"Oh, so it's you?" Echidna says as she sees the maid, approaching them closer and closer. The sound of chains could be heard.
"Beatrice-sama thought you'd be a threat so Rem kept close eyes on you." Rem replies as she appears from the forest, her form becomes more visible as she comes closer and closer. Like death appearing from the shadows.
"Oh so what now, you'll kill me because I took Natuski for a little walk?" Echidna said, dropping her act. She was preparing for the confrontation that is about to go down. Looking back, and setting Subaru to the side.
"I heard everything you said, and your miasma is as strong as a witch." Rem growled as the chain sounds got louder and louder, clang of chains upon clang of chains as Rem was now meters away from Omega, Echidna.
'Should have thought about that Chid-Chid!' Scolded Daphne, who got ignored by Echidna as she was composing herself.
"So, any last words dear guest?" Rem asks as her horn was now out.
"Satisfy me to the very end." Echidna said smirking, as if she was Elsa the Bowel Hunter. But it has been a long time since Echidna had a fight and now is a perfect time to test her abilities out, without showing herself as the Witch of Greed.
Rem grits her teeth as she now engages in battle with Echidna. Sending her morning star at Omega who just stood there still smirking.
And with that, from a distance, a strong gust of wind was sent in every direction. The sound of a metal object hitting its target resonated throughout the entire forest.
Meanwhile back in the village, Emilia and Beatrice were still looking for Subaru. Unaware of the current battle. A battle that may get Subaru killed.
"Subaru! Omega-san!" Emilia yelled as she frantically looked for them. Looking everywhere throughout the village. "Where are you!?"
Beatrice was just looking at Emilia, unamused as Emilia forgot that Beatrice was connected to Subaru since she was his contracted spirit.
"Could you stop with your act, I suppose?" Beatrice deadpan as she looks at the panicking half-elf. "Have you forgotten that Betty is connected to her contractor, I wonder?" She added, to which it caught Emilia's attention.
Emilia looked at Beatrice for a moment, until the information hit her.
"That's right!" Emilia said with a bright smile. "You could lead us to Subaru right, Betty?" She asks her.
"I told you not to use that name in fact!" Beatrice huffs as she wasn't enjoying being called by that by the half-elf brat.
She just sighs and gives Emilia the answer she wants. "Betty's contractor is in the forest in fact."
"What!? Isn't there still some wolgarms in there!?" Emilia asked in shock as she heard Beatrice's response. She already saw him before coming out of the forest, passed out being carried by Rem from before.
"Why would Omega-san do such a thing!?" Emilia frantically asks, her trust in Omega slightly diminished.
"That is something we could solve later in fact, for now let's get Betty's contractor back." Beatrice said, but as soon as they were about to head into the forest, the gust of wind had reached them.
It was like that of the explosion near Flugel's tree, when Subaru saved Emilia, for like the fifth time then.
"What was that!?" Emilia asks in worry as such force could only mean a battle is ensuing in the forest.
"Betty does not know, but whatever it is, it involves her contractor in fact!" The little spirit dashes into the forest, followed by a worried Emilia.
What they don't know is that what's happening deep within the forest is a fight between a witch and an oni maid. An unusual sight to see in their lifetimes.
"Give Rem's hero back!" She growls as she chases down the witch in a loli's body.
Echidna paid no mind and kept on running, jumping from branch to branch. Said branches were broken as soon as Rem's morning star tried to hit Echidna.
"Even for a maid you act too rashly." Echidna says as she dodges each hit.
At this point, Echidna is running with Subaru's slumbering body. Still not awoken from the spell she casted on him. The fact she could carry him even though he is heavier than Ryuzu's body amazes her.
'Even though I have been dead for a long time now, I still have some physical strength…' She thought to herself.
'But this is your clone's body…' Carmilla points out, only in turn to get silence as a response from Echidna.
"Come back here you witch!" Rem continues to yell. Bloodlust can be seen in her eyes. The very same bloodlust she has on one of Subaru's loops where Rem died because of Petelguese twisting her limbs and other parts of her body.
"COME BACK HERE!" She continues to growl. Hitting everything in front of her except the witch. Hitting branches, and even knocking down some trees in the process. The poor creatures of the forest, except for the wolgarm, were now fleeing the area as the carnage ensued.
Some poor wolgarms became collateral damages as they too got involved in the fight. Fighting both witch and maid, only to die before they could even make a scratch on them. Either via magic or morning star, several corpses of the wolgarm decorated the forest. Some even torn to the point only chunks of flesh remain, as they are unrecognizable to the eye that they were even a wolgarm.
The stench of blood is overwhelming thanks to the several deceased wolgarms, but still not powerful enough that would rival the witch's miasma.
Back to the chase, they were now heading into the part of the forest where Petelguese had died. Seeing no way to avoid this confrontation any further, Omega decides it was now time to see if she could still fight.
"Such shame we hit a dead end." She utters to herself as she places Subaru down. She then looks back, preparing for the morning star's approach.
"Finally caught you!" Rem growls from within the forest as she sends her morning star at the witch she oh hates.
With one swift response, Omega dodges the morning star. Jumping through the air, she then screamed "Goa!" sending a fireball at the maid. Considering the fact she is a master in magic casting, she used the weakest version of Goa, considering the fact she almost burned down an entire forest before she could even make it to the mansion.
The two went on with their clash, with Rem accompanying her morning star attacks with Huma magic, sending ice shards at the witch, along with the spiked ball of death. Meanwhile, Omega just dodges and fires Goa at Rem.
The only disadvantage Omega has against Rem is the fact she is nowhere near Rem's physical strength, considering her horn is clearly out and her offensive capabilities are currently enhanced. So right now, it is just a battle of attrition.
"YOU DAMN WITCH!" Rem shouts as she tries to hit her, but alas, Omega's agility is more refined than Rem's.
"That is not a polite thing to say to your opponent. Goa!" Omega responds, this time landing a blow onto Rem's arm. Burning a part of her uniform, and skin. Rem grits her teeth from the pain, but she continues to lash out spell after spell, one charging morning star then another.
Again and again they traded blows, but Omega was the only one that was able to dodge every attack, unscathed. All the while, Rem is riddled with burn marks, some parts of maid uniform burnt to the point it's black or to the point it's a hole that is left of it.
To the normal eye, it looks like Rem is getting beaten up by a child. But in reality, she is fighting a witch whose greed exceeds the amount of knowledge the world can hold. With her vast knowledge she can even predict people's attack style, and that is what she uses in this encounter.
Less of her mana, and more on critical thinking. As she has a new gate to learn and she knows how little mana she can expend before she runs out to even stand on her own. All the while, taking advantage of the maid's current primal state of rage.
"You missed me~" Echidna teases, making the maid even more mad at her opponent.
"DAMN YOU!" She hisses as she once again sends her morning star onto the witch. The flames of rage and hatred were burning in her eyes. The soft, gentleness and kindness once seen in those eyes were no more as she unleashes all of her fury upon one of the people affiliated with the cult.
Every swing, every shard of ice was filled with rage and fury. There was no elegance in this fight, only pure berserk rage against someone she barely knows. As she continues to thrash and swing her morning star, Omega successfully parries all attacks, all the while preserving her mana.
"DAMN YOU DAMN YOU DAMN YOU!" Rem continues to growl at the witch, sending everything she got at the witch, only nearly making contact with the witch. As she swung her morning star once more, it almost hit the witch, only an inch away from Omega's torso.
'Huh, so this is what it feels like to be terrified.' She thought to herself as her eyes widened with the sheer luck she had. If she hadn't barely dodged that strike, she would have said goodbye to her torso.
'Dammit Echidna! Don't get cocky!' Minerva reprimanded.
'Do you want our crystal to break?' Sekhmet sighs.
Echidna just ignores the witches for now as she was still in the middle of a fight. "Goa!" Another fireball heads towards the maid, only to be blocked by the returning morning star. The fight rages on as soon, a few people come to the scene.
"Huma!"
"Goa!"
"Slow down I suppose! Betty can't run as fast as you in fact!" said the little spirit, breathing heavily holding her knees. Like mother, like daughter.
"Do you want me to carry you Beatrice?" Emilia offers,to which the little spirit was left with no other option. Either she gets carried by Emilia, or she runs. To which she took the latter rather than the former.
And with that, carrying Beatrice on her back, they race through the forest, trying to see any signs of fighting or disturbance. So far, they have seen none.
"Where could they be, where could they be?" Emilia frantically looks around, trying to find any clues where Omega and Subaru went.
"They're within this forest, Betty could feel her contractor's life in fact." Beatrice said, trying to reassure the half-elf as she was not about to deal with another day of tears with the brat.
Until another burst of wind, strong enough that it would blow away a person with little to no grip strength, hits them.
"Looks like we're on the right track I suppose." Beatrice commented as Emilia now runs, as if there was a killer at their heels.
'Be alright, please.' Both girls thought as they raced through the forest.
As they continued on into the forest, the aforementioned bloodbath was what welcomed them in their way. The sight was disgusting for them as the chunks of flesh and blood were either from human origins or animal origins as it was unrecognizable.
For Emilia, her guts were acting up at the sight. Urging her to stop and then spill the contents of her stomach onto the ground. She holds it in then continues on her way deeper into the forest. Ignoring the stench and scene before her.
'W-What happened here…?' She thought as she kept on going. Rather confused and worried about Subaru's condition, considering this was in their path to him, so he had to be here earlier.
Gathering her courage and letting aside her doubts, she pressed on with determination. 'Please be safe, Subaru…' She hoped Subaru didn't get into the crossfire of the carnage she saw on their way.
As for the little spirit, she wasn't quite prepared to see a sight. She may have seen worse, yes, but the only thing that made this engraved in her mind is the stench of the place and the caked floor with chunks of flesh and such.
'Focus, I suppose!' She berated herself and quickly looked forward, not bothering to observe this one hell of a crime scene.
As they continued on for some time, they finally could see the end of the forest, nothing but a bright light met them in the end. But what they met in the end is not a peaceful sight. As soon as they enter the scene, they are bound to get involved.
"Subaru!"
As both oni and witch were still at each other's throats, they merely forgot the fact that Subaru was still with them. And there were several occasions that Omega would take advantage of this as she positioned herself close to Subaru as much as possible, making the oni retract her morning star and rethink her attacks.
"Stay away from him you damned witch!" She growls at the witch, trying to check an opening as she swung her morning star at Omega again.
"And why would I do that? You don't want to make a mistake and accidentally kill him, don't you?" She said with a smirk on her face. All the while fueling the flame of the rage within the oni.
Rem, in response, dashes towards Omega as she has had enough. The gloves are off and now is the time to get up and personal with the damned witch before her.
Seeing this, Omega decides to move once more, pushing her body to the limit just to live. Every swing of Rem's morning star, she successfully parries or at times, manages to catch the spiked ball that has her name on it.
"How about we talk about this with some tea?" Omega proposes, sarcastically as they continue on to clash, once an attack fails, they fall back for a bit then they clash with one another again.
"The only way to settle this is when you're dead!" Rem exclaims as she continues her attacks. With each hit blocked, she could see the smirking face of the witch, all the while her face showed hatred to an extent never seen before from her. If killing a witch cultist is her way of atonement for her sins against her sister, then killing a witch would not only achieve that but would rid one of the evils of this world.
"Why don't you cool your head so that we could have a more peaceful conversation?"
"I'd rather die than converse with a witch!"
"Although being called a witch is something that hurts me, let us be real, I am a witch. I am not a very bad witch."
"Lies!"
Now if the fight earlier was pure of berserker rage, now is more like a dance between Omega and Rem as they continued to try to give blows to each other. At one point, Rem did manage to land a hit on Omega, finally.
Omega holds her left shoulder as it was the one to be hit, due to her nature of being a clone, blood was not coming out of her, instead mana was coming out of the wound. Seeing this, Omega can't help but feel frustrated.
"You know… This is the only time I felt pain again…" She said as she tries to stop the wound from leaking more mana out, she really needed this mana to live, and to die, again, here would be a waste of time for her whole plan.
Rem did not reply as she only went forward towards the witch. Omega slowly wimps her way back towards Subaru. As mana continues to disperse, she grows weaker, and weaker. Until Rem was just above her, only to look back at Subaru, realizing she was nowhere close to him at all. Sensing this was the end for her, she closes her eyes.
"Any last words, dear guest?" Rem asks, pulling up her morning star.
"It was…Quite a shame to see everything I worked for had to end this way…" Echidna said, looking back at the maid, anticipating the end of her life, her short new life.
Rem said nothing and prepared to swing her morning star at her. Echidna just closes her eyes and prepares herself to reenter the afterlife. But before she could do so, something had stopped the maid from killing her.
"Rem!"
"Hold it I suppose!"
As Rem looks where those came from, she sees Emilia and Beatrice running towards them.
"Emilia-sama! Beatrice-sama!" Rem greets them and bows. Subsequently, her horn unmanifests itself as her nerves are calmed down with the relief that Emilia and Beatrice have now appeared.
"What are you doing!?" Emilia was the first one to lash out and ask the maid, rather panicking at the fact, their guest is wounded and is leaking out, mana?
"Hold on you brat! I told her to keep an eye on our beloved guest, in fact!"
"But why did she harm her!?" Emilia refuted. The fact Beatrice ordered to keep watch and track of Omega's activities was something she was not expecting.
"She is no normal guest in fact." Beatrice answers. "Her miasma is that of a witch." She added.
"Still though…!" Emilia tries to refute but Beatrice is not having it.
"Enough I suppose!" Beatrice said as she now walked towards Omega.
"Beatrice-san?" Omega utters, only to be met with healing magic.
Beatrice leans in closer to Omega to whisper something.
"I know who you really are in fact." She whispers into Omega's ear.
'Looks like she figured us out huh.' Typhon said.
'Seems so…' Minerva said, pinching the top of her nose's bridge.
"I also sense tha fact the others are here too, I suppose." She says.
'Well…Looks like our cover is blown…' Sekhmet sighs as she is too tired already after the fiasco that had happened.
"You knew from the start?" Omega asks.
"Of course, in fact." Beatrice internally had a smug look.
"That's a relief then."
"Welcome back, mother."
"My dear Beatrice."
And with that, Omega succumbed to her mana loss and was unconscious. Witnessing this, Emilia was in a panic.
"Omega-san!?"
"Don't worry, I have healed her in fact. She is momentarily unconscious, she'll wake up once her mana has been restored in fact."
Hearing that made Emilia sigh in relief.
"Alright, that's enough I suppose. I think that is one adventure for a day in fact." Beatrice said as she began to take her contractor back to his wheelchair. "I'll bring him back in fact, carry our guest back to the mansion I suppose." She said as she walked off with her beloved contractor.
A/N: Finally had the time to update this again, sorry for the long ass delays as my schedule literally went to hell as soon as 2022 entered, just like how 2022 is already going through hell. Anyways, do not expect that this would be updated that often anymore as really, my schedule is really making me suffer in different ways possible. Anyways, I shall see you again soon my beloved readers, thank you for your patience.