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.

10. Lights Out, Darkness In

Hello. This is your pal, Jude Warble.

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

---

Streets of The Capital of Lugunica

"...Heh"

"...If that's what you can say right now..."

Shadow grinned while looking at the smiling Subaru, with Rem on Shadow's side and Shaula and Beatrice on Subaru's side.

"I can see that you have solved your problems. Where have you been?" Subaru asked Shadow.

"...In Pristella. Rem followed me on foot in just half an hour" Shadow answered.

"Pristella?! And the Oni maid went there after you on foot?! It's more than dozens of thousands of kilometers away from Lugunica, I suppose! Just how much does the Oni maid love Shadow, I wonder?!" Beatrice asked with comical shocked expression, causing everyone to stare at her for a few seconds...Before they all, including Shadow, burst out in laughter. The laughter lasted for a few seconds, but to each one of them, this was one of the most peaceful moments that they wished that it would last forever.

Even though...Nothing lasts forever.

"Alright. Now that we laughed a little. What's the drill?" Shadow asked of Subaru, who looked at him straight in the eyes.

"The Witch Cult are on the move. They're aiming for Emilia" Subaru simply said, causing Shadow to opt a thinking pose.

"At what scale are we talking about?" Shadow asked again.

"100 out 10. Gluttony is attacking the village, while two out of the three Great Mabeasts, as well as the other Gluttony and Greed, are attacking the Lifaus Highway" Subaru said, before staring down at the ground.

"Also...As much as I hate her now...We must save Crusch" He said, causing every one of his allies to blink at him. Subaru then looked at Shadow dead in the eyes once again.

"Russell Fellow..." He started.

"Oh! He's a famous merchant and the merchant guild's treasurer! What about him?" Rem asked.

"...He's from a parallel world. And he's planning on raping Crusch, as well as the other Royal Candidates...And even Natsumi..." Subaru gritted his teeth in anger when saying those words, which caused everyone to gasp in shock.

"Disgusting, I suppose" Beatrice spat her words as if they were venom. Subaru also had a downcast expression. After all, it was his own fault at that time that Crusch, alongside both of Beatrice and Shaula, had fallen into Russell's...Or Hayato's grasps. When he told Wilhelm that he required Crusch's audience before going to the Capital in order to ask for Anastasia's and Priscilla's help, which ended up in failure.

However, Subaru placed into consideration that even if Russell's disgusting hands didn't reach Crusch, the White Whale and the Witch Cult will, and Crusch will be erased from existence, so either this or that would mean the Duchess' inevitable doom.

He hated Crusch to the bone, but that didn't mean that she deserved such Fate.

"Subaru...Do you know his...Russell's former name?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah...He said his name was...Hayato Kusanagi" Subaru answered, and the next thing he saw was Shadow's eyes widening in shock, before shortly placing a hand on his face and chuckling, before the chuckle soon turned to a fully blown laughter, causing confusion to be plastered on his companion's faces.

"Ah...How Fate is so interesting and ironic..." Shadow whispered.

"What is it, Shadow-kun?" Rem asked in concern, only for Shadow to pat her head, causing her to blush slightly.

"No. It's nothing. Just the fact that I know that motherfucker. Anyways, anything else you want to say to us?" Shadow asked.

"I...I couldn't get any help from the other Camps. Crusch called me a madman, Anastasia was trying to set me up, Priscilla tried to humiliate me, Reinhard, Natsumi and Felt are away at one of the Astrea's lands, and I don't think that I can convince Emilia to comply to my wishes right now" Subaru said, causing Shadow to blink at him.

"Subaru...Did you try asking the Melty Camp?" He asked.

"No...Because they already have their hands full. I heard from Beatrice, who scanned Salum's memories, that Melty suffers from having her throat blocked by that bitch Capella, making her unable to eat unless Sakura uses her Mana Wasps to inject Mana to her body. So they already have enough problems in their hands" Subaru said.

"Subaru...I already know that, you know. And I already fixed that problem before arriving at Pristella. I removed that piece of meat from Melty's throat already" Shadow said.

"Really?!" Subaru asked in surprise.

"Yes. Besides, I know the main reason why you don't want to ask the Melty Camp...It's because of your childhood friends, isn't it?" Shadow asked, and he knew that he hit the mark when Subaru averted his eyes away from him.

"Don't worry, Subaru. Just as you believe in us, you have to believe in them as well. The Melty Camp is the only Camp right now who will be willing to offer us help right now. Besides...Once you mention Russell's real name...They will immediately agree" Shadow said, causing Subaru to sigh.

"I...I just wanna stop those group of lunatics. But we don't have enough muscle. Even with you with us here, Shadow, I don't think that you can be in two places. So we need to piece this freaking puzzle together..." Subaru trailed before extending his arm towards Shadow.

"Shadow...Rem...Please...Will you lend me your strength?" He asked, causing Shadow to blink at him, before smiling calmly, and then he took Subaru's hand.

"Of course I'll help. After all...That's what true friends do, right?" Shadow asked, causing Subaru's eyes to widen briefly, before his face changed to a bright smile.

"Yeah. Of course...My friend" He said.

As Subaru and Shadow joined hands, Rem, Shaula and Beatrice watched them with warm smiles on their faces.

---

One hour later. Pristis Mansion

"Subaru-san...What are your wishes here?"

"I wish for an alliance...No. I wish for help from a friend to another"

Subaru directly said those words to answer Melty's question.

"What's wrong, Subaru? Did something happen?" Saki, who was present alongside Tiga, Salum and Kaylin, asked in confusion.

"Long story short...The Witch Cult, The White Whale, The Great Rabbit, Humiliation, Death, Destruction, and Hayato Kusanagi" Shadow said, and the last name, for some reason, caused Saki's eyes to widen in anger.

"Shadow-san...Did you just say...Hayato Kusanagi...?" Saki asked, a murderous intent around her forming, causing everyone, except for Shadow to shudder and slightly sweat at this. It wasn't until she noticed the discomfort of her friends that Saki calmed down.

"Sorry. It's just that it's someone that I know" Saki said calmly.

"Shadow was right...Jackpot" Subaru thought.

"Subaru-san...I've heard that you saved my big brother, and that you're also a childhood friend of both Saki-chan and Kaylin-chan. Not to mention a friend of Shadow-san here, and Shadow-san also not only helped both Saki-chan and Kaylin-chan here, but also helped me as well. You have done a lot for us, and for that, I shall accept your request. However..." Melty trailed, taking a deep breath before resuming.

"...I must ask this of you: How do you know the exact timing of both the White Whale and the Great Rabbit? And how do you know that the Witch Cult will arrive?" Melty asked, to which Subaru gulped, before opening his mouth to answer.

"I had someone...That helped me...Gather these information" Subaru said, not wanting to say that the 'someone' was the Witch of Envy herself.

"Fair enough. I shall not indulge into any further details. Because you helped us more than once, and the fact that Shadow-san himself trusts you is more than enough for us to accept your request" Melty said with a smile, causing Subaru to release a sigh of relief.

"But do not we want more firepower, I wonder? Betty means...Those are the Witch Cult and two of the Three Great Mabeasts we are talking about, I suppose" Beatrice voiced her opinion.

"No, Beatrice-chan. You fellows and the Melty Camp are more than enough" Saki said, and Shadow placed his hand on Beatrice's shoulder.

"Relax, Beatrice. They're truly more than enough" Shadow said, before witnessing Melty standing up, and extending her hand towards Subaru, who stood up from his seat, and with a confident smile, he shook it, sealing their deal.

"Subaru-san...Always remember that there are true friends by your side" Melty said.

"Right back at you" Subaru said.

It was then when everyone shuddered upon feeling a rather familiar aura. Everyone turned around to see Shadow placing his grinning and chuckling face into his palm, emitting an aura that made everyone extremely cold.

"Fufufufufufufufufu...This is getting rather interesting...Now I shall ask this..."

As he said his words, everyone present, including even Salum, grinned at Shadow.

"Who Dares To Enter The Mayhem?!"

And this signed the end of Subaru Natsuki's first trip to Madness.

Unbeknownst to all, a green-haired woman with emerald green eyes, dark skin and a black business suit was watching over the group while seated on a rooftop, a smile appearing on her face.

"Subaru Natsuki...You are indeed an amazing person"

---

The next day. Nighttime

"Liliana Masquerade?"

"Yes. She's a travelling bard with an amazing ability. I asked of her to come here"

Subaru questioned the rather familiar name when Shadow said it to him. It was after a few seconds that Subaru remembered.

"Oh! That's the weird girl that played her songs at the mansion a month ago! Gotta say, though. She was amazing! I believe that she had a Divine Protection that allowed her to delay her thoughts to others when she was singing!" Subaru exclaimed.

"Yes. The Divine Protection of Telepathy. However, that isn't the only thing that I see in Liliana. After all, she's going to be very useful during our battle" Shadow said.

"How so, I wonder?" Beatrice asked, while sitting on Subaru's shoulder as he and Shadow were walking around the grounds of the Melty Camp.

"Liliana holds a Rune Stone, which evolved into a Rune Stone Skill" Shadow answered.

"Really?! What's her power?!" Subaru asked with slight excitement.

"Hers is called-"

"Rune Stone Skill: Troubles In Paradise!"

"?!"

the trio then turned to the direction of the voice, only to see a blonde, dark-skinned little girl with rather revealing clothes and a cross between a guitar and a ukulele strapped to her back.

"...Or that's what it was called when it echoed in my head" Liliana said.

"Liliana. Right on time. We were already making preparations to leave after an hour from now. Glad you made it in time" Shadow said.

"Yup! I know the right time after all! When The Black Angel of Irlam himself called for me, I knew that this was profit, but damn! To think that you guys are not only after the Witch Cult, but also the White Whale AND the Great Rabbit?! KABOOM! That already spells trend to m-OW!" Liliana exclaimed while making a peace sign before she accidentally bit her tongue while speaking, causing her to open her mouth and for blood to fall out of her mouth in a rather comical way, which in turn made Subaru, Shadow and Beatrice sweatdrop at this.

"Oh great. Another copy of Shaula to haunt me in my dreams" Subaru said.

"Isn't that what Humans call 'Air-heads'?" Shadow asked.

"Betty believes so, I suppose..." Beatrice said.

"Subaru, Shadow-san" Everyone turned to see Kaylin, followed by the other members of the Melty Camp, alongside Shaula and Rem.

"Are we all prepared?" Shadow asked.

"Yes, Shadow-san. We have all prepared for combat" Melty answered.

"And you're going to fight, Melty?" Subaru asked, more in concern and less in confusion.

"Yes. After all, I also have a Rune Stone Skill. You may not know, Subaru-san, but Rune Stone Skills are so powerful that they can stand up against the Authorities of the Sin Archbishops" Melty said.

"Oh! That's cool!" Subaru exclaimed, before seeing Tiga place a hand on his chest.

"And I shall be there too for my mistress to fight on her side" He proudly said.

"You all have Rune Stones, right?" Subaru asked, realization dawning upon him, and it was confirmed with the smiles that they had.

"Ugh...Damn...Why do I feel like I'm always far behind no matter how I trained?" Subaru scratched the back of his head while asking this, only for Kaylin to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't beat yourself about it, Subaru. The likes of Saki and myself were reincarnated in this world, so we spent an entire year practicing our powers where we had lots of assistance from lots of people, and as for the others, they were already residents of their own world, so this is natural to them" She said.

"Oh...Ok. Thanks, Miyu-I mean, Kaylin" Subaru said, almost calling out Kaylin's former name.

"Alright then. Now, shall we discuss our strategy one more time?" Shadow asked, to which everyone looked at him in full attention.

"Saki, Liliana and Kaylin will go repel Russell, and kill him off" Shadow begun to which Saki looked with a glare that said 'Hatred' all over her face.

"Understood" Both she and Kaylin said.

"Tiga, Salum, Pooka and Melty will go to Irlam Village to defend from the Witch Cult during the absence of Subaru and I" Shadow continued.

"Yes!" Tiga exclaimed.

"Understood!" Salum said.

"Leave it to us!" Pooka called out from behind Salum.

"We shall do our best!" Melty called out as well.

"As for Subaru, Shaula, Rem, Beatrice and myself...We shall go to the Lifaus Highway to repel the White Whale and the Great Rabbit, as well as the two incoming Sin Archbishops" Shadow finished, before looking at Saki. He then reached out for his pocket and took out a blue Pyroxene Crystal.

"Saki...When the time comes...You know what to do" He whispered before throwing the crystal to Saki, to which she caught it with one hand, and nodded firmly at Shadow. The black-haired Highest then looked at each one of his companions in the eye.

"Alright! We move now! Are you all ready?!" He shouted out his question, to which everyone held a determined look on his face.

"YES!"

---

A few minutes later. Flugel Tree

"Wow...That was fast"

"Hah...What did you expect? I'm the Ultimate Life Form after all"

Subaru wondered why he was surprised, considering the fact that he already knew that Shadow can use some non-Magic skills to teleport, and he did teleport them to the Lifaus Highway, right beside the Flugel Tree.

"This wasn't Yin Magic, in fact. This was something akin to an arcane type of energy other than Mana, I suppose" Beatrice theorized.

"Indeed. Anyways, when will they appear?" Shadow asked.

"Right about...Now" Subaru said before pointing to a certain spot, to which mist surrounded said spot like a hurricane. Subaru and his group readied their weapons and Magic for confrontation. However, Subaru then saw a small figure walking through the mist. Subaru and Shadow saw how it was familiar, and then realization struck both of them upon seeing the figure emerge from the mist, holding a small white rabbit in their arms.

"Meili..." Subaru whispered.

"Hey misters! Long time nooooo see~!" Meili greeted in her usual cheerful tone.

"When Subaru told me that both the White Whale and the Great Rabbit are in one place, not to mention the fact that Sakura told us that the White Whale went out of the control of the Witch Cult, I figured that it had to be you" Shadow said.

"Well, I really had to do that, you know. Mama will never leave me alone and she will be after me~! I don't want that, do I? Especially after Elsa's Death..." She said with her usual smile, but both Subaru and Shadow knew that she was completely faking it.

"Meili...Come with us..." Subaru muttered while extending his hand to the little girl. Meili just tilted her head.

"Where?" She asked, feigning ignorance.

"We will help you, Meili...Capella will never reach you...We guarantee that for you" Subaru said, and Meili's body slightly shook, but she still had her fake smile on.

"Well~! Misters really say lots of funny things..." She muttered, her body shaking visibly now.

"You can try us, Meili. I'll definitely...Save you no matter what" Subaru said while pointing at her.

"...Meili. I let you go, not only because you're just a little kid. But because...The look on your face right now...I didn't want to see it" Shadow said, where it was revealed that Meili's smile was long gone, replaced by a face drowning in absolute Sadness and Grief, with tears falling like a dam breaking.

"If you joined us...You'll find a home...You'll have Shaula, Petra and Beatrice to play with...You guys will be able to tease and harass Otto with us as much as you like...You'll have a true family, Meili" Subaru said with a gentle smile, only for Meili to close her eyes tightly, yet the tears refused to stop.

"Elsa is gone! My family is gone! Mama is coming after me! No one can protect me! No one!" She shouted.

"We can! We can and will protect you, Meili! If the whole world is against you, then we will never leave your side! Bet on that! We'll definitely save you no matter what!" Subaru yelled back, to which Meili looked at him with wide eyes for a few seconds, before her signature smile returned back to her face, yet the tears still refused to stop falling.

"Then...Prove it to me...Show me that you can protect me...Here and now..." Meili whispered to them.

"Yes. We will. We're here for you, Meili" Subaru said.

"...I wish all of you...The best of luck..." Meili said before walking backwards, slowly disappearing into the mist. A few seconds later, hundreds of thousands of glowing red eyes became visible through the mist, along with a rather gigantic figure that appeared to be flying in the air.

"Shadow..." Subaru whispered as he took out the Naraka Whip, to which Shadow unsheathed Dawn Ballad.

"Yeah...Let's do this..."

[Nightcore OST - Adelitas Way - Scream]

Soon, both the Great Rabbit and the White Whale came charging at the group.

"Shadow!" Subaru called out.

"Right" Shadow muttered out, before raising his fist above his head.

"Terra Number: Pulse Of The Earth"

"?!"

Just then, the earth beneath Shadow ruptured, and massive pillars of rock and dirt erupted, travelling towards the horde of Mabeasts, crushing hundreds of the Great Rabbit numbers, as well as knocking back the White Whale.

"Shaula! Throw me to the horn of that fucking fish!" Subaru ordered the humanoid Mabeast, to which she silently commanded, using her superhuman strength to grab and throw Subaru to the air, effectively breaking the sound barrier with just throwing Subaru.

The moment Subaru was above the Whale in the air, he roared out.

"I can Last Second Retreat-!"

Time stopped around him, and the world became dark, and a feminine entity that Subaru couldn't see due to the shadows covering her appearing behind him as the shadow arms entered his chest, and he heard the chiming bells whisper in his ears.

"I Love You"

"GAH!"

Subaru gasped upon the world returning to its color, and upon doing so, the White Whale suddenly shifted his attention to Subaru, roaring out before ascending to the sky towards Subaru.

"REM!" Subaru yelled to the Oni maid.

"Right!" She called back before swinging Frost Maul, causing the chain hammer to travel towards Subaru, before wrapping around his waist, and pulling him towards the ground at neck-breaking speeds, and Subaru could see the Great Rabbit hordes following him as Rem kept on pulling him even more towards the ground.

"SHAULA! NOW!" Subaru yelled to the humanoid Mabeast.

"Infinite Hell Snipe!"

"?!"

Shaula fired the massive light beams towards the tree itself from the hundreds of Magic circles she created in thin air. The beams of light fired at the tree, with Shaula looking with tears in her eyes as the tree was sliced off its roots by the Yang Magic Shaula was firing.

"Farewell...Master..."

The White Whale then roared as the tree fell headfirst at its back, causing it to fall to the ground, agony on its face.

"Alright. Time for I, The Ultimate Life Form, to shine!" Shadow exclaimed before raising his hand to the air.

"Terra Number: Star Fall!"

"?!"

Just then, a meteor soared at the speed of lightning from the air, striking the pinned Whale like a bolt of lightning would do. The result was a cloud of dust that engulfed even the horde of Great Rabbits. Silence reigned for a few seconds as Subaru and his group watched with held breaths, and afterwards, thousands of pairs of glowing red eyes burst from the dust screen, along with three copies of the White Whale, with one floating above the others, swimming in the air as the other two clones charged towards the group.

"Shit! That didn't work!" Subaru said.

"Subaru! We should seal the Rabbits away, I suppose!" Beatrice yelled at her Contractor.

"How so?!" Subaru asked, his heart was racing as the Rabbits were slowly approaching alongside the two Whales.

"Betty has an idea, I suppose! Just circle around the Rabbits and let Shadow and the others handle the two Whales, I suppose!" Beatrice exclaimed, to which Subaru nodded, before hoisting Beatrice under his arm.

"Alright! If you say so!" Subaru said before sprinting at full speeds away from the remains of the Flugel Tree.

"I can Last Second Retreat-!"

Time froze once again, and this time, the hand of shadows squeezed once again, but its squeeze was less hurtful.

"I Love You"

"I'm back!"

Yelling out loud, Subaru thickened the Miasma around him to attract the Mabeasts. The Great Rabbit hordes followed, where the two White Whales attempted to follow, only for a massive Al Huma and powerful Hell Snipe to hit each one of the two copies of the fish-shaped Mabeast.

"Oh no you don't! No one touches Master other than Master's Shaula!" Shaula exclaimed.

"We're your opponents! We're not going to let you pass!" Rem exclaimed as well, causing the two copies of the White Whale to roar, ignoring the Miasma and heading towards the two girls.

"Alright! Rem! Shaula! Stall down the two Whale copies! I'll take down the one above our heads!" Shadow exclaimed.

"Can't we just take them down, Shadow-kun?!" Rem asked, to which Shadow just shook his head.

"Subaru told me something through our mental link! The real one is the one swimming above us in the air to recover its wounds! And by destroying it, we will destroy the other two copies! Besides, I can sense that those two are way weaker! So you can easily stall them!" Shadow exclaimed, before raising his hand above him, and in an instant, a massive icicle appeared above his head.

"Al Huma!" He roared before the icicle soared towards the White Whale in the air, slamming directly into its dorsal fin, slicing it clean off and causing it to fall with a massive thud that scattered dust, but Shadow was unaffected. He was smiling.

"Heck yeah! Give it to me!" He exclaimed in excitement as the White Whale roared before diving downwards and opening its mouth, scattering mist away from both its mouth and body glands, and the mist surrounded Shadow.

"Hah! Is that all you've got?! I've seen worse!" Shadow called out as the Mist of Elimination had absolutely no effect on a higher being of existence, forcing the Whale to charge headfirst towards Shadow with its mouth wide agape.

"SUBARU!" Shadow called out.

"BEAKO!" Subaru called for his Contracted Spirit.

"Right!" Beatrice exclaimed before raising her hand, and suddenly, a massive purple ring of light appeared around the horde of Great Rabbit and the White Whale, binding them all together and restraining them. The purple ring floated with its enemies up to the air, and bluish-purple light appeared above them.

"Ul Minya!" Beatrice roared before the light engulfed the entrapped Mabeasts, silencing even their screeches of pain as the light of Yin Mana annihilated whatever was trapped within the ring, erasing them in a blinding burst of light, causing everyone but Shadow to cover their eyes, and a few instants later, the light faded, along with the two copies of the White Whale, revealing the aftermath.

"Huh...We won..." Subaru whispered falling to his butt with Beatrice on his lap.

"This was short but fulfilling, I suppose" Beatrice said.

"Don't rest now. The real battle is coming" Shadow said.

"Huh?" Subaru hummed in confusion.

Suddenly, the earth shook and a loud roar that sounded to the Heavens was heard. Subaru's jaw dropped to the floor upon seeing what he just witnessed.

It was a three-headed dragon the size of a skyscraper. The heads were tall necked, and each had different colors. The one on the left was blue, the middle one was red and the one on the right was brown. All heads were joined into what looked like a gray armored dragon body that was flying to the Heavens, glaring at its adversaries.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

"Here comes the boom..." Shadow muttered with a confident smirk, which no one shared as the strong winds of the flapping of the dragon's huge wings rustled their hair and clothes.

"Brace yourselves...That's a big one" Shadow said.

"What the hell is that, Shadow?!" Subaru half-yelled.

"That Subaru...Is a monster from another world...the fused form of Tsunami Drake, Volcano Drake and Terra Drake...Fusion Drake" Shadow answered.

"Wow...Quite an anti-climactic name..." Subaru said with a sweatdrop

"Well this is Meili's Rune Stone Skill. The ability to summon and freely control monsters from other parallel worlds...Rune Stone Skill: Animal Path" Shadow said.

"Oh...Great..." Subaru said before he felt a massive shadow cover all of them. He looked up to see what appeared to be a huge drop of water falling towards them.

"LOOK OUT!" He shouted before Shaula picked him and Beatrice up and jumped away. Shadow and Rem also jumped away, before the huge ball of water collided with the ground, causing a massive shockwave to resonate alongside the scattered pressurized water, which in turn sent the five fighters flying away.

"Shit! It's one after the other!" Subaru thought as Shaula landed with both him and Beatrice in tow. Subaru looked ahead to see both Shadow and Rem on the other side next to the remains of the Flugel Tree, with Subaru, alongside Beatrice and Shaula having been blown away from it.

"Rem...Show me what you can do here..." Shadow whispered to the Oni maid, to which she stared at Shadow for a few seconds, before a small blush appeared on her cheeks, and a confident smile followed on her face.

"Yes! Please leave it to Rem!" Rem exclaimed before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes to concentrate on her Rune Stone to draw power from it, and the moment she felt the connection, she snapped her eyes open as a massive rope of fire was travelling downwards at them.

"Thermo-Operator!"

"?!"

Rem then slammed her fist at the fire rope, channeling the power of her Rune Stone Skill to change its temperature. Her fist was burning but she ignored the pain...

"RRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

...No. She couldn't feel the pain at all.

Slowly, the fire rope started to be engulfed in ice, gradually decreasing the temperature to nullify the attack.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Roaring once again, Rem summoned her horn, which in turn caused the speed of the freezing to increase and after a single minute, the fire rope immediately turned to a massive chain of ice, before it shattered apart and crumbled to the ground in the form of fine snow.

"Alright! Way to go, Rem!" Subaru exclaimed, before gasping upon seeing what appeared to be a giant meteor enough to bury the entire country of Lugunica underneath it appeared.

"Holy shit!" Subaru cursed.

"Shadow-kun!" Rem exclaimed, before she saw Shadow taking a deep breath, and then he pointed his sword at the approaching meteor with only one hand holding the sword.

"You underestimated both me and my friends. Time for you to see what we are all made of, you fiend" He said, before water started to appear out of thin air around the blade of his sword. He then took a deep breath, before placing two fingers at his blade, running it along the edge. He then released the breath that he was holding, before looking straight at the meteor, which was meters from approaching both him and Rem.

"Aqua Number: Drop Ripple Thrust"

"?!"

Shadow stabbed his sword forwards in an accurate straight stab, and the moment the blade contact with the meteor...

...

...

...

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The meteor then exploded, as water entered it and blew up, causing it to shatter apart and scatter to massive chunks as the water that came out of nowhere blew it up.

"Huh...I just wanted to repel its movement...Never thought that it will have that much effect" Shadow muttered.

"Nevertheless, it was a success! Way to go Shadow-kun! As expected of you!" Rem exclaimed with a vibrant smile on her face.

"Alright, Shadow! That was awesome!" Subaru said as he, alongside both of Shaula and Beatrice ran towards Shadow and Rem.

"Don't relax now. The enemy is yet to be defeated" Shadow said as he, alongside his other four companions, watched as the green jewel located in the chest plate of the dragon's armor started to shine brightly.

"This says that he's gonna fire something big..." Subaru said.

"You said it, and here it comes" Shadow said before they all witnessed a massive beam of energy firing downwards on them.

"Have something for that?" Subaru simply asked, to which Shadow just smirked at this.

"You can never imagine" Shadow said, before stabbing his sword into the ground and knelt on the ground. Suddenly, his teeth turned to pointy fangs and fire appeared out of thin air around him, gaining the attention of his companions. Their attention was even more grabbed when they heard Shadow growled.

"First Seal Break: Flame Of Corruption"

And just like that, everyone saw in awe as Shadow became covered in what appeared to be the silhouette of a humanoid Dragon, and not a second later, Shadow threw his arms to the side with his back arching backwards before he released a mighty roar. And not another second later, Shadow grabbed the sword stuck into the ground in a reverse grip, before swinging it into the air, which resulted in a blazing fire ball to soar towards the beam, tearing sound and space themselves as it travelled towards the beam of Death, and upon contact, Subaru and the others had to cover their eyes from the blinding light that came from the contact of the beam and the projectile that Shadow fired at it. A few minutes later and the light faded, revealing the outcome.

"Whoa..."

"Whoa indeed, I suppose..."

Subaru and Beatrice were in awe, as the Dragon was having a large hole in its torso and its three heads were completely blown off, and moments later after the stunned silence, everyone saw as the Fusion Drake's body took a free fall to the ground, before its remains dissolved into some foreign blue energy, completely disappearing and signing its end.

Upon seeing this, Subaru fell on his butt.

"We...Won..." He said, completely out of breath.

[Music Ends]

"Meili..." Subaru said standing up as he saw the girl approaching them, with tears still flowing down her smiling face.

"You...Passed. But my answer...I haven't gotten it..." She said with a shaky voice filled with sobs.

"We already told you, Meili. No one will touch you. Not even Capella. Not anyone" Subaru said.

"Hmph! There will be lots of competition on Betty's Subaru now that you and Shaula are here, in fact. But Betty doesn't mind more challenges, I suppose" Beatrice said puffing her chest in pride.

"...Why are you puffing your chest in pride?" Shadow asked, having slowly reverted to his original form, with the Dragon aura around him fading.

"D-Don't make Betty repeat herself, I suppose! Betty shall accept this purple thing on our team now, I suppose!" Beatrice exclaimed with a comical panicked face.

"You're cute when you're panicking, Drill Loli! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed while giggling at Beatrice's cute reaction.

"What in the Od does Loli means, I wonder?! This term seems unpleasantly suspicious, I suppose!" Beatrice yelled while flailing her arms comically, causing both Shaula and Subaru to laugh at her actions.

"What...? Why are you laughing...? You guys were just in front of an enemy that wanted your lives..." Meili whispered, to which Shadow spoke to her.

"...This is just the way we are. We stand side by side today while crying to be able to stand side by side tomorrow while laughing" Shadow said, causing Meili's teary eyes to widen in surprise. It was then when she saw Subaru extending his hand towards the little Mabeast controlling girl with a grin on his face.

"Come with us, Meili. Join us. Forget about the old world of Despair...And come with us to the new world of Hope" Subaru said, to which Meili's tears increased, before she sprinted towards the group.

Her mind was set, as she had finally found her answer, throwing herself at Subaru, hugging him tightly as she cried her eyes out to forget about the suffering and sorrow that she experienced in her short life.

In the distance, however, a certain Duchess, alongside swordsman butler and a group of soldiers were watching the entire battle unfold in shock. Shadow seemed to have noticed them, despite them already away from a few kilometers away.

"Well, Well, Well. It seems that you were right, Subaru. Crusch was indeed going for the White Whale" Shadow said, as Subaru, still hugging Meili, looked at the direction that Shadow was looking at, and despite his senses were not as strong as Shadow, he was still able to make out the colors from far away.

And upon hearing her name, Subaru's face darkened.

"Heh...Eat that, bitch" Subaru muttered, considering the fact that he stole her own win.

It was at that day that the Emilia Camp members were able to make the best achievements ever in the existence of this world, unknowingly raising their Camp's popularity.

---

Two hours ago. Barielle Mansion

Let us tell you a story.

The story of one Saki Yoshida.

Born to a pair of an extremely ordinary parents, Saki was considered abnormal by all means.

In her birth, she was the perfect definition of an Early Bird, as she was born three months before her due date.

In class, she was the top of her class. She aced every single subject, no matter how hard it was.

At elementary school, she met her first friends: Subaru Natsuki, Natsumi Schwartz, Miyuki Akagami and Kotaro Kurosumi. And for the first time in her life, she was happy.

This happiness didn't last long, however, as her parents were forced to move away to another neighborhood due to her father's work, causing Saki to emerge herself in her studies starting from her first year of middle school, becoming anti-social once again.

What anyone didn't know was the fact that Saki had some brain deficiency that prevented him from producing oxytocin but was never treated, and this prevented her from understanding and feeling the very concept of love, making her unfit in her adult life. However, she unconsciously found another joy, and that was in the form of praise, where her brain would release a massive flood of dopamine and endorphins whenever she was praised or talked to be the second gender, causing her to feel blissful whenever any male talked, praised or even pat her head.

This later became a problem, as upon finishing middle school and preparing to enter high school, Saki began to hate herself for her self-isolation from the world and wanted to experience the world once again.

"I want to live the moment...In this beautiful world..."

This was what she thought back then, not knowing that she would regret it later.

"Oh. Welcome back, Saki. Did you do well in your graduation ceremony?"

"Umm...Mom...Can you teach me how to do makeup?"

That was the first step that Saki took, and in no time, she turned from a nerdy-looking girl with braids and glasses to a true unrivalled beauty that everyone would lust for.

However, as the old saying goes: Here today, gone tomorrow.

At some point, Saki saw that she couldn't get into the trend, even up to the point that she couldn't even get a boyfriend. So when a shady guy calls her pretty, she clearly gives up to him, not to mention her brain condition which amplified all of that tenfold.

And this caused Saki to lose her purity at the hands of that guy named Hayato Kusanagi.

"I never knew...Sex feels so good..."

He left her completely defiled, but for the first time in her life, Saki felt true pleasure in the most putrid way, and at that day, something inside of her snapped.

The days that followed, Saki became completely entangled in between her one-sided relationship with Hayato and IRL issues like money. Speaking of the latter, Saki, having realized that she couldn't afford to girly stuff in order to match others, she went on to compensate dates, and she placed all of that on herself.

The horror began when a classmate recorded her entering a hotel with an old guy, the same old guy that basically praised her beauty and made brain go haywire.

Soon, it spread towards the males of the school, and they blackmailed the poor girl into doing indecent things to her, and this made her extremely worried, yet her brain condition overrode her worries in no time.

Not to mention that in her worries and juggled mind, Saki's mother had promised to be on her side no matter what.

Soon, her father got laid off from his work, and became alcoholic in his Despair of being unable to look for work, despite Saki herself wanting to help her parents in that work problem, yet her father refused that.

One day, however, something terrible happened.

While Saki was studying, her father entered her room, completely wasted, and pinning her to her bed, he...Rapped her...Just because she reminded him of a younger version of his wife.

Saki couldn't resist him, not only because of her condition, but because her father was physically stronger than her, and she wasn't able to repel him.

As the days and months passed with her father raping her in home and her classmates raping her in school, Saki never saw any kind of rest or peace, with both pleasure and Despair both plaguing her.

And in one fateful day, everything came crumbling down on Saki's head.

Her male classmates blew her away and rumors about her being a slut spread throughout the school, to the point that everyone, including the teachers started bullying her...If the word 'bullying' was fitting for what actually happened to her.

It was...Unspeakable to say the least.

Running out with tears in her eyes, Saki thought of any rope of hope, and the only person that she thought of was her mother. The only person that told her that she will be by her side, always supporting her no matter what. Of course, a parent is the only person in the world to be worried and concerned about you. The only person that can scold you whenever you do something wrong and praise you whenever you do something right, as well as give you advice in life, protect you and always be by your side no matter what happens.

That should have been the case for Saki, right?

Wrong.

As upon arriving to her room, she was greeted by a slap and a scowl of hatred from her mother. An expression that not even Saki had ever seen on her mother in her life.

It was then revealed that her mother discovered the illegal sexual relationship between Saki and her father, to which Saki's father lied, saying that Saki was the one to seduce him, and of course, Saki's mother believed him. Saki tried to defend herself, only for her mother to hit her to the point that blood came from Saki's head and face, all while hearing the words 'bitch' and 'whore' coming out from her mother's house.

Saki had been just betrayed...And by the person she thought that was the closest to her.

"Shut up! Bitch! Whore! Why are you even here?! How dare you do this?! Get out of this house, you filthy harlot!"

Saki was homeless at that time, and her only 'salvation' was Hayato, who welcomed her in the new version of Hell that welcomed Saki with opened arms.

She was introduced to the world of drugs, addiction, and brothel works.

Saki was in a temporary Heaven due to her brain condition, and her naivety increased it and soon Saki saw Hayato's true colors.

He was keeping her because he wanted to pay for the drugs that he couldn't pay for, and he was using Saki's body to do that. All the while, Saki was trying to question her worth, only to find that the answer wasn't even there.

One day, Saki brought a pack of heroin instead of the money due to having become an addict courtesy of Hayato, which in turn led him to kick her out, leaving Saki homeless once again.

Saki had been betrayed once again.

And a few months later, Saki realized that she was pregnant, most likely from one of the customers that she served in the brothel.

Now normally, she was to have an abortion because she didn't want to have a child from anyone other than Hayato at that time, but now...Something snapped inside Saki once again.

In a twisted spin of events, despite her body giving up due to the heroin coursing through her bloodstream, coupled with the fact that her body was used to the point of expiration from overuse, Saki decided to keep the baby whose father was unknown.

However, in her addiction for drugs and sex, coupled with her desire to sate her brain with the flood of dopamine and endorphins, Saki was already in a peril, even though she was able to manage the money through selling her body to the point of having verbal diseases, the bombshell came when she encountered her former classmates, who didn't know her due to the long time and her shape changing. She tried taking the money and run, but they hit her, pinned her to the ground, humiliated her by ravishing her body and taking pictures, before taking the money away, and they even went as far as kicking her stomach so hard that her yet-to-be born baby literally exploded inside of her womb.

"It's okay...It's okay..."

She kept on clinging on False Hope, and yet...She knew her life meant no meaning.

All of that happened in the span of 1 year, and Saki was 16 at that time.

Realizing that her life no longer meant anything, Saki decided to end her life through taking a large overdose of heroin, departing to the afterlife with a smile on her face, along with Despair through False Hope plaguing her.

Opening her eyes to what she thought the afterlife, Saki saw herself in a world where Magic, Demi-Humans, Spirits, Mabeasts and several other races existing in this world.

She couldn't believe her eyes, and she was extremely lost. And from what she knew, she was in a country called Kararagi.

Afterwards, she met Shadow, who soon managed to reunite her with Miyuki, who now is called Kaylin Astrea, before being introduced to Halibel, one of the Four Pillars of Power in this world, who trained her to become a successful assassin and ninja, and then she met the Melty Camp. Being weary of them at first, Saki soon opened to all of them, and they accepted her as a member and friend of theirs.

For the first time ever, Saki felt that she was home.

Unknown to her, it was the exact same time where both Subaru and Natsumi were teleported to the other world.

"Huh...That did happen a year ago...I'm 17 now...Time passes so quickly when you don't notice it. It feels as if all of that happened yesterday"

"Saki-san? What are you talking about?"

Saki, who was muttering to herself in a rather solemn expression on her face, snapped out of her thoughts when Liliana called for her as she, alongside both Saki and Kaylin were walking towards their destination.

Saki immediately wore a smile on her face to hide any kind of emotion that she was letting out. An advanced skill of a true assassin taught to her by the best of the best.

"Oh! It's nothing! Just thinking about what we will do to repel the enemy" Saki exclaimed, waving off Liliana's concern. It was then that Saki felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she saw that it was Kaylin, who was smiling at her warmly.

"Saki...I may not know about your past, and I don't want to know if you don't feel like saying it. I also don't know who this Hayato guy...But if there's one thing that I know, it's the fact that we must face our past. No matter how harsh it is. We are bound to face it sooner or later. So it's better to face it as soon as we can. We can never run forever" Kaylin said, to which Saki looked at her with a rather solemn look. It was then when she felt a gentle hand on her own hand, to which she saw that it was Liliana, who was unable to place her hand on her shoulder because of her height difference between her and Saki.

"I can understand that you have a harsh past. I also had one, but I decided to move on and not care about other's opinions. And the fact that you're still here means that you managed to overcome all other obstacles. So what's more obstacle in front of you? Chin up and be strong" Liliana said to which Saki looked at the bard with a slightly shocked face, before looking at Kaylin as well, and just like that, the solemn expression on Saki's face turned to a confident smile.

"Yes! Let's do this!" Saki exclaimed as the three girls kept walking towards their destination.

The Barielle Mansion, where Al was standing in front of the gate with what appeared to be an appa juice that he was drinking. Al seemed to have noticed them and tilted his head at their arrival.

"Oh! If it isn't the missy that messed up those thugs back in the alley in the Capital City! What is the reason of this pleasant visit with your friend and the infamous bard Liliana Masquerade?!" Al exclaimed in surprise.

"Al-san, was it? We're here to warn you that your mistress is going to be under attack" Saki answered, and Al's expression was not seen, but judging from her frozen expression, everyone present around him could tell that he was wearing a rather serious expression.

"What are you talking about, missy? You better not be tricking me, because this ain't funny at all" Al said with a rather intimidating tone.

Saki and Kaylin were expecting this as well, having remembered what Subaru told them

"Crusch will go to the White Whale to repel it, and due to that, Russell will go to his next target. Normally, he will be unable to target Anastasia because she will be guarded by the Iron Fang, and possibly even Julius. Melty is already protected by us so he won't get near her, and Felt is away with both Natsumi and Reinhard being around her. So the only person to be targeted at that time would be Priscilla. That will be Russell's target. Do keep that in mind"

"Russell Fellow" Kaylin said.

"Huh?" Al asked in confusion.

"We have information that Russell Fellow will attack here, specifically because his target is Priscilla Barielle-sama" Kaylin said.

"What is your source of information, then?" Al asked, to which Kaylin swallowed a lump in her throat.

"Russell Fellow...He is an otherworlder. Just like you and both of Saki and myself, Al-san" Kaylin said, causing Al to recoil slightly, nearly spilling his juice.

"Huh? What the...? Are you sure? And if so, why are you pushing yourselves to save Princess?" Al asked.

"It's not only to protect Priscilla-san. It's because I have...A grudge against that otherworlder" Saki said, to which Al looked in susception for a few seconds at the girls, before sighing out.

"Honestly...Since you guys are friends of Bro and Sis, then I have to comply. You girls are literally pressing my heartstrings" Al said, throwing a lame joke in his speech, causing the three females to sweatdrop.

"You're not the best jester here, Al-san..." Saki said with a nervous chuckle and not long afterwards, her face grew serious.

"Kaylin...Just like I said...When that bastard comes, it will be only me to face him" She said to the red-haired swordswoman, causing her to nod.

"Alright. In you go" Al said before opening the gates. The four individuals then entered the grounds of the mansion, suddenly feeling rather tense considering the rather awkward silence.

"My My. What a commotion"

"?!"

Everyone but Saki turned around to the voice, only to see Russell Fellow walking from a side, right inside the mansion.

"Hey you. How the hell did you enter here?" Al asked, taking out his sword.

"Russell Fellow, was it? Or should I say...Hayato Kusanagi?" Kaylin asked placing her hand on the hilt of her katana.

"Oh? So you do know me...Lady Kaylin Astrea. That would mean that you are an otherworlder, just like me..." Russell...Or Hayato, spoke with a rather elegant manner.

"Now then, can this guy here know why exactly the treasurer of the Capital's Merchant Guild is inside the mansion of the Priscilla Camp without permission?" Al asked, slowly using his only arm to unsheathe his sword.

"Well...I just wanted to have some fun...With Priscilla...Heh..." Russell answered, before his calm smile turned to a twisted grin of Madness.

"I just wanted to feel what those squishy boobs would feel like in my hands...Heh...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He ended his sentence with a mad laughter, causing Al to glare in complete anger at him from behind his helmet. Kaylin looked disgusted at this, and Lilana just glared at him with her body slightly shaking.

"Huh...You haven't changed at all, Hayato"

"?!"

Just then, Russell stopped laughing and his eyes widened in shock upon hearing the familiar voice. His eyes darted towards Saki, who was still giving him her back. He then saw as she turned around to face him.

"Saki-chan..." He muttered, before his shocked expression turned to the same previous mad grin.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! How fate is so ironic! To meet together in the other world as well! That must be nothing less than true destiny itself" Russell exclaimed.

"..." And Saki just remained silent, looking at him with a cold expression devoid of any kind of emotion.

"What is it?! Aren't you happy to see me?! You were always the crazed bitch longing to have any kind of meat rods being shoved up your pussy! C'mon! If you want it, I have it right here! Just succumb to me again as you always do and by my little bitchy fuckbuddy once again, Saki-chan!" He yelled like a maniac at her, but while everyone was disgusted by this, Saki remained impassive.

"...I'm glad" Saki sighed out her words to Russell.

"I'm glad that you're still the scumbag that I know, Hayato. Now I can just kill you without holding any doubts" She continued, to which Russell blinked at this, before he suddenly threw his head backwards and burst out in maniacal laughter.

"You?! Defeat me?! Did the lack of a dick being shoved up your cunt had broken your already broken head?! You sure are full of yourself, you bitch! Even with your friends here, you won't stand a chance against me!" He yelled at them.

"And who said that they will help me? They will just watch me as I defeat you" Saki calmly whispered her words to Russell, to which Al and Liliana looked at her with wide eyes filled with shock.

"Huh?! Seriously, you're joking lil missy! This guy feels like he's no joke! Aren't you a little hasty and reckless?!" Al asked.

"Yes, Miss Saki! You can't be reckless!" Liliana pleaded as well with Saki, only for Kaylin to place her arm in front of both Al and Liliana.

"Guys. Just look and watch" Kaylin said as she saw Saki taking off her black coat, slowly making it descend to the ground, revealing that she wore a tight jumpsuit underneath it, with the back being completely bare and uncovered.

"Oh? You're gonna take me on alone? Aren't you a little cheeky?" Russell asked with his mad smirk still on. Saki just smiled calmly at him.

"Yes. I will. Prepare yourself, Russell...No. Hayato Kusanagi" She said before taking out dirks with blue handles and purple crystal blades from a Space Store that manifested beside her.

[Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 OST - Break a Spell]

And just like that, Saki disappeared from everyone's line of sight, causing Russell to flinch at this, before barely dodging an overhead swing from Saki that was aimed to loop off his neck from his shoulders. Russell's arm then turned to a tentacle and shot towards Saki, to which she skillfully dodged it like as if she was dancing. And no matter what Russell did, he couldn't even land one hit.

"Tch! Stop moving, you bitch!" Russell yelled, before suddenly feeling a stinging pain on his thigh. He looked at the source of pain, only to see a dirk impaled on his right thigh, but that wasn't what concerned him.

"Huh?!"

It was the fact that somehow, purple crystal freezing-like effect was spreading from the area that was stabbed.

"What the fu-OOF!" Russell was about to curse, only for Saki to zoom towards him and deliver a kick to his face, causing a few of his teeth to be blasted out from his mouth. And before he could recover, Saki caught him by one of his arms, before pulling him towards her, crashing her heel into his chin with an overhead axe kick, causing him to spin violently in the air, before falling into the concrete ground, toppling violently before crashing into the central fountain located in the center of the mansion grounds, where water and debris scattered across where Russell crashed.

"Ugh...I think that I must pick up the pace a little..." Russell said as he slowly got up, before directing his glare at Saki.

"Come at me! I'll show you how much of a person I changed!" Saki exclaimed., before witnessing as ten tentacles that somehow started to have mouths and teeth all over it burst out from Russell's back.

"You're meeting your end here!" He yelled.

"Just see if I don't!" Saki yelled back.

And just like that, the ten tentacles that came out from Russell's back started having crackles in front of their mouths, aiming directly at Saki.

"This time I shall use this one!" Russell yelled before the tentacles all shot blue lightning bolts out from their mouths, causing Saki to run away from them as the lightning chased her. She jumped over another fountain, which shielded her from another lightning bolt, and the fountain blew apart in a mix of water and concrete. Saki then dashed towards one of the sections of the mansion, and for some reason it felt as if she was standing and running on it just fine.

She then dashed upwards the wall, running as fire balls suddenly started to shoot out from the tentacles, and she was dodging the fire balls that were aimed at her. She then gasped as she saw what was in front of her path while she was still running. A tentacle appeared and opened its mouth, before firing an invisible bullet of wind towards her. Saki heard the screeching sound in the air, as if the wind bullet tore through air itself.

She then took a turn to the left, jumping as both the fire balls and wind bullet collided, causing a massive explosion to occur, but Saki was safe as she landed on another wall of another section of the mansion, still sticking to it rather easily using nothing but the soles of her feet.

"How about this?!" Russell yelled before three of his tentacles started emitting fire, wind and lightning around their mouths, before conjuring it all into a single attack, releasing a combined beam of the three elements. Saki just looked at this with a serious face, before closing her eyes, inhaling in a good amount of air, before releasing it from her lungs as something that resembled a glowing, onyx black stone with a white skull drawing at its center started glowing rapidly as if it was Saki's own heart that was beating.

And a moment later, she snapped her eyes open.

And the next thing that happened was Saki bursting through Russell's Magic beam like a bullet soaring through the air, instantly dispelling the beam of annihilation, making a beeline towards Russell, who had no time to react as Saki delivered a straight punch to his face, causing it to contract in a rather comical way, before a shockwave resonated from the area of contact, and Russell was sent flying away once again, and this time, he collided with a section of the mansion, causing a massive hole to appear in the area of impact.

"Convinced yet?!" Saki yelled out as she landed her feet on the ground, having suddenly been surrounded by beautiful pinkish white diamond armor that enveloped both her arms.

"What the...?" Al asked in awe.

"That's actually one of Saki's skills from her Rune Stone Skill" Kaylin answered.

"Rune...What now?" Al asked.

"Al-san. Have you ever heard of the tale of the Old Man Of The Mountain?" Kaylin asked, causing Al to tilt his head to the side, which Kaylin took it as a no.

"Hundreds of centuries ago, there was a man called Hassan-i-Sabbah, the founder of the Hashashin, the Order of Assassins that lived in the mountains of Persia and Syria. Those people are the ones that first made the concept of people known as Assassins. But what made them special is the techniques that were mastered by those who gained the name of Hassan, a title that only nineteen people, including Hassan-i-Sabbah himself, have earned, and that was due to the fact that those nineteen individuals had a special ability that differentiated each one of them, and made them special and powerful: The Zabaniya. A powerful technique that defined the meaning of a Hassan and gave them their own individualistic existence. Saki's Rune Stone holds the ability to utilize all nineteen techniques long possessed by the nineteen Hassans..."

As Kaylin trailed in her words, she gave out a small smile while looking at her friend, who was staring fearlessly as the diamond armor around her arms disappeared instantly.

"Yes...This is the power of Saki's Rune Stone Skill. The ability to utilize the ultimate techniques of assassination to become the ultimate assassin...Rune Stone Skill: The Pedigree" Kaylin announced.

"I...See...But that's a lot to take in actually..." Al muttered.

"Just focus on the battle. If Saki's in a pinch, we must break through and give her a hand" Kaylin said, dismissing Al's concerns.

"Ugh...Damn..." Saki heard the grunt of Russell as he stood up from where he crashed, having had his blazer and shirt being completely annihilated, revealing his bare torso, before Saki witnessed as the ten tentacles retreated to Russell's back, before his entire body started twisting and convulsing, and shortly afterwards he gained what appeared to be two massive wings that were made out of...Hands?

"Huh...? His shape's changed?" Saki muttered his question to no one.

"Maybe I've underestimated you slightly, Saki-chan...But now is the real deal...I'll make sure to fuck your brains out until your mind is broken, then I shall end your life in the most pathetic way possible! I'll thoroughly enjoy this!" Russell yelled before he dashed towards Saki at blinding speeds, a few tens of the hands that formed his 'wings' morphing to clawed hands, before bursting towards Saki, who jumped backwards from Russell to avoid his attack that aimed to rip all of her clothes off.

This caused Saki to unconsciously snort. Even in a battle of Death, this pathetic guy was thinking with only his dick. Disgusting.

"Zabaniya: Cyber Phantasy!"

"?!"

Saki then extended her left arm forward, and suddenly her hand became so large that it felt that Hulk was facing Russell. Saki's arm then extended like a rubber band, heading towards Russell, who had no time to react as the enlarged hand of Saki enveloped his entire head, covering it completely as he couldn't react to the sudden action, and not long after, his head suddenly was enveloped in a large explosion, which even sent Saki, whose arm and hand returned to normal, flying away. Fortunately, however, she made an elegant acrobatic flip in midair, allowing her to balance herself and avoid toppling on the ground as she landed on her feet.

"Whoa!" Al blurted out in awe and shock.

"You...Bitch!" Russell yelled before bursting out from the smoke, his skull deranged and caved in, but Saki noticed that it was regenerating at a rapid pace until it became completely whole once again as if no damage occurred in the first place.

Saki then threw a few of her dirks towards him, to which he intercepted with his 'wings' while still blinding charging at her. The effects of Minya instantly kicked in as his wings started crystallizing. However, Russell smirked before his arm turned to the blade of a double-edged sword, and then he severed the 'wing' that got hit with Saki's dirks, causing everyone to blink at his action, and not a few seconds later, the 'wing' regenerated and returned as it was.

"Ha! Bitch! I can do that all day! The only limit is my imagination! You can't kill me!" Russell said before his 'wings' suddenly released hundreds of clawed arms towards Saki, who kept on jumping around and dodging them. She then dodged another arm, jumping above it, before aiming her right arm towards Russell.

"Zabaniya: Dead Heartbeat Melody!"

"?!"

Her right arm suddenly shot forwards as if it was made out of rubber, with her hand becoming a dark red large claw. The arm shot forward, and right before Russell could react, the clawed hand found itself touching his chest, particularly where his heart was, and not a second later, a small burst of energy blasted from the point of contact between Saki's right hand and Russell's chest, and before anyone could know it, a hole in the shape of a three-leafed clover found itself piercing Russell's chest, before blood burst out from said hole.

"Holy mother of Izanami!" Al gasped in shock.

"Kuh! Bitch! I'm not done yet!" Russell yelled through his mouth filled with blood and bile, before everyone witnessed as the hole in his chest was perfectly healed.

"Amazing speeds of recovery..." Kaylin said through gritted teeth.

"I can help!" Liliana exclaimed before whipping out her guitar-ukulele hybrid instrument, and opened her mouth to use her Rune Stone Skill, however...

"No! Don't do anything! He's mine and mine alone!"

"?!"

Saki's roars revealed that she had no intention of calling for help, nor that she will appreciate any help against her opponent.

"Liliana. Not now. Don't do anything" Kaylin said placing her stretched arm in front of Liliana to stop her.

"B-But...?!" Liliana trailed in her question, fear plastered on her face, only for Kaylin to just look forward at Saki's direction with a serious expression.

"...Just believe in Saki" She said.

"You crafty little bitch! How about this?!" Russell yelled before suddenly, his 'wings' expanded and enlarged, before turning into two giant tentacles that were made out of pure flesh. The tentacles wrapped around the entire mansion, engulfing it completely as Russell was levitated above the ground due to the two flesh tentacles holding onto the entire mansion behind him.

"Princess is in there!" Al exclaimed in worry.

"Don't worry, Al! Leave it to Saki!" Kaylin said while placing a hand on Al's shoulder to prevent him from rushing towards the mansion that Russell engulfed.

"Heh heh...You have no chance of winning now!" Russell exclaimed before two mouths suddenly appeared from his sides and spat out fire balls at Saki.

"Burn to ashes!" He yelled, promoting Saki to jump out of harm's way. She then threw more of her Minya dirks at the two tentacles, only for a gigantic tentacle to appear from Russell's giant back and swing above his head, deflecting the dirks. This caused Saki to click her tongue.

"As long as they don't touch or stab, then they can't do any harm!" Russell yelled with a crazy laugh.

"How about this?!" He yelled once again before the third tentacle rose once again above his head, causing Saki to gasp as she soon realized her opponent's aim.

"Get crushed!" Russell yelled before the flesh tentacle descended downwards at Saki, slamming down at her and creating a giant crater.

"Saki!" Kaylin yelled in complete worry for her friend, her calm demeanor now completely gone, only for both Al to place a hand on her shoulder, and for Liliana to take one of the redhead's hands and gently pat it.

"Kaylin-san. Don't worry. I can still feel Saki-san's power signature" Liliana said.

"Huh...? What do you...?" Kaylin asked, but her worry made her unable to properly form words.

"Don't worry, Red Missy. You already told me to trust Black Missy...And I think that I understand why" Al said while looking at the scene of the battle.

"Huh?!" Russell grunted in confusion, as he couldn't feel anything being crushed underneath the tentacle.

"Looking for something?"

"?!"

Russell then looked at his side, only to barely tilt his head to the side to avoid a dirk that was about to be stabbed into his eye.

"W-What the fuck?! I'm sure that I hit you!" Russell yelled in a mixture of anger and shock.

"Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion. With it, I can create a copy of mine to take a fatal hit. Pretty convenient don't you think?" Saki said in a casual manner while twirling a dirk in between her fingers.

"Hah! Isn't it stupid to tell the opponent about your abilities?! You're such a dumb bitch!" Russell mocked loudly, only for Saki to sigh calmly, before giving Russell a calm, but mischievous smile.

"Well...I don't need to worry about that, because you're going to die here and now. I don't even need the Pyroxene Crystal that he gave to me" Saki said, to which Russell blinked before his body shook uncontrollably, and right afterwards he threw his head backwards, cackling like a maniac.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU BITCH! DID DISPLAYING MY POWER TO YOU MADE YOU GO MAD?! YOU CAN'T BEAT ME, LET ALONE KILL ME! I'M A GOD!" Russell yelled like a maniac, but Saki didn't appear to be fazed.

"Goodness...You still don't get it, do you?" Saki asked, grabbing Russell's attention, making him stop his maniacal laughter.

"Huh?!" He grunted in confusion.

"Even the prettiest of roses have thorns on them...And the moment you get close to it...It's all over. Just like what you're doing right now" Saki said.

"Huh?! What are you-?!"

SHIIK!

"?!"

The gruesome sound of a sword slicing through flesh echoed throughout the battlefield, tearing through the very fabric of space itself, followed by something large falling to the ground with a large thud sound.

"W-WHAT THE-?!" Russell yelled in shock as he saw his left tentacle being sliced clean, with burn marks around the area cut, and he would have already fallen if it wasn't for his other tentacle supporting him to the other side of the mansion.

"Damned mongrel! How dare you bring destruction upon the territory of mineself?"

"?!"

Al released a sigh of relief, Liliana's eyes held stars in them, Kaylin released a breath she didn't know she was holding while placing a hand on her heart, and Saki grinned victoriously.

Priscilla Barielle, with the almighty Yang Sword Vollachia in hand, entered the battlefield to ensure their victory.

"You call yourself a god? What nonsense" Priscilla said while walking to Saki's side, which caused Russell to grit his teeth, having been unable to regenerate the part that Priscilla cut with her sword.

"Tch...Bitch..." He muttered before using his third tentacle to support himself on the mansion.

"Forget about fucking you...I'll kill you and then I'll screw your corpses!" He yelled before the dozens of mouths of the tentacles started charging up bolts of fire, lightning and wind, directing it towards both Saki and Priscilla.

"Fate shines upon us..." Priscilla muttered with a fearless smile.

"Alright! Time to end this!" Saki exclaimed, before tightly gripping her right shoulder. She then winced as her right arm suddenly elongated and became glowing red in color, with her palm becoming enlarged and her fingers becoming clawed. She then threw her arm above her head, as it swayed freely like a whip.

"Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat!"

Roaring from the top of her lungs, Saki's arm shot out towards the abomination in front of her, flapping and soaring towards its target like a one-winged spear of Death, ready to take the life of its victim.

"BURN TO ASHES!" Russell yelled like a madman, before a hurricane of fire, wind and lightning roared towards both Saki and Priscilla.

"Like I'll let ya!"

"?!"

Liliana's childish roar echoed in the ears of everyone, and not long afterwards, the attacks suddenly split apart, causing Russell to widen his eyes in shock, before he suddenly gasped and roared in agony.

"Hm?" Priscilla raised an eyebrow in confusion at this.

"GAAAHHH! STOP IT! DON'T ENTER MY MIND! NOOOOOOO!" He yelled his agony, as if he was suffering from a severe headache. It wasn't long before everyone watched as Russell started sobbing.

"Those...Bastards...They abandoned me...I did nothing wrong...I had to survive...And so I had to...Had to..." He gasped between his sobs, before his face contorted to a rather horrifying expression where he bit his lower lip so hard that it bled, with his eyes still releasing streams of tears.

"I HAD TO KILL! TRAMPLE! PURGE! RAPE! DO DRUGS! BACKSTAB! BETRAY! ONLY I CAN HELP MYSELF! NO ONE CAN! I HAVE TO BE THE ONLY ONE STANDING! THE ONLY ONE SURVIVNG!" He yelled out, agony completely consuming him.

"Time to end this!" Saki exclaimed, before her arm reached towards Russell's chest. A finger of the red arm of Death touched his chest, before it instantly retreated towards Saki, returning to its normal size, but it was still red and clawed.

"..." Saki simply stared in silence at her prey, opening her red hand while still staring down at him. Everyone watched in silence as an ethereal cluster formed in Saki's palm. The cluster took the form of a red beating heart.

"Die..." Saki whispered before clenching her fist, instantly crushing the ethereal cluster, and at that precise moment...

"UGH!"

"?!"

Everyone watched in shock as Russell suddenly recoiled, before blood burst out from his mouth. It didn't take long for everyone, Russell included, to know exactly what happened.

"..."

...Courtesy of the hole that found itself in Russell's chest, directly where his heart was.

"Liliana! Finish it!" Kaylin yelled, having been the first person to snap from her shocked trance, snapping the bard from her shocked state.

"R-Right!" She replied, before running her hand down on the strings of her guitar, and not long after, the attacks that Russell sent, which were split apart, were redirected from their free course trip and right towards the person who shot them.

Rune Stone Skill: Troubles In Paradise.

A special unique skill that allows Liliana to manipulate the 'dreams' of her victims, be it living or non-living, animate or inanimate objects. The ability even extends to even manipulating the attacks from any kind of power source, including Mana. By doing so, Liliana can manipulate the minds of others, make them recall their painful or most pleasant pasts, drive them mad or even place them in a comatose state for all eternity. She can even manipulate attacks directed at her, effectively controlling its directions.

Just like what she is doing right now.

"Take this!" Liliana yelled, before Russell was found roaring in pain as his attack came redirected right towards him. It was even surprising that he was still breathing, especially after having his heart completely crushed.

A thunderous explosion echoed throughout the mansion grounds, swallowing said building with it, alongside Russell, kicking out smoke, fire and dust all around.

Their opponent...Was down.

[Music Ends]

"Uhh...Thank God Schult wasn't inside..." Al muttered while rubbing the back of his head.

"I suppose that's that. Not that we helped that much" Liliana said, causing Kaylin to sigh.

"Yeah...Wished that I took part, but I can't be against my friend's wishes" She said while folding both her arms underneath her chest. She then looked at Saki, who was staring silently at the fire and debris.

"Saki..." Kaylin muttered her friend's name.

"Rest in pieces..." Saki muttered while closing her eyes, and seconds later, she turned around towards Priscilla.

"Sorry about your mansion, Priscilla-san" She said with a small smile, to which Priscilla just waved her off.

"Pay it no heed. It was a necessary action after all" She said, before taking out her fan and placed it in front of her face.

"Well...At least there were no casualties on our side" Al said.

"Yeah..." Kaylin muttered.

Suddenly, Saki's instincts, honed from her training under the strongest ninja in this world, screamed at her, alerting her of a nearby danger. It was then when she heard the sound of the rubble in front of them shift and move, and not long after, something shot out of it, aiming towards Priscilla.

"WATCH OUT!"

"?!"

Priscilla was pushed away from where she was standing, falling on her butt and knocking her fan from her hand.

"Hey! What was that f-huh?" Priscilla was about to complain, but her eyes grew wide at what she had seen, with her expression being shared by Al, Kaylin and Liliana, who were shocked upon witnessing what occurred in front of them.

"Ugh...Heh...I guess I...Screwed up..."

As she whispered this, Saki coughed out a good amount of blood from her mouth, all while grasping onto the tentacle that pierced through her back and came out from her torso.

"SAKI!" Kaylin yelled to her friend, and just then, a figure appeared out from the rubble, battered, bruised, bloodied and with his clothes torn. Russell Fellow was still alive, but was barely hanging by a thread.

"Bitch...If I'm dying...I shall...Take you...Down with me..." He whispered, causing Saki to slowly turn around to glare at him, before her glare soon turned to a smirk.

"I suppose...That's what you call...Karma, huh Hayato...?" She whispered her question before coughing up a massive amount of blood.

"Hang in there! I'm coming!" Kaylin yelled before running towards Saki, only to stop midway when Saki yelled to her.

"No! Stay back!" She exclaimed, causing Kaylin to stop running towards her.

"Saki..." She whispered her name. And all she got from her was a small smile.

"Huh...So this is the end for me? Isn't that the second time I die in it...?" Saki whispered looking at the distance, not aware of the Pyroxene Crystal glowing inside her pocket.

"Huh...?" She said as she saw the visions of a certain purple-haired Knight in a white space.

"Why...? Why is he the one that I see as my last Death vision...? Could it be...That I have a crush on that guy...? But...He tried killing Subaru and Shadow-san...So why..."

As she thought of those questions, Saki's eyes widened as she saw two figures appear on the sides of the purple-haired Knight. On the right was a boy that was wearing black clothes and had short white hair and a black blindfold covering his eyes, and on the left was a blonde, blue-eyed swordsman. Both were looking at Saki with gentle smiles on their faces.

"2B..."

"Dizzy..."

As the two figures respectively muttered out those two names, Saki's eyes slightly narrowed, before tears started flowing down her eyes.

"I see...So that's what I truly wanted..."

As she soon came to her impending realization, Saki forced her tearful face to erect a smile.

"I wanted to smile...I...Wanted to smile..."

Whispering her last words, the Pyroxene Crystal in her pocket suddenly glowed intensely, before the blue light engulfed both her and Russell, and by the time the light reached him, the man's tentacle relaxed, and he was about to fall dead on the ground, but before that could happen...

"Saki!"

"..."

...The light instantly consumed both Saki and Russell, and both disappeared instantly from the scene.

Kaylin's eyes were wide in shock as she fell on her knees, her mind unable to comprehend what just happened. Liliana stood there while putting a hand on her mouth, with her eyes wide in shock and disbelief as tears fell from her eyes freely. Al just stood there in stunned silence, his expression completely unknown due to his helmet covering his face, but one could tell that he was at a loss of words. Priscilla just stayed seated on the ground, unable to say anything due to what just happened.

And for the next few hours, everyone stayed in silence, as if mourning Saki Yoshida, who at that day, became presumably dead to everyone, with the only thing making a sound was the crackling sound of fire.

---

At the same time. Hoshin Mansion

"Hah...Goodness"

Julius was not having the day of his life.

For starters, he met a few barbarian individuals back at the castle, and naturally due to the fact that they appeared to mock the Knights with their actions, Julius expected them to be hunted down by the Knights of the Kingdom, so Julius decided to fake sentencing them to Death. By challenging them to a duel to Death and using his In and Nes, his Yin and Yang Spirits to force them to a pseudo-Death state, Julius would sate the wrath of the Knights and would ensure that no additional harm would befall those two.

However, much to Julius' shock, one of them turned out to be a Spirit Mage and the other had some connection to a powerful set of Magic Spells that Julius had never seen before. They both completely crushed him with massive ease.

Right afterwards, Julius was given house arrest for two weeks as punishment for his actions towards Subaru Natsuki and Shadow Terios.

The fact that he did that while knowing that Subaru was Natsumi's long lost twin brother...Let's just say that he won't hear the end of it from the female Knight.

However, that wasn't the only thing that was in Julius' mind.

It was that...Girl back then.

He was mesmerized by her appearance when his eyes first laid themselves on her.

This beautiful porcelain white skin that one may would fear to give it the slightest of touches, fearing it might break.

Those beautiful flowing onyx black hair locks that appeared like strands that had shiny black diamonds dangling from them.

Those beautiful blue eyes that made a person feel like that they can swim in them endlessly and not sense the flow of time.

This beautiful slender body that was neither too mature, nor too childish. It was just right to the point that her image felt like as if it was made by a master artist.

This smile of hers when he saw her laughing at Shadow's vulgar antics made his heart melt with joy.

Julius mesmerized himself in her image. He had never seen such beauty in his life. And for him...It was love at first sight.

It was the first time this ever happened to him. He was always told that he had looks that made women around him melt, and he saw it firsthand. But never ever in Julius' life has he ever seen a woman that melted his heart and made butterflies ravage his stomach.

"Hah...When will I meet her again? I cannot wait for my house arrest period to be over" He muttered.

"Then why don't I help you with that?"

"?!"

Julius turned towards the sound source, only to find what appeared to be a floating blue creature that maintained a freakish, horrifying smile. It looked similar to a Demi-Human, but it was shorter and without clothes, except for the odd-looking shoes and the bloodied, tattered gloves.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Julius asked, scanning his room around for anything that would qualify as a weapon.

"Who I am isn't of your concern. But if it's gonna calm you down a bit, then I shall say it. My name is Exeller, A Highest. As for what I'm doing here, like I said earlier, I'm here to help you with your wish" Exeller said with a devilish smirk.

"What do you mean?" Julius asked.

"I mean what I exactly said. That would be beneficial to me, considering the fact that you will be a thorn to my side later on. So I'll just send you to that girl that you have a crush on" Exeller said, before extending his arm, and then a large golden ring appeared in between him and Julius.

"She's over that portal. But the moment you decide to enter, there's no turning back, you know" Exeller said.

"What are you talking about?" Julius asked, his body tensing as he was unable to find any weapon to defend himself with. He knew the creature in front of him was a threat, if the aura of Death swirling around him was any evidence.

"Kukukukukuku. Look at you trying to defend yourself. You know, even if you had your trusty sword, I would be able to kill you before you can even think about pointing it towards me. But seriously, I won't kill you. I'll just get rid of you" Exeller said.

"What?! So it's a trap then!" Julius exclaimed while glaring at the Highest.

"No no, Julius Juukulius. I'm not tricking you. I will send you to that woman that you fell for, but I'll shun you away from the equation, so that you won't become an additional thorn on my side. Don't worry about your Mistress, though. She's not in my plan...Yet" Exeller said with a devilish grin.

"I won't let you touch Anastasia-sama!" Julius yelled, charging blindly at Exeller, who simply waved his hand, causing the massive ring to bolt towards Julius, and the moment the ring made contact with Julius, both disappeared in a flash of light.

"Too bad. And here I was trying to be nice with him. Oh well, at least I didn't break my promise with him" He said, before breaching the fourth wall, looking at his side.

He muttered one phrase. Something that he said numerous times, but this time however, it felt real.

"So many Souls to play with, so little time. Don't you agree?"

Maniacal laughter soon followed as the scene faded to black.

---

At the same time. Irlam Village

"You're really persistent. You know that?"

"What can we say? It's a gift, tsu~"

Tiga was trading blows with his new opponent, Roy Alphard.

"I'm amazed, tsu~. You were' able to find where we were and what we were planning, tsu~. How did you do that, tsu~?" Roy asked while spinning and twisting around to avoid Tiga's assaults.

"Let's just say that we have trustworthy friends to rely on" Tiga said, before clashing his rapier at Roy's claws. Both were at a stalemate as they struggled for dominance.

"I can see that you have friends here, tsu~. Why aren't they helping you, tsu~?" Roy asked before he suddenly felt himself being blown away by what appeared to be an invisible shock wave that came out from Tiga.

"Do I have to answer all of your questions, Sin Archbishop?" Tiga asked, causing Roy to lick his lips with a grin that showed his fanged teeth.

"My My, Nii-san. You're really interesting, tsu~. I'll enjoy eating you, tsu~" Roy exclaimed, before attempting to dodge another shock wave that erupted from Tiga, only for him to be blown away once again.

"What's that, tsu~? That pow-OOF!"

Roy was about to make another boring comment, only for a massive boulder to launch itself at him, colliding with him and sending him flying. In midair, Roy regained his balance, standing straight on his feet, before flickering away to dodge another boulder.

"This isn't Magic, tsu~. What is it, tsu~?" Roy asked as he kept on flickering away using the Leaper technique to dodge more boulders that were launched telekinetically at him by Tiga.

"I think I already gave my disapproval for your questions earlier, Archbishop" Tiga said before massive boulders got combined together above Tiga's head, becoming a massive cluster of rock, before it got launched at Roy, who gritted his teeth, and clenched his fist tightly.

"Palm of The Fist King"

"?!"

His fist connecting with the cluster of rock, Roy managed to shatter the massive boulder, blowing it apart as a sonic boom echoed throughout the battlefield.

"WE'LL ENJOY EATING YOU, TSU~!" Roy screamed in a rather mad manner, before charging towards Tiga.

He suddenly gasped upon feeling another invisible force pulling him towards Tiga, as the Knight was aiming his rapier to stab the Sin Archbishop. Roy however managed to block the attack using his claws. However, his claws began to crack under the overwhelming pressure of Tiga's rapier, which caused Roy to grit his teeth, his mind going to overdrive mode, trying to think of a way to save himself from having the blade stabbing through his chest.

"Carnivourous Beast!"

"?!"

Tiga's rapier was then shattered upon having contact with Roy's body, with Tiga feeling that he hit his blade into a stone wall. He then saw as Roy cocked his fist back, attempting to hit him, which in turn caused Tiga's instincts to kick in.

"Almighty Push!"

"?!"

The instant he called out that, a massive shockwave erupted from Tiga, sending Roy flying away and blowing away dozens of trees that surrounded the village.

"Universal Pull!"

"?!"

Suddenly, Roy felt himself being pulled towards Tiga at neck-breaking speeds by the act of an invisible force, and it wasn't that long before he felt a sucker punch to his face, causing his nose to shatter and for blood to burst out of his entire face. One could swear that they heard the sound of a skull cracking as Roy was sent flying away once again, before he spun in the air and adjusted himself to stand straight on the ground.

"Ugh...Impressive, tsu~. You harmed us real good, tsu~" Roy said with a rather annoyed tone.

"But we must ask that, tsu~. What is that power that you used on us, tsu~?" Roy asked while wiping the blood on his mouth, before using Water Magic to heal his broken face.

"Would you like to know?" Tiga replied with a question of his own, which in turn made Roy growl at Tiga's persistence to annoy him.

Tiga's Rune Stone Skill was something special.

Named after one of the Six Realms of Nirvana, it is the leading Path that governs over the power of gravity and air. The power to initiate creation for the sake of destruction.

This is Tiga's Rune Stone Skill: Deva Path.

"Heh..."

"?!"

Tiga was quite surprised when he saw Roy flashing a grin towards the Knight.

"Well then...We suppose that we should repay in kind, tsu~" Roy said as he got up to his feet.

Suddenly, Tiga had shivers running down his spine, and not a moment later, he saw it.

Roy's body was morphing in a grotesque manner, before he became taller, and then became muscular tall man with black hair tied in a ponytail, a black sharp tattoo at the left side of his chest, black cloth wrapped around his fists and a pair of black pants.

"Why don't we start the show, asshole?!" The newly morphed Roy exclaimed in a rather unfamiliar manner.

"His mannerism has changed completely..." Tiga thought.

"Better keep attention, Knight Boy!"

"?!"

[Nightcore OST - Gorgeous Nightmare]

Tiga reacted fast and barely dodged the fist that was about to make contact with his chest. He then positioned his palm towards his enemy.

"Almighty Push!"

"?!"

A powerful shockwave erupted from Tiga, colliding with the weird man that Roy had shapeshifted to, sending him flying away, but the man regained his position in midair and landed on his feet, still holding his arrogant smirk.

"If memory serves, then that's Neiji Rockheart of the Island of Guninihive, right?" Tiga asked, to which 'Neiji' licked his lips with narrowed eyes.

"Would you like to know?" He asked before disappearing from the sights of Tiga, and then he appeared behind him, positioning his fist into a straight punch. Tiga reacted fast and spun to his left side, barely avoiding the powerful punch, but the shockwave of the thrown fist was so strong that a cut appeared on Tiga's right cheek, with blood dripping down from his wound.

"Tiga! Are you alright?!" Melty asked in concern, having appeared from the depths of the village.

"Melty! I told you not to come out!" Salum exclaimed while running behind his sister.

"Ah~! Tiga! What a really great name! I'm sure sister would love eating you up~!" 'Neiji' exclaimed while licking his lips.

"What? Did you just say...Sister...? You mean to say...That there are three Gluttonies?" Tiga asked in a low voice, completely stunned by the revealment.

"Heh! Yeah! And we're capable of doing lots of stuff...Like this!"

"?!"

Suddenly, 'Neiji''s body and face started to morph in a distorted and grotesque fashion. Tiga's eyes widened as cold sweat ran down his face when he saw what the result of this horrid transformation was: An extremely slender and bold man with long white moustaches and a strange pattern engraved on his upper-right chest.

It didn't take Tiga a second to realize who that was.

"Dorkell..." He muttered.

That's right. This guy was a merchant in Kararagi, and was a successful one at that. However, after his entire shop was caught on fire by some rivals, he immediately became cynical and insane, believing in non-existent ideals, and afterwards, he abandoned everything, including his family and friends and was never seen ever since.

"Eating that guy's name was worth it! He created that technique that was a taboo within Magic, Divine Protections and even Authorities. He was indeed something. If memory serves, there was that one girl in Kararagi who was able to learn his technique upon watching it done once. When I'm done with you all, I shall go for her name and memories!" 'Dorkell' said before disappearing from the view, causing Tiga to gasp, before he positioned his arm to block a kick from 'Dorkell', making the Knight grit his teeth as he swore that he felt his arm creak under the pressure of the strike. 'Dorkell' then began to initiate fast close combat lock with Tiga, who was forced to enter the defensive stance due to the fact that his opponent was faster than him.

"I saw how you used those abilities of yours! You can't use that shockwave attack in succession. From my own calculations, it would be around 5 seconds for a cooldown, right?!"

"..." Tiga just blocked his opponent's attacks with complete silence.

"I see that you want to remain silent! But that proves my point!" 'Dorkell' exclaimed, before aiming a roundhouse kick at Tiga, only for Tiga to release another shockwave towards him, sending him flying away, but 'Dorkell' maneuvered in the air and regained him position, standing still on the ground on his feet.

"Not to mention that you're nothing without you blade! Tiga-kun without a sword is like a dog that is all bark and no bite!" 'Dorkell' smirked at this, to which Tiga clicked his tongue.

[Music Ends]

"Then why don't we fix that?"

"?!"

The familiar voice alerted Tiga, Salum, Pooka and Melty, where 'Dorkell' looked behind him at top of one of the trees in the Kremaldy Forest behind of him, only to see Subaru Natsuki, Shadow Terios, Rem, Meili, Shaula and Beatrice sitting on the branches of the tree.

"Hey Tiga! Why don't you use this?" Shadow asked before snapping his fingers, and upon doing so, a Space Store above the heads of the fighters, and not long afterwards, something came rocketing downwards, before it stabbed into the ground, right in front of Tiga.

And he was indeed amazed when he saw what it was.

It was a double-edged sword, where the word 'beautiful' would be like tainting it. It had a slightly thin blade, and its handle was dark purple and had what appeared to be a golden circle connecting from its guard to the pommel. The guard had a glowing purple jewel in it and had another golden extension that was shaped as a 'U', and along with the blade, it made it appear as a 'W' with the middle section of said letter being extremely long due to the blade's length.

"Shadow-san...Is that...?" Tiga's amazement made him unable to complete his sentence.

"Indeed. That is one of the Ten Swords of Power...Life Sword Zeam" Shadow answered, before taking his eyesight off the beautiful sword and shifted his gaze towards Tiga.

"Take it, Tiga. It's yours" Shadow said.

"Hey. What about the discussion of not revealing names in front of Gluttony?" Subaru asked with a sweatdrop and a deadpan stare.

"...He already knows Tiga's name" Shadow simply answered, to which both Subaru and Beatrice facepalmed themselves.

"Superficial, I suppose" Beatrice said.

"That's Shadow-kun for you! As expected! You have Rem's respect!" Rem exclaimed happily.

"What kind of warped respect is that?!" Subaru yelled, to which Rem gave him a comical stare of Death, making the white-haired boy use Beatrice as a shield.

"The kind of respect that you would never get, Subaru-san" She muttered.

"Gah! Those words sting a lot!" Subaru exclaimed with a comical hurt look on his face.

"Hey! Stop using Betty as a shield for your foolishness and childness, I suppose!" Beatrice exclaimed while flailing her small arms and legs, with comical white steam emitting from her cute angry face.

"What on Earth...?" 'Dorkell' asked with a sweatdrop.

"Eyes on the target!"

"?!"

[Nightcore OST - Killing Our Memories]

'Dorkell' was alerted by Tiga's charge, promoting him to use Leaper to escape being slashed by Zeam. However, the moment he landed in the spot where he was positioning himself away from Tiga to avoid his attack, Tiga used his shockwave attack to propel himself towards his opponent, and with no time to react, 'Dorkell' was forced to shield himself with his arms, with the end result being that both his arms were sent flying away and his stumps gushed out a massive amount of blood in the form of sprays.

"Tch!" 'Dorkell' clicked his tongue, before his shape shifted once again. Tiga, seeing this, tried to attack once again, only for his sword to feel as if it hit a solid wall of steel, causing him to jump backwards, and look at his new opponent: A large obese man with a black long beard and long black hair tied to a ponytail.

"Beli Hainelga..." Tiga muttered out the name of his new opponent.

"I will crush you!" 'Beli' exclaimed before charging at Tiga with speeds that were impossible for someone his size. Tiga jumped backwards once again, avoiding a punch from the Carnivorous Beast that made a massive sonic boom upon making impact with the ground, sending Tiga flying away and toppling on the ground.

"You're wide open!" 'Beli' exclaimed with a crazed expression on his face as he approached Tiga.

"I won't let you!"

"?!"

Just then, Salum appeared to the rescue of his friend, before activating his Rune Stone Skill, erecting a spherical barrier around both him and Tiga, where upon making contact with his fist, 'Beli' felt that his Mana was sucked up rapidly, causing the Gusteko serial killer to jump away and deactivate his special ability to decrease his Mana consumption so that he won't die, especially after too much Mana being sucked out of him.

"I won't let you run!"

"?!"

Melty's voice was heared, before a ghostly, tendril-like arm shot towards 'Beli', catching him by the throat, causing the serial killer to clutch at it, but in vain as his hands literally phased through the arm. He saw as Melty approached him, and behind her was what appeared to be an oversized head that had purple eyes with circles in it, with what appeared to be purple flames surrounding it. Upon closer inspection, 'Beli' saw that the entity's mouth was wide open, where the ghostly arm that restrained him by the throat was coming out of it.

"What is that?" Subaru asked, in slight awe.

"That is the King of Hell, the ruler over the very concepts of Life and Death. Melty is the one that summoned him, after all" Shadow answered.

"Really?! Is that her Rune Stone Skill?!" Subaru asked in shock.

"Indeed. The King of Hell can either absorb the life force of its victims, rejuvenate others, or even bring the dead back to life. This is Melty's Rune Stone Skill, the absolute governance over the opponent's Fate...One of the Six Realms of Nirvana...Naraka Path" Shadow said, before looking at the fight.

"Though I suppose that Melty holds no intention to use those abilities right now" He said.

"Huh?" Subaru asked in confusion.

"Watch" Shadow simply said while pointing at the fight scene.

"It's time to end this!" Tiga exclaimed before charging towards the restrained 'Beli', who was flailing to no avail while in the King of Hell's unbreakable grasp, and before he knew it, Tiga stabbed him with Zeam right in the torso, causing the serial killer to gasp and cough out blood.

But that wasn't the only problem.

'Beli' suddenly felt Mana burst from the blade, striking right forward to his soul, decimating it in a quick, albeit an extremely agonizing manner. 'Beli' opened his mouth in a silent scream as the whites of his eyes appeared, his body flailing and twitching uncontrollably, and a few seconds later, his futile struggle ceased, and the shape of his body suddenly fell like a melting piece of metal, revealing the motionless and dead body of Roy Alphard.

[Music Ends]

Seeing that his opponent was dead, Tiga took out his sword out from Roy's body, where Melty gave a mental order to the King of Hell to drop the dead Sin Archbishop to the ground, before said entity disappeared in a burst of purple flames.

Subaru, Shadow and the girls with them hopped off the tree branches they were previously sitting on, before approaching Tiga and the others.

"Nice job, Tiga" Shadow said to the Knight.

"I couldn't have done it without you, Shadow-san" Tiga said back.

"But to think that you would have one of the Ten Swords of Power. Where did you find it?" Pooka asked in slight awe.

"Well, I found it in an abandoned mansion. Had to destroy the ghost of its owner, though. I think his name was...Count Reedback. Judging by the memories of his past that I read through his soul, that guy was a fanatic in collecting Metia and legendary artifacts. That sword was one of them. Lucky us, I guess" Shadow answered.

"I suppose that you were in a hurry when you took that sword, right? It means that there is still lots of artifacts there, right?" Subaru asked, to which Shadow nodded in response.

"Yes. But I didn't have much time to see the other Metia and artifacts. Maybe another time after we finish cleaning up that mess" Shadow said, before he and Subaru suddenly gasped upon feeling a growing spike of energy. Looking at its source, they soon realized that it came out from Roy's dead body.

"Speaking of mess...Why does this feel like Deja Vu?" Subaru asked.

"First, the White Whale, Second, the unscheduled absence of Greed and the other Gluttony, Third, the rampage of one of the Gluttonies, and now this? Yeah. That's pretty much just like Belphegor, Subaru" Shadow said.

"W-Wait...You don't mean..." Subaru trailed in his speech, before suddenly the spike of energy manifested in the form of an enlarged black goo-like existence. The substance then took a humanoid shape, and then it took color and humanoid features, revealing the entity standing before them.

It was a hulking figure, around 5 times taller than a tree. It looked like Tarzan with its yellow piece of torn cloth that was enveloping its body, but with the exception that it had long flowing black hair, glowing crimson red eyes, bluish skin and clawed hands and legs. The piece of cloth that was presumably used as cloths for that creature was fastened to its right shoulder by what appeared to be a yellow tiger head that had blue eyes. The creature finished its attire by a yellow bandanna, four yellow wristbands, each one worn on each one of its limbs, a necklace made out of bones and a long cane that had a skull attached to its top.

Spreading its arms to the side, the creature spoke.

"I am Baal Zebul of the Seven Deadly Sins, I am the Prince of Hell representing the Bizarre Eating of Gluttony. Ah...Being awoken to the mortal realm is amazing. And it seems that I have found my meal now. Time to make this world acknowledge the meaning of a glorious meal!"

[Sonic Frontiers OST - Breaking Through It All]

Everyone jumped backwards to avoid the Demon slamming his cane into the ground, which in turn caused a massive burst of Darkness to erupt from the spot. Subaru landed on his feet and took out his cellphone.

"Mephisto!" He called out, and Mephisto appeared in a swirl of crimson red energy.

"Oooh~. What do we have here? Now it's Baal Zebul? Intriguing" Mephisto said in an amused tone.

"Subaru! Remember that Dark Magic attacks are ineffective on any Prince of Hell!" Shadow called out.

"Yeah! I know!" Subaru shouted back at his friend. He then took a deep breath, before activating his Authority of Pride, focusing on using Royal Judge to scan his opponent, and as his left eye turned pure white, time around Subaru came to a complete halt.

[Name: Baal Zebul]

[Type: Living (Conceptual)]

[Age: Inapplicable. Exists Beyond Time]

[Classification: Demon (Tyrant Race), Prince of Hell]

[Explanation: A facet of the Lord of The Flies, representing the Sin of Gluttony. Baal Zebul represents the aspect of Bizarre Eating. Hailed as the Lord of Lies and Flies, Baal Zebul is the harbinger of famine and the incarnation of war in several mythologies. Resists Physical, Ice, Electric, Force, and Reflects Darkness Magic, but weak to Light Magic]

[Magic]

1. Maziodyne: A Severe Electric-type attack that attacks all targeted enemies.

2. Megidolaon: A Severe Almighty-type attack that attacks all targeted enemies.

3. Mudoon: A Severe Darkness-type attack that attacks 1 enemy. 100% chance to cause Instant Death to those who are weak to Darkness.

4. Mazandyne: A Severe Force-type attack that attacks all targeted enemies.

5. Venom Breath: A Severe Force-type attack that attacks all targeted enemies. 100% chance to poison all foes.

6. Calamity Cycle: A Severe Almighty-type attack that attacks all targeted enemies. 50% chance to poison all foes.

After double-checking his opponent's status, Subaru deactivated his Authority, and time returned to its normal flow.

"Everyone! That guy can poison all of us and has attacks that can cover the entire battlefield! Physical, Ice, Electric and Wind attacks are useless, but he's weak to Light Magic! So we can cripple him easily! Just be careful not to get caught in his poison!" Subaru yelled out his information.

"Right!" Tiga exclaimed before jumping away, avoiding a lightning bolt from the Maziodyne that covered the entire battlefield, all while carrying Melty underneath his arm, with Salum and Pooka by his side, forcing Rem to carry both Meili and Beatrice, maneuvering through the field riddled with lightning bolts that descended from the Heavens, where Shaula was dodging the lightning bolts, before yanking Subaru away to save him from another lightning bolt that was a few inches away from electrocuting the white-haired boy.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow called out, before firing hundreds of spears of light towards Baal Zebul, who dodged them despite his chubby appearance. One, however, managed to hit the Demon's ankle, and that gave Subaru the chance to order Mephisto to hit Baal Zebul with its blade. While that didn't make any noticeable damage, it managed to stumble the Demon long enough for a counterattack.

"Tiga! Now!" Shadow called out, before Tiga stabbed his sword into the ground, and then he made a triangle shape with both of his hands, and then a small black orb manifested in the middle of the 'triangle' that Tiga formed with his hand, before the orb floated upwards to the sky.

"Planetary Devastation!"

And the moment Tiga called out the name of his skill, the Earth shook to its foundations and core, before large chunks of the ground were forcibly yanked towards the black orb of gravity, and alongside the chunks of dirt flew Baal Zebul, having got caught alongside the chunks that were pulled to the orb of gravity, and within the span of a few minutes, a new moon found itself floating above the entire planet's stratosphere.

Few minutes of silence followed soon afterwards, where none of the two sides had even made a single sound.

"Did we...Do it...?" Subaru muttered.

All that answered Subaru, however, was the rumbling and cracking sounds from the new moon that Tiga created, followed by the upper half of Baal Zebul erupting from the moon, roaring loudly as a shockwave resonated throughout the entire planet.

"Damnit!" Subaru cursed as he tried shielding himself with his eyes. Suddenly, he saw a massive purple hurricane instantly forming around the moon, before it launched itself at neck-breaking speeds towards Subaru and co.

"No way! He mixed both Mazandyne and Venom Breath together in one attack?!" Subaru yelled in shock.

"Subaru! Fire!" Shadow called out.

"Huh?" Subaru asked.

"He doesn't resist Fire! He's neutral against it! Have you learned a Fire Fusion Spell?!" Shadow asked, to which Subaru blinked, before smirking at his friend.

"I suppose that that's our only available and quickest choice here, huh?!" Subaru asked but didn't wait for an answer as he took a deep breath, before flames started to gather around him, before he then started to suck them rapidly into his mouth, and then he yelled out loud.

"Ardhanni!"

He then released a stream of fire from his mouth that was more akin to a large beam that collided with the tornado of poison, and both attacks struggled for dominance for a short while, but it seemed that Baal Zebul was gaining the advantage slowly as his attack was slowly, but surely reaching Subaru and his friends.

"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! I can't let it end like this! No! Not until I see the Happy Ending for everyone!" Subaru's mind went haywire. He was unable to afford to fail and rewind here. Not after what they had just pulled. They are that close to end this, and something like that will end everything just that simply.

"Infinite Hell Snipe!"

"Al Shamak!"

"Chaos Blast!"

"?!"

The respective roars of Shaula, Beatrice and Shadow echoed as countless beams of light, a massive black, hyperdimensional hole and a red massive energy beam collided with the tornado, and in no time, it overpowered the Demon, where its roars of pain were silenced by the combined blast, engulfing both him and the fake moon, obliterating it completely.

"It's not over yet!" Shadow exclaimed before leaping upwards, causing a massive sonic boom to be created from the point where he previously stood. In a few seconds, he crossed through the atmospheric layer and beyond the orbit, effectively entering outer space, where he found Baal Zebul floating in space. Heavily injured and close to Death, if the crimson red Magatsuhi floating out of his body was any indication.

"Time to end this" Shadow muttered before raising his arm above his head, and then raised only one finger, and in an instant, a massive, planet-sized, greyish white sphere of energy appeared above his finger.

"Time to experience the Ultimate Annihilation Beyond Death..." He muttered before swinging his arm down, calmly announcing one of the most basic, yet one of the most effective Almighty spells.

"Megidolaon"

Baal Zebul was immediately engulfed in a blast that shone the entire cosmos, as if a new universe was created through that blast, as if a new Big Bang was made in the image of the spell caster.

The blast caused everyone to shield their eyes, and to hold their ground from the massive shockwave that almost threw them off balance.

Luckily, a few seconds later, the blast faded, revealing the results of the fight: The battlefield that was Irlam Village was slightly damaged, but there was nothing that remained of the Demon known as Baal Zebul.

"...And that's that. That was way easier than Belphegor" Shadow said having teleported to the Earth once again. He then saw Subaru release a sigh of relief, before falling on his butt.

"Goodness. Just how much longer will I have heart attacks from all of this crap?" He asked.

However, little did he know, it didn't end here.

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST!"

"?!"

The familiar roar of Baal Zebul echoed as his battered and dying form came soaring down like a rocket, with a far more massive hurricane of poison roaring behind him.

"Oh come on! He's so persistent!" Subaru yelled in frustration. He then looked beside him, only to see Beatrice barely hanging in there, desperately trying to not fade away, and Shaula, who was panting heavily, just like Tiga, Salum, Pooka and Melty. It seems that all of them, sans Shadow and those who didn't participate in the fight, were completely worn out.

"What should I do...? What should I do...? Something...Anything...Please..." Subaru desperately closed his eyes, begging for any kind of miracle to help them.

"Well, Well, Well...Look who has decided to give up..."

"?!"

Subaru's eyes suddenly snapped open upon hearing the strange voice ringing inside his head.

"W-What...? Who are...?" Subaru muttered, and all that he saw inside of his mind was the vision of a boy his age, whose upper face was completely hidden, where all that Subaru saw of him was his naked torso that was riddled with glowing stripes-like tattoos and the grinning shape of his mouth. Said figure was crossing his arms underneath his chest.

"It seems that all that you need is a little push to end this...Fear not. I will not let my vessel die. After all...We are Fiends...Both of us..."

"Hk-!"

Suddenly, Subaru felt as if his head was split in half, and then his eyes turned yellow. Shadow noticed that he was gripping his head in silence, where one glance at his eyes and he knew.

"Subaru's Essence is reacting...Don't tell me...The Essence holds a will of its own...? Actually, that's possible. That's the Essence of a Messiah..." He thought as he saw Subaru standing straight, no longer gripping his head, his now golden eyes staring straight at the Calamity Cycle. Then his allies watched as his body suddenly got surrounded by energy, before slowly arcing his upper torso backwards as the energy swirling around him came and accumulated right in front of his eyes, glowing intensely in a purple color, and once it appeared to be in its peak...

"Freikugel!"

The purple beam of Almighty magic burst forth, soaring through the sky while tearing space and time as it charged in a beeline towards its enemy, colliding with Baal Zebul and his Calamity Cycle. The world slowly shone in a bright purple color as the Demon of Gluttony was slowly engulfed in the beam of Almighty light, slowly being erased alongside his attack, along with millions of stars in the cosmos that the beam caught in its straight path. Baal Zebul, being engulfed by the beam of Death, was unable to resist at all as he was completely erased from existence alongside his attack.

The purple beam of energy faded slowly, and it revealed the true outcome of the battle, as Baal Zebul was erased this time for good.

The 2nd Prince of Hell...Has been terminated.

[Music Ends]

Subaru's eyes returned to normal, and not long afterwards, he blinked upon seeing that everything around him seemed silent, to the degree that the sound of a needle falling can be heard.

Turning his head around, Subaru saw that everyone, sans Shadow, were having their eyes wide open and their jaws hitting the floor, and it caused him to gasp.

"Huh?! What is it guys?!" Subaru asked in shock, only to see Shadow pointing at the sky with a deadpan expression on his face. Following the direction that Shadow was pointing at, Subaru's sight traveled to where Shadow was pointing his finger, only for his face to adapt the same comical expression as his friends.

Of course, he had to be shocked. After all, how he can't be when he saw a massive hole drilled right into the sun?

"W-WHAT THE HELL?! DID I DO THAT?!" He screamed from the top of his lungs.

"That was amazing, Master!" Shaula said with sparkles in her eyes.

"Hmph! That's Betty's Subaru for you, I suppose!" Beatrice exclaimed while puffing her flat chest in pride at her contractor.

"I didn't know that you were that powerful, Subaru-san" Melty said with awe and amazement.

"Believe me when I tell you that I didn't know that either" Subaru sighed. He then saw Shadow raising his hand to the sky.

"Chaos Control"

"?!"

Just then, the hole that Subaru made in the sun got fixed in an instant, causing everyone's jaws to drop once again.

"What on Earth did you do, man?!" Subaru half-screamed in shock.

"I just reset the time around the sun to fix it. Why are you surprised? It's quite normal" Shadow answered with genuine confusion.

"Normal from your own perspective, not ours!" Subaru exclaimed.

"That's Rem's Shadow-kun for you! Rem's Shadow-kun is amazing! He has Rem's admiration!" Rem exclaimed with a happy smile.

"Don't agree with everything he says!" Subaru yelled as Rem just kept on smiling, promoting everyone to laugh at this.

"Well, all's well that ends well" Shadow said with a calm smile, having defeated their enemies with apparently no casualties on their side, even if Greed and the second Gluttony didn't appear, that spared them lots of effort and time. There was the probability that they were planning something else, but Shadow is not a god to know something like that.

"...!"

Suddenly, Shadow gasped before whipping his head around him to look at the side, only to see what appeared to be a short woman with red hair and freckles, who was wearing the robes of a Witch Cultist. Subaru narrowed his eyes at her, before gasping in shock upon remembering who she was.

"That was one of Geuse's Fingers! But I was sure that I killed her alongside the other Fingers! How are you still alive?!" Subaru asked in shock, only for the woman, who stayed silent and emotionless, suddenly cracked a maniacal grin that threatened to split her face in half.

"Ahh! I have been brought back from the realm of Death to fulfill this mission! It's your fault! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

The woman yelled from the top of her lungs, pointing at Subaru, spit flying from her mouth as her face morphed into a crazed angry expression.

"That really sounds familiar..." Subaru sweatdropped at the situation, despite how grave it looked. He then saw Shadow unsheathe Dawn Ballad.

"Shadow?" He asked, where cold sweat unconsciously dripped from his forehead. Subaru then saw as Shaula, Rem, Pooka and Beatrice tensed, while Salum, Tiga and Melty slightly shivered while holding their fighting stances, all glaring at the red-haired woman.

"I was indeed dead...And yet, he came" She said having finished her mad rant.

"What? 'He'?" Subaru asked in confusion while gritting his teeth.

"He brought me back to life. When I first saw him, I thought that he was a small creature. He was humanoid and blue, and yet beneath that demonic smile and those eyes that released tears of blood...I SAW IT! I SAW TRUE SALVATION! TRUE FREEDOM! TRUE LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"..." Everyone just stood silent while hearing the second mad rant of the red-haired woman. She then appeared to calm down once again, but her crazy grin never left her. She then opened her mouth to continue.

"I may have lost the love of Sloth! But I still have his love!" She exclaimed before taking out a knife. Said knife had runes on its blade, along with a black handle. The runes were glowing in an ominous purple color.

"That's...A Summoning Ritual Knife! Exeller, what the fuck have you done?!" Shadow exclaimed.

"Exeller?! How is that guy?!" Subaru asked, only for his question to be left unanswered. Everyone then saw as the woman fell to her knees, caught the knife with both hands, with her right hand gripping the handle of said weapon, while her left hand was placed on the pommel.

"He revived me...To die again. But even if I die again...I shall take all of you down with me. Right now, right here...I shall sacrifice myself for the sake of Love...To summon forth the doom of this world...In the form of the greatest thing that rival even the power of the Witch of Envy!" She exclaimed before stabbing her throat with the knife, causing blood to burst from her neck. Subaru and co. watched in horror and shock as glowing purple runes started to spread around her body as life was leaving her for the second time.

"I summon thee...O God of Death that transcends conception itself...Crossed Thanatos!"

Using her last breath, the red-haired Cultist fell lifeless on the floor, lying emotionlessly on her back, right on a pool of her own blood. Suddenly, the runes on her body then started to glow intensely, before a Magic Circle suddenly appeared underneath her corpse, and then her body sank into it as if it was sinking in an ocean. For a few seconds, silence echoed, before suddenly, the Magic Circle had something emerging from it. Everyone shuddered from what they saw in front of them.

It looked like a grim reaper with its tattered white cloak, where it looked like his entire body was made out of mist beneath its cloak, and the only thing being visible was its arms that was wrapped in white old bandages, and in its hands was a large cross made of what appeared to be wood.

"Shadow...What the hell is that...?" Subaru asked in silent shock as sweat dripped furiously from him, having sensed the killing intent from that thing. He then gasped in shock when he saw that Shadow was also sweating while glaring at the entity in front of them.

"This thing...It's from another world...It shouldn't be here..." Shadow muttered, as Subaru saw his hand shakingly travel to the rings on his waist.

Shadow, in his inhibited state, can stand toe-to-toe against Reinhard while the latter is drawing the Dragon Sword. However, when he takes off his Inhibitor Rings, everything changes. His powers surpass even that of Reinhard, and he can easily kill him. It won't be farfetched to say that he would be the strongest Highest.

However, it comes with a cost. If Shadow releases his limiters, it will weigh on both the Akashic Records and Astrolabe, and due to the fact, that at that state, he becomes transcendent to All Creation and even viewing it as nothing but fiction, His power would be too much for the Akashic Records and Astrolabe to comprehend, and it will completely collapse, along with the infinite sea of universes with it. So he couldn't risk it.

"Shadow! I can't read its stats using my Authority! Everything that appears is nothing but corrupted text! What the heck is that?!" Subaru asked in shock.

"...Obviously, because it defies understanding. That's why" Shadow said.

[Nier Automata OST - The Sound of The End Boss Theme]

Suddenly, the god of Death lifted its cross and slammed its tip into the ground. The end result was the earth rupturing beneath then, before the wave of earth spikes traveled at blinding speeds, and before it could reach anyone, Shadow intercepted it and proceeded to swing his sword at neckbreaking speeds to deflect the attacks that Crossed Thanatos fired. He then rose his arm above his head and called out.

"Fafnir!"

The metal dragon Demon instantly appeared to heed its master's call.

"Oh great! You summoned a Demon to assist us in battle! Great work, Sha-"

"Fafnir! Protect them!"

"?!"

Subaru was suddenly interrupted by a bombshell revelation.

"Huh...?" Subaru could just say release a grunt of astoundment at what Shadow said.

"Shadow-kun! What do you mean?! We must work together to defeat it!" Rem yelled, objecting to Shadow's actions.

"Yeah! She's right! If we're together then we can-" Subaru was again interrupted.

"CUT THE BULLSHIT! NONE OF YOU CAN EVEN LAY A SCRATCH ON IT! EVEN IF WE'RE TOGETHER, WE CAN'T DO SHIT!" Shadow roared in anger and desperation.

"W-What...? No! You're wrong! We could defeat it if we cooperated together! Right guys?!" Subaru objected to Shadow's claim, before trying to have the agreement of his comrades, only for the small glimmer of hope that he had to vanish instantly when he looked at their downcast expressions.

"No...You gotta be kidding me..." Subaru whispered in disbelief, before gritting his teeth and wiping his face to Shadow once again.

"Surely you have something to take it down, right?! I saw you trying to take off those bracelets of yours! Could it be that they are limiters?! If so, then if you unleashed it, then you can-" Subaru was again interrupted by Shadow.

"I would be able to defeat it...Though at the cost of killing everything along with it..." Shadow whispered, before gritting his teeth as he fired a volley of Chaos Spears to destroy the rain of icicles aimed at him and his friends. He then distorted space around his fist and used it as a pseudo-shield to repel the rain of fire balls aimed at him and the others.

Crossed Thanatos then aimed its cross at Shadow and co., before the hollowed part in the center of the cross shone, causing Shadow to gasp.

"Everyone! Take cover!" Shadow yelled, before a cross-shaped energy shot soared towards Shadow. Everyone was still in shock, even Fafnir. This promoted Shadow to get in between them and the upcoming attack.

"Shit! No time to use a Shadow Guard!" Shadow thought in panic, where he had no choice but to cross his arms and hope for the best.

SHIIK!

"GAAAH!"

"?!"

Everyone, especially Rem, gasped in horror as they saw Shadow's arms, along with his sword flying to the sky, before falling on the ground with a soft 'thud' sound, leaving the stumps on Shadow's shoulder to ooze a golden, yellow-colored liquid, which was presumably Shadow's blood.

"SHADOW-KUN!" Rem yelled in horror as she started to sprint towards Shadow, only for Fafnir to block her way with its large claw.

"MOVE ASIDE! SHADOW-KUN NEEDS HELP!" Rem yelled from the top of her lungs, tears already streaming down her eyes by that time.

"You cannot do that. Thy have been given orders by the liege thy to prevent thou from intervening" Fafnir said.

"SCREW THOSE ORDERS! LET REM PASS TO HELP SHADOW-KUN!" Rem yelled once again, only for her mad expression to slightly soften when she saw Fafnir's downcast expression. It appeared that the Demon was on the verge of crying.

"Please...Thy begging you...The liege of thy wishes nothing but the safety of thee...And as the eternal loyal servant of thy liege...Thy must do what the liege of thy ordered...So please..." Fafnir whimpered his pleas to Rem.

"Heh..."

"?!"

Everyone was then alerted as they saw Shadow chuckling.

"Shadow-kun!" Rem called out to him, yet he didn't even turn around to face her.

"I suppose...This is it..." He started speaking, before suddenly, his torn arms flew towards him, reattaching themselves to his shoulders once again, as if they were never cut to begin with. He then gripped his sword, and stabbed Crossed Thanatos with it, but for Shadow, it felt as if he stabbed into nothingness, and it seemed to be ineffective to the entity, as it didn't flinch in the slightest.

Nevertheless, Shadow just smirked at the face of Crossed Thanatos, a face that seemed to be non-existent.

"Oh well! It's not like I haven't spat in the face of Death countless times already! What will one more time will do?!" He exclaimed, before suddenly, a white Magic Circle appeared underneath both Shadow and Crossed Thanatos. Shadow then turned his face behind him, looking at Subaru and the others with a calm smile.

"Subaru...I'm sorry...But I'm gonna be asleep for now" He whispered.

"Huh...? What are you talking about, man?" Subaru whispered with his eyes wide in fear of what will happen next.

"I'll have to leave the rest to you for that time...It'll be hard...But I know that if it's you, then you can do it..." Shadow whispered as the Magic Circle glowed even more brighter. Rem just placed her hand on her mouth as tears flowed even more from her eyes.

"Shadow-kun..." She whispered in a rasped voice, being helpless to witness someone precious to her getting taken away from her and right in front of her eyes.

"For now...Just be careful...Of the Rounds of Hell..." Shadow whispered, before directing his gaze towards the god of Death that was unable to move due to the Magic Circle.

"Imaginary Number: Seven-Pronged Prison"

"?!"

The instant he whispered the name of his spell, seven white stakes emerged from the Magic Circle, stabbing through Crossed Thanatos, causing the god of Death to recoil, before another seven stakes emerged from the same Magic Circle and stabbed through Shadow's abdomen, causing him to cough out golden yellow blood, but he still maintained his smirk in front of the god of Death.

"Let's see if you'll be comfortable with your new home...Inside of me" Shadow whispered before the Magic Circle shone brightly, as if covering the entire world in a blanket of light.

[Music Ends]

In outer space, a certain blue, bloodstained entity, grinned like a maniac, flashing his sharp pointy teeth, with tears of crimson red blood flowing down his black-colored sclera and blood red irises.

His grin was for a reason, as he saw that everything was going according to plan. The six actors were in place, and the scene of the show was ready. All that was left was the director: Him.

He then whispered an oh-so familiar phrase. The same phrase that will begin the show of Hell on Earth.

"Ready For Round 1?"

The screen turned black, and only a horrifying laughter could be heard from behind the blanket of darkness.

---

And Done!

Wow! I finally finished it! This is it, guys!

Yes. Arc 2 is over now. We now enter to Arc 3...Yes, guys! The Rounds of Hell shall unravel! Look tuned to it!

Another note that I should address. I'm sorry for the late reply. I'm already having lots of IRL situations, and you guys already know that life consumes a lot of you. Sorry.

Now to answer the reviews:

jhosmhir26: And it gets even darker as the story goes on. Just look forward to it.

Reaper 103096: It's something like what you said. A Free-For-All. But let's just say that it'll entertain you. You won't get any boredom...Or sleep.

Reaper 103096: The link is broken. Mind sending it once again?

Reaper 103096: The timeline of this fanfic is right after Exeller's Rounds of Hell on the original game. However, the time was reset for the last time and everyone from the SOH cast are all alive. As for why Shadow is actually Exeller's target, this'll probably be revealed by the end of Arc 3.

Next Chapter: Round 1

Until Next Time And Next Chapter!

Jude Warble, Out.