in front of the merchant and Ram. She raised her pale arms out to the side and manifested around two dozen minor spirits and a couple of her contracted quasi-spirits.

She didn't focus on the emotions of the spirits, which she felt a little guilty about, but she understood she had to give her undivided attention to the battle before her.

Neither Elsa nor Meili were surprised that the group was waiting for them. Emilia's eyes scanned across them. The purple-haired girl possessed a forced smile on her face while Elsa had a genuine smile on her own. A bit of guilt and worry shot into Emilia's heart at Meili's face, but she put all of her focus on Elsa.

The black-haired woman's eyes were trained on her, and she'd taken out a kukri knife. Elsa spun it around her fingers as her smile widened. "I hope you've kept your bowels in good condition," A short groan escaped the woman's throat.

Emilia wasn't surprised by the woman's words, as Subaru had warned her that this was how the woman would act. Instead, she drew on mana from her spirits and readied her body.

"Elsa Granhiert," The woman spoke her name as she stepped forward from Meili and her witch beasts.

Emilia made no move to back away from the woman. She stayed in front of Otto and Ram. However, the temperature did start to drop as she seized mana from the air and set it flowing through her. She let out a short breath, which misted out in front of her.

Elsa raised her knife and the muscles in her body tightened. Emilia brought her arms out to the side and readied the mana coursing through her. An icy breath rushed into her lungs and was warmed by her contract with Puck. A smile grew on Emilia's face as memories of her spiritual father rushed through her mind.

Images of Rem, Subaru, Ram, Otto, and the villagers all lit up within her mind. They're all relying on me, I can't let them down now.

The half-elf parted her lips to speak, "Emilia."

Elsa's smile widened as far as it could go, and she launched herself off of her right leg. Without hesitation Emilia took her right hand and let mana storm into it, as Elsa careened toward her she raised her hand and brought a pillar of ice up along with it.

The black-haired woman slammed into it and cracks covered the shield of ice. Emilia didn't hesitate in jumping to her left. Elsa saw her movement immediately and pivoted off the ice toward Emilia's new position.

In response, the silver-haired girl took her left hand and waved it across the air in front of her. Spears of ice materialized before her, and she sent them flying into the bowel hunter. Elsa danced through every one of them and Emilia sent them flying back toward herself.

With her left hand, Emilia brought new shards of ice into existence, and with her right hand, she pushed and pulled the ones around Elsa. Shards attacked the woman from all directions. She grabbed another knife from her clothes and cleaved it through a group of spears.

Emilia weaved her hands and body together in an intricate dance while she, and her spirits, built a prison of frozen shrapnel for the bowel hunter. The air's temperature drastically dropped as Elsa jumped sideways putting her body horizontal to the ground and spun her blades out around her.

When the woman landed on the ground Emilia started taking steps backward bringing the massive amount of ice shards and the bowel hunter along with her. Elsa didn't tire as she continued striking down shards around her; however, Emilia's nonstop production of new ice was slowing down. Tired breaths escaped her throat and the beads of sweat on her forehead were freezing into ice.

Elsa smiled at Emilia's tired expression and momentarily dropped her guard. Her expression didn't change as she was run through by nearly a dozen ice shards.

Overcoming the tiredness that was threatening to overwhelm her, Emilia took another dozen steps backward.

"You're running out of mana, and strength, but you're so very powerful, and entertaining." Elsa proclaimed in a sultry voice as the ice impaling her faded away and her skin reknit itself.

Emilia brought her arms down and sent all the remaining fragments of ice hurtling into the Bowel Hunter. Elsa didn't resist as she was nearly cut in half.

The half-elf continued to step backward as Elsa's body healed completely, and the woman stood straight up. She tossed aside her two knives which had been nearly ruined by Emilia's attacks. Her smile didn't waver as she turned back to Meili.

"Meili, you handle those two," Elsa gestured to Otto and Ram who hadn't moved since Emilia and Elsa's clash began, "This one is mine."

"Alright," Meili turned her attention to the fight and onto the two her sister had instructed her to kill.

Emilia didn't pay attention to Meili, Otto, and Ram, instead only keeping her purple eyes on the sensual woman before her. Elsa's eyes danced around as she stepped across frosted grass.

"Come, let me see your bowels," Elsa whispered to her as she pulled two more blades from her clothes.

When she heard those words Emilia turned and ran from the woman.

Elsa tilted her head when she saw what the girl had done, but that puzzled gaze didn't last long. "It isn't that easy to escape me."

The words pawed at Emilia's mind as she vaulted over a bush and dashed through the trees. She didn't only run from the Bowel Hunter, to keep Elsa off of her she brought walls of ice into existence around her.

"Let me see those half-devil bowels!" Elsa yelled as she cut through one of Emilia's ice shields and landed in front of the girl. Not a hint of fear entered Emilia's eyes as she slid through Elsa's legs and encased her feet within the ice.

She turned back to Elsa for a moment and surrounded the woman in walls of ice. "You're being a very bad girl," Emilia said innocently as she continued sprinting through the forest and left Elsa behind.

She left a spirit to watch over Elsa and tell her when the woman escaped from the prison Emilia left. All tiredness was gone from her face as she weaved out of the way of a tree and let her eyes dart to the church spire rising into the sky.

Determination grew in her eyes as she looked upon it. However, her running was interrupted when her spirits warned her of Elsa's escape. It didn't take long for her to hear proof of that as Elsa cut through the trees behind her.

Emilia cast a glance back at the woman as she rocketed past tree after tree and chased after the silver-haired girl.

"Ah!" Elsa grunted as she shoved herself from the canopy down at Emilia. One of her blades was raised above her head as she brought it down on the girl's head.

Emilia didn't think as she raised her hand and caught Elsa's arm. Once her palm struck the woman's wrist she wrapped her fingers around Elsa's limb. Resolve burst out within her chest as Emilia brought her other hand and flattened her palm against Elsa's stomach.

Elsa's skin cracked as Emilia brought more and more mana from the atmosphere into her hand. "So you weren't tired," Elsa said with a pleased expression as Emilia kept pushing mana into her hand.

The black-haired woman's smile widened and her eyes met Emilia's. Their faces were only centimeters away from each other as Emilia's lips drew into a line. "I won't get tired when people are counting on me. Ah!" Emilia grunted as she pushed a sizable amount of mana into Elsa's body.

The woman's body was frozen solid, and she started splitting into smaller pieces of herself. Emilia didn't cast a second glance down at the woman, she knew Elsa wasn't dead, and her spirits were slowing down on providing her mana.

Her words wouldn't count for much if she ran out of mana entirely. So she set her sights on the church spire once more and kept dashing toward it.

It didn't take long for another warning to come from her spirits; however, Emilia didn't respond to it immediately and focused on running for as long as she could get away with. The distance between her and the church was nearly gone, and she didn't have to go much further.

Once Elsa landed in front of her though, she knew she'd made a mistake. The woman was almost entirely in perfect condition. No heavy breaths were coming from her throat, which was not the case with Emilia.

"You spoke big words back there," Elsa smiled and raised a new set of knives, "You've been denying me your bowels for a little while, give them to me. Now."

Emilia shook her head, "With all the people relying on me, I'll have to decline." Once she finished speaking her eyes snapped open and Elsa launched herself toward the girl once more.

"PUCK!" Emilia screamed in her mind for the spirit, but when no response came she took matters into her own hands and raised a new shield to block Elsa's strike. The woman, having learned her lesson from last time touched her feet to the ground and weaved around the shield of ice. So Emilia was forced to make another one, and then another.

But, with each new shield, she made they got weaker. Just have to make it to the church. She forced the spirits around her to give her as much mana as they could. "People are relying on me!" She shoved her hands out to Elsa and sent a massive sharpened pillar of mana toward the woman. But Elsa had learned Emilia's fighting style well enough by now to completely avoid the strike.

Fortunately, though, this put her off balance and allowed Emilia to shove her body closer to the church. She was able to make it a few steps closer toward the clearing where Rem and the others were waiting. Although wasn't able to make it out of the forest as right when she was taking another stride toward the others Elsa grabbed her leg.

Emilia flipped her upper body around to see Elsa's fingers wrapped around her calf. "Your bowels will be beautiful," Her fingers started digging into Emilia's leg, and pain shot through her body as Elsa spoke again, "Give them to me!" She shouted in anticipation.

Elsa ignored it as her hand started to freeze, and Emilia only looked down at the frost covering the woman's hand in confusion. "Pu- AH!" She was interrupted as Elsa squeezed so hard her fingers pierced Emilia's skin and dug into her muscles.

"Mmh," Elsa moaned, "Your guts will be so beautiful."

Emilia continued trying to squirm her way out of the woman's grasp but her spirits were tapped out and very little mana was flowing into her.

Elsa raised her other hand and the blade held within her fingers glistened in the pale moonlight.

Emilia pushed whatever mana she could scrounge together into her arms and formed a small shield to block Elsa's knife. Unfortunately, her attempt only resulted in a tiny piece of ice which Elsa didn't even take note of.

Fear finally set into Emilia's heart and she inhaled to scream out for help. But before she could, a snap rang out in her ears and a long black cord wrapped itself around Elsa's neck. Pathetic breaths escaped Elsa's throat as she dropped Emilia's leg and reached up to grab at the cord around her neck.

But before she could pull it away from her neck, the sound of chains came from the sky and a ball of steel and spikes slammed into Elsa's chest knocking her backward. Rem landed next to Emilia as Garfiel walked out from the trees and leaned down next to her.

The half-elf didn't focus on the demi-human as Elsa's back slammed into the ground. "Haaa," Her breath was knocked from her lungs as Subaru stepped over her and unwrapped his whip from her neck.

He raised his left hand and dozens of spirits rushed into visibility and ran along the length of it, "Minya," He said as shards of flaming shadows shot down at the woman.

But Elsa wasn't just going to sit there and take the strike so she flattened her palm against the ground and launched her body away from Subaru and the others. She rolled over a few times before getting to her feet as Garfiel healed Emilia's bloody leg.

The candidate's eyes grew foggy for a second as he worked, and she glimpsed a horned bat sitting in the tree. She paid the mabeast little attention as Garfiel whispered soothing words to keep her calm while he healed her.

As the process of her healing truly got underway she refocused her purple eyes on the face-off between Rem, Subaru, and Elsa.

---

Subaru carefully analyzed Elsa as she raised her knives out to her side and her gaze jumped between Subaru and Rem. Who were standing next to each other and across from her.

"Alright Rem, be careful, and keep calm," He whispered to her. The blue-haired maid nodded and breathed in and out rhythmically as a pink-white horn grew on her forehead.

Subaru manifested nearly a hundred spirits around him as he readied his whip at his side. Just have to hold her long enough for Garfiel to heal Emilia.

"I need to see your bowels too, Natsuki Subaru," Her carnal voice escaped her throat as she jumped toward him. Within less than a second she was standing in front of him, her blade raised; however, Rem reacted fast enough to protect him.

"El Huma," Forty shards of mana launched toward Elsa who deflected and dodged them with ease. Though while she was busy Subaru pulled mana into himself.

"El Shamac," He whispered and sent a cloud of shadows flying toward Elsa. He made it so the cloud ignored Rem, Garfiel, and Emilia and only paralyzed Elsa. The woman, who had little skill in resisting magic was paralyzed by it easily.

"Rem!" He shouted to the oni.

In response Rem raised her arm and brought mana through her horn and into her body, "Al Huma," At her words, a massive shard of ice grew above the maid's head. Elsa's eyes flicked up to it. Then, a smile spread across her face as she railed against Subaru's magic.

Rem didn't wait for her to escape and brought the massive spear of ice down upon the Bowel Hunter, who at the last second partially escaped from Subaru's magic and moved her body out of the way.

But her efforts didn't fully work and her lower leg was caught by Rem's attack. As ice rushed up and around her leg Elsa didn't hesitate in using the knife in her right hand to cut the leg off at the knee.

"El Minya," Subaru didn't let her have a break and launched more shards of magic at her.

Elsa's eyes danced around taking note of each one and then she bobbed and weaved through them before ending up in front of Subaru.

Once he saw how close she was to him Subaru brought his right hand up and slammed his whip into her. A snap filled his ears as a bloody lash was cut along her face. Elsa didn't even flinch. So when Subaru tried to bring his whip back to himself her hand swiftly closed around it, and kept the whip away from him.

"Your half-devil friend did quite a bit of damage. And I'm not dying until I see those bowels." Elsa proclaimed as she stepped toward him. Rem attempted to bring her morning star into Elsa however the woman raised her foot into the air and kicked the weapon away without looking.

Elsa had finally decided to start fighting seriously.

Subaru raised his right hand and let mana rush into it, but the Bowel Hunter had other ideas and brought her knife down toward his wrist.

"Al Huma!" Rem yelled and shoved mana into existence, but the woman didn't acknowledge it as her knife was only a second away from shearing through Subaru's wrist.

Elsa's knife was nearly at his hand when a hand wrapped around the woman's wrist. "My amazin' self isn't goin' to let anythin' like that happen to someone livin' in Sanctuary."

The Bowel Hunter shifted her eyes from Subaru to the blonde-haired boy who'd just stopped her. She let go of Subaru's whip when she noticed Garfiel bringing his fist toward her stomach.

But she was too late to jump out of the way and the boy's fist buried itself in her gut. The wind was knocked out of her once more as the arm which Garfiel was still holding tore off of her body.

Garfiel watched as Elsa stood up across from him. Her breathing was heavy, but not from exhaustion. Her groaning was erotic as her arm regrew. Once it had been restored she pulled out another knife from her outfit.

"How many y'got stashed in there?" He asked her.

"Enough," Elsa blushed as she responded, "Now, Elsa Granhiert, the Bowel Hunter."

"Garfiel Tinzel!" The boy slammed his fists together and the gauntlet shields covering his arms sparked, "Shield of the Sanctuary!"

---

"Ram-san, get in position," Otto whispered behind him as he stood tall before Meili and her mabeasts.

This plan is such a gamble. He thought without a hint of doubt. The memory of Subaru asking for his help would not let an ounce of fear enter him. So when Meili, atop her gabou, stepped up to him he didn't flinch.

All he did was check behind him to make sure Ram was in position. "So you're going to handle us?" He asked the girl before him.

"Elsa and Mama want me to," A hint of fear entered her voice as she spoke.

Pity grew in Otto's heart at her words. This girl didn't have a choice here. However, the merchant didn't let this knowledge stop him. If he didn't execute his plan then this girl would kill him and Ram. So all he could was avoid killing her.

"Come on then, let's get to it, they have far more control over you than I do. For what it's worth I would have liked to avoid fighting a child, but…" Otto raised his fist to the side as Meili's eyes widened. Then they dropped to the grass as she motioned her hand and two courtesan bears stepped forward. Not a hint of hesitation entered his blue eyes as some of the most feared mabeasts in the world stepped toward him, "I will fight you, and I will kill your mabeasts..."

Meili shut her eyes and forced the smile on her face to widen as the bears got closer to Otto. They were only a couple meters away, and the only reason they hadn't attacked yet was that Meili hadn't ordered them to.

The girl raised her hand to signal them as Otto parted his lips once more, "Because a friend asked for my help."

Meili let her hand drop and the courtesan bears prepared to attack, "Ram," He held his voice and took a step backward. He readied his body as the bears jumped forward, "Now!"

He shouted out as he dived away from the mabeasts and reached into his pocket, "Fula," A blade of wind cut through the canopy above, as Ram who'd been waiting for his signal while at the top of a tree activated her magic.

Otto landed on his back two meters away as branches and leaves fell all over the bears. Their breathing quickened as odd devices dropped among them. The merchant's blue eyes glimmered in the moonlight. A smile grew on his face as he pulled a red crystal from his pocket and squeezed it in his hands.

Meili's eyes opened and her eyebrows rose as she saw the red crystal in his hands, which had now started to glow.

Otto smiled as Ram jumped down from the tree and landed in front of him. When the bears moved to attack them Otto tossed the glowing crystal in his hand right next to one of the odd boxes.

Ram continued to watch the mabeasts to make sure they didn't make any moves, "Uh Ram-san, might be a good idea to move." Otto grabbed onto her shoulder and pulled her back while he started running into the trees.

He didn't pass any backward glances to the mabeasts but according to a few of the forest's animals, they were all surrounding Meili to shield her from the devices.

Ram eventually shook herself from his grip and started running alongside him. They weren't able to get very far before a bug buzzed in his ear, "That stuff's goin' up right about now."

Otto barely had the reflexes to grab onto Ram and pull her behind a tree with him. The maid didn't resist when he did so, well, aside from the scowl on her face.

"Idiot," She whispered when nothing happened. Her lips fell open to say more but before she could a massive explosion rang out behind them.

"Huh, never mind it seems you're smart enough to figure out how to activate a fire crystal," A small piece of ashen wood landed in her hair and her scowl grew, "And a broken clock is still wrong on all but two minutes of the day." She pulled the piece of wood from her hair as Otto stood up and let a few insects relay to him what had happened.

"Those two bears got liquefied trying to protect her. There's a few others coming out of the forest and she and the gabou are alright." A zodda bug whispered in his ear.

"Alright we got two bears, but there seem to be more, and the gabou is still intact," Otto passed the information to Ram as they headed off to their next trap.

"Hm, we still need to pull off the next ones," Ram said, "But she won't fall for that again."

Otto shook his head as he thought about it, "I swear Natsuki-san always gets into the dumbest things," He whispered as he ran alongside her toward their next trap without hesitation.

"Ha, Barusu is truly a trouble magnet," Ram agreed with him as they arrived in a small clearing. They walked into its center taking very careful steps.

Once Meili and her mabeasts caught up to them the girl ordered her gabou to act. "Blow up the canopy," She said in a voice reminiscent of childlike innocence as the gabou incinerated the tops of all the trees around them.

Ram and Otto shied away from the heat which was surrounding him. When he did this the merchant noticed a small bat-like mabeast in the girl's hands.

"What mabeasts are hiding in the forest?" He asked the animals around him.

"There are eight more of those bears close to you and a lot of bats scattered around the forest." A squirrel at his feet responded to him. He'd gotten the information from another squirrel who'd relayed information from a massive network of the creatures.

The entire forest was on Otto's side right now, and every creature within it was relaying information from everywhere throughout it. A sense of hope glistened within Otto as he thought of that.

"This is probably the last trap that's going to work, idiot," Ram whispered as she pressed her back to his own. She raised her arms and her scar started to glow atop her head.

Otto didn't let that knowledge get to him, as this was the last gamble that needed to work before he could become sure of their victory over Meili.

He let his blue eyes rest on the purple-haired girl as flames rained down around him from the burning trees that surrounded them. When the flames got too close to touching Otto or Ram the girl's eyes shut.

Good, she won't order the gabou to burn us, at least not until she's out of other options. From what Otto had seen the girl didn't want to watch Otto and Ram burn alive so she held herself from using her greatest weapon.

A sigh of relief fell from his throat. It seemed his second-biggest gamble, this fear Meili had of killing them with the gabou, had paid off.

He smiled as Meili turned to the bears and ordered them to attack.

"Flower bears, go," She called out as eight courtesan bears stepped out of the forest and started to walk toward the center of the clearing.

Otto looked upon them in anticipation as they walked toward him. Ram's eyes were filled with readiness and pain as a trail of blood dripped down from her scar. A final breath entered Otto's lungs as half of the courtesan bears fell into his trap, literally.

The floor dropped out beneath four of them and bugs rushed in to keep the bears busy. "Thanks," Otto whispered to those insects and Garfiel for digging those pits.

"Attack them," Meili ordered once more as the remaining four bears weaved around their fallen compatriots and rushed in to kill Ram and Otto.

"El Fula!" Ram shouted as blood shot from her mouth. Otto grabbed onto the maid so she didn't have to keep standing through all of the pain she was in. A storm of wind burst from her palm as Otto was slinging her over his shoulder.

One of the bears was injured as the spell slammed into it; however, the other three kept coming. Without any shred of hesitation, the merchant dashed into the space left by the slowed-down mabeast.

The others noticed this and two dove in and attacked him from the left while another reached over from the right. Otto pointed his free palm toward the single mabeast on his right while Ram directed her own toward the two on their left.

"Dona!"

"El Fula!"

The two of them shouted at the same time. On their right, a wall of earth blocked the courtesan bear from striking at them while on the left Ram's storm of magic injured the beasts and stopped them from attacking the two of them.

A sense of desperation entered Otto as he carried Ram as far as he could go before the mabeasts next caught up to them.

He had to ignore Ram's spasms as her body was wracked with pain from her use of magic.

"Looks like I need that help earlier than I thought I would." He called out to the animals around him.

"We're happy to help," A massive amount of voices called into his ear as he set Ram down against a tree next to him, "She doesn't just get to bring mabeasts into our forest and not face any consequences."

Otto nodded at their words and pushed past the pain of listening to all their voices at once. He waited until Meili arrived in the forest to lower the number of voices he was listening to.

His focus shifted to her as his blue eyes jumped around her. She was still sitting on the gabou and the four courtesan bears were standing near her ready to defend her if necessary while still being poised to attack Otto.

But, there were two differences. One was the immense fear in her eyes and another was the white dove perched atop her shoulder. What bothered Otto about the creature was that it wasn't a mabeast.

"Fire horsey," Meili whispered down to the gabou, Otto's eyes widened. It seemed she was now able to overcome her fear of watching them burn. No, not overcome her fear, more she's consumed by a greater fear. He discerned from her body language.

"Hey, Meili-san!" Otto called out to the girl. She looked at him and forced the smile on her face wider. She didn't acknowledge the glowing globes of white light that were manifesting at Otto's sides.

"Huh?" She asked him as she held herself from ordering the gabou to execute him. The bird on her shoulder was silent as it watched him with a human gaze.

Otto didn't focus on it, and instead thrust his hands out to his side and reached into the burning masses of white.

"You should know that when you bring mabeasts into a forest," His eyes glimmered with resolve in the moonlight, and blood dripped down from his nose, "The animals in that forest don't appreciate it."

Meili tilted her head at him as Otto slammed his hands together and felt mana flow through his body. He barely held the magic from shattering his gate as he stared at the girl.

The bird on her shoulder started to squawk and Meili realized something was wrong, "Attack!" She yelled at the gabou as a determined smile crossed Otto's face.

He inhaled and gathered the mana within him, "AL DONA!" A massive wall of fire launched toward him while a lethal mass of earth rose out in front of him.

---

Elsa brought her kukri down on the blonde-haired boy in front of her, "Oh," A short gasp escaped her lungs as her knife threw out sparks as it met his shielded arm.

A growl came from Garfiel's throat as he pushed her knife to the side and slammed his other fist into her stomach, or made an attempt to. Elsa upon noticing his attack lunged backward around a meter. With the new distance, she took a short break to admire Garfiel.

She was so engrossed with it that she nearly missed the whip which flew toward her at the speed of sound. With almost no trouble she caught the length of leather and yanked on it.

Subaru who was on the other end, instead of letting her do that with no issue raised his other hand as he rocketed toward her. "El Shamac," He whispered as a black cloud shot from his hand and flew toward her.

Her eyes narrowed as she remembered what it was. Instead of letting it hit her, she tried to move out of the way, but a massive shard of ice buried itself in the ground next to her. It was the same spell Rem had used before Garfiel had saved Subaru from having his hand cut off.

When Elsa saw that path was blocked she tried to lunge toward Garfiel, but the demi-human wasn't content to let her get away like that so he jumped over and grabbed onto her arms to hold her in place.

The cloud of mana touched her and paralysis overcame her. She tried to escape, but Garfiel dropped his hands from her arms and shoved his left fist into her stomach. Blood shot onto his hand as her skin gave way before his strength. Elsa's mouth fell open in ecstasy as Garfiel twisted his hand in her bowels, and grabbed onto her intestines.

Her excitement only increased when Subaru placed his hand on her shoulder, "Two of you? How invigorating." The woman would have liked to escape their clutches so she could get a glimpse at their bowels sooner. But being killed by two men at once was something she could get behind.

"Minya," Subaru whispered. Elsa blushed as her arm's skin was turned into black crystals.

"Mmh!" Garfiel grunted as he shoved his other fist into her chest. He had to do as much damage as possible to steal away Elsa's limited supply of regeneration.

He gritted his teeth as he barely stopped himself from entering his beast form to do away with his reasoning. "AH!" The boy screamed as his hand shoved into her chest and his fingers wrapped around her heart.

"Rem!" Subaru shouted out as he used his magic to make Elsa's arm shatter into tiny purple crystals.

The maid nodded at his yell as she raised her right arm and readied her morning star, "Three?" Elsa moaned as blood rushed into her throat.

"I will not let you become a threat to my sister. An accomplice to a Sin Archbishop may well be a cultist," Garfiel moved his head out of the way as Rem raised the handle of her flail, "So die, WITCH CULTIST!" Rem let her impulses take over for a moment as she threw her arm forward and sent her morning star toward Elsa's head.

Elsa's eyes started to roll back into her skull at the sheer idea of what was happening before her, "Ah!" A loud moan escaped her throat before Rem's morning star collided with her skull and shattered it to pieces while her brain exploded across the two men who were also killing her.

Subaru didn't bat an eye at the pink chunks of brain matter covering him and directed his palm toward Elsa's corpse, "Minya," He forced arrows of stopped time into existence with a neutral tone.

"We killed 'er," Garfiel took a shaky step back as Elsa's corpse turned into purple dust as Subaru kicked it.

His green eyes were wild as he stared around, "Don't lose focus yet Garfiel, she's still alive," He raised his whip, "She'll be back in a second."

Garfiel nodded at his words and forced down the urge to vomit. He made his eyes focus on analyzing the environment around him for any sight of the woman.

"Ah, ha, ha, ha…" Elsa stepped out of the trees right next to Garfiel, "That was invigorating, but I can tell I won't be able to get a look at any of your bowels right now."

When Garfiel's eyes scanned across her he knew that she wasn't lying. Her chest was covered in patchy scabs as was her stomach. The left arm that Subaru had destroyed with his magic still held a crystalline texture even though it was back to its normal pale skin color.

There was no knife in her right hand, instead, there was a small bat-like mabeast.

Before any of them could react to it Elsa whispered to it in a breathy and slightly jilted voice, "Tell Meili, oh never mind you can't understand me," Elsa rubbed its horn giving it the signal that Meili had implanted within it.

A shrill scream rose from the bat, and a frown spread across Elsa's face. "My, this is quite unfortunate, but it seems I have no choice but to call for some help." Shrill screams rose from other bats. The sound resounded out as more and more bats took it up and passed it further along a chain of their cries.

"Shit," Subaru whispered as he raised his whip, "We need to kill her before Capella gets here."

In response to his words, Elsa crushed the bat in her right hand and dropped it to the grass. And in its place, she pulled out another knife, "Last one. If this doesn't last me, then I suppose I'll just have to claw my way into your bowels."

---

The wave of fire that came from the gabou did nothing to stop the wave of earth that was sent forward from Otto's body. Meili's eyes filled with fear as courtesan bears rushed in to protect her and the gabou.

Each of the four bears was destroyed by the wave of earth. And when they didn't stop the attack Meili jumped off the gabou and let it shield her. She turned and ran away from the wall of earth as bat mabeasts rushed down from the sky to do what little they could.

Sharp quick breaths streamed in and out of Meili's mouth as she ducked down behind a particularly old tree. The wooden giant barely held against the weight of Otto's spell. She clutched at the sides of her head as the earth continued past her tree.

It took a moment for the earth to let up, but once it did she realized she was safe she stood up. The silent dove on her shoulder brought a massive sense of unease to her mind, but she tried to be a good girl and grin for mama.

Meili stepped out from behind the tree and hoped that the green man wouldn't be too angry at her. "Are you mad?" She asked trying her best to pretend to be innocent.

"Yes," The merchant said. He pulled a length of rope off of his belt and reached to tie her up. Meili let herself be tied up until she heard the shrill screaming of bats.

Elsa… She thought to herself. That signal meant her sister was in trouble. Mama had made them set it up before the battle began.

Meili wasn't planning on using the bats to call for reinforcements until Mama started making noise on her shoulder, or Elsa called for it. Now that the second one had occurred Meili grabbed onto her divine protection.

She forced away the images of what might happen and ordered the bat mabeast waiting above her to fly to and signal the reinforcements.

As she felt the bat fly off to get help she forced the smile on her face to grow wider and let the gray-haired man tie her up.

---

Otto finished tying up the little mabeast user and set her down next to Ram. "Can you watch her, Ram-san?"

"Mhm," Ram was barely able to nod her affirmation without pain shooting into her neck.

Otto watched in guilt as he made sure Meili's bindings were tight enough.

Once he was finished with that he focused on the blue spirit hanging over his right shoulder, "How is Natsuki-san's fight going?" Otto asked it in its tongue.

The spirit waited to respond for a moment before transferring him Subaru's response, "It's going well, Elsa is nearly dead, although it seems Capella is on the way to support her."

Otto nodded and looked over at Ram and himself, "Does he need our help? We're both in rough shape, but I'm sure I can get the forest to lend me more mana."

"He says get Meili and Ram somewhere safe and then come to help him." The spirit said.

"Alright," Otto switched back into human language, "Natsuki-san needs me at the fight so I need to get you two somewhere safe."

"Take us to Ros' cabin," Ram whispered with a throat full of blood. Otto nodded at her words and moved to pick the maid up.

However, when Meili's head shot up and her eyes started to dart around the forest on the other side of the clearing Otto stopped what he was doing and tried to follow her eyes.

"What's going on?" He whispered to a few of the forest creatures.

They were sluggish in their response, "We haven't been checking sorry, that mana thing tapped us all out. We'll get on it."

Although, Otto didn't need to wait for the animals to speak to him again to see what was coming. Across the edge of the forest at just the limit of his vision was a single figure.

"Give me your mana," He whispered to as many forest creatures that could hear him, then switched to the language of the spirits, "Tell Natsuki-san that Capella is coming to me."

The spirit relayed his message and Subaru's response came back shortly, "Dammit, hold on for a second we'll be there soon."

A white globe of white appeared before him. It was smaller than either of the two that had appeared last time. It seemed that the forest was running low on mana since last time.

It was barely enough for another Al Dona and this one wouldn't be nearly as powerful as the last had been. "Just have to hold out till Natsuki-san can get here."

"Ack," Ram coughed up blood as she raised her palms. "Stay focused, dog."

Otto nodded and seized the mana drawing it into his own body. Maybe it will be better to split this among lesser El Dona's instead. He thought to himself as he watched the thin figure grow closer.

There was a hood covering the woman's head and she was holding something in her right hand. Otto didn't know what Capella looked like, and Subaru had told her she could look like anything, so he readied himself, even as the woman was still barely more than a thin line at the edge of his eyesight.

Once the woman stepped a little closer she pulled the hood back, and vibrant red hair shone in the pale moonlight.

She raised a sword in her right hand. Its steel glimmered in the light. A cold feeling entered Otto's chest, and without thinking, he raised his palms to the woman and readied himself to use his magic.

He inhaled and gathered the mana within his mind and let it flow through his gate. The woman raised her sword. He didn't understand why, as she was still so far away.

The cold feeling in his chest grew when the woman looked up at him.

She held her sword to the side and then stepped out of the far away canopy's shadows. In the light he just barely Otto caught a flash of blue from her eyes.

Before he knew it that same blue of her eyes flashed right in front of him.

"El," He spoke the prefix of his incantation. As he moved his tongue to the roof of his mouth to complete his spell the woman's sword touched the cloth on his right side.

Time seemed to slow, and he could feel every brutal second as the woman's dead blue eyes stared into his own. Her sword slid sickeningly through his midsection, sneaking just perfectly through his ribs. Barely missing his spine as it came out the other end.

"Agh!" He shouted out as time resumed and pain rushed through him. Soon blood filled his mouth. He tried to cover the massive gash in his side with his hands as he fell to the ground. Tears rushed to his eyes as pain overcame his mind.

"Natsuki-san!" He shouted out in the human tongue. With all the pain running through him the very idea of using his Divine Protection had been reduced to fantasy.

The woman stood over him with an empty expression. It was corpselike. No empathy or even rage appeared on her face as she stepped over to Meili. Otto was barely able to get his head back so he could look at the woman.

Natsuki-san! Natsuki-san! He tried to shout out but his throat was too filled with blood, and some of it was rushing in to fill his lungs. He desperately tried to keep the wound on his side covered while he tried to hack the blood out of his throat.

Natsuki-san asked for my help. A memory of Subaru saving him from Gluttony filled his mind. In the recollection, he was desperately trying to run away from the boy, but a massive arena of fire was surrounding him. It was the first of two times that day Subaru had saved his life.

I need to help Natsuki-san! Otto screamed out in his mind as he reached for Ram. She'd also saved his life on that day. When Gluttony had been about to consume him Ram and Subaru's radiance had saved him.

One hand tried to keep his blood inside while the other reached out toward Ram. He had to help her. He had to repay the favor, and he considered her a friend, so he had to save her. His knees reached into the sky as he bent his legs and pushed his back along with the dirt. Bloody mud stained the back of his coat as he pushed himself toward Ram.

Ram. Natsuki-san. The two people, who were the only reason he was alive, occupied his mind. All the while he reached out toward the pink-haired maid once more.

Ram, who was in too much pain to notice him or his attempts to reach her, stared at the swordswoman's blade. The woman had finished untying Meili and was now holding her sword above Ram's neck.

Otto struggled toward the maid and strived to bring the mana within his gate into existence, but with his mouth still filled with blood, he couldn't form an incantation. So he had to cast the magic without his words.

"Agh!" He shouted out at the woman as he attempted to force the mana in his body through his gate and out into the world. Unfortunately, since he had no training in casting magic without his voice, he failed to get the mana to do anything.

"Nahhk!" He tried to form Subaru's name, but the blood in his throat wouldn't let him; however, it did give him the strength he needed to start casting an earth spell.

Mana rushed into his outstretched hand and a wall of earth started to rise to protect Ram. "AGH!" Otto railed against the blood loss and screamed out as he forced mana out into the world.

The woman's blue eyes shifted from Ram down to the small outcropping of earth that was growing beneath her, and then to Otto's hand. No expression crossed her face as she raised her sword above Otto's neck.

Ram finally noticed Otto's struggles to reach for her, and the scar on her forehead glowed. Its light pierced into Otto's pain and let him feel a tiny hint of hope, even as he was bleeding out from the grievous wound in his side.

"Fula!" Ram shouted out and forced a blast of wind into existence.

Not a bit of emotion touched the woman's eyes as she grabbed Meili and pulled her and her own body out of the way of Ram's attack.

When Ram tried to ready another one blood exploded out from her horn. Otto's fingers pathetically reached out to Ram once more and the maid tried to reach over to Otto from her spot sitting against a tree, but neither could reach each other.

Natsuki-san! Otto shouted out in his head as the red-haired woman stepped over him. The merchant tried to use his magic again, but it was so far away in his blood-starved mind that he couldn't even grasp the mana. His struggles stopped when cold steel sunk into his neck.

Otto stopped trying to breathe as the pain grew distant. It was overcome by the clarity of his death being so close.

Natsuki-san, I'm sorry. I couldn't do what you expected of me, and I couldn't protect Ram-san. With that apology, the merchant's mind started to fade, but he could still gaze at what would befall Ram. Maybe it would be his atonement to Subaru. To know what befell the woman his friend loved.

The woman slid her sword from Otto's neck and raised it to Ram's.

"Barusu," Ram whispered through gasps of pain. Her red eyes stared up at the blue-eyed woman with defiance.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you this, Barusu, but I love-" The woman brought her sword down and ran it through Ram's neck.

Otto was unable to struggle any further as air slid through the hole in his neck. Tears came to his eyes as he fell into the void of death.

Ram-san, I'm sorry. Otto Suwen died knowing that he'd failed two friends.

---

Subaru cast his whip toward Elsa with a snap as Rem did the same with her morning star. The black-haired woman deflected Rem's strike with her knife and ignored Subaru's attack as it left a bloody gash along the side of her body.

The woman was off-balance from her deflection of Rem's morning star; however, Garfiel didn't capitalize on this as his limbs were too shaky at the prospect of killing Elsa. Who used the opportunity provided by Garfiel to lunge back into the forest.

Dammit Garfiel. Subaru swore in his head as he and Rem rushed after her. He spoke to Garfiel as he ran past the boy, "No time to hesitate now Garfiel. If she gets away she'll threaten Sanctuary."

A glimmer of rage appeared in Garfiel's eyes as he stared over at where Elsa had fled. "Mhm," He grunted his understanding and ran after the Bowel Hunter with Rem and Subaru.

While the black-haired boy crossed into the forest he set one of his spirits to watching over Emilia and tried to get a message through to Otto.

Though while he dashed past a tree and jumped over a fallen one he didn't receive any response from Otto.

He glimpsed Elsa climbing up to the top of a tree and launching herself through the canopy. "We need to finish her off fast to help Otto and Ram," He instructed Rem and Garfiel.

The two nodded and ran faster at the second name he mentioned. Rem in particular was filled with determination and slung her flail out toward the Bowel Hunter.

The sound of chains was loud in his ears as the star of her flail wrapped around Elsa's leg. Once Rem knew it was tight around the Bowel Hunter's appendage she yanked on the handle.

Elsa quested around and grabbed onto a tree branch with her crystalline left arm. "Mmh," Rem grunted as she pulled even harder on the chain. Creaks came from the branch as it started to snap at the base, but before it did so Elsa raised her right arm. The knife gripped in her hand shimmered in the pale moonlight.

"Ah!" A determined glare covered her face as she cut clean through her leg. Rem caught the severed leg out of the air as it flew toward her.

Elsa didn't pay any attention to the fate of her lost leg and instead flung her body toward the next tree using her left arm.

"No y'don't," Garfiel shouted as he jammed his foot into the ground and raised a wall of earth in front of Elsa. The woman swung her right arm and tried to cut through the barrier, but she wasn't able to gather nearly enough momentum to do so, and her knife twisted and bent instead of slicing it.

The woman dropped to the ground and endeavored to scurry away by pulling herself on her arms. "Die," Rem's rage took over her voice and she cut the woman's arms clean off with blades of ice.

Subaru reached for his spirits to try and finish off the woman but was met with a blaring warning from the spirit he'd left with Otto. He wanted to reach up and hold the sides of his head as it screamed in his ears.

He tapped into the spirit's vision and got a brief glimpse at Otto laying on the ground clutching at a bleeding wound. Fuck!

"We need to get to Otto and Ram now!" His voice was filled with rage as he pointed his hand at the woman lying on the ground.

"El Min-" A hand garbed in a black robe wrapped around his wrist. Another covered his mouth. Subaru's eyes jumped to Garfiel and then Rem who reacted swiftly to the intruder and both lunged toward him.

The robed man raised a third and fourth arm to the two. Then punched each one in the jaw before they could make it to Subaru.

Instead of letting the man do whatever he wanted Subaru called upon his spirits and drew in enough mana to chill the air. The man didn't hesitate to raise a fifth hand and piston it into Subaru's chest.

His vision turned black as his head was jostled by the blow. Chilling sounds filled his ears as all of his ribs were pulverized, and the arm that the robed man still held tore off as the force of the blow threw him into a tree.

On impact with the pillar of wood behind him, his spine cracked. "Ah…" A short groan fell from his lips as he held his hand up to the bloody hole in his shoulder where his arm had been torn off.

"SUBARU-KUN!" Rem screamed out in protectiveness and rage as she swung her flail at the man, who turned around and caught it with a sixth hand. He made no indication he was in pain as the weapon's metal spikes dug through his palm and protruded from the back of his hand.

"AH!" Tiger stripes grew all over Garfiel's arms and fur cloaked him. In response to the boy's transformation, the robed man raised two massive black cleavers using a seventh and eighth hand.

"Kurgan," Subaru whispered as blood filled his chest cavity. The shards of bone from his wrecked rib cage had cut into his blood vessels.

The black-haired boy reached into his mind and looked through the vision of the spirit he'd left with Otto. Only to be greeted with a sword being shoved through Ram's neck.

"RAM!" He screamed out as soon as he saw it, and left the spirit's perspective.

"Sister!" Rem screamed out at the same time as shards of ice burst into existence around her. She flung them at Kurgan as soon as each one was formed. The man didn't respond to the shards and let them cut into him, as he had a better way to deal with Rem.

All he did was yank on the flail buried in his hand. Which ripped Rem off her feet and toward the reanimated man.

No. Subaru tried to force his broken body to stand. Tears fell down his face as he reached for his mana, but before he could a roar interrupted him.

Garfiel in his beast form grabbed onto the chain between Rem and Kurgan with both hands. Once his massive fingers were steady on the chain he tore it apart and stopped Rem's flight with his left hand. When Kurgan swung his cleavers toward Garfiel the tiger batted one of them away and blocked the other with the hard skin on his forearm.

Kurgan took a step back from Garfiel and raised his swords. Garfiel mirrored his movement and raised his claws.

Rem distanced herself from the fight, realizing she would only get in Garfiel's way, and ran over to Subaru.

She ignored the tears falling down his face and started to heal the wound where his arm had been turned off.

"I'm sorry Subaru-kun, but Rem can't reattach your arm," She whispered with tears filling her own eyes at his state.

"Stop, Rem…" He whispered to her with a tearful voice. "There's no reason to heal me."

Rem ignored his words and focused on stopping the bleeding.

"Did you hear me?" His voice sounded wrung out and exhausted.

The maid looked up at him, "You told me there was always a point, and there was always a reason to stand," She rubbed soft hands glowing with blue light across the wound on his shoulder.

Red scabs covered the once bleeding wound and then they began to flake away to reveal fresh pink skin underneath, "You don't get it, Rem, Ram is dead."

The girl's eyes widened. Tears rushed down her face. She knew Subaru's words were honest and she couldn't deny them she'd felt it in her Synesthesia but hadn't wanted to believe it.

I'm sorry for having to tell you that, but please just let me die, Rem. He couldn't bear to say those words to her. Not with the anguished look upon her face.

The girl placed her hands to her head and started to rock back and forth on her knees.

Subaru shifted his attention to Garfiel and Kurgan. He didn't care to stand right now. There was no reason for him to be strong. He just needed to die.

Once he'd died, and once he returned, then he could be strong. But right now he had no incentive so he ignored the screaming of the spirit he'd left with Emilia.

He couldn't bring himself to watch the full failing of this loop.

Glowing silver hair filled his mind. I'm sorry, Emilia. Sobs came from his mouth as Garfiel met Kurgan's blades over and over again.

His eyes widened once more when he felt Rem's healing energy flow through him. He directed his gaze over to her. There was pure rage on her face.

But, she didn't scream and lose her rationality as she once might have. "If sister is dead, then I'll find a way to kill the one responsible, and you're going to help me, Subaru-kun."

Subaru couldn't believe her words. In all of his memories of Rem, her rage had been explosive, but now she kept it contained and was using it to strive toward a purpose.

"I'm sorry Rem," Subaru shifted his eyes to the space behind Rem, which was occupied by a thin swordswoman. Her sword was covered with blood-stained silver hairs.

Rem noticed his gaze was behind her, and she flipped around. As soon as her blue eyes met the woman's own, her neck was sliced through.

She made no sound as her head collapsed to the ground. Subaru filled with despair as Rem's blood stained his clothes.

There was no anger within him. He knew Rem would return soon. There was no sense of loss. As he would soon be dead. But that couldn't stop the anguish and guilt in his heart as he failed to stop her death.

He'd been unable to take on Rem's suffering in this loop.

He'd failed to take on Otto's suffering.

He'd failed to take on Emilia's suffering.

He'd failed to take on Ram's suffering.

And he was about to fail to take on Garfiel's suffering. Because as the reanimated corpse of Theresia van Astrea stood and stepped over to the tiger, he couldn't bring himself to try and fight. He couldn't rouse his resolve.

Not without Emilia.

Not without Otto.

Not without Rem.

And not without Ram.

Subaru lazily shifted his gaze over to where Garfiel was trading blows with Kurgan.

"AGH!" Garfiel's massive eyes glowed red as he let loose a roar.

All Kurgan did in response was raise his two front hands to the side. Garfiel screamed out again and charged toward the man. He moved far faster than his size should have allowed.

Kurgan let his six other arms raise out to the side as he readied his front two arms. The golden tiger shoved his fists toward the man. Kurgan brought down his second pair of hands and grabbed Garfiel's forearm, using the fur to hold his grip.

Immediately the tiger threw his arm into the sky, but at the last moment, Kurgan dropped his hands to prevent himself from being thrown. Then Garfiel put his shoulder in front of the rest of his body and tried to ram Kurgan.

Kurgan's last two pairs of arms all came down and grabbed Garfiel's shoulder. The tiger ground to a stop and quickly turned to using his mouth. His jaws unhinged and reached for Kurgan's head.

However, Kurgan still had two more free arms. He added them to the four already on Garfiel's shoulder and pushed with all of his reanimated might.

He succeeded in pushing back Garfiel just enough that the beast's teeth only clasped around the tip of his hood.

Once Garfiel realized what had happened he spit out the hood and gazed upon his opponent. The dull blue color of Kurgan's face was all that awaited the tiger. Priestella burned in Subaru's mind as he looked upon that face.

It was then he realized Theresia was still standing next to him.

Waiting for Capella. He guessed at the reason for her patience.

Soon enough footsteps echoed out behind him. He didn't care enough to look behind him. This loop was practically meaningless. The second Theresia stepped into the battle against Garfiel he would be doomed.

Even if Subaru didn't look up in his periphery he was able to catch the long purple braid of Meili's hair. He finally flicked his eyes over to her, and he saw the white dove perched on her shoulder.

Hatred burned in his chest, "Capella."

The dove turned to him and let itself fall from Meili's shoulder. As it did so its body cracked, broke, and twisted as its form shifted to Capella's. There was no smile on her face. Only a frown.

"You didn't know the dead were coming did you, little meat bag?" She asked him, but before he was able to answer she pointed at Theresia, "You sword meat bag, kill the cat."

Theresia waited long enough for Capella to finish before raising her sword and entering the fray.

Capella turned to watch the slaughter that was to ensue. "RAAA!" Garfiel screamed at the woman as she stepped deftly into the battle. Kurgan raised his two massive cleavers and brought them down on Garfiel.

The tiger caught them in his palms and growled at the man who wrapped his other six arms around Garfiel. Once the tiger was trapped Theresia swung her sword and let the tip cut through his neck.

"Huh?" Blood rushed into his mouth and lungs before he could make any more sound. The redness of Garfiel's eyes disappeared and his beast form faded away. His green eyes flailed around as he put his hands up to the wound and activated his water magic.

Theresia moved to finish him off, but Capella intervened, "Stop. I may not be able to do any torturing this time, but I can at least enjoy watching this."

"Ghk," Garfiel floundered as he desperately tried to heal the wound in his neck, but no matter how much magic he put into saving himself. The wound couldn't be healed.

Subaru watched the sight in front of him with despairing eyes. Capella looked over at him, her red eyes glowing with cruelty and sick perversion. A grin was clear on her face as she watched Garfiel drown in his own blood.

There was a longing in her eyes. She wanted to get in there and torture the boy even further, but for some reason unknown to Subaru, she couldn't.

Garfiel's struggles soon stopped and Capella stepped over to him. "Get over here, blue meat bag." She gestured to him as he stepped over.

He stopped at Capella's next gesture. "Natsuki Subaru, you are an interesting little sack of meat."

The woman barely held herself back from activating her Authority and torturing him as she spoke to him.

"I'm sorry but the time for us to have some fun together isn't here yet. Unless you weren't surprised by my two corpses." She placed her hand on his chin, and tilted her head, demanding a response.

Subaru didn't say anything to her, "Of course you didn't expect them, if you did you would have planned for them." Capella brought her tongue back into her mouth and frowned, "This restriction is disappointing, but Natsuki Subaru…"

She gestured to Kurgan, "Next time we'll have some fun."

Subaru's eyes widened at her words. He forced his mouth shut. He couldn't let her get any more information on him. "Kill him. He'll activate that Authority of his before you do it."

Kurgan didn't make any indication he'd heard, but he did follow her orders. He took one of his free hands and grabbed the top of Subaru's head. The man easily lifted Subaru off the ground and made it so his feet were hovering a few centimeters off the ground.

"This lovely lady is going to have some fun with you next time, meat bag," Capella whispered seductively.

"Wait!" Elsa shouted out as she crawled over Garfiel, "Let me cut him open, and have his bowels."

"Sword sack, capture her. This lovely lady and Elsa are going to have some fun." Capella said. Fear blossomed in Elsa's eyes at her words. As Theresia stepped over to the girl Capella appended her order, "Oh right. We're all going to be reset in a few moments here, just kill her."

Theresia accepted the order and raised her sword above Elsa's neck. The woman started squirming around and tried to scream, but when she opened her mouth the swordswoman's blade cut through her neck.

The woman's face was split by an even larger smile. Before being replaced by dissatisfied words which fell from her throat. "Now get it over with and kill him."

Subaru stared at the woman with pure hatred. She'd killed her subordinate just because she knew there would be no consequence and so she could watch Elsa squirm.

I will not let anyone fall into your clutches. Resolve filled his body and he met the woman's eyes as Kurgan swung his arm back.

"Capella Emerada Lugunica," He spoke the name with unadulterated loathing, "I'm going to kill you."

Capella tilted her head and smiled at him as Kurgan's blade chopped through his neck. Her eyes widened as time continued and Subaru hadn't reset yet.

The world grew foggy before him as delirium overtook him and he was starved of oxygen. He shut his eyes and let his mind wander in its final moment.

He caught a glimpse of pink hair, and his lips tilted up a tiny bit. No thoughts could pass through his mind, but if they did it would only be a single name, and three small words to go along with it.

Natsuki Subaru's world was plunged in blackness as death took him, and his familiar ability activated.

---

"Haaa," A soft sigh fell from Subaru's mouth. And then he inhaled the humid night air.

He turned around and shifted his gaze away from Echidna's glowing tomb. His brown eyes landed on Ram, and cold rage filled his blood.

Subaru's hands balled into fists and he spoke with a resolved tone, "This time, you're going to help me, Roswaal L. Mathers, and if you don't then I will still find a way to take on their suffering."