Your eyes opened after you passed out, and the first thing you noticed, other than the slight sores in your body, was the fact that you were lying in a bed in an unfamiliar stone room.

At very first glance, you could tell that this single room was circular in shape, and it looked like all of the walls were made of stone, although what appeared to be a luminous moss coated them, working alongside the magic-powered lamps to light up the large room. The ceiling, however, was so high above you that you couldn't even see a trace of it. If you had to guess, you'd say the room had about the same width as the throne room in Lugnica's capital, while it was certainly much taller.

The next thing you noticed was the conversation going on not too far away.

"I'm serious! It's been so long! I missed you a lot, Auntie!"

Your body shot up as you heard who you presumed to be Shaula call somebody her 'Auntie.' She couldn't be referring to Echidna, could she?

The only other people in the room, who were Omega and Shaula, turned their heads to you as you violently sat up.

As Omega sighed since she could already hear your confusion in your head, you were finally able to see what Shaula, the Sage's Apprentice, looked like.

The person who you were trying to recruit was tall, with her long, dark brown hair tied up into an odd ponytail. This hair went down to her torso, and it was safe to say that the area it would have covered over her back was more than what her scarce clothes covered on her body.

It almost looked like she was wearing a bikini with hot pants, but she also donned a cape, so that covered her backside completely.

Oddly enough, her entire outfit perfectly matched Subaru's track suit's color scheme, but even more weird was the enthusiastic look she adopted after she saw that you were awake. In a flash, her languid eyes opened wide as a smile spread across her face.

'Brace yourself.' This brief message from Omega was the only warning you received before Shaula suddenly dashed at you, spreading her arms wide as if she was going to give you a hug.

The next thing you knew, you weren't on the bed anymore, the mattress replaced by the cold, stone floor, and your breath was knocked out of your lungs.

From right on top of you, Shaula happily exclaimed, "You smell weird!"

You wanted to reply to this outrageous statement, but the impact from Shaula effectively tackling you, which created a blast of air that blew stray sand around, caused your diaphragm to be paralyzed for a short time. Trying not to panic at the sudden lack of air coming through your airways as your lungs begged for air, you did your best to give Shaula a raised eyebrow.

In response to your confused expression, Shaula nodded her head to herself and explained, "You smell different than everyone here, and you even remind me a bit of Master's pungent smell, with some Auntie mixed in there too!"

You were taken aback by the suddenness of this, and Omega, who had an annoyed air about her, approached Shaula. She wanted to explain the concrete details of her relationship to Shaula with you, but since you were still trying to breathe again, she settled for helping you out in that regard first.

Omega tapped Shaula on the shoulder, and with a forced smile, she said, "Perhaps we should explain the current situation to (Y/N) first, as I am sure he is very surprised to wake up to this new environment. In fact, you acted on your instincts once more, and you pounced him before you could properly introduce yourself." To make sure that Shaula would listen, she added, "What would Flugel think if he saw you acting in this inconsiderate manner?"

Being reminded of her Master, Shaula pouted as she got off of you. "Master always called me an airhead, and he would karate chop me in the head." Almost immediately, Shaula's expression lightened up, as if the memory was one that she cherished. "It didn't hurt though, and I always told him that I was gonna see him in court for assault!"

At this point, you could finally gasp some air into your lungs, and as you finally recovered from Shaula's brutish greeting, you accepted Omega's outreached hand as she helped you stand up.

"Yes, I remember. Now," Omega asserted, "Shaula, would you like to properly introduce yourself and explain our current predicament to (Y/N), who you should have been treating as an esteemed guest?"

Shaula giggled at Omega's extensive vocabulary, a trait that she always thought was silly. "Sure thing, Auntie-"

"Please, for my sake, stop calling me Auntie."

Shaula looked at Omega with a puzzled look on her face. "But why? It would be weird if I called you 'grandma', so were you thinking more of a-" Shaula gasped and began jumping with excitement, her long hair swinging all over the place. "Can I call you sis? Pleaseeeee!"

Omega facepalmed. "That would make even less sense. Now that you have brought this topic up once more, allow me to delve into our interconnected past to (Y/N) before you explain the present."

The Sage's Apprentice shrugged and plopped down to the ground next to you, ready to hear Omega's story.

"Now," Omega began, "Shaula is a unique existence, as she is a life form that was artificially created by Daphne."

At the mention of the Witch of Gluttony, you narrowed your eyes. If Daphne was the one who created all mabeasts, including the White Whale and the Great Rabbit, did that mean that Shaula is also a mabeast?

"Correct," Omega answered, which confused Shaula greatly since she had no idea what was going on with Omega suddenly saying this.

Continuing, Omega said, "And by her hair, can you tell what Shaula is?"

"Her ponytail?" You asked to get clarification.

That was a mistake, since Shaula seemed to get upset by that remark. Quickly grabbing ahold of one of her hair's tufts, Shaula moved it in front of her face, and said, "It's not a ponytail, it's a scorpiontail!"

Well, that answered a lot. Shaula was some form of scorpion mabeast, and that would explain why she was still alive and looking so youthful after 400 years.

As you came to these conclusions, Shaula plopped her hair down and turned to look up at Omega, returning to an older subject. "Since you're not really Mommy's sister, is that why I can't call you Auntie?"

Omega looked down at Shaula's eyes, which were now sadly looking at her like a puppy who had a treat taken away from them.

Reluctantly, Omega gave in to Shaula's nonverbal begging. "Fine. You may continue to refer to me as your aunt, but please do not use that title when we are in the company of others. You see, the pink-haired one that is upstairs is currently the only one in this group who is not aware of my true identity, and I would like to keep it that way."

Shaula scratched her head at this request, and for some reason, Omega was quick to apologize. "Please forgive me, Shaula. I will have to point her out to you when you encounter her once more."

Telepathically, Echidna explained, 'As you already know, Shaula has a superb sense of smell, but due to her being partially mabeast, she is unable to discern people based on sight. To her, we look as similar to each other as we think individual ants look similar to each other.'

'Okay, I get the smelling part, but what do you mean by partially mabeast? Obviously, she doesn't look like a scorpion, but how does that work?'

'I am as clueless as you are in this regard. Perhaps I will consult Daphne about this topic later.'

This conversation kept on getting more and more confusing the more Omega and Shaula talked, and since Omega was aware of this, she stopped the flow of the conversation to get back on track. "Now, (Y/N)," she said, "I will elaborate on this in greater detail later, but I was once acquainted with Flugel, the true Sage. Due to this acquaintance, Shaula had the greatest attachment to me out of any of the other witches, excluding Daphne."

Shaula nodded her head in agreement.

"However, we have not met in over four hundred years, ever since the end of the Great Catastrophe when Flugel consulted me in regard to ideas for erecting this tower. In this time, it seems her affection for me has not wavered in the slightest."

"Nope!" Shaula exclaimed. "I'll always love you, Auntie, no matter what!"

"As much as I appreciate that, I do believe that it is time for you to introduce yourself, and then explain to (Y/N) the process of events that led to this moment."

"Oh, yeah!"

Shaula turned to you, her face an arm's length away from yours. With a hearty grin, she said, "Hello! I'm Master's cute apprentice, Shaulaaa! The Star-Keeper of the Pleiades Watchtower. Nice to meet you, (Y/N)!"

She stuck an arm out for a handshake, and as you shook her hand, you couldn't help but note how you could tell that she was far stronger than you were just by how effortlessly she was crushing your hand at the moment.

Thankfully, Shaula didn't hold out the handshake for too long, and then she began to get you up to speed on what happened before you woke up. Starting at the beginning, she explained, "At first, I spammed Hell's Snipe at you guys, just like I do every time some dumb-dumbs try to get near this tower, but then I could smell Auntie, so I shot the big bears instead! And then everyone but Auntie was KO'd, so I carried everyone else upstairs, so now you're here and the others are two floors above us, where they're healing!"

You didn't know if you preferred this nonchalant way of explaining things or if you preferred Echidna's more detailed rants, but at the very least, it gave you an idea of what the situation was. More importantly, the fact that Shaula not only lifted three people by herself, but the fact that she also carried an entire earth dragon along with them was yet another indicator of her insane strength.

"So, just how many floors are there?" You had heard several mentions of floors here, and since the tower was comparable to a skyscraper, it had to have quite a few floors.

"Umm..." Shaula pursed her lips and began looking around the room, avoiding any eye contact with you. In fact, she was totally ignoring you and acting like she hadn't heard the question.

Omega sighed again. "Shaula, is this behavior a result of a command from Flugel?"

The apprentice nodded her head, looking at Omega now. "Yup! Master told me not to tell, speak, or say anything unnecessary to anyone about this place no matter what they ask, so I can't say anything more than what I've said!"

"Would you not even tell me, your beloved Auntie?" Omega asked tenderly, finally acting her part as an aunt who fully reciprocated Shaula's love for her.

"Well..." Shaula opened and closed her mouth, obviously at odds with herself. "Umm... Didn't you help Master design this place?" she asked, hoping to dodge the question.

"Of course, but Flugel's genius transcended my poor intellect, so I'm afraid that I am not very knowledgeable about this tower."

"Oh, don't say that!" Shaula giggled. "Auntie is almost just as smart as Master! And now that I think about it, he didn't copyright anything, so maybe I can tell the co-founder about everything..."

Omega nodded along, urging Shaula to share her information.

Unfortunately, this bore no fruit, as Shaula couldn't disobey Flugel's ancient command. Shaking her head, she firmly stated, "Nope! I can't do that! If I don't listen to Master, I won't be a good apprentice, so I can't tell you anything, Auntie!"

"That is a shame," Omega noted with a straight face. After a moment of thinking, she suddenly asked, "On a different note, would you like to see Daphne again?"

"Mommy?" Shaula asked in a bewildered voice. "Did she come too?" she asked as she began to sniff for a sign of her mother.

"No, she is dead," Omega answered bluntly. "However, there is a way that you can speak to her."

Shaula thought about Omega's proposal for a second, after which she made an 'X' with her arms. "If this is one of those things where I have to die to say hi, no can do! A dead Shaula can't protect Master's tower."

Omega shook her head at the misunderstanding. "That is not what I meant whatsoever! You see, (Y/N) and I are actually contracted partners, and he possesses a pyroxene pendant that allows him to enter my Castle of Dreams at will, which is also the place where you can speak to Daphne."

Shaula whipped her head at you, and her eyes shone as she tried to find the pendant. "Is this for real?" she asked with hope.

"Yeah..." you said slowly as you pulled the tight travel clothes away from your chest so that you could pull the pendant out from under them.

As you did this, you asked Echidna, 'Are you really planning to do what I think you're going to do?'

'Naturally. Why would I waste an easy opportunity to gain more knowledge such as this? Besides this fact, I am moderately surprised that you were able to deduce my true intentions with such speed.'

'Well, it's not like you haven't done this before. When you had everyone play D&D, you also used the game as an excuse to read their memories without them knowing.'

'What can I say? I have a powerful, undetectable ability that appeals to my Greed, so I suppose that I cannot resist deploying it whenever possible.'

While this conversation was going on, you finally fished the pendant up, and Shaula gently reached for it so she wouldn't accidentally destroy her only way of talking to Daphne again.

"When you touch it, just close your eyes and let the pendant do its thing. You might feel a bit sick, but I'm sure you'll be fine," you said as some advice to Shaula, since this would probably be her first time getting sent to a world such as the Castle of Dreams.

The scorpion girl nodded her head with a concentration you didn't expect to see from her. "Got it!" She carefully grabbed the pendant as it still hung on your neck, and the next thing you knew, her body fell limp as her soul was sent to the Castle of Dreams.

This was pretty odd since when you went to meet Echidna, entire hours spent inside the Castle of Dreams translated into seconds in the real world, so your body never had enough time to fall if you weren't already sitting down.

"As you can probably conclude," Echidna said through Omega, "this is due to the fact that you are still in contact with the pendant while Shaula is simultaneously in my Castle of Dreams. Time there is currently aligned with the time in this world, which is how I am always able to telepathically communicate with you in real time. Only when you are also in the Castle of Dreams will its time be separate from the real world again."

"Well, that makes sense," you said.

Around that moment, you assumed that Daphne appeared in front of Shaula since you could hear the loyal apprentice squeal with joy through Echidna's telepathic link.

'Mommy! It's been so long! I thought that my life was gonna be me just shooting a bunch of people from the tower, but then I saw Auntie again, and now I get to see you! I'm so happyyyy!'

As Shaula was reunited with her 'mommy,' Echidna quietly stole what information she needed, and she didn't feel any regret.

Time Skip

Half an hour later, Shaula reluctantly exited the Castle of Dreams at Echidna's insistence. You could hear her say goodbye to Daphne, who actually seemed to care for her creation, and immediately afterwards, her body jumped as her consciousness was returned to it.

"You're so nice, Auntie!" Shaula beamed as she regained control of her body. "I could only be happier if you brought Master with you!"

Omega made no comment on Flugel's current state, but instead motioned up the large, winding staircase that was at the edge of the room. "Shaula, I do believe that our companions should be awakening within the hour, so if you would be kind enough to show us to them, we would greatly appreciate it."

Shaula quickly stood straight and gave a stiff salute, saying, "Roger roger~"

You proceeded to follow the cheerful apprentice toward and then up the spiraling staircase, which actually circled around the entire circumference of the tower.

This staircase had no safety features whatsoever. With no rails to hold onto and a lack of anything between the outer edge of the steps and the space below them, it would be extremely easy to trip and fall down to what soon became very great heights. In fact, if anybody with a fear of heights looked straight down, they would probably pass out on the spot.

After ten minutes of continuously stepping upward on the countless stone steps that never ceased to find a stopping point, you finally reached the next floor, where you assumed the base of the tower actually came out of the sand since the floor you just came from actually had small patches of sand laying around. Looking around, you verified your suspicion when you saw a very large door - and by large, you judged that it was probably five times taller than the height of a normal person - on the opposite end of the spacious room. However, other than the door, there was absolutely nothing remarkable about this floor. It seemed to just be a passage from the entrance of the tower to either the floor below it or above it.

At this point, your legs were starting to feel a slight burning sensation in them, but thanks to your constant training, you weren't in too much pain quite yet.

Omega, on the other hand, was doubled over as soon as she set foot on the fifth floor.

Panting heavily, she asked, "Shaula, in comparison to the distance from the bottom floor to our current-" she paused to take a deep breath, "location, how far must we travel until we arrive on the next floor?"

Shaula pursed her lips and started to count her fingers. After a few moments of empty-headed calculations, she answered, "There's a lot more steps going up from here! Like, at least two!"

"Two?" Omega challenged. "As in two additional steps, or two thousand?"

Shaula shrugged her shoulders. "It's probably closer to the bigger number, but I've never counted, so if you follow the rounding rules, it might be closer to the smaller number!"

As Omega groaned at Shaula's unhelpful answers, you patted your partner on her back. "Hey, just letting you know, I can carry you up the stairs if you need it."

"Excuse me?" Omega slowly looked up at you with a horrified expression painted on her face. "Of all of the options available to me, I would be quite mortified if I were to choose this one. In fact-eh? Oomph! Put me down!"

As Omega was trying to shut down this notion, Shaula couldn't contain her excitement about the idea of something like a piggyback ride, and so when she heard her Auntie turn you down, she took thing into her own hands - or rather, she took Omega into her hands and onto her back.

"Shaula! Stop this foolishness!" Omega shouted.

Shaula, who was ready to start darting up the extraordinarily long flight of stairs up to the fourth floor, looked suddenly downcast after this demand, so you chimed in.

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this technically the most efficient way to get up the stairs? No offense, but this way, you won't have to hold us back, and you won't have to use any magic to make it easier to get up. This is totally a win-win scenario here."

As you voiced your argument, Omega stopped resisting Shaula, and she sighed in defeat. "I suppose you are not mistaken, but I offer one correction: I am not 'winning' in any solution here, as my dignity suffers in either outcome."

"Yay!" Shaula exclaimed, only paying attention to the fact that Omega consented to being carried around for the moment. "You're so much more fun than you used to be, Auntie! This makes me so happyyy!"

Before Omega could reply to that statement, Shaula disappeared up the stairs, leaving you behind.

You had absolutely no chance of catching up to her normally, so you quickly cast 'Akra,' and began to run up the stairs after the two girls.

Time Skip

Even with Akra, you were barely able to keep up with Shaula, who - even with Omega on her back - traveled at speeds that would make Olympic sprinters look slow.

Even to your surprise, the staircase between the entrance floor and the floor above it was drastically longer than the stairs that you had already taken. If you had to guess, there were about three times the number of steps here, so it would have taken a normal person about half an hour to make the trip up or down this lengthy segment, given they didn't collapse, take a break, or fall off the side.

Thanks to Akra, you were able to reach this next floor in just over five minutes, and as you stepped foot onto what you could already tell to be a smaller floor, you deactivated the buffing spell.

Now that you were here, you noticed Shaula squirming in place, obviously feeling unsure of something.

Omega, who was already off of her 'niece's' back, was quickly able to deduce what was going on. Acting as if she were being considerate, Omega sweetly said, "Shaula, if you are unable to give us information about this floor, then I understand. Flugel did order you to refrain from giving any unnecessary information, so I will respect your loyalty to him instead of prying any farther."

"Wait a second!" Shaula snapped back to her usual, cheerful behavior and pointed her index finger at her head, signaling that she just had a brilliant idea. "Master only told me not to tell people unnecessary things, so if it's totally necessary, then it's fine! Rejoice, Auntie, because I can tell you things now!"

Omega clapped her hands together with poorly faked enthusiasm, but Shaula didn't seem to catch onto it. Instead, the keeper of the tower began to explain a few things about the floors.

"So, I think I can tell you about the floors since it's necessary to you, so here we go! Starting from the bottom where (Y/N) woke up, we have the sixth floor, and that's actually under the sand. If you put holes in the walls there, you'll be buried alive, so try not to let the impulsive thoughts win!"

"Next, we have the fifth floor, which we also passed, and that's where the door that leads outside is, and that's where I had to drag everybody inside! Now, we're on the fourth floor, and it's kinda like myyy dwelling area, and it's kinda messy, so I'm gonna get embarrassed if you look too hard~"

Shaula stopped for a moment, but after a brief thought, she decided to quickly explain the remaining floors. "Above here is the third floor where we have the examination hall to test if you can go into the library, and the two floors above it also have even more trials! If you fulfill the conditions to enter the library, then you can read all the books inside it!"

At the mention of the library, you looked over to Omega, since she had been hyping them up earlier.

You guessed that Echidna probably knew about the library already since she had read Shaula's memories, but that couldn't stop Omega's lips from curling slightly in a smile she failed to hide.

"That is w-wonderful," Omega strainfully commented through her teeth, since she didn't want Shaula to notice that she was more excited about the library than being reunited with her technical niece, "but could you swiftly lead us to the rest of our comrades? I do believe that we came to this floor with the intent of checking on their condition."

It was only for the sake of saving time did Omega will herself to ask Shaula about the exact location of her group, since she intellectually understood that the time constraint of this mission was precedent over her desire to reach the library, and going there without everybody would waste time as she would have to explain it to them another time.

"Follow me!" Shaula exclaimed as she turned around sharply on her heels and began to march down to her right side.

You knew that this floor was a lot smaller than the fifth and sixth floors since you had a look - albeit a distant one - at the tower beforehand, and you could also see most of the floor from where you exited the stairs.

Right in the center of the floor was a long, rectangular room that obstructed any view from what was behind it, and across from it on either side, from what you could make out from the lanterns and glowing moss that lined the walls, were the doors to two different rooms.

'After calculations, I believe this floor to be approximately half the radius of the fifth and sixth floors, as the curvature of that unnecessarily lengthy staircase that we ascended increased by a factor of two,' Echidna interjected telepathically.

Echidna, being who she was, chose what seemed to be the most complicated way to come to a conclusion, but you didn't mind.

If anything, it helped you process the fact that on this floor, it took less than a minute to walk from the stairs to wherever you needed to be.

When you all got to the first room to the right side of whatever room took up the middle of the fourth floor, Shaula halted and dramatically opened the ivy-covered door in front of her.

"We're finally here! Get ready, folks, because this is the Green Room!"

As the door glided open, you could already see why this room was called the Green Room. As if you had just entered a section of an unexplored jungle, vines and other wriggling plants lined the walls, floor, and even the ceiling.

However, as you entered the room, the door was quickly slammed shut behind you, leaving Shaula and Omega on the other side.

Your first instinct was to panic and try to force the door open, but after taking a calming breath, you shrugged it off and turned to face the others who were in the room.

Looking through a few dangling vines, you saw that there were two beds in the only spot in the room unoccupied by the overflowing greenery.

The beds were seated above a patch of soft-looking grass, and there were even some flowers that began blooming on their frames.

All of this together made Roswaal look wildly out of place as he sat up on one of the beds.

Meili, who seemed to have been awakened by the sound of the slamming door, got out of the second bed and tapped on Ram's shoulders, since the oni was currently with her back turned to you as she kneeled on the floor and held Rem's hands.

Thankfully, Rem's wheelchair had several straps that looped around its back to keep her in it, so when the carriage had been destroyed by Shaula, it stayed attached to her while also staying intact.

In response to Meili's tapping, Ram turned around, and she actually had an unusually hopeful look on her face. Trying to act as her usual, uncaring self, she snarkily asked, "So, where have you been? Did the sand tamper with your already embarrassing sense of direction so badly that you couldn't find your way here to heal?"

However much she tried, Ram's comment didn't come across as cross. Instead, it just made it sound like she was worried about your whereabouts until now.

You knew better than to tease her about her feelings, so you dismissed that thought. "Well, first off, I'm glad that you're all fine, and I was actually just with Shaula and Omega. As soon as I walked in here though, the door slammed behind me."

As soon as you said that, you heard a fist pounding on the door. From the other side, Omega's muffled voice came through. "There seems to be a determined capacity for the number of people able to enter this room! Until one of you exits, Shaula and I are unable to enter!"

"S-Shaula?" Meili repeated, her voice slightly shaking. Even though Omega said that Shaula was 'only' the Sage's Apprentice, the fact that such an important person was on the other side of the door was intimidating.

But then again, when compared to Mama, Shaula couldn't possibly be nearly as scary, so Meili mustered up her courage and took a step toward the door.

"W-We're on a time crunch, so let's get Shaula and go back home," the mabeast user said to herself more than anyone else.

Roswaal narrowed his eyes as he slowly got out of the bed, not caring to fix the covers.

You knew that he had motives that would conflict with leaving the Pleiades Watchtower right away, but you refrained from thinking bad about the fact that he had them since Echidna was in the same boat. With that said, it didn't stop you from judging him for the nature of the motive itself.

Now, Roswaal and Meili were about to pass you to get to the ivy-covered door, but you didn't turn around to walk with them because Ram was still crouching next to Rem.

"Hey," you said to Meili, "you take Roswaal with you to talk to meet Shaula. I'll be out soon enough."

The child nodded her head while the Margrave didn't show any sign of hearing you.

After dodging the lower hanging vines to get closer to Ram, you heard the door slide open and close without a word from anybody.

At this point, it was only you and the oni sisters in the Green Room.

"(Y/N)?" Ram called out quietly.

You made your way next to Ram and crouched next to her in the soft grass. Turning your head so that you could see her eyes, you responded, "I'm here."

Ram's eyes and lips were shaking, and you could tell that she couldn't make herself let go of her sister's fragile hand. "Do you think that this room can heal Rem? Roswaal-sama told me that a spirit here healed our injuries, so... can it fix Rem too?"

She left the part about being able to remember Rem unspoken, but it was obviously something that weighed heavily on her mind.

After allowing herself to break through her first emotional filter and being honest about her thoughts, you couldn't give her an answer that wasn't genuine.

Softly patting Ram on the back, you answered, "Whether it does or not, I'm going to do everything I can while I'm here to help her wake up. And even if it doesn't happen here, I swear that Rem will wake up one day."

Ram sniffled and reluctantly let go of Rem's hand. Snickering, she said, "How bold of you, swearing on something so reckless."

"What can I say? Just like Subaru once said, you've got to be fanatical like a demon."

Ram's face lost all of its poise once more, and you mentally kicked yourself. Subaru only said that phrase during the whole mabeast incident with Rem, so Ram wouldn't remember that he said that.

Wordlessly and without looking back at you, the maid stood up and left the room.

You waited for her to get about halfway through the room before leaving your position next to Rem. As you remained crouched, you told yourself that, before leaving this tower, no matter what the time constraint demanded, you were going to go to the library Echidna mentioned to try and find a way to cure Rem without killing Gluttony.

If that failed, then the next mission after this one would be a hunt for Ley Batenkaitos. The memory of the attack by him and Regulus was still clear in your mind, and it was about time that The Crusaders went on a hunt.

You walked slowly while you processed your vow to save Rem, so before you were midway through the room, Ram already opened the door, and you almost had a heart attack when you heard Shaula's loud voice suddenly come through the doorway.

"Yeah! Me, (Y/N), and Aun-"

You froze as Shaula almost slipped up and called Omega 'Auntie.' Thankfully, she remembered promising not to call her by that name.

'This girl is a hazard,' Omega sighed in your mind. 'I will spend quite some time reinforcing the principle behind my hidden identity once more, for she has always been slow to understand anything other than Flugel's orders.'

'Yeah. If Ram found out because she slips up and doesn't catch it, that would be a worst-case scenario.'

"Oops!" Shaula corrected herself as the two of you criticized her for almost giving Omega's cover up. "I meant that me, (Y/N), and Echidna were hanging out downstairs!"

Your jaw dropped and you could only look in horror as Ram stopped in her tracks.

With a voice filled with nothing but pure malice, she balled her fists up as her wind magic made the vines and plants in the Green Room shake.

"Echidna?!" she growled. "I knew something about you was off!"

Omega was glaring murderously at Shaula, but that look of contempt wasn't even close to the intensity of Ram's eyes as she focused in on Omega.

With no warning, Ram shot her arm forward and cast Fura right at Omega, with a scream that contained all of her built-up rage. All of her anger and frustration at Echidna, Roswaal, Gluttony, and herself was released in one word:

"DIE!"

As Ram lashed out with dangerous wind magic at Omega, who Shaula accidentally revealed to actually be Echidna, a lot of things happened in less than a second.

The first person to react was Roswaal, who, without hesitation, dashed to move his body in front of the quickly approaching wind blade.

An instant later, Omega's slightly slower reaction time led to her jumping out of the way from what she identified as El Fura. She knew that this particular wind magic was impossible to physically counter without harming somebody here, so she threw herself behind Shaula, who was almost too surprised to move.

When her body instinctively began to move towards Ram to attack her, Shaula noticed her Auntie jumping behind her, so she stayed in place as she saw somebody jump in the path of the spell.

All Meili could do was sit and watch in horror as she powerlessly watched the conflict break out before she even knew why Ram was so angry.

In the time it took you to blink, Ram casted El Fura and Roswaal landed on the ground after blocking the magic aimed at Omega.

"Eh?" Ram's scream of rage was choked into a gasp of disbelief and horror. Her body began to shake uncontrollably from shock, and she fell to the ground as she whispered, "R-Roswall-sama?"

"Thaaaaat was a close one!"

Suddenly and as if nothing had happened, Roswaal picked himself off the floor with the only evidence of him jumping in front of the spell being a small cut on one of his gloves.

Your eyes widened at the sight, because this is almost exactly how it looked like when Regulus first attacked you and found out that his Authority had no effect on you.

'It can't be... (Y/N), what we just witnessed was something that even myself in my prime would not have accomplished: rewriting magic! This man rewrote the spell's mana until it did not exist in the moment that it came into contact with his body. As much as I hate to admit this, I am thoroughly impressed.'

While Echidna ignored Ram and marveled over Roswaal's incredible save, the maid didn't find it amusing whatsoever.

Pushing herself off the floor, she stomped closer to everybody outside of the room. "What is the meaning of this?! How long have you been with her?!" she furiously asked Roswaal.

Roswaal clicked his tongue and wagged his finger at Ram. "You know better thannnn to attack our allies, Ram! Is it not natural to protect themmm from such a daannngerous spell?"

"Don't start with this!" Ram demanded. "Tell me the truth! How long has Echidna been revived? How long have your goals been achieved?!"

"Myyyy, this is quite a misunderstanding we have ourselves here, don't you think so, Omega? I believe that Shaula misspoke, no?" Roswaal, a fellow master of lies, deflected Ram's challenges to the cause of them.

"I suppose that hiding the truth any further would be more detrimental than beneficial, so the time has finally come," Omega said as she came out from behind Shaula, who had no idea what was happening.

What Shaula did know was the fact that her Auntie's death glares were being directed at her for some reason, and that couldn't be good.

Not backing down from making direct eye contact with Ram, Omega finally ended her illusion spell, which was almost always active in making her look like Makise Kurisu from Steins;Gate.

Ram's fists clenched as she saw that Omega was actually identical to the Ryuzu clones all the way back from the Sanctuary. "So," Ram said menacingly, "this means that you've been resurrected since we left that cursed place. What more do you want from Roswaal-sama?!"

Omega snickered. "You overestimate the value this clown has to me. If you were as smart as you claim to be, you would realize that he would only be continuing in his pursuit of his plans if Echidna were still dead. The fact that both you and he are here proves that I am not the Echidna that you assume I am."

"Omegaaaaa-san, I would deeply appreciate it if you wouldn't so casually talk about myyyyy personal affairs with soooo many people present!" Roswaal inserted at the mention of his plans.

"So what?" Omega countered. "Everybody here knows that you are one to scheme! Even Meili knows that your intentions are seldom good, as you are the one who hired her to kill the people she is now allies with! Do not act as if you are innocent!"

"Shut up! That doesn't matter!" Ram shouted, putting an end to Omega and Roswaal's side debate. Point at Omega, she yelled, "Answer me! Who are you?!"

Omega sighed. "I was really hoping that we could get along with each other during this mission, but I suppose that-"

"Answer!"

Omega shook her head as if she felt disappointed in Ram. "You see why I felt the need to hide my identity? You can see for yourself that you are quite unreasonable-"

"Answer or else!"

"If you would stop interfering with my dialogue, I would have already explained my identity."

A slight breeze picked up around Ram, shuffling everybody's clothes except for yours, since you were half a room away from the enraged oni. "You have one last chance to answer me before I am truly unreasonable."

Seeing that Omega was being difficult to prove a point but getting frustrated at the two women fighting, you stepped forward from your position in the Green Room. From behind Ram, you answered, "She's Echidna all right, but she's not Roswaal's Echidna, whoever that is. We've been contracted to each other for over nine months now, so trust me when I say that she doesn't mean any harm. Heck, she even made a vow with Subaru to never harm any of us, just like Roswaal did!"

You feigned ignorance toward Roswaal's past and his goal, since you only knew any of this because of Echidna, and he was supposed to think that she was completely manipulating you in order to not suspect that she was working with you to thwart anything he would try.

Of course, Ram didn't care about any of that. She turned on her heels to face you, tears of anger in her eyes. "Barusu?! First, you are contracted to the Witch of Greed, and you dare tell me she is Echidna yet not Echidna, and now you claim to have kept this a secret from all of us except for Barusu?! How repulsive! Were you not disgusted by yourself after you lied so easily when I asked for the truth last night?! How could you act so happy all of this time while deceiving us and making such little value of our trust? Have you learned nothing at all?!"

'Umm... Echidna... How do I tell her that literally everybody in the Emilia camp except for her and Frederica knew about you? It's not that I didn't trust Ram, it's just that we all knew she'd react like this.'

'At this point in this conversation, being blunt may well be the best policy. If she is already this upset, I cannot fathom her wrath growing too much worse.'

'Well then, I guess-'

While you were standing in place and consulting Echidna, Meili finally recovered from her surprise to speak up. "Um... if it helps, they actually told a bunch of us. I think they were just slow in telling you."

"A bunch...?" Ram started walking away from the group to get closer to you. "What is the meaning of this?! Who have you- No, who have you not lied to all of this time?!"

Not letting yourself show any fear, you said, "I've broken the news to everyone but you, Roswaal, and Frederica."

Ram spun around once more to face Roswaal. "Is this true? Did you not sense that Echidna was among us for all these months?!" Because of her inflection, this question sounded more like Ram begging for Roswaal to say what she most wanted to hear.

"Of couuuurse!" Roswaal lied smoothly. "Now, Ram, do not insult me with this question, forrrrr if this were truly Echidna, I would not have been blind to her true identity! In fact, I would like to asssssk (Y/N) to elaborate on his words, for I believe him in that this is not the Echidna that I knew! "

"Why don't you just ask her?" you suggested. "I'm sure that getting first-hand information will be a lot more reliable than me trying to explain it."

You noticed Ram's hand balling up hard enough that you almost expected blood to start dripping from it because of how many times this conversation was being diverted from her, but Omega started to talk before she could do anything.

"Since there seems to be no convenient way to avoid this, I shall explain:" Omega paused for dramatic effect. "I am the soul of Echidna, the Witch of Greed, when she was yet a young maiden! I am the result of her ultimate failsafe if-"

"I seeeee~" Roswaal interrupted, not wanting you or Meili, or even Shaula for that matter, to learn about his Teacher's immortality experiments that Omega was about to uncover.

Ram, on the other hand, knew very well about those experiments. She knew that Echidna failed to discover the secret to immortality, and that Roswaal's goal was to resurrect her.

She knew that Roswaal wanted to kill Volcanica to use the blood from the Divine Dragon's last heartbeat to resurrect Echidna.

But if Echidna, no matter how different she was from the one that he was so desperate for, was here... would Roswaal finally relent? Would he give up on his scheming and learn to love somebody else?

Ram's head was now bouncing with thoughts coming from bitter rage, feelings of pain and betrayal, and the opposing feeling of blossoming hope, which became a dizzying mess of confusion.

Unable to come to terms with her inner conflict, Ram uncurled her fingers and grabbed the sides of her head as if she couldn't bear the pain inside of it.

Walking back into the Green Room towards Rem, Ram sharply announced, "This conversation is quite the waste of time. Move on without me, for I have become a hindrance to those who have stripped themselves of virtue."

You let Ram walk past you, and without acknowledging her, you walked out of the Green Room. There was no talking to her right now, and she was right - time was still ticking while she was arguing with everybody, so it would be better to let her sort things out quietly for now.

You just hoped that she wouldn't still be stuck sorting things out when it really mattered.

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I'm so excited to be getting into this arc, and I gotta tell you, I'm so happy to be able to have Shaula in this story. A lot is going to come up in the next coming chapters, and since the closest I've ever come to crying while reading something was Shaula's chapter in the LN, I really hope that she'll be okay. I mean, I already know what's going to happen, but that's besides the point.

And to move on from this chapter, I'm aiming to get the next chapter out somewhere around the end of October to around mid-November. With that, I'll see ya next time!