I don't own Re:Zero or any of the characters.

Assassins

Ian stared up at the mansion in silence, his right hand gripping the hilt of the sword Felix had given him, since it was on his right side as to be used by his left hand. It wasn't going to be an easy fight. Maybe if Elsa was alone he could win, though that would also be difficult. His last fight with her hadn't gone well, but he'd trained extensively since then. Both with Wilhelm and with his actual experience against Lye Batenkaitos. He knew he'd grown far more skilled now, and had much better control over his Authority. He could beat Elsa now. But if Elsa was working alongside a massive horde of Mabeasts, it'd be questionable. Elsa would require his full concentration.

"We shouldn't delay," Ram said.

"We can do this," Rem said. "Between the four of us, including Frederica, we can handle the assassins."

Ian nodded. "I think one of them might be the person behind the Wolgarm incident. I believe she may be able to control Mabeasts."

"We can handle it," Rem said firmly.

Ian nodded and the three of them walked quickly into the mansion. Almost as soon as they were through the door, Frederica and Petra met them.

"Welcome back," Frederica said, both maids curtseying. "Has the Sanctuary been liberated?"

"Not yet," Ian said. "Subaru and the others are tending to that. We were sent to tend to the mansion."

Frederica's eyes instantly took on a wary, alert light, though her expression remained unchanged.

"Petra, the rest of the village has returned," Ian said. "Why don't you head over and see everyone. I'm sure they'll all be proud of you for working here."

Petra looked up at Frederica for permission, and Frederica nodded, covering her mouth to hide her fangs as she smiled, telling her to take the rest of the day and all of the next. Petra was ecstatic, hugging all four of them before sprinting out of the house. As soon as Ram closed the door, Frederica turned back to him.

"What's going on?" Frederica asked.

"We have reason to believe that the mansion's going to be attacked by assassins," Ian informed her, "one of which may be bringing Mabeasts."

Frederica nodded, reaching under her skirt and withdrawing a pair of clawed gauntlets. Ian nodded, drawing his White Whale Sword.

"One of the assassins is likely to be the Bowel Hunter, Elsa Granhiert," Ian said. "I'll be handling her with Rem and Ram's help. While we do, do you think you can handle the Mabeasts and the other Assassin? I don't know their abilities, so you'll be working entirely from nothing."

Frederica nodded. "I can handle them, though I'm not sure I'll be able to win without reinforcements. I can at a minimum stall until you finish with Elsa Granhiert."

Ian nodded.

"I'll be waiting outside for them to arrive," Frederica said.

Ian nodded. "We'll make sure they're not currently in the mansion already."

Frederica nodded and headed outside, Ian, Rem, and Ram heading up the stairs.

"Where are we heading?" Ram asked.

"To find Beatrice first," Ian said. "I need to talk to her while we're here."

"I'd appreciate having the chance to speak with her as well," a smooth, feminine voice said from ahead of them, all of them looking up and finding Elsa standing at the top of the next flight of stairs, between the second and third level.

"Elsa," Ian growled, stepping in front of the twins. "Been a while."

"Indeed," Elsa nodded. "You seem to have done as I asked and taken care of your bowels for me."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Ian growled. "A lot's changed since we last fought." His magic roared to life around him, and Elsa's eyes narrowed slightly, though one eyebrow rose and her smile grew into a smirk.

"Before we begin," Elsa said, "I have a message to you from my employer."

"And that would be?" Ian asked.

"Consider yourself warned," Elsa said.

Fury erupted through Ian instantly, even as his blood ran cold with understanding. He was a threat. By having read and remembered what Roswaal had planned, and before that even by simply being alive, he'd made himself a threat. He'd become too dangerous for Roswaal to keep alive.

Ian narrowed his eyes, forcing his body's enraged trembling to still. "Okay, asshole. I'll play your game one last time."

Elsa raised an eyebrow in interest before smirking. She raised her hands, readying her kukris. Ian narrowed his eyes for a moment, calling up all of his memories of fighting her. She'd only shown him about fifty percent of her skill and power, but he'd seen the rest when she fought Reinhard. He hoped he was ready for everything.

Just as Elsa opened her mouth to speak, he exploded up the stairs in a blur, his blade crashing into hers as he flipped over her. She spun, slashing back at him, but he deflected it, landing on his feet before driving his blade into the floor. Instantly, there was a massive explosion of Wind Magic, ripping through the building both above and below him, Rem and Ram both escaping the blast into the hallway beside them as Ian dropped into the base of the stairwell as Elsa was sent exploding into the roof of the stairwell, then plummeted to the ground again. As she began to pick herself up, Ian slowly glided backward into the foyer again where there was enough room to maneuver. Elsa stalked out after him, her braid tattered and ragged but still hanging from her head by a few strands of hair, but the rest of her body unharmed, except for her cloak, which was shredded. She cast it aside, Ian's eyes narrowing.

"I had hoped that would do more damage," Ian said.

"It would have," Ram said from behind Elsa as she and Rem dropped to the floor inside the stairwell, "if that cloak hadn't blocked and negated the magic."

Elsa nodded slowly, her smile gone, her expression cold as she glared at Ian. "I wasn't aware you had such violent magic."

"If you think mine's impressive," Ian grinned. "You haven't seen anything yet."

Elsa crouched, spreading her arms, the light of the moon from outside glinting off of her blades as she readied herself. Then, she exploded forward, her blades clashing rapidly against Ian's. Ian deflected strike after strikes, using his magic to speed up his body's movements. He could read her movements after having learned to do so against Lye. he'd been faster and stronger than her. He could do this.

Suddenly, Elsa spun, Rem's flail exploding into his chest. He skipped backward, and when Elsa leaned aside, Ian jumped, spinning himself before focusing his magic, slamming a kick into the flail's head, between the large spikes, and sent it exploding into Elsa's chest. It lacked the same force as Rem's strike would have had, but Elsa's blood sprayed out of her chest as a spike embedded itself in her. She crashed into the wall before Rem pulled the flail back to herself.

"That wasn't too bad," Rem said.

"That was only the warmup," Ian said. "She's not nearly dead yet."

"What!?" Rem gasped.

"That spike pierced her heart," Ram said. "Obviously you expect too much from-"

Ram stopped, eyes shooting wide, as Ian rammed into her, launching her backward at the same time as he deflected Elsa's blade, then stopped himself, streaking back at her, their blades, once again, clashing rapidly. Ian flipped into the air, Rem's flail sweeping under him, only for Elsa to leap over it as well. However, as she did, Rem flicked her flail's handle, the chain bunching up in a wave that rapidly shot toward Ian. Ian smirked, kicking off the chain and launched himself to Elsa, slashing hard and smashing through her blades, splitting her torso from the center of her chest out through her left side. He landed lightly, swinging around as he glided across the floor on a cushion of his magic, Elsa's body bouncing once as the momentum of having been slashed carried her backward. Ian stopped beside Rem again before waiting. Finally, Elsa pushed herself up again, her most recent wound once again completely absent. Ian narrowed his eyes, however, as the oppressive aura of malice and bloodlust all but flooding from Elsa tripled. It was time. She was about to get serious.

"Watch for an opening," Ian murmured, Rem nodding as Ram stepped out of the stairwell, now to Elsa's direct left, wand in hand.

"It seems I was the one underestimating her," Ram said. "Apologies. It won't happen again."

Elsa's bowed head rose slowly, her expression twisted into one of rage, her eyes shining with loathing as she glared at Ian. There was no warning for her next strike, it simply happened. A handful of metal darts embedded themselves in Ian's chest, in his heart, and she passed him, one knife slashing at Rem as the other spun through the air at Ram, the blade spinning so fast it could be a disk. He narrowed his eyes, skipping backward, and this time, he dodged the darts aimed at him, then shot forward, his blade clashing with Elsa's before he grabbed the tiny, near-invisible wire attached to the base of the blade she was holding and yanked. Instantly, the one aimed at Ram diverted, stabbing into the wall before Ram used a blade of wind to sever the wire. Elsa snarled in rage, kicking at Ian. He spun around it, but just as he did, he felt a tug at his gut, his eyes widening. He let out a small, derisive snort directed at himself as he skipped backward, stepping aside from her kick this time, blocking the blade she seemed to suddenly be holding to replace the one she'd thrown. Just as the sparks flee up into his vision, she was moving, the sparks making it hard to track her. So, he stepped forward through the sparks, and promptly into her blade as she had been mid-stab. He skipped backward, Elsa beginning to move as the sparks flew again. He dodged to the side, around her stab, and she spun, slashing hard, her kukri smashing against his blade bust stopping his slash. Then, as her other blade flashed up toward him, she suddenly launched herself backward, Rem's flail narrowly missing her. As she landed, she exploded forward again, once again suddenly holding a replacement knife, the world behind her being ripped apart by blades of wind, courtesy of Ram.

"Ram would appreciate it if you'd stand still and die!" Ram growled, firing more blades directly at Ian to intercept him. "Any damage done to this mansion is our responsibility to fix!"

Ian spun around the blades, only for Elsa to flip over it, a line of darts stabbing into his left arm, ending with one in his heart. He skipped backward, slashing the entire line out of the air, then shot forward as she landed, Elsa launching herself forward to meet him. Their blades sparked against each other three times before his blood flew. He skipped back. Six times. He skipped back. Twice. He skipped back. Not even once. He skipped back. Twice. As he skipped back again, it registered that the longer they fought, the more deadly she became. He realized she was anticipating their attacks. He focused, pushing himself harder. Five times. Eight times. Four times. Ten times. Wind Magic ripped at the foyer over and over, Rem's flail smashing the walls, the ground, even the ceiling once. And still Elsa held her ground flawlessly. And still she managed to produce blades from somewhere. He'd broken at least four, and she'd thrown three, one of which was embedded in the ceiling by the front wall and the other lying abandoned in a corner.

Ian skipped backward for the time somewhere in the neighborhood of four dozen, avoiding the slash before slashing at her, making it shallow on purpose. As Elsa stepped back, his bade suddenly shone before unleashing Crusch's Magic. Elsa's eyes flew wide open, but before the strike could split her in half, even with no range to react, she did. She yanked her right hand, which had been raised to strike, and a wire attached to the blade in the ceiling suddenly caught the light of the attack as it pulled Elsa up and out of the way. The strike, aimed toward the right of the door, as facing inward from it, tore along the entire length of the building as Elsa landed by the door.

"I'm glad I set that up earlier," Elsa said. "Even for me, that would have hurt a bit."

Ian shook his head, stalking toward her as Ram severed the wire. "You're a lot quicker and more annoying than I gave you credit for. But this fight is far from open."

"Oh, I'm aware," Elsa smiled. "It's only just begun."

Then, the windows flanking the door exploded inward, Petra and Frederica bouncing through, both of them heavily wounded but crying out in pain as Rem and Ram caught them. Following after them, however, was a pair of massive Mabeasts. One was a Guiltylowe, a massive creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, a massive, dark snake in place of a tail, and its entire body roughly double the size of an ox. The other creature was what looked like a more demonic hyena, one which had much, much larger claws and which stood so tall that Ian's head was an inch below the bottom of its torso.

"Well, this is going to hurt," Ian growled, drawing his second sword as well. "Shall we?"

Elsa grinned wickedly before she and the Mabeasts exploded forward, Elsa passing the Mabeasts easily. As they reached each other, Ian again began to struggle to keep up with Elsa, his Authority working overtime. Then, the Hyena bit into his entire upper body. He skipped backward, flipping over it and using Crusch's magic to split it from tip to tail. As he landed, however, the Guiltylowe bit into him on his left, taking up most of his torso, as the snake bit into his other side, and Elsa streaked under it, splitting his torso. He skipped backward again, only for his equilibrium to leave him and his head to spin violently. He felt something soft press into his left side and jerked, eyes flying open, only to find Ram lying in front of him, both of them in a bed. His breathing was coming in ragged gasps and he looked around quickly, taking in the interior of the room. It looked familiar.

"You haven't even reacted to being held in Ram's arms," Ram said, Ian's brain registering that, yes, her arms were, in fact, around him, and his hands were clinging to the back of her dress desperately. "What an inconsiderate man."

"This is..." he struggled to control his breathing as his brain finally placed the room as the Sanctuary. He leaned his head forward as he sighed in relief, feeling his forehead rest against hers. "Was I having a Nightmare?"

"Only for a few moments," Ram said. "You woke Ram by suddenly thrashing. Ram would have slapped you for trying to take advantage of her in your sleep, but you seemed in distress, so I remained where I was."

"Thank you," Ian sighed. "I appreciate it."

"What a hopeless, indecent man," Ram said. "Is my beautiful sister not enough for you?"

Ian sighed, smiling slightly. "I wish you wouldn't tease me so soon after I had a nightmare."

Ram remained silent for a moment. "Did you use it in your sleep?"

Ian smiled, shaking his head. "It was just a bad dream. Spiders and rats and things."

Ram nodded just as the door opened. Ian lifted his head, seeing the surprise on Rem's face, as well as one eyebrow steadily climbing, but when he sat up, giving her the usual, adoring smile, and held his hand out, she crossed the room, adopting the same smile before kissing him.

"Subaru made an agreement with Lewes and Garfiel," Rem said. "The villagers are being taken back, then Subaru will return before Emilia continues the Trials."

Ian nodded. "Are they leaving now?"

"Soon," Rem said. "Otto's finishing preparations now."

Ian and Ram nodded, both pushing themselves up. As Ram left the room, Ian glanced at Rem. He needed to find out what happened. The way Subaru had told him about what they had agreed on, he'd made it sound like Ian would have the hard part.

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