Rezero 10

by s-zchilds

D

Chapter 10: Ep 8 Director's Cut

So funny story...

There's this awesome artist on Reddit called u/Wishful_Witch

She's awesome so go and follow her.

Anyway. So I was scrolling through my reddit chats and suddenly I see her hitting me up and being like.

(Wishful_Witch): Yo! Imma send this fan art I made of your story. You'll love it.

And I was like, :Nah, from the you way you talk honey, you don't really seem like the type to do good ar-

And then she sent me the shit, so i looked at it...

It was so good i dropped my phone.

The point of this story is... I need a new phone...

And also please go follow this amazing person and give her the love she deserves. I honestly gave her nothing to work on. No pointers or advice. She did this all for this story which honestly made me cry.

I'll put this as my story cover.

Thank you.

FAIR WARNING: Seating of the characters gets moved alot in between scenes here. So if you are confused that a character suddenly was moved somewhere during the reactions, be sure to go back and not skim anything because I have detailed each movement thoroughly.

Enjoy!

It didn't seem like the screen was going to load what happened next. If one was to look at the theater, they'd assume this was a sentiment of relief amongst the watchers.

Discarded in thought over what they had seen, the camps made no effort in regrouping or huddling in one spot for each group.

Overall, the seating arrangements did not hold any difference to that of the previous viewing, except for one candidate who chose to leave for her own room.

Previous to this, everyone held their breaths for a new set of events, expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

Now it was very different. This viewing's resting period was dominated by a wall of thoughts held between each respective watcher. At least for those who had something to say about Subaru's latest start into another problem.

It was bad taste to call these 'adventures' anymore.

"So this is a breakthrough isn't it?"

"Greatly underestimating your loss in all this, Aldebaran. You should be on the floor begging for my forgiveness," a haughty proclamation has been spouted by the red rose beauty sitting in the back. Priscilla held an expression that was somehow nasty and beautifully smug at the same time.

Facing the wicked woman, a helmed swordsman with one arm bandaged and another gripping his seat let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Why do we have to do this again?" Al asked, having his arm clenching the chair handle for so long was making him a bit sore but one can never be too careful around a charged Priscilla, especially if she was being contested on a win she's calling.

"Hm? Still standing by your delusions, I see." The lady in red did not even glance at the knight, choosing to unwrap her fan and start using it on herself.

"What delusions might these be, princess?"

She had just enough of a careless air around her to hide the completely pissed off glint in her crimson beautified eyes.

Al was a better man than that, so he moved back a bit.

"Why." Closing her fan and facing the man sitting beside her, the matriarch did not hesitate to bring her nastiest most beautiful wrath filled glare upon her knight as she questions, "Why are you continuing to slander yourself before me with this pitiful attitude towards that filth?!"

"... You mean pal?"

"If I could make myself more clear then I would skew the meaning into your eye sockets!"

"Okay princess," Al shakes his head, feeling just a little more affected by her attitude this time than any other, "I get that I'm sorta your punchin' bag and all. But please see how this is affecting your way of seeing things. I mean you might get wrinkles-"

"I'll burn you alive and spread your ashes in the dragon stables, cretinous vermin!"

"Never mind the wrinkles! I should not have brought up the wrinkles! I'm so sorry, princess!" Al made a move to cower before her.

Once the noble had regained some semblance of calm she began waving her fan toward herself some more. The knight had suddenly become much less fearful and a lot more casual in a weird sense. As if he was on a mission, he waited for her words carefully.

"Your perseverance is as much amusing as it is infuriating. Does this 'hero' really touch your heart in a way that makes you forget who you really are, Aldebaran?" Her tone was that of melancholy and composure.

Al understood an invitation to further his lady's interest anytime. Of course Priscilla Barialle would be too proud to ask him for an encore about something as silly as his opinions.

"I wouldn't be using our last discussion about him, princess. I think we've seen too much since then-"

"Changing your opinion now, hm?" She gave him the smug smirk she always had for when she was dealing with a marriage proposal from some poor young noble who had nothing but ambition in his eyes.

"Changing? I wouldn't really bet on that being the case for me, Princess."

At his ominous answer, the poison inside of her eyes grew to shroud the way she stared at the man.

"Continue. Now."

"I really do not know how you can't see it yet," Al shook his head, "but don't you find it interesting, the way you're getting angrier and angrier to no end?"

"Of course I'd be this infuriated, you buffoon," she sneered, "I have been forced here by some despicable force to watch a fool dance his way out of being pathetic to kiss a half-elf's hand!"

Even though her eyes burned in rage, the man before her only let out a chuckle.

"Princess, you've just confirmed my worries with this burst of rage of yours."

"..."

Seeing her growing silent, the knight could tell that her hatred for him and his attitude grew darker as she glared holes into him.

He couldn't tell which one of the two was the truth.

"Listen to me, very carefully, Princess." Al had surprised the red rose by his change in tone, considering that he leaned forward until his helm was inches away from her delicate nose.

"As complex as this is, I want you to know the exact answer you've been running away from all this time."

"How dare you, mongrel?!" Priscilla's eyes were wide in rage at this disobedience, but the man carried forward uncaring toward his life.

The display may have impressed Priscilla to some extent. It may have even intrigued her just enough to hear him out.

And after he said the next few words, she wished she had cut his head right then and there.

"Princess, you've been getting so mad from these viewing sessions not because you are wasting your time, or that none of this interests you," Al shook his head and let out a chuckle.

"You have been angered because pal over there constantly disappointed and broke your perception of who you wanted him to be."

"...Hm?" In an instant, the fire in her crimson orbs had been replaced by a sea of confusion, staring at him with rapid attention, in thought.

"Think about it, princess." Al points down towards the front row where Subaru sat asleep.

"That guy is the weirdest dude in this room to you. Even though we have a goddamn clown and a catboy that dresses like a woman for heaven's sake. You not only find him interesting, but you genuinely enjoy his attitude enough to tolerate him."

"Tck~!" Priscilla's loud click of her teeth followed right after her eye rolled at her knight. "You are finally growing feeble. What an idiot."

"But it's true!"

"Aldebaran." Priscilla warns, deathly glaring at him.

And yet Al pushed. "Princess when you first met him… You had genuine fun with him. It was the first time I've seen you act so… normal with someone let alone a dude that is clearly just a cockroach to yourself."

Priscilla's eyes faltered, he could tell that the scene of her meeting Subaru in the alleyway was playing in her head now.

"Have you forgotten," she scowled, unfocused, "about the sheer nature of that man's power?"

The princess let her eyes shine with a smugness thinking she had brought the perfect counterargument to Al's debate.

"Return By Death," she clicked her tongue, "It's the tool he uses to hide his disgusting nature and problems." Priscilla finalized with a haughty glance towards the screen.

Al's laughter could not be louder.

"Hahahhahahahahaha… oh god!"

"What are you–?" Surprisingly for the first time, Al had her on the backfoot just enough for her not to revoke his speaking privilege.

"Princess are you saying that just to change the subject away from my point? Because this only serves to strengthen it."

She stayed silent and glared at the knight with curiosity mixing in her eyes.

"Don't you remember?" Al whispered dryly while pointing at the screen with his good arm, "Ya saw through him even in that first meeting, Princess! You were even warning him to drop the act that he was fine. You were still intrigued by him nonetheless!"

"What are you getting at? Tell me now because frankly, this has gotten mineself exhausted. Such as dealing with dogs like you entails." Priscilla's sigh and back lean towards her chair gave the knight the signal he's been waiting for.

She's interested now.

"I'm saying that… This was never about that ability to turn back time for you. It was always how he was going to use it." Priscilla's eyebrow rose in confusion.

"You saw him as untrustworthy and dangerous enough at first, but then you were intrigued again to see his heart and how heroic and loyal he was towards strangers that he didn't know," Al could see that her crimson orbs were filled with replaying memories inside of her mind. She was probably in thought over all of Subaru's deaths.

"But then you noticed something else, something that made you less and less inclined to watch him and more disappointed with him."

"... That would be?" She demands, glancing at him with annoyance.

"... Pal showed it to you when he killed himself to save that demon maid, no?"

"..."

"Princess, you aren't getting angrier because you have reason to suspect him for foul play or disloyalty, you aren't even bringing up the fact that he can erase your own memory by using his power because you know that isn't who he is anymore," he chuckles and shakes his head.

Priscilla's eyes moved toward the screen, her lips thinned.

"...Frankly, I think you almost wish that our pal was using his power for selfish reasons. I should've seen it before. You are too proud to have such thoughts so you pivoted on being distrustful of him."

"Such ...thoughts? Just what are you babbling on for?" Priscilla's tone was not the one of the hateful master from seconds before. It gave the man encouragement to say what he wanted to say.

"You wanted him to be your friend or at least someone who would entertain you, and then found out that he was getting murdered and worse, he's low self respect forced him to think that his ability is something that should be used to save people that clearly only cause him further pain. That half-elf and maid, the spirit and the clown, you can see that he is dying because of them but he chooses to stay and follow them just because he thinks low of himself."

With a stretch of her hand, Priscilla's fan was caught underneath the man's helm, directly pointing into the hole where his eyes were situated.

She threatened him with a look.

Al softly continued.

"It's a hilarious theory on my part. I admit that… But princess I am the one guy that knows how you see people and act toward those that show signs of pathetic weakness. The way you acted with Natsuki Subaru is not your usual way. You gave him chances, played with him, excused his outlandish courtesies and delighted at your time spent with him."

Her grip on the closed fan was tightening and her eyes were fiery with a wrath even Al had to tremble before.

But sometimes, Al does some real stupid stuff for those he cared for.

"Princess, you are only making yourself believe that it's something else that's bothering you and refuse to see how all this has affected you. I'll come right out and say it and you can kill me after."

Al situated his helm to stare at his cruel enraged master that held his fate at the tip of her fan. One wrong word, and Priscilla was ready to pierce the inside of his eyes.

So, Al thought with humor, how about a hundred wrong words?

"You despised the way that guy was brought to us. Pitied the way he was treated. Enraged at the treatment he had gotten. And even disgusted with the way he treated himself above all."

Priscilla's hand went rigid, her eyes bore him no mercy in their burning suns.

"Imagine that. It's not anything you thought it was." Al chuckled, accepting his upcoming death with casualness only displayed by him.

"You are simply frustrated you can't do more to help the guy so you blame him and everyone around him for not doing anything either." Al leaned in, allowing the pointed tip to enter his helmet and face down his eye with a thread of hair's distance.

"Because it absolutely burns how the Princess of the Sun is unable to do anything but sit and watch as that kid is dying, just the same as all the others in here. Including the camp members that caused him to suffer so."

Priscilla's eyes had become orbs of energy, glowing red in the dark as if her hatred for her servant bore through her so much to cause such a scary sight to be summoned on her beautiful face. She could not help but run a thousand counter thoughts in her mind. Try her best to find holes in the man's argument.

But the more he continues to talk, the lessened her grip becomes on his life.

"You feel guilty? Or are ya just insanely annoyed at being robbed of a good time?" Al's voice was soft, as if dealing with a child after a breakdown.

"Aldebaran." Priscilla's voice was filled with authority and weight. Her eyes did not blink once as she pressed her fan into his upper cheek bone through the helmet.

Al closed his eyelid just in case, wincing at the cold metal of the accessory being pushed against his skin.

"... Tell me," she demands, pausing in thought, "How did you come to such a conclusion about mineself?"

Al could hear wavering in the master's voice, Priscilla was never used to him having the drop on her.

"Princess… That's how everyone has been dealing with this since the start."

"..."

"Thing is… everyone here settled on solving their problems in their own ways. Heck, the Duchess and the Kararagi lady are planning ahead right now. I think that blonde kid is on to something too."

"What are you… Is this all about the squabbling over the pathetic boy?" Priscilla's reference to the small arguments she would notice between the candidates never failed to make Al laugh.

"I mean… Yeah. They all are making decisions and taking action to help our Pal-"

"They are not helping that sleeping tool!" Priscilla bit back a look of pure disgust as she pressed her fan harder into his cheek. "Mineself can see their schemes and can't fathom why they think they shall help a greedy pig such as this."

"...You really think you know how to fix him better than the other royal candidates, princess?" Al's question was sneaky, hidden, just like his grin. Priscilla's eyes wandered down below her and narrowed hotly.

"Of course! No one but mineself can see what an animal such as that needs. A firm hand and a debt trap shall only drive the prideless moron down a worse path than even the half-wench could take him. Those disingenuous girls that were called upon to make mineself look brighter among their darkness have got some nerve–"

Priscilla's eyes glanced at the knight, a glint of surprise coating them.

"You are a proud gal, princess. Possibly the proudest." Al nodded, softly removing the fan from his helmet opening by pushing it away.

"You can't think of every possibility because sometimes you cannot fathom it. And so you start growing angrier and pivot from one excuse to the other."

"..." Her look of realization and thought was something out of a dream to Al.

"...You are simply the only one here who saw his true potential. His life, had he been with someone like you. And because you are seeing the way he's turning out under Emilia's lead, you feel the need to jump in and do something. To. Help. Him."

He leaned back, heart pounding like it was dynamite to his brain. The sharp feeling of danger had been lingering around him for more than a few minutes. Since this had started.

His master had kept her stone like stance and refused to move a single muscle as she stared at the ground.

"... You."

Priscilla's voice was one of endearment and softness in the darkness of the theater.

She leaned in close, bewitching him with her mesmerizing look.

"You must be…"

Before long, Al could only feel the air beneath his form instead of the cushy leather seat.

The flail in his form and the panic in his heart were his only companions on his journey to land face first into the theater wall.

His neck felt like it was broken and he let out the scream he could produce best.

It came out as a hazy groan.

"You must be the boldest damn idiot fate has brought me!"

"Pri~...ncess~... Ugh…"

With his cruel master's abusing words, his upside down vision became blurry as the fall's damage took place on his body.

All he could see from his position was the brutal beauty that had thrown him and broke his bones with one single arm to abuse her frustration on him. Walking away from him and down the aisle of stairs, he could tell that she had accepted his words to heart.

She woulda killed me if she didn't.

I hope this helps you, princess.

Al thinks to himself, smiling as he gives in to the blood rush and goes to sleep.

:;:

"Are we not starting off a little stro~~ng?" An eccentric voice echoed throughout one of the theater rooms, coming from the smiling noble dressed in a colorful attire and makeup. He sat on his room's desk chair, gleefully observing the three people who'd entered his room to speak with him.

"I wouldn't advise you to come any closer than this, Otto." A maid with pink hair spoke firmly, standing in the middle of the modest room with her arms crossed.

Before the maid was a sweaty, furious looking boy with gray hair and disheveled green robes.

"I might be a pushover, Ram-sama, but please do not underestimate the consequences of this man's actions! Just let me get my answers so we can think of a plan out of thi-" He was cut off by the newcomer's shrill voice at the room's door.

"She won't hear you out, I suppose."

"Beatrice-sama?" Otto turned with a hopeful look, finding the small elegant girl leaning on the doorframe with an unimpressed glance aimed for the people inside. "Please, talk some sense into Ram-sa-"

"I just said she won't hear you out, in fact. Quit while you're ahead," shaking her head, Beatrice cut Otto's hope short, making him glance down with disappointment.

"I wouldn't have thought you to be as calm and collected about all of this." Otto whispered under his breath while shaking his head exasperatedly.

"Hm?" Beatrice took a moment to raise her brow at the young boy, interest settling on her expression instead of annoyance.

"Why don't you say anything about it?" Otto's face contorted to one of deep distress.

The blonde drill-haired girl only gave the boy a most pitiful look. "You ask me this? Do you understand the heaps of trouble Betty's contractor was going to take responsibility for due to your actions?"

Otto sighed heavily and flocked a hand over his face to rub his temples. "I didn't think everything through when I got it here, okay?"

"It does not matter what you were planning or thinking, I suppose."

The pink-haired maid standing opposite to the merchant, found herself blinking in confusion at the two's conversation. "What did Otto bring? And how is Barusu involved in this?"

"You don't need to know anything about that, servant girl." Beatrice hotly answered in Otto's place, stepping off of the doorframe to glare at Ram.

"...Beatrice-sama?" Ram blinks rapidly, unable to receive the hostility from the great spirit with grace.

"I think Beatrice-sama doesn't like us ve~~ry much." Roswaal chortled from behind Ram, making the spirit even more inclined to show her anger at them both.

"I feel like I've been forgotten suddenly." Otto rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, trying to navigate between Ram's confused stare and Beatrice's furious one.

"Even though I'm usually calm when dealing with your antics, Betty will not stand by and watch you hide from your blatant machinations." Beatrice held a look of contempt towards the smiling clown.

"I apologize, Beatrice-sama, but I shall stand between you and my master." Ram interjected the silence by stepping before the small lady.

"Relax your servant, in fact." Beatrice scoffed, crossing her arms and back tracking to lean against the door frame. "I'm only here to overlook the boy's questions and your answers, I suppose," she pointed with her head towards Otto but continued to dish Roswaal a look of contempt.

"Ah~hh so you came here to guard my answers and help Otto-ku~n along the way? What a shrewd girl you are, Beatrice-sama." Roswaal shakes his head and leans into his seat some more, parallel to Beatrice's relaxed stature. "I seem to have allocated the most troublesome sorts into my ca~amp."

"Betty doesn't want to spend a long time away from her contractor, in fact," Beatrice gestured to Otto with a delicate wave to continue his efforts, "You can continue from here on, that pink-haired murderer won't be giving you trouble, I suppose."

Ignoring Ram's eye twitch from the spite aimed towards her, Otto glanced thankfully at the spirit standing on the doorway and overlooking the room.

"I feel like you aren't giving Ram enough credit, Beatrice-sama~aaa," Roswaal continued to watch with a wide grin, his interest in the dynamics of everyone in the room clear to whomever can look him in the eye.

"How so?" Beatrice snorts, not even glancing towards Ram or Otto.

As if the conversation was only pertaining to the two eldest beings in the room, Roswaal invoked further frustration from Beatrice by waving a hand in Ram's direction, "My dearest maid here was simply protecting me from Otto-kun's ha~aarsh accusations."

"Your deflection needs reworking, clown."

"Beatrice-sama." Ram sternly interrupts, "Forgive me for cutting in, but I do not understand how this turned to a conversation about me." The pink-haired maid looked extremely disturbed by the change. "I would also like an explanation for what I've done to coerce such negativity from you, great spirit-sama."

"You…" Beatrice stuttered suddenly, looking at the maid in bafflement. "You dare ask me this after what we've seen you do to Subaru?"

"I thought we moved away from this. You even gave your seat to Rem-"

"We didn't move from anything related to yours and your psychotic sister's crimes, in fact!"

Ram looked like she had the urge to step back once Beatrice's wrath fully showed on the little girl's face.

"B-Beatrice-sama," Otto tried to mitigate the situation by coming between the two girls with a nervous smile, "Let's all calm down-"

"Mercy kill, that's what everyone had called it." Beatrice's glare pierced Ram's soul more than the dead tone she spoke with. "You, cutting my contractor's throat with a windblade where no eye can see your crime."

Ram visibly blanched at the memory, as if struck by an invisible hand across the cheek, the maid couldn't answer the spirit's anger with nothing but sadness.

"H-Hey now! Beatrice-sama, this is unwarranted!" Otto tried to intervene but the girl had no mercy.

"You think anyone has forgiven you or your sister for that?" Beatrice badgered on. "You really think what we saw is forgotten? Just because you're from the loop that turned out right and not the one where you sliced him apart, I suppose?"

"..."

"I wonder if you are thinking of apologizing or making a snappy comeback that insults Subaru like you always do, in fact."

"I…" Ram tried to say something but her lips remained parted with no sound coming out.

"Just as I thought, in fact." Beatrice scoffs at Ram's stuttering, pure hatred in her eyes. "You not only lack the self respect to admit how wrong you were to kill a defenseless child just to save your sister's job, but you also have no shame in realizing that this cannot be forgiven by anyone in this theater, in fact. Not even yourself. So stop acting like you have nothing to feel guilty about because you have plenty, I suppose!"

"This is enough!"

Suddenly, Roswaal was hunched, his face hidden from the three as he clenched fist on his knee. Beatrice and Otto looked towards one another with looks of disturbance while the pink-haired maid seemed to still aim her eyes towards the floor.

"Beatrice." Roswaal sighed as his tone dropped. "I do not need to watch you blame my maid for something that she is innocent of."

"Innocent?!" Beatrice spoke loudly in outrage. The eccentric lord didn't look so eccentric once he rose to meet the spirit's eyes with his own.

"Yes. She is innocent of the crimes of her other self… Just like you are innocent of your many failures to protect Natsuki Subaru-kun."

"Are you-"

"Do you know why Ram's come here?" Roswaal asks Beatrice with honest curiosity, "She came here to ask me the same questions you and Otto wanted me to answer."

Glancing towards the downtrodden maid, Beatrice and Otto couldn't tell if the man's words were true or not. While the spirit that had been furious at the maid was seemingly toren by Roswaal's words, the boy seemed to remember his voice.

"Ram-san? What were you doing here before I came in?"

"..." The pink-haired girl refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"You would rather stare a hole in the ground than show us your tears of regret, I wonder?" Beatrice snarked from the side, unable to hold her disgust for the girl.

Ram decidedly moved along with Beatrice's words, keeping her hands folded and her head low as she walked out of the room. Not giving a single person the chance to look at her with pity.

"...You shouldn't have been this harsh, Beatrice-sama." Otto scolded Beatrice after watching Ram leave the room in disgrace.

"Haven't you seen her attitude towards all of this so far?! She only keeps insulting Subaru with no ounce of regret for what she's done, in fact!"

"She hasn't done anything," Otto affirms with a glare, "She's been watching just like all of us, and you've seen how crushed and heartbroken Rem-san was-"

"That was the blue-haired one, but Ram did not even offer an apology to him unlike her sister!"

"I cannot believe this… You would forgive Rem but still hold a grudge against Ram-san?" Otto bellows in disbelief.

"Don't be so callous, in fact." Beatrice seethed with clenched tiny fists. "I wouldn't forgive them for killing Subaru if the sun fell to protect them, I suppose."

"..." Otto sighed and steered his eyes away from the furious great spirit in the room.

"I wouldn't apologize for someone else's actions, but I'm sorry Ram-san was hurt, Roswaal-sama."

The eccentric man didn't acknowledge Otto's words with a reaction. Matter of fact the man seemed more focused on Beatrice than the boy speaking to him.

"Ram asked me about the gospel as well."

Otto and Beatrice snapped their attention to the man, he stared at Beatrice with a cold look.

"I'm not intimidated by you, in fact." She scoffs while swiping one of her blonde drills behind her shoulder.

"I wasn't meaning to, Beatrice-sama. But I would rather you not reject the idea that Ram is on your side in this." He spoke slowly, desperately.

"And why should I believe that, I wonder? Your gospel is something the maid has known about before any of us, has it not? She must've been there when you planned for Betty's contractor to be murder-"

"Let me end this all for you both right now then!" Roswaal snaps suddenly, making no move out of his seated position but glaring daggers at the spirit.

Both Beatrice and Otto were dumbfounded with this behavior, unable to find out why exactly the smug smile had left his painted face or where this harsh tone came from.

"Besides the fact that this is a conversation about something so integral to your agenda like this gospel, you have to be really attached to Ram-san for this reaction to be acceptable… Isn't it, Roswaal-sama?" Otto asks his margrave with a look of curiosity.

Roswaal's mouth trembled into a small sad smile, finally steering to look at Otto with sincerity between his eyes. "I do care about my staff, Otto-kun. Very much so being these two."

"The same two you rescued conveniently with no guidance or knowledge of whereabouts."

"..."

Otto squints at the man suspiciously. Roswaal notices that the boy's hand was gripping a pocket in his hand.

"You do not know the power which this gospel holds, Otto-kun. It corrupts and issues involvement in the unbelievable to get the impossible done," the clown gave no sign of a smile on his features or anything that can be used by Otto to say this was a joke. Roswaal was serious here.

"Otto-kun. You best throw that thing away before it gets you to sink into the pit."

"Pit?" Otto asks, genuinely frightened by the Margrave's death stare trained at him.

"The same pit I am now finding myself in, knowing that I caused what Beatrice blames on Ram and Rem."

"You- keh!" Otto had to swallow his words, fists shaking in anger and panic at what was being explained to him.

"So it was true, I suppose. You've been coercing everything from behind the scenes, in fact." Beatrice spoke with a tone devoid of emotion. "You killed Betty's Subaru."

Otto's glare turned to one full of rage that showed intense aspirations for what he wanted to do with the man in front of him. But Roswaal only shook his head.

"I'm afraid my sin was far more despicable than that. Teacher's gospel had not written that Subaru Natsuki would die when he was using his special power. To me, he was always in control."

"What?" Otto's face dropped from disbelief.

"Is that a joke, I suppose?!" Beatrice raged from Otto's side, now fully at the center of the room. "You inept fool!"

"D-Did you follow that thing based on a technicality that Subaru-san might be looping?"

Roswaal's face didn't change as he emotionlessly explained. "Teacher's gospel described someone with an ability to change his course for the future through the power of repeating a point of time. There wasn't a single other detail described about the way this power worked, the way the user looked or acted, just how I could get to him and manipulate his ability to achieve my goal."

"Wh-What…" Otto stutters, "You can't treat someone based on a few words from some book!"

"It wasn't some book." Roswaal cuts off, "Isn't some book," he repeats with an eye open for the pocket of Otto's coat. "You won't ever understand that these actions and their consequences on Natsuki-kun are very crushing for me."

"Don't you even start!" Otto shouts in outrage, catching up to what this explanation was leading and realizing what Beatrice had way earlier than him. "You're the reason Natsuki-san has been dying since the start! Butchered, tortured, murdered, all you!"

"Otto-kun…"

"Don't start with me!" Otto's hands found the clown dressed man's collar and lifted Roswaal's face towards his. "Do you even know what will happen to this camp should this get out?! You will be killed! Emilia loses all of her chances for the throne and Natsuki's sacrifices would be for nothing! You've put us all in the worst position possible right now and it's even worse that you did this knowingly even based on vague details from some stupid book."

"It's not a stupid book." The Margrave gave Otto a simple glance from squinted multicolored eyes. "It's a directional tool. I took it because it had the calling I desired. I made the choice to follow every word. I will do it again if I have to."

"You smug-"

"Do you truly believe that you would've met with Natsuki Subaru without my direction from the gospel's writings?" Roswaal strikes a question that stops both Otto and the onlooking Beatrice in their tracks. "Have you any idea how much he would've still been suffering out there in the capital streets had my plans not brought him to us? He died in an alleyway on his first day here!"

"It's impossible for me to state how disgusting you look right now, Roswaal." Beatrice's poison laced tone cut through the man being held by the collar, Otto can notice signs of grief in those haunted eyes. "In fact, I think you are making excuses to forgive yourself more than for us to forgive you. Disgusting, I suppose."

Otto's lips thinned, unable to do anything after what the spirit had said beside him. He only took one more look at those eyes of empty, emotionless void spaces before moving away from the lord of Magic.

"... I don't need to use my accent around you two. I'm being honest about how I feel and what I've done… Leave Ram out of it."

"Hmph." Beatrice scoffs absentmindedly, looking at Otto, "He's been telling the truth, I suppose. One like him wouldn't break his habit of torturing himself for a simple lie. You can go and think about this now."

"Wha… B-But we need a plan to cover all of this! We need something that can make us punish him for what he's done and help Natsuki-sa-"

"Nothing we do now will be worth it before the next viewing begins, I suppose." Beatrice cuts Otto off with anger in her eyes. "You're going to go and keep that burnt thing away from any of us and start thinking about a plan to keep Betty's Subaru happy once he returns, I suppose."

"What about him?!" Otto points at Roswaal with a ludicrous expression.

"... Leave him to me."

"What?"

"Leave him to me, I suppose." Beatrice affirmed without hesitation. Staring the boy in the eye as she stepped between him and Roswaal.

Otto was about to protest with his own argument but then someone slid down the hallway of the theater and clutched the doorframe to balance themselves from falling over.

"Otto, Beatrice-sama! Garf-san's reeeeally angry!" Petra shouted urgently with a look of pure fright overcoming the innocence one with her eyes should have, which forced Otto's legs to move unconsciously.

"Tell me where!" Otto gave Roswaal a silent glance before turning and running behind Petra.

Out of the room, leaving both estranged long time acquaintances to their own devices.

"Beatrice-"

"Silence." The short girl ordered with no remorse for the hurt he showed. "I do not care what you or those maids have done to my contractor anymore. I only care that you get punished for each and every single instance of pain he's put under." Beatrice's words seemed to cut through Roswaal's strong shield with a glare of hatred to complete her package of causing hurt for the man.

"Your teacher was my mother." Beatrice spoke emotionlessly, "you always seemed to worship her to an extent even she was uncomfortable with. But to go this far down… on a technicality."

"... Didn't you waste an eternity waiting for a technicality, Beatrice?"

"The difference between you and me is that I was lied to. What I was waiting for never existed." Her butterflies ever looked so darkened to Roswaal.

"Why are you telling me this? My teacher wouldn't have lied to me if she didn't know herself. She must've been unaware of the consequences of her words and I was to make these choices myself whether it was worth the cost or not."

"... You're just making excuses for a liar, in fact."

"..."

Beatrice shook her head, unable to watch as Roswaal's body trembled in place, seemingly the man was ripping himself apart over her words.

"She lied to you. You've already accepted it and took the guilt, now admit it about her, I suppose."

He held his head with his shaking hands, unable to look at anything except the darkness of his eyelids.

"... Pathetic." She spat one more time, giving her old friend a glare of disgust and pity before walking out of the room.

:

"What the hell is going on here?!" Otto shouts as he runs into a secluded room at the end of the line of doorways.

He found three people standing in the middle of the room. A growling Garfiel that had his teeth bared and fists clenched tightly, glaring at the renowned greatest Knight of their kingdom. Julius stood opposite to Garfiel with a simple glare of indifference on his expression to meet the blonde tiger's fury. But Otto's focus was pulled to the purple-haired man's bleeding nose that stood out amongst the handsome knight's features.

Between the two men was Frederica, the maid in charge of mentoring Petra and Garfiel's eldest sister. She stood with her arms extended on each of the men's chests to seperate them.

"Garf!" Otto shouts to gain the bullheaded blonde's eyes, but it was for not.

"COME 'N GET WHAT YOU GAVE MY CAP'N! MINE AMAZIN' SELFS IS MORE THAN HAPPY TO PAY YA BACK!"

"Garfiel, hold on!" Frederica shouts and pushes her brother harder, frightened by the fury of the beast inside of him.

"Contain yourself! This is no sight for your family and friends to see." Julius admonished through blood soaked lips, looking like he didn't care about his injured nose the least bit.

"DUN TELL ME T' CONTAIN SHIT! YER THE ONE THAT TREATED MY CAP'N T' A WORLD 'F HURT JUST BECAUSE HE BROUGHT UP YER DADDY'S NAME!"

"And I'm telling you," Julius grits his teeth, "Natsuki Subaru deserved what he sought. If you wish to duel for his words then I advise you to pick a better arena than my room-"

"WE'RE GOIN' NOW YA SON'OVA-"

"GARFIEL!" Frederica screams as her brother furiously pushes her out of the way and all but leaps towards the straight postured Knight.

Until a swift fist collided with his jaw from the side, tripping him.

"I said calm down!" Otto shouts as his friend falls to the side.

"Oi!" Garfiel pushes his legs so he can back flip roll on the carpeted ground and stand up from his fall. "What's the matt'ah with ya?! This guy's gonna think what he did to Cap'n wasn't wron'! We can't let that happen!"

"This is no way to go about it, Garf." Otto breathes, catching the eyes of Julius.

"You're… bleeding?"

Julius only nods his head. "It seems the Warden's ability to stop us from being injured doesn't reach these rooms."

"...Or he's growing weaker." Otto surprises Julius by affirming a thought in both of their heads, seeing a weakness in this entity's armor.

"I don't think that's what you should be focused on right now!" Petra's angry voice cut the two's thoughts immediately with how icy it was. The adorable little flower seemed too inflamed to care about her manners as she pointed at Julius with a fury to behold in her light blue eyes. "You hurt Subaru! You must apologize!"

Before anyone else could intervene, she turned her glare towards Garfiel, looking more pissed off than he was. "And you need to stop trying to kill him!"

Garfiel growled in distaste, "Why's tha' girly, huh?!"

"Because he won't get the chance to apologize if you beat him!" Petra shouts on top of Garfiel's booming voice.

Even if he showed how impressed he was with Petra's courage to stand up for him, Julius still clicked his teeth disdainfully. "I can take care of myself, I assure all of you." The knight looked beyond annoyed as he began wiping his bloodied nose with a handkerchief. "Now please, may you leave me to my devices so I can prepare for my next viewing session?"

"Wait… What?" Otto now seemed to pull his attention fully on Julius. "What are they talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the knight scoffs while pushing back his gleaming violet hair. "He came here to push an apology out of me while the other two demanded I explain my actions to them."

Otto's eyes moved towards Frederica in surprise.

"Ah, I'm sorry Otto-san. I was just making sure to stop my brother and Petra-chan from doing anything rash… Which I failed to do as you can see." Frederica said, disappointed with herself.

"He must explain himself!" Petra took the reins of the conversation with anger in her stride forward to stand before the Knight and Otto. "If Subaru had done so much harm to the knight's honor, then why do they feel the need to cheer on when he was brutally beaten like that?! He was almost dead! Where's the honor in something so shameless and why did none of you bring it up when we all watched it on that window?!"

Faced with the rage and despair of the little girl, Frederica and Otto gave small frowns but remained silent to her issues.

"Tha's right." Garfiel exploded a sigh as he stretched in place, nodding his head towards Petra in approval. "She's on point. I need ya t' step aside s' I can teach 'em a lesson."

"Ah," Otto glanced between Garfeil and Petra, his eyes widening with revelation. "You haven't told anyone about what your reasons were yet, have you, Julius-san?"

"... My reasons? Pardon?" Julius came out of his silence with a curious look painting his face. His nose now cleaned as best as can be with little red droplets covering his uniform's front and the carpet.

Otto's statement grabbed not just Julius' attention, but also the other three in the room around him.

"You guys didn't seem to notice what most of the royal candidates as well as the other knights have from the moment the fight started," Otto glanced at the confused trio of Garfiel, Petra, and Frederica with a small smile. "Julius-san didn't beat down Natsuki-san to avenge some knightly code that was disrespected."

"Are ya hitting yer head on them chairs out there?!" Garfiel growls and points at the knight who's been driving his anger up ever since he touched Subaru. "He said 't 'emself when the duel started! You can see he enjoyed it!"

Petra nodded along with Garfiel, while Frederica looked between the two men with reluctance.

"Listen to me, Garf." Otto urges, his hands crossed and staring seriously into Garfiel's eyes, hoping to appease the rational part of the tiger demihuman. "I want you to remember very carefully. What as the crowd's reaction to this duel?"

"They were cheering this bastard on!"

"No." Otto shakes his head, surprising the trio along with Julius. "The crowds were cheering for the first hit that touched Natsuki-san. The rest of the duel was filled with groans and complete disgust towards Julius-san."

Otto looks the knight in the eye as he says this, making the handsome man pull his guard up and glare right back at him.

"...That's true." Petra nods her head and calms her stature as she begins to think back. Frederica shows Otto that he'd grabbed her interest long before he brought up this point.

He was happy that Garfiel seemed to be thinking about it as well so he continued. "I know you must be wondering what was going on then. Why would they not cheer Julius-san on when the fight was clearly a favorite to all of them?"

"Then why did ya beat him so damn hard?! Are ya tellin' me none of them damn knights cared about their names and ya just did that fer shits?!" Garfiel points his question towards the man at the center of the conversation, but Julius never answers the boy, reserving to glare at Garfiel instead.

Otto took this as a sign for him to start finishing this situation calmly. "Garf, everyone else on the outside already realized what was truly happening before us. Hell, some of them might've realized it long after Natsuki-san's ugly fight with Emilia-sama. But the gist of what Julius-san was doing was to help Natsuki-san, not to protect the dignity of a title."

"How the hell does this help-?!"

"It helps by showing all of the other prideful knights that going after this boy that had just insulted them was useless and a waste of time." Frederica stepped in with realization painting her face, explaining to her brother hurriedly. "Julius-sama ruined his own reputation to show those who wanted Subaru-sama's head that it wasn't dignifying."

"..." Garfiel's eyes widened towards his sister, freezing in place. The blonde seemed to quiver for a moment as realization hit him as well.

"Tck!" Garfiel glared at Julius, who was happy to glare back.

"You touch my Cap'n again, I promise t' complete the nose work, ya hear me?!"

"Loud and clear. Now please leave this space, I wish to ask for new clothing and change." Julius nods his head with disinterest at the unapologetic tiger.

"... Fine." Garfiel looked like he wanted to ask something but his anger didn't seem to allow him as he stomped out of the room.

Frederica lets out a breath of relief she didn't know she was holding as soon as her brother's back disappeared. "Thank you so much, Otto-san. This was a frightening situation." She bowed her head to the young man, making him blush and stutter out a "You're welcome!" while shaking his hand frantically.

"I apologize for my brother's behavior, Julius-sama." She hurried to courtly make peace with the man her brother had just punched.

The knight gave her a graceful bow of his own and spoke melancholy but respectfully. "It was understandable. Nothing that happened here was a surprise to me so worry not. I know your brother's a good friend of Natsuki Subaru. This is just an expected consequence of what I had done." Julius straightened his back and let Frederica have her moment of relief.

"... Did you really do that to help Subaru?" Petra spoke from the side of Otto, looking up at the knight with an unreadable expression.

"... I merely did what my self desired at the time."

"That's no answer." "Petra-chan! That is enough!" Frederica reprimanded from the side, narrowing her eyes at the little girl, but Otto noticed that the village girl's eyes were beginning to hollow with dullness.

"That's not an answer though!" Petra suddenly raises her voice and steps one foot forward to Julius, looking at him with something akin to desperation. "I don't care why you tried to help, I just need to know if you were trying to help him or not!"

"..." Julius stares at her with a thin-lipped, wide-eyed expression.

"Please." She had tears in her eyes now.

The greatest knight found himself weakened by the stare. "I… I wanted to save his life. That's all."

While Otto was narrowing his eyes at the answer he gave, Petra seemed to have the opposite reaction as hers went wider than they were and a horrified look overcame her.

"So… There was real danger to Subaru's life?" Petra's voice broke. "You thought that these knights would kill him just because of what he declared in the throne room?"

"... Not all of them were like that." Julius could only meet the floor with his gaze for some reason.

"The knights of our kingdom… Would hurt someone for saying he was one of them…" Petra muttered dryly, looking at the wall of the room with disbelief.

"There was more to it than that-" Julius tried to make the girl see it from a knight's perspective on that day but Petra's crushed hope seemed long lost. It was a hit to his Knightly pride. A child had just lost faith in their order and she was walking out of the room to be with herself and think of the disenchantment.

"Let her be, Frederica-sama." Otto gave Petra a look of understanding as she exited the room. "She needs time."

Frederica could only nod. "I hope so. That girl's been subject to a lot of unpleasantness these past few… days."

"It's okay." Otto smiles at the worried woman. "No matter how much time passes in here, we will be with each other. Help is a footstep away from every side."

Emerald eyes seemed to shine hopefully because of the words that left his mouth, noticing the strange smile on Frederica's face, Otto could only flinch nervously and look away.

"Thank you for being here, Otto-sama." Frederica giggled and gave a short bow for both, the blushing Otto and the knight standing with a baffled look on his face.

"I apologize once again, Julius-sama. Thank you for your manners. I must be excused to make sure my brother isn't causing any more trouble somewhere else."

With that, Frederica left the room with a bright smile.

Otto sighed as his eyes trailed her until all flocks of her golden hair disappeared from the doorway.

"... Are you going to speak to me about my answer to the little girl or not?" Julius cuts Otto's dream state with impatience.

"Yeah… I don't have much to say really…" Otto sighed for the second time and moved his eyes from the spot that caused his heart to flutter to Julius where his disappointment showed.

"Well? Get on with it because I need to change before we get called by the Warden."

"..." Otto stayed silent, looking at Julius' eyes with unreadable thoughts going through him.

"You were saving Natsuki-san… That's all you wished for on that day?"

Julius narrowed his eyes.

"I mean." Otto nervously moved his hand behind his head. "Can you not see how unreal this answer seems? After what Natsuki-san told me about you, I can firmly tell that's not how you feel now, neither do I believe that this is what you wanted during the fight either."

"What are you blabbering about?" Julius asks, already done with this.

Otto gives a short smile. "I know that you wished to be friends with someone who dared to do what they did before the kingdom's strongest men and women without breaking a sweat."

"..." The knight eyed him with expression of annoyance.

"Oh… And of course to protect your master's honor. Of course." Otto rubs the back of his head with an uneasy smile.

"... Hmph," Julius scoffs, unimpressed. "I'll have you know, Natsuki Subaru was sweating plenty in that hall."

"...Eh? Then you must've thought he was really stupid to do that." Otto blinks.

"I still think he is stupid for doing that," the knight affirms while swiping away locks of hair from his face.

"Maybe even stupid in general?" Otto looks up with his chin in his hand, in thought.

"I think that's a point I would be happy to discuss with you at a later date."

"Sure. Let's do it over drinks when that time comes." Otto chuckles lightly as Julius showed him the semblance of a smile.

It wasn't long before the chuckles stopped and Otto's legs began moving him towards the doorway, something that disappointed Julius greatly.

"I was actually beginning to enjoy your company."

"Yeah, that's flattering Julius-san. But you need to change and I need to take care of something." Otto stopped to shoot the knight with a smile. "Besides, you gave me the answer to my question already."

"Hm?" Julius blanched remembering that there was something Otto was after.

"Yeah. I know that you wanted to befriend him more than you wanted to protect him. And I know that should the situation repeat itself, you would hurt him again to keep protecting him from the same threat. It's just how it is." Otto didn't hesitate to blunder Julius with this revelation with a wide smirk.

The knight stood with distress painting his expression. "H-How...what?"

"... Don't be surprised." Otto's voice turns playful as he stares at the doorway, turning his back on Julius. "Let me tell you. I was just talking to someone with a worse case of guilt over what they had done to Natsuki-san."

"Worse case for guilt?... Do they regret doing what they did?"

Otto ponders the question from Julius.

'In fact, I think you are making excuses to forgive yourself more than for us to forgive you. Disgusting, I suppose.'

"Yes. Plenty I'd say, Julius-san… and I know that just like you-"

'It's a directional tool. I took it because it had the calling I desired. I made the choice to follow every word. I will do it again if I have to.'

"I know for a fact that they would repeat that same mistake knowing the consequences of their actions just to achieve the same result."

Julius stares at Otto's back in bewilderment. "Why would they do that?"

Otto lets out a laugh. "Because they are desperate to befriend Natsuki-san. Just like you." He repeats more clearly every time. Emphasizing what Julius is refusing to accept.

"... Why are you telling me this then?"

The skittish merchant shrugged. "I think I wanted to show myself that he's not really that bad after all… With all the terrible things he's done… He speaks just like you about Natsuki-san."

"So… You think whomever it is can be forgiven for their crimes and turn a new page?" Julius sounded peeved when asking this question, unable to look at Otto anymore than the wall to his room.

All he received was a chuckle from Otto. "Who knows? I don't. You don't either."

Julius blinked obstinately at this answer.

"All I know is that… '' Otto calculated his words in a pause before starting to walk out of the room, "Natsuki-san seems to care about the both of you enough to keep you close even after all that you've done to him. So maybe it's time you start forgiving yourself, Julius-san?"

With that, he left Julius to his own thoughts. The Greatest Knight remained staring at the doorway with an expression of shock expressed on his face.

:

As she paced through the hallway, Rem couldn't help but shy her eyes away from Otto's as he walked out of one of the rooms with determination covering his face. She breathed a sigh of relief once he'd pass her and she would continue her rigid walk towards her destination undeterred.

The Oni girl was motivated that this was the right thing to do. She must not let anyone else follow in her path to self-ridden destruction.

And so, she stopped right before one of the doors in this hall and knocked.

"G-Go away…" A distant feminine voice spoke from the other side. Rem wasn't surprised at all by this reaction.

"Emilia-sama." Rem called out from her side, touching the door's surface. "I wish to speak with you."

It was a far shot for the maid to think that this would work, but to her surprise, the door opened not two seconds later.

"Ah," her mouth opened to speak but nothing came out to describe the sight.

"I know." Emilia's angelic voice had a hoarse slight in it, "I've been better."

Better was an understatement. The beautiful half-elf that once outshined every royal woman in the theater was now replaced by a red-eyed girl with messy hair, and a crumpled white robe instead of the elegant one it used to be.

Overall, the half elf princess wasn't looking better than when Roswaal brought her to the mansion years ago.

"Did you need something, Rem?" Emilia said through a tired voice. Rem dropped out of her revere and looked at the half elf's eyes.

"I wish to speak with you."

"... You can get inside." Emilia stepped away to allow her entry.

Rem breathed deeply before stepping into Emilia's room. She took a quick look around, finding a messy bed with a few extra cups of whatever beverage Emilia wished for during her time here.

"You ran straight to here as soon as the vision started, Emilia-sama. I couldn't quite catch what you thought about all of it." Rem began talking immediately as she and Emilia took the seats on the opposite ends of a table that was in the room.

"Why would you need to know my thoughts on it? My cowardly reaction is enough, isn't it?" Emilia answered dryly while staring at an empty cup.

Rem shook her head. "With all due respect, Emilia-sama. But I don't think you crying here is going to help anyone."

"... I don't care about helping anyone." Emilia mutters darkly glaring holes into her mug.

"It seems your situation is worse than I thought, Emilia-sama."

"My situation?" Emilia's eyes moved to look at Rem, her expression became unreadable but it didn't deter the maid from speaking her mind.

"You shouldn't feel guilty for your fight with Subaru-kun." Rem was positive, she had a small smile to offer the princess an olive branch that could untie the both of them together.

But the more she waited for a reaction or an answer, the more uneasy Rem began to feel. Emilia was staring at her sharply, with no blinks or even tugs on her lips.

The half elf was just frozen there, staring at Rem expressionlessly.

"Is this…" finally she spoke, but the icy tone covering the angel's voice made the Oni all the more uncomfortable. "Is this what you told yourself? When you saw yourself torturing Subaru?"

Rem's heart dropped like a rock into her stomach. Emilia stared at her emptily, merciless as she held her cup.

"You seem to think my situation is the same as yours." Emilia continued, expressionless, emotionless. "They are not. I didn't kill him or torture him." Her voice showed signs of anger there. "I was much worse. I was the one who used his pain for my own selfish desire to be coddled."

Rem's breath was taken away the moment the memory of her nightmarish deeds against her beloved played within her head. But something within Emilia's words forced her to pause her semi panic attack.

"Coddled?"

"Rem." Emilia stared at her cup with a small frown. "Subaru said he… l-loves you the same way he loved me." Rem's chest fluttered with life again. No matter how many times people tell her this, she wouldn't believe it's true. It was a nice thought however.

Emilia continued. "He said he loved you… Even after what you've done to him… He loves you." Her voice cracked and her grip on the cup became unstable.

Although Rem's own chest was hurting from the way Emilia kept referencing the crimes she'd done, the maid couldn't handle seeing anymore of the half-elf's pain.

"Do you mean that… Subaru-kun won't forgive you like he did to me?"

Emilia shook her head.

"I mean that I don't want him to."

"What?"

Rem and Emilia stared at each other with bewilderment and conviction staring off on each side of the table.

"I'm not going to forget my own faults that caused Subaru his pain, Rem. I know what I was thinking back then and I know how much I used him for myself. I don't deserve him." Emilia's small confession was said in the most determined voice Rem had heard from the naive girl that used to walk alone in the mansion halls.

"What are you talking about?" Rem found herself seething in place, unable to control her bottled emotions as she recalled every word Emilia just said.

"Do you think that I've forgotten my own deeds against Subaru-kun?!" Rem shouts at the half-elf, who stared at her blankly.

"I have not!" Rem shouts again, standing up and slamming a hand on the table, "I won't ever forget that hellish loop even if this Warden took them away again!" The maid was babbling on, her eyes and expression furious and determined.

"... It doesn't matter." Emilia whispered sadly, pitifully.

"What?" Rem demanded, standing over Emilia with a glare.

The half-elf looked to the side with a defeated expression. "I can't forgive myself like you did." Rem blanched at the audacity of Emilia's words. "I can't see myself beside him after what I've done. You on the other hand… You love him enough to not care about what you've done to him."

"... What the hell is your problem?!" Rem's voice was louder than a thunderstorm. She glared daggers into Emilia like she was the source of everything she hated in the world.

"I'm just telling the truth." Emilia pitifully let go of her cup to fold her hands on her lap. "The only time I ever helped him was when he slept on my lap… and even that caused him to get attached to me and get beaten by Julius… He can't ever be with me…"

"Get over yourself." Rem firmly spoke from above, causing Emilia to look up at the standing maid in surprise.

"What?"

"You are pathetic. Get over yourself." Rem repeats without mercy. Long gone was the polite timid maiden that was crushed by guilt and horror from Subaru's loops. Now, Emilia was faced with an extremely annoyed Oni.

"Your pity party won't save you from the fact that Subaru-kun won't ever choose Rem over you. I can stomp on it whenever I want because I've already seen him choose you."

"...?!" Emilia's eyes widened at these words, spoken from an infuriated Rem.

"I have not forgotten anything I've done. Every single one of his screams is stuck in my head like a needle. You will never know how that feels like, because you haven't tortured him."

Emilia flinched on herself as Rem began shedding tears.

"Y-You. He chose you." Rem sobbed as her emotions took control over her. "and h-here you are, throwing it all away because you would rather hide than face the fact that there's some work to do. You would rather blame yourself and close every door by making it impossible to see yourself in a redeeming light. You couldn't even see that Subaru-kun had his own problems and faults. That's why the fight at the castle happened. Not because you've helped him!"

The Oni managed to stop her tears and wipe away the ones that fell down her cheek. Glaring at Emilie with disappointment and hurt in her blue eyes.

"Subaru-kun needs you to hold him up and kick him down when he shows some of his ugly sides. That is his nature. Rem's seen it. Rem loves him for it. I cherish him with all my heart and won't ever forgive myself for what I've done."

"..."

"You once told me that Subaru needed me. That's why I should forgive myself for his torture." The maid's voice trembled. "And if you can't stand by the same words you told me in the past viewing sessions then please do not comfort me ever again, Emilia-sama." Rem stepped away from the chairs and walked towards the door, uncaring for the half-elf princess.

"It's clear that you haven't forgiven me, so stop trying to use Rem as a tool to further your self pity and start fighting for his love!" Rem loses control over her hands and slams the door to Emilia's room shut behind her. She takes note of the silence from the other side and spends great effort into taking deep breaths to calm herself.

"She's one pathetic girl." Rem snarled furiously before walking away with disgust.

Inside the room itself, Emilia was left alone to her ugly thoughts and Rem's dominant words.

All the half-elf could feel was shame with how rightful the Oni was to be angry with her. Rem came here to help Emilia but all she got was hsr kindness thrown in her face.

Emilia's fingers crumpled to form fists on her lap.

"I do want to fight for him… I want to love him…"

The naive girl's resentment and jealousy began cracking into her voice.

"What does a murderer like you know?! He chose me before I even hurt him! If I did the same thing you did, he wouldn't have ever forgiven me!"

Emilia's jealous rants were not heard by anyone but the walls of the sub world that was her room in the theater.

She breathed heavily. In and out.

Rem was long gone, and Emilia was left with a fury in her chest that could not be satiated.

"Just come back, Subaru…" Emilia groaned into her palm as she placed her face into her hands. "Just wake up… Please."

:

"It seems that my luck has left me out to dry today. Tck!" Priscilla clicks her teeth and showcases an eyeroll at the sight of the man before her.

"Y-You don't need to be so annoyed with this!" The feminine boy stutters out, clearly humiliated by Priscilla's dismissal of his effort.

"Do not dwell on what does not concern you, freakish boy." Priscilla waves her fan slowly as she looks at the blushing Felix up and down. "Or are you a girl? I forget… fufu~"

"I-I am a man-"

"And you dress like that? Has that Karsten harlot really forced her servant to change genders? She is worthy of mine interest." Priscilla's laughter caused Felix to grit his teeth.

"If all you're gonna do is make fun of me, then why let me inside of your room in the first place, nyan?!"

Priscilla's laughter died as her glaring rubies fixed on the knight before her.

"I was compelled to give you a few moments of my precious time. You should thank your maker for this privilege." She spoke with a predatory grin on her face.

Felix shuddered in place at the bewitching woman's tone. "What?"

"Awe, don't be scared, dumb kitty." Priscilla mocked. "You won't be able to manage a favor out of mineself should you continue to be so clueless. Now stop wasting mineself's invaluable air by being in this room and get to your request."

The cat demihuman gulped anxiously, the stars didn't align with him as Priscilla reveled in his humiliation with the gaze of a hawk. Amusement filled the proud princess from head to toe as everything pointed Felix to the conclusion that she would be enjoying every second of this.

The healer let his pride go and sighed in defeat, willing to let her play her games with him. Afterall, he already knew this wouldn't be easy or merciful on him when he asked Priscilla for permission to enter her private room.

"Out with it, Karsten's freak of nature. Mineself has no more time to waste!" Priscilla urged hotly, forcing the flustered knight to speak hurriedly.

"M-My Master t-told me to apologize to your merciful self for my despicable behavior in the last viewing session! I should not have raised my voice towards a royal such as yourself and I do not deserve the right to ask this but if your kind heart allows it, please forgive my conduct towards you, nyan~!" Felix's sweaty palms clenched into fists as he bowed his head to prostate himself before the cruel matriarch. He had his eyes closed and his nerves were a wreck. He wondered if this was worth it in the end, if fulfilling Crusch's demands like this would bring a smile to his master's face.

It all depended on the one lady in the room he didn't want to be with, and Priscilla was staying silent for as long as it took for her to grow bored of the sight.

"Apologize, you say." Priscilla hummed to herself, staring at the healer's bowed head, not even commenting about any of this but taking it in stride and amusing herself nonetheless.

"Keep your head bowed to me. Mineself wishes to ask you questions while you humble yourself like this."

"Y-Yes, Priscilla-sama." Felix found it hard to comply with this woman without gritting his teeth, but the idea of answering her questions didn't seem revolting even if he had to keep his head down.

"Now then," she began, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back to fan herself, "Why would you do this to yourself? Mineself's pride would never allow me to do something so undignified as this."

"M-My master wanted me to apologize, so I did." Felix answered prickly.

"... That's not what I asked."

"Huh?"

"Who is your master, freakish boy?" Priscilla tried a different tactic that confused Felix even more as he answered.

"Crusch Karsten."

"And the Karsten head is known for her outstanding nobility and dignified pride, is she not?"

Felix was beginning to question if this amused woman was insane. He panicked because he could feel her gaze stuck to his head, he knew that she was toying with him and leading him somewhere unpleasant.

"Of course she is!" But he couldn't let her refute the truth about his master.

"Of course she is." Priscilla repeated in a tone of complete ease and tranquility. "She is proud. She is royal. She is noble."

'Everything you are not.' Felix wanted to say as his fists shook and his head began hurting from being angled like this for so long.

"So tell me," Priscilla fanned herself a few more times while reading the boy's body, "Why have you come here? Why have you bowed your head when I barely said a word to you? Why did you degrade yourself in your apology when you believed in what you've said at the moment of your transgression against mineself?"

"..." Felix's breath was lost to him as he thought about every question Priscilla shot at him from her seat.

"You don't know?" Priscilla snorts in amusement, "Let me tell you then." She took a moment to sip some of her wine while flinging her crossed leg in the air, letting the knight ponder in silence and anticipation.

"Your freakish self was only asked to apologize, not prostrate or degrade yourself." Priscilla sounded amused once he flinched before her. "Yet you have done exactly that. Right away, without even needing an order from the goddess before you."

"I-Is this going anywhere?" Felix questioned, unable to think about what she was saying.

"...Hm." Priscilla let out a short hum, finally seeing something that she's been looking for. "Tell me, do you think of yourself as inferior to the half-wit's dog outside this room?"

"Absolutely not! Nayn, he's nothing but a pathetic man, hiding his weakness behind the need to use his power for other people's pleasure!" He answers furiously at the notion and outrage trembling his body. "Natsuki Subaru is nothing like me, nayn!" Felix declares with pride.

"Mhm. Mhm." Priscilla lets out hums of approval and nods to herself. "Then our interaction shall be concluded."

"...?!" Felix finally looked up from his bow to find the red rose that was Priscilla looking at him cryptically. "I have the distinct feeling that this isn't over yet, nyan."

"You'd be correct, my dumb cat." Priscilla leans on her hand and takes pleasure in making him tremble in anticipation.

"Should you want to earn my forgiveness, I only require one small request, and mineself will mercifully allow you the pleasure of earning your master's approval."

"Anything." Felix gulped with a brave face. Waiting for the wicked woman like a man waiting for poison to burn through his lungs.

Priscilla raised her crossed foot at him. "Kiss my shoe once."

"..." Felix found himself unable to process what was happening. His mind blanked out and all he could see was Priscilla's majesty as her red beautiful orbs observed him without waver or a blink. Her lips were thin and her expression bored with his entire existence.

"Your master's approval is waiting, freak." Her foot waved in the air, her urging forced his mind to think back to Crusch's disappointed face.

'Crusch-sama… I will do as you ask and serve you until you see me how I see you, nayn!'

His entire world revolves around Crusch. He was here to serve her, make her feel good, make her feel confident, take the responsibility of being a woman from her so she feels confident to lead the entire kingdom as a man should.

"Yes, Priscilla-sama."

This was a simple task that didn't matter in the grand scheme of his loyalty to his master. The Duchess of the Karsten house would pay ten times over to save him and people like him. Felix was keenly aware of how stupid this one small sacrifice of pride is compared to what Crusch would give to help him.

Kneeling down before this prideful and cruel witch, leaning his head to where her foot was raised from the floor, placing himself like an animal before Barielle's destestable mercy and amusement. His lips finally tasted the dirt on the toe of her footwear.

Once he rose from the utterly humiliating position, he never felt whole again.

And the woman that shattered a piece of his soul simply stared off to where his lips were placed. Bored. Expressionless. Blinking as if it was just another day where someone breaks their backs to amuse her.

"How very irksome." Once her foot lowered to the floor, she started wiping away the spot he'd sacrificed his heart to kiss. Felix felt like he wanted to cry. "The half-elf's sleeping pet has more integrity in his finger than your entire existence." Priscilla shot Felix with her cruel words.

Before he knew what was happening, the crimson matriarch snarled in disgust at what felt like his core.

"You have just shamed the Karsten household by humiliating their precious daughter's knight. Have you no shame?"

"Wha…" Felix widened his eyes in disarray at the hostile aura around Priscilla.

"... Your entire existence should've been forgotten instead of your master's memory. Mine self would say Karsten's lucky to have her memory wiped just to forget a freak like you."

"What's with you?! I did what you asked me too-"

"You've done what you wanted to do. Do not take me for a fool, boy." Priscilla threatened with a thorny glare. "You shame that greedy man's actions as if you are any better than he is. When really you are worse than a hypocrite in mineself's eyes. You are a person with no pride or existence beyond Karsten's boot steps. Do not believe yourself to be anything other than that when you speak about the sleeping man."

Felix found himself in utter humiliated shock, unable to register that Priscilla Barielle was actually defending Subaru because of his action.

"Y-You asked me to do this."

"And had you been better than him, you wouldn't have ever considered kneeling to me, much less do the deed." Priscilla took mercy to explain, though she still showed him disgust and repulsion through her gaze. "Your life is meaningless should Karsten will it. You hide your own weakness by surrendering yourself to be her inferior. You leech off of her confidence to bloat yours and commit actions by her name with no shame that your own holds no meaning before your adversaries."

Each sentence was a punch to his entire world and the coffin became darker as she closed it. Priscilla held Felix by the collar to spit her disgust into his soul.

"The half-wits slave at least worked the courage to demand what he wanted from her. That is why I believe you two are very different, and you to be his inferior version."

His reaction to her final statement was not important to anyone as he was thrown to the door of the room. "Out of my sight! I need to replace my shoes."

Felix's trembling hand grabbed the door handle so he could trip outside of the hellscape that was Priscilla's room. All he could think about was arguments about how wrong this witch was.

But his tears were proof that he had nothing to argue against. Priscilla read him like an open book and used it to humiliate him in the worst ways possible, using Crusch and Subaru against him.

"I'm sorry…" Felix whimpered to no one in particular, shaking from the entire ordeal. "I'm sorry."

It almost felt good to apologize to himself.

Inside of the room, the disgusted young lady found herself staring in the mirror.

"What an arrogant buffoon." She clicked her teeth at the situation that had just happened. "I would rather not have commoners in mine sanctuary again… But the world's message is clear." Priscilla sighes tiredly and summons another glass of expensive wine by the room's magic, an ability she found out as soon as she entered the first time.

"If this freak is what the world sends me, then I shall make my own use of his existence." Priscilla muttered to herself, thinking about what she said about Felix and what Al said to her.

"If the freak is the inferior version," Priscilla sucks her upper lip and hums, closing her eyes and picturing a far off image of a man with black-hair. Al's words echoed in her ear. "Maybe the superior version has a chance for mineself's attention after all?"

The red rose beauty drank her wine in satisfaction, finally having a clearer mind and an objective that isn't grumping around this Theater dormitory. All thanks to the soul Felix had just sold to her amused joke.

"How gross must one be to dress like a woman when they aren't? Yuck." Her snarl of disgust returned.

She really didn't want any more visitors to her room. Never.

:

"I have no intention of dignifying such a question, Wilhelm-dono." Crusch sipped her tea indulgently while the old man sitting next to her enjoyed his own cup.

"My apologies for overstepping, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm gave her a small lean of his upper chest. "But I wanted to make sure that we aren't planning anything nefarious."

"I understand fully well how precious your respect for the man is, Wilhelm-dono. Rest assured, I won't be taking advantage of that." The Duchess applies firmly, not giving any ground.

"I apologize for thinking such an act is possible from you, my lady." Wilhelm gives a deeper bow of respect this time, setting his cup down on the table.

"... But you have not come here to ask me about strategy. My plan was already clear enough last time you asked me before this viewing occurred."

"You are correct, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm nods and rises to meet with the militarist royal face to face. "I have no more ways to say this that are effective on a maiden's heart anymore. So I'll be blunt."

"Feel free to do so, Wilhelm-dono. We are in the sanctity of my quarters." Crusch urges the man sharply.

"Do you think that you're trying your best in this race for Subaru-dono's camp?"

"What makes you ask?"

"I have a good intuition that nearly all of the others are constantly changing their own agendas and movements to get closer to Subaru or the family surrounding him. Just before, in the viewing, that Oni maid was chatting bubbly with the knight of Priscilla Barielle." Wilhelm explained thoroughly and calmly, making Crusch sip her tea with a thoughtful look.

"Mh. Interesting."

He raised a brow at the simple, nonexistent reaction.

"You won't be changing any of your approaches to this?"

Crusch set her tea cup on the table and looked at the old man with a stern frown. "Should the other camps grow closer to Natsuki Subaru's friends or not, that is irrelevant to us. Natsuki Subaru has our full trust as we do his. Our camp will be there to hold Emilia's from scrutiny and prejudice as we disclosed in all of our deals even after I had been attacked by Gluttony. This is a simple fact, Subaru Natsuki will fall with us by nature if we just stood back and waited for the other camps to strike." Crusch laid out her plan, coldly, calculating each and every thing the subject had touched in her head to give her firm estimate on keeping the agenda running.

"Subaru Natsuki will be safe with us." Crusch leaned back in her seat again with the tea cup back in her hand.

"... And if he doesn't feel the same way in his heart about you, what would this plan be for, Crusch-sama?"

The Duchess had not acquired dignity of steel to hold herself from spitting the tea all over the carpets.

"... I did say I would be blunt on matters of a maiden's heart." Wilhelm comments with amusement.

The Duchess gave him a side glare after coughing the beverage out of her lung. "Since when does the Sword Demon make distasteful jokes?"

"I do not joke about these matters, my lady." Wilhelm answers absentmindedly, making Crusch pause.

"What makes you think that I have any feelings towards Natsuki Subaru? Do you think I'm so easily swayed to focus on him rather than my own goal?" Crusch asks, having a firmer frown on her face than before.

The wise old man looked at her with a small grin that was barely noticeable on his lips.

"You haven't told me. Why did you never change your attitude towards Subaru-dono?"

"Huh?" She sounds confused.

"You've seen the boy die many times over. Fail and get others killed because of his mistakes." Wilhelm notices how serious her posture became, no doubt hiding the real emotions of rage behind her firm expression. "Why haven't you abandoned your old views about Natsuki Subaru yet?"

"..." It only took Crusch a moment of thought to answer. "His struggle is admirable. All it takes is strength and determination to move a boulder ten times your size, but a mountain? That takes will and spirit."

"Is that what you see in Subaru-dono?" Wilhelm notices how calmly Crusch began picking her tea cup once again.

'You're much calmer speaking about something you are sure of. You can't lie to yourself, Crusch-sama. These are words from your heart.'

"I believe he has those yes. I believed. After I saw what he did to get here…" Crusch's lips thinned and her eyes dimmed slightly. "That boy has a will that can move our world ten times over, not just a mountain."

"Strong words. He must've charmed you enough during his time wallowing in self-pity." Wilhelm nods, compelling her to answer an unspoken question.

"That was just a phase." Crusch took the bait in stride. "Even back then I knew someone like him wouldn't stay down on the ground. He was far too passionate to do that." Wilhelm knew that Crusch had memories of Subaru's declaration as a self made knight were ones of admiration and bafflement, he'd never heard her speak of Subaru's time in her mansion after that though.

"... You praise and defend him when there is no need to." Wilhelm raises an amused brow at the confident matriarch.

Crusch gave him a simple smile with no connotation behind it. "After what he lived and went through, he deserves to at least have this from me."

"You seem very adamant on having him by your side, Crusch-sama. I'd say that is far greater than a few compliments." Wilhelm's stone-like expression never ceased to amaze Crusch even when he was clearly jesting.

"Are you trying to get an answer out of me that isn't there? That is a trick learned from Natsuki Subaru I wager?"

"You'd be correct." Wilhelm let the Duchess chuckle and sip her tea out of bemusement.

"No." Crusch answered with a smile as she swallowed the tea. "Subaru Natsuki is someone I wish to protect and have by my side to achieve my goal. There is no room for me in his heart nor can I let him mine."

"...That's a sad smile you have, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm shook his head, sipping some of his own tea, waiting for his master to regain the strength to rise from her disappointment. "Matters of the heart can be quite unremitting."

"I have no use dwelling on what might never happen." Crusch stares at the empty cup with great apathy. "There's a goal that I must fight for."

"... Mhm." Wilhelm slowly drinks the last of his tea. "The goal built on another love you do not understand."

"..." Crusch's form went rigid at the old man's words, feeling her breath growing heavy.

"Forgive my zealousness." The Sword Demon relents and reflects on his approach with a small bow of his head.

"I-It's fine." Crusch forces out, placing her cup down and staring at the floor. "It is not a matter to be discussed. But Fourier's love for me was… Precious."

Wilhelm nods his head, encouraging the iron woman to let her guard down and share what's burdening her with his silence.

"But I feel that it might've been misplaced." Crusch looks as if she had crushed her own heart by just her frown. "Natsuki Subaru would probably end up the same way as Fourier-sama should he accept me."

Wilhelm clicked his teeth. "You know, making excuses just to deny your wish is unlike you, Crusch-sama."

"It isn't an excuse." Crusch's voice wavered as if it was in pain. "Besides, he told me himself that he couldn't. Emilia-sama and Rem-san can take care of that matter for him."

"... But I can see through you, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm provides kindly, earning a soft glance from the wavered woman. "You're desperate to understand this all, but making excuses has never succeeded in making you deny yourself something you desire."

"What do I even desire? To you, I'm just denying something within me from causing more issues for my goals down the road. To me, I'm not even sure if this pull towards him is what Fourier…" Crusch loses her voice and trails her eyes to the table edge.

"Crusch-sama, my lady." Wilhelm coughs politely and moves in his chair to fully face the confused girl before him. "I would advise you to only think about what is there instead of what should be there. Your past experience with these feelings aside, it's clear that your tenacity to own what you feel is yours is already doing the work for you."

"What do you mean?" She asks, curious but still staring at the floor.

"I'd say the fact that you believe so firmly that he will end up by your side once his camp goes into danger is enough. Or the brave choice of covering nearly every single one of his friends under your banner if needed… This is not the strategy or sacrifice of a cunning politician, my lady. I think it's more telling of what your heart wants."

Crusch seemed to register what her oldest member was saying with grace and acceptance. Her lip was stuck between the front white teeth and her eyes closed. The Duchess was now in a world of turmoil and chaos when her plan seemed so clear and straightforward.

All it took was a few words from the wise old man sitting beside her, and she was second guessing each choice she would make in this race between the camps.

"Am I that obvious, Wilhelm-dono?" Crusch asks, merely to satiate her need to focus on something other than her own mind.

The old man looked at the troubled woman with pity and amusement. "Those who fell in the same trap as you did can read the trouble your heart is in from a mile away, my lady." He answered kindly.

"What trap?" Crusch asks, voice dry, and her head leaning back towards her chair.

Wilhelm's smile finally broke through his stony expression in a way Crusch can see the warmth that came off of the old man.

His answer was clear on his lips which caused Crusch to chuckle.

"Maybe excuses aren't really my style after all." She muttered as she relaxed on her chair with closed eyes and a warm smile.

The Sword Demon nods and crosses his arms, waiting patiently for the third member of this household to return and rest with them.

:

"I feel so stuu~uk here!" A small girl with tiny animal ears loudly groaned inside of the Theater room. The massive space of the room happened to be empty enough for an echo to spread.

"Interestin'… It seems the echoes were suppressed durin' viewin' times somehow and we can hear them now that the screen is off." Beside the young Demi-Human girl, a twin was scanning the ceiling with narrowed eyes.

"Whatcha lookin' at anyway?"

"I'm trying to find out more about the place we are in, Mimi. Now please shut up or else you will wake up Boss Ricardo." He points towards the unmoving beastman in the chair beside him but his eyes widen as soon as his sister picks up her wooden wand and strikes at him.

"Oo~ff!"

"I'm bored Tivey!" Mimi shouted as loudly as she could as she swung for her brother who expertly dodged.

"I told you to shut up!" Tivey whispered, catching the wood in his hand and glaring brazenly at his twin.

Mimi adorably stretched her tongue out which made the boy shake his head and turn around to glance at the hulking beast sleeping right beside them.

Ricardo's snores filled his ears much to his relief.

"I feel like you aren't getting how serious this situation has become, Mimi!" Tivey shouts, glaring at his sister and gripping the wand tighter.

"I am!" Mimi retorts while trying to rip it out of his hand, but her brother only glared at her without budging. "I wish I was stuck in here with anyone else! At least they are not as boring as you!"

"How would you like it if you were Hetaro right now? You would be alone over there without the boss, Mama, or even a Sword Saint! Don't you get how stupid your statement is?!" Hetaro's name being mentioned sent the twins both down a spiral of emotions they were not ready to hold.

"..."

"I'm sorry for mentioning him, Mimi… I shouldn't have." Tivey spoke in a softer tone of voice, sympathetic for his sister's silence.

"Don't care! I don't care! Screw you forever, Tivey, you dumby!" Mimi ran away from her brother down the isles, past the black-haired sleeping boy and the small blonde in the pretty dress.

"Ow!" A small girl in a maids uniform shouts as Mimi knocks her down midway through her run inside of the hall.

"I-I'm sorry!" Mimi expresses her regret by trying to reach out to the fallen orange-haired girl, but a voice scrambled behind her.

"Mimi, wait! I didn't mean it, I really really did not!"

Hearing her brother, Mimi panics and retracts her arm, making the poor little maid fall over again with an 'oof' coming out of her.

"I'm sorry! I'll make it up to ya, promise!" Mimi hurriedly speaks a jumbled mess and runs off to one of the rooms in the hallway.

The small girl Mimi had dropped twice was on her legs, rubbing the back of her head with a small frown on her face.

"So sorry for my sister! Please forgive her!" Tivey quickly ran toward the girl and pulled her up.

"I-Its fine. No worries, please go find your sister." The girl speaks softly, pulling her hand closer to her chest and looking away from Tivey.

"O-Ok. Thank you." He hurries after Mimi in a dash.

At her loneliness, Petra's lips thinned and her legs walked once again.

'This is the worst group of people. Liars of deception and selfishness! I don't know what to do!'

Petra continued walking with her mind running with confrontation after confrontation about everyone's character surrounding her and Subaru.

'Does anyone even care what might happen to him anymore?!'

She bit her lip in protest of this thought. Remembering how Rem and Emilia agonize over his many deaths. How much Otto and Garfiel care for him. How scary Beatrice was when she threatened everyone over him.

But she still could not forget the sight of Rem torturing his wound with her Morningstar.

"..."

The little girl couldn't hold her bubbly smile around Rem and Ram anymore. She can fake it to make them feel better…

"This don't change a thin' in my plans, sweetheart"

"..."

Petra stopped walking in the hall to face a door that was opened a tiny bit.

"That Karsten gal ain't gonna be trouble for me. She's actually growin' on Barielle's nerves!"

She hears a bombastically western accent that felt like she was hearing gibberish half the sentence from the other side. Petra closes in, finding it appropriate to nudge the door from its tiny opening to expand.

'Anastasia-sama left her door unclosed? While she is speaking to someone?'

Petra leans to the opening so she can hear the interesting conversation between Anastasia and her camp member about the noble lady Karsten and that cruel nasty beauty in red.

'Frederica-senpai should be mad at me for not using the proper titles of our royal candidates.'

As Petra smiles fondly, she hears the lady she knew to be the western candidate speak inside the room.

"How'd ya think I forced em to come to Pristella in the first place? I dunno why this Warden fella is out to get me, but I sure 's hell Imma kill em once we meet!"

'She sounds so angry!'

Petra leans back and moves away from the door. She reserved to walk away from the room with her mind plaguing her once again.

Before long, she finally had her hand to the handle of her room's door. Closing it behind her and resting her back against it, Petra fell into a darkness as her emotions got the better of her.

Full force, Petra stepped with closed eyes so she could kick the mattress on her bed as hard as she could.

The hit was stress relieving as well as heart pumping for her. She could only breathe steadily for a moment after lowering her foot.

She was finally glad to be alone. No one could see that reaction out of her. No one would take her seriously if she threw tantrums around.

"Frederica-sama taught me more discipline than that." She whispers to herself as her breath finally stabilizes.

She opened her eyes finally, looking for where the table was so she could drink something.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" And all she could do was shout as she found someone sitting on her chair.

It was a man in a pitch black coat and outfit from gloves to boots with little metal braces connected on the clothing here and there. His hair was black and his eyes were not clear enough for her to extinguish from behind the goggles he wore. This looked like a dangerous man sitting in her room. Worst part was that she wouldn't be able to see his expression before he did something terrible to her since he has a mask.

Petra was mortified once he spoke through his mask.

"What did the mattress ever do to you, eh? It's a perfectly innocent mattress."

"Wh-... YOU!" The girl points, mouth agape.

"I swear to god it wasn't me that stole your candy from the drawer. It was Frederica." The man said in what seemed to be a humorous voice but Petra couldn't breathe let alone process that the Warden of the prison she had been in for the last couple of…— days? — was right before her.

"Hi." The obscure man waves his hand and tilts his head to the point his hair waves in the air.

"I'll go grab that candy from Frederica-senpai." Petra calmly and composedly bows her head while raising the sides of her skirt like a noble lady would before walking towards the door with no haste in her step.

"I lied. I was the one who stole it."

Petra tried but her temper got the better of her at the blasphemous casual tone this man took.

"YOU SWORE TO GOD!" She points at him with a glare.

"I HAVE A PERFECT EXPLANATION!"

"I don't wanna hear it!"

"The fu- Child! I haven't eaten it yet!" Petra didn't know why, but she can tell this man was a foolish and irritating one.

"Give it here then!" Petra pouts and extends her open palm.

"... Maybe we can share?"

The little girl had a fire in her eyes that genuinely seemed to scare the masked grown man into submission.

"Give. It." She orders.

Warden simply shook his head and threw the chocolate bar towards her palm.

Petra caught it, almost tripping and held the treasure close to her chest, throwing a glare at the hunched man as he despaired over the lost food in silence.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"*SNIFF*"

"I'm not sharing." Petra says as she throws the bar in her bed drawer, paying no mind to the supposed entity behind her.

"You're a mean one." She could see him relax in his chair, done with the fake crying and speaking with her casually.

Petra turns towards the black cloak and bravely faces him.

"You don't sound so mighty or scary as you do from behind that big window." She replies so coldly, the man had to unclench his fist and clap with a hearty laugh.

"Yo! That was a nice zing!"

"...Why are you here?" Petra gets serious, unamused by the attitude.

The man straightens his back suddenly and nods his head.

"Sure. Let's get into it. Ah," he runs a hand through his hair. "Ah. Welp. I know that you've been having trouble with all of these things that you've watched lately."

"How would you know? You forced me in here!" She grumbles angrily.

"And I'm sorry for that. I never wanted to put you through this, Petra. I simply wish to…" Warden trails off, stopping his plea to the little girl and glances off to the side all of a sudden.

"Wish to what? Why do you sound so… sincere with me? Do I know you?" She tried grabbing his attention off the wall. Petra saw something in those goggles for a moment that might have resembled human eyes. Normal human eyes.

This man was a human being. Not an all powerful entity that trapped her and her friends.

"You don't trust me. I know that." Warden suddenly speaks after moments of silence. His neck turned and he looked at her. She can clearly see some darkness behind those goggles.

"But I want to remind you that no matter how hard things will get, you have people to talk it over with."

"Huh?!" Petra sounds in confusion, weirded out by the conflicting demeanor of someone who was supposed to be cruel enough to let her see Subaru die.

"Why do you care?!" Petra asks in full blown bafflement.

"Ah it's not that I care. It's what will happen to Subaru should you fail to hold on to yourself here, dear village girl."

"Hold on to myself?" Petra whispers in more confusion.

"Yes." He nods his head. His fingers turn to a fist and he knocks on the table once. "You are now being hit by different truths about your world. Most of them are unpleasant for now. They are making you regret some preeeetty important choices you've made."

"H…Uh?" She couldn't help but sound.

"I can't tell you to get better so I won't. But what I can do–" he knocks on the table once again by which after a portal seeped into existence before Petra and the man.

"What is this?!" Petra shouts while looking at the swirling hole of particles.

"It's a portal back home." Warden nods proudly.

Petra turns to him with her jaw hung.

"Oh don't look at me like that." He shrugs and leans back casually. "This is a one time opportunity, kid. Go in and get home to your parents. Or stay trapped here and be destroyed by what Subaru has gone through."

"Why are you giving me this choice?" Petra sounded almost scared to ask, the air from the portal feeling like hot scorching fire on her skin or maybe it was her nerves coating her with hypersensitivity.

"Why does it matter?" The man tilts his head, "You aren't getting anything except for disappointment after disappointment in this place. Watching him die again and again."

Her eyes widened with horror as she refocused her attention from the enigmatic person that was her Warden and looked at the shivering circle before her– the portal.

"You want me to go back home… Alone?" Petra didn't receive a verbal answer. A mere nod of the head from the relaxed man. "... Without Subaru and the rest…"

"You won't like them enough to want them coming back either way, Petra." He cryptically shrugs, "I won't take more of your time, kiddo." Warden stands up, stepping away from the table and beginning to circle in the air by his finger. A portal opens before him that is colored in the same oily red that Petra's own portal is in.

"You're going back to my world?" She asks, making the man pause.

"Eh? I forgot you were smarter than most in here," he chuckles lightly. "But yes. I'm going to your world. I have people that need me there and I've angered them by coming back inside this theater place to see you."

"You will leave me to make the choice alone?" Petra knew she couldn't ask all the questions in her mind so she asked the most important one.

"Well… You will either go here," he points at the portal to her right, "And be with your family and village people where you will wait for the rest here to finish my business." Warden takes a turn and points to her room's closed door. "Or you will go there. This portal closes for good. And you will have to watch the horrifying way Subaru found your village and friends."

"..."

Warden lowered his head in a small nod of comfort, clearly sympathetic to the horror on Petra's face.

"Like I said. You're a smart one, Petra." Warden whispered with a hint of emotion, "but you must never take on a truth you can never fight or live with. I gave you this choice just this once because of my own little sister."

The black coat ruffles as the man swipes it behind him. Warden gave another chuckle, "You're just like her. Just as kind as well."

His goggles glimmered in the portal lumination, the mask didn't convey any emotion other than observance. Yet his voice held a tremble of emotion that made Petra forced to see the man with a new outlook.

"Whatever you choose, there will never be a right answer. Take care," he waves robotically before stepping inside of the swirling hole in the air.

As the first one closed, Petra was left with one magical luminescent doorway and another non-magical totally wooden door.

Two choices that she wouldn't have realized she had without that man's help.

"Subaru…" the little girl called out, looking like she was about to cry. "I don't wanna see you die again, Subaru…" Petra whimpered as she crumpled in between her choices, her hair fluttering from the bursts of air from the portal. "I don't wanna see any of my parents die like you have." The images of her village played like a vision from one of those viewing sessions.

Her parents were probably baffled to where she was right now. Even though Petra had told them she would succeed in serving the master of their domain and earning enough to buy that dressing shop in the capital. What would they think after she left her master, the entire camp she was supposedly serving, and the boy who'd been her hero?

"What should I do… What will happen to Subaru if these guys abandon him?"

Leave or stay.

"I'm sorry…"

Petra's tears rolled down her cheeks as she stood up from her despair, and walked toward her choice.

:

"Now that was an awesome nap!" Felt shouts while swinging her legs to jump off the bed.

"Lady, Felt-sama? Are you awake yet?" Reinhard calls out from behind the door.

"What?! Have ya been waitin' there for the entire time I was asleep?!" Felt shrieks, stomping and opening the door in half a second with a red face.

The redhead smiles and rubs the back of his head. "I had just come around, Felt-sama. I was about to wake you and get you to the Theater room."

"Oh. We've been called?" Felt loses her embarrassment and raises her brow at the knight.

Reinhard nods with thin lips. "It seems everyone is… Greatly overwhelmed. I feel as if everyone's on edge-"

"-and ya would rather I keep my mouth shut so as to not cause any fights." Felt cuts him off.

He nods sheepishly, "If you would not put it in any other term, yes."

"Whateva'!" She rolls her eyes and pushes past him. "Les' just see how far these idiots are gonna fall!"

Reinhard frowns but follows the blonde chaotic girl nonetheless.

"What's up with ya, Rein?" Felt asks while walking down the path, hands behind her head casually.

"Hm?" Reinhard hums, perking a glance at her.

"Why ya not annoyin' me about stayin' in line and stuff?"

"... I wouldn't dare show any mistrust towards your competence, milady." Reinhard mutters an answer, looking away.

"Mhm." Felt eyes him suspiciously for a moment but shakes her head. "Yeah, well keep me posted."

"I sure will, milady." Reinhard replies monotonically.

:

Entering the theater, many of the camps have now been splintered into different groups and seating arrangements. Counting down what would be the first row, Emilia took her seat beside the sleeping Subaru on the right. Able to look Rem in the eye with a look of uncomfortableness while the maid refused to acknowledge her presence as she sat behind Subaru.

"Aren't you going to…" When Emilia tried to point out that Rem should be taking a seat next to Subaru's left, parallel to herself, she received a scathing glance from the furious maid.

"Rem won't sit in a place given to her by your pity. Thank you very much, Emilia-sama."

Emilia flinched on herself before looking away, unable to take how severely she damaged the relationship with the other girl in Subaru's heart.

"I wonder why you'd think it's given out of pity. You were the one falling into a pit of despair for your crimes, I suppose." voice interjects with harsh words for Rem, causing Emilia to glance at the spirit sitting on Subaru's lap.

"... I knew you weren't telling the truth either, Beatrice-sama." Rem muttered dryly, causing Emilia to sink in her seat.

Beatrice hummed in response, uncaring for what Rem was speaking about while sinking on Subaru's chest.

As the screen began illuminating the room with its flashing motions, Wilhelm and Crusch would enter the room together, the pair seemed to look past the front row and to where a hunched Felix was sat, at the farthest end of the second row's left side.

"He's been here this whole time?" Crusch asks, concerned for her knight's well being.

"I think Ferris needs some time alone right now, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm cautions compassionately.

Mistrustful of the statement but not the man, the duchess narrowed her eyes to get a better look at the huddled boy in a skirt. She hated how alone and abandoned he looked.

"Something happened to him, Wilhelm-dono." Crusch's fists trembled with fury.

"I'll take care of it. Do not set your heart on this matter before you solve what's already troubling you. You might become emotional and take it out on him like you've done hours ago."

"I had every right to be disappointed with him," the duchess says firmly, "He disrespected–"

"Out of mine way, commoners!" Without a thought, Crusch watched Priscilla slide between her and Wilhelm to get into the aisle stairs.

"You are a rude one, Barielle." Crusch seethed, receiving no answer from the nasty crimson beauty.

"Leave her." Wilhelm gestures to Crusch via a wave of his hand, "You have an action you need to decide on, Crusch-sama. Your fight with Ferris is not solved and clearly your emotions will get the better of you should he say the wrong thing… and I think we both know that is destined to happen."

The Karsten matriarch looked past the old man toward her knight, feeling a bout of remorse for what she had said to him before the last viewing had finished.

"Please take care of him for me," she whispers trustingly.

"Of course, my lady." He bows slightly before gesturing to a seat on the high row above Rem. "You could take that seat. You'd be in between Priscilla-sama's knight and Roswaal-sama's maid, Ram."

The Duchess pursed her lip in discontent. Something that the old knight beside her notices right away.

"I realize how… unfortunate it is." Wilhelm lowers his hand, "but you don't have many choices other than that one and…"

Crusch looks to where Wilhelm's eyes widened suddenly. Once she found what he had, the smirk on her face was smug and equally predatory.

"Well," he coughs into a fist. "I'm guessing there won't be any need for speculation then."

"Not even close, Wilhelm-dono." Crusch chuckles and walks away from the old swordsman to furnish the conflicted girls around one Natsuki Subaru with a sweet smile.

"Crusch-sama?"

"Hello Emilia-sama. I wouldn't have caught you at a bad time would I?"

"You were the one that came here… Ah. No. This is not a bad time at all." Emilia stumbles on herself, confused by the Duchess and her appearance on her row.

Crusch moves to look at Rem, giving the maid the same smile. "Rem."

"Crusch-sama." The maid bows, giving a pleased smile towards the woman as well.

Emilia looked between the two with a bit of an obscure look of realization.

"May I take your previous seat next to Natsuki Subaru? You don't seem to be needing it anymore." The Duchess earned a small humph of annoyance from Beatrice at this bold ask, but to Emilia's surprise and jealousy, Rem replied with a simple bow of respect.

"Rem trusts Crusch-sama. Please follow your comfort."

The matriarch of House Karsten gave the maid the same bow of respect standing up that Rem gave her. Emilia watched the two parallel each other with her mouth open.

She couldn't form the words once the bold lady of steel turned to face her.

"Emilia-sama, if I may?" Crusch asks.

"A-Are you asking my permission?!" Emilia stutters, unable to cope with the impersonal behavior from Crusch.

"Yes, he is your knight after all."

"... Please take a seat, Crusch-sama. We are glad to have you." Emilia tries to give her the most welcoming smile she could.

Crusch nods her head and gives Beatrice a long look.

"Hmph. Just take the seat, I suppose. You won't be crushing his hand anymore than these two anyway."

"Thank you." Crusch dutifully ignored that last part and bowed slightly for the great spirit. Then finally she took a rest beside Subaru's side.

"Is he always this peaceful when he's sleeping?" Crusch asks curiously for her first thing she noticed. Looking at Subaru, the Duchess had no qualms with overseeing the boy sitting beside her and analyzing him.

"Yes!" Emilia replies rigidly. "Subaru is indeed very cute when he is sleeping."

"I never said cute." Crusch blinks with curiosity at Emilia, to which the girl adorably fiddles with her ear.

"I think it slipped out. Sorry."

"You don't need to keep apologizing, Emilia-sama." Crusch reassured firmly.

Rem and Beatrice glared between the two girls staring at the screen.

"Subaru-kun is cute." "Betty no longer respects your opinion, hmph."

As Priscilla walked past Felix's row and slid into her own, she was displeased to find her knight sitting comfortably in the second row's middle section where a pink-haired maid was sitting beside him.

"Aldebaran, you unfaithful dog." Priscilla mutters, reserving to sit alone while her whore of a knight sat and talked with the boring pink maid. She never wondered what they were talking about. Her eyes were busy nitpicking whatever she could see from the flashing visions rapidly flowing in small flashes on the window.

"Sooooo having trouble in paradise?" Al broke the solid twenty minutes of silence with a one liner stupid enough to make Ram react.

"Hmph. Not like it's your business."

"Aw come on! You're the one who started butting into mine first!" Al rejects her rejection with outrage, but Ram raises a brow.

"But I was helping a pitiful animal get back into its master's good graces. You are trying to butt into Ram's troubles, there is a difference." She replies cruelly.

"...So Ram is having troubles, ey?" Al retorts casually, making her glare at him in annoyance.

"Hey hey, come now. I'm just trying to help you like you've done me."

"You've kept me company long enough. Now please leave to your master." Ram gestures him away with a wave.

But Al decides to ignore that and watch the show of flashing pictures behind his helmet.

"Company is all someone needs sometimes," he says cryptically.

Ram doesn't face him. "You are a… torable pet, I suppose."

"And you are a nasty devil!"

Al wasn't as outraged at her as his statement sounded. And Ram's smirk showed that she knew.

Once the two had settled their differences, Wilhelm had moved to sit beside Felix, silently eyeing the knight while the boy gave no indication of talking to the old man.

Before long, Anastasia had entered while rubbing the scarf around her neck. "What the hell's this?!"

It was at this moment that Priscilla's eyes moved from the screen to look at the scene below.

"...Problem, Anastasia-sama?" Crusch blinks innocently while the foxy girl glared death at her.

"What are ya doin' sittin' there?!" Anastasia points at Crusch blasphemously. But the Duchess simply gave a smirk.

"Rem was kind enough to share."

"That so?" Anastasia smiled with gritted teeth, "then ya wouldn't mind my company ey?"

"Not at all. Please join us." Crusch spoke in a pleased tone that seemed to irritate Anastasia on purpose. "I already have a good seat myself."

"..." Anastasia clenched her scarf tightly and shook her head. She took the seat right beside the smug Duchess with a begrudging attitude.

"Mind if I join you, my lady?"

Anastasia looked up to find a freshly clothed Julius smiling down at her with eloquence.

"O'course!" Anastasia giggles and pats the last seat on the left side of the first row.

As soon as Julius had taken the seat beside his lady, a shrieking Felt demanded the attention of the entire room.

"To hell with ya!" Felt points at the line of Crusch, Anastasia, and Julius.

"Those were ours!" She rages, scrapping Reinhard's hand and trying to wiggle out of his grip so she could unleash absolute fury on the girls.

"Finders keepers kiddo~" Anastasia winks while Crusch makes no move to change seats.

"I am sure there are other seats available in the back." Crusch nods her head to Reinhard, instilling a way out for the knight.

One he was grateful to take, "Y-Yes. Let's go to the seats where Anastasia-sama and Julius left behind. It's the best view in the room."

"I'll kill ya! The lot of ya!" Felt scrambled like a wild dog in his hold, but Reinhard kept her tight to his chest.

"What a raging farm of pigs." Priscilla bemoaned in disgust. "Fighting, scrambling, whoring themselves out of pitiful need to control what's already out of their hands."

The crimson beauty moved her eyes from the pack of girls to the boy in the middle of them. Her lips pursed while jealousy danced within her ruby eyes.

Otto and Garfiel finally took their seats beside Emilia's side, filling up the entire front row.

Second row was all but filled up, with the child twins needing to take the place of Ram beside Roswaal on the third row. The magic lord had slipped into the back without anyone noticing him while the commotion was happening.

"Oi, sis! Sit down well ya?!" Garfiel shouts to his sister.

Frederica was the only one in the room to remain standing, looking into the hallway one foot into the theater room.

"I don't see Petra-chan." Frederica spoke anxiously, looking between the room and the hallway of doors.

"Isn't she still in her room still?" Otto questions from where his seat was.

Frederica bit her lip harshly, "I tried knocking. But she wouldn't answer me."

"Why're ya so worried anyway?" Anastasia voices curiously. "No one's gonna be leavin' here soon. Kid's probably still asleep."

"Petra-chan never oversleeps." Ram decided to point out in a low voice.

"That girl is dear to Subaru, in fact." Beatrice glared at the hallway and looked like she was about to hop off from Subaru's lap to look with Frederica.

Until the little girl entered the theater room with a small smile of embarrassment. "H-Hi! Hope I didn't keep you all waiting." Petra stood beside Frederica and bowed deeply to the crowd, "I apologize for my tardiness!"

"Take your seat then lil one. Ya haven't delayed us by much." Anastasia smiles kindly while giving Frederica a wink.

The blonde maid gave a sigh of relief. "I don't know why… but I felt you'd never join us here for some reason."

"Hm? Why would I not? Subaru won't be able to handle it if he knew I quit on learning and accepting his pain." Petra puts a hand on her hip while gesturing towards the sleeping boy with a nod.

Frederica narrowed her eyes at the little girl. "You speak as if there was another way."

"Yes there was." Petra answered with a strange smile. "But that's just a boring way. Imagine if I had to sleep all through this session!" Petra giggles while hopping toward the empty seats between Roswaal and Priscilla in the third row. Her mentor gave her a small shake of the head and a smile while following to sit beside her.

"Here we go…" Ricardo speaks groggy, wiping the sleep from his eyes as the screen brightly flashed.

"We haven't even discussed what we might see." Rem says in realization.

"That is correct." Julius nods with her, frowning with discontent.

"Most of ya had feelings t' work out." Anastasia tells while focusing on the screen.

"This one's not gonna be fun after that nasty fight, ay?" Al shakes his head.

Nobody answered him as the screen stopped and went dark. Lighting up again to begin playing a tone.

Opening Theme 2: Paradisus-Paradoxum

A flock of birds is shown flying around one another in a circle across an orange sky.

"A new opening?" The merchant wonders to himself, making Ram scoff from above.

"Obviously from the weird chants in the background."

"It's ominous." Tivey whispers in distress while his sister displays excitement for the upcoming song.

The screen slowly pans down as the sounds of Whales could be heard and water bubbles could be seen flying up towards the orange bright sky from the deep dark sea.

"These just keep getting weirder and weirder!" Emilia shivers at the sight of the water effects and realistic sound of water waves.

"I do agree that these sequences are kind of unneeded." Crusch pipes, earning a small glare from Anastasia.

Subaru is laying at the very bottom of the dark sea with his eyes closed and bubbles are all around him.

"What's this?!" Felt distressed over Subaru's body being in the water.

"I think this is a metaphor for something?" Tivey expresses while playing with his monocle. "These musical sections kinda have themes and images to foreshadow whatever is going to happen in a couple of viewing sessions."

"What if the water holding Subaru down when he's trying to swim up means that he can't get away from his fears in life?" Petra states, wondering what the scene was about.

"Maybe it's guilt?" Said Rem with a sour expression.

He opens his eyes to reveal tears at the corners as flashbacks to Emilia yelling at him play and make him flinch in guilt and embarrassment.

"Oooof! Ya may have been right!" Ricardo puckers his lips in agony at the memory of the nasty fight replaying.

Emilia looks saddened by it and how Subaru is depicted to be held down just because of a fight he had with her.

"It could be anything from his embarrassment to his guilt for treating you like a prize to be won that made him sink, Emilia-sama." Crusch forces Emilia to look at her by the firm tone she was using.

"Ah." The half elf finds herself unable to look away from Crusch's appraising amber orbs. "Thank you… Even though Puck was right about this all."

"Alright." Crusch's gaze moved from Emilia to the candidate sitting to her side. Anastasia had the same look of distrust as Crusch when Puck was mentioned by Emilia.

The screen pans from the laying Subaru to the demented red sky above the sea that he was in as the title card appears.

Emilia and Subaru could be seen smiling at one another with the world around them bright and delightful. They pass each other and suddenly the world goes dark and both have exhausted and sad faces.

"It's no puzzle what this means to tell us, I suppose." Beatrice dryly says while Emilia purses her lips from beside her.

"You'd think it would be put in a more subtle way." Rem bites angrily, surprising Emilia that she was mad for her.

"The screen is only showing Emilia-sama what doesn't need to be said. She's in a 'rough patch' with Subaru, as he would say it," Rem speaks using a term from Subaru's strange language.

"Besides," Emilia and Rem look over to Garfiel, who was smirking at the silver-haired lady with confidence, "Ya and Cap'n fixed yer differences before ya met with me. Keep that in mind, will ya?"

Emilia blinks rapidly, unwilling to let her tears flow down at the strange support she seemed to be getting. She only nodded to Rem and Garfiel.

Scene changes to show Emilia with her back to the door of the room Subaru was in when she left him. It shows Subaru hugging her coat from the other side of the room. The screen flickers between the two scenes and changes…

"Have you noticed anything other than the fight between these two in the flashes?" Tivey asked his sister, but Mimi only shook her head.

"I don't think anything else was theeeere." Roswaal suddenly voices himself, scaring the young boy.

"Ah. Thanks?" Tivey said, trying not to look at the clown dressed man much.

Subaru is walking through a snowing dark road with Rem slowly following him.

"This is showing that Rem-san will be playing a bigger part again?" Otto theorizes while glancing at the maid.

Rem only frowned towards the way Subaru was aimlessly walking towards the darkness and cold. Emilia seemed to dislike the specific emphasis of the snow too.

"I'd rather this be explained rather than be showcased in such a way." Priscilla snarked spitefully, her eyes full of interest as the musical charms fully engrossed her.

Subaru slowly holds his head in frustration as images of a smiling Rem and a smiling Emilia play making him more manic and frustrated.

"He's gonna be in for a rouuugh time!" Ricardo shakes his head at the dark path foreshadowed here.

"I'm surprised he's having such a hard time with all them ladies– oof!" Al was cut from an elbow by Ram.

"That's my sister, sleazy man!"

"Sorry, sorry."

"Hmph!" Priscilla laughs cruelly at the sight of her traitor knight getting abused so soon by the very maid he chose to sit next to.

The screen changes to show the many characters in the area.

Crusch, Felix and Wilhelm.

Al feeding Priscilla.

Anastasia eating with Mimi.

Emilia, resting her head on her desk with a sad look while Puck rubs his head with his paw.

Julius is shown holding a wooden sword with a determined face as Subaru stands behind him with his own sword on the dueling grounds.

"Julius?" Reinhard calls from behind the front row, trying to see if his friend is seeing this.

"We will have to see the consequences of the fight anyways, Reinhard. I'm okay with that." Julius calmly reassured without turning to face the Sword Saint.

The screen flickers and suddenly, a huge eye and a man with dark black hands are shown staring at Subaru.

"Who the hell's that?!" Garfiel shouts once he sees the eyes of the man and what's inside of them.

"That's…" Julius tries to speak but Anastasia closes his mouth, shaking her head.

"... I knew that he would appear to me." Beatrice speaks cryptically, glaring at the screen.

"I wouldn't have to give a warning here not to dwell on this? We will see it all so please unhold the freeze on the window's vision." Crusch urges everyone to stop their speculation and panic so they can move on.

And everyone eventually let it go. Except for Emilia.

For some reason, she had a tear in her eyes.

As the music picks up, Subaru and Rem are shown riding Patrasche together.

"Where is this, I wonder?" Beatrice questions, suddenly interested.

"It's no wonder where this is. It's the great plains." Wilhelm answers from the back.

"Then this song is showcasing the fall of the White Whale?" Otto asks, looking at Crusch or Wilhelm for an answer.

"Yes. It does." Felix was the one who answered hoarsely, sounding like a wounded animal than what he used to be.

Through a foggy plain, the screen shows Crusch standing at the ready in front of a giant whale opening its mouth through the fog with men all around her on their knees or unconscious on the ground.

Crusch smirks wide at the monster.

"Hm, you were confident against that thing." Felt hums, a little salty but still impressed.

Crusch shakes her head, brushing off the impressed stares from Emilia and Rem, "The battle was nothing as easy for me as this shows." The Duchess left everyone wondering if the battle was even that one sided as the tales told.

Subaru is seen holding Rem on top of a sunny hill.

"Where was this, sister?" Ram asks.

Rem flinches with a pursed lip, not expecting to see this moment so soon.

Emilia notices this and frowns in sadness. "At least it's a nice hill!"

"As if that is what's important right now." Felt coughs while overlooking the scene between Rem and Subaru with a bit of compassion.

"This must've been a crucial moment between you and Natsuki Subaru. Congratulations, Rem."

The capable maid could only duck her head to hide her blush at Crusch's sly comment. Emilia looked at the two with curiosity.

Scene changes to Rem slamming her mace into cultists in a forest.

"... Then there's no doubt about it." Reinhard winces deliberately so he can stop thinking of all the possibilities.

"Witch's Cult is here." Rem growls, losing her girlish reaction from before and glaring at the screen with hatred.

"I wish I was there… Ya got the coolest moments in this second openin' and I barely appeared t' help my Cap'n yet!" Garfiel shouts in frustration. The blonde looked desperate to be involved in the ass kicking happening on the screen with Rem.

"Subaru-dono will be facing them head on, no doubt about it." Wilhelm comments with a small frown. "I suppose that it's not needed to be said that he will be facing a tougher challenge than what he previously dealt with."

At the old man's pointing words, everyone realized what the scene of Rem fighting a cultist really entailed.

"Big bro is gonna be facing some horrid deaths." Felt shakes her head as she blurts out the truth no one seemed to voice. "It's just what's gonna happen…"

While the blonde princess in the second row showed an expression of fury and disgust for what was expected to happen, another girl in the same row held a frown of discomfort.

"... I hope he won't feel too lonely."

Petra's soft plea raised a few heads towards her. Mainly the four maidens around Subaru's sleeping form.

"It's just… So sad. Hearing about him facing all of this… Unable to ask anyone for help." Petra repeated something she said a few sessions ago. The little maid earned looks of sadness and sympathy from Felix and Ricardo.

"The young one's village was under the cross mark of the Cult's attack…" Crusch's words seemed to hit Emilia, Rem, and even Beatrice as the three immediately understood what the iron lady was trying to say.

The Duchess turned away from Petra, noticing that the little girl was on the verge of breaking almost as soon as she laid eyes on her. She couldn't look anymore. Her fury would force her to do something rash and unpleasant.

"This damn Warden will pay… To torture a child like this and expect her to see things the same way we do… Disgusting!" Crusch cursed under her breath, slamming a hand on her armrest.

Anastasia glances at the gloved hand in thought. "Seems like she's just as pissed with this tool as we are."

Witch cultists surround her with blades appearing in their palms.

Roswaal was the one to turn his head away from the sight on the screen. His gaze fell on the peach-colored hair of Ram instead. Her head seemed the only appropriate sight the lord could look at without giving a reaction.

Ram's neck turned and her eye caught Roswaal's in a moment of accident.

The maid's silent look was filled with emotions Roswaal could not explain or understand.

It must've been her anger. Her fury that her sister would be fighting because of his plans.

It must have been her hatred for him and his Gospel.

"Teacher's gospel…" Roswaal corrected the thought within his head.

Ram continued to look at her master in the back until Al spoke up beside her.

"Ya know. I think he took the look of reassurance you tried to give him wrongly… but that's just me." Al shrugs and turns from looking between the maid and the magic lord to face the screen.

The maid seemed disinclined to answer the knight.

Purple effect plays as the screen flashes everything backwards.

The scene stops on Subaru, standing in the middle of a huge flat plain with his fist closed.

He looks back to find Emilia standing in front of a gigantic tree trunk with dark hands coming for her.

"Those hands!" Reinhard's eyes widened in shock.

"They are just like the Witch's!" Rem growls with alarm.

Emilia seemed just as disturbed as one would expect by this scene. Resulting in her moving closer to the sleeping boy that sat beside her.

Subaru grits his teeth and runs as the black hands get closer to Emilia.

The princess slowly looks back and smiles at the boy as he frantically opens his palm and extends his arm for her.

Emilia smiles and takes his hand as her face is completely covered by the shadow palms of the many long hands.

Subaru grips her hand harder and pulls.

Screen goes dark.

Theme end.

"Wha… What…" Emilia stuttered frantically without end, facing the screen with a horrified white face, unable to make sense of what she had just seen with her friends.

Nearly everyone was staring at the static screen in absolute curiosity and or excitement in the case of Garfiel and Anastasia.

"I don't suppose we have to remind you that these sequences are not important to our viewing, Emilia-sama?" Crusch questions curiously.

"B-But… " Emilia looked at her side to find that Beatrice and Rem were staring at her with pity. She swallows nervously, not able to take the stares without feeling great amounts of shame.

"Subaru will be saving you, I suppose." Beatrice sighs with annoyance. Emilia assumes it to be an attempt to cheer her up from the spirit.

"Will Subaru-kun be able to handle the Witch?" Rem's soft whispered question made Emilia flinch with guilt.

Yet again, the maid proved to be more compassionate about her knight than Emilia could ever be.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," the merchant to Emilia's side interjected. "Emilia-sama and Natsuki-san both made it out happier than ever afterall!"

Even though Otto's words were filled with hope and determination, Emilia's gaze couldn't bother to look at the boy. She wouldn't want to notice how fake his smile was. It was clear that this was another tactic from the Minister of her camp to cheer her up.

"Getting coddled like a broken house pet that can't walk on its legs. How fitting a sight for a girl that can barely sink a thought into her brains." Priscilla insulted from above with a dry, uninterested voice. As if the insult itself was an act unimportant and insignificant to her. All while Emilia's pride and heart got crushed thoroughly from Priscilla's cruel words.

"Oi! Keep yer mouth shu-" Garfiel was put down by Otto's hand clamping his mouth shut.

"Don't get involved. Are you crazy?!" Otto hisses at the blonde ludicrously.

"I won't let her insult princess for nothin'!"

"We can't insult a candidate. didn't you see what happened to Felix-" Otto was promptly cut off by Garfiel shrugging his hand off of him, looking more enraged.

"Ya want to stand by that asshole Knight?!"

"... Stop it please." Emilia's voice cut through the argument and made the tension hang in the air instead of leading to an explosive climax.

"I would rather we watch for now. No need for anyone to cheer me up or get involved on my behalf." Emilia didn't look anyone in the eye as she said this.

Even though the half-elf noticed the nod of approval from Crusch and the look of apprehension from Rem, she still looked toward her white robes for comfort. Priscilla's words had hit her right and true in the heart.

The crimson Baroness sitting above them all didn't even need validation to know that she had affected Emilia. Haughty and overlooking the silver-haired girl alongside the sleeping boy, Priscilla clicked her tongue with distaste painting her expression.

"How far will the pig swim in the mud for such a worthless woman?"

Season 1 Episode 8 Director's Cut.

Begin.

Panning across the luxurious scenery of the yard, the screen did not focus until the beauty of this garden was realized through the shot, before Subaru was revealed. Standing in the middle of the garden, he was holding a wooden sword, shaped for novices.

"We're starting off right after Emilia-sama left my household." Crusch announced for everyone, making a timeline clear.

"Why is he training with a sword?" Emilia asks, finding it incredibly interesting to see how Subaru dealt with the fight from his side.

"He is… in a phase. You could say." Crusch nods cryptically, unwilling to give any answers.

"He has chosen to be a worm instead of taking what he wants. Hm." Priscilla comments with a condescending stare aimed for Subaru.

Wilhelm stood before him, holding his own weapon in hand and pointing it on guard towards Subaru.

The two stood opposite to one another, until the youth struck at the butler in an aggressive manner.

Wilhelm was able to block each swipe from Subaru with relative ease.

The black-haired boy appeared to grow more agitated, more frustrated. The memory of his previous expressions and failures during him and Emilia's fight played within his mind and over his face on the screen.

Seeing this, Wilhelm quickly and boredly disposed of Subaru's weapon and flung the boy to his back on the yard grass.

"Shall we stop for now?" Wilhelm asks, looking down at Subaru with something akin to pity.

He didn't get up, his mind began playing Emilia's screams towards him. Trying to keep a sob inside, Subaru flung an arm over his beaten face.

"I see…" Julius muses.

"Watcha see?" Anastasia pries from her knight.

"It's just that… Natsuki seems more comfortable doing something he has no talent or skill for, instead of something more productive for his sake."

"He's useless with a sword, no denying that. So he must be doing something else with this training." Felt nods her head prodingly.

"It just means that he's trying to make himself busy from the bad memories of the fight with Emilia-sama!" Petra spoke confidently, trying to stop any more discussion from being heard in this scene as she became invested.

"It's not working, is it? I mean pal over there seems beaten because he couldn't focus. That fight is on his mind no matter what." Al interjects.

All throughout this, Emilia held pity in her eyes for Subaru's struggle against the entire thing. She must've crushed him by leaving like that.

"You do not seem to be troubled by it anymore," Ram spoke out, her voice reaching Julius' ears making him turn.

"Ah. You mean my guilt over how the fight affected him." he found himself stared at by a curious Ram and a concerned Reinhard. "I wouldn't rather say that."

"He is trying." Otto cuts in, smirking from his seat.

Julius rolled his eyes but tried to hide his own perking of the lips by looking away.

The window pans this scene away from Subaru's beaten form in the garden, and upwards to the person watching over him from a window.

"I swear, Julius, your good nature is going to waste, playing the villain for someone like him," Felix sighed with disappointment. His ears shuffled in distaste as he continued to stare down at the black-haired boy.

"What's with ya?!" Asked Garfiel with a bombastic voice. "I'm already pissed with ya, catboy!"

Glaring at Felix, it felt like the whole room was avoiding to watch Garfiel stand and shout at the healer.

"I'd rather you not be hasty and leave my friend alone, please." Julius spoke calmly, surprising no one as Felix was defending him on the screen.

"Why do you have to be mean towards Subaru, Ferris-san?" It was Emilia that commanded surprise from Crusch and the many others who were becoming interested in this.

The healer in a skirt had a miserable expression once the eyes of the half elf turned on him. "Subaru-kyun was only trying to hide his own faults by overworking himself. I didn't like it, nyan."

With his hoarse explanation, Emilia seemed stuck on whether she should be more curious or let things carry on.

"I think we should sit down, Garf." Otto nods his head and patting his blonde companion on the shoulder.

Garfiel gives Felix a glare before sitting down.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself." Julius says, appearing to not care about what was happening. Yet Felix seemed to blink at the sudden kindness Julius was giving him.

Wilhelm gives a nod, relieved that things were working out even if slowly for Felix.

His mind went back to a distant moment between him and Julius.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about." Julius courtly said, staring down the window of the now empty battle grounds of the Knight quarters.

"How could you get yourself punished trying to protect a guy like that?" Felix inquired hotly.

"I only acted as I wished true to my own nature." Julius's cool reply came. "Righteously, in my own way, and without shame, as I wished."

"Protect?" Emilia utters. She looked at Felix and Julius with confusion.

"How did that beating protect Subaru-kun?" Rem questions the knight who only waved a hand through his hair in response.

"You really did not notice, Emilia-sama?" Otto raised his brow in surprise.

"Eh?" Emilia blinked with more confusion, causing one girl with a fox scarf to sigh.

"Ya really are in need ova' brain." Anastasia mutters, giving the screen a look of discontent while Emilia shot her a glance of offense.

"Julius was hurting his own reputation to give satisfaction for those that intended to kill Subaru-kyun for his words at the castle." Felix answers the half-elf with little to no emotion in his tone.

"Eh?! You really did that, Julius?! Is this why Subaru became super friends with you?" Emilia gushes in amazement, disgusting Priscilla and annoying Anastasia with her attitude.

"He beat your knight across the training yard, Emilia-sama." Crusch glances at her wonderingly. Julius himself looks away with an uncomfortable silence roaming over him.

Emilia however shook her head. "No no, you don't get it. Subaru reeeally likes Julius! Their relationship is one of a kind!"

"Ah," Crusch nods with her eyes wide with interest. "So you speak from what Natsuki has said himself. I see."

"Mhm. Subaru's talked alot about him, not sure if half of it was as good as he wanted it to sound but I can tell the place Julius holds in his heart is veeery dear!" Emilia smiles at the knight brightly, looking like an angel with no wings.

"Ah, ya I guess it ain't that bad then." Anastasia begrudgingly lets her annoyance with Emilia go after realizing what the half-elf was doing. "Ya hear that Julius? The boy loves ya like a sweetheart~"

The knight waved a hand through his hair once more, trying not to look his teasing lady in the eye so she doesn't see his unstableness.

"I didn't think he'd speak about me in such a manner at all." Julius mutters, keeping his hand stuck in between his hair. "Doesn't sound like him."

"Oh believe it!" Otto chuckles lightly, catching Julius' off guard. Garfiel seems to begrudgingly let his glare fall and look away from the knight.

Scene returns back to present Felix, still watching Subaru from the window of the office.

"Are you sure about this? Old Man Wil is busy preparing too." Felix asks in uncertainty, still looking out of the window.

"It was a request from our guest. I cannot ignore it." The Duchess sitting on the chair behind the desk answered.

"If they're just practicing, it's nyo big deal, but… Frankly, it looks to me like he's just making excuses." Felix looks away from the window, shaking his head.

Crusch stopped her work on the paper and gave him a confused glance. "Excuses?"

"He wants to say, 'I'm fine. I'm working hard.'" He puts a hand on his hip.

The Duchess barely gave it any thought before looking back to her papers, "Can you blame him?"

"He was telling the truth, Garf." Otto points at the screen.

"Yea whateve'! He still has a problem with my Cap'n and I ain't lettin' that slide!"

"Rem's helped Subaru through his training, don't worry about him, Emilia-sama." Rem said with a smile aimed for the boy's head.

Emilia frowns however, not liking how provokingly the statement was said by the maid. "Are you… Trying to tell me something, Rem?" Emilia asks, squinting at the maid she thought she was fighting with.

Rem only blinked. "No? Rem just wanted Emilia-sama to know that Subaru-kun was in safe hands while Emilia-sama was crying in the mansion."

"... I see." Emilia's lips thinned at this, her brows even lowered once Beatrice chuckled from her side.

"Yeah, that maid is definitely out for Big sis' blood." Felt shakes her head but couldn't take her gaze off of the stare down between Emilia and Rem.

"Let us get on with it." Crusch glances at both girls with apprehension, seemingly breaking the stare down with her firm tone. Her eyes befell on the face of the sleeping Subaru for a moment before moving back to the screen.

"This is troublesome," the Duchess said with a frown.

The healer looked out the window and noticed someone standing at the front gate of the mansion.

Someone with red hair that was noticeable from miles away.

Opening up, the screen showed Reinhard van Astrea with his head bowed humbly before Subaru, "Forgive me."

"Hang on! What have you got to apologize for? None of this was your fault!" Subaru waved his arms around frantically.

But the red headed young man kept his head down low.

"No, I am a friend to you, as well as to Julius. My own lack of virtue was responsible for my failure to stop a disagreement between my two friends. That duel had no meaning."

It was Al and Felix who face palmed at the same time.

"Can't believe ya said tha'!" Ricardo booms with widened eyes.

"Seriously?" Tivey shrieks from above, "Way to say the worst thing possible when unneeded!"

"Cap'n ain't gonna like tha'" Garfiel flinches while his green-robed friend holds his head in his hands despairingly. "Natsuki-san won't let this down without a fight."

Priscilla was openly laughing at Reinhard's mishap, which resulted in Felt shouting out loud.

"CAN YA ALL SHUT TH' HELL UP!" The blonde glares around for anyone to continue speaking.

"F-Felt-sama?" Reinhard gestures for her to calm down with both hands, but the girl only glared furiously at Priscilla with bared teeth.

"Hm? Do you require a treat?" To which the beauty in the back row replies snidely with innocent flashes of her lashes for good measure.

"I need a foot up your a-" Felt was stopped from saying anymore by Reinhard's diligence to cover her mouth with his palm.

"Thank you for thinking about me, my lady. But these were only cries of frustration at something I screwed up. It is fair."

"I told you to be greedy Od damn it!" Felt removes herself from his grip and sits back down with a furious glare stuck on her face.

Reinhard's frown never left his face as he sat either, looking in between his lady and the screen.

"You thinking of talking to him anytime syoon, Old Man Wil?" Felix said to the old Swordsman that was watching everything with an indifferent face.

"I don't suppose I would have anything to do with the matter. Just because he is my grandchild does not mean I have the right to fight his battles for him." Wilhelm spoke coldly even if it was the first time Felix had initiated a talk between them.

"That ain't what I meant, nyan! You knyow that, right?" Felix received silence for his effort in breaking out of his shell.

Subaru narrowed his eyes at this. "No meaning?"

"That's right. What came from you two fighting there? You were hurt, and Julius tarnished his own career. Why not try to have a calm, open discussion with him? I'm sure that will clear up the misunder-"

"Reinhard." Subaru interrupted hotly, his face hostile.

The Sword Saint rose to look at him, frowning as Subaru delivered.

"I get how you feel, and I appreciate it. You really are a nice guy."

Reinhard smiled as Subaru started, thinking that this was a hopeful approach from the black-haired boy.

"Then-"

"But I can't accept that proposal. We're done talking. Go back now." With that, Subaru turned away from him and walked back to the garden.

"Subaru… Why?" Reinhard frowns deeply, looking at the boy's treading back, "What did you gain from that duel?" the knight tries to appeal to the young man, "You've only suffered losses even Emilia-sama-"

"You'd better head back for today, Reinhard. Before your mistress gets lonely and starts yelling for you." Subaru closes the gate between him and Reinhard and walks further into the mansion yard.

The redhead looks taken aback by this. His gaze aimed to the pavement before walking away.

"Mind your own damn business," Subaru bites in whispers as he goes further from the hero and into the lavish mansion.

Reinhard caught Subaru's whisper on the screen with a deep frown of sadness, enraging Felt to the extent she glared at her own Subaru in the theater with harming intent.

"Felt-sama don't."

"I ain't gonna do anythin' he's just pissin' me off!" Felt whined as Reinhard instantly grabbed her wrist but kept it gentle.

"You shouldn't be this angry at Subaru," he said, blue-eyes looking down in disappointment, "I did interfere where I wasn't needed."

"I wouldn't say you are wrong in that." Crusch interjects from her seat, looking regal and serious. "But your approach is what missed the mark here. Not the intent, Sword Saint."

Reinhard wouldn't have given the words from the Karsten head any thought until Emilia spoke up, saddened. "I know you said some wrong things, but Subaru isn't in the right mind either. He shouldn't have treated his friend like that."

"Rem," Ram called from above, earning her sister's attention. "Has Barusu's mentality degraded any further than this?"

"What do you mean, I wonder?" Beatrice asks before Rem's answer could come. The spirit turned to look at the pink-haired maid with a look of conviction, "You wouldn't happen to know something about Betty's contractor, would you?"

Ram seems to ignore the maid's provocation with a shake of her head. "Barusu's attitude was very different from when I had met with him once he came back," she points to the screen, lips thinned. "That is a very drastic change in his behavior than what I was subject to upon his return."

"What yer sayin' is…" Anastasia hummed while toying with her scarf dangerously.

"There's a chance Big Bro might be dyin'?!" Felt barks.

"I mean… Yeah?" Everyone looked back to the man that said that so casually that it might have been a crime to so many in the room.

"What?" Al shrugs. "You didn't expect to see him dying again? This entire prison we have going on around us is to make us watch his suffering, you shoulda expected this from the moment you entered here."

"I'd rather say you've grown irritatingly accurate, Aldebaran." Priscilla gives her knight words of agreement while still staring at the screen with boredom encompassing her expression and body language.

"I wouldn't doubt that." Tivey decides to speak his turn to the crowd. "Mister over there will be the one to help us on the White Whale and the Sloth expeditions…"

"And this happened one week after the royal selection was initiated." Emilia bites her lip from quivering.

"... Yes. " Rem captures everyone's attention by whispering. "Subaru-kun gets much worse than this shows," the maid does not have a pinpointed expression or emotion on her face once she says this, however.

Emilia and almost everyone who cares for Subaru in the theater showcases faces of dread and denial at Rem's merciless statement.

Ram nods her head to her sister before turning to Emilia. "Think that Barusu must've gotten better from his mindset even with the pain that came from his death. You should be optimistic–"

"Don't even dare to make her feel better about this, I suppose!" Beatrice suddenly cuts in, glaring daggers towards Ram.

"Beatrice-sama, please calm down!" Frederica shouts from the back, trying to step in and help Ram.

"I dislike the way you speak about his death like it's some currency, in fact," the blonde great spirit seethed at Ram. "I don't want you to talk about my contractor, neither with your sister or anyone else, I suppose."

"Beatrice-sama!" Otto yells while the rest of the Emilia camp including Emilia and Roswaal watch this with surprised faces.

"My apologies, Beatrice-sama." Ram bows her head and goes emotionless and silent, giving Emilia one final look before turning back to the screen.

Beatrice said nothing to the people around her and sat back down on the boy's lap like nothing happened.

"This is a bad time to be fighting. Let's please not disturb ourselves more than we need to for what's to come," the Duchess beside Beatrice moves things along once more with a forlorn statement that reached even Priscilla in the back.

"Before we continue, I must say something." Julius earns a nod from Crusch to carry forward his request. He looked back at Reinhard and bowed his head in respect. "Thank you for defending me and Subaru's honor. As well as trying to get us to reconcile our fight more peacefully."

Reinhard receives this with pleasant surprise. "Uh, of course, Julius. I was still apologizing for myself however."

"It doesn't affect your intent to show Natsuki the bigger picture in your own way, I thank you." Julius informs diligently.

Reinhard smiles brightly, willing to enjoy that Julius was giving him such a special moment between them. Only for it to be ruined as the violet knight spoke again.

"But please never do it on my behalf again."

"..."

In the end, the Sword Saint's expression fell to disappointment as Julius turned his back around and nodded to Crusch in gratitude. The Duchess only received him with a head shake of disappointment which Julius ignores as he sits back down.

Felt seethes in her seat, trying to burn the back of Julius' head via her glare if she could.

Scene change to the freshened garden that had clashing noises filling its air.

CLANK!* *CLANK!*

".. GHK!"

Swiping tiredly towards Wilhelm, Subaru is parried with relative ease by the older swordsman. He falls to his knees from exhaustion.

"Shall we stop for now?" The butler asks, waiting with patience above the exhausted Subaru.

The boy remained on the floor of the grass, gasping for dear life. Before he could tell what was happening, Subaru's legs charged towards the steeled butler in an attempt to surprise the old knight with a jab, but he was easily knocked down to his back from a single strike of the man's wooden weapon.

Once he hits the ground, Subaru feels lightheaded enough to be overwhelmed by darkness…

"Ain't that just dirty." Anastasia chuckles lightly.

"I'm disappointed he'd be so rash," the Duchess beside her comments, lightly glancing at the boy himself beside her.

"Nah, it's a good move," the western matriarch shakes her head. "He's bout as greedy as they come. Any chance to seize the day is not impossible for him. That's kinda my style."

"Surely?" Crusch raises a brow, "You see Natsuki Subaru in such a way? Shrewd and without code?"

"Not to that extent, but I could see him growing into a fine merchant one day, yes."

At Anastasia's propping, Emilia found herself listening in to the conversation while everyone else talked about Subaru's dirty tricks and if they were disappointed or appreciative that he failed to knock down Wilhelm. She didn't have time for that now, her focus was pulled by these two ladies that talked as if Subaru belonged to them already.

"Without a doubt you are wrong, Anastasia-sama." Crusch rejects the words spouted from Anastasia firmly. "Natsuki is underhanded and cunning when he wants to be, but that's as far as he gets in terms of morality."

"I wouldn't have taken ya t' be a woman of hopeless beliefs." Anastasia sighs with a shake of her head.

Crusch narrows her eyes with suspicion. "Why are you so fixated on making him out to be some grand puzzle piece? You were vying to keep him safe just like the rest of us all throughout these viewings."

Emilia pursed a lip as she waited for the answer along with Crusch. Her eyes were on the western girl like a hawk's.

"Ya seem to have taken me for a ride in that head of yers, Crusch-san," she replies hotly with a pout, "I ain't sayin' that kid's a bad fella. I'm sayin' that I respect the potential within 'em."

As Anastasia explained herself to the Duchess, Emilia couldn't help but feel ashamed with herself for thinking so badly of the girl. Crusch herself seemed to be taken aback by the sincere words from the reclusive woman.

"Ah, my apologies."

"No need." Anastasia says with a shake of her head, giving the Duchess a small grin. "I know ya would be impressed with dirty tricks and gray players as well. They are the best opponents to crush if you're the one playing with honor and dignity as yer thing."

Understanding the gesture of respect from Anastasia, Crusch chuckles earnestly, her sternness washing away now that the merchant's position was clear.

"I'm supposed to thank you for the compliment."

"Ya're welcome, Crusch-san."

The screen lights up and shows Rem from a downward perspective. She was smiling warmly as if the thing she looked down on was dear to her.

The half-elf moved her eyes away from both Crusch and Anastasia, feeling bad that she spied on a conversation between these two yet feeling left out since they seemed to be more close to each other than she was. Only to be greeted by the sight of Rem and Subaru bonding together in his favorite position.

Emilia took Subaru's hand in hers tightly, trying to stop the thoughts about which lap he preferred to which girl he liked more. Quashing the jealousy within her was absolutely essential if she wanted to stand on an equal ground with Rem from now on.

It was still hard with the threat of Rem giving her a smug smile as the screen played out intimate moments with the maid and Subaru constantly.

"I'm sorry to take your place, Emilia-sama." Rem spoke honestly from behind but Emilia didn't want to look back and find a teasing smile or a knowing look. She couldn't handle any of the angry girl's jabs toward her.

"You must be tired after your practice, Subaru-kun."

Resting his head on her lap, Subaru looks away gradually towards one of the garden's walls.

"Rem, do you think I'm pathetic?" His voice was hoarse as he asked.

"I do." Came the maid's instant reply.

"You do? Seriously? Then why are you still here with a pathetic loser like me? Because you were told to?" He clenches his fist upon his chest, unable to keep a chuckle from emerging.

"The fact that I think you're pathetic and my staying with you are not contradictory. Besides, even if I hadn't been ordered to, I'm certain I would have stayed." Rem softly replied as she flicked his hair.

"Why?" He chokes, quietly and almost childishly.

"Because I want to." The girl's voice is warm as she stares towards the sunset.

"Shall we go out tomorrow, Subaru-kun? You haven't gone anywhere in the three days since we came here."

The boy offered no answer, turning his head away from the sunset in silent anguish.

"You have a beautiful relationship with Natsuki Subaru, Rem." Crusch gives a warm smile that was uncharacteristic of her militarist outlook. Only Rem knew how special that smile was and the maid could only return generous words with a smile of her own.

Emilia found herself deeply bothered by the two's interaction. Feeling left out yet again, as if everyone was growing closer on a personal level while she remained the sad girl that needed comfort for no reason other than her need to be guilty of something.

"I can't believe Rem's grown to be so open and I never got to see it for myself." Frederica gushed, finding the whole interaction to be sweet and noteworthy.

Even the apprehensive and silent Petra was giving Rem a small nod of appreciation. Showing the willingness to enjoy the fact that Subaru has someone with him during this harsh time instead of being jealous.

Something that a glaring Priscilla noticed as she glanced between Emilia to Petra more than two times before her disgust compelled her to open up her fan and exceed some energy in cooling her face rather than watch the boring and disappointing interactions below.

Beside her, a tired Roswaal visibly brightened at the opportunities Rem seemed to be taking so she can enjoy herself with a depressed Subaru.

"I'm glad you're staying respeeeectful. Atta gi~rl!"

Scene changed to a market place filled with crowds.

The center of the capital, Subaru was shown walking towards a group of common people, huddling around a big board with papers stuck on it.

They were posters of the five candidates.

"You interested in the royal selection, too?" A man asks from behind, startling Subaru enough to make him turn.

The Apple salesman smiled down at him, giving the boy a warm welcoming nod for seeing him again.

"Is it bad if I said that I don't like seeing this guy now?" Mimi questions the crowd below her nervously, earning nods of agreement.

"We've all grown accustomed to being weary when this man shows up in Natsuki's life." Julius spoke forlornly.

"At least last time wasn't too bad, right?" Otto shrugs, trying to be the optimist.

"Barsus was met with Priscilla Barielle right after buying the apples from this man." Ram points out, deadpanned.

"And he was let inside of the castle in the first place by her…" Petra joins Ram in despairing Otto's hope.

"Nevermind…" Otto appreciated the pat on the back from an understanding Garfiel.

"Whoa! Don't sneak up on me with that face! Wait, where's Rem?" Subaru's grief was cut short when the salesmen pointed to the far away fruit stand where the maid was apparently helping an old lady browse the product.

"Don't make someone with no experience watch your shop." Seeing her alright, Subaru comments offhandedly.

Rem smiles brightly, seeing Subaru defend her like that. "Subaru-kun doesn't need to concern himself."

"Sister, he's jealous of your capabilities." Ram snarks with a small smile.

"I… think that Subaru just doesn't want Rem-senpai to overwork herself for a stranger?" Petra tried to explain to the two sisters since she was worried both of them lost what he meant.

"Don't worry, Petra-chan." Frederica patted her shoulder, "They already know. Ram's just jesting."

"Uh!" The village girl looks over to the smirking maid and nods her head in understanding. "Ram-senpai is bad at jokes."

The man shrugs and goes back to scanning the posters on the board. A few seconds and he was muttering to himself and maybe to the boy as well, "Five candidates, huh? It's pure insanity to let a half-elf be one of them, if you ask me. Emilia, eh? There's no way a relative of the witch could become our ruler. They've gotta be crazy."

"This is about to be unpleasant." Al comments, no doubt having a sour expression behind his helmet.

His reaction was tamer than most of the Emilia camp that outright showed rage on their faces even Otto and Rem that hadn't been in Emilia's good graces recently.

"Emilia-sama is going to be the best queen!" Petra felt like she needed to encourage the silver-haired girl. Giving her support and compassion that the outside world never will.

Garfiel hollers his own agreement with Petra by yelling a "Yeah!" and slamming a fist on his armrest.

The half-elf herself was glad for the support even though she expected it. It was one less thing to be saddened about when thinking she was alone facing this prejudice.

"Hmph, of course commoners would try to appeal their eyes away from reality." Priscilla comments offhandedly, earning irked looks from Garfiel and Petra.

Before the unsure salesmen could continue, Subaru's frustration explodes into a furious exclamation, "Why does everyone say that? It doesn't mean she has anything to do with the witch!"

"Huh?"

Subaru's glare intensifies with the man's confusion. People in the crowd start glancing over towards him.

"Don't lump them together and brush her off just because she's a half-elf!" Subaru shouts, making the salesmen look around nervously.

"H-Hey…!"

"That Emilia girl… I mean… She might really care about this kingdom's people, too!"

People around the marketplace start to really hover over the pair now, but Subaru looks more calm than nervous, unlike the older man he's talking with.

"Hang on… why are you getting so worked up?" The apple salesman finds his nerve back and counters Subaru's glare with his own firm one.

"I…" Subaru's answer pauses as another person speaks in his head.

It was for you, wasn't it?

Emilia's voice made him close his eyes in frustration. Before his lips began to move once again.

"Why is it?! Because of the Witch of Envy?! You think all half-elves are dangerous just because the witch was one?!"

The man's eyes seemed to harden on Subaru, his features turned more firm and sour once he proclaimed the answer to Subaru's shouts, "That's right!"

He met Subaru's eyes with his and glared straight inside, "Everyone's scared of the witch. That's common knowledge. As long as the people see her that way, she can't win."

The crowd around them starts to whisper and murmur amongst themselves. Subaru looks down without a clear answer for his frustration.

"Sheesh." The scar-faced man whispers, "Who would actually choose to support her?"

To Subaru's surprise, he felt a pat on the shoulder from the man's hand, "Try not to say the word Witch too loudly in public. You never know who's listening, or where."

The boy held a look of confusion as the man walked away.

"Never imagined someone would be fightin' for ya this hard, eh Emilia-sama?"

Emilia's watery eyes moved to glance at the sympathetic Crusch and the understanding Anastasia.

"Never let them see that reaction, Emilia-sama." Crusch advises firmly.

The weakened half-elf could feel the different reactions of distaste not just from her own camp but from the knights of the other camps as well.

"I-I… Didn't know he would still care," she whispered, wondering why her throat felt so hoarse suddenly. "I thought he would stop obsessing over me right as soon as I left him… I never expected him to come back to me himself… But now I see that he's been fighting for my name all this time, even if he was doing it for his own reasons." Emilia tried to comment more on the complex feeling of happiness and shame overwhelming her, but she couldn't say more due to her promise to be more hard and reliable to Beatrice a few viewings ago.

"At least he's got that loyalty of a knight," the violet-haired man beside Anastasia jests, giving an aura of compassion with the entire scene of Subaru protecting Emilia's name.

"His sword skills need some work though~" Felix timidly jokes along with Julius, perking up once the knight gave an amused nod.

This earns a frown from Reinhard.

Suddenly, the crowd began huddling closer towards the board, not caring for pushing and bumping into Subaru until he fell.

Subaru doesn't get up but stares at the ground with anger in his eyes, "You didn't tell me everyone felt that way about you…"

I can't understand if you don't tell me Subaru…

"I can't understand if you don't tell me, either!" He huffs and stands up again.

Whale sounds played as the screen flashed over many moments of his time in the Karsten mansion.

Looking over the city from the mansion at night. Getting beaten by Wilhelm in sword training. Getting his gate healed by Felix.

"How unfortunate… The half-wit's leash is stronger than I had thought." Priscilla clicked her teeth in disgust, unable to stop herself after seeing this entire montage.

"Don't call it a leash!" Felt retorts heatedly. "Big Bro's got the right to be pissed!"

"He's not pissed, Felt-san." Anastasia cuts in, making the small blonde turn from Priscilla to the merchant queen. "He's not even punishing himself… This is just an excuse for 'em to blame others other than his own weakness," she explains in a matter-of-fact tone that doesn't show any hint of disappointment or interest.

"I assume that's why Emilia-sama and Barielle could not look at this scene without agreeing that he was in the wrong." Crusch makes Emilia perk up in surprise.

"H-How did you–"

"It's written all over your face, Emilia-sama." Crusch nods her head with a sly smirk.

The half-elf only frowns in contemplation before settling on holding Subaru's hand tighter than before. "I feel sorry that I left him. But I dislike how he's treating himself in my name."

"Correct, I suppose." Beatrice nods in approval at Emilia's sad frown. "Now you must understand how far he's willing to punish himself just to please you, in fact. Stop obsessing over what he thinks of you and the blue-haired maid."

Emilia looks at the blonde spirit girl with a hung jaw, unable to utter a protest to the way the loli had read her.

Scene change.

Subaru is shown walking over some stairs while wiping his wet hair with a towel. He stopped in his tracks by an elegantly dressed Crusch. The young woman stood at the top of the steps and looked down at him.

"I dislike how vulnerable Crusch-sama is being shoywn. She looks noything like this!" Felix shouted his protest. Even through his current depressed state, he was unable to have his lady exposed like this before the men of the other camps. He knew Reinhard and Julius were decent gentlemen that would drive their gaze away, but the looks of that blonde tigerboy, or whatever is leering from within the helmet of Priscilla's knight, he knew no one could be trusted.

"It's alright, Ferris." Wilhelm pats the healer's shoulder. "Our lady is too proud to let something like this affect her."

That wasn't what Felix was worried about!

The royal lady for her part only reacted to the scene with a slight finch that went unnoticed by most around her. Her lips thinned and her eyes closed for a moment as she regained her bearings.

"Natsuki Subaru, would you mind joining me for a bit?"

"Crusch-san… Right?"

"That's right. Oh, yes… This is the first time you've seen me out of my business attire. The breeze is pleasantly cool tonight. Perfect conditions for sharing a drink as we gaze upon the night sky." She gives a warm smile while Subaru just stares at her, confused.

"Are ya aimin' to gain some info from the boy?" Anastasia teases Crusch from the side, unable to hold her laughter at the way the Duchess seemed inraptured by the scene on the window. "I knew it! Ya were planning to use him all along!"

At Anastasia's shout of glee, Emilia could only gasp. "Is this true, Crusch-sama?!"

"Don't be so callous," the Duchess firmly shot both girls a glare. "... I must've aimed to simply move him out of this pitiful cycle. It was a helping word from someone who wished to challenge him at his best rather than have him disadvantage Emilia-sama in the long run." Crusch acted like she knew what was going to happen from this point on, hoping not to break the flow of the viewing so she could learn what happened between her and Subaru here.

While Emilia slowly began picking up a look of admiration for the sheer nobleness of the green-haired royalty, Anastasia was grinning behind her scarf.

"Wished eh?"

The Karsten head didn't seem to catch those words as she moved her eyes back to the screen, looking rife with curiosity. "I wonder if my words really did help him in any way." maybe I could find out what I wanted to do here myself.

"I would think that Subaru-kun would be stupid not to listen to your advice, Crusch-sama," says Rem, bringing Crusch out of her wondering.

The maid shot her a smile of encouragement that eased Crusch into doing the same. "Well, whatever he may have done with my advice, I'm sure glad I had this time with him." Or would've loved to.

"Why's that I wonder?" Beatrice asked with curiosity. "You seem to have wanted a closer relationship with Betty's contractor, in fact."

Crusch gives Beatrice a grin that irritated both the blonde and the half-elf that was watching from the side.

"Maybe. You could say I wanted to be a closer friend when he was by my side on the battlefield."

Emilia and Beatrice both gave looks of outrage once the Duchess had slipped a gloved hand over Subaru's sleeping one, interwinding their fingers to tightly grasp his palm. "And to do this whenever I wish to," the Duchess spared no sympathy glance as she enraged the two girls with confidence beating a lion's.

But the true target of the Duchess wasn't to make these two jealous of her audacity. This move was a calculated counterattack aimed for the merchant queen to Crusch's side. The girl who wished to be in the same seat Crusch was occupying and taking advantage of.

"Morality my ass. Ya play dirty too." Anastasia huffed in annoyance.

Crusch's frown replaced her fake smile once everyone turned away. 'You're dying again on me. That is unacceptable.' Her grip on the hand of the boy tightened greatly. 'Truly… I wish I wouldn't have been so steeled with you… maybe I could've saved you.'

Scene changes to a balcony set with a very luxurious table and beverage.

"I can't drink alcohol, though…"

"You're welcome to drink water. I won't be drinking enough to get drunk."

He picked up a glass and tapped the tip with hers, pausing once to watch her elegantly gulp down the contents of her own glass.

"Again, I can't express the relief I feel when Natsuki-san says that." Otto sighs, telling of what he felt during the break viewing.

"Yes. Subaru-sama not drinking is an extremely impressive feat considering what he's been through." Frederica smiles at Otto with acceptance.

Both of them earned nods from Petra, Garfiel, Tivey, and even Ricardo who shouted cheerfully, "and may he never touch that stuff!"

"Hip hip, hooray." Al unenthusiastically pumps his fist in the air.

Once the Duchess was done, she immediately took the reins of the conversation by asking prematurely, "How goes the healing of your gate?"

"..."

The black-haired youth could only flinch in pain at the memory of what happened earlier.

"Oh no…" Wilhelm looked towards Felix with a judgmental glare as soon as he heard the guilty moan.

"Rem advises you to watch closely, Crusch-sama."

The Duchess held a stare with a much more serious Rem than before with discontent rumbling her stomach.

"What did Ferris do this time?" Crusch asks no one but the screen that began playing the next scene for her.

(Novel Scene)

The screen cuts to a small bedroom during the earlier in that day, Subaru was sitting on his bed seemingly in a precarious position. With a mischievous smirking Felix who had both hands pumping mana into Subaru's spine from the back, while a flustered Rem held Subaru's face into her chest.

Both of the servants were filling Subaru with very different types of mana, which sent the boy into a panic.

Before Rem could glare at Felix any harder, the cat boy sighed and pulled back from Subaru.

"You have a reason to be angry, Rem, but it wasn't all some scheme by Ferris, mew know? It was for Subawu's sake, just a teeny widdle bit."

"And everything besides the little bit?" Rem asked, holding Subaru's blushing face harder.

"The rest was for my friend's feelings, and everything else was for Lady Crusch. That's natural for a retainer, isn't it? It's no different for you, is it, Rem?" The healer held a smirk of utter smugness while Rem simply hardened her stare.

"It is not. Accordingly, you must understand what my reply must be, master Felix."

The catboy seemed to understand something within Rem's eyes so he held his arms up in surrender.

"Okay, okaaaay. Ferris will stop using the treatment to brainwash him."

Though the demi was giving her an honest expression, Rem wasn't content.

"From here on, I shall be present for all treatments."

"Mew, no trust at all. Well, that's fine, really." He shrugs and carries on hoping out of the bed and room without a care.

End of the flashback.

The screen cuts back to Subaru shuddering before an awaiting Crusch.

He looked unsure as he spoke, "Oh… Well, it goes, I guess…"

"I see. Well, Ferris is excellent with healing magic. You can trust him." The Duchess smiles before gulping down another drink.

"You've done what?!" Beatrice was the first to shout her outrage, standing up on Subaru's thighs and shooting the healer daggers with her butterfly-shaped eyes.

"W-Wait a minute nyow…"

"Ya better be 's good 's they say ya are at healin', catboy!" Garfiel seethes at the knight from his seat, scaring Otto half to death. "Cuz yer gonna need 't!"

"Ferris…" Emilia somehow tore Felix's heart in two with her betrayed eyes.

Further than that, the healer seemed to be earning a glare of disappointment and betrayal from his own master too.

"Explain yourself to Emilia-sama and her camp members right now!" Crusch demands of Felix without a hint of hesitation.

"This has just become more enjoyable." Priscilla chuckles gleefully, enjoying Felix getting backed into a corner by his master. Oh the irony.

"That's not a cool thing to do, bro." Al shakes his head while Ram looks at the healer with disgust.

Roswaal was overseeing all of this with a look of sympathy aimed for the young man in the skirt. "Doesn't look like he's gonna get outta this at aaa~ll."

Petra found herself snarling with hate towards the Blue of her kingdom. "Aren't you supposed to use your power for the injured?! Why were you trying to take over Subaru's mind?!"

Frederica didn't intervene since for this once, Petra was in the right to aim her outrage at someone with higher status.

Felix found himself backed into a corner with no help, the most he had was Roswaal and Reinhard's sympathetic gazes but Reinhard's seemed more disappointed than anything. "I… I…"

The rage from the others he could do with, but he couldn't speak under Crusch's scrutinizing glare. He was too damaged to deal with this, his body began to tremble in place.

"Fu~fuu~uu~" Priscilla giggles arrognatly, happy that she was being proven right yet again in the most entertaining of ways.

"I think you all need to give him some space."

Until Anastasia's knight cut the entire room's rage with his reprimanding shout.

"Julius?" Emilia utters in confusion.

"I'm sorry to say this but I would rather you understand that he did what someone like Felix would've done in that situation. He was acting on his own accord to protect me, Subaru, and Crusch-sama at the same time. His action was wrong but please understand his intentions weren't abusive or dishonorable."

Felix's eyes grew as wide as saucers in disbelief. Julius was defending him from Crusch's wrath? The same Julius that told him he was disappointed with him one viewing ago?

"Crusch-sama, Emilia-sama," Wilhelm interjects on the thoughtful ladies from beside the nervous cat-demi. "You both have your own reasons to despise what Ferris has done. But please do not cross the line by ignoring the good in his heart."

"... You act as if I'm going to execute him." Crusch mutters dryly at both Julius and Wilhelm.

"Eh?" Emilia shrieks in horror, "I'd never ask for such a thing. Ferris seems like a good boy who worries for Crusch-sama a lot. I'd have just made him do some extra chores or something…"

"Are you kidding me?! You are unfit to punish anyone, I suppose!" Beatrice barks in sheer fury and disappointment. "Here's yet another person willing to hurt Subaru and you are letting them off scot free again!"

"It didn't happen again, Beatrice-sama. So please calm yourself down and stop stomping on Subaru's legs."

Beatrice and Rem glared at one another with dangerous sparks coming off between them.

"I-I apologize." Felix gained everyone's attention once his trembling words came out of his mouth. "Ferris is sorry for what he's said and done to Subaru-kun! I only wanted for him to stop this obsession with getting back at Julius at the time! It was the only way Ferris could see, nyan!" He bows deeply. Showing great regret for what he did now that he sees the consequences of his actions. Shivering from head to toe with his cat-ears lowering to their lowest from shame.

"Rise, Ferris." Crusch orders with a hint of remorse in her eyes. She turns to Emilia and Beatrice with an expression of acceptance as she bows humbly to the half-elf.

"Crusch-sama?!" Emilia utters in surprise.

"I apologize for allowing this to happen on my grounds while you entrusted him to me. I'm ashamed of what my knight has done and I will take any form of punishment to make up for your broken trust."

Emilia waves her hands in a panic. "You don't have to do any of that, Crusch-sama! I am perfectly aware that this all is too complicated to blame you for all of it!"

Before Crusch could say anything else, Emilia turned to Felix with a stern look that surprised everyone in the back rows.

"Felix…" she ditched the honorable quotations in his name, a sign that the boy had lost some of Emilia's respect. That fact hurt more than it should have. "I would be pleased if you promise me never to use your power to influence people like that again."

"... I promise never to use my power like that again, Emilia-sama." Felix bows his head to the half-elf.

"Promise Crusch-sama that you won't be dishonest with her ever again." Emilia demanded again, forgoing Crusch's glance of surprise.

"I promise, Emilia-sama." He replies, much more obedient and accepting of this promise.

"And I want you to promise that you will tell Crusch-sama whenever you are having troubles with your friends." Emilia shoots him a small smile at the end.

"..." Felix found himself staring slack-jawed at her. Unbelieving of the kindness being shown to him by this merciful woman.

"This half-wit won't survive a night in a slum district." Priscilla scoffs with boredom settling in as soon as Emilia comes into the conversation.

"I promise you, Emilia-sama." Felix says, trembling with emotion.

"Mhm," she nodded her head brightly. "Then we should continue watching now. Please get back to your seats everyone."

Crusch sat back down with a thankful smile towards Emilia, while Felix was helped by Wilhelm to sit down.

Julius gives him a nod before taking his own seat while Beatrice just glares at Emilia and sits back like the rest.

"You won't hear the end of this, I suppose!"

Emilia could feel Rem looking at her from the back so she made her response more inclusive. "I wouldn't want Crusch-sama to feel the same way about her knight as I did Subaru during this period of time."

"I do not care, in fact. Be kind as much as you like, just do it on behalf of yourself, not my contractor." Beatrice seethed and ended the conversation by turning away from Emilia.

"You seem busy all the time, too." Subaru said, wanting to fill the air with conversation.

"My family is currently gathering people and objects in response to a certain occurrence. Plus, since word of the royal selection spread, I've received proposals every day. I'm sure the other candidates have, as well."

Subaru did a spit take, "P-Proposals? You mean, as in marriage?! Oh yeah… I guess they're all single…"

At once, the green-haired matriarch leans with a look of interest in her eye, "Does that bother you?"

He looks away with an uneasy face.

"Not really… It's just… Oh, right! Wilhelm-san said he had a beautiful wife."

Her eyes turn serious for a moment, "Are you aware that Wilhelm serves me?"

"Huh? Why?" Subaru asked in confusion.

"Naaaaaa!"

All of a sudden, the pair turn towards the shriek of misery emitting from inside the office doors. A catboy in a blue dress burst out of the doorway and ran to the balcony in panic.

"What are nya doing here, Subaru-kyun?" Felix yelled, staring at the two with a blasphemous face. "And Crusch-sama! WHy are you dressed so vulnerably?!"

"Is it strange? It's no different from what I wear when I dine with you." The duchess speaks in a calm and collected manner, unlike the demi who held his ears in frustration.

"That's exactly the problem! Men are nyothing but wolves!" He proclaimed, pouting.

"You're a man too." Subaru pointed out, looking offended.

"That's enough joking, Ferris. All who were present at the royal selection know whom Subaru loves." Crusch says with a shake, easing Felix into a smirk.

"Yeah, I heard they had a fight though~"

"...Ghk!"

Felix smiles towards Subaru as the black-haired guest turns his scowl to the floor.

"I-I apologize for bringing that up! Ferris only wanted to make him accept things as they were by jyoking around!" The healer began apologizing profusely as soon as he noticed Crusch and Emilia flinching.

"It's alright…" Emilia mutters unconvinced.

Felix sighed with relief as soon as he was off the hook once more. He looked at the screen with a small frown that naturally came with his face of confusion. "Nyow that I think about it… I dyon't remember this happening…" he looked to Wilhelm and then to Crusch with his expression growing more fearful by the second.

"I swear, Subaru-kuyn, you're so easy to read."

"Don't cast your gaze down, Natsuki Subaru." A firm statement from the Duchess pulled Subaru out of his agitated stubber.

"Huh?"

"When your eyes are clouded, your soul darkens. That means your future is closed to you, and you lose sight of your reasons to live. When you do what you know is right, what can you do by looking downward? Lift your head and reach out your hands. I do not want to regard you as an insignificant enemy."

Subaru just stares at her with silence.

"If Crusch-sama says so, you have nyo choice." Before he could know what was happening, Subaru turned to find Felix standing over him with his eyes centered at the center of his own.

"The point is, Subaru-kyun, you need to hurry and make up with Emilia-sama. Think about what you can do to accomplish that, and do it."

"You really were trying to help Subaru-kun." Rem whispers to herself about Felix.

"Thank you for helping him like that, Crusch-sama. I'm glad he's become friends with someone like you." Emilia gives the candidate beside her a bright smile, one that Crusch did not expect.

"... You're welcome, Emilia-sama." Crusch gives a confident grin of her own.

"She probably wanted to know more about the boy that dared to declare himself a knight without care of the royal court." Tivey whispers to his sister suspiciously.

"Hmmm, Crusch-sama was always known for her keen eye for deta~~il." Roswaal replies to the boy's theory without invitation, which creeps the boy out again.

"Who talked to you, clown?!" Mimi hugged her brother while pulling her tongue out at Roswaal.

The magic lord held his hands up in defense. "I'm loooonely!"

"I do not care!" Mimi bravely glares right back at him, making Roswaal hold his head down in a sad way.

What can I do…

Subaru stares away from Felix, his glance falls at the small flame of a single candle on the table before him.

The moments of his past deaths could be seen flashing before him.

"There is something I can do."

The pair of master and servant stared at Subaru with bewilderment. The black-haired retainer let out a smirk of confidence as he exclaimed to them.

"Something only I can do. Yeah, that's right… You don't even have to tell me."

Crusch stared with uncertainty.

"The wind is picking up. Looks like the weather will be rough again tomorrow."

"What the hell?!" Otto shouts, angry and serious. "What was that just now?! Don't tell he meant–"

"We won't know if he was in the right mind anyways, sit down, Otto." Ram suddenly takes charge to calm the situation from the horrific implication but it was all useless.

"He's trying to justify using that power… because of me?" Emilia held her hands on her mouth as it dawned on her just why her knight became so complicit with so many dangers past this point of the viewing. All to protect her or get back to her.

"... These were because of my words, Emilia-sama." Crusch tried to intervene, having a look of shame knowing what her words encouraged within the young man. "He's not in the right headspace, it was my fault."

"Emilia-sama…" Rem tries her best but she couldn't form anything to make this better for the half-elf. Even though she may have had a disagreement with Emilia… this type of thinking from Subaru was so vile it disgusted her.

"Is it really that bad for him to think like that?" Al's words interrupted whatever outrage the rest of the crowd had for Subaru's way of thinking.

"Are ya even human?!" Felt retorts to his question with a furious look along with the rest.

"Betty's contractor doesn't know when to give up on sacrificing himself, I suppose…" The small blonde in Subaru's lap shook her head and accepted the reality of what was happening with elegance.

"I suggest everyone pipe down from their groveling and accept this as it is." Priscilla's voice fills the auditorium and compels silence from the crowd. "Hmph," she snorted and enjoyed the power her opinion held over them. "Your drabbles of guilt have annoyed me since this one started," she points to the placate screen. "Commoners can't understand from the first time, so I'll be happy to repeat for your miniscule brains like the gracious god that I am."

Priscilla was placed under gazes of fire and hate from everyone but they all gave her their silence and ears even though they despised her for her words.

They knew who ruled them.

"Get your feelings out of the way and watch knowing that he's dead by the end," her voice was piercing to the ear as she commanded everyone that cared about Subaru to cut their hearts in pieces. Or she might as well have done that.

"She's right…" Petra surprised everyone, even Priscilla when she spoke out. "Priscilla-sama is saying what we all need to hear."

"Petra-chan… Are you–" the little girl forced Frederica's hand off her shoulder. She glared down at the front row with fire in her blue eyes.

"Subaru will die." Petra's lips trembled. "He's dealing with a lot on his own right now." Emilia and Beatrice show different expressions of shame and anger while Petra keeps talking. "Please let's just watch without blaming him for the way he deals with this problem!"

"That's a smart way to depict what Barielle-sama is saying," Roswaal muses loudly, "Well done, Petra-chaaan."

As Roswaal gave his little maid small claps of approval, the crowds below settled on what Petra was saying.

"I knew that little one was more interesting than her adorable face showed." Priscilla cheers to herself, finding it adequate to praise the village girl for her mature attitude.

Beatrice holds eye contact with Roswaal for a moment, realizing that he's been giving out no reactions this entire time to what was happening.

"It seems he knows everything already… or could it be that this was unplanned for him?" The spirit could only question with heavy scrutiny as the screen flashed to life.

Scene changes back to the garden again.

CLANK!* *CLANK!* *CLANK!*

Subaru is shown falling in the air from Wilhelm's strong swipes but this time he back rolls and on his feet.

"Shall we stop for now?" The old man asks.

"Don't be silly! You've seen how far I've come in taking blows!" Subaru brightly swipes the air in front of him.

"Your attitude seems quite different this morning." Wilhelm inquired.

"Crusch-san gave me some good advice last night." Subaru smirks while thinking in his head.

If I just get a chance, I can make any problem go away!

"Then, let us call it a day."

"Huh?" Subaru exclaims in confusion. Wilhelm lowers his sword and lets his stance go.

"Well, I thought it seemed meaningless to teach one who has abandoned the option to get stronger or how to use a sword that makes him stronger."

"What do you…" Subaru wished to continue his question for the butler, but frantic footfalls stopped him as Rem charged closer.

"Subaru-kun! We must discuss something important." She said seriously.

"So I was right?" Felix looks on in horror at what was happening. "Is he really relying more on his ability to solve his issues from nyow on?"

Emilia covers both her ears in a way not to hear the implication of what Subaru decided to hang on to as a solution.

"It seems that I could already tell that Subaru-dono chose another path for redemption… I won't say it's a better one." Wilhelm shakes his head in disappointment.

Scene changes to Subaru and Rem being escorted inside of Crusch's office.

"Has Rem told you what's going on?" Crusch asks, sitting down in her desk chair with Felix standing beside her.

Subaru took the seat opposing her with Rem standing parallel to Felix.

"What I felt was… Something like a presence though the sense I share with my sister. My sister could have used her clairvoyance to get a clearer picture, but I…" Rem couldn't continue her words, seemingly unable to recall.

"So I guess you picked up a nyasty sort of synesthesia from her, huh?" Subaru asks, alerted.

"We don't know the details, either. But it came from the Mathers domain, which you know as Margrave Roswaal's territory. It seems some troubling movement was seen in the vicinity of his mansion. Parts of the domain are already on high alert."

Subaru and Rem stared at Crusch with disturbed expressions.

"What's this emergency?" Garfiel asks his friend as they both look at the horrified expressions on Emilia and Rem's faces with alertness.

"This timeline has not happened to me," Crusch gestured to the screen with a finger, "therefore I do not know what may be causing this disturbance… I do have an idea though."

"It's Sloth." Julius said with something akin to a growl.

"The Archbishop? You mean to tell me Big Bro is gonna fight 'em on his own?" Felt found herself deliriously wide-eyed and frightened.

"Rem will be with him too…" Emilia whispers while raising her head with a mortified face. "She will die too… Subaru's going to die because he's coming back for me!"

Ram blanched and glanced at her silent saddened twin. Unable to do anything but look at her dear sister with no words coming out.

Al pats her shoulder to keep her calm, giving her the silence she needs to prepare for what is to come.

"It starts," the eccentric man from above oversees this anger and confusion over Crusch's announcement with an expression of guilt. "How will you be handling this one, Subaru-kun?" Roswaal asks without an accent, voice low.

"Troubling movement?" He asked in a hurried panic.

"We did foresee this situation, from the moment the margrave declared his intention to back Emilia a half-elf."

"You mean there's trouble going on because of that prejudice?" Subaru looked at the Duchess with worry.

"That is likely a correct summation."

He grits his teeth and glances down.

The moment I leave her side, this happens?

Everyone around her is an enemy.

The only one who can take her side…

Subaru slowly smirks a manic obsessive smirk…

Is me.

"Well then… We have to go and help, right?"

Subaru stands up making Rem stumble in worry.

"No no no!" Emilia's worst nightmare played right in front of her with no one to blame but herself for leaving Subaru behind and allowing him to fall into such a line of thinking.

"I'm guessing from your reactions to this, that it's already decided what his fate would be, Rem?"

The stern sounding Ram was met with a flinch from her sister.

"Aw… It is true then." Al shakes his head at the silent reaction Rem had given everyone who heard Ram's question.

"Why didn't ya speak about tis not being a real loop?!" Garfiel asked, looking agonized after his realization.

"I would… But I was cherishing what little memories I had with Subaru during this loop after the last point I remember happening." Rem turns her head away from Garfiel and looks to the floor.

"What point do ya remember then?" Anastasia asks her, glancing silently at the Duchess beside her.

"... The marketplace? It may have been after that point but the window didn't seem keen on sharing much of Rem's time with Subaru-kun."

"Holy– It really is that apple man's save point again!" Ricardo pulls on his ear in surprise. The twins gape in realization that they might be right.

"Ya knew somethin' about this, ain't ya." Anastasia fully turns to Crusch with a look of solidness.

Seeing her being unwavering, Crusch gives the candidate beside her what she wants with a nod.

"Why didn't ya tell us?"

Crusch turned to the screen with a whimsical expression. "I wanted to enjoy my time with him as well."

"Hm." Anastasia purses her lips and shakes her head. "Ya need to be more honest with yerself, Crusch-san. Honestly."

"Y-You mustn't, Subaru-kun. You have to obey Emilia-sama's orders. She told you to focus on healing… and I agree!"

Rem held his sleeve with a worried look as he walked to the door.

"Healing must take priority now."

Without acknowledging her words, Subaru turned to the maid with an expression of focus on his face, "Rem, we're the only ones who can take Emilia's side!"

Seeing his mind being set, the maid looked down with a worried expression.

"You heard that, Crusch-san?" Not dwelling on Rem's face, Subaru turned towards the observing Duchess behind him. "We're going back to the mansion, back to where Emilia is. Until it's taken care of, my healing will-"

"Natsuki Subaru." Crusch interrupts him, firmly calling his name.

He gazes at her, stupefied and not talking.

"If you leave here, that will make you my enemy. Allow me to correct one idea you have. I have only allowed you to stay here as a guest and receive treatment because I am contracted to do so."

Subaru blinks. "Contracted?"

"Emilia and I formed a contract regarding your treatment. However, if you abandon that contract yourself, I am not obligated to continue protecting you. The moment you leave this household, Emilia and I will not hesitate to become enemies." As if she was reprimanding him, Crusch's voice didn't have anything but seriousness to offer the boy.

By this point, Subaru's sharp eyes turn to glare the noble woman down. "I was wrong about you. I thought, just maybe you and I could get along. Yeah, of course. That was just a little joke over drinks, right? I was stupid to take you seriously when you told me an enemy, to do what I could. You don't want me to leave because getting Emilia out of trouble will be bad for you, right?"

Despite the accusation, Crusch's face remained calmly staring Subaru down. It was the healer's squeaky soft voice that replied to the intense aggravation of the atmosphere because of Subaru's words.

"H-How did he come to such a conclusion?!" Otto sounded amazed and horrified at the same time.

Felix refused to say his piece after all the times he's been hounded over the head for doing so, but he couldn't contain the glare of anger at Subaru on screen.

"He's not under the right mindset…" Wilhelm nods along with Reinhard's timid words.

"Nor was this lass any better at describing things to him without making it sound like a fight was coming." Felt points at Crusch while the Duchess was dealing with her own conversation.

"Emilia-sama, I apologize for not being able to keep him there with me. It seems that my hotheaded desire to draw lines forced an ultimatum." Crusch gave the half-elf a sincere nod of regret.

"..." The half-elf simply gave a shake of the head, unable to believe how escalated the situation had become just because she wasn't there.

"I think nya have it all wrong."

"Ferris, enough." The Duchess ordered, keeping her eyes on the black-haired young man before her.

Felix looked on with hope in his eyes that this him might be able to help make Subaru see things in a better way than what his lady phrased.

"No, I'll say it. The mistake he's making is a bit too grave." Felix shook his head and glared towards Subaru, "even if you leave, nothing will change. You'd be wasting your time. After making a fool of yourself at the castle and being clobbered by Julius, nya still don't realize that? You'll be much better off staying here to finish your treatment."

After Felix's blunt words, the glare on Subaru's face turned into an intense stare of hatred aimed for the demihuman's soul. This carried on for a few more ticks of the clock before Subaru turned around.

"I've decided. I'm going back to Emilia. Thanks for taking care of me though it wasn't for long." Once he opened the door, his foot stopped its descent as Felix outraged from behind his lady's desk.

"Is it nyot true that a good man knows how to take a warning?"

Subaru didn't look back but offered his parting thoughts as a reply. "It's thanks to your warning that I've made up my mind. Thanks."

With that he left, Rem following close behind.

Felix shook his head and his face into his palms. He could feel a soft pat on the back from Wilhelm but it meant nothing as his failure sunk him into a sea of shame.

"It's amazing how this is escalating so fast, holy shit!" Al comments bombastically, making others nod along.

"I couldn't convince Subaru-kun to stay after all." Rem whispered agonizingly to herself.

Scene changes to Rem patting a pink ground-dragon that had a carriage latched on to it.

"Rem, how long until we reach the mansion?"

The maid looked up to find Subaru and Wilhelm standing beside the carriage.

"About two and a half days, I think."

"Over two days! it took less than half a day to get here!"

"We can't go that way. There's a fog over the road, so we need to take a detour."

Subaru blinks for a moment, "Who cares about fog?!"

"The fog is created by White Whale. Should we encounter it, we won't survive." Rem speaks in a matter of fact tone.

Subaru grits his teeth and gets inside of the cart, without bidding the old man beside him a goodbye.

Wilhelm remained standing still, his eyes narrowed on the distance since the Whale had been mentioned.

Rem bowed to the butler with respect. "Thank you for lending us your dragon-drawn carriage. I offer you my gratitude in my master's stead for the favor you've shown us until today."

"Not at all. Please take care." The old man shakes his head and gives the maid a small wave.

"It seems that he won't be encountering the White Whale in this loop?" Otto questions, hoping someone would answer.

"We don't know…" Julius shakes his head, glancing towards the Duchess in the same row as him.

"I haven't the faintest idea," she ends up shaking her head. "I do not know what Natsuki Subaru might face. Should Rem continue to lead them to the mansion, I'm sure she will be able to avoid the Lifus path altogether."

"Betty hopes that's what's supposed to happen, in fact." Beatrice sniveled.

Scene changes to night time, the carriage was driven by Rem towards a small inn situated on the road.

With tired eyes, Subaru looks up at the location they've stopped in. "Why did we stop? We have to hurry!"

"I'm sorry, Subaru-kun. The ground dragon can't go any farther." Rem turns to him apologetically as the pink dragon is shown huffing bugging with foam coming out of his mouth.

He scowled deeply at the ground.

"What's wrong, bro-Otto?" Garfiel asked Otto with care.

"Something's on your mind?" Frederica quickly asked from where she was sitting, taking note of the startled look on the merchant's face.

"Y-Yeah…" Otto coughs into a fist and tries to not show any more aghastness. "It's just that… I know this inn. I have visited there regularly since it's the only one on this road to the capital."

"You mean you might meet with Subaru-sama in this loop?" Frederica asks.

Otto shrugs with an unreadable expression, "I do not know. But it's a thought that scares me for some reason."

Scene changes to a bedroom inside of the inn.

"I can't sleep…" The black-haired youth was sitting on his bed with the same scowl on his face aiming for the room's ceiling.

"Subaru-kun, are you awake?"

He sat up and looked at the room's door, hearing Rem's voice from behind. "Yeah."

She enters the room. Subaru turns the lamp beside him on.

"What's happening here?" Al whispers teasingly and receives a blow from Ram.

"... I wish I was there." Rem whispered with need.

The maid looked at him with a nervous glance. "I can't sleep, so I hoped we could talk."

"Oh… You, too? Can't help that I guess."

Glancing at her, Subaru noticed her soft expression and the small frown.

"You're really worried about the mansion after what you felt through your shared sense, right?"

Rem closed her eyes. "It'll be fine. We're not the sort of lovable little kids that get out feelings hurt so easily. We'll get right back there, and I'll fix things." He tried to encourage her by smiling but the maid only looked more disheartened.

"Yes. I've put all my faith in you, Subaru-kun."

While her sad look was obvious, the small and weak smile she held while looking at him forced a blush to bloom across his cheeks. He had to hide his face by turning away.

"This is such an adorable scene!" Frederica gushes in disbelief that Rem was the one in the window before her. The Rem she knew was reclusive and emotionless.

"That smile really does suit you, Rem." Crusch gives the maid an open grin.

Rem blushes a deep hue of red and looks at the screen in jealousy.

"Rem reeeally likes Subaru, huh." Emilia muttered to herself, seeing this moment between the two and feeling left out and abandoned all the same. Just like always.

"That commoner is lying to himself now?" Priscilla clicks her tongue from atop the rows of seats. "This won't do."

His surprise showed once Rem had planted herself on his back, resting her head and both her hands on his neck and shoulders.

"R-Rem-san, um… Why are you holding on to me?" Subaru stuttered due to the intimate position.

"Because I want to." Rem's answer was soft, but Subaru could feel something else within him stir as her palms grew illuminescent in the dimly candle-lit room.

"I… I know this feeling…"

"I'm healing your gate, just like Felix-sama did, Subaru-kun."

"O-Oh, healing! You're healing me… Of course you are." He chuckles nervously. After sometime, his expression grows defeated in the silence.

"Because you want to, huh?" He whispers, looking down. "She'll probably be angry with me at first, won't she?"

The blue-haired girl had become heavy on his back as she nuzzled the back of his ear with love. "If you take the time to properly face her and communicate how you feel with words, I'm sure she'll understand. You are a wonderful person, after all."

Her whispers of encouragement seemed to confuse the boy as his eyes became duller. "I am? Yeah… I am, right?" Subaru's head begins to fall, his features become droopy, "Emilia is hopeless without me. Because I… care about her… so much…" His whispers slowly become quieter as he loses energy and falls unconscious in Rem's grasp.

"So save just a tiny bit of that for me, too." Rem's own whisper was unheard as she held the boy's back. Rustling his hair between her fingers, the maid appeared saddened instead of happy for her position with the black-haired retailer.

"Don't go anywhere, okay, Subaru-kun?"

Darkness…

"Ferris-sama."

"Y-Yes, Emilia-sama?" The healer perked in the darkness, confusion painting him for being so suddenly called upon by Emilia.

"What happened there? What kind of magic did Rem use on Subaru?" Emilia was unreadable in the dark, both in tone and expression.

"Ah… She forced Subaru-kyun to fall asleep while healing his gate. It's an easy technique."

"Why did you do it here, Rem?" Emilia left the healer confused as she focused her attention on Rem. Still unreadable to everyone in the room.

"I…" Rem didn't have an answer.

"He was talking about me. About what he thought I was going to feel about him. What he spoke about was…" Emilia's voice filled up with something akin to sadness and disappointment.

"... Let's see what Rem has done here, Emilia-sama." Ram was the one that dared to intervene. Even under Beatrice's threat.

Scene change to the same room of the inn.

Subaru woke up to an empty room and a bright ray of light coming from the window. The morning sun.

"Rem, wake up! We oversle-"

He quickly ran from his room to the next to his own, a call for the occupant it reserved on his tongue.

Rem was not in the room. Neither was there a sign of the room being inhabited for the past hours of time.

"Figured." Julius scoffs with an unimpressed look.

"She left him alone in the inn? Wouldn't this be redundant since she has to take him with her?" Felt raised an eyebrow, confused about this part of the story.

"She isn't tasked to bring Subaru back, Felt-sama. That is the thing." Reinhard interjects calmly like a teacher. "She knows that an emergency is happening in the Mathers domain because of her sister's ability. That's what Rem-chan is focused on."

"She probably left Natsuki-san to keep him stuck in the inn while she took care of the emergency…" Otto looks at Garfiel with a weary stare. "Knowing what that emergency is…"

"It's the Sloth Archbishop." Garfiel nods his head, a seriousness overcoming him suddenly.

"Subaru will probably die at his hands first then." It was Petra that spoke with a voice so cold Frederica had to pat the girl's back out of pity. "And my village could be… " Petra trailed off, not sure what to name the things Sloth would do to her people and Subaru.

Julius kept his lips sealed once an impatient Anastasia stared him down for information.

Scene change,

"Well, now! Good morni-" The receptionist's smile fell as soon as the frantic black-haired boy slammed both palms on the desk.

"Where's the blue-haired girl who was here with me?!" Subaru asks, loud and out of breath. He ran all the way down the stairs.

"Th-The lady you were with, uh…"

As the man was trying to think, Subaru grabbed on his collar. "I can't hear you."

"I was saying that she left during the night! Here are your things…" The man stuttered, giving the furious kid holding him a backpack with a parchment visible in one of its pockets.

Subaru ignored the bag for a moment and immediately unfolded the parchment to read it. His fingers clenched the paper tightly and it almost tore in his grip. His hand slammed on the desk, startling the man even more.

"What the hell? What are you thinking, Rem? I thought you would understand me…"

"..." Rem looked like she would rather be crushed to death than to have heard those words from Subaru.

He ran out of the inn with the bag on his back. Rem's voice recited the letter's contents while the screen played scenes of Subaru negotiating with several merchants and carriage drivers around the inn.

" Dear, Subaru-kun…

When you read this letter, I'm sure you will be very angry with me. I won't ask you to forgive me for leaving you behind to go to the mansion. But please understand. "

After spending a few moments trying to negotiate with the seventh merchant, the man shook his head to finalize his answer. "That one over there might agree to your offer." Subaru looked where the man pointed and noticed a bar.

" It would be very dangerous to bring you to the mansion right now. "

Once inside of the bar, Subaru found a young man in green robes, slumped over the bar table sleeping on his cheek. Seeing this, he dropped the sack of coins right beside the boy's head, waking him up by the sound of the metal jingles of the coins.

The sleeper looked up at Subaru with red-eyed tired confusion.

"Are you the one called Otto?" Subaru questions the drooling merchant who just looked confused.

"This is his first meeting with me." Otto mutters, glued just like the rest of the cast to the desperate effort Subaru was putting in. "Falling asleep, drunk. In a bar."

Garfiel chuckled and slapped the merchant on the back.

" So please wait here for me to return. "

Rem's voice played over the two as they headed out of the bar.

"I'll accept your payment, but I think this is very reckless, Natsuki-san!" A nervous Otto warns but gets ignored by Subaru as he enters the small cart.

The sun begins setting over Subaru. He was in the moving dragon carriage with Otto at the helm. The letter remained clenched in his palm.

"So you think I'm a useless good-for-nothing, too, Rem?" Subaru says with anguish in his voice.

"I think I've been introduced to someone who could be real trouble." Otto's nervous mutters went unheard from the front of the carriage.

"Okay, fine. If you won't trust me, then why should I depend on you?" Subaru's grip on the letter and growls to himself made the merchant assume that his words will not be heard no matter what volume he spoke.

He sighed exasperatedly at his luck.

"That other me is going to be in for the ride of his life."

Anastasia raises a brow at Otto as he sighed casually. "Ain't ya afraid that otha' you may die with Natsuki-kun?"

Otto opened one of his eyes to Anastasia. "Course I'm scared. Just not enough to forget that I'm the one that made it through the loops to stand by Natsuki-san's side."

The merchant queen gave him a surprised nod of respect.

Meanwhile, Rem was downright clenching her skirt so as to not sob at Subaru's words.

"I would never think like that about you!" She muttered in frustration towards the back of Subaru's head.

Scene changes to a mansion gate with an oncoming shadow that appeared to collide with it.

The window cuts to black for a second more only to return to Otto and Subaru driving the dragon carriage through the din of the night. The black-haired youth was sleeping soundly in the cart behind Otto.

"What… the heck was that?!" Tivey asks after that mansion scene was cut so suddenly he barely even blinked.

"... It was too quick for me to see bro." Al shrugs while Felt gave the screen a squinting glare. "Somethin' happened? What was it?"

"It was Sloth, no doubt." Julius growls with his arms crossed. Everyone looked at the screen as soon as he said that.

Emilia and Crusch tightened their holds on Subaru's hands. Both girls vying to comfort themselves by feeling his warmth through their hands should the situation escalate.

The cart stops suddenly, halting Subaru awake once he slammed into the wooden walls.

"I'm sorry, but can we please turn back now?" An apologetic Otto looks back and begs.

"What?! After coming this far?" Subaru asks in bewilderment.

Otto nods his head and points at the dragon growling at the front of the cart. "My ground dragon is frightened. It knows by instinct that this place is too dangerous to approach."

"They are definitely theeeere…" Roswaal nods his head, not giving anyone the chance to hear his mumbling.

"That boy is a coward." Priscilla mocks Otto with dislike for how he brought the pacing of the scene to a halt just to run.

"Screw ya!" Garfiel hotly retorts the flaming princess.

"My dragon never misses these things… If it's saying things are too dangerous then It's the truth." Otto shakes his head as alarms begin to settle within the characters and their minds.

"Where are we now?" Subaru questions, looking right into the endless road with trees on each side ahead.

"We're already in the Mathers domain, near a village called Arlam." Otto answers, holding a map.

"Got it!" Subaru jumps out of the carriage, leaving his bag behind.

"Petra… You are trembling?" Frederica looks at the little maid with worry.

"Close your eyes if you can, Frederica-senpai." Petra pleaded as she hunched herself into a ball at the mention of her village.

"It's okay, Petra." Frederica smiles. "Things won't end too badly."

"You wouldn't be saying that after what I've been told." Petra whispered to her mentor, remembering her conversation with the Warden before all of this and the implications on her people.

"Natsuki-san, you can't go out there! Let's turn back!" Otto pleaded at the nasty-eyed boy.

Subaru only smiled at him. "This is far enough, Otto. You can take the money and all my stuff."

"I couldn't possibly! Please rethink this!"

But Otto's plea was ignored. Subaru sprinted into the dark.

"Natsuki-san!"

Scene changes back to Subaru running across the darkened roads, alone.

"He really let me go? Just like that?!" Otto shouted in despair, unbelieving to the fact that he just disappeared out of the plot for no reason. "I cannot believe I offered no help to him whatsoever. Just drove him to his own death!"

Images of the royal guards played within his mind.

He continued to run.

Julius' face came and went through a flashback.

He continued to run.

The councilmen stood above him like disappointed gods.

He ran through the darkness.

The candidates scorned him from behind.

He ran again.

The knights laughed at him.

He did not stumble.

The magicians spat his way.

His legs did not give out.

Not once did he think of Emilia in his sprint. She wasn't a source of evil or hatred for him.

"That is so wonderfully pathetic, I'm almost impressed with this piglin. Truly." Priscilla hums casually, giving great interest in the way Subaru's mindset was shaped before her.

"He… uh. He's blaming everyone but himself." Felt realized what nearly everyone had with a disappointed look covering her face.

Petra gave Subaru a glance of pity, not liking how everyone seemed to be faulting him. She knew she had a child's mind, but this was clearly not Subaru's fault.

He was a kid too.

Crusch and Emilia both held each of his hands in theirs. Each woman found comfort in touching the boy and giving him squeezes of affection after what they were seeing him go through.

"It's unsightly." Julius spat but kept his frown of discomposure so as to not show pity on Subaru. He wouldn't like it if Julius did that.

"Do not blame yourself, Rem." Roswaal spoke loudly so she could hear. The maid forced her head down to not show the tears in her eyes.

"He's thinking like this because I left him." Rem sniffles, trying to keep the droplets from falling by containing herself.

"I left him as well." Emilia forced out from the front, giving Rem a sideways look to show her own set of tear droplets.

Jumbled his visions may seem, Subaru continued to run without cause for stopping.

Until suddenly, his head was raised up.

He halted all movement, dusting a cloud of dirt under his shoes at his sudden stop.

"It's too quiet…" he breathed loudly but his voice was aimed to whisper.

Looking around, he could only see deep lanes of trees and rocks on each side of the wide dirt road.

He didn't encounter anything by staring at the woods so he turned to the direction of his destination and bolted to continue running, only to find a strange man in a black hood standing inches away from him.

Subaru blinks at the man, neither surprised nor afraid.

"Witch Cultists!" Rem rages with her eyes bearing fury.

Emilia and Beatrice held on to their Subaru for dear life, not believing that he's been with a cultist before on his own without any protection.

"Will he die?" Anastasia questions solemnly, fearing for the boy.

"We need to watch! Stop talking!" Crusch quickly ordered the whole group of chatters from the twins above to Otto and Garfiel that were just as furious and afraid.

His expression fully changes once a group of hooded men circle him out of nowhere. They dressed the same exact way and were staring at him as if they were statues.

To his shock, the entire group of cultists bowed deeply toward him.

Before vanishing without a sound.

"What was that?" he asked, disturbed and scared out of his mind.

"...What was that?" Julius all but gasped as it only took an instant for the entire scene to play out and he was still not able to get over his thought that Subaru would die.

"Did they… just bow to him and leave?" Felt asks Reinhard, hoping he would have an explanation.

"... I think they sensed his witch's scent and decided to give him proper respect as either a member or a soon to be one? The witch cult only recruits people cursed by her smell or forces people to cover themselves in her miasma." Reinhard recited his theories and studied facts about the cult. He held a small frown on his face once he realized how this sounded.

"Relax, Reinhard," the redhead was surprised to have his grandfather call out to him. "No one thought you accused Natsuki-dono of being in the cult."

"Ah," Reinhard's eyes lowered in disappointment. "Yes… Thank you grandfather."

"That was so scary!" Petra shouts, holding on to Frederica. Emilia breaths in and out while nodding to the village girl's moan.

"Tis but a little appetizer for what is to come after him." Priscilla notes with a weary expression on her beautiful face. Roswaal would almost say she was worried about Subaru's will being.

The clown stopped observing the crowd for a second and looked at the visible blonde drills of hair. "Subaru-kun will clear out these fools. What will you do once you've seen Guese's new form?"

Beatrice herself looked to be in absolute misery rather than curiosity like Roswaal.

"Even against the Witch's Cult, he has abilities that can be used." Anastasia barely lets out a whisper, too intraced by what just happened.

"This might just be my greatest failure, now envisioned." Crusch put a palm on her lips to hide her trembling snarl. Her ambers raged with the fire of discontent and hatred.

"It wasn't your fault, Crusch-sama." Rem spoke with an angry tone. "It's mine for leaving him like that! What was she doing?!" The maid spoke about her other self as if she was a different person than her.

"A mere excuse for you not to blame yourself. That boy is always going to be left behind no matter the leash one has on him." Priscilla spat out in mock disgust, absolutely unable to contain herself after the display of the Witch Cult bowing to Emilia's dog.

"Commoner didn't even show a hint of disturbance." Priscilla clicked her teeth, glaring at Subaru's on screen face that was frozen in time. "His madness is disappointing."

Taking a few more minutes to collect himself, Subaru's frown deepened at the disruption of his run. He continued nonetheless.

His hands shook as he ran.

He started to remember each and every instance of disrespect.

Felix called him weak.

Julius had beaten him and called him unworthy.

Reinhard had called his humiliation as something that should be forgiven.

Crusch had ordered him to stay put because she thought he was weak.

Rem had left him because she thought he was weak.

He ran with a glare on his face that spelled the hatred in his heart.

"Damn!" he cursed.

"Shouldn't he be worried about his friends rather than this stuff?" Mimi asks a reasonable question that offsets many of the guilty expressions in the theater.

"Natsuki isn't willing to get out of this head space." Julius says casually. "He's been left alone with no one to tell him any different way of handling this shame within his heart."

"So leaving him was the worst thing to do, huh?" Emilia's head lowered.

"Indeed it was." Julius didn't spare any sympathy for the royal candidate. Or he hid any that existed in his heart to tell her the harsh reality.

"Barusu's attitude was heavily reliant on Emilia-sama. He shouldn't be near her at all if he wants to fix such a mental obsession." Ram said while patting her sister's back slowly.

"... That is what Puck said." Emilia's whisper was caught by the Duchess sitting opposite to her side.

"The Great Spirit… Hm." Crusch shook her head at Emilia. "I don't know who else I should be disappointed in, you or Natsuki."

Emilia put her face in her palms to hide herself, unwilling to hear Crusch's words.

Scene change.

His run continued until the dawn came. He stopped in the middle of the dirt road, breathing heavily into his overworked lungs.

At the end of the road, his eyes stared, noticing a trail of black smoke rising to the blue morning sky.

"I'm back…"

"... Rijanold-san doesn't open his bakery until the afternoon hours. Not at dawn." Petra points out immediately, hyper focused now that Subaru's reached her village.

Her heart was beating so fast. It was popping out of her chest even.

"Petra, breathe in and out. It will be fine." Frederica whispers soothingly into the little girl's ear. Giving her a hug.

Scene changes to Subaru looking around the empty village. His head turned, watching for any sign of life. The village was vacant. No one.

"This is weird," the twin with the monocle voices from above. "This place was quite populated when our forces arrived there in our timeline."

Petra hugged Frederica tighter, ignoring Tivey.

He knocked on a door and waited for an answer. None came.

He opened it, peeking inside to a dark room. Only the sunlight dimmed its blackness.

Subaru's eyes rose, noticing a couple sitting oddly in their chairs.

He shrugged the sight off and moved to the next house.

"What is…" Beatrice was left blinking rapidly. "What's with the sudden weirdness, I suppose?!"

"Why were they sitting like that? Isn't that Mosmuna-san's and Chikari-san's house?" Petra began breathing heavily against Frederica's arm. The little girl noted down where Subaru was walking and noticed every off putting detail that her home possessed in this scene.

For some reason, this one was much harder to open…

"This is wrong." Julius comments, squinting his eyes and sitting up in his chair.

"I think evah since this started we knew things would end up goin' wron', Julius-kun." Anastasia muses with a hardened look.

"Yes… But these people are still very dear to him." The knight held his head down in shame, unable to stop himself from remembering the way Subaru bowed his head to the dirt just to convince the poor village folk to trust him.

"..." Anastasia bit her lip and steeled her eyes to the screen.

Trying his best to connect the door with his shoulder, Subaru managed to push through the hidden weight keeping the door closed. A sludge sound was heard as Subaru pushed the door open.

The darkness before him wasn't what he focused on. He looked at whatever was keeping the door closed and his eyes widened with untold emotion.

He slowly turned around from whatever it was, not being shown to the camera as he stepped out of the quiet household.

"Why can't we see what he's seeing?" Felix asks, unable to stop the worming feeling of dread from crawling up his back.

"It's being told through Subaru's faaaaace." Roswaal replies timidly, biting his lip.

"Natsuki Subaru's expression is finally changing, that means he's slowly registering something." Crusch analyzed in an agitated manner. Her gaze stuck to the window like glue, unable to look away or blink for a moment.

Slowly and meekly, he stepped away from all of the houses. His stunned expression remained the same.

Red pain littered a few walls for the houses of the village center. His passive walk towards the court floor of the market place was made slowly as he passed by impaled red blades.

Subaru's expression grew more disturbed with each step. His pupils were shaking intensely but never moved to scan the scene around him.

"Is that…" Emilia's eyes widened in horror as her breathing grew frantic.

"No… " Petra choked on her words and sobbed. Her eyes remained wide open, registering everything and knowing what the window wasn't showing her.

Rem looked at her sister for the first time in a while, showing her older twin how scared she was with a single glance. Ram nodded her head and hugged her sister without hesitation, giving no room for words between them.

"Oh no…" Ricardo found himself incredibly saddened and disheartened. "These people were so nice and wholesome 's well," the dogman shook his head and steeled his expression to one of anger.

"Betty should be here, I suppose." Beatrice speaks with anguish in her tone.

When he stopped his shaken walk, the window finally moved away from his expression to lay bare the sight he was witnessing.

A grutesic pile of charred corpses lay in a sickening orderly way, as if the person who did this massacre had some class about them or experience of killing such a massive group of villagers.

Toxic in smell and cruel in sight, Subaru's shock began to wear down and his feet began backing away. He failed to notice another corpse by his legs and tripped on the dead man.

The nasty-eyed boy isn't shown yelping in pain or focusing on his body at all… His eyes only blinked to register the man's dead face by his leg. Subaru tried to get up from above the man's corpse, touching something slimy in the process.

He takes a moment to stare towards his palm.

Who knew such a steep dirty courtyard could contain such a fresh amount of spilled blood?

Theme: Theater D by Myth

Blood.

Trembling like a leaf, his eyes turned wide in horror rather than his usual shocked look. He gasps for breath, looking around, trying to find a single area where this tragedy hadn't reached but alas, the village courtyard had corpses and dead faces all over it.

He begins to breathe really heavily, trying to think back on the houses he's been to.

The couple in the house weren't eating dinner, they were dead. Sliced necks and bleeding all over their food table.

There was a woman's body laying on the door in the second house. She had her guts ripped from her open stomach.

"...Hhhhhhhhhh-"

His body shakenly moved. On its own and without command from him. Turning slowly, forcing his eyes open to the sight of the bodies around him.

Sliced, cut, beheaded, stabbed, burned, mutilated, broken, dismantled…

Subaru's pupils shrunk until they resembled dots on a white background.

Frederica quickly closes Petra's eyes from seeing anymore. Her tears and horror were eclipsed by the heartbreaking sobs she could not help but let out.

"NONONO! WHO WOULD DO THIS?! WHAT KIND OF MONSTER… AHHHHHHH!" The little girl's voice became distorted as she cried her heart out in Frederica's grasp. Petra's screaming served the whole theater and beyond, telling everyone that she lost innocence for good.

"Poor girl." Al steers his helmet away so as to not look at the girl while she was breaking apart.

Aggravated by Petra's screams in the background, Julius' guilt and sorrow for the village made him want to throw up the tea he drank. The elegant knight didn't contain his glare, fully showing his emotions for the viewing.

"Nevah seen ya this mad before," the western girl emotionlessly comments from beside him.

Julius looks at his lady and realizes that Anastasia had hid her mouth behind the blue scarf on her neck. He took one look at her eyes thinking they would match his lady's nonchalant tone.

Anastasia had the coldest glare anyone in the room could muster for the screen.

"Holy hell…" Garfiel gulps, leaning back with a hung jaw at the sight. "C-Cap'n… Cap'n will save 'em. Cap'n won't let them die like that! He will save 'em. He's the best superhero there is!"

Otto held his head down with silence being his answer for how he would grieve this massacre. He patted the mumbling Garfiel on the back and slid closer so he couldcan give the blonde traumatized boy a one-armed hug.

Otto sobs once Garfiel lungs and hugs him with both arms.

"He… He's done this… I've heard reports of his activities… But to go this far…" even though Beatrice was an old spirit. This sight was disturbing enough to make her mumble and cower at the sheer morbidity.

Crusch remained silent and emotionless like Anastasia. Forcing her hat down to her lap so she could look at something other than bodies on the screen. Her fingers gave no inclination of breaking their tight hold over Subaru's. "You must have gone through hell itself to stop this from happening, huh, Natsuki Subaru."

The Duchess gave a small nod of admiration and respect.

Beside her, the leader of the boy's camp could only stare with her beautiful amethyst eyes wide open and dry. Emilia's horrified sobs were drowned by Petra's terrifying cries of anguish. The half-elf didn't know whether she should go up and hug the little girl behind her in the theater or hug Subaru tighter than she was holding his hand at the moment. The feeling of his warmth provided her with the most uncomfortable reminder since these viewings started.

"He's lived this on his own…" Emilia gasps to herself. Her palm quickly covered her mouth as she registered how alone Subaru truly was in this scene.

Emilia's feelings couldn't be more accurately expressed than the words spoken by the maid sitting directly behind Subaru.

"The villagers' death will always be there in his heart. He won't ever stop thinking he is alone in this world."

"Don't blame yourself for this, sister." Ram holds Rem's head in her hug and makes sure she stays looking away from the screen. "This is nobody's fault. You only wanted to save Barusu."

"But I couldn't protect the people of Roswaal-sama's domain. Those children and kind old man…" Rem sniffled and shed the tears that were threatening to spell for the past few minutes.

"What happened to you and to Emilia-sama?" Rem's question was asked in desperation but it caused a much wider panic for both Emilia and Ram at the same time.

"Cease." Priscilla remarks in fury. "Mineself orders you to cease this viewing at once!" The Baroness found no answer from the Warden. She was left to dry in her fury and disgust at the sight of the corpses. "That pig isn't coming out of this undamaged."

"Ya think?!" Felt turns with tearful yet still angry eyes to the Baroness. "Everyone here knows that he won't get better after seeing this! Why don't ya stop talking about the obvious like you know everything, damn you–" Reinhard grips Felt by the wrist again. His expression was that of a man in anguish as he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Felt-sama. She is trying her best to help Subaru."

Felt shakes her head in denial. "Stop being an idiot. I'll sit down and leave her be."

"Thank you, Felt-sama." Reinhard nods in approval while Felt moves in to hug him. He pats her head and glances upwards to where his grandfather was sitting with worry.

"There, Ferris." Wilhelm comments softly, ruffling the boy's cat ears yet reserving his stone-like face.

The healer sobbed into his blazer, unable to take the sight of the dead innocents.

"Rem… What happened to Rem?"

His only vocal reaction to all of this. His world stopped at a moment's realization.

Her letter was clenched by his blood covered palm.

Subaru walked with grace and tranquility.

"Rem… Rem… Rem… Rem…"

Ram's gaze turned blurry. Her grip on Rem tightened as the blue-haired girl shook in her grasp.

"It's okay sister. I'm going to protect you. Barusu is going to save you." Ram soothed into her sister's ear.

Walked without rushing.

"Rem… Rem… Rem… Rem…"

Rem's face smiled at him from a distance. As if it was a memory.

A memory where she laughed with him.

"Rem…"

He walked through the L. Mathers mansion's gate. His legs trembled once he had set foot on the front garden's pathway.

"This is cruel." Crusch comments with a glare of steel aimed for whomever forced Subaru to be in such a position. "If only I didn't let him leave the way he did," the Duchess curses inwardly at herself's impulsivity.

The wave of panic and fear didn't stay within his legs for long as the tremble and shiver traveled through his form.

Upon seeing the familiar mace laying on the cracked pavement of the pathway, he shuddered a breath.

The letter dropped from his palm upon the grass.

"No…" Ram sucked in a breath and let her sister jump out of her grasp.

Emilia and Beatrice watched with horrified faces at what Subaru witnessed on his own.

" Please wait for me to return, when all of this is taken care of, I'll come back for you. "

With a ghostly expression, filled with despair and disbelief, he walked down the pathway. Strode across the grass on the side.

" Please take care of yourself. "

He saw flashes of her smile playing as his legs stopped.

" And please… I beg you to wait for my return. "

A moment inside of the mansion, a sliver of hope in her eyes at the Inn's hallway, the overbearing smile in the Karsten household, even her glances in the capital's market place, She was always there.

She was smiling.

" Please, Subaru-kun. "

His face staggered to show any other expression. The sight before him was enough to pale his skin whole.

" From your… Rem. "

Subaru could only gasp in horror, tears falling.

The camera spanned across the garden's grass patch where Subaru was kneeling, the dress on the corpse was completely torn in multiple areas, no longer resembling a maid outfit. The gore was visible from the multiple gushing wounds across her stomach as well as her forcibly bent limbs.

Worse was, her smile was no longer seen for Subaru.

The blade was stabbed into her skull and the dirt below her face.

Rem was dead, and all Subaru could do is watch her defiled corpse on the grass.

Title card:

The Sickness Called Despair

After Petra's sobs had fallen into silence, it was Rem's turn to fill the room with the sounds of anguish. Ram did not give any indication that she was more distraught than her sister except the running stream of tears on her cheeks and the inflamed expression she bore.

"To whoever did this. If Barusu hadn't yet gotten to you, I swear on my life I will!" Ram's proclamation was one of grief and sorrow. Promising to avenge her sister no matter the loop.

All around the garden, the window zoomed out of the frame over Rem and Subaru, following Subaru's haunted washed gaze panning across and around from the blue-haired corpse.

Men wearing hoods littered the front space of the mansion. The yard, pathway, porches, and even field had corpses of cloaked figures that were quite obviously bleeding proportions of blood.

"Damn Cult!" Garfiel suffered a small sob that he didn't mean to let go of. The blonde tiger was barely holding in his sorrow and rage. Otto held him tighter from the side, keeping his brother stable as they watched what Subaru had gone through all alone.

"I'm sorry." Emilia whispers inaudibly, holding her ears from both sides and letting Subaru's hand go.

"I'm so sorry."

The screen quickly turned on Subaru's distorted emotional expression as he slowly turned his gaze from the garden around Rem to the shed with burn marks and blade cut into the wooden walls.

He moved. Walked with a tremble. Pushed the door to the shed and gazed inside.

"...Uh… Uhu…"

Subaru's face twisted into one of pure agony as he saw a pile of dead bodies in the middle of the shed, blades stabbed into them.

For one second, it was revealed to the screen what Subaru identified.

The village children's corpses were mutilated and placed neatly in the shed as if the sick and twisted work of art was a prized ungodly possession to be hidden from the world.

"Uh… Uh… Uh… Gaaaurrrr!"

"Oh my…" Al couldn't but look away with his hand holding the side of his helmet. The grown man was no better at hiding away from the disgusting side than the rest of the adults in the room.

Petra only held on to Frederica, unable to look anymore and invisible to the whole world after what she's seen. The older maid kept her grasp on the little child tighter than ever before, not allowing her to move her head until the scene was over. Petra could feel Frederica violently shaking as if the older woman was holding in all of her sobs and shouts of outrage. The little girl wished she had that kind of discipline.

"BASTARDS! I'MMA KILL THESE FUCKIN' MONSTEEEEEEERS!" Garfiel's beastly roar condemned the theater with a rumble in everyone's heads from how strong the boy's anger was.

Emilia couldn't look at the bodies of the children anymore than for a second so she moved to hug both Subaru and Beatrice without a care if the little girl likes her right now or not.

Beatrice herself accepted Emilia's hug with no objections.

"That is not going to be easy for you to overcome, Natsuki." Crusch mutters in a tired voice. Her expression was worn out as her steeled nerves could only take so much shock before she wore herself out. "How did you move on from this, Subaru?"

"I doubt he will be able to get over this right away… Not to mention his already broken mentality since the castle fight…" Anastasia comments behind her scarf, equally as steeled and invested in Subaru's mental state as Crusch was.

"That fight…it cost this in the end," the knight beside Anastasia growls. He bared his teeth and gave a shaky snarl at the screen, the enclosed fist he slammed still in place on the armrest, trembling.

Anastasia gave her knight silence.

"Not even in Vollachia is this a sight that is acceptable." Priscilla overcomes her fury to speak her mind, her gaze befell the faces of the children as she memorized them one by one. "I swear that these maids won't get to you before I," the baroness growled with hatred rooted to the core of her voice.

Roswaal glanced at her with a mere cold look.

"... You best get in line."

Subaru couldn't handle the sight any longer and did the appropriate thing to do. Dropping on his knees and blurching his stomach's contents.

"No…"

He whispered in anguish.

"No, no, no!"

If I just get a chance, I can make any problem disappear!

His mind cried in anger, but his voice was one of pain and defeat once he sobbed. "This is wrong. This isn't what I wanted…"

Gasping and wheezing, he looked up with tears in his eyes.

"Somebody… Somebody…"

"Please… Make this all disappear." Felix begged with his head in Wilhelm's chest. "I'm sorry for all I said… Please use that power to save them all. Please!"

Felix begged brokenly, no sense to his apologies nor pleas. Wilhelm held the boy down to stabilize him from the panic attack he was having.

"Just breathe." The old man urges while rubbing the boy's back.

"I can't believe he's still going through with this!" Felt glanced at her knight with surprise.

Reinhard glared at the screen with guilt filling his gaze. "I should've come to him a second time. I should've listened to you when you told me to go to him even after my first apology failed!"

Felt kept her lips pursed and shook her head.

He walked inside of the mansion, the screen cutting to show his hunched shoulders from the back as he entered.

Checking every room and hall, he couldn't find anyone. Ketchin, staircase, dining room… No one.

It was until he checked yet another door that things went into a different direction.

Subaru's eyes could only gaze with horror towards what fell at his feet.

"Ram…"

His whisper could barely be heard from the corpse below him. The pink-haired maid was bleeding from the mouth, lifeless.

Before he could dwell any longer over her body, Subaru was already staring at the little girl in Ram's lifeless arms.

"Petra…" Subaru choked on his own spit when he noticed the ginger hair of the little girl.

His scream was more damaging to his throat, not that it wasn't warranted after he was met face to face with the two crushed eye sockets of the bleeding dead village girl.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

"Rem, Rem… Please calm down," the pink-haired girl shook the memory of her own corpse from her mind and kept her sister in a tight hold. "I know Barusu will avenge us, just please–"

"I'll kill this Cult one by one!" Rem screamed into her sister's arm, her rage vibrating through Ram's synchtia.

Frederica could barely give a reaction to her pupil's corpse. She only held tight to the mess that became Petra Lyte with shaken arms.

"No…" He trembled and sobbed, staring in horror at the bodies. "It's not my fault!" He desperately claimed to the world with no evidence.

His eyes verted upwards to the room the two bodies were guarding. As if they were maniquenes that were hiding the bloody trail inside of the lavish room.

"It's not my fault."

"He's blaming himself?" Crusch mumbles as her expression breaks into one of bafflement.

"There ain't no one else fer 'em to blame out here." Anastasia gestures by waving her hand at the screen.

Emilia looked to her boots for comfort as she closed her ears off yet again.

"And yet he keeps walking forward?" Priscilla notes this detail through her fury. She noted down every possible opportunity the boy would have reacted to his present situation with dignity and pride, things she would want him to do rather than have him give his weakness the wheel.

But she now realized that noting down what he should've done may have been the worst way to look at this as possible.

"Why doesn't he just run away? Don't tell me the leash is this strong!" Priscilla's judgemental gaze broke into one of surprise.

Subaru moved through the room, broken furniture and a trail of crimson that he followed. He was able to locate a white flower pin covered in blood, sitting on the floor as if it was a reminder, waiting for him near the end of his path.

"Emi…lia…" He wouldn't seem to have the ability of uttering the owner's name.

The shiver running up his spine forced him to pull his arms around himself. Turning his head, Subaru discovered one of the bookshelves of the room had a passageway behind it and it had been opened prior.

Subaru walked into the freezing interior. The passageway's walls were made out of a luminescent blue rock, making the tunnel a lot prettier than the freezing atmosphere deserves.

He walked through it until he was at the very end of the hidden tunnel, where a metal door stood before him.

His hand slowly moved to touch the handle to the door. He softly placed his fingers upon the lashing steel of the knob.

CHINK! *

"Ow!" Subaru screamed, pulling his arm back and gasping in pain. "Huh?"

He looked down to assess the damage quickly. Only to find his fingers were broken off from his hand and stuck to the icy metal of the door handle.

"Aaah!" He stepped back in horror, his eyes too focused on his loss of limbs to see that he'd been falling on the ground ever since he moved his legs.

CHINK! *

A greater sound of ice breaking was heard through the tunnel. When Subaru looked down, he was met with his foot frozen solid in a sheet of white ice.

And it was broken, detached from his body.

Oddly this time, Subaru didn't feel the pain or show reaction to it. His skin turned a sickening blue color as the ice spread over him. When he slowly looked up, he was met with more hooded cultists that were standing in the same tunnel as him, frozen, immobile and statue-like. Dead.

As the cold intensified, Subaru also froze with an expression of pure terror on his face as he started to break apart.

"You're too late." A deep invasive voice spoke through the narrow hallway.

Subaru gave the door one last pleading expression, before his face was split into shattered pieces.

CHINK! *

Darkness…

Natsuki Subaru died.

"Puck…" Emilia finally couldn't hold her stomach any longer as she realized who's voice that was and just what type of magic her knight had died to.

"His death was freezing solid and breaking apart? Can the wyorld be anymore cruel to him after all that?!" Felix found himself enraged at the unfairness of that death. The horrific implications of what Subaru must've felt as every cell in his body died from hypothermia was too much to keep him from staying silent.

"What the hell is with ya, catboy?" A tired, broken Garfiel sounds his question hoarsely while glancing at Felix. "Were ya not against my Cap'n this whole time? What changed?"

"... I was wrong to think that way… I was so wrong…" Felix shook his head and looked down in shame. "After all that? I'm not sure I deserve to even be in the same room."

Garfiel nods, believing Felix's scenrity.

A faint voice. A blurry image.

"Hey!"

Subaru suddenly opened his eyes and found himself staring face to face with an ever familiar salesman in the marketplace of the capital.

"You listening?" The man spat again this time in begrudging worry for the boy's expression.

"Huh?" was the only answer Subaru could give as he blinked.

"Don't huh me. What's with you? You suddenly spaced out." The apple man couldn't help but look at Subaru up and down.

"Oh…"

The boy looked at his hand all of a sudden, his face was that of a disturbed child.

"Subaru-kun?" A gentle feminem call from his side forced Subaru to quickly turn and meet the speaker.

Bump! *

"Subaru-kun!"

"Hey!"

Both Rem and the salesman cried in equal confusion and worry once Subaru fell to his knees.

Running up toward him, Rem seized the boy up and down trying to understand what was going on with him. "What's wrong? Do you feel ill?"

He only stared back at her with a dumbfounded look. Rem looked uneasy at this.

"Subaru-kun?"

Rem couldn't understand what was happening to her friend so she stepped closer, trying to get a good look at him because his expression gave nothing off that she could understand.

She was taken aback when the arms that were dropped like noodles to the street floor suddenly wrapped around her waist and pulled her body to press upon Subaru's kneeling form.

"W-Wait, Subaru-kun… What's wrong?!" Rem blushed deeply while holding the basket of apples above her head so as to not drop it.

"Not in front of my shop." The salesman seemed exasperated at the pair.

"Calm down…" Rem told the apple man with a quick glance, but then she returned her gaze to the giggling boy below her, hugging her waist and completely creeping out passerbys.

"Subaru-kun?"

His widened pupils only showed her broken tears, offsetting the laughter he's emitting.

Everyone gave varied reactions to the way Subaru was sent back yet again to a different check point within his life.

"It was the salesman guy again?! Are you kidding me?!" Mimi shouts in anger and disbelief.

"It's safe to say we should keep this guy from meeting with the Boss man over there." Tivey nods his head in depression.

"... What's going to happen to him now?" Crusch found herself muttering without control, feeling confused.

"This is a jarring experience… It's too much of a change to be placed right there after such tragedies happen to you." Anastasia ruffles with her scarf in discontent and interest.

"Yes." Otto said in equal disbelief. "How will Natsuki-san just ignore all of that? Like he did when he was killed at the mansion?"

"I don't think so." Reinhard replies to the Emilia camp's Minister of Interior. "Subaru is no longer stable enough. His whole world view about this being a game has changed."

"He's seen other people die. People he couldn't save this time." Felt whispers hoarsely. Understanding her knight immediately.

"He might even be dealing with the consequences of his fight with Emilia-sama still." Otto adds with a daunting expression of horror.

"It seems the pig has come full circle and will need to be pushed out of his own mentally defunct way of life." Priscilla nods her head in understanding, finally seeing what she needed from Reinhard and Otto's conversation.

"It isn't the leash the worthless half-wit has around his neck, it's been his rotten need for validation and attachment. A much more understandable deficiency in a man who's lived an easy life alone."

"You sound like ya wanna knock him down from such a faulty way of thinking, princess."

Priscilla gave Al nothing but a hiss as he returned to sit right next to her.

"Did the maid finally allow you to come to me? I hope her dressing shoes were thoroughly kissed by your animal lips." She snides, glaring away from him.

"Awe come on! Don't be so mean. I just wanted to make some friends." Al got comfortable beside his master. "Besides, you know I have no one to lead me but you."

"Hmph. That's what worthless dogs bark when they whore themselves out." Priscilla comments snarkily, not the least bit affected by the man's words.

Al shrugs and looks on as Roswaal takes his place in the second row, beside Ram and Rem.

"That man is hella fucking creepy… But he has a heart at least." Al watches keenly as Roswaal wraps both maid sisters in a tight hug.

"It ain't everyday you see a lord comforting his servants."

Scene change.

Rem, Felix, and Crusch were standing over a catatonic Subaru inside of the mansion's room. His expression was that of a broken man, his pupils shaking widely and an incoherent string of words coming out of his mouth.

"I'm pretty sure there's nyothing we can do. His wounds are one thing, but there's nyo helping his mental state." Felix spoke in a tone of both confusion and frustration as he looked at Subaru with disgust.

"Do you know how this happened?" Crusch's question didn't deter the Duchess from moving her eyes off the insane nasty-eyed youth sitting on her guestroom's bed.

"No. I've checked every inch of him, but…" Felix's voice hushed down, unable to meet his lady's gaze.

"What are the odds of it being a curse?" Rem pointedly asks.

"There's nyo indication of any interference using mana." Felix shakes his head.

Crusch looked troubled at this. She turns to the maid and speaks in a gentle tone. "If Ferris is unable to help, no one in this household can heal him. I'm sorry."

"Oh, no. I can't thank you enough for your generous concern." Rem gave the shamed Duchess a smile and bowed deeply to the royal lady.

But her expression displayed a heavy kind of worry, almost fear.

He's right. There's no mana interference.

But…

The Witch's miasma…

Rem's face contorted a hateful kind of glare upon Subaru's form. She could almost see the black outline of the foul stench surrounding him.

"What's going to happen now…" Emilia sniffles, thankful for the Warden's abilities to make her vomit disappear with the smell from the carpets. "Do you know what you will do here, Rem?"

"You already know that this isn't a true loop, Emilia-sama?" Rem asks hoarsely, perking up from the one armed hug Roswaal had on her.

Emilia nods with a firm glare. "Subaru wasn't like that when he came to us. And I think everyone in the room remembers what he did to save Petra-chan's village."

Frederica nods her head and rubs the shivering village girl's shoulder for comfort. "That's right, Subaru-sama saved them all in the end."

"Barusu will probably be taken back to the mansion by Rem." Ram answers coldly, unable to remove herself from her master's silent plea for forgiveness.

"I'd presume this is where Subaru-kun finally gets a new target for his obsession other than Emilia-samaaaaa." Roswaal said with a voice dead from all emotion or enthusiasm.

"What do ya mean by that?" Felt glanced at the clown with a raised brow.

"... Just watch." Roswaal shakes his head and remains thin-lipped.

Scene changes to the outside of the Karsten mansion, where Rem and a tired Subaru remained heads down. Bowing towards the Duchess and the healer seeing them off at the gates.

"Thank you for everything. I thank you in my master's stead for your kindness during our stay." Rem gratefully thanked Crusch.

"Give Emilia this message, as well. 'Let us compete in a manner that will bring neither of us shame." The green-haired matriarch gave the maid a similar bow of respect.

Rem nods her head and moves her gaze on to the healer beside the Duchess.

"Hey… I get why you're going back to the mansion, but can anyone there heal him?" Felix asks reluctantly.

"He utters our names just occasionally. My name, my sister's name… and Emilia-sama's if he sees her, maybe his condition will change." Rem looks at the boy standing beside her.

Subaru remained motionless and haunted beside Rem. Not at all able to register what was spoken about him or around him. Just an empty stare towards nothing and everything.

"He's in really bad shape." Ricardo comments, looking with sympathy at the boy.

"I think he's become damaged in the head after that? Maybe the ice turned a part of his brain dead or something and his ability wasn't able t' shake it off?" Tivey ignored his sister hitting him once more as he theorized.

"Big Brother was already well enough to kick all of them bad fellas in the butt! Stop trying to make him look stupid!"

"I'm not trying to do that, Mimi! I'm trying to be a good tactician!"

"There is no need for tactics here!" Mimi yells while hitting him with her wand.

"Settle down the two of ya!" Anastasia orders from the front row, freezing the two kids.

"Yes, ma'am." "Sorry, ma'am!"

Crusch looked uncomfortable for a second. "I realize this is tasteless, but I must ask. How can you give so much of yourself for Natsuki Subaru? Your relationship with him is not that of master and servant, like Ferris and mine. But I hesitate to conclude that your behavior and the glances you cast are those a woman gives a man."

Meeting the royal's honest words with a brave look, Rem showed her passion with one look. Making Crusch backtrack her statement.

"I am sorry. Forget I said-"

"No, it's not that. It's just… How can I put it? Well… I suppose it's because Subaru-kun is special." Rem gave a confident grin, taking Crusch and Felix aback.

"Um… Forgive me. I was stunned speechless for a moment. Natsuki Subaru is a lucky man." The Duchess smiled warmly at the maid.

"That's for sure. If he ever recovers, I'll have to tease him to the max!" Felix wiggled his fingers mischievously.

Rem chuckled a bit.

"Be well."

"Good luck!"

Rem bowed and took Subaru's hand to lead him to the carriage.

"I hate this…" Emilia whispers, earning the attention of every girl around her in the first and second rows. "I should've been there with him. He wouldn't have ended up like that and neither would Rem and Crusch end up in such a conversation if I was there."

"What's so bad about their convo though?" Anastasia says in her normal western way, ruffling her scarf while eyeing Emilia curiously.

"Nothing… Just that I hated how Rem's feelings were doubted." Emilia shakes her head and looks at her boots again.

"Ah," Crusch gives Emilia a look of understanding, "Do excuse my wording in that loop. I think I may have asked Rem the question in my timeline as well."

"Really?" Emilia asks only to be interrupted by Anastasia who asks, "When?!" with a look of interest.

"Before we both lost our memories to gluttony, though Crusch-sama's case was less severe than mine, fortunately." Rem answers this, finally stepping out of Roswaal's arms and shifting closer to wrap her arms around Subaru's sleeping shoulders.

"... And the reply was the same?" Emilia prodded with surprise.

Crusch and Rem smile toward one another and nod their heads. "Something like that, yes."

"So… Why would you question Rem's feelings in the first place then?" Emilia's eyes shift downward once more, unable to look the Duchess in the eye because of such an embarrassing question.

"Ah, that's because I suffer from the same problem as you do, Emilia-sama." Crusch tells with a sad smile.

"Hmm?"

"I cannot tell what love is when it's in front of me."

"..."

Emilia stared at Crusch with the look of a bewildered child while the noblewoman held a smirk of sheepishness uncharacteristic of Crusch Karsten.

"Hopefully you'll find someone, Crusch-sama." Rem speaks through the cracks of her throat to be compassionate with the iron lady that opened her heart to them.

"Thank you. I would rather love to have this by my side as I reach my goal." No one but Beatrice noticed the extra squeeze Crusch's gloved fingers were giving Subaru's hand.

After a long trip on the road, Rem had stopped the dragon carriage to camp out the night. She gazed upon the fire in thought. Her hand gently rubbed the dragon's scales as it slept directly beside her.

"I know I mustn't let my personal feelings interfere, but… I felt a little bit happy to have you to myself at Crusch-sama's house. I can't do that at the mansion. Even though I knew something was troubling you… I'm sorry. Even though I heard that you had quarreled with Emilia-sama… I'm sorry." The maid was rambling in a soft voice. Her smile was warm and her gaze was deepened on the smoldering flame. She was lost in her own world.

"I know you'll be alright, Subaru-kun. Because you're always… Demonically inspired. And you're a remarkable person." The maid's heartfelt passion and belief was not heard by the boy sleeping across the carriage seats.

Rem put her head down, hiding her blush from everyone at such a personal moment being exposed when she herself didn't remember having it. "Seriously… this ability of yours is cruel, Subaru," the girl squeals in embarrassment.

"You really have your heart out," chuckled Ricardo along with Al.

"I suppose my sister's taste could be better." Ram jests lightly, enjoying the warmth from her master's arms. She did retract her statement after a thorough glare from Beatrice though.

Scene changes to the morning sun shining over the now moving carriage.

Rem was leading the dragon through the endless line of dirt roads with a thick forest on each side.

The maid's expression showed a frown of contempt for a moment. "It's too quiet."

She glances around suspiciously, scanning every bush and tree around her.

"Oh no!" Frederica exclaims in horror. "Rem stopped the same way Subaru-sama…"

"'It's too quiet'..." Otto widens his eyes as he realizes what Frederica was talking about. "Natsuki-san uttered that same phrase on the road when–"

"Witch Cultists!" Rem growls menacingly while holding tightly to Subaru's chest from behind.

Until suddenly, the Oni girl's breathing was hitched as a force of some kind slammed into her.

Rem gasps in pain and shock, clutching her chest and panicking in her head.

That was sister! I have to get back quickly!

Before she could command the lizard beast in front of her to move faster, the beautiful green dragon was beheaded. The mighty head of the beast flew in the air for longer than its body had taken to fall to the dirt road. Having the corpse of the beast fall and become still in front of the steel moving wheels of the oncoming carriage forced an event of motion to take place.

The entire cart tumbled and did a roundabout over the decapitated beast.

Subaru was shown falling out of the cart and rolling a few times on the dirt trail before laying motionless.

Slowly, he regained his strength, Subaru raised his head to look up… Only to find hooded men standing around him with unsheathed blades in their hands.

"NO!" Felt shouts in horror as the pacing picked up and Subaru was placed yet again under danger.

Emilia the others held the same shocked looks grated with suspense.

One of the hooded men stepped closer to Subaru and attempted to touch him.

Subaru's broken state forced him to look on with a haunted look and emit forced gasps of pain instead of doing anything else that may help him in this situation.

"Come on!" Rem urged and pleaded her other self would do something. "Please help him!"

"She knows it's useless to hope for that, right? I mean it's all but confirmed this is a failed life and he's gonna die–"

"I said shut up, Tivey!" The boy rolled out of his chair as his sister rightfully tried to attack him again.

But as the man's gloved hand came closer to connect with his forehead, a flying ball with spikes crashed into the member's head, cutting it clean off.

The mace was pulled back by the chain and flew into the waiting hand of an outraged looking Rem, glaring hatefully at the cultists as she towered over them from atop the broken carriage.

"Don't touch Subaru-kun!" She growled as her horn glowed atop her forehead.

"That's what an awesome hero looks like!" Garfiel cheers brightfully for the first time in a while, happy that Rem was there to help Subaru.

Beatrice gives the maid on the screen a grateful look but still held worry in her heart for how her contractor will end up dying.

"Please let Rem be able to get him to me." Emilia didn't know why she wished this, but she knew that having him die without seeing her again would be soul crushing to Subaru.

In an instant… the members sent three sharp blades flying straight towards her face. Rem was quick enough to kick a broken wheel with the tip of her ballerina shoe making it flip mid-air, blocking nearly all of the blades by it.

Before gravity could be remembered, Rem spun around and sent the paused wheel flying into a cultist's face with a strong kick. The other members didn't have time to process before Rem's mace butchered another in the next instant.

One tried to jump away from the fight but Rem jumped right on top of him and crash landed her shoe heel into his head.

As she stepped away from him, another cultist managed to stab her shoulder with a blade from the back.

"... Ghk!"

Rem wheezed as her arm began bleeding. "Witch cultists!"

A member shot a fire ball straight towards her. "Huma!" Rem extended her hand and formed a shield of water in front of her. The flames still managed to reach and ashen the skin on her arm, but Rem was still standing.

She glared once a member began running away from the battle field… Carrying Subaru.

"Subaru-kun!"

Rem moved to save the boy as the figure ran off with him, but many cultists blocked her path.

"You bastards… You stole my sister's horn and stole my reason to live, but that wasn't enough? Now you have come here and steal my reason to die, too?!"

Rem's screams overturned the sounds of bodies and blood splatter her mace was causing as she tore through the group of cultist men.

Many of them prepped their blades and fire magic to start their battle with the enraged Oni.

The window cuts to black.

"You are amazing Rem-sama." Otto bows his head to the maid in respect. Crusch and Wilhelm give nods of respect to the girl's battle prowess yet held apprehensive glares towards the screen as to what will happen to Subaru.

"What will happen to Barusu now?" Ram seethes in her master's arms. Remembering every single injury her sister had acquired by the cultists and swearing to eradicate them tenfold.

"They are taking Natsuki to their scum leader." Julius spits in a way that was neither gentle nor mannerly. Yet the knight's look of disgust and anger never ceased.

"They are taking him to Sloth… Beatrice." Roswaal's voice was deep and cold at the same time, Ram knew he was hiding a lot of emotions behind it just by those two aspects.

The drill-haired girl froze in place, her head shot up to glue her eyes on the screen.

Darkness…

Subaru's eyes couldn't see anything but a deep void. He blinked in a turtle-like manner.

When his vision cleared, the window opened on the sight Subaru had been met with upon opening his eyes again.

A face cloaked in shadow with wide dilated eyes and pupils shrunk to the point of being a display for insanity. The green lips appeared sour and dry to an absolute gross degree.

But the full expression was still shadowed. The horror behind this face that was leaning so close to Subaru's own was not fully realized because of the darkness of the cave.

"What is that?!" Al's shout of disgust summarized everyone in the theater's reaction to the man's face.

"That's the Archbishop of Sloth," Anastasia's knight answers with a tone deep with hatred, remembering the monster's face well.

Felix and Reinhard glanced from Julius to the screen with shock coloring their faces as they knew Julius would know better than anyone how that terrorist looks like.

"That's the leader of those cultists?" Ram spits on the carpet as her furious gaze fell on the disgusting abomination of a man.

Meanwhile, her master's hands began to tremble in a manner that forced Ram to look up at Roswaal.

"..."

"I see… this is certainly interesting." Subaru stared back at the insane looking person before him with no expression visible.

"You wouldn't happen to be pride, would you?" The tone this creature before him took was beyond greasy. It was a discordant voice which failed to resemble a calm soothing one.

The imagery of the man's form under the shadows was not doing him any favors to appear approachable. Subaru didn't know if the man was aiming to be.

That idea was further pressed into Subaru when the corpse-like hand of the green man slowly raised upwards to his mouth. Subaru watched a finger on that hand get bitten. The man was biting on his own hand so hard it had streams of crimson on it.

Only after a few more moments did Subaru realize that the weird abomination of a person went ublinking for the entire time since they met. Never blinking, never removing his finger from the grip of his teeth, the man's eyes stayed still looking into Subaru's on from his distance in the darkened cavern.

"What does he mean by 'pride'?" Anastasia asked the most knowledgeable person in the room, but Beatrice remained frozen in both expression and movement.

"I'm guessing he'd be meaning the Archbishop of Pride, Hoshin-sama." Wilhelm answers diligently, making some eyes go wide.

Priscilla didn't notice that her own knight went rigid for a moment as she spoke to the crowd below.

"That is an irrelevant point to waste our time dwelling upon!" Priscilla snarks from above, urging them to let the screen continue showing what needs to be shown.

"Is it? Because from what we've seen, Natsuki-kun is stuck in a world that isn't his own, with a power that isn't in his control." Anastasia challenges Priscilla hotly.

"The Witch's power." Crusch bravely points out, sending some shudders down the backs of those who believed in the fairy tale.

"You mustn't mean that Barusu has the chance to become an Archbishop, do you?" Ram questions the two candidates in the front row with a glare.

Anastasia and Crusch look away from the maid.

"It could be possible…" Tivey comments unhelpfully from the back.

"I say we continue watching before one of us ends up blowing this out of proportion." Otto advised as soon as he noticed Priscilla's fire magic swirling around her again.

"Oi, Warden guy! Stop the magic in this room will ya?!" Garfiel screamed to the screen but all he received was silence.

But Priscilla's magic was extinguished suddenly. Much to the Baroness' displeasure.

"I guess you're not going to answer me!"

Subaru's eyes were wide on the man. No response was given.

The dark entity moved away from Subaru and held his hands behind his straightened back. "Ah, right! I haven't introduced myself yet." The walking depiction of a demented horror proclaimed pleasantly as if he was brought on with good manners in mind.

He trotted towards the group of kneeling robed men and women, stopping just in front of the group and turning towards Subaru.

Only once the image was realized far away from him, Subaru realized what was in front of him.

A cult. And the leader was standing before him, eyes burning with the glee and cruelty it takes one to become a monster who burns children alive before their parents.

With his dilated haunting pupils shining red inside of the cave, the monster bowed his head theatrically to the chained nasty-eyed prisoner.

"I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Sloth,"

His head rose to show the face of the walking corpse, no shadow or darkness covered him as he strode towards Subaru.

"Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti! TES!"

"Disgusting!" No one else could've said it better than Petra. The girl surprised everyone by spitting on the floor at the mention of his name and glaring with no small amount of hate towards the screen's frozen image of the madman. "You monster! I HOPE SUBARU KILLS YOU AND NEVER LOOKS BACK!" Petra screamed in outrage, no longer sobbing. Just broken.

"Even if her innocence died. I find myself impressed with the little one's strength." Priscilla comments offhandedly with a nod of approval aimed at the little one.

"Guese..." Beatrice choked out a sob, holding both palms to her mouth to keep her from screaming in anguish.

"Don't worry, Beatrice-sama." Crusch comforted the little girl. "Natsuki Subaru will surely not fail to this monster."

The spirit shook her head away from the Duchess' comforting pat. She opened her eyes wearily to stare at the frozen image of someone she valued dearly. "Guese… How did it turn out like this, I suppose?"

"Roswaal-sama?" Ram called out to the trembling man with a look of urgency. "What is wrong?"

The lord did not give his worried maid an eccentric answer or a sarcastic response, only reserving to shake his head and cover his face with a shaking hand. "I don't want you to look at me right now, Ram. Please."

The maid immediately backed off so she could let her master be. For some reason she could sense a near murderous intent floating around him right as he saw the look of the Archbishop.

"This is odd…" Ram mumbles, looking from her master to the screen with curiosity.

"Emilia-sama, why are you crying?" A voice asked from the half-elf's side. Otto was whispering to her with a worried glance.

The silver-haired girl slowly turned to face the merchant. Otto wanted to leap back as soon as those haunting dark amethysts stared him down.

"I'm… worried for Subaru, Otto-kun." Emilia speaks emotionlessly, coldly, as if the world she knew had changed in a way she would never be able to cope with.

"... Are you sure?" Otto asks, feeling like something more might have been happening with the girl.

"Yes. I'm sure. Please leave me be." Emilia speaks melancholy as if she wasn't even focused on him at all.

The merchant was patted on the shoulder by Garfiel who looked at Emilia with a glance of sympathy and encouragement.

"Don' worry Princess! Cap'n will finally get back his manliness and beat this fuckin' heartless pathetic monster!" The tiger proclaimed bombastically.

Emilia's head moved in small nods but she stayed silent. Garfiel nodded his head with pride, satisfied by the girl's reaction.

Otto's gaze lingered on Emilia for a bit longer as he felt the frozen half-elf was still hiding something. But he realized it wasn't any of his business so he let it go and looked at the screen as it began playing again.

Before the next scene played, Emilia's lips moved to whisper.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you… Father Guese."

The horror enained, his eyes wide, pupils becoming dots on a white background, flesh rotten and green, a smile so wide and so manic it disturbed the viewer with how unhuman it seemed.

The man had insanity screaming from every fiber of his existence.

Subaru was shown with the utmost shocked expression.

Betelguese smiled wide as the boy before him began moaning and whimpering towards nothing and no one. The entity enjoyed Subaru's empty stare that he aimed towards nothing in particular inside of this creepy cave.

"Ah, how comical… What a very, very, very, very, very entertaining sight! Truly, truly, truly! My brain trembles…"

Betelguese's words weren't the crux of his sadistic glee in the boy's pretend insanity. It was the man's manic poses that failed to provide a hint of natural flare and years of pretend posing for no particular reason whatsoever. This man had repeated dances over a child's pain for what could possibly be a hundredth time.

It was a disturbing flare he brought. Not at all classy or royal as his poses wished him to be.

He stopped the dramatics for a moment, no longer posing in front of the weeping Subaru. He stood straight all of the sudden, with a straight back and hands folded behind him.

"Now, what has brought him here?"

To answer the Archbishop, a member moved closer from behind the bowing lines.

Listening to the member's close whisper, Betelgues' expression went curious.

"Dragon… Carriage."

The horrific depiction of humanity suddenly stepped back with his body shaking in an intensity not understood. "A dragon-drawn carriage! Ah, aren't ground dragons great? They obey diligently, work diligently, and play their roles as species diligently! They're just fantastic!"

Before the riled up Archbishop could go more into his passionate excited rant, the member beside him moved closer to his ear once more.

"Killed?" Betelgues was found whispering in a startled tone.

"Of course!" As if changing course on a passionate rant like that was par for the course, the man nodded his head and folded his arms back behind him, "Of course! Your diligence brought the ground dragon, diligence itself, to the ground! Ah, my brain trembles, trembles, trembles!"

Betelguese pulled on his green bowl-shaped hair with no reason to not scream in massive amounts of pain.

And the screams of the bishop stopped as soon as they came. It was as if he was playing a charadse with himself and his peers, waiting to show another act of his mind circus with every mood swing at a moment's notice.

"But a dead ground dragon is the very definition of sloth. Clean the place instantly. With the day of the Ordeal upon us, we mustn't allow our existence to be discovered."

"That's the attempt to summon back the Witch by using Emilia's body as a vessel, correct?" Emilia looked towards Crusch with horror coloring her face as reaction to the new information.

"Ya never knew?" Anastasia questions the half-elf with surprise. "That's why the Sloth faction was there. It was Natsuki-kun's explanation to me and Crusch-san."

"No…" Emilia said in a trembling voice. "I didn't know that."

"I assume I was correct then?" Crusch receives nods from Anastasia and Julius.

"Disgusting scum." Ram spat in anger as she was reminded of the village massacres once again.

The leader gave out the order and turned his entire body in the manner of a horrific corpse that was expected of him by now. He trotted towards the unmoving hooded cultist and leaned towards their mouth.

"And what of his friend?" Betelguese asks, an expression of expectation on his face as he leans in.

"Unknown…"

The Archbishop nodded his head slowly.

"It is unknown if the girl is alive or dead?" He turned to the cultist with a natural expressionless look, "Unknow if she's alive or dead, eh?"

He slowly leaned closer to the member's face to whisper in a darkened tone that didn't resemble his calm expression.

"You are truly slothful."

The cultist was instantly pummeled into the cave's ground, shattering the rocks beneath him and splattering their blood everywhere. Betelguese's hand moved away from the member so he could place it on his head and scream like a lunatic.

"With the Ordeal before us, you let a potential problem remain!"

He punched and slammed the hooded person for the cultist until the blood seeped all around the floor.

"Ah, this is sloth… Sloth, sloth, sloth, sloth!"

"Stop using his voice, I suppose." Beatrice mutters to herself, unable to take the cruelty from someone that looked and sounded like her old friend.

"He just kills his own men like that?" Mimi questions from the back, disturbed to no end.

"What do you expect, nayn? This man is the same ugly persyon that possess his followers like puppets." Felix reminds the girl of what Subaru explained during their preparation before the expedition for Sloth was completed.

"No loyalty." Julius waves a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Don't get agitated now," the redhead mutters to his friend. "We both couldn't save Subaru."

Julius ends up going silent.

Betelguese dropped to his knees and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Please forgive us the sloth that has led us to betray your goodwill! Love! We must repay love with love!"

Tears began flowing down his morbid eyes. The madman looked upwards towards nothing but the cave's rocks while in his kneeling position. The cultists and ranks of followers kneeling behind him looked toward each other.

"Bring the girl here. If she lives, kill her. If not, bring me her head! Love! We must repay love with love!" The Archbishop ordered his followers, still in the same kneeling posture.

All of the members behind the madman disappeared in an instant, minus the bleeding corpse on the floor. They phased out of existence by sinking into the floor and walls of the cavern.

"He must be talking about my sister!" Ram shouts with rage.

"I must protect him!" Rem says as her eyes light up with hope and anger towards the man on the screen.

"Will Rem make it to Natsuki-san? These catacombs are very complex," the merchant nervously asked anyone who would answer him only to receive a look from the tiger beside him.

"Eh? How do ya know about the cave Cap'n's stuck in right now?" Garfiel questions in confusion.

Otto rubs the back of his neck with a sheepish tired smile, "I kind of got captured by the cult and brought there as a hostage until Ricardo-san saved me."

Garfiel's mouth goes thin-lipped and his eyes show a hint of respect and admiration.

"What's with the look?!" Otto asks, thoroughly off put by the strange emotion in Garfiel's gaze.

"Nothin'. Ye're a cool guy, Otto-bro."

"Thanks?" Otto shakes his head and watches again but with an uneasy smile.

The deranged madman settled his dead eyed gaze on the boy shackled to the wall.

"Now…" Betelgues slowly turned to Subaru with a smile as wide as his gross cheeks could allow. "Now, now, now, now…"

A green hand gripped Subaru's locks and pulled him up so he could face the madman's gaze.

"You will look into my eyes."

Subaru's reply didn't come. His stare aimed towards nothing. He didn't even acknowledge the frightening corpse-like human holding his hair up.

"Answer me. Answer me carefully. Why does such dense love hang so abundantly upon your person?" The Archbishop's question was spoken in an uncharacteristically light tone, as if he was more curious than over excited like he used to speak.

Before another minute passed, Subaru was faced with another green arm holding a black book, taken from the madman's pocket.

"Do you not own a copy of the Gospel?" He asks the boy before him, some form of excitement present in the man's tone.

Subaru's answer was a complete blank stare that delivered not an ounce of attention to the man holding the book.

"It saddens me to be ignored! I'm treating you so kindly, and yet, and yet, and yet, and yet, and yet, yet, yet, yet, yet!" The archbishop let go of Subaru and screamed in frustration.

He then changed his pose and leaned closer to the boy. "In that case, I will change the order of my questions."

Subaru found his chin being raised by Betelguese's disgusting finger, his dead pupils met with the man's own.

Another empty stare faced with one of anticipation and morbid never ending glee.

"Let me ask this… " Before Betegues could continue, he found it right to pause and place a trail of slobber all over Subaru's right cheek and even on his eyeball with his tongue.

"Ewe!" Petra looks away while some flinch in disgust at the scene.

"This is some kind of torture?" Felt questions with her tongue out.

"No." Reinhard shakes his head for his lady.

"The terrorist wants Natsuki Subaru's cooperation, sincerely." Crusch answers what the Sword Saint was about to say, her ambers piercing the screen as if it was leaking information she must not lose a drop of.

"This entire thing is beyond interestin'." Anastasia muses with her own look of interest to the interaction between the man and the boy.

"Stop bringing love into it…" Emilia whispers to herself, voice beyond inaudible so no one could hear her heart breaking. "Stop it… Stop tainting Guese's love and loyalty like this!"

Subaru never blinked, stuck on that empty stare focused on nothing.

"Why do you…" Betelguese questioned without a moment's hesitation for what he'd just done, "Why do you pretend that your mind has broken?"

"Oh?" Priscilla's wrathful snarl dropped to a gaze of shock immediately. "Does he read the boy's actions so easily? Interesting. Mineself was sure an abomination such as this wouldn't be able to tell its tail from the tongue."

"Pretend?" Rem whispers, unable to understand.

"Not pretend." Anastasia shakes her head.

"More likely, unable to see any other way to react to his situation…" Crusch adds to the merchant queen's statement.

"So he was just sitting there to gain sympathy and pity?" Tivey questions curiously feeling a bit disappointed.

Until a small juice box was sent flying into his stomach by one furious Petra.

"Damn, nice throw!" Mimi gave the maid a thumbs up as her brother rubbed his stomach with annoyance, painting his face.

"Didn't hurt as much as your wand."

"I firmly believe that Betty's contractor isn't acting," Beatrice speaks in a low, almost dead voice.

"Cap'n just needs t' find a way back up! He won't stay pathetic for that much longer!" Garfiel proclaimed with a raised fist and a hungry growl.

Silence reigned across the cavern. Nothing could be heard from either the madman or the broken youth before him.

Subaru's eyes did give an answer however. They changed emotion on a scale that pleased the Archbishop who was vying for the boys' attention since the start.

"No, no, no, no. I truly have my doubts. Why, for what reason, for what purpose, do you act crazed?"

The boy began to whimper softly. It was a crazed possibility. He was a deer caught in headlights.

Betelguese continued his deconstruction, "Your insanity is far too sane. To behave so cleverly and quietly as if seeking sympathy… It is an insult to true madness."

The madman's confusion replaced his genuine glee at Subaru's desperate whimpering.

"You are a poorly acted madman. If you really meant it, you would pay no heed to the gazes of others."

Slowly trembling, Subaru's mouth erupted into jarred hollows of despair while clutching his head by his shackled hands. He rocked back and forth, uncaring for the Archbishop's grandstanding pose as Subaru's insanity was called into question.

"Ahhh… Ahhh… Ahhhhh…. Aahhhhhh!"

"Ah, how comical! How comical!" The revolting man laughs while Subaru's terrified shrieks fill the air.

"Ahhh! Ahhhh!"

Before he could cry even more, Subaru found himself unable to rock his head into his knees anymore as he was hoisted up by the collar of his shirt to face Betelguese.

"I pity you! I pity your wretched, ugly, lowly, diminutive, sinful being, from the bottom of my heart! Despite all that, you are so loved!" The bowl-haired monster screamed towards the cave's ceiling while holding Subaru in the air.

In a moment of what seemed as frustration from the Bishop, Subaru's head was slammed into the cave's wall. His chains jiggled loudly across the dark space.

"You'd rather waste away in stagnation than repay the goodwill shown to you?" The man questioned Subaru, moving away from the catatonic nasty-eyed being.

Subaru's head splats against the ground as his body falls from its position.

"You are truly slothful."

The atrocious horror of human misery stared Subaru in the eye, receiving nothing but a blank stare back. Subaru's wide eyes resembled those of the madman currently holding him by the hair; dots on a white background.

Even when his forehead bled a trail of dark crimson down his eye, Subaru gave no inclination to protect his eye by closing it, tainting the white background red.

"Stop it…" Emilia couldn't take it any longer and started muttering with her hands on her mouth. "Please stop it, Guese… Please don't do this to Subaru. He's a good boy… Please…"

"Guese…" Unable to hear Emilia's mumbles accurately, Beatrice focused herself on begging inside of her head for something she knew would never happen. "How many years did you spend in this state? How long were you suffering in there before Subaru came along, I suppose?"

"How could you say that?" Roswaal all but growls from behind his palm. "Madness is a thing you shouldn't be acquainted with, Guese."

"Please… Come on Rem-senpai." Petra begged just like the rest, mortified at the torture Subaru was going through.

"Petra, I don't think you should be watching anymor–" Frederica was dutifully interrupted by the furious red-eyed village girl.

"It's too late now! I made my choice and I'll stay here to watch this monster get slaughtered for what he's done to my family!" Petra's firm statement blew the older maid's response out of her mouth as she stood their slack-jawed.

"Please…" Rem begs, uncaring to all that was happening around her. "Please let me save him!"

"Oh?" The bowl-headed man muttered in surprise, turning around towards the depth of the cavern.

A loud cracking noise could be heard echoing across the cave.

CLANK! *

More echoes of a loud destructive force entering the cavern could be heard.

Before he could react, the horrific entity was faced with the body of a follower he'd just sent out.

Many members rose out of the earth to protect and huddle around the Archbishop who was simply confused more than alarmed.

"I found you!" A low growl of rage seethed across the cavern as Rem entered with stamping feet. Her horn glowed the darkness away, and showed the green face of the ugly man in full view to her disgust.

"Subaru-kun!" She glanced in worry at the silenced boy.

"She reached him!" Otto held a bright smile of awe as Garfiel, the twins and a tear-stained Petra hollered 'YES's at the same time.

"The atmosphere is turning brighter now." Anastasia rubs her scarf while looking weary.

"I hope she can at least make it less painful for him," the Duchess beside the merchant queen spoke unsympathetically.

"He's going to die… By this monster's hands…" Emilia surprised both candidates as she interjects over everyone's cheers, killing the mood.

"Sister…" Ram whispered with panic settling in.

"HAHAHAHA! How fantastic this is! A girl, a lone girl, is so badly injured, yet she presses on!" Rem's glare was cutting as she stared the lunatic Archbishop down.

"Enough of your nonsense, witch cultist! You are fools to carry out your insubordinate acts in Roswaal-sama's domain without his permission. In my absent master's stead, I, Rem, will bring the death penalty upon you!" Rem proclaimed in pride and confidence, not showing a slight hint of pain or hesitation.

Said master was currently busy not breaking apart in his place as the grip his palm had over his face began tightening to the degree his makeup began smudging. "Teacher's gospel would've guided me to a better path for all of them anyways. She wouldn't let something like this stand. Not to Guese…" He knew he was lying to himself. He knew that his damn book never intended to keep anyone's happiness except his master's.

Roswaal's guilt grew ten-fold at this moment just because he watched the sight of someone he respected as a friend mock and torture his dearest camp members.

"In your battered state? You only came here to retrieve this boy. You should stop saying things that only sound attractive." Betelguese taunted the maid as he toyed with Subaru's bleeding face.

"Don't touch him." Rem growled.

"Eh? What was that?" Betelguese yelled while holding a hand on his ear from across the cave.

"Don't you touch him!" Rem's scream was accompanied with a flying mace that traveled across the cavern and echo to hit the cultists around her.

Swiftly, the maid began working on slaughtering every member of the cult surrounding Subaru.

"That shout was great!" Betelguese was reserved to watching the show of his followers getting massacred with an uncaring grin. "Why does a believer in love such as yourself adhere to someone like him?" He points at the downed broken boy.

"You know nothing about Subaru-kun! El huma!" Rem shouted and tore through the members from left to right, even sending the blood in her veins to use as weapons with her water magic.

"Disgusting." Crusch spat out, unable to take the fact that this disgusting man asked Rem the same kind of question she did in this loop, only he did it to break the maid, not understand her.

The bowl-haired monster seemingly trembled in pleasure while watching the maid fight, "Fantastic! That was fantastic!" he went as far as to bite his own flesh off of his green finger from the excitement.

Rem was shown letting out a scream as she was stabbed in the shoulder by a cultist's blade.

Subaru's bloody pupil opened slowly upon the scream. His gaze turned upwards, towards the battle of the raging Oni and the monsters around her.

The injured and beaten blue-haired maid.

"Rem…" He whispered softly as he began retaining focus on his mind.

"COME ON, CAP'N!" Garfiel screams bloody, unable to take the weakness Subaru was displaying and wishing he would save her.

"Sister…" Ram held on to Rem's body from behind while the blue-haired girl held on to Subaru's form.

"I'm really useless. Rem is useless." She kept repeating as she watched herself losing blood and falling.

As she fell, the girl smiled towards him with a few words on her lips.

"My brain trembles," the whisper of the Archbishop was the only noise throughout the darkened world as Subaru watched Rem's body fall towards the dirt in slow motion.

But just then, before her body could touch the earth, Rem was held up in the air by an invisible force that caught her limbs.

And in an act of brutal inhumanity, every one of her limbs were bent.

"ARRRRGGHHHHHH!" Garfiel's titan roar forced a rumble throughout the theater as he tore apart his armrest in rage.

"N-No!" Petra's blood-red eyes shed some newly forming tears at the brutal sight, forming new sobs and chokes that the little girl's heart couldn't handle.

"You have done enough, Rem." Reinhard gave her his respect with a nod towards the screen. "You're a hero."

"I failed… I failed…" Rem kept repeating even with Ram trying to sooth her sister's mumbling. The pink-haired maid was barely keeping herself afloat and stable. She barely even looked at the screen as her sister's mutilated corpse was shown on the screen.

Subaru's eyes widened, silenced by the sight and unable to understand what was happening.

Rem became a doll with invisible strings. Held in the air by whatever cruel god who chose to bend and malform her body for all in the cave to see.

Blood ran down her legs.

"Authority of Sloth… Unseen Hand." Betelguese whispered as he pointed at Rem's hanging body with a sickening green finger.

Subaru's body trembled in place. The sight before him finally registering.

"H-He… " Emilia's eyes went as wide as sources as her face morfid to one of complete torment. "Guese… He's doing that to Rem on purpose… To hurt Subaru?!"

Beatrice and Roswaal watched the decaying image of their friend burn in both their minds as the monster in green replaced the kind priest who once gave them light.

"Look. You must look. That is the result of your actions. By doing nothing, you practiced sloth. And because of that, the girl is dead! You killed her! How awful! How awful!" Betelguese mocked and reprimanded Subaru from above. The sickening glee in his voice wasn't unheard.

"You…" Betelguese's voice cracked with great pleasure and inability to contain his happiness, "With my arm, with my fingers… You… You… You… YOU… YOU… YOU… "

The Archbishop gazed his tear filled eyes upon Subaru as he delivered, "YOU… killed her."

"Monster…" Anastasia spat, finally showing an emotion against the creature on screen.

Priscilla and Felt nod together in agreement for the first time in the theater's history. Both equally glaring at the man with hate equal in their ruby colored eyes.

Crusch gave her own reaction by squeezing Subaru's hand tighter. "Come on. Do something, Subaru," she urged him whisperingly, glued to the screen.

"...op it.." Subaru's voice cracked for the first time.

The invisible force that had been holding on to Rem's body for so long began moving again.

Turning and twisting the girl's hands and legs in bone crunching and skin curtailing circles.

"It hurts, it hurts!" Betelguese mocks in fake horror as he controls the hands on Rem's form. The blue-haired corpse couldn't move against the invisible power as Rem's head was forced into an unnatural position that dispelled blood.

"Stop it! Please stop it!" Ram begged while holding Rem tighter.

Rem held onto Subaru with a look of fear on her, unable to resist the temptation to watch herself get mutilated. "This could've been my end?"

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Ram screams in anguish.

"Help me! Help me!" He continues to mock, toying with Rem's body and mutilating her corpse with no regard.

But when he held the body in the air for one final time, showcasing the grim masterpiece of his disrespect of the dead, Betelguese yelled out one final time.

"Subaru-kun!"

Emilia and all those in the theater looked completely crushed at that last phrase.

"The cruelty!" Wilhelm spits on the ground and shows a glare amicable of the Sword Demon's hate towards the Archbishop.

The boy's sanity finally broke apart.

"BEEEEEEEETEEEEELLLGEEEEUUUUUSEEEEEEE!"

Natsuki Subaru's voice held no shortage of hatred and disdain as much as passion and determination.

And it was all pointed towards the madman who wanted attention the most.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

The boy's eyes burned with tears of agony and hatred.

Aimed towards the smiling monster.

Subaru's limbs moved finally, he ran towards the Archbishop, yet the chains on the walls shackled him to one spot. The one spot he couldn't stop falling into.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"Ah, I finally got you to call me by name. I'm deeply touched!" The green monster gave no thought to the body in the air anymore. His attention was pulled to the youth he'd just broken.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Die! Die, damn it!" Subaru raged and screamed like an animal. His rage was clear within his terrifying gaze even through his streaming tears. The cuffs around his wrists began to dig into his flesh until the point where he was bleeding.

Betelguese simply remained orderly, meeting the storm of fury and hate from the boy with expectancy and boredom.

The Archbishop shook his head and looked at the dead bodies that had been left upon Rem's wake.

"This place is quite the mess now, so I'll just leave it! All right, men! You will resume your duties. Rendezvous with other fingers. The Ordeal will proceed on the scheduled day."

As the cultists disappeared, Betelguese looked at the raging Subaru as he screamed and ran through the chains wildly.

"Now, as for your position in all this…"

"Bastard! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"I honestly have no idea what it is, so I shall judge you as our lord sees fit."

"Damn you! Damn you!"

"I'll leave you bound here. Should the Gospel happen to find its way to you, I'm sure you will be saved."

"Damn you!"

Betelguese laughed at the furious look on Subaru's face and walked away from him. He stopped for a moment to acknowledge the violated corpse of the maid.

"Oh. Ah, you are also a believer in love. Yes, you sacrificed yourself for love, defying your own fate. But you fell before your feelings reached him, and your love had nowhere to go."

Rem's body was suddenly dropped at the monster's feet. He regarded it with a smirk of sick pleasure.

"You are truly slothful!" He laughed out loud as the boy screamed in pure unfiltered rage.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"Hahahahahaha!" As the sickening laughter of the corpse-like monster filled the cave, Subaru met him with a primal scream of despair and agony.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Roswaal lowers his hand down, showing his besmirched face to the world as a sign of shame.

Everyone looked on with faces stuck between shock and complete disbelief.

"Anger is his answer then?" Priscilla notes down, her eyes holding the same amount of surprise at Subaru's rage as Emilia, Rem, or even Crusch.

Emilia looked on at his scream with a heartache and pure sympathy, yet her face showed the shock with just how angry her knight was. She bit her lip from the fear.

Crusch held the hand beside her until her gloved fingers felt like they mushed with his soft palm, the Duchess withheld any look of judgment of the boy. "I'm willing to understand your pain… But this should not be who you are, Subaru."

"It's really not a good look on 'em. This isn't one I like at all." Anastasia agrees for Crusch's disappointment and opts to look away from the screen just like her knight had out of respect for Subaru.

"Subaru wouldn't want us to remember him in this state of wrath." Reinhard spoke softly as he covered Felt's shoulder with a sideways hug.

"Of course he wouldn't, don't be stupid." Felt didn't give anyone a chance to see her eyes behind the lowered bangs of hair.

"Petra-chan… You shouldn't look at any of this… You shouldn't have watched any of it." Frederica shook the horror off and glared at her little companion, only to be met with a cold look from the little girl.

"Please don't." Petra speaks dryly, "I won't miss a single second of this. This won't be something that Subaru will deal with on his own. I won't judge or blame him for showing an ugly side! He deserves to show it, he needs to scream like that and more!"

"... That is wrong…" Frederica looked at the little girl like she was staring at a foreigner in the middle of her room.

"... Being wrong seems right. Especially with that monster!" Petra spat and looked away from her mentor. Frederica couldn't do anything but gape at her.

Darkness.

The screen lights up again. Opening in the same dark cave once more. Subaru was shown sitting with his forehead to the floor. He repeatedly slammed his head against the solid surface. "I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you." He whispered repeatedly with no purpose.

His chained arms were bleeding so much from how much he kept forcing them through the cuffs.

Before a moment, he was a mumbling tired mess that soggly tried to get out of his cuffs, but in another moment, he focused on sounds.

The sounds of something soft sliding towards him.

His darkened hopeless eyes widened with light returning into them as he saw the source of these sounds.

"Rem?" He coughed.

"What?!" Ram shouts as everyone around her gasps in disbelief.

"No way!" Felt screams with her jaw hung.

"Holy shit" Al sounds.

Rem looks on with a hopeful shine in her eyes, feeling her heartbeat slow down in relief.

A miracle had been commenced before him. The girl that should by all accounts be dead from the stab wounds and the burns, not to mention the mutilated limbs and her broken neck… The Oni slid across the floor of the caves towards him.

"Rem!" Subaru called out as he watched her body inching closer and closer.

"Rem… Rem… Rem… Rem!" He went on repeating, hoping for an answer that might reassure him of the girl's ability to survive all of this.

Once she had quietly wormed her way underneath him, Subaru clenched his teeth around a part of her uniform and pulled her up until the maid was in his lap.

He hugged the girl tight as he managed so.

"Rem… Hey, Rem!" he gasped in desperation.

The bloody lips parted, revealing magical gestures of life.

"Hu… ma…"

Subaru's eyes widened at the whisper.

The blood that had seeped from his grazed wrists was suddenly infused with mana. The water magic used his blood to break the cuffs around his hands.

Rem had freed him.

"Rem, you…" He looked down at her, eyes saddened and amazed.

"L… ive." She whispers pleadingly, looking at him with nothing but love and appreciation.

"Rem… Wait! Don't…"

Subaru held her tighter, wiping her blood from her face.

Rem slowly held his hand and looked at him with a gaze filled with warmth. "Live… Love… you..."

Her hand dropped.

"Rem…" Subaru hugged her and cried his heart out in the cave.

"You saved him… You at least saved him, sister." Ram gives her sister yet another tight hug that eclipsed the grief in her tone towards Rem's death.

"I…" Rem tries to utter something but her sobs replaced whatever words that were about to come out of her mouth.

The rest watched with tired and anguished frowns.

The screen changes on the front of the cave, a hole in a mountain's wall.

Subaru is shown coming out of the tunnel, Rem's corpse sitting in his arms bridal style.

"Let's go Rem…" He smiled at the maid in his arms, looking over the horizon at the setting sun.

He walked through the road and the forest until it was night time. He strode against the tumultuous terrain with Rem in his arms. His hair style was now reserved to a messy more natural style that made some locks flow down his forehead and into his eyes.

"I like his hair this way…" Felt tried to comment but all the emotion was drained from her voice.

"I agree," as odd as it was, Priscilla was amongst the people who voiced their agreement in an equally quiet, mournful atmosphere that the theater now possessed.

But he strode forward.

He walked through the village, passing all of the stabbed and tortured corpses of the village folk. Walking through the cold of a sudden snowfall.

"Betelgeuse…"

Subaru passed the piles of burned corpses of the Arlam people, one name remained on his tongue.

"Betelgeuse…"

The snow storm thickened but he braved through and managed to reach the gate to the front garden of the estate where white snow covered the entire land.

Subaru stopped and looked to the side. He found a shed beside the gates of the garden.

Ram's dead body was leaning against the wall with many blades stabbing into her. She was surrounded by dead cultists that were cut by her air blades.

Tears ran down his freezing cheeks at the sight of the pink-haired Oni. With hatred, Subaru growled in anguish at the sight, "Betelguese…"

Dropping on his knees before the snow filled mountain that was the Roswaal mansion, Subaru held on to Rem for warmth as the snow storm raged above him.

"Betelgeuse!" He sobbed in agony as the storm intensified.

"This is a dead end…" Julius says with an anguished gaze down towards his knees.

"He went through all of that to make his plan," the healer behind Julius spoke in a tone filled with guilt and shame. "The things he went through in this one viewing alone… How did I ever doubt someone like him, nayn?"

As Felix began to shed tears of shame, Wilhelm gave the healer a supporting pat on the back and a shake of the head.

"This man's cruelty had nothing on Subaru-dono's will to fight, Ferris."

Reinhard gave his grandfather's words a small nod.

"H-How…" Emilia used her tired, broken voice to sound, "how will Subaru die then?"

The half-elf looked on in distraught and disbelief as the screen began playing the final melody.

CRAAAACKKKKKKK *

Before the snowstorm could cover him, Subaru's frozen neck sluggishly moved forward to stare at the mansion's front gate.

A giant head had sprouted out of the ceiling of the great estate.

The monster with cold, empty, yellow shining eyes turned its neck to tilt its head as some sort of parallel to Subaru's own turn.

The beast's eyes fell on Subaru across the thick snowstorm and tundra that had spawned around the Roswaal lands.

"Sleep…" the same voice that had killed Subaru in the last loop spoke toward him.

"Sleep. Along with my daughter."

Subaru couldn't say anything. As his entire form was frozen solid. And as the wind picked up.

The boy's head rolled off of his body with no weight or pushback.

And his kneeling corpse remained a frozen statue, holding a dead girl's body.

His face would remain discarded into the dirt, buried underneath the layers of falling snow.

A frozen land. An ice turned world.

That's how Subaru Natsuki died.

"What…" Emilia couldn't but feel the stares of everyone in the theater to the back of her head, but the half-elf was too busy registering Subaru's cruel death herself.

"Puck… Puck killed Subaru… Puck…" Emilia held her head in her hands and began sobbing like a maiden with a broken heart, unable to believe her father would do such a thing.

Crusch looked over at Anastasia with a knowing look.

"This spirit is a problem." Priscilla voiced the exact same thought the two candidates in the front were discussing silently without words. She clicked her tongue and memorized Subaru's face once he was frozen by the beast's storm.

"Mineself's will fix that for you." Priscilla sighs to herself. "Just prove yourself worthy of all of this attention."

Al looks over to his master in distress. Unable to understand what she was saying.

"Bubby… So your contract really is that cruel…" Beatrice muttered with a look of hurt, thinking about her brother. "This must've been painful for both you and Subaru… I wish I could've done more, in fact."

Eulogy for Rem.

Darkness.

Faint noises, blurry images, purple glow.

"Hey!"

Subaru's eyes opened suddenly. His body looked sweaty and his expression was spooked.

Back at the capital again. Before the Apple salesman, again.

He had Returned by Death… again.

"You listening?" The man questions with an angry face.

"Huh?" Subaru's expression displayed merely a frozen shock.

"Don't huh me. What's wrong with you? You suddenly spaced out."

"Oh…"

"Subaru-kun?"

At the sudden intruder's voice, Subaru's eyes went wider than they were. He immediately turned towards the speaker.

"Rem…" he whispers.

"Yes? What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Rem…"

The maid was blushing now as she stared at her hero's face.

"Y-Yes?"

"Rem…"

"Yes."

Subaru touched her shoulder and gazed into her eyes with a look of unknown emotion. Making the maid blush. "I…"

"Look… I hate to interrupt when you're just getting heated up, but I can't run my business with you two flirting there!" The man shooed them away.

"Subaru-kun, can I ask something?"

"What is it?"

"Well, I may be mistaken. It's just that well… The unpleasant smell on you seems to have grown stronger."

Subaru's smile turned sour, "Unpleasant smell, huh? Well, if you're worried, just keep hold of my hand."

"Huh?" Rem looked confused as Subaru held her hand.

"This feels a lot safer, right?" He gave her a smile.

The maid seemed to be filled with happiness, "Yes."

As Rem trotted beside him with a happy smile…

Subaru's face turned into one of vengeful hatred.

His eyes glowed with a red hue…

Title card:

The Outside of Madness

Episode 8 Director's Cut. End.

"He's looking mighty scary there." Anastasia gives a frown to show what she thought about his look.

"I don't like this either. It doesn't seem like he will be taking the right route either." Crusch grumbles in discontent while rubbing Subaru's hand and kneading where she squeezed a bit too much.

"E-Emilia-sama?" Otto tries to touch the half-elf but Emilia only stands up as soon as the screen shuts off.

"I'm going to my room." Before anyone could say anything, for the second time, Emilia dashed through the hallway of doors towards her sanctuary.

Rem followed soon after, not drying her tears.

Left in the dust and brought to complete depression on all fronts, everyone's souls seemed hollow and self-loathing after that entire viewing.

Petra decided to be the third person to go to her room alone. Uncaring for whatever the rest have to say about the conclusion of this vision.

P-Please go and take a rest everyone. You can all contemplate and lament about what you've seen during the rest of today. You have all the time in the world so make sure you treat yourselves well.

The Warden tried to sound kind but he only ended up being ominous to the rest of the cast as he began stuttering midway through his announcement.

"I don't feel like he's doing okay." Tivey notes to himself, not wanting his sister to break his head for saying another thought that wasn't needed. But the boy's curiosity took the better of him.

The Warden was fascinating to Tivey. An entity that can restrain everyone's magic and teleport anyone it wished into this theater place.

It was absolutely astounding for someone as curious and enlightened as Tivey that such a place and power exist in his world.

As he gazed at the decorated ceilings of the theater, Tivey missed out on the rest of the cast leaving the theater.

He dropped his eyes and sighed to himself, feeling lonely again.

"Why are ya looking lonely, brobro?" Mimi tiredly slaps his head without power.

"Eh?! Mimi! Don't spook me like that!"

"...I didn't mean too… I was waiting for you to stop looking at the ceiling again." She utters with sadness in her tone.

"Sorry, Mimi. I was observing the room again." Tivey sighs and sits beside his little sister.

"... I'm sorry I hit you all those times."

The demi-human boy blinked in surprise at the sudden apology from his sister. "Mimi… What's going on? Why are you so sad all of a sudden?"

"Because…" Mimi bites her lip and struggles to speak for a moment. "Because I imagined that you were in place of Big Brother!"

"Hm?" Tivey blinks again.

"I slept like you told me before this loopy thingie started," she points at the screen. "And when I did… I had a dream that you were the one who had Big Brother's power…"

He opens his mouth with a raised finger. "You mean Return By Dea–"

"You died, Tivey." Mimi looks at her brother with tears falling down her cheek.

"I see." He mutters grimmly. "That's why you've been so agitated with me trying to learn more about this?"

"What if… You end up finding something out… Something that will displease the Warden… Maybe he will curse you with that ability too! I DON'T WANT YOU TO SUFFER WHAT BIG BROTHER'S SUFFERING!"

"Hey hey!" The boy holds his sister in a hug of panic. "Please don't cry, Mimi."

"Promise me you'll always be here with me! Don't leave me like Hetaro did!"

The boy chuckles and pats his sister on the head. "I promise you I won't ever leave you. And just like you and I both know, Hetaro is doing his best to catch up to us. We will be together forever."

"All three of us?" Mimi sniffles with hope.

"All of us and the boss man, Mimi. We must be strong."

"Yay!" Mimi giggles through her tears, tightening the hug around her nerdy twin.

"I'm dying for real right now!" Tivey says in an intoxicated voice.

Realizing she was crushing her brother with her hug, the girl moved away with a smile. "Sorry!"

"You must learn when to hold back!" Tivey condescends with a glare as he catches his breath.

"I said I was sorry!" Mimi stretches her tongue out.

Tivey oddly laughs at his sister.

"What's so funny?"

"Hahahaha– Nothing! Nothing… It's just…" Tivey smiles pleasantly. "I know for a fact that this Warden guy has nothing on my dear old sister."

Mimi pumps her chest with pride. "'Course! He's a big bully idiot! Mimi is a majestic wind lord!"

As the two twins enjoyed the jokes they were able to roleplay together, a loud voice cracked through the screen.

One that was not pleased.

Who the f- Boy. Boy. I will kick both your asses and then some!

"What?!" Tivey and his sister looked up with fear in their eyes as the soothing voice of the warden filled the room once again.

"Was it aimed at us?" Mimi asks while Tivey shrugs, unsure.

Okay. You lot did this to yourselves. You want your master?! Have at it!

"Bro?!" Mimi shouts in fear as she watches the spectacle.

Two luminous orbs of light spawned in the air above the chairs of the theater. The twins watched as the orbs lowered like feathers hovering in the air until they reached two seats in the middle row.

"Mimi," he calmly speaks to her while staring into the two balls of light with fascination. "Go grab the others. Quickly!"

"Wh-Why?! What's happening?!" she asks her brother, scared.

Tivey smirks and propers his monocle. "We may have two new guests to watch with us next time…"

Episode 9… Arc 3's continuation…

Start.