Your mouth hung agape as you stared at Echidna, who was now possessing the body that was formerly known as Ryuzu Shima. "H-How?" You asked. This sudden twist was so unexpected that you couldn't really process what was happening.

Echidna grinned. "It is simple, really. It began approximately ten years ago when Shima went into my graveyard to rescue that hot headed demi-human when he attempted to pass my Trial. When she did this, I inserted a small piece of my soul in her, and I have been slowly taking over her body ever since. All I had to wait for was that disgusting girl to break the barrier for me. Now, I am free to roam the world and gain as much knowledge as I can to satisfy my Greed!"

She dramatically put her arms in the air, waiting for you to react.

You scratched your head. "So... are you going to come along with me, or are you going to be going solo?"

Echidna let her arms fall to her sides. "I originally planned to completely possess this body, but as I can still gain knowledge from your memories, I elected to keep a part of my soul here. Since a part of me is still available to you, I will travel on my own until I believe that you require my presence."

You were slightly troubled by this since Echidna was probably super powerful now that she had a physical form, and now she's leaving you.

Noticing your discomfort, Echidna said, "Now, this is also because it would be problematic if anybody else who has witnessed the events of this past week sees me. With this body, I am identical to one of the clones, so if they saw me with you, it would raise questions, and our contract would be revealed much earlier than it should be. Natsuki Subaru clearly holds a strong disdain for me, so the relationship between the two of you would suffer as a result of the discovery of my presence. Do you not agree that it is for the best that we stay separated for now?"

You found yourself nodding your head as you listened to Echidna. "That sounds reasonable, but when will you rejoin me? I get that I can still visit you via Tea Party, but when I finally face off against the Witch Cult in the future, I would feel a lot better if you were with me."

She stopped to consider this. "I no longer possess the Authority of Greed, so I cannot predict when you will next face the Witch Cult. The only reassurance I can give you is that, during my travels, I will also search for allies who can aid you in your quest to slay all in the Witch Cult, and when I am aware of potential conflicts, I will come to your side as soon as I can."

"Really? I can't argue with that, then." It really helped that Echidna was going to help find people who were going to help you fight the Witch Cult, because there are definitely going to be some opponents that will be really hard to fight, and the more powerful the people you had on your side, the better.

She nodded her head with a smug expression on her face. "Of course you can't argue! I find the perfect course of action as long as I hold the information necessary to do so! And even if I don't have that information, I can still formulate countless plans and arguments that will surely work!"

"In that case, you can find Elsa and Meili on your own, right?" You asked with a grin.

Echidna's body turned completely still. "I finally have a physical form, and instead of asking for a typical male request, you turn my own words against me in order to resolve a conflict that you gave the impression of solving yourself?" She deadpanned, and stared you down.

And there was only one right answer to this.

"What's the point of you having a body if I can't make you do some of my labor? If you're going to be using me, I might as well use you too."

Echidna's eye twitched. "I see." She let out a sigh, and began to walk away from you so that she could get started.

From behind her back, she called, "(Y/N). Knowing you, you probably cannot come up with a name for me, so can I propose one for myself?"

You nodded your head, and she saw the motion because part of her was still watching over everything you did.

As you watched the small figure slowly vanish into the forest, her voice rang in your mind. "Omega. It is quite fitting, no?"

Omega.

It means 'the end'.

After Echidna - or Omega, as she is now called - left, you decided to try to go back to where everyone else was, because you had no idea what to do next.

'Perhaps you can accompany me? I am quite cold, you know.'

Echidna telepathically voiced her discomfort that she hadn't felt in four centuries, not that it would change your mind.

'Yeah, no. Didn't you think this through before taking over a body while an idiot is making it snow here?'

'Of course I did! It had just been so long since I had felt these sensations that I had overestimated my tolerance of them.'

'Oh well. Just hang in there. The snow won't cover the entire forest, so tough it up. You're an evil Witch, right? You can't let a little cold bother you too much.'

'Tsk. Stubborn boy.'

'But is that really a bad thing?'

Echidna did not reply, so you were left with the sound of your shoes slushing through the slowly melting snow.

If you were being honest, you didn't know what you were going to be doing after you got out of the Sanctuary.

Of course, you would probably go to Crusch's place and talk about your Cult-killing organization, but after that? No clue.

You no longer had the advantage of knowing what would happen next, so the future was now a mystery.

Was this a good thing, or was it bad?

Sure, knowing the future made you have to think a little less, but it helped a lot when it came to fights and figuring things out.

So was it fine that you wanted someone, or something, to constantly be guiding you? Was it fine that you still wanted to be assured that the path you were taking is the right one?

As you asked yourself these questions, you tripped on something that was beneath the snow, resulting in you falling to the ground. The freezing cold of the snow made you feel a sliver of sympathy towards Ech- Omega.

'Serves you right.'

'Oh, shut up... Wait a second...!'

Your fingers grazed the object that you tripped on, and you couldn't believe what you felt.

You picked the object up and wiped the snow off of it. It was now certain. In your hands was a book that was burned almost to the point of recognition, the key word being almost.

This was Roswaal's copy of the Gospel. The one that Ram threw into the flames that had been here only days before. It actually survived the fire, and it was now in your possession.

'Perfect!' Echidna exclaimed. 'Hold onto that book for me, and when I regain my power, I will cast restoration magic on it! With this text, I will have access to information about future events, no matter how vague they may be!'

'Wait, is that really the best thing for me to do? Should we really be following this book that's already caused so much trouble?'

'Why would you come to that conclusion? In a way, I am the one who created that book, so why not give it to me? This will be the object that allows us to predict the movements of the Witch Cult.'

'Well, Roswaal followed it, and he's doing all of this for your older self's sake. It's not like the contents of the book change, right? So that would mean that all of the stuff in the book would have me playing right into your hands.'

'Nonsense. This book was leading the boy to resurrect the soul of his teacher. Not me, but her soul when she died. This does not interest me, so I have no reason to follow that information. With that said, this book will change its contents based on its owner. It was created with my Authority of Greed, so I know well how it works.'

According to your contract with Echidna, neither of you could hide something from each other without explaining why. She didn't say that she was hiding anything, so she must be telling the truth.

'I suggest that you hide that book in your cloak. The merchant is coming.'

You looked around the field, and indeed, you could see a green figure in the distance.

You shoved half of the book in your pants, and it's cold surface made you tense up. You covered the other half of the book with your cloak, and the only evidence of the text was a slight bulge coming from just beneath your stomach.

Eventually, Otto came walking towards you. "Hey, (Y/N) What are you doing out here?" Jokingly, he added, "Did you already give up on finding those girls?" He looked down, noticing the bulge in your pants that was caused by the book. He quickly looked up before you could notice, now thinking that he stumbled on you while you were... conducting your business.

Casually answering him, you told Otto, "I already figured out how to find them, so I'm not going to worry about that anymore. After we get out of here, I'll probably find them within a day."

'Really? Why are you placing even more constraints on my search?! Now I have to find them even sooner!'

'Oh, just shut up. Like I said, this should be easy for you.'

Otto looked shocked. "S-seriously? That was really fast. But that still doesn't explain what you're doing here." In reality, he had a motive for being in this area, and he was wondering if you had caught on to it.

'(Y/N). I'm cold. I am a good way out of the Sanctuary now, but the snow is still present! At this rate, there is a serious chance that I will die.'

"Otto, I was just walking around this place after I figured out how I was going to find Elsa and Meili. And if you're asking me why I'm here, why are you here?"

"W-well..." the merchant stuttered, "I was just... You-... You know what, I'll just leave you alone."

Otto walked away in defeat as you replied to Echidna.

'Why don't you start a small fire or something? You can cast spells, so use them.'

'To be fair, this body is new to me, so I am not used to using this gate, which also does not have an affinity for water magic. So here goes nothing...'

There was a moment of silence as Omega (or Echidna, either one works) cast her spell.

'It seems like I have set the forest on fire. Thanks to you, I will now die by being burnt to death.'

The lack of emotion in Omega's voice was odd, but you were busy being genuinely worried about her. 'Do something! Don't die!'

'I have no intention of dying. If I do, then my plan was for nothing.'

Following her response was more silence, which was probably her casting a spell that would counter the fire.

'I have successfully dealt with these flames. I used wind magic to redirect them, so I will no longer be burnt to death, and all of the snow has melted.'

'Umm... Echid- I mean, Omega, did you say that you used wind magic to redirect the flames? Because doesn't that just spread the fire?'

'Yes, it did. Is there an issue? I am alive, so that is the only important thing. Well, I do suppose that I am feeling exhausted after exerting myself this much for the first time in four hundred years, but other than that, I am unharmed.'

'... I worry about you.'

'I recall that several people have said the same thing about you.'

'...'

'...'

'That cuts deep. But I respect that.'

'Excuse me? I do not believe that an ordinary person would respect someone who has insulted them.'

'Don't worry. I just quoted Sword Art Online Abridged. We can probably watch it some day, but we definitely will not watch the original Sword Art Online.'

'I see...' Echidna went silent, and you were now once again left alone with the sound of your feet pattering in the melting snow. Without a destination in mind, you just walked.

After several minutes of wandering, you heard some voices coming from some trees. Upon stealthily getting closer, you could faintly hear their voices.

It was Emilia, who was talking to Subaru. "Subaru. Y-you know... things have been crazy for these past few days, s-so I haven't been able to talk to you about this..."

This sounded good, so you creeped closer as Subaru talked so that you could hear better.

"Emilia-tan, your face just turned red super fast. You okay?"

"I'm o-okie. T-totally fine. A-anyway, there's something important t-that I want to discuss." Emilia was stuttering like crazy, so you could tell that this was something embarrassing. Should you be listening in right now? Probably not.

So you did what any person would do.

You got up, and moved even closer. So close that if either of them would look around them, they would easily be able to tell where you were.

Not noticing your presence, Emilia stuttered, "So... y-you said that you l-loved me, right?"

Subaru responded with a sharp, "Huh? Uh, yes, I did! I love you! A whole lot!"

"And that, um... makes me really, really happy... But I wanted to have a proper talk. About... well... the baby that I am carrying in my belly!"

After Emilia cried this last part out, you almost passed out from shock. Subaru did mention that he had kissed Emilia, but you had no idea that this was what he meant.

He is now in a plane above you. He has surpassed virginity, and things will never be the same.

Not wanting to hear more, you scrambled away as fast as you could. Thankfully, Subaru and Emilia were too occupied in their conversation to notice.

'(Y/N), I really hate that girl. Not only does she believe in impossible ideals, she is also a whor-'

'Woah there, Echidna. Let's try to keep this PG-13.'

'What does PG-13 mean?'

'Well, it's a rating for movies in my world. It means that parental guidance is suggested, and you should be at least thirteen years old to watch it. And those movies don't have... never mind. Now that I think about it, they have plenty of swearing and stuff. So say whatever you want. This will still be rated PG-13.'

'Your thought processes are amusing. I am no longer angry, so I will refrain from saying something that will depict me as something other than a pure maiden.'

'Too late for that...'

'Do not desecrate my image! Focus on what you just eavesdropped on!'

Oh yeah...

SUBARU AND EMILIA HAD SE-

'Whoops. I just killed eighteen bandits who tried to violate me. This is not unsatisfactory, is it?'

'What?! Not only was that really random, but WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU KILLED EIGHTEEN PEOPLE?!'

'It is just like I said. As we were communicating, a group of bandits appeared around my physical body, and they were obviously displaying lust towards my appearance. As a result, I revealed my true form, and when they were in the presence of my soul, they all killed themselves in hysteria. As I told you, most people cannot stand my presence because of the miasma that I radiate.'

'Wait... so you can reveal your soul and make people kill themselves? That is cool, but I don't know if we should be killing every person who comes our way.'

'Tsk. I suppose that I will only target those who display ill-will towards me and those who have caused me grievances.'

'Good! I guess...'

'Killing these lowlifes was a good idea, you know. They have some very warm attire, so I will be taking it from them. Murder is not necessarily a bad thing.'

You sighed. 'If you're taking their clothes, you might as well loot them. Take their money and whatever else they have, and use it as you go wherever it is that you're going.'

'That is the most intelligent thing that I have heard you say! I am very proud of you.'

'You know what, good luck finding those two girls. I'm zoning you out now.'

That was a mistake.

'If you find yourself exasperated while you are only conversing with me, then I wish you the best of luck from here on.'

Your mind suddenly felt like it was going to explode as a cacophony of noise assaulted it.

'(Y/N)! (Y/N)! Play with Typhon! I'm bored!'

'Why did you let her burn that forest?! All of those poor animals are going to die now! And I won't even get started on those people you killed, Echidna! It makes me so angry!'

'I'm hungry.'

'Ugh... do I have to talk?'

'Um... I think that you and 'Dona should s-stop arguing s-so much.'

All of these words came at the same time, so it was like having several people trying to shove words into your brain at the same time.

Echidna chuckled. 'How do you like this? Am I still too much to talk to alone?'

You clutched your temples as a severe headache seared through your brain. You were forcibly communicating to the six Witches via telepathy, and the suddenness of it caught you unprepared.

'Fine. I'm sorry, Echidna. I won't tune you out, even though I will really want to.'

You thought about screaming as loud as you could telepathically and seeing if that affected Echidna, but you figured that it was for the best that you didn't. She would definitely retaliate further, and that wouldn't be a pleasant experience.

'I agree, (Y/N). You have made another wise choice.'

'You're so silly, 'Dona-chan! And clumsy! If any of us was you, we wouldn't have set off that huge fire!'

'Tsk. I'm beginning to find your presence troublesome, Typhon. Everyone, do me a favor and leave.'

'But Typhon doesn't want to leave...'

'Ughh... right after I settled down...'

'Just make up your mind! Do you want us here or not?!'

'Can I have a cookie? I am very hungry right now.'

'O-okay.'

The five Witches suddenly left Echidna's Tea Party, and your headache dissipated.

'(Y/N), I believe that I was too hasty to bring those nuisances into my domain. It was as I felt... driven to mess with you. I have never felt so obligated to perform such childlike behavior. Why is that?'

To be honest, this was unexpected. Echidna genuinely didn't know why she was teasing you, even though you thought that she was just doing it because she found it fun.

No, she knew that she enjoyed doing it. The thing that was puzzling her was the reason that she enjoyed interactions with you.

'Well, I think that the best way to explain it is you have fun when you tease me like that. And the reason that you have so much fun is because... umm... uh... I guess that it's just normal. It's normal to have fun when you interact with someone. It's just a part of being human.'

'Even though I was born a human, I never understood even the simplest of emotions or experiences that are considered human traits. The only way for me to understand these things is for me to have precise data on it.'

It was a nice change to hear Echidna be sincere, and her words sparked a thought.

'Echidna, we're going to watch Violet Evergarden tonight. You'll understand why when we watch it.'

'How does that relate to anything I just discussed with you?'

'You'll have to trust me when I say that the protagonist is kind of similar to you. At the beginning, she couldn't understand emotions, so I think that you can relate to her, to an extent.'

'Hmm... I look forward to it.'

Echidna sounded skeptical, but this might just mark the beginning of change in the Witch.

Time Skip

After an hour of wandering, you finally made it back to the houses, where everybody else had gathered.

It turns out that you forgot something in making plans for the future.

You burned down the mansion, so everybody had to move somewhere else now. The mansion that you burned down was not the primary Mathers residence, and it turns out that Roswaal actually has a lot of property and connections. So now, you were going to stay at one of Roswaal's relative's house.

Roswaal's relatives... that sounds weird.

"Of cooourse, we will relocate to my main house later, but for the time being, we will need to stay at Annerose's residence until further preparations are made." Explaining this was Roswaal, whose face was still slightly swollen from the beating that received earlier.

Around him, starting from the left, was Ram, Rem (who was seated in a chair), Garfiel, Frederica, Petra, Otto, Beatrice, Subaru, and Emilia. This was everyone who would be moving to the next mansion.

When you saw Subaru and Emilia, your face turned red. You couldn't forget what you overheard, and it was going to be slightly weird with them until you could get over the fact that they were a level beyond you now.

Roswaal noticed this, but you chose to crack your knuckles, signaling that you didn't want to hear him say anything about your blushing face.

He got the message, so he directed his words to something else. "(Y/N), how did your sudden search for the Bowel Hunter and the Mabeast User go? Though I suspect it did not go weeeeell."

You grinned at him, not wanting him to get any satisfaction at all. "Actually, I already have a way to find them. They'll be back with me within a day."

'Tsk.'

Otto acted like he hadn't heard this before, and Subaru looked impressed. "Wow, (Y/N)! How in the world are you able to do that?!" Subaru then yelped as Beatrice pinched his arm.

"Stop yelling when everyone is right next to you, I suppose. Betty finds it quite annoying, in fact," Beatrice hmph'ed.

In response, Subaru smiled and started hugging her. In a higher-pitched voice, he said, "I am so sorry, Beako! Accept my affection as an apology!"

Beatrice squirmed in his arms, but she didn't complain. Petra was giving Subaru a death stare, but everyone who noticed it elected to ignore the twelve year old's action.

Answering the question Subaru asked you before he was interrupted, you quickly said, "Well, uh... that's a secret!"

Garfiel clicked his tongue. "If you can find those girls s' soon, I'll be impressed. They're pretty strong, so 'f they want t' hide, it'll be hard t' find 'em."

Frederica put a hand on Garfiel's arm. "Garf, I am positive that (Y/N) can find them, so don't doubt him." She turned to you before continuing. " I, for one, believe in (Y/N) completely."

That was actually touching, and it made you feel semi-warm inside.

Of course, Garfiel couldn't respond normally. Instead, he decided to act tough. "I nev'r said he couldn't do 't. I was jus' sayin' that he's gotta be as amazin' as Captain to find 'em so fast. I'm not doubtin' him at all."

Subaru stopped messing with Beatrice so that he could scratch his head. "I don't know why you think that I'm so amazing, and I don't know why you're calling me 'Captain' now, but I think that (Y/N) is way more impressive than me. I mean, he fought Elsa and somehow got her to join him! Of course, she's kind of missing right now, but that's not the point! He's already so much stronger than me, and he's probably a lot smarter, so I'm just like the side character who's trying to catch up to the MC."

Subaru's use of terminology threw most everyone off, but they got the message. He thought of himself as inferior to you, and he wasn't afraid to say so.

"Subaru... Don't sell yourself short. You somehow led everyone to defeat the Great Rabbit, and nobody can say otherwise! We have a dead rabbit corpse somewhere, so if you ever feel like you don't deserve all of the praise you get, take a good look at it and remember that you faced hundreds - if not thousands - of them, and you still came out on top. You also helped defeat the White Whale and the Archbishop of Sloth while I failed miserably against two other Archbishops."

After getting put on a pedestal by Subaru, you felt the need to remind him of all of the things that he did too, because you didn't feel like you deserved such high praise. Yes, you accomplished many things in this world, but you still failed when it mattered most. That failure uprooted all success in your mind. Just looking at Rem or thinking about Crusch reinforced the guilt you felt from that failure. Plus, everything until now had only happened because you knew what was coming.

Unexpectedly, that earned you a gentle slap to the back of your head. You looked to your side and saw that Emilia was the aggressor.

"You and Subaru need to stop talking like that!" Emilia exclaimed. "Both of you are amazing, so just accept that!" Her pointed ears turned red, but her expression didn't give away any embarrassment.

Emilia really did get stronger in the few days that you have been away from her.

When Emilia said this, Subaru remembered something. "Thanks, Emilia-tan! But (Y/N), I wanted to ask you something... How did you lose your regeneration? That's a really important cheat that we kinda needed you to keep."

You merely shrugged your shoulders. "I have no idea. I don't know how I got that power, and I don't know how I lost it. One day, I regenerated just fine, and the next, it just started to go away all of a sudden."

Of course, you knew why this was happening. The Witch of Envy, who gave you the ability, took it away because her not-as-yandere form, Satella, couldn't stop her crazy form, the Witch of Envy, from going berserk and taking it away when she got angry. But it's not like you could tell any of them. Not even Subaru knew about the connection between you and her, unless he could actually connect the dots, which would be a surprise.

Everyone stood with their mouths agape after hearing your explanation, and it was Subaru once again who commented.

"What?! How do you even lose an ability if you don't even know how you got it?! Did it just decide to quit on you or something?!" Once he said this, Subaru went deep into thought.

Mumbling, he said, "Wait... maybe it had a certain amount of times that it could heal you, or maybe a certain amount of damage that it could heal. Or perhaps you had to meet a requirement to have that ability, and you lost it... Or maybe- OW!"

Beatrice kicked him in the shin, causing Subaru to break his train of thought. "What was that for, Beako?!"

Beatrice turned away from him. "Betty doesn't like it when Subaru starts talking nonsense, I suppose."

Subaru sighed, and patted Beatrice's head, making her growl. "Come on, Beako. If you want more of my attention, just tell me. There's no reason to be abusing me because you are getting lonely."

While Beatrice exploded onto Subaru, you smiled. It hit you that once upon a time, these people were completely fictional, but now, they were precious to you. They weren't just some characters that you were interacting with. They were your friends. They supported you. They cared about you. They were everything that you wanted in your old world.

This was your reality, and you wished that things could stay the way they were right now: peaceful and fun.

But of course, that would never happen. You were going to decimate the Witch Cult, and that would definitely lead to a rocky path. Suffering was still coming, so you needed to enjoy moments like this while they lasted.

Your little moment was ruined when Roswaal saw the smile on your face. Smirking, he cleared his throat so that everyone would listen.

Once he gained everyone's attention, Roswaal made an announcement that let you know that you wouldn't be having any more peace for a while. "I almost forgooooot to mention this! (Y/N) and Subaru will be kniiiiighted!"

Hey guys! Thanks for being patient with me. I really needed that break, and I think that it was actually productive for me. I was able to plan things out a little more and do some more research.

But with that said, I'm going to try and transition to a schedule where I upload once every other week. That might change depending how busy I am, but I will do my best to stick to it (or maybe even upload sooner!).

So, Omega has been properly revealed and (Y/N) is going to become a knight! Things are moving along, and the training arc will begin sometime after the next few chapters.

I'll see you next time!