Re:Zero Saving Life In Another World From Zero Chapter 2: VS Petelgeuse, a Re:Zero + Sonic the Hedgehog Crossover fanfic

Hello. This is your pal, Jude Warble.

And with that out of the way, please enjoy this fanfic, and as always, stay breezy!

1 year later. The Pleadies Watchtower

"Ugh...So much reading...Huh? It's night already?"

Sighing upon looking at the moon, Subaru closed the book he was reading and placed it on the desk.

It has been already a year ever since his arrival in this other world, and throughout this year, lots of things has changed.

"Alright. Time to look at my status" Subaru said before activating Royal Judge while looking at a mirror on his desk.

[Name: Subaru Natsuki]

[Type: Living]

[Age: 17]

[Classification: Human]

[Explanation: A 17 year old human that has spend an entire year inside a tower after being sent to another world. He is still trying to adapt to the life in the other world, although he is still worried about his sister and parents]

[Special Abilities]

[Authority of Pride:]

1. Royal Judge: An ability that allows it's user to scan both living and nonliving organisms, even knowing about their age, classification, occupation and special abilities as long as the name of the scanned target is known by the user.

2. Mediator: An ability that allows its user to conduct peaceful negotiations with the opposing side, effectively nullifying all kinds of attacks, be it physical, spiritual and even conceptual, no matter how much powerful said attacks are. The nullified attacks can be released by the user in the form of an energy blast that can bypass all kinds of defenses, including, but not limited to physical, spiritual and conceptual defenses, but at the cost of the body part that released the energy blast being completely ruptured and obliterated.

[Magic:]

1. Yin (High):

A. Shamak: Creates a smokescreen that disrupts the senses of the opponent, sans the sense of touch.

B. El Shamak: Removes the opponent's ability to control their body.

C. Minya: Creates 30 purple colored crystalized mana arrows of stagnant time that penetrates through all defenses. Upon contact, the target is crystalized and shatter apart.

D. El Minya: Same as Minya, but the arrows are 40 in number.

E. Murak: Reduces the effect of gravity. When used on the caster, it grants them a form of pseudo-flight, as their weight becomes lighter than feathers.

F. Vita: Increases the weight of the target by a range from 1 to 90 kilograms.

G. El Vita: Same as Vita, but the weight increases to 100 kilos.

H. Sinister Hook: Encases the caster's fists with Yin mana. The punched area of the enemy with this skill ceases to function for a minute.

I. Store Space: Allows the user to gain access to an infinite void of nothingness where time is non-existent to use it to store inanimate objects with no limit to how much it stores.

2. Fire (Low):

A. Goa: Shoots a fire amber that can incinerate the enemy.

B. Huma: Creates a spherical barrier around the caster to protect them from incoming attacks. It can also be used to form icicles to fire at the enemies or freeze animate or inanimate objects solid.

C. Vulcan Heel: Concentrates fire mana around the caster's heels and legs, encasing it in lava coating with bright colored fangs encasing the toes. Allows the user to execute a powerful kick with the explosive power of a volcanic eruption. It also allows for the user to freely walk on extremely hot grounds, lava and molten earth.

3. Water (Low):

A. Healing Magic: Summons water mana to heal injuries, close wounds, and even regenerate lost limbs.

B. Caustic Venom: Transforms the arm of the user into a caustic asp that shoots corrosive venom.

4. Earth (Low):

A. Dona: Summons a single wall of Earth for both defensive and offensive purposes.

B. El Dona: Conjures a swarm of Earth mana towards a certain spot, causing said spot to burst into earth spikes.

C. Basalt Spear: Summons a spear made out of black basalt from the earth to impale the opponent.

D. Shard Storm: Creates 30 black shards of glass that explode upon contact with the enemy.

E. Obsidian Talons: Encases hands and nails with obsidian to slash at the enemy. Can be used to execute slashes for dozens of meters.

5. Wind (Low):

A. Fura: Shoots a wind blade at high speeds that can cut through stone, wood and flesh.

B. El Fura: Same as Fura, but the wind blade is larger and faster.

6. Yang (Low):

A. Jiwald: Fires a heat ray from the user's finger that travels at the speed of light.

B. Akra: The user produces pale coloured light around the target that envelops them in a veil of golden light, which allows the user to carry objects with ease.

C. Light Arrow: Summons a bow and an arrow made out of pure white light to strike the enemy.

[Arcane Magic:]

1. Ætherflare: Summons a trio of black hellfire balls that collide with the opponent.

2. Chain Lightning: Charges a sphere of electricity in the user's palm, which fires arcing bolts at the opponent.

3. Crackling Talons: Summon a set of lightning claws to shred and roast the opponent. The claws can extend to a hundred meters.

4. Brimstone Gauntlet: Crafts an arm made out of pure golden sulfur with spikes on the knuckles. The user can negate physical defenses with it, and can cause corrosion to the opponent.

5. Sulfur Strike: Summons blocks of pure sulfur that explodes on contact with the enemy.

6. Fell Goa: Combines both fire and wind mana to create a fire hurricane.

7. Witch's Miasma: A unique ability acquired by Authority holders. The miasma can be used to drive others insane, and even attract beasts, animals and Mabeasts like moths to a flame. Through experience, the user can control the miasma so that it doesn't leak constantly.

Subaru deactivated his Authority and sighed.

He learned so much this past year, and even created his own skills. Like how he combined Fire and Yang to create Lightning, an element that he noted that it didn't exist in the magic system of this world, as well as creating Hellfire by combining Fire and Yin, and creating Sulfur by combining Fire and Earth.

Despite that, he still saw that he has long ways of perfecting magic as it is, and there are still some difficulties.

For example, he is still yet to be able to learn Flying Magic. While he knows how to execute the combination process of Fire, Wind and Earth mana, he is still unable to 'stick them together'. To Subaru, it was like tying a large heap of metal scrap with a single rope. No matter how much tall and durable that rope is, it still requires other ropes to support it in holding the heap intact and preventing it from collapsing apart.

Another thing is the Door Crossing spell.

While the spell was under the category of Yin Magic, which was his highest affinity, he was still unable to execute it. The spell itself was the ability to connect doors to previous locations known by the user, no matter how far those locations are from the caster, but still, Subaru was unable to execute it properly, as he has to use his mana to connect between the spaces of both the door and the place he wants to go to. Connecting to the door was easy, but connecting to the destination was very difficult, especially if it's a faraway place.

There was that one time where he tried to use it to travel from his lab to his bedroom, and he ended up beneath the Watchtower, right in front of a Hungry Horse King, and he would have been dead if it wasn't for Shaula's untimely rescue.

Speaking of said girl, due to the incident of the Hungry Horse King, Subaru decided to not slack off his physical training, doing his training regimen, which consisted of 100 pushups, 100 pullups and 100 squats daily, alongside training on hand-to-hand combat, which was also difficult as he was having Shaula as a sparring partner.

He still remembers that black eye he got from her, and how she cried crocodile tears while apologizing for him, but he was able to manage an amateur skill level in unarmed combat.

As for food, they had Mabeast's flesh as their lifeline, which, as Shaula described, 'tasted like dung'. She tried to help by cooking it using a fire spell, but she ended up burning it every time. Subaru had to learn how to cook this meat by himself so that it would be edible.

And while doing so, he found something interesting.

The rancid taste of the Mabeast's flesh was due to the fact that said creatures hold the ability to ingest both their wastes and bodily fluids and turn it to mana inside their stomachs in cases where there isn't any consumable food, and while that may be an efficient way of survival, the downside was that it causes a case called 'Mana Poisoning', a phenomenon that happens when too much mana accumulates inside the body, which would cause brain damage, digestive problems, tumors, and in severe cases if not treated as quick as possible, death. The Mabeasts that hold the syndrome of Mana Poisoning have their bodies rot from the inside out, hence the inedible taste of their meat.

Subaru, however, found a solution to this, in the form of draining the mana inside the Gate of the Mabeast. This also served as another training regimen, as he wanted to train on using a weapon. Unfortunately, this proved to be as difficult as hand-to-hand combat training, as he was unsure of what weapon to use at first, and on how to train with them. He decided to settle for a knife for the time being, and stored all the other weapons he found in the Watchtower in the Space Store.

Speaking of Gate, Subaru had many dangerous incidents that could have destroyed his life as an Isekai protagonist, as he risked damaging his Gate several times, and in some cases, completely shattering it. A perfect example of that was when he executed his very first Shamak, which encased the entire watchtower in a back smokescreen.

Luckily, he was able to find a solution for that by using the mana stored from the Mabeasts he and Shaula hunted and use it to fix his Gate, and has since learned how to regulate his mana usage to avoid such incidents, as well as learning the Healing Magic spell and being close on perfecting it to the point of even regenerating lost limbs.

And on the note of healing magic, he was still unable to use the Immortal King's Sacrament to its full potential, which was mainly due to its pinpoint accuracy, since if the user isn't skilled enough, the target of the spell would be reanimated into a walking corpse instead of being brought back to life, so controlling it was tough.

Sighing, Subaru stood up, and looked at himself in the mirror of his office, looking at his new outfit.

The outfit in question consisted of an orange scarf that matched the color featured on his track suit, black trousers tucked into lighter brown boots with black lacing, a black shirt that matched the shade of his trousers, a light brown buttoned blazer worn atop the shirt that ensured that only the shirt's collar was visible, a brown belt matching the shade of the boots, and an open green jacket.

Tomorrow morning, he and Shaula will depart to the country of Lugunica. While Kararagi would be the best choice for a Japanese like him, Shaula suggested that they go to Lugunica if Subaru wants to learn more magic and perfect his own, as there was a limit to how much Subaru can learn by himself, and he needed someone to teach him about not only magic, but also armed and unarmed combat, since his skill was mediocre in the latter two and he had to learn more magic from experts, and Lugunica was the best choice for him.

Not to mention that Lugunica was the nearest country to the Augria Sand Dunes, so this was his best bet given the large distance and time that he would take to reach Kararagi, so Lugunica is the best choice for now.

"Master!"

"?!"

He was snapped from his thoughts when he heard Shaula behind him, before he was tackled by her in a bone crushing hug, which made him smile softly and pat her head.

It has been a year ever since they met each other, and their relationship grew to that of more than friendship and less than lovers. Aside from her perverted tendencies and approaches, Subaru saw that Shaula deeply cared about him, and he himself started to care about her so much, rivaling his care for his twin sister.

The reason why Subaru wanted to leave the tower was not only to learn more about this world and find his sister if she was teleported with him, but also because Shaula wanted to see the outside world after 400 years of solitude inside the tower. He wanted her to see civilization and learn more about the world.

Speaking of learning, throughout the year he stayed in the tower, Subaru was able to successfully learn the language of this world, and was able to teach Shaula about it. She did hate learning, but if it was Subaru, she would happily oblige for anything he says.

"Hey Master! Are we really going outside the tower tomorrow?!" Shaula asked, excitement clearly dancing in her eyes, which caused Subaru to chuckle at her childish joy.

"Yes, Shaula. I told you for the 23rd time this day that we will travel to Lugunica tomorrow. By the way, are you ready? Did you get everything you want?" Subaru answered Shaula's question, before asking his own to her.

"I have nothing to take with me other than you, Master!" Shaula exclaimed, causing Subaru to release a nervous chuckle from his mouth.

If it was for him, he already packed up all the useful books and the weapons in his study. Space Store was useful in these cases.

"Very well. Let's rest, because we have a really big day tomorrow" Subaru said, before noticing Shaula's grip on his arm tighten, which caused him to look at her, to which she gave him a comical pleading look.

"Umm...Master...Can I...Sleep with you this night...?" She asked, causing Subaru to blink.

She always asked him to sleep next to her everyday in a teasing manner. However, over time, he learned how to be patient and tolerant. He also became even more calm and decisive than before. The old him would be shocked when he sees him right now.

This is presumably due to reading too much, but he now felt like a real sage.

"Very well. I think I can make an exception today" Subaru said smiling while patting Shaula's head, causing Shaula's face to eventually brighten with a pink blush radiating on her cheeks, and a smile that overshadowed the brilliance and beauty of the moon that illuminated the vast desert found itself plastered on Shaula's lips.

Subaru then looked from the balcony, looking at the far distance.

"Natsumi, please be safe. If you're there, then I'm coming for you"

As that thought raced inside his his head, Subaru, the Sage, and Shaula, the Sage's Apprentice, departed for the night, to prepare for their early trip tomorrow.

At the same time. Irlam Village

"Are you departing tomorrow for the capital, Shadow-dono?"

"Yes. There are lots of things that I need to understand aside from magic"

Shadow checked on his teal colored blade while speaking to the village chief.

It has been a year ever since his stay in Irlam Village, and lots of things had changed.

After knowing his magic affinities, which were Yin and Yang, he decided to train in them, but unfortunately, he soon realized that this was next to impossible, as those two affinities were extremely rare, so almost nothing was found to gain knowledge about them.

And for that, Shadow used his knowledge gained from G.U.N.

He snuck to the Margrave Mansion using his mastery in stealth skills, and searched for anything that might help him, only to see some interesting things along the way.

The mansion, for all of its size, had very few residents. Two twins and a blonde woman that acted as the maids, a silver haired woman that gave the vibes of an elf, a drill haired blonde loli that hid in a separate pocket dimension that looked like a grand library, and a clown-like pale man who Shadow later knew about his identity being the infamous Margrave Roswaal L Mathers.

He still needs to talk to him after his stroll in the capital.

Anyways, when he entered the hidden library, while completely erasing his presence, he found lots of books regarding magic, alongside forgotten spells, so he took them and taught himself all kinds of Yin and Yang spells, alongside the element of fire.

Over the course of the last year, Shadow would protect the village from Gusteko's monthly assault, and over the 12 times he encountered them, he was able to gain the other spells of Fire Magic. Surprisingly, all Gusteko inhabitants excelled in Fire Magic. Shadow assumed that this was due to the fact that Gusteko was actually something similar to the North Pole.

Such were the perks of his Rune Stone Skill. The ability to gain the powers and abilities of the deceased: Death Wish.

And him having that power was due to the fact that he was...

He sighed at the bitter memory.

That's right.

He was the same as that demon that ruined his life and locked him for 100,000 years. The same creatures that are plaguing All Creation.

He was a Highest, and a Zero-Class one at that, which meant that he was the strongest.

To make it blunt and brief in the explanation, Highests are creatures that are above the universe, and they are divided by classes.

Third-Class Highests exist beyond space and time. If Shadow can compare them, they are stronger than his Genesis Wave counterpart in his Super Form.

Third-Class Highests can use only two types of magic, and they are decided to them randomly upon birth.

Second-Class Highests are stronger than Third-Class Highests, and can use up to fixed four types of magic.

First-Class Highests are way stronger than that.

To make it simple, there exist an infinite amount of universes parallel to the universe Shadow is in, and above those universes is an infinite hierarchy that consists of infinite dimensional plates. First-Class Highests stand above those infinite hierarchies, and are able to use up to 4 kinds of magic and can choose what kind of magic that they want to use freely.

Zero-Class Highests, on the other hand, are something else.

Aside from the fact that they can use any kind of magic without any kind of limit to how much and what kind they use, they exist way above First-Class Highests. The way that Zero-Class transcend First-Class is like how First-Class transcend the hierarchy of All Creation. In vague terms, Zero-Class perceive All Creation, including First-Class, like a book.

In fact, this entire existence is nothing but a mere book in the infinite encyclopedia inside the realm of Zero-Class Highests.

That being said, in order to manifest in lower realms like this universe, Zero-Class Highests require mediums, like animals, or humans compatible with them, since their existence alone would cause lower realms to be conceptually erased, since their mere spiritual weight is so heavy that it will cause lower realms to collapse.

In Shadow's case, this isn't a problem, as he can place his powers under control using his inhibitor rings, considering the fact that after unlocking his Zero-Class Highest's powers and heritage, Shadow's inhibitor rings allowed him to control his powers so that he won't risk the universe he is staying in, alongside the other infinite parallel universes, to be erased out of existence, and even when inhibited, Shadow is now so strong that in his base mode, he can solo an army of First-Class Highests with no problem.

Just imagine if he is using his Super Form right now...

Placing the complex science lesson aside, thanks to the books that he 'borrowed' from that library, he was able to successfully master the 3 magic elements, as well as the powers of Wisps, all of them, and even creating new Chaos skills. He still placed the abilities of his other selves that fused with him, though.

"Well, I can only say that everyone will miss you, especially the kids, and especially Petra and Lucas" The chief said with a smile.

"It's not like I will be away forever. I will be back in a short period of time" Shadow said. He then turned around to notice that the village chief had a troubled look on his elderly face, causing the Zero-Class Highest to raise a questioning eyebrow.

"What's wrong, chief?" Shadow asked.

"Well...I didn't want to trouble you with this, but..." The chief trailed in his speech, unsure of what to say next. Shadow simply stood silent, waiting for the chief to talk.

"You know about young Petra, right?" The chief asked, causing Shadow to nod silently.

"She had an older sister. Her name is Celina. 5 years before you arrive in our village, Celina, Petra and their parents were spending vacation in The Watergate City Pristella, but when they came back, Celina was nowhere with them, so I know that it's a selfish request, but as you know, the capital knights completely ignored our request to search for Petra's missing sister, so I want to ask of you to look for her. I'm sorry that I'm asking of you so much, but you're the only one that will agree to help us" The chief finished his request to Shadow.

"I see. Very well. I accept" Shadow said immediately.

"I knew that you won't accept, considering all of those time you hel- Wait. What?" The chief was extremely shocked at Shadow's immediate positive reply.

"Well, I have nothing to do anyways, and I get the feeling that the capital is boring, especially with what you told me about it, chief. So I will be on it when I finish what I want to do in the capital" Shadow said, before he sheathed his sword in its scabbard, before placing it beside the bed in his room. He then looked at the chief in the eye.

"I want you to know that I promise that Celina's return will be Petra's birthday. So don't ruin the surprise, okay?" Shadow said, causing the village chief to smile gently.

"For all your cold nature, you are a kind individual, Shadow-dono" The chief said.

"Yeah. Whatever. Good Night" Shadow said, causing the chief to leave his room, and for Shadow to sit on his bed, deep in thought.

"Tomorrow is something new. It's no doubt that Exeller is behind my tail right now. I need to be careful, and find help while I can"

He then closed his eyes while lying on the bed. It's not like he needs human needs, like breathing, eating and resting. He just does that because he wants to have a peace of mind.

But that is also denied for him.

As in the moment after he closed his eyes...

"Shadow!"

"Hang in there!"

"Please, Mr. Shadow, Please don't die!"

"Tails! Help him!"

"I-I can't...I left my medical kit in the base! And even then, those wounds are lethal!"

"Very well! I will take him to a hospital now!"

"No...That will not do...They already shot my weakspots..."

"We don't know about that! Don't worry! I'm the Fastest Thing Alive! I can do that in no time!"

"Faker...Please...Enough..."

"..."

"Heroes can cry, y'know..."

"Gah!"

He opened his eyes, his eyes opened wide, gasping heavily for breath and sweating like a waterfall.

He placed his palm on his eye, gritting his teeth.

"I...I..."

He kept muttering to himself, trying to say anything to at least ease his own soul, only to fail miserably.

Clicking his tongue, he took his sword, fastened it to the left side of his waist, slung his jacket on, before taking off the house and Irlam Village while everyone else was asleep.

His past, present and future are already clashing.

But he is the Ultimate Life Form, and he will never let that bring him down.

The Next Day. Astrea Manor

"Hey, Red. Is it another patrol time?"

"Yes. You know me, Natsumi. I can never slack off of work. Besides, my captain used your presence with me to make me 'rest' from duty for 6 months"

As Reinhard answered Natsumi's question, he fastened the Dragon Sword Reid to the right side of his waist.

It has been a year ever since Natsumi's arrival in that other world, and lots of things had changed.

For starters, Natsumi knew how to control her weird ability. With it, she can manifest a cannon on her arm or both arms, manifest a smaller version of said cannon that can fire weaker shots but fire at a rapid pace, create blades of varying sizes out of wood sticks depending on the size of the stick, sickles, whips, bows with infinite arrows and chains, create any kind of torture tool out of her bodily fluids, control wires and give it any shape she wants.

Moving on to magic, thanks to Felix, she was able to successfully master Water Magic from the aspect of its healing attribute. She became so skilled in healing magic that she could rival Felix himself.

As for her Wind and Yang Magic affinities, all that she could say was...Felix was right.

A few days after her arrival to the Astrea Manor, she was introduced to Roswaal L Mathers, a clown-like pale man, who, in Natsumi own view, was rather creepy. Just being near him gives Natsumi chills down her spine.

Nevertheless, aside from his weird antic to stretch words in his speech, he happily agreed to teach Natsumi about her two affinities, and surprisingly, he was a good teacher. While Natsumi herself felt uncomfortable around boys that aren't Reinhard, Felix or Julius, she was still able to tolerate being trained by that unknown creepy looking man.

During the year she stayed in Lugunica, she met lots of people.

First, she met one of Reinhard's best friends beside Felix: Julius Juukulius, a knight among knights, and a gentleman beyond description.

If only she didn't have that trauma issue of hers, she would have had much better time communicating with him.

Next, she met the maids of the Margrave Mansion: Rem, Ram and Frederica Baumann. For both Rem and Ram, the twins were rather cold at first, but by time, they opened up to her, and while Ram was still a little cold and somewhat self-centered, convincing herself that she is cute, and that if she was more cuter the world would have been vaporized, she, alongside Rem, were still friendly towards Natsumi.

Frederica, on the other hand, was the easiest out of the maids to befriend. She was a rather easygoing person, who Natsumi realized that they both had lots of things in common. The most common thing was that they had brothers, but Frederica's own brother was a half sibling and he was younger, while Natsumi's brother was a twin.

It was safe to say that both Natsumi and Frederica got along very well, even to the extent that the latter taught the former about hand-to-hand combat.

After them came Beatrice, a 400 year old girl that looked like a 12 year old. She was rather impatient and tsundere, stealing away Natsumi's mana to make her go away, which knocked her out, but she forgave her anyways.

She still remember how Reinhard 'visited' the Margrave Mansion, and was going to make a serious problem if it wasn't for Natsumi calming him down.

Last, but not least came the duo of Emilia and Puck, an extremely beautiful, silver haired elf-human hybrid, whose beauty was something that was out of this world. She quickly became friends with Natsumi, rather quickly actually, especially after Puck, Emilia's contracted Spirit, approved of her.

Natsumi still remembers how she stroked his hair and how he cutely moaned when she pat his kitty fur over and over.

After them, Reinhard introduced Natsumi to the most important figures: The Royal Selection Candidates.

First was Anastasia Hoshin. And while she did look innocent and cute for a 15 year old girl, she was rather cunning and greedy. Natsumi remembers how she tried to steal information about the Emilia camp from her if it wasn't for Natsumi paying attention for her every single word. Natsumi, however enjoyed the company of her camp members, mostly with Mimi Pearlbaton and Ricardo Welkin.

Next came Priscilla Bareille. She was the absolute incarnation of pride and arrogance. This made her the most difficult person for Natsumi to interact with, as the blonde woman always said how the world and everyone in it was created solely for her pleasure. She didn't have trouble in talking with her young little servant Schult and her knight Al, who for his old age since he was in his 40s, he was a goofy man and would always joke about almost everything. She still wants to know what is behind that helmet, though.

But the one person who Natsumi truly enjoyed being in their company was the last Royal Candidate, Crusch Karsten.

She was delighted when she knew that Crusch was actually a warrior and had an army under her lead, even holding the title of 'Valkyrie'. Natsumi was extremely happy to see someone hold her own ideal about a woman being capable of fighting, and even holding weapons. And while Crusch found Natsumi to be awkward at first, she opened up to her eventually, and the two became good friends.

Crusch is still scared from Natsumi whenever she commented on her clothes, and pulled her to her 'Girls Dress Time'.

Another male that Natsumi opened up to was Wilhelm van Astrea, Reinhard's grandfather, a humble and respectful gentleman, who asked Natsumi to teach her about swordsmanship, to which Natsumi spent an entire year under his guidance and successfully mastered said art. While her style was not as elegant as people like Reinhard, Julius and Wilhelm, she was decent enough to impress said people.

The person that Natsumi personally hated the most was Heinkel Astrea, who happened to be Reinhard's father. The guy, just like those thugs that Natsumi met in her first day in this world, called her a brothel whore and hurdled Reinhard with insults and humiliated him several times with no reason.

It was Natsumi who acted as the rescue line for the young Sword Saint from his abusive father.

Speaking of both Reinhard and Natsumi, over the last year, the two grew fond of each other. It started as a friendship, and said relationship grew eventually by the day, until said relationship turned from friendship to love. Both became infatuated with each other, yet they were embarrassed to admit it in front of each other, much to Felix's amusement as he constantly teases them to enjoy the sight of the faces of his two friends being redder than Reinhard's hair.

It's obvious that both of them know that they are heads over heels for each other, but it seems that they were as cowards as chickens in that aspect.

And even Reinhard's captain, Marcos Gildark, was aware of this, and was taking an advantage of that, forcing Reinhard to sit 6 months from duty to rest himself as Reinhard, being Reinhard, was a workaholic, primarily due to wanting to be away from his father and his abusive nature.

In those 6 months, all of the previous stuff happened plus Reinhard training Natsumi as well.

Natsumi was taught the language of this world and Reinhard trained her in both armed and unarmed combat, and thanks to his Divine Protection of Limit Breaker, Natsumi was able to grow stronger than ever, only being bested by Reinhard himself.

Speaking of Divine Protections, During Reinhard's birthday, Natsumi made him a sword using her Rune Stone Skill that can withstand his technique The Astrea House Swordplay. Natsumi decided to give the sword a name: Zerofuku.

It was a beautiful double-edged sword, with a black blade, a white hilt and white, hexa-pronged flower-shaped guard with a red pearl-like jewel in the center of the guard.

Natsumi can never forget the tears that Reinhard shedded for the first time in his life when he received this gift.

Ever since then, Reinhard took extreme care of Natsumi, not letting her need anything. He exaggerated in his thanks to his captain, and his captain was both surprised and happy. Surprised because he has never seen Reinhard smile genuinely before, and happy because he never saw Reinhard smile from his heart like that before. And this was where Marcos used Natsumi to make Reinhard take a rest.

So, using his Divine Protection of Telepathy, Reinhard read Natsumi's mind without her knowing, in order to know her birthday, where when said day arrived, he gave her an irreplaceable gift that was as priceless as her gift to him: Divine Protections.

Yes. You heard it right. Divine Protections.

He gave her 4 of his most valuable Divine Protections: The Divine Protection of Magic Protection, which reduces 80% of the damage inflicted by all kinds of magic attacks, the Divine Protection of the Soul Reaper, which inflicts wounds that prevent cellular regeneration and cannot be healed by both normal methods and healing magic, the Divine Protection of the Phoenix, which resurrects her instantly in the moment of her death, and she is able to gain this Divine Protection infinitely no matter how many times she uses it, and the Divine Protection of Mind Changing, which allows its user to manipulate the minds of their victims.

According to Reinhard, this Divine Protection in particular is so dangerous that wars were made because of it.

Even so, Natsumi was so delighted by it, and due to her bright smile being directed towards him, Reinhard felt like he had a second birthday.

And after those 6 months, Reinhard was ready to re-enter duty... Or that's what he's saying to himself right now.

His captain has already told him to take a rest, but Reinhard, being the workaholic he is, decided to don his knight outfit, strap both of Reid and Zerofuku to the right side of his waist and go patrol the city.

"Do you really have to go?" Natsumi said puffing her cheeks in annoyance, and Reinhard's heart skipped beat at that moment. He quickly composed himself before replying.

"You can always come with, you know" Reinhard said, only to see a trail of smoke where Natsumi previously stood, and after a minute, Natsumi reappeared in a new outfit.

She was wearing the standard knight outfit, which consisted of a white trench coat, white pants, black shoes, and black gloves like that of Reinhard's. The only foreign piece of clothing was the black sports bra that held her ample D-cups breasts and had them covered, as she left her trench coat opened, leaving her refined and slightly muscular, yet slender abdomen bare to the world.

Reinhard had to catch his nose tightly with his fingers upon seeing this.

"W-Well. Are you ready? Let's go then" Reinhard said nervously, not waiting for a reply, before he, and a smiling Natsumi marched away from the Astrea Manor, heading towards the capital of Lugunica.

At the same time. Past the Augria Sand Dunes.

Subaru and Shaula, clad in brown cloaks with hoods, traveled past the sand desert after an hour had passed. The Mabeasts were extremely easy for both of them to overcome, as Subaru used them for his training regimen for an entire year, and Shaula was already used to hunting them down for food for around 400 years.

What was difficult was the defensive mechanism of the Watchtower called Sand Time, an invisible line of defense that twists and bends space, making it impossible to pass through towards the tower or to exit the vast desert if somehow they passed through it.

After an agonizing hour of sandstorms and annoying Mabeasts, Subaru managed to figure out a gap in the Sand Time, in the form of a rift that appears when a sandstorm appears, which allowed Subaru and Shaula to pass through the Sand Dunes, before successfully entering the city of Flanders, a city of merchants, something that proved to be beneficial, as Subaru managed to create potions in his time in the Pleadies Watchtower for curing Mana Poisoning in cases of people having Defective Gates, and potions for Gate Reparations in case of damaged Gates, since according to merchants, Water Magic users were extremely rare, even far more rare than Yin and Yang Magic users.

After making a huge amount of gold coins, Subaru decided to rent a cart to the capital of Lugunica, but no one wanted to transport both him and his companion there, mainly due to the fear they had from the terrorist group known as the Witch Cult.

When all hope seemed to be lost, Subaru stumbled upon one Otto Suwen, a 20 year old boy who suffered from the infamous massive plague called Bad Luck.

According to Otto, he was placed in a huge debt after he bought a massive amount of oil by borrowing a huge loan, where at that time, he made a terrible mistake when he thought that oil this year would make a huge sale, which was wrong for him, unfortunately.

To solve this problem, Subaru promised to buy all of the oil he had with twice the price he was going to sell it with, as well as protect the young merchant along the journey, which caused Otto to cry tears of joy while hugging Subaru tightly.

This scene reminded Subaru of a certain anime he watched of a certain useless water goddess who was so pathetic that the protagonist had to help her out of pity.

Moving on, Otto agreed to transport them to the capital of Lugunica, which would take them a few hours when on cart.

And so, they begun their journey.

"Say, Natsuki-san. This is the first time I see someone as unique as you. I mean, with your white hair and stuff. Where are you from?" Otto asked while driving his Earth Dragon, with Subaru and Shaula being seated in the cart behind him.

"Well, Shaula and I spent a great deal of our lives in the Pleadies Watchtower" Subaru answered.

"That place where the Great Sage is residing?! Seriously?! And did you meet him?!" Otto asked once again, shock and excitement clearly apparent on his face. Subaru was about to open his mouth to speak, only for Shaula to interrupt.

"Duh! We didn't meet him!" Shaula exclaimed.

"Huh? But you said that you were in the Watchtower. So you must have met the Sage" Otto said, confused from Shaula's reply.

"We didn't meet him because Master here is the S--OW!" Shaula was about to make a bomb drop statement, only for Subaru to pinch her cheek and pull her towards him, causing comical tears to form in the corner of Shaula's eyes while her eyes where comically closed shut from the pain on her cheek.

"Oh don't mind her. She's just a klutz. The point is that we didn't meet the Great Sage because he wasn't there apparently, since when we arrived in the Pleadies Watchtower, no one was there to be found. The tower was vacant, and no signs of life were apparent" Subaru said.

"But how did you pass through the Augria Sand Dunes, let alone enter the Watchtower? I heard that not even the Sword Saint was able to reach the Watchtower" Otto said.

"Say, why did that Sword Saint wanted to reach the Pleadies Watchtower?" Subaru asked Otto.

"As far as I know, the Royal Family ruling the Empire of Lugunica was plagued by some unknown disease, which had absolutely no cure. So the Sage Council sent the Sword Saint to the Pleadies Watchtower to reach the assistance of the Great Sage Shaula to help them in finding a cure for this disease" Otto answered, confusing Subaru when he heard Shaula being addressed as the Sage.

"Hey! That's wrong! Master is the S--OW!" Shaula was about to run her mouth once again, only for Subaru to pinch her still sore cheek once again, stopping her.

"And what happened after that?" Subaru asked, urging Otto to continue talking.

"After that, the Sage Council was announced officially as the temporary de-facto ruler of the Lugunican Empire, before being presented to the Royal Selection Candidates. By so far, the Valkyrie, Crusch Karsten, The manager of the Hoshin Trading Company, Anastasia Hoshin, the Lucky Prideful Mistress, Priscilla Bareille, and the silver-haired Half-Elf, Emilia, are the currently known candidates fit to become the 42nd King of Lugunica. Depending on their achievements in 3 years from now, one Dragon Maiden will be chosen to be the next King of the Imperial Capital. And the winner of the Royal Selection will be given the Dragon Blood, which is said to be capable of doing miracles. That's all I know" Otto finished his explanation for Subaru, who was immersed in his thoughts.

He then closed his right eye, and activated Royal Judge, causing time around the world to freeze around Subaru and for his left eye to became bleached white.

Let's see. A battle between 4 chicks for a throne of a discrimination-plagued country, and the blood of the blue lizard located inside the highest floor of the tower that I had just left, which apparently have some sort of an omnipotent ability. I haven't met the dragon due to not taking the trials, because if I did, I would have been stuck in there until I finish the 3 trials, which would be troublesome considering the fact that I have to know more about this world and even search for Natsumi since it's possible that she was teleported with me. Anyways, there is something that doesn't add up to what I have heard from that merchant just now...

Subaru deactivated Royal Judge, and time resumed from its halt, with his left eye returning to its normal color.

"Hey, Otto. You said that the winner of the Royal Selection will receive the Dragon's blood, correct?" Subaru asked the gray haired merchant.

"Yes. That's correct" Otto confirmed Subaru's statement.

"To begin with, how will the dragon give the winner it's blood?" Subaru asked.

"Well, the dragon gives its blood to anyone that succeeds the throne of Lugunica through the Covenant it established with the Royal Family 400 years ago. Some sort of a barrier was created around the country, which would alert the Divine Dragon that a ruler was appointed to Lugunica, which will make it fly to the capital to give its blood to the successor of the throne" Otto answered.

"So, the Covenant was created 400 years ago, when the Royal Family was still alive?" Subaru asked.

"Yes. It was created by lord Farsale Lugunica" Otto answered.

"And you said that the Dragon blood could make miracles?" Subaru asked again.

"Yes. I believe I said so" Otto answered, clearly confused by the chains of questions fired at him.

"Huh. Strange..." Subaru muttered under his breath, but Otto was able to hear it.

"What's strange, Natsuki-san?" Otto asked, confusion and curiosity completely eating him.

"If the Covenant for the Dragon Blood was established between both the Dragon and the Royal Family for 400 years and up until now, and the blood is said to be an omnipotent source of power, then why didn't the Royal Family use it to cure themselves from that unknown disease?" Subaru asked.

And just as he finished asking that question, Subaru and Shaula nearly flew out of the cart when Otto pulled the reins of the Earth Dragon he was riding, halting the cart from its travel course.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Subaru asked, but he received no reply.

The only thing that he received was the silent, shocked expression from Otto, who silently stared at him in utter disbelief, not even blinking his eyes.

It seems that Subaru's statement had an extremely dangerous stupifying effect on him.

"Natsuki-san... That's...I myself never thought about that..." Otto was clearly shocked.

"Uh...Well...Think about it. If the blood was still there 400 years ago in the kingdom, the Royal Family would have still reigned the country up till now. It's either that, or the blood no longer has this so called miracle making powers. I'm not sure about it. It's still a theory in my head" Subaru said.

"Mhmm! Master is so smart! Master is a genius!" Shaula exclaimed, praising the white haired teenager.

"N...Natsuki-san..." Otto whispered, with Subaru noticing that his tone was fearful. Shaula was also tense, and had a serious look on her face while looking in front of her.

Seeing this, Subaru looked in front of him, and a second later, he understood the reason behind the firm looks of his companions.

Right in front of the traveling trio was a group consisting of 11 individuals, all masked with cone-shaped hoods that only showed glaring crimson glowing eyes. All were hooded, except for the figure standing in the center.

It was a male, and an extremely pale one at that, with grey wide eyes that held a twinkle of madness in them, bowl cut shaped green hair, and pearly white teeth. His cheeks were gaunt and the skin on his bones was unusually thin. His complexion and lips, mirroring the rest of his figure, were deathly pale and had a sickly green-tint to them.

His outfit consisted of a clerical cassock that had a green stripe down the front and baggy sleeves with peach-coloured frills. Over the top of hiscassock, he wore a purple cloak with an upturned collar, red seams, and pinkish interior. The cloak had a hood attached to it. The outfit was completed with crimson red, teardrop-shaped earrings, and a purple zucchetto with a grey ring around its edge rested atop his head.

He smelled like trouble. In fact, Subaru, due to all of his senses being sharpened after a year of training in a Mabeasts-infested dessert, can feel a repugnant stench coming out from that man.

"So, this is Pride...? How...?" The green haired man asked, staring wide-eyed with a stupefied expression, peering into Subaru and his two companions. Subaru and Otto were sweating bullets, with the latter shaking uncontrollably and Subaru gritting his teeth as he felt the killing intent seeping from the green haired figure in front of them.

Even Shaula was entering a fighting stance, but this was mostly because she wanted to protect Subaru from any harm.

Subaru himself knew that he was strong. The problem was that he was never in a real fight to the death. He was indeed fighting bloodlusted colossal Mabeasts in the Augria Sand Dunes, and Shaula was his sparring partner, but he never fought a real person, so he wasn't sure himself.

"You...You...You..."

The green haired man whispered, but it was loud enough for the traveling trio to hear.

"You. You. You"

His voice slightly became louder.

"You! You! You!"

His voice became even louder.

"YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

He then screamed, throwing spit from his mouth. Subaru flinched at this, while Otto hurriedly jumped to the back of the cart, with Shaula hopping outside the cart. Subaru slowly following her.

"You! How?! Just how?! Taking her love, yet you're not thankful! This is just SLOTHFUL! You're not diligent! How someone like you is Pride?! This is just SLOTHFUL! SLOTHFUL! SLOTHFUL! Unacceptable! Putrid! You need to be cleansed! It's for her love! Love! Love! Love! Love! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! HER LOVE! THE WITCH'S LOVE! I CAN FEEL IT! AH, MY BRAIN TREMBLES!"

The man suddenly started to rant and his sound volume was raised by the second. Subaru gasped in shock when he saw the man tear his hair off, slam his head with a small black book so hard that it bled, bite on both his hands so hard that his fingers let out a sickening crack sound that caused both Subaru and Otto to cringe at the sound.

Silently, Subaru slipped a hand to the small Store Space he secretly conjured behind his back, pulling out a dagger that was light grey from handle to blade, with it's blade being similar to that of a kukri blade, taking a curve shape from the central back of the blade. The guard was circular, with five spikes emerging from it, with the uppermost spike being the tallest, taking a curve that acts as some form of a pseudo protection for the hilt, which was wrapped in bandages.

His first dagger, Dark Elf, was shown in the battlefield, and it's time to flash it in front of his first intelligent opponent... Or his insane opponent in this case.

"The Gospel told me to bring Pride safely to the Witch Cult, but it seems that Pride isn't diligent enough by refusing the massive amounts of love she has given him. Unacceptable! Unforgivable! Unforgettable!" The green haired man yelled those words, before hundreds of arms started appearing behind him. Said arms were so long and it looked like tendrils with their length and motion. Subaru tensed at this, tightly gripping Dark Elf in his hands.

"Shaula, get ready to spring into action at any moment" He whispered to his companion, causing her to nod while not yanking her eyes off the weird men.

"Who the hell are you?" Subaru asked, causing the man to gasp in horror, before he took his Gospel and slammed his head into it repeatedly, causing more blood to burst from his forehead.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Forgive this miserable person for his slothfulness! I forgot to introduce myself!" The man yelled manically before he bowed down his upper body so hard that Subaru could hear the sound of his waist breaking, and could see his forehead slamming into the ground, drawing even more blood. He then stood up straight, staring at Subaru.

"I'm the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Sloth, Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti! DESU!" He yelled his introduction, before tilting his head to his left side, so much that the bones of his neck was snapped horribly. Despite that, he seemed very alive to Subaru.

"I'm a rather diligent man, so I will give you a trial to prove yourself. Be prepared, Pride! This is a trial to test your diligence! To test how much love you have for her compared to the love she has given to you! DESU!"

[Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R OST - Keep The Flag Flying]

Upon exclaiming this, Petelgeuse's arms shot towards both Subaru and Shaula, causing both of them to jump to opposite directions. Subaru jumping to the left, while Shaula jumping to the right. Subaru then extended his free left hand towards Petelgeuse, causing 30 purple colored crystal stakes to appear instantly around Subaru.

"Minya!" He exclaimed, before the stakes shot themselves towards Petelgeuse and his men. The stakes managed to hit 5 of the men, turning them to purple crystal statues before they instantly shattered. Petelgeuse himself was able to defend himself using his dark purple arms. He then shot 10 arms towards Subaru, who, upon seeing this, closed his eyes, seeing the two lines of his Pride Authority. The Line of Intelligence, and The Line of Power. He then focused on the line that radiated power from it, and then snapped his eyes open.

At that same exact time, the ghostly arms slammed themselves into Subaru's body...

"What...?"

... Only to be halted by some sort of invisible force engulfing Subaru.

To Petelgeuse, it felt like Subaru was impossible to touch, even with his arms that can phase through anything.

Looking closely, he saw yellow sparks cracking all around Subaru's body. The mad Archbishop then tried to slam even more arms. 20, 30, 50, 80, 100, 200, 300, but to no avail. No matter how many arms he use, he was unable to penetrate Subaru's defense.

This was the ultimate defense. The impenetrable shield of the Authority of Pride: The Mediator.

Taking the chance of Petelgeuse's rampage, Shaula pointed her finger towards the Sin Archbishop and his lackeys.

"Hell Snipe!" She called out, before white needles of illuminating light shot forward, surpassing the speed of light itself, and shooting towards Petelgeuse, who noticed this, and used 4 of his arms to pull 4 of his followers to use them as a shield.

The next thing that happened was a flash of light, and then the flash faded, revealing 4 piles of ashes in front of Petelgeuse's legs.

Petelgeuse followed by lashing 20 more arms at Shaula, to which the woman barely dodged. Subaru noticed that Shaula was looking around her, trying to find the source of the attacks. That's when Subaru realized.

Those arms of Petelgeuse are invisible, and Subaru was the only who can see them...Somehow.

Seeing this, Subaru activated Royal Judge, and concentrated his white eye at Petelgeuse.

[Name: Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti]

[Type: Living]

[Age: 402]

[Classification: Quasi Earth Spirit]

[Explanation: A 402 year old humanoid miniature Earth Spirit, who was originally kind and calm, but went insane after accidentally killing his loved one during a fight between the Sin Archbishop of Greed and the Witch of Vainglory, and was forced to absorb the Witch Factor of Sloth to fight with them, but failed, with casualties being his insanity and his loved one. He became the most active Archbishop in the Witch Cult]

[Special Abilities]

[Authority of Sloth]

- Unseen Hand: The user can conjure multiple forcefields in the shape of a hand. Said forcefields are invisible and intangible, and can phase through living and nonliving organisms. The current holder of the Witch Factor of Sloth can conjure up to 300 arms, with said arms being able to combine to form larger arms.

[Magic]

- Earth (High):

* Ul Dona: A spell that allows its user to conjure a dome of Earth around them for protection.

Subaru's Royal Judge was deactivated, allowing time to return to its flow.

"I see. It makes sense" Subaru muttered, dodging another arm. He then focused mana in his palm, causing a ball of blue lightning to form in his hand.

"Chain Lightning"

The ball of lightning blasted dozens of lightning bolts from Subaru's palm, running towards Petelgeuse, who conjured all of his invisible arms in front of him as a shield, blocking the bolts of lightning from harming him.

"Shaula! Now!"

Subaru yelled his command at Shaula, who charged at Petelgeuse and delivered a kick to his invisible forcefield, before Subaru charged towards Petelgeuse, his right arm encased with bright yellow sulfur armor, with five spikes located in his knuckle area.

"Brimstone Gauntlet"

Subaru threw his fist at the forcefield. The moment it touched them, the hands around Petelgeuse corroded at a fast pace, causing Petelgeuse to gasp in shock, before he coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Looking down, he saw that Subaru's Dark Elf was stabbing his abdomen.

"Y-You..." The crazy spirit gasped out, before he saw Shaula's arm raised above her head, with said limb turning into a massive yellowish orange scorpion claw.

And before he could do anything, Shaula swung the claw down, tearing Petelgeuse in half, with his upper half flying to the air, before landing with a soft thud on the dry ground, a pool of blood forming soon afterwards underneath his torn upper torso.

"Whoa! As expected of Master!" Shaula exclaimed in delight at Subaru's tactics.

Subaru, on the other hand, was thinking of something else.

He... Wasn't freaking out at all.

It was normal of anyone to panic when seeing a dead body, and especially one that is gored out. Subaru, however, he didn't feel anything. It was as if it became a second nature to him.

"Master!"

Subaru was then tackled to the ground by Shaula, who managed to avoid an invisible force that caused a giant crater where Subaru previously stood.

Looking at its source, Subaru realized what it was.

It was the last living figure of the 10 individuals that were with Petelgeuse: A short young woman with short red hair and freckles.

"I see. You are diligent alright, but! But! BUT! I'M EVEN MORE DILIGENT, DESU! I HOLD LOVE EVEN MORE THAN YOU! THAT'S RIGHT! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! AHHHH!!!! MY BRAIN TREMBLES! THIS OVERFLOWING LOVE INVADING MY SOUL! I SHALL USE THE POWER OF LOVE TO DESTROY YOUR PRIDE, DESU!" The woman exclaimed manically.

It didn't take a wiser to realize that this woman was actually Petelgeuse.

"Soul Transcription..." Subaru muttered.

That's right. He read something like that. Some Spirits have the ability to possess others, and it depends on the compatibility of the body they possess, and if the body dies while the soul of the Spirit is still in it, the Spirit too will cease to exist and perish alongside the body it was in.

So that's why those people were with Petelgeuse. It's a good thing that they were killed, except for the one that is acting right now.

"You're a unique foe, I have to admit. Seems like I have to show off more of my most unique abilities" Subaru said, before he concentrated both Fire and Earth Mana around him, before the Earth around him shook, and hundreds of giant yellow cubes emerged from the ground around him, levitating silently.

This scene caused Otto to gasp in disbelief, and even the crazed Petelgeuse was displaying fear on his face.

"Ul Dona!"

Without even thinking about it twice, Petelgeuse called forth a giant dome of Earth around him, isolating him from the outside world. Subaru, seeing this, just smirked, before pointing his arm towards his target.

"Sulfur Strike"

The moment he whispered this, the sulfur cubes shot at neck breaking speeds towards the dome of dirt. The first cube caused an explosion upon it's contact with dome, before Petelgeuse's screams and wails of agony and pain were echoing throughout the Lifaus Highway as the sulfur cubes bombarded him mercilessly. The relentless barrage of the sulfur cubes lasted for approximately a minute, causing a large smokescreen to engulf where Petelgeuse was. Subaru simply pointed an opened palm towards the smokescreen and called out.

"Fura"

Muttering out, Subaru unleashed a small, but violent gust of wind that blew away the smoke in a second, revealing a gruesome sight.

The body of the woman Petelgeuse possessed was shredded to countless pieces. Limbs, flesh pieces, fingers, toes, nails, hair, intestines, inner organs, teeth, eyes, bones, ribs, blood, brain and brain matter were all scattered all around the ground, tainting it in a mixture of grey, red and pink color.

In short, the scene was a rip off the Pupa anime show, but surprisingly, Subaru wasn't fazed at all. He simply just stood there looking at the mess he had caused, yet it felt like the norm to him, nothing unusual.

Even when he heard the sounds of Otto throwing up his entire lunch, he didn't even flinch.

Suddenly, Subaru gasped and fell to his knees, causing Shaula to instantly arrive to his side.

"Master! Are you alright?!" Shaula asked, concern plastered all over her face.

Subaru, however, couldn't even hear a single word of what Shaula was saying. He felt something invading him, something trying to take control of his consciousness, something that tried to eat away his own existence from the inside.

It was then when darkness instantly engulfed his vision.

Black was the only color Subaru Natsuki could see.

Unknown Location

Black.

Silence.

Confusion.

Those were the things that Subaru could feel.

He saw Petelgeuse, staring in front of him. Subaru followed his sight target, only to see another figure.

It was a completely weird figure, clad in a veil of darkness, with a black dress as black as the night sky, maybe even blacker. She had yellow roses adorning her black dress and nothing was shown of her face, save for the lower part of her face, which only showed her mouth and porcelain white skin.

At that moment, the mysterious figure walked towards Petelgeuse, who was crying hysterically.

"Oh Satella! Oh my fair Witch! You're gracing my with your love! This is true love! My diligence all of those years is rewarded with your mere existence! Please give me your love! Satella!" Petelgeuse's crazy ramble was slightly lower in its volume. The figure, now known as Satella, approached the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, with black tendril-like arms extending from her black dress. The arms then reached towards Petelgeuse, who in response, extended his own hands towards her.

And at that moment...

"Ah..."

"..."

Satella's shadow arms phased through Petelgeuse, with Petelgeuse standing paralyzed, waiting for response.

"No... You're not him..."

The sweet, angelic sound that resembled melody bells rang, but along with it came a sense of dread, fear, and killing intent.

And before anyone could know what actually happened, a shadow tendril swayed around like a whip, before it slammed Petelgeuse away, who was sent flying in the infinite void of nothingness, before he vanished in the vast blackness, leaving only Subaru and Satella in the void.

Satella then tilted her head slightly and slowly, directing her stare towards Subaru.

And at that moment, Subaru felt massive emotions spiraling inside of him when he looked at the slowly approaching figure of the Witch.

Sloth, because he can't afford looking for someone other than her.

Pride, because he was proud being in front of her.

Greed, because he wanted even more of her.

Wrath, because he can't stand seeing her taken away from him.

Gluttony, because he can't get enough of her.

Lust, because he wanted more than just looking at her.

Melancholy, because he imagined the despair of the thought of being away from her.

Vainglory, because he felt that he may fail in being beside her.

And finally...

"I Love You"

...Envy, because he was jealous of seeing her with anyone other than him.

When those emotions kicked in, Subaru realized that he was missing somethings.

And he needed them.

Eyes, to see her.

Ears, to hear her.

Hands, to feel her.

Arms, to embrace her.

Mouth, to speak to her.

Legs, to run to her.

Face, to be seen by her.

Hair, to be caressed by her.

And finally...

"I Love You"

...Lips, to kiss her.

"I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You. I Love You"

Her declaration of love to Subaru didn't stop, as she slowly approached him slowly, walking in a straight line towards him.

He wanted to shun her away, but he didn't want to.

He wanted to tell her to stop, but he didn't want to.

Duality played Dice Roll with his mind, and he couldn't stop it.

The figure embraced him with her slender white hands. A touch that felt as if it was heaven giving Subaru a blessing, but at the same time, coldness that made him feel as if he suddenly entered the freezing infinite depths of hell.

And yet, in her embrace, he felt...Safe.

She then went close to him, embracing his non-existent form with her cold and slender body, closing the distance between her lips and his non-existent right ear. She parted her lips, making his non-existent face, feel the cold breath coming out of her mouth, causing his non-existent torso to shiver from the freezing sensation, and for his non-existent arms and legs to shake uncontrollably.

And with the same melody bells-like voice, she said her former phrase, but to Subaru, it felt like it held even more genuine emotion.

"I Love You"

The next thing Subaru knew, The darkness he was in vanished, sucking him into another kind of darkness, with the woman embracing him disappearing as she never existed.

A moment later, his eyes were forcibly opened to the blinding light of the sun.

[Music Ends]

Lifaus Highway

"Master!"

Gasping for breath, Subaru snapped his eyes open, greeted with both the sunlight and Shaula's tearful face. The scorpion girl then engulfed the white haired teen in a bone crushing hug.

"Master! You're okay! Shaula was worried because you didn't speak a word! Uwaahhh!" Shaula cried her eyes out at Subaru's jacket, who, upon realizing that Shaula was actually crying, smiled gently and hugged her back with one arm, and patted her head with the other.

"It's okay, Shaula. I'm alright" Subaru said trying to calm his companion down.

"P-Please Master! Please never Shaula alone again!" Shaula exclaimed while soaking Subaru's jacket with her tears.

"Don't worry. I will never leave you alone" Subaru said, while looking at the two mangled corpses of the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, taking note of a small black book that fell out of the ropes of the green haired corpse. He then extended his hand to grasp the small book, with the other arm hugging Shaula back.

"This must be the so called Gospel..." He muttered, before sighing, then pocketing it in his jacket.

"No use thinking about it now. We have just made it out of a fight to the death. I'll check it later..." He muttered again.

He then waited for her to calm down, which took a time worth of a full 15 minutes, and afterwards, both Subaru and Shaula walked towards the cart silently, but with Shaula sticking to Subaru like glue. Otto then came out from his hiding spot the moment both Subaru and Shaula entered the cart.

"Wow! Natsuki-san! You and Shaula-san are very strong!" Otto exclaimed in awe.

"Yup Yup! Master is super duper strong!" Shaula puffed her chest while throwing praises at Subaru.

"Nobody uses 'duper' anymore..." Subaru sweat dropped at Shaula's words.

After saying that, Otto immediately sat on the coucher seat, before whipping the reins on his Earth Dragon, causing it to run. They then continued their journey to Lugunica. Subaru noticed that Shaula was looking with a genuine smile on her face in front of her, which caused Subaru to follow her line of sight, only for his own line of sight to land at a massive oversized tree that was located in the middle of the Lifaus Highway. The tree itself pierced through the clouds, causing its green portions, if it had them to begin with, to be hidden behind the massive white blanket covering this planet.

"This is the Flugel Tree. Master and I planted it 400 years ago. We both wrote our names on it" Shaula said smiling gently while looking at the tree. Subaru himself smiled at the sight of the scorpion girl smiling like a woman in love. He then sat beside her at the edge of the cart, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her in an one arm hug, causing Shaula to blush brightly.

"M-Master! We can't do that here!" Shaula panicked at Subaru's touch, to which it made him chuckle and caused him to flick her nose with his finger, which made the scorpion girl cover her nose and pout cutely.

"I like it when you're acting like a good girl" Subaru said, which made Shaula's expression brighten instantly, before she let herself get embraced by Subaru.

"Please Master. Never leave Shaula...alone...again... Zzzzzz..."

And before Subaru himself could know it, Shaula fell asleep in his arms instantly.

Looking back at what she told him about her past, he asked himself two questions.

"What have you been through...?"

And...

"Who...Am I?"

Suddenly, he heard something from the distance, which snapped him from his thoughts, causing him to look in front of him, only to gasp in shock.

"What the fuck?! Isn't that guy supposed to be dead?!"

Right in front of him was a disgusting eldritch abomination that resembled an oversized spider with massive dark purple arms. But judging from the green hair and pale face of the 'spider', it was no doubt.

That thing was Petelgeuse.

"What the hell..." He muttered, placing Shaula inside the cart, and laying a blanket on her body to cover her. She was sleeping soundly already, but it was a surprise that she didn't wake up from the rampaging creature running towards them.

"Natsuki-san, what's wrong?" Otto asked, looking in front of him at the road.

"Just...Drive faster" Subaru said, rubbing his temples with his fingers, before taking a box of the oil that Otto had in his cart, grabbing two jars of said liquid just as Petelgeuse used his hands to hold onto the back of the cart, causing it to shake. Subaru looked behind him, only to see that Shaula was still sleeping peacefully, with a smile on her face.

"Mmm...Master...Be gentle... You're gonna break me..." She muttered, which caused Subaru to sweat drop at this.

"What the hell are you dreaming about...?" Subaru muttered under his breath.

"W-What's going on?!" Otto asked.

"Don't look behind you" Subaru simply answered. Otto, however, didn't obey, and looked behind him at the source of the noise.

"LOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Petelgeuse's grostque form yelled.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Otto screamed so hard, Subaru felt that he was traveling with two girls.

"I told you not to look behind you" Subaru said calmly, slightly annoyed at Otto's disobedience.

Brushing that off, Subaru threw the two jars of oil at Petelgeuse, covering him with oil, but the eldritch abomination didn't even react to neither the glass shattering on his face, nor the oil soaking his face and the apparent whites of his eyes.

Subaru, in response, began to throw all the jars of oil that were in the box in front of him at Petelgeuse, and when he was out of oil, he stood straight, took a deep breath, and aimed his finger at Petelgeuse in the shape of a gun, as magic started swirling around his wrist.

"Goa" He whispered before shooting a blazing fireball at Petelgeuse. The moment the fireball made contact with the oil soaked Sin Archbishop, his gigantic form was encased in flames, but he still grasped at the sides of the cart with his dark purple arms that were invisible to all but Subaru's eyes.

"NO! I CAN'T LOSE! IT'S FOR HER LOVE! IT'S NOT OVER YET!" Petelgeuse yelled, which in turn caused Subaru to take out the Gospel from his jacket pocket, before biting his thumb, causing it to draw blood.

"No, Petelgeuse! It's over for you..."

He then opened the small book, and whipped his blood soaked thumb at one of its blank pages, before showing it to Petelgeuse.

"...You...Are Finished!"

And upon seeing the Lugunican handwriting of the word 'Fin', Petelgeuse stiffened, before his ghostly arms slipped their grip from the sides of the cart, causing the eldritch abomination to trip, before his entire body got stuck under the wheels of the cart that was moving faster than the speed of sound, causing Petelgeuse to enter the process of being turned to 'Beetle Juice'.

"SUBARU NATSUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Yelling the name of his nemesis, Petelgeuse, in a desperate attempt, forced an Unseen Hand to charge at Subaru, who stood still, unmoving and unrelenting, to skewer him and at least take him down with him...

"Game...Over"

...But his attempts were futile, as Petelgeuse's entire body got completely crushed, causing the Unseen Hand to vanish instantly before it was inches from reaching Subaru.

Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti, The Sin Archbishop of Sloth, has met his end at the hands of a measly human.

"In the end...You were so slothful..."

As Subaru muttered this while still standing inside the cart that was moving at top speed, the cart resumed its journey to the country of Lugunica.

This time, without anyone chasing them.

At the same time. The capital of Lugunica

Shadow sighed for what seemed like 15th time this day...No, this hour.

Apparently, whether anyone saw him thought of him as a weird guy, presumably due to his clothes.

Well, he more or less expected that, in such a primitive world where technology is null. So stuff like modern clothes were considered something arcane to people in the world.

He just shrugged this off. It wasn't his business.

While walking, however, he passed two humans who appeared to be a couple. The brown haired girl had a familiar sense of energy, but the red haired man...He had...

"This power...It rivals that of a Second-Class Highest...! But...That sword...It holds the undisputed might of a First-Class...!"

As they were passing each other, time seemed to slow down, as both Shadow and Reinhard had shocked looks on their faces, having felt the energy from one another.

And in the next instant, time resumed its flow, and both Shadow and Reinhard spun on their heels, looking at each other.

"Red? What's wrong?" Natsumi asked in confusion, only to gasp in shock an surprise upon witnessing a familiar style of clothing from her own world.

"Who...Are you?" Reinhard simply asked, not taking his eyes off the Sword Saint.

"I could ask you the same...Reinhard van Astrea" Shadow shot back.

The two stared at each other silently, not even blinking. Reinhard tried to use his Divine Protection of Judgement to read Shadow's mind, but he suddenly felt like a wall of steel appeared instantly in front of him.

Flaming red hair, alongside a sword with a radiant power despite not being drawn.

Without a doubt, that was the Sword Saint, Reinhard van Astrea.

"You're a rather interesting fellow, Reinhard van Astrea" Shadow said.

"You haven't answered my question. Who are you?" Reinhard asked, his hand unconsciously moving to both Reid and Zerofuku, intending to draw both swords at anytime.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" Shadow said calmly, before realizing that he was releasing an intimidating aura from his body, to which Reinhard was countering with his own, causing people around them to fall to their knees, vomiting on the ground. Some even fell unconscious from the overwhelming intents.

"Why don't we lower the murderous intent? People are falling around us" Shadow said, to which Reinhard gasped upon looking around him, before calming himself down, dispelling the aura of intimidation.

Luckily, Natsumi was trained by Reinhard to resist that kind of aura, so she didn't faint.

"Now can you t--"

"Chaos Control"

And before Reinhard could ask him, a teal blue dome erupted instantly from Shadow, causing everything to turn in the same color and become suspended in time, even both Reinhard and Natsumi were stopped in time.

"I don't have time for you, Sword Saint...At least not now" Shadow said, before he disappeared in a flicker-like manner, causing time to resume its flow.

Both of Reinhard and Natsumi blinked at this.

"What just happened?" Natsumi asked, confusion filling up her face.

"I...Really have no idea..." Reinhard said, the same expression plastered on his face. Natsumi then gasped, before pulling on Reinhard's arm.

"We're gonna be late to the Knight's meeting in the Sage Council Court. Let's go!" Natsumi exclaimed, her ponytail hair swayed in the air, causing bright colors to appear all around Reinhard's view, with Natsumi being the central emitter of said colors.

This made Reinhard's heart skip a beat, and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Sure. Let's" He said, letting Natsumi drag him forward to their destination.

All the while, he was thinking of one thing.

"This girl...My heart..."

The sun shone brightly, illuminating Natsumi's bright smile.

In Reinhard's view, she looked like an angel.

"...She stole it"

A few minutes later. With Subaru.

"Alright. We're here. In the capital of Lugunica"

"Huh. Sure is lively here"

"Wow~! Lots of people~!"

As Otto announced their arrival to Lugunica, Subaru threw his amusement in seeing population for the first time ever since a year worth of time after he arrived in this world, and Shaula showed the excitement of a child who had a new toy for her birthday on her charming face.

"Alright. As we promised. Here" Subaru said to Otto, before giving him a huge bag full of golden coins, with Otto drooling like a drunkard in front of a beer jar. He then snatched the gold, hugging the bag like a man in bed with his lover.

"Master. What is the whiny coucher doing?" Shaula asked in confusion.

"Shaula. This is the kind of man that will never have a girlfriend" Subaru answered.

"Please don't say that! I already have enough trouble in my plate!" Otto exclaimed with a comical tearful expression.

"Anyways, I think this is goodbye. You helped us a lot, Otto. Farewell. Let's go, Shaula" Subaru quickly said his farewells to Otto, before turning tails and heading towards the capital city.

"Wait Wait Wait Wait! Wasn't that a little too hasty of a goodbye?!" Otto yelled his question, stopping both the white haired youth and his scorpion girl companion.

"Huh? What is it?" Subaru asked.

"Umm...Well, there is a slight problem..." Otto said with a nervous chuckle on his face.

"Oh. You want more money? Sure. You have seen a lot with us" Subaru said, reaching for his Store Space to get another bag of money, only to be stopped by Otto, who placed his hand right in front of Subaru.

"No. It's not it. I need another service of you" Otto said, causing Subaru to blink in confusion.

"Uhh...Sure. Say what you want" Subaru said.

"Well, since we have arrived at Lugunica, I wish to have an audience with the Margrave Roswaal L Mathers, the kingdom's greatest magician. So I was wondering if you can help me" Otto said.

"Well, I'm not sure how can I help you in that, but I'll see what I can do" Subaru said.

"Oh Thank you, Natsuki-san! You won't regret it, I swear!" Otto said, crying comical tears.

"Why do I feel like I'm gonna regret it already...?" Subaru muttered aloud.

"Can you please not voice your opinions out loud like that?! Also, have faith in me! I won't do anything stupid!" Otto cried out comically.

"Very well, but stay close, since we don't want anything to happen to you" Subaru said.

"Yup Yup! Since you are our valuable source of info! And if we lost you, we might get lost in this capital~!" Shaula exclaimed with a bright smile on her face.

"Can you please stop making me look like a one time only disposable with that innocent childlike smile on your face?!" Otto screeched.

"Quit whining. People are already staring at us" Subaru said, noticing the awkward stares from the people around him. Concentrating even more on the line of sight of the humans and demi-humans around him, Subaru realized what the people were staring at.

They were staring at Shaula's barely covered form.

The fact that the scorpion girl wore nothing but a bra and extremely short...err...shorts, was actually quite the catch for the eye, especially for males, as the majority of the people that stared at Shaula were men.

"Let's go, you two" Subaru, already irritated by the fact that people were staring at his sister figure, dragged both Otto and Shaula away with him, before stopping in a narrow alley.

"Otto, we need information. I want you to find us a place where we can sell the goods that we have" Subaru said.

"Uhh...Excuse me, Natsuki-san, but what are you and Shaula-san are going to do?" Otto asked.

"We're going to find a nice place for the both of us to drink some tea while you are working your ass off to us" Subaru answered.

"Isn't that too harsh?! Even for someone like me?! Also, why are you treating me like your slave?!" Otto screeched, to which Subaru huffed arrogantly, albeit in a comical manner.

"Go away, Servant. Shoo shoo" Subaru said while waving his hand in mock dismissal.

"Please stop treating me like a disposable item!" Otto yelled once again, before sighing in submission shortly afterwards, and then he exited the alley, before taking a left turn disappearing from Subaru's sight.

"Alright. Let's take a seat here, Shaula" Subaru said, before sitting on the stairs of the narrow alley, with Shaula following suit. Subaru then took out a book from his Store Space, with the book having a title on it.

My Diary.

Out of all the books Subaru saw and read back in the Watchtower, this one was extremely mysterious and interesting, and even after learning how to read this world's language, Subaru placed this book for later, considering its rather unique title. Judging by its title, it appeared to be the diary of the former inhabitant of the Pleadies Watchtower, the one that was with Shaula 400 years ago, which Shaula mistook for Subaru for some weird reason, like him 'smelling of her Master'.

It was rather awkward, but he just decided to go along with it until he figures out what was going on.

He then opened the book, then started to read.

Day 1.

It has been 3 months ever since my arrival to this world.

I was shocked to see the same scenery as that of a fantasy world. Human-Animal Hybrids, Giant Lizards, Dragons, Knights, Beasts, and so on.

Even Magic was common thing in this world.

But what stood out the most was one thing in particular: Witches.

It all begun 2 months ago.

I was aimlessly wandering in the country of Lugunica, and of course, not knowing where to go, I stumbled into a massive forest.

After walking for too long, I found myself in a rather large place. It looked like a cemetery to me.

Still, it had normal houses and 'normal' people as well. The same races that I saw back in the capital were there as well.

It was then when I stumbled upon what I would describe as an...Angel.

Beautiful pale porcelain skin that acted as a mirror reflecting the sunlight, glittering bright silver hair that danced with the breeze of the wind, lilac eyes that brought an aura of comfort to its surroundings, a face that defied the very concept of beauty.

In short, she was perfect, in so many ways that calling her beautiful will be not enough to describe her beauty.

An angel...Walking without its wings, stood right in front of me, helping the villagers with their chores.

She had that smile of benevolence. A smile that couldn't be even described as one. It was more like an entity of kindness had just descended from the heavens to the mortal world.

And without noticing it, I walked towards her.

But due to the fact that I haven't eaten anything for days, my legs betrayed me, and before I knew it, my entire world turned to black.

When I woke up, I found myself inside an unfamiliar room, along with the woman that was in front of me.

When she noticed me, she was in tears.

She was worried about me.

Her beautiful face was stained with tears. Guilt ran through me entire body. It was choking me, tormenting me.

I didn't know how to comfort her. She was sobbing because she was worried about me.

Can anyone imagine the existence of such a being? A person that cries for another person that they never met or have known anything about?

Realizing that she won't stop crying, I asked for something in compensation, something that I myself wanted to know.

"Your name...Can you tell me your name?"

This simple question caused her to giggle.

My heart skipped a beat...No, a thousand beats.

"Satella. Just Satella. I have no surname, and you?"

I then said a name that came in my mind. I felt guilty, but I didn't want to reveal who I am off the bat, even for an angel like Satella.

"My name is Flugel. Nice to meet you, Satella"

This was the beginning of both my love story with Satella...And my fall from grace.

Subaru closed the book.

"Huh...Interesting. An angel?" He muttered.

Silver hair...

He actually loved girls with silver hair. It was a unique feature that never existed in his former world. Go figure.

"Hey! You two!"

"?!"

Subaru looked in front of him, only to see three figures: A lanky man with white hair, piercings on his tongue, iron cuffs on his hands, and two knives, A bulky man with braided black locks of hair, and a short kid with wide eyes and black hair styled in a bowl cut.

Putting the book inside his Store Space, Subaru stood up to face the figures that he deduced to be thugs judging by their appearances and intimidating forms. Shaula was going to stand as well, but Subaru ushered her to stay seated on the ground as she was, to which Shaula understood and complied.

"Are you taking to me?" Subaru asked.

"Heck yeah! Empty your pockets, leave the chick with ya here, and scram the fuck outta here!" The bulky guy demanded, causing Subaru's neutral look to darken and a scowl formed itself on his face.

Apart from Natsumi, now no one, and he means NO one, dares to do anything to Shaula.

Shaula herself was something that resembled a mix between a daughter and a sister. His bond with her that developed for an entire year was so powerful that despite knowing her monstrous strength that was way above his even after his training, he still held his Pride as a man.

In fact, he felt as if his bond with Shaula went way back, several hundreds of years ago...

Shaking this thoughts from his head, Subaru concentrated on glaring at his enemies.

"Did ya hear me?! Spit out everything you have!" The shorty said.

"Don't..."

"Huh?"

As the whisper of a word escaped Subaru's mouth, the three thugs became confused.

"Don't think ahead of yourselves...You damn morons!"

"?!"

And faster than water jets, Subaru crossed the distance between him and the thugs in less than an instant, before delivering an uppercut to the white haired thug, instantly knocking him out.

"One Hit KO! Go, Master!" Shaula cheered on happily.

Subaru continued his assault by delivering a roundhouse kick to the short thug, causing said thug to be slammed to the wall so hard the wall cracked. Subaru then glared at the last thug, who immediately went on assault, throwing his fist at the shorter boy, only for Subaru to tilt his head to his right side, dodging the punch aimed for his face, before clenching one of his arms at the bulky arm of the thug, his fingers digging into the flesh of the opposing limb, causing the thug to groan in pain, with Subaru staring at him coldly, still clenching on his arm.

"You should never underestimate your opponent, especially someone like me, who uses building-sized Mabeasts as training dummies on a daily basis. And just so you know, my lifting strength..."

The thug's arm released a sickening crack due to the pressure applied on said limb.

"...Is 50 Tons!"

As Subaru finished his speech, he pulled the thug by the arm that he was clenching on towards him.

"Glasgow Kiss"

Charging his entire forehead with raw mana, Subaru headbutted the bulky thug, smashing his own head with his, causing the sickening crack of bone to echo throughout the alley, in fact, people in the main street shivered from the sound of bone cracking, indicating that the sickening sound echoed in the main street as well.

Blood and vicesra bursted from the face of the thug, his nose completely crushed and the teeth of his lower jaw were completely shattered.

The thug fell on the ground, completely out cold, followed by Subaru falling on his rear, comical swirls spinning in his eyes.

"Ugh...I knew that it was a bad idea..." Subaru muttered while groaning at the pain and dizziness sensation.

This particular skill, Glasgow Kiss, wasn't a Magic spell, rather it was a martial arts technique that was inspired by the signature move of WWE pro wrestler Drew McIntyre that holds the same name. The only difference with it is that Subaru charges his entire skull with Mana, increasing its power tremendously.

The downside of it is the massive recoil resulted from it. Much like a normal headbutt, you use your head to execute the attack, which would result in a recoil that's directly proportional to the damage given to the opposing side.

Suddenly, a figure zoomed beside Subaru, and due to his headache, he was able to make a few details out of said blur.

It was a petite girl, with blonde hair and crimson red eyes. Her outfit, while Subaru couldn't make out its details, he was able to sum up the fact that it was ragged, indicating that this girl came from the slums.

The figure didn't even pay an eye to Subaru, and ran past both him and Shaula, before jumping upwards to the wall at the end of the alley, disappearing right behind said wall.

"Hey! You!"

"?!"

Subaru was focused on the figure of the girl that passed by him, until he suddenly heard another unfamiliar voice, which caused him to look in front of him while still seated on the floor.

And the moment he did so, his pain completely vanished, as if it didn't even exist.

Right in front of him stood another figure. It was also a female, but the major difference between her and any girl that Subaru has met throughout his life was vast.

She was a woman of average height, standing at around 168 cm, the same height as Natsumi. She had porcelain white skin that was adorned with beautiful silky smooth silver hair that reached down to her waist and gleaming lilac eyes. Her outfit was in between revealing and non-revealing, as it showed her slightly thin shoulder blades. It had long wide sleeves that resembled those of a kimono, a purplish white dress that covered both her torso and the area just above the knees, showing her beautiful slender legs that wore boots of the same color as her dress.

In short, a living being that defied the very concept of beauty.

Subaru simply stared wide eyed, his mind completely drowning in the piece of art that was right in front of him. His heart thumped uncontrollably, beating rapidly. His face flushed a deep red that can bring tomatoes to shame. Countless lumps in his throat formed themselves, and he felt like he couldn't speak or even breathe, yet he ignored it.

Even when Shaula shook him violently from her worry, he didn't even notice.

"Give it back!" The woman said, snapping Subaru back to reality.

"Huh?" He released a voice of confusion.

"Master! You had me worried!" Shaula exclaimed, tears slightly forming in her eyes.

"Sorry, Shaula. Don't worry, I'm fine" Subaru said patting Shaula on the head, causing her to blush sightly, before Subaru stood up and dusted off his clothes, then he faced the woman in front of him.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" Subaru asked.

"I said to give it back!" The woman repeated herself.

"Uhh...Give what back?" Subaru asked.

"My Insignia. it's round, small, and has a jewel in it" The woman answered.

"Sorry...I don't have anything like that, nor have I seen it" Subaru answered, which caused the woman's beautiful face to adapt a sad look.

This made Subaru suffer from a bang of sadness himself.

'Way to go, Subaru. Your first encounter in the parallel world was with an extremely gorgeous chick, and you blew it with your uselessness!' He thought.

Then, an idea clicked inside his head.

"Say, I might know who took it" Subaru said, causing the girl to yank her face up and look at Subaru with wide eyes.

"Really?!" She asked, hope returning to her eyes.

"Sure, but...What is that thing hiding in your hair?" Subaru asked, having sensed a different Magic signature located at the top of the girl's head. Not a few seconds later, and a small, grey floating cat popped out from the girl's hair.

"My My. You have such great perception, being able to sense me" The cat said.

"You... You're a Spirit, right?" Subaru asked.

"Why yes, I am. And you are?" The cat Spirit asked.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Subaru Natsuki, and this is my companion, Shaula" Subaru introduced himself and his companion.

"But I'm no ordinary companion, Nope! I'm Master's personal slave of S--OW!" Shaula was about to embarrass both Subaru and herself, only for Subaru to stop her by pinching her right cheek.

"Master is a meanie, Yup!" Shaula exclaimed, pouting cutely with tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Anyways, my name is Puck, the Great Spirit of Fire, and this is my contractor, Em--"

"Satella. My name is Satella"

But before Puck could introduce his contractor, the girl raced him and introduced herself as Satella.

"Oh, Lia..." Puck muttered, shaking his head.

"Wow...I never thought that a gorgeous and cute chick like you can lie" Subaru said with a small smile.

It was at this moment that the face of the girl, Satella, turned beat red from the compliment.

"G-Gorgeous?! Cute?!" Satella exclaimed, her eyes were comical swirls.

"I'll tell you what! I wanna know your real name, but right after we retrieve your Insignia! Consider it my reward, okay?!" Subaru exclaimed with a grin, making the girl's heart skip a beat.

"Okay..." She muttered.

"Hmm...Interesting..." Puck muttered while glancing at Subaru.

He didn't feel any kind of hostility from him, and he wasn't lying about helping his contractor out with her trouble. This was a first actually, considering the fact that everyone in the world literally hates his contractor due to her resembling the Witch. So to see a lifeform, not to mention a human, approach and offer his services to her was rather questionable...

"Hmm..."

...Not to mention that the boy in front of him, while appearing to be human in both shape and soul, his body and Gate is not human to begin with.

"I don't care if you're a human or not, but if you dare hurt my daughter, I will freeze you to death!" Puck thought, glaring at Subaru.

"Alright. Let's go. I'll lead the way" Subaru said, before marching outside the alley, followed by Shaula, Satella and Puck.

Little did Subaru knew, in the process of searching for the thing that this Satella girl lost, he will find what he himself lost...

At the same time. Royal Palace of Lugunica. Sage Council

"Mikolotov-sama. You called for us"

Kneeling in front of the members of the infamous Sage Council were Reinhard, Natsumi, Julius and Felix.

"Yes. We have an urgent matter at hand" A councilman said.

"What could it be?" Natsumi asked.

The councilmen said nothing. Mikolotov just took a strange stone slap and showed it to the Knights.

And what was written on it shocked all of them.

Today, The Legendary Sage, has came with a companion of his. He must be protected by all costs, as he lost most of his memories and power. A calamity will soon befall the Sage in the capital of Lugunica, so he must be supported or else, a dark fate will befall him.

The Knights were in awe, as even Natsumi knew about the Sage courtesy of Reinhard's teachings.

The Sage was a legendary wizard, the founder of Magic, one of the legendary warriors that assisted in sealing away the Witch of Envy 400 years ago alongside the First Sword Saint and the Divine Dragon.

No one didn't know the Sage, even his title is written on Holy Coins.

"No way. The Sage himself is here?" Julius whispered in astonishment.

"Umm. Excuse me" Natsumi called for the Sage Council Elders, gaining their silent attention.

"Do we know anything about the Sage to distinguish him from the crowds? Y'know, to make the search for them more flexible and smooth" Natsumi said.

"Well, nothing is noted at all here in the Dragon Tablet, so we offer our deepest apologies to you, as it seems like your job isn't going to get any easier" Mikolotov said.

"Very well. Thank you sir. We will see our mission through to the end" Julius said.

"Alright then. Dismissed" Mikolotov said, causing the group of four Knights to leave the Sage Council Hall, heading towards the streets of the Capital.

A few hours later. Afternoon. The slums"I see. So those are the slums"

Resting his left hand on the black handle of his chokuto sword, Shadow slowly walked while looking around him.

The sun was setting, but it was giving enough illumination for him to see the scene of people wearing dirty rags on their bodies instead of normal clothes, with their bodies resembling sticks, as they were extremely thin.

Most, if not all of the houses were nothing but wrecks and tattered tents, indicating the unbearable poverty and famine.

"What a rather sad scene..." Shadow muttered, as he passed beside a figure with unique dressing. The moment he passed her, his eyes widened, time was passing in slow motion as the figure, who was a female, simply passed beside him, which made Shadow stop and look behind him as the female figure kept on walking, not turning around.

"Such...Hostility..." He thought.

Shadow was able to make out the characteristics of the woman. She had black hair in the form of a long braid, a black revealing dress that showed the majority of her bust with a coat that had dark purple fur as the collar, violet eyes and slightly tanned skin.

Shadow could feel the aura that she was emitting. It was pure hostility, born from utter insanity, which was born from absolute despair, which was born from an undisputed past mental trauma.

"She seems...Dangerous, but..."

He sighed, and shook his head.

"...That's none of my business"

It wasn't his issue to begin with. He had already shoved himself in the mundane affairs of this world from a rather miniature position, which was Irlam Village, by repelling the monthly assault from the Assassination Organization for the past 12 months, and he had no time for this at all.

In addition, if he placed himself even further into the picture, he will be biting more than he could chew, since he still had the issue with Exeller, as he knew that the Zero-Class Highest will not leave him be at all, so he needs to be prepared for it, and medaling in the affairs of this world will place too much in his hands.

Shadow then shook his head once again, before suddenly...

"Wow, Mister Shadow! You're so cool! I want to be like you!"...He stopped in his tracks, gritting his teeth as the memory of a certain 6 year old yellow bee rang inside his head.

Unconsciously, Shadow placed a hand on his face, covering his right eye.

"Damn it...I can't believe I'm doing this..." He muttered before he changed his direction, following the woman in black.

At the same time. The slums

Arriving at the slums, Subaru, Satella, Shaula and Puck were looking around.

"So, your saying that the one who stole the Insignia was a young girl with blonde hair and red eyes?" Puck asked.

"Yes. I saw her passing by me when I was in the alley, and you came shortly afterwards, so she is the most likely to be the thief" Subaru answered.

"I see. I think I can talk to the Spirits to see if they have seen someone like that" Satella said, before they witnessed Puck yawning, then his petite floating form started to become translucent.

"Master! The Kitty Cat is disappearing!" Shaula exclaimed, as she saw Puck softly landing on Satella's palms, using his paws to rub his eyes.

"Sorry, Lia, but I have to rest now. If there's anything urgent, you can call for me" Puck said, his form becoming even more transparent by the second.

"Oh. I think that has something with you using too much Mana to materialize your physical form in the world" Subaru said.

"Yes, and also because my contract with Emilia states that I can only operate from 9 AM to 5 PM, but she can forcibly call me if the situation arises. Well, I have to rest for now, Lia. Take care" Puck said, bidding farewell to Satella, before he disappeared completely, with the green crystal hanging around Satella's neck glowing brightly, before its glow faded the moment it came.

"What a rather unique Pyroxene Crystal you have here, Satella. Judging by its design, I would say it's enough to host a Great Spirit in it, so that would mean that Puck is a Great Spirit, right?" Subaru asked Satella.

"Yes, that's right. But the downside of Puck materializing is that lesser Spirits instantly run away due to his sheer existence being fearsome to them, which is reaaaly annoying. Puck can be such a dunderhead" Satella said.

"Nobody says 'dunderhead' anymore..." Subaru said with a sweatdrop.

"Umm...Subaru..." Satella called, poking her fingers together.

"Yes?" Subaru asked, with the group stopping on a bridge that had a stream of water running down it.

Subaru simply rested his arms underneath it to rest, as he already spent the entire afternoon looking around for the thief, where his search has led him to the slums.

"Umm...You do know what I am, right?" Satella asked.

"Huh? Oh. You mean you being an Elf?" Subaru asked, looking at her ears, which were rather long to be normal human ears.

On that note, Subaru felt like he had seen this face before.

Somewhere in the past...

Way way...In the past...

"W-Well...I'm a Half-Elf to be specific..."

"Hmm?"

Subaru's thoughts were cut off when Satella said those words, gaining his attention.

And upon hearing those words, it hit him.

Satella...Was actually the name of the infamous Witch of Envy, a Half-Elf that was responsible of the Great Calamity that swallowed half of this world 400 years ago.

And this woman in front of him was also a Half-Elf, in fact, according to the drawings of Satella that he saw in the Pleadies Watchtower, both Satella and this Half-Elf in front of him were identical in shape, where Satella was a slightly older version of this Half-Elf.

That was the reason this woman called herself Satella in front of him, because she thought that Subaru will be scared of her and leave her, since judging by her attitude of lying to him about her real name, people hated the existence called Half-Elves, which was due to the very existence of the Witch of Envy, who, in the eyes of this world, was the incarnation of ruin and destruction.

Even so...

"Yeah. I know that"

Satella looked up to him, confused by the words that came out from the white haired man's mouth.

"Your not afraid? I'm a Half-Elf, you know?" Satella asked, trying to make sure that the reaction in front of her was real.

"Uhh...Yeah, so?" Subaru asked, blinking at her.

The next reaction was so adorable from Subaru's perspective, as he saw Satella turn her back to Subaru, ducking down to the ground, and hold her head tightly with her body shaking slightly, and then, Subaru witnessed Puck, materializing and flying towards Subaru, before he punched Subaru with his small paw right in the nose.

"Should I say 'Ouch', or what? Because that was so soft" Subaru said.

"Sorry! I was so happy that I had to release this pent up happiness!" Puck exclaimed with a grin on his kitty face.

"I see... So that's why you materialized now instead of resting to charge some Mana?" Subaru asked, sarcasm apparent in his voice.

"Yup! But no worries. This is really farewell. G'nite!" Puck exclaimed before vanishing once again to his crystal.

"Are you alright?" Subaru asked Satella, who immediately stood up, still not facing Subaru.

"I-Im okay! P-Please wait until I ask t-the Spirits about the t-t-thief!" Satella stuttered in her words, before Subaru witnessed her marching like a robot away from him.

It was a good idea, considering the fact that with that, he would be unable to see the neon red blush on Satella's face.

A few moments later, he saw Satella closing her eyes, before dozens of small blue light bulbs appeared around her.

Subaru witnessed the scene in front of him, and it placed him in a trance. His heart skipped hundreds of beats, his eyes didn't blink, not even once, and it felt like everything in the world vanished and only both him and her were the only ones left.

"Is that love at first sight? Damn...Natsumi would be teasing the hell out of me if she was here with me..." Subaru muttered.

"Sassy! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed, a teasing grin plastered on her face directed towards Subaru, to which said person immediately looked at her with a comical annoyed look on his face and a tick mark on his forehead, before he used both his hands to pinch and stretch Shaula's cheeks away from each other, causing Shaula's face to form into a comical pained look, with her eyes shaped in a black large 'X', and comical tears forming on the corners of her eyes.

"Done. I knew where the thief is...Subaru, what are you doing with Shaula?" Satella returned and said those words, only to recoil slightly upon witnessing Subaru pulling on Shaula's cheeks.

"Oh. It's nothing. Anyways, did you find the thief?" Subaru asked.

"Yes. She's in the loot house of the slums. We can find her if we hurried" Satella answered.

"Okay. Let's go" Subaru said afterwards, before he and Shaula marched behind Satella, who proceeded to guide them towards the loot house.

30 minutes later. Loot house

In all of his life, Rom was never visibly shaken as like now.

Piercing him with a cold gaze that was devoid of any kind of emotions was a black haired youth with strange clothes that he has never seen before, and what appeared like a black cane was strapped to the left side of his waist.

The man did nothing but order that poisonous liquid, which Rom made by mixing rum with water, where beside him was a woman with black hair and clothes, silently drinking a cup of milk.

Rom was barely holding himself together. Not even a second did that strange man took his eyes off him. Normally he would tell him to not look at him like that, but this was different, as Rom, who was originally in the battlefield in the Demi-Human War, knew of things like killing intents, so he already knew what it means for the enemy to glare at you in the midst of the battlefield.

But right now...This wasn't an opponent.

It was more akin to...Death.

The inevitable fate, the end of all, glaring holes right at him.

Rom could only see black.

Only black.

It was a miracle that he is able to do chores around the loot house while this weird man was releasing so much aura.

Shadow's dreadful aura was not directed specifically at Rom, it was just him being deep in thought.

He could sense murderous intent coming out from the woman beside him. He saw her quietly drinking milk from her cup, and he was careful not to make eye contact, not because he was afraid of her, but because he didn't want any unnecessary casualties, like the loot house owner, to become collateral damage as the result of their yet-to-come battle.

"Excuse me. Is this the loot house?"

"?!"

And entering were the newcomers: A white haired boy, a silver haired elf, and a brown haired girl.

The male in the group looked plain yet mysterious. His eyes held a glint of intelligence in them, yet he felt like a normally living human being.

The silver haired girl, however, was well known to Shadow. Judging by the humanoid appearance and pointy ears, she was a Half-Elf, and her kind was hated due to the Witch of Envy, a Half-Elf, being responsible for the Great Calamity 400 years ago that swallowed half of the world. That much was well known.

The second female, on the other hand, and from Shadow's own perspective, looked like Cream in her childish facial expression, and like Rouge from her fashion style. Nevertheless, she gave off the theme of a scorpion.

"Old Man Rom! I'm ba--Huh?"

"You! You're the one that stole my Insignia!"

At that moment, a young girl with blonde hair and red eyes came bursting inside the building, to which the Half-Elf snapped and pointed at said young girl with an accusation of theft.

It was at this moment that Subaru and Shadow felt it.

The dreadful aura of Death.

And shortly, Subaru took out Dark Elf, catching it in a reverse grip, with Shadow unsheathing his translucent teal blade, before suddenly...

Clang!

"Ara Ara. You two are good"

Subaru and Shadow, placing their blades in a 'X' position, blocked a dark purple wicked kukri from stabbing Satella.

The wielder of said weapon was the woman that was sitting beside Shadow a few minutes ago. She then jumped backwards, calmly looking at both Subaru and Shadow with a calm smile on her face.

"Who the hell are you?!" Subaru asked tightly gripping his dagger, glaring at the smiling woman.

"How feisty~. It seems that your bowels are on fire" The woman said before licking her lips in a rather seductive manner.

"Black clothes...Black hair...Black coat...Wicked knives...Without a doubt, you're Gusteko's infamous Bowel Hunter. Elsa Granheit" Shadow announced his enemy's identity, causing both Rom and Felt to gasp in shock. Shaula, feeling the malicious intent coming from Elsa, entered a fighting stance, her fingers being engulfed in bright white light.

"Ara Ara. If you know me, then by chance, are you the infamous Black Angel of Irlam, Shadow Terios, right?" Elsa asked Shadow, to which Shadow pointed his sword at her while handling it with one hand.

"I'm not mistaken at all then. If I then may ask, what does a dangerous assassin from Gusteko is doing here in the land of Lugunica? I thought that the Four Countries are at peace" Shadow asked, though it was more like a sarcastic question judging by his tone. Even Elsa herself smiled widely at this, before she began to spin her kukri knife in her hand like a pro.

"Well, I think that you already know the answer, considering the fact that you have killed off lots of my people this past year. You made the load of work larger on both me and my partner. I was just searching for you anyways while doing the job given to me by my client here" She said before pointing her kukri at Shadow's direction.

"I assume that you're a member of the Assassination Organization, correct? The one led by the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Lust, right?" Shadow asked.

However, at this moment...

Clang!

Elsa instantly appeared in front of Shadow, her kukri blade clashing with Shadow's own blade. Shadow held a firm grip on his sword with only one hand. Elsa, on the other hand, her smile vanished from her face, replaced with a cold scowl.

[Shin Megami Tensei V OST - Battle - Humans, Demons and...]

Shadow pushed away Elsa, who landed on the ground, before charging forward at Shadow, causing a sonic boom to erupt from behind her, blowing away the deck they were drinking on. Subaru interjected, swinging his dagger at Elsa, who proceeded to dodge the white haired boy's attack. She then saw him extend his hand forward.

"Fura!"

Subaru shot out a blade of wind at Elsa from his opened palm, to which Elsa dodged to the side, only to be completely open for five beams of light shooting her at the four of her limbs and between her eyes, courtesy of Shaula.

But what happened next was completely unexpected.

Elsa's black cloak glowed bright for a split second, before disappearing in a small burst of white light, which was followed by Elsa landing gracefully on the ground, her smile returning to her face.

"Ara Ara. Your words have placed me in a bad mood, but those moves you have...I'm sure the bowels of you two will be wonderful. Come on. Let's dance even more" Elsa said, readying her dual kukris in her hands. Subaru, seeing this, opened a small hole in his Store Space, and pulled out something from it with his free left hand.

It was another dagger, but this time, it was bright yellow in color at one of its edges, with small pointed spikes of the same color lining said edge. Its second edge was black in color, with large white dots lining its sides, and a 'U' shaped curve found itself in the middle of said edge.

This was one of the many weapons that was found inside the Pleadies Watchtower, a dagger specialized in the usage of corrosive Mana: Brimstone Fang.

"Hey, boy. Can you keep up?" Shadow asked twirling his cane sword with one hand casually.

"I will have no problem with it, but what about them?" Subaru asked, pointing towards both Felt and Rom with his eyes.

"Don't worry about us. We're fine" Rom said, shielding Felt behind him while having a large wooden club in his hands.

"Hey, lil blonde, go towards the Capital city, and call for the Sword Saint" Shadow immediately ordered.

"Ara Ara. You're calling for backup? Well, I can't let that happen. I think I'll call for my own partner" Elsa said, before placing two fingers inside her mouth. What happened next was her letting out a whistle from her mouth, and in the next moment...

Crash!

The side of the loot house blew up, before a massive hippo that looked like it was made out of pure rock fell on the ground.

"Come on, Rock Piggie! Get up!" The sound of a small girl could be heard from inside the dust. The dust soon cleared up, revealing the figure that was on top of the Mabeast that caused the giant hole in the loot house.

It was indeed a small girl, around 13 years old. She had olive green eyes, dark violet long hair styled in a braid, and a black outfit that consisted of a blouse, a hooded cape, and a pair of sleepers.

"Elsa! Have you gotten yourself in trouble again?" The girl asked Elsa while pouting cutely.

If not for the circumstances they were in, Subaru would have been smiling at the young girl's cuteness.

"Ah. Meili. Do you have 'them' with you?" Elsa asked Meili, causing said girl to blink a few times, before her face lit up in realization.

"Oh yes! I have 'them'!" She exclaimed, before tapping on the Rock Piggie's head gently, causing said Mabeast to open its giant mouth, revealing two shortswords in the middle of its large tongue. The first shortsword was pure white with a rather slender blade, while the second one was onyx black with its blade resembling sharp teeth.

Subaru, seeing this, activated Royal Judge and concentrated on Elsa, and as he did this, time froze around him, with his white left eye having its site on the Bowel Hunter.

[Name: Elsa Granheit]

[Type: Living]

[Age: 21]

[Classification: Human, Assassin, Curse Doll]

[Explanation: A young woman living in Gusteko who was abandoned by her parents in her childhood, causing her to resort to theft, before eventually being influenced by an incident where she was forced to kill someone in self defense, cutting said person's bowels, which gave her warmth she never felt before. She then was scouted by the Assassination Organization that is led by the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Lust, becoming a professional assassin in a short span]

[Special Abilities]

*Curse Doll: A forbidden ability that gives its user a potent healing factor and completely immunity to pain. The healing factor can be bypassed by being burned to ash. In addition, being sustained to too much damage that over exerts said healing factor would cause the user to become a mindless zombie, with only the instinct to kill being in their mind.

Subaru deactivated his Authority, and time resumed its flow.

"Go! Now!" Shadow called out to Felt, who immediately sprinted towards the door of the loot house, forcing Elsa to throw one of the kukri blades she had in her hands at Felt's retreating form.

"Like I'll let you!" Subaru exclaimed, before dashing towards the flying knife that was thrown so hard that the voice of air being torn could be heard clearly.

And it was unpleasant to a person's ears, I tell you.

Elsa, having seen that her plan to kill the fleeing Felt failed, proceeded to throw her other knife at Subaru, only for a loud bang sound to echo, followed by the knife shattering to dozens of shards. Subaru was startled by the rather familiar voice. He looked at his side, only to see Shadow holding a silver revolver with a long barrel, and had steam coming out of its muzzle.

"Whoa! A gun! What a familiar item in a non familiar world!" Subaru exclaimed, a hint of excitement apparent in his voice.

"Huh. Interesting. I take it that you're from a parallel world?" Shadow asked calmly, blinking in slight amusement.

"Yeah, but...Why don't we cut it short and talk later? The atmosphere is not suitable for chit chat" Subaru said, noticing that Elsa had took the dual shortswords from the Rock Piggie's mouth, and stood in a fighting stance.

"Y'know, you two are very interesting. I've never wielded those two in my life except for now, and I only use them for people that I acknowledge as a threat" Elsa said.

"Wow. I'm really flattered to hear that...Not" Subaru sarcastically remarked, entering his own fighting stance, with both Dark Elf and Brimstone Fang in both hands.

"I'll take on this girl and her Mabeasts. Why don't you take on that assassin?" Shadow asked Subaru.

"Okay. I want to try out my new spells anyways" Subaru said, before diverting his sight to Satella.

"Hey Puck! Sorry to wake you up from your sweet sleep, but we need you here!" Subaru called out, before the crystal on Satella's neck glowed brightly, and not a second afterwards, Puck appeared above Satella in a flash of light.

"Someone called?" The cat Spirit asked while rubbing its eyes with its small paws.

"Oh! Master! That's a Great Spirit, Yup~" Shaula exclaimed, causing Subaru to sweatdrop.

"Yeah. Thanks for the remark, Shaula" Subaru muttered, before reverting his glare to Elsa, who was smiling calmly. Shaula stood beside Subaru, while Puck floated on his other side, all three of them glaring at the assassin.

With Shadow, he just walked towards Meili in a rather casual manner. Upon standing a few meters away from her, he calmly examined the Rock Piggie that she was riding with his eyes.

"Interesting. You can manipulate Mabeasts?" Shadow asked.

"Yep! This is my Divine Protection of Mana Manipulation, which allows me to act as the horn for any Mabeast that is hornless. Pretty convenient, right?" Meili asked, with a rather innocent smile on her face.

"Well, what do you say we play a game?" Shadow asked.

"A game?" Meili asked raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I have my own summons, and you have your Mabeasts. And judging by the Mana signatures that are hiding behind the Rock Piggie, you have around three types of Mabeasts, counting the Rock Piggie with them of course. So here's how it'll go: I will face your three Mabeasts with three of my summons. What do you say?" Shadow requested from the small girl, who placed two fingers on her chin to think about the challenge, and after a minute, she looked at Shadow and smiled.

"Sure! You're on!" Meili exclaimed her approval, and the next thing that happened, she and Shadow disappeared in a white flicker.

"Sick! He can teleport! I still can't perfect Teleportation Magic yet!" Subaru exclaimed in awe.

"Why don't you set your fantasies aside for now? We have an assassin to kill, y'know" Puck called out, before dozens of icicles formed out of thing air around the cat Spirit, before they shot forward at Elsa, who proceeded to strike the icicles aimed at her. She then had to leap to her right side to dodge a light beam that Shaula fired from her finger. She then saw Subaru charging at her, before their daggers clashed, both traded strikes that caused sparks to fly around them. All the while Elsa had to dodge Puck's icicles and Shaula's light beams at the same time.

"Wow~That's wonderful! What a dance!" Elsa exclaimed, a blush forming on her face. She then jumped backwards, before swinging her white shortsword, causing its blade to extend like whip composed of segments, with said weapon aiming at Subaru.

"Huma!" Subaru called out, causing a light blue sphere to engulf his form completely, shielding him from Elsa's whip sword attack.

The shield that suddenly appeared to protect Subaru proved to be a distraction for Elsa, as Shaula dashed towards the assassin, before sucker punching her in the face, causing the sound of bone shattering to echo inside the loot house. The punch sent Elsa crashing into one of the walls, shattering said wall in the process, and kicking dust around the crashed wall.

Silence echoed for a few seconds, before Elsa dashed outside the smokescreen, her wounds completely healed, as if they never existed to begin with, prompting Puck to fire another round of icicles at the assaulting assassin. Some were dodged, some were deflected, and some hit the mark, but that didn't even halt Elsa in her assault in the slightest.

Seeing this, Subaru stomped with is foot on the wooden ground of the loot house, invoking Earth Mana underneath his feet.

"Basalt Spear!" Subaru roared out, before a massive, tri-pronged spear made of pure basalt bursted from the ground, aiming at the assassin.

Elsa, who was already moving at top speed, could neither dodge nor defend from the upcoming attack, as the spear of Earth Mana stabbed clean right through her torso, causing blood to burst from her hanging corpse.

"Well, that was rough" Puck added his two cents in the silence that followed.

"Master!"

"?!"

Subaru couldn't react as he saw Shaula right in front of him, her arms spreading to her sides in the form of protection. She stood still for a few seconds, before she fell on the ground, blood coming from two areas in her body: Her mouth, and...

"Huh?"

Subaru kneeled to Shaula, holding her in his arms. She was barely breathing. He examined her body to find the reason for this, only to find what appeared to be a black blade piercing the area between her ample breasts, narrowly avoiding her heart.

"Now you're wide open!"

"I don't think so!"

Elsa's familiar voice rang in Subaru, but he was so focused on pushing Water Mana in Shaula's injury that he couldn't react to Elsa using her white shortsword to slash at him, where she closed the distance between her and Subaru, and was inches from looping off his head, only for Puck to fire an ice spear at Elsa, forcing her to jump backwards to dodge impalement for the second time.

"Hmm...This healing factor...A Curse Doll, correct?" Puck asked the assassin, seeing that all of her wounds were completely healed.

"Yes, indeed, Great Spirit-sama. This is my unique Blessing" Elsa answered with her smile.

"Hey, Subaru. Is your companion alright?" Puck asked, not taking his eyes off their opponent.

"She'll be fine. She has high regenerative properties, so healing her wound is almost done" Subaru said, pushing even more Mana inside Shaula's body, effectively closing her chest wound.

"Are you okay, Shaula?" Subaru asked in concern upon seeing Shaula's eyes blink at him, to which the girl instantly hopped up on her feet, as if nothing happened.

"Yup! Shaula's good as a tractor! Yup~!" She said with a grin and flashing a peace sign, causing both Subaru and Puck to sweatdrop, and for Satella to tilt her head to the side in confusion.

"Your companion is rather...Interesting" Puck remarked.

"Well...Yeah..." Subaru muttered.

"That aside, this human is rather impressive. Never in my life have I burned this much Mana while fighting" Puck said, his stare directed at Elsa, whose smile never left her face.

"Ara Ara~. To be praised by a Great Spirit sure is flattering. I wonder if Spirits have bowels like us?" Elsa wondered with a sickening sweet smile.

"Ugh...Disgusting" Subaru muttered, before he stood straight, and activated Mediator, causing golden yellow sparks to cackle around his entire body.

Elsa made a mad dash towards Puck and Subaru, promoting the cat Spirit to fire more icicles at the assassin, who swiftly crushed the icicles with her shortswords. She then made a beeline towards Subaru, only to witness Shaula interrupting her, before Elsa was forced to sidestep from a roundhouse kick thrown at her from Shaula. Elsa then tried to slash at Shaula, only for the humanoid Mabeast to catch he black knife in her bare right hand, before shooting a Hell Snipe from the finger of her left hand, shooting Elsa's free hand with the light beam. The white knife was knocked away without any damage to it but Elsa's wrist was blown to smithereens.

The impact caused Elsa to recoil and stagger back. This gave Puck the opportunity to fire another round of icicles, which this time managed to hit its mark, piercing through Elsa's flesh and bones, effectively turning her into a pin cushion.

Elsa just stood there, blood and ice shards completely covering her form, and then...

"I love it! Let's dance even more!"

...She dashed once again towards her opponents, her wrist regenerating instantly, but the holes in her body didn't due to the icicles still stuck into her body. She swung her black knife at Subaru upon reaching him, to which the white haired boy reacted by lazily reaching to catch the sword with his bare hand, to which he did indeed, with the shortsword's impact with his hand causing the sparks around him to flare even more, but no damage was delt to him whatsoever.

This made Elsa's eyes widen in shock, giving Subaru the opening to strike.

"Sinister Hook"

And with his free fist, Subaru swung at Elsa a Yin Mana-infused fist, punching the assassin straight in between the eyes, causing her to stagger back, and drop her remaining knife. She tried looking around her, but her vision was completely black, not even a glimmer of light was seen by her eyes.

"Ætherflare"

The next thing that Elsa felt was a series of three hits on her body. One that blew her right arm, another that blew her left leg, and the last one made a hole in her chest. Elsa fell on the wooden floor after the three impacts were finished.

It was a burning sensation around her body, as if someone lit her on fire. She could also feel the wet sensation of her blood flowing out from the two stumps in her missing limbs and her chest.

After a minute, Elsa regained the ability to see, and the first thing she did was to look at the areas that were hit in her body.

And the moment she did, a scream of horror blew out of her mouth.

The areas that were hit in her body were surrounded by small embers of pitch black fire that was slowly eating away her flesh.

While injuries were not an issue to her, since she can't feel the pain, her healing factor still holds its own limits. For starters, it cannot heal from being burned to ashes. She can easily regenerate being blown to small pieces with no problem, but she can't come back from her own dust.

The second and most dangerous issue was the fact that if she took too much damage that overloads her healing factor, she will permanently turn into a mindless zombie with only the intent to kill.

Even if her opponent didn't know that, as long as they have the method to overcome it, then the rest meant nothing.

"I already knew that I will be in a near death situation, and I wrestled with Mabeasts for an entire year, but this was a really good battle. I learned a lot from it" Subaru said looking at the downed Elsa, who glared at him with gritted teeth. The Bowel Hunter couldn't say anything, as the flames burned away at her flesh, before reaching up to her trachea, eating away at her vocal cords.

By now, Elsa's clothes were burned, leaving her completely naked, with her flesh being slowly eaten away by the hellfire, but she didn't care at all. She just focused on her opponent.

"It's time to end this" Subaru muttered, not taking his eyes off of Elsa. He then lazily raised his arm above his head, causing 30 purple stakes to materialize in a small swirl of Yin Mana above Subaru, all stakes pointing at Elsa.

"Minya"

As he whispered the name of the spell, Subaru lowered his arm, causing the stakes to rocket downwards at its immobile target. The stakes hit their mark, causing the area that got hit to erupt in a mixture of dust and wood splinter, covering what remained of Elsa in it.

A few seconds later, the dust settles, revealing a purple sculpture of the deformed and mangled Elsa that featured a shocked expression. The sculpture started to show cracks. The cracks rapidly spread around the sculpture, before it shattered into considerably large pieces.

[Music Ends]

Subaru let out a breath he didn't know that he was holding, as the hurdle was finally over. He then flashed a toothy grin.

"Heh. Who ever said that Yin Magic can't be used offensively?" Subaru mused before looking at Shaula.

"You alright, Shaula?" He asked, causing the girl in question to grin an give Subaru a thumbs up.

"Subaru...That was amazing..." Subaru turned around to see Satella's shocked expression, and Puck's eyes were like dinner plates.

Subaru simply scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

He was unaware of the broken fragments of the sculpture behind him slowly stitching themselves together.

A few minutes ago. A different section of the slums

Shadow and Meili appeared in a white flicker of light, right in the middle of a deserted area. Meili was still on top of the Rock Piggie, with her other Mabeasts being behind her, and Shadow was standing with his sword dangling from his palm.

"Where did you take us?" Meili immediately asked.

"In a place that is devoid of life in the slums, so that no one will be caught in our clash" Shadow answered, before sheathing his sword inside the black scabbard strapped to his left waist.

"Very well. Let's begin, shall we?" Meili asked with a sweet childish smile that completely contradicted the rising tension. Shadow simply blinked coldly at her, before opening his mouth to speak.

"Fafnir"

And the moment Shadow muttered that, a small swirl of crimson foreign energy formed itself behind him, and shortly afterwards, a figure materialized itself.

It was a metal dragon-shaped beast that looked like it was made out of shining silver plates. Its jaws were large, and its tail was at least three meters in length. Its claws looked like sharp knives. It was standing in a kneeling position. The beast's length was around five meters in height.

"Hmm? What is that? I have never seen a Mabeast like that" Meili asked in confusion.

"That's because it isn't a Mabeast" Shadow muttered, before the beast shifted its glare at Meili and her Rock Piggie.

[Shin Megami Tensei IV OST - Boss Battle B2]

In the next instant, The metal dragon fired a ball of light blue energy right at the Rock Piggie. Meili saw this, and her survival instinct screamed at her to jump off her Mabeast, to which she did.

And she was right to do so.

The next moment the ball of foreign energy made contact with the Rock Piggie, it created a massive light blue explosion that sounded throughout the slums.

Meili was extremely shocked, so shocked that her fake smile facade instantly broke the moment she saw the Rock Piggie being instantly obliterated from existence by some sort of foreign, but extremely dangerous energy.

Meili looked at her two other Mabeasts: A Wolgram and a Guiltylore, and for all their glory and power, she was shivering violently, completely shaken by the power of the being that is about to become their predator.

Upon closer inspection, Meili could have sworn that the weird creature behind Shadow was shooting her a smug smirk.

Meili then saw the weird dragon open its mouth again, forming this strange light blue energy inside said its jaws. Realizing that she will die if she stayed her, Meili forced her Divine Protection to its maximum power, forcing the Wolgram to forcibly attack both creature and its summoner as means for distraction, while commanding the Guiltylore to give her a lift on its back in order to escape this one-sided battle.

The Guiltylore kneeled to Meili, allowing her to ride on its back. She took a glance behind her, only to see the poor Wolgram leaping at the metal dragon with its fangs opened in a desperate attempt to at least make any kind of injury using its curse, only to be completely erased when it was shot by another blue sphere.

"Sir Shadow. The little girl is running away" The metal dragon, Fafnir, said to Shadow, who blinked coldly with his hands in his pocket.

"Try to capture her alive. Also, try to tune it down with the Nuclear Magic. Atomic Flare is already a powerful Nuke Magic spell. Can't you just lower the power levels?" Shadow commanded and asked.

"My sincerest apologies, Sir. I will try to take more caution next time" Fafnir said.

"Anyways, get her, but try not to kill her" Shadow commanded, before Fafnir was seen leaping hundreds of meters in the air, causing the sound barrier to break beneath its legs, but Shadow was completely unaffected. To him, it was like a gentle breeze blowing around him.

Fafnir landed right in front of the retreating Meili. The mini earthquake resulting from the dragon's landing was so great, the Guiltylore jumped upwards, knocking Meili off its back, before whimpering like a scared dog, fleeing away with its tail between its legs, leaving Meili completely defenseless and under the mercy of the dragon in front of her.

The dragon simply stared at her, but for Meili, this wasn't the reality around her. To the little girl, it looked like Death was staring into her very soul.

Meili's shivering body didn't stop from shaking in absolute fear, despite Fafnir doing absolutely nothing to her. And after a few seconds, Meili's eyes slowly rolled up to her head, before her body fell limp on her back.

Fafnir blinked comically at this. The human girl had just fainted.

"Sir Shadow. The human girl has fainted" Fafnir said to Shadow, who appeared in a flicker of white light beside the dragon.

"Yes. I can see that clearly, Fafnir" Shadow said.

"My apologies, my lord. I did nothing to the girl" Fafnir said bowing his head to Shadow, who simply shook his head.

"It's okay, Fafnir. You did nothing to her. She fainted from fear. Go ahead, you can rest" Shadow said, causing Fafnir to bow his head one last time, before his form dissolved into crimson particles, leaving Shadow standing above an unconscious Meili.

[Music Fades]

"Okay...Time to clean things up" He said picking Meili up. He then snapped his fingers, causing a pale purple spherical portal to appear in front of him, before he placed Meili inside it. The portal closed the moment Shadow placed Meili in it.

"Alright. Now that's done, time to help those other people" He said, before disappearing in a flicker of white light.

At the same time. The streets of the slums

Felt ran as fast as her legs can take her. Her breathing was ragged, and wheezing sounds were coming out from her throat. She ran to call for help, but no one was in sight.

A few minutes after her escape from the loot house, she saw a massive explosion shaking the slums. Fortunately, this was a deserted part of the slums, so no one was hurt, but Felt knew that this explosion indicated that a fight was happening, and a big one at that.

That was more than enough reason for her to find help.

"Someone...Anyone..." She said while panting heavily.

Her worry made her unaware of what was in front of her, as she bumped into someone. She immediately fell on the ground on her rear due to the impact. She then shook her head and looked at what she collided with.

It was a man with short crimson hair and blue eyes, accompanied by a woman with black hair and black eyes. Both were wearing the white uniform of the Capital Knights.

And while Felt hated the guts of the Capital city, she was already in desperateness. So the next thing she did was to cling into the jacket of the red haired Knight.

"P...Please...My Gramps...A murderer...The Bowel Hunter... She's...Mabeasts..."

Felt was already at her limit from worry and fatigue. This caused the black haired girl to pat her back gently.

"Calm down. Tell us where to go and we'll take care of it" The female Knight said with a gentle voice. Felt looked at the female Knight's soothing smile, which gave her the chance to take a deep breath to calm herself down. She then began to speak.

"The Bowel Hunter is inside our loot house. She's going to kill my Gramps, but two men, two women and a Spirit are fighting her. Please help us" Felt said.

"Red, we have to help" Natsumi said.

"But, the mission given to us by the Sage Council-" Reinhard was about to protest, only to be silenced by a dark stare directed at him by Natsumi.

"Red, I could care less what those old farts say. A person's life is way more important than some blind orders with no proof. They simply took a stone slab and called it 'A Future Foresight Device'. I don't buy that crap. Even if it's true, as long as there's no evidence about its existence, then there's no way I will believe it" Natsumi huffed her words. Each letter in her words was coated in seriousness. Reinhard felt her vigor, and sighed in defeat, realizing that he will never change her opinion.

"Very well. Let us depart this instant" Reinhard said, causing Natsumi's bright smile to return to her face.

Suddenly, Felt yelped when Natsumi left her on her shoulder with one arm, with her stomach being pressed on Natsumi's shoulder.

"Alright! Lead the way, cutie!" Natsumi exclaimed, and she didn't wait for an answer as she bolted forward in a beeline, with Reinhard following suit.

At the same time. The loot house

Subaru surveyed the area around him. The loot house was in shambles, two out of the four walls were devastated, the floor was littered with cracks and craters. Subaru's Basalt Spear was still sticking out from the earth, and, to make it even worse, the sudden explosion that echoed throughout the slums right after Elsa was defeated caused most, if not all of the alcohol bottles on the shelves of the loot house, to fall and shatter.

"NOOOOOO!" Rom was crying rivers over his lost booze.

"I guess that's what they call a 'Heartbreaking Melody', right?" Subaru, Shaula, Puck and Satella whipped their heads towards the hole that Meili's Rock Piggie made in one of the walls, only to see Shadow coming inside the loot house through the hole in the wall, staring at Rom who was weeping over a pool of poison and a pile of broken bottles.

"Yup. I suppose so" Subaru answered while shaking his head at the sight.

"White haired Onii-chan! I brought he-oh..."

Felt, who entered while being hosted on a Knight's shoulder, entered the devastated loot house, only to witness the evidences of battle being scattered around, with Elsa being nowhere to be found, with only pieces of what appeared to be some sort of crystals being scattered around.

"Ow! Hey!" Felt fell on the floor as Natsumi let her go. She was about to complain, only to see Natsumi's eyes being wide, with tears appearing on their corners.

"Natsumi? What's the matter?" Reinhard asked in concern, but Natsumi didn't respond. Instead, she just looked at the white haired boy in front of her, not even blinking.

"N-Natsumi...?" Subaru whispered his sister's name upon hearing his sister's name, and tears started streaming down both of their eyes.

"Bro!" Natsumi called out, before making a sprint towards the white haired boy.

"Sis!" Subaru called out, sprinting as well towards the black haired female Knight.

And at that moment, time suddenly went slow.

The pieces of Elsa suddenly formed themselves together, and the assassin suddenly rose and without making any sounds, charged at both Subaru and Natsumi.

"Damnit! I can't react in time!" Subaru thought as he saw Elsa approaching them. Her arm outstretched to grab Subaru's face.

And just as she was about to touch him...

"Chaos Spear"

"?!"

A roar, followed by an explosion that collided with Elsa that sent her toppling away.

The dramatic time dilation stopped, and time resumed its normal flow.

"Huh. Strange. This life signature is...Different" Shadow said in confusion while looking at Elsa, his hand outstretched with Chaos Energy swirling around said limb.

'Elsa' then lifted her body from the ground, but said process appeared rather awkward, as she rose on her feet as if she was a zombie.

She then swayed like a dead woman that rose out of her grave, her hair shadowing her face.

"Elsa Granheit...?" Reinhard whispered.

"No. This isn't her" Shadow instantly answered without taking his eyes off the assassin.

"That's right" Elsa's voice echoed, as she raised her head, looking at the people around her with her signature smile.

"I'm the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Sloth. Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti..."

Announcing a name that wasn't hers, Elsa's skull suddenly cracked as her face twisted in a 90 degree to the right side of her neck with a crazy smile.

"...DESU!"

"What the hell?! How are you still alive?!" Subaru roared in anger, instead of being stupefied.

"I latched my soul into this young GIRL that is accompanying YOU, and followed you until THIS point, DESU! And I found this perfect body to use it to capture YOU, Pride! But You..."

"You know him, right?" Shadow asked Subaru, who shook his head in annoyance.

"Sadly yeah. He assaulted us in the Lifaus Highway. I did everything against him. I sliced him to bits, killed his followers, burned him alive, and even crushed him under wagon wheels, but he's still alive and kicking somehow..." Subaru sighed his answer.

"I survived through the power of LOVE! but You..."

Petelgeuse, still spatting his words in Elsa's voice, pointed at Subaru.

"YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU-"

"Can I mention the fact that he's possessing a butt naked woman?" Felt through her two cents in the rather awkward situation.

"YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU-"

"Uhh...Guess not" Felt shrugged her shoulders.

"YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU-"

"Residents of Irlam Village had said that the Witch Cult is a weird organization filled with crazy people...I think I understand now" Shadow muttered.

"YOU had to appear in the picture, Pride! YOU HAD TO STEAL HER LOVE! WHY?! WHY DON'T YOU REPAY HER LOVE?! THE WITCH'S GIVING YOU SO MUCH LOVE, DESU! BUT YOU DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE HER LOVE! YOU'RE SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL SLOTHFUL-"

"Fafnir"

And with a whisper, the metal dragon appeared in a small vortex of foreign crimson energy. The moment the dragon appeared, it swiped its at Petelgeuse, who formed tens of Unseen Hands in front of him to protect him, blocking the attack.

Everyone was stunned upon seeing a dragon materializing out of thin air, where Reinhard was the first to snap out, pulling Zerofuku out of its sheath, before blocking a tentacle from Petelgeuse.

Fafnir swung its claw at Petelgeuse, only for the Sin Archbishop in Elsa's naked body to jump to dodge it, but his left arm was cut off by Reinhard, causing Petelgeuse to jump in the shadows of the loot house, vanishing from sight.

"You can rest now, Fafnir" Shadow said to the metal dragon, causing it to bow before disappearing in a swirl of crimson energy.

Petelgeuse lashed his invisible tendrils at Reinhard, attacking him from the shadows, only for the Sword Saint to easily parry the blows aimed at him with the swing of one arm, no matter where the blow came from.

"...Can he even see those arms?" Subaru asked.

"Huh? What's the matter? I can also see them" Natsumi said.

"I can see them too" Shadow replied afterwards.

"Well, they ain't called Unseen Hands for nothing. No one can see them, since they are... Invisible. But for some reason, I, and both of you can see them" Subaru said.

"It's as Natsumi's brother had said, I can't see what I'm hitting" Reinhard said while blocking the invisible tendrils with his sword.

"Huh?! Then how can you block them?!" Subaru asked in a mix of shock and confusion.

"I'm just using the Divine Protection of Precognition to predict the attacks aimed at me" Reinhard answered.

"What kind of power is that?! I'm jelly, man!" Subaru yelled.

Back at the battle, Petelgeuse jumped at Reinhard to assault him with a massive Unseen Hand sported from his back, only for Subaru to jump and deliver a drop kick to the face of Elsa's possessed naked body, sending Petelgeuse staggering back.

"You..." Petelgeuse seethed the teeth of Elsa that he was possessing.

"Chaos Prison"

"?!"

Subaru's drop kick was a sufficient distraction as Shadow used Chaos Energy to create an ethereal pale purple cage that was large enough to contain Petelgeuse in.

"What?! What is that?!" Petelgeuse was flabbergasted at the prison containing him. He tried shooting his invisible arms at its by bars, but it didn't even make a dent.

"Time to end you!"

"?!"

And as Natsumi's voice rang in Petelgeuse's ears, he then wiped his head at said female Knight's direction, only to see her stomping on the ground with her foot hard enough to cause splinters of wood to scatter all around her.

"Stop destroying my shop!" Rom yelled, but no one paid him a thought.

Natsumi then spread her arms to both her sides, before dozens of thin threads bursted from the sleeves of her coat, where each thread attached itself to each splinter that was scattered in midair.

And just as the threads touched the splinters, each splinter turned into a deadly combat knife.

"Take this!"

And in the next instant, Natsumi swung her arms at Petelgeuse, causing the dozens of knife to rocket towards the Sin Archbishop and stab each and every single area of the naked body of the deceased Bowel Hunter that the Quasi Spirit was possessing.

Petelgeuse opened the mouth of Elsa in a silent scream, with her eyes rolled up to the back of her head. He didn't notice as Reinhard caught Zerofuku in both hands, taking a swordsman stance.

"Finish this, Reinhard!" Natsumi called out to her partner.

"In the name of the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica, and on behalf of all those that you have slain, I, Reinhard van Astrea, shall put an end to your blasphemy"

And as Reinhard said those words, his sword started to glow blue, shimmering with energy. A few moments later, the earth shook. The whole world, or what remained of it shook to its very core. As each second passed the earthquake became even greater, and the planet shook even more violently.

The swirling energy surrounding Zerofuku started to become ocean blue in color, then it turned to the lightest shade of light blue, and by the second the blue color started to fade gradually until it became white, and eventually, the white color turned into a blinding light that be caused everyone to shield their eyes, and for Puck to instantly disappear back into his crystal that was dangling on Satella's neck.

And not a second afterwards, Reinhard raised his sword above his head...before swinging it down.

The result was a massive wave of raw energy that sent pillars of light shooting through the clouds and to the heavens, and the planet shook one last time but even more violently than before.

A few seconds later, the light pillars thinned out from the sky, the planet settled its rumbling, and the pure blinding light caused by the energy wave that the Sword Saint released faded, revealing the inevitable aftermath.

A massive chunk of the slums disappeared, but the houses were intact. The ground itself was erased that one could see thin streams of lava coming out.

The only building that suffered damages was Rom's loot house, which had its entire ceiling blown away and three out of its four walls were nowhere to be found.

But most importantly, no signs of the Elsa possessed Petelgeuse was to be found, not even a drop of blood.

"Well, that takes care of it" Reinhard said as he swung Zerofuku by his side, before placing it back in its sheath.

"Are you sure? Because I think that the old Giant over there had lost his soul" Shadow said pointing at Rom, who was at his knees, with his eyes being wider than dinner plates and his lower jaw comically slamming into the ruptured wooden ground of the devastated loot house.

"I suppose that life's over for that guy..." Subaru chucked.

"Master! That was insane, Yup! The small stinking building went like 'KABOOM!' and 'WHBOOSH!', Yup!" Shaula exclaimed jumping around with stars in her eyes, flailing her arms around like a kid that got a new toy.

"Heh...Yeah..." Subaru said with a nervous chuckle and a sweatdrop.

"Wow...That's reaaaly amazing, Subaru..." Satella gasped in awe, causing Subaru to turn to Felt, who was still on the ground.

"Alright. I think that you must return the Insignia that you stole from the pretty maiden over there" Subaru said.

"Oh...Okay" Felt said, flashing a small smile, before she took out the Insignia from a pocket in her vest. And at that moment, the jewel in the Insignia glowed.

This caused Reinhard to catch her hand, a look of shock was apparent on his face.

"This... Can't be..." Reinhard whispered, his eyes wide in seriousness, before he directed his gaze at Felt.

"What's your name?" He asked the confused blondie.

"It's...Felt..." She answered, anxiety building inside of her.

"How old are you?" Reinhard threw another question at her.

"15...I think...Hey! Why are you asking me those questions?!" Felt, who answered the second question, tried to protest, only for Reinhard to place an opened palm in front of her face, and in the next instant, Felt fell unconscious in Reinhard's arms.

"What did you do to her? And also, what was that for?" Natsumi asked, slightly worried about the girl, but Reinhard just smiled at her while holding the unconscious Felt in his arms bridal style.

"Don't worry, Natsumi. I'll explain everything later" Reinhard answered.

"Natsumi"

"?!"

Another male voice rang behind Natsumi.

But its familiarity to the young woman made tears build in the corners of her eyes, and for bile to rise in her throat. Her heart beat faster than a lightning bolt, butterflies danced inside her stomach.

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but another one instantly formed in her trachea. She tried to take deep breaths to calm down herself, but with each breath she took, her heart thumped even faster.

She then turned around to face Subaru, her hair shadowing her eyes, and this caused a chill to run down the spine of the white haired man.

"Uhh...Long time no see, Sis...You look even more cooler than before..." Subaru said to his sister with a nervous chuckle, and the next thing that he knew...

"Omph?!"

...A straight right punch directed to his stomach, knocking all the air inside his lungs.

"...I missed you too" Subaru said with a completely choked voice. He then saw as Natsumi threw her head into his chest, before he heard sniffing sounds, and the next thing he knew, his shirt was soaked in tears.

"I...I was so worried! So scared! So terrified! I thought that I'll never see you ever again! Uwaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Subaruuuuuuuuuu!" Natsumi's tears were flowing freely as she gripped on Subaru's shirt. Subaru, who saw his younger twin sister crying her eyes away, hugged her and gently rubbed her back.

"Shhhh...It's okay. I'm here. I won't leave you anymore, Sis..." Subaru whispered to her while hugging her tightly as tears started to flow from his eyes and down his cheeks.

"Hmph" Shadow huffed while crossing his arms with a scowl.

Suddenly...

"...Huh?"

His head was whipped towards the same exact place where he used Chaos Prison to imprison Petelgeuse. It didn't take a second from him to realize that the energy signature coming from that place was dangerous.

"This...It can't be..." He muttered, before taking out his sword.

And at the same time, Reinhard also felt the signature, which caused him to throw Felt to Rom, who caught her in his arms, before the Sword Saint drew his sword.

He would later come to the realization that he drew out the Dragon Sword Reid, something that, under normal circumstances, would be next to impossible.

Subaru was the last person to have felt the signature, which caused him to yank Natsumi behind him, before giving a sign command for Shaula to protect Satella, to which the humanoid Mabeast obliged by standing in front of the silver haired Half-Elf and entering a fighting stance, where Subaru took Elsa's white and black shortswords that were laying on the ground, having placed both Dark Elf and Brimstone Fang back inside the Store Space.

The energy signature took the form of a black miasma, before said miasma started to take shape. It looked like something humanoid that seemed to be sitting on something that resembled a chair, and both were floating and were so big in size that the loot house itself would be small in comparison to its height.

The black miasma around the figure then faded, revealing the shape of the figure.

It was a monster, dull purple in color from head to toe, wearing only a pair of pale golden high heeled boots and a hexa-pronged star shaped necklace dangling from its neck, and judging by its face that had a huge white beard, big jaws filled with pointy teeth, and a pair of long horns, he appeared to be some sort of a male monster.

What was most disturbing, however, was the 'chair' that that creature was sitting on.

It was actually a white, golden toilet chair.

"W-What the hell is that...?" Subaru muttered.

"This is bad...How does this world know about Demons...?" Shadow also muttered under his breath.

"What are you?" Reinhard asked the foreign creature, who lazily looked at his to be adversaries, before letting out a snort, and then a smirk.

"Greetings, lowlifes. I am one of the Seven Princes of Hell, representing the Sin of Sloth: Belphegor. I am here to kill all of you and claim this world as my own! Prepare to be my first sacrifices!"

And Done!

Wow! Over 27k chapters already, and ending it with a cliffhanger?! Ain't I evil!

Okay. Let's talk seriously now.

First of all, this fanfic is by no means a Multi xover. The reason being that SMT and Sonic are already collaborated with each other, considering the fact that Sonic is a guest character in Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2, and the fact that Sega and Atlus are already with each other in every project.

Second, I think you have already seen the pairings coming. The main pairings for now are Subaru x Emilia, Shadow x Rem, and Reinhard x Natsumi. I'm planning on placing other pairings in the future. Something like pairing Otto with someone here, and I'm planning to place some characters from various SMT games, and even some OCs in the future, and I need your opinion about who to pair with Otto.

Third, I want to apologize about the delays in the story of The Oblivion. I'm already halfway through the draft of the next chapter, but I'm having the problem of having to apply for the army after finishing college, and I have to apply in January 2022, and enter the army in April 2022, so I'm sorry for being late.

Lastly, I would love for my viewers to review even more and tell me about other ideas to place in this story, as well as your opinions about it, and how should I write it for your delight and satisfaction.

Next Chapter: VS The Prince Of Sloth.

Until Next Time And Next Chapter!

Jude Warble, Out.