Chapter 5: Destination.

Authors Note!

I literally finished chapter 4 like 30 minutes ago and its 3am. Just wanna make sure I don't forget the idea I have for this one, so sorry if the beginning is slightly incoherent, I'll be sure to edit it when I'm fully awake. Same goes for chapter 4, I didn't edit that one before posting it, just wanted to get something out. Ah right, one last thing, did you all know Re:Zero has an official map? I didn't, till I started writing this. Currently it's being a huge help to me, since it helps me navigate Subaru from one place to the other without him basically teleporting across the world.

Authors Note Two!

Okay ffs my motivation ran dry so o ended up slowly working on this one over the span of a full two days. Doesn't help that the vacation I went on is over so I ended up spending 8 hours in a cramped car. Anyways, sorry for the delay, here's the chapter.

As Subaru's bare feet touch the grass, his eyes never once leave the sunrise. Even as it begins to burn his unprotected eyes, he doesn't look away, doesn't blink. For a full 30 minutes, his mind goes blank from the sight of the sun he hasn't directly seen in so long, until finally, distant shouting from what appear to be rushing knights bring him back to his senses. 'Crap, this is bad, I stood still too long. Can I still escape?' Subaru wonders to himself, his legs already enhanced with mana as he sprints along the ground, his footsteps shockingly silent.

Quickly taking in all of his surroundings, a well, a wall, and the roads outside the wall, as well as hundreds of different people's mana on those roads, some weak, some decently strong, but nothing truly dangerous to the current him, Subaru quickly realizes he has two options. Hop the fence and run through the crowd, or dive into the waterways. Instantly making a decision, Subaru quickly locates the nearest waterway and dives in, enhancing his arms, legs, and lungs with mana to keep himself under as long as possible. 'I need to get out of the city, and quick.' Subaru thinks to himself 'but… where to go after that? I can't go after gluttony straight away, I don't have the strength needed right now, and if I make a mistake I could be sent back to the cell through return by death. I need a place that I can train at as well… and it can't be close to society, I'm known as an Archbishop after all. Think, what's a place that meets all these conditions?… Ah! There is one. Elior Forest. If it's there, I likely won't meet anyone, and even if I do, they'll be so far out they won't even know me. The only ones I have to worry about are the Crusch camp, since they have the mining rights to the forest, but I don't think they've started a mining operation there yet with all that's been going on after gluttonies attack.'

With this, Subaru's decided on his next destination, and because of his strength, combined with his mana enhancement, he's already nearly out of Priestella even though he's swimming. 'Mm, still, going there on foot, and without a map at that… it's going to take me a while. I'll need food, too, and information on if Ma Beast are edible. Considering Emilia-Tan survived there for years, they most likely are, but it's best to be certain.' Subaru can't help but smile as he kept on planning away in his head. It's been a long time since he's been able to freely strategize like this, and he actually finds it a little bit fun, even if his current situations still pretty bleak.

Suddenly, a certain idea struck him as he thought about the rough map he does have memorized, and the route to the frozen forest 'the way to Elior… I'm going to have to go through the sanctuary and the mansion, aren't I? If I'm going there anyways, I may as well visit the her since I'll need whatever information I can get on gluttony anyways. Maybe I can ask why I'm getting stronger now too, though I do think my current theory is most likely right.' Subaru finally arrives at the exit to Priestella. coming out of the waterway and entering a nearby ally to dry off, Subaru spends the next 10 minutes figuring out the general layout of the area and observing the guards.

Walking out of the alleyway, Subaru approaches the exit to Priestella, fingers crossed his luck hasn't run dry yet and that his escape hasn't already spread this far. Looking at the guards protecting the bridge, Subaru couldn't help but whisper some profanity under his breath as they were obviously checking people more thoroughly then the last time he went through here. 'Will I have to swim the distance out of Priestella? No, that's too difficult… what if I Shamak the place? That's another big no, too flashy and I'm a bit too much of a luck dependent guy to actually pull that off. Hmm… ah, I could probably pull that off if I strain my gate a bit. I've recovered enough by now anyways.'

Waking off to the side of the bridge exit of Priestella, Subaru takes a deep breathe, bracing for the incoming gate pain and some possible damage to it, and whispers "Murak." Instantly Subaru feels all of his partially regained mana drain as a throbbing feeling quickly takes over his body as he barely represses a scream. Although his gate wasn't damaged, probably because it's durability is continuously doubled too, it still hurts like hell to push himself far beyond what he can normally manage. "Ugh." In the end, Subaru can't repress a groan, but letting it out helped him cope with the pain.

Now in control of himself again instead of being forced to focused on the pain, Subaru quickly jumps onto nearby rooftops, then over the guards, jumping extremely high due to small mana enhancement he can still just manage combining with the weight reduction spell. Soaring through the sky, Subaru feels the want to scream. Not a scream of pain, but one of fun. The kind of scream you'd scream after getting on a rollercoaster after a long time. As Subaru flies through the sky for what feels like at least 10 minutes, he lands on the ground and deciding it's a good idea to keep this up for as long as he can… once again jumps. This continues for an hour, before suddenly, Subaru feels the last drops of his mana disappear as his body collapses from exhausted.

"Ah… looks like I pushed myself a bit too much. Though, I really thought I'd be able to handle this much by now…" Subaru can't help but frown at his own current weakness. With a sigh, Subaru sits still for hours as the sun rises to the middle of the sky. "Wonder if they're searching for me outside the city by now… if they are, I need to hurry. Luckily I feel well enough to move again by now." Slowly standing up, Subaru does his usual stretches before stomping on the ground and flying off with speed that could almost rival a ground dragon. Not patrasche though, no one's faster than best girl. Not even you Reinhard. "Hmm… just running like this is boring. Wonder if I can train while doing this." Subaru says to himself, holding out his hand and staring at it while running. As he circulates mana through his hand and pushes it out in small drops, Minya crystal's begins to form. First it's one, then two, then four, then six. From there it increases to 12, then finally stops at a full 20 Minya crystals. It's here that Subaru drops down to 20% of his total capacity for mana, unable to form any more crystals.

Still, he doesn't want to simply create crystals out of Minya's, and so… bringing them all towards his palm, a ball of Minya's form, combining before they slowly begin to change shape, into something longer, and sharp with a pointed tip. "A Minya sword. If Emilia-Tan has ice brand arts, is this have Minya brand arts or something?" Subaru jest in partial wonder as he grabs the sword. By this time, Subaru has already covered ridiculous distance and is halfway to the sanctuary, the closest point from Priestella. Deciding he'd travelled enough distance for now, Subaru slows his pace til he eventually stops. Currently, the sun's begin to set and Subaru is decently hungry, having not eaten anything good for his body for almost 2 months now.

Deciding to try and search for some actual meat, Subaru spreads his mana sense out as far as he can, and quickly finds all kinds of animals, from one's underground, to those hiding nearby. Next is… all the nearby animals that were watching Subaru can only watch him near instantly disappear from his position due to the speed he's currently moving, reappearing right behind a small badger-like creature with horns poking down its spine. As it tries to scurry away, Subaru catches it, wraps it in his chains and quickly breaks its neck. 'Hmm, but how do I cook this? I'm not really sure how to start a fire. Do I rub sticks together?' Left thinking for a while, Subaru eventually comes to the conclusion that he really can only rub some sticks together. Still, there's a more efficient way to do it than to simply using his own hands.

"Invisible Providence." Four black hands come from Subaru's back as he walks to a nearby tree, breaking off the branches. Placing them on the ground, Subaru has the branches rub together. It takes 30 minutes of experimentation for a fire to start. Subaru then cooks the currently unnamed rodent and eats it, then sleeps through the night…

([?] POV)

'Where… is this? Where am I?… Who..?' Coming in and out of consciousness, [?] only knows that [?] is being carried by some unknown people in hooded cloaks, and that [?]can't move their body in the slightest. Glancing around, [?] can see other people being carried away, some in cages, some simply tied. 'A strange smell…where is it coming from?…' smelling around, [?] quickly comes to the conclusion that the smell is coming from the hooded people carrying them. The smell itself causes a very unpleasant feeling to arrive in [?] that makes them nearly feel uncontrollably angry, yet at the same time, incredibly comforted, as though it's the smell of their favorite food.

Quickly snapping out of that train of thought, [?] checks the condition of the other people. Although bound and seemingly unmoving, all are breathing, and there's only a visible injury on one of them. A man with spiky blonde hair and a muscular body, with most of his upper torso exposed, only slightly covered by a jacket, has a wound on his left wrist from what appears to be a sword. Furthermore, although the injury seems to be being healed by one of the cloaked figures.

Speaking of the cloaked figures, each is covered with a cloth mask that covers their head in a full 360 degrees, with long sleeves that cover their hands, and a robe that drops to just above their feet. The robe itself is dark purple in color, with white and red outlines. Each figure wields a different weapon, some spears, some swords, and even some bows and knives. Each gives off an incredibly sinister feeling. At the very front of the cultist, a green haired man with a more open version of the previous outfit, seemingly leads the cloaked people. Though, his eyes have no light behind them, and he motions in hand signals, not words. Beside him, a long, purple haired man in a coat that's black on the outside and purple on the inside walks along, 5 rings on his right hand. His eyes are sharp, and [?] can feel immense danger just from the sight of him. He as well has dull eyes and only uses hand movements when necessary.

Finally, a woman wrapped head to toe in bandages in a similar outfit to the others, with it splitting open from the naval revealing more bandages underneath can be seen walking towards the back, with golden chains that have crescent hooks on dragging from her wrist. Once again, [?] gets a dangerous feeling, as though this person would be too much for [?] to handle. Suddenly, intense drowsiness once again assaults [?] and they for some reason have the odd feeling they're going to be sleep for a long while. As their eyes begin to close, the last thing they notice are the blue locks of their own hair dangling in front of [?]'s eyes…

(Subaru POV, at the sanctuary, 6 days before the mansion attack)

After traveling for another half day, I quickly made it to the sanctuary's entrance. All signs of the previous fight against the rabbit have surprisingly disappeared. Glancing around for a quick moment, Subaru decides to simply handle this as quickly as he can instead of delaying, quickly walking into the Witch of Greed's Tomb, then shouting out "Echidna! I've come to talk! Let me in!" As Subaru waits one, two, three minutes, nothing happens.

In some doubt and confusion, Subaru once again shouts "Echidna!?" Yet again, nothing. "Did I do something to upset her?… Or did she forget me too!?" Subaru can't help but think in a panic. However, realizing how unlikely it is for that to be the case, from how he rememberers Rem and Satella seemingly remembering him still at least, since she hasn't taken his authority or anything, he concludes it must be something else. "Hmm… is she asleep or something? Where's a doorbell or even a front door when you need one." Subaru says while frowning. With a sigh, Subaru realizes he can't waste too much time here. His previous sleep cost him about 6 hours, since he was exhausted enough to not wake up even from all his usual nightmares.

Sighing once again, Subaru walks out of the tomb and glances around the area. As unpleasant memories flash in his mind, he can't help but to itch his arms in remembrance of The Great Hare. Luckily or perhaps unluckily, since it doesn't quite get rid of his itch, Subaru's increased defense makes it so his skin can no longer be easily breached, making his itching result in nothing but some red marks. 'Guess Beako won't need to heal me as much anymore… if I even wanna let her.' Quickly shaking his head, Subaru chases out the hate filled thoughts that pop up for a moment. While he occasionally has these, he's been desperately been trying not to lose himself to them and instead remember all the good memories, thinking of at least 80% of everything that's happened to him as gluttonies fault, and choosing to instead think of ways to fix the camps so a situation like this bullshit won't be allowed to happen again. No, so he doesn't have to just sit back and *let it happen again.*

Subaru can gain the strength he needs now if he has to. While he won't kill himself, since he promised to treasure himself more… he's got no real issue with dying a few times. Compared to all the torture from before, and his deaths while in that cell, dying a few times to an enemy would be nothing. In fact, he feels as though the only thing he truly has to be wary of is Capella. Rather than just killing him, what she'd do is certainly a lot worse than any death and maybe even any torture. Even that one where Felix made Subaru not feel so good. 'Oh, that's no good, I got too caught up in my thoughts again.' Subaru realizes he's been sitting around, blankly staring at the place of his previous death against the rabbit for a while now. Surprisingly, despite all the torture and deaths, none of them actually managed to beat the rabbit death. The only one that got close was the bucket… Subaru can still feel that one sometimes, when he's drinking water or eating food.

Moving on from where he is, Subaru quickly begins sprinting once again, this time out of the sanctuary with a bit of regret that he didn't get to see Echidna, since he had a lot of questions for her and wanted a map. He's still left wondering why she didn't meet with him, as he would've thought she'd jump at the chance. Maybe it's a new mind game of hers, or maybe… no, let's not go down that route again, still too unlikely.

Having completely made it out of the sanctuary now, Subaru enters the Kremaldy forest, a place where he was previous cursed hundreds of times from all the Wolgarm bites, and saved a Berserk Rem. While last time, Subaru was so weak he could barely get a Shamak off and only scratched a boss Wolgarm's mouth, this time….

"HA!" With a single slash of his Minya sword, Subaru fluidly cuts three Wolgarm's in half. As they're cut, the Wolgram's bodies crystallize, then break into pieces so small they're no longer visible. Simultaneously, a crack runs down Subaru's sword. "Guess it's not very durable, huh?" He can't help but state out loud as he pours out some mana into the sword, mending the crack. Several more Wolgarm's rush in, but Subaru doesn't even have to stop moving to deal with them. At this point, they're nothing more than small fry. Of course, his swordsmanship isn't the most impressive thing to have increased. If Subaru had to choose something that's increased dramatically, it would be his Parkour abilities.

If before, Subaru was nearly the best he could be at Parkour as a normal human, he's now exceeded himself so many times over that he may just be able to dodge some blows from Julius, even with his spirits. While he definitely wouldn't last long in a fight against him, it's at least a testament to Subaru's current abilities. Just this little run through the forest is letting him get a grasp on his real, previously underestimated abilities that he hadn't had a chance to truly test put yet. If Subaru had to use his previous scales of power, then his speed would shoot up from a measly 30ish to a full 500 when he's focusing on his parkour instead of simply running. Of course, that speed won't count for anything if he's forced into a direct fight, but for now, it's more than enough. The only thing he has to worry about is similar boost in different area's coming from people with similar skill as him.

Suddenly, Subaru finds himself blinded by the sun as he makes it out from the other side of the dark forest. As he comes out and adjust to the light, he realizes he's made it somewhere just below the Milroad Mansion, on a road called Costuul. 'Hmm… if I want to reach Elior, I'll need to go up towards the mansion, not to mention, there's things I need from inside of it that'll come into use later.' Deciding he needs to quickly come up with a plan to enter the mansion undetected, Subaru creates a map of the area as he remembers it on the ground.

'Currently, Ram is away, which is great, considering she might be the biggest obstacle just because of her perception. So then, the ones I need to focus on are Garfiel and Emilia-Tan. While I hate to admit it, although she's gotten a lot better since the sanctuary and has started acting like a proper leader, Emilia-Tan is still somewhat naive. A proper distraction will lead her out. Garfiel will probably go with her when that happens, while Fredrica stays behind to defend the mansion… that'll be difficult to deal with too.' Forcefully extending his mana sense far past its usual range, with a splitting headache, Subaru gleams more information 'it seems like… the mansion doesn't have as many people as I thought as well. Still…' "Authority of Greed, Cor Leonis." A mini-map appears in Subaru's mind. 'Looks like Clind and Annerose are out. Petra's out on the village, probably for groceries. Roswaal's in his room, Rem hasn't moved, Emilia's outside with Beako, Fredrica is cleaning, Garfiel's with Otto… alright, I can do this. Phase one, begin.'

Taking a deep breath, Subaru walks back into the forest and quickly finds a Ma Beast. Another Wolgarm. Staring it in the face as it's about to pounce, Subaru says "I can Return By De-" instantly, a black shadow covers the world as everything seems to stop. As he becomes incapable of moving, Subaru feels a pair of hands gently touch his shoulders before the arms fully wrap around him from behind. He hears a whisper in his ear, but it's so faint that even he, who was closest in the world to it, couldn't make out the words. With a gasp, everything returns to normal as Subaru falls to the ground, coughing and holding his throat for a moment, seemingly choking on something he can't see or feel before it quickly clears up.

Looking up, Subaru can sense the entire forest stirring, as Hundreds, no, maybe a thousand Ma Beast all rush for his current location, for the mansion. "The barrier stones…" he mumbles, before quickly going to check "Looks like they're intact." He quickly removes just one, creating a gap and fleeing away from the area. The Ma Beast, upon arrival, quickly try to flood through, but due to their body size, only about 60 actually make it in. Subaru quickly throws the barrier stone, stopping any more from entering as he suddenly breaks a mansion window, jumping inside and making his way to his room, relying in the chaos to cover his tracks. He can hear a few shouts and loud crashes, but because of his minimap and mana sense, can tell that no one's struggling against the Ma Beast. Instead, they're being killed a lot more quickly than he thought they would be. 'Guess I need to be quick.' Running through the halls with silent footsteps, Subaru quickly finds Emilia's room, unlocked. Entering, Subaru quickly finds what he's looking for. 'Sorry, Emilia-Tan… but I'll be needing this for a while.' Says Subaru, grabbing the retired Recognition Obstruction Robe. Quickly leaving the room, he next went to grab something he'd left here before from back in his room. While he had it remade well enough to not break on him this time, Subaru never found much use for it before this, but now…

He can't help but smile, looking at the sword in his hand, the one that helped him save Rem and fight off the Wolgarm in the past. Though the actual sword itself was completely totaled, this one looks and feels almost exactly the same, resulting in some nostalgia. However, Subaru knows that now's not the time to be sitting here reminiscing, and quickly leaves the room, then the mansion, through the same window he entered. Emilia, Beatrice, and Garfiel, have already long since cleaned up the demon beast by this point, and are investigating the cause. They'll likely find out someone intentionally pulled the barrier off, and be on guard for a few days before returning to normal, so Subaru won't be able to come back for a bit. Now then…

Quickly putting on the recognition obstruction robe, Subaru silently moves off the mansion grounds, this time up towards Irlam Village. From here, Subaru will travel on foot over the next 3 days to Lugnica, stop to purchase supplies by trading with demon beast corpses, then move onto Elior…

Author Notes! Small announcement as well!

Hello everyone! I'm completely finished with this one finally. It sure took me a while, I sort of hit a slump with this, mostly because while I know where I want the story to end up, I didn't think much about Subaru's journey to there. I think because of that, some of this chapter was rather bland, but hopefully you'll still enjoy it. Now then, small announcement, I'm gonna take a short "break." I think. I seriously haven't had time to read volumes 18-19 while working on this, and they're absolutely necessary for this next part of the arcs, since I need some insight into character personalities. Anyways, Q&A time, since I took a bit of time to make this chapter, there's a bit more than usual. I'll try and get you all, but if I miss you, come yell at me in my pm's, they're always open!

Q&A:

Q:Guest: Though some signs might be there I don't think that the Emilia camp is getting attacked by Subaru here. While he has been getting stronger Subaru isn't capable of this just yet, plus one of the knights was killed here and Subaru wouldn't do that. I believe that this is actually Lye Batenkaitos who has gotten stronger from the names and memories he's eaten. This is shown from his fighting style of close quarters combat, insane speed and agility, and mentioning the use of blades. While there is a sign of yin magic Lye could just be using solar eclipse to copy it. I wonder if he's trying to frame Subaru for kidnapping the Emilia camp. Btw, just double checking here but, did you read the fandoms website to know about what all the sin archbishops should be capable of?

A:Great guess! No actual comment on it though, that'd be spoilers for what I've got planned. Also yes, I do read the wiki as much as possible, since I need a lot of information, especially on some characters who appear in side stories and will be somewhat implemented here.

Q: ReZerofan67:will subaru have a part in arc 7 in this story since an overpowered subaru runing around and stoping a civil war in vollachia while his name is gone will show them how bearly they have any chance( if any) to win the election without him when there memories are back just want to know?

A:While I do intend to have a Vollachia section eventually, it'll likely be after his memories have been restored. Rather than just end the story when he gets them back, I'll have a changed, strong Subaru run through some of the main story events.

Suggestions:

S:Guest: Man it's nice seeing a re forgot spin off where Subaru gets strong and doesn't go completely insane. Though if I could give some advice, never have two characters talk in the same paragraph. You want to start a new one every time a different character starts talking. That way it gets less confusing when you switch from one character to the next. Also for some reason people just have a easier time reading five shorter paragraphs then a single big one

A: Thank you for the suggestion! I've noticed with that Emilia POV chapter just how confusing mixing character lines can be, for both me and the readers, so I definitely intend to space it out from now on, at least for longer area's.

S:Aliata: honestly you gave me a good answer I didn't even consider that Subaru is lying to himself and that actually makes quiet a bit of sense and sets up as you put it a "break to just fall apart" that is very much in line with his character though I do think adding 1 thing to this would make it perfect. have Subaru have another voice in the back of his mind whispering doubts and that his friends abandoned him when he needed them most and stuff of that nature would be great for your characterization of Subaru.

A:Thank you for another suggestion! I'm going to try and implement a voice of doubt into Subaru, though I'm not confident I'll be able to do it well quite yet, so bear with me for a bit if it's not the best.