Chapter 1
Through the screen of glass, a moving picture is shown. Sitting in their comfortable seats, the occupants who were long since mesmerized by the sounds and sights, continued to watch. But no matter how comfortable the seats, the lighting or the temperature was, for these viewers it only served to further make them uncomfortable. No one knew how long they had been in this place or how long they will be, but most didn't care about that anymore. Unfortunately, it wasn't just them alone who didn't care, but also the auditorium, as it continued to show one cruelty after another.
A completely snow-white landscape is shown . Anywhere you looked, there only remained a completely snow filled land.
In this lonely and desolate place with no one else in sight, one person walked needlessly.
With Sanpaku eyes and black hair that was swept back, the young man continued walking while wearing an outfit that was neither suited for the cold nor for what was about to come.
Drawn by the sight of a cute rabbit with a horn, he stopped with confusion.
"A rabbit?", so he spoke out loud with eyes that had lost their shine.
"...NO! No,no,no, that is …"
"Ah! Can't you see the godaam horn pal!"
"Run, big bro! Run please!"
" This cannot be….. I suppose. Not like this…."
"Why is there a rabbit here?", while he said that question to no one in particular, the rabbit innocently drew near.
And so, maybe in order to pat the rabbit, he reached out his hand.
"Stop! Just Stop Subaru-kun.."
"Cover all the young ones's eyes and ears right now! …..And everyone else should just look away…"
The very next moment, the hand he put out was dismembered with a repulsive noise.
The boy could only let out a bewildered voice, as his hand dropped to the snow-covered ground, dying it red.
Stepping back in complete pain and agony, he looked towards the cause of his lost arm and was met with the same rabbit who now had glowing red eyes.
As the rabbit continued to nibble on his chopped off finger, a horror-filled musical score started to suddenly fill the theater.
The young boy's face contorted in fear and agony. But before he could be allowed to do anything but scream, his foot was bitten off as two additional rabbits revealed themselves from under the snow.
Having lost his footing, the boy fell on his back and continued to helplessly hyperventilate.
And much to his horror, the prey was instantly surrounded by a countless amount of palm-sized predators.
Most of the audience was left speechless at such a cruel development. Others were screaming and thrashing around. And some others couldn't help but expel the content of their stomachs.
"...How the hell can this commoner remain sane after this…"
"No, no….because I made snow fall according to the instructions…this,this is the result?".
Wasting no time, the starving predator fell upon the boy with their massive numbers. Ripping apart his limbs, his skin and even entering his body, the great rabbit continued to consume him with its sharp teeth.
This cruel consumption only elicited the blood curdling screams of its prey.
And as the screams continued to roughly strike one's eardrums, the listeners could only reply with their own despair-filled screams.
…..
For all the members of the Emilia camp, this was an unusual day. They were all outside the freshly constructed mansion.
"OK, with this we are prepared to make the journey to the fabled city of Pristella. Isn't that right, my future wife and queen, the lovely Emilia-tan?"
"Eh? I never said I would became Subaru's wife yet. But yeah, I think we are ready now Subaru."
"Ouch! Have I just been rejected again!?"
Such was the very common interaction between the half-elf and her knight. Overlooking all this were the other members of the camp who were currently divided in two groups. First was the group traveling to Pristella, at the invitation of Anastasia Hoshin. And the other was the one setting off for the meeting of the western border lords.
Namely the members present here were, the royal candidate Emilia, the great spirit Beatrice, the internal affairs minister Otto, the shield of Sanctuary Garfiel, the mixed-blooded maid Frederica, the cute junior maid Petra, court magician Roswall, the useless maid Ram and last but not the least, the spirit knight Natsuki Subaru.
"Well, time to head out I guess…", muttering this, Subaru naturally looked towards a certain window from outside the mansion. His longing gaze towards the occupant inside wasn't left unnoticed.
Shaking this off, he continued, "Alright everyone. Lets head off!".
But the moment these words left his mouth, a change occurred.
SNAP!
And when the sound died out, every member had disappeared.
"Anastasia-sama. How are the preparations coming along?"
"Ah , Julius-kun. I just sent out Joshua and Hetaro to make some finishing touches. Well ,considering that invitations were sent out to every single camp, it would be interesting to see who shows up and who does not. But we are most definitely going to be meeting with the Emilia camp and the Crusch camp at the least."
Present inside a room of the inn in Pristella were the members of the Anastasia camp. Julius, Trivey, Mimi, and Ricardo were all awaiting the arrival of Anastasia's guests.
"Hmm, now that Subaru is not only a knight , but also has apparently contracted a great spirit, I am indeed very excited to be able to meet with him again. I cant thank you enough for this opportunity, Anastasia sam–"
SNAP!
" I Caught you, Felt-sama"
"Argh! Ah ,well its pointless anyways!"
"That is not true at all, Felt-sama. In Fact, I believe that you have definitely become way faster than before."
"Its that humble nature of yours that is even more annoying !"
"I am sorry, Felt-sama"
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
A blond-haired young girl holds her head in frustration, as she shouts at the red-haired handsome man beside her. Both of them are standing on a tree-top, a couple hours away from their destination, which is Pristella.
"I am very surprised that Felt-sama decided to accept Anastasia-sama's invitation"
"Heh! You think I wanna be stuck forever in that Astrea mansion. This would be a nice change of pace. Not to mention, I also need to know about what that scheming fox is planning now"
"Felt-sama, you need to address them properly-"
SNAP!
"Crusch-sama, are you sure we should be going to Pristella nya?"
"I know you are worried about me Ferris, but this is something we have to do. Not to mention if the information about Gluttony is on the line, then all the more so".
"Crusch-sama..". While replying despondently to his liege, Crusch Karsten, the healer Felix Argyle expressed his distress about this journey. "If we have no choice but to confront that detestable witch cultist and endanger Crusch sama as a result , then maybe it is better if her memories….".
"Crusch-sama, Ferris-dono, unfortunately we would need to stop our carriage here as the ground dragons are exhausted". So came the voice of Wilhelm Astrea that unintentionally interrupted Ferris's monolog.
"That is fine, Wilhelm-dono. We would arrive slightly late, but it is inconsequential".
SNAP!
"Hmm, how dare mere peasants make a scene on the road which mineself travels upon. Schult and that drunken red-haired fool , go take a look and competently deal with the issue right now".
"The nerve! I am the deputy commander….well whatever.. Schult needs the help anyway."
"Yes! I understand Priscilla-sama! I shall do my very best!"
With that, the pair of Heinkel and Schult, steeped off the carriage to deal with the road block. Watching from his seat, Al couldn't resist at seeing them as a father-son duo, especially considering how Heinkel acted towards the shota-Schult.
"By the way ,Princess. What are we going to Pristella for?"
"Al, my intentions are not for commoners to see through. This world and my destiny is compelling mineself to go to Pristella. I already have seen that something very interesting and amusing will take place."
"...I just hope its not something dangerou—".
SNAP!
Just like that, with a loud snap, everyone was mercilessly taken away from their plane of existence and dumped in an bewildering establishment. The first obviously noticeable objects, were the lavish and expensive seats. They looked comfortable enough to make Mimi and Petra perform an instant jump on them.
The seats were all spread and attached to the ground in multiple ascending rows. On the ceiling, was a lighting system that this world's occupation had never seen before. In fact, Anastasia had already started to mentally memorize everything in this structure.
The left side had a wide and long hallway, with multiple rooms attached to its sides. But upon clear inspection, it is revealed that the hallway is a never ending phenomenon. Something that greatly shocked mostly everyone was the fact that they could not sense any magic interference whatsoever. This also meant that no mana at all was present inside this room.
At the back wall of this establishment hung a giant painting. That there were five distinct figures depicted in it was obvious to everyone, but their features were blurry and could not be unraveled. The only thing they could see properly were bold words that read, PHTHONUS. Even though the meaning of the word was lost on everyone, they could still somehow feel the overwhelming weight behind it.
Contrasting to the left side, the right one only had a transparent huge box like structure embedded inside the wall. But the main point of interest for everyone were the objects inside them.
"That's …my dragon sword, Reid…"
"How dare you take away my yang sword from me, bastard"
All of their weaponry and other equipment such as the spirits of Julius, were now helplessly locked inside. This of course further aggravated their suspicion. And another development shocked them even more.
"Big-sis! Why the hell are you here?"
"Eh! Felt-chan!..."
"If it isn't Emilia-sama and the others."
"Crusch Karsten, Felt , Emilia and even Priscilla Benedict. I had expected to meet some of you but certainly not here and not in this manner…"
"Ha! If it isn't the four foolish commoners."
The encounter of the five candidates had occurred in an unforeseen manner.
"Suba-Subaru! Wake up I suppose!", approached the voice of great spirit Beatrice. Upon listening to that worried input, everyone turned to look at the sleeping body of Natsuki Subaru.
Even after the reassurance from Ferris who proceeded to check the boy's state, the Emilia camp still expressed their worry, recalling the precedent case of the 'sleeping beauty' and the possibility that Subaru could be affected with it.
With ever growing suspicions, everyone simultaneously decided to take action. But no matter what they did, the unknown material that made up this structure simply absorbed it all.
"Felt-sama! None of my divine protections work here!"
"Ehhhh!"
"Ohhh myyyy, it seeems that I cannnnnot usee maagic at all!"
"Eh! Roswall-sama!?"
While such surprising discoveries were being made one after another, a tearful reunion decided to take its place.
Out of nowhere, with the blink of an eye, appeared the blue haired maid who was now shockingly awake. And as she appeared, so did all the memories associating her.
"Re- Rem!"
"Nee-sama?"
As the touching reunion and the inevitable explanation of what had happened to her followed, a different reunification was also taking place.
"Crusch-sama, you ….could it be your m-memories?!", to this question posed by the healer, he received an affirmative. And while these moments drew the attention of everyone, their kidnapper decided to introduce them self.
With a voice that rang right inside their cerebrum, the abductor introduced itself in an adrogynous voice. Introducing itself as Overseer X-01, the being informed them that they were present here in order to watch the story of the sleeping child.
It had offered them Rem's awoken state and Crush's memories as an incentive to start watching. But the rest of the audience also knew, that they were left with no real choice but to do so.
And yes indeed, they took their preferable seats and started watching something that would affect their lives henceforth.
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…..Chapter 1 end
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Author's note
Yo its me the author. So, now with the basic setup complete, I am going to be working on finishing chapter 3 of what would now be considered as Phthonus cast react to wrath-if. Unfortunately, life pulled out a screw-your-plans card on me, so I most likely will not be able to upload this week.
But now that I think about, the hiatus for that wasnt even long enough to be considered a hiatus huh.
What's probably going to happen is this. On good weeks, I am going to upload if-story and on bad weeks it's going to be this.
Anyways, as for this fanfic, I am most likely going to speedrun through most of the reactions and also focus of developing X-01.
I don't really consider this chapter to be good, but still give me your reactions.
SNAP!
