-Cliff with Spikes at Bottom-
Rem and Julius charge forth towards Petelguese, who is sending numerous unseen hands their direction.
As they are looking through Subaru's eyes right now, they shut their own eyes and rely on him for keeping them on track towards their enemy.
Although she is doing remarkably well overall, Rem is struggling to fight at her full strength even with her horn due to the 3rd person perspective she has of herself seeing through Subaru's eyes. "Fighting with this perspective is really strange. I'm struggling to aim my Morningstar!" Throwing it at a few unseen hands coming her way, she manages to knock one out but completely misses the other, forcing her to jump high and to her left to dodge it.
"Careful Rem!" Subaru shouts with slight worry.
Julius says to Rem, "It is admittedly difficult to get used to this perspective. I like to call it 'Outsider View'. If you cannot aim well with your spiky ball, then I suggest switching to an area of attack spell if you have one."
"Good idea! El huma!" She shouts and puts her palms up towards the general direction of Petelguese, who is still sending waves after waves of hands at them.
Julius makes continuous 180 degree turns and swings his sword back and forth, perfectly aiming for and cutting off every unseen hand that comes his way.
Dozens of ice spears form in front of Rem and she sends them spiraling towards the Archbishop. Due to every single spear taking a slightly different direction, they are able to eliminate about a dozen of unseen hands. Two even manage to graze Petelguese's left and right sides respectively. Two fresh wounds open up and begin to drip blood. He yelps in pain.
"This…this cannot be!" Petelguese angrily says, but there is some fear in his tone as well. "This trickery, this magic! You cannot use this to make light of me and my devotion!" Again arching his back 90 degrees and somehow remaining standing, he sends out a whole new batch of 20 or so unseen hands.
Many are sent to Julius specifically. While he still has amazing grace and counters most of them with style and efficiency, a few do manage to attack and puncture wounds before he takes them out a few milliseconds later. Despite the pain, his expression of a calm smile never wavers. Not by a single inch. That is until an unseen arm manages to grip his shoulder so hard it bleeds. This does cause him to grit his teeth.
Behind him by about 30 feet is Subaru making the same expression and putting a hand to his shoulder despite it being completely fine. Thanks to him sharing senses with both Julius and Rem, he will feel any pain that they take. He makes a grunting sort of noise, which they pick up on.
Rem hears the pained grunt, which causes her to frown deeply. No! Subaru-kun can feel the pain we experience! I cannot be reckless.
Sadly for her, this moment of distraction causes an unseen hand to grab her right arm, puncturing it. She shouts in pain as she quickly raises her left hand above the unseen hand and sends some ice spears through it, cutting it apart.
"Rem! Are you alright?!" Subaru rushes to her in spite of his own arm seering with pain. He inspects her arm for a quick second before resuming his view of the field so Julius can continue to fight.
"I'll…I'll be fine Subaru-kun. This is nothing. How about you?" Being a water user, she is able to conjure some water mana to heal the wound, making her arm good as new. It is like it never happened.
"Yeah, I'm all good." He gives a pained smile. "I can handle this."
"I see." She responds, giving a look of uneasiness.
"How are you feeling about this Subaru? Can we speed this up?" Julius asks.
"I'm getting used to this feeling, go for it."
Julius and Rem spend the next few moments shredding many unseen hands to dust. They begin to close the distance on Petelguese.
"No! No! No! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible!" The Archbishop grabs his head and shakes it, looking utterly mortified at the fact that all of his unseen hands are getting obliterated. "Why?! How can this be?! I thought I was loved! I am loved! By the witch! The witch! The witch! The witch!"
"Oh just shut up about that witch already! I'm sick of hearing about her!" Rem shouts. "Time to finish you off before you utter more nonsense and potentially harm Subaru-kun!"
"What about me?" Julius asks. "I can get hurt too, you know."
"You can take care of yourself. Subaru-kun cannot fight that well."
"Cold." He fake frowns. Using his spirit arts, he flies into the sky with six or so unseen hands quickly following after him. Turning around in the air, he begins to aim straight for Petelguese with his sword pointed right in front of him. He shouts, "Al Clauseria!" on his way down.
Meanwhile, Rem begins to conjure up her own final attack. She shouts, "Al Huma!". A giant ice spear nearly 33 feet long forms in the middle of the air and she is able to mentally point it towards Petelguese.
Subaru responds to their powers with awe, being thoroughly impressed with what they are both capable of. Wow, in a way, I feel that Julius went easy on me in that arena. I hope I never genuinely anger him nor Rem. Well, I actually did incur Rem's wrath and I paid dearly for it.
With both of their attacks coming at the same time, Petelguese attempts to send out the most amount of unseen hands he has sent out yet, nearly 50 in total. Unfortunately for him, they all get vaporized immediately by the bright rainbow and white light that encapsulates Julius' sword as he comes down like a shooting star. He along with Rem's ice spear collide with him at the exact same time. Their combined attack sends him flying to the cliff wall, nearly breaking every bone in his body.
They go in for the kill, but Petelguese has one more trick up his sleeve. "I will not let you do that! Ul Dona!"
A large dome constructed out of rock and dirt below him instantly erects and incases him inside of it.
"Well, time to use this then!" Subaru holds up a small object the size of a small bouncy ball that looks like a red crystal. "Burn, fighting spirit! Howl, magic ball! When I get serious, I can pitch over 74 miles per hour!" He shouts as he launches the object at an incredible speed. It manages to fly over both Julius and Rem as they continue to run forward. Colliding with the dome, the object instantly explodes and incinerates the dome, leaving Petelguese completely defenseless.
"Die!" Rem shouts as she launches her Morningstar at him, making sure not to hit Julius who is charging in with the sword.
Both the sword and Morningstar manage to make direct contact with him. Julius stabs him directly in the stomach while Rem's Morningstar slams right through his right arm, dislodging it completely from his body.
"Julius! Undo Nect! NOW!" Subaru orders as he feels the same sensation of Petelguese entering his body as he did in the last loop.
"Very well." He undoes the spell, causing their eyesights to return to normal as they lose the internal connection they all shared. Rem frowns upon losing the ability to sense what Subaru is feeling. Aww…I knew it couldn't last forever but it was so soothing and wonderful to know how he was feeling.
"Ah…my brain…is trembling!" Petelguese states from Subaru's body, indicating to the others he has taken control of it. His facial expression takes on a horrific look of an insane drunkard.
Subaru, having experienced this already, is more capable of keeping him at bay. He regains control and replies, "Yeah, just tremble while you wait." as he puts a hand to his head. "I'll play along with you…just this once…"
Having been informed that this would likely happen beforehand, Rem is much calmer about Petelguese gaining control of his body compared to the last loop. It took Subaru a lot of convincing and reassuring her that he had it all under control for her to agree to such a risky plan. Still, her hatred towards Petelguese for taking over his body has not decreased one little bit compared to last time.
The Archbishop regains control for a moment. Subaru's tongue sticks much further outside his mouth than usual, "What are you saying? Who are you talking to?"
"You better not take full control over his body, you filthy Archbishop." Rem states derogatorily to him. "Subaru-kun will defeat you."
Subaru responds to Petelguese, "To the witch that you've been waiting for!"
Rem's eyes widen with worry, "W-w-what are you going to do Subaru-kun?!" Even though she was informed by Subaru that Petelguese may take over his body, he never elaborated on exactly how he's going to defeat him.
Taking a deep breath anticipating what would come next, he begins to shout "I can return-"
"Huh? Return?" Is the only thing Rem can utter before time completely stops for everyone but Subaru.
A short while later, time resumes for everyone. During the time stop, Petelguese interacted with the Witch of Envy directly and failed to gain her love. He is so distraught by this failure he instantly left Subaru's body and returned to his own very wounded body.
"What do you mean by you can return?" Rem asks as soon as time resumes. She, like everybody else in this world, has no awareness that time just stopped and resumed.
"Nothing! Nothing at all!" He nervously laughs it off, "Anyway! He's completely out of my body now."
Of course, Rem is not convinced with his response. Return…return. He can return. Return what? Like an object? What is he talking about? It seemed like he was going to continue talking but just…stopped? Something feels really off. Especially since his stench increased in putridness and he nervously laughed it off. Although the increase is not as dramatic as when he was in a trance. Is this tied to the witch? Because it feels like it definitely is. In any case, I have a clue now. The first thing I'm doing when I get back to Roswaal-sama's mansion is I'm getting into Beatrice-sama's library whether she likes it or not. I need to see if there is anything about "return".
"This…cannot…be…" Petelguese sputters out, now back in his original body.
"I'm surprised you gave up on the first try. How cowardly can you be? Your faith must be quite shallow." Subaru speaks condescendingly to him.
"Julius-san, can I finish him?" Rem asks. The spiky ball of her Morningstar dangles only a foot above his head, taunting him.
He shrugs, "Makes no difference to me."
"Thanks."
"Why? Why? Why?! After everything I've done for you!" Petelguese shouts out, utterly baffled as to why things turned out the way they did. "Give me your love…"
"You've done nothing for me. Die." Swinging her Morningstar around, she jumps high into the air and rams it straight into his heart, killing him.
"Whew…" Subaru breathes a sigh of relief. "Is it over now? Also Rem, he was talking about the witch, not you."
"Looks like it." Julius inspects the corpse. He's completely split into two parts. The upper half minus an arm and the lower half.
"He was sloth to the very end." Memories flash through his mind of all the torture Petelguese has caused to him and his friends over many loops. He has been such a thorn in his side for so long. Though for some reason, Subaru still feels a little uneasy, like he could still come back at any second through either body-hopping or some other method he hasn't learned of yet.
Off to the side of Petelguese's corpse is the gospel he was carrying on him. It flew out of his robe while he was sent flying by Julius and Rem's combined attack.
Like last time, he picks it up and flips through the pages, trying to see if he can read any of it. Also just like last time, this invokes a reaction from Rem, who has just retreated her horn.
"Subaru-kun! Please put that book down! I believe that's the gospel that foul Archbishop had on him."
"I understand your concern Rem." Unlike last time, he actually has a plan for it. "However, I don't think anything will happen to me, I can't even read it. I'm thinking of bringing it to Beako-chan and seeing if she knows anything about it. It would be great to learn more about the Witch's Cult, don't you think?"
She gasps, "You're right! Still, I feel uneasy about you carrying that thing. But, if it'll let us learn more about that wicked organization, then I'm all for it."
Wow, she agreed to it more easily than I thought she would. Last time she seemed pretty adamant about me not carrying this around. He thinks. He thought he would have to try pretty hard to persuade her to let him carry it.
There's a reason as to why Rem effortlessly agreed to letting him keep it. Since that cult worships that witch, perhaps they have some information on her we don't know about. If Beatrice-sama can read it, maybe it'll reveal more about their organization and most importantly, about that witch.
"We should head back." Julius tells them both, holding up the mirror metia with Felix on the other side, "Ferris just contacted us. It seems there is a problem."
As they head back, Rem heals up all of the wounds Julius suffered from the battle.
-Arlam Village-
The three return to the village and meet up with Felix in one of the houses. Otto is there as well. They all take a seat at a wooden table. Felix begins to lay down the situation.
"The magic stones of fire that were in the merchants' inventory are gone."
Otto adds, "We unloaded the cargo so we could transport the villagers. But the magic stones of fire were missing."
"What does that mean?" Subaru asks.
"It means someone left the stones on board when they loaded the villagers." Felix replies.
"It was Ketty-san's carriage." Otto says.
"Ketty-san?" Rem repeats the name, having never heard of it before.
"He was a member of the Witch's Cult that managed to blend in with the villagers. We killed him a little while ago." Felix explains.
Rem growls a little and clenches her fists, "Those damn cultists…they'll do anything to destroy what is precious to us."
"Well, thankfully they didn't this time." Subaru says.
"There are enough magic stones to easily blow away a small village." Otto says.
"Are some small stones really that powerful?" Subaru asks in slight surprise.
"Indeed." Julius responds.
Subaru's eyes widen in shock upon remembering the explosion that happened in the village in the last loop. So those stones are what caused all of the explosions?!
Felix furrows his eyebrows, "Ketty's carriage is currently taking Emilia-sama and the village children to the capital."
Subaru and Rem gasp, "So…that means…" The former starts.
"Yes, if we don't get those stones out of the carriage, they are in serious danger." Felix finishes.
"Damn it!" Subaru pushes himself up from the chair and rushes out the door, "Why can't anything go smoothly for once in my life?!"
Everyone follows behind him with Julius saying, "The only good news is that we have verified that there is no spell used to set a trap. However, the magic stones of fire tend to react when a lot of physical momentum is applied."
"Ferris! Could a ground dragon catch up to them?" Subaru asks desperately. Unfortunately Patrasche is unavailable due to becoming tired and needing to take a break.
He replies, "Once they leave the Mathers' domain and get on the Lifaus Highway, it'll be difficult to catch them."
"So…even after all of this…I can't…" Subaru looks down to the ground and tightly shuts his eyes, not wanting to accept this reality before him. He has tried so hard to get to this point! Why must more obstacles pop up out of nowhere?!
"Subaru-kun…" Rem calls out to him with concern. In her mind, she's desperately thinking of any sort of solution to their predicament. None of her abilities with water magic will allow them to quickly travel several miles at a very quick speed.
"Um…may I say something?" Otto speaks up for the first time in a while, raising his hand to offer a suggestion. "Right now, I'm actually in a desperate situation. If you would accept a trade…" He folds his fingers together and gives him a pleading look. "I promise to catch up to the carriage tha-"
Subaru points a finger at him, "If there's anything I can do, I'll do it! Thank you so much!"
Smiling brightly, he says, "I like a man who can decide quickly, Natsuki-san!"
A Short While Later
Everything is prepared and ready to go. Otto has set up a carriage that will carry Subaru to Emilia and he plans to drive it all the way there. A little ways away from the carriage is Subaru, Rem, Julius, and Felix.
Julius, with an apologetic expression, says, "Sorry I cannot accompany you Subaru. I would, but…"
Subaru responds, "It's fine, you're pretty tired from the battle, right? Get some rest." Plus, I've seen enough of your face for one day.
"I'll have Ia go along with you just in case." The little red ball of light happily bounces from Julius' hand to Subaru's.
Felix says, "His mana is a little on the low side, nya. Speaking of, Rem-san, isn't your mana running a little low as well? From what you described in the battle with that Archbishop you used two strong spells that drain quite a bit of mana. Shouldn't you rest here as well for a little?"
She shakes her head, "I'd like to assist Subaru-kun with this final task."
"Um…" Subaru scratches his head a little, "Are you sure? You've done a lot of work today. Which I'm really appreciative and grateful for! Thank you so much. Aren't you tired?"
She again shakes her head, "No, I'm feeling well. There won't be any fighting, right? So even if I'm running a little low on mana, there should be no problems. Though if you don't wish for me to come along, that's fine too. I'll wait here patiently for your return."
"N-No!" He waves his hands, "You can come. It'll be a little lonely anyway traveling with only this gray-haired merchant man." He points his thumb backwards towards Otto.
"Hey! I heard that!" Otto pouts as he loads the last little bit of cargo for the journey.
He laughs, "Just teasin with ya man! Haha! I'm sure you'll be fun."
Rem chuckles as well. Deep down she's grateful that Subaru is letting her go with him again. Truthfully, now that she knows something terrible is happening with him and said thing probably involves that witch in some way, she doesn't want to let him out of her sight for even a moment. She has no intention of getting in his way or taking things too far with constantly being in his presence, but she does intend to keep an eye on him, even if it's from behind the scenes.
"Anyway, once this is all over, we'll celebrate big time! I'll even invite you Julius. So make sure you guys don't die on me!" Subaru smiles as he begins to leave.
"Don't you guys die either!" Felix responds as he waves Subaru goodbye.
Even Julius gives a small smile of his own, "Good luck."
-Stone Road Through Forest-
"So why are we taking this road?" Rem asks Otto.
"This is the fastest way. The road will likely get bumpy ahead, so hold onto your hats!"
"But I don't wear a hat." Subaru responds.
"And I have a hairband and ribbon, not a hat." Rem says.
"Well, hold onto whatever is most likely to fall off! Don't make my advice sound like a bad omen!" He frowns.
"Speaking of ribbons…" Subaru starts, "Where did you get that pink ribbon you're wearing Rem?"
"Oh, this?" She points to the object in question on the left side of her head. The ribbon is currently stylized as a cute pink flower. "Nee-sama made it for me as a birthday present when I was thirteen years old. I loved it so much that I told her I would wear it forever. And, aside from taking it off when necessary, like bathing, I've always worn it since the day she gave it to me."
"Aww, what a lovely story! Your sister must love you very much." Otto smiles brightly. Having heard his fair share of horror stories from various merchants over the years, he is very glad to hear such a light-hearted and happy tale between two siblings.
With a smile, she nods, "Yes, she does. I love her just as much, if not more."
"That is really sweet, I'm glad I got to hear that." Subaru also gives her a warm smile. "Can I presume that Ram's purple ribbon came from you then?"
She nods excitedly, "Mm-hmm! After getting my ribbon from Nee-sama, I wanted her to have one too. I worked hard for about a week to make an identical looking one to mine, but sadly the only color I had at the time was purple."
"What did she think of it?"
"She loved it! At least, that's what she told me. She said she was going to wear it forever too and I'm surprised to see that she's continued to wear it to this day."
"Then that means she loved it too. I don't believe your sister would lie to you like that." Subaru says with newfound seriousness.
Her eyes glint with wonder, "Yeah, you're right. I'm ashamed for doubting Nee-sama for a moment there." She casts a downward glance.
-Deep Forest-
As they ride deeper into the forest, Subaru is impressed by how well the ground dragons are behaving. They aren't afraid of hardly anything. "Wow man, your 'Soul of Language' divine protection is amazing!" He praises Otto.
"Heh, thanks. I had a hard time learning to control it. Since I can hear and understand every animal, from grasshoppers to ground dragons, they can tell us the optimal path to take to catch up to Emilia-sama and the kids."
"What a cool ability!" Rem says. "Does it get noisy hearing every creature around you speaking?"
"Very!" He exasperates. "You have no idea what I've gone through hearing their voices all the time. Thankfully, I can generally tune it out now and only hear them when I need to."
"I see, I'm glad it's better for you now."
He smiles, "You're a nice girl. I like you."
She giggles, "Thank you, but I'm not available."
"I-I-I didn't mean it like that! You're teasing me all over again! Now I don't like you!" Otto pouts and blushes hard, causing Subaru to laugh loudly, furthering his blushing. Rem giggles.
The next few minutes are filled with non-stop action. Otto drives the carriage to places no sane man would ever take them. First, he follows a small stream downwards, getting the wheels of the carriage and the feet of the ground dragons all wet. Then they literally jump off a cliff and ride it downwards at super fast speeds.
"This is crazy! What do you think you're doing?!" Subaru shouts as they ride down the cliff.
"Ditto what he said!" Rem says.
"I told you to hold onto your hats! Look out, a bridge is up next!" Otto announces loudly as they return to the ground and go forward at full speed across a narrow bridge. It is barely wide enough to fit the ground dragons and the carriage. While they do make it across safely, the bridge is simply unable to handle the weight and speed at which they are going. It fully collapses, which both Subaru and Rem got to see.
"We're gonna die! We're seriously gonna die at this rate!" Subaru yells, hoping to bring some sense into Otto. Sadly for him, Otto has taken on a slightly insane look indicating he has either fully lost his marbles or is actually enjoying the current chaos.
"What is this? I feel a wind hitting me." Otto says with a bit of a broken smile. "Honestly, even I had no idea I was capable of this-" He suddenly stops himself as moves his head to his left, trying to hear something.
"What's wrong?" Subaru asks.
"The trees are so loud. The birds and bugs began to make a lot of noise, but then they just vanished. Something…something is coming!" He darts his eyes left and right anxiously.
"Um…you two? The trees are getting toppled over back here." Rem says. "What could possibly be causing that-Oh my gosh what is that awful smell?!" Sniffing the air, she smells something absolutely atrocious. Instantly recognizing it, she shouts, "It's the witch's scent!"
"Is it coming from me?" He asks.
Shaking her head, she replies, "No, it's coming from back where the trees are falling over!"
Slowly coming into view, Subaru begins to see a giant spider-like creature coming their way. He instantly knows this isn't good. The former says with resolution "Faster, Otto! Don't get caught, no matter what!" He jumps towards the back of the carriage where Rem is.
"Natsuki-san? What are you doing?!"
As the creature arrives closer and closer, they are finally able to identify it.
"What?! How are you back?! I killed you! Why are you just a flying head with clothes flying right behind you? And what the heck, you absolutely reek!" Rem shouts at the appalling being, pinching her nose in disgust.
To Subaru, the being has the overall shape of a spider, although it is only using four legs to travel. Well, they look like legs, but they are actually unseen hands. Its entire body is cloaked in a purple miasma, which is the same color as the unseen hands. It appears to be wearing much larger Witch Cultist clothes to fit its figure. Finally, there is the head, which is the only reason they are even able to identify it at all. The head is Petelguese's, except now his face is even more wrinkly than before and his hair is very shaggy, rather than being a clean straight cut from before. Finally, and perhaps the most creepy and disturbing thing about his head, is the fact that his eyeballs are no longer in place. Instead, dark empty sockets remain.
To Rem, as most of his body is simply made of witch miasma, she can only see his head and the clothes he is wearing.
His words come out as if he is in the middle of gargling water, but they are still somewhat intelligible. He shouts, "My body, my flesh body!"
"His body is mostly made of what I think is miasma. That's why you can't see anything besides his head and clothes." Subaru explains.
Rem tries to throw her Morningstar at him. It successfully hits and draws blood, but it does no significant damage to him and it only stops him for a brief moment. She tries again, and again, and again, to no avail.
"Dang it! Why isn't my Morningstar doing anything to this beast?!"
As Petelguese crawls along, keeping up with the carriage, multiple explosions are set off in his vicinity.
-Emilia's Carriage-
Currently in a long parade of carriages in an open field, Emilia hears the loud explosions and the kids grab onto her tightly in response. She tries to soothe them as best as she can.
"It's okay. Hang on tight. There's nothing to fear."
A number of Witch Cultist's tried to go after Emilia's carriage, alongside the others. Thankfully, Wilhelm manages to stop them before they get too close.
Puck, currently in his crystal, lets Emilia know of this development telepathically as she's focused on looking after the kids.
"How many cultists are there?" Emilia asks, also using telepathy to communicate with him.
Puck responds, "A lot, but that old man's power is no joke. Seems we won't be needed this time. Taking physical form without reason drains mana."
Emilia watches as Wilhelm destroys the Witch Cultist's one by one. She sees him running at super high speeds slicing and dicing his sword through every single one of them. His movements are quick but delicate.
"I also don't want to be a plaything for the kids." Puck adds on.
"I think it'd be helpful if you could calm everyone's fears with your cuteness. Emilia counters.
"My, you say some scary things my daughter. Bye now!"
As the carriage wheels bump onto some small stones, causing it to rock back and forth, Emilia continues to hold everyone tightly. Constantly reassuring that she'll protect them and also secretly hoping that Subaru is alright out there. She hopes that he isn't pushing himself too hard again.
-Otto's Carriage-
"Rem-san, Natsuki-san, what's coming up on us?" Otto asks.
Subaru replies nervously, "Oh, um…just some big black animal. It has a wild voice and scary face, so you're better off not looking. Just keep driving!"
"Hearing you describe it like that only peaks my curiosity!" He complains.
"If it gets to us, it'll eat me, then Rem, then you! Do you want that?" He doesn't even wait for a response before continuing, "Didn't think so! Keep driving!"
"Yikes!" Is his only reply.
"Ugh, this is such a pain! What about you is slothful now, you uselessly hard worker?" Subaru addresses Petelguese.
"Witch! Satella! Give me…give me her!" Petelguese begs.
"Satella? So you worship the Witch of Envy, is that right? How appropriate for you filthy cultists." Rem looks down at him with complete disdain. I don't know anything about her other than what the rest of the world knows, that she destroyed most of the world a long time ago. If she's somehow involved with Subaru-kun, then I need to learn as much as I can about her. For his safety.
"Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love!" Petelguese repeats over and over.
"She doesn't love you or me, or anyone." Subaru says to him.
"Satella! Satella! Satella!" He now repeats the witch's name.
Rem turns her head and looks at him, "Subaru-kun, what are we going to do?"
"For now, make sure he doesn't get past us."
"Right. I'm not going to procure any ice spears for now as I want to save my strength. I will do it if it's absolutely necessary though."
"Of course. Please don't overwork yourself."
She gives him a warm smile, "Don't worry. I'll look after myself."
Turning to Petelguese, Subaru announces, "You won't be getting past us nor the kid in front of us! One way or another, we'll end you once and for all!"
Otto, touched by his words so much that a tear falls from his left eye, asks, "Natsuki-san, you really care about me that much?"
"Quiet! I was trying to look cool. But yeah, I obviously don't want you to die."
"You'll always look cool to me Subaru-kun!" Rem states with certainty.
The next few minutes go by with Subaru and Rem working together to fend off the unseen hands that try to attack the carriage and pull it apart. An unseen hand manages to get into the carriage for a moment and plucks out some wood from the floor the two are standing on, making things a little less stable for them.
"We're about to leave the forest!" Otto announces as they come upon a large open field filled with grass as far as the eye can see.
"Love…love me! Love alone is everything!" Petelguese haggardly says as he struggles slightly to keep up with the carriage.
"There's no way I can take you to where Emilia is!" Subaru shouts at him. As Rem continues to hit him with her Morningstar, her hero joins in the fun as he picks up a few clay vases and chucks them at Petelguese's face, covering him with some sort of yellow mustard-looking liquid.
Five unseen hands maneuver their way at once towards the carriage. Things are looking rather dire. Subaru makes this known, "Five hands are coming!"
"I don't think I can hit them all at once without damaging the carriage!" Rem explains in a panic. "Especially if I can't see them!"
"Looks like we'll have to pull out the trump card. Julius, Ia, give me strength!" Finger pointing at the Archbishop, Ia settles itself right in front of his index finger. "Rental Goa!"
Sending Ia out, it explodes right in front of Petelguese. Whatever the liquid is made out of must be flammable, as his head instantly lights on fire.
In both rage and pain, he sends out his unseen hands more aggressively than before and manages to destroy the backmost side of the carriage, flinging both Subaru and Rem back into a few crates.
"Ow…" Rem rubs her head. "It sucks not being able to see them."
"Ouch, that hurt." Subaru does the same.
Despite literally being on fire, Petelguese resumes his assault and gets ever closer to the carriage, now having a couple of unseen hands directly on the carriage itself. They move around and destroy more of the carriage. Various small planks are pulled from their foundations.
"The witch…Satella…Satella! I haven't forgotten a single moment of the things you did for me! Even if you've forgotten, I'll…I'll…!" Despite having no eyes, blood begins to trickle down his empty sockets. "With all of my diligence, I'll part with my slothful self to repay your love!"
Looking at the gospel sitting besides him, he suddenly gets an idea. He looks at Rem with a determined look, "Rem! I have an idea, but I need you to do something for me!"
"Whatever you need me to do Subaru-kun, I'll do it!"
"Hit his head as hard as you can with your Morningstar. It doesn't matter if it does nothing to him. Just make sure blood spills onto the carriage!"
"Right!" Gripping her Morningstar more tightly than ever before, she lunges it at Petelguese. Blood indeed manages to spill, but due to the direction of the wind it is flying backwards behind him rather than forward and into the carriage.
As he continues to destroy more and more of the carriage, Rem continuously attacks over and over again. On her fifth hit, a little puddle of blood manages to spill onto the wood of the carriage.
"Is this good enough Subaru-kun?" She points at the puddle.
He nods, "I think so." Quickly opening up the gospel and flipping to a blank page, he proceeds to write "THE END" in gigantic text, which takes up two whole pages. Standing up, he says, "This is the end for you Petelguese! You are finished!" He shows the text to him.
Eyes appearing for a brief second, the Archbishop looks at it in utter horror. This man, this lowly man, dared to sully his beloved gospel. He is so shocked that he loses focus for a moment. This brief relapse causes one of his unseen hands to slip off the carriage and straight into one of the wheels below. Both Subaru and Rem glare at him with nothing but contempt for him.
By entering his unseen hand into the quickly turning wheel, it quickly gets shred to pieces and begins to suck the rest of his body in. By some miracle, perhaps because the unseen hands are invisible in the first place, this collision does not jam or even slow down the wheel whatsoever.
"Natsuki Subaruuu!" He yells out as he is slowly pulled in to his doom. His head continues to burn. One final unseen hand attempts to grapple Subaru's face, but Petelguese manages to get completely crushed by the carriage before it does anything to him. Every part of the Archbishop, including the unseen hands, disappears completely, as if he never existed.
"Now stay asleep forever Petelguese." He sighs as he slumps to the floor.
"Wow." Rem lets out as she lowers herself to see if Subaru is doing alright. "Great job Subaru-kun! How did you know writing in that gospel like that would end him?"
"Heh, I didn't." He admits.
She raises an eyebrow, "You didn't?"
"Frankly, I was just hoping he'd be shocked enough that I soiled his gospel that he'd do something stupid like that. It was a large gamble, as he would've become more enraged otherwise. Then we would've likely really died."
"Well, it all worked out in the end, so I say it's a win. Don't you?"
He embraces her, "Yes, yes it is. And thank goodness for it. Thank you for all your help through everything. I mean it. I really do. I couldn't have done any of this without you."
She blushes a little, surprised. But she returns it, finding his touch very warm and welcoming after everything they have went through today. "Thank you as well Subaru-kun for helping me get my revenge on the Witch's Cult. I never thought I would be able to."
"C-Can you guys knock it off with the flirting? It's distracting me!" Otto pleads. "Also, didn't I help too?!"
They quickly separate, forgetting for a moment that Otto is even there. "Hmm…did you?" Subaru gives a teasing smile at him, which only furthers his frown.
He realizes he went a little too far, "Ok, ok! Sorry, you're just way too easy to tease. Of course you helped a lot too. Thank you Otto."
He finally smiles brightly, "Anytime Natsuki-san!" A few moments later, his expression switches to one of extreme worry, "Natsuki-san, Rem-san, look!"
Heading to the front of the carriage they look ahead to see all sorts of small explosions all over the huge green empty field. As they swiftly approach, they see Wilhelm and some other soldiers fighting with the last handful of remaining Witch Cultists.
They approach Wilhelm and Subaru immediately asks, "Wilhelm-san! Are you doing alright?"
"Subaru-dono!" He is surprised to see Subaru so soon. "Yes, I am doing well. These last few cultists are nothing for an old veteran like me. How are you and the others in your carriage?"
He gives a sigh of relief, "That's good. I'm happy to hear that. We're doing fine. Where is Emilia-tan?"
He points to the carriages further down the road, "Down that way, towards the great tree. If you hurry you can catch up to her."
"Thank you. Let's move Otto!"
Resuming their journey, they continue on towards Emilia. Wilhelm takes out a few more cultists that try to chase after Otto's carriage.
A rush of adrenaline goes through Subaru as soon as Otto announces that he sees the carriages with the refugees straight ahead. He remembers everything that he and Emilia have went through, even if a lot of those memories are now in past loops that Emilia no longer remembers anymore.
It's been a long journey to get here Emilia-tan. Way longer than you could ever imagine. But, it's worth all the blood, sweat, tears, and deaths I've had to go through. To see you safe, to see your smiling face again, I'd do anything to save you. And this time, I will not encroach myself onto you like I did before at the capital. His decision is firm and solid. His goal of getting Emilia onto the throne has not changed in the slightest. As for winning her heart over, he is a little puzzled on how much he wishes to do so, at least as of now. Since Rem has now taken over half of his heart, he truly cannot choose between either of them.
He loves Emilia for her bravery and willingness to push through anything, no matter how tough it may be. Her resemblance to Satella has ostracized her from the majority of society, but that has not stopped her in the slightest from trying to achieve her goal of being Lugunica's queen. He loves how kind she is and her willingness to assist anyone in need, including himself. That is what made him initially fall for her after all. He appreciates that she is willing to call him out when he is acting like a jerk and not holding it to herself. Even though he doesn't really understand why she uses archaic words like "dunderhead", he loves it when she uses them and it grants him an opportunity to tease her. He loves how innocent and pure she is. He even loves how pure her love for other people is, even if he is disappointed with the fact that she doesn't understand romantic love that well. He loves that when he was at one of his low points and struggling really hard to continue forward, she offered him her lap and comforted him in his time of need.
As for Rem, he also loves her for her bravery and willingness to do difficult things in order to achieve her goals. He loves how much she cares about her sister. He loves how devoted she is to the people she cares about, willing to do anything to make sure they are safe and happy. He loves the cooking she makes, finding her meals always delicious. He loves how devoted she is to her career and that she does her job as a maid very well. He loves how diligent she is. He loves that despite her clearly being apprehensive of him, she still held his hand to comfort him when he was having nightmares back at the mansion. And perhaps the thing he loves the most about her is the fact that she believes in him, no matter what. Despite treating him with hostility and literally killing and torturing him at first, ever since he saved her she has always had faith in him. When Subaru was at his absolute lowest. When he wanted to run away with her and give up everything, looking completely pathetic in the process, she still believed in him. She listed everything she loved about him and why he is her hero. Those were the words he needed to hear that day. Even if he said to her that day that he loves Emilia, that was the day he gave part of his heart to her, despite not fully knowing it then.
Truly, he loves them equally.
Suddenly all the carriages in front Subaru, Rem, and Otto stop for some reason. They stop as well.
"Rem, Otto, stay here!" Hopping out of the carriage, Subaru heads straight for Emilia's carriage.
Rem respects his wishes, but she still worries about him, "Please stay safe Subaru-kun."
-Emilia's Carriage-
Emilia looks on with total shock as she sees Subaru enter her carriage quite suddenly and unannounced.
"Subaru?! Why are you here?" She asks.
He doesn't answer. Instead, he quickly goes to the middle of the carriage and finding a convenient hammer nearby, he picks it up and begins to bang into the wooden floor. After a number of bangs a small hole is formed, revealing a bag underneath. The fire magic stones glow with a red hue, indicating they are likely going to explode soon.
"Ah, so that's why you're here, I was wondering why the reunion was so sudden." Puck says as he peeks out from behind Emilia's neck, behind her silver hair.
The bag begins to smoke, causing Subaru to act hastily and pulls it up. He leaves the carriage.
"Wait! Subaru! What's going on?" Emilia asks while putting out a hand in the direction he went. She quickly gets up and heads to the edge of the carriage. There she sees Subaru mounted on Patrasche.
She finally gets a grasp of the situation at hand, "Why…why are you doing so much for us?" She begs to know, looking incredibly worried.
"That's who he is, Emilia-sama."
"Huh?" She looks around to see who is speaking. Putting a hand right above her eyes to try to see better, she sees a blue-haired maid approaching them.
"That's who he is, Emilia-sama." She repeats as she draws closer. "He helps and protects the people he cares about. He never gives up on them."
"And because I love you, Emilia-tan." He smiles warmly at her. He then looks to Rem with the same smile, "I love you as well, Rem-tan."
Emilia reacts with a surprised expression and a tiny yelp of confusement. L-Love?! I…I don't know how to respond to that! Also, why do I feel a bit uneasy with him calling Rem Rem-tan? It's not like I care about that or anything…
Rem meanwhile reacts with an even more shocked expression than Emilia. She slightly blushes too.
T-T-Tan?! He's giving me the same nickname as Emilia-sama?! A-And he loves me?! I thought he only loved Emilia-sama! I mean, I'm not complaining but…it's…it's so sudden! Does he really actually love me like that? Rem's brain is overloaded trying to process this. She's already dealing with the fact that Subaru is involved with witch somehow. Now he's saying he loves her after saying he loves Emilia back then, and even now? It's going to take a while to make sense of this.
Subaru rides off towards the carcass of the White Whale. A huge hole has been blown into what Subaru presumes was his stomach. There he manages to throw in the bag of fire magic stones, which by this point has a lot of white smoke rising from it. He manages to ride far enough away to get away from the primary blast radius. However, the initial blast wave is strong enough to knock both Subaru and the Patrasche over.
Back with the carriages, they observe the explosion happening from a much safer distance. The blast wave gets to them as well, but by this point it's weak enough to only blow everyone's hair and clothes around.
"Subaru!" Emilia shouts as she runs towards the blast area.
"Subaru-kun!" Rem, freed from her thoughts after witnessing the explosion, also quickly goes towards the blast area.
She and Emilia run side by side, both desperately wishing that the man who saved their lives at one point or another is safe and unharmed.
-Blast Area-
Both of them approach and enter the thick fog that has been generated from the explosion. The fog is so thick that they have a little trouble breathing. Additionally, their vision is quite poor and they are only able to see a handful of feet in front of them.
They both frantically call his name repeatedly. Searching for several minutes, they appear to be having no luck at all until Emilia spots a black looking object in the distance.
"Over there! I see something!" She says as she runs towards it with Rem following from behind. As the object grows larger and becomes more defined, they realize that the black object is actually Patrasche. And laying right next to her is none other than Subaru himself.
"Oh, oh thank goodness! He's alright." Emilia says with extreme relief. Subaru is currently passed out. Thankfully though, aside from a handful of bruises there appears to be no injuries.
"I'll heal him right away." Rem says. Despite him only having some bruises, a few of them are a bit nasty looking and she'd rather be safe than sorry. Plus, since the injuries are small, she doesn't have to use much mana.
After she is done, Emilia grabs onto his chest, hugging him tightly. "Oh…oh Subaru. I know you didn't have to do any of this but…thank you so much."
Standing nearby in a formal maid stance and not giving into her desires to hug him, at least yet, Rem says solemnly, "He always works so hard for everyone's sake. Come on Emilia-sama, let's give him the proper rest he deserves."
She gives her a determined nod in response. "Yes, I agree. He has worked very hard."
They begin to work on transporting his body out of the fog. They'd come back for the earth dragon later. As they do so, Emilia decides to ask Rem a few questions.
"Rem?"
"Hm?"
"How has Subaru been since I left the capital? I know I got to talk with him a little back at the village, but I haven't been able to truly check in with him."
She thinks for a moment before replying. She knows that something is deeply troubling Subaru and until she has a firmer grasp on what is going on with him, she'd rather keep the information about his involvement with a witch, especially if that witch is the Witch of Envy, to herself for the time being. She doesn't want to worry Emilia unnecessarily after all. This isn't her only reason though. She also selfishly wants to have more knowledge about her hero than Emilia. "He's been well Emilia-sama. You should've seen him out there. He is such a great negotiator, planner, and supporter!. He can even fight a little on occasion. He helped me face the Witch's Cult and he helped Crusch-sama take on the White Whale."
She gasps, "My goodness! Did he really do all of that?! Can you please tell me in detail what he did?"
She shakes her head, "My apologies Emilia-sama, but I believe that is a story for Subaru-kun to tell you himself."
Emilia frowns, but nods in understanding. "I have one final question."
"Yes, go ahead."
"How long has he been calling you Rem-tan?"
This question startles her as she jerks her hands for a moment while trying to pick up Subaru's legs. Emilia meanwhile is picking up his head.
She replies in a nervous tone, "Um…that was the first time he ever used that nickname…"
"I see…" So, it's a recent thing? She muses, How close have they gotten since I've returned to the mansion?
An Hour Later
-Open Field-
Subaru, who has been unconscious for the past hour, begins to slowly open his eyes. The sun shines brightly over the field.
The first thing his mind registers is the fact that Emilia's face is right above his own. And she's smiling! "Subaru, you're awake? Thank goodness. I'm glad that you're alright."
"Me too, I'm glad to see Subaru-kun is alive and well." A familiar oni maid makes her presence known. Moving his pupils downwards a little he is able to see her down at his legs.
Wait, just what sort of position is he in right now? His eyes open up all the way to figure this out, "Woah…hold on. I'm lying down. Both Emilia-tan and Rem-tan are kneeling. Considering our distance and the heavenly feeling under both my head and my legs…"
Emilia giggles, "Geeze, you don't have to go through such a lengthy explanation silly. We're letting you rest on our laps. It's not uncomfortable, is it?"
"I couldn't think of any more fine, divine pillow than this." He smiles proudly. He turns his head slightly to the side and sees a large portion of the field, now completely peaceful as there is no one fighting anymore. "Can I um…ask what happened since I've been knocked out? And why exactly are you girls letting me rest on your laps?"
"Well…" Rem starts, "We both wanted you to rest as comfortably as possible after everything that happened, so we figured resting your head on one of our laps would be the best option. We played rock paper scissors to see who'd get to rest your head in our lap. Turns out I have a lot of practicing to do…" She frowns.
Subaru chuckles. She continues while turning her frown upside down, "But still, getting to hold your legs like this and knowing I'm providing some level of comfort to you is good enough for me."
"Honestly, I want to ask what's been happening with you." Emilia answers.
"Don't worry Emilia-tan, I'll tell you everything when we return to the mansion. I've got lots of cool stories to share!" He flashes her a thumbs up.
"How's Patrasche? Is she alright? I wanna become the wind with her again." He asks.
"She's fine." Rem replies. "She was pretty burned, but I gave her a little healing with the little bit of mana I had remaining and sent her on her way to Felix-san. She'll recover fully in no time."
"Oh, Ferris joined us? How long have I been out for?"
"About an hour." Emilia replies.
"Then…everyone's together now?" He asks with hope.
They nod. Rem says, "Yes. Thanks to your diligent planning, there was not a single casualty during the battle with the Witch's Cult."
"Julius too!" Emilia adds, "I wasn't expecting to hear that you two worked together from him."
"Heh, I had my reasons for working with him. It's not like he's the worst guy on the planet or anything. He's a capable fighter, I'll give him that."
Tilting his head towards the field again, he can see a few carriages with a multitude of people surrounding them. Julius, Petra, Petra's friends, Patrasche, and many others.
He smiles, "I finally made it back. I feel like I was having a really long dream. A terrible dream."
He's mentioning the nightmares again… Rem frowns, Perhaps I should hold his hand at night to maybe prevent them from coming.
"Actually no…" He pauses.
"A good dream then?" Emilia presumes.
"A good reality." He clarifies.
"Back then Emilia-tan, you asked me why I saved you."
She nods with a frown, "Yeah, and you said it was because you saved me. Even though I've done nothing of the sort. I've never saved you. You're always the one saving me!" She begins to tear up. "I've never been able to do anything! And yet, you get yourself hurt, and you said it was for my sake…"
"Like I said at the village, I messed up then. It was nothing more than self-satisfaction. I tried to play with your feelings by saying things like I saved you and that you should be fully understanding of me because of that. I was…really drunk on the idea of doing things for your sake then, even if it truly wasn't for your sake. I had it in my head that you'd just accept that. So, for all of that, I'm truly sorry Emilia-tan."
"Subaru…"
"Everything you said then was true. I was wrong. I was just a blind idiot running after something I didn't truly understand. Still, there are two things that I truly meant, even then. One, I want to continue to help and save you Emilia-tan. Two, I do truly want to be your knight."
She warmly smiles, "Yeah, I know."
"He's truly wonderful, isn't he Emilia-sama?" Rem says, having listened to their entire conversation.
With a single tear running down her cheek, she replies, "Yes, he is. He's a goofball a lot of the time, but he's a lovable goofball."
"Who says goofball these days?" Subaru asks while chuckling at the term Emilia used to say he's dumb.
That earns a laugh from the both of them. After the laughter dies down, Subaru resumes a serious face. "Emilia-tan, Rem-tan. I love you both a lot. I mean it when I say that. Even if I suck at fighting, I want to be the strength you two can rely on." He gets up off of their laps and sits beside them.
With a bit of hesitation, Rem asks, "Do…do you actually love me Subaru-kun? S-Sorry if it seems like I'm doubting you. It's just so sudden and unexpected…you know."
He confidently nods, "Yes I do."
With a shaky tone and feeling that she is going to cry any second, Emilia says, "I'm a half-elf. A silver-haired half-elf who is despised by everyone for resembling the witch. I'm naive. I'm clumsy. I don't know the customs of this world well at all. The reason I want to rule the kingdom is very, very selfish. And I'm sure I'm going to bother you a whole lot more in the future. Are you sure you still want to stay by my side?"
"Yes, because no matter how many things you say you hate about yourself, I'll say hundreds of things I love about you!"
"W-Why…?"
"Rem-tan." He looks over at her. "I owe her so much. I really thought about giving up. Things were so bad that I was willing to run away with her and abandon everyone, including you."
"W-What…? Really?" She looks completely shocked. That is the opposite of how he has behaved up until now.
"Yeah." He admits sadly, "I hated myself. I hated myself so much for being unable to do anything. For a while I tried to unreasonably get stronger to protect you, but it failed miserably. I was completely helpless. I didn't know what to do anymore. But…" He looks at Rem again and holds her hand. "When I kept listing everything I hated about myself, she'd just counter everything with what she loved about me. She has no idea how much that helped me."
"Subaru-kun…" Rem mumbles. I'm so happy I was able to help him. I wonder what got him to that point. He seemed fine just moments before he broke down. What has he gone through?
"So, just like how she helped me overcome my lowest point, I want to help you overcome your low points Emilia-tan! Therefore, anytime you say something negative about yourself, I'm just going to counter with something positive to say about yourself!"
"Oh Subaru…t-thank you. I'm so happy. I'm so, so happy. Still, you've given me all of your feelings and yet I don't know how to respond to them."
"Don't worry about it. Actually, I need a lot of time to think about it myself."
"Huh?" Emilia is puzzled.
"You and Rem-tan have no idea how much you two have saved me. I can't help but love you both equally. I know it's very, very selfish that I can't decide on either one of you. So please, give me some time to get to know the two of you even better than before, and maybe I can decide then."
"Of course, I understand. She means a lot to you, thank you Subaru." Emilia says.
"Don't worry Subaru-kun, I also know how much Emilia-sama means to you. I'm super happy that you're even considering me. I'll wait as long as you need for an answer. Even if you never choose me, I'll always support you and stay on your side. Perhaps even by your side as a maid if you hire me!"
He laughs, "Haha! I don't think Roschi would be too happy if I took away one of his employees. Still, thank you both so much. It's more than I deserve."
He stands up and the two girls follow suit. "Alright girls, let's go home!"
Just then, Wilhelm comes running up to them as fast as his legs can carry him. He appears to be quite disturbed, which is unusual for a hardened man like him.
"Wilhelm-san? What's going on?" Subaru quickly asks.
"Subaru-dono, Emilia-sama, and Rem-san. I'm sorry to disturb the reunion between the three of you, but something horrible has occurred. Crusch-sama and her army were attacked. Crusch-sama alongside many of her soldiers are unconscious as we speak. Other soldiers have died. Please," He gives a polite bow to them all, "check in on all of them and see if Rem-san can heal some of them."
The three widen their eyes in horror. But I thought we just took care of all the Witch Cultists! Are there more?! Subaru shouts in his mind. Why can't the Witch's Cult just leave them alone?!
With no time to lose, they all quickly board a carriage and head towards Crusch and her army.
-Author's Corner-
A/N: Wow, this chapter turned out way longer than I expected it would be. I wanted to cover most of the remainder of Arc 3 and well, I did it! I was debating on whether to have Subaru call Rem "Rem-tan" or not. Ultimately I decided to go for it because I believe he reserves the -tan suffix for the people he cares about very deeply. Those people being Emilia and Rem.
Also, I did consider using "Rem-rin" instead. The reason I didn't use it is because canonically a number of people use it besides Subaru (like the village kids) and (I'm pretty sure) Subaru uses it inconsistently with her. It didn't feel quite as special because of that.
Finally, if you were expecting that Crusch would've been totally erased due to Rem not being there, sadly Rem was able to do basically nothing in the battle with the Archbishop of Gluttony. She put up a bit of a good fight, but it was more for show than anything. Gluttony simply decided to eat only Crusch's memories and not her name for some reason. So, for those reasons, I believe Gluttony would've done the same thing here.
Updated the chapter slightly to fix a few inconsistencies.
Danbooru god: She probably could smell it, she just chose not to mention it. Although the stench when Petelguese was chasing her, Subaru, and Otto in his spider form was so bad that she had to plug her nose for a moment.
Guest: Thanks!
RoxyGOD: I'm very happy to hear that the last chapter was better than you expected it to be! I figure having Subaru fall for Rem super quick and forgetting about Emilia would be both very unrealistic and lazy. I want their relationship to develop as naturally as possible and with that, it will take time for their love to blossom for one another. You could argue love has already blossomed between them, but Subaru has to deal with his feelings for Emilia as well. It's not easy being in love with two girls equally. I believe since Rem cares about him so much, she is super conscious about his well-being. Especially now that she believes something terrible has occurred to him somehow. Haha! Who knows what will happen when she talks with Roswaal. It'll still be a little while before they meet though.
Roku420: I'm super glad to hear you're enjoying the story more than you thought you would! Thanks!
Maximum Rhapsody: I think he could if he contracts with anyone except Beatrice. Since so much of Subaru's mana goes to her, he doesn't have anything left to give to other spirits. Rem is quickly learning more and more about what is really happening with Subaru. She still has a long way to go, but perhaps she'll figure out even more once she returns to the mansion.
BigSmokeYeet: That presumes she figures it out fully and Satella doesn't stop her somehow. Glad you're enjoying the story so far!
OreosAreYummy: Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed it.