The glowing rays of a rising sun struck her pale skin, gentle gusts of wind heated by smoldering fires blew through her white hair, yet she felt completely frigid. The scent of spoiling flesh, borne from the carcasses of both man and beast reached her nose, yet she felt not the slightest tinge of nausea. It was like she had been petrified, both incapable of truly understanding the scene before her, and incapable of turning away from it.

All she could see were ruins; a collection of collapsed, burning buildings that contained the occasional body. Across from them stood a massive scar where the earth looked like it had been ripped away like the peel of a fruit. Finally, there was a path strewn with gore that forked towards a collapsed house, a forest, and a lonely tree atop a small hill.

It was a tree that had stood defiant in the face of every gust of wind, every drought, and every bolt of lightening ever since she had been a young girl. Yet, for reasons that seemed to defy all logic, whatever strength it had possessed was gone now. Its leaves had been green and full of life when they had shaded her many hours earlier, yet now they were tinged with a deathly brown. Its mighty stout trunk and the deep roots that answered it now bowed to the gusts of winds that it had once defied.

It was a tree that had died in the height of summer, a living organism that had surrendered to the fate that it had already bloomed for the last time. Would it be the kind of husk to fall in the next storm and return to the earth, or would it remain standing, clinging to something as it put up the façade that it still lived?

These were philosophical musings that would have occupied her mind mere days ago, but the ongoing battle within the remnants of her heart was preventing that. It was a perfect metaphor, or even an allegory to the events of the past evening. It was as to the dance of shadows across a cave wall, as the fight was to life itself.

It was a titanic struggle were both the protagonist and antagonist were one and the same. A conflict created to illicit reprisal that could serve redemption. A cry of desperation for a strike that could sever the rope of guilt, releasing the blade that would silence the one who cried out in the first place. It was a decapitation in the name of self preservation.

Just like a dying tree in nature, the more nutrients provided by the decay of an old corpse, the stronger the new life that sprouts from it.

So as the ice that she would claim came from the black mass within her chest finally consumed the heart that had been beating since before she took her first breath, she breathed in and allowed her tired eyes to blink.

Allowing her focus to turn outward, the Witch of Greed finally decided to humour the only other living person in the near vicinity. Someone who had been watching her ever since the moon had dipped below the horizon.

As her attention had been almost entirely directed inwards, she could not even hope to describe what this person had been doing for the past few hours. She had heard them call out at one point, yet she had no clue as to what had been said. Eventually they chose to close whatever distance had existed between them, going as far as to look right into her eyes. Echidna's gaze had been completely empty however, seemingly staring right through them, as if they were not even there. Finally, they had decided to pull Echidna's head onto their chest, running their hands through her hair and occasionally muttering things like "There, there" or "everything's going to be okay."

This person clearly knew nothing about her, or what she had done. Afterall, it was absolutely preposterous for a witch to feel anything other then their namesake. Grief, sadness, regret, guilt, they were all feelings that she had never known nor ever would know. At least, that is what the all knowing Witch of Greed would say.

She opened her mouth to speak, but her throat was so dry that not even the slightest squeak came out. Only after swallowing was she able to produce a hoarse voice.

"What are you doing?" Her words may have been accusatory, but her voice was so empty and tired that it seemed like she could not care less about what was going on.

"Comforting you obviously!" While Echidna could not see them, their chipper and bubbly voice sounded distinctly feminine. Not to mention the sensation brought on by the firm yet soft tissue beneath her cheek. Yet, despite knowing that this person who had found her, approached her, and grabbed hold of her while she was zoned out, she did not feel the slightest sense of relief. How could one feel relief if they never felt concerned to begin with?

"I don't need to be comforted; I am perfectly fine." Echidna tried to push herself off of this person's chest, only to find herself completely incapable of moving. Her entire body may have felt like it was laden with lead, but even then she expected to be able to move a tiny bit if it was another woman holding her down. It was like the strength difference between her and this person was the same as the difference in size between a mountain and herself.

Despite having just battled another holder of a witch factor hours ago, wielding magic of a complexity and scale exceeding the greatest dreams of any ordinary mage, she still easily had enough mana to destroy an entire city. Yet, she could not bring herself to draw upon her mana nor even think of lashing out with violence. Instead, she allowed herself to be held in the arms of this strange woman, her expression frozen in place like a piece of ice.

"You're definitely not fine! You're just here alone, looking like you need to cry. So I'm going to hold you and not let go until you've cried all the sadness away!" The woman's voice was simultaneously full of confidence, sympathetic, and overflowing with energy. If the Witch of Greed was not feeling completely empty then this person probably would have infuriated her.

"…" Not a single word left Echidna's mouth as she stared directly ahead, watching the smoke rise and flies begin to gather. She was taking in the new state of what had once been her home; it would never return to what it had once been, no villager would ever return to a place cursed to this extent by a monster. It did not take long for her to completely lose herself in this scenery and the thoughts that came with it. Once again time began to roll forward whilst her mind was left behind in the past.


"You just lost everything… didn't you?" Echidna was once again pulled back to reality by the woman's voice, except this time it sounded like it had fallen into sadness. Whatever had happened over however much time had past had clearly affected her spirits.

Echidna blinked, then blinked again before taking a deep and slow breath. Only then did she realize that she was now sitting up, leaning against this woman's shoulder. She had no memory of sitting up, or even being allowed to sit up, just as she had no memory of being pulled against the woman's chest.

"Why would you say that?" While Echidna's demeanor did not noticeably change, it was like some tiny switch inside her flipped. Therefore, for the first time since encountering her, Echidna turned her head just enough so that she was visible out of the corner of her eye.

This woman was an elf, or more correctly, some kind of elf-human hybrid based on the human tinge to her features. She had long silver hair, and purple amethyst eyes. Finally, she wore a black dress with orange frills that looked like it belonged on a dancer, not someone sitting on the ground beside a burning village.

"I met a man with the same look before, he's why I know that I can't leave you alone right now." The woman's eyes twinkled a bit as a slight smile, filled with pity adorned her face. However, it was unclear whether this was a reflection of the present, or something dredged up from the past.

"…" Echidna did not bother to muster a response, instead she faced away whilst maintaining a completely blank expression. She gave absolutely no impression on whether or not she agreed with this woman's statement.

For a long moment a spell of silence developed between the two as one stared at the other well they themselves returned their gaze to the ruins before them.

"Do you have a place to stay tonight?" The woman's voice sounded so sad that it was hard to believe that her feelings was a result of empathy, and not the result of being the victim herself.

"I still have my home." Echidna's reply was short and staccato, yet due to how slowly she spoke it could not be called curt.

"I guess I should've asked, do you have a home that you want to go back to?" As the woman spoke, she raised her arm and placed it against Echidna's back, as if to support her.

"…" The Witch of Greed's face did not change in the slightest as she remained completely still, letting the question wash over her without seeming to posses any intent to respond. However, if one were to look closely at her eyes, they would notice a change in how much light was being reflected. Maybe she herself realized this, maybe she did not, but this other woman clearly did.

"Would you like to come stay in my home for a bit, Echidna?" Whilst the woman's voice remained completely unchanged as she spoke, Echidna definitely did not. At the mention of her name, Echidna slowly turned her head until she was looking directly at the woman. Her eyes were wide in disbelief as the bottomless pits that were her pupils bored straight into the mysterious woman. As well, for the first time over the course of the combination, the Witch of Greed would admit that she felt something. The insatiable, insurmountable, and all encompassing monster that was her curiosity was rearing its head once again.

"Everyone who has known me as anything other then 'The Witch' is gone. How do you know my name? How?" Whilst it may have been possible to construe her words as accusatory, her tone and body language were anything but. She was fully turned to face the woman, her eyes were constantly her for even the tiniest clue or detail that might give something away. It was like she was a totally different person then she had been just a moment ago.

"Huh…Uhmmm….Since I was going to be passing through, my friend told me a bit about you, just in case I ran into you…" The woman leaned back a bit she stumbled a bit over her words as she was caught completely off-guard by the sudden change in Echidna.

"Who are they?" Her question was short and to the point as she imposed her curiosity on this woman, who had already managed to grow accustomed to this sudden shift in her personality.

"His name is Flügel…do you know him?" The woman mentioned a man's name rather confidently, but when she saw Echidna's brow furrow, the confidence in her voice began to falter.

"I have never met him, nor have I heard of him." Echidna spoke slowly and in a manner of fact voice, yet her voice was growing more and more intense. It was like every single fibre of her being was recovering from the prior shock, becoming attuned to one another as they unified to produce one singular image.

"That's a little confusing…he spoke as if he knew you…" The woman placed a finger on her chin as she looked up to the sky with a confused expression adorning her face.

"Where can I find him? I need to find out how he knows who I am." The way Echidna spoke, she made it sound like whatever fragile mental equilibrium she may have developed would collapse if she could not find an answer to her question.

"I mean he's not home right now, but he should be back in a few days. So if you are okay with coming back with me then you'll see him in a week or so." The woman continued to place her finger against her chin as she more or less thought aloud rather than speaking to Echidna.

"Why are you okay with letting me stay with you if you know who I am, or do you not know what I am?" Echidna eyed the woman carefully as she spoke, trying to catch even the slightest bit of detail.

"Oh, I know that you're the Witch of Greed. Flügel tried to explain Witch Factors to me, but it was just a little bit over my head though. You look like you need help so I'm really okay with you staying with me, and I'm sure Flügel is as well." Echidna's eyes went wide as she heard this woman mention something so sinister with such a nonchalant voice and kind demeanor. Yet it was like this woman's words were chum in the water for her. It sent the foreign element that had been within her body ever since she had been born into overdrive. Yet only the Witch of Greed herself could say how this affected her psyche, if it even did.

"I'll be in your care then." Echidna spoke with absolute conviction and certainty as a smile of genuine happiness spread across the woman's face.


"Huh…." Echidna let out a sigh as she slumped down and let the hot bath water rise above her mouth. She had been soaking in the bath that belonged to the mysterious woman for an unknown number of hours. Her only way of gauging the time was when the water eventually cooled down, making her utilize magic to warm it again, lest she be forced to leave.

As to why she wished to remain in the water, it was almost entirely due to the fact that merely a day ago she had been in her own bath, in her own home. She had been sitting in a tiny tub that was barely large enough for her; the little black book that possessed every answer she could ever desire and so intrinsically tied to her that she could never escape it enrapturing her mind. It was a moment that she made a decision that felt like it would be engrained in her mind forever.

Perhaps the best way to put it is that the foreignness and unfamiliarity of her surroundings made the fact that her life had just fundamentally changed truly set in.

"Echidna, you okay?" The mysterious woman's bell like voice rang out alongside the subtle splash of her entering the bath alongside the Witch of Greed.

"Hm?" Echidna lazily sat up so that her mouth was above water before turning to face the woman who had brought her here, a sound of confusion leaving her mouth in the process.

"You've been in here a realllly long time, so I came to check on you. Is the heat getting to you, are you feeling dizzy?" She felt the woman place one of her hands against her bare shoulder as her voice was tinged with concern.

"I've just been thinking about everything that's happened, I suppose. I cannot say that the heat isn't doing anything at this point though." Echidna's voice sounded a bit empty as she spoke, her gaze reverted to staring directly ahead into the steam that hung in the air.

While Echidna was not exactly sure as to why she even revealed what little she did, but the next thing she knew, her head was resting on the woman's shoulder with a hand on the other side. Yet, she felt no need to push her away or try to free herself. In fact, it almost felt like it was something she had been missing for a long time.

"You really must've gone though a lot, and you've probably got a lot of stuff bottled up. If you don't let it all out then it'll eat from the inside out. So Echidna, if you need to cry then I'm going to hold you until no more tears can come out. If you need to talk then you have my ears for as long as you need them." It was like the woman's kind voice that was a pair of hands that reached into her very soul, trying their best to pry open a part of her heart that she decried as being dead since birth. It was difficult to truly know, but in that moment something might have temporarily been allowed to roam freely.

"…Why are you being so nice to me…I don't even know your name…" Echidna kind of mumbled her response as she turned her head away to hide her face. It was an action that could be construed as rude, yet the woman did not seem to be phased in the slightest.

"Oh, you were even more out of it when I introduced myself than I thought. My name is Satella, just Satella, and as to why I'm the way I am, I guess its because a lot of people were really nice to me when I was growing up, even when they were really, really suffering." The concern in Satella's voice grew a tiny bit thicker but her overall caring demeanor and voice remained the most prominent thing to reach Echidna.

"I'm a really horrible person you know…absolutely terrible…" Echidna's voice came out horribly contorted as she mustered her reply. It was like she was simultaneously choking on her words, trying to speak with a careful and controlled voice, and repressing a scream all at the same time.

"That's okay, we all make mistakes Echidna." Satella spoke with the kindest and softest voice that one would likely hear in their entire life, it could be best described as the straw that broke the camels back.

"…" Echidna tried to turn her face even farther away from Satella as she completely gave up trying to converse.


"Can you please brush my hair again, please, please, please~!" A childish voice sung through the door as it pleaded with someone in a way only a little kid could.

"I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have helped him… he's going to break her now…" Echidna thought to herself as she stood outside the door, completely rooted in place. A sense of guilt that she would consider completely uncharacteristic of herself was seeping into her heart.

"Alright~ Pandora, but you really~ need to start doing this on your own, you're getting older ya'know." Satella's voice chimed back through the door as bed springs audibly groaned, probably due to Pandora jumping on the bed.

"She's going to end up just like Hector…if not worse…" For a brief instant the face of a boy, a man, the one she had grown up alongside, the only person she had ever felt close to since the death of her father. She could still see that look on his face, the expression of someone desperate to give something back to the only one who had offered him kindness, the only one who ever managed to put a smile on his face, the only one who had treated him like a person. Then there was the face when she saw him again later that day, and how he had all but been destroyed, reduced to nothing more then a shell driven by pieces of its past.

"There're so many knots in your hair! Did you forget to comb it before bed yesterday?" Satella's voice could be heard through the door, sounding slightly pained. She was probably worried that she was hurting Pandora when the comb caught on the knots.

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore…" Echidna thought to herself as a tug of war broke out between her heart and something else buried within her chest. It was a battle to decide what was right and what was right, which path was objectively the best, and which was subjectively correct. While it was a battle capable of making her head feel light and making her heart crack, it was one that had already been fought, and decided before. Part of her was completely blindsided by the resurgence of this conflict, yet another part of was far from surprised.

She raised a hand to support her head, yet it strayed just enough from its intended path for her knuckles to slightly glance the wooden door.

"Huh? Is someone there? One sec Pandora, let me get the door." Echidna's hand froze in midair as she heard Satella's rushed voice, and footsteps approaching the door. The Witch of Greed, the one who desired to learn all in the world, one who was generally considered to be wiser than her years, felt panicked at the coming uncertainty.

It was like everything inside her suddenly did not make sense, nor did the world around her. Her beliefs were contradicted by her feelings, which were in turn contradicted by her actions. Yet, the aches from within and the anxiety that was eating her alive felt so alien, and the logic they tried to erode felt like it simply belonged. She could not understand a single bit of it, and it left her feeling completely lost.

"Echidna? You kinda have a scary look on your face, is everything alright?" At first Satella's ever optimistic and kind face appeared through the open doorway, only for her to instantly freeze up. The sight of her friend seemingly petrified in a position with her hand floating halfway to her head, and a look bordering on madness seemed to have shocked her.

"…" Echidna wanted to say something, part of her felt like she absolutely had to say something. Yet, it felt like a pair of arms had reached up inside her and grabbed her throat, rendering her voice inaudible even though her lips were moving. She could do nothing but watch as her friend slowly closed the distance between them, gently closing the door behind her with her foot as she did so.

"Let's just sit down on the floor for a bit, okay?" Satella's voice sounded fraught with worry, yet she was worried about Echidna when she should have been worried about herself. It felt horrible to put someone in the guillotine, only for them to smile right back at you.

Satella gently placed her hands against Echidna's back, most likely to guide her to the floor, but instead it seemed to break some kind of dam within the Witch. Her previously petrified hands suddenly clamped down on Satella's shoulders with all the might that she could muster, like she was going to shake Satella.

"Y-You have to run Satella! I told Flügel something I shouldn't of, and he's going to use it to break you… you have to run away from him, and from me. If you don't, one of us is going to destroy you…" Echidna stared at Satella with manic eyes, choking her words out as if her body was fighting her. Yet most odd of all was her voice, for it sounded completely calm and level-headed despite the urgency and mania that she was otherwise exuding.

"Wait! I think you need to take a deep breath and calm down Echidna. I don't believe that either you or Flügel would ever, ever do anything to hurt me. I really, really~ care about both of you. So Echidna, take a big breath and tell me again what's gotten you so worked up." Satella gently but forcefully removed Echidna's hands from her shoulders and then guided her to the wooden floor below. She spoke in a calm, gentle voice that made the handful of years that separated them seem like decades, and it made Echidna feel even worse. Despite this, she did her best to not continue acting the part of the petulant child.

"I've been studying my witch factor for the past few months, and lately Flügel has been asking me questions regarding what I've learned so far. But this morning, he started asking about how one could bind a Witch Factor to someone who was incompatible. I discussed how I thought it could happen according to my theories, and then he said that he wanted to give one to you… If you take in a witch factor its going to turn you into a monster like me. It'll be exactly the same thing that I did to Hector…" Echidna did her best to recount the past events, to explain what was going on as clearly as possible. Yet, despite the fact that her voice remained flat and level, almost monotone; she could not bring herself to actually look Satella in the eye. Yet before she realized it, she had been pulled into the half-elf's embrace.

"It makes me really happy to know that you care this much about me Echidna. But I don't think its fair to say that I'll become a monster if I'm given a witch factor, because I don't think that you or Pandora are monsters. Even if Flügel gives me one, he would never ever do something that would hurt me, so you really don't have to worry, I'm going to be alright." Satella nudged Echidna's head just enough so that their eyes met. Echidna could see how Satella's gleamed with a reassuring happiness that only a perpetual optimist could posses. Satella could see the mania that had gripped Echidna gradually dissipating as it was swallowed up by the serene calmness that she normally associated with her friend.

"There you ar-, it looks like you're busy. When you free could you come and help me with something in my study, Satella?" Flügel's collected yet eccentric voice carried down the hallway as he slowly walked towards the two of them. From the corner of her eye, Echidna could see that nothing looked off about him. His black hair was swept back into a short pony tail behind his head, and he was still clean shaven. He looked just like he always did, as if today was just any old ordinary day.

"I think Echidna needs me right now, but I can come by after." Satella looked away from Echidna as she spoke to Flügel. Yet, Echidna noticed that her voice rose ever so slightly while she spoke to him, and her already gleaming eyes seemed to dilate just a tiny bit.

"That's fine, there's no rush." Flügel remained the same as ever as not a single bit of his demeanor seemed to change, as he left the two in order to give them space. It was an action that was simultaneously expected from him, and wholly unexpected.

This left the two in a situation that was eerily similar to how they had first met. An overly kind and selfless half-elf who was either willfully or unintentionally ignorant to the situation at hand. In her arms was a witch who claimed to be unfeeling, yet one that was unable to deny that she was falling apart at the seams. Just like back then, time seemed to roll by unbeknownst to one of the two, and painfully obvious to the other.

"Echidna, I'm sorry but I think I have to go now. Just stay here with Pandora and I promise I'll be right back!" Satella sounded genuinely apologetic as she stood up from beside Echidna, showing not the slightest hint of discomfort from how long she had been sitting on the floor.

"…" Echidna wanted to say something, to call out to her and tell her not to go, but she was unable to do so. It felt like her entire being was encased by some kind of cold ice that froze her in a perpetual state of calmness. All she managed to do was follow Satella with her eyes, stare into the concern behind those amethyst irises, and watch as she disappeared down the hallway.

Not more then a moment after she had disappeared from sight did the door beside her creak open, and from it emerge a girl dressed in nothing more then a piece of fabric, adorned with a blue ribbon.

"You're confusing, Echidna." Pandora said as she slumped down to the floor, sitting beside the greedy witch. Her voice devoid of the characteristic rambunctiousness which had been so prevalent before Echidna had intruded upon her and Satella. Instead, it was replaced with an eery calmness that seemed like it fit one who would hide within a mist and attempt to scare passersby. It was like two totally different people occupied the child's body, and they had just switched places at the helm.

"How so?" Echidna responded with her own calm voice, albeit hers was less eery and more devoid of emotion then anything else.

"I don't know what part of your appearance is real, and what's fake. You seem to care about Sister Satella, but you don't. Where does the fakeness end, and the real part begin? What's real and what isn't?" Pandora turned her head and looked at Echidna with her large sapphire-coloured eyes, it was a look that would have been far more fitting on a child half her age.

"You cannot learn if you're handed the answers, in fact the best part of learning is the struggle to find them. The anxiety, the gnawing emptiness, the drive, its what gives the final payoff its sweetness. If one were to be handed that kind of success on a silver platter, then the world would be reduced to mere greyness soon after." Echidna's voice was cold and far harsher than what one would normally use with a child of Pandora's age, yet Pandora just watched her and tried her best to absorb every last word. It was a rather odd lecture between an odd teenager and an odd child. Needless to say, neither commented on the other's sudden shift in personality.

"Where are you going?" Pandora posed yet another question as Echidna stood up and began to walk down the hallway. The Witch of Greed did not turn to answer, instead choosing to simply stand with her back to the young girl and give her answer to the open air.

"Think, it'll probably help with your previous question as well." That is, if what Echidna had said could be taken as an actual answer.

Hearing this, Pandora could only cock her head and furrow her brow as she tried to piece the puzzle into a coherent answer. Meanwhile, Echidna disappeared around the same corner that Satella had.


"He knows far more then he should given his background, and every breadcrumb he has left has led somewhere worthwhile…It seems like his knowledge eclipses mine by orders of magnitude, but then why would he feel the need to lead me by the nose to the answers?" Echidna slowly walked down a hallway of the mansion as she thought deeply about her most recent encounter with Flügel. It had begun like just another inauspicious conversation, but as it had progressed it felt like things were finally starting to fall into place. Hints as subtle as word choice linked back to other hints from before, the illusive barrier around him finally started to develop cracks. Yet just as it was about to shatter, it was like everything got all bound up on itself. She was missing the final piece of the puzzle that she needed to solve a mystery that she originally did not know even existed.

"The important part is either that I am the one who knows the given piece of information, or that I'm occupied and therefore unable to head down a different path. If this is truly binary then I can prove this b-" She continued to ponder the topic, coming to an answer when she was suddenly pulled from her thoughts by a familiar voice with an very unfamiliar tone.

"You were talking to him again, monopolizing all his time, taking him away from me…He loves me and not you, and I love himlovehimlovehimlovehimlovehimlovehim….." It was a voice that was normally kind, gentle, and as beautiful as a chiming bell. Now it was accusatory, harsh, and sounded completely unhinged.

"Huh?" Echidna could do nothing but make a sound of surprise as she suddenly attempted switch tracks and figure out what was happening. She saw Satella in front of her, glaring at her with what looked like burning hatred. The light that had been streaming in through the open windows suddenly disappeared as everything was engulfed in darkness. The next thing she new, Satella's enraged face suddenly filled her entire field of view.

Before she could even move, or more correctly, before she managed to move, Echidna found herself pinned to the wall. She could feel a single one of Satella's hands around her throat as her feet dangled a whole head off the ground. Despite being far weaker than the half-elf when it came to physical strength, she still instinctively tried to use them to pry her friends hand off her throat. Except they would not move, or more correctly, could not.

Her lungs began to radiate the sensation of suffocation as they tried to suck in air through her open mouth. Her own eyes turned to stare into Satella's, right into two gates of utter madness.

"He's mine, I won't let you take him from me!" She muttered as her body oozed with killing intent, every single pore emanating malice.

"She's trying to strangle me to death…envy induced hatred." Echidna thought to herself as her bodies scream for oxygen began to intensify. She did not panic however, because panic was a distinctly human emotion. It was something completely foreign and unfitting to one who had only ever been a witch.

Her eyes strained themselves to focus in on the hand around her throat as she tried her best to determine how exactly it was holding her. She could not see anything beyond Satella's forearm and would instead have to rely on her sense of feel to fill in the blanks.

"If I cut off her thumb she won't be able to hold onto my throat, I can reattach it later when things have calmed down." Echidna did her best to calmly lay out her plan as her vision began to grow slightly fuzzy. She would use her magic to create an air blade to cut herself free, in order to avoid getting throttled to death. Yet when she tried to summon mana through her od, nothing happened.

"Fitting" Was the only thought to cross her mind as her entire vision faded to black and she lost consciousness.


"Echidna, hey Echidna, wake up!" A voice that she knew to be as soft and soothing as silver bell seeped through the haze that clouded her mind. Yet this voice was not what she remembered, for it was so tainted with concern and worry that it was nigh unrecognizable.

"So I'm still alive." Echidna thought to herself as she mentally explored her body, trying to take stock of the situation given what she last remembered happening. She did not feel any pain that would indicate a severe injury, only a slight soreness around her neck and the side that she seemed to be laying on. Aside from that she just felt exhausted, so exhausted that she honestly wanted to just lie on the floor until she fell asleep. It was like every bit of energy had been sapped from her body.

"Please wake up Echidna, please, please please…" She felt a slender hand placed against both of her cheeks began to sound so corrupted by sadness that it was quickly becoming unbearable to listen to. It was so incredibly difficult to bear that she willed just a bit of energy out of her spent body and opened her eyes.

The site that greeted her was one she would prefer to never see again, a nearly distraught looking half-elf staring down at her in a panic. Her eyes glistened with water while her face contorted with worry, it was a look that made her feel nothing but guilt.

"I just found you here, lying on the floor. What happened? How're you feeling? Are you ill? Should I carry you to your room?" Echidna watched as a wave of relief spread over her friends face before she was bombarded by a barrage of questions. She was already exhausted and the thought of answering them all sounded so tiring. Worst of all, it would probably destroy what little resolve she had built up from the last incident. The resolve to do something she should have done long ago.

"…I think I just stumbled a bit, help me back to my feet." Her voice was weak and neared a mumble in terms of volume as she raised a single hand towards Satella.

"You were completely out, I can't let you walk anywhere!" Satella vehemently rejected Echidna's request as she moved her arms to scoop her off the floor.

"I just feel a bit tired currently and I think this might be something that is better to walk off then sleep through. So please help me to my feet." Echidna forced her now weakened and already meager muscles to bring herself to a sitting position. She did not want and could not allow herself to be carried.

"All right… Just be careful okay?" While Satella sounded a little bit worried, overall she seemed more miffed at the rejection then anything else. She ceased trying to pickup Echidna, instead placing her hands under Echidna's arms and lifting her to her feet.

"Thank you." Echinda mumbled as she gingerly began to walk forward, one hand lightly placed against the wall as she did so. She managed to take a few steps before one of her feet suddenly slipped out from underneath her, causing her to fall.

"!" Without even a sound being made Satella's arms shot into action. She grabbed onto both sides of Echidna's torso and held her in place, lifting her just enough to take most of the weight off her precariously oriented ankle.

"I guess I'm still feeling a bit lightheaded…" While Echidna's voice may have been just as weak as before, there was a bit of a chuckle buried within it. It was almost like she was trying to laugh at herself as she was held up and in place by Satella.

"Lightheaded? You didn't just stumble then, did you?" The concern in Satella's own voice instantly grew far deeper as she stared at the one in her arms who seemed to weak to hold themselves up.

"I guess not. We are not far from my room, help me walk there and then I will lay down for a bit." Echidna did her best to brush off her friend's statement as she righted herself before continuing her slow and methodical walk forwards.

"Okay… but I'm going to stay with you for a bit, no arguing." Initially Satella's own voice seemed more like at sigh at this frustrating show of determination. It then shifted as she made something that seemed more like a dictation towards her junior, devoid of her normally playful and nonconfrontational way of speaking.

This marked the final words that the two exchanged as Echidna quietly accepted the demand of the woman who had been helping her. They continued to slowly walk down the hallway of the mansion they had been staying at without any sound but the clicks and clacks of their shoes against the wooden floor.

They may have lived in a dwelling that was far too large to be considered a normal home, but still a bit too small to be considered a true mansion. As such, the distance they needed to cover to reach Echidna's room was not far, even when the journey was drawn out by how slow she was walking.

Once they arrived in front of the door, there was a brief pause as Echidna just held onto the doorknob and stood still, a look of uncertainty crossing her face. Yet before Satella could decide on a course of action, Echidna turned to face her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Satella." Echidna looked into her eyes as she spoke, seeing a brief spark of confusion before the half-elf's body crumpled to the ground. Echidna then quickly turned, opened the door and fled through it without allowing Satella to see what was on the other side.

As such, once she stepped into the room and threw the door closed behind her, the only thing that could follow her was a single, truncated cry.

"Echidna, wa-" Satella had called out while she was kept pinned to the floor with magic, a single arm stretched out towards the door.

Aside from those words, Echidna was now alone in a room. Before her was a bed only wide enough for one, beside it was a night table with only a single object atop it, a heavy brass hand mirror that one would use to ready themselves in the morning. It was a possession she knew well, in a room she knew equally as well. After spending far too few, or far too many years away, she was back where it all began. She was home.


In the end though, what stuck with her the most was the expression she had seen on Satella's face. It had not been one of anger, regret, or betrayal. Instead it had been a look of pained confusion, like she was hurting on the inside but did not have the faintest clue as to what to do. Even after the Witch of Greed had returned to Sanctuary, even after her time in Kararagi with Hoshin, and her years of near seclusion with Beatrice, Roswaal, and Puck; there was not a single moment that she was truly free of that look.

Even after four hundred years of life, and after filling an entire library with books full of knowledge she had both acquired and discovered. She could not exactly say that she was truly any different from the girl who had the youthful infatuation with the boy who stood out, or the young woman who had been dragged out of the ruins of her own creation by a kind half-elf.

However, in this very moment, on this grassy hill that existed within a plane of existence of her own making, she knew one thing to be true. She could hide from the past no longer.

She was seated on a white wireframe chair, before a table that was adorned with an umbrella to provide shade from a sun that had never truly shone. Before her stood Satella looking straight at her with her distinctive amethyst eyes, perverted by a subtle redness and circled by a puffy face. Her hair was out of whack and her clothes were dishevelled, to any onlooker she could only have described as a mess. Even more worrisome was the aura she exuded, one of desperation, fear, and unbridled anxiety. Her shallow and ragged breathing, her shaky hands, the darting of her eyes, it was the last mental state that one would ever wish to see the Great Calamity in.

Despite this, the Witch of Greed neither tried to flee, nor did she attempt to prepare magic to banish her fellow witch from this place she had remained in for so long. Instead, she simply leaned forward and supported her chin with her hands, which were in turn perched atop the table before her. She waited and watched the one she had once known as a friend, waiting for her to take the first step in this long overdue reunion.

"…E-…He-…" Some sounds escaped Satella as she tried to speak, only for her to close her mouth before she could finish forming the word. Her mind seemed to be simply so incapacitated by whatever she had seen and whatever she was feeling that she was incapable of starting things off.

"Flügel told me that you believed I wanted you to stay away, but that's not why you're like this currently, is it Satella?" Echidna spoke in a calm, cold, and flat voice that was likely far removed from what one would expect for a reunion. It was like the sight of the state of someone she had once regarded as a friend did not have even the slightest effect on her. Yet, seeing how Satella's entire body seemed to hitch when she said Flügel's name, the lack of coherence began to make a bit of sense.

"…H-He's…in real trouble…I-I…don't know how to help him…" Satella managed to choke out a few words as she looked at Echidna with desperation, it was clear that she was asking for help.

"He was here when you killed Hector, from what I saw I cannot say that I know how to help him." While one would probably assume that she would have spat out her words with malice, Echidna did not such things. As if playing a character in a performance, she showed not the slightest care for someone whose death had reached her human side not long ago.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't remember…I just don't know what to do anymore…Ever since I've seen him like he is now, its like my whole world's falling apart. All I can think about is how he's constantly suffering, but I have no idea what to do. When I close my eyes I can't get the image of him letting himself die over and over again out of my head. So please Echidna, help me, tell me what I need to do to save him…I can't think straight anymore so just tell me what I have to do…." Tears began to roll out of Satella's tired looking eyes as she spoke, following stained, familiar paths down her face as the last bits of will holding her together seemed to evaporate. It was a sight that she never imagined herself seeing, nor did she ever particularly want to see. It made her want to turn away and hide her face, something that she could not, nor could not allow herself to want to do.

She should have sat still and watched her struggle, let her beg and plead until she could extract every single last bit of compensation from the Great Calamity. That would have been the logical thing to do, it would have been the cold and calculating play that would have been expected from the Witch of Greed. Yet, the second she felt the squeeze of a pair of hands on her shoulders, any and all intention of playing games with Satella went out the window.

"If you want my help then I have to know if you are truly prepared to do anything to save him." Echidna spoke without the slightest hint of emotion in her voice as she watched the broken form of her friend take in what she had said.

"I'll do anything to save him, just please, please tell me what I need to do…" Satella did not skip a single beat in her response, repeating her plea with a glimmer of hope adorning her tired eyes.

"There's a very real possibility that the only way to save him will be to kill him." Echidna said her line as nonchalantly as one would when buying a loaf of bread from a baker.

"…" Satella completely froze up as the little glimmer of hope instantly faded from her eyes, her hands falling off her friends shoulders as her gaze trailed towards the ground.

"Echidna! That's too far even for you! We all know that you hate the guy, but there's no reason to be so horrible to her!" A rage filled voice shouted as a blond-haired woman brushed past Echidna. The woman placed her hands on Satella's shoulders and guided her down to an empty seat beside the table.

"M-Minerva-chan i-is right, E-Echidna-chan. Satella-chan a-already feels l-like s-she's losing someone she l-loves. Y-you're j-just making her f-feel worse b-because h-he's hurt you b-before." Another woman with a head of pink hair appeared in the corner of Echidna's vision. She was clad in several layers of loose clothing that appeared far too warm for the eternal summer that they had all been experiencing.

"It's okay Minerva, if Echidna believes that o-only…death can save him…Then I'll do my best to free him from…his suffering…" Satella did her best to choke out words that seemed to visibly hurt her. She was only stopped by Minerva, who was knelt beside her chair, pulling her face into her own chest. Minerva then turned her head to look over her shoulder, straight at Echidna.

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP IT ECHIDNA! SATELLA'S VULNERABLE RIGHT NOW AND IS GOING TO LISTEN TO WHATEVER YOU SAY. SO STOP TRYING TO PUSH HER TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOUR OWN GRATIFICATION, AND EITHER SHUTUP OR START BEING HELPFUL!" Minerva's voice became one of pure anger as she roared at Echidna, all the while cradling Satella's head.

"The fact that you assume that I would go out of my way to torment my dear friend in her time of need is depressing. It may be true that I acted rashly in the past and hurt her. It may be true that I wish to burn that man alive again and again for what he did to me. However, I have been asked to do something that has never been done before. I am being offered the opportunity to discover something that has never been discovered by any being to have ever lived. Just like when we first met, Flügel has presented me with what is likely bait and I'm salivating at the chance to swallow it hook, line, and sinker." Echidna's speech quickly lost its normal calm demeanor as it was overtaken by mania. Her normally reserved demeanor falling away just as her chair did as she rapidly stood up to lean over Minerva. The red-hot glare of Wrath was now in complete odds with the insatiable curiosity of Greed.

"I only said what I did so that Satella understands that the only way I know to separate a witch factor from someone is to kill them. The method Flügel employed against my body is a mystery even to me. I am absolutely the last person to turn down an opportunity to experiment, but the pursuit of knowledge often requires sacrifice." A smile spread across Echidna's face, equal in magnitude to the scowl that was growing across Minerva's.

"I'm really ha not in huh the mood to ha moderate any fights huh right now. Cut ha it out huh." A purple haired woman popped into view. She spoke with a voice so devoid of energy that it sounded like even breathing was too great of an exertion for her as she lay on the ground.

"Flü-Flü may have done some really bad things, but you're really close to becoming a sinner Chidna." A small green haired girl came into view not far from the Witch of Sloth. An accusatory glare that was far more zealous than anything a girl her age should have adorning her face.

"…Try not to be too mad at Echidna, Minerva and Typhon, she's trying to help. I-I h-… I bel-…" Satella slowly removed herself from Minerva's embrace as she tried to speak, unfortunately she was forced to stop almost immediately. It appeared to be taking almost everything she had to hold back whatever torrent would be summoned by what she intended to say.

"It's okay, you can take your time. Don't be afraid to let it all out, nobody here will judge you." Minerva's entire demeanor completely shifted as she gently patted Satella on the back whilst whispering soothing words of encouragement into her ear.

"The Flügel I knew, the one who saved me from some really mean humans, was a really odd guy. He liked to keep to himself, but he never refused someone who was in need. I still remember how he came back hours after dark one night, because he ran into a boy who'd dropped and broken his families clay water jug. He had sat with him on the side of the road, putting it back together piece by piece with his magic." Satella opened her eyes as she chuckled a bit to herself, like she was reliving the memory from so long ago. All the while, everyone around her seemed to be intently listening to her story.

"He also liked to spend time talking about really weird stuff. He could spend hours debating the pros and cons of living on top of a massive sunflower, to the point that he'd lose his original point. He once came to the conclusion that a sunflower would be pretty bad for a flower house, but that living underground in a giant turnip would be the best! Sometimes when he got so caught up in these crazy ideas he would lean back and just smile with the biggest grin I've ever seen. You'd think he was the happiest man in the world." Satella's vision drifted upwards, towards the fake sky above them as a slight grin spread across her face. Yet, this expression was gone almost as quickly as it arrived.

"So that's wh-… So that's why I think if he could see himself now…I don't think he would be very happy..." Satella's brief respite was brought to a quick end as her voice began to hitch and her cheeks began to twitch, once again.

"A Flügel who is too sad to think and can't do anything but senselessly hurt other people…isn't Flügel. I-…I-…I'm certain that if he can't be helped that he w-….would…rather…be…put out…o-of his…misery…." Satella soon returned to the verge of tears as her face began to scrunch up and grow red. Her voice changed as her eyes welled up. She had such difficulty choaking out her words that each individual syllable seemed to get stuck in her throat. Yet she forced them out against every bit of resistance her body presented.

"That's why, if we can't save him I want to ask all of you to help me kill him." She took a deep breath before almost whispering her final line, bringing her combined eulogy and plea to an end. Satella then let her head hang as she waited for the responses of those around her.

Everyone was immediately cast into silence after hearing her speak.

"So you really do feel that way Satella…Just don't give up on him, okay? It's not over until its over…" Minerva's voice sounded incredibly empty and despondent, like she was struggling to believe what she had just heard. Hearing her, Satella managed to slightly nod her head.

"I'll do what I can…" Minerva mumbled under the weight of her own empathy.

"S-Satella-chan…" Carmilla spoke solemnly as she let her own head hang, letting the reality of the words she had just heard sinking in.

"If Echidna hah is going, then huh its not like the hah rest of us have much huh of a choice. We're force huh to tag along." Sekhmet responded with little regard to anything Satella had said. Meanwhile, Typhon was knelt down behind her, playing with some of Sekhmet's hair as she ignored everything around her.

"It would be nice to taste real food again…" Said Daphne.


It was a horribly amazing, exhilaratingly uncomfortable, and sickeningly memorable feeling. She could feel her head grow light as if it were being filled with clouds. An aching soreness punctured her limbs like her body had been attacked by a swarm of bees. A harsh stiffness filled all of her joints, like they had been fused together with mortar. She felt uncomfortable, horrible, she was suffering to the point she wanted to scream out for it to stop. Yet she wanted to take in every last second of it.

For when her eyelids slowly creaked open, revealing a dark and blurry image of the glass coffin, and the tomb's ceiling beyond it, her elation reached new heights. Once she felt the tomb's cool and damp air wash over her face, it became paralyzing.

Afterall, it was her first time experiencing these things in 400 years.

She slowly took in a deep breath, feeling the air move down the passageways within her body before it filled and expanded her lungs. She held it as she blinked, letting moisture finally return to her dry eyes as her vision grew crisper and clearer.

There was a black mass above her, it's almost formless appendages holding her glass coffins lid open.

She let her mouth creak open, exhaling so that the air flowed out over tissue that felt like it was coated in sand and dust.

The black mass above her was not a mass, but a person clad in clothing that was nearly entirely black. It was her thin porcelain fingers that held the glass coffin open. It was her amethyst eyes that gazed at her through the shadows cast by the large black cloak she wore over her dress.

Satella, The Witch of Envy was holding open the way to escape a self-imposed prison that had only recently been unlocked by the half-elf's likeness.

However, the paralyzing wonder did not last long. She wanted to see more, she wanted to feel more, she wanted to experience everything that she had been denied for the past 400 years.

She may have felt utterly exhausted as a side effect of the stasis magic that had preserved her body, and rest would probably have been the best thing for her. Yet, doing so would mean remaining stationary and ignoring what waited for her outside the tomb, and neglecting the task she had just taken upon herself.

So she placed a hand on either side of herself, slowly and painstakingly raising her body to a sitting position. Each arduous moment of exertion was rewarded however, not just by brining her one step closer to her immediate objective, but by allowing her to see more of the tomb's insides.

The once pristine stone walls had lost their homogenous hue to the small freckling of oxidation, the grout between the blocks having cracked and discoloured along with it. The six coffins that had been arrayed vertically around the room were all open, four of them freshly, and two opening for the second time.

She could see Carmilla, pulling her scarf up just a little higher to cover a bit more of her face. Minerva, tapping her foot on the ground with impatience whilst looking around the room, like there was somewhere she had to rush away to. Sekhmet, already laying on the floor with a freshly minted body that had never moved for all of its existence. Daphne, her eyes covered and her limbs bound as she remained within her open coffin. Finally, there was Typhon, looking around the room with a sense of wonder adorning her childish face.

Five witches given life anew with the help of bodies made of mana; five witches, devoid of their badge of office.

It was a sight that most people from 400 years ago would find terrorizing and one she could see brought Satella hope. It was a sight that she did not get to see for long.

The muscles around her mouth began to twitch as her stomach suddenly felt like it was full of sludge. An overwhelming wave of nausea swept over her as she leaned over, supporting herself with the coffins wall. Peristalsis began as the thick liquid started to burn her throat while her skin grew uncomfortably warm.

She leaned even farther forward in an effort to abate the incredibly intolerable sensations wracking her body, but it was no use. Her lips parted against her own will and she began to vomit up a thick, hot, and clear fluid. It smelt so bad, felt so gross, and looked so disgusting that she might have vomited if she was not already. When the flow of fluid from her mouth finally abated, she was left staring down at the pool of putrid liquid as she waited for the nauseas to subside.

"Echidna, don't push yourself too hard, if you need to lay down and rest a bit its okay." She heard Satella's soft and caring voice echo out from behind her as she felt a pair of hands firmly grasp her shoulders.

"I've been resting for 400 years and there's much that now needs to be done, there simply is not enough time to rest." Echidna wiped the remaining fluid from her lips with the back of her hand as she slowly and gingerly began to step out of the coffin.

"That's not what I mean, surely a few minutes wouldn't hurt." Satella half heartedly voiced her protests as she helped her friend step down onto the stone floor.

"Pandora was skulking about inside the barrier when it was still up, and there's no telling how she might react if she believes that we are going to get in the way of whatever she's doing. We're entirely reliant on you for any sort of protection as the tomb is no longer able to attempt to mimic our authorities, and I haven't recovered from stasis yet. There will be a time to rest, but not now, not until we have a grasp on the situation we are in." Echidna spoke in a voice that was far quieter than normal as she leaned on Satella's shoulder for support, unsure of her legs which had not seen use in 400 years.

"I know you didn't get along with her too well, but she's like our little sister. I'm sure Pandora would help us if we asked her nicely." Well, Satella had only recovered a bit from her slight breakdown in the Castle of Dreams, her voice took on a slightly admonishing tone as she spoke to Echidna.

"Satella-chan, Pandora hasn't really been a good girl since you were sealed away…" Minerva chimed in as her gaze sunk to the floor, as if she were recalling the horrid trial she had witnessed.

"That's…really sad to hear…" With a heart that was already heavily laden, Satella could not exhibit much more sadness at the news. However, it did weigh on her nonetheless.

"Well, there is a chance that you're correct Satella, and that Pandora could also be convinced to help us, there's also a chance she could do the complete opposite. Currently I cannot say that encountering her would be worth the risk, especially given the current distribution of combative strength for our group." Echidna spoke as if stating a fact as she looked at Satella, strength beginning to return to her voice.

"I guess so then… after we save Flügel you and I will just have to give her a talking to and take away her sweets! We're her family and its our job to teach her right from wrong!" Satella did her best to put on a slight smile as a tiny bit of her old self returned. Echidna shot her back with an exhausted stare, like she had just heard the last thing she would ever want to do.

"Honestly it amazes me that you are still able to be so innocent and childish despite how you act sometimes. You are a very weird mix of traits." Echidna seemed to have recovered to the point that her voice sounded almost normal. Her exhaustion had faded to the point that something that her tone sounded either surprised or sarcastic.

"Echidna, don't start being mean again." Minerva snapped out of her spell of slight melancholy to rebuke the greedy witch who seemed to be verbally jabbing the one who was physically supporting her.

"I'm referring to the time I had to explain the 'weird noises' that Pandora heard coming from Satella's bedroom." Satella's whole face grew bright red the second that she heard Echidna while Minerva looked away as her mouth opened, like she was going to say "Oh" or something along those lines.

"Also, if we've gotten so derailed that we are talking about this kind of stuff then we are certainly ready to head out." Echidna unwound her arm from overtop of Satella's shoulders and began to slowly, and with a noticeable amount of unsteadiness, head towards the inner door of the crypt.

"Y-Yes p-please" Satella stuttered out as she hurried after her, trying to pull the hood of her cloak farther forward to cover her beet red face.

"Finally, all Chidna, Tella, and Nerva do is talk and talk and talk. I want to go and play on the real grass!" Typhon literally jumped to her feet and seemed ready to race out the door, only stopping because the massive stone construct was closed and too heavy for her to move.

"Huh" Sekhmet let out a gasp of exasperation as the giantess lazily pushed herself to her feet.

"Can't we get something to eat first…I'm hungry" Daphne complained alongside the audible rumbling of her stomach as she remained chained to the inside of her coffin.

"We don't have any food, and you're always hungry, Daphne-chan." Minerva casually responded to Daphne's bellyaching that everyone else likely would have ignored as she unfastened the backboard of her coffin. After the fasteners were removed Minerva began to easily drag the still restrained small witch behind her.

Now for the first time in living memory, seven witches of sin stood before the stone door of the innermost room of greed's tomb. It was a large, single slab of stone that appeared to be so heavy as to be unmovable, yet it had been disturbed several times over the past century, each time by a single person. The stone was decorated with ornate carvings that appeared to rise from the surface without even a hint of an edge. In the centre of the door was the broken trunk of a tree atop a hill, lying on its side and surrounded by the dead leaves that had once adorned its branches. All around it flew a swarm of butterflies, illuminating light as they spread out in all directions. Finally, at the base of the door was a wooden cabin, standing immaculate without the slightest hint of damage, aside from the fact it was engulfed in flames. It was a sight that made the slightest smile cross Echidna's face.

Satella stepped forward, pulling the recently closed door open with her inhuman strength, easily moving it like it was any old door. Once it was open, she and all the other witches stepped out into the other room.

Daphne caught the smell first, her nose perking up as her mouth began to drool. Next was Minerva, whose entire demeanor seemed to grow conflicted with a depressed rage as she stood stock still over the spot. She remembered when the stains had been fresh, when she had screamed in rage while crying like a wounded animal. Her fists had flown with such force that night, that it was surprising that the whole tomb had not collapsed around her. She only resumed walking through the chamber when Carmilla began to pull her by the sleeve, just as she had done after forgiving the greatest betrayal possible against her.

It took only a matter of seconds for the seven witches to reach the outer threshold of the tomb, where the light shining from the outside met the dark shadow created by this monument of death. Yet despite having not crossed such a divide in four hundred years, none showed any hesitation. For the one who had ordered the construction of this dwelling, it was a moment so awe inspiring and overwhelming that even with all her learning, she felt incapable of describing it with words.

"…" She was rendered both motionless and speechless at the top of the outer stairs. The warmth of the sun's rays striking against her almost sickly white skin, the cool breeze that blew across her face and scattered her hair behind her. The sight of weathered rubble surrounding the tomb, filling the space between it and the forest that concealed Sanctuary.

He may have been gone, her hometown may have been gone, but after so long, she was back. It was a fact that marked this as an unbelievably happy moment that justified every cost that had been paid.

"Welcome back, Echidna-sama." Echidna heard a quiet voice call out to her. It sounded familiar except for how it seemed to crackle with age.

She tilted her head down to look in the direction that the voice was emanating from to see two figures standing by the base of the stairs. One was a young pink haired half-elf who wore a white robe that seemed to be several sizes too large for her. The other a blond demi-human boy who looked so pale that she would have guessed that all the blood had been drained from his body. At least if she could not take into account the fact that his gaze appeared to be frozen on Satella.

"Thank you Ryuzu. It looks like everyone else has already departed?" Echidna responded as she and the other witches descended the stone staircase to arrive in front of the two.

"Most of Sanctuary's residents are now spread amongst the villages of the Mathers Domain, with the clones of Ryuzu Meyer observing them. Since Emilia-sama disabled the barrier I chose to stay behind with one of the carriages, Gar-bo chose to keep me company." Ryuzu responded promptly and respectfully before turning to face Satella.

"I am sorry for Gar-bo's rudeness, it seems that the words of strangers have had a greater impact on him then his own gran's…" Ryuzu bowed her head towards the black clad witch as the age in her voice was overcome by a tone of guilt.

"It's okay Ryuzu, he's still growing up after all so don't feel bad!" Satella put on a smile before turning to Garfiel and bending down a bit so that their eyes were level with one another. "I think you and I might be spending a fair bit of time together over the next little bit, so I'm looking forward to working with you." Satella held out her hand for the boy to shake as she spoke with a kind and gentle voice.

"…Great ta be working with ya." After receiving a slight prod from Ryuzu to the side of the arm, Garfiel sheepishly responded as he hesitantly took the witch's hand.

"Do you have to make any preparations before we can depart? I am quite afraid that time is currently of the essence. I would like to reach Roswaal's primary mansion by midday, and we have another stop we must make along the way." Echidna turned away from Satella and the boy who looked like he was about to pass out so that she was once again facing her now aged ally.

"We do not need much, especially if we are going to the Margrave's Manor. Gar-bo can grab the little that we need. Also, do we need to take a detour for this additional stop, or is it own the way?" Ryuzu gently prodded the still partially petrified Garfiel as she answered Echidna, ensuring that he was listening.

"If we take the northern route, skirting the edges of the forests then we should not require any detour of significance." Echidna responded promptly as a look of surprise spread across Minerva's face.


Echidna alongside the other six witches quickly learned that Ryuzu had been entirely serious when she said that they could leave quickly. For mere moments after having boarded the carriage, Garfiel was already hitching up the only ground dragon left in the village. Moments after that, they were all jerked to attention as they set off on their first journey since revival.

It was a momentous task being undertaken from within a vessel that was far from momentous. The carriage was something that seemed to have been hastily modified from its original task of carrying cargo to transporting passengers.

Two long wooden benches had been crudely nailed to the sparse collection of floorboards that kept them all from falling out. Above them was a white stretch of canvas that had been lashed onto a handful of supports. While clearly meant to shield them from the elements, it obstructed the world around them to a depressing extent. Had it not been for the small holes and rips, then there might have been a need to make a few more.

Echidna turned away from her tiny peephole to the outside world to face the inside of their tiny carriage. Directly opposite her was Sekhmet, curled up on the bench as she lazily dozed the trip away. To her right sat Typhon and Ryuzu, who sat entertaining themselves with an assortment of games that could be played with only one's hands. Every time Ryuzu would do something like pretend to remove her thumb, or win a finger game akin to counting sticks, Typhon would either scrunch up her face in confusion or squeal with joy. Ryuzu's face would take on an aged smile, it was an interaction akin to a grandmother and grandchild, despite the two being quite close in age.

Separating the two benches was Daphne, laid out in the floor and still constrained by her restraints. She neither moved nor spoke, leaving the subtle movements of inhalation and exhalation as the only indications she was even alive.

On the far end of her own bench sat Carmilla, curled up in the corner with her scarf pulled up higher then normal, likely dealing with the anxiety of returning to a world she knew nothing of. Beside Carmilla, between her and Echidna, was Satella. The only witch to be remembered by the world, and the one who had been known for causing unfathomable violence and destruction was fast asleep, her head resting against Echidna's shoulder. It was a position she had taken almost immediately following the departure of the carriage. If anyone were to see how peaceful she looked, there was not the slightest chance that they would believe that she and the Witch of Envy were one and the same.

"It must have been rough for her, being all alone and watching Flügel fall apart." Echidna's attention was drawn to her right by Minerva's quiet voice.

"Either forsake his wish to save him, or adhere to it and lose him. Not an enviable position whatsoever." Echidna matched Minerva's low volume as she did her best not to wake her friend.

"So you're really going to help her, and not turn this into some elaborate plot, right?" Despite speaking to Echinda, Minerva's gaze was directed at the sleeping Satella. The Witch of Wrath's overly caring eyes looked upon the slumbering witch with pity.

"I stand behind my previous statement…and it would not be entirely incorrect to say that I'm just returning the favour…" Echidna's own eyes returned to Satella as she almost managed to empathize with her. For someone who had never truly lived alone, what she had been forced to see must have really shaken her.

"Echidna-chan, about why we're travelling this way, is it so we can stop in the forest that my sister-in-law used to live in?" Minerva's voice suddenly grew apprehensive and anxious as she changed the topic.

"Yes, there's something we must retrieve from Elior while we have the chance." Echidna's voice remained level and bland as she spoke, reiterating a portion of a plan that had already been described.

"If we have the time…do you think there's a chance that Emilia might be nearby. I want to see her, even if its just a glimpse. I need to know if she's doing all right, especially after what she did to herself in the tomb…" Minerva's voice was rich with both guilt and worry as her gaze fell to the floor. The mention of a certain name which should have filled her with happiness and joy now only seemed to summon despair, anxiety, and an overwhelming sense of failure.

"We're here, stop the carriage Garfiel." Echidna turned away from Minerva and called to the boy sat on the drivers bench as the carriage came to a halt without so much as a word from the front.

"Just point me in her direction Echidna-chan! I'll be right back, it'll only take a moment…" Minerva continued to plead with the back of Echidna's head as the jolt of the carriage stopping stirred Satella awake.

"Minerva?" Satella groggily lifted her head only to see the look of distress plastered across Minerva's face.

"I just want to see Emilia, if she's not here then just tell me that, otherwise I can only guess that you're intentionally trying to keep me from her! You were so nasty to her earlier, so is this just another scheme to torment her?!" Minerva's voice rose in volume until she was shouting.

"I swear, if you could just be a little bit less attached to that girl this would all be so much easier." Echidna muttered under her breath as she got to her feet. Then, she turned around to face Minerva with a look of immense irritation on her face. "If you come with me to help get what we need, then I promise that you will get to see Emilia. Is this arrangement to your liking or do you need to kick and scream a bit more?" Echidna snapped back at Minerva as she hastily got to her feet.

"Why didn't you just say that earlier? Is the need to be so mean engrained into you? Are you actually the Witch of Nastiness?" Minerva retorted back as she quickly exited the carriage, her mind, body, and soul already set on something else entirely.

"Echidna, I think you should try to empathise a little bit more with Minerva, it'll help you two get along better." Satella stood up and placed a hand on Echidna's shoulder to prevent her from leaving as she spoke to her.

"I don't think I its correct to expect empathy from a witch. Also, I would like for you to come with Minerva and I." Echidna replied without looking over her shoulder, but the agitated tone in her voice had nearly completely evaporate.

"I think that since you're a big girl now that you can work things out with Minerva yourself. I'll be waiting right here for you to get back and I expect you two to be at least cordial by then." Satella spoke completely seriously and without a hint of condescension.

"I wish for you to accompany us because now that Emilia's involved there is likely no limit to how irrational Minerva will act. There are currently a few possible opponents that may very well be looking for us already and could pose a non-trivial threat. Dealing with both them and babysitting both Minerva and possibly Emilia would be asking too much of me in my present state. That is why I wish for you to help." Echidna removed Satella's hand from her shoulder as she turned around to face her, her face taking on a rather serious expression.

"Who'll protect everyone in the carriage then if I'm with you? There wouldn't be anyone left who can fight." Satella turned to face the rest of the carriage's occupants who by now were all mostly paying attention to their conversation. It did not take long for Echidna's gaze to follow hers.

"Satella-sama is right, Gar-bo will be the only one capable of fighting here. He has the talent to be a great warrior, but I'm afraid that anything more then common bandits will be too much for him." Ryuzu made her remark as she tried to hold the now slightly hyper Typhon still in her arms.

"Garfiel is probably grinning ear to ear now that he's heard himself described as such." Echidna raised her voice just a bit to ensure that it carried loudly and clearly to the driver's bench on the outside of the carriage.

"Am not, my amazin' self 'lready knows how amazin' I am!" Garfiel shouted back with a voice that was clearly high on excitement and pride without any of the earlier fear or timidness he had shown.

"Since you can hear me Garfiel, pay close attention. Head further up the road before cutting west across the plain and then return here in a wide arc. Ideally aim to be back here by the time the sun is halfway between where it is now, and the horizon. If you see anyone that is waiting outside the forest then follow the path to the large mansion owned by the lord of the domain. Do you understand?" Echidna kept her voice raised as she called out to Garfiel, dictating instructions to him.

"Yeah, with my amazin' eyesight I'll see anyone before they see me!" Garfiel seemed to grow even more excited like he was chomping at the bit to be more then just a chauffeur.

"If you see a black-haired man a bit taller then yourself walking about, run away from him at any cost. It does not matter whatsoever where you end up, just get away from him. Understand that he is capable of killing you regardless of the distance as long as he can see you, time you spend in his gaze is borrowed. Understood?" Her voice took on a graver tone as she continued to dictate instructions to him in a manner that could be considered condescending.

"Yeah…" Garfiel instantly sounded far less excited as he realized that he could soon become the first line of defence against someone even a witch was warry of.

"Finally, if you see Pandora, a short platinum haired girl who likes to wear a glorified drape for some absurd reason, you may as well not even bother running. If she desires to do anything with you, she will do so regardless of whether you want her to or not. The only saving grace with her is that she has far more reason to approach Satella and I directly rather than target the carriage."

"…" Garfiel did not respond to the final segment of his instructions. However, the fact that he was even still present proved that he was far braver than most fully grown adults.

"This feels a bit like being a deer wandering through a wolf infested forest. I don't like being the tasty one…" Daphne commented from the floor.

"Well if anything happens then you can just remove your blindfold, even without your authority your eyes may give Pandora nightmares."

"Echidna!" Satella called Echidna's name as if she were a guardian aghast at their ward's behaviour.

"…All in all, I don't think the cart is under any real danger. I would not have gone through the trouble of reviving all of you if I was going to let you get killed hours later." Echidna spoke as if trying to provide a sense of comfort, yet it was less then likely that she achieved what was intended.

"I guess that's true…" Said Satella.

"I think ha that its better if you huh just get this over with ha rather then needlessly huh draw it out. Faster is ha safer." Sekhmet finally took it upon herself to intervene before the group got mired in deliberations that would only put them all at further risk.

"Then I'll go with Echidna and Minerva, see you all soon." Satella made her decision as both she and Echidna turned and left the carriage, steeping outside to join Minerva. It only took a few seconds longer for the carriage to pull away, departing at speed from where they now stood.

The carriage may not have been particularly well insulated, nor sturdily built, but it had offered some protection from the environment. Now, without protection it truly sunk in just how cold the frozen forest was. Even as they stood on the edge of it, their feet on the frost covered ground and gaze on the snow-covered trees, it was unfathomable just how quickly the wind managed to sap every bit of heat from their bodies.

"Which way is Emilia? I can meet you two back here after you get what you need?" Minerva wasted no time in asking about Emilia as she stood anxiously, shifting her weight from leg to leg.

"We will be sticking together for this, so lead us towards the old elven village. You have a far better idea of where it would be then I would." Minerva quickly nodded in response and hastily begin to head into the forest, either ignoring or overlooking any gap in the logic of who had the best idea of where Emilia was. The anxious look on her face making it readily apparent as to which one it was.


She felt warm, hot; the breath escaping between her lips was so heavily laden with moisture that it formed a cloud in front of her face. Everything around her was oh so cold; drifts of snow that were deep enough to reach all the way up to her waist; vegetation that was encased in so much ice that looked more like a glass sculpture than anything else. It should have been a wonderous experience, an intoxicating indulgence for someone so addicted to reality as herself. It had been, yet her own mortality had been the thing to ruin it.

Each plodding step she took forced her to wring more and more from her tired legs. Each breath of frigid air only scorched her burning lungs further. Every moment only caused her to fall further and further behind the two ahead of her.

Satella, a half-elf, and Minerva, a human with absolutely in-human athletic prowess pushed through the snow as if it were nothing. She on the other hand was a witch who had never been particularly capable of physical tasks. She wore shoes that were made for walking on the hard floors of a building, that were now sinking into the packed snow that her two friends left at the base of their trail. Her gown only seemed to grow heavier with each step she took as more and more snow clung to it. All in all, it meant that she was far past the point of having broken a sweat and far closer to the point of having to ask the two ahead of her to stop and let her rest for a bit, as embarrassing as it would be.

All she could do to avoid derailing her own plan was to push everything from her mind and focus on the path in front of her. To take it one step at a time and absolutely hope that she would not be needed as anything more than a chaperone. Her magic may have been a terrifying superweapon, but her mind worn down to its present state was far from comparable.

"Emilia's going to be okay Minerva, instead of worrying about things you can't control right now you should think about what you're going to say to her, what you want to do. This is going to be your first real reunion after all!" She watched as Satella placed her hand against Minerva's back and heard as her cheery voice filled the silent forest.

"How can I not worry about her after the state she was in when the tomb…I've thought about it a lot, but I haven't gotten anywhere." Minerva turned to face Satella, revealing a look of distress on her face as she swept some loose hair from her vision.

"I was thinking 'Hi Emilia, it's me, your mom' but that feels a little too cold. I also thought of "I've missed you so, soo much Emilia, I'm your Mommy and I've loved you all this time!", just she might not like 'Mommy' since she's all grown up now. My baby girls all grown up…." Minerva's gaze fell alongside her tone as she continued to wade through the snow, only to be brought back up by a gentle shake from the hand on her back.

"I think that just getting to meet you will make Emilia very happy, so just give her a big hug and say whatever comes to mind. Little things like what word you use won't matter to her, its going to be a big, emotional moment for the two of you to share." Satella smiled at Minerva who seemed like she was going to smile back, only for her face to freeze.

"EMILIA!" Minerva shouted and then suddenly bolted past Satella as she headed towards what appeared to be a small clearing in the forest. Echidna saw Satella briefly look in the direction that Minerva had run off in before turning to face her.

There was a slight look of shock on her face, likely from the same sight that had caused Minerva to break into a sprint. However, this disappeared once she looked towards her. Satella probably realized that any immediate action was up to her, Echidna had fallen too far behind to know what was going on.

"Minerva stop!" Satella bolted after Minerva as she called out in a tone that was far too serious for her. Only a second later, long enough for Satella too to disappear from Echidna's vision, she felt a massive wave of released mana wash over her.

"Fuck…" Echidna breathlessly mumbled, either out of frustration at their cover being blown by the rather familiar mana, or at the realization that she was going to have to pick up the pace. She grabbed the hems of her dress, pulling it up in order to give her legs more room to work with before breaking into the quickest run she could manage. Just it was far from what anyone else would consider quick.

She did her best to rush after the two through the snow, but she had already fallen behind them and could barely reach half the speed that they had bolted off that. This meant that by the time she rounded the bend and entered the clearing, the situation had already been brought back from the brink.

Before her lay Minerva who was currently flattened against the ground by Satella, who was pinning her from above. Even with the half-elfs strength, Echidna could still feel a steady emission of mana coming from Satella. She was being forced to resort to her magic to keep the still struggling Minerva in place.

"GET OFF ME! MY BABY GIRLS RIGHT THERE, SHE'S HURT AND NEEDS ME. LET GO!" Minerva's cry was raw as she struggled. She clawed into the snow with her bare hands, trying to gain purchase to pull herself forward.

Satella meanwhile had her arms wrapped just under Minerva so that she was able to securely grasp her forearms, while her own shins crossed perpendicularly across the backs of Minerva's knees. This left her having to press her torso into Minerva's back to keep her flattened against the ground and unable to roll the both of them over.

Echidna planted her hand against the trunk of the tree as she caught her breath. Her heart was beating so loudly that she could only barely hear the two shouting over it. However, she was not holding back just because of her exhaustion, but also to avoid jumping in and creating chaos.

"That ice feels really off to me Minerva, I'm not letting you near it." Satella tried to speak as gently as she could to the woman who appeared to have lost all reason.

"I DON'T CARE, EMILIA'S INSIDE OF IT AND I'M GOING TO SMASH HER OUT!" Minerva screamed as she tried to heave her body free, only to remain completely pinned. The steady emission of mana was likely affecting the gravity of at least one of the two, helping Satella hold her down without fear of hurting her.

Echidna's eyes followed Minerva's gaze to arrive at a lump of clear ice nestled against an old elven hut buried at the base of a tree. A small amount of snow had built up both atop, and around the construct of ice, but what was most intriguing about it was what it contained. A person, or more correctly a silver haired half-elf clad in filthy and tattered rags. It was difficult to get a good look at her through the opaque ice, but the one thing that did stand out were her amethyst eyes that were looking right at the duo wrestling on the ground.

Echidna waded through the snow to arrive beside the struggling duo before kneeling down beside Minerva's head.

"You only want to make Emilia suffer more, don't you?" Echidna voice was smooth and soft in Minerva's ear as she spoke in little more then a whisper. The only tone to her voice being a mocking one.

"OF COURSE NOT! JUST LET ME HELP HER, WHY WON'T YOU TWO JUST LET ME GO?" Minerva shouted at the top of her lungs as she remained pinned to the ground.

"It would be a new level of hypocrisy even for you Minerva, forcing your daughter to watch you die." Echidna continued to taunt Minerva as the Witch of Wrath refused to give up the fight to be free.

"I DON'T CARE, ANYTHING TO HELP HER!" Minerva continued to scream at the top of her lungs.

"Look closely, you can even see her eyes moving a bit. She's probably watching this farce right now." Echidna turned to face Emilia, watching as the girl's eyes seemed to frantically look in every possible direction. All the while Echidna seemed to completely ignore whatever Minerva was saying.

"THEN HELP HER. IF YOU WON'T LET ME THEN I'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING, DO ANYTHING, JUST HELP HER, PLEASE!" Minerva finally shifted her head so that she was facing towards Echidna rather than Emilia. Yet, her struggles did not end even as she pleaded for help.

"Good, you're finally paying attention to what I'm saying. Now I need you to go one step further and think a bit about what's going on. I may be a horrible, evil witch who would restrain you in front of your only child as she suffers, just to see how you react. However, Satella's not like that, is she?" Echidna spoke into Minerva's ear with what was probably the most condescending voice that she had ever used towards her.

"NO!" Minerva cried out in frustration as she was suddenly forced to shift from fighting to trying to make sense of an already crazy and overstimulating situation.

"So then, why did she stop you from running up to it? Why was she so adamant on preventing you from touching it despite the fact that you would need to do so to save Emilia? I heard her tell you, but you were so crazed that I doubt you were listening." Neither Echidna's condescension nor her mocking tone seemed to abate as she spoke to Minerva like one would speak to a young child after they had broken something while playing.

"…I don't know…" There was a brief moment of silence before Minerva let her body go limp as she ceased any and all attempts to break free of Satella's grasp. Her response was quiet and tinted with shame and guilt as the situation finally clicked into place for her.

"You wouldn't be able to tell, but there's still magic flowing through that ice. It looks like it would suck all the heat out of your body before you could even pull your hand away from it. As to how Emilia is still fine inside it, I can only guess that she's unintentionally pulling heat inward rather than trying to purge it. That is only a guess however, and I have my doubts that even she knows what she is truly doing." As she gave her explanation, Echinda's voice finally returned to something akin to normal. Too much more of her characteristic and self-described nastiness would only cause her problems from this point forth.

"…" While the desperate look remained in Minerva's eyes, not a single sound nor quip escaped from her lips. She only turned back to look at Emilia without making an effort to lift herself from the ground.

"You are completely incapable of doing anything to get her out of her current predicament. So will you stay out of the way, will you not traumatize your own daughter with your untimely demise for a second time?" Echidna's voice may have been flat, but her words certainly carried an edge to them that looked like it cut rather deep.

"…" Minerva only solemnly nodded her head as she let her face sink a bit deeper into the snow. A slightly poisonous tinge of self-admonishment likely stirred beneath her desperation.

"Good, Satella you can let her go now." Echidna turned to Satella to be greeted by the site of someone who appeared torn. The look in the half-elf's eyes told her that she absolutely did not agree with the means she had just witnessed. However, her closed mouth told Echidna that she did not disagree with the end they had arrived at.

Echidna pushed herself to her feet as Satella clambered off Minerva to do the same. There was some hesitancy in the Jealous Witch's steps, but she did decide to follow Echidna.

The two approached Emilia as she lay frozen within a prison of her own creation. She was completely still, clutching her side; her entire body clad in blood stained rags. The only thing that appeared to be moving were her crimson tinted eyes that were so erratic it was impossible to know what she was looking at.

"Well, it does look like Pandora paid her a visit, doesn't it Satella?" Echidna remarked without any particular inflection in her voice as she looked at Emilia. While the half-elf certainly looked far worse for wear compared to when they had last seen one another, the fact that she was still alive was by far enough for her. Perhaps her current state could even be said to be ideal. It was certain that Minerva, who had only now joined them would not agree.

"I'm going to get her out of there, any idea on how to deal with Pandora's authority?" Satella's voice exuded determination as she knelt down beside the large crystal of ice. Yet her eyes told a different story, they looked upon the icy prison with nothing but sadness and disappointment.

"I do not believe that you nor I can do anything in regards to that. Yet, its probably a better idea to get her out of the ice and away from here as quickly as possible, we will knock her out and carry her if we have to." Echidna spoke while looking directly at Emilia's red tinted eyes as she thought back to a particular moment in the girl's trial.

"Just try to be gentle okay? She looks like she's been through a lot." Satella spoke as she raised both her hands so that her palms were close to touching the ice. She closed her eyes as an uncountable number of tiny black needles grew out of her palms and penetrated into the ice.

However, the surface of the ice did not crack, break or even melt in the presence of this highly irregular but potent yin magic. Instead, they seemed to absorb it, taking on a darker tint as more and more of Satella's mana flowed in. The magic seeped deeper and deeper in until tendrils of it began to surround Emilia, flowing around her body without touching it. It did not take much more then a moment for her magic to impregnate every last bit of the ice.

At the very instant at which it had achieved that feat, something about the ice changed, like its very presence in the world seemed to have been put into doubt. Yet this appeared to only be a transitory state for it, because in the blink of an eye it was completely gone, as if it had never been there to begin with.

For the briefest of instants absolutely nothing happened as Emilia's red eyes stared out into blank space. Then, after coming to the tiniest bit of understanding that she had been freed, she bolted.

With a look of pure terror plastered across her face she kicked off and took a large stride away from the protection of the slope and into the deep snow of the clearing. It was a rather surprising burst of speed considering how beat up she had looked in the ice.

As Emilia began to take her second stride she tried to lift the leg she had just planted only to discover but not realize that she lacked the strength to escape the depths of the snow. This caused one of her feet to become stuck, destroying her balance and causing her to fall face first into the snow. At this point she completely ceased to move.

For a brief instant a morbid calm fell over the clearing as nobody made even the slightest movement. One out of shock, another out of disbelief, and the final member out of a simple lack of purpose.

"E-Emilia?" Minerva called her daughter's name as she stumbled forward with a look of pure disbelief spread across her face.

"EMILIA!" When no response came her pace quickened as a desperate cry echoed throughout the silent forest. She had lost her daughter once before when she herself had perished. Now she would again as she ran towards Emilia's seemingly lifeless body.

Minerva scooped Emilia up into her arms, pulling her daughter close to her chest. Yet, the only reaction that was elicited from Emilia was her head rolling backwards as the muscles in her neck proved incapable of carrying out the simple task. Her eyes were closed, so there was no chance that she had caught an unobstructed glimpse of her mother. With how unnaturally red they had been when she had been trapped in the ice, it was unlikely she had even realized she had seen her at all.

The look in her eyes started off as being absolutely heartbroken as she looked down at her daughter's blood stained, bruised, and frostbitten face. However, as she felt how cold her malnourished body was, how many broken bones there were beneath her once unblemished skin, the look turned to one of rage. Anger, hatred, even madness seemed insufficient to describe the look in the former witch's eyes as she seemed ready to annihilate the body of the girl in her arms.

Only for it all to fall away like a superficial mask when she remembered how utterly useless she was. She was a mother who had been absent for her child's entire life, and now when she was needed most, she was completely powerless to do anything.

"Help her, HELP HER PLEASE!" Minerva turned to face her two companions and uttered a cry that would have broken of anyone it reached. She then pulled Emilia's motionless face to her chest as she knelt in the snow, cradling her.

Echidna suddenly felt herself being pulled to her feet and dragged through the snow, Satella's hand clamped around her wrist like a vice. It was difficult for her to keep her feet underneath her and it did not stop until they were right beside Minerva.

Minerva was focused solely on Emilia, to the extent that she seemed to be in her own little world where only her daughter existed. Despite her previous plea for help, she did not even seem to notice that the two had arrived.

"Echidna, please." Echidna heard a far quieter but only slightly more composed request come from Satella. When she turned to look at the older of the two half-elfs present, she saw how her eyes were glued on Emilia, with her face contorted in pain. The sight of a mother clutching their dying child must truly have been hard for someone with as much empathy as her.

"Minerva, lay Emilia out on the ground. I'll fix her." Echidna turned to Minerva and made her statement without any particular emotion in her voice while she started to reach for Emilia.

"But she's already so cold…" Minerva hugged Emilia a bit tighter to her chest, as if she was trying to protect her from Echidna. It was counterproductive towards her own goals, and completely idiotic. It was almost certainly the incorrect choice if she had any care for the well being of her own daughter.

"Here Minerva, put her on my cloak. It's pretty thick so it'll keep the cold away from her!" Satella removed the thick black cloak she had been wearing and spread it on the ground and over the snow, motioning for Minerva to place Emilia on it.

"Just be gentle with her, okay?" It was unclear whether Minerva was speaking to Satella or Echidna as she slowly placed Emilia down on the cloak. Satella helped her to make sure that Emilia's arms and legs did not bend at an odd angle nor fall off the cloth and into the cold snow. Echidna just watched the slightly overdrawn spectacle as she sat down beside the improvised medical bed, feeling her already soaked dress grow even damper.

When Minerva finally set Emilia's head down, allowing Echidna to get to work, she promptly got to it. Raising her arms so they just barely sat above the half-elf's still body, a strong blue glow illuminated every rip and tear in the rags the girl seemed to be using as clothes.

There was no point in delaying any of this further, lest she decide to continue to subject herself to the environmental torture of this icy forest.

She felt her mana flow from her body and into Emilia, running through every fibre of the girl's physical form as well as the metaphysical shape outlined by Emilia's Od. She could feel each and every discrepancy, be it one created from a broken rib to the frozen tissue of her fingertips. All that she needed to do was manipulate her mana so that the physical form was both forced and encouraged to return to what they Od decided it should be. In the end, water magic was less about castable spells and far closer to weaving mana. This is why it had disproportionately fewer practitioners compared to the other three main elements.

"Emilia's going to be okay, right Echidna?" Satella did her best to calmly ask from across Emilia's body, and while Echidna could see her from the corner of her eye, she paid her little attention. The task at hand may have been far from complex for her, it still necessitated her full concentration. Things would become far more difficult than they needed to be if she accidently mutilated the girl in front of them due to sheer carelessness and lack of practice.

"Her body was far too weak to be casting magic to the extent she was. Even though she had sufficient mana, the physical burden caught up with her when she tried to move around and she shut down. I doubt she'll stay down for too long though, maybe an hour at most. I should be done tending to her injuries well before that." Echidna gave an answer that the two likely wanted to hear as she focused on extracting a piece of rib that had punctured one of Emilia's lungs. There was little point in telling them the whole truth when they could do nothing to affect it.

"Why wouldn't she sleep longer if she's so tired?" Satella posed the question that Minerva was likely thinking as the worried mother sat by Emilia's head, stroking her daughter's hair.

"You saw how scared she was, could you sleep while feeling like that?" Echidna responded with a bit more curtness as she tried to put an end to the meaningless banter going on. There many things to fix in the girl's body. Patches of frostbite on her extremities, face, and ears, a deflated lung, broken ribs, a cracked nose, and several missing teeth. This was not even a complete list, as there were still things that could not be solved with healing magic, like the girls lack of blood, or her dangerously low fat reserves. Emilia had clearly been too starved for her body to repair its own injuries, adding any kind of physical exertion or magic to that and it was clear why she had faded so quickly.

"Emilia's a tough girl, you'll have her back soon Minerva!" She could hear Satella saying something to comfort Minerva, but Echidna missed any response as she fully tuned out the outside world to focus on her work.


She was tired, exhausted. She quite simply had nothing left in her to keep her going.

Even though she had felt so afraid, so utterly terrified that it had pushed her to flee from something she wished would catch her, she simply felt nothing now. The mere act of holding onto a thought was too much for her mind at the moment. All that she could experience within the black darkness that enveloped her were simple feelings, concepts. They were things that she intuitively knew, or what had been so thoroughly burned into her psyche that she could never even hope to forget.

There was the cold, opaque waves that washed overtop of her, obscuring her. They had eroded away her personality, character, reducing her from something that is, to something that was. Aside from the occasional, icy sting of a reminder, this inhumane coldness she had brought on herself had been the only thing filling up her hollow insides since she had collapsed her own little world.

Yet, that was why the other thing she felt was so intriguing, so pronounced that she could not help but see that it was different from the monotonous melancholy that filled her surroundings.

It was an intrusive warmness that burned so brightly that it felt like it was evaporating away some of the sea water around her, yet so gentle that she felt comfortable as it seeped into her body. It was like it was brash and violent to the point of being enraged by all that surrounded her. Towards her though, it was soothing and soft. An indulgence that was beyond her wildest dreams.

That was why Emilia forced her lead laden eyes to open and see the face that was beaming down at her.

The entire scope of her vision was filled with the woman's watery blue eyes, long blond hair, and pink tinged face. She was staring down at Emilia with her face scrunched up, like she was trying not to cry.

"I can't believe I'm getting to hold you again…" She saw the woman's eyes well up as she felt the pair of arms holding her clutch her just a bit tighter. It should have been a distressing situation; being held by someone she had no recollection of while being too exhausted to move. Yet, it was the safest Emilia could ever remember feeling.

There was then a brief pause as the woman just looked down at her, a smile spreading farther and farther across her face as the water building in her eyes began to well into tears. She seemed so absorbed in the moment that she could do nothing other then soak it up.

Emilia to managed nothing more then to look back up at her as the woman cradled her in a heavy piece of cloth. She could not divert her gaze even a bit. It did not matter that she was not entirely sure where she was, nor what was to become of her. If the end was around the next corner, or one she had already past, then she would spend her final moments staring up at this woman. Just the way she looked at Emilia made her head feel like it was finally above water.

"You probably don't remember me, do you Emilia?" There was the slightest bit of apprehension in her voice as she spoke. Worry in her face as she gave voice to a question that must have come from a bubble of anxiety in her heart. Yet there was also the way she said her name. How her voice seemed to dance as she pronounced and placed emphasis on each and every syllable.

It made the slight flash of pain across her face as Emilia shook her head from side to side a shared experience.

"Of course you wouldn't, I shouldn't expect something like that from you. You were so, so tiny back then after all." The woman blinked her eyes as the volume of liquid flowing from them began to increase. Her lips beginning to quiver a bit until she took a deep breath.

"You're my daughter Emilia, and I'm your mom." Emilia froze up as her eyes went wide as she heard what the woman just said. She did not know what to say, nor what to do as she looked into the pair of eyes that were sparkling down at her.

It suddenly felt like things were coming alive inside her, emotions roaring up from within the deep. The fuzzy feeling of no longer being alone against the world. The warmth emanating out from her own heart, spurred on by the hidden bond formed at birth. It was marvellous, monumentous, exhilarating, and even intoxicating. It spread out from within her, filling ever carapace and extremity of her body until she felt like she would burst at the seams from this warmth given to her by her mother's embrace.

In a way, her seams did actually start to split open. This long overdue reunion was a lot to take in, and it placed a heavy load on her heart. A load that could only be alleviated by expressing what was going on inside.

No words could possibly do this for a girl who had been so traumatized, so hated, and so wounded by both the world around her, and herself. That is why her feelings forced their way out through the only path they could find.

Tears.

Her face grew warm as her vision grew blurry, while all the muscles in her cheeks began to tighten up. It only took a matter of seconds for the tears to begin to roll down her face. The next thing Emilia knew she was moving as her mom pulled her close.

"Things have really been tough for you, haven't they." Each individual word pierced her like the sharpest of knives. Each cut they made achieved no purpose other then to slash through the mental, physical, and emotional tension that had been contouring her into something unrecognizable. It was for this reason that even more emotion began to pour out of her.

"I'm never leaving you again Emilia, I'm not… going to let… you suffer anymore…" Emilia's mom's voice began to fall apart as she felt her own shoulder begin to grow damp. Even though they had been apart long enough that she had no memory of ever meeting her, the subconscious bond between them had remained. Now, after losing both of the previous lives she had lived, and everyone around her, she was no longer alone.


"I was excited to meet Emi but she's been asleep the whole time. Can I wake her up Nerva? Please, can I?" Typhon fidgeted back and forth on the wooden bench of the carriage as she looked at Emilia impatiently. Emilia on the other hand was completely oblivious to this as she slept in her mother's arms, still wrapped in Satella's cloak.

"Just wait a little bit longer Typhon, Emilia's really tired and needs the rest." Minerva responded as she gingerly brushed some of Emilia's hair to the side. She had a big smile that stretched from ear to ear as she watcher her daughter snooze peacefully in her arms.

"How long is that going to be, I can't wait forever!" Typhon impatiently kicked her legs in the air as she raised her voice in exasperation.

"Typhon could you speak a tiny bit more quietly? Emilia might feel grumpy if she gets woken up and then she won't want to meet you!" Satella loudly whispered to Typhon from her position at Minerva's side, trying to emphasis how she was whispering to the impatient young girl.

"Hnnnng" Typhon pouted a bit before clamping her mouth shut, like she was trying to physically restrain herself from speaking. However, she still made a groaning sound that was only a bit quieter then how she had been speaking before. Yet, this was enough of an improvement for Satella, who leaned back with a look of accomplishment on her face.

This led to the carriage growing quiet as everyone else settled back in for the remainder of the journey to the Margrave's residence. Sekhmet continued to doze off in the corner, not feeling the need to watch Typhon even though Ryuzu had returned to the front to sit with Garfiel. Daphne remained within her restraints on the floor of the carriage, having long gone silent as she was racked with hunger pangs that could not be satisfied. Finally, Carmilla watched Minerva and Emilia with a smile on her face, not having noticed that her own scarf had slipped low enough to expose it.

To Echidna this was all a good sign, because it meant that nothing catastrophic had yet happened. However, in a way it was also a bad, because it meant that nothing had gone wrong. In an almost contradictory manner it could be considered good for failure or hardship to occur, as it tended to reveal flaws or incorrect assumptions in a plan. If this happened early enough then it would mean that a course correction could be conducted early, assuming that is that things did not completely fall apart.

She had caught herself slipping into spells of deep thought since they had reboarded the carriage, thinking without listening nor observing what was going on around her. She may have been smart, and this may have been a common behaviour for her, but it was not the behaviour needed in the current moment. She had to be alert and attentive, only focusing on the present and the next of the steps that she had already decided upon. To mull over things other then those was an indulgence that she could not afford, unfortunately she could not describe her own willpower as anything but weak.

"WAIT, WE NEED TO STOP!" Satella suddenly jumped to her feet shouting, causing Echidna to almost do the same in surprise.

The entire carriage grew tense as everyone looked at Satella, even Minerva as she turned away from her daughter for the first time since they were reunited.

"We forgot something in the forest! We have to go back and get the thing Echidna needed!" There was a look of slight urgency on her face as she realized that they had completely forgotten the 'other' of the two things they had initially gone to the forest to retrieve.

It was easy to explain why Satella and Minerva had overlooked it as they had both been totally absorbed by Emilia as they had trekked out of the forest. While it would be harder for someone to come to a firm conclusion as to why Echidna had forgotten or overlooked it, with the only one available being simple exhaustion.

"It's okay Satella, we did not forget anything, there is no need to turn around." Echidna's voice was a bit quieter then normal on account of her fatigue, but the strong look of conviction in her eyes carried any meaning that may have been missed. She told no lie.

"But you said there was something you needed there too…" Satella looked puzzled as she stared at Echidna, still not returning to her seat.

"Everything of importance was retrieved from the forest, nothing was forgotten." Echidna spoke calmly as she looked up at Satella, who still had not pieced things together. Only when the Witch of Greed shifted her gaze to the still slumbering Emilia did Satella's expression begin to change.

"…You were also looking for Emilia, weren't you?" Echidna watched as Satella connected the dots, and as a big smile returned to her face.

"Even if things had played out differently, and I had been alone, my first step would always have been to retrieve her. It was the plan ever since I saw a way out of that horrid cage." Echidna's gaze trended towards the carriage's floorboards as she saw Minerva turn to her from the corner of her vision.

It was a rather mundane interaction that she had never really intended to have to begin with. She could not have even hoped to predict how it would lead to finding herself becoming airborne.

"Huh!...What're you doing!? Put me down!" Echidna let out a yelp as she was suddenly lifted up by Satella. Yet it was not like she had done something to find the only malicious bone in her friend's body because she was not simply being picked up. She was being hugged.

"You don't know how worried I've been about you, you've changed so much since I last say you. I was afraid you had become a bad person." Satella's voice sounded tender, and her smile seemed just a bit lighter as she spoke, like the invisible load atop her shoulders had grown just a bit lighter.

"I cannot tell you how to think, but I would prefer if you could avoid jumping to conclusions off a single piece of evidence." Echidna looked down at the half-elf who was presently holding her up whilst a sense of irritation grew within her. Yet even she struggled to feel anything remotely negative in the face of the beam of positivity that was radiating off her friend's face.

Satella then slowly shook her head from side to side before looking back up at Echidna and saying, "You've always worn your heart on your sleeve, so I know the real you is kind."

"You only see what you want to see." While Echidna's reply lacked any kind of venom, it was far from lacking in confidence and belief.

"E-Echidna-chan, don't ruin things." Carmilla chimed in, causing Echidna to fall silent. There was little point in fighting a losing battle on field devoid of logic, especially if the status quo was in her favour.

"Can you put me down Satella?" Echidna's voice grew a bit quieter as she spoke, like she had somehow grown just a bit weaker in the fraction of a moment since being chided. Thankfully for her, Satella complied and returned her to the wooden bench of the carriage before taking a seat beside her.

However not a second after they had sat down, the carriage came to a sudden halt.

"Mhmmm" A slight groan escaped the slumbering Emilia's lips as the slight jolt of the carriage stopping rocked her awake. For a moment, everyone inside the carriage turned to face the girl.

While in the forest there had been a certain air of erraticism to her, like part of her had become completely detached from reality, that all appeared to be completely gone now. She remained still upon waking up, calmly breathing as she took in her new surroundings. She was unexpectedly calm for someone who had suddenly found themselves in a new place, surrounded by people she either had never met, or who she barely knew.

"Did you sleep well Emilia? Are you feeling a bit better now?" Minerva's barrage of questions started almost instantly upon seeing that Emilia was awake. However, it could not be said that her voice was not kind. She was probably more flustered then concerned at this point.

This fluster seemed to be passed onto Emilia, who just shook her head in response, but even that was enough to get Minerva to smile.

"Where are we?" Emilia posed her own question with a voice that sounded more then a little weak, and more then just a bit dazed. In fact, she sounded far enough out of it that the smile on Minerva's face slipped a bit.

"Emilia, are you sure you feel okay?" Minerva rehashed her previous question, only to receive the same nod back.

"You know, you don't need to pretend that everything is fine around me, you can tell me if somethings wrong." Minerva attempted to nudge Emilia into spilling whatever beans she was holding, only to be met with the same nod that she had gotten before. A certain person in the carriage was finding the lack of brevity in the conversation more then a little bit irritating.

"When was the last time you ate?" Echidna did not make even the slightest attempt to hide the slight irritation in her voice as she began her attempt to force the two to reach a conclusion.

"Before Subaru came to the forest." Emilia answered honestly, despite the only tone that could be heard within her weak voice being pain.

"She's just hungry Minerva, feed her before you start panicking. And you Emilia, despite how Minerva may be treating you, you're not an infant nor are you disabled. So if something is wrong you need to use the gaping hole in the centre of your face and say so, or deal with it yourself." The frustration in Echidna's voice grew the longer she spoke to Emilia, her eyes bearing down on the girl who could only just barely see her.

"You don't need to be so mean just because I was praising you for your kindness. Now apologize to Emilia!" Satella wasted almost no time in deciding to discipline Echidna as she took on a tone fitting of an adult shaking their finger at a child.

"I have no need to apologize for stating the truth." Yet instead of listening, Echidna rose to her feet and left the carriage.

She precisely placed each step as she walked across the moss covered stones of the mansion's courtyard, giving off the appearance of someone who simply could not be bothered to abide by the idiotic rules of social conventions.

She kept her back turned and her head facing towards the overgrown vegetation and filthy windows, keeping her face completely out of view from anyone else who might choose to depart the carriage. She simply needed time to think about what she had just heard, about the fact that Flügel had ended up in the Elior forest prior to their arrival. All that she needed was to think, to be alone and focus.

She was a Witch after all, her mind and heart operated along a single unified axis and were completely immune to any conflict. All she knew, and all she had ever known was greed. She would never and had never felt remorse for anything she had done to further her own situation.

She would never and had never broken from the identify of the cold, heartless, and uncaring Witch of Greed.

Finding herself at the top of the set of stairs that stood right before the large wooden doors of the mansions front entrance. Doors that looked like they had not moved by even the tiniest amount in the past few months.

Echidna pushed them open and stepped inside the mansion, letting the doors naturally swing closed behind her. This left her alone in the front foyer, standing atop a dust covered mat, staring down one of the many hallways that would lead farther in. Behind her she heard the jovial chatter of the group who she had rode with in the carriage, slowly making their way up the stairs to join her inside. Yet in front of her there was another sound, the quiet clacking of a pair of shoes against the wooden floors of the upper level.

There were so many things going on around her, so many fascinating things that should have enthralled her, captivated her. Be it nature's slow reclamation of the works of man, to the coming result of an experiment started so long ago. Yet, for reasoning that seemed to exist beyond the cusp of her comprehension, the entire world felt like a stream rushing past her.

She saw a young girl with a head of blonde hair and eyes embroidered with pink butterflies atop her blue iris'. She watched as the girl's lips began to quiver and as her eyes went wide, all the while she stood stock still, as if she had seen a ghost.

"…Mother?" Was the only word to escape the lips of the girl as she began to descend the stairs, still looking at Echidna like she could not believe what she was seeing. It was a title that caused a wave of illness to wash over the Witch of Greed, one that grew with each step the girl took towards her.

"Mother?" The girl called out to her again as she reached the bottom of the staircase, but once again Echidna did not respond. She stood completely still, only letting her eyes follow the girl who was staggering towards her, like she was going to collapse at any moment.

The feeling of illness that had washed over her body grew stronger and stronger as she looked at the girl, gnawing at her and creating the illusion that a metal ball had made its way into her stomach. It made her feel absolutely horrible, yet it seemed to counterbalance the sensation that time was rushing past her. In fact, if she were to answer honestly, Echidna would probably claim that all the clocks had come to a complete standstill.

Only a few paces separated her from the girl as they stood staring at one another. The girl's quivering, tear filled eyes looked up, while her stone cold and empty ones looked down. The girl then raised a hand, and very hesitantly began to reach for her. It took several seconds, but eventually the girl grabbed a handful of her dress.

It was like that small handful of fabric was the gateway to a whole new world for the girl as every last bit of strength was sapped from her small body. She fell to her knees, and after grabbing another handful of Echidna's dress, pressed her face against the Witch's legs.

"Mother…Back…Fact…" It was absolutely impossible to discern what the girl was saying as she started to cry and cling even more tightly to Echidna's legs. Should she stroke the girl's head, tell her everything was going to be alright? Should she compliment her for a job well done? However, there was also the chance the girl resented her, or hated her. In that case she would need to take a different route to dealing with her. She needed to make a decision she felt underequipped and unprepared to make.

"Mother", "Betty" and "Alone" were the only three words she could discern from whatever the girl was saying as she cried with enough intensity to soak Echidna's only recently dried dress. Her whole body was heaving and shaking now like her whole world would fall apart if she ever let go.

Suddenly Echidna felt a tap on her shoulder.


Waiting is one of those things that starts off hard but gets easier the longer you do it. As long as you have the expectation, the belief that something is going to eventually come at the end of it all, then time will simply refuse to flow. Yet that only holds true for someone who believes that something awaits them at the end, or that an end exists at all.

When you abandon the thought that anything else will come, when you realize that there exists nothing else but an unending eternity, when you give up on the idea that anything else will ever change. Then and only then does time truly leave you behind. Days, months, years, decades, and even centuries start to blur together into a single indistinguishable mess. Afterall, when you live the same day over and over again, how could you not struggle to tell them apart.

Even now, she had no idea how long it had been since Roswaal's descendant, Bubby and his brat, and the maids who used to scurry around the mansion had left to never return. In fact, it was hard to remember when they had all arrived to begin with.

Yet it was not like she missed most of them, Roswaal's descendants had all been so similar that it was hard to keep them separate in her head. She had never bothered to really interact with any of the staff members who had run the mansion over the centuries, nearly all of them would leave after a few years. Those that did not just ended up dying later anyways.

Bubby was the one she would miss however, he had been with her since the beginning, even if he did not remember it. With him she could pretend that nothing had ever happened, that Mother had just gone on a trip and would be back soon. So even though she was pretending that everything was different, and even though he was probably just humouring her, she could hope that one day she would forget she was pretending.

Going senile with age was one of the two or three things about mortals that she envied.

As for the brat, there was not really much for her to say. It was irritating how much of Bubby's time she monopolized, but in the end it did not matter too much. She was mortal so eventually she would reach the end of her life and die. Bubby would be sad, but eventually he would forget about her. Betty too did not think she would remember her, the brat would simply join the long list of all the people she had seen since entering the library, and like all of them she would become nothing more then a brief and indiscernible image in her memory.

Betty was currently sitting on the chair, watching the door that led into the library she had been guarding for the past four hundred years. While it would not be entirely incorrect to say she was lost in thought, it would not be entirely correct either. For most of the time she spent motionless in the chair, staring at her blank book was not filled by vivid voyages through her memories. Instead, it was a time of empty nothingness as she allowed time to pass her by.

Yet something, or more correctly a taste of something pulled her out of her slumber like state. It was mana, Mother's mana. Someone or something had brought a bit of Mother's mana into the mansion that served as the feeding ground which kept her alive.

Betty slid of the chair and left the library for the first time since becoming the sole inhabitant of the mansion, her mind cast into a flurry. She knew that there was no way the source of the mana could actually be Mother. She was mortal after all and had probably died centuries ago in a place far away from Betty. The source of the mana had to be one of the devices that Mother had made when she was alive, powered by a mana crystal she had filled long ago.

Betty found herself wanting this device without knowing what it did, just to have another reminder of Mother, but unfortunately she had nothing to buy it with. Maybe she could use some of the Roswaal family fortune, they were all rather adamant on meeting Mother again so its unlikely that they would complain. Just she did not have the faintest idea where any of the money was kept.

Yet all of these thoughts instantly disappeared from her head as it was filled up with an incomprehensible static that left her unable to move or speak. She had rounded the corner expecting to see some kind of trader, travelling scholar, or perhaps even a mercenary, not a white-haired woman clad in black.

Her face, build, hairclip, clothing, even the length of her hair was identical to what Betty remembered. The only thing about her that was different was that she looked paler and a bit sicklier than Betty remembered. Yet, this could not possibly be her mother, it has been so long that there was no way for her to still be alive, no matter how much Betty may have wanted her to be.

But the way she looked at her with her cold and empty eyes that were impossible to read. The exact specifics of the look were hard to describe. It was like there was someone looking right into her soul, searching and analyzing every bit of her that existed. Despite this, Betty felt that there was tenderness hidden somewhere within the gaze, that somewhere, deep down she was seen as more than a tool.

No matter how illogical or impossible the idea was, she knew this look could only come from Mother.

Betty urged her stunned body to move forward, to close the distance between her and Mother before she either left or disappeared. Even though they were only separated by a few paces, each step felt like it took a century to take.

She saw Mother's eyes follow her as she walked towards her, but her mother did nothing else. She remained as still as a statue when Betty's vision began to grow blurry as water accumulated in her eyes, and she did not react as Betty raised a hand to touch her.

The idea that this may only be an apparition of her mother did even dare to cross Betty's mind, and so she was not seeking physical reassurance that her mother was actually present. She wanted to hold onto her so that she could never be left behind again. She wanted to feel her warmth and the sense of safety and security which came with it. Even if she would be scolded for desiring something so childish and illogical, Betty did not care. It would mean that she would get to hear the voice she cherished so much again and give her another moment that she could hold onto dearly until the end of time.

She grabbed a handful of the dress that she had seen her mother wear so many times, feeling the familiar cloth in her tiny hand as the static leaked out of her head to fill her entire body. She felt all the strength drain out of her legs, and so she let go of her mother's dress. Wrapping her arms around her mother's legs, she sunk to the floor as she pulled herself close to the one who stayed so still that it was like she was paralyzed.

"Mother, Mother, Mother!" Betty cried out as she felt a dam break inside her. It was like all the pain, all the suffering, all the loneliness, and all the emptiness had decided now would be the time to expel themselves from her body. They poured out of her eyes as an uncontrollable torrent of tears that soaked the fabric she had pressed her face against; a wail that likely turned any words leaving her mouth into an incoherent babble; a strength that made her grip stronger then any joint made of nails and wood could ever hope to be.

Betty did not try to talk anymore as she cried, screamed, and hugged her mother. She had been alone for so long that the only thing she wanted to do was to focus on her being here, that she was not gone anymore. Even though Mother was not showing even the smallest inkling of reacting to her or what she was doing, Betty did not care. She would never expect affection like her head being petted, back patted, or to be held. Simply being allowed to do this was an exception that was good enough for her.

So Betty paid no heed when the door behind Mother cracked open a bit, or to the footsteps when someone walked through a moment later to stand next to Mother. She did not care how it looked so she would not stop until Mother told her to. It was a moment that she would rather not end.

Yet, like all good things it did have to eventually come to an end. As she heard the click of the other person's shoes as they walked away, Betty finally felt Mother move.

She felt Mother bend down and place her hands on Betty's sides and then pull, she was probably going to pull Betty off of her. After all, it was not like Mother had ever accepted the title of "Mother" to begin with. Betty was just glad that she had gotten to hold onto her for as long as she did.

Almost instantly Betty's grip was broken, it was not like Mother had much physical strength, but it was still far more then Betty had. Betty closed her eyes as she lost contact with Mother, but she also noticed that she was being lifted off the floor. Had she overstepped the boundary between her and Mother to the point that she was going to be thrown away? She could only wonder why Mother had not used magic to do the deed.

"Huh?" Betty let out a gasp as she suddenly found herself pressed tightly against Mother's body again. While it was a place she desperately wanted to be, her confusion stemmed solely from the fact she had not taken action to regain the position.

She felt a hand beneath her, as well as one against her back, and against her chest she could feel the rhythmic pulse of a heartbeat. She was being carried; Mother was carrying her.

Betty wrapped her arms and legs tightly around her mother as she pressed her face against her mother's body. She was already so happy that Mother had come back for her, but this brought things to a whole new level. Even crying and screaming now felt unsuitable for describing the intensity of what she was feeling. It was like she was going to explode from all that was going on within her, but even if she were to erupt with the power of a great calamity, she would not be able to truly say if it would convey just how strongly she felt.

This meant that Betty did nothing more then continue to cry as she bared her heart for the whole world to see as she was gently carried through the mansion. It did not matter to Betty that the building had lost all of its other inhabitants, or that she had been confined within it for so long. For now, and for as long as it was possible, she would exist in her own, happy little world. One with just her and Mother.

"So you even slept here?" Betty heard Mother's voice calmly ask a question as she heard the creak of her sitting down on a bed. While Betty was still crying a bit, she had no difficulty hearing her mother's voice.

Betty tried to lift up her head only to feel a hand placed against the back of it, firmly holding it in place.

"We can stay like this for a bit longer, until you have calmed down at the very least." Mother's voice was far more soothing and considerate then she could ever really remember. While it was a little odd, it was certainly not something she would complain about.

"You have undertaken a rather arduous task solely because I asked you to. That task is now finished, thank you Betty." Mother almost whispered into her ear as she felt a hand begin to rub her back.

Those four hundred years of waiting, letting the world roll past her without care as she remained chained to a library full of books that were never going to be read. It all had not been for nothing, and the only one whose approval she cared for had recognized it. It was too much for her little heart to take.

All she could do was hold on a little tighter and replay those soothing words over and over in her head. She had no idea how much time she spent like this because she did not keep count, but eventually she did decide to pull away just a little bit and look up. She saw a pale and exhausted face looking down at her, the corners of its owner's mouth turned ever so slightly upward.

"Long time no see, Betty." Betty cherished each of her mother's words as she heard her calm and soothing voice, they made her want to hug her and burry her face against her all over again. The only reason she did not do such a thing was because she would be unable to see her face as she spoke. She also could not help but notice the fatigue in Mother's voice, it was something just as uncharacteristic of the woman she remembered as the affection she was being shown now.

There was a slight delay as Betty formulated her reply, these would be the first words she really exchanged with Mother after four hundred years of being apart. There were so many things she wanted to say, but also the desire to impress her with how much she had grown up since they had been split up so long ago. Afterall, by every single metric applicable to both humans and spirits she had still been a child back then.

"Betty is really happy Mother came back, in fact." In the end Betty chose to not return the greeting and instead say what she felt. The next thing she new, Mother's hand was on her face, wiping away the last few tears that were still rolling down Betty's cheeks.

"I'm sure that you have many things you wish to ask, and many things you wish to say but I believe that there is a matter we must see to first. We need to make a new contract seeing as you have fulfilled the last one." Mother's voice suddenly grew a bit more serious compared to before, yet Betty found this comforting in its own way. This was the behaviour she knew and expected from Mother.

Betty had only made a contract twice in her life, once soon after being born, and again right before Mother left. Yet despite this lack of experience, the memories were so precious to her that she knew exactly what to do.

She took one of her hands and pressed it against her mother's so that their palms were flat against one another, and then she waited to accept the contract that Mother would offer her. The process was quite simple when one had no intention of dictating the terms. She felt the beginning of a familiar mana flow between the two of them, only for it to suddenly stop. She could only look up at her mother in surprise.

"This time you can state the terms of the contract, that will be your reward Betty." Betty's head was instantly filled with static to the point that it was surprising that all her hair was not turned into a frizzy mess. She had already been rewarded, and now she was being given even more. It would take her a lot of time to even hope to grasp what she should ask for.

It would impress Mother the most if she asked for knowledge or requested to be taught something. Yet those things did not seem especially valuable to her right now, aside from the fact that they would improve Mother's view of her.

"There's no risk that I will hold these terms against you Betty. Think of whatever you want that I could give you and say it. Deliberating too hard over what will make you the happiest will only ruin the moment for you." Mother slowly tilted up Betty's chin so that she was once again looking at nothing but her face, her butterfly shaped pupils staring directly into her empty black ones. Betty understood the message she was being sent and so she decided on what she should ask for.

"Betty would like to ask for two things, I suppose." At first there was some anxiety in her voice, she was far from used to being put in a position like this.

"That's alright Betty, tell me what you would like." Mother's voice was reassuring as she read Betty like she would a book.

"Betty wants Mother to bring her wherever she goes, she can't leave Betty behind like she did before, in fact." Betty's gaze once again fell as she spoke, her voice following a similar trajectory as the memory of how she stood, clutching a book as she watched her mother walk away flashed before her eyes.

"That's understandable Betty, now what is the other thing that you want?" Mother spoke without skipping a beat, yet her tone could only be described as off.

"Betty wants… Betty wants Mother to hug her, hold her hand, or hold her like today, at least once a day in fact. Betty hopes that is not too much to ask, I suppose." Beatrice looked back up at her mother's face as she made her second request, this time filled with far more anxiety then the first time she had spoken.

"This is meant to be a reward Betty, so it is not too much to ask. Those two things shall be the only two terms of our contract going forward." As Mother spoke the mana flowing through their palms surged before declining to a steady state, the contract had been formed.


"You need to eat more Emilia, you've gotten way too thin. Here say ahhhh!" Emilia heard Minerva enthusiastically call out as she picked up her spoon, filled it with stew and held it in front of her mouth. She could see the determination and excitement in Minerva's face, but also the worry in her eyes. She only had to do such a little thing to make the day of someone who had already done so much for her that there was little reason not to.

Truth be told, she had not stopped eating the food because it was bad or because she did not like it. In fact it was quite tasty and she had to hold herself back from devouring the whole thing instantly, like she had seen the girl Daphne do. It was just that she was starting to feel a bit sick.

It had only taken a few spoonful's, but she had started to feel a heaviness in her stomach that had soon turned into an ache. By the time she was halfway through she had to stop because of how much it hurt. Yet when she looked down she did not see her stomach pressing out against her clothes, in fact the beat up dress she was still wearing had become so loose that it needed to be adjusted every so often.

Emilia slowly opened her mouth and leaned forward a bit as she was fed a spoonful by Minerva. She could not help but chew agonizingly slowly because she new that when she swallowed that the pain would get a little bit worse. Minerva looked so happy though and that sight was worth the relatively mild discomfort she was feeling.

"Here comes another Emilia, say ahhhh!" Minerva repeated the same procedure from before as she refilled the spoon. Just like before Emilia let her place the spoon in her mouth, just this time she could not help but wince a bit when she swallowed.

"Emilia, are you okay?" Minerva suddenly stopped feeding her, all the concern from before returning to her face.

"I'm just feeling a little bit sick I guess. I'm okay though." Emilia did her best to put a smile on her face as she did her best to stifle the slight bit of nausea she was beginning to feel.

"You'll be able to lay down soon, do you think you can finish the rest of your food first? You really need to eat right so you can get your strength back…" Minerva looked and sounded so worried that it was impossible for Emilia to refuse her. She had endured so much worse than a bit of stomach pain so doing this for Minerva should not be difficult. All she needed to do was try to suppress the urge to vomit and everything would turn out for the best.

Emilia watched as Minerva began to fill the spoon once more.

"Minerva, I think you should stop trying to force the girl to eat." Echidna's uncaring and nearly monotone voice suddenly rang out. While it did make Minerva stop, it also caused her to look at Echidna with a slightly irritated look on her face.

"She needs to eat more Echidna-chan. I only got to see her for a bit in Sanctuary, but she's like skin and bones compared to then!" The irritation in Minerva's voice was as strong as that on her face. Although it did not quite seem like she was angry, it was not like she was far off from that point either.

"You have almost reached the point I'm trying to make, yes compared to the Sanctuary she has lost a rather dangerous amount of weight. The thing you are missing is the why, why has she changed so drastically in the time between then and now? The only logical answer is that she has been eating far too little over that time period, and coupled with how she now seems to be in pain from eating, that she was starving for a sufficient period of time that her stomach has severely shrunken. So, if you keep trying to feed the girl, all you will do is make her vomit up what she managed to get down." While Echinda sounded completely uncaring as she lectured Minerva, the way she was staring so intently at her, it almost seemed like she was judging her.

Minerva did not really respond to Echidna, instead choosing to face Emilia instead.

"Emilia, is it true?" The irritation had entirely fallen out of both Minerva's facial features and her voice, instead being replaced by concern and something that almost seemed like defeat.

"I guess I wasn't really eating too much when I was in the forest, and my tummy doesn't really feel too happy right now. So probably." While Emilia did her best to sound just fine and to minimize both what actually happened, her words only ended up making Minerva even sadder.

"I think I can eat the rest of it in a little bit. I'm not very good at cooking though so I may need some help to make it hot again." Upon noticing the change in Minerva's expression, Emilia almost instantly did her best to provide a bit of assurance.

"Then whenever you're feeling better tell me and I'll heat it up for you. Even if I'm asleep, don't feel bad about it!" Minerva's spirits seemed to quickly rise at the opportunity to do something for her daughter that she had missed out on. Her face breaking out into a big smile as her eyes teemed with excitement, it was a look that suited her far more then her previous one. It warmed Emilia's heart despite the fact she was asking for help with something because she was incapable of doing it on her own.

"If Emi's feeling bad then we won't get to play…." Typhon could be heard lamenting from farther down the table, she obviously had been excited about having a new playmate. Even though it was hard for Emilia to see her from where she was sitting, she could imagine the girl pouting.

"I'm really sorry that I'm not up to playing Typhon, but we could still read a book together if that's okay." Truth be told, even if her stomach had not started acting up, she did not think she would be able to handle playing with Typhon. The overwhelming tiredness and exhaustion that was currently hanging over her made the thought of running around seem rather poor. Yet she still wanted to do something with the young girl, it had been a really long time since anyone had ever wanted to play with her.

"Does the book have pictures?" Typhon instantly seem to grow more enthusiastic when she heard about the book, although there was a slight bit of hesitancy in her voice.

"Yes!" Emilia did her best to sound excited and happy as she responded to the question, making sure to lean forward a bit so she could completely see Typhon at the other end of the table.

"Then Typhon wants to read the book with Emi!" Emilia could not help but smile a bit as she looked at the big smile plastered across the girl's face. Right now, she felt like she fit in more then ever before, it made her really, really happy.

Furthermore, just the fact that she could sit here like this, eating a meal with everyone else was something to cherish. It felt like she had been alone for so long but was now apart of something once again.

Even Beatrice, who had always seemed cold to everyone aside from Puck seemed like she was having the time of her life. She had a big smile on her face as she happily ate her meal, her chair pulled so close to Echidna's that the two were practically touching.

While she was only just getting to know everyone else, they all seemed to be in good spirits right now. Sekhmet always seemed to be tired, Daphne was always hungry, Carmilla mostly kept to herself but seemed to smile when she looked at either Emilia and Minerva, or Echidna and Beatrice. Typhon seemed to be struggling to sit still and always looked like she was going to run off if Sekhmet or Ryuzu were not keeping track of her.

There was also Garfiel and Ryuzu, who Emilia had met briefly before leaving Sanctuary. Ryuzu seemed to be fitting in with everyone just fine and had taken a liking to Typhon. Emilia could only guess that she was enjoying being around a young kid again. Garfiel on the other hand seemed different from when she had previously met him, he was acting far more timid and even scared at times, to the point that he never left his grandmother's side.

Then there was Satella, the half-elf who was looked identical to her, and the reason she had been shunned and ridiculed her entire life. It made her feel a little bit awkward when she saw her, not just because it reminded her of looking into a mirror, but because she was confused. She had heard so many horrible stories about her, the story of her war on the entire world, but the person in front of her seemed too nice to do that.

Satella always seemed so happy about everything, and she cared so much about everyone else that it was like their pain was hers. It just did not make sense for her to have been the same one as the witch who hurt so many people.

Yet, its not like Emilia could ignore how she was being looked at right now. How Satella's eyes were gazing right at her, unwavering and unbroken, without the tiniest hint of the kindness or gentleness she had experienced before. Truth be told, it made her feel more then just uncomfortable, she felt scared to the point that she could not look away.

"Satella, are you feeling okay?" Minerva sounded a tiny bit apprehensive as her gaze followed Emilia's to land on Satella. Unfortunately it seemed like Satella did not hear a single thing she said.

Echidna however did hear Minerva and turned away from Beatrice to look at the black-clad half-elf. She bit her lip a bit before reaching out to her, yet with the delay in her movements it seemed like she too was anxious about something.

Placing her hand on the Witch's shoulder, she very gently shook her. In that very instant the look in Satella's eyes changed, returning to what Emilia had seen soon after waking up in the cart.

"Satella, are you feeling okay?" Minerva repeated her question, this time with a far less apprehensive tone in her voice.

"…. Uhhh, was I acting weird? I guess maybe the stress of everything is starting to catch up to me again." Satella first blinked a bit before gently scratching her canted head, answering in a rather unconfident tone.

"Emilia, I think the bath should be warm enough by now, lets go before it gets too hot!" Minerva spoke a bit faster then normal, like she was in a rush to get Emilia out of the room.

"S-Sure." Emilia stammered as she was lead out of the dining room by the hand.

While they were in a rather large mansion, it did not take too much time to reach the baths as they were rather centrally located, in order to be accessible from all the rooms spread out across both wings. This left Emilia little time to try and clear up the confusion about what had just happened.

It was only when they stepped into the room with the baths that another question popped into her head, why was Minerva following her into the baths?

Emilia stood on the tile floor a little way away from the pool of warm water. Normally she would remove her clothing at this point, but should she with Minerva standing right behind her? Mother Fortuna had seen her naked of course, but that was because she had been too young to do these kinds of things on her own. Puck on the other hand would always disappear when she had to change or wash, leaving her on her own at first to figure out how to do that stuff.

"Should I step out until your in the bath?" Minerva asked with a tiny bit of apprehension in her voice.

"You don't have to, but why did you come to the bath with me?" Emilia did not really care if her mother saw her naked because she did not really understand why people made such a big deal about it. In her mind as long as people cleaned themselves up properly after using the washroom, there was not much to be embarrassed about.

"I'm going to help you bathe of course!" Minerva sounded oddly excited at the prospect of helping her daughter get cleaned up.

Emilia considered trying to deny the offer so that she would not be taking advantage of her mother's goodwill, but it sounded like Minerva was looking forward to this. She would probably feel a bit sad if Emilia said no.

"…" Emilia had slipped out of her now ragged clothing only to freeze up when she heard Minerva gasp. Looking back over her shoulder, she could see the pained expression on her mother's face.

"I can see all your ribs Emilia, you really were starving…" Minerva spoke with a voice that matched her expression. Right now it seemed like the very act of looking at Emilia was enough to hurt her.

"I'm sorry…" Emilia mumbled as she let her gaze fall towards the floor.

"No no no, its not something to apologize for. I just didn't imagine that it was this bad. Now hop into the bath before you catch a cold!" Minerva quickly rebounded after seeing Emilia's face. She stepped forward and held onto her daughter's shoulders as she guided her into the bath.

The water felt warm, really warm. She sat down and allowed the smothering heat of the bath water to rise up to her chin. If she were to close her eyes she had no doubts that she would be asleep within mere moments.

While she heard Minerva sit down on the edge of the bath, things grew quiet as neither spoke nor moved. Even the water in the bath was still, so the room was allowed to grow completely silent. It was so calm and peaceful that it was just like any ordinary day at the mansion before everything had fallen apart.

No one could have possibly guessed that this would have been waiting for her at the end of the nightmare that had begun after the first meeting of the Royal Selection. She had broken her camp apart, tried to smash her own face in, and then abandoned her duty in the Elior forest.

After all that here she was enjoying a relaxing bout of tranquility.

Rem and Ram were both dead.

Roswaal was dead.

Puck was gone.

Subaru was broken.

They had all suffered because of her, and what had come of it? She had ended up exactly where she had started, relaxing in a mansion having achieved absolutely nothing.

She was a horrible monster that ruined everyone and everything around her.

How long would it be until she killed her mother a second time?

"Huh?" Emilia was suddenly jolted back to reality as the entirety of her face was pulled above the water, a pair of hands pressed gently against her cheeks.

"You've really been through so, soooo much, haven't you Emilia." All Emilia could see was her mother's face, and all she could hear was her voice as the woman knelt beside her in the bath, letting the warm water soak her clothes. She was drenched through and through, all because Emilia could not even take a bath without breaking down.

"You've been holding so much inside all this time. You've become really, really strong Emilia. My little baby is all grown up." Although her mother's voice sounded nothing but soothing, Emilia could not help but notice that handful of tears that were beginning to run from her eyes. Now she was crying, and it was undoubtably because of her.

"… I'm not strong though. I'll I do is get other people involved and then ruin their lives…" Emilia muttered as she let her eyes drift towards the surface of the water.

"Don't say that Emilia, there's no way you could have done something like that. I've only just been reunited with you, but I can tell that you're not that kind of person, and I know that everyone else would say the same thing. You're only hurting so much because of how kind and gentle you are." Minerva gently guided Emilia's head up so that she was once again looking into her eyes. Once again, she could see how she was hurting her mother.

"You probably feel worse now that you're around me… I don't deserve any of this… I shouldn't have left the forest…" Emilia's voice grew hallower and hallower with every word. It was like an empty space had been revealed within her after a hard carapace had been peeled away.

"Stop talking like that Emilia!" The volume of her mother's voice increased by a staggering extent, easily filling the large bath's of the mansion to their entirety. It was far from enough to leave her speechless after what she had been through, but it was enough to draw her attention.

"But it's true…" Emilia mumbled as she looked at her mother's pained expression.

"You don't know that Emilia…" All of the strength and air fell out of Minerva's voice as the brief burst of volume subsided, leaving nothing but silence as both mother's and daughter's eyes fell to the water's surface.

It was as if melancholy itself had filled the room, allowing neither sound nor movement. It was debatable if one could have even noticed that the two were still breathing.

"Emilia, can I be a bit selfish right now?" Minerva's voice returned just like it had left, as a shadow of its true strength.

Emilia did not turn, nor did she speak. She did however manage to slightly nod her head.

"I don't know how I can describe how it makes me feel seeing you like this… It hurts so much that I want to cry, but it makes me so angry that I want to smash everything I can see to pieces!" Minerva looked off to the side for a bit with a strained expression plastered across her face. For a moment she stopped speaking, she could not speak, for the scene she was recalling was poisonous to the very essence of her being. Yet, she knew she could not stay silent forever.

"I…I saw what you did to yourself back in Sanctuary. I know that you probably don't want to keep going on right now…." Minerva gently and gingerly pulled her daughter right up against herself. She held her so delicately it was like she was afraid that the girl would break into a million pieces. Yet, it was also like she feared that she could slip from her fingers at any moment.

"Can you keep going Emilia? Please? I'll do everything I can to show you that it's worth smiling again! I'll give everything I can, even if it means that I'll have nothing left. I'll do everything I can do, even if it breaks me! I'll hold you up so you don't ever fall down again, but you just can't give up again. Can you promise me that you'll keep trying, can you do that for me?" Emilia's mother's voice was a bit of a mess, it was trying to be motivational and hopeful as she tried to raise her daughter's spirits. However, like an arrow loosed too soon, it failed to reach the heights that it aimed for. Minerva only sounded desperate.

Yet it inspired a feeling in Emilia that had been so foreign until recently that she struggled to believe it was even there. The very idea that there existed a being which could care about someone as horrible as her to this extent was incomprehensible. It was so outlandish that as she weakly nodded her head, she could not even lie to herself that such a thing could ever be true.

She could however push herself to go a bit farther if it meant that she would not cause another tear to be shed.

At least that is what she thought.


It should not have mattered to her. Afterall, things would just be the same as they always had. Nearly everyday for the past 400 years she had woken up and watched the library in solitude until the time had come for her to go back to sleep. So why now of all times, at a point where it would be most important for her to do something so simple did she feel so incapable of doing so?

Betty wandered around the halls of the mansion alone, with no one to take her lonely hand. The tiny thumps made by her feet being the only sound to pierce the cold night air. Her eyes wandered aimlessly across the walls she had seen so many times. They gazed upon nothing in particular, just like how her own little journey had no current goal.

It was not like she did not know what it felt to be lonely, far from it in fact. Just now it felt different in a way that was hard for her to describe. The sensation was now a bit sharper and a little more vivid than it had been before. That tiny change brought on by the most momentous half-day in her entire life had been enough to make something she had borne for centuries completely unbearable.

Thump

Beatrice bumped into something and fell backwards, falling onto her bottom and being forced to stop spacing out. Giving her head a bit of a shake, she opened her eyes and looked directly ahead.

Infront of her, basking in the faint moonlight stood a half-elf clad in a white nightgown. She stared up at the night sky through the open window, the cool breeze causing her hair and nightgown to billow behind her as the full moon reflected in her amethyst eyes.

Her hands remained clutched together overtop of her heart, completely motionless. She had not even noticed that Betty had walked into her.

"Excuse Betty for not paying attention in fact. Ha…." As Betty got back to her feet, apologizing and brushing off the dust that had gotten onto her clothes, she unintentionally gasped and froze midmotion.

All of the ambient mana around her had suddenly disappeared, no, it had been instantaneously sucked out of the air so quickly that Betty could not even tell where it had gone. She blinked and then saw that the half-elf was staring down, looking right at her.

Her eyes and pained yet unfocused, like she was not truly looking at the world in front of her. Despite this there was little emotion on her face. Betty could tell that this was not the remains of the girl Bubby had adopted, and she did not have Satella's irritating optimism…

Betty knew what this meant, she knew that it was pointless for her to try anything, she knew that it was time to say goodbye to Mother. So she let herself crumple to the ground and closed her eyes. Recalling the face she saw only a few hours ago, the look in her world's eyes that said everything she needed to know. It ate her up inside knowing that their reunion had been so short. Yet, if there was to be anything Betty wanted to see as her life ended, it would be Mother.

Beatrice heard a cry that seemed to be a mixture of laughter, grunting, and a wail as she opened her eyes once again to see the half-elf's body slumping to the floor. Her hands were pressed against her face with her fingers splayed just enough to see a look of pure panic in her amethyst eyes.

Betty did not move whatsoever as she watched the half-elf's eyes dart across the hallway, seemingly looking at nothing in particular. That was until they locked onto her.

"Beatrice, are you there? Are you really there?" The half-elf's voice sounded really unsure as she spoke directly to Beatrice while looking at her.

Beatrice was not sure what she should do as she remained frozen in place. Petrified by a mixture of fear and confusion.

"Beatrice, I-I don't know what's happening with me. Get Echidna, please get Echidna…" All Beatrice could do was continue to stare as she heard the panicked voice.

Mother was probably sleeping at this point, and she had looked completely exhausted the whole day. However, she was Mother after all so she would know what to do, she always knew what to do. Also, if Betty went to get her it would be both a reason to be around her and it would mean that she could get away from this half-elf.

Betty could not find the courage to speak, but she did manage to quickly nod before scurrying away to the nearest door and using her Door Crossing.

The room she was now in was both quieter than the hallway, the only sound being that of someone's barely audible breathing. The bedroom was also fairly small, containing only a dresser, desk, and bed large enough for a single person.

Beatrice hesitantly stepped around the bed to reach the side closest to the slumbering figure who lay on top of the closed bed. Her steps were made quite gingerly and despite what had led her to come here, the expression on her face clearly said that she was not entirely sure about what she was doing.

Once she had stepped around the bed Beatrice was brought face to face with the slumbering figure of her mother clad in the same white nightgown as the half-elf in the hall.

"Mother…" Beatrice quietly whispered as if afraid to wake the one she was speaking to. Echidna did not even stir in the slightest in response.

"Mother" Beatrice said again a bit louder, only to be met with the same response.

"Mother!" Beatrice shouted while jostling her mother's arm a bit.

Echidna groaned a bit as she turned in her sleep, away from Beatrice.

Beatrice briefly looked back towards the door she had just entered before returning her gaze to her still sleeping mother and whispering "Betty is sorry in fact."

She grabbed onto her mother's arm with both hands and pulled as hard as she could. Echidna may not have been hard to move for most people, but for Beatrice it was a tall order. She had the physical strength of a human child and weighed even less than one, forcing her to brace herself against the bed as she pulled.

With both of her feet braced against the bedframe Beatrice pulled as hard as she could. Her mother's body moved ever so slowly towards the edge of the bed all the while gripped by such an unnatural exhaustion that she barely stirred.

Beatrice kept struggling and struggling until the moment came when gravity took over.

The still slumbering Echidna slid off the bed and unfortunately due to the positioning of the two, pinned Beatrice against the floor.

A groan escaped from Echidna as her exhausted eyes barely creaked open.

"Betty?" Seemingly ignorant of what had just happened or where she was, Echidna posed a question to Beatrice. Her voice sounded so tired that it was debatable whether she was actually awake or not.

"Mother is needed in fact!" Beatrice hurriedly stammered.

Echidna mumbled as her eyes slid closed once again.

"Mother cannot go back to sleep in fact!" Beatrice loudly exclaimed only to be completely ignored. Somehow Echidna had managed to fall back asleep after being pulled off the bed. It was unbelievable, in fact.

"Mother!" Beatrice called as she tried to free her arms so that she could try to prod her mother awake. Unfortunately she was completely and totally stuck.

Left with no other choice, Beatrice closed her eyes and focused. However, her mind was not on the mana that she was currently manipulating, but instead on what she would say after. She was absolutely certain that there would be fallout for this.

The instant she freed her mana to carry out its task, she and by extension Echidna were blanketed in a downpour of frigid water. It lasted for little more than a single instant, but it was enough to completely drench Beatrice, even though she was mostly shielded by her mother's body.

Echidna's eyes instantly shot open as she rolled to the side in shock, causing the other half of her body to fall to the floor with a thump.

Beatrice watched her mother, now dripping wet and clad in a soaking nightgown push herself up off the ground and survey the room. From the rare show of emotion on her face she was a mixture of confused and irritated, and the irritation appeared to be increasing as the confusion wore off.

Before she had a chance to speak however, Beatrice pointed at the door and exclaimed "Mother's needed outside in fact!". When she did not immediately get a response, Beatrice scurried over and grabbed Echidna by the hand before leading her out and into the hallway using Door Crossing.

The two were greeted by the sight of the half-elf, now curled up against the wall in the fetal position with her hands wrapped around her. The only part of her face that was visible were her two tear-stained eyes.

"Betty, go back to the library and stay there." The very air around them seemed to change after they entered the hallway and saw the half-elf. Echidna seemed to lose all sense of confusion, shock, and even irritation as she spoke in a voice devoid of emotion.

Beatrice's heart sank when she heard the words that came out of her mother's mouth. They were words that she had heard once before, four hundred years ago. They had been some of the last things she had heard from her before she had closed the door behind herself and left Beatrice alone.

"Betty doesn't want to leave Mother, I suppose." All Betty could do was utter a single plea, in a vain hope that it would convince mother to change course from what Betty saw coming. Despite what she may have thought earlier, she did not think she could take being left alone again, even if there would be another reunion at the end of the tunnel.

"You call refer to me as your mother, children are supposed to listen to their mothers. Do as I say and go back to the library." Echidna's voice remained completely cold as she rebuked Beatrice's plea and reiterated her command.

"Betty wants to know if Mother will be gone for a long time again, I suppose." Beatrice grabbed the hem of her mother's nightgown and looked to her mother's face. However, neither words nor even a glance came her way as she was completely ignored.

"Betty will do as Mother says." Beatrice let go of her mother's clothes and turned towards the door behind them. As she connected it to the Forbidden Library using Door Crossing and stepped inside, she took one final glance back towards the hallway. She saw her mother approach the half-elf and kneel down in front of her. Even as Beatrice closed the door as slowly as possible to maximize the noise made by the hinges, no glance was returned her way. When the door finally shut, once again Beatrice found herself completely alone in the Forbidden Library.

Beatrice let her small body lean back against the door and slump to the floor as her arms fell to her sides.

"Betty screwed up, Betty screwed up really bad in fact….." Beatrice mumbled to herself as she unwillingly began to scrunch up her face.

"Mother's really smart. She knew that she was not needed to resolve the problem. She was really tired and just wanted to go back to sleep but Betty dumped a bunch of water on her, in fact." Beatrice felt her face grow warm and a pit open up in her stomach as she recalled the look her mother had given her earlier.

"Now Mother doesn't want anything to do with Betty anymore, so Betty has been sent back here I suppose." Beatrice pulled her legs in close and hugged them tight. She stayed like this for a time as she let the atmosphere of the empty library sink into her once again.

"But Betty will do as Mother says…in fact." Eventually however she did get off the ground, only to walk towards the stool she had sat in for four hundred years. She then sat down and resumed her post of watching the library entrance.

As she watched the front door it only grew more and more distorted as water built up in her eyes.


The fact that the Forbidden Library had no windows had traditionally been a blessing, for isolation from the day-night cycle for a being without a circadian rhythm meant that it was difficult to keep track of time from the inside. During Beatrice's first period of isolation in the library it had been a tiny relief as it had freed her from the monotony of slipping into a daily routine.

Despite this though, her ability to keep track of the passage of time was immaculate if she tried. She was a spirit after all and therefore possessed a mind that never dulled with fatigue. Therefore, there was never a distortion in her perception of the time that flowed around her. Yet, this uniqueness she possessed was something she had rarely if ever used before. Why would one ever need to count the time they spent in confinement down to the very second?

Yet, this time was different. This time her stay had been set in motion by her taking things too far. This time there had been no promise of an end to the isolation.

"Betty is sorry in fact…." Beatrice mumbled as another pair of tears dripped off her face and onto the floor, nearly in tune with the beginning of her sixth hour of isolation.

While her eyes were fixated on nothing in particular, they had settled on the carpet that covered the floor of the Forbidden Library. However, she was still able to see the base of the only door that led into and out of the room. Beatrice was so blindly fixated on her own perceived wrongdoing that she initially neither reacted nor even noticed that someone had just pushed there way through, into the Forbidden Library.

The slow and methodical thuds of someone's feet against the floor escaped the notice of her ears. Yet, it was the irregular swaying of white that finally caused her to lift her eyes from the floor.

Beatrice saw the white-haired figure, Mother, stagger a few more steps past her before collapsing onto the bed at the back of the library.

"Mother!" Beatrice shouted as she sprung off the stool and dashed to the bed. Her voice was juxtaposed between elation and concern.

The second Beatrice reached her mother, who had seemingly changed into her normal black dress, she started to shake her with both hands. With how she had fallen onto the bed, Beatrice could only see her back.

"Is Mother alright in fact?" Beatrice stammered as she shook Echidna even more vigorously.

A groan escaped Echidna's lips as she slowly rolled over on the bed to face Beatrice. From what Beatrice could see, she was completely unharmed. It put her heart at ease.

Echidna's eyes cracked open just enough to reveal the tiniest sliver of her pupils so that she could look at Beatrice.

"The suns coming up and I need to sleep…wake me up in two hours…" Echidna mumbled before her eyes slid closed once again.

"…Betty wonders if Mother is upset with her for the water, I suppose?" While Beatrice was happy to not be alone anymore, and she was relieved to find out that her mother was alright. The action she had taken that had led to her getting sent here remained unaddressed. The feelings of guilt for disturbing her mother's sleep only grew worse as she looked at the prominent bags under Echidna's eyes.

"No, my expectations…were….exceeded…." Beatrice could not help but smile as she heard her mother's final words of praise before the exhausted witch drifted off to sleep. She could not help but stand there and grin for the next several moments to the backdrop of her mother quietly breathing.

Eventually Beatrice did notice that there was a bit of room between Mother and the edge of the bed. So she gingerly sat down and laid next to her mother. Afterall, this would guarantee that she would be able to wake her exactly at the requested time.


"Mother wake up, were here in fact!" Echidna felt someone shaking her arm as she forced her eyes open once again. Truth be told, she wanted to and needed sleep. She was still recovering from her resuscitation and trudging through the forest coupled with being kept up for most of the night had not done her any favours either. However, she would have to make do with the few hours she had gotten to catch since then.

She looked down at the girl who was presently seated on her lap, entirely due to a lack of space in the carriage of course.

"Betty waited until we were near the front of the line to enter the city so Mother could sleep longer, I suppose." She could see Beatrice's eyes gleam with joy as they met her own, but all she did was nod before looking away to focus on the matter at hand.

"Papers please!" A tired yet gruff voice called from somewhere outside the carriage.

"We don't have any papers, but we're carrying the royal candidate, Emilia. We're bringing her to the royal palace, so let us through." Ryuzu's old crackling voice carried through from the driver's seat of the carriage.

"Ha, nice one. Everyone knows that witch died when the White Whale did, she hasn't been seen since. Now step down from the carriage and save us all some time by telling us what's really back there. Oi, you too boy." With the guard's command to dismount the carriage came the sound of many footsteps, they were probably being taken for smugglers and surrounded.

"Come Gar-bo." Ryuzu's voice could be heard once again as she and Garfiel could be heard dismounting the carriage.

Echidna turned to face Satella as the silver-haired half-elf stood up from the bench and walked towards the cloth flaps the covered the only entrance into the carriage.

"Try to scare them just a bit. It'll make things go smoother." Echidna said to Satella as she passed by, who nodded and forced her face into an emotionless grimace. Echidna's eyes followed her as she reached the end of the carriage just as an armoured hand reached inside to spread the cloth flaps.

Before the hand had a chance to do anything, Satella seized it and yanked it far above her head, no doubt lifting its owner off the ground.

"Ahhhhh!" The normal sounds of hustle and bustle around them ceased as the man let out a pained cry. Satella then carefully left the carriage, ensuring that the flaps did not open enough to allow anyone to see inside.

While Satella was still wearing the same black dress and cloak that she had in Sanctuary, her hood was intentionally kept down. Which is precisely the reason why the man went silent the second she stepped out of the carriage.

"I need to get to the royal palace." Were the few, quiet words to leave Satella's mouth. For all the strength she showed leaving the carriage, she only ended up sounding sad.

"Of course, as a candidate to the royal selection no papers are necessary! Your carriage may proceed right this way." The same voice that had previously accused them of being lowly criminals seemed to snap to attention. A muffled thump was then heard, no doubt the sound of Satella finally releasing the man who had tried to enter the carriage.

Nothing seemed to resume around them as Satella returned to the carriage and sat down once again. Even she did not manage to revert to how she once was; the smile that she had stood up with was now nothing but plaster that failed to reach her now troubled eyes.

"Aside from introducing yourself once we get to the palace you can leave the negotiations to me. There isn't a need to burden yourself further." Echidna looked over at Satella, who was now staring at the floor of the moving carriage whilst speaking as softly as she could. Every second that could be saved, and every moment that could be bought were of nigh incomprehensible value.

"What do we ha do if the huh girl is wrong ha." Sekhmet finally made her presence known after having napped though the entire carriage ride. Her single, uncovered eye was looking directly at Emilia.

"I'm sorry I d-" Emilia started to apologize in concert with Minerva, who was right beside her, beginning to glare right at Sekhmet.

"She's far too spineless and simple to lie, something that has already paid off in dividends with the guards at the gate." Echidna spoke as she turned to face Minerva, pre-empting the interruption.

"Echidna!" Minerva still called out angrily whilst clutching Emilia a bit tighter, who took the shot right on the chin.

"We may have to rely on breaking the mold they have placed her in again once we reach the castle. Even if she is wrong, someone in that palace will know what has transpired with the body housing the Sloth." Echidna continued to speak without taking any further heed of Minerva, instead she looked to Sekhmet. The ever-tired giantess merely regarded her with a nod before lowering her head to better rest against the bench she lay on. This left the group to continue their journey in silence.


"They really do like to stare here, don't they?" Echidna remarked out loud as she and Satella walked though the halls of the Royal Palace. Despite it being certain that everyone around them had heard her, none took heed. The mixture of guards and administrators still took not-so-discrete glances as they walked along. Some with faces full of anger and disgust, others fear. All of them were directed at the one walking beside her. Without her hood up, her silver hair, amethyst eyes, and half-elf features were on full display. Satella, The Witch of Envy, the one who was currently playing the role of Emilia the Royal Selection candidate. Pretending to be the girl who had faced so much scorn and discrimination for her uncharacteristic resemblance to the Witch of Envy herself. It was a truly comical situation.

"…" Satella remained completely silent as the pair walked ahead with her eyes directed straight ahead towards their goal. When someone was unlucky enough to meet their gaze they would go completely white and freeze in place. It was rather convenient for expediting their journey through the palace.

This continued until they reached the massive doors to the palace's audience room. They were massive wooden constructions that reached all the way to the ceiling of the hall. This meant that they were easily 5 times the height of the two witches.

Immediately infront of the door stood a single guard, clad in the pristine white robes of Lugunica's knigths. On his belt hung a single, ornate looking sword. Looking directly ahead he stood at attention and ignored the two as if he were an inanimate ornament himself.

"Emilia-sama is here to meet with the Sage Council. Let us pass." Echidna spoke curtly to the guard as Satella remained silent beside her.

"Their addressing the nobility of the kingdom currently. Please wait until they are finished." The knight's voice was completely flat as he responded like he was reading from a script. With how his eye's seemed to remain focused on the corridor behind them, it would not be hard to believe that he had not even really seen them yet.

"If it's the nations nobility that they are addressing, should Emilia-sama not be present? Why was she not invited to attend? Is she not a candidate to become the future ruler of this nation?" Echidna forced a hint of fake outrage into her voice as she stepped in front of the knight and began to barrage him with questions.

"The Sage Council does not make mistakes ma'am. Might I suggest that you wait in the outer gardens. Someone will be sent to fetch you should the council be willing to take your inquiry." The knight's scripted voice continued as Echidna caught Satella beginning to fidget beside her.

"As Emilia-sama did not receive notice nor an invitation it is very clear that they did! She must be allowed entry at once lest she miss out on any pertinent information!" Echidna made her eyes go wide in panic as she began to usher Satella around the side of the guard and towards the door.

"Tch…take the hint." For the first time during their whole interaction the guard seemed to snap out of his trance. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he prevented her from continuing to usher Satella to the door.

"Everyone who matters has been told that the half-devil is dead. Take the chance to get out of a race that you had no chance of winning from the beginning and leave." The knight spoke gruffly before lightly pushing her away from the door.

"So nobility only runs skin-deep nowadays…" Echidna muttered under her breath as she began to step back towards the knight.

"There isn't time for this." Satella spoke in a barely audible volume as she placed her palms against the door, ready to push it open.

"Were you not liste-" The second he saw her hand reach for the door the guard grabbed Satella's wrist as he spun around to face her for the first time in the exchange. Yet, the second he touched her, the second her head spun around to stare him right in the eyes, he froze.

The instant their eyes met, all the colour drained from his face. Even a low-ranking noble from some backwater who likely had no future outside of martial service could probably tell that this was not the same meek girl who had first arrived in the capital.

"Don't touch me." Satella's soft and quiet voice barely managed to reach the ears of the two around her to deliver her command. It was a command that the knight did not heed, nor could he. He was petrified into captivation by an image that was ingrained into every Lugunican since birth. A silver haired half-elf uncowed by meekness nor innocence. One that radiated an aura of such unmatched strength and ability for violence. One whose eyes seemed unhinged enough that she would be willing to take on the whole world to get what she wants.

"If you can tell her to go and wait outside in the garden to her face then I will do my best to convince her to listen. Just I think you should know that she watched everyone she knew get turned into minced meat during the White Whale attack that you claim killed her. As a soldier yourself I am certain that you understand how an innocent child might change after seeing such a thing." Echidna leaned in so closely to the side of the knight that she could see the sweat beginning to emanate from his pores as she whispered into his ear. There was not even the slightest hint that he had heard a thing she had said until he swallowed a few seconds later.

"I-I will announce E-Emilia-sama's arrival!" The knight sputtered out before releasing his grip on Satella's wrist and bursting through the door he had been guarding.

"Miasma…" Echidna muttered to herself as soon as she picked up on the familiar scent that drifted through the door. Turning to Satella, she saw her friend's face steeled with resolve. They both knew at this very moment that the plan was no longer tenable.

"Follow my lead, it's doubtful we can get much farther with trickery." Echidna spoke quietly to Satella as she lifted the half-elf's hood so that it obscured almost the entirety of her face. Satella's eyes darted towards her as if to acknowledge what she had just heard. A pair of eyes devoid of their characteristic warmth.

"LORD MIKLOTOV, LORD BORDEAUX, FORGIVE MY INTERRUPTION BUT EMILIA-SAMA IS BACK!" The knight's shaky voice could be heard shouting as he entered the room.

"Emilia you say, now why don't you send her in? Pandora-sama did always say that she was an awfully pretty girl." A youthful, feminine, but oh so irritating voice called out in reply. However, before Echidna even had a second to think about what she had heard, her attention was drawn to her right.

"Its her…" Satella muttered though clenched teeth as her eyes bore directly ahead.

"Calm down, we have to approach this carefully if Pan-" Echidna placed her hands on Satella's shoulders in a vain effort to calm her down.

"She hurt him! She cut him!" Satella's body looked like it was about to shake with anger as she began to release an inconceivable amount of mana from her body as the sky outside the windows grew black as night. Despite this, Echidna could still catch a glimpse of the threads of sanity behind Satella's eyes. It was the only reason she remained close to her.

"…Give me but one moment to examine the room. Afterwards do as you wish…" Echidna relinquished to the unstoppable force in defeat only to receive no response. They then entered the audience chamber, stepping into view of the audience and catching a glimpse of the voice's owner.

Standing centre place on the room's low podium was a golden haired, red eyed girl. She was the spitting image of a member of the fledgling dynasty that had first began to rule the kingdom when Echidna was but a child. Yet with rage in her eyes, small horns on her head, wings sprouting from her back, and cloths that would make a whore blush, she was the antithesis of a monarch. Yet despite this, the eyes of the hundred guests filling the room remained fixed on her. That was, until they slowly turned to face the two who had just entered.

"You match Emilia's description, but who are you? You're a bit prettier than the average meat bag, so I'd like to call you by the right name after I twist your body into a disgusting fly." The girl who stood at the front of the stage between the two robed men spoke directly to her, laughing as she did so. By the look in her eyes, the tone of her voice, and how she had her arms draped around the men beside her, she felt very confident about her position.

There was a chance that this was a trap and she expected them, that her confidence was a product of her knowing that she was in an unassailable position. Afterall, despite all of her shortcomings, Pandora could be expected to at least relay what she had seen and heard to others. However, this girl had shown no indication of noticing the massive mana release that had occurred just out of her line of sight, nor the accompanying black clouds that had begun to obscure the sun outside.

So while it was possible that she was playing a very intricate chess game that accounted for all this, that would mean that this child had knowingly bet on her own ability to fight Satella. As one who had witnessed the annihilation of half the world 400 years ago Echidna knew what that meant. The person standing in front of them was either completely ignorant to what was going on, or stupider than a pig. At least a pig knew to try and run when its skin was set alight.

"Well, I can't say that I've ever met someone who's introduced themselves to me like that before. But sadly I cannot say that you're not the bravest or stupidest person I've ever met, after a certain point the two become almost interchangeable. Now for my name, I've been called a bunch of things over the past 400 years but to make things simple I think you should just know that I'm a very evil magic user. However, I'm only present to help my friend here so I think that you all should give her your attention before she starts to get a little bit envious, she is the Witch of Envy after all." Giving an introduction that was overly long and full of useless drivel, Echidna scanned the room before her. Aside from the knight who stood between them and the girl, the room around them was full of nobles dressed in rather superfluous clothes and uniforms. Despite some of them having a martial appearance and even carrying swords, they all looked too petrified to move.

As she continued to speak, Echidna tried to identify people who might be useful from the crowd. Unfortunately, as the actual Emilia was shy, reclusive, and not particularly smart or observant, she had not been given much to work with.

The two robed men with the girl were Lord's Miklotov and Bordeaux, two leading members of the Sage council that had been running the country. They almost certainly had the most knowledge and authority to help secure the Sloth witch factor, and even track down Flügel.

Besides them the only other people she could identify were the candidate Crusch Karsten and Ferris. Emilia had claimed that would probably be the next monarch. Given Emilia's mental state, this bit of testimony was of dubious value at best.

As Echidna finally finished emitting useless hot air from her mouth she could not help but grin. She was about to learn if she was correct about the girl in front of her. Her efforts up to this point would either be paid back in schadenfreude or being able to witness a being stronger than the Witch of Envy.

She heard Satella remove her hood to reveal her face that was identical to the girl she was pretending to be. She saw the face of the girl at the front of the room grow white as she recognized that the expression on Emilia's face could not possibly belong to Emilia.

"S-Satella" Was the only word that the girl managed to choke out as the dots finally connected in her head.

"You hurt him…" Satella quietly muttered to no one in particular as she took a single step forward.

The second that Satella's foot touched the floor, a massive crash could be heard outside. It sounded like a small mountain had just been reduced to dust, but not a single soul was able to drag their attention away from the enraged half-elf.

"YOU HURT HIM!" Satella screamed at the top of her lungs as suddenly dozens of shadow arms appeared, stretching the length of the room. Each arm began from within Satella's robes, and each one terminated inside the girl's body. She had been turned into a literal pincushion. All of this appeared to have happened instantaneously, the arms had moved far too fast for Echidna's eyes to follow.

The arms however had not all travelled directly to their target, some took a more arced or curved path. This had led to them travelling through the crowds of onlookers. Taking heads and impaling bodies, the utter indifference of Satella's yin magic as it sought out its true target was devastating.

There was a brief moment of eerie calm as everyone had yet to realize the true level of carnage that had unfolded within a fraction of the time it took for them to blink. However, as the headless bodies began to fall to the stone floor, as blood began to gush from the impaled, the room became anything but silent.

Shrieks of terror and cries of pain reached such volumes as to be physically painful. It was a cacophony akin to what rats trapped in a burning building make. Shedding their humanity in the face of death, the attendees devolved into animals.

The weak and wounded were pushed to the floor as people scrambled to try and escape the maze created by the shadow arms. Pushing towards the windows and the only door amid a flailing mass of blood and gore they struggled, but just like the rats in a burning building, their struggle was a mere afterthought compared to those who were truly important.

Just as the crowd had reached some level of understanding over what had happened, so had the pincushion girl. Her blood began to pour out of the myriad holes that covered her body, flowing down across her skin. The blood-stained skin did not remain static though; beginning to bubble and writhe, her flesh itself seemed to become fluid. So fluid in fact that her body broke apart just enough to become free and fall to the floor.

It was something she absolutely should not have done.

"YOU CUT HIM, TORTURED HIM, AND RIPPED HIM APART!" The very instant that Satella saw the girl's body move, all of her shadow hands went back to work. In search of retribution for the crimes she had seen committed, the hands born from Satella's magic grab chunks of the girl's flesh and flung it across the room. She did not even have time to scream before her throat was brutally ripped apart.

Frenzied as they carried out their brutal task, the shadow arms showed no concern for all of those caught up in this predicament as they made wide and erratic movements across the room. Dismembering, impaling, beheading, and bisecting, the crowd was quickly being decimated as the air grew heavy with a fine bloody mist.

"WHY, WHY, WHY?" Satella screamed hysterically as she continued to try and annihilate what had been the body of the girl, which despite the damage it had sustained, was still trying to reform itself.

Finally taking her attention from the massacre occurring before her, Echidna returned her focus to the original task at hand.

Unfortunately, Lords Bordeaux and Miklotov, along with the rest of the Sage Council appeared to be in far to many pieces to be useful. It was a state of being that was becoming increasingly common with the rest of the attendees in the room, which unfortunately were likely the majority of the nation's nobility.

Scanning the room, she could see that not a single person had made it safety yet. Rather ironically, those who had been pushed down by the crowd seemed to be faring better than those doing the pushing. As long as they were neither trampled to death, nor crushed by falling debris they ended up being rather safe from the shadow arms sweeping above them. By looking among these people, she finally saw someone who might be usable.

Towards the front of the room, lying on the floor and shielded by her demi human knight was the candidate Crusch Karsten. She would have to do.

Echidna crouched as low as she could and focused on the piece of ground right next to the candidate and her knight. There was a risk that she herself would be hit by Satella's frenzied shadow arms, but if she did not standup she could minimize it to an acceptable level. She called up a tiny fraction of her mana and shaped it into a spell she had never taught or written down. Then, in less than the time it took to blink, she found herself in the middle of the maelstrom.

The instant she teleported she was suddenly buffeted by a hot spray of blood as a man right beside her was struck so violently that he was aerosolized. Grabbing a hold of the two she quickly made a tiny adjustment to the spell and cast it again, returning to the exact spot she had been in before.

Echidna quickly straightened her posture as she stood up before turning down the hall, away from the audience chamber. She began to walk down the hall and away from the laughter that was currently taking place behind her, not out of fear for her safety, but due to the noise. Between Satella's shouting, the screaming of the bystanders who were in the process of being rendered into ground meat, and the crashing sound made by chunks of stone being smashed out of the roof and walls it was so loud that it was nearly impossible to think, hearing someone speak would be impossible.

Yet after taking only a few steps, she stopped and turned to look behind her only to see that the two she had saved still had not moved. You would think that they would be in a hurry to leave this place.

"Get up and follow me." Echidna commanded, only to realize a few seconds after that there was no way they could possibly hear her over the commotion. Pivoting on her heels, she walked back to the two.

Despite the knight's efforts to protect his master they were both completely soaked in blood, the knight also being caked in bits of bloody flesh. Aside from this, and fortunately for them, neither appeared to have sustained any real injury from the ordeal. Yet, neither seemed to have moved a single muscle. Had they not yet realized that they had been saved?

Echidna leaned down and grabbed the knight's slender arm before yanking him up. She may have lacked the strength to pull him to his feet, but it was enough to get him to look at her. She motioned with her head and then watched as the cogs slowly turned behind his eyes. It took a few seconds, but after he looked back into the room to see the carnage still continuing, he did eventually nod his head.

She stepped back and watched as the knight stood up before reaching down to help his master. However, he did not merely offer a hand, instead he reached under her arm and began to lift her to her feet like an invalid. The second he started to move her, the stunned expression that had left her blankly staring at the ceiling fell away, being replaced by a pained grimace.

Once she was to her feet the knight did not release her, instead choosing to place her arm over his shoulder and half support, half drag her with him.

Echidna continued to walk down the now empty halls of the palace, turning corners as she left the impressive racket behind. Soon the only sound was that of her footsteps and that of the duo behind her. Soon she stopped beside a window and held up the hand she had used to grab the knight. It was sticky and red, coated with a layer of blood that had begun to dry.

She chose not to clean it for from the sight she saw through the window she knew that it would soon be dirtied once again.

The dark twilight created by the masses of shadowy clouds that hung above the city mixed with the vast columns of smoke rising from below. Buildings were alight as people ran in every which way down the winding streets between them. As if to top it all off, a section of the massive wall that had encased the city had collapsed. A lot had certainly transpired since they entered the palace.

Echidna continued to face her body towards the window, only turning her head just enough so that she could see the knight and the candidate as they finally caught up to her. Crusch's knight set her down so that she was seated on the windowsill next to the one Echidna looked out of. Her blood-spattered face was still contorted into a pained grimace, only being cleaned by thin beads of sweat.

"I hope you understand that I will require compensation for saving the two of you." Echidna spoke as she saw the knight step between her and Crusch Karsten out of the corner of her eye.

"Can't you see how injured Crusch-sama is? We need to get her to safety so I can tend to her before we start discussing any kind of payment!" The knight almost instantly started to frantically speak. It was unclear if he remembered that she had accompanied Satella into the audience chamber.

"It's alright Ferris." Crusch Karsten tugged on the knight's clothing from her position on the windowsill. He relented almost instantaneously, moving just enough to the side so that he was no longer between the two.

"We are very grateful for your aid. While I may not understand what you did exactly, I do know that we would likely be dead now if not for you. So it is understandable that you would desire compensation for your efforts and any risk you undertook. However, I don't carry anything more than pocket change on my person, and as you can probably see, I'm not in the best shape currently. Diving to the floor seems to have aggravated my injuries." Despite how she seemed to be visibly gritting her teeth, Crusch Karsten managed to deliver an eloquent response fitting of a noble. She then shifted her gaze out the window and over the burning city.

"I won't argue with someone I'm indebted to, but if you require repayment immediately then it seems like we will have an arduous journey ahead." Crusch Karsten then returned her gaze to Echidna.

"Crusch-sama…" The knight called her name while looking at the young noblewoman, who responded by flashing him a weak smile.

"I'm not after your money. I came to the capital seeking something far more valuable. If you can give me the knowledge I seek then I will not require anything else." Echidna fully turned to face Crusch Karsten, locking eyes with the noblewoman.

"I wish to know where the body of the Sin Archbishop who attacked this city not long ago is being kept." Echidna stated her question without the slightest hint of emotion in her voice or body. In complete contrast, both Crusch and her knight narrowed their eyes as he moved back in front of her.

"I'm afraid that isn't something that I can just tell anyone. Especially someone who refers to themselves as a 'very evil magic user', even if they did save us. Do you belong to the Witch's Cult?" Despite her words, Crusch Karsten did not seem to be trying for any kind of intimidation. Afterall, what could a cripple and a knight too scrawny to swing a sword hope to accomplish.

"No, and I would rather you not associate me with those lunatics whatsoever. I am Echidna, the Witch of Greed. Now, the compensation." Echidna took a step towards Crusch, causing the knight to stretch his arms out to either side, as if he intended to block her.

"It's in-" Crusch Karsten let her gaze sink a bit before starting to speak, seemingly unphased at the prospect of being face to face with a witch.

"Crusch-sama!" The knight immediately called out her name, cutting her off.

"She's not lying Ferris… She's a witch, just like Sa-, just like the woman who killed everyone in the audience room." Crusch Karsten spoke with a hint of resignation in her voice, like she had just lost a battle.

"That doesn't mean you have to tell her anything! They could hang you for treason!" The knight shouted as he seemed to get more than a bit worked up.

"I don't think there will be anyone left to do the hanging after today, Ferris. I don't even know if I will be around to be hung…" At no point did Crusch Karsten sound outright sad as she spoke, only more and more resigned.

"…" The knight did not argue back. He only looked towards the floor while scrunching his face up like he was going to cry, although no tears formed nor fell.

"The Witch's Cult destroyed Priestella, so if I had to bet, they're the ones outside right now, back here to finish the job. So doing this… doing this is what's best for the kingdom…" Crusch Karsten continued to speak to her knight, who only lightly nodded in response.

"The body is being held inside the only cell on the lowest floor of the dungeon beneath this palace." Crusch Karsten looked back at Echidna, trying to hide the shame in her voice.

"There is one more thing that I am hoping you can tell me. Have you heard anything about, or do you happen to know where Flügel is? I believe he may be working under the alias 'Natsuki Subaru', with 'Natsuki' being his surname." Echidna watched as the two flinched just a bit upon hearing the name.

Before they could answer however, the already dim hallway suddenly grew completely dark as shadows crept over the outside of the windows. Looking down the hallway which they came, Echidna could see Satella rounding the corner.

No longer wearing her cloak, she walked with purpose, her eyes completely transfixed on the group.

While neither of the two turned to look at her, it was clear that they could sense her presence by the sheer amount of fear that crept onto their eyes and faces. They both became so still and so white that it would not be hard to believe that they were made of marble.

"Echidna, what are you doing with her?" Satella stopped not more than two paces behind the knight. Unlike normal, her voice was short and curt, causing Echidna to look into her eyes, to ensure that there was still something behind them.

"I was questioning them about Sloth, is there a problem?" Echidna spoke as she kept her gaze fixed on Satella's eyes.

"SHE TRICKED HIM, SHE CAUSED HIM TO GET HURT, SHE CAUSED HIM TO SUFFER!" Satella shouted so loudly and so suddenly that both Crusch Karsten and her knight flinched.

"I see…then I shall not stand in your way." Echidna spoke with a tinge of solemness as she took a step back. There were still questions to be answered and still so many to ask. Yet, pushing right now may achieve nothing more then sending everyone over different edges.

As she did so she received two different looks from the duo she had rescued moments ago. The knight Ferris pleaded with the desperation in his eyes while his master, Crusch had only resignation and acceptance in hers.

The knight began to move to place himself between his master and Satella, but Crusch Karsten placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Huh…" He looked at her in disbelief as Crusch Karsten slowly and painfully pushed herself to her feet.

"You've been a good knight and a great friend Ferris." Crusch spoke solemnly as she placed a hand on each of her knight's shoulders and gazed directly into his eyes.

"W-What are you saying Crusch-sama…" The knight looked like he could not believe what he was hearing as his voice trembled.

"I'm saying that I want you to leave me here Ferris…" Crusch Karsten's eyes began to glisten a bit as she gently pushed her knight away. He was forced to take a single step back but gave no indication of taking any more.

"How could I do that, why would I do that… Where you go, I go. That's how it's been since the day you saved me…" The knight's eyes filled with water to the point that they looked like they were shimmering as looked right back at her.

"I can't have you dying because of me, I can't let anyone else d-" Crusch Karsten all of a sudden ceased speaking mid-sentence. The agony and sorrow slipped off her face as her expression loosened. It was like something deep inside her was suddenly unwound or released.

She remained standing with her eyes open as she looked forward, all the while a purple crystal began to creep over her skin.

"CRUSCH-SAMA!" The knight shouted as he ran up to her, grabbing hold of her body as if to support her.

"…" Crusch Karsten opened her mouth as her knight guided her body to the floor, but no sound came out.

"Hold on Crusch-sama, I-I'll find a way to fix this. You've survived worse then this! Just…." A bright blue aura radiated out from the knight's hands. However, before he could even finish speaking, the last bit of Crusch Karsten's face was covered by the crystal. Or to be more factually correct, the last of Crusch Karsten was turned into the purple crystal created by Minya.

"…" For a single, brief moment all was silent. Satella slowly let her palm fall to her side, her once terrifying expression returning to the empty one she had worn prior. The knight silently holding the crystalline body of his master, even brighter light emanating from his hands. All the while Echidna stood to the side, a bystander to it all.

CRACK

A loud sound rang out as cracks began to appear and spread all across the candidate's body.

"No no no no nononononononono NO!" The knight shouted as the intensity of the lights coming from his hands grew so bright that it was a bit difficult to look at.

He poured more and more effort and mana into the struggle until his master's body shattered into millions upon millions of pieces.

A cry of desperation spewed forth from the knight as he began to frantically try to grab and collect the uncountably huge number of fragments. Yet, each time he touched one it simply seemed to disappear. Afterall, these fragments were only the Od Laguna's way of showing the completion of Minya. That is showing that an object had drifted out of the flow of time where it would remain stationary, frozen forever as the rest of the world travelled on.

Satella walked past the knight as if he were not even there. She came to stand beside Echidna, albeit facing the opposite way.

"What's next?" She said with little intonation to indicate it was really a question.

"A moment." Was the only reply Echidna could give her as she continued to watch the knight, his arms still chasing after the last few speckles of purple before they too disappeared.

Once again the hallway feel into an oppressively calm silence as his arms finally fell to his sides and his cries finally ended. The sole, barely audible sound being his tears striking the stone floor. This too was eventually broken by a quiet and pained "I'm sorry Crusch-sama" from the knight.

Slowly he turned partially around so that he could see Echidna and Satella with one of his eyes.

"…Subaru was last seen east of here, heading this way. So please…" There was not a hint of strength in the knight's voice as he sat on his legs on the floor.

Echidna let her eyes roll closed for a moment.

While it was not like she had never helped others before. In fact, out of all the witches she had probably helped the most people aside from Minerva. Just she had only ever done so because there was something in it for her. Something she needed, some kind of compensation, even entertainment at the very least. Yet here before her was the remaining half of a rotten pair that she abhorred watching. Yet it was a duo that she could not help but feel compelled to look at.

He had foolishly given her the only thing she could want upfront and without a contract. There was no reason for her to do anything; no reason for further action or exertion other then what it would take to leave this place.

Yet she still found herself raising her palm and mumbling the word "Minya".

As the purple crystal began its inevitable conquest of the knight's body, there was only a single reason the Witch of Greed could conjure for her own actions.

She absolutely never wanted to see him again.


Lift foot, move foot, lower foot.

Breath in.

Lift foot, move foot, lower foot.

Breath out.

Lift foot, move foot, lower foot.

It was so much effort… Why could Beatrice not have just returned with the witch factor…

Sekhmet sighed as she continued to descend yet another staircase. She followed behind the spirit Beatrice, who was leading both her and Typhon through the palace. Although it was not like she knew any better than they did as to where they were going.

"Are we there yet~?" Typhon called out in exasperation while throwing her head back.

"Betty believes we are on the right path now, I suppose." Beatrice responded the same way she had every other time Typhon had asked the question. Needless to say, this included quite a few instances where they were in fact not travelling down the right path.

"Beatrice…hah…if this isn't…huh…it then I might…hah…wait at the bottom…huh…for you to find…hah…it." Speaking and descending a steep staircase were both fairly exhausting on their own. Combined they were borderline unbearable for someone who wished to spend every day laying in the warm sun.

Yet instead of relaxing she was here wandering around cold, damp corridors. Above all else, it was not entirely unvoluntary. Sekhmet had willingly agreed to do this. Her reason for doing so was not even due to Typhon going stir crazy in the carriage.

She lacked the strength to rest right now, and until she reclaimed it there was no guarantee that she would not be disturbed.

Finally reaching the bottom of the staircase they found themselves looking down a narrow hallway with a single door at the end.

"A person! Hey~, hey~, mister!" Typhon excitedly called to the armour-clad man who stood guard in front of the door. Somehow, despite being in a palace this was the first person they had encountered.

"Hey! You shouldn't be here!" The guard seemed to snap out of whatever daze he had lulled into, his hand immediately moving to the sheathed sword on his belt.

"Gahh… This ain't my job…just go back to where ya came from, ain't nothin' down here to see." The guard almost immediately relaxed when he saw the trio in front of him.

Their group may have been made up of a homicidal maniac, an ancient spirit, and a witch who had bested the kingdom's namesake in single combat. However, to an ordinary person they just would have looked like an exhausted woman with two children.

"Hahhuh…" Sekhmet continued with her heavy breathing as she looked at the man with her single uncovered eye. There was likely nothing they could say to him to make him just let them pass. Afterall he was guarding the door, and they did look like a bunch of nobodies.

"Minya!" Beatrice shouted out as the corridor filled with purple crystals that instantly rocketed towards the man. His reactions were slow, so slow that his sword only just left his sheath by the time the first one struck him in the chest.

By the time he had readied his weapon his body had already turned into the same purple crystal as the projectiles that had been fired at him.

They next thing she knew, he was just a bunch of purple dust on the floor.

Yet he was not the sole casualty of the exchange, for the door behind him had also been struck, condemning it to the same fate.

"Bee-trice, do you know if he was a sinner?" Typhon spoke out with her eyes focused on the remains of the man and her voice flat.

"He was going to stop Betty from doing what Mother asked her to. In Betty's eyes that makes him a bad person, in fact." Beatrice looked over her shoulder at Typhon and replied without emotion in her voice.

"Chidna-chan likes to lie though. So you don't know if he was a sinner or not! If he wasn't then that means you're a sinner!" Typhon grew more and more worked up as she began to shout and point her finger at Beatrice.

"What Mother says is always right, if it isn't true then its because the truth isn't the right thing! Mother would never lie to Betty, in fact!" Beatrice spun around to face Typhon while balling her small hands into fists. Furrowing her eyebrows and making her face go taunt, she shouted back.

Within seconds the two girls began to get up into each other's faces. Things were starting to derail, and they were so close to being done with this nightmare.

"Hah… stop it both of you…huh" Sekhmet lazily stepped in between them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders and pushing them apart.

"Typhon…hah…Echidna is the one to…huh…ask, not Beatrice." Sekhmet turned to Typhon as she spoke.

"Hmpph!" Typhon just pouted and turned away in response.

"Beatrice, just…hah…finish the job…huh…so we can go." Sekhmet then turned to Beatrice.

"That's what Betty was doing before she got in the way, in fact." Beatrice turned away while she spoke under her breath. Beatrice then began to walk through the opening created by where the door should have been.

"Hah…" Sekhmet could only sigh as she followed Beatrice whilst dragging Typhon behind her.

As they crossed through the door that the knight had been protecting, they arrived inside a barren room. It was made of the same grey stone that the entire lower section of the palace was made of. Yet, there was not even so much as a single torch lighting it.

This meant that it was dark as the only light available was what seeped through the door from the torches illuminating the hallway and staircase. It was so dark in fact that it was hard to know exactly how empty the room was. The only thing visible was a single stone slab in the centre.

Atop it lay a body covered by a translucent sheet that looked like it did not truly belong in this world. While its form seemed to stay fairly constant, minute details about it seemed to constantly change. The weave of its threads shifted, the tone of its colouring grew darker and brighter. Even its transparency altered as it shifted from completely opaque to nearly transparent constantly. All the while it remained perfectly visible in the darkness as if it were glowing, yet somehow it did not appear to cast light on anything around it.

"Betty believes that this is what we are looking for. The sealed corpse of the Sin Archbishop." Beatrice said as she peered over the edge of the stone, looking at the man underneath the mysterious sheet.

"Can you…hah…unseal it, or do we need…huh…Echidna to?" Sekhmet leaned over the stone slab and looked at the man underneath the sheet as she spoke. His body looked completely deformed, like it had been crushed under an immense weight to the point that bones had been smashed and limbs dislocated. Aside from this, she could see that the original owner had green hair and skin so white as to resemble chalk. However, in spots the white skin had gone black with the onset of decay.

"The seal is poor, had Geuse… the man still been alive it wouldn't have stopped him from waking up. He's even started to rot away…in fact…." Beatrice looked down at the man with sadness in her eyes as her voice trailed off.

"Betty can probably disperse the seal in a few moments, I suppose." Beatrice said in a solemn voice as she continued to gaze at the body.

She slowly raised her hands so that her palms were nearly touching the seal that encased the body. Two dark orbs soon formed and hovered in her hands like they were balls about to be caught.

The very second they appeared the fabric of the seal closest to them began to stretch as it was sucked into the black voids. Beatrice's face remained perfectly calm as the fabric began to cycle through various hues of purple at a rate much greater than before.

The fabric began to stretch more and more, then before they knew it, it tore and disappeared. This left the corpse clad in robes caked in dried blood and mud completely exposed.

The nearly unbearable scent of rot hit them like a brick wall.

"Yuck, it smells so bad!" Typhon complained as she tugged at Sekhmet's grip, trying to break free. Unfortunately for her, Sekhmet did not release her.

Perhaps it was due to its slothful nature, but for a few moments nothing happened as the trio waited. Yet when it finally decided to arise from its slumber, it acted just as it had a little over four hundred years ago.

Sekhmet felt something force its way into her body, travelling just under her skin. It wormed its way between the very fibres of her muscles, sapping every bit of energy from them.

She felt tendrils creep all the way to the tips of her fingers, making her hands fall limp.

Then they slid down her legs, bringing her whole body collapsing to the floor.

Finally, they pushed her eye lids closed and blocked her ears, shutting out the outside world so that she may once again rest.


As he sat atop a small hill, Subaru came to a realization as he looked at a piece of scenery that he had seen only once before. The last time he had been to the capital, he had seen it out the window of the ground dragon carriage. The knee-high tall grass that gently swayed in the wind, the fauna that scurried through it, and the insects that buzzed above it. It had all been so peaceful.

Yet they just had to ruin it.

When he had arrived here today the scene had looked much like he remembered it. As he was tired from his journey, he had chosen to sit on this little hill and rest his feet. Yet, much like the others he had met in this world, the men at the top of the across the field would not allow such a thing.

Operating magical implements not much different than cannons, they lobbed massive, unstable collections of white energy his way. Some lost their way as they had travelled towards him. Smashing into the ground and exploding, kicking up dirt and setting the grass alight. Those that did manage to reach Subaru did not achieve much more. Just like his aspirations after arriving in this world, they were pulled into the dirt by a force outside their control right in front of their goal.

Needless to say, they failed to disturb even a single hair atop his head.

Now as to what he had realized as he watched the events unfold before him. Some might say that it was simply a fact about the human condition that he should have learned long ago. To others, merely drivel peddled by the bitter who had once been too naive for their own good. Though to Subaru, it was just pain.

"I don't think I can bear to look at this much longer…" Subaru mumbled to himself as he pushed himself to his feet and began to slowly saunter across the charred remains of the once beautiful field. Completely undeterred by the barrage of the capital city's defenders.

Now as to why he was doing this, the answer was simple. Pandora had convinced him to.

As to why he was listening to someone who he had brutally massacred several times in a row, the answer was less simple. In fact, it was a rather long story of crushing, sighing, shouting, running, chasing, and begging. But in summary it could be summarized into a single word, faces.

The look that had slowly crept onto Pandora's face as her pleading was met with violence. Each time her body had been crushed, twisted or splattered. Each time she reappeared as if nothing had happened, it seemed like a little bit of her had not come back.

For each time a tiny bit of the hope in her words and calmness in her voice failed to return from the other side.

And as the battle continued on, long into the night and then into the next day he eventually saw a face he knew all too well staring back at him.

It may not have been one he had ever seen, but it was one he was certain he had once worn himself.

The crunching of the burned grass and scorched earth beneath his feet soon gave way to the laughter of children. The sight of the massive stone walls and flashes of light brought on by the magical artillery soon gave way to a school yard from his past. He was no longer walking towards the walls of Lugunica's capital. Instead, he had been forced back into a memory he had longed to forget.

He felt hot, exhausted. His breathing was ragged, and he stood just past a finish line.

He could see his parents off in the crowd, looking right at him. They had smiles on their faces, but something was not right. Their faces looked a bit stiff, like the expressions they wore were not really their own.

He had just finished second. He, Natsuki Subaru, the kid who always finished first, had lost.

Then like someone was flipping the pages of a book, the scene before him began to discretely change.

With each jump everything looked a bit shorter as he grew taller.

With each jump he fell further behind the other kids in the race.

With each jump the smiles on his parents faces grew more and more strained until they disappeared altogether.

Finally, with each jump he could feel his own face becoming more and more like Pandora's had.

When his face was reduced to looking like hers; raw, wounded, and stripped of what had defined him as a person, what he had seen had broken him. The sight of his parent's backs.

He had raised his hand as if to try and grab hold of them. So that he too could plead.

Yet that is where the forced recollection ended.

Subaru found himself standing still right before the wall with his hand outstretched to the point that his palm was almost touching it. For a moment everything stood in a precarious balance.

The cannons atop the wall had gone silent as he stood beneath them. The wind gently rustled his hair as he stood motionless. He could still turn back. No one else had to die.

"In the end I've already lost everything I could, haven't I?" Subaru posed a question to no one in particular before pressing his palm against the wall.

In that very instant he could feel a sensation he was beginning to become all to acquainted with as of late. Something deep within him began to stir as a loud and low rumble filled his ears.

He could feel the very earth beneath his feet begin to shake as small cracks began to spread out from where he touched the wall.

He felt small pebbles begin to rain down on him before the sound increased in volume tenfold. It was like he could feel it with his very body.

It turns out that in a battle between a supposedly immovable object and an unstoppable force, that the unstoppable force does in fact come out on top.

Looking up Subaru watched as the cracks suddenly grew deeper and the wall began to disintegrate into giant chunks.

"…" Subaru looked up the wall with disdain as he came to a realization about a flaw in the plan he had just carried out. There was little difference between him and an ant relative to the size of this wall. And that very wall was now collapsing on top of him like a tower of blocks.

Thrusting his arm into the air so that his palm pointed straight above, Subaru reduced a chunk of the wall that was about to fall on him into little more than dust.

He did not even bother to move as the wall crumbled all around him. He simply continued to reduce chunks of the wall to rubble as he had with the first piece.

Eventually Subaru did start to notice some of the defenders and their artillery getting mixed in with the rubble falling down. With their faces panic stricken it did not look like they were doing much of anything to break their fall. Perhaps they had not expected him to actually knock down their mighty wall.

In the end the whole "knock down the wall" part of the plan ended up being pretty anticlimactic for him. Subaru just ended up walking up to it, knocking it over, and then watching as it fell down around him.

Judging by what he could see now that it had fallen over, there did not seem to be much to their defence after this. Seeing as all the knights in sight were now dead.

Subaru began to walk through the massive clouds of dust that had been kicked up, entering the city. Afterall there was an actual reason for him to be here, one greater than just knocking down a wall.

"Not one step further!" A man shouted as he pushed himself up from the ground, forcing off rubble that had piled atop him. He wore a set of dented metal armour, sans a helmet. Despite being caked in white dust one could still make out his stern face and green hair.

He was a man that Subaru had seen only once before, during the first meeting of the Royal Selection that he had attended. Marcos, Captain of Lugunica's Knights stood before him.

Before either of the two could make a move, both of them had their attention drawn back over the scorched plains by an animal's call.

They could see through the settling dust that a pack of Mabeasts had gathered on the very same hill that Subaru had sat down on earlier. It easily numbered in the hundreds, comprised of beasts of the same size and shape as the ones that had chowed down on him in the forest surrounding the mansion and Arlam.

"Today just keeps getting worse…" Subaru mumbled to himself.

"It matters not how many stand behind you. Be they man, beast, or monster. I will be the dam that stems the tide. I will be the shield that protects man, woman, king, and country. I, Marcos Gildark will make sure that you and all your allies rue the day you picked a fight with Lugunica!" Marcos bellowed with such ferocity that one could not have possibly guessed that he had just fallen off and been nearly crushed by the city walls.

Drawing a bent and battered sword from what remained of his sheath he began to approach Subaru. With each step he took the ground beneath him rose up. Creeping up his body, it formed something halfway between an exoskeleton and a mech suit from a video game. This bastion of rock continued to grow as Marcos approached. By the time they were only a few body lengths apart he was completely encased in stone.

Yet despite watching this unfold, Subaru had not so much as moved. He had neither the intent to interfere or jockey for position. Whatever was about to happen would happen and whatever came of it would hopefully set the tone for the future.

Then after taking one last step forward Marcos launched himself straight at Subaru. He kept his sword low to the ground and began to sweep upwards, coming from the side where Subaru was missing most of his arm.

It was a move that would not have looked out of place in a ninja movie. A decisive strike aimed at where the opponent was weakest. One to end a battle before it could even begin.

Subaru should have tried to move his feet to dodge but he did not.

He should have at least raised his remaining hand to wield his authority for an attack of his own. Yet it remained motionless at his side.

He simply did not do a damn thing as the sword came right at him.

It was like the world itself slowed down as the blade grew closer and closer, until it was nearly touching him.

Then the blade broke before its edge could so much as cut the fibres of his clothes.

Collapsing in on itself before shattering into pieces that were too small and too numerous for anyone's eyes to follow; the sword simply disappeared beyond a tiny stump at the end of the hilt.

The swing of the broken sword now passed harmlessly across Subaru's now out of reach midsection as Marcos did not immediately realize what had happened.

Once he did, he planted his right foot and transitioned his swing into a stab, aiming to drive his broken blade into the warlock's sternum that was only a finger length away.

Yet the second that the remains of the blade touched Subaru's shirt, the mountain of a man was launched backwards like a paperweight.

He sailed through the air with the speed of an arrow before slamming into a house sized chunk of wall with a massive boom as rock was sent flying everywhere.

"You know, if you had kept the mouths of those knights and nobles shut back then, then none of this would be happening right now." Subaru remarked as he walked towards Marcos' collapsed form.

The man lay atop the pile of gravel that had once been the rock that had stopped his short flight. His stone clad head moving back and forth in a daze as began to try and get up.

"It's a bit depressing if you think about it, for both of us." Subaru stated with a tone that was starting to dip into melancholy.

Suddenly both of Marcos' legs exploded, stone, steel and all as his body was forced back onto the pile of rubble.

"For you to lose like this…" Subaru lamented as he walked beside Marcos, dragging his hand over the stone armour and reducing it to gravel.

"And for me to have to see another person from that wretched day…" Subaru said as he then walked past the man and entered the city.

"Come back here boy! This isn't over yet!" Marcos yelled at him but it was far from enough to make him turn.

"Is so depressing." Subaru said to himself as the sounds of the mabeast pack began to draw nearer.


Thump Thump Thump

The sound of Priscilla Barielle's footsteps softly echoed down the halls of her mansion. The only light to guide her came from the flaming sword she carried in her hand. The sun had been blotted out by thick black clouds which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

While both unusual and concerning, there was a more pressing manner at hand. That being of her missing attendant.

"Priscilla-sama, I'm scared." A quivering voice called out to her from somewhere in the darkness. It sounded afraid, very afraid.

"Then remain still and continue speaking Schult. There's nothing to fear within these halls, nothing to harm you." She called back to Schult's voice, following it into the darkness with her sword held high.

"I can't stop running Priscilla-sama, I can hear something nearby." The boy sounded like he was cowering in fright.

"Schult, nothing can harm you as long as I am near. Now, if thou can see a fiery light, then you must head towards it." Priscilla called back only to receive silence in return. There were now no longer any sounds other than that of her footsteps.

Continuing down the hallway in the direction of the voice was the only thing Priscilla could do. That was until she arrived at a crossroads. The main hallway continued ahead of her, if she were to follow it, she would arrive at a ballroom that rarely saw use. On the other hand, to her right lay a slightly narrower passage that led to the servants quarters. Naturally this was were Schult's room was as well.

"Priscilla-sama…" Priscilla suddenly heard her name called from the hall to her right. She spun to look but saw nothing but shadows. Every torch, candle, and lamp in this wing of the mansion had been extinguished.

She adjusted her grip on the yang sword and began to slowly walk down the hall into the servant's quarters.

Rather naturally this was the portion of her mansion that she visited the least as it tended to be constantly busy. The small army of servants she employed was constantly going to, from, and through here after all.

"Priscilla-sama, I can hear something." A quiet and terrified voice whispered to her from the other side of one of the doors. Priscilla stopped and readied her sword as she tried to open the door. Unfortunately it was locked.

"What can you hear Schult." Priscilla spoke back to the voice as she took a step back from the door.

"Creaking, Priscilla-sama. The floor and walls are creaking even when I stay still." The voice seemed to grow a bit meeker with every word.

"Now Schult, that is far from extraordinary within a wooden construction. It is due to another one of mine self's servants walking nearby. There is nothing to fear." Priscilla spoke while paying extra attention to her surroundings. She listened for this creaking sound that the voice was describing yet heard nothing.

"But everyone's been gone since I got back Priscilla-sama. I haven't seen a single soul since I came in the front door. But the creaking sound has been following me…I'm sorry Priscilla-sama." A seed of regret seemed to begin to grow within the voice before blooming with an apology. And with this apology the voice faded into nothing, it had nothing more to say.

Priscilla let her arm holding the yang sword fall until it pointed towards the floor. A sombre expression flourished on her face as she stared at the door before her.

Even if it was locked it would be rather trivial for her to force her way in. Just would she be prepared for what would greet her on the other side?

The world may have always worked out in her favour. Yet she herself could attest to how it occasionally took a rather meandering path. The fact that her name had grown a few letters longer was testament to that.

Priscilla suddenly cleaved her sword up into an overhead slash as she spun about the raised heels of her shoes. Bringing it down she cleaved through the thick wooden wall like it was made of tissue paper, until her blade was brought to a standstill by the piercing clang of metal-on-metal contact.

Beneath her flaming sword were a pair of crossed daggers; holding the crossed daggers was a boy clad in rags who looked at her with such a twisted smile that he could only be described as utterly insane. As his emerald eyes stared up into her crimson ones as he made no effort to move.

Yet as he stood there, holding her blade with his own, he let his mouth fall open.

"Priscilla-sama…" Her name rolled off his tongue, but it was not his voice which spoke it. In fact, she heard her attendant emanate out of the disgusting monster before her.

She felt her eyes being to burn as she stared down at the one who dared to call her name in the same manner as that starving orphan had. A defiler who asserted that they had the right to smear her cherished memory.

She gripped her sword with both hands and poured more and more mana into the blade. Flames roared from its edge as she pressed forward with all her might. She would crush this insect and if it managed to scurry to safety then she would burn it.

She spied a tiny tremor in the boy's arms as he appeared to struggle hold her back. Priscilla slid her rear foot forward and put her entire body behind her burning sword.

He was still trapped within the crawl space of the wall. There was nowhere he could go fast enough to avoid her strike. She would have him if she could just press him a little more and break his strength.

That was if he did not simply let go of his daggers, which is exactly what he did.

Priscilla felt her entire body lurch forward as all resistance to her sword suddenly disappeared.

The blade sailed through the air, right towards the boy's head. Yet he made absolutely no effort to twist himself out of the way. Jerking his arm up he struck the side of the Yang Sword with an open palm.

He was scrawny even for a child, with arms that were thin enough to be compared to broom handles. But the strike they delivered was stronger than that of a giant.

It took all of her grip strength to keep her blade from being launched out of her hands. Yet this only caused her to involuntarily pivot about the heels of her shoes.

Careening sideways into the wall because of her own momentum, Priscilla lost sight of the boy.

Time suddenly seemed to slow down as her heart begin to race. There was no hope of her regaining control of her body before she hit the wall, she had lost her balance and was moving with too much force.

Frantically scanning for him, she finally caught sight of him approaching her from below. Crouched below her arms, he was diving for her lower midsection with a pair of metal claws. She could only watch the maniacal grin on his face as his weapons reached her.

The second their points touched the fabric of her dress they were suddenly stopped and repelled. The grin suddenly vanished from his face as Priscilla crashed through the remains of the wall and travelled into the adjourning room.

Clumsily sprinting across the floor that threatened to move faster than her, Priscilla desperately tried to both regain her balance and arrest her excess momentum. The only sound in her ears was that of the child's feet as he pounded after her.

Planting her right foot, she spun around so that she was now facing the approaching boy as she continued to slide backwards. With a flick of her wrist, she deflected a swipe of his claw with a shower of sparks. Yet this did not change the fact that his other claw was still sweeping horizontally towards her.

Jutting her hips back she managed to arch herself just enough to cause the metal claw to pass harmlessly Infront of her as she was finally stopped by sliding into the wall behind her.

Taking advantage of this new found stability she swung her left hand down like a hammer, striking the still advancing child right on top of his head, launching it into her rising knee.

With a tiny sputter of blood, she watched as the boy was launched to the other side of the room where he landed in a heap.

Priscilla raised her blade once more, gripping it with both hands as she stood with her knees just ever so slightly bent. It was a fighter's stance that left her nimble enough to maneuver while still being stable enough to slug it out with an opponent. Yet Priscilla Barielle did not go on the offensive, instead electing to wait and observe her attacker.

"He relinquished the chance to go for the lethal blow… Why would one do such a thing? Mockery, or something else entirely…" Priscilla thought to herself as she watched the filth covered child slowly get back to his feet.

It was like he was intentionally leaving himself wide open to attack as he did not even so much as bother to keep an eye on her.

"Are you afraid?" He spoke to her as he titled his head, a tiny dribble of blood coming from his nose.

"…" Priscilla said nothing as her entire body nearly quivered with rage. Never before had she been so openly disrespected and laughed at. Never before had someone so directly insulted her and gotten away with it.

As her entire body burned it took every shred of intelligence she possessed to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground. Her anger was excellent fuel for her muscles but if she let it get to her head again, she would only end up dead. Her necklace could only save her so many times after all.

The boy started to slowly circle her, observing her like she was an attraction at a zoo.

Stepping back as he approached her, turning as he tried to walk around her. Priscilla did her utmost to ensure she would not be out positioned for when they inevitably crossed swords again.

"Priscilla-sama…where are you…I'm scared…." Schult's voice once again emanated from the boy's mouth. Schult sounded like he was crying and scared, yet the boy showed no sign of these emotions. Vague irritation was the sole thing that could be discerned from his deranged eyes.

She gripped her sword tighter. She wanted oh so desperately to rend him into a pile of gore, yet she knew there was no room of rashness here.

Suddenly he darted towards her, claws close to his body as he lunged in to stab her.

Swinging her blade down with a slight cant, she managed to redirect both the claws down and to the right.

This bought her just enough time to backstep with her right leg and avoid the boys first attack. Yet it was not like he was oblivious to the evasion by his target.

Planting his palm on the floor, the boy redirected his momentum and kicked Priscilla's legs out from under her, causing her to topple backwards.

The instant her back hit the floor her vision was suddenly filled by the child pouncing on top of her. Both his claws bearing down to rip right into the joints of her shoulders.

Forced to make a choice, Priscilla released the Yang Sword and grabbed both of the child's wrists as his claws came down, stopping them just before they could reach her.

Priscilla grunted as she used every bit of strength she had to try and throw the child off. However, despite her best efforts he remained anchored in place.

"Ohhhhh, I knew there were still people here!" Both Priscilla's and the boy's heads snapped towards the whole in the wall to see a young girl standing outside. Her voice was energetic, innocent, and carefree even after stumbling upon the scene of a fight to the death.

She had short green hair, red eyes, and tanned skin. Clad in a white summer dress, she stepped through the hole in the wall and into the room with the two.

"Stay back, run, get away from here!" Priscilla shouted at the girl, only to watch in horror as she just tilted her head.

"Why?" The girl just looked at the two as she started to stroke her chin with her hand, as if she were deep in thought.

"Does it matter? He will hurt you!" Priscilla shouted again at the girl, only to be completely ignored.

"Pushing a lady to the floor…Mister, are you a sinner?" The young girl's voice took on an air far too serious for a child her age as her expression began to fill with murderous intent. Yet out of the corner of her eye, Priscilla saw the demented smile return to the boy's face.

The next thing she knew she was hit by a tremendous force that made her very bones creak as the boy broke from her grip and launched himself upwards, towards the ceiling.

Turning in midair, he planted his feet and then launched himself back towards the floor. Right between Priscilla and the young girl. His target had changed.

Priscilla scrambled to her feet and took of after him, chasing him as he bolted towards the newcomer.

Despite putting all she had into her sprint Priscilla had started on her back while the boy had gotten to kick off the ceiling. He was going to reach the little girl first. He was going to do to her whatever he had done to Schult…

He was within arms reach of her when he began to slow down just a bit. Raising both his arms so that his claws were level with the girl's neck.

Priscilla reached out her arm in the vain hope that she could grab onto the boy. Yet they were still separated by four whole strides.

Then the boy leaned back and kicked off the floor, launching himself right back at Priscilla.

Spinning slightly with both of his metallic claws outstretched, he was poised to run her through.

Yet this time she did not make the slightest effort to prepare her defense, nor did she make any effort to sidestep the incoming blow. She no longer could afford to keep dragging out the fight by being reactive.

She now knew that her opponent possessed physical strength that was at least equal to her own alongside his superior maneuverability. Without an edge in either speed or strength the situation could only continue to deteriorate until she was beaten.

Raising both hands above her head she resummoned the yang sword and began a downward swing with all her might. A slight smirk crossing her face as she saw the boy's eyes go wide.

Being airborne, his trajectory had already been set, eliminating his ability to maneuver.

Without sturdy footing it was impossible to leverage his full strength.

And finally, given the two jewels she had remining in her necklace, she could still take two more hits.

The boys two claws struck her ribcage before being deflected as the last of the jewels in her necklace burst into tiny fragments.

The next instant her swing reached its target.

While the boy cocked his head as far as he could to the side to avoid her strike, he had no way of moving his body. Connecting with his collar bone with a satisfying crack, her blade cleaved right through.

"AHHHHHHHH!" The boy howled in pain as his entire left arm and a bit of his chest was hacked away from his body.

Priscilla was greeted with a spray of crimson blood as the boy grabbed her waist and launched himself across the room. Landing in the corner in a heap, a steady stream of blood began to flow from his open chest cavity. While not immediately fatal, it was certainly mortal. Yet, the boy made no effort to staunch the flow.

Instead, he pushed himself to his feet with his remaining hand and faced her square on.

"Priscilla Barielle." Calling her name out loud, he raised his palm to his mouth and licked it.

He immediately collapsed to the ground, clutching at his throat and dry heaving.

"FAKE, FAKE!" He cried out in absolute agony.

Priscilla squared her shoulders towards the nearly incapacitated boy and took a stance akin to what is used to teach swordsmanship. She held her blade in front of her face before raising it above her head as she stepped forward.

It was finally time for this wounded nuisance to die.

As her lead foot came down, she took aim with her sword and swung.

Yet her blade did not reach his neck, instead it had suddenly stopped halfway through its swing.

Blinking her eyes, Priscilla realized that there was a single, thin dagger blocking her blade. Suddenly she noticed that there was another young boy who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Physically he looked vaguely similar to the other one. Long, unkept brown hair, emerald eyes, and tattered clothes. Yet, what set them apart was the look on their faces.

The first one had appeared vaguely insane. This one appeared nothing short of furious.


"Things have gotten just I bit out of hand." Echidna spoke her thoughts aloud as she surveyed the city before her.

Standing atop one of the inner walls of that city which had been abandoned by its defenders she eyed the chaos below with a smirk on her face.

Knights, cultists, residents, beasts, and guardsmen ran every which way through the streets as buildings burned all around them. Stabbing, screaming, biting and clawing occurred almost indiscriminately as the lines between friend and foe blurred.

For most it would be an absolutely horrible sight, but for her it was an opportunity.

"Beatrice." Echidna turned towards the girl who currently clutched her hand.

"Yes Mother?" Betty looked up, her eyes shimmering in complete disregard to the suffering occurring all around her.

"Please search the city for the current Sword Saint and when you find him, keep an eye on him." Echidna watched as Beatrice listened intently to each word of her instructions.

"Should Betty do anything while watching him?"

"Ensure that he neither clears the obstacles before him by leaps and bounds but also make sure that he does not become completely mired. Do not make yourself his enemy but also ensure that he still saves something. I will leave the specifics to your discretion."

"Betty will come right back to Mother afterwards, I suppose."

"Thank you, Betty." Echidna watched as Beatrice walked to the edge of the wall before turning back to her one last time. Their eyes met for a moment before the spirit hopped off the edge and disappeared from vision.

Echidna's gaze was pulled back towards what she had originally been looking at. The one who had stolen it from her.

When she first saw him she could feel part of her very soul begin to burn as it spied its missing piece.

She watched with a tint of obsessive madness in her eyes as a white-haired man led a procession of women into a church below her.

Whilst she was exhausted from a lack of sleep, and even in her prime she had stood near the bottom of the witches combatively, she still knew what she had to do.

Mana stirred all around her and in the blink of the eye she was at the base of the wall, standing before the doors she had just seen swing closed.

Placing both of her palms against the thick wooden doors, she allowed a tiny trickle of mana to flow into them. Enough to instantly turn the doors into a wall of flame.

Burning ferociously across its entire thickness simultaneously, the door was reduced to little more than smoldering cinders before it could so much as fall off its hinges.

With both her hands behind her back, Echidna stepped into the church. Aside from the noise from outside, the only audible sounds were that of her shoes striking the stone floor.

Walking down the aisle, she passed by pews filled by numerous women. While varying in appearance, they all wore the same empty expression as they stared at her and the same white gown.

Surprisingly enough, among them she spied a single emerald eyed demi human from Sanctuary. Yet the recognition was certainly one sided, and it was not like the person in question even mattered to begin with.

Coming to a stop halfway down the aisle she fixed her gaze upon her target. A man who had some eery parallels to herself.

They shared the same pure white hair devoid of colour and pale skin that appeared as if it had never felt the touch of sunlight.

Yet some of their other features were closer to being an antithesis of one another. His shimmering golden eyes versus her lifeless black ones. His pristine white suit fit for a wedding compared to her black gown fit for a funeral.

Maybe there was irony in the fact that they were either completely identical to one another or plural opposites without in-between. Maybe it was merely a connection of dots that did not really exist.

She watched as the man began to open his mouth with a look of indignation on his face. In response she raised her hand and pointed a single finger at him.

"Al Jiwald." Two simple words slid off her lounge as a laser of pure white engulfed the man at the alter and the girl whose wrist he grasped.

All the women seated in the pews had been forced to look away due to the shear amount of light given off by the spell. Even the bride-to-be had covered her eyes with her free arm. But the man had not so much as flinched.

He simply glared at her with a look of absolute irritation on his face.

"Just what is wrong with you? In what way or in what place is it acceptable to do what you just did? Here I am, Regulus Corneas, peacefully attending my own wedding with my bride and wives. We're celebrating the beginning of a new relationship between me and number 327, setting the pace for years to come. Out of consideration for the circumstances, I have reached into the very depths of my patience to show malevolence to the people causing an absolute ruckus outside. I'm an understanding guy, people are exercising their right to communicate. They're in a dispute and they feel that the only way to get their message across is to burn buildings and kill each other. I can empathise with that. But you! You've barged your way in here, burned down the door to let even more light in, and shot a giant laser at my bride and I! This is an absolute infringement and utter violation of my rights!" Shouted Regulus Corneas with anger and vitriol in his voice.

In the face of the sheer anger pouring out him, a glint of fear finally took hold in the bride's eyes. A glint that was suddenly replaced by the reflection of another overpowering white light.

"Al Jiwald." The two who stood where the alter had once been were hidden from existence by another white beam that carved a path across the city behind them. Another beam that failed to so much as single a single hair on their heads.

"DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO A SINGLE WORD OF WHAT I JUST SAID?! IS THE FACT THAT I'M REFUSING TO STOOP TO YOUR LEVEL AND CONVERSE GOING THAT FAR OVER YOUR HEAD? I'VE ATTEMPTED TO TURN THE OTHER CHEEK TOWARDS YOUR BARBARISM BUT YOU MUST BE SIMPLY TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND. I, REGULUS CORNEAS, THE MOST PERFECT BEING IN EXISTANCE HAS ATTEMPTED TO SHOW YOU MERCY, AND YOU'VE SPAT RIGHT BACK AT ME! THIS IS AN UTTER INFRINGEMENT OF MY RIGHTS! MY RIGHT TO SELF DETERMINATION, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, ALL OF THEM. YOU'VE TREAD ON ALL MY RIGHTS!" The man ranted as he violently waved his free hand in the air with such ferocity that it would be thoroughly unsurprising if he ended up injuring himself. The young girl at his side seemed to shrink with each word he said, like she was reliving a traumatic memory.

Echinda kept her hand raised and opened her mouth to cast her spell for a third time, only to pause when she saw all the veins on the mans face bulge out like they were going to burst.

"STOP!" Screaming at the top of his lungs, Regulus' voice completely filled the church as he made a violent, vertical swing with his arm.

What followed was the all-encompassing roar of crumbling masonry as an invisible blade rocketed down the isle towards her, vertically bisecting the church as it did so.

It almost looked like a rather potent Al Fula, yet she could not really sense any mana coming from him nor any that should have formed the spell.

It was something that broke the basic rules of the world they lived in to a horrifying degree.

There was no doubt about it, the was Regulus Corneas' manifestation of the Authority of Greed.

In the last instant before his attack would reach her, Echidna allowed her spell to activate, causing the entire world around her to shift once more. Leaving her facing out of a stained glass window, presenting her with another view of the burning city.

She looked over her shoulder at the backs of Regulus Corneas and his bride as she stood behind the alter.

Aside from the handful who had been crushed by the falling debris, the women in the pews continued to look directly forward. They paid her no heed as Regulus scanned the area where she had just been, looking for her.

"Just how stupid can you be…" She mumbled as the man suddenly whipped around to face her, a tiny bit of surprise shining through his anger. Except he was far too slow.

Without even bothering with the incantation, the former wielder of Greed launched its current holder with a blast of wind magic. Regulus and his bride that he still grasped were sent sailing right across the remains of the church and out into the street.

Continuing their behaviour, the woman in the pews did not even so much as turn their heads to watch. The majority that remained alive just continued to sit still, it was like nothing was going on in their heads.

Echidna watched as Regulus picked himself up off the ground, dragging his bride to her feet as he did so.

She could only frown as she noticed that his clothes were not so much as dirtied from the fall. It was even possible to claim that the hairs on his head had not so much as moved. The same could even be said about the girl he was dragging around like a doll.

"To do this to a being as perfect and satisfied as I…" The man's mouth began to emit hot air in the manner commonly refereed to as speech, but without conveying anything even remotely worth paying attention to. Instead, Echidna eyed the man's head.

"Not so much as a hair on his head had been disturbed." Latching onto the potentially key detail, she watched how the man's hair slightly bounced and shifted as he walked up to her. It was certainly interesting how it was moving now but had not when he had been thrown to the ground. Interesting enough in fact that she waited to teleport until the last possible moment as Regulus swung his bride at her like a flail.

Now standing on the roof of a two-story building across from the church, she looked down at Regulus as he yanked the girl out of the crater made by her body. Just like before there was not so much as a single speck of dirt to blemish her wedding gown.

As Regulus started to turn around searching for her in a manner that made him look like an absolute oaf. Echidna poured her mana into the area right above the two, creating a large ball of water capable of filling a small pond.

Which she promptly dropped right on their heads.

With a splash it poured over the two as if a waterfall had suddenly appeared right over their heads. Yet through the crystal-clear water she could see one thing. Not even a single hair on their heads grew the slightest bit damp. In fact, the water poured off them as if they were made of stone.

"So that's your trick…interesting." Echidna voiced her thoughts aloud, causing Regulus to turn towards her in a rage.

"JUST WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? TODAY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SPECIAL DAY FOR MYSELF AND MY WIVES. YET YOU DISRUPT THE CEREMONY FOR WHAT? IS IT FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT? DO YOU SEE ME, THE MOST FULFILLED BEING IN EXISTANCE AS BEING SOMETHING SO LOWLY THAT YOUR ENTITLED TO USE ME AS YOUR PLAYTHING? HOW CAN THAT BE FAIR, HOW CAN THAT BE RIGHT? IT'S AN INFRINGMENET ON MY RIGHTS I TELL YOU! MY RIGHT TO BE VIEWED AS A HUMAN BEING! I-" Regulus roared at her whilst raising his free arm high above his head, no doubt preparing to swing it down and unleash an attack similar to the one which had ruined the church.

Yet his arm did not come down. Even as veins bulged out of his head and his eyes twitched with rage, he did not let his tremendous power fly loose and it was all for one simple reason.

He was in the middle of talking and Echidna had interrupted him.

"So all those women in the church were also your wives? I have to say it was hard to tell after seeing how indifferent you were to killing some of them." Echidna forced her voice to sound as mocking as possible as she watched the remaining veins in Regulus' face bulge outwards.

"SHUTUP!" Regulus screamed at the absolute top of his lungs as the building beneath her feet literally disintegrated.

Quickly teleporting to the ground only a few paces in front of Regulus, Echidna raised her hand and pointed a single finger at the church, letting the words "Ul Goa" escape her lips.

A moderately sized fireball immediately appeared and rocketed forth on a trajectory that would pass just beside the thief's head and right inside the ruins of the church.

Unexpectedly, or perhaps expectedly Regulus blocked the spell with his free hand.

For the first time in their encounter Echidna saw something that made her grin.

"So the man whose indifferent to the fact the he killed some of his own wives has gone out of his way to protect them? I must say that you've surprised me Regulus Corneas, I never expected that one who posses a witch factor could be quite so stupid." Mocking him once again, Echidna was immediately forced to teleport as he swung his bride laterally through the air. Her tiny body was a rather formidable weapon once it was rendered indestructible.

"You have waltzed right into the centre of a warzone with a harem of non-combatants in tow. Ones that even you are incapable of protecting should they stand beyond the limits of your reach." Echidna was forced to teleport atop another rooftop as Regulus hurled a handful of water her way, leveling a handful of buildings just behind where she once stood.

Standing on the roof's edge Echidna looked down on Regulus with a look in her eyes that bordered on madness and a smile that would suit a psychopath. The longing in her chest that pined for what had been taken from her was reaching new levels. Afterall, it felt like it was right at the edge of her grasp and now all that she needed to do was take it.

"To top off the pure insanity of your unfathomable idiocy. These women whom you call wives are the supports that hold up your power. By putting them in harms way as you have done you have achieved nothing more then to present the key to your own defeat on a silver platter." She almost wanted to laugh at the man. Gifted with an ability that should have made him unbeatable only to be so stupid as to parade his own weakness out in the open. Had he been any smarter than this could have been chocked up to pride, but in her eyes the answer was clear. He was simply too stupid to understand what he was doing.

Of course it was not like she had not been forced to make deductions and small leaps in logic, but the way he glared at her told her everything she needed to know. She had hit the bullseye.

"Al Shario." Two simple words were all it took to make the man look up to the sky as the stars themselves began to tumble down to the lands of the mortals.

Penetrating the shroud of shadows that enveloped the city like a dome, they hurtled towards their targets. Yet they did not focus on Regulus, his bride, or even the church. Instead they were aimed indiscriminately at the city itself.

A shield cannot block what cannot be predicted and one cannot predict what has not been aimed.

While a few may have been nudged so that they would land in the general vicinity of the church, that was a detail hidden by the shear scale of the barrage.

She saw Regulus hurriedly back up so that he stood just before the church, his eyes darting everywhere across the sky as he tried to make sense of the chaos descending upon the city. It was needless to say, but his bride's empty eyes continued to look directly forward at nothing in particular.

Echidna looked up at the sky herself, content to let her spell play out as she prepared for the next phase of her plan. It was only then that she noticed that the falling stars were beginning to leave streaks in the sky.

Her vision had suddenly grown blurry.

"Huh?" Making her confusion audible, Echidna tried to raise a hand to her head as she suddenly began to grow dizzy. Only then did she realize she was falling towards the ground below.

"Murak" With a voice just a bit weaker than normal she said her incantation as her rate of descent began to increase.

Despite her efforts she still hit the ground with sufficient speed to cause her legs to give out on impact, leading to her completely collapsing onto the stones below.

"Mana deprivation…" She muttered to herself as she tried to force her body up, only for her arms to fail to produce the strength necessary.

With her limbs feeling like they were filled with lead, her head with a gas lighter then air, and a soreness radiating out from where she hit the ground. It was a state of being that left her wanting nothing more then to let her herself slump to the ground and let her heavy eyelids slide shut.

Yet that was a luxury she could ill afford in the present moment for Regulus had also noticed the repercussions of her poor mana management.

He walked towards her with a self-satisfied grin plastered across his face, rejoicing that the irritation had finally been caught. Yet with his eyes trained on the nearly spent witch before him, they were not watching the sky above.

CRASH

Echidna watched as a white streak slammed right into the church behind Regulus. It struck with such force that it shook the ground hard enough to make Regulus stumble and cause a few nearby buildings to collapse into heaps of rubble.

Yet a slight loss of balance was all it inflicted upon him. Disappointingly so there was no great unravelling of his power or smiting of his being as he quickly closed the distance between them.

With what felt like the last of her strength, Echidna pushed herself up into a sitting position with her back against the brick wall of the building she fell off. With dismay in her eyes, she could see that the dust swirling in the air failed to so much as soil the man's snow-white clothes.

To say her current situation was bad would be an understatement, to suggest that she still had much agency anymore would be an outright lie.

"Ha…" A gasp escaped her lips as Regulus clamped his hand around her throat and lifted her off the ground so that their eyes met. Reflexively her hands clamped onto his wrist, but it did not budge or even radiate heat. It was absolutely futile to struggle against.

"DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY FOR YOURSELF AFTER ALL OF THE HORRIBLE ABUSE YOU'VE INFLICTED UPON ME. AS THE MOST FULLFILLED BEING IN EXISTANCE TO TAKE SO MUCH FROM ME IS NOTHING MORE THAN A BLATANT VIOLATION OF MY RIG-" Nearly frothing at the mouth as he sprayed spittle with each and every word, Regulus Corneas delved into another rant. However, once again he was cut off.

"What am I…supposed to do…when you…hold your bride…like that?" Echidna struggled to speak as her windpipe was clamped shut by the man's thumb. The dizziness from her mana deprivation was beginning to be replaced by dizziness from a lack of blood flow to the brain.

She saw the man's mouth move as he flew off into a deranged tangent, but her eyes soon settled on the bride he clung so tightly to. Something had finally changed about her.

Her crimson eyes and childish face were no longer blank, now they were enraptured by a pained sadness. It was as if both a traumatizing ethereal blade had been driven deep within her heart and the only thing that lay ahead for her was a guillotine.

For a moment their eyes met and as a lone tear ran down the girls cheek, she subtly grabbed the hem of her gown and pulled it outward.

Revealing that the once pristine white fabric was marred by a splotch of dirt.

The girl then gave the tiniest of nods as she let her eyelids slide closed and held her head up high.

"Fula." With a single word the bride's golden-haired head was detached from her neck as both it and her body fell to the ground below.

As blood began to dribble from her nose due to further mana expenditure, she shifted her eyes back to Regulus. They were met with a look of pure surprise painted across his pace.

In the space of a single instant she could feel his grip on her neck loosen as angry red blood vessels bulged across his eyes. As pain seemed to shoot across his face he griped his chest

Now she could even feel heat radiating from the hand around her neck.

Yet the cherry on top, and what relight the flames of the all-encompassing desire within her was nothing other then the man's sleeve.

There was a stain left by the blood from her nose.

Looking back up and into his eyes she gave him a smile that would fit one who had been forgotten in an oubliette.

She saw the tiniest hint of fear appear in his eyes as his face contorted in pain and his body went cold. But it was far too late.

The entire world around them had suddenly become black.

Her vision suddenly filled with a white fuzz as she felt the wind catch her hair and clothing. She was falling, and there was a long way to go before she hit the ground.

But the same was true for Regulus Corneas.

His screams filled the air as his hand finally slipped from around her neck.

His form was in front of her, flailing about as he tried to control his descent through the air. Even so, she could barely see him, she could barely see anything.

Despite having teleported both of them inside the vast canopy of shadows that encased the city it was getting harder and harder to see through the white film filling her field of view.

She was spent to the point of being on the edge of unconsciousness whilst falling towards a city that had devolved into a battle of cataclysmic proportions. By all means it was an absolutely horrible position. Yet by her standards it was absolutely perfect.

She was in a situation where she could guarantee her victory and reclaim what had been stolen from her if she made just one more gamble. If it paid off, she would get something she wanted at the risk of absolutely everything else.

It was a bad bet.

It was idiotic.

It was nothing more than pure, unadulterated greed.

That was why focused what remained of her vision on the man and mouthed a single word.

"Vita"

And the very second it left her lips what remained of her connection to the world was swallowed up by the white void.


"Yuck!" Meili cried out as she desperately tried to scrap something squishy off the bottom of her shoe.

"Why'd Mama send me down here. There's no way any dainty royalty would try to escape through the sewers…" Meili lamented as she gave up trying to clean her shoe. It would just get soiled again anyways, as it had the last ten times she had wiped it off.

She sighed and let her shoulders slump forward as she continued her patrol of the sewers. A task she had been forced to undertake since letting her beasts loose in the city.

She walked against the slight gradient in the tunnel as opaque brown water washed over her boots. Needless to say, it smelled so horrible that she would probably have to burn all of her clothing when this was over.

Meili stopped and looked over her shoulder as a chorus of growling erupted from behind her. All of them had stopped in place, bodies low and teeth bared, ready to pounce.

She followed their gaze into the darkness ahead before closing her eyes and listening for what sound they must have heard.

It took all her focus but eventually she was able to pick it up as well. Barely audible over the flowing water was the sound of gnashing teeth.

She held out an open palm towards her beasts, commanding them to stop, and reluctantly they did.

Meili then began to gingerly walk into the darkness with her small pack following closely behind.

Something capable of frightening four ulgarms with the sound of its teeth alone was certainly worth investigating. Yet, there was no guarantee that whatever monster lay ahead was a mabeast that she could bend to her will.

With each step she took from her starting point the world around her grew dimmer. The stenches around her grew stronger, and the gnashing grew louder.

She could not help the fact that the tiny hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up as her heart beat faster and faster. Through her divine protection she knew that the beasts that continued to follow her were doing so through no will of their own.

The atmosphere around them had shifted. The purpose that had once spurred them forward had been consumed by fear, and the pride that had once lit their hearts had been extinguished by terror.

All that it would take to reduce their march into a route would be a single unexpected disturbance.

And that disturbance came in the form of a smell, or better said, a change in the overpowering stench that violated her nose.

The putrid, damp rot that had inundated the sewer was gone; replaced by a violent, metallic aroma that cut through everything around her. It was the scent of blood, the scent of fresh blood.

It was only when the smell finished washing over her that Meili realized one more thing.

The gnashing sound was gone.

The sound of chains being dragged along stone emanated from the shadows before them. Getting louder and louder, Meili and her companions remained rooted in place, too afraid to move.

Her connection with the mabeasts began to strain as emotions pouring through it began to surge. Her beasts were so terrified of whatever was approaching that she began to doubt whether her fear was truly her own.

Soon the scrapping of the chains was accompanied by another noise, the pitter-patter of shoes on stone. And less then a moment later, a figure began to emerge from the darkness.

She had a head of matted grey hair caked in blood and filth that just barely reached her shoulders. Clad in a bodysuit covered in unfastened straps that looked like they were meant to restrain the wearer; she trudged forward. From her wrists and ankles hung chains that dragged along the ground behind her, scrapping and rattling as they did so.

Somehow she managed to look right at Meili despite her eyes being covered by blindfolds, and as Meili took a step back, the woman's lips broke out into a smile.

"So you're the one who's been controlling my beasties." Drool poured out of her mouth like rain as she stepped right up to Meili.

Meili felt her breath catch in her throat as the woman's stench nearly made her vomit.

She called out to the ulgarms through her divine protection yet there was no response. Furthermore, it was not like they had just ignored her, she had felt absolutely nothing there. Like her divine protection itself had ceased to function.

A bead of sweat rolled down the back of her neck as Meili felt the colour leave her face.

This was bad, very bad.

She knew that the woman in front of her had done this, the smirk on her face said all that needed to be said.

She was not dealing with someone vaguely normal, not even the type of normal that Elsa belonged to. If anything, this person reminded her more of Mama when she was in a bad mood then anything else. Hell, for all she knew this woman was worse than Mama. A ground dragon and a rabbit were one and the same from and ant's view after all.

All of a sudden, all Meili could hear was panting, chewing, and ripping as the scent of blood and meat began to fill the air. And of all places, it came from right behind her.

Yet Meili was too concerned with what was in front of her to worry about what was behind her. She was afraid of what would happen if she were to turn.

Meili stood stock still as she watched the woman place a hand on each of her shoulders. Perhaps realizing that Meili would not look behind her on her own, the woman slowly spun the terrified girl around to look.

The scene was enough to drop the jaw of a girl who had only known a life as an assassin.

Gnashing teeth, ripping through flesh and crunching through bone.

Tangled bodies, interwound and squirming desperately to get at one another.

Utter madness, wild beasts so driven to devour one another that they did not even bother to defend themselves from the same hunger that targeted them.

"It's not right to stand in the way of satiation." The woman placed her hand against the side of Meili's head and guided her so that she was once again looking right at her face. Except this time something was different.

She had removed her blindfold.

Meili suddenly felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Except that was not exactly true, she felt like someone had suddenly punched a hole into her stomach and was allowing it to fill with air.

The more she allowed herself to peer into the woman's golden eyes, the greater the void she felt inside herself and the greater desire she felt to fill that void.

The two pupils, one resembling a closed mouth and the other resembling an open one had shown her the truth, the only truth that mattered.

She felt drool begin to leak from her mouth as she looked at the feast standing right in front of her. Delicious pale skin that will squish between her teeth as she ripped it off the woman's face and eyes that would just pop as they filled her mouth with their jelly goodness.

Meili licked her lips as she eyed her upcoming meal.

Yet Meili suddenly felt herself falling, and as she fell backwards, she could see her meal's outstretched arms.

It had pushed her.

With a soft thump she felt herself land on the writhing furry masses of meat that had accompanied her here.

She could feel the warmth that radiated from them, the contraction and relaxation of the massive muscles beneath their fur coat.

They could fill her!

Meili rolled over and sunk her teeth into the back of the nearest ulgarm.

Her mouth was instantly filled with the taste of the animal's grime ridden fur, but she did not care. Sustenance was sustenance.

She ripped off a strip of the animals back muscle and scarfed it down as fresh blood dribbled down her face. Why had she not eaten food raw like this her entire life? Cooking just made the food take longer, and the smells only ever made her hungrier. Life could be so cruel.

Meili looked up to see one of the beasts lying still, its head gone and its stomach distended. It was then that the realization came to her, if she ate food that was already being digested, she would have to do less work to digest it herself!

She hurriedly scrambled towards the deceased ulgarm as the other two continued to devour one another beneath her.

Reaching the creature's bloated stomach she eagerly tore an opening through the weakened tissue.

Warm blood flowed forth as a pile of guts tumbled out, all of which Meili jammed into her mouth as eagerly as she could.

She worked her way deeper and deeper into the beast, all sense of time and external sensation ceasing as gluttony took hold over her.

Yet no matter how much of its flesh she crammed down her throat, no matter how intense the pressure within her got, the hunger never ceased.

By the time she had picked the corpse clean not a single thing had changed, she felt just as ravenous as ever.

Slowly and awkwardly, Meili slid out from inside the skeleton her fest had been left behind and rolled onto her back.

Drool ran from between her lips and moistened the blood caked all across her face.

Scanning the room, her eyes instantly zeroed in on the remains of the other two ulgarms. Twisted together it appeared as if they had died with their teeth buried in each others throats.

Seeing this, her painfully distended stomach began to rumble like it had not been fed for days on end.

Licking her lips, Meili was only distracted from her next meal by the sight of the woman standing over her.

"Digestion can be sooooo exhausting. So thank you for your service." A slight smile graced the woman's face as she knelt down beside Meili and rammed both her hands into Meili's midsection. Causing it to burst open like a pimple.

Scattering blood and bodily fluids into the air, her overfilled guts spewed out and spread across the ground. The woman began to grab them and jam them into her own mouth faster then they spewed out of Meili.

Ripping and tearing, giant chunks of partially digested food splatted against the sewer floor as Meili's digestive system was consumed.

"My food! Get away from it!" Meili shouted as she stared to flail her arms at the woman, attempting to bat her away.

She scored a single hit against the side of the woman's head, seemingly stunning her as a section of small intestine fell from her mouth.

For a moment the woman just looked at her before she suddenly filled all of Meili's vision.

The only thing Meili felt was a set of teeth against her head before everything went blank, including Meili's hunger.


"We've allowed you to do this to our brother… It's unforgivable for you to have brought him so close to missing out on a better life. The gospel's promise is so close… You will not be allowed to interfere, tsu!" The newcomer's voice steadily grew in volume as it advanced from a mere whisper to a roar.

With a mere flick of his wrist Priscilla's entire body was sent reeling as her blade was nearly flung from her grasp.

Staggering backwards, Priscilla assumed a guarding stance as she watched the boy. Unlike his brother, this child had an entirely different demeanor. He did not dart forward to exploit her momentary weakness, nor did he try and turn the fighting into a battle of maneuver. Instead, he calmly and confidently walked towards her. She in turn slowly retreated.

Yet it was not like she could retreat forever. To begin with there was limited space in the room, and then there was the fact that the only battles ever won by passivity were against the impatient, overconfident, and inexperienced. Finally, the young green haired girl was still in the room with them.

It was not like she could expect any of her retainers to come to her aid, with how quiet and deserted everything was she could only assume that these two had already gotten to them. To top it off, she had sent Aldabaran to determine the cause of the big ruckus outside the city. There was no telling if his fate was any different than her other followers.

The only way her present situation would improve would be if she took action. The only action she could take was an offensive one, even if its success was incredibly unlikely.

Perhaps this boy was the opposite of his brother. If his style was slow and plodding maybe there was hope for her if she struck with speed and agility. She would need to remove her heels however…

The boy's face suddenly filled her entire field of view as her eyes picked up the glint of arcing steel. His blades were moving so quickly that it was hard for her to follow, but she was certain they would come from both sides at once.

With the strength he had shown earlier, Priscilla knew there was no chance for her to repeat the block she had used against his brother when he had pulled a similar maneuver. Yet, if he was willing to leave himself open to attack like this then she would be happy to oblige.

She raised her sword as she prepared to run the boy through.

She raised her sword…

Looking down Priscilla saw that her sword was not in fact raised, it was on the ground, still grasped by both her hands. Both of her arms had been cleanly removed halfway through the bicep.

"…" Priscilla felt her entire mind go blank.

The boy struck her in the base of the sternum with the heel of his palm. She felt her body crumple inwards as the sound of whistling air filled her ears.

It was a fight that she may not have started off on the best foot, but she had clawed her way out of that hole. Slowly but surely she had made smart decisions, keeping herself alive until her opponent had made a mistake.

She had managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against an opponent who had revealed himself to be physically more powerful than her. All of that, only to lose mere seconds into the next fight.

Crash

Pain flared across her back as she broke through the wooden paneling of the wall. Then the world went white just as she felt herself strike something else.

Her consciousness may have only slipped for a second, but a second was all it took for the fight to be completely taken out of her.

Both of her ears were filled with a high-pitched ringing that drowned out any and all sound around her. Her vision remained a mess of murky white splotches. Finally, her entire body felt sickeningly warm, like she had been slowly boiled in a pot until she was too weak to climb out.

Yet none of this even touched on the crippling pain that coursed through her. A splitting headache shot out from deep within her head, wriggling its way to her half open eyes. Her back on the other hand throbbed with such intensity that it was like it was repeatedly being placed against a red-hot block of iron.

Sputtering and coughing, Priscilla tried to clear out the blood that filled her throat so that she could breathe, except it just seemed to keep coming. Forming small streams from the corners of her mouth, she was quickly limited to the shallowest of breaths in order to get any air into whatever remained of her lungs.

"I've…got…to….go" Priscilla mentally urged herself. Perhaps it was even better to say that she was in fact begging herself to do something. Her mind may still be willing to fight, but her body was completely done.

Before her she could see the one who had done this to her, slowly plodding his way towards her. In fact, it seemed like he was intentionally taking his time to reach her.

Her gaze fell from the boy and landed on her own legs. Her own numb legs.

No matter how much she urged them to move, they remained completely still. Unmoving and unfeeling to the point that they may as well have not been part of her body at all.

Even her concussed and pain raddled brain could understand what was going on.

Her core felt absolutely shredded, reduced to a goop that could barely generate even the smallest bit of force. Even with all the adrenaline coursing through her veins her body still screamed at her with each smidgin that she managed to move.

Yet slowly but surely she could see her whole world begin to turn.

Slowly but surely she began to fall towards the floor.

She may not have working legs anymore, nor arms. But with her stubs and with her teeth she could crawl and with the gift of luck she could keep crawling until she was safe. Once she was safe she could be healed, and once she was healed she could begin to prepare her revenge.

A scream of pure agony forced its way out of Priscilla's mouth the very second she fell to the ground. Paralyzing pain shot up her spine the very second she hit the ground. It was a sensation akin to tiny knives being rammed between the vertebrae of her spine.

The boy finally reached her before he knelt down low enough so that they were seeing each other face to face.

"If that's all you aren't even worthwhile food for us…" Disappointment was evident in his eyes as he reached out and placed one of his knives against her neck.

"Pffft" In return Priscilla Barielle spat out the blood that was pooling inside her throat, taking the tiniest bit of joy that some of it managed to land on his hand. It was such a tiny victory that it probably should not even have been counted as one, but for the sake of her pride it would have to suffice.

She felt the knife slowly begin to dig into her neck as the boy worked it back and forth like a saw blade. He was not going to let her go with even the tiniest bit of peace.

Priscilla felt her eyelids begin to grow heavy as she watched her own blood slowly pool around her. She wanted so badly to let them close, to see the darkness that would swallow her. However, this only meant that her mind would focus on the flesh that was slowly being cut away from her neck.

The flesh that was slowly being cut away from her neck…

She could not feel the knife anymore, instead just the warm flow of blood beginning to seep out of the wound on her neck.

Blinking, Priscilla realized that the boy was no longer knelt before her either.

Her eyes may only have been half-open, but she did to scan the open room for him.

She found him nearly instantly for he had not gone far. He stood crouched in the centre of the room, both daggers at the ready as if he were ready to pounce.

Yet he did not face her, instead he was side on as he faced towards the so far unused door to the room. Except when Priscilla follower his gaze, she saw that the door was now open.

A single pale hand was gripping the side of the door frame as a tall women entered. So tall in fact that she almost had to duck her head.

Her rather feminine figure was loosely hugged by a black dress that seemed to be some cross between loungewear and a nightgown. Perhaps the most striking thing about her was the impressive amount of magenta hair the flowed behind her. Longer than she was tall, it trailed behind her, and there was enough volume to it as to hide most of her pale face, leaving only a single red eye exposed.

"So here ha you are hu Typhon." The woman spoke to the little girl as she let go of the doorframe and staggered into the room. Her gate was so slow and haphazard that it looked like she was about to keel over from exhaustion. The fact that her laboured breathing was so heavy as to interrupt her own speech did not dissuade from the idea either.

"This place looked so big and cool that I had to come in and look! I thought it was empty but then I found all of these people inside. Some of them seem like sinners though, but I can't really tell right now…" The girl's eyes floated between Priscilla and the two brothers as she spoke, flickering with passion as she did.

"You understand ha that without your hu authority that ha you cannot hu defend yourself? Don't run ha away from me like hu that in the future." The purple haired woman walked over to Typhon and grabbed by the wrist before leading her back towards the door. "Time to ha go, Typhon. I'm hu exhausted."

"Yesssssss Sekhmet." Typhon rolled her eyes a bit as she reluctantly let Sekhmet put an end to her fun.

"Who said either of you would be leaving, tsu!" The boy who had dismembered her mockingly called out as he suddenly appeared between Sekhmet and the door.

"I'm going to ha rest now. Who hu said I needed your ha permission." Sekhmet lazily replied with the tiniest bit of irritation in her voice.

"Our name is Lye Batenkaitos, Witch's Cult Sin Archbishop of Gluttony. You must be the one promised to us by our gospel tsu!" The boy seemed to be on the verge of an absolute frenzy as he fidgeted from one foot to another, drool leaking from the corners of his mouth.

"My name is ha Sekhmet, The Witch of Sloth hu. This is Typhon, ha The Witch of Pride." A chill ran down what remained of Priscilla's spine at Sekhmet's and Typhon's introductions. Who was mad enough to call themselves a witch? Furthermore, what kind of monster felt safe enough to do so right in front of a member of the Witch's Cult?

Priscilla watched as Sekhmet straightened her posture. "Get out of our way!" Sekhmet said once more with such irritation in her voice that the atmosphere in the room went completely frigid.

"Thank you for this meal!" Lye cried as he licked his lips before suddenly freezing with a look of confusion spreading across his face.

Suddenly Lye was lifted up into the air and thrown towards the opposite wall of the room with such speed that Priscilla's eyes could not follow him.

Yet in the space of time it took her to blink, he had suddenly reappeared right in front of Sekhmet.

That was until something she could not see grabbed him by the leg. For the briefest of moments he was still before he was slammed into the ceiling. The very second he struck the wood, before the newly formed debris could even begin to fall, and before the sound could even reach her ears, he was launched right back into the floor below.

Over and over again he was swung like a plaything as his body was used as a blunt instrument to remove both the floor and ceiling. As the surfaces were blown away, he simply ended up being launched into a different area, ensuring that he never had to be swung too far.

Even so, just like a child's toy he did end up being discarded. Being released mid-upswing, he struck the ceiling one last time before being allowed to fall to the floor in a heap, where he lay unmoving.

His body was covered in cuts that slowly oozed blood while his limbs all appeared to be bent just a bit farther then they should have been capable of. Even his nose was smashed up to the point of looking broken.

Priscilla then watched as Sekhmet turned and began to lead Typhon out of the room by the arm.

"Solar…Eclip-" Lye began to hazily say as he started to push himself to his feet.

"Irritating!" Sekhmet roared as she spun on her heels and closed her hand into a fist.

A squelching sound akin to what one would hear if they crushed a beetle in their hand filled the room as Lye Batenkaitos' bodily fluids painted the walls red.

The mangled mass of flesh that had once been his body continued to hang in the air, blood dripping from it to the floor. There was little about it that was still recognizable.

The skeleton was reduced to small pieces of bone that were mere decoration alongside the tufts of hair and flaps of skin that stockout from the ball of gore. It was a brutal scene of the kind that would never leave one's mind.

With a disappoint splat, Priscilla watched in silence as what had been the Sin Archbishop's body was tossed aside.

"Huuuu" Sekhmet's loudly exhaled as her natural slouch returned before she led Typhon by the hand from the room. With her departure a veil of silence fell over the room.

Priscilla let her eyelids slowly slip closed. Lying in her world of darkness, she came to a realization. Nothing hurt anymore.

The burning of her arm stumps, the phantom pain in her missing limbs, even the unbearable pain in her lower back. It was all gone.

It was not like what had occurred with her lower body though, she could still feel what remained of her upper body. Just the pain had been replaced with something else.

Coldness, icy coldness. Creeping across her skin before seeping deep into her core. It blotted out every other sensation. Nothing from the outside world could reach her now. Just it left her feeling so, so weak.

She could not even attempt to move, or even try to open her eyes once more. For it took everything she still had just to take one more breath.

The slow, rhythmic expansion and contraction of her chest. Once something so simple that it occurred without her noticing had become such a herculean task that soon she would be incapable of continuing.

"So this is death." Priscilla asserted to herself a line that she was now incapable of saying. It felt like a quote from a book, something someone great would say before passing on.

"I can't remember…" A flicker of despondency reared its ugly head within her heart as she struggled against the fog that was now filling her head.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!" An ugly, screeching voice filled her ear as a pair of fingers peeled her eye open.

Before her she saw him, the first of the dirty children, the one she had managed to best in combat.

Pale and still bleeding profusely he stood unsteadily above her, his single remaining claw poised against her face.

"YOU! YOU! YOU'VE STOLEN EVERYTHING FROM ME. MY FUTURE, MY HOPE OF FINDING THE PERFECT LIFE. I'M GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF YOU." Frothing at the mouth as he railed in madness, the boy screamed his mad ramblings at her.

Priscilla was unable to make sense of what he was saying, maybe she could have before, when she was in a better condition. Thinking was difficult, and right now she was too tired.

"We're both going to die but before I go I want to make sure you understand what you've stolen. Your last moments before you go are going to be pure hell." The room grew quiet as he raised his metal claw and prepared to start cutting.

Priscilla could do nothing but smile as her eye once again rolled shut.

It was such a slight gesture as to be barely noticeable. Yet, how could she not help but smile in the face of something so comical.

She was Prisca Benedict, the Sun Princess. Blessed with a divine protection, insurmountable luck, and so loved by the world that it would always work in her favour.

Despite all of that here she was, lying broken on the floor of her own home, bleeding to death and about to be tortured by an opponent she had already bested. It was like her unfathomable luck had run out and now was the time for her to settle the massive tab she had accumulated over the years.

Had she been able to, she would have laughed to the point that her sides ached, laughed until she grew lightheaded. Only once she had fallen to the ground gasping for air would she stop. Then she would look up to the sun. Only then would she allow herself to be killed, to die.

It was certainly a non-sensical and whimsical way to go, but had her life not just been one whim after another?

A loud, blood curdling scream stole her attention. Lazily rolling her single open eye towards the source of the sound.

The boy was writhing on the floor, spraying blood across the room. The expression on his face made it clear that he was in such terrible, incomprehensible pain that he was no longer in control of his own body.

She also saw that Typhon had her hand clamped around his wrist.

"Sinners like you do not deserve pity or relief. Suffer until you can suffer no more, then die. Let this world be free of your filth." The young girls face was overtaken by a stern look unfitting of her age. The voice emanating from her tiny body sounded like it belonged to a zealous fanatic. Just what had happened to turn this poor thing into such a being?

Suddenly it seemed like the very skin of the boy began to vibrate as his screams took on an even higher pitch.

At first it was like each individual point on his body was shaking in its own way. Then as they began to vibrate faster and faster, it was like they began to form into groups. Moving in the same direction and with the same speed, these groups began to separate from one another.

The boy had been reduced to a bunch of moving clumps of tissue that through some odd power managed to levitate in the air. Even more oddly, he still continued to scream despite no longer possessing intact vocal cords.

Perhaps it was simply due to the world not keeping up with whatever strange power he was being subjected to. For suddenly his screaming abruptly ended as the nuggets of flesh that had once been his body fell to the floor.

Drenched in the boy's blood, Typhon walked over and knelt beside Priscilla.

"You're a sinner as well you know." The young girl's voice was low and flat. Her tone unchanging and her gaze unwavering.

"Sekhmet said I owed you for saving me and it seems that the world has finally decided to punish you. You will perish soon, sinner." The girl's voice was short and curt. The next thing Priscilla knew, she was looking at Typhon's back as the girl left the room.

Priscilla once again let her eye roll shut as silence filled the room.

Breathe in and breathe out. Her mind issued instructions and her body complied. But was there any reason for her to keep going like this? She was certainly going to die soon, so why keep fighting? Afterall there was no chance anyone would be coming to save her.

Schult was gone, even if he were still alive it was not like there was anything he could do to help her.

Aldebaran could still be alive, even if the city was now full of witches and cultists he had a nasty habit of surviving by the skin of his teeth. Yet her wounds were beyond all but the greatest healers, and even then she would likely be left crippled for life.

So why did she keep on living with no hope in site?

Was it some primal instinct to run from death? The will of her vollachian blood? Or was she holding out for some miracle, hoping for her luck to return?

It was a question she could ask herself but not answer.

What would happen once she was gone?

Her household was empty now, devoid of all the people who resided here besides her.

Her lands would be returned to the true Barielle family, and with them slowly slide back into poverty.

Nearly everyone in her homeland already believed that she had died years ago. So aside from her brother and his closest confidant, it would not even be news.

So in the end nothing would have changed. Nothing she had ever done would have mattered. The world will be in the exact same place as it had been if Prisca Benedict had actually died during the struggle for the throne.

It was a bit depressing, to realize that one's life was meaningless.

It was not even like her to be this sentimental but perhaps this was what happened to everyone who saw their own death before them.

Then again, it was not like her thoughts on the matter mattered much either.

"My, I see that Mama was right to have a contingency. You managed to survive Roy, haven't you?" A rich feminine voice called out to her. The floor creaking ever so slightly as the voice's owner walked towards her.

"Well, you certainly look like you'll expire on your own soon, but we can't give luck room to play can we? I wonder if your guts will have anything special to them? Bruised and misshapen from wearing corsets? Damaged from deviancy? It's like unwrapping a present ea-" The woman's voice was suddenly cutoff midsentence. Priscilla could not open her eyes to see what was happening, but a few moments of silence passed before she heard a loud thump right in front of her.

Following the thump she heard the light and quiet tapping of a pair of shoes. Once again someone was approaching her, and once again she paid them no mind.

"To think something so horrid could be so beautiful…" A small, quiet, and muffled voice seemed to call out to no one in particular. Yet the second it reached her ears, Priscilla felt as though something had washed over her body. Like a wave it struck her frigid exterior, piercing through the coldness to burrow deep inside her where it stayed. It was warmth, like a tiny candle had been lit inside her.

It felt…comforting.

Priscilla felt a dainty, soft hand brush over her forehead, pushing some of her hair away. Then, with the sound of rustling cloth, she felt something being placed overtop of her. The frigidness that was enrapturing her body waned just a little bit.

"You don't have to worry, your life wasn't meaningless. I think you left a beautiful mark on the world that is so, so important." The woman spoke at a volume that was so quiet that it was almost inaudible, but with each word she said, she seemed to grow just a bit more confident.

"The starving orphan, the maimed gladiator, all the impoverished farmers. You shone light into all their lives. Even if that light will now fade as you depart this world, it doesn't change the fact that they once felt its warmth." Priscilla felt small warm droplets begin to land on her cheek as her head was gently lifted from the floor before being set down on something warm, soft, and just a tiny bit squishy.

"You loved them all Prisca. Even though you never knew what it meant to love, you managed it in your own way." She felt the woman begin to pet her head. It was a sensation that was oddly familiar, had her mother done this to her?

It was too hard to remember, her head felt like it was full of fog.

"That's why you don't have to regret dying, Prisca. I'm sure that even when your gone that all those people whose lives you touched well remember you." Priscilla felt more and more warm water land on her face as the woman continued to speak.

"I'm not going to leave you alone. So just keep listening to my voice Prisca. Take all the time that you need and when you're ready, let go and let your suffering end." The woman's soothing voice seeped into her, fanning the tiny flame in her heart so that it may spread its warmth.

Everything around her had been so cold, but the coat draped over her made it feel like being in bed on a chilly winter day. And with her head being stroked so gently, it was hard not to be relaxed.

Feeling so cozy when she was already so tired made it really hard to stay awake.

There was the soothing sound of the woman's voice in her ear. If she just kept herself awake for a few more moments she could hear what she had to say, then she could rest. She was already tucked away in her bed after all.

Then again, she had already had a rather tiring day, and there was no telling how tomorrow would play out. Perhaps it would be better if she prepared by sleeping a bit earlier.

A wave of calm washed over her tired features as Priscilla Barielle finally drifted off to sleep. And as she continued to drift, her laboured breathing grew shallower and shallower.

Until it finally came to a stop.


"…" Satella buried her face in her knees and wrapped her arms around herself as she sat on the ground in a dark alley.

He was supposed to be somewhere here, he was supposed to be coming to this very city. Yet, no matter where she looked, she could not find a single trace of him. Even when she sought out the one thing they still shared, she could not even sense the slightest trace of it.

It was like he had fallen off the face of the earth.

What if he was dead?

A squeaking sound escaped from her as her grip on her legs tightened. All the while her mind teetered on the edge of a precipice and dove off.

Did he die right after she last saw him. Or had time passed?

The authority he had been given should have ensured his safety and wellbeing. Was it even still possible for him to die?

But if he was dead then that would mean she would never see him again.

Never hear his voice.

And never feel his embrace.

When was the last time they were together?

Diving into the depths of her memory she tried to sift through the hundreds of years of nothingness. Day after day of an empty purple void.

All stemming from a single day.

She could remember the hot sun shining on her face and the coarse sand digging into her back. Even the sensation of the crystal growing over her body was still as vivid as the day it happened.

Yet the face of the one standing over her, the face of the man who created the crystal that imprisoned her.

The face of the man she loved was missing. She could not remember what it looked like.

"…" All the muscles in her face began to tighten as she dug her fingernails into the sides of her head.

Just how had she forgotten.

How had she let herself forget.

"Okay?" The tiny, innocent voice of a child reached her ear, yet she paid it no mind.

"Okay, okay?" The girl continued to repeat the same word, just now she accompanied it by tugging on Satella's sleeve as well. This too however was not sufficient to distract her from her own spiral.

It was not until she felt her hair being yanked that she turned just enough to see a little girl in her peripheral vision.

Without really studying her she could see that the child was little more than a toddler, barely coming up to Satella's shoulder even as she was sitting.

"Okay?" The toddler cocked her head as asked her question once again, only to immediately disappear in the blink of an eye as the world went black.

"Huh?" Satella suddenly found herself standing in the middle of a square full of rubble and ruined goods. She could hear the crackling of fire, the shouting of people, and even the crashing of buildings collapsing. Yet despite the fact that she could hear all these things, they seemed to enter one ear only to leave from the other. It was like her mind had been stretched as far as it could go and had just snapped back to its normal size. She simply could not keep up with all that was going on around her.

Something about her left hand felt weird, it was sticky and cold.

Lifting it up in front of her face she saw that it was dyed red, coated in blood.

Why was it covered in blood? Whose blood was it? All questions she did not have the slightest clue as to the answer to.

"Do we have to keep doing this? Is there really no way for this to end?" She could hear a voice speaking somewhere in the distance. It was neither angry nor happy, excited nor bored, it was despondent and hopeless.

Hearing each of its subtle inflections made her heart ache and its sad tone made her feel nothing but pain. Just what had happened to hurt him so?

With a massive bang a glowing white mass struck the ground, obliterating a building a sending rubble flying.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught site of a malformed brick hurtling towards her far faster than an arrow leaving a bow.

Which direction had the voice come from?

Satella focused else where as the brick slammed right into the side of her head, just above the ear, disintegrating on impact.

She did not even flinch.

"Give up and die already…" Satella spun on her heals as raging fires and crumbling buildings began to roar all around her. Once more she heard the voice but this time she heard where it was coming from.

Barreling down the road without paying attention nor caring what was happening around her she chased after the handful of words which had disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.

"Why suffer?" Hearing the voice to her right she skidded to a stop and turned only to be greeted by a brick wall. Yet with how close the voice sounded it was perfectly clear that he was on the other side of it.

As she launched herself shoulder first into the wall, she felt the hard blocks press against her skin. Truth be told it did feel a little bit painful, but as they were reduced to powder she was graced with a sight she would gladly suffer through far worse to see.

In the midst of a ruined courtyard stood a man with slightly disheveled black hair. His clothes were worn and his body ragged, but his eyes stared forward with pure unbridled conviction.

There was Flügel.

"Leave bro, this can only go one way." There was another person present besides Flügel and herself. A man clad in little more than a steel helmet and garb that made him look like little more than a bandit. With his sole arm he clasped a sword…

…that was pointed straight at Flügel.

After everything that had happened, everything that they had gone through there was still someone trying to take him away from her.

As hatred poured from her heart so did her magic from her body. A black mist as dark and deep as a starless night sky surged out from her body and rushed towards the aggressor. If he would try to take him from her then she would sever his very connection to the world for all eternity.

The man turned his head towards her just as the swath of yin magic began to envelop him. Before he could manage as much as a sound he was completely consumed by it.

For a brief moment a large black swirling mass of mist remained where he had once stood; slightly taller then he had been and as wide as he was tall. After this moment the mist simply blew away in the wind as if it, nor the man had ever been there to begin with.

"….tch" Flügel scoffed as he glared right at Satella.

"Flügel…" Satella called his name as she clutched her hands together overtop of her heart.

"I didn't think that coming back here one last time could possibly have been worse than any of the other times I'd been here…" Flügel kept his eyes trained directly on her as his voice smoldered with malice, yet he did not get the chance to finish speaking.

Perhaps it was the relief of being properly reunited for the first time, or maybe it was overexcitement due to a misunderstanding. Regardless of the reason, Satella seized what she saw as an opportunity and grabbed hold of the conversation.

"Then let me take you far away from here! We can go back to how things were before the world went crazy. We can build a new home out where nobody will find us and go back to just living our lives. We can make our world small again." With her voice like a pleading song Satella began to walk towards Flügel.

"So many horrible things have happened to you and I wasn't capable of anything more than watching. It broke my heart having to see you die and having to sit back while you were tortured." Her eyes gained a glassy tint as she continued to walk towards the man who only glared back at her.

"But you don't have to suffer anymore Flügel. You can lean on me; you can let me return the favour and save you this time!" She finally stood face to face with him, leaving only gap between them as a hopeful smile spread across her face.

In contrast his brow only furrowed as he continued to glare at her.

"I'm speechless." Flügel spoke plainly with a perfectly straight face.

The smile plastered across her face grew just a bit wider as her heart fluttered a bit with anticipation. She even moved just a bit closer to him so that his face completely filled her field of view.

"I didn't understand a single damn thing you said other THEN HOW FUCKING STUPID YOU ARE!" Flügel suddenly roared to life as his entire being erupted in a burst of anger and rage.

"Huh?" Gasping in surprise Satella involuntarily took a step back.

"WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Save me? Lean on you? Our life together? THE ONLY DAMN THING THAT CONNECTS US IS THE CURSE YOU PLACED ON ME!" His words pierced her heart like a red-hot knife, stunning her and leaving her speechless.

"I'VE DIED OVER AND OVER AGAIN BECAUSE OF YOU! SUFFERED ENOUGH SHIT THAT I SHOULD'VE GONE BATSHIT CRAZY MONTHS AGO!" Flügel closed the distance she had opened, filling her vision with his hate filled face.

"IF YOU HAD JUST LEFT ME ALONE, I WOULD'VE DIED A FEW HOURS IN TO MY TIME HERE AND BEEN DONE WITH IT. I WOULDN'T OF BEEN THROWN AWAY, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN USED, AND I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN LITERALLY TORTURED!" As he spewed accusations at her water began to build up in her eyes.

Flügel finally took a breath as Satella's vision grew blurry, allowing an uncomfortable silence to descend over the two.

"I'm not some fantasy NPC that exists just to be saved and whisked away to become some kind of arm ornament. I'm an actual fucking person…" Flügel said one last thing with a voice that was far quieter and almost pitiable in tone before truly falling silent.

Now he simply stood there and watched, waiting for the response of the most feared woman their world had ever known.

Tears freely rolled down her strained face as she grit her teeth while bearing her pain in a way that the whole world could see it. Her eyes remained focused on the man as if to show him her very soul and the wounds his words had left upon it.

Yet, the longer she looked at him the more she noticed and the more the patchwork of emotions that held her together began to unravel.

The way his eyes no longer glittered, the way he now slouched as if disinterested with the world, the superficiality of his whole demeanor. There was something very wrong with him. He was not all there.

It was like someone had broken him apart, taken some of the fragments and glued them together using a bunch of stuff that did not belong.

It was a realization that took her shattered anticipation and set it ablaze.

"I'm going to save you Flügel, I'm going to save you whether you like it or not!" The corners of her mouth turned upwards once again as she made her declaration.

Like a hat had just been dropped the air was suddenly saturated with mana as Satella lunged towards Flügel.

With only a single pace separating them both of her arms bore down to envelope his chest, yet just before they could wrap around, she felt a pressure on her own midsection.

Suddenly she was launched away from him at an incredible speed. Leaning forward she dug her feet into the cobbled ground below, ripping a channel as she skidded to a stop.

Not even taking a second to evaluate what happened, Satella sprang forward as a half-dozen shadowy appendages emerged from her body and rocketed towards Flügel.

With each bound she took towards him the distance was cut tremendously, yet with each bound one of her shadow hands imploded.

None of them managed to reach Flügel, but she did.

As his eyes widened in surprise, Satella grabbed his only remaining arm and swung him overhead and right into the ground which erupted into a cloud of debris the second his body made content.

As she yanked on the arm she still held in order to real him in, Satella's chin suddenly exploded in pain as she felt something massive and extremely fast slam into it.

Flügel's arm slipped from her grasp as she staggered backwards, struggling to keep her balance after the massive blow to her head. It broke the cadence of her attack, forcing her to take a second to recover both her footing and her orientation.

It also forced her to take a second to think and when she thought, she realized something.

Had the ground beneath Flügel broken when he hit it?

Or before?

Planting her feet firmly on the ground she stabilized herself to see that Flügel had recovered as well.

As the dust settled their eyes met and she could see how he gazed at her with nothing other then pure hatred.

It was a sight that utterly wretched her heart to see.

"Flü-"Opening her mouth as she began to call his name, Satella was cut off when another massive yet invisible object slammed into her nose with enough to force to make her head do a near quarter turn.

When she looked back at him he was running away from her as fast as he could towards a building on the far side of the courtyard.

"I'm not losing you again…" Satella said aloud to herself as she wiped away the trickled of blood that leaked from her nose.

Summoning over a hundred shadowy arms she began to walk towards him as the arms closed the gap almost instantaneously.

Flügel ducked inside the building only for the arms to completely shred the outer wall.

The second he spun around to face the threat the arms began imploding just like before, but this time for every one that was destroyed she created two more. It did not take long, but their numbers soon overwhelmed whatever was keeping them and her from Flügel.

They grabbed hold of his legs, his arm, his stump, his chest, and even his neck while pressing him against the far wall of the building.

"Stop struggling and let me help you Flügel. Just let me fix all of this. Let me carry your burden!" Satella proclaimed as she walked towards the now immobilized Flügel.

"JUST WHY THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HELP ME. YOU'RE THE WRETCH THAT GOT ME INTO ALL THIS SHIT TO BEGIN WITH!" Flügel screamed at the top of his lungs as he struggled with all of his might against the hands that held him to the wall, yet he was unable to budge himself by even the tiniest amount.

Satella managed nothing more than a frown at in response to what she heard.

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEEEEEEEEEE" Flügel's shouting grew completely unhinged just as Satella suddenly felt something slam into her midsection.

The strike simultaneously took her breath away and launched her into the air.

Before she could regain her bearings something else struck her in the back and slammed her right into the ground.

"JUST GIVE UP AND DIE!" Flügel raved as she was hit again and pressed right into the broken cobblestone below.

"DIE!" He screamed as he struck her again.

"DIE!" And again.

"DIEDIEDIE!" And again.

With each strike that rammed her into the rubble below her body was racked with pain, yet it was the pure anguish in her heart that was far worse. Flügel was doing this, he was hurting her. The kind, gentle, and tender man she had once known was now relentlessly trying to beat her into the dirt.

The laughter, the embraces, the companionship, even the sweet silence. It was like he had forgotten all of it as his words drew tears from her eyes and his abuse shook them free. The thought was so abhorrent that every fibre in her body, heart, and mind screamed out to continue to ignore it and to slip back into the delusion that everything would be fine when they reunited.

"The old you would be so, so sad if he could see this right now Flügel…" Satella mumbled to herself as she remained face down, huddled on the ground.

"That's why I can't let this horror story continue." Her declaration was utterly devoid of pride, fanfare, or even strength but it was a declaration nonetheless.

The tiny trickle of mana from her gate to the rest of her body increased to a steady flow. Lapping it up like it was the elixir of life her muscles grew stronger and her bones grew tougher.

Satella stood up while still being subjected to his barrage like it was nothing. The weight of a building coming down on her head was no longer enough to even send a tiny quiver through her legs, nor could a strike to her chin shift her gaze by even a single degree.

As her eyes met Flügel's time all around her groaned to a halt. The chunks of cobblestone and clumps of dirt kicked up by his attacks now fell so slowly that it was like they were just hanging in the air around her.

He stood no more then a handful of paces in front of her, freed from the many arms that had once pinned him to the outer wall of the now ruined building. His face nearly frozen in a state of pure rage.

"I'm sorry…" Uttering an apology that he would never hear, Satella steeled herself before kicking off the ground and surging forward, right towards Flügel.

He probably had not even realized she had moved as she arrived in front of him, bearing down on his head with her fist. Against him it was an undodgeable, unblockable attack that might very well kill him.

The distance closed between her fist and his forehead. Time which should still be flowing normally for her seemed to slow to the point she could count down how long it would be until she hit him.

How long it would be until he died.

How long it would be until she never saw him again.

"I can't!" Satella cried at the last moment, smashing her fist through the wall right next to Flügel's head.

In the same instant her authority deactivated, allowing the rest of the world's time to return to normal.

In response to the devastation wrought on the wall by the strike Flügel jerked his whole body to the side. While it was likely an effort to dodge an attack that had already missed him, it would also open the distance between him and Satella.

Which was something she could not allow.

She grabbed his neck with her left hand and slammed him right back into the wall, knocking the breath right out of him.

She wrapped her other hand around his neck as well. Positioning her two thumbs over his airway, she slowly and gently pressed down and began to strangle him.

"-" His mouth instantly gaped wide open as he tried to suck in a breath, but her strength was so great that no air made it to his lungs. His sole remaining hand scratched away at her's, trying to free his airway but she was far to strong.

The tears pouring out of her eyes blurred her vision as his started to bulge out of their sockets. She bit down so hard on her own lips that blood stained them red, all the while his turned blue as he began to asphyxiate.

"Flü-" She tried to say his name, only to be forced to stop as she struggled to keep even the tiniest sliver of composure.

"Whether you wake up …or go onto the next life, things are going to get better. No matter what I'll make sure that I free you from whatever has poisoned you. I love you Flügel, so please forgive me for this." Satella choked out as she felt Flügel's strength begin to fade.

His invisible attacks ceased as his legs grew limp. Even his hand stopped trying to pry her thumbs away from his throat.

She truly wanted to look him in the eyes until his consciousness slipped so that she could reassure him that everything would be okay. But it was something she simply could not manage.

How could she look into the eyes of the man she loved as she strangled him?

Letting her head fall softly against his chest, Satella gazed at the floor, and at Flügel's now unmoving legs.

How had things come to this?

Why did she not intervene earlier, before his mind had been corrupted?

Could they even free him from his madness?

Satella's mind was already bombarded by questions as her heart sunk into a sea of guilt.

The stream of tears from her eyes turned into a rushing river as her breathing devolved into sobbing.

Overflowing with emotion, she did not notice the strange sensation in the hand which Flügel had grasped until it was too late.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Caught in a vulnerable moment she howled out in pain as she staggered away from the wall, clutching her mangled hand as Flügel fell to the ground.

She backstepped two, three times until she tripped over a loose brick and fell to the ground, landing on her rear. Before her she could see that Flügel had fallen face first into the rubble and was not moving.

Truth be told, the pain from the injury was nowhere near enough to justify her reaction. It was just that she was already vulnerable and more than unprepared for it. Like she was doubled over and ill, only for someone to walk by and kick her right in the stomach.

Satella raised her injured hand in front of her face and examined the bloody, unmoving appendage.

Her wrist had been twisted halfway around so that her palm pointed towards the sky and the back of her hand towards the ground.

Her fingers were all broken, twisted every which way as pieces of bone poked holes through her skin.

The whole mess was dripping blood all over her at a steady rate and it definitely hurt. Yet what hurt more was what she saw when she looked back towards Flügel.

Pandora was knelt beside his still unmoving body.

The girl was a far cry from her normal pristine appearance.

Her long platinum hair was dishevelled, knotted and tangled every which way. The white sheet she wore as clothing was caked in dirt and stained with dribbles of blood. Her flawless complexion was now replaced by clamminess so severe that she looked straight up sickly.

Perhaps it was due to how close they had been but what instaly had jumped out about her was actually her eyes. Pandora had always had a gaze that could only ever be described as calm. Yet now it was anything but that.

Her eyes were a tumultuous sea of anxiety, doubt, anger, and fear.

As her elder sister it told her that absolutely nothing good could come from whatever Pandora was going to do.

"NO!" Satella shrieked at the top of her lungs as hundreds if not thousands of shadow arms launched themselves from everywhere around her and towards Pandora.

The young girl only looked at her with a sad smile as she placed her hand on Flügel and said her haunting line with a voice weakened by pain.

Flügel-sensei should be where it all began.

In that very instant it was like the world around them shattered like a glass pane as cracks surged out across the air itself.

Satella's shadow arms slammed into the area just a second two late, utterly annihilating what remained of the building.

As the dust settled a single sound emanated from the ruins of the battlefield.

Satella's pained cries.


"Mother…" Beatrice softly sobbed to herself as she ran her finger's through her mother's hair.

Echidna did not respond or even react to any of this as she lay with her head on Beatrice's lap. The only evidence of her even still being alive was the subtle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

"Betty wasn't there when Mother needed her in fact. Betty wants Mother to come back, I suppose…" Beatrice mumbled to herself as tears continued to stream down her face.

"Echidna-chan just passed out from running out of mana, I can promise you that she's going to wake up realllly soon Beatrice-chan." Beatrice felt a hand against her back as Minerva's comforting voice reached her ears. Yet, no amount of comforting could possibly shift her gaze or her heart. She did not even attempt to respond to the Witch of Wrath.

Undeterred, Minerva continued, "If you hadn't of been there to catch her, Echidna-chan probably would've died. So you should be very proud of yourself, Beatrice!"

Minerva's praise did nothing to lift her spirits however.

"Betty just wants Mother back." Beatrice said again in a voice that was almost despondent.

Beatrice summoned some water with her magic to dampen her sleeve and began to clean her mother's face with it. She was already sticky from sweating so much but also covered in dirt and grime. Normally she did not like to do things that would make her sweat or go places that could make her dirty. When either of the two would happen, Beatrice always remembered how insistent Mother would be to bathe right away. She would probably feel a little bit better if she woke up with a clean face at least.

"Mila and Daph are back!" Betty heard Typhon's excited voice ring through the air as she undoubtably ran off to greet the two.

"Did you ha find them huh?" Beatrice heard Sekhmet pose a question to the two returning witches.

"Even my beasties couldn't find anything so there's probably nothing left to find." Daphne sounded as nonchalant and whimsical as ever as she responded.

"T-There's still l-lots of place w-we d-didn't get t-to check b-but w-we ran out of t-time." Carmilla chimed in as well.

"Things could ha get exhausting huh if we stay here too ha long. When Satella returns huh we'll leave the city." Sekhmet in turn responded with her rich yet exhausted voice.

Having finished cleaning off her mother's face Beatrice was left with nothing else to do but watch her continue to sleep and listen to her breathe. Even though she was surrounded by people right now, she felt just as alone as when she was in the library.

Had she just done more to aide the Sword Saint against the Great Rabbit then she would have been able to help Mother before she exhausted herself to the point of passing out.

This was-

Beatrice's mind suddenly went blank as an incredible pressure washed over her. It was a sensation that was so oppressive as to be all consuming yet so intoxicating that it could penetrate straight through all the clouds that shrouded her heart. Simply put, the air had suddenly become so rich with mana that as a spirit she could not possibly ignore it.

So for the first time since she saw her mother's limp body falling from the sky, Beatrice looked away from her.

Walking down a street packed with rubble, engulfed in flames, and littered in bodies was Satella. Her red, puffy eyes looked right past them as she approached as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Most significant of all however was not her in fact, but the air around her.

Small whisps of shadows formed and disappeared as the amount of mana pouring out of her body exceeded what the air around her was able to hold. It was a feat that was unachievable by most outside of a magic release period, and here Satella was doing it both effortlessly and seemingly unintentionally.

"Satella-chan, your hand!" Minerva cried out with an angered tone only to cover the entire group in a veil of silence. With everyone's eyes suddenly focused on her mangled hand, a few drops of blood fell to the roadway below.

Someone had injured the Witch of Envy.

A sense of unease and uncertainty fell over the group aside from Minerva and Emilia as the former rushed forward and the latter looked around in confusion.

Sitting up straight on a piece of rubble, unease replaced the normal lethargy in Sekhmet's demeanor as her eyes remained fixed on the wound that Minerva was about to tend to.

"Who?" Remaining true to character, the Witch of Sloth asked the important question with only a single word.

"Flügel." A single name was all Satella responded with. Its mention made Minerva scowl as she began to violently punch Satella's mangled hand, healing it like it had never been injured in the first place.

"So you were holding back then?" Sekhmet gazed at Satella intently and when the witch meekly nodded in the affirmative her exhaustion once again overcame her unease.

With that Beatrice was finally freed from the oppressive atmosphere and allowed to return her focus to her mother. Wrapping her hands around Mother's head she cradled, gently stroking her cheek with her tiny thumb. The sounds of discussion continued to reach her ears only to pass through her head without comprehension.

"I-I think w-we should wait u-until E-Echidna-chan wakes up b-before we m-make a d-decision like that…" Beatrice's blinders were only removed by the mention of Mother's name. Yet she could not help but feel a bit angered by what else she had heard.

"Tella's upset so we have to do something to make her feel better! We can't just stand around waiting day!" Typhon shouted out, silencing Carmilla.

"We shouldn't take a bunch of risks like that Typhon-chan. Satella-chan's upset but we don't want to make things worse because we mess this up…" Minerva joined in the argument against Typhon with a tone that lacked her characteristic rashness and volume. Somehow it irritated Beatrice nonetheless.

"I know it's a risk Minerva-chan, but if time's important then standing around here will definitely make things worse!" Satella retorted with an unignorable anxiety lingering in her voice.

"This ha is what Echidna huh is go-" Sekhmet sleepily began to join in, only to push Beatrice over the edge before she even finished her sentence.

"Can you all stop it in fact! Mother is unwell and will be exhausted when she wakes up. Betty is not going to let you badger her, figure it out amongst yourselves in fact!" Beatrice snapped at everyone present but no one in particular as she scrunched her face up in disgust. She would have balled her fists up as well had she not been holding Mother's head.

"I guess we have our answer then, Satella-chan." Minerva responded after a long moment.

"Where are we going then, Tella?" Typhon excitedly asked.

"Pandora's home, since ours has been gone for a long time now…" Satella responded without enthusiasm, and only pain in her voice.


"I DON'T WANNA I DON'T WANNA! GET IT OFF!" A young girl howled as she sat before a large mirror as a middle-aged woman did her make-up.

Fidgeting upon the chair she sat on, the girl raised her closed fists as if she intended to wipe the makeup from her face.

"Stop it Pandora!" The older woman sternly cried as she grabbed the girl's hands before they could disturb the make-up on her face.

All she could feel was the weight and the cold suffocation of her skin brought upon the plastering of many layers of make-up across her face. Unable to cope with the fact she could not get it off and given her young age, Pandora did what all young children would do.

"So icky…" She mumbled as tears began to well in her eyes.

"Oh honey I'm sorry. Don't cry, please don't cry dear." The woman's voice suddenly became softer as she stepped around the chair and knelt in front of Pandora, bringing their eyes level.

"It's okay, everything's going to be okay." She heard the woman's soft voice coo into her ear as a pair of arms reached around her and embraced her.

She could feel the woman's body heat alongside her gentle heartbeat and suddenly it was like all the discomfort and stress left her body. She felt so peaceful that she could fall asleep this very moment.

"I know its hard Pan-chan; the yucky make-up all over your face and the pinchy clothes. But can you do it for me tonight?" Pulling back from the embrace the woman filled Pandora's entire field of view.

Pandora looked right into the woman's deep sapphire eyes and saw nothing other than her own reflection staring back at her. She may not have known the words necessary to describe how she felt around her, but if she had to say something, it would be warm.

"I'll do my best." Pandora said rather meekly as she watched the corners of her mother's mouth turn upwards into a smile.

"That's my girl, now close your eyes so I can finish up." She said cheerily as Pandora obliged.

Pandora felt a very soft brush tickle her closed eyelids, leaving a layer of something behind as it did so. She really, really wanted to wipe it off.

"All done, you can open your eyes now." The woman called out and Pandora opened her eyes to see the smiling face beaming at her. She could not help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Now why don't we go show your dad how pretty you look, before his business partners get here?" Before Pandora could respond she was lifted out off the tall chair and put on the ground as the woman began to head towards the door. Except Pandora herself did not move.

"Up!" She said as she held out her open arms towards the woman who now towered over her, her own head barely reaching the woman's waist.

"You really are a momma's girl, aren't you?" Her mother said with a smile as she picked Pandora up and carried her out the door.

Now riding in her mother's arms, Pandora hugged her mother's neck as they headed down the hallway towards the dining room.

"Now remember, you have to be on your best behaviour tonight. It's important that you and I make a good first impression. Can you do that for me?" Her mother turned her head just slightly enough so that her golden hair was no longer blocking her view.

"Mhhm!" Pandora sounded off in agreement, smiling as she bobbed up and down in her mother's arms.

"That's my girl!" Her mother smiled back before opening the door and stepping into the dinning room.

"Honey come over and see how pretty Pan-chan looks al-… I'm sorry, I didn't now they had already arrived." Pandora's mother's voice started off loud and jubilant only to suddenly become far quieter and uneasy sounding as she looked around the room.

Pandora pulled herself as close to her mom as she could as she realized how many strange men there were in the room. They all looked a lot bigger than her mom and dad, and most of them had very scruffy looking beards and weird marks all over their bodies.

"Pan-chan, why don't you go up to your room and colour for a bit? Mommy and Daddy have to talk with our guests for a bit." Her mom's voice grew tense as she started to put her down. Pandora could not help but feel scared.

"That won't be necessary, our talk shouldn't take long and it might prove educational for her." A funny sounding man who was dressed in a suite like her dad spoke from where he sat at the head of their table. He had a tiny and pointy moustache that moved rather erratically as he spoke.

Pandora could feel her mother's heart begin to beat faster and faster as she remained glued to her. Pandora really wanted to go back to her room and close the door but her mother was not putting her down. Instead, she did the next best thing and buried her face in base of her mother's neck.

"Liese, come over here. They've only come to talk." Pandora suddenly heard her dad's calm voice as her mother began to move again.

Pandora could feel her eyes begin to well up as she thought about just how much she did not want to be here right now. She wanted to run upstairs and pull her covers over her head and hide until the scary men went away.

"You don't have to be scared Pandora. Everything is going to be alright; we just have some grownup stuff to talk about." Pandora felt her dad's hand on her head as she heard his gentle voice.

Feeling slightly less scared, Pandora pulled away just enough from her mom that she could see his face out of one of her eyes..

She saw his kind, toothy smile, deep brown eyes, and his platinum hair identical to her own. It was a face that she never got to see enough as he was always away working but it was one that always made her feel happy when she saw it.

Pulling away just a tiny bit more, Pandora looked at her dad with both of her eyes and saw his smile deepen.

"Uhhhhhh hhhmm" At the sound of the pointy moustache man clearing his throat, Pandora buried her face back into her mom's neck.

"I apologize for the interruption, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit today? The letter you sent was rather vague to that end." Pandora heard her father speak, yet he did not sound like he normally did. Something about his voice was different but Pandora could not quite figure out what.

"The purpose is exactly what I said in the letter. I've come to discuss the investments that you made with my money." Pandora felt her mom's grip on her tighten as the man spoke.

"I don't completely understand, the loan doesn't come due for nearly a ye-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" The man suddenly began screaming, causing Pandora to squeeze her mom's neck as tightly as possible out of sheer surprise. The room went completely silent after his outburst.

"I'm sorry, forgive me. What I meant to say is that with the performance of the tulip bulbs over the past few weeks, I fear that you won't be able to repay the loan."

"I know that there's been a bit of a dip in prices but there's still lo-"

"Dip in prices? DIP IN PRICES?! THE DAMN THINGS HALVED IN VALUE BETWEEN THE TIME YOU BOUGHT THEM AND WHEN I SENT THE LETTER! DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THE PRICE SINCE THEN? IT'S DROPPED TO A TENTH OF WHAT IT WAS! A TENTH!"

"It can still re-"

"Viktor!" The moustache man stopped yelling at her dad as he called out a name she didn't know. His call was met with a "yes boss" from a man with a very deep voice.

Pandora heard her father gasp in pain as a loud crash echoed throughout the room. It was followed by a series of muffled thumps.

"Henrik!" Pandora's mom shrieked out her father's name as she suddenly rushed forward, jostling Pandora enough that she could not keep her face glued against her anylonger.

Pandora froze up when she was suddenly met with the sight of her father's figure splayed out on the ground with blood seeping profusely from his his mouth and nose. He was pinned there by a large, nearly bald man who remained poised with a raised fist that was easily the size of her dad's entire head.

Pandora's dad sputtered blood out of his mouth as he turned to face her and her mother.

"Just stay calm Liese…it'll be alright…" Pandora's heart was already racing from the shock of lots of things suddenly happening but the terror building up in her was beginning to exceed the limit of her tiny body.

Her home was full of strange men that were hurting her dad and scaring her mom. She knew neither why they were here nor why they were doing what they were doing. She just wanted to close her eyes and have everything go back to normal.

"J-Just g-go a-away…." Pandora mumbled as her face turned warm and the whole world grew blurry as tears began to fill her eyes and roll down her cheeks. The situation had simply become too much for such a young child.

"Shhhhhhh, it's okay Pandora. You don't need to cry, everything's going to be okay." She felt her mother's hand against her back and her shaky voice in her ear. It was an attempt to sooth, albeit a futile one.

Yet the next thing she knew, another pair of hands had sandwiched her face between them and forcibly turned her whole head away from her mother.

"That's right Pan-chan, there's no need to cry. At least there won't be if your parents return the money they've thrown away." Pandora found herself staring right at the face of the pointy moustache man, so close that she could see little else. His lips were parted just enough to show some of his yellowed teeth. It was enough to make her freeze up in terror, to cry without sound and turn her trembling lips still as ice.

"Get away from her!" Her mother shouted with a tone of absolute fervour as she shoved the smaller man backwards with her free hand, causing him to release Pandora as he stumbled.

"Hands of the boss." The deep voice of another giant man boomed as a massive hand grabbed hold of Liese's outstretched arm and threw the two of them through the air.

Before Pandora could so much as scream she felt both of her mother's arms clamp their bodies together so tightly that it hurt. The next thing she knew they slammed into the wall with a resounding crash.

As her mother struck the wall the force of the collision caused the two of them to immediately come to a halt as the tension left Liese's arms.

Even with her mother's body cushioning the blow for her, pain radiated across Pandora.

"It hurts…it hurt's mommy…" Her cry breaking into a sob, Pandora grabbed handfuls of her mother's clothes in her tiny hands and buried her face as tears ran like rivers from her eyes. The pain she felt would have neared the upper limit of what an adult could sustain. For a child as young as her, it was unfathomable. This led to her cries bordering on shrieks.

Yet no matter the intensity of her call for help, her mother neither pulled her close nor told her that the pain would fade. The loving care that this child depended on to endure a world that could be so cruel was absent.

Eventually it became apparent to this distressed child that something was far from right. Looking up, Pandora's amethyst eyes met with her mother's matching pair. Yet, her mother's sat only half open and dull, reflecting nothing.

Her cries instantly quelled with nigh but a sniffle, Pandora reached for her mother's face.

"…Mommy?" Placing her tiny hands on her mother's cheeks, Pandora called to her.

"…Mommy?" Gears began to turn within the young child's head.

"…Mommy!" Even without the tiniest shreds of wisdom owing to her short life, there were things every living human was capable of recognizing.

And the last thing Pandora needed to connect the dots was the tiny trickle of blood that was coming from where her mother's head had been embedded in the corner of the wall.

"MOMMY!" Pandora screamed as loudly as her tiny body could manage as she came to the realization.

Her mother was not okay.

Throwing her arms around her mother's neck, Pandora pulled herself as tightly to her mother's body as she could manage. Her pained wails only added to the utter chaos that erupted throughout the room.

"LIESE!" Pandora heard her father cry out like a wounded animal.

"You utter imbecile! I didn't hire you to kill anyone, what are we going to do when the townsfolk find out? The knights will have all of our heads!" The boss of the men cried out in a panic.

"MOMMY!" Pandora continued to scream.

"I didn't mean it, honest boss" The same booming voice apologized while sounding more apathetic than anything else.

"MOMMY!"

"There's only one thing we can do at this point. Kill the other two, we'll grab what we can before fleeing for the northern kingdom." The boss bellowed as the panic in his voice waned slightly.

"LI-….." Pandora's father cried out once more before being cut off by a guttural choking sound.

"MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY!" Pandora screamed as a massive hand grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her off her mother's corpse.

Screaming, crying, and flailing. It was all for nought. No matter what she did, or how hard she tried to return to her mother side she was unable to achieve so much as a single glance. She was little more then a puppet that had been strung up by the strength of the large man.

"MOM-" Her final cry was cut short as a cold blade touched her neck and then perforated her throat.

Blood poured from her neck, painting her skin and clothes a vivid red crimson as it filled her lungs, silencing her cries.

With the strength leaving her body and her limbs falling limp Pandora was discarded like a used toy, lightly tossed to the floor a few paces away from where her mother lay.

Lying unmoving in a rapidly growing pool of her own blood; Pandora had fallen in such a way that she faced her lifeless mother.

Unable to move or so much as croak it had been a tiny stroke of luck within this evening of horror. Yet she was a young child, one unable to appreciate the small victories given by a world that was oh so horrid to its inhabitants.

She was scared and so she want to be nestled up with the one who had always cared for her.

She was small and meek, so she wanted a pair of arms to be wrapped around her to protect her.

These desires of hers were small asks but given the situation they amounted to something so impossible that her will alone was insufficient. Even so, this was the way things should be.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy! Pandora wailed as she clung to her mother's body, using every minute iota of strength to pull herself as close as possible.

The only sensation she could feel was that of her mother's cold hands on her back as she sobbed.

"I told you to kill her! We need to hurry!" The boss screamed angrily.

"I just cut her thro-huh?" The man sounded utterly bewildered as he realized that the slit across her throat had disappeared, alongside all of the blood that had poured out of it. It was as if he had never tried to murder her in the first place.

"Must be my imagination…" Pandora heard the man apathetically mutter to himself before she was painfully yanked up by her hair.

"Mom-" Pandora screamed as she dangled, before being cut off by the burning slice of the knifes blade once more.

"-my!" Yet before her blood could so much as splatter across the floor, Pandora once again found herself in her mother's cold embrace.

"HUH?! You all saw that, right? You saw me cut her throat and then she just reappeared unharmed right next to the body? The man's knife clattered to the wooden floor below as utter terror overwhelmed the previous apathy in his voice.

"If you can't manage such a simple task then I guess I'll have to do it myself!" The boss said with doubt emanating from his own voice.

His footsteps sounded out through the room, now completely silent aside from Pandora's crying, only stopping briefly as he picked up the fallen knife.

Pandora yelped in pain as she was ripped from her mother and lifted into the air by her own hair and spun around to face the man.

"You can't play anymore of your tricks if I do the deed with my own to hinds." The man muttered under his breath as he drew the knife back and prepared to run her through.

It was in that very moment though that Pandora saw something fantastical enough to reach through the cage of terror that entrapped her. In the far corner of the room, by the only other door was a black mass. At first, she thought it was smoke, especially as it seemed to billow. Yet it was precisely how it billowed that told her it could not possibly be smoke.

Instead of travelling up or even dispersing at all it seemed to orbit something. Travelling around whatever lay at its core like it was so precious that it did not dare leave its orbit, lest it be lost forever.

It took on the shape of an inverted cone, no it was more aptly described as that of a full body veil. This was because deep within it to the point of barely being visible was a person, one whose head seemed to be looking right at her.

"Die so I can live." She heard the man mutter under his breath just as two appendages of the same black mist shot out from the mass and rocketed towards them.

Before the man could plunged the knife into her, these masses of shadow reached him, and before he took notice they morphed into two hands, each gripping one of his arms.

"Huh?" The man let out a confused gasp as he tried to drive his blade forward, only to realize his arm was being held firmly in place.

First his gaze fell from her and saw the shadow hand that restrained him, then rose back to her face as the flames of accusation roared in his eyes.

Yet, before he could so much as say a word his eyes suddenly went wide as an audible crunch resounded throughout the air.

Pandora suddenly felt herself falling as she was hit with a splatter of hit blood. However, she heeded neither of these things. Instead, her eyes remained transfixed of the shadowy appendages which yanked the man back, less an arm. They performed their task so quickly that if she blinked she would've missed him being brought back to the shadowy mass and completely enveloped before disappearing within it.

"What the hell just happened?" One of the thugs shouted out in disbelief.

"That thing got the boss!"

"How'd it do it?!"

"Beats me but we gotta get him back if we wanna get paid!"

Pandora barely paid all of the other men any attention as they all started to shout out in confusion and cautiously approach the black mass of shadows with weapons raised. All she could focus on was the wonderous mass of swirling shadow that approached her.

Appendages rocketed out of it, lunging at the armed men in the room, yet as the shadows grew closer Pandora could see better and better what was inside.

A tall woman, much older than her yet much younger then her mother.

Then as the veil of shadows finally lifted, Pandora saw a pair of wonderous eyes that were a purplish colour she had never seen before. Shimmering and shining she felt like she was looking into the night sky as she stared into them.

She was so captivated that she did not react whatsoever as the woman knelt down and scooped her up into her arms.

"Its going to be okay, everything's going to be okay now. You're safe." The woman's trembling voice whispered into her ear as she felt a hand begin to stroke her back.

"Just look at me, everything's going to be all right." The woman continued to speak to her as a powerful hand gently put her head right above the woman's heart. Pandora now noticed that there were tears gently rolling out of the woman's eyes and down her pale cheeks.

Only then did she notice how hot her own face felt and how sore her throat was. Pandora realized that she still had not stopped crying.

Just as she felt the crisp night air wash over her, Pandora gave into the slow rhythmic heartbeat and let her tired mouth close.

As she felt an indescribable seed of ice plant itself in her heart, she reached her small arms around the woman and hugged her as tightly as she could.

As the tears flowing from her own eyes finally ceased she looked up at the woman who was now giving her a weak smile and lost herself once more in the pair of eyes that were too caring to possibly belong in this world.

Yet if you were to ask her why she precisely stopped crying, she could not truly say that it was because of this woman. Rather it was because the part of the small girl who kept crying simply never managed to leave the house that day.


"Long time… no see…. Sister Satella." Pandora weakly croaked.

Satella on the other hand said nothing, the burning glare in her eyes said everything for her.

The tension between the two was so thick that it may as well have been a physical wall, blocking out any and all interference from others. It was precisely due to this that she, Echidna could not so much as manage a single peep. The psychological pressure that currently existed in the room might as well have pushed her through the home's dilapidated walls.

"I…was going to…come talk to you…but you showed up…before everything…was ready…" The girl seemed like the very effort of speaking was pushing her beyond her limit as blood ran out the corners of her mouth.

Satella's silence continued.

"Please…don't look at me…like that. I've…done all I can… for him…" Pandora forced a pained smile before a coughing fit wiped it off her face, and spattered blood all over her clothes.

"HOW COULD TAKING HIM FROM ME BE DOING SOMETHING FOR HIM!" Satella suddenly screamed with such vigour and frustration that both Pandora and Echidna flinched. In fact, it was a surprise that the very walls around them did not come down.

Pandora tried to straighten herself in her dilapidated chair, only to give up after finding her body too weak to do so.

"The real Flügel needs…to come back…He needs to…fix this horrid…world." Pandora choaked out as she stared directly into Satella's eyes, with longing in her own.

"What do you mean the 'real Flügel', the real Flügel was right in front of my eyes back in that city. Just you've twisted his mind and ripped him away from me before I could set him straight!" Satella responded by hurling an angry accusation at Pandora.

"That thing looks like Flügel…talks like Flügel…acts like Flügel…but it's not really Flügel…" Pandora responded and managed to nearly quell Satella's anger for a moment. For a brief period the Jealous Witch appeared like she was overcome with something akin to confusion, as if she was in pure disbelief at what she had just heard. It was just a brief moment though.

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!" Satella roared as she grabbed Pandora and lifted her so that their faces were nearly touching.

"That man took you in, put a rough over your head and food on your plate. He even raised you like you were his daughter! Don't you dare speak about him like he isn't even a person!" Satella raised her voice further, to such an extent that Echidna could see genuine fear in Pandora's eyes.

Her whole-body scream at her to run, even if something else bid her to watch instead.

"Don't misunderstand…I'm just not satisfied with only something that superficially seems like him…I want the whole Flügel-sensei back…not just something that appears like him…"

"I know the Flügel that you took is the real one. I can tell because I love him!"

"That's right… if you really loved him… you would be able to tell…"

"What did you just say?"

"You can't tell because you don't really love him, Sister Satella. You never have loved him and you never will, because that's the way things should be."

For a single instant it was like time itself stopped as the Witch of Greed completely froze, her face transfixed on Pandora. She knew exactly what the girl had just done, and because of that she felt an unfathomable amount of dread wash over her.

Turning to Satella, she thought she saw her friends eye twitch, and then began a display of violence rivalling her earlier massacre of the kingdom's nobility.

An uncountable number of shadow hands materialized all around her body and instantly swarmed towards Pandora. In contrast to what she had done to the nobility, this was no accidental slaughter, and in contrast to the Sin Archbishop she aimed to annihilate her target as quickly as possible rather than make them relive the pain of another.

Each of the shadow arms arrived at their target within the very same instant that they manifested. Subdividing upon arrival, they grabbed giblets of flesh barely larger than the head of a pin. In the shape of deathly flower, they bloomed all at once, ripping and flinging the tiny pieces of flesh outward, reducing Vanity's body into a bloody spray.

Echidna felt the child's blood run down her face, it was still warm.

Surely it would disappear any moment now as Pandora reappears like nothing had happened.

Surely she would come back like she always had.

Surely.

As she felt the blood on her face begin to cool the reality of what had just occurred began to sink in.

Pandora, the seemingly omnipotent and eternal child, wasn't coming back. To that, she was completely speechless; so speechless in fact that she did not notice someone approaching her until a pair of hands grabbed her face.

"You know I love him right? Pandora didn't do anything, I still love F-Flügel…right?" Satella's voice was desperate as she asked questions rather than making statements. The same desperation was written across her face, everywhere except her eyes.

There it was little more than a slight twinkle adorning the otherwise dull amethysts. She could still barely see her friend, but it was like looking at someone resting on the bottom of a lake. A watery blanket all but obscuring their visage, even the slightest ripple was enough to completely take them away.

Right now Satella felt so close, yet so very far away.

She knew she needed to answer her. Satella was someone who needed reassurance more than anyone possibly could in a situation like this. Yet, it was like her mind was simply drawing blank after blank. She opened her mouth to speak but she had nothing to verbalize other then static.

She could not get past the fact that Pandora was dead. How does one who can just refuse to die actually die?

"She can't have taken it from me, I can't not love him. He's everything to me, he loves me too. It's only natural that I love him back, right?" She heard Satella call to her again, and once again she had nothing to say.

At this point her silence would become her grave, anything was better than nothing.

"You'll be reassured once you see him again. He couldn't have gone too far from here on foot." There was an undeniable tremor in her voice as her first encounter with the one she wished to avoid replayed. Yet, she knew that if she did not do what she could then that encounter would certainly reoccur.

"Mhm" Satella only murmured in response as her gaze fell to the floor. Clasping her hands in front of her chest and letting her shoulders slump forward, she appeared fragile and delicate. Like a strong gust of wind would carry her away as a cloud of a million fragments.

Satella took a tiny step forward so that the distance between them was reduced to almost nothing. It was something that she had seen many times from her, yet never been on the receiving end of. One of the most dangerous beings in their world wanted to be held.

Even though her hands were trembling, she reached around the half-elf and pulled her in close. It was a gesture that should have been accompanied by some comforting words, something she unfortunately lacked.

Instead, she gently stroked her friends back as she placed her head on her shoulder as silence fell over the two as they stood amidst the gore of the girl they had helped raise.

"I won't let you take him from me." Echidna heard a whisper in her ear.

Her heart immediately jumped right into her throat as she immediately realized the situation and did not move a single muscle.

And despite this, the next thing she knew was the feeling of air rushing through her hair as she was suddenly and unexpectedly accelerated. Flying backwards, she sailed across the room until a jolt of pain shot through her head as her mind filled with static.

The next thing she knew, she lay collapsed on the frozen ground outside the house.

"Mother!" The first thing she heard was Beatrice's terror filled cry as the spirit sprinted towards her as fast as she could.

Yet when she opened her eyes, she did not see Betty, but Sekhmet.

Standing at her full height, the Witch of Sloth was positioned between her and the house she had just come from.

For a brief moment nothing happened, nothing existed aside from the wind that blew through Sekhmet's purple hair and the sound of Betty's footsteps through the deep snow.

That was, until her voice reached their ears.

"IlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehimIlovehim" Like a divine chant it emanated from the building. Repeating itself over and over as mist-like shadows seeped from every cranny, crevice, and opening in the centuries old dwelling.

Everyone, even Beatrice was now stricken to silence as the front of the building was ripped away from within as a single figure slowly walked out.

Her arms were wrapped around herself in an embrace as she gently swung from side to side reciting her chant. Cloaked in a thin veil of darkness as she dragged a long train of shadow behind her as she walked out of the remains of the building like a bride would down an aisle.

The Witch of Envy was truly back.

As she watched the Great Calamity approach, she audibly gulped. There was no contingency plan for what was happening; the lynchpin of the previous effort to seal her away was not going to help them this time.

Yet, for some reason a small part of her felt relief at the futility of resisting complete annihilation.

"Mother! Mother must get up in fact!" Her attention was only removed from Envy by Betty frantically calling her name and tugging on her arm, trying to pull her to her feet despite the impossibility of success.

Lazily turning her head she was met with a fear stricken face on the verge of completely shutting down.

"I'm alright." She forced out as she overcame the urge to vomit that came with pushing herself to her feet.

The girl's eyes and face followed her as she got up, but she ignored her and instead turned to face Sekhmet.

The Witch of Sloth glanced back at her over her shoulder, a serious demeanor overwhelming the normal tiredness that crippled her.

"Solve this or we die." Even when forced to action, Sekhmet was a women of few words.

Her gaze shifted from Sekhmet to the approaching calamity, then down to her still hand, before finally resting on Beatrice.

They lacked the strength to even hope to escape from her, not to mention contain her. Realistically there was no way that they got out of this with their lives. However, that being the case there was no reason for them not to commit everything to a one-in-a-thousand longshot that offered the slimmest hope of even some of them surviving.

Given the project that she had helped with here long ago, and the man who had been the cause of there journey here in the present there existed one such plan.

Turning back to Sekhmet she said, "You'll need to buy time."

All the purple haired witch responded with was a scoff before stepping forward while Echidna began to walk in the opposite direction. There was no doubt that they were on the same page in regards to the likely outcome.

She felt Betty grab hold of them hem of her dress and follow her but it was a gesture she did not so much as acknowledge, nor did she say so much as a word to the other witches she passed.

Typhon, a fanatic gaze in her eyes yet nearly powerless against their opponent.

Carmilla, cowering in place even though she was as suited to fighting the Witch of Envy as one could be.

Daphne, now unbound and surrounded by masses of beings that writhed under the snow.

And finally Minerva, her back turned to everyone was she tightly embraced her daughter whilst crying. Emilia looked on, seemingly emotionally paralyzed. Yet there was no time to leave the two to their emotional goodbyes.

Placing a hand on Emilia's shoulder, she tried to push her out of Minerva's grip. She was expectedly unsuccessful.

Minerva slowly turned her head to face Echidna.

"Why are you taking her?" She said with an expression that showed how her heart was being torn in two.

"She needs to unlock the door Flügel put here." Echidna said utterly devoid of emotion.

Minerva did not say anything back, instead she looked back at Emilia and with tears in her eyes squeezed her tight one last time before letting go.

Then with a weak and forced smile she turned to join her compatriots in their effort to delay the inevitable. A tiny fire lit within her that only a parent could possess.

Emilia was led away by the wrist, forced into forming a trio with the other two as her gaze remained fixed on her mother's back, her eyes completely hallow.

Together they trudged through the deep snow and further into the forest.


Mother was not doing to well.

Beatrice looked over her shoulder at her mother's pale face. She saw beads of sweat run down her forehead as she looked blankly forward. It was perfectly clear to her that her mother was nowhere near recovered from her mana deprivation. Which was to be expected, sleeping for a couple of hours during a carriage ride was nowhere near enough.

She had let go of her mother's dress long ago so that she could walk in front to make a path through the deep snow. Wherever they were going it was somewhere ahead of them as they had not turned since leaving the clearing with the house, and that was over an hour ago.

The sounds of fighting had long since faded, replaced by the eerie stillness of the frozen forest. It was so quiet that it was anxiety inducing. Somewhere ahead of them was the key to their survival while somewhere behind them was the physical manifestation of annihilation, while here in between the two was absolutely nothing.

Once they reached wherever they were going they would have to act and return to stop the Jealous Witch, risking their lives in the process. Betty would have to risk losing her mother again.

As long as they were here, far away from the Witch of Envy and not yet at whatever would send them back towards her then there was no risk of Mother being taken from her again, but it was inevitable that they would run into at least one of them again.

If only this journey through the snow could last forever.

Betty shook her head rapidly to dislodge the illogical and impossible thought. Only after she looked back once again did she realize that nobody was following her.

Beatrice froze up as she began to panic.

Where did they go?

Did she miss them turning off somewhere?

How far away were they?

Would she even be able to find them again?

In the very instant they arose; all of her questions were answered. However, the panic did not subside.

Over a hundred paces back down the trail she had made stood Mother and Bubby's Brat. Mother was nearly doubled over, clinging to a tree with both hands panting while the brat stood behind her with a blank expression on her face.

Beatrice hiked up her dress and began to run back down the path towards her mother.

How could she have left her side when she was in such a state?

Why did she not do more?

Why did she not notice she had strayed so far away from the two?

Beatrice was mentally cursing herself as she pushed her small body to move as quickly as possible.

Was there even anything she could do when she did get back?

At most she could use her magic to make Mother's body lighter, but that would not do a thing to ease her exhaustion. If Mother were a spirit as well then the solution would be easy, simply have her take Betty's mana. Yet, the reverse was far from simple. Was it even possible for a being other then a spirit to take mana from someone?

"Mother!" Betty came to a screeching stop right in front of Echidna who did not seem to even react to her as she clung to the tree.

"Is there anything Betty can do to help…I suppose?" Beatrice asked her mother apprehensively as she watched her exhausted eyes roll over to look at her.

"There is something." Echidna said breathlessly.

"Then tell Betty what she can do in fact!"

Echidna pushed herself off the tree, knelt down, and scooped Beatrice up into her arms.

"Huh?!" Beatrice almost immediately became flustered and nearly fell out of her mother's grip.

"Betty, you'll do what I say, correct?" Her mother sounded incredibly tired but when Beatrice looked up at her face, she was the one who became breathless instead.

Her mother's deep black eyes were focussed right on her. Yet, for the first time it did not feel like she was being examined or tested under such a gaze, instead Echidna was looking at her with something akin to tenderness.

"O-Of course Mother, Betty is contracted with Mother in fact." Betty stuttered a bit as she spoke, thrown off by the display of affection.

"That was not what I meant Betty. As my daughter will you listen to me, your Mother, right? Even outside of the contract?" Betty felt her entire mind suddenly go blank. Had Mother suddenly acknowledged her as her daughter? Had she really done that?

It felt like Beatrice had suddenly been given something that even her four hundred years of weighting was not enough to pay for. She was no longer just a spirit that Mother had created, she was Mother's daughter!

She nodded her head as it suddenly grew so light that it might as well drag her whole body off into the sky.

"Then I'll give you the reward upfront this time." Betty did not really process what Mother was saying as she was still caught up on what had just happened. Yet, the next thing she knew, there was a pair of lips pressed against her forehead.

Needless to say, Beatrice more or less completely melted. A forehead kiss from her mother was just too much for her. So much so that she did not even realize that she had been put back on the ground.

"Betty, I want you to turn around and start walking. Don't stop and don't look back, just keep walking."

"Huh?" Betty suddenly snapped back to reality, even if it was one she did not understand whatsoever.

"Goodbye Betty, please do as I say." Only once her mother gave her a parting remark did Beatrice realize something crucial. Bubby's brat was not with them anymore. In fact, even the trees around them looked different, and the path in the snow they had made was not anywhere to be seen.

They were in a different part of the forest.

"Mother!" Beatrice screamed as she lunged out and tried to grab her, only for her to disappear right as Betty's fingertips were about to reach her.

She had teleported away, leaving Beatrice behind.

In an instant the happy ecstasy that had been surging through her tiny body vanished as she fell to her knees.

"Mother…don't leave Betty behind…" Beatrice mumbled as the whole world around her began to be distorted by her tears.


The very second her teleportation spell finished was the second that the punishment for her frivolous use of magic began. A splitting headache, intense nausea, and a gnawing weakness to cripple her already tired muscles, all of this on top of the concussion she likely had.

She did not manage to so much as step forward before her legs gave out underneath her and she fell into the freezing snow below. Right in front of a silver haired half-elf who remained motionless.

"Could you give me a hand?" Echidna muttered before a pair of hands slowly lifted her back up and onto her feet. When the hands let go of her, she was forced to grab hold of the girl to aide her ailing legs. All the while suppressing the urge to vomit.

Looking up, her eyes were met with a gaze that saw nothing, one that looked fitting for a corpse.

"Help me walk." She commanded Emilia, who dutifully obeyed despite having no reason to.

From watching the girl as they slowly continued their way through the forest it was clear that she had given up. Whatever flame had been lit by her reunion with Minerva was gone, and now she was simply waiting to die.

"We're getting close, I'm going to need the key soon." She said only for the girl to completely stop in her tracks.

"Mother Fortuna…" Emilia mumbled out a name, and against even her own expectations Echidna felt the frustration she held towards the girl begin to ignite into anger.

"You know she's dead right?" Echidna said almost inaudibly in a deadpan voice.

"…Yes…Mother Fortuna died because of me…" Emilia responded despondently.

"No, I mean that Minerva is almost certainly dead by this point." Echidna brought her mouth right up beside Emilia's ear to ensure that she heard her loud and clear.

"She forsook the chance to be with you until the end for the small sliver of hope that you would live. She loved you enough to break her own heart for you. Now, either I dispel the magic that binds the door's key to you and have it reappear inside your body, or you can open the door for me. No matter what you choose to do, the door will be opened. The only decision you are making here is whether or not you choose to spit on your mother's corpse." With each and every word that was lashed out and etched into her mind Emilia's gaze fell further and further, until she was staring down at her feet. Yet, not a single tear fell from her eyes.

"…I'll do it then…I'll open the door…" Emilia mumbled so quietly that it was nigh impossible to hear.

"Good. Then once the door is open you're going to lock yourself inside and stay there as long as you can. Hopefully whatever Flügel hid behind the door is either capable of bringing him back to his senses or strong enough to seal the Witch of Envy against her will."

"…Why…"

"Because unlike Betty you would certainly die if left to your own devices. By doing this your death is only almost certain rather then guaranteed."

"That's not what I meant…"

"I'm well aware of that."

"I don't understand…"

"Then think about it."

With their brief exchange coming to an end the two resumed walking, and before long they arrived at another clearing. One graced by a large black door with intricate carvings that stood all by its lonesome, appearing to lead to nowhere.

Yet at the base of the door sat a one armed boy clad in ragged clothes that were deteriorating into little more then rags. As they stepped into the clearing his aimless gaze shifted to them. The very moment his heterochromatic pupils landed on them he muttered a phrase.

"Authority of Pride, First Among Individuals"

And then a white void swallowed all three of them.


All around her was nothing but an endless white void. Blank, empty, and without texture. It was possible to discern a beginning or an end to it, yet she did not feel like she was falling. Furthermore, there seemed to be something solid beneath her feet given that she could not lower one further then the other.

"Authority of Vanity, A Face Unbearable" All of a sudden a voice echoed out from all around here as if it were simultaneously originating from inside her own head and nowhere at once, and with it another mark upon the white canvas.

A man with poor posture, his shoulders rolled forward, clad in clothes only fit for a clown. His hair unruly, and his skin a shade of white that belonged only to a corpse.

His eyes too looked completely dead, devoid of the spark of life as they gazed emptily before him.

Even though he had neither taken a step nor spoken a single word she felt an uncomfortable anxiety begin to sprout within her. Then with a blink of his eyes his gaze changed, and the anxiety she felt became a knife that lodged itself firmly in her chest. She was looking right at Hector, the former Warlock of Melancholy.

"Long~ time no see~" The man opened his mouth, and with mere words managed to set her mind alight.

"Don't tell me that you're still alive?" She mumbled while taking a step back.

"Would it make you sad~ if I was?" He said almost playfully with his sad voice, seemingly coming more and more alive by the minute.

"It would be …a disappointing surprise…" She said as she raised her arm to point a single finger at the man whose very existence caused her turmoil.

"El Goa." With a single word a ball of fire just a bit smaller than a melon appeared at the tip of her finger and flew towards him.

It travelled quickly but not so fast that one would at all struggle to track it. Precisely as she expected it never reached its target. Yet it was not decisively crushed in the air like what had happened four-hundred years ago. Instead, it was like something had slowly squeezed it, struggled to break it apart before finally overcoming the fireballs coherency and reducing it to whisps of flame.

"I don't remember you ever holding back like this?" She tried to put on a nocking tone only for it to be overcome by exhaustion as a wave of dizziness struck her. The most recent uses of her teleportation magic had truly been costly.

"Some of my strength is here, some of it is being used elsewhere~, and some of it is strung in between, holding the two together~." He said almost uncaringly, shrugging his shoulders like it were a matter of fact.

"Then again, shouldn't I be asking you~ the same question?" He said while canting his head just a bit.

"Events have left me in a rather poor condition." She said as she leaned forward with her hands on her legs, completely out of breath.

"It's a shame, this'll be over to soon~ then." A bit of despondence returned to Hector's voice as he began to walk towards her.

She let her gaze fall about as she looked at the situation in front of her. She was seemingly trapped in a fight against someone who could counter her magic. Emilia was whisked off somewhere else, likely facing off against the other part of Hector's power. She herself was so low on mana at this point that her vision was starting to get blurry and her body felt like it was full of lead.

It was probably meaningless to mention but the long shot plan of finding Flügel's hidden treasure that would magically let them stop the Witch of Envy was over before it even began.

Hector's defenses may have appeared trivial now, if only she still had the strength to exploit his surprising weakness. Then again, there was still a price that she could pay.


"Why did it have to happen again?" Emilia mumbled to herself as she sat in the midst of an endless white expanse with her knee's pulled in tight. She could still feel the warmth of her mother's final embrace before they were separated, and she still could see the pained expression on her face.

At the drop of a hat her life had been torn apart before it could even be put back together again.

"Hey Emilia-tan, long time no see!" Emilia suddenly felt every muscle in her body tense up as she heard a voice. Overly happy and cheerful like it was pulled straight from her nightmares. Only now did she realize that as she looked at the ground in front of her that there was a pair of shoes there.

Orange and black, and of a pattern that she had only seen once before. The very sight of them was enough to make her anxious, like she had suddenly gained awareness that she was in the midst of a bad dream right before it would start to go downhill.

Yet despite her reservations she felt like she had to look up. As her eyes travelled up his black pants, she could feel her breathing began to quicken as an expectation of what was to come flashed through her mind.

Seeing his familiar white, orange, and black tracksuit sent her back to their recent encounters after he had forsaken it. All of the yelling, shouting, screaming, crying, violence, and pain.

She really did not want to look up any further, she really wanted to stop even though she had come this far. Yet, like a single drink these pieces of a visage from the time before everything had fallen apart only left part of her wanting more.

And so she looked up and she saw his face.

A pair of mean looking eyes that held nothing but kindness and a smile so wide that one could only assume that his day had just been made. It was the boy who had saved back in the capital, the innocent child she had cast away in an attempt to keep him from harms way. It was Natsuki Subaru.

"…" Emilia opened her mouth as if to speak but not a single sound came out.

"Even after all you've been through, I'm still awestruck just looking at you! Truly EMT!" Subaru swooned over her while her gaze fell. Once upon a time she may have been able to feel a tiny bit happy over such a comment. Even if she could not possibly understand how someone could say something like that about a silver-haired half-elf.

Now however things were different. She knew that she was a person that was fitting of her visage, unworthy of whatever flickers of happiness that had once been spurred to life in her heart.

"Why are you here?" Was all that she could mumble as she stared at the ground by his shoes.

"To fight you!" He happily sang.


"Al-Jiwald." She spoke so softly that it was impossible for anyone other than herself to possibly hear her incantation.

The instant the last syllable of the left her lips she felt something deep inside herself, something that could not possibly have a physical existence but was part of her nonetheless begin to unravel. It felt warm enough to burn her as it travelled through her body to a single point at the tip of her finger where it became a beam of pure, white light.

Surging through the air the beam closed in on Hector when it began to distort. It twisted, turned, and grew smaller as if it were fighting against something trying to constrict it. Yet it did not stop, not even as it slammed into Hector's chest and blasted through to the other side.

The very second it did so was when she ceased casting her magic and let go off the last bit of strength that was keeping her upright. With what she had used to fuel this display of power reduced to a mere whisper of itself she collapsed to the ground below.

Exhaustion smothered her like an intolerably heavy blanket, transforming even the act of breathing into a nigh impossible task. She would have gladly let her eyes roll shut so she could drift off to sleep if a sharp stabbing pain had not erupted in her left arm.

So she lay on her side starring forward at the corpse of one who should had died long ago.

A corpse that was still standing.

Still looking at her.

Still breathing.

As he took a step towards her with a gaping hole still blown through his chest all she could manage was a grunt as the pain began to move from her arm, towards her heart.

It hurt so badly that she could neither think nor focus on what was going on. All she could see was that a fatal injury had done absolutely nothing.

A gasp forced its way out of her as the pain finally reached her heart and escalated well beyond her tolerance. Insync with her heart it spiked. It was like she was being stabbed in the chest with every beat, over and over again without respite.

She lost track of him as her attention was drawn inwards, not realizing that he had taken a seat beside her until she felt a hand rest gently on her head. It swept away the sweat drenched hair on her forehead but did nothing more. The two were left in silence as she lay wracked in pain.

"Ready?" Was all he said in a solemn voice.

"P…" Was all she managed in response as his hand slid overtop of her eyes, draping the world in darkness.

For an instant she thought she felt something on top of her head but then she felt no more.


"I can't… I can't fight anymore…" Emilia mumbled only for Subaru to suddenly kneel down and fill her whole vision with his face.

"If you can't even try to fight me Emilia-tan, then the witch you came here with is guaranteed to die as well." Emilia only turned away from Subaru as she heard what he said. Was she really so useless that she would not even try to help someone who had been willing to try and save her?

"Come-on Emilia-tan! I'll even give you a freebie to make up for earlier." Subaru moved so that she was once again forced to look at him.

Emilia mumbled out a sound before standing up. She remembered the earlier that Subaru was referring to. It was when every horrible bit of her life had been dredged to the surface all at once.

She looked down at her hand as she balled it into a fist before looking right back at Subaru. He was patting his cheek as if to say "hit me right here."

Could she actually hit him? Even though she had been the cause of suffering for many people, could she actually go out of her way to hurt someone with her own two hands?

Then again if she did not even try, she would be killing Echidna.

She had never punched someone before, so she could only guess how to do it properly.

Putting her whole body behind it, she swung wide, letting her fist travel along an arc before it collided with the side of Subaru's face.

First she felt it make contact, then it started to meet resistance before she felt something break like glass. Before she knew it, Subaru was airborne with a little bit of blood coming from his mouth and a few teeth scattering through the air.

She watched as he collapsed on the ground in a heap a short way away, unmoving.

She looked down at her hand, still balled in a fist and winced.

She had hurt him again, the innocent child she had pulled into her affairs without proper thought. All so she did not have to feel the guilt of choosing to let someone die.

She was truly a monster.

"Gah!" Emilia sputtered as something suddenly slammed into her stomach, causing her to double over. Then she was struck again on the back and sprawled out on the ground. A dull pain radiating across her entire body from where she was struck.

It hurt, it hurt a lot.

She knew that she had to get up, that she should keep going, keep fighting. There was not even anything stopping her from getting up. Neither were her muscles torn nor her bones broken, there was not even anything holding her down.

"I can't do this…" Emilia mumbled to herself as she laid her head against the white floor.

If she got to her feet then she would just be beaten back into the ground. If she fought then she would be struck and subjected to more pain. If she struggled then she would only fail.

"Emilia-tan?" Subaru called her name and the next thing she knew she could see his feet again. He was back to standing right in-front of her.

Emilia did not respond, all she did was wrap her arms around the front of her face as she lay on the ground.

"Emilia-tan, now's not the time to be laying on the floor…" His voice was gentle but with just the slightest bit of a scolding tone. It was like how one would speak to a toddler who was misbehaving.

Emilia opened her mouth to speak but then briefly bit her tongue. She felt her chest tighten with anxiety over what she wanted to say, over the fact that she needed to do something but wanted to choose not to. It took every little bit of willpower and strength she still had but she managed to choke out the words she felt she needed to say, "just get it over with and kill me…".

Subaru was initially left completely speechless.

"That's what I have to try and do Emilia-tan, but to die like this…. Can you at least tell me why?" Subaru's voice got a bit quieter but was also overtaken by pain as he spoke to her.

"There's no point in continuing to try and live if nothing can ever get better…" Emilia mumbled out as a few tears began to roll out of her eyes.

"How are you so sure that things won't get better?" Subaru weakly asked.

"They've only ever gotten worse, and now I don't have a reason to keep living… so please…" Emilia's own voice grew weak as the flow of tears increased.

"You're sure?" Subaru was now mumbling as quietly as she was.

"Mhm" Emilia nodded in response before she felt Subaru's hands gently grasp her neck.

She let her eyelids slid shut as a tiny smile graced her lips.

"It's finally over." Was the final thought to cross her mind as her story was brought to an end by a loud crack.


Indomitable, unbeatable, and all powerful. Those were the expectations that he carried with him all his life. Reinhard van Astrea, the Sword Saint, the strongest warrior in Lugunica and likely the strongest in the whole world.

Yet if he was so strong then why was he here, trudging through the snow, alone.

The people of the capital had relied upon him, desperate for aide as calamities befell their city from every direction. Yet he had been incapable of stopping even a single one of them. A great horde of rabbits, endlessly multiplying faster then he could kill them had been enough to completely mire him.

The simple fact that they required more than just his raw strength to stop had been enough to upend his ability to effectively defend the city. Even though a powerful spirit had eventually intervened and defeated the Great Mabeast, most of the city's residents had been lost. This included the candidate he had sworn to protect.

Mentally he was still back there, fighting desperately to save each life he could, yet he knew that he needed to abandon the past if he was going to have any hope of fulfilling the role of Sword Saint.

It had been several moments since he had last seen any signs that might lead him to the one he was chasing. A ruined house next to a broken carriage, surrounded by innumerable mabeast carcasses. Yet amongst it all he had only found a single body, belonging to a young platinum-haired girl. The very same girl who had manifested the Great Rabbit out of nowhere, right on top of him.

He had pressed on, following a line of felled trees that led him deeper into the forest, something deep within him telling him that he would find her at the end of this trail.

Reinhard suddenly came to a halt as he was pulled from his thoughts, something small and delicate had gabbed hold of his cloak.

A small girl with her blond hair in a pair of drills and pink butterflies for eyes. The very same spirit that had aided him back in the city.

"Betty has a favour to ask of you in-fact." Her voice sounded completely broken and hoarse to the point that it was barely intelligible. Given the tears that still poured from her eyes it seemed like she had been crying and screaming so badly that her vocal cords had been utterly wrecked. It was such a radical change from when he had met her earlier that Reinhard simply could not muster a response fast enough.

"Betty wants you to kill her, in-fact." The spirit's voice was pained but it was clear that her request was not what was causing her agony.

Yet more senseless death was not something he was even willing to consider. He may be indebted to her but there were better ways to repay her then to fulfill her call of the void.

"I'll come back for you…" He said with a despondent voice as he walked past her, freeing his cloak from her grasp.

With each step he took the girl's cries grew louder. She sounded like she was in complete and utter agony, but he unfortunately did not have the time to help her. The Witch of Envy was a great enough threat that he could not delay, lest the most recent tragedy repeat itself.

"If you leave Betty alive then she's going to walk out of the forest and kill every human she sees! The only way you can… protect anyone is if you… kill Betty right now!" The spirit screamed after him at the top of her lungs even as her speech broke down into more and more sobbing. Yet it was a threat that he could not possibly ignore, and one that he knew she intended to carry out. That was why Reinhard van Astrea stopped and returned to her.

She was curled up amidst some broken tree's, a physical example of abject misery with a pair of eyes that pleaded to him to end it all.

"Mother's gone for good now…a-and Betty can't bare to live without h-her. S-So please set Betty free, I suppose…" Tears poured out of her eyes as she begged him and even though the mere thought of it pained him there was now no possibility that he could refuse.

As he removed a utility knife from his belt the spirit pushed herself to her feet.

"I'm sorry." he said whilst driving the knife into the middle of her torse, piercing through to the other side of her tiny body.

He felt a few tears begin to accumulate in his own eyes, only for them to stop as he saw the weak smile that formed across the girl's face.

Neither of them said anything as her body began to disappear, unravelling into raw mana that dispersed into the world around them. Even once she completely vanished he remained motionless.

The way she had looked him right in the eyes as she died would probably stay with him until the end of time itself.

Yet Reinhard could not dwell on what had happened for far in the distance something was happening. Someone else had just reached the end of the path he was following.


"Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone?!" Subaru screamed as shadows slowly crept up his body like a rapidly growing moss covering a tree trunk.

They randomly and briefly bulged and jutted out, presumably the result of Subaru trying to free himself. However, unfortunately for him he did not even so much as manage to tear this veil of shadow that seemed fixed on enveloping him.

"I have to wait for an opening…" Reinhard mumbled to himself as he remained crouched in the woods.

Had this event occurred only a few days earlier then he would have certainly brazenly entered the fray just as soon as he had arrived. Only now did he understand just how easily his nearly unmatchable power could be obstructed.

So he remained still, watching, waiting for the moment that would give him the best chance of ending this with a single strike.

Just as the shadows crept up to Subaru's neck, they stopped. Then they drew closer to his body, changing shape from an unintelligible mass to something more akin to a thick full body jacket. Needless to say, they still kept him fully restrained.

Subaru himself had also stopped shouting or even really resisting. He looked positively exhausted as sweat ran down his forehead and panted gasps rasped in and out of his lips. It was clear now that this battle had been going on for quite some time.

Yet this also created something akin to an ideal situation for Reinhard, if Subaru's strength was mostly spent then should he be capable of eliminating the Witch of Envy then Subaru himself would be a mere afterthought. Furthermore, given the situation between the two there was even a possibility that Subaru would aide him.

Reinhard readied himself as he watched the Witch of Envy begin to slowly walk towards Subaru. When she was in the most vulnerable position possible, he would strike.

Even though he possessed a divine protection to ensure he always perfectly perceived the flow of time properly, each moment he now waited felt like an eternity. Watching her slowly step forward felt like waiting for decades to pass by. Had he ever been this nervous before a fight?

He saw her eventually reach Subaru, turning her back to him as she lightly grasped his face with both of her hands. This was his moment.

Bolting out of the woods at full speed he began to rapidly close the distance all the while completely masking the sound of his footsteps with another divine protection. Vaulting overtop of a pair of corpses, he drew the dragon sword.

With its blade crackling with white energy he leapt into the air as he prepared to strike down the Great Calamity.

As he swung his might sword over his head he looked just past the Witch of Envy, right into Subaru's eyes. While he was not looking at him, he did see a reflection of something.

The Witch of Envy's eyes.

She could see him.

The next thing Reinhard knew, that very same pair of eyes was the only thing he could see. She had somehow moved so fast as to escape even his own immaculate perception and joined him in the air.

He should have swung his sword, kicked, punched, or even head butted her; except Reinhard's entire body had gone limp.

His arms fell to his sides as he just barely managed to maintain enough of a grip to prevent the Dragon Sword from slipping out of his grasp.

As all the tension was involuntarily released from his neck muscles, his head fell forward and allowed him to see the state of his body.

There were over 15 different holes bored through his torso, each by an individual shadow arm originating from her body. With a hand wielding nearly unimaginable strength clenching his neck, she threw him with incredible force right back into the forest.

Sailing headfirst directly into a tree trunk his ears were filled with the sound of splintering wood as he smashed right through it.

Tumbling through the air he hit several more trees before he finally collided into the snow-covered earth and rolled to a stop.

The Witch of Envy had just killed him before he could even react.

"It's happening again…" Reinhard mumbled as he lay atop a pile of quickly reddening snow, vivid images of his recent failure to subjugate the Great Rabbit flashing before his eyes.

Unfortunately for Reinhard van Astrea, he was not someone who was allowed to feel sorry for himself nor to descend to a pit of self loathing. With his skills in the blade alone he was the envy of every aspiring swordsman and swordswoman. Not to mention the fact that he is so loved by the world as to be blessed with enough divine protections that one could not hope to count them.

It was because of this very love that he pushed himself to his feet as the mortal wounds faded from his body.

Should her power grant her an advantage in close combat then there was only one option, engage her from range.

Clutching his sword above his head he allowed it to take in every last drop of mana that it could.

The air around him began to crackle as power surged from his weapon, creating a blade of pure energy so immense that it seemed to pierce the sky itself.

He looked far ahead in the distance and spied that she had returned to where Subaru was entrapped. He would be caught in the crossfire, but that was not particularly a negative.

Reinhard then swung his sword and let its immense power echo out like a roar across the forest. For much of the flora and whatever fauna still resided here, his strike would become the last thing they ever experienced.

Yet in that instant Reinhard felt something, something connecting him to her.

Then the next thing he knew, she was right in front of him again. For a second, he saw right into her enraged mad eyes, and by looking within them he realized something. Her rage was not itself a product of her madness. It was not general, nor was it aimless. She bore it against him specifically, like a targeted grudge taken to a whole other level. He had done something to her that she warranted as deserving of death.

Squish

The sound of something bursting filled Reinhard's ears as something hot and warm splattered across his face.

He felt all of the strength drain out of his body and sword as he fell to one knee, brining him to eye level with one of her hands.

Cloaked in a protective layer of shadow it held steady as blood dripped off it to the already crimson snow below. All the while grasping the remains of his own heart.

Once again, he had sustained a wound that would have been fatal for any vaguely normal person. Except this time it was clear to his opponent that he was anything but normal.

"Mine." Was the only word to escape her lips before an uncountable horde of shadow appendages emerged from her and began to assail him.

Still heavily weakened by his previous injury, there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop them. Punctured, ripped, and torn, he was rapidly being rendered into little pieces that were quickly flung into the sky.

Reduced to nothing more then bits of gore he soared through the air. For someone like him, one who had been disallowed death he could feel nothing but frustration. But frustration itself is not necessarily the worst thing, only when it becomes an inescapable pit does it become a problem. Should frustration lead to reflection as one asks themselves how they could avoid the failure that stymied them, then it becomes very, very useful.

Whether Reinhard achieved this level of introspection on his own, or if it was the result of guidance by the world that had seen fit to interfere in his life on so many other occasions is another question. Irrespective of its answer, Reinhard van Astrea was drawn back to the moment right before she had suddenly appeared in front of him. To the moment that he had felt something connect them.

He had a theory, if her power relied on something connecting them together then the key to defeating her would be to sever this connection. If this connection could be severed, then it meant that conceptually the power itself could be imagined as something almost physical.

Which meant that as a swordsmen the answer was rather straightforward, he had to cut the concept of the power in two.

Reinhard continued to soar through the air in pieces as the world itself commanded his body to reform.

Slowly as they sailed through the air, the giblets of flesh began to unnaturally cluster together like a pile of magnets. They rearranged themselves as flesh fused together and water trans mutated into blood. Even the flesh stuck to the sword reformed into a hand so that his obligation to never be disarmed could be kept.

Reinhard van Astrea, was back.

With his body reformed he twisted midair and looked below, at some point during the Witch of Envy's most recent offensive against him, Subaru had either managed to free himself. Now he stood rather close to the black construct at the centre of the clearing, using it as cover as he rested.

Reinhard came crashing down into the ground feet first, spraying snow everywhere as he slid to a stop. Before him he saw the Witch of Envy slowly saunter back into the clearing, her gaze affixed on Subaru who in turn only expressed frustration as he leaned against the black door.

He looked over at the boy, and as their eyes met he got a glimpse of the swirling mass of rage and resignation within him. Yet, unlike before with the Witch of Envy, he was confident that these emotions were not directed specifically at him.

After giving a small nod, Reinhard turned away satisfied. He had some confidence that Subaru currently saw the Witch of Envy as the greater enemy. At least for the time being the two of them would not be opponents.

He gazed back at the Witch of Envy as he held his sword defensively before him. All he could do was watch, wait, and hope that his theory was correct.

He could see that the abject rage that she held towards him remained as the gaze coming from her amethyst eyes threatened to burn holes through him, yet he remained stock still as she continued to approach.

She took one step, and then another before mana suddenly surged from her body. Hidden within the tidal wave was the same feeling he felt before. Something without a real form extending out from her, spanning the gap between and connecting them.

He focused on it, mentally thinking about how something between two other physical objects must itself have a physical form. He visualized it, reasoning that something with a physical form must itself occupy space and therefore exist in the world just like he did.

He could see it now, a ghostly blue, semi-transparent string connecting him and the Witch of Envy together.

Swinging his sword far faster then any human could reasonably follow he slashed through the string, cutting the concept that joined them.

And absolutely nothing happened.

He felt a bit of a grin creep onto his face precisely because nothing had happened. At the very same time he watched as the Witch of Envy grit her teeth as dozens of shadow arms arrayed around her remained motionless.

He felt the connection between them reform again, so he severed it instantly.

The very next thing he knew, the dozens of shadow arms around her became hundreds before suddenly hurtling towards him.

Moving as fast as he was capable of, he started to defensively slice them apart as they came. His sword quickly became a blur before seemingly disappearing from his hands as he swung it faster then human eyes could track.

Yet despite all of his speed it was of little use, the Witch of Envy seemed quite capable of recreating the arms just as quickly as he could destroy them. Even without her ability to strike him whilst stripping him of any and all defensive capabilities, it seemed that she was still more then a match for him.

He was stuck firmly on the defensive as she began to once again close the distance between them. With each step she took her shadow arms would reach him just a bit faster, and so as the distance between them shrank, the scales slowly tilted more and more in her favour.

Although he hoped that by letting her close the gap that an opportunity to go on the offensive would appear; it quickly became apparent that he would not last until that point. Thus, Reinhard began to slowly back away from her, albeit at a lesser rate compared to her advance. Maintaining his defenses unfortunately meant he could not move particularly quickly.

The thought crossed his mind to potentially let her tear him apart in order to get out of the current situation, however it was one he had to toss out. She had already proven herself capable of adapting to his counter, he absolutely could not just assume that she had not been working on her own answer to his ability to heal any injury.

Slowly but surely she entered the danger zone, the range at which he was swinging his blade at his maximum possible speed. Standing now only two or three body lengths from the black door he was forced to stop backstepping. It now took 100 percent of his concentration to just maintain the status quo. At the same time she had taken her fist step past Subaru, who had seen fit to remain a complete bystander since escaping her earlier entrapment.

"I really don't have a choice regarding this…do I?" Subaru mumbled in a voice that was completely full of resignation.

Even though it sounded like he had given up, he raised his arm just as he unleashed an invisible attack against the Witch of Envy.

Knocked off balance she staggered forward, her magical assault briefly subsiding.

Without giving himself a single second of respite, Reinhard immediately switched to the offensive.

Taking a runner's stance, he immediately raised his sword as he prepared to put a long overdue end to this fight. Except he suddenly saw a pale purple thread appear, connecting him to the Witch of Envy.

Contorting his body he attempted to slice through it without losing too much speed. Just once he did so he saw her face once again.

She was crying.

Yet even though her eyes were red and glassy her gaze did not lose any of its earlier hatred. In fact, he swore that it was even more intense than before.

Suddenly his whole body flinched as the atmosphere around him completely saturated with mana.

The sky itself grew darker as the moon above disappeared behind a black mist as over a thousand shadow arms suddenly bore down on him alone.

Reinhard did his absolute best to stand his ground, but against such an onslaught it was impossible.

First one clipped his arm, then another nicked his leg, until finally they began to gain purchase on his chest. Before he knew it he was being swept away by this tidal wave and carried off into the forest.

Through the tiny gaps between the writhing mass of arms he saw Subaru, still standing his ground, albeit against significantly fewer arms. Yet in that moment he read a handful of words off Subaru's lips.

"Authority of Lust, Charismatic Magnetism."

The very second he uttered those words everything came to a complete standstill. The attacks against him stopped, the arms carrying Reinhard away stopped, even the Witch of Envy stopped.

Reinhard fell to the ground as the moon cool light returned. However, he did not instantly charge back into battle, instead finding himself transfixed on the scene in front of him. He was not mesmerized by whatever power Subaru had employed, but instead shocked by the behaviour of the two.

He watched as the Witch of Envy slowly spun around; her face completely frozen like she had just seen a ghost pass right in front of her.

Once she was facing Subaru she gingerly and almost hesitantly walked towards him with her hands held sheepishly in front of her, until she was close enough to press her tear-stained face right against him.

Reinhard could only watch in abject confusion as he saw Subaru wrap his arm around her and begin to rub her back, like he was comforting her. He even heard him say, "It's okay I'm not going anywhere, nobodies going to take me away."

He was at a complete loss, why did Subaru suddenly change? From what Reinhard had seen, he absolutely loathed the Witch of Envy to the point of outright hatred. Besides his hatred, he only ever seemed to be depressed. Where did this tenderness come from? Why did he feel it for the Witch of Envy of all people.

Reinhard could only watch as the Witch of Envy seemed to slowly break down in Subaru's arms, sobbing into his shirt. In this very moment one could not possibly believe that she had once tried to destroy the world. She looked so fragile, so defenseless…

She looked defenseless…

Realizing what Subaru was going for, a small smirk crossed Reinhard's face as he readied his sword for the umpteenth time. Subaru was far craftier than he realized.

If he was able to restrain himself to ensure the defeat of the Witch of Envy then there might be more to him then meets the eye. Perhaps, just perhaps they could reach an understanding so that nobody else had to die today.

Reinhard shook the thoughts from his head, now was not the time to be thinking about what would come next. Now was the time to bring an end to all of this.

Repeating what he had done so many times this day, Reinhard kicked off the ground and prepared to swing his sword. He would strike quickly and decapitate her from behind before she realized what was going on.

He intended to do just that, just he suddenly noticed a thread similar to before, pale green in colour, connecting him to Subaru.

Just as his sword began to swing something invisible slammed into his hands with enough force to redirect his blade right into the ground. Given how tightly he held it this caused him to tumble, careening passed the two until he planted firmly against the ground on the other side of the clearing.

Perhaps Subaru had not intended to get the Witch of Envy to drop her guard but to instead deceive him?

He saw the entire world upside down as he lay on his back, his eyes glued on his two opponents.

She stood forefront with an expression of blissful ecstasy plastered across her tear-stained face as she caressed Subaru's head, which rested atop her shoulder. With his arm wrapped around her waist the two took on the appearance of a couple, not a pair standing on a battlefield that would likely determine the fate of the world. Oddly enough he felt no malicious intent from either of them.

"Mine. Forever mine." He heard a soft voice, one almost as pure as the sound of a silver bell come from the Witch of Envy. He watched as she eventually let go of his head and opened her eyes.

Finally getting to his feet he stood and faced her with his sword raised defensively.

"Go away." She said as she grinned from ear to ear with her blank amethyst eyes glaring at him.

The next thing he knew everything had gone pitch blank as the moon and stars disappeared from the sky. The ground around her disappeared in the face of shadows radiating out, and from these shadows thousands of shadow arms emerged.

They instantly rushed towards him, and he did his best to fend them off. Slashing through them with the dragon sword, spinning, ducking, and jumping to dodge them; he did everything in his power. Unfortunately, it seemed that his strength was no longer enough to stand equally against her.

Hundreds of the arms suddenly grabbed hold of him, each taking hold of a chunk of flesh before tearing it off and launching it into the sky. Before he knew it, he was once again sailing through the air as a bunch of little pieces.

Except this time he was not just left up in the sky to heal and reform his body. Despite no longer having eyes to see, he somehow saw a swarm of pale green threads extending towards him. Each reached towards one of the many disconnected pieces flesh that had once been him.

Then they disappeared just as fast as they appeared, while the fragmented remains of Reinhard's body were launched into the ground at an incredible speed, raining down like a bloody shower.

"You won't take my happiness away…ever again." The witch's quiet voice rang out once again as magic seeped out of her body and crawled along the ground.

He lay half embedded in the ground, healing as fast as he possibly could; yet he had been reduced to mere pieces of flesh and slammed into the earth with so much force that he had splattered everywhere. He did not have so much as a body anymore, even the idea of fighting back was impossible.

Just as his eyes began to reform, the whole world began to take on a purplish tint as an ever shifting purple film crawled over top of him.

The moment his skin reformed, he was instantly overwhelmed by a sensation akin to being simultaneously frozen and burned.

He had seen magic like this performed once before, but what he had seen then paled in comparison to what he was experiencing now.

The Witch of Envy was not trying to kill him.

She was trying to seal him.

He instantly stopped trying to heal his body and instead focused entirely on absorbing mana from the seal that was forming overtop of him.

For a brief moment the film began to grow thinner before the mana flowing through it surged, compensating for all that he was drawing from it.

Despite his best efforts, the seal managed to cover over his entire body and began to thicken.

"Can't…give up…." He struggled to say as a chill seemed to set in within his very mind.

It was getting harder to think.

His body had been broken, he was incapable of physically struggling. Had he avoided getting dismembered then he could have cut himself free.

Yet here he was, doing everything he could to delay the formation of the seal. Once it was finished the fight would be over, ending with his defeat.

In essence, he was trapped in a situation where all he could do was wait and watch to see how things played out.

However, he would not let himself give up as he continued to drain mana out of the seal and into his nearly bottomless reservoir. Only then did he allow his eyes to scan his surroundings in the vain hope that someone or something would come to his aide.

All around the clearing were felled trees and scars that had been cut into the land by the fighting. Now that things had mostly concluded though, a bit of peace had returned. Everything sat still and silent, unmoving and unchanging. Soon he would be joining them.

Suddenly stirred by a distortion in the mana flow through the seal, Reinhard looked at the Witch of Envy.

He saw that Subaru now stood right beside her, his hand wrapped tightly around her waist as her cheeks took on a slight red tinge.

Her eyes went wide as surprise as he spun her around so that the two stood face to face with their bodies pressed tightly together.

Then he kissed her.

Her face suddenly turned beat red as she was stricken with shock, her eye's blissfully falling closed as both of their jaws opened just a bit. All before abject terror washed over her features.

For the briefest moment she looked like she wanted to push him away, like she was desperately trying to escape. Yet, before she could do so released her. At the very same instant something began to happen to the partially formed seal encasing Reinhard.

With the mana supply suddenly cut off instead of growing thicker and solidifying, it began to thin as it was absorbed into his body. As it progressively grew deteriorated, holes began to open up. Rapidly growing larger as the seal began to disintegrate. Like a tissue paper set alight, it took little time to completely vanish.

Yet Reinhard did not immediately jump into action, at the very least his body still needed to heal. Not to mention that things were beginning to develop between his opponents in a manner that would probably be beneficial to him.

"Authority of Gluttony, Partial Eclipse." Subaru said as he wiped saliva off his mouth.

At the same time the Witch of Envy stood stock still, completely frozen as she slowly reached for her head.

"Huh?" Confused, she looked blankly towards Subaru; her eyes scanning him head to toe.

"Somethings not right…" She grasped her head as her gaze slowly fell to the ground.

"They're gone… They're all gone… My memories of him are all gone…" Distress and disbelief slowly seeped into her voice as she fell to the ground below.

"Give them back to me whoever you are! I know you have them, my heart's telling me that you stole them from me!" Hollering like a wounded animal, she grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him towards her. Her gaze was settled firmly on his face as tears ran down her own.

With his body healed, Reinhard stood up. Still clutching his sword, he slowly walked towards the two.

"Those memories are all I have left of him… so please… don't take them from me… don't take my only light and leave me in darkness…" She choked out as her whole body was shook by her cries. All the while Subaru stared right past her with a dazed look on his face, like he was mentally some place else, far away.

Reinhard stood behind her and raised his blade.

Looking down on her now he honestly thought that she was someone else. Her subtle mannerisms were different compared to the Witch of Envy he had been observing up until now. She seemed gentler, even a bit meeker. He knew that she had the physical strength to throw Subaru around like a toy, but this woman in front of him did not even try to use it. Just now when she had pulled Subaru towards her it had been more of a tug to forcibly guide him rather then a yank to bring him to her. She had not even torn the fabric of his shirt.

At this point though these details did not matter to Reinhard. He had a job to do.

Focusing his eyes on the exposed neck of the sobbing witch he swung his blade.

It travelled in a clean arc and after scattering a bit of blood into the wind it separated her head from her shoulders.

Falling with a soft thunk her pained cries finally ceased.

The Witch of Envy was dead.

Walking past her decapitated body, Reinhard approached Subaru just as the dazed boy seemed to snap back to reality.

As Subaru's heterochromatic eyes stared right into Reinhard's, within them he saw an all too familiar rage that currently bordered on madness. It was directed right at him.

"Why would you kill her, Reinhard?" Subaru muttered with a clear edge to his voice.

"You know very well why I had to, she nearly destroyed the world before and in all likelihood was going to try again." Reinhard said back to Subaru as he resumed his fighting posture.

"All she wanted was to reunite with the one she loved. You killed her for that, you killed her for trying to find happiness in this miserable world." Subaru spat out at him as pure hatred enraptured every fibre of the boy's body.

Just as Reinhard was about to reply, a pale pink thread appeared, connecting him and Subaru. With its arrival, he realized something.

Absolutely nothing Subaru said had been wrong.

Had she been allowed to find her happiness then she would never have done something as extreme as trying to destroy the world. Why would she? Afterall, it would only guarantee that she would never be able to find what she sought.

If only he had been more reasonable, if only he had not been such a violent monster.

Another person lost their life today all because of him.

He had gone to far; he should leave before he does anything else, before he makes anymore mistakes.

Reinhard's self reflection was interrupted by a pale green thread extending from Subaru's chest and connecting to his own head. The second the connection was made; the world went black.

He felt his body collapse to the ground below as a torrent of pale green threads extended to him through the darkness. What followed each one was an impact and the sensation of his body being crushed.

He still could not see. Had his head been crushed? If so, why had it not healed yet?

Was it being continually attacked to keep it from healing?

As Reinhard asked himself these questions, he realized something else, his head felt clear again and the pale pink thread was lying before him, detached.

In his weakness and inability to overcome the power that had overwhelmed him, the Od Laguna had seen fit to grant him a divine protection capable of thwarting it.

Furthermore, he now understood that any and all of these threads were dangerous. He absolutely could not keep allowing them to latch onto him. Except there was one problem.

He could not physically cut them right now.

Without a brain he could not move his arms, without moving his arms he could not swing a sword, and without swinging a sword he could not cut anything.

Yet, for some reason he felt like that logic was flawed. If the threads themselves were merely his physical representations of these powers that in reality existed only as concepts, why did he need to physically cut them?

Through one manner or another, the physical act of cutting these imaginary threads was something he did in order to cut the non-physical concept. So why did he not just cut the concept directly?

Reinhard mentally focused on one of these threads and by doing nothing more than imagining that it was broken, the thread broke.

Realizing his success, he expanded his aim. Keeping track of all of the threads that appeared from Subaru and travelled towards him; he began to sever each and every one before they could so much as come near him.

With that the strikes stopped.

And since he was no longer taking damage, he could heal again.

Rising up from the frozen earth with his restored body, he began to approach Subaru.

Threads of all colours began to assail him, but each one broke before they could so much as touch him.

Subaru was dangerous; until now he had the strength and intelligence to stymie even Reinhard. Between his past actions and the current murderous rage that enraptured him it was clear that he possessed the motivation to do horrible things.

There was no telling who else out there could possibly contain him, nor was there a guarantee that the future sword saints would be able to either. Therefore, it was clear to Reinhard what he must do.

Reinhard quickly swung his blade at Subaru's neck, yet the boy managed to evade the blow by stumbling backwards.

It was a strike he should not have been able to dodge given his lack of training. Even those with training could not guarantee that they could have produced such a well-timed evasion. Waiting just long enough that the strike could not be redirected to account for their new position. In fact, it was something that one would generally associate with specific practice. Had someone specifically trained Subaru to deal with his swordplay?

Reinhard forced these questions out of his mind as he brought his sword around and swung at Subaru's left ankle, cutting his foot off.

As blood sprayed out, Subaru collapsed to the ground, continuing his futile attacks as he tried to crawl out of the reach of the Sword Saint.

So, Reinhard sliced off his other leg and arm.

Subaru now lay motionless, bleeding profusely from his injuries as he stared up at Reinhard.

The fight had finally come to an end, right in front of the intricately carved black door to nowhere. Crafted far too eloquently for the carnage that lay all around it.

Reinhard stood directly overtop of Subaru with his sword held in one hand, its blade pointing down right at the boy's heart.

"Any last words." Reinhard said coldly.

"I've said what I needed to the last few times this happened." Subaru said with a voice that showed no hint of the pain he must be feeling.

Yet Reinhard paused briefly. What did the boy mean that this had happened before? Was it a reference to earlier in the fight? Maybe someone else had tried to execute him?

The only thing that Reinhard knew for sure was that this was the first time that he was in this position. He had never delivered death as an outright punishment like this before.

Shaking his head clear of these thoughts, Reinhard raised his arm a bit then plunged the blade downward into Subaru's chest.

Except he did not feel the sword gently slicing through tissue, in fact it did not even travel far enough to reach Subaru's chest.

After blinking, Reinhard realized that the blade was hovering in mid-air, yet it felt like it had been jammed into something incredibly hard. Only then did he realize that clustered around the sword's point was a modest amount of yang mana.

The black door beside him suddenly began to groan as it swing open as a tall man stepped out. He had long disheveled black hair that was tied up in a ponytail and a pair of mean brown eyes, features that were remarkably similar to Subaru's. In fact, overall the man looked incredibly similar to Subaru. Given that he looked to be about 20 years older than the boy it would be easy to image that they were father and son, just they looked too similar even for that. It was like they were a pair of twins where one had been prevented from aging for 20 years.

As alarm bells rang in his head, Reinhard prepared to face the newcomer. Subaru was already crippled to the point of being out of the fight and he was confident that he could dislodge Reid fast enough to kill the man in a single blow.

"You don't have to worry about me Rein. I'm not here to fight you, but I can't let you kill the boy." The man spoke so casually and nonchalantly that it caught Reinhard off guard.

Given how the wind appeared calm around the man, Reinhard knew that the man was speaking the truth. Yet just because something was truthful does not mean that it is not harmful.

Reinhard violently ripped his sword from the clutches of the man's yang magic and pointed it at him, preventing him from getting any closer to Subaru.

"Natsuki Subaru has committed grave crimes which he must be punished for. I cannot allow you to get any closer to him, please understand." Reinhard did his best to mask the hostility in his voice but even he was emotionally worn down due to what had transpired today.

"Even if I'm the Great Sage Flügel?" Reinhard froze as he heard the man's declaration. His eyes carefully scanning the winds around him for any disturbances, only to find none.

Even if the man were crazy enough to be able to trick himself with his own lies the winds would react, yet there was no such thing occurring. Even the Od Laguna recognized that what the man said was consistent with the natural order.

Reinhard lowered his blade in the face of the man who had sealed the Witch of Envy away four hundred years ago. Had he been present earlier then there was no doubt that he would have resolved the current crisis with far less bloodshed.

"Thank you Rein, had you killed this boy then things would only have gotten far worse." Flügel walked past Reinhard and knelt down beside Subaru. Only now did Reinhard realize that the boy had become completely unresponsive despite continuing to breath, like he had slipped into some kind of coma.

"Flügel-sama, I'm sorry but I must ask where you intend to take him. He is both dangerous and needs to be punished for what he's done." Reinhard said as he watched Flügel pick up the unresponsive Subaru.

"Don't worry Rein. Should things go well I'll be sure to put the boy out of his misery. If they don't then he has something far worse than death waiting for him. On top of that I can promise you that he will never set foot in this fake world ever again." Flügel said as he scanned the destruction all around them. The felled trees, the marred ground, and even the decapitated corpse of the Witch of Envy, he gazed upon all of it without a single shred of emotion in cold his eyes.

However, what he had said only spawned questions in Reinhard's mind. What punishment could possibly be worse than death for someone who did not seem to react to pain? Even more importantly however was something else.

"I do have to say, while things do appear to be even more of a mess than when he fell to pride. Yet that was far more of a pain to cleanup…" Flügel mumbled as he began to turn back towards the door.

"Flügel-sama, before you leave I wish to ask you one more thing. What do you mean when you say that this world is 'fake'?" Reinhard fixed his eyes on the air around Flügel as he asked his question, looking for even the slightest ripple that might come with his response.

"I mean it in the literal manner. This world and all the ones like it were merely created to be a witch's plaything. Somewhere that could be experimented on without fear of consequences. When the time comes it will be wiped clean like it has so many times before." Flügel then paused, looking at whatever existed within the mysterious door.

"I'm sorry Rein but I really must get back to work. We've had this exact conversation so many times already and I want to get back to my family. I'm going to become a father soon." With that Flügel turned and started to pull the door closed behind him.

Reinhard remained motionless, taking in both what he heard, saw, and knew beyond all else to be true. By the time he was ready to speak the door was already closed.

Now he stood alone amidst the carnage with only the icy wind to interrupt his thoughts and the Witch of Envy's body as the closest thing he had to company.

Yet he remained still, lost in thought.

Flügel was a wise and trustworthy man, yet when he had answered Reinhard's final question the wind had been turbulent. Of all the statements he had made only one had been true.

And above all, Reinhard van Astrea, the Sword Saint knew that this world was certainly not fake.

Fin