(Welcome to the second chapter, I made this chapter extra long because it might be like a month before I upload again)

Authors notes- there's a preview for the third chapter so make sure you don't skip it

Thanks for reading.

Second chapter prequel: A Looping Nightmare

In Subarus' old world, books, anime, manga, and even fairy tales were based on this fantasy-like setting he stood in. Most people who had watched and read these various stories could only dream of being in a situation similar to Subaru's. These people were referred to as "otakus", who watched and read many different kinds of anime or manga, they had weird fetishes and loved these forms of entertainment a little too much. Like those many "otaku" on earth, when Subaru first appeared in the capital he thought he could become the "savior" of this world, having extreme magic abilities and being "omnipotent" when compared to others. Yet here he was standing around with a worried look on his face after dying around eighty-eight times by a woman named Elsa Granhiert and watching "satella" chase a blond-haired girl named Felt for her insignia for the eighty-ninth time. As you can see, Subaru wasn't very talented nor was gifted anything. He was just your somewhat average person who somehow had the strange ability to come back to life at a certain point in time, no magic, no demigod-like abilities, just this cursed power he named Return By Death.

"I'm gonna save you," Subaru swore to "satella" once again, watching her run off down the street to chase after Felt.

By this point Subaru had tried everything he could think of to defeat Elsa, however, she was on a whole different level compared to Subaru, "satella", Felt, and Old Man Rom. Every time they fought her she played around with their lives until she felt like killing them. This infuriated Subaru; no matter how many plans he made, no matter how many times he memorized her moves, and no matter how many times he tried to train himself to defeat her; she still disemboweled him like butter.

"What the hell man, this woman is becoming an impossible obstacle for me..." Subaru said to himself.

he walked throughout the capital with the sound of passing carts and people of many different races walking past him, while he still wore that familiar tracksuit and sneakers walking past them getting glares from strangers from time to time. "Who knew it'd be this hard though" Subaru thought, reaching into his bag to take out the chips he'd bought from the convenience store before arriving in this world.

'Minus well eat them, so that old man doesn't scam me out of my chips again…' Subaru thought slightly angered, opening and eating the bag of nacho cheese Doritos that always brought joy to him during his late night gaming sessions.(yes I changed the chips, so what?) he almost cried when he ate the last chip from the bag realizing, should this attempt work, he wouldn't be able to eat any more of his favorite snack growing up.

"-I don't have time for this!" subaru said wiping his eyes and throwing his distraction into a nearby river

Subaru ten years later telling his story to his kids.

"And that children, is how I created pollution." (NOT CANON)

'I'm gonna have to ask for some help… I mean they should still have some kind of police in this world right?'

As Subaru continued walking throughout the capitol looking for any sign that there might be a form of law enforcement there, he came across a group of knights that were talking outside a bar.

"Wow that was quick, I didn't expect to find some…Knights?" Subaru thought surprisingly while looking at the swords on each of the knights' waists 'well I guess since this is a medieval-style world there would be knights instead of police…' he thought to himself out of self embarrassment

"uhh hello?" Subaru said in a very shy quiet tone as he approached the knights

the knights continued to talk.

"What the hell, are these guys deaf or something, I'm standing right next to them." Subaru thought, "Alright since they want to ignore me..." Subaru then took a large breath in and let all the air he could into his lungs

"HELLLO!" Subaru screamed at the guards causing them to put their hands on their ears

Guard 1: "Alright damn we hear you… stop screaming already!" He and the other five guards then turned towards Subaru with a very irritated face.

Subaru: "sorry I may have overdone it there," he said with his hands on his hips looking apologetic

Guard 2: "Well what do you want, kid?" The guard asks questionably looking

Subaru: "You see the info I'm about to give you is very important, so you may want to listen closely..." Subaru said as he moved closer to the guards and motioned for a huddle

Guard 2: "what kind of info could you possibly have?" The guard asked looking even more suspicious

Subaru: "tch it's just really important no one else knows about it come on, look at me what harm could I do?" Subaru said while looking at the guards like they were wasting his time.

Guard 3: "I don't see the problem with it," he said looking at the other guards

Guard 2: "FINE," he said as he and the other guards all huddled up with Subaru

All the guards and Subaru were now huddled up in the middle of the street. If you were walking by in the capital and saw them you'd probably think they were crazy, however, in this embarrassing scene Subaru told the guards all the information he had on when and where Elsa Granhiert would appear in the slums

Guard 1: "How do you even know this shit, Kid..." he said with fear in his voice

Subaru: "I got an anonymous tip from someone living there that he saw her walking nearby. Could you guys just go check it out already?!" He lied acting very irritated

"These guys must already know how dangerous she is huh?" Subaru thought as he gazed at the first guard who turned as pale as a ghost when he heard Elsa's name

Guard 4: "This matter is of the utmost importance. We have to treat it with care, young man"

Guard 1: "we're gonna have to report this to the royal guard," he said looking very concerned

Guard 5: "tsk, I could probably beat her myself," he said with a smug face as all the other guards looked at him like he was the dumbest person to ever exist.

Guard 4: "damn rookies," he said under his breath

Guard 2: "Thank you for reporting this kid, you've saved hundreds of people's lives." he said as he and the other guards ran off to report the situation to the royal guard.

Subaru: "now for the hardest part, waiting," he said as he waved the guards goodbye

Subaru then began to walk towards the slums with a large smirk on his face.

"She's finally gonna get what she deserves," Subaru thought "I mean the knights should be able to stop her right?" He thought, now worried if this plan would even work or not.

****A couple hours later(during sunset)****

Subaru walked towards the loot house to find a decent vantage point to watch the knights fight Elsa. Even though Subaru had seen this area many times before he didn't notice just how poor the living conditions were for these people. This area around him was disgustingly poor and begged to differ from the commercial part of the capitol; everyone here wore poorly made clothing that looked like they'd been worn continuously for at least a month straight and had a sad depressed look on their face that looked similar to an unemployed married man from Subarus own world, but these expressions he saw were far worse than that. Even though Subaru had died eighty-eight times straight, he could still feel that each one of these people had gone through more pain than he could ever feel in his life.

"How do they live like this and accept it?" Subaru thought to himself while looking at the children who were peering out their windows with ragged clothing and beat-up faces. "I wish I were strong enough to help the people of this world," he thought arrogantly, while clutching his fist "what am I even trying to prove anyway… I can't even save a single girl from death, let alone all these people..." Subaru said out loud in a depressed tone.

?: "Oh my, what a facial expression you have there" ? said in a sadistic tone

Subaru hadn't even noticed this woman who appeared seemingly out of nowhere, but he certainly knew who she was. Her name was Elsa Granhiert the bowl hunter, his greatest adversary in this fate, she was a notorious criminal in several countries for being a very skilled assassin who was very famous for her unique killing style of slicing her victims' bowls, something Subaru had experienced multiple times already. She was a very unique woman, who stood at a height of a mere five foot six inches tall, had purple eyes, black hair, and for a woman, she was very pleasing to the eyes of a man. The clothing she wore left little to the imagination of anyone who saw her, and the only thing that completely covered her at all was a large cloak that was lined with fur at the collar part. However, despite her scandalous clothing, the black-haired woman didn't seem to mind at all.

"I'm screwed… she's gonna kill me right here isn't she…I don't want to die like that again..." Subaru thought as he grabbed his belly, trembling all over his body. Even so, Subaru still tried his best to act calm in front of her.

Elsa: "Are you alright? You suddenly look terrified." but then Elsa looked at the placement of his hand on his belly... "Oh" "Do you know me? Did I take someone from you?" She said in her tranquil menacing voice

Subaru: "w-why would you think that?"

'Did she find out about my plan? I don't want to die again… I'm scared…' Subaru thought, drenched in sweat, looking at Elsa with his fear completely noticeable as he clenched his fist around his belly even more.

"saying something in such a frightening voice will make your-r beauty go to waste-" Subaru tried to say, but Elsa leaned in threateningly closer to Subaru's face.

Elsa: "keep trying to act tough… you'll be even better". As she said that she continued her walk; leaving Subaru in a shocked state.

'That boy… was completely exhilarating… oh I can barely control myself any longer… what could I have done to that boy to make him so scared… did I kill his parents and now he's out for revenge? Is he some kind of a hero? I have to know… ooh what a good face he had. I'll have to pick him up when this job is over…" ' Elsa thought to herself with a deep blush as she continues searching for her target in the slums

"It looks like she doesn't know about my plan… I'm safe, for now..." Subaru thought, still trembling from her short but frightening presence. "I gotta get away from this area; now that she's seen me she'll probably be looking out for me… I can't afford another mistake like this …" After that, Subaru made sure Elsa was out of his sight and left the area near the

slums.

About thirty minutes after Subaru's encounter with Elsa, he found a large, old-looking tower that looked like it had a good overview of the area near the loot house. It was a very small tower, but it was the only place that didn't have people actively living in it or doing work nearby it.

When Subaru entered the tower the smell of dust, dirt, and what smelled like rotting flesh entered his nose; he could tell this place had either been used to hide bodies or it had just been abandoned for a long time and some animals started living in it. The stairs on this tower were very rigid and unsafe, subaru felt extremely nauseous climbing it; feeling like he could fall right through its wooden staircase easily. When he got to the top of the tower not only could Subaru clearly see and hear what was going on around the area near the loot house, but there was also a view that he thought he'd only see in anime or movies. The sun was perfectly setting in the west and looked extremely beautiful as it set on the horizon creating the perfect scenery in the purple night sky. Subaru decided to bask in this aesthetic scenery.

"-huh?"

Subaru was interrupted by the sound of a gruesome scream that was followed by even more screams of men suffering and groaning in pain. When Subaru finally turned to his right and saw where the horrifying and dire sounds of death were coming from, he wasn't wasn't surprised or scared at all he was just… disappointed

"damn... Another failure, huh?"

Subaru sighed and closed his eyes in disappointment, sitting on the top of the tower above the horrific scene.

The cause of this outright massacre that was happening beneath him was none other than that bitch, Elsa Granhiert, who toyed with each one of the knights just as easily as she killed Subaru and his friends.

"To think that there would be this much of a power gap between Elsa and the knights…" Subaru sighed to himself again after having another one of his plans fail at the hands of the woman he hated most in this world. He'd thought the knights would be tough enough to imbue their swords with some kind of magic in order to defeat Elsa, but what actually happened was completely the opposite. Most of the knights had bare minimum magic use, and although they were very skilled with the sword, Elsa ran through each one of them like fodder; she even cut every single one of their belly's open just to flaunt her strength even more, even emilia was stronger than most of them.

"Wonderful! Beautiful! Please, let me enjoy myself more!" "GhhhaaAHH!" Elsa exclaimed in a voice similar to sexual arousal, as she drowned herself in the warm, fresh blood of her foes.

Elsa continued to slice the guts of the multitudes of knights that tried to attack her, bodies that had already reached the double digits had littered the streets with gore and blood as she continued to kill the group of unfortunate knights with ecstasy clearly written all over her face as a deep blush of red had appeared on it.

This representation of skill and precision only made the fact even more clearer to Subaru that he had only presented mere lambs to Elsa, as she was certainly stronger than what Subaru had marked her out to be. This made Subaru even more furious than he was before, but no matter how furious he was he still paled in comparison to Elsa's strength.

"This is pointless to keep watching, at this rate, it isn't like they'll get a lucky shot in either" Subaru said, much more frustrated at the result of his plan than before.

"I guess it's time to end this massacre"

It wasn't like Subaru didn't feel bad for the guards' sacrifices, but he wanted to end his plan here. In any case, if Subaru were to die here the guards would be resurrected anyway in the reset world. so, Subaru swallowed his fear and reached into his pocket to get the knife he stole off of the now-dead Larry, Dick, and Tom.

Subaru aimed the knife at his neck and-

"-Oh my, " Elsa said, raising her kukri blade high, licking her blood-covered lips. This black-haired had just gotten bored of slaughtering the knights and in her eyes found a new juicy prey to play with as she saw the red-haired man walk closer towards her.

"-Go no further," the fiery red-headed man said to Elsa heroically

As Subaru put down his knife and took a closer look, what he saw was a young man with flaming red hair and immaculate blue eyes. He looked lean but Subaru could tell this man was no pushover and for sure had a very masculine body type when compared to other men under that regalia of his. At his waist Subaru found a sword that was larger than the rest of the other guards, however, Subaru just passed it off as a custom sword or expensive sword. For his appearance, Subaru found him to be a very attractive man that no woman could or would ever ignore(which sort of pissed him off a bit), but out of all these things, Subaru could tell this man was different from the rest of the guards as he approached the sadistic black-haired woman without even a fragment of fear in his eyes.

"Sir Reinhardt!" said a random guard who was extremely surprised that the knight of knights would appear in the middle of town

"Everyone, please withdraw from this battle. That woman is most definitely the Guthunter. Our sacrifices already number too many." The heroic knight closed his eyes in sorrow "I don't want that number to increase" Reinhardt said in a pitiful tone and opened his eyes and looked at the trembling injured knights and uninjured knights who all looked at him in joy and confusion.

"Why couldn't I have gotten here quicker…" Reinhardt thought now directing his anger toward Elsa for mindlessly killing all these brave knights.

As Subaru watched from the tower, all he could think of was how elegant this red haired man named Reinhardt was; everything Reinhardt said and did was perfect for the situation he was in. the complete opposite of him.

Reinhardt: "My name is Reinhardt Van Astrea of the Sword Saint bloodline. I often feel crushed by the expectations."

Elsa: "Wonderful! Excellent!"

Reinhardt: "You are the Guthunter correct?"

Elsa:" YES, I most certainly am. Oh my, what am I to do? I need to be doing my work, but now I'm face to face with you."

Both of them stare at each other with their own battle stances, and just by one look you could tell both of them were prepared for death in this fight along with that it's been molded in each of their minds that they must fight to kill the other opponent or the battle will not end.

Reinhardt: "If this were a normal fight id ask you to surrender, however-"

Elsa: "You faced this massacre and told me that you'd spare me? How very kind of you."

Reinhard: "no, I agree with you, for me to spare you now would make the brave knights that fought here turn in their graves. So, don't worry, I will not ask you to put down your weapons."

Elsa cleanly slices the head off a dead knight in order to make Reinhardt furious, but he just responds by shaking his head.

Reinhardt: "A sword please." He reaches out his hand to a nearby knight that handed him the sword off his waist.

"Please avenge them, Reinhardt-sama"

Reinhardt just nods his head at the knight and walks towards the black-haired woman.

Elsa furrows her brow at the sword he's using, but she decides to ignore it.

Elsa: "Oh my, you're approaching me? How unexpected."

Reinhardt: "I can't avenge my fellow knights without getting closer"

Elsa: "Alright, come as close as you like then." she said with a deep blush on her face as she walked toward him as well

"This seems… familiar…" subaru thought

Light… that's all subaru could see now. The last thing he remembered was reinhardt's sword turning a bright blue before everything in the surrounding area was utterly and completely destroyed.

"Elsa… didn't even have a chance…" Subaru said still blinded by the immense sheer power reinhardt emitted onto Elsa.

"Finally…'satella' is safe…" subaru said as tears began to fall down his still shocked looking face "-huh, I'm crying?" Subaru wiped his tears away but he still couldn't stop sobbing…

Meanwhile in the slums below him

As the smoke cleared, Reinhardt and the other knights were seen frantically looking for Elsa because she had disappeared right before the massive explosion.

"Search the area." "Set up blockades so she can't leave. We mustn't let the guthunter escape!" a general said as the knights all scattered to different areas around the slums

'So, she dodged that attack? She truly lives up to the name she's made for herself.' Reinhard thought, walking around the slums searching for Elsa. Until he noticed something in the corner of his eye

'what's a child doing around here? Didn't the general order for everyone to evacuate?' Reinhardt thought to himself when he saw a boy dressed in strange clothing run past two buildings

******A few minutes earlier******

'Why won't the tears stop?' Subaru thought to himself as his body continued to let out stress and pain he'd been straining on himself all this time.

Out of all this time Subaru spent in this world, right now he was the angriest he's ever been. Elsa had slashed Subarus' stomach eighty seven times and every single time Subaru cried out in pain for help, screamed, fought, and watched satella die next to him. Yet, randomly this red-haired knight shows up out of nowhere and effortlessly defeats Elsa with one strike of another soldier's sword

How could a man like this exist and he didn't know about it? It seemed as if all of Subarus' suffering was for nothing when he looked at Reinhardt's strength.

"Is this what this world calls a hero?" Subaru said, wide eyed, staring at the ground as tears still flow from his face.

"A MAN WHO FIGHTS VILLAINS JUST BECAUSE HE WAS IN THE AREA, IS CALLED A HERO?! …. Where was he when I needed help? WHERE WAS HE WHEN SATELLA NEEDED HELP?" Subaru screamed, as he looked at the ground beneath him.

He completely detested this man named Reinhardt who called himself a "hero", and in Subarus' eyes he was nothing more than scum who allowed satella to die because of his negligence. Although Reinhardt had his reasons to show up late, Subaru selfishly claimed these things about Reinhardt to avoid his own faults for not approaching the knights before. Subaru didn't know though, he thought he was doing the right thing, pinning all the blame on Reinhard for his and satellas deaths in the loot house.

"He let her die…"subaru said insanely

"… he did this," he repeated.

"It's the knights job to protect everyone in the capitol… So why couldn't he have killed Elsa before…" At this point he was just denying all logic behind Reinhardt's reasoning, but Subaru didn't care. Reinhardt was everything Subaru wanted to be when he entered this world, he had power, looks, people who respected him, and most of all overwhelming strength. He naively thought that Reinhardt was lazy and was misusing the power given to him by this world by allowing people like Elsa to exist

"all the evils of this world could be erased by him so why…. Why hadn't he killed Elsa yet…" subaru thought to himself

Subaru wiped his tears and stood up from the kneeling position he was in and looked at the rest of the sunset that he originally came to watch.

"..." Subaru looked in the direction where the silhouette of a bloody Elsa, who was supposed to be dead, was crawling to a little girl in a hoodie.

"...why isn't she dead yet…" subaru thought, as he started to become furious with every second he saw her clinging to her miserable life…

Subaru slowly knelt down and picked up the knife he'd previously tried to stab himself with and looked at Elsa with a murderous glare.

"How come she's still alive…" Subaru asked again as he began to walk down the wooden staircase of the tower.

As subaru approached the gate of the door to the tower he was in, he only had one thing on his mine the whole time, he wanted to kill elsa, he wanted her to feel as much pain and despair as he did, he wanted her to cry and beg for her life just like he did, he wanted her to make her feel helpless and alone in the world, just like he did, he wanted her to die, just like he did.

Subaru began running towards the area where Elsa was, full speed, with his knife and bag of groceries in his hands and nothing but determination to kill Elsa in her weakened state.

Present with reinhard

As Reinhard ran after this strange boy he noticed the knife the boy was carrying.

"He wouldn't be thinking…Young man!"

Reinhardt caught up to the young boy and grabbed his shoulder

"Young man you can't defeat her, even if she may be weakened at the moment there's no way you can kill her with that knife. Now would you be so kind to-"reinhard said but was shocked when the boy turned to look at him

When reinhardt finally got a good look at the young man's eyes he saw. overwhelming hatred, at the moment, he didn't even know if it was directed at him or Elsa.

Reinhardt: "Young ma-" he tried to say before the strange boy shook his hand off his shoulder

Subaru: "let me go…sword saint..."

Reinhardt: "I cannot allow you to leave unaccompanied after the look you just gave me. As a knight of this country I have a duty to protect the citizens from harm, even from themselves" reinhardt said as he reached down to grab subaru's knife before subaru jerked his hand away

Subaru: "stop it already…" he said in a low voice.

Reinhardt: "I'm sorry?" He said, suggesting that he didn't quite hear what Subaru said.

Subaru: "STOP TRYING TO SAVE EVERYONE WHEN YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T…" he screamed at reinhard causing reinhard to back up a little.

Reinhardt: "what do you mean? all I'm trying to do is stop you from fighting a battle you can't win"

Subaru: "I'll decide that myself, I don't need a worthless hero like you to help me…" he said as turned around and started walking away again

'i'll make sure she's dead myself you did your part… now get the hell away from me reinhard' subaru thought as he walked away before feeling Reinhardt stop him by grabbing his shoulder again.

Reinhardt: young man, I don't know what's going on your home, but I understand-

Subaru: "YOU UNDERSTAND NOTHING, YOU LET ME AND THE ONLY GIRL I LOVE IN THIS WORLD SUFFER SO MANY TIMES… WHEN YOU COULD HAVE JUST KILLED ELSA EARLIER…" he screamed at reinhardt again causing him to look down

Reinhardt: "…I don't understand what you're talking about… I'm the hero of this country and I have certain duties to attend to. I don't have the time to-" yet again he was cut off by subaru

Subaru: "some hero you are, you let your duties as this nation's "hero" get in the way of doing what's right for the world. A man with your kind of power should have solved all this mess already, but look at you. You're busy talking to a wandering citizen when you should be finding Elsa. You're a hero alright, but that's all you'll ever be." He said as he ran off away from Reinhardt

Reinhardt stood in the middle of the slums completely shocked at the boy's words. Even though the young man arrogantly said them, Reinhardt couldn't deny they weren't true. All of Reinhardt's life he'd been following the rules of his country and became the "Hero" Lugunica wanted him to be. Everyday he'd spend his time writing reports fighting small villains and occasionally saving people from large threats such as the witch cult or actions caused by Mabeasts left over from the time of the witches. Reinhardt thought he was doing enough for his country, but this young boy gave him a perspective he failed to see through this short conversation. Reinhardt was never doing enough, thousands of people were homeless and dying because of money and food. Even more people died or were forgotten because of the three great Mabeasts and the mysterious witch cult. Although these things were apparent before now, he didn't see how much this "duties to my country" thing was holding him back. In this moment Reinhardt made a change in his life he could never go back from because of this boy whom he didn't know the name of.

Subaru ran through the slums looking for Elsa on his two feet. Knife in hand he everywhere around the area he saw her in for at least 2 hours

"Where could she have gone in so little time…" subaru said panting as his running halted from exhaustion

Subaru started to walk around extremely furious that Elsa got away from him.

"Why… she was right here… DAMN IT"

subaru said as he punched a nearby destroyed wall

"Why are you so angry?" A little girl with a blue braid and black hoodie asked subaru

"Oh uh-no particular reason…" subaru said as he showed her a fake smile to ease the tension between the two of them

"Well… my big sis asked me to grab you, if you don't mind try not to squirm too much or you might get swallowed by accident" the little girl said with a smile

"-huh?" Subaru said before seeing a large shadow behind him. Then immediately he was lifted into the air and thrown into the mouth of some creature.

" Well that went easier than I thought… too bad…"

Preview for next chapter:

Subaru wakes up in a room completely black that wasn't the familiar torture room he was accustomed to.

"Where am I?" "What is this place?"

Subaru is hugged by black shadowy arms that spread all over his body in a uncomfortable feeling

"Aishiteru…

Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru,

Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru, Aishiteru"

"Love me, accept me"

Pls leave a review and comment to let me know how good I did this is my first time writing a 5000+ words chapter so I'd appreciate any feedback or changes you think I should add.