RE:Avenger

by Just-Another-Marvel-DC-Geek

The Re:Zero world realizes, through the introduction of a particular young hero, just how small the world they live in truly is. Basically, Subaru is MCU Spider-Man and madness ensue upon the arrival of the Marvel multiverse unto the world of magic, witches and spirits.

31. Chapter 25

Chapter 25 – In The Past

*SHWOOOOOOOOOM!*

"So she finally comes…" Echidna's said as the room of the Trial was flooded in blue and white hues of light, her tone a derogatory one. "Hello there, you loose woman. You are certainly, by far, my most unwanted visitor of the day."

"…" Emilia stood silent as the Witch of Greed insulted her.

"Have you come to squirm pathetically once more as the truth you despise so much gets shoved in your face? To fail yet again, even after all those boisterous claims of being capable to stand on your own two feet, when we both now that is just the bravado you use to hype yourself up? Or be the disgusting hedonist that can love herself whilst remaining blissfully oblivious of the peril he went through to get you here? Why don't you go and do what we both know you want to do, cling to him for dear life as he carries you on his back through the obstacles ahead? After all, that's what you've been doing this whole time, even after you pushed him away. In all honesty, I can't see what he sees in you, why he would hold such confidence in you. I could never count someone like you amongst my friends… Witch's daughter."

"…I guess I can see now why Subaru said your Trials felt like a punch in the gut." Emilia simply nodded, unfazed by the mockery. "You rea~lly should say nothing if you have nothing nice to say."

"Tsk." Echidna gritted her teeth briefly before looking back at Emilia with exasperation. "Shameless fool, thinking you can act all confident and commanding when you have nothing to show for it. You promised to perform all three Trials in one go, but are you certain you can deliver? You failed twice already, haven't you? Is there not something you wish to say to defend your unapologetic self, Witch's child?"

"My name is Emilia, just Emilia!" Emilia cheerfully explained as she pointed upwards with her right hand while her left hand rested on her hip, all the while disregarding Echidna's disdain. "I am the Frost Witch of Elior Forest, and I won't give in to the malice of a fellow Witch! You'll know soon enough how insufferable I truly am!"

"…*Sigh*" The Witch of Greed sighed with resignation. "If that is how you wish to proceed… Very well then. First…"

"Hm?"

"You need to face your past."

Meanwhile, in the forest of Kremaldy…

"What's da deal anyways?" As the group treaded through the forest, Garfiel prompted a question.

"Huh?" Subaru, who hadn't been paying attention, turned his head at the boy in confusion.

"I mean, what were ya talkin' 'bout earlier. Da thin' ya weren't goin' ta tell princess until later." The blonde boy wondered.

"Garf here wants to know what we're up against, Barusu." Ram, who was at the head of the formation, explained.

"Hmm..." The Avenger brought a hand to his chin, attempting to figure out the best way to say it. "Actually… With how bull-headed you are, I fear if I tell you right away you'll just get distracted Garfiel."

"Hunh?!" The demi-human boy muttered, befuddled by the answer. "How come?! Ya told Ram an' dat pipsqueak Otto!"

"Because, unlike you, we could handle an info dump." Ram argued, irritating the boy. "Tell me something Garf; don't you think you fight best when your head is empty?"

"…Hrngh…" Garfiel grumbled with reluctance. "Yer not wrong 'bout dat… But even so, if ya won't tell me, does dat not mean ya still don't trust me?"

"Trust is earned, Garfiel. You have enough of my trust that I can place my life on your hands when fighting Roswaal, but because I trust you I know that Ram's assessment is right." Subaru agreed with the maid. "I'll need you at your best for the coming days, but I also need you at your best right now."

"An' I can only fight at me best if nothin's botherin' my thoughts, huh?" The blonde smirked as he resolved himself. "Welp! Can't say I understand all my Cap'n says anyway, but I'll trust him as he trusts me an' clear my head!"

"…What did you call me?" Subaru had to pause for a second as Garfiel spoke, a certain word uttered by the demi-human boy sending the hero for a loop. "Captain? As in… Me?"

"Yeh, yer my Cap'n now." Garfiel admitted whilst still smiling. "Ya beat me, ya shoved my ugliness in my face and wouldn't let me run away. Now, yer throwin' my amazin' self ta battle again. Yer my Captain, are ya not?"

"…Captain, huh?" Subaru had to hold himself back from smiling like a moron as he was called 'Captain' by Garfiel. "Captain… Yeah, I'm the 'Captain' now, eh?"

"Yeh! My Cap'n! Yer my Cap'n!" The blonde boy repeated with glee.

"So Captain, eh?!" Subaru basked in the title as though he was being showered with praise. "Yes, I'm the Captain now!"

"Yeah! My Cap'n!"

"Will the pair of imbeciles shut up? I feel as though I'm becoming dumber by the second." Ram ordered as Subaru and Garfiel's antics gave her a headache. "We are nearing the place already, so be careful."

"Sheesh, someone woke up with the wrong foot today." Subaru grumbled in return.

"And that foot is going into your mouth if you don't silence yourself." The maid retorted.

"…What you just said sounded ALL kinds of wrong, Ram-chi." Subaru immediately quipped back, to which Garfiel followed.

"Eh? Ya were into dat nasty stuff Ram? Did da clown coax ya into dat?"

"EH?! Is Roswaal really making you do that kinda crap?! I'm so sorry for you, nee-sama!"

"…" If Ram had a horn, it would have sprouted already. The gargantuan amounts of annoyance received from the pair of idiots forced her into unspeakable irritation, which could only be conveyed with a deathly glare as opposed to words.

"…I'll shut up now." Subaru and Garfiel flinched as their gazes locked with the furious Ram.

"…Y-Yeah, me-self too." Truly a demonic gaze.

"It won't be long now..." Ram continued as the pair calmed down. "Although I'm reluctant in saying this, I suppose I should be thankful Barusu is here and Garfiel are here. Alone, there is no way I could stand against Roswaal-sama."

"It's not like I can beat Roswaal in one punch either, Ram." Subaru rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "That guy… He's got quite a few tricks up his sleeve."

"Of course he does. Roswaal-sama isn't a simpleton; Barusu's meager efforts could never topple him." The maid proudly stated.

"Ya know, Ram?" Garfiel sighed with disappointment. "When ya say crap like dat, it makes one doubt yer heart is in this…"

"…" Ram fell silent at Garfiel's criticism.

"Err- I didn't mean dat so ya took insult-"

"As if Garf's moronic prattling could be taken as insult." Ram said as she walked ahead.

"…Struck a nerve, huh?" Subaru commented in response.

"Ergh… it's dat clown's fault for getting' inside her head in da first place."

"True enough, she wouldn't feel this conflicted if she wasn't loyal to Roswaal." Subaru nodded in agreement.

"So… Roswaal was at fault for da assassin dat attacked Frederica?" The blonde boy concluded as he gazed at Subaru. "'Tis a tad too convenient for his ploy with da rabbit ta pop up after an assassination attempt, is dat how?"

"So you can conclude that much." Subaru nodded again. "Yeah, pretty much everything here is his fault. Which is why we are beating him to a pulp."

"Ya say 'beating', not 'killing'." Garfiel smirked. "Are ya bein' lenient with da guy? Aren't ya a hero?"

"You should know now, not all heroes work the same. At least on Earth, I didn't go murdering whoever stood in my way, that's an absolutely last resort." The young Avenger chuckled in response. "For the record, I'm planning on bringing Roswaal to justice. Ram seems to have some kind of plan to defeat him without killing him, so that suits me. Besides… We might need him alive for later. Just a little longer."

"Justice, huh?" Garfiel remained pensive at the comment. "I'm more of punching stuff, so bringin' someone ta 'justice' or whatever doesn't really sound like my ball ta play with."

"Moreover…" Subaru continued. "If I killed him, if I gave in to how much I hate him, wouldn't I just be as much of a piece of shit as him?"

"…Ya say it cuz' of da reason he's doin' all o' this?" Garfiel reasoned. "Yer tryin' ta save us, he's tryin' ta kill us."

"Huh?" Subaru tilted his head in confusion.

"Whatever complicated shit he's thinkin' he's doin', Roswaal's method is cut an' dry Cap'n." The blonde boy explained with a smirk. "He's tryin' ta kill us all, an' yer tryin' ta save us. In my book, a hero dat kills da villain for tryin' ta kill everyone else isn't evil."

"That's one way to look at it…" Subaru lamented as his memories of a burning Lugunica with him laughing on top of the cinder resurfaced. "But a hero shouldn't stoop so low as to become like the villain Garfiel, regardless of who he is trying to save. I don't want to condemn everyone to save one person, but I also don't want to leave someone behind. In that sense, I'm absurdly greedy."

"Hmn? What's that?" The boy made a confused expression at the response.

"It's a standard, you know?" Subaru looked to the sky, beyond the cloudy heavens and into the stars and space, looking for earth. "Sure, there's criminals against which you cannot hold back, which you must be capable of killing to save others… But there's others which needn't die to make everything better."

"…"

"When you help one person, you help everyone." Subaru smiled sincerely. "I want to be the kind of hero that can save even those that failed to save themselves. Maybe that doesn't make much sense to you or others… But it does to me."

"An' is Roswaal part of dat list?" The blonde boy inquired.

"Depending on whether he doubles down or not…" Subaru answered as he looked ahead. "But it's the 'Natsuki' style to trust in the enemy to act like the enemy is going to act. Totally, very not confusing at all! Let's just be as swift as the wind, as silent as the forest, as devastating as a raging fire and formidable as a mountain! …Though, rather than 'Natsuki', that's just what 'Takeda' would say to hype up his men."

"…THAT'S SO COOL!" The blonde boy gawked in awe with stars in his eyes at Subaru's words. "Hell yeah! No sense in talkin' 'bout it then! We both know Roswaal will be ta stubborn ta yell uncle, so we gotta make 'im bleed!" Garfiel grinned as he gloated and cracked his knuckles.

*CL-CLACK!*

"No one can run away from Reihnard! Even if he flees outside da barrier, I'll drag his ass back!"

"I don't think Rein is dead enough for people to use him as a saying?" Subaru chuckled in response. "Wait… You said if he flees the barrier?"

"Yeah, what 'bout dat?"

"Garfiel… Are you not- I mean, you can't leave the barrier." Subaru raised an eyebrow. "I mean, you are-"

"'Course I can, I'm like sis in dat regard." Garfiel explained nonchalantly.

"…Huh?" Subaru grew surprised at the information. "But wait! You said you are half-siblings! How are you like-?!"

"Yeah, we are half-siblings." Garfiel scratched his cheek sheepishly. "But, ya know… Mom didn't have da best taste… Look, point is, we may be different but sis an' I are similar enough dat we can leave da barrier. We are half-bloods, but not HALF halves, ya get me?"

"…WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO SOONER?!" Subaru lamented with regret. "ARGH! IF I HAD KNOWN THAT-! DO YOU EVEN REALIZE HOW MUCH TROUBLE I COULD HAVE SAVED IF- DAGH!"

"Whoa, ya seemed rattled now Cap'n." The boy commented with amusement.

"Ugh… Forget it. What ifs and the like… I'm getting real sick of them." Subaru shook his head with disappointment. "Not finding out you could leave the barrier… That's on me, so I'll just leave it at that."

*rustle-rustle!*

"We are here." Ram said as the trio exited the forest through the shrubbery.

"So this where da clown was? Thought da path looked familiar." Garfiel raised an eyebrow in disgust. "Keh! So he was usin' HER as a source ta pull this crap."

"This is…" Subaru inspected the building before them with vexation. It was remarkably similar to Echidna's Tomb, although lesser in size and scale. A temple of sorts, with a blue light escaping through its entrance, welcoming them inside. "So the boss is waiting inside the dungeon, huh?"

"This is da origin of da gran- Err, da old hags." Garfiel confirmed as the group walked inside the building. "Ya noticed, haven't ya?"

"How there's more than one or two… The eyes of Sanctuary." Subaru said in response as they ventured deeper inside. Within the ruin, the source of the lights was revealed: A half-elven girl encased in a blue, shining crystal. The girl in question… Was none other than Ryuzu Meyer. "That crystal with the girl-"

"The original Ryuzu." Ram interrupted as her voice turned sour. "Which you are using to fuel the change in climate, Roswaal-sama…"

"…" The group ceased staring at the crystal holding the half-elf's body, casting their gazes downwards to the mage interacting with it.Roswaal however remained silent, interacting with magical circles of all kinds and gazing at a black book in his hands whilst showing a defenseless back to the three.

"We want you to stop, clown." Subaru ordered to no avail. "Although… There isn't much sense in talking if you aren't going to pay us any attention."

"Stuck there, ignorin' us, givin' us yer back…" Garfiel roared with excitement. "Ya realize I could knock ya silly right away, eh?"

"How merciful you are in warning me so~." Roswaal answered as he turned to face the trio, pocketing the book inside his jacket's inner side. "But it was quite foolish of you to thi~nk you could defeat me by simply attacking when I was tu~rned around."

"Roswaal." Subaru decided to pressure the man, ignoring his amusement as he glared at the spot the book was resting. "I already stopped Elsa."

"…"

"Your little book's prediction means nothing if one part fails. Beatrice is alive, so are Petra and Frederica." The Avenger continued pressuring in a stern tone. "If the mansion is safe, then isn't that already indication that you failed?"

"…It is only a failure if I give u~p." The Margrave's smile faded.

"Yer actin' stubborn for all da wrong reasons, asshole!" Garfeil shouted. "I dunno 'bout all this 'book' crap or whatever, but if ya failed in one front, don't ya already fail in 'nother?! What gives?! Just give up-!"

"After all I've done." Roswaal interrupted, his tone turning serious. "Do you not realize the wei~ght of your words? I cannot give up."

"…" Subaru squinted his eyes with apprehension.

"The trump card was comple~tely different to that which I was told to expect. After the Royal Selection, I was under the genuine impre~ssion that I had made a mistake…" Roswaal explained as he glared at Subaru. "You were supposed to be like me. Supposed to be someone with the obsession to fo~rce himself on those he loves. To forego everything else for the ONE thing that meant the world."

"But what you got, instead, was someone so greedy that couldn't let go of either those precious to him or the world." Ram argued with a sad face.

"A 'hero'…" The clown growled. "Why did it ha~ve to be that? Some childish play of all things…"

"Oi. If you had seen what I've seen, you'd know I'm not playing games." Subaru said while pointing at the clown.

"It matters not what I haven't seen, all it matters is my goal." Roswaal dismissed Subaru's argument, nevertheless. "As I pondered on my errors, I decided to still trust my master… And it paid off. You sa~ved Emilia-sama and chose to become her confidant. Then, you we~re capable of forcing a duty on her, one she couldn't po~ssibly perform. Thus, I mu~st persist… For even if you were somewhat different, even if there were some deviations, the core of it all remained intact. I MUST grasp onto the few sli~vers of hope that I can make you like me."

"Roswaal…" Subaru frowned in response.

"Roswaal-sama." Ram spoke up, attempting to convince her master. "Allow Ram to be blunt, please."

"Ram…" The Margrave murmured. "So even you have forsaken me, huh-?"

"Don't ya dare say such cruel shit ta Ram!" Garfiel growled, baring his teeth. "She's loyal ta ya, through an' through!"

"Is she now?" The Margrave squinted his eyes at the maid.

"She is the most loyal here, Ros-chi." Subaru defended her as well. "After all, loyalty isn't about being blind to your errors and obeying still. It's about knowing when to step in so you don't shoot yourself in the foot. Shouldn't you know by now, that Ram would be loyal enough to intervene so that you don't bury yourself deeper into an abyss?"

"…" The clown narrowed his gaze towards the maid.

"Roswaal-sama… You are obsessed with a mirage." Ram said with a stern yet pained tone. "Your book… The word you have followed religiously for so long… If Barusu is already that distant from the image you envisioned, the image you needed, shouldn't you realize already that to continue as you have done so before is futile? Please, forget this obsession…"

"There's no possibility I could forget it…" Roswaal looked melancholic as his memories of centuries long-gone flashed before his eyes. "It's been so long… Since my Master has been gone, it's been so long… And yet, this pressure in my chest will not disappear."

"…" Both Subaru and Ram looked at the man with pity.

"Do you even realize how painful it is? The time I have lived far exceeds the time I spent with her, and even then my heart beats with the same intensity every time I hear her name." Mathers brought a hand to his chest, gripping his suit tightly. "That love… Can you even imagine it? If you are the man you are supposed to be, you should be able to see how I see it!"

"You mean an obsessive bastard that forces his expectations on someone who never answered?" Subaru glared back at the clown.

"Don't talk as if you weren't like that either." Roswaal argued back as his sinister smile reappeared. "Were you no~t the one forcing Emilia-sama to retake the trials, again and again, even after she fa~iled twice?"

"…You are right." Subaru nodded with disappointment of himself. "I fell to my fears, to my panic… Telling to myself that my duty was above all. And in doing that, I forced something unsightly on Emilia."

"Then what makes you different to me?! What gives you the right to tell me to give up?!"

"That I was able to grow from that." Subaru argued in response. "That I was able to acknowledge that I couldn't control everything. That some things, I had to entrust to others."

"In what wa~y? You are still commanding everyone mercilessly, are you not?" Mathers mockingly wondered. "Pinning Ram and Garfiel against me. Oh, and Emilia-sama needed some~one to push her forward to-"

"Emilia came back by herself; she decided to take those Trials knowing she had failed twice, without needing me to console her." Subaru argued back.

"Foolishness… Emilia-sama needed others words to stand up by herself." Roswaal looked at Ram with indifference, much to the maid's hurt. "Words and confidence borrowed from others… She cannot stand up on her own."

"That is not-!" Subaru tried to argue again, but the clown interrupted.

"You still pu~shed her into that Tomb without explaining anything to her did you not?" Roswaal continuously antagonized the hero with the truth. "Leaving her in the dark, all the while-"

"Princess chose ta be left alone ta perform da trials, dumbass." Garfiel was quick to interrupt Roswaal as he grew irritated by his assumptions. "Bet yer lil' book didn't say nothin' 'bout dat, eh? Dat princess herself would ask ta be left in da dark ta focus on her own shit?"

"…" Roswaal glared downwards as the least knowledgeable about the situation of the three broke his argument. "She asked you… To lie to her?"

"Nice one, Garf." Subaru gave thumbs up to the smirking blonde boy before glaring back at Roswaal. "See? You are grasping at straws now Ros-chi. Assuming Emilia didn't find strength by herself, banking on the lie that I wouldn't criticize Emilia if necessary. I value her enough that I won't mince my words. In return, I'm looking forward to the day she can rip me a new one by calling me out on MY misgivings. And I know she will, because she already made fun of my shitty luck on the second Trial! Your book was wrong Ros-chi, end of story!"

"…" Roswaal, however, did not answer.

"…Roswaal-sama?" In worry, Ram called for her silent master to answer.

"…Why couldn't you just be a bumbling buffoon? Why couldn't you try to force your expectations longer on Emilia-sama? Why couldn't you infatuate yourself properly with her?!" Roswaal bellowed with uncharacteristic wrath as his accent disappeared. "Why must your mere presence set everything astray?! Were you exploiting your gift, for the sole sake of distorting MY world?! Did I do something that changed the path that was set?!"

"…" Both Ram and Garfiel were left confused by such words, not understanding the depth in them as Subaru would. "You know… I did consider it."

"…?" The Margrave's scowled turned into vexation.

"When I first met Emilia… I couldn't help but believe she was the most gorgeous woman I had ever met." Subaru smirked joyfully whilst reminiscing. "And spending time together in that mansion, laughing and joking and talking about nonsense… I really did think that maybe I wanted more of that."

"Then what derailed everything?!" Mathers growled. "What made you discard everything?!"

"That's the thing, I didn't discard anything." Subaru denied as his expression turned into a neutral smile. "It was pure chance that I couldn't be like you."

"Explain…" Roswaal continuously bellowed.

"There were a lot of factors… But if I had to say, it'd be how things were before I even arrived to your world." The Avenger swam through the sea of memories from his other selves. Fractured and dispersed as the visions had been, they all held a consistent origin; of a boy that had been trying his hardest to give up against a world that showed him he was a nobody. "If I hadn't been bitten by the spider… If I hadn't lost my parents… If I hadn't had a mentor to humble me… If I hadn't been a hero."

"…" Ram looked saddened; her master's eyes grew hollow as Subaru spoke.

"Whether it was a blessing or a curse, or perhaps both, it fell on my lap regardless. I have a duty to the world beyond my own gain. As an Avenger and as Spider-Man." Subaru admitted with conviction. "I HAVE to return to Earth. I HAVE to protect this world. I HAVE to save others. Giving up on saving someone to save another… I'm the kind of guy to make the ambitious third choice and save everyone. You ever hear the one about 'With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility'?"

"…And for that, you'd forsake your own destiny?! Natsuki Subaru's destiny?!" Roswaal's fists trembled.

"Nothing is set in stone, Ros-chi. Or rather, your book was bound to be wrong one day as well. Even if I'm not the 'Subaru' you wanted, I'm Subaru regardless." The boy smugly dismissed. "And just so you know, your precious Echidna agreed to that. If only because she couldn't afford to lose as well-"

"…YOU KNOW NOT OF WHAT YOU SPEAK OF!" Roswaal screamed as four balls of multicolored fire appeared behind him. "GOA!"

*FWOOOOOOM!*

*ZOOM!*

"?!" The group barely managed to dodge the spells shot at them, Subaru by ducking and Ram and Garfiel by leaping away. However, as soon as they regained their footing...

*SMACK!*

"Kgh!" Subaru struggled as Roswaal flew at him at full speed, punching him in the face and launching him outside of the building through the entrance.

"You wish so ambitiously to step in my way?" Roswaal asked as he flew outside, in pursuit of Subaru.

"Cap'n!"

"Barusu!" Both Ram and Garfiel ran outside as well, following the clown and the hero. To their surprise, as they exited the building… Snow had finally began falling on Sanctuary. It was a thin layer at best, barely a few snowflakes had fallen yet, but it was a beginning. Roswaal had successfully changed the weather.

"Hngh…" Subaru groaned as he got up. He had crash-landed on top of a bunch of bushes lined up along the tree line. "Okay… yeah, that's on me for not dodging. Too worried about the fireballs, I guess…"

"Natsuki… No, Spider-Man." Roswaal growled as he floated above the boy.

"So you succeeded in making it snow, Ros-chi… Doesn't matter though, I'll still stop that Rabbit." Subaru mocked as he put on his mask.

"You wish to overplay your part that much?" The Margrave asked as he invoked yet another set of fireballs behind himself. "Cease defying the impossible, brat."

*FWZWOOOOM!*

"Not that I want to. I have to stop you." Subaru responded as he crouched a bit, readying himself to pounce at the man.

"Fine… I'll follow your game." Roswaal affirmed as he smiled. "I'll show you, that no matter how you defy me, how you attempt foolishly to twist fate, you cannot win. My master, my dream's path-!"

"RRRRAAAAAAARGH!" Garfiel yelled as he jumped towards Roswaal from behind.

"WILL REMAIN UNDETERRED!" The Margrave shouted as he threw a fireball at the leaping blonde boy.

*THWIP!*

*FIZZLLLE!*

*THWACK!*

*CRASH!*

"?!" Roswaal was left astounded as Garfiel punched him in the face, the force throwing him against a tree.

*CLINK!*

"…A higher density to the web, enough to spend half the cartridge, will counter your basic fireballs." Subaru affirmed as he ejected a web cartridge from his wrist. Subaru had cancelled Roswaal's fireball with webbing. "I can't pull it off every time… But I don't need to. Just when I know Garf can kick your ass should be enough."

"Hehe!" Garfiel smirked smugly as he landed beside Subaru. "If my Cap'n an' I are together, we are INVINCIBLE!"

"Roswaal-sama, give up!" Ram shouted as she produced her wand from her dress, pointing it at her master. "Dispel the weather and we can all leave in peace!"

"I already said…" Roswaal instead continued bellowing, ignoring her pleas.

*FSHWOOOM!*

"My dream will remain undeterred!" The Margrave's sheer aura ignited the bushes around him, burning them to a cinder instantly.

"…So the hard way, eh?" Subaru said as Garfiel, Ram and himself took combat positions around Roswaal. "Fine, you sorry clown. Come get some!"

As the battle between Subaru's group and the foolish noble began, Emilia finally faced her past…

"This tree does seem unusual…" Echidna said as she and Emilia inspected a large tree with a door installed at the base. "Ring any bells?"

"Hmm… This is the 'Princess Room', where I used to play as a child." Emilia nodded, recognizing the place.

In the time since her Trial of the past began, Emilia and Echidna had been inspecting the fabrication made by the Witch's power. The result was that of Elior forest… Before it became a frozen landscape.

"Within this room…" Emilia looked at the locked door, wondering if she could even open it. "How do I…?"

"…" Echidna, realizing Emilia's trouble, simply phased through the door as if it were a curtain of light.

"Oh." Emilia nodded at her action, doing the same and following inside.

"Emilia."

"?!" The half-elf stiffened up as someone pronounced her name. It was a sweet voice. A loving voice. A voice she knew. A voice… Emilia couldn't believe she had forgotten. "Mother… Fortuna..."

Before Emilia and Echidna stood a pair of silver-haired girls. One was an elven woman that looked to be in her mid-twenties, sporting short hair and dressed in a white blouse over a tight, amethyst colored suit. The other was a half-elven child with long hair and an amethyst hairband, showing a similar taste in clothes to the adult but wearing a dress instead of trousers. That child was Emilia.

"Emilia, I have some important stuff to attend to, so I'll be gone for a while." Fortuna, the woman, told the child with a gentle smile. "Wait for me here and behave, alright?"

"Another important thing?" Emilia, the child, answered with a troubled question.

"Hehe." The woman chuckled as she patted the child's head. "You have my brother's hair… But your face is gentle like your mother's. In comparison, our eyes are scary!"

"But I like your eyes." The child Emilia responded with a cute smirk.

"Mother Fortuna…" Emilia whispered as Echidna turned to look at her. "She was my father's sister, and she took care of me instead of my parents… But in all honesty, she was my only mother."

"…" The Witch of Greed, however, remained silent at this revelation.

For a while, Emilia and Echidna would go on to witness many different things about Emilia's past; her childish tantrums about staying locked inside, her interaction with the 'fairies' and her relationship with the villagers, who were all elves. As well as… the apparition of the Witch's Cult, led by none other than one Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti.

"Once again, you are always helping us." Fortuna commented to the Archbishop.

"On the contrary, we are sorry for constantly troubling you." Petelgeuse, who looked drastically different to his unhinged future self, apologized. His skin looked healthy, as so his demeanor.

"We all do so here, Geuse." Fortuna answered.

"Now, I understand I'm always asking this but…" Geuse's face turned serious as he was about to ask a question. "Is the seal intact?"

"Yes, same as always." Fortuna responded with a relieved face. "If something were to happen to it, I would be unable to look at my brother and my sister-in-law in the eyes."

"Your brother's wife…" Petelgeuse lamented, making Fortuna frown.

"Hm, I know. But I won't forsake my responsibility. I won't abandon it or take it lightly. Isn't that true for yourself as well?"

"I… It's all I have. I'm not nearly as dutiful as you, Fortuna-sama. Obsessions and regret… I just cling to my convictions, it's all."

"…The forest might not see many seasonal changes due to the spirits, but we are still rea~lly grateful for the supplies, such as books or clothes." Fortuna looked radiant as she thanked the archbishop. "That's why, thank you."

"Still… You shouldn't be bearing with the inconveniences of such a place."

"Don't call it 'such a place'." Fortuna joked at the expense of Petelgeuse's worries. "We like this forest!"

"Fortuna-sama!" A man's voice suddenly interrupted their conversation. "We have finally unloaded everything!"

"Thank you, Arch." Fortuna thanked a blonde elvish man called Arch.

"You've become ever so trustworthy, Arch-dono." Petelgeuse praised the man.

"As the next guardian of the forest, it is my duty." Arch responded stoically.

"Please continue as dutifully as you have, then. For the sake of your village, the seal and your family." Petelgeuse said before him and his group left… "Ah, one last thing. Is Emilia-sama fine as of late?"

"Don't worry; Emilia is a rea~lly well behaved kid." Fortuna reassured before her expression turned sour. "But I'm afraid to say you cannot see her."

"It matters not; it is enough with knowing Emilia-sama is safe and sound." Petelgeuse sighed with relief. "A sinner like me should not desire for more than that."

Many times after this initial visit, Emilia witnessed the comings and goings of 'Geuse's' group. Regularly, he and his cultists would arrive to Elior Forest, deliver goods and gifts then leave, but not before the Archbishop himself could get a word in with the quite happy-looking Fortuna.

Afterwards, Emilia and Echidna rested a while before continuing.

"…" Emilia was looking upwards, toward the canopy of the 'Princess Room' tree. The sunlight filtered by the branches and leaves raining down on her and the Witch of Greed gently.

"Are you shocked, perhaps?" Echidna asked, breaking the silence. "That the Archbishop, killed by the hero you piggyback off, was someone you knew?"

"…It's a bit scary, I won't lie."

"A bit?"

"Geuse… I know not why, but he seems to re~ally worry about me. Me and that seal." Emilia commented as a frowned formed on her face. "Moreover… It saddens me to know how his tale ends; he seemed so full of life beside Mother Fortuna here and yet…"

"…Subaru did try to save him." Echidna responded, to which Emilia nodded.

"Hmm, he did." The girl smirked. "Even though he became an evil man, he tried to reach the light of who he once was, right?"

"So you are not going to be mad at him once you leave?" The Witch continued.

"Echidna… I don't think my Trial is yet over, at all actually."

"Is there something missing?" Echidna raised an eyebrow at Emilia's words.

"Geuse… Right now, all I know is that I knew him, and he knew OF me… But did we know each other?" Emilia prompted with worry. "Moreover, that seal he and Mother mentioned…"

"Yes, there might be more to it. Especially to those fairies…" The Witch mentioned, catching the half-elf off guard.

"Fairies... Hmm, the Minor Spirits." Emilia's expression turned sour.

"Like the ones guiding your child-self right now." Echidna pointed out as she indicated to child Emilia, who was sneaking out of the 'Princess Room' again, following behind a blue orb of light.

"The seal..." Emilia's sour face became stern as she dreaded to follow her past version.

"Let's go." Echidna ordered as she began walking ahead. "If you say your Trial is not yet done, then stop wasting your time here."

"…" In response, Emilia walked forward as well. "You are right… Even if I'm not yet prepared, I'm here so I can be prepared."

"Saying needlessly confusing stuff like that… Maybe he's rubbing off too much on you." Echidna sighed with disgust.

"I'm fairly certain you are guilty of saying such phrases as well, Echidna." Emilia smirked as she quipped back, much to the annoyance of the Witch of Greed.

"Disgusting woman…"

The pair proceeded to follow the child Emilia into the forest, entering a hidden clearing amongst the woods and shrubbery where the temperature suddenly dropped. The trees ceased growing, the earth was cracked and the grass was veiled in white snow… And at the center of this frozen field lied a single metal door. A door so tall, even most adults were dwarfs before it. A door so heavy looking, most people would doubt it could even be opened. A door so old, the elements and the snow had grown around it. A door so ominous... that it needed a lock to be properly sealed.

"A door…" The child mumbled as she approached. "…"

"Is this the seal…?" Emilia gripped her dress nervously as Echidna stared at her with indifference.

For a while, Emilia and Echidna witnessed the child Emilia attempt to open the door to no avail.

"Hmm… It won't open. But at least we managed to get here! Clap-clap!" The child applauded to her 'fairy' companions before leaving the clearing.

Guided still by her companions, child Emilia ventured back into the forest. The forest where, as chance would have it, she would cross paths with the Witch Cult's Archbishop.

"Oh my? Whose cute little butt is this?"

"Hyup!" Emilia shuddered in response to the voice. She attempted to hide herself in the wild bushes of the forest, but her little amethyst and white colored bottom stuck out as a sore thumb amongst the foliage.

"What?!" Emilia's eyes grew wide at the revelation. She DID know Petelgeuse…

"I-I implore you to grant me temperate mercy…" Child Emilia begged as she reluctantly exited the bushes.

"Well now! What an adorable little missy." Geuse chuckled as he approached her. But as he came close, he recognized who he was speaking to. "?!"

"Huh?" Emilia tilted her head to the side in confusion at Geuse's bewildered expression.

"M-My Lady…?!" The knees of the Archbishop trembled as he witnessed the child before her. "N-No, you couldn't be-?!"

"Geuse?" Emilia asked with consideration and worry for the trembling man. "Are you all right?"

"Ah… Ah…" The man kneeled as he cried, his expression turning into a smile covered in snot and tears. "I am… fine… Yes… Yes! Of course I'm all right! Nothing is wrong in the slightest! Because I just… I… I have just… been granted salvation like never before!"

"Is that right?" Emilia asked as she approached the man. "You are saved? Even though you are crying?"

"Th-These are not tears of sadness!" Geuse answered. "I'm just so happy… I'm so overjoyed! I'm just so blessed… And such happiness brings me to tears!"

"…" Emilia then hugged Geuse, holding his hand and his head in her little arms. "You cry even though you feel happy?"

"U-Uh…" The man continued sobbing as the little child held him.

"It's all right, Geuse…" Emilia tenderly patted his head, caressing his green hair gently. "It's all right… It's all right…"

"…" Echidna stared in silence at the interaction between the two… All the while, Emilia trembled by her side. "Are you going to cry as well?"

"…Hghk…!" Emilia prevented a cry of anguish as she witnessed the scene, tears brimming in her amethyst orbs and threatening to fall. "I-I won't c-cry… I…!"

"…You are really stubborn, thinking you'll fail the Trial if you cry." The Witch of Greed shook her head as Emilia held her tears back. "If you cried like those crocodile tears like the loose woman you are, they'd forgive you."

"I-I know that Subaru and Puck would forgive me-!" Emilia responded as she dried her tears. "*Sniff!" But I cannot go through life crying about everything!"

"Strength isn't about just holding back the floodgates." Echidna reasoned again, much to Emilia's chagrin.

"S-Subaru believes in me!" Emilia forced her face into stiffness to avoid crying any longer. "So I'll show you I'm not weak enough that I'd cry at just this! Not when my trial is not over!"

"…Do as you wish then." Echidna said while looking away from Emilia. "I was just prodding the beehive, trying to get them to come out."

"Well… You failed." Emilia affirmed with regained confidence. "No tears out of me!"

"Visibly so…" The Witch answered indifferently. "But I'll have many more chances to wring a cry out of you… And I'll relish in that suffering."

"In any case…" As Emilia recomposed herself. "It's only the beginning. Right, Echidna?"

"…Yes." The Witch affirmed with a neutral expression. "The real trial begins here."

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Sanctuary…

*WHOOOOOOSH!*

*booom…*

*crash…*

"This is bad…" Otto murmured as the snow fell and the sounds of battle in the distance echoed into the village. A blanket of snow already covered the houses, and the ground would and grass would soon follow as well. "If the snow is falling… Did they fail already?"

"It sounds to me like Subaru and the others are fighting the Margrave…" Tivey responded with a troubled expression. "But if the weather has changed, then it is only a matter of time until the Great Rabbit appears."

"And even though we know that-" Hetaro continued with a disappointed face. "We've made no progress in reuniting the people of the village."

"…" The people of Sanctuary stared at the group from their houses' windows or their doors, but none dared leave their abodes or say anything at them.

"Oi!" Mimi shouted, trying to earn a reaction. "Do you know what's happenin' right now?! Boss-bro and your guy, Garfiel, are fighting the Margrave to save you! The Rabbit is coming, don't you know that?!"

"…And whose fault is it?" A man exited his house, his insecure and angry tone accusing Otto and his group. "You say the Great Rabbit is coming, is that not because YOU guys attracted it?!"

"Yeah, you troublemakers!" Another man yelled, backing his fellow villager.

"It's snowing because ya brought that Witch here…"

"Yer at fault!"

"Yeah!"

"Just leave already!"

"GO AWAY!"

"Fuck off!"

"Kuh…" Otto gritted his teeth in frustration as the villagers continuously exited their houses to shun the group. They had succeeded in gathering the people, but only against them.

"Please, we are trying to do this for your sake!" Tivey spoke up, interrupting the torrent of insults. "The Kingdom outside is currently undergoing great changes with a demi-human candidate for the throne! We are not here because we want to harm you, it's the contrary!"

"That's right; please don't doubt Emilia-sama!" The merchant accompanied those claims. "She's currently undertaking the Trials to release the barrier so everyone can escape! So-!"

"She failed twice already! What hope IS there for us to escape, huh?!" A woman amongst the villagers screamed.

"If anything, we are doomed because she couldn't do that sooner!"

"Screw that Witch! She condemned us all!"

"Boo!"

"EMILIA-SAMA IS TRYING TO SAVE YOU!" Otto shouted back in anger, but it served no purpose. No one would listen. "Some of you DID want to leave Sanctuary! We are trying to accomplish that now, so why are you suddenly banding together against us?!"

"Leave!"

"Just leave us be!"

"There's nothing we can do anymore… It's the end…"

"Argh, Mimi can't stand these guys!" The feline girl growled as Otto's begging yielded no answer. The faction that wished to leave the forest had grown frustrated with Emilia, enough to side with the conservative faction that wished to maintain the barrier.

"Dammit! What else can we do?!" The merchant lamented as he looked back at the Pearlbaton brothers.

"The other option would be to force them, but…" Tivey rubbed his chin, wracking his brain for ideas. "We would find resistance in doing so. They may even attack us."

"Do we have any other choice?" Hetaro prompted with severity.

"…We do." Disrupting the boys' conversation, the voice of the pink half-elf Ryuzu manifested from the crowd gathered before the group.

"Elder?" One of the men, a half-wolf demi-human asked with curiosity.

"Wait… A white robe? You are…" Otto made a confused face as he noticed the attire of Ryuzu. It was not black like the other Ryuzus he had met earlier.

"Ryuzu-sama!" One of the woman pleaded. "Please, expel these intruders! All they have done is disrupt our peace!"

"Yeah!"

"Out with the outsiders-!"

"What they say, about Young Gar fighting with the stranger to free Sanctuary, is true." The woman told on Garfiel, interrupting the protest.

"…" The adults in the mob fell silent at those words.

"Don't you feel ashamed, having that boy carry all of your desires?"

"…"

"Young Gar had to deal with representing those that wanted to leave this place, as well as those that wished to remain. All the while providing for all of you safety from outsiders. He's a child, barely fourteen, remember?" Ryuzu explained sternly, making the members in the audience that had been arguing just now look embarrassedly at each other. "That boy overcame his fears by going into that Tomb to face his past, and he now finds himself fighting against Roswaal to protect everyone from a calamity… All of you were that eager to trample on his efforts?"

"…Th-That's not true!" One of the men said. "We love Garfiel!"

"Yes, we are thankful to him!"

"How could we not be?!"

"But, elder, what are we supposed to do?" A crying woman inquired with worry. "If that is all true, and the Rabbit is coming, then what can we do?"

"If that outside princess failed in releasing the barrier on time, we might not even be able to evacuate…"

"…Trust in Garfiel, that Garfiel will protect you." Otto relied on Ryuzu's explanation to back his own argument.

"Garfiel…"

"But that boy…"

"He alone against a horde…"

"He's fighting beside a hero of another world, which ALREADY felled a calamity a week ago, to destroy another!" The merchant excitedly publicized Subaru's achievement to rally everyone. "Garfiel sided with that awesome hero to save everyone and see the outside world!"

"It's true, what greenie here says!" Mimi raised her staff with joy as she recounted Subaru's exploits as well. "Mimi was there when he brought down the Whale! Hetaro too!"

"And I was there when he defeated a Sin Archbishop!" Tivey exclaimed as well.

"If Garfiel is fighting under the direction of such a hero, can't you then trust that he will become a hero as well and beat the Rabbit to protect you all?" Hetaro justified with a smile.

"…" The crowd began looking at each other with surprise and vexation, weighing their answers.

"…My guess is that the snow will take its time to attract the Rabbit." Ryuzu then rationalized. "If I had to estimate it, you'll have until the sun comes down."

"But that's only until the end of Fire Time! We don't have that long until then…" One of the men announced while producing a red colored stone from his pocket.

"Then pack the elderly and children into our carriage!" Otto pointed to the carriage Patrasche and Frufroo were awaiting with.

"KUAAAAA!"

"GUAAAGHK!" The pair of dragons roared excitedly, eager to help.

"…But, where will we go? The barrier is still up." Another man doubted.

*RUSTLE-RUSTLE!*

"For the moment, where it's safest." Ryuzu ordered as her many clones came out of the woods and bushes.

*RUSTLE-RUSTLE!*

*RUSTLE-RUSTLE!*

*RUSTLE-RUSTLE!*

"Wha-?!" Mimi mumbled in surprise as they entered the village one after another, doubling the crowd.

"WU-WU-WU-!" Tivey and Hetaro exclaimed as well in amazement. "WUMBO!"

"…Se-Seriously, how many of you are there?!" Otto yelled in bafflement as well.

"The eyes…!" One of the villagers mumbled. "Elder…"

"If bad comes to worst, they'll protect you too." The main Ryuzu that was acting as the leader said as other three in black robes approached her. Standing side-by-side, Alma, Bilma, Shima and Delma pronounced their stance to help Garfiel. "We won't let Young Gar's efforts come to waste. We'll rendezvous at the Tomb's entrance."

As Otto and his group succeeded in gathering the residents of Sanctuary…

Echidna and Emilia witnessed during the continuation of the Trial how the half-elf demonstrated to Fortuna and Geuse her potential for the spiritual arts by calling forth a myriad of minor spirits. As the trio joked around, with Emilia suggesting to the embarrassed pair of elf and Spirit that they were like a mother and father, the figure of a stranger appeared in the trail leading to the village of Elior.

"Who are you?!" Fortuna shouted in anger at the white-robbed, white-haired stranger of golden eyes, all the while holding Emilia close.

"Before asking someone their name, isn't the polite thing to, first and foremost, introduce yourself, no?" The man proposed in response. "We've never even met each other, so we should begin in equal terms in such regards before forming a proper relationship. Why, then, must you ask my name first as though you were supposed to be my superior-?"

"For a man, you enjoy talking too much." Fortuna bellowed in response.

"For a man? You must not know many men if you think my predisposition to speech alarming. I don't quite like your attitude, you disrespect both my authority and myself in equal parts-"

"Stop talking with such arrogance. Who are you?!" Fortuna growled yet again as she and Geuse glared at the man.

"Heh." The man chuckled as his smile turned evil. "Within the Witch's Cult, I am regarded as the Sin Archbishop representing Greed. Regulus Corneas."

"Regulus Corneas…" Emilia clenched her fists in anger as she witnessed the recollection.

"The one described by the survivor of the attack during the hunt for Sloth…" Echidna commented.

"Felix identified his name, as well as Lye Batenkaitos, Gluttony…" The half-elf said in subdued frustration as she glared at the ground. "Those were the names written in the report Crusch handed to me before we left the Capital…"

"…" Echidna stood silent as she raised her hand, pointing at the road ahead. "She's not the only one here."

"Huh?" Emilia raised her head to gaze at the road once more. Before she had realized… Someone else had appeared alongside Regulus.

"Now then, hand over the seal and the key." In a gentle voice, a platinum-haired girl with an ethereal presence, dressed solely in a white robe tied by a blue string, ordered Fortuna and Geuse. "So that we may accomplish the Cult's most long standing wish-"

"PANDORAAAAAAAAAA!" Fortuna screamed in unbridled rage as she produced a rain of ice spikes. "APOLOGIZE TO MY BROTHER FOR WHAT YOU DID! BEGONE!"

*SHWWOOOOOOOOOOM!*

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

The spikes all pierced through their intended target; there was no doubt about that. Fortuna had killed someone… Except, she had not. The woman called Pandora, who had manifested behind Regulus while Emilia was not looking, was completely fine. Even though Fortuna had killed her, she was unblemished, sporting no injuries. As alive as the moment she had appeared.

What proceeded as Fortuna sent Emilia away was a battle between the two Archbishops, during which Petelgeuse absorbed from a small black box some sort of curse, making his eyes bleed. In return, he gained the disgusting and tenebrous power Emilia in the present had become acquainted with during the hunt for Sloth.

"The Unseen Hand…" Emilia murmured with terror from beside Echidna. "This is where that Pandora Witch pronounced him Sloth… Geuse…!"

"…" Echidna, however, remained silent as she refused to look at Pandora.

Following this, or rather, moving away from a conflict Emilia could know not the result of because she lacked such a memory, Echidna moved them to a scene from departure… Between a mother and her child.

"No! No, Mother!" Emilia cried pitifully whilst hugging Fortuna for dear life.

"Please, Emilia!" Fortuna attempted to argue. "I'll be back immediately!"

"NO! Mother Fortuna! You have the same face as Geuse! Don't leave me alone! I won't lie anymore! I'll keep my promises! I'll be a good girl! I'll be a good girl, I promise!" Through sobs and cries, Emilia pleaded.

"Emilia…" And Fortuna, cried too in response as she hugged the little one.

"Mother Fortuna… *Sob*" The floodgates finally opened as Emilia cried her heart out at the scene. "Ah… Mother Fortuna…! I…! *Sniff!* You really were my mom! Mother Fortuna! Mother Fortuna!"

"…" Echidna, still, would not say anything.

"You won't be alone…" Fortuna continued as both Emilias cried. "I'll always be with you, by your side. When you close your eyes and remember. When you hug and feel warmth on your chest. And when you speak and your voice echoes into the sky… I'll be there. We'll be together, always, always…"

"You are a liar! You lie! Mother is a liar!"

"I promise to you."

"Mother Fortuna…"

"Mother Fortuna…" Emilia and her child-self whispered simultaneously.

"You and I will always be together."

Following this, with the arrival of Arch, Emilia evacuated with the blonde elven man into the forest. Their hopes were banking on leaving with the sect of Geuse's followers by means of a carriage, or alternatively, the two of them would just run away. Regardless of those possibilities, however, the plan was destined to fail…

"Argh!" As they ran through the hidden paths of Elior, a cursed existence attacked Arch.

"Archie!" Emilia cried as the blonde man fell to the floor.

"The Black Serpent…" Arch growled with disdain as he stared at a black, poisonous mass within the shrubbery. "The calamity of sickness…"

"That monster…!" Emilia of the present growled as well as she witnessed Arch's infection. Her child-self remained unaware, but grown Emilia knew better, Arch had to lop off his leg in order to stand a chance at survival. "All of this… Pandora, Regulus…!"

"Your anger is showing." Echidna commented with indifference.

"How could it not?!" The half-elf stressed. "Seeing all of this…!"

"If you had remained blissfully oblivious to the Cult's doings, if you just had allowed Subaru to keep you in the dark…" The Witch of Greed mentioned. "Would it have been any better? Would your anger and tears have been reigned in due to ignorance?"

"It doesn't matter whether I would have kept silent or not, Echidna!" Emilia argued. "I know these people now! So… So I have the right to feel anger for them, do I not?!"

"…Spoken as though you really were a princess." Echidna made a disgruntled expression. "Is the Royal Selection finally getting to your head? Or is it because you need a tough front now that he won't be coddling you? Feeling indignation for others like this… You are acting a bit too much like him."

In the following scene, Emilia could do nothing but stare in impotence as her child-self ran away, leaving an injured Arch alone to attempt to fight against the living poisons of the calamity. Arch, however, was happy. As the poison consumed him, he smiled over the fact that it was he who was consumed by the monster and not Emilia…

As Emilia struggled with her past, Subaru's fight with Roswaal raged still…

*FSHAAAAAAM!*

*BOOOOOM!*

"Shit Roswaal!" Subaru shouted as he barely avoided a torrent of fire, the boulders and trees surrounding him exploding into smithereens. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you are trying to kill me!"

"Say dat fer yerself!" Garfiel pointed out as he recovered from the shockwave of the fiery explosion. "In my case, he really seems like he's trynna kill me!"

"What, you chickening already Garf?!" Subaru joked.

"As if! If my Cap'n is fightin', what right as his follower do I have ta give up?!" The boy smirked.

"That's the spirit!" As Subaru complimented him, however, his Spider-Sense perceived an attack from above their location. "Oh crap! ABOVE US GARF!"

"YEAH! I CAUGHT DAT!"

"UL FURA!" Roswaal cried as a myriad invisible cutting gales shot downwards, toward the pair of spider and tiger standing under him.

*DASH!*

*DASH!*

*SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!*

*SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!*

*SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!*

"CRUD-CRUD-CRUD-CRUD-CRUD-CRUD-CRUD-CRUD!" Subaru repeated and repeated as him and Garfiel ran away from the vortex of wind blades pursuing them.

"ANY HIGH-TECH, OTHERWORLDLY SOULUTION TA DAT CAP'N?!" The blonde boy running beside the Avenger asked in concern.

"NOT OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD!"

"You two are hopeless…" Ram, who was hidden and observing from a distance, determined a solution for their predicament. Silently and slowly, crouching atop one of the trees and blending with the sea of leaves, the oni maid raised her wand toward the distracted Roswaal. "Fura."

*FSHWOOOM!*

A small wind blade shot forward in the direction of her master's back.

*FWOOM!*

"Hmph!" But Roswaal instantly realized the origin of the spell, using his yellow eye to cancel the mana the moment it touched his skin and determining Ram's location. "So there you are, Ram!"

*ZOOOM!*

"?!" The maid stared in awe as her master dashed forward in the sky, flying towards her instantly while preparing a blaze of fire in his hand. "Roswaal-sama-!"

"GO-!"

*THWIP!*

*SNATCH!*

"?!" Roswaal was about to cast a fireball to incinerate Ram with when suddenly, something snatched him from the collar. "You meddlesome-!"

"Just a moment ago we were getting all chummy!" Subaru joked as him and Garfiel on the ground pulled on the web string, choking the mage. The pair was bleeding from superficial cuts dealt by the previously fired wind blades, but their frustrations with the Margrave far surpassed their pain. "Don't tell me you've lost all your interest just cause you like Ram so much!"

"Gannacks ain't just great cuz' of the mines! Just so ya know; I ain't handin' her ta ya so easily, ya fuckin' mime!" Garfiel laughed as he increased the strength of his pull.

"Don't think yourselves so-!" As Roswaal was about to incinerate the web, his hands shining in a rainbow of multicolored fire, Ram jumped above him.

*KA-KUUMMM!*

"HAH!" The maid grunted as she delivered a full force kick against her master's face.

"KHGH!" Roswaal gritted his teeth as he fell to the ground, to which Subaru and Garfiel took advantage of to rush at him.

*DASH!*

*DASH!*

"Alright! My turn ta make ya purple an' blue!" The blonde boy celebrated as he punched the clown laying on the ground.

"Don't forget me!" Subaru accompanied.

*SMASH!*

"KUAGH!" Roswaal moaned in pain as Garfiel and Subaru punched him simultaneously in the torso, breaking his ribs. "Tsk!"

*FUASHHWOOOM!*

*RUMBLE-RUMBLE!*

*CRACk-CRACK!*

"?!" Spider-Man and the boy, however, noticed with alarm how the ground under them began to tremble inexplicably. "Da hell?! What'd ya pull this time?!"

"No… This heat…!" Subaru noticed, however, it wasn't just that the ground had become unstable. From the cracks in the earth, heat was emanating. Roswaal's hands were shining red.

"It's a bit of a western martial art, you see… A palm strike capable of sending shockwaves through an object and directly towards the person behind it..."

"GARFIEL! CLIMB THE TREES NOW!" Subaru ordered to his companion in a panic. He remembered Roswaal's capability to shoot heat inside a target, so he knew what was about to happen, when you melt so much soil and rock in an instant.

"Ergh, fine! Right behind ya-!" As Subaru and Garfiel jumped from branch to branch towards Ram above them, an explosion followed.

*BOOOOOOOM!*

*BOOOOOOOM!*

*BOOOOOOOM!*

*SPLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!*

"WOAH HOLY SHIT!" Garfiel cried in surprise as the earth around Roswaal became a geyser of pure magma, shooting upwards as though it were an erupting volcano. "DAT CLOWN ALMOST ROASTS US ALIVE!"

"Roswaal-sama is not holding back…!" Ram had to cover her nose and squint her eyes as the fumes and heat shot upwards.

"No… And if this pattern follows as I think it will…" Subaru responded as him and Garfiel finally reached Ram's location atop the canopies. "He's about to rain the elements on us!"

*ZOOOOOOOM!*

And as Subaru predicted, Roswaal shot upwards, the highest he had ever flown.

"Oi, oi! What's he plannin' now?!" Garfiel glared in alarm and hatred.

"…No…" Ram frowned with frustration. "Roswaal-sama… He's planning on using his trump card!"

"Trump card?!" The blonde boy asked.

"It's the power he used when fighting Great Spirit-sama in Elior Forest roughly a year ago!"

"To fight Puck?!" Subaru shouted as he noted from his memories.

No wonder it was so powerful, that is the crap Roswaal pulled when fighting genocide-beast Puck!

"Don't fuck 'round!" Garfiel shouted. "If dat shit is as powerful as ya say, he'll destroy Sanctuary!"

"Maybe that's his objective…" Subaru whispered as he realized Roswaal's goal, the mage charging a rainbow-colored ball in the sky. "If he can't have what he wants…"

"Then he'll discard everything by his own volition…" Ram concluded regretfully.

"HUH?!" Garfiel grew aghast. "FUCK OFF! HE AIN'T EVEN WAITIN' FER DA RABBIT ANYMORE!"

"Tsk!" Subaru's fists trembled with anger.

This asshole… He really is thinking that by killing everyone, he can force me into a checkmate and make me loop!

"…I'm not letting you!" Subaru's eyes became fierce as he gazed at the mage.

*DASH!*

"CAP'N?!" Garfiel wondered in alarm as Subaru ran ahead, breaking formation.

"Barusu!" Ram shouted as the hero jumped from tree to tree, trying to get under Roswaal. "What are you doing?!"

"My best!" The Avenger shouted back in response. "I'll try to knock him out!"

Subaru's plan consisted of charging his lightning into a pillar of electricity, as he had done so in the past against Petelgeuse's possession and Ultron. The problem was, nevertheless, that Subaru had failed to produce any electricity whilst fighting Garfiel previously. He was spent after fighting the Synthezoid in Echidna's realm, so now it was a test of faith to call upon a power he could not muster at will.

All right… Please work! Please work!

"You can just stay there and appreciate it better, Su~baru-kun." Roswaal bellowed as the light in his hands shone the brightest. "If anything, it is the pe~rfect spot for your safety, to stay directly under me."

*FWOOOSH!*

"ROSWAAAAL!" Subaru screamed as he jumped upwards toward the Margrave.

"BEHOLD! A SIX-FOLD MAGIC!" Roswaal screamed as he produced a wave of ultimate elemental spells, intermittent lights of all colors shining brightly around him.

*FWOOOM!*

*SHWING!*

*BOOOM!*

*KA-BOOM!*

*ZOOM!*

"LET'S GOOOOOO!" Subaru cried as he mustered everything he had, digging into his very soul for any electric bolt that could trigger the pillar of light…

*SHWIN!*

Yet it was not electricity that answered, but something else entirely.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!*

"?!" Roswaal shook in alarm as a wave of golden light destroyed each of his ultimate spells in an instant, launching him across the forest as though a comet in the night sky he were.

*CRASH!*

*CRE~AK!*

*SLAM!*

"GARGHK-?!" The Margrave crash-landed hard against the trees down below, breaking them in half as the debris and rubble pierced through his battered body.

"HO-HOLY FUCK!" Garfiel's eyes grew amazed at Subaru's feat. "Ram, did ya see dat?! What was dat?! Has Cap'n pulled shit like dat 'fore?!"

"…Wha…" Ram was left confused by such power. "What even was that?! Golden light?! But Barusu's element is Yin... And his lightning is blue…!"

*FRWOOOOM!*

*CRASH!*

"GAGH!" Subaru grunted as he fell to the ground, landing on top of a destroyed tree and some bushes. "Augh… What… What was that…?!"

What the hell did I DO just now?! Golden lightning?! No! Forget the color! That didn't feel like electricity at all! That was-!

Subaru reminisced of Captain Marvel and Thor's feats, of currents of energy so absurd they could decimate entire landscapes in seconds.

"That was… Cosmic energy…" Spider-Man sweated nervously as he looked at his hands. "Right now, that was a blast of legit cosmic energy! Not just traces like Ultron detected, but an actual blast!"

*CRA-CRACKLE!*

"Huh?" However, in confusion, as Subaru attempted to summon the power again, all he produced was his normal blue electricity. "The golden light… It's not coming out…?"

*ZOOOM!*

"?!" The Avenger looked upwards in alarm once more as Roswaal took to the heavens again.

"Hah… Hah…!" The Margrave panted in exhaustion with burnt arms and broken bones. Subaru had completely cancelled his trump card and injured him in the process. "So… You still had another trick up your sleeve, Su~baru-kun…"

"…Had enough yet, Ros-chi?!" Subaru yelled. "Your best of the best failed! You can still give up, you know?!"

"Maybe…" Roswaal answered arrogantly. "Maybe I cannot kill everyone to force you back…"

"Huh?" Subaru followed Roswaal's gaze to Ram and Garfiel, who were recovering still.

"But so long as one of them perishes… Could you li~ve with that?" The clown glared at the hero.

"…No one's dying on my watch today." Subaru smirked defiantly in response to the threat. "I'll show you what an Avenger is worth for and stop you!"

Otto's evacuation plans and Subaru's showdown against Roswaal with Ram and Garfiel's lives on the line… The battle in Kremaldy was fierce in all fronts. In addition, as her friends gave it their all for survival, Emilia's fight raged on as well within the Tomb.

As the visions of Elior Forest's destruction assaulted Emilia's mind, with the clash between Arch and the poisons of the Black Serpent having taken place just mere moments ago, the Royal Candidate and the Witch of Greed bore witness to another dreadful sight.

"I'm glad it was you who found me." In a relaxed yet gleeful tone, Pandora whispered. "I found the seal already, but I knew not where the key was."

"W-What are you doing here…?" The little half-elf wondered with fear.

"Surprised, are you not?" Pandora answered with a smile. "Our goal was the seal here, so it was natural for me to be here."

"You…!" Emilia glared at the woman talking to her infant self. "That's the seal Mother wished to protect!"

"It is fruitless to protest, you moron." Echidna responded, disillusioned by her behavior. Emilia was not listening… "It's a memory… Your ire serves no purpose. You are becoming the memory…"

"No matter how one looks at it…"Pandora smirked gently."You are a Witch's daughter."

"W-Witch…?"The child Emilia mumbled with fright.

"Now approach the seal… And think of yourself as the 'key'."

The cruel Witch of Vainglory, for whom reality seemed little more than a plaything before the efforts of Fortuna and Petelgeuse, coaxed a scared and confused Emilia into approaching the seal. With a key that should not have been there in hand, and sweet words that sounded like mockery to her family's efforts, Pandora manipulated the frightened little half-elf into realizing herself to be the solution to a puzzle she had no means of understanding or knowing.

"I'm… The key…?" The present Emilia mumbled with anxiety as she looked at the hands of her past self.

"You can see it, can't you?" Pandora continued implying, breaking both the present and past Emilia.

The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The key. The-

"To save Mother. To save Geuse. To save Arch."

"…" In silent wonder, Echidna stared at Emilia. The silver-haired girl had lost touch with reality, forgetting her presence as she stepped towards the door, towards the seal, confusing herself to be in the past, a past long gone...

It goes in the door.

"It goes in the seal."

The key. The key.

In the seal.

"Open it."

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

Mother.

"I'll save you."

Mother. Mother.

"I'll open the seal."

Mother.

"Promise to me, Emilia." However, the echoes of a promise shackled Emilia back into her sanity.

…

Mother Fortuna…

Emilia gazed downwards, at the key in her hands… And under the key, the web-shooters Subaru had gifted her.

Subaru…

Both past and present had people depending on her.

"I-I cannot open it."

"I-I cannot open it." Emilia of the present and the past answered simultaneously.

"Why is that?" Pandora questioned.

"Because I made a promise!" The half-elf muttered as she regained control of herself, realizing she had fallen into the trap of becoming one with a memory.

"So you finally snapped out of it." Echidna mumbled indifferently.

"E-Echidna…" The half-elf looked at the Witch with alarm, her knees wobbling. "H-How long…?"

"You've been getting irritated and swept by the memories for a while now." Echidna responded. "I was sure you would fail again. Almost making everyone's efforts go to waste… Were you less prepared than you thought you were?"

"…" Emilia's eyes widened as Echidna's words sunk in.

"Regardless… You managed to snap back." The Witch of Greed sighed. "Now, will you stay put and face your past properly?"

"I…" Emilia was about to apologize as she gazed at the items wrapped around her wrists.

"If it's about a gift, I still have these."

"…" The words she herself had given as thanks to Subaru resounded in her head. "Thank you, Echidna."

"Doesn't sound like you are actually thanking me though… A memory within a memory, huh?" Echidna looked away from Emilia. "Just make sure you cease stumbling from here onwards, idiot."

Emilia looked on with newfound resolve as her memories continued, awaiting… For Pandora's next movement.

"So you trust in your mother's decision to not open the seal. That is the answer that reached your soul." Pandora whispered to child Emilia's ears. "I'll respect it. So, I shall also hope you will respect my decision of opening the seal despite your decision-"

"PANDORAAAAAA!" Fortuna screamed, breaking the quietude.

"You should pay attention to your surroundings before rampaging-" Pandora spoke back to Fortuna whilst shielding Emilia.

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

*STAB!*

"What?!" As Pandora fell, Fortuna finally realized the meaning of her words. "Emilia?! But… Why are you here?! You were supposed to-!"

"She was worried about you, so much so, she wished to save you." Pandora justified, much to Fortuna's dismay.

Following this, Emilia witnessed an unseen before brutality. Her beloved Mother Fortuna, slaughtering Pandora repeatedly in a hail of red icicles and snow prisons.

*BLAM!*

*SLASH!*

*STAB!*

"If she opens the seal, I promise we shall leave this forest."

*CRA-CRACK!*

*SPLURT!*

*SQUELCH!*

"A promise… What a wonderful word."

Pandora, ever the wretched being, continuously mocked the elf with kind and gentle words, a dance of blood and ice ensuing in which the Witch of Vainglory sang poems of unjustified cruelty as she met her demise again and again, all with a smile on her face…

"Emilia… Emilia…!" Fortuna cried. As her assault failed, witnessing in despair Pandora's apparent immortality, the elven woman hugged her niece tightly. "I'm so proud of you… You are my treasure!"

"Your show of love moves me and my heart." Pandora smiled as the silver and amethyst pair hugged. "It is just so marvelous… For two people to love each other."

"We won't open the seal." Fortuna commanded, standing up and glaring at the Witch. "You will die here, as an ice statue!"

*WHOOOSH!*

"I've finally caught you-desu!" As Fortuna threatened Pandora, Petelgeuse jumped above the seal, fully intent on assisting her in killing the threat.

"GEUSE!" Fortuna called for her companion.

"Fortuna-sama! Now, together!"

"AL HUMA!"

"DIEEEE!"

Pandora was caught in a pincer attack; there was no viable road to her triumph with the combined might of the elf and the Spirit!

At least… That was the hope the Witch of Vainglory would mercilessly shatter.

*SQUELCCHHHH!*

"…Blurgh?!" Fortuna grunted as blood escaped her body. Geuse's authority had punctured through her.

"Huh?!" Emilia mumbled in fear as her mother began bleeding profusely, falling to the floor.

"What?!" Petelgeuse's eyes deceived him. The woman he attacked was not Pandora at all, it was Fortuna.

"…Geuse?" Emilia, who had crouched beside her aching mother, cried.

"E-Emilia-sama?!" The Archbishop had to rub his eyes again and again before the revelation of his mistake.

"It was inevitable."Pandora, who was now standing impossibly beside Petelgeuse, justified his actions. "You were confused. That is all."

"N-No… That's…" Petelgeuse Romaneé-Conti shook his head in denial. It couldn't be possible, he would never attack Fortuna, he would never bath Emilia in her aunt's blood. He would never be so… Slothful as to confuse his enemy.

"It can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE-!"

The cultist had snapped… His attachment to reality had been severed.

"AH- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WHAT AM I DOING?! WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT HAVE I DONE?! IT CANNOT BE POSSIBLE! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! FOR WHAT PURPOSE?!"

"You did it all for love." Pandora explained to the broken man. "You forsake your soul to save those you love. Your actions were all born out of love. They are all the proof of your love."

"Love, love, love, love, love, love-!" Petelgeuse cried as he shed tears of blood.

"Exactly, love. Don't fear or regret anything." Pandora amusedly said while approaching the madman. "It was natural. The road was bound to lead here. After all…"

"Love, love-!"

"Your love was not a mistake."

In the sidelines, in the present, witnessing this abomination in human form abuse the broken Geuse… Emilia's eyes shed tears of rage.

"Love… Twisting his hopes like this…!" Emilia uttered as her lips trembled.

"…Control yourself." Echidna recommended.

"Yes… I know…" The half-elf lamented with impotence, staring in the direction of the dying Fortuna through the tears. "It is all… In the past now…"

"Emi… Lia…" Fortuna sorrowfully cried.

"Mother…"The child Emilia tearfully sobbed back.

"Brother… I'm sorry… I couldn't do… She'll be… Mad…" The dying woman mumbled incoherently as life escaped her breast.

"…I forgive you." Through her own pain, Emilia smiled down to the pained Fortuna, consoling her beloved Mother during her last moments. "You are my mother; you always took care of me… Keeping me safe. You loved me as though you rea~lly were my real mother, if not even more… Please, don't apologize. For anything… Because Emilia will always love you too… Mother Fortuna. I love you… I love you, I love you, I love you…!"

"…" In a moment of clarity before the end, Fortuna raised a hand to pat Emilia's head, regaining her smile but briefly. "…You are such a crybaby. I rea~lly… Love you…"

*THUD!*

"…" Fortuna… passed away in Emilia's arms.

"So? Are you finally ready to choose the hope of opening the seal?" Pandora gleefully asked Emilia as she held her mother's corpse.

After those words… it all became a blur for the little half-elf.

"…Die."

*WHOOOOOOOSH!*

*SQUELCH!*

*SPLURT!*

*CRASH!*

"DIE!*

*CRACK!*

*SCHWING!*

*FRWOOOOM!*

"DIE! DIE!"

*SMACK!*

*KRYUUUUSH!*

*KRA-KOOOOM!*

*WHOOOOOOOSH!*

"DIE! DIE! DIE!"

In a blizzard of red and white, Emilia repeatedly massacred Pandora over and over and over and over again. The blizzard intensified with each death, the temperature dropping and augmenting the impact indefinitely across the entire forest. The elves, Geuse's followers, the living poisons of the Black Serpent… Even after Pandora took Petelgeuse away, escaping from the horror in the snow, the blizzard did not cease. Emilia had casted an storm of absurd proportions, laying waste to Elior Forest… and turning it into the abode of the Frost Witch.

Emilia had frozen herself in the snow for a hundred years…

"And so, it ends…" Echidna mentioned as Emilia stared at her frozen self in silence. "If you wonder about the confusing nature of your memories, it is because she modified them."

"…" Emilia remained unresponsive.

"The Witch of Vainglory, Pandora… Her Authority is that unfair. That the world around her seems like child's play."

"…So I really was the one that froze everyone." Emilia looked around herself, to the forest covered in a thick layer of ice and snow.

"You seem rather serene at this revelation." The Witch of Greed pointed out. "Were you actually expecting this to be an answer for the surroundings, Frost Witch?"

"I wagered that could be an answer." The half-elf lamented. "Even though they were trying to help me… I froze them. I froze everyone…"

"And? What is your answer now?" Echidna wondered aloud.

"…"

"The purpose of this Trial, for you to see through it, was so that you could face your greatest regret. Having done that at last, what is your answer? Will you reject your past, deny it unsightly, or embrace what you've done?"

"…"

"Independent of your answer, you still did quite the horrible thing. You froze your people; your mother, your friends, your family. You made the decision to help them, but the empty ideal just backfired on you, dooming everyone. Say then… What do you have left after that?"

"…"

"My name is Natsuki Subaru!"

"Emilia-sama… Please… Save Roswaal-sama."

"And if I could make it up somehow? Make it up to you?"

"…You know that answer already, Echidna." Emilia smiled gorgeously. "My mother loved me, and I wanted to save her. I will not lie, if she was here with me, I feel everything would be better. I wish… We could still spend time together. I loved her that much."

"Then is there regret left in you? Do you regret your choices?"

"I don't." Emilia shook her head in denial. "I don't regret neither my promises nor keeping them. If there were regrets, they would be that I was not smart or strong enough. Nevertheless, I shall never regret keeping my promise to Mother. After all... Mother Fortuna was proud of me, in the end. I was her treasure, through and through."

"But you failed to save her." Echidna stressed. "Does that not mean you already lost your reason to fight?"

"…I might not have saved her, but what of the rest of my village?" Emilia argued. "They are still waiting for me, inside that ice. And so, it is my duty to save them."

"But the poisons of the Black Serpent still exist." The Witch of Greed argued back. "Even if you thaw everyone, they'll be far too sickly to save. How do you expect to save them then?"

"Subaru rea~lly was right in calling your Trials a punch in the gut, huh?"

"That's twice you have said that."

"All I'm saying is, don't be so pessimistic." The half-elf grinned gently. "I will save them, and they will all be fine. Then they'll get mad at me for not saving them earlier, and then… We can all laugh and cry together."

"Nothing but delusions on your part, just as the boy that dreams with returning home." Echidna glared at Emilia.

"I'd rather call it a happy future. Or maybe a happy ending?"

"Taking more and more concepts from him… Do you have no shred of respect or originality, you loose woman?"

"Am I really not allowed to take such concepts from Subaru?" Emilia's smile remained unaffected by Echidna's insults. "My mother and the villagers wanted to see the outside world. Geuse was my friend, OUR friend. And Subaru, along with everyone, is willing to help me reach the future I dream of. So… Just like the hero from across the stars showed me, I will show my people a world they would have never imagined before. One in which Geuse and Mother Fortuna could have walked in with smiles on their faces!"

"How convenient it is to use his image at every turn to justify yourself… Do you really think there is space for those people in such a world? Even after YOU froze them?" Echidna scowled.

"I'll just simply apologize again and again, so many times that they will surely forgive me!" The half-elf chuckled. "And then… I will show them a world that is afraid of them no longer. The world Mother Fortuna spoke of!"

*SHWOOOOOOOM!*

*CRA-CRACK!*

"I'll sing it to the heavens and beyond!" Emilia cheerfully chanted as the world of illusions broke around her. "The world my mother loved, I'll tell her how much I love it! How happy it makes me!"

"…So that's how you differ in comparison." Echidna shook her head as the image of broken universes and their own unhinged Emilias was shattered. "You won't succumb to your rightful persona, loose woman… You've proven to be an exception to that rule by instead being an obnoxious, arrogant, pedantic, egotistic hypocrite with delusions of grandeur. Your worst self imaginable across a myriad mirrors."

"I don't quite get your analogies… But I'm satisfied with who I am regardless!" Emilia claimed with hopeful eyes.

*CRASH!*

"And with that…" Echidna clapped lightly. "The first Trial is over. It was touch and go here and there… But somehow, congratulations on passing."

"U-Um!" Emilia raised her hand, wishing to ask a question.

"What is it, loose-woman-that-would-use-her-own-mother's-death-as-an-excuse-to-move-forward-with-her-dreams?"

"Oh, wow, I suppose I've finally gotten used to your derisiveness." Emilia mumbled.

"Is that all?" Echidna glared further.

"Ah, no!" Emilia shook her head. "I actually…"

"You are pressed for time, and the Trials take an hour roughly each…" The Witch of Greed read Emilia's intentions instantly as the light surrounded the pair.

"With Sanctuary as it is… Please, let me take the other two Trials right away!" The half-elf begged.

"So am I just some commodity to you? Telling me to test you again so one-sidedly…"

"Please, Echidna! It's an emergency!" Emilia pleaded while bowing. "This, too, is an important step towards my dream!"

"…You hedonistic…" The Witch of Greed grumbled as the light reached its peak. "*Sigh* Very well then."

"Ah!" Emilia smiled at the realization.

"If you so wish…" Echidna continued as her body became one with the light before Emilia.

*SHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

"Behold An Unthinkable Present."

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Hey, hey, hey! Guess who's back?! Back again?!

For real though, thank you for all reviews, kudos and criticisms these past few weeks I didn't update everyone. I should be returning to normal weekly schedule for now, so look forward to the new chapters.

I'm actually planning on releasing another chapter soon, which was originally part of this chapter. The original chapter was so long and contained so much stuff from the novels it kind of didn't feel like a fanfic anymore, so I decided to trim most of it down and then make it two separate chapters.

Without adding anymore… Yeah! See you next chapter!