Re:Hare

by Nanfrost

An alternate timeline where after the events of Arc 4, The Great Hare was sent back to the beginning of the story, where there it will get to meet a certain boy just as clueless as itself. Would it fall back into it's old ways? Or would its decisions bring about a ripple throughout this seemingly pre-determined story?

3. Response

"...Sorry about all that before. You helped my daughter, and I wanna show my appreciation, so ask me anything."

"..."

"Subaru? Is something wrong?"

"...Huh?"

His eyes darted around the area, trying to get a grasp on where he is. He was standing on a busy street, with stalls aligned on two sides of the road. In front of him was another stall, belonging to a man whose girl he helped reunite with her mother. He slowly remembered that he was going to ask about something, something related to the girl standing next to him, Satella.

But...why am I here? Was his thoughts upon realizing that something is wrong, or was it wrong? Did everything that has happened to him was all fake? Hallucinations? Bad future visions? He was confused, not understanding what had happened.

I could have sworn those were real...weren't they? He kept wondering, for he does not know the answer to that question.

"...Oi oi oi! Don't you think it's rude to completely ignore my cute daughter here? That's pretty ungentlemanly of you Subaru~"

"Huh? OH! Sorry about that! I just...I think I'm having a strong sense of deja vu just now…"

Deja vu, was what he could come up for an answer as of this moment. This world was still mysterious and unknown to him, even if he has seen many shows that use the same familiar concept of being transported to another world. For now, that scenario has happened to him, and this isn't just some show either, this was reality, so he expected things to not be exactly the same as what was depicted in them. Guess I'll leave it at that for now.

"Subaru...what is aeja wu?"

"That's not really how you pronounce it but it's basically just a word to describe the feeling of remembering something you have seen before or maybe a future vision perhaps?"

"Future...visions? But how can you do that?"

"Ehh it's not really an ability, just a feeling! Anyways, we are going to ask about that thing right?"

"...Mm, my insignia."

"Then can you tell us where it is, appa man?"

For now, grouping what has happened to him after this point as just a bad omen, he decided to just go with the flow for now and see if the things he has seen were truly real, or at the very least, a future that he can prevent from happening.

Behind him however, was a rabbit demi-human, staring intently at his back. She seemed to be alarmed of something, although he did not know what that was, he decided to not think about it too much.

---

It's all the same...was what he thought while walking to the slums. After asking and receiving almost the exact same answer, and now on his way to what would most likely be Old Man's Rom Loot House, that bad vision that he had started to become more confusing to him.

Was it really just some hallucinations? Or is it actually the future? His mind now only becomes more annoyed at everything, starting to wonder if those events that he saw were truly real or not. If it was real, then doesn't that mean that he had died? But if that was the case, why was he still here? Why is he still alive? And the two girls beside him, they would have also been dead with him, so why were they still here? Just what happened?

He admitted that he was never a smart kid, he knew this very well. All the way back from his elementary days, once his scores started to fall, his classmates started to beat him at almost everything else, it was then that he knew that he wasn't gifted or smart in any way. It was just dumb luck that carried him until that point.

...Why am I thinking about this now? He shook his head, trying to forget those painful memories, the memories of him failing, of him not living up to what he should have been, to only be a failure. He didn't want to think of them, for he has been transported to a new world, and this time, he will make a difference, he's sure of that.

"The air, the atmosphere, and most of all, the attitudes of the people living here is awful."

"..."

"Subaru? You have been oddly quiet on our way here, are you sure everything is ok?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah it's nothing really...I have just been thinking about that bad vision I had."

"You mean that weja vu feeling you had?"

"Still not correct pronunciation but close enough, yeah, that has been bothering me for a while now. Things up to this point feel too familiar to me."

"Maybe you have been here before? Though if that were the case, how come you don't realize it?"

"No no, I'm very sure that this is my first time coming here...well, in this reality, this is indeed my first time."

"You're not really making any sense now are you?"

"I know I know, I don't even know what I'm trying to say right now."

"..."

"Hmm?"

He felt a tug on his clothes from behind him, looking back, he saw a small figure. A girl dressed in a white coat so big that in normal circumstances, it would look ridiculous, but somehow, it fitted her. Her hair was white as snow, and although he was a man who liked his silver hair girls, he still liked it. The expression on her face was that of worriness, but why was she worried?

"Is something wrong, Shirogi?"

"..."

Looking at her, he can't help but be reminded of what happened in that bad vision he had. Her stomach cut open, then her head decapitated. It felt real, too real to him that he can't help but wonder if it really was just a bad hallucination or...if it actually happened.

But how is that possible? Of course, if that were to be true, then he would have also been dead, yet right now, he's still standing, completely fine without any injuries, as well as these two. So as horrifying and scary that vision he had, it wasn't real, or at least, it hasn't happened yet.

Which means I could prevent it! He let out a smile as he came to this conclusion in his mind. If what he saw was actually the future, then he'll change it! Because he was transported to this world, which means he has to be the main character, and a main protagonist won't ever give up no matter what. Aside from that, he also wanted to change personally, not wanting to give up like he once did, to make full use of this chance that he has been given, to become someone amazing, that is what he wants to become.

And so, he took the girl's hand that was holding onto his clothes, determined to change that dark future he saw.

"Hey, you don't need to worry, I'm perfectly fine! See?"

"!...mm…"

He felt her hands clutching tighter to him, this made his heart beat faster. He wasn't used to holding hands with a girl, so even if this was a new world, this fact remained standing. As such, he felt a bit embarrassed about what he's doing but tried to hide it.

"Are you sure? You don't seem like someone who has ever fought before, will you really be able to protect her?"

"I'm certain, for sure! Even if I can't, I also have you to help me right?"

"Hmm...well if things are dangerous then I have no choice but to, though we should move quickly, Puck is running out of time. WIthout him, I won't be as strong as I can be."

"R-really? Is he really that strong?"

"Well I'm a spirit arts user so of course, having my spirit with me would make me much stronger wouldn't it?"

"I guess so...How long do we have until then?"

"If I have to make an estimate, about an hour left."

"Mhm, you are correct Lia! Though if something major were to happen, that time might be cut down shorter than normal, so in any case, we should get moving!"

"An hour huh...Alright! Then follow me then!"

"Follow you? How so? Do you somehow know where to go?"

"I just have a good hunch that's all! You just need to trust me on this!"

"Trust you?...Well I can tell that you are serious with helping me so I guess I could trust you on this. But just this time alright? This is entirely because of me paying the debt of you helping me, so I'm only trusting you because you helped me."

"Yeah yeah, if you just said that you trusted since I'm helping you, that would have been perfectly fine now wouldn't it? Though it's not like I dislike that about you."

Her personality and her speech pattern is so much in contrast to each other, yet he found it oddly cute in a way. Even so, if a chance arises, he wants to tell her directly that she doesn't need to do that, or else other people might misunderstand.

"In any case, I will trust you on this one. Don't disappoint me alright?"

"That's quite an accidental pressure isn't it? But got it! This time I definitely won't!"

"What do you mean this one?"

"Anyways, let's go!"

"Ah, wait up! You haven't answered me!"

Come at me! Was his thoughts before making a mad dash to the Loot House, completely forgetting the fact that he was still holding on to the rabbit's demi-human hands, and ended up dragging her with him. But his mind was focused on something else, the future that he saw, no matter what, won't come to fruition, he'll make sure of it.

---

"Are you sure this is it?"

"Yeah, I'm positive. I think!"

They were standing in front of a seemingly old looking house, albeit, a little bigger than all the other ones. From just a short glance, you wouldn't be able to tell it apart from the other buildings that looked similar to it. Upon closer inspection however, there were clear indications that someone was living here, one of them was a small sign placed beside the door, it looked like it had recently been cleaned. What's even more noticeable was the door handle, there was barely any dust on it. For a run down house, it would be very strange that only the handle and sign was perfectly clean, unless this wasn't actually abandoned.

All this was enough to tell him that there were people here, but what he is afraid of is the person living inside. A person that was able to move so fast that his eyes couldn't even process what happened before it was too late, at least, that was what he could interpret from his visions. So naturally, his body tensed up, his heartbeat became a bit quicker, and he could feel a sense of fear crawling onto his back.

Whoever that was beyond this door was able to kill all three of them in his visions, so this time, in order to prevent that, he wants to open the door and immediately run out of the way to avoid it, though that could barely be considered to be a plan, it was the best that he could think of.

One thing that was different however, was the girl that was standing next to him, who despite currently breathing heavily due to being dragged along with him, wasn't nearly as terrified as she was in his visions. Is something different this time? Or was it simply because his visions weren't exactly true and they were nothing more than a possibility? Or maybe...he had already changed the future by doing this? If so, then wasn't that too easy?

Well, in any case, as long as nothing bad happens, I guess I can accept this. If that horrible vision that he saw is no longer true, then he'll be happy with this, he wasn't really demanding anything else anyways.

Now with his body slightly more relaxed than before after seeing the rabbit girl not as guarded as she was in his vision, he turned his gaze to the silver hair half-elf that was standing on his left.

"I have a good feeling that your insignia is being kept by someone that lives here, though I'm not quite sure who that person is."

"That's good enough for me, I'll just go in and get my insignia from them, and in the case that they don't want to give it back, I'll just have to resort to more...forceful methods."

"That sounds pretty scary...wait, are you saying that you're going in alone?"

"Yes, you have already done a good job bringing me here, there is no need for you to do anything else. You can wait out here for when I come out."

"Now hold on a minute! How could I wait out here while knowing that someone in there could potentially be dangerous? Plus as a man, I can't let a girl go in first, that would ruin my dignity!"

"What are you even going on about? You don't have any obligation to follow me anymore, helping me this much is already sufficient, I don't want to end up having more debt, that is all."

"It's not that! I want to help you! I know that I'm not as strong as you or really capable of anything, at the very least I can be a shield to protect you!"

"..."

The girl hesitated for a few moments, then proceeded to let out a small sigh.

"...Fine, if you insist, I shall not count this as debt towards you per your request. Would that be enough?"

"That wasn't really what I meant by that, but if it means you will let me help you then absolutely!"

"Welllll~Now that we are done with this, perhaps we should go in? I am running out of time here."

"You're right, but before that, what about Shirogi? You want to help me, but what about her?"

"Oh, right! What do you want to do Shirogi? You can stay out here if you want, me and her can just sort things out by ourselves."

"..."

The girl stood quietly, seemingly deep in thought. He did have quite a few questions for her regarding who she is or why she followed him back then, but right now, that's not important. He doesn't want her to be hurt in any way regardless.

"...mm…"

She held onto his hands, clutching a little tighter. Guess that's the answer then.

"Seems like she also wants to help, is that alright with you then?"

"..."

"It's alright, Lia. I don't sense any danger inside there anyways."

"...hahh...Ok then, but don't do anything rash alright?"

"Of course!"

I'll try, is what he thought. He wasn't really a man known to act with composure and calmness, so he might inevitably do something a bit stupid. But due to the vision that he had, even if it wasn't necessarily all real, it was enough to make him know that he should at least keep himself from acting around like an idiot.

And so, he walked towards the door. Even with Satella and Shirogi by his side, he still felt a little uneasy about this, but nevertheless, he reached his hand towards the handle. His palm starts to sweat, his mind begins to flash those bad hallucinations, the reality where he was killed, where all of them were killed, he didn't want that to happen again, he didn't like the feeling of death.

His hand grabbed the handle and with a quick twist, he opened the door.

"Hmm? What the?! You're the girl, and that boy!"

Inside the room were two people, a petite girl with blonde hair, wearing a jacket on top of a simple cloth piece that only covers her chest. There was no doubt that this was the same girl that abandoned him on that alleyway while also holding an insignia of the girl standing on his left side. He now also knows her name from asking the appa man, Felt.

Besides her was another person, much larger and a lot older than her. His skin was brown, he had grey hair on both the sides of his head and a beard. Could this be the person that this Loot House was named as, Rom? Wait, was his name actually Rom? He didn't ask the name of the Loot House like his visions seem to point out, so can he really be sure that the man's name was that?

No, that isn't important right now, what should I do? Putting aside that matter, right now he needs to figure out what to do in this current situation. From what he can see, these two are most likely not the person that killed him in his vision. One looked too young, and the other seemed too old to be able to move that fast.

Coming to that conclusion, he let out a small sigh of relief. Thank god, but unfortunately, that small relief was cut short by the sounds of the girl's name Felt.

"How th' hell did you manage to find me?! Aghh! I thought I got away! Old man! Help me out here!"

"Stop right there. I don't want to cause any harm so don't force my hands."

In a single moment, the temperature around the silver hair half-elf suddenly dropped, and in that instance, small icicles formed around her back. The spirit cat besides her proceed to speak up

"I suggest you two to not do anything too rash, or else things might get a bit hectic~"

"Eek! Old man!"

"Sorry Felt, but I don't think I can do much. You see that cat besides her? She's a spirit arts user."

"Tch! Dammit all!"

The blonde hair girl was visibly frustrated, while the old man seemed to be more calm and much more on guard than her. It appears Satella's ability as a spirit user is troublesome for them, if that was the case, then things might go a bit smoother with them knowing that they can't win.

Alright then! If they know that, then maybe we can talk it out! At least, that's what he hopes would happen.

"Even if you have come here, I'm not just gonna give it back to you like that! Someone hired me to steal this!"

"You shouldn't make a living from stealing like that, it's not something a child should do you know?"

"What do you know about me?! If I don't do this, there's no way I can make a living, other than selling my own body!"

"Selling...your body?"

To sell yourself, to become essentially a product for others to use just to make enough to live through the day, it was horrible in every aspect. No human should ever be lowered to such a state. Though even knowing that, stealing from others isn't much of a better option anyway.

Setting that aside however, he needed to de-escalate this tension as quickly as possible, he didn't want a fight to happen, especially in such a tiny space.

"Alright! Just calm down alright! No need to fight, let's just talk things out, can't we?"

"Hahh? Didn't you come here to retrieve what I stole from you, what else is there to discuss?!

"I know I know, but just listen for a bit. We did come here to take back what you steal from this girl, but being polite and respectful wouldn't hurt anyone right?"

Looks like just talking isn't enough...wait. Something came into his mind, something that was told to him by someone that he supposedly asked for directions in his bad vision.

"...Be prepared to bargain."

Bargain, was the thing that the man told to him. That's it! If he can just buy back the insignia from her with something else, they wouldn't need to take it by force and she also gets something in return.

"How about a bargain?"

"Hahh?!"

A shocked expression, well, he was expecting it.

"It's just like I said, you will give us that insignia back if we give you something valuable in return right? Wouldn't that be good for the both of us?"

"Didn't you hear what I said? I stole this for someone!"

"I hear you, but what if...we can give you something that is worth way more than that person could pay?"

"You gotta be kidding right?"

"Subaru, what's the meaning of that? Why should we bargain for something that was originally mine?"

"It's alright! If we can't get it back through talking, we can buy it back. You don't want to fight them either, right?"

"...hahh, fine. But I don't have anything on me that is valuable enough to trade, I don't suppose you have something?"

"Let me think…"

Thinking back to what he had on him before he was transported, the bag that he was holding on his left hand was really the only thing. His pocket money can't be used, and he doubts that the things he bought from the convenient store would be of any value. The only other thing was the jacket he was wearing and…

There's also that! Deep in his pockets, there was something else, an item that he nearly had forgotten, his cell phone. His hand reached into it and pulled out a small metallic device.

"Aha! How about this?"

"...What is that?"

"This is something that I call a cell phone. I can guarantee you that this is one of a kind thing in this whole world!"

"Really?...But what does it even do?"

"Well, I can show you, but you need to promise me that you won't try to fight us alright?"

"...tch, alright, fine. Just don't try to fool me!"

"I won't."

Walking towards them, he felt a sudden pull on his right hand. He looked behind him and noticed the rabbit demi girl, her expression doesn't seem to show that she's afraid, but rather she's worried for him. Knowing that, he smiled at her. Cute.

"I'll be alright Shirogi, so you don't have to worry."

"...mm…"

The girl hesitantly let go of his hand, her eyes still show visible worry for him. So cute...was what he thought of her. After that, he continued to move forward again, getting closer to the blonde hair girl.

"Ok, so there are quite a few things you can do with this, one of those things is this."

Ka-chink

"Agh! What was that?! What did you do to me?!"

"It's nothing dangerous, here, take a look."

"Hmm?...wahh! Th-that's me?...I thought I looked way cooler…"

"Well sorry to bust your bubbles then, but this really is how you look…"

"Are you sure? What even is it anyways? Some sort of metia?"

"Metia?"

"A metia is an item created for people whose gates aren't working properly to be able to use magic, you don't know that Subaru?"

"Ah, no, never heard of it."

Metia huh. So it's like a magic staff that allows you to throw spells without actually being a wizard or magician? It was an interesting term to him and while he wouldn't exactly call his phone a "metia" in any kind, this might help things go more smoothly.

"Uh yeah! It's a metia alright! Sorta…"

"That's really sketchy coming from your response...hey old man Rom! You can check to see if it's real right?"

"Well I have heard of things about metias, this is the first time I have seen such one that looks like that. Can you let me examine it?"

"Sure."

So far so good. He then handed the phone to the old man. The man named Rom proceeded to take a good few minutes checking and observing it, though from his expression, he truly had no idea what that device was. Well, it's not from here so that's obvious…

After he was done, the old man raised his head and looked towards the young girl and nodded his head.

"While I have never seen something like this before, I'm pretty sure that this is a metia. Not only that, this could very well be a one of a kind, judging from how clear and realistic this portrait is."

"So you really weren't lying huh…"

"Well, I'm not a great liar either way. How much do you think it's worth by the way?"

"If I have to give a rough price, it would probably be worth about 20 holy coins, most likely more than that insignia in any case."

"Then we have a deal right?"

"Hold on a minute! What makes you think that?!"

"Eh?"

Man, she's really stubborn huh? He has never interacted much with other people, much less with someone in his opposite gender, but even he found this girl to really not trust other people, even when those people are the ones on her side.

"What's the problem? You got a good deal right? It's just like what the old man said, isn't that metia worth way more than that insignia?"

"You're forgetting that I stole this for a client right? If I do give it back to you, how am I supposed to explain to them? I just happened to lose it?"

"That's...a fair argument."

"But that is still my insignia, correct? You getting compensation for an item that you took from me is already enough, isn't it? I don't see why you would want to argue anymore."

The voice of the girl echoed behind his back, helping him just when he was near the end of his ropes. Nice.

"Ghh...Shit…"

"I think you should just accept it, Felt."

"Wha?! You too, old man Rom?!"

"I'm still on your side Felt, but right now, just getting something in return is the best possible outcome for you right now. Not much else."

"Tch...Damnit...Alright, alright! I get it! At the very least I can get some profit with that metia…"

"Yahoo! Thanks for the help! You're a lifesaver!"

"I didn't really do anything though, it's your idea that helped me correct?"

"I know that, but still, having you backing me up is comforting!"

That went well. Although there were some complications here and there, it all worked out in the end. He breathes a sigh of relief, his body after that tense situation is finally starting to relax itself. That bad vision that he saw now no longer seems to be the case, he no longer needs to worry about it anymore. Or was it never supposed to happen anyway? Either way, it most likely isn't going to happen so he'll leave it at that for now.

"Alright then, now, would you please give that insignia back to me now? Felt, was it?"

"Yeah, yeah here you go...that being said tho, how should I deal with my client now?"

"Whoever your client is, I'll ask that person once they arrive here why they wanted to steal this."

"So you're going to stay here huh?"

"Yes."

"Figures...I'm uh...sorry for stealing from ya."

"It's alright."

The blonde girl then handed the insignia back to her. And with it, she gets to keep his phone, though for some reason he feels like he forgot about something...wait.

"Noooo!"

"Wahh! Wh-what the hell was that?"

"I completely forgot about the pictures I took! Aghhhh!"

The scene of two cute girls holding hands was something that he never thought he would ever have the chance to witness in his life, yet he did. To forever carve that beautiful image so that he can revisit them anytime, he took as many pictures as he could with his cell phone until he was sure that he nearly ran out of space on it. And now he had just traded off all of it to the girl without any remorse. Ahhh, how could I forget!

This was sheer agony for him, far more painful than anything that he has ever experienced...or was it? Even though he knew that was not real, or at the very least, he wanted to force himself to believe it to be false, that feeling of his life slipping away. The feeling of numbness, his body slowly dying out and getting colder every moment, blood spilling out from his stomach as he loses his consciousness until finally, he is dead. It was something that he didn't want to feel, didn't want to go through, that cold, terrifying feeling of death.

The rabbit demi-human, who for the entire time was silently watching the scene play out, attempted to move in closer to the boy, thinking to try to calm down the boy. However, unbeknownst to her, he was no longer thinking about that.

As his mind wandered about the vision or "bad ending" as he liked to call it, he failed to notice a slight creak coming from the door. It was small enough that nobody could possibly be able to notice, except for one that wasn't.

"...! LIA WATCH OUT!"

"Hu-"

CLANK

The attack was quick, so quick in fact that even after the person had finished their attack, none of the people in the room had realized what just happened. The attacker was aiming for the silver hair half-elf girl that was standing the closest to the door, in front of her was Felt, while he, old man Rom and Shirogi were all grouped together.

"Ghk!"

"Lia!"

"Ara, you managed to doged that surprise attack, how unfortunate..."

The half-elf girl was able to evade the attack with the spirits' help, however, there was still a cut running across her clothes, specifically her stomach area. The clothes that were there were cut off and fell to the ground, luckily, it didn't seem like the attack went any further than that.

Without wasting any more time, she immediately conjured up three icicles around her and fired towards the door, aiming for the one that was hiding there. The icicles hit and proceeded to completely shred through the door with ease. The attacker however was able to evade all of them and jumped into the left side of the room.

"Ahh, so you're a spirit and magic arts user as well, this will surely be fun~"

The voice was oddly calm, almost soothing to the ear, but it was precisely that that made it so much more dangerous. Despite nearly getting shredded by the icicles, the voice did not lose even a tiny bit of composure, not only that, there was even a slight joyous tone to it. It sent chills down his spine just from hearing it, and worst of all, he recognizes it.

Standing straight up and stepping into the area where the light was more visible due to the door being blown apart, it revealed that person's appearance. She wore a long black cape with purple fur on the neck part, her clothes only covering the most private parts while leaving her belly open and chest open. And her face...wore a smile, a smile that was pure menace. It gave off a sense of dread, a feeling that no matter what you do, that person's smile would never fade. She then opened her mouth.

"Well there are certainly quite a lot of people here. An incompetent thief, a giant, a spirit user, a little girl and a young boy. Quite a lot indeed~"

"...Tch, wh-what do you think you're doing right now?!"

A voice that wasn't hers finally spoke up, it belonged to the short blonde hair girl. Her face and tone of voice clearly showed that she was both confused and angry at what had just occurred.

"Me? Why, I am simply just doing my job...Unlike you, who not only let the owner find their way to you, but you were also willing to give her back what you stole when things aren't going as expected. Truly, it was a mistake to have hired you, but no matter, regardless of your mistakes, I will still do what I was sent to do."

"You...tch!"

This voice. There was no mistaking it, this was the same voice that he heard from his bad visions, the only voice that he could hear before death. His body tensed up, sweat began to form on his forehead. If she's real...then…

No. This time was different, from what he can remember, she attacked them when they weren't expecting it. Now there are two other people here who can help with this, they can fight back. It's going to work out, right? She had already lost her element of surprise, now they just need to be careful not to get hit and they should be able to win...right?

"Subaru."

"H-huh?"

"Stay behind me and watch out, ok?"

"Y-yeah! Be careful as well ok?"

"Of course, I have Puck as well."

"Mhm, even if my time is short, I should still be able to do something!"

After that brief exchange of words, she then forms multiple icicles, each one differing in size and aimed at the woman in front of them. As soon as the projectiles closed in on her however, she immediately jumped out of the way in a simple motion, quickly avoiding every single shot as if it was nothing.

For every shot taken, she skillfully evades all of them, dancing around the room at an incredible speed that he can't even tell if he's seeing the real version or just an after image of hers.

"You're quite proficient at magic, aren't you? Good, this makes things more entertaining~"

"I suggest you not to underestimate me, or else…"

"Oh?"

One of the shots that were shot ahead of her, perfectly predicting where she was going to land next. However, with a single swipe with her dagger, the icicle shattered into pieces and fell to the ground. Upon that sudden attack, she let out a wide smile.

"Now that was unexpected, you're not inexperienced in fighting are you?"

"I told you, don't underestimate me."

"Hai hai, then per your request. I'll be a little more serious."

As soon as those words left her mouth, she vanished from the position she was in and in just a fraction of a second, she reappeared right in front of the silver hair girl. Preparing to strike in such a close distance, the girl barely had any time to even register what just happened, much less to set up a defense. She was going to be slash by the woman's dagger, that fact was certain, it would have been certain if it wasn't for her.

"MMM!"

"Oh?"

"Shirogi!"

Right before her hit landed, someone also went on the offensive, jabbing her with her shoulder from the right side. It was the rabbit demi-human Shirogi, she was able to snap herself out from her frozen state and tried to help, but this simple attack would cost her dearly.

Instead of hitting the girl, the dagger landed on her in an attempt to block the attack, but it also made sure to slash her shoulder. Blood spilled from the freshly opened wound there, and her left arm fell limp to her side.

Crap! He hadn't even noticed her moving away from him due to how focus he was on the woman, trying and failing to follow her movements. Not only that, he was just standing there, letting the half-elf fight for his sake, and now even the demi-human. I'm pathetic, was all he could think up before glancing over his right side.

"Hey, Felt, old man Rom! Is there anything we can do?"

Upon saying that, the elderly man looked at him in a brief moment of contemplating, he responded.

"If you can get her just distracted enough, I can jump in and give her one good hit."

"Y-yeah, old man Rom is tough as hell, just one hit from him is enough to knock her out!"

"Really? Alright then, now…"

Looking back to the two girls, the first thing he noticed was that woman, who was trying to stand before being blasted by multiple crystals. The half-elf girl was holding her down in place, trying not to let her move out of that spot.

Besides her was the rabbit demi-human whose shoulder was still bleeding heavily. He shouted at her.

"Shirogi! You should get back, you're injured!"

"..."

"Huh?"

Her shoulder is? It's bleeding is stopping, no, that isn't exactly true. Her bleeding was still severe, but it wasn't as bad as it was a few moments ago, it looked like it was slowing down almost. Then, almost like a miracle, the injury inflicted on her shoulder started to close, albeit at a rather slow pace. The amount of blood that was pouring out from her was still dangerously high, her injury was still very much there, but she was still healing from it, as slow as it may be.

"H-huh...guess you can auto-heal yourself...even so! It's still too dangerous, so you should fall back for now!"

"...mm…"

She began to turn her back and started to walk towards him. That is until…

"Ara, you shouldn't turn your back on an opponent like that~"

"?!"

The woman who should have been trapped in a constant stalemate against the silver hair girl, jumped out from that cramped position and proceeded to aim at the rabbit demi girl's back.

"I won't let you!"

Saying that, the half-elf then turned and fired off a few shots of crystals at the woman clad in black. Using her dagger, she propelled some of them away but one of them was lucky enough to hit her, forcing her body to move back a bit, failing to attack the other girl.

"Whew, that was close…"

Letting his lungs breathe out a sigh of relief, he then heard another sound coming from behind him, he turned to look. It was a sound of heavy footsteps, coming from a giant, wielding a similarly huge club. He headed towards the woman, his hands grabbing hold of the weapon and raising it up to his head.

"HAHHH!"

With a loud smack, the floor of the house exploded upon impact. Shards of broken wood flew across the room, while some of them flew out through the broken doorway. The woman that was originally there was nowhere to be seen, instead, she was behind the old man with her dagger readied.

"Ha!"

Multiple ice crystals were ejected from behind the silver hair girl and flew towards the woman. She quickly twists her body to face the oncoming attack, slashing through the icicles while lowering her body to the ground. The giant also lifted his club and swung backwards aiming for the woman's head.

"Ahh, how fun~!"

Turning her body to the side, she reached her hand towards the incoming club. As soon as the hit lands, with a twist of her palm, she moves her body upwards, launching herself into the air. Then, looking back to the giant, the assassin prepared her dagger aiming at his throat, but before the attack could be delivered, a shout was heard.

"Now Puck!"

"Alright Lia!"

Upon hearing this, the woman turned her attention over the two. As she looked, a frozen crystal much bigger than all the other ones combined was hurled forwards directly at her. Though doing so would mean that both her and the giant would be hit by the attack, at least, that would have been the case.

In a blink of an eye, the person who was originally standing at the far corner of the room suddenly disappeared, and with it came a powerful wind behind her. She glanced back at the giant and noticed he was already pushed out of the way, holding him as the short blonde girl that she had hired to steal. To be able to move at such a speed in that short amount of time was simply inhuman, no matter how hard you train your body, there was just no way for a normal person to move that quickly. That is, if she was just a normal human.

"Blessing of the wind."

Was the words that left her mouth before the icicles smashed into her body, bringing her with it towards the ground. As it lands to the ground in front of the house, the crystal shatters, creating little ones that could pierce through a person's skin and flesh upon contact, and the assassin was buried underneath all of them.

After the shattering of the crystal was no longer heard, his body, which was frozen still in place, too busy paying attention to the fight, completely forgetting the need to breathe was finally able to relax itself. He breathed in deeply, filling up his lungs that were screaming for oxygen the entire time, and let out a long exhale. To say he was calm is too soon, but he was no longer shaking in place, his eyes darting around the room to assess his surroundings.

Next to him was the rabbit demi-human Shirogi, whose bleeding had already stopped and skin was beginning to reform on her shoulder. A little further away from him was the silver hair girl Satella and next to her was the cat spirit Puck whose form looked much clearer than before. Looking past them, he can see the little girl Felt who was lying on top of the old giant Rom.

Seems like we're all ok...He let out another breath of relief, glad to see everyone is still relatively ok. Guess that won't come then. That is what he had thought until he heard a voice.

"As much as I would like to say that things are over, that would be a lie. It seems that woman is still alive."

"Puck, are you sure?"

"Mhm, even though I really wish I was wrong."

"H-huh? Wait, you mean even with that attack she's still not dead?"

Impossible, was all he could think. Even though her movements were pretty much superhuman levels of speed, getting hit by such an attack should still kill her, if not it should injure her badly. To hear that she was able to survive that, it only made him more scared of her. A woman whose movements were quicker than he could process, now combining that with resistance to such strong attacks like that made her almost unkillable in his views. He can't accept that, he doesn't want to.

"Unfortunately, this is as far as I can go, that attack took all out of me. I'm sorry Lia."

"It's alright Puck, I can handle things from this point onward, you don't have to worry."

"Just remember, if it comes down to it, you can always use your Od to summon me."

"Mhm, I got it."

"Subaru!"

"Huh?"

The cat spirit, who was already on his way to retracting back into the crystal on the half-elf girl's neck, suddenly shouted his name. He started at it.

"I'm counting on you, make sure to keep her safe for me, alright?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah! I-I'll try!"

His voice was clearly shaking, overwhelmed with the sense of dread and fear that has once again begun to plague him. Even so, beside that, there was still a sign of determination in his voice.

The spirit took one final look at him, before smiling.

"Alright, be careful, Lia."

With those last words that were too small for him to hear, the cat vanished, presumably back into the crystal. The girl nodded her head, then after a few seconds, quickly looked back up in front of her. As she does that, the place where the giant crystal landed began to shift.

"W-what the?! How the hell is she still alive!"

A shout was heard from the blonde hair girl as she looked over to the location of the buried woman. The old man who she was laying on also looked in the same direction as hers and widened his eyes, but then quickly stood up from the floor, grabbing the girl.

"Huh?"

"Felt, stay back. This is too dangerous for you."

"Like hell with that! I just save your life old man! I ain't letting ya get yourself killed again!"

"This isn't the time to argue you two. Please, move back."

"Come on!"

"Wha! Hey! Let go of me!"

As the old man started to run back to the half-elf side carrying the young girl, a sound was heard. It was coming from the place that was currently holding the assassin, all the crystal shards that should have been stuck onto the ground were all broken into fragments. What was even more alarming was the fact that there were no bodies found underneath it all. She had already escaped from the confines of the crystal prison that should have ended her life, yet it did not. Then, a voice was heard.

"Ara, didn't I say that you shouldn't turn your backs away from an opponent~?"

SWISH

"AGHH!"

"OLD MAN ROM!"

He had barely realized what had just happened before the sound of their voices reached him. He saw the woman, her hand holding two daggers instead of just one like before, but one of them was already broken, leaving only the hilt intact. It was most likely due to the impact of the crystal against her that caused it to break, if that was her only weapon, it would have made things so much more easier for all of them. But that wasn't what he caught his attention, the one that did was the person in front of her.

Blood was spilling from his back, so much of it that it made him wonder just how deep was the cut she gave to him. The old man however, didn't leave that to stop him. With all the strength that he could muster, he threw the girl in his hands forwards, having her land a few meters away from him. Then, using just his will power alone, he turned his back towards the woman and charged at her.

"NO, WA-"

"Khk! I'll take you down with me!"

"No need to be so hasty like that~I'll end your pain right now~"

SLASH

"A-ahhh…"

A swing cutting horizontally through the air, directly aiming at the man's stomach. In less than a moment later, a volley of crimson fluids flew out of his body, his intestines that made up his interior fall to the floor with a grotesque sound accompanying it. The old man stood still for a few seconds, letting his guts fall helplessly to the cold ground, before leaning to the right and tumbling down.

It was a horrible, terrifying, disgusting, vomit-inducing and mind-numbing scene. To see such a giant taken down in just two hits sent sheer chills down to his very spine. It also gave him a sense of absolute terror, the terror this woman gave him was nothing short but sheer nightmare. He could hardly think of anything else but just stand there, paralyzed by the events that just transpired.

"Y-you bitch...How dare you…"

What snapped him out of that trance was the trembling voice of the blonde hair girl, Felt. He turned to look at her and saw her eyes. It was filled with nothing but sheer hatred towards the woman, there was not a single hint of fear in her eyes. For a brief moment, he wished he could be like her, to not be scared even when facing a dangerous foe that could very well kill him. To not back down from a fight if it means he could save the ones he cared about. Sadly, it was just wishful thinking, even if he wanted to move to help, he can't. That woman scares him, to the point of just looking at her is enough to make him want to run away. In fact, all of his senses are screaming at him to run away, to just abandon everything and run away with his life. It was very tempting he'll give it that.

But there was someone that was preventing him from doing so, a hand that was holding onto his own. He looked over and saw her, the white hair rabbit girl. Her eyes were looking at him, there were hints of fear, but the most notably was the feeling of worryness for him. Despite being in such a dangerous situation where she could very well die, she was still able to bring herself to care for him first and foremost. How could he possibly even try to run away now? Running away means that he'll leave them behind, to leave her behind, to betray her like that? Not a chance, was the answer that he arrived at.

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU PSYCHOPATH!"

Hearing that, he quickly looked over to the girl, but it was already too late. She had already charged straight for the woman, at a speed that even he can't see. Regardless, he looked towards the half-elf.

"Try to give her some support while she attacks!"

"I'm on it!"

I won't run away, not now. Even if he might die here, he won't let the chance of being a different person than what he was before go to waste. He will change, no matter what.

"A team effort? So you're finally going to work together properly. Good, it would make things so much more fun~"

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BITCH!"

CLANK

CLANK

SMASH

SMASH

The sounds of crystals breaking upon impact, daggers colliding with daggers rang throughout the area. It was loud enough to swallow all other sounds, leaving just the flow of the blades sliding through each other, accompanied with the sound similar to glass breaking apart.

But not letting it distract him, he tried to come up with a strategy. How could they injure her? If a giant flying icicle can't even leave a scratch on her, what difference does it make if she was attacked with a sword? As he tried to follow her movements, trying to see if he could find any weakness, any openings that could just give them a chance to turn the tides. Scanning her, observing her, watching her, analysing her, his eyes somewhat started to pick up a pattern of her movements. It wasn't enough for him to see clearly how she was moving, but it was just good enough for him to at least guess what she's doing. It was then that he realized.

"...Where's her cape?"

Her cape, which should have been on her, was nowhere to be seen. He turned his eyes away from her and towards the big hole that was created by the massive crystal. It isn't there either.

Where could it be? Could it have been destroyed by the icicle? But no, that would at least leave it in tatters or remains, yet from what he could see, there was nothing like that. It was almost as if it vanished...unless.

Figuring something out, he moved towards the half-elf, his hand still holding onto the rabbit girl.

"Satella, I think I figured out something, but it's more of a hunch if anything."

"At this point, anything is good. What are you thinking, Subaru?"

"Alright...is there some kind of coat like armor that exists?"

"Huh?"

"Like an armor but rather made from steel or metal, it looks like just a regular piece of clothing. Are there anything like that?"

"While there are some, why would you ask that?"

"Because she no longer is wearing her cape. Not only that, I couldn't find any fragments of it anywhere, it's like it just disappeared. Is there any armor that could do that?"

"...Enchanted Cloaks."

"Huh?"

"It's a cape that can negate any magic attack that can deal physical damage to its user. Though after taking one hit from an attack like that, it would dissipate and leave nothing behind. I was taught about it."

"So you think that's the cape? Why did you think she had one?"

"...It could be that she is weak to magic, or not very good at dealing with them…"

"Maybe, but it's an assumption. But it's all that we have currently. Using that fact, I could try to get her attention and once she's distracted enough, use everything you have got and attack her with one big magic attack."

"That definitely is a very risky plan, considering we are basing it on an assumption."

"I know...so are you with me?"

"...Yes, I am, Subaru."

"Alright then, once I give you the signal, you attack ok?"

"Mhm, and by the way Subaru."

"Yeah?"

"After this is over, I want to apologize to you about something."

"Wouldn't it better if you do so now?"

"Maybe, but I want us to live through this, together. So...a promise ok? Promise that we'll make it out?"

"...Ok! I promise!"

With that said, how am I going to do that? Right now, Felt is currently swarming her with a flurry of attacks, with Satella holding the woman off from being able to counterattack. If he tells Felt to stop, she'll most likely go for the one most troublesome, the one that she might have a weakness against, which is the silver hair half-elf. And he can't exactly try to attack her either, he knows just how useless he is against someone like her.

There has to be a way. Trying to fight her is out of the option, and he doubts that she would even go for him anyways. He just needs to somehow get her away from others so that Satella can get a good shot, but how? Just how is he going to do that? Think think think think...

To get her away, he would need to lure her attention away from others, but that might not be possible since she seems very cautious to her surroundings. If that's the case, then he needs to somehow prevent her from being able to observe them in the first place, but how? How would he be able to do that? He has nothing that could do that, nothing at al-no, there is something.

"Shirogi, can you help me with something?"

"?...mm."

"Ok, then here's what we will do."

It's worth a shot. Right now, it's the only thing that he can come up. But there was no time, and he won't let anyone else get hurt because he didn't try to do anything, not anymore.

---

"It seems that girls' barrage of attacks have stopped, I wonder why…"

"Don't fucking look away from me!"

The two have been going at it for a few minutes now. At first, the young girl was being supported by the half-elf, preventing the woman from truly landing a final hit on her. Now that that support is no longer available, she needs to rely solely on her skills and speed.

But with each strike she threw at her, the assassin easily evaded them all. Without having to pay attention to two different opponents, it became too simple for her to avoid the girl's attacks. Even knowing so, the young blonde hair girl didn't let up her advances for even a second. Not after what she did to him.

"Now, now, you don't need to be so angry at me. I'll send you to him so you two can keep staying together~"

With those simple words, she proceeds to block one of her attacks. Then using the time for the girl to recover from the initial collision between their daggers, she rotates hers horizontally and thrust it through the air. A single white line could be seen originating from her hand towards the ground, and with it, came blood.

"Agh!"

The girl fell to the ground, blood spilling out of her. The injury ran from her right hand to her chest, then all the way to her left hip. The cut however was rather shallow, it wasn't enough to kill her, but just this much is still enough to stop her from being able to move her body. Trying to hold back her screams of pain and anguish, she looked up towards the woman, who was now standing above her.

"...F-fuck you…"

Was all that she could muster up before coughing up crimson liquid, the pain was overwhelming, Every part of her body was screaming from the sheer pain, yet her mouth did not. Her eyes were still filled with hatred for the woman.

"Ara, even with such an injury, you can still look at me with those intense glares. Even though you failed in your task, you still have my admiration, and as such. Let me end the pain for you~"

With those parting words, the assassin then lowers her body down and turns her dagger, placing it right at the girl's stomach, preparing to permanently put an end to her misery. She was about to do just that, until the voice of a boy shouting came from behind her.

"HEY!"

"Oh? Now look at who has finally stepped up and snap out of your fear. Is something the matter?"

"Though what you said was true, it still hurts my pride as a man. But anyways...how about you fight me? Fair and square."

"Ohhhh? What gave you such an idea?"

"I just didn't like how you are going to kill a girl who is way smaller and weaker than you, it doesn't sit right with me. You can fight me instead, since I am a man after all."

"Reeeally? From what I can see, you don't look like you are experienced in fighting at all. In fact, judging from how long it took you to try and challenge me and how you were frozen in fear, you are a complete novice aren't you? So why so sudden?"

"I don't know honestly, but even then, are you saying you don't want to fight someone like me? Just because I don't know how to fight?"

"Hmm...no, I accept. Despite lacking in everything, your eyes are filled with determination, that alone is enough to entice me."

"Cool, alright then. Now…"

"You wouldn't mind if I got the first hit, right~?"

In a flash, the woman who was originally standing a few meters away from him, was now right in front of him. Her dagger which had already been in position, was ready to cut open his belly. All she needed was one good swing and his intestine would spill from his body. That...was exactly what he had betted on.

"Ghkk! Hyaaa!"

"Oh?"

With a backwards jump, he narrowly avoided her strike. Using that momentum, he quickly spun his body around and extended his right leg, kicking the side of her body. At the same time, he then grabbed his jacket that he had already taken off and hid behind him this whole time, and threw it onto her head. With that, he let out a shout.

"NOW SHIROGI!"

"MM!"

A figure appeared behind him, and he felt a pull. Then just as his legs landed onto the ground, he was lifted off it once again and in a swing motion, he was thrown back by her.

The plan was quite really, extremely risky and frankly, barely resembled a plan. He would try to get her to approach him close enough then, using the knowledge that she normally aimed for a person's stomach, he prepared himself to be ready to jump at any given moment. Once he did, he'd try to land a hit to stagger her, if not he would throw his jacket to cover her eyes for just a moment, but enough so Shirogi could grab him and throw him back. Then while she was busy pulling away his jacket, Satella can then fire her shot. Again, a plan that could hardly be called one, but it was the best that someone like him could have come up with.

Because of the fact that this was a very risky plan, everything needed to be perfect. If one thing was off the mark, there would have been a very big chance that it would fail. From what he can see, it worked just how he wanted, at least, that was what he had thought.

"I see, you were just a distraction huh?"

"Eh?"

TEAR

"S-shit…"

He completely didn't take account of one thing, something that should have been so obvious yet he didn't realize. She can easily tear through his jacket with that dagger. That was the piece in the puzzle that he did not bother to pay attention to, and now, he was going to pay for that price. I'm going to die here.

Right as the woman was done tearing through the cloth and rushed at him, someone entered between them. A girl with white and small rabbit ears, shielding him from the woman's attack.

"WAI-"

SLASH

"Ghkk!"

His vision for a moment was the image of the girl in front of him. Her white clothes made her stand out from the rest of the people, and it was just too big for her to properly fit, yet he found them to be rather appealing and cute. That clothing was now covered in red, in the wearer's own blood. He reached out his hand, trying to grab onto her. Before he could do that though, his body fell to ground, knocking him violently against the floor.

"Agh! Shirogi!"

After his body fully stopped rolling, he raised his eyes to her direction. But to his surprise, her body that was still spilling out blood, still stood still. Her legs still firmly on the ground, she then lifts up her arms.

"...ghk! Ah!"

"Hoh? Can you still stand after that? Impressive….but what can you do now with your bowels falling out of yo-eh?"

"Ahhhh!"

CHOMP

Her hands holding both sides of the assassin's arm, she then opened her mouth and proceeded to bite down on her left shoulder. In a moment, she then ripped a chunk out of the woman's shoulder. Her left arm then fell down to the ground due to what has been keeping it attached has been forcefully torn off. The woman's eyes widened in surprise and astonishment.

Seeing that, he couldn't begin to believe in what he's saying. Despite being so heavily wounded, she was able to deal such damage to her in just a single moment. But he couldn't let that distract him now, if she could still be able to do something like that, then maybe she can jump out of the way. He hoped she could.

"NOW!"

"Alright!"

Giving her the signal, he can feel the temperature around the area dropping several degrees. No, it wasn't just a few, with each breath he inhaled, he could see his visible smoke coming from his mouth. Then, turning to look at her, he saw an ice pillar beginning to form from the ground up, but it didn't seem to stop. It kept growing and growing, eventually becoming even bigger than the last giant crystal. But it still wasn't stopping, the temperature dropped even lower, he began to find it harder to breathe, but most of all, the atmosphere had reached freezing state. The ice crystals had grown massive in size. He can barely keep his eyes open due to it being frozen.

The ice pillars finally stopped growing, it's size was close to ten meters, and with a shout, the half-elf aimed it directly at the woman.

"HA!"

"Ha...ha…!"

As the ice crystals flew towards them, the rabbit demi human instinctively jumped to the side, trying to evade incoming attack. The woman who was still standing at the same location as the ice pillar's trajectory, looked in front of her. Then, with a small smile, she lifted up her mouth.

"Well this was certainly unexpected~"

With those last words leaving her mouth, the ice pillars collide into her body. Immediately as it struck her, every single bone in her body broke, piercing her flesh and vital organs. Her entire body no longer even resembled one, it was impossible to even tell which part is which due to all the bones poking out of it and organs bursting out of the woman. The crystal didn't stop however, instead, it flew all the way to the end of the road where it crashed into an abandoned building similar to the rest. With a violent crash, the house was completely destroyed, the pillar shattered upon the impact and covered the now debris of the house in multiple sharp icicles.

A few moments passed as the ice began to break and its sound transferred to his ears, he could only stare at it as the sound continued to rang. Then, as the sounds began to lessen, the smoke that was created from the explosion started to clear, he tried to stand up. His pants were frozen so as he stood up, it began to break apart. Luckily, it wasn't completely frozen, or else he was afraid that he would be naked from below down.

Once he was able to stand, he began to run towards the rabbit demi girl. As he got closer, he saw her start to move herself, and before he could reach her, she was already getting into a position to stand up.

"Shirogi!"

"...!"

He grabbed onto her shoulder and quickly scanned through her body. Her clothes were still covered in blood, but he couldn't see any serious wounds on her. He then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hahhhh...I'm glad you're alri-"

His eyes suddenly picked up something on the ground besides them. It looked like guts….no, that was guts. And not just that, there were other things there, most likely other organs. He even saw an arm or at least, remnants of an arm that belonged to the assassin, it was missing a few fingers and its forearm was completely gone, it didn't look like it was hit by the crystal so why did it look so damaged? Just what happened to it? This terrified him, and as he looked through the girl's body once more with more focus, he still couldn't see any visible injuries on her stomach. However, he saw a red mark on the girl's mouth, presumably from the chunk of meat that she bit off. But he also noticed something else, she was chewing on something, before he could figure out what it was however, she swallowed it. Don't tell me that she...no, that's just insane. Right now, he's just glad that she seemed ok.

"Are you fully healed?"

"..."

"No, no, I wasn't meaning anything bad by that but like...did you actually recover from that?"

"...mm…."

"...huh."

Incredible. Was all that he could think of her. Just before, it took a while for her to heal her shoulder, yet here she was able to heal from such a serious injury like it was nothing. He didn't know just how her healing works, and from what he can tell with her munching on something, he didn't want to know either, but nevertheless, he was glad that it was good to save her life.

"Subaru, is Shirogi alright?"

"Oh, yeah, she seems fine now."

"Then you need to help me with Felt. Come on."

"Right!"

Letting go of the girl, he ran along with the silver hair half-elf, the demi human also followed closely behind. As they arrived at the blonde girl's location, the half-elf girl proceeded to check her injuries. Her breathing was very labored, but she was still breathing nonetheless.

"...I'll try to do what I can but she has lost too much blood already. I barely have any mana left as well so we need to get her help."

"Alright, then where should we get help?"

"That's the problem, I'm not sure if there are anyone currently in the capital who is a healer. Even if there are, I'm not sure if we could even reach one in time…"

"...Crap…"

Even though they had managed to win, the cost of it was still the loss of a life. Specifically the life of old man Rom, and now, they might not be able to save this girl as well. He felt guilt building inside him, knowing that he could have done better. If only he had been braver, smarter and quicker, he might have saved them. If only…

"Subaru."

"Huh? What is it?"

"It's alright, you tried your best, you don't need to blame yourself. Now we just have to do everything we can for her."

"...y-yeah, ok. Just hang on ok Felt? We'll definitely get someone to help you!"

"Mm, hah hah…."

No response, she's that weak? Even though she said that, he still couldn't feel anything but guilt, guilt that he couldn't save the old man, guilt that he let things escalate this far. If he had just done something way earlier, maybe things would have worked out better. I haven't changed at all, huh?

Thinking that to himself, only now realizing that coming here wouldn't change him. He was still just some useless kid from another world, even if he wanted to change, he still couldn't do it. He was still useless, still worthless.

No! I need to focus right now! He can spend as much time he wants to belittle himself, but right now, he needs to put his mind into saving her. He can't afford to sulk like an idiot for now, someone's life depends on them. And so, grabbing the girl's shoulder, he tried to lift her off the ground.

As the young girl began to stand, her legs trembling, but still attempting to stand, he let out a small smile. She still wanted to live, that much is clear to him. Then, at her request, he'll help her.

"...!MM!"

"Huh? What is it Shir-"

"That was very close, you know~?"

"GH-"

SLASH

The last thing that he wanted to hear, the voice of hers gave him an immediate sense of dread, but before he could have done anything at all, she was quicker. With a swipe from what seemed like a sharp edge of a broken dagger, red was all he could see in his vision.

He turned to look beside him. What he saw left him in sheer shock, his mind failing to process from what he was looking at. The red liquid that he had seen came from the two girls on his right side, but that wasn't what shocked him. What did was where it came from. And there he saw it, their heads completely cut off from their torso, falling limb to the ground below. Not only that, but their stomachs were cut open, their bowels falling out simultaneously.

Then, both of their bodies fell to the ground. Still completely shocked, he was stuck in his own mind, unable to comprehend what had just happened, refusing to accept the events that had transpired as reality. The demi human girl beside him was desperately trying to snap him out of it, but his mind didn't even register her to even exist.

"That was dangerously close even for me. Truthfully, I was doubting if I could even make it out of that alive or not, but it seems like luck is on my side today."

"..."

"Mm!MM!"

This isn't real, this can't be happening, this shouldn't be happening, none of this should be happening, this doesn't make any sense, why would it make sense? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY? WHY? WH-

"Although...Do you perhaps not realize what had just happened to you?"

WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WH-Huh?

As those words left her mouth, he felt something. A feeling of something being ripped apart, a feeling that he shouldn't have felt. And when he looked down, he realized why that was the case. His belly was cut open, his intestines were already on the ground.

"...ah…"

Once the realization hit him, his body immediately gave up and fell down to the ground. His mind rapidly losing consciousness, he can barely hear anything anymore. There were voices, the voices of a woman that killed him, the voices of a girl who was trying to get him up, they all became so muddied for him. But there was also someone else, a voice that was instinctively different from them. A male voice.

"Looks like I came too late…"

His voice was soothing, comforting, it gave him a sense of security. Unlike the voice of the assassin that was filled with nothing but dread and terrifying calmness, his was filled with the feeling of assurance, of light, of justice.

"Ara, a Royal Knight? I didn't expect to meet one here out in the slums. Wait, you're not just a Royal Knight, are you~?"

"Your statement of me is correct, I am a Royal Knight but also bear a different title, a title that has been passed down from my family for many generations."

"Then you must be him then? You're the [Sword Saint] ?"

Sword...saint? His mind was foggy, but somehow he was still able to pick up their conversation. He couldn't see the man's face due to his eyes being covered in his own blood, but he's still able to see his hair. They were the color of bright red.

"Yes, indeed I am the [Sword Saint], at least, that was the title that I have been given. And you must be the infamous [Bowel Hunter], correct? Your appearance seems to match the description from what I can see."

"Ahh~, to be so famous that even the [Sword Saint] knows of me is truly wonderful~. Then if you can, would you like to give such a person the honor to fight you?"

"I have no right to refuse."

"Wonderful~! Then….Elsa Granhiert, the [Bowel Hunter]."

"Reinhard van Astrea, the [Sword Saint]."

Reinhardt….the name echoed in his mind until he could no longer think of anything. His brain is finally dying, and as it did, his name was the last thing that he heard before fading away. He can no longer feel any of his limbs, he could no longer feel pain, he could no longer hear anything else. There was nothing left, nothing at all.

So this is death...

---

"...Sorry about all that before. You helped my daughter, and I wanna show my appreciation, so ask me anything."

"..."

"Subaru? Is something wrong?"

"...huh?"

Where...He looked around his surroundings, taking in everything that his eyes could see. He was standing in the middle of a busy street, in front of him was the appa man. Behind him was the demi human and on his left, the half-elf.

I'm….back here?

This time, he knew this wasn't just a hallucination of any kind, even if he so desperately wanted it to be. What happened was indeed real, everyone around him was killed, he himself was dead. He should be dead, yet he was not. How is this possible? And why is he here again? What happened?

This didn't make any sense, he knew that everything he had experienced was real, he was sure of that. The pain felt real, the emotions he felt were real, the dread, the sorrow, the guilt, they were all real. He knew it was, so why?...unless…

His hands reached for his jacket and lifted it up, revealing his stomach. There were no wounds on it, not even a single scratch, though he had already guessed that was the case. He looked over to the two girls close to him, the silver hair girl was still very much alive, as was the demi human. And factoring the same question that the appa man had just asked him, he was now certain.

I went back in time. That was the conclusion that he arrived at based on the evidence he had gathered. It made sense to him, it would explain why everything felt so familiar, why he was standing here, why despite knowing that he had died, he was still here. He was sent back in time.

So this is my ability huh? Well, it would have been better if it didn't come with such a terrifying condition. While this ability was indeed useful in many ways, there was one constant condition that had to be met in order to activate it. He needed to die.

Just thinking about it made him shiver. Such a horrifying requirement for a power that seems to have unlimited uses, it was truly the worst possible matchup he had ever seen for an ability. I guess it's just my luck then.

But even so, he was still grateful for it. Without this power, he would have been dead already, so to know that he can come back if he made a deadly mistake was somewhat reassuring to him. He still didn't want to experience that feeling again however, dying is not something he wants to be accustomed to anyways.

"Subaru? Are you alright?"

Suddenly, he heard the voice of the half-elf girl. He looked up and saw her face, there was visible worry in her eyes. He still remembered that scene where her head was no longer there. She was dead before he even had the time to react to what just happened, it still scared him. But even more so, he didn't want that to happen again, not again. He will find a way, no matter what.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine! In fact, I never felt this good until now!"

"Huh? Is that so? Well, that's good then. Then, should we continue to ask him?"

"Yeah, but I want to think about a few things. Can you ask him by yourself?"

"Ok, but is there something on your mind?"

"Just something personal. Don't worry about it."

"Well, if you say so, then…"

As the girl began to ask questions, his mind started to fall into deep thought. He recalls back all the events that had transpired or should he say could have been? He didn't know and so he put that aside. Remembering about everything that they did, how the fight between them and the woman, it only lasted a few minutes at most. Yet from just that short amount of time, he found out a few things.

The assassin had a cape that could negate one magic attack, after that it would disappear. She's also incredibly agile, able to counter and evade attacks that are so fast, he couldn't even tell what he was looking at. Finally and arguably the most terrifying about her, was the fact that she could seemingly survive just powerful attacks.

Despite being hit by such a massive crystal and having her body completely destroyed like it was nothing, she somehow still managed to live through it. This can only mean one thing, she had insane healing capabilities, most likely much stronger than the rabbit demi girl. Which means that just throwing everything they have got at her might not do much, instead, it would just be wasting their energy.

He needed to come up with something else, but just what could that be? From what he can tell, the time that she arrived at the Loot House was in the evening, so he still has some time to think. But even so, how can they possibly defeat someone like her? Maybe he could lure Felt and Rom out of the house? No, she has no reason to trust him so that most likely isn't going to go well. Even if they try to ambush her, it still wouldn't work. Just what can he do?

Trying to rack his brain, he starts to recall everything that occurred before he died. The sounds of the rabbit girl calling him, the sound of the woman, and...another voice. It was the voice of a man, it seemed like he arrived just shortly after he fell to the ground. All he could remember was the color of his hair, and...his name.

"Reinhard…"

"What was that?"

"Huh?"

Getting pulled away from his thoughts, was the voice of the half-elf. It seemed like she was done asking questions and was waiting for him. Maybe she knows?

"Oh nothing really...by the way, do you know anyone named Reinhard?"

"Reinhard? Do you mean the [Sword Saint] Reinhard?"

"Yes! That's the guy! Is he famous or something?"

"Why would you ask something so redundant? He's the knight of the kingdom of Lugunica, even if you don't live here, you should know who he is."

"Sorry then but I have no clue. Anyways, is he somewhere here?"

"Why would you need him anyways? Is something the matter?"

"Well, you can say that..."

Should I tell her? Though thinking about it more though, to say that he's a time traveler that was sent back in time after dying is a very ridiculous claim, she'll most likely think he hit his head. But then what can he say? Would she believe him if he told her that someone dangerous would come once they arrive at the Loot House? Why should she believe him anyways?

He's trapped in a difficult situation now. He can't tell her that he can time travel since it would freak her out, and he can't exactly just say that he knows someone would attack them if they come unprepared. Either way it would make him look suspicious, which would incline her to not trust his words. He didn't want that.

Then...should I lie? He could tell her that he wants to be safe and ask for some help, but would that really be ok? He didn't want to lie to her, or anyone really.

"Subaru."

"Yeah?"

"You are acting so strange right now. There's something on your mind right? Can you not tell me what that is?"

"It's not that I can't tell you! It's just...would you trust me if I did?"

"Well, you certainly have been helping me this entire time right? So to pay off my debt for you helping me, I'm willing to listen."

"You're not great at hiding your true intention are you?...Then, I guess I can tell you this."

Might as well try. As he looked for the right words to say, he remembered the name that was given to him before his death, including her title.

"Go on."

"I...I'm not quite sure if what I suspect is right or not but...I think Elsa, the [Bowel Hunter] might be the one who wanted your insignia."

"The...bowel hunter? Why would you think that?"

As she said that, he saw her eyes begin to show a hint of doubt and suspicion. Well, he was prepared for it anyways.

"It's just a hunch really, but I really can't think of why someone would steal your insignia. What use could that thing do?"

"Hmm….I suppose you're right, there isn't any real value to the insignia for anyone to want to steal it. But still, why specifically that person?"

"That's why I also want to ask something as well. Can you trust me on this?"

"Trust?"

"I know that you don't have any reasons to and it's fine, but….can you trust me? Just this once, would you be able to put your trust on me?"

"I…"

Truthfully, her rejecting him would be perfectly reasonable. There was absolutely nothing for her to gain from trusting him, plus the way he acts is just way too suspicious for anyone to really believe him. But even so, even if she doesn't, he still won't give up. If she rejects him, he'll understand, but he won't walk away. Not when he knows the lives that are at stake, the people that he's going to leave behind if he did walk away. He can't accept that, be it because of his selfishness or his arrogance, he won't let them die. He will save them.

"..."

"It's alright Lia, you can trust him. There's not a single hint of malice or bad intent coming from him, he does want to help."

"...Alright, I trust you."

"...Huh?"

Huh?

"I said that I trust you, Subaru. So you better not break it! That's a promise alright?"

"Huh?...Y-you do?"

"Well, like I said, this is my way of repaying you for helping me. After this, we are even ok?"

"...Uh, right, wow..."

"Hmm?"

"No no! It's nothing! Just...I didn't expect that."

Why? Even though he knew that he asked her, he still couldn't comprehend why she would say yes, why did she? She had no reason to and yet she did. Isn't she way too soft? Thinking that, he couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Hahahaha!"

"Wh-why are you laughing?!"

"Haha! N-nothing! It's just...haha...thanks. Thanks for trusting me."

"Hmpt, then you had better prove me right to trust you then!"

"Yeah! Don't worry, I promise!"

This time for sure! He won't fail again, he will save them all.

"Alright then, considering what you are saying is true, what should we do?"

"That's something I still haven't really figured out yet. But I think having someone that is a knight could help us."

"So you're saying we should ask Reinhard for help?"

"Well, that's the plan anyways. We don't know where he is, at least, not now…"

"Not now?"

Finding Reinhard is going to be a challenge. From what he could see, the capital was packed with people out on the streets, so finding him by looking around isn't going to suffice. If that's the case, what can he do?

As he thought, an idea lit up. At first, he thought it was a stupid idea, something so dumb that a child would laugh at him for thinking of it. Yet, the more he tried to come up with other solutions, that idea seems to only be the one that could potentially work. But...what if it doesn't? No, even if it might not work, he still has to try, it might be embarrassing but it would still be worth it all if it did work.

"I have an idea."

"Is that so? What would that be?"

"It's a bit...weird but it's the only viable one I can think of. Let me try it out."

"Ok?"

He began to walk towards the middle of streets. There were many people on the road, luckily there were little in the middle lance. As he stood there, he looked up towards the sky and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"Mmmm….HELPPPPP ME REINHARD!"

"Eh?"

"?!..."

He then let out a loud scream calling for help. Though try as he might, he still came out a voice that can only be described as feminene. This was the idea that he had, considering that it would be virtually impossible for them to find a person through such a dense crowd, plus with the fact they didn't have enough time to do that, this was the only left that he could think of. He hoped that the man was close enough to hear his cry, and come over to check it out.

As he finally stopped, he could immediately feel intense glares of anger and confusion directed at him. He definitely interrupted a lot of people's conversation with that scream, and confused a lot of people why he was calling for help, But those glares only lasted for a few moments before it dispersed until there was none left, except for the two girls that were looking at him worrily.

"Um...Was this your plan?"

"Yeah...the best I can think of anyways…"

Didn't work. He couldn't see anyone even resembling a knight in the crowd, his scream probably didn't reach one. Well, it was worth a shot anyways.

Now feeling defeated, he began to think of another way. Is the option of searching through the capital the only thing they can do now? That would just take too long, and he might be gone by then. Damnit…

As he desperately tried to come up with something, a voice called to him

"I'm sorry but, it seems someone here was calling for help, correct?"

"?!"

That voice! There was no doubt about it, that was the voice of the man that he was looking for. As his eyes leap up and stare into the direction of the voice, he could see him. His light blue eyes, filled with softness and calm. His bright red hair stood out the most compared to his knight uniform, which was clad in white and purple stripes. On his hip was a sheathed sword, engraved on with what appeared to be gold on the handle. This was the man named Reinhard van Astrea, the [Sword Saint].

"R-reinhard?"

"Yes, that is indeed my name. Were you the one who was calling for help?"

"Y-yeah!...you heard that?"

"Although I was able to hear your scream, my speed was still rather slow. It still took me a while before I could arrive."

"No! It's fine! You came just in time actually! There's no need to apologize for that."

"Is that so? Then thank you for forgiving my slowness. Now, what is it that you would require help?"

His nice guy level is off the charts! He couldn't believe just how unbelievably nice the man was, but nevertheless, he still came back to his senses.

"Yeah, there is something I want your help with. Just for good measures."

"Well I don't know just how much I can do, I'll try my best."

"Al-alright, then I'll explain to you on the way there!"

He let out a smile. Although he wasn't sure what the difference would be with this new addition to the group, he was still comforted by the man's demeanor and voice. Well, any help should be good.

---

They were now on a dusty and old road, surrounding it were decrepit houses and broken buildings. They have been walking in the slums for a while now, it won't be long before they reach the Loot House, while they were walking, he decided to use the time he had by explaining the situation to the best of his abilities without sounding like a lunatic. Though, for every word he spoke, the half-elf girl's eyes kept looking at him, seemingly worried and perhaps suspicious on why he knew all this. Well, even if he did try to explain why it would only make things way more awkward than it is.

"I see, so you suspect that the [Bowel Hunter] is going to appear here?"

"Yeah, specifically at the place called the Loot House. She apparently paid someone to steal her insignia, though I'm not sure why she would want it."

"Hmm…..I also fail to figure out the reason for that. Nevertheless, just knowing her location is good enough. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"

"Yeah, she's incredibly fast, like way fast. Also any attack thrown at her, no matter how fatal it is, she seems to be able to heal from it."

"Is that so? That certainly makes things much more difficult…"

"Yeah."

Just thinking about her was enough to make his body shiver. The fear that she has inflicted on him is beyond anything else that he had experienced. All he wanted to do was to just run in the opposite direction and never look back, to be as far away from her as possible. That's what he wanted, but he simply wouldn't let himself do that if it meant leaving other people to die.

Then, the voice of a half-elf called to him.

"Subaru."

"Hmmm, what is it?"

"Why do you know all of this?"

"Oh...uh..."

"Not only that, but you didn't even tell me until now...was there a reason for that?"

"It-it's not that I was intentionally hiding from you! It's just..."

He thought that he could avoid having to answer this question, he really did. But it was dumb for him to think that, and now, he is facing the consequences that is the girl's sad eyes looking directly into him.

"But it's alright, I still trust you. There must be a reason for you to hide it from me, right?"

"Huh?...Well...it's not exactly the case but...yeah, it's sorta like that."

"Then it's that then. I trust you on this."

"..."

Damnit. He felt guilt flowing through his mind. He wanted to tell her about it, but at the same time she'll most likely not believe a single thing he said. Even worse, with someone's here, revealing that can only make everything worse. So for now, he buried his guilt and went with the flow.

"Subaru, is this the place?'

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, that's the Loot House."

A few meters from him stood the house that belonged to old man Rom. This would be the first while also the third time he would enter this house, this time a little from the last. This time he brought another person to help, though even he doesn't know if this could possibly change anything.

Regardless, he began to take deep breaths and exhale them out of his lungs. He can feel his heartbeat faster than normal, though this was obvious. After dying twice to the woman, how can he not be afraid of her? As he tried to calm himself down, he felt his left hand being grabbed by someone. He glanced to his side and saw his hand intertwined with the demi-human one.

Her hand was soft and warm, it was smaller in size compared to his. Though she was doing this most likely to calm him down, it only made his heart rate increase. He can feel his cheeks becoming warmer than before, so in a desperate way to avoid being seen, he turned his head away from her.

"TH-thanks Shirogi. Y-you do-don't need to hold my hand an-anymore!"

"..."

He can feel her hands tightening around him. This only made him blush even more. Trying to distract himself from it, he began to walk towards the house, trying not to accidentally trip. The half-elf girl upon seeing that was confused by the sudden pace of his, and she also began to pick up the pace. The man that had been observing them smiled upon that, and proceeded to follow along with them.

As he got nearer to the house, he heard a noise. This made him stop in the middle of his track, and as he tried to listen in to the sounds coming from the house, he picked up a few distinct ones. The sounds of heavy thud on the ground, and the sounds of things being smashed. Something was happening in there, and there was only one thing that he could come up with. It's her!

"What is it, Subaru?"

The voice came from the young man behind him, his voice was still soothing but there was now a hint of caution. He turned his head towards him.

"She's here."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Very well then…"

With that short exchange, the young man then proceeded to step up towards the door and reached for the handle. Before he opened it however, he looked over to everyone.

"Are you all ready?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"...mm…"

"Alright."

The man proceeded to turn the doorknob. With a small creek, the door is then busted open and reveals the scene inside the house. What immediately came into view was the figure of a giant, swinging his club violently around the room. In the far corner was a small blonde girl, who seemed to be trying to find a way to assist him. The opponent they were facing was a woman, clad in black clothing and a cape, the [Bowel Hunter], Elsa Granhiert.

As the giant swung his club towards her, she quickly jumped out of the way and then turning her dagger, she swung towards his head. It was in that split moment before the attack hit that he felt a strong wind beside him. As he looked over his right side, the young man who was originally standing there had already disappeared, accompanied by the sound of metal clashing. His eyes trailed off to where the sound came from and saw the figure of the man, in between the giant and the assassin, with his sheathed sword blocking the woman's dagger.

"Ara, where did you come from~?"

"Black clothing, the signature dagger and black hair. There is no doubt about it, you are Elsa Granhiert, the [Bowel Hunter]."

As he said that, the man then shoved his sword that was still sheathed inside the scabbard towards the woman, forcing her to jump back. As the distance between them was established, the half-elf girl proceeded to run towards the giant. He then followed suit her, his hand still holding onto the rabbit girl.

"Are you alright?"

"...Yeah, I'm ok. Where did all of you come from?"

"That's not important right now, we need to get you out of here."

"Old Man Rom!"

The shout came from the girl who was running towards them, her face displaying a sense of relief and caution towards the group. It was understandable though since she doesn't know who he is in this timeline. For all she knows, they just randomly came out of nowhere and saved the old man's life.

"Wait, you're that girl that I stole from! How did you find me?"

"Mhm, now is not the right time to discuss however. Are you ok?"

"Y-yeah, I think so. Who's that guy anyways?"

"He's name is Reinhard, we managed to find him on the streets and so we asked for his help."

"Saying that you found me on the streets makes me feel like I was a lost puppy, waiting for someone to pick me up. If I remember correctly, you were the one who let out a feminine scream for help."

"H-hey! Although that is true, you don't have to add the word "feminine" in there! That just makes me look bad!"

"Sorry for that."

"Are you done with your chatting~?"

"Ah, yes. I apologize for keeping you waiting. I shall be your opponent then."

"Hmm, your hair and uniform. The dead giveaway however was that sword of yours. There's no mistaking it, you're the [Sword Saint], aren't you~?"

"It seems you are correct. Though I don't really believe that I truly deserve such an esteemed title."

Sword Saint, once again those were the words that were spoken in reference to him. Was the title really that famous that everyone knows it? If that were the case then maybe, just maybe, they might have a chance to win against her.

"Well then, are you not going to use that sword of yours?"

"Unfortunately, this sword can only be unsheathed when it deems the opponent to be worthy for it. Because of that, I can't use it."

"That's certainly rude isn't it~? To say that to someone's face is rather hurtful."

"I do very much regret saying that, however it is something that I can not change. I can only fight with what I have without relying on it."

"I see, then there's no choice…"

"Yes…"

With that, the woman vanished from the spot. Immediately after, the young man instinctively lifts his sheathed sword up and blocks the attack coming from his left side. With a violent crash, sparks flew out from the collision between the dagger and the scabbard.

But as the attack was blocked, she instantly disappeared once again. Running across the upper floor of the house, she then leaps down from above, vertically slashing at him. The man was not able to follow her movements, he was quick enough to block her attack.

This battle continued on as both opponents refused to let down their respective roles. Constantly attacking from every possible angle, at a speed that was simply inhuman. Repeatedly parrying every single attempt of her strikes with his scabbard, always staying in the defensives without moving an inch away from his original position. They were in a perfect stalemate with no clear winner.

As he looked on, he could only think of a single word to describe both of them. Monsters, they were undoubtedly monsters in every way, no human should ever be capable of such feats. As he watched on, a voice entered his ear.

"Subaru."

"Ah?! Yeah?"

"We need to move."

"Huh?"

"The reason for him not attacking her is because he doesn't want us all to be caught in his attacks. We need to get out of here for him to be assured."

"Oh, is that so? Right…"

It should be fine right? He's able to hold off the woman's attacks with ease, so it should be fine to leave it for him right?...Well, I gotta make sure of it.

"Can you attack her with one of your magic attacks?"

"Huh?"

"I want to make sure that he can get a good hit on her. Right now she still has that cape on, I want you to destroy it. You think you can do it?"

"...Mm, I think I can do it. I just need an opening."

"Ok then! Reinhard! Jump out of the way!"

"Huh?"

For a split second, he looked over to the direction of the shout. His face bore a hint of confusion at the boy's demand, but upon seeing the half-elf girl beside forming an ice crystal, he immediately knew what the boy meant.

Then, as he purposely waited for the next attack, he prepared himself. Then, right in front of him, the assassin proceeded to bounce off the wall of the house, diving straight towards him. Instead of blocking however, he leaped backwards, causing her to miss the attack completely. Then, with a swing of his hip, he threw a kick at her side, knocking her of course. As soon as she was far away enough from the man, the silver hair half-elf launched her newly formed icicle at her.

Seeing that, the woman tried to block the attack with her dagger, but before she could, the young man then swung his sheathed sword down onto her weapon, causing it to shatter upon impact. Without anything to protect her, the attack landed straight at her, knocking her back into the wall.

"I got her!"

"Alright! Then Reinhard! It's up to you now!"

"I'm happy to know how much trust you are putting on me, I shall do what I can do. By the way, could you pass me that sword there?"

The man pointed his finger towards the sword laying on the ground beside them. It was a normal looking sword, with a standard handle and no visible markings that made it stand out from anything. It certainly did not look as good as the sword the man was holding, but the difference between them was the fact that he could actually use it.

He reached out his hand and grabbed the sword, then threw it over to him.

"Here!"

"Thank you. Now, it would be best if you all should evacuate from this house."

"Huh? You're serious?"

"It's for safety measures."

What is he planning? Was all that he could think before being dragged away by the half-elf girl.

"You heard him, let's go then."

"A-alright."

"Ara, leaving so soon~?"

"Wha-"

Before he could finish what he was saying, the woman jumped towards him, her hand now holding a second dagger that was hidden away. But before she could reach him, the young man immediately intercepted her and blocked her attack.

"I am your opponent. There is no need for you to attack those who are uninvolved."

"Hmm, you are right."

Then, she leaped backwards, putting herself into what seemed like a fighting stance. The man also did the same, putting both his hands onto the handle.

"Subaru, let's go."

"Yeah, stop looking at him alright!"

"Ah! Sorry!"

Feeling his hands being pulled by the blonde and rabbit girl, he quickly ran outside. Before he was out, he heard the last exchange between the man and the assassin.

"Elsa Granhiert, the [Bowel Hunter]."

"Reinhard van Astrea, the [Sword Saint]."

Then, he saw a bright light emanating from the young man's borrowed sword. As he left the building, the light was starting to envelop the entire room until you couldn't see anything else inside. As he ran as fast he could, he grabbed onto the blonde and rabbit demi human hands and pulled them with him. A few moments later, a loud explosion rang behind his back, the force of it was strong enough to push him a few meters off the ground and land face first into the hard ground.

"Aghh!"

"Wahhhh!"

The explosion caught everyone off guard, causing all of them to trip and fall. Luckily, none of the exploded debris hit them, so besides the minor scratches they received from falling violently to the ground, they were fine. As the explosion ended, he looked over to the Loot House, or at least, what was once called the Loot House.

It was completely and utterly destroyed from the explosion, the walls were torn off, the roof vanished, leaving the only thing left was the floor. Standing in that devastating sight was a young man dressed in white uniform, who was also the man that caused the explosion, Reinhard.

"What the hell...You really are a monster aren't you!"

Absolutely insane was what ran through his mind. There was no other way for him to express his thoughts other than that fact. He had no idea just how powerful this young man named Reinhard was, but now after witnessing it, he's both astonished while also terrified of his sheer destructive power.

"I'm still very much a human you know? That comment of yours really hurt."

"Yeah right! I don't think any human could pull something like that off! You're insane!"

Everyone upon hearing their banter slowly stood up as well, their clothes covered in dirt. The old man looked at his house in shock, while the short blonde hair girl just looked astonished. The silver hair half-elf was also surprised at what had just happened, while the demi-human just looked indifferent towards the house.

As they began to walk towards the young man, he let out a small sigh.

"Well, either way, things still went better than I had thought, so I'm still very grateful for your help."

"Your gratitudes towards me is truly unneeded. Just being able to help you was all I could hope for as a knight."

"You're way too nice, you know that? It's ok to accept some praises once in a while...But anyways, thank you, Reinhard."

"Huh?"

"Hmm?"

The man's face for a moment was filled with surprise and slight shock. But it only lasted for a few moments before that expression faded. Instead, it was replaced with a smile, a truly genuine smile.

"Reinhard...yes, that is my name."

"Eh? Is something the matter?"

"No, everything is ok. Subaru, was it?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, Subaru."

"Eh? Why are you thanking me? That's not how you should respond to another one's thank you!"

"Ahh, I'm sorry about that. But...thank you truly, Subaru."

"Seriously, is there something wrong with you?..."

He couldn't understand what is with the young man's thought process, nor did he bother to think too much about it. Seeing the man smile was still good enough for him.

"You two seem to get along."

"Ah, I guess you could say that. It all worked out in the end right?"

"Yes, it truly did...Subaru, I want to say som-"

WHOOSH

It was a sound of something leaping out of the debris laying at the corner of the now destroyed house. What came from it was a person, holding a broken dagger, charging straight at the girl. Despite after all that, she managed to survive though with scars and injuries on her body, she was still very nimble nonetheless.

As she swung the broken dagger, he immediately went to grab the club that was laying on the nearby floor and lifted it up, successfully blocking the incoming strike. The young man upon seeing that stretched out his legs, readying to kich her.

Before it could reach, she jumped out of the way and landed on the ground a few meters away from them.

"Damnit, that kid got in the way…"

"I didn't expect you to still be alive after that. Truly, how careless of me."

As the man began to get into a battle readied stance, preparing to block her next attack, the woman slowly stood up and stared at them all. Her eyes held a hint of anger, but it was still calm and composed.

"Unfortunately, this is as far as I can go for today. I'll be taking my leave now if you wouldn't mind."

As those words left her mouth, she turned her back and proceeded to leap away. Before that, she whispered one last sentence.

"We'll meet again, young boy."

After a few moments of silence, confirming that she truly had left them, the group then breathed a sigh of relief. The blonde girl who was standing in a fighting position slumped down to the ground, letting out a loud sigh indicating how tired she was. The old man simply put down his arms and sat down next to the girl. The half-elf dropped her hand down to her waist and looked over to rabbit demi-human, who was still shaking from that event. She grabbed onto her hands.

"Everything is fine now, you can relax now."

"...mm…."

Her hands tighten around hers a bit more. They were no longer shaking as much.

His body finally relaxing itself, he nearly let his legs fall to ground due to the stress, but somehow, he was able to stand.

"Hahh…..She really is tough huh?"

"Regrettably, I wasn't able to fully finish her off. It seems I still have much to learn."

"Hey, don't downplay yourself too much. If it wasn't for you, I don't think we can do anything by ourselves."

"Hey, are you saying that I'm useless in a fight?"

"No no! It's not that, it's just that such a difficult opponent like that would have been very hard to deal with! That's all!"

"Hmm, I suppose you have a point."

"Phew…"

"Anyways, back to what I was going to tell you."

"Oh yeah, what were you going to say?"

"It's...um….Emilia."

"Huh?"

"My name is Emilia, just Emilia. I'm….sorry for not telling you that sooner."

"...wait, wait, wait! You mean that that wasn't actually your name? So you were using an alias this whole time?!"

"Y-yeah, though I wouldn't call that an alias...Sorry for that."

"Huh…."

Emilia... All of that, all of the deaths that he went through, the pain of dying and the pain of seeing others being hurt….all of that for just a name and lives saved.

Talk about unequal compensation huh? But despite knowing that, he still let out a smile. He wouldn't want it to be any other way, this was fine for him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you all, but I think I should be going now. Are you alright Subaru? You did take a hit from her."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine honestly! If it wasn't for this club I would have been dead alrea-eh?"

The club was cut in half. When did this happen? How come he didn't notice that? But there was also something else he could feel, as he looked down to his stomach, his clothes were cut open, and he saw blood beginning to spill out of him.

Crap... was all he could think off as he collapsed to the ground.

"Subaru!"

"What the?!"

"Oy oy!"

As his mind starts to fade, he can hear the voices of the half elf girl calling him. Besides her was the rabbit girl, desperately trying to close the gap of his wound.

They look cute even when they are scared. I guess that's the world of fantasy for ya...was all he could think of before fainting.

---

"Tonight may be our last chance...to gaze calmly at the moon…"

As the man with red hair spoke those words, he proceeded to carry the young blonde hair girl on one of his shoulders, and the other carrying the giant. It wondered how the man was able to lift both of them with such ease, yet before it could even properly react to that, the man had already leaped away far from them.

As the silhouette of the man disappeared under the moonlight, it looked down to the ground. Laying on there was the figure of a black hair boy, his eyes tightly closed. Just moments ago his belly was cut open, but due to the half-elf's help, he was able to survive the injury. It continued to gaze at the boy, pondering to itself on what it should do next.

The boy that it had set as its purpose, its goal in life, it's only reason for living, was now in front of him. At first, it thought it knew what it wanted to do once it found him, yet after traveling with him, hearing them talk, observing him and eventually coming to an understanding of who he is, it no longer knows what it wanted to do. So it just sat there, staring at him, unable to come up with any ideas for what it should do.

That is until a voice of a girl rang into its ears.

"Shirogi?"

"?!..."

"Ah! I'm sorry if I startled you! It's just….you seem to really care about him, do you?"

Care? Did it care for him? But why should it? Why did it care so much for this boy anyways? There was no reason to...no. That wasn't true, there was something, a scent, something that was all too familiar to it. The scent of its mother flows through the young boy.

For some reason, that scent became stronger when they were supposedly going to ask something from another man, but it was strange. It had gotten somewhat used to the boy's similar scent to its mother, but what it wasn't expecting was it becoming stronger. It didn't know why, but ever since his scent became stronger, the image of its mother became clearer to it whenever it looked at him. Could that be the reason why it cared? Because it saw its mother inside of him? Or was it something else? Something that it couldn't understand…

It didn't know, so try as it might, it simply stayed silent facing the girl's question.

"...Sorry, I shouldn't have asked that...Well anyways, are you going to go home now?"

"..."

Home? As those words linger in its head, it began to think. Well is its home? Did it even have one to begin with? It couldn't remember, and so, it hesitantly shook its head.

"Oh? You don't...want to go home? Or is it...you don't have one?"

Why should I need one? It had never once considered to have somewhere it can stay due to it always moving around the world. It never stays in one spot, so why should it need one?

"...if you want, you can stay at my place for a while?"

"...?"

"If you don't like it, I won't force you! Since you helped me, I figure this is as much as I could do to repay you."

"..."

Staying at her place….might not be so bad. It didn't know where it would go anyways, and not only that, it can continue to watch the boy that is its reason. But there was something else, it also wanted to follow her as well. She was such a strange person to it that it can't help but be interested in her. And so, if it could be able to stay with her for longer, it wanted to take that chance.

"...mm…"

Upon hearing its answer, the girl's face brightened up, and she let out a smile. It was a genuine smile, with the light of the moon shining down to her, it only made it look so much more beautiful. It liked her smile. And so, it thought to itself.

This was the right choice.

---

"Hmm, it seems things are going as planned…"

Sitting on his chair, with a book on his hands, he flipped through the pages, looking through the contents inside of it. His room was filled with all sorts of things, from pictures and paintings, furniture like chairs and tables, to other more smaller things that were neatly placed on his table.

"Ahh, they should come back soon now."

As he said that, he proceeded to close the book and opened one of the drawers on his table. He then put it back in carefully as to not cause any damage to it. Once he was done, he looked out into the window that was placed behind his back, observing as the carriage was brought into the front of the mansion.

Stepping out of it was the silver hair half-elf, whose clothes seemed to be more dirtier than it should be. Stepping out of the carriage next was a pink hair girl, wearing a maid outfit. Together, they lifted up the body of a black hair boy who was sleeping, with the help of another maid that resembled the pink hair one, albeit with her hair color being blue, they managed to bring him into the mansion.

Seeing this, he let out a wide smile.

"Good. It seems I am now one step closer to my plan….huh?"

His smile quickly faded however, as another person proceeded to step out of the carriage. A girl with white hair, wearing a coat with the same color, who then proceeded to walk towards the others and attempted to help.

"This….is quite a deviation, is it not?"

This wasn't what was written in the book that he had carefully examined over and over again, memorizing every single detail as if he was an actor, remembering the script for his next big moment. In a way, that was indeed the case.

No matter, such deviations should still be expected, as long as it does not interfere with the rest, it doesn't matter. As his mind arrived to that conclusion, he then once again let out a twisted smile, a smile that oozes nothing but malice.

"Well then, I guess I should go greet our newest members then~"

As he said those words, with a simple swipe of his hand, his face was now covered in makeup. He then put on his attire and proceeded to walk out of the room. His eyes filled with coldness and determination.

"I will accomplish my plan, no matter what."

With that, he closed the door.

---

Author's note:And that is the conclusion to arc 1! I hope I was able to somewhat deliver it well for you all. This was definitely the hardest one to write.

I essentially have no experience in writing a fight scene at all so forgive me if those fights seemed a little confusing. I tried to make it as coherent as I can, hopefully I can improve on this aspect.

Also from this point onwards, Imma start doing a dual pov of Subaru and Shirogi since I feel like it would make things a bit more interesting. Plus I won't be bored while writing it lol...

Now onto the plan for arc 2. Unfortunately, I.m not going to be able to write anytime soon so arc 2 would take a lot longer before I start it. I hope you guys can forgive me for that. I'll try to make it good once I'm back to this!

Well, that's really about it. Hope you guys enjoy this one! Man, so much for this being shorter than the last one...