AN: Hey back at it again! Now we swing Arc 4 into high gear!

Had to think of a theme song for this one, but I think the song, "This Is My War" by Five Finger Death Punch, works well. In my head it would feature civilian points of view of the coming battles and of Subaru looking unsure throughout the opening, before seeing a single Witch Cultist and giving into his rage, as four red rings zip by him and then straight at the camera!

As for my opinion on Capella's appearance, which was recently revealed...I'm okay with it.

OH, and ALL HAIL ENRI EMMOT! THE HONORABLE COMMANDER OF GOBLINS!...Yes, I loved the new Overlord episode.

Also I heard fellow fanfic writer 502nickster is about to be enlisted in the army, so wish him luck!

Anyways, enough goofin' off, right?!

ENJOY!

Arc Four: A Time to Rise

Chapter 17: An Optimal Solution

Beatrice sat there, looking at the hot table made specifically for this treat they were about to have.

"What is this called again, I suppose?"
"Okonomiyaki, that's what I heard the waitress call it."

Ovidius used his hand to feel the heat generated on the black surface of the table and seemed genuinely intrigued...while Genau tilted his head.

"Sssso it'ssss called Chrono Sssssake."
"Nope. Not even close to what I just said."

As the ingredients were coming along, the others there, simply stared nervously at these five. The Lewes Clone sat there staring at the ingredients, as Beatrice handed her a napkin. Genau sat patiently, even with his wagging tail proving otherwise. Rem sat as an elegant maid would, showing grace even with this atmosphere.

Crusch then tapped her hand on her chin.

"Ovidius Loman."
"Hm?"
"Why exactly are you here, other than ruining the good mood settled here?"
"Wow, such stark words, you do make a great politician."
"Please don't insult me."
"Don't need to, Natsuki-san has the pleasure for that."

Ferris frowned at him, making Genau stick his tongue out at her.

"Genau, please have manners."
"Mannersss?"
"Yes, please for goodness sake."
"Oh, like how it'sssss inappropriate to talk about sssssex in the dinning room?"
"YES! God, why did we teach about that? What a blunder on my part."
"Is thissss alsssso like how sssssome people get mad when I follow them to the bathroom?"
"Not some, ALL! Anybody would get mad if you tried to follow them to the toilet!"
"...Humanssss are ssssso ssssensitive."

Ovidius held his head in complete annoyance as Genau snuck a chomp on some whole eggs, chewing eagerly.

Beatrice tiredly pinched her brows, having a horrid moment flash in her mind; of the time Genau stupidly followed Ram into the showers only to be chased around by a towel wrapped Ram for several minutes in response.

But she giggled along with Rem, when they also recalled how Genau was forced to eat nothing but vegetables for his midnight snack as punishment.

Felt then did the unthinkable...she walked over to be next to Genau. The other two candidates were fearful as they saw Felt reach out her hand. Anastasia felt like she was about to witness her hand get ripped off in a grisly fashion, as Ferris was ready to heal just-

"Hey ya big guy, how's it going?"
"Ah, Ssssister Felt. Not bad."

Felt scratched his chin, making the Wolgarm smile and wag his tail further. Reinhard seemed calm and composed as Ferris had to ask him from across the table.

"Is she gonnya be alright?!"
"Sure, Genau has taken a liking to her these past couple of months."
"They've visited nyou?!"
"Mostly Genau. He shows up to get snacks and chase around the Ground Dragons we have."
"A bloodthirsty beast like him? Really?"
"Genau may be vicious in battle, but when he becomes friendly with someone, he is a reliable ally."

Crusch raised her brows, and glanced at Genau...but for a split second, she could've sworn she saw him sneering at her...but blinked, and only saw his goofy grin as Felt continued to scratch his chin.

And accordingly, as the servants and hostesses...too afraid to throw out the Red Lantern Recon Group, allowed them to stay. So they learned how to craft these custom pancakes of sorts, Crusch laughing along with Ferris, Anastasia hand feeding Mimi her portion, Felt inelegantly chomping down on hers, Reinhard nervously smirking at her...but stopped as he noticed Wilhelm simply sitting there, not really eating.

"Grandfather, is everything alright."
"Things are fine as they should be Reinhard."
"It doesn't look that way."
"...Nothing to be concerned with, I can assure you."

Continuing his downtrodden gaze, Reinhard could only look back to his dish, feeling a little down himself.

Julius and Joshua were enjoying their own portions, when both glanced over and saw a hideous pile of food...Genau had crafted his own monstrosity of a portion, that looked unbelievable.

Even Ovidius and Beatrice were sliding away from the sight. Rem let out an exhausted sigh, and the Lewes Clone stared unemotionally.

"Lewessss clone! Come and have ssssome!"
"...Very...Well…"

The two of them began to eat to their heart's content.

But seeing the almost ghastly sight of Genau and Sagittarius eating this man made mountain, which made everyone lose their appetites. So the day carried on...

"How are you still eating, I suppose?!"
"The food here issss way too good to passss up!"
"That's, not exactly an appropriate excuse you know?"

The recon team had decided to leave the inn where the other Royal Candidates were in, mainly because other Felt's group, who were already accustomed to seeing them, the others gathered there were obviously tense about their presence.

So now they kept their promise to Beatrice and were taking a full day to explore the city. Beatrice was stunned by the architecture of this city, a true work of human ingenuity. She stared up at the towers, marveled at the sweets they had for sale and pointed to the river ways that connected into the city.

Ovidius was intrigued by the vast majority of tools and jewelry for sale, bought gems for experiment purposes and even chatted with a fellow inventor; as Genau and the Lewes Clone chased around a butterfly.

Rem marveled at the different shops everywhere, used some money to buy herself souvenirs for the others back home...specifically a bunch of stuff for Subaru. She also did her best not to get too angry at men who were gawking at her, but nevertheless was enthrallled when she saw birds fly in the sky so beautifully.

The Lewes Clone, was dead quiet, but seemed to stare at the flowers being sold in their specialty shops. Thus, Beatrice bought one, a golden flower and placed it in her hair. It was a cute sight, and she brought up the idea of doing this with the other clones to differentiate them better.

Genau would sniff around, frightening everyone with a heart that could still feel fear. Yet it was the food vendors that were quite smitten with the Wolgarm, who used his given allowance to buy tons of products for himself. Chomping away at cotton candy, turkey legs, pasta and even fruit tarts. No one could guess where all that food went, but it was a sight to behold, as he ate enough food for a family of six. He even barked at and eventually tried to pick a fight with a Water Dragon, having Ovidius and Beatrice stop him before things got out of hands.

As the sun was slowly slipping down, and the sky started to turn an orange hue, the Recon group laid back on a bench in the park.

"So Rem, how has this city been?"
"Ovidius-sama, this is the most amazing sight Rem has seen in awhile!"
"Oh? Didn't Natsuki-san take you on a trip to the mountains at the Barielle Territory?"
"Um, that was…"

Rem blushed madly remembering the starlit night they hung out, overlooking a lush forest, fireflies dancing around them.

"But still, onto the task at hand."
"...Rem confirms Subaru-kun's suspicions."

Beatrice rubbed Genau's ears, but not without a grave expression.

"This city is crawling with Cultists, I suppose."
"The blood I got from Natsuki-san also helps me smell the stench, and in individual places, the smell permeates significantly."
"Should we act on it?"

Surprisingly, it Genau who said otherwise.

"Tomorrow, Ssssister Rem and Beatrice, you two go back home, once there, tell Brother Ssssubaru about it, he'll join usssss."
"But Genau, we can-"
"-Rem."

Rem was quite surprised to hear say her name without his usual honorifics.

"If anything, I would love it if the two of you aided in the attack. But we both know HE would never allow it, not after what happened lasssst year."
"...Rem doesn't want to be a burden."
"Nobody would ever think that."

"...Rem is not so sure."

Her quiet tone, made Ovidius shake his head.

"Rem-chan. This is something you have to understand. Natsuki-san has no intention of having you or Emilia-san stepping foot into a battlefield, because he cares about you. Too much."
"...Rem knows. She wants to do her part though."
"Then please listen, and stay safe, if something happens to you, Natsuki-san, could easily lose it."
"...Rem is that important to him?"
"Yes, it's almost ridiculous."

Rem could easily smile hearing that, and finally agreed.

So they all began to move out but saw a face they seemed to recognize.

"Liliana-sama?"
"Ah, the Maid from the Roswaal mansion?! How ya doin'?!"

There, a small petite tanned girl with golden hair jumped in joy.

"It's been way too long, so how's everyone?"
"Busy, if you haven't heard the stories of Subaru-kun's exploits, but I'm sure you have."
"Duh! Of course! I've been meaning to meet him so I could I sing his story."

Ovidius squatted down and met eye to eye with her, even if he had his helmet on.

"So the famous minstrell is this little girl."
"As if! I ain't a kid, I'm twenty two ya know?"
"...Wow, the aging here seems all wrong. I know some people in jail who would love you."
"W-What do you mean by that?"
"Uh, nothin' forget it."

He whistled the mean spirited comment away, as Liliana tilted her head. Genau seemed to not believe that Liliana was telling the truth.

"Ssssso you're an adult girl?"
"Wow! So it is true! A wolgarm that can talk?! That's crazy cool! Scary as hell! BUT COOL!"
"Um, thank you?"
"Soooooo, like, you don't believe me? A pretty girl like me is suspected of lying, I could just cry from such a thing!"
"I don't fully trusssst ya, so there is only one way to prove it!"

Genau nodded as sharpened his eyes, a twinkle shined.

"Take off your pantssss."
"WHAT THE FUCK GENAU!?"

The voice of reasoning, Ovidius, smacked him across the back of the head...still seeming to not get through to him.

"What?! If we do thissss we can find out if sssshe really issss a girl. An adult one too!"
"We don't need to! None! No reasoning whatsoever for this assessment!"
"...I wasssss jusssst curioussss."
"About what?!"
"...If ssssshe hasss a pe-"
"-GOOD LORD MAN! Don't say it in public!"
"...Again, humansss are ssssoooo delicate."
"My head hurts."

Ovidius held his head, hanging it low as well, with Beatrice and Rem scolding Genau. Liliana seemed to enjoy the comedic timing as Ovidius held his head in regret, Rem could only hopelessly apologize profusely.

After promising to make an interview happen at some point in the future, Ovidius decided to follow her just to speak with a man named Kiritaka Muse about a few personal things.

"Okay, everyone rent a nice hotel and rest for the day. Tomorrow, Beatrice and Rem will head back home and we'll begin the assault operations."
"Will it be that easy, I suppose?"
"I mean, I'm hoping it does, but these things can run into so many factors."
"An obstacle could always appear, I suppose."

Ovidius nodded, waved and walked alongside Liliana to her destination.

Rem and the others made their way as well...having to drag Genau away from food vendors in the process.

Minutes later, Liliana stepped out of the Muse Trading Company Headquarters, as if the weight of the world was lifted from her shoulders.

"I cannot believe you got him to agree!"
"Yup, with this, you can leave the city. He won't be bothering you anymore."

The minstrel hopped over to him, glad she brought him along. For a while the traveling songstress was held from doing her usual journeying due to the influence of Kiritaka and his obsession with her. This was something Subaru and co., had to deal with a year ago when they first met this girl. And once again, it was their group that settled the matter. Differently, though.

"You didn't come out empty handed either, right?"
"Not at all! This high purity crystal stone I was able to snag, should come in handy!"

In his hand he held quite the crystal, shining aqua blue in his palm and so he pocketed it and tapped his mask as a gesture.

"We also had him give the Red Lantern Corps access to financial backing, so with this and the Roswaal allowance, we have quite the savings."
"Super cool of you guys! But was it necessary to threaten him so much? It scared me too."

She asked this timidly, but Ovidius squatted down to speak with her.

"Of course, most of it was just over exaggeration, but in the end, he can't claim ownership of a cute girl like you, right?"
"R-Right. Y-Yeah! He doesn't have to do that if he likes me!"
"Nope, if you love someone, you should know when to be next to them, and when to give them their personal space."
"...Is that so? Never thought of it that way."
"Yes, now if you'll excuse me, it's late and I need to get going. Let me fly you to a place for the night."
"I've never really flown before, sounds exciting! I'm in!"

Ovidius lifted her with his ring's energy and the two of them went up into the air, etting the starry sky twinkle above them.

After a few minutes, they landed safely at the front of a inn, and the two said their goodbyes.

"Goodnight Liliana-san."
"Um, listen...uh, Ovidius right?"
"Yes?"
"Y-You can just call me Liliana."

Her face looked up at him, so innocently bashful like, that even he had flinched for a moment.

"Uh, okay, ahem. Goodnight Liliana."
"'Night Ovidius."

The Red Lantern flew up into the air, not seeing the beet face Liliana had, before she shook her head and dashed into the inn.

That night, she practiced singing a melody about two people dancing in the star filled sky, it bothered no one in that inn.

In the middle of the night, as everyone else in the city slumbered away, Genau and Ovidius were on the surface of the moon, looking out towards the direction where Priestella would be.

"Brother Ovidiusss, sssshould we discuss the optimal ssssolution?"
"Maybe not, I don't know how Natsuki-san would feel about it."
"But it would save usssss time and energy!"
"I know that, it'd just be as easy of a task as any other."
"Then let'ssss do it!"

Genau hopped over glaring up at Ovidius.

"We get that Liliana girl and Ssssister Felt'sssss camp out of there...and then we-"
"-Summon the Lewes Clone; Prometheus?"
"Yessss! We have her use her gear to self destruct! That way-"
"-The Witch's Cult won't be able to escape the blast radius."
"Kill two birdssss with one sssstone, right?"
"...True, we'd be rid of the Witch's Cult and the other final candidates. Losing them would make it a race between Emilia-san and Felt-chan. We can also view Priestella as simple collateral damage in our final battle, maybe even use this rubble ladden terrain and such, for experiments."
"Then we-"
"-Can't. Simply put, Natsuki-san would probably only want to use that as a last resort. Adding to that, the Sin Archbishops have different Authorities. Who's to say that some of them have abilities that could protect them from even an attack like that?"
"Could ssssomeone other than ussss ssssurvive that?"
"The blast radius is well at sixty miles, and the shockwaves go a further eleven miles, I can think of maybe just Reinhard surviving."
"...Sssso we are not going through with it?"
"...Only if things go south. Should the need arise we'll have the city demolished."
"After that, it'ssss jusssst a ssssimple mop up operation, right?"
"Correct. But again, only as a last resort."
"Exactly."

The two finished their talks and flew off the moon, leaving behind only their footprints.

The morning was here, and Rem along with Beatrice were at the outside of the hotel they stayed at.

"We'll inform Subaru-kun on the situation here."

"Great, that'd be a big help."
"Now, please take care you two. Good luck on your battle."
"No worries, we're gonna make this look easy."

Genau smiled and nodded intensely.

"We'll finish thissss in a flasssh. Don't worry Rem!"
"O-Okay."

Rem bowed, giving them some hopeful respect in their coming fight.

"Genau, don't cause to much trouble, I suppose."
"Hey, I'm a humble Wolgarm, who alwaysss thinkssss with hissss head."
"...Hah, you lovable fool."

She hugged his head, making him nuzzle to her.

Thus after summoning a blood portal, the two walked through it, giving one last glance at the remaining three. They simply waved them goodbye.

Once closed, those three waited there, as patient as they could.

Rem and Beatrice, stood alongside Emilia, Ram and Roswaal.

Sitting in a chair, Subaru scratched his cheek, absorbing the information given to him. He quickly got up and stared at them.

"Good work Rem, Beatrice. I knew I could count on you."
"Your words are too much Subaru-kun."
"Not enough in this case."

Rem blushed and Beatrice made a flamboyant smile.

"Okay, with this, I'll be heading there, right now."

"..."
"If I don't come back within the next day, have defenses engaged to their absolute limit. Everyone needs to ensure Emilia's safety. I'm counting on you all."

Subaru then floated into the air, gazing at a worried Emilia and concerned Rem in particular.

"I'll be back soon. Gonna set things right, you'll see."

A soft smile from him, comforted them.

He then jetted out of the room and straight through the main door, flying away at amazing speed, leaving a red streak of light behind him.

Emilia then began whispering to Rem.

"Did you learn anything?"
"Rem asked all the experts she could find. Appraisers, magic scholars and even gem crafters; none of them knew about the Red Ring."
"...We have to keep trying."
"Yes, Subaru-kun...once he gets rid of the Witch's Cult, he won't need the ring anymore. We need to find a way to be rid of it."
"If not…"

The images of the sharp teeth and smile of Atrocitus and the tail and fangs of Dex-Starr flashed across her thoughts.

"I don't want him ending up like that."

Subaru finally landed on a the balcony for one of the walls that surrounded this Watergate City. He saw clearly that waterways ran all across these lands with hardly any roads to speak of. To call this a marvel of human ingenuity, would be an understatement.

Still…

"The vision…"

The vision of fire and smoke sparked in his head, and he knew this city would soon be caught in the middle of their war.

"Natsuki-san."
"Hey, thanks for meeting with me."

Ovidius and Genau soon landed on the very same rooftop, all three of them looking down at the bustling city, birds flying over them.

"Have we any info?"
"Well, it seems in a avenue that way to the east, there is some sort of commotion going on."
"A Sin Archbishop?"
"Looks to be the case."

Thusly this leader rubbed his eyes, as if to prepare for the coming decision to be made or just to personally push himself on.

"Split up."
"Individually?"
"Yup. Ovidius head to the commotion, Genau sniff out another potential target, I'll go and check out something suspicious near City Hall."
"Got it."

Genau also nodded to this plan.

"If by any chance they have an army with them, which I have no doubts they would...use the Bombshell tactic, but make sure the meteors are concentrated."
"Got it."
"Sagittarius is-?"
"-She'sssss been sssssent to a target ssssuspected to be a Sin Archbishop...sssshe'll give him a test before I strike."

The Red Lanterns flew up, all looking at each other for a moment, before flying to different directions.

The Lewes Clone sat crouched atop of a roof with a balcony, with a long staff, with a glass lens in the front of it. Staring down the glass lens, she saw from a ridiculous mile and half away, a white haired man in a long white outfit, his eyes golden as they glanced around uninterested.

He stopped, before pondering something, and turned around, back the opposite direction.

Seeing her moment, she fired.

The beam traveled far, before impacting the back of his head and slamming him face first to the ground, cracking the ground immensely. She let him have it and pummeled him with more and more firepower. Nearby civilians ducked in cover and others just ran for it, as the ground broke apart from the shots.

Sagittarius then put the staff down and spun a rod attached to the bottom of it, once she did a compartment opened at the bottom of it, letting some magic gems fall out and melt into nothing but steam, she began loading up new ones, as well as some black powder...when she could barely make out a distortion of space come towards her, like someone scrapped the air itself. She side-hopped out of the way as the entire building was cut in half, in turn, falling apart. But even with her side of the building crumbling away she got her weapon and fired from the hip. The shots struck this man, but ultimately bounced off, as if he was not to be actually touched by them, ever. He then saw another shot coming at him, so he slapped it, causing it to scatter. These scattering shots went through windows, broke the pavement and three splintered beams shot through a wall, killing an elderly couple who were trying to hide from the fight.

Sagittarius then jumped off the collapsing balcony, just as the two cut halves of the building hit two adjacent structures, causing a brewery it landed ontop of, to actually collapse in on itself...the cries and screams of the employees and customers that were inside, were muffled by the overpowering sounds of destruction. The Lewes clone...then was able to land on Genau's back, who flew over the destruction and glared down at the white haired man.

"Keep it up!"
"O...kay."

Saying this unemotionally, she opened up her cloak, now revealing that the inside of it, had a plethora of gems engraved within the inside of it, and now twinkled brightly. She stood composed on top of Genau's back, making sure not step on his spikes and allowed the beams to shoot down upon their adversary. Who in turn took a simple blocking stance, clicking his tongue in agitation.

The beams demolished the street he was in, sending a fire wave that engulfed the entire block. Three buildings collapsed from the pressure and one of the waterways, instantly boiled, causing a Water Dragon to surface up, roaring in agony, before falling over and dying, collapsing a bridge close by.

But even flying above the devastation, Genau sensed the danger and curved in the air, keeping the Lewes Clone standing on his back, with help from the energy of his ring. This allowed them to dodge the slicing air attacks sent their way. So he dashed down and allowed Sagittarius to get off. The two of them faced off against their assailant, who didn't have a scratch on him.

"How dare you assault me! Me who is simply moving at his discretion to his destined encounter, without causing so much as an inconvenience to another fellow person! That's fair isn't it? To walk at his own leisure?! Yet here you are, attacking me from behind and ruining my day with your barbaric actions! Who do you think you are, trying to infringe on my given rights!?...Wait…"

He then squinted his eyes, ascertaining the situation and immediately grew angry.

"You! You are a Red Lantern! Even with my uncaring bias with the knowledge of these current times, even my unselfish self knows of the group that killed Sloth and that have been targeting the fellow cutlists under our control. A wolgarm?...Yes, you are Genau, I know because I heard you wiped out a bandit village near my mansion!"

"If I had known I wassss ssssso closssse to you, I'd have acted on it."

"Miserable beast. Just the repulsive acknowledging of your unnatural existence, sends a discomfort across my body! I'd be doing this world a favor but eliminating you here and now. Maybe I'd be thanked, though I do doubt that myself, there would still indeed be sighs of relief echoing all around, even throughout this disaster you have caused!"

"You being here issss what issss going to causssse all the devasssstation! Just gather in the top of a mountain and we could have bombarded you with eassse, not get any civilianssss involved!"
"And now? What will you do now? Now that you see that I have no intention to run or hide from a filthy mongrel such as yourself, just what other option or solution to this quandry will you find in that insignificant brain of yours?! Hm? Explain to me you greedy insufferable pest!"
"Honesssstly?...Kill you and hope thesssse people get out of the way fasssst enough."

The Sin Archbishop furrowed his brows just as Genau got into a poucing position, focusing on his hind legs. The Lewes Clone spun in her hands two smaller metia rods, ready as well for combat.

"Tell me your name, Ssssin Archbisssshop. I'd like to inform everyone who I killed."
"...As if a deranged abominable mutt who shows no value in manners and intellect, such as yourself needs to know my given name. But to show a true honest humble attitude in this drastically deplorable and disastrous encounter, I shall be the bigger man and tell you."
"..."

"I am the Sin Archbishop of Greed; Regulus Corneas."

Genau snarled as Regulus got his hand into a chopping motion.

"Die filthy beast, and become fodder for the insects to eat and further decompose!"

His hand waved down at a rapid speed…

"-Ah, the world is so gentle!"

A young boy plummeted off a high tower, tossed off by a completely bandagesd up woman, white hair poking out, with only her left eye and mouth being seen. The only other true garments being worn by her, were chains around her arms, and an obvious purple cloak.

The crowd below were cheering for some odd reason, even as the boy was moments from impacting the ground, and splattering into bloody paste.

But the boy stopped his momentum, imbued in a red light. He looked up, and so they all did.

Everyone, including the Sin Archbishop went wide eyed as they saw Ovidius floating up there.

"Don't know what kind of freak show this is, but I feel like letting this boy...or that little girl die would be an issue."

Just as quickly, a little girl who had been hiding, tied up, floated past this female Cultist and was now floating next to Ovidius. He quickly had both of them land safely on a rooftop several yards away.

"Now, let's get introductions out of the way. My name is Ovidius Loman, I'm a member of the Red Lantern Corps. So we both know where all this is going to be leading to."
"...Ah, I see! I am the Witch's Cult Sin Archbishop of Wrath! Sirius Romanee Conti!"
"Romanee Conti? No...Natsuki-san told me about Petelgeuse, he said nothing about him having relatives."
"Do not belittle the LOVE I have for my cherished husband! I love him as he loves other things! Loving and emotionally enriching people can sometimes be very fragile. Ah, that's because Love is just painful. However, it is precisely because love exists that we can survive."

"Delusional, just as Natsuki-san and I, feared you freaks would be."
"Speaking of mongoloids, why do you hide your face with that helmet? Should you continue that, childish appearance, no one in this world, or any other! Will come to love you, or share their opinions of you! You will be devoid of absolute splendor and salvation!"
"Like I care, as long as my goals are settled, then I'll see if I can find a meaningful hobby or something. Until then, I guess I just have to kill you."
"A horrid bastard like you, who is apart of the same group that killed my beautiful, loving, peaceful husband, has no right to say such things!"

Gazing down, he saw that the crowd began to show hostility to him. And with just that…

"You can control emotions, is that right?"

"...!?"

"All you Archbishops have an Authority based on your given Sin, with Envy being the only one never discovered. Since you are Wrath, which is violence contributed by a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, which is gravely against charity and thus insulting towards a person's humility, then I figured you'd have the ability to brainwash these civilians."
"How clever…"
"Not really, but thanks for the compliment."

He then clenched his fist tightly, chaining up all the civilians below, keeping them from hurting each other or getting involved.

"How is it that you are not accepting my love?! This is impossible, a mere shell of a-"
"-Don't get me wrong, I can feel your wrath."

His lenses, though blue most of the time, shined red for a slight moment.

"But it pales in comparison to that of a Red Lanterns."

He then used his ring to cut the tower she was on in half, having it begin collapsing. As Sirius hopped between the falling debris, she came face to face with Ovidius, who dashed to her.

"With you being dead, I'll get that much closer to my end goal. My righteous fury will be ending you now!"

"Fury!? Did you just say fury!? Don't kid with me! Fury is mine! It's the precious thing
that I received from that person! This duty and the name are all gifts from that person! To,
without authorization, without permission, take that away from me… I won't allow it! Won't,
won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't,
won't, won't!"

Her chains moved on their own, even as she was in freefall. They caught fire, and launched themselves at Ovidius...who even as his lenses shined, grunted angrily.

Subaru walked and walked, each step he took was ever important. Even if he could hear the battle going on around him, echoing through the city. Ignoring the plumes of smoke and screams of people...he stood in front of the glamorous city hall….coming face to face with two Witch Cultists. One incredibly tall and muscular, the other a tall feminine figure, both draped in the usual Cultist gear...but the large one had two large blades and the other a single sword.

Subaru heard commotion coming from the building behind them, and saw two large wings, with purple spirals within them...he snarled as more Witch Cultists, were slipping out of shadows all around him. Blood oozing out of his mouth, he clenched a fist close to his face, his ring glowing brightly.

"Oh, I hope you bastards are ready."

The crack scar on his face shined yellow as his eyes turned fully bright red.

"I am going to kill every last one of you! Down to the last speck, morsel and spit off this very city! Nothing will be left of any of you, no food for the insects of this world today, you assholes! I'm gonna rip you all apart! Tear you limb from limb! Burn you all from the groin up to your fucking heads! I will crucify you all alive and stab your eyes out! NO! NOT ENOUGH! I'M GONNA RIP THE FLESH FROM YOUR FACES AND SLICE OFF YOUR VEINS, TENDONS AND FEED THEM TO YOU! I WILL MAKE DAMN SURE, YOU ALL DIE REGRETTING THE SINFUL ACTS YOU HAVE ALL PERFORMED IN YOUR MISERABLE LIVES AS YOU BEG AND CRY, CHOKE, SCREAM AND PRAY, UNTIL YOUR LAST DYING BREATH!"

As his eyes turned back to normal and the hideous aura dissipated…

"Or maybe I'll just straight up kill you...whatever works I guess."

Wilhelm, the guard for Crusch Karsten rushed through the halls of the inn they were all staying at, holding his shoulder as it bled.

This was a result of a Divine Protection of the Grim Reaper.

Slashes imbued with the Divine Protection's power leave wounds that are unable to be healed. The power of the Divine Protection increases the closer user is to the target, and said person can even reopen wounds others have if they are close enough and were originally inflicted by them.

But the problem here was...the person who gave this wound to him...was-

"Wilhelm!"
"Crusch-sama!"

Now outside, he ceased his running and looked out to the sight, everyone else doing the same.

The city had huge plumes of smoke rising up, loud popping and booming sounds could be heard and beams of red and blue light were flying across the sky. Then, a building was lifted into the air by a red energy, and it slammed down, sending a huge cloud of debris flying everywhere...a piece of that very same rubble flew across yards and crash landed on a tree that was a few feet away from them.

"What the hell is going on? Reinhard?! What the heck is this?!"
"I'm not sure Felt-sama."

The Felt Camp watched in confused terror as they could hear the popping sounds intensify, like a display of fireworks was going off.

Anastasia looked up at her loyal Ricardo, and he nodded.

"I just got word a few minutes ago. The Red Lantern Corps is engaging in a fight with the Witch's Cult."
"How many of them are there?!"
"That's the thing ojou-sama. Sin Archbishops are among them, at least three to be sure."

They were stunned into hearing that THREE Sin Archbishops were in the same city, an unprecedented occurrence for certain. And now, the worst case scenario came for this city, and it was completely engulfed in an outright war.

"We cannot let this stand."

Crusch tied her hair so to make it easier to move around in.

"Crusch-sama?"
"Ferris, we can no longer be idle in this!"
"B-But-"
"-If all of us, the Royal Candidates, allow these Red Lanterns to have their way, not only will we seem weak in comparison...but the people will completely side with them. They will lose trust in the Kingdom! These thugs will have enough power and influence to completely disrupt order!"

"..."

"The White Whale, Petelgeuse Romanee Conti, and a high amount of bandit towns and cultists, have been defeated by them in less than a year. They have accomplished in one year, what decades of planning from our own nobility and military heads have failed to accomplish! It is an embarrassment to the Kingdom!"

Wilhelm winced in pain, hearing something so true and uncomfortable.

"Now is the time to act! We have to make a stand and show that we are not incompetent! The moment to prove ourselves and bring the people's trust back is here! A time to rise up has come at last!"

She stood there proud and determined facing her opponents in this race, but showing that she was not stupid and could see the truth...even if one of them was voted, should they fail to act in this pivotal moment, it wouldn't matter. The Red Lanterns should they be victorious, would hold sway with the people of Lugnica as the ultimate force, closest to the Sword Saint...and no one would trust the higher ups, seeing them as nothing more than incompetent politicians.

"Crusch-san is right! We have tanked our chances in this race, letting those red idiots fly around and do as they want! We have to invest our time and energy to succeed!"

Anastasia then pointed at Ricardo.

"Get our forces ready! Have them begin helping in pushing back the Cultists!"
"HELL YEAH! I'm ON IT!"

Ricardo rushed out to gather the forces of her mercenary group, that which they all thought would be necessary in combating these odds.

Ferris rushed to Crush's side.

"Will nyou be heading into battle?"
"Of course, I can stand idly by and allow a chance like this to pass by."
"Then Ferri-chyan will be by nyour side!"
"Thank you."

Wilhelm stepped closer, viewing the destruction going on in the city...gripping his sword hilt.

"Could it be…?"

Julius stepped next to his master, gazing out at the destruction.

"I will have Joshua stay close to us, I feel uncomfortable leaving him alone."
"Okay, that's fine, your little brother might be safer with us."

He nodded as he unsheathed his sword, all of them interrupted by a loud thunderous boom, they could see a shockwave travel across the city, cutting through buildings, sending water flying up, before cutting one of the large walls that protected this city, in half.

Reinhard bowed before his master.

"Felt-sama, shall we also participate in this battle?"
"Hell yes, I wanna go see the Red Lanterns up close!"
"But…"
"It's an order from your master, got it!?"
"Um, yes, I will do as you command, Felt-sama."

Now they were all ready.

Ready to venture into this hellish battlefield.

Their fates, left up to the already cruel world around them...was about to get worse.

Rummaging through these personal belongings, she tried to find something.

Anything.

ANYTHING.

Anything at all, that could incriminate these men...No, these monsters.

Finally she found a box, with the inscription "Contingencies".

"This is...just what I needed."

Fumbling through the pages, she found names, plans, and intricate graphs and map details.

All of them, were to be used for the sole purpose of furthering Emilia's running for the throne.

So she grabbed as much as she could and made a beeline for the room, where she knew those two were. Once there, she basically threw the door open.

"Huh?!"
"Nee-sama?!"

Emilia and Rem were busy talking pleasantries over tea, when they were quite startled by the arrival...of a certain pink haired maid. Panting from her sprint, and cradling a pile of papers in one arm, she glared at them.

"Emilia-sama, Rem...WE HAVE THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DISCUSSED."

A multitude of battles, each for the fate of countless precious hopes and dreams, had now begun.

TO BE CONTINUED...

AN: And if there was an Ending theme, it would be the softer "Sunny Garden Sunday" by Myth and Roid. Comedically featuring clips of everyone, including the Sin Archbishops, actually having a fun and playful day in Priestella...instead of, well you know.