Chapter 7: Arrival.

Author Notes!

Hello! The author notes this time are gonna actually hold some important information, so please read then! Anyways, here's the information you'll need:

How to create spells within the re:zero universe, courtesy of a translated Tappei Q&A that took forever to find.

Step 1, Gather mana for the spell. Without a sufficient amount of mana, the spell won't materialize at all.

Step 2, Visualize the spells effects. Proper visualization can cause the spell to backfire or take an undesirable shape, such as Subaru's original Shamak's.

Step 3(Optional), say the incantation. The incantation is simply a word or phrase used to help better visualize the magic you're casting, so mages with a good enough imagination or familiarity with a spell can skip the phrase altogether. Furthermore it doesn't matter what the words said are, as for example, you shout "Goa!" as long as you are thinking of a wind spell, that is what will come out.

Anyways, that's all, end of Author notes.

(Subaru POV, 1 day til the mansion attack)

Subaru wakes up within a large, frozen tree. It's been 4 days since he had his little break down and explained his situation to Ward, and despite his previous suspicion on if Ward would betray him after learning he's a wanted potential Archbishop, he instead apologized for the knights inadequacies, even though he did nothing wrong. After that, he brought Subaru to his tree he's staying in, and is helping Subaru improve his survival skills up to a level where he can survive even in this harsh environment.

Along with all that, he's started training Subaru in the sword. Ward is apparently a legendary retired mercenary commander from Kararagi, with skills considered to be just under the current day Wilhelm, though he wouldn't be able to match up to old man Wil's prime. Because of his renown, he's trained many knights who've come to this forest over the years, making him a very good teacher. Subaru's improved tremendously thanks to that experience, though his swordsmanship is still nowhere near as strong as his whip or magic skills.

Currently, Ward is out killing beast for food, since him and Subaru are running low. Typically, this is a job Subaru does, both to train and help Ward out just a bit, but Subaru is currently on the brink of a breakthrough with his magic. Before he began to grow stronger, Subaru had no control over his magic, so he never had the chance to experiment with his otherworldly knowledge, but now that he's sufficiently stronger and has a good enough understanding of magic, he's trying to create his own spells.

The spell he's currently tryin to create is a version of his and… Beatrice, EMM spell, except smaller and able to move. Specifically, the spell, which Subaru has aptly named "Fortress" solidifies/freezes the space in front of his hands, making it act as small shields that can block attacks or even hit enemies. Previously, this version of the spell would've just been inconvenient, since he was always holding into Beatrice, but now that he's on his own, he's more than capable of using this spell.

The spell itself has also already been developed, and is working properly. What Subaru is currently doing, is working on his visualization so he can use it without the incantation, something he can now do with Shamak and Minya now as well.

Holding up his right hand while sweating a little, Subaru slowly advances forward and bumps into an icicle that was previously broken off from the nearby branches and placed onto a table. With a bright smile on his face, Subaru watches the icicle get knocked off the table as he jumps into the air and shouts "Yes! I wonder if I should change my name to Viera soon or something, though I guess I'd need a pair of rabbit ears for that." Subaru can't help but chuckle to himself with his little reference he makes to himself.

While Subaru's in the middle of chucking to himself, he hears the door opened, followed by Ward looking at Subaru weirdly.

" , what are you doing?" Ward couldn't help but to ask, having seen Subaru weirdly chucking to himself while having his hand outstretched.

Subaru, realizing that he looks like a Chunni 8th grader, quickly lowers his hand with a faint flush from embarrassment on his cheeks, and quickly explains "I-I was just practicing my new spell! I actually managed to do it this time, and was just feeling happy, that's all!"

Chuckling once again at Subaru's expense, Ward says "Alright, I understand, so calm down ok? You don't want to end up… what was it you murmured before? Unlock the darkness within your soul?" Ward teases the defenseless Subaru, bringing Subaru's shame and embarrassment to an all-time high. He can't help but to think if this is how Otto felt whenever he would tease him.

Wondering just how Subaru was the one on the receiving end of teasing for once, Subaru can only think back to a day after he had his breakdown. After he opened up and told Ward about everything, except for his ability return by death, Ward himself opened up as well and began to joke around with Subaru as though they were old friends. Initially, Subaru was a bit put off the more he thought about Ward's kindness, but he quickly realized that the reason Ward was being so friendly, to the point of awkwardness, was to make Subaru feel at least a bit more comfortable, something Subaru has greatly come to appreciate over the past week.

Continuing with the conversation, Subaru can't help but quip back "Don't casually mention my chunni fantasies! Agh, I'm gonna die because of embarrassment at this rate!" Causing both of them to burst into laughter a moment later. After they've both settled down, Ward places down two small Demon Beast Rabbit's he's caught down onto the table, which turns out, are perfectly edible to normal people. In fact, Subaru should've realized this already, since Daphne only made the demon beast to feed everyone, but knowing the witches twisted personalities, he has to think twice before trusting them. For all he knows, Daphne made them have a 1 in 10 chance to kill you just to balance out the humans numbers against the beast.

With a sigh caused by thinking about the witches and their… complicated personalities, Subaru decides to once again begin training, this time, for something entirely different. Closing his eyes and sensing his own mana along with the atmospheric mana, Subaru begins to pull his own mana to the center of him the moment it enters his body, to hopefully have it flow in from the outside faster, replenishing him mana supply more quickly. Along with that, he has the mana swirl around inside of his gate, not expelling it or strengthening himself, but instead trying to further enhance his gate without need to die, something he's failed at completely. He just can't mimic that feeling of his gate getting stronger, not by using the mana inside of him at least.

"Sigh, I have this feeling that I need to strengthen my gate if I wanna get something more out of it, yet I can't figure out how to do it. Even if I try and use my mana to strengthen it, it just kind of sits there, like there's nothing to strengthen…" Subaru can't help but slightly mope at the first roadblock he's had in getting stronger since the prison. Til now, everything has just somehow worked out, so he's really not sure how to figure out the right method to make this work.

At which point, Ward chimes in "Just give it time and effort. Not everything can happen in a day or a week, instead it'll need to happen over time. Even if it doesn't happen, you're a unique enough case that you'll figure something else out. Seriously, I've never heard of anyone finding a method to strengthen their gate before, let alone sense ambient mana, so I'm actually pretty curious about how you managed it." Says Ward, expressing his interest in Subaru's strength for the 4th time in total. Each time, Subaru usually responds with-

"Didn't I say before that it was just a fluke? I got lucky for once and my gate just suddenly started fixing itself and getting stronger." Subaru says, using the excuse he created previously. Although it may seem pushy to keep asking Subaru, Ward has a good enough reason to. Ward's gate has degraded from excessive use over time, and while it's certainly not irreparable, for right now it's only running at half capacity, limiting his strength somewhat.

Though, it's not too bad, since Ward isn't a magician, or at least he says he isn't. Subaru's a little bit doubtful about it though, from what he can tell, Ward does seem to have some magic hidden away, Subaru just doesn't know why.

Breaking Subaru out of his thoughts is Ward's voice, "Now then, , it's nearly time for our survival training, so hurry up and eat alright?" With a nod of agreement, Subaru and Ward began eating, unaware of the ever approaching threat…

(Emilia POV, 4 days after capture)

Sitting within her cell that's barely lit up by some magic stones, Emilia listens to the constant commotion of the witch cult, something that's been ongoing since yesterday afternoon. At first, Emilia was confused as to why the entire witch cult would be suddenly panicked, thinking that perhaps the Lugnica army had arrived or sent in a smaller team, or even that Reinhard may have cleaned up the forces attacking the Astrea domain faster than expected, but both of those guesses were wrong. It turns out, it was something much larger than that, the death of an Archbishop.

Though Emilia isn't sure how they learned of their leaders death, she's come to learn that Capella left 2 days ago on some business and was supposed to come back yesterday, yet failed to and is even supposedly dead. As for who did it, they said something about fake pride and there were murmurs of gluttony messing something up. Sadly, that's all Emilia has managed to learn so far, but there's other good news to make up for it.

Looking behind her, Emilia can't help but to weakly smile, looking at her adorable contracted spirit who's just appeared within Emilia's cell. With Emilia's mana capacity and Beatrice ingenuity, Beatrice has managed to use a Yin attribute teleportation spell to move back and forth between the cells, spreading messages between the various camp's members and slowly helping formulate a plan to get everyone out of here.

"Beatrice, how are Fredrica, Garfiel and Petra-Chan doing?" Emilia asks the adorable blond spirit.

"They are doing alright, I suppose, though they are a little filthy." Says Beatrice, making a light joke "Same with everyone else, Betty included. Though, we'll all be a lot better once we're out of this place." Beatrice moves to sit next to Emilia, taking her hand, then asks "and how is Betty's contractor doing?"

Emilia smiles and says "I'm alright, Beatrice. A little worried about Puck, but for now, there's nothing I can do but hope he's ok and that his pyroxene was left here and not wherever Capella left…" pulling Beatrice onto her lap, Emilia changes the subject by asking "Do you have enough mana, Beatrice?"

Beatrice, with a slight smile, nods and says "I have more than enough, so you should focus on recovering your own for right now, I suppose. That way you're ready for our escape when the time comes." In response, Emilia nods, closes her eyes, and focuses on recovering her mana. In this prison, most of the mana is being down sucked into the floor somewhere, making it hard to regain any lost mana without focusing. Because of this, Emilia has to actively pull any mana that enters her body further in, otherwise it gets sucked out before she can even began to recover.

This, however, comes with a plus side. Previously Emilia's control over mana was rather lacking, with only her raw output making her a strong fighter, but having to give mana to Beatrice then absorb more in this difficult environment boosted her overall control over her own mana, something she desperately needed so that she can fight in team battles to her fullest strength without harming her teammates.

Left alone with her thoughts and mana, Emilia can't help but take notice of it again. Over these past few months, when left on her own, she feels a hole somewhere, not physical, but emotional. As though something was missing, yet, as quickly as it comes, it leaves, and she forgets it was even there in the first place until it's next appearance. From what she can tell, no one else feels this hole, but maybe that's because everyone only feels it when alone; and sadly, although she felt like this hole left in her emotions was important, just as before it fades as quickly as it appeared, leaving Emilia completely alone with her mana and thoughts…

The same day, during the Evening, Emilia opens her eyes after completely refilling her mana, sensing Beatrice teleport back into the cell. Turning around to face her, Emilia asks "is everything prepared, Beatrice?"

With a nod, Beatrice says "It is, I suppose. I expect to be rewarded with lots of head pats when we get home, having me teleport around like this is exhausting after all."

With a motherly smile, Emilia says "yes, I'll make sure to give you all the head pats I can." Looking at Beatrice slight smile and puffed chest, Emilia can't help but to comment "isn't my Beatrice just sooooo charming?"

With a faint blush on her cheeks and her hands placed on her hips, with her little chest pushed out, Beatrice responds "Hmph, t-that's right, Betty is the most charming spirit you'll ever see. Now, we should quickly go to the others, I suppose."

With a nod, Emilia stands up and grabs Beatrice hand, when suddenly the world seems to twist and bend, then, wish a flash of light, Emilia in Beatrice are in a new cell, along with all the other people who've been captured. Smiling at them all, Emilia looks over each and every one for injures, before saying "I'm glad to see everyone's ok… ah, except Garfiel. He's still paralyzed…"

Looking over at her little brother with concern, Fredrica says "it's alright, Emilia-Sama, I'll take care of Garf while we make our escape."

Nodding at her, Emilia turns to the side, looking at the Crusch and Emilia camps. "Are both of your camps ready as well?"

Felix Nods and says "Yes, please leave all the healing to me."

Whihelm follows with a "yes, I will follow while protecting my lady"

Followed again by Julius "I am ready as well, Emilia-Sama. Please allow me to help pave the way out."

Emilia can't help but smile at all of this, happy everyone is working together in this situation. Turning to her camp again, Emilia says "alright Otto, Beatrice, you've got this!"

"Hmph, of course Betty does."(Beatrice)

"Thank you for your encouragement Emilia-Sama."(Otto) they say simultaneously. Otto places his hands onto the ground, and murmurs "Dona." Resulting in a large portion of the ground being moved to the side, up against the cell doors. Underneath, a glowing, purple, geometric circle made of Minya crystal is shown to be dug into the ground itself. With how a certain blond loli spirit is proudly staring down at it, it's obviously her work.

The magic circle itself is made to take the mana of everyone in the room, and use it to teleport them out into the central area of the cult's hideout, the only place with an apparent exit. For anyone lacking mana, it will be taken directly from Emilia, but considering her monstrous magic reserves, it likely won't be a problem, and so, Beatrice activates the spell.

"Ul Biri!" With a flash, everyone finds themselves within a large, circular room, hundreds of meters wide, that seems to go up higher than the eye can see. On the walls, there's various hallways leading to different area's of the cult hideout, as well as a staircase that seems to go up forever. Near everywhere one looks is a cultist, far more than the previous estimate of 500 that the camps had before. At the very least, there were 3,000 within this room alone, all carrying out whatever task they've been assigned. That is, at least until they notice the escaping royal candidates and their camps, which leads to shouts and chaos among the Cultist who quickly block the stairs to leave.

Staring at the numbers of it all, Wilhelm can't help but to sweat a little while murmuring "this many!…" but that is quickly drowned out by a large group of cultist shouting all at once

"""""""""GOA""""""""

Within an instant, large fireballs are all raining down on the Emilia camp. Quick to react, Emilia shouts "Ice Brand Arts: Ice Soldiers!" Causing 30 humanoid ice sculptors to pop up, each armed with a different weapon and wearing a set of ice armor. Several of them use shields made of ice to block the incoming fireballs, resulting in explosions of steam across the room, something the camps use to their advantage.

Bolting through the steam, Wilhelm and the iron fang mercenaries quickly dispatches the group of mages before they even get a chance to open their mouths again, while Ram pushes her palm out and chants "El Fura!" Within an instant, a wind blade cuts down a group of 10 cultist, faster than anyone can react to.

Beatrice isn't still either, silently casting El Minya after El Minya, taking care of any mages within the other camp members blind spots.

All of a sudden, a group of three shout a spell none of the camp members know, not even Beatrice "El Guru!" Hit by a sudden wave of dizziness, several of the camps more prominent Magic casters quickly figure out what type of spell is effecting them, and the one to solve it is…

"Nes, In, take care of it please." Says Julius, calling upon his Yin and Yang spirits, who quickly break the Yang magic targeting the groups brains, causing a unnecessary strain through buffing only certain parts. Julius quickly decides to take care of the unique mages with "La, Alo, target those troublesome bunch if you will." A fire spirit and wind spirit manifest and together cause a great tornado around the mage group, burning them to ash. Yet, even with all this fighting, the various camps have only whittled down the enemies numbers by around 200 or so, not even making a dent in their actual forces.

Yet another twist happens as suddenly, the group finds themselves separated, teleported across the room to various places. Rem, who still has no memories and thus no fighting power, is grouped with Emilia. Poisoned Garfiel is with Otto, Felix with Julius, Ram with the sleeping Crusch, Beatrice, Petra, and Mimi have all been placed on their own. Anastasia is with the rest of the iron fang mercenaries, while the still-a-vegetable Roswaal is with Fredrica.

Split apart, now unable to protect the defenseless members, the group quickly tries to rush back together, but before they can even make it three steps, they hear 3 spells casted simultaneously-

"Ul Goa"

"El Dona"

"Al Huma"

Looking to where the spells are aiming, several of the camps members can't help but shout "NO!" As loudly as they can, as they watch the most childish of the groups come closer and closer to death. The Goa, flying towards Mimi, is suddenly redirected, slamming into the ground. The Huma, the most powerful of the bunch, flying towards Beatrice is dealt with Beatrice herself casting an equally strong Minya. Finally, the earth spell, sending several spikes towards Petra is stopped by…

A sword slams down to the ground with enough force to shake the entire bottom floor. Having come from above, where the staircase is located, the camps and the cultist can't help but look up. There, a man in a orange and black cloak slowly walks down the staircase, his feet making a gentle tapping sound as though he were on a leisurely stroll. As he reaches a the point where he's around 80 meters up, the man gently hops onto the railing, and floats down to the floor, causing his hood to fly off and reveal his bright, red eyes, his mixed, black and white hair. Landing directly in front of his sword, and gently picking it up, he points it at the group of cultist in front of him, and with a guttural shout none would expect from someone so calm half a second ago, shakes the room with the pure wrath mixed with the mana in his voice-

"BRING. ME. GLUTTONY."

Author Notes!

Hello! Hopefully you all like this chapter, I think it's one of the ones I had the most fun writing. Being able to write Beatrice in particular has been one of the things I've been looking forward to most, her mannerisms are my favorite out of everything I've ever seen or heard. Anyways, for anyone who potentially hasn't caught on yet, Subaru's POV and Emilia's POV are days apart from each other. Now then, that's about all I've got to say, so onto the Q&A.

Subaru Status:

Hp:39 / 39 (-42dmg)

Gate Status: 144% over-limit

Affinities: Yin

Authorities: RBD, Sloth, Greed

Strength: 35 (282S) (450W)

Speed: 38 (538P)

Defense: 42

Health: 58

Magic: 100

Q&A:

Q?:DashingSlayer101: Hey can we refer to the whole, everything positive about Subaru doubling in strength every time he uses RBD, thing as SBD? Ya know like how RBD means Return by Death, SBD would mean Strengthened by Death. We talk about it so much I figured it'd be great to shorten it and lower the word count a little to help with the whole email problem.

A:Yep, I'll try and start doing that from next chapter on. Honestly, I considered having Subaru outright rename it to Strengthened By Death during chapter 2, but it just came across as cringe.

Q+S:Guest: Wait, if Meili wasn't there with them could they have been eating Meili? Capella had to have transformed someone into the meat they were eating, so could it possibly have been Meili as a punishment for her trying to leave the her assassin organization? That would be insanely dark and f*** up… which is pretty in character for Capella and sets the tone so go with that. I'd be great.

A:You're right, that would he fucked up and in character. Now then, don't mind me, I totallyyyy didn't forget Meili and totally don't need an idea for what to do with her. Yep, definitely didn't. Thanks for the unintentional suggestion though ;)

Q: Guest: What happened to Meili? She was obviously at the mansion at the time (albeit in a cell) so did they just forget about her or is she now forced to work under Capella again?

A: one above this answers it at this point.

Q:ReZerofan67:will subaru come to save emilia and the rest of the camps or will they have to figuret out on there own and how many chapters until it happens?

P.S could you also show subaru status on the next chapter just asking ?

A:Hopefully the end of this chapter answered you, as for exact chapter amount, I'd say 2-5 since there won't be any Emilia POV's til the timeline catches up and there's still something Subaru has to get through. Also yes, I'll happily give you Subaru's status since it actually changed more than just a few numbers for the first time in a while.

Suggestions:

S:Lucian Naruto: No hatred towards her, but Subaru could use this opportunity to make Emilia grow as a person. Up until now he's always been running his hand over her head, I think now would be time for some tough love.

A: I thought the same, though I don't wanna make Subaru outright mean. Currently, I plan to have Subaru and Emilia act in a rather mature way, since Subaru's previous childish behavior is mostly tortured out of him, and Emilia has done her fair share of maturing and with how she acts in arc 5 seems to be capable of actual empathy now.

Statements?

Guest: It was confirmed by Tappei that Subaru doesn't really have the sin of pride. They only thought that Subaru was the sin archbishop of pride because that was the only vacant spot and they don't know about witch factors. If you wanna know who does have the witch factor of pride, that would be Al from the Priscilla Camp.

A:Thank you for telling me and I know, Al's got his whole pseudo RBD thing going on that I love. The reason I've got Subaru being called false pride here, is because even the witch cult isn't immune to gluttonies own power, meaning they now only know Subaru as that guy who got arrested for "being Pride" thus making him false pride.