2: You seem trustworthy.

I lurch in place, muscles spasming a bit and eyes shooting wide open as I'm thrust back into my body. In my ears I can hear the echoes of something - a crooning, haunting song, as if from the mouth of a banshee. My heart clenches up as the witch's miasma settles around my frame.

"Fou!"

The faint pressure on my chest increases as Fou jumps to his feet - it seems my reset point finally changed again. I've been looping back to the day of my return to Earth for a while now, but that seems to no longer be the case.

From his perch atop me, Fou kicks his feet a bit and shakes his fur like a dog trying to dry off, his nose crinkling. That's the [Witch Factor] for you.

"Fou kyu!" he yips angrily at me.

"Hey, I don't control it, so don't blame me." I say, shaking my head as the critter scurries up to my shoulder, allowing me to sit up. Huh, is he less heavy when he's awake? That's odd.

"Ah! You're awake then, Senpai?" Mash says from behind me. "I don't really see why you'd sleep in the hall, though… could it be that you're the type of person who can't sleep unless he's on a hard bed?"

I turn to look at her, standing and stretching as I do so. "Nah. While I've gotten used to sleeping in all kinds of weird places, my favorite was actually a fluffy Western-style bed that I used for a while." The beds at Roswaal's manor were really something else. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past the guy to have invented some kind of spell to make them that fluffy. He sure as hell had the time.

"Anyway, sorry if I got in your way or something. That weird scanner thing at the entrance knocked me out cold." I say with a chuckle.

"Oh! Yes, I've heard it can do that to people who don't have much experience using their magic circuits… still, I suppose that makes you the newest Master candidate?"

"Yes! Master Candidate number forty-eight, Natsuki Subaru, reporting for duty!" I say, giving a mock salute.

"Fou!" protests the little dog-squirrel as he scrabbles to maintain his perch on my shoulder.

"Oi, you're the one who chose to sit up there. What did you expect, for me to just not use my arms?" I retort.

"Huh. Fou-kun is being really friendly with you, Senpai. Did you have some kind of treat stored away in your pockets for him?" Mash asks curiously.

"No, he just decided all on his own that I'm his seat now." I say with a shake of my head. "Well, it's not like I'm not used to it. Just about every animal I've met has either decided that they love me or that they want me dead on first sight. Glad it's the former with this little guy."

I pet his head a little, and then his head abruptly snaps to the left as he gives a little sniff. A split second later, he leaps to the floor and scurries away. "...And there he goes. What a strange creature." I mutter.

Mash gives a small smile. "Yes, he does that sometimes. Just wanders around."

From behind us, I hear footsteps. "Ah, there you are, Mash. That won't do, you know, wandering about without permission…" says Lev.

A brief introduction later, Lev makes to lead us to the command room. But… Now would probably be the best time to try the direct approach, right?

"Professor Lev. Mash. Can you hold up for a second? I have something important to tell you guys." I say.

Lev glances at his watch. "We've got a few minutes to spare. What's the issue, Subaru-kun?"

I sigh. This is going to be a tough sell. "Listen, I know this will sound crazy. And absolutely can't share how I know this. But… someone has planted a bomb - or maybe multiple bombs - in the command room. They'll go off just before the Rayshift, and kill just about everyone in the room."

Lev's squinting eyes snap wide open with shock. Mash jumps a bit as her eyes also widen. She starts to open her mouth to speak, but Lev cuts her off.

"Mash, go inform the director. We can't afford to take chances with the future of humanity. I'll take Subaru-kun to an interrogation room." He orders. Oi, I already told you I can't share much information, though.

"R-right! Um, please don't be too hard on him, Professor. I can tell, Senpai isn't a dangerous person."

He nods. "Hurry, Mash."

"Right!" She says, and runs off towards the command room.

Lev turns to me, giving a light sigh. "Well, this was unexpected. Now then, Subaru-kun..." His eyes glow a sickly yellow, and my mind goes blank.

Warm liquid is sprayed across my face, the scent of copper flooding my nostrils as I snap out of my trance. I rapidly assess my surroundings. What..?

I almost vomit as the sight in front of me registers in my brain. At first, I had thought I had been moved into some section of the facility with red hallways. But that wasn't the case. No, this red was…

The corpse can barely be called a corpse. It's been flayed to pieces, muscle and skin stripped from bone, organs mangled and split open. And lying across the whole mess, a tangle of translucent blue threads, only barely visible. Not quite here, not in the same way the rest of the body is.

During my attempts to find out the source of the worldwide spontaneous combustion of all humanity later today, I had at one point been kidnapped by a Magus. A Necromancer, to be precise. He took great pleasure in explaining how magic on earth worked to me, even as he extracted my magic circuits from my flesh.

Anyway, as a result of that mess, I could identify the blue threads scattered across the hallway. The witch dissected Lev Lainur, removing every single magic circuit from his body. He had gone and hypnotized me into revealing the secret of [Return by Death], and she'd torn him to pieces in response.

Even as my mind whirls, trying to find a way to explain this to Mash-tan and the Director, I hear a voice emanate from nowhere. "Ugh. We had anticipated action from the Counter Force."

Lev's magic circuits swirl, spasming and coalescing into a dark red sphere, hovering in midair. No. Not a sphere. An eye, with a cross-shaped pupil. "But to think it would go this far… to draw in a god from another world. No, not even a god. That being… she's closer to the [Beast] of another world, isn't she?"

"What…" I mutter. "...Professor Lev, is that you? Are you-?"

The eye growls. "Lev is, for all intents and purposes, dead. And as I cannot persist without his body intact, I will have to make use of your ability."

...Wait, is this guy about to-!?

"Incineration Ritual: Flauros."

I don't even see the attack coming. There's no projectile, no sign of heat. Simply, for a brief instant, my vision is filled with flames. And then there's darkness, and the whispers of the Witch as she reaches out for me. There's a faint dragging sensation, and then…