Hello. This is your pal, Jude Warble.
And with that out of the way, please enjoy this fanfic, and as always, stay breezy!
Kremaldy Forest. Nighttime
"Hmm...This must be a long way down, but I think I can get there anyway"
As she said that, Frederica looked down from the cliff she was standing on, spotting deadly spikes across the land beneath her.
Taking a deep breath, Frederica jumped off the cliff, reaching towards the vine of a nearby tree. Once she caught the vine with her hands, she swung towards another vine of another tree, before she spun acrobatically off the vine she was clinging onto, and then landed on her feet on the ground, with the spikes away from her with around one meter.
"Phew...That was a close one" She muttered before looking above her at the night sky and smiled.
"Ah...These are such beautiful stars. It's a shame that these are rare. I remember Subaru-sama talking about stars and how he had exquisite knowledge of them. Maybe I can ask him about it when everything around us has settled" Frederica said, before taking a deep breath and focused her gaze on the road in front of her.
"Alright. A few minutes of running shall lead me straight to Hakchuri city. I have to make haste so that Petra isn't alone" Frederica said before a slight blush appeared on her face.
"And maybe...Just maybe...Have some...'time' with Otto-sama..." She muttered the last part before shaking her head, causing the blush to vanish from her cheeks.
"No use thinking about that now. Let's focus on the task in hand" Frederica said, before dashing towards the direction of Hakchuri city, running into the last borders of the Kremaldy Forest.
As she was running, Frederica felt the presence of an existence that was following her. She pretended to ignore it as it was approaching her, and just as it was about to touch her, she stopped in her running, turned around and swung her right fist at the figure following her, only for the figure to catch her fist before it could connect.
"Be careful, Frederica-san...Or you might hurt someone"
"?!"
Right in front of her eyes was Otto, having been the one to catch her fist before it could connect with his face.
"Oh...Otto-sama. I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" Frederica asked in worry.
"Nah...Don't worry. I'm okay. I'm more durable than you think" Otto said with a smile, causing Frederica to blush slightly.
"Oh...I see" She muttered.
"Say, Frederica-san. I found a new place around her in the forest. Wanna see it with me?" Otto asked.
"Huh...? But I still have to catch up with Petra" Frederica protested quietly.
"Don't worry. It won't take long for us. Besides, Petra is heading straight for Shadow-san, where Rem-san is. Also, Ram-san is on her way there from the Capital city. So don't worry about it" Otto said.
"Well, if you say so...Then lead the way, Otto-sama" Frederica said, before she and Otto proceeded to walk on the road.
"Otto-sama, do you remember when we spoke for the first time? I'm suddenly filled with nostalgia" Frederica said.
"Huh? Uh...Yeah, sure" Otto said.
"It sure was a wonderful place" She said, causing Otto to grumble.
"The basement prison was wonderful? Sure, if you exclude the fact that I was placed into it as it drained my Mana and made me look like a skeletal corpse" Otto groaned his words out.
"What? Otto-sama, we first spoke during the Snow Festival, that day where Great Spirit Puck-sama released his pent-up Mana. How could you forget that?" Frederica asked, slighty shocked at Otto's words.
"Oh, sorry. With everything that is happening around us, my memory is completely scrambled" Otto said, before suddenly changing the subject.
"Anyways, how are you and Petra-chan?" He asked.
"She's nice, but...A bit of a stranger..." Frederica muttered, slightly hurt from the words escaping her mouth.
"Strange...Heh heh...That's weird. Alright, no more questions. Let's talk about you" Otto said.
"...I...Have a lot of things on my mind" Frederica muttered, the hair on her skin suddenly standing up due to somehow feeling Fear.
"A lot of things on your mind, huh? Then let's discuss that later, after you change your mind" Otto said.
"Can you tell me...What this place is?" Frederica asked.
"You'll see. I'm sure you will love it" Otto answered.
Suddenly, as they were walking, Frederica stopped as her ears twitched, causing her to look behind her, with Otto noticing that and proceeded to stop himself.
"I...Heard something" Frederica said.
"Frederica-san, calm down. We're almost there. Let's get going" Otto said before walking towards their yet-to-be-known destination, leaving Frederica alone.
Frederica then saw a mysterious black figure approaching her. She didn't know who it was, but judging by its posture, it appeared to be a Human woman.
"He's a wolf in sheep clothing. If you trust him, you will die" The figure said to Frederica.
"What? Are you talking about Otto-sama?" Frederica asked in confusion, shock and Fear.
"He's not Otto Suwen. Haven't you figured it out? Run...While you still can..." The figure said before vanishing away from Frederica's sight, leaving her in her anxious state. The fact that Frederica had some suspicions regarding Otto made the words of that figure click in her mind.
Even so...
"I've to find out whether or not he's the real Otto-sama" She muttered before following Otto. She then entered a somewhat dark hallway in the forest, spotting Otto standing in front of a huge floating grey ring.
"You're here, darling. Good. You see this ring?" Otto asked, causing Frederica to slightly raise her eyebrow. Otto never called her 'Darling'.
"Yes..." She muttered.
"Let's jump into it and explore! Don't worry, we're gonna be fine!" He exclaimed, before jumping into the ring, vanishing upon making contact with it.
"Okay then..." Frederica muttered.
She already had her suspicions, considering the fact that not only did he guess the location where they first spoke wrong, but also that mysterious shadowy figure warned her of him. Not to mention that she felt Fear and anxiety from 'Otto'...
"I should see right to it" She muttered before mustering the courage within her to jump into the ring, vanishing into it in the same matter as Otto did.
Unknown Location
Blinking her eyes to adjust them to the sudden burst of light, Frederica's eyes glittered in amazement at the scene that found itself in front of her.
She was inside a space with colored cubes and red floating objects that held stars in them, alongside rainbow-colored birds flying everywhere around her.
What's more, she was floating.
Breaking herself from her awe, Frederica thought of moving in the space as if she was flying, and that just happened, just like that. She was amazed that that worked.
She then proceeded to float towards the red floating objects, and tried touching one of them, only to suddenly get sent flying away from it. Frederica readjusted herself in midair and looked at the projectiles. It seems that those projectiles acted as some kind of jumping pads that repel whatever comes into contact with them.
Bracing herself, Frederica maneuvered around the objects, and no matter how much narrowed the space was between each projectile, she was able to pass through it with ease, having got used to her floating state.
She then passed through the last of those red jumping pads, before looking up, noticing a circular object that had the word 'GOAL' on it, where said object was flickering in colors between red and blue.
"Alright, darling. Just touch this 'GOAL' object" Otto's voice rang into Frederica's ears, causing her to remember what she was here for, and that was to discern the identity of the individual that was posing as Otto.
And without hesitation, she floated towards the 'GOAL' object, and her vision turned white.
Unknown Location
Frederica's form flickered into a room that was completely black, yet light seemed to be visible into it. She landed on the ground and saw the back of a familiar person in front of her.
"Subaru-sama?" She called out to him.
"You know Frederica, there's something interesting about you girls..." 'Subaru' said.
"What do you mean?" Frederica asked, before 'Subaru' turned around to face her, causing Frederica to gasp in shock as she saw blood coming out from the crazy face of 'Subaru', where his eyes where black and red.
"...You all are so naive" Subaru EXE finished with a grin, causing Frederica to stand up immediately and enter a fighting stance.
"What the...? Who are you?! Stay away from me!" She exclaimed.
Suddenly, the background turned pale purple, and Frederica's form was frozen. Time was completely brought down to a halt as Subaru EXE casually strolled towards Frederica's frozen form and then walked behind her, standing in front of her back.
He then swung his fist into a straight punch, piercing through Frederica's back and her chest, ripping out her heart and causing time to return to its normal flow.
"...!" Frederica stood in shock and disbelief as life gradually and rapidly left her, staring down at her punctured chest and at the fist-sized hole that found itself in between her D-cups breasts.
"Oh...It seems that I stole your heart. Don't worry. You want it back? Here!"
"?!"
Sarcastically saying that phrase, Subaru EXE threw another punch with Frederica's crushed heart inside his fist. This time, however, he pierced through her skull and brain, causing blood and brain matter to burst out from Frederica's head, and for her right eye to pop up like a small balloon, and upon retracting his fist, Frederica fell to her knees, before falling face first into the ground, completely lifeless.
"Oops. It seems that I inserted it in the wrong place" He said mockingly, before looking at the Fourth Wall.
"Well, it's alright. In any case, you will try again, won't you?" He threw that question to the air, yet no one seemed to answer it.
The screen instantly turned black, and the blood-laced laughter echoed.
Irlam Village
"I have already arrived in Irlam Village. I hope Frederica-neesama is okay"
Petra entered the borders of the Irlam Village, having passed through the Kremaldy Forest.
She walked towards her house, smiling as she wanted to imagine the faces of Subaru and her parents when they see her with those beautiful flowers that Frederica will get her for them.
"Hm?" Petra blinked upon sensing something weird.
She looked in front of her, and saw that the village was oddly quiet. She blinked at that, not knowing what was going on.
"That's weird. Usually, Lucas, Mild and Cain are playing around, while the other villagers are lighting up the Magic crystals to illuminate the streets of the village. I wonder if something is wrong" Petra said, as suddenly, a shiver ran down her spine, causing her to release a 'brrr' sound unconsciously.
She then blinked once again upon seeing a shadowy figure approaching her, before she opted a fighting stance.
Ever since Petra became a maid, she was receiving martial arts training from Frederica, and she already mastered the basics. She also received training in Magic by Shadow, who told her that she had two affinities for Water and Yang Magic.
Petra had already mastered basic healing Magic and strengthening Magic and was able to cast Jiwald after a few months of training with it, but she was still yet to be able to use advanced level spells.
The silhouette approaching Petra was covered in shadows, yet Petra could identify its identity as a grown-up woman with a rather voluptuous figure that could make even the likes of Frederica and Rem to shame. Yet, she knew more than anything that whatever that approached her wasn't even Human.
"Young child. You must not enter the village. If you do, you will die after suffering a humiliating Fate worse than Death" The shadowy figure said with a feminine gentle voice, confirming Petra's intuition that the figure was a female.
"Huh...What?" Petra asked in confusion, the chills increasingly going down her spine.
"Just do not enter the village, and most importantly do not enter your own house. Do not repeat that dreadful Fate again. Please" The figure said, before vanishing into thin air instantly before Petra could even ask what she meant.
Petra was extremely confused, but at the same time, her body couldn't stop shaking. Chills ran uncontrollably down the spine of her petite 13-year-old body, but she tried to ignore it, as that warning that she received just now made her worried about her parents, and she wanted to make sure that they were alright.
Petra walked towards her house, before she knocked at the door. She waited for a few seconds, before the door slowly opened. The way it slowly creaked open sent shivers down Petra's spine, but she resolved herself to enter, and proceeded to do so, before shutting the door behind her.
"Hm?"
She then noticed that the lights are off, which in turn made her confused at it.
"Umm...Mom...Dad...I'm home..." She muttered, her body unconsciously shaking. She then blinked upon seeing the form of her mother approaching her.
"What is it, honey? You seem scared. Did something happen on your journey to here?" Petra's mother asked as she walked towards her.
"Umm...Nothing...Nothing happened. Anyways, where's dad?" Petra asked upon seeing the smiling face of her mother. However, for some reason, her body couldn't stop shaking, even though she was looking straight into her mother's smiling face.
What happened next was completely horrible, however.
"Oh...That piece of shit?" Petra's mother said those words with the same sweet smile on her face as she tilted her head to the side.
"H-Huh...? Mom? Why are you saying that about dad...?" Petra whispered her question, instinctively taking a step back.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that...I killed him" Petra's mother said, the same sweet smile still present on her face.
"H-Huh...?" Petra said, feeling as if she had just dodged a Dragon Carriage zooming at her direction.
"It's as you heard. I killed him, sweetie. And now it's your turn"
"?!"
[Warning: The following scene contains 18+ scenes, mainly Sexual Violence. If you want to skip it, scroll down to the Scene End phrase]
Suddenly, light blue tentacles burst out from the back of 'Petra's mother', and before Petra could even register what happened, the tentacles wrapped themselves around her wrists and ankles, before hoisting her off her feet. Petra gasped in shock, trying to use whatever power she could muster to break free, but in vain as the tentacles were holding her in a vice grip.
"I really wanted to do this after observing people in this universe, especially her, him and her. Lust sure is amazing"
"?!"
The next second, Petra heard a distorted voice. Looking at her side, she saw her 'mother' beside her, smiling sweetly at her.
Soon, however, Petra's face grew pale when she saw the face of her 'mother' contracting into a devilish smirk, with her eyes becoming as wide as dinner plates, and becoming red, with her flashed teeth turning into fangs.
"Mom...? What's going on...?" Petra said, her voice laced with Fear and tears started forming in her eyes as her body shook uncontrollably.
"You stupid brat. You should have known by now...I am not your mother. Though I enjoyed fucking her brains out in front of the broken form of her husband. And now, I think that I'll have the enjoyment of having my way with their own daughter!" The figure exclaimed, before two other tentacles appeared from its back, entering in between the gaps in Petra's clothes, and with a swift and strong yank, Petra's clothes were shredded to pieces, and aside from the sleeves of her maid uniform, her long white socks and her black shoes, she was completely naked.
"W-What...?!" She gasped in shock as tears flowed down her eyes, and her heart pounded rapidly in her chest.
"Ah!" She suddenly gasped in shock and her body arched upwards when two tentacles peeled open like a banana, revealing two gap-mouths in them, which latched themselves on Petra's nipples and started biting and sucking on them.
Petra gritted her teeth as pain assaulted her small chest. She tried freeing herself by squirming from the grotesque restraints, but in vain, as the tentacles held a firm grip on her limbs.
"No...Stop...Ahh..." She moaned out as the tentacles still kept on mercilessly sucking on her nipples, and no matter how much she pleaded for it to stop, it didn't. IN fact, it became even more violent in its processing of humiliating the poor little girl.
"I kept on violating your mother to my heart's content, and when I told her that I'll do the same to her daughter, she completely submitted to me. I kept on fucking her brains out, and her husband was just watching with those magnificent dead eyes. And when I was done with her and told her that I lied, she just screamed 'THIS WASN'T WHAT WE AGREED ON!'. GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HOW DELIGHTFUL IT WAS SEEING THE DESPAIR AND FEAR IN HER EYES! I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THEM IN YOU NOW!" The creature that took the form of Petra's mother exclaimed manically at Petra's shivering and restrained form.
"W-Why are you doing thi-mmph?!" Petra was about to question the creature restraining her, only for a tentacle to shove itself into her mouth, stroking inside of it and deepthroating her.
"Why, indeed? Well, I was ordered to just kill you, but I grew fascinated by the Seven Deadly Sins. There is that gang of mercenaries in a small country excluded from the Four Great Kingdoms, and they wreaked havoc by making the entire country a heaven for Lust, where males used females as sex slaves. I grew fascinated by it and decided to mimic them. Pretty nifty, huh?" The creature asked the restrained and gagged Petra.
"Mmph! Ugh! Ummph!" And yet, it didn't try to even think to have an answer from her as all that came out was gagged moans as saliva and tears poured out from her mouth and eyes respectively.
"But I suppose that you won't have an answer to me, right? But hey. I'm killing two birds with one stone! I'm killing you just as Exeller said, and at the same time I'm having fun with my hobbies! So I think it's a fair trade!" The creature exclaimed, before the speed of the tentacle in Petra's mouth sped up, causing the little kid to choke and for her eyes to roll up her head as she couldn't breathe.
Not a few seconds later and a white fluid came bursting from the tip of the tentacle, releasing the load in Petra's mouth, whose eyes widened in shock as it was too sudden and too much for her that she was forced to swallow most of it, and even then, her stomach and throat hurt so much at the sudden action.
The tentacle then yanked itself out from Petra's mouth, giving the little maid the chance to cough out and take her breath, but her throat was still burning, which made her try to desperately take rapid breaths, and it didn't help that she was still panicking in horror from the creature.
"Eek!" She suddenly yelped as the tentacles holding her legs yanked her legs towards her head, causing a full view of her private parts to represent itself to the creature wearing the appearance of Petra's mother, who came closer to the two most private parts in Petra's body and sniffed on it.
"Ooooooh! We have a fresh virgin here! I'll enjoy that way more than your mother!" The creature exclaimed before two tentacles positioned themselves in front of Petra's two holes, where the poor 13-year-old girl trembled in fear, even though she didn't know how much that will hurt.
Well, she will get to know now.
The two tentacles started rubbing on Petra's vagina and anus, erecting small moans from said girl as her private parts were stimulated by the touch of the disgusting restraints. A few seconds later, and the tentacles positioned themselves in front of Petra's entrances, causing the girl to shiver, before grunting in pain as the two tentacles started pushing themselves into her entrances uninvited.
"Ugh...Agh..." She grunted as the tentacles pushed against her two holes, and not long afterwards, they pushed into the entrances, penetrating them.
"AAHHH!" Petra's scream echoed throughout the village, even though she was inside of her house and the door and windows were closed. Her back and torso were arched upwards as blood trickled from her vagina, indicating that she lost one of the most precious things in her life.
Not to mention that she lost it in a really young age, and by a degenerate monster no less.
"I'm going to enjoy this! The sensation of the tentacles is vibrating into my body! Time to feel good!"
"?!"
Not giving her a time to catch her breath, the tentacles started moving in and out of Petra's pussy and ass, erecting ragged moans and gasps that were laced with sobs as tears flew freely from Petra's wide eyes.
"Ack! Guh! Ah! Euk!" She gasped and moaned, but no one came to her rescue. Her eyes rolled up to the back of her head, tears streamed even more, blood vessels popped in her rolled up eyes, her tongue dangled from her mouth, her breath became even ragged and rapid, and her torso arched even further to the point that it felt that she was about to snap her own body in half.
She even tried to speak out the words for her assaulter, trying to beg him to stop violating her, but it was all in vain as the crazed expression of the creature sent towards her was enough to tell her that he wasn't going to listen, and even if that wasn't the case, she wouldn't be able to do that as the thrusts inside her body were too intense that it even took her ability to breathe.
"Ugh! Agh! Gah! Eek! Kyaa!" All she could do was to moan and scream from the top of her lungs.
"Heh! That's amazing! Small kids are the best!" The creature exclaimed as his form of Petra's mother slowly faded as if it melted, and a new form appeared in front of Petra.
Looking like a small, blue bloated balloon, the creature sported wide red eyes, his teeth were fixated at a toothy grin, flashing sharp white fangs and long clawed arms.
He stared at Petra's wide eyes in shock, and without any kind of warning...
"Ack?!"
"?!"
...He punched Petra's face, causing blood to blast out of the poor girl's forehead, while the tentacles kept on violating her two holes.
"I enjoy it..."
"Kuh?!"
Another punch...
"I enjoy it..."
And another...
"I enjoy it!"
And another...
"I ENJOY IT!"
And another and another and another.
"I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!I ENJOY IT!"
The poor Petra just stopped grunting due to how much blood burst out from her, her teeth flew, her bruises increased, her cheekbones cracked with each strike delivered to her face.
Minutes later, the creature stopped pounding Petra's face, which by the time he finished with it, bruises riddled the face of the poor little girl, and she could barely look through her black eyes, not to mention the teeth that were either broken or missing.
But even then, the tentacles inside of Petra went even faster, and even so, the girl didn't even have the energy to moan out as every thrust was faster and rougher than the previous one.
"Ah~! I'm at my limit! I'm gonna release it inside of a small girl~!" The creature exclaimed his disgusting actions as he was close into finishing.
And after a few more fast and hard thrusts inside, the same white fluid that found itself inside of Petra's mouth burst inside both of the two holes of Petra, causing said girl's eyes to widen in shock as her stomach bloated up, and she opened her mouth and took out her tongue in a silent scream as her eyes rolled up the back of her head for the third time, releasing nothing but light grunts due to her inability to probably take her breath.
The tentacles remained inside of her for a few seconds, preventing the loads of bodily fluids from escaping her insides, before the hideous creature that assaulted her took out the tentacles and released Petra from its grasp, causing her to fall on her back, twitching rapidly as both pain and pleasure assaulted her small body.
[Scene End]
"Heh...Not bad, mortal. You did alright to satisfy me" The ghost-like creature said with its maniac grin, before it extended its arm and took a hold of one of Petra's ankles, before dragging her across the floor of the house, where the poor little violated girl did nothing to resist as she no longer had any power within her after the harsh and cruel humiliation.
"So this is what that shadow...Meant by humiliating..."
That was all she could think of as tears streamed down her swollen black eyes, which she could barely look through.
The creature then dragged her close to the fireplace centered at the farthest wall of the house. It then lifted her up from her leg, causing her to limply dangle while being positioned upside down. The creature smirked devilishly at her, before it threw her inside the turned off fireplace, causing Petra to get smeared by the ashes inside of it.
"You could have had a slim chance in resisting me if you turned on the lights, but...Oh well. However, if you want to blame someone, then don't blame yourself...Blame Atzulith-Lite for dooming all of you to that Fate"
And as the creature said those words, it lifted one of its arms and pointed its fanged finger towards the fireplace where Petra was, before a small glowing orange orb escaped from the tip of its finger, and the moment that it made contact with the firewood, the fireplace roared to life as fire blazed inside of it, engulfing Petra, who didn't even flinch from the heat.
"The fire is burning me...But I can't feel the heat...Is this is it for me? Am I going to die...?" She thought as the images of the black-haired boy with nasty eyes, as well as the black-haired man with cold eyes flashed in her mind.
"Subaru-sama...Shadow-sama..."
Those were the last words that Petra Leyte thought off, before the fire completely engulfed her, eating and burning her alive.
All while the creature that raped her a few minutes ago laughed in front of the fire.
The screen faded to black, and maniacal laughter soon followed.
At the same time. Margrave Mansion
"Always be careful, Ram. Don't let anything mislead you from your goals"
Ram sighed at those words that happened around 13 years ago.
Those were the words of the village chief of the Oni Village, right before it was burnt down by the Witch Cult.
In the start of her life, Ram was always taught one thing: To be perfect and never be below.
She always dedicated herself to becoming Number One, all for the sake of her clan.
But if there was one thing that Ram cared about more than even her parents, it was her twin little sister, Rem.
It isn't farfetched to say that Rem was way better than Ram in everything. She could do all tasks and all shores. Things that are never known in this world, like that 'cellphone Metia' that Subaru and Shadow held, was easily mastered by Rem. She was able to easily master its usage within a few hours.
Something that Ram saw that she could never hope to achieve.
Honestly, Ram found it depressing and shameful that Rem took her as her idol.
She lamented her weakness. Ever since she lost her horn, her stamina deteriorated immensely, and all the work in this mansion was solely on Rem and Frederica, and now, Petra. All that Ram did was to either sit with Roswaal every night in order to replenish her Mana or look at them work and pinpoint their mistakes.
Not that there were any mistakes to pinpoint, anyways.
She felt useless, lost, and soon she realized that she will be abandoned.
That is, until he arrived.
Those crimson eyes that pierced through her and her sister's hearts ever since the Wolgram incident in Irlam Village, it made Ram's heart immediately melt. Yet, she felt conflicted between two issues.
The first one was the fact that she was starting to develop feelings for Roswaal, the same man who threatened her with her sister's life, before Shadow even came to view. That was out of the window now, but they are still yet to do something about the contract.
The second issue, however, was the most difficult.
As she noted out before, Rem developed feelings for Shadow, and aside from Subaru, it seems that Shadow sticks with Rem more than anyone in the Emilia Camp.
Ram felt disgusted from herself. She fell in love with a person that her sister fell in love with, and he seemed to share the same feelings towards, making Ram no less than an intruder.
She looked into her knees with a solemn look on her face while seated on a chair in her room. Roswaal ordered her to go and check on Garfiel and Otto, despite the fact that it wasn't even ten minutes ever since Garfiel's departure from the Sanctuary.
She hated that Clown, and she hated herself for not repelling him.
Suddenly, Ram's head perked up upon hearing a sound, and not a second later, she stood up and ran outside to check on what was happening.
She suddenly saw that everything was pitch black, as if the entire world was dyed black, not even the moon or its light were visible at all.
And in the next second, Ram felt a stinging pain as something similar to a pair of jaws came gnawing at her neck, and she had no time to scream as the jaws closed in, snapping her neck and ripping off her head of its neck as it rolled on the corridor.
"I'm...Dead...? Rem...Shads..."
Those were the last words that Ram thought off as her world turned completely black, this time, forever.
A mad laughter soon followed, and the rest is lost.
At the same time. Mount Cordor
"We did it! All three of us!"
"That was...The strangest adventure that I've ever been part of"
"So many deaths 'cause of tha'creatcha. Ma' amazin' self doesn't know whadda do now..."
Otto, Heinkel and Garfiel released sighs of relief upon entering into the grounds of Mount Cordor, glad that the nightmare was over. And as the three stared at the close-to-set sun, they contemplated on their current predicament.
"Don't give up! We know...This is a hidden spot!" Otto exclaimed with a confident smile.
"Yeah, of course...THIS is a hidden spot"
"?!"
And the familiar voice shattered all of their hope, as Subaru EXE appeared in a small, brief flash of light, standing in front of the three males.
"What? But how? Three of us are alive!" Heinkel said in a mixture of shock and horror, before he saw a new existence appear out of thin air.
It was what appeared to be a maid, but her blonde hair was almost brown, with her jade green eyes becoming blood red irises with black sclera, and her right eye was completely gone, being covered by a long streak of stitches that ran from her right eyebrow, traveling onto her right cheek and all down to the right side of her chin.
"I guess you forgot about the girls" Subaru EXE said.
"Frederica-san?!" Otto exclaimed the maid's name in shock.
"Nee-chan?! What da heck didya do t' Nee-chan, ya bastard?!" Garfiel yelled his question in rage.
"No, this can't be happening!" Otto yelled with his eyes wide in shock, grief and disbelief.
"Deja Vu didn't work for you this time, huh?" Subaru EXE asked in a mocking manner.
"Deja Vu? Th'heck ya talkin' 'bout?!" Garfiel yelled, his angry voice was now laced with sobs at seeing his sister's reanimated corpse in front of him.
"Oh jeez...Deja Vu helped you three to survive. Some small fragments of memory are still inside your braindead heads. I guess you can handle it..." The abomination said, before the three males saw Subaru EXE teleporting away, leaving Frederica EXE there with them, who immediately transformed her hands to large brown fur-colored claws. Garfiel, how was the one that was most devastated by his sister's Death, with Otto racing him into that position of grief, gritted his teeth, before he reached for Otto.
"Go away, Merchant Boy!"
"?!"
Otto gasped as he saw Garfiel hoisting him above his head with both hands, and before he could question what the Human-Beast Hybrid would do, Otto was thrown with herculean strength away from both of him and Heinkel. Otto landed face first on the dirt several meters away from the other two males. He then stood up and coughed out the dirt that entered his mouth, and not a few seconds later, he saw Frederica appearing in front of him, holding the heads of Garfiel and Heinkel, whose faces were fixated with an expression of absolute horror while being completely covered in blood.
"Stay away from me!" Otto exclaimed, trying to fight the urge to throw up.
"Just make this easy for me" Frederica EXE said with a rather monotone expression, breaking Otto's heart even further as he knew that this was not the Frederica that he knew.
"Frederica-san! It's not you...I know you're not weak! Snap out of it!" Otto yelled his words at the maid, who simply clenched her clawed fists.
"I was weak and stupid when I thought that you could ever love someone like me. And now my heart is filled with anger" Frederica EXE said, causing Otto's facial expression to stiffen and harden.
"Then...We're enemies..." He muttered, before he activated his Rune Stone Skill, causing target marks to appear on Frederica's arms and head in front of his eyes.
Frederica EXE jumped into action, lunging at Otto, who narrowly dodged a horizontal right swing of her claws, before jumping backwards. He then saw as Frederica EXE jumped upwards, before descending to the ground, and the moment her foot stomped on the ground, a massive shockwave erupted towards Otto, who immediately summoned Earth Magic to cast Dona, effectively creating a slab of earth that blocked the wind attack, but it shattered the moment it blocked it, and sent Otto flying away, albeit with no injuries whatsoever.
Otto regained his standing stance, before he summoned Earth spears using El Terra, before sending them flying towards Frederica EXE, who opened her mouth and dark red energy started to charge in, condensing into a ball, before the energy ball released a dark red energy beam that travelled towards Otto.
"Dammit!" Otto cursed, before raising his arm in front of him.
"Ul Dona!" He roared, causing a massive dome of Earth to encase him, protecting him from the beam.
Once the energy beam made contact with the Earth dome, a huge explosion echoed, blasting dirt and gravel around. The dome was completely demolished, but Otto was still unharmed as a massive dust screen encased the battlefield.
"El Terra!"
"?!"
Frederica EXE jumped away as spears of Earth zoomed towards her, to which she dodged most of them. However, one spear managed to nail her left arm, causing her to hiss in pain.
"I'm not supposed to feel pain...What kind of secret power is he using? He's just using simple Earth Magic! I have to kill him...And quick!" Frederica EXE thought as she jumped several meters backwards, before channeling Mana within her body, then released it, causing a massive shockwave to resonate throughout the mountain, blowing away the dust screen, but Otto was nowhere to be found. Frederica EXE looked around, but she found nothing.
"Here!"
"?!"
She then gasped as her other arm got pierced from behind by another Earth Spear from behind. She looked behind her with gritted teeth to see Otto with Earth Spears floating around him. He then launched all of the remaining ten spears that he had at Frederica EXE, who opened her mouth and released balls of dark red energy that collided with seven of the spears, destroying them. She then saw the remaining three spears launched at her, causing her to use her now limp arms, which were not moving for some reason after Otto's Earth spears stabbed into them, to destroy two of the spears by swinging them at it, where she dodged the last of the Earth spears to her side, causing said spear to fly past her.
She grinned at Otto, who was standing still with a sad look on his face. Assuming that he already ran out of tricks due to his expression, Frederica EXE lunged at Otto, and upon reaching him, she jumped into the air, opening her fanged mouth in an attempt to chomp off Otto's head.
But then...
"I'm sorry"
SHIIK!
"?!"
The sound of flesh being stabbed, before blood burst out from the head of Frederica EXE as the Earth spear that she dodged made a U-turn back to her and stabbed her in the back of the head, protruding from her opened mouth as a shocked expression was plastered on her face, before she fell beside the grieving Otto face first on the ground, limbless and lifeless.
Otto looked at the corpse of the woman he fell in love with, grief and sadness plastered on his face.
"Sorry, Frederica-san...I didn't mean to..." Otto muttered his words to Frederica's corpse. It was then when he noticed a female figure clad in shadows floating towards him. Otto couldn't make out her face or features, but he could make out the fact that she was a female judging by her body posture.
"How does it feel...To kill your own friend...? And the girl that you loved no less...?" The shadowy figure asked Otto.
"W-What?! Who are you?!" Otto asked in shock, already on alert.
"It feels terrible...Awful...Isn't that right?" She asked, yet didn't wait for an answer for Otto, before she completed her phrase.
"You need to survive!"
And right after saying that, white light assaulted Otto's eyes, before he was teleported away from Mount Cordor, leaving Frederica's reanimated corpse on the floor of the mountain.
Memory Fragment File #01
"Otto-sama? Why are you awake in this late hour?"
"Sorry, Frederica-san. I kinda suffer from insomnia ever since coming here"
It was already two hours past midnight, and Otto entered the kitchen upon smelling the scent of the dinner of the next day being cooked, which led him to that spot right now, having seen Frederica still awake taking the responsibility of cooking tomorrow's dinner.
It has been two months ever since Subaru, Otto and Shadow had joined the Emilia Camp, and around a month ever since the Snow Festival, and lots of stuff was rather chaotic.
Subaru and Shadow were submerged in training, whereas Subaru also spared some of his time for his sister Natsumi, who came visited once or twice a week. Rem was always sticking with Shadow while having time for her chores as a maid of this mansion at the same time, while Ram was literally doing her everyday job: Nothing.
Roswaal himself was a rather eccentric person. He had a knack for always putting makeup after everything he had done. After taking a bath? Do makeup. After breakfast? Do makeup. After lunch? Do makeup. After dinner? Do makeup. After meetings in the Capital? Do makeup.
Not to mention his rather unorthodox way of speaking, where he elongates his words at the end of the majority of his phrases. It was so irritating and scary. It reminded Otto of clowns. If only he knew that Roswaal himself was a clown in heart and actions...
And yet, what makes Otto tolerate this chaotic Camp where everyone does whatever the hell they want, is Frederica, as she was the only one capable of using common sense. This made Otto feel at ease, even though he was the target of the constant bullying by both of Subaru and Shadow, not to mention how the likes of Rem, Ram and Shaula keeps on ridiculing him, or even outright ignore his existence as a whole. There was one time where Otto felt that his existence was thinner than air.
However, with Frederica there, he felt like home. Frederica was the only one who had the heart and patience to endure all of the Chaos that spreads unnecessarily throughout the Emilia Camp, and that was due to how Emilia was naive, inexperienced and a pushover as a whole, which made Otto's workload increase a lot, and yet with Frederica around, he felt like he could take a breather from all this madness.
Frederica also felt the same, since she trusted Otto due to how he was one of the reasonable people in this Camp. In fact, he was the reasonable person in this Camp. As everyone here was a fighting maniac, especially the likes of Shadow, who while appearing to be a calm, cold and laid-back individual, he held a burst of power capable of even matching the Sword Saint himself, and that was dangerous in a Camp where its leader was nothing but a child in both heart and soul, but with Otto holding the reins on the likes of Subaru, Emilia and Shadow, even if barely, Frederica felt like her work was cut short for her, and she was glad for that to the point that it drove her to tears one time.
"Umm...Frederica-san..." Otto called to the Human-Beast Hybrid, fidgeting with a blush on his face.
"Yes, Otto-sama?" Frederica asked, tilting her head in confusion as she turned her head away from the Mana heater that was heating the dinner pot.
"What were you doing...Before becoming a maid in this mansion?" Otto asked, causing Frederica to tilt her head backwards, looking at the blushing Otto in confusion.
"Pardon my rudeness, Otto-sama. But I can't seem to understand your question" Frederica said, before shifting her head to the pot.
"Umm...What I'm trying to ask is...Where were you living with your parents and Tinsel-san before coming here?" Otto asked.
At this question, Frederica's hand that was using the scooping spoon to stir the food on the fire stopped. She then closed the Mana heater, which didn't go unnoticed by Otto, whose blush faded.
Apparently, Otto was embarrassed because he never talked to a girl before, but Frederica's sudden action caused all embarrassment within him to evaporate like water.
"Frederica-san?" Otto called out to the Beast-Human, who proceeded to walk silently towards him and sat next to him.
"Otto-sama...I...Experienced a rather troublesome childhood..." She muttered out her words in a sad tone.
"Umm...If it's not rude, mind letting me know?" Otto asked politely. He wanted to continue talking to her, but with how Frederica looked, it appears to him that he was close to crossing the line, so the least that he could do in order to reach a middle solution was to be polite.
And then, he started to listen to Frederica's story. How she was born to a half-Beastman father and a human mother. How she and her mother stumbled into the Sanctuary after she was born, how she lived twelve years there, how Garfiel was born when Frederica's mother got remarried to another half-Beastman when she was seven, how their mother left the Sanctuary in search for Garfiel's father when Garfiel was nothing but an infant, how their mother got killed in a landslide, never to return, and how all of those events had led her to becoming a maid in the Margrave Mathers mansion.
Otto silently listened to the story, not even uttering a word, even when he saw that Frederica's face was twitching, desperately trying to suppress the desire to sob.
Seeing this, Otto smiled gently at her.
"Frederica-san...I see that you suffered a lot but let me tell you something. You are an extremely amazing and strong woman" He said, causing Frederica to look at him in confusion.
"What I'm trying to say is...Someone like me has suffered a lot. I was considered the unluckiest guy you would ever meet in your life. I went through lots of hardships before and after becoming what I am right now. And with all of that, I literally cried like a baby at times. But you...You're something else. You endured all of those hardships until now without shedding a tear. I know that it's hard, but you're so strong, and I can't help but be glad that you are" Otto said, causing Frederica's eyes to widen and for tears to build up at the corners of her eyes.
"So let me tell you this, Frederica-san..." He said before reaching for her right hand, lifting it in his own right hand while caressing the back of said hand with his left hand.
"...Whenever you feel as if the weight of the whole world is on your shoulders...Always remember that I'm here by your side" He said.
And upon saying these words, Frederica's cheeks turned a rosy color and her eyes widened.
Her heart suddenly became warm, and tears freely flew down her cheeks. Her chest felt tight, her heart beat up rapidly and her body was literally releasing steam from every pore in her skin.
The blush and the tears that he saw on her face caused Otto to gasp and freak out in a comical fashion.
"Frederica-san?! Are you okay?! If it's something wrong that I said, then forgive me! I didn't mean to step out of my bound-!"
"Mmm~"
"?!"
He was suddenly interrupted upon feeling a warm sensation assault his lips, and that was obvious, as Frederica leaned towards him and gently guided her lips to his, closing her eyes as she gave him his first kiss, as well as stealing Otto's own first kiss.
For the first time ever in his life, Otto felt a plethora of emotions exploding inside of his brain and heart like a bunch of fireworks in New Year Eve.
Shock.
Panic.
Embarrassment.
Calmness.
Safety.
Gentleness.
And finally...Love.
And as they indulged themselves even further, Frederica pushed her lips even further onto Otto's, causing her tongue to infiltrate his mouth, dancing alongside his own tongue in a furious dance that sent shockwaves into Otto's brain as he gave no resistance to massive waves of pleasure that assaulted him. He whimpered like a puppy when Frederica broke their lip lock.
"I...Never felt like that before..." She muttered with her face flushed red.
"Frederica-san..." Otto called out her name, dazed from the pleasure that assaulted him, his face flushed red as well.
"It's your fault, Otto-sama...You made me like this...Right now, with your sweet, gentle talk...And back then during the Snow Festival a month ago...You changed lots of things within me that I can no longer hold myself back..." Frederica said, her blush increasing by the second.
"Frederica-san, I...Wait. You said 'Back then during the Snow Festival'. What exactly happened back then?" Otto asked upon revising Frederica's words in his head.
His answer? Frederica's blush that rivaled Reinhard's red hair and said Beast-Human's embarrassed averted sideway glance.
This made the blush on Otto's face instantly disappear, being replaced by a calm smile, before he stood up from his chair, startling Frederica.
"Otto-sama?" She called out his name, confused of his sudden action.
"Frederica-san? Please pray tell me. What floor of this mansion are we on?" He asked calmly.
"Umm...The third floor. Why?" Frederica asked back, her confused face indicated that he lost her with his words.
"And that window next to the Mana heater...Does it lead to the outside of the mansion?" Otto asked once again, in his weird calm tone.
"Yes...All windows of this mansion lead to the outside front door. Why?" She asked once again, completely confused.
Her confusion soon turned to comical shock and horror as she saw Otto zooming at speeds she would never imagine, climbed on the empty side of the Mana heater, and proceeded to open the window before preparing himself to jump from it.
"I have to die. Farewell" He said as he proceeded to exit the window, only for Frederica to run towards him, catching him from his pajama shirt just in time before he committed suicide.
"Otto-sama! What are you doing?!" She called out for him in shock as she pulled on his clothes.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! I HAVE TO DIE! I DID SOMETHING SHAMEFUL TO FREDERICA-SAN! I'M AN IMBECILE THAT DESERVES TO DIE!" Otto yelled as tears flowed down from his eyes in a comical fashion.
"Please! It's past midnight! Let us talk this out! You did nothing to me at that day other than frolicking and leaving kiss marks here and there!" Frederica exclaimed, causing Otto to freeze in his place, before turning his head to Frederica while still remaining inches from jumping off the window, his calm smile suddenly returning to his face and the tears mysteriously disappearing.
"You said...'Here and there'...Where is that 'Here and there', exactly? What did I exactly do?" He asked, only for Frederica's furious blush to return to her face, along with the embarrassed sideways glance.
It didn't take moments for Otto to understand, before he turned his face forwards once again, applying even more force to his weight in order to jump off the window, with Frederica applying more effort to prevent him from jumping.
"I DEFILED FREDERICA-SAN! I'M AN IMBECILE THAT DESERVES TO DIE! AND I DIDN'T EVEN TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY ACTIONS BACK THEN! I HAVE TO DIE LIKE THE WORTHLESS PIG THAT I AM!" He screamed from the top of his lungs.
"Aren't you running away from the responsibility right now by trying to kill yourself?!" Frederica asked as she tried to pull him towards her with all her might, but for some reason, Otto, who was supposed to be physically inferior to Frederica, had shown immense strength that was applied to his hands holding the frame of the window that he was attempting to jump off from.
Unknown to the pair of lovers, Shadow, Subaru, Shaula, Rem and Ram were in front of the kitchen door, having been alarmed by the screams of Otto, where all of them, except for Shadow, who didn't have the need to sleep at all, were wearing bed pajamas.
"Master, Master! You told me that the Crybaby Merchant will never have a girlfriend, but he does! Why is that?!" Shaula asked Subaru.
"Well, Shaula...I suppose that now we know that some miracles, whether they are good or disastrous, can happen...I'm just glad that Emilia-tan is a heavy sleeper" Subaru said with a nervous chuckle.
"...And here I thought that the fucking Clown was going to do a favor to the world and fuck himself a way up to Helheim. Well, guess I have to be more patient on that event" Shadow said as he took a breath from his vape, before blowing the smoke above his head.
"Nee-sama, Nee-sama. Otto-sama is a vulgar fiend" Rem said as she feigned an innocent eye blinking action.
"Rem, Rem. Otto-sama is the scum of the earth" Ram said as she glared coldly at Otto who was still trying to commit suicide, while Frederica was trying to pull him back inside.
Unknown to all, Subaru flashed a small, warm and gentle smile as he looked at both Otto and Frederica.
"I'm so glad for you. Good luck in the future, my friend..."
And on that notion, it took Frederica the entire night until the next morning to convince Otto that he didn't do anything to shame her purity.
Memory Fragment File #01: END
Ganaks. Nighttime
"Ack!"
Landing with a soft thud on his back, Otto rubbed his back from the pain that resulted from the collision onto the solid ground.
He then sat there, wide eyed and shocked as tears flew down his eyes without him making the faintest of a sobbing sound.
"Tinsel-san...Heinkel-san...We failed again..." He muttered, his speech completely broken from the sadness that he got plunged in just a few moments ago.
Not only did he lose his other two companions, but he was also forced to fight the woman that he fell in love with, seeing her being treated as nothing but a slave, forcibly being taken from her grave and not even give the slimmest shred of mercy from the vile creature that brainwashed and reanimated her.
So cruel...So revolting...So...So heartbreaking.
"It's useless, useless...We're all going to die again and again...What should I do? Should I just...Give up?" He muttered to himself, Despair already consuming him to the roots.
"Hey, Exebark. I think we found a dinner for ya"
"?!"
Hoping into his feet upon being alerted by the sudden malicious voice nearby, Otto shivered uncontrollably, as the voice was pretty much beside him. Looking in front of him from behind the bushes that he miraculously landed beside, He observed two of the most disturbing creatures in his life. One looked like a floating balloon with long, clawed arms and another that looked like a Wolgram. Both were pale blue in color from head to toe, had the same fanged, sharp, pointy teeth and had the same crimson, mad bloodlusted eyes as they gazed on what appeared like a child that had the same eyes that oozed blood out of them just like its predators and the same pale blue color theme.
"Look! You're pretty hungry, Barky! So let's catch this useless slave!" The balloon-like entity told the Wolgram-like beast, to which the latter extended its tongue out of its mouth, gazing hungrily at the trembling child, who despite having its eyes disgustingly oozing blood of them, it still showed genuine fear when those two leered at him with such murderous aura.
And just as they both were about to close on the child...
"What the bloody hell are you two doing here?"
"?!"
Otto had to place both hands on his mouth as tightly as he can as he was about to release an unconscious gasp, as Subaru EXE appeared in a white flash, positioning himself between the blue child and the two entities that were about to kill it.
"Oh, sorry for a rhetorical question. Who allowed you, Execun, to eat Exebi, one of my important slaves?" Subaru EXE asked the balloon entity sarcastically as Exebi, the blue child, jumped on his shoulder.
"Important?! He's useless! He's helping them survive! But we want to kill them, just like you!" Execun exclaimed.
"Kill? Don't you want to have fun with them a little longer?" Subaru EXE asked, and Otto had to hold his urge to vomit at those words.
"Fun?! What's the point in that?! I want to kill them! But this little freak was helping them!" Execun called out.
"At least it's even way better than your...hobby" Subaru EXE said with a glare towards Execun, causing the entity to gasp.
"Killing is an easy way, but manipulating them is much better. Don't ruin my plans. Go find them so that my eyes will not see you for now" Subaru EXE said, causing Execun to click its tongue, before vanishing in a small flash of light.
"Hey, Otto. Now we can talk"
"?!"
Suddenly, Otto felt his entire body get frozen, before he was pulled telekinetically from his hiding spot towards the abomination possessing his friend.
"W-What were you waiting for? Or is it just one of your tricks?" Otto asked, mustering whatever courage he had within himself.
"Let me open your eyes..." Subaru EXE said before Otto felt that he regained control of his body, and then an exact copy of Subaru EXE appeared in front of Otto.
"Remember the giant version of me? Well, it was just a clone, and so is this copy of mine. Try and kill this clone" He said to Otto, who wasted no time and sent the head of the clone flying with a punch enhanced by Mana. It was then when Otto's eyes widened in realization and horror.
"Just a clone...That giant one...Was one of your copies? So all this time, your copies were fighting with us?" Otto asked, pure shock and horror plastered on his face, before he saw Subaru EXE walking towards him, not stopping until he was just a meter away from him.
"Hehe...Now you know...Now then...Try to kill me" Subaru EXE said to Otto, who also wasted no time and delivered a Mana-infused punch to Subaru EXE. Now normally that would also cause his head to fly, but no. Subaru EXE's head was still intact, and not even a bone was broken.
Otto's eyes widened in shock and disbelief once again.
"Y-You...You're immortal?" Otto whispered his words, horror plaguing his very soul as Subaru EXE's grin widened to the point that it was close to splitting his face.
"Oh my...What a fool you are. How can you be so naive, Otto? What an intoxicating stupidity..." Subaru EXE said before backhanding Otto in the face, causing him to lose his balance and fall on his face.
"Have you lost your mind? Oh...Yes you did. I just need to push certain buttons to wreck it completely, yeah?" He said before vanishing instantly, leaving the wrecked Otto alone, who stood slowly to his feet, his face plastered with horror and anxiety.
"This is madness. I have to reach the Sanctuary as quick as possible to warn the others there. I think that the fastest way is through the Ginia Mountains and then through Elior Forest" He said as he entered through the entrance of the mountains behind of him.
Upon entering the mountain, Otto became completely confused.
Ganaks was supposed to be a mining city, and the Ginia Mountains were simply a part of it. Someone could make a fortune if it wasn't for the dangerous environment. And since Otto was the person to take with the rumors and never find through it, which was natural due to how much misfortunes he went through, he preferred to stay away from Ganaks, and as far as possible as well.
Being known as a mining city, surely you would imagine to find minerals lying here and there. However...
"It's completely barren. What happened here?" Otto asked no one in particular, as he walked ahead for a few minutes. Suddenly, he felt the mountain rumble, before a huge rubble from the ceiling fell and was about to squash Otto underneath it, only for the merchant to jump away just in time to avoid being crushed.
"Oh great. The entrance is closed" Otto sighed at his rotten luck upon realizing that he couldn't now get out from the entrance even if he wanted to. The rumbling even increased.
"Alright. No use staying here. I have to keep moving" Otto said before dashing towards the inside of the mountain.
As he was running, he barely dodged to his side as a crack on the ground appeared underneath him, and whatever spurted from the ground did a good job on burning the left sleeve of his pants.
"Lava?!" Otto yelled out. It was then when he gasped in shock and horror.
He was in a dormant volcano, which was activated right now. Something that shouldn't be possible considering the fact that it required too much power on the level of a town-spanning earthquake to activate. Unless...
"This bastard!" Otto cursed from behind his teeth, spitting his words like venom at what the abomination that was using his friend's body had done.
It was his vision of 'fun', after all.
Otto then dashed towards the inside of the mountain, his heart was already beating so hard, as panic rose inside of him from the possibility that there was no way out from the mountain now that the entrance was sealed off.
"Natsuki-san...Would never give up...Even in this kind of situation..." He said from behind his gritted teeth, only to scream in pain in the next second when something burst from the ground, stabbing him into his left thigh from behind and piercing through the front of his leg.
"Spikes?!" He yelled out in pain and anger, before he gritted his teeth as he yanked his leg free from the spike that impaled it, yelling in pain as tears built in the corners of his eyes.
His instincts suddenly kicked in, causing him to jump to the ground, landing on his stomach and kissing the dirt underneath him as something circular swung like a pendulum behind him.
"Oh come on! Now there are saw blades?!" He yelled in frustration, before he willed himself to stand up and started to make a mad dash to the other side of the mountain, hissing in pain as his leg pulsated with the unbearable pain that the spike gave to him.
He then jumped to his side, avoiding a pendulum scythe that suddenly appeared from the ceiling of the cave in the mountain that threatened to cut him in half, only to miss the giant pendulum morningstar that slammed into him from his left side, causing him to slam into the wall to his right, which seemed to be a trigger reaction that caused a hook blade to swing vertically at him from the wall, piercing his right eye.
"GAAAGH!" Otto screamed in pain, before he felt the hook blade trying to dig itself deeper inside his eye socket. Fearing that the blade would pierce through his skull, Otto gritted his teeth, before yanking the blade out of his eye, causing blood to burst from his eye socket.
He didn't have time to recover as suddenly, he felt multiple objects slam into his back, and judging by their weight and the size of the stabbed area, Otto mentally concluded that those were iron darts. The kind of weapons that Gusteko assassins use like the deceased Bowel Hunter use.
He couldn't take his breath yet as dozens of arrows soared towards him from the front, to which he pushed himself away from the wall and to his left side, albeit he was barely able to dodge as three arrows found their mark on him. One at his right calf, one at his right shoulder and the last one pierced through his right waist, just missing his kidney.
Just as he dodged that, however, a log came swinging towards him, slamming straight into his chin and causing a few of his frontal teeth to be sent flying out from his mouth and knocking the merchant off his feet and onto the ground on his back.
Sadly, he didn't have time to rest from all of that, as suddenly, a loud clang rang in the cave and Otto screamed in pain as an iron bear trap found itself slamming shut on his left hind leg.
Otto clenched his teeth so hard that a tooth chipped, before he jumped up to his feet, wincing in pain as all of those traps literally ate at his stamina and he was yet to find an exit from the mountain.
"Bastard...He really is toying with me..." Otto muttered under his breath, his rage growing even more as he swore that he heard the mad cackle of Subaru EXE in the back of his head.
He then sprinted forward, desperately trying to move himself from the hellhole that his enemy placed him in. And then, he felt the rumbles increase, which caused him to squeeze his brain and force himself to endure the pain in his body, before he found himself outside the hallway of the cave that he was in, and a pitfall found itself separating him from the next entrance, and the pitfall itself contained lava, which was rising right now.
Otto gasped in horror. It seems that the earthquake from earlier caused the mountain to awaken. Otto remembered how Subaru told him once that mountains were originally volcanoes that became dormant due to the lava within seeping and hardening, closing the volcano from the inside and from its top opening, effectively turning it into a mountain. And with enough tectonic force, a.k.a earthquakes, it would cause the hardened lava to shatter and for the lava to reawaken within the mountain, returning its status as an active volcano.
And was what exactly was happening.
"Tch. No time and Mana to use Earth Magic to create a bridge..." Otto clicked his tongue at his rotten luck, before he braced himself and jumped to the other end, barely making it to the cliff as his hands latched onto the rocky platform of the other side, desperately trying to save himself from falling to the pitfall that held the rising lava.
Otto gritted his teeth. His body was already in pain, and his nails were gruesomely peeled off and drawing blood due to how much force he was exerting at clutching the rocky cliff that his nails and fingers drew blood.
"I'm not gonna die...Not here...Not now.."
He wanted to live. Something that was completely normal in every kind of living being in All Creation.
But Otto Suwen was different.
There were lots of misfortunes that happened to him. Being a liability to his parents who almost gave up on him due to his Divine Protection placing him into a constant cradle of Hell, his entire hometown ridiculing and calling him despicable names due to his Divine Protection, a daughter from a wealthy family, who accused him of having an affair with her after Olso Suwen, his elder brother, rejected her, started spreading bad rumors about him, and in order to show that he was innocent, Otto used his Divine Protection and quickly knew that she was having an affair with eight different men, with him not being included of them. This spiraled down as Otto was now hated by everyone due to the fact that this girl, Diadora Regundra, was from the Regundra wealthy family in Picoutatte, Otto's hometown, and not to mention that Diadora sent an assassin to kill Otto to hide her embarrassment. This led to Otto being exiled from his hometown, where his father, who desperately tried to protect his son, hooked Otto up with a merchant friend of his, causing him to become a traveling merchant.
But even then, Otto's bad luck really came forth; if he was transporting fruits, bad weather would come forth; if he took a shortcut, random bandits would attack him; and so forth. Luckily, Otto was born with a mercantile talent as great as his luck was poor. He rarely lost bets and deals, no matter the odds and, of course, he never went bankrupt. One day, Otto misread the market trends and got into a lot of debt after the price of the oil he was transporting plummeted.
Luckily, his saving grace came in the form of one Subaru Natsuki, who wanted to have a transportation to Lugunica, and will pay him handsomely. And he was of his word, as he paid him so great that Otto himself couldn't believe that he was now free of his streak of bad luck, as with the money that Subaru gave to him, he was able to take care of his debt with a portion of it, while the rest of the money he used in the investments on Mayonnaise and Pina Colada, which throughout the last few months, made a huge profit for Otto on top of his new job as the Emilia Camp's Head of Internal Affairs. He even got to meet a girl that he fell in love with.
He thought that his bad luck streak is over. That he finally found peace from his troubled life.
But even then, this happiness of his didn't last long, as his bad luck came biting him down...And not in his ass, but in the place where the sun doesn't shine, which, I kid you not, hurts a lot, if not outright causing instant Death.
In just a single day, he lost everything. His friends. His lover. His business. His world. Everything.
And that's all because of that abomination that was wearing the body of his best friend, prying on his friends and humiliating them just for 'fun'.
So the least that he could do was...
"Survive..." He muttered before forcing himself to climb up, ignoring the pain in his hands and legs, before he shot up and jumped to his feet, completely ignoring the pain and forcing himself to run through sheer willpower, even though his body was weighted by both his grave injuries and the bear trap lodged into his leg.
"I WILL SURVIVE!" He yelled from the top of his lungs as he ran as fast as his near-crippled legs could muster, the adrenaline pumping straight to his heart, giving him the power to run despite the pain plaguing and crippling him even further.
The lava then started to rise up as Otto entered the second cave. The lava then followed him at an astounding rate, but Otto didn't look back. Even if he had the time to do so, a sane man wouldn't even dare to look Death in the eyes.
Unless you're Subaru Natsuki or Shadow Terios that is...
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He screamed so hard his throat hurt and his lungs threatened to burst. He could swear that he heard the bones of his legs crack, his tendons tear apart and his foot give away as blood came out from his wounds, as his vigorous and desperate running for his life was not giving time for his wounds to even begin closing.
But he didn't care. He just ignored it. His will to survive and see another day was way greater than the pain plaguing him. Even if it was for an additional day, hour, minute, or even an additional second in life, Otto Swuen would never give up.
After all, his two strong friends taught him that through their actions.
"I'll not die! I WILL NOT DIE!" He yelled, even as blood came out of his throat due to him screaming, with the lava behind him, chasing him like an extremely hungry predator ready at anytime to lunge at its prey to tear it limb from limb.
The rumbling increased. The quantity of the lava. The intensity of the heat behind Otto increased. The threat of Death increased.
But alongside those, the desire to survive and see the sun increased within Otto, which in turn forced him to the end of the tunnel where he saw a sliver of light at the end, the light that was illuminating the night sky, the light of the stars.
He let the stars guide him to the safety. To the end of this hellhole. Even if he knew that he will get sent to another hellhole, and even if it was worse than what he is experiencing right now, he already saw a lot within yesterday, and he will live to see tomorrow.
That's the man Otto Suwen was. A relentless man who will find the Top within the Bottom.
"I'LL DIE ON MY OWN TERMS! NOT BY YOU!"
Yelling this out, Otto jumped to the end of the tunnel, where the light of the stars illuminated the outside world, falling outside the exit of the cave and out to the outside world. The rumbling actually served Otto a lot, as just as the lava was about to get outside the cave and give Otto a free ticket to Od Laguna, rubble fell off the ceiling of the exit of the cave, blocking the other side of the cave and preventing the lava from devouring Otto and melting his flesh and bones.
But even then, he felt that he couldn't even sigh in relief, not even having the time to rest. He willed himself to stand up once again, before dashing away to the direction of Elior Forest.
"I'm almost here...I just need to be...Faster" He muttered from his blood-filled throat, before he increased his speed towards the frozen forest.
A few hours later
"Almost there...Almost there..."
He willed himself to run, and yet his vitality was rapidly depleted. Having found himself out of danger's way for the time being, the adrenaline that flowed within Otto's body stopped flowing. It wasn't something that he could control. It was simply something involuntary that occurred inside of his body and he couldn't do anything about it.
Soon Otto was unable to stop running and started walking. And soon the walking turning into staggering. And soon the staggering turned into a weird action of him slowly pulling his body while desperately trying to pull his body towards the destination that he had in mind.
Soon enough, the air suddenly shifted to a chilling sensation. This made Otto realize that he finally left the territory of Ganaks, and within another few minutes of walking, he saw snow falling from the sky, and the weather truly started to feel cold.
A few more minutes later, and Otto's vision started to become blurry due to blood loss. His body then started to feel weak and heavy. Whether it was from blood loss or from the bear trap that was still ensnaring his leg in an iron clutch with its spikes dug deep within his flesh and hind bone, he didn't know, and he didn't care.
All that was driving Otto to keep moving and never stopping was the desire to live and the Fear to die. He thought about what would happen if he died from blood loss and his severe injuries. He saw firsthand with Frederica, whom he fought hours ago. He saw how that wretched abomination killed her before reanimating her into a walking corpse that had only the sole goal of extinguishing life. Had Otto hesitated for a single second, he would have been dead by now, and would have joined this crazy legion.
However, he didn't know what would happen to him if he died naturally. Will that creature seek him out and turn him into an undead? Will he use him as his slave? Will he make him a killing machine just like those that he killed?
When he placed more thought into it, Otto realized that Ganaks, which was supposed to be an entertainment city, was completely hushed as Death. No living being was there, as if it was devoid of life. Which was weird, considering the fact that it held a one million worth of population, which was around 1/50th of the full population of the Capital of Lugunica, which was also too big by the way.
Could it be that that creature had wiped off one million people within the span of a single day? That was absurd and horrifying. Not only that that abomination was a hooligan, but it appeared to Otto that he was on the level of the Sword Saint himself! Add his immortality to the mix, and Otto speculated that no matter what he does, he will stand no chance against it.
That meant...That that monster was literally toying with him, ascending sadism into a whole new level.
"Missed me, merchant boy?"
"?!"
Suddenly, Subaru EXE appeared in an instant in front of Otto, without even making the sliver of a light or the slightest of a sound, and without waiting for an answer for his question, he clutched Otto by the throat, holding him with one hand and raising him up, to the point that the merchant's legs weren't able to reach the ground.
"Let's go for a little ride, shall we, Otto?" Subaru EXE asked, but yet again, he didn't wait for an answer as he flew with Otto to the sky, still clutching his throat. Otto didn't find the strength to resist him, and even if he had, he couldn't because one: He was already depleted of power, and the only way he was able to come this far was through sheer willpower. And two: His opponent was stronger than him and no matter what he did, he will never hope to scratch, let alone kill him.
Several minutes passed as they were flying, and then...
"I guess this is our final destination"
"?!"
And without warning, Subaru EXE released his grip on Otto's throat, causing him to fall downwards. Otto's eyes were wide, but he wasn't able to even scream due to his damaged throat. He was already out of breath and Mana, and he felt like he could no longer recover from all of his fatigue. And he was already ready to accept Death and embrace it with open arms, since even if he had Mana to fortify his body, Otto never knew that level of knowledge and he knew that this fall from this height would result in his Death, not just a broken bone or a torn limb.
However...
"Oomph!"
...He fell on something rather soft.
Yanking his head up and cough whatever that entered his mouth, Otto adjusted his eyes at the scenery.
"Is that...Elior Forest?" He asked himself as he looked at the frozen grass and trees which were riddled with fine snow.
"Why did he take me here?" He asked himself once again, looking around the frozen forest.
"He wants to play with me. If he found me so easily, then there's no way I can escape. I have no choice but to keep going" Otto said to himself with a gaze of steel plastered on his face.
"But first..." He trailed in his speech as his gaze shifted on his leg that still had the bear trap clamped shut into it. Otto then looked around him, before his eyes laid on a tree branch that was covered in snow. He then walked to it, grabbed it, dusted it off from the snow with his hands, and then he placed it into his mouth, ignoring the uncomfortable chilling sensation that assaulted the gum that originally had his front teeth that were knocked out from his mouth back in the cave in Ganaks.
He then bit into it, took a deep breath, placed his hands on both ends of the bear trap and with whatever strength his had left, he forced the bear trap open, hissing in pain and biting even more on the extremely cold tree branch as he forced the bear trap out from his leg's flesh and bone.
A few seconds later, Otto managed to pry it open with his hands shaking. He then quickly lifted his foot up, before releasing the bear trap, causing it to snap closed with a loud 'clang' sound, before it dropped into the snow, preventing it from closing onto his hands.
After that happened, Otto immediately spitted out the tree branch from his mouth, as his gum and remaining teeth became completely numb. However, he wasted no time, and proceeded to grab a scope of snow in his hands, before placing it on his leg that had the bear trap, hissing in pain as the snow's stinging sensation assaulted the hot holes in his leg that were pouring blood from them. Otto's head felt like it would explode from the numbness. Brain freeze started assaulting his mind, but even if he wanted to, he couldn't let go. He had to numb the pain and stop the bleeding with anyway.
Seconds later, and Otto felt that his leg was numb enough to ignore the pain, causing him to release the snow in his hands and leg. He then reached for his chest, before he took out the arrows that pierced his shoulder, calf and the area just above his kidney, wincing in pain as he did so. He then did the same that he did to his leg: Using snow to close the wounds. The process itself was agonizing, but considering the grave situation that he was in, Otto had to make do with anything.
A few seconds later, Otto was done with his arrow injuries. What came next was by so far, the hardest: Taking out the iron darts on his back. Otto realized that those darts were firm and durable, considering the fact that they were made of iron, but he feared that he might break them while they were still stabbed into his back, making it next to impossible for him to remove them without an expert like Felix Argyle to do the job for him. Not to mention the fact that the darts were lodged into an area that his arms could barely reach, a little close to his blind spot.
He gritted his teeth. Obviously, that bastard meant it that way. Truly, he was a master in torturing and playing with other's lives.
Taking a deep breath, which was difficult by the way considering the frigid weather around him, Otto reached out from his back to take out the darts, barely reaching for them. The process itself took hours, and with each dart that Otto took, an unimaginable sensation of pain and agony washed over his body, striking him like lightning bolts. He kept on doing that, and every time a dart was removed, blood fell from the holes in his back, staining the fine snow underneath his leg with a crimson color.
A few hours later, Otto managed to remove a total of twelve darts from his back. He took heavy gasps to breath as much oxygen as he could to fill his lungs, but what will come next was the most painful process.
Bracing himself for what he was about to do, Otto took a deep breath, before jumping backwards, landing on the snow on his back.
Otto gritted his teeth so hard that more of them got chipped. The unbearable sensation of snow assaulted his brain yet again, as he tried to endure it. He felt that he was literally having his brain frozen, and he felt that he if wasn't going to die from his wounds, he would die from the freezing snow.
Another few seconds later, Otto yanked himself away from the snow, gasping heavily as he desperately tried to take his breath. He then forced himself to stand up, before he walked towards a nearby tree. Upon reaching that tree, he leaned his back on it, before slowly sliding down, causing him to fall onto his ass on the cold ground. It was better than the sensation that he felt when he was engulfing his body in snow, though, and he was already numb enough to no longer feel anything, not even the snow.
Reaching towards his pocket, Otto took out three bottles that had a blue liquid inside of them. He then bit into the corks of the bottles with the teeth of his left side, which were still intact, and proceeded to yank the bottles open. He then proceeded to gulp the three bottles in one go, being careful to drink slowly as to not choke himself on them.
Those were healing potions, which worked in the same manner as Water Magic, however there is a catch: Healing Magic, or Water Magic, doesn't magically heal wounds. It just accelerates the ability to recover wounds, meaning that the ability to recover is still dependent on those who have the magic casted on them. So it isn't accurate to call it 'Healing Magic'. It was nothing but a placeholder, after all.
A useless placeholder, that is.
Not to mention that since it just accelerates the ability to recover wounds, that means that it's just the same as normal Human's ability to recover, but at a faster rate. While someone like Felix can reattach limbs, he still has to have the limb in order to reattach it. Otherwise, all that he will be able to do is to close the stump on the arm.
So in theory, since the potions that Otto had function in the same manner as Water Magic, the holes in his torso, back and legs will close up faster, but his right eye, which was gouged out, will never return, no matter what. He would require someone like Felix to regenerate his eye, but that would be impossible for Otto's current condition.
As he calmed down, his face became pale as the adrenaline within him was completely gone, causing the immense fatigue that he ignored to kick in. Otto was already looking worse for wear. The sleeve of the right arm of his outfit was torn off completely, his cape and hat were long gone, his left shoe was lost as it was burned by the lava back then when he first entered the cave within the Ginia Mountains, his nose was broken, and dried blood was coming out from both the split in his head and his broken nose, which he got from the log that hit him in the face back in the cave, smearing his face with said liquid.
And as his near-lifeless gaze was casted on the ground beneath him, Otto's half-opened eyes started to release tears from them, which mixed with the dried blood that covered his face and caused it to drop on the floor, painting the cold ground with a mixture of blood and tears.
"I...I..." He started to talk, but the words refused to come out from his mouth. He felt a mixture of negative emotions plague him at the same time.
Disbelief.
Anxiety.
Shock.
Fear.
Horror.
Despair.
Otto had too much within the span of only two days, something that a normal Human couldn't endure. He didn't know what to do now. All that he knew was that he had to keep moving forward so that he won't die.
But it was easier said than done considering what was happening to him...And who his opponent was.
"I'm not...Feeling so well..."
Having whispered those words, the potions' effects eventually kicked in, forcing Otto, whose heart was filled with Fear of what was going to happen to him, to enter into a deep slumber.
A few hours later
He opened his eyes once again, feeling slightly better.
He thought that whatever happened to him was nothing but a horrible nightmare, and he was praying to Od Laguna that it would only be a nightmare.
But sadly, reality is way crueler than fiction.
Right in front of his half-sleepy eyes, Otto saw that the sky's color was now dark purple, and the snow's color even shifted from pure white to dark gray. This caused Otto to slowly stand up, his eyes wide in horror.
"Oh no. Not again...He wants to make me crazy. Oh, my head..." He muttered in Fear, before slightly trying to steel himself.
"Calm down, Otto...Those are nothing but illusions...I should...I should just keep going..." He said before he slowly walked into the snow-riddled ground.
Not a few minutes later, and he saw the silhouettes of both him and Subaru smiling and laughing together as he passed slowly beside the silhouettes, and the moment he passed beside them, the silhouettes vanished in a short burst of light.
In the next second later, Garfiel EXE, a version of Garfiel that had pale skin and the same eyes as Subaru EXE appeared instantly without warning in front of Otto and proceeded to throw a large boulder at the merchant, only for Otto to jump to the side, dodging the rock. He then picked himself up from being buried in the snow and looked in front of him, only to see that Garfiel EXE was gone, as if he didn't exist to begin with.
He then kept on walking, passing yet another silhouette that showed Otto being completely drunk and Subaru and the other Emilia Camp members laughing at him. The silhouette passed as soon as Otto passed it.
Afterwards, he was forced to dodge a horizontal swing from the sword of Heinkel EXE, who had his skin pale and his eyes with crimson red irises and black sclera, and his sword released a shockwave that blew away the snow behind Otto, but Otto was lucky enough to duck underneath the sword swing, and just like Garfiel EXE, Heinkel EXE was long gone as Otto lifted his head to look forward.
Otto didn't care. He just kept on walking, before his eyes spotted the silhouette of Petra glaring in comical anger at him as she was holding his bottle of wine, with a drunken Otto apologizing for what he was doing. Otto just passed through the illusionary silhouette with dead eyes that were devoid of any signs of life, before the silhouette disappeared just as it appeared.
Afterwards, he gritted his teeth as Frederica EXE appeared instantly in front of him, before blowing a huge bullet of wind from her mouth that resembled a drill, causing Otto to dodge by jumping once again into the snow, but he didn't come out unscathed, as several cuts appeared on his face, arms and legs, drawing blood from said cuts and causing several cuts to appear on his already worn clothes. Frederica EXE vanished just as she appeared right in the moment that Otto lifted his head to look in front of him.
The merchant, still having the same dead eyes, kept on moving forward, before the silhouette of him hugging Shadow with comical tears flowing down his face appeared in front of him, where Shadow opted a comical annoyed expression on his face, with Ram sporting a comical mocking smug laugh as she looked at Otto's pitifulness. The silhouette faded upon Otto passing it, as if he didn't see it to begin with.
Just then, he spotted Petra EXE instantly appearing. The little girl's skin was different, being pale purple in color and her left eye was forcibly closed shut, as if it was beaten to the point that it can no longer open from being swollen badly. Otto, seeing that reanimated little maid was raising her finger, ducked swiftly to dodge a beam of purple light that fired at him, barely missing his head, but ended up grazing the crown of his hair. And if Otto was horrified that he was about to have a hole in his skull, he didn't show it at all as Petra EXE vanished as she appeared by the time he raised his head.
He continued walking, bags appearing underneath his eyes due to having sustained lots of injuries, not to mention the lack of sleep, even though he took some Zs before he continued his journey in Elior Forest. He then spotted another silhouette, which was that of Emilia lying on her butt while being surrounded by countless papers and documents, with Otto trying to help her. Apparently, that was a memory where Emilia wanted to help Otto with his work, only to mess it up for him. Not that he minded with that at that time, and not that he minded about remembering that memory right now as he passed it and it vanished instantly.
He was then forced to jump into the snow yet again in order to dodge an attack from Ram EXE, whose skin was already too pale and her eyes and mouth were sewn shut with what appeared to be a dark purple thread, where her attack was a massive cyclone that placed that of Frederica EXE's to shame as she fired it from her wand, decimating any nearby tree. Otto yanked himself from the cold snow, noticing that Ram EXE vanished just the same as the other EXEs.
He kept on walking, expecting to see another silhouette, but he didn't care about them, as he was already too broken mentally, emotionally and physically to even care about what happened around him. However, the next silhouette caused him to stop with his good eye opened wide in disbelief, and for tears to build in the corner of it.
"Ah..."
It was the silhouette of him and Frederica kissing each other.
The silhouette then faded, revealing another silhouette that proceeded to tear Otto's heart to pieces.
"Thank you for everything"
It was the silhouette of him thanking his parents with something of his handwriting, along with his mother hugging him and him crying for the first time in his life.
"Ah...Ah..."
His face was smiling, but his good eye was flowing with tears. Otto was completely devastated. This was beyond cruel.
He ran away, entering the woods area of the forest, freeing himself from the snow that buried nearly his legs deep within it. He closed his eye, as he was running, and for some reason, there wasn't any trees that hindered him. In fact, it felt like as there were no trees in the forest at all as Otto, who was closing his eye, not caring about his surroundings.
"Ma amazin' self knew it! Yer nothin' butta coward prick!"
Garfiel's voice assaulted his ears, throwing insults at him.
"You're weak. Even weaker than me. Give up"
Heinkel discouraged him to submit.
"Otto-sama. Why did you leave me to die and get violated?"
Petra was cursing him for leaving her to be humiliated.
"As expected of Otto, a pathetic piece of trash you are"
Ram's sarcastic insults, which were always meant in a joking manner, dug into his heart deeper than the bear trap that was trapping his leg in it.
"I thought that you loved me. I can't believe I fell for you"
Frederica's loving voice was now lacing with pure hatred and resentment.
"STOP IT!"
He finally had enough and yelled from the top of his lungs. He then stopped running and opened his good eyes. And what he only saw was pitch darkness, as if Od Laguna had forsaken the entire world and took both the sun and the moon from it.
There, Otto saw a scene that made his eye widen. It was Subaru, but his body appeared to be mangled and was missing both of his eyes, where his eye sockets were oozing what appeared to be blood but it was black in color.
'Subaru' flew towards Otto and stopped just a few inches away from him.
"You left me! You killed me! I'm dead because of you!" 'Subaru' said in a jagged, dead tone.
"That's not true! The real Natsuki-san would never say something like that!" Otto exclaimed in anger at the 'Subaru' that was in front of him.
"You left me! You killed me! I'm dead because of you!" 'Subaru' repeated the same phrase, yet Otto didn't seem to be fazed at all.
"You're just in my head! What's the point of trying to kill me if you just reset the timeline?!" Otto yelled out his question.
Suddenly, the scene changed instantly, as if Od Laguna remembered his beloved world and decided to shed the light once again at it. This time, it was morning, but the sky was riddled with black clouds, threatening to rain.
It seems that the world was realizing the terror happening in it and was responding with its sadness.
Upon witnessing the scene in front of him, Otto later realized that he was already in the borders between Elior Forest and the Sanctuary, with the large green gem that was in that mysterious place was now behind Subaru EXE, who was standing in front of him, replacing where the fake 'Subaru' was.
"What's the matter, Otto? Wanna try this battle again? But be aware. No duplicates, just me..." He said with his face-splitting grin, but his eyes slightly twitched when he saw a glare of fearlessness on Otto's face directed towards him.
"I'm not afraid of you, but I will not fight you as well. I just don't want to give you pleasure" Otto said in Subaru EXE's face, to which the abomination's eyes twitched in annoyance, with his grin starting to break apart.
"Exeller, that's enough"
"?!"
Just then, both Otto and Subaru EXE turned around to see a dark-skinned beautiful woman that was wearing a white shirt, black blazer, black skirts and black high heels. She had emerald, green eyes and dark green long hair that reached to her waist. She floated towards the two and gently landed between Subaru EXE and the large green gem.
"You need to stop talking to your victims sometimes...I already have the Master Emerald" She said, causing Subaru EXE to roll his eyes in annoyance.
"You know that the Master Emerald reduces my power. You're such a coward...Nyarlathotep" Subaru EXE said to the dark-skinned woman, before he grinned at her.
"But I also know that you, as an Information Demon, cannot use Chaos Energy. You can only use Magatsuhi, so you cannot use the Master Emerald" He said.
"But you also know that I can just reset the timeline with merely a finger snap, right? After all, you do realize that I'm one of the strongest gods in the Cthulhu Mythos, right?" Nyralathotep asked with a calm smile on her face, causing Subaru EXE to grit his teeth.
"Back off, Nyralathotep! Let me win already! I killed them all! You cannot ruin my plan! The Prophecy is already fulfilled! The Highests will fall!" Subaru EXE roared in anger.
"Honestly, did you really think that it was all limited to the Highests? You're naiver than I thought, Exeller" The Crawling Chaos said with a scoff.
"W-What are you...?" Subaru EXE trailed in his question, unable to comprehend what the Eldritch Horror was saying.
"Did you honestly think that Atzulith-Lite is aiming to only take down the Highests? He is aiming to something way bigger than that. Something beyond your wildest imagination" Nyarlathotep said with her smile still plastered on her face, to which Subaru EXE responded by a look of confusion. It didn't take him a few seconds before his eyes widened in shock.
For the first time ever since he met that abomination, Otto saw an expression that he never thought that freak could show.
Pure Fear.
"No. This can't be...YOU'RE SHITTING ME! THAT'S INSANE! THAT BASTARD! HE'S AIMING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" Subaru EXE yelled from the top of his lungs at Nyarlathotep, who stood with her calm smile, unflinching.
"Also, I cannot let you do as you please with the holder of my Knowledge. This kid, Subaru Natsuki...Not only that he is destined to be my Nahobino, not only that he is the infamous Sage Flugel, but also...He is...The Second Apex" Nyarlathotep said, causing Subaru EXE's eyes to widen once again and his veins to pop on his forehead.
"By now, I am sure that you already know who's the First Apex. After all, it was you who rendered him comatose by summoning one of the creatures of Death to him" Nyarlathotep said to the now angry sadistic abomination.
"Besides, I do not need to reset the timeline. After all...He will"She said while pointing at Subaru EXE, causing him to opt a confused expression once again. It didn't take a few seconds to pass before a bright white light came out from Subaru EXE's chest.
"W-What?!" The abomination gasped in shock and fury. The light being so bright that it caused Otto to shield his eyes.
"Alice may not be here, but I shall take the matters into my hands because it also concerns me. I will defeat you...And I will assist them from the shadows"
And as she said that, the white light started to engulf everything, before the whole world became white as the last words the echoed with the light were heard by nothing other than oblivion.
"I want them to live..."
Memory Fragment File #02
"Hey, Otto. Why so sad?"
"Hm? Oh. It's nothing, Natsuki-san. Just...Thinking of home"
As Subaru entered Otto's room in the night, completely ignoring the fact that he didn't knock the door, he saw Otto placing a hand on his cheek with his elbow on the desk. He clearly saw the bags underneath his eyes, indicating that he didn't have enough sleep due to work if the huge mountain of documents next to him on the desk was any proof.
But still, it seemed that something was bothering him other than that.
"Are you sad that Petra confiscated all of your alcohol collection? Or from the fact that Ram smashed one of your bottles on your head?" Subaru asked.
"Both are so depressing!" Otto yelled in a comical manner.
"Well, not like something that you can walk off from" Subaru said.
"Are you pitying me?! Or ridiculing me?! Because either way, you're hurting me in the feels!" Otto yelled.
"So, I think that I can conclude that those two matters were not bothering you" Subaru continued speaking.
"And you're not ignoring my agony by changing the subject?!" Otto yelled once again, before sighing in frustration. His expression then turned to a solemn look, his eyes looking down in sadness. Subaru raised an eyebrow at this, before sighing and scratching the back of his head. He then sat on one of the two seats in front of Otto's desk, and looked at him with a serious look.
"Alright. Fess up. What's the big idea with the long face?" Subaru asked causing Otto to sigh one more time, before looking at Subaru in the eye.
"It's just...I miss my family" Otto said causing Subaru to blink at him.
"I always send them letters and they respond to them but...I miss them very much. I want to see them at least once in a year. You could say that I'm homesick" Otto said.
At that, Subaru couldn't help but look at Otto with a concerned expression on his face. He too wanted to see his parents so much, and he believed Natsumi to think the same, but they have yet to find a way to do so. Maybe if he could ask Shadow about it, but every time he tries to ask him, he feels the tension around the guy grow up with each day, probably because of that war that was going to come within three years from now.
Even so...
"Huh. That's it?" Subaru asked Otto.
"What do you mean by 'That's it'?! It's a serious matter for me!" Otto yelled comically.
"Huh. I never thought that you had emotions like that, Otto. I thought that you were nothing but a pitiful, worthless, alcoholic, workaholic, wretched existence" Subaru added.
"You just had to add salte to the wound, right?! Like you have anything better to do!" Otto yelled once again.
"Why of course. You are here to take care of the Emilia Camp's Internal Affairs, Shadow is here to strengthen the Camp, and I'm here to make things even more fun" Subaru said.
"Contribute more!" Otto yelled once more, before his frustration turned to confusion when he saw Subaru chuckle lightly before looking at the ceiling of Otto's room.
"You know...I get what you're saying. I haven't seen my parents for more than a year. I'm pretty sure that they are worried sick about me, but...They already gave me a responsibility to hold before I depart" Subaru said.
"Which is?" Otto asked.
"Natsumi, my little twin sister. When I entered Lugunica, it was really through pure luck that I found her. If I haven't found her there, then I would've went around the entire continent searching for her. I was glad that I found her there, and I will also do anything to meet my parents and reunite with them" Subaru said.
"I see..." Otto muttered with a small smile on his face.
"What I'm trying to say is...Don't ever forget about your family, Otto. Even if you look so pathetic that you could be mistaken for a brothel whore..." Subaru muttered to his friend.
"You really sure know how to ruin the mood!" Otto yelled at the insult, before he sighed with a smile on his face.
"Natsuki-san" He called out to the white-haired boy.
"Yes?" Subaru asked.
"I will visit my parents as soon as I have the right time to do so. So...Thank you" Otto said with a bright smile on his face to his friend, who replied with a grin of his own.
"No problem, bro! Just call me whenever you feel like you're a pathetic rotten egg!" He exclaimed with a thumbs-up.
"You really know how to ruin the mood, don't you?!" Otto yelled at him, as the night passed with their friendly squabble.
Memory Fragment File #02: End
And Done!
Wow! The first Solo Ending of the horror story! And featuring Otto as the first one!
I know that I went through the same timeline of the original game, but I tweaked a little bit of it with the scenes and the speech to give it more...Uniquness.
Also, I know that you guys will find it disgusting with the Ryona scene that I included regarding Petra, but I had to place something from my imagination that would bring out humiliation and suffering to the cast, so here it was. Please forgive me if it sounded revolting.
Also, a quick heads up to Reaper10398. The guy is amazing because of his support. Sadly, however, it wasn't Rem that was targeted. It was Ram instead, and I will also bring out why she and the others (Shaula, Beatrice and Meili) were not attacked by Exeller in the next chapters.
And to reply to Reaper 10398's comments, Exeller is not possessing Subaru. This story takes place after the original SoH and WoS, taking place due to Shadow entering the Re:Zero World, and yes, it will be mostly the same as the original games, but as I previously said, it will have more...Uniquness.
Finally, I would love if you guys supported me with your comments. Reaper10398 is supporting me with his comments, so I would love if you told me about your opinions to the story.
Next Chapter: Round 2. Ending 2: The Scar of The Tiger.
Until Next Time And Next Chapter!
Jude Warble, Out.