Prologue: Explosions and aftermath

AN: Remake no. 1. Tried to lessen my dragging out words and events. I am not Tappei Nagatsuki, so I'll describe the stuff in my way.

Word count: 2063

Sporadic flames lashed out inside the loot house with a crackling noise. The usually silent and dull slums of the Capital of Lugunica were filled with chaos today.

Periodic explosions echoed in the wide and desolate opening as the remainder of the slum residents retreated to a safer place. The smell of wood burning was evident from miles away and the smoke blurred the visions of the two individuals who were still inside the loot house, going at each other's lives with all they had.

One was a cobalt blue-haired boy with fiery red eyes and athletically built, likely in his early twenties or still a teenager and the other was a black-haired and jet-black-eyed woman who'd make any young man fall for her at first glance, that is, if they didn't know who she was-

Elsa Granhiert. The bowel hunter. The crazy bitch who'd peek at her victim's guts after killing them. If she could take a look at your bowels, she'd prefer you to be alive. Well, you won't be able to live to tell the story later on after going through that shit.

Facing this psychopathic bunch was this boy who had declared himself as Frederick von Raymond. He was still holding his blazing Phantom sword, pointing it towards her even though he was riddled with injuries from head to toe. Breathing heavily, he tightened his shaky grip on the sword handle sending a jolt of burning sensation down in his spine.

Yes, the cause of this sudden fire on this fine evening was one other than this boy and his sword. Using an overpowered weapon against an overpowered opponent was what his situation could be described as.

His body was damaged from the inside due to the ridiculous amount of mana flow by the use of this sword. While the guy hunter added to his physical wounds from the outside.

His condition could be perfectly described as a 'can' storing highly compressed liquid. Its surface was being shaved thinner by the moment both from the outside and inside at once. And what happens once the container develops a leak?

The liquid bursts out from that leak bursting the entire container.

BOOOOOOOM!

The sound of the tremendous explosion shook the entire slum. Flames burst forth and heat spiked in the surroundings threatening to burn and melt down any living being in the vicinity.

The force of the explosion blew away the remaining scrap walls of the loot house and sent heat waves in all directions, forcing the half-elf to draw up a thick ice shield. Suddenly using ice magic by breaking her healing spell did a number on her, as her balance stumbled and she fell. But not before the raven-haired guy caught her.

Subaru and not-Satella had retreated outside the loot house as soon as Frederick went straight at Elsa, whirling waves of flames at her.

They waited outside in the hope that he'd emerge victorious given his sheer firepower alone. But they were not so sure anymore.

"Is he dead?" ominous words escaped Subaru's mouth.

"Why are you… saying that?

You should be praying for his safety instead! " she reprimanded him feebly even in her weakened state. She had used a lot of her mana on healing the injured giant whom Subaru had managed to carry out of the loot house along with them. And she was still healing him, trying to seal the wound. Then suddenly the loot house exploded and flames rushed towards them.

[If she hadn't used her ice shield, we'd all be dead meat now.] Subaru shivered at the thought of being scorched to death. Even though it might have been better than being gutted alive, he didn't want to experience another type of death just for the sake of it.

"KEKEKKEEK! " Erratic laughter echoed in the opening. Subaru looked left and right trying to judge the direction of the source. But it was hard to concentrate due to the crackling of wood. The fire had already spread to the surrounding houses.

"Who's there? Show yourself! " Subaru yelled.

"Poor, poor Frederick!

Kya~Never did I imagine Frederick dying from Mana overload!

And he was trying to save people he never knew. He never acted like that without her. "

The voice seemed to know that guy. And he was talking to himself. Subaru didn't know the identity of the voice's owner, but it didn't give him a good feeling.

"Hey, can you stand on your own? We might need to fight soon" he called out the half-elf whose name he still didn't know. It was the fourth loop for him and he had already fallen for her, even without realizing it, even without knowing her name. That was the reason he had tried again and again. And the greater the adversity, the more his desire to save her grew.

[I won't let her die this time.] Subaru swore.

He received a weak nod from the girl in question and that gave him an idea for his next move.

"What do you want from us? "

"Who knows? Kek!

I don't care, but maybe…

I want to kill you!

I don't have anything against you people you see... for all that I care, my sexy senpai might be already dead while my targets are still alive!

Wouldn't that leave a bad impression on my client? Huh~? " he asked merrily.

"You mean, somebody wanted to kill her?!

WHY?

WHAT DID SHE EVER DO? " Subaru yelled, rage evident in his voice.

But the resultant reply was just a sporadic burst of laughter.

'tsk, tsk, hey. ' Subaru whispered to the half-elf. 'When I give the signal, freeze the whole area. '

She nodded.

"You fellas are really funny!

What did she ever do you ask?

Are you a holed-up noble's child?

Should there be a reason to kill someone?

Ha ha ~ I had the best laugh ever since coming here.

I'll do you a favour, and make your deaths painless." his voice oozed with venom.

"NOW! " Subaru yelled and the entire area was frozen instantly. The girl had got his signal.

The entire radius surrounding the loot house as far as he could see was rigid and frozen. White mist rose and the cracking noises of ice echoed. The entire area was coated in a thick veil of crystal ice.

"Woah! That was a huge AOE spell! She didn't hold back a bit. That must've drained her MP a lot.

Jeez! The cold is freezing me really bad! "

He turned to take a look at her, she was still leaning on him. However, he couldn't, he just couldn't.

[Huh? What's wrong with me?] He turned his head hard but cracking noises emerged. And then his vision darkened. Without any rhyme or reason, Natsuki Subaru had died. For the fourth time.

The half-elf girl was shocked on witnessing Subaru's neck twist off and fall without any warning. His entire body was frozen like an ice statue and now his head lay fallen on the ground. The spell was not directed at him. It shouldn't have happened.

[I did not kill him. I would never…]

"WHAT did you do bitch ~?!

Kya~ you killed the boy! That's so horrible!" The assailant finally emerged from the shadows. He had brown hair and dull brown eyes. He donned black robes meant for mages, a shiny necklace- probably an artefact. A green magic circle was forming in his hands. He looked at her with a dead expression. His eyes were so void of emotions that they sent shivers down the girl's spine.

The half-elf gritted her teeth. Gathering her courage and her hatred, she held the decapitated and frozen body of Subaru with great care as if he were still alive. The killer of this boy was right in front of her eyes. But instead, she was afraid. That made her angry at herself, for being so pathetic.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! " she yelled, her mana output spiked up. The temperature dropped suddenly, and huge 2-meter-long icicles formed in clusters of hundreds or even thousands, all ready to be launched at this mage. Sparks flurried from the mana storm which she unleashed in her rage. And at the centre of this overkill spell was the rugged-looking mage who in response, just sighed.

(A while later)

The entire slum, after a session of inferno was now filled with chilling ice nearly 2 metres thick. Some normal guy might think as if the Gods of Fire and Ice duked it out really bad in the slum dwellers' home.

"Poor beggars. Where are they gonna stay now? Tch… you should at least care about other people when dealing with magic. Bitch." the mage spat in disgust.

The winner of the duel was the rugged mage. He was unscratched. But his enemy, on the other hand, was like a fish with its bones sticking out of its body.

Icicles were jutting out and inside her body. The frozen boy who she was still holding had also suffered the same fate.

[Pathetic! They don't even know the basics of suggestion magic.] he cursed in his mind.

"Ara, ara~! Cain-kun, you seem to be done on your end! " a flirty voice greeted him out of nowhere. He knew who it belonged to.

"SENPAI, I thought you were dead roast! Seriously what are you made of!" Cain shrieked hysterically with dramatic tears escaping his narrow eye-slits.

"And here I was thinking that I'd finally get a chance to take a nice long look at your body. Tch" he cursed his fate.

"Well if you want to take a peek at my body so baad~" Elsa seductively licked her lips, "You are free to do so after you show me your GUTS." She licked her charred kukri imagining how her partner's guys would be. It would be rotten for sure. But she couldn't find that out unless she saw for herself.

"My bad, my bad seriously!" Cain jumped a few feet back. "You're seriously bad news. Why are you so obsessed with guts rather than d*cks?! I am seriously wishing that you should have been better dead. Damn that Fred! He couldn't kill some regenerative slut like you! Huff…Huff…" he cursed on a go and now he was out of breath.

Ignoring the bitch in a black tight suit aka Elsa Granheirt, he moved towards the dead half-elf and her precious ice statue which she held on to even after her death. Navigating through the metre thick ice was frustrating but he couldn't leave it halfway done.

He laid the skewered half-elf and her skewered and headless statue side by side and threw a fireball at them. He silently watched all the ice melt and the bodies burn till they were charred and reduced to dust.

[Rest in peace girl. Everyone deserves a funeral.] Nobody would hear him. Nobody needed to find out his thoughts. It was stupid after all. He turned back to his partner who was staring at him, probably waiting for him to return.

"SENPAI! I saved the day today! Why don't you give me a piggyback ride on the way back?

You see, the ice…it's just so difficult…" he fell face front on the white fields.

"Let's head back, Cain-kun. Meili is waiting for our return."

"Hey! Hey wait for me senpai!" He pleaded.

Stumbling his way through the ice, he followed the guy hunter in the hopes of not being left behind.

This was another average day for Cain and his new group since he came to this world.

Today they left behind flames and blizzards as the only evidence of the assassination of the 4th Royal candidate: Emilia the half-elf.

"I know, I know! But…", the boy took a long look at the loothouse and with an exasperated tone replied, "How are supposed to do that? I don't even know magic, and hell why did he have to go and set fire to the loothouse!". To be honest, he was annoyed that his savior role was taken away, but he couldn't complain really when another adversary joined the 'Gut-hunter' out of the blue. Now he and the half-elf girl- 'Not Satella' were out of the place along with the injured giant. The little thief, Felt had already managed to escape thanks to their efforts. But things went awry after that.

When he and the half elf managed to corner Elsa, a shady looking cloaked guy with his face covered in a veil popped up from nowhere- an assassin, most probably a 'back-up'. And then another guy, a blue-haired one with a fancy shirt and party jeans, totally out of the scenario context popped in from the ceiling and went straight head on to clash on with the two assassins. He said something like buying some time for them, and asked Subaru to run away with the girl. Well, he did whatever he wanted and now things ended up with how they were. Only if that guy discussed something before jumping straight at the assassins, they might've come up with a better stratagem but now they were back to zero and in danger.

He and 'Not Satella' were alone in the opening, oh there was the passed-out giant too, so they weren't really alone, but that didn't really had to plan the next course of action in case their blue haired savior actually died in his bravest act. Sheesh! Just why couldn't that cheeky guy have some patience! Who in these days says, "I'll save you all! Just get back! I'll buy time so run away as fast as you guys can!". Wait, he didn't know the most important thing yet. "Hey!", Subaru called out to the girl whose name he still didn't know, except that it wasn't 'Satella'. "Do you know that blue haired dude from before who jumped to 'buy us some time'?"

"Huh?", apparently not; seeing the reaction she was giving. "Wasn't he supposed to be your acquaintance?", the girl asked him instead. "Na. Don't know him. First time seeing him.", he replied curtly going back to Mr. Thinkey mode while she went back to healing the giant.

Could it be that it was just an act and all the three were working together and they wanted Subaru and group to move to the open where they'd be more vulnerable to attacks from all fronts? That totally made sense! He needed to move closer to her to make sure that she doesn't get hit by a sneak attack while healing the giant like in the common troupes. But before he could do so, a jolt of nausea hit him as he lost his balance and fell on the ground on his all fours. The adrenaline must have worn off. The girl gives him a worried glance due to this fall but is relieved to see that he soon regains his balance and composure.

"Hey, we need to move away from here. It's not safe here.", he states. "What about the blue haired guy?", she asks.

"I don't know.", he says. "But I somewhat feel that it was all an act. Maybe all the three of them were in cahoots. We are in more danger than before if that's the case." He pressed on, impatiently. "What if he is not?", she was clearly annoyed at him for wanting to abandon a 'comrade', but how could he be even sure that the guy from earlier was on their side. He could've prioritized his life over that guy's but not with the girl's. He simply didn't want o take any risks.

"He might already be dead. You saw what those two assassins were capable of. If they come for us after dealing with him then we are surely done for." Yeah that was the fact and there was no way the girl could say anything against that. She mumbled something in dissatisfaction but did not protest. "Ok, then can you keep on healing the giant while we are on the move? I'll be…." "No.", he was met with an instant denial, "It requires concentration to heal. I can't heal him while running. And I'm not going to abandon him too because I need my insignia. And that thief will owe me for keeping him alive." Sure thing that. The typical tsudere charac with her denial of goodwill for doing something out of kindness of heart. It was lovely and it all added to her charisma and all but they needed to stay alive for him to actually start admiration sessions. Come on, how self-centered she could be! But for him it all made her too lovely and he couldn't really blame her. That was the guy Natsuki Subaru was. "Then hurry up. The explosions are growing weaker now." After a few minutes the explosions were finally out and she was done. Just as they were ready to move an eerie voice greeted them.

"How cruel! Dear Frederick would be really sad! Being abandoned by the ones he saved was one thing he hated the most after all… teheheh…"

"Who are you?", Subaru shouted. Was it the blue haired guy? No, it wasn't his voice. They must have dealt with him. Which means it must be the back-up assassin. He turned right and left trying to locate the source of voice. No one in sight. Invisibilty? Or illusion? He turned to 'Not Satella', "Can you sense him?" If his hunch was right elves had a high sense of perception. She closed her eyes trying to read the flow of mana around them.

"Yes. But…", she paused before continuing again, most probably confirming what she was about to say, "he is everywhere. We are surrounded." Her nonchalance made it seem normal. But they were in a prick. There couldn't be that many assassins surrounding them. There just couldn't be. A bunch of them of that caliber would be enough to assassinate the king in broad daylight. It had to be an illusion. He hoped. No, it was an illusion! So using his anime knowledge, Subaru decided to do the thing which would be most viable at the moment. "Can you try to freeze the whole area around us?", he said. "Spare me though. I'm not ice resistant."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you~", the creepy voice mocked them again. "I'm on your side believe me!", the last part was uttered in a girly voice, mocking them. This guy was surely dangerous, but he was acting casually, way too casual. That was all getting on his nerves! Might be his another normal day killing people, or might be that he also had a screw loose like Elsa.

"I am ready!", the girl declared. Subaru moved closer to her along with the giant on his back and tried to stay out of the range of spell.

CRRRRAaaacckk….

The the area froze around them and a deadly chill spread over. The spell must have been taxing on her a lot on since it was a huge AOE spell, which thawed the area around them, even dousing the flames of the loothouse further away in its wake.

The half elf turned around to ask the black haired guy what to do next. Only to find him frozen like some familiar ice statues.

How did he end up like this? Who did this? It was not her. She was supposed to freeze the area around, not him. Wait, the giant was alright, his weight cracking the ice statue of the boy. "N...n...NOOOOO!" she screamed horrified, that her spell had actually killed her savior. "PLEASE WAIT!", she cried, asking the boy to hold on a little longer. She would fix him up. He was not dead. She didn't kill him. She didn't! The statue shattered under the weight of the giant.

"Oya, Oya~ You were supposed to freeze me along with the area and not your friend! What a bad girl you are! MURDERER!", the voice mocked her again, now more in a accusing manner.

It was all his fault! He killed her savior! It was them! She didn't do anything wrong. She didn't...

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry ...I'm...", she kept on repeating those words of apology like a broken record.

The ice statues back in the Elior forest... was it her too... The boy also turned into an ice statue like those... Was it her all along who froze her people? She was a bad girl, wasn't she? She was a witch, wasn't she?

"NOOOOOOOO!"

She screamed like a bereaved child who had watched her family die in front of her eyes (not that it really happened tho.) She started radiating magical energy like crazy sending waves of ice cold blizzard all around freezing all her surroundings. She had gone berserk, devoid of sanity.

"Ara…ara… what a disappointment!", the familiar bitch in black shook her head in disapproval, disgusted at the half elf for her pathetic display. She wouldn't even bother to gut her now.

"I will finish her off, senpai.", the creepy guy said in a demanding tone, unlike his usual care-free demeanor.

"Do as you please.", she was not interested anymore. She had her fill gutting the guy earlier who brimmed with righteousness. Ah!... the look in his eyes when he fought her, his desperation and his nonchalance towards his own life... it was all so exhilarating. Only if all her prey were like that she would never be bored. Come to think of it he said something before he died.- "Don't die." was it? Poor guy... But she felt that it was not directed towards them... Who cares, anyway. Dead men tell no tales.

The guy pointed his palm towards the half elf who was still oblivious of the invisibility spell which he had cast around himself and cast the same spell on her which he had cast on the boy. Honestly he didn't expect the boy to develop a response to his spell, when he fell down. Might be an error in the calculation somewhere. But all is well if it ends well.

The cloaked assassin pointed his palm toward the crying girl, after readying his spell, "Goodbye elf-chan!"

The rampaging half-elf started turning into a ice statue from bottom to head with cracks all over. Her mana output slowly dimmed before coming to a stop, and finally shattering into pieces just like Subaru moments ago.

"Whew! We saved the slums! Hey senpai! We are the heroes today! Let's celebrate on this occasion?"

"..."

"Hey, hey~, don't just ignore me!", the cloaked assassin tagging behind the Gut hunter, slowly disappeared in the snow filled slums.

A/N: Well my self insert oc doesn't appear in this chapter-'Prologue'.

I'm giving equal weightage to the main cast and their development. This is not just 'The oc does this and that' but how he interacts and what results occur due to his interferences and interactions.

Alright! The main oc's screen will keep on increasing from next chapter in onwards.

Stay tuned to find out what plans he has in store for the main cast.

And I've decided to post reference arts of the iconic scenes of the chapters. Uh… yeah in the discord server itself. In case you haven't joined yet, here is the link:

/z4sMtj2u

Drop in your reviews and criticisms. Don't be so much of a lazy bum. Giving me reviews gives me points to improve on. So that's it. Ciao.