I don't own Re:Zero or any of the characters.
Great Rabbit
Ian dumped Roswaal in the Tomb and Roswaal simply pushed him up to sit against the wall, staring at the floor emptily. Then, Ian walked back outside to where Beatrice was just finishing forming her contract with Subaru, still holding Ian's Gospel. Along with them stood Emilia, who claimed to be capable of using magic without Puck now that she had her true memories of her past and remembered how, Garfiel, who apparently had been beaten in a fight against Otto and Subaru through a series of traps on Otto's part, then Subaru driving a crystal containing Puck into Garfiel's shoulder, allowing Puck to forcefully absorb almost all of Garfiel's mana, though Garfiel claimed to be basically back to full power now, and Rem, who still had Ram on her back. Ian stopped beside them, placing his fingers to Ram's forehead and channeling his mana into her, Ram shivering in reaction, her lips twitching slightly before she let out a soft, relieved sigh. Once he had given her as much as he could afford to, he took his hand back and Rem set Ram on her feet, Ram reaching for her wand, only for both Ian and Rem to catch her arm.
"Rest," Ian said. "We can handle this."
Ram sighed and nodded. "Truly the epitome of arrogance, believing you have the right to tell me what to do."
Ian raised an eyebrow at her as she did as he told her to despite her complaint. He looked to Rem and she shrugged, smiling.
"I think she's warming up to you," Rem smiled.
Ian smiled, nodding. He hoped so. Partway through his gospel was instructions to make Ram fall in love with him, but it was vague, unhelpful, and failed to tell him whether or not there'd be a way to have both, or if Rem, or both, would hate him for trying. He sighed to himself. He'd worry about that after they killed every last one of the cute little Easter Bunnies coming to snack on the village-full of candy currently taking shelter in the Tomb.
"They're almost here," Ian said, feeling his skin prickle slightly as his Authority reacted to the rabbits' Miasma.
"Right," Emilia nodded, raising her arms. "How do we start?"
"If it moves, kill it," Subaru said.
Just then, the snow began to thin, revealing the oncoming horde. The world before them was a sea of writhing white and glowing red eyes.
"There's a few more than I was expecting," Ian frowned.
"Only a few, huh?" Subaru asked.
Ian shrugged. "I've only got about two shots in me."
"Then you're useless here, I suppose," Beatrice said, slipping her hand into Subaru's.
"What are you doing?" Subaru asked.
She glared at him. "Spirit Arts users and their spirits fight as a single being with two minds, I suppose. You really don't know anything, Subaru."
Subaru made a sound something like a squeal.
"What was with that reaction, I suppose!?" Beatrice demanded.
Ian sighed, stepping forward with the other two not arguing, all three extending their arms. "Al Fura."
"El Huma," Rem said.
Emilia simply swiped her arm, sending out a barrage of small blades of ice. However, anything they hit suddenly bloomed massive flowers of ice, which then impaled more, more and more ice flowers blooming in a wave leading away from them for several moments.
"-my name all bashful?" Subaru was saying as Ian's brain refocused on him and Beatrice.
"What!?" Beatrice shrieked. "You are actually mad, in fact! This is no time for buffoonery, I suppose!"
Subaru sighed, nodding.
"S-Subaru," Beatrice stammered, blushing bright red instantly. "There, I did it, in fact!"
"Beako, you are adorable!" Subaru gushed.
Beatrice stamped her foot in embarrassment and annoyance. "I'm never saying it again, I suppose! I'll remember this for after we're done, in fact!"
"Could you two get serious, please?" Ian asked as Rem and Emilia both sent out a wave of ice spikes, Emilia's tinted slightly more green than Rem's and also being cast without an incantation, like her last strike.
"Right, my bad," Subaru smiled. "Beatrice?"
Beatrice nodded, she and Subaru walking out in front of the others. "We'll begin with a warm up, I suppose." She extended an arm. "El Minya."
Instantly, the world around the pair spiraled into a swarm of purple, crystal spikes, dozens of them. Then, with a wave of her hand, Beatrice sent them all flashing outward into the horde of approaching Mabeasts. Each spike speared entirely through a rabbit before exploding into smaller spikes, which slaughtered anything and everything around it. By the time all of the spikes had exploded, hundreds of rabbits were dead.
"Whoa!" Subaru gaped.
"I-is it that incredible, I suppose?" Beatrice asked. "It isn't anything so impressive, in fact. This is the lowest of techniques from Betty, I suppose. A piece of cake, in fact."
Subaru gaped at her. "No, what, the..." He shook his head. "This, savage magic! What affinity!?"
"It's obviously going to be yin, I suppose," Beatrice said. "I'm not the best at other types of magic, in fact."
"That spell's amazing," Ian said, extending his hand. "Al Fura."
On his second cast, the cyclone that formed was only ten feet wide, pulling in only a dozen rabbits. His first had been about twenty five feet wide.
"Your wind magic is so weak it's an insult to wind magic users," Ram criticized from beside him, catching him as his injured legs gave out under him, apparently having known it would happen.
Rem and Emilia sent out another wave of ice spikes, Emilia's this time causing ice flowers to bloom again. As the destruction spread, Beatrice and Subaru walked forward, then jumped, suddenly streaking high into the air as the horde swarmed together where they'd been, several rabbits jumping after them, though failing to reach them. Beatrice said something to Subaru, but her voice is lost to the blizzard's wind. Then, both she and Subaru extended their arms downward.
"El Minya!" both shouted, raining the crystal spears into the rabbits, clearing themselves a place to land.
Then, they jumped again. The process repeated over and over. As they continued, Ian saw Beatrice use a limited form of her Gate Crossing to teleport them across the battlefield, the rift closing behind them once they'd passed through. And suddenly, the rabbits jumping at them were being shredded in mid air. Ian squinted.
"They left pieces of the crystal spikes floating around the battlefield as a trap for the Great Rabbit," Rem said, waving a hand absentmindedly and sending an ice spike spearing into a rabbit that had abandoned the battle for the other prey present.
"This is amazing," Ian said. "I'm kinda jealous I've got a wind affinity now."
Rem smiled. "You use it in a way Sister and I have never head of. And that's on instinct. Plus you learned to replicate someone else's completely unique use of wind magic."
"True," Ian said.
Just then, Subaru ran over, setting Beatrice in front of Emilia, Beatrice concentrating.
"Subaru?" Emilia asked.
"So, time for one of your usual idiotic ideas, huh?" Ian asked.
"It's not idiotic!" Subaru defended himself.
"Tell Emilia what you need," Ian said. "Rem, try to stem the tide."
Rem nodded, extending her horn before beginning to fire a continuous flood of ice spears into the horde of rabbits, slaughtering them as her horn shone, sucking in mana as fast as it could. Sweat beaded on her forehead almost instantly, but she kept the attack going. Ian glanced at the tomb and Roswaal sitting inside of it. After a moment, he sighed, shaking his head. He was useless right now. Even his Authority would be worthless against the Great Rabbit. Especially where he couldn't even stand, much less fight.
"Visualize, visualize, visualize," Subaru muttered to himself, Ian noticing that he, Beatrice, and Emilia were all standing together, both girls holding Subaru's hands.
As Subaru begins to fire crystals, Rem stops, slumping against Ram and Ian, both of whom wrap an arm around her to catch her, Ram still supporting most of Ian's weight in place of his wounded legs, though she shows no sign of strain from his or Rem's weight, even together.
"If we're heavy, you can set us down," Ian offered, only for Ram to promptly release him, allowing him to fall backward into the snow, which was more than deep enough for him to disappear into it. "Yup. Should have seen that coming."
He pushed himself into a sitting position and dusted the snow off of his hands and face, watching what little he could see of Subaru's work. Finally, Subaru stopped, having completely boxed in the horde. Instantly he shouted for Emilia to "follow the lines," and Emilia extended her hands, not letting go of Subaru's, and placed her free hand over theirs.
"Al Huma!" Emilia shouted.
Instantly, her magic surges outward, following the lines of crystals Subaru formed a box with before seeping into the snow. A moment later, the snow rose, along with the crystals, and created a floating platform with every single one of the rabbits on top of it. Then, with a swing of her hands, the left and right side of the platform folded upward, slamming together and trapping the Great Rabbit inside. Then, it was Beatrice's turn.
"Here is the pinnacle of Yin," Beatrice said. "Al Shamak."
Instantly, darkness surged from below the floating mass of stone, forming a sphere around it before beginning to shrink. Within seconds, it had shrunk out of existence. Ian sighed, nodding to himself before looking up at Rem, just in time for her to settle in his lap, glaring at him.
"Never do anything as stupid as what you did when you were fighting Elsa again," Rem said.
"Deal," Ian said.
Rem nodded and kissed him for a few seconds before pulling away. "Thank you for protecting my sister."
Ian smiled and nodded, then looked up at Ram, who had her arms crossed and her head turned away. "Thank you for all of your help, Ram. I'll find a way to repay you."
Ram hesitated a moment before looking back at him and sighing. Then, she nodded and held out her hand, Rem pushing herself up and offering him her hand as well.
"Don't just sit there and wait to catch frostbite like an idiot," Ram said.
Ian smiled, taking their hands and allowing them to pull him to his feet before they turned, taking his arms over their shoulders before turning around as a group and heading for the Tomb where they could get out of the snow so that his legs could be healed the rest of the way.
Leave a review.