"Huh?!"

"Baru?...Baru?!" A voice came. Oh, I know this voice.

I looked at the person who was calling me. The silver haired girl with amethyst eyes looked at me with concern.

I couldn't speak a word. Just then a cold hand touched my face.

"Huh?! Emilia-tan, what happened?" I asked now as I fully got aware of my surroundings.

"You zoned out for a moment, is there something a problem?"

"No, I am okay. It's just maybe it's due to fatigue." I tried to explain.

"If that's the problem, then you should rest at the inn. We can explore the capital tomorrow." Emilia said as she put her hand on my cheeks. I could feel the coldness of her hand, and it soothed me.

"Thanks Emilia-tan, but it's okay. I should rest here for a bit, then I'll be okay. Don't worry too much."

"You sure? Wanna rest on my lap?" Emilia said with a small smile.

"No, no, no I am fine and I didn't even do a single thing to get your lap pillow."

"Fine but don't hesitate to tell me if something is bothering you." Emilia-tan said.

"Thanks. I appreciate it a lot, Emilia-tan." I said with a small smile.

So, I am back huh? Wait, I am back? Oh my hand is back too. I immediately clutched my hand to see if it was real. Yes, I am actually back. WAIT!

'Kuro! You there?!'

'Yeah, I am here as always. Why are you acting like something would happen to me?' Kuro said in a calm demeanor. You liars.

'Phoenix and Gaia?!' I asked in a desperate tone.

'Present, what happened buddy? Don't worry we'll always be here.' You traitors.

Thank Buddha! They are alive. Yes they are alive.

"Ahh! Truly amazing, that's some fighting skill you got, I hadn't felt this for a while!" 'I will die in this fight anyway. We are gonna use it, it's the only trump card I can think of now. ' 'Subaru, I, Phoenix and Gaia will handle her. You should escape.' 'The same mistake which occurred a year ago. I did it again. Because of my foolishness, I let them die. When will I stop being useless?! When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When? When?'

"Subaru! Subaru!" Someone pulled me back and forth.

"Huh?! What happened?!" I asked. It was Emilia.

"Subaru, you were sweating profusely. The look on your face told you that you were in fear. We should immediately head to the healer if anything's wrong."

"Ahh, it's the sun, I guess. Man, it's so hot today!" I said as I wiped off the sweat.

"Subaru, you're fooling no one. I know you are lying. Something is definitely wrong. Please, tell me. You can't do everything else. I'll help as much as possible." Dropping the nickname.

"Hm, maybe you're right. I should take some rest. Let's head to the mansion. We will come to the capital some other day." I said with a smile.

"Subaru, it's due to the person that's following us right?" Emilia asked, getting to the point.

"Yeah, it is. But Emilia-tan, I am in no shape to fight or handle them. So let's just run away for now." I pleaded.

I don't wanna lose anyone else, my spirits or Emilia-tan. Sorry Plum, I hope someone kind enough will help you, Felt, I will come later when it's safe enough. So survive till then.

"Emilia-tan let's hurry then. We should get going as fast as possible" I said and grabbed Emilia's hand and started hurrying.

Deep down, I knew she won't and I was pretty much sacrificing her for it but do I have any choice? I don't want any more deaths of my beloved friends and people…I don't wanna die. If I die again then there's no chance that I may survive or not. Sometimes, it's okay to be selfish, right? It's okay to run away…right?

"Subaru, we don't need to rush that much. "

"What if she attacks in the middle?" I retorted.

"How do you know that the person who is following us is a female?" Emilia asked clearly in doubt. Ahh, I revealed it in a rush.

"It's due to my spirits. I'll get Garet and others to distract her."

"If anything happens, then Puck and Kuro can fight, it's okay."

"What if someone dies in the middle of a crossfire or she takes someone hostage?"

"What's wrong, Subaru?" Emilia finally came to a stop. I let go of her hand.

"Why are you acting so strange.. So scared? What's the matter? Why are you so bothered by a follower?"

"Emilia-tan, please. Please just listen to me. I will explain everything when things have calmed down. But not now. Please." That time my eyes were weary. Tired of everything.

"...fine, but you better have a proper explanation."

"Yeah thanks." I said with a small smile that I mustered.

'Garet and Ivan, you distract the black woman. Mia and Aqua, you will distract the blonde thief and try to make her head towards knight station. Neptune, try to bring Julius quickly.'

We headed towards the stables where the carriage was put as fast as possible. I had already contacted Ram to meet me there. I just want to escape this place as fast as possible


'So….Baru, why were you being so scared?' Gaia asked.

'Just consider a vision from a future or a premonition. I don't know but what I saw, felt. It truly terrified me.'

'So now you're having premonitions huh?' Kuro said.

'Don't know. I don't want to let that happen.'

'So are you feeling any better?'

'No, the more the time is passing, the more grim thoughts are appearing. It's becoming worse.'

'Well, considering you sent a spirit to Julius for help. I think we all five can handle whoever it is.'

'No, everyone. I don't think so. She is the bowel hunter. '

'Isn't that actually good for us? If we defeat and capture it alive or dead. Our reputation will increase even before the election starts.'

'Remember what I said about the vision? It will just be a massacre. I don't want any conflict now. Our main priority is to survive and return home safely without any casualties.'

'Subaru, you have been worrying a lot. Seriously, don't worry that much. I will fight to my fullest to help you survive. Even if it-

'NO!... don't say it. Please.'

'...fine.'

Silence ensued after. I hurried to my footing. Bumping into many people but paying them no heed. The bustling crowd had become nothing. The pictures of me fighting Elsa emerged and disappeared. My thinking was being hampered. Still I kept moving forward.

If a fight emerges then? The thing that you're so much fearing may happen soon. What will you do Subaru? You would try to analyse Elsa's fighting tactics and die? Shut up.

You would Reset? There's a chance that you may actually die this time. What would you do? You got a new chance and it's ending soon. Shut up. I don't want to listen.

You are doomed. Just how would you get out of this. S-U-B-A-R-U.

I SAID SHUT UP!

and then suddenly that moment came that I was fearing all along.

'Kuro.'

'Roger.'

"CLANGG!"

The crowd panicked. Everyone started to run around. In some seconds, a violet silhouette was seen. It was Kuro, he had moved his katanas so fast that only a silhouette was seen. He had gotten fully serious from the start.

"KLANG!"

It was way louder than the blocked attack. Anybody could understand that Kuro had used his maximum power.

She was here. The same clothes, the same person it was Elsa. This meant that Garet and Ivan were only able to buy this much time.

No way. No way. No way. No way. No way No way. No way. No way. No way. No way. No way! How the hell did she appear so fast?! What should I do?!

Of course the answer was so obvious. Get ready to fight.

'Subaru!? '

Will we be able to win? Hell, is it even possible to survive before backup?!

I was subconsciously forming my minya gauntlets and boots along with my minya dagger.

"Etch."

A sudden pain occurred on my hand. My hand had gotten a bit frozen.

'Yes, you finally snapped out of your thoughts.' Emilia said.

Kuro and Emilia were attacking Elsa but she was easily dodging and blocking their attacks. The cover fire from Puck was not helping much either.

Come on, Subaru. No time to waste. Now just fight and survive. With these thoughts, I dashed and entered the fight.

"Ara, you finally decided to fight. I thought you didn't know how to fight." Elsa said with a grin.

I tried to land a slash on her neck. She quickly dodged, I landed a kick on her knee in an attempt to disbalance her. Emilia and Kuro also didn't let the chance slip by and also went for an attack.

Elsa quickly used her disbalanced leg to step on my knee and turned 180° to get maximum force and land an attack on Emilia. She quickly reacted and blocked the attack. While Kuro didn't let the opportunity slip by and quickly stabbed both his katanas on her back. Elsa quickly went back and increased the distance between us.

Elsa went to attack from the back but before it could happen, barrage of ice crystals had been fired killing her.

"Thanks for buying me time, Subaru." Puck said as he gave a thumbs up.

'No, she isn't dead yet. Everyone stay alert.'

'Huh?!' Everyone reacted at the same time.

'Yeah, she won't be dying anytime soon even after many fatal hits. She will appear out of nowhere. So be alert.

Everyone agreed except Puck.

'But how do you know that?' He said with eyes of suspicion.

' I don't have much time to explain, I will do it later. For now, just be prepared.'

Fine came a reply.

And then she appeared, fully going into stealth mode. Before I could even react and turn around, the sound of someone getting stabbed came.

Before she could even reach the fighting range, Kuro had stabbed right through her head, completely stopping her in her tracks.

'Hah, that was some hard work.'

'Great job kuro, but don't be distracted by it.'

'Emilia-tan, we are going to head towards the knights barrack for help. If we reach there or back-up arrives, I think she will retreat.

I don't know how many times you've to kill the bowel hunter. So the best thing to do is to reach the barracks while also fighting.'

I sometimes do get ideas in critical moments, huh? Never thought about that.

'Ok'

"You should have some talk with me too. it's not fair to leave me behind."

Ok, let's use all the tactics that we used during the first fight. We will kill her as many times as possible and use the 15 second time duration to escape as fast as possible….but she would definitely realise after some deaths what I am trying to do. If she fought seriously like before, would we even have a chance?

If Puck or the main players die, would we be able to do anything to survive?

Doubts had again started surfacing again.

I pinched my cheek to remove the thoughts and to focus on the current situation.

Kuro had already started firing minya crystals, but Elsa was quickly dodging those as she maneuvered through the shops as well as walls.

"Goa." I muttered and casted a fireball, which nearly hit her but Emilia was able to hit one on her arm which healed in some time.

I again casted a fireball, and before it reached the target, I casted another spell.

"Dona."

Elsa quickly dodged it but tripped as the ground below her deformed. Emilia didn't let the chance let by and appeared behind her to slash her by the waist.

Elsa quickly used that exact speed to counter it but her blade was broken due to the force and her arm split in two and landed a kick on Emilia which she blocked using her arm and increased the distance of sword range between two by punching her in the abdomen. Emila had gotten a cut on her arm, not much serious but blood had started coming out rapidly.

'Emilia!' I dashed and used the spell to give me a boost during the jump and attacked her from above, fully intending to cut her head like Kuro did before. While Kuro attacked from Sides by using Ul minya.

Elsa used her fast speed to dodge and land a slash to cut my arm. I was able to react quickly and changed my trajectory of my hand. She was still able to slice a bit of my left hand's skin. I shouldn't say a bit since, she had pretty much peeled my skin.

"Ack!"

I managed to fight back the pain and tried landing a kick, Elsa quickly unbalanced me and gave me an elbow hit on my jaw, and kicked me with enough force that I was thrown in one of the shops.

"Aghh!" Blood started coming out of my mouth. Aqua and Mia's healing helped a bit and my peeled off hand had gotten a frozen layer.

How the hell did I get so weak as well as slow reaction time? Hell? Where is Kuro? He would have easily used that opportunity to attack her.

The murak spell wasn't deactivated and neither any attack came from Kuro and Puck…. Is he dead? No, no. I can feel the contract. it's still there, so why can't I communicate with him?

I tried to stand up but quickly fell back for some reason.

'Subaru, your left leg isn't responding properly.'

'Yeah, something is definitely wrong.'

The healing has also slowed down a bit.

"First I will see how your bowels are. You sly spirit user. " Elsa said as she removed another blade out of nowhere and licked her lips.

Come on, come on! Stand up.

I managed to stand up in spite of the pain. By forming a minya layer on it and helping me to stand. I readied my blade again

"We'll see 'Pant' about that." Wiping the blood from my mouth.

Elsa took her fighting stance. Before I or she could take a move. A white silhouette appeared and Elsa's head was ripped off. The body fell down.

I watched the person who had done it.

"Sorry, I got a bit late."

"It's okay."

"How's your wound? Should I heal it?"

"Tis, just a scratch", I said with a grin. I didn't know how I was able to say that. It was Emilia.

"What about you?" I asked

"It's okay, I've healed enough that I can fight again."

"Emilia-tan, let's start moving."

"Yeah."

We moved as fast as we could.

Elsa emerged again and was ready to surprise attack us. Kuro landed a side slash without sparing a second, stabbed his second katana right through her chest.

"Ya alright?"

"Where the hell were you?!" I asked.

"Sorry, it seems that something is blocking my ability to work."

"Huhh?!"

"Yeah, Baru. Puck's communications and powers were also blocked for some minutes."

We continued moving as I processed my thoughts.

What would it be? Some kind of metia? Just how many cards does this person have against me?

No wonder, none of the five strongest spirits were able to do much.

A blade was thrown at me from behind but Mia was able to form a huma shield in time.

Emilia suddenly fell but I was able to catch her midtracks.

"Well, this time I am leaving but I will return to see your bowels." Elsa said as she stood over a rooftop

"Huhh?" Why was she leaving now? Have we won? But my happiness was stopped in mid tracks with words that came out of her mouth, afterwards.

"Save your lady as soon as possible, Devil."

I looked over to Emilia. She had already started to vomit blood.

"Emilia! What happened?!"

I quickly started the healing spell.

'ALL WATER SPIRITS STOP ALL MY HEALING AND HELP ME HEAL HER!'

"Emilia! Stay with me!"

"Su-baru, it seems I don't think I'll make it." She muttered.

"Hell are you saying?! I won't let anything happen to you!"

"It's okay, stop healing."

'Subaru, her pulse is getting slow!'

"No, no, no ,no! Don't leave me Emilia! Please, everything will be fine." Before I could even realise, tears had started gushing out. I couldn't see Emilia in such a state

"Everyone! Do something. Please help me. Please, I beg you." I sobbed. Trying to heal her as best as I can.

"Su-baru, I am sorry." Emilia said as she kept her cold hand on my cheek. I kept her close. Her voice was low and eyes were slowly closing.

Her hand fell, staining the cheek with her fingers.

Please work, please work. Please work. Please work. Please!

'Subaru….. she's dead.'

'...hell are you saying?!'

I quickly formed my minya blade

I looked at it. Wondering if this was truly the end.

and stabbed right through my throat.

Nothing happened, I didn't die. The magic was casted off and the blade had disappeared.

'Why? Why are you stopping me now Kuro?'

'I can't. I can't let you die.' Kuro said in a low voice.

'The hell you mean you can't?! You didn't help when needed?! And now you won't even let me die!'

'I..I am sorry.'

'You, Puck and y'all were just useless!'

Just….just let me die, Kuro, please. I can't leave without her. Please, there was only one reason that I could live in this world. Now it's gone. Please. I failed you, Emilia and y'all. I let you, Gaia and Phoenix die, I let them die., I was a bad spirit contractor. I let Emilia die.

' We are as equally responsible as you Subaru, we are sorry. But, we can't let you just die because of our terms.'

'THE HELL WITH YOUR CONTRACT TERMS! IF THIS IS STOPPING ME THEN I AM BREAKING THE CONTRACT WITH YOU ALL!'

' Doesn't that mean you are just the same as Puck aren't you. If you die, the world will end. And now you are just acting like him. What's the difference between you and him then huh?! Did you really risk your life and all that shit for just to act like him?!'

Yeah, it really does.

'But what can I do now? Tell me?'

'Please don't make that face, Subaru.'

'I am sorry for it. I am fully responsible for it. Please let me die. Kuro, there's a way I can fix it.'

'It's not a way to fix problems by dying, Subaru. It's called running away.'

'Fine.'

Oh yeah, maybe the blue can help. Yes, yes yes. He can help me. He's the best healer right?!

I lifted her in a bridal carry and started walking towards the place where I could find him.

Is this how it felt to Emilia when I first died? I am sorry.

My mind had gone blank. I just kept walking.

I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry.

With each step, I took. I am sorry, came out. Nobody said anything. Silence was only there. I wasn't even scared of it now. 'I am sorry' was the only thing that would be heard from time to time. How much have I walked? I don't know. When will it stop? I don't know.

Tears had run dry. My eyes were as dead as a zombie. It wouldn't have been wrong if anyone assumed I was dead.

I felt a cold breeze go by, reminding me of Elior forest. How calm it was, just as calm as today.


After some time, I saw that black figure again. It was Elsa, she was bruised then before, as if someone had attacked very badly. Her torn clothes and blood clearly showed that. She looked at me with disgust in her eyes.

The light awakened again in my dead eyes, this time it was hatred.

"EL-EL-ELSAAAA!" With just a flick of my hand.

"ZIPP!"

Ten thousands of needle sized holes had been formed all over her body. It was as if ten of thousands of needles had struck her with such great speed that they had exited the body from the other side. Blood started coming out like crazy. It was like a fountain of blood had been created.

She was killed in an instant.

There was a tinge of satisfaction in me. I didn't smiled but i could feel it.

And then a sound came.

"SWISHHH!"

The next thing I could see was me on the ground. I could see my body holding Emilia, it knelt down and revealed that it was without a head. I had been beheaded.

I could see the face of Emilia.

I could only mutter with the last bit of strength and whatever I could. " I am sorry."

As my head started to turn off, I could hear footsteps of someone. And then a familiar voice was heard.

"I am sorry, I couldn't do anything Barusu and Emilia-sama."

And my life ended.


"Baru?...Baru?"

The silver haired boy suddenly fell on the ground as the silver hair girl touched his shoulder.

"Hahahahahaha, everything is pointless. I am just doomed. Hahahahahah. There is no way out."


AN: Sorry, it got a bit late but I was depressed a bit after watching Evangelion. This chapter as well as Evangelion were major reasons for not being able to write. Well the next chapter will come out next week on the same day. I've written 3 chapters, so no problem in releasing those. I don't know ahead of that. Maybe I'll do the same.

And yeah if you haven't realised then let me tell you this fic is a bit action based (quite inspired by Summertime Rendering) but I won't forget the dialogues. I have realised that writing wholesome moments rather than action is fun tho. But anyways thanks for reading. Give some review if you like, it motivates me a lot. Hope you have a good day. Peace.