Re:Zero Saving Life In Another World From Zero

by Jude Warble

We can never predict the future, but with one's actions, the future can be controlled, and a new universe is created. When 2 twin siblings, drowning in despair, and an entity, shot by betrayal, are teleported to another world, their actions and unpredictability will decide the future of All Creation. Main pairings Subaru x Emilia. Shadow x Rem. Other pairings will appear later.

6. VS Cream EXE & Vanilla EXE

Hello. This is your pal, Jude Warble.

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

---

"GAH!"

Subaru's scream alerted everyone around him.

Looking around him rapidly like a lunatic, Subaru saw that he was in the garden belonging to the Margrave Mathers Mansion. He then looked around him, only to see Emilia, Shadow, Reinhard and Natsumi looking at him in confusion due to him screaming so suddenly.

Shadow, however, was releasing bullets of cold sweat from his forehead, presumably due to the fact that he already came to a conclusion of what just happened to Subaru.

Subaru, on the other hand, was rapidly gasping for breath with horror plastered deeply in his wide eyes. He frantically reached for his left side, gripping his left arm and the left side of his ribs, as well as his left leg along the way. He then made his right hand travel next to his forehead, touching the spot where his head got drilled earlier.

Realising that everything was in its place, Subaru came to a realization.

He died, and everything was reset to the point before he visited Irlam Village.

"Subaru...?" Shadow called for the white haired boy, slowly reaching his hand towards him.

"AAAAAAAH!" Subaru yelled in horror, before grabbing Shadow by the collar and started shaking him.

"SHE TRIED TO KILL ME! KILL ME I TELL YOU! NO, SHE DID KILL ME! THEN THERE WAS THAT RABBIT! IT CRUSHED ME! BELIEVE ME PLEASE!" He yelled while shaking the wide eyed Shadow.

"Calm down, Subaru! I believe you! Just calm down!" Shadow said, trying to calm Subaru down as he was hyperventilating at a rapid pace, and any more and he will die only from the shock.

"Sorry about this" Shadow whispered before delivering a chop to Subaru's neck, causing the boy to be knocked unconscious on the spot where Shadow held him before he fell on the ground.

"Bro!" Natsumi exclaimed in worry, rushing at Shadow's side alongside Reinhard and Emilia.

"Is he okay?!" Emilia asked with worry painted all over her face.

"He...Will be alright" Shadow could only say such a simple answer, as he himself doesn't know what to say.

Then, with that, Shadow silently carried Subaru towards the mansion, followed by Reinhard, Natsumi and Emilia.

---

A few minutes later. Subaru's bedroom

"Is he alright?"

"For now, yes"

Natsumi asked about the welfare of her bedridden brother, to which Shadow replied positively.

After Subaru's panic attack in the garden, Shadow managed to calm him down and drop him to bed, but...Something was off.

At the previous loop, he went to do something important of his, but he was surprised by the sudden distortion of time and space around him, and before he knew it, he was back here in the mansion.

Something definitely happened with Subaru.

"Natsumi, you can depart for now. I'll take care of Subaru for now" Shadow said to Natsumi. However, the female Knight was still hesitant to leave her brother's side. Shadow waited for a few minutes, silently looking at her, before she slowly stood up and walked out from the room, worry still plastered all over her face, where a pained expression replaced Shadow's cold expression when Natsumi showed her back at him.

The black haired Highest then shifted his gaze at the unconscious boy, before sighing out.

"I had to use an Imaginary Number spell to knock him unconscious...I wonder what happened when I was away?" He muttered under his breath, before he saw Subaru groan and slowly open his eyes. A few moments afterwards, Subaru sat up, his face was in complete shock and horror, before he spotted Shadow with his eyes, and grabbed his collar once again.

He was about to yell once again, but Shadow raced him to it.

"...If you screamed once again, I'll knock you down for the rest of the day" Shadow grumbled his threat, to which it made Subaru release his grip from the Highest. He then tried to calm himself down by taking slow deep breaths in, then slowly exhaling them. He then slowly opened his eyes, before looking at Shadow.

"Okay. Now slowly tell me what happened, and try not to panic" Shadow said.

Subaru stared at him for a few seconds, before opening his mouth to speak.

"After we...Departed for the night, I sat the night in order to control the flow of Magatsuhi inside my body, but then suddenly, my body felt cold and I felt like life was being sapped out from me. Not a few minutes later and a humanoid rabbit kid bursted out from my chest, ripping it apart. I was then attacked by Rem, which I didn't understand at first, but apparently, she thought that I was a Witch Cultist. But before she could do anything else, the rabbit kid literally skewered her apart, before it drilled a hole in my skull, causing me to rewind" Subaru explained.

"Hmm...I see. I think I know what is that rabbit kid..." Shadow muttered under his breath. He then looked once again at Subaru, feeling like he wanted to say something else.

"Say, Shadow...Do you know a Magic that can do that?" Subaru asked.

"Do what?" Shadow asked back.

"Y'know...When the rabbit kid bursted out from my chest. I mean, I know about curses inflicted by shamans require physical contact, but those drain Mana from the cursed target, not do something like...'Impregnating'..." Subaru inquired, causing Shadow to raise an amused eyebrow.

"...It really amazes me how you figured it out subconsciously..." Shadow said.

"What do you-Ah!" Subaru was about to continue speaking, only for realization to strike him like a lightning bolt.

"This is a Highest Magic Spell. It's really so long to explain this type of Magic, so I'll be brief for now. This spell is called Illegal Impregnation, a spell from the Imaginary Number spell section. It allows the user to integrate themselves into the user's body. Similar to this world's curses, it forcibly absorb Mana from the victim, but another additional effect is that the user uses both the Mana and body of its victim to fully construct itself anew, as if it was reborn, thus the name of the spell" Shadow explained to Subaru, causing the white haired boy to adapt a thinking pose.

"But surely...It can't activate on a random target. I mean, a spell such as this should hold even more mechanisms and terms to be activated properly. You can't just use this spell on anyone unless you know him at least" Subaru said, causing Shadow to sigh.

"That's why I told you that it amazes me how you blurted out the answer to the riddle and yet you fail to comprehend it" Shadow said.

"Umm...Sorry to break it to you, but I just woke up from a rewind..." Subaru said with a slight scowl.

"Well, much like this world's curse manipulation, a condition is required: The physical contact between the caster and the target" Shadow exclaimed.

This caused Subaru's eyes to widen in shock.

"You mean to say...That I was in contact with this gruesome spell's caster?!" Subaru asked with wide eyes, to which the black haired Highest nodded silently.

"Anything that might come into mind regarding this?" Shadow asked.

"Say, Shadow, how long does this spell take to reach completion?" Subaru asked.

"It really varies depending on the caster's skill. Someone like me can complete it in an instant, where beginners would have to wait for three to four hours for this spell to reach its final stage" Shadow answered.

"I see! It connects! It really connects! All of that happened a few hours after we visited Irlam Village! So that means... It's the rabbit that bit me back then!" Subaru suddenly exclaimed.

"What do you have in mind, then?" Shadow asked.

"We're gonna confront the shaman that cursed me and stop them in their tracks!" Subaru said.

"Very well, but you must compromise a plan, considering the fact that you don't know anything about your opponent" Shadow calmly said.

"Heh. Don't worry. I've just that!" Subaru said with a grin.

---

A few minutes later

"Bro? Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, Sis! I'm fine! Just listen to me!"

As Natsumi tried to reason with her brother to rest, Subaru just showed that he had other plans in mind.

Walking rapidly like an marathon runner, Subaru bursted into Shaula's room.

"Shaula! We need...Your...Help..."

And the moment that Subaru opened the door, he instantly regretted it.

Right in front of him were Ram and Frederica, helping Shaula to dress into her maid outfit, but as they were in mid way of said process, Shaula wasn't fully dressed, which meant that her huge E-cups breasts were in full view in front of Subaru's face, bouncing with each breath the scorpion girl took, and causing the white haired boy to stare at her with comically wide eyes while his nose released two thin streams of blood, one from each nostril.

For Shaula, she just blinked innocently, as she didn't understand the meaning of modesty at all. For Frederica, she just chuckled nervously, considering the fact that she was someone that was tolerant to these kind of situations, she would normally just tell Subaru to simply excuse himself as Shaula was still dressing.

Ram, however, had an immensely different opinion, if her extremely devilish glare that indicated that Death was near provided any explanation as to what was about to happen to Subaru at her hands.

If looks could kill, then Subaru would've been dead hundreds of thousands of times over.

"Didn't they teach...YOU TO KNOCK ON THE DOOR?!" Ram yelled the last part, small cyclones of wind spinning like roller blades around her hands.

"...Holy mother of bonkers..." Subaru muttered, still standing like an idiot while staring at Shaula's chest.

"SUBARU! RUN!" Natsumi shouted, causing Subaru to snap back to reality, before he dodged a wind blade aimed at him from Ram, before running away for dear life.

"BARASU, YOU INSUFFERABLE SCUM! COME HERE SO THAT RAM CAN CUT YOU TO PIECES AND FEED YOU TO THE EARTH DRAGONS!" Ram yelled with comical fury, as she was suddenly hugged by Shaula to steady her from killing her Master.

"Raspberry, stop! Don't make me a widow!" Shaula yelled.

"Don't touch me! Also, what the hell do you mean by that?! You're not even married to that shameless criminal!" Ram growled her protest at Shaula, whose bear hug was close to suffocating and crushing her slim body frame.

"Now then, let us complete your dressing so that you can answer Subaru-sama's call for you" Frederica said defusing the situation.

---

A few minutes later

After Shaula got dressed, Subaru cleaned his nose and Natsumi fixed the door Ram broke, It was time to get down to business.

"So, Shaula. I need you to accompany me to Irlam Village" Subaru said.

"Huh? Why is that?" Natsumi asked.

"Long story short: The village will be under attack in an hour from now" Subaru said. The hour time limit was pure estimation, as he simply assumed that the attack took place right after he returned from Irlam Village in his previous loop, and that was the timeframe that he spent before the Illegal Impregnation spell took its effect on him.

"What makes you think about that weird assumption?" Ram asked with a scowl on her face.

"Ram, listen. I may joke all the time, but I hope that you're seeing my serious face right now. If you don't believe me, then ask Shadow. He knows the village more than I do, and I'm telling you right now: There's a person who's planning to attack the village right as we are speaking now" Subaru said, which made Ram look at him with narrowed eyes.

Currently, her master, Roswaal, has went to the Sanctuary, as he had business in there to attend to, and she, alongside Rem and Frederica, were tasked with looking after the mansion, as well as observing Subaru, Shaula and Shadow in case they tried to do something suspicious.

"No can do, Barusu. We can't let you go, as per Roswaal-sama's orders-"

"I'm sure that Roswaal told you something along the lines of keeping an eye on me, right?"

"..."

This made Ram completely silent, before she released a long sigh, indicating her surrender.

"Very well. If you say so, but take Frederica with you to keep an eye on you and Shads" Ram said.

"Okay. Thanks, Ram...And nice nickname for Shadow. I'll make sure to tell him" Subaru said with a grin, and Ram just snorted.

"Speaking of which, where is Shadow-sama?" Frederica asked.

No one noticed Subaru with small frown as he looked at the large stairs that led to the hallway that he was previously killed in by Rem and the rabbit kid.

"This one is up to you, Shadow..." He thought.

---

At the same time. Large hallway of the Margrave Mathers Mansion

"What do you want, Shadow-sama?"

"The village will be under attack, and we'll need all the help we can get"

Shadow was currently talking to Rem, trying to convince her of the attack on Irlam Village.

However, that wasn't the true purpose for this talk.

It was...

---

Flashback. A few minutes ago

"What do you have in mind, exactly?" Shadow asked.

"Shaula will go with me to the village, and we will set Natsumi, Reinhard and Ram on standby to protect the mansion in case there are additional forces with the shaman" Subaru explained.

"What about Rem? How are you gonna deal with her?" Shadow asked.

"Heh. That's where you come into the picture, my dear pal" Subaru said with a grin.

"...I don't think that I follow" Shadow said.

"You'll be the one to convince Rem to join us so that she won't attack me during our mission" Subaru answered.

"I see. So you're using the fact that I'm superior to her in strength to keep her away from you because she thinks that you're a Witch Cultist due to the Witch Miasma looming around you?" Shadow asked.

"So you knew?" Subaru asked.

"I can smell it due to my supernatural Highest senses, but as for Rem, I don't know the reason" Shadow said.

"Okay. As I was saying, you're going to convince her that I'm not a Witch Cultist and drag her with us to defend the village, which in turn will remove her incorrect assumption of me affiliating with the Witch Cult by seeing us cooperating together to take down the mysterious shaman" Subaru finished.

"...Heh" Shadow released a small laugh, followed by a toothy smirk directed towards Subaru.

"Huh? What's up?" Subaru asked in confusion.

"...You sly little bastard. You were able to think of a plan that devious to hit two birds with one stone? Impressive. I think I chose right after all" Shadow said.

"Believe me! I'll shock you even more!" Subaru exclaimed with a smile while taking out his tongue and flashing a peace sign with his fingers towards Shadow's face.

Flashback End

---

"I said that I'll help...But to think that he'll make me get stuck in this situation when I don't want to interfere even more with the mundane affairs of this world...Ugh...Maybe I should just give up on this one..."

After having thoughts in his head, Shadow dismissed them and turned once again to Rem.

"I believe I don't get you. What do you plan on doing?" Rem asked, causing Shadow's eye to twitch uncontrollably.

The little sly vixen was testing his patience, eh? Well two can play that game.

"...You think that Subaru is a Witch Cultist from the Witch Miasma surrounding him, correct?" Shadow asked, and this caused him to smirk internally upon seeing Rem's cold shell being instantly shattered as her eyes were wide in surprise.

"How did you...?" Rem trailed in her question, the shock still affecting her.

"I can smell it too. So I know how you feel. Personally, I feel the same as you, and I understand why you hate those assholes. I myself have a beef against one of their ranks, and I think that you'll find it very interesting, considering the fact that it's the one who destroyed your home" Shadow said, which in turn caused Rem to gasp in shock.

"How do you know about my home?" Rem asked in surprise.

"...I have my own ways for investigation" Shadow answered.

What Rem doesn't know is that Shadow used Death Wish for the past year during the monthly raids done by the Assassination Organization on Irlam Village to navigate through the memories of those who killed, and he found out that Capella Emerada Lugunica was the responsible for the destruction of the Oni Village, killing all of the members of said race and leaving only Rem, Ram and a third person as the sole survivors of the clan.

Rem stood in silence at this, staring at Shadow for a few seconds, before sighing out.

"Very well, I shall assist you, Shadow-sama, and I will give myself a chance to believe that Subaru-sama holds no ties with the Witch Cult" Rem said.

"Great, but I have another favour to ask of you, Rem" Shadow said.

"Which is?" Rem asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"Enough with the formalities. Just call me Shadow. I'm only 21 years old, three years older than you. Not a huge age gap if I say so myself" Shadow said, hiding his true age from her for two reasons. The first was because no sane person would believe that he was over 100,000 years old, where even the Divine Dragon himself was a mere 1000 years old. And second, he wanted to appear friendly towards Rem so that she becomes comfortable around them and have no space for hostility towards Subaru.

"Very well...Shadow-kun" Rem said nodding solemnly.

"Again with suffixes...Whatever. Better than 'sama'. Come on, let's go. The others are waiting" Shadow said before running down the stairs leading to the hallway, with Rem following suit. Upon their descension, they saw everyone, with the exception of Roswaal being presented in the huge space leading to the gates of the mansion.

"Oh! Shadow! What's going on?! Subaru says that the village is under attack!" Emilia said in worry.

"Indeed. I felt a malicious aura around the village not so long ago" Shadow said to Emilia, with Rem beside him.

"He's not lying, Lia. It seems that he's right" Puck said to his contractor, his eye slightly twitching, as previously, he couldn't read Shadow's mind, and now he was able to. However, right afterwards, his eyes widened slightly in surprise as right after confirming Shadow's claim, he felt the same 'wall' blocking him from reading Shadow's thoughts once again appear instantly.

He could swear that he saw Shadow giving him a small mocking grin.

"Alright. Let us move this instant. No time to waste. Puck, I trust that you can protect Emilia-tan?" Subaru asked.

"You can count on me!" Puck exclaimed.

"Ram, Natsumi and Reinhard will keep guard on the mansion in case something else slips by" Subaru said.

"Understood, Bro" Natsumi said, with Reinhard nodding beside her.

"Shaula, Frederica and I will search the Mabeast territory inside the forest, while Shadow and Rem will look for 'that' thing, okay?" Subaru laid out his instructions to everyone.

"...Very well" Shadow calmly answered, tapping the hilt of his black chokuto sword strapped to the left side of his waist.

"I shall follow your lead" Frederica said politely.

"I'm with Master wherever he goes~! Yup!" Shaula exclaimed happily while dressed in her maid outfit.

"Alright. Let's rock!" Subaru exclaimed and was about to walk out of the mansion, only for Emilia to block his way.

"Huh? What's up, Emilia-tan?" Subaru asked the silver haired Half-Elf.

"There's no use in stopping you now, right?" Emilia asked with cute puffed cheeks. If the current situation wasn't serious, Subaru would've hugged her.

"Well, probably not" He answered.

"Geez. You're reeeeeaaaally a nincompoop, Subaru" Emilia said.

"Nobody says 'nincompoop' anymore, Emilia-tan" Subaru chuckled, before blinking in confusion when Emilia placed her palm on his chest.

"May the blessing of the Spirits be with thee" She whispered, and watching her say that caused Subaru's heart to skip a beat, feeling lost in her beauty.

"Huh? What is that?" Subaru asked.

"Those are the words that you say when you see someone off. They mean 'Come Back Safely'" Emilia answered, causing Subaru to blush slightly and smile at her.

"Got it, Emilia-tan" Subaru said, still staring at her beautiful amethyst eyes as she smiled and looked back at his nasty gaze and sharp black eyes.

"I hate to interrupt the Rose Garden you two are in, but if you're done sucking faces, there are lives on the line here. So we better get going" Shadow said, causing Subaru to turn to him with a comical glare on his face.

"What a way to ruin the mood, pal..." He muttered.

And just like that, Subaru, Shadow, Rem, Frederica and Shaula stormed outside the mansion.

Their destination: Irlam Village.

"Come back safely..." Emilia thought.

---

A few minutes later. Irlam Village

Subaru and co reached Irlam Village, only to see the villagers with light torches in their hands, looking around as if they were looking for something.

Or someone.

"What happened here?" Subaru asked Petra's parents, where Petra's mother was weeping her eyes out as Petra's father comforted her while also helping to find the missing children.

"Petra, Lucas and Mild...They suddenly disappeared. We can't find them anywhere" Petra's father answered.

"I see..." Shadow muttered, causing everyone to look at him.

"...You won't find them in the village" He said.

"W-What?" Petra's father asked in confusion, before he saw Shadow running to the forest, Rem following behind him.

"Tell everyone searching for the kids...They're in the forest!" Shadow shouted, prompting Subaru and Shaula to run into the opposite direction of the forest.

"Frederica! The village is susceptible to Mabeast attacks! Stay back to fend them off! Shaula and I will try to block as many Mabeasts as possible before they reach the village's borders!" Subaru shouted at the Demi-Human, who immediately complied by giving a firm nod.

Operation Save The Village: Start!

---

At the same time. With Shadow and Rem

"Why do you think they're in the forest?"

"I can just tell, because...Of this"

As they were running towards the forest, Rem asked Shadow about his suspicions, only for them to reach a tree that had a broken gem laid in front of it, effectively answering Rem's doubts.

"The barrier...Is broken" She whispered in shock.

"That means that Mabeasts can enter the village. Good thing Subaru went to the other side to block the path of Mabeasts on that side" Shadow said, before looking in the depths of the forest, then he marched forward.

"Shadow-kun! Where are you going?!" Rem asked the black haired Highest, causing him to turn around and look at her.

"The brats are in there! We have to go and save them!" He exclaimed.

"What proof do you have for that claim?!" Rem asked, causing Shadow to cast his eyes downwards to the ground.

"Rem...You think that Subaru is a Witch Cultist due to the Witch Scent lurking around him, right?" Shadow asked, causing Rem to gasp in surprise where she was asked the same question earlier, yet didn't have a clear answer.

"Again, how did you...?!" She trailed in her question, the words getting stuck at her throat.

"...Actually, for some reason, I can smell it too, but I decided to do some research to clear my doubts" Shadow answered, spinning some stuff up and hiding the fact that he copied that ability from her.

See, Shadow's Rune Stone Skill, Death Wish, allows him to copy all the powers, abilities, magic affinities and special skills of the deceased as long as he either knows their name or shape. That, and in the last loop, Shadow somehow blurted out Rem's name in his mind, knowing that she might cause trouble if she attacked Subaru, only for her powers and spells to immediately get themselves registered in Shadow's skillset.

"Remember when the Dragon Tablet said that the Great Sage assisted in defeating the Sin Archbishop of Sloth?" Shadow asked.

"Yes...?" Rem said, confused.

"I juggled it up in my mind. Shaula is always referred to as Subaru's companion, that much is known to all of us. Reinhard is the Sword Saint, and I'm pretty sure that I'm the Foreign Existence' the Tablet talked about, since, by now, I think you all have figured that I'm not Human" Shadow said, causing Rem to nod silently.

Suddenly, realization struck her hard upon understanding what Shadow was getting at.

"Wait! It can't be! You don't mean...!" Rem trailed in her speech in shock and disbelief.

"It's a hypothesis of mine that I'm pretty sure about, but I don't have much proof to support it, but...I think that Subaru...Is the Great Sage" Shadow said.

"What?! But how?! He doesn't look like-" Rem was about to finish her phrase, only for Shadow to whip his head towards the forest, a malicious intent was filling the air, and it was so thick that Rem visibly shivered from it, and felt her body heating up to crazy temperatures.

"W-What was that?" She asked sweating massive bullets from every single skin pore, and then she fell to her knees as they gave in due to the overwhelming malice invading her instincts.

"Huma"

"?!"

Just then, Shadow waved his hand, and in an instant, a chilly wave of air surrounded both him and the blue haired Oni maid, causing the unbearable heat to instantly fade away.

"Unbelievable...This is a low tier spell...And it did this much...? I won't hope to even touch him..." Rem thought while looking at Shadow, before she saw him extending his hand to her.

"I promise that I'll explain everything when the time comes, but now, we have to save the children" Shadow said, before he witnessed Rem taking his hand and using it to support herself in order to stand up.

"Very well, but Shadow-kun..." Rem trailed.

"Yes?" He asked, waiting for her own question.

"Why are you bent on saving the children? How do the villagers connect to you in any way?" Rem asked, causing Shadow to blink calmly, before he took a deep breath, then slowly released it out, before facing Rem and starting to speak.

"Petra wants to be a seamstress when she grows up and work in the Capital..."

"Huh?"

Rem was startled at Shadow's answer and it took her by surprise. Nevertheless, Shadow didn't seem to give her shocked expression any attention and continued on talking.

"...Lucas wants to be a carpenter like his father, and also become a blacksmith and an adventurer...Mild wants to make a flower wreath for his own mother..."

"...!"

Rem just gasped in shock. She didn't know that Shadow was so attached to the children to the point where he knows even their future dreams.

"...I'm no stranger for them now. I know their names, their faces and even their dreams for the future. It's already been a year. Sure, a mix of circumstantial coincidences and personal issues of mine has led me to know them and become acknowledged by them, but at that time...I never thought that this place would be so valuable to me to the point that I'd put my life on the line for it. I kept on protecting it for twelve straight months, not allowing any invader to touch even a grain of sand from it. I didn't know why did I do that at first, but now...I think I do. It's because those people only have their dreams to cling to and think about, and leaving them to their doom would be as if I was the one that killed them and denied their dreams. No one has the right to deny their ambitions for the future, not you, not me, not this damned Capital, not anyone else in this world. Besides, be it a promise or a threat, I always keep it to the very end...That's why..I'm heading in"

After Shadow's explanation, Rem's eyes were so wide in astonishment.

Never in her life did she think that someone would be so selfless to the point of even putting their lives on the line. To her, it was foolishness, but to someone like him...It was the norm.

"Very well. It can't be helped"

"?!"

Shadow stopped walking to the forest and turned around to Rem, whose cold atmosphere seemed to have faded, replaced by a rather warm expression with a slight blush, even though she wasn't smiling.

"After all, Rem has been given the mission to monitor you, Shadow-kun. And I can't fulfill my duty if you go off by yourself" Rem said, causing the smallest of smiles to appear on Shadow's face.

"Yeah. I supposes so. Just make sure to have my back" Shadow said, unsheathing his teal colored blade from his waist.

"Very well. Consider this done" Rem said, pulling out a Morningstar from nowhere, where the ball was hooked to a handle with a long chain.

"Let's go!" Shadow exclaimed before he and Rem dashed to the depths of the Kremaldy Forest.

---

At the same time. With Subaru and Shaula

"Stay close to me, Shaula! We don't know what awaits us!"

"Aye Aye, Master~! Yup!"

As both Subaru and Shaula ran inside the forest, the malice spreading around the place getting even closer, and for some reason Subaru felt that it was directed towards him and him only.

"This is rather strange...Goosebumps are rising up my body...I have a bad feeling about this..." Subaru thought while running, with Shaula being behind him.

A few minutes later, they reached a vast point of the forest, and in the middle of it stood a rather familiar figure, with its back being directed in front of both of them.

And that figure was what made Subaru gape.

"It...It can't be...You were annihilated just yesterday..." Subaru gasped his words, before the figure turned around to face them.

And instead of his pale complexion and skeletal face, he looked more human-like, having a slightly tan complexion and calm, but angry brown eyes, and his green hair was no taller, reaching down to his waist.

"Oh! The crybaby! Long time no see~!" Shaula exclaimed with a happy smile, waving at the man, but he didn't even anile one bit. He just directed his glare at Subaru, who grit his teeth, before pulling out Dark Elf and Brimstone Fang from his Store Space.

"You...Who are you...?" Subaru asked, even though he knew the answer, but both his mind and soul couldn't process it.

In process, the man bowed elegantly and introduced himself.

"My name is Geuse Romanee-Conti, formerly Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti, the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Sloth. And I was pulled from the land of the dead to stop you. For Emilia-sama's sake...And in the name of every resident of Elior Forest your vile race has scorned and discriminated...I shall wipe you from existence!"

---

At the same time. With Shadow and Rem

"Shadow-kun. The scent of something alive, but it isn't a Mabeast"

"Yeah. I can sense it too. This way!"

Shadow and Rem used their enhanced senses of smell, scanning the forest for the children, before they increased their speed upon detecting Human scent. They then ran towards an opened field, only to find the unconscious forms of Petra, Lucas and Mild.

But what was standing in the center of the unconscious bodies made Shadow's blood boil.

There stood a small, 50 cm tall rabbit girl. She wore a one piece dress that was smeared black with blood. Her skin was sickly purple in colour, her left eye was gouged out, leaving said place completely empty, and her right eye had a black sclera and crimson red irises, and a huge scar traveled from the left side of her head and down to the top of the vacant socket of her left eye.

The rabbit immediately smiled happily upon spotting Shadow, despite her appearance that came out from a SAW movie.

"Oh! Mister Shadow! It's been so long!" She exclaimed happily.

"Shadow-kun, do you know that creature?" Rem asked, her body tensing while her arms tightened the grip on the chain and handle of her weapon.

For one reason or possibly multiple ones, this creature spelled bad news.

"...My past" Shadow growled while glaring at the creature, who grinned devilishly at him.

"Mister Shadow~...You are the scum of the Earth~...You left us to die...And you were the only one to be able to stop them~..." She whispered.

"Shut up. Stop trying to mimic the purity with filth" Shadow said angrily.

"Even if I'm not the real one...YoU kNoW vErY wElL tHaT iT's YoUr FaUlT!" The twisted imposter of Cream The Rabbit roared out, her teeth becoming sharp fangs as she screamed those words.

Suddenly, massive slime-like monsters as tall as the trees of the forest started to appear, surrounding both Shadow and Rem. The rabbit's grin then grew wider that it threatened to split her head in half.

"I'lL mAnGlE yOuR cOrPsE...aNd DeCoRaTe ThE sTaLe-AbYsS wItH iT!"

[Divide Music OST - Kimetsu no Yaiba- Inosuke Theme - Rip You Apart]

The slimes charged towards both Shadow and Rem, but the maid was faster, and swung her Morningstar at a slime. The spiky metal ball of destruction blasted forward at immense speeds, demolishing the slime to nothing in an instant.

"By the grace of Roswaal-sama, all trespassers shall be shown no mercy" Rem muttered, before swinging the Morningstar horizontally, taking down two more slimes behind her. She then jumped into the air, avoiding a slime that swung its massive arm at her. The blue haired Oni maid spun like a professional aerodynamics expert, with the chain of her weapon making circles around her body. She then descended downwards at the slime, slamming her fist directly at the top of its head, demolishing the creature where it stood.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Imposter Cream roared as she charged at Shadow, who retaliated by blocking her claw with his sword, before pushing her away. The undead rabbit spun in midair, extending her opened palm at Shadow, before purple bolts of lightning shot from her palm at Shadow, who proceeded to nimbly dodge the lightning strike. Seeing this, Imposter Cream growled, her face twisted into a horrifying sneer that contradicted the age of her body. She then used her ears as wings to stay afloat, before extending both arms out.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" She roared, firing several bolts of purple lightning in succession, but Shadow kept on casually dodging the crazy attacks.

"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" The zombie rabbit yelled like a complete maniac as her attacks were failing completely.

Another bolt of lightning fired off from her hand, only for Shadow to deflect it with his sword, causing the bolt to slam directly at its caster, snipping her from the air and causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

"Cheese! Get him!" She yelled out before a yellow ball zoomed past her, only for Shadow to easily dodge it. The ball kept on bouncing around, hitting everything around it. Even the slimes that Rem was fending off were no exception.

And then, the zombified Chao was shifting to a new target: Rem.

"Rem! Look out!" Shadow called, only for the Oni to spin on her heel, somersault in a brilliant pro fashion to the sky, before bringing her heel down at the Chao, slamming it into the ground and crushing it into an unrecognisable bulb of blood, and Rem could also feel something like a rock being crushed underneath her foot, but she paid it no mind.

"Cheese...?"

Imposter Cream simply stood there in silent, having seen the Imposter Cheese being killed just like that in front of her.

"CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSEEEEE!"

She then roared out, causing a booming echo of her voice to spread out. Trees were turned to dust instantly, slimes exploded to a bloody bulb and the ground ruptured apart as chunks of it flew dozens of meters to the air.

"AGH!" Rem groaned loudly as her eardrums instantly exploded, causing blood to burst out of them, which in turn made her loosen her grip on her weapon before falling into her knees and gripping her ears tightly.

"Damnit! A Rune Stone Skill that negates all physical and magical defenses...And immobilise movement with sound and vibration?!" Shadow thought while holding his ears, but his didn't burst at all. He just got annoyed by the voice that he merely covered his ears.

However, his own concern was Rem, who is now open for any attack now.

He then saw a massive horde of slimes charging at Rem, but she didn't notice them at all. Neither by her eyes, as they were attacking her from behind, nor by her ears, as her eardrums are already busted.

Shadow gritted his teeth as he ran towards the immobilised Oni, but then stopped midway as he saw her standing up to her feet, sprinting towards him as fast as she could.

"Rem...?" He called out her name, but didn't get an answer. And when Rem reached him, she slowly placed her hand at his right shoulder, before gently pushing him to the side.

The next thing that happened was a shockwave that came erupting at Rem's face, slamming straight at her and driving her through the slimes, erupting them in an instant. Rem flew away like a ragdoll , crashing into dozens of trees and boulders, before stumbling on the ground roughly and then falling silently in the dirt, blood riddling her entire body and her clothes were almost ripped apart entirely.

"Rem!" Shadow called before turning his attention to a figure that overshadowed him. Said creature was a massive, building-sized sickly purple coloured rabbit that held sharp, sword-shaped fangs as its teeth, and his paws had massive claws that looked like sickles.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRR!"

The rabbit roared furiously and glared at Shadow, its blood right red eye with black sclera threatened to drill holes into the black haired Highest, who stood firm, before sheathing his sword.

"It seems that I'll be needing something else to deal with you" He muttered, before his Store Space opened beside him and he proceeded to place his right arm in it, before taking it out, revealing a new weapon in his hand.

It was a blue hilt of a saber blade and its guard appeared to be some sort of a helmet that was red in colour, with an azure blue gem on the forehead and red pointy extensions protruding from the back of said helmet.

Shadow gripped the hilt with both hands, before taking a deep breath, then letting it out slowly. He then began channeling his Mana and Chaos Energy into the hilt, before suddenly, the energy manifested into a massive curved, Single-Edged blade that appeared to be made out of fire.

Shadow then took a swordsman stance, with both hands gripping on the handle.

"Bring it!" He exclaimed, before noticing another army of slimes appearing in the battlefield.

It was a good thing that he teleported the children away before the battle even began.

Suddenly, he felt a malicious aura behind him. He looked back, only to see Rem, her injuries were completely healed, but her upper clothes completely torn apart, leaving her bare skin and breasts exposed, but she seemed to not care, as a pink ethereal horn had just sported from her forehead, and a bloodlusted grin appeared on her face.

"Heh...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She laughed like a maniac, before a horde of slimes jumped at her. She then proceeded to demolish them with her weapon, but her style was different this time. If the Rem without a horn was a elegant dancer, the Rem with a horn looked like a mindless barbarian.

"Monster! Monster! Monster! Mabeast! Mabeast! Mabeast! WITCH!" She screamed and laughed like a complete crazy man, swinging at the slimes with everything she had, not giving them a chance to retaliate.

She didn't notice that the giant rabbit had its eyes on her, ignoring Shadow and charging at her with blinding speeds, causing Shadow to gasp in shock.

"REM!" He shouted, storming towards Rem as fast as he could. Fortunately, her reached her in time, but the rabbit was inches away, so he did the best thing to do at this situation.

Push Rem out of harm's way.

"Huh...?" As Rem flew away, she saw Shadow being the one pushing her away, and in the second instant, the rabbit slammed into the black haired Highest, sending him flying away.

"Sha...SHADOW-KUN!" Upon falling into the ground and taking a few seconds to process what just happened, Rem regained her rationality, before screaming Shadow's name from the top of her lungs. She then stood on her legs, but immediately fell to her knees the next instant, with her horn also dissipating away.

"I...Used up too much power in one go..." Rem gasped out, fatigue kicking into her body in one instant, causing her to barely look at the rabbit attacking Shadow, who fended it off with his new sword that apparently released fire slashes from it.

"Huh...?" She then felt something crunching into her left hand, which caused her to look at her side, only to see the remnants of the stone that she crushed with her heel when she killed the small zombie Chao.

However, something was different.

She felt something from these small fragments of a stone. A source brimming with infinite power and it appeared as if it was calling her.

For a few seconds, Rem was mesmerized by the power. Her past flashing in her eyes.

How she and her sister were born as twins.

How they wanted to dispose of her, but Ram worked hard for her life.

How Ram was treated and regarded as a prodigy, while she was mediocre at best.

How her entire clan was slain by the Witch Cult right in front of her eyes.

How Ram did everything she could to protect her while she sat helplessly on the ground.

How Ram's horn flew away into the air after it was cut, weakening her immensely.

How she was happy that Ram's horn was gone.

How she felt guilty about feeling happy that Ram's horn was gone.

"..."

It's all her fault.

It's her fault her sister's horn was gone.

She was nothing more than her shadow.

She tried her best to help her sister.

And yet...It wasn't enough.

Her sister would have done better.

Her sister would have been better without her.

Her sister would have been more amazing.

Her sister would have done this.

Her sister would have done that.

Her sister would have...Her sister would have...

"..."

It's obvious, considering the fact that she was an inferior copy, a cheap imitation of her.

"You're doing really weeeeeell"

She heard those words back in her village.

"No need to overdo it, Rem. Ram is worried about you"

She overdid it, and it never was enough.

"Why are you trying so hard?"

Because not even 'hard' was good enough.

"..."

She tried finding her own worth by walking on the path that she stole from her sister.

It was all to atone for the thought of Envy that she had for her sister at that traumatizing night.

Because she was nothing but an inferior, a substitute to her sister.

"..."

"...Name's Shadow Terios. Pleased to meet you"

That man...He was the very incarnation of the word Enigma.

He had this cold, enigmatic aura around him that prevented anyone from knowing what was exactly at his mind.

She didn't trust neither him, nor the white haired guy that came with him a day ago.

For the white haired boy, she saw that he reeked of the Witch Miasma, the same one she smelled at that night.

She can't trust him. She had to dispose of him before it's too late.

However, as for that black haired man...

"..."

Something about his cold glare was weird.

He seemed hostile and malicious at first glance, but...His eyes...It felt like he has seen Death millions of times over.

His eyes were sad. His heart was locking away the sorrow of the entire world inside of it.

He was indeed a capable man.

"I'm no stranger for them now. I know their names, their faces and even their dreams for the future..."

He was indeed stronger than anything Rem saw in her life.

"...I kept on protecting it for twelve straight months, not allowing any invader to touch even a grain of sand of it..."

He was surprisingly intelligent and perceptive of all of his surroundings.

"...No one has the right to deny their ambitions for the future, not you, not me, not this damned Capital, not anyone else in this world. Besides, be it a promise or a threat, I always keep it to the very end..."

And yet...Despite all the power that he has...He still works so hard. Why?

He holds all of this power, and yet...He requested assistance from her.

Why...?

"...It's because those people only have their dreams to cling to and think about..."

Why...?

"...Leaving them to their doom would be as if I was the one that killed them and denied their dreams..."

Why...?

"...I never thought that this place would be so valuable to me to the point that I'd put my life on the line of it..."

"..."

Oh...Ah...

She felt so light.

The thought of not suspecting those strangers, and especially this black haired enigma Shadow Terios.

She never thought that it would feel so...Blissful.

"..."

However...Even now, she was swallowed by her powers, and because of her...Shadow three himself in danger.

"..."

In the end...Nothing changed ever since that dreadful day...

"REM!"

"?!"

The shout that Shadow released woke her up from her self-scolding session, causing her to look at him with teary eyes.

"FORGET ABOUT ME! IF YOU'RE INJURED AND UNABLE TO FIGHT, GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" Shadow yelled, pushing the giant rabbit away. The push was so hard the rabbit tumbled and fell on its back with a massive thud on the ground, kicking an enormous cloud of dust.

Seconds later, the dust was suddenly blown away as Shadow swung his crimson sword to his side with only one hand. And as her hair blew and fluttered in the wind, Rem saw Shadow glaring at the tumbled rabbit on the ground, before witnessing the eldritch abomination standing up quickly, before directing its glare of Death towards Shadow.

"W-Wha...?" She just muttered, completely taken back by Shadow's words.

"How it'll be fine if you died? You won't be able to fix your guilt and issues! And it's not shameful to say that you can't do it! A true survivor knows the right time to fight and the right time to quit!" Shadow exclaimed, with Rem watching with wide eyes in silence as tears dripped down her eyes and down her cheeks.

"Now tell me! Are you gonna stand up for yourself?! Or are you gonna die and throw everything down to the path of despair?!" Shadow asked, not taking his eyes off the giant growling rabbit that took the attack position against him.

Suddenly, the crumbles of the stone under Rem's hand started to slowly attract its pieces and connect them together like a puzzle piece. A few seconds later, the stone reconnected itself to become a rhombus-shaped stone with light blue glowing rune-like lines covering its frame.

"I don't want to die..."

The stone started to glow rapidly.

"I don't want to die"

The stone's glowing became so fast that it matched Rem's own heartbeat.

"I don't want to die!"

The stone then settled on glowing brightly, so bright in fact that its glowing replaced the moon's luminosity.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

As Rem screamed from the top of her lungs, a massive pillar of light blue light bursted from the ground and pierced the heavens, engulfing Rem and causing Shadow to direct his attention to it, his expression being of awe.

"She forcibly integrated a Rune Stone into her...?! It can't be! That's amazing!" Shadow thought, his awestruck expression turning to a teeth flashing grin, where the massive rabbit slightly shivered while looking at the light pillar.

A few minutes later, the light faded, revealing Rem, now standing on her feet with her maid outfit completely fixed and her injuries were completely healed as if nothing happened to her, and on the back of both of her palms was a light blue coloured rhombus-shaped stone, and it appeared to be engraved on the back of each of her two hands.

"Rune Stone Skill: Thermo-Operator"

A mysterious voice echoed within Rem's mind, but she paid it no heed, as her full attention and rage was directed towards the giant rabbit in front of her.

And then, Rem lifted her arm subconsciously, in her hand was a fist-sized rock that she picked up from the ground. Suddenly, the rock started to shine brightly, and the heat that came from it was enough to rival a supernova.

Rem then threw the rock towards the rabbit, and the moment it made contact...

BOOOOOM!

...A massive explosion comparable to that of a nuclear reactor found itself blasting the area and sending tremors around the entire area and village.

The rabbit absolutely had no way of dodging that one, and it didn't.

It was literally blown apart-no. It completely vanished, not even the very concept of his atoms was existent.

"I...Killed it..." Rem breathed out, before gasping, and then fell to her knees, gasping for breath.

"Don't try to move Rem. Usage of this ability for the first time causes a completely unbearable exhaustion for the body. So stay where you are and don't move a muscle" Shadow instructed, before gasping suddenly as he saw the rabbit slowly reappear into existence, where a glowing rock was at the center of its rapidly regenerating body.

"Of course! If the Rune Stone isn't destroyed at a conceptual level and survived it, not even a conceptual attack that didn't even touch it will put down the owner!" Shadow thought with his teeth gritted tightly as he saw the giant rabbit regenerating.

"It's okay, Shadow. Concentrate. Focus..." He thought as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the ethereal fire sword in his hand glowed a bright red, and after a few seconds, Shadow snapped his eyes open, just in time to witness the rabbits moments of biting down on him with its massive jaws.

"Red Lotus Saber: Bone Slicer"

"?!"

And at the next moment, a hexa-pronged cross of fire appeared from Shadow's sword swing, slicing the newly reformed body of the rabbit and causing it to burn to nothingness, exposing its Rune Stone in midair as it was going to reform once again.

It would take less than a novadecimillionth of a second for it to reform its body, but Shadow was faster, as under that timeframe, he caught the Red Lotus Saber in a reverse grip, before throwing it like a spear towards the Rune Stone.

The sword soared through the sky, and its speed was so great that the rabbit's body literally reformed right after the sword passed through its now regenerated body.

"!?"

However, the sword hit its mark, stabbing through the Rune Stone, which in turn caused the rabbit to freeze in its place, twitching rapidly, and before anyone could understand, the rabbit melted like ice cream on the devastated ground, except that the scene was horrible as it looked like the flesh of a living being...Which was indeed the case...Sort of.

As the rabbit melted, Shadow appeared to be having a slightly wounded expression on his face, as if he felt guilt and sorrow at the creature that was literally impersonating the kid that called him 'kind'. He felt a part of him mourning the girl that basically didn't die. That thing was an imposter, and the real one is still alive back at his previous dimension.

Still...He still couldn't forgive himself for being so weak to avert the nightmare that Exeller made, which literally scared her pure heart forever.

All that he could say was ask for forgiveness...Right from his position in this world.

[Music Ends]

"Looks like our part here is done" Shadow said, before dismissing the Red Lotus Saber sword by placing it inside a Store Space. He then looked at his side to see Rem having fell unconscious, presumably due to the strain of the usage of her newly acquired Rune Stone Skill for the first time.

"Oh well. I guess that's that. Time to give Subaru a hand" Shadow said before walking and picking up Rem bridal style, and then he flicked away in a brief flash of white light.

---

Thirty Minutes ago. With Subaru and Shaula

"...I shall wipe you existence!"

[Divide Music OST - Kimetsu no Yaiba - Tanjiro Theme - Night]

Before yelling his threat out, Petelgeuse...Or Geuse as he called himself, opened his outstretched hand, before yelling.

"Sand Thorns!"

Geuse then unleashed spikes made out of sand that appeared out of thin air, launching them at both Subaru and Shaula, who proceeded to jump away from harm's way.

Subaru extended his hand forward.

"Caustic Venom!" He called out, before his extended hand which no longer held a knife, transformed into a small purple snake, before said snake shot a ball of green liquid at Geuse, who waved his hand horizontally, causing a wall of sand to erect itself in front of him, defending him from the ball of venom, but it also corroded the sand wall, giving Shaula the opening to shoot multiple Hell Snipe at him, which in turn caused Geuse to dodge barely by hair, where his glare never averted itself from piercing daggers at Subaru.

"Shaula! Fire even more when you find openings, no matter how small they are!" Subaru instructed the humanoid Mabeast.

"Gold Dust Desert Hands!" Geuse exclaimed before massive clawed arms of glittering sand appeared out of thin air, before launching themselves towards Subaru, whose legs then started to be covered with magma, before it instantly solidified up to just below his knees, and his toes became fanged and white, with smoke emitting from each part of his leg with glowing magma at certain sections of his thighs and femur.

"Vulcan Heel!"

As Subaru roared this out, he jumped and spun in the air, where each one of his two legs made contact with each of the two gold dust arms, causing massive explosions of fire and lava to erupt upon contact. Subaru then landed gracefully on the ground, his legs returning to normal, but then, he felt himself sinking down into the ground, prompting him to look down, only to gasp in shock upon realizing that the entire battlefield was covered in quicksand.

"Quicksand Tropical Trap"

Geuse's calm mutter confirmed Subaru's analysis of the predictament that he was in.

Being in quicksand means that Geuse must have — Speaking in natural terms — increased the air inside the ground, disrupting the bonded atoms within the ground to create quicksand.

And also, Subaru remembered that sand contains silicon, an important ingredient for the creation of glass. Just give sand enough heat and it will create glass.

The white haired boy slapped himself mentally, before grinning as an idea popped into his mind.

"Fell Goa!"

Roaring out, Subaru unleashed a massive fire tornado from beneath his feet by pointing Brimstone Fang at the quicksand, effectively blasting him away, and also instantly turning the entire battlefield into a thin layer of glittering glass. In midair, Subaru was snatched by an oversized scorpion tail, courtesy of Shaula who was standing on a tree, and used her transformation ability to make her scorpion tail emerge in order to catch Subaru before he could fall.

Geuse gritted his teeth in anger, and while it wasn't the crazy expression that Subaru saw from the former Sin Archbishop of Sloth, he still felt the pure bloodlust coming from Geuse and directed towards him.

"I will kill you! Desu!" Geuse exclaimed, before one thousand massive, tree-sized, tri-pronged spears of sand manifested above the forest, aiming themselves at Subaru and Shaula.

"Shaula..." Subaru pointed out, and Shaula just smiled like a kid, not needing to be told what to do. She then stretched both her arms above her head and to both her sides.

"No problemo! Google is backing up~!" She exclaimed, before countless white Magic circles appeared around the field, right in front of the airborne sand spears.

"1000 Desert Spears!"

"Infinite Hell Snipe!"

The spears descended towards both Subaru and Shaula, followed by beams of light being fired from the countless Magic circles, colliding with the sand spears, causing bombardments to echo throughout the forest, where each sand spear that collided with each heat ray was instantly turned to glass before shattering to millions of glittering fragments, before falling onto the glassy field like heavy rain, except that it was glass fragments inside of raindrops.

Geuse then looked at Subaru, only to see Shaula being the only one standing on the tree, confusing the Quasi Spirit as he looked at Shaula, who waved at him with a sweet smile, before raising her pointer finger and started pointing upwards, prompting Geuse to look up, only to see Subaru, his knives gone from his hands, and his right arm was encased in what appeared to be a bright yellow armor with spikes protruding from the knuckles' area.

Geuse saw this and clicked his tongue, before he created a spherical wall of sand in front of him to shield himself from what about to come...

"Brimstone Gauntlet!"

"?!"

...But instead of hitting Geuse, Subaru descended towards the center of the battlefield, slamming his Sulfur-infused arm into the glass encasing the ground, causing millions of billions of tiny glass fragments to fly to the air, which in turn caused Geuse to grit his teeth, unaware of Subaru's plans.

"Hey Geuse! Did you know that you don't need Magic to always use spells?! Instead you can just channel Mana towards the element of your desired spell and then let your imagination run wild?!" Subaru exclaimed with a grin. It took a few seconds for Geuse to realize as he stared wide eyed at the still raining shower of glass fragments.

"Having a plate filled with the seasonings is way much better than having an empty plates to place seasonings in from scratch!" Subaru grinned as he outstretched his arm and opened his hand, before releasing a raw wave of Mana to his surroundings.

And the next thing that happened, the shards and fragments of glass started to brighten, as Geuse stared with wide eyes with time seemingly slowing down greatly, with the glass shards getting brighter and brighter.

"Shard Storm"

BOOOM!

The raging roar of a massive explosion echoed once again, and this time it was bigger and louder than the previous ones combined, and the result was favourable, as Geuse's sand shield fell apart like dried clay, before the Quasi Spirit fell on one knee, panting heavily as the exhaustion from using whatever mysterious and unique ability that he was using finally came over him.

Even then, he didn't stop glaring at Subaru.

"I-I will not let it end like this..." Geuse whispered, before gritting his teeth so hard that his gum was bleeding out, but he didn't care.

"TIME TO SEE YOU DEAD!" Geuse roared out, before a ginormous spiky ball of blackish substance found itself manifesting out of thin air above the heads of Geuse, Subaru and Shaula, who landed on the ground next to the white haired boy.

"Iron Sand: Festival Of Ruin!"

The moment Geuse shouted this, the black ball suddenly bursted out, causing massive black thorns to zoom towards both Subaru and Shaula, causing both of them to dodge by jumping away. The thorns started to rapidly stab in the ground, and Subaru had to run around it in order to dodge. The thorns kept on chasing Subaru, not even giving a heck about Shaula, who was trying to bypass a shield of iron sand coating Geuse by firing light beams but in vain, causing Subaru to frantically dodge, and after a few minutes of dodging, Subaru pointed his opened palm at the thorns that were chasing him.

"Sulfur Strike!"

The yellow blocks of sulfur appeared out from thin air in front, before they charged towards the thorns of iron sand, and upon their contact another explosion echoed throughout the forest, with trees and debris flying to the air as the battlefield was destroyed violently, with a massive smokescreen engulfing the scene.

"Crackling Talons!"

Geuse heard a roar from behind his shield. And by narrowing his eyes, he could see Subaru positioning his hand in the form of a claw, as long fangs of light blue electricity formed around his half clenched fist, before he saw the lightning fangs soar upwards. Five arcs of lightning tore through the sound barrier towards the massive pile of iron sand above his head that was firing the thorns.

A small explosion engulfed the iron sand, causing it to fall apart and rain atop Geuse, which caused him to get distracted enough for his iron sand shield to fall off, leaving him defense-less and open wide.

"Chain Lightning!"

"?!"

Geuse then gasped as Subaru took the chance of his vulnerability, and slammed a ball of light blue lightning at Geuse, causing him to get electrocuted due to the massive amount of iron sand on his body, which in turn made him an excellent conductor of electricity.

Geuse roared in pain as Subaru's lightning ball zapped every single atom of his body, and after a few minutes, the lightning in Subaru's hand disappeared, causing him to jump a step back, making Geuse fall immediately on his knees, with smoke rising from his barely breathing and fried body.

"Sinister Hook!"

Subaru then finished with a fist infused with Yin Mana that slammed into Geuse's face, before it sent him flying away, right inside a Store Space gate that Subaru opened behind him. Geuse flew through the pocket inventory, and it closed the moment he fully entered it.

[Music Ends]

"Alright. Let's keep you here until I know how to shut you up forever" Subaru muttered, before letting out a breath he didn't know that he was holding.

"Master, is it over?" Shaula asked, having reached Subaru's side, which caused Subaru to flash a small smile at her.

"Yes. You did great assisting me, Shaula" Subaru said, causing the humanoid Mabeast to instantly blush furiously, before she bowed her head to Subaru, causing the white haired boy to be confused. It then took him five seconds of staring to understand what Shaula wanted.

"Oh. I get it" He said before patting Shaula on the head, causing the humanoid Mabeast to smile cutely, which in turn made Subaru's heart melt at the mix between cuteness and hotness that he was experiencing.

"Shoot...If it wasn't serious, I would've told her how lovely she was..." He thought, before shaking his head furiously to get rid of those thoughts, then he stopped patti g Shaula, making her look at him in full attention.

"Alright, Shaula. The Mabeasts are yet to arrive. Let's try to reach the location of the barrier stone to fix it before an invasion starts" Subaru instructed, causing Shaula to nod rapidly, before both of them bolted away from the devastated battlefield.

---

At the same time. Sight of the barrier

"There. The barrier is successfully repaired"

"Well done. Also, are you alright?"

"Hmm? Yes, I am, Shadow-kun. Thank you for your concern..."

"...Huh. I see"

After confirming the new Magic stone being placed in its place, Shadow asked Rem about her wellbeing, considering the fact that she had just used a Rune Stone Skill just now, only to be surprised when Rem, while blushing and lowering her head, told him that she was fine.

"Amazing. To have such tolerance towards Run Stones...It's great" Shadow muttered.

"Shadow! Rem!" Shadow and Rem then turned around to see Subaru and Shaula, with Shaula holding Subaru on her shoulder, where the white haired boy was holding a hand towards his mouth as Shaula was moving with blinding speeds towards them.

"Successfully reached the destination! Thank you Google Maps~!" Shaula exclaimed happily, before throwing Subaru off her shoulder in a rather comical way, causing the Human to jump to his feet and glare comically at the humanoid Mabeast.

"Stupid scorpion! You could've killed me there!" Subaru yelled.

"But you're not dead Master! You're a god! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed with a huge smile.

"I'm not a god! I'm a Human with pure flesh and blood!" Subaru yelled.

"Hey. How did everything go at your end?" Shadow asked.

"You won't believe what happened t-"

"AAAAAHHHH!"

"?!"

And before Subaru could report, screams echoed from outside the barrier, causing Subaru, Shadow, Shaula and Rem to grow alerted.

"What was that?!" Rem asked in worry.

"It's coming from the village!" Subaru added.

"Let's go" Shadow calmly said, before the team of four ran towards the village. It didn't take five minutes to reach their destination, before they saw something shocking.

"ShADoWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWwWw!!!!!!!"

Standing in front of them was a hundred feet tall rabbit that was the same as the zombified version of Cream, but bigger and had countless tentacles sporting from its back, with black blood oozing from every place the rabbit had.

"Vanilla..." Shadow muttered.

"It'S yOuR fAaAaAaAaUuUuUuUuLlLlLlLlTtTtTtTt! YoU lEfT uS tO dIeEeEeEeEeEe! NoW iT'S tImE fOr YoU tO rEuNiTe WiTh UuUuUuUuSsSsSsSs!" The zombified version of Vanilla roared with distortion apparent in her voice. Subaru simply gritted his teeth, having brandished his knives out, ready to engage.

"Shaula...Get ready to pummel this thing with Hell Snipe anytime now" Subaru whispered to the humanoid Mabeast, to which she gave a small nod of acknowledgement, not taking her eyes off the eldritch abomination standing in front of them.

"Rem...Can you use your Rune Stone Skill again?" Shadow whispered to the blue haired Oni, to which she nodded, also not taking her eyes off Vanilla.

"Good. Because this thing won't fall without a fight" Shadow said, entering a Iajutsu stance, with the other three taking their own fighting stance.

[Divide Music OST - Naruto - Itachi Theme - Broken Statues]

Everything was silent for a few seconds as the two sides glared at each other, before...

BOOM!

The zombie rabbit slammed one of its tentacles onto the ground towards the group of four opposing it. However the only thing it hit was both the ground and thin air, as the four scattered away.

The rabbit then spotted Rem, who was activating her Oni Mode, before she slammed her Morningstar to the ground, causing massive chunks to erupt to the air. Rem then punched and kicked at the rocks, and the moment her fist touched the rocks, they were turned white and steam came out of them due to being heated to supernova temperatures. And while normally that would melt the rock, Rem layered the outer surface of the heated rock with absolute zero temperature, effectively making it safe to use the rocks as fine weapons.

As for how Rem figured something like that out...She had no idea. It just popped up to her mind right now.

The rocks then smashed against the giant rabbit with thunderous explosions with each rock making contact, causing the rabbit to roar out in annoyance more than pain.

Dozens of large spears then started forming around the rabbit, before they were launched at Rem, only for dozens of white Magic circles to appear out of thin air around Rem, before white beams of light were fired from the circles, countering each and every single spear.

The power of Shaula's spell, Infinite Hell Snipe, was nothing to scoff at, and it seems that the zombified imposter of Vanilla knew about it the hard way.

The rabbit roared out, before its tentacles started to morph into sickles, before they lashed at blinding speeds at both Rem and Shaula, who proceeded to jump out of harm's way, with the sickles slicing apart the small houses and ground chunks like it was nothing. Fortunately, the villagers already evacuated from the village and went somewhere else, so it was fine.

"Hey! Rabbit mutt! Over here!"

"?!"

The rabbit then turned around, only to see Subaru, standing on top of one of the houses.

"Let me tell you something! I can Last Second Retrea-"

Suddenly, Subaru saw the time being frozen, but Shadow was the only one aware and was looking at him with slight worry apparent on his unfrozen face.

What happened next was the silhouette of a beautiful woman clad in darkness appearing behind Subaru, with two arms of darkness being around him. One caressing his cheek, and the other floating around his heart.

"I Love You"

"UGH!"

"?!"

Subaru's heart was given a good squeeze, and in the next instant, time resumed, and everything returned to normal.

Except...It wasn't.

Just as time resumed, Rem, still in her Oni Mode, started to suddenly glare at Subaru, and the rabbit started to grow livid at him.

Both rabbit and Oni let out a deafening roar, before Rem was seen jumping from rooftop to another, with her target being Subaru.

"Yikes! Gotta do this fast!" Subaru said, before glaring at the rabbit.

"This is a risky one considering that Rem is going right at my throat, but I'll take it" He thought, before calling out the name of the new spell that had been echoing in his mind ever since his latest Retreat.

"Best Friends!"

"?!"

Just then, three lights of respective colours of orange, green and purple danced around Rem for a few seconds, and the moment they were gone, Rem felt that her already light body felt even lighter. She felt that she could go toe to toe with the Dragon itself, but her own consciousness, which was already animalistic courtesy of the combined effects of both her horn and the Witch Miasma was already driving her mind crazy.

She just was overwhelmed with the desire to kill, tear, shred, break, destroy the person that had the scent of the Witch around him.

And just as she reached the rabbit and stepped on its back with her foot...

"Shamak!"

"?!"

...A massive smokescreen erupted from Subaru's body, engulfing him, Rem and the zombie behemoth of a rabbit. Subaru then called out to the powers of the Authority of Sloth inside of him and yelled out.

"Invisible Providence!"

"?!"

Just then, inside the smokescreen where all senses sans touch are null and void, the rabbit suddenly felt a force pulling it forward, directly towards Subaru.

The smokescreen faded, and Rem was knocked to the air due Subaru pulling the rabbit towards him, but even so, Rem was extremely agile and acrobatic, as she twisted and spun in the air like a professional acrobatic dancer, the chain of her weapon dancing diligently spinning around her in a spiral cone shape, with the tip being her, aiming at the rabbit.

Seeing that her target was being covered by a nuisance of an obstacle that was the giant rabbit, Rem gritted her teeth, before the chain on her weapon started to heat up to crazy degrees to the point that it became white with steam emitting from it. The shape of a drill formed around Rem, with her being the tip and the chain of her weapon being the skeleton of the heat drill.

She then made a leg stretch, kicking the air behind her, causing a sonic boom to erupt from behind her. Rem blew straight forward like a raging unstoppable bull, and then slammed into the rabbit.

BOOOOOOM!

The sound of a massive explosion echoed throughout the entire country of Lugunica. Rem's heat drill mercilessly slammed into the massive rabbit, causing a massive hole to find itself into said zombie animal, with the majority of its body being completely erased, with only its head and legs being the only thing apparent in it, as well as the Rune Stone that was floating in midair.

The house that Subaru previously stood on was demolished to nothingness, and in its place was a massive hole that reached down to the molten crust of this planet. And as for Subaru, he was lucky to have activated his Authority of Pride, Mediator, in order to erect the barrier of forced peaceful negotiations to protect himself from Rem's attack, but the shockwave of the attack was so great that it flung him a whopping one kilometer into the air.

Now, Subaru has reached way past terminal velocity in his free fall speed measurements, meaning that the moment that his body touches the ground, he would become a dough for a new food recipe called The Subaru Crêpe.

Looking beneath him while falling, he saw Rem, who was staring at him with wide silent eyes, her horn shining brightly, and her Morningstar in hand, ready to take the home run on Subaru.

Seeing this, Subaru gritted his teeth so hard that a tooth chipped violently, before he clutched both Dark Elf and Brimstone Fang in a tight grip so hard that his knuckles turned white.

He remembered that he read about the Oni Tribe back at the Watchtower, and how their horns gave them the power to draw Mana from the atmosphere and awaken their carnal instincts. He also remembered about the fact that if the horn was given a good blow to at least make it shake in the forehead of an Oni, this would make the Oni Mode forcibly deactivate.

And so, with that knowledge in mind, Subaru took a deep breath, before releasing it slowly, completely ignoring the air resistance that would normally make it difficult to him to even draw breath.

Then he took aim.

"SMILE, REM!"

"?!"

The Oni in question got alarmed by Subaru's shout as he was a few meters away from landing, with his arms crossed around his chest, and his daggers clutched by his hands.

"TODAY...I'M FANATICAL LIKE AN ONI!"

Yelling from the top of his lungs as he was less than a meter away from Rem, Subaru swung both his knives horizontally in the shape of a 180 degree arc, hitting Rem's horn right on.

And upon doing so, Rem's horn disappeared, before she started falling on her back to the ground, but an arm caught her before she could fall.

"Frederica...?" Rem managed to mutter out.

"Oh! Frederica, you're back! What happened to the villagers?! Are they safe?!" Subaru, who managed to land safely thanks to the strike on Rem's horn breaking his fall, came to Frederica, asking questions.

"Rest assured, Subaru-sama. The residents of Irlam Village are successfully within the boundaries of The Sanctuary. I also informed Roswaal-sama regarding the matter as he was having business in The Sanctuary as well" Frederica answered in a formal tone, bowing her head while still holding the exhausted Rem in her arms.

"Is that so? Well that's a relief" Subaru said, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

His moment of rest, however, was short-lived, as he saw the rabbit starting to regenerate, flesh forming in the fashion of food being placed in a blender, all around the Rune Stone of the eldritch abomination.

"Oh, come on! Give us a damn break!" Subaru yelled in annoyance, only to blink upon feeling an energy signature rapidly growing behind him. He then looked behind, only to see Shadow, still standing in his Iajutsu stance, but this time, golden yellow aura was outlining his body.

"You've done more than enough, Subaru. Let me take care of the rest" Shadow called out, which in turn caused Subaru to stare at him for a few seconds, before smirking at Shadow's direction.

"Sure! It's all yours!" He exclaimed.

Suddenly, the golden aura around Shadow expanded, before it immediately took the shape of a golden chinese dragon, covered in lightning as it roared at the still reforming rabbit.

Shadow was closing his eyes, taking deep breaths in and out, and after another few seconds, he snapped his eyes open, only to see that Shadow's eyes were glowing golden yellow as he directed his glowing eyes at his target, the rabbit, glaring in anticipation.

"Lightning Number: Thunder Dragon Overblitz"

As he whispered that, Shadow stretched his foot behind him, zooming towards its target with so much speed that it transcended the very concept of distance and time, even his performance was so unpredictable that calling that feat by the name of 'speed' would be like a grave insult to the practitioner.

Shadow charged forward, the aura of the lightning chinese dragon roared with overwhelming power and vigor, following its controller as his mere leg stretch was enough to cave the ground, split clouds, crush asteroid, demolish stars, evaporate nearby galaxies, and even caused hundreds of Big Bangs to be triggered throughout hundreds of universes.

And that was only from his speed.

Zooming towards his airborne target, Shadow made a beeline towards it, before he jumped in a zigzag pattern, using the buildings as footholds for support to jump even further to the air to reach his target.

And then...

SHINNNNNG!"

"?!"

The sound of a sword slicing through something solid echoed as Shadow sliced the Rune Stone of the zombified version of Vanilla in two clean halves by his translucent teal blue sword, before the remaining parts of the giant rabbit dissolved into nothingness.

The scenery was so beautiful as Shadow had the moon behind him while being airborne, with its light shining and showing the true beauty of a battle artist.

"Beautiful..." Rem muttered, looking with glittering eyes.

"Uhhh...Well, I wanted to help already, but it's done...Finally" Subaru said, before he released his grip on his two daggers, causing them to fall right through two Store Spaces, effectively storing them inside.

Subaru then fell right on his butt, before he released yet another breath that he didn't know that he was holding, having felt the crisis had finally subsided.

"...We won"

[Music Ends]

Suddenly, the group heard rumbling, and as Shadow landed on his feet, he saw a pack of Wolgram approaching them, with a giant one appearing to be their leader, all glared at the group with the eyes of a predator.

"Ugh! They don't take a hint, do they?! We already beat up something that was stronger than them!" Subaru grumbled as he pushed himself to stand up, his body feeling like lead after consuming so much Mana with the spells he casted. He then walked towards Shadow, breathing heavily as both of them faced the pack of Wolgram together.

"Bring it you jerks! I still have some of it in me!" Subaru yelled out at the cursed dogs.

"Ul Goa"

"?!"

Suddenly, bullets of fire started to fall from the sky, raining down at the pack of Wolgram, causing said dogs to be burned alive in a slow and agonizing manner.

As the fire increased in intensity, Subaru once again fell to his butt, this time with a small smile, and Shadow sheathing his sword silently.

"Oya Oya~. You look rather teeeerible, I must saaaaay" The familiar voice rang as Roswaal, with his hand on his large gentleman hat, said with a calm smile on his face as he descended to the ground from his flight.

"Heh...Took you long enough, Ros-chi" Subaru huffed his words.

"...How did you know where we were?" Shadow asked the clown-like man.

"Emilia-sama gave me a brief summaaaaary of the situaaaaaation, you see. 'It's crazy and reckless, but Subaru and Shadow will use Magic if they're in a pinch, so watch for that' is what she said" Roswaal said, causing Subaru to smile, and for Shadow to release a small chuckle.

"Roswaal-sama! Apologies for making so much trouble!" Frederica said bowing her head to Roswaal while supporting Rem by placing her arm above her shoulder.

"No. That is quite fiiiiine. You did veeeeeery well in my aaaaaabsence" Roswaal said, before turning to both Subaru and Shadow.

"Thanks to your efforts, All citizens of Irlam Village had successfully evacuated to The Sanctuary with no caaaaasualties. I'll be sure to rewaaaard both of you prooooooperly. That, I promise you two" Roswaal said to both Subaru and Shadow.

"Shadow-kun!" Rem exclaimed with tears flowing down her eyes, before throwing herself at Shadow and hugging him, taking the Highest by surprise.

"You're alive! You're alive! Shadow-kun!" She sobbed into his chest while hugging him as tight as her fatigued arms could muster of strength.

Her care and worry seemed to have reached Shadow, as his eyes softened slightly before he returned the hug by wrapping one hand around her head, since she was 30 cm shorter than him.

As Subaru and the others watched this, Subaru's consciousness suddenly started to slip.

"Oh boy..." He thought before falling on his back, his eyes closing as he fell to a slumber, as this was his body telling him to rest.

And honestly, he and the others did deserve it.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the figure of a dark skinned woman with a black business suit, black high heels, emerald green eyes and long green hair was watching from afar with a calm smile on her face.

"You're getting stronger, Subaru Natsuki...But not now...Soon, the time will come when you require my assistance..."

And after saying those words, the woman entered the shadows of the night, disappearing into thin air.

---

The next day. Margrave Mathers Mansion

"Are you awake?"

"...I slept for a few hours, not that I need the sleep anyways"

As he looked at his side from the bed that he was lying on, Shadow saw Rem sitting on a chair, with her hand interwined with his, their fingers curling around each other's hand.

"Umm...I did this, right? I grabbed and didn't let go..." Shadow asked, which caused Rem to wave her head in frantic denial.

"No! This is...Uh...Rem did it...Rem entered to your room to check on you yesterday, but you seemed to suffer from nightmares in your sleep, so...I did the only thing that made me happy. I thought that it would make you happy too" Rem answered with a small blush, still holding Shadow's hand in hers.

Shadow just blinked at this. Normally, he didn't need supplementary stuff like food, breathing, and sleep, but he just closed his eyes and drifted to sleep to rest his mind from time to time.

But since spending 100,000 years inside a realm of blood and torture, it was amazing how his will was so indomitable, but it came at the cost of him seeing flashes of his past and countless, never-ending nightmares the moment he closed his eyes.

However, yesterday, he felt comfort and warmth for some reason, and for the first time ever, he was able to rest his mind. Even if it was for a few hours, but to Shadow, it was bliss.

A small smile crept on his face, as he realized that Rem was the one that provided the warmth that allowed him to feel this magnificent sensation of peace.

"...So, all the Mabeasts were destroyed, right?" Shadow asked, despite already knowing the answer, having been present at the time of those events.

"Yes. Roswaal-sama burned down all the Mabeasts invading the village. So you have nothing to worry about" Rem answered solmenly with her eyes staring to the ground.

"...I'm sorry, Shadow-kun" She suddenly said, bowing her head to the Highest.

"Huh? For what? Raise your head. You did nothing wrong" Shadow said.

"But you got hurt because of me" Rem said.

"...Seriously, that was nothing, Rem. I've seen worse, believe me. Besides, scars and wounds are a man's medal of honor, so you have nothing to be ashamed of. That was inevitable to happen anyways" Shadow answered.

"...Scars remain...Not only on the body, but on the hurt as well" Rem said, and Shadow could see her body trembling, which in turn caused him to sigh.

"Rem. Believe me when I tell you. Scars on the heart may remain forever, but as the survivors, we just have to endure it, as there's this saying: Time heals all wounds. Even those on the heart will have their day to be healed in, so don't push yourself so hard" Shadow said, looking at Rem's hand that was holding on his.

"And...To tell you the truth, No one has ever been that close in physical contact with me before. Normally I'd have just pushed you away, but you made me feel comfortable for the first time in ages" Shadow said.

This wasn't a lie at all. Rem did indeed help him. It was because his heart was broken that he can hold her hand without any issue.

This made him realize...Where there's a Rem that would stand against the world for the sake of her sister, there's a Rem that will fight for the sake of the people around her.

"Heh. Now that I look at it with a cool head, you're not actually the cold, calm and rational type to me" Shadow said, which caused Rem to keep staring at the floor.

"I'm...Nothing but a reject of the Oni race. It was my fault that Nee-sama is like that. I'm nothing but her shadow. Why was I the one to keep my horn. Why Nee-sama had to lose her own? Why did Nee-sama had to have only one horn? Why...Why Nee-sama and I were born as twins?" Rem kept bombarding Shadow with questions, which were mostly addressed to herself. Shadow just stared at her, watching as she broke the dam of her eyes, letting the tears and sobs flow freely down her face.

"...Rem. I think that you're underestimating yourself. Ram maybe your elder sister, and you give her way too credit more than she deserves. Even if Ram still had her horn, I guess she would still be the same old lazy, prideful, arrogant Raspberry chick that would never change no matter how many hairs you pull out of her. Besides, say that Ram has her horn, you're still way too skilled than her. Your cooking is great, unlike her. Your easy to have conversations with, unlike her. Your kind, gentle and polite, unlike her. And your extremely considerate, also unlike her. Ram maybe a tough nut to crack, but you're actually a tougher one, Rem" Shadow said.

"Huh? How?" Rem asked, her face filled with tears.

"Your kindness, combined with your resolve, allows you to step beyond any kind of obstacles. You're way determined to uncover all secrets in front of you, and even solve them. You have so much hidden ego that your sister would never be able to compete with you. Besides, It appears to me that Ram depends on you deeply. You say you want to vanish, but imagine if that did happen. Ram would be a completely broken shell of herself. Believe me, she would go ballistic on the whole world if you disappeared on her and left her alone" Shadow answered, before Rem felt his grip on her hand slightly tighten, but it was a gentle kind of tightness that Rem found comfort in, her heart suddenly skipping a beat, with a rosy blush appearing on her face.

"Honestly, if it wasn't for you, It wouldn't have been easy to defeat those two. I'm safe and sound because of you. That's your own doing, not your sister's" Shadow said, rubbing Rem's hand gently.

"But...Nee-sama could've done better if she had her ho-" Rem then was cut by Shadow.

"But she doesn't have it, and it wasn't her accompanying me. It was you, Rem, and it's the first time I say that to anyone, but...I'm glad that it was you who was by my side, Rem" Shadow said.

"Nee-sama could've been way better because Rem is nothing but a substitute for her" Rem said.

"If that's true, then I'd prefer choosing you, the substitute, over the original. You obviously don't know your own strength. You give Miss Raspberry to much credit when you're the one that works hard for it all, and I guess even Ram noticed that a long time ago. I haven't asked about how she lost her horn, and honestly, I neither want nor care to know about it. But...Just look at it that way: If Ram doesn't have her horn, then you can just be her horn. Simple as that" Shadow said, causing Rem to stare at him with wide eyes.

"Also, you say that you're nothing but a substitute to Ram, but speaking from a point of perspective, Ram has no substitute for you. Just imagine what would happen if you simply vanished from her life...What state she will be in?" Shadow asked, and Rem was still staring at him with wide, teary eyes.

"I may not know much about mundane affairs, and being socially inept kinda affects me sometimes, but I'll just get to the point: Smile, Rem. Your crying face is can't fit I to the picture, so smile. Smile at anything. They say smiling and laughing strengthens the heart and soul, and increases your lifespan. So just laugh while talking about the future, and don't keep anything worrisome and gloomy inside of you. Let out everything. And if you can't do that, just laugh it off as if it was a silly joke. Life isn't worthy of your tears. Talk about tomorrow, like how you'll begin your day, or what will you eat on breakfast. Trivial as it may seems, tomorrow inevitably exists, so just talk about it. Sounds good to you?" Shadow said.

"...I'm very weak. I may lean on you a lot" Rem said, squeezing Shadow's hand with her own.

"Right back at you. With all the powers that I have, I'm also very weak. I'm cocky, overconfident, can get ahead of myself at times, and I'm an extremely socially inept to the point that I can come off as a cold, rude and inconsiderate individual. So I suppose that I'll lean on you a lot as well. So let's just lean on each other while embracing tomorrow. Besides..."

As he raised his head to say the following words, Rem's already wide eyes became even wider, as she stared at the most pure and gentle smile that she had ever seen, directed right towards her, which caused butterflies to dance in her stomach and for fireworks to explode inside of her head.

"...I always wanted to experience how good is it to talk to someone that can understand you, and I guess you're the one, Rem"

This sentence caused Rem's heart to melt, and a gentle smile cracked on her teary face.

"...You really are fanatical like an Oni" She said through her sobs.

"I know, right?" He said, before he watched Rem sobbing her heart out, but this time, those tears and sobs were out of happiness.

It was at this moment that both of them suddenly felt the annoying warmth inside of their hearts, leading to their respective thoughts.

"...I love him"

"...I think I fell in love with her"

So great. He stuck himself in the mundane affairs of this world yet again.

However...

"...I have to admit...It's not that bad"

As Rem sobbed happily, Shadow watched her, completely unaware of the full smile that was drawn on his face, as both of them held hands while sitting beside each other.

---

At the same time. With Subaru and Emilia

"Even though I brought you here as a thanks for helping me back at the Capital, you saved me again, Subaru. Thank you veeeery much"

"Huh?"

Emilia tiptoed with her arms behind her back, while Subaru simply looked at her in confusion.

Upon understanding, Subaru blushed slightly, before chuckling.

"Aww. That's fine, really!" He exclaimed.

"But I have to repay you! It won't ease my heart at all to leave it like that!" Emilia said to him.

"Okay. In that case, let's go on a Date!" Subaru said flashing a thumbs-up at Emilia.

"Dayt...?" Emilia asked cutely.

"Yeah. It means the two of us head out. Eat the same food, see the same things, do the same stuff, and also share the same memories together!" Subaru answered.

"...You're fine with just that?" Emilia asked, unsure if that is a suitable reward for all of Subaru's efforts.

"Yeah! Totally! I want to introduce you to the village brats when they return to the village! I also want to show you the flower garden there! Believe me, going there is so special to me!" Subaru exclaimed, which caused Emilia to stare at him in worry, before sighing out after a couple of seconds.

"Okay, Subaru. I'll go on a 'Dayt' with you" She answered with a sweet smile, causing Subaru's grin to grow even wider.

"Yes! And that's why E.M.T!" Subaru shouted while jumping in delight, causing Emilia to giggle at him.

Watching both of them from a distance was Shaula, who was leaning on a tree while crossing her arms, with a smile on her face. However, unlike her usual childish smiles, her smile at this moment looked extremely genuine and mature.

"Master...You finally found love...But...Please...Just leave so.e for Shaula..."

As she muttered that, Shaula placed her hands on her heart while closing her eyes, her smile making the moonlight pale in comparison.

Unknown to all, above their heads, just below the clouds, a short, blue figure with blood oozing out from his black sclera, crimson red eyes was looking at them, a devilish grin that showed his sharp fangs appeared on his face.

He then looked at the Fourth Wall, before saying those words that held immense bloodlust behind them.

"For real this time...Ready For Round 1?"

---

Dawn time. Margrave Mathers Mansion

At the time where everyone was asleep, Shadow walked through the halls of the mansion. He kept on walking until he reached the main hall. Looking right and left to make sure no one is watching him, he snapped his fingers, causing a pale purple spherical portal to appear in thin air. He then entered it to teleport for his destination.

And upon crossing to the other side, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as the portal behind him vanished in the same manner as it appeared.

Shadow now stood in the middle of the modern streets of Earth. Lampposts, artificial lights, modern houses, cars and people in modern casual clothes. It was nighttime so everything was mostly quiet.

Shadow then looked around, before approaching someone walking on the side of the road. He then took out an ID card that had Subaru's face in it, but with his original black hair instead of white.

"Excuse me. I'm looking for the address written here" Shadow said to the man, who proceeded to give him instructions on the destination that Shadow wanted to reach, and after a couple of minutes, Shadow bowed slightly to the man, before he ran straight to the direction that was described to him. And a couple of minutes later, he arrived in front of a house. He then took a deep breath to calm his surprisingly irritated nerves, before he lifted his fist to lightly knock on the door.

Knocking three times, Shadow waited for a few seconds, before he heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door. Then the door opened, revealing something that amused Shadow.

Right in front of him stood an older version of Subaru, but with square glasses. The man looked pretty buffed when compared to Subaru, and his smile more or less resembled said boy, but Shadow also noticed that the man's skin was slightly pale and shrunken, indicating that he doesn't eat properly. He also noticed huge black bags underneath his eyes, which also made Shadow realize that the man didn't have that much of a sleep.

"Yes? How can I help you?" The man asked Shadow with a small smile on his face.

"Mr. Natsuki, I presume?" Shadow asked.

"Yes. That's indeed me. How can I help you?" The man asked back.

"I think that it's me who you need their help" Shadow said, confusing the man as he tilted his head in confusion.

Good thing that Shadow hid his sword and gun away, or this confusion would have turned to shock, horror and suspicion.

"First of all, may I come in?" Shadow asked, to which the man stared at him suspiciously, before letting him in.

Shadow was then led by the man to the living room, where he silently sat on a chair placed in front of a table with lots of other chairs around them.

The man then sat on a chair across the table, smiling at Shadow.

"Now before I enter to the topic, can you please call Ms. Natsuki over here? The matter also concerns her as much as it concerns you, Mr. Natsuki" Shadow requested, and the man was extremely confused at that request, eyeing Shadow suspiciously before sighing. Then he stood up and walked to a room beside the living room. A few moments later, he came out of the room with another person.

It was a female with brown hair tied to a ponytail and hazel eyes. To Shadow, if her hair was black and messy as her husband that stood beside her right now, she would look like the spitting image of Natsumi without the hair tie.

The husband and wife then sat in front of Shadow, with the wife smiling. Shadow, however, saw that she was way worse than her husband. It felt like she would faint at the moment if her pale face, thin frame and bloodshot eyes that held massive amounts of broken blood vessels in them were any indication of her severe anemia case.

Deep inside, Shadow was afraid that she might die the moment he talked.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Want to drink anything?" The woman asked with a thin smile on her face.

"No. Thank you. I'll get to the point right away" Shadow said, before taking a deep breath, and for some reason, Kenichi and Naoko Natsuki felt chills running down their spines, not from worry, but from anticipation.

"My name is Shadow Terios, and I'm one of the friends that your offsprings had. Now, please calm down, because all that I'm about to tell you may sound crazy and shocking, but believe me, all of it is true..."

---

And Done!

Woot! Now THAT is what I call a cliffhanger!

This marks the end of the canonical Arc 2, but that doesn't mean that the Arc 2 of this story is over. It still continues on.

Also, I noticed that no one has commented on the latest chapter, let alone lots of people. If there's anything that is wrong with my writing style or the plot, please inform me in the comments in order to properly manage the situation.

Now then, for IRL stuff. I'll be joining the army on 13/7, six days after my birthday at 7/7. Yes, it is still a little farther, but I'm just telling you guys because that would mean that when that time comes, I'll stop writing for a whole year, but I promise that I'll return after that period of time and until that time comes, I'll try to progress this story as much as I can.

And with that out of the way, please don't forget to like, bookmark and comment, because I deeply need your opinions and support.

Next Chapter: Daily Life In The Margrave Mathers Mansion

Until Next Time And Next Chapter!

Jude Warble, Out.