After Subaru respawned, everyone got their bearings after having a near-permanent death experience at the hands of Satella. It took awhile for Kazuma to get over being turned into a bloody mess by the Witch of Envy, but thanks to a bit of…special therapeutic treatment from Tanya, Kazuma snapped out of it.

"I think we can all agree on one thing. Trying to pick a fight with Satella? Officially off limits." Ty said.

"Agreed. We couldn't do anything to defend ourselves, her attack was instantaneous and devastating." Kasumi said.

"That's for sure, just ask Kazuma." Koenig said.

"Or better yet, don't." Kazuma said. "Thanks for snapping me outta my freakout, by the way."

"Nothing works better than a good smack to the face." Tanya said. "But nevertheless, let's get back on track. Echidna left us with a hint about how to draw out the Great Rabbit. She said she taught all the magic she knows to her daughter. Of course, I wasn't aware she had any children."

"I don't think anyone was." Nemo said. "She was…what, sixteen, seventeen when she died? It's illegal in some places to make one of those with her."

"But who in Luganica could be considered Echidna's offspring?" Le Kraken asked.

"...Didn't Pint-size have one of those witch books when we saw her?" Seiya pointed out. "She couldn't have gotten it from the cult."

"Seiya, you're right! I think Beako could be Echidna's daughter!" Ethox said. "She mentioned a mother last time, didn't she?"

"Echidna was known to be knowledgeable…she was even able to create artificial spirits." Ivy said.

"So it's safe to assume Beatrice isn't human at all… she's a living doll created by Echidna! No wonder she acted so strange after she saved us from Elsa the first time." Gimlior said.

"Not a doll, a spirit." Ivy said.

"And some of us knew this even before now." Subaru said.

"Well, we are kind of new to visiting this branch…" Legolia admitted.

"Ah, it's okay." Subaru said. "But I think we know where our heads are at. If anybody knows anything taught by Echidna, it's Beako."

"Let's head back to the mansion and find her before Ms. Guts Out arrives." Grantz said.

"But there's still this traitor business to consider." DJ mentioned. "It's obvious they're here. What if they try something while we're all over there? I'm thinking a few of us should stay here and snoop around a bit, see if we can't figure out who it is."

"Right. Thanks for volunteering, DJ." Theo said.

"You're welcome." DJ nodded. "Try not to get killed over there, huh?"

"No promises!" Theo said.


It was soon after that they headed to the mansion once more, this time sending the staff off via carriage.

"Hopefully this avoids a bloodbath this time." Theo said.

"At least with the Mansions staff out of the way, Elsa wont have as many people to kill." Ethox said.

"All but one is left." Cobalt said as they opened the door to the library where Beatrice sat.

"Hey, Beako. Now that it's just you and us, maybe you can answer a question." Ethox said.

"And what's that? This better not be anything like what Subaru does, I suppose." Beatrice said.

"Nah. We just wanna know if you're pretty close to someone." Ethox said. "Does the name Echidna ring any bells?"

"Yes. She is my mother, I suppose." Beatrice said.

"Great, this makes things so much easier." Ethox said. "We need your help. See, the Great Rabbit is gonna be led here by a powerful source of mana, and Echidna said you probably had the only method to stop it."

"I will not help you. It's not in my book." Beatrice said.

"Oh who cares what's in that dumb thing!" Naofumi said as he took the book from her. "If it's not in there, I'll just write it and…what…the…" he said as the group looked as a majority of the book's pages were blank.

"What the heck? It's all blank in here!" Ethox said.

"This book is fake. Somebody's got the real one." Seiya said. "And I think it doesn't take a genius to know it's the guy trying to sabotage us."

"No…it's not fake. It actually stopped showing me the future a long time ago." Beatrice said.

"So if this book shows you the future, why haven't you, I dunno, made any effort to change it?" Ethox asked. "Did Echidna say you couldn't or something?"

"Wouldn't surprise me. She's an artificial spirit, she's probably built to follow orders." Seiya said.

"Oh yeah. Back when she saved us, she went nuts and said we couldn't tell her what to do. That everything she had to accomplish was in that book." Ethox said. "She's probably not made to directly intervene in anything because Echidna doesn't want her to."

"The last she said to me was to wait for that person to come. All this time I've been doing so. The person…the one who will finish me…if you are those people…I will accept it." Beatrice said.

"Finish…you?" Subaru said. "Don't you dare say that!" he called out. "Don't you dare say…you don't wanna live anymore!"

"Subaru's right. You can't give yourself up like that." Ethox said. "A life isn't something you can just toss away when you're finished with it. Even you have the right to live, be whoever you want to be! Aren't you tired of people telling you what you can or can't do? You can't live like that forever. You can't think that your life will be over because someone wants to end it. You have to think for yourself!"

"Another one of your attempts to save someone you don't know, I suppose?" Beatrice asked.

"No. At first, I thought I could save anyone. But more recently, I learned you can't force change on someone because you want it. You have to know if they want change first! So, let me ask you a question, Beako: do you really want to die, or do you just not know what else to do?" Subaru asked.

Beatrice was silent for a moment before she looked down, tears beginning to form. "...Do you think…I haven't thought of it, I suppose? That I never considered it? But my pleas for help and hope for salvation are long behind me now! If you say you want to save me, then…you can make me your priority. Overwrite my contract. Paint it all over! Blot it all out and take me away from here! But there's no way you can do that, I suppose. So…I want this miserable failure destroyed instead."

"We can't save you, huh?" Ethox asked.

"That…is a whole bunch of BS!" Theo said.

"Sorry for the interruption but I couldn't help but overhear you." a voice said as they turned to see Elsa. "But might I be that person?"

"Nnnnope! No you are not!" Ultra said. "We gotta bail!"

"Hang on, boys and girls!" Nemo said, pulling something out of his pocket and throwing it on the ground, causing smoke to fill the room, allowing the group to grab Beatrice and flee.

"What was that?"

"Oh, it was a mail-order smoke bomb. Best five bucks I've spent this month!" Nemo beamed.

"But it won't slow Elsa down. How did she even find us?" Rista asked.

"The library's medium is doors. She probably opened each one until she found us." Subaru said. "Which would explain the first loop when me and Kazuma saw all the doors open."

"So what do we do now? We got all the mansion staff out, Elsa doesn't have anybody else to kill but us and Beako." Ultra said.

"Flee to the village. We may be able to…to…" Theo said as they ran down the path to the stone bridge as a young girl with short blue hair and a black cloak stood there.

"Oh…it's you people. What could have possibly brought you all out here?" she asked. "That Elsa is so sloppy."

"Who are…wait…I remember you." Subaru said thinking back to his time adapting to the mansion where he met the girl in the village.

"We had so much fun that first time around." she said as multiple Mabeasts came to her side.

"You're a beast tamer?" Theo said.

"My name is Meili Portroute. Calling me by what I am is really rude." the girl said.

"You mentioned Elsa before… were you hired to kill everyone in the mansion too?" Ethox asked.

"Obviously. Remember those Mabeasts that swarmed the mansion?" Seiya asked. "She brought them in."

"Look!" Cobalt said, looking to where the village was.

"Oh…don't even bother. I already took care of the maids in the carriage who went to the village. Shame one of them was Petra, but I made sure to finish her in one big bite." Meili said.

"(How the heck did she know…? She wouldn't be able to know where they were going unless….)" Ethox said. "Unless she knew the future…. Agh, we've been such idiots!"

"Ethox, what's wrong?"

"I know why nothing we're doing to save both the sanctuary and mansion is working! Our mole on the inside…they know what's going to happen! They must have one of those books too!"

"Someone has another Book of Wisdom?" Beatrice asked.

"Wait, Beako! You were with Echidna! Is there anyone else who'd Echidna would give a Book of Wisdom to? They'd have to be a powerful magic user, they'd be at the Sanctuary right now, they'd have to be able to hire the likes of these two, so they'd have money, and…" Ethox trailed off. "...and…they'd…"


"Of course…it…was always you…" DJ said in shock as he watched Ram and Garfiel having been slain by one man…Roswaal L. Mathers. "Never trust the effing clown."

"Oh…but these deaths don't mean a thing. After all…it will all reset when dear Subaru goes and resets time." Roswaal said.

"Wait…you know about Return by Death?!" DJ exclaimed.

"Is that what he calls it? Hmm. Well it didn't take much for me to figure out he was manipulating time. He knew things he wouldn't have normally. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. You see, he's the one I've waited for so long." Roswaal said, holding a black book.

"That's a…! You knew what we were going to do before we did it!" DJ realized.

"This is the Book of Wisdom. It was a gift from Echidna to my family before she passed on. Only two of these books exist. Mine and dear Betty's." Roswaal said. "Now Subaru will have no choice but to complete the trials of the Sanctuary. Unable to save this village or stop the assassins at the mansion."

"So…you're the one who hired them. Why am I not surprised?" DJ said. "I don't get it. If you know about Subaru's curse, then you know that he won't stop until he can get the best outcome he can. So what's the point of playing the bad guy, if he only has to win once and has as many tries as he needs?"

"Because in the end, he can't save both at once." Roswaal said. "Garfiel won't trust him and Emilia's past will always interfere with her taking the trials." he said walking to the window and opening it up as snow was falling. "Ah…right on time."

"Ah crap." DJ said, before he activated his saws. "Shut the spell down, Roswaal. I've killed mages before."

"You know this is pointless. Dear Subaru will just keep resetting, even if you kill me. And no matter what you try, I'll know just how to overcome it. This will continue over and over until he finally decides to just choose to break poor Emilia's heart." he said as a rabbit jumped through the window and bit on his shoulder before Roswaal set it ablaze. He simply smiled as he walked out into the snow.

"An infinite loop of solutions broken to break Subaru…" DJ said. "Now I understand what he's after. He doesn't want Emilia to complete the trials…he wants Subaru to do it. To have a powerful pawn that could get him the best results each time. He wants us to keep failing until Subaru is molded into what he wants him to be. Hell if we're gonna let that happen." DJ said as a few rabbits jumped through the window. "Don't care if you guys can multiply endlessly…I'll take as many of you bastards down as I can."

DJ ripped his way through rabbit after rabbit, before the numbers game finally caught up with him. It wasn't long before he was swarmed and eaten alive, as he tried to keep fighting until the end.

"(In Hell, Heaven, or the next loop…I'll see you guys later either way.)" DJ thought before his life ended.


Back with the others, the group were engaged in battle with the two assassins.

"This is not going well!" Nemo pointed out as he threw knives into several bat-like Mabeasts. "We're stuck between a rock and a hard place, in the form of a beast tamer who can control Mabeasts, and a crazed immortal slasher!"

"Subaru, you gotta get outta here! We'll hold them back!" Ethox said.

"Why bother? I'll just reset anyway, you guys will be safe." Subaru said.

"But you won't be!" Kazuma argued. "Stop acting like that, like you don't care about dying!"

"But I…" Subaru started before he felt someone push him down. When he turned around…

"So it's true. Spirits really are different…on the inside." Elsa said.

…Beatrice had been run through by the Bowel Hunter's knife.

"Finally…" Beatrice said as the assassin cut down, blue mana flowing out of the spirit's body as she collapsed.

"No, no no no no!" Subaru cried as he went to the spirit's side. "You can't! Beako!" he cried as her body began to fade. "...Elsa-!"

The assassin slammed her knife's handle onto the side of Subaru's head.

"Is this…how far I go this time-?"

"Don't look like that." Elsa said, before she stabbed Subaru's right eye out.

"Get away from him! Winter Blast Freeze!" Kazuma yelled, firing a blast of freezing wind at Elsa. "Somebody, get us out of here!"

"Kazuma, just let me reset!" Subaru said.

"No, I won't! Don't you get were trying to save you?!" Kazuma asked.

"And I'M trying to save everyone else!" Subaru yelled.

"Stop acting like you don't effing care!" Kazuma shouted.

"I don't!" Subaru yelled.

At that moment, the two of them vanished from the forest trail…


…and Subaru and Kazuma ended up inside a jail cell.

"Dammit, we reset again!" Kazuma said in anger.

"No…this isn't the Sanctuary." Subaru realized, before he pushed Kazuma off of him. "This isn't funny…" he said as he walked out.

"Wait up a second! We need to talk about what you said back there!" Kazuma said as he followed after his friend, who was heading towards the ruins. "(Dammit, did Echidna know this was gonna happen? Is that why she gave us that hint? And where the heck is everyone else?)"

The two entered the ruins, walking down the path until they saw Emilia standing there.

"Subaru?" Emilia asked.

"Emilia…" Subaru said weakly.

"Finally, a voice of reason." Kazuma said. "Emilia, you gotta help. This guy is totally-!"

"That's right, Subaru! It's me!" Emilia said, seemingly ignoring Kazuma. The latter noticed the half-elf smiling. Subaru, however, swayed and began to fall forewards, Emilia catching him.

"...I'm sorry, I…" Subaru trailed off, Emilia merely hugging him with the same smile on her face. "Emilia…"

"I was lonely…so very lonely…" Emilia said. "You went away and left me behind."

"N-No…DJ was still here." Subaru remembered. "He should've told you-"

"What are you talking about?" Emilia asked cheerfully, before she giggled. "It's okay, you don't have to make excuses! You came back to me, that's what matters!"

"Uh…Emmy?" Kazuma asked warily. "Are you okay?"

"You know, I never once stopped believing…that one day, you would return, Subaru." Emilia said as she pressed herself against the boy, both he and Kazuma shocked at the girl's behavior. "And if I did my very best to do the trials, that you would come to rescue me. That's what you've always done, right?"

"Oh my god… how many times have you tried to do the trials?" Kazuma asked.

"I was so worried…" Emilia said, still seemingly not noticing Kazuma's existence as she patted Subaru's hair. "I'd thought that you'd finally gotten sick of me. That you'd started to hate me. So I came here…it didn't help at all." she said, the two seeing darkness in the white-haired girl's eyes. "I can't tell you how happy I am that you came back! I missed you so much! I want you to stay here forever. As long as I have you here, I don't need anything else. I hope you feel the same way." she giggled. "Subaru…I love you!"

The two adventurers stared at Emilia in horror, before Subaru's face changed into one of defeat as he turned around and walked out without a word.


"What the…hey!" Kazuma said as he ran after him. "Okay, yeah. This is bad. Very bad. Why don't we-?"

"Shut up!" Subaru yelled, turning on Kazuma. "Just shut up, okay?! You've been like this since you got here! Always throwing yourself into danger, trying to stop me from resetting things myself! You, you…this is not who you are! What is your problem?!"

"What's my problem?!" Kazuma responded. "Your solution when things get bad is to effing off yourself! And you don't even bat an eye at it! And what's this about you not caring about what happens to you?!"

"Because I don't matter!" Subaru argued. "I'll just keep coming back as long as I'm here! It's no big deal! I'll use this curse as much as I have to so I can save everyone!"

"And what's that going to do to your mind, huh?!" Kazuma pointed out. "It'll break you, even worse than your crush in there! I am not going to watch you do that to yourself!"

"Oh, so this is about you now, is that it?" Subaru said. "You want to be the one protecting me, huh? Wanna be the hero? Well, newsflash, Sato! You are not Ethox! You are not David! And you sure as hell aren't Eikichi!"

"Don't you dare bring him up!" Kazuma snarled. "You know damn well he'd be telling you the same things I am! Except you'd actually listen to him!"

"Why, because you always did?" Subaru said. "Is that why you threw yourself against Satella? Because you want to be like him?!"

"No, because I want you to not be like him!" Kazuma said. "I am not going to let another friend of mine die!"

"Well you should!" Subaru yelled. "Why can't you just go stay in your room or something?! It's all you've been good for ever since Eikichi died! You haven't even visited his grave!"

Subaru realized what he just said as he saw Kazuma's expression shift into shock and hurt. Silence fell through the clearing, only the winds audible.

"...Kazuma, I…" Subaru said remorsefully, before Kazuma's face became apocalyptic with anger as he tackled his friend to the ground.

"Do you…even know why I stopped coming out of my room?! HUH?!" Kazuma shouted as he held Subaru by the cuff of his shift.

"I-I-I think it was something about a girl…?" Subaru started, before he was punched in the face.

"That had nothing to do with it! Eikichi talked me out of that funk the next day!" Kazuma roared. "It was…it was because I couldn't face what I'd done! Eikichi died! His family disintegrated! David spent years in therapy! All…all because of me!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Subaru asked. "You weren't even at that stupid warehouse!"

"Exactly!" Kazuma replied. "B-Before Eikichi and David joined Emi's detective agency…he asked me to go with them. He said…that he knew I had potential to do great. But…I said no. I was too scared. Too scared!"

"But that…" Subaru said.

"He said that was fine." Kazuma continued. "That I was free to change my mind whenever. But then…he was gone." the otaku said, as he began to cry. "Don't you get it?! I could've been there that day! I could've done something! A-Aniki…might still be alive, if I wasn't such a F***ING COWARD!"

Kazuma let Subaru go as he rolled off of him, sobbing. "And that's why… that's why I have to stop you from killing yourself over and over! I'm not gonna let anyone else die because I was too scared! I'll save you, Subaru! I'll save you from this twisted kingdom! I'll save you from everything this stupid place throws at you! We'll get outta here and never look back! What's even worth saving here?! This place is nothing but-!"

"Don't you dare say… Lugunica is hell on earth! This place is Emilia's home! She's spent her whole life trying to make it better!" Subaru said.

"And look where's it's gotten the both of you!" Kazuma said. "...Aren't you tired? Why can't we all just let this be?"

"Are you stupid? That's not what Theo would want at all." Subaru said.

"Who cares?! I'm sick of watching you die! I'm…I'm so tired, Subaru…" Kazuma said, his voice breaking. "Please… just stop trying to be the hero…because that's not who we are."

"Maybe that works for you…but not for me." Subaru said as he stood back up. "I'm going to save the people I care about, no matter how many times it takes. If you can't deal with it…then you can leave."

"...I…" Kazuma said as he rolled onto his stomach, staring ahead before his eyes widened. "R-R-Rabbits!"

Subaru turned around, seeing the Great Rabbit at the edge of the clearing, its copies surrounding the edge. The boy looked scared for a moment, before he fell into a look of calm acceptance.

"It's about time you all got here." Subaru said as he began to walk towards the swarm.

"...No." Kazuma said. "No, no, Subaru, don't. Don't you dare. Stop! No, no, don't go! Don't leave me here…!" he begged, as Subaru turned to look at him.

"It's okay, Kazuma." He said plainly. "This…this all I can do for everyone else."

With that, he turned to face the approaching horde as he spread his arms wide, as Kazuma continued to call out to him. It was all in vain though, as Subaru threw himself to the wolves, or rather rabbits, and caused the reset as he got himself eaten alive once more.

All Kazuma could do was sob into the snow as the rabbits feasted on his friend. He didn't even hear Subaru scream. Once again…Kazuma Sato had failed.